Esme rushed around the staircase at the east end of the school's building, searching each classroom. She sped up the wide staircase, trailed by more of Luke's thugs. She stopped in front of a bathroom, holding a hand against a wall, breathless. The soles of her feet ached as she looked across the hall to see the hole that Preston had panicked about.

Walking into the bathroom, she took off her bloody socks, throwing them in the garbage. Planting her foot on the small, white sink, she let the water sting at them. Even with bandages wrapped around her feet, she still needed to figure out a way to prevent scrapes from happening. It wasn't like she could grab another pair of random shoes since they got torn up again.

After drying her foot off, she placed the other beneath the faucet. "Ouch," she said, clenching her teeth and closing her eyes. Focus on happy thoughts, besides the feeling of dog bites on her feet. It wasn't working exactly, since soon enough, the thugs were going to catch up.

Suddenly, she heard the toilet flush. Immediately, she went to dart off but fell, realizing her foot still rested on the sink.

"Esme!" Jade Cooper exclaimed, rushing to her side and helping her to her feet. She was one year older, had dark hair, and always wore winged eyeliner. "What exactly are you doing?"

Esme looked toward the door before slowly shutting it. "Hiding," she whispered, feeling the dust and dirt on her feet when she walked.

Jade helped her over toward the wall at the back, where a metal trash bin and small sink were in the left corner. Leaning against the bright yellow wall, she placed her legs over the garbage.

"I'm hiding from some of Luke's thugs," she whispered. "Henry, Finn, and Isaac, I believe. Maybe there was a girl with them; I'm not sure."

She tried to lean back against the wall, but no position seemed to comfort her. Between the large metal garbage can, spray-painted with swear words, and the uneven cement wall that made her back ache.

A lot of girls would go to this washroom for gossip. They always had a teacher or even security guarding the building, since they've caught people doing reckless behaviour in classrooms. Esme just enjoyed spending time with some of her friends, whom she hadn't seen since The Bubble started.

"Did you have Emma heal them?" Jade asked.

"It doesn't do much. I know I developed these freaky powers, but I thought they wouldn't get destroyed," Esme sighed.

Jade slowly took off her running shoes, grabbing her long socks and tying them around her feet. Esme stared at what the girl did. The orange socks were warm on her cold feet and covered some of the scrapes. Slowly, she lowered herself to the ground, sliding around on the floor. She picked her ankle up and checked to see if her wounds had started to bleed, but they hadn't.

The girl rushed to hug Jade before speeding off into the other building. There was shouting around and people walking through the halls as she stood behind one of the black walls, showing sports team pictures from the previous year.

People didn't play Uden, but rather the school played itself for two separate teams. They've played some sports games with Simcoe, but one year a boy purposely threw a basketball in someone's face, knocking a tooth out, so they had to stop playing them.

Esme had seen not just guys fighting but girls being caught. Scarlett, whom Esme had seen in the halls, had started a lot of taunting. Her looks were ravishing, and being on Greyson's right side had caused drama. It wasn't just finding out about them having sex, but sticking her wit into people.

She noticed the small square windows above, where you could see the gym. James had his laptop open, hooking up different screens on the hardwood flooring. In the middle, they laid a blue pool tarp with a plastic chair in the centre, facing the camera.

Leaning closer, she spotted the doors open to Greyson, walking over to James. She went to the second window beside it, where she could get a better view of the basketball court and bleachers. The basketball hoop netting had most of the net ripped off by kids swinging on them in the past.

Uden may be a school to send your children to, but reform didn't exactly happen. Reforming meant getting a smile back or getting good grades, but not much else.

Esme dashed her way toward the gym, passing some students in the hallway. Just before the door on the other side, she stood behind a black wall between a classroom and a row of lockers. Spotting two security guards wandering the halls could get her caught. If their group wasn't on the left side, they'd be on the right.

Before she could run off, someone who reminded her of a snow globe, only with feet and arms, grabbed her arm.

"Come with us," Henry said gruffly.

Finn held her legs and wrists together and began tying them with a tight rope. They both carried her down the hall as she tried to break her way out of the embrace.

She was then thrown onto the ground in a classroom, groaning as she slowly looked around. The bright lights were still turned on, with desks and chairs pushed against the maroon wall. Uden really needed a better painter than just the same mix of colours.

One tall blond entered, except his eyes were bloodshot, and he had bags under them. His entire face was pale, and his body trembled with each step he took.

"Did you see some ghosts?" Esme asked. "Or miss your parents?"

At Uden Academy, kids were used to being away from their parents, so it was no different than any other experience. The only difference is that none of them would be coming for visiting days or special events.

"I'm watching you, so don't run away," he said nervously.

Esme puckered her lips sourly because they wanted to keep her from finding Ashley. Saving her seemed like a risk, seeing that substance resting in the test tube.

It wasn't her idea to follow them, but she wanted to do something exciting. They may be going through chaos, but it focuses more than just on food, shelter, and even drugs.

Lying flat on the cold ground, Esme tried to roll her way out of the ropes, but nothing was working. This caused Stick to walk toward her, holding a bat with nails at his hip. There was horror in his eyes, shaking when he held the bat. This wasn't a normal fear of these abnormal powers.

Esme may not know much about psychology, but she spotted fear in his eyes. He was the one who killed Vickie, which meant he knew exactly what she looked like when she died.

Zane wasn't exactly sure what to make of the situation. While Mark and Jason bickered back and forth about his decision, he stood there. Scarlett still sat on her chair, blocking off the doors toward an unknown room. Even if he didn't want to intervene, Zane knew he had to.

"Can you forget about the problem and just focus on the situation?" he exclaimed.

Zane didn't exactly know Scarlett; other than that, she went to Uden and was Greyson's sidekick. It didn't seem she fought but manipulated what she needed.

"Can you just let us through? It will be quick." Jason questioned.

"Nope," she said.

They were stuck at the dead end of turning around and leaving or getting caught by one of Luke's men. Bella and Emma had gone the opposite way, and Esme could be speeding around anywhere.

Jason turned, conflicted emotions in his eyes between what Mark did and having to save Ashley. At that moment, he rushed past Scarlett before Mark grabbed his hand.

Zane widened his eyes at the actions he took. The guy actually protected Scarlett from being charged at or attacked by anything.

"Actually, Jason can come with me," Scarlett implied, grabbing his wrist and leading him into the gym.

Zane stared at Mark before shaking his head and walking in the opposite direction. In the main lobby, they rushed off past a pair of brown stairs, seeing Bella rush toward them in a flash.

"I don't know where Emma went!" she panicked.

"Jason is talking with Greyson, I believe," Zane implied.

They were both in an unknown hallway at the academy. He knew nothing about this school or that it even existed since he was homeschooled with his four older siblings. All they could see were classrooms on both sides, with some students inside, wrecking the place.

"Don't think you can run," they heard Luke's threatening voice say.

They all fled in the opposite direction of where the boy stood with a nail gun in his hands. Was this guy insane? Did he truly intend to nail them all to the ground, or had it become an order to kill them?

The sound of the nail gun kept going off, making them all scream and rush down the back staircase, meeting face-to-face with Henry and Finn. They looked back and forth, knowing this could be their death.

At that moment, Esme came rushing by, body-checking Luke into the white wall. He stared down at her with a snarl before firing the nail gun, only with actual nails.

"Run!" she cried.

They rushed down another hallway into the room of what seemed like two therapy rooms across from each other. She guided them into one of the therapy rooms, slamming the door.

The room had two white couches across from an office chair in the middle of the room. The flooring was hardwood, with a white fuzzy carpet in the centre near the desk. Zane hid under the desk, while Bella and Esme went behind one of the thick curtains. His heart raced when he heard the door slam open, and he tried to curl himself as tightly as possible.

"Which one of you is dying first?" Luke's voice was cryptic, and nails were slowly clicking from the ground. "I know you're in here."

They had to be so secretive that they actually hid here in the first place. Any person could figure out where they hid, especially since they all couldn't run like the wind.

"There," Luke said. He shot a nail as Bella screamed.

Zane shot up as Luke stared back at him with an evil grin, and the yellow nail gun pointed directly at him. He had seen the nail had gone to Bella's thigh; she had dropped to her side, slowly pulling it out. There were tears pooling in her eyes as her teeth gritted.

"Preston, I'm sure you can watch them," Luke implied, tilting his head slightly.

Someone who had once been invisible turned to normalcy. He had short, curly brown hair, freckles, and green eyes, sitting on one of the white couches with his feet up and his back leaned back on one of the pillows.

Luke slammed the door behind him and shot a nail right near the tip of his scalp. It missed and stuck right into the wall above him.

"Preston, just let us go," Esme whined. "Why are you listening to Luke?"

"If I watch you guys, I won't get punished for spying on half-dressed girls," Preston said, taking out a chocolate bar from his pocket.

Zane knew this guy wasn't going to let them leave, even if he wanted them to. Luke or Greyson may never let them out, but Zane had to try and think of a way. Looking around the room, which had thick red curtains and a black desk, nowhere seemed easy to escape. There were shelves filled with books that had been knocked over to the side, spilling all over the place.

"Does your school always trash every room?" Bella questioned, trying to clean the blood from her thigh with a tissue.

"You're cute, but not as hot as Scarlett," Preston commented.

Slowly, Zane shifted his way toward the door quietly, trying to keep his act together. The door then randomly opened toward a girl who was lying flat on the floor.

"Tumbles?" Preston asked.

Her face was on the ground, with visible scrapes along her hands, arms, and legs. Slowly, she raised her chin, revealing blood gushing from her nose, and her bangs were a mess in front of her face.

"I hate this habit," she muttered, slowly standing up and brushing some dirt off her clothes. "Have you seen Ashley?"

"No, I thought Maverick and Andrew Zimmer were watching her," Preston said.

Tumbles threw her hands up, took a step over her shoelace, and fell. Now Zane began to understand why this girl had such a nickname: she always fell.

"Maverick lost sight of her, but she did that thingy like before, except through the wall!" Tumbles exclaimed.

"What do you mean the wall disintegrated?" Bella spoke up.

"Follow me," Tumbles said, climbing onto Esme's back.

They all followed her up an emergency stairwell, which wasn't far from the therapy rooms. They went down a dark hall and into the sports office filled with papers and some computers. On the left side, there was a hole the size of a crater. Cold air seeped into the room where, down below, grass had become dead.

"Well, guys, nice knowing you," Esme exaggerated, walking toward the doorway.

Emma now stood breathless, looking back and forth at all of them. "Did someone try and knock down the building?" she asked.

Preston slowly shook his head and walked over toward the two girls, putting a hand on each of their shoulders. "Well, nice knowing you two. I hope we're in hell together."

Seeing the large hole, Zane took a step closer, bending over slightly. Any normal person would die if they jumped from this building. The ground was uneven, and dead grass sat near the large air conditioner. It was then that he noticed that parts of the grass had been burned.

"What do we do?" Mark asked.

Zane glanced back at him with a frown. The boy had no reason to be with them since he had led them exactly into Scarlett's hand for whatever they wanted from Jason. It seemed that some of the Uden people seemed better than he had acted.

"Let's just find Jason and leave. We need to go before Ashley burns us," Zane said.

"I need to go back to town to help Cindy and Melany," Emma said with a small voice.

The girl walked away while they stood in a group. Mark had said something, and Zane didn't even wait for him to answer. They picked sides as if this had become some type of sports game.

"Split up and search. Scarlett did bring him into the gym, but we don't know if that has changed," Zane said.

They split into different paths. As he headed down a flight of stairs, he looked around the hallway for any indication of where he could be kept. It wasn't exactly a hostage situation, since apparently he wanted to talk with Greyson.

Greyson walked back and forth between the rows of bleachers while in the centre of the gym flooring. James sat on his laptop, still connecting all the cameras to catch the moment.

They may finally find out how to get out of this secluded bubble, which burns once you touch it like an electric wire. Glancing over, Jason's arms were tied around a chair with a tight rope.

"Why are you even keeping her hostage? Doesn't that just do more harm than good?" Jason provoked.

Greyson plastered on a fake smile, skidding his chair back with his hand out. "Well, it actually gives us better intel," he started. "Did you actually know your mother took on some of my therapy sessions? Talking about the endeavours of being less... aggressive?"

"Because you're aggressive," Jason said.

Greyson flicked his head as Jason went flying into the corner of the wall. He walked toward him with narrowed eyebrows when he heard the door open. He turned his head to see Scarlett. She walked in with a frown settled on her face, stopping to cross her arms.

"Is that really necessary?" her tone annoyed.

"I'm just doing what's applicable," Greyson spat.

Scarlett slowly bent down, crouching near Jason. "Greyson just wants to know information about that substance, plus a mix of mommy issues," she said.

Greyson still frowned at the girl while she slowly stood back up. He saw the hesitation resting in Jason's eyes as Greyson glared back down at him.

"That substance is unheard of and is found in the east ditch," he said.

Greyson watched Jason try to wiggle out in pain. Slowly, he raised him with a hand, standing still as a telephone pole and holding him high in the air.

"Greyson, that's enough. It gives us an implication," Scarlett said.

He looked between the two before biting his pinky nail. It did give the information, but keeping Jason had the advantage of figuring out more information.

Greyson dropped him from the air onto the ground. Walking away, he left him in the corner with James. Scarlett stood in front of him for a moment before walking back to where James sat. He was setting up another cable connecting to a large video camera, scrolling through some data on the screen.

"Should be done in an hour," he said, before seeing a fast motion in the gym corner.

Greyson held out a hand, missing the chance to grab Esme, but only Tumbles instead. She screamed in the air, waving her arms and legs around before he dropped the fourth grader to the ground.

"See? No problem," Scarlett remarked, leaning close to him.

Luke entered the gym, dragging Stick by the collar of his yellow soccer shirt with a black eye.

"He let Esme go," Luke barked.

Greyson walked back to the tall boy, staring at him with wide eyes and tape around his mouth. He ripped it off, causing Stick to groan.

"Why?" Greyson demanded.

"Couldn't because..." Stick started, avoiding eye contact and trembling.

"Because you killed Vickie," Greyson said. "Old locker room with punishment from Luke for an hour."

He spotted how Stick had tears forming in his eyes and tried to make his own run but couldn't. Sending him to punishment became no different than being guilty of a crime. It then gave Greyson the idea that maybe a new system could be in order.

Some system needed to be created where, if you commit a crime, it results in punishment. Murder or attempted murder could result in harm from just Luke.

Stealing, such as food, results in some other type. Looking over at the clock on the wall, time had been ticking before Collin would vanish. Whatever happened when they vanished or died, nobody knew why it happened.

Preston then appeared in the gym. "Ashley melted again!" he freaked. "This time it's a giant hole in the wall!"

"Show," Greyson said.

Even if Jason got away with his crew, it gave them some information. Whatever this substance produces, it could burn through anything. It was similar to Jason's ability, except he hasn't been able to master it. If they figured out the mess of whatever this girl absorbed, it could result in them actually leaving.

"Are you sure she didn't just run away because she saw you?" Scarlett snickered.

"Tumbles told us about it. I'm not sure how she exactly found out," Preston explained. "I think Andrew told her."

In the sports office, it seemed like complete ash as a wildfire burned the cement blocks on one side. Nobody could burn down cinder blocks with ease or completely destroy a wall with any of the powers.

"What if we put her in a freezer?" Greyson said.

"And what? Turn her into ice cream?" Scarlett mocked.

"It won't be able to burn through the ground. First, we need to focus on Collin, then that thing." Greyson said.

They walked off back to the gym because Collin was far more important than whatever the hell was going on with that thing. If they figured out how Collin's disappearance worked, then he would know how to avoid vanishing.

On the way down, Scarlett walked with him. "Are you still pissed after the other night?" she snickered.

It wasn't that he had been furious with Scarlett, but annoyed about the situation that had happened. Maybe he wasn't even annoyed, but there was something he didn't quite understand that he was feeling.

Following him toward where the grass had burned, the neutral air lingered. The temperature seemed average for spring, but it still wouldn't change. There was no rain or even snow during certain times.

Greyson may be no weather boy who ends up tripping over the green screen, but temperatures weren't normal either. Looking down, he saw the patch of dead grass around where Ashley escaped.

"No cell service means no wifi. James can only hijack because he's a geek," Scarlett stated. "Maybe Will could, but he's probably high."

Greyson stared at her, crouching down to look around the grass. He pulled some out and placed it in his pocket, looking back up at Scarlett.

"It's a theory," he snapped.

"You can bend physics with your own power, but barely anyone knows this. James may, but he's busy. So, just wait your ass until we finish your plan," Scarlett spat, walking off.

James may be able to get the internet and cell service working again. Even with this bubble locking them up like animals, there may be a way.

The one good thing cell service would do is contact the outside. It wasn't that ambulances were going to jump through the bubble to save them anymore.

"Maybe while you're at it, discuss that with Emma. Isn't like you need her now," Scarlett said.

"Eventually," Greyson muttered.

Scarlett could always give him an option, despite not fearing him in the process. Rarely many stood up to him, which having her mock him showed the confidence inside of her. Not just confidence, but sarcasm. Those were the reasons she could easily get under his skin at times, despite how he felt.

"It's all my plan," he spat.

"Really now?" she slyly asked. Slowly, she walked back toward him, facing him with a slight smirk.

Greyson stared at her without saying anything, his fist clenching. Shaking her head and rolling her eyes, she walked back inside.

Looking back down at the grass, he seemed to notice something. He followed the outskirts of the dead grass and went around the large air conditioner, finding nothing but fresh grass. Whatever that thing was, it had to have a high rank.

Do you think Stick deserved the punishment he got?
Don't forget to comment and vote!
-Lexi