Chapter Twenty-Six
I can't Help It, Ro

3rd Person POV

"jakes gun is gone" elisia said as thena, rowan and her looked at the hole that was supposed to hold the gun in the bag but it sit.

"this is bad" Thena said softly

"I can't believe someone was in Tessa's room" rowan stated and thena shook her head

" I can they were in your room before" Thena said

" OK but why Tessa?" Rowan asked

" Probably because she's so damn nosy. And she's Nikki's cousin. And she's suspicious about this one girl named, Jai Mathis. She stole jais phone and Jai had a photo of me at the grotto the night that ash got shot. The night I was supposed to be dead" Elisia said

" So she's a zoo member. Does that mean she's after us?" rowan said

" They're all after us bro we're not safe" Thena said

" What is Zoe even king cobra?" Rowan said

" I want to believe that this is over Rowan" Thena said

" Maybe it's exactly what Brandon was saying to you Thena. You know that it's spreading from brandon to Zoe to someone else. But maybe it's Jai" Rowan said and elisia phone chimed

" It's Mr. empty" she said and she opened the notification seeing the video of elisia

" we can't tell anyone we're trapped Jake's gun has my fingerprints on it, and King Cobra has a video me bearing it right here. What a king cobra use Jake's gun to shoot Ash, I was at the grow that night I don't I don't have an alibi. Maybe hailey did the right thing. maybe we should leave town" Elisia said and rowan grabbed her arms

" We can't let them scares away. I'll protect you, I promise. I promise" rowan said and thena smiled

" elisia we got your back" Thena said and rowan's phone chimed

" It's Trevor" rowan said and elisia nodded

" You guys go I'll head home" Elisia said and thena hugged her as she kissed her forehead

"be safe" thena said and she walked with rowan to her moms house. they snuck through her window and into the living room where they saw brandon and trevor

" Hey b" thena exclaimed and he looked up as he smiled at her

" What is he doing here?" rowan asked

" Chill sis" Trevor exclaimed and thena smiled

" Did you two bring thena as my birthday present?" brandon asked and thena walked over as she shoved his shoulder

" I'm leaving" rowan said

" No no stay please look I knew you wouldn't come if I told you he was gonna be here" Trevor said and brandon stood up as thena jumped on his back

"oh jesus. stay with us rowan" Brandon said as he swung thenas arms and she laughed

" Thena get off his back" Rowan said and brandon looked at thena

" I'm good it's comfortable" thena stated and she blew into brandon's ear

" And seriously Trevor you made it sound like something was wrong in your text" Rowan exclaimed

" There is. But, having my best friend and my pseudo sibling fight Is the worst. Also look at them, my best friend and your best friend like each other rowan. You guys are trying to figure out the same thing, so help each other" Trevor said as he dropped his voice slightly. brandon walked over with thena still hanging on

" Brandon knows how to find king cobra" trevor said and thena looked at brandon

"you do?" she whispered

"yeah" he said softly

" We've been getting messages from KC since then. Hasn't stopped" Rowan said and thenas dropped her head into brandon's shoulder

" I know Zoe's boyfriends name. Well his first name" Brandon said and thena lifted her head

" What is it b?" Thena said

" Thena I thought rowan said we weren't working together" Brandon tried

" Does it start with an L?" rowan asked

" How do you know that?" brandon asked

" Rowan knows his last name" Thena said

" Lance" brandon said

"broadly" Rowan finished

"and voila" Trevor said and thena jumped off of brandon's back and high-fives trevor

" Let's get to work" trevor said and they walked to the table

" L. Broadley was the last person to check out this book, so I guess the letter L" Rowan said

" Smart ro" Thena said and she rubbed rowan's shoulder

" did you find anything yet?" Rowan called to trevor

" No Lance broadly. Zero social blade who doesn't have answer?" Trevor said

" Fake people" thena said and rowan looked at her

" Look, this is the page where the piece was torn out see?"Rowan said

" So lance checks out a book from the library, a book Zoe has read before. He's tears out a specific line, and he sends it to her. Why?" Brandon said

" Wait look" thena said

" What is it?" brandon asked

" No idea but we're about to find out" thena said and she brought the book to trevor

" Maybe if we find out who Lance Broadly is, we can get answers about Zoe. Maybe he's king cobra" Brandon stated

"we can only hope so" Thena agreed as brandon wrapped his arm around her shoulder

" It's a phone number" trevor exclaimed

" Let's call it" Brandon said

" Think this through Brandon what's your plan? We can't go into this willy-nilly" Thena said and brandon called the phone

" Hello?" the phone answered

" Hey I got a new phone who is this?" brandon said

" It's Allison who are you?" The girl asked

" It's Lance. Lance Broadly" Brandon said and the call ended

" And that is why we need a plan" Thena said

" What was I supposed to do?" he asked thena

" Not that. When do you leave for the army again?" rowan asked and she walked away

" I'll go talk to her" Thena said and she followed after rowan

"why do you like him?" rowan asked her

"because he listens ro. he understands me ro and that's enough for me" Thena said

"it shouldn't be, crow. he's a bad person" rowan asked using the name for her zoo alias

"i know rowan but i can't help it" thena said and she leaned back against rowan as rowan hugged her softly. thena woke up and she noticed that rowan wasn't in the room

she stared at the ceiling and fell asleep. she fell asleep with the scent of rowan on her and she was okay with that

-ABBYS NOTES-
thena the spider monkey madden