Chapter 9

Chloe, Max, Trussy, Alyssa and Stella were standing back to admire their handiwork as they gazed at the completed drinks stall. It had been a total pain to put up and offload the drinks, but as the first few ice-cold drops hit their tongues they knew it was totally worth it. Chloe let out a contented sigh as she wrapped an arm around Max. This was it. This was the culmination of everything she'd been working towards. She had her wife beside her, her own business and was helping to change Arcadia Bay in a way that made it somewhat less of a shit pit. And the girl she regarded as a daughter was somewhere on the beach enjoying the day with her friend while being watched over by a certified carer and a fellow parent. She was worry-free and able to properly relax.

As Alyssa and Stella moved behind the counter of the stall to start handing out drinks as soon as people started coming over, they noticed someone heading their way already. It was Officer Caldwell and he was still in full uniform. He was red in the face and panting with the exertion of running, so it was no surprise he wanted a drink. Stella quickly picked up a bottle of water and handed it to him. He gulped it down gratefully before taking a second to catch his breath and addressing the group.

"I need to speak to Alison Lincoln. Is she here?"

"She is." Chloe nodded as Max spotted Malcolm approaching and waved him over. "She and Hope went off to find- Ah, Malcolm!" That was when they noticed he was alone. "Where are the kids?"

"Oh, Connor had a bit of a panic attack at the size of the crowd." Malcolm said, smoothing his sandy-coloured hair and brushing sand off his shirt. "She said she had water in the back of her van. She took them off for a drink."

"And you just let them go?" Caldwell demanded, an agitation to his voice that shocked everyone.

"She's a registered carer with an ID card." Malcolm shrugged. "Wasn't the organisation she works for the whole reason this day was set up? So their kids could get out more?" He certainly made a solid case. And Chloe was very curious to know the reason for Caldwell to show up asking questions. She had a feeling she wouldn't like where this was going.

"It was her print on the mirror of the weapon Hope recovered." Caldwell told them. "Stealth was never her speciality. Her prints weren't in our system but they were in the Canadian database. Her real name is Alison DuPre. She was tried in Canada for multiple counts of assault with a deadly weapon but was committed to a mental institution instead due to being under the belief that there was a vast conspiracy of werewolves out there in the world." Chloe's blood ran cold. Hope had abilities unlike most kids and hadn't known how to keep them under wraps. She and Max had told her to embrace how special she was. Meanwhile, Trussy was busy swearing a blue streak.

"I trusted that woman with my life! Hell, not just my life, the lives of children! You tellin' me that she's been working to stab us in the back this entire time? Oh hell no! Give me your notepad, honey! I'll write the license plate down!"

"You're telling me that bitch has our kids?" Max was ready to go into full-blown panic mode and Chloe quickly wrapped her in a hug. Partly to comfort her and partly to stop her trying something drastic.

"But why would she take Connor?" Malcolm asked, seemingly unable to believe what he was hearing. "What advantage would she gain by waiting until she could grab him too?"

"Because Hope won't try and escape now." Chloe said instantly as Caldwell handed his notepad to Trussy who instantly started writing the license plate on several pages so everyone could have a copy. "She talked about Connor a lot when she first arrived and said about how they get on. If she doesn't think he can make it, she won't try and escape. Not if it means leaving him behind." Now the realisation dawned on him.

"Ah, fuck!"

"We need to get after that van now!" Caldwell said. "Now I'm gonna put the whole ABPD on high alert and we're gonna check all the traffic cameras. In the meantime, I recommend you use any transport you have and we try and get a lead that way. We'll find them, don't you worry."

"Come on!" Without wasting another second, Chloe grabbed a copy of the license plate number that Trussy had written as she and Max headed for the truck. They jumped in as Chloe turned the ignition and sped off, practically blazing a trail behind her.

"Don't you worry, Max. We'll find her if we have to drive to the ends of the Earth.

Hope opened her eyes as the van stopped moving. Not wanting to panic Connor, she'd laid down and closed them while trying to focus on twists, turns and any little bump in the road that might help her track her position. It had worked to a limited extent. She had a somewhat decent idea. But now wasn't the time to think about that. She and Connor were in serious trouble and Connor was still clinging to his arm to stop the bleeding.

When the back door opened, Hope realised they were in an old warehouse. She could hear the sea outside which greatly narrowed down the list of potential places they were at. She was surprised to notice a familiar scent in the air too, which served to reassure her. But it was Alison who got the biggest shock at the sight of the blood and the ragged gash on Connor's wrist. Her face paled and she instantly looked between the two of them lying on the floor of the van. Hope secretly took pleasure in her terror, drawing energy from it. Alison had betrayed her and Connor as well as Max, Chloe, Trussy and everyone else she'd worked with. She deserved everything she was about to get.

"What happened?" Alison demanded as Hope sat up with a coy smile on her face.

"He tried to break out while you were driving. I didn't want him to die so I stopped him." Without wasting a breath, Alison picked Connor up and pulled him from the van, carrying him out into the warehouse. Knowing that her best friend was now in the arms of the enemy, Hope had no choice but to follow her. That was okay. If there was anything she'd learned in her brief seven years of life it was to always keep a surprise in store. Alison thought she was holding all the cards, but in reality all she held was Connor.

There was a cage in the middle of the room and Alison set Connor down in it. Hope thought she was about to order her in after him, but to her surprise the traitorous woman shut the door and padlocked it. With that, she pointed to a plastic chair nearby.

"Sit on that and don't move if you don't want anything bad to happen to your friend."

"Fine." Hope shrugged simply as she sat down. Alison did a double-take and Hope knew what was going through her head. She knew that most seven-year-olds would be sweating bullets and crying for their parents at that moment. Part of her was probably wondering if Hope was even capable of understanding the danger she was in. Unfortunately for her, Hope understood a great deal more than Alison herself. But what she didn't know was what Alison had planned. But she was about to find out as Alison brought over a jar full of cloudy liquid.

"Do you know what this is?" she asked. Hope couldn't make out any details in the liquid without her glasses, but she could hazard a guess.

"If there's leeches in there, I'd say you were copying from Ginger Snaps Back." Hope sighed. "You were there when they showed it to me after all. You're going to put one on me and watch what it does, aren't you?"

"You wish." Alison barked out a bitter laugh. "No. This is concentrated Wolfsbane extract. I didn't bring you here on a guess. Like I said, I know everything about what you are. This will force the transformation. This will expose your true self to the world. And when I have the proof I need, my name will be restored. People will finally believe me!"

"You were one of the ones that accused me of lying when you first noticed I was different." Hope's calm demeanour didn't budge. "Get in line." That was all it took. Alison was pushed over the edge. In an instant, the lid of the jar was off and she threw it at Hope, splashing the entire thing across her face. Hope managed to shut her eyes and hold her breath just in time to avoid getting any in her eyes or mouth, but her skin was saturated. The stench was unbelievable. She opened her eyes in time to see Alison standing back with a look of pride on her face, waiting and watching to see what would happen as Connor rose to his feet in the cage behind her. Clearly something should have happened pretty quickly since Alison's expression was rapidly changing from one of pride to uncertainty.

"What... What is this? Where's the wolf?" At that moment, the sound of rending metal made her turn. Connor hadn't bothered with the padlock, instead gripping the bars of the cage and slowly pulling them apart as the stainless steel they appeared to be made from gradually strained and bent under the sheer force he was pushing with. Even Hope was in awe as the seven-year-old boy stepped out through the bars of the cage he'd just bent apart and faced down Alison, his eyes still closed from the exertion as his chest heaved with the effort of breathing.

"You won't find it. Because Hope isn't the creature you're looking for." With that, he opened his eyes. Hope could see the light dancing in them, but only Alison could see the blazing yellow colour as his fanged mouth opened in a snarl. "I am!"

Author's Note: Bet you didn't see that one coming! I have to be honest, I went back and forth a number of times over taking the story in this sort of direction. I was worried it might feel too out of place with the lore. Then I realised that Max travels through time and Daniel has full-blown telekinesis. Literally nothing is off the table at this point. Actually, I think Alex is the most normal out of the bunch just being able to see the colours of people's emotions. At some point, I would like to do even more stories with OCs and see what ideas I can come up with for new powers. I see some crazy fanfictions every so often with great ideas that are so original. I'd like to do more of that from time-to-time. Don't worry though, there will still be plenty of Max and Chloe stories, both multi-chapter and oneshot, as well as some AlexXSteph stories I'm planning on doing. I've started one so far that isn't too far off being finished and will be going up once this story ends. Which will be on Friday, actually. As always, I'm posting the last chapter and Epilogue together. That means the next update will be the final one for this story. Hope to see you in the next update to see how it all ends. Thanks to everyone who's supported this story and my others so far.