𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐑| 𝐋.𝐂.

28: She's alive

"You saw her?" I sniffle, turning to him.

"Yeah." He nods at me, rubbing my back.

"Did you talk to her?" I ask Leo.

"She was unconscious." He tells me and I nod, turning away from him.

"So how can you be sure she's alive?" I ask through gritted teeth.

"She's alive." He simply nods at me once again.

"I'm going to her." I state, quickly getting up from the bench. 

"You're not going anywhere." Leo says, tightly grabbing my wrist.

"Let go of me, Leo. Let go. This is my mom!" I exclaim at him as his grip gets tighter.

I finally pull away but he grabs my wrist again and I turn back around.

"Let go!" I shout at him but he grabs my other wrist, trapping me in his tight grasp.

"You can't go there. It's too dangerous." He tells me, looking into my eyes.

"I'm not afraid of them!" I sigh, on the verge of almost crying again.

"I know you're not." He sighs, rubbing the sides of my arms and my eyes begin to water again.

He tightly hugs me and I start to let out some cry as I wrap my hands around the back of his neck.

"It's gonna be okay." He tells me.

"I can't believe she's alive. I have to tell someone." I say, letting go of Leo.

"I wasn't even supposed to tell you. If we tell anyone, your mother's life will be in danger." He tells me.

"It already is. What do I do now, Leo?" I breathe, wiping the side of my face.

"I know it's hard...but Marcus was very clear. And I believe him." Leo nods at me and I look up at him.

                                        ||

I open the door to the storage room, bringing Leo and Hayley along and Alex sends Leo a glare as I walk over to Carter.

"There's something I need to tell you." I say to Carter.

"What?" He says.

"Mom's alive. Leo was with Marcus and he saw her, unconscious in the cave." I say.

"That's impossible, Valerie." Carter trails off,  looking up at me.

"Leo saw her, Carter." I say in a shaky voice and Carter looks at him.

"She's alive, Carter. Marcus will wake her when they've accomplished their mission." Leo says to him, nodding.

"So he knew? He knew where she was the whole fucking time? And he let my sister and I suffer and mourn?" Carter says through gritted teeth, raising his voice and I put a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't think he had a choice." Leo shakes his head.

"Why would Marcus tell you all this?" Alex asks as Hayley hugs me and I send a tiny grin to her.

"I guess he trusted me to deliver his message." Leo says, squinting his eyes at him.

"So he just let you see Stacy and just walked you right out of there? Am I the only one who thinks this doesn't make sense?" Alex says.

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Leo spits at Alex.

"I don't know, Leo." Alex sighs.

"Alex, he just saw my mom." I tell him, my voice cracking.

"Look, I know you wanna believe him-"

"I do believe him." I say.

"Did you forget the last time Marcus had a one on one talk with someone?" Alex says and Brooke looks down.

"I was sure he was going to hypnotize me, but he didn't. I think he just really wanted to talk to someone. He hates working for these people. He was tempted by the money at first, but now he's in too deep. And so is Stacy." Leo says.

"How deep, exactly? Do we have any idea what they're planning?" Jackie asks him, crossing her arms.

"All I know is, whatever it is, it's gonna be over in a few hours." Leo responds.

"We do know they know when an earthquake is going to happen. Maybe they're just waiting for another one?" Max says.

"That makes no sense. What's the use in waiting for an earthquake to hit you?" Brooke says.

"You're right, and we shouldn't be waiting either. A lot of bad things can happen in a few hours. I'm gonna go find my mom." Daniel says, looking at Leo.

"No! We're not gonna do anything. We're gonna wait here until Marcus wakes our mom up." Carter spits, glaring at Daniel.

                                         ||

"Why is he never available when we need him?!" Carter says, raising his voice as he takes his Louie out from behind his ear.

"Unbelievable." I huff as Jackie rubs my shoulder.

"Go easy on him. Maybe he's out on a mission. You two should be happy your mom's alive." Brooke says to Carter and I.

"I'll be happy when I see her. I don't know how I'm
gonna get through this day." Carter says and I huff, shaking my head.

"Look, I think we should each go our own separate ways before people get suspicious." Leo says.

"Remember, we have a game in less than an hour." Daniel says.

"Thats right. It's your first game back since your injury." Brooke says.

"Yeah. My mom will be there. We can keep an eye on her." Daniel says.

"Great, we'll all go to your game. Let's go." Leo says and Daniel nods as we all get up from our seats.

"Oh, wait, hang on. Let's think about this for a minute. We all busted our asses to figure out what's going on. We're so close to stopping them." Daniel says.

"Do you just expect us to let them hurt Stacy?" Leo asks Daniel.

"Well, don't go around putting words in my mouth. I'm just saying, we don't know what they're planning. We could be very sorry we did nothing to stop them." Daniel says to us and I cross my arms, standing next to Carter.

"We've made our decision, Daniel." Leo says, walking toward him.

"We? Because it sounds like you made the decision for everyone." Daniel says to Leo.

"Well, someone had to stop your mother." Leo says as Daniel walks closer to him.

"What did you just say?" Daniel asks and Carter steps in front of me, lightly pushing me behind him.

"If it wasn't for your mom, we wouldn't be here in the first place." Leo says.

"Are you kidding me? I've been spying on my mom the whole time!" Daniel shouts as he harshly pushes Leo.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Carter and Alex shout as they grab Daniel.

"Get off me!" Daniel says and I stand in front of Leo, glaring up at him.

"I can't believe we're about to give up like a bunch of fucking losers!" Daniel shouts, charging at Leo but Carter and Alex hold onto him tighter.

"I keep forgetting you're not very good at understanding complex situations." Leo spits, walking to Daniel but I stop him by pushing him back.

"Fuck you!" Daniel shouts.

"You're not man enough." Leo growls and Daniel charges at Leo again but Carter and Alex grab him once again.

I then slap Leo across the face with tears in my eyes, panting heavily.

"Stop it! I can't take this anymore." I shout as Leo looks back at me, clenching his jaw.

I can't do this anymore.