Forever And Always

Chapter 76

When Callie got home she found her dad waiting for her.

" What was that all about?" Dad demanded. 

" People are dying dad, I want to get to the bottom of this before anyone else gets killed," Callie answered.

" Leave that to the police," Dad ordered.

" Dad, Archie has been labeled as a character to be killed and he isn't even playing," Callie informed. " Warden Norton called him the Red Paladin, and now Archie is out there who knows where probably scared out of his wits."

" I know you want to protect your brother, but this is not the way to do it," Dad said. " Leave it to professionals."

" Because the professionals did such a great job protecting Archie in the first place," Callie scoffed.

" Callie!" Dad scolded, she rolled her eyes and just stormed up to her room. When she got there, she turned on her laptop and found emails from Veronica. She saved them to her laptop in a secret file and began to listen to tapes made of Minetta talking to witness, she began to listen to them. Twenty minutes in, there was a knock at the window, her face lit up, but it quickly fell when she saw it was just Jughead. She grabbed a jacket and shoes and headed out.

" Where are we going?" Callie asked.

" Fox Forest near the footbridge," Jughead answered." Sweet Pea and Fangs should have Joaquin by now. I know I shouldn't ask you to come because of Sweet Pea. " He started to feel guilty. " But you probably want answers the most out of Joaquin."

" You're not wrong," Callie agreed, she slipped out of the house and hopped on Jughead's bike, the two rode off toward the bridge. When they got there, Callie saw Sweet Pea and Fangs holding Joaquin hostage against the tree.

" Look what we found on him," Sweet Pea reported as he held up a gargoyle mask. He threw it to Jughead. Joaquin was grunting.

" So you jumped ship for the Gargoyle gang?" Jughead asked as he handed the mask to Callie.

" You have a lot of explaining," Callie demanded softly as she crouched down. " Take the gag off," Fangs took it off, Joaquin gasped and coughed. "So why don't we start with why shivved my brother instead of protecting him, like you were supposed to."

" Why should I answer the Princess?" Joaquin asked.

" Answer her," Sweet Pea ordered.

" The Warden said I had no other choice," Joaquin answered. " You don't know what it was like in there, Jug. You do anything to survive. For me, it was being the Warden's pawn. A ... A chess piece. In some ways, he was a pawn, too."

" What does that mean?" Jughead asked.

" I saw him with these game cards that...that told him what to do," Joaquin answered. " Whoever sent them to him wanted Archie dead. From the moment he was locked up, he was already marked."

" Marked with what?" Jughead asked as he fished a sharpie out of his pocket. " This symbol..." He drew something on his hand and showed it to the others, Callie felt started to feel ill. " What does it mean?"

" No, no," Joaquin repeated himself.

" Pick him up, Jughead answered. The two boys lifted Joaquin to his feet.

" Hey, just...Just stop," He protested. " Just stop."

" What does it mean?" Jughead repeated himself, Joaquin remained silent.

" It means sacrifice," Callie answered.

" She's right," Joaquin confirmed, Sweet Pea eyes shifted to Callie, he was beginning to understand why she was so against them going off the board, and why she so against the game in the first place. " It means that...It meant that Archie had to die. I...I'm sorry, Jug, I know he was your pal. And Callie, I know he was your brother, I---"