The Clairvoyant

Sixteen | 64 days, 8th hour

“I'm calling the police.”

Suddenly everyone went ballistic. Audrey grabbed her brother who rushed pass her, Colton took him by the back of his shirt, Chace pulled on his arm, Tristan held his other arm, and Cain and I? Cain helped me get shorts much to my surprise.

“You can't!” Audrey screams as I pull up the shorts.

“If you do, Colton and the guys are surely going to be placed in custody.” I try to explain as they bring him back into Cain's room. “A-and, maybe Audrey and I too since we've already gotten deep into this mess. Blake might decide to use our names when they're interrogated and-”

“You just can't!” Audrey hollers once more. “Please, please, please don't get in the way.”

“In the way of what?”

Cain chuckles despite the circumstances. “A war.”

Jaime's eyes widen. “A war?”

“Cain's stupid,” I smack him on the head. “It's not that big.”

“It's still a fight between two gangs.” He points out.

“Gangs?” Jaime echoes.

“Yeah, Blake and Stella's fight.” Colton agrees, his grip still firm on Jaime's shirt. “Even though we technically didn't make Stella leader. But with Blake aiming for Stella, who wouldn't agree that Stella be our leader, right?”

Chace and Tristan nod. Followed by Audrey. “Guys, you're not helping.” I mutter, shaking my head.

“Blake?” Jaime repeats, eyes confused.

“That guy who taught me how to fight.” I smile, reminiscing the past. “He's just angry I saved Audrey. And then it also angered him when Colton broke off from his side. And Chace and Tristan followed making things worse. He just wants revenge. That's all.”

Audrey suddenly did that 'hmph' noise, switching her gaze from Jaime to me. “Yeah, and we haven't even attacked back with all those fights they challenged us with. What gives, Stel? How come you're not fighting back?”

“I'm thinking, I'm thinking,” I reply, frowning.

“We tried to check them out,” Chace admits, shaking his head. “That went terrible.”

“I thought you guys said you fell down a ditch?” Jaime asks them, wrinkling his eyebrows.

Tristan brought a hand over his shoulder. “Dude, lying children exist nowadays.”

“Why'd you guys go?” I demand, shaking my head. I let out a deep sigh as I think about their actions. “You guys shouldn't have done that. That just messes things up. Now he's going to come here since you guys went to his place.”

Colton gets up to reply back but I just raise a hand to him. “No, I told that fighter of his to stop sending fights since it's all futile. I'm pretty sure he would have agreed to it since that meant it was our turn to challenge him. But now that you've gone to his hideout, he's coming sooner or later when we're not prepared.”

“What – but – I didn't know.” Audrey mutters, looking down.

I heave out a sigh. “Whatever, what's done is done. Just keep your guard up whenever you can.” We all head down the living room, Jaime now obediently following our every order. “Also, when someone tries to attack you, be sure to beat them so we can lower the enemies.”

“Then we hit home base?” Audrey chirps, clapping her hands.

I give her a nod while Tristan goes, “Obviously.”

“That's your plan?” Cain questions us. “It's stupid!”

“It's easy.” I snap back, shaking my head as I look for that dog, Danny.

He's nowhere to be seen so I grin to myself. But it's also weird at the same time.

“Stella, by the way, don't you want to ask us about how we look like-”

The doors suddenly open, guys in black suddenly swarming in like ants. They're each gripping bats or poles or whatever, and they suddenly grab each one of us by the arm.

Colton and the guys being delinquents, they try to fight back.

I do the same, but it's all futile.

“What the f**k did you guys do?” I scream over the blasting noises they're making.

“We sort of attacked his hideout,” Audrey shouts back and I try my best not to scream at her. I hear Cain trying to fight them off, and then Jaime who's doing pretty well for someone who doesn't really fight – or does he?

They all drag us into our own car, me being the last.

“Stella right?” This masked guy looks head and closes the door to Cain's house. He pushes me into a Mercedes and who I see there doesn't really surprise me. Blake's there, his hand on a cigarette, the other on a knife.

“Morning Stella,” He breathes in the cigar, then puffs it out seconds later.

“Morning,” I reply back, despite the hostile environment.

The car lurches forward without warning so I'm stumbling forward, but Blake catches me. “Easy there,” He chuckles, making me sit up and then taking off those ropes on my wrists – I don't know when they had time to do that though.

“I hear Audrey and them attacked your hide out.”

“A poor plan that was,” Blake agrees, shaking his head. “I take it they did that without your consent?”

“Usually Tristan and I make the plans though,” I mutter, shaking my head. Colton's second in command, yeah, but that was with Blake. Audrey seems to love random fights. And well, Chace... He's just to timid to start one. It's usually Tristan or I who make decent plants that work well enough.

I don't know how Tristan got caught in their failed plan however.

“So what are you going to do with us? Beat us up? Doesn't that mean it's game over then?” I inquire, looking at the three to four guys in the car. I could probably take two down, but the other two I'd have to have a miracle to defeat them.

Blake included.

“Of course not,” Blake chuckles, inhaling the cigarette whatever again.

“Why'd you kidnap us then?”

“If I don't punish you guys for invading the hideout, what kind of leader would I be?”

Point taken, I agree to myself, now sitting comfortably in the seat. “So what's the punishment this time? I'm pretty sure whatever it is, I can withstand it along with the rest of them.” I'm quite confident with Colton and the guys, but Audrey and her relatives...

“Let's play 'find the fox'.” He chuckles.

“Excuse me?”

“My men and I were getting bored with the simultaneous beatings you gave us,” He grinned, taking another drag. “And your friends only gave us an opportunity to strike back. We've thought of that game – all of them against us.”

I blink my eyes. “Excuse me? Us?”

“Yes. You'll be the 'fox' in that team,” He explains without hesitation. “Right now they're reading letters consisting of the rules. We're going back to the hideout you see. And we're locking you guys in there, with seven other guys from mine.”

“So in total, fourteen people will be in that building.”

“Yes, fourteen,” He continues, lighting up the cigarette butt. “For your team to win, they have to find that 'fox' which I've chosen will be you. For my team to win, they have to eliminate all your players before they find the fox.”

I try to understand it, but I'm doing it very, very slowly. “So can the fox win in this game?”

“That's where the trick comes. You can win,” He grins. “For you, 'the fox', you need to eliminate your members first before the others – which is my men – do.”

“Are you crazy? I'm not attacking my own team!”

He grips my chin and jerks me towards his face. He's really close to me at the moment but I don't pull away. “Don't you think it's only understandable that you punish them for their actions? They didn't listen to you, so you have to punish them.”

“Why should I?” I grit my teeth and push him away. “I'm not like you.”

“You aren't,” Blake agrees, crossing his leg like an English noble man. “But it's proper punishment. If you continue with that behavior of yours, letting your kittens play lose, sooner or later a lot of other gangs will come and attack you, Stella.”

“Aren't you happy they would?”

He snaps his lighter shut, grinning. “You're my prey, why should I let them?”

“I'm still not agreeing to that rule,” I change the subject as I realize we're nearing the hideout already. “I don't want to hurt my men, even if it means punishing them since their actions were wrong. I agree that I should teach them, but not this way.”

“Then are you saying it's better that my men attack them? Brutally? Without mercy?”

I imagine Colton and the guys heavily wounded. I imagine Audrey crying her heart out. Cain. And then Jaime – Jaime who was never supposed to be in this fight in the first place. Well, Cain too but he's a different story.

Staring into Blake's deep green eyes, I shake my head and sigh.

“I'll do it,” I mutter, the car jerking to a stop. “I'll be that fox of yours.”

I open the door to head out, Blake's men giving me random equipment for the game. Then they throw something heavy at me, a black menacing looking gun, and I look back at Blake with alarming eyes as he puts an earpiece on my ear.

“You seriously think I'll-”

“Stella, look.” He pushes my head down to look on my hand.

It isn't a gun after all.

It's a paint ball gun.