The last chapter was really bad. This one may have too much action, but it's longer than the others. Sorry that I wasn't able to post it until the end of the day.

DISCLAIMER; ANY CHARACTERS BELONG TO WENDELIN VAN DRAANEN.

I woke up in Marissa's house.

"Why am I here?"

"You're here because you have to live with me."

"What the fu-"

"AHEM."

Marissa and I both turned and saw Mrs. McKenze glaring at me.

"Language, young lady."

"I'm sorry," I said, my cheeks bright red.

"What were you about to say?"

"What the freak?" It came out as a question. Mrs. McKenze glared at me, and then walked back to her room, her high heels clicking on the hardwood floor.

"Wow," I said, staring after her. "I don't remember her being this…"

"Grumpy? Annoyed? Strict?"

"All three."

We were both silent, and then Marissa explained what had happened. The hospital people had sedated me, and Casey had left for home to straighten things out with the police, who were trying to get Heather to answer questions about her dad.

Grams had died. In her sleep.

Lady Lana was murdered.

I was living with Marissa.

My head spun, not able to take in all the events.

Targeting the Keyes family…

In a closet, dead…

Nothing we can do…

My life was a total mess. I fell asleep on the couch again, trying to escape my life, my troubles…everything.

"…the whole summer?"

I woke to the sound of Mrs. McKenze arguing with Marissa about how long I could stay.

"Mom! It's only until she goes back to college!"

"Every summer?"

"You got a problem with it?"

Marissa and her mom started to argue louder. I sighed and took my phone out of my pocket and plugged my earplugs into my ears before touching the "Music" app on the screen.

You could travel the world
But nothing comes close
To the Golden Coast
Once you party with us
You'll be falling in love
Oooooh oh oooooh

I stared at my phone is disgust. Marissa had forced this onto my music section of my phone, but honestly I thought it was terrible. Of course, the same person that had forced it onto my music playlist told me that my taste in music sucks.

I happen to be fine with what I listen to, thank you very much. I don't need to hear Katy Perry brag about how hot she is.

"Sammy! Someone wants to talk to you!"

"What?"

Marissa forced the phone into my hands.

"Hello?"

"Your little friend is next."

"Who are you?"

"Now, what would be the fun in that?"

"It would be fun for me so then I don't have to worry about that "friend" all day long."

A soft laugh. "You know me. Or at least you used to. I think that maybe you forgot me."

"What do you want?"

"You."

There was a click and the caller hung up. The voice had sounded very familiar, but I couldn't tell who exactly it was.

"Sammy? Are you okay? You're shaking, and you look all white."

I shook my head and motioned to Marissa that we had to go upstairs before I could tell her. When we were in the room, I explained.

But I left out the part about "your little friend."

"What did the voice sound like?"

"It was really familiar, but I can't place it. But why would someone want me?"

Marissa was silent.

"I don't know Sammy. I don't know."

"This isn't a prank anymore is it?"

Marissa didn't answer. Because we both knew that the answer was not what we wanted to hear.

The phone rang.

Again.

I was scared to answer it, so Marissa picked it up. She put it on speakerphone.

"Hello? Is Samantha Keyes here?"

I recognized an officer from the Santa Martina police station.

"Yes?"

"We got a report from an individual that you actually lived in the Senior High Rise, and that your mother was an actress in Hollywood. We were calling to ask you if it was real."

I couldn't move. Who told? I wondered.

When I finally recovered my voice, I used every bit of the lying skills that I had developed over the years.

"No! Why would someone think that?"

"We don't know. Unless it was true. But we trust you."

I felt guilty that I had to lie, but I knew that this was one lie that I had to tell. But I had one question.

"Can you tell me who told you that?"

"I'm sorry, it's cla-"

"C'mon."

"Okay, okay, let me go see."

I looked at Marissa, silently freaking out, my eyes popping.

"Okay, the person was named…Casey Acosta? Do you know him?"

The officer said some more, but I wasn't listening. I couldn't.

Casey? Casey told? I couldn't believe it. Marissa finally slammed the phone down, her eyes practically red.

"If he told…" She left the end of the sentence off, hanging over our heads, haunting us. Because Casey knew Marissa's secret.

He knew Holly's.

He knew Dot's.

And he had already told mine.

I collapsed on the sleeping bag in Marissa's room, and fell asleep. But I dreamed of a voice, laughing at me, taunting me, and then the voice turned into Casey, standing in front of me with a knife. And he was shaking me, laughing…

Telling me to wake up.

"Sammy, wake up."

I rolled over and groaned.

"Sammy, UP."

I refused to wake.

"GET. UP."

I bolted up and saw Holly, tears streaming down her face.

"What?"

"Sammy, they got her."

I knew exactly what she was talking about, but I refused to believe her until they brought the body.

I stared down into the blank eyes of Marissa McKenze, and started to scream.

And started to wake up again.

My first thought was, Dang, two dreams in one.

My second thought was, Marissa!

I slipped out of the sleeping bag (which was quite a feat, because I guess when you scream and kick because you think that your best friend has died, you mess up sleeping bags a lot). I then looked in her bed.

She was there.

I breathed a sigh of relief, but something still bothered me. I, Sammy Keyes, crime solver, nineteen year old detective, criminal's biggest fear…

Was scared.

Even more so when I saw that Marissa in the bed wasn't Marissa at all. Because Marissa's head is most definitely not a pillow, lying on top of pillows used to make a body.

Something was really wrong.

This chapter took me a long time. A really long time. To edit it and all that crap. So press that review button.