AN: See, I didn't hold you guys in suspense for too long. Also, we haven't had a post this long since chapter 48 and this isn't quite as long as that. This one is 4,011 words. I'm making up for the short 50th chapter. We're over 147,000 words in this story, guys, and I started this on a whim back in March, as a short story about Cassie and Malcolm. I wanted to give Malcolm a love life. That's how this story started.

Any questions about me or the story, ask them, and if I can I'll answer them.

Love you awkward turtles.


Malcolm darted for the other door to lock it while I closed the door I was holding and locked it. I hit the lights and quickly closed the blinds that Mr. Shumpter had installed for tests.

Nico pushed the desk over the door that Malcolm was at while the chill guy—his name was Carl or Casey or something, I would have to find out—pushed a student desk over to the one I'm at.

I helped him push it up against the door.

"Get down. Get down." Malcolm said, pulling the fear stricken girls to the cabinets on the same wall as the doors. "Get between the cabinets."

Nico and I ran to close the curtains.

I picked up a freaked out Parker and slid over to the cabinets.

Another shot, followed closely by another echoed in the halls.

Malcolm pulled me and Nico closer to the wall.

Freddy took Parker. He was small enough that he was in the built in cabinet.

Jenny and Lexi were holding on to each other.

Jessica was holding her hand firmly over her mouth, tears already streaming down her face.

Casey was shaking.

John had his arms around Morgan. "Are we sure…?"

"Yes," I hissed. "Those were—"

Another gunshot rang out.

Lexi squeaked, starting to cry.

I grabbed her hand.

Nico had to squish himself into the space, so he was halfway on top of me. I held him there, keeping him from sliding away.

Malcolm kissed my temple, oddly calm.

I understood why. I was calm too. Nico looked pretty calm too.

Two more shots, closer this time, followed by a different sort of bang.

"What was…?" Jenny asked.

I looked at the others. "Door knocked in, I think."

Malcolm nodded.

I realized that he was planning. It was who he was.

Four shots in a row. Closer now.

My phone started ringing. Loudly.

"Let go," Nico whispered.

I did.

He darted forward and grabbed the phone, then scrambled back to us as he silenced it.

I heard footsteps or something coming toward us.

Nico handed me the phone.

I quickly texted Johnny about the shooter. The shooter was too close to call the police. If we spoke now, we would be heard.

I didn't even know if Johnny was alive.

Then he texted back saying that coach had already called the police, that they were arriving right now. That he would send them our way.

"Police are coming," I breathed.

Someone tried the door handle.

Silence for two seconds.

Then someone shot the hinges.

Malcolm moved me so I was behind him a bit. "No one move."

Someone started forcing it open.

Johnny texted me to keep talking to him.

I told him that the door was being broken down.

Then there were some shouts out in the hall. Police.

I squeezed Lexi's hand.

There was a lot of gunfire after that and we were all huddled together trying to stay quiet and not freak out, hoping we would all live.

Someone started entering the room.

"This is the Frankenmuth Police Department, is everybody okay?"

We looked at each other.

"We're fine," I said.

"Let's get you out of here, we've secured the area."

Malcolm got up and then helped the rest of us up.

"Sir…did any students…?" I couldn't finish the question.

"No, let's get you kids out of here." He pushed the last of our barrier away.

We all followed the policemen out, they led us around the body, and out to the football field.

Johnny saw us and ran over, he looked relieved. "Hey! Hey!" He grabbed Nico and Me into a quick hug, then hugged the others, even Malcolm and Jenny. "Thank God you guys are okay. I was worried!"

"You smell," I complained, hands shaking.

"Football practice, sorry if I'm a little smelly," He responded jokingly, but he looked exhausted.

Malcolm wrapped an arm around my shoulders, and hid his face in my hair. "You okay?"

I nodded a little, leaning back against him a little.

Nico took my hand.

Coach Greebs jogged over. "We're going to call your parents to have you picked up. We're going to have to try and place kids off campus tonight, so if you live in the dorms and you don't have family nearby then we'll be arranging for host families."

"Coach, um, our legal guardian is downstate." Nico said.

"And I don't go to this school." Malcolm said.

"We'll figure it out. Just stay there. I'm going to talk to the dean and the officers." Coach walked off.

Johnny went back over to his team, talking with them a bit.

There were other kids milling around the field, looking freaked out.

It was like everyone was recovering from this fear that hadn't even touched me. They were all deeply touched by this and I…

"Cassie Dellaro? She's such a bitch."

I flinched, and looked that way.

Brandi was talking to some of the guys from the football team.

"Yeah, but that body is slammin'."

I glanced at Nico, but he was talking to Freddy, trying to calm him down as they both arranged Nico's bag for Parker.

Malcolm was talking to Jenny and Lexi.

"I bet behind that good girl facade she's a little slut." Marcus, the linebacker, made a kissy face when he saw me looking at them.

I felt my nose scrunch slightly and my lip curl, and I turned away from them. That's really what they're going to talk about right after a shooting?

"I bet she's kinky," Brandi joked. "Just look at the way she hangs out with the fag."

I don't remember going over to her.

I do remember punching her perfect little nose. "Don't you ever call someone that again."

Everyone had stopped talking, looking over at Brandi because she was practically screaming about her broken nose.

"Do you hear me? You will not call someone that. Not while I'm around. Got it?" I took a step forward.

Marcus and Drew (the two guys talking to her) backed away, nodding.

Brandi swore at me and called me the B-word about twelve times.

I shook my head. "Your vocabulary sucks, your grammar is worse, and your whole attitude is that of someone at a normal school. This is a school for the intellectually gifted, grow a brain already." I pivoted and headed back to my friends.

Johnny arched an eyebrow, looking at me like he didn't know whether I was crazy or awesome. "What the heck did she say?"

"She called Nico a name," I muttered, not wanting to expand. Nico didn't need that crap. Nico wasn't going to get that crap.

Casey snapped a picture of Brandi on the ground, holding her bleeding nose. "Smile, Brandi, you're going to be in the gossip section of the newspaper!"

She went full tirade, but with the bleeding and hysteria it was just too funny for most people to take seriously.

"Hey, Cassie," Johnny said as he caught my arm. "Remember the ghost. Now isn't a good time to be making enemies."

"She was already my enemy, Johnny. She decided that on the first day of class. I've seen the way she looks at me in the halls. I'm her enemy, whether I want it or not. She can talk crap about me all she wants. I won't let her talk crap about Nico. That's my position. That's the side of the fence that I chose. There is only so much nice in me. I'm not going to start anything, but I sure as hell can finish things. Am I clear?"

He held his hands up. "Crystal clear. I just…want you to be careful. I've got your back. Just…try not to do anything big, eh?"

"I'll try."

"Favor to ask."

"Oh dear." I kept walking toward Malcolm and Nico.

"There's this part tomorrow and I have to go to it for team morale. Unfortunately those things usually have things that should definitely not be there."

"Alcohol or drugs?"

"Alcohol, nobody here is really into drugs except Josiah Rengril and he's…weird. Football team gets drug tested randomly and I try to hold them to higher standards. Works for drugs, for alcohol…well…it's a completely different story. Anyway…I have to go to it. It's open to the whole school. But I need someone to keep me in check."

"Because peer pressure."

"Yes, impervious in some ways, weak in others. I guess I just wanted to know if you and Nico would come. We don't have to stay long and we can totally get ice cream after or before or something, on me."

"What are we talking about? Ice cream before or after what?"

"A party tomorrow."

"Ha! Count me out," Nico muttered. "First of all, ew. Second, I have a video date."

"Then, Cassie, you are my lifeline. Please don't let me drown." He clasped his hands together like he was begging.

I hesitated, looking at Malcolm. "When do you leave town?"

"Tonight, I've got to meet back up with the others. You should go. Full high school experience." Malcolm was exaggerated in his portrayal of excitement.

"Please, Cassie? I only have to be there for like an hour as a courtesy thing and there should be pizza and we can bring our own soda to be safe. It might be a good way for you to connect with more people."

"An hour?"

"I would say two, but I think that's pushing your limits. And mine."

I folded my arms. "And what would one hypothetically wear to said party?"

"I don't know," He said, panic crossing his face. "My older sister always wore either jeans or a dress. My twin sister wore whatever she pleased, usually black."

"You have a twin sister?"

He flinched. "Yeah. Long story. She's in a different state."

I could see that there was a lot more to the story. The pain in his eyes when he realized that he had mentioned her was huge for him. "Fine, I'll check my closet and see if I have something to wear, and if I do, then I'll go with you and keep you sober."

He grinned. "You're the best."

"So I've been told." I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "Think they'll let us leave soon?"

"Alright, any of you with your cars here and a place to go may leave after giving us your name. Those of you who don't go to this school need to provide a phone number for the police in case they need to question you." Coach held up a clipboard.

"Let's get out of here." I stopped. "Oh crap, the manuscripts."

"I'll sneak in later." Nico shrugged.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"Ugh, kind of hate that I have to give the police my phone number." Malcolm put his arm around my shoulders.

"Do you want to talk about that spark of jealousy I saw on your face a little while ago?" I asked.

"No, no I do not. We said that whatever happens happens and—"

"Oh gosh, yeah, we said that at the beginning of the summer. Do want out?"

"No!"

"Neither do I. Johnny's not my type and I made sure he knew it on the first day of school."

"Dude, she shot me down hard." Johnny laughed, catching up with us just in time to hear that last bit. "She's a good friend."

Malcolm seemed uncomfortable.

"I'm allowed to be friends with guys that are…reasonably good-looking just like you're allowed to be friends with pretty girls. As long as that's all it is while we continue to agree that we're dating."

"Reasonably good looking?" Malcolm questioned my word choice, gesturing to Johnny.

"Dark hair doesn't do it for me. Never has. Okay, well, actors, but that's about it. And I loved the characters, that's different."

"His hair is dyed." Malcolm kept pointing at Johnny.

"What?" I looked at Johnny.

"I lost a bet." He shrugged. "I thought you knew. It's not like, blond, it's light brown. You can see it in all of the sports pictures. And on social media. My mom has been helping me hide the roots because I look like an idiot. I'm getting a haircut tomorrow morning, and that should be the last of the dye fiasco. Everyone here knows about my hair. It's the subject matter of a ton of jokes."

I looked at Nico. "Did you know?"

"Only because he told me when he spent the night." Nico shrugged.

"Dang, how the heck did I miss that?"

"I can see the headlines, 'Cassie Dellaro isn't all knowing!' It'll be an amazing story," Johnny teased.

I shoved him and wrapped my arms around Malcolm. "I'm done talking to you today, Cahill."

"Except after you look in your closet."

I didn't respond.

"Cassie? Come on, please don't back out now. I'm sorry!"

Even Malcolm was laughing now.

I smiled as Johnny got more and more comically desperate.

"Please, please! You're my last hope!"

"Johnny, get off the ground." Nico sounded irritated, but he was probably just embarrassed.

"I can't, I'm begging! Puh-lease!"

Malcolm looked like he was dying inside from trying not to laugh loudly.

I turned to look at my pathetically dramatic friend. "This is a new low, Johnny. I didn't think you could get that low?"

"I practice getting low by tripping people," He responded, same desperate begging face on.

I arched an eyebrow.

He seemed to realize what he said. "I mean…I…remember it from my childhood days."

"Stick with the first one," I told him as I turned to keep walking with Malcolm. "It's more ruthless."

"Thank you. Please. Please. Please."

"Fiiiinnne. I'll check my closet when I get home." I signed my name and kept moving.

"You won't regret it! Well, you might…"

"Quit while you're behind."

"Yes ma'am."

"Ms. Dellaro, the police actually which to speak to you." The dean got my attention.

I stopped. "Um…okay, hang on." I turned toward Nico. "Hey, apparently I have to talk to them, here are the keys!"

He held up his hands, and caught the keys when I tossed them.

I followed the dean to an officer from the State Police. I recognized the guy, but I couldn't quite place his name.

"Ms. Dellaro, glad to see you're okay. My name is Officer Jones, I've been working your mother's case for the past two months, after Officer Daly was killed. We met briefly before that, I took you back to the hotel to get your things."

That's what it was. He had been nicer than Officer Daly.

"Right, I remember. I didn't know that Officer Daly was killed. I'm sorry." I folded my arms. "What's this about?"

"We think the shooter is at least tied to the group that kidnapped you and your mother, if not one of them. We were hoping you could take a look and tell us." He was being gentle, kind.

"Of course," I said, nodding. Anything to try and move the case along.

OFficer Jones led me over to where they were getting ready to load the body into a coroner's van. "Hold up, we want her to look at the shooter's face."

They stopped and unzipped the top half of the bag for me to look in.

I glanced at the officer, who gave an encouraging nod, and stepped up to look in.

I inhaled sharply, then nodded and backed away. I knew him. He had been there.

"Alright, okay. It's okay, he can't hurt you."

"He was just a messenger," I breathed. Tears were in my eyes suddenly. "He's only seventeen."

"You know him?"

"His name is Jackson Smith." I ran a hand through my hair.

Officer Jones eyes lit with understanding. "The friend who betrayed you."

I nodded. "He was coming to shoot me, wasn't he?"

He hesitated, then nodded. "Your brother, he's downstate right now?"

I nodded. "I'm going to call him. Ask him to come up for the weekend."

"I'm going to coordinate with the local police to have someone patrolling your neighborhood. I'm going to personally check in with you by phone every Saturday and if you need me, I am a call away." He handed me his card. "This should give us some traction again, Cassandra. I'm going to find your mom's killers."

I nodded. "I need to get home."

"Did your security system get upgraded?"

"Yeah, and we have a dog now. That's usually a little bit of a deterrent. I think the cat is more dangerous, because the dog is this big love-bucket, but he's got a deep bark. Part great dane." I was rambling. I couldn't exactly tell him that there was a magical border of protection there now.

"Alright, you're right. And your mom kept a rifle in the house as well?"

"Yeah, and I've got my gun safety certificate still. Travis takes me to the range."

"Alright, I would feel more comfortable if there was an adult with you guys there all the time."

"I'll talk to Travis."

He nodded. "I've got to get to work on this guy, you go home and try to relax. I'll let you know if I find out anything. If you remember anything, just call."

I nodded, then waved and headed for my car.

Nico and Malcolm were there waiting. Malcolm with his own keys, leaning against a different vehicle, probably a camp one.

Nico seemed to notice something was up first. "Hey, what was that about? Was it connected to…"

"My mom's case. Yeah. Um, he was there to kill me. We're pretty sure."

"Daaamn," Nico said, looking a little more freaked.

Malcolm came over and hugged me. "You knew him?"

"Yeah," I confirmed, then I pulled away. "I need to call Travis, and I need pajamas and ice cream. Let's get back to the house. When do you have to meet back up with the others?"

"I've got an hour or two to spend with you. Do you want me to pick up ice cream?"

"Ben and Jerry's? I'll give you the money."

He nodded. "What flavor?"

"Half-baked. It's like a cookie dough and brownie."

"Nico?"

"Cheesecake brownie." Nico looked wary of our surroundings now.

Malcolm nodded. "Right, I'll meet you guys at the house." He planted a kiss on my lips, allowing it to linger just a bit before he pulled away and got into his car.

Nico gave me a gentle shove. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be better once we get the kitten back into the house and I can give myself pet therapy. I haven't had any panic attacks this week and I'm not about to have one today." I got into the car, and turned it on. "You do have the kitten still?"

"Yeah, she's asleep." He peeked into his bag again.

"Let's go eat away our troubles with ice cream and pajamas."

"Please. I got the manuscripts out of there, and my copy of your book. I need sugar or a nap and I think sugar sounds way better right now."

I smiled a little, and dialed Travis number, then waited while it rang and I pulled out of the parking lot.

"Hello?"

"Hey, did I bug you?"

"Nah, what's up?"

"Well, there was a shooting at school."

"What?! Are you okay? Is Nico okay? Wh—"

"Whoa! Relax, we're fine. The police got here and shot the guy down, and he hadn't hurt anyone."

"Thank the gods, don't scare me like that."

"Travis…he was the friend. The friend that betrayed me."

He didn't respond.

Nico was staring at me now as well.

"But…that means…"

"That he was there to kill me. Yeah. I did the math. You might need to come up this weekend."

"Um…okay. I have a date tonight but I can reschedule—"

"No! Go on your date. Come up tomorrow or something."

"Cass…"

"I'll be fine. Malcolm is here right now. He leaves tonight. We have the magical protection border and frankly I don't plan on leaving it until tomorrow evening. Mostly we just need to talk about what the officer said."

"Crap. Crap, Cassie. Why is there so much crap?"

"I wish I knew, cause I'd order a dumpster for a day and try to clean it out."

Nico snorted.

"Am I on speaker phone?"

"Yeah, Nico just isn't feeling particularly talkative."

"Ah."

"Sorry," Nico apologized with a shrug.

"Nah, it's fine. Alright…shoot. My roommate is drunk again. He gets drunk before tests. It drives me crazy. Guy's gonna kill himself. No! No you can't leave and those are my car keys!" There was someone else talking in the background. "No! Okay, Cass, I gotta make sure he doesn't get himself killed really quick. I'll talk to you in person tomorrow. Promise."

"Okay, love you."

"Love you too. Bye."

"Bye."

Nico hung up the phone. "You two say you love each other?"

"Uh, yeah. Family is the easiest kind of love. He's my brother. So is Connor. Oh, and don't forget that we found out that I'm technically related to both Allison and Will."

"Oh man, it's still weird."

"Plus I consider you my brother, and if we looked at the godly side of our family—"

"Which we shouldn't."

"Then we'd be even more messed up and related."

"Which is why most demigods try not to think about it too much."

"Right."

"You knew him." Nico abruptly changed the subject.

I tightened my grip on the steering wheel.

"When Malcolm asked, he meant you recognized him. But you actually knew him." Nico kept going.

"He was my friend. Or, I thought he was. I tutored him in English for a while, and was in a book club with him. We read adventures and mystery novels. He and I talked about comics and tv shows, books, school, our lives in general. We went to see movies together. Hung out at the mall and library together. He betrayed me."

"Why didn't you ever say that you had a friend who…did that to you?"

"I did. Multiple times, actually. I never went into detail, I think you guys never picked up on it. It wasn't something I wanted to talk about anyway. He really hurt me. I really surprised myself by how easily I trusted people. I was afraid that I was doing it to myself again. But I wasn't. I'd thought he was a good person." I pulled into the garage. "I need pajamas. Can you let Batman out?"

"Yeah, I can do that."

I went and got into my comfy pajamas and went back downstairs to grab some water. "Anything on the news yet?"

"Yeah, they said they would talk about it after the break." Nico rubbed his face into Batman's fur. "Batman's being lazy. He barely made it out to the yard."

"He's a lazy baby." I sat down next to Nico and cuddled up with him.

He rested his head on mine.

"A single shooter entered Hanson's high school today. The police did take out the shooter and investigations are ensuing. None of the kids were hurt. A statement from the dean of the school, Peter Drake, said that the school will be closed for the next five days while they upgrade the security system. They ask that the students check their school mail for assignments while the school is closed and assure parents that they are doing everything in their power to ensure that this doesn't happen again. They also would like to assure parents that this was not done by a student. They're looking to hire security guards and will be accepting applications." The news reporter wrapped up the segment.

"Short and sweet. Guess that's enough to cover it." I stroked Batsy's fur.

"Well," Nico started. He didn't continue.

I nudged him. "Ice cream."

"Huh? Where?"

"Not here, not yet."

"That's so mean!"

"Ice cream is here!" Malcolm called out.

Batman barked.

"Ferocious, you're such a good guard dog," I told him dryly.

Nico chuckled. "Ice cream."