(2) OF ADVENTURES THE! (COMPLETED)

CHAPTER THIRTY

CASSANDRA

Cassandra parked her stolen car on the sidewalk. She sat inside it for a few minutes, staring at her reflection in the windshield. Then, taking a deep breath, she grabbed her handgun from the glove box, stuck it in her pants, and opened the door.

The burned-out crater of her house hadn't been touched, as she suspected. Some parts of it were still letting off smoke, the dead shell settling into its new position. Cassandra took a deep breath, staring at it.

She was glad, even though she still felt conflicted over her "husband's" death. There was just one more thing she had to do to seal the deal, though.

Cassandra kicked aside a loose board, ducking under the frame of where her front porch used to be. She tore down what was left of the door—and was greeted with a surprising scene.

Sitting on a charred piece of a chair was her cousin, Eliza Andontina. A shotgun sat on her lap, and curled around her ankle was a furry potato (bleh). It squeaked when Cassandra entered; "That's boss's ex-wife!"

"Eliza," Cassandra said. Her cousin looked up.

"I've decided something," suddenly announced Eliza, standing up. She didn't look like a threat, just determined to get a point across. "Cassandra, I want you to know that I never meant to hurt you. I just—"

"You know what, I don't care," Cassandra said, striding over the broken boards past her. "I'm here for a different reason."

"It was the money." Eliza followed, persisting. "He tricked me into it, and the thing with Mr. He—"

Cassandra looked over, not caring the least bit for the apologies. "So He was Jerry all along? That's what Cecelia told me. Dang, I feel so bad for $inamin."

"I don't know what you mean, but yes, He did tell me He was under cover. There was a reward salary, for the fridge. I'm sorry I let myself fall for it. He escaped, and I don't know where."

"My part in this is over," Cassandra decided, ruffling under sheets of fallen metal. It had to be here somewhere. "I think I'm going to take over and settle into the abandoned Society of Secrets, and maybe that'll give Julio somewhere to live so the Cortez moms don't freak out. And then I'm using the money for my house to go world traveling. Perhaps I'll start my own society out there, after I get the Yeti recruited."

"I plan to find Jerry," Eliza affirmed. "In honor of you, I will dedicate my abilities to doing that. Don't know what I'll do with him when I find him, but I won't be the victim of power again. And I'm bringing little Phil here with me."

The cat purred, rubbing up against her legs.

Cassandra didn't look up, but nodded softly to herself. "That'll do you some good." She typed in the 14-digit passcode (I bet anyone reading this story could guess it) to the hidden, indestructible safe door.

"Cassandra," begged Eliza, "please. I'm—I don't mean for anything like this to happen again. I just, something snapped when I was up there. I didn't mean to shoot that kid, and I didn't mean to say those things. Accept this."

Cassandra hauled the fire-proof, bullet-proof, water-proof, explosion-proof, laser-proof, pressure-proof, apocalypse-proof briefcase out of the safe. "I'll think about it. But I have more important things to think about right now. There's one more thing for me to wrap up with my storyline."

Eliza curiously crouched down next to her, Phil doing the same. "What?"

Cassandra opened the briefcase and stared down at the single piece of paper resting inside of it. She almost had a dramatic flashback to the day she had stowed that piece of paper there—but nah.
Cassandra got out her safety lighter, tossed it in the briefcase, and watched silently as her and Kevin's marriage certificate went up in flames.