The Forgotten

The Body and the Spy

Tomorrow, on our way to school, I tell Shain everything. Judging by the look on her face, Will's got another thing coming.

"How did we never suspect Will?" Shain asks.

"Because he seemed to have an alibi and seemed nice," I reply sourly.

Shain agrees, "Yeah. He really was. We'll have to be more careful this time." I nod as Shain's driver opens the door.

"Interesting," I note, "They closed the school for multiple days regarding Jess' death, but here we are the day after Tabitha's." Shain winces and I realize how tactless that was.

Shain replies before I can apologize, "The middle school got the day off. Tabitha didn't go here, so they expect us to move on."

"I suppose that makes sense, in some twisted way," I state. Shain puts her arm around my shoulder.

"I promise everything will be fine," she assures me. "Let's just get to class."

Then she frowns. "Didn't Janessa say the Forgotten are going to strike again today?" I give her a look.

"Not all the Forgotten are murderous psychopaths attempting to overthrow the entire world order," I remind her. "But yes, she did." Shain groans.

"We don't even know who's involved."

I say automatically, "Will. Will's involved." Shain doesn't say anything. She just walks with me down the halls.

I add, "Jersey and York are involved too. Lieutenant Brace is the ringleader. We need to tell someone, but we need solid evidence first."

"Shain?" I ask. "Any ideas on how we're supposed to find out what we're looking for." She nods and pulls out her phone.

She explains, "I'm going to call Janessa." She dials the number just as we walk past the stairwell to the school's bell.

Immediately a melodic song fills the air. It's slightly muffled and seems to be coming from the stairwell, behind the door.

I frown.

"Is Janessa in there?" I ask. Shain's face contorts into a frown identical to my own.

She shrugs and opens the door. There aren't any lights on, so we can barely see. Slowly and cautiously we make our way up to the top.

Once we reach the top, I can see a large shape dangling from the bell string. Shain screams. I find the light switch, flip it, and see immediately what disturbed Shain so.

It's Janessa. She was hung to death. Her eyes still have fear left in them. I wonder what scared her so. How did someone even get her up here? They must have tricked her, manipulated her.

"We can't tell anyone," Shain whispers. I look away from Janessa and at Shain.

"What?" I ask. "We can't just leave her here." Shain takes my hand and looks straight into my eyes.

"Listen, Eris." Hearing my real name is still strange, even though I've only been Raven for a week. It's probably because at the Forgotten Compound, everyone but...ugh...Will called me E-6-11. I'm not used to hearing the name. "We don't want the conspirators aware that we're onto them."

I reply, "They already are. That's why they killed Janessa. They know that we know and they want to end us. We need to find cold hard evidence for the cops."

"I know that," Shain states. "We can't get the evidence if they know we've seen Janessa's body." Shain sighs. "I feel bad that I was so horrible to her. She died to help us."

"She barely did anything," I remind her. "Don't get too mushy and regretful on me." Shain smiles, despite the overwhelming totally sucking descriptions.

"Deal," she agrees. "Now let's get out of here.

Shain and I sneak downstairs, managing to avoid our classmates. Unfortunately, soon after leaving the stairwell, we find ourselves face-to-face with Lance Goldberg.

"You girls alright?" he asks. "Homeroom's about to start. A group's been allowed to do a presentation." I freeze.

"Who's in this group?"

Lance frowns in concentration. "Oh, um...I think it's Will and York and me."

"Were you Forgotten?" Shain blurts. Lance stares at her, looking offended and bewildered. I glare at Shain.

"Subtle much?" I hiss so Lance can't hear. Shain gives me a sheepish smile. I sigh.

"Whatever. Just, never mind, Lance." He holds his hands up in surrender and shakes his head.

"No, no, you should know. I actually was Forgotten. I got adopted by the Vice President. I'm actually a friend of your father, Shain."

"I knew that," Shain retorts, her voice acidic in every imaginable way. Literally, I'm truly shocked Lance didn't turn into an incinerated pile of goo. Or am I thinking of something other than acid. I can't keep these things straight.

Lance elaborates, "You have no reason to trust me, Shain. Trust your father though." Shain crosses her arms.

"He hasn't been around much to trust." Lance begins to get irritated, visibly.

"I mean his judgment. Just because I'm a teacher's pet doesn't mean I'm not smart. If I was stupid, the school would throw me out, no matter how rich my parents are." I'm not sure what to believe. Shain doesn't seem overly convinced of his innocence. She continues to look at him like he's a piece of dog poop under her shoe.

Lance sighs. "You know what, forget it. Just take this." He pulls a gun out of his pocket, first checking to ensure no teachers are present. He hands the gun to me. I stare at it. You'd think, by my reaction, I'd been handed a bomb. Well, a gun is a killing machine too. Just not with so many people at risk.

"What the hell?" Shain asks, looking startled and horrified. "Seriously what the--"

I cut her off.

"What is this for?" I demand from Lance. "I'm not going to...you can't possibly think I would..."

"You would," Lance states. "I've been watching you, Eris. I know you could do it if you had to."

Shain stares at me. "I thought you said this was a secret." I roll my eyes.

"All secrets come out eventually. And when I told you, I thought less than a handful of people knew, me included."

Lance presses, "Look. When Lieutenant Brace reached out to me, I told my father and yours, Shain. They both agreed I should get inside the conspiracy in order to take it down."

Before either Shain or I can reply, someone calls out.

"Lance! What are you doing, talking to them."

One glance at the speaker's face and I lunge at them. I use the gun to hit them on the head. Lance and Shain try to pull me back, but they fail. Of course they fail...because the person I'm attacking is Will.