A/N: Is it only me, or are you curious too, as to the Vacker's reaction to the possibility of losing their youngest son? Or the already real loss? We'll see which one it was, although it alludes to the latter. 

Also, I added a small piece to the chapter before this. It's at the very end, and it helps to explain a tiny part of this next section. But, if you've already read it, shall we get a move on? 

I screamed, wailing. 

I couldn't help it. 

I collapsed to the ground, Linh barely catching me. 

I knew her arms were around me, I heard Dex trying to get out of bed, but all I could feel was the gaping hole in my heart. 

I was my parent's only child left. 

A/N: Yes, I know Alvar (SPOILERS MAYBE, actually, if you know about Tam, maybe not, but just in case) -D-O-N'-T-R-E-A-D-T-H-I-S-I-F-Y-O-U-H-A-V-N-E'-T-F-I-N-I-S-H-E-D-N-E-V-E-R-S-E-E-N-is still alive, but he's practically disowned, so he doesn't matter. No more Vackerness for him in my book. Continue on!

My parents had long since been looked upon as strange for having 3 children, but now, our happy family of 5 has been whittled down to 3. 

Alvar, and now Fitz. 

My brothers. 

Gone. 

Taken from me. 

One willingly, the other, stripped from me. 

Grappling for answers, I didn't know why Dex was alive, and my brother wasn't. 

Unless....

"You."

Dex jerked from me, out of bed. 

I grabbed his hands, then recoiled from him. 

"What did you do?"

He stared down at the hands that kept alive, and I saw tears run down his face, but nothing sparked at his pain in the depths of my heart. 

"I......don't know Biana. There's a big gap in my memory. I don't know what happened the last month. It's gone."

Then, as I stared at my so-called-friend, slack-jawed, his Imparter began to ring. 

Dex fumbled with it out of habit, pressing the answering button. 

A familiar husky voice comes from the device, causing Dex to throw it across the room, and I made a grab for it, even though I hated the person on the other end. 

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY BROTHER?!"

Grady's eyes looked dull, a little spaced, but I wanted answers. 

"He didn't cooperate with our members, so he was disposed of. In a rather creative way. He was a loose end anyways. But don't blame us."

"She's the real one you should blame."

The Imparter's screen shifted to focus on someone I knew very well. 

"S-Sophie?"

"Tam!"

".....Sophie.......no......."

I choked her name, seeing the bruises and cuts on her face. 

Tam and Keefe were in the frame too, Keefe looking mostly dead, but my eyes were drawn to the figure closest to us. 

There was dried blood on her face, and Grady walked over to her, his black cloak swishing. 

A white eye burned itself into my memory, and I shuddered, realizing finally that Grady wasn't who we thought he was. 

He turned back to us, huddled around Dex's Imparter, and you could feel the tension and hatred directed at the tiny Imparter. 

"Shall we see whose blood this is?"

He scraped flakes off her face, and flicked them onto a device I hadn't noticed before. 

Dex moaned. 

"That's one of my designs. It's supposed to be able to read DNA that's already in the elvin system."

"But I never finished it. It wasn't accurate enough. Only 54% accurate."

Sophie's adoptive dad nodded, but he shook his head at the very end. 

"Not anymore. After some 'help' from us, it's now 99% accurate. Very nice Dex."

He paled. 

After pressing a button on the side of the small round device, the screen flickered to life, and I saw in plain, black letters, 

FITZ AVERY VACKER, 99% MATCH

"No. You're lying. Sophie wasn't there."

Grady shrugged. 

"You can check the registry . They'll show that she was there at the same time Fitz was. I know. I saw her holding the knife. All that blood. So it's really all her fault. Well, have a lovely day!"

Then the screen clicked off. 

It was tense and silent as Dex poked a finger at his screen, searching for Sophie's registry pendant. 

After narrowing his search, he stared at his screen for a long second, and finally shut it off. 

"They must have hacked it somehow. Sophie would never do that to Fitz. Or she was mesmered. Either way, Grady is lying."

His nephew choked on his name, and pain creased his face. 

All sorts of thoughts whirled around in my head, and I couldn't hold on to one of them long enough to process what I'd just learned. 

Grady just said that it was all Sophie's fault.

"I-I can't anymore. Bye Linh. I'm sorry about Tam."

"Biana-"

I wretched myself from her grasp, shook off Dex, and fled from the Healing Center and Foxfire. 

I couldn't trust anyone anymore. 

It was time to go.

A/N: Ah, I updated. But, honestly, it feels like the story is spiraling out of control. So I'm going to take another break from it. And probably make a few edits. So, bye for now. I'll continue on my other books though! ):)