Think Three Times

Bad and Worse part two

For a second Eric thought the people were done talking, then he noticed that Jacquelyn had just stopped letting the listen to them.
Her gaze was continuously seeping the room, until finally she looked at Hailey.
"Ok," she said "now your turn. Explain that conversation."
Eric expected Hailey to continue questioning, but she didn't protest at all before answering.
"Ivan is right. We have magic. Cade Plisk kidnaped us all and our families except Will's. Questions?"
For a second, Eric thought Hailey was telling the truth, then he realized that they didn't ALL have magic. Hailey didn't have magic. Why was she saying she did?
"That was in depth. Anyways, my name is Jacquelyn. How does Cade plan to defeat the organization exactly? What's his plan?"
Will was half way through saying
"How are we supposed to know?" before Eric could even fully process that she had just asked about the Plan. Strangely enough, Hailey didn't withhold even this information w high she had been so reluctant to give to Eric.
"Will, you actually don't know this but I know Cades plan."
She turned from Will to Jacquelyn and began explaining. Jacquelyn only appeared to be half listening. She was mostly apparently lost in thought. When Hailey finished, she just said.
"Wow, that is potentially the stupidest plan I have ever heard."
Will, who still looked mortally terrified from hearing the Plan, definitely didn't agree.
"What? That's a horribly good plan!"
"Huh? Oh, Cade's Plan is a good plan. I'm talking about the meeting house four plan. I'm still listening to them. They're gonna try to kill Cade Plisk, who is like, ten times stronger then all of them combined."
"We have to help them stop Cade." Said Hailey. Eric was surprised to see Will nodding. And surprised to find himself agreeing.
Jacquelyn was the only one to disagree.
"What? I'm not helping them. You guys, this isn't a battle between the fiction-story good guys and the fiction-story bad guys. This is a fight between two groups in the real world who would both be considered bad guys in a fiction story."
"Fictional story." Corrected Will.
The glare he received could evaporate lava.
"And you're right: this isn't a battle between good and bad. But it is a battle between bad and worse. And right now, we're on the better end of that spectrum." Added Hailey.
"And even if they don't except out help," contributed Eric. "We're gonna bring Cade down anyways. And even if you guys don't help, we'll still get information off you."
Saying something like that- feeling confident and with backup and knowing proudly that he and his new friends would make sure it came true- made him feel confident, and like part of a team. Until Jacquelyn shattered his whole demeanor by raising an eyebrow and asking about the one thing he hadn't thought through in this statement.
"And how do you plan to get information off me or them?"
Eric had no response, and he found himself taking an extra second to process the way she had separate herself from them in that statement. Fortunately, Hailey had a good response.
"Do you have a fear of heights?"