Sarah's POV
During Benny's recovery, Erica, Rory, and I were with him at his house.
"Sarah, you know those hallucinations you keep seeing of Ethan?" asked Benny.
"Yes," I said.
"I saw him."
"I did too." said Erica. "He told me something about Optimus and that an old enemy has returned."
"Jesse," we all said.
"Didn't he help us the last time," asked Benny. "What does Jesse have to do with Ethan?"
"I don't know," said Rory. "Last night, someone was in my house. They left me a note saying, 'Find Jackson Voss at the bank. Destroy this.' So I burned it in a fire."
"You think Ethan left that for us?" I asked.
"He's leaving us clues," said Erica. "Ethan giving us messages. Why can't he just tell us?"
"Maybe he's hiding from someone," said Benny. "And Jackson Voss is our only answer. Come on."
The four of us headed to the bank. It didn't seem at all busy. Only one car was there. We walked inside.
At the front desk, there was a lanky blonde man. We walked up to him.
"Excuse me," I said. "We're looking for Jackson Voss."
"I'm sorry but there is no one names Jackson Voss here," he answered. I glanced at his name tag.
"What's your name?" I asked.
"It's…umm…it's…"
"Does it happened to be Jackson Voss?"
Unexpectedly, he made a mad dash for the back door. We all chased him.
"Get back here!" yelled Rory.
Once we got outside, we stopped. In the back was a diesel truck. A crowd of men with crossbows were aiming at us.
"Whoa," said Benny. "What's going on here?"
"I've even expecting you four for awhile," said a voice.
The men revealed a stranger to us. The man was evil and devious. None other than…Stern.
"You?" I shrieked. "How?"
"Immortality, my darling," he grinned.
"He was the old enemy that returned," whispered Erica.
"What do want from us?" demanded Benny.
Stern held a knife at Benny. Someone stepped in front of us. It was Jesse.
"May I do the honors, Stern?" He asked.
"Always."
Jesse walked behind me and struck me in the back of head. My knees buckled and I laid on the ground in agony.
Black spots were blinding me again. The moments of darkness felt like a million years. When will I come to?
"Sarah! Sarah!" A voice called my name.
My eyes shot open. I felt my hands tied to something. Next to me were Benny, Erica, and Rory. Each of us were tied up against a wall.
"Guys, what happened?" I asked.
"Jesse knocked us out and tied us in the back of a truck," explained Rory. "That traitor!"
"No, guys. Jesse saved us."
"What?" asked Erica.
"Stern could've killed us all."
"What are we going to do?" asked Benny.
"Benny, give me your left knee." I commanded.
"What?"
"Left knee."
He lifted his knee up for me. I stepped on it and pushed myself up to my tied hands. For the moment, I flashed my fangs and bit Ito the ropes. Finally, they broke.
I leaped onto my ground and started untying Rory.
"If Jesse's on our side, do you think he knows where Ethan is?" asked Rory.
"Maybe," I said. "Maybe they're looking for him."
"Why would they want Ethan?" asked Erica.
I untied all of them and sighed, "There's one thing I know and it's that we have to find out for ourselves."
"Guys, you hear that," asked Benny. "The truck's stopping."
"What do we do?" I asked.
"I got a plan," said Benny.
We stood in front of the doors and waited for them to open. Once they opened, the four of us jumped on the two guys. We tackled them to the floor and they lay there unconscious.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"Guys, we're in San Francisco," answered Benny.
Beep! The noise came from one of the men. I hunched down searching through their pockets. I found a phone.
"Text message," I said. "It says, 'Meet us at the Masquerade Ball so we can find him.' "
"Masquerade Ball?" said Rory. "Let's go."
"Whoa, wait," Erica stopped us. "Guys, it's a ball. We need to dress up."
"Look." I pointed to a Halloween store across the street. "They might have some costumes for us."
We sprinted across the street an walked into the store. It was a cute little Halloween store. Someone came out of the backroom.
"Can I help…you?"
"Fallon?" gasped Benny. "What the hell?"
"What are y'all doing here?"
"We're looking for Ethan." I said.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I was only protecting him."
"What's going on? Is…Is Ethan alive?"
"Haven't you all felt his presence? He was never really gone."
"How is Ethan alive?" asked Benny.
"That's what he's trying to figure out. Five months after Ethan's funeral, I was wandering in the ground as drunk as a skunk. All of a sudden, I got to the grave, a skeleton hand came out of there reaching for dear life. It was Ethan. He crawled out of there as a skeleton with eyes and his hair. He screamed as his muscles, cells, flesh, and organs were returning to him. At last he was fully alive. He collapsed into my arms sobbing in agony.
"Ethan wanted answers so he took off. I still communicate with him often. I hope you know that he follows you guys."
"Wait, that was really him," I said. "He pulled me out of the water and he visited you at the hospital, Benny."
"He talked to me through that man," added Erica. "Rory, he left you that note. He was leading us here to find him."
"His power to communicate with y'all through mind and illusion."
"Why didn't he come to us?" asked Benny.
"He didn't want people to know that he's alive. He went into hiding until he could find out what happened to him."
"Well, Stern and Jesse are looking for him," I answered. "At the masquerade ball."
"It's too dangerous," said Fallon.
"Fallon, Ethan is there. We have to find him before it's too late."
"Alright. I will help. Come, I'll get us costumes."