***

It was earlier in the day. Everyone was doing their chores. Norman, Ray, Emma, and Alex were stuck on laundry duty. Norman and Ray had two big sticks that they used to put the clothes on the clothing line and to take them off. Emma and Alex were holding two baskets, getting ready for the clothes to be taken off once they were dry. Norman had just explained to Emma about the idea of playing tag in teams.

"Play tag in teams?" Emma inquired.

"Yeah," Ray replied. He had his back turned to her, "The vast majority of us will die if we try to escape individually."

Alex shot the boy a look, "You didn't have to put it so bluntly." She knew that he wouldn't have said it any other way though. Ray was just a blunt person who always told the truth no matter if you wanted to hear it or not. That could sometimes be a good thing... But also a bad thing. Sure, some people enjoy hearing the truth, but the way he says it comes out bad.

Ray just ignored the girl who scolded him, "Still, I think all of the kids had pretty decent moves. We've also collected some new data."

"'We'll be able to escape if we do so in teams.'" Norman quoted.

"And to do that..," Emma had a thoughtful look on her face, "We have to train by playing tag in teams as well..." She trailed off.

"For now, I'm just going to have you and Alex memorize ten types of team formations," Ray said. Alex gave him a look. Ten? How has he come up with ten already? Ray really was one of the smartest kids here. Alex was smart too, but there was no way that she could match up to Norman and Ray's level.

Emma stared at Ray with surprise, "By ear?"

"Too hard for you?" Ray smirked.

A smile broke out on Emma's face, "Nope, a piece of cake!"

"Hit us with all you got," Alex stated. She was just hoping that she could remember them all. If she could remember the plot lines of most of the books that she's read then it shouldn't be too hard to remember the formations... Right?

***

Finally, since they were able to play outside, they got to try playing tag in small teams. It had worked out pretty well from the first game that they played. They needed a little more work, but that was expected since they just started doing it in teams. It would take some practicing and some getting used to. Alex had a lot of confidence in this plan seeing as it came from Norman. He always had the best ideas and plans.

Norman had pulled Emma and Alex aside after they had gotten done with tag. He said that he needed to talk with them about something important. What he said had shocked and surprised the two girls.

"What do you mean?" Emma asked.

"In a nutshell, Mama already knows we are the 'targets," Norman started. He thought that Mom knew who they were? There's no way. It can't be... Although, it would make sense since Mom hadn't been going out of her way to find them. "To be more precise, I think she already figured out that Ray has joined us three."

Emma narrowed her eyes with curiosity, "Figured out? Not guesses or suspects?"

"Exactly," Norman confirmed.

"You sound really sure of this," Alex commented. There was no doubt in his voice. He believed in everything that he was saying. If Norman thought that Mom knew then she probably did. It explained a few things as well.

"Why do you think so?" Emma questioned.

"There's many reasons, but the easiest one to explain is how she utilizes Sister Krone," Norman replied. Alex gave him a look that showed she was interested in what he was saying. Norman continued when Alex gestured for him to go on, "If she couldn't identify us as the targets, but had the intention to find us, there's no way she wouldn't mark the oldest six of us, those who were already suspicious from the start."

Alex nodded, "Yeah, because we're a lot more perceptive and analytical than the younger kids." The younger you are, the more details that you're bound to miss when it comes to certain things. As you get older, you learn to look more deeply into everything going on around you. The older kids were bound to be suspected first because of this. 

"Exactly. But in reality, she's making Sister Krone watch over all of us kids..," Norman trailed off, "Just to have another pair of eyes making sure we aren't all doing anything strange as a whole. It bugged me a little at first, but this has been continuing for over ten days now. Mama isn't putting any effort into weeding us out, and she's even letting us do as we please. Strange, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Emma nodded. There was a silence until Emma looked like she had just realized something. She quickly spoke, "But if she knew who we were from the start, her actions near the beginning makes no sense," Norman agreed with her making Emma hesitate for a second, "But how? She can't draw any conclusions from just the tracker signals. And why would she let us do as we please if she already knows who we are?"

"She probably didn't know who we were at the beginning, but somehow she found out who we were," Alex theorized. There was just one thing that she wasn't sure about, "But how? How did she not know and then find out without actively trying to find us?"

Footsteps could be heard coming toward them. Alex turned to see Ray making his way over. He started to put in his own theories, "Because she already has her own method of monitoring us," Emma gave him a look full of shock. "Pretty sure that's what Norman's trying to say," Norman nodded in response. "She has no need for Sister Krone to mark us six in particular. In other words... It's highly likely that there's a mole among us children," The four of them turned to the kids. All of them were smiling and laughing while they played. "A snitch... Something like a spy."

"You don't really think..." Alex stopped herself. It was the likely scenario. Why should she even try to deny it? There would be no sense in it. There was a spy among the children. But who? And why?

Norman brought a hand up to his chin in thought, "We can't jump to conclusions though. It's completely possible that one of the kids are just unknowingly data into Mama's side. To be exact, Mama has another personal source. Using her resources to analyze and restrict her targets... Is most likely... Mama's true strategy."

"Wait!" Emma exclaimed with wide eyes, "No way... A source...?" The girl stopped herself from going any further. She seemed to be deep in thought, "It's impos- Huh?" Emma was silent once again.

"Well then..," Ray speaking had brought Emma back to reality, "What are we gonna do? We've definitely gotta find this 'source'... But what about our plans to involve Don and Gilda? If those two ends up being Mama's 'sources'-"

"No problems," Norman told him, cutting him off, "We'd discover her 'source' and get Don and Gilda to join our side. It'll be two birds with one stone. If they happen to be the spies, we could turn them into our trump card."

"We'd control the information flow and derail the enemy. It wouldn't be impossible to turn this situation in our favor." Ray said.

Norman smiled widely, "Yep!" He brought his index finger up to his lips in a shushing motion. "I've already laid out a net." He seemed to be pretty confident in this plan of his- Wait a second. What?

"When did you even get the time?" Alex inquired loudly. She and the other two were giving him looks of surprise. They were also shocked that he had managed to set it up without them knowing about it.

Don and two of their other siblings ran over to them. They stopped a little ways away from them. Don waved at the four to get their attention then called out, "Hey! Break time's almost over, let's start the second round soon!!"

Ray waved back to signal that they understood. Don and the kids left which left them alone again. Ray moved his attention back to the previous conversation, "She's already in control... Which is why she isn't making any moves, even though she knows who we are. Unless we made any bold moves, Mama probably has no intention of getting in the way of our planning or shipping us out early, huh."

"If she plans on shipping us out when we're twelve then she would want to avoid shipping us out early," Alex stated the obvious. The demons probably wouldn't appreciate it if the highest quality children didn't age all the way to twelve like they're supposed to. Isabella would have to make sure that she shipped them out at the right time, or at least around the right time.

"Ray," Norman addressed the dark-haired boy, "How are things going with plans to destroy the transmitters?" Ray replied that everything was going just fine. "How much longer do you need?"

"Uhh..." Ray thought for a moment before replying with, "Two weeks? Nah, ten days, maybe..."

"Then let's put things into action in ten days." Norman suddenly said.

"What?" Ray inquired. Alex's head had whipped over to look at Norman. Her eyes were as wide as plates. What was Norman talking about? Escaping ten days from now?

"On November eighth, ten days from today... We will be executing our escape plan." Norman stated again.

Emma and Ray were also giving him looks of shock and surprise. The only thing that Alex was able to get out was, "Huh?"