Chapter 29

"I got a fresh pot." Becky said, walking into the observation room with a giant coffee pot in her hands. Koda was asleep in the corner of the room, curled into a ball so that he could fit. Through the one way glass, I could see Callum standing up, attempting to size up Gretchen as she stared up at him, arms crossed over her body. Braylen walked over to the coffee pot sluggishly, dark blue mug in his hand. Callum, Braylen, Becky, and I have been interrogating Gretchen for hours. Keisha, Trayvon, and Erika have been questioning Mr. Clark for just as long. We were all growing more and more exhausted as the seconds went by. Becky looked over at the window, shaking her head. "She still hasn’t spoken?"

"Not a word." Braylen grumbled, taking a sip out of the coffee as he pulled it away in a yelp.

"Braylen, coffee is-"

"I very well know that coffee is hot, Anneliese."

Becky just shook her head. "I don’t get it. This whole thing would just be easier if she talked."

"She won’t talk because we aren’t offering anything in return." Braylen said exhaustedly. "Basics of exchanging information. If you want info, you have to give info in return."

"Where’d you learn that, military school?" Becky asked exhaustedly.

"No, actually. I learned that from Damian’s mother." Braylen said, sounding offended. "I didn't go to military school, despite what people think princes do or whatever. I was actually homeschooled."

"It also doesn’t help that we put a power inhibitor collar on her." I added, shaking my head as I felt my phone vibrate. Eyes widening once I realized that it was Dad, I sighed as I picked up. "Hi Dad..."

"Where are you and Becky?"

"The Treatorian Collective..."

"Why on Earth are you there at ten at night?" Dad asked, then sighed quickly. "Don’t answer that. I just remembered the plan that you kids came up with last week. How much longer are you two gonna be?"

"No idea. We’re in the middle of an interrogation."

"Interr- Not gonna ask. You can fill me in in the morning. I’ll leave the door unlocked, just please don’t be out long, okay?"

"Okay." I said, noticing Callum walk back into the room. "I gotta go. I love you, Dad."

"I love you too, honey." Dad hung up as I stuffed my phone back in my pocket, Callum grabbing a pink mug and filling it to the brim with coffee.

"Any news?" Becky asked exhaustedly.

"She’s more tightlipped than a guy in the closet." Callum said, rubbing his temples as if he had an intense headache. "Sorry. I make really bad jokes when I get tired. That was just inappropriate."

"So how do we get her to talk?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"No idea."

"Seriously? You have no idea?" Braylen asked exhaustedly. "Then what the hell are we doing?"

"Trying to figure out what to do next."

"I checked in with Erika and Trayvon when I got more coffee." Becky explained, pouring herself another cup of coffee. This was probably the fifth one tonight. "Keisha keeps pleading with her father, but he keeps claiming that he doesn’t even know why he was there in the first place."

"Great." Callum groaned, leaning against the wall by the door. "If neither of them are gonna talk, then how are we gonna get any information about what’s to come?"

An idea instantly formed in my head. My head snapped over to Callum. "What material is the inhibitor collar made of?"

"Um… Rubber. Why?"

I held out my hand. "I want you to give me the remote."

Callum’s eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"Callum, just hand it over to her." Braylen said exhaustedly. "If Anna has a plan, then trust her."

Callum sighed heavily, digging into his sweatshirt pocket and pulling out a small remote. "Here."

"What’s the button to take it off?"

Becky gave me a shocked look. "You aren’t seriously thinking of-"

"She’s still gonna be in handcuffs, right?"

"Yeah, but according to Beth, she’s a shapeshifter."

"That shouldn’t be an issue." Callum said, crossing his arms. "My aunt put on some handcuffs that can change shape on shapeshifters."

"How’d she know that she was even a shapeshifter?" Braylen asked.

"She tried to get the jump on her by shapeshifting into a bug."

"Then I can handle this." I said, standing up and looking at Callum. "Don’t make me repeat myself."

Callum hesitated, then pointed to a green button. "This one raises the energy, and the red button lowers the energy. You could, believably, lower the collar to the point where she doesn’t even realize that it’s disabled."

"Okay." I said, standing up and walking towards the door. "I’ll be back in a minute."

"You mean you’re not gonna tell us the plan?" Becky asked cautiously.

I turned back, smiling at the group nervously. "If I told you, you wouldn’t approve of it."

Braylen nodded knowingly. "Promise me you’ll be careful, okay?"

I nodded. "I will."

Becky looked between the two of us, eyes narrowing. "Wait, you know the plan?"

"No, but I have an idea on what she’s thinking."

"You gonna fill us in?" Callum asked.

"You’re gonna find out in a couple minutes anyway, so what’s the point?" I said, shrugging as I walked out of the room, opening the door to the interrogation room, holding the remote behind my back as I approached the chair.

"You have got to be kidding me." Gretchen said exhaustedly. "They really sent in the blonde bimbo to interrogate me? Are you Y.A.K.S. kids so short handed that they have to send in you of all people?"

"So you know about Y.A.K.S." I asked, putting my hand on the table, noticing the cool metal beneath my fingertips.

"I know everyone who’s in it. How do you think we released all of your secrets online?"

"You didn’t release anything on Damian." I noted. "Why not? If you know everyone in Y.A.K.S., then why not take out another kid with the rest of us?"

"I don’t have to answer that."

"Okay." I said, leaning against the chair, my hand dropping onto my lap as I started clicking down the control on her collar little by little. "I can do this all night."

"You and I both know that you can’t. You’re just a poor daddy’s girl who wants to make sure her father knows that he’s loved after his wife cheated on him with her female boss."

My fist clenched as I looked over at Gretchen. I clicked down the power on her collar a couple more times. "Really trying to dig deep there, aren’t you?"

"I don’t have to dig that deep to irk you."

"Why were you talking to Keisha’s father?" I asked, studying Gretchen’s eyes. She was aware that the power was going down. Hopefully, this was going to work. She didn’t answer as I continued clicking down the power. I could practically see Braylen try to calm down Becky and Callum behind the one way glass that looked like a mirror on this side. "What exactly is F.E.R.R.E.T. planning?"

"Wouldn’t you like to know."

"Actually, yes. That’s why I’m asking."

"Too bad you’re never gonna find out." Gretchen said, shrinking into a small bird and flying out of the collar. I quickly bolted out of my seat as Gretchen reformed into a human, grabbing her arm tightly as I slipped out of consciousness.

Everything came in flashes. A giant ballroom with signs for The Super Awards was being invaded by people in costumes through a door that led to the outside, a fountain across the street. Bombs were outside the doors and in storerooms as red lightning acred through the ceiling. People were cowering in fear behind us as seven teenage figures stood over them, seeming victorious.

When I came too, I was slumped over on the table, my head feeling like it was split in two places at once, tearing it apart. I slowly lifted my head up as Becky ran over slapping me on the face. Braylen’s eyes narrowed, obviously displeased with the reaction. "Really, Becky?"

"What the fuck was the plan, Anna!" Becky hissed. "Were you trying to get yourself killed!"

I looked over at Callum, who was standing in the corner, ignoring the sting where Becky slapped me. I honestly did not expect that to be her reaction, but then again, she is operating on fibe cups of coffee. "Can you get me a map of the venue The Super Awards is gonna be at?"

Callum sharply nodded, scrambling over to a whiteboard in the corner and logging onto the computer and pulling up a blueprint. He gave me a confused look. "Okay… Why did you have me pull this up?"

I got up, feeling my head spin as Braylen put a hand on my shoulder. "Easy. You’ve been passed out for about thirty minute."

"A new record." I said, shrugging Braylen off of me as I grabbed a light blue marker, uncapping it as I looked over at Callum. "What side of the building is facing the fountain?"

"Fountain? How do you know-"

"Just answer the question, Callum."

Callum cautiously pointed over to the door on the left side. "This one. Why are you-"

Callum paused as I wrote entrance by the door, then drew a couple clusters of stick figures scattered in the room before I looked over at Callum once again. "Warehouse. Where is it?"

"But Anne-"

"CALLUM!"

"Okay, okay, it’s right here!" Callum protested, pointing to a building that was connected. "But I don’t understand-"

"Oh, I get it." Becky said, shaking her head as I drew cartoonish bombs where I remembered them being in my premonition. "Anneliese, that was reckless. At least tell us next time."

Callum’s eyes widened. "You didn’t!"

"She did." Braylen confirmed for me. "She purposefully weakened the collar so that Gretchen could get it off and give Anna an excuse for her to touch her to get a premonition."

"Easiest way to do it without raising alarm."

"So… Did you trigger that?"

"Yeah. Probably why I passed out afterwards." I said, shrugging. "But this is basically their plan. They’re gonna try to enter through the fountain door and attack people, and set up bombs here, here, and here."

"That must be why they’re trying to make a deal with Keisha’s dad." Becky realized.

"Probably." Callum said, shrugging.

"So they’re gonna blow up the building?" Braylen asked.

"Sweetie, that’s what bombs do. Bombs go boom." Becky said, grabbing Braylen’s shoulders.

"I was just making sure. I’ve never dealt with a bomb situation before."

"Well, neither have I!"

"Can you all stop yelling?" I meekly hissed, my head panging to an invisible beat in my head. I slumped down in my chair, holding my head in my hands to stop the throbbing from taking over.

Braylen gave me a concerned look, walking over to the coffee machine. "You need something to drink. You’ve never tried to force a premonition like that before."

"Not true." Callum said quickly. "She forced a premonition at a band competition when-"

"That wasn’t exactly forcing one to come out." I said exhaustedly. "Braylen’s been teaching me to deal with them and to prevent them from happening as much. When I… ‘let go of control’, I guess would be the best term to describe it, I wasn’t looking for a specific event. This time, I was, and now I’m paying the price for it by having a throbbing headache."

"You need some aspirin?" Becky asked, grabbing her bag and started to rifle through.

"I can’t take aspirin." I said, sighing heavily. "I can’t take pills without choking on them."

"Seriously?"

"Callum, I swear to God-"

"I was just surprised, that’s all."

Braylen drummed his fingers against the counter top, not looking at our faces. "What if you did that with Keisha’s dad?"

"What do you mean? She can’t see the past." Becky said, throwing her hands up in the air exhaustedly.

"But maybe I can see the future and get clues on the past." I said hesitantly. "I can give it a shot, but I don’t know if I can do that with this dang headache."

Callum tossed me a water bottle he was drinking out of as he looked over at Braylen judgingly. "You are cool with her putting herself in danger like this?"

"I’m not okay with that, but sometimes sacrifices need to be made." Braylen said logically. "So far, Anna is our best bet on figuring out what exactly is going on. If she thinks that she has the ability to do this, then we shouldn’t stand in her way since we’ll be getting answers."

"You sound so cruel." Becky said angrily. "She is your girlfriend. Don’t you at least care-"

"I do care about her, which is why I’ll be going in there with her."

Callum crossed his arms, almost glaring at Braylen. "And how are you going to protect her if you can’t even-"

"THAT’S ENOUGH!" I yelled, instant regret filling my head as the throbbing intensified. Everyone froze, slowly turning towards me as I took a small sip of water. "All of you need to stop acting like children. Becky, I have already explained to you that Braylen and I are in a weird spot where we don’t know what we are. Leave us alone about it and try to understand that he wasn’t raised like the rest of us. He was raised to prioritize different things than us. Callum, you crossed a line that shouldn’t be crossed. You need to apologize. Braylen, I like you, but I don’t need you or anyone else to protect me, okay? My power, my decision. If it’ll help us figure out how Keisha’s father fits into this whole thing, then I’ll do it, but I don’t need any of you to decide that for me."

Everyone was silent for a couple minutes, the tension becoming so thick that we could cut it with a steak knife. Finally, Braylen sighed exhaustedly. "You’re right. You can protect yourself pretty well without my help. You getting a headache after this premonition just kinda freaked me out. I’m sorry."

"And… I have been teasing you about you and Braylen a lot recently." Becky admitted. "Sorry. About that and the slapping thing."

Callum sighed a bit, rolling his eyes slightly as he looked over at Braylen. "And I did cross a line. I shouldn’t have brought your family up. I’m sorry, dude. Seriously."

"It’s fine." Braylen said begrudgingly.

I stood up, getting off of the chair, my head spinning as I walked over to the door. Before opening the door, I looked over at the other people in the room. "Where exactly is the room that the others are in?"

"Follow me." Becky said exhaustedly, opening up the door and leading me down the hall until she opened a door. Everyone was inside, sitting around the table quietly talking.

It took a minute before anyone even noticed me, jumping a bit as the door closed. Trayvon looked up, giving me a concerned look. "What’s going on?"

"Have you gotten anything out of him?" I asked, sitting back down before I passed out from my throbbing head.

"No. He keeps saying the same thing." Erika said exhaustedly, taking a sip of coffee. "He doesn’t remember why he was even at the carnival in the first place. He’s… Not handling the interrogation well."

"What about you guys? Has Gretchen talked yet?" Keisha asked, wiping her nose. I noticed that her eyes were lined with red. She’d been crying, not that I blame her. I’d be crying too if everything I thought about my family had just exploded in front of me. Heck, I did when I found out that Mom had been cheating on Dad.

"Not exactly..." Becky said nervously.

"What do you mean, ‘not exactly’?" Trayvon asked cautiously.

Erika seemed to catch on rather quickly. "Anna, you didn’t."

"It was the only thing I could think of to get information." I said, taking another sip of the water bottle Callum gave me before we left the room.

"How did you get through the-"

"I disabled it to the point where she shape shifted out of it, then I grabbed her and got the premonition." I said, shrugging.

"We know what they’re planning though." Becky said casually.

"Then how did my dad fit into all of this. Why was he there?" Keisha asked angrily.

"We… We think that they were purchasing bombs from him." I said hesitantly.

Trayvon’s eyes widened, crossing his arms. "What are they planning on doing, bombing the venue The Super Awards are gonna be at?"

"Basically."

"He is going to-" Keisha started to say, quickly getting out of her seat.

"No, you’re going to stay in here." I said as Becky pushed her back down. "I’m going to be the one interrogating him."

Keisha’s eyes widened. "You mean you’re going to be getting a premonition off of my dad?"

"It might be the best way to figure out if he’s telling the truth in all of this." Becky said, putting her hand on Keisha’s shoulder. "I don’t like it that much either, but it might be the best way to figure out the truth, especially since your father isn’t talking."

"I don’t want to do this without you or your father’s permission." I said quickly. "Only reason I didn’t do it with permission from Gretchen is because I didn’t want her to know what I was doing since she works with F.E.R.R.E.T. and-"

"She would have relayed your power back to the rest of F.E.R.R.E.T." Trayvon interrupted. He leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "I don’t think that it’s a good idea-"

"Neither do I, if I’m being honest."

"But I think that it’s an idea that could work."

"Same here." Erika admitted. "I don’t want you to hurt yourself because you look like you’re in pain, but it could work."

"Does it hurt you when you do that?" Keisha asked cautiously.

"Not always. I… I tried to force a premonition, so I’ve had a splitting headache right now. I’ll survive."

"But did you succeed?" Erika asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. I did."

Keisha sighed heavily. "Anna, I don’t feel right about this situation."

"I know, I know. I don’t feel right about this either."

"No, you don’t understand." Keisha said quickly. "My dad lied to me for the first eight years of my life. If he’s lying about something, I would know because I know his tells. He isn’t lying to me. He doesn’t know why he was at the carnival tonight. I don’t like the idea of you going through his mind-"

"I don’t like this-"

"Let me finish." Keisha said, holding up a finger. "I don’t like the idea of this, but I understand that this is going to be the best bet of proving my father’s innocence in this situation. If you need to do it, do it."

"Okay." I nodded. I got out of my seat, my head slightly spinning, as I walked over to the door. I turned back to Becky and the others. "I’ll be back in a minute."

Mr. Clark was sitting peacefully at the table, handcuffed hands out in front of him, held together as if he was praying. He was a large man with much darker skin than Keisha with thinning black hair. He was growing some facial hair, which contrasted from his ‘golden age’ look, which is what Dad likes to call the period of time when Brain Dump was active. Back in the day, he had a clean shaven face and a skinny body, but now he was more bulky. He was almost unrecognizable. When he saw me walk in, he sat up a bit straighter. "I don’t know you..."

"I’m Anneliese Andrews."

Mr. Clark’s eyes widened. "You’re Anneliese. Kiki’s told me a lot about you."

I sat down across from him, assuming that Kiki must be his nickname of Keisha. "I just want to ask you a couple questions, Mr. Clark."

"First off, you can call me Calvin." Calvin said, leaning back in his chair. "Second off, I already told my daughter that-"

"I know, sir. And I believe you."

"You do?"

"I do. And I would like to do something to prove that."

"I’ll do anything to prove my innocence." Calvin said, looking down at his hands on the table. "I can’t do this again. I already promised Kiki that I wouldn’t do this again. I broke her trust when she was younger. I can’t do this to her again."

"You’re not going to like what I’m going to suggest."

"Why?"

"Did Keisha tell you about my powers?"

"She didn’t tell me you had multiple. Just the electricity thing. You mean you have more than one power?"

"I can see into the future of a person when I touch them."

Calvin’s eyes widened. "So you want to get into my head and see a possible future to figure out why I was there?"

"Basically." I said, sighing heavily. "I understand if you don’t want me to do that, but-"

"Go for it."

I paused for a second. "Are you saying that you’re okay with me going into your mind?"

Calvin nodded. "Yes. If this is going to help prove my innocence, then of course I’m okay with it."

"Okay." I said, putting my hands on the metal table, identical to the table in Gretchen’s room. "Both of my powers work through energy transfer. I’ve managed to do this once or twice by not touching the human physically. If I need to touch your skin, I will, but I’m going to try and do this without touching you, okay?"

"Okay. Just take your time."

I nodded, taking a deep breath as I closed my eyes, concentrating on sending my energy to Calvin so I could try and get a reading off of him.

Right away, I slipped away somewhere inside of Calvin’s mind. This was already different than other times I’ve done this because I actually had some sort of control over what I was seeing. I looked over to my right, seeing some exchange going on. I started moving over, walking into the scene and feeling the ground beneath my feet. This was definitely different from my other premonitions where I was a passive viewer. It felt like I was physically here. The only thing ruining the illusion was the fact that I could barely see anything past the scene. The furthest thing I could see was a big blue sign, but the letters were so blurry that it just looked like a big red smudge.

Calvin was standing blankly in some alley in the middle of the day, two giant crates standing next to him, with Zelena, Gretchen, Jill, and two guys I didn’t know blocking the pathway out. He was trapped.

"Did he bring the stuff?" Zelena asked as the two guys investigated the crates. When they opened them up, I saw the bombs from the premonition I got from Gretchen.

"He should have." Jill said, looking at Calvin angrily. "It’s not like he has much of a choice right now. He’s under my control."

‘Under her control’? What did that mean?

My question was soon answered as Jill pulled a small doll with what looked like a bracelet tied around the neck. The bracelet was pink, blue, and green all braided together with white beads throughout. One of the guys scoffed when he saw the doll. "I am so creeped out by that freaky voodoo stuff you do."

"It’s not voodoo." Jill argued, crossing her arms. "Voodoo was a type of language for slaves back in the 1800’s to show where they were hurting. It wasn’t evil. I am simply using it as a talisman to control him just like I’m doing with Junior."

"Where even is Junior’s doll?" Gretchen asked.

"In my possession until he is no longer needed." Jill said, looking over at Zelena. She was almost glaring at her, something you wouldn't normally do to a friend. I followed Jill’s ticked off gaze and saw Zelena looking directly at me. I felt my heart sink, my body freezing up. Zelena formed a ball of electricity in her hands. "Z… What are you looking at?"

"Someone is watching us." Zelena stated, staring right into my eyes. How can she see me? I’m usually invisible when I’m seeing the future. Maybe it’s because everything here feels more real.

"What are you talking about? There’s no one there." One of the guys said, motioning to me as if I was empty space.

"I bet it’s that Andrews girl if it’s anyone." Gretchen said angrily. "When I tried to get away a couple days ago, she grabbed me and sent some kind of electrical charge through me and forced me to pass out. I bet it’s that premonition shit Junior told us about."

I froze. How did they know about my premonitions? The only people I’ve told are the people in Y.A.K.S.. And who was this Junior person they kept mentioning?

"Well, maybe we should kick her out, huh?" Jill asked, glaring daggers in my direction.

"I completely agree." Zelena said, throwing the lightning ball directly at my chest.

I instantly got thrown out of the premonition, electricity lightly shocking Calvin’s hands. Calvin shot his hands back. "Ow..."

"I’m so sorry!" I quickly apologized.

"It’s fine." Calvin said quickly. He gave me a cautious look. "You looked lost in thought. Your eyes… They were glowing bright blue. It kinda spooked me a bit so I didn’t notice the shock."

"I’m still sorry." I said quickly. I looked down at his wrist, noticing some lighter skin surrounded by darker skin. "Are you missing something on your wrist?"

Calvin looked down at his wrist, tilting his head. "Um… Yes, actually. When Keisha was younger, she made me this bracelet that I always wear. It fell off a couple weeks ago and I’ve been looking around our house for it."

"What color was it?"

"It was three colors." Calvin explained. "Pink, blue, and-"

"Green? With white beads? It’s braided?" I interrupted.

Calvin paused, giving me a confused look. "Yes. How did you know that? Did Kiki tell you?"

"My suggestion is that you stay in your house and have as many people watch you as possible." I said quickly getting up and walking towards the door.

"What did you see?" Calvin asked.

"I’ll tell Keisha that you weren’t in control of yourself. You just need to hide in your apartment for as long as possible." I said, opening the door and quickly walking down the hall.

Becky came running down the hall, followed by Keisha and Erika. Becky grabbed me by my shoulders, shaking me steady. "Anna, what happened in there?"

I looked over at Keisha. "Your father is still good, Keisha. He isn’t in control of his actions. F.E.R.R.E.T. is controlling him and he can’t choose what to do in different-"

"Anneliese, concentrate on me, okay?" Erika said, gently pushing Becky out of the way. "What happened?"

"Zelena almost killed me." I said, my body shaking uncontrollably. "I saw the future, she somehow saw me, and she tried to hit me with a lightning ball. Everything felt so much more real this time, I could feel the ground, Erika. Only time I’ve felt something like was when Herbstreit grabbed me, and-"

"Anna, it’s okay." Erika said, pulling me into a hug. I looked down at my hands, purple electricity sparking in my hands.

I quickly pushed Erika away. "No, you can’t touch me! I can’t control my power right now and I don’t want to hurt you!"

"You won’t hurt me." Erika said gently.

"But I-"

"You won’t because you care about me." Erika looked over at Becky. "Go get Braylen. He’ll know the best way to calm Anna down when she’s like this."

Becky nervously nodded. She ran down the hallway quickly, as if she was desperate to get away from me. Keisha looked up at me as Trayvon stood in the doorway of the observation room. Keisha looked up at me, eyes wide. "What happened in there? Your eyes were glowing and then you shocked him-"

"How long was I out?"

"Just a couple seconds." Trayvon asked. "Why, did you break the matrix or something?"

"Everything… It all felt more real. I could actually feel the ground beneath my feet." I said uneasily.

"What about my dad?" Keisha asked. "What did you see about him?"

"Jill, Zelena’s friend, is controlling him with some voodoo doll type thing." I said, taking a deep breath. "That’s why he was there tonight. He didn’t have a choice."

"I thought you needed something personal for something like that." Erika said casually, cautiously looking over at Keisha.

"It’s his bracelet, right?" Trayvon asked. "She somehow got that bracelet that Keisha made her dad when we were in Kindergarten and attached it to a doll that she’s using to control him. That’s why you asked Mr. Clark about the bracelet, right?"

I nodded sharply. "Yeah."

"And what was that thing about Zelena you mentioned?" Keisha asked cautiously.

"She somehow knew that I was there."

"She knew that you were there in the future?" Trayvon asked, giving me a confused look. "I thought you told us that you were simply a passive observer whenever you see people’s futures in that group chat we made without Damian in it since we were lazy to ask for his number."

"Well, she did almost die from getting choked by Herbstreit in a premonition..." Keisha said uneasily. "Maybe the more she forces her way into premonitions, the more realistic they become."

"Good theory, but this is only the third time I’ve attempted to get a premonition of my own free will. Why would I get the feeling like I’m about to die on my third time?"

"What I’m concerned about is how Zelena knew you were there." Erika said cautiously. "I mean.. If you’re a passive observer, then how did she not only know you were there, but also zero in on you to the point that she can accurately throw a ball of lightning at you?"

"How would I know!" I asked, growing frustrated.

"Maybe it has to do with the fact that you and Zelena are connected." Trayvon suggested. "You two got your powers at the same time from the same event. Maybe your powers are connected because of that."

"That doesn’t excuse the fact that she tried to kill Anna though." Erika said angrily. "They were friends for crying out loud. Even if I got into a fight with one of you guys and we stopped being friends, I wouldn’t attempt to stuff some watermelon seeds down your throat to try and kill you."

"Zelena isn’t a good person, Erika."

"I know, but still." Erika said hesitantly. "What did you do to her to make her want to kill you so badly?"

"I didn’t do anything!" I said in a panicked voice. "I was tired of being her henchman and bullying people, so I fought back. Zelena didn’t like that, we fought, I exploded our Kitchen Aid mixer and a toaster, and we stopped being friends. That’s all that happened!"

"That was a real gentle way of phrasing that, Erika." Keisha said, sighing heavily.

"I’m just saying that Zelena seems to hate you with a burning passion to try and electrocute you. Didn’t mean for that to come out so harshly." Erika apologized.

Becky came running down the hall with Callum and Braylen, all three of them bloody and bruised. Koda seemed relatively fine as he walked over and sat down next to me. My eyes widened as I felt my heartbeat speed up. "What… What happ-"

"We’re okay." Braylen said walking forward and pulling me in for a hug, as if he was trying his best to calm me down despite the fact that his blood was dripping from his nose and onto my shoulder.

"What happened?"

"Nothing big."

"Nothing big?" Becky asked exasperatedly. "Gretchen escaped, and you’re calling it ‘nothing big’!"

"GRETCHEN GOT OUT!" Keisha shrieked.

"I wasn’t going to mention that because Anna is already freaking out, Rebecca." Braylen said snarkily, releasing himself from his hug and grabbed my hand tightly as if for reassurance. "Wouldn’t hurt for you to deal with that a little more lightly."

"Well, sorry that I’m trying to tell things the way they are." Becky said, lifting her hands up defensively.

Trayvon looked over at me cautiously. "Is Gretchen in that premonition you had?"

I nodded. "She mentioned me forcing my way into her mind to Zelena and the others in the premonition."

"Well, that’s just great." Callum said, sighing heavily. "Did they say anything else?"

"They… Said that there were two people under Jill’s control. Keisha’s dad and some kid they call Junior." As soon as I said that, Braylen’s eyes widened, a look of fear in his eyes. "Braylen, are you good?"

"Callum, Anna, we need to talk." Braylen said quickly.

"Why not all of us?" Becky asked, crossing her arms.

"Because you need first aid." Erika said, crossing her arms.

"So do them."

"Koda and I can handle it, right boy?" I asked, looking down at Koda.

Koda stood up, wagging his tail excitedly. "Yeah! We can handle it!"

"Come on." Braylen said, dragging me down the hall as Koda walked beside me, Callum nervously following behind as we walked inside the interrogation room that Gretchen was originally in. The room was a mess, the table flipped over and the chairs pushed into the different corners of the room. Callum reached over to a first aid kit that was in a hidden compartment in the wall, pulling up a chair and setting down the kit.

Callum looked over at Braylen, who was still tightly holding my hand. "Okay, so why are we separated exactly?"

"I know who Junior is." Braylen said. We all froze looking over at him cautiously.

"How?" Koda asked, laying down on the ground.

"He practically looks like his father, so a lot of his family members call him Junior."

"Okay… Then who is Junior?" I asked, looking over at Braylen, knowing where he was going.

"Who is the one person who isn’t here?"

"You have to be more specific Braylen." Callum said exhaustedly. "It's past my bedtime and I'm not thinking straight."

I raised an eyebrow. "First off, you still have a bedtime?"

"It's self inflicted!"

"And second, when have you ever thought straight?"

"Well, I can't say that I was thinking gay, can I?"

"Guys, I know that it's late, but can we please focus?" Braylen begged.

"Right."

"Sorry."

"Who is the one member of Y.A.K.S. who isn’t with us right now?" Braylen clarified.

"There’s a lot of members who aren’t currently with us right now. You need to be more specific than that."

"Callum-"

"Gimme a break, Anneliese. It’s like… One in the morning." Callum said, rubbing his eyes as he grabbed a band aid, putting it on the bridge of his nose since it was cut, sliding the chair over to Braylen.

Braylen pulled out his phone. "Eleven thirty. Nowhere close to one."

"Close enough."

"Callum, focus. Who is the one member of Y.A.K.S. who is not currently in the same building as us?" I reiterated.

Callum closed his eyes, sighing heavily. "You have got to be fucking kidding me."

"I’m afraid not." Braylen said sadly. "Junior is Damian."

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