**Meggie’s POV**
“We should probably go to the police,” Max said, recovering from shock the fastest.
“Yeah,” I said, nodding my head in agreement then turned to Justin, “Can you give us a ride to school? Our cars are there.”
“Sure.”
We all piled into his car and headed toward the school. We all got into our respective cars and headed off to the police station. When we got there we were pointed to a waiting area where we were told that an officer would meet us shortly. I took out the note from my pocket and examined it closer. I held it up to the light to try and see the writing better. Mikaela, who was leaning over my shoulder, suddenly gasped.
“What’s that?” She asked pointing to something that had appeared behind the writing. I brought the note away from the light and the picture disappeared again.
“It must work like the dollar bill does; only revealing the picture when in light.” Mikaela said.
I held it up to the light again, trying to figure out what the picture was.
“It almost looks like a type of bird,” Max murmured. He had come over to see what we were looking at.
“The sheriff will see you in his office,” a guard called to us and motioned us in the direction of the office. I slowly made my way down, pondering what they would say. What if they did background checks on us and found out this wasn’t my real name? I would be screwed. Maybe coming here wasn’t such a good idea after all. I was about to turn and bail out when I was ushered into the room by Justin.
“All of you won’t fit in here. Just choose two people,” The sheriff said.
“Meggie and Max should go,” Mikaela said and the others voiced their consent. I walked into the room feeling nervous.
“Aren’t you kids supposed to be in school?” He asked, looking at us skeptically.
“No sir, you see we were pulled out of school ‘cause our friend was found on the side of the road and in now in the hospital.”
“Oh yes, I’ve heard about that. Terrible accident that was, just terrible.” Max and I exchanged a glance and I hesitantly spoke up.
“But sir, that’s why we’re here. We don’t think this was an accident.” The sheriff just looked slightly amused.
“Now what makes you say that?”
“Well, I was right down the street from Tory. Like literally a minute down the road and I didn’t hear a thing. No scream, no speeding cars, no nothing.”
“You could have just missed it,” He replied calmly.
“No offense sir, but you don’t understand. You’ve never heard Tory scream. It’s not something you can forget- or miss for that matter,” Max explained.
“Is that all, because if it is I think I’ve already wasted enough time talking to you,” The sheriff started getting up.
“Wait! I have something else,” I said stopping him in his tracks. I pulled the charm bracelet and note and laid them down on the table.
“The charm bracelet is Tory’s. Each charm stands for something. For example, the snake stands for Max, since he’s clever cunning and sly. The fox stands for me because of my red hair and shyness and smartness as well. We found it off to the side of the road along with the note.” I explained.
“What does the monkey stand for?” The sheriff asked quietly examining the note.
“It stands for Tory herself,” Max said quietly while I tried to contain my tears. Just thinking about her brought them to my eyes. Somehow I felt like this was my fault for inviting her to come to the park with me and leaving her alone.
