I am so sorry I haven't been updating It's so slow ughhh I have to take tests in school and everything's so time-consuming. Anyways, enjoy! OMGGGG I'm so speechless I have 1k views! Thank you readers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'M SO SORRY I HAVE NOT BEEN UPDATING I AM SO BUSY

"They have maple syrup here?!" Zoe's voice woke me up. I opened one eye and saw Erica and Zoe sitting at the table with pancakes in front of them. I closed my eyes but eavesdropped on them.

"Shhh!" Erica said. "You'll wake Ben up."

"Yeah, sorry," Zoe said. "Do you want maple syrup on yours?"

There was the sound of a plate falling in the sink. "Nope," Erica said. "Your pancakes are delicious."

"You already finished them," Zoe said.

"I'm so excited to give Ben his Valentine's Day present. He's going to love it," Erica said.

I took this as my cue to actually wake up. I stretched and yawned, kicking off the covers.

"Ben!" Zoe said. "You're awake! Pancakes?"

I shook my head. "I'm not hungry."

Erica went to the side of her bed, then got out a little red box decorated with white hearts.

I opened it, trying to hold back the excitement. Inside was a little photo frame with gold bordering and felt hearts. In the photo was Erica, smiling big, my arms around her shoulders.

" It's beautiful." I breathed. She smiled as I handed her a small envelope. I beamed as she opened it to reveal two movie tickets.

" For that movie that you keep saying that you want to watch."

"Okay, no more foul play. We got to go to Manele today, and it's about an hour's drive away from where we are right now," Zoe announced.

We all decided to leave at ten, which was about an hour away.

"What about Mike and Jawa?" Zoe asked.

I shrugged. "We should keep trying to call them."

We piled into the van at ten. That's exactly when I realized that I should have eaten breakfast.

"I got your back," Erica said, handing me a muffin and a granola bar. "I know you better than you know yourself."

"Thanks, Erica." I hastily gobbled the food and let out a satisfying sigh. Zoe rolled her eyes.

I kept trying to call Jawa as Erica drove. Zoe had maps open up to Manele. It was an hour and a half away from the motel we were at. On the tenth try, Jawa picked up his phone.

"Oh my god Jawa!" I gasped. "What happened?"

Jawa sounded calm, strangely. "Um, you first tell me what happened."

I told him everything that had happened to us since the crash. He listened in silence.

"I'm in Manele. I found my way here because some nice woman offered to drive me. Mike's not with me, though. I'll be outside the supermarket, the only one here. There's only about thirty people that live here."

I hung up and relayed the information to Zoe and Erica. Erica sped up and brightened when she saw a sign that said 'Manele-30 miles'. I settled in the back seat and enjoyed the scenic view.

My phone rang only a few minutes later. It was Catherine. I frowned before answering.

"Benjamin!" she said as soon as I picked up. "I know where you are. I'm tracking you down. Meet me at the brown shed next to the shopping complex." With that, Catherine hung up.

"Who was that?" Erica asked.

"Catherine," I replied. "She knows where we are. She told us to meet her at the brown shed next to the shopping complex."

"That's where we have to meet Jawa, right?" Zoe asked. I nodded.

The rest of the drive was completely silent. None of us spoke a word. There was another sign stating that Manele was about 6 miles away. I looked around for any signs of civilization. Manele only had a population of about 30 people, so we were only expecting a small area. To my surprise, when I searched it up, there were a lot of beaches and rainforests in the small town.

"We're here!" Erica exclaimed a while later. There was a small board that read Welcome To Manele: Population 32.

Erica drove on until she found a shopping complex, which wasn't that far away.

There was a small brown shed next to the complex, where we were instructed to meet Catherine, so we headed there first. I spotted her standing in the shade wearing sunglasses while reading something on her phone.

"Catherine!" Zoe said, rushing to meet her. Catherine took off her sunglasses and pulled Zoe, Erica and me into a tight squeeze.

"My, my, you three have been through a lot," she said, then turned business mode. "This is supposedly where they are holed up."

"We were supposed to meet Jawa here, Mom," Erica added. Catherine nodded to a figure behind her. It was Jawa.

"Hello!" he said cheerfully. "Catherine was the one who gave me a lift. I sort of just figured that out."

I smirked, then turned my attention to Catherine. "So, how are we going to get in?"

"That's up to you all," Catherine said. "I have to go now. Duty calls."

We waved goodbye to her as she got in her car and drive off, leaving the four of us stranded outside the shed. Zoe found a lock and showed it to Erica, who picked it within seconds.

Jawa and I opened the heavy metal door and we all walked inside.

"It's pretty deserted," Zoe observed. "Guess no one's home."

Jawa found a light switch and flipped it on. There was a table with documents on it and other notes. I slipped on a pair of gloves that I had found in the compartment of the car we had used and carefully dropped the documents into a black bag. Erica, Jawa and Zoe were observing other parts of the room too when I heard footsteps.

"Someone's coming," I whispered. Everyone ducked behind a storage box and held their breath.

Two men walked in. I peered over the corner of my box and saw then frown in confusion.

"I swear I locked the door," one said. He had sunglasses and a thick British accent.

"Yeah right, then how's the door open?" the second one asked. He had a gruff voice and a baseball cap on. He sounded a lot like the man threatening Alexander previously.

"She's going to kill us when she finds out that I didn't lock the door," the first one said.

"No, she's going to kill us when she sees that the DOCUMENTS ARE MISSING!" the second one roared, his voice changing from exasperation to fear.

Who is she? I wondered. Maybe their leader was a woman.

Both men scrambled around, desperately looking for the documents. Next to me, Erica tightened her grip on the bag. The men searched in drawers and on the floor.

"Someone broke in and stole the documents!" the second one yelled.

"Someone broke in and stole the documents?" the first one repeated.

The men looked around some more, then sat on the chairs.

"Now she's really going to kill us," the first one whimpered.

Who? Erica mouthed to me. I shrugged. I had no idea who it was.

That's exactly when Jawa hit his head hard on the box. Both men turned around and focused in our direction. Jawa and Zoe, who were closest to the men, stiffened and held their breath.

Erica stiffened as well. The men looked around, then returned to their chairs. Zoe made a perfect crow sound, distracting the men.

"It must've been a crow that was tapping at the roof," the second one said.

"Yeah, a crow," the first one repeated.

Erica nudged me and pointed to a back entrance. It was open. We gestured to Jawa and Zoe and crept to the entrance, staying on our hands and feet. As soon as we reached the backside of the shed, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay team, we are getting to the bottom of this," I declared.