"Daniel?" Brooke says in a groggy voice as she looks up at us.
"Hey. It's me, Brooke. Everything's okay. You just came out of hypnosis." Daniel says.
"What?" She says, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.
"Here. Give her some water." I tell Daniel as I hand him the bottle.
"So, what do you remember?" Daniel asks her and she rejects drinking some water.
"I remember a cave. There was a cell. Marcus wouldn't let me out." She says and my face drops.
"And what did he want from you?" Daniel asks.
"He kept apologizing, but he wouldn't let me go." She says in a shaky voice as her voice cracks.
"Hey, it's okay. It's okay. I know it's hard." Daniel says, caressing her head.
"And then she came over." Brooke adds.
"Who?" I ask her.
"Your mother." She says to Daniel and my jaw drops as I look at him.
"Why would she do something like that?" Daniel asks her.
"Brooke was on to her. I guess she didn't have any other choice. What else can you remember about where you were? Try to think about what you saw. Sounds, smells..." I ask her.
"Yeah, um, it was dark. I heard a lot of beeping sounds, like computer sounds. I saw some light. There was a giant black rock behind a glass wall. I don't know." Brooke says, stammering as she gets up and paces back and forth.
"That sounds like the magnetite my mom discovered." I tell Daniel.
"That's what connects your mom to my mom." He says and I turn on my heels.
I need to find him.
"Wait, where are you going?" Daniel says.
"To find Marcus." I say.
"Are you crazy?" He says, his face dropping.
"I'm not afraid of him and I think he wants to help." I tell him.
"He locked me up in a cell and hypnotized me." Brooke says.
"He's also the one who gave us the keyword to wake you up. I have a feeling we can trust him." I say, shutting the door behind me.
||
"Is he here?" Louis asks as I stop knocking on Marcus's door.
"Uh, I don't think so." I tell Louis.
"I got the strangest note from him." He says and takes out his key and finally opens the door and we head inside.
"When did he leave?" I ask, walking around the room.
"I don't know. But he just sent me his letter of resignation." He says, holding the envelope up.
"What?" I say with wide eyes as I turn to Louis.
"That was precisely my reaction. You know, I've been working with him since the time your mother was a student here." He says.
"Yeah, I know." I mutter.
"People are so unpredictable. How could he just leave like this? Oh, I'm sorry. So, um, what did you need from Marcus? Maybe it's something I can help you with." He says to me.
"No, um, a light bulb went out in the clubhouse. I'm gonna go back. See you." I say, waving Louis off.
"See you." He says back and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.
I then run into the storage room, walking in on Brooke and Daniel chatting.
"He ran away. You guys won't believe it. He emptied his office, wrote your dad a letter of resignation and left just like that." I say.
Brooke and Daniel look at me and then back at each other.
"Are you two okay?" I ask.
"Yeah, we're okay. Just talking." Brooke says and I nod at her.
"You know, I can't stand this anymore. I'm gonna confront her right now." Daniel says, getting out of his seat.
"Who?" I ask.
"My mother. And I'm not leaving until she tells me everything." He says to me.
"Daniel, I think it's a mistake. We don't know what they're planning." I tell him.
"That's exactly what I intend on finding out." Daniel says.
"How? I mean, best case scenario, she lies to you, worst case scenario, she disappears like Marcus. And then where will we be?" I tell him.
"Okay." He sighs, sitting back down next to Brooke.
I give a sorrowful look as I see every muscle in his body tense up.
"Well, we at least have to tell Louis." Daniel says.
"I don't think we should do that." I say, shaking my head at me.
"Look at what they did to Brooke just to make sure she wouldn't talk. We can't just keep this to ourselves." He says.
"I agree with him, Valerie." Brooke says and then there's a knock on the door.
"Who is it?" I cautiously say and Max and Jackie come walking in and I sigh in relief.
"Why are all the Ravens here?" Brooke asks Daniel.
"They're with us. Brooke's awake." Daniel says to them.
"The spiral worked?" Max asks.
"Sort of." I say.
"We don't have time to explain all that. We're about to go tell Louis everything." Daniel says, ready to get up again.
"Wait! I don't think you should do that." Jackie tells him.
"Why?" He says to her.
"We're not sure we can trust him." She says, shooting Max a quick look.
"What are you talking about?" Brooke says.
"There's things you don't know about that include your brother." Jackie says and we all share looks with each other.
||
"No way. I know my brother. Look, he's not perfect, but he's not a criminal." Brooke says.
"Daniel felt the same way about his mom." I say and Daniel looks down.
"What do you think Jason wanted from Emma?" Brooke asks.
"We're not sure." Jackie says.
"But we think there was a clue in Emma's chest set." Max says.
"What?" Daniel questions.
"She left a clue for Max in her letter. She called him her white knight. Knight, as in chess." Jackie says.
"We may not be Ravens, but we know what chess is." Daniel says and I roll my eyes.
"Anyway, Jason took it from her locker. She told us he sent it back to her, but we found out he didn't." Max says.
"This might be our best lead." I say and Daniel's Louie starts to ring.
"It's my mother. I can't bring myself to talk to her." Daniel says, shutting his Louie off.
"Now she's calling me." Brooke says, looking at the screen of her Louie.
"Don't answer it." Daniel says to her.
"Brooke, you have to pick it up. Don't you see this is our only advantage?" I tell her.
"What advantage?" Daniel tells me.
"Judy doesn't know we dehypnotized Brooke." I say.
"So you want Brooke to just keep acting around my mom like nothing happened?" He says to me.
"This is the only way we can figure out what they're doing without raising the suspicion." I state.
"No way. Absolutely not." Daniel shakes his head.
"Do you have a better idea? I would love to hear it." I snap at him.
"Hello? Hi, Judy." Brooke says, putting the phone behind her ear and I look up at her in shock.
Thank you, Brooke. Thank you.
"Yeah, we'll be there. Thanks." Brooke says, then hanging up.
"Well?" I say.
"She invited us to dinner." She says to Daniel.
"And you said yes?" He says, his face dropping.
"Valerie's right. Right now, this is our only weapon." Brooke says, looking at me.
I send her a slight grin, nodding at her as a way of thanking her.
"And if Emma'a chest set is there, we'll find it." She says to Jackie and Max and we all nod.
"Now, the most important thing is to make sure Judy suspects nothing. You must behave as if she still controls your mind." I say and Brooke nods at me.
"And don't ask too many questions. She will get suspicious." Jackie adds.
"Okay." Brooke nods again.
"Okay. We should split up. We don't wanna attract any attention." I say and I see Alex walking out from the closet.
"Alex?" I say.
"Sorry, after you guys left, I hid incase Marcus or anyone else walked in on your stuff lying around." He says.
"It's okay. And thanks. Anyway, Jason and Louis see us all hanging out together, it'll raise red flags for them." I continue on.
"So we have to act like we can't stand each other? Shouldn't be too hard." Jackie says as Alex joins our table talk.
Daniel and Brooke send Jackie an amusing smile as her and Max leave the room.
"Okay. We should go now." Alex says to me and I nod as I get up from my seat.
"We should go now too." Daniel says to Brooke.
"Actually, you can go first. I'll wait here and go last." Brooke tells Daniel as Alex and I head toward the door.
"Are you sure?" Daniel asks her.
"Yeah. And thanks, Valerie." Brooke says and I grin as we give each other a hug.
I walk back to Alex and we head out, walking at the same pace as I wave at Daniel, seeing him take the left way.
"I'm pretty tired. I'm gonna go back to the clubhouse." I tell Alex.
"Okay, see you later." He says and I grin, nodding at him as I walk off.
||
"Hey." I flatly say to Leo as he opens the door.
"Hi." He says as he lets me in and I take a seat on the stool and he soon follows after me
"Look, Leo, I know I've been mean to you lately, and I know I keep avoiding you. But you can't blame me for doing so." I blurt out to him.
"The last time you agreed to be with me, you nearly drowned." Leo huffs.
"I wish I did." I mutter, fiddling with my ring.
"Valerie-"
"I know what you're going to say, and frankly, I don't need a lecture. But I never thanked you for jumping in to save me." I say.
"You don't need to." He says to me.
"So, anyways what you saw. It really wasn't-"
"Okay, look, I really don't wanna talk about it, so, um..." He trails off, turning his chair around.
"Leo, listen. Daniel and I aren't actually together." I say.
"I know that. I'm talking about you and Alex." He says, turning back to me.
"Alex and I are just friends. And that photo was just Daniel and I running. That's all it was. As for me and Alex, it's a long story, but we had to pretend to be a couple so no one would figure out what we were really up to." I say to him.
"What were you up to?" He asks me.
"It's a secret." I tell him and he raises his eyebrows at me.
"You're gonna be like that, Ramirez?" He says, scooting closer to me.
I can tell he risked saying my last name as I saw his face flinch for the slightest second.
"I should after the way you've been acting this past week. But I'm gonna tell you anyway." I say, uncrossing my arms and he looks up at me.
I then motion my hand for him to come closer and he does so. The scent of his cologne flairs my nostrils as I whisper in his ear.
There could be cameras in here for all I know and I don't wanna take any chances.
"Are you joking?" Leo says as he pulls away from me.
"No. But no one can know about this, Leo, but I had to tell you the truth. I couldn't keep this from you any longer." I say.
"Why not go to the police?" He says.
"I wanted to, at first. But my dad's an FBI agent, so I know from his experience that without any proof, no one will take us seriously." I say.
"Well, you know something's going on near the cave. We could send police to investigate, and we could figure-"
"No, it's too risky. We don't know who else is involved." I say.
"Involved in what?" Leo questions me.
"That's what we're trying to figure out." I shrug at him.
"Were you the who dehypnotized Brooke?" He asks me.
"Daniel and I both did. But I had a feeling she wasn't herself when my brother told me how she changed over night." I say and he nods.
"Why did you say that before?" Leo says, changing the subject.
"Say what?" I ask, tilting my head at him.
"Saying you wish you had drowned. Am I so bad that you'd actually die than have to look at me any longer?" Leo says with an amused face and I gasp.
"No, not because of you." I chuckle, punching his shoulder and he chuckles.
"Then what was it?" He asks as our laughter dies down.
"It wasn't about anyone. I was just tired of fighting. Or at least I think I was fighting." I sigh, rubbing the side of my head.
"You're a fighter, Ramirez. You always have been." Leo tells me.
"Well, I don't feel like one. I feel like a failure." I shrug.
"You are not a failure, trust me. You're tough and you do everything for everyone. You fight for what you want. And that's what I like about you. You don't hold back." He says.
"That's not true." I say.
"Which part?" Leo asks.
"The part about me holding back." I say.
"Why?" He says to me.
"Because right now, I'm holding back the urge to slap you for calling me by last name." I say with a side smile and he scoffs.
"You haven't done it yet." Leo says, raising an eyebrow at me.
"You're getting me pretty close to do so." I joke, crossing my arms and he chuckles once again.
"Anyway, you shouldn't wish things like that on yourself. I wouldn't know what to do if something like that happened to you, Val." Leo says, looking me in the eye.
"Well, you don't have to worry. I'm okay. How are you?" I ask him.
"I'm fine. Aspen and I had a fight, so I broke it off." He says.
"Oh. What about? If you don't mind me asking." I say.
"You." He slowly says.
"Me?" I say, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion.
"Earlier she had admitted to watching you in the ocean before I did. She wanted to let you drown. If I had known sooner, Val, I promised I would've told you-"
"Leo, it's fine. I know she saw me before you did." I tell him.
"What, how?" He asks, his face dropping.
"I was yelling at Aspen for help and I saw her staring at me. I wasn't sure at first if she was looking at me while talking to Carter about it. But now that you told me she admitted it, I was right all along." I nod at him.
"I'm sorry, Valerie." He shakes his head.
"You're the not the one who watched me struggle. You're the one who saved me." I tell him and he slowly nods at me.
"Yeah, okay." He sighs, nodding at me.
"Good. Well, I'm gonna get some sleep so I can coach Brooke and Daniel for their dinner tomorrow with Judy and to act like I can't stand Max and Jackie, which is gonna be a bit challenging." I say, getting up from my seat.
"You can handle a challenge." Leo grimaces at me and I grin.
"Thanks. Don't stay up too late." I tell him, heading to the door.
"Aren't I the one that's supposed to say that to you?" He asks and I chuckle, shaking my head as I make my way back to the clubhouse.
I think I finally got everything under control.