Chapter 1

There was nothing she could do.

"She's not dead. She can't be dead. I can still rewind."

She held her breath.

His heavy footsteps sauntered past her slowly, casually, eerily calm. She couldn't crane her neck enough to see what he was doing, which allowed her mind to envisage the worst.

She could see the bright lights, she knew what they were. She knew.

She knew and that was why she was here in the first place, and Chloe…

She couldn't think about it right now.

She battled with her eyes to fight the blinding white before them, to try and see past it, but she knew it was futile.

Had it been moments, or hours that she had been tied up in this corner? She could feel the stiffness in her legs, and figured it must be the latter. She tried to work out how many hours she would have to rewind to save Chloe, and herself. She couldn't lift her arm, but she could focus.

Come on, focus Max!

"Uh!" A jolt shot through her, jarring her senses. There was nothing. The power was gone. She had known it would only be a matter of time. There was no warning when it came and she had doubted there would be one when the power left. Of all the times to stop. She had gotten so used to it. She had started to use it almost effortlessly. Without it, she had never felt so powerless, so helpless.

The noise that had voluntarily escaped her obviously caught his attention, because Jefferson's face was close to hers, brushing the hair from her face.

She stared straight back at him, into his eyes, but she couldn't see anything behind them. There was no emotion.

Even after seeing his face looming over her in the junk yard, before it had all faded to black, a small part of her hadn't been able to believe it. Jefferson was famous. He was friendly. He, he had a career. He couldn't possibly need to trap girls down here? He was famous! Girls would surely be tripping over themselves to do this for him willingly, desperately. He wouldn't need to force them. Victoria's name had been on that next folder, but when she had thrown herself at his feet he had rejected her. Surely that would have been his opportunity to pounce. He didn't know she had been watching.

Victoria.

Was she here? She was on the folder. Max couldn't see anyone. Jefferson had moved back behind the light.

There was a bright flash, followed by several more. As each flash went off her whole body instinctively tried to crawl away from it but she couldn't move. Her hands and feet were both tied up tight with duct tape. So tight it cut into her skin and she felt her fingers tingle where the blood struggled to get through.

"How many hours have I been here? Why have I been here so long? Why hasn't he killed me yet?"

Her eyes widen in fear "Was he waiting for me to wake up?"

But why?

Why not kill her with Chloe?

Chloe…

No. She couldn't think about that right now.

Suddenly the lights dimmed down low. She gazed upwards, towards a sofa. It was Jefferson, a faint smile crossed his face as he peered down at her, but he wasn't alone.

"Well, you've got your precious photos Mark, now shoot her" the older man snapped impatiently.

"I think we need to talk about this first" Principal Wells replied.

"What is there to talk about? She knows who we are" Jefferson countered calmly.

What was Principal Wells doing here? And that face, those stoic eyes, the tightly pursed, thin lips that sat below those hard eyes. She had seen that face before…

"He said she was important" Principal Wells urged them, sounding exasperated.

The old man sighed dejectedly, "He doesn't even know what day it is!"

"But he's been right so far…" Principal Wells began, before he was quickly cut off

"That doesn't mean anything. If he knows so much, then how come he didn't see this" He gestured at Max without looking at her "problem coming our way? Or Rachel?"

"He did see her. He told us she could help." Wells pleaded.

"Help?" The older man sneered cynically, his voice rising slightly "All he's done is make things worse. Every time. We can't afford to take another risk because of him"

"If I may interrupt here gentlemen" Jefferson interjected calmly, authoritatively as he slowly stepped between the two men. "This is an ugly, ugly business. No one here wants to shoot anybody." He said, looking pointedly at Wells. "But" He raised his hand to Well's face before he could interrupt "We can't fall subject to our emotions right now. We have to think about this logically."

He stopped a few feet away from Max, tapping his index finger on his lips, looking into her eyes. Max jumped. It was almost as if they had all forgotten she was still there. Awake. Listening to every word they had said.

"Bring him out here" Jefferson commanded.

The older man sighed, rubbing his hands through his hair, before leaving.

"Mark, listen to me, he knew about the whales, he knew about the snow, the fish. That can't just be a coincidence. If this really is…." Wells stumbled, choking on his words "The end. Maybe were being given another chance, to put things right"

Wells was standing next to Jefferson now, grabbing his arm.

"Calm down Ray, it's not the end of the world. It's called pollution. Anyone could have predicted that the Bay would become polluted. It doesn't take a genius"

"But that's just it. They've tested it. It's not!" Wells was practically shouting at him now.

"Just calm yourself!" Jefferson said. He didn't shout, not like Wells, but his voice had a sharp edge to it that made Max's stomach fall through the floor. She saw it had the same effect on Principal Wells too, because he stopped talking. Just like that, and walked backwards, his hand reaching for the bottle of whiskey that lay half full on the table.

Before Max could ask the one question that was on the tip of her tongue, the door burst back open and someone stumbled in front of her. His eyes were red, his face covered in dark purple bruises. He locked his eyes on her.

"Nathan" she gasped. She couldn't believe how relieved she was to see him. A familiar face amongst this chaos.

"She speaks" Jefferson remarked calmly.

"Well! Come on. It's all on you son, don't fuck it up." The older man growled, as he shoved Nathan into the middle before releasing his grip on his shoulder.

That's who he was. Max couldn't believe it had taken her so long to notice that the older man was Nathan's father. How could she not have seen it?

"What do you want me to say?" Nathan whispered timidly.

His father chuckled impatiently, almost manically at him "You make all of this fuss about keeping her alive and you can't tell me why? You really are a useless piece of shit sometimes"

Nathan locked eyes with Max, and she could see straight into his soul.

He was the one they were talking about?

Nathan?

"Nathan" Principal Wells spoke softly, a tone she had never heard on him before. "You need to tell us what you know. It's important. What does she know?"

"I told you it doesn't work like that" he replied tiredly.

Nathan's father started pacing impatiently, slapping his hand against the wall "Well, that's just brilliant Nathan. Another fine charade you've had us all on, yet again. And for what?"

"Sean" Principal Wells pleaded

"What? You can't be serious? You of all people know how out of control this has become. There's causing a bit of trouble at school. Sure. What rich kid doesn't throw their weight around? Hell, I'd be disappointed if he didn't throw his weight around a bit. He is a Prescott, after all. But this! This" His eyes turned from Wells to Nathan, who seemed to hunch over, curling in on himself "This neediness, the attention seeking, this bullshit Nathan!" His father started slowly circling towards him. He placed a hand gently around Nathan's shoulders, so that his face was inches from Nathan's, and she saw Nathan's eyes were squeezed shut. "I've told you before this… it's not a game. Do you understand that?" He whispered casually into his ear.

"I'm not playing a game" Nathan answered weakly. She saw his father squeeze his shoulder tight, sighing deeply as he did so.

BAM!

"Ah!" She heard Nathan whimper. Max watched as Nathan clutched at the side of his stomach where his father had punched him with full force. She winced, but she couldn't look away. What on Earth was going on here?

Nathan's father coughed into his own fist, and looked down, straightening the front of his suit, before drawing himself to stand up straight again. He was a giant of a man, tall, broad and foreboding, and Nathan. Nathan seemed to be holding his breath as he doubled over in front of him.

"Do you understand?" His father asked him again, calmly, dare she say it even sounded kind? How had he changed so quickly? Is that where Nathan got it from?

"Yes sir" Nathan replied, defeated as he tried to stand up straight again, still holding his side. His eyes no longer looking at Max but at the white of the floor.

"If I may try something?" Jefferson intervened, looking at Sean Prescott.

Sean Prescott nodded quickly before stepping back.

"Nathan, what you have here is the opportunity to be a hero. Remember how you said you wanted to save people?" Jefferson asked him coolly.

Nathan's face was transfixed on the ground in front of him. He looked like he didn't want to be here about as much as Max did. He gave Jefferson a small nod.

"Well, talk to her. Ask her. You think she's special. Now's the time to find out. Do you know why it's so important Nathan?"

Nathan dared to give him a quick sideways glance.

Jefferson looked back at Sean Prescott, who stepped forward

"Nathan. Were all still picking up the pieces from your last fuck up. That blue haired girl you decided to photograph, the one you started blabbing to, we've already taken care of her for you"

Nathan's eyed darted up like lightning

"Chloe's dead?"

Max felt her own heart stop.

Sean Prescott nodded solemnly. "She didn't need to die son. Not if you hadn't decided to start blabbing. If you hadn't taken that damn photo."

Max saw Nathan's eyes fill and pour down his cheeks silently.

That was when Sean Prescott came back with a hand on his shoulder

"Son, I know that you found the whole Rachel thing hard. It was a terrible mistake. Who knew she would react so badly to GHB?" He asked, Max felt, a little too light heartedly,

Nathan was furiously wiping his eyes with the back of his red sleeve.

"I understand, but we can't take any more risks and at the moment you're a loose cannon. We can't keep covering for your sloppy mistakes. This is business." He said for the second time.

"What your dad is trying to say is. It's up to you." Jefferson continued, still sounding dreadfully calm and collected. Max felt sick. If you can prove that she is in fact what you keep telling us she is, then, she lives. If not…." Jefferson's words trail away and all eyes turn towards Max.

Jefferson steps towards Max, brushing her hair once more as he whispers into her face "She dies"