We got away from town as quickly as possible.

Carrianne had known the code to get into Charles's safe at the house, so we were doing well on money. I knew we couldn't run for long. One by one they were picking people off that The Order knew we would come to, and eventually we will be caught.

A new thought hit me like a ton of bricks falling directly on my chest. "Derrek!" I shouted his name. "We need to find Derrek."

"Derrek from school?" Carrianne asked confused. "Why do we need him?"

Garrett turned his head toward Carrianne. "It's kind of a long story." He grumbled to her. I could tell the mention of Derrek had put him in a mood, but I didn't have time to worry about his wounded ego. I need to know that my friend is alright.

"Ok, so call him." Carrianne told me.

I groaned out. "I don't remember his number. It was saved in my phone, but my phone is back in Florida."

"Why?" Carrianne asked in her confused tone again.

"For the love of god, Carrianne, I can't explain every little thing to you." I snapped at her.

She huffed back in her seat and crossed her arms. "It was just a freaking question." She shot back. "You know, you aren't the only one going through this now. Garrett and I are both here in the same jam as you, and the people that we love are in just as much danger as you are, so how about you just shove your attitude up your-."

"Carrianne!" Garrett silenced her. "We are all stressing out, ok?" He said more evenly. "Us tearing each other's heads off isn't going to do us a single ounce of good. We've got to be smart about this. You need to ditch your phone, they'll track it." He told her. "We've got to get somewhere safe, and come up with a plan. Do either of you have any ideas?"

Carrianne still had her eyes narrowed at me, but she unfolded her arms and pouted her bottom lip out. "A hotel? Far enough out of town that they won't look for us?"

Garrett opened his mouth to answer her but I cut him off. "I don't want to go anywhere until we find Derrek." I said firmly.

Garrett glanced over at me and sighed, putting his hand on my knee. "Ok." He relented. "But how are we going to do that? He lives next door to my house. I'm sure they've got people watching it. Hell, my dad is probably on the lookout for you."

I ran my hands through my hair searching for the answer.

"What about the back path?" Carrianne said suddenly.

Garrett's face cracked with a smile. "Yes! Care, that's a great idea."

"What are you two talking about?" I asked them.

"The house I live in now used to be Wes's house. When he got in trouble with The Order for refusing to conform, he moved out and my family moved in." Garrett told me.

"Yeah," Carrianne said. "Garrett and I were both from Kentucky before, but Garrett moved here for the new house, and because I think Dalton secretly wants to be part of The Order, even though there is like no way they'd ever let him join because of his humungous temper, but anyway, they moved here, so of course my mom insisted that we move here too. She couldn't stand the thought of Garrett finding some other girl and forgetting about me back home, funny how that backfired on her." She giggled. "Anyway, after I moved here Garrett and I found this secret path that leads right into his backyard! He used to use it to sneak out and meet me at Founder's Park. Back when we were actually friends."

"The kiddy park in the center of town?" I asked. They both nodded their heads. "You think that'll work?" I asked Garrett.

"I think so." He nodded. "It's been years since I've used it, but as long as it's still there it shouldn't be hard. The back of Derrek's property isn't fenced, so we should be able to sneak right up from behind."

I chewed my lip as we circled the park, trying to find the most out of sight place to park. It was a Sunday, so there were a lot of families there enjoying the sunny day. As we walked across the playground area I couldn't help myself from watching a little girl, she couldn't be more than three, running up the stairs to the top of the bright yellow slide, then sliding down with a happy squeal. I shook my head at the sight. What I'd give to go back to such an innocent and happy time.

After the playground, there was a large green grassy area to walk your dogs, or lay out your picnics. We cut across the field until it backed up into the tree line of the woods. Garrett and Carrianne cut back and forth multiple times trying to find the right spot before finally Carrianne squealed that she'd found it.

The shrubbery was very overgrown, but you could still make out the spot where a trail used to be. "Years ago people used to hike through these woods until a big storm hit and knocked down a bunch of the trees and stuff and made it too difficult. But once you get passed this part up here, it is pretty smooth." Garrett said pointing ahead into the woods where old dead logs where laying all across the squishy ground. Carrianne and I were not dressed for hiking. Garrett had had to help us along more than once.

We finally broke out of that area and came to a small creek, with a thick tree trunk lying across it. Garrett walked out on it first to make sure it was still stable, then Carrianne and I followed quickly behind.

After what felt like forever, we finally started to see the clearing at the end.

We walked to the furthest point we could go, while still being hidden from sight. Carrianne pointed to the right. "Down there is Garrett's house." She whispered. "See that slat in the privacy fence that's a little crooked? That's the one we'd sneak out of." She smiled at the memory.

"So, that one is Derrek's?" I asked pointing straight ahead to the house in the distance. You could just see the back of the pool house and the top of the water slide at the pool. Garrett nodded his head. "Let's go." I said taking a step out, but then being pulled back by both Garrett and Carrianne.

"Are you sure we should do this?" Carrianne asked, raising her eye brows. "What if they are just waiting for us inside?"

"Ask your brother." Garrett said beside me.

I rolled my eyes. "It isn't that easy." I told him. "He reaches out to me if there is danger, so I think we are good to go." I explained. "You don't understand how much it takes out of me to call out to them. If, god forbid, they are inside waiting for us, I'd have no strength to fight back."

Carrianne held her hand up at shoulder height. "Um, hello? I'm confused."

I rolled my eyes and sighed, looking back toward the house. Garrett turned back to face Carrianne. "Cade can communicate with her brother and her real mother."

"But they're both-."

"Yeah." I cut her off. "They're both dead. Want to know why? Because of these people!" I said pointing in the direction of the houses. "These people have already taken so much from me. I won't let them have every person I care about! Can we please just go now?"

Carrianne dropped her eyes to the ground and Garrett put his hand on my shoulder. "Ok, let's go look for him." He said and we all began walking.

The closer and closer we got to the house, the more my nerves picked up. I was trying to keep all of my senses on high alert. When we reached the pool area, we stuck tight to the privacy fence separating this yard from Garrett's. Slowly we made are way into the house.

I checked every room, twice, just to be sure I wasn't missing anything. I crept to the front door and peeked out of the glass to see if his car was here, and sure enough, it was parked right out front.

"They've got Derrek." I said to the others.

"You don't know that for sure." Carrianne said hopefully. "He could have gotten away." She looked around the room with a sad look in her eyes. "You don't think they'd go after Natasha, do you?"

"Why would they?" I asked.

"Because she's my friend, and she knows." Carrianne whispered. She had been right earlier. I was being selfish. I'm not the only one being affected by all of this.

We walked into the next room to find Garrett looking carefully out of a window up to his own house. "I hope my mom is ok." He said lowly.

I grabbed Carrianne by the hand, then took Garrett's too. "We're stopping these people." I told them. "They've had power way too long, and they've misused it for the last time. The three of us are going to find anyone we can that will help us, and we are taking them down." We stood in Derrek's kitchen staring out the window, looking at the group of people swarmed outside of Garrett's house.

Garrett squeezed my hand. "They'll have no idea what hit them." He said strongly.

I looked over at Carrianne and saw the look of determination spread across her face, a wicked grin to accompany it. I could almost feel the fire burning within her. "They don't know who they're messing with."

I smiled with her. "That's ok." I said. "Soon, they're going to find out."