To be humorous some people fake gasp in surprise. It's now when I stop writing my fancy D and look up at Damon's face. He's grinning like a Cheshire Cat.
"...and so, Pepe's dying words are..." he pauses. By now literally everyone in the room is paying attention. Even Ms D, who's looking at him in impatience.
"...don't come...it's a hambush."
Groans and fake laughter fill the air in our classroom. Ms D looks super mad. "Alright, that's it, B+ for you!"
I look around in confusion, then turn to the person next to me. She's smiling, so I take it that she's understood the joke. I ask, "I don't get it, what does that mean?"
She looks at me, and without hesitation she answers, "An ambush. But remember how he said it was a bacon tree. Hence, HAM-bush."
"Oh," I say, "Thanks!"
"I've got better ones, though," she says, and turns back to her iPad. She has her white headphones connected to it, she always does. Her cover looks pretty old - it's worn, chunky, and the colour is a faded red.
It's so Amelia, though.
I snap out of my daydream, only to see everyone crouching down next to me, their faces marred with worry. I waste no time to announce my verdict. "Amelia!" I yell out, a little too loud. "I'm so sorry!"
The lights start to flicker, and the ground starts to shake. All five of us stand up, and Shayleigh runs over to where we are. We try to keep our balance, holding onto each other just in case we get separated again. I was scared before, but now I'm just...worried.
The lights finally just turn off, leaving us in darkness. I can't see anything. But I hear the sound of someone's hard shoes hitting the ground, getting louder and louder by the second.
"Oh no," I say, thinking it's Mackenzie or some bad guy again. I feel a hand rest on my shoulder and visibly jump. As I turn around, I gasp.
"You called?"
"Amelia!" I say, my voice a mixture of relief, paranoia, and shock. I reach over to touch her but to my horror I can't feel her. My hand goes straight through her.
She's transparent.
“You’re a ghost!” I shriek.
"I'm a soul," she clarifies. "I'm...well, that's pretty much it. I'm a soul. Amelia's soul."
"But Amelia is..."
"She's dead. Well, I'm dead. But I'm her soul. This way, they can still use my powers, but they have no need for my human form. I'd only get in the way in my human form."
"Wha- Amelia, what've they done to you?"
"Soul extractions," Jessie whispers, and then it hits me.
"Oh no," Shayleigh says, her voice rising by the second. "They're going to kill us."
"Not without a fight," Mrs Renee adds, taking her stance. I admire her for her confidence and hope, but I think the inevitable truth is that we're doomed.
"Mrs Renee," says Amelia. "Powers such as physical combat are still turned off."
"I know self-defence in the real world."
"Doesn't matter. They're still going to weaken you and then kill-extract your soul."
She starts to slow down her movements.
"The only way we can get out of here," she says. "Is if you bring me back to life. I have powers, and I know the way around. I can save you all."
We all look at each other in surprise. How are we supposed to do that?
"Hey," a voice calls out from amongst the student prisoners. "Hey, save us too."
"Shut up, Parker," a more familiar voice calls out. It's Shayleigh.
"Okay, ordinarily I'd say this in a more tactful way. I'd also make cookies and coffee so we could chat about our lives in the process. But we have less than minutes to get out of here. So, here's the deal – if I want to live again, which I do because I want to free you all – I'd have to take someone's body, which means someone's soul has to be extracted."
"Easy," says Shayleigh. "Take Parker."
"No!" He yells, a horrified look on his face.
"No no, the person has to be willing for me to extract their soul. I haven't learnt how to extract an unwilling person's soul yet, unfourtunately." She wrings her hands in impatience.
The room falls into silence again. My thoughts are whizzing through my mind. Should I do it? Is this my time to be a hero or something?
"Amelia," I say, my voice quiet but steady. She doesn't look at me. Instead, she's looking at one of the students.
Bob.
He's lying there, eyes closed, and chest completely still, not rising or falling in rhythm like the bodies next to him.
We walk over to him. I can sense Shayleigh's tense heart that's desperately fighting to pound and keep her alive. My knees are shaking, and I feel a sense of doom wash over me.
"He's dea-"
"Still here," he growls, much to my relief. I hear everyone sigh, especially Shayleigh, who starts panting quietly next to me, her breath hitting my shoulder. With much struggle, he sits up, and stares at us in all true seriousness. I've never seen him like this before. "But haven't got much longer anyway. I need you all to listen to me. Take my soul. I don't wanna die this young and be forgotten. I want to mean something to the world. I don't know how I got here or why I’m here, but if I'm going to die, I might as well live on somehow, right?"
His words are confusing, but at the same time they make perfect sense. For some reason, we all turn and look at Shayleigh. Tears are flowing down her pale face, but she's smiling.
"Let's do it."
Bob winks at her for the last time, and she erupts in a fit of mini giggles, for the last time.
17.
For the first time ever, I wrap my arms around Amelia, who hugs back a little hesitantly. "Let’s go," she says, abruptly pulling away. "First, I shall release all the students."
With a wave of Amelia's hand (literally, who knew the girl had incredible powers!), the students pull free from their restraints and jump up to their feet, still weakened but as expected, eager to escape. None of them talk to one another or reunite with their friends, just start bunching up around us. Even though we're in a much better position than them right now, I still feel a little intimidated, especially when Parker, the super moody jock, stands right behind me, about to burst into tears.
Well this is awkward...
"We've no time to lose. Hurry up everyone." She turns around to look at all of us seriously. "Also, I can't guarantee everyone's safe return. So, if we lose anyone, it's not my fault."
Everyone is horrified at Amelia's words, yet I feel myself admiring her blunt and brutally honest personality. She's always had that in her, I find myself recalling. She keeps everyone on their guard and not a step behind the crowd.
Jessie whispers, "Flynn, were you joking when you said we have a whole army with us?"
He looks at her, his face blank, and doesn't say a word.
Amelia seems like she's leading us to nowhere, before she stops in front of yet another giant door. This time, it has no letters or lights illuminating it, nor is it open. Amelia closes her eyes, brings her fingertips to her brain, and almost immediately the door slams open with brutal force. She doesn't even give us any time to react as one by one we pile into the room.
The room is pitch black, just like the other one, but before I can ask Amelia, some lights flicker on.
Remember my reaction when I found out that Flynn was part of the conspiracy? I recall myself saying that he was one of those people you'd never expect to be a part of something like this. It's just...odd and strange. It's like having old people in an action movie, or a really geeky teacher part of some gangster club. Even though it's not impossible and not completely ridiculous, something about it just doesn't add up.
That's just about the same feeling I feel when I saw Kevin standing in front of us, dressed in a complete black cloak, holding Mrs Mitzeegh by the arm.
Of course, the other thought that ran through my mind was, we've found her at last.
"Kevin?" Jessie and Jada exclaim in unison. "Is that you?"
He doesn't answer. Indeed, I had never talked to Kevin before,
but I'd heard a lot about him, and I'd seen him around once or twice. The things I heard were mostly normal things, some...slightly concerning. I'd always brushed them off as rumours. Anyway, I didn't really pay much attention to him, except when Vera brought him up in class.
Vera is a good friend of mine. We'd gotten close in German, stuck with each other for the whole year as we both did German major. She'd never come out and blatantly say they were dating but...it was kind of obvious that there was something going on there, and she never did anything to deny it.
I quickly shrugged off thoughts about Vera and Kevin and focused on the task at hand, a plan starting to formulate in my brain.
"Looks like you've made it – with some help, of course." I turn to look at Amelia, but just when I do, I see her body literally disappear into the thin air. I don't know how to react.
"You're the mysterious 'boy in the black cloak'?" Jessie remarks.
"Am I? Looks like it," he sneers. His cruel gaze rests on everyone but stays a little longer on Drew. He starts to break out in a nervous sweat. "Anyway, I figured you guys would get here sooner or later. I mean, you all are very smart." Something about the undertone of his voice sends chills up my spine. It’s taunting, like a Disney movie villain.
"Let her go," I say, almost randomly, staring at Mrs Mitzeegh. She's staring at the ground, ignoring all of us, to my surprise.
He ignores me too. In fact, he sounds and looks like he's been practising his 'speech' for days now and forgot about the audience engagement part.
"Let's just cut to the chase, shall we?" He says, harshly pulling on Mrs Mitzeegh's arm. "You guys made it – hooray – but you'll never make it out, nor will you figure it out and stop us. Nothing, and I mean nothing, can stop us. Not even Amelia – and you know how powerful she is."
I look around, as if Amelia would be floating around somewhere.
"You guys may be smart, but you're the worst at teamwork," he says, walking around us while we stare him down with angry eyes. "There's too many...secrets being kept, and that's what letting you down every time. And what's more," he looks at me. "Some of your recruits don't even know what they signed up for."
I can see Mrs Renee opening her mouth to object, but Kevin stops her.
"We are going to put you in an automatic time machine in shared cages. You’ll have exactly 17 minutes and 16 seconds before you get teleported back to wherever you came from. Don't ask me why you have time, that was Damon's idea." He scoffs. "It's like he wanted you to escape or something."
Once again, the all-too familiar black guards start coming in from all three directions. This time, we don't protest, even though we aren't weakened. The presence of the 'boy in the black cloak' is enough to convince us that he probably has some hidden power that could kill us all in a heartbeat.
As we are being escorted out of the room, his voice yells out behind us.
"Oh, and when you get teleported back, you will have no memory of the conspiracy. Nothing."
∞
"Kat, what's the news?"
"Nothing much," she lies through her teeth. She'd seen the seven teenagers and the group of kids from the school run through the halls and enter the room. But she's sure they'd been taken care of, much to her dismay.
"Ok, well, we have another operation to conduct after your shift here." The woman sighs, leaning on the table and gripping her coffee cup with a sudden rush of anxiety. "Kat, do you think this is a good idea? Working for two teams at once? Isn't that dangerous?"
"Maybe," she replies. "But it's worth it. I don't want to work for the K&K any longer, but I can't tell them officially. They know I'm a witch but have no idea I'm part of the witches club."
"Is that so?"
A sinister voice travels from the doorway into the room. The air in the room is suddenly filled with so much tension you could slice it with a butter knife. As panic starts to fill the atmosphere, the blood starts to rush to Kat's head and the woman beside her drops her mug, shattering it into giant, sharp pieces.
∞
16 minutes
"Nope," says Mrs Renee. "He's right. There is absolutely no way we could escape out of here right now. What's more, our powers don't work in this room." She stops are turns towards us. "So, what's the plan?"
"This sounds ridiculous and tedious but," I blurt it out with no hesitation. "Kevin said that we hold too many secrets. He also said that some of us don't even know that much about the cons- whatever this is. So, I think we should start from the absolute beginning and explain it through, like a timeline. Maybe then we'll find a clue of some sort that may help us, maybe not just escape but also help us remember...if we get sent back."
I take a huge breath.
16 minutes 21 seconds
"Right," Jessie starts. We all crowd around her, well, at least try to, considering we're separated in strangely geometric shaped cages. "So, there was that first day in maths, where we first thought of it all in a fun way. We started to have this feeling," she said, looking at Jada and I, "but we kinda shrugged it off."
"It was assessment time," Jada continues. "So, we were all preoccupied with that. Anyway, in History, our next class, Drew calls me and tells me that his parents have invited my family and I to his house."
Everyone looks at Drew, except for Mrs Renee, who's staring at the ground as if she's trying to figure out something.
Drew looks a little flustered at first but speaks. There's sweat lining his forehead. "I made a deal with Kevin. The boy in the black cloak."
The air is filled with sudden shock and realisation. Everyone in the room looks up, their eyes as big as saucers, except for Jada and Mrs Renee, who don't move at all.
Drew continues. "I didn't have a choice. He...I...I was afraid he'd hurt Jada if I didn't...anyway." This time Jada looks up, but her face is emotionless. He sighs. "I guess I was wrong. He made me invite Jada over so that he could kidnap her and use her as 'bait' for the CSS."
"Which didn't work because..." I was extremely surprised to suddenly hear my voice, especially sounding so calm and like my normal voice, even though the panic was starting to sear through me.
14 minutes 58 seconds
"...we had that dream..."
"Conspiracy is basically confirmed by then. The dream not only confirmed our thoughts then, but now everyone makes perfect sense," as the words leave my mouth, the realisations hit me.
The students tied up. Mrs Renee. Ms Katarina. Amelia's 'death'. Flynn. Drew.
Damon.
Damon. Damon doesn't make sense.
I ignore my thoughts that feel like they're stabbing into my brain one by one. "The email. It was sent to Mrs Renee by Drew, to basically get us into the whole thing." I look at Mrs Renee in confirmation, who simply nods in approval. I avoid Drew's gaze. "Then we had the meeting."
12 minutes 43 seconds
I pause. The whole room is dangerously silent, as if no one can remember what happened next.
The last person you'd expect to talk starts to tell his story.
"Damon and I, well, we're the insiders. The assassins, you could say." As the words leave his mouth Shayleigh shuffles a little away from him. "We used the whole men-with-guns barging into your meeting as an excuse to 'save' you all so that we'd be allowed in your team." This time, even Mrs Renee looks taken aback.
I glance at the clock.
12 minutes 42 seconds
"After that we...got close to each other I guess," Even my emotionless voice seems to fill the room with a little more ease. "We gathered clues that week-"
"What clues?" Mrs Renee interrupts.
"Lots," I say. "Some I don't remember. Some I do. Some merely coincidences. All I know is after that, Mrs Mitzeegh basically left us a note in a last desperate attempt for us to figure it out."
"The location," Jada confirms. "We figured it out. We told you."
I nod, but then I cry out. "Ms K gave us the coordinates though. Ms K..." I say, my voice trailing off as my thoughts get tangled in th
e mess that is my brain.
"Then, the dream. The dream of Mrs Mitzeegh basically telling us where to go. All three of us had it." I glance at Jada and Jessie. Jada is gripping the railings of her cage. Jessie is merely staring at me, a strange look in her eyes.
I shiver.
"And then..."
"You got a phone call." Jessie finally speaks after a long silence. Her voice is shaky but steady. "You got a phone call from Glasgow Dental Clinic asking for Mrs Butch."
The Conspiracy Theory of June 17 Page 16