We're doomed...

*looks around for a scapegoat and then tramples Meebles trying to run away from mob*

--

 

Chapter Seven

 

 

“Cute.”

 

If you were looking in the cellar, Martha Stardust was nowhere to be found. Somehow, without anyone seeing, hearing or knowing, the brunette had physically moved to the foyer. And there she found bloodstains.

 

The previously gorgeous wood was tainted with blood, which to her was a beautiful, deep color that you could remove from someones body by killing. Looking up, the woman saw part of the railing above, chipped slightly and broken. The blood, she realized while touching it, was still wet, but there was no body, indicating no one had died… or the corpse had been moved.

 

Pursing the minds of bystanders, she found no one had died, which was relieving. The girl- Kray McGuire- had walked away from her fall, and so had her friend Autumn Rush. Martha was aware of Rush- after all, she was been the one who had later tricked people into believing Rush was dead.

 

Though Kray was unfamiliar, she found that the girl had walked away amnesiac with Gavin some time earlier, and was now a major force in their plan.

 

Martha made a mental note to kill her.

 

“Then again, I’m glad they made it,” she whispered.

 

“Then Gavin and I can have the first victim of the night.”

 

A civilian looked at her with a raised eyebrow, wondering why this chick was talking to herself. His thoughts were repeated in her mind as she read them.

 

Martha’s conscience, usually jumbled with thoughts- it didn’t matter who’s- was hard to keep track of. That was why she talked to herself, which was why people tended to think she was crazy.

 

“I know I’m crazy,” the brunette snapped at him. “Get over the talking to myself.”

 

People around her were so calm, she noticed as he nodded and walked off to talk to some friends. “Were they here when the girls fell? Wouldn’t they be distraught?” she asked. “Or did they come here after?”

 

Pursing their minds again, she found most had come afterwards.

 

“Don’t they know it’s bad luck to walk into a room with wet blood on the floor when the body that bled it is gone?”

 

They didn’t.

 

“Then again,” she murmured, looking around at all the bystanders/targets crowding the foyer, “by the end of tonight, this house will reek of blood… and ash.”

 

No one heard her talking to herself, no one except the girl who rang the doorbell. This caught the brunette off guard while she was thinking about Gavin and blood- and maybe even Gavin’s blood- no one knows for sure.

 

“Guess who’s coming in la~te!” a civilian taunted and opened the door. There, a tall girl with dark skin and black hair in a side ponytail was standing on the front step.

 

“Hey, I have a warning from the fire department saying there’s too many people here and it might be a fire haz… hey, a party!”

 

Martha sighed as the girl let herself in. Suddenly the newcomer looked at the blood on the floor and gasped, yet walked forward, watching the red in fascination.

 

“Who died?” she asked.

 

“No one actually…” Martha began to explain, before trailing off.

 

“No one died?” the girl picked up. “Oh, I’m Anna, by the way. What’s happened at this place so far, what did I miss?”

 

“Do you like blood?” Martha asked all of a sudden. She had an idea.

 

Anna raised an eyebrow and replied bluntly. “Who the hell are you, a vampire?”

 

The brunette smacked her forehead and sighed. “I mean like watching blood. Watching people die.”

 

“You’re really creepy,” the dark haired girl remarked. “I just came here to deliver that warning and to party,”

 

“Anna,” the taller woman finally said. “Something really bad is going to happen at this party. If you help me, and my friend Gavin, we’ll make sure you don’t get burned alive or stabbed.”

 

There was a pause and Annas eyes narrowed. This person was someone she’d have to watch carefully. No one just recruits people  like that… on the spot…

 

“What do you want?”

 

--

 

It wasn’t Aaron.

 

Much worse. Much, much, much worse. It was what Natasha would call an ‘OH, HOLLLYYY SHHHIITT!’ moment.

 

“Dammit,” Kevin muttered, much calmer.

 

Before them stood Gavin Davis.

 

“This party has been pretty interesting for you so far,” he taunted, holding blades in his hands like a demented movie killer. “The knife that scared the crap out of the sorority group? Me. Autumn’s ‘death’, though she was still very much alive? My girlfriends’ powers tricking everyone into thinking she had died. Aaron trying to kill you, Miss Tullidge? He’s helping me too. Aaron, Kray, Martha and I… we’re all working to make life here hell,” he laughed.

 

“Your girlfriend? You mean your prostitute? You have a girlfriend?!” Natasha sneered. “I thought you were like, sixty! What is she, mind controlled?”

 

“Her name is Martha Stardust,” the man said curtly. He then glared and stomped on Nat’s cell phone again, now crumbling on the floor in electrically charged pieces.

 

“…Stardust…?” Kevin asked slowly, looking at his girlfriend. Her eyes widened.

 

“Cherry’s sister.”

 

Gavin smirked. “I used to have a wife, but she annoyed me, so I dropped her off the roof of our house.” He looked at Natasha. “Cherry’s sister? Bingo, teenybopper. And she’s just tricked two of your friends- no wait, three; there’s also a girl named Anna- into helping her, somehow. Helping her destroy this place.”

 

“And how would you know?” the Jonas asked.

 

“Because she had powers and is telepathically communicating to me. Martha’s almost omniscient, for all we know, she could be listening to us right now,” he added.

 

Natasha didn’t say anything for a moment. Finally, she looked up.

 

“There’s a girl named Anna involved?”

 

“Do you know a girl named Anna?” Gavin demanded, now curious.

 

“Anna Corona? The movie star? But we call her Anna Banana just for fun…” Nat trailed off.

 

“Looks like she’s working for my girl,” he laughed and then lunged at them.

 

--

 

Unlike Nat and K2, Ophelia and Sapphire really were dealing with Aaron.

 

“Show me whatcha got, pretty boy!” Sapphire threatened, jumping around in a fighting pose with her arms raised. To anyone with actual combat training, she looked ridiculous, and Ophelia facepalmed.

 

“Sapphire…” she complained.

 

“What? How else do we fight him?” the elitist asked stupidly.

 

“Like this!”

 

The blonde grabbed a glass vase and swung it at the boy. It shattered upon contact with Aaron’s shoulder, going too fast for him to dodge or defend. Sapphire looked even more horrified than he did.

 

“That vase cost 28 thousand dollars!”

 

The male, on the other hand, didn’t care about expenses as he fell against a counter, shoulder bleeding heavily. His designer boots crunched over more glass as he winced in pain.

 

“You bitch…” the movie star hissed

 

“I’m not sure who you are, but you’re bleeding all over the wood,” Sapphire said coolly, tossing her blonde hair back. Aaron glared and, despite his injury, launched himself at her with a well thrown punch. His fist grazed the side of her head, and the girl shrieked and jumped just in time.

 

Ophelia bit her lip, then rushed to calm Sapphire but stopped and spun around to Aaron. “Oh, Atmos, you’re bleeding!”

 

Aaron shot her a look recognizable even if she had only known him a day.

 

Are you kidding me?! OF COURSE I’M BLEEDING!

 

“You care about him when he was about to attack us? And nearly KILLED me?!” Sapphire demanded. “Besides, of course he’s bleeding!”

 

Aaron sighed. These girls were idiots. No wonder Martha planned to trick them. It seems everyone in the party knows they’re just pawns but them…

 

“I don’t want to end up killing him- I just didn’t want him to hurt us- he’s bleeding like you wouldn’t believe!” the blonde gasped, startled.

 

“Oh, I believe,” Sapphire muttered. “No, wait, that’s satin!” she gasped as her deluded friend whipped out a burgundy towel. Ophie, not listening, began to dab Aaron with the sheet. She continued to ramble to herself as the boy slid down the counter and onto the floor, muttering, “Girls…”

 

“We should bring you upstairs, it’s safer there,” the girl suggested, wondering if she should take off his sweatshirt now drenched in blood.

 

Aaron was reminded of the guest bedroom upstairs where he had seen Natasha earlier. “Maybe not,” he murmured.

 

“We should. There’s all sorts of stuff in the kitchen that might cause more trouble. Besides, we won’t be up there long,” Ophelia coaxed, “I just don’t want to be responsible if something really awful happens to you because of this,”

 

“Oh, so all you’re worried about is liability…” Sapphire sighed, knowing the feeling.

 

“You’ll be responsible for hell if you go upstairs,” Aaron explained, thinking that even if he didn’t run into Natasha, he could run into Kevin and get his butt kicked again.

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Nothing.”

 

Sapphires eyes watered with more tears as she looked at the ruined towel and floor, as well as the vase her parents were so going to kill her for.

 

And then she remembered something awful.

 

The Moonstones were going to move, as evident from the ‘for sale’ sign they had seen earlier.

 

And how her parents were going to try and sell this house.

 

--

 

“What do you want?” Anna Banana, or really, Anna Corona asked.

 

Martha leaned back against a wall.

 

“I have a… friend, y’see,” she began, trying to explain. “He’s upstairs right now,”

 

“How would you know if he’s upstairs right now if you’re nowhere near him?” Anna asked, using common sense. Unlike Martha ever had.

 

“I have my ways,”

 

“Damn, you’re so vague,” the star complained, folding her arms across her chest. The brunette rolled her eyes.

 

“Yeah, yeah, like I haven’t heard that before. Anyway, he’s upstairs right now, and he’s dealing with a bunch of teenage brats being rude to him. I don’t know how he ended up in this situation,” she lied, but instead of using a sickly sweet voiced used to trick children, her tone came casual, so the teenager already suspicious of her had no reason to suspect anything.

 

“Can you just help me help him? Deal with those brats?”

 

Anna sighed. “Whatever. But I better get paid later,” she said. “I don’t fight teenyboppers for nothing,”

 

“Well, now you do,” Martha said as they started up the stairs.

 

--

 

“Looks like she’s working for my girl,” he laughed and then lunged at them.

 

So Natasha did the only thing sensible.

 

She kicked him in the crotch. Hard.

 

“HOOLLY SHHIITTT!!” the man gasped, and it took all his strength not to crumple to the floor. “Why you little-“

 

“Genius?” Nat laughed, high fiving her boyfriend. Gavin glared and, taking even more of his strength, swung his leg over to kick her.

 

She dodged.

 

“Pedo,” the girl murmured.

 

“Okay, okay, slow…” Came a soft, recognizable voice. Turning a corner and coming into view was Ophelia, the tall blonde, helping a limping teen move through the hall.

 

“You brought HIM here?!” Natasha demanded, spinning around and using a back fist to hit Gavin, approaching her from behind, in the nose.

 

“But I… err… hurt him…”

 

“Accidentally?” K2 asked with a raised eyebrow, stepping protectively in front of his girlfriend. His eyes narrowed when he saw Aaron, stumbling in with Ophelia followed by Sapphire.

 

“Well, he was attacking us, but, atmos, I hit him and he started bleeding like hell and…”

 

“Bleeding like hell? He deserves to GO to hell!” Natasha argued.

 

Gavin, on the floor due to Nat’s backfist- he made a mental note not to mess with starlets who had martial arts training- looked disappointed.

 

“You got beat up with… glass, apparently,” he scolded Aaron, seeing the glass shards caught in the teens sweatshirt. “Weak. Beat up by a girl.”

 

“You’re not one to talk, asshole,” Aaron spat and Ophie slapped him.

 

“Don’t curse, you fucktard!”

 

Natasha facepalmed. “At least we know Ophelia’s still the same,”

 

“Yeah, still INsane,” Sapphire remarked and Natasha groaned.

 

“YOU had to come up here too?”

 

“I invited you here!” the elitist screamed, infuriated. “Geez, all celebrities really ARE brats…”

 

“I beg to differ!”

 

Martha, walking in with Anna who had just protested, rolled her eyes. Looking straight at Sapphire, the brunette said, “Oh, don’t bother arguing with that elitist- Sapphire Moonstone knows nothing.”

 

Sapphire looked very offended.

 

“All I know is the little information YOU’VE told me!” she yelled.

 

“You’re not the only one she’s being a vague bitch to?” Anna asked, unsurprised, and Martha sighed. Don’t call me a bitch, you’re helping me, remember? The telepath spoke in her mind.

 

Anna jumped.

 

“Did you just TALK TO ME in my BRAIN? What the hell?!”

 

“She’s done it to me too,” Sapphire said dryly.

 

“Well, I was hoping I wouldn’t HAVE to talk in your mind anymore. You and Ophie were supposed to do something retarded to try and fight the plan I was so vague about and get yourselves killed so you’d be out of the way,” Martha explained. Natasha stood on the sidelines, confused. Kevin glared at Aaron.

 

“Wait, fight the plan? You told me we were helping this plan,” Anna protested, now confused as well.

 

Martha smiled, before helping Gavin up.

 

“Exactly.”

 

No one spoke.

 

"For those too stupid to realize, I've been on Gavin's side this whole time. I'm working with him and the plan that Kray girl dreamed up awhile back, to kill you all, mainly. Anna gets spared because I figured I might as well spare someone, y'know?" she laughed. "Sapphire and Ophelia, technically, you would have helped- with you dead we'd have less people trying to stop us. But apparently you're too stupid to even get YOURSELVES killed."

 

Gavin looked at his girlfriend, who, Nat could already tell, was at least twenty years younger than him- cree~py!- with a curious expression.

 

"Aww, you weren't gonna keep the joke up for at least a few more hours? C'mon, trick a few blondes into thinking you're on their side, why'd you have to reveal the traitorship so early?" the man complained.

 

Martha ignored him, and turned to Sapphire and Ophelia.

 

“Basically, you’re not the most insane at the party… you’re the most STUPID.”

 

The woman smirked, and Ophie turned to her.

 

“Let me get this straight.”

 

Martha watched.

 

“You screwed with my head. You implanted false memories. You tricked me, and then you gave me a mission to get myself KILLED?!”

 

“Yep!” she said happily.

 

Ophelia ran at her.

 

“Hey! HEY!” Anna shrieked, blocking Ophelia. “Quit it, she’s helping me so I don’t get killed!”

 

“Maybe she thinks you’re stupid too,” Sapphire snapped.

 

“Actually, Anna’s already proven more reliable then you ever had,” Martha said coldly as Ophelia and Sapphire stepped back. “She doesn’t ask relentless questions like you do,”

 

“You’re working for Martha? Gavin’s hooker?” Natasha questioned, turning to Anna.

 

The girls eyes lit up.

 

“Nat! I haven’t seen you in awhile!” Anna said and ran up to hug her friend.

 

“You know Anna Corona?” Gavin slurred, his voice sounding horribly congested thanks to the broken nose Natasha had given him.

 

“It’s Anna Banana,” the two girls corrected and then laughed. “What brings you here?” Kevin Jonas’ girlfriend asked.

 

“Well…" Anna took in a deep breath.

 

"It's actually pretty weird… I was driving and suddenly these people flagged me down, and I thought they were hitchhikers so I stopped to tell them to stop chasing me, but they were some dudes from the fire department and wanted me to send a fire hazard warning to this place- apparently there’s too many people here- until they could warn everyone themselves, ‘cause they had several other huge fires to deal with and needed someone just to tell the Moonstones just in case something happened before the department themselves could get there. And then I saw the place and was like, PARTY!” she finished quickly.

 

“I guess we’ll be getting a message from the fire department soon, then,” Aaron said, standing up now, albeit shakily. “But if Kray’s still doing the plan well the department won’t need to worry. There’ll be nothing left to salvage once we’re done with this place,” he threatened, cutting into the girls’ happy moment.

 

Natasha broke off from her friend.

 

“You wanna bet… pretty boy?”

 

--

 

“And then they all died. The end.”

 

The voice wasn’t Martha’s nor Anna’s, and it's sickly sweet nature meant it wasn’t Gavin’s either. This belonged to newly amnesiac Kray McGuire, putting the finishing touches on her plan from hell.

 

Suddenly the girl looked up from the computer, eyes darting to the door.

 

“Who’s there?”

 

A redhead wearing an Abercrombie and Fitch shirt poked her head in.

 

“I… I heard someone was in here and planning something,” Cassie started.

 

“We want to know what,” Joe Jonas demanded, stepping behind her.

 

“Why would you want to know my plan?” Kray asked, appearing insulted. She shrunk down the file on the monitor and then opened it again, then closed it back, on and off obsessively. Cassie shifted.

 

“There’s a rumor about it spreading all over the party.”

 

Kray looked amused.

 

“Aww… I feel so loved! Or hated. Maybe they hate me and want to kill me. Do they hate me and want to kill me for this?” She clicked the mouse several times again.

 

“No. They don’t want to kill you.”

 

The dark-haired girl raised an eyebrow. “Well then, do you?”

 

The couple fell silent. Cassie shifted again and Joe moved closer to Kray, putting his arm on her shoulder comfortingly.

 

“I don’t want to kill you, Kray. I just want to know what your plan is,” he said, not able to tell if Kray really was in a decent mood or if she was hiding extreme paranoia.

 

The girl snapped back and then retaliated by giving him an impulsive slap in the face.

 

“LIES!”

 

“Paranoia,” the Jonas whispered under his breath, cheek burning. He stepped back. “What lies? I’m telling the tru-“

 

“Why would you need to know my plan if you had no intention of killing me?!” she demanded. He noticed her eyes, previously hazel, were now a washed out, dull grey. Are eyes still windows to the soul? They better not be, Joe hoped, or this girl was doomed.

 

He shuddered as the girl continued to rant. “I know what you pop stars are like! You only care about yourselves and your image, maybe even people really close to you, and that’s it! You probably don’t even care about her!" she accused, pointing at Cassandra.

 

“He DOES care!” Joe’s girlfriend retaliated.

 

“But he doesn’t,” Kray decided, glaring. She stood up and leaned in on Joe. "What would you do if I kissed you right now, then, since you love the redhead so much?" she taunted.

 

"I'd leave. WITH Cassie," he said firmly, despite being caught off guard.

 

Kray smiled.

 

"But you wouldn't. You want to know my plan too much to leave."

 

The couple was silent.

 

“But tell me, Joe. I know you only care about yourself. So what part of my plan do you think will hurt you? I’m not saying my plan WILL harm you, but I’m not saying it WON’T either… y’know?” the dark haired amnesiac continued, pressing his last nerve. The Jonas had a strange urge to strangle her.

 

“I want to know your plan,” he began slowly, “Because I was talking to my brother and his girlfriend earlier, and then I heard footsteps, and a shriek. The line went dead. And now Kevin and Natasha might be in danger because of you.”

 

“How do you know you didn’t just lose the connection?” the girl asked in her mocking tone, and Joe’s hand twitched.

 

“Kray! I want to know who attacked my brother, why, and what they’re planning to do! And it’s in your plan- it has to be!” he demanded, aggravated at her stalling.

 

Kray leaned back.

 

“Why don’t I just tell you?”

 

Joe’s eyes narrowed, and he stepped in front of Cassie protectively. “You’re going to tell me your plan?’

 

“No shit, Sherlock,” the girl snapped, expression changing. “Geez, you’re slow,”

 

The dark haired teen rolled his eyes, but said nothing. “It’s actually really simple,” she added, “But considering you, like all pop stars, have a brain the six of a peanut, I’ll break it down. You want to know what Gavin will do to your brother?” she asked, bored of insulting him.

 

“Gavin?” Joe didn’t recognize the name, wondering how well-known this person had to be for him not to know who.

 

“Gavin… Davis?”

 

Kray looked at the redhead who had figured it out.

 

“Gavin Davis, the serial killer?” Cassie asked again. Suddenly her eyes widened. “You set a SERIAL KILLER on Kevin and Natasha?!”

 

“And he’s going to have some fun, too!” Kray laughed, her mood swinging back to sadistic taunting. “But, she added, “I can’t remember whether he was going to decapitate them and put the heads on a pole or if he was going to hang them in the front foyer… ah well.” The girl looked up, and a slid a knife off the desk and into her palm.

 

“I think he’d like more heads though. And the plan didn’t say anything against it,” she agreed with herself.

 

Cassie wanted to scream, ‘Well, of COURSE the plan said nothing against it- YOU WROTE it!’

 

Instead, she jumped back as Kray sauntered forward with the weapon. But- to Cassie’s surprise- instead of killing HER with it, she pressed the blade against Joe’s neck.

 

“Now who wants a Jonas on a stick?”

 

--

 

With a racy smile, Aaron dove for her.

 

Natasha tried to jump out of the way, but was slammed into the wall. The girl made to punch him in the face, but before she could, he crumpled to the ground.

 

"What the…?"

 

Kevin appeared behind the spiky-haired teen. "He'll never have kids, not with you or ANYONE else…" the Jonas threatened.

 

"And just how it should be!"

 

Aaron moaned, on the floor.

 

"You really think you know everything, don't you?" Martha said crossly, hands on her hips behind the couple.

 

She then whipped out a blade and hurled it at Kevin's head.

 

"GEEZ! What's with you all and trying to kill me horribly?!" he demanded, about to swing around and block her attack when Nat twisted the woman's arm around. There was a sickening snap and the brunette shrieked in pain.

 

"You two are WAY too defensive of each other…" Aaron commented, and this time Nat kicked him in the back roughly.

 

"Ah, my spine~!" he taunted sarcastically, and she kicked him again, this time in the head. The boy fell unconscious.

 

Meanwhile Martha was on the floor near him, her arm bent at an odd angle. K2 picked up the blade that had dropped out of her hands. "Let me guess. You wanted to stab me."

 

"Still do, actually," she hissed. "You're an easy target,"

 

"I'll do the honors," Gavin growled and snatched the weapon directly out of Kevin's palm. He, too, hurled it.

 

In a different direction.

 

"AIHH!"

 

There was no time to block, or move, since the man was only a few feet away.

 

The weapon cut through air just like it would flesh.

 

Natasha fell to the floor, blade piercing through her skinny jeans.

 

"You missed, dumbass!" Martha gasped, not even looking at him. Like Kray and Aaron had, the superpowered prostitute was now bleeding out.

 

"Oh, I did that on purpose," he argued, waiting for Kevins reaction.

 

"NAT!"

 

Gavin Davis smirked as the starlet ran to his girl. "Are you alright?" Kevin asked as Martha started wondering where Sapphire and Ophelia had disappeared off to.

 

"Yes, I'm perfectly alright! Now hand me a band-aid before I BLEED to death!" his girlfriend gasped sarcastically. Kevin stifled a laugh. Same old Nat.

 

Then he realized how dire the situation was.

 

Gavin turned around and helped Martha up. "We'll fix your arm later. We need to check on Kray first, and find that Sapphire girl so we can burn her alive and maybe decapitate his brother," the man pointed at Kevin, who paled.

 

"What about… him…?"

 

Martha pointed with her undoomed arm to Aaron.

 

"Leave him here," Anna said, finally speaking up. "You two go off and I'll catch up in a second."

 

The killer and his prostitute shrugged and took off. After a minute had passed, she spun around back to Nat and K2.

 

"NATASHA! Are you okay?!"

 

"Do you have a bandaid?" Kevin asked, dead serious. Anna rolled her eyes, and Natasha glared at her.

 

"What're you gonna do, kill me right now? I'm sure Martha wanted me dead, you little traitor," she said, trying to sound menacing, but failing miserably.

 

"I'm not on Martha's side."

 

"Uh huh, just like you never beat up that Jimmy kid back in fifth grade," the star argued. Anna looked confused.

 

"Nat," she said, sitting down next to her friend, "I never did beat up Jimmy. He just fell down the well!"

 

Kevin looked utterly confused. In his mind, his thoughts kept repeating themselves. Screw this girl talk, you need a tourniquet, FAST!

 

"Then explain you turning on us for Gavin's hooker!" Natasha started breathing heavily to keep from hyperventilating. She didn't dare to look at her leg.

 

"I didn't… look… it's like spying. I joined their 'side' because I knew something was up with them and if I could figure out, I could help whoever they were hurting, which turned out to be you guys," the movie star explained. Nat calmed slightly.

 

"How would you know something was up with them if you only just arrived?"

 

"Gee, I dunno, was it when she asked me if I liked blood or when she told me to help her so I wouldn't get burned alive or stabbed?" Anna replied sarcastically.

 

"Well, they've got stabbed down," Kevin muttered, looking worriedly at Nat's leg. "Um, if you could finish explaining really, really fast, that would be GREAT." he added.

 

"Anna, you've always been a genius…" Natasha mused.

 

"Now, I hate to leave you like this, but I don't want Gavin and Martha getting suspicious of me taking so long and going off to kill me too." The dark haired girl bit her lip and stood up. "I'll be back. In the meantime, find a blanket to try and choke off the blood or something," she added with a concerned tone.

 

Leaving one last glance, she took off, trusting her best friend with Kevin Jonas. And Aaron, but he was unconscious, so it didn't really count.

 

Natasha was suddenly aware of the shooting pain and the fact that her leg was covered in something very sticky.

 

"I'm not gonna die… right?" she asked weakly. She noticed Kevin unbuttoning his shirt.

 

"Just stay conscious," he warned, extremely pale. Natasha bit her lip, trying not to scream so she wouldn't startle him or the rest of the party. She gripped the carpet, wondering if people at hospitals still amputated stabbed limbs.

 

There was a jolt and she was aware of tight fabric being wound around her knee, around the cold blade, tightly and choking off blood.

 

"Y'know, if you had taken out the weapon, she would have bled to death by now…" a groggy Aaron, lying nearby, mumbled. Kevin wasn't sure if he was fully conscious or not.

 

"What are you doing?" Natasha asked, trying to sit up. The Jonas pushed her back down lightly, and it was then she noticed how attractive he was shirtless.

 

"Two things."

 

He pulled a knot on the fabric, tightening it further. The girl wasn't sure if she could feel her foot.

 

"One, saving your life."

 

She looked up at him.

 

"Two, kissing you."

 

--

 

“Sapphire! Wait up!”

 

Sapphire Moonstone stormed down the hallway, furious. Her blonde hair bounced behind her, her cloths ruined from earlier, her attitude even worse than normal. She spun around to face Ophelia, trying to come after her.

 

"What? What? You think I'm stupid, don't you?! As if it wasn't enough to have MARTHA tricking me…!" the girl yelled and then spun back around and started down some mahogany stairs.

 

Ophelia walked carefully down the fancy steps, not wanting to scoff them.

 

"Sapphire! I got tricked too! We BOTH did! Calm down, we've still got to fight the plan!" she argued, hopping off the last step and taking off after her friend again. Sapphire, not looking at her, rolled her eyes.

 

"What plan? Martha probably made that up too! She wanted us to get ourselves killed!"

 

Ophelia stiffened slightly. "No… she wasn't. I could feel it… she honestly wasn't kidding about that. She was just kidding about her trying to fight the plan."

 

"You could FEEL it? Just like you felt Dedodakes, huh?"

 

The next thing Sapphire felt was her being socked in the eye.

 

"HEY-!"

 

The blonde elitist fell against the wall roughly, and a painting fell out of its frame and toppled to the floor. Ophie stood about her, glaring.

 

"If you EVER mention that again, I'll SHOOT you." she said coldly. "I knew Dedodakes a lot longer than just tonight. Don't you know? There's ALWAYS been something morbidly wrong with me when it comes to aliens and crap. I've ALWAYS had a weird thing with UFOs and ETs. All Martha did was confuse it more."

 

She paused.

 

"No wonder people hate you, you're a damn bitch," she added coolly and stormed off. Sapphire looked up.

 

"What makes you so touchy about that?" she snapped, standing up and brushing herself off. Ophie turned around.

 

"Because I know it way too well,"

 

Sapphire had nothing to say to her- still vague- comment. Ophelia looked at the blonde. "So, what now?"

 

"We stop the plan," the girl said, "But first, I need to fix my hair."

 

"How many miles away is your room?" Ophie asked blandly.

 

 

 

NaNoWriMo! I blame you!

 

-

Chapter 6

 

“Mmmm…”

 

There were hundreds and hundreds of globes around her. The room was poorly lit, and she couldn’t see a doorway through the expanse of colored orbs. Most of them only had one color spread across their surface, but a few were more like planets; different shades graced their surface as if to represent changing climate across each.

 

And they were all suspended at different levels in the air. Nothing was holding them.

 

Ophelia stood up shakily as she looked around. This place was sort of like a planetarium, but the floating globes really freaked her out.

 

She began to walk forward. The girl had no idea where she was, all she knew was that she was there. But she was supposed to know that. She was supposed to know she was there.

 

Ophelia hated it when her thoughts repeated themselves.

 

A loud, reverberating noise that sounded almost like a cymbal breaking- yes, breaking- shocked her. She looked down to find she wasn’t even walking on solid product, but merely… nothing. There were more globes below her.

 

“This is one freaky planetarium.”

 

Her first thought was to find an exit, but Ophelia wasn’t really interested in leaving. Wherever she was, this place was cool, and she wanted to stay.

 

She walked forward again and it created the same noise. Loud reverberation wasn’t pleasant.

 

“Where is that coming from…?”

 

Do you want me to explain?

 

The girl jumped in surprise and the sound repeated when she landed. This voice came from inside her mind, but somehow it wasn’t hers.

 

“Het, look, if you’re trying to screw with my head and give me a breakdown, you’ll have to get in line,” she muttered, to herself, of course.

 

Heh. Not quite.

 

“…fine, explain. What’s with this alien thing? There was a planet that got attached to that thought, Dedodakes, right before I passed out. I felt like I knew the planet. Like something was controlling my memory!”

 

You want me to explain? To tell you who I am?

 

“Yes…”

 

Okay. You’re in a dream, child. Get out.

 

--

 

“I’ve got a plan,” Kray said mildly, leaning back in an office chair in another room upstairs. She, Gavin, and Aaron were all there, lingering really, like a rest in between missions. The room change was really for two reasons: If anyone had heard yelling upstairs from when Aaron had attacked Natasha and they went to that room, not only Aaron would be busted, but Gavin, and the random items he had stolen, would be too.

 

The second reason was that Kray wanted to play on the Moonstone’s computer.

 

“A plan? Who plans?” Aaron leaned back on the couch against the window and looked at the girl oddly, though she didn’t notice because he was facing her back. He rubbed his head lightly- Kevin, let’s just say, had a very powerful punch.

 

“I plan. You already stole some crap, or tried to switch for your ex-girlfriend, scared some sorority group, or-“ she spun around on the wheelie chair and looked at Aaron with a laugh, “-got beat up by a Jonas Brother-“

 

“Hey! I’m not the one who fell off a thirty foot railing,” the spikey haired teen protested.

 

“What railing?”

 

Gavin mouthed to Aaron: Amnesia. Don’t bother.

 

“Uh… whatever…” the Cruz rolled his eyes. He’d have to use something else against the crazy amnesiac.

 

“Well, anyway, we’ve already had some spontaneous fun, but now shouldn’t we do something more drastic?” Kray asked, looking at what appeared to be a word file on the screen.

 

“I dunno, I usually don’t even bother at larger parties after I take some expensive crap or something. Harder to screw stuff up. And people don’t really do it for me,” Gavin added, kicking the backpack he had dragged over here. Sapphire would miss her jewelry.

 

“They don’t do it for you? What’s the fun in them messing up the party themselves?” Aaron asked with a sarcastic laugh.

 

“No- I mean I just don’t like people. Especially snooty teenagers,” the man said.

 

Kray and Aaron glared at him.

 

“…except you guys, of course!” he added hastily. Surprisingly, he was now closer to Kray and Aaron then anyone else he’d ever had a relationship with in his life- even his family. Kray smiled with satisfaction.

 

“Yeah, well, this is a cool opportunity to have some real fun. So I made a plan and saved it on this word file-“

 

Aarons eyes widened. “You idiot, you don’t save plans on how to destroy the Moonstones on their computer!” The man started laughing, this girl was an idiot.

 

“That won’t be a problem,” Kray said sincerely. “The computer will be destroyed and they’ll be dead by the time its over,”

 

“What’s your plan?” Gavin asked curiously, now looking over her shoulder.

 

After a minute his eyes widened, and a wicked smile appeared on his face.

 

--

 

"Hey, Dawn!" Ophelia said cheerily as the girl caught up. "I haven't seen you since-"

 

"This morning," Dawn said laughing. "We ride the same morning bus,"

 

"You know Ophie has memory problems," Cassandra pointed out. She looked at Dawn.

 

"You're covered in paint!"

 

 

“Ophelia! Dammit, wake up!”

 

Still in the cellar, the blondes eyes blinked open. “Cherry Stardust cursing? Have I gone mad?”

 

Cherry rolled her eyes. “I’d say yes, you totally broke down. So, who’s Dedodakes? You were moaning that in your sleep. Is that the planet you come from?”

 

‘Like something was controlling my memory…’

 

‘Like something made me believe I knew Dedodakes…’

 

“A false memory,” Ophelia answered quickly. “Something that I thought had happened to me, but hadn’t,”

 

“You’ve really lost it,” Gretchen muttered.

 

“No! I’m serious! I didn’t really know about it beforehand… but it’s really interesting…” the blonde sat up and looked at her friend, who looked like she was trying to determine the situation.

 

“So you passed out…because some memory was implanted in you… that you didn’t have?”

 

“That sounds really stupid, I know,” the insane teenager confessed.

 

“That’s seriously it? You’re really screwed up, Ophie,” Gretchen said. “I thought you were dying or something!”

 

“How thoughtful of you!” Ophelia said in fake sincerity. The brunette rolled her eyes.

 

“Whatever, let’s just go back upstairs. They’re probably wondering where we are,”

 

Ophelia paused.

 

“Uh… no,”

 

Cherry, who had already stood up, looked back at her. “Look, I’m not wasting my party in this disgusting cellar-“

 

“You don’t have to. Go ahead, go upstairs,” the blonde coaxed as she stood up. Y’know, besides the spiders, dust, cockroaches, ash and toxic waste, this place really wasn’t so bad. It was kind of… alluring, actually.

 

“Are you kidding? You might die again!”

 

Ophie rolled her eyes. “I didn’t die, obviously. And if I do you can have my stereo, okay?”

 

Gretchen gave her a suspicious look. “You don’t have a stereo,”

 

“Well, I’ll buy a stereo, and when I die, you can have it.”

 

The brunette paused for a second before shouting, “Okay!” cheerfully and running off in her shallow, useless way.

 

“That was easy,” Ophelia muttered.

 

She turned around and wandered back into the darkness. “Well?” she asked. “You were in my dream. Are you here, too?”

 

No one spoke back.

 

“C’mon! You weren’t in my head! You… gawds, Cherry was right, I’m losing it.”

 

The girl sighed and kicked a wall.

 

Shut up. I told you to get out of the dream so you’d forget about me; I thought your memory would konk out again. I had evidence- ironically- the evidence that your memory might screw up, but I found that in your memory…

 

Shocked, Ophie fell onto the wall. “Who are you?!” So this person could just pull up random previous events and play them back to her, like a recorder or something?

 

Something really is screwed up about you…

 

“Who? Who are you and what do you want with me?!”

 

I’m here because I’m seeking out someone who is fine with being friended by the presence of the abnormal, and people of your type are usually willing.

 

“…what?”

 

Figures you had a bad vocabulary too.

 

The blonde hissed. “What are you trying to get at?!”

 

The cellar door opened and a worried partygoer looked in. “Who’s yelling?”

 

Ophelia sighed and turned around, but to see not only the random teenager, but another, shady figure next to him at below the trapdoor.

 

The random partygoer, realizing no one was going to answer him, rolled his eyes and walked away, swinging the entrance shut as he left.

 

The blonde turned to the figure that had appeared below it.

 

“You? When did you show up?”

 

The being let out a dry laugh and walked forward, into Ophie’s line of vision as her eyes finally adapted to the dark.

 

Ophelia gasped when she saw her.

 

She had expected a ghost, a God, a supreme being, even a vampire or something.

 

“You’re human?”

 

Indeed, the person was a girl not much older then she was. Maybe twenty-one or so, she was tall and lank, with extremely long brown hair tied neatly in two buns-and-braids in the back. It was as if an aura of sorts was radiating from her- not literally, but figuratively, like she was someone important. Like a fortune teller.

 

…wait, what?

 

The girl laughed again. “Nice to meet you. I’m the one who’s been messing with you- I’m a telepath, see-“

 

Ophelia promptly slugged her.

 

“HEY! What was that for-?!”

 

--

 

Heh, heh. The last time we mentioned Sapphire Moonstone as a person, and not as a person getting ripped off or stolen from, was quite awhile ago, wasn’t it?

 

The blonde lurked. She hid in her monstrosity of a kitchen, shaking, sobbing. Didn’t expect to see the hostess in tears quite like this? Her brand new, 700 dollar 'soft pink, sun-kissed color cami' was ruined, thanks to Dawns paint. In addition her white fur coat sweater thing and tight blue jeans, also ruined. That was over 1000 dollars worth of clothing! Just because they aren't privileged doesn't mean I have to be!

 

Another wracking sob filled the empty space; the crowd of people had dispersed to the foyer and living room, where all the action was occurring.

 

And my party! The mobs that chased me, the celebrities that didn't even know my name! My dad works for them! There were more tears. And I even invited them!

 

The dead girl! The creepy man! The rumor that Miley Cyrus got hurt!

 

The polished wood floor was ruined, a puddle of salty tears gracing its surface.

 

Saph looked up slightly. She could hear something. It was sort of coming from her mind, but it wasn't hers. It was as audible as anything heard was, and it sounded like it was coming from the trapdoor just over in the next room. Or rather, below it. Below the trapdoor.

 

She could hear conversation that sounded like it was coming from afar but was really in her mind.

 

There are two people I need right now, it said. One of them I've already contacted, now you must come to the trapdoor.

 

Do you know a girl named Ophelia Crobe?

 

Sapphire jumped into the air and almost hit her head on the bottom of the cabinet she had been hiding under. "What- who- I-?"

 

Come on, I have a lot of explaining to do. And not a lot of time.

 

--

 

Sapphire slid under the trapdoor with a flashlight about a minute later. Sheesh, no ones been here in awhile. The beam indicated a masse of creepy-crawlies, as she would call them, which lurked in here. The furnace had been put out. She didn't know how it had, but it explained why the house had gotten cooler.

 

She slid in only to nearly get punched by a blonde.

 

A familiar blonde.

 

"Ophelia, what the hell?!" Saph demanded as she jumped back from her friends raging fist. Ophie pulled back hastily.

 

"Sorry, I was trying to get her," the girl hissed and motioned to a brunette with her hair up in a peculiar style. The brunette rolled her eyes and leaned against a dusty wall with a cockroach climbing up it, apparently not noticing that failure of an insect.

 

"Who're you?" the hostess asked curiously.

 

Ophelia laughed dryly. "Trust me, she won't tell me,"

 

"I would have, if you hadn't attempted to kill me!"

 

The insane one sighed, and the brunette looked at each of them, stroking one of her braids inattentively. "You want me to explain?"

 

"Uh, su-"

 

"YES!" Ophie cut in impatiently.

 

"My name is Martha Stardust, and I now consider you two my little 'experiments' of the night."

 

The 'alien' blonde was at first surprised enough not to say anything- for once- but Sapphire shook her head. "What are you, a scientist?"

 

"You two are friends, correct?" Martha asked, looking from one to the other and back again. She let go of her braid.

 

"Sort of…" Sapphire said, though Ophelia said "Yes,"

 

"Okay, well, this may be hard to believe, but I am a telepath, and also can use this power to muddle with senses,” the taller one began. Ophie laughed dryly.

 

"Believe me, that's not hard to guess,"

 

Will you shut up? Martha demanded, in Ophelia's mind again. The blonde sighed and stepped back.

 

"A lot of the weird things that have happened in this party were because I made them. I made people believe they had happened, because they ‘saw’ it with my altered version of their sense of sight- like an illusion," Martha said. "Example, when Rush 'died', she was really knocked unconscious- not by Krays blow, but by my thoughts controlling her, like I did to you earlier," the brunette motioned to Ophelia.

 

"Everyone else was influenced by sight and sound illusions. Kray was so deranged I have no idea what she thought. Cole tried to test for Rush's breathing, but I can edit touch senses too, and so he couldn't feel her pulse even though there was one. When she woke up, I changed up her memories so that she believed she had nearly been killed, but that she had foiled Kray by pretending to die."

 

Sapphire only nodded slowly. Ophelia would've said something if it wasn't for her fear of this woman.

 

"Your 'panic' episode a few minutes ago was myself completely. I edited your thoughts and memories, and then made you pass out so you'd believe my powers before I told you. You've already had a cruddy day, though, Sapphire, so I just went easy on you. Came anyway, though,"

 

"…are my memories still edited?" the first blonde, the 'alien' blonde, asked finally.

 

"Yes."

 

"Are mine?" Sapphire asked as well.

 

"Yes."

 

The rich blonde looked furious.

 

"Then what's real?" Ophelia asked before the hostess could let her anger turn into a verbal assault, something a prep like her was very good at.

 

"Besides Rush's 'death' and your panic episode, really, just about everything else was real," Martha explained. "See, I need some… help. I've chosen you two because you're the two who are closest to being insane in the entire pa-"

 

"I'M insane?!"

 

The brunette jumped to see Saph practically foaming at the mouth in anger.

 

"Sure, Ophie's basically lost her mind, but ME?! I'm normal! I wear normal clothes, I have normal friends! Why didn't you pick someone else?! Anyone in the sorority group is more insane than-"

 

"I picked you because you're friends with Ophelia, and she's likely a schizo, actually," Martha said with a dry tone, as if it were obvious. Sapphire's lip twitched, but she did nothing else after.

 

"But why did you pick us to start with? What do you want with us?" Ophie asked, interested at the revelation that she might have a mental disorder.

 

"Because there are three people at this party who have a plan. And it isn't a good one."

 

--

 

“What’s so great about her plan?” Aaron complained. He leaned forward slightly as an interested Gavin reviewed the word document.

 

“My, my, you’re a sadistic little girl, aren’t you?” the man asked with a wry laugh, not paying attention to the pervert on the couch. Kray pulled her black hair out of a ponytail and only looked at him.

 

“So we’re gonna do it?”

 

“What is it about this plan?” the dark haired teen stood up from the furniture and walked over. “Does it involve Natasha?”

 

“I swear, you’re obsessed with that girl,” Davis muttered under his breath. Aaron didn’t hear, and he looked over Kray’s shoulder.

 

“…alright, that is kind of sadistic…” he concluded after he had read it.

 

“I like it. Why not give it a whirl?” Gavin asked.

 

“Okay!”

 

“Just one thing,” the serial killer said. “In case it doesn’t work… destroy this file,”

 

--

 

“Okay, do you have any idea where Cassie, Joe, Nick and Ophelia are?” Dawn questioned after awhile. The group would have stood out, two teens and a ‘fortune teller’ with pitchforks and all; if it wasn’t for the hallway they were walking in being completely deserted.

 

Another blue hallway with little blue rooms on the side.

 

Another deserted turn.

 

Again.

 

Rush shrugged. “I haven’t seen any of them since a few hours ago. What time is it, anyway?” she asked, lowering her shawl as she looked for a clock. “It’s got to be at least eleven,”

 

Dawn raised the pitchfork into the air. “It’s party time!”

 

The other two gave her a blank stare.

 

“Sorry, I was just really hoping to use this thing tonight,” she said, twirling her pitchfork dangerously around like a baton.

 

“Why do the Moonstones have pitchforks, anyway?” Cole asked, stepping back. “And don’t forget my twin; we need to find Dylan too,”

 

“The Moonstones have everything,” Autumn interjected. “I swear I saw a golden toilet on my way in,”

 

“No kidding,”

 

The group continued down the empty hallway.

 

“But seriously, I think we’re going in circles or something,” Dawn said again, “Because we’re not finding anyone and I’m completely lost. I swear- Sapphire should make a map of this place or something. UGH- she’s so annoying-“

 

“How can you say she’s annoying when she’s the one who invited you to this party?” the blonde boy asked quizzically.

 

“She didn’t. I don’t think Saph knew I was on her friends list,” Dawn laughed and squirted some of the red paint onto the ceiling. For all the elitism the Moonstones created, they deserved it.

 

“Do you always have that with you?” Autumn asked as the red hit the ceiling and then fell back to the floor, just barely missing her.

 

Dawn grinned evilly, but Cole looked horrified.

 

“What? It’s just paint-“ the artsy girl began, but the Sprouse shook his head.

 

“You said friends list. What website was this?”

 

“Uh… myspace,” the girl answered, “Why?”

 

“Because,” Cole said slowly, his worried gave unbroken onto the two, “There are reports all over the site of a killer who was befriending teens. They said his username was bloodandtears… something…”

 

“There was a bloodandtears user at the top of her friends list,” Dawn said suddenly.

 

“Whoever he is,” Cole began, “Whoever he is, he’s here,”

 

“There was a guy who gave Kray the knife to try and kill me, and he threw a blade into the wall to scare the girls I was summoning Bloody Mary with earlier,” Autumn pointed out, lifting her hijab back on.

 

“That’s him,” the blonde boy muttered darkly, “That must be him.”

 

“We can’t just pick up a few people and leave if there’s a serial killer, though,” Dawn argued, “There must be hundreds at this party- people could really die! I think we need to stop the killer… y’know… before he actually kills someone,”

 

“Isn’t that dangerous on our part?” Cole asked worriedly. He noticed Dawn’s pitchfork was still twirling.

 

“Well, I guess, but at least finding him will be easy. I think I sprayed that guy with my paint earlier,” she said optimistically.

 

“It’s not finding him that’s going to be the hard part. It’s finding a way out,”

 

--

 

There was one pro and one con about going upstairs through the staircase in the back of the house, where no one was. The pro was that they didn’t have to push and shove to get through crowds and in the way of people, instead they could talk freely- and still hear each other!- as well as be open to sounds, any small noise that indicated someone was sneaking up on them.

 

The con, Kevin figured, was that if they found someone was sneaking up on them, they didn’t know this part of the house as well, and it would be harder to escape if said person was dangerous- especially because these halls, though decorative, were very small (though at least they had gotten out of the labyrinth of creepy blue halls that seemed to mark the center of the building)

 

But Kevin Jonas wasn’t sure if Natasha had realized this like he had. The girl walked up the crystal clear, quartz staircase, directly in front of him. Immediately below said staircase was an odd, colorful, modern-art-esque geometric piece forever trapped in view under the stone that surrounded it on all sides, staircase on top and more quartz holding it up, drilled into a slid black floor.

 

How on earth did the Moonstones get that in there to begin with? the dark haired girl wondered.

 

The flooring upstairs was not crystal clear like the steps, instead there was a Hollywood- themed red velvet carpet stretching down the windowless corridor. It was evident the Moonstones had tried to make the dark area less depressing, but this extravagant rug- with little shining topaz stones drilled down at the base of the walls rimming said rug, as if they were spotlights- didn’t help, it only made it feel more like a medieval castle than a Los Angeles party.

 

“Weird,” the two said at the same time when they saw it.

 

“Okay,” Kevin added, walking forward into the darkness. “We should find Cassie and Joe first, they were upstairs the last time I saw them,”

 

“This level has got to be a square mile! Do they have a cell phone or something?” Natasha asked, peering into one of the dozens of rooms that lined the hall, only to find it- like the others- empty. This place was beginning to creep her out. What do the Moonstones do with this crappy hallway?

 

“I dunno about Cassie, but Joe does,” Kevin answered, whipping out his own phone.

 

The electronic light illuminated the hallway, and reflecting off of the topaz, it actually looked a bit more like the red carpet. But it was a post-apocalyptic Hollywood it resembled.

 

The dial tone went off and the Jonas pressed the phone to his ear.

 

“Hello? Joe?”

 

There was a crackling sound and Kevin put the phone on speaker so Nat could hear.

 

“Yo, Wassup Kev? Dude, this party rocks! I mean, I heard someone died, but-“

 

“Joe, Autumn’s still alive.”

 

“Oh, really? Thank God! Hey, Cassie, Rush is alright! Geez, someone was faking then…”

 

Natasha noticed that the noise coming from the phone was getting louder, as if Joe and Cassie were in a crowded place or something.

 

“Guys, where are you? There’s someone… dangerous at this party, we’re going to leave- by the way, do you have any idea where Nick is?”

 

“No idea where he is, but wait, who’s dangerous? The girl who tried to kill Autumn? Dude, she scared me…” Joe continued.

 

“Bad news. That girl was only working for the dangerous guy. He’s probably even worse,”

 

There was a dead silence on the other line.

 

“…shit,” Joe finally said. They could still hear the party on his end.

 

Natasha grabbed the phone. “Joe Jonas cursing? This has GOT to be-“

 

The connection suddenly went dead when the phone was jerked out of her hand. Natasha Tullidge looked up to see the phone being crumbled in someones palms.

 

It wasn’t Aaron or Kray.

 

Much worse.

 

--

 

After Gavin and Aaron had left to carry out their respective plans, Kray lingered, playing on the Moonstone’s computer still. They had some fun games and an internet connection. Kray had heard a lot of buzz about a website called myspace, which seemed oddly familiar to her.

 

Though it had taken five tries to get the URL right, she found the webpage intriguing, in a déjà-vu kind of way.

 

The teen was surprised to find an account by the username of AngelGirl101 was logged in. She started clicking around; her part of the plan wouldn’t begin for awhile now anyway. She peeked into the inbox.

 

1500 unread messages.

 

Kray’s eyes boggled, people talked a lot here! She clicked the message most recently sent, a bulletin about someone dangerous friending people on the site. Even with amnesia, she knew who that was.

 

She snickered and deleted that message.

 

Sapphire wouldn’t live to know, anyway.

 

--

 

“Hello? Natasha?” Joe asked as the line went dead. “Hello…?”

 

“I think she hung up on you,” the redhead behind him snickered lightly.

 

“That’s not funny!” Joe protested, dialing Kevin’s number frantically as crowds swarmed around them. He wandered to the edge of the room so he could actually hear the dial tone.

 

In the middle of the mass of blue hallways was this room, what the Moonstones had dubbed “the party room”. It was located dead-center on the first floor, and could only be reached by several of these blue hallways, if you got through the labyrinth, anyway.

 

“I’m sorry. This line has been disconnected. If you would like to call our company to request a user, press one. If you would like to hear our policies, press two…”

 

The Jonas somberly flipped the cell shut. Cassie looked at him.

 

“The line’s disconnected? Why would Kevin disconnect his phone?”

 

“He didn’t,” the nineteen year old said darkly.

 

--

 

Though not many realized it, Kray’s new plan was the talk of the night, not only among those carrying it out, but among those who would soon be victims.

 

And those who knew about it by seemingly supernatural means.

 

"What plan?" Sapphire asked. "Look, you're starting to freak me out, Martha. I'm not going to help you until I know everything. First off, where did you get these powers?"

 

"You're very annoying," the brunette noticed. "Just because you live here doesn't mean you do- or should- know everything,"

 

Ophelia didn't say anything, but Sapphire glared at the mind-messing freak.

 

"Yes it does! I know everything about my house and all who's inside!" Saph's face was red, and it was by no means makeup.

 

"Oh really? Did you know your house is for sale?"

 

"Yeah! Of course I-"

 

"Did you know that your parents didn't leave for a buisness meeting at all, but that they're trying to sell this place to a senator?"

 

Sapphire opened her mouth as if to respond, but quickly fell silent.

 

"Did you realize that having hundreds of people here right now will severely devalue this place, and your parents might not be able to sell it at all?"

 

The blondes eyes lit up. "Then I won't have to move!"

 

Martha laughed dryly. "But that they were only planning to move to an even larger mansion- over a million dollars!- just across a few roads?"

 

Sapphire was silent again.

 

"You don't know anything, Sapphire Moonstone, but if you help me… I can change that."

 

The dead silence came back in its annoying way after Martha finished.

 

Finally, someone spoke.

 

"I don't have any powers like you do," Ophelia looked up slowly. "How can I stop this plan if I have nothing to arm me?"

 

Martha smiled knowingly.

 

"You figure that out yourself," the brunette said. “I can’t give you my powers- and I’d prefer not to disclose how I received them. What I can give you is someone to help and a little knowledge on what you’re stopping.”

 

“What am I stopping, then?”

 

The woman leaned against one of the wall, again ignoring the presence of cockroaches. The Moonstones apparently had no need for cleaning this cellar, probably because it was the old one they used before the house expanded. Martha knew this by probing Sapphire’s memories, because her powers were not only messing with the senses, but screwing with memory as well.

 

But that was obvious from the start.

 

“You are stopping a plan created by about three people at this party. Each person has their own ideals about what they want to do, but lets just say- as my omnipotence is always surprisingly vague- that you, Sapphire, will be dead- or rather, a pile of ash- and your house will be leveled.”

 

The brunette looked up to see the now sixteen year old girl deathly pale.

 

“I’m sure that’s enough motivation for you to stop this. Ah, you know what’s ironic about messing with the senses as a power? It gives me an awful headache, which is exactly what happens to the subjects when I use it on them, as you, Ophelia, probably know well,” Martha groaned.

 

“But… why are you here? Where did you even get these powers?” Saph asked, knowing that more information would help her, despite Martha’s previous lecture.

 

“They’re not as much powers as they are neuroscience. Is that confusing? Mm, I have no time to explain. You want more information, you’ll have to ask Gretchen, right now I need to rest- but remember, you don’t have a lot of time,”

 

“Gretchen…?” Sapphire asked slowly, at first not recognizing the name, but then remembered something.

 

Gretchen Stardust.

 

Martha Stardust.

 

“Gretchen’s related to you!?”

 

“It took you long enough to figure that,” Martha slurred before- oddly- falling asleep.

 

Sapphire was suddenly blinded by a bright light, and looked up to see Ophie pulling the trapdoor up.

 

“Martha’ll be fine, I’m sure, she’s dead omnipotent,” the blonde muttered and helped the hostess up. “We just need to find Cherry to figure out what the heck’s going on and what to do-“

 

“Not so fast.”

 

Ophelia could have sworn she recognized this spikey haired teen…

 

For a moment, Cole forgot how to breathe, and almost passed out.

 

The lemonade shattered in his hand, glass and juice making their way to the floor in slow motion. How did you react if someone you loved died? Were you supposed to cry? Or did they only do that in movies?

 

Slow motion, everything was in slow motion. That gave him more time, didn’t it? But if she was already dead… that didn’t help, did it?

 

By instinct he fell to his knees. He shook this girl, this gorgeous, attractive… no, no, he loved her too much! It had been only a few hours, and he loved her too much. It seemed cliché, but when you love someone, they don’t die in two hours.

 

And he’d never even told her…

 

“No, no! Oh God, no, no…” Cole began. How could she have been murdered this quickly? Something Kray had done had killed her!

 

Well, this was highly improbable.

 

Cole didn’t even argue this time. There was nothing he could do… but he could have prevented this… if he had stayed…

 

“I didn’t kill her,” a strange voice said. At first, he thought it was in his head, and ignored it.

 

“I didn’t kill her.”

 

Cole looked up and saw Kray. He didn’t notice the knife she was holding was bloodless.

 

“No…” he argued, “No, something you did…”

 

Kray shook her head. “Well, she’s dead now. There’s nothing to worry about!”

 

Something made the blonde look back at the shattered window when he noticed something odd- a knife on the floor nearby. He then looked at Autumn and saw a crystal clear glass shard near her neck, on the floor, as if somehow it had struck her and killed her. There was no blood- what? And the knife? It looked like someone had thrown it into the window…

 

But if Kray had had it- why did she need two knives? What was the second one for, if the first one was used to shatter the window to cleverly kill Autumn?

 

But he realized- if Kray had shattered the window that killed…

 

She had-

 

“Cole!”

 

Before he could accuse he felt the second blade on his neck.

 

So that’s what that one’s for.

 

“Cole… I want to introduce you to someone.”

 

CCCCCC

 

You know, Kevin had a particular, certain shade of green that always seemed to attract him. It was dark, forest green, Christmas-tree green, the kind that glowed and sparkled with life no matter what the season…

 

He found that shade in Natashas eyes. Right now, Kevin Jonas held her close, because this was one of those romantic, mushy times where that’s what you’re supposed to do.

 

Or, you know, if her eyes were brown, then he had a particular shade of trees and the ground that made him think ‘Nature!’ and instantly drove him toward it. The authoress can’t remember whether her eyes are brown or green, but either way, K2 adored her.

 

“Kevin,”

 

Her voice brought him back to reality, when he had been thinking about colors and Natasha.

 

“We should probably get out of here. Before Aaron wakes up,” she said suddenly.

 

Yeah, him…

 

“Oh, yeah.” Slowly, K2 stood up. He didn’t bother to look toward the closet where Aarons limp figure lay.

 

“And…” Natasha trailed off.

 

“Thanks. For, you know, saving me…” she paused again as they walked out of the room. Mushy romance wasn’t exactly her thing. “Uh- if I may ask- what happened to Jade?” she added.

 

An ‘oh, shi-‘ crossed his mind when he realized if he went downstairs he’d probably run into her again.

 

“Uh…”

 

“She’s still stalking you, isn’t she.” Nat said knowingly, small grin on her face at Jades impossibility. “That’s typical…”

 

Kevin half laughed, half grimaced, “Uh, maybe she got lost, or-“

 

As he was thinking of the hopeful possibilities he heard a scream.

 

The two exchanged a glance and immediately bolted down the stairs.

 

More civilians were panicking. The last thing Natasha remembered, a bunch of sorority girls had summoned Bloody Mary. But when she landed on the floor she realized someone had died. Was that normal?

 

Oh shit, okay, I’m leaving now!

 

Kevins eyes widened. Natasha paled.

 

“What’s going on…?” the dark haired girl asked, first to speak.

 

Kevin didn’t say anything.

 

Sapphire, meanwhile, bolted into the vicinity, followed by about 20 people. Suddenly she halted to a stop.

 

“Someone’s dead…” she murmured, finally realizing what was going on. “No! Now I’ll get sued!”

 

“Someone died and all you care about is a LAWSUIT?!” Dawn demanded angrily, stepping out of the way of the panicking people. She had had it with this prissy rich snob. And now all she cared about was money?!

 

“What’s wrong with that? I mean, it’s not like we can revive her or any-“ Sapphire began when Dawn grabbed a baseball bat and hit her rather violently over the head with it. The blonde stumbled backward, somehow still conscious and not bleeding, but it was likely a large bruise would form on her head later.

 

Some birthday this turned out to be. But Dawn couldn’t say Sapphire didn’t deserve it.

 

“What about the people Autumn meant something to?!” she asked. Like Cole! “Like Cole! Wait…”

 

She spun around. Cole, Kray and Gavin were gone.

 

“Where’s Cole?!”

CCCCCC

 

“Don’t speak!”

 

Cole was really confused now.

 

Kray shoved him into a random bedroom, having led him upstairs effortlessly. The door hit the wall behind her with a thud as the boy massaged his neck- he could still feel the cold metal pressed against flesh, even though the blade was in Krays hand now.

 

“What’s going on?” he asked carefully, when the door swung open and an older man walked in.

 

“Kray. You were supposed to kill her, not kidnap the boy.” Gavin intoned firmly, analyzing what was going on. He dropped a large bag onto the floor, and it made a clinking sound as it hit carpet. So he’s a thief, too.

 

"What's going on?" he asked again, cautiously. If it weren't for this sudden kidnapping, he'd be grieving right now. But he couldn't- if he showed any vulnerability…

 

Kray was walking toward him. She tossed her knife into the wall flawlessly- she must have learned that trick from Gavin. The blade froze in the plaster and its momentum was cut off as she tossed her hair back and moved towards him, seductively, almost wantingly.

 

Cole backed up until he hit the wooden bedpost behind him. Cornered. This room was like a giant trap.

 

"God, Kray, don't rape that boy- can't you wait?" Gavin asked, annoyed. Cole paled, stumbling onto the bed to avoid her when he realized something.

 

She killed Autumn because she wanted me instead…

 

Oh, God- Coles mind went into overdrive as he tried to figure out what to do.

 

There was a creak, and like in some horror movie, a disheveled man stepped out of the closet. His spiky brown hair didn't look at all natural, and he swayed, but not for nearly the same reasons Kray had earlier.

 

He stared at the scene for a moment, wondering what had happened while he was unconscious to bring these people here.

 

"Who are you?" Aaron asked suddenly.

 

Kray ignored him and slipped onto the bed, leaning towards the blonde: "You're way too sexy for Autumn," she purred.

 

Cole lost it.

 

He lunged at this deranged girl, fist whirling; about to punch- surely an attack seemed like nothing compared to murder- when he felt something tug the back of his shirt the other way and threw him backwards onto the floor. The same thing happened to Kray, and she hit the ground.

 

Gavin let go of them.

 

"You bitch, don't provoke him!" he told Kray angrily. Cole was secretly relieved, as he had been really starting to panic, not to mention getting pissed off.

 

"Who the hell are you?" Aaron asked again, not appreciating being ignored.

 

Gavin rolled his eyes. "And you are?" the older man asked, not even looking in Aarons direction.

 

"Aaron."

 

"Gavin, then,"

 

Normally, he would have used one of his aliases, but most of them had killed their welcome by now and were now on wanted lists. Gavin, however, he hadn't used in awhile. He doubted anyone remembered it.

 

"Okay. And I know who you are," Aaron said, looking at Cole. "And you're… that girl who fell from the railing, right? Railing Girl?"

 

Kray giggled in response. Railing Girl!

 

"Oh God, Kray, you were supposed to kill the girl, not kidnap him…" Gavin repeated, and then turned to Cole.

 

"We need to get rid of you."

 

CCCCCC

 

Pause, freeze frame, oh my Atmos.

 

Cole had to get away from here. Without thinking, he sprinted.

 

And ran into a wall.

 

This was just typical, that when you're trying to get away from something, you get a concussion. He jumped back, room spinning, and somehow managed to get out through the door before Gavin or Aaron realized he was escaping. Stupid wall. Stupid, lousy sense of direction.

 

He bolted down the stairs and made to jump off the last few steps when he came across an angry group of civilians and a black haired girl- with a tube of red paint in her hand?- who yelled, "Cole, you're alive!"

 

“Yeah, I’m a- ack!”

 

Gavin bolted down the stairs after him, only about a minute behind, but that minute was enough. Cole burst into the crowd, and Dawn spun around; “What the-“

 

Gavin landed- IN the crowd, and barely managing to squash someone- and, in the sudden confusion that followed, Dawn accidently squirted him with a large amount of the red paint.

 

He stopped suddenly, and shook his arms to get off some of the paint.

 

“What. Did. You. Just. Do.” He hissed. Dawn paled.

 

“EVERYONE, RUN!”

 

CCCCCC

 

Cole ran through the crowd, and by doing so, disappeared.

 

He must have run through many hallways, because after awhile, the crowd seemed to dissipate and he became alone. Here, secluded, surrounded by baby-blue walls and away from Kray and Gavin, he felt his fear and panic seep away. He felt safe now.

 

His mind refocused back to what was really the matter- Autumn. The blonde wandered into a room to think and flipped on the lights when he saw someone.

 

A woman wearing Indian saris in bright, patterned colors was meditating on a nearby table.

 

I never get any time to myself around here…

 

“Salaam,” she said, bowing her head in greeting. Cole stared.

 

What kind of prep invites a crazy, Indian/Arabian woman to her party? He knew this lady was crazy because of the whacked-out grin she had on her face, as if the joke was on him.

 

This is so weird, he thought. I’ve GOT to be dreaming. No one smiles like that…

 

Oh Atmos, if that boy had run into another killer or pervert, then he had some serious bad luck.

 

“Don’t only Arabians salaam?” he asked, confused- his Middle Eastern knowledge wasn’t that great, but he knew some things. “I mean, ‘cause you’re wearing Indian clothing, and there, I think you say Namaste… or something…”

 

The womans smile faded and Cole trailed off.

 

“Do you want me to read your fortune?” she asked suddenly, and the grin returned.

 

“Uh…”

 

“Great!”

 

Said fortune teller suddenly grabbed his arm, yanking him forward. She pried open his hand to reveal his palm.

 

“Hmm…” she said, tracing- what was it called again, your heart line?- “You have… a long life ahead of you…”

 

The blonde nodded slowly, doubting she knew what she was doing.

 

“And ah… great love life…”

 

Cole shook his head. As if I needed to be reminded right now. He pulled his arm out of her grasp.

 

“No…”

 

The lady slid off the table. “I’m sorry, did I offend you?” she asked softly.

 

“Well… there was this… girl…” Cole started when the teller lowered her shawl, revealing her face.

 

“What the- Autumn?!”

 

CCCCCC

 

"Running, running running, running running running…" Dawn said cheerily as she dashed through the hoards of angry civilians with weaponry and from the madman.

 

"How can you be CHEERFUL when we could possibly get killed?!" Natasha asked, slightly ahead of her, as her longer legs enabled her to run faster.

 

"No, it's good, because at least the creepy guy is covered in paint, so at least we'll know who he is BEFORE he kills us!" Dawn smiled. Always happy. Or hyperactive.

 

Kevin sighed. "Yeah, we're gonna die."

 

"Or we could leave the party now," Natasha suggested. "As soon as we find… oh boy, we need to find Joe and Nick…"

 

"And Ophie and Cassie, and I don't really care about Gretchen, so yeah…" Dawn said, finally halting to a stop when she hit a large dining hall with an emerald chandelier dangling from the ceiling. The Moonstones and their jewels, hmm.

 

"Okay, well Cassie's going to be wherever Joe is," Kevin figured, and Natasha gave him a weird look.

 

"What, why?" she asked, pulling out a random, fancy wooden chair and sitting down.

 

"I could have sworn I saw them kissing while I was running from Jade upstairs…" K2 trailed off.

 

"Aww, Joe has a girlfriend!" Dawn giggled, making a heart with her fingers. "Cassie and Joe would really be cute together…"

 

"Now all we have to do is find them." Kevin added. Suddenly he realized something.

 

"In this house? It's ENORMOUS." He emphasized. Natasha groaned.

 

"We're screwed."

 

CCCCCC

 

Now he knew he was dreaming.

 

Cole jumped back to the wall.

 

“What’s going on?! You’re dead, remember?” he gasped. This was no imposter- it was definitely Autumn, in the flesh, the apparently not-dead flesh.

 

Autumn snickered. “You totally should have seen the look on your face…” she laughed, brushing long black bangs out of her eyes.

 

“What’s going on?!” Cole demanded, asking the same question he had asked several times earlier today. What’s going on?!

 

“Well, I turned into a fortune teller- isn’t that neat?”

 

“Uh, I don’t mean to sound rude…” Cole said, “But you’re… you’re…”

 

“I’m not a zombie, if that’s what you’re thinking,” she explained. “I didn’t die. I just looked like I died,” she added, with a smug grin on her face as she began to take off the foreign attire to show her more goth clothes underneath.

 

Cole blinked.

 

“WHY DID YOU SCARE ME LIKE THAT?!” he asked, “You scared the living crap out of me! I thought you died! And then Kray almost raped me!” the boy vented, not necessarily yelling at Autumn but, well, venting, because when people get upset, they vent.

 

“Um, hello? Kray was trying to KILL ME. She had a freaking knife, I only pretended to die so she wouldn’t actually kill me- she’s so deranged right now, I doubted she could tell the living from the dead…”

 

I should have realized, Cole thought, she wasn’t even injured… she could have been holding her breath until when they checked if she was breathing…

 

“Yeah, I kind of noticed the whole Kray-is-deranged thing,” Cole muttered, still freaked out by ‘Railing Girl’.

 

“Sorry for, as you say, ‘scaring the living crap’ out of you… of course, if I had stood up straight, looked her in the eye and said ‘HEY, WHAT’S WITH THE KNIFE?’ she probably would have killed me, y’know?”

 

Cole managed to chuckle slightly, despite the circumstances. Autumn smiled, glad he wasn’t upset anymore.

 

“Just one question,” Cole said. “Where did you get the outfit?” he asked, looking at the red saris lying on the table.

 

“Think Sapphire likes Cheetah Girls.” One World, One World, One World!

 

“Oh holy crap…”

 

CCCCCC

 

“Do I have to sing you the happy song?” Dawn asked menacingly to the couple gone pessimists at their current situation.

 

Natasha bolted upright. “Pssh, of course not!” she said immediately and twitched.

 

Kevins eyebrows rose slightly, and he stood up as well. “Let’s just find everyone,” he said, “This place is really starting to freak me out…”

 

“Ditto,” was the collective response. Dawn looked up, armed with paint.

 

“Alright, I’ll check upstairs, and you do downstairs. Grab a shovel or something just in case someone attacks you. And the creepy guy is covered in red paint, so that helps,” she shrugged and grabbed a random pitchfork, remnant of the mob. K2 nodded and took a pitchfork as well, and Nat picked up a shovel, all weapons that some idiot had left in the dining room.

 

“Oh! And whatever you do, don’t die!” Dawn said cheerfully.

 

CCCCCC

 

Autumn grabbed the saris and started putting on the attire again.

 

“Why do you still need those?” Cole asked, and Autumn arranged some gold-colored jewelry.

 

“Because, half this place thinks I’m dead, and until I get out of here, I’m not risking get actually killed,” she explained, putting on some bracelets. She looked out in the hall cautiously; making sure no one was there, when suddenly she heard running footsteps.

 

“Oh crud.”

 

Cole looked out. “What?” he asked, hoping it wasn’t Aaron, Kray, Gavin, or anyone else they should be worrying about.

 

Autumn suddenly sighed with relief. “Never mind, it’s Dawn… with paint… and a pitchfork…”

 

Oh God, what is she doing.

 

“HI, Cole!” the girl said, stopping when she came to the two and waving wildly. She then looked at Autumn, but because her hood concealed most of her face in the shadows- not to mention the hallway was almost pitch black, for no apparent reason- she didn’t recognize her. “Who’s…?”

 

Cole shot a glance at Autumn. Okay, just tell her. It’s Kray we’re trying to get not to figure out here… does that make any sense…?

 

“It’s me, Autumn.”

 

“OH, HOLY SHI-“ Dawn began, eyes wide, when Cole gave her an alarmed look and she quieted suddenly. “Did you revive her?! Is she a zombie?!” she asked, in a whisper.

 

“I never died,” Autumn explained, “Look, it’s a long story, but right now we’re trying to avoid Kray and Gavin…”

 

“This day- err, night- is so weird,” Dawn muttered, shaking her head. “Anyway, I’m just looking for Cassie, Joe, Nick and Ophelia so we can get the heck out of here before someone ACTUALLY gets killed. Oh, and I’m glad you’re alive, by the way.”

 

Autumn grinned. “Yeah, me too,”

 

“You’re looking for people?” Cole clarified. Dawn nodded.

 

“’Cause there’s a huge crowd back in the foyer,” he offered. The girl nodded.

 

“I know, I was there awhile back. I think we should check the upstairs first, because if any sane people are trying to avoid that crowd, they’d be there- and Kevin said he saw Cassie and Joe there…”

 

“Kray’s probably still there…” the blonde boy lamented, and Dawn cursed under her breath.

 

“Whatever. We’ll just be careful.” Autumn decided.

 

“And prepared!” the other girl raised her pitchfork into the air and cackled evilly.

 

Oh boy, Autumn thought. She had sugar, didn’t she?

 

CCCCCC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Suggestive themes much? Lol, I couldn't resist...

Chapter 4

 

He never thought he'd fall for a goth girl.

 

Cole felt he already knew the person who'd fallen into his arms. He'd dreamt of her, had dreams of falling in love with a girl he met at a wild party. Is that normal? Of course, Dylan always say it was because his brother had had too much ice cream before bed- which was somewhat true- but Cole, for the most part, had just found interest in the dreams. He never thought they were an omen.

 

Then again, the dreams hadn't had the girl falling into his arms from a thirty foot railing.  She must have been really lucky to land like this, and Cole because he'd finally found… err, well, he didn't know her name yet…

 

Kray wasn't so lucky.

 

She had missed the Sprouse by about ten feet, landing instead on a thin carpet. Her head made a sickening crack as it made contact with the ground, and other partygoers panicked. But Kray wasn't even unconscious.

 

No, the girl was sitting upright, delirious. Blood trailed from her lip and more of it ran through her hair, coming from her scalp.

 

She had a soft, knowing smile on her face as she stood up. Her eyes weren't normal anymore- they were a washed out tone of grey flecked with a little gold, reminiscent of their previous color.

 

Nobody knew what to do. Thinking she was relatively okay, the panicked people scattered- civilians- not wanting to get involved anymore.

 

Tumbling down the stairs the loud footsteps of Davis filled the air, but no one even noticed him. He spotted Kray and figured out instantly.

 

Damaged.

 

He could tell by her eyes she had hit her head, hard. Deranged people were easy to spot out. He used to work with the insane, his job as a physiatrist had driven his thirst for murder. Insanity was contagious, wasn’t it, Gavin?

 

He knew some deranged people were extremely gullible.

 

“Hey! You!”

 

Kray looked up to see a man on the stairs. “Hi,” the girl said faintly, watching him with interest.

 

He walked down the rest of the stairs. He knew this girls name, he heard someone yell it as she fell.

 

“Come with me, Kray.”

 

Surprisingly, she looked confused.

 

“Who’s Kray…?” she asked finally.

 

CCCCC

 

"You know you're mine anyway."

 

Natasha shook her head. She wasn't owned by anyone, she knew. Did Aaron know?

 

She now remembered fully just what it had been like being Aarons girlfriend monthes- years?- ago. For a brief moment, she had forgotten it slightly, only a vague memory of a twisted man- although he wasn't over 25, for sure- and being beaten when Kevin ran in and started yelling. That wasn't anything like this; this was what she had been missing all these years- months?

 

And this time she didn't think she could count on Kevin saving her.

 

Natasha sat up. Aaron, meanwhile, stood up and looked down to her.

 

"There's easier persuasion then this, you know," he said, and the girl was momentarily confused. "I don't need to tell you to get back with me."

 

You don't? Pssh, of course you don't. I could kill you…

 

 "As I said, there's an easier way."

 

Like what- wait, is he saying-?

 

"Kevin isn't coming for you this time…"

 

I know that!

 

"…so maybe it'd just be easier for you to get back." He finished, not realizing the last two words were part of a song. "Before anything- worse happens." He threatened. Natasha heard his knuckle crack. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! If Kevin was anywhere, she silently begged him to get here faster, because she was sure she couldn't take on Aaron herself. Natasha hated the idea of herself as a damsel in distress, but what was worse was being Aarons girlfriend.

 

That reminded her, what about Jade? Was she really…?

 

"I'm not getting back with you." She said firmly, decisively, cutting out of her own thoughts. "Why are you even asking, when you know what I'll say?"

 

"Out of politeness."

 

Nat stifled the urge to laugh at the hypocrisy of his comment. Is it polite to nearly kill people?

 

But then, before she realized, she felt herself hitting the wall again, much more roughly and much more painfully. Who knew walls could be weapons? Well, she hadn’t, anyway.

 

She fell to the ground slowly and only then realized how badly she'd been hit.

 

That was right before she passed out.

 

"You know," Aaron muttered, after the girl had fallen, "You don't have to be this way."

 

CCCCCC

 

Kevin was hiding.

 

The only place Jade couldn't follow him into was the boys’ bathroom. In most homes, bathrooms were multi-gender. But apparently the Moonstones were too elitist for this and instead insisted on different-gender rooms. There were several multi-gender bathrooms scattered around, the largest of which was not very pleasant after the knife incident, and so Kevin found himself here.

 

But he knew Jade was waiting near the door. She's gotten a lot clingier…

 

Maybe she's afraid of losing you again?

 

Kevin shook his head, and in doing so suddenly spotted another door. What restroom has two doors? He wondered, but didn't question it. Either way, it was an escape. The Moonstones were so weird.

 

He ran through the door and found a stairwell. Apparently this led to the second floor. He dashed upstairs, passing a couple kissing- wait, was that Joe?- and down several more rooms. Where are they? He thought, if I were Aaron, I would go…

 

He stopped at guest bedroom number 15 and saw two figures.

 

One was on the floor.

 

The other was Aaron.

 

“Nat!” he gasped, his girlfriend was unconscious. Had he gotten here in time? Kevin sprinted to her, his dash taking a split second to get to her in the small size of the room- I feel sorry for the guests. The man- boy?- knelt next to her and shook her slightly, when he realized that shaking someone wouldn't wake them up if they were unconscious. Would it?

 

Aaron saw him, of course.

 

“What are you doing here?” he demanded, “Shouldn’t you be with Jade?!”

 

Kevin had almost forgotten he had to do something about the other one.

 

That guy nearly killed your girlfriend! You don't even know if she's okay…

 

He came back, that jerk freaking came back!

 

And he set you up with Jade! It yelled, emphasis on Jade, because her name drove him crazy, and in a very bad way.

 

He was furious. Quickly, he got up and stormed to Aaron, wanting to finish this- and fast, too. He let all his rage funnel into a single punch that went whirling into Aarons face, knocking him backward, because no one was there to stop him, no one to take pictures and sell them online- "Look, Kevin Jonas is such a jerk for hitting this guy!"

 

Then, to finish it off, he kicked Aaron right in the crotch.

 

Hard.

 

The man hit the wall roughly on his way down. “Get. A. LIFE!” K2 yelled, punching him again. He’d have to remember that whenever he was angry now Aaron could be his own personal punching bag.

 

     CCCCCC

 

Of course it was easier to get someone to stir up a crowd for you. That way, if someone gets killed, you won’t be the one who gets arrested…

 

Kray felt like she was going to die.

 

For one, she couldn’t see, her vision reduced to a green blur, dots swarming the edges. A killer headache deluded her, she felt like she was going to throw up. Movement took an eternity and sound echoed, reverberated, in her mind, partygoers’ screams repeating themselves over and over again. And so she swayed, both arms clinging to a small chain dangling around her neck, the cord half broken. There are too many people! Her subconscious screamed; nowhere to go!

 

“You’re Kray,” a male voice said. Kray shook her head. What’s wrong with me? She thought. You’re Kray…

 

“Okay,” the girl whispered, not caring if he heard or not. Standing took effort. Okay…

 

“I need some help.” I need some help. “Will you help me?” Will you help me?

 

She didn’t have the strength to even think to ask what type of help he meant. Thinking took effort too.

 

“Yes,” Yes…

 

“Good. Take this,” the man said, handing her a small blade. Who first? Good, take this… “…and go find someone for me…”

 

And go find someone for me…

 

CCCCCC

 

Not so seductive now, pretty boy…

 

Damn…

 

Natasha, meanwhile, woke up to the sound of her boyfriend yelling to someone, “GET A LIFE!”

 

She bolted upright and saw a figure in the closet and Kevin standing nearby, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. If anyone finds out I knocked out Aaron, I’m so screwed… he thought, calming down slightly.

 

“Did you… is that Aaron…?” she started to ask.

 

Kevin jumped. "Nat! You're okay!" he said, so relieved. He went to her again, sitting next to her. Even if she's injured, she really is gorgeous…

 

She's injured, right; she's injured… not that badly. Kevin only saw a few cuts, which in themselves were bad, but it was better then broken bones and bruises- although if she'd gotten any, he wouldn't know until later. But she was smiling, so that was good, right?

 

He somewhat nodded. “Well, err, yeah…” he said. Way to overreact on your punching bag! His conscience yelled. Of course, he didn’t regret beating up Aaron, but apparently his subconscious did.

 

Natasha started to laugh.

 

He did that for me! She thought, He did that for me…

 

“What, what’s so funny?” Kevin asked, for a second worried. A strange thought of Nat laughing because she was about to turn him in crossed his mind- he knew she’d never do that, but his subconscious was apparently very annoying.

 

“You… you did that for me…” she stuttered and trailed off.

 

No one said anything. Did couples even have awkward silences? Awkward…!

 

Natasha didn’t know yet, but Cassie always said that awkward silences made for the best kisses…

 

The two inched closer and pulled together, as if some random cue had just gone off. He held her, he didn't want to let go… a hug? A kiss?

 

The bad guy, meanwhile, was unconscious.

 

CCCCCC

 

“So… what is your name?”

 

There’s your groundbreaker, Cole.

 

Autumn dropped to the floor, her feet hitting the polished floor with a successful thud. The girl was a few inches taller then the Sprouse, but she ignored this- how old was he again? Which one, Cole or Dylan? No, this had to be Cole, she could tell.

 

“Autumn Rush.”

 

“Ah… Cole Sprouse,” he said. Autumn felt a surge of satisfaction; she had guessed him correctly, apparently.

 

“And thanks for saving my life,” the girl said before she started to walk away, Kray and Gavin already on the other side of the room, out of view.

 

“Wait!” Don’t let her go, you idiot!

 

Autumn spun around.

 

“I… uh… do you… uh… want to, err, dance…?” Smooth, Cole.

 

Autumn turned red, her cheeks blushing a pale pink. “Well, I…”

 

“Okay, let’s dance!” he said, taking her arm and dragging the girl to the dance floor- apparently the Moonstones could afford a dance floor as well, but was that even surprising?- Cole couldn’t let his dream girl get away.

 

CCCCCC

 

Ophelia Crobe climbed into the cellar.

 

Gretchen followed.

 

-And Ophie groaned. Not looking back, she muttered, “You know, you don’t need to follow me around all the time,” she said, annoyed. The girl dropped to the floor and her fall echoed in the small space.

 

“But didn’t you say you were summoning aliens?” Gretchen let the trapdoor swing shut behind her, and the room darkened. Ophelia lit a flashlight and looked around.

 

“It’s dangerous for humans to summon,” the blonde tried to explain.

 

“And what are you, non-human?” the other girl asked, adjusting the glasses on her nose. “Hmm?”

 

Ophie rolled her eyes and struck the cigarette lighter as well. “Earth goods are tricky to summon with…” she muttered.

 

“Huh?”

 

“Nothing.”

 

What, do you think you’re some kind of alien?

 

Cherry groaned. Ophie was so… weird. “So, how do we summon them?” She failed to ask why.

 

“You really aren’t going to go away, are you?” Ophelia snapped. Gretchen flinched.

 

“Is… something wrong?”

 

Ophie shook her head, “In here, in here, I can feel it…”

 

Gretchen looked confused, as always.

 

The blonde rolled her eyes again. “They always said that at the base of something you can learn everything about a place. This would be the very center base of Sapphires house. And I can feel something’s wrong. It’s giving me a killer headache.” She finished. Ophie didn’t mention just who ‘they’ were.

 

“So you came down here to figure out what it is?”

 

Ophie nodded.

 

“It could be the knife thing. Or those two girls who fell from the railing earlier,” Cherry mentioned.

 

“Two girls fell from the railing?! Are they okay?!”

 

“I thought you’d know! You said you could sense this!” the brunette argued, protested. What kind of sense is this?

 

“I can only sense things to come,” Ophelia said, “It’s kind of annoying, actually.”

 

“Are you really an alien?” Gretchen asked, confused again, and changing the topic as she commonly did.

 

Ophelia didn’t say anything, she couldn’t. Was she really so insane to think she was a different species?

 

Was she?

 

“Someones here,” the girl said, “Someones in this house, and they really shouldn’t be.”

 

CCCCCC

 

Dance, dance! Impress her!

 

He accidently stepped on Autumns toe.

 

She pulled back. “Uh, may I ask why you asked me to dance…?” she asked cautiously. Cole shook his head.

 

“I… err… I know you…” he stuttered. No you don't! Well, in a dream. Kind of. Uh…!

 

“You know me?”

 

Cole was confused on how to explain this to her when a strange song started playing itself in his head.

 

I know you… I walked with you once upon a dream!

 

Get out, Sleeping Beauty!

 

“Kind of…”

 

Autumn nodded slowly, wanting for him to continue.

 

But there was no way he could sing that song. He blushed, feeling his cheeks grow hotter. This was something unusual for him to do, which of course surprised him, and threw him off guard.

 

“Uh…”

 

The girl sighed. “You know what, forget it…” she started when Cole shook his head again.

 

“To explain it to you, I think I’d have to… err… sing.”

 

This is just like High School Musical…

 

Autumn blushed, “Oh, um, you don’t have to-“

 

“Good, I’m not singing,” Cole laughed. Not that song, anyway.

 

“Do you like me?” she suddenly asked. The dance, him and a song, it kind of fits, actually…

 

What kind of a question is that? Cole wondered, Pssh…! Girls…

 

“Yes,” he said after a moment. This was exactly like his dreams. Dreams plural. He had to like her…

 

“Uh, I saw your show.” She added, breaking him out of his thoughts. “You’re really cute in it…”

 

“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

 

“Wait, what do you think I’m saying?”

 

CCCCCC

 

Cassie pulled away.

 

“I can’t do this,” she said, shaking her head, red hair swaying around her face.

 

“Why not?” Joe asked affectionately, playing with her hair again. That look in his eyes…

 

“Taylor, Taylor Swift, you can’t cheat on-“

 

“I broke up with her.” the Jonas said, cutting her off. “I don’t cheat on people, that’s just wrong.” And I think I really like you. “And I really like you,”

 

Cassie looked up.

 

“You do?”

 

CCCCCC

 

“Wait, what do you think I’m saying?”

 

“Whatever you want it to be,” Cole said with a smile.

 

“You’re a good flirt,” Autumn whispered.

 

Autumn and Cole, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-

 

Grr…

 

First comes love, then comes marriage, then- okay, I’ll shut up now. Go ahead.

 

Kiss…

 

Meanwhile, Gavin had turned to see Autumn and Cole talking together.

 

And he grinned, because he knew someone that, if they died, would break a certain celebrity’s heart.

 

And so he gave the knife to Kray.

 

CCCCCC

 

An hour passed, tick tock, and Hannah Montanas singing blare faded into Taylor Swifts, ironically.

 

What time was it now, nine? Ten, even? It was getting late, yes it was.

 

Autumn and Cole sat behind a couch facing one of the larger windows, the view was pretty, there was a small pond in the back and trees… wait, were ponds romantic? The party refused to die down, and Autumn was beginning to wonder if this was one of those all-nighters.

 

 Are ponds romantic? Cole wondered, They should be…

 

“Uh, I’ll go get some punch,” he said. He figured Dylan would be near the refreshments, and he needed... he…

 

He’d never admit it to anyone but his twin, but he needed girl help.

 

He trailed off awkwardly and walked off, as Autumn hadn’t said anything. I really like her, he thought, how do I impress her?

 

Meanwhile, Autumn was thinking about other things.

 

No, she was thinking about the same thing, really.

 

He really likes me… I’m actually attracting celebrities…

 

What do I do, what do I do?! I can’t do this…

 

Somethings wrong.

 

Autumn felt different all of a sudden, and it wasn’t love. What’s going on now?

 

She felt colder, hollower- was it like the dementers kiss? Of course, Harry Potter dementers didn’t exist, but at the thought the girl jumped up and looked around. Of course, even if by chance there was a dementer, being a muggle, she wouldn’t have been able to see it, but she didn’t think of that, did she?

 

Well?

 

Autumn looked around again. Where did everyone go? The room looked darker, grayer.

 

Is this a nightmare?

 

CRACK!

 

She woke up on the floor, Cole watching her worriedly.

 

“I got you punch,” he said, “You uh, had a nightmare…”

 

Why was it so vivid?

 

Wait, when did I even fall asleep?

 

CCCCCC

 

Ophelia shook her head. “No… no! No, someones going to get killed…”

 

Gretchen looked alarmed. Ophelia kept shaking her head, stumbling and holding onto the wall. A strange thought crossed her mind, was she being possessed? Would that even make any sense?

 

“Ophie, stop, I’m sure it’s not-“

 

“Someone’s going to get killed!” Ophelia shrieked. By now she was breathing heavily, in sharp breathes. What’s wrong with you?! She didn’t feel drunk… she hadn’t drunk anything anyway…

 

Something was coming over her. Thoughts, too many thoughts…

 

You think you’re an alien… that’s idiotic! How could you not be sure?

 

Doubts, doubts, too many doubts… why now? Ophelia groaned, stumbling still. What is going on?! This didn't make any sense, not like it ever did.

 

She felt sick, very sick.

 

“Are you okay?” Gretchen voice filled her mind, but Ophelia wasn’t listening. Was this some sort of alien side effect?

 

For a moment, that excited her, an alien side effect meant the girl really was alien, but she had no way of proving…

 

“You’re a Seer, so you’re seeing this…” Gretchen tried to think. Is she a Seer? Is she an alien?

 

What if she just thinks shes an alien… what if she’s insane?

 

“Ophelia!”

 

CCCCCC

 

Dawn, meanwhile, had formed the angry mob. They had all found pitchforks up- err, down?- in the garage, and about twenty of them stampeded after Sapphire, now in tears. This is fun!

 

She was the only one not having a major dramatic moment right now.

 

That might have been soon to change…

 

CCCCCC

 

Cole suddenly dropped the punch.

 

“Whoops! I’ll get a new one,” he said artificially, his cheeks practically radiating a red-pink color all over the room. He needed more girl help; he needs to impress her, giggle!

 

Dylan better still be at the refreshment table… he thought hopefully. Err, how do you romantically help a girl with a nightmare? I’ll be right back…!

 

Autumn suddenly had a ton of questions.

 

Where the heck does Cole keep going?

 

She’d have to ask him later…

 

What about the nightmare…?

 

It seemed so vivid…

 

Wait, do you feel like someone is watching you?

 

She didn’t know it yet, but Kray was lurking in the shadows with Gavin’s knife, blending in well with the grey walls, her figure merging with the colors, almost.

 

Anyone who saw her- which would be none- would have said she looked creepy, but no one saw her, of course.

 

Autumn jumped again. What’s got you so fritzy?

“Autumn!”

 

A singsong voice cooed behind her, and Autumn saw a deranged girl holding a knife. Kray! Kray, what’s happened to you…?

 

“I don’t want to do this… but some guy said I should…” the girl said softly, her comments real meaning hidden in the strange tone of her voice.

 

The knife was so sharp…

 

What the hell? Autumn stepped back, should she have seen this coming?

 

“I’m sorry, Autumn,” Kray said like a drunk three year old- clueless, innocent and unaware, but now a killer. What’s going on?

 

Something’s off.

 

Autumn felt colder, like in the nightmare. Was she dreaming again? She pinched herself, no, not dreaming, oh shit.

 

Something was coming over her, something… supernatural?

 

What?

 

Autumn took in a sharp breath. At that moment a breeze ran through the back of the house, it shattered several windows into hundreds of little pieces that fell onto the carpet.

 

Autumn hadn’t been hit, but suddenly, she collapsed.

 

How could she die if nothing had hit her?

 

Kray looked confused, knife paused in midair- she hadn’t done anything. Cole walked back and turned pale, then turned to Kray.

 

“You killed her! You actually killed her!”

 

 

--

 

People, civilians, alien species and government authorities:

CONCRIT IS FREAKING LOVED.

Not only do I need help on the romance scenes, apparently I’m screwing up the death one too…

 

 

DON'T YOU JUST LOVE FLUFF!!!

*glomps everyone*

--

Chapter 3

 

Bullseye target.

 

The knife pierced through the air, finally landing as it tumbled into an opposing wall. The terrified screams of partygoers concealed Gavin Davis’ laughter, effectively hiding who had thrown the knife.

 

Behind the wall the blade had lodged itself in was the sorority group. The sharp metal piece was in the center of the mirror, the blade facing out, pointing at them and the mirror shattered because of the impact.

 

All of them screamed.

 

No one noticed Autumn was actually laughing- clearly she knew what had happened. The others, however, didn’t, and shrieked in panic.

 

“I’m sorry, Mary Worth!”

 

“We’ll never do it again, Mary Worth!”

 

“I believe you exist, Mary Worth!”

 

One of the girls was actually crying. Cassie ripped off the blindfold.

 

Suddenly the door opened and an unsuspecting Joe Jonas walked in.

 

“Is everything okay…?” he asked slowly. Apparently he had heard the screams.

 

Cassie, who, on top of her whole Bloody Mary encounter, had suddenly met Joe Jonas, was shocked.

 

So she panicked and in a split second bolted out the door.

 

Joe spun around, “What the-?”

 

“Oh, Joe…” one of the girls said flirtatiously all of a sudden, although mascara running down her cheeks (from previous tears, most like) ruined the effect. “Come to me…”

 

Joe panicked as well and dashed out the door as Cassie had.

 

“Hey! Wait up!”

 

CCCCCC

 

“What was that all about?!” Sapphire demanded. Nick was her man, and Nick was supposed to fall in love with her tonight- that was her plan. She didn’t want Dawn going around fanglomping the celebrities- ESPECIALLY Nick.

 

She felt like Dawn had stolen her man, and no one ever got in the way of Sapphire Moonstone and a guy.

 

It wasn’t right. This was her party, after all!

 

Dawn shrugged.

 

“I only came here so I could destroy your party, anyway,” she remarked.

 

Sapphire was furious, “What- how-“

 

“Like this!”

 

In a split second Dawn had squirted a tube of red paint- wait, where was that from?- all over the refreshment table and jumped on, sliding across the wood on her stomach as bowls of food toppled to the floor.

 

“Whoo!”

 

Nick Jonas, standing off somewhere nearby, laughed. This party is great!

 

“You little-“ Sapphire shrieked and ran at the girl, who hopped off the table covered in paint.

 

“What, you want a piece of this?!” Dawn demanded, jumping around and preparing for some sort of fight.

 

“You want a fight?!” Sapphire yelled.

 

Dawn slugged her.

 

“OH, NOW IT’S ON-“

 

CCCCCC

 

Cassie ran for her life.

 

The sorority girls really were creepy. And somewhat- no, really- concerning. She was glad she was out of there.

 

But Joe…

 

Like most teenagers, Cassandra Charm had a crush on one of the Jonas Brothers- in her case, Joe.

 

And Joe had actually… she had actually… she had actually met him!

 

Cassie swooned.

 

Suddenly someone ran into her.

 

“Sorry, running from some creepy goth-“

 

The boy who had run into her looked up.

 

“You’re the… blindfold girl…!”

 

Cassie jumped in surprise. “Hi!” she said, a little too quickly, a little too enthusiastically, at seeing the Jonas again. “Yeah, that’s me. Though you can call me Cassie,”

 

“Joe Jonas.”

 

She laughed, “Trust me, I know you. Everyone does…”

 

CCCCCC

 

“Take that, you bitch-prep!” Dawn yelled from across the room, chasing after Sapphire.

 

A crowd of people were cheering her on.

 

CCCCCC

 

“OH MY JONAS, ARE YOU DATING KEVIN?!”

 

Like everyone else, Natasha ran. She didn’t notice the crowd of panicking people as the shock of the knife incident had mainly dissipated among those in the foyer, only a few random civilians still wondering what had happened. For the most part, they thought it was some drunken, crazy person gone loco. They didn’t know how wrong this was.

 

And Natasha had no idea where she was going.

 

Meanwhile, Aaron had spotted Kevin and was making his way through the crowd toward him. Aaron had a fake grin on his face, sarcastic, as if he was plotting something. Several fangirls followed suit.

 

“Hi.” Kevin said coldly. Hi was not good enough. He didn’t want to act nice, polite even, to this bastard. No, what he really wanted was to throw this mans head into a wall for beating up, or as the proper term would be, abusing his girlfriend.

 

But that would ruin his reputation.

 

“Doing well with fame, I see.”

 

Aaron was acting way too polite. Kevin was already suspicious.

 

“What do you-“

 

Aaron hit the Jonas over the head, hard. Kevin stumbled backward for a moment and noticed the other man had grown, was taller by at least two inches then the last time they had met up.

 

“So I had an idea,” Aaron said, as if the previous hit was nothing, just a little whack, “There’s these two girls- Jade and someone else- and apparently, they’ve dated you before. They want you back.”

 

“So? I’m dating-“

 

“I know, Natasha. That’s why I had my idea.” Aaron said, almost proudly, like a kindergartener showing off something new, but with more evil intentions. Kevin stepped back in case he attacked again. Why aren’t those fangirls doing anything? What, do they adore him or something?

 

No, wait, they do.

 

“And your idea is…” Kevin said harshly, knowing he wouldn’t like it.

 

“Swap.”

 

Kevin looked up, “…swap?” Swap what?

 

Oh wait… I don’t like where this is going… he thought, catching on.

 

“You’ll take Jade and I’ll take Natasha. Works well, huh?” he asked, a grin on his face.

 

Not really! That’s the most retarded idea I’ve ever-!

 

Aaron was already gone, and K2 noticed Jade approaching.

 

Oh shi-

 

CCCCCC

 

Autumn got bored, and left.

 

Bored of the crying, the screaming, the “Mary Worth’s gonna have her revenge!” and the sorority girls still panicking.

 

They are so damn weak, she thought. They took the trouble to summon Bloody Mary and don’t even realize the knife isn’t hers? She could understand them panicking at first, but it had been 20 minutes.

 

They’re all idiots anyway. Wannabe Goths.

 

No one noticed the girl leave and wander upstairs, where Kray was still attracting crowds with her balancing act.

 

Autumn wandered around the hall. “Always stunts with you, huh?” she asked. Kray giggled.

 

Kray McGuire never giggled.

 

Autumn looked up and smelled alcohol on the girl’s breath. Typical Kray to get drunk early on. Her eyes were a washed out, almost faded shade of hazel, which creeped Autumn out.

 

“Come on!” Kray grabbed Autumns hand and pulled her onto the rail. Autumn swayed, not all that worried that she was 30 feet in the air on a balance beam with a drunk girl and five other amateurs.

 

But her mom would so kill her.

 

Suddenly, Kray started swinging violently, still giggling.

 

“Uh… Kray…?”

 

Autumn was about to pull the girls arm, getting her to fall the two feet into the hallway so she wouldn’t have to face the alternative. But just when she had the limb Kray fell over, taking Autumn with her.

 

The two girls plummeted to an unsuspecting crowd below.

 

And Autumn landed in the arms of an unsuspecting Cole Sprouse.

 

CCCCCC

 

“Yeah, everyone does…” Joe trailed off.

 

“What’s wrong?” Cassie asked, noticing he looked almost… offended by the comment.

 

“Sometimes fame bites.”

 

Surprisingly, Cassie laughed, but in an understanding way. “I’m a child prodigy at my school, trust me, I know what it’s like. Only instead of fangirls I get extra homework.”

 

“Ah… sorry to… randomly drop my problems on you… I’ll just walk away now, I guess,” Joe said awkwardly and turned away when Cassie grabbed his arm.

 

“You know,” she added, “You’re pretty hot,”

Joe spun, around, a playful grin on his face: “You’re trying to flirt with me, aren’t you?”

 

CCCCCC

 

Sapphire screamed.

 

“STOP CHASING ME, YOU CRAZY PERSON!” she yelled as Dawn ran after her with the paint tube- did she carry that all the time?- madly.

 

Apparently Dawn hated bitches.

 

The two ran past a stairwell and Dawn accidently knocked Miley Cyrus down the steps into the basement.

 

Yeah, accidental, sure.

 

“GET BACK HERE!”

 

Sapphire spun around for a brief moment. “Doesn’t it bother you that you’re RUINING my sweet sixteen?!” she demanded, trying to get sympathy.

 

“You’ve ruined enough things for me not to care. This is the best way I could repay you,” she said, and Sapphire stopped.

 

“…what have I ruined?”

 

CCCCCC

 

She stopped and ran into a group of people.

 

"So, what's up, Natasha?" Demi asked. Apparently more celebrities were here too. She did a quick scan of the room, no Aaron so far. She had a minute.

 

"Not much," the girl said, shrugging. There was no way she'd tell them about him.

 

"This party's gone CRAZY." Selena emphasized. Another blonde girl standing next to them nodded.

 

"We're all doomed anyway. Hey, I think I know you from somewhere…" Ophie trailed off, "You're Natasha Tullidge, aren't you!"

 

Demi nodded and Natasha said, "Yeah…"

 

"Then you're Demi Lovato and you're… Selena Gomez! This is so cool! I'm in the presence of celebrity people!" she said.

 

No duh, Selena thought. If anything, this girl was weird.

 

"Hey!"

 

Natasha jumped when she heard it. A tall, spiky haired guy walked into the room and approached them. "What up, Nat?"

 

Only Kevin can call me that! She thought angrily. Ophie looked confused, "You… know each other…?"

 

"Aaron Cruz. Nice to meet you," he said, not really needing these other people right now. They'd leave eventually, right?

 

"Uh… I'm gonna go… get some refreshments," Natasha trailed off and went upstairs.

 

"Wait," Ophelia said as she started up the steps, "The refreshments are on the first floor!"

 

"Well, there's some up here too!" the other girl lied. Anything discreet to get away from…

 

Aaron was following her.

 

She didn't notice until she was in guest bedroom number 15, hoping to throw the freak off. But as soon as she sat on the bed, trying to think, another figure appeared in the doorway.

 

"You know, I've missed you, Natasha…"

 

CCCCCC

 

"Everything." Dawn hissed. Sapphire looked confused.

 

"It's not my fault I'm popular!" she said, in a perfect imitation of a dumb blonde, but it wasn't imitation- it was the real thing.

 

Dawn kicked her in anger.

 

"Bitch!"

 

CCCCCC

 

Cassandra laughed, "Maybe I am flirting with you!"

 

"Can I flirt back?" Joe asked sweetly, playing with a lock of her hair. Cassie blushed.

 

"Oh, just kiss me already!"

 

It was probably the nature of the party itself that got them kissing only 15 minutes after they had met.

 

Or it could have been love.

 

CCCCCC

 

Cornered.

 

Natasha jumped up and looked around. One door, and Aaron was too close to the entrance for her to get past.

 

"What do you want?" she hissed.

 

"Well," the man said, "Kevin and I did a swap."

 

"What…?"

 

"A switch. He's with that ugly Jade girl right now." Aaron paused and took two steps closer. "So, how've you been the past… what, few monthes, a year? It's been a long time."

 

Two more steps. There was only a few feet between them, and Natasha stepped back to the wall.

 

Big mistake.

 

Aaron came closer and pressed the girl against the wall, holding her shoulders. His hand moved delicately along the straps of her top, not too low to be a pervert, but not high enough to be considered normal. He fingered the cloth for a brief moment.

 

Aaron stared straight at Natasha, almost breathing down her neck. "You know I'm much better then that Kevin kid, don't you forget it."

 

"He's not a kid-" she protested when he slapped her- roughly, had he gotten stronger?- and Nat fell to the floor. That was more like a punch, she thought, but didn't say anything at first.

 

"Don't you forget it," Aaron repeated.

 

Natasha looked up. She wanted to scream, this was too familiar, it had happened before.

 

She tried to get up and he knocked her down again, this time pushing the girl into the wall, her shoulder making contact with the plaster before she hit the ground again, her arm throbbing. He had gotten stronger, apparently.

 

The man knelt down to her level.

 

He's close, he's way too close! Her conscience yelled in her head.

 

"Just give up on him, mmkay?" he asked, sickly sweet.

 

What if I say no?

 

"You know you're mine anyway."

 

CCCCCC

 

Kevin felt sick.

 

"I'm so glad you're taking me back!" Jade cooed, her hideous face plastered in his mind and giving him a headache, "We'll be such a great couple!"

 

Kevin didn't say anything. Whatever he was going through now couldn't be worse then what Aaron could possibly be doing to his girlfriend. He had to find her. But this house was huge, and Jade wouldn't stop-

 

Clinging.

 

Kevin groaned as Jade attached herself to his shoulder, "Something wrong, K3?"

 

He didn't bother to explain it was K2, and just sighed. How long had it been? Had Aaron even found Nat yet?

 

Regardless, he had to get out of here!

 

CCCCCC

 

Gavin had other plans.

 

He dug through several jewelry bureaus up in Sapphires room, throwing expensive jewels- there was actually a sapphire necklace in here, no kidding- into a large grey backpack.

 

The two other people in the room didn't care to stop him, one unconscious and the other so intoxicated Gavin hadn't needed to knock him out.

 

Suddenly he heard screams, and people yelling that two girls had fallen off the railing.

 

He suddenly had a better idea, especially if one of them hadn't been caught.