Changed Time

Chapter Twenty-Two

After Jessie had calmed down enough to come back to the room, Paige explained herself to the rest of the group. I had asked her to take out the part about the murderers saying they were expecting her. I didn't want to make the group freak without figuring it out first.

As she finished, I took in all of the expressions. Jessie looked confused, Wyatt concerned and Zach just looked completely baffled.

"So your thirteen year old sister followed you all the way here from San Diego?" Zach asked, seemingly amazed. His blue eyes were still bright, the rest of the group's were shadowed by dark lines under our eyes, but his were like a little kid's. The only thing about him that looked worn was his hair. His blonde hair was starting to darken from the lack of showers he's taken since we left Ashland.

Paige shrugged. "I don't know."

"Well, is there any way we can contact her?" Wyatt asked. "Does she have a cell phone that we could call her on?"

"If there was a way to contact her, don't you think I would have tried it?" Paige asked him. "I don't know where she is, if she's still in Thorp, but if the murderers are back, it means she's in danger."

"You are too, Paige," I said. "We're all in danger, but specially you, Sophie and Jessie." I noticed Jessie shift her feet nervously. "I think it's safe to say that the girls should stay hidden until we can find these guys and stop them."

That snapped Jessie into attention. "Oh, don't you dare go all sexist on us, Drew!" I opened my mouth to protest, but she stopped me. "I say we catch them in the act, then," she reached behind her and grabbed her revolver. "We take them down."

"Jessie, we can't just shoot them‒"

"Shoot them? I don't mean injure them, I mean we kill the animals," I felt concern fill my face. "Why not? They wouldn't hesitate to murder us. It'd be self defense." Jessie's voice is stone cold. "Drew, these men, they're monsters. Who knows how many girls they've taken and killed before Jamie." Then she hit me where she knew I'd be effected. "They killed Sophie's sister, and they would have killed Paige if she hadn't escaped. And now, they could be going after Mia." Her green eyes were so much darker than either Wyatt's or mine. "Drew, they need to be stopped. And the cops, they won't be able to get anything against them, not without proof, and these guys are too good."

"Then we get them to mess up," Sophie suddenly said. We all looked at her. "They aren't expecting anybody to know about them. They know something is here, otherwise they wouldn't return, but there is no way that they're expecting all of us." Her dark blue eyes were staring at me. "We make their jobs so hard that they make a mistake, then the police can take them down. Nobody else dies, and they are punished."

Paige was nodding, as if in agreement, and the rest of us were just staring at her. All of us, except Jessie, who was shaking her head. "If we aren't willing to do what's necessary, but they are, then we're going to lose."

I shook my head. "Jessie, it's the fact that we're not willing to kill that's going to make us win. The fact that we're not them." I stared at her. "If we kill them, then we're just as bad as they are." I turned to Paige. "Paige and I were given these visions to save people, whether it's from being killed, or losing themselves more. These murderers, they've lost themselves, and maybe we can't bring them back, but it isn't our choice to take their lives, just as it isn't their choice to take other's."

Jessie didn't say anything.

Wyatt clapped his hands together. "Then I guess we have a plan."

"We have something to do before we do anything, though," Paige said. "We have to find my sister."