Experiment: Black Fire

Chapter 6

Experiment: Black Fire

I just found out that I'm on the "what's hot" list, #443! Yeah, it's not that good, but whatever!!

_____________________________________

Chapter 6: A Revengeful Heart

"You really aren't going to tell anyone?" Ashlee clarified again for the umpteenth time. "Seriously?" Her eyes were a shining gray, like the sky after a storm.

"Really and truly, and if you keep badgering me about it, I'm going break my promise." He looked at her with a strange expression on his face. It was like a blind man seeing the sun for the first time. Ashlee realized that she was hanging onto his arm. She let go, her face flushing a bright red.

"Sorry," she muttered. She was suddenly overwhelmed with various emotions, including ones that she had never felt before.

Hope... for the future, her future.

Gratitude... for Andrew's friendship.

Trust... Joy... Happiness... Relief... She cleared her head and smiled again.

"You're really, really weird." Ashlee shrugged. Nothing could dampen her mood tonight. "I'll take you home," he told her as he opened the car door for her. She rolled her eyes this time.

"You better not start pitying me or whatever," she told him sternly. "I can deal with this all by myself."

Andrew scoffed. "Doubt it." Before Ashlee could retort back, he ran to the other side and slid inside the car. He started the engine and drove to the mansion with Ashlee's detailed instructions. He dropped her off at the gate.

She went to the back of the house and entered the nine digit code: 989-346-081. The first door slid open. She entered the 12 digit code: 2472-1498-2723. At least her memory stayed the same. The door opened to reveal Mick and Damiel huddled together near a computer. An empty bowl of chips lay next to them.

"There you are," Damiel said without looking back. "Come here." Ashlee obediently walked to the computer. On the screen was a layout of the mall.

"This is the area where the explosion happened." Mick pointed to the food court. "It's hard to pinpoint exactly where it started."

"There was a bomb in a vending machine," Ashlee put in helpfully. "I heard the ticking from there."

"Do you remember what time?" Damiel asked. Ashlee thought back. The last time she checked the time was when she was in the bathroom: 12:14 p.m. She was out in two minutes: 12:16 p.m. She had passed the vending machine about a minute later: 12:17 p.m.

"It was around 12:17 p.m.," she answered. Damiel nodded thoughtfully.

"The bomb wasn't set for an exact time so it must have been targeting someone. And since Cecelia and Ms. Rachel had been sitting the closest to the vending machine, the target might have been Cecelia." Damiel looked grim at the prospect but Ashlee agreed with his reasoning.

"Someone must have known that Ms. Fanning would be there." Mick looked sharply at Ashlee. His dark blue eyes pierced into hers. She stared, undaunted by his dangerous expression.

"I haven't noticed anyone lurking near her," she told him confidently. "It could be any of Cecelia's close friends who know she's Edmund Fanning's daughter but there are quite a few of them," she said, thinking of all of the people who knew Cecelia's secret.

"It's either someone who has a grudge against her or someone else is manipulating her friends," Mick reasoned.

"Come to think of, I haven't seen that Jake guy around for a while," Damiel said out loud. After he said it, Ashlee realized that it was true.