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"Jerome." Poppy slammed Jerome's locker shut and he just managed to pull his hands out before they got sliced off. He turned to her, and then realised who it was, turning his expression of shock into one of concern. "I need to talk to you."

"Me first." Jerome stopped her. Poppy frowned, wondering what on earth he needed to say.

"If this is about Eddie, Jerome, I'm not really going out with-"

"This isn't about Abraham Linken, this is about something more…serious." He sighed, stuffing one hand in his pocket and running his other hand through his hair. "Please Poppy, oh man. I look at you…no, no you don't." he turned away, facing his closed locker, eyes closed, resting his forehead against it, breathing heavily. "Please god…please tell me you don't."

This was his little sister. His younger innocent sister, the little sister he'd worked to protect time and time again, taking the beating of a life time just to stop her from scarring. Because he couldn't take it, he wouldn't be able to take it if he saw a scar on her flawless face. He'd made her who she was…and to think she was willing to throw that all away and- no. NO. No, his Poppy wouldn't do that, his Poppy, his little sister, his life…she wouldn't. She wouldn't.

"Oh please," he whispered, turning again to face her, eyes watering again, at just the sight of her, alive and well. "Please Poppy, tell me-"

"Jerome? Are you okay?" she asked carefully, unsure whether he was about to yell at her or start crying.

"Please tell me you don't work for Rufus Zeno, please, please tell me he was lying,"

Poppy stopped, eyes wide as she stared at him. This was why he was so upset? He didn't want her to be working for Rufus? He…he cared about her?

"Poppy please, please, tell me you're the sister I was sent away from all those years ago, please, tell me you're not….tell me you're not…. me."

"J-Jerome…" she whispered looking up at him. But she looked down at the ground, not able to lie to his face "I'm so sorry,"

Jerome's intake of breath was loud. Too loud. And everyone stopped, everyone in the busy hallway stopped to watch the siblings. Jerome, head turned up, facing the ceiling, forcing the tears away. And Poppy, looking down at the ground.

"I don't believe you." He stated, gritting his teeth together in absolute denial. "You're lying."

"I'm not," Poppy shook her head "I'm not."

"Give me your phone," he held his hand out. But Poppy shook her head

"Jerome, you don't want to see that-" But Jerome had picked it out of her open bag, and was about to open it when she grasped for it. He held it high above his head. She jumped up "No fair!" she cried "I'm tall!"

"Not tall enough," Jerome mumbled, opening it and scanning through the messages. And he found it. He read it through twice, not believing it.

Can u gt close to some1 in SIBUNA? Need more info.

R

And as much as Jerome didn't want to believe it. He couldn't deny what he saw. He dropped the phone and it smashed on the floor. Breaking into pieces, and the cracked screen went black.

"Hey!" Alfie yelled at everyone watching as he walked in, he didn't know what was going on, but he had a feeling that Jerome and Poppy didn't want people watching "Go on people! I know they're pretty interesting, but they are much to cool for you! MOVE IT ALONG!"

Jerome and Poppy ignored him, but they were thankful for his help.

"Please don't hate me," Poppy whispered, looking up at him pleadingly. "Jerome please,"

"I…" he looked down at her, into her eyes, so confused, so unsure what to do "I…" he grasped her hand, and held it tightly, still looking down at her "It's okay," he whispered, and he leaned down and whispered into her ear "I would never send you back to, Phil. Please know that,"

Poppy smiled up at him "I know, you were lashing out,"

"Yeah," Jerome nodded, pulling his hand from hers, looking around and coughing awkwardly. "Well uh…we'll talk later, Poops." He looked down at her frowning "About everything. Including Eddison." And he turned, heading off to class.

Line Break

"Mick! Surely you could just run into the door!" Eddie cried. The three of them were dressed for school, the problem being they couldn't get out of their room.

"Me!" Mick cried "What about Fabian? Use your mind thing to get us out!"

"I can't move something I can't see! I've never seen inside a key hole? How about you Mick?" Mick sighed, rolling his eyes

"Well what about Eddie? Can't you ring Patricia to teleport us out of here?"

Eddie looked down "Not really…we're having…relationship issues…." Fabian and Mick groaned loudly, sitting down on their beds. "Hey hey hey! Don't judge me!"

"Well you do fight all the time," Fabian noted, Mick nodded.

"That's not how a relationship works, dude."

Eddie looked down "Yeah because you two are getting on so well."

"I am actually," Mick nodded "Me and Joy could not be better,"

"And me and Nina have our fourth date set tomorrow," Fabian stated proudly. Eddie glared at them.

"Well woo for you," he grumbled. "Why don't you phone your girlfriends to help us then?"

"Joy says she has to help Mr Sweet film a movie,"

"And Nina's visiting her Gran, they're in the hospital, you're not allowed phones in there,"

Eddie nodded, accepting their reasons. "Well why don't we call Alfie? He would transform into a key and unlock the door, right?"

"He should be able too," Fabian nodded "In theory, but…this is Alfie, he wouldn't do it right, not to be rude,"

"Hey!" Mick cried "Have a little faith in the guy, Fabes,"

Fabian sighed "Alright then, who has his number?"

They all looked at each other, moaning again.

Line Break.

"Mara?" Patricia slapped her hand against the door of Nina, Amber and Mara's room. Mara opened the door and smiled at her

"Yes Patricia?" she asked, inviting her in.

"You know how I keep my sisters stuff behind the toilet, for in case she comes to visit?"

"Yes," Mara nodded, biting her lip as she waited for Patricia to continue.

"Did you…tell anyone about it?"

"What?" Mara cried, offended, she placed a hand over her heart "Of course not Patricia! I would never do that!"

"Okay," Patricia sighed, nodding "It's just…I found this note there yesterday…and I'm not sure what to do about it,"

Mara took the paper out of Patricia's hand and read it aloud slowly "Beitne allogs paraka," Mara read, frowning, Patricia shrugged at her "It means, the park at twenty past six,"

"Okay," Patricia grinned "It is very helpful having a friend like you,"

Both of them stiffened at the word friend.

"Mara," Patricia began, punching her arm playfully "W-…we are friends, right?"

Mara looked up at her, then down at her shoes, but she couldn't bring herself to say no "Yes, Patricia. Friends,"

Patricia smiled, about to lean in for a hug when she realised she didn't do hugs, and she waved, turning and walking away.

Line Break

"Watch it loser!" Eddie and Poppy yelled at the same time, turning to see a very shocked Mara staring at them both. "Mara," Eddie said first "Sorry, I didn't know it was you,"

"Sorry," Poppy smiled.

Mara clutched the books tighter to her chest "What are you two doing anyway?"

Poppy and Eddie were in the library, both crouched slightly as they peered through the books. They were watching Tristan, who was cluelessly reading on the other side. This was part one of getting Jerome and Mara together, destroying the enemy. "We're just…on our first date," Poppy grinned, taking Eddie's hand. Eddie turned to her sharply, a look of horror on his face, Poppy just clenched his hand tightly and Eddie forced a smile on his face.

"Yeah...books….r-romantic,"

"You two are dating?" Mara asked in shock

"Yeah," Poppy nodded "Don't worry, Jerome knows,"

"B-but Eddie, what about Patricia?"

"Yeah," Eddie turned glaring at Poppy "What. About. Patricia?"

"Eddie thinks she doesn't spend enough time with him," Poppy filled in. Mara arched a delicate eyebrow thoughtfully, but nodded.

"I…guess that makes sense,"

"Yeah, well, I need to go now," Poppy said, letting go of Eddie's hand in relief. She hugged Mara who was still deep in thought and then pretended to kiss Eddie on the cheek, when in reality she never touched him. And then she walked out.

"Wow," Mara frowned

"Yeah," Eddie said in a high pitched voice, rubbing his neck sheepishly. Mara stood there watching him, unsure what to do or say next. "Mara…I'm not…I'm not that type of person,"

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, 'Ara, I know what you're thinking," Mara looked down at the ground guilty, blushing. "I want to tell you, I'm not. I haven't gotten over Patricia like that, I wasn't using her,"

"So you say,"

"Mara," Eddie stepped forward, placing a hand on her shoulder "It's true, I don't use girls. I promise,"

Mara watched him, her brown eyes moving slightly from side to side as she scanned Eddie's eyes. And she nodded "Okay, wait-" she frowned "Does that mean you didn't put the note in the toilet?"

"What? Why on earth would I put a note in the toilet?" Eddie asked, confused "No…I put a note on the tap, that was for Patricia to talk to me, and she never did."

"But…who put the note in the toilet?" Mara asked. Eddie shrugged

"This place scares me," Mara nodded along

"There's something going on, I want to know what it is,"

"I wouldn't." Came a voice. Both of them turned to see Tristan, standing there. "Mara," he smiled "Are we still on for the movies tomorrow?"

"Yes," Mara smiled, blushing. Eddie rolled his eyes

"Oh boy," he muttered, glaring at Tristan. It was a shame, because a few weeks ago he had made up with Tristan, and didn't hate him because he was a mutant. But now…now Eddie had new justified reasons to hate this guys guts…

"Great…and if I were you two…I wouldn't go poking around. People keep secrets for a reason," and he turned and left. Mara sighed, watching him go, with a smile on her face.

"Oh come on!" Eddie cried "That guy? He's so weird!" Mara glared at him. "But I do agree with you, we should find out what's going on,"

"Okay," Mara nodded "How do we start?"

"Well…yesterday I heard Patricia saying they had brought this liquid up from the cellar…I thought she meant they'd been cleaning…"

"And Fabian brought me a liquid," Mara clicked her fingers, looking up at Eddie as they both realised "I separated it for him, and he wouldn't tell me what it was…it was like some sort of…some sort of…potion…"

"So we go down to the cellar, tonight."

"Tonight?" Mara exclaimed, shaking her head "No way, we need time to get ready…in two days time, bring cameras…and a lot of light,"

"Light?"

"Yeah…I'm…maybe…"

Eddie nodded "You're afraid of the dark?" he guessed

"Not funny," Mara grumbled looking down. Eddie's eye brows raised and he flung an arm around her shoulders

"I wasn't gonna tease you, 'Ara. I'll bring a lot of light, don't worry about a thing, and while we're at it, I'm afraid of scorpions,"

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