Hey told you guys I would update! I'll get to Exposed over the weekend; the rest of my week is filled up otherwise. Thanks for being so patient.

I own no original HOA.

Fabian's POV

Chey insisted she was alright when both Nina and Aurora asked. I could tell she really wasn't – one of those feelings that had been getting stronger. I exchanged a glance with them, knowing they heard the lie in her hoarse whisper, saw the new dullness of her gaze. And it was not just the vision that had drained her. Those henchmen were getting close, clear in her very exhausted expression.

"I'll be alright," she grumbled fiercely in my ear.

"I wasn't–"

She shook her head to cut me off. "I know."

Nimbly getting to her feet to follow the others, I followed suit. "We have a lot of time with their distraction. I need you to tell me what's wrong." My hand was like a vise on her wrist.

"Fabian, nothing's wrong. Let's just go."

Her struggle only tightened my grip. "I know something is." I rested my free hand against her cheek.

"You're wrong," she argued further, but the venom was gone from her voice. The longer my gaze bore into hers, the more she seemed to deflate. "We're not going to leave until I tell you, are we?" she sighed. Her gaze turned glassy.

It was my turn to shake my head. "I doubt they'll really–" A scream pierce the air, interrupting me. There were several male shouts before an uneasy silence fell upon the school.

"Amber," she murmured, closing her eyes. " 'One by one'."

My senses grew foggy. They seemed to extend into the farther reaches of the old building. Aurora was hiding Amber's limp body in one of the abandoned classrooms. Then she ordered the small group to continue. I slowly drew my senses back in, taking the opportunity to find all the guards posted. I "returned" to the room to find Chey amidst another vision.

Blinking her suddenly bloodshot eyes, she refocused on me. Fear was evident on her face. "We have to hurry."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Where'd you get the sword?" I inquired, laughter edging my voice.

"Hmm?" She followed my gaze. "Oh, er… I'm not sure. I had a vision I was holding a claymore – this claymore, actually – and, well, here it is."

Nodding absently, I silently reminded myself that stranger things had happened. By Chey's first-impression exterior, she could use a sword from time to time. It was one of those things that just seemed right. (Weird, but right.)

"Afraid of a little silver?" she mocked, slipping it into a sheath. "Part werewolf, perhaps?"

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, I'll admit that gods, goddesses, and Guardians exist. But I find no logic for werewolves or, for Amber, vampires."

She dragged out the word, "Sure." With a wicked devil's grin, she seemed to get all her strength back in that one instant.

My senses were wrenched back into one of the darker hallways. Patricia… Joy! I closed my eyes, envisioning everything. Joy knocked out her "best mate" and then hid her unconscious body in a supply closet. When I was back in the bio room, I met Chey's worried expression with calmness. There was no way I was letting her onto my newest ability, especially with the damn prophetic warning she'd heard. If I'm still here, so is she, I thought determinedly.

"Visions for me and whatever that was for you," she remarked. Anger gave way to fear and back. I never knew someone with so many mood swings who wasn't bipolar. No offense to bipolar people. She blinked when I did not respond, which had come to be unlike me with all the reassurance. "Secrets and surprises."

A shadow loomed outside the door. I ducked down beside Cheyenne as she pulled the claymore slightly from its sheath. She relaxed when Jayden poked his head in and slid it back into somewhat hiding.

"What're you doing here, Jay? I thought Fabian knocked you out…?"

"Something in that weird spell made me realize what it was that I'd been doing. A plan, the original in fact, was to kill you. Then it was all modified so there were your friends to crumble around you, and some other stuff that I didn't hear. I've only been helping for… uh, I'm not gonna finish that… but I don't want to kill you. One, Cait would murder me in return. Two, if she doesn't, that guy will." He jerked his head toward me. "And three, you might not be one of my friends, but if someone would go this far to destroy an entire boarding school with murderous intentions for one girl, it's gotta be crazy."

"In other words, you were smart." Her hand remained on the handle of the sword but made no move to pull it back out.

I, however, still had my suspicions. "How do we know they didn't revive you with a counter-spell and you've come to trick us?"

Jayden shrugged. "You don't. Either trust me or kill me; I'm not stopping you."

"He'd never say that if he was lying," Chey remarked. She looked pointedly at me.

Sighing, I gritted my teeth. "Fine, you can help us. Jerome Clarke is patrolling on his own – the only one without a partner. Find him and help him distract all the guards in his section. And if you couldn't figure it out, 'patrol' means 'distract' in this case." I made no attempt to stop glaring at Jayden.

"Very well. Be careful, Chey. Cait is still gonna kill me no matter who destroys you."

"No one is destroying her!" I called viciously after him. The door slammed as my reply. I turned back to Chey, my expression softening. "I mean that, you know. As long as I'm here, I'm not going to let anybody hurt you."

Rolling her eyes, she opened her mouth and then reclosed it, thinking better. She shook her head as if to clear it (I could relate to her stress) and simply said, "C'mon. We have a score to settle."

That's it for this chapter. Review or, like my threat (that I will complete if needed) in the Artemis sequel, I'm discontinuing the story. For proof that I actually will, look at The Prophecy of SmokeClan and you'll find it. Last chapter, easy to spot.

Peace!