Chapter 18: Better Safe Than Sorry

November 29, 2358
Forbidden District, Lake Buena Vista, Florida, US
Wayne's Apartment

2:14 A.M.

Jess hurried up the steps toward Wayne's apartment. The strange phone call she had gotten at six o'clock yesterday morning had bothered her so much she had left Patrick in the hospital back in Lincoln.

This better be worth it Daniel.

She knocked on the door softly. It was two in the morning after all. She waited for two minutes before trying the doorknob—which was locked. Jess knocked harder. Somebody had to be woken up by her loud knocking. They weren't that heavy of sleepers.

She heard some shuffling of feet on the other side of the door. A few seconds later the door slowly opened and a hand reached out, grabbed her shirt, and pulled her into the living room, causing her to drop her bag on the floor by the coffee table.

Jess knew it was Maybeck, but he didn't seem to recognize her just yet.

Maybeck shoved a baseball bat under her chin.

"WHOA!" Jess screamed out. "Maybeck! It's me!"

Maybeck took a deep breath, lowered the baseball bat and let go of her shirt. "Sorry," he mumbled. "Better safe than sorry."

"What's your problem?" Jess scolded in a harsh whisper as she slapped him on the side of his head. "You could have hurt me!"

"He was just being cautious," Jess heard Charlene say quietly as she came into the living room from the bedroom. "We couldn't be too sure."

Jess stared at Charlene. She looked ready to fight at a moment's notice, wearing black skinny jeans and a blood red tank top with a black leather jacket on top. She had black and red tennis shoes. Her hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail. Though she looked ready to fight, Charlene's eyes were telling another story. She looked as if she hadn't slept well in a few days.

Jess turned back to look at Maybeck and he looked just about the same. He was wearing gray shorts with a black, long-sleeved t-shirt. Though he carried the baseball bat, he didn't look like he could do much damage—at least not in the half-awake state he was currently in.

Jess faced Charlene and lowered her voice back to a whisper. "Where's the rest of the group?"

Charlene looked past Jess at Maybeck, exchanging some kind of look. Jess didn't know what was going on, but she wasn't liking it one bit.

"Uh…" Charlene began. "They uh…"

"Got taken," Maybeck finished. "That's why I've kept the baseball bat with me, just in case whoever took them came back."

Jess' eyes went wide. She had probably talked to Daniel while they were getting taken. "Holy…"

"Do you know where they are Jess?" Charlene asked as she stepped toward her, closing the bedroom quietly.

Jess gave her a confused look. "Why would I know that?"

Charlene returned the confused expression. "You see things? Remember? Jess dreams?"

"Charlene…" Maybeck cautioned.

Charlene shot him a shut-up look and turned back to Jess. "You've got to start remembering by now! You and Amanda are the only ones who don't remember!" She turned back to Maybeck. "I'm only trying to help."

Maybeck raised his hands in frustration. The baseball bat almost hit Jess, but she ducked out of the way just in time. "She obviously doesn't remember Charlie!"

The sound of a child crying shut Maybeck up. He rolled his eyes, put the baseball bat on the floor and walked over toward the bedroom. "Look at what you've done."

He stormed off into the bedroom. Jess gave Charlene a confused expression.

"Lizzie," Charlene shrugged.

"Wait…if Lizzie's here…" Jess pointed to the bedroom, "then where is Willa?"

Charlene gave her a sympathetic look. She wasn't sure if it was for Jess or for Lizzie. "Gone. Along with Philby, Amanda and Finn."

Jess raised her eyebrow. Finn? Oh right, that's Daniel.

Maybeck came back into the living room with the small girl in his arms. Lizzie's head was resting on his chest, her eyes barely open.

"How long have they been gone?" Jess asked them in a whisper, for she didn't want to keep Lizzie longer than needed. She feared that she already knew the answer.

"Since yesterday morning," Maybeck replied.

Jess sat down on the couch and put her head in her hands. I was the last one to talk to Finn.

Charlene and Maybeck sat down on either side of her.

"Had any dreams recently?" Maybeck asked her. "Anything strange?"

Jess went through all of the dreams she could remember. She had that weird one on the train, but she couldn't remember much about that. Plus, it wouldn't help her out, since their friends weren't in it—at least she thought they weren't. She hadn't gotten the time to draw that one out.

"No," Jess shook her head.

Charlene scoffed. "Surely you've dreamt something Jess! You always do!"

"I don't always get the chance to draw them out! I can't remember all of them in my head, you know!"

Jess felt her frustration boiling up inside of her. She couldn't remember the dreams. She couldn't remember who she really is. She couldn't be there for Patrick. There were a lot of things that she couldn't do.

She put her head in her hands and held back tears.

Maybeck pointed to her bag. "Would any of your drawings be in there?"

"Uh…maybe." Jess got up out of her seat, wiped the tears off of her cheek and started searching through her things. She came across her journal and gasped. She forgot all about this. She hadn't used it in a long time. She didn't remember putting it in her bag. How did it get in here?

She sat back down on the couch and started flipping through it. Charlene and Maybeck looked over her shoulders as she did so, looking for something—anything—familiar.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Lizzie called out. Maybeck, Jess and Charlene stared at her, for none of them realized she was awake.

Jess looked at the open page and saw that in fact it was her mother: Willa. She was in a prison cell leaning up against the bars. She looked miserable, with bruises and cuts on her face and arms. On the other side, Jess could make out a man with red hair leaning up against the bars, back-to-back to Willa. Jess noticed how they were holding hands through the steel bars. She looked around them, at the background, but none of it seemed familiar.

"Son of a gun," Maybeck muttered under his breath—except he didn't say gun. Charlene reached over Jess and punched him in the arm.

"Not in front of Lizzie!"

"Sorry," Maybeck turned to face Jess, who didn't believe he was sorry for cussing in front of the child. "Jess that's the jail cells under Pirates of the Caribbean."

Jess looked over at Charlene to find some kind of recognition in her face, but saw none. She turned back to Maybeck and saw a mischievous spark in his eyes.

"You know where that is?" She asked him.

"You bet I do! Finn, Philby and I went followed you and Maleficent down there a long time ago!"

Jess froze. She had been working with Maleficent at some point? That couldn't be true. Maybeck must have seen her shocked expression, for he continued, covering his tracks.

"Well not you, Jess. It was Jezebel. Your evil twin, per se."

"It's not an evil twin if they're the same person," Charlene retorted. She grabbed the journal and set it on the coffee table. "You're not helping Maybeck. What we need is a plan to get them out."

Jess had never been more confused. She had been working with Maleficent, but she had called herself Jezebel? None of this made any sense to her.

"I say one of you two watch Lizzie here and the other comes with me to go get Phildweeb and Wills back."

"I'm going with you," Charlene and Jess said in unison.

"Well then who's going to watch Lizzie?"

At first, they said nothing. But then Charlene perked up. "Oh! I know! Wayne can! He said he'd be back tomorrow, I mean …uh…" she glanced at the clock, "later this morning. We can ask him to watch her!"

Maybeck glanced over his shoulder at the clock. "Fine. If the old man is back by ten, we let him watch her. Otherwise, one of you will have to stay."

"How come one of the girls has to stay with Lizzie? That's a little sexist!" Jess blurted out.

Maybeck rolled his eyes. "Charlene's never been there and you don't remember you've been there, Jess. I have to go."

Jess rolled her eyes. "Fine."

"So what's the plan Maybeck?" Charlene asked in a serious tone. "How do we get our friends back?"

Maybeck winked at Charlene. "Don't you worry Charlie. I've already got a plan."

Sorry for the short chapter! I had wanted it to be longer, but it just didn't work out that way! This one was sort of a filler/in-between chapter for the story. You've got to have one of those every once in a while.

I'll have the next chapter up as soon as possible! Enjoy the rest of the weekend!