"Step away from them? Are you serious, mother?" I whirl around and snap.

My eyes taken in my mom's entirely different appearance. Her reddish-brown hair is tied up in a ponytail and strands are hanging around her face. Her cheeks have dirt smears on them and her emerald eyes look strikingly dangerous. Her shoulders are tense as she's aiming the pistol at us and I continue to stare at her in awe. She never wore combat boots before, not to mention with skinny jeans and a ripped tank top. I can easily spot the difference between her pale skin and the way her knuckles are turning paper white with a red tint from holding the gun so tight.

"Kimberly, listen to your mother." She snaps right back.

"Why," I step forwards and force a laugh, "Maybe I want to be like Anna. Isn't this what she did when she found out what you are? Didn't she resist you, too?"

"Don't talk about your sister." Vanessa seethes.

"Why not?" I cross my arms defiantly.

I don't know what's come over me, but it's like a switch has been flicked. I'm focusing all of my frustrations on her, and it sure is working.

"Just," She moves one hand to pinch the bridge of her nose, "Come with me, Kimberly."

"No." I say blatantly.

"No?" Vanessa scoffs.

"That's right, I said no." I hold my chin up high and stare her straight in the eyes.

"I'm going to tell you one last time, come with me!" She starts to shout.

"You killed your own child! You killed my sister! You killed innocent people! And you expect me to want to come with you? How stupid can you be!" I snarl.

"Because we could be a family again! Isn't that what you want?" Vanessa questions.

"No, Vanessa, it isn't, at least not with you." I continue to stand my ground.

"Oh," She laughs and her right eye twitches, "I see, you already have a family! How stupid of me! It looks like I'll just have to get rid of them first."

"Don't you dare!" I scream.

She pauses and looks at me with her finger on the trigger.

"If I don't kill them, you'll have to come with me." Vanessa smiles mockingly.

"I hate you," I grit my teeth together, "I hope you know that. I'd much rather stay here with them than go with you - a murderer. But, I don't want you to kill them, so let me tell you that I'm not choosing to go with you, I'm choosing to keep them safe."

"I only killed them because I had to. They all knew too much and they had to die. Don't you see, Kimmy?" She frowns at me.

"Don't call me that ever again." I scrunch up my nose in disgust.

"You had to kill your own daughter simply because she knew too much and rejected you? You chose to kill Anna over getting caught? Your own flesh and blood? That's just low." Esmee huffs.

"Stay out of this." Vanessa waves her gun at Esmee.

"Don't hurt anyone, mom, I already said I'm going with you. It's not like I have a choice anyways. Believe me, going with you is the last thing I want to do." I grudgingly start to walk over to her.

"Kimberly, don't." Quinn speaks up.

I stop in my tracks and come to a standstill.

"She'll kill you if I don't go." I say.

"Let her go, boy." Vanessa begins to look impatient.

"I'm afraid I can't let her leave with you." Quinn protests.

"I severely suggest you let her go," My mom looks me right in the eyes as she continues so speak, "That way I get more time to spend with my angel."

I inhale sharply as the word angel brings back a specific memory.

I was walking through the shopping mall with my mom and Anna when I was five.

"Now honey," Mom said to us both, "If someone strange approaches us I'm going to say the word angel. This means that there's trouble and we should get out of there."

"Someone strange?" I looked up at her with bright, confused eyes.

"Kimmy," Anna giggled, "It means someone who isn't right in the head."

"You're too smart, sis." I smiled.

"Now, girls," Vanessa got our attention back, "I'll also say angel if something isn't as it seems. That means I'll be telling you to be careful and make sure that everything makes sense."

"Why are you telling us this, mommy?" Anna asked.

"Because, the world is a dangerous place, and we need a code word so that if one of us is in trouble the other will know." Vanessa chuckled.

"But why can't we just say stranger danger?" I pouted.

She burst into a fit of laughter after that and we went shopping. She eventually ruffled my hair and said, "Because honey, just because."

I shake my head to bring me back to reality. I turn around slowly to face Trevor, Quinn, and Esmee. My mom said the word angel for a reason, I know she did. I don't trust her very much right now, but it got me rattled. I scan all three of their faces for signs of deceit, but I don't notice anything out of the ordinary. And then suddenly it all hits me like a train wreck. There's not only one criminal in this room, but two, and I know exactly who the other one is.

"Esmee," I choose my words carefully, "You said that you heard about Wyatt's accident from Listette, didn't you?"

"Uh, yeah, what's that got to do with anything?" Esmee looks at me strangely.

"You said before that you and Listette weren't communicating. You even said that she completely pushed you out of her life. If Listette were so determined to keep you out of her life, why would she call you? In fact, even if you were talking to each other, why would she call you to tell you about the accident. It just doesn't make any sense to me." I say.

A now wary looking Quinn and a surprised Trevor are staring at Esmee with odd looks.

"What exactly are you implying, Kimberly?" Esmee eyes me suspiciously and slowly moves one hand behind her back.

"It's almost as if you already knew what happened. And when we arrived at your house you were expecting us as if you knew we had nowhere else to go. Care to know what else has been bothering me? Nobody ever gave me a clear answer as to who E is. I suppose it should've been obvious, really, but I doubted it at first. I don't doubt it now. Esmee, I don't think that Listette called you. I think that you shot Wyatt." I state.

"You think that I shot Wyatt?" Esmee scoffs.

"Yeah, I do. As a matter of fact, it was you who volunteered to go explore for a lead, and you happened to find one pretty quickly, as if you knew the tunnels were here. It's almost as if you wanted us to get an empty lead so that we wouldn't snoop around somewhere else, but we wouldn't find anything here. However, we actually found the tunnels. And when we found the tunnels you seemed very, very eager to leave. I don't just think that you shot Wyatt, I think that you're a murderer." I accuse her.

"You're right," Esmee pulls a gun out from behind her back, "And now I'm going to shoot you too."

"What?!" Trevor shouts.

"Oh come on," Esmee snorts, "Don't tell me you haven't figured it all out. Kimberly over there has, isn't that right Kimmy?"

"Yeah, I know what you are, you piece of crap." I snap.

"How is this possible?" Trevor gasps.

"I suppose I'll tell you, after all, you're all about to die." Esmee smirks.

"I can't believe anyone ever trusted you." Quinn mutters.

"You see, I framed Kimberly's mom to make everyone believe that she was the murderer. It was just the icing on the cake when she pointed that gun at me and yelled at me in front of you all. I even made her play the part by having her tell Listette she was the murderer. She was reluctant to at first, but when I told her that I'd kill her other daughter too if she didn't, well, she agreed. It was perfect, too. She used to be a drug dealer and she committed a murder as well. Her ex-husband knew this, so it wasn't that hard to get him to believe all of this by leaving a few little clues here and there. I was aiming to get Andrew McClain arrested as the suspect first though because he was messing things up by still being nosy. After he got arrested I had to get Wyatt to believe that Kimberly's mom was the real killer, that way he'd look like a fool for putting Andrew in jail. Also his theory would match up with Andrew's theory then, making it more believable. Shooting Wyatt that day was an accident, which is why he isn't dead, I was aiming for Quinn. I thought that I had Quinn fooled too, and I did, but he's too smart. He would've eventually figured it all out, so I had to get rid of him. Unfortunately, I failed. I guess it doesn't matter now though. My only mistake was underestimating you, Kimberly, and using the letter E for my letters." Esmee explains.

"But, why?" Trevor's voice breaks.

"Because I was tired of being the girl in the shadows. My sister got all the attention and when she pushed me away for criminal activities I figured I'd try my hand at it. I wanted to prove to myself that I'm better than her, I'm better than I get credit for!" Esmee starts to shout, "I was smart, I never left any evidence unless I wanted to fool someone with fake evidence. I knew the people I killed quite well and they never expected it. I won't say I'm sorry, because I'm not."

"You won't get away with this." Quinn's voice goes cold and sends shivers down my spine.

"I think I will. After all, who's going to notice any of you are missing? Quinn's a runaway criminal. Kimberly has been missing her classes so she's already gone and will have no trustworthy family left in the eyes of the community. Trevor's been seen a lot of places but not many people pay much attention to him. Vanessa's already supposed to be 'kidnapped' according to the public, and Wyatt already thinks she's a murderer. Plus, nobody will ever find you anyways, I'll just put you all in the tunnels. Problem solved. Do you honestly think that Camden kid will ever find the tunnels? The answer is no." Esmee says.

"You've really thought this all through, haven't you?" I shake my head in disgust.

"I have," Esmee raises her head proudly, "Now which one of you wants to die first?"

"Mom," I whisper to her, "Use your gun!"

"I can't, sweetie, it isn't loaded." She whispers back and frowns.

"I can still hear you, ya know, and did you honestly think I'd give her a loaded gun?" Esmee laughs.

Suddenly the sound of a gunshot rings out through the tense air.