I should really be studying

...

Eh, oh well.

Thirteen's POV

"Devin put that down before you hurt someone." I hear Chase tell him. This can't be good.

"Seriously man, you don't even know what that thing is." Jason chimes in.

Whatever Devin's holding he spins around with it in his hands and aims it at me as I walk up behind him. The worst part about that?

I recognize it.

My eyes widen I react on instinct as I grab hold of it with one hand and then grab hold of Devin's wrist with the other, pushing it away so it's no longer aimed at me. I twist it out of his hand and quickly fling it across the room. It hits the wall on the other end before falling into the sand.

I place a hand over my chest, not even realizing till now how my heart was racing. It takes me a minute to say anything.

"What the hell?! Don't point that thing at me! Do you have any idea what that does?!" I shout, there's panic in my voice that even I can't hide.

It's not really my fault that thing terrifies me beyond words...especially in Devin's hands.

"No," Devin says casually. "What does it do?" I notice Jason walk over to pick it up.

"Don't you freaking dare." I hiss. "Don't touch that thing." He holds his hands up in surrender and backs away from it like it's ticking time bomb...he's not too far off.

"What is it?" Devin asks again.

I shake my head, mostly shocked he even found that thing. I had hoped I'd never see it again.

"Let's just put it like this; when that thing disappeared, never to be found again...I was freaking ecstatic."

"You're not giving me any motivation not to touch it. If anything, I want to touch it even more now."

I glare at him. "Don't touch it. You don't know how to use it, therefore, I'm not having you play with it and end up killing someone on accident."

"Who said it'd be an accident?"

I glare at him again in warning.

"Oh come on it's not even loaded, how much damage could it possibly do?" He asks.

"Seriously though, what is it?" Chase questions, pointing over at the crossbow like gun lying on the floor.

Oh, how I wish it actually was just a normal crossbow...but nothing of Lily's is normal.

"It was Lily's," I reply simply. That's as good as explanation as any...but unfortunately, they didn't know Lily. "Lily liked things with flair, with...explosive tendencies."

"I still don't see what's so dangerous about this thing." Devin waves it around in his hand.

"Put that down!" I yell. Doesn't this boy listen? Like ever?

"Why? Like I said it's not even loaded." He aims it at the wall and fires but nothing happens.

I feel slightly relieved, but only slightly. I'm still not comfortable with Devin of all people holding it.

"So Lily was...explosive?" Devin asks, obviously trying to get the subject off the weapon he's still playing with.

"That's putting it gently," I reply with a shake of my head and a small smile on my face. "She was my best friend. Someone I trusted far more than anyone else."

"What as she like?" Cody questions.

"She was worse than Devin if you can believe that."

"I object! No one's worse than me!" Devin interjects.

"Believe me, she was. I'm half glad you'll never be able to meet her." I repress a shudder. "You and Ryder were bad enough, but you and Lily? That's a nuclear bomb waiting to go off."

"Hey, what's this button do?"

I look at what button he's pointing at and immediately put my hands up as if to stop him.

"Don't press-"

Too late.

Smoke fills the room rapidly and the ground beneath us begins to shake as several explosions sound off all around us. But before any one of us can make a move to get out of the building, the floor collapses and we all fall through. I let out a groan as my back slams against the rocks beneath me and the wind's temporarily knocked out of me.

I cough and struggle to sit up, any healing process made on my ribs is definitely gone now. I wave my hand in front of my face, trying to clear away the smoke and dirt that has filled the air.

"What the hell did you do Devin?!" Jason roars, coughing in between breaths.

"I didn't do anything!"

"Except push the button Thirteen told you not to push after she already told you not to touch the damn thing in general!"

"Where is Thirteen?" Chase speaks up, intervening before Jason strangles Devin.

"Over here," I call back, but it's impossible to see anything with all the smoke in the air.

"Alright everybody sound off, let's make sure we're all alright." Chase immediately begins taking charge. Go right ahead. "Devin?"

"I died."

"Moving on then. Jason?"

"I'm obviously here."

"Are you hurt?"

"Just some scrapes and bruises as far as I can tell."

"Thirteen?"

"I'm going to kill Devin."

"You're obviously fine. Cody?"

"I'm alright."

"Elaine?"

Chase's answer is a series of loud wails and screams.

"Somebody forgot to turn off their alarm clock." Jason snickers. "It sounds an awful lot like a wailing siren."

"You're not helping Jason." Chase retorts lowly.

"It's not like anyone can really do anything at the moment. Just wait for the dust to settle."

It takes a long while for the dust to settle enough for us to be able to actually see. I get to my feet the moment I can. There's still a lot of dust still in the air but it's gotten to the point where we can actually see each other.

"What happened exactly?" Cody asks as he gets to his feet.

I roll my neck on my shoulders. "Lily must've set up the explosives the last time we were here."

"So I take it you didn't know there was another room under the floor?"

I shake my head. "I had no idea. I don't even know how she knew that. She obviously set the charges in the hopes if I ever came back here I'd hit the button."

"So it's a good thing I pressed that button," Devin states, a big stupid grin on his face.

"No, it's not a good thing you nearly killed all of us." Jason snaps back at him.

"I got us down here didn't I? And it's obvious that Lily girl wanted us to get down here. Mission accomplished, I'd bet whatever we're looking for is down here somewhere."

"Unfortunately, he's probably right," I mutter as I begin to push through the rubble and sand in search of my bag. Once I find it I pull out my flashlight and click it on, casting it in every direction till it lands on the wall farthest from me.

"What is that?" I mutter as I stare at the markings drawn on the wall. I take a few cautious steps towards it and the boys do the same, Elaine sniffling behind us.

I raise my hand up hesitantly and let my fingers linger on the markings.

"I don't want to be a buzz kill here but...please, please, please, tell me that isn't blood," Devin mumbles, not taking his eyes off the wall.

"It isn't blood." I mutter...it's definitely blood.

"Are you just saying that cause I asked you to?"

"Yep."

"So...what? She somehow managed to get down here, write a message on the wall in her own blood and make it back up to the next floor?" Jason questions, disbelief coloring his tone.

"You didn't know her." I remind him. "You have no idea what she was capable of when she was determined. You couldn't talk that girl out of anything."

"Well great. We have a wall full of lines and dashes. It's not Morse code so what the hell is it? Cause it ain't any type of code or language I've ever seen."

"I'm sorry I'm not going to be able to be there for you. I'm sorry this mission clearly didn't go as planned. Would it make you feel any better if I told you I knew? I knew everything you tried to hide from me. I don't blame you for what you did, or what's going to happen because of this...but I have something that might help, something that might get you out of all this. Give you the fresh start you completely deserve, that you long for.

"I made a copy of it. Unfortunately, I'm not going to make it out of this, you and I both know it. Screw the locations on the list, just focus on the first and last one, the others are just decoys, meant to lead anyone who's not you on a wild goose chase...good luck. You were always more than a sister to me. Love, Lily."

I lower myself to my knees, no longer having the strength the stand. I bury my face in my hands and hold back the tears that threaten to fall.

I never should've come here. It's completely silent...until Devin.

"You can read that?-Ow! What was that for?!"

I let out a laugh and get back to my feet. "It's a secret code me and Lily created that only we could read." I wipe at my eyes even though none of the tears have actually fallen.

"Well, that's useless-Ow! Again really?!" I don't even know who's hitting him...but it's making me feel better.

I shake my head but smile none the less. I'm actually appreciating how Devin's trying to pretend nothing's happened. It makes it a whole hell of a lot easier for me to do the same.

I swift through the sand and rocks till I come across my dagger. I toss it into my backpack and begin picking up whatever else goes back into my bag.

"Let's get packing. We've got one more location to go to, and a long hike ahead of us."

***

"It's going to scar Devin," Jason growls at him and Devin holds his hands up in surrender, in one hand, he's holding the crossbow.

"What's that bullshit you were telling us? It's not even loaded."

"It didn't look loaded," Devin replies with a shrug. "And when I fired it at the wall nothing happened, remember?"

Jason picks at his bloodstained shirt. There's a pretty good sized hole in his shoulder thanks to Devin. That was fun to explain to the hotel manager when we ran into him.

I shake my head and smile, tossing my bags onto the couch and grabbing a spare set of clothes from my duffle.

"Hurry up and pack, shower, and take care of any injuries you might have." Jason shoots me a look and I bite my lip to keep from laughing. "I want to be on a plane in two hours max."

"I'm not flying with you."

"Ditto."

"I ran out of duck tape."

I glare at Devin and he just holds his hands up in surrender and laughs nervously.

Chase walks off into the room with Elaine, who grumbles the entire time about how her outfit is beyond salvaging. Jason and Devin soon walk off into their room, Devin waggling his eyebrows at both me and Cody.

Cody wraps his arms around my waist from behind and rests his head on my shoulder. I lean back into him but don't say anything.

"You okay?" He finally asks softly, his voice barely louder than a whisper and his breath fans over my ear.

"I think so," I answer honestly, my voice just as soft as his. "For now at least."

"Awwww....." Devin's voice causes us both to turn and look to where he's opened the door to his room just enough for him to watch us. I lift up my leg and kick it closed the rest of the way.

Suddenly there's a sound similar to machine gun fire coming from his room...but it's much louder.

Cody's hands immediately shoot up to cover his ears and mine do the same. The sound finally stops and the door to Devin's room is thrown open.

He comes running out of the room and then runs out the door into the hotel hallway coughing. Smoke leaks out of his room.

Jason found the fire-crackers.

Jason walks calmly out and locks the door to the room, effectively locking Devin out of the room. He stuffs his hands in his pockets and grins at us before walking back into his room.

"You're welcome." He says simply before pulling the door closed behind him.

"Just one normal moment. Is that too much to ask for?" Cody mutters and I turn around to face him.

"We're living with them." I wave my hand around for emphasis. "There's never going to be a normal moment. This is as good as it's ever going to get."

He smiles down at me and wraps his arms around me again, pulling me into his chest.

"I'll take what I can get."

"You know we're going to have to let Devin back in right?"

He pulls me in for a kiss. "Later." He mumbles against my lips and I roll my eyes.

Vote

Comment

Enjoy!

And Thanks!