Secrets of the Cellar (Inside Secret #1) || COMPLETED

Chapter Twenty: Potential Murder

By the time I'm properly healed, with the greatly appreciated help of Brianna, I'm already antsy with anticipation. I run outside the door with my weapon, not bothering to wait for my friends, I'm too excited.

"You know," I tell my friends when they walk out the door, "We should have a code name, something people can remember us by."

"That would only work if people even knew we existed." Brianna says. I shrug and snap my bow and arrows onto my back. My friends just carry theirs.

Then Krissy stops and looks at me curiously, again.

"Are you sure you're okay, you sound like you're kind of, um, how do I say this--" I interrupt her.

"Crazy? Wacko? Weird?" I ask her, and she shakes her head, struggling on what to say next. I help her by answering for her, "It's okay, I know I'm a weirdo! BUT I'M PROUD!" I giggle, and Krissy can't help but crack a smile. I continue.

"Alright," I say, smiling, "Let's get back on topic. Everyone have your maps?" Everyone nods, "Good, spread out! Meet here in about 2 hours!"

"But what about me?" I hear a voice behind me say. I turn around and Gavin seems a bit ... lost. He looks at the ground, kicking the concrete with his shoes.

"Gavin, you don't have to do this. I don't want to risk you getting hurt. Alicia is our friend. You don't need this responsibility." I tell him, suddenly feeling hesitant. I don't want Gavin to get hurt, even though I know he's much more capable than I am of taking down Liliana. 

But I'm starting to get even more suspicious of him, especially since I found out he was one of us, I either needed to keep an eye on him, or not get him involved at all. And the latter was already impossible.

"It's the least I can do." He says. Then he looks at me, straight in the eye. He looks determined. And it kind of looks hot. Ugh, fine.

"Alright, fine." I say, voicing my thoughts out loud.

He smiles at me, like he knew all along, what I was going to do. And maybe even what I was about to think. Hmmm, suspicious, very suspicious.

"I'll go on the lookout with Gavin. Bri, Krissy, you guys are a group." I say, trying to figure out what Gavin and I are going to do.

"Where will you guys go?" Emilie asks, taking the words from my brain, pretty much.

"Any ideas, Gavin?" I turn to him. He just gives me the most wicked smile, a smile that makes my stomach erupt with butterflies, and grabs the map I have in my hand.

"We're going to Song's Melody." He says, nonchalantly.

"What, why?" Krissy asks. I told her of my suspicions about Gavin, and Krissy was just as suspicious as  I was.

"I thought we should branch out, you know? Cover more ground." He answers. He has a point. 

And then I stop.

"Wait, was that the place? Where we had those pancakes?" I ask him, ignoring the incredulous looks on my friends' faces.

"Yeah. You remembered?" He asks, giving me a look. I give him my "duh" look.

"Of course I remembered. How could I forget the day someone tried to kill me?" I say, and Gavin flinches. Oh. Shouldn't have said it that way.

Then Krissy gasps, and I realize that I shouldn't have said it at all.

"YOU ALMOST GOT KILLED?!" Krissy screams. She steps forward and pushes Gavin to the ground. He winces as his back slams on the ground. I remember the strength he had back at Song's Melody, and I know for a fact that he's holding back. He doesn't want to hurt her.

"WHA-WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?" She yells. Krissy is mad. Really mad. Sorry Gavin.

As my friends try to stop Krissy from potentially murdering Gavin, I pull Gavin away, and keep him behind me.

"Hey, hey! Not his fault!" I say, trying to calm Krissy down. Krissy struggles to get loose. I'm almost afraid that Krissy will try to hypnotize our friends, but I know that Krissy wouldn't do it.

"What do you mean, not his fault? He's the one that took you there!" She says, a bit calmer, but not completely calm. Well, at least she's simmering down.

"Come on, Krissy! It wasn't that bad. He saved me!" I tell her.

"But he still put you in dan--."

"Okay! Okay! It's my fault! I'm sorry! But she actually means a lot to me now!" Gavin says, interrupting Krissy. But then he registers what he just said.

"I-I mean, It's not like that," he says, running a hand through his hair, embarrassed, "it's just, you know," He stutters. I laugh.

"Good. Glad you realized it." I say, giving him a pat on the back.

"Wait, what?" He asks, getting confused. My friends all give me a knowing looks. Krissy smirks, and gives Gavin the "I'm watching you" sign and Tyler laughs loudly. Krissy shakes her head and they separate into their groups, spreading out. Once they leave, I say:

"It really was your fault. The only reason I said those things was so Krissy wouldn't kill you, or you know, get charged for murder." I say, smiling.

"Wha-Wha?" He stammers out.

"Oh, it's okay. I forgave you a long time ago. It doesn't change how I feel about you." I say, and start walking off towards his car, which I see in the distance. He follows after me.

"You have feelings for me?" He asks, skeptical. I laugh at how he says it, incredulous.

"Don't let it go to your head, Gavin." I say. He stops and so I stop.

"Wait, why are we stopping? Come on, I thought I, and I quote, 'mean a lot' to you now?" I ask, letting out a snicker.

"Del?" He asks me, looking very serious. I give him a serious look.

"What?"

"I think I like you." Then he leans in slowly, a little too slowly for my liking. So I grab the back of his head, and push him towards me.

The kiss is passionate, as if he really didn't want to let me go. And I don't want him to let me go either. My knees quake, and the butterflies in my stomach are getting bigger. I put my arms around his neck, deepening the kiss. When we separate to come up for air, I give him a smile and let go of him.

"I think I like you too." I whisper in a hushed voice.

-----

When we get to Song's Melody, I get out of the car, and start to walk off toward one of the buildings.

"Where are we going?" Gavin asks. I point towards a random building, which I walk to.

"Okay, but we have to be careful. Remember? No police?" He asks.

"Sure do!" I say. We look in the building's dirty windows, but there's nothing, and no one, there. We look at the other buildings the same way. Again, there is no one there. The whole place feels, and looks, deserted.

This is starting to get really repetitive. 

"Gavin," I say, attempting to make conversation, "What can you do? You know, your powers?"

He opens his mouth to tell me, but a loud crash in the distance stops him. We follow the sound, but we stop when we reach a forest.

"Let's follow it!" I say, grabbing Gavin's hand, and pulling us toward the trees.

"Alright, but we have to be careful. Here, I'll lead." He reverses our positions, with him in the lead, and me, following behind.

The trees make the air seem windy, and there isn't much light to see anything at all, but I trust Gavin to lead me to something, anything.

"The sound went here." Gavin whispers to me. He's stopped in front of a bush.

"Where?" I ask. Then Gavin kneels down, with his back to me, and pushes the leaves outwards, so we can see something.

I gasp.