I know, I know. It's been a while. To make up for it, the next chapter will be up before the end of the night. I'm already nearly done with it. I didn't really want to post this chapter without the next one, anyways. Okay, well, I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I think we all know by now that I don't own this awesome show or its characters.

Getting him to talk was proving to be a lot harder than they thought it would be.

The entire group had stayed in the barn that night until the early morning hours, trying to coerce any sort of information out of him. The fact that none of them would lay a finger on him to make him talk definitely didn't help, especially since he had quickly realised this fact. The group had gone their separate ways, discouraged, only to come back the next day and try again.

This pattern continued on for the next week. Each night, the group would gather at Ally's place, and go out back for a few hours and try to trick the guy into talking. They'd only gotten one word out of him in the course of seven days- his name, which he claimed to be Raphael.

Throughout the week, Emma quickly developed a day pattern she was learning to like. Each morning, she would get up and make new discoveries about TV, which she declared was the eighth wonder of the world. Ally turned out to be a creative cook, and she was always finding new ways to cook pancakes for her breakfasts.

It was amazing how quickly Ally warmed up to her once she'd discovered that Austin was really her brother, not her love interest. It turned out the two girls had a lot in common, such as overactive imaginations, a strong desire to learn, and a love of music, though the last one was to be expected. Even with School and homework, Ally was working out a way to fit in time to tutor Emma on things she hadn't discovered yet- like calculus. Ally was clearly ecstatic to have a calculus buddy.

While the others went to school for the day, Emma worked in time to try and experiment with her powers. It seemed as though her encounter with Raphael had set off whatever abilities she had. She'd gotten herself a new diary and had taken to taking notes on everything she found out. The little book was filling up quickly.

For instance, Emma found out that her powers were extremely centered on telekinesis. With focus, she could make almost anything happen, from turning the TV on and off to causing her bed to collapse in on itself (thankfully she managed to straighten that up before Ally got home). But her abilities weren't limited to that. She'd also discovered that she seemed to have a very basic form of telepathic communication with animals.

This discovery had happened on a Tuesday. Emma had gone outside into the backyard to take in some air while the sun was hiding behind dark clouds. She'd wandered into the woods a fair ways, though always staying within a mile radius of the cabin, keeping alert of anything suspicious from the guy tied up inside. It was then she'd come across a coyote.

Emma had no idea that coyotes could be found in Florida. Actually, she'd been pretty sure that they were native to other areas of the world, say, like southern Canada. She'd stood stock still, taking in the situation, trying to decide whether or not to bolt.

Then the strangest thing happened. It cocked his head at her and, Emma could swear, smiled at her. It turned around and trotted away, and Emma knew, without a doubt, that it was asking her to follow. So she did. It brought her to a sight she would never forget- a female coyote, lying injured on the ground, breathing heavily and clearly dying. Animals didn't have thoughts, exactly, but their emotions came through loud and clear, and Emma could feel the pain and sorrow of the two dogs. So she did the only thing she could do. She tended to the female coyote and got her back on her feet. It took a couple days, but the female coyote, who Emma had been calling Nell, recovered magnificently.

The dang dogs haven't left her alone ever since, trailing near the house and coming to her when she came out like a pack to their alpha.

She still hadn't discovered what the voices in her mind were about, and they scared the crap out of her every time they made an appearance. She did her best to ignore them.

Emma got away from the house almost every afternoon, when Ally would take her to the Sonic Boom. While Ally worked, Em and Austin would go up to the practice room for sibling time. She was teaching Austin the tune to her song. Now that she knew about Ally's feelings for Austin, there was no time to waste. Austin was a bit reluctant, but music won out, like it always would.

Trish and Dez usually came by not much later, and the five of them would hang out, including Emma as though they'd be doing so their whole lives. Emma was grateful for the easy acceptance, happy to finally be part of a proper family. Her only worry, really, was at which point her luck would reach 'too good to last'.

The week had finally come to an end, and Emma found herself with her brother in the practice room, playing the song while waiting for the others to come join them. Emma was lying on the couch, while Austin was sitting on the piano bench, tuning the guitar.

"Why are you being so insistent?" Austin asked. Emma flipped over on the couch and gave her brother a questioning glance. He elaborated "With the song, I mean. Why do you want me to sing it to Ally so badly?" His face went pink as he said it. He still hadn't quite gotten used to talking about his feelings for Ally with someone else.

Emma sighed, rolling her eyes as she moved herself into a more comfortable position. It was impressive, really, Emma thought, how both of them managed to be so blind to the other's feelings. Emma could see it. Trish could see it. She was pretty sure Dez could see it too. But no, not Austin and Ally. They can't imagine for a fleeting second that their feelings for each other might be mutual. It's ridiculous.

"I'm just tired of seeing you both in denial." Emma said truthfully. "Everyone will be happier once you two start dating."

Austin's already pink cheeks darkened to a crimson red. Emma had to bite her cheek to stop herself from laughing.

"What's going on in here?" Came a playful voice at the doorway.

Austin jumped, his face going, if possible, even darker as he turned to face the girl in question. Emma didn't even try to hold back her laughter this time, and burst into spontaneous giggles. Ally was standing in the doorway, looking back and forth between the siblings, a question mark written on her face.

"Nothing" Austin said, his voice several octaves higher than it should be. Ally clearly didn't buy that for a half a second, but she let it go.

"Anyways," Ally said, making her way into the room. "I think we need to talk about Raphael."

Austin's face returned to its normal shade, and he put down the guitar, giving Ally his full attention. "Shouldn't we wait for Trish and Dez?" Austin asked.

Ally shook her head. "They can't come today." Ally explained. "Trish is grounded again and Dez's parents want some family time while they're around."

"Oh yeah," Austin said. He must have forgotten that Dez was going to be ensnared by his parents for the weekend. "So what did you want to talk about?"

All took a seat on the arm of the couch, near Emma's head. "We've been at this for a week." She started. "The only thing we learnt about him was his name. He's not going to tell us anything else, either, so long as he knows we won't do anything to him."

Austin's face turned hard. "We aren't going to hurt him." He said.

"Of course we won't." Ally said, clarifying. "But what if we got him to think we would? I mean, we've tried everything else. He's already shown us that he won't be bribed or converted. And if we don't get him to talk soon, then we might as well let him go, because there won't be much of a point in keeping him tied up if he won't tell us anything."

"No point?" Austin argued. "If we let him go, he could go to the police. We could get in serious trouble."

Emma sat up, and gave her brother a pointed look. "I've already told you." She said. "The police aren't going to get involved, even if we let him go. What I'm worried about is what he'll tell his group if we release him."

Austin sighed and sat down in the armchair opposite the couch. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, this guy already knows we aren't a violent group." Emma explained, looking down at her hands with narrowed eyes. "He also knows that we haven't gotten anyone else involved. I don't think you realise exactly how vulnerable that makes us. They could send an army after us if they wanted to, and we wouldn't stand a chance. Our only advantage right now is that they don't know how powerful we are- or how powerful I am. We need to keep it that way." Emma looked up from her hands and met her brother's gaze. "But I do agree with Ally. We need him to talk."

Emma could see the war going on behind her brother's eyes. Austin knew she was right, that they needed some information out of this guy. He knew just as well as the girls did that they couldn't just keep him locked up forever without ever talking to him, or progressing in some way with this fight. But it went against his very nature to have the guy so much as think that Austin might hurt him, especially when he's defenseless. It was wrong, and Austin knew it. But what they were doing wasn't working, and they needed him to talk.

"All right," Austin said, sighing in defeat. "What do you want to do?"

Ally gave him a small smile, and rushed on with her plan. "We need to make him think we're dangerous." She said. "We'll walk in and pretend that we've decided we're going to use force. Then Emma will come in, and hopefully she'll be able to scare him into talking before actually hurting him."

Austin raised his eyebrows at her, and Emma gave an exasperated sigh. "That's a big IF you have going there." Emma said. Ally gave her a sheepish smile. Ally knew her plan wasn't likely to succeed, Emma thought. It was just the best she had. Emma thought about this for a few moments. If only there was a way of making him think they're really serious… some way to really scare him into talking…

An idea suddenly lit up in her mind, and Emma smiled widely at Austin and Ally, who were both staring at her in curiosity. Emma said "I can't scare him on my own. He already knows that Austin won't let me do anything. But if we brought in something that none of us can control… or something only I can control… now that would scare him."

The others seemed to be growing more and more confused as she explained. "What are you talking about?" Ally asked.

"I'll bring in Nell and Noda." Emma said. Yes, bring in the wild coyotes. That will definitely give him a shock.

"Who?" Austin asked. It suddenly occurred to Emma that she hadn't explained what happened with the dogs to the others. Ally didn't even know about the pack.

"My dogs." Emma explained briefly. "They'll be able to scare him."

"When did you get dogs?" Ally asked, sounding slightly horrified. No doubt she was picturing the trouble she'd be in if her dad got home and found dogs hanging out on the sofa.

"Actually, they're wild coyotes." Emma informed them. Ally looked like she might faint, so she clarified "But they're not in the house, they live in the woods. And they'll listen to me, don't worry."

"you've got wild coyotes at your command?" Ally asked, flabbergasted.

"Yes"

Austin couldn't quite wrap it around his head either. "Where'd you get wild coyotes?" He asked.

"Enough about the coyotes!" Emma snapped. "We were talking about interrogations, remember?"

"Right." Ally said, shaking herself out of her stupor. "Barring the fact that you having coyotes at your command is totally creepy, it might just be able to scare him into talking. I like it."

"I'm okay with that." Austin said, not sounding completely okay with that. But it was enough for Emma.

"It's settled then." She said. "Let's go get us some answers."