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I fly down the stairs at the sound of Jordan's voice in distress, not knowing what could have possibly happened but knowing I just need to get down there.

I would love five fucking seconds to sit and process everything... and talk to them, but I guess that'll have to wait.

I'm just so tired, and so fucking done.

I'm tired of pretending, I'm tired of being miserable. That's why I let loose at the party, for fucking once. For once I just did what I wanted to do. And that was dance and kiss my fucking-

I'm slammed with the sight of Cate flat on her back convulsing on the floor and Jordan crouched on their knees beside her- not what I was expecting.

"Il- Il, help!" Jordan's eyes meet mine and they're instantly washed over with relief.

"Holy shit!" Marie appears behind me, Andre turning the corner entering the kitchen as well. "What happened?" She looks up at me.

"When she pushes too much, it fucks with her head." Andre answers as I stand there, frozen. Hmm, maybe serves her RIGHT, I don't know...

"Didn't you learn CPR?" Marie rushes out.

"Where?" Jordan yells at her, looking up at me once again.

"At superhero school? Jesus!" Marie shouts back.

Jordan gets up, moving by my side. "Iliana?" Their voice starts to sound like it's fading as I stare at Cate's body.

"Her... her pulse is slowing." Marie panics.

"Can you speed it up?" I hear Jordan ask, muffled.

"I don't know. I-I, um..." Marie freaks.

"Rising temperature increases heart rate." Andre says.

Hmmm?

Suddenly Andre steps in front of me. "Goldie? Goldie?!"

I blink, coming back to. I meet his wild eyes.

I clench my back teeth, letting out a frustrated sigh before pushing past him and kneeling by Cate. I lay both hands out flat over her body and my nostrils flare as I close my eyes and feel the warmth of her body signature.

Control your anger, Iliana, I remind myself, or you'll boil her blood.

Which I'd love to do right now, but she'd be getting off too easy. And I still need some fucking answers.

My head falls backward as her temperature begins to rise and I inhale sharply, slowly moving my hands up, waiting to cap it. I open my eyes and see Jordan chewing the inside of their lip nervously out of the corner of my eye as Andre leans his head down over Cate.

He nods. "She's breathing. She's breathing."

I lift my hands all the way up into the air before leaning backwards and Andre's hand lands on my back as he checks on me.

"I'm okay." I breathe, squeezing Andre's shoulder to let him know, quickly glancing up at Jordan who's leaning forward ready to dash over in a heartbeat. "I'm okay."

Their shoulders relax a bit before turning their attention briefly to Cate, still eyeing me. "When does she wake up?"

I lick my lips, brows furrowing together.

What if she doesn't wake up? And what if I don't care if she ever does...

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Andre scoops Cate up, carrying her to the living room as Jordan, Marie, and I follow. He lays her down on the loveseat.

"Cate. Cate, can you hear us?" Marie tries.

I resist the urge to roll my eyes, but immediately do as Dusty enters the room. Well, it is his house-

"Has she ever pushed this much before?" Jordan questions.

"Who cares?" Andre says bluntly. Ugh, amen! "This is what she gets for mind-raping her friends."

"Amen." I nod in agreement. "If she was so fucking worried about pushing too hard, she shouldn't have done this shit in the first place." I raise a brow in her direction before taking a step towards her. "If you can hear us, hear that."

Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, she gasps, raising up, and I jolt back as she disappears in thin air and my jaw drops.

What the fu-

Marie immediately looks up at me.

"Holy shit, where'd she go?" Jordan's eyes widen as does Andre's.

"Um, guys?" Dusty speaks up.

We all turn our attention to him as bricks of the wall open up to where we can outside.

"What?" Marie lets out.

Oh my God- am I high?!

We step around as the cement blocks stop moving.

"Oh, what the fuck?" Marie mutters.

Jordan glances back at Andre and I and I grab Andre's sleeve.

"You're seeing this too, right?" I whisper at him and he nods slowly. Great.

Marie takes off and Jordan waits as Andre pushes Dusty out of the way, pulling me a long, and Dusty follows behind us.

Woah, woah, woah- hang on!

Marie's boot crunches the leaves, Jordan next, and Andre let's me go out, nudging me along, before him and Dusty step out.

When we turn around I seriously think I'm going insane...

Dusty's house is gone. Gone. Like actually not there.

There's only the bricks making up an outline of a doorframe and they clatter as they start to separate.

"What the fuck." I mumble.

"What's happening?" Jordan asks.

"Maybe Cate's more powerful than we thought." Marie answers quietly.

"She can't fucking move bricks!" I throw my arms up.

"Whatever. I'm done with this shit." Andre spits out and starts walking off.

"Mmm, me too." I cross my arms, right behind him.

"Wait." Marie quickly spins, holding her arm out at me before taking off after Andre. "Andre, wait! We don't even know where we are."

I hear Jordan behind me  jogging to catch up with me, not really giving a shit about Dusty.

"Or what she did to us." Marie continues.

Thunder cracks above causing me to jump. "Oh, fuck."

Where the hell are we?

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We find ourselves on a trail, thankfully, when a woman cries out.

"Caleb!" Jordan and Dusty run past Marie, Andre, and I as Andre crouches down behind a tree and we stop around him.

"Caleb?" The woman repeats and we see a blonde woman step out, looking around as she sobs.

"Who is that?" Marie questions.

A police officer trails behind her.

"Come back! Please!" She breaks down.

My brows pull together... why does that name sound familar?

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but we've been looking for three days." The officer tells her.

"Don't." The woman snaps. "He's only six years old." She swallows. "Keep looking. Caleb?"

Oh my God...

I take a step back into Jordan's body as I stare at the scene in front of us in horror just as Jordan and Andre look down in realization.

"Caleb?" Jordan echo's the familiarity, one of their hands wrapping around my arm as the other lands on my hip and hell, am I too shook up to pull away.

"Yeah, that was Cate's brother's name." Andre says, looking back at the two us. "The one she sent away."

I glance down at Marie, her face dropping remembering the story Cate told her at the Gala.

"Mommy?" A little girl's voice calls out in relief. "Mommy!"

My body leans further back into Jordan, no...

Their ringed finger gently glide up and down my arm, comforting me. I think I'm gonna be sick.

My eyes break away from Marie back in front of me as a little girl rushes up to the woman and the officer.

"Cate, wait!" Her mother panics and the little girl comes to a stop. "Just... wait there."

"Holy shit." Marie speaks up. "This is a memory." She says.

Well NO FUCKING SHIT! But why the hell am I seeing it?!

"We're in Cate's head." Marie sighs.

My eyes snap up to Jordan as theirs's drown in worry.

"I don't feel safe with her." Cate's mom croaks.

"Mommy, it was an accident. Why did Caleb listen to me? He never does." Little Cate asks, panic rising in her voice.

"I don't feel safe with her." Her mom repeats.

"Okay." The officer nods. "Why don't you come with me, Cate?" The officer starts walking towards her as the tree's around start to crumble, breaking apart.

"Mommy, I didn't mean to." Cate insists.

The officer keeps one arm out and one hand on his gun. "Hey, do you like dogs? We got a K9 unit over here." He points off into the distance. "They'll let you pet one. All right? Just come with me."

Younger Cate turns, taking a step forward before looking over her shoulder at her mother before following the officer.

"Okay, just give me a little distance, would you?" The officer requests, chucking nervously.

"Hey!" A deep voice shouts as thunder rumbles and we all snap our heads behind us.

"Holy fuck." My eyes widen as Solider Boy's storming over to us.

My brain literally cannot comprehend what's happening right now...

"What are you greasy sack of fuck nuts doing in here?" He demands.

"What in the fuck?" Andre mumbles.

"Soldier Boy?" Marie looks at him confused. "What are you doing in here?"

Honestly... I don't mind. He looks so fine.

"I'm Cate's imaginary friend from when was a kid." He answers. "Boyfriend, really." He corrects. Mmm, amen. Andre's brows furrow. I gaze Soldier Boy up and down, there's not a single part of this man's body that isn't muscle. "I taught her how to jerk off. Diddle that Skittle." He wiggles his finger. "Flick the bean. How to find that man in the canoe. She came like a faucet. She'd crank up the Jonas Brothers."

My brows raise as I notice Marie's face contort, looking uncomfortable.

"And she'd hump a Solider Boy pillow. She'd raw-dog that pillow til she saw God." He finishes. Oh—

"Gross." Marie comments.

"It was petty romantic." Solider Boy smiles.

"Hell yeah, brother." Dusty holds his fist out.

"Shut the fuck up." Soldier Boy snaps.

"Fuck you." Ander says, crossing him arms. Marie, Jordan, and I turn to look at him. "She just didn't like, she didn't like Jonas Brother, was all." He turns to us for a second before looking back at Solider Boy.

"Uh, her favorite was Joe." I intercept quietly.

Solider Boy looks at him. "I know you. Yeah, you're Cate's new fuckboy." He clicks his tongue. "She really loves you."

"Mmm, I'm sure she told herself that as she fucked him over, right?" I snap at Soldier Boy, my nostrils flaring.

"You her first kiss with a girl, weren't you?" Solider Boy eyes me up and down and everyone instantly turns their attention to me and Jordan raises their brows.

"In drunk spin the bottle." I clear my throat. "Yes." I sigh. "You were all there. Well, except Marie."

Jordan and I snuck off after everyone got too drunk to play and I thought it was cute how flustered and jealous they were.

"I want to be the only friend you kiss." They say, closing the distance between us.

"Is that so." I giggle, slipping my finger under the chain I gave to them.

They wrap their arms around my ass, pulling me closer. "Yes."

"Mmm, and if I wanted to kiss other friends? Then what?" I drag my finger down their chest.

"Yeah, well you didn't feel that way dropping your bra on my floor, did you, Princess?"

"But whatever. Boys, they come and go." Soldier Boy nods, snapping me out of the memory that's causing my cheeks to burn. "But she always comes back to a little... pillow talk."

"Fuck you." Andre snips. "You're a Russian agent is what you are."

"Andre." I throw my head back.

"Andre. Bigger shit going on right now." Marie scolds him, rightfully so at this moment.

"Yes, please puff your chest out at a later time." I pinch the bridge of my nose.

"What the hell you talking about?" Soldier Boy squints.

"Turns out you were radicalized by the Russians." Jordan explains.

"Fuck you. I'm no godless, dickless commie." Solider Boy jumps to his defense. "I'm red-blooded." He pauses. "But not commie red. Red-white-and-blue red. I fart 'The Star-Spangled Banner.'" He shouts.

I look at him bewildered, wondering when the hell I'm gonna  wake up from this fucked-up dream...

"You're pretty fucking weird, dude." Andre rears his head back, staring at him oddly. Now why would you tell him that, right now?

"Yeah? Knock knock. Who's there? Go fuck your face." Solider Boy says all in one breath.

I snort. Jordan stares at Andre as he looks away, poking his tongue into his cheek.

"Okay. Fine. Whatever." Marie cuts in. "We need to know what's going on." She stresses, throwing her hands up.

"Please." I sigh in agreement.

"Well, beats me. Cate wants you in here for some reason." Solider Boy claims.

"Thank you, Solider Obvious." I narrow my eyes.

"You better figure it out quick, though before you get stuck in here." He continues, shooting me a look.

UM, STUCK?!

"Wait, stuck in here?" Marie questions loudly. "Like forever?"

Thunder crackles again, flashes of light striking from the sky.

"See that?" Solider Boy turns to look. "That wasn't lightning. That was a burst blood vessel." Oh, fuck. He looks back at us. "Cate's head is unraveling in real time." He points to his head.

"Great." I let out a chuckle. "That's great." Jordan looks at me cautiously. "Just fucking fantastic. So, not only did she royally fuck us over... SHE PULLED US INTO TO HER FUCKING MESS THAT SHE FUCKING CAUSED!" I shout.

Solider Boy tilts his head. "She becomes a vegetable, so do you." He points at us down the line. Jordan and Andre exchange the same worried expression. "All right, listen to me. You really want to live, then the single most important thing I can tell you..."

A 'blood vessel' strikes him before he can finish, sending us all jumping back.

Marie's mouth falls open. "Oh, shit. Solider Boy's dead."

His body is charred on the ground.

"If that's what happens to her imaginary friend, what happens to us?" Jordan wonders.

"Cate, let us the hell out of here now!" I scream, two seconds away from losing my mind.

Marie circles her finger in the air. "We should go."

"Yeah." Jordan nods quickly and we all start moving.

My entire body screams at me in a million different directions, I can't even think! What the hell are we going to do?! Solider Boy just got fried right in front of our faces-

"That guy was a dick, right?" Andre asks, peering over his shoulder at us. Thunder continues roaring off in the distance.

Marie rolls her eyes at him.

"A hot one though." I throw out with no shame, forcing my body to move, though it feels like I'm waking in quicksand.
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𝟶ʙᴜᴛᴛᴇʀʙɪsᴄᴜɪᴛ𝟽 sᴘᴇᴀᴋs!

Hey, hey my lovely Golden Facade readersss, WELCOME BACK <3

Gave y'all a long chapter to read for the week & a half waittt!! Today marks 2 WEEKS until Gen V's 1 year anniversary, can y'all believe it?! 1 YEAR?! Where tf does time fly?!

Anywaysss, Goldie was unhinged in the chapter lmao, but I love it. Our girl is just so fucking done... also the scene where Marie yells to Jordan about CPR & superhero school literally kills me every single time lmao.

Had to give Iliana a moment to shine with her powerrrr, sorry Marieee, but high temp does increase heart rate & Marie was nervous & hesitated she'd kill Cate, so I saw the perfect opportunity...  Alsoooo, gave y'all a mini Ilordan flashbackkkk, eekkk ;)

Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter & are ready for more Golden Facade Sunday's!! Don't forget to comment your thoughts, questions, & reactions!! They truly give me SO much joy & keep me going. AND THANK Y'ALL SO FUCKING MUCH FOR 14K READS!! WHATTT?!

Until next time, mwah!! <3