one of the only things that are.

chapter 8.

katie has 13 missed calls from jade.

dawn is soon; she's haphazardly shoving her most important belongings into her backpack and frantically pacing around trying to make sure she hasn't forgotten anything.

"katie, this isn't a good idea."

"what else am i supposed to do pal?? they'll find you. they'll find me. and unless you want to go back to hiding in the void, which isn't even likely to be a viable solution, we have to get out of here."

katie scribbles a short note onto a peice of scrap paper on her desk.

i am at the cabin. i'm turning pal onto airplane mode. if you get asked by anyone, you didn't know about pal and the cabin doesn't exist. destroy this note when you find it. please trust me. we'll be okay.
-katie

she tiptoes into the kitchen where the twinbots are waiting.

"did you fill the bag?" she asks. eric nods.

"it's mostly non-perishables," he whispers back.

"okay..." katie glances behind her at the living room and sighs.

"let's go."

- - - - -

when aaron wakes up the next morning, the house is silent. maybe no one is up yet. he stretches and yawns, stumbling out of bed and toward the kitchen. hey, the tv is playing in the living room... it's just the news though. he starts walking past until he hears the word "pal."

the headline reads breaking news: katie mitchell seen with pal, disappears as picture goes viral

aaron is awake now.

he checks his sister's room. she's not there. neither are the twinbots.

"uh, MOM??? DAD???"

he can hear talking outside, so he rushes out the front door to find his parents. the poseys are there too. and so is a news crew. and so is the police.

"oh, honey, there you are," linda says. "why don't you go play with abbey?" she's got this look on her face that aaron recognizes as her 'this-is-adult-business' face.

"mom, where is katie?"

"honey," linda lowers her voice, "i promise i will tell you everything i know later, but right now, i need to handle all of this."

aaron feels upset, but he understands, and he goes with abbey to her house.

"abbey, do you know what's happening?"

abbey shrugs. "all i know is that everyone is looking for your sister because she was with pal. why is she protecting that phone app, anyway? isn't she the one who tried to take over the world?"

"yeah..." aaron looks away.

"you didn't... know, did you...?"

aaron smiles sheepishly.

"what!? why didn't you tell anyone!?"

"but abbey, please listen. pal is different now."

"different?" abbey tilts her head.

"yeah. she's... nicer. i think she was scared from being all by herself all this time... i honestly don't even blame her for going to katie for help."

"but aaron, she's evil!! what if she hurts your sister!? we have to tell the cops."

"no!!" aaron grabs abbey's wrist as she gets up to leave the house. "please, we can't. i don't... i don't want katie to get hurt, wherever she is. and i don't want my brothers to get hurt either... or even pal."

abbey hesitates. "you... really trust her?"

aaron nods. "you won't tell anyone, will you?"

"i... i guess not."

aaron sighs with relief, and suddenly his stomach growls.

"oh, i forgot about breakfast."

"we have poptarts."

"ooh, what flavor?"

abbey grabs aaron's hand and leads him to the kitchen- he can feel his face heat up and he smiles nervously- he fights his 'instincts' despite the fact that he and abbey have told each other about thier feelings months ago.

"okay, so," abbey says, grabbing the poptart box. "tell me what you know about pal."

- - - - -

jade thinks she might lose her mind.

she gave up trying to call katie after the 37th try, and she's been cooped up in her tiny one-bedroom apartment anxiously watching the news ever since. she can't eat. she can't sleep. what was katie THINKING, letting pal come back!? she's so mad and she's so disappointed and she's so worried that she thinks she might throw up.

there's a knock at her door. it's hanna.

"hey," she says. "i, uh, thought you could use a friend right now. are you okay?"

jade sighs. "no, not really. i don't know what's going on... nobody knows where katie is..."

"hey, it'll be okay. i, uh, i brought cookies!"

jade looks at the cookie box with disinterest.

"you can set them in the kitchen."

"...right."

the two girls end up sitting on the couch together and watching the news. mark bowman, the guy who created pal and who was responsible for this whole ai mess in the first place, is being questioned by yet another news crew. he looks incredibly tired.

"so not even mark bowman knows what's going on?" hanna asks.

"yeah, unless he's lying." jade crosses her arms. "i bet he brought pal back himself."

"really?" hanna asks. "i don't think he's that crazy. i'm honestly surprised he still uses technology at all- i'd be scarred forever if my own phone tried to kill me."

"yeah..." jade looks down at her feet. "hanna, i'm... really scared. what if katie is..."

hanna shakes her head. "you can't think like that, man. there has to be a reason that katie ran off with pal instead of destroying her."

"but WHY??" jade asks. "and where the hell IS SHE?? i mean, where on earth could she even g-"

suddenly, jade can see a metaphorical lightbulb go off in her head.

"oh my god. the cabin."

"the what?" hanna asks.

"the CABIN!!! katie was designing a new forest cabin for her dad to use as a summer house!! she has to be there!! hanna, we can find her!!"

"woah, hold on, we don't know where it is. and, maybe we should leave this to the authorities, i mean-"

"hanna, come on. i just need to make sure she's safe... and not alone. i'll call katie's parents- they can tell me where it is!"

"...okay. alright, but only if we carefully plan this. i'm worried about katie too, but i don't want any of us to get hurt." hanna holds out her hand. "deal?"

jade accepts the handshake. "deal."