Sophie pulled her hood over her head as she walked into the bar. It was crowded with drunk people, and she saw some of them looking at her in a way that she was not comfortable with. She rushed over to the door that led to the hideout in the fastest speed walk ever. It was suspicious, but none of the drunks were going to remember the night, much less some girl walking over to a door shrouded in shadows.

     She knocked on the door and someone on the other side carefully opened it. She then told them her verification code, and she was let through. Sophie rushed down the hallway until she spotted the garage-like part of the base. She looked around and eventually spotted a shock of strawberry-blond hair.

She ran over to Dex and yelled, "I got some really good info on the Neverseen!" His head snapped toward her, and he flashed a dimply grin as he ran over to embrace her. Sophie soaked in his hug after all that had happened. At least she wasn't confused by what she felt towards him. They would always be friends—just friends. He was her best friend, after all.

"Tell me what you found out," Dex whispered into her ear as if they weren't going to tell the authority of the Black Swan.

Sophie laughed. "You know you really don't need to whisper. We have to tell Forkle anyway."

Dex let loose a fit of nervous laughter. "Yeah, definitely." He looked scared of something—or someone.

"You're acting weird, Dex. Does this have anything to do with what Mr.Forkle said yesterday?" She questioned.

Dex's smile faded. "Yeah. We shouldn't talk about this here, though." With that, he pulled her down the hallway and out of the gathering room. They sped through the bar and into the fresh air. Once they were outside, Dex pulled her behind a big dumpster that reeked of alcohol.

"Mr.Forkle said something to me, privately, last night. I'm scared, Sophie. I—I don't know if I can do what he asked. He said—he said that I had to assassinate someone. I—" Dex broke into tears.

Sophie carefully wrapped her arms around him, semi-afraid that he was going to push away. He cried into her shoulder and embraced her tighter. "Dex, you know you don't have to do it. They can't force your humanity out of you like they did to me. You're too passionate to let that happen," She spoke. In all honesty, Sophie wasn't sure he could just not do the job. They could kill him or his mother for disobedience. After all, this was a gang that they were talking about, not some orderly spy organization that only killed when necessary.

Dex voiced her concerns. "You know I can't just not do the job. They have my mother. They could use her as leverage. They could kill my mother, Sophie. I just—I can't risk it. I've heard the rumors about Mr.Forkle ordering undercover assassinations of Black Swan members, and I don't want to prove them right." Dex shuddered at the thought of innocent people dying just for leverage.

"Well, you're not assassinating anyone you know, right?" Dex shook his head. "Then why is it so terrible? We've done this before, so why's it so different from all of the other times?" Sophie questioned. She really didn't think too much about the people she was killing. She just focused on the thought that they were bad—no, they were evil, heartless demons.

Dex whimpered again. "She-she has two children, Sophie. One of them is only our age. Imagine losing either Grady or Edaline. Actually, that's not a great example... imagine losing me. That's what it would be like for them. It's not right for me to protect my mom by killing the mother of two kids. I really just want to get out of this—" Dex covered his mouth to stop himself from cursing. His cheeks turned red in embarrassment, but this place really was a—

Sophie spoke to stop her mind from letting out a string of curses. "That—that is terrible. Why would those little demons from Tartarus even want to kill her? A mom seems harmless." She was outraged at how insensible the Black Swan was.

"She is harmless. They want her dead just because of a receipt that one of the members found at her accessory stand. She sells hair bows, necklaces, and hair clips for a living! How could that be harmful?! They don't even have proof that she made something for the Neverseen!"

Now Sophie was intrigued. "What do they think she made for the Neverseen?"

Dex rolled his eyes at her inhumane attitude. He was probably questioning why he was even friends with such a heartless person. "Some concealable weapon or something like that. They didn't really give me any details..." He answered.

Of course they didn't give any details. They were all mysterious like that. More like monstrous... Wow, she only got to stupid pun level when she was really mad. "You know what, Dex? We should run away from the Black Swan." Sophie was at a new level of mad right now.

Dex looked at her, dumbfounded. "You know we can't do that, Sophie! My parents and my siblings would be in danger, and I can't let them suffer. Rex, Bex, and Lex still have such a long life ahead of them! I can't ruin that for them." The tears that had been pouring from his eyes began their course again.

Sophie pondered for a second, trying to come up with a better plan, when a great idea popped into her head. Dex wasn't looking at her, so she excitedly pulled his arm to get his attention. "Dex! Dex! Dex! I have the greatest idea!" She exclaimed.

He looked at her with confusion. She must've looked crazy because she was so excited about something pretty depressing. "What far-out idea did you come up with this time?" He asked. Sophie's enthusiasm definitely did not spread to him.

Sophie made Dex experience a moment of suspense before she shouted her idea. "We can fake her death! It's perfect!" The look on Dex's face after Sophie voiced her idea warmed her heart. It was a look of pure hope. They finally had some sort of a plan.