Danny and Rico were walking through McNally park discussing his running into or more accurately running after Lacey earlier that day . He knew that somehow the powers that be had intervened and he was trying to explain this to Rico without sounding insane

" Okay so just so i have this straight" Rico said pausing for clarity "You ran into Lacey at Johnnycakes after literally spending everyday of the past 5 months looking for her and the Only reason you went there instead of soccer practice is because Jo texted you out of the blue for an emergency meeting that she cancelled right before you looked up and saw Lacey heading to the diner".

"Yup" Danny replied staring into the distance. "If I had turned back to go to practice like I wanted to I never would've seen her, but something told me not to and I'm glad I listened to be honest".

"Weird huh".

"Yeah". Rico said marveling at the idea ."You guys might be connected in like a supernatural sense you know kind of like a bond was formed after you.. , you know, with what happened with your aunt and you're all cosmically linked until whatever mystery behind the secret of the necklace brother hood is discovered".

Glad he had taken Rico into his confidences since Jo had stopped speaking to both of them, but slightly amazed at times with how his mind worked Danny laughed out loud adding " Well I don't know if its Cosmic but yeah Rico I've always felt we were connected somehow even when we were kids

They paused each one in their own thoughts until Rico asked Danny "So how is she doing? Lacey I mean".

Danny hadn't quite been able to figure out how to describe that to himself. He thought of soft pretty lips smiling sweetly at him glossed with arsenic that tasted like bubblegum and cherries when she kissed you...

She calls herself Lace now and it fits because she's different, edgier you know".

Danny struggled to get his words right when a perfect analogy hit him "Lacey's always been a hard but to crack but this time its like the shell is on the inside".

"Well she has had it pretty bad" Rico said "I mean right before Eloise, who I never knew was the Dark Lord's progeny, by the way, sent out that tape of you and Lacey, Jo told me about Lacey just finding out her dad was Gay after all these years, not that I have a problem with that I just could see how she'd have Trust issues".

" Wait, what Her dad is Gay" Danny cried shocked that Lacey never told him this important piece of wondered what else she hadn't told him disliking the feeling of not knowings something this important about the girl he loved.

" Yeah" Rico said "Jo told me about it right around the time they dropped the charges on yourmom, that was probably the last time Jo and I really hung out, you know before she started dating the Shark"

Danny laughed loudly at Rico's personal nick name for Tyler, then seeing Rico's downcast expression Danny patted him on the back and told him "Look Rico don't worry about Jo, she can handle Tyler and if the Cosmos really are involved then I'd say there's a good chance Jo will come around.

"What about Lacey" Rico asked pulling the thought directly from Danny's Mind.

Before Danny could answer him the sound of group laughter could be heard as they neared the old Willow tree by the river. Underneath its branches at least a dozen college kids seated in portable chairs formed a semi circle around a beer keg and small fire pit setup. Everyone's eyes were riveted to the center of the tree where a boisterous female voice carried over the crowd recounting a raunchy story about a detoured taxi ride in Manhattan.

Rico's awkward brashness led him to comment first as he focused in on the figure ahead.

"Is that.. Hold up, Wait THAT'S Lacey Porter?" He said as his eyes sought out Danny's for visual confirmation. "When you told me she was different, I didn't think you meant she went from Lindsey Lohan mean girl to like Amber Rose video vixen".

Rico knew he was gawking , but he couldn't stop himself. His eyes traveled up what seemed to be unending limbs that finally curving upward supported a heart shaped ass that bounced up and down as she happily reenacted. Her story her dress clung tightly to the concave in her waist expanding and retracting with each breath she took

As she finished her story flustered and smiling she leaned down to better hear something that a dark haired college kid said to her over all the laughter and her v neck dipped to reveal her red lace lingerie cupping her breasts underneath.

Rico his throat suddenly dry felt a tingle in his stomach and feeling guilty turned to look at Danny who was clenching and unclenching his hands as he stared ahead.

Danny couldn't see anything but Lacey through his red haze. His blood traveled through his ears pounding, causing them to ring. Adrenaline coursing through his veins elevated his heartbeat as he watched her offer his beloved dimpled smile to some undeserving frat boy jackass under THEIR tree where he kissed her in a rainstorm the taste of gummi bears on her tongue.

Her breasts peeking out of her dress teased him with memories of him lifting her up against his bedroom wall so that they were level with his mouth slowly tasting them as soft whines escaped her. The images aroused him as watching her incensed him causing his pants and his chest to simultaneously tighten.

His anger and insecurity rising Danny began to feel an uncontrollable pull towards the dark places of his mind where his Aunt Tara her prone lifeless body was the first to meet him. She laid there gurgling as Lacey cried trying to dial 911 her vacant eyes mocking him as her face is turned in his direction

Danny closes his eyes trying to erase the vision of her face. When he opens them The Brookside Juvenile Detention center looms in front of him as rows of inmates look terrified at the shadow in front of Danny that shakes the ground as it approaches growing turns around to face it, 11 years old again tears falling down his face in an oversized jumpsuit. He looks up at the shadow turned into Officer Pearson who grabs him and shouts " "You think this a fuckin game lil ". "Just cause your parents and the justice system wanna give you a 5 year white collar treatment for a murder when I got kids here serving 10 for possession, don't mean shit". He sneers at Danny as more tears fell silently. "Here you ain't shit and your momma and your daddy ain't gonna dry your snot nose fuckin tears rich boy so shut that fuckin crying up". At the mention of his parents he cant contain his tears. They fall harder as sobs wrack his chest causing him to tremble.

"Oh I see you want special treatment". Warden Pearson says as he scans the crowd his next

statement a foreboding that would follow Danny throughout the duration of his sentence. "Well boys we need to show Mr. Desai how we give the royal treatment here at Brookside".

Danny is being dragged through the rows, he wants to scream as he gets closer to the room then her remembers Lacey's words to him before her mother took her away telling him he has to be strong.

"I will" he thinks as he feels himself falling forward into the darkness.

He lands on his side coughing and spitting up small drops of blood in the infirmary his vision blurry through his swollen left eye. He's 12 and the stitches of pain in his side are searing through him.

The nurse runs over and injects something into his I.V. to calm him and as he drifts off his body feeling warm and lazy he thinks of Jo and ..Lacey, her last letter asking him how he was holding up. He knows that even if everything wasn't ok he would tell her it was...

He comes to in a sweat on his cot. A photo of 13 year old Lacey sent secretly to him through his mother, in his hand. She's lanky, brace faced, and beautiful. As she leans against the fort a note on the back reads "Don't forget me" with a smiley face. Danny smiles rubbing his thumb over her face

then lowers his hand into his pants and as he focuses on her smile begins to stroke himself until he feels a release. He gets up to place her photo back on the wall when his roommate reaches out and snatches it from him. He barely gets to close his hands over it it before Danny is slamming punches into the side of his face as blood splatters everywhere.

His roommate morphs into a dark haired frat boy who reaches up to touch Lacey's face as she smiles at him. Danny's eyes zero in on him under the willow tree. His body charges forward as he clears a path to Lacey and her newest obstacle with murder in his eyes.