Zoe, Olivia, and Lanie all crowded together, doing their best to protect the box of explosives. "You hand over that bomb you're carrying," said Circe, "Or else all three of you will be killed!"

"Never!" said Lanie. She fired a bolt of energy at Circe, but Circe just absorbed it with her hand.

Olivia looked at Circe with a burning hatred. "You've caused us a lot of trouble," she said. "You trained Miss Johnson to turn boys into girls, which led to the disaster of the Y. F. F. H. You kidnapped Bailey, you kidnapped Rachel, and your men even killed Bailey!"

After their talk with Carter Halbrook, the teens all piled back in their cars and started driving westward. Carter went separate from them to reduce risk of Circe or her witches catching him with their enemies, and Ricardo had to hang back for a bit to gather up some explosives. But Carter promised the teens that he'd book a hotel for them.

Conner entered the address Ricardo provided into Google Maps and followed it to Carter Halbrook's house. The house was located in the suburbs of Jackson, Mississippi, right at the end of a cul de sac. When Conner parked his car, Ricardo pulled up right behind him.

"So this is it," said Zoe. "This is where we'll find out what Carter really wants."

"I just hope you're right about this," said Olivia.

QUICK NOTE: I apologize for the rude tone I used in my blog post last night. It was really late, and I was feeling pretty tired, hence why the technical issues I ran into with the site irritated me as much as they did. But I definitely should've been more polite in my wording, and also refrained from using the word "fuck" (in its asterisked form, no less) in the blog's header. And I also apologize for my salty attitude about the previous chapters getting relatively few reads. Going forward, I will try to have a better attitude and take criticism better.

***

Once they'd all gotten out of the Genetics Engineering compound, the companions all piled into their separate cars. Lanie, Conner, and Rachel got into Conner's car while Saige, Olivia, Zack, and Miles all got into Saige's car. Conner followed Saige as she drove off into the night.

Inside Saige's car, Olivia had broken down crying again. Seeing Bailey die right before her eyes had broken something inside of her. She hadn't felt this way since Christina dumped her. "She died," Olivia sobbed. "We came all this way...for nothing."

QUICK NOTE: Shoutout to Uhuru N/Uru for commenting on the last chapter with a tip on how to fix this serial's prelude so it came first in the Organizer page. Thanks so much for helping me out.

***

After getting their blood drawn, Bailey and Rachel were both taken back to the padded room where Rachel had been held before. Circe locked them in the room before going back to start working on their blood samples.

"I can't believe they just did that," said Rachel.

"I know," said Bailey, "But they won't get what they need."

"What?"

Olivia froze with fear when she saw Josie approaching her and her friends' table. "Your boss?" she asked. "Who'd send you out here?"

"Only the greatest witch to have ever lived," Josie answered. "And she has a bounty on you and your friends."

"What does she want us for?" Saige asked.

"Well, she only told me to take one of you," Josie answered. "My colleagues have already gotten another young woman like you."

"What are you talking about?" Olivia asked. "What do you mean, another young woman like us?"

Josie gripped her car's steering wheel, driving down the highway and following the gray Honda Civic. Josie had stalked the young blonde-haired woman since yesterday and watched as she got together with her other friends today. Now she was following them, albeit discreetly, down the highway to Kentucky.

As she drove, Josie heard her phone ringing. She wasn't going to answer it, but then she saw that the call was from Circe Reyna. So she reluctantly tapped the green button and put it on Speaker. "Hello, my lady."

!!! Not a story chapter-an introduction. !!!

Despite many significant gaps in writing, I've written quite a few stories on this website in the last few years. Like any author, I've dreamed of holding a crossover between my stories where all my favorite characters can intermingle. Unfortunately, I never seemed to have any ideas for how I could get something like that to work out.

Until now.

It had been a busy day for Austin. His day at work had been long and hard, tiring him out like nothing had in a long time. Fortunately, he'd made it through, and he was now back at his apartment. Plus, he had the day off tomorrow, so that was an opportunity to recover till the next work day.

While Austin was making himself a dinner of Ramen noodles, his friend and roommate Ken came home. "Hey Austin," said Ken. "Long day at work?"

"Don't get me started," Austin groaned.

Ken read Austin's pained expression and nodded. "I'll take that as a yes," he said.

When Zoe got to school the following Monday, she was surprised to run into Brittany at the front gates. "Hey Brittany," she said.

"Hi Zoe," said Brittany. "How are you?"

"I'm alright," Zoe answered. "Are you doing okay?"

"Yeah."

"I'm guessing you're through with Isaac?"

"Of course I am. And when I find him, I'm gonna give him the real breakup talk."

"Hell yeah," Zoe said with a hint of malice. "Give him what he deserves."

"I'll let you know how it goes," said Brittany.

***

After twenty minutes of walking, Zoe reached Skylar's house. She knocked three times on the door and waited. For a minute, there was no answer. Zoe knocked again, but there was still no response. Zoe was starting to wonder if she should check the mat to see if the Gregsons still kept a house key under there when the door was finally answered by Skylar. "Zoe?" said Skylar. Her blonde hair was all messed up, and her eyes were tinged with red like she'd been crying.

Zoe didn't see or talk to Miles until Monday morning at school. She was just coming into the entry hall when she ran into Miles. "Hey," she said. "How's it going?"

"Pretty good," said Miles. "I didn't tell Mr. Al about...you know. And I told Avery not to tell him, either."

"Good," said Zoe. "Just as long as there weren't any curses placed on Skylar's property-"

"Well, I didn't wake up with boobs and a vagina on Saturday," said Miles. "So I think we're fine."

Alan came up to them. "Miles! Zoe!" he said. "Where were you on Friday?"

"Uh..."

That weekend, Zoe went door-to-door selling bows, T-shirts, and ribbons to her neighbors. She generated a surprisingly high amount of sales, raking in orders for a dozen T-shirts and about thirty bows. Gareth Dodgson, who lived three houses down from Zoe, bought a whole bunch of bows because he thought they might be good to decorate his Christmas tree with. Since it was still September, it seemed like Gareth was getting a little far ahead of himself, but Zoe didn't care. As long as she could contribute to the breast cancer awareness club's fundraiser, that was all she needed.

That evening, at the dinner table, Zoe told her parents about the breast cancer awareness club's fundraiser, and her and Miles' plan to get in Skylar's good graces by selling a lot of shirts and other items.

"That sounds like a good plan," Zoe's dad said when she'd finished explaining.

"Yeah," said Zoe. "Will you guys buy anything?"

"Sure, we can get a couple of bows," her mom answered.

Before Zoe knew it, the first day of school came. And when that day came, she knew that the time had come to carry out the mission Mr. Al had given her and Miles. She didn't know if she'd have any classes with Skylar, but she was going to keep an eye out.

"Okay, Zoe," Zoe's dad said when he dropped her off at the front of the school. "Be careful with that girl Skylar. Don't let her know you're on to her."

Avery led Zoe downstairs to Mr. Al's office. She knocked on the door, and Mr. Al said "Enter" from inside.

Zoe opened the door and entered the office to see Mr. Al sitting at his desk. "Hi Mr. Al," she said.

"Hey Zoe," said Mr. Al. "Did you need something?"

"You could say that," said Zoe. "I hear Geraldine and Roxy used to be boys, too. Just like me."

Mr. Al stared at Zoe. "You figured that out unusually quickly," he said.

It was a fifteen minute walk from the school to Zack's house. All the way there, Zack contemplated how she'd break the news to her parents. Would she text them before she got home to tell them what happened? Would she knock on the door and say hi before telling them the whole story? Hundreds of different scenarios played out in her mind, each even worse than the last.

The whole enchilada...plus a bonus epilogue.

Chapter 01-The Murder

As they drove, Rachel and Conner gave Diana and Bryce an explanation about Angelina, and Pretty And Pink Foster Care, and their history with the "foster care" organization. Diana and Bryce turned out to be a pretty good audience-they listened intently, and they gasped in all the right places. When Rachel and Conner had finished their story, both Diana and Bryce were speechless.

"I don't believe it," Diana said, looking Rachel up and down. After hearing the truth about her, she was starting to see her friend in a different light. "I can't believe you and Lanie were boys."

The next day was Sunday. Lanie slept in late that morning, but when she woke up, she decided to just go ahead and take a shower. While she was soaping down, she heard Rachel come into the bathroom.

"Hey Lanie!" said Rachel. "Conner's here!"

"Oh, shit," said Lanie. "Tell him I'll be out in just a minute!"

"Okay."

The next day was Friday. Lanie went to her Fourth and Fifth Period classes with Rachel, then went to Mrs. Lin's classroom for the board game club. Lanie was eager to see Conner, since she knew Rachel had let it slip to him that she wanted to date him. But as it turned out, she and Rachel got to the classroom early. The only other person there was Justin.

"Hey guys," Justin said when he saw Lanie and Rachel. "You're a little earlier than usual."

Lanie shrugged. "The early bird gets the worm," she said.

Right then, Conner came into the room. "Hi Lanie," he said.

NOTE: Sorry that this one's a tad shorter than most of the other chapters. I'm kind of figuring out the structure of this story as I go along, and there wasn't really much ground to cover for this chapter. So...enjoy what you've got, I guess.

***

When Wednesday came, Lanie and Rachel both went to the board game club Conner had told them about. It was held in Mrs. Lin's classroom, with about a dozen kids gathered to play board games. The president was a Senior boy named Justin Kathy.