"How many times are you going to attempt to make this prank and fail before you give up?" Dr. Colosso asked me.

"I'm not going to fail this time! I need to get my revenge on Phoebe for putting pink dye in my special shampoo!" I said to the rabbit, not looking up from my desk. "She should just be glad that it washed out quickly. But this is the perfect time to get back at her with Mom, Dad, Billy, and Nora visiting our aunt for the week."

"You're still gonna fail." Dr. Colosso continued to torment and doubt me, but I just zoned him out. You don't turn into the world's best villain if you decide to listen to a talking rabbit.

I was so focused on my work I almost missed the blaring alarm coming from my newly installed alert system. I had to put one in after the last time Phoebe had her friends over and they almost discovered my lair. I wouldn't let that happen again, so I made a device that hides everything that could get us exposed, including the button upstairs that opens the top of my slide, which means the only way to get down here was the back staircase. I went over and moved the panel above Dr. Colosso's cage and pressed the button, which immediately hid almost everything in my lair, including the rabbit who was still babbling on about how I was going to fail.

I went back to my desk and continued scheming for the prank, since I could only use my laptop to look stuff up.

I heard the door slam upstairs. Assuming it was just Phoebe letting one of her dumb friends in, I ignored it and went back to my work. Girls can be so dumb sometimes and I so don't want to be near them if they get into one of their weird talks. They were probably only talking about the hottest guys in school, or what they were planning on wearing the rest of the week, or some other thing girls talk about.

I couldn't hear anyone talking upstairs, so I ended up forgetting anyone else was even in the house. That is until I almost fell off my chair when I heard an ear splitting scream.

"Phoebe?!" I started running towards the stairs, occasionally yelling out Phoebe's name. I didn't hear anything when I got into the living room, and my twin wasn't answering my shouts so I just assumed she was in her room with her friend and the scream was because of some new magazine article or something. But I still had to go up and make sure nothing else was going on.

I got upstairs and stood in front of Phoebe's door. "Phoebe, what's going on? Did you scream?" I asked through the door since it was locked and I couldn't get in. I didn't get a reply for a moment, but then a shaky voice came through the door, just loud enough for me to hear.

"Everything's fine Max, just go back to your room."

"But didn't you hear a scream?" I replied, still confused.

"No. You're just imagining things. Now go," her voice was shakier than before. I could tell she was worried about something, but there was still a slight edge to her voice that said I should listen.

"Well, all right then," I replied, more to myself, as I turned on my heel and walked back down to my own room.

I sat back where I had previously been, with my back to the stairs. I tried to go back to what I was doing but there was something weird with what just happened. Phoebe's voice was off and wouldn't have been shaky if she was just talking to me with her friend in the room. Maybe she just had a problem at school, someone made fun of her for being a nerd, or maybe she was rejected by one of her crushes. But either way, why was her door locked? She rarely locks her door, I can't even remember the last time it was locked.

There was a tone in Phoebe's voice that isn't usually there either. I've never heard it before, so I couldn't tell exactly what it was. Frustration maybe? Anxiety? Or maybe even…fear?

I was so deep in thought that I didn't hear the slight creak of the basement door opening and closing, the light creak of not one but two pairs of feet walking down the stairs. I didn't notice until I was drawn from my thoughts by a terrified voice behind me, barely above a whisper.

"Max?" my twin breathed out. It sounded like she was on the verge of tears. As I slowly turned around, I almost passed out right then and there, because there stood my sister.

White as a ghost.

With a man I've never seen before in my life holding her tight around the waist in front of him.

With the barrel of a gun pressed against the side of her head.