The Hollows In Our Freedom | 'Hollows' Book Ⅲ

Chapter Seventy-Four

JUST POPPING IN TO SAY IM SO STRESSED, DEPRESSED, AND UNDER DRESSED

(04/06/18)

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T h e H o l l o w s I n 
O U R F R E E D O M
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A L E X I

N.Y.A
TP-MA

Those were the letters that held all our answers, yet we could not answer them.

"Not...You..?"

"Not you?" Jace asked as if I had finally gone crazy, "so what's the A?" He asked, tapping my mug which held hot chocolate—oh, the memories of burning my mouth whilst waiting to hear if Sky and Jameson were alive.

"Alexi?" I suggested.

Jace rolled his eyes at me, looking down at the things I had already written down as potential answers.

It was only eighteen hours since we had found our last note, and we had spent two of those in the library right after, trying to piece together what it all meant. But no one could, not even Elle. The mystery was killing me, so I took matters into my own hands.

Elle had really started considering leaving now; I think after Richard died, there was nothing really left to keep her here. She hadn't explicitly said that she wanted to leave, but I could just feel the change in mood.

"Okay, why don't we try T.P-M.A?" Jace suggested, bringing me back to the present.

I frowned down at the letters. "Well, there's a dash between the P and the M, so that could be a word within itself? Like...'side-stepped', for example."

Jace glanced at me, "How was that the first hyphenated word you thought of?" He asked.

I shrugged. "Maybe I'm done side-stepping all these damn problems."

Jace sighed.

We had had this argument a million times over.

"Lex, I know you want to run straight into the fire, but it's not smart." And he had said that a million times over.

I huffed. "I'm getting impatient—what's the use in waiting?"

"The use in waiting is so that you don't get yourself killed."

I ignored him, returning my attention back to the cryptic letters.

"Those are names," I said, catching Jace by surprise. He hummed in question. "And those are some sort of place or organisation."

I watched Jace glance between the page and my face.

I pointed to the first letters, "The message is signed off with this, so it's probable that these are names, and then it read 'from', right?" I watched Jace nod, albeit whilst frowning. "So they're from here—it's not going to be another set of names."

Jace hummed again, looking down at the letters once more. "What are the bets that the 'T' is 'The'?"

"I'd bet you a lot on that, but I know we're on the same page anyway," I said, tapping the page with my pen.

"You'd bet a lot?" Jace asked, echoing me. I frowned over at him, a smile creeping its way onto my face.

"Yeah, I would, so it's pretty unlucky that you agree with me," I said, unearthing all kinds of flirt.

"Alexi Abbot, you are the worst at flirting."

I gasped. "Actually I think you'll find I'm the best." I watched him raise an eyebrow at me.