Trails of Secrets

31. The Other Plan

"Here it is." Sara gave the last message that was found to Noah. He had been curious of what it said and what it looked like. After he had inspected the message, he asked, "So, what? Do we go find this Persephone girl or something?" 

Sara snatched the message back, "No."

"Why not?"

"She is, um, missing."

"Oh."

Annalise tried not to glare at Noah. She knew that he didn't know any better, but she couldn't help but feel slightly protective of Sara. Sara had gone through so much. Having to explain her story all over again couldn't be easy. 

"Well, then. What do we do?"

Annalise turned her attention back to Noah. He looked genuinely interested in the situation. At the moment, the four of them were still discussing what was next. Liam had been quiet for awhile, listening to the conversation between Noah and Sara. 

"My sister wants us to go to Persephone's house."

Everyone's eyes turned to Sara. She looked defeated. Annalise knew that Sara had tried every option, as if she couldn't bear the thought of doing what she was supposed to. No more running. It was time to take action. 

Noah rolled his eyes. "Why didn't you go there in the first place?" 

Forget being nice. 

Annalise narrowed her eyes at him and hissed, "We did."

"It didn't work out," Liam shrugged. 

Noah rolled his eyes again and Annalise wondered if his eyeballs would fall out from exhaustion. "Well then, let's go already." 

"It's not as simple as that," Sara began.

"Chris knows where it is, too."

Noah cleared his throat. 

"Who is Chris again?"

Everyone groaned. 

Sara had had enough. 

"Forget this. It's my friend's house. My sister. My problem. So. Here's the plan."

                                                                         ~~~

What a waste of a day.

Liam was resting on Annalise's couch while everyone else was in bed. The whole day had been spent plotting and arguing about what needed to be done. Sara was trying to explain to Noah why they all couldn't head over to the house that day, while Annalise glared at Noah the whole time, trying to back Sara up. Noah wouldn't let go of anything and insisted that he knew what was best. And Liam was just confused as to why Noah even wanted to help. Clearly, he didn't seem to care about them. So why was he helping?

Liam groaned and tossed around on the couch. Then, he was facing Noah, who was asleep on the floor. How could someone older than him be so immature? 

Liam hadn't said much that day. He was too busy watching Sara to notice. She seemed more stressed than usual. Chris was really getting to her. But Liam knew what it was like to have a piece of yourself ripped away. 

The streak of red paint. 

It would never go away. It would never leave his thoughts. 

But he had healed. 

                                                                      ~~~

Sara sat up straight in bed.