A/N: This is the LONGEST update I've ever typed for this story! I am going to update this all week. Its almost over now! Thank you sooo much for all the reviews! I love them!! I'd especially love to thank my most loyal reviewer: Halfreck3929. You are the coolest person ever to have stuck with this from the beginning, and for that, I thank you, and love you!
Chapter Fifteen: Not Standing Alone
Davies/Carlin Residence
"Spencer?"
Aiden eased the back door open slowly as Ashley trailed into the kitchen behind him. They called her name softly at first, but realizing that no one else was home, they began to get frantic. They walked into the living room, to see it in shambles.
"Oh my god…"
Ashley panicked.
"SPENCER!!!"
She ran around their home, searching everywhere. When she returned to the living room, she walked right past Aiden and out into the driveway, where she noticed a piece of paper on the ground. She read it quickly.
"It says that Kyla and Alice went out, so they have no clue as to what's going on, which is good. We don't need anyone else in trouble here."
Aiden nodded as he lead her back into the kitchen. She sat on one of the bar stools, placing the note in front of her. She took several deep breaths, her eyes shut tightly, as she tried to calm her anxious heart. When she finally gained some control, she re-opened her eyes and looked at Aiden.
"We have to find out where Alaric is. We need to find out where he's hiding. It has to be somewhere close…"
Aiden looked back at her.
"How do you figure that?"
"I don't. I just really, really hope I'm right."
He nodded, and got onto the internet.
"What are you doing, Aiden?"
He nodded toward the screen.
"Well, assuming that the only contact Kasey has had with Alaric is through phone calls…"
"She had been sneaking off to call someone a lot…"
"See? Well, all phones have some sort of satellite tracking device inside, because we all know how paranoid the government is. I can enter Kasey's number into this database, and It'll show us who she's been calling."
"How do you know how to do this?"
"I had to do something in my Computer Technology Communications class. This was it."
"Wait, who's numbers did you track?"
"Never mind that."
"How're you gonna enter Kasey's number when neither of us know what it is?"
"Spencer has a post-it stuck to the desk here," he pointed to the note. "and it says 'Kasey Cell', so I'm gonna assume its her number."
Ashley slapped the back of his head.
"Yeah, yeah. Get workin, Einstein."
Aiden typed in the number, and they waited for the results to come up. When they did, they noticed one particular number that popped up frequently in the outgoing calls column.
"Track that one."
Aiden nodded, and typed the number into the satellite tracker. The location popped up almost immediately. Apparently, the current number was in use.
"Montebello…that's about ten miles from here."
Aiden nodded, and read the rest of the information.
"It says that the building is rented out to a Alan Dumonte. It's probably Alaric, but he's not very smart, cause that alias totally sucks."
"Whatever. We need to go, now!"
-------------------------------------------------
Montebello, CA. Alaric's Base
"…can't stay here for long. They're bound to find us soon. We need to move, quickly."
Spencer's mind slowly creeped out of it's haze. She opened her eyes a little bit, just enough to see her surroundings. She saw that she was in a basement somewhere. Kasey and Alaric were arguing about something. Spencer closed her eyes, and pretended to still be unconscious, as she tuned in to the argument.
"We can't afford to move her. I need to finish this here."
"Than work fast, old man. Cause if you don't kill her, I'll do it myself."
Spencer was shocked. She'd known Kasey for over nine years, and her voice never reflected such hatred before. Hatred that was aimed at her, for some reason. She had to find out why Kasey despised her so much, but she needed to find a way out of here as well.
After a moment of silence, Spencer heard footsteps retreating to the upstairs of the building. She opened her eyes all the way, to fully take in the environment.
As she looked around, she realized she was tied up to the couch. She struggled to get up, but found that her hands were bound to a steel pipe next to the couch, and her ankles tied together. Well, this complicates things…
Screeeech…
Spencer's head shot up in the direction the sound emitted from. She thought they had gone upstairs. As quickly as she could, she swung back around so that she was laying down once again, and she screwed her eyes shut.
"Spencer…"
Lauren?
"Spencer, I know you're awake. I just saw you."
Spencer opened her eyes to come face-to-face with the blonde. Lauren reached up, and untied Spencer's hands from the pipe, allowing her to sit upright on the couch.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Lauren sighed, shaking her head.
"Trying to fix things."
Spencer gave her a questionable look.
"I'm really sorry about what I did to Ashley, but I was being tricked, I swear. Kasey convinced me that she was stealing you away forever, and like an idiot, I bought into her stupid plan."
Spencer was starting to believe the girl.
"I never meant for this to happen, I just thought…well, I don't know what I thought. I do know that I made the biggest mistake of my life, helping Kasey get you like this."
"Why does she hate me so much, Lauren?"
Lauren looked up from the floor, where her gaze had fallen.
"Well…according to her, you're the reason her life fell apart."
"What? Why?"
"When you left, everything was fine. She was taking all her medication for her severe temper and everything. She was doing awesome in school, and making new friends and everything. Then you left. She stopped going to school, which caused her to lose her job. She ran away from home, and lived with each of us in turn until she moved in with some guy."
"Okay…"
"That guy turned out to be Alaric."
Spencer's eyes were the size of dinner plates.
"I know. Anyway, she stopped taking her medication because she couldn't afford it anymore, but her flaring temper never seemed to bother Alaric, especially when she went on rants about you."
"How do you know so much?"
"Lately, she's been feeling depressed, and the night before Ashley, Kyla, and I went for that run, she told me all of this."
"Okay, so keep going."
"Right. So, she kept ranting about you, saying your name a bunch of times, and how much you screwed up her life…"
Spencer flinched, but Lauren continued her story.
"One day, Alaric told Kasey about you and what you did to him, and they've been working to get you back since then."
"How long ago was that?"
"According to what she told me a couple nights ago, just before she sent you that e-mail about us coming to visit. Frankly, Alice and I were shocked when she came to us asking if we wanted to go on a trip to visit you. Alice and I were totally for it, but I was a little skeptical when she said Alaric was going to come on the plane with us."
"Wait, Alaric was at the airport?"
"Yeah, he ran off the minute they began to let us off the plane."
Spencer sat for a minute, taking in all of the information she had just found out. She was truly shocked with Kasey. She couldn't understand why the girl's life had just fallen apart after she moved away.
"Why though? Why did she act like that when I left?"
"Didn't you see it, Spencer? She was in love with you, and you left her and moved across the country. She couldn't stand it, so she fell apart, and began to hate you."
"Oh, god…"
Spencer's hand flew up to her mouth as she began to sob quietly.
"I never meant for any of this…"
"I didn't either. Listen, I don't blame you if you can never forgive me for what I did to Ashley. I can't forgive myself for being so stupid about it, but I can't just let you sit here while they figure out a way to kill you."
Lauren untied Spencer's feet, and pulled her up. When she was on her feet, safely, Spencer grabbed Lauren in a tight hug.
"I won't trust you for a while, but I still love you."
"I love you too, Spence."
Spencer let go of her friend, and peered around their current location.
"So, how the hell do we get out of here?"
"This way. We can hide behind here, and wait for them to come back down, because that door," Lauren pointed to the door at the top of the basement stairs, "is locked right now. They'll unlock it before they come down."
"Then we can run up the steps, and lock them down here."
"Exactly."
Spencer and Lauren situated themselves so that they were well hidden from the stairs and the large portion of the basement, and waited for the door to open.
Okay! Let me know what's on your brain!!! Click the button down there, you know you want to!