In all her life, Jada had seen nothing so terrifying, so demonic, so very real.
At this point, understandably, her heart starts to pound, thumping in her ears, making her deaf to the world around her. She glances at Drew, who looks back at her. This time, she notices, his eyes aren't hazy and zoned out, but alive and focused straight on her.
The spell must've worn off.
The first thing he says is, "We need to get out of here," he says.
"Well no kidding, Einstein," says Jada, sarcasm dripping off her voice. The fact that she found a time to be sassy in a time like this, surprises even her, but it's probably just because Drew's back, and not a mindless zombie.
They both stand up, warily watching Mackenzie (or whatever's left of her) out of their peripheral vision. She begins to kind of hobble towards them, groaning and making even louder animalistic noises. She doesn't move very fast at first, so Jada uses this opportunity to grab the lever that opens the garage door. Her hands shake but she doesn't hesitate, latching onto it and pulling it down.
The door doesn't open.
She looks at Drew, her eyes widening, her heart pounding even harder. Drew looks back at her with the same panicked expression as he too pulls at the switch, multiple times, but with no success.
Okay, that's it. We're going to die in here.
They're cornered, the Mackenzie-thing now inches away from them. For some reason, instead of running to the other side of the basement, Jada gives Drew a final look and gives up, putting her hands in front of her face as a feeble attempt to protect herself while squeezing her eyes shut. Ready for her death. She hopes it's fast, and painless.
She can hear the Mackenzie-thing moving closer, breathing harder, then shrieking in joy...but...she doesn't feel her on her.
She opens her eyes. Drew's in front of her, his long arms curved above his head. Frowning, she looks around, and finally realises they're inside a what looks like a forcefield.
She breathes out in relief. "Drew!" She exclaims. Drew looks back at her and smiles. "We're not dead, I know, this is great!" Outside of the dome Mackenzie the witch is slamming her hands tirelessly against the walls, her mouth open as a look of frustration and annoyance mars her face.
"I learnt this from the..." his voice starts to fade, and so does the happy expression on his face. He sighs. "Look Jada, there's a lot of stuff we need to go over. A lot of things I haven't told you. Mackenzie's right. Well, kind of."
"That's okay," Jada can't believe the words coming out of her mouth. Before, she'd get mad at Drew if he didn't wait that extra minute for her after school. "We'll talk about it later. Right now, we need to find a way to get out of here."
As if right on cue, the door to the garage, the one that wouldn't open a few seconds ago, winds up, and reveals two girls.
∞
"Alessia! Jessie!"
I don't even get time to acknowledge Jada and Drew's presence because I notice the situation first. I don't think I've ever seen anything weirder than this in my entire life, and, in the light, I'm not really scared at first, just majorly weirded out. First of all, I'd never thought I'd see a demon in my short life, but I probably just did, and what's crazier (if it COULD get any crazier) Jada and Drew are trapped inside what looks like an invisible forcefield, the way that the demon-thing is bouncing off of it every time that she goes to slam her hands against it.
I thought when I first found out about the conspiracy, I had a million questions, the most I'd ever have in my entire life. Right now, though, I have a trillion.
"What is going on!" Jessie speaks my thoughts exactly as we step inside the garage. "Who-what's this?"
"That's Mackenzie," yells Jada, to which I frown, staring the...thing...up and down, trying to figure out how a basic blonde girl could've turned into a green black-haired swamp monster. But I don't need to wonder for long, because it turns around, baring its teeth at Jessie and I and progressing closer to us. I finally notice its eyes – or rather, the lack of them, and shivers run up my spine.
"Ok, Jada, what do we do?" As soon as the words leave my mouth, I silently scold myself. I watch Mackenzie (?) very carefully, slowly stepping backwards as she comes near me. Near us. I stretch my arm back in front of Jessie.
Then, slowly, I lift up my eyes to signal Jada and Drew, but they've already taken the idea and they're quietly running towards the back door, Drew holding Jada's arm in a tight clutch.
To my surprise, Mackenzie suddenly stops and turns around, as if she knew about the whole plan all along.
There's only one thing to do now.
Run.
I start running faster than I've ever run in my entire life, hoping Jessie's following right behind me. She is; I can hear her footsteps bouncing off the concrete floor. I can also hear the angry animal-like screams from Mackenzie, which only makes me run faster.
I don't stop even at our escape route. I try to turn the knob of the door, only to find that it's locked.
Shoot.
Stumbling, I jump around to see Mackenzie dangerously close to us. I know what I have to do, no time to be nice anymore. I slam my body against the door, and as I do, so does Jessie.
At our third thump it falls with a satisfying crash, and we all run out. But, so does Mackenzie.
Didn't think about that.
I'm running so hard, so fast, that I don't notice Mrs Renee, Flynn, and Shayleigh step out of the portal in front of us. Panting, my vision blurry from the panic and exertion, I don't even comprehend what she does that makes Mackenzie squeal in protest and then, I watch as I turn around, fall to the ground.
"Mrs...Renee...that was...beautiful...timing..." Jessie gasps, leaning against me, which she immediately regrets as I lose my footing and we both fall onto the tall grass.
I'm breathing so hard I don't even try to speak. I just frantically nod at Mrs Renee, indicating that I agree.
Surprisingly, nobody speaks for a long, long time. We all hang in there in awkward, tense silence, the only sound our own ragged breathing, and the occasional cough or two. Jessie and I don't even bother to get up.
Then, as I begin to get myself off of the ground, all of our voices start speaking at once, and then abruptly stop, causing another awkward moment.
I look at Jessie, and then Mrs Renee, who's smirking slightly.
And then, before we say a word to each other...we all laugh.
To this day I'm not really sure why that happened the way it did. Maybe it was out of sweet, sweet relief. Or because we were all too shocked and nonplussed, that we just copied Mrs Renee. Or maybe we rethought just all the crazy things that had happened to us in the last 24 hours, and just lost it. I don't know. I think for me though, it was a mixture of all those things. Looking back at that moment now, all of us standing between an empty garage and a wild forest, the only sound filling the air our own manic laughter, I think that was the moment that we really became united as the CSS.
∞
"They figured it out. They're together now, safe...well, ish. For now."
"Well, that's a relief." Krysten sighs, pushing the last of her cold, tasteless dinner around in her plate. She figured she could always eat later.
"I don't get why you do it, Kat."
"Oh, you know why," she says, flicking her hair out of her face, pushing her glasses higher up her nose. "You know EXACTLY why."
She looks away from her friend, her eyes far-away but focused. "I'm going to save these teenagers if it's the last thing I do."
Krysten takes her friend’s hand, cold and heavy in hers, as she lets out a heavy sigh. "Let's just go home."
12.
"It's been a whole week," I say, pacing back and forth across the small yet cosy dorm room. In front of me, Jessie sits at the edge of the bottom bunk, staring at the ground.
"A whole week," I repeat.
Jessie finally stands up and comes next to me. "It's ok," she tells me. "Remember how we couldn't figure out what the coordinates meant? Well, we figured
it out that night, didn't we?"
"Yeah," I say, running a hand through my hair. "But still. Why do you think nothing's happening, even when we've come to the right destination?"
Jessie sighs, almost in frustration. I must be a really annoying person.
"Alessia," she finally says. "Mrs Renee is doing everything she can. She went to Murdoch Street again, she contacted Amanda, she tried to travel back to that future dimension which didn't work but anyway, she tried. Heck, she even tried to find Mackenzie-witch again! And we've been having meetings non-stop." She looks me in the eye, and then puts her hands on my shoulders. "It's going to be fine. You're overthinking this. Let's just enjoy ourselves here in Scotland while the mayhem doesn't start yet, okay?"
I gently nod my head, defeated. "Ok, we can start by changing the subject," she says. As I look at her, I see her expression changing, the ends of her lips tugging upwards to create a mischievous grin.
I think I know what's coming.
"So," she starts. "What's been going on with you and Damon?"
"Nothing," I say, a little too quickly for my liking. Acting casual, so she doesn't get the wrong idea, I add, "We've gotten to know each other a little better, but we still don't know each other that well."
I look over to Jessie, realising that my answer made no sense at all. Her slight smile has turned into a huge smirk. I can't help but laugh, which prompts her to burst out in laughter as well.
We both sit back down on the bed. Looking over to her, I say, "I wish I had someone to tease YOU about," Jessie lets out a muffled chuckle, "but I don't."
I get back up and turn around to face her rather dramatically. "But don't worry," I say. "My time will come."
As if right on cue, there's a loud knock at the door, which makes us both jump about a mile in the air. We quickly compose ourselves and I grab the door handle, twisting and pulling it open.
Speak of the devil.
"Hey, Alessia," Damon stands in front of me, wearing a faded Batman tee and sweatpants. "Dinner's ready." He pokes his head inside. "Hey Jessie. Nice to see you again,"
Instead of answering, Jessie looks at me with a smile with a meaning only I know. Awkwardly looking away, I look back at the boy at the door and answer, "We'll be down in a second. Thanks for telling us."
He smiles and walks away. Gently closing the door, I turn around and narrow my eyes at Jessie, who bursts out laughing once again. I try to open my mouth and object, but the words don't come out. I can't help but smile and I shake my head back and forth.
The ensuite door clicks open and out comes Jada, her hair twisted inside a baby blue towel. Looking at both of us, she frowns and asks, "Did I miss something?"
∞
The air is filled with quiet chatter. The members of the CSS, old and new, are sitting elbow to elbow in the quaint dining room table. At one end Mrs Renee is silently eating her food, staring down with a look of great concentration, listening to everyone's conversations, every word escaping everyone's lips and hovering in the air. Next to her sits Flynn and Shayleigh. Flynn is joking around, as he usually does, while Shayleigh next to him is wholeheartedly laughing at his antics. Next to them sits Jada and Drew, engrossed in some secretive chatter that no one will ever know about, casually putting pieces of pasta in their mouths occasionally. At the other end of the table, there's Damon, Jessie, and then me. None of us are really saying anything, just eating quietly and thinking about what led to this even happening.
Damon is the first one to talk. "Say," he starts, "Isn't it weird how things have changed so quickly?"
I nod in agreement while Jessie says, "Yeah. I mean, just two weeks ago everything was fine. We still had Mrs Mitzeegh as a maths teacher. Isn't that what started everything? Just out teacher leaving?"
Damon and I both nod.
"Well, before that we had nothing drastic to worry about. We worried about our grades – which we probably still will when we get back – but there was never a threat to our lives. Nothing was ever so – complicated and confusing!"
At this point Jessie looks so frustrated, it scares me. But after a while she smiles at both of us again. "Sorry, guys. Guess I must be a little tired of this too."
Almost immediately after she says that Damon pulls his phone out of his pocket. I can't help but smile, thinking about the incident at the airport a couple of days ago.
He doesn't see me. Instead, he flicks the brightness up and points his screen towards us.
"See here?" He says, while Jessie and I lean closer to the screen. It's a picture of our maths class with Mrs Mitzeegh at the back. I realise it's the one we took on the last day – on Friday last week, but it seems like ages ago. Everyone's smiling, some laughing, and we all have a look of happiness written across out faces.
"We're so...happy. Even though at that point we knew about the cons- I mean, you know what, but we were still content."
"Yeah," Jessie nods, but her voice is unnaturally soft. As I look at her, I notice she's staring at the picture in intense concentration. Finally, she speaks.
"The dress," she starts, "The one Mrs Mitzeegh is wearing. It looks...really familiar."
I look over to see the picture again, but it's snatched out of my vision before I can really focus on Mrs Mitzeegh. I look at Damon. His face has suddenly gone pale, as if he's found out about some horrific news or he's just realised something groundbreaking.
I open my mouth to ask what's going on, but he beats me to it. "Gotta go," he blurts out. "Bathroom."
And with that he leaves, clumsily almost tripping over his chair in the process.
∞
"You ready to carry out the plan?"
"Not yet," he says, his throat suddenly dry, unfamiliar feelings rushing through him. "They still haven't found headquarters yet."
A loud cackle comes through the other side. "They're dumber than I thought. But whatever. Remember, when the time comes, DO IT."
"Ok," is all he says as he presses end call and slowly drops his arm to hang next to him. He'd been so sure of this before, so confident about it, but now...he didn't know what to do.
It felt so much like a stereotypical scene from a movie with a spy or assassin – they try to only pretend to get really close with the other side, but they end up actually getting really close. And then, a wild conflict of good vs bad, light vs dark, runs through their brain.
You have to do it. You made the promise.
But I... can’t.
You have to. You've already got another member helping you, how are you going to explain this to him?
I'll just explain it to him.
Don't worry about it. It's not a bad thing. You can't help being this way.
Yes, I can. I can stop this. I can go on their side.
He told you, you'll gain nothing from being on their side.
But all my friends are on that side.
No, they're not. Remember your dad?
What about Alessia?
The voices in his head pause, as he opens his eyes and looks around his surroundings. The chaos in his head comes to a halt as he finally comes to a conclusion.
As he walks out of the bathroom, that one voice in his head finally utters its last words.
What about her?
∞
All through dinner I couldn't stop thinking about Damon. No, not like that – but I had a weird feeling that something was up with that boy. He left so suddenly, suddenly uncomfortable with us and being around us. That was so unlike him. I mean, at school he's one the most popular guys. Why would he shy away from public attention like that?
Nah. He's probably just having a bad day. Just leave it. He'll be back soon.
He wasn't there when we finished dinner, nor when we were handing out dessert or when we finished dessert and were heading up to our rooms. I hated caring about this so much, but I couldn't help it bugging me.
I was curious to see where he went. So, after telling Jessie I was going to the bathroom downstairs (even though we had
a perfectly good ensuite in our rooms, but she didn't ask about that) I tiptoe down to the girl’s bathroom.
On the other side there's an old man, locking the doors to the men's bathroom. He gives me a friendly smile before leaving, mop in hand. I wait till he's out of sight, then I rush out of the bathroom precinct rather quickly and take the glass door marked EXIT.
The Conspiracy Theory of June 17 Page 12