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T h e   H o l l o w s   I n
O U R  F R E E D O M
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A L E X I

I watched Cassie shake her head, my lips pursed.

She frowned at me, "Lexi, I really have no loose ends—you already tried with me five times last week."

I pulled a face at her, "Well I'm trying again." I told her, tapping my notebook with my pen.

She rolled her eyes, setting Colton down, "What do you really want, Lexi?"

I sighed, sitting down on the edge of her bed, "How did you manage to contact your family outside of the Academy? Special Ones aren't allowed to do that, right?"

Cassie laughed, "There are a lot of things I know that I think you'd be surprised at."

I pulled a face, "Yeah, but I just want the sane ones, please."

She smiled, shaking her head, "Elle obviously had a huge input in Sky's life at the Academy, as you may know, but she also controlled a lot of other things," I gestured for her to go on, "she was feeding money into Sky's account at the Academy, which made her unusually richer than the rest of us, she also had an input in the choice of Sky going home—Elle voted for it, thinking that she would be able to keep a closer eye on her there."

"How do you know all this stuff?" I asked her, utterly confused.

Cassie shrugged, "Avery has been feeding me theories for a while now; she spend an awful amount of time with Toby so maybe ask him."

I shivered, disgusted, "No. Resorting to Toby Espan is like accepting death."

Cassie laughed but shrugged nonetheless.

I sighed, "What about you? Why could you get in contact with your parents?" I asked her.

Cassie smiled, "Some families are not told that their loved ones are being taken to an Academy to protect them, some are. My mum funded my time at the Academy."

I gaped at her, "And you never thought to tell anyone this because..?"

Cassie smiled, "What's the fun in that?"

My face fell and I clenched my jaw. "I officially hate you." With that, I brushed past her and left her room.

As I was walking to mine and Jace's room, I almost bumped into the unlikely pairing. Avery and Toby.

"Lexi," Toby greeted, "it's nice to see you."

I hummed, eyes flickering between the two, "Looking at something different will refresh your pallet," I watched Avery frown, exchanging a glance with Toby, "if you'll excuse me." I brushed past Avery, sighing and shaking my hair so that it fell behind my shoulders.

I opened the door to my room to see Jace slipping a shirt on. I closed the door, alerting him that I was there and he noticed the frown on my face when he looked over at me.

"Where are you going?" I asked him, setting down the notebook and pen.

"The presentation that you and Elle are holding with that mysterious notebook." He told me, buttoning up the shirt.

I rose an eyebrow, "That's two weeks away, May the thirty-first—or have you already forgotten?"

Jace smiled, "No, but I need to try on a few things."

I pulled a face, "Wow, you sound like me."

"That's right! I was wondering why my hair looked darker and more silky."

I rolled my eyes at him, laughing as I sat down on the bed.

"I don't like that one," I told him, making him frown at me. With a sigh, he unbuttoned it and folded it, leaving it on top of the drawers.

"I thought the same." Jace said as I unlocked my phone and checked my messages and emails.

I stifled a laugh, "Then why did you put it on?" I asked him.

"I don't know—maybe I thought I really was turning into you; you pull off anything." I frowned at what I was staring at on my phone, sighing.

"Well let's just hope I can pull off this presentation now that our venue of choice has become unavailable." I placed a hand to my forehead before shaking my head and starting to compose a new email.

"Unavailable?" Jace asked, "But didn't you book ahead? What do you think of this?" I looked up at his next choice.

"It's alright," I told him, sending off the new email, "what colour suit are you wearing?" I asked him.

"Navy," he responded.

I pulled a face, looking up at him, "Then definitely not," Jace smiled, nodded and took off the shirt. "And yeah, we did book it—the email said they were closed for the day," I looked up and away from my phone at that, "I don't know," I said, watching Jace frown at me.

I sighed, "Nonetheless, there's always a backup. They're farther out but at least they're open."

"What about this one?" Jace asked and I looked up at his shirt before shaking my head. Jace sighed, taking it off. "You're more organised than Sky, which is really surprising, so I'm sure you and Elle can pull this off no matter the problem."

I scoffed, "Anyone is more organised than Sky."

After catching up on all my messages, I stood up, placing my phone on charge and glancing around at the casualty of fashion around Jace.

"I'm going for a bath; I need to be ready when we greet our next accomplices." Jace nodded absentmindedly, checking the latest disaster in the mirror. I smiled, "Babe," he hummed in response, turning around, "try the red one."

I watched Jace frown, turning back to the selection in front of him before I turned and left the room, heading into our bathroom.

I soaked in a bubble filled heaven for what seemed like only half an hour but when Jace knocked, telling me it was beating four, it really had been short of two hours. I wondered why the water was beginning to turn cold.

Running my brush through my hair, I watched as Jace combed through his. I smiled at him, though he didn't notice me staring.

After spritzing my usual perfume, I rose, joining Jace as he finished his hair. He smiled at me, pulling me into his side.

I lifted up my hand to brush a few stray hairs to the side, "You're the hottest therapist I ever did meet." I told him, watching his cheeks flush but only slightly.

He leaned down, whispering in my ear, "And you're the hottest warrior I ever did meet." When he pulled away, he pressed his lips against mine.

"And we're both very late." I put in, pulling away from him. Jace laughed, following after me as I left our room.

We reached the stairs to realise that we really were late; our new accomplices were already here and were probably in the lounge with everyone else.

I opened the door, stepping into a very busy room.

Elle raised an eyebrow at me, "Care to explain why you're late?" She asked, standing in front of a board full of our plans.

I heard as Jace shut the door as I began to speak, "My bath overran." I told her.

She glanced behind, lips pursed, "I'm sure." Then she went back to lecturing.

I turned around to Jace, utterly confused, "I don't get it," I whispered to him, "we've never had sex, but according to everyone here, we have done—and various times."

Jace smiled, "I guess your reputation proceeds you."

I pulled a face, "Oh, ha-ha." With that, I turned and took a free seat.

When Elle had finished her lecture, she glanced at Jace and I, sighing, "I guess I'll introduce our newest accomplices to you."

"You know what, Elle? That is so kind." I said, crossing my right leg over my left, smiling at her expectantly.

She rolled her eyes, "This is Tiffany, Luke, Ashleigh and Ma–"

"–Max?"

He smiled at me, "Hey, Lex."

I glanced open-mouthed between him and Elle, trying to figure out how the hell Maxwell Fielding made it into our house.

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Please tell me you remember max!!!

Here's a max factfile:

- Genuinely starts with a capital M but my autocorrect can't be fucked
- is a boy
- was in the first book 'Hollows of Hiraeth'
- he helped the team leave the Academy when it was being raided
- honestly swear he was one of the three people that were keeping that secret in the second book
- I think he betrayed them in a diff book but if I'm completely honest I can't remember !!!

That's the end of my factfile

Hope you enjoyed this x

- I did

FABULOUS SONGS

Songs that played when I was writing this chapter (in order):
Bury - Unions
Ocean - Lauren Aquilina
Fools Love - Gabrielle Aplin
Legendary Lovers - Katy Perry
Human Nature - Michael Jackson (idc if its a death scene; I can never refuse this song)
Apologize - OneRepublic
Call Out My Name - The Weeknd
Gone - Bebe Rexha
All To You - Sabrina Claudio
Mended - Vera Blue
HeartLess - Madison Beer

END OF FABULOUS SONGS

Date written:
16/08/18

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Next update: will be a surprise
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CHAPTER EIGHTY-NINE SPOILER:

A common theme buried in all of the hollows is betrayal.

Now our core four need to fight it more than ever.

(Ft. Elle)