XXI. Hide And Seek.

After being forbidden from consuming any more alcohol, Jude was indulging in finger foods in an attempt to keep her thoughts under control. Next to her remained Jordan whose left hand found itself interlocked with Jude's empty one.

Marie and Cate were engaging in a conversation when Andre walked towards them. He appeared extremely panicky and couldn't help but look around, "Hey! Um Guys, uh..." He looks around for a moment before leaning his voice lowering into a whisper, "I-I might've fucked up."

Jude who got herself to sober up a little, stopped snacking on her finger foods and looked at Andre. Sitting up straight, she narrows her gaze on him, "What did you do Andre? Because you got some nerve after ignoring me all this time."

"I just got caught up—"

"What did you do Andre?"

Andre inhales sharply before looking at Marie, "Well uh it's about your roommate Marie."

Marie looks at him with a puzzled gaze, "Emma? What's wrong? Is she okay?"

"Who the fuck is Emma?" Jordan asks, glancing around the table.

"Marie's roommate," Jude answers before looking back at Andre, "She's chaotic but a sweetheart."

"I think she might be missing," Andre whispers vaguely, but Cate catches onto what he means.

"Missing?" Marie mutters.

"She might be missing where..." Andre looks at Cate and then at Jude.

"Andre," Cate narrowed her gaze onto him, "You promised. You said that you wouldn't."

"Andre you fucking idiot!"

Out of all the things that Andre could've gotten himself into, she was not expecting the guy to send Emma on what was practically a suicide mission for Supes. His irrational and not thought plan relied on sending Emma to 'the Woods', which is the Sage Grove Center, a psychiatric hospital that entirely was a cover for doctors to test on Supes as well as regular people. What happened there was inhuman and for Andre to be stupid enough to send Emma there said a lot.

Jude's eyes practically sent a variety of glares in his direction as she could not believe the situation she found herself in yet again. Muttering a curse word, Jude could only Avery her gaze back onto the rough ground, the bright light from her phone illuminating her already annoyed facial expression. Just like Marie and Jordan, she was tasked with finding an annoyingly small metal tracking chip. Andre had given one to Emma so that he could find her but it wasn't exactly the right tracker to find her so they were practically looking for it without her being with it.

That idiot.

Her sneakers were slightly scuffed against the many tiny pebbles which only made her wince slightly. Thankfully she didn't have to go treasure hunting in her dress because that itself would've been a shit show.

"I found find the tracker!" Marie announces.

Jude mentally sighed in relief, "Fucking finally." She was not about to spend the whole night looking for one tiny object that didn't suit any of her needs. Let alone for Andre out of all people.

Jude walked over to Marie, who was kneeling by a patch of gravel. Her phone's flashlight illuminates the chip, and Jude immediately notices a spec of blood that coats it.

"There's blood on it," Marie mutters, slowly rising to her feet, her lips puckering slightly before blowing air on the tracker and handing it to Andre.

"I don't even want to know where that came out of."

"Maybe this is good," Andre examines the chip, "She—she got out of the hellhole."

"Emma's possibly alive...and that's a good thing. It still doesn't change the fact that your dumbass sent her on what could've been a suicide mission."

Marie motions to the caved-in terrain, "It looks like a meteor crashed here."

Andre shrugs, trying to come up with an excuse, "Maybe Sam can jump like Maeve does?" With more conviction, he nods, "He landed here with Emma and then jumped again."

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life." Jude looks at him absurdly, "And it's surprising even from you Andre."

Andre inhales deeply, "I had to do something."

"Yeah, but..." Marie scoffs, shaking her head at Andre especially, "You didn't do anything. And of all people, you went to Emma?"

Just as Marie finishes her sentence, a buzzing sound followed by a chime is produced from their pockets causing all to pull out their phone.

Jude pulling out her phone reads that it was another updated rank list. Her eyes trailed over to Jordan who was already looking pissed.

"What is it?" Marie asked.

"Shit."

Before I can speak, Jordan does from a few yards away, "New rankings are out. Andre's number one, Jude you're two, Marie's three, and I'm still five. Wow. Congrats."

"These fuckers just won't let up." Jude shoves her phone into her back pocket.

"Rankings? Really?" Andre scoffs, taking a few steps over to Jordan, "We got bigger fucking problems."

"Says number one." Jordan fumes, walking up to Andre until they are a few feet apart, "But you're right, we do. Turns out the school has a fucking Mengele Health Clinic. We don't know who's in on it."

"If..." Jordan stops momentarily before continuing, "If Brink was, maybe other professors, maybe Dean Shetty."

Jordan then lets out a humorless chuckle, "But you guys are gonna get a green van and a talking dog and fucking solve it?"

Jordan scoffs, looking at Marie and Andre, "You're just gonna end up like that fucking cricket."

"Emma," Marie corrects, "The lost girl who's in deep shit? Her name is Emma."

"Jordan's right," Cate spoke up, and maybe for the first time that night.

Jordan gives Andre a pointed look, "Fucking thank you." They then turn around and proceed to walk over to the car.

"Wherever Emma is, it's not here." Cate walks down the steep hill she is standing on, ready to follow Jordan back to the car.

"Cate," Andre's voice makes Cate stop walking, "Come on."

Cate turns a heel, her eyes narrowing with exhaustion, "Why don't you ever fucking listen to..." She takes a deep breath her eyes meeting him, "This girl could be dead, Andre. We are in over our heads."

It was just Andre, Marie, and Jude who stood there. Jude crosses her arms, "If she dies that's on you. And your precious daddy can't save you this time."

Andre looks up with a sigh, "Jude just stop fucking acting like you don't have a single clue on what the fuck is happening. There's something that you're hiding and instead of bitching about this why don't you help."

"Look." Jude stepped towards Andre making sure to meet his eyes. Narrowing her gaze she continues, "You don't know shit, nothing at all. And this whole mission is already falling off its hinges because you don't know shit. So unless you can come clear with me fuck off. Got it."