The next morning, Zack woke up to the sound of Lanie dropping her phone and cursing. Zack blinked and rose out of the bed he was sleeping in.

"Hey, Zoe's up," said Miles.

"What?" Zack looked down and realized that he'd shifted to Zoe in his sleep.

Lanie looked over and realized Zoe was now female. "Oh," she said. "I guess you changed before you went to bed?"

"No, sometimes I just shift gender in my sleep without intending to," said Zoe. "Want me to change back?"

"It's okay, you can be a girl for right now," said Lanie.

"Okay, we're all up now," said Olivia. "What's our game plan?"

"Well," said Conner, "We should probably get going again. If the witches are looking for us-which they probably are-then they'll find us if we stick around here for any longer."

"But where do we go?" Rachel asked.

"Back to the Genetics Engineering lab," said Olivia. "We're going to have to burn that place down."

"They'll be expecting that," said Zoe. "If we go back now, they'll have even tighter security at their lab."

"Well, we've gotta strike back somewhere," said Olivia.

"Wait a minute," said Miles. "Mr. Al was gonna fly back from the Caribbean to help us."

"Has he gotten back yet?" Lanie asked.

"I don't know," Miles answered, "But we should probably go back to Frankfort in case he's already come back."

"Good idea," said Lanie. "All in favor?"

Everyone's hands raised, though Rachel did so a little more hesitantly. "As long as Circe or Josie or Lauren don't catch up to us on the way there," she said.

"Let's hope not," said Saige.

***

This time, everyone grouped up in their cars a little differently. Conner took Lanie, Olivia, and Zoe with him in his car while Rachel and Miles rode with Saige in her car. Saige and Conner both started driving northward, following the highway that would take them to Kentucky.

After a few hours of driving, Lanie realized she was getting hungry. "You guys?" she asked. "Should we stop for breakfast?"

"Yes," said Zoe. "I'm getting pretty hungry."

"I think there's an exit coming up," said Conner. "How does IHOP sound?"

"It sounds great," said Lanie.

"Here, I'll text Miles," said Zoe. "I'll let him know we're making a stop."

Miles texted back within a minute, saying that he, Rachel, and Saige would keep going ahead. They'd probably get something to eat a little later on.

So Conner, Lanie, Olivia, and Zoe all went to the nearest IHOP. None of them talked much as they took their orders and waited for the waiter to bring them their food. But when their food did come, they started to get excited. Lanie and Zoe had both ordered plates of pancakes, Conner got a breakfast sampler, and Olivia got a breakfast omelet.

"So you guys like pancakes?" Olivia said in between bites of her omelet.

"Oh yeah," said Lanie. "When I was little, I used to eat so many pancakes, it made my dad crazy. He was all 'Landon, if you eat any more pancakes, you're gonna die of obesity!'"

"Landon?"

"Oh-that was my boy name."

"Ah," said Olivia. "Sorry, I keep forgetting."

"Your name was Oliver, right?"

"Right. The weird thing is, sometimes I still snap to attention when I hear that name."

"Me too. Well, with Landon, anyway."

Zoe tore off a chunk of pancake with her fork and brought it up to her mouth, but she froze when she saw something outside. "Uh, guys?" she said. "I think someone's watching us."

"What?" Lanie turned and followed Zoe's gaze out the window, but she didn't see anything. "I don't see anything."

"No, I swear, there was a person looking at us through the window!"

Olivia tensed up. "You don't think-"

"We should probably go," said Lanie.

Just then, the restaurant's door opened for a new customer to walk in. He was a man in his late thirties with thick dreadlocks, a scraggly beard, and a silver tooth in his mouth. He wore a black leather jacket and thick, baggy pants that looked like something a rock star would wear. "G'day, ma'am," he said to the receptionist. "You wouldn't happen to be hosting a bunch of teenage kids, would you?"

"I believe so," the receptionist answered. She pointed at the table where Lanie, Olivia, Zoe, and Conner were sitting.

Lanie groaned. "We're dead," she said.

"Oh, I don't think so," the man replied as he approached their table. "On the contrary, I'm here to try to help prevent your deaths."

"What are you talking about?" Conner asked.

The man grinned. "Name's Ricardo," he said. "Bounty hunter and demolitions expert. You're some of the kids that got transformed into girls, right?"

None of the teens responded. They were too scared to say anything, but they had a feeling Ricardo already knew the truth.

"Carter Halbrook hired me to track you down," said Ricardo. "He said he wants to talk to you-especially Zoe Fletcher."

"Wait a minute," said Zoe. "Carter Halbrook...that's the guy who came up to me at Starbucks!"

"So you've met him," said Ricardo.

"It was very brief," said Zoe, "But yes."

Ricardo nodded. "Then do you know that he wants to enlist your help in his plan to undo Circe Reyna's plot?"

"That's what it sounded like," said Zoe.

"Wait a minute," said Olivia. "I thought Carter was with Genetics Engineering? I thought he was one of the bad guys?"

"Nuh-uh-uh," said Ricardo. "He went into Genetics Engineering not knowing what Circe really wanted with him. Once he found out, it was too late. He'd already been contracted into working for her. But he's hoping you can help him get out of that pinch."

Zoe, Lanie, Olivia, and Conner exchanged glances. Could this be a trick? It seemed a little too good to be true. And yet...

"Okay, we'll bite," said Zoe. "Where does Carter Halbrook want us to meet him?"

"At his house," said Ricardo. "I'll take you there if you like."

"I think we'll drive ourselves, thank you," said Conner.

"No problem. I'll give you the address."

"We should call Saige, too," said Olivia. "Let her know what's happening."

***

"You do realize this is certifiably insane."

"Yeah, I know," said Olivia, "But Zoe thinks we can trust this guy."

"Alright," said Saige, "But I won't say 'I told you so.'"

Saige hung up her phone and addressed Miles and Rachel. "Change of plans," she said. "We're turning around."

"Why?" Miles asked.

"Apparently there's a scientist at Genetics Engineering who's trying to rebel," said Saige, "And he wants our help."

"A Genetics Engineering scientist?"

"Yeah. I think his name was Carter Halbrook."

"Carter Halbrook," Miles repeated. "That's the guy who came to Zack back in Frankfort!"

"That's what Olivia said," said Saige. "Hopefully he..." She trailed off when she looked in the car's rearview mirror and saw that Rachel was sitting with her head nuzzled on Miles' shoulder. "Rachel? What are you doing?"

"Oh, she just fell asleep when she was sitting up against me," said Miles.

"Do you want her to-"

"No, I don't mind it, honestly," said Miles. "She is kind of pretty..."

To be continued...