Me: i'm just watching tv, you?

Fitz: I am, too. There's not much else to do at midnight when you can't sleep.

Me: i could always go wake up sophie, but she'd probably kill me for that

Fitz: Oh she definitely would.

I smiled, trying to think of something to keep the conversation going. I'd been texting Fitz for about half an hour, and although he had the excuse of not being able to sleep, I couldn't say the same about myself. I could've fallen asleep whenever.

Is it so bad that I just wanted to talk to him?

I curled up tighter in my bed, clicking on the next episode of My Little Po-I mean, Outer Banks, on my TV. I wrapped my blanket up tighter around myself, glad for the fuzzy pajama pants I chose on this oddly cold summer night. Christmas in June, I guess.

I quickly panicked after realizing I still hadn't said anything to Fitz, and it had been about three minutes. I can't believe I just left him on read that long, he's going to hate me-

the annoying one: you're not safe. get everyone out of the house now

I peered out the window that showed me a view of her room. The lights were off, blankets piled on the bed, but no Sophie. My stomach immediately dropped to my feet, all the junk I had eaten during the day threatening to come back up.

the annoying one: neverseen

"Shit." I whispered, then realized there was no reason to be quiet because I was going to be waking up my family anyway.

What mess did you get yourself into this time? I sighed and thought to myself. Then, slapped myself in the face to fully wake up.

I ripped off my blankets and made a dash for my door, slamming into the corner of my dresser and hitting the ground with a booming thud.

I scrambled up as quickly as possible, throwing myself into the door with my momentum. I swung it open, running to Bex's room, then Rex and Lex. I grabbed them while they were still asleep, except for Lex who was surprisingly reading. I thought he was illiterate. I carried the other two as I ran to my parents, Lex trailing behind me and questioning me.

"Dex?" My dad asked groggily as his bedroom door slammed open. My mom sat up beside him, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"We need to go. Sophie says we're in danger. Neverseen." I panted, dropping Bex and Rex to rub at my bruised ribs.

"Neverseen? What-" I grabbed my parents' arms, dragging them out of bed with the triplets running in front of us. We made it outside in record time, with minimal stumbling on my part. I made us keep going until we were a safe distance from the house, then scanned up and down the street. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary, but I knew if the Neverseen were here, it wouldn't be obvious.

I snapped out of my observations with a gentle tugging on the bottom of my shirt. I looked at Rex, his sad eyes making my heart break.

"What's wrong?" I asked, squatting to be at his height.

"Is our house on fire?" He asked.

"No, it's just not safe right now." I sighed, trying to think of the best way to explain this to a ten year old boy. "The bad people who took Sophie, you remember that?"

"Yeah." He nodded, paling at the mention. Those months were bad for everyone, but in such a different way for the triplets. They didn't understand death quite yet, or why someone would kidnap Sophie after we found out the truth. I still woke up because of the nightmares that would leave the triplets screaming.

"Well Sophie says the house isn't safe right now, because of them. It'll be okay soon though, look, dad's already on the phone with the police. They'll be here soon, and we'll be safe."

"So we can go back in when they get here?" I shook my head.

"Probably not, they'd need to check for the threats."

"But, I left Harry in there!" I watched as his bottom lip wobbled with oncoming tears. I sighed, reminded of his unhealthy attachment to the Jackalope stuffed animal. "Can I go in and get him, please? He's in trouble!"

"No he's not, Rex. It'll be fine, okay? Nothing's going to happen to him inside the house." At least I hoped that, since we weren't in the house anymore, the Neverseen would have no reason to do anything to it.

"Please. I'm scared." I hugged my little brother, hoping that might do something to help. He's always been the most sensitive of the triplets, which shocked all stupid gender stereotypes.

"It's going to be okay. I'm right here. I won't let anything happen to you."

"Jolie gave me Harry." I could probably spare a minute. Nothing had happened yet, there's been so sign of any threat. I would just be quick. I couldn't stand the tears on my little brother's face.

"Stay here." I sprinted for the house, ignoring my parents' shouts for me to come back. I dashed up the stairs, somehow more gracefully than on my way out. I made it to Rex's room and grabbed the jackalope and turned around, without stopping my sprint. I was down the stairs.

Right in front of the front door.

Time seemed to slow as I passed through, a high pitched hum in the air.

I was down the steps in front of the door when everything went silent and I was thrown forward.

My vision went black, I didn't know for how long, but I pushed myself up slowly as it cleared. I wasn't in front of my house anymore, but Sophie's childhood home. Pushing myself up from the mess that was Umber.

When I blinked, I was back. There was blood in front of me, and I could feel it dripping from my nose. My ears were ringing as I turned around, the only sound I could hear when I saw my home. Fire was fighting to devour it, the door and some walls blown off from the explosion.

I blinked, and all I saw was a clear, sunny sky, and the empty space where a Neverseen member had been standing. The puddle of her left on the ground, staining the concrete.

Two very different explosions, but the same from where I was standing. Where I was getting thrown forward like a rag doll, all my senses ripped from me as I tried to take in my surroundings, process what happened.

Fire. My house is on fire.

I felt hands on my shoulders, turning me to face my parents. I scanned them for injuries, turning to look for my siblings when I saw they were fine. Their mouths were moving, but all I heard was the ringing.

The triplets were still where I left them, completely unharmed. But they were staring at me, at our home, and crying. I shrugged off my parents, swaying as I stood. Slowly, steadily, I made my way over to them. I dropped to my knees, opening my arms in the only way I knew how to make them feel better.

They crashed into me and I felt their tears soaking my shoulder. All I did was hold them. Our parents joined in eventually, and then I felt Grady and Edaline join as well. I didn't know how loud the explosion was, I still couldn't hear at all, but it must've woken them up. Their house was still perfectly fine, far enough of a distance between it and mine that it was untouched by fire.

Slowly, our group hug ended. The ringing was starting to fade enough for me to hear the sirens in the distance. But I saw Rex in front of me, and extended that stupid stuffed animal to him. I could've died if I was any slower, but the happiness in his face after having just cried himself out made any of my anger disappear.

When I turned, there were fire trucks and an ambulance. I hadn't noticed them pulling up, but they were already putting the fire out. I saw headlights shining light on the ground in front me, turning to see a sleek black car.

"Oh my god!" Sophie exclaimed, leaping out of the car. She ran towards me immediately, Keefe and his bodyguard not far behind her. "Are you guys okay? Are you hurt?"

I only shook my head, not trusting my voice. I hadn't spoken in a while anyways.

I heard Keefe curse from behind her, looking at my house. Not much of a house anymore.

I watched as Sophie's face paled and she sank to her knees beside me, cradling my hand in both of her's.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." She cried, her head bowed. I turned so my body was fully facing her, and I heard our family doing the same. "This is all my fault. This never would've happened if-"

"It's not your fault, Sophie." My mom interrupted, kneeling next to her and wrapping her arms around my cousin. "These psychos' crazy obsession with you could never be your fault, you didn't ask for this, and you didn't blow up the house. Your uncle's farts did." Everyone's heads whipped to my mom in shock, but I couldn't stop myself from laughing. Then the triplets joined in, and slowly everyone else did. It wasn't even that funny, and our laughs quickly turned hysterical, but the pain hidden in my mom's smile revealed everything. She hated this, everything about this. But she knew what we really needed was some humor. The situation being made lighter.

She really is the perfect mom.

Once the laughter died down, I watched Sophie's expression drop. "But I brought this to all of you. If it weren't for me, the Neverseen wouldn't even know who you are, where you live. No matter what you say, it is my fault."

"Sophie, please listen to us." Keefe said, sitting at her other side. "It really isn't your fault. You didn't ask them to do this. You did what they told you to, to protect your family." She turned her head to him slowly.

"So it's your fault." My jaw dropped at my cousin's words. She had never, ever been the type to blame something like this on someone else. "You're the reason they blew up their house."

"Sophie, don't say that." Edaline gasped. Her mother voice shone through. I watched Keefe wave her off without letting my cousin see.

"No, it is his fault. You all think I'm so precious, so breakable, just cause I got kidnapped one measly time! You don't trust me to handle myself when I am more than capable. Don't you think that maybe, just maybe, if there wouldn't be consequences for telling someone, I would've told you guys about the texts? I obviously didn't say anything for a reason, I don't want to get kidnapped again! But more than that, I don't want any of you getting hurt! But you just had to go and butt in, like you always do, and now everything went wrong! Alvar got away with the journal, my family's house blew up, they could've died! But you just had to go and play hero so much that you could risk their lives if it meant being my savior! I can save myself, Keefe. I don't need your help. I've been just fine without it."

"Sorry to interrupt," we all turned to the paramedic. I hadn't even noticed her approach. "But we need to check to make sure you're all not injured."

"My son was the only one who got hit by the explosion." My dad stated, pushing me up. "The rest of us were safely out of range." The paramedic nodded, gently leading me by the elbow towards the ambulance. I sat in the back, staring towards my family as I got checked over.

I could see Keefe talking to Sophie, but couldn't hear what they were saying. I also saw Grady's signs of imminent anger.

"Given the state of your shirt, it's shocking you don't have any burns." My attention snapped back to the paramedic and I felt my eyebrows furrow in confusion.

"What do you mean, 'state of my shirt?'" I twisted my head and body, trying to look at the back. Eventually I gave up and pulled my arms in through the sleeves, twisting it so it was backwards. "Oh my god."

It was completely singed, with holes sprinkled throughout the fabric. I moved my hand to my back, feeling for any pain or burns or anything, but there was nothing there.

"Can I go?" I asked, needing to get back to the drama if I wasn't injured.

"Yeah, I guess. Go ahead." She still seemed dumbfounded by the lack of burns, but I didn't care. I sprinted back towards my family.

"Sophie, stop." I heard Edaline say, her voice stern. My cousin must've still been ranting. "Just because you're feeling guilty about this doesn't mean you take it out and blame it on other people."

Sophie took a breath, then another. She looked calmer, but I could see that her anger was the only thing keeping her from dropping into a panic.

"Where the hell were you?" Grady asked, cutting off whatever my aunt was about to say. "Do you know how worried we were, seeing our family's house on fire, and not finding you in your room? And then you show up with that boy? You... the kidnappers? You were with the people who kidnapped you? What were you thinking?"

"Dad, I had to go, they were threatening-"

"I don't care who they were threatening, you put yourself in danger again! You got texts from those psychos again and didn't think it would be smart to tell someone? Do you even understand what you're putting Edaline and I through?"

I watched her face crumple completely. I watched as she started shaking, as the tears welled up in her eyes. I watched as nobody stopped Grady from making this horrible night worse for her. I watched as he fed into her worst fears and insecurities, as he filled her with guilt. I did nothing, it wasn't my place to step in. I would just make things worse.

"I'm sorry-" She flinched in surprise as Grady cut her off.

"I don't want to hear it, okay? We can't trust you anymore. I wish we could, since the first time it wasn't your fault. But now as this keeps happening, you think you'd learn! You can't keep doing this to us, Sophie. We can't lose you again."

"You're not going to. I'm making sure of that. You all just need to let me handle this. I know what I'm doing, I know these people, I know how they think, I know what they want. I had everything all planned for tonight, and if Keefe wouldn't have been there it would've gone just fine."

"No, Sophie. What you don't realize is you don't know these people! They kidnapped a minor, you, and continue to try and hurt you. You don't know what you're doing and you're going to get yourself killed. What were you even doing tonight?"

She looked at me and I knew instantly. It was about the journal. Then I realized again why she stayed silent, she was trying to think of a way out of it. Grady and Edaline didn't know about us going to San Diego, or getting attacked by the Neverseen there.

"They found a journal, that was my parents'." She explained slowly. Not lying, just not explaining that they found it from us. "But they can't read it. Only I can."

"Your parents' journal? Why-"

"What happened here?" An all too familiar voice asked. We all turned our attention towards the newcomers, not even having noticed their car pull up.

I turned to Sophie immediately, watching the blood drain from her face.

"Dex, Sophie! Are you okay?" None other than Biana Vacker asked, both of her brothers beside her. Sophie remained silent for an awkwardly long time, so I decided to speak up.

"Yeah. What are you doing here? It's the middle of the night."

"Alvar got home from a party, said he drove past and saw your house. We came here immediately." Fitz said, his eyes never leaving mine. "Did you get hurt?"

"No, nothing. But," Alvar glared at me behind his siblings, but I pretended not to notice, "how did Alvar know where we live?"

His eyes marked me for death right then and there.

"Sophie mentioned it one time. And I saw you guys outside." Grady moved slightly in front of Sophie, interrupting the conversion.

"Just a second, I need to talk to my daughter really quickly."

He pulled her far enough away where we couldn't hear them. The Vackers grouped off with me while the rest of my family left us alone to talk.

"What were you guys fighting about earlier?" Biana asked, concern in her eyes as she looked towards Sophie.

"It's a family thing, they probably wouldn't like me saying anything." I said, making it up impressively fast.

"I'm just glad you're alright." Fitz jumped in. "All of you. Do you know what happened?"

"Someone blew up my house." I said with supreme nonchalance.

"Do you know who though?" Biana asked.

Only looking at Alvar, I replied, "Not yet."

"Hey Dex, move over for a second." I felt a hand at my shoulder, turning to see Grady gently pushing me out of the way.

"Dad, stop!" Sophie shouted, running behind him. But too far back to stop Grady from socking Alvar straight in the middle of his face.

this chapter took so long to write so i hope you guys enjoyed it! also i've been losing motivation for writing, but i'm still going to try and get a chapter out every week. i just wanted to let you know in case that chapters started getting shorter

Avery, out ->

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