THE FIRE OF VENGEANCE
CHAPTER SEVEN

Obnoxious telephone rings and booming voices crowded the room as Olivia stepped in. Each wooden desk situated in organized rows was filled with its owner, and the walkways were crammed with the remaining police officers who weren't fulfilling desk jobs. The cream-colored walls and the wooden furniture that filled most of the police station brought drowsiness into the room, depressing with its blandness.

Olivia struggled to focus her eyes on something when everything in the room looked so alike; brown wood, dull plain walls, matching beige uniforms. Even the bulletin board by the reception counter at the back matched the color of the desks. All that truly stood out were the missing person posters on the bulletin board, or the posters with safety advice hung up along the walls. The small desk plants, although Olivia was certain were fake, also gave the place a bit more flavor. Nevertheless, Olivia still found it difficult to keep her eyes steady as she looked for Ace. As she scanned the room, she hoped that his colorful puffer jacket would help him be more conspicuous than the rest of the station.

Sighing, Olivia reached for her phone in her coat's pocket, her eyes instantly scanning the screen for a reply from Ace. When she saw that their chat remained one-sided for the past hour, she pocketed her phone. "Great," she muttered to herself, looking back up and raising her eyebrows when thick red hair came into sight. Olivia smiled at the fact that the first sight of color in the entire room happened to belong to a familiar face coming out of the jail area. "Nancy," she called, moderating the volume of her voice to avoid attracting the policemen and policewomen's attention.

The girl glanced around for the source of the name call and waved when she saw Olivia waiting eagerly for her. Instead of walking to the exit as initially intended, she averted her route and shuffled past desks to make her way to the brunette. "Hey, what are you doing here?" She stopped in front of Olivia with a smile, though her eyebrows were knitted together in question.

"I was supposed to meet Ace here; he said he needed to pick something up from the detective's office," Olivia explained, gently throwing her hands up before slapping them down on the side of her legs in disappointment.

"Wait, really?" Nancy frowned and shook her head. "Ace picked that up not too long ago."

"Ah, so he did blow me off." She flopped her hands to her sides, slapping her thighs lightly.

Nancy shrugged and smiled sheepishly. "I doubt it was meant maliciously."

"Yeah, no, it's okay," Olivia assured, although she found herself gritting her teeth after. Why had he agreed to her helping him today if he was going to avoid her? "So what are you here for? I saw you walking out of the jail room." She arched a brow suggestively to which Nancy put her hands up in assurance.

"Oh, no. I wasn't arrested again," she chuckled when Olivia nodded with joking relief. "I just had to return something to AJ."

"Wait, AJ?" Olivia took a step back to think straight. "As in AJ Nishiyama?"

"Yeah, we found out that my dad was his lawyer. He took me to meet him earlier today but the guy's a complete recluse and wasn't willing to help so I... may have stolen something." Olivia's lips were parted by the time Nancy had finished speaking. And although she was thrown off by Nancy's stealing, what had truly caused Olivia's jaw to drop was the fact that Nancy had gone to meet AJ without inviting her, let alone telling her about it. Why did Nancy and all her friends seem to be trying to exclude her?

"Are you serious?"

"I mean I wish I was," Nancy chuckled and leaned against the wall, oblivious to the faint look of frustration on the brunette's face. "But turns out the talisman I stole is what has kept AJ alive all these years; it attracts malevolent spirits to scare the Aglaeca away. So I came back here to return it."

"You didn't think to ask me to come?" Olivia could barely suppress the glare that was forcing its way onto her face. As much as she wanted to remain calm and unbothered, she couldn't help the mild boiling of her blood at the fact that Nancy and her friends seemed indifferent to Olivia's clear involvement with the Aglaeca. "I'm the one who had the vision about him."

Nancy frowned, completely unexpectant of Olivia's anger. In the three or four days they'd known each other, Nancy had only seen nice and frightened Olivia, never the angry. "Oh, I didn't realize you wanted to come."

"Well if you even mentioned it to me, maybe you would've found out."

Raising her eyebrows, Nancy held her hands up in surrender. "You're right," she affirmed, but her facial features didn't appear apologetic. Her forehead was creased with stress rather than sorrow, and the corners of her lips were curved downwards in desperation, not guilt. She was in a clear hurry, only making Olivia wonder what else she was leaving her out of. "And I promise I'll tell you everything later, but right now I have to meet my friends to try and return what we asked of the Aglaeca."

"You can tell me on the way there. I'm coming with you," Olivia declared, folding her arms over her chest assertively. As sorry as she was for all that Nancy and her friends were going through, Olivia's constantly worried, racing heart, and clouded mind were like a plague. So while she empathized with Nancy, Ace, Bess, George, and Nick, and completely understood why Nancy was in a hurry, Olivia couldn't forget her own confusing, frightening connection to the Aglaeca. She was as deserving of answers as the rest of them were, and she wasn't going to stop fighting until she got them.

Nancy exhaled a light breath of exasperation before flailing her hands in relinquish. "Fine." Although there was a regretful tugging on her arm, Nancy motioned for Olivia to follow her. It wasn't hard for Olivia to see Nancy's reluctance in bringing her along– the dull, blank look on her face and her begrudging footsteps to her baby-blue car gave it all away. Even in the short walk to the police station's parking lot, Olivia could feel Nancy's disinclination trailing along the gravelly floor with every step she took. Still, Ace's was unmatched. His unwillingness to give details about what he was doing or what he had to pick up from Detective Tamura's office was only mildly noticeable at first. However, to hear that he had decided to pick it up earlier without telling Olivia not to waste her time with coming had made it abundantly clear that he didn't want her involved.

She hadn't truly realized how infuriated she was until she was seated in the passenger's seat and slammed the car door hard enough to make it tremble. Stunned, Nancy leaned back in her seat with wide eyes as she pulled the gear of her car into drive. "Is everything okay?" Nancy asked through barely opened lips, her words coming out as more judgemental than intended. She glanced briefly at the girl whose eyes were plastered onto the plain dashboard, before beginning to drive.

"I'm fine." Olivia's voice was low, rumbling in the air like a wave of humidity. "What did AJ say?" She was quick to change the subject, desperate to distract her angered mind.

Nancy kept her eyes on the moving road ahead, choosing not to question the girl. "When he and his friends were kids they were driving recklessly and hit a station wagon. So when it burst into flames and only a child was lucky enough to survive and reach the ER, they called out to the Aglaeca to ensure she lived."

Most of Nancy's explanation blurred when the word 'flames' reached Olivia's ears. It filled her head like an echo, bringing her mind back to the vision she had had the night before. She still couldn't wrap her head around why it looked so vivid but was so vague in context. "Do they know who the girl was?"

"Yep. Hannah Gruen." Nancy pursed her lips and turned her head to take in Olivia's dumbfounded gawk.

"Oh my God..." It was awestriking to Olivia how connected everyone in this town appeared to be. After nineteen years of living in Horseshoe Bay, she couldn't believe that it was only now that she was realizing how messed up it was.

"Anyway, he doesn't know how to help us so we're kind of at our last resort right now."

"Returning Lucy Sable's skeleton." Olivia nodded, staring ahead as she took everything in.

"As much as I hate to not give her a proper burial, I got my friends into this mess and I have to do this," Nancy sighed, passing the final mass of trees. She drove behind a curb, pulling into an empty road at the edge of a forest. She parked the car and unfastened her seatbelt, Olivia following her actions.

Once they were out of the car and welcomed by the fresh smell of wet grass and pine trees, they didn't waste time before walking through the narrow path between the forest and the start of the highway. Olivia's eyes shifted all over the place, from the eerie darkness of the forest to their right and the bluffs that were not too far ahead on the left.

"Are you sure about this?" Olivia cocked her head, her heart truly clenching for Nancy at the fact that she had to sacrifice her biological mother's remains to rid her and her friends of the Agaleca's curse.

"AJ said we should take our chances with everything," Nancy declared, her voice monotonous as though she was unbothered. Her sunken eyes and her lips which were quick to purse after every sentence gave away her sorrow though. "And that's what we're doing." Olivia nodded in understanding, deciding not to push it any further. She could sense that Nancy was already mourning, and Olivia knew all too well what that felt like.

Pebbles and sand-covered seashells crunched under their feet as they walked past chopped-down tree trunks and made their way toward the shore in the growing darkness. Olivia had never liked the sky when it was twilight. She felt like it was the hardest and most uncomfortable time of night to see in; everything was so unclear in the deep shade of blue. The four figures that stood at the edge of the shore were no more than silhouettes to Olivia and Nancy's eyes although they weren't too far away. Still, though, there was beauty that came with the twilight color. The sea was pretty under the light, a shimmering dark blue. It was enchanting and sparkled even from afar.

The bluffs gave the area an air of intensity, though. Tall and intimidating with the painful legend it carried. At the thought, Olivia looked to Nancy to see her staring at it, almost in trance. The very place her biological mother had been killed was right beside the place where they were returning her skeleton.

As they neared the shore, Ace, Bess, Nick, and George became clearer. As did the white box in front of them, which Olivia realized was where Lucy's bones were enclosed in. Goosebumps rose on her skin at the thought, and she couldn't begin to imagine how Nancy felt. Standing by her mother's place of death with her remains.

Ace's hands were comfortably in his winter coat's pockets before Olivia came into sight. She watched him in disbelief as he tugged his hands out and looked at her with furrowed brows and narrow, unexpecting eyes. "What are you doing here?" he asked quietly, beginning to walk toward the two girls with his eyes glued to Olivia. When he reached Olivia, Nancy branched off to talk to Bess, George, and Nick to fill them in on her visit to AJ.

"If I'd known you didn't want me around this badly I definitely wouldn't have come," she faked a sorry voice, her rolled-back shoulders and challenging posture completely contradicting the apologetic words that came out of her mouth.

"Liv, that's not what I meant." He rubbed the back of his neck, distressed by how quick she was to misinterpret things.

"Really? 'Cause that's what it seemed like when you blew me off and completely avoided me today," she barked, her anger from earlier resurfacing. "I'm as much a part of this as the rest of you are. I'm the one with the visions, remember? I see your deaths. I see everything! So if the Aglaeca is related to you and your friends, she is to me too." Her face was flushed as she clenched her fist. Although she was craving to let out her frustration in a loud voice, she managed to control her volume to not interrupt the others around her. It was Ace who had been ignoring her, who decided to not tell her he was going to go to the station earlier, not them.

"Just let me explain," he rasped, leaning forward to pick up both her hands and steer her away from the others.

"Your actions explained enough." She tugged her wrists away and turned toward the others. She began walking to them and although she heard Ace desperately call out her name, she didn't give him a second glance.

"If this works, it might be a little freaky," Nick informed Olivia, his chin tucked in slightly and eyebrows raised.

She nodded and bit her lips together. "I can handle it." She felt Ace join the circle they had made but refused to even look at him.

He kneeled forward and pulled off the lid of the white box. Olivia's hand shot up to her mouth when she saw the bones piled up in the box, but what was even more baffling was that none of the others seemed afraid or disgusted. She watched closely as they each picked up three to four bones and stepped forward, lining up in front of the water. The crunching of seashells beneath their feet was enough to set Olivia off, her wide eyes staring in anticipation although they hadn't even summoned the Aglaeca yet.

The five friends placed the bones down before them, high enough on the sand for the saltwater to wash up just below them. The water foamed each time it brushed up ashore– any further, and the bones would be gone.

"Lucy, I'm sorry that I couldn't give you a better burial..." Nancy trailed guiltily, dropping her hands to her sides.

Bess sniffled and placed a comforting hand on her friends' shoulder. "Hey... she's saving your life," she chuckled softly. "It's what she would've wanted."

Nancy nodded to try and convince herself of Bess' words. She closed her eyes and exhaled a shaky breath, a hot puff of steam leaving her mouth. "Aglaeca, Guardian of the Sea..."

George was quick to interject through gritted teeth. "You hateful, vindictive, sex-life stealing, mortality-sucking..." Olivia watched with wide eyes at the words continuously flowing out George's mouth.

Bess turned to her, her forehead wrinkled and hands clenched in frustration. "Hey, shush!"

Nancy stepped forward, trying to disregard the interruptions her friends were making as the painful words began to leave her mouth. "We humbly ask that you forgive our debt. In return, we offer you the bones of Lucy Sable," her voice cracked and eyebrows softened. What once was yours is yours again." Her eyes pooled with tears. Olivia took a small step forward from behind the five friends, tempted to place a sympathetic hand on the girls' back or suggest finding another way to stop the Aglaeca. She halted herself, however, and remained quiet.

They all stared at the bones with urgency, desperate for something– anything– to happen. The anticipation, the hope that this would work, that they would be free of their debt, it was tormenting, just like the still waves and silent air.

"What more does she want?" Nick barked.

Nancy sighed. "We know what she wants," she said through a trembling voice. She kneeled over to pick up a large seashell on the ground. Olivia could barely watch as she drew it to her hand and slit her palm before holding her hand out over the water. Crimson red blood oozed out of her skin and trickled down her hand before dripping into the clear water. "Aglaeca, forgive our debt! What we requested, we've returned," Nancy cried, looking around desperately for a response.

She stumbled back slightly when the waves got stronger despite there being no wind, crashing against her blue wellington boots. They all stared closely as the water covered the bones, and as the waves subsided, the bones were gone. They all gawked in silence at the now empty ground.

"She-she took the bones back." Bess looked around at everyone, taken aback.

Wide-eyed, Olivia stepped forward to join them. "Does that mean it worked? No more death? No more visions?" A smile grew on her face and she bit back the joyous laugh desperate to leave her throat.

"That one really liked her blood," George murmured with a light scoff.

Everyone's eyes were drawn to Nancy when a vibrating noise sounded. She pulled out her phone and rolled her eyes after seeing the name on her screen. "HBPD."

"If that's Tamura, I'm not here," Ace announced, shaking his head desperately. Olivia scoffed at the blatant reminder that he had gone to Tamura's office without her, only making Ace sigh and look down at the stubborn girl from beside her.

They all waited in silence until Nancy answered the call and put it on speaker. Hovering over the phone, they pursued their lips and listened closely. "Where's AJ Crane? Thirty minutes after you left, he escaped. You're gonna tell me you don't know how that happened?" Tamura's voice came out rushed and stressed, not giving them any time to think.

"Wait, I do..." Bess said quietly. She furrowed her eyebrows to process her own thoughts, before inhaling deeply with realization and joy. "I do! Okay, so in one of his books, the Cold Cell, the guy spends three years researching the company that manufactures the prison bars, doors, and hinges. It's in the hinges!" Olivia gaped at her, shocked by her clear inner-fangirl.

"Check the hinges!" Tamura sounded from the other end of the line.

"We just had a sighting on Chestnut Street. He's headed East," a police officer's voice rippled like static through the phone's speaker. Nancy furrowed her brows and looked up at her friends to see if they shared the same look of confusion.

"Set up a roadblock, then check the hinges!" Tamura yelled before returning his attention back to Nancy. "You and your friends..." he sounded threatening, his voice low and husky, "we're gonna have a real come-to-Jesus when this is over." The call ended with three beeps before Nancy pocketed her phone.

"Come-to-Jesus," Ace scoffed judgingly with a roll of his eyes. "The man had a Bar Mitzvah. Pick a lane."

Olivia stared at the ground as things began to click in her head. "Wait, Chestnut Street..."

"That's the Historical Society," Bess contributed.

"Where Hannah Gruen works..." Olivia thought to herself. Her mind trailed back to the conversation she had with Nancy in the car about Hannah Gruen and how she was supposed to die. Her eyes widened when everything added up. "Nancy, didn't you say that Hannah Gruen was supposed to die in a fire? Last night I took my ring off and had a vision of a fire."

"But that could have just been my death– I'm supposed to die in a fire." As she spoke, Bess' tone and volume declined while the memory of her death struck her mind like a bullet.

Ace frowned, ignoring Bess and stepping forward. "Wait, why did you take your ring off?"

"Don't act like you care," she snapped back, sending him a cold glare before returning her attention to the others. "I think there's going to be a fire tonight, and I think it might involve Hannah Gruen."

Nancy frowned and stared at the ground, absorbing everything. "Right..." She nodded, looking back up at Liv. "What if we're not the only ones trying to return something to the Aglaeca tonight?"

When Nancy's words sunk in, Olivia stumbled back at the horrifying realization. "AJ Nishiyama is going to kill Hannah Gruen."

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The sky had darkened significantly in the time that they had all driven to the Historical Society and began searching it. To no avail, Hannah Gruen was nowhere to be found, and neither was AJ. It only raised the tensity in the air around them as they searched frantically. It also raised the guilt building in Olivia's gut as she wondered how things would have gone if she had mentioned her vision earlier. Maybe if she'd told them she had a vision of fire, Nancy could have put her sleuthing to work and figured out that Hannah was in danger.

"Hey, you okay?" Olivia jumped when Nancy's voice echoed through the dark hall of the Historical Society.

The brunette tore her gaze away from the window she was looking out of, diverting her attention to the concerned girl who held a flashlight. "Yeah..." she lied, forcing a convincing smile as she followed Nancy out the door. She gripped onto the white railings on the wooden porch steps as they descended to the grassy floor. The crunching sound leaves under their shoes added to the eerie vibe that the darkness outside gave, leaving Olivia alert and wide eyes as she searched around for any sign of Hannah or AJ.

"Maybe we should-" Olivia was instantly shushed before she could finish her sentence. She turned to face Nancy with an offended frown but froze when she saw her friend's head lowered and chin stuck out as though she was listening intently to something.

"You hear that?" Nancy began to walk slowly to the left of the Historical Society, her eyes narrow with focus. Olivia followed behind, watching curiously. "There!" She quickened her steps toward a phone ringing on the ground. Picking it up, she examined it closely before handing it to Liv.

"This must be Hannah's." Olivia pocketed the phone after noticing Nancy had continued to walk behind the house, flashlight held tightly in hand. Upon noticing a car half-parked in a cabin-like garage with yellow wooden walls and a red roof, the two girls quickened their pace.

Through the luminescent moon and her flashlight, Nancy saw a light flickering through the window of the car. She squinted to get a better view and gasped when she saw Hannah Gruen. "Oh my God."

"Is that...'' Olivia paused with realization and drew her hand to her mouth in shock. "What the Hell?" She flinched when an unclear silhouette suddenly walked out of the garage with a large red petrol bottle in his hand. He unscrewed the bottle and began pouring it over the car frantically, grunting and moaning like a maniac.

"AJ? AJ stop!" Nancy exclaimed, hurrying forward. Olivia stood back, her pounding heart refusing to allow her legs to move. She wrapped her arms around her torso as a means of comfort and bit her lip anxiously. "Is this the plan? Hannah dies in a car fire like she was supposed to? You give her back to the Aglaeca?" Olivia stood back,

"For 44 years I let the worst kind of monsters destroy me. Every single day. I'm through." He said in a low, raspy voice. It was almost demonic– like something scary and dark had posessed him. He threw the empty bottle aside and pulled a matchbox out of his pocket. Olivia gasped as he picked out a match stick.

"You think that this ends your suffering? Because it doesn't. I- I think it'll be worse. You can't avoid the monster when it's you. You are not a monster. You are a survivor." Nancy warily inched closer, her eyes wide and body stiff. "So give me the matches." She held her hand out encouragingly.

AJ looked down at the box in his hands. He tapped the tip of the match stick against the side of the box, making Olivia's heart drop. But then he looked between Nancy and Olivia, almost as though he was contemplating, maybe thinking all of this through again. When he sighed and begrudgingly handed Nancy the matchbox, Olivia let out a shaky breath as her shoulders relaxed.

The two ladies spun around at the sound of soft footsteps against leaves and wood chips, smiling softly to see Bess running toward them with the others following close behind. "Nancy, Liv!" Bess called, relief lacing her voice.

"Uh, Hannah's in the car. Call 911," Nancy ordered, pointing at the vehicle. George and Nick ran toward it without hesitating, while Bess and Ace surrounded AJ with Liv and Nancy.

"Oh my God, AJ Crane! I... I have read all of your books!" Bess squealed, her breaths short and hitching with excitement.

Nancy rolled her eyes. "Bess, not now." The British girl pulled back quietly in slight shame before making her way to the car to see if Nick and George needed help with Hannah.

"She's breathing!" George called out from behind them, drawing Liv and Nancy's attention. The girls smiled at George with relief, grateful that they had found Hannah in time. Olivia wasn't sure if she'd be able to live with herself if Hannah hadn't survived.

"Uh, guys..." Ace called, regaining their attention. "He's getting away." Like a drunk person, AJ swayed and limped as he stormed off.

"Let him go." Nancy brushed it off, unbothered anymore. She was certain AJ would do the right thing from now.

"Is that his?" Ace pointed to an object on the ground. Nancy frowned and tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear before bending down to pick it up. It was an unusual object, a figure made of wood and material, hanging on a string. Olivia wasn't surprised that it was supernatural-related.

"Yeah, it's AJ's talisman... hang on." Nancy tore her eyes away from it and began to jog toward AJ.

Upon realizing she was now standing alone with Ace, Olivia drew back slightly to walk toward the others, but Ace suddenly grabbed onto her upper arm. Her eyes bore holes into his head as he spun her around to face him, and he instantly took her angry face as a signal to let go of her. "Olivia, can we just talk for a sec?" She arched an expectant brow in response and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I wasn't trying to be a jerk, alright? I know it was messed up to not show. So I'm sorry." His voice was brittle, eyes big and shiny as he looked down at her apologetically. Although he seemed sincere, Olivia doubted his apology was anything more than a way to get her off his back and stop being angry.

"Great, are we done?" she responded coldly, disinterested. She began to pull away, but he gripped onto her arm once more, forcing her to stare into his eyes which she had been avoiding. For a moment, she was silent, frozen, staring into his warm eyes, their faces only a few inches apart. Her lips were parted and quivered with the desire to say something witty or snappy, but only air came out.

"You were right about how you're as much a part of this as us. I guess it was wrong of me to try and leave you out."

"It was," she trailed, trying to tear her gaze from him and resume her angry stance.

"Hey, you wanna come back with us to The Claw?" As tempting as it was to accept his apology and go back to being friends and bantering with each other, she couldn't push aside the lingering feeling of betrayal and exclusion. It had felt like they had used her and were ready to ask for her help when they needed it but otherwise refused to involve her.

At the reminder, Olivia tugged her hand out of Ace's and took a firm step back. "No." She cleared her throat before shaking her head. "Don't bother, Ace. I'd rather not be where I'm not wanted." Ace's eyebrows softened and his mouth opened like he was going to say something, but before he had the chance, Olivia turned her back to him.

She closed her eyes before letting out a shaky sigh, trying to suppress the tight feeling of guilt in her chest from the look he had given her. His eyes and the way they looked down at her, his touch and its warmth on her skin– they had tugged at her heart like strings had wrapped around it and squeezed tightly. They made her want to melt under his stare and to smile at him and say that she wasn't mad at him anymore.

But she was an Irvine, and Irvines didn't let anyone treat them badly.

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double update! i hope you guys enjoy <3