Miley's POV
"I can't see anything! Give me the binoculars, for God's sake!"
Ariana rolled her eyes at me, mumbling that I was being unfair, but handed me the binoculars anyway. I didn't waste time to use it and squint at the entree of the Castle; seeing my boyfriend guarding like a lion searching for its next prey.
"What do you see? What do you see?" rushed Ariana like she couldn't even wait for a few more seconds. "Is everything alright? Tell me!"
I passed the precious object to my friend and let her answer her own question by herself. I knew I wasn't supposed to follow my friends and stalk their activities, but I couldn't simply sit on a hotel's couch and bite my nails off of apprehension when my own team was risking their life. It was my responsibility, my mission, and my task also.
"Nick is actually pretty hot like that, but not so my style," admitted the red-haired girl with a thoughtful face. I glared at her, my eyes sending daggers, and she instantly knew that joke was lame. "Sorry, Mi. I was just pointing out a fact, but I swear it wasn't supposed to come out of my mouth. Plus, I already have my eyes on someone else. His name is Mac Miller and he's in my theatre classes. The sweetest guy you'll ever meet, I can assure you."
"Okay, Ari, if you say so. But right now, let's concentrate on the most important thing. We will gossip later, light-hearted when it will all be finished", I tried to suggest in the nicest way possible.
To be honest, I was super worried. Even though I trusted my teammates with all my heart, they're unfortunately not superheroes. And there was something else too... My intuition told me to watch them carefully in case anything unplanned happened, and that's why I followed my interior advice and made Ariana come with me.
"Thank you for bringing me with you," gracefully muttered the receptionist, gandering at me with pure love in her eyes. "You must trust me a lot to include me in a mission and I'm grateful for it." Tears lined up her eyes, again, embracing her emotional and sensitive personality.
I wanted to roll my eyes, and that's probably what I would have done before, but I was a changed woman after the hospital episode. Something clicked inside of me and blossomed my vision of the world. "Don't thank me, Ariana. I owe you my life, and you know it better than anyone else."
That wasn't a lie. If she didn't rush to the hospital that night, I'm afraid that I wouldn't have made it. Her speech and chosen words deeply affected me; In fact, it moved my heart so much that it brought me a new perception of the situation.
"Wait..." Ariana's face twisted horribly and almost turned white before pointing at the entree. I abruptly snatched the binoculars from her hands and gazed straight into it, my breath becoming heavier and heavier by second. My friend stood up frightfully and gulped with difficulty. "We have to do something! Miley, he just- He just... I can't breathe. Where is Demi?"
Ariana couldn't find her voice and started panicking, pacing back and forth in the tree house. To be honest, I felt ten times worse than her. A few seconds ago, I literally witnessed Zachary forcing Nick to inhale some sort of sleeping drugs, and my boyfriend fainted in a tremendous crash. I couldn't even think straight anymore; my heart was filled with worry. The criminal now entered the Castle, training Nick's body along with him.
"Follow him!" I ordered to my friend since I couldn't do anything with my recent stitches and bandages. "Sneak in and save them!" I urged another time, my breath quickening. I still couldn't believe my eyes and my mind. What was happening?
"But I- I can't do anything!" freaked out the red-haired girl, her mouth wide opened. "I can't even shoot a garbage can! What do you want me to do?! I'm not an agent like you!"
"Of course you're not our first option, Ari...but Justin is still at the hotel, and we can't do anything about it! You're our last hope," I urged, crossing my fingers in hope for her to say yes. "I will never risk your life if it's not important! And I can't- Ari, look at me! I can barely move!"
She nodded, small tears leaving her glistering eyes. "Okay," she said with her most serious voice possible. "Alright." She shakily took the gun and the knife I handed her and put it in her pocket. She then threw me one last glance, half-determinate, half-desperate, and ran towards the Castle.
I followed her with my eyes.
Silently praying.
Selena's POV
"C'mon, Joe! Faster! Fifty more hallways! No no, not left! I didn't say to turn left; I said right!" I yelled through the earpiece, rolling my eyes. He was a real piece of work, but we were almost there.
I still didn't want to abandon even though I knew Zac was coming back extremely soon. Demi got caught, and I couldn't be more worried. I didn't tell Joe, though, because I didn't want to disturb his task with any crushing updates. I knew that if I told him what happened to Demi, he would give everything up about saving Beatrice and would undoubtedly chase Zac.
We were close, so close.
We can't back down now.
"What in the world?! Why is there a wall blocking the path? It's a dead end!" Joe asserted, stopping abruptly and trying to catch his breath. "Did I misunderstood your command?"
"I don't know! Are you sure about the wall? I can clearly see another hallway on the camera containing the room 34 until the room 39. You just have to turn right!"
I saw Joe tapping the opened door, but his hand didn't go right through it like I expected; it stopped on in the thin air. Bewildered, I double-checked the cameras and wondered if it was somehow rigged.
"There's a wall, Selena, and it's just in front of me. A freaking white wall," the agent stated with a semi-panicked voice. "Are you completely nuts or am I going crazy?"
"I have no idea..." I breathed, finding it extremely strange. My mind reeled with possibilities, but I only found one plausible one. "Maybe it's a trap."
In response, my partner started hitting the wall as a gesture of rage and let out a frustrated groan. I thought about Demi; she was caught in a trap. Zac could do the same thing for us... He has 'more than one tricks in his bag', after all.
"Smarter than Agent Lovato, I see, but not much smarter."
I was frozen in shock. Shit. How could he arrive so quickly? I couldn't believe it. And Nick, what happened to Nick?! Oh, my God. That was completely my fault.
I should've evacuated everyone - Joe and Nick- once I knew we were in danger. Security comes first, why did I forget that?!
"Don't blame yourself, miss Gomez," mocked the blue-eyed man with his devilish grin. "You were into the thrill of the action and succumbed to the adrenaline rush. It's still better than being a foolish and brainless girl like miss Lovato."
I tried to contain my fear, so I replaced it with blind anger. "Don't talk about things you don't know! And for your information, we will not give up that easily! You will never win, Zachary. Can't you see you're losing yourself?" I noticed a weak moment in his eyes but quickly disappeared. "You're not curing the pain of your loss, Zachary. You're only hurting the people around you," I tried to make him understand.
I knew he was a cold-hearted murderer. But I always believed in change. I always believed in healing ourselves. I always believed in second chances, too. You can't judge someone by their cover.
"This is not the way to deal with the situation, Zac," I sighed, trying to find a way to escape while he was in his short trance. "You must seek help in counseling and be talking about your problems to specialists, not isolate yourself and put the blame on innocent lives. Think about Taylor; she's she disappointed and heart-broken."
"You know nothing about my life!" Screamed the serial killer, swinging his fist in front of my face and grabbing me by the collar of my shirt. "Stay out of my personal life, little fucker. I'll make sure to eliminate Justin right after I took care of your little crap team."
"Go to hell!"
He let out a sarcastic laugh that made me think of the demon in person and rapidly pinned me to the wall. "You're going down the drain, Selena. Say goodbye to the world for now."
He took out a pack of white powder out of his front pocket and forced my face into it. I tried to restrain my breath, knowing it was some kind of sleeping pill, but eventually abandoned after a hard debate. I saw my world spin for an instant before I surrendered to darkness.
Oh, bless Joe. I hope he runs.
_____
Nancy xox