"Um, no offense, but what exactly is the work?" Jax asked, looking at me like I was crazy. I guess she wasn't so far off the mark, considering the situation.

"It's... it's a long story, but the short version is this: The reason I've been acting so weird lately is that I joined up with a rebellion against the Evos and they told me I wasn't allowed to tell you guys about it. All the chaos is because one of them found us meeting in the attic and we had to get out. So... yeah. That's what happened. And now we've gotta figure out what to do."

The reactions were... varied. Sofia, who was pale as a sheet, hadn't moved a muscle since I said 'rebellion', while Alex had simple stiffened, keeping his face carefully masked. And Jax did exactly what I was expecting--got pissed.

Honestly, that seemed to be her reaction to most of my actions lately.

"Okay, one, since when have you kept secrets from us, and two, we deserve the long version. That's the least you could do, considering the circumstances."

I winced, knowing she was right. But how do you go about saying, Oh, and by the way, I've been lying about myself from the very first moment we met. Hope you aren't angry.

I hadn't ever become attached to anyone for precisely this reason, and now, the universe had decided to let my luck run out. This was probably one of the worst ways something like this could've happened.

I looked at Aretha for support, but her gaze clearly portrayed her feelings.

You're on your own for this one. I didn't want to bring them, remember?

Great.

"Look, I'll answer all your questions and let you make your own decisions about whether or not you'll help later. For right now, though, we need to get to safety. In case you didn't notice, we didn't exactly make an inconspicuous exit."

Even their anger couldn't hold up to cold, hard logic, and after some debating, we set off. We went towards the lavender farms, in part because we could follow our noses and in part because it was our best shot at local transportation we could steal to get away fast.

I took in deep breath after deep breath of the cold night air, willing the chill to seep into my bones and calm my pounding heart. It didn't work--all I could think about was the look on their faces when they realized I'd lied about so much of myself.

C'est la vie, I supposed.

***

An hour later, we were hurtling down the freeway in a stolen pick-up truck with a broken heating system and a radio that seemed to be stuck on some techno music station. I didn't have anything against techno music, but after three hours, it all start to sound the same.

On the other hand, I didn't want to turn it off, because the tension in the car would almost definitely suffocate me.

Aretha was driving, while I sat shotgun, and Alex, Sofia, and Jax were crammed in the back. Several times, she had demanded that we explain everything. I'd helpfully become temporarily deaf, and then turned to ask how much longer it was until we arrived wherever we were going.

I'd asked Aretha, but she'd simple replied (sort of tensley, actually) that I'd see when we got there. On those occasions, Jax smirked triumphantly, and I could practically feel the See? Not so fun when it's you radiating off of her. I decided not to both Aretha anymore, partially because I was lazy and mostly to annoy Jax.

Yeah, we were really mature about this whole thing.

It was only an hour later that all of that suddenly felt so young, so frivolous. It was only an hour later that I could feel my heart shatter, brittle as glass. An hour later that I realized just how few of my old scars had truly healed. An hour later that disbelief and betrayal snaked through my body, curling around my heart and stomach, a numbness spreading through my body like frost. And it all started with two words:

"We're here."

Her tone was my first clue. Aretha never sounded like she did now--like she was frightened by whatever was about to happen. Like she was scared.

"Where's here?" Sofia asked, beating me to it. I turned away from the strangely reminiscent neighborhood to face the unremarkable, two-story house. It looked a little bit out of place--parts of it were brick, parts normal siding, with a door painted in peeling black--in a neighborhood of regular, side-paneled houses.

"Yeah, what is this place?" Alex asked. I heard him as if he were far away, though he was only about two feet away. I felt the phantom sensation across my hand--the metal doorknob would be cold this time a day, so cold

--my little hands could barely reach around the circular door knob, with it's bronze tint, and on days like this I didn't want to hold on to it too long. Last year, Jonathan had told us in whispers about people who got burns from the cold and had their hands chopped off, so I was always asking why we couldn't get a wooden handle, but--

I snapped myself out of the daze, but the unwelcome sensations still rippled across my skin as my insides turned to ice.

"You brought us here."

I said it, but it felt so mechanical, so detached. I felt my mouth move, felt the words come out, but I couldn't quite muster an emotion.

Then the shock wore off.

"You brought us here?" The anger in my voice surprised even me. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Woah, Violet, chill out," Jax said in an increasingly-rare show of common sense, "What's the big--"

"We are running from the Evos, and you brought us to the house where the murdered my parents!" I snapped.

There was dead silence for a moment, and I could feel the razor-thin edge I'd balanced on my whole life slip away. There'd be major fallout later, but for now, I could think, couldn't feel anything more than this moment.

I needed to survive this. Then I'd take care of everything else.

"What?" Sofia's voice seemed so small all of a sudden.

"Do you even realize how messed up this whole thing is?" I asked, a dark fury seething beneath my skin.

"I just-"

"You know. You know what it's like, what they were like. You know, and you still brought me here?"

"Violet, back up for a second--" Alex tried to say. I ignored him.

"I would never do this to you."

I hadn't ever seen Aretha look so small, so close to tears.

"Of course I know! I knew them. I miss them. But right now, this is the closest safe-house I could think of. I'm sorry this was best option, but you brought three ignorant civilians--"

A chorus of 'hey's sounded from the back seat, but neither of us paid them any attention.

"--into this and right now, the most important thing is keeping everyone alive."

"They died there."

"I know," she said, a tear slipping out.

"Were you there? When it happened?"

She looked away before answering, choosing to speak to the window. "I wasn't supposed to be. I was supposed to be out in the neighborhood, playing with Avery... but I forgot something in my room. And then they came. And I hid."

"Did your parents have a hide-out?"

"A what?"

"Mine did. That's where it happened."

Alex, Sofia and Jax seemed to have given up trying to interrupt, sensing they'd get their answers if they waited.

"It was in that garden shed," I continued, looking ahead but not seeing, "You know, the one we tried to break into once? There were stairs, going down, and my mom made me hide. I heard the shots, but I had to wait for the smoke to clear before I could get their bodies."

My voice was soft now, and Aretha and I were both fighting battles, trying to keep the past locked in the little cob-webbed box where it belonged.

"You brought us here," was the last thing I said before opening the car door and walking away from the house, from the bloodstains I remembered all too vividly, from the smoke that I could almost feel, scratching at my throat.

I heard people calling my name, people asking what was going on. I knew that Aretha was still desperately trying to explain herself, but how could she? How could she justify this?

I'm sure that in a few hours, I'll have to go back. I owe it to them. All of them. But for now, my mind is lost among echoed gunshot, long faded away, and the sound of boots in a concrete room.

So I just kept walking.

Hey guys! I hope this was a long enough chapter to make up for the last time. 

So, was that was you guys thought was gonna happen??? I came up with it a while ago, but I'm curious about whether or not you guys called that halfway through the chapter. 

Comment 'pumpkin' if you read this, and have a happy Halloween! 

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--Earthstone