End of last post:

"You will come with me now, willing or not," Eris cried, baring sharp teeth, her eyes red as hot coals.
She grabbed for Cadence's arm, but Cadence flung out her other hand and struck her in the face.
"That's about enough of that," a small, unkempt man said.
He reached down and unplugged the fountain. Immediately, the lights went out, the water stopped, and the figure of the woman disappeared.
Cadence turned and looked at Leo to see that he was safe, and then collapsed into a chair. She had never been so glad for a conversation to end in her life.

*****

New Post:


"I'm sorry, Miss," Leo said, dropping his head into his hands. "I didn't mean what I said."

"I know," Cadence said, putting her arm around his shoulder. "The same thing happened to me earlier. I don't know who these people are, but they are something we aren't, and they have some sort of power that we aren't used to handling."

"Well I don't care who or what they are," Leo said, tears threatening to pour out of his eyes, "but I don't like being manipulated, and I won't let it happen again."

"I believe you," Cadence said. "Magic often disappears once the illusion is gone. It worked for me."

"She was pretty, though, wasn't she?" Leo asked, standing up and helping Cadence to her feet. "Why do all the crazy ones have to be pretty?"

"I don't know," Cadence said, shaking her head. "I would settle for understanding how we got mixed up in this whole crazy affair."

"I'm pretty sure it all started with you going off on your own to get that donation," Leo said.

"I can't argue with that," Cadence.

"Hey, what's going on?"

The familiar voice of Shanice burst out from behind them, Mia was close on her heels.

"How did you two get here?" Cadence asked. She had just about had enough of surprises for one day.

"Leo called us when he got here," Shanice explained. "He wanted to talk to us before his shift started about all the mess going on this afternoon."

"I got my cousin, Blair, to drop us off," Mia added. "She wanted to come get her nails done anyway. We were heading up here to meet him when we saw Leo go all nutso over some chick in the fountain. What's up with that, Bro?"

"Long story, Baby Sister," Leo replied.

He ran a nervous hand through his shortly cropped hair.

"Did it have anything to do with the people who took Sarah?" Shanice asked.

"Yeah, they were the same people," Cadence said.

"But there is something seriously weird going on with them," Leo added.

"Like what?" Mia asked. "Are they on something? I mean, that woman looked like she'd taken a whole bunch of something not right."

"I don't understand what was going on," Cadence explained, "but whatever it was, it was dangerous, and I think you kids need to go home where it's safe before something else bad happens."

"Where exactly will we be safe?" Mia asked. "If these people are after us, for whatever reason that is, then I'm guessing that the best thing to do is solve the problem once and for all. Looks like that crazy lady thinks you and the old dude are involved, and they want him something bad."

"Or maybe they want something he knows but won't tell," Leo offered, "and they think we are tight with him and can convince him to give it up."

"All I did was to try and help someone who had been hurt," Cadence said. "It seemed the right thing to do at the time, but it sure has landed us in a whole mess of trouble."

"It's not your fault," Shanice said. "He seems like a nice man and all, I mean for someone who has gotten us all mixed up in his fight."

"He actually is," Cadence agreed.

"Then why did you try to sell him out?" Leo asked. "You were all like, 'just take him and go.' That doesn't sound much like you, Miss."

"Maybe she was just scared," Mia said. "People say lots of things they don't mean when they are scared."

"I wasn't afraid, I was angry," Cadence said. "I don't have anything against C-Daddy, in fact, I rather like him, but I am tired of being involved in a fight I didn't start."

The students emphatically nodded their agreement, and then discussed their next step. After Cadence explained C-Daddy's original plan to go to the toy store on the second floor, they decided to head there together. Leo's boss gave him leave to take the night off in light of what everyone in the place had just seen occur. Cadence figured it was because she was half afraid that the lady in the fountain would return if Leo was anywhere around, and no one wanted to hear from her again.

It didn't take long for the group to go down the escalator and locate the mall's largest toy store as it seemed to be at the center of another huge commotion. There were screams and shouts that stood out even above the normal noise of the mall during the Christmas season. Alarmed, they ran towards the store, but were prevented from getting close by a huge crowd of people pressing in. The only way through it was to split up and wiggle in-between people like worms digging through soil.

Cadence was about halfway through when she heard the booming voice of a security officer demanding Leo to halt and go with him. She looked over her shoulder in time to see a large burly man with a closely shaved head hauling him to the side.

"Come with me, young man," the officer demanded. "I heard you were involved in an altercation in the Food Court."

"I was a victim," Cadence heard him telling the officer. She knew how much it had to hurt him to say those words. A victim in the streets was considered weak -- an easy mark. He wouldn't have said it in front of his peers.

"That crazy lady in the fountain was coming after me," he further explained. "Go find her if you want someone to mess with. Just let me go so I can go find my friends. They might be in a lot of trouble."
"Or causing trouble," the security guard sneered. "You gang members are nothing but trouble. You'd think that you would give it a break during the Christmas season, at least."

"I'm not in a gang," Leo snarled.

The flash of temper on Leo's part was not a good move on his part. The last Cadence saw of the Vice President of the Student Council was in handcuffs and being hauled off.