➵ 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐭

CHAPTER SEVEN

Jin, Toph, and Jules were getting ready to leave the party when Jules perked up. "Do you guys smell that?"

"No?" Toph looked at her.

"Smells like smoke. WHERE'S JORGE??"

"I think he was sleeping in the corner."

Jules ran to get him and Toph realized people were running toward the exit. Someone yelled something about a fire. She dashed to get Jules and Jorge. Jin had been getting some gin and had accidentally spilled it on a bonfire. He ran out before anyone could pin it on him.

Toph and Jules with Jorge in her arms ran out onto the sidewalk.

❋

Panicked and confused Sapphire tried the lock on the bathroom door. It was stuck and getting hotter by the second. She resorted to screaming. "HELP! I'M STUCK!! IN THIS FREAKING BATHROOM!??"

After a moment she heard fast footsteps approaching the door. Then a clang against it. And another. On the third Jack had broken the door down.

"Jack!?"

Wordlessly he grabbed her and carried her down the stairs and out the door. He put her down but she held onto him anyway. "Thank you," she said quickly and jumped up kissing him passionately.

❋

Toph, Sapphire, Jules, and Jorge got back into their room.

"Well that was some party. Really thank you for making us go to that party, Sapphire. It was so much fun being in that life or death situation," Toph said furiously at her.

"Here we go," Jules said.

"Look, do you think I knew that would happen? I'm not some mind reader! And you all left me! I was stuck in the bathroom while the whole place was burning," Sapphire exclaimed.

"And who's fault was it that she drank so much juice?" Toph retorted.

"Okay don't blame each other. No one knew that would happen nor do we know who started it," Jules commented.

"Well something good came out of it for me," Sapphire added.

"Oh wow, I'm so incredibly happy that a fire has positively impacted your life," Toph said with an attitude.

"Like it hurt you."

"It could've!?"

"But it didn'-"

There was a clatter as the vent dropped to the floor, out tumbling Violet and Jonas.

"What the hell?" exclaimed Jules.

Jonas jumped to the floor off the bed. "We were-"

"Yeah, tell us what you were doing," Sapphire said.

"-Research."

"On?"

"We aren't safe," Violet said.

"What do you mean we aren't safe?" Toph asked.

Jonas looked towards Violet and saw a worried look on her face. "They've been watching us our whole lives. They're doing something to the people they bring here, we don't know what but it's definitely not benefitting us," he explained.

"And you know this . . . how?"

"We saw-" Violet sighed. "We went into this restricted room of this building and there were body parts and all this stuff- They want to experiment on us. All of us."

"Why would they do that? They brought us here to save us from the dangers in the world," Jules said.

"They are the danger. And we're in it," Violet said shakily.