Sorry about the hiatus these past couple of weeks. September was a very stressful month for me and then my beta had a lot going on with school lately, so it took them a little while to get back to me with corrections. Hopefully, updates will be getting back on schedule now.

Chapter 12

Without any defining explanation as to what was going on with the forest surrounding their districts, Bean, Gwen, Mickey, and Gordie said their goodbyes to the others before going their separate ways, deciding to continue to puzzle it out at another time. Folding up Bean's crude drawing, Allie stuffed the paper into her pocket to study later before slowly making her way back down the aisle behind Luke, Grizz, Alec, and Magnus.

"So, about the blood donations," Allie spoke up as the group walked down the stairs outside of the church, coming to a stop in the grassy field. "How do you want to do this?"

"One of our friends, Catarina Loss, is a nurse back in New York. We were thinking about putting her in charge of organizing the procedures," Alec explained.

"I've already talked to her briefly about this already," Magnus added. "She said that eight weeks between each blood transfusion is advised by the doctors. How many teens do you have living here?"

"Around two hundred and forty," Allie said.

Magnus nodded, quickly doing the math in his head. "That means we'll probably schedule thirty teens a week to get their blood drawn, rotating them all through every two months."

"Well, this is a new one," a familiar, charming voice spoke up from behind them. The group turned to find Campbell stepping into view from behind one the pillars of the church and descending the stairs with confidence. A smirk played on his lips as he stopped a few feet in front of Allie. "Using blood as currency? That's rebellious, even for you."

Luke quickly stepped in front of Allie and folded his arms across his chest. "Back off, Campbell."

Campbell raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm surprised you are actually going along with this." He nodded in Alec and Magnus' direction without taking his eyes off of Luke. "They are forcing us to give them blood or risk us starving to death."

Before Alec or Magnus could defend themselves, Allie spoke up. "We have all found ourselves in a difficult situation, Campbell. I understand that the circumstances aren't ideal, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't help."

Campbell rolled his eyes. "Such an oblivious, little girl," he mumbled to himself, and Allie glared at him over the comment. "This is clearly a power move. Once they learn that they can get something like blood out of us, what is going to keep them from asking for something even bigger."

"This has nothing to do with trying to act superior over you guys," Alec said. "Our people need your help to survive. That's it."

"And what about you?" Allie added as if Alec hadn't spoken. She clearly meant for her voice to sound unnervingly calm, but her tone didn't appear to bother Campbell one bit. "I hear that you are planning to try and start a revolt and take over as Mayor of West Ham. Yet, I'm the rebellious one? What would you even do differently?"

Campbell narrowed his eyes at Luke, who seemed to shrink slightly under his insistent stare. "I see we must have a mole in our group." He turned back to Allie. "I'm sure you have been aware for a while now that many people have been getting tired of your reign as Mayor, ergo the reason why you are scheduling an election in the future. Besides, I'm helping Harry take power, not myself."

"If you were so concerned about people not voting for you, what makes you think the public would vote for Harry knowing that you stand behind him?" Grizz tilted his head slightly as he studied the boy, folding his arms across his chest. "Having you as his advisor surely wouldn't help him either."

"Grizz," Allie cautioned him softly, looking over her shoulder. "This isn't helping anything."

"Yeah, Grizz," Campbell taunted. "You wouldn't want to get on my bad side. I don't think you would like what would happen."

"Like when you kicked Sam out of your house?"

Campbell raised an eyebrow at Grizz. "And why would you care about my faggy brother?"

"Campbell," Allie's voice darkened in a warning, but he ignored her.

Grizz sensed Magnus stiffen at Campbell's word choice and he tried to keep a straight face as the tormentor continued, but he couldn't control the cold shiver that ran up his spine at the psychopath's next words.

"I saw you hanging out with him last week, before you left on your trip. Something you want to tell us, Grizzy?"

Grizz felt a knot form in his throat. They had been so careful, only meeting in public places where it could have just been a coincidence for him and Sam to run into each other. At the library and the garden . . . It was possible that Campbell had spotted them walking home together though.

Trying to ignore the smirk that was coating Campbell's features, Grizz swallowed his nerves. "I'm not allowed to make new friends?" he asked, hoping his voice sounded normal to the bully's ears.

"With a deaf kid? Not likely."

"Enough!"

Grizz jumped at the sudden loud, authoritative voice that broke out behind him and glanced over his shoulder to find Alec standing straight with his hands clasped behind his back. The man was glaring at Campbell with a look that Grizz hadn't seen on his face before. Yet, Magnus didn't seem taken aback by Alec's stoic expression, so it must not have been all that uncommon for him.

"Campbell, was it? The town's resident psychopath?" Alec sent a questioning look at Grizz, who nodded in conformation.

"Wait . . ." Luke spun around to stare at Alec and Grizz. "Psychopath?"

"Right," Allie sighed. "You weren't there when Sam explained that to us."

"Of course," Campbell chuckled softly to himself. "No way could my kindhearted baby brother keep a family secret if he thought he was protecting people." He narrowed his eyes at Allie. "What are you going to do about it? Lock me up?"

"You haven't given me a reason to . . . Yet."

"Psychotic or not," Alec pulled Campbell's attention back to him. "That is still no excuse for your language."

"Language?" Campbell huffed.

"I'm pretty sure Alexander is referring to your 'fag' comment from earlier," Magnus explained.

Campbell tilted his head to one side as he narrowed his eyes at them. Before he could question them about their concern, Allie spoke up again.

"Aren't you on the schedule to help prepare lunch today?" Campbell furrowed his eyebrows, but Allie pressed on ignoring his expression. "You're going to be late."

After a moment of awkward silence, a smirk snaked across his face. "Fine, I'll go," he said, before sending one last scowl in Grizz's direction. "This isn't over, Grizzy."

Grizz let out a heavy sigh as Campbell stormed away, heading in the direction of the high school. He wasn't looking forward to later when he would undoubtedly have to tell Sam that his brother was on to them.

"Are you guys heading back to Brooklyn now?" Allie's voice thankfully brought Grizz out of his thoughts.

"Yeah, we should probably be getting back," Magnus agreed, glancing at Alec. "We need to relieve Jace and Isabelle from their acting head duties."

"Okay, we'll get in touch with you in the next couple of days about starting with the transfusions," Alec promised Allie.

"That's fine." Allie turned to Grizz before continuing. "We still need to confront Jason and Clark about Campbell. Do you want to be there for that?"

"Sure." Grizz nodded and watched as Allie and Luke turned to leave. "I'm right behind you," he called to them before addressing Alec and Magnus. "Thank you," he said just above a whisper to Alec, knowing that Allie and Luke were still within earshot. "I appreciate you saying something to Campbell. I had no idea he had seen me and Sam together."

Alec shook his head. "Don't worry about it. No one should say that kind of stuff to anyone. Besides, I was sticking up for us as much as I was you," he explained, nodding once towards his husband beside him.

"So, what was that about anyways?" Magnus raised an eyebrow as he glanced between the two of them.

"Grizz?" Allie called from the sidewalk.

"Coming," he called over his shoulder, before giving Alec permission. "You can tell him."

Alec glanced between them uncertainly for a moment. "You sure?"

Grizz gave him a reassuring smile, before nodding. "Yeah, it's fine." With that, he turned and ran to catch up with Allie and Luke.

"So . . . what is going on with Sam and Grizz?" Magnus asked, drawing out the first word in confusion.

"I'll explain on the way back," Alec promised, "but we also need to figure out how much we are going to eventually tell these mundanes. They've already worked out that they are in another dimension, and now this thing with the trees . . . We have to tell them at some point where we are."

Magnus let out a heavy sigh as the pair started to make their way back down the street. "I know. I would like to discuss it with Meliorn first though. We need to figure out what the residents in West Ham have to do with all of this."

Will leaned forward in his seat, resting his elbows on his knees as he studied Jason and Clark who were looking anxiously between each other.

"Well," Allie demanded as she stood in the center of her living room with her arms folded across her chest, glaring at the two boys that just a couple days ago she would have thought that she could trust with her life. "Would either of you like to tell me what you were doing conspiring with Campbell?"

"Why are you asking us?" Clark asked, sheepishly looking up at her. "It sounds like Luke already told you what happened."

"He told me what happened. I want to know why," she said, her voice growing louder in frustration.

Luke and Grizz sat side by side on the other couch that was in the room, listening to the uncomfortable exchange between their young leader and the terrified teens before them.

"Campbell promised us that he and Harry would take our ideas for running the town into consideration if we helped him gather some inside information on you and reported back to him." Jason shrugged shyly, frowning at his hands as he spoke. "That's more than what you've given us."

"Have I really been doing such a bad job at this that even my 'bodyguards' want to get rid of me?"

"It's not like that," Clark insisted. "Everything was fine until you blindsided us with saying that we couldn't run in the election for Mayor."

Grizz frowned at this. "What do you mean you can't run in the election?" he asked.

"It wouldn't work," Allie explained. "It's the same idea as with Greg Dewey's trial. Just like how you couldn't be on the jury and then execute him, you can't make the rules and then enforce them. The two need to stay separate."

"That's fucked up," Clark declared as he leaned back in his seat, no sign of the shy and anxious boy that was there a moment ago.

"The point is, we can't have you guys hanging around with us, and then going to spill stuff to Campbell and Harry," Will stepped in, trying to cool the tension that was growing in the room with Clark's outburst. "How do we know we can trust you after learning about this?"

Jason and Clark shared an uncomfortable look with each other, and an uneasy silence stretched over the room.

Grizz stood up, breaking the tension that had settled in the room.

"Why don't we discuss this in the kitchen?" Grizz advised. "You two wait here," he informed Jason and Clark, and then led the way into the other room; Allie, Luke, and Will followed close behind him.

Entering the kitchen, Grizz took a seat at one of the stools by the island.

"So, what do you guys think?" Allie asked, taking the seat next to Grizz.

"My biggest concern is how we would prevent them from talking to Campbell if they decide to help him in taking power. Can we arrest them for this?" Luke asked, slouching against the island.

"They haven't done anything yet," Allie reminded.

"I'm still confused as to why you told them they can't put their names down as candidates for Mayor," Grizz said.

"You guys are like the military . . . or the police. The military can't run for office-"

"No, I'm with you on that," Grizz interrupted her. "They can't be both the Mayor of the town and on the Guard, but I still don't see why they can't put their names down to run. If one of them happens to win the election, then fine, they can't be a member of the Guard any more. I'm sure we could find someone else to take their place as a Guard member if need be. Someone else that was on the football team maybe?"

There was a short moment of silence as Allie considered Grizz's words, biting her bottom lip gentle. "I see your point . . . But still, after what happened, what they almost did, trying to backstab me, I don't think Jason or Clark should be allowed to run after this. It would be like rewarding them for bad behavior."

Will nodded. "Agree. So what do you want to do with them now? Let them go with a warning?"

Allie let out a long sigh. "Yeah," she said hesitatingly. "Besides, we don't really have any evidence that they were truly planning on going through with it, right?" she asked, turning to look at Luke. "Did they actually agree to help Campbell and Harry when you guys talked with them?"

Luke slowly shook his head as he thought back to a couple days ago. "No . . . I mean, when Campbell gave them the drugs it was more of an incentive to try and get them on his side. A 'there's more where that came from if you help me' kind of thing. They didn't agree to anything on the spot."

Allie nodded in understanding. "Okay, then we'll let them off with a warning, but under no circumstances can either Jason or Clark run for Mayor. Luke, if you still want to run, I guess you can . . . As long as you fully understand that if you win, you are off the Guard."

Luke nodded quickly. "Understood."

"So, what about the issue of keeping Campbell and Harry away from Jason and Clark?" Grizz asked. "How are we going to enforce that?"

"Can't we just tell them not to contact each other and if we find out they are going back on that agreement, we'll have them arrested for conspiring against our leader?" Luke tried to reason. "You know, something similar to a restraining order?"

"We don't really have any way to enforce that," Will pointed out. "With a restraining order, one of the parties would willingly call in the violation to the agreement, but in this situation, if they wanted to meet up in secret, I doubt any of them would call to turn themselves in."

"Maybe we could talk to Alec and Magnus about it?" Grizz jumped in, an idea slowly forming in his mind. "A temporary banishment to New York to create some space between them for a little while?"

"That could work," Luke agreed.

Allie considered the idea. "Which pair would we banish?"

"Personally, I think it would be nice to give us a break from Campbell for a little while," Will admitted.

After another moment of consideration, Allie nodded her head. "We can talk to them about it when they return in a couple days."