Well, here's the next chapter!

Chapter 6

Isabel

Arkarian pulls me to the side and tells me about the "conversation" he just had with the other Truthseers.

"A-are you sure it's Mr. Carter?" I ask uncertainly, "I mean, that's impossible! Rochelle, Neriah and I all saw him get eaten by the demons in the demon pit!"

"Actually," Rochelle says, coming over with Neriah at her side, "we only saw the demons close in on him. For all we know, he could have been saved at the last moment by the magical pixies from Pixie World."

We all stare at her. "What?" she asks. "Just trying to break the tension!"

Well, it worked. A few seconds after she says that, I burst out laughing. That gets Neriah giggling, which makes Matt laugh, which makes Rochelle laugh, making Arkarian laugh, making Ethan laugh, making Shaun laugh, making Jimmy laugh, making Dillon laugh, making Mom laugh, making me laugh even harder.

What can I say? The tension broke!

"Rochelle's right, though," Ethan says, once we can all breathe again.

Rochelle looks confused. "You mean, Mr. Carter really was saved by pixies?"

"No, probably not, but that's not to say that he wasn't rescued by someone."

We all stare at him. "And, you would know this how, exactly?" Dillon asks.

Ethan shrugs. "Just a wild guess," he replies.

A voice speaks from behind me; a voice that makes my skin crawl. "But wild guesses are usually correct, especially for you, Ethan."

I already know exactly who it is, and I'm guessing that everyone else does too, but we turn around slowly anyway, to build suspense. Sure enough, Mr. Carter is standing right behind us all. Each and every one of us stands, glaring at him, arms crossed in front of us. He just stands there, grinning as if nothing happened. However, when he sees us all glaring, his grin fades.

"What? Can't we just forgive and forget?" Oh boy, he's hopeless.

Ethan's eyes narrow at the same time as Rochelle's. "You turned traitor against all of us," he says. "And, what's more, you tried to give Rochelle to the demons! How can any of us forgive or forget that?"

Mr. Carter shifts nervously. "Well, of course I turned traitor! My brother pushed me into it! Marduke can be very persuasive, you know!"

Rochelle's eyes narrow even more. "Oh, I know. He tried to convince me that I was 'seeded of evil' because of my father. And he almost succeeded."

"When we all know that it's thanks to him that I'm the one who's seeded of evil," Neriah finishes.

Mr. Carter shifts nervously again. "Well…I…about the whole 'feeding Rochelle to the demons' thing…"

"Yes?" we all say in unison.

"Well…you've got to see it from my perspective. If you were the traitor, and somebody found out, wouldn't you want that person out of the way so they wouldn't tell anyone else?"

"I wouldn't even become a traitor in the first place," Ethan replies coldly.

Mr. Carter stumbles, then regains control. "Yes, I know. But what if you were given a choice between death and turning against everyone?"

Bad thing to say…everybody knows how Ethan's going to reply to that, and we'd all say the same. "I would have chosen death rather than betray my friends."

Mr. Carter seems at a loss for words. Fortunately, Matt steps in before this gets ugly. "We all know that what Marcus did was wrong," he says, looking at Mr. Carter, who looks very sorry, "but I still think he deserves a second chance. Two of us know just how persuasive Marduke could be," he looks pointedly at Rochelle and Neriah; Rochelle looks embarrassed, "One knows how passionate he was about everything he believed was right," here he looks at Shaun, "and we all know how evil he was. I say we give him the benefit of the doubt. I'm almost afraid to say it, but…what do you all think?"

At once, Rochelle and Ethan begin yelling at Matt, saying how he's wrong, and how Mr. Carter is a bastard, until one clear voice breaks through.

"I think we should give him a chance." Everyone looks at Arkarian.

Matt raises and eyebrow. "What's your suggestion?" he asks.

"I say we give him a 3 month probation. We let him join us again for 3 months, perhaps as a spy, and if any of us notice anything suspicious going on (such as the Order knowing exactly what our plans are), we kill him." He says this so plainly and simply, as if he's explaining that 1 plus 1 equals 2.

The entire group is silent for a moment, then Rochelle speaks. "But isn't it possible that somebody else in here is a spy for the Order, and would use this opportunity to give them info while we think it's Carter?" She shoots a glance at Dillon.

All this talk of traitors is giving me a headache. I try to remember how we sorted it all out last time…"Rochelle!" I exclaim suddenly. "Your hands!"

She looks down at them. "Yeah, what about them?"

"The last time we tried to figure out who the traitor was, Lorian connected your two skills to one another, so you can see into a person's soul by touching their head."

A look of realization dawns on her face, as well as the faces of everyone else. "You're saying that if the Order finds out our plans, I just test everyone to see who told them?"

I nod. "Exactly! If, that is, you're willing to do so."

She hesitates, then nods. "Anything to keep us all safe."

The plot thickens…of course, I already know exactly what's going to happen…as for you? You'll just have to read on to find out, now won't you? Next chapter is one of my favs…you'll see why if you keep reading…of course, you can't keep reading unless I keep writing…the good thing about the next chapter being my fav is that I'll have it up quickly. Like, within the next few minutes…okay, I'll shut up now. Don't forget to review!