𝓼𝓪𝓯𝓮 ➣ 𝓼. 𝓻𝓮𝓲𝓭

𝓽𝔀𝓮𝓵𝓿𝓮

Everyone gathered in the library, Garcia ready to get information that they needed.

"Look for kids who had disciplinary issues before they came here." Hotch said to her.

"I got a few." Garcia replied.

"Did any of them have class with Bailey Shelton?" Reid suggested.

"No, but each of the plebes had laundry duty," Garcia said, noticing a change in Reid and Mara's behavior. "Does that help?"

"Their dorm was the farthest point from the laundry room." Reid said before Mara could.

"Why are they so isolated?" Rossi asked.

"The M.E. said Bailey had blisters and burns, his fingertips were raw, his trachea had internal scarring." Reid remembering what he read.

"Oh, that's awful." Garica mumbled.

"Guys, that could be damage done inside an industrial-sized dryer." Mara said, stepping forward and crossing her arms over her chest.

"That's how Massey is breaking these boys." Hotch nodded.

They found Bailey's diary in his room, hiding it under his mattress. He wrote about all the boys, how they were bullied, how he was bullied. 

They figured out that one of Massey's Lieutenants was out there following Josh, planning to kill him. Morgan, Rossi, and Hotch all went out to find him, leaving everyone else at the academy. Mara couldn't help but start to feel incompetent in the field and Morgan was the one that was pointing it out.

They killed their UnSub, Tawes, and saved Josh Redding. 

He came back to the academy, hugging his family tightly. 

Finally, they wrapped everything up and headed home. 

Once they got back home, everyone started on their reports. Mara set a cup of coffee on Reid's desk. "Thank you for..comforting me the other night."

Reid only nodded and took a sip from the coffee. Mara opened her mouth to say something before closing it and moving back to her desk.

She quickly wrote up her reports before collecting her things and starting to head out the door. Mara headed straight home, opening her bag to pull out the books she'd finished in the past couple days.

Instead of dumping out two, she dumped out three. Confusion spread across her features as she picked up the new book, turning it over. 

Arthur Conan Coyle, The Narrative of John Smith

Reid must have stuffed it in there at some point, she knows he noticed her reading all the time. Mara furrowed her eyebrows, flopped down onto her couch, opened it up and started reading.

***

She woke up the next morning to her phone ringing, rather loudly. She groaned and sat up, setting the half finished book on the table before picking up her phone, not bothering to look at the phone number because she figured it was work, and answered it.

"Hello?"

Hard breathing filled the phone. "Stephanie?"

She furrowed her eyebrows and shot up, now fully awake. "Who is this?"

"Stephanie, is that you?" the voice asked. "It's Sam."

Scenes flashed through her head of the girl. The girl she met undercover. The girl she befriended. The closet thing to a friend she's had since Mallory. Someone she betrayed when they pulled her out.

"Sam?" Mara asked, her voice shaking.

"You were right, he's trying to kill me.." she breathed, sobs filling the phone. "I'm hiding somewhere with Myles. He's closing in. He's coming for us-"

She suddenly stopped, making Mara's breath catch in her throat. "Sam?"

There was shuffling and then a scream, Mara's hands starting to shake as she stayed on the phone. "Sam? Sam, please answer me."

"Sorry, Sam can't get to the phone right now." His voice answered, sending shivers down her spine. 

The line disconnected and Mara fell back onto her couch, covering her mouth as sobs came out.