Listen. Kat Darcy is fashionably late. At times. Time can get ahead of her, and she's what, a few minutes behind? At best? She's too hung up about timing and schedule to actually be any more late.

So JJ is tweaking a bit, when he sees her red Fiat roll up a touch too slow, too safe. And when Billy and Kie walk out of it, well, all bets are off.

He practically teleports next to them. "Where is she?"

"They gooned her," Kie eructs. "Caroline gooned her, and now she's at some wilderness camp!"

Billy's out of breath, holding a hand up, looking like she ran when she literally just drove there. "I can't– I can't remember the name, but she said... she said that everybody wanted a piece of her and that four was an ugly number?"

If she seems confused and honestly on the verge of breaking down several times, it makes immediate sense to JJ, who's hands reach up to his hair, eye twitching.

"Kat got kidnapped again?"

Of course. That's just his luck, their luck.

"What do we do?" John B cries out behind them.

"Do we have to do this without her?" Pope lets out, visibly pained at the idea.

Billy's eyes bulge out of their sockets, but what can they do, really? Storm the place? John B's dad is up for execution, and the thought of Kathryn alone in a wilderness camp makes her sick, but she's not sure they have a choice.

She can help, she can try to reach her, but would that even work? She could prosecute them for their dubious methods, but that would take months. She's not exactly a mastermind when it comes to this.

But someone here is.

"Give me the keys." JJ turns to John B.

The teenager blinks. "No, dude. No, no."

"Gimme the keys."

He puts his hands on his friend's shoulder. "It doesn't seem like a good idea now, JJ."

It never seems like a good idea, especially when it's rushed, and Kathryn's well-being is at risk, and JJ's the one coming up with an idea. If he needs to, John B will remind him who wanted to storm Singh's place on horseback.

Billy pokes behind the blonde. "I'm against leaving her there."

"So am I! But my dad's going to die, and to be fair, she sounds kinda safe in a wilderness camp."

Cleo shakes her head. "Hate to agree."

It's true. It's at least a lot better than protecting her by having her right under Singh's nose. How can he get to that camp, or even know she's there? ... He almost wished he thought of that plan to protect his sister. Instead, it had to be done by a psycho.

"Look," JJ cuts in. "Just give me an hour. It'll be like a black ops mission, in and out. Surgical removal type shit!"

He is profoundly freaking out, his friend can see it. And of course it is, have you seen them? It's JJ, and it's Kat, and he's not going to stop until he has the answer he wants. "You gotta be..."

It's his turn to hold him by the shoulder. "Plus... I kind of owe her." Realisation strikes John B, mouth ajar. "Gimme the keys."

"Oh...?" He owes her now? For what, he does wonder. Ironically, of course, but he wonders.

JJ doesn't seem too happy about that. "Stop making that face and gimme the keys."

Well, who is he to come in the way of true love? At least, he knows that if JJ goes, he won't stop until Kathryn is safe and sound.

He grins. "Okay. Well, yeah, you owe her, right, for breaking up with her? You owe her biiiiiig time." JJ takes the keys from him. "I get it. I just appreciate the honesty. Also, why aren't you taking her car?"

"I don't wanna die."

"Okay. Hurry back."

"Hurry," Sarah adds.

"If we hurry, we can maybe intercept them. Just give me an hour!"

Billy can't exactly wait around and stand there, can she? Kathryn's family. She doesn't have a lot of family, and if she's scared of literally everything the Pogues have been doing, helping Kat trumps it all, really.

Besides, she's the only one who doesn't have John B screaming that they don't have time, so. Max will just be a tad worried, but mostly preoccupied with keeping his fiancé from killing Caroline, she figures.

"Wait, JJ, I can help!" She's not sure about that, but...

JJ just figures that the more they are, the easier it is to get KD back. That's the only thing that matters at the moment, the only thought that occupies his brain. "Yeah, you can help, I'm fine with that."

Billy opens the door to the passenger side. JJ climbs in through the window, for some ungodly reason.

"That door opens, bro?" Pope calls out after him.

🍓

Kathryn can't fathom how dramatic this whole place is. It's just a bunch of teenagers gardening, mowing lawns and painting rocks and just straight up walking around and it's meant to be for their greater good? Just kill her, at this point, that'll do her some good.

Not to mention the clothes? The stupid rules? She's not meant to see outsiders, aside from her close family, for the first six weeks? Someone tell those idiots she's out by tonight, god. She really can't be arsed to play along right now.

Which is what she tells in great detail, to the camp counsellor sitting in front of her, in her office.

The woman blinks at her. "Well, thank you for sharing, Kathryn Elizabeth, and thank you for putting on our uniform."

"I better have my clothes back soon, I swear to god."

She sighs, crosses her fingers on the table. "Well, now, the good news is, we already have an extensive record of your conditions." She opens a folder when the teenager arches a brow. "ADD, depression, suicidal tendencies, anxiety, PTSD... Quite the record."

She sniffs. "Yeah, it was a package deal type situation."

"... And with those, we have been able to diagnose a new one. ODD. Oppositional Defiant Disorder."

Kathryn lets out a deep sigh. "Lady, that's what we call anger issues."

"Not quite. It's consistent opposition to authority."

Now, that's a bit funny. "So what, just because I think I don't owe you respect 'cause you're older than me, that means it's a condition? Diagnose me with common sense next."

The woman looks real tired of her antics, but oh, well. "As I was saying, consistent opposition. Now, fortunately, it's very treatable with medication."

Kathryn's jaw unhinges. "Meds? You want to put me on meds because of my personality? Sweetheart, I don't take medications for the conditions I actually have, I don't see a world where you can force me to take those."

"See that? That right there, your reaction? You just confirmed my diagnosis."

"If you need it confirmed, something tells me you shouldn't be in a position to hand out pills."

"We can help with this. You just have to work with us."

"Cool. I won't."

Her chair scrapes loudly against the ground when she stands up, flipping the woman off. Is she actually insane? Kathryn wagers she is. She'd also say she doesn't seem very appreciative of her gesture, seeing as she's escorted out by another pair of Chip and Dale.

The room she's thrown in isn't exactly cosy, but at least it has windows, and Kathryn doesn't feel claustrophobic. What's the point anyway? She's getting out. But she's got to say, the whole mental health assessment really spiced the kidnapping up.

They lock the door behind them, and she stays there, with only a Sharpie. Well, might as well pass time.

🍓

JJ likes to say that Kat's an horrendous driver, but really, he's not that much better. Billy's holding onto her seat for dear life, but she can understand the certain hurry they're in.

"Which wilderness camp was it again?"

She clears her throat. "I uh... I don't remember."

"You don't– great," he groans. "Super. Billy, that's the one thing you had to do!"

"I'm sorry!" she retorts, her voice jumping an octave. "I was freaking out. Kat asked me to drive her car, and then announced she was getting kidnapped, a lot was on my mind!"

He exhales loudly, clenching his jaw, and Billy can see the absolute mess of nerves he is right now. "Okay, what do you remember?"

She closes her eyes, as if it'd help. "Um... I think there was a rainbow on the logo? And Kitty looked so relaxed, it made me more nervous. Like... How many times has she been kidnapped?"

He doesn't look back at her, exasperated. "Four times now. My girl loves getting kidnapped, that's for sure."

Billy blinks at him. "Your... Aren't you guys still separated?"

"No, yeah. I meant, like..." He swallows thickly. "... Spiritually. Look, can we focus here? A rainbow, that's all you got, you sure?"

"Yes," she nods. "Sorry."

She can almost see the gears turning in his head, trying to think of literally anything to get him closer to Kat. Legal, illegal, who's to say? She wishes she was, considering the person that's driving her.

"Hold up. Hold up, my cousin, Ricky, he got sent to a wilderness camp. Billy, pass me my phone."

She hesitates. "That's not very safe."

"Yeah, we've passed that burning bridge."

Billy hands him his phone, though she's clearly unhappy with the whole thing. "That's not a saying," she mutters to herself.

At least, his cousin Ricky seems to answer fast. "Ricky," JJ immediately starts. "What was the name of that wilderness camp that Uncle Larry sent you to? Remember the one I'm talking about? ... Ricky, screw your chickens right now! I just need to know what's the name of the wilderness camp that you got sent to in ninth grade because you got booted for being a perv?"

She nearly snaps her neck. "What?"

"Don't worry, Bills– all right, my bad, all right? All I need to know is, what's the name?" He turns to her. "Kitty Hawk Camp?"

Her eyes widen. Oh, she should have known this one. "That's it!"

JJ lets out a long sigh of relief, before answering whatever his cousin is telling him. "Funny. All right, that's all I need. Thank you for the information, cuz. I'll talk to you soon. Give the best to the fam."

He hangs up, but Billy is fairly certain that Ricky was still talking. "You know where Kitty Hawk is?"

He takes a left. "Yep. Bad news, we have to call John B, there's no way we can intercept them."

She blows out a breath, bracing herself as he turns. "Okay. Okay, so what's the plan?"

"I'm thinking!" he cries out, putting the phone to his ear.

She holds her head in her hands. "This is the absolute worst," she whines. "Just the fudging worst."

"Yeah, little change of plans– did you just say 'fudging?' Nevermind, look, KD's definitely already at the wilderness camp. So, uh, we're gonna need about eight hours for liberation." She can hear John B cry out on the phone. "I know dog, I know the clock is ticking. Just hold out as long as you can. If you gotta go, we'll meet you there."

"How?" Billy asks.

"I'm working on it, dude!" he snaps, talking to both her and John B. "Luckily, I'm a problem solver. Just stay in the Matrix, okay? I repeat–"

Billy and JJ yelp as something resembling a gunshot tears at their eardrums, and the Twinkie takes a hard left and a hard right, stops the van, and looks back.

A tire just exploded.

"Damn!"

He ends the call before his best friend can berate him. Billy climbs out of the Twinkie, leaving him to frustratedly punch at the console, screaming as he does.

She heaves out a breath. She sucks with cars. That's just their luck, isn't it?

"Do you have a spare tire?"

He opens the door, and stomps out. "I fucking hope so, because we don't have time for this."

He takes the tire out, handing her a crowbar, and she stands there a little dimly, waiting for him to do something. If she was Kat, surely this would be fixed quicker. But no, Kat was painting rocks on the other side of the island.

Lost in her thoughts, she barely notices JJ stopping what he's doing. "What's up?"

He turns around. A car is coming up to them, stopping right behind the Twinkie. He puts everything back, taking the crowbar from her, and bracing his arms against the trunk. "If Kat knows I got you into this, she's gonna have my head, and my balls."

She blinks. "Got me into what...?"

When she turns around, two men got out of the car. One of them is pointing a gun at the pair. This isn't the first time she's had a gun pulled on her. It's the same fear that courses through her vein, making her teeth chatter, knees wobbly.

"JJ?" she cries out, alarmed.

JJ is too focused on the shotgun, looking back at the busted tire. He frowns, staring at the men. "Really? After everything you just put me through, and you just shoot out my... my friend's tire! That's not even my van!"

Billy gulps. That boy is way too chill about this. What is it with him and Kat?

"Who is that?"

He sighs. "Billy, Barracuda Mike. Barracuda Mike, Billy. I uh, moved weight for him, to get John B to South America. Did not go well."

She makes a face. "He's named Barracuda?" It's not that it's the only thing she remembered, it's that it's the only thing she can say without actively shrieking. The more she learns about JJ, the more she wants to know. Purely from a legal standpoint. She does not want to go to court for aiding and abetting.

The older man of the two, the one that's not actively threatening them, shakes his head at her. "Your friend here lost my load. Now instead of me getting paid, I owe them. Which I guess means you owe me, right?"

"I know, Barr–"

"Get in the car!"

Billy turns to JJ, waiting for him to handle the situation, to get them out, but no. No, the only thing he thinks to say is;

"As much as I would like to, I kinda got a date, so..."

She stares at him. "Are you serious?"

The guy with the gun doesn't seem to be too happy for him. "You heard him. Get in the car."

The three stare at JJ, albeit with a very varying degree of worry. Billy is waiting for something to come up in his brain. Anything. Some stroke of genius, whatever.

"Okay," he ends up saying. "If that's how it's gonna be. Look, I know you've heard the stories." Awful start. She's going to get killed by a guy named Barracuda. "About me and my friends, a little something called the Royal Merchant. A pile of gold, is that ringing any bells?"

Billy's eyes fly from one to the other, frankly shocked that JJ, of all people, and from what she's heard, JJ would be the one to spill the beans on their extracurricular activities, but she figures that helping Kathryn was worth more.

Barracuda Mike looks unimpressed. "I heard some bullshit."

"Well, that bullshit's real."

"Yeah?"

"And yeah. We found it."

He laughs. "Yeah, I saw. That's why you got a bunch of dudes throwing your furniture in a dumpster out back your house? You're living high off the hog, bro."

Billy's eyes blow wide. She's not a good liar, but JJ needs someone to confirm what he's saying, otherwise, they're gone, in the graveyard sense of the word.

"No, but that's a, that's a decoy, mister Barracuda, sir. It's... a cover." Her mouth is going quicker than her thoughts. "It's, um, it's like, so, if you have to hide a fortune, you're not going to, like, pay off a mortgage, right?" JJ stares at her. "Right?"

Barracuda Mike shakes his head. "Stop. Let me guess. You, uh... you got that gold. It's buried somewhere in a barn, right? And if I just let you go right now, you'll run right there, you'll get it, we'll split it, right?"

Is it? Is it their plan? If so, well, it just fell apart. Seeing as she's completely out of her depth, JJ takes over.

"Not exactly. Actually, it's a little sweeter than that." He steps forward. The man raises his gun. "May I? Look, let's just forget about the Merchant gold. That's just the tip of the iceberg. We're going after the main course right now. All right? We're going after the mother lode. And that's the truth, of why we need to get down to South America."

Billy licks her lips. She knows a few people who would be fuming at the idea of JJ just casually telling a guy that seems shady as hell and she doesn't even know how they met, about El Dorado, but. Kat was still in Kitty Hawk.

She can think of a few reasons why it was worth it.

"Barracuda, he's telling the truth. Sir. Mike? It's um... it's a gamble, but you're not risking much, are you?" Billy clears her throat. "You can, well, rough up JJ." He makes a face at her. "Or you can get a lot, lot of gold. You just have to wait for us to get our friend, okay?"

JJ hums. "And a flight to South America."

She shuts her eyes. "Lord have mercy."

🍓

When someone came to collect Kathryn and put her in the tiny room on the pretence that someone was coming to visit her, she expected Henry, Max, or her dad. And then she remembered that they had mentioned close family.

Long story short, Kathryn is looking at a wretched reflection of herself, arms crossed, chin tilted up.

"You know, mum, I don't see why you felt the need to show up so early." She kicks her foot. "Unless you know JJ's going to get me out."

Caroline tsks. "If I put you here, it's precisely so that no one will come get you."

Her daughter inhales sharply. "Right, right. Is it that part of our conversation already? My friends corrupt me, I have always been a pristine little thing for you to play with, they ruin me, mum, we've been over this."

Her hawk eyes on her make her uneasy, for a split second. This is the face of someone who knows something she doesn't, and it's a well-known fact that Kathryn hates it.

Unnerved, she scoffs. "You know, dad's going to give you shit for this. If JJ doesn't manage to break me out, he's sure as shit going to come get me, we both know this."

Her mother hums softly. Which is weird. She's never seen that woman do anything soft. "I wonder if Henry ever tires of this."

"Of what?" Kathryn barks out, not particularly liking the fact that her mother just mentioned her uncle. "You? Kidnapping me? Again? I should think so."

Her mother doesn't falter. On the contrary, her hand reaches up to her hair. "Of you, and that idolisation you have of your father. It's quite a wonder, how you rewrite every memory, every little action."

"My brain is huge, thank you." She shakes her head. "Can we get to the part where you tell me why you're here?"

Caroline doesn't seem inclined to. "You've told me once, that your dad made you lunch boxes, for you, and your friends. That he read you stories before bed. Kathryn Elizabeth, dear, I'm not going to sit there and pretend it was me, but it wasn't him. Henry was always too soft on you, and your little posse."

Kathryn glares at her. How dare she? Even now that her dad was alive, she still felt the need to bad mouth him. "Whatever. You can make up every lie you want. Dad is a good man, mum. He's at least a whole lot better than you are."

"No, he is not."

"Yes, he is!"

"He's not!"

Caroline shrieks. She screams, at the top of her lungs. And suddenly, she's crying, and Kathryn just stares at her, profoundly confused. Her mother has never cried. Not once. She's never seen the hint of a tear on her perfect face.

And now she was sobbing on her chair, wiping her face, sniffling. It wasn't an act. Kathryn had seen her mother lie, and pretend, and play a role to perfection. This wasn't it. In fact, she quite recognised the bursting of emotions, when it became too hard.

She walks over to her, equal parts worried and fascinated.

"Mum? Are you okay?"

Caroline shakes her head. "Kathryn, I think you need to sit down for this."

"... Fine." Kathryn has never seen her mother in such a state. And truthfully, with what came prior, she's terrified at what she's about to tell her.

It takes a moment for Caroline to compose herself. It takes even longer for Kathryn to ready herself for whatever she's going to dump on her.

"What I'm about to tell you is not a lie, okay?" she says, voice wavering. "I'm tired of lying to you." Kathryn only braces herself, her mother finding back the will to hold her chin high. "Your father is not the good man you think he is."

"Why–"

"No, no, you have to let me finish. I know, it's hard for you to hear. You worship him, and I know that's my fault, too. I never... I never wanted a child. And I didn't know what to do with you."

"Seemed to me like you knew it a bit too well."

She clenches her jaw. Kathryn didn't mind, that her mother said she never wanted her. She always could feel it. She always knew it, deep down. It was as logical as her saying the sky was blue. A known fact.

Caroline runs a hand on her face. "And perhaps, you're right. But everything I've ever done has been to protect you. I've always said that. Haven't I always said that?"

Kathryn fights against herself not to snap at her mother. She wants to see where this is going, the kind of truth she will unveil. "How? How was it to protect me?"

She takes a deep breath. "Your father, he... He always knew you were a gifted child. You could tell how long an object had spent in the ocean by the sedimentation alone when you were ten. By the time you were eleven he knew you would one day be able to finish his work, to succeed where he failed.

"His research led him to Carlos Singh. But Singh, he was too... calculated, too greedy. Much like Edward was, for himself. When he refused to translate his half of the idol or to help him because he was being used, Singh threatened him, and us. You. His girl.

"He told him that if he disappeared with his knowledge, he would come after you. But that didn't matter to Edward, because he knew I would find a way to protect you, he knew that you would one day find a way back to him, to El Dorado. So he disappeared, and placed that target on your back."

Kathryn is very still, as she listens to her mother, afraid to interrupt her. But when she says those words, she can't help it, confusion, frustration and anger simmering inside of her gut. This could not be right. Her father was her idol. Her mom had to be lying. The honest tone of her voice, the vulnerability in her eyes, it didn't matter.

"I went to Ward," Caroline goes on. "Because I didn't know what to do. Henry hated me, and Maxwell was a police officer. He said that he would protect you... if you tried to go out with his son."

She stands up, the chair rattling, scraping the wood, and starts pacing. "Please, stop talking, mum."

"I promise you, Kathryn, I did not know what Rafe was going to do."

"And after?" she says, very quietly. "After? When you told me I was overreacting? That this was nothing?"

Caroline swallows thickly. "I am not a good mother. I married your dad because my mum wanted me to. I have had to force myself for him, before. Not that he'd know. I never said anything, and I needed you to be strong, to be safe, so that Ward would protect you, but you were crying, and all it reminded me was that I had failed. You were so much like me. It was the only thing I could see, at times. Maybe a part of me needed you to be like me.

"I didn't understand then, what made you feel this way, because I could endure it. I don't understand it now, either, but I try, even if it's too late anyway. I want to try, because I will not let Edward destroy what we could have, not again." She looks down. "I am not a good mother. I am not a good woman, either. So, I ran."

Kathryn lets out a little laugh of disbelief, a hand raking through her hair. "Oh, my god. That's why we went to London. That's why I went to that private school – so that Singh wouldn't get to me?"

Her mother nods. "Regularly, I got messages, from Edward. Telling me which classes you were meant to take, which book you were meant to read. You were even better than he'd hoped. And I thought... I thought it was going well. That once you'd point out the direction to El Dorado, there would be enough money for everyone, that Singh would get off our backs."

Kathryn knows the rest. "And then I tried to kill myself."

"You threw me a curveball." Her daughter scoffs. "I had no idea what to do with you. I never had. I don't know how to be a good mother to you, I don't know how to do anything, because you remind me of me. You reminded me of the life I could have had, if I never married him, if I never had you. A version of me that could never be, that I could never have, and I had to watch you get it."

"It wasn't free," she reminds her. "I didn't just get it. I fought everyday to stay alive."

"On this, we can agree. You needed help. I had to send you back to the Outer Banks. Edward, well, he didn't care. Before you got to search for the Royal Merchant. Before everything that came with it. He realised that, why stop at El Dorado? You could find so much more, for him. Tie his loose ends.

"But I knew. I knew that Singh would eventually catch up, and I needed someone to watch over you, when you were out with your friends. It was harmless, at first, from far away. When you sent me to jail, I had to tell him to get closer, so that I knew how far you were going, who you were seeing, what you discovered. He obliged happily, even came up with a neat little lie as to why he suddenly sprung up into your life."

Kathryn's stomach drops. "Josh. You're talking about Josh."

"I guess I did tell him to go out with you, in a way. I paid him a hefty sum for his work. A shame he did fall for you, in the end. Well, for him, anyway."

She cannot begin to explain the treason she felt, at the thought of Josh transferring schools for her, always showing up in the most absurd of places. "That whore."

"When you affiliated yourself with Limbrey, I told Edward he had to come back. Singh would catch on, and I couldn't protect you. You wouldn't follow me to the Bahamas, and then, I was behind bars. I thought he wouldn't listen. Why would he? He hadn't cared about us, or you, in so long. But he did.

"Now, Singh has Big John, and his next target is you. Your father told him you could translate Kalinago, in exchange for a place when he discovers El Dorado."

Kathryn nods, once. "So dad sold me off."

"Essentially, yes."

She raises a shaky hand to her hair. She hated the way everything clicked into place. The way it all made sense, the way her father's idol was crumbling, her religion disappearing in front of her eyes.

They had tried to warn her so many times. Henry knew that Edward wasn't a good father, because all her memories of him, had been of her and Henry. Lunchboxes, stories before bed, racing to the hospital after she headbutted the slide. They all morphed in her mind, taking back their original shapes.

Her dad resurfacing, mere days before Singh found her and her friends. He said he heard it from a contact. That contact just so happened to be Singh himself.

And still, Kathryn says, "Why should I believe you? For all I know, you could be the one working for Singh. Wanting to find El Dorado, and all. You're not one to shy away from money."

"While this is true..." Caroline shakes her head. "Well, despite the fact that I have a deep displeasure for that kid, I'm not the one who tried to drive you and JJ apart."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, Luke and I used to be friends. He didn't take too well to my leaving, the same way his wife did." The déjà-vu that hits Kathryn is nauseating. "And I hate a clingy man."

"That's not what I meant, mum. What do you mean, dad tried to drive me and JJ apart?"

Caroline chuckles, softly. "You don't actually think he would break up with you? Edward blackmailed him, of course."

The idol falls to the ground.

The world caves in on Kathryn. It spins and spins and spins, until darkness swallows her whole, and she has to sit back on the chair. A thousand of 'that's why's plague her mind, swirling and twisting painfully around her heart.

That's why JJ said to ask her dad about their breakup. Not to get back at her, but because Edward was the reason. That's why he never said anything but that he was sorry. Why he wanted to stay friends with her, why he stole from her dad. Not Caroline, but him. He'd never wanted to break up with her in the first place.

All of it traced back to Edward. Down to Josh's timely reveal of the plug's theft. JJ and her had just kissed, and he had seen it. He knew he had to act. Make sure they would never get together, and it damn near seemed like they wouldn't, too.

Once the initial shock is gone, Kathryn feels bile rise in her throat, acidic, poison.

"What did he say to him?" she asks, through gritted teeth.

Caroline seems surprised. "Are you not interested as to why he would do it in the first place?"

"No. I want to know what that bastard said to JJ for him to think he didn't deserve me."

JJ had always been the sun. Kathryn had always worked very hard for him to know that, reminded him every time she'd look up at him, in every one of her kisses. She needed to know what Edward said that broke JJ so completely, he didn't believe her anymore.

She needed to know what he said, so she could fix it, so she could take it all back.

"I don't know. I do know that Edward needed you sharp, and focused. JJ distracted you. He... made you want to go to university, to have a normal life. Your father didn't want that for you."

Kathryn scoffs. "Then why did he speed up the acceptance project?"

Caroline tilts her head. "I think you know why."

Right. To ask her to do homework on his journal. Which is how he knew she'd learn to translate Kalinago. And why he was able to tell Singh that little fun fact.

Betrayal ran deep in her veins, deeper than the blood she shared with him. A blood she wanted to rid herself of, wipe herself clean of. She needed him gone, gone, gone.

Her mother stands up. "I've said what I needed to say. Please, stay here, at least before your idiotic boyfriend comes to rescue you from your own salvation. I know he will try to keep you safe, but I am not sure that he will manage. Asking you to stay here is the only thing I can do."

After everything she's just told her? Not a chance. Kathryn was storming out with JJ the second he reached her, and punching Edward in the face.

But that suddenly became a second thought, as Kathryn looked in that twisted mirror of herself.

"Why now?" she asks.

Caroline takes a deep breath. "Because you were right." She stands at the door. "I am sorry, Kat. For the poor excuse of a human being I've been, and the poorer excuse of a mother I am. You were right. I kept choosing wrong. I needed to choose right, just once."

Her daughter gulps. "I don't forgive you."

She smiles. "I know. You are still, after all, my daughter."

When the door shuts, anger dissipates, and Kathryn starts to cry over worshipping a god that turned out to be the monster at the end of this book.

Author's Note: I sprinkled a lot of foreshadowing for this but my favourite stays in book 2 when Henry tries to open Kathryn's eyes about her dad and the name of the chapter is The Monster at the End of this Book, and then the book ends with Edward coming back...