[a/n: for those of you who might've read chapter seven before i made some changes, i now made it so that BOTH Trenton & Carolyn weren't killed]

NANCY, WAKE UP. WE'RE GETTING READY for the meeting." A deep voice was commanding, gently shaking her.

"Stop, Zoe," Nancy mumbled, not yet fully awake. "Don't do it."

"It's Damian," The voice spoke up. "But I'm pretty sure I could make the name Zoe work."

"Definitely not," A new voice, this time feminine, popped into the conversation. "I, however, could." Nancy opened her eyes just in time to see Jess giving her long blonde hair a flip.

"I doubt it," Damian teased, and Jess looked slightly taken aback by the sudden change of behavior. "We all know that I can make anything work."

"I'd like to disagree," Nancy smiled and pulled him aside. "What happened to 'everyone else is shady'?"

"I said you're the least shady. Plus, she's my next-door neighbor, what am I supposed to do, punch her lights out?" Damian argued. "She's second least shady on my list, by the way."

"And then Gunnar, and then Drew. Yeah, I kind of figured." Nancy completed the list for him. "I guess I'll agree with you."

"So where am I on your fancy list?" Damian questioned innocently.

"You're probably the least shady," Nancy reasoned. "You know, since you're going to Stanford and all."

"Well," Damian grinned cockily, but was quickly shut down by the ever-adherent Drew.

"We gather here today-" Drew cut him off, so, in turn, Damian cut him off with a snicker. And here comes Asshole Damian, Nancy thought, recognizing the tone from the day before.

"We don't need a presidential speech, Detective. We need a plan to get out of this hellhole, am I right?" He looked to the rest of the group.

"I second that." Gunnar mock-saluted Damian, who bowed in answer, a "bad boy" smirk on his lips.

"I third it." Jess agreed - and then it was Nancy who they were waiting for an answer from.

"Lead the way, Captain Damian." She copied Gunnar's former gesticulation and leaned forward, waiting for Damian to pick up the 'speech'.

"Okay, so here's what we know: There's five of us, and two of them - although there may be more once we get to our destination. Does anyone have any suspicions as to who could be accomplices? I know there's not much to go on, but-"

Damian was cut off swiftly by Drew, who snarled, "You."

"And why are we so convinced you aren't working with them?" Damian countered, crossing his arms over his chest - almost protectively.

"Because we all know I solve crimes, not contribute to them." Drew answered confidently.

"Get your head out of your ass, Drew," Damian growled, and Nancy wanted to chime in with, 'it's not a hat' (a line from one of her favorite movies, Pitch Perfect). "You're wrong about this one."

"And I know you're not lying because...?"

"Guys, shut up," Gunnar cut in to their argument. "We're not getting anywhere with you guys arguing the whole time. We called this meeting to make up a plan, remember?"

"Yeah, and that's what I was doing when Drew so rudely interrupted me," Damian glared daggers at his newfound 'archnemesis'.

"Damian," Nancy touched his arm. "Calm down."

"Okay," He mumbled. "Anyway, has anybody thought of anyone other than the five of us?" He looked pointedly at Drew, who scowled.

"My sister," Nancy spoke up abashedly. "She was supposed to be here, not me. Also, Trenton was her boyfriend and he wasn't killed-"

"Wait," Jess interjected. "What do you mean he wasn't killed? How do you know?"

"When Drew and I tried to run, we found that our captors had killed the people who were trying to hike with us because they were undercover cops. There were only two bodies when there were four people... I don't really know any Carolyns, but Trenton wasn't killed, so maybe he has something to do with this? And he was dating my sister - and she's been acting really strange lately." Nancy explained.

"Strange how?"

-

Nancy didn't know where her mom's necklace was. She had searched her entire room four times. She had to find it before her mom realized it was missing; it was her favorite. "Shoot," She muttered, checking her desk drawers one last time before she would go to her last resort - Zoe's room.

Zoe had a strict 'enter-my-room-and-I-kill-you' policy, which was why Nancy wasn't too eager to try that. But Zoe was at her boyfriend's house, and probably wouldn't be back for awhile. So she decided to risk it.

Nancy crept across the hallway to her sister's bedroom. The door was covered with signs that read things like 'DO NOT ENTER', 'BEWARE', and 'PRIVATE PROPERTY'. She ignored them and pushed the door open, and it creaked on the hinges. Nancy cringed. Then she realized that she was home alone, so there was no reason for her to be sneaking around.

After that lightbulb moment, she strode into the room with confidence. "No wonder Zoe doesn't want anyone in here," Nancy mumbled to herself. Her sister's room was the exact opposite of Nancy's - not only in color (Nancy's was white, Zoe's was black), but in organization. Zoe had clothes and papers strewn across the floor, making it almost impossible to see.

"Ew, is that a condom?" Nancy peered into the trash can. "Okay, moving on." She opened the first desk drawer, and saw several fake IDs. "Carolyn Pearson, Amy Platten, Peyton Berling... geez, why does she have so many?"

"Why the hell are you in my room?" A voice accused from behind Nancy, and she swiveled around to face her enraged sister.

"Chill out, Z," Nancy raised her hands up, as if surrendering. "I was just looking for mom's necklace. I borrowed it and then lost it and...oh." Her eyes focused on the piece of jewelry that was fastened around her sister's neck.

"Yes, but why were you going through my stuff?" Zoe didn't seem to be able to comprehend the simple fact that Nancy was just looking for the necklace, which she had now found.

"You didn't seem to have a problem with going through my stuff to find that necklace," Nancy pointed out, which just seemed to make Zoe even angrier.

"But it's mom's so it doesn't really matter."

"And what kind of logic is that?" Nancy raised an eyebrow, finding the flaw in her sibling's explanation.

"It was lying on top of your desk, I didn't go through your drawers to find it." Zoe answered shortly, swiftly swiping the IDs back into the drawer and slamming it shut.

"Why do you have all those IDs anyway?" Nancy inquired, reaching past the ever-hostile Zoe and re-opening the drawer and pulling them out. "Do you need to be Carolyn just in case you get caught as Peyton? Or Amy? You know, if you were to get caught, your good-girl reputation would be tarnished. But then I guess you could run away and become Carolyn Pearson, the bad-girl who sneaks out late at night and goes off to mysterious locations. You'd just need to dye your hair blonde. My god, you're like Hannah Montana, Zoe. You lead a serious double-life."

"How did you know I sneak out at night?" Zoe ignored everything else Nancy had blabbed about, zeroing in on the one incriminating detail.

"I'm right across the hall, and I'm not deaf, that's how." Nancy answered honestly - her sister wasn't exactly the best at being quiet.

"You can't tell mom and dad about this, okay?" The siblings locked eyes, one desperate and one inquisitive, staring each other down.

"Why, so you can still be the innocent, honor roll girl? That's not you, Zoe. Why even pretend? So you can get away with whatever you want? I don't think so. I'm telling them."

"No, because if you tell, I'll kill you." Nancy looked at her sister in shock and came into terms with one scary revelation: Zoe had never been more serious in her entire life.

-

"My sister..." Nancy whispered in disbelief after recounting the encounter to the other four. "Oh my god. I think I'm going to be sick."

"Hey, it's going to be okay," Damian slowly and soothingly rubbed small circles into her lower back.

"But don't you see? She was Carolyn! I don't know why I didn't recognize her face... and she was here with Trenton... does that mean they've been working together to bring me down?"

"Nancy, if they were trying to bring you down specifically, why would they kill so many other teens before you?" Damian tried to talk some sense into her. "Also, don't forget that you aren't even supposed to be here... Zoe is."

"So if she's the one who's supposed to be here and she's working with them," Jess wondered aloud. "Was she, like, undercover back-up or something? Planted to help herd us up the mountain like sheep, gaining our trust - only to betray us?"

"Don't worry, we've already got one of those," Drew nodded his head over towards Damian.

"You're not serious," Damian groaned. "What do I have to do to prove to you that I have nothing to do with the people who kidnapped us?"

"I'm already convinced that you do, so nothing."

"Drew, just give it up already. We've got to trust each other if we want to get out of here. There's nothing shady about Damian, anyway." Gunnar interjected.

"He's lying about something," Drew scrutinized Damian. "Why is he going to Stanford if he has a 'long list of petty crimes', according to our captors?"

"Because of what you said... they were petty." Damian said slowly, as if he were talking to a preschooler. "In case you don't know what that means-"

"I know what petty means!"

"Just making sure."

"So you just weren't caught for your petty crimes, then?" Drew asked, leaning forward from his position by the tent entrance.

"Not by the police, no."

"But by our captors?" Drew had this look on his face like he had suddenly found something very intriguing about the case.

"Yeah, I didn't think anyone really knew about it, other than my friend Jason - he was the one who dared me to do like all of them anyway."

"I didn't think anyone knew about my shoplifting stuff," Gunnar confessed. "It was, uh... for my family."

"The girl who I, er, sent to the hospital for a week didn't sue," Jess spoke up. "And the school promised that the incident would be kept confidential. The other girl and I were the only witnesses of it, so I don't see how anyone else could know."

"I never told anyone about my breaking-and-entering episode," Drew added in. "The guy was gone for the weekend and I made copies of everything and returned the originals before he ever had the chance to realize they were out of place."

"So someone had to be watching us this whole time in order to know these things." Gunnar concluded.

"This is all becoming too much like Pretty Little Liars, to be honest." Jess looked slightly uncomfortable.

"For real," Nancy agreed. "Charles, where you at?"

"I have no clue what you guys are talking about, but this is creepy as hell," Damian chimed in.

"That's basically what they just said," Gunnar informed the other two clueless boys.

"Gunnar, you watch Pretty Little Liars?" Jess asked, stifling laughter. "That's awesome."

"Wait," Nancy had been pondering a contradiction that she had noticed a few minutes earlier. "If they had been watching us, how did they not know that I was Nancy and not Zoe?"

"You guys are kind of hard to tell apart," Gunnar contributed. "She just looks like a slightly older version of you."

"That's because she is! She's only ten months older than me," Nancy explained. "I guess they could've just accidentally screwed it up."

"Unless it was on purpose," Damian suggested. "I mean, how else would your sister know to come with Trenton?"

"Well, maybe it was her Plan B. She realized that something went wrong and just went with her boyfriend instead."

"Okay, yeah, that makes more sense," Damian agreed. "I don't know where I was going with that earlier theory."

"Oh my god, guys," Jess interrupted. "What if this all just some sick, twisted experiment? What if they placed Nancy among us on purpose, because she had information that could help us figure out who was behind it all? What if this is just some big test to see whether or not we could figure out the mystery?"

"That actually makes sense," Drew said softly, and Nancy could tell he was upset that he hadn't been the one to come up with that idea.

"I don't know about you guys," Gunnar got up from the ground and began to exit the tent. "But I'm done."

"Gunnar, think this through before you go and-"

"I'm tired of being here, okay? We solved the mystery, now I want to go home." He stormed out of the tent and marched over to their captors', throwing open the flap. "We solved your stupid puzzle, let us go."

The cruel reply came back just as snappily, "This isn't a test, kid. I don't know what you think you've figured out, but I'm sure it's nothing. If the past 30 kids haven't been able to figure out anything significant, what makes you so special? We're actually going to kill you in two days. Now go back to your tent before I make you."

Still, Gunnar persisted, "Does the name Trenton mean anything to you?"

There was a slight pause before the answer came - a sharp "No." Nancy then heard the cocking of a gun and Gunnar came scrambling back into their crowded tent, panting hard.

"So, that idea was a total bust." Jess broke the disappointed silence, a sad smile on her face.

"Well, we got a sort-of lead out of that," Nancy attempted at being optimistic. "He clearly hesitated before saying that the name Trenton meant nothing to him."

"Yeah, but there's nothing we can do about it." Gunnar moped, still upset that his confrontation hadn't worked.

"I guess not... but at least we have something to go on."

"Well, we should probably just get some sleep now. We don't exactly know what we're up against yet, so we can't really make an escape plan." Jess said.

"Yet." Damian grinned, full of hope - another thing Nancy found extremely cute. She wasn't going to tell him that, though.

"Goodnight, then." Nancy stretched out and cuddled up next to Damian as everyone else settled into their respective spots.

"Night." They chimed in response, the energy finally dying down after a long, long day.

Ten minutes in, Nancy was still wide awake. She felt Damian stirring next to her as he got up and abruptly left the tent. What is he up to? She wondered, sitting up and leaning against the side of the tent, closest to where she could hear the leaves crunching beneath his feet.

But there were more than just one set of footsteps - there were two. Was he meeting up with their captors? No, he wouldn't.

"Okay, Mr. Pullman," A gruff voice boomed. "Tell me what the others are brewing up in their criminal minds."

Would he?

a/n: guys im on a roll, two updates in two days!