Enlightened

Chapter Twenty-One: It Isn't Over

This is the last chapter (besides the epilogue) friends.  I know this book is a little short compared to other books, but there will be a sequel.  It'll probably be a little bit longer, but I could feel the quality of the chapters getting worse plus I've had the ending idea since the day I started the book and it all wrapped itself up perfectly.  Without further adieu, the final chapter! :)

Toni got to the prison ten minutes later. The front doors were wide open and the place seemed to be empty. Not only did the Ghoulies get out, so did every other criminal in Riverdale. Amazing. At least her back up was there.

There in front of the prison was about forty Serpents, fifteen officers, and twenty volunteers. The Sheriff pulled in on Balthazar and hopped off him, taking her helmet off and setting it on the handlebars. She walked up to her longtime friend, Jughead Jones and wrapped him in a tight hug before walking over to the congregation of her allies. FP, Sweet Pea, and Joaquin along with a whole bunch of other Serpents smiled at her happily. Someone in the crowd caught her eye though, Fangs. He was standing with the Serpents as if nothing happened. She marched up to him until she was about four inches from his face.

"What are you doing here?" The black haired boy backed up and hunched his shoulders in fear at the intensity of the Sheriff's tone. She just stared at him with her fists clenched. The other Serpents watched on from around them, not daring to intervene.

"I want to help," He said sheepishly looking at the ground. Before saying his next words though, he looked the Sheriff right in the eye and spoke with a spontaneous confidence. "I didn't do what I did because I'm evil, I did it because I had to. It was her or me, so I chose her. I still want to help this town and I tried my hardest to stop the breakout, you have to believe me, Toni." The shorter girl didn't say anything. She just gave him a skeptical look and stuck her hand out for a shake. When he shook her hand happily, all of the Serpents cheered.

"Alright! Listen up!" Toni yelled. Everyone quieted down. "We're going to tackle this problem in large groups. Stick with your group and don't go anywhere alone. If someone gets hurt, get to the hospital as fast as possible. It is the only place that is one hundred percent safe. Our job is not to fight the criminals! It's to find any civilians that may be in the streets, get them somewhere safe and then take on the inmates. Understood?" Everyone nodded and were quickly split into groups.

Toni, Jughead, FP, Fangs, and Reggie had patrolled about four blocks, rescued six civilians and beat up three criminals before the roar of the older Topaz sibling's motorcycle was heard. Toni turned around, confused as to why he was here and saw the older boy getting off his bike. "Hey guys, sorry I'm late."

"Sage? Why aren't you at home with Cheryl?" Toni asked, dumbfounded and worried as to why her brother was here. He looked at her in confusion and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"What do you mean? You never asked me to stay home," He said with a little chuckle. Toni's heart sunk. She was sure that Sage picked up the phone. He answered her. They were talking. How could he not remember?

"We spoke on the phone. I asked you to stay home and you told me you would. Something weird is going on." The Sheriff's heart started to race. Cheryl thought that Sage was coming and whoever changed their voice to sound like Sage might be able to do it again. "I have to go. You guys keep patrolling the city." Toni ran off and roared off on Balthazar as fast as she could while still in control.

~

She got home in half of the usual time it took to see her front door closed like it was when she left. She got off the bike and sprinted up to the door, leaving her helmet on the walkway and twisted the door handle. It was unlocked. Toni's heartbeat continued to race in her chest as she opened the door. Everything was fine, no one had taken anything. But as she walked closer to the door leading to the basement she noticed that the door had been kicked in and a little chunk of the wall was missing. She ran downstairs to find the same thing with the crawl space door. The basement was completely empty except for Zen who was curled up in the corner of the crawl space, sleeping. There was blood on her paws and muzzle, so at least the redhead wasn't completely defenseless. But one thing was certain.