Vanished

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"There's Luke, but he doesn't have powers and is armless," Esme said, sticking up a thumb.

For the first time, Jade stated, "Luke and Greyson have a whole group of thugs. I think they pulled some experiment today. The gym had been locked off and guarded."

"We don't like how Greyson does his treatment." Esme said, standing with both hands on her hips. "If we get guns, that could help."

"We aren't killing them," Jason stated, eyeing Esme. Inside, he felt it might be an option after what Luke did. "Well, we may if they do."

Ashley has killed some people already. Well, not just some, but most in the process, if he were to be stating the truth about the situation. Greyson had his own case of resentment, and Luke would willingly kill anyone.

"They will kill us?" Ilya gasped, with her hand over her mouth.

"Maybe, but I'm not sure," Jason said.

Suddenly, they heard someone running up the stairs. Jason looked over to see a girl wearing purple sunglasses, a bikini top, and shorts, holding some candy in her hand.

"Sup, bitches?" She greeted him, having a strong Spanish accent with her tongue out and holding up a peace sign. "You hyped that no adults are around?"

"I know that voice," Jade said.

The girl pushed up her sunglasses on her forehead, eating some Sourpatch Kids. There stood a girl with ombré hair and a lot of ear piercings. She skipped down the aisle, looking around at everyone who sat confused.

"Mia!" Esme exclaimed, laughing.

Jason glanced at Jade, who shook her head. Did Greyson send her here on some quest, or was it her own doing? It's not that he could recall seeing her around at all.

"Are you an idiot?" another voice inquired near the door, where a tall boy stood, his hand on the doorframe.

"You just didn't think of it!"

The boy slowly walked down the aisle, glancing around at those around him but keeping his eyes locked on Emma's longer than the rest. He stood in front of Jason, wearing a sly smirk.

He spotted Emma slowly sliding out of the pew toward the boy, her lips pressed together. The boy turned his attention away to look at Emma, which Jason was perplexed by the whole situation.

"Ugh, my head still hurts," the boy said, sitting and putting his head against the pew. Emma crouched in front of him, about to put a hand on his forehead, but he grabbed it instead. "Advil will fix it, so it's alright."

"Bryce, I can heal it," Emma urged. "It doesn't take long."

Emma stopped mid-sentence when Bryce stood and glided a hand through her bangs. Mia fell into fits of laughter, lying on her stomach and wearing a goofy grin.

"Are you here on Greyson's order?" Jason asked.

"Us taking orders? Yuck, you just go where the fun is," Mia said.

That felt like a small weight off his shoulder. Maybe these two were just coming to deliver information, but they still didn't seem like two that would. If anything, they might just be gossipers.

"Your favourite top delinquents are here!" Mia cheered, holding her fist up. "I'm the favourite, though. Bryce just gets more attention because girls think he's hot."

Bryce whacked Mia in the back of the head while she stuck out her tongue. The air felt tense in the room while Mia tried doing a cartwheel but ended up falling smack on the ground. She started laughing, holding her sides, with tears at the edge of her eyes.