Dream looked at her phone. It was eleven thirty at night. As she called Sawyer, she hoped he hadn't gone to sleep yet.

Oddly, he didn't pick up. Dream shrugged. He was probably asleep already. But Savannah usually slept pretty late, so she called Savannah, hoping that she knew whatever message Sawyer wanted to tell her.

Savannah didn't pick up, either. Weird, she thought.

Maybe Zac would be awake, as he hadn't gone to sleep any earlier than one in the morning every night ever since Dream had moved in. It would truly be weird if he happened to be asleep this early, one night out of every single night for the past four months.

"Psst! Zac!" she called out the window, stepping back and waiting for his answer. His bedroom was dark, so he probably wasn't there. Sighing in frustration, she decided to call him instead.

"Zac, pick up, pick up," she begged at her phone, but it went straight to voicemail. "Argh! Who else is there? Axel? Chloe? Francesca?"

Calling Francesca would be useless, since she was just going to be super secretive and suspicious.

She tried calling both Axel and Chloe, but neither of them picked up.

What in the world? This was...very strange.

Only one thing left to do, then. Go to Zac's apartment and ask him what on earth was going on, and why no one was answering their phones.

She left her room cautiously. She could hear her dad and Ava in their room, watching a movie. As long as she got back before their movie ended, hopefully they wouldn't notice that she left the apartment.

Grabbing one of her hoodies, which was randomly lying in the living room, she quietly left the house and went downstairs to the lobby, preparing to leave, when someone grabbed her arm forcefully. She turned around, wide-eyed, to face that same guy who worked at the lobby. The same guy who had asked her for the tape.

"Let go of me," she snarled.

Not bothering to say anything, he snaked one arm around her neck to press something against her nose and mouth. She gasped, realizing what was happening.

No. No. No.

If she got kidnapped again, what was going to happen? Were they going to kill her? Even if she escaped, what would her dad do?

Her thoughts quickly evaporated though, when her arms and legs became jelly and she slumped.

"We've got the last one," the man said into his phone.

---

"No!"

Dream woke up to a loud yell. She jumped backward - or, she would have - but her arms and legs were chained against the wall in a very dark room.

"I'm just asking you to do a very simple thing," Sinclair said, his lip curling. "Hand it over, and you're all free to go. No one will be hurt."

Dream turned to see all her friends chained against the wall next to her.

"I said this before, and I'll say it again. I will never do that," Francesca spat.

There was an evil glint in Sinclair's eyes as he raised the gun.

"No--"

Fatima cried out as the bullet hit her leg.

"Now hand it over, or next time the bullet will hit her in the head," Sinclair said calmly.

Francesca looked desperately at Fatima, her eyes traveling to look at Chloe, Axel, Sawyer, Savannah, and finally, Dream.

"Don't do it," Savannah told Francesca, "He's just making empty threats."

"No," Francesca sighed painfully. "You don't know Sinclair. He doesn't make empty threats. He's not going to stop until you give him what he wants."

"Remember," there was something in Chloe's eyes as she looked at Francesca. "Hand it to him."

Shaking, Francesca nodded. "I'll give it to you," her head drooped in defeat as the corners of Sinclair's lips turned upward in a smile.

"I knew you'd come to your senses, Frannie."

"Don't you dare call me that," Francesca hissed.

"Why not?" Sinclair laughed as he unchained one of Francesca's wrists, holding out one of his hands eagerly. "You know that everything I do, I'm doing for the good of your family."

"Mrs. Woods is not my family," Francesca snapped bitterly, reaching into the pocket of her dress to grab a thumb drive. Dream's eyes widened.

Oh.

Was this the "tape" that the lobby guy was wanting? Was there a video, or pictures, on that thumb drive?

Maybe videos or images that would serve as evidence against Mrs. Woods in court?

But if so, why would Francesca hand it over so easily?

Sinclair grabbed the thumb drive eagerly, sticking it into the wall in front of them. For a moment, the wall stayed its original color of black. But then, it slowly brightened into a familiar blue color.

Oh. The whole wall was...a screen?

The screen flickered, and a video popped up. At first the video just showed a crowded airport, but the camera eventually focused on a sign.

"Flight 1781 from Miami International Airport to LaGuardia Airport: Arrived."

"MIA to LaGuardia?" Dream narrowed her eyes. "Isn't that--"

The camera panned to the right, focusing on a certain girl with curly pink and blue hair.

"Chloe," Dream whispered. Was this Francesca and Chloe's plan?

In the video, on-screen Chloe looked around, gripping her bag tightly, looking around, her eyes falling on a group of blue-uniformed airport staff workers.

The camera followed Chloe as she made her way over to the airport workers.

"Excuse me," she asked sweetly, her eyes focused on a certain woman. "My name is Chloe Scott and I am currently working with Francesca Baren to investigate the case of Mrs. Gretchen Woods."

All staff members stared at her in confusion, except for the one woman Chloe had been looking at. "Follow me," she immediately said.

A moment later, the woman had led Chloe down several flights of stairs and they were now in an empty garage.

"Um, where are we?" Chloe asked.

"Stay here," the woman demanded as she whistled. On her call, several hooded figures rushed out, grabbing Chloe by the arms and legs. She screamed.

Dream closed her eyes. This actually happened. Oh, hopefully it was staged. But no. Once Chloe was knocked unconscious by a handkerchief firmly pressed against her mouth, the tallest figure threw back his hood.

Sinclair.

Dream looked at the actual Sinclair, who fast-forwarded the video to two hooded figures speaking. Now the video was recorded by a security camera.

"You should not do anything to her yet," the first hooded figure said. He or she spoke in a gruff voice and was significantly shorter than the other.

"Why not?" the taller figure asked. Dream grit her teeth, immediately recognizing the voice. Sinclair. Again.

"You know there's currently an investigation going on. You don't want to do anything that might prompt further investigation. Especially since they know our headquarters is here."

"So what do you suggest we do?"

"Take her to the Orange Creek Apartment Complex. I'll arrange for someone to pick her up from there. I'll give you the coordinates to the new headquarters later on."

"Sounds good. Now leave."

Next, the scene cut to a security camera that filmed an unconscious Chloe in an empty room. The door opened, and Sinclair walked in with a huge duffel bag. In one swift motion, he picked up Chloe and shoved her into the duffel bag, zipped up the duffel bag, picking it up and leaving the room.

Finally, the scene cut to the security camera footage just outside Dream's apartment, the same footage Dream had watched to find out what had happened to her, right after she fell from her bedroom window.

Once the video ended, Sinclair took the thumb drive from the wall, slipping it into his pocket.

"You got what you wanted, now let us go," Francesca snapped bitterly.

"You think?" Sinclair got up. "Have fun," he left the room, locking and bolting it.

Now what? Dream thought.

---

A/N

*looks up* *sees you guys' angry expressions* *hides*

Okay, I'm really, really, REALLY, sorry! I know I promised I'd upload on Monday, but some (translation: most) teachers just loveeeee assigning 3 tests and 4 projects all in one week... I really hope you guys don't hate me... *laughs nervously*

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter though! So many secrets were unveiled in this chapter :) Did anything surprise you? What do you guys think is going to happen next? Comment your thoughts!

On a completely unrelated note, I think I'm re-falling in love with High School Musical. I mean I always loved it, but I recently listened to the songs again, and dangggg. It's amazing. "Breaking Free" is iconic, but "Start of Something New" always gets stuck in my head, idk why. I'm not complaining though XD. Of course, I can't mention HSM without talking about how amazing "Bop to the Top" is. But come on, we can all agree that Sharpay and Ryan are not the bad guys, right? 

Oh and btw, if you want to make my bff really mad (which is always fun), check out my new story, titled "Just Friends". I'm not great at writing romance, but I'm definitely amazing at torturing my friends, so we'll see how this goes ;)

Next update: Friday (I'm so, so sorry, but I can't get a chapter out before that 😔)

💙, Stella Rose