Our drive home was pretty quiet and uneventful. It was about two in the afternoon, so most people had returned to their offices after their lunch breaks. The streets were also way emptier than usual because many chose to stay at home.

We retraced the same route we took on the way to Cindy's and met the same bunch of National Guardsmen. Deen chatted up the soldiers about how awful it must be to work under this scorching sun while wearing their stuffy gear. The young men were so eager to talk with her that they stopped inspecting our car halfway. They shared their experiences that were supposedly worse than this, trying to one-up each other with their tales.

Mr. Doggy circled the car once and found nothing. It followed its handler back to hide under the lush shade of a tree by the sidewalk. I lowered the window on my side a crack and waved at Mr. Doggy as we drove forward; its tail eagerly thumped on the ground.

And then it was back to awkward silence.

Before we ended our little get-together at Cindy's, the three of us had agreed that looking for Hedley Kow and his group would be our last option.

To be more accurate, the three of us didn't have a vote. It was more like me deciding on it.

Myra, probably still puzzled why I didn't want Deen to know I had fought at the police station, had a hands-off stance. She agreed with Deen that Hedley Kow and the mind-controlling axe were powerful potential allies, but she reasoned they were going to specifically help me because I was a fellow Adumbrae, and not her in finding Kelsey. She might be able to save her sister if those Adumbrae fought Dario's organization, but the decision to contact them was up to me because they certainly wouldn't care about her.

Although Deen was the one who had brought up Hedley Kow, she, herself, was hesitant in approaching his group for help. I got really weird vibes from her, like she wanted to help me, but was afraid of what’d happen if we met real Adumbrae. In the end, she followed Myra and also deferred to me.

It wasn't like I'd decide any other way. “They are Adumbrae,” I had explained to them, “and not to be trusted.” I even went on a whole speech about how I no longer trusted myself, that there were times I wasn’t sure my mind was my own—and, of course, Deen instinctively wanted to comfort me.

I also added that if we did manage to find these Adumbrae, what would we tell them? We had no idea what threat was coming our way, or rather my way when, not if, Dario would find out about my true nature. And the more important reason to stay away from them was, of course, I didn't want Penemue to fillet me again—but Deen and Myra needn't know about that.

Deen cleared her throat. “Um, Erind?”

“Hmm?” I was looking at the side mirror, watching the dog under the tree get smaller and smaller.

"Are you sure it's okay to eat ice cream again?"

On my lap, inside a white paper bag marked by the Cindy's logo, was a tub of the chocolate fudge ice cream I was eyeing earlier. Atop the tub was a blue vial—Myra’s Suppressor.

Deen insisted on coming with me to buy Cindy’s ice cream—never had a person been more out of place in a line at a fast-food cashier than her. The three guys from earlier had ogled her. Sadly, Myra had already left, or she would've probably raised a scandal inside the restaurant. "I had a grenade blow up in front of my face." I nonchalantly shrugged as I examined my sweet treat. "I'm sure ice cream is fine."

"Erind, don't joke about something like that," said Deen in a disapproving tone.

"What? About the grenade?"

"Yes. It was a serious thing. I was so worried about you."

"Yes, mom," I drawled. She frowned while focused on the road in front. I leaned forward a bit so she could see me in her peripheral vision, and gave her a playful grin. "I guess it's fine to eat this. Would we get sick if we ate too much sugar? Or we'll just regenerate if we get like diabetes or something?"

"I'm not sure how our regeneration works." How nice of Deen to say 'our regeneration' even if our situations were different—she was an artificial-Core holder, I was an Adumbrae. She carried on, "My nails grow at a normal rate after I trim them. But the time I broke a nail while punching one of the goons the 2Ms sent to my house, it quickly fixed itself back to what it was before."

I held my fingers up; I also had cut my nails a few days ago. "I never thought of that."

“And Myra had her hair cut and dyed a deeper blue like a week ago. It stayed cut. Weird, isn’t it?”

“Yep, it’s weird alright.” It was weirder than Deen had observed. She didn’t know that most of Myra’s hair, and also parts of her body, were melted by Mammoth Buddy's vicious stomach acid when it swallowed her. I recalled that as I carried Myra to safety after saving her, patches of her blue hair were growing back. I could understand the hair regenerating. But keeping its dyed color? I spoke, "Maybe I'll get fat if I eat too much ice cream?"

"If our body is maintaining most of its normal functions, you probably will."

"I'm not going to finish this pint anyway. Just a small cup."

"That's good."

I provided the perfect stereotypically girly topic of weight, and it fell flat on its face. A ‘mom’ joke could keep the conversation going, but it might get stale if I kept using it. And so, the radio played "Awkward Silence" once again. I thought of actually turning on the music, but Deen seemed to be thinking deeply about something. I wasn't big on music anyway.

We were driving along McDouglas Street, circling Green Meadows Park on the way to the entrance of Poblacion Verde Hills, when Deen spoke, "You may be wondering why I told Myra about Hedley Kow."

"No, I'm—"

"I know you're hurt I didn't tell you about it before, and you may also be confused that when I finally decided to reveal it, Myra was also there. It's an Adumbrae matter and you probably feel like I shouldn't have included her in the conversation."

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"Deen, it's not an issue, okay?" I told her with a sprinkling of curtness, keeping up a hint of my hurt face. The truth was I really didn't care about her Hedley Kow secret and whoever she’d tell it to. I actually found it a bit sweet she hid it from me so I wouldn't think of going with other Adumbrae.

"Let me just explain myself to get this off my chest. The reason I also shared it with Myra was to show we also trusted her. We need her on board so she'll keep us updated on Dario's movements."

"Um, okay," was all that I said because I was so surprised at how Deen was acting. Funny how she made it sound like Myra was the later addition to our group when it was the other way around. Like we were the 'core' members, and Myra was just third-wheeling along. And she was also using manipulation tactics! I'm so proud.

"Listen to me," Deen continued in a serious tone like we were in a drama movie. "Myra has a different reason to fight. We can't be sure of her help because she'll prioritize her own survival. I'm not saying she's planning to betray us, but her priority is saving her sister and not helping you. As for me, I'm with you no matter what."

"Tha-thank you," I timidly said. Wow, Deen is so fucking scary. I didn't know she had it in her to think this way. I might even get her to punish Myra for me someday. That sounded like a lot of fun and drama in my head.

Deen’s profession of loyalty delighted me, even if it was a little creepy. It must be guilt that was behind this. Guilt that she wasn't able to protect me when the 2Ms attacked my condo. Guilt that she must’ve felt that I was an Adumbrae.

"Other than Hedley Kow,” she said, “there’s someone else who might be able to help us. And I don't want to tell Myra about this."

"Bianca."

Deen turned to me with her mouth open in surprise. "How did you—?"

I winked at her. "We're thinking on the same wavelength. Besties forever?"

"Forever, yeah," she repeated with a smile. "And also, you’re right, I'm talking about Bianca. We were thinking of reaching out to her last time."

"To find Red Island, I remember it. The 2Ms already knew about me, so we might as well take the battle to them. Though we didn't really get around telling Dario and the others of your plan because of, um, everything else that happened. How can Bianca help us? And why would she do it?"

"She saved me."

"Wasn't that more like a spur of the moment thing though? And why would she care about Dario and whatever secret organization that's floating out there?"

"She won't," Deen admitted. "But do you know who will? The 2Ms. Bianca can help us find them."

"You can't be serious?!" I almost snorted in disbelief at the audacity of what she was suggesting. Then the cogs in my head turned as I gradually grasped there was merit to her plan. "You're going to pit Dario and the 2Ms against each other? Oh wait, they're already against each other. Erm, do you plan for us to change sides?"

"No, not change sides. We're on our own side, the side of 3Bs, or 2Bs if it's only the two of us.”

“We play both sides?”

“Exactly. The 2Ms would love to get Dario, so we can set him up as an offering to them. We’ll also reveal that they’re actually up against a vast organization with plenty of resources, including connections in the government. We do know that the people behind Dario aren’t all-powerful since they usually had incomplete intel. The 2Ms do have a chance of taking them on. And I’m sure the 2Ms would love to get revenge.

“We can take advantage of the chaos, inflict as much damage as possible to both sides. And after we've used them, we'll also take them down by reporting the 2Ms to the BID and exposing the experiments of Dario’s secret organization to the public. In the end, we'll walk away safely."

Holy fucking shit! Deen was a genius! My plans sounded idiotic in comparison like it was made by a five-year-old. I was focused on manipulating that I failed to think big, way bigger. But I did get her on my side. So, by relation, I was a genius too. Yey! I hesitantly told her, "Is...is that going to work? Manipulating two sides to destroy each other?

“I can’t say if it’ll work.”

“And they want to kidnap me for some reason.”

"Maybe Bianca can help us find out why and it can be a chip when we deal with them. Yes, a chip. It’s a gamble after all.”

Fuck, Deen thought of a better plan than me. For some reason, I was suddenly annoyed by it. I’d have to show her up someday. I said, “I can't tell whether this or the Hedley Kow plan should be our last resort.”

“Desperate times call for desperate measures."

To show I also knew how to use my brain, I said, "Bianca is the perfect person to ask for help. We know she's not connected to Dario because we had a mission to investigate her. She's also human, so she won't be that attached to the 2Ms."

"And like I mentioned, she did help me." Deen reached for my hand on my lap and held it. "I'm sure we'll be able to think of more plans."

"Thank you," I said, keeping as still as possible. Fortunately, we had to turn into the main gate of Verde Hill. She needed both hands on the steering wheel so she let go of mine.

Deen's plan to use the 2Ms might work. Annoyance that she had a better idea gave way to excitement. The prospect of manipulating so many people resulted in an electric tingle rising from my sides up to my neck. Adrenaline pumped through my body at the thought of all the scrumptious drama I'd cause!

First things first. I had to contact Bianca before Deen did to have control of the situation.

When I met Bianca after I escaped Eve, I felt like I was on the losing end of dealing with her. She held the upper hand because she could report me to the 2Ms, and she could also expose my secret to Deen. Now, she had neither of those advantages. The 2Ms knew who I was—if that bitch was the cause of my condo getting destroyed, I'd make her sorely regret it—and Deen was game to commit crimes to keep me safe. The only advantage Bianca had over me was her two bodyguards, Xazary and Zachary, who could certainly kill me.

However, I had an ace so fucking massive it couldn't fit up my sleeve. I had what she was looking for: people infected by Adumbrae who managed to keep their own minds. Deen thought Bianca could only help us find the 2Ms. If I dangled what that silver-haired bitch was looking for in front of her, she might even go to war against both Dario and the 2Ms at the same time. I just had to make sure Bianca wouldn't know Deen also had the same information.

"Sis, are you here?" Deen loudly called as she entered the house. Her sister's favorite car wasn't in the driveway or garage, but sometimes she was around like a freaking ghost popping out of nowhere. There was no answer. But then again, she usually didn't answer. Deen threw her keys into a golden bowl full of knickknacks on the minibar.

A curious sparkle caught my eye. "Deen, what's this thing?" I said as I peered into the bowl. I fished out a rose gold bracelet set with several beautifully cut white crystals. "A diamond bracelet?"

"Oh, that? Sis found it a few feet from our front door, by that circular green bush. Someone must’ve dropped it while jogging.”

“By the weird bush? That’s too far from the sidewalk for anyone to accidentally drop this. Are these real?”

“Yeah, I reckon those are real diamonds. Sis told me to look for its owner. I’ll probably ask around the neighbors before calling the management.”

“Whoever the owner is,” I said, “They’d be frantically looking for this, especially something this expensive.”

“We can order lunch and visit the other houses while waiting for the delivery to arrive.” Deen frowned as she took the bracelet from my hand. “I really don’t want to talk to Mrs. Grundy though, that grumpy old woman across the street. Can you go with me?”

“Yeah, no prob,” I said with a shrug. “Kind of weird just to lose something this expensive so carelessly.”