The Darkest Powers 2
Kelley Armstrong
Dr. Davidoff and Mrs. Enright (Tori’s mom) show up in Chloe’s hotel-room-like cell. They ask her were the boys are and she says she is surprised they haven’t found them yet. Mrs. Enright shows her Simon’s backpack and starts pulling out the contents. At first, Chloe is sure they just grabbed a few things from Lyle House to make it look like Simon’s things. They show her insulin needles and tell her he is diabetic. He needs shots three times a day or he will eventually fall into a diabetic coma. Chloe agrees to try to help them find him.
Chloe tells Dr. Davidoff and Mrs. Enright that their group had made a spur of the moment decision to escape Lyle House and didn’t have a rendezvous place in case they get separated. She wants to give them a few places they wouldn’t be and have them use her as bait. They ask for the list of places and leave her in the room. Chloe isn’t worried about Simon because she knows Derek will do anything to get insulin. Chloe looks at her necklace and wonders if it has been keeping ghosts away from her. She notices it’s color seems to be fading. She decides to summon Liz again.
Starting out slow, Chloe starts focusing on calling Liz. An athletic boy appears and Chloe realizes it is Brady, a boy that left Lyle House before she got there. He tells her he was taken to a warehouse and Dr. Fellows (Chloe’s Aunt Lauren) tried to convince him to tell Dr. Davidoff that Derek started the fight between them. Brady refused. Dr. Fellows tried to convince Dr. Davidoff that having Derek in the experiment is too dangerous. He admits he made a mistake with the others, but Derek is different. Something with a female voice takes over Brady’s body and calls him one of Dr. Lyle’s experiments. She tells Chloe to summon her and she will tell her everything. Chloe freaks out and backs against the wall. The ghosts disappear just before Dr. Davidoff comes in.
Dr. Davidoff takes Chloe to the security room to show her the building via camera feeds. She sees Rae playing video games on one screen. He explains the Edison Group (named after Thomas Edison who tried to invent a phone that could contact the dead) was founded by supernaturals for supernaturals. He uses his mind to push a chair towards her. He promises that the experiments are noninvasive and Lyle House was just to transition the children into their powers without hurting themselves or others. Chloe thinks of Liz, Brady, and the ghost she met in the basement of Lyle House. She realizes she will have to figure everything out on her own as Dr. Davidoff continues to explain.
Chloe is taken to the game room to see Rae. Chloe listens to the story they told her about her origins. She is an half Exustio demon and her mom was a supernatural named Jacinda. The Edison group is trying to find her because the adoption was a mistake. Chloe is skeptical of this story and asks about her adoptive parents. Rae is ready to write them off for abandoning her at Lyle House, but Chloe points out they may not have been able to contact her (risk to experiment). On the way back to her room, Chloe tries to think of a way to see more of the building. She considers asking to see Aunt Lauren, but she doesn’t think she could act like she has forgiven her. She asks to see Tori.
Dr. Davidoff locks Chloe in Tori’s room right down the hall from her own. Tori is not happy to see her. She blames Chloe for coming in a messing everything up, but says she didn’t rat them out. She liked Simon, but was rejected and not willing to make a fool of herself over him. As their arguing continues, Tori get mad and lightning starts to shoot out from her. The room starts to shake. Liz appears and puts a dresser between Tori and Chloe. Mrs. Enright and Dr. Davidoff come in to separate them. Back in her own room, Chloe tries to get a hold of Liz. She hears a voice and it tells her to try harder. Suddenly, a demi-demon is speaking to her. She says she is the reason why the supernatural people’s powers are amplified in the building. She wants Chloe to release her, but Chloe refuses. The demi-demon says she will give Chloe answers, but Chloe doesn’t know if she can trust her. She says Dr. Lyle was killed trying to bind the soul of a full demon. Tori is the product of a witch and a spell caster. And Derek was part of a pack of pups that were more like wolves them him. He was the only one not killed. Chloe tries not to listen and puts her headphones on.
Later in the day, Dr. Davidoff takes Chloe to his office where he has a closet full of special book and an extra room meant for reading. He leaves her locked in the reading room to go get some coffee. Chloe slips something between the door and the jamb to pop it open. She gets on the computer, but can’t figure out Dr. Davidoff’s password. The demi-demon whispers it is Jacinda, Rae’s mom. Chloe wonders what the connection she says even the supernatural give into human weakness. Chloe is able to get a look at some of the Genesis project files. She reads there were twenty kids that were injected in utero. The majority of the kids found their transition into their powers easier, but their powers were also reduced. Five subjects had increased side effects and powers. Chloe and Derek’s names have question marks by them. A stapler hits the back of Chloe’s head and she realizes Dr. Davidoff is coming. She logs out of the computer, but doesn’t have enough time to get back into the room, so she hides. After Dr. Davidoff enters the room, Liz starts moving stuff around to give Chloe a chance to sneak back into the reading room. Dr. Davidoff is in a few seconds after she settles and leaves her there to continue reading. Liz appears and says she can’t be dead because she can move things, which leads her to believe she is a shaman. Chloe doesn’t have the heart to tell her she really is dead.
At dinner, Chloe listens to Rae gush about her lessons and new life with the Edison Group. She tries to tell her friend that Brady and Liz are dead, but Rae won’t listen to her. Chloe offers to summon Liz to show her, but Rae grabs her arm and starts to heat up. Chloe pulls away and Rae goes to inform the doctors they are done with dinner. Back in her room, Chloe realizes her drink was drugged and she falls asleep. She wakes up late the next morning with Sue telling her she needs to get to her afternoon classes after lunch.
Lunch is served and the three girls eat together. Dr. Davidoff comes to ask Chloe if she has anymore information that could help them find Simon and Derek. He agrees to take her with them to try to lure the boys out of hiding. Chloe tells him she and Derek had a hiding spot in the abandoned warehouses, but she would only know it if she saw it. Tori insists on going with them so she can go shopping. Dr. Davidoff refuses at first, but Tori whispers something in his ear that makes him agree. Chloe wants to stop by her room for Liz’s hoodie, but Dr. Davidoff sends someone for it instead. As they are waiting, the demi-demon whispers that Chloe will come back and free her in her own time.
Chloe is in a van with Tori, Dr. Davidoff, and Mrs. Enright. She is glad her Aunt Lauren is in the second van behind them rather than with them. She asks for the hoodie and Tori points out it is Liz’s. Chloe argues it isn’t, but Mrs. Enright takes it and says she will get it back to Liz. Tori says it is fine if Chloe wears it that day, but Mrs. Enright insists Chloe will be fine. When they arrive, Chloe is freezing and goes to her Aunt Lauren immediately, acting like she wasn’t betrayed. She tells everyone they started at a broken window where she cut her arm and ran after Derek because he could see in the dark. She explains they used her shirt to bandage her arm and the rest of the shirt should still be in the spot. Aunt Lauren offers to take Chloe, but Dr. Davidoff insists Mrs. Enright take her because she can make herself invisible.
Chloe leads Mrs. Enright around the property looking for a good place to loose her. She looks for anything she can to use to distract the witch and get away. In the third warehouse, she finds crates stacked and decides she might be able to knock some and get away. Mrs. Enright tells Chloe that she is upset that Tori is her daughter rather than Chloe, who has power. She wants to work with Chloe to contact the deceased experiments in the Lyle House. Chloe agrees and Mrs. Enright produces one of Simon’s drawings with a meeting place and time. Chloe goes to get it dirty to make sure it looks like the boys left it there. She brings a pipe back up with her and throws it at the back of Mrs. Enright’s head. The witch is able to deflect it and use spells to keep Chloe from hurting her. Liz starts knocking boxes over to distract her so Chloe can get away. Mrs. Enright knows she can’t attack Liz, so she uses her powers against Chloe to get Liz to stop. Tori arrives and uses a binding spell on her mom. They go back and forth for a while with Mrs. Enright telling Tori how useless she is. Chloe hits her in the back of the head with a pipe and she goes down. Chloe checks to make sure she is alright while Tori searches her pockets for money, and then they leave together.
The girls hide in a trailer with a tarp over them with Liz’s ghost keeping watch. Tori starts poking holes in Chloe’s plan and complaining about not telling her Liz was killed by her mom. Liz says they heard Tori talking and are heading their way. Chloe gets directions from Liz and gets ready to go, but Aunt Lauren arrives with a man named Mike who has a gun. Liz is able to knock the gun out of Mike’s hand and Aunt Lauren takes it. She points it at Chloe and apologizes, but shoots Mike instead. She tells Chloe she made a mistake and wants one more chance to get it right. Chloe is skeptical, but says she will meet her behind the Seven Eleven down the street and puts an envelope in Chloe’s pocket. Tori and Chloe start to head for a gate. Mrs. Enright arrives and shoots Aunt Lauren with electricity. Aunt Lauren flies to the ground spraying blood.
Chloe turns around to go back for Aunt Lauren, but Mrs. Enright catches her in a binding spell. Tori comes back to rescue her and Chloe wants her to fight off her mother while she checks on Aunt Lauren. Tori knows she can’t fight off her mother and takes off. Chloe sees more of the Edison Group coming and follows her. They make it to the factory and use Liz’s distractions to sneak inside. They find a dusty storage room to hid in. Liz comes to tell them Dr. Davidoff saw them come into the building. Chloe listens at the door and hears the guard won’t let them in. She and Tori decide to wait until dark before they leave. Chloe opens the envelop from her aunt and reads the letter inside. Chloe’s mom had a twin brother, Ben, that was a necromancer. He died at 19. Jenny, Chloe’s mom, wanted to have children, but didn’t want them to be a necromancer. Lauren went to work for the Edison Group to help supernaturals. Jenny and Chloe’s dad were tested and found that any child they had would be a necromancer. Lauren told them about dulling the powers, and Jenny agreed because she wanted a child. Lauren thought she was doing the right thing by taking Chloe to Lyle House to learn to control her powers. She just recently learned the Edison Group was up to no good and now has to help Chloe no matter the cost. Chloe realizes Rae is the one that betrayed her and now realizes all the signs. Liz shows up to tell them the Edison Group only left one guard. They leave when it is completely dark.
The girls avoid the guard easily and have Liz keep a lookout for the Edison Group as they move from hiding spot to hiding spot until the get to the real rendezvous point. Chloe decides to wait until morning to look for a note from the boys in the mess. Tori decides she is going to call her dad, hoping he will understand. She offers to take Chloe with her, but Chloe insists on getting the insulin to Simon. Tori leaves. Chloe offers to help Liz cross over, but Liz isn’t quite ready to go. A while later, Liz tells Chloe that Tori is just sitting out front. Chloe brings her back in and Tori explain her dad sent her mom to get her. Tori hands Chloe a candy bar she stole from the gas station across the street.
Chloe wakes in the middle of the night hearing whispers. She gets up and starts to follow them thinking it might be Derek and Simon. She soon realizes a ghost is trying to lure her somewhere and stops to turn around. The ghost continues to pester her, so she starts to summon him with her power. When he starts to become visible, he begs for her to let him go. Chloe is distracted by something hitting the window. She pushes the ghost away and goes to check. There are two dead, rotting bats flying around the warehouse. One starts to swoop down at her and the other hits her in the face. one gets stuck on her shirt and she freaks out. Liz helps her get rid of one by dropping a box on it. Chloe goes to check on it to see if the dead bat is unanimated again.
After making sure the bats are no longer moving, Chloe and Liz go to check on Tori, who is still sleeping. Liz says she lived with her nana. Her mom was a rebel and ended up getting pregnant (by a demon). Later in Liz’s life, she heard her nana talking and realized her mom was raped. She would rant about powers and magic, but Liz just thought she was crazy. She was terrified when they were talking about sending her to a mental institution like her mom. Liz helps Chloe fall asleep by rambling on about superficial things. The next morning, they start looking for a note from the boys. Tori points out an odd piece of graffiti on the wall and Chloe recognizes Simon’s work. She finds a piece of paper under the box near it. He has drawn her a message to say he’ll be back. Chloe, Liz, and Tori all take an entrance to watch for them. Shortly after an Edison Group SUV passes by, Derek finds Chloe. He thought Tori was a trap, so he avoided her. Chloe says they have to get to her quickly to warn her about her mom being there. Derek doesn’t understand, but Chloe doesn’t have time to explain. She has Liz scout the way ahead and follows Derek.
Derek leads Chloe through the warehouses. He stops when he sees a dog in the yard of one of the residential houses nearby. The dog is fine until it smells him and then it starts barking like crazy. Chloe sends Liz to play fetch with the dog. Once it is distracted, Derek and Chloe continue moving. They find Tori and carefully make their way away from the warehouses and to the residential area. Derek leaves them in an abandoned house to go get Simon. Tori tries to make fun of Derek for acting like a dog, but Chloe points out that he looks and smells better since his transformation has started. Simon arrives with Derek. He is happy to see Chloe, but not Tori. Derek tells them they need to get out of the area before they can sit and swap stories.
The group walks a few miles and finds a commercial area. Derek and Simon both make sure to keep Chloe close. Right before they get to the abandoned building where the boys have been staying, Liz calls Chloe over to her to talk. Liz says she has some stuff she needs to do and will come back to Chloe when she is done. Chloe says goodbye. They enter the building and Chloe feels something dead inside. Derek admits there is a dead body inside. Chloe is uneasy about it, but says she will use the experience to get used to it. Derek shows them to their stack of blankets and passes out power bars (except to Simon who gets gas station fruit). Chloe gives Simon the extra insulin package. They settle in to tell each other what has happened since they were last together.
As Chloe regales the others with her tale, she realizes how easily she was manipulated by Rae. She leaves out the demi-demon in the Edison Group headquarters. She tells them they were all on the list of experiments except Simon, who was considered successful. They wonder if his enhanced powers just haven’t shown yet. Tori asks what the boys have learned about their father in the past few days, but they admit they don’t have any new information. When she starts to say they are useless, Derek points out how Tori did nothing except piggyback off of Chloe’s escape. When he continues to tell her they don’t want her to join them because they don’t trust them, Chloe comes to Tori’s defense. Derek still refuses, saying Tori deserves whatever she gets because of what she did to Chloe at Lyle House. He refuses to have her along, so Chloe tells Tori they are leaving. Simon joins them and Derek stops them from leaving. He tells Tori she has to get over herself and whatever grudge she has against Chloe.
The next morning, Chloe is looking forward to going shopping for dry clothes, getting food, and using a bathroom. Derek tells her she can’t go out with them and shows her the newspaper from the day before. Her dad is offering half a million dollars for her safe return. Tori suggests he is working with the Edison Group, but the paper is dated from when they were still in their custody. Chloe tells them Aunt Lauren said he didn’t know anything about what was going on, but she agrees it is too dangerous to contact him. While the others are gone, Chloe uses her powers to find the dead body in the building. She is practicing not putting it’s soul back into the body when Simon arrives with food. As they eat, he tells her about growing up with diabetes and how his dad and he were talking about getting a pump to regulate it when Kit disappeared.
Derek gives Chloe the clothes he bought for her. The sweaters are from the little boys section of a discount store and Tori makes fun of them being perfect for Chloe’s size. Chloe is embarrassed but tries to be the girl that isn’t affected by those sorts of things. That night, Derek tries to quietly wake up Chloe and tells her to release the spirit in the dead body. She feels her legs weighed down and trashes around to free herself when Derek tries to stop her from getting up. Chloe screens when she sees the reanimated skeletal form coming towards her. Tori wakes up and screams. Derek tells Simon to get Tori out of the room. Derek tries to make Chloe hurry up, but it doesn’t help her concentrate, so she sends him out of the room as well. The body crawls up her until they are eye to eye. She tells it to stop and then stand back. She realizes it has to listen to what it says and that it loathes her because of it. She has it lie down and then frees the ghost.
Chloe suggests they leave before someone comes looking for them. Derek is furious she didn’t tell him the corpse would be a problem. She explains that she can’t control her dreams. Simon and Tori join them and Chloe suggests they leave again. A man appears, but Chloe realizes it is the ghost when no one else can see him. She tries to apologize, but he is furious with her. Simon hears people coming in the front door, so they sneak out the back. The ghost follows.
Once they are far enough away, Chloe gets away from the others to get rid of the ghost. As soon as they are all back together again, Derek and Simon leave to find a new place to stay. Derek tells the girls to stay between two parked cars. As soon as they are out of sight, Chloe and Tori leave the spot to find a place less conspicuous. They find a blind alley that blocks three sides and has a vent pouring out heat. Three girls with knives arrive to tell them the spot is already claimed. Chloe eventually convinces Tori they should leave, but the other girls want Chloe’s shoes and Tori’s coat. Chloe tells Tori to knock them out, but she uses a binding spell and can only get it to work on one. One of the girls slices the sleeve of Tori’s leather coat and she knocks them all down with a wave. Chloe grabs two of the girls’ knives and tells Tori to grab the third, but Tori ignores the request. The third girl chases after them with the last knife.
Chloe follows after Tori, who keeps running after Chloe trips and falls. The girl chasing her lands on top of her and fights her until she has Chloe pinned on her back with the knife to her throat. She tells Chloe she is going to give her a scar like she has to keep some guy from turning her into a prostitute and starts cutting the cheek. Derek rips the girl off Chloe and starts to toss her aside. Chloe sees that he isn’t holding back and yells at him. He checks himself at the last minute and drops her over a fence. Derek starts leading them back to the others. He tells Chloe she needs to start being smarter because he is done saving her. She points out that she could’ve just left him when he started changing during their escape, but she didn’t and was almost caught because of it. They have a quite walk back to the others and then to the loading dock where none of them talked to each other.
The next morning, Simon wakes Chloe up with McDonald’s breakfast. They go onto the roof to be away from the others. Simon apologizes for Derek’s behavior and thanks Chloe for helping him the night he thought he was changing. Chloe changes the subject and asks about Simon’s father. He says they were supposed to leave their home in Albany after school one day, but he never showed up. They went back to the house, but he was gone. A day later, they left and the Edison Group caught up with them. His dad told them in emergencies, contact Andrew Carson in NYC. That is where Derek wants to go. Chloe offers to go to NYC with Tori so Simon and Derek can check out their house in Albany. Simon doesn’t want to let Chloe go anywhere alone with Chloe and he knows Derek will feel the same way.
Derek and Simon decide to go to the library to continue the search for their dad and Andrew Carson. Tori goes with them and Chloe is by herself until mid afternoon. Derek is furious when he returns. He shows Chloe a newspaper that shows a picture of her and the article talks about a woman spotting her with a boy yelling at her. Now the police are speculating she was kidnapped. Chloe points out that he shouldn’t have yelled at her in such a public place. He pulls out a box of dye and tells her she has to get rid of the noticeable blonde with red stripes. They go to a park bathroom and Derek breaks the lock. Chloe dyes her hair in the sink and it turns out black. They make their way to the bus station and stop at an ATM along the way to get some money using Chloe’s bank card. Chloe keeps thinking about her dad, Aunt Lauren, and Liz. Derek tells her to stop moping because she is drawing too much attention. When they get on the bus, Simon points out the first two open seats and sits with Chloe. Derek points out they could all sit together in the back, but Simon tells him they aren’t moving.
Simon cheers Chloe up by telling her a story about when he put temporary dye in his hair to impress a girl and then didn’t end up liking her personality. Simon shows Chloe a drawing he did of her controlling the zombie. He tells her he wants to journal their adventure like a comic. Chloe agrees to help him with the story part. After a few hours of planning, they decide to nap. At the bus station in Syracuse, Derek refuses to get off the bus because there is a pack near there. Werewolves are generally territorial. Derek starts to tell Chloe about his life with the other subjects, but Simon gets back on and Derek tells her to go sit with him. She falls asleep and Derek wakes her up around Albany. She can tell that he is in the process of changing. She insists on going with him. Instead of waking Simon up, she tells Tori they will catch up with them later.
Derek leads Chloe into the woods near the truck stop. She tells him he should probably undress before the transformation starts and he strips down to his boxers. The bus driver calls out to them that he is leaving. Derek tells Chloe to go, but she refuses to leave him. She watches the bus take off and then the transformation starts. He gets most of the way through becoming a wolf before turning back into himself. He thanks Chloe for staying with him and helping him through another practice run. She tells him to rest and he falls asleep.
Chloe lets Derek sleep and tires to cover him up with his clothes. She sees something moving in the woods and takes her knife to get a closer look. She sees a man kicking a teenage girl he has on a leash. He takes his knife and Chloe tries to yell out to try to distract him to let the girl get away, but she freezes. The man slits the girl’s throat. Chloe suddenly realizes the entire event happened silently. It then starts over. She realizes she has found a film-like image of a terrible even that happened in those woods. She turns her back to it and tries to calm herself down. Everything she thinks about leads her to thoughts that just make her more miserable. She starts singing “Daydream Believer” (mom used to sing it to her) over and over. Derek shakes her out of her trance in the morning. They find they left most of their money on the bus and only have eighty dollars to get them breakfast, the the bus station, and onto a bus to NYC.
While Derek is in the bathroom getting himself and his clothes cleaned up, Chloe uses the payphone to call the bus station to get the schedule and fares. They get a light breakfast and start walking the two miles to the nearest bus stop. Derek notices how quiet Chloe is and tells her she should talk to Simon about what has happened to her. She asks him about learning some self defense, but he says she should also talk to Simon about that because he has more patience. When they finally make it to the station, the agent won’t allow them to buy student priced tickets because they don’t have student IDs. They find a bus stop where they can afford the full priced tickets to NYC, but they don’t know how to get there.
They decide the best way to get to NYC is to hitchhike, so they make the trek back to the truck stop. They sit in the restaurant and Derek listens to conversations until they find one that will take them where they need to go. They sneak into the back of the van and Derek sets up a spot for Chloe to get some sleep. When the van stops at another truck stop, they get out and start to circle through the woods and around the building. The driver catches up with them and grabs Chloe’s shoulder. He tries to convince them that running away from home isn’t the answer and that he can get them help. After he refuses to leave them alone, Derek grabs him and puts him in a headlock. He sends Chloe back to the van to get rope and rags so they can get away.
Deciding they can’t be hitchhikers anymore, they start walking to the next town. The avoid passing cars and have to wait for unchained dogs to approach several times before they continue on their way. Derek explains he once snuck himself to the zoo on a class field trip his dad said he wasn’t allowed to go on. When he got the wolves, Derek expected something special to happen. Instead the alpha started attacking the glass until it was bloody. They ended up having to put it down. He changes the subject to regular school classes.
When they finally reach the next town, they are able to afford bus tickets to NYC, but have some time to kill before hand. They decide to use what little money they have left at a Chinese restaurant. While Derek is waiting in line, on old woman comes to sit with Chloe. She talks to the lady until she realizes people are staring at her. The old lady thanks her for talking and goes to touch Chloe’s hand, but her hand goes through. Chloe realizes the woman is a ghost. The table of teenagers next to her is making fun of her even as Derek drags her out. They go to the coffee shop down the street to get junk food and hot chocolate instead. They make their way to the park, but then Derek gets a scent of something. He tells Chloe to run and she takes off. He is right behind her, but they are cut off. Werewolves.
The werewolves, Ramon and Liam, tell Derek they smelled him a few miles back when they pulled over and decided to wait for him in town. They used to run with an Australian werewolf that liked to eat humans, but he went into hiding to let them take the rap when the Pack sent out their wolves to find the culprit. They want to give Derek to the Pack and tell them it was him that killed the humans. They give him the other option of being killed and them having their way with Chloe. Derek tries to negotiate. He agrees to go with them if they let Chloe go first. They decline the offer. Derek quickly throws Ramon into a poll and tells Chloe to run. She goes far enough to be out of danger and turns to see Derek thrown by Liam. Derek slides across the ground and then takes off running towards Chloe.
They keep running and are able to loose Liam in a development of townhouses. They stop for a few minutes to catch their breath, but Liam attacks from above. Derek fights him while Chloe is off to the side with her knife looking for an opportunity. When Liam gets Derek in a headlock, Chloe stabs him in the thigh. He throws her agains a wall and she hits her head. Derek grabs her and they take off running again. They go into an apartment building and backtrack to throw Liam off their scent. They then go through a large puddle and start running again. They go into a coffee shop and into the men’s room. Derek starts cleaning the werewolf blood off Chloe. His dad told him only saliva could transform someone into a werewolf, but he doesn’t want to take any chances. In the process, Derek accidentally breaks the chain to Chloe’s necklace. The jewel has turned to almost blue. She puts it in her pocket after telling him it is supposed to ward off ghosts. Chloe helps clean up Derek and asks if agreeing to go with the werewolves was just part of some greater plan. She asks if he wants to join the Pack to be around others like himself. He says he only wants to meet other werewolves to ask questions and get some tips. He doesn’t want to be around the Pack since they consider themselves some sort of werewolf government. He promises he doesn’t have a death wish.
After they are cleaned up, they leave the bathroom and get hot chocolate and donuts. They make their way to the bus station, but stay a half block away incase Liam decides to come after them with Ramon. When they see the bus arriving, they finally get on. They talk about what they are looking forward to when they get to NYC and Chloe goes to sleep. Derek wakes her up about thirty miles outside of NYC and tells her they are about a mile from Andrew’s house. They are in high spirits as they walk along until they get to the house. They both notice it is too quiet. Derek can smell that Simon and Tori were both there. They slowly make their way to the door and find it is slightly open. Derek cautiously pushes it open the rest of the way, but they don’t see anything inside. They both smell burning coffee. Derek tells Chloe to stay behind him and they make their way through the house. In the kitchen, it looks like someone was in the middle of eating and then left suddenly. Derek tells Chloe to fall back in line as they head towards the back of the house.
The guest room seems untouched and the master bedroom has an unmade bed. They go back towards the kitchen and decide Andrew was gone before Simon and Tori showed up. They look around for a clue from Simon. Chloe finds a sketch of a man swimming on the refrigerator. Derek realizes it indicates the pool house. He starts to take the direct route out back, but decides they need to be careful and take the long way around. When they are close enough, Simon opens the door to show it is him. Derek runs over and Chloe follows. He explains they found the house in the same condition and knew they couldn’t stay there. Tori argues they should have gotten as far away as possible. Derek agrees and suggests they leave immediately. Tori points out how exhausted they all are and convinces Derek they should leave in the morning.
After going through the freezer and eating frozen meals, they take turns showering. Simon comes up with a schedule for each of them to keep watch. Chloe sees a picture of Simon and Derek camping when they were younger. Simon tells her it was taken out in the yard. He makes sure Derek was not yelling at her the whole time they were gone and tells her Derek won’t let any of them keep watch that night because they don’t have superhuman senses like he does. Chloe tries to sleep, but fails. She makes some sausages and takes them and a lawn chair out to Derek. She tries to keep the subject away from her insomnia, but Derek insists. She tells him about not wanting to raise the body of the murdered girl in the woods and accidentally leave it there. She tells him about the bats and worries she could do that at any time to any dead animal lying around and not even know it. Derek gets up to find her a dead animal to practice on so that she can learn.
Derek brings Chloe a mole, but there isn’t enough of it left for Chloe to be able to imagine bringing it back. They start wandering around the trees to find something and Derek hears voices. He tells Chloe not to worry about them though. They find a bird that if fully intact. After Chloe explains how she raised the bats by generally summoning, he tells her to summon someone specific and see what that does. She starts out on a low setting and gradually raises it to as high as she is comfortable with. She doesn’t see Liz and the bird only seems to twitch a wing, which Derek blames on the maggots. Suddenly, something flies through the air. Derek tackles Chloe and it scrapes her arm. Derek digs it out and sees it isn’t a tranquilizer dart.
Derek keeps Chloe down and they try to get away from what they assume are Edison Group assassins. The bird has been summoned and keeps making noise. When they are far enough away, Chloe is eventually able to release it, but the people are close. Derek has to go back for Simon. He tells Chloe to wait for his signal and then go north towards the road. He takes off and whistles until the partners start after him. Chloe climbs up into a tree and starts to whistle back to keep Derek from being overpowered by them. They know it is Chloe and split up. Chloe kicks the tree trunk to keep the guard by her. A piece of bark falls down and the woman shines her flashlight up towards Chloe. Chloe jumps down on her and knocks her out. She searches around for a gun, but doesn’t find one. She takes the flashlight and radio and takes off.
Chloe finds the road Derek told her to find a hiding spot by. Suddenly, a woman appears and tells her to follow her. Chloe is not positive it is her aunt, but follows anyway. Derek grabs her and says he didn’t see anyone else running through there. Chloe is pretty sure her aunt is dead, but Derek tries to tell her it could’ve been a spell to lure her to the Edison Group people. Simon joins them and tells them he and Tori split up. They start running, but Derek knocks them all down when he hears others following. Chloe gives him the radio she took and he listens in. They have Tori and have brought Andrew to lure them out of hiding. They plan to shoot him if he doesn’t call out for them. Suddenly, there is chatter that Andrew and their truck are both missing. Andrew comes up near them and tells greets them. He is shocked at how big Derek has gotten. Andrew goes to see if he can free Tori. Derek goes with him. Simon and Chloe start heading for the truck.
They find the SUV in an open, abandoned garage and Simon checks the hot wiring job to see if he can replicate it. A few seconds later, Andrew and Derek join them with Tori. Chloe and Simon jump in the back seat with Tori. Andrew and Derek get up front and they start driving slowly through the woods with the lights off. Simon holds Chloe’s hand. She asks Andrew about her aunt, but he didn’t see her. Tori explains they left her with only one guard and her binding spell worked well against that. They tell Andrew all about what has happened to them starting at Lyle house. He explains that he is part of a group that has the ultimate goal of taking down the Edison Group. He wanted Kit to join them because him having two kids in one of the more dangerous experiments would help their cause. Kit refused and they had their falling out. Andrew understands now that it was too much danger to put the kids in. They pull into a winding driveway and eventually reach a large Victorian house that was donated to the group. Andrew tells them they will be staying there the next few days because the group will need their help to infiltrate the Edison Group headquarters.
Chloe goes to bed thinking about her old life. She isn’t sure she can return to it after everything she has experienced.