Greyson opened the wooden drawer and looked at the purple substance. It seemed to glow as if it were burning with small bubbles at the bottom. The strange substance could melt anything, including human flesh. He placed it on the test tube rack inside the desk and smiled inwardly before all the lights turned off.

"Hey!" he called from inside the empty office.

He marched toward a light switch near the entrance, flipping it up and down, but it wouldn't turn on. How cheap was the electricity they had in this building? Biting his pinky nail, he sat back in the chair, seeing the evening sky.

"This is how you're getting closer," someone said, prompting him to look up and extend his hands.

"Show yourself or die!" Greyson spat, gritting his teeth, hearing the soft sound of footsteps.

"Down." He peered over his desk, seeing a plush doll made from beige fabric. It had brown hair made of yarn in pigtails and circles of blue eyes. It was an ordinary doll that a child would play with that is obviously one of Maverick's illusions.

"It's not an illusion," it said.

Greyson used his hand to hold the talking doll in the air. "What the hell are you?" he growled.

The doll flung itself out of his grasp and onto the desk. When it landed, random papers slid off the desk and scattered on the floor.

"Divina, they call me," it said as it spun around on one soft foot.

"Goddess," he said.

"I'm not some ugly doll." Divina's voice was neither feminine nor masculine, but a mix.

"What are you then?" Greyson asked. It waddled over and grabbed a black pen from the desk. It began drawing pictures that appeared messy.

"See, I'm something," Divina said, tapping the pen on the drawing of a thought bubble. "God took on a stupid body, which intends to kill you all. You vanish in almost two days, which cannot happen."

It tapped on a picture of a slice of cake decorated with curvy lines. It appeared more like a box than an actual cake slice.

"You and Jason are the most important people in the vanishing," Divina said.

Greyson felt intrigued by all this information being explained. Since he was the most important, that obviously meant he's considered the most important out of all the freaks. Divina slapped her pen on the picture of a stick person.

"Me," Greyson blinked at Divina's statement.

"You're going to break through the bubble?" Greyson asked.

Divina's sewed red mouth broke into a smirk. It looked strange when the mouth moved and the eyes didn't.

"See, when that happens, we can stop God if..." Divina rested silently before saying anything else.

"Why am I the closest?" Greyson asked.

Divina dropped the pen as both their chubby arms rested on the yellow dress. "You're intently searching."

Greyson grinned at their comment. Divina praised him for his knowledge. "Is there something more I need to do?" he asked.

The door opened to Scarlett, who was looking around the dark room. She stopped, seeing the doll on the desk, and broke into a smirk.

"Are you playing with dolls?" she mimicked with amusement in her laugh.

"Yes," Divina said.

Scarlett stopped laughing with knitted eyebrows. She walked toward his desk, looking at the doll, who looked up at her.

"We have talking dolls now?" Scarlett asked, grabbing its side to examine it.

It released from Scarlett's grasp easily, jumping back onto the desk. Stumbling, it peered between the two of them. Putting a chubby hand on her left side, Greyson stared.

"This isn't the national anthem," Scarlett snickered.

Divina seemed confused before grabbing the pen once again. It drew a messy heart and pointed the pen at it. "That," it said.

"A heart?" Scarlett asked, her hands on her hips.

"You break in with a heart?" Greyson grumbled.

He didn't get what that heart had anything to do with the information he was receiving. Divina knows what needs to be done with Ashley, and this thing is entrusting him with the information.

Divina tossed the pen down and searched around, then seemed to remember something. It grabbed the pen and drew what appeared to be a stick girl this time. Holding a hand on it, they both met sight of a girl checking her hands over.

"Cool," she said, jumping off the desk.

"What the hell?" Scarlett remarked.

Greyson stared at the person who had drawn themselves a regular human body. She had thin black hair, eyes that seemed to glow dark blue in the darkness, and pure white skin. She kicked a narrow leg up with a smirk growing on her thin lips.

"This might be fun to use," Divina said, grinning deviously. Her mouth then went into displeasure, as if she realized something. She turned on her heel while staring at both of them. "It's strange," she waved a hand, with the same voice they both heard.

"I thought you said you don't have a body," Greyson said.

"I don't, but this could work until the vanishing," Divina said.

"Could you prevent what Ashley does in the next few days?" Greyson asked.

Divina grinned at him with a devious expression. This made him smirk because this would give him all the time he needed to begin the war before he disappeared on his birthday.

"This body will vanish the day you two don't vanish," Divina stated, looking at him again. "I deal with god's damage, but I need help getting to know this town and people who I can actually trust."

Greyson bit his pinky nail in thought. Who else could he trust this information with? Luke, he'll definitely have to tell, but he can be thoughtless with information. James was another option, but he was getting slightly suspicious that he was planning something behind his back.

"Are we just going to call you Divina?" Scarlett asked, leaning back on his desk.

"God isn't smart enough to know it's me." Divina laughed, appearing like a normal teenager. "Okay, I need a place to stay."

"You can stay with Scarlett in her dorm," Greyson said.

He could feel Scarlett staring at him with narrowed eyes. This would be the perfect way to keep it secret from Jason or some of his other minions from finding out. There was always Nevaeh around to deliver the information by bending part of the truth.

Suddenly, Greyson felt an invisible impact hold him in the air. Looking around, he noticed Scarlett staring up with a smirk and Divina glaring up at him.

"Do not play games with me. You won't send a search party looking for it," she hissed, dropping him inches from his chair. "Do you know if anyone else has been doing search parties?"

"Jason formed one," Scarlett said.

Divina's eyes snapped toward her as he fell into his seat. "Where is he?" she grated, gritting her teeth.

"I'll show you," Scarlett implied, wearing amusement on her face.

Divina stormed out of the office, with Scarlett following behind with a slight smirk. He couldn't allow Divina to beat Jason before him, but he knew Scarlett would keep that thing in check.

Jason didn't expect to interrupt a fight between Ashley and Divina, especially one where the water fountain broke in front of people. If Divina could create an illusion and hold a large piece of the water fountain like it was weightless, it was definitely powerful.

Seeing the intent expression of burning hatred resting in Divina's eyes meant that if this person got a real body, they'd be destructive. It wouldn't be in Ashley's way, but only with a narrow mindset.

In the darkened night, Jason sat on a long couch with Bella, Esme, Zane, and Emma. Zane had informed them all about what they had encountered today with the fires.

Jason wasn't sure what had been worse: hearing the number of burned houses or listening to One Direction for a span of three hours. It did seem to help Bella's mood, especially when they found the large boom box in the basement of the new house.

It was a cozy house with a small kitchen and a lot of books, such as biographies and even teenage novels. It gave them something to do in their spare time. Who had he been kidding? There hasn't been a lot of spare time.

They were sitting on a beige sofa with Bella, sipping on some green tea Emma brewed. From the long shifts at the infirmary, it seemed she had the knowledge on how a kettle worked.

"Divina wasn't playing around today. And she can grow objects in her hands," Bella stated, taking a sip of her tea from a mug.

"Maybe that's what Ashley meant by grower," Jason said.

"Divina can increase the size of objects and use Greyson's own power. Why did you stop her?" Zane asked, looking at Jason.

It was something he wondered himself. It was becoming instinctive to break up arguments or fights that were taking place in the downtown, but this was between some alien and his stepsister. No, that thing wasn't Ashley anymore but some monster hungry for destruction.

"I don't really know, but we had just passed by, and Divina wasn't happy," Jason groaned. Zane sighed while he heard a knock. Not really a knock, but more of a slamming noise.

"How rude," Esme murmured while drinking her iced tea. Jason walked toward the door to meet eyes with Scarlett and a girl with uneven hair.

"I'm not fighting Greyson early," Jason said dryly. He shut the door behind him, stepping outside, as Scarlett smirked at his comment.

"Oh no, we're not here for that," Scarlett said, but Jason eyed the other girl.

"Are you planning to stop Ashley as a group?" Jason blinked at the question she asked. That wasn't exactly the goal he wanted to achieve, but they may have to get answers from her.

"Might have to," he mumbled to himself.

"No," she snapped with a glare. The girl pushed past him harshly into the dimly lit house.

Jason couldn't recall seeing or meeting anyone who looked like her. It had only been almost three weeks since people aged fifteen and older vanished. He shut the door and walked back inside to see them eyeing the two.

"Didn't expect to see you here, Emma," Scarlett said with raised eyebrows.

"She can be here if she wants," Esme said, chewing some crackers.

"You cannot stop... Ashley," the black-haired girl spat.

"Make me," Esme remarked, sticking out her tongue. She was about to rush off but fell flat onto the laminate flooring.

"I said no," she ordered.

The girl stood in place, but she didn't have her hand outstretched like Greyson normally did. Instead, she had her eyes and thin eyebrows narrowed hard at Esme.

"I can't move," Esme groaned, looking at the girl. "Are you some freak that kills gravity?"

"Why can't we?" Bella asked.

The short girl placed a hand on her chest, grinning deviously. "It's all my job," she said.

"I think you should introduce yourself," Scarlett snickered.

"I'm Divina, and all of you seem oddly slow," she said with a smirk.

Jason felt like the air had been sucked out of the room. This was the person he saw beat up Ashley with nothing but amusement glowing in their eyes. For a moment, nobody said anything.

"I thought you didn't have a body," Esme finally acknowledged. Divina waved her arm up and down before Esme became free from her grasp.

"I found a loophole," Divina stated, crossing her legs. "Right, most of you were there when I was grass."

"I'm a healer around here," Emma said nervously, seeing how Divina was intently staring at her.

Divina walked into the kitchen but accidentally hit a pot of once-boiled pasta water on the ground. The pot knocked to the floor with the water spilling all over Divina's bare feet.

"Ew," she pointed two fingers to the ground, and the water disappeared. She picked up the pot, turning it around in her grasp. "You think this would work? Actually, no," she slammed the pot onto the burners. "Wait," she directed her head at Jason and Bella. "You stopped me from killing Ashley today. It was kind of cool that I broke the water fountain, right?"

"I think we should go. You don't want to be ugly," Scarlett remarked.

"Don't want to look like Ragnar," Divina laughed, then seemed to search for something. Staring at something past Jason, he turned to have a hard book crash into his face. "That's for interfering."

Divina rushed out the door as Scarlett slowly trailed behind. She raised her eyebrows at Emma before leaving and shutting the door.

"Another problem," Bella sighed.

Jason noticed that Emma seemed unsettled with wide eyes. "Scarlett's going to tell Greyson," she whispered, sitting on the opposite sofa.

"Don't worry about it. Who cares?" Esme breezed, smiling at her.

"I'm probably going to get punished." Emma panicked, standing quickly from the sofa.

"Calm down," Esme said, grabbing Emma's ankle to make her trip on the ground. "You're the resident healer, not some patient."

"You just have to speak your mind. If you don't want to help at Uden, don't go," Jason stated.

Emma pushed herself to stand  with Esme's hand still attached to her ankle. He wondered if she was going to heal her feet, considering they were still covered in scrapes and cuts.

"I'm not healing your feet. Go take another bath and put some of that cream on," Emma spat.

"I'm the fastest, so I need my feet to be completely healed," Esme whined.

"No," Emma muttered.

"See, just say no," Esme stated. Jason realized that had been half of Esme's goal. Getting Emma to refuse something, which she had been for an hour.

"Maybe," Emma mumbled.

Jason noticed the dark bags under her eyes; it seemed she hadn't slept in weeks. This could have been both the exhaustion of Esme's speed or healing injuries for a quarter of the day. Rubbing her eye, she pushed some of her bangs to the side.

Sitting on her knees, she seemed undecided about all their suggestions. "You need to work on that problem with Greyson," Emma finally said.

In a sense, she was right. Greyson was planning his own type of attack when their birthday rolled around, but he didn't exactly have a plan in mind. He assumed they would just be fighting each other, but he knew that backup would be needed.

"I want to speed around with a gun. Pew, pew, pew," Esme said, making finger guns around the house.

"I'd get ready the day before," Emma said. "That's how things are."

Jason knitted his eyebrows together, but then he understood what she was referring to. He may not have known his brother very long, but Greyson always seems to have a second plan.

"You assume they have a plan?" Zane asked.

"They don't tell me much anymore. Only injuries, but don't say how or why," Emma murmured, averting her grey eyes.

"Do you have any idea how they might be leading it?" Jason asked.

Emma didn't look at any of them but just chewed on her lip. He recalled that she did date Greyson at one point, which did mean that she knew some of the intentions he's done in the past.

"Tell us, Emma," Esme urged, shaking her shoulders.

"Luke," Emma admitted, leaning over to sip on some coffee.

It should have been obvious that Luke would do something. Despite burning off his arm, he was crazy and would want revenge like Maverick had done with his illusions when he burned off his fingers.

"Divina can handle Ashley now, which means you need to focus," Bella said, looking directly at him.

"Do you think Ashley got a hold of the substance?" Jason asked the four.

"I definitely think Greyson is doing something. I don't know what though," Esme implied, sitting against the sofa.

"Don't go running to Uden. We just try and focus on the next few days of what comes," Bella said.

It made him feel an urge to go and stop whatever Greyson planned at Uden. Although he knew Bella was right and he couldn't go trying to determine what they were up to.

"I'm so ready to give Luke a beating," Esme exclaimed, grinning and punching a fist into her hand.

"We have a new player in this bubble now," Zane said, looking at all of them. "One that will end up saving or killing us all."

Scarlett felt like she was babysitting. This thing had absolutely no sense of being a human but was constantly talking about different torture plans against Ashley. It felt like having a conversation with Luke, except she wasn't being glared daggers every moment.

"I don't want a makeover," Divina said, pushing her shoulder-length hair back.

"I don't give girls beauty makeovers," Scarlett stated.

"Is that why so many stared at you?" Divina asked, looking in her makeup mirror.

Scarlett enjoyed gleaming herself up, especially secretly ordering makeup and clothes online. They wouldn't normally allow it from the academy, unless it was from parents. This is exactly why she made the account under her mother's name by using a false email.

She looked over at the empty room of her roommate. Her name was Sarah, but she ended up working at the daycare, which was amazing. It left her to her own room, but now she had to share it with this thing she'd rather store in the shower.

"I'm the girl guys fawn over," Scarlett said.

This thing she was talking to her was once a doodle that had been on a piece of paper. The whole thing seemed insane, but she wondered if it was possible that this only happened once or that this thing would create more humans.

"Ragnar is such a dumbass. It couldn't even think of this method of someone intelligent," she mocked.

Scarlett realized that this was one of her first times actually bonding with a girl. Not sticking wit or staying by Greyson's side with his plans. One girl didn't feel inferior talking to her.

"Can you kill Ashley?" Scarlett asked.

"Yes," Divina said. "I just need to figure out a new way."

Scarlett felt a flicker of hope in her stomach that this could all end. Although Divina could be the person who could end this, she was only intent to target Ashley.

It was weird being back in her old dorm. She normally slept in Greyson's dorm, but with no sexual action. Maybe it was making out the odd time or waking up with limbs tangled together. Even if she did like Greyson, it wasn't that she understood love.

No, it wasn't just knowing love, but how their love was classified. She hasn't exactly been in an actual relationship before but has kissed guys. The thing was that she couldn't remember much of what they taught about love.

It wasn't that her family had much either, especially when her mother became a stripper after her father left. From being a speech pathologist into a stripper in a matter of seconds. Well, her father had been the lawyer with the money.

The most she'd known was watching those cheesy romance movies or Gossip Girl, which happened to be her favourite show.

Scarlett opened her eyes and spotted Divina looking down at her. "Don't sleep," she said, flashing her hand out with dripping nail polish on her nails.

"You messed them up," Scarlett remarked. Divina grated her teeth and scrubbed them with nail polish remover. "Will the bubble fall when you beat Ashley?" She heard the sound of rushing tap water from the small bathroom.

"No, this isn't a real body. I'm still a form, but human," Divina slyly said.

"Not your real body? What are you, a ghost?" Scarlett asked.

Divina dried her hands on some clothes of Sarah's that had been left on her dresser. She didn't do much sorting when it came to separating their clothes since Sarah left the dorms quickly.

"See, Ragnar is like me. It took a host body with godrian, which refers to that purple substance in the ditches," Divina started. "We'd be considered creations. I have this until Greyson and Jason don't vanish. Although..."

Divina met her gaze but didn't say anything. Scarlett felt this wasn't even the worst of the situation. One knock came at the door, causing Divina to stand in front of the door and open it with nothing but a thought.

Greyson stood there, making a smirk form on her lips. "Oh, you," Divina said, seeming disappointed.

"Have you come to get your hair brushed?" Scarlett asked, standing up from the bed to stride toward him.

"Making sure you aren't dismissing your task," he said.

"Well, she isn't one of the weak girls in most of Uden," Scarlett implied, waving a hand in mocking dismay.

"Have you told anyone else?" Greyson asked.

"I did," Divina said plainly.

Greyson darted his eyes directly toward Divina. She flipped through a fashion magazine, seeming unbothered by Greyson's ebbing anger that began to form.

"Why would you do that?" Greyson asked.

"Uh, because I'm not letting people get killed by that thing. My rules for who I tell," Divina said dumbly.

Someone defying Greyson's order made her smirk. It's not like he could do anything, but they didn't exactly understand everything surrounding this doodle.

"I thought we were clear on that." Divina's voice went cold.

Greyson didn't say anything, but Scarlett knew what he wanted to say. Without even saying a word, he looked at her.

"We are," he hissed between gritted teeth.

"I don't care if you plan some shit; just keep me out of it," Divina spat.

Scarlett found this all very amusing. Greyson had worked hard to finally find this thing, and now it won't let him do anything with it.

"Don't get your panties in a knot," she said, placing both hands on her hips.

"I'm not; I'm just planning for tomorrow," Greyson stated.

Scarlett knew they were going to do that experiment. She found it interesting to see, but at the same time, she wasn't sure about it. In The Bubble, people die every day from the holes, allergic reactions, and even accidents from drowning in the lake or falling off a roof.

Scarlett thought back about Trevor, whom she didn't like in the first place. He barely said a word after being humiliated in public only in boxers. It wasn't the first time since he tried taking on Greyson before. That fight was over in a few seconds, before Greyson even developed his powers.

"Luke is still teaching those to shoot," Greyson said. "We'll have Preston and James. I think he's already setting up a monitor to track it all."

"So, we're basically doing an experiment that means nothing?" Scarlett asked, walking back to her small bed.

"It's not for nothing," he hissed. "We get to see what really happens."

Scarlett glanced over, seeing Divina uninterested about the conversation. This thing didn't seem to care much about anything other than fixing holes and stopping death from happening. Even if she got extra information from Divina, she could use it somehow.

Not just to tell Greyson, but Luke and him have their own plans. Having James tell Jason about the vanishing will help in more ways than one. It may stop Greyson from disappearing, which could be the key to freedom.

"Is that all you needed?" Scarlett asked, watching him look around the room.

This wasn't the first time Greyson had been in her room. He's been here on multiple occasions when it came to planning a scheme or discussing if someone had a new rank.

Scarlett sat up on the bed with her legs out. Greyson stood in front of her, undecided. With the choice he made, she knew that despite Divina being here, he may do something.

"Well?" Scarlett waited.

"I'm hungry," Divina complained, standing and walking out of the room.

Sighing, Scarlett stood with both hands on her hips in front of him. "Tick-tock," she mocked.

Greyson grabbed her hand, held it, and then dropped it. "Make sure Jason doesn't find out," he said, turning on his heel and heading for the door.

"Only a handhold? Is that enough to satisfy you?"

Greyson walked back to her and kissed her. After a few seconds, she kissed him back with her one hand twisting in his wavy hair. She pulled back with their faces still inches apart, with her eyes drifting from his and then back to his lips.

They kissed again before she pulled back again this time, holding up her hand. That pit of lust still rested deep inside her body. Maybe it's because she's always taunting boys or male teachers to get what she wants, and never having an actual relationship.

She was still taking birth control as if she expected something to happen, such as when a teacher almost sexually assaulted her. Greyson ended up sending him into the hospital for four months.

Greyson nodded and left the room. She flopped back on her bed with an arm over her eyes. Their relationship hasn't been about wanting to make out more for hours, unless it was the times they slept together without sexual actions. That has happened on more than one occasion when he was fake dating Emma.

Divina opened the door with a piece of bread in her mouth. "Bread is gross," she irked, but she still ate it anyway.

"What?" Scarlett asked, reaching for her birth control. Taking one, she took it dry in her mouth. Oftentimes, she would take the pills here before going into Greyson's dorm.

"Make sure that boyfriend of yours doesn't do anything stupid," Divina spat, sitting on the opposite bed. "Don't go searching for Ragnar or all that. We can't have people dying from it."

"That won't happen," Scarlett said. It wouldn't happen, especially with what she planned to do.

Divina finally has a body but how will she act to those around, especially Ashley.
-Lexi