3:03 AM WEDNESDAY                                    2 DAYS TILL THE WORLD ENDS

My heart was beating two hundred times faster than it should  have been. I'll be honest. I disliked Chase from the moment I saw him. He was just creepy with his color changing eyes and stuff.

Suddenly being stuck in his room with his supercilious smile and it being basically inexorable was just a tad bit more than my mind could handle. What's that term? Organized Chaos?

Where was Wendy when I needed her?

"She's asleep." Chase said with that evil smile that Wouldn't. Go. Away. Before I could move I was thrown forward by an invisible force and the passage silently shut behind me. "Wendy always misses the fun times."

"Stop that." I said barely more than a whisper. I was seconds from freaking out. The last thing I needed was for Chase to be in my head.

"But that's the fun with my power, Chloe." He said it in that joyless way again. "I always know what your thinking. I'm always a step ahead of you."

"What do you want?" I said failing at hiding my fear.

"I think you already know." He smiled. "Can't hide from the telepathy Chloe. Did you think you were the only ones who knew about the tunnels?"

When I didn't answer I was forced forward until I was at his arms length. I let out half of a scream before Chase cut it off. I don't know how his power works but it was increasingly creepy the way he could do all these things.

"Don't scream." He said brushing a piece of my brown hair behind my ear gently. It only made me want to scream more. I couldn't move. I couldn't speak. I was hopelessly helpless. "It will only hurt a little."

He lied.

Suddenly my head exploded. With pain. It hurt so bad. Like being hit with a sledge hammer. Do you know what it's like to not be in control of your own mind? If so I feel your pain. Random images came to my mind and I tried as hard as I could to stop them but Chase was stronger. James and I sitting under a tree in the park. Jazzy and I playing soccer during gym. Mom yelling at James for bad grades. Jazzy and I at the mall. Wendy and me clothes shopping. Wait, What? Too late Chase was speeding through my own memories faster than I could process.

I knew that if I didn't do something fast he might override my brain and I could die. But how do you do you stop someone controling you?

It happened so fast I wasn't even sure I had done it. It was a flicker of of a warm feeling then all of the sudden Chase screamed in pain.

He broke the connection between us and I fell onto the ground. He was screaming bloody murder and trying to wipe something from his eyes. Fire. His eyes were on fire. The wall of the secret passages had a huge hole in it with the edges burned black revealing Chris's and Devon's secret. The candle right inside the passage was out.

As if things couldn't get any worse, Van and Wendy burst through the locked door right then to see Chase on fire and Me hopelessly on the ground. That's when I lost it. Tear streamed down my face as I forced past them and down the hall.

"Chloe?!" Wendy yelled.

"What the hell happened?!" Van yelled. But I ignored their yells as I burst down the creaking stairs and out the inn's door.

I was on fire again. Just like when I entered the Inn the first time. And I was crying again. The early morning air was freezing. But all I cared about was running. Again.

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Some time later when the sun had barely risen, I found myself walking along the sidewalk. I had stopped crying and put out my flames a while ago. My breathing had slowed to a hysterical sob every now and again. Some guy tried to sell me some drugs. I punched him in the face.

It wasn't until I was practically on the porch that I realized I was home. All I wanted to do was eat leftover pizza and collapse on the couch watching the Avengers movie. I reached for the door nob and...hesitated.

What  if Mom doesn't want me back? What if James tries to call the cops? What if they don't want a freak like me in the house anymore? I mean I'm still that obnoxious teenager, that they all cared for; Could I handle a blow like that? What if-

I opened the door and peeked inside. Our foyer lights were on but the rest of the house was quiet. I quietly shut the door behind me. I couldn't figure out that if  the door being open was a good thing or a bad thing. I took a deep breath. The cinnamon smell of our house had always been comforting to me.

Then there was a thud from upstairs. And then a laugh echoed down the halls. A girls laugh. A particular girl who has a humongous crush on my brother...

I followed the sound up the stairs careful of the creaking steps that always sounded like an explosion in the night. James door was open. And a single lamp from inside was on.

I hadn't been inside James's room in a decade. He still had the dark blue walls and the action posters i remember but the ground was littered with every hobby he had ever had. Skate board and roller blades in the far corner, basket balls, soccer balls, hockey sticks cluttered the closet that was heaped with sweaters long forgotten and game controllers and a TV took up the wall next to the window. There was barely any room for his bed which had the same Star wars bedspread from when we were little. Jazzy and James were...uh...they were- sitting on his bed ...uh- kissing.

Watching them make out made me want to barf. I'm gone for one day. Oh god I'm going to be sick. Best friends and Brothers don't mix.

Suddenly James opened his eyes and they darted over to where I was standing in his doorway. He pulled back fast.

"Uh..Sorry Jazzy." He said quickly "But isn't your mom going to worry-just look at the time!" He practically pulled her off his bed. "Sorry But i don't want to worry anyone to death." With his back hand he told me to move out of the way. I dodged into the shadows.

"What-James-!" Jazzy cried as he towed her right past me and down the stairs.

"I had a wonderful time. Thank you for stopping by." He said pushing her out the door. She turned to look at him with utter disbelief. "I'll see you sometime before the world ends! Bye!" Then my good mannered brother slammed the door in her face.

He sighed and turned to look at me as i came to the top of the stairs. "That was close."

"what was-?" I asked.

"Jazzy almost saw you! Do you know how bad that would have been?" He sighed again and rubbed his temples. "Sorry Chloe. I didn't mean for you to see us- ya know."

"No of course not." I said sarcastically. "You two were just making out and I happen to come home right at that moment."

"Right." He said. "Its complicated. Anyway, where have you been?"

"Well definitely not working as a waitress at an inn and breakfast then talking to a bunch of superheroes, and then eavesdropping and nearly being overloaded with a bunch of memories that or may not be true before I burned a guys eyes out and ran for my life." Suddenly my stomach growled. "And none of that consisted of a nice big breakfast. Or reheated left over pizza."

"I think we have some in the refridgerator." James laughed. "You've been busy."

"Not as busy as you and Jazzy."

"Don't joke about stuff like that Chloe." He said more serious than he has ever been. "It wasn't like that." He started towards the kitchen

"Where is Mom?" I asked tromping down the stairs after my brother.

"She went to go visit Dad after the news of you catching fire." James said. "She thought Dad knew about it."

"Does he?"

"I don't know, I haven't heard from either of them since. Jazzy was just keeping me company." He pulled out some cheese pizza and stuffed it in the microwave. "Speaking of Jazzy. She's not your best friend anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"The government put a bounty on your head. If Jazzy helps them find you she gets paid big bucks. She was talking about what she was going to do with all the money. That's why I couldn't let her see you."

"well thanks." I said as the microwave went off and he pulled my gooey breakfast out of it and put it on the table

"There's another thing I need to tell you-" James was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Stay here."

I took a huge bite of pizza wondering who it was. James opened the door.

"Uh...can I help you?" James asked politely. "But if your looking for the girl on fire neither Chloe nor Katniss is here."

"I beg to differ-" a familar girl said

"Oh, Shove over both of you!" Suddenly James yelped in surprise as Angela and Devon shoved the door in his face and pushed past him.

I took another bite of my pizza wondering what they wanted. Then I swallowed the bite wrong and was thrown into a coughing fit.

"I am so sorry!" Wendy said fretting over James as gripped his nose in pain. 

"Where is it?!" Angela demanded. For an eight year old she was scary.

"Where is what?" I asked.

"You know what!" Devon yelled. "Your the only one I told!"

"only one you told-your pixie dust?" I asked.

"Yeah stop playing dumb. I know you took it!" Devon said harshly

"I didn't take it!" I snapped. "In case you hadn't  heard but i was kinda busy last night making sure someone didn't overload my brain." I took another bit of the pizza. "what makes you so sure it was me? Chris was there, too."

"Every night we leave the tubes on our dressers, in a wooden box." Angela glared at me. "This morning the the box was little more than ash."