Wednesday:

Thorne wasn't at school today. Cress wasn't sure what she was supposed to feel. Happy? Relieved? Worried? Sad? Cress groaned at herself. Please. Why should she be sad? Worried maybe, because that would mean less time to get Throne to Luna. And getting Thorne to Luna in a short period of time, that would mean seeing her father in person faster.

Wolf frowned. "Thorne's not here again? Shoot. I needed to talk to him. He's not answering his calls or replying to his texts. Anyone got in touch with Thorne?"

Everyone shook their head. "It's the same rotation again. I bet you 15 univs that he'll come back next Monday. Deal?" Scarlet asked, looking at everyone. Jacin was the only person that nodded and shook hands with Scarlet. Wolf seemed to freeze when Jacin and Scarlet shook on it. Does Wolf like Scarlet? Cress thought to herself.

Winter rolled her eyes. "It's obvious that Scarlet's going to win. If you ever counted the numbers of days he's been out and back, Scarlet is definitely going to win."

Jacin looked at Winter suspiciously. "How do you know what days Thorne has been out or not? Were you counting the days?"

Winter shrugged, looking at her drink. "Maybe."

Wolf grunted. Scarlet beamed. Jacin scowled. Winter smiled. Cress frowned. Where was Thorne?

Thursday:

Again, Thorne wasn't at school. Cress felt lonely without him. Wolf wasn't that friendly with her. Scarlet was a bit too hard-headed for Cress's fake personality. Winter and Jacin were just too… together for Cress to talk to. She sighed and looked around the classroom.

There was Cinder. But they didn't even talk after the eavesdropping incident outside of the science lab. Same for Kai. Of course, Kai was good looking, his Asian features making him look even better, but he just wasn't her standard. She couldn't stand hearing the other girls talk about him.

That day after school, Mistress Sybil called her. She answered automatically, saying, "Good afternoon, Mistress Sybil. How are you doing?"

"What's been going on with Thorne? I haven't heard anything from you from the past two days. Anything happening?" Mistress Sybil ignored her greeting.

Cress stuttered. "Um… well… the thing is…"

"What? Did something happen? Crescent tell me right now!" she yelled into the phone.

"Well," Cress started. "It's not anything serious. It's just that Thorne hasn't come to school for a few days so I wasn't able to do anything with him ma'am."

She heard a sigh of relief from the other side. "Well, you know where he lives, don't you? Go to his house and see him. You have to convince him to come with you to the train station downtown. Understood? Go there tomorrow, right after school. If you keep stalling time like this, you might never see your dad again."

She hung up. Cress removed the phone from her ear with shaking hands and tears started to burn her eyes. "Argh!" Cress yelled, throwing her phone on the bed. She stood up screaming, her hands balled in fists next to her sides. Cress turned to her desk, picked up a flower pot and threw it to the ground. It shattered all over the floor. Then she collapsed back onto her chair.

"D-dad… W-what should I d-do? W-what do I d-do?!" She started to sob in her hands. Run. Don't worry about me. Pack everything you can, and run. If you're such a good hacker, use those skills and make a new I.D. Run.

Cress stood up. Thorne. She had to find him. She had to listen to her dad. She had to run away.

She shook her head. No. What on earth was she doing? She had to save her dad. Before anything happens. Before anything happens to both of them.

Friday:

"Ikoooo. Why? Why? Why?! Did you have to ask him over?!" Cinder yelled at her while changing her outfit again.

Iko shrugged. "Because I wanted to. And because I totally ship you two!" Iko laughed. "It's going to be amazing. Don't worry. I'll be there too you know."

Cinder shivered at the thought of Kai sitting on her couch, and Iko trying to get them to talk. "Can't you cancel it? Please, Iko. For my sake!"

Iko smiled. "Then that's not fair for me. I want to see him too. It's not just you that's falling for him."

Cinder shook her head. "I'm not falling for him. I'm just… confused. That's all."

Iko rolled her eyes this time. "But Cinderrr. I thought you loved me! If you truly love me, you wouldn't care if Kai came over or not."

Cinder sighed. "Of course I love you Iko, but after what Kai did to me— "Cinder stopped. "Never mind. What I'm saying is… I'm not comfortable with Kai. If he comes over, just know that I'll be in my room doing homework. I will not see him." Cinder crossed her arms, determined to keep her word.

"Hey Cinder. How's it going?" Kai asked her cautiously.

Inside, Cinder groaned. "I'm fine."

A moment of silence. Then:

"Oh hey guys! Cinder, you came out of your room?" Iko came out from the kitchen, holding three cups of something. "I thought you were going to come out sooner or later so I got you some orange juice. You want it?"

Cinder nodded, her face on fire. "Sure, thanks." She took a careful seat on the couch, and even though this was her house, it felt like someone else's.

Iko gave one of the cups to Kai, and flopped down onto the couch, in between Cinder and Kai. Iko handed Cinder a cup. "Oh shoot. I forgot. I had some homework to do. I'll be back after I'm done." She stood up and went back into her room.

Cinder sighed inside. Kai laughed. "How did you get such a personality chip again?" Cinder froze. Kai stopped laughing. The first time she told him about how she got Iko was on our first date. In the past.

Kai coughed. "Um… you know. About the conversation we had last time, I was wondering if we could finish—"

"No. Of course not," Cinder said firmly. "Except…"

Kai raised an eyebrow. "I mean… I think you owe me an apology." She stuck her chin up a bit. "About the kiss." Cinder hoped it was her imagination about her voice waving on the last word.

Kai cleared his throat. Drank some juice out of the cup. Cleared his throat again. "What if I'm not sorry for it?" he finally said.

Cinder looked up at him, startled. "What?"

"What if I'm not sorry?" He looked at me. A small smile appeared on his face. Cinder gulped and tried to say something, but nothing came out of her mouth. "Look, I know you probably hate me for cheating on you with Peony, but—"

"Shut up!" Cinder said, standing up abruptly. Kai flinched. "I told you, I don't want to talk about it. And don't you dare say Peony's name. You can find the front door yourself, right?"

She was about to walk to her room, but Kai grabbed her by the wrist. "No, listen to me. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt both of you like that… It's just that I felt bad, and I knew she was dying— "

Cinder fell on her knees, her legs losing the strength to stand up. "Please. Stop talking about her. She—she— " Cinder wanted to cry. "She doesn't deserve me talking about her. I can't like you. F—for her."

Cress was crazy.

She was sure about that. If not, why was she in front of Thorne's house's front door? She took a deep breath, and rang the doorbell.

After a few seconds, she heard someone coming to the door. When the door opened, she smiled shyly. "Um. Hi? I'm Cap—Carswell's friend, Cress. I was supposed to give him make-up work to him. Is that alright?" she asked to the lady that opened the door.

The lady smiled. "Hello, Cress. I haven't seen a friend of Carswell's in a while. Do you want to come inside?"

Cress nodded. "Thank you."

Cress walked in, looking around her. The house itself was fine. There was a white sofa in the living room, with a flat-screen television, and a coffee table in front of the sofa. Cress took a seat on the sofa. There was something missing, though. There was a feeling of loneliness in the house.

There weren't any pictures of anyone or anything in the house.

The lady came over with a glass of water, setting it down onto the coffee table. Cress saw a row of scars all over the lady's arm. She barely swallowed back her gasp.

"Water is all we have right now. I keep forgetting to go get groceries." The lady smiled; her eyes were screaming for sleep.

Cress smiled and said, "Thank you. Water is fine… Could I go see Carswell?"

The lady frowned. "Well, I don't know if that's a good idea. He's normally in a bad mood whenever I go up to see him. Maybe he's different with his friends."

"How are you and Carswell related? I mean, it's just that he doesn't look like you a lot," Cress asked.

The lady looked surprised. "Well, I'm his stepmother. Did he not tell you? Well, I guess he doesn't really want to talk about me that much." She sighed. "You can go see Carswell right now if you want. You don't need to talk to me."

Cress blushed. "Oh, well, then I'll see him for a minute. Where is his room?"

"Last room on the right on the second floor. And Cress?"

Cress turned around. "Carswell… I don't think he knows this… but I love him very much. As much as I would with my own child. Can you… tell him that?" Cress nodded.

"Of course."

"Thank you, Cress. Please be a good friend to him. He… he's going through hard things, nowadays."

Cress nodded and went up the stairs. Still no pictures found around the house. When she was in front of Thorne's bedroom door, she paused. What was Thorne going to say? What was she going to say? She didn't have any make-up work for him. Maybe… that she missed him? What if he got mad?

She knocked on the door. "Captain? It's Cress. Can I come in?"

No answer. "Captain? Hello?" She knocked on the door again. "Captain! I'm coming inside." Cress opened the door.

His room was very neat. There was nothing on the floor, not even a speckle of dust. The bed was made, the desk was organized, the closet door was closed. But Thorne was nowhere in sight.

Click.

Cress turned around, and fell when she saw what was behind her. The lady that had brought her inside was holding a gun and was aiming it at Cress.

"You—Thorne likes you more than me. I—I have to kill you so Thorne will like me more," she said in a shaky voice.

Cress gaped at the lady. Wasn't she his stepmom?

The lady grasped the gun tightly and said, "Any last words?"

Cress felt the burn of the tears on the back of her eyes. "I—I love you Dad. I always will." Cress closed her eyes and waited for the gunshot to come.