A/N: Hello again everyone! Like I promised, here's chapter 12! This chapter is a continuation of Chap 11 but not so much excitement in here. There's more to come so enjoy! P.S. I had to improvise on the page breaks, I don't think it's working when I upload my story.

Back at Blake Holsey, the remaining members of the science club were sitting in Corrine and Josie's room. It was now 10:45pm, 15 minutes until curfew began. Lucas sat on Josie's bed while Marshall sat next to Corrine, who was crying heavily, on her bed. Z stood at the front of the room, lost in thought. Everyone felt frustrated and helpless, not knowing what to do or where to start.

"Alright guys…" Z spoke up first, breaking the silence. "It's almost time for curfew and I wanted to tell you what I've come up with for our plan of action…."

Marshall, Corrine, and Lucas perked up and listened intently to Z's plan.

"Since we obviously can't do anything tonight, this is what we will do tomorrow. I know it's hard to focus right now on anything else, so I want you guys to continue on with life as though nothing has happened.

Lucas stood up angrily. "Professor Z, you can't be serious…how do you expect us to ignore the fact that Josie and Vaughn are missing?"

"Let me finish Lucas…" Z said sternly. "I will inform Victor Pearson tomorrow morning that Josie and Vaughn are missing…"

"Z why? He might tell Durst and then the whole school will know…" Marshall complained.

"For one thing it's his right as a parent to know what has happened to his son and another thing; I don't think he will say anything to Durst. I'll tell him that we will find them... just like we did when we rescued Josie from the alternate timeline…"

"But how can he help us? He sure as hell doesn't know who abducted them or know where they are." Corrine asked sobbing."

"I'm sure he doesn't know what happened or who could have taken them, but he will be able to give us some clues as to where we should start…and besides, he's not the mean, cynical man everyone perceives him to be. Believe it or not, he actually cares about the welfare of all the students here, especially you guys."

Lucas rolled his eyes. "So you mean to tell me that he's actually concerned about us? I would think the only reason why he would care is because we saved his ass from Avenir. Give me a break…" Lucas said skeptically.

Z rolled his eyes at Lucas. "I'm sure it's not just that, he actually cares for you guys because you are Vaughn's close friends."

Lucas glanced over at Z in disbelief. "Whatever" he whispered under his breath.

"Lucas we'll debate about this later on, but for now, follow my plan…whatever you do, don't lead the other students and Durst on into thinking that something is up and that Josie and Vaughn are missing."

"Alright Z, fine, will do, but it's gonna be hard to keep anything from Durst." Marshall agreed respectfully.

"Okay Z, as hard as it is, I'll try to act like everything's fine but I can't help crying" Corrine sobbed.

Z walked over to Corrine and knelt down in front of her. "Corrine, I know Josie is your best friend and you are concerned about her and Vaughn's life, but you have to trust me…we will get them back…"

"I know but I feel like it's my fault…I should have listened to her…"

Marshall wrapped his arm around Corrine and placed her head on his chest. "Please don't blame yourself…it's not your fault, you had nothing to do with what happened."

Z stood up and walked over to the door. "Guys before I leave I just want to tell you something…I may have to pull you out of your classes for the rest of the day…or for a few days. I don't think we'll be in Blake Holsey for the rest of the week."

"How are we gonna pull that off?" Marshall asked curiously.

Z shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not sure…but I know for a fact that it won't take us a day to rescue them, that's unrealistic. I'll just have to ask Victor to excuse us from classes and see what he says about where we should start searching."

Lucas sat quietly on Josie's bed, head resting in his palms and contemplating on how he would go about rescuing Josie and Vaughn. He clearly did not like how Z was allowing Victor Pearson to come up with a plan to rescue his friends. He had a gut feeling that Professor Z was missing something in his plan…answers from the janitor. Lucas glanced up at Z, who was about to leave the room.

"Hey Z wait, before you go, I have something to say…." Lucas began.

"Sure Lucas, shoot…" Z said smiling.

"I noticed that you never mentioned questioning the janitor again about all he knows as to why Josie and Vaughn were abducted…I remember you telling me in the library that we'll get him later…Is there a reason why you don't want to confront him now or are you waiting for later?"

Z was lost for words. He knew that Lucas was right. He knew that he was supposed to confront the janitor, but he was wary on how to confront him.

Z looked down at the floor and shuffled his glasses on his face.

"Well Lucas, you see, I figured that we would wait for the guilt to take its toll on the janitor's conscience. That would cause him to come to us first instead of us confronting him first."

Corrine, Lucas, and Marshall eyed Z in confusion.

Lucas furrowed his eyes and stood up. "Z out of no disrespect to you I, answer for all of us when we say what the hell kind of sense does that make? You yourself said we'd confront him and get him to talk. He knows everything and he's the key to helping us find where Josie and Vaughn are! We can't wait for him to break down and come to us first!"

"Yeah Z Lucas is right, it'll be stupid of us if we didn't force the janitor to tell us everything…we can't just ask Victor and that's it…he doesn't even know what has happened for God sakes!" Marshall said sternly.

Z rolled his eyes. He was contemplating on telling them the reason why he didn't want to approach the janitor first. "Okay guys, you've made your point…perhaps we should 'force' him to talk but I like the pacifist approach better. I just feel that he will be reluctant to tell us all he knows if he comes to us on his own."

Lucas let out a frustrated sigh and eyed Z. "Come on Z, you gotta be kidding me…you know what, if you won't force him to talk, I sure as hell will! I'll make sure that son of a bitch tells us everything he knows…"

"Lucas no! You cannot do that…he might be dangerous!" I do not want him to do anything else to any of you guys! It's obvious that he's done something to Josie and Vaughn! Who knows, he could do something to you since you pinned him to the wall and threatened him." Z exclaimed.

"Z please, we need to get him to talk so that we will know where to look…" Marshall pleaded.

Corrine glanced over at Z and noticed that he was slightly shaking. "Z you're shaking, are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

Z glanced at her with sad eyes. "Yes I'm fine Corrine…I'm just…"

"You're afraid of him aren't you?" Corrine asked.

"No, I'm not afraid of him particularly…I'm just afraid of what he'll do to us…especially to you guys. I just feel that if we pressure him into talking, he may get mad and do something." Z said worriedly.

"To tell you the truth Z, I don't think he's capable of doing anything…But please Z, it makes more sense if we approach him first." Marshall spoke up.

Z breathed in a huge sigh of surrender. "Okay, tomorrow after I square everything away with Victor and he excuses us from classes, we'll confront the janitor. I just hope you're right…you guys are my responsibility and I don't want to take any risks…" Z said solemnly. He glanced over at Lucas, who had sat back down and had his head buried in the palm of his hands.

"Lucas, promise me that you will not talk to him without us being present. If you see him in the halls tomorrow do not look at him or talk to him got it?" Z said sternly.

Lucas looked up at Z. "Yeah I promise…I won't do anything until all of us are together," he replied snidely.

"Okay…guys try to get as much sleep as you can tonight…we have a very long day ahead of us tomorrow and for the next few days or so. Goodnight." He said as he turned and left the room.

Lucas, Corrine, and Marshall sat quietly for a few minutes, still emotionally sore and in some way relieved that they were finally going to do something about this dangerous situation.

"So do you guys think that Z's plan will work?" Marshall asked, eyeing Lucas specifically.

Lucas sighed and sat back on the bed. "I don't know man…I'm kinda leery about how Z is carrying out his plan…I mean how do you not want to interrogate the key person first, who clearly knows what the hell happened…it doesn't make sense to me…"

"It's like what Z said, he's afraid of how the janitor might react to confrontation. He wants the janitor to feel so guilty that he comes to us first." Corrine said reassuringly.

"Well maybe so, but if it were up to me, I would have made that bastard spill everything he knows when we were in the library with him…you know what? I should go find him now! Lucas said as he began to walk to the door."

Marshall stood up quickly and blocked the door. "Now Luke you heard what Z said, the man could be dangerous…something could happen to you next! Please! We don't need three people missing or worse!"

Lucas sat back down and calmed himself. "Sorry man… it's just that it's happened again right under our noses…we can't let this happen again…it has to end. The longer we wait for him to come to us first, the more danger Josie and Vaughn will be in."

Marshall sat next to Lucas and patted him on the back. "I know buddy, but please, be patient, we're going after him tomorrow and Josie and Vaughn will be back here safe and sound."

Lucas glanced over at the clock. "It's almost 11. Let's go before Durst catches us in here." Lucas said as he walked over to the door.

Marshall turned to Corrine. "Are you gonna be okay?" He asked as he wiped a tear from her eyes.

"No, please stay with me tonight Marshall…you can sleep in Josie's bed.

Marshall widened his eyes as a nervous grin spread across his face. "Sure, but wait 'till Durst's patrol is over, then I'll come back in here." He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead and left the room.

Like clockwork, Durst knocked on the door and opened it. "Lights out" she bellowed as she peered into the room.

"Where's Ms. Trent?" she asked curiously.

Corrine froze for a moment. She couldn't think of anything to say. "Oh uhh…she's in the bathroom."

Durst eyed her with suspicion, but decided to take Corrine's word. "Okay goodnight" she said as she closed the door.

"Phew that was close," she said as she began to fix Josie's bed for Marshall.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

It was now 11:15 pm, Corrine patiently waited for Marshall to sneak in. At that same moment, she heard her door creak open, and smiled when she saw Marshall come in.

"Hey," he whispered as he sat on Corrine's bed and gently kissed her on the lips.

"I'm so glad you're here" Corrine yawned. "It's been one hellish day huh?"

"Yeah, tell me about it, but at least tomorrow, we start our search…" Marshall said as he stood up.

Corrine got under the covers and placed Marshall's hand in hers. "Thanks for being here, I don't think I could get through this without you."

Marshall smiled and kissed her on the lips. "No problem, now get some rest, we got a long day ahead of us."

He walked over to Josie's bed to lie down. They both stared off into the darkness, contemplating on the day's events.

Marshall sighed and turned over on his side facing Corrine. "Corrine are you awake?" he whispered.

"Yeah…I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight. I have too much on my mind. What's up?" Corrine replied as she shifted over to her side to face him.

"I was just wondering about something…what is this phantom thing the janitor was talking about?"

Corrine sighed uncomfortably as she began to answer Marshall. "From what Josie told me it's some type of person dressed in black with no face. She told me she had seen it in the movie we were watching and also in her dream and standing over there by the door."

Marshall widened his eyes as he cautiously turned his head to look over at the door where Corrine was pointing. He was afraid that the phantom would be standing in the darkness and grab them, too. "Wow…he finally said, so only she saw this thing? I wonder why we didn't see it?"

"See that's what I've been trying to figure out. Why did she only see it? We were all in the same room watching the movie. Hey I wonder if Vaughn has seen it too?" Corrine suggested.

"I'm not sure, but he was acting kind of weird this morning when he came out of his room. I'm sure if he had seen it, he would have said something…but why would both of them go missing at the same time?" Marshall asked.

"I'm not sure, but I think that this figure or whatever the hell it is only grabs someone if he has seen it…" Corrine said yawning.

Marshall lay frozen with fear, afraid to turn away from Corrine, who was drifting off to sleep. "Hey Corrine?"

"Yes Marshall?"

"Do you think we're only up against this thing or do you think it's more people involved?"

"I'm not sure, but I have this feeling that Josie and Vaughn's lives are in danger and if we don't find them soon, well…"

"Please don't think like that, we'll get them back safe before anything happens." Marshall said as he fought back tears.

"You're right sweetie…" Corrine said softly. "Hey Marshall? Can you lay with me in my bed? I kind of scared myself by talking about the phantom thing . You can go back to Josie's bed when I fall asleep…"

Marshall widened his eyes as a huge smile spread on his face. "Sure!…I mean sure, whatever you want…" he said, trying not to sound too eager. He got up and lay down next to her and wrapped his arms around her. After a few moments, they both drifted off into a deep sleep, with thoughts of Josie and Vaughn on their minds.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Josie continued to run through what seemed like a maze of hallways. She was careful with every step she took, making sure that no one would find her.

"Vaughn where are you?" she whispered to herself. "I hope you're safe." As she turned the corner, she noticed someone standing with his back turned down the hall from far away.

He was somehow shaped like Vaughn. "Wait a minute that is Vaughn! Vaughn!" Josie exclaimed.

She ran over to the figure and continued to yell Vaughn's name. "Vaughn! I'm so happy to see you! Vaughn! Vaughn?" she said as she stopped running.

As she got closer to the person, she realized too late that it wasn't Vaughn. "Oh shit!" she said as she slowly backed away. "You're not Vaughn you're…"

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain on the back of her head. "What's happening?" she said groggily as she slowly fell to the floor. Darkness filled the room as she tried to focus her eyes on the figure that was standing over her. "Vaughn help me…" she whispered as she slipped into unconsciousness.

Well, that's chap 12! I know you're anxious as to what's happened to Josie and how they are going to save Josie and Vaughn! Chap. 13 and 14 are coming up soon! Thank you guys for reading and reviewing! So if you have not done so, please please please, rate and review so that I will know if I'm going the right way with this fic! Thank you!