the secret

•10•

I wake up to Zion gone. I get out of bed and I go to the main part of the studio. I see Brandon and Nick messing around on the computers, making more music.

Nick spins around in his chair, "Good morning, sleepy head."

"Morning," I yawn and rub my eyes. I walk over to them and I sit down. "Where is Zion?"

"Went to the store," Brandon says. "Austin and Edwin went with him."

"Oh," I say. "Well how is the music coming?"

"Good," Nick says.

"How is your lyric matching coming?" Brandon asks.

"Terrible," I say. "Let's see. I have don't be gone too long no more, which makes no sense at all. I also have you can call the shots like jello. Not sure if that's right either. I have a bunch of other random shit that's definitely not right."

They both start laughing, "You got the second one right," Nick says. "Definitely not the first one though. No more and Gone too long are two different songs."

"Good to know," I say. "I swear I'm never going to figure out any of them."

"Give me your book," Brandon says.

"What?"

"The book that you right them all down in," he says. "Go get it. I'll help you out, but don't tell Zion."

I smile and I get up to grab my book, "Thank you, thank you."

I walk back over to him and I give him my book. They both start reading what I have down. It's probably all wrong.

"Damn," Nick says.

"That bad?" I ask.

"Opposite, actually. You got almost all of them so far," Brandon says. "There are a few mistakes, but it's not that bad."

"Really?" I ask. "Which ones?"

"That's for you to figure out," Brandon says. "I just wanted to see how bad it was, but I can't even make fun of you for that."

"Haha, loser," I snatch the book out of his hands and I put it back on Zion's desk. I sit back down in my seat. "When did they leave?"

"Like an hour ago," Nick says. "They should be back soon."

"Okay," I hear the door open and I smile, "That was right on cue."

"Yup," Brandon says.

"We meet again," I hear.

I look over to see Zion, Edwin, and Austin all tied up with guns pressed against their heads. My brothers and my dad shove them to the ground. I instantly stand up and so do Brandon and Nick.

"Stay back," Nick whispers to me. I stand behind them just like Nick says to.

"What do you want?" Brandon asks.

"You know what we want," Eli says. Tears start to fall down my face. I knew this shit would happen. I tried to stay positive. I always told Zion that nothing would happen, but I knew it would happen eventually.

"You aren't getting her," Zion says.

"What are you going to do about it?" Ryan asks. "You don't seem to have much coverage."

"Just take me," Zion says. "Do whatever the hell you want with me, but don't touch her."

"Nah," my dad says. "We will take her. You won't be any use to us. We want Brandon back too."

"Hell no," Brandon says. "Not after everything you have done to Danny. There is no way in hell."

"Danny!" Eli yells. "Just get over here and do this the easy way. You wouldn't want us to shoot him, would you?" He pushes the barrel hard into Zion's head.