Abigail goes into her cabin and takes a pair of binoculars. To hell if I know why. Then she asks me to follow her through the thick forest just beyond the cabin, which I do in silence. Wonder decides he doesn't want to follow us. We walk past so many trees under the silent crunch of our feet on the ground, it's impossible to know where I am, how to get back, or where she's taking me. Finally we reach a barbed wire fence, and Abigail breaks the silence.

"Past this, it's all the ranch's territory."

"Utopia Ranch?"

"That's the name the old fart came up with? It's pathetic."

"I still don't get why you hate on him so much or why he puts up with it," I reply coldly. Sure as hell, Eugene has his strange ways and he doesn't like to take care of problems the way I'd like him to, but he's been a decent human being so far trying to make things work for everyone. And yet Abigail seems dead-set in making him angry for whatever reason.

"You're going to see for yourself," she says calmly. "At least you'll get to see one of the two reasons why I hate his guts so much."

"If this is going to take too much longer, you could tell me the second reason."

"I don't really talk about that stuff."

"Maybe it you share it with me—

"I SAID!" she yells, cutting me off. "I don't talk about that stuff. And that's final."

"Okay, you don't need to get mad at me. I was just trying to help."

"You can't help with that dung, that's all the info you'll get."

She does a swift jump and she's on the other side of the barbed wire, then uses her hands and feet to make an opening for me, and I crouch a little to get through. We walk for a little bit in yet another uncomfortable silence, and then we finally set foot out of the woods, except that Scar stays behind a tree, and pulls me to hide with her. Then she takes the binoculars and looks through them. Then she passes them to me.

"I you look that way you'll see the barn and some of the houses."

I use the binoculars to look through, and true enough, there's the barn of Utopia Ranch and some people I can't distinguish.

"Okay, so the ranch is somewhat close to your cabin. ¿Is that it?"

"I wouldn't be mad at something so stupid," she says, rolling her eyes. "Sometimes you just say the dumbest dung imaginable."

"Well, how am I supposed to know? You bring me here and show me that like that's it."

"Just follow me in silence like you've been doing. You're actually a lot more handsome when you're not talking."

And so she leads me through the woods again until we find the barbed wire again, and down a well-walked path on the ground to a clearing in the trees, and in the middle of it, there are five greenhouses. Why would they be so far away in the forest beats me, but they look awfully suspicious.

"Go on, get a closer look," Abigail says, casually hiding her hands on her hoodie pockets. I do as she says, and I don't even have to get close before the smell gives away what's hidden here. It's a full plantation of marijuana. And it's right in the backyard of Utopia Ranch. It takes me a full entire minute to process what's going on here, so Abigail stands right next to me and helps me out straighten the facts.

Her voice is calm and even soothing as she speaks. "I know you really liked the whole idea of the crooks becoming ranchers and selling produce to earn a living. Working the land instead of robbing old ladies around town. I know you loved that idea, because you're a simple-minded idiot who would believe in such fairytales. And don't get me wrong, I do like that side of you. That optimistic and almost childish way you see the world is endearing and beautiful. But you're not prepared for life being the bitch it is, John. Sunderland sold you the lies you wanted to believe in and you bought them all, because you're that way. You just think everything and everyone could have a better side."

She hugs me, but I don't return the gesture. I'm just baffled by this. I have been lied to my face by the same man who makes the rules in Maple Heights. He's no hero who took a bunch of criminals out of the wrong path. He's just a drug lord like those in the movies, and I got involved with them. Invested in them, even welcomed by them.

"What you do with this information is up to you, John," Abby says and kisses my cheek softly. "Just don't tell anyone I know about this."

"I won't."

"Say you were hiking and found it on your own or something like that. I just don't want to be involved. Losing my mother to these people was enough for me. Please?"

"I won't say a thing about you, I promise."

"Thank you," she says, resting her head on my shoulder. "And I'm sorry I had to break the news to you like this."

"Someone had to..."

"I told you before that you wouldn't be able to trust anyone else if you knew the truth..."

"Still, though, there has to be a good reason for this... it just can't be..."

"I don't know about that, Johnny," she says caressing my cheek. "But perhaps if you talk to the people in the ranch, they can give you an answer that satisfies you. Even if it's just another lie."

"Yeah..." I say, convincing myself. "Yeah, I should do just that, actually."

"Then go," she says, lightly pushing me forward. "Although Sunderland is probably at school right now."

"It's fine. There's still Ralph," I reply on instinct. "He knows about as much as Eugene about anything happening here."

"Don't forget your school stuff is at my cabin."

"I'll be there in a while."

"Should I wait for you?" she offers. "Or you think you can find your way back?"

"I'll manage," I tell her, already facing the worn path that I'm sure leads to the farm itself, but before I go, I turn to Scar and smile.

She looks at me with disgust. "Creepy! Why are you smiling like that?"

"Thank you for showing me this."

"You're dumb as dung," she replies, looking away a little embarrassed. "All I did is ruin that perfect ranch dream you had."

I think long and hard before replying, "No point in having a perfect dream if you have to wake up."

Like I had to wake up from the Celadon Bay dream as soon as I landed here. Like I had to wake up from the perfect dream I was having in Sunset Central when I woke up in Celadon Bay. "Besides, what's one dream ruined when everything you had was always ruined somehow?"

"Now that's a bit extra, if you ask me."

"But it's the truth," I say, looking at the greenhouses again. "This, in the grand scheme of things, is just a small setback."

"Well, which one is it? Is it a small thing, or is it a ruined dream?" she asks, frowning. "You're kinda wacked in the head by this."

And then it hits me. This could be a tool. Some kind of bargain chip against Eugene. "When someone is playing foul, they have no right to tell you anything about how you do things, right?"

"I suppose so, but where are you going with this?"

"I'm getting my vendetta against the guys that beat Newt and ruined my house," I announce, like this is the great piece of news. "And Eugene will have to watch it from the sidelines and can't tell me not to."

"You're going to defy him."

"I guess so, yeah."

"John, that's so stupid, on so many layers... I literally don't know where to start," she says, pinching the bridge of her nose. "What makes you think that someone who has THE POLICE on his side will just let you run a vendetta around town for free?"

"Well, for one, he did with Rude."

"And that's a good point," she admits. "But he won't risk you turning into another Rude. Which is basically what you're trying to do here."

"Why the hell not?" I snap, pointing at the greenhouses. "He's doing the same shit their old leader used to do."

"Because the guy likes you, John," she says, deflated. "Otherwise he'd had you kicked out of Maple Heights High when you fought Rude. It beats me why he chose you of all people, but he definitely has a reason for that."

"Maybe because I was doing the right thing for once?"

"Hooray!" she says, lifting her arms to the sky. "And there you have it; that was exactly what Rude used to believe."

"Did he really believe he was some hero while he bullied the likes of Newt?"

"For harassing Amanda? Yes."

"He didn't harass her!" I reply, but to be honest, I don't know what happened back then.

"There you go again, thinking everyone is a good guy in your little story," she says. "He started writing her love letters, then he got more assertive and tried to talk to her directly, until one day he followed Amanda to the girl's bathroom to 'please, for the love of God', ask her out. Like, even I felt sorry for her, and we were already on bad terms."

"What? Seriously?"

I knew Newt crossed some kind of line, but following a girl to the girl's bathroom?

Scar walks up to me and grabs me from my sweater. "Please don't become like Rude. Please."

"But what these people did... my father was shot, you know..."

She touches her forehead to my chest. "Please. I'm sure Veronica would tell you the same thing."

"Yeah," I admit, and I pull out the locket from her neck to look at it again. "But she's not here to say it."

"Bullshit," she replies. She places her palm on my chest. "You know she's still right here saying that."

I want to prove her wrong somehow, but she's right on that, and I hate it.

"I'll be waiting for your return, John," she says, pushing me away. "Don't do anything stupid."

I retreat a couple steps, still looking at her. Then I turn around and head for the ranch with one thought in mind: Finding out what's going on with this plantation.

Little did I know about what I was about to find out there.