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Chapter 55- Lucy's New Prophecy

The next morning, Drew and Danny showed Charlotte's letter to Sam. They all figured there must be some secret message hidden it, either that or Charlotte was just as evil as her father was and couldn't spell for the life of her.

"I'll show it to Spinelli," Sam suggested. "If there is a hidden message, he'll figure it out. If not, then poor Charlotte has been corrupted."

Scout walked out rubbing her eyes, still in her pink pajamas, and sat beside Sam.

"Good morning." Sam leaned over and kissed her cheek. "You slept through the night."

Scout took a bite of her toast.

"Willow's usually up before us," Sam commented.

"I want peanut butter," Scout mumbled.

"What's the magic word?" Drew asked.

"Please," Scout said.

Drew passed her the peanut butter. "There you go, Princess."

Willow finally walked out, still in her pajamas, groggy, and sat on the other side of Sam.

"Hi sleepy head." Sam nudged her and grinned. "Becoming a late sleeper?"

Willow groaned. "I don't like sleeping late. It makes me feel gross."

Danny gawked at her. "Late? It's 7:45am!"

"Thank you," Willow said as Drew handed her a cup of tea, then she looked over at Danny. "Did you see your girlfriend last night?"

Danny felt his cheeks go warm. "At least I have a girlfriend! Unlike you who's still single!"

Sam's eyes grew wide. "Danny!"

Willow rolled her eyes. "Maybe I would if you didn't scare Michael off…"

Sam scrunched her face. "You scared Michael off?"

"Hey, I apologized, and you even said you thought it was sweet!" Danny said.

Willow sighed. "I know. It's just too late in the morning to be talking about this, I can't think clearly."

Danny scrunched his face. "Wait, what? That doesn't even make sense."

"I have to go to the bathroom," Scout announced before leaving the table.

"Charlotte sent this message to Danny through Angelica," Sam said handing the letter to Willow.

Willow glanced at it and within five seconds she handed it back to Sam. "This isn't a message for Danny. It's a message for Lulu."

Sam stared at the letter again. "What?"

"What?" Drew asked.

"What?" Danny asked. "But it's addressed to me and she told Gel to give it to me!"

Willow rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. I was Charlotte's teacher for a year. She won every spelling bee and even entered a short story she wrote in a contest and won. I'm concerned with what she's saying though."

"What exactly is she saying?" Sam asked.

Willow frowned at her mother. "I don't want to say, because it'll upset you."

Sam laughed. "I think I can handle it."

Willow nodded. "Well, if you take each mis-spelt letter and put them together, it reads: Mommy, help me! I'm scared all the time. Papa wants to kill Natasha. May fifth is the plan for attack. Mommy, please save me!"

Sam went white in the face.

Danny gaped at her. "How on earth did you figure that out so fast?"

Willow shrugged.

Drew frowned. "That poor girl."

"So, Valentin is planning to kill my mother on May fifth?" Sam said in a low voice. "That's just next week…"

Willow reached for Sam's hand and squeezed it. "I'm sorry, Mom. But it seems so."

"We won't let that happen," Drew said. "We'll meet with Alexis and Nikolas today and come up with a plan."

Sam nodded. "You're right. Valentin won't win, we can't let him."

"Danny, Willow… why don't you take Scout and Franklin for a walk?" Drew suggested, not taking his eyes off Sam, who kept staring at the letter.

Danny nodded, understanding that his father wanted to talk to his mother about Alexis.

GHGHGH

Scout held onto Franklin's leash as they walked through the village. They didn't see many people outside yet, but noticed Lucy talking to Kevin, while Dockette kept climbing on top of a completely still Pavlov and kept sliding down his back.

"Aren't they just adorable together, Doc?" Lucy beamed at them.

"Oh yes." Kevin rolled his eyes. "Pavlov is having the time of his life."

"Any more word on Laura?" Lucy asked.

Kevin groaned. "No. I thought the army would have made a move by now. If they don't soon, then I'm going over there myself to get her. To heck with the so-called Almighty V."

"Okay, okay!" Lucy waved her hands around as she spoke. "Be patient! You just have to give it some time! Laura will be here, safe and sound soon enough!"

"Time?" Kevin scrunched his face. "We've already lost enough time. Goodness knows what they're doing to her in the meantime!"

Lucy stared at him, then suddenly dropped to the ground and began convulsing.

Kevin's eyes grew wide and he dropped beside her. "Lucy?"

Willow, Danny, Scout, and Franklin walked closer.

Her convulsing quickly stopped and Dockette climbed on her, licking her face. Her eyes rolled back, and she spoke in a robotic voice. "Some legends are told. Some turn to dust or to gold. But you will remember him! And be warned: REMEMBER HIM! Just one mistake is all it will take for many to be deceived, including those closest to him, desperate to feel as though nothing changed at all. But rocks will crumble, walls will tumble, and famine will strike again without their leader to guide them."

Lucy's eyes rolled back to normal and she scratched Dockette's ears. "Why am I on the ground?"

Willow and Danny exchanged a confused but worried look with Kevin.

GHGHGH

After Willow and Scout headed off to school, Danny went to Wyndemere with his parents. They wanted Danny to stay outside and wait for training, but he and Leo insisted on joining them in their meeting with Alexis, Julian, Nikolas, Spencer, Jason, Dante, and Lulu.

Lulu sobbed into Dante's chest after they interpreted Charlotte's message. "He wants to attack on Charlotte's birthday... he must think re-claiming Wyndemere will be a birthday present for her." Then, she stood up straight and looked directly at Nikolas. "No more waiting. We. Need. To. Save. Charlotte. NOW!"

"I'm with Lulu on this," Julian agreed. "It's time we attack before they attack Lex."

Alexis rubbed her temples and started breathing rapidly. Sam rubbed her back.

Nikolas nodded. "And I want to save Mother too."

"So, we'll split up the army," Drew said. "Some attack at Kailano Island to rescue the hostages and the others attack V-Town to rescue Charlotte and anyone else there they can that are still mind-mapped."

"I say we split the army in three," Julian said. "We need Alexis guarded. She's the target."

"I'm going to V-Town to get Charlotte," Lulu said. "Enough is enough. Even if I have to face Valentin himself."

"I'm going with you," Dante said, wrapping an arm around her.

"But you have to stay to protect Rocco," Lulu said.

"Rocco will be safe with Jax for the time being. I'm not letting you go alone, and Charlotte is my daughter too."

"I think we need to attack tonight," Jason said. "I think we've prepared more than we'll ever prepare. But we need to do it in the middle of the night when everyone's asleep."

Drew nodded. "Julian, you lead those going to V-Town. I'll lead going to Kailano Island. Jason, you organize everyone here. We'll have to take The Gel. Which means one group will be waiting for the ship to come back. But one person can stay on the ship, ready to set sail."

"I'll go to Kailano Island with you, Dad," Danny said.

"And I'll go to V-Town with you, Dad," Leo added.

Drew, Sam, Julian, and Alexis all exchanged a look.

"You'll stay on the island Danny," Drew said.

"You too, Leo," Julian said.

Danny and Leo gawked at them.

"But that's not fair!" Leo whined.

"We've been a part of army training since the beginning!" Danny said. "We deserve to go!"

"And you can help your mom guard your sisters in case something goes wrong," Drew said.

"And Leo, you can help guard Wyndemere," Julian added. "But you're not coming to V-Town."

Danny and Leo were annoyed as ever during army training that day as they practiced CPR and First Aid. They were partners and took turns practicing checking the other one's pulse, both at the neck and the wrist. The rest of the day they prepared their weapons, and everyone got to take a gun home with them for the night. Julian, Jason, and Drew packed a bunch of weapons and hand grenades on The Gel.

With Danny and Leo in a bad mood, no one argued when they expressed wanting to go for a swim in the pond after training even though it still wasn't too warm outside.

Danny dove under and swam laps in a single breath while Leo timed him. He still wasn't sure what his plan was or if he would have to suck it up and do it tonight, hoping for the best that he'd be able to hold his breath long enough. They swam for about three hours. Leo saying, "Sixteen minutes, thirty seconds!" "Sixteen minutes, fifty-one seconds!" "Seventeen minutes, two seconds!" "Seventeen minutes, ten seconds!" "Seventeen minutes, fifteen seconds!" "Seventeen minutes, thirty-six seconds!" But he just couldn't seem to make it past the eighteen-minute mark. And he was certain he'd likely need to hold it longer than that.

When Danny went home that evening, he didn't say a word to Sam or Drew and kept ignoring them when they spoke to him. He'd only converse with Willow and Scout, but even with them he'd mostly mumble. But after Drew said goodbye to them at midnight, and hugged all of them, Danny immediately regretted pulling away from the hug so quickly.