A/N: Trigger warning in this chapter for a little bit. It's in italics and surrounding by time lapse lines. It's not very important to the chapter so people can skip over it if you want. Also, sorry it took so long for me to get a chapter in. I'm not gonna make excuses.

Alex swings his arm around Jessie as they sit inside the clubhouse, waiting for the rest of the Eagles to get ready for the day. Jessie didn't put any makeup on today since the majority of her bruises that haven't healed yet are concealed by her clothing.

"Why were you so grumpy this morning?" Alex asks her quietly.

Jessie shrugs. "I don't know, felt like getting in a tougher workout."

Haley comes into the clubhouse from another part of the school. Haley seems stressed out so Jessie stands up and starts walking towards the door. "I think I'm going to leave you guys together. See you for classes," Jessie tells them walking out.

Jessie checks her Louie for the time. She still has half an hour before she has to be anywhere though so instead of going to the beach like she would usually go, she heads towards the music room in high hopes that she'll be the only one there.

She gets into the soundproof room and grabs the dusty jazz bass in the room. Jessie gets comfortable on a stool and starts plucking carefully at the strings.

"You made me forget

Everything I needed to fret.

You made me believe

That everything, I could achieve

You were the rhythms to my blues

The swinging to my jazz

The two step to my country

The rock to my roll

I threw away everything

Just to be your anything

It was easy to see

You were everything to me

But you decided my heart wasn't enough

I could never call you on your bluff

When you promised me

You wouldn't be dodgy

How foolish I was

You were the rhythms to my blues

The swinging to my jazz

The two step to my country

The rock to my roll

I threw away everything

Just to be your anything," Jessie begins singing, go with whatever her fingers decided to play.

"I didn't realize you could sing like that," Someone says, making Jessie's head snap up to attention.

"I didn't realize you were standing there," Jessie snaps at him.

Leo looks down. "I usually come down here to clear my head. I didn't realize anyone else would be down here. They usually aren't any of the other students here. Did you write those lyrics? They're good."

"Thanks, I should be going," Jessie says standing up to walk away. Leo grasps her wrist.

"What's wrong?" He questions. She's the only Eagle he actually enjoys hanging out with us and now she's just shrugging him off. Jessie scoffs and shakes her head as she tugs out of his grip and walks away.

Everyone is hanging around the school and Jessie gets hungry during her swimming, so she decides to head down to the café. Leo and Brooke are sitting together talking about stuff that happened there before Jessie got there, laughing and smiling the whole time.

"Can I have a chocolate shake?" Jessie asks the person at the counter. They nod and get Jessie her shake. Jessie thanks them before walking away, trying to get out before anyone knows she's there. She doesn't feel like dealing with anyone, especially Ravens.

Brooke snatches her wrist as Jessie tries to pass by. "I thought you liked vanilla more than chocolate," Brooke states, laughing. Not realizing that Jessie didn't particularly want to talk to her.

"Just because I like something more doesn't mean I'm only restricted to that," Jessie says.

"Join us," Brooke insists.

Jessie shakes her head. "I'm just going to take my shake and go."

"No, no, come on. Sit down. We were talking about last year how I was stuck in the cave below the school," Brooke insists.

"Come on, what's the harm?" Leo tells her to pull a chair up.

Just as he does this, Hayley's head snaps up and she says something about beeping and the cave.

"What?" Leo questions.

Hayley comes rushing over to explain to them the beeping she's been hearing in her parent's place. The same beeping as in the cave.

"What's behind the kitchen?" Hayley asks Brooke.

Brooke's face drains as she looks at the group. "My brother's old room."

The small group is in Brooke's brother's old room, hearing a steady beep. Hayley insists it's the same beeping from the cave but Brooke isn't sure. Jessie however, recognizes the beeping from a much darker time in her life.

"It's coming from over here," Leo says, stepping over to the closet. Brooke and Leo put their ears against the closet door where Brooke sees something. She adjusts the painting to reveal a button.

Jessie, who was just standing in the room steps forward ready to hit it. "Let's push the button." Just as she said this, the doorbell rings out so Hayley goes to answer it. Leo follows her.

"Daniel," Hayley chases after the guest trying to reconcile what he saw. They run out and the group doesn't know where they went.

"Wait, we don't know what it'll do," Brooke stops her.

"That's why we push the button," Jessie says like she's explaining something to a four year old. Jessie steps forward to hit the button again but gets stopped by Leo coming into the room and grabbing her. Bad move.

"I'm with Brooke, we should be more careful," Leo says.

Jessie grabs his wrist and twists his arm sharply, to the point of near break. "Hm, that's sad." With that, Jessie hits the button and a secret room opens up. The group investigates the little room where the beeping is louder.

Jessie backs out as quick as she can from the room as Leo and Brooke go in further. Daniel and Hayley come rushing into the room to see Jessie sitting on the bed.

"Where did Leo and Brooke go?" Hayley questions.

Jessie takes a deep breath before standing up and going into the secret room. The group bickers and tries to figure out what's going on-Hayley protesting to go to her mother-before creating a plan. A plan that involves venturing into a cave.

The group of five all walk out of the room and back to their clubhouses. On their walk back, they see Sophie, Parker, Emma, and Max all walk in the opposite directions. Nervous hellos are exchanged between the two groups but neither stop to talk anymore.

Jessie, who was smack dab in the center of the group peels off to chase after her brother. Leo snatches her wrist.

"What are you doing?"

"I have to go talk to my brother," Jessie snaps, tearing her wrist away from his hand, "Max, wait. I have to talk to you."

Max shakes his head. "Now really isn't the best time."

"Then make time," Jessie tells him in her annoying older sister voice. Sophie, Emma, and Parker all look at the two concerned but Max nods telling them to go on.

"I'll catch up," Max tells them.

Jessie watches as they get farther away before turning to Max, grasping both of his shoulders. "Don't mess with magnetite. I know you were messing with it before and that had something to do with the janitor."

"Why do you think that?" Mex interrupts hers.

"I overheard you guys talking with the janitor a couple weeks ago," Jessie tells him, alluding the part that she threatened Parker to tell her because Max didn't need to know how much she knew. "Promise me, whatever you do. You don't mess with that anymore. Leave it in the fridge and stay away."

"How do you know it needs to be kept cold?"

"Not important, that stuff is dangerous for more reasons than you think," Jessie reinforces.

Max shakes his head stepping back. "Why do you seem like you know a bunch about magnetite. You couldn't, why would you have ever come into contact with it?"

"Max, listen to me. There's bad people out there who would do anything, absolutely anything, to get their hands on that rock. Not to mention some of the properties. Please, promise me, you won't do anything stupid," Jessie begs.

"Okay," Max tells her, "I promise, now can I go?"

Jessie nods stepping back. "Just, be careful, please." Max nods and does a half jog to catch up with Sophie, Emma, and Parker. Guilt strikes through his chest at the thought of so bluntly lying to his sister. But was it really lying, he's already done the stupid stuff, now he's just trying to go on with his life. Of course it is. He's never done something like that before.

Jessie watches him go before catching back up with her group.

The group sneaks back into Jason's room the following day. As soon as they get in there, Daniel gets called for an emergency practice. Haley reassures him that they'll be quick and then he can get back to practice.

"Alright then," Leo says, "You and Brooke stay here. Daniel, Jessie and I will run down to the cave, we'll check it out and give you a call when we're done."

"Your Louie won't work there. How long do you think you will take down there?" Hayley asks.

"Only a couple minutes," Daniel says, Leo nodding in agreement.

"Okay then, you go down there and check out the cave. We'll open the door after-" Hayley starts but trails off for a time.

"Five minutes," Jessie says.

"And call us as soon as you're out," Brooke tells them. The two boys and Jessie nod and leave the room.

Daniel gets a call from the coach, demanding that he gets to practice. Right after, he gets on from Hayley. Jessie can't hear what's going on in the other line but she gets the gist of it.

He hangs up and Jessie nods towards the gym. "Go, we got this."

"Are you sure?" Daniel double checks and Jessie just nods. Daniel turns around and sprints to where the gym is.

"Then there were two," Leo mumbles as he and Jessie make their way down the path.

"He's no good to us if he's kicked out," Jessie grumbles, she doesn't particularly care for the coach, he doesn't lose well. Leo nods as they reach the cave. He pulls out his Louie and calls Brooke. They talk for a second just as Hayley comes running up.

"What are you doing here?" Leo asks her.

"You didn't think I would let you two go in alone?" She asks. Leo nods, a smile gracing his face. Hayley pushes herself in front of Jessie. Just then the door to the cave opens.

The two look into it as Leo says, "Partners in crime again, Woods?"

Hayley nods. "So it seems, Cruz."

Hayley walks in first. "You good, Jessie?" Leo asks her. Jessie is staring towards the cave. Her eyes blank.

She nods slightly. "You two go in. I'll stand out here as a look out."

"Are you sure?" Leo questions. Jessie nods waving him on. Leo turns on his flashlight and walks inside the cave.

"Partners in crime again, Miller?" A boy slurs at a girl.

"So it seems, Smith," The girl mumbles. She flinches as the boy rears his arm up, the bottle in his hand empty.

He slams the bottle down on the rock next to her. Then starts trailing the sharp point across her face. "What trouble should we get up to tonight?" He growls.

Her breath hitches as the point moves across her face. "Whatever you'd like," She tells him, knowing that anything else would be dangerous for her.

"Just what I needed to hear," He tells her, taking the bottle from her face, "My father wants a certain type of rock. Now, a huge chunk of it is being transported by a truck tonight to some lab. You and I are going to get it."

She nods tersely. "Such a good little girl you are," He tells her. She nods again.

"Speak for god's sake," He yells, slapping her across her face.

"Of course," She says, her voice shaking heavily.

"What happened to you? You used to be so confident. Now you're just a wimp," He growls grabbing another beer.

Her eyes flick up and down. She's too terrified to speak, her mouth quivering. He slams her against the tree.

Jessie's head snaps up from her hands as the cave door opens. She fell to the ground at some point. Instead of dwelling on her past, she darts to the cave door.

"Guys come on," She yells. She coughs as something hits her nose. Her entire face pales at the smell.

"I stepped on a bomb," Hayley yells at her.

Starts to run towards the inside of the cave but the door begins to close. She stands outside for a couple more seconds before turning around and running to go to Brooke for her to open the door again. When she's barely more than a couple steps away, a bomb goes off, slamming her back into the ground.

Little does Jessie know, Leo is fallen to the ground barely ten feet behind her, with magnetite running through his veins.

"Oh my god," Alex says running down towards the cave, "Jessie."

"I'm fine," Jessie mumbles, "Leo and…" Jessie's voice fades away as she falls asleep. Alex looks up and sees that Leo is behind her as well.

Jessie hasn't returned to school. She wouldn't even return Max's text to her. Jessie and Leo got checked into the hospital, but before anyone could see Jessie, she'd disappeared.

Hailey was the last one to be found, most of the people were afraid that she didn't survive until she climbed out of the dirt. While Hailey demanded to go to the hospital to see Leo, Max was already heading to the hospital. He hadn't been worried about his sister at all while at school, in fact he's been trying to avoid her as much as possible.

However, when he heard that she was passed out and wasn't waking up after the explosion, Max couldn't even think properly. Jessie has had him thrown from school to school for their entire life, but Max knows that Jessie was only ever trying to help him. Now, he doesn't know if he'll ever see her again.

The cab pulls to a stop in front of the hospital, and Max throws a wad of cash at the cabbie while clambering out. He runs faster than he physically thought he could run just to get to the desk.

"Jonelle Miller," Max snaps, his eyes flicking through the hospital, his eyes going crazy.

"Do you know when she was checked in?" The nurse asked calmly.

"Um," Max says, closing his eyes to think, "Yesterday I think. She goes by Jessie. Checked in with Leo Cruz."

"Are you family?" The nurse questions again, talking too slowly for Max. Both his sister and him have a tendency to rush their words, especially when they're feeling overwhelmed. When that happens, everyone else talks too slow to them.

"Yes, I'm her brother. Now what room is she in?"

The nurse types again and gives Max a surprised look. "It says here that she checked herself out this morning."

"Well, what room was she in?" Max responds, his voice shaking. She didn't leave. She didn't.

"It says here 3306. No one else is in there yet, and no nurses have been by to clean. Maybe she is still there. Sometimes it takes a few hours for someone to actually leave," The elderly nurse tells him kindly. Max feels somewhat annoyed that this nurse is taking pity on him but doesn't have time to focus on that. He takes off towards the elevator.

When the elevator takes too long to get to the floor, he starts sprinting up the stairs to the third floor. He glances at the room numbers as he passes, briefly looking into Leo's to see his parents tersely holding onto Leo's hands.

Max nearly screamed when Dr. Woods told him that Jessie had been in the hospital for a day. Max didn't even know that Jessie was hurt in the explosion, he thought she was safely tucked away in her room. It was the first time he ever felt completely okay with hitting someone.

The room next to Leo's was 3306. Max swings the door open scanning the room. Only, she was gone. She just left. Jessie just left. Max closes the door behind him and sinks down. The one time she got hurt, he wasn't there. It was all his fault. He was the one messing with the magnetite, Jessie wasn't the one that should have gotten hurt.

Max looks up and around the room, trying to grasp at straws. Not seeing anything to give her away, Max gets up and gets ready to leave.

That is, until he sees the piece of paper being held to the door with a pocket knife. Max takes the pocket knife out, used to Jessie's usual tactic of giving him notes.

Sorry Max,

I feel bad leaving this in a note, but I didn't want to have to tell you in person. I know if I did, you would guilt trip me unintentionally into staying. I know you're safe at this school, even if it does have it's dangers. The people there care for you. However, I don't think it's quite safe for me. I left my previous school due to an… issue with magnetite. It would be unwise for me to stay in a school that has any ties to the moon rock. Please understand my decision. I will be transferring to a school in Brazil. Surprisingly, I still have schools around the world that haven't expelled me at some point, or refused my admission.

Dr. Woods will be receiving my email of leaving the school at some point today. Please remember to take your face out of a book every once and a while. That doesn't include the chess board though, as long as you're playing with someone else. Have fun at this school, it seems like a good place.

Bye Max

P.S. if this isn't Max, please give it to Max Miller, he's my brother

P.P.S if this isn't Max, please ignore and forget the entire first half of the letter. Thanks.

Max stares at the letter in his hand confused. Jessie did just leave. He stands up shakily getting ready to leave the room.

Back at the Greenhouse, Max has finally calmed himself down enough to dial his father. Max doesn't know which school in Brazil Jessie plans to attend, and doesn't know when she's getting there, but he does know that if anyone does it'd be his father. The phone rings twice before the phone is picked up by a servant.

"The Miller house," The Eastern European lady chirps into the phone.

"I'm Max Miller, the son," Max mumbles, figuring that the servant is new, his mother could never keep one for that long, "I'd like to speak to my father."

He hears a bit of commotion on the other end of the line before his father's voice booms through the speaker. "Son, how's your chess playing going?"

"Um, well, it's fine. I just-"

"Wonderful, and your school work. Is that still going well?"

"Um, yes. But I'm calling-" Max tries again.

"Your mother and I are doing well, you should come to dinner one day. We're currently in Greenland, we can fly you out if you like," His father says.

"Great," Max sighs, "But I'm calling to ask about Jonelle, do you know where she is?"

Max hears papers shuffling as his father hums. "I believe she's still at Pembroke. Has Jonelle gotten expelled again. I suppose we can enroll her at the Braxers Institute in Norway."

Max sighs. She was already expelled from Braxers two years ago. The Headmaster would only let her back in when he died. Although Max highly doubts even the next Headmaster would allow Jessie again. She might or might not have given her science partner third degree chemical burns… on purpose. Max doesn't understand why though.

Pembroke was also three schools ago. She didn't get expelled though. She got in a fight and then dragged Max to a different school. That one only lasted for a month though. Then Max went to Greenhouse and Jessie disappeared to a different school.

"No, she didn't get expelled from Pembroke, she was at Greenhouse with me for the past few months," Max tells him.

"She's at the Greenhouse?"

"Was, she got hurt and then left the hospital-"

"Your sister's in the hospital? Are you okay? Do we need to hire a therapist out there for you?" Max has to give a tiny smile, his parents did care about him, more than most people's parents. If anything was even slightly wrong, they'd always help him out.

"She was, but she checked herself out and left a note. It said that she was transferring to a school in Brazil, is there any chance you know which school that is?" Max questions.

"Um, no, should I?" Max's dad questions.

Max leans his head against the wall behind his bed. "Not at all dad, thanks for the help."

"No problem son, maybe you should give Phil a call, he should be able to tell you where the money's being sent," His dad suggests before saying something about another call and hanging up. Phil was his family's accountant. If Jessie transferred schools, there's bound to be some type of payment. Phil was the next best option. Instead of calling him, Max just sends him an email asking about if another school was added to the payments.

Then, Max breaks down crying. Even when he and Jessie were going to separate schools for that short amount of time where they attended separate schools, when Max started at Greenhouse and for the month they spent at an all male and all female school, Jessie always called, sent emails, checked in on Max constantly.

Now, she's disappeared with a note. A harsh feeling in Max's gut tells him to blame Dr. Woods because she's the one that didn't tell him that Jessie was in the hospital, to blame Hailey and Leo for even being down by the cave, the entire school for being so dangerous. This is the second time in this year alone that two students have nearly died. Maybe Jessie had the right idea, maybe he should just transfer out, go to whatever school in Brazil that Jessie decided to transfer to.

He glances at his email and notices that Phil already responded.

Hello Max,

It's nice to hear from you again. It's been a while since you've had any concerns with the finances. The Greenhouse must be keeping you busy. That school of yours seems to be in the news more than it should be for you to be going there. Make sure to stay safe though, keep your full name out of the news.

As for your sister, according to her finances, she's been going to the Greenhouse for the past few months. There's been no new school payments though. There was a pretty hefty withdrawal from an atm close to 32 and Washington early this morning. Then another three withdrawals from other atms in the city. All maxing out the limit possible at the atm.

Phil Goodberg

Thank you Phil

Do you know which atms she made withdrawals from. Or if she was heading in a certain direction?

Max

Max

They seemed to be heading towards the airport. I would assume that's her final destination because within the past thirty minutes she's made two more withdrawals, both within the airport closest to the Greenhouse.

I hope this helps.

Phil Goodberg

Max stares at his screen. The Airport. Cash withdrawn. Maxing out ATM availability. She did this once before. About two years ago, she withdrew cash, hopped on a plane, and disappeared. If he lets her get on a plane without finding her, Max won't be able to see her until she returns.

Within a split second, he decides to go find her. Maybe she's still in the airport. Max could hope. He gets up and tries to leave the Greenhouse but gets stopped by Alex in the main hall.

"Woah, where are you running off to? And where's your sister? I couldn't find her at the hospital," Alex tells him. Ever since Alex became friends with Jessie, he's been nicer to Max, not that he was mean earlier, they just didn't talk that much.

"She left the hospital, if I had to guess, she's at the airport and about to leave," Max says hurriedly running outside. He doesn't bother calling a cab this time and barrows one of the school's vans. It doesn't matter that he never learned how to drive.

Alex follows him out, yelling, "Wait, what do you mean? Is she leaving Greenhouse?"

Max turns around harshly getting ready to yell at Alex. "I don't know. I don't know. I don't know anything about my sister. The deepest exchanges we've shared is asking for the turkey during Christmas last year. We don't talk. We've always been physically close but never mentally. From the note she left, yes, it seems like she's leaving the Greenhouse. Now I need to go."

Alex doesn't bother letting Max go to the driver side, outpacing Max and clambering in himself. Max doesn't complain though, opting for the passenger side. Without hesitating, Alex is able to start the van and start driving away from the school. Max internally sighs, he's much more comfortable with someone actually knowing how to drive behind the wheel.

"You mentioned a note. What'd the note say?" Alex demands.

"She said she was switching to a school in Brazil. The Greenhouse wasn't safe for her," Max mumbles.

He hears Alex scoff, "Well, she isn't wrong. The airport is like thirty minutes away, twenty if I speed. Did she give you any hint as to what time her flight is at?"

"Since she didn't even tell me she was getting on a plane today, no. I had to find out from Phil that she was at an airport," Max grumbles. He fidgets with his fingers, pulling off bits of skin. It's a nasty habit he only has whenever Jessie is making him nervous.

"Who's Phil?" Alex asks.

"The man who takes care of our family's money. Our dad is usually too busy with the business to deal with our finances as well," Max explains.

"Can he see what she uses her money for if he was able to tell you she was at the airport?" Alex investigates.

"When she uses a family credit card."

"Is she?"

"Only to withdraw a lot of cash from ATMs around the area."

"Great. Has she ever done anything like this before?"

"Once, disappear off the face of the Earth for three months. During a break from school though."

"Did you ever find out where she went or what she did?"

"No, she just showed up for dinner one night."

"What do you know about your sister?" Alex finally snaps. Jessie couldn't leave the Greenhouse. She's the one that made him feel normal after Brooke broke up with him. She's the one that made him laugh, even after a lost game and the coach was beating him up. She couldn't leave.