𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐑| 𝐋.𝐂.

23: Working together

"Valerie?" The voice says and I now realize who it is.

"Daniel? Whose number is this?" I ask him.

"Uh, it's my mom's phone, I think." He says and my face drops.

"I don't understand." I say and I hear a voice chirp in the background.

"I have to hang up." He quickly says and does so, still leaving me confused.

                                          ||

"I can't believe you're leaving so soon. You just got here." My dad says as he opens the door to let me out.

"I know, I've just got a lot of classes tomorrow. I miss you already." I grin up at him.

"Aw, sweetie." My dad sighs as I tightly hug him.

"Bye, dad." I grimace, pulling away from him.

"Bye." He says as I walk down the steps.

I really need to find out what's going on with Daniel's moms's phone being connected with my mom's phone. Something is off. How would Judy be connected to all this? My mom was nothing but a woman who fought for a satellite.

                                        ||

"So, I guess we need to talk." Daniel trails off as he takes a sit next to me on the bench.

"Look, we both know there's something going on here. Otherwise, you wouldn't have showed up." I tell him.

"So where'd you find that number?" Daniel mutters to me.

"I found a secret safe in my mom's bedroom. And inside there was a note with a phone number on it." I tell him and he sighs.

"I only happened to be near that thing when it rang." Daniel says.

"It?" I question him.

"Uh, it's not a normal phone. It's some weird device I found in my mom's bag." He says.

"Okay. What was she doing with it?" I ask him.

"I have no idea." Daniel shakes his head at me and I scoff.

"You don't know much about your mom, do you?" I say.

"Doesn't seem like you know much about yours, either." He snaps back.

"Look, you're not crazy about me, and the feeling is definitely mutual, but if we wanna figure out what's going on here, we're gonna have to work together." I tell him.

"Listen, I've been injured for a long time. We have a game in three days." He says.

"So?"

"So I think this is a little too much for me to handle right now." Daniel says.

"Fine, whatever. I'm glad to see you've got your priorities in order." I spit as I get up off the bench, walking back to the clubhouse.

"Valerie, wait!" Daniel exclaims and I stop in my tracks as I turn around.

"What?" I say.

"You're right. Something is going on. We have to figure out what it is." He tells me and I slowly walk back over to him.

"So now you do wanna help?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"My mom always told me I was destined for great things in life. That I was special. Everyone in my family, friends, neighborhood. They all expect for me to be this huge success. I've spent my whole life doing what everyone expects me to do. I'm sick of it." He says through gritted teeth, clearly frustrated.

"Look, you can't spend your whole life trying to make other people happy. Including your mom." I tell him and he looks at me, nodding his head.

"But we have to keep this quiet. No one can know we're working together." He says.

"Fine." I say, holding my hand out and Daniel slowly shakes it.

||

"What is this? The place that time forgot?" I say as Daniel and I walk through the room with books and pages scattered everywhere.

"You said you wanted a place no one goes to in the Greenhouse, right?" Daniel says.

"Yeah." I say, looking around the room.

"It's the old biology room. Now it's the storage room." He adds.

"For storing what? Dead bodies? I mean, what is this smell?" I ask, scrunching up my nose from the foul odor.

"Formaldehyde." Daniel says and I turn my head to see him holding a plastic case with a frog in it.

"Ew! Get that away from me!" I exclaim, pushing his hand away.

"You're supposed to be tough." He says, chuckling at my reaction and I roll my eyes.

I then spot a white board held on a place holder and I try to move it out.

"No, that's fine. Don't help me." I say through gritted teeth as I begin to strain my arms.

I let out a huff as I finally push the board out, wheeling it over to Daniel.

"You got it." He confidently tells me and I scoff at him.

"Okay, now we can start working." I say, erasing the maker off the board with the eraser.

I set the eraser down and notice there's nothing else in the little box below the board.

"Where's the markers?" I ask.

"Oh, here you are." Daniel says, holding a marker out in front of me.

"Do you always carry a maker around with you?" I chuckle, taking it from him.

"It's not just a marker. It's one of Louis's inventions. Try it out." He says to me.

"Oh my god, it writes!" I joke as I finish writing my sentence on the board.

"Now give it back." Daniel states, holding his hand out.

I squint my eyes at him as I hand it back and he swiftly takes it from me.

He then presses something with his thumb and I turn my head back to the board.

"What?" I chuckle as the sentence suddenly disappeared from the board.

"It's called quantum ink. They couldn't market these cause each marker costs five grand. Louis gave it to me for my birthday." He says.

"That is so cool, Daniel." I grimace at him.

"Now the investigation begins." He grins as he gives me the marker back.

||

"Okay. Our moms are somehow connected, but we don't know how. We also know that Brooke started to behave strangely, and did a full one eighty on you and your mom. Right so far?" I ask him.

"Right." Daniel nods at me.

"We also know that Marcus once checked out a book on hypnotism from the library, but that just might be a coincidence." I say.

"Well, let's think about this rationally. Your mom is gone. We'll never get anything out of my mom. Brooke, she hasn't been acting like herself lately, so that just leaves Marcus. He's the weakest link." Daniel tells me.

"Not bad, that makes sense." I say, circling Marcus's name on the board.

"That's how us Eagles work. We think rationally." Daniel quirks up.

"You mean you always pick on the weakest link." I says, raising my eyebrows at him and he just rolls his eyes.

Working with Daniel is not going to be easy.