A/N: Sorry it's been so long since my last update. I've been concentrating on my other fics. In fact, I wouldn't have updated this if it weren't for Ludwina, who promised she would "get REALLY REALLY angry" if I didn't. And I wouldn't want that. This chapter is dedicated to Ludwina for inspiring me to continue with this story. Thanks so much!

Oh, and since it's been so long, you might need a summary of what's happened. I actually had to go back and read the whole thing so I could remember what was going on. :D So here's just a rough outline.

Rob takes Jess to his Uncle Randy's wedding. That night Jess, who hasn't dreamed about a missing person in nearly a year, dreams that she is locked in a basement, tired, hurt, and drugged. Since she believes her powers to be gone, she ignores the dream. However, Rob calls with bad news. After the reception party from the night before, Cody went missing. The next night, Jess dreams of Cody again, and this time she tells Rob and they go to a house a ways outside the city, to the basement from Jess' dreams. However, Cody is not there. As they are leaving, they run into a girl. She explains that her name is Marie and she's a psychic who dreamed about a boy hidden in the basement of this house. Jess, shocked and overjoyed to have someone who understands her, immediately becomes friends with Marie. Later, Jess sees Marie and Rob kissing and gets jealous and heartbroken. Cee Cee is kidnapped and a note is left for Jess, telling her to mind her own business or else. Eventually, Jess believes Rob when he tells her Marie kissed him, not the other way around. That night, after another dream, Jess and Rob go the the woods next to the house in which Cody had originally been held. There, Jess and Rob get captured by (dun dun dun) Marie.

I think that about catches us up...So without further ado, I present Another: Chapter X.

Chapter X

"Rob," I whispered through the open window. I peered past the metal bars into the darkness. "Rob," I whispered again, and this time I heard him stir.

"Jess? Is that you?" he whispered back. His voice seemed to be coming from the far corner of the room.

"Yes."

There was a slight movement within and then he was there, his hands gripping the bars between us. "How'd you get here?" he asked.

"It wasn't easy," I said, smiling at the memory. "The guards change ever hour," I told him. "They lock the door, so it's not a big deal to them if they leave a minute or two early." I dug into my pocket. "I used this to pick the lock," I informed him, holding up a paperclip I'd found under the bed. "It wasn't easy in the dark."

"Brilliant," he breathed. "They underestimate you, Mastriani."

I was glad for the darkness, as it hid my blush. Smiling, I reached through the door to touch his face. I held his head between my hands, running my thumbs gently over his cheeks. "I had to see you," I told him.

In the sparse light from the moon, I saw him smile. "How'd you know where to find me?" he asked. Then, seeing the look on my face, he said, "Oh, right."

For a moment we just stood there, enjoying each other's company. I wondered how long I had before they knew I was missing.

"Did you find him?" Rob asked. It took me a second to figure out whom he was talking about.

"No," I said, pulling the photograph from the pocket of my jeans. "I'm not sure I want to," I admitted.

I knew Rob understood, even though he remained silent. I couldn't condemn the poor boy in this photograph to death.

"You could pretend you did," Rob whispered suddenly. "Give them a fake address or something."

"It'd never work, though," I said. "She'd check and then if he wasn't there—" I didn't want to think about it. "She wouldn't just let us go before she checked."

"Yeah," he agreed. "You're right, but what can we do?"

There was silence as we both tried—and failed—to answer this question. Finally, Rob broke the silence.

"You know," he whispered. "You're out. You can leave."

I gasped at the thought. "I couldn't leave you here! And what about Cody and Ruth? I could never just—"

"I know," he said, cutting me off. There was a pause before he spoke again. "Jess—" he began. But he was cut off as a key turned in the lock. Quickly, I pulled my hands through the bars and ducked down below the window. I heard Rob dash back across the room. The old bed creaked slightly as he lay back down.

A second later, the door opened, and I heard someone speak softly. "Your girlfriend's not cooperating," said Marie. "Think she might consider rethinking it if your life depended on it?"

"No," said Rob angrily. "She's not going to play your little game."

"Oh, really?" Marie's voice held a hint of amusement. "Well, I think she might. Drink this."

"No way."

"Drink it now or I'll shoot your cousin," she threatened.

Don't drink it, Rob, don't drink it, I pleaded silently. But I knew without a doubt that he would. Rob would never put his cousin's—or anybody else's—life in danger if he could help it.

"Good," said Marie. "Now come on."

They were going to go back to the cabin in which I was supposed to be held captive, I realized. And yet here I was, squatting beneath the window only a few yards away. This was not good.

As soon as I heard the door close behind them, I straightened up and sprinted back to my cabin. I shuddered to think what would happen if they beat me there.

Fortunately, the guards were switching again, and the current guard left just as the cabin came into view. He walked swiftly away, probably thinking I was fast asleep inside anyway.

When he had gone, I ran out from behind some bushes and threw open t he door, which the previous guard had evidently not even bothered to lock. For a moment, I was insulted by this lack of belief in my ability to escape, but then I heard someone approaching.

I hurtled myself hastily onto the bed, which creaked a little under the sudden weight. But no one came in. It must have just been the other guard coming. I breathed a sigh of relief.

But my relief quickly turned to fear as I heard the sound of someone approaching yet again. It sounded as if there were two people coming. There was one set of heavy footsteps, slowly making their way towards the cabin. It sounded as if her companion was being dragged, leaves rustling as his feet were dragged past.

"Come on!" shouted an angry Marie. "Pick up your feet and walk!"

I couldn't hear Rob's reply, but the dragging sound continued. I realized that Rob was trying to buy me time by slowing Marie down.

I coughed loudly, hoping to discreetly signal to Rob that I had made it back already. The dragging sound stopped and there were now two sets of footsteps.

I sat up in bed as the door was flung open a second later. "Jessica Mastriani," said Marie with distaste. I squinted in the darkness, trying to find Rob, but he was not there. "Have you fulfilled my request?" When I was silent, she continued angrily. "Well, this just won't do. I've brought you something that might change you mind." She turned away from me, toward the door. "Mikey, darling," she called. "Come in here please."

A man I recognized as one of the guards walked in, pulling Rob by his shirt collar. The man flipped the light on and walked over to Marie, whispering something into her ear. She nodded and turned back to me.

But I wasn't looking at Marie. I was looking at the guard incredulously.

"Michael?" I asked in disbelief. I hadn't recognized him in the dark, but now his face was illuminated and I realized that I knew him. "Michael Wilson!"

Marie looked from me to the guard and back. "You two know each other?" she asked.

Michael nodded. "I know her friend, remember?" he said to Marie.

"Oh yeah," she said. "I remember now."

"You kidnapped Ruth!" I accused Michael. "You were supposed to be her boyfriend!" My anger was reflected in every word, but Michael hardly seemed to notice.

Unfazed, he answered, "Yes, it was easy to get her to trust me. And if I couldn't get close to her, our plan never would have worked, now would it?"

I didn't answer him. What was he talking about? What was their plan exactly?

Seeing my confused look, he continued. "I'm disappointed," he said. "I thought you would've figured it out by now." When I was silent, he decided to explain."

"Haven't you even wondered why you're here?"

"You wanted me to find someone," I said.

"Yes," he said, nodding. "Obviously. But why would we need you here for that? Why would we need the others? It would have been so much easier for Marie just to ask you to do that herself." He sighed. "I thought you were smarter than this. I really am disappointed."

He had let go of Rob, who walked to the bed and sat next to me, grabbing hold of my hand tightly.

"Everything was going perfectly, according to plan," Michael said proudly. "The only thing left was to k—"

"Mikey," interrupted Marie. "Maybe we shouldn't be telling them this."

"Nonsense," he said, disregarding her concern. "It's not like they can get away now." He paused. "Now where was I? Oh yes. All was going according to plan…"

Rob's hand slipped from mine and I looked to him, worried. He was slumped over next to me, fighting to stay upright.

"Rob!" I shouted in shock, not caring that I'd cut Michael off mid-sentence. But he didn't seem to care. He just went on, as if there hadn't been an interruption at all.

"We had him alone, cornered," Michael went on as I helped Rob to lie down. "Till that kid walked in." Rob closed his eyes and I grabbed his hand in my own. He squeezed it weakly and I knew he'd been drugged with the same substance as Ruth and Cody. "Jake was completely defenseless. We woulda had him!" Michael roared, angry now. "But the boy came in and he saw us." I was only half paying attention. I got up and retrieved the bottle of water I'd been given a few hours ago. It was almost empty, but I emptied the remainder of the water into Rob's mouth.

"Damn kid started screaming his head off," Marie piped in, evidently over her momentary concern about telling me all of this. "We turned around for one second and Jake's gone!"

"He's damned fast," Michael agreed.

"Fortunately, no one heard the kid," Marie continued. "And he won't be telling anyone now…"

Rob groaned meekly. I hadn't realized until then that the kid they were talking about was Cody. Then I remembered him walking in on us at Randy's wedding. That kid sure had a knack for bursting in on things he shouldn't see. But he'd also inadvertently saved this Jake from being murdered, so it couldn't be all bad.

"Jake went into hiding," Marie said. "We looked for days, but it was like he'd vanished. Of course, there was one person who could find him," she added. "I'd heard all about you, Lightning Girl."

Rob's grip on my hand loosened and then his hand went limp altogether. I knew he'd gone unconscious.

"And then you showed up there at the house, looking for the boy," Marie continued. "That's when I realized I could use you. So I made up that stupid psychic story. I couldn't believe it was so easy. And then you informed me every time you were going to look for the boy. It was so easy just to move him."

Shame bubbled up inside of me. It was all true. I'd just trusted her right away, just because she'd said she was a psychic. Even when it was so obvious she was lying.

"So I called Michael and told him all about it. How I had made friends with Lightning Girl. I figured it'd be all too easy to just tell you Jake was my little brother and he had run away or something like that and you'd go off and bring him right to me. I just needed you to keep trusting me, to prolong the moment you found Cody. So I asked Mike to kidnap your friend and leave that threatening little note. Of course, I'd made the mistake of thinking you'd actually head the warning. But you didn't know about me, so no matter. I could still get you to help me.

"But then you saw me with your boyfriend here," she said, motioning to the unconscious form of Rob. "I'd slipped and left this in the house." She showed me a silver bracelet with MARIE written across it. I remembered that after she'd kissed Rob I'd seen it hanging out of her pocket. I hadn't even given it a second thought till now.

"And you couldn't let us find your bracelet in the house," I finished for her. "So you distracted Rob until you could get it."

Marie looked pleased. "Brilliant, wasn't it? But it presented a little problem."

"You needed me to trust you so I'd find Jake for you," I said.

"Yes," she confirmed. "I needed you to take pity on the poor big sister who'd driven her brother to run away. Or so I'd tell you. And, of course, you'd ask me why I couldn't find him myself, so I'd tell you I couldn't sleep and, therefore, couldn't dream."

Michael smiled. "She thinks of everything," he said proudly.

"But you wouldn't find him for me after you saw me kissing your precious Rob," she repeated. "So I needed to motivate you somehow. It wasn't difficult. We just called up a few friends" I thought of all the men that had helped them "and set up a trap for you and your boyfriend."

"You fell right into our trap," Mike said unnecessarily.

"And now here we are," Marie finished.

I was speechless. How could I have been so stupid? The signs were there all the time.

"Now, you'd better cooperate," Ruth threatened. "Or else they'll all be dead in a few hours. Rob, Rita, and the kid," she clarified, getting Ruth's name wrong yet again. She pulled a small glass vial out of her jacket. "And only this antidote can save them. Now, are you going to do as I asked?"

"Yes," I said, defeated. What choice did I have?

Satisfied, Marie and Michael left the room, locking the door behind them and leaving me alone with Rob, who was still unconscious. I watched him sadly and laid down next to him.

"I won't let you die," I whispered to him. "I promise."

I pulled the picture of Jake out of my pocket, took a good long look at it, and closed my eyes.

Hope it was good...I know it's been forever. I promise the next update won't take a whole year...:D I'll try to have it up in a couple weeks if I get at least five reviews.

Sorry to make you guys wait so long. Hope people are still reading this...

Love,

Maddie