The Shrink Program

Chapter 151

Until suddenly, they weren't.

"I didn't tell him anything Maddison. All I did was ask him to swap the cards for me. He agreed." He snapped tersely, causing my hackles to rise.

"Just like that? Devin, the queen of respect and diligence, just screwed with my stuff because you asked him to."

Vain's eyes narrowed.

"I don't appreciate you implying that I did something to him when you know I consider him family just as much as you do Maddison."

Why you little...

Teeth gritted in frustration, I forced out a reply.

"No offence Vain, but caring about someone hasn't really been enough to stop you in recent history."

Vain's eye twitched in that alarming way of his, and I started to wished that someone in the group was actually brave enough to stop us.

When Vain spoke again, his words were sharp enough to cut.

"The reason why Devin took my side in this is that he simply trusts my judgement over yours. After a long history of watching me pull you out of danger, he knows I would do anything to keep you safe."

My mouth fell open, something going seriously wrong in the talking mechanism.

"But... I've never even talked to him about the cards before! How would he know- "

"I'm not the first person who thought to use Devin to get your card, Maddison." Vain crossed his arms. "Nor am I the last."

Just like that, my anger at Vain was shoved aside and replace with growing horror.

Staring at Vain in shock, I wanted to ask.

But I didn't need to.

I had seen the bruises.

"I'll kill them." I hissed, hands clenching down on smouldering rage.

Vain sighed, burying his anger under a tired expression.

"Which is exactly why Devin hid this from you in the first place."

"Yea, well," I muttered, suppressing the anger and saving it for when I could do something about it. "As soon as I'm done killing them, he's next. "

Damn it, Devin, you should have told me.

"Alright, enough fighting." Alex finally intervened, stepped past his brother and towards the base of the tree. "The only person who will be killing anyone will be my mother if we don't stop her before she regains access to her system. So I suggest you focus on that for now. "

Right. We're all dead anyway. How could I forget?

"The cards themselves were easy to replicate," Alan explained cheerfully, quickly moving the topic of conversation away from us as Alex selected a card, pressing it flat against the bark of the tree.

"It was the encrypted nano code inside each one that was impossible to mimic. "

After a moment, a mechanical whirl started up, and the ground in front of the tree began to split.

The grass folded in on itself, opening to reveal the trap door entrance to the Hill. All that could be made out was the metallic staircase leading down into the dark.

"Put the card on the tree, and the door will open," I muttered in an eerie voice. "Couldn't have had a lamer entrance if we tried."

Seriously, even Apollo's pool niche was more subtle.