Post by tonilous on Aug 1, 2014 2:09:43 GMT -5
Laura heard the sound of the outcry and the broken window. She heard Adam's door slam and footsteps go running down the hall, and then down the stairs, possibly to check on his handiwork. She held her breath. Adam must be going after Noel, wherever he was. Time to go. With Adam gone, she could go another way and find people. She could find her brother and everyone.
Laura waited, ear pressed to the door. When she heard complete silence, she counted to ten mentally. And then she threw open the door and ran down the hallway—
—straight into Adam's arms.
"Oh, hello, Laura." Adam smiled.
Completely aghast, Laura gaped at him. "…What…?"
A powerful push—hands slammed into a small body. Laura fell into the supply closet and slammed into the shelves with a sharp cry, cleaning materials clattering down. Splinters pierced her palms. The door slammed and everything plunged into darkness.
"No!" she threw herself forward and slammed into the door, fists pounding. "Let me out!"
"Little girls should be seen and not heard…" she could practically hear him smiling. That same gentle smile.
"You can't do this!" Laura screamed. "Felix! Felix!"
"He's out. It's Parents' Night…and as prefect, he's busy." Sound of a key tinkling as the hand that held it left it right at the doorknob. "But I'll tell him you're okay. I wouldn't hurt you. You're just a little girl. I couldn't do that."
"Felix!"
"No one can hear you. They're away. But…you already know that. That's why you went into my room, right?"
"I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!"
"I'm really sorry, Laura. I really am. But…I have to protect him. There's so many people here who are hurting him. You understand, don't you?"
Laura's heart was in her throat. She looked around desperately. It was already darkening out, the last time she looked. But when she saw nothing but blackness, felt nothing but walls and shelving, she knew she was trapped.
He was going. She heard his footsteps. He was leaving. He was going to finally get what he wanted.
Laura closed her eyes, fighting back tears and failing. She choked back a sob of helplessness.
They just can't be too late to stop this. They were always just in time. Surely Danny would know by now. Or Merril. Or Spencer. Or Felix. Felix had to know by now!
Washington can't be too late.
-8-
"This is really bad…" Patrick muttered as he paced backstage. After a few minutes in Jefferson, Diana and Patrick rushed to the halls, where they both made it back to the Pipers in time for Pentland's long, frightening speech.
The Twins were performing first, but Damian would be next and he needed to be here already, and no sign of the McGintys or Minah could be found. Worse, while Grace wasn't singing lead for the event, she did attend some of the practices and Pentland and Gregor fully expected her to be there as well to at least back the others up. And yet she hadn't shown up.
"They can't both be missing," Charlotte said finally, looking very tense and stressed from where she was sitting. She had performed in front of parents before for Winter Fest, true, but this was different. It was a little bit more discerning. And secondly, both Damian and Grace were missing in action.
Pentland didn't look pleased. He glanced out again to the crowd where all the parents watched the current performance going on right now. He had three leads missing—Damian, Grace, and Darren. One of them had an explanation. Two didn't.
"Are you sure that none of you can tell me where Darren is right now?" he looked at the singers. "If there is a problem, you know I do expect you to tell me, right?"
They all looked at each other. "Um…" The Twins, who were preparing to perform, looked a little nervous. Pentland looked at all of them. He didn't even look angry, he only looked deeply concerned. As far as he concerned, things had been going exceptionally well for everyone—until tonight. Something was clearly wrong.
Charlotte looked around at the others, and they only looked at her as though they expected her to be the one to be the leader. Charlotte took a deep breath and stood, shaking her head as she looked back to Pentland. "Sir, I'm afraid I have to tell you that we're not confident that Darren is capable of doing anything right now except breathe."
"What happened?" Pentland frowned.
The singers stood still, not really sure of what to do or say. How do they even explain it? Pentland stared at them all and then let out his breath. "Does this have anything to do with his father being here?"
"Yes and no," Patrick replied quietly. "Let's just say that this night will become unpleasant very quickly if his father sees him in the state he is in."
"Unfortunately," said Bailey, looking nervous, "His father and stepmother seem to be expecting him."
"Is he going to be okay?" Pentland asked, real concern in his tone. "Is he ill? He was in the grounds prior to this."
"We don't know yet, sir," The Twins replied, looking anxious. "We last saw him being led off by the other Adams. We haven't heard from them yet."
"But I can tell you that he's being looked after by his friends," Charlotte piped up. She looked up at Mr. Pentland. "He's expected to be all right probably in time for the last performance. He really wanted to perform sir, you saw how hard he worked during practices. If it hadn't been for the prefects' meeting, he would've dueled for the lead, we all know that."
So they did. Pentland looked deep in thought. He looked anxious as he looked among his singers, who did also look rather worried about the situation. Damian, Grace,and Darren were gone. They had to all be rounded up. If Darren wasn't well, as the others suggest, then maybe he was better off not performing at all. But unfortunately, if his father was expecting him, then something had to be done. He knew what Senator Wright was like—there had been plenty of stress in the last performance he attended. And after Darren had begun doing so well, it wouldn't be good to place him in hot water now—everything will be for nothing, especially after Charlotte and Damian's efforts to help him.
But he needed to look after the others as well. Something had to be done and fast. He looked to Charlotte. "You did say Damian had gone with his family. Did he say if he was still going to perform?"
"Yes sir, he told me to go ahead and that he'll see us here in the hall, but I haven't heard from him yet either," Charlotte replied, frowning a little. "I think he may still be in the grounds with his mother and brother. They had a very serious family issue earlier and they could still be working it out with his mother."
So Mr. McGinty didn't come… Pentland thought, looking worried. He'd also heard about Damian's father. Many families in sticky situations right now—he knew that Grace was gone because she was pressed by her mother's expectations on the Art Exhibit too. They needed to buy some time.
"You think you can still go find him, Charlotte?" Pentland asked. "You don't have to go on for at least another half hour."
The diva was already pulling out her phone. "I'm going to go find him and Grace."
"Okay. Now listen, all of you. I want all of you out there and doing your best. Lucas, Logan—" the Twins looked up to their teacher, "—you know what to do, go break a leg out there. Charlotte, you're to go out and find Damian right now because he's coming up after the twins and the next round of performances. At least see if he and his family are doing all right. If not, you'll go in for his spot. See if you can get a hold of Grace, too while you're out there. Bailey, Thad, Louisa—go see Darren straight after the performance. I don't even want to know if he's performing, I just want to know if he'll be all right. I'm going to try and see if we can manage to give him some kind of performance if he's well enough to do it."
He looked around at the singers intently. "For the moment, I don't want you all to think of anything but this right now. The performance. We have some setbacks, but that's part of it. We'll get this done. We're going to be okay, all right? You all have worked very hard, and no matter what, I'm sure you're going to do great. Just remember who you're singing for out there. And after this, we'll get it all straightened out, all right?"
"Yes sir," the Pipers chorused, smiling at him. Pentland nodded at Charlotte. "Go find Damian and Grace. Lucas, Logan, the stage is yours. Everyone go."
Pulling out her phone, Charlotte immediately ducked out of the backstage and moved out to the sidelines at Orion Hall. Lights went down, and the curtain rose. All eyes were aimed to the curtain onstage. She ended up shoving her phone back to her pocket, when she realized a hundreds of tiny pinpoint lights were lighting up all over the hall—coming from the décor, the tables, within the flowers in the arrangements on the table. Hundreds of tiny little lights that shone through the darkness, making the audience pleasantly surprised as they glowed.
Charlotte began to smile when she remembered what the Twins were singing.
The identical boys led, standing in front of the stage. They weren't quite looking at the audience—more to one person in particular.
Charlotte noticed her immediately—a tall girl in her mid to late twenties, in a beautiful dress, with long dark hair, seated near the stage with all the most important people and alumni in the school. Among all the other people in the audience, she was surrounded with the most lights coming from the heap of white roses in her arms.
The Twins were smiling at her as the other Pipers began to sing amidst the lights. But to Charlotte's surprise, as the other Pipers began the intro, the Twins were already moving. They kept their bodies still for now, but their very expressive hands were making gestures, all the while keeping their smiling eyes fastened onto the girl at the table.
And when they began to sing, they became infinitely more expressive with their voices, hands, and bodies, as they gestured in fluid, elegant movements that were like a second song in itself.
As the audience murmured in very pleased surprise, Charlotte stood, mesmerized by the expressive movement of the Twins that painted as much color as their voices. A little girl with another family who sat near Charlotte seemed to brighten up immensely at the sight of the twins, and she too started to gesture excitedly, partially mimicking the twins as she did. And another student—one of the Washington boys—was beaming as he signed something to his friends. Charlotte saw the hearing aid in his ear, and she realized what the twins were doing.
Sign language… she realized, watching them. The Twins were "singing" in sign language. And they were smiling very sweetly at the girl at the table the whole time.
Charlotte beamed at the two in spite of herself as they moved onstage. The girl at the table stared up at them with surprised eyes that misted up in emotion as she put a hand to her chest as though to express her emotion.
Lucas and Logan winked at the girl at the table. The girl's chest seemed to swell with love. She made a gesture that Charlotte immediately knew could only be "I love you." The Pipers were grinning with the twins as they sang, voices soaring up to the rafters, the Twins taking the command of the song with all their movements and their voices. The girl never took her eyes from them.
"Audrey Brightman," came a soft voice next to Charlotte. She looked up and saw Ms. Gregor standing there, watching the Twins with a smile, and the girl that they were clearly singing to. "Their older sister. Much older sister. I understand that she practically raised them both since Mr. and Mrs. Brightman were away so much. They're very close, all three of them."
"Is she…" Charlotte began, and Gregor nodded, "She's deaf. Her situation is a little more complicated than others, so conventional methods such as hearing aids and cochlear implants aren't as effective. The Twins learned sign language from when they were very small so they could talk to her."
Charlotte nodded and turned back to the pair onstage, smiling a little. She began to understand why the Twins were so passionate about practice and about winning the lead spot for the performance. Why they seemed to be practicing restlessly in their room. They had never done the sign language during practice, meaning it to be a surprise for everyone, but it was evident that all the time they were locked up in their room and music was playing, they rehearsed everything.
They had to have planned all the "fireflies" in the hall. Even the flowers in Audrey's arms—Charlotte remembered seeing them with the Twins as they ran around preparing for the night. They were determined sing to her to the very best of their ability, as she was, without a doubt, their most beloved talking flower of all.
The "fireflies" seemed to rise in intensity now, floating amidst the dimness of the hall and twinkling like so many stars.
"They have always always wanted to sing to their sister," Gregor murmured softly, watching the identical boys continue to perform onstage with their bright smiles and highly expressive voices and gestures, keeping the entire audience absolutely spellbound. "And…I fear that their big struggle is that she could never hear their voices as much as they'd want her to."
"That's not true…" Charlotte replied with a small smile, watching the Twins and their sister, who looked barely able to control the tears in her eyes. "…I think…that they're singing to her well enough to have the desired effect. Their voices right now are just fine."
With each fluid movement of their hands and bodies, the expression of their eyes and features, the Twins didn't need their sister to hear the sound. They were singing to her—singing to her in a way that touched her, like no voice in this planet could match to even if she could hear.
Charlotte smiled, nodded to Gregor and fled to go find Damian and Grace. The Twins and the Pipers continued to sing to the congregation.
When the Pipers finished, the entire Hall erupted into applause and cheers. Audrey Brightman was applauding harder than everyone else. Some people rose to their feet, applauding to the Pipers as they performed, and the little girl that Charlotte had earlier seen was bouncing up and down in excitement. The Washington boy with the hearing aid rose to his feet, applauding—and everyone got to their feet in a standing ovation.
The Twins ran to the edge of the stage, bowing exuberantly to everyone and clearly reveling in the spotlight. Audrey leapt to her feet and ran to the stage without hesitation. The Twins hurried to her and reached down, hugging their sister as she tried to hug them both, weeping in spite of herself.
The Twins only smiled as they hugged her, kissing her cheeks and giving her two white roses that was on a single long stem, each of them with a "firefly" in the middle. She gestured her thanks and love to them and kissed them again before stepping back, waving to them lightly as they retreated backstage, still smiling.
-8-
(Location: Art Hall.)
Charlotte held the phone to her ear as she walked down the garden path, a frown etched into her face. She had decided to walk around all of South and Main, trying to catch sight of Damian and Mrs. McGinty but so far had no luck. And then after a moment—
"Damian McGinty, your phone better be crushed in the sidewalk somewhere because there's no reason you should not be answering it right now!" Charlotte glowered as she went. Then she rolled her eyes and continued leaving the voicemail. "Fine. You're having a moment. That's great. I'm really really proud of you, but you kind of have to be in Orion Hall right now—you're going to be up in under…what, ten minutes? Because if you don't get there right now, I'll happily take your spot, I'm just telling you—"
She stopped when she heard her phone beep and she glared at it. The battery was low. Today had been so crazy that she didn't have the chance to charge it. Groaning, she put it into his pocket and decided to look for Grace, who had to be in the Art Hall panicking. At least she was fairly sure that her friend would be there.
Trudging steadily towards the Art Hall, she squinted in the darkness. If it hadn't been for the path lights, she would have missed it. It was completely dark, save for mild orange flickering of what looked like candlelight inside, which she found extremely odd. She knew that the Art Club can be eccentric in their ways, but surely they didn't intend on holding the entire exhibit by candlelight?
She jogged up the steps and pushed the door open. Everything was dead quiet.
The first floor was empty. Everything seemed to be set and ready, with all the nice cocktail tables and the flower arrangements and the lit candles, but this candlelight obviously wasn't meant to be the only source of light in the entire floor, or building for that matter. Frowning, she looked around.
"Grace?" she called. "Grace, are you in here?"
No answer. But when she went up to the staircase, heard something clank from the floor above. There was the sound of a door closing, and footsteps approaching.
Frowning, Charlotte headed upstairs to the second floor, feeling a little apprehensive and trying to feel her way through the dark. The candlelight definitely shouldn't be the only light. "Grace!" she called.
"Oh. I was just about to come get you."
Charlotte stopped on the staircase and blinked. That voice wasn't—
There was crash through the darkness and Charlotte met full impact—she screamed—she went flying down the wood staircase. She tried to stop herself from falling, grasping in the dark but only managed to skid her fall a little, wood slamming to palm and sending tearing pain up her wrists, right before crashed onto the landing, coughing and the pain shooting up her back and body.
A deep sigh in the darkness. "You guys really don't know when to quit. How could you do this?" footsteps coming down the staircase. "Are you all really that selfish? Can't you see that you're only killing her slowly by keeping her here…?"
She was used to pain after all that bullying back at Huntington, but nothing like this. Hardly paying attention, Charlotte coughed painfully, tasting blood in her mouth. She couldn't move her right arm and her ankle screamed in white heat every time she tried to move it. That was when the footsteps stopped in front of her, and she saw a pair of sneakered feet. She winced, looking up—and barely had enough time to register who she was looking at when a strong hand grabbed her and pulled her up.
"Hello, Alice." A hand tightened grip on her already painful arm. Charlotte stumbled on her bad ankle and crashed into one of the cocktail tables with a sharp cry. Her world exploded into pain as she hit the floor with a sickening impact.
She could smell roses. And something else.
A powerful hand clamped down and through the burning sensation riddling through her body, she saw someone bending down to her. Charlotte blinked through the ache and realized, through the candlelight, who she was looking at.
"Tell me," Adam said softly. "Where's Juliet?"
Charlotte could only choke in response. Adam very calmly repeated his question. "Where is she, Charlotte?"
If there was anything worse than what she was feeling right now, it was that sickening feeling deep in Charlotte's gut that she, as usual, was right all along. Her instincts had been screaming it at her for the past few days, but she had convinced herself otherwise.
She was right. Someone dangerous was in school. Someone was after them.
And she was right—it was Adam.
Charlotte let out a sob. "What is the matter with you?" she choked. "Why are you doing this?"
"You didn't answer my question," Adam sighed. He took something out. It gleamed in the candlelight.
Adam leaned down very closely and whispered to her ear, very gently, "Tell me."
He's insane—he's completely insane—Charlotte squeezed her eyes shut. She just shook her head, scared out of her mind.
"I really don't want to do this to you, Alice."
"Stop calling me that!"
"I just…I have to know," Adam said softly, pleading.
"So…" Charlotte tried to catch her breath, "…so you can hurt them?" She stared at him, angry, scared, and in pain all at the same time, hating him. Who else did this psychopath want…? Juliet? …Darren? Everyone? "I…can't tell you."
Adam closed his eyes, his face crumpling a little bit as though he were going to cry. "Please don't make me. I really don't want to do this…I really don't…"
"Then…don't." Charlotte stared at him, trying to breathe.
"I have to. I have to protect her. Don't you understand…?" Adam's hold tightened. "Don't any of you understand? I'm trying to protect her! She's so scared…And I have to be there—"
"You have no idea what scared is," Charlotte choked at him. "Do you even know what you're doing right now? What did you do to Grace? Where is she?"
Adam stared at her. For a moment, he seemed to waver as though he wanted to just run. Charlotte stared at him, a terrible thought coming to her mind. "Where's Damian? What did you do to Damian?"
That roused the boy. Adam stood up, eyes blazing and his body shaking, pulling Charlotte up with him. "Damian—you only ever care about Damian. You and your boyfriend. You're another reason—you're the reason—that everything went wrong!" He pushed Charlotte to the nearest wall, snarling in her face. "You're the one everyone keeps looking at. You're always the center of attention. You're the one who Darren cares about and that makes Juliet unhappy! You're the reason for everything!"
Charlotte found herself flying to the ground again. He's really gone insane… she thought miserably as she tried to get up and failed. What is he going to do to us…?
Adam didn't seem to want to wait for answers. He started pulling Charlotte upstairs, presumably to take her where he had put Grace earlier. Charlotte winced with each forced step and she had no choice but to comply. "Please don't do this…" Charlotte whispered as Adam pulled her up, heading towards the third floor. "You don't have to do this, you don't."
"I do." Adam tugged her along, and Charlotte realized that he was actually being surprisingly attentive to the fact that Charlotte was injured. He didn't try to make her any worse at the moment.
"What are you going to do…?"
"You're going to sit upstairs." Adam's eyes stayed stonily up at the third floor, as they ascended the glass steps. "And you…you're going to watch."
"Watch what?"
"You're going to watch me and Juliet be happy at last. You're going to sit and be quiet and not get in the way. For once. Then you'll see how wrong you were in trying to stop us from being together."
They entered the third floor. Charlotte blinked into the sudden brightness of the candlelight—they were everywhere. Charlotte could smell candlewax and feel the heat building from all the lights. Adam kept pulling her along until they reached the inner room—the same one where Grace was supposed to be holding her exhibit.
And there Grace was.
The other girl had become conscious again and Charlotte's heart sank at the sight of the curls that had been partially matted red, and the fact that her friend was bound and gagged. "Grace!" she gasped.
"I didn't mean to do that to her," Adam said, sounding unhappy. "I didn't think she'd be in here. But I guess she can watch too. As long as she stays quiet." He unceremoniously dropped Charlotte next to Grace. Grace was squirming as hard as she could until the gag fell loose.
"Charlotte!" she gasped. "Oh my god—" She looked at Adam. "Why did you bring her here? She didn't do—mmph!"
Adam easily replaced the gag on Grace with a sigh. "She was here looking for you. I'm sorry. Really. I just can't have any more of you getting in the way. I have to go get Juliet, you know…"
Adam moved on to bind Charlotte down as well—pointless, seeing as how she could barely move already. Adam sighed. "Why do people always have to be in the way…? First there's you, and now Charlotte had to be here… If I hadn't gotten the others out of the way early—"
"You poisoned Darren?" Charlotte choked as she struggled through the bindings.
"I didn't, I promise," Adam replied, staring at her. "I just had to get him out of the way a little. If he was still running around, he'd get in the way. And besides, Juliet would like him a lot less now that he's a mess like that."
"You could've killed him," Charlotte protested, ducking the gag Adam was trying to put in her mouth.
"You're right," Adam agreed. "But after all the pain he gave Juliet…is that such a bad thing? Nobody likes him. He's too horrible. He doesn't deserve it."
"And you do?" Charlotte cried before Adam successfully stuffed the gag in.
Adam stared at the two Jeffersons and sighed. "I've done nothing but protect her all this time. Tonight she'll know it's all me. And she's going to realize everything I've done for her. She'll know it was me who looked after her all this time. And then we'll leave you all. We'll be happy. It won't be long now."
He got up and walked to the door, Grace crying behind him. Charlotte glanced at her friend, angrily struggling at her bindings in spite of the pain that ricocheted through her with each movement. She tried to think of what she could do.
They'll come looking for us. They'll have to. The program doesn't end for another hour… In an hour we could all be… Charlotte swallowed and closed her eyes. But they'll come looking for us. He can't get away, he can't—
Charlotte looked up when she remembered. Noel! Noel knows! He's been doing stuff all this time and snooping around Adam—he'll know, he'll warn the others! They'll come get us!
Grace had slumped down to the floor, trying to breathe. She was crying in pain, or so it seemed, and Charlotte could see that she needed bandages on her head quickly. Charlotte closed her eyes, willing herself to be strong.
Damian will come looking for us… once he comes back and finds out I'm missing he'll come looking. And they'll all put two and two together—
They have to come for us. They just have to.
-8-
(Simultaneously: Adams House)
"Just bring him upstairs and keep him there until he's back to his senses!"
"What? Why does it have to be me, D? He listens to you!"
"Yeah, but for some insane reason, after that incident in Pipers' Hall, the only person he's listening to is Charlotte, who is not here, and you! So take him upstairs!"
"And? What? Tie him down so he doesn't wander off?"
"Well, take some of his stuff off. He'll get his uniform all wrinkled if you don't and they say he needs to breathe—"
"I'm not taking his clothes off, Derek!"
Derek dragged a hand down his face. The three of them were back in Adams House, and seemingly the only people there. After they finally managed to drag their lost friend up towards their House, he proceeded to be useless. Whatever he ingested has not worn off yet, leaving Juliet and Derek to actually keep guard of him in the common room.
That is, until Darren started to doze off and fell face first into his coffee cup. But by far this was probably the best thing to happen—maybe he'll be better when he had a nap.
Derek's patience was at an end. The whole time they were there, Juliet had alternated between fretting and whining, like she usually did, and Derek was starting to fray at the edges. Not only did he spend the whole time making sure that the house was safe, that Darren wasn't choking on anything, that everyone was calm and that the rest of the House was doing all right, but he had to make sure that his two friends remained sane and unharmed even from each other.
So he snapped. "Jules! Just go do it, stop being such a drama queen! You're already leaving! We don't have time! Just do this one last thing for him, will you? This one last thing! And then…fine. Leave."
Juliet stared at her friend. Derek was pacing the common room, completely over the edge. "You know what, I didn't think I would ever say this, but I'm kind of glad you're going! And you want to know why? Because for once, for once, you came to the conclusion that would keep you safe which is tantamount to looking after yourself which Darren has yet to be able to do! It means that I can breathe, that I don't have to worry about you running around in this vastly-underprotected-but-should-be-better-protected school where you wouldn't listen to me about needing help and now Darren is drugged and there's probably a psycho maniac running around school and you still won't let us go and tell anyone and now it's too late to do that without causing utter panic and outrage throughout campus with all our parents here and his father is here and my father is here and—"
"Derek!" Juliet ran to him and grabbed his shoulders, shaking him. "Derek! Stop!"
Derek stared at her, breathing hard. And then he sank. Right into an armchair he sank, head in his hands. Juliet knelt in front of him staring at him with marked concern. "…D…come on breathe. Just…breathe."
"I can't do this anymore, Juliet…I freaking can't." Derek's voice broke where he sat with his face hidden in his hands. "It's too much to do, too much to take, all of it, and I'm too tired. Would it be…would it just be too much to ask…for you and Darren to just get your mess straightened out? What is the matter with the both of you?"
Juliet stared at her friend. And then she looked at Darren, who was staring out the window listlessly. His hand rested on the armrest of his chair, fingers lightly moving as though playing a piano. Clearly still out of it. Juliet turned back to Derek, who had not moved from where he tried to choke back a sob.
Juliet closed her eyes. I did this. I did all of this. I can't even blame my messed up stalker—I could've avoided all of this. I did this.
"Okay."
Derek looked up. Juliet stared at him and clasped a hand on his shoulder. "I told you earlier." She glanced out for a moment and then back at him. "I told you that I saw Sawyer earlier. I'll find him and go back to LA with him. I'm out of here. You don't have to worry anymore. I'm done. It's done."
Derek stared back at her. He paused for a minute, then he said, "Look, Jules…I didn't mean that to sound like—"
"No, I know," Juliet replied, nodding. "I know, don't worry. I just…" she exhaled. "It's not fair to you. We're grown people, we should be able to look out for ourselves. And really, D, you're much better at being a jerk than you are at being a martyr." She smiled.
Derek laughed slightly. Juliet added, "And…we can't keep doing this to you. At least I can't. You're kind of my friend, not my personal assistant. Now if I make the stalker's life a living nightmare, I won't lose sleep over it." As Derek laughed again, Juliet's smirk softened to a smile. "…but I can't lose you as a friend."
Juliet rose to her feet. "I'll take Hazy over here upstairs. You? Need to breathe." She went up to Darren and stood in front of him without saying a word, waiting until the tall boy looked up at her. And then she extended a hand, "Let's take you upstairs. Sleep it off."
Darren stared at her hand like he didn't know what it was. Juliet sighed, grabbed his hand and hauled him up, dragging him along upstairs. Derek stood as well. "I'll…I have to do something, I can't sit still."
"Then make yourself useful and pack my stuff for me," Juliet smirked in the usual self-important way that she usually did. "And please make sure to do it neatly? Unpacking after a long trip is always a pain for me."
Derek rolled his eyes. "Yeah whatever."
But it wasn't until all three of them were finally in the hallway when Juliet is practically dragging Darren down the hall, when she told Derek, "D…leave the uniforms, ok?"
"You're not taking them with you?" Derek said, stopping at Juliet's door.
"Nope." Juliet left Derek to stay in her room as she pulled Darren into the anteroom. Juliet smiled to little Caruso, who perked up at the sudden arrival of footsteps. "Hey, Car. Your owner's a mess."
The bird chirped lightly in response and settled back to sleep as though it wasn't totally a shock to him. Juliet smirked and half-carried half-dragged Darren into his room. The prefect was starting to chuckle a little. "You're talking to the Jubjub bird."
"Oh my god, Darren, why are you even more insane now…?" Juliet led Darren toward the bed, grabbed the back of her friend's jacket and unceremoniously dumped him into the bed, yanking his jacket off in the process. Darren snorted in laughter from where he was flopped facedown on the bed. "What a pain," Juliet grumbled as she nudged the prefect further into the bed using her foot. "There. Now go to sleep."
"Song!" Daren commanded.
"What?"
"Sleepy time song."
Juliet dearly, dearly wished that she had a camera right about now as this had to be the biggest piece of blackmail that the higher beings above could possibly drop on her—Darren Wright demanding to be sang a lullaby of some kind before going to sleep. "You can't be serious!"
Darren actually sat up and pointed dramatically to her. "Song! Now!"
"Juliet! What's going on in there?" Derek yelled from the hallway.
"Nothing!"
"Song—now!"
Juliet dragged a hand down her face. She envisioned her last moments with Darren Wright to be something rather different from this. None of her scenarios involved Darren being drugged and high and demanding some kind of sleepy time song as though Juliet was a babysitter.
Sighing, Juliet said, "…fine. Just once."
"Fine…" Darren threw his face into a pillow and immediately looked prepared to just doze off. Juliet stared at him and smiled faintly. This was the last time she was ever going to see him anyway. Her best friend of three years. And the boy she loved for nearly the same length of time. It's not like he would ever remember.
And besides…
She only felt through music. So this was all she could give him.
So what was the big deal…?
Juliet went to close the door before she went back to Darren and still a little begrudgingly tugged the covers over him, socks, shoes and all. "Sing to me," Darren mumbled into the pillow, as Juliet pulled the covers from the side of the bed, and gave her an unseen bitter smile in response. Always the command. Even in his subconscious haze, Darren wanted music.
She stood next to him, staring. It's really goodbye now.
Softly, she began.
As soon as the covers were done, she stepped away from him, looking at the boy who, for better or worse, had entwined himself into her life for so long. And it would be horrible, and it would hurt to do it, and it meant losing contact with the few friends that really meant something to her. The ones who called her out on her crap, the ones who pretty much were as bad as she was in every way and took it in themselves to deal with her.
Who would do that? No one does that. But they did. And now they were all tired out.
Derek was tired. Darren was tired. Juliet was tired. If she just broke away now—wouldn't it be so much easier? She really just had to go. It was the best bet. Safer. And easier. Didn't you pull up the weed so the flowers have room to breathe?
She was fully aware what kind of a person she herself was—she was worse than either of them combined. At least Derek had goals in life and worked hard to get them. At least Darren had a reason to be angry. At least Derek took care of everyone. And brutal as he was, Darren was honest about things. What did she have to say for herself now? What had she done?
The stalker wasn't the poison. Juliet was.
She stepped away, backing herself carefully for a moment, never taking her eyes off Darren's still, unmoving form.
Darren stirred slightly.
Juliet had her back to him and stood at Darren's desk, looking at all the photographs of them. So few of them had her in it anyway. Was she really ever around for him? All this time Juliet was the selfish one, wasn't she? She could've left, she could've protected the people who mattered to her.
But she didn't. Because maybe, and she had to admit it to herself, maybe she was just dying for some more time. Just a little more time. Before she had to let go. Pretending that it could be okay—it could be all okay. And in that moment of selfishness, she'd nearly managed to get him killed.
That photographs, the presents—any sane person would've left. Done something.
She didn't. But there was still time, right?
To say goodbye?
She closed her eyes and walked back to Darren. He was lying so still that he must be asleep. She smiled a little. Good. He deserved some rest from the angry world in him.
Juliet put her hand on the door, smiled a little at the boy on the bed. "It's been a good three years, though…right?…sorry I missed most of it." She sighed and turned away. "…Goodbye, Darren."
She opened the door and stepped out, into the anteroom, closing the door behind her.
-8-
And from where he lay on the bed, Darren stirred a little more. He was deep into the fog, a dense haze that he fought through, struggling to pull himself out of it, sensing as though he were missing something. It felt cold, like something warm had fled him. He heard something—and he had the strangest feeling that it was really important. That it was something he should have paid attention to. Something he had to know, he had to hear it.
Something had happened just now.
And it sounded like a goodbye.
-8-
When Juliet stepped out of the anteroom and into the hall, she nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw someone standing there waiting for her with wide eyes. She gasped in shock for a moment and then relaxed, rolling her eyes.
"Oh…Adam. It's just you. Geez, you nearly gave me a heart attack."
Adam stared at her with wide eyes, and he looked a little pale. Juliet blinked. "Are you all right?"
"You sing really well," Adam murmured up at her.
Juliet rolled her eyes. "Well, as much as can be—" she stopped with a gasp when she saw Adam's sleeve. "What happened to you?" she saw that his cuff was drenched in red liquid.
Adam seemed to smile almost affectionately at her. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me."
"You're wounded? That's a lot of blood, did you cut yourself or some—" Juliet stopped. Her fingers brushed over the red liquid, but there didn't seem to be a wound. He had band-aids on his hands, but they couldn't have caused this much…
Adam waited patiently, watching Juliet, who now slowly looked up at him. Juliet stared at him for a moment, as though something was very slowly dawning on her.
"Adam…" Juliet said slowly as her hands grew cold, staring at her self-proclaimed fanboy who seemed to look after her at every turn—one who dyed his hair blond for seemingly no reason—who knew everything superficial about her—
Every door in this House had a keycard lock. Only Adams had those. Anybody else who tried…would have had to break in.
"…How did you get into Adams House…?"
And Adam just smiled.
-8-
Darren stirred again. He was sure he heard something now. It sounded like a muffled scream. It sounded like someone arguing with someone else, talking loudly. At first, he dismissed it as dreams, lingering, from when he heard his parents fight over and over as a child. That still happened from time to time, those dreams. Was it so surprising in that fog?
Then there was another scream of pain, a body hitting the floor.
A door opened. The voices rose.
"Let her go!" that sounded like Derek.
"Derek!" he heard Juliet—it had to be Juliet.
A commotion—and there was the sound of another body falling to the floor. "What did you do to him?"
"I just put him out of the way!" came a voice that he didn't recognize. "He's still alive, Juliet, don't worry about him—he's not important anymore!"
"Get away from me!"
"Juliet!"
Another cry of pain and a slam. Someone was panting. But it only sounded like one person now. The other one was muffled, or gone.
Darren fought through the fog, trying to hold onto these things but they slipped away from his grasp. The fog was thickening again. He was trying so hard to wake up. He had to wake up…
Something was happening—
The shrill ring of his cell phone at the side of his bed tore through the gray, jolting him awake like someone who just came through a very long dream. He winced at it as the fog blew back—taking everything he heard in it with it as it went. Everything was just that piercing sound that aggravated him, that made his head throb in pain.
He reached out and grabbed it, pulling it to his ear.
"Darren!"
That voice. It was Damian. "…Damian…?"
"Where are you? Is Charlotte with you?"
"What…what are you talking about…?"
"I'm at Orion Hall for the program… They said Charlotte went out to find me, but she's not back yet, and she's not answering her phone. And they're looking for you. Where are you?"
Darren blearily looked around at his surroundings. Where was he? How did he even get here…? He could barely remember anything. He did remember music. A melancholy tune that sounded like a swan song. Like someone saying goodbye.
"Darren, you still there?"
"Yes…" Darren rubbed his eyes, feeling his head pounding. "…Adams House. I'm in…Adams House. I can…I can get up."
"We just sent Bailey and the others to get you from there. I'm going to keep trying to get a hold of Charlotte."
"Okay…"
"Darren?"
"Yeah…?"
"…I'm glad you're all right now."
But he wasn't. Darren was sure he wasn't even as he hung up and pushed his head back onto the pillow. He was forgetting something important. It happened just now. He couldn't have been that lost—in his state, he didn't even know how much time had passed. It was already dark out.
But he had heard something. He heard a song, he heard a goodbye…
Wake up… he told himself, willing himself to remember and to get up, to remember everything as much as he could. There were fragments of dreams he didn't understand. But he had to know—something really important just passed by—
-8-
Adam was half-dragging, half-carrying Juliet along down the path. He felt horrible about it but he really didn't have a choice. "You've been brainwashed by them," he told the actress, who was in pain, clutching the wounded arm. "You've been with them so long that you can't tell the difference between who's trying to help you and who's hurting you! Why else would you have been stuck here all this time taking this?"
Juliet only coughed painfully in response.
"I'm going to show you what I made for you!" Adam told her anxiously. "I'm going to show you everything I've done! Everything! You'll understand then—you just don't see it right now! But you will—you will!"
That conviction was terrifying. It was practically a threat. "Where did the blood on your sleeve come from?" Juliet choked. "Who have you hurt already, you psycho?"
"I didn't mean to hurt any of them!" Adam yelled at her, desperate. "They were getting in the way where they weren't wanted! But they're just fine! Both of them, they're up there where I'm taking you right now! Charlotte and Grace were awake when I—"
"What did you do to Charlotte?" Juliet screamed. She felt frantic. She'd involved people who had nothing to do with this—Charlotte was somewhere bleeding and battered and dear god did she want to hurt this psychopath but if she could even move her arm properly—
"She knew everything! She was a problem, all right? I had to do something—why did you have to go and tell her?" Adam finally yelled back, throwing Juliet to the ground. As soon as Juliet hit the ground with a wet cracking sound, he ran to her. "Oh no—oh no, oh no! Juliet, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"
Juliet swatted his hand away. "Don't touch me!"
Adam's face hardened. He grabbed her anyway and pulled her up. "You're in pain, you don't know what you're saying." He pulled her to eye level, glaring at her. "You have no idea what's happening to you, you don't. I'm going to protect you, even from yourself, understand?"
He dragged Juliet towards the Art Hall. They were passing by Washington House right at this moment—and they saw Danny Abbot come running out.
Danny had realized that Adam was no longer in the Hall the minute the Twins finished their performance. He had run to the students and asked where he went, and they could only say he excused himself.
Charlotte, Damian, Darren, and Grace were missing in action from the Pipers. He began to have a terrible feeling. He fled immediately, heading to Washington House to see if his wayward dormmate was there. He didn't take long before he heard crying from upstairs. When he called out, it had been Laura. He couldn't get her out of the closet—it was locked tight and the knob was jammed. There was no way to turn it.
But Laura had been screaming. She had been screaming about Adam and told Danny to go don't mind her right now, to run, for the love of god, run and save the names of the people she saw on the photographs on the walls. And Danny had, intending to find the others—and only made it to the hall, past the door left open, when he saw Adam dragging Juliet, wounded, past the House.
Danny gasped. He immediately ran down the hall, heading to them rapidly—heart in his throat. Why didn't we listen to Charlotte and Laura…?
"No!" Juliet choked out. "Don't come close! Stay right where you are!"
At that desperate plea, Danny skidded to a stop with a gasp, his heart in his throat at the sight of his celebrity schoolmate at the grip of the new Washington boy. "Adam!"
The pale boy walked to the future prefect who now stood at the doorway. "Get out of my way. Get out!"
"Adam, it's me you want, not him!" Juliet panted, color gone from her face. She'd seen Derek fall, she didn't want to see someone else fall. "Let Danny walk away, Adam."
"He'll tell someone. He'll tell the others." Adam shot Juliet a look. "He'll tell the others and we can't talk peacefully anymore."
"No he won't! Danny—?" Juliet stared.
Danny was frozen on the spot. He could see the red on Juliet's arm. He could see the madness in his fellow Washington's eyes. He took a deep breath and a careful step forward. Adam stepped back in answer. Very, very slowly, he raised his palms to him. "…Adam…you don't want to do this… Look…you've hurt Juliet."
"Move!" Adam snapped, eyes blazing. "Move, or I will cut you down, Daniel."
"I can't leave, you know that," Danny replied carefully, stepping a little closer. "Adam…calm down. Look at Juliet. She's bleeding, and she's hurt. You're not supposed to do this to her, you know that. Put…it…down."
"Danny—just go!" Juliet hissed and cringed as the grip on her wounded arm tightened.
"He can't go!" Adam changed again, looking desperately at Juliet. "He'll go and tell! And then what would happen to you and me?"
"Adam," Danny stared at him intently. "Adam, if you let Juliet go… things'll go easier for you, I promise. Just please…don't do this." He stepped a little closer.
"I said—stay back!" Adam yelled. Juliet suddenly grabbed at him, trying to pull him down before he could get at the Washington boy. Danny took the chance. He lunged forward. A scream exploded—
—"Danny!"—
— "Get away from me!"—
— "No—Adam!"
There was the sound of tearing and Danny was groaning on the ground, clutching his arm. Juliet fought Adam's grip as the more powerful boy now dragged her away. "Danny!" Juliet screamed.
"Adam, stop!" Danny pushed himself up with a wince, clutching the large wound at his collarbone closed. But he forced himself to run to them. "Adam!" he leapt at the other boy.
Juliet kicked Adam down with everything she had. Danny fell on top of Adam and all three hit the ground. There was the sound of cloth tearing and flesh being cut and Danny cried out sharply.
Adam struggled and threw Danny off him and grabbed Juliet, hitting her straight across the face. Juliet fell unconscious at the tremendous blow from the boy.
Danny lay on the earth coughing and clutching the wound at his waist. Adam panted, getting up, and spat at him. "What's a little pain to you, Danny…?" Adam snarled. "You like pain anyway, don't you?" And he kicked him straight in the face.
Danny was flung over but he remained conscious. He lay, playing dead. He could hear Adam pick Juliet up, they were leaving. He waited until the footsteps began to fade and he glanced back with a wince. He saw where they were headed.
He forced himself to get up in spite of the pain blasting through him. A murdering psychopath was running around campus, he was going to get up and tell people. Before anything else happened.
He heard the sound of running coming to him. He saw a figure coming at him through the darkness in a limping run, breathless. "…Noel?"
Noel threw himself over Danny, panting, hauling him up. He was covered in bruises and glass cuts and he was still bleeding—but he was alive and that was all that mattered. "Which way?" he panted. "Which way, Danny?"
"Art Hall," Danny coughed. "They went to the Art Hall."
Noel winced. Adam had Charlotte, Grace, and Juliet in there, then. If he hadn't come conscious from Adam's screaming… "Can you get up…" He helped Danny get up to his feet. "Can you run?"
"Of course I can run—that psycho's going to get us all!" Danny panted.
"Go get the others. Orion Hall. All the Pipers are there ,right? Get them all. Get everyone. I'm going to the Art Hall."
"What?"
"If no one goes now, they'll be dead, do you understand?" Noel pushed him off. "Go! Run, Danny!" And he fled towards the Art Hall.
Danny stood panting, shaking his head. That boy was crazy. He was crazy, but he was right. If no one went there now, it might be too late. Too late because no one listened. "Don't get killed, you idiot!" Danny yelled at him before he ran towards Orion Hall.
-8-
"Can you hear us? Derek!"
Pain. And the voices.
"Derek! Wake up!"
Oh man…my head… groggy, Derek opened his eyes from where he lay on the hallway floor.
"Derek!" Bailey looked down at him worriedly along with two more Adams Pipers, Louisa and Thad. "Geez! What happened, man? Are you drunk or something?"
"What…? No…" he had a splitting headache, and felt delirious. The hall was swimming in his eyes. "Stop talking so loudly…!"
"What are you doing here on the floor?" Bailey asked, helping him up.
Floor…? Derek looked groggily around him, trying to get to his senses. He distinctly remembered coming out Juliet's room right after he finished packing his things, but…then what happened…?
Darren hit the wall as he stumbled out of his room and into the hallway. When Bailey looked up, she saw that Darren's eyes were clearing now from the hazy state. The drugs had worn off enough at last. "Finally!" she breathed. "Come on, the Pipers are going to be on soon!"
Derek looked up and saw his friend getting to his feet at last and felt startled "Darren…?"
"Where…" Darren panted as he stumbled down the hall. There was a strange expression on his face, like it was fear, "Where…is Juliet?"
"Juliet?" Bailey blinked, surprised. "What do you mean? Wasn't she with you here?"
"Well if she's not here, then she's probably out in Orion Hall already with the other students…" Louisa began, looking confused.
"Did she say she was going…?" Thad asked the disoriented prefect.
Darren glanced away, trying to remember, opening his eyes a little wider. What did Juliet say… She said she was going…? Is that why she said…
Goodbye, Darren.
Derek, from where he was leaning against Bailey, shook his head a little, trying to remember, putting his hand to that one throbbing spot on his head—it felt like it was going to explode. No…not that's not right… She couldn't have gone to Orion Hall… Juliet…
Something had happened—
"Derek!"
"Move—NOW!"
And the last thing he heard was Juliet crying out—before impact.
"Derek, you're bleeding!" Bailey choked in shock.
Derek drew back his hand. That painful spot in his head—he looked at his hand and saw red. The pain was too much and he couldn't think. He closed his eyes and sank a little.
"Derek!" Darren grabbed his arm to stop him from falling.
"Lou and I will take him to the clinic—get out of here, Darren!" Thad immediately said, white as a sheet. "You've got to be in the hall, maybe you're singing lead—you have to go! Bailey, get him out of here!"
"Darren—" Derek grabbed his friend's wrist, feeling the darkness creep upon him again. There was something more important here—something bigger was at stake—
"What did she mean by goodbye?" Darren asked, looking at him, waiting expectantly for an answer as Bailey pulled on his arm. "Derek!"
"Derek!"
"Move—NOW!"
That voice…and Juliet…that guy…! Derek sank into Louisa and Thad. "Darren…go…"
"Go on! We've got him!"
The last thing he saw before blacking out was a red petal, crushed by a footstep, as Bailey and Darren fled the hallway. Derek struggled to stay conscious—for his friends. He had to stay awake—he had to warn someone, anyone—
Darren…help Juliet…you have to help…
"Oh man," Louisa paled at the sight of their classmate who just fainted entirely. "What happened to him? What was up with Darren?"
"Whatever it is—let's get him out of here and into the clinic first," Thad replied as they hastily hauled Derek down the hall.
"And then?"
Thad swallowed, looking more scared than he'd like to show. "We need to get Murdoch, or at least tell Pentland. Someone. Anyone! This is no joke—I think Derek just got attacked. We need the police."'
-8-
"Stop crying, Alice. Or you'll drown us all in your tears."
Charlotte only choked at him angrily from where she was still gagged with Grace. She had been struggling against her bonds and she'd just nearly managed to get one hand loose when Adam came in again. He was carrying Juliet with him, and Juliet was unconscious. Charlotte screamed at him through her gag. Grace was crying openly. Charlotte was frankly afraid for her—Grace had been going in and out of consciousness and her head hadn't stopped bleeding. She needed medical attention and she needed it fast. Charlotte knew her leg was going numb. It was probably broken but she wasn't sure.
Adam had laid Juliet down on the floor, using his blazer to cushion her head carefully. He watched over her carefully as Charlotte struggled to surreptitiously loosen her bindings. Almost there…
"We're going to be happy soon, Juliet…" Adam was saying. He looked at Charlotte and smiled—he looked scared, expectant, and rather happy at the same time. "You'll see you were wrong. You were wrong to try and push him to Darren, Charlotte. You were wrong."
You're insane. You're going to get yours as soon as I get my hands out of this—!
And worse, Charlotte heard the sound of things collapsing downstairs, and heart building. She wasn't a praying guy, she really wasn't—she really didn't think there would be someone up there listening—but if there was someone—if there was anyone—then please, don't let that sound be what she thought it was.
It sounded like crackling.
It sounded like fire.
From in front of her, she saw Adam lean down and very gently give the unconscious Juliet a fervent kiss. Charlotte closed her eyes in supplication. …Someone help us.
-8-
"Damian?" Bailey said in surprise the moment she saw the boy running to them. "What are you doing out here?"
Damian ran up to them, breathless and white as a sheet. "I couldn't wait any longer. I can't find Charlotte anywhere, she left me a hundred voicemails but now she's not answering. I can't find her. Darren please tell me you know something."
"Charlotte's missing…?" Darren turned white, panting. "What do you mean she's missing, where could she be?"
"That's what I need to know!" Damian nearly yelled at him, terribly apprehensive. He shakily ran a hand through his hair, looking around. "I have to find Charlotte—she hasn't acted like herself for the past two days—I need to find her. Something's gone wrong and I need to find her!"
"Bailey, go ahead to Pipers' Hall," Darren told the girl next to him, peeling away from her grasp. "Tell them that we've got people missing. Find out if Juliet is there. I have to find Charlotte first."
"What?" Bailey stared at them both. "No! Darren, you can't be running around right now, you're not well!"
"I don't care!" Darren yelled back. "I have to find Charlotte! Damian, do you have any clue at all?"
The future Jefferson prefect looked distressed, trying to think under pressure. The peril felt desperate. Time was running out from them and he could feel it. Something was happening.
You know…there's this scene in Romeo and Juliet where…Romeo takes pause and says that he had this feeling or this…ominous sense? …I have that feeling.
Charlotte knew. Charlotte knew that something bad was happening. He should've paid attention, he really should have. And now she was gone, where could she be? Damian clutched at his brows, trying to breathe and think as Darren rapidly lost patience in front of him, screaming at Bailey to go to Pipers' Hall.
"Damian! Darren!"
They all looked up and gasped in horror. Danny Abbot was running to them and he was a broken mess. He looked vastly relieved to find someone out here. "Danny—!" Damian ran to him, horror-struck, as Danny practically collapsed on him.
"Art Hall—the Art Hall!" Danny coughed. "Go—now! It was Adam—Adam knocked Juliet out—he dragged her there."
"What?" Darren exploded, staring at him looking horrified. "No, that's not—no—that can't be—! Juliet—Juliet's in Orion hall—"
"No she's not!" Danny almost screamed through the pain wracking him. "She's been dragged by a psychopath into the Art Hall! Go help them! Now! God, just help them! It was Adam, he's the one doing this! Charlotte tried to warn us but we were too late! She'd been telling us that a stalker's been giving Juliet threats all this time, and she wouldn't do anything or tell someone or anything—" he choked and tried to stand, visibly shaking in effort."
"Charlotte…" Damian thought he was going to die. "Oh god, this was it. This was why Charlotte was acting so strange. She was trying to find it all out! And now she's…"
Darren stepped back trying to process all this. This was too much in one go.
Juliet had a stalker. Juliet was getting death threats. Charlotte was missing—she was trying to find out everything—and now Juliet was missing too and Danny comes running all bloodied up—
"Get out of my room or I will make you."
"I'm not an idiot and you don't have to treat me like one. You've been keeping something from me, the both of you. You don't think I notice that you only ever allow Derek near you? That you're losing weight and haven't been sleeping?"
"You don't get to suddenly pretend like you care."
Juliet didn't tell him anything. But she'd told Charlotte. And Charlotte had been trying to figure it all out—
"How did this happen?"
"You're asking me?"
"Well clearly you should know given the situation—"
"He was the one giving me a hard time here—"
"Him? He's the drugged one!"
"His medication isn't exactly in my checklist!"
"Well clearly it should be."
"I'm sorry…did I miss something?"
The fog receded fast. Leaving memories that he should have paid attention to. Signs he and Damian should've seen, signs they should have paid attention to—
Charlotte had been talking about it, she and Juliet had, right in front of him—
And Derek…
"You know what, I didn't think I would ever say this, but I'm kind of glad you're going! I don't have to worry about you running around in this vastly-underprotected-but-should-be-better-protected school where you wouldn't listen to me about needing help and now Darren is drugged and there's probably a psycho maniac running around school!"
Someone was targeting them all. Everyone close to him. That was why Juliet was pulling away. That was why she could only tell Derek—she knew Darren wouldn't be quiet about it—he wouldn't let it just be quiet—he'd get angry—
"It's been a good three years though…right?"
And she said goodbye because she was leaving.
And then Derek on the floor—
—the screaming—
Too much to take—all of it coming together in one single second of pure horror.
"Damian!" Bailey suddenly cried as the other boy now staring running in a direct line towards the Art Hall. "Damian! He's going to get killed if he goes by himself!"
"I'm going after them!" Darren broke into a sprint. "Go to Orion!" he yelled, going after Damian instantly. "Sound the alarm—something, anything! Get them to the Art Hall now!"
Bailey stood, stricken, not knowing what exactly to do at this point. And then Danny blacked out. Bailey hissed under her breath and grabbed him. He was bleeding too fast.
She had to get him help—everyone was at Orion. She'd take Danny there.
And pray to whoever listening that they'll make it to help Damian and Darren.
-8-
"Charlotte."
Charlotte looked up from where she was about to break her wrist in trying to free herself from her bindings. She saw Juliet stirring, trying to get up. Charlotte felt her heart jump to her throat. She had seen Adam go downstairs again for just a moment, intending on securing the second floor doors.
"Charlotte…" Juliet crawled up to her and immediately started trying to untie her. Unlike them, she wasn't bound. "Charlotte, say something." She untied the gag.
"Oh god," Charlotte breathe out, staring at her. "What are we going to do?" she gasped. "Juliet?"
"You have to get out," Juliet coughed. "How badly hurt are you? Can you get up?"
"I don't think I can run…" Charlotte replied honestly. But she glanced at Grace, who looked unconscious again. "But she's been bleeding out. We have to get her out."
"I can't go," Juliet whispered. "It's me he wants. I have to stay. But I can get you out of here." She freed Charlotte's hands. "Then you have to go out, and call for help. At the very least, you have to apprehend him."
"I think the first floor is on fire," Charlotte whispered to her, rubbing her wrists and helping her undo the ties on her feet. "When he threw me into the cocktail table, I knocked a candelabra over. I think it's going on fire down there, Juliet. And he's down there locking the door."
"Um…uh…" Juliet tried to think fast in spite of the throbbing in her head. "Fire escape. There's a fire escape outside this room, down the hall. Do you know it?"
"Yes." Charlotte's feet were free. She gingerly tried to move it and hissed with pain. But she could move it. Barely. She had to try. Adrenaline was already fueling her.
"Get out, both of you," Juliet said as she reached for the gag on Grace's mouth. "Take Grace—get down the fire escape. I just hope he hasn't locked that." She looked around at all the flowers and the lit candles. "He prepared for this." She looked at her. "Charlotte, for the record, I'm so sorry I got you into this. You don't deserve this."
"Shut up—and help me think of how to get out of here!" Charlotte snapped, panicked. "Escape now, apologies later!"
"Just go!" Juliet pulled her and Grace up, Charlotte helping the smaller girl get up as she slowly stirred to consciousness.
The door opened. Adam walked in. Juliet immediately turned to him and kept Charlotte and Grace protectively behind her. Charlotte clutched onto Grace and cupped a hand over her mouth to keep Grace from screaming once she realizes what was going on.
"Juliet…" Adam blinked. "What are you doing?"
"Let them go, Adam," Juliet said stolidly, leaning on her good leg. "It's me you want. Let Charlotte and Grace go."
"They'll call for help," Adam said simply, closing the door and locking it securely, bolting it. "They can't leave."
"You miserable little psychopath, you can't do this!" Charlotte finally exploded. "Look at everything that you've done! Do you seriously think this is okay? All of this?"
"No…" Adam whispered as he walked forward. Charlotte backed up immediately, holding Grace protectively. "It's not okay. It would've gone so much easier if everything had gone the way I planned. But it's not. And I'm forced to take drastic measures. You all brought this upon yourselves. Even you, Juliet. I'm trying to help you—"
"This is not helping me!"
"You saved me!" Adam screamed. "You saved me and now I'm going to protect you! No matter what! No matter who it is!"
Juliet winced. Adam was livid and he was trembling. "It's me who loves you, Juliet! It's always been me and you know it! You know the way I look at you, and you know it's me all along! You and me—we'll be together now, don't you understand that?"
Juliet screamed and leapt, diving at Adam. They slammed to the ground. "Charlotte, run!" Juliet yelled. "Get out of here now!"
Charlotte grabbed Grace and forced herself to run for the doors. The two on the ground flipped over with a powerful slam from Adam.
"Stop right there!" Adam snarled, holding Juliet by the neck.
Charlotte and Grace froze in horror. Juliet was panting as she stared at the weapon on her neck. "If you even try to come near that door…" Adam growled, almost inhuman at this point, "I'm going to do it right now!"
"You…you can't—you love Juliet, you can't!" Charlotte shot back, heart in her throat and barely able to breathe.
Adam glared at the two. "I said—move…from that door."
Grace clutched at Charlotte and shook her head at her. Charlotte was torn between being inches from freedom and the sight of her schoolmate on the ground.
"Charlotte…run!" Juliet choked. "For once—don't care and just go!"
Adam made a single swift move. Charlotte cried out, "Stop! All right." She stepped back from the door, taking Grace with her. "All right… Let Juliet go, Adam."
Charlotte and Grace were trapped. Juliet cursed under her breath, miserably helpless. What have I done…? I'm so sorry, Charlotte. I didn't mean for this to happen—
Charlotte glared at Adam with all the hatred she could muster, hating her with every bone in her body.
-8-
Downstairs, Noel was in terror. Everything in the first floor was burning already—he could see the tablecloths and the drapes catching fire. The fake flowers and the few canvases. The front desk was already igniting. And from above, he could see fire starting on the second floor. Sooner or later, it was going to come crawling up to the third floor. The heat was already enough to trigger a bonfire.
All this, Noel could only watch from the outside—the doors were jammed shut and he'd been trying to kick it open to no avail.
I have to do something. Anything. I can't just watch this. I can't watch this. I can't—! I won't let him hurt them—!
He slammed his body into the door again, sending pain splintering everywhere. He heard footsteps running up behind him like track runners. He whirled around and saw Damian and Darren heading for him. Finally!
"Come on!" he yelled. "We have to open the door!"
"Everything is on fire," Damian panted the moment he got there. He could see the flames licking the curtains. "Why isn't the alarm going off?"
Noel, a veteran of diffusing alarm systems after spending so much time with the Twins and having his own experience in breaking into places, shook his head. "Before the fire got too bad, I looked inside through the big windows and I saw the fire alarm control panel hanging open—all the light in it was completely dead. Power box is down too."
"That son of a—" Darren kicked the door angrily. "He'd been preparing for this! He really had everything worked out—"
"Not now, Darren!" Damian snapped angrily. "Charlotte is up there with a freaking psychopath! Now, on three. One. Two—"
All three boys threw themselves into the doors—which splintered open at last. With all three of them pushing through the splinters, they finally got them open. The first floor fire roared up at them. "Go!" Noel yelled, looking around at the fires that was spreading. "Go get them or something, I'll clear a way out if I can!" He walked to the nearest fire extinguisher, kicked the glass open and took it out. Darren reached in next to him and pulled out the axe.
Damian stared at him as Darren approached with the axe. Darren gave him a look. "I'd like to say it's for breaking doors open, but if I have to…"
At this point Damian didn't want to stop to think about that. All he knew was that the love of his life was upstairs and possibly being held at gunpoint for all he knew. He had to get upstairs. Noel yelled, already beginning to spray, "Go! They'll be at the third floor! Get out of here!"
The two boys didn't wait. Leaving Noel to fight the fires downstairs, they headed up to the second floor and found the doors locked. Damian and Darren fought against the door now, trying to hack at it with the axe, and kicking at them to make them give way. There were hundreds of candles on the second floor—more than just the ones at the candelabras. Candles had been on every surface—and now they were melting fast, causing fire to spring up from the nearby paintings. The heat was so furious downstairs that it was starting to get upstairs as well. The candles were melting fast.
That was when the explosion in the first floor happened.
-8-
Grace screamed from upstairs as nearly the entire building was rocked by the blow coming from downstairs, making all the windows vibrate. Adam kept clasped to Juliet even as he looked up at the sound. "What was that?" Charlotte gasped.
"The art supply closet!" Grace gasped. "There're flammable paints in the closet downstairs—it must have exploded!"
"Didn't you say there was one on every floor?" Charlotte whispered, staring at her. Grace stared at her with wide, scared eyes, as the roar of the fire grew louder. But Charlotte whirled around and glared at Adam.
"There's no way on Earth nobody wouldn't have heard that," she panted. "It's over, Adam, it's all over! If you let us go, they'll go easy on you—"
"Shut up!" Adam screamed at her, hysterical. "You don't know anything! You don't know what everything being over for you means! All of you! You haven't seen real desperation and real fright! You don't know anything! You don't know how far someone would go when they're desperate—so it's not over until I say it's over!"
Juliet coughed. Grace clutched tightly onto Charlotte, horrified.
"You see? You see, Juliet?" Adam looked at his idol again, eyes wide, completely blown out and intense. "You see what I'd go through for you, Juliet? Don't you see? None of them would do this for you, no one. No one would put themselves through this but me. It's me—I'm the one you love, haven't you realized that yet?"
Juliet only closed her eyes, fighting back the urge to break down. "I don't…I don't even know you…" she choked.
"Yes, you do!" Adam screamed, his mood changing at breakneck speed. "You know me! You looked at me! You let me look after you, you know the one meant to protect you and look after you!"
"This isn't protecting me!"
"I'm saving you from yourself," Adam told her quickly, nodding anxiously. "Yes. I am. Because you need to be saved."
"Charlotte!" came a shout from downstairs, coming over the roar of the flames. "Charlotte! Can you hear me?"
Charlotte looked up, feeling absolute relief flood her senses. "Damian?"
-8-
Downstairs, people were coming in a sprint, a great crowd, mainly students, who were coming in from Orion Hall. They were not running, they were literally sprinting—and the first to the scene were the Pipers who were alerted first of what had happened. The students were the first to come running when they saw their schoolmates going—and the rest of the teachers came racing when the first explosion rocked the campus.
Patrick and Diana looked up in shock at the Art Hall, which was catching fire quickly. There was just no sign of anyone up there—the flames were lighting every window.
"They're in there?" Diana hissed with a gasp.
"Someone call 911!" Charlie commanded.
"Are there people in there?" Felix demanded to the others, face as white as a sheet.
"That's what Tipton and Abbot told us!" Diana reported quickly, trying to catch her breath. "Darren, Damian, Charlotte, Juliet and I guess Grace is in there with them too!"
"No!" Shane cried, looking horrified.
"And Noel," Laura—released by the Washingtons that Felix had given instructions to the moment he heard about her from Danny—went with them, looking apprehensive, looking up at the building
There was a rustle through the grass and Charlie cried out as two golden blurs leapt in without hesitation right into the blaze at the doors. The Twins had plunged into the inferno and instantly vanished beyond it. "Lucas! Logan!" he rushed in after them.
"Charlie, are you insane?" Felix yelled as Patrick broke ranks and ran in as well. With a cry of alarm, Felix plunged into the blaze as well after them.
"Whoa—!" everyone else grabbed Diana back before she had any ideas and followed after her best friend.
"Let me go!" Diana screamed, tears running furiously down her face. "Patrick, you idiot get out of there!"
"Grace!" Shane was screaming as the other Hawthorne students struggled to keep him from going in. The teachers who came early were already blocking the way, trying to keep anyone else from diving into the fire. "I have to go help Damian and Grace!" Shane's scream was positively heartbreaking.
And from next to him, a body who wasn't being held back slipped through the cordon of officials and ran in as well. Shane screamed. "Minah!"
"Stay back!" Minah yelled back at him as she disappeared into the fire.
"Somebody get the fire department and get those students out of there!" Lowell yelled over the fray. "No one else is diving in there, no one!"
Diana stared into the flames, rising upwards to the third floor. "Oh my god…" she whispered.
-8-
Without warning, a second explosion rocked the entire building as the second floor art supply closet combusted entirely, making the building shake. Charlotte and Grace fell to the ground, clutching at the floor, screaming. Adam held Juliet to the wall, panting, glaring around at his surroundings. Outside this inner room, out at the third floor, he could smell flowers catching fire.
When they heard glass breaking. Glass like the doors.
"What the—" Adam panted, frowning.
The double doors of the inner room smashed open and Darren and Damian came flying in, both of them sporting cuts and bruises at the wake of two explosions from downstairs—both of them had lost their blazers already, and Damian's right sleeve was terribly scorched. The sight of Charlotte and Grace on the ground and Juliet held at knifepoint was what the scene they walked in to.
All eyes flew to the axe in Darren's hand.
"Oh my god," Charlotte gasped.
"Charlotte!" Damian ran desperately to her, trying to help her up. "Charlotte…can you get up?"
"Nobody move!" Adam screamed at them all, his body quaking. "All of you!" He looked close to tears and hysterical. "You've ruined everything! Everything! All of you! Especially you!" he screamed at the Adams prefect.
Juliet stared in horror at Darren. "What are you doing in here?" she screamed. "You're not supposed to be here!"
"Shut up, Juliet!" Darren shot back at her as he gripped the axe. He stared at Adam and Juliet, and then to where the others are. His eyes traveled to Charlotte's wounded form, being helped up by Damian. He looked back at Adam. "You did all this…? You…?"
"That's the problem with you," Adam hissed angrily. "You're hideously self-centered. You have no idea how much pain you've given everyone!"
"Me?" Darren exploded furiously. "Look at what you've done! Look at everything you've done!"
"It was all because of you!" Adam screamed back at him. Adam looked to Juliet now. "And you! This is all because you both wouldn't just let things go the way I planned for us!"
"There is no us!" Juliet choked back. "You're a raving lunatic and you've done nothing but hurt everyone!"
"What makes me so different from him?" Adam screamed, pointing to Darren. "Isn't he like that too? Doesn't he hurt everyone too? But you still—you still—" He couldn't continue. Charlotte's heart stopped. No…no, don't do this…not here…not now…
Adam looked at Juliet angrily. "Tell him."
"No," Juliet whispered. This was the one thing in the world she didn't want to have to tell Darren, not at a time like this. "No, please—"
"Tell him why you stayed in this school!" Adam snarled. "Tell him why you were so desperate to keep him out of this! Tell him why I decided to drug him! Tell him why I hate him!"
Darren was breathing hard. "Juliet…" he murmured, white as a sheet unnerved. Charlotte shook her head, tears racing to her eyes as she gripped onto Damian, who held her protectively. "No, Juliet, don't…" Charlotte whispered. No one should have to be forced and not like this. Especially not like this—!
"Tell him or I will!" Adam screamed.
"No!" Darren cried out.
"Adam, stop it! Just stop!" Charlotte yelled.
"Tell him or I'll do it, Juliet—I will!" Adam screamed.
"All right!" Juliet choked out, weeping openly now—her entire emotional reservoir completely tapped out. She couldn't do this anymore—it was life or death. She did all of this. There was just no reason to keep fighting for facades anymore. It was too stupid. It was too worthless.
"Juliet…" Charlotte choked, crying.
Juliet raised her eyes to the blond boy standing amidst the growing glow of the flames. She made a stifled sob even as Darren shook his head as though begging her not to say it.
Maybe throughout this—him finding out—him being here—he already knew somewhere in the back of his mind. Maybe all the pieces clicked the moment he found everything out, he just didn't consciously acknowledge it.
Maybe he didn't want to believe it.
Because that was just too tragic. Even for them.
That was too horrendously tragic to happen to anyone.
Juliet lowered her eyes an instant and raised them back to Darren. "…I'm in love with you."
Darren closed his eyes and stifled a sob of anguish that had been building in his throat. He wasn't hearing this. He didn't want to hear this. This is stupid. This couldn't be true. This was Juliet. That lordly idiot. Who was never even around—No, this wasn't happening—
"No…" he choked. "That's…" he shook his head, "That's impossible, this is…this can't be…"
Charlotte broke down against Damian, who stared on in shock, hugging her tightly.
When Juliet didn't speak again, Adam lunged at her. Juliet pressed back against the wall and choked, "I've been in love with you since we were freshmen! Three years! And…And I kept leaving…every time you would fall for someone else." Her eyes flicked Charlotte.
Darren was shaking his head, stepping back. "No—no, that's not true! There's no way you could've—there's—I would've at least—" He stared up at her.
Juliet only stared miserably back at him. "I was going to leave—I gave up on you. I tried to help you with Charlotte in every way I can, but nothing worked. And I got too worked up—it affected me too much. After the fair, I just gave up. I couldn't stand watching you watch Charlotte and completely look through me—you've never loved anyone like you loved her and it was just too hard for me to watch—!"
"Shut up—!"
"—But then Adam didn't want me to leave. So I thought if I stayed, I could protect you by being close. I didn't want to tell you, it would've killed me to tell you. And then he would've gone after you. And he did. After he drugged you—after he drugged you it was only then I realized how much crap I just condemned you to by staying—"
"Be quiet—!"
Juliet hesitated again. Adam forced her to continue, "And now that I've told you everything—because this is everything I've kept to myself all these years—now that I've told you everything—can you just please…for the love of God, Darren…forget everything I just said—and leave while you can! Get out of here—all of you!"
"Juliet, shut up!" Darren screamed. This couldn't be real. This was a nightmare—
Juliet choked back a sob. Adam laughed out loud at this, almost triumphant. He looked back at Darren. "You see? You see now what you've put her through all these years? You didn't even notice. You were so blind. You didn't even notice that someone who you have the nerve to call a best friend felt that way about you—you don't deserve her—and she's mine now. You will never see her again—you hear me? She's mine now!"
No one but Grace knew how exactly it happened. While Juliet was talking, while Adam had his eyes intently on Juliet and Darren, Damian had crept away, putting Charlotte in a safe spot as he did, and the moment he saw Adam distracted, he leapt at him from the side.
"Damian!" Charlotte screamed as Damian tackled Adam to the ground.
"Run!" Damian cried out from the ground as Juliet fell. "Charlotte, Grace—run!"
Adam swung and punched Damian, sending him reeling for an instant.
"Damian!" Charlotte cried, fighting Grace's grasp as she tried to run to him. "No!"
The weapon was pulled out with a cry from Damian and Adam made to move again—
Darren made a single swift kick right at Adam's wrist. Juliet cried out in rage, grabbed Adam by the jacket and threw him off Damian. Damian scrambled to his feet, stumbling backwards on his hands and knees, right into Charlotte, who caught him as Darren, barely seeing what he was doing—everything was going too fast—swung the axe around with the blunt side facing forward—
It met Adam in a brutal blow right between the shoulder blades and he crumpled to the ground.
Darren stood, panting, dropping the axe immediately. Juliet stumbled up to her feet, pushing up from her hands, and she limped slightly to where the others were. The four of them, Charlotte, Damian, Darren, and Juliet, now stood over Adam's sprawled form, trying to catch their breaths and watching for any movement. There was none.
"I think…I think it's over," Charlotte whispered, closing her eyes and feeling faint. Damian put his good arm around her, barely feeling the stab in his shoulder, and nodded. He hugged her tight. He let out a breath in relief. They were just in time. Juliet closed her eyes, feeling weak, and Darren stumbled back a step, looking sick.
That was when they heard their surroundings at last. The roar of the flames climbing, and the fact that outside them, the roof was beginning to splinter as a wall of flame came up.
"Where are you guys?" came faint shouts from downstairs.
"Up here!" Grace yelled from the door, limping to doorway of the inner room. "We're up here!"
-8-
From downstairs, there was instant elation. "Did you hear that?" Lucas gasped. was holding up Noel, who they'd found collapsed on the first floor from the fumes after the first explosion.
"Are you guys all right?" Logan cried out.
"We're—we're really badly hurt—we have to get out of here!" they heard Grace cry out shrilly. "Everything's falling apart!"
The others knew that well enough—they barely made it up the stairs before everything started to come down. It didn't help that most of the Art Hall was made of wood and glass. The heat was furnace-hot and they had all shed their blazers and ties when they started to singe.
"We can't get through this door!" Lucas cried out to them from the door that led to the glass staircase up to the third floor. "It's blocked from the inside!"
There was a cracking sound and the students looked up to see that a great chunk of plaster and floor from above was starting to fall. "Move!" Charlie cried as he and Felix, who was carrying Ms. Blumenfeld's still unconscious form, leapt apart, the others being forced to scatter around the second floor as more debris started to fall.
All of them leapt off, screaming, to different directions—Patrick slammed into a pedestal, Charlie flew into an ornamental mirror, Felix dived for cover while still holding his teacher, Minah slammed into the wall, Lucas crashed sprawling by the pillars, Logan landed by the door to the third floor, and Noel disappeared in the cloud of smoke and debris.
-8-
"I heard a crash—!" Grace looked at the others who just came to her side. "Those idiots actually came up here in this situation?" Juliet panted as she stood with them. "They better not get themselves killed—"
"Juliet…too soon," Damian glanced at her.
"It's not a joke, we're trapped in a burning building—they shouldn't have just run in!"
"Well we have to get out of here!" Darren said, staring at the falling debris. He glanced to Charlotte, who was still looking back into the inner room. "What?"
"What about him…?" Charlotte muttered. "We're just going to leave his body there? …I heard he has parents."
Darren stared at her. His eyes softened a little and he reached out and put a hand on Charlotte's shoulder. Charlotte glanced up at him and their eyes met for a moment.
"Hey—!" Damian grabbed Charlotte and the group of them scattered as debris started to fall over them. Grace tried to move as quickly as she could to the nearest fire escape—
And but they barely reached it when there was a tremendous explosion—the third floor supply closet just combusted, and within ten feet of them.
All five of them flew off their feet—Charlotte's cry, Damian's gasp, Darren's outcry, Juliet too shocked to make a sound, and Grace's scream ringing through the air—
And all five of them hit the ground.
Laura waited, ear pressed to the door. When she heard complete silence, she counted to ten mentally. And then she threw open the door and ran down the hallway—
—straight into Adam's arms.
"Oh, hello, Laura." Adam smiled.
Completely aghast, Laura gaped at him. "…What…?"
A powerful push—hands slammed into a small body. Laura fell into the supply closet and slammed into the shelves with a sharp cry, cleaning materials clattering down. Splinters pierced her palms. The door slammed and everything plunged into darkness.
"No!" she threw herself forward and slammed into the door, fists pounding. "Let me out!"
"Little girls should be seen and not heard…" she could practically hear him smiling. That same gentle smile.
"You can't do this!" Laura screamed. "Felix! Felix!"
"He's out. It's Parents' Night…and as prefect, he's busy." Sound of a key tinkling as the hand that held it left it right at the doorknob. "But I'll tell him you're okay. I wouldn't hurt you. You're just a little girl. I couldn't do that."
"Felix!"
"No one can hear you. They're away. But…you already know that. That's why you went into my room, right?"
"I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!"
"I'm really sorry, Laura. I really am. But…I have to protect him. There's so many people here who are hurting him. You understand, don't you?"
Laura's heart was in her throat. She looked around desperately. It was already darkening out, the last time she looked. But when she saw nothing but blackness, felt nothing but walls and shelving, she knew she was trapped.
He was going. She heard his footsteps. He was leaving. He was going to finally get what he wanted.
Laura closed her eyes, fighting back tears and failing. She choked back a sob of helplessness.
They just can't be too late to stop this. They were always just in time. Surely Danny would know by now. Or Merril. Or Spencer. Or Felix. Felix had to know by now!
Washington can't be too late.
-8-
"This is really bad…" Patrick muttered as he paced backstage. After a few minutes in Jefferson, Diana and Patrick rushed to the halls, where they both made it back to the Pipers in time for Pentland's long, frightening speech.
The Twins were performing first, but Damian would be next and he needed to be here already, and no sign of the McGintys or Minah could be found. Worse, while Grace wasn't singing lead for the event, she did attend some of the practices and Pentland and Gregor fully expected her to be there as well to at least back the others up. And yet she hadn't shown up.
"They can't both be missing," Charlotte said finally, looking very tense and stressed from where she was sitting. She had performed in front of parents before for Winter Fest, true, but this was different. It was a little bit more discerning. And secondly, both Damian and Grace were missing in action.
Pentland didn't look pleased. He glanced out again to the crowd where all the parents watched the current performance going on right now. He had three leads missing—Damian, Grace, and Darren. One of them had an explanation. Two didn't.
"Are you sure that none of you can tell me where Darren is right now?" he looked at the singers. "If there is a problem, you know I do expect you to tell me, right?"
They all looked at each other. "Um…" The Twins, who were preparing to perform, looked a little nervous. Pentland looked at all of them. He didn't even look angry, he only looked deeply concerned. As far as he concerned, things had been going exceptionally well for everyone—until tonight. Something was clearly wrong.
Charlotte looked around at the others, and they only looked at her as though they expected her to be the one to be the leader. Charlotte took a deep breath and stood, shaking her head as she looked back to Pentland. "Sir, I'm afraid I have to tell you that we're not confident that Darren is capable of doing anything right now except breathe."
"What happened?" Pentland frowned.
The singers stood still, not really sure of what to do or say. How do they even explain it? Pentland stared at them all and then let out his breath. "Does this have anything to do with his father being here?"
"Yes and no," Patrick replied quietly. "Let's just say that this night will become unpleasant very quickly if his father sees him in the state he is in."
"Unfortunately," said Bailey, looking nervous, "His father and stepmother seem to be expecting him."
"Is he going to be okay?" Pentland asked, real concern in his tone. "Is he ill? He was in the grounds prior to this."
"We don't know yet, sir," The Twins replied, looking anxious. "We last saw him being led off by the other Adams. We haven't heard from them yet."
"But I can tell you that he's being looked after by his friends," Charlotte piped up. She looked up at Mr. Pentland. "He's expected to be all right probably in time for the last performance. He really wanted to perform sir, you saw how hard he worked during practices. If it hadn't been for the prefects' meeting, he would've dueled for the lead, we all know that."
So they did. Pentland looked deep in thought. He looked anxious as he looked among his singers, who did also look rather worried about the situation. Damian, Grace,and Darren were gone. They had to all be rounded up. If Darren wasn't well, as the others suggest, then maybe he was better off not performing at all. But unfortunately, if his father was expecting him, then something had to be done. He knew what Senator Wright was like—there had been plenty of stress in the last performance he attended. And after Darren had begun doing so well, it wouldn't be good to place him in hot water now—everything will be for nothing, especially after Charlotte and Damian's efforts to help him.
But he needed to look after the others as well. Something had to be done and fast. He looked to Charlotte. "You did say Damian had gone with his family. Did he say if he was still going to perform?"
"Yes sir, he told me to go ahead and that he'll see us here in the hall, but I haven't heard from him yet either," Charlotte replied, frowning a little. "I think he may still be in the grounds with his mother and brother. They had a very serious family issue earlier and they could still be working it out with his mother."
So Mr. McGinty didn't come… Pentland thought, looking worried. He'd also heard about Damian's father. Many families in sticky situations right now—he knew that Grace was gone because she was pressed by her mother's expectations on the Art Exhibit too. They needed to buy some time.
"You think you can still go find him, Charlotte?" Pentland asked. "You don't have to go on for at least another half hour."
The diva was already pulling out her phone. "I'm going to go find him and Grace."
"Okay. Now listen, all of you. I want all of you out there and doing your best. Lucas, Logan—" the Twins looked up to their teacher, "—you know what to do, go break a leg out there. Charlotte, you're to go out and find Damian right now because he's coming up after the twins and the next round of performances. At least see if he and his family are doing all right. If not, you'll go in for his spot. See if you can get a hold of Grace, too while you're out there. Bailey, Thad, Louisa—go see Darren straight after the performance. I don't even want to know if he's performing, I just want to know if he'll be all right. I'm going to try and see if we can manage to give him some kind of performance if he's well enough to do it."
He looked around at the singers intently. "For the moment, I don't want you all to think of anything but this right now. The performance. We have some setbacks, but that's part of it. We'll get this done. We're going to be okay, all right? You all have worked very hard, and no matter what, I'm sure you're going to do great. Just remember who you're singing for out there. And after this, we'll get it all straightened out, all right?"
"Yes sir," the Pipers chorused, smiling at him. Pentland nodded at Charlotte. "Go find Damian and Grace. Lucas, Logan, the stage is yours. Everyone go."
Pulling out her phone, Charlotte immediately ducked out of the backstage and moved out to the sidelines at Orion Hall. Lights went down, and the curtain rose. All eyes were aimed to the curtain onstage. She ended up shoving her phone back to her pocket, when she realized a hundreds of tiny pinpoint lights were lighting up all over the hall—coming from the décor, the tables, within the flowers in the arrangements on the table. Hundreds of tiny little lights that shone through the darkness, making the audience pleasantly surprised as they glowed.
Charlotte began to smile when she remembered what the Twins were singing.
The identical boys led, standing in front of the stage. They weren't quite looking at the audience—more to one person in particular.
Charlotte noticed her immediately—a tall girl in her mid to late twenties, in a beautiful dress, with long dark hair, seated near the stage with all the most important people and alumni in the school. Among all the other people in the audience, she was surrounded with the most lights coming from the heap of white roses in her arms.
The Twins were smiling at her as the other Pipers began to sing amidst the lights. But to Charlotte's surprise, as the other Pipers began the intro, the Twins were already moving. They kept their bodies still for now, but their very expressive hands were making gestures, all the while keeping their smiling eyes fastened onto the girl at the table.
And when they began to sing, they became infinitely more expressive with their voices, hands, and bodies, as they gestured in fluid, elegant movements that were like a second song in itself.
You would not believe your eyes
If ten million fireflies
Lit up the world as I fell asleep…
'Cause they'd fill the open air
And leave teardrops everywhere
You'd think me rude
But I would just stand and stare
As the audience murmured in very pleased surprise, Charlotte stood, mesmerized by the expressive movement of the Twins that painted as much color as their voices. A little girl with another family who sat near Charlotte seemed to brighten up immensely at the sight of the twins, and she too started to gesture excitedly, partially mimicking the twins as she did. And another student—one of the Washington boys—was beaming as he signed something to his friends. Charlotte saw the hearing aid in his ear, and she realized what the twins were doing.
Sign language… she realized, watching them. The Twins were "singing" in sign language. And they were smiling very sweetly at the girl at the table the whole time.
Charlotte beamed at the two in spite of herself as they moved onstage. The girl at the table stared up at them with surprised eyes that misted up in emotion as she put a hand to her chest as though to express her emotion.
I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems…
Lucas and Logan winked at the girl at the table. The girl's chest seemed to swell with love. She made a gesture that Charlotte immediately knew could only be "I love you." The Pipers were grinning with the twins as they sang, voices soaring up to the rafters, the Twins taking the command of the song with all their movements and their voices. The girl never took her eyes from them.
"Audrey Brightman," came a soft voice next to Charlotte. She looked up and saw Ms. Gregor standing there, watching the Twins with a smile, and the girl that they were clearly singing to. "Their older sister. Much older sister. I understand that she practically raised them both since Mr. and Mrs. Brightman were away so much. They're very close, all three of them."
"Is she…" Charlotte began, and Gregor nodded, "She's deaf. Her situation is a little more complicated than others, so conventional methods such as hearing aids and cochlear implants aren't as effective. The Twins learned sign language from when they were very small so they could talk to her."
Charlotte nodded and turned back to the pair onstage, smiling a little. She began to understand why the Twins were so passionate about practice and about winning the lead spot for the performance. Why they seemed to be practicing restlessly in their room. They had never done the sign language during practice, meaning it to be a surprise for everyone, but it was evident that all the time they were locked up in their room and music was playing, they rehearsed everything.
They had to have planned all the "fireflies" in the hall. Even the flowers in Audrey's arms—Charlotte remembered seeing them with the Twins as they ran around preparing for the night. They were determined sing to her to the very best of their ability, as she was, without a doubt, their most beloved talking flower of all.
The "fireflies" seemed to rise in intensity now, floating amidst the dimness of the hall and twinkling like so many stars.
Leave my door open just a crack (Please take me away from here)
'Cause I feel like such an insomniac (Please take me away from here)
Why do I tire of counting sheep (Please take me away from here)
When I'm far too tired to fall asleep
To ten million fireflies
I'm weird 'cause I hate goodbyes
I got misty eyes as they said farewell…
But I'll know where several are
If my dreams get real bizarre
'Cause I saved a few and I keep them in a jar…
"They have always always wanted to sing to their sister," Gregor murmured softly, watching the identical boys continue to perform onstage with their bright smiles and highly expressive voices and gestures, keeping the entire audience absolutely spellbound. "And…I fear that their big struggle is that she could never hear their voices as much as they'd want her to."
"That's not true…" Charlotte replied with a small smile, watching the Twins and their sister, who looked barely able to control the tears in her eyes. "…I think…that they're singing to her well enough to have the desired effect. Their voices right now are just fine."
With each fluid movement of their hands and bodies, the expression of their eyes and features, the Twins didn't need their sister to hear the sound. They were singing to her—singing to her in a way that touched her, like no voice in this planet could match to even if she could hear.
Charlotte smiled, nodded to Gregor and fled to go find Damian and Grace. The Twins and the Pipers continued to sing to the congregation.
I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems
When I fall asleep
I'd like to make myself believe
That planet earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
Because my dreams are bursting at the seams…
When the Pipers finished, the entire Hall erupted into applause and cheers. Audrey Brightman was applauding harder than everyone else. Some people rose to their feet, applauding to the Pipers as they performed, and the little girl that Charlotte had earlier seen was bouncing up and down in excitement. The Washington boy with the hearing aid rose to his feet, applauding—and everyone got to their feet in a standing ovation.
The Twins ran to the edge of the stage, bowing exuberantly to everyone and clearly reveling in the spotlight. Audrey leapt to her feet and ran to the stage without hesitation. The Twins hurried to her and reached down, hugging their sister as she tried to hug them both, weeping in spite of herself.
The Twins only smiled as they hugged her, kissing her cheeks and giving her two white roses that was on a single long stem, each of them with a "firefly" in the middle. She gestured her thanks and love to them and kissed them again before stepping back, waving to them lightly as they retreated backstage, still smiling.
-8-
(Location: Art Hall.)
Charlotte held the phone to her ear as she walked down the garden path, a frown etched into her face. She had decided to walk around all of South and Main, trying to catch sight of Damian and Mrs. McGinty but so far had no luck. And then after a moment—
"Damian McGinty, your phone better be crushed in the sidewalk somewhere because there's no reason you should not be answering it right now!" Charlotte glowered as she went. Then she rolled her eyes and continued leaving the voicemail. "Fine. You're having a moment. That's great. I'm really really proud of you, but you kind of have to be in Orion Hall right now—you're going to be up in under…what, ten minutes? Because if you don't get there right now, I'll happily take your spot, I'm just telling you—"
She stopped when she heard her phone beep and she glared at it. The battery was low. Today had been so crazy that she didn't have the chance to charge it. Groaning, she put it into his pocket and decided to look for Grace, who had to be in the Art Hall panicking. At least she was fairly sure that her friend would be there.
Trudging steadily towards the Art Hall, she squinted in the darkness. If it hadn't been for the path lights, she would have missed it. It was completely dark, save for mild orange flickering of what looked like candlelight inside, which she found extremely odd. She knew that the Art Club can be eccentric in their ways, but surely they didn't intend on holding the entire exhibit by candlelight?
She jogged up the steps and pushed the door open. Everything was dead quiet.
The first floor was empty. Everything seemed to be set and ready, with all the nice cocktail tables and the flower arrangements and the lit candles, but this candlelight obviously wasn't meant to be the only source of light in the entire floor, or building for that matter. Frowning, she looked around.
"Grace?" she called. "Grace, are you in here?"
No answer. But when she went up to the staircase, heard something clank from the floor above. There was the sound of a door closing, and footsteps approaching.
Frowning, Charlotte headed upstairs to the second floor, feeling a little apprehensive and trying to feel her way through the dark. The candlelight definitely shouldn't be the only light. "Grace!" she called.
"Oh. I was just about to come get you."
Charlotte stopped on the staircase and blinked. That voice wasn't—
There was crash through the darkness and Charlotte met full impact—she screamed—she went flying down the wood staircase. She tried to stop herself from falling, grasping in the dark but only managed to skid her fall a little, wood slamming to palm and sending tearing pain up her wrists, right before crashed onto the landing, coughing and the pain shooting up her back and body.
A deep sigh in the darkness. "You guys really don't know when to quit. How could you do this?" footsteps coming down the staircase. "Are you all really that selfish? Can't you see that you're only killing her slowly by keeping her here…?"
She was used to pain after all that bullying back at Huntington, but nothing like this. Hardly paying attention, Charlotte coughed painfully, tasting blood in her mouth. She couldn't move her right arm and her ankle screamed in white heat every time she tried to move it. That was when the footsteps stopped in front of her, and she saw a pair of sneakered feet. She winced, looking up—and barely had enough time to register who she was looking at when a strong hand grabbed her and pulled her up.
"Hello, Alice." A hand tightened grip on her already painful arm. Charlotte stumbled on her bad ankle and crashed into one of the cocktail tables with a sharp cry. Her world exploded into pain as she hit the floor with a sickening impact.
She could smell roses. And something else.
A powerful hand clamped down and through the burning sensation riddling through her body, she saw someone bending down to her. Charlotte blinked through the ache and realized, through the candlelight, who she was looking at.
"Tell me," Adam said softly. "Where's Juliet?"
Charlotte could only choke in response. Adam very calmly repeated his question. "Where is she, Charlotte?"
If there was anything worse than what she was feeling right now, it was that sickening feeling deep in Charlotte's gut that she, as usual, was right all along. Her instincts had been screaming it at her for the past few days, but she had convinced herself otherwise.
She was right. Someone dangerous was in school. Someone was after them.
And she was right—it was Adam.
Charlotte let out a sob. "What is the matter with you?" she choked. "Why are you doing this?"
"You didn't answer my question," Adam sighed. He took something out. It gleamed in the candlelight.
Adam leaned down very closely and whispered to her ear, very gently, "Tell me."
He's insane—he's completely insane—Charlotte squeezed her eyes shut. She just shook her head, scared out of her mind.
"I really don't want to do this to you, Alice."
"Stop calling me that!"
"I just…I have to know," Adam said softly, pleading.
"So…" Charlotte tried to catch her breath, "…so you can hurt them?" She stared at him, angry, scared, and in pain all at the same time, hating him. Who else did this psychopath want…? Juliet? …Darren? Everyone? "I…can't tell you."
Adam closed his eyes, his face crumpling a little bit as though he were going to cry. "Please don't make me. I really don't want to do this…I really don't…"
"Then…don't." Charlotte stared at him, trying to breathe.
"I have to. I have to protect her. Don't you understand…?" Adam's hold tightened. "Don't any of you understand? I'm trying to protect her! She's so scared…And I have to be there—"
"You have no idea what scared is," Charlotte choked at him. "Do you even know what you're doing right now? What did you do to Grace? Where is she?"
Adam stared at her. For a moment, he seemed to waver as though he wanted to just run. Charlotte stared at him, a terrible thought coming to her mind. "Where's Damian? What did you do to Damian?"
That roused the boy. Adam stood up, eyes blazing and his body shaking, pulling Charlotte up with him. "Damian—you only ever care about Damian. You and your boyfriend. You're another reason—you're the reason—that everything went wrong!" He pushed Charlotte to the nearest wall, snarling in her face. "You're the one everyone keeps looking at. You're always the center of attention. You're the one who Darren cares about and that makes Juliet unhappy! You're the reason for everything!"
Charlotte found herself flying to the ground again. He's really gone insane… she thought miserably as she tried to get up and failed. What is he going to do to us…?
Adam didn't seem to want to wait for answers. He started pulling Charlotte upstairs, presumably to take her where he had put Grace earlier. Charlotte winced with each forced step and she had no choice but to comply. "Please don't do this…" Charlotte whispered as Adam pulled her up, heading towards the third floor. "You don't have to do this, you don't."
"I do." Adam tugged her along, and Charlotte realized that he was actually being surprisingly attentive to the fact that Charlotte was injured. He didn't try to make her any worse at the moment.
"What are you going to do…?"
"You're going to sit upstairs." Adam's eyes stayed stonily up at the third floor, as they ascended the glass steps. "And you…you're going to watch."
"Watch what?"
"You're going to watch me and Juliet be happy at last. You're going to sit and be quiet and not get in the way. For once. Then you'll see how wrong you were in trying to stop us from being together."
They entered the third floor. Charlotte blinked into the sudden brightness of the candlelight—they were everywhere. Charlotte could smell candlewax and feel the heat building from all the lights. Adam kept pulling her along until they reached the inner room—the same one where Grace was supposed to be holding her exhibit.
And there Grace was.
The other girl had become conscious again and Charlotte's heart sank at the sight of the curls that had been partially matted red, and the fact that her friend was bound and gagged. "Grace!" she gasped.
"I didn't mean to do that to her," Adam said, sounding unhappy. "I didn't think she'd be in here. But I guess she can watch too. As long as she stays quiet." He unceremoniously dropped Charlotte next to Grace. Grace was squirming as hard as she could until the gag fell loose.
"Charlotte!" she gasped. "Oh my god—" She looked at Adam. "Why did you bring her here? She didn't do—mmph!"
Adam easily replaced the gag on Grace with a sigh. "She was here looking for you. I'm sorry. Really. I just can't have any more of you getting in the way. I have to go get Juliet, you know…"
Adam moved on to bind Charlotte down as well—pointless, seeing as how she could barely move already. Adam sighed. "Why do people always have to be in the way…? First there's you, and now Charlotte had to be here… If I hadn't gotten the others out of the way early—"
"You poisoned Darren?" Charlotte choked as she struggled through the bindings.
"I didn't, I promise," Adam replied, staring at her. "I just had to get him out of the way a little. If he was still running around, he'd get in the way. And besides, Juliet would like him a lot less now that he's a mess like that."
"You could've killed him," Charlotte protested, ducking the gag Adam was trying to put in her mouth.
"You're right," Adam agreed. "But after all the pain he gave Juliet…is that such a bad thing? Nobody likes him. He's too horrible. He doesn't deserve it."
"And you do?" Charlotte cried before Adam successfully stuffed the gag in.
Adam stared at the two Jeffersons and sighed. "I've done nothing but protect her all this time. Tonight she'll know it's all me. And she's going to realize everything I've done for her. She'll know it was me who looked after her all this time. And then we'll leave you all. We'll be happy. It won't be long now."
He got up and walked to the door, Grace crying behind him. Charlotte glanced at her friend, angrily struggling at her bindings in spite of the pain that ricocheted through her with each movement. She tried to think of what she could do.
They'll come looking for us. They'll have to. The program doesn't end for another hour… In an hour we could all be… Charlotte swallowed and closed her eyes. But they'll come looking for us. He can't get away, he can't—
Charlotte looked up when she remembered. Noel! Noel knows! He's been doing stuff all this time and snooping around Adam—he'll know, he'll warn the others! They'll come get us!
Grace had slumped down to the floor, trying to breathe. She was crying in pain, or so it seemed, and Charlotte could see that she needed bandages on her head quickly. Charlotte closed her eyes, willing herself to be strong.
Damian will come looking for us… once he comes back and finds out I'm missing he'll come looking. And they'll all put two and two together—
They have to come for us. They just have to.
-8-
(Simultaneously: Adams House)
"Just bring him upstairs and keep him there until he's back to his senses!"
"What? Why does it have to be me, D? He listens to you!"
"Yeah, but for some insane reason, after that incident in Pipers' Hall, the only person he's listening to is Charlotte, who is not here, and you! So take him upstairs!"
"And? What? Tie him down so he doesn't wander off?"
"Well, take some of his stuff off. He'll get his uniform all wrinkled if you don't and they say he needs to breathe—"
"I'm not taking his clothes off, Derek!"
Derek dragged a hand down his face. The three of them were back in Adams House, and seemingly the only people there. After they finally managed to drag their lost friend up towards their House, he proceeded to be useless. Whatever he ingested has not worn off yet, leaving Juliet and Derek to actually keep guard of him in the common room.
That is, until Darren started to doze off and fell face first into his coffee cup. But by far this was probably the best thing to happen—maybe he'll be better when he had a nap.
Derek's patience was at an end. The whole time they were there, Juliet had alternated between fretting and whining, like she usually did, and Derek was starting to fray at the edges. Not only did he spend the whole time making sure that the house was safe, that Darren wasn't choking on anything, that everyone was calm and that the rest of the House was doing all right, but he had to make sure that his two friends remained sane and unharmed even from each other.
So he snapped. "Jules! Just go do it, stop being such a drama queen! You're already leaving! We don't have time! Just do this one last thing for him, will you? This one last thing! And then…fine. Leave."
Juliet stared at her friend. Derek was pacing the common room, completely over the edge. "You know what, I didn't think I would ever say this, but I'm kind of glad you're going! And you want to know why? Because for once, for once, you came to the conclusion that would keep you safe which is tantamount to looking after yourself which Darren has yet to be able to do! It means that I can breathe, that I don't have to worry about you running around in this vastly-underprotected-but-should-be-better-protected school where you wouldn't listen to me about needing help and now Darren is drugged and there's probably a psycho maniac running around school and you still won't let us go and tell anyone and now it's too late to do that without causing utter panic and outrage throughout campus with all our parents here and his father is here and my father is here and—"
"Derek!" Juliet ran to him and grabbed his shoulders, shaking him. "Derek! Stop!"
Derek stared at her, breathing hard. And then he sank. Right into an armchair he sank, head in his hands. Juliet knelt in front of him staring at him with marked concern. "…D…come on breathe. Just…breathe."
"I can't do this anymore, Juliet…I freaking can't." Derek's voice broke where he sat with his face hidden in his hands. "It's too much to do, too much to take, all of it, and I'm too tired. Would it be…would it just be too much to ask…for you and Darren to just get your mess straightened out? What is the matter with the both of you?"
Juliet stared at her friend. And then she looked at Darren, who was staring out the window listlessly. His hand rested on the armrest of his chair, fingers lightly moving as though playing a piano. Clearly still out of it. Juliet turned back to Derek, who had not moved from where he tried to choke back a sob.
Juliet closed her eyes. I did this. I did all of this. I can't even blame my messed up stalker—I could've avoided all of this. I did this.
"Okay."
Derek looked up. Juliet stared at him and clasped a hand on his shoulder. "I told you earlier." She glanced out for a moment and then back at him. "I told you that I saw Sawyer earlier. I'll find him and go back to LA with him. I'm out of here. You don't have to worry anymore. I'm done. It's done."
Derek stared back at her. He paused for a minute, then he said, "Look, Jules…I didn't mean that to sound like—"
"No, I know," Juliet replied, nodding. "I know, don't worry. I just…" she exhaled. "It's not fair to you. We're grown people, we should be able to look out for ourselves. And really, D, you're much better at being a jerk than you are at being a martyr." She smiled.
Derek laughed slightly. Juliet added, "And…we can't keep doing this to you. At least I can't. You're kind of my friend, not my personal assistant. Now if I make the stalker's life a living nightmare, I won't lose sleep over it." As Derek laughed again, Juliet's smirk softened to a smile. "…but I can't lose you as a friend."
Juliet rose to her feet. "I'll take Hazy over here upstairs. You? Need to breathe." She went up to Darren and stood in front of him without saying a word, waiting until the tall boy looked up at her. And then she extended a hand, "Let's take you upstairs. Sleep it off."
Darren stared at her hand like he didn't know what it was. Juliet sighed, grabbed his hand and hauled him up, dragging him along upstairs. Derek stood as well. "I'll…I have to do something, I can't sit still."
"Then make yourself useful and pack my stuff for me," Juliet smirked in the usual self-important way that she usually did. "And please make sure to do it neatly? Unpacking after a long trip is always a pain for me."
Derek rolled his eyes. "Yeah whatever."
But it wasn't until all three of them were finally in the hallway when Juliet is practically dragging Darren down the hall, when she told Derek, "D…leave the uniforms, ok?"
"You're not taking them with you?" Derek said, stopping at Juliet's door.
"Nope." Juliet left Derek to stay in her room as she pulled Darren into the anteroom. Juliet smiled to little Caruso, who perked up at the sudden arrival of footsteps. "Hey, Car. Your owner's a mess."
The bird chirped lightly in response and settled back to sleep as though it wasn't totally a shock to him. Juliet smirked and half-carried half-dragged Darren into his room. The prefect was starting to chuckle a little. "You're talking to the Jubjub bird."
"Oh my god, Darren, why are you even more insane now…?" Juliet led Darren toward the bed, grabbed the back of her friend's jacket and unceremoniously dumped him into the bed, yanking his jacket off in the process. Darren snorted in laughter from where he was flopped facedown on the bed. "What a pain," Juliet grumbled as she nudged the prefect further into the bed using her foot. "There. Now go to sleep."
"Song!" Daren commanded.
"What?"
"Sleepy time song."
Juliet dearly, dearly wished that she had a camera right about now as this had to be the biggest piece of blackmail that the higher beings above could possibly drop on her—Darren Wright demanding to be sang a lullaby of some kind before going to sleep. "You can't be serious!"
Darren actually sat up and pointed dramatically to her. "Song! Now!"
"Juliet! What's going on in there?" Derek yelled from the hallway.
"Nothing!"
"Song—now!"
Juliet dragged a hand down her face. She envisioned her last moments with Darren Wright to be something rather different from this. None of her scenarios involved Darren being drugged and high and demanding some kind of sleepy time song as though Juliet was a babysitter.
Sighing, Juliet said, "…fine. Just once."
"Fine…" Darren threw his face into a pillow and immediately looked prepared to just doze off. Juliet stared at him and smiled faintly. This was the last time she was ever going to see him anyway. Her best friend of three years. And the boy she loved for nearly the same length of time. It's not like he would ever remember.
And besides…
She only felt through music. So this was all she could give him.
So what was the big deal…?
Juliet went to close the door before she went back to Darren and still a little begrudgingly tugged the covers over him, socks, shoes and all. "Sing to me," Darren mumbled into the pillow, as Juliet pulled the covers from the side of the bed, and gave her an unseen bitter smile in response. Always the command. Even in his subconscious haze, Darren wanted music.
She stood next to him, staring. It's really goodbye now.
Softly, she began.
Sing me to sleep…
sing me to sleep…
I'm tired and I…
I want to go to bed…
Sing me to sleep…
Sing me to sleep…
And then leave me alone…
As soon as the covers were done, she stepped away from him, looking at the boy who, for better or worse, had entwined himself into her life for so long. And it would be horrible, and it would hurt to do it, and it meant losing contact with the few friends that really meant something to her. The ones who called her out on her crap, the ones who pretty much were as bad as she was in every way and took it in themselves to deal with her.
Who would do that? No one does that. But they did. And now they were all tired out.
Who wasn't tired of this…?
Don't try to wake me in the morning
'Cause I will be gone…
Don't feel bad for me
I want you to know…
Deep in the cell of my heart
I will feel so glad to go…
Derek was tired. Darren was tired. Juliet was tired. If she just broke away now—wouldn't it be so much easier? She really just had to go. It was the best bet. Safer. And easier. Didn't you pull up the weed so the flowers have room to breathe?
She was fully aware what kind of a person she herself was—she was worse than either of them combined. At least Derek had goals in life and worked hard to get them. At least Darren had a reason to be angry. At least Derek took care of everyone. And brutal as he was, Darren was honest about things. What did she have to say for herself now? What had she done?
The stalker wasn't the poison. Juliet was.
She stepped away, backing herself carefully for a moment, never taking her eyes off Darren's still, unmoving form.
Sing me to sleep
Sing me to sleep
I don't want to wake up
On my own anymore
Don't feel bad for me
I want you to know…
Deep in the cell of my heart
I really want to go…
Darren stirred slightly.
Juliet had her back to him and stood at Darren's desk, looking at all the photographs of them. So few of them had her in it anyway. Was she really ever around for him? All this time Juliet was the selfish one, wasn't she? She could've left, she could've protected the people who mattered to her.
But she didn't. Because maybe, and she had to admit it to herself, maybe she was just dying for some more time. Just a little more time. Before she had to let go. Pretending that it could be okay—it could be all okay. And in that moment of selfishness, she'd nearly managed to get him killed.
That photographs, the presents—any sane person would've left. Done something.
She didn't. But there was still time, right?
To say goodbye?
There is another world…
There is a better world…
Well, there must be…
Well, there must be…
There is a better world…
She closed her eyes and walked back to Darren. He was lying so still that he must be asleep. She smiled a little. Good. He deserved some rest from the angry world in him.
Juliet put her hand on the door, smiled a little at the boy on the bed. "It's been a good three years, though…right?…sorry I missed most of it." She sighed and turned away. "…Goodbye, Darren."
She opened the door and stepped out, into the anteroom, closing the door behind her.
-8-
And from where he lay on the bed, Darren stirred a little more. He was deep into the fog, a dense haze that he fought through, struggling to pull himself out of it, sensing as though he were missing something. It felt cold, like something warm had fled him. He heard something—and he had the strangest feeling that it was really important. That it was something he should have paid attention to. Something he had to know, he had to hear it.
Something had happened just now.
And it sounded like a goodbye.
-8-
When Juliet stepped out of the anteroom and into the hall, she nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw someone standing there waiting for her with wide eyes. She gasped in shock for a moment and then relaxed, rolling her eyes.
"Oh…Adam. It's just you. Geez, you nearly gave me a heart attack."
Adam stared at her with wide eyes, and he looked a little pale. Juliet blinked. "Are you all right?"
"You sing really well," Adam murmured up at her.
Juliet rolled her eyes. "Well, as much as can be—" she stopped with a gasp when she saw Adam's sleeve. "What happened to you?" she saw that his cuff was drenched in red liquid.
Adam seemed to smile almost affectionately at her. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me."
"You're wounded? That's a lot of blood, did you cut yourself or some—" Juliet stopped. Her fingers brushed over the red liquid, but there didn't seem to be a wound. He had band-aids on his hands, but they couldn't have caused this much…
Adam waited patiently, watching Juliet, who now slowly looked up at him. Juliet stared at him for a moment, as though something was very slowly dawning on her.
"Adam…" Juliet said slowly as her hands grew cold, staring at her self-proclaimed fanboy who seemed to look after her at every turn—one who dyed his hair blond for seemingly no reason—who knew everything superficial about her—
Every door in this House had a keycard lock. Only Adams had those. Anybody else who tried…would have had to break in.
"…How did you get into Adams House…?"
And Adam just smiled.
-8-
Darren stirred again. He was sure he heard something now. It sounded like a muffled scream. It sounded like someone arguing with someone else, talking loudly. At first, he dismissed it as dreams, lingering, from when he heard his parents fight over and over as a child. That still happened from time to time, those dreams. Was it so surprising in that fog?
Then there was another scream of pain, a body hitting the floor.
A door opened. The voices rose.
"Let her go!" that sounded like Derek.
"Derek!" he heard Juliet—it had to be Juliet.
A commotion—and there was the sound of another body falling to the floor. "What did you do to him?"
"I just put him out of the way!" came a voice that he didn't recognize. "He's still alive, Juliet, don't worry about him—he's not important anymore!"
"Get away from me!"
"Juliet!"
Another cry of pain and a slam. Someone was panting. But it only sounded like one person now. The other one was muffled, or gone.
Darren fought through the fog, trying to hold onto these things but they slipped away from his grasp. The fog was thickening again. He was trying so hard to wake up. He had to wake up…
Something was happening—
The shrill ring of his cell phone at the side of his bed tore through the gray, jolting him awake like someone who just came through a very long dream. He winced at it as the fog blew back—taking everything he heard in it with it as it went. Everything was just that piercing sound that aggravated him, that made his head throb in pain.
He reached out and grabbed it, pulling it to his ear.
"Darren!"
That voice. It was Damian. "…Damian…?"
"Where are you? Is Charlotte with you?"
"What…what are you talking about…?"
"I'm at Orion Hall for the program… They said Charlotte went out to find me, but she's not back yet, and she's not answering her phone. And they're looking for you. Where are you?"
Darren blearily looked around at his surroundings. Where was he? How did he even get here…? He could barely remember anything. He did remember music. A melancholy tune that sounded like a swan song. Like someone saying goodbye.
"Darren, you still there?"
"Yes…" Darren rubbed his eyes, feeling his head pounding. "…Adams House. I'm in…Adams House. I can…I can get up."
"We just sent Bailey and the others to get you from there. I'm going to keep trying to get a hold of Charlotte."
"Okay…"
"Darren?"
"Yeah…?"
"…I'm glad you're all right now."
But he wasn't. Darren was sure he wasn't even as he hung up and pushed his head back onto the pillow. He was forgetting something important. It happened just now. He couldn't have been that lost—in his state, he didn't even know how much time had passed. It was already dark out.
But he had heard something. He heard a song, he heard a goodbye…
Wake up… he told himself, willing himself to remember and to get up, to remember everything as much as he could. There were fragments of dreams he didn't understand. But he had to know—something really important just passed by—
-8-
Adam was half-dragging, half-carrying Juliet along down the path. He felt horrible about it but he really didn't have a choice. "You've been brainwashed by them," he told the actress, who was in pain, clutching the wounded arm. "You've been with them so long that you can't tell the difference between who's trying to help you and who's hurting you! Why else would you have been stuck here all this time taking this?"
Juliet only coughed painfully in response.
"I'm going to show you what I made for you!" Adam told her anxiously. "I'm going to show you everything I've done! Everything! You'll understand then—you just don't see it right now! But you will—you will!"
That conviction was terrifying. It was practically a threat. "Where did the blood on your sleeve come from?" Juliet choked. "Who have you hurt already, you psycho?"
"I didn't mean to hurt any of them!" Adam yelled at her, desperate. "They were getting in the way where they weren't wanted! But they're just fine! Both of them, they're up there where I'm taking you right now! Charlotte and Grace were awake when I—"
"What did you do to Charlotte?" Juliet screamed. She felt frantic. She'd involved people who had nothing to do with this—Charlotte was somewhere bleeding and battered and dear god did she want to hurt this psychopath but if she could even move her arm properly—
"She knew everything! She was a problem, all right? I had to do something—why did you have to go and tell her?" Adam finally yelled back, throwing Juliet to the ground. As soon as Juliet hit the ground with a wet cracking sound, he ran to her. "Oh no—oh no, oh no! Juliet, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"
Juliet swatted his hand away. "Don't touch me!"
Adam's face hardened. He grabbed her anyway and pulled her up. "You're in pain, you don't know what you're saying." He pulled her to eye level, glaring at her. "You have no idea what's happening to you, you don't. I'm going to protect you, even from yourself, understand?"
He dragged Juliet towards the Art Hall. They were passing by Washington House right at this moment—and they saw Danny Abbot come running out.
Danny had realized that Adam was no longer in the Hall the minute the Twins finished their performance. He had run to the students and asked where he went, and they could only say he excused himself.
Charlotte, Damian, Darren, and Grace were missing in action from the Pipers. He began to have a terrible feeling. He fled immediately, heading to Washington House to see if his wayward dormmate was there. He didn't take long before he heard crying from upstairs. When he called out, it had been Laura. He couldn't get her out of the closet—it was locked tight and the knob was jammed. There was no way to turn it.
But Laura had been screaming. She had been screaming about Adam and told Danny to go don't mind her right now, to run, for the love of god, run and save the names of the people she saw on the photographs on the walls. And Danny had, intending to find the others—and only made it to the hall, past the door left open, when he saw Adam dragging Juliet, wounded, past the House.
Danny gasped. He immediately ran down the hall, heading to them rapidly—heart in his throat. Why didn't we listen to Charlotte and Laura…?
"No!" Juliet choked out. "Don't come close! Stay right where you are!"
At that desperate plea, Danny skidded to a stop with a gasp, his heart in his throat at the sight of his celebrity schoolmate at the grip of the new Washington boy. "Adam!"
The pale boy walked to the future prefect who now stood at the doorway. "Get out of my way. Get out!"
"Adam, it's me you want, not him!" Juliet panted, color gone from her face. She'd seen Derek fall, she didn't want to see someone else fall. "Let Danny walk away, Adam."
"He'll tell someone. He'll tell the others." Adam shot Juliet a look. "He'll tell the others and we can't talk peacefully anymore."
"No he won't! Danny—?" Juliet stared.
Danny was frozen on the spot. He could see the red on Juliet's arm. He could see the madness in his fellow Washington's eyes. He took a deep breath and a careful step forward. Adam stepped back in answer. Very, very slowly, he raised his palms to him. "…Adam…you don't want to do this… Look…you've hurt Juliet."
"Move!" Adam snapped, eyes blazing. "Move, or I will cut you down, Daniel."
"I can't leave, you know that," Danny replied carefully, stepping a little closer. "Adam…calm down. Look at Juliet. She's bleeding, and she's hurt. You're not supposed to do this to her, you know that. Put…it…down."
"Danny—just go!" Juliet hissed and cringed as the grip on her wounded arm tightened.
"He can't go!" Adam changed again, looking desperately at Juliet. "He'll go and tell! And then what would happen to you and me?"
"Adam," Danny stared at him intently. "Adam, if you let Juliet go… things'll go easier for you, I promise. Just please…don't do this." He stepped a little closer.
"I said—stay back!" Adam yelled. Juliet suddenly grabbed at him, trying to pull him down before he could get at the Washington boy. Danny took the chance. He lunged forward. A scream exploded—
—"Danny!"—
— "Get away from me!"—
— "No—Adam!"
There was the sound of tearing and Danny was groaning on the ground, clutching his arm. Juliet fought Adam's grip as the more powerful boy now dragged her away. "Danny!" Juliet screamed.
"Adam, stop!" Danny pushed himself up with a wince, clutching the large wound at his collarbone closed. But he forced himself to run to them. "Adam!" he leapt at the other boy.
Juliet kicked Adam down with everything she had. Danny fell on top of Adam and all three hit the ground. There was the sound of cloth tearing and flesh being cut and Danny cried out sharply.
Adam struggled and threw Danny off him and grabbed Juliet, hitting her straight across the face. Juliet fell unconscious at the tremendous blow from the boy.
Danny lay on the earth coughing and clutching the wound at his waist. Adam panted, getting up, and spat at him. "What's a little pain to you, Danny…?" Adam snarled. "You like pain anyway, don't you?" And he kicked him straight in the face.
Danny was flung over but he remained conscious. He lay, playing dead. He could hear Adam pick Juliet up, they were leaving. He waited until the footsteps began to fade and he glanced back with a wince. He saw where they were headed.
He forced himself to get up in spite of the pain blasting through him. A murdering psychopath was running around campus, he was going to get up and tell people. Before anything else happened.
He heard the sound of running coming to him. He saw a figure coming at him through the darkness in a limping run, breathless. "…Noel?"
Noel threw himself over Danny, panting, hauling him up. He was covered in bruises and glass cuts and he was still bleeding—but he was alive and that was all that mattered. "Which way?" he panted. "Which way, Danny?"
"Art Hall," Danny coughed. "They went to the Art Hall."
Noel winced. Adam had Charlotte, Grace, and Juliet in there, then. If he hadn't come conscious from Adam's screaming… "Can you get up…" He helped Danny get up to his feet. "Can you run?"
"Of course I can run—that psycho's going to get us all!" Danny panted.
"Go get the others. Orion Hall. All the Pipers are there ,right? Get them all. Get everyone. I'm going to the Art Hall."
"What?"
"If no one goes now, they'll be dead, do you understand?" Noel pushed him off. "Go! Run, Danny!" And he fled towards the Art Hall.
Danny stood panting, shaking his head. That boy was crazy. He was crazy, but he was right. If no one went there now, it might be too late. Too late because no one listened. "Don't get killed, you idiot!" Danny yelled at him before he ran towards Orion Hall.
-8-
"Can you hear us? Derek!"
Pain. And the voices.
"Derek! Wake up!"
Oh man…my head… groggy, Derek opened his eyes from where he lay on the hallway floor.
"Derek!" Bailey looked down at him worriedly along with two more Adams Pipers, Louisa and Thad. "Geez! What happened, man? Are you drunk or something?"
"What…? No…" he had a splitting headache, and felt delirious. The hall was swimming in his eyes. "Stop talking so loudly…!"
"What are you doing here on the floor?" Bailey asked, helping him up.
Floor…? Derek looked groggily around him, trying to get to his senses. He distinctly remembered coming out Juliet's room right after he finished packing his things, but…then what happened…?
Darren hit the wall as he stumbled out of his room and into the hallway. When Bailey looked up, she saw that Darren's eyes were clearing now from the hazy state. The drugs had worn off enough at last. "Finally!" she breathed. "Come on, the Pipers are going to be on soon!"
Derek looked up and saw his friend getting to his feet at last and felt startled "Darren…?"
"Where…" Darren panted as he stumbled down the hall. There was a strange expression on his face, like it was fear, "Where…is Juliet?"
"Juliet?" Bailey blinked, surprised. "What do you mean? Wasn't she with you here?"
"Well if she's not here, then she's probably out in Orion Hall already with the other students…" Louisa began, looking confused.
"Did she say she was going…?" Thad asked the disoriented prefect.
Darren glanced away, trying to remember, opening his eyes a little wider. What did Juliet say… She said she was going…? Is that why she said…
Goodbye, Darren.
Derek, from where he was leaning against Bailey, shook his head a little, trying to remember, putting his hand to that one throbbing spot on his head—it felt like it was going to explode. No…not that's not right… She couldn't have gone to Orion Hall… Juliet…
Something had happened—
"Derek!"
"Move—NOW!"
And the last thing he heard was Juliet crying out—before impact.
"Derek, you're bleeding!" Bailey choked in shock.
Derek drew back his hand. That painful spot in his head—he looked at his hand and saw red. The pain was too much and he couldn't think. He closed his eyes and sank a little.
"Derek!" Darren grabbed his arm to stop him from falling.
"Lou and I will take him to the clinic—get out of here, Darren!" Thad immediately said, white as a sheet. "You've got to be in the hall, maybe you're singing lead—you have to go! Bailey, get him out of here!"
"Darren—" Derek grabbed his friend's wrist, feeling the darkness creep upon him again. There was something more important here—something bigger was at stake—
"What did she mean by goodbye?" Darren asked, looking at him, waiting expectantly for an answer as Bailey pulled on his arm. "Derek!"
"Derek!"
"Move—NOW!"
That voice…and Juliet…that guy…! Derek sank into Louisa and Thad. "Darren…go…"
"Go on! We've got him!"
The last thing he saw before blacking out was a red petal, crushed by a footstep, as Bailey and Darren fled the hallway. Derek struggled to stay conscious—for his friends. He had to stay awake—he had to warn someone, anyone—
Darren…help Juliet…you have to help…
"Oh man," Louisa paled at the sight of their classmate who just fainted entirely. "What happened to him? What was up with Darren?"
"Whatever it is—let's get him out of here and into the clinic first," Thad replied as they hastily hauled Derek down the hall.
"And then?"
Thad swallowed, looking more scared than he'd like to show. "We need to get Murdoch, or at least tell Pentland. Someone. Anyone! This is no joke—I think Derek just got attacked. We need the police."'
-8-
"Stop crying, Alice. Or you'll drown us all in your tears."
Charlotte only choked at him angrily from where she was still gagged with Grace. She had been struggling against her bonds and she'd just nearly managed to get one hand loose when Adam came in again. He was carrying Juliet with him, and Juliet was unconscious. Charlotte screamed at him through her gag. Grace was crying openly. Charlotte was frankly afraid for her—Grace had been going in and out of consciousness and her head hadn't stopped bleeding. She needed medical attention and she needed it fast. Charlotte knew her leg was going numb. It was probably broken but she wasn't sure.
Adam had laid Juliet down on the floor, using his blazer to cushion her head carefully. He watched over her carefully as Charlotte struggled to surreptitiously loosen her bindings. Almost there…
"We're going to be happy soon, Juliet…" Adam was saying. He looked at Charlotte and smiled—he looked scared, expectant, and rather happy at the same time. "You'll see you were wrong. You were wrong to try and push him to Darren, Charlotte. You were wrong."
You're insane. You're going to get yours as soon as I get my hands out of this—!
And worse, Charlotte heard the sound of things collapsing downstairs, and heart building. She wasn't a praying guy, she really wasn't—she really didn't think there would be someone up there listening—but if there was someone—if there was anyone—then please, don't let that sound be what she thought it was.
It sounded like crackling.
It sounded like fire.
From in front of her, she saw Adam lean down and very gently give the unconscious Juliet a fervent kiss. Charlotte closed her eyes in supplication. …Someone help us.
-8-
"Damian?" Bailey said in surprise the moment she saw the boy running to them. "What are you doing out here?"
Damian ran up to them, breathless and white as a sheet. "I couldn't wait any longer. I can't find Charlotte anywhere, she left me a hundred voicemails but now she's not answering. I can't find her. Darren please tell me you know something."
"Charlotte's missing…?" Darren turned white, panting. "What do you mean she's missing, where could she be?"
"That's what I need to know!" Damian nearly yelled at him, terribly apprehensive. He shakily ran a hand through his hair, looking around. "I have to find Charlotte—she hasn't acted like herself for the past two days—I need to find her. Something's gone wrong and I need to find her!"
"Bailey, go ahead to Pipers' Hall," Darren told the girl next to him, peeling away from her grasp. "Tell them that we've got people missing. Find out if Juliet is there. I have to find Charlotte first."
"What?" Bailey stared at them both. "No! Darren, you can't be running around right now, you're not well!"
"I don't care!" Darren yelled back. "I have to find Charlotte! Damian, do you have any clue at all?"
The future Jefferson prefect looked distressed, trying to think under pressure. The peril felt desperate. Time was running out from them and he could feel it. Something was happening.
You know…there's this scene in Romeo and Juliet where…Romeo takes pause and says that he had this feeling or this…ominous sense? …I have that feeling.
Charlotte knew. Charlotte knew that something bad was happening. He should've paid attention, he really should have. And now she was gone, where could she be? Damian clutched at his brows, trying to breathe and think as Darren rapidly lost patience in front of him, screaming at Bailey to go to Pipers' Hall.
"Damian! Darren!"
They all looked up and gasped in horror. Danny Abbot was running to them and he was a broken mess. He looked vastly relieved to find someone out here. "Danny—!" Damian ran to him, horror-struck, as Danny practically collapsed on him.
"Art Hall—the Art Hall!" Danny coughed. "Go—now! It was Adam—Adam knocked Juliet out—he dragged her there."
"What?" Darren exploded, staring at him looking horrified. "No, that's not—no—that can't be—! Juliet—Juliet's in Orion hall—"
"No she's not!" Danny almost screamed through the pain wracking him. "She's been dragged by a psychopath into the Art Hall! Go help them! Now! God, just help them! It was Adam, he's the one doing this! Charlotte tried to warn us but we were too late! She'd been telling us that a stalker's been giving Juliet threats all this time, and she wouldn't do anything or tell someone or anything—" he choked and tried to stand, visibly shaking in effort."
"Charlotte…" Damian thought he was going to die. "Oh god, this was it. This was why Charlotte was acting so strange. She was trying to find it all out! And now she's…"
Darren stepped back trying to process all this. This was too much in one go.
Juliet had a stalker. Juliet was getting death threats. Charlotte was missing—she was trying to find out everything—and now Juliet was missing too and Danny comes running all bloodied up—
"Get out of my room or I will make you."
"I'm not an idiot and you don't have to treat me like one. You've been keeping something from me, the both of you. You don't think I notice that you only ever allow Derek near you? That you're losing weight and haven't been sleeping?"
"You don't get to suddenly pretend like you care."
Juliet didn't tell him anything. But she'd told Charlotte. And Charlotte had been trying to figure it all out—
"How did this happen?"
"You're asking me?"
"Well clearly you should know given the situation—"
"He was the one giving me a hard time here—"
"Him? He's the drugged one!"
"His medication isn't exactly in my checklist!"
"Well clearly it should be."
"I'm sorry…did I miss something?"
The fog receded fast. Leaving memories that he should have paid attention to. Signs he and Damian should've seen, signs they should have paid attention to—
Charlotte had been talking about it, she and Juliet had, right in front of him—
And Derek…
"You know what, I didn't think I would ever say this, but I'm kind of glad you're going! I don't have to worry about you running around in this vastly-underprotected-but-should-be-better-protected school where you wouldn't listen to me about needing help and now Darren is drugged and there's probably a psycho maniac running around school!"
Someone was targeting them all. Everyone close to him. That was why Juliet was pulling away. That was why she could only tell Derek—she knew Darren wouldn't be quiet about it—he wouldn't let it just be quiet—he'd get angry—
"It's been a good three years though…right?"
And she said goodbye because she was leaving.
And then Derek on the floor—
—the screaming—
Too much to take—all of it coming together in one single second of pure horror.
"Damian!" Bailey suddenly cried as the other boy now staring running in a direct line towards the Art Hall. "Damian! He's going to get killed if he goes by himself!"
"I'm going after them!" Darren broke into a sprint. "Go to Orion!" he yelled, going after Damian instantly. "Sound the alarm—something, anything! Get them to the Art Hall now!"
Bailey stood, stricken, not knowing what exactly to do at this point. And then Danny blacked out. Bailey hissed under her breath and grabbed him. He was bleeding too fast.
She had to get him help—everyone was at Orion. She'd take Danny there.
And pray to whoever listening that they'll make it to help Damian and Darren.
-8-
"Charlotte."
Charlotte looked up from where she was about to break her wrist in trying to free herself from her bindings. She saw Juliet stirring, trying to get up. Charlotte felt her heart jump to her throat. She had seen Adam go downstairs again for just a moment, intending on securing the second floor doors.
"Charlotte…" Juliet crawled up to her and immediately started trying to untie her. Unlike them, she wasn't bound. "Charlotte, say something." She untied the gag.
"Oh god," Charlotte breathe out, staring at her. "What are we going to do?" she gasped. "Juliet?"
"You have to get out," Juliet coughed. "How badly hurt are you? Can you get up?"
"I don't think I can run…" Charlotte replied honestly. But she glanced at Grace, who looked unconscious again. "But she's been bleeding out. We have to get her out."
"I can't go," Juliet whispered. "It's me he wants. I have to stay. But I can get you out of here." She freed Charlotte's hands. "Then you have to go out, and call for help. At the very least, you have to apprehend him."
"I think the first floor is on fire," Charlotte whispered to her, rubbing her wrists and helping her undo the ties on her feet. "When he threw me into the cocktail table, I knocked a candelabra over. I think it's going on fire down there, Juliet. And he's down there locking the door."
"Um…uh…" Juliet tried to think fast in spite of the throbbing in her head. "Fire escape. There's a fire escape outside this room, down the hall. Do you know it?"
"Yes." Charlotte's feet were free. She gingerly tried to move it and hissed with pain. But she could move it. Barely. She had to try. Adrenaline was already fueling her.
"Get out, both of you," Juliet said as she reached for the gag on Grace's mouth. "Take Grace—get down the fire escape. I just hope he hasn't locked that." She looked around at all the flowers and the lit candles. "He prepared for this." She looked at her. "Charlotte, for the record, I'm so sorry I got you into this. You don't deserve this."
"Shut up—and help me think of how to get out of here!" Charlotte snapped, panicked. "Escape now, apologies later!"
"Just go!" Juliet pulled her and Grace up, Charlotte helping the smaller girl get up as she slowly stirred to consciousness.
The door opened. Adam walked in. Juliet immediately turned to him and kept Charlotte and Grace protectively behind her. Charlotte clutched onto Grace and cupped a hand over her mouth to keep Grace from screaming once she realizes what was going on.
"Juliet…" Adam blinked. "What are you doing?"
"Let them go, Adam," Juliet said stolidly, leaning on her good leg. "It's me you want. Let Charlotte and Grace go."
"They'll call for help," Adam said simply, closing the door and locking it securely, bolting it. "They can't leave."
"You miserable little psychopath, you can't do this!" Charlotte finally exploded. "Look at everything that you've done! Do you seriously think this is okay? All of this?"
"No…" Adam whispered as he walked forward. Charlotte backed up immediately, holding Grace protectively. "It's not okay. It would've gone so much easier if everything had gone the way I planned. But it's not. And I'm forced to take drastic measures. You all brought this upon yourselves. Even you, Juliet. I'm trying to help you—"
"This is not helping me!"
"You saved me!" Adam screamed. "You saved me and now I'm going to protect you! No matter what! No matter who it is!"
Juliet winced. Adam was livid and he was trembling. "It's me who loves you, Juliet! It's always been me and you know it! You know the way I look at you, and you know it's me all along! You and me—we'll be together now, don't you understand that?"
Juliet screamed and leapt, diving at Adam. They slammed to the ground. "Charlotte, run!" Juliet yelled. "Get out of here now!"
Charlotte grabbed Grace and forced herself to run for the doors. The two on the ground flipped over with a powerful slam from Adam.
"Stop right there!" Adam snarled, holding Juliet by the neck.
Charlotte and Grace froze in horror. Juliet was panting as she stared at the weapon on her neck. "If you even try to come near that door…" Adam growled, almost inhuman at this point, "I'm going to do it right now!"
"You…you can't—you love Juliet, you can't!" Charlotte shot back, heart in her throat and barely able to breathe.
Adam glared at the two. "I said—move…from that door."
Grace clutched at Charlotte and shook her head at her. Charlotte was torn between being inches from freedom and the sight of her schoolmate on the ground.
"Charlotte…run!" Juliet choked. "For once—don't care and just go!"
Adam made a single swift move. Charlotte cried out, "Stop! All right." She stepped back from the door, taking Grace with her. "All right… Let Juliet go, Adam."
Charlotte and Grace were trapped. Juliet cursed under her breath, miserably helpless. What have I done…? I'm so sorry, Charlotte. I didn't mean for this to happen—
Charlotte glared at Adam with all the hatred she could muster, hating her with every bone in her body.
-8-
Downstairs, Noel was in terror. Everything in the first floor was burning already—he could see the tablecloths and the drapes catching fire. The fake flowers and the few canvases. The front desk was already igniting. And from above, he could see fire starting on the second floor. Sooner or later, it was going to come crawling up to the third floor. The heat was already enough to trigger a bonfire.
All this, Noel could only watch from the outside—the doors were jammed shut and he'd been trying to kick it open to no avail.
I have to do something. Anything. I can't just watch this. I can't watch this. I can't—! I won't let him hurt them—!
He slammed his body into the door again, sending pain splintering everywhere. He heard footsteps running up behind him like track runners. He whirled around and saw Damian and Darren heading for him. Finally!
"Come on!" he yelled. "We have to open the door!"
"Everything is on fire," Damian panted the moment he got there. He could see the flames licking the curtains. "Why isn't the alarm going off?"
Noel, a veteran of diffusing alarm systems after spending so much time with the Twins and having his own experience in breaking into places, shook his head. "Before the fire got too bad, I looked inside through the big windows and I saw the fire alarm control panel hanging open—all the light in it was completely dead. Power box is down too."
"That son of a—" Darren kicked the door angrily. "He'd been preparing for this! He really had everything worked out—"
"Not now, Darren!" Damian snapped angrily. "Charlotte is up there with a freaking psychopath! Now, on three. One. Two—"
All three boys threw themselves into the doors—which splintered open at last. With all three of them pushing through the splinters, they finally got them open. The first floor fire roared up at them. "Go!" Noel yelled, looking around at the fires that was spreading. "Go get them or something, I'll clear a way out if I can!" He walked to the nearest fire extinguisher, kicked the glass open and took it out. Darren reached in next to him and pulled out the axe.
Damian stared at him as Darren approached with the axe. Darren gave him a look. "I'd like to say it's for breaking doors open, but if I have to…"
At this point Damian didn't want to stop to think about that. All he knew was that the love of his life was upstairs and possibly being held at gunpoint for all he knew. He had to get upstairs. Noel yelled, already beginning to spray, "Go! They'll be at the third floor! Get out of here!"
The two boys didn't wait. Leaving Noel to fight the fires downstairs, they headed up to the second floor and found the doors locked. Damian and Darren fought against the door now, trying to hack at it with the axe, and kicking at them to make them give way. There were hundreds of candles on the second floor—more than just the ones at the candelabras. Candles had been on every surface—and now they were melting fast, causing fire to spring up from the nearby paintings. The heat was so furious downstairs that it was starting to get upstairs as well. The candles were melting fast.
That was when the explosion in the first floor happened.
-8-
Grace screamed from upstairs as nearly the entire building was rocked by the blow coming from downstairs, making all the windows vibrate. Adam kept clasped to Juliet even as he looked up at the sound. "What was that?" Charlotte gasped.
"The art supply closet!" Grace gasped. "There're flammable paints in the closet downstairs—it must have exploded!"
"Didn't you say there was one on every floor?" Charlotte whispered, staring at her. Grace stared at her with wide, scared eyes, as the roar of the fire grew louder. But Charlotte whirled around and glared at Adam.
"There's no way on Earth nobody wouldn't have heard that," she panted. "It's over, Adam, it's all over! If you let us go, they'll go easy on you—"
"Shut up!" Adam screamed at her, hysterical. "You don't know anything! You don't know what everything being over for you means! All of you! You haven't seen real desperation and real fright! You don't know anything! You don't know how far someone would go when they're desperate—so it's not over until I say it's over!"
Juliet coughed. Grace clutched tightly onto Charlotte, horrified.
"You see? You see, Juliet?" Adam looked at his idol again, eyes wide, completely blown out and intense. "You see what I'd go through for you, Juliet? Don't you see? None of them would do this for you, no one. No one would put themselves through this but me. It's me—I'm the one you love, haven't you realized that yet?"
Juliet only closed her eyes, fighting back the urge to break down. "I don't…I don't even know you…" she choked.
"Yes, you do!" Adam screamed, his mood changing at breakneck speed. "You know me! You looked at me! You let me look after you, you know the one meant to protect you and look after you!"
"This isn't protecting me!"
"I'm saving you from yourself," Adam told her quickly, nodding anxiously. "Yes. I am. Because you need to be saved."
"Charlotte!" came a shout from downstairs, coming over the roar of the flames. "Charlotte! Can you hear me?"
Charlotte looked up, feeling absolute relief flood her senses. "Damian?"
-8-
Downstairs, people were coming in a sprint, a great crowd, mainly students, who were coming in from Orion Hall. They were not running, they were literally sprinting—and the first to the scene were the Pipers who were alerted first of what had happened. The students were the first to come running when they saw their schoolmates going—and the rest of the teachers came racing when the first explosion rocked the campus.
Patrick and Diana looked up in shock at the Art Hall, which was catching fire quickly. There was just no sign of anyone up there—the flames were lighting every window.
"They're in there?" Diana hissed with a gasp.
"Someone call 911!" Charlie commanded.
"Are there people in there?" Felix demanded to the others, face as white as a sheet.
"That's what Tipton and Abbot told us!" Diana reported quickly, trying to catch her breath. "Darren, Damian, Charlotte, Juliet and I guess Grace is in there with them too!"
"No!" Shane cried, looking horrified.
"And Noel," Laura—released by the Washingtons that Felix had given instructions to the moment he heard about her from Danny—went with them, looking apprehensive, looking up at the building
There was a rustle through the grass and Charlie cried out as two golden blurs leapt in without hesitation right into the blaze at the doors. The Twins had plunged into the inferno and instantly vanished beyond it. "Lucas! Logan!" he rushed in after them.
"Charlie, are you insane?" Felix yelled as Patrick broke ranks and ran in as well. With a cry of alarm, Felix plunged into the blaze as well after them.
"Whoa—!" everyone else grabbed Diana back before she had any ideas and followed after her best friend.
"Let me go!" Diana screamed, tears running furiously down her face. "Patrick, you idiot get out of there!"
"Grace!" Shane was screaming as the other Hawthorne students struggled to keep him from going in. The teachers who came early were already blocking the way, trying to keep anyone else from diving into the fire. "I have to go help Damian and Grace!" Shane's scream was positively heartbreaking.
And from next to him, a body who wasn't being held back slipped through the cordon of officials and ran in as well. Shane screamed. "Minah!"
"Stay back!" Minah yelled back at him as she disappeared into the fire.
"Somebody get the fire department and get those students out of there!" Lowell yelled over the fray. "No one else is diving in there, no one!"
Diana stared into the flames, rising upwards to the third floor. "Oh my god…" she whispered.
-8-
Without warning, a second explosion rocked the entire building as the second floor art supply closet combusted entirely, making the building shake. Charlotte and Grace fell to the ground, clutching at the floor, screaming. Adam held Juliet to the wall, panting, glaring around at his surroundings. Outside this inner room, out at the third floor, he could smell flowers catching fire.
When they heard glass breaking. Glass like the doors.
"What the—" Adam panted, frowning.
The double doors of the inner room smashed open and Darren and Damian came flying in, both of them sporting cuts and bruises at the wake of two explosions from downstairs—both of them had lost their blazers already, and Damian's right sleeve was terribly scorched. The sight of Charlotte and Grace on the ground and Juliet held at knifepoint was what the scene they walked in to.
All eyes flew to the axe in Darren's hand.
"Oh my god," Charlotte gasped.
"Charlotte!" Damian ran desperately to her, trying to help her up. "Charlotte…can you get up?"
"Nobody move!" Adam screamed at them all, his body quaking. "All of you!" He looked close to tears and hysterical. "You've ruined everything! Everything! All of you! Especially you!" he screamed at the Adams prefect.
Juliet stared in horror at Darren. "What are you doing in here?" she screamed. "You're not supposed to be here!"
"Shut up, Juliet!" Darren shot back at her as he gripped the axe. He stared at Adam and Juliet, and then to where the others are. His eyes traveled to Charlotte's wounded form, being helped up by Damian. He looked back at Adam. "You did all this…? You…?"
"That's the problem with you," Adam hissed angrily. "You're hideously self-centered. You have no idea how much pain you've given everyone!"
"Me?" Darren exploded furiously. "Look at what you've done! Look at everything you've done!"
"It was all because of you!" Adam screamed back at him. Adam looked to Juliet now. "And you! This is all because you both wouldn't just let things go the way I planned for us!"
"There is no us!" Juliet choked back. "You're a raving lunatic and you've done nothing but hurt everyone!"
"What makes me so different from him?" Adam screamed, pointing to Darren. "Isn't he like that too? Doesn't he hurt everyone too? But you still—you still—" He couldn't continue. Charlotte's heart stopped. No…no, don't do this…not here…not now…
Adam looked at Juliet angrily. "Tell him."
"No," Juliet whispered. This was the one thing in the world she didn't want to have to tell Darren, not at a time like this. "No, please—"
"Tell him why you stayed in this school!" Adam snarled. "Tell him why you were so desperate to keep him out of this! Tell him why I decided to drug him! Tell him why I hate him!"
Darren was breathing hard. "Juliet…" he murmured, white as a sheet unnerved. Charlotte shook her head, tears racing to her eyes as she gripped onto Damian, who held her protectively. "No, Juliet, don't…" Charlotte whispered. No one should have to be forced and not like this. Especially not like this—!
"Tell him or I will!" Adam screamed.
"No!" Darren cried out.
"Adam, stop it! Just stop!" Charlotte yelled.
"Tell him or I'll do it, Juliet—I will!" Adam screamed.
"All right!" Juliet choked out, weeping openly now—her entire emotional reservoir completely tapped out. She couldn't do this anymore—it was life or death. She did all of this. There was just no reason to keep fighting for facades anymore. It was too stupid. It was too worthless.
"Juliet…" Charlotte choked, crying.
Juliet raised her eyes to the blond boy standing amidst the growing glow of the flames. She made a stifled sob even as Darren shook his head as though begging her not to say it.
Maybe throughout this—him finding out—him being here—he already knew somewhere in the back of his mind. Maybe all the pieces clicked the moment he found everything out, he just didn't consciously acknowledge it.
Maybe he didn't want to believe it.
Because that was just too tragic. Even for them.
That was too horrendously tragic to happen to anyone.
Juliet lowered her eyes an instant and raised them back to Darren. "…I'm in love with you."
Darren closed his eyes and stifled a sob of anguish that had been building in his throat. He wasn't hearing this. He didn't want to hear this. This is stupid. This couldn't be true. This was Juliet. That lordly idiot. Who was never even around—No, this wasn't happening—
"No…" he choked. "That's…" he shook his head, "That's impossible, this is…this can't be…"
Charlotte broke down against Damian, who stared on in shock, hugging her tightly.
When Juliet didn't speak again, Adam lunged at her. Juliet pressed back against the wall and choked, "I've been in love with you since we were freshmen! Three years! And…And I kept leaving…every time you would fall for someone else." Her eyes flicked Charlotte.
Darren was shaking his head, stepping back. "No—no, that's not true! There's no way you could've—there's—I would've at least—" He stared up at her.
Juliet only stared miserably back at him. "I was going to leave—I gave up on you. I tried to help you with Charlotte in every way I can, but nothing worked. And I got too worked up—it affected me too much. After the fair, I just gave up. I couldn't stand watching you watch Charlotte and completely look through me—you've never loved anyone like you loved her and it was just too hard for me to watch—!"
"Shut up—!"
"—But then Adam didn't want me to leave. So I thought if I stayed, I could protect you by being close. I didn't want to tell you, it would've killed me to tell you. And then he would've gone after you. And he did. After he drugged you—after he drugged you it was only then I realized how much crap I just condemned you to by staying—"
"Be quiet—!"
Juliet hesitated again. Adam forced her to continue, "And now that I've told you everything—because this is everything I've kept to myself all these years—now that I've told you everything—can you just please…for the love of God, Darren…forget everything I just said—and leave while you can! Get out of here—all of you!"
"Juliet, shut up!" Darren screamed. This couldn't be real. This was a nightmare—
Juliet choked back a sob. Adam laughed out loud at this, almost triumphant. He looked back at Darren. "You see? You see now what you've put her through all these years? You didn't even notice. You were so blind. You didn't even notice that someone who you have the nerve to call a best friend felt that way about you—you don't deserve her—and she's mine now. You will never see her again—you hear me? She's mine now!"
No one but Grace knew how exactly it happened. While Juliet was talking, while Adam had his eyes intently on Juliet and Darren, Damian had crept away, putting Charlotte in a safe spot as he did, and the moment he saw Adam distracted, he leapt at him from the side.
"Damian!" Charlotte screamed as Damian tackled Adam to the ground.
"Run!" Damian cried out from the ground as Juliet fell. "Charlotte, Grace—run!"
Adam swung and punched Damian, sending him reeling for an instant.
"Damian!" Charlotte cried, fighting Grace's grasp as she tried to run to him. "No!"
The weapon was pulled out with a cry from Damian and Adam made to move again—
Darren made a single swift kick right at Adam's wrist. Juliet cried out in rage, grabbed Adam by the jacket and threw him off Damian. Damian scrambled to his feet, stumbling backwards on his hands and knees, right into Charlotte, who caught him as Darren, barely seeing what he was doing—everything was going too fast—swung the axe around with the blunt side facing forward—
It met Adam in a brutal blow right between the shoulder blades and he crumpled to the ground.
Darren stood, panting, dropping the axe immediately. Juliet stumbled up to her feet, pushing up from her hands, and she limped slightly to where the others were. The four of them, Charlotte, Damian, Darren, and Juliet, now stood over Adam's sprawled form, trying to catch their breaths and watching for any movement. There was none.
"I think…I think it's over," Charlotte whispered, closing her eyes and feeling faint. Damian put his good arm around her, barely feeling the stab in his shoulder, and nodded. He hugged her tight. He let out a breath in relief. They were just in time. Juliet closed her eyes, feeling weak, and Darren stumbled back a step, looking sick.
That was when they heard their surroundings at last. The roar of the flames climbing, and the fact that outside them, the roof was beginning to splinter as a wall of flame came up.
"Where are you guys?" came faint shouts from downstairs.
"Up here!" Grace yelled from the door, limping to doorway of the inner room. "We're up here!"
-8-
From downstairs, there was instant elation. "Did you hear that?" Lucas gasped. was holding up Noel, who they'd found collapsed on the first floor from the fumes after the first explosion.
"Are you guys all right?" Logan cried out.
"We're—we're really badly hurt—we have to get out of here!" they heard Grace cry out shrilly. "Everything's falling apart!"
The others knew that well enough—they barely made it up the stairs before everything started to come down. It didn't help that most of the Art Hall was made of wood and glass. The heat was furnace-hot and they had all shed their blazers and ties when they started to singe.
"We can't get through this door!" Lucas cried out to them from the door that led to the glass staircase up to the third floor. "It's blocked from the inside!"
There was a cracking sound and the students looked up to see that a great chunk of plaster and floor from above was starting to fall. "Move!" Charlie cried as he and Felix, who was carrying Ms. Blumenfeld's still unconscious form, leapt apart, the others being forced to scatter around the second floor as more debris started to fall.
All of them leapt off, screaming, to different directions—Patrick slammed into a pedestal, Charlie flew into an ornamental mirror, Felix dived for cover while still holding his teacher, Minah slammed into the wall, Lucas crashed sprawling by the pillars, Logan landed by the door to the third floor, and Noel disappeared in the cloud of smoke and debris.
-8-
"I heard a crash—!" Grace looked at the others who just came to her side. "Those idiots actually came up here in this situation?" Juliet panted as she stood with them. "They better not get themselves killed—"
"Juliet…too soon," Damian glanced at her.
"It's not a joke, we're trapped in a burning building—they shouldn't have just run in!"
"Well we have to get out of here!" Darren said, staring at the falling debris. He glanced to Charlotte, who was still looking back into the inner room. "What?"
"What about him…?" Charlotte muttered. "We're just going to leave his body there? …I heard he has parents."
Darren stared at her. His eyes softened a little and he reached out and put a hand on Charlotte's shoulder. Charlotte glanced up at him and their eyes met for a moment.
"Hey—!" Damian grabbed Charlotte and the group of them scattered as debris started to fall over them. Grace tried to move as quickly as she could to the nearest fire escape—
And but they barely reached it when there was a tremendous explosion—the third floor supply closet just combusted, and within ten feet of them.
All five of them flew off their feet—Charlotte's cry, Damian's gasp, Darren's outcry, Juliet too shocked to make a sound, and Grace's scream ringing through the air—
And all five of them hit the ground.