The next day, the three Hardys, Kevin, Ariel, Mr. Calloway, and Mr. Jacobs were all gathered at Mr. Wright's shop as they all worked at practicing using their powers. However as their practicing went on, Jeff kept getting distracted as he thought about a talk he had with Maria before everyone had left school for the day.

"Hey Jeff, me and some of the others were wondering if you, Matt, and Alex would be interested in coming to the mall with us. Since it's the start of the weekend, we figured that we'd start it by doing some early window shopping," Maria said.

"That sounds like fun Ria, but me and the others are kinda busy with something later today," Jeff said

"What is it? Are you guys going to need help with it?" Maria asked.

"No, we can handle it. We're just going to do some, uh, studying with Kevin and Ariel later today," Jeff said, as he said the semi-false lie.

"Oh. Well, that's fine. Maybe we could get together some other day," Maria said, disappointment written on her face.

"Don't worry Ria. Just text me tomorrow and I'll be free to hang out all day if you want," Jeff said, placing a hand on Maria's shoulder.

Looking up to Jeff, Maria grinned and said "OK. Just let me know ahead of time if you end up getting busy with something."

"I promise," Jeff said, smiling.

"Earth to Jeff! Hello? Anyone in there?" Alex asked, waving her hand back and forth in front of Jeff's face.

Snapping out of his inner thoughts, Jeff looked around to see that everyone was looking at him with almost identical looks of confusion. Heaving a sigh, Jeff looked to Mr. Wright and asked "Is it OK if I sit down and take a breather for a few minutes? My focus just isn't in the right place."

"Sure thing. In fact, why don't we all take a break for a few minutes? I'm expecting a delivery in a few minutes, so I'm going around to the front to wait for it," Mr. Wright said as he left the room.

Heaving a sigh of irritation, Jeff took a seat on the floor and put his head in his hands while the others stepped out of the room.

Moving to sit next to Jeff, Matt put a hand on Jeff's shoulder and said "Everything alright Jeffro?"

"Not exactly, Matt," Jeff said around another sigh.

"Do you wanna talk about what's on your mind? You know that I'll always hear you out on whatever's bothering you," Matt said, concerned about his younger brother.

Turning to look at Matt, Jeff asked "Would you believe it that I've been off on trying to get better at keeping a better reign on my powers because of the fact that I've been thinking about Maria?"

"I don't really find it that hard to believe considering the fact that you were creating fluffy red and pink hearts all around you earlier," Matt said, grinning crookedly at Jeff.

Blushing, Jeff stammered "I-I-I was doing what now?"

"That other ability you have aside from being able to heal people, you were tapping into it while we were all training and you were off in your own little world. You kept projecting hearts, flowers, and rainbows, which pretty much made me think that maybe you were thinking about Ria," Matt said, his grin getting wider.

Groaning, Jeff hung his head and said "Oh my god! I must've looked like such a dope to everyone."

"Not exactly. As far as everyone knows, you were training and testing out the new ability that you have, so no one got any ideas about what could've been going on in your head. And don't get me wrong. Alex almost tried to read your thoughts, but Mr. Wright and I told her not to," Matt said.

"Thanks for that, Matty. I don't think I would've been able to live it down if Alex found out what I was thinking about," Jeff said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Don't mention it. After all, if she tries to make any cracks about you and Maria, you could always get on her about Cody," Matt said, grinning evilly as he stood up.

"I forgot about that entirely. At least it's a comfort to know that things are going so well for us. I guess maybe we should step around to see what the others are doing," Jeff said, as he stood up as well.

"I wonder what's keeping those two back there," Alex said, worried.

"They're probably just back there having a talk about something. Jeff did look pretty upset about something," Ariel said.

"He did? I didn't notice. But then again, I guess it must be something a bit more personal for Matt and Jeff to talk about," Alex said.

"You make it sound almost like they've got stuff they hide from you. I'm sure they wouldn't do anything like that," Ariel said reassuringly.

"I know that. But, I think my paranoid fears come from the fact that since I'm adopted I feel like I've just been an unwelcome guest in Matt, Jeff, and my dad's family," Alex said, a touch dejectedly.

"Alexis, I don't think you should be saying stuff like that. It's pretty obvious to everyone that your brothers love you very much, so you shouldn't be all too worried about them not loving you," Ariel said.

"I guess you're right. I just get in moods like that sometimes for no reason at all, especially when they do something for the anniversary of the day their mom died," Alex said.

"Maybe it's at least just been a relief to you that you got the chance to talk about whatever's been on your mind," Ariel said, putting a hand on Alex's shoulder.

"It has. Thanks for hearing me out on this, Ari. I've never really been able to talk to anyone about these feelings I get, so I feel great to finally get it off my chest," Alex said, hugging Ariel.

Just as Alex said this, Kevin looked over to see that Mr. Wright was headed over to where their group was resting. However, Mr. Wright looked oddly worried about something.

"Mr. Wright, is everything OK?" Kevin asked, causing the others to turn and look at him.

"I just got a visit from one of the local sheriffs. They were just spreading around warning messages for people to be careful when they're walking the streets alone at night. With all of these reports of rapists killing teenage girls, people are very worried about their own safety and well-being," Mr. Wright said.

"I still can't help but shake this sinking feeling that the person behind all of this might be one of the people that goes to our school. It just seems a bit too weird that apparently two of the victims were girls that go to the local schools," Alex said, wrinkling her forehead in thought.

"Maybe we're overlooking something else about all of this. After all, the info Kelly's been giving us has been a bit spotty in some areas. For all we know, we could have more than one person behind all of this on our hands," Kevin said.

"We could always try our own method of interrogation on some of the people around us," Mr. Jacobs said, as a small flame started to shoot up from the palm of his hand.

"Easy now, Glen. We can't have you going around setting people on fire because things are a little slow with trying to solve this case. It'll just take some time to figure out who would do this and how they've managed to stay under the radar for so long," Mr. Calloway said, trying to calm his younger brother down.

While this commotion was going on, Alex took that as a chance to step outside the store and take a breath of fresh air. She may not have been showing her fear on the outside, but on the inside, she was a ball of fear. The very possibility that she could get killed over trying to help a spirit pass on was enough to make her have second thoughts about this and just leave it to Ariel and the others to figure out. Heaving a sigh, Alex turned on her heel and proceeded to walk down the street to the alley where she had first seen Kelly. The closer she got to the spot, the more she started to feel that maybe there could be something along the lines of clues that could be of use. Wrapped up in her own thoughts however, Alex bumped into someone who was standing in front of the entryway to the alley.

"Oww! Oh my god! I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to bump into you," Alex said, as she stood back up and fixed her clothes.

"It's fine. I guess it's a bit of a hazard for me to just be standing around, so I suppose most of the blame falls on me," the person said.

Once she had finished reorienting herself, Alex looked up to see that the person she had bumped into was possibly a high school student just like she was. The person was wearing all black, even though it was a warm day, and had short, brown hair. While Alex was taking in the visage of the boy in front of her, she faintly heard a small voice in the back of her head that was telling her to turn and run away. However, she ignored that voice and decided to strike up a conversation, all while she felt a small blush creep across her face.

"I don't think I've really properly introduced myself. My name is Alexis Hardy, but to my friends and family members, I'm called Alex," Alex said.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Alexis. My name is Dean, Dean Ambrose," Dean said.

"Nice to meet you, Dean. So, can I ask what it is exactly that brings you to a place like an alley in the middle of the day?" Alex asked.

"I guess you could say that something happened here that I know could've prevented. I just keep getting weird vibes coming from this area and I can't help but get pulled into looking around here," Dean said.

"That sounds pretty awful. Did something happen to someone that you used to know?" Alex asked.

"You could say that too," Dean stated simply.

Feeling weird about what Dean just told her, Alex took this as a chance to see if she could try reading his mind. However, when she tried to key on reading anything in his mind, she couldn't make out anything. Instead, it seemed like she was trying to tune a radio that kept picking up static-filled channels. These all seemed like warning signs that she should stop, but Alex kept trying to find something in Dean's thoughts that could give her a better idea about what this incident was that Dean had told her about. But, at that moment, she faintly heard the voices of Kevin and Ariel calling for her to get away from Dean. Alex tried to turn and run towards them, but couldn't move any part of her body at all, which made her start to feel panicked. Upon seeing Alex in distress, Kevin made a running charge at Dean. But when Dean saw Kevin coming for him, he donned an evil smirk and, with a snap of his fingers, disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Cursing the area where Dean once was, Kevin turned and saw Alex rooted to the spot.

Worried, Kevin stood in front of Alex and, shaking her shoulders, yelled "Alex? Alex, are you in there? Snap out of it! Whatever happened is over now!"

After several minutes of Kevin's panicked yelling and shaking, Alex snapped out of the trance she was in and, falling to her knees, started to cry.

"Alex? Are you OK?" Kevin asked slowly.

"No. No! Kevin, it was horrible!" Alex said, around her cries.

"What exactly happened? Did you see anything in Dean's mind that may have been of any immediate concern?" Kevin asked.

"I saw too much! That guy, Dean, he has some seriously scary things in his thoughts. Dismembered bodies. Blood everywhere. People screaming. He's not of a sane mind! He's a dangerous person!" Alex said, as she continued crying.

Taking this as a cue to head back to the shop, Kevin picked up Alex and held her close as they made their way back. While Kevin walked, he took in everything that Alex had told him. The mere fact that someone could have such thoughts in their head was enough to scare even him. All he knew was that he had to tell Mr. Wright about Alex's little confrontation and about what she said she saw.

So, yeah... Just wanted to throw in a bit of Dean spookiness this chapter.