We ran up the stairs, trying to find where the scream came from. I went to the left side of the hall with James and Zack, while Keith and Kevin ran straight for Charlie's study. I opened the bathroom door and saw that it was empty.
"It's clear in here," Zack said from another room.
"Clear in here as well," James echoed.
"It's clear over here," Kevin yelled. We all walked over to the study and found Keith and Kevin confused. "Where did the scream come from then?"
"We could've misheard something," Zack suggested.
"Not likely," James said. "That was a scream. There is no sign of anything being damaged though so I am pretty confused. No one is even in this house except us."
"Guys be quiet," I said. They all went silent and then we all heard is. The faint spinning of a CD in a CD player. I walked over to a silver one that was nearby and clicked the rewind button. Sure enough, within minutes an ear piercing scream was let out.
"Well that mystery was solved pretty quickly," Keith laughed. I took the CD out and looked at it. "Good job Nancy Drew."
"There is something written on here," I muttered. "It's small though, I can't see it that well."
"That's when you do this," Kevin said. He took the CD from my hand, pulled out his phone, opened the camera and zoomed in. "A shark is coming for you. Better leave before is eats you like it ate that dead whale."
"So we should either leave this house or find what ever that clue leads us to?" I asked. "I personally think leaving will be the better option."
"I don't think so," Kevin said. "If no one is here then that means someone broke in. Someone wanted us to find this."
"Great, so we have to find a shark," James said.
"It's referring to a movie," I thought out loud. "Jaws?"
"Was there a dead whale in Jaws?" Keith asked.
"I don't know I've never seen it," I shrugged.
"I got it," Zack yelled. "The Shallows, with Blake Lively. Shitty movie, but hot actress." I raised my eyebrows at him and he cleared his throat. "Anyways, I think there was a dead whale in it. Charlie has that movie downstairs. I think Dave gave it to her."
Kevin ran downstairs to go find it and appeared with a disk case in his hand about three minutes later. He put the disk into a computer and we saw the picture of a girl.
"Hello Magan member who found this," a voice said, creepy and almost demonically. "You see this girl here? She is gorgeous isn't she?" She girl on the screen stared blankly at us, blinked every so often but otherwise staying motionless in her chair. "She has done nothing wrong. She hasn't cried or screamed for help. She is an innocent. Just like your new friend Rachel Giles."
"What the fuck," James muttered.
"I'll make a deal with you," the creepy voice continued. "Surrender the following members. Nicki, Charlie, Dave, Rachel, and Keith to us, and then the seven people we have here will not die. Fail to give us what we want and all of you die. Make your choice quickly because if those people aren't given the seven will die on December 12." The screen went black and it was silent.
"What are you guys doing here?" Someone asked behind us. I turned and saw Charlie leaning against a wall, laid back and seeming almost amused.
"No one told you anything about what happened at the art show?" I asked.
"I left my phone here by accident," she said. "Why?" She seemed more alert now.
"We found out a few things about that new gang that's been a pain in the ass," James answered. "Kevin's older brother Brandon is in it. They broke into the house while no one was here and left us a hostage video."
"Let me see it," Charlie said. Kevin gestures to the screen and Charlie stepped forward to hit play. Once again, it started playing. I tried blocking out the voice but it was almost demonic with the way it managed to get into my head. I closed my eyes and turned to face away from the screen. Once the voice stopped I turned back around and uncovered my ears.
"Everyone except Keith out. Get Nicki and Dave here. Then Rachel I want you to get the entire gang here. And I mean everyone." She gave me a look and I knew that she wanted me to call Aiden to come. I nodded and walked out of the room with Kevin, James and Zack.
KEITH'S POV
Charlie closed the door and made a motion towards a chair. I sat down while she sat in her regular chair behind her desk.
"Charlie I had nothing to do with this," I said quickly. "I was at the show the whole time I swear I'd don't come in here and plant anything. I don't know- "
"Keith," she cut me off. "Stop talking. I know you weren't behind this. You paranoid monkey."
"Oh. Then why did you want to talk to me?"
"Because I need you to do something that I really can't ask the others to do," she said darkly. "I need you to leave town for at least a week."
"What?!"
"Keith let me explain. I made a promise to protect my family and yes while the gang is out family, you and I are blood related. Cousins."
"You think I don't know that?"
"I know that you know we are cousins," she said, clearly exasperated. "But I am going to try to protect everyone, including you. If anything goes wrong over the next week I want you out of the way and safe."
"Where am I going to go? I don't have anywhere to go."
"Tell your mom that you are going to your cousin Charlie's house because there is a college there that you want to visit."
"My parents haven't heard from you in years. I don't even know if that lie would even work."
"It will work, trust me." She took out a green notebook and started flipping through the pages. "We have a friend in John Hopkins up in Maryland and you'll stay with him."
"So just to be clear, you want me out of town for a whole week?"
"Yes. No arguments, because I hear voices downstairs so lets go," she finished. She stood up and walked out, leaving me still sitting that chair. After a minute of processing everything I walks out of the room and met with everyone downstairs. Charlie was playing the video and everyone was watching except Rachel, Kevin, James and Zack. I stood with them until the video ended.
"For once, I don't even know what to do," Charlie said, sounding defeated.
AUTHORS NOTE
Hi guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter :)
Sorry for the cliff hangers
Tell me what you think
-Anubluey