Chapter 11

We Play With Fire

*Macie*

Felix held out a bag of markers to go with the sketchbook. That's nothing! How are we supposed to find anyone with nothing? I thought, aggravated. Emma obviously saw that I was looking pretty upset because she walked over to me and looked in my eyes. Her hazel eyes peered into mine; hers filled with comfort and mine filled with loss.

"It has got to be something. It can't be just a coincidence that there are markers and a notepad. We will get it to the lab and see if they can find anything." She told me.

I wanted nothing more than to go home and cry, but that wouldn't help anybody. I put on a brave face and looked at Kaitlyn. She lost both her brother and her sister, the only two people that she truly cared about. There was sheer determination stuck in her eyes. You could learn a little. Stop being a baby! I patronized myself.

"We can call it in." Felix volunteered Emma and himself. Emma faked a smile and left with Felix to call Headquarters about the evidence.

"Carmen, can I ask you a question?" Kaitlyn asked.

Carmen looked at her, her chestnut brown eyes filled with indecision. She quickly finished re-braiding her mid-back black hair and nodded. At first, I was wondering why everyone was silent, and then I realized that Kaitlyn had meant she wanted to talk to Carmen alone. Eventually, Carmen stood and led Kaitlyn into a different room, leaving my alone with Cameron.

Neither one of us spoke, filling the room with an uncomfortable silence. Cameron wasn't kind and caring like Emma, thoughtful like Felix, or intimidating like Carmen. He hardly ever spoke, but when he did, it was usually only directed towards his sister, which made it even harder to read him. For some reason, he seemed to have deemed himself better than us, and that aggravated me.

"I always get stuck babysitting." Cameron muttered under his breath, but loud enough for me to hear.

"Excuse you, I do not need babysitting. Do you really think I am going to leave? My mom and my two little cousins are missing. I am not going anywhere, you can leave if you want." I told him.

I kept my voice steady and stared at him in the eyes, letting him know that I wasn't planning on backing down. Kaitlyn is already starting to have a better influence on you! A small part of my brain shouted.

"I wasn't aware that you knew Portuguese." Cameron replied, his chocolate eyes never leaving mine.

"I don't, not really. I have read a little in books, but not much. Why would you say that?" His statement had caught me off guard and my answer was weak. I didn't want him thinking of me as an amateur.

"You must know enough." He scoffed as he rolled his eyes, finally breaking contact.

"Excuse me?" I questioned. I was done trying to act like I knew what we were talking about, I was lost.

"You understood me, didn't you?" He wondered.

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?" I asked him.

"Forget it. I misunderstood." He abruptly ended the brief conversation.

What was he talking about? I wondered. It was obvious that he wasn't planning on telling me, but I wanted to know. Carmen and Kaitlyn walked in smiling and laughing. I wonder what went on in there. I pondered. Kaitlyn came to stand beside me and I gave her a questioning look. Her gaze lingered on me for a second, but then she mouthed "I'll tell you later."

I sighed and went to sit up against the wall, trying to think about the notepad and markers could mean. Carmen and Cameron stood together, whispering vividly. Kaitlyn came and sat next to me, her short black hair messed up from whatever she did with Carmen.

"I asked her about her family." Kaitlyn finally whispered.

"And?" I asked. I was very curious to learn about the family that two of the strangest people I had ever met come from.

"And she didn't really tell me much. She just told me that they weren't involved in her life anymore. Then we started talking about different things." She trailed off, lost in thought. "She really isn't that bad if you get to know her." Kaitlyn added, her emerald eyes sparkling.

"Oh." I said. I wasn't actually sure how to reply to that. I felt bad for them. If I didn't have my mom, I wasn't sure where I would be. Although, I seem to be fine without my dad. I thought. You won't have your mom if you can't find her.

Emma and Felix walked in. Emma was rolling her eyes and I found my self once again distracted by her hair. It was mostly bleach blond except for a few highlights that seemed to change colors. That doesn't even seem possible! How does she do that? I wondered, awestruck at the the technology. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I missed the first part of what Felix was trying to say.

"-and we are going to make our way to headquarters. We can't take the, uh, easier way because Kaitlyn and Macie aren't trained for that." His voice filled with Irish decent showed that he was slightly upset about something. I felt my face flush with embarrassment as he mentioned our names. We were causing them extra trouble for something that only related back to us.

"Okay. I can call a cab." Cameron volunteered. Emma nodded and he dialed a number on what looked like an Iphone.

We all exited the building and climbed into the waiting cab. Carmen told the driver a different address and sat back, her arms crossed. She would've been beautiful if she didn't always look like she was always plotting someone's future death. She was the ideal exotic image. I had only seen her smile twice.

The cab arrived at our destination forty-five minutes later. I didn't think the ride to there was that long.

"Stay here. We need to talk about the plan for a minute." Emma told Kaitlyn and me in an apologetic tone. We nodded our understanding quickly before she shut the door.

Kaitlyn and I said nothing. It felt like there was someone watching us at all times and neither of us felt comfortable with it. I began nervously tapping on the seat next to me, as Kaitlyn had scooted over to sit by the window when Emma had gotten out.

Less than a minute later, the door opened and I was about to get out when Cameron grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the car. I tried to get him to let go of me, but he was too strong. He shoved me as far as he could away from him, which is surprisingly very far, and onto the ground before doing the same to Kaitlyn. My whole body screamed as I hit the cold, hard sidewalk. Kaitlyn landed beside me and I noticed Carmen, Felix, and Emma on the ground, confused as well. As soon as Kaitlyn hit the ground, the car that we had been in less then ten seconds before, exploded into a million pieces.

I could feel the heat of the fire from the explosion against me and I scrambled to get up. I heard Carmen's high-pitched scream as she yelled out her brother's name and rushed to find him. A car door landed against my leg and pinned me back on the ground. I wrestled it off of me and stood up once again. There was fire everywhere and I could hardly see my hands through the smoke. I tried not to wince as I rushed to find out if Cameron was okay. He had just saved our lives and he might be dead himself. Carmen was still screaming his name and trying to go around the fire when I found her. Some part of my brain told me that Felix, Emma, and Kaitlyn were still somewhere on the ground, but I was sure that they were okay, or at least in less danger than Cameron.

I heard a groan and I immediately began trying to locate it. There was a pounding in my head and my whole body hurt from being thrown onto the ground with so much force, but I ignored it. I saw him and I froze.

"Carmen! I found him!" I called out to her over the flames.

His hair was scorched on the ends from the flames and he was bleeding everywhere. His face was caked in soot, reminding me of a cat for some reason. For the first time, his eyes didn't look guarded, but instead they looked guilty. Carmen began to cry beside me, but I pretended to ignore it out of courtesy. Carmen and I managed to get him farther from the flames, but he was obviously in a lot of pain.

"Why are you guilty? You just saved our lives!" I blurted without thinking. Carmen sent me a quick glare and looked at her brother again, this time with confusion written all over her face.

"I failed to save an innocent civilian. It wasn't his fault that I called him to drive us."

With a start, I realized that he was talking about the cab driver. This can't possibly be the same arrogant boy! I thought I heard someone begin to stir behind us, but I couldn't be sure. We were now far enough away from the flames that the smoke wasn't as bad and we could sort of see, but my ears were still kind of messed up from the initial blast.

"Cameron, it wasn't your fault. You saved all of us. I was afraid you were dead!" Carmen started. She was talking faster than normal, but I wrote it off as nerves.

"We need to go. Now." Emma said from behind me. She, too, was covered in soot, making her pale face seem so much darker.

Carmen nodded and helped Cameron back up. He was obviously hurt pretty bad, but he managed to walk along with us with a limp and a little help from his sister. He looked so unlike himself. He looked helpless and scared. Sort of like a hurt puppy. Kaitlyn walked beside me, shaken. Emma and Felix were talking in front of us. Judging by the alarm in their eyes, they were just as freaked out as we were.

"Where are we going?" Kaitlyn eventually asked Emma.

"We can rest here" Emma said with a glance at Cameron, who had been holding on, but now looked like he was going to pass out. She led us into a small diner and we all sat down at the booth. Luckily, no one questioned our disheveled appearances.

"We are trying to get as far away," she dropped her voice to a whisper so that no one would over hear. "from the crash as possible. We can't be involved in something like that. It would bring too much unwanted attention to the Society. I have some money, we can all get something to eat for dinner, if you want." She added, trying to change the subject.

We all nodded enthusiastically. I slipped away to go wash up in the bathroom and Emma, Kaitlyn, and Carmen followed me. Felix decided to go help Cameron try to clean up his cuts, so he looked better. We ordered a large pizza and split it. For a while, it was like old friends hanging out and having fun, even Cameron joined in. He is a lot nicer when he is hurt, I thought before realizing how mean that sounded. The fun ended when the news came on.

"Today, a cab spontaneously went up in flames near the mall. Unfortunately, the cabbie and two others died from the crash. We are still gathering information, but it seems that six teens were seen leaving the site. They are wanted for questioning. If you know the whereabouts or identities of these kids, please contact this hotline." The man on the screen pointed to a phone number.

Beside me, I saw everyone around the table stiffen. The waitress glanced our way, but quickly looked away. Emma and Felix looked at each other and then to Carmen and Cameron. I saw Kaitlyn clench her fists in fight or flight mode. I looked around the diner and saw only one exit. There was no way we were getting out without causing a scene.

We stood to leave, hoping that the waitress wasn't paying attention to us. Unfortunately, she was.

"I think that y'all need to stay right there." She said in a nasally voice filled with country accent.

In front of me, Carmen dialed a number on her Iphone and Emma and Felix each grabbed a hand until we were all joined together. There was a bright spinning light that came from the phone. It was strangely warm and welcoming as I felt the mysterious light engulf us.