this is a NEW chapter. Enjoy!
Combined chapter. No POVs.

"Mara, where are you? Its been so long, come out NOW!", yelled Violet.

The day of the envelope, the day that Mara had come face to face with her fears had now passed. The red envelope lay on the floor. Mara, however was nowhere to be found. The entire building sent out search parties and the cult leaders seemed astonishingly quiet.

"Why aren't you shaken up by what happened to Mara?", Violet asked, bewildered by their blank expressions.

"It had to happen one day or the other. She has left us to find her spiritual awakening. How long will we bind her to the mortal way of life? Let her now be free in the other relms.", they declared.

Something had to be done. Violet dug up the remains of Mara's small number of possessions. The cult had forced them to bury their past to start off with a new life. Violet found a few rocks with Mara's handwriting in paint, "Mamora Caves with Sam". But wasn't that just the beginning?

***

Meanwhile, Daniel and Mr. Hopkins sat on the sofa , bewildered by what the news was informing them. "Mara Hopkins, DEAD?", "There's no way!", screamed an exasperated Daniel. "She has to come back to us, doesn't she?", whispered Mr. Hopkins as he murmured a silent prayer. The day was certainly not off to a great start, but could it get better?

***

Lilly was rattled as she made her way back to her hotel room. The police officers were greeting "Lyla" with such respect as if they were together. Almost as if they were an alliance. Then, the phone rang.

"Hello?", she answered.

"Lilly, this is Dan. I'm sorry for everything okay? Now all I want is for you to come back. Can you do that for me?", answered Daniel's hoarse voice.

"Dan, You know that I love you but I cannot just abandon what I started here, let me just--", spoke Lilly

The familiar beeping tone indicated that the call had been ended.

***

The red envelope lay on the floor of the tiny "dorm-like" room at the cult of the Grangers'. It was an absolute panic sight. All the young boys and girls were unbelievably quiet about Mara's tragedy. She was missing but nobody seemed to care. The Grangers' were definitely hiding something and it would be up to Violet to figure out what. She was the only one who could fight against their spiritual influence.

The envelope was tiny but its contents were shocking. A white note written with "blood" stared at Violet as she picked it up. It read-

Respected Miss,

SURRENDER OR ELSE YOUR BELOVED SAM AND EVERYONE ELSE WILL ALL BE KILLED.

you don't want that do you?

Violet knew that Mara couldn't be this "Miss" that the letter spoke of. Could it be, the boy delivered the letter to the wrong place? Or did this mean that Miss was expected to be at the Grangers'?

One thing was for sure. Miss had to be after Mara's life, Why else would she want to be around her?