The silence that followed was an uncomfortable one, and before anyone could make another comment about what Dominic said about me, I changed the subject. "Well, if we're going to die here, I might as well say some stuff I never thought I would too."

Jack and Sierra had been looking at Dominic, but they turned their attention to me. Of course that did the trick. Who didn't want to hear me say something semi-serious for once?

"I'm never gonna be what my mom wants me to be. And I don't even care. I have plenty of time to worry about that. Right now, I just want to care about the talisman." I glanced over at the door to make sure Harvey didn't burst into the room, and when he didn't, I sat down next to Jack. "Isn't that what college is for anyway? Figuring yourself out?"

"I mean, not exactly in the sense that you're—"

I shushed Jack. "Don't lecture me right now. It's very possible that we're all about to die a slow, painful death because no one outside of this room would notice if we're gone."

"What? I have other friends besides you," Jack said.

Then where the hell were they?

"That's not true. If you could do better than Lindsay, you wouldn't be here," Dominic said.

Jack didn't reply to that. I definitely didn't want him to, either.

"Well, if you're gonna be a jerk, why don't we circle back to the fact that you can't do better than Lindsay? Weren't you just saying that you caught the feels so badly that it looked like what we all thought 2012 was gonna be like outside?" Sierra glanced over at me and nodded. "I got you, girl."

Did she though? Did she really got me?

"2012? You thought the world was actually going to end in 2012?" Dominic asked.

Sierra nodded. "Everyone did."

"Everyone with an IQ less than fifty did—" Dominic began, but Sierra cut him off.

"Quit deflecting and answer the real question."

Dominic didn't answer the real question. Instead, he sat down next to me and crossed his arms.

Because pouting about a situation that we caused was very helpful. I shook my head. Maybe my mother was right about exactly one thing.

Maybe that conversation was better left alone until we were in a better situation, but before I could open my mouth to tell him that he didn't have to answer, he began to talk.

"It was the weirdest thing. You'd think I would be used to weird at this point after stalking Lindsay every single time she was about to get herself into trouble with the talisman, but it's still not normal. But when I sat down with her that day, everything felt normal and peaceful and calm until suddenly it didn't, and it was disgusting."

Disgusting? Rude.

"You know, ever since my parents' marriage was ruined by Tiffany, it's like I don't have any reason to believe in any of this shit, and that's what makes everything so difficult," Dominic continued.

I sat up straight at the mention of her name. Tiffany, the homewrecking bitch, as Dominic so affectionately caller her, was finally being added into the equation.

"What shit? And what everything?" I asked.

Dominic shook his head. "Don't make me say it."

"I said it. Are you really not as brave and tough as me?"

Jack laughed, and I tried to hold back a small smile. Everyone thought they were so tough with knives and talismans in their pockets, but wasn't everyday brave much more useful?

Dominic forced out a loud performative sigh before answering. "I can't imagine my life without you and all this talisman nonsense. Is that what you want to hear from me?"

"As long as you mean it, yeah," I said. "Do you?"

Dominic hesitated for a moment. "I don't say things I don't mean."

I wasn't sure how much I agreed with that, but it didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was the look on his face. Even though his words and tone sounded irritated with me like usual, his typical harsh, judgemental glare was replaced with softened eyes. What a performance by him, I had to admit.

He was right that nothing about us made sense, but nothing about the talisman made sense either. But I was fine with that. For a while, I only had Jack, and while he was a great friend, I didn't get the same feeling in my chest when I was with him. I was probably going to end up like Dr. Roberts and have a heart attack in my thirties, but I supposed I kind of deserved that.

Jack cleared his throat, and before I could tell him to shut up and leave us alone, a loud click came from the door.

Was I crazy, or was that the sound of the door unlocking?

My head snapped in Dominic's direction, but he was already looking at me.

"There's no way in hell that just happened," he said, but there was no point in speculating without actually trying to open the door.

"That's—" What was the word I was looking for? Weird? Strange? Absolutely insane?

"I think we all learned a valuable lesson here. Keeping your feelings locked up only keeps yourself locked in," Sierra said.

Of course, Dominic and I were the ones who unlocked the door for everyone so no one had any room to criticize us, but I didn't mention that. The world conveniently changing to fit what I wanted probably had more to do with the talisman than anything else.

I cracked open the door to take a peek outside, and there was no one on the other side. It was very possible that I was just about to fall for another trap, but what if I wasn't? What if we had the talisman all figured out?

That was just a chance I had to take. The talisman didn't choose a mentally stable, solid decision-maker like Dominic for a reason.

"Well?" Dominic asked. "What's our plan?"

I shut the old, heavy door as quietly as I could. "We should probably figure something out before we do anything."

"Can we think fast? I'm kind of hungry. I haven't eaten anything today," Sierra said.

"And whose fault is that? If you would have picked something faster, we wouldn't be here," Jack said and turned to me. "I guess it's my fault for asking a girl to choose something."

I laughed and nodded. Why were we so focused on the drama with Dominic and me when we could have been talking about that thrilling story?

"Focus, Lindsay. We're trying to get out of here with the talisman," Dominic reminded me.

"Right, right. Think," I mumbled to myself as I ran a hand through my hair. I certainly wasn't used to thinking anything through, but I had to make an exception.

But the talisman didn't pick him to be its person, so maybe my planless way was better.

"Lindsay, you're moving your lips again without actually saying anything." Dominic looked over at Jack and Sierra. "She's not, right? Oh god, is this the beginning of the end?"

Sierra shook her head, but I didn't miss her confused squint. "You're good. She does that sometimes when she's worked up about something. I've just never told her because it's funny."

I smiled as an increasingly familiar warmth bubbled in my chest. Was I the only one who knew about his hearing? I really was special to him.

"What if we went to Butterfly's shop in Sherwood once we get out of here?" I said. It was kind of a special place for Dominic and me, and even though Butterfly was acting a little weird the last time we were there, Harvey certainly wouldn't know where we were, and I was a little more confident in our chances against someone who called herself a witch named Butterfly. "That'll be the best place for us to get away from everything going on here."

Dominic nodded. "That's a good start, even if it is the bare minimum as per usual. But how do we get out of here without anyone noticing?"

Did I really have to think of everything? Ridiculous.

"I don't know. Be really, really quiet." I headed over to the window to take a peek outside. The car was still there, so we had that going for us. "Jack is here at least three times a week for his little band practices, so I'm sure he knows the sneakiest way to get out of here. Right?"

He nodded. "I got it."

"And Sierra hasn't eaten all day, so she has nothing weighing her down, so she won't make any noise," I continued.

"But we are gonna get food on the way to Butterfly's, right?" Sierra said.

"Do you have McDonald's money?" I asked.

She shook her head.

I probably didn't either, but if I had metal detector money, I at least had to pretend I had enough for food. "Well, I'm nicer than my mother, so don't worry about it. If we get out of here without anyone noticing, you can get however many McNuggets you want," I said.

"Your doctor mom asked her child if she has money?" Dominic asked with a laugh. "Sorry. That's not funny."

"It's was a little funny now, but as a seven-year-old, it was not. And you still have your knife just in case, right?" I asked.

"Why do you keep asking me that? Obviously, I do."

Because it would never stop being weird, that was why.

I smiled. "And there you have it. That's why the talisman likes me the best. Bitches get stuff done."

Of course, this bitch hadn't gotten anything done quite yet, but it was better than anything anyone else could come up with.

"You know, that just makes everything about you more irritating. You're perfectly capable of doing anything you put your mind to, but you just choose not to," Dominic said.

I ignored that and turned to Jack. "So where are we going?"

"There's only one staircase to get downstairs, but as you saw earlier, it's carpeted to cover up the puke stains, so that should make it quieter," Jack said.

"Oh my god," Sierra mumbled.

With the fresh image of the unearned rockstar lifestyle in the house, Jack opened up the door and led us back down the hallway we came from. I followed behind him, then Dominic, then Sierra. Harvey and his roommates could have been anywhere in the house, but the TV was on downstairs, and it sounded like there was an insurance commercial playing. I imagined that it was more exciting than the boredom of holding four people hostage over an unknown piece of metal.

The stairs didn't creak underneath our feet as we made our way down, but instead of heading for the front door like we came from, Jack turned the opposite way.

Very sneaky.

As we continued to the back of the house, the sound of the TV got quieter, which hopefully meant that no one was where we were heading. There were two rooms down the hall before the door that I assumed led outside, and Jack peeked inside the first one. He turned back to us and held his finger to his lips.

Was someone in there? My heart dropped into my stomach. I was hoping for a no-pressure situation, but of course, it couldn't work out that way.

Without a sound, Jack crossed the doorway in about half a step. There was no reaction from inside the room, but I glanced in just to make sure the coast was clear. Harvey sat in there on a couch with a book, and although he wasn't directly facing us, all it would take to ruin the plan was one ill-timed glance to the right.

Then it was probably the roommates watching TV. We should have gone out the front.

Turning around would have been stupid, so as I worked up the courage to take the quiet three steps to the other side to freedom, Dominic jumped in front of me. Before I could even swat at him, he was standing next to Jack.

I shot him a glare. I had just made a point about how I was the braver one, and he must have taken it personally.

Then what was I waiting for? I moved my foot to cross the doorway, but Sierra's stomach growled and rang out like it was in a silent exam hall.

I covered my mouth with one hand as Dominic grabbed the other wrist.

What was the point of making plans when they never worked out?

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello! How's it going? Thank you so much for reading!

For today's question, I'll ease the cliffhanger by asking about the zombie apocalypse! If the zombie apocalypse started tomorrow, what fictional character you would want on your team?

I would pick Katniss from the Hunger Games. Number one, she's a badass who can fight. Number two, she wouldn't be annoying because she's a real one, and I feel like our personalities would work well together.