What Keeps Our Hearts Beating

Chapter 20

Lacey was screaming, standing on tables, ushering Zoey and Sandra to do the same. Her father was yelling at the guards who were unsuccessfully trying to trap Victor into a corner.

Lacey had been searching for Brasen but when both he and Weber had not come to the party she had mentioned something briefly to her father.

"Dad, do you know where Dr. Weber is? I still think we need to find out more about this experiment involving Brasen..."

"I am so sick of that boy's name," he said, chugging a stiff shot of whiskey. "All that is worked out, Lacey. Don't you worry about that Brasen character anymore?"

"Dad, there's something I need to tell you..."

It was then that she spotted Victor flying through the trap door in the fireplace. He flew into the shadows but had made sure she had seen him. Victor and Lacey did not see eye to eye on anything, except one thing. And that was Brasen.

He was in trouble.

She didn't know what else to do but to make a huge scene, whispering to Zoey, "Brasen is in trouble. Follow my lead."

Sandra at seeing them all in an uproar and ruining her song at the karaoke machine, "I got you babe" looked like she wanted to throw punch at her.

Instead, Lacey whispered, "If you ever cared about Brasen then follow our lead."

Sandra looked taken aback by her statement but then as if something clicked, she howled into the microphone "I'm allergic to bats!"

Mrs. Halloway was attempting fruitlessly to keep the peace, when all of a sudden Dr. Snore grabbed Lacey, pulling her behind one of the golden curtains and whispered urgently in her ear.

"I know you're helping Brasen."

She stared at her teacher, when all of a sudden she froze. His eyes...behind the large spectacles they were the same blue as Brasen's. She had never looked that close before. "You're Brasen's father?" she stammered, remembering that Brasen's father had escaped from prison 3 months ago. "You are Roland Lloyd! You've been impersonating Dr. Snore this entire time?"

"I needed to bide my time and clear my name. I need to find the paperwork against us that Weber is hiding. Did Brasen tell you where he's hidden it?"

Lacey remembered exactly where it was. And also remembered Weber saying it was hidden by the unpickable lock. She quickly revealed the location to Brasen's father, and he looked concerned but then they both heard Dr. Weber's voice and they quickly separated from behind the curtain.

"What the hell is going on in here?"

Lacey pretended to swat something at something in Zoey's hair, watching Brasen's father rush over to Sandra and Raiph over by the doorway. Did they know who he was too?

Lacey then realized Victor had vanished back through the fireplace, having opened the escape for him when everyone wasn't looking.

"I thought I saw a bat!"

"A bat! What kind of establishment are you running where my daughter could have been attacked by a fearsome bat?"

As Weber and her father were arguing, Sandra approached Lacey.

"I know we hate each other, but there's something you need to know."

Lacey stared at her, "What do I need to know?"