"Adrien, where are you going?"

Adrien froze, backpack half slung over his shoulder, big, dark sunglasses covering his eyes and a baseball cap on his head. He smiled weakly. "...Out?"

Nathalie's expression was distinctly unimpressed. Well, Adrien amended, it was less of her facial expression and more of her body language. Her face usually was set in a neutral position while it was where she held her arms that really gave her away. They were behind her back, probably clasped together. She also was looking down at him from the bridge of her nose.

"That does not answer the question."

"I -um- er..." I'm sneaking out to hang out with my friends because if Father finds out he will explicitly tell me I can't do it . That's the truth, but Adrien couldn't exactly say that to Father's secretary and personal assistant.

"I see." Nathalie swept her arm forward, making a big show of looking at her smartwatch. "You have a studying appointment with your school group. Make sure you finish it. I will inform your father if he happens to inquire regarding your whereabouts."

Adrien gasped and his eyes sparkled. "Have I ever told you you're the bestest person in the world?"

"You could stand to say it more often." Nathalie's arms went to her side. "Keep in mind that Monsieur Gorilla will have to follow. At a distance."

"Of course." Adrien smiled, because even the presence of his bodyguard couldn't possibly diminish his mood. "Thank you so much!"

He paused when he got to the doorway, turned around and waved vigorously enough that his shoulder hurt. "Bye! Thank you!"

Adrien skipped down the steps of his mansion. Being on cloud nine couldn't possibly compete with this! And Plagg was too busy gorging himself (itself? do kwami have genders?) on cheese to do any complaining.

The sun was bright, no clouds in sight, and he was out of his house for the first time in a week!

(Being 'grounded' was torture. He was a person lost in the desert: school was his oasis. His father had threatened to boil the water and flatten out of the shady plants.

He knew his father cared about him, just wanted to protect him from any danger that could be lurking near the waters. Adrien had seen those documentaries with the zebra who went to the watering hole, only to get snapped up in the waiting jaws of crocodiles.

He could understand why Father wanted to take away his shade and water, to leave only sand. Because sand was still dangerous -sand wasn't really the danger, more like heat stroke- but not unknown.)

Adrien's thoughts stuttered, just a bit, and his grin widened. That rhymed!

He made it to the park in record time, several pigeons flying away just as he burst past a neatly trimmed tree. He sneezed.

He adjusted his not-Agreste-designer sunglasses and his bucket hat that was the most hideous thing he could find in his closet (because his fans have never recognized him if he wears anything that doesn't perfectly compliment his features). He glances around: the park was pretty full, but no one recognized him in the split second his glasses were askew. If someone did, he'd be forced to abort the mission prematurely.

Adrien spotted Nino standing next to the bird bath, not the giant fountain- that was too crowded. Keana was laying face down in the grass, not even bothering to use her arms as a makeshift pillow. Nino had one headphone over his ear with the other free and he was fiddling around with something on his phone. Neither of them have seen him yet.

Adrien grinned with enough teeth for him to almost look like he was Chat Noir in hiding instead of a supermodel in disguise. He was both of those things, but no one else needed to know that.

He circled around so Nino wasn't facing him. He snuck closer, dodging stray twigs and sticks hidden in the lush grass that covered the park. A bird flew too close for comfort, but he pinched his nose until the urge to sneeze left.

He was nearly there, and he withheld a maniacal cackle. He felt Plagg's butt wiggle in his pocket.

Then they pounced.

Adrien grabbed Nino by the shoulders.

"Whoa-!" Nino yelped. "What the-?! Adrien?!"

Adrien laughed brightly, covering Plagg's own evil cackle. "Did I scare you?"

Nino rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't know you could be that sneaky. What are you, a ninja dude?"

"Yep, just graduated from ninja academy." Adrien looked down at Keana, who was still very much dead to the world. "What's up with Keana, did she forget to pack a snack or something?"

Nino shrugged. "I dunno, dude. She just kept mumbling about something embarrassing her and just fell over. Hasn't moved since."

Adrien eyed his friend with mild concern, only mild. Keana had the tendency to either exaggerate things or not react at all. It could have been that the Chloe encounter finally caught up to her brain.

"Just let me wither in my grave as my bones crumble to ash and sweep away as dust in the wind. As I'm one with nature, I'll be one with peace." Came the American's muffled voice.

Adrien gasped, horrified. He looked to Nino in shock. "She's already reached stage three."

Nino nodded solemnly. "She's starting to talk like a dramatic poet."

"Or watered down Shakespeare."

"Or watered down Shakespeare."

"At least she hasn't started talking in hath's and thou's."

"Does thou butt wish to be kickethed?" She grumbled into the dirt. "If so, keep talking, wise guys."

"Oh, so she decides to acknowledge lil ol me?" Adrien smiled in the fashion that would make his fans swoon. "I'm humbled."

"Blessed even." Nino added.

Keana looks up to glare at them, only to immediately squint. "Why are you so bright."

It wasn't a question, but Adrien decided to answer it anyway. "I have a good skincare routine. I've heard it makes me glow." Adrien laughed as he dodged her backpack. "C'mon, get up, I didn't sneak out of my house just for you to die before we even hang out."

Keana grumbled some more, sitting up with an audible crack. Nino winced. "Bro, that sounded awful. Your back sounds like a glowstick."

"What a coincidence, your face sounds like a glowstick."

Adrien tilted his head. "What does that even mean?"

"You're about to find out." Keana rolled her shoulders and cracked her knuckles.

Nino held his hands up in surrender. "Chill, dude," he said slowly, as if talking to an injured animal, "It's time for you to look inward, and start asking yourself the big questions. Who are you? And what do you want?"

Keana raised an eyebrow. "Thanks, Uncle Iroh."

"Uncle Iroh?" Adrien questioned.

There was an audible pause before both Nino and Keana turned in sync to look at him.

"From Avatar: the Last Airbender." Nino prodded.

"Like the blue people?"

Keana became expressionless. "Oh my sweet summer child. That's what we're doing tonight."

Nino nodded.

"B-but," Adrien looked heartbroken and turned to Nino. "We haven't even shown her Naruto yet."

"That's the ninja anime, right?" Keana asked. She was ignored.

"You do bring up a good point. But Naruto is much longer than Avatar."

Adrien pouted.

Keana rolled her eyes. "I have DVDs of the whole series at my house. We can go there."

"Are your parents ok with that?" Adrien asked, glancing at Gorilla, who was sitting on a bench with a magazine flipped out in front of his face.

"Should be fine," Keana mused. "They'll probably be happy that I'm bringing friends over for once instead of just 'languishing in my room by my lonesome'. That's a direct quote from my mom, by the way."

"I'll just text my Dad," Nino said.

Adrien glanced back over at Gorilla. "Is it ok if my bodyguard comes, he gets anxious when I'm out of sight."

"It'll be fine." Keana waved it away. "Plus I think my Dad was planning on making a dessert tonight."

"Deal."

Keana's house wasn't too far away from the park, so it hardly took ten minutes to walk there at a leisurely pace. Gorilla continued to follow the group from a block away up until they reached the door of her house, where he joined them by the entrance.

Keana took out a key and opened the door, letting the smell of something sweet waft from the house and the sound of music and conversation drift into the open air.

"I'm back!" Keana called. "I brought... company."

Everything paused inside, which was exactly the time Adrien realized he had never met Keana's family outside of vague stories about them. Very vague stories. Vague stories along the lines of 'my Dad used to be in the army, but now he's a construction engineer' and 'my mom did roller derby before she broke both of her kneecaps.' Adrien hadn't even known what roller derby was, but apparently it was like racing on roller skates, where physical violence was encouraged. So what Adrien learned was that Keana's parents could probably kill him (the mom) and then successfully hide his body (the dad).

Nonetheless, Adrien peeked his head in the door, hiding behind Keana because he's never really been to a friend's house before and didn't really know how to act. Nino had no such reservations, following Keana as they both took their shoes off.

There was an older teenage guy sitting on the couch, a game controller sitting in his hands. It looked like some sort of... platforming game? Adrien preferred brawler video games, so he didn't exactly recognise it.

Did Keana already invite a friend over? Adrien didn't know she had friends in France other than him and Nino. Were they visiting from the states?

The boy looked up. "Hey Keana, are these the friends you're always talking about?"

"This is Nino and Adrien," Keana said, before gesturing to the hulking figure of Gorilla standing behind them. "That's Gorilla, Adrien's..."

"My caretaker," Adrien supplied.

"Adrien's Caretaker," Keana nodded. "This is Chase, my brother."

Adrien stared at the American girl. "You never told us you had a brother." He accused.

"It never came up."

Nino ignored the problem of Keana's mysterious sibling. "Hey dude, nice to meet you."

Nino held out a fist and... Chase returned it as they came up with a handshake on the spot. Adrien stared, betrayed. " That's our thing ," he whispered.

"Where are the parents?" Keana didn't hear Adrien's plight.

Chase shrugged. "Mom's at a chiropractor. I think Dad's looking through the storage for a whisk. Pretty sure he's trying Mr. Dupain's flavored filling recipe."

"What flavor?"

"Either strawberry or pineapple. He's gonna put it in the cheesecake."

Adrien's stomach grumbled, unbidden. His nutritains and dietitians were going to hate him. He smiled. Gorilla lumbered over and sat down at one of the counter stools, the wood creaking under his weight. He gave a thumbs up and pulled out his magazine.

Nino joined Chase on the couch and Keana flopped down soon after. Adrien sat next to her- it was the only spot left.

"We're gonna watch Avatar."

"You're kicking me off." Chase drawled. He slumped dramatically. "Uhg, fine. You'd have to fight me if it was anything but Avatar, though."

Keana smirked. "I'd win."

"Not with those noodle arms."

...Adrien can see the humor runs in the family.

Later, while Keana was digging through stacks of DVD cases, Nino brought up Keana's family. "How many siblings have you hidden from us, anyway?"

"I haven't hidden them from you." Keana grumbled, then she brighted pulling out a set of cases. Then she opened them and wilted. "I forgot we moved all the DVDs to a binder."

"How many siblings do you have?" Nino prodded again.

"Three," Chase answered with an eye roll as Keana grew more and more annoyed as she still couldn't find the DVDs. "Two sisters that aren't at home."

Adrien tilted his head. "Where are they then?" Did they get kicked out of the house?

"The oldest one lives by herself- she's a genealogist and historian. Alaula is in college- university- whatever you call it."

"Pax is a college hobo," Keana agreed.

Nino raised an eyebrow. "Is Pax a nickname for her or something?"

Chase and Keana made direct eye contact and smirked, but didn't answer the question.

It was at that moment a tall polynesian man stepped into the kitchen from a door that looked like it led to a storage room. He was shorter than Gorilla (not a difficult feat; Adrien is pretty sure Gorilla is at least 192 centimeters tall and made of pure muscle) and not as muscular, sporting a rather impressive belly. He had a shiny bald head and a sleeve of tattoos on his right arm comprised of triangles and lines- it looked vaguely like the maw of a shark. He wore khaki shorts, the ugliest shoes he had ever seen (Adrien needed a pair, stat), and a plain polo.

The man's eyebrows furrowed as his eyes landed on the assortment of guests in his house. Adrien stiffened when he was put under scrutiny, and he was crossing his fingers that it was actually ok that everyone showed up unannounced because Adrien didn't think he'd ever do it again if Keana got in trouble.

"If I had known we were having guests, I could have made two pies."

Adrien relaxed and soon Mr. Luana was chatting with Gorrilla (it sounded rather one sided) about allergies and how he liked his job and if he had any hobbies.

Keana shouted and threw her hands in the air. "Found it!" She cheered.

Cheesecake was served around five episodes in.

. . .

The shaky camera footage was cut off with Alya's shout of surprise and the Parisian superheroes disappearing in chase of the mysterious apparition.

Marionette pressed the replay button, letting the sounds of heavy breathing and the ghastly light wash over her again.

She paused it just as the white mask of the possible akuma came into frame. It was standing in a vaguely defensive manner, but still majorly neutral. It stepped back when she stepped forward. And when they advanced further, it vanished entirely.

Marinette still couldn't figure out how they escaped so smoothly. When they jumped off the building, they straight up disappeared. Could they camouflage, teleport?

Tikki yawned. "Marinette, stop biting your nails, you'll start bleeding again."

"What do I do, Tikki?" Marinette whispered. "I knew we'd start getting more subtle akumas, but I didn't think it would start this soon! What if it's slowly mind controlling the citizens of Paris? Or planting bombs in the city or-"

"Breathe, Marinette," Tikki instructed, "Count to ten, remember our calming techniques."

"I-I," She took in a shuddering breath. "Yeah, I know, but I don't know what I'm supposed to do about this..."

"Marinette, let's think about this, without jumping to anything unrealistic." The kwami of creation floated forward and took one of the girl's fingers with her tiny stumps. She traced the scabs and scars from where the seamstress nicked herself with a needle.

"What do you mean?" Her voice had gone back down to her normal octave of speaking.

"What is Hawkmoth's goal?"

Marinette didn't need much time to ponder the question. "To get the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous.

"How would enslaving the population or planting bombs in the city help him achieve that?"

"It would give him hostages to use against us." Marinette said slowly. "If he threatened the city directly, we would have to give them to him."

"Why didn't he threaten to pop the bubbles and let the adults fall, then?" Tikki countered.

He- he could have done that, Marinette realized. Why didn't he? It would have served to break the heroes' spirit if he actually went through with it and it wasn't a bluff. "Did... did he think it was useless because I can just reverse it after I defeat the akuma?"

"Maybe," Tikki hummed. "But if you let an entire city die, that would pit them against you. It would be a lot easier for them to justify making you give up your miraculous if it would prevent greater disasters."

"That's..." Her eyes widened. "Has he not thought about it or... Or is he just not willing to kill an entire city just to get whatever it is he wants?"

"Yet," Tikki corrected. "He's not willing to kill an entire city, yet. We don't know if he'll ever be desperate enough to do something that heinous."

Marinette's eyebrows furrowed. "Let's stop him before he gets that far."

Tikki nodded. "Now, if his goal is to get the miraculous, and he won't resort to taking direct hostages or follow through with any threats of mass casualties, what can an akuma get up to if it's avoiding you?"

"It could be laying traps for us, but it's already been a few days and we already went on another patrol to find it, and we haven't stumbled across anything..."

"What else?" Tikki prodded.

"It could just be waiting for a chance to attack under certain conditions?"

"Alright," Tikki agreed, "so it's either setting traps or waiting for some sort of change before it attacks, if it's an akuma."

"If it's an akuma?" Marinette tilted her head. "What else would it be...?"

"It could be another miraculous user."

The girl's eyes widened to an impossible degree. "Really?!"

"Maybe," Tikki reminded, "There are tons of miraculous out there, most are hidden in vaults or sealed ever since..." She shook her head. "And there are even more kwamis. I didn't really recognize its theme or outfit, but most holders' outfits can change based on preference."

"Wait, I can change my outfit?" Marinette blurted out.

TIkki rolled her eyes. "We'll talk about that later. This 'Ghost' might be a new kwami that popped up when I was absent. However, I don't think that's a liable option, since the creation of miraculous is a lost art by now."

"So... they might not be hostile?" Marinette bit her lip, thinking about how both Ladybug and Chat Noir lunged at Ghost. "If we see them again, should we not attack unless they act first?"

"That would probably be best, until you find out more," Tikki agreed.

Marinette groaned and slumped against her wall. "We probably chased a potential ally away forever just because I didn't think things through..."

Tikki giggled. "Don't be that hard on yourself. I'm sure if they want to help us, they'll forgive you for the misunderstanding."

. . .

Alya stumbled into school, running solely on caffeine and blog views.

She had been out at night for the past few nights, in hope that she may catch sight of Ladybug or Chat Noir against the stars of the Parisian skyline. Anything for another good scoop. She also kept an eye out for any potential sightings of Ghost, but they were true to their name and haven't been sighted since the initial incident.

She took a sip from her thermos, then cringed. It was room temperature and mildly stale- it must have been from last night.

She got to class with severe balance issues and a mild throbbing in her left eye. She slumped into her seat and immediately took another swig of coffee, which seemed to not alleviate any immediate need she had to rest her eyes.

"Uhm, are you ok...?" Alya moved her head to face the concerned look of her best friend. The movement sent her head spinning.

"Yeah, I'm fiiiine, girl! What makes you say I'm not?"

"You can't stand straight, your eye is twitching and they look bloodshot." Marinette listed. "Do you need to go home and get some sleep?"

Alya shook her head vigorously - a mistake - and began to dig her grave further. "I've just been hero hunting these past few nights, not a big deal."

"Past few nights? Have you gotten any sleep at all?!"

"Chill out," Alya frowned, "girl. I'm an investigative journalist, and I smell a scoop."

"Blogger," Marinette corrected with a grumble. Alya ignored her.

"I've got bigger fish to fry!"

"Like what?"

Alya leaned in closer with a cheshire grin. "Figuring out their secret identities of course."

Her sleep addled brain didn't notice Marinette's very obvious tensing. "Are sure that's a good idea...? I mean, it's a secret for a reason."

"Psh," Alya waved off, "It's not a good comic if there isn't a subplot where a beautiful reporter finds out the secret and threatens to spill it unless she can help them!"

"T-that doesn't make sense! This is real life, not a comic book!"

"Too late!" Alya gleefully exclaims. "I'm already going to look for evidence. Wait-"

Alya turned to Marinette with an accusing finger. "Best friends are supposed to be supportive of their besties. Are you secretly Ladybug and are just trying to cover up that by stopping your smart best friend from finding out?!"

Marinette froze. "W-what? No- I mean- Let's be real here, even Chloe has a bigger chance of being Ladybug than me, I'm waaay too clumsy and she's rich! Like, ummm, like Batman!"

Alya stopped, her brain rebooted, the information sank in, the equations ran through her mind. "She's putting on a civilian person that's so awful, no one would ever suspect her! Mari, " the blogger grabbed her bestie's wrists with an iron grip, "Mari, you're a genius. You deserve a Nobel Prize for smartest human ever."

Behind them, next to an equally sleep deprived but a much more controlled Keana, Adrien sat with wide eyes and furrowed brows. Then he shook his head, because he literally witnessed Ladybug catch Chloe. And Ladybug wasn't blond. And he knew Chloe personally long enough to know her personality wasn't exactly something she could put on and take off at will.

"Alya, wait-!"

Alya didn't wait.

The moment the period ended, Alya was off to the lockers, following Chloe at a subtle enough distance. She stood in her own locker, but subtly had her phone out, recording as Chloe stood at her own locker, door wide open while she used a mirror that had been taped in there to re-apply her makeup.

Alya caught a glimpse of what looked like something red with black polka dots. Then the door shut. Alya put her phone down and saw Sabrina glaring at her. She pointed two fingers at her eyes, then those same fingers at Alya; a universal symbol for "I'm watching you."

Alya needed to see what was in that locker

. . .

Adrien crouched in the bathroom, the empty bathroom.

"Chloe can't be Ladybug, right?"

Plagg shrugged. "Have you ever seen them in the same room together?"

"Ladybug literally saved her the first akuma attack. Unless... Unless she had some way to trick our eyes. Like a stunt double or something?"

"What do you want me to tell you, kid?" Plagg yawned, before unhinging his jaw and eating a wedge of camembert whole.

. . .

I felt my eye twitch at the prospect, the impossibility, the simple idea that the responsible Ladybug was actually Chloe in disguise.

I felt Knight's vague amusement at my suffering. Then they latched onto my finger like some sort of mini octopus with only four limbs. My hand was stuck in my pocket until they let go. The little bastard.

Despite how amazing of a person Madam Bustier was, I had no inhibitions stopping me from sleeping through the rest of the lecture.

. . .

Alya snapped her head to either side. The halls were empty of anyone who would care about the crime she was about to commit. Could it be considered illegal if it was for the greater good of civilization? It was just a locker, Alya shrugged, she did worse with the bike.

She approached the locker, finger twitching. With one last glance around, she crouched down and began twisting the lock in the pattern she memorized. With one last forceful twist and a click, she yanked it open. The mirror shook and rattled. The locker had a spare set of clothes in it, a makeup kit (one of the expensive ones with a whole palette of colors), and a surprising yet unsurprising lack of anything school related.

But in the back, there was a small red with black polka dots mask hanging on a hook. And hidden just behind the set of clothes was a red jumpsuit covered with black polka dots.

Alya gasped and fumbled to pull out her phone. Ladybug actually was Chloe?! Alya wasn't sure if it was actually true or not, but this confirmed it! Marinette was the smartest person in existence! She started to take pictures of the evidence before-

"Ahem." A throat cleared itself from behind her.

Alya slowly turned around, finding a glaring Sabrina. If eyes could throw daggers, Alya would be a pincushion.

"I'm reporting you," she stated, voice filled with restrained anger. No, fury.

Alya blanched. "W-wait, I just wanted to-"

"I don't care what you were trying to do," Sabrina spat. "Whatever it is, it's a huge breach of privacy. Taking pictures of someone's personal, private space, and what? Were you gonna post it on your dumb blog?"

Alya reeled back, clutching her phone to her chest. "My blog is not dumb!"

Sabrina didn't respond, only walking forward to slam the locker shut, before turning sharply and speed walking away.

Alya could only watch her leave with a sinking feeling in her chest.

She was announced over the intercom to go to the Headmaster's office a few minutes later. She walked there in a haze, wondering if it was worth it. She had her evidence, but now that she realized it, a Ladybug mask in a locker wasn't even good evidence, especially with how popular Ladybug was. It didn't look like the right material, either. The yo-yo was obviously plastic, instead of whatever Ladybug's was made of.

She entered Headmaster Damocles's office with her head hanging and her heart on the ground.

Chloe was sitting in a chair with her arms tightly crossed and a fierce glower on her face, not smug or haughty like she was most of the time. She looked... genuinely upset.

...She deserves to have a taste of her own medicine . Alya shook her head, smothering the spark of vindication. A hero shouldn't retaliate like that- a hero is supposed to be morally better. Alya hadn't really meant to hurt the girl at all, she just wanted to... she didn't know. It made sense at the time.

Alya took a seat, feeling the stare of the headmaster as he focused on her.

"Alya Césaire. Sabrina reported that you broke into Chloe's locker without permission and took pictures of the contents within." He had his hands clasped together on his desk. The arch of his sharp eyebrows made the normally relaxed man look rather severe. "Phones shouldn't be used in the locker rooms at all, much less to take a picture of a private area."

Alya's fists clenched uselessly.

"In the real world," Headmaster Damocles continued, "you would be arrested for breaking and entering. However, this is a school setting and you have hardly any previous records of making trouble. I'll let you off with a warning-"

"What!?" Chloe shrieked. "I'm the daughter of the mayor, you- Daddy'll-"

"Please do not interrupt me, Mademoiselle Bourgeois." Headmaster Damocles held up a hand. "I'll be letting you off with a warning and a phone call to your parents or guardians."

Any relief Alya might have had from the lack of suspension was drained in an instant. "Oh no."

"A phone call?! That's not a punishment!" Chloe fumed.

Alya disagreed. Mom is going to kill me , she thought, with the same calm panic that she imagined came over those nobles in the French Revolution when they faced Madame Guillotine.

Headmaster Damocles dismissed them, and both of them returned to class. Chloe was still glaring, but Alya didn't particularly care what Chloe thought in that instance. She was too busy preparing for her execution.

"Alya Roy Césaire!" A booming voice echoed over the courtyard. Alya froze- she didn't think Mom would come in the middle of passing period. Someone bumped into her, and someone else complained about people not knowing how to walk.

Her mother was standing there in all her glory, work uniform still on, hair slipping out from being pulled back. Clumps of people had stopped in their tracks, wondering what the commotion was about.

Alya walked to her mother.

Marlena Césaire's eyes snapped to her daughter the moment she came into view. She was spitting mad. Alya blanched further; this couldn't just be about disrespecting someone else's locker space.

"Come here." The anger simmered down to a more controlled level, but there still was a hard light in her eye. "Right now."

"Mom-"

"Shut!"

Alya closed her mouth. People were whispering.

"Alya, what were you thinking?" Her mother demanded.

She flinched. "I-I saw a ladybug mask in Chloe's locker, so I thought..."

"That blog of yours again?" Her mother sighed in frustration. "Alya, you know I support you, but you have to be more responsible. You can't just act on an impulse just because that's what you think is going on!"

"I know, but-"

"I'm not done!" Mom snapped, nose flaring. "Normally, I wouldn't be as mad over just breaking and entering. Teen rebellion is completely normal."

"Mom-"

" Let me Finish! " She hissed. "You are letting your phone control you. And you aren't as sneaky as you think you are."

Oh no.

"I know all about your little midnight 'adventures.' Going out without telling me all for the sake of your blog."

"I found out important stuff!" Alya defended. "No one would know Ghost existed if it wasn't for me!"

"That's it! Give me your phone! You're grounded!"

"Mom!" Alya clutched her phone to her chest and reeled back. "You can't do that! This is my life, my career!"

"Your career ?!" Marlene Césaire snapped. "You're only fourteen, you'll have a career later! Give it to me!"

" No !"

Alya ran, shouldering her way through the dense crowd that formed around them, ears burning, eyes stinging.

Why doesn't anyone believe in me?!

. . .

In a shadowed room, a man smiled and a purple glow illuminated the room.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I fixed a scene in the last chapter, if any of you guys missed that.

Next up: Lady Wifi