I’d say that my reaction to what happened that day was a bit messy, but that would be an understatement. When Luno showed me the silver torch lighter, I tried to run out of the room. Vienna grabbed my arm to prevent me from doing so. In the end, I avoided direct eye contact with everyone, answering as many questions they threw at me. “How did you escape?” “Are you alive? Undead? What are you? “When did you realize it was him?” “Was he wearing a mask?” “How did he escape?” “Where were your parents?” “How come you didn’t break the door to get them to safety?” “Why did you leave them there to die?” “Were you not trying hard enough to get out?” “Did you fight him at all?” “Were you just weak at the moment, or were you a coward?” Question after question, I answered in short speech. Well, the one about if I’m alive or not was hard to explain at the moment, so I left that one alone for them to figure out eventually. I couldn’t tell them what happened after I came back, died and met the golden lady-whose name I literally forgot-who gave me powers to resist bullets and death, but somehow I could potentially die again. Yeah, that’s better left unanswered, I kind of got myself confused just thinking about it. Vienna didn’t ask me anything, just stood there listening to the interrogation. When the questioning was over, I was finally free to go. I wasn’t allowed to leave the building, not even to wander inside. The cell I was passed out in was my new home away from home, or so I’m told by Luno. I could tell that the others were more comfortable with it, their relaxed expressions says it all. They couldn’t trust me to wander around here, so locking me up in a cage suited them just fine. Whatever, I’ll still sneak out whenever I feel like it-maybe steal their food just to piss ‘em off.

Vienna and I are escorted back to our room by Davina. When she helps us get settled in, making sure the rabid small dog quiets down, she turns back to us. “Orme doesn’t like the idea of staying in one place for long, now that you’re here.” She says, “Starting next week, the twins-Roman and Toma-will stay here, while you, Liv, will go with Luno and Orme to visit an old friend, I will join you as well.” She glances at the doorway and says, “Vienna, you'll be with Hadley to scout. I know it’s a risk, but if anything happens, Hadley knows what to do.” Vienna begins to object but I cut in, “Why can’t she come with me? If we’re just going to visit a ‘friend’ you don’t have to worry about us getting shot on sight or something.” “We agreed to recruit you, not your reporter friend here.” she says coldly. “First of all, I’m not a recruit, Luno paid Ruther to drug us and then he kidnapped us.” I correct, “I just happened to agree to your terms because I was desperate, not because I think it would be fun to join a gang of weirdos.” “Look, it’s not a good idea to split us up like this.” says Vienna. “Sorry girls,” says Davina, “But we’ve all agreed.” She walks out the door without another word.

“What does she know?” I mumble, “Old friend-probably an old kook who wears foil on his head and has pet mice that he uses for his experiments or some shit.” It’s been four hours, and I’m still not convinced that it was night. The room doesn’t have any windows, but Davina gave us a clock when she last visited. 9:30, it reads, but I’m still not convinced. I’m laying on my back on the bed, staring at the ceiling in hopes that a giant hole will open up and give me a view of the sky. “For what it’s worth…this place isn’t too bad.” says Vienna, relaxing on her bed as well. “We’re being recruited by a band of nerds, and we share a cell with a dirty toy dog.” I say, glancing over at the dog that would still growl at us whenever we came too close. “There’s free beer.” she says, turning her head slightly to me. I laugh a little under my breath before replying, “I haven’t had beer since I was sixteen. My friend got me one for my birthday, and I just took a huge swig of it. The taste was so disgusting that I ended up throwing up everything in my entire body. Ugh-that night was so bad.” Vienna laughs a little, which is a surprise since I’ve never heard her laugh before. “Honestly, the first reactions to beer always end up like that. Mine wasn’t far off from yours.” she says, “I was pretty young-seventeen I think-and it wasn’t my first time that I had alcohol, so I thought I could handle it.” “What was the first alcoholic beverage you tried?” I ask. “White wine, it was during my friend’s graduation party, and I was peer pressured into drinking some with my friends.” she says, “It wasn’t very good, but I had to drink it in order to fit in with those snobs, so I drank all of it and during that time I got sick and went home early.” “I’ve never had wine.” I say, “What does it taste like?” “Like bubbly grape medicine, and if the smell of gasoline was a taste, mix that together, and you have wine.” she explains. I try to imagine the taste, and as soon as I can imagine it, I made a sour face. “I don’t know why I ever thought I’d fit in with them. After all, they've got great paying jobs, and I’ve never once been successful with mine.” she says. “What do you mean? They’re looking for you, aren’t they?” I ask, “Doesn’t that mean that they think you’re a good reporter and can’t afford to lose you?” “They can’t afford to lose a good story,” she says, “I wasn’t anything until I brought them that idea for a new story.” “Sooo…” I begin to say, “Why did you want to write about him?” It took Vienna a few minutes before she could reply, “When I heard what happened, and figured out who the boy was, I thought…since I couldn’t help save you or your family, I might as well set the record straight and not let your story remain unfinished forever.” “That’s actually pretty sweet.” I say, looking over at her while she avoids my gaze. She doesn’t say anything, just stares at the ceiling with a blank expression. “You okay?” I finally ask. “No.” she answers coldly. There was silence for what seemed like hours until I finally got up from the bed, turned to her and said, “You want a beer?” “Yeah.” she responds, a little less moody than before. I shrug it off and walk out the door to the main room to find the refrigerator.

When I grabbed the beer from the fridge, something caught my eye. A door to a larger room was wide open, and just inviting me to step inside to explore it. I thought that the center room where all the meetings were held was the biggest room, but this observation room is twenty times bigger. It’s got millions of scenes, an opening where the telescope would peek through, and there were so many gadgets and tools littered on every table I wanted to mess around with the telescope, try to look through it to see if the stars were out. But my night of exploration ended shortly, because I bumped into Luno. “What the fuck are you doing here?!” he scolds, “Get back in your room.” “Geez, no need to be so pissy.” I casually say as I slowly hide the bottles of beer behind my back. “I have every right to be!” he yells, “I mean-what the fuck?!” He turns on his heel and with one hand, he flips over a chair. I back away a little to give him some space, but I didn’t leave the room. Something was up, he wouldn’t be this mad over me breaking the rules. “What’s up?” I eventually asked, “Is something wrong?” “They call her an old friend, but I highly doubt she’d be so happy to see us.” he ponders, “It’s already been decided, but I can’t risk it.” “What do you mean?” I prod, “What’s there to risk? Aren’t you glad that your friend is willing to help us?” “We’re technically not on good terms right now.” he says, lowering his eyes while rubbing his left arm, “It’s been more than a couple of years, and I know for a fact that she’d be pissed to see us…well, she won’t be too happy to see me.” “So?” I ask, “Jesus-fucking-christ-this sounds to me like your typical crappy relationship bullshit. If she’s going to be a bitch about the past, then don’t waste your breath.” “We need her help,” complains Luno, “I’m aware that we’ve got you, but in order to find Tristan and the others, we need better eyes and ears than Hadley.” “So then let me do the talking for you!” I suggest, “You’ll hide behind the others like a sorry coward, and I’ll get her to join our group. If she says no, worst case scenario, we’ll use you to persuade her.” “Sounds like a pretty bitchy way of calling me out for being a coward.” he complains, giving me a dead stare. “Well, to be fair, it sounds like you already classified yourself as one.” I retorted back. He laughs a little under his breath as he shakes his head. “You know, you’re pretty cute when you’re being an ass-hole.” he says. “Yeah-I’m going to stop you right there-I’m not cute, I’m badass, and if that was a flirt, then that makes you a cliché.”

After some more days pass, we finally embark on our journey to meet this friend that nobody would say the name of. Vienna was still protesting about us being separated, but I tried to comfort her as best as I could. It ended up with us separating anyways, and her giving me the middle finger when I waved goodbye to her. Orme drove us all in his blue van, and we finally went over who exactly we were going to meet with. “Her name is Delara.” explains Davina, “She used to be a part of our group, always the best when it comes to investigation and combat.” “She’s a piece of work, never holds back what she wants to say.” comments Orme. “In other words, she’s a real badass.” says Luno, turning to me. I give him a small glare before turning to Davina and asking, “And so-what? We ask her to join our group again, make amends, and get her to help us investigate where Tristian is?” “Pretty much.” says Orme. “We just need to figure things out a bit more,” says Delara, “It’s been a long time, and I’m sure she’ll be a bit cautious when she sees you.” “She’s probably heard of me already.” I say, “If she’s good at investigation, she’ll know everything she thinks there is about me.” “With that said, “ says Luno, “there’s no way she’ll just let you walk inside without knowing if all of those rumors and facts are true.” I roll my eyes and lean my head against the window. “We’re all in deep shit if she doesn’t comply.” I mumble under my breath.

We drove for what seemed like hours until we finally reached this abandoned factory far off from the city. After the others went to the back of the van to grab their gear, I walked around the van to check out the scenery. Nothing out of the ordinary so far, just some rusted up trash bins and tall grass that support the whole area like some sort of itchy brownish-green cloud. I’m the first to walk towards the large factory building, ignoring the others who complained that I was going too fast. I reach the front metal door, and knock on the surface a couple of times. The others were already behind me, waiting for someone to answer. I bang on the door with my fist until my arm grew tired. I kicked the door hard and yelled, “Open up! We’re not going anywhere until you answer the goddamn door!” “Piss off.” calls out a staticy voice. I twirl around, trying to locate where the voice came from. “Over there, there’s an answer box.” calls out Orme to the group. We walk a little to the right, and see on the side of the building, a small box with a blue button on the bottom of it. I press the button and the box buzzes as I speak into the microphone, “Hey! Open the door, we want to speak with you.” We wait for her response, but nothing happens. I press the button again and say, “I know you’re not too thrilled to see us, but we need your help.” Still nothing. I press the button again and yell, “Come on! We’ve gone more than a hundred miles to get here-just let us in already!” There was a loud beep, and the metal door unlocks and opens slowly. We turn to the door just in time to see someone opening it while holding a small pistol in both his hands. He was pretty bulky, only wearing a dirty brown tank top, black baggy pants, and combat boots. As he approaches us, he points the gun at me and gestures to me to come forward. When I stepped towards him, his eyes darted towards Luno, causing him to back away a little. “I thought you’d come back.” says the stranger with a smirk. Luno lowers his eyes, but I don’t think it’s out of shame. His expression looks relaxed, as if he was thankful that this stranger had been the one to greet us instead of Delara. “She’s waiting inside, but I’m not going to let you all in until I get a name outta this one.” he says, gesturing to me again. I sigh and confirm my full name, causing this stranger no emotion to be released out of his dumbfuck face. “Alright,” he says, lowering his weapon, “This way guys, it’s a bit of a walk.” He walks us to the door, and when we step inside, it’s a lot colder than the outside of the building. The walls were all metal, the floors were cracked concrete, and the ceiling fans were buzzing above us. We walk past a dozen or so boxes of what looks like weaponry. There were giant boxes stacked by all the walls, and they too contained weaponry. We reach the end of the walk when he motions us to follow him into a small room near the corner in the back. He opens the door, letting pinkish-purple light slither outside of this confined space. We stood there waiting for Delara to walk out, but she wasn’t. Instead, she calls out to us in a rough yet silky English accent, “Why did you come here?” “We need your help.” answers Orme, “We believe that this group we’ve been searching for has finally revealed themselves, and it could be after us if we don’t stop them now.” “I wasn’t talking to your group.” snaps Delara, “Just the girl.” I turn reflexively towards Luno, who is still avoiding eye contact with anyone at the moment. Giving me no help or guidance, I decide to just wing it. “Listen, Delara, I’ve uh-I’m not exactly an expert with this whole search for random cultists and shit, I’m just looking for my ex, and he happens to be a part of this, so-” I start, but she interrupts me. “I’m not stupid, I know you’re only going to use me to find him, and then right to the gutter I go after that.” I hear footsteps and out comes the famous Delara that everyone was so nervous meeting.

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Truth be told, she wasn’t anywhere close to what I expected her to look like. She was tall, had lavender hair cut short, close to her ears. Her eyes were a silvery gray, and her lips were a ripe magenta. When she walks, she walks with a sense of pride and rough passion. When she’s about a few feet in front of me, she looks at me, then at the group. Her eyes dark to Luno immediately, and she laughs coldly. “Since when did the dove decide to cower before the lion?” she mocks. “It’s nice to see you again, too.” he replies equally coldly. “I have to say, you’ve changed very little.” she continues, but then turns to Orme and smiles kindly. “I suppose you’re not very pleased to see that I haven’t changed too?” he asks. “No, I’m glad to see you, and you too Davi.” Davina has an uncomfortable smile on her face, although that doesn’t stop her from inviting Delara to give her a welcoming hug. When they hugged, I could tell the uneasiness between the two was starting to melt away. Delara breaks away first, her small smile fading when she turns back to me. I prepared myself for the worst, but I did not expect the expression she gave me instead. She turned to me with a concerned look on her face. “How old were you when it happened?” she asks. I scratch the back of my head as I recall my last birthday. “...Eighteen, but I turn Nineteen in two months.” I answer bluntly. She nods her head a little as she looks down at her feet. “I will help you.” She says, “I have what you need, and you will need to restock all that you have with you.” She turns to walk away, but snaps her fingers, making everyone jump. “I want to speak with Liv alone, please.” I gulp down what was left of my uneasiness before I follow her into the small room. The room was warmer than the large one we were previously in. There were purple lights strung around the corners of the room, and banners with spray painted artwork hung everywhere. Some of the paint had missed the paper and painted the wall behind it, which if my mother could see it, she would be pissed. No. My mother is dead-and I shouldn’t care about the stupid artwork on the walls. My mission is to kill my ex, and I need her to help us as soon as possible. I’m about to start negotiating, but she talks before me. “I don’t quite understand your story.” she says, “I want to hear it again. This time, from the person that actually witnessed what happened.” I groan a little under my breath, “I can’t fucking believe this…fine.” I take a seat in one of the bean bag chairs and with no hesitation, I begin the story. I didn’t exactly know how to tell her everything without etching out the parts with the whole magically back from the dead, died again, and then met this golden lady who brought me back and gave me immunity to bullets and poisons. So I told her everything. No etching out details.

“Yeah that’s…pretty much it.” I ended, after summarizing the whole thing. Delara didn't say anything until she sat down by a small desk and started fiddling with a pencil. “The others don’t know this?” she asks. “Yeah, I uh-well, I didn’t want to give them more things to question me about.” I answered half heartedly. “It’s bad enough that you had to suffer like that.” she comments, “You’ll never get your sight back in that eye, that’s for sure.” She gestures to my burned eye, and I laugh a little under my breath. “Right…” I sigh, “...sooooo, what exactly do you expect from helping us?” “I expect nothing more than your participation.” she says, getting up from her chair. She walks out of the room, leaving me inside wondering if I should follow her out or not.

She didn’t return into the room to ask me to follow, so I just got up and followed her. Everyone was settled in the large area where a giant table full of papers was gathered in the center. I stood near Luno, who was a little less dense than before. He kept eyeing the blonde guy, as if he would suddenly vanish out of thin air if he didn’t look ever so often at him. I knew better than to distract him, so I focused my attention on Delara. “We’ve agreed to help in any way we can.” says Orme. “Then help organize these, why don’t cha?” says Delara, as she picked up a few of the papers and let them fall right onto the table. She leans her upper body a little above the table as she says, “I’ve gathered enough info on this group for over a year now. Their meeting spots diveritiate every other week-giving us the perfect amount of time to plan a little visit to their last meeting spot.” “So we tail them until we know what their planning, and then pounce on them before they’ve held their meeting?” asks Davina. “Yeah.” says Delara, “Actually, now that I’m thinking about it-it’ll take too long.” “We could just pounce on them before they’ve held a meeting?” I suggest. “We don’t know where they’d be,” says Luno. “Actually, we do.” says the blonde guy, “Delara traced a call from one of the suspected members, and they’ll be in a lake house not too far from here.” “I’m sorry-who are you again?” I interrupt. “Luno didn’t tell you?” says the blonde guy, “I’m Luno’s brother, Airek.” “Adopted brother.” correct Luno. “Still a brother.” says Airek. “Enough bantering.” says Delara, “Jesus-every time…” She perks up when she sees me raising my hand up above the others’ heads. “This isn’t a class discussion-just speak up and get your ideas out of your throat.” I lower my hand and give her a smile that was less than satisfied with her remark. “I was wondering. Will there be any way I could interrogate them alone?” I ask, “I’m very convincing-Luno-tell them how convincing I am.” “Oh yes,” he says sarcastically, with the addition of an eye roll, “She’s very convincing. If it were for her smashing my head into the ground multiple times, we wouldn’t have her here today.” My smile was beaming as I heard these words, but Delara didn’t seem very convinced. “Alright.” she says, “However, not alone-since I’ll be right beside you the whole time.” “What?” I blurt out. “Do you honestly expect me to trust you with these cult-crazy bastards alone?” she exclaims, “No! I really don’t. So unless you want to sit back in the van and be twiddling your thumbs all day, I’m staying with you the entire time.” I groan, wanting to stomp my feet and leave, but that would be even more childish. I needed to talk to these guys, and if it means playing good cop-bad cop with Delara, then it’s fine. To her, it’s probably a good chance to test me on how good I really am at combat and interrogation where I’m not the one being interrogated. To me, it’s like taking the crappy grape medicine when I was sick with a high fever. Just chug it down until it’s all gone, and the after taste will only last about a week if I’m lucky. “So we’re clear then?” asks Davina. “We all go in there, guns blazing, take a few of them as prisoners, question them, get the information and kill them off.” recites Orme. “Sounds like fun.” I comment. “It sounds like a lot of work.” Luno corrects. “I honestly don’t care how it sounds.” says Delara, “We just need to get in there and get the job done.”

I’m sitting with my legs crossed on one of the boxes, my hands are fiddling with the locket I had in my pocket. At least they didn’t find this, it’s bad enough that I lost so much, I couldn’t part with this one piece of my old life. I need to rethink everything that’s just happened…no, not really. Too much has happened, and rethinking about it would give me a headache. I sigh and pick something else from my mind to think about. My mind drifts over that memory of me and Vienna, and although she’ll be okay on her own, I feel something deeply pitted in my stomach. I know it’s a sign of worry and anxiousness, but it’s not something I should have at the moment. Especially for Vienna, because she can take care of herself. I think it's a sign that I should get down from the box, I’m starting to notice that my feet are falling asleep. When I hop off and land onto my feet, I spot two figures in the corner of the room. I walked over to the two, but then ducked behind some giant crates when I saw who the two were. Luno and Airek muttered some words before I could finally hear whatever the hell they were talking about. “I’m sick of your cowardness.” says Airek. “You’re not a walk in the park too, ya know.” says Luno. They mutter a few more words until Airek lets out a soft hearty laugh. “You’re so full of it.” He says, “You don’t even know what’s true and what isn’t.” “You don’t know anything.” growls Luno, getting in Aireks face, like two stags ready to buck antlers and see who stands and who falls. “Wanna bet.” Airek counters, his eyes ablaze with a sharp edge of boiling anger. Airek is the first to walk away, and he leaves Luno standing there with his head low on his shoulders. I walk over to him, but when he lifts his gaze to meet mine, I almost take a step back. He wasn’t giving me a cold glare, this time, it was a solemn stare with tears in his eyes. He was like this for five minutes, until he turned away and followed after Airek. I don’t know what the hell just happened, but I’m not in the mood to dig deeper into it. I took a deep breath and followed after Luno who led me to the others.