𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐑| 𝐋.𝐂.

24: Marcus

"My mom was close to Marcus when she was a student here. So there is a connection here." I say, drawing a line, connecting it to my mom and Marcus.

"Oh, and Brooke suspected Marcus. She followed him to the cave that day." Daniel adds.

"The same cave where Carter and I saw Judy on the night of the dance." I say, connecting the line with Brooke and then Judy.

"Okay, Marcus is our lead!" Daniel says as I close the marker.

"Give me the book." I tell Daniel, setting the marker down and he does so.

I mutter a thanks as I open the book to the table of contents and find what I'm looking for.

"The use of hypnosis for long term cognitive change. Think he used this on Brooke?" I say, trailing my finger along the sentence.

"I don't know. This is crazy." Daniel sighs.

"But not impossible. It at least gives us an explanation of what happened to her." I say to him.

"Right." Daniel nods.

I then keep turning a few pages and I notice a chunk of the book is gone from the ruffles of the pages being ripped out.

"Look! A chapter is missing. Someone ripped out all the pages!" I tell Daniel and he looks over at it.

"That's weird. Check the contents to see what that chapter was about." He says and I do so.

"The process of dehypnotization." I say, looking Daniel in the eye.

"You're kidding me, right?" Daniel says, leaning back in his chair.

Then, both of our Louie's go off and I quickly open mine up.

"Louis wants us all in the exam room." Daniel says to me.

"Perfect timing." I sarcastically says, putting my Louie back in my pocket.

"We should go before someone notices." Daniel says, getting up from his seat.

"Wait. If Marcus used this book to hypnotize Brooke, then that missing chapter is the only way to bring her back." I tell him.

"He must've taken it." Daniel says.

"Maybe the book is online?" I ask him and sighs, shaking his head.

"It's out of print. And even if we do find it somewhere, we don't have time for it to be shipped over." He says.

"Maybe he's hiding the chapter in his office?" I say and his face drops as he pulls out a pair of keys.

He jingles them in front of me and I furrow my eyebrows in confusion.

"What's that key?" I ask Daniel.

"It's a master key. It can open any door in the school." He tells me.

"How'd you get it?" I grimace at him.

"Louis gave it to me when I was captain incase the Louis network went down, as a safety measure." He informs me.

"And you didn't think of giving it back when you stopped being captain?" I chuckle at him.

"The important thing is that we break into Marcus's room and find the missing chapter." Daniel says.

"Yeah." I nod at him.

"But how do we make sure Marcus isn't in his room?" He asks.

"I don't know. I'll think of something. Let's go." I tell him as I close the book and he nods as we begin to head out.

I stop in my tracks as I realize I left the marker and Marcus's name on the board.

"Wait." I tell Daniel and I grab the marker, pressing the button to make Marcus's name disappear for now.

I nod back at him and we make our way to the exam room.

  ||

"Hey, why were you late? Why didn't you answer my texts? How's dad?" Carter whispers and I slowly take my seat after Daniel shuts the door behind me.

"Oh, he's fine. Sorry." I whisper back.

"This is your chance to practice answering my questions without falling into traps, losing your cool and most importantly, without being boring." The lady with blonde hair speaks and I focus my attention on her.

"Why are you filming this?" Parker asks after the lady thanks Sophie for helping her out.

"You're Parker, right? It's all part of the workshop. It's all about getting used to being on camera. It's not a problem, right?" The lady asks Louis.

"It's fine." He nods at her.

"Oh, good. You know what? Since we've already met, why don't you join me as my first interviewee? Parker Grant, come up , please." The lady says and Parker slowly gets out of his chair.

We clap for him as he takes his seat next to the blonde lady.

"How did you feel when you saw yourself in Sophie's news item after you confessed your feelings for her?" She asks Parker.

"I felt like crap." He sighs, trying to keep it clean for the camera.

"An honest answer, but it makes you a target. It could end up online as a humiliating meme, which would ruin your image. Try again." The lady says to Parker.

"Um, I don't know, uh...I trusted my friend and she betrayed me, okay?" Parker says.

"And that's what caused you to recruit everyone to ostracize her?" She asks Parker.

"What? You didn't honestly run into her-"

"Answer my question, Parker." The lady says, cutting his sentence off to Sophie.

"You know what? I'm sick of this. I'm done." He says, getting out of his seat.

"Getting defensive is never a good idea. A smart leader keeps his cool." The lady says to him.

"You know, this is why people hate the media." Parker says to her as he walks back to his seat and the Eagles clap for him.

"Hey, I have an headache. I'm gonna get some aspirin." I tell Carter, tapping his arm and he nods as I quickly leave the room.

||

"Come on, Daniel!" I exclaim, watching the door for him.

"I don't see it." He says, still looking through Marcus's drawers.

"Check over there!" I say, pointing to the red wheeler with draws and he does so.

"There's nothing." He whispers to me.

"Shh! Quieter!" I exclaim as he decides to look into a box.

"I got it!" He gasps, holding a few pieces of paper from a box.

"Yes! We have to go, c'mon." I say as I hear a loud noise.

He then knocks down the box and all the papers spill out on the floor. I quickly rush over and help Daniel pick them up.

"It's fine. Okay, let's go." I pat Daniel's arm and he nods as we rush out of the room.

Daniel then stops me as we hear Louis call Marcus's name. We peek our heads over to see the same blonde lady walking away with Marcus as Louis tells him to escort her to her car.

Once the coast is clear, Daniel grabs my hand as we run to the storage.

"Yes!" Daniel says, once we enter.

"Yes!" I grin as we high-five each other.

This couldn't finally bring Brooke back. But I still feel really bad for lying to Carter.