Of course, the Bad Guys were immediately put under arrest. When no one was looking, however, I snuck into the police van. I just had to know what was going on.

"You're making a mistake!" Wolf pleaded as the chief pushed him towards the van. "We didn't do it! I know we always say that, but this time it's actually true! Talk to Marmalade! We're really good now! He'll tell you! Professor!"

Once the doors were shut and everyone was in, I began my questioning.

"Guys, what the heck happened?!" I asked.

"We didn't do it, Gabi!" Piranha insisted. "We just wanted the Golden Dolphin, not the butt-rock!"

"What?!" I exclaimed in disbelief.

"Dude!" Shark yelled.

"What? I was just telling her our true intentions so she would trust us," he said.

"This was all a trick?" I said quietly.

"Look, Gabi," said Wolf, "we're sorry we lied..."

"We are?" asked Snake.

"-but we didn't steal the meteorite! Believe us!"

"I don't know what to believe," I replied, feeling betrayed. Suddenly, the doors opened and Marmalade stepped in.

"Ah, Professor Marmalade!" Wolf sighed in relief.

"You got five minutes, Professor. No deals this time!" the chief warned him, slamming the doors.

"Sir, there's something you need to know," I tried to tell him.

"Not now, Gabriela," he said, disregarding me yet again.

"You have to help us," Wolf begged. "Tell them. Tell them we didn't do it!"

"There, there. Of course you didn't do it," Marmalade assured Wolf, patting his paw gently. "How could you? After all, you're such a good boy!"

"But sir, they're criminals! They always will be!" I argued. "They were gonna try to steal the Golden Dolphin again! They confessed everything to me! How could you possibly still think there's good in them?!"

"You..." Wolf gasped with wide eyes. "It was all you!"

"What are you talking about, Wolf?" Webs asked.

"What's he talking about?" I asked Marmalade.

"The old lady, the Golden Dolphin, good training... It was all to get us here so he could steal the meteorite and let us take the fall!"

"Whoa, whoa. What old lady?" Snake asked. "And why would a guinea pig want a meteorite anyway?"

Then, we all heard a sinister chuckle and saw Marmalade facing away from us with his paws against the doors. The fur on his head became much more ruffled.

"Sir, I thought you said to only laugh when appropriate," I pointed out with worry.

"Uh, guys?" Shark said nervously. "He's creeping me out."

"Wait, what?" Piranha asked, trying to turn himself around as he dangled from the ceiling. "What's going on?! Someone turn me around!"

"Well, well," Marmalade said, scratching the doors with his claws before turning to face us with an evil glare. "So, you finally get it!"

"WHAT?!" we all exclaimed.

"You stole the meteorite?!" Shark asked.

"Oh, it's not just a meteorite," Marmalade admitted.

"I told you guys it's a butt!" Piranha said.

"It's not a butt!" Marmalade spat. He took a deep breath before explaining everything. "It's the ultimate power source. You see, when it struck, scientists found it emitted an electromagnetic frequency unlike anything else on Earth. I'm going to harness its power to pull off the greatest heist the world has ever seen!"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. All of this was his plan?

"You should've eaten him when you had the chance," Webs told Snake.

"Yep," he agreed.

"But why us?" Wolf asked.

"Because you're the perfect patsies," Marmalade answered. "Come on! When people look up 'bad' in the dictionary, do they see a sweet, adorable guinea pig? No. They see you and they always will."

"Okay, fine," Snake said angrily. "But you set us up!"

"Oh, pish-pish," he scoffed. "Let's be honest, evolution set you up, but Wolfie here really clinched it. You fell for every one of my traps, starting with saving a helpless, little, old lady!"

"Wolf, what's he talking about?" Snake asked. Wolf seemed to be lost for words.

"Whoops! Did I say too much?" Marmalade asked, playing the innocent card. "Anyhoo, looks like, yet again, the Big Bad Wolf got outsmarted by a little piggy!"

Now, Wolf was raging mad.

"You little pouchy-cheeked rat!" he snarled, lunging himself at Marmalade. Suddenly, the Professor pushed the door open with his foot so everyone could see. "I'll kill you! You hear me?!"

"Help! Help!" Marmalade cried out. "The Big Bad Wolf is attacking me!"

Wolf stopped once he saw the look of disbelief in Diane's eyes.

"No, it's not true!" I shouted, only for Marmalade to push me aside.

"No, Gabriela! Save yourself!" he shouted before harshly whispering, "Do you want to join them?"

I felt a shiver as I heard those chilling words. I glanced at the Bad Guys, then at Marmalade.

"Do you know what they do to angelfish in prison?" his voice rang in my head. Still not wanting to know, I began to feel all that fear eating me up from the inside again.

So... I kept quiet.

"There's a good girl. Now, get in the car," Marmalade said with a sneer as I stepped out of the van. "Yes, go! Don't wait for me, sweetheart!"

"Oh, now, you are done forever, Wolf!" the chief yelled, running towards the van as I looked back.

"Gabi?" I heard Piranha whimper right before the Professor jumped out and the chief locked the doors shut. As the van and all of the police cars drove off, I attempted to run after them (which is nearly impossible in heels).

"Piranha! I'm sorry!" I cried out, falling to my knees. "I'm sorry..."

I don't know if a heart can break when it was never whole to begin with, but at that moment, I felt a piece of myself die.

🐺🐍🕷️🦈🐟🐹🦊🐠💍🪡☄️💋

I felt a number of emotions for the rest of the evening. I was angry at Marmalade for conning the whole city, I hated myself for not doing anything to stop him, I felt guilty for letting the Bad Guys get thrown under the bus, and worst of all... I was downhearted that I would never see Piranha again.

"Oh, come now, my dear," Marmalade attempted to comfort me during the ride home. "You did the right thing. You said yourself, they're criminals and they always will be."

"Those 'criminals' were my friends!" I said with my teeth clenched. "The Bad Guys were my friends! The Rat Pack were my friends! I should never have agreed to go with you! If I went to the same prison as the rats, we could've talked and forgiven each other!"

"Oh, Gabriela, you were never going to go to any prison," Marmalade confessed. "Because what everyone really saw was a pretty little angelfish who got mixed in with the wrong crowd. I only said you would be arrested because I wanted to see how broken you were."

"So all of it was a lie?!" I exclaimed angrily.

"Well, most of it, yes," he answered. "Two of the most powerful weapons in the world are fear and lies, Gabriela. Wield them both at once and you're invincible. If there's one thing I can teach you, let it be that."

"You... know... nothing!"

"I know how to get through to you," Marmalade pointed out. "And in the end, it was your own fear that made you betray literally everyone who ever cared about you."

At that moment, I snapped. I punched the Professor in the nose, making him yell in pain, opened the car door, and rolled into the pavement. I heard the limo skid to a stop as I squeezed through a storm drain (though not without ruining the hem of my dress) and fell into the sewer.

"Just forget her!" I heard Marmalade order. "The rest of the world thinks she has brain damage anyway."

I trudged my way through the sewers until I collapsed from exhaustion. As I lied in the shallow water, I looked around the sewer, much like the one I grew up in, and thought about where I would go and no path was clear. Every family I had ever known was too out of reach. My parents were taken from me. I lost my childhood friends. The one I trusted abused me. And this new family I've made... I left them behind.

For the first time in my life, I was alone... and I deserved it.

Now, aren't you glad I made those changes in the first two chapters?

I gotta be honest with you guys, I wasn't sure how to end this chapter. It was either this or him locking her in her room. In the end, I decided this was the best way to go.

Until next time. 🌈