"Wait, we're not—oof!"

            I cut Sophia off and pushed her behind a bush when I began hearing some chattering voices.

            "Shut up," I barked, focusing my energy on changing our outward appearances to resemble that of Catchers. This didn't work too well last time, but I was kind of winging it by this point.

            Her eyes widened when she finally figured out what I did. "You are so unbelievably dumb, Taylor! I can't believe you brought us here!"

            "Well, I was only planning on it being myself so you just hang out here while I do my thing."

            "Oh, no. You're not doing anything. We're going back right now!"

            I raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh yeah? How do you supposed we do that? You don't know how to teleport."

            "Taylor..." she warned, gritting her teeth.

            I ignored her tone and made sure I was now looking like a Catcher before standing up. For once, I had the power in the situation and I was not going down without a fight. "I'm not leaving until I find Cole and get him out of here," I told the Catcher-looking Sophia who was still hutched down behind the bush. "So decide if you're coming or staying."

            She contemplated it for a few seconds before giving in a standing up. "If I die during this, I'm going kill you."

            "How could you kill me if you're dead?"

            She was quiet for a moment before saying, "Shut up."

            I reached into my brain, trying hard to somehow find Cole with my powers. I didn't know if finding him would be a good or bad thing and I didn't know what I wanted. If I didn't find him, he might have been able to escape. If I did, I might be able to get him out.

            Finally, I found a slight hint of his location using my powers. My heart began beating faster now as I began walking forward into Katherine's fray.

            Because there was only two of us, my hold on our disguises was stronger than it was when I was here with the Big Six. While I might be physically damaged and weak, the determination I had was really propelling me forward. I was taking such large steps that Sophia was actually having to jog a bit to keep up.

            "This is kind of weird..." she whispered to me as we continued forward. "Nobody is looking at us any differently."

            "Because they have no suspicions of us coming here," I answered. And it was true. Last time, Katherine had to have known that we were going to come for her soon enough, but I'm sure she thinks she won or we're recovering or something else. We would be dumb to even try her again so soon.

            And yes, I am calling myself dumb for doing this, but I needed to know where he was. I had to know or else I'd go crazy just sitting around doing nothing when he's done so much for myself and everyone else.

            We continued walking forward, hearing the excited chattering of the Catchers around us. It was like nothing had happened a few.... Days? Hours? However long it has been since our fight. We walked past the area it had happened and it was like nothing occurred. No destruction, no huge hole, nothing.

            Maybe I had imagined the whole thing.

            "Yeah, you should have seen it," I heard a female Catcher say to another. "Master Katherine was unstoppable! She let them all go except for the Fire boy."

            Now this conversation peaked my interest.

            I stopped mid-walk, making Sophia run into my back with a grunt. I began acting as if I was straightening the black clothing that so many Catchers usually wore as I continued listening in on the conversation.

            "Where is he now?" The other Catcher asked.

            The first one shrugged. "I don't know. Master Katherine is keeping it a secret from all of us."

            Sophia looked over to me. "Is that a good thing or bad thing?" she whispered to me, making me scrunch my eyebrows together in confusion.

            "I have no idea..." I faded out and continued walking forward.

            Not letting the Catchers know the status of Cole could mean two things:

            One... That Cole had somehow gotten away and Katherine didn't want her little minions looking down on her for that.

            Or two... She wasn't done with him yet.

            The thought of what she could be doing or what she already has done to him if he hadn't escaped sent chills down my spine as I quickened my step. With each second, I could feel us getting closer and closer to him with my perception ability.

            The fact that I didn't know what to expect only heightened my anxiety. I could be facing another imprisonment here if I didn't do this correctly and this time with Sophia. I don't know what would be worse: having to be tortured by Katherine again or having to be locked up with my bitchy instructor.

            We continued forward on our trek. Thankfully, it didn't feel as if Cole was moving so at least that helped calm me down a bit.

            "It's kind of weird being back here," Sophia spoke once we were away from all the Catchers. "It's been years but it still freaks me out."

            I realized that I had forgotten that Sophia had been here before in a very similar situation that I had been in with the Big Six. Regardless, I resisted the urge to snort at her comment. "Yeah, it's not like we're in our nemesis's backyard or anything. It's not like we could be captured here at any moment or just die--"

            Wait. I can't die. We can't die.

            And I meant we as in Cole and I. Not Sophia. She's toast if Katherine got to her. That also meant that he couldn't become a Catcher. Thinking back to the time where she forced me to watch her turn Jenny, Katherine made her heart stop. She made her periodically stop living before reviving her as a Catcher. That meant Cole couldn't become one because we couldn't die until we reached our fullest potential.

            "Cole can't be a Catcher..." I drifted off more to myself than Sophia.

            This newfound realization made me want to run and jump and scream in joy. He's here, human and alive. We were really going to get him back.

            "He can't be a Catcher!" I exclaimed again while she looked at me in confusion. "I'll tell you when we get back home."

            Home. The word meant so little to me now that it my closest thing to home would now have to be the prison that Jack and the others were holding us in, but at least I'd have Cole with me again.

            "How do you know that?" Sophia asked, her eyebrows scrunching together in confusion. "Katherine is deplorable. She'll do anything to ruin you."

            It hit me that nobody knew the information I did from what Katherine had told me. "I'll tell you later," I grinned for the first time in what seemed like forever. The sliver of hope growing with every passing realization. "We need to get him out of here first."

            After walking for what seemed like a century, my perception ability sensed that Cole was super close as we began approaching a dark gray building laid out a bit further than the others. It was bigger than the rest, more grandiose as well. To make sure we were being safe, I took the appropriate measures to make sure Katherine wasn't there either. After figuring out that it only seemed to be Cole inside, I took a deep breath and began to reach for the door handle.

            "What do you think you're doing?" Sophia barked at me, making me pull away my hand in surprise.

            "What?"

            "Aren't you supposed to be slyer than this? You can't just walk in the front door!"

            I blinked once, twice at her. "This isn't a James Bond film!"

            I began opening the door again and I heard her mutter, "At least that'd be more exciting..." under her breath. My heart was beating out of my chest. This is it. This is where I fix my huge mistake and get Cole back.

            The door opened to a large, dark room. We stepped inside and before my eyes could adjust, the door slammed shut behind us and the lights turned on.

            In front of me was not what I was expecting. The worst case scenario would be to run into Katherine, but never did seeing Grant once cross my mind.

            "Ah, Sophia," He grinned a smile that was surprisingly warm for a Catcher, yet also held a dark, sinister vibe to it. He stepped out of a circle that swirled around his feet. It must have been some sort of veil of protection or something that had stopped me from being able to tell her was in here. "It's so lovely to see you again."

            My instructor next to me automatically froze and in that moment, I felt nothing but sorrow for her. To see someone you love like that must be the worst thing ever. To be so close to them, but yet so distant. That is bound to mess you up.

            "G-Grant," she stuttered. The powerful, sassy Sophia that I had come to know had completely disappeared, leaving a vulnerable girl in her place.

            He took a step forward, making Sophia nearly leap back. Grant's next cackle sent shivers down my spine. "Oh, you're scared of me. How exciting. I figured you'd have spent this whole time missing me--"

            "Where's Cole?" I demanded. I didn't want Grant to torment Sophia any more. We're already in a bad position and I needed us both to have our heads together in order to get out of it. My perception ability was basically screaming at me that Cole was so close. Perhaps Grant was put in charge of guarding him so an event like last time didn't happen again?

            He turned his black eyes on me. "Is that what you're here for? I figured you wanted back. Katherine would love for you to join us."

            "Well, that's never going to happen," I spat. "Where is Cole?"

            He snickered again. "Well maybe you should reconsider that thought. Cole is around here somewhere. He's adjusting quite well."

            Then, from around the corner I saw him with his dirty blond hair walking straight towards us. My heart could leap out of my chest in happiness and relief. He's actually okay.

            Then his eyes met mine.

            They were pitch black, cold, and heartless. The eyes of a Catcher.

            And that's when my last sliver of hope left me.

_________________

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