Alex's POV

"Sofia!" I shouted, dropping the books in my hand to catch her. She was out cold. The entire room was silent for a few seconds before bursting back into conversation and forming a crowd around Sofia and I. Snippets of conversation was coming to me as I slowly laid her down.

"OMG!"

"Is she okay?"

"Someone call 911!"

Then, the fire alarm went off. This was very bad. I realized Sofia didn't faint on her own accord, something happened to Lucas. Now the school is probably on fire, Sofia's unconscious, and Lucas is probably with Luowski somewhere. I need to get out of here. One of my friends from Physics, Jimmy, came up to me and Sofia as people rushed past getting out of the building.

"What happened?" he said loudly over the alarm sounding from the walls.

"I don't know." I replied.

I didn't like lying, but I knew he wouldn't understand anyway. Jimmy was with me through all the schools I've been to. He lives only a block away from me, so we saw each other often. He didn't care that my parents were famous, just that we could do our homework together and play video games. When we came to the same school as Lucas and Sofia, I had to admit we had grown apart. Now I needed him, but I couldn't tell him the truth.

"Can you grab her bag? I think I can carry her."

"Dude, you cannot carry her with your stuff too. Give me your backpack."

"Are you sure? These bags have to be heavy."

"You are literally about to carry a girl, who is passed out, out of a building that's having a fire drill."

"It's not a drill." I said, just as the sprinklers came on.

Water sprayed from the ceiling, soaking us with the cold liquid.

"Oh," was all Jimmy managed. He picked up my bag and Sofia's and watched as I lifted Sofia bridal style and walked out the door. She wasn't that heavy, but she was dead weight. We walked quickly to the exit. While walking past the windows, I glanced through and my stomach fluttered. Everyone was outside. Sirens were blazing as a fire truck pulled up. And no one noticed it. A dark van was parked where no people were looking. Two younger looking men were seemingly just surveying the fire, but I knew better. Suddenly they straightened up, as if seeing what they were looking for. A group of about eight people came over to them. They were walking in a tight group. To the untrained eye, it looked like a bunch of friends hanging out and joking around. But for a brief second, one parted and I could see the inside of the circle, hidden from view. Two people were walking a boy, unconscious, to the car. A boy with dark brown hair that seemed to be slightly smoking. A boy I knew all too well. My best friend.

We were doomed. Smoke was filling the building, just as Jimmy and I reached the exit. He opened the door and flung himself outside. Immediately I heard shouting.

"Sofia! Lucas! Alexander!"

Uncle Finn was getting out of his car, looking extremely worried. His eyes were scanning the crowd.

"Over here!" I shouted. Jimmy was still with me as I set Sofia down on the ground. As Uncle Finn was running up, I looked around for the van. It was a few hundred feet away. They seemed to be loading Lucas in, but he was slightly waking up. He looked really drowsy, but he was putting up a fight. I heard rustling behind me, Sofia coming to.

"What happened?" Uncle Finn asked.

Sofia, from the ground and still drowsy, mumbled "Lucas."

I made eye contact with Noah Luowski from across the lawn. He just smirked and turned back to the kidnapping as if I wasn't worth his time. Like I was useless. I got up and started going for Lucas but Uncle Finn stopped me.

"Alex, I need your help."

"But…"

"They will get away before you can get to him. If they let you get close enough they could have you too." he said.

"Who? What's going on?" Jimmy asked oblivious.

"Come on, we have to get you out of here." Uncle Finn said. "You should probably come too." he added to Jimmy.

He lead us to his car before taking off to sign us out. I was left with an very drowsy Sofia and a confused Jimmy.

"You haven't answered my question. What's going on? What was that all about? How did you know it wasn't a drill?"

"It's a very long story." I said, avoiding his gaze.

"It looks like we've got time."

"I can't tell you."

"Why not? Why so secretive?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Alex?" Sofia's voice was soft. As I looked over to her, I saw she was blinking furious, her eyes going in and out of focus. "Water."

I grabbed her water bottle from her bag and took the cap off for her. She drank from it and looked at me gratefully.

"Alex. I can't help if I don't know-"

"You can't know. It's too dangerous. For you and us."

"Too dangerous?" Jimmy asked, still unbelieving and stubborn. He was hispanic, with dark hair and eyes that could bore into your soul. His next question made me freeze. "Where's Lucas?"

My heart raced as I glanced at Sofia. She seemed to be gaining more energy from the water.

"He's, um… Well, he's-"

"Alex, he's gone isn't he?" Sofia asked, her voice defeated.

I couldn't lie to her. "Yeah."

She leaned back closing her eyes as if she was car sick, although we weren't even moving yet.

"Woah? Is he okay? Did he get stuck in there or something?"

"No, he was kidnapped." I said briefly.

"Okay. I'm done with this. I need answers, now!"

"Look, Jimmy." I said, "Really it's dangerous."

"Too dangerous for me but not for you two!"

"We're already in it. Lucas has been kidnapped, and Sofia and Lucas were drugged."

"Are you in a gang or something?"

"Not unless Disney is considered a gang."

"Disney? You mean like 'Kingdom Keeper' stuff? Please, Alex. You know I don't believe that its-"

"It's all true. I didn't think it was until a few days ago. The stories about our parents," I said, gesturing to Sofia, "it's all true. The crossing over, fighting the villains, the characters being real, all of it is true. Sofia, Lucas, Eli Maybeck, Emma Webb, and I, we've just found out about it. The villains are after us, mainly Lucas, and now they have him. You can't be in this or you'll be seriously hurt. The last direct run in we had, Sofia got drugged and kidnapped by Noah Luowski, Lucas and Eli nearly got shot, and Emma and I were very close to being taken by Kylo Ren. The time before that, we had a fireball thrown at us by Maleficent, yes the green fairy, and we were chased through Magic Kingdom by pirates. So, yeah. It's too dangerous."

I said this all in one breath. Jimmy was looking unconvinced until I finished my rant. He remained silent. Uncle Finn got back into the car. He sped off, back towards the Whitman's house.

"What exactly happened?" he asked. His voice was calm, but his eyes in the mirror showed his worried state. "You okay, Sof?"

"Umm, hmm." Sofia confirmed, looking like she was falling back asleep.

"Stay up if you can. Was it the drugs?" he asked, more towards me than Sofia.

I glanced at Sofia, she shook her head slightly. We had to alter the story. No one else can know about the empathy. That was clear. It was too big of a weakness. I started the story.

"Sofia and I had been keeping an eye out for Lucas and avoiding Luowski. It was working up until lunch. Normally, Lucas and I walked together to lunch, since our classes are close together. Lucas wasn't there so I assumed he was at lunch already. When I got there, he wasn't there. Neither was Luowski.-"

"Luowski?" Uncle Finn asked.

"Dad, it's Noah Luowski." Sofia said, still a bit drowsy but clearing than before, "Not Greg. What happened between you two anyway?"

I had no idea what she was talking about, but Uncle Finn did. "I'm not even going to ask how you know Greg Luowski. But, he used to be an OTK, before changing sides when they forced him to do things he didn't like." he said.

"OTK?" I asked.

"Overtaker kid. Green eyes."

"Green eyes?"

"When we were around your guys' age, the Overtakers started recruiting teenagers our own age. They gave them supernatural powers and told them to watch us, spy on us. Take us and bring us to them once as a sacrifice."

This information was totally new. Sofia had noticed the green eyes on Luowski. So he is an OTK. He is working for the Overtakers, just like we thought.

"Anyway," I continued, "We figured out what happened quickly and rushed off to find him. But before we could, we got caught by another one of his gang. Sofia got drugged, but then the fire alarm went off and he ran away. I assume the fire alarm was Lucas doing." I finished, hoping it sounded believable.

Uncle Finn just nodded. We reached the Whitman's home and Uncle Finn took Sofia inside. No one else was home, they all had jobs. He set Sofia down on the couch and asked what we wanted for lunch. Lunch had been a distant memory. As he went off the make a bunch of sandwiches, which Sofia said is a safe meal with him, Jimmy looked back at me.

"I think you are a bit in over your head. You said it's too dangerous. I don't think you were telling the complete truth to Finn, and I don't know why. You were already in the cafeteria when Sofia fainted. But, that's none of my business. All I know for sure is, you've changed. You're obsessive and secretive. I can't deal with you. I need to leave."

This caught me off guard. I hadn't expected Jimmy to figure it all out. I blushed red at being caught in a lie. The next thing he did was even more unexpected. He left. He walked right out the front door. Sofia was asleep again. I was practically alone. No, I wasn't. I couldn't think about it like that. Jimmy had never been in this. We need to stick together. If this was the only way to get the job done, so be it.

I looked at Sofia's body. She needs my help. Lucas needs my help. Our help. It's going to take all of us. Evil needs to be stopped. No matter what the cost.