Zane could barely keep up with the fires. They seemed to be appearing in random locations that were barely near each other. Some would be caused by a fire in the house, while others could be a single tree on fire.

"It isn't working!" Yara yelled, trying to latch the hose onto the fire hydrant. The most that would catch fire would be three, but soon enough, this whole town could turn into ash.

"Keep trying!" Talia yelled. She had one long hose spraying a small house, and some others had been helping them.

They have been managing, but out of the ten houses that have caught fire, three have burned down. Water sprayed from the hose as Zane gritted his teeth and aimed inside the house. People came running out of the house, screaming.

"Stay back!" he yelled, holding a hand out.

"Why is she trying to burn down houses?" Colby Miller asked over the loud sound of the shooting water.

"Because she's crazy!" Talia yelled, looking at the boy out of the corner of her eye. She dropped the hose, seeing the fire crease, and stood next to the grey house, near the door. "Ready?" She kicked the door open.

Running back toward the hose, a fire sparked as he aimed the hose. Darkened ash surrounded the walls already, aiming where the last of the fire spread. Zane felt sweat all over him as he wiped his forehead with his arm.

Talia walked toward him, wiping away her tears. It wasn't that she cried from seeing the house burn down; the heat from the fires made her cry. Yara laughed at her when they found out.

"I could never be a real firefighter," Yara breathed, carrying one of the hoses.

"Spraying down fires daily? Why can't it just rain?" Talia groaned, her eyes bloodshot.

Both girls are helpful when it comes to dealing with fires, but Zane wasn't sure if it'd be enough if blazes started. They did have kids that'd come in to help out when there were multiple fires, but not just a single event.

Loading the hose back around, Yara sat up front with Talia in the back. They had become his own little crew since Jason wasn't around to tackle this issue, since he had Greyson and a lot of the town to deal with.

"Nobody!" Colby called, rushing to sit in the back.

Zane slowly backed up the fire truck, since this was no different than backing up a culvert. He used to help out with small jobs that required assistance in the construction setting. It was an easy way to earn cash for this family since starting anew was difficult when his mother lost her job.

"Why does Ashley want to kill most of us?" Talia asked, her arm dangling out the window.

"Because she's dumb," Colby said.

"I would have thought this thing would last a day. It's been two weeks already!" Yara exclaimed, looking back at the three of them.

"Do you think we'll get out soon?" Talia asked Zane.

"I have no clue," Zane said.

How much longer will they stay in this place? Would it be weeks, months, or years? If this lasted for years, they'd all be dead. With Ashley causing harm and Divina not being exactly sane, he'd have to think of some ideas.

"It's kind of fun doing whatever. I learned how to boil water on the stove." Yara laughed at Colby's statement.

"Stop!" Yara yelled as Zane slammed on the brakes.

In front of them stood a breathless Esme and a traumatized-looking Emma. Both girls then fell to the ground. All of them hopped out, seeing Esme trying to stand with her shoes torn.

"I can't keep healing her feet," Emma breathed out, her face on the road.

"And the substance from the fridge is gone," Esme said from the ground, flailing her arms back and forth. "My head is still spinning."

Zane helped Emma stand, seeing her glance around as if she were lost. "Do you have a clue who took it?" he asked.

"Preston," Esme said, looking over at Emma, who held her head. "Why didn't I realize?"

"You've been dragging me around for the past three hours," Emma moaned, slumping her shoulders.

"Heal my feet again. I know where he'll be," Esme said, holding up a bloody foot toward her.

"No," Emma spat. "I'm going with Zane."

Talia grabbed Emma's arm; she almost fell over again. These girls were either clueless about the location of the substance or had a terrible sense of direction.

"It literally doesn't take long! Please, Emma!" Esme complained.

"Can we catch a ride with you guys? Esme can sit on the latter," Emma sighed, pressing a smile at them.

"I'll sit on the ground!" Esme exclaimed, winking as Talia helped Emma into the back.

"Where is Preston?" Zane asked, looking up to see Emma with her head back on the seat. Esme didn't even answer but lay flat on the ground.

"He's invisible most of the time. Either with girls or Greyson," Esme implied, pulling herself to hang out the narrow window.

"What on earth happened to your feet?" Colby exclaimed.

"Zooming too much. I'm a speed demon," she said, sticking a thumb up. It caused her to scream, almost losing her balance on the ground.

Zane had seen Esme's multiple injuries, like when she had helped get the children out of the holes Ashley created at the time. All these supernatural powers were being used to their advantage, but everything was still a giant mystery.

"Wait, shouldn't we ask Tumbles?" Esme asked Emma, who had hung her head.

Zane felt he had entered into a game of manhunt. The difference was that it wasn't completely dark, which he hoped it'd stay this facade as a normal sky and night.

"Tumbles will probably be at the daycare," Esme said.

Zane hadn't turned off the fire truck when they found Emma and Esme. Turning down a long street, he spotted the main entrance to the daycare.

"Here, we'll go," Talia said.

Esme slid her way out backwards, causing Emma to almost drop her on the ground. Zane went with the two of them inside the building.

After opening the door, Zane went to find Ilya. "Emma!" Ilya called from a seat with darkened bags under her eyes. "Zane and Esme too," she seemed surprised by the mixed group. Holding a book in one hand, she smiled at the three.

"Is Tumbles here?" Zane asked.

Ilya nodded, leading them toward the outside play area. There was a small playground with a shed with tricycles and other outdoor equipment. The majority of the ground was covered in wood chips, with a small cement pathway meant for the bikes. Near that pathway, Tumbles sat on a plastic stump, brushing blood away from her nose.

"Tumbles!" Esme exclaimed but tripped, realizing her shoes barely had any support on them. "We need to know where Preston is."

"He's doing something for Greyson," Tumbles said. She tried to stand using the black gate, but still ended up slipping.

Emma walked over and pressed her hand on Tumbles' cheek. Zane saw how the pain creased her expression.

"I think," Tumbles said, pinching the nostrils of her crooked nose. It was permanently tilted toward the left, as if someone had taken a hammer and changed the angle.

"What's he up to?" Esme asked.

"I don't know, but Scarlett and Maverick were involved," Tumbles said.

If Scarlett and Maverick were involved, he already knew that this situation was going to be difficult. Most likely Scarlett has the substance stored somewhere, and Zane didn't want to experience the illusion of drowning underwater. Either way, he knew they still needed to obtain that substance back.

"Let's go find one of them," Zane said firmly.

"Or we just confront Greyson," Esme remarked, holding her bloody feet.

"Greyson won't tell us," Emma said, looking at them.

"Maverick is probably guarding the hardware store, and Scarlett could be anywhere," Esme sighed, standing back up with her socks tied on her feet. "Well, I'm going to grab some water before that hell," she walked back into the building.

Ilya turned toward Zane, sighing. "I never imagined myself being a mother to these children. It's enjoyable, though."

Zane looked around the outside, where some children sat around a boy around his age. He had a book in his hand and was reading it to some of the younger toddlers.

"Angel is a huge help," Ilya breathed out as the door behind them opened.

Esme's body trembled as she held multiple CDs in her hand. "One Direction CDs!" she exclaimed.

It seemed Emma forgot all the concepts of what they were going to do, rushing over to the CDs. The two didn't even seem like they could barely stand a moment ago.

"Look!" Esme cheered, holding out three sets of One Direction albums.

Emma took it and stared as if they had found gold, with her eyes wide and her jaw dropped.

"Oh my gosh!" they both screamed, jumping around in joy.

Zane looked at Ilya because he didn't know how big of fans the two girls were, especially since the group wasn't even together anymore. The last thing he remembered hearing about One Direction was someone showing videos of a concert they went to a while ago.

"It's the Midnight Memories album!" Emma exclaimed with a wide smile on her face. "Where do we play them?"

Both stared at each other. "Doesn't a radio play them?" Esme asked.

"It might work in the fire truck," Zane said.

It was a known fact that the radio didn't stream anything between music or even a podcast channel; every time you tried turning up the volume, it would be completely silent, only showing the different stations.

"Thank you," Zane said, smiling at Ilya, who nodded her head.

Walking around the few crying kids, he reached outside to see Esme and Emma both in the front.

"Doesn't it fit there?" Esme questioned.

He rushed to the open door, where Emma pointed into the CD player of the fire truck. Esme inserted it and waited for it to start playing, but it didn't.

"Wait, let's start the truck!" Talia said.

Zane started the engine of the fire truck. The song "Story of My Life" began to play through the speakers on blasting volume.

"Yay!" Esme cheered.

Esme started screaming the lyrics out the window, sticking up a peace sign for those staring. Most of those staring either had been security or wandering around.

"At least we have music!" Esme cheered, her arms in the air.

Zane had heard of party buses but not of party fire trucks. Esme was yelling the lyrics more than she was actually singing. Emma and Talia both sang, while Colby and Yara laughed at their behaviour.

Zane cracked a smile but remained focused on the task. All of them needed to find Preston to know if he knew anything, since Tumbles did state that it had been Greyson's idea.

"Still so stupid," Divina taunted.

Ashley clenched her teeth, turning her head. It appeared to be a small cement statue of a man holding a hockey stick in his hand. It was wearing a helmet, a blue hockey jersey, pants, and skates.

"Don't you know that most houses have fire alarms?" Divina sneered.

"You're just some statue," Ashley snarled with a smirk. She watched the hands slowly move with a loud clank. Covering her ears, she grated her teeth, seeing Divina hold the hockey stick like a baseball bat.

In a swift second, she felt herself soaring into the fences of different houses. There were pieces of broken wood around her with scratches on her arms and legs when she landed on the hard ground.

Ashley's head and body both ached as she put out a hand for Vickie and David to attack. Both charged at Divina, but they disappeared, resulting in them popping like any normal dust cloud. These followers weren't going to work against Divina. Ashley may know that, but she can still kill those around her.

"I found a loophole," Divina stated, standing in front of her.

"Loophole?" Ashley asked.

Inside, she tried to search for knowledge but couldn't. She didn't understand why this mind didn't have knowledge of the word when all humans are the same. With her fist clenched, she gritted her teeth.

"An easier way to stop you. Honestly, I forgot how stupid you are," Divina said in dismay.

"Are you going to be a fish?" Ashley spat.

Divina grinned through the mouth of the large statue in front of her. An invisible force knocked her to the ground, sending her rolling on the grass. It felt as if someone had pressed a hot knife against her temple, making her scream. She gripped the grass, attempting to stand, but it didn't work.

"Yup, I'll be a goldfish," Divina mocked.

If Divina was a fish that would be easy to kill. All she had to do was fry the fish with acid or set the fish on fire. The only problem would be finding it inside the large lake.

Divina started laughing with a grin. "Doesn't even understand sarcasm."

The statue made a thump, hopping toward her. Ashley extended her palm, ready to summon one of her dead slaves.

"What if I'm human? I can put out those fires and fill the holes," Divina taunted. Ashley went to grab the statue, but it had disappeared. "Too slow." It hit her hard in the back of the head. She fell onto her stomach with a mouthful of mud and spit it out.

"I control everything," Ashley spat, lifting herself into a sitting position. There was a sly smile that formed as it formed its body into an illusion of a boy.

The illusion had pale skin, black hair that went to his shoulders, and icy eyes that glowed when looking at her. He was in a black shirt and pants that seemed to fit too tightly on his body.

"Maybe I'm a boy," Divina started, as it switched to a girl. "Maybe I'm a girl."

The girl illusion was the exact same way with shoulder-length black hair, round glowing icy eyes, uneven eyebrows, and thin lips. Instead of a shirt and pants, she was dressed in a black dress with a dark blue belt around it.

Both illusions stood side by side, with the boy slyly smiling while the girl wore a glare. It formed into the boy, slamming a foot on the back of her neck.

"Maybe you'll die choking," Divina laughed.

Ashley felt her throat clogging with an invisible force. The need for air became apparent as she stuck a hand out, sending another follower. It resulted in Divina shifting away from her and coughing multiple times. Taking a big breath, she rubbed her throat. Why did the inside of her throat hurt? Had it really been from just the pressure?

Divina put a hand through his black hair, still an illusion to her appearance. One male, about the age of her own looks, raised his eyebrows at her with a smirk.

"Are you saying you'll do something?" Ashley spat.

"No, I'm just going to sit on a bench and watch the birds," he laughed.

Ashley felt her body boiling at his attempt to be funny. She watched Divina grab the statue from the ground and yank the small hockey stick. Holding the wooden stick, it grew with ease to the size of a baseball bat.

"This isn't a sports game," Ashley barked, glaring at the boy in front of her.

"That's right," Divina said, slamming the stick hard into the back of her neck. "Going to start crying? What a pity."

Divina gripped the collar of her shirt, dragging her down a street with tears forming in her eyes. She couldn't be this pathetic child acting on human emotions due to the pain, but it hurt. She needed a healing ability, but all of that wouldn't be possible yet.

Suddenly, she felt herself being thrown into the water fountain in the main plaza. Her entire body was covered in dirty fountain water and leaves that had fallen in. With the hard impact, the cement setting above broke into pieces on the ground. There were people screaming and running off in different directions.

"See, you're so ugly, they flee," Divina sneered, holding a heavy piece as if it were weightless. "Bye bye."

Someone then knocked the piece out of his hand and onto the ground. Divina glared back, as Ashley spotted Jason and Bella.

"Get lost," Divina hissed.

Ashley just grinned because she could get away from Divina with sappy words to Jason. If she faked that the nuisance child was still able to control this body, that would make it easier for her to get Divina to go away.

"This isn't a war zone," Jason said.

"Well, would you rather have fires around?" Divina acknowledged, grabbing another piece from the ground that grew to the size of a transport truck.

Ashley slowly stood from inside the wet fountain, glaring at Divina. That thing needed to be killed since humiliating a god was idiotic. She was the most powerful, and using all these tactics, it was easier to kill off people to gain slaves.

"Can't you just leave?" Ashley yelled as she felt the wind knocked out of her.

"You're lucky I can't shrink you," Divina snarled.

Ashley put out a hand as Collin came running toward her. Followers seemed to be her last choice when it came to dealing with Divina, even if it didn't have a body.

"Run!" Divina yelled as Jason and Bella fled.

Divina directed his hand out at Collin, who popped into a purple blob. Putting two fingers together, he pointed them toward the substance that all drained from the centre of downtown.

"How unfortunate," he said, yanking her head up to meet his eyes.

Ashley felt tears rolling down her cheeks, putting a hand over her face. Human emotions weren't supposed to be something she should be experiencing, because crying was for pathetic humans.

Divina turned into a girl now, with a devious smile on her face. "Do you need a tissue?" she mocked with a laugh. She yanked her hard out of the fountain, walking toward Jason and Bella.

Ashley felt the stones on her back, which she assumed people would think she might be cute. Feeling her head hit the road hard, she spotted they were near the apartment that burned down. It might be smart to burn down those buildings.

"I brought you a dog. Maybe it will bark," Divina said, ducking down and spotting her killer eyes staring at her.

"No," Ashley spat.

Divina smiled and grabbed a handful of ginger hair before being slammed to the ground by an unknown force. Her chest felt like someone had punched her hard in the stomach, causing her to cry out in pain.

"The land will be healed soon," Divina said.

"Liar," Ashley spat, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

Ashley forced herself out of Divina's grasp and threw herself to the side. She slowly stood with blood dripping down her right arm, but she didn't care. Injuries weren't something that mattered because nobody would be able to kill her with the power she had.

"Stop toying around," Ashley spat.

Divina cupped a hand to her ear in mockery. "Keep toying around? That sounds entertaining."

Ashley felt her body lift high in the air, trying to worm her way out, but it wasn't working. She needed to gain abilities fast because these followers weren't going to get her far anymore.

"See, I'm not a psycho," Divina said, appearing behind her now. "I just want you dead."

Divina had an inward smile on her face and joy throughout. In an instant, Ashley's body dropped quickly to the ground. She landed on her back with blood spewing out from her mouth. Her entire head ached but something cracked, seeing her right arm twisted like a pretzel.

"Well, time to go," Divina remarked, disappearing into a cloud of dust.

"Jason, what's that?" someone asked.

Jason and Bella just stared at her, but refused to help her. These humans were starting to understand she wasn't a feeble child, but that needed to change. She needed to kill more people that would worship her and assist with her own plans.

"Something that everyone should avoid," Jason said.

Many mumbled around, and some screamed, seeing her arm in sight. Would it even heal on its own? No, she still had to wait. It wasn't that she had everyone's powers that she could use to her advantage.

Using Vickie, she helped her slowly onto her feet. "We lost Collin?" she asked.

"Yes," Ashley hissed, seeing how her arm moved like a wet noodle.

If Divina finds a different tactic for gaining a host, she's screwed. Even worse—not just Divina getting a body, but someone developing all the goddess powers. No, she restricted anyone from obtaining those. If such a person existed, she'd have to kill them. They couldn't know how to use all of her powers.

Something hit the back of her head, making her drop to the ground. She tried to lift her head, but she could barely support it to look up. Divina mainly injuring the upper part of her body had left her sore, especially her neck.

"Imagine if someone acquired my power," Divina's male voice taunted in her mind. "You'll be dead."

Seeing Scarlett walk toward him with a smirk never meant good news. "We found something you'd want to see," she said, sitting in a safe house they occupied.

The safe house was being used in the neighbourhood near Simcoe's school. It was a dead end road that nobody had been living on, since Luke had raided the houses looking for anyone that lived there. Now, nobody was allowed inside that house, unless they had been on Greyson's side.

"What?" James asked.

"The substance and what your trip will acquire," Scarlett said, holding up two fingers and placing an olive-skinned hand on his cheek. "We don't want to keep the Dauntless Leader waiting."

James hurried to his feet and followed Scarlett. He didn't want to be ordered around like a dog, but Scarlett still could expose his power to Greyson, which is the last thing he wanted. He opened the door to one of the SUVs, where Preston waited half-invisible. Climbing into the backseat, James realized Greyson was driving.

"I need you to test this," Greyson said.

Preston held up the test tube of purple substance. James took the warm test tube into his hand, staring at it. At first, it seemed like any normal chemical or mixture, but he spotted the blood at the bottom.

"We're going to test it on someone," Greyson said. They had pulled up outside the mayor's office. Scarlett looked over at him with a smirk and a nod.

"Test how?" James asked, climbing out of the SUV.

"We'll have someone drink it," Greyson said.

"The consequences could be that someone dies! This is mainly acid," James exclaimed.

From his own research based on what they knew, this substance was associated with Ashley and whatever being resided in her body. Since it was hot, he assumed the body could develop major burns, and it resembled a chemical mixture.

"Who can we use?" Greyson asked, sitting in his chair and biting his pinky nail.

"Just use one of Henry's thugs," Scarlett said.

"Trevor," Greyson said, snapping his fingers.

James knew who he was. He was the one guy who had gotten humiliated because he wasn't feeding the freaks. Even from the basic information he had on the substance, it had acid in it.

Oscar came into the room, looking between all of them. "Get Henry and his thugs to bring Trevor to the gym," Greyson ordered.

"I need something to support the test tube," James said.

"Get a test tube rack from the science lab," Greyson barked at Preston.

James wasn't even sure if Preston knew what that was. The boy had only turned ten two months ago, and he didn't remember learning about them in that grade.

"I'll probably need tongs," James said, still staring directly at Preston.

"Okay, boss," Preston agreed, changing back into being invisible again.

"Why don't we just test it on some plant or animal instead?" Scarlett asked, crossing her arms at Greyson.

James knew Scarlett always gave Greyson her own opinion. This wasn't Scarlett being snarky or mocking; she was steering Greyson away from the test he wanted to perform.

"No, because it'd make sense to have someone else do it," Greyson said.

"Fine," she spat, looking at James with a smirk. Soon he had to tell Jason how to stop from vanishing. It might even be smarter too.

"We'll do it at Uden. Make sure nobody finds out about it," Greyson explained, his eyes directed at James.

Scarlett had kept a lot of their conversation secret, but her orders were important to follow. Part of James wanted to tell Jason. Esme seemed to trust him, but Scarlett still had much she could use.

"When we do this test, I'll be even closer to finding out this substance and its real connection," Greyson remarked.

"Let's go, James," Scarlett said, as he followed her out of the office. When he shut the door behind him, she looked at him with a smirk. "Don't forget about our agreement."

"Why aren't you telling Greyson?" he blurted before he could even stop himself.

"It will be quite boring without the Dauntless Leader," Scarlett implied, descending the stairs.

James followed her, going to Simcoe's school to see if Preston actually did his job. Seeing someone possibly die wasn't something James could handle again.

When David almost shot Scarlett, Greyson reflected the bullet to hit David. It wasn't exactly death, but it is still considered murder. Greyson and Luke both called it suicide, and anyone who asked knew it was.

James now had to calculate how they would even perform such an observation. If the purple substance is like acid, whoever would take this would be facing death.

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-Lexi