Part 3!

Cassia

Things I Was Worried About

A list by Cassia Sierra

1. Josh

2. Amy

3. Arianna and Lacy being dead

4. That someone could be chasing us

5. That we would get in a crash (Livia doesn’t really seem like much of a safe driver...)

“Why did the car stop????!!!”

“I dunno! Stay in the car, I’m gonna see if it’s something we can fix.          Hm. That’s weird.”

“What?”

“The door is *grunt* jammed.”

“Let me try.” I reached over across her and pushed on the handle. It wouldn’t even jiggle around.

“Ok, I’m gonna push on the door and you try to turn the handle.”

That didn’t work either.

“Wait! Can you roll down the windows?”

“Let’s see,” she fiddled with a couple of levers and buttons. Was this even her car? “Nope. It won’t budge.”

Arianna

“Ok Arianna, I’m going to untie your feet, and if you try to run we WILL kill you,” Janna warned.

“K”

“That’s it? Just ‘K’?”

“What do you want me to say?”

“Maybe-” I could feel the ropes around my ankles fall to the ground.

“RUN!”

And just like that we were off running from someone I couldn’t even see. Maily because I was still blindfolded.

Janna was holding my wrist; I’m still surprised that I didn’t fall over though. I could tell we were still in a forest because of all the shadows, but where were we even running?

Then I tripped, I felt Janna coming down with me, then something scraping against my forehead and suddenly I could see again. I got up as fast as was humanly possible without using my still-bound hands and silently said a thank-you for the tree branch I had fallen on, even though it would definitely leave a mark.

Josh

Ok. It was stupid to be scared of a body.

I sighed, then walked over to where Amy was still lying on a woven rug in the middle of the floor.

I took a deep breath, then reached out my hand to feel for a pulse.

Nothing.

I flinched, then went to her heart.

Nothing.

She was dead.

I was an awful person. I was supposed to take care of her. I was supposed to protect her. I was supposed to keep her safe.

The least I could do would be to keep Cassia safe.

I took another deep breath and stood up. I walked toward the front door.

Then I stopped. Because it would be pretty stupid to leave without any supplies.

I grabbed a cross-body bag from the hook on the door and put in a pocketknife and an apple. I took Amy's wand and walked back to the bedroom and looked around. Elle was lying on the same bed I had woken up on. Mrs. Whitaker was on Cassia’s.

Then I noticed something sticking out of Elle’s pocket. I pulled out one of those water-proof phone pouch-thingies. Who carries a water-proof phone pouch but no phone? There was stuff in the bag though, four hair ties, Smarties, a pair of pliers (what?) and a couple pieces of paper. I pulled the paper out, just a couple of newspaper clippings. Who even read newspapers anymore? Maybe that wasn’t a good question though, because Mrs. Whitaker had a pile of at least twenty of them nest to the fireplace.

I was about to slide them back in when I noticed all the dots.

Livia

“Livia Ward!”

Too many people yell my name on a regular basis.

“Ok, climb into the backseat-”

“You thank that’s gonna work against a bunch of trained Shadow Creek students?”

“No. I want you to climb back there, and then underneath the seats should be crevice-thing you can fit into, it’s one of the older kids’ projects to enchant them back there or whatever.”

She stepped back behind me and then laid down on the ground, pulling her hair around so it wouldn’t get on the floor.

“The floor won’t kill you. They might.” I said, pointing back behind us to the car that was getting closer and closer.

“I’m trying!”

“Try harder!”

“Oh! I got it!”

“Ok, climb in and stay there at least until they’re gone.”

She pulled at the hatch and thrust her feet in.

“Wait.”

“We don’t really have time for that!”

“But aren’t you hiding with me?”

“They know someone had to be driving the car, and besides, you’re worth nothing dead.”

“But they could kill you.”

“Go! They’re almost here!”

So she slithered in, just as a red car pulled up beside us.

Josh

THE FINAL SIERRA SHALL SAVE US ALL, A FINAL SIERRA TO TAKE THE FALL. HE OR SHE WILL FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOL AND END THE RAVEN’S FEARSOME RULE.

THE FAO IS INDEED REAL, THEY EVEN HAVE A WAXWORKS SEAL. THE BOY RUMORED TO BE RINGLEADER OF THEM ALL IS INS-

And then it stopped.

There was another piece though.

-TRUSTWORTHY, EVEN WHEN DENIED. WANTED, JOSLYN TOPEKA. CAYLA MENDOZA. HARPER LEVIN. AIDEN WOOD. IF FOUND, CONTACT ME. IF YOU CAN FIGURE OUT WHO I AM.

Ha, that would have been nice to know a couple days ago. I rolled my eyes. But back to being serious, who was the person that wrote this stuff?

I noticed that each column was from the same page on different papers, then the issue number on the bottom of the first page. Maybe the rest of the first newspaper was still in the pile! I raced over to the fireplace and rummaged through all the papers until I found the one I was looking for.

THE FINAL SIERRA SHALL SAVE US ALL, A FINAL SIERRA TO TAKE THE FALL. HE OR SHE WILL FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOL AND END THE RAVEN’S FEARSOME RULE.

THE FAO IS INDEED REAL, THEY EVEN HAVE A WAXWORKS SEAL. THE BOY RUMORED TO BE RINGLEADER OF THEM ALL IS INSIDE THE WOODLAND WALLS.

Woo-hoo!

Here we go!

1. Who is chasing Cassia and Livia?

2. Where are Cal Janna and Ari running to?

3. Who is chasing Cal Janna and Ari?

4. Where is Woodland?

5. Who wrote the wanted article?

6. Who is the boy rumored to be ringleader of them all?

-Ivy-