Even though we didn't get what we came here for, we left with a new sense of determination. Too much was at stake to mess around anymore. We made our way back to the car in silence. Instead of using the quiet time to wallow in my despair from not being able to find Derrek, I used it to plot.

Step one: Find a safe place to lay low.

Step two: Find allies. Even with only my limited knowledge of The Order, I knew there must be other Potentes out there that would be willing to stand with us.

Step three: Train. It's going to be much more difficult without Wes to help us, but we are going to have to be ready, and that means having our abilities in tip top order. We'll need to be at our strongest to take them down.

Once we made it to the car we got out of town.

"How far out should we go?" Garrett asked after we had been driving for almost an hour.

Carrianne sighed and pouted. "Yeah, how much longer?" She complained. "I'm so tired, and I'm starving."

I rolled my eyes at her and she stuck out her tongue. "I guess stop in the next town we come to." I told Garrett. "I'm pretty hungry too."

It took another twenty minutes before we reached a town big enough to have one decrepit motel that looked to be hardly standing anymore. As we pulled into the lot I watched Carrianne's face in the mirror. She was clearly horrified at the thought of staying somewhere like this. "You cannot be serious." She said in disgust. "When I said a hotel, I meant like a nice one with feather pillows and 24 hour room service."

"In case you forgot Carrianne, we are not exactly on vacation right now." Garrett replied obviously annoyed.

"On the plus side," I added cheerfully. "There's a restaurant across the street."

Carrianne narrowed her eyes at me. "Billy's Backyard BBQ." She said reading the sign. "Sounds real classy." Garrett parked the car and huffed out quickly. "What's his problem?" She asked me when he slammed his door.

"We're all just a little on edge." I reminded her.

We walked up to the front office together, but the sign on the door made us all stop. "Are you kidding me?" I uttered. "It says they don't sell rooms to anyone under 18 without an adult present."

I went to turn around and head back to the car, but Carrianne grabbed my arm. She peered in through the foggy glass to look at the guy sitting at the check in desk. He was young, no more than 19 or 20 himself, and he has greasy hair and bad skin. Carrianne smiled at me. "I've so got this." She giggled, then unbuttoned the top two buttons on her dark blue tank top. She put her shoulders back, poked her chest out, and strutted inside.

"What is she doing?" I asked, but Garrett only rolled his eyes. I watched her as she sashayed up to the counter, leaning over it to talk to the guy. She kept tilting her head back and forth and twirling a piece of hair around her fingers. The poor guy never stood a chance. He was practically drooling over her. I just stared in amazement as he handed over a key and she gave him one more fake smile before dancing back out to us.

"Easy." She said dropping the key into my hand.

"You are something else." I laughed.

Garrett looked unimpressed. "You only got one room?"

Carrianne's smile dropped. "There is some motorcycle convention starting tomorrow and they only had one available room, so yeah." She said in a snarky tone. "You want to go eat now?" She asked pointedly only to me.

I glanced up to Garrett and he nodded. "I'm exhausted, I'm just going to go lie down. You go ahead." He leaned down and kissed me on the cheek, and my cheeks flushed. Sharing a room tonight was going to be all kinds of awkward.

Carrianne and I ran across the street and grabbed a booth in the small dinner style restaurant. We both ordered chicken fingers and fries because that looked to be the safest option on the menu. When the food came Carrianne stuffed her face in the most unladylike display I had ever seen her put on. "So, what's the plan?" She asked with her mouth full.

"We need to find people who will help us." I told her. "I don't like our odds going in with just three people. How many do they have anyway?"

Carrianne chewed her bottom lip. "A lot more than three."

"That's what I'm afraid of." I replied. "Do you know of any families that we could go to for help? We will have to make a stand if this is going to work. I know the whole stupid prophesy says it's me that takes them down, but I'm not risking the lives of the people we love on an ancient myth." I took a long sip of my diet coke. "There has to be other Potente families that are fed up with The Order."

"I don't think we are going to get any help from the remaining families." She said looking down. "At least, not any official families." She said as she looked up with her eyes vibrant.

"What are you talking about?"

"People like Wes." She smiled. "There are only ten official Potente families left, but there are way more that have gone into hiding to avoid the reach of The Order, and then there's the one's like Wes who openly opposed them and were banished. Those are the people we need!"

"Carrianne, that is perfect! How many of them are there?"

"I have no idea." She shrugged. "A pretty good amount though. I had a friend back in Kentucky, her family was great, and they hated The Order. I wasn't technically even allowed to be friends with her, but I did it anyway. They ran away, but she sent me a friends request on Facebook not that long ago, she'd changed her name, and she didn't say where they were, but she did reach out. I could try to see if they'd help."

"Yeah, that would be good. How many of them are there?"

"Her name is Scarlett, and it's both of her parents and her grandparents, so five there if we can convince them."

"This is great, anyone else you know?" I asked hopeful, but she shook her head. "That's ok, maybe Garrett will know some."

We finished eating and ran back over to the hotel to find Garrett. We walked into the room right as Garrett was coming out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist. I turned away quickly, but I only bumped into Carrianne who was looking at Garrett with an unimpressed face. "Try putting on some clothes, Garrett. This whole situation is dysfunctional enough without you feeling the need to parade around in the buff." She said calmly as she closed the door behind her and sat at the foot of the first bed.

I stole a glance over my shoulder at him again just in time to catch his small smile at me before he went back into the bathroom.

When he reemerged fully dressed, Carrianne wasted no time filling him in on the plans we'd made over dinner. "Do you think that'll work?" I asked him.

"I don't see any reason why the Shepherds wouldn't want to be involved in taking down The Order. From what I remember, they never had any problem with being pretty open about their dislike for them. You'll have to be careful about how you contact them though." He added looking at Carrianne.

"I was going to create a new Facebook account and message her that way, not my own profile. I'm not a complete idiot, you know?" She sighed then walked to the door. "I'm going to go ahead and do that now. I'm sure the desk boy wouldn't mind letting me use his computer for a minute." She giggled then left the room.

Garrett came to sit beside me on the foot of the bed. "I was thinking," He said as he brushed some of my hair behind my ear.

"Uh-oh." I joked with him.

He laughed lightly and kissed my cheek. "Have you tried to send a message to him?" He asked softly.

"No." I told him, turning to look him in the eyes. "I'm afraid to." I admitted.

"Why?"

"What if he's..." I couldn't finish the question. The thought was too terrible.

Garrett pulled me to him, wrapping me in his warm embrace. "I'm sure he's fine, Cade." He tried to assure me. "You should try." He whispered.

I knew he was right. I was so afraid to open that line up because if he was...dead...he'd be able to respond. I don't know if I can handle that, but if he's alive, he needs to know that I am coming for him.

I closed my eyes tightly. "Derrek, if you can hear me, I am so sorry that we fought. I'm working on a plan to save you. I miss you so much! Be strong, I'm coming!"

I opened my eyes and felt the warm tear slide down my cheek. Garrett held me a little tighter, then released me. He wiped the tears off my face and kissed my forehead. "He's going to be alright." He said strongly.

"I hope so." I whispered.

We sat in silence for a while, but soon Garrett cleared his throat. "I was also thinking about something else." He said. "I know you said it is really hard on you, but I think you should ask your mom or brother for help. Maybe they'd know who we can reach out to."

I laid back on the bed. "I can try." I told him. "Wes never really had time to teach me how it works. I've only reached out to them once before."

"It's completely up to you, I just think it could help."

"I know, you're right." I agreed with him. I closed my eyes and tried to focus, but before I even had time to do anything I could already feel the chill in the air. "They're already here." I whispered to Garrett.

"Cadence." My mother's voice called to me. "We're both here...and your friend is fine." She added on the end, easing my troubled mind. "They don't have him, but they do have Garrett's mother, your adoptive mother, Carrianne's friend Natasha, Derrek's mother, and...Charles." Her voice cracked as she said his name. "They've got twenty people working with them, twenty three total."

"What should we do?"

"The family that Carrianne is speaking with is coming, I only know of maybe four other people who could help. I'm so sorry all of this is happening to you sweet girl. You won't need to match them on people though, dear. You're strong enough on your own."

"A little back up never hurt though!" Stephen's voice popped into my head. "Stop stressing and start getting ready. You've got even more power than you know. It's time to get to work. They'll be ready in one week. That means you need to be ready before that. Take them by surprise. They're staying in a warehouse on the outskirts of town, no people nearby, so you'll be able to use your power to the fullest extent. You've got this Cade. Don't worry."

My mother shared with me the other people she knew that might help us, and Carrianne busied herself with making the arrangements. Tomorrow the Shepherds, and three of my mother's friends would be joining us.

Carrianne passed out first, and I took a little pleasure in the fact that she snores. I laughed as I climbed into bed next to Garrett and he held the blanket up for me so that I could cuddle up to his side. I nuzzled my head into the crook of his neck and breathed in his scent, letting the safe calm feeling I get around him lull me to sleep.

Tomorrow we start training.