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."

"Josie," said the voice of Circe Reyna. "Have you located the girls who killed Sharon Johnson?"

"Yes, I did," Josie answered. "And I'm following them now."

"Where are they going?"

"I'm not sure. But I know for a fact that this highway leads to Kentucky."

"Kentucky?" Circe repeated. "Interesting..."

"I don't know why they're going there," said Josie. "But I know that that Zoe Fletcher kid lives in Frankfort, so they might be going to meet her."

"That was my thought as well," said Circe. "In fact, I contemplated sending you or Lauren there to capture Zoe, but I'm not sure if her DNA will be the right fit for our project. Luckily, the escapees from Sharon and Angelina's foster homes will be a perfect fit for us."

"So what if these girls do meet Zoe? Should I capture all of them?"

"No, I only need one," Circe answered. "Lauren told me she already has one of the girls from Angelina's foster home."

"Is it Angelina's daughter?"

"Unfortunately, no," said Circe. "But if you get just one of the girls from Sharon's old foster home, then we'll have everything we need."

"Right," said Josie. "I'll make sure to get you one of those girls." And with that, she pressed her car's gas pedal and shot off after the car she was following.

***

When Lanie woke up, she knew she had to do something.

Her roommate and best friend Rachel had gone missing, and Lanie had a bad feeling she'd been kidnapped by the Genetics Engineering people. But where could Rachel be? Was she being held at the facility here in Atlanta? Had she been transferred somewhere else? Lanie had no idea. Unless...

Lanie went over to her school backpack and started rummaging through her binders. Before long, she found the business card Lauren had given her at the job fair. The business card had Lauren's phone number and email address on it-but it also had the address of Genetics Engineering's local establishment. "So that's it," Lanie said to herself. "That's where she went."

Lanie took a quick shower before getting on fresh clothes and putting on her shoes. She didn't care that it might be dangerous-she had to find out what happened to her friend. So she was going to go over to Genetics Engineering and ask a few questions.

The Genetics Engineering building was a twenty-minute walk away from Lanie's orphanage. It was a three-story building with large glass windows and two metal columns holding up the awning above the front doors. Lanie entered the doors to find a male superintendent sitting at the front desk. "Good morning," said the superintendent. "How can I help you?"

"I'm here to see someone," Lanie answered. "Rachel Miller."

The superintendent blinked. "Rachel Miller?"

"Yes. She was hired for an internship yesterday, and she hasn't been heard from since."

The superintendent clicked his tongue. "I'm sorry, young lady," he said. "I am not aware of any Rachel Miller working here."

Lanie clenched her fists and summoned a pair of magic fireballs. When her mother Angelina had gotten her hands on her, she'd performed an Awakening on her that awakened her magical powers. Lanie usually didn't use those powers in public, but these were some serious times. "I'm not playing around here," she said. "Where is Rachel?"

The superintendent's face paled when he saw Lanie's fireballs. "You-you-how are you-"

"Where's Rachel? Tell me now!" To prove she wasn't fooling around, Lanie slammed her fist on the table and left a smoking crater.

"No, I swear I don't know!" the superintendent said. "I don't work with the interns! I'm just out here!"

Right then, a woman in a sleeveless dress came into the room. "Mark, what's going-" She froze when she saw Lanie.

"Angie! Thank Heaven!" the superintendent exclaimed. "I think this girl's a witch!"

The woman whose name was Angie grinned evilly. "So you're the one Circe told us about," she said. "You're Angelina's daughter."

"Where's Rachel? What did you do with her?"

"You won't find her here," said Angie, "But you'll soon be joining her." She lunged at Lanie, who barely managed to dodge her. Lanie hurled one of her fireballs at Angie, but she absorbed it with her hand. She waved at Lanie, and an invisible force threw Lanie backward into the wall. By the time Lanie shook off her pain, Angie was already bearing down on her again. Lanie thrust her hand forward and summoned a bolt of orange energy at her enemy. The energy bolt hit Angie square in the chest, melting through her skin and burning up her heart.

Lanie got up and went over to where Mark was watching everything in horror. She grabbed him by the collar and forced him to face her. "This place," she said, "It's run by witches, isn't it?"

Mark frantically nodded. "Yes! Yes it is!"

"What do they want? What is going on inside this heart of darkness?"

"They hate men," Mark answered. "They want to turn all the men into women."

"I knew it," Lanie seethed.

"Yeah, it's scary," said Mark.

"Then why do they have you working for them if you're a man?"

"I don't know. I didn't know who they really were when they hired me. But by the time I found out, I was already bound to Genetics Engineering by my contract."

"But they still plan on turning you into a woman."

Mark nodded.

"So if Rachel's not here, where else could she be?"

"I don't know, we've got locations all over the country," said Mark. "But they've been talking about doing a big project at the lab in Jackson, Mississippi."

"Jackson, Mississippi."

"They might've taken your friend there, I don't know," said Mark. "They haven't told me about any of this internship or kidnapping stuff."

"That's okay," Lanie said as she let go of Mark. "That's...a start." She turned and left the entry hall, her head already spinning. Jackson, Mississippi...that was a long way away from Atlanta, Georgia. She'd gotten herself from Nashville to Atlanta when she escaped from her old foster home, but that was just a big stroke of luck. Jackson was a lot farther away.

There was only one person who could help Lanie.

***

Zack sat at the table in Starbucks with his girlfriend Skylar. In the aftermath of the hunt for the witch who'd turned Zack into Zoe, Zack had started dating Skylar. The two of them had been together for three and a half months now, and their relationship wasn't showing any signs of slowing down.

"Well," Skylar said as she sipped from her cup of hot chocolate, "Are you glad to finally be getting a break from all the fame?"

"Oh yeah," said Zack. "It's nice being able to go to school and not be hounded by paparazzi every step of the way."

"But I've seen your Twitter. People are still commenting saying they wish they could meet you."

"Yes, they are," said Zack. "One guy said he wanted to have sex with me."

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him I already had a girlfriend."

"Of course you did."

Right about then, a man burst into the store and looked around. When he saw Zack and Skylar, he ran up to their table. "Hey," he panted, "Are you Zack Fletcher?"

"Uh...yeah," said Zack. He felt a little taken aback by this man's approach. Sure, he'd had a lot of paparazzi and news reporters swarming him since that whole witch hunt went down, but this guy was unusually frantic. His brown hair was messed up, and his temples were beaded with sweat like he'd just ran half a mile.

"And you're also Zoe Fletcher?'

"Yeah." To prove it, Zack willed himself to change genders. He, or now she, shifted to Zoe Fletcher, with a female body and girls' clothes instead of boy clothes. It was an ability he'd gained by accident when a witch's curse didn't quite go right (long story).

"Okay, good," the frantic man said. "Because I need your help."

"Help with what?"

"It's complicated," the man said, looking tensely in all directions. "You see, there's a...plot. The company I'm employed in, well..."

"Dude, calm down," said Zoe. "Who are you?"

"My name's Carter Halbrook," the man answered. "And what I want-well, we probably shouldn't be discussing it here."

"Why not?"

"They're probably following me. And if they know what I'm trying to do, then I'll be finished."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Skylar asked. "Who's stalking you?"

Carter froze when he saw something outside the window. "Oh, shit," he said. "I've gotta go."

"What? Why?" Zoe asked.

"Listen, whatever you do, don't trust anyone," said Carter. "But I'll be back when I can." And with that, he turned and fled the store.

Zoe and Skylar exchanged glances. "What was that all about?" Skylar asked.

"I have no idea," Zoe answered.

"You think you should tell Mr. Al about this?" Skylar suggested.

"Yeah, good idea," Zoe answered.

To be continued...