Fullepub 
22
22
The news broke the next morning.
the headline screamed. All the cable news stations picked it up immediately, and the team gathered in our room to watch.
“They’re not reporting about MDG creating the scrabs,” Priya complained.
“My guy at the Post said they needed another source before they could report that,” Maddie said. “But he’s on it, trust me.”
I glanced at my phone. “Maddie, it’s ten. We need to leave for the conference soon.”
She slid off the bed. “I take it that means you want me to get dressed?” She was in sweats, her hair still damp from her shower earlier.
“It couldn’t hurt.”
“Wait, wait, it’s the Lubbock police,” Noah said. He grabbed the remote and turned the volume up. The news switched to a live feed of a news conference. A police officer was walking toward a podium.
“He doesn’t look pleased,” Maddie said with a laugh.
He began by giving them a quick summary of what had happened a few days ago—receiving a call and discovering the dead scrabs and people inside an MDG facility. Cameras flashed wildly as he talked.
“This investigation is still ongoing, so I only have limited information for you at this time,” he said. “But we have determined that the facility was used for the housing and training of scrabs. And approximately five hundred scrabs that were being kept in that facility are currently unaccounted for.”
A ripple went through the crowd in the room. The officer held up his hand to quiet them.
“We are working with individuals at the Monster Defense Group to determine where these scrabs are, and we have set up a tip line for anyone who has any information. We ask that you call if you see anything suspicious. We have had some scrab experts out here to survey the city, and they’ve determined that it’s unlikely the scrabs are currently burrowing underground anywhere nearby.”
“Are you saying that someone stole the scrabs?” a reporter shouted.
“Yes, right now we are working off the assumption that the scrabs were stolen,” the police officer said. “Again, we urge anyone with any information to come forward. That’s all for now. Thank you.” He walked away amid shouted questions.
“They don’t believe that Julian took them?” Priya asked.
“Agent Simmons seemed skeptical,” Maddie said. “But she promised she’d look into it.” She walked to her suitcase and began digging through it.
“What do they think Julian was doing with all that meat?” Dorsey exclaimed. “Having a barbecue?”
“I mean, we are in Texas,” Priya said.
“Whatever, they can be as skeptical as they want,” Maddie said. “We have it covered. Laila’s going to wait for Julian in the hotel lobby again, and we’ll look for those other two guys at the conference. Or anything else suspicious.”
“They’re all suspicious,” Dorsey muttered.
“Have you thought about what we’re going to do after we find the scrabs?” Patrick asked.
Maddie glanced at me. We’d talked some about my ideas to expand training and possibly start up other programs, but we definitely hadn’t made any decisions yet. I wasn’t sure if she was just humoring me.
“Uh, the plans are still in flux,” she said.
“You’re planning on Germany next, aren’t you?” Noah looked confused.
“Yeah, but maybe we should go back to New York instead of going straight to Germany.”
“Why Germany?” Laila asked. “What’s up with the UK?”
“I’m not totally sure the UK wants us back. I’ve been talking to some people, and they’re not crazy about the idea,” Maddie said.
“The UK recruits are pissed, but a lot of them are willing to work in another country for a while,” Patrick said.
“Did they find out if MDG sent those scrabs on our last assignment in London?” Dorsey asked.
“I asked Agent Simmons about it, and she said they’re claiming they have no knowledge of it. They admitted to losing a good number of their trained scrabs that night we tried to stop the shipment, so it’s possible it was just some of those.”
“But you want to wait on Germany?” Noah asked.
“I don’t know.” Maddie glanced at me again. “I know we have some work to do, but I really don’t want to let the teams languish for too long. People will lose interest, and they won’t come back. I mean, we’re already losing some of our own team.”
I blinked, surprised. “We are?”
Priya blew out a long breath. “I don’t know. I told Maddie before I left that I was wavering about going back, but I missed you guys. And you had fun without me. I have fomo.”
“What is fomo?” I asked.
“Fear of missing out,” she said. “I think it’s too strong for me to stay in Alabama.”
“I’ll go back, but only until the summer,” Laila said. “I deferred college for a year, and I want to start next fall so I don’t lose my place.”
“Oh,” I said, my heart sinking a little.
“And Noah is about to become a star, so he’ll be leaving us,” Maddie said, lips twitching. I looked at him quickly.
He flushed. “I’m not about to become a star.”
“Because you already are one?” Maddie guessed.
He shot her an amused look. “A producer reached out to me about doing a docuseries about fighting scrabs. They want me to travel around to different parts of the world and talk to people about interesting things they’ve done to fight off scrabs in their communities.”
“That’s awesome,” Patrick said. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
“I’m still deciding. I’d have to leave the team. They said they’d like to shoot some stuff with you guys, if you’re up for it, but then I’d have to leave for six months to shoot the show.”
“Scrabs aren’t going to disappear in six months,” Maddie said. “You are always welcome back.”
He smiled at her, and they exchanged a look that made me think there had been more to this discussion when it had been just the two of them.
“Well, I’m going to Germany,” Patrick said. “Whenever that is. Clara’s been working on some new training plans with me and Noah, and I think we could be in good shape if we really make some changes.” He looked pointedly at Maddie.
“We’ll make the changes!” she said, putting her hands up. “Some of the other stuff Clara is working on is still up in the air, but we’ll implement a new training program. I promise.”
I smiled at her.
“I’m in for Germany too,” Dorsey said.
I glanced at Edan. His eyes were already on me, and he quickly looked away.
“Uh, yeah,” he said slowly. “I intended to stay with the teams. I think that’s still the plan.”
My stomach dropped. He sounded hesitant. Maybe he was rethinking his decision to stay with the team too. He’d said that he went where I went, but that was before I cheerfully told him to date another girl. I wouldn’t blame him for changing his mind.
Maddie grabbed some clothes from her bag. “Just give me, like, fifteen minutes,” she said, walking into the restroom and closing the door behind her.
Edan stood and headed to the door. “I’ll meet you guys in the lobby.”
I tried to catch his eye before he left, but he was already turned away. He disappeared into the hallway.
Patrick pulled the van into the empty corner of the hotel parking lot and turned the ignition off. I climbed out, followed by Laila, Maddie, and Noah.
I’d expected the parking lot to be full today, considering it was the first day of the conference, but there were only a few more cars than there had been yesterday. It was still half empty.
Edan opened the passenger’s side door of the van, shielding his eyes to look past me. “Why is it so hot? It’s January.”
Priya hopped out, arms spread wide. “I like it. I’m going to sit out here and pretend it’s summer.”
Edan frowned at the clear sky like he disapproved of the seventy-degree weather.
“Is that why you’ve been so cranky since we got here?” Dorsey asked. “You don’t enjoy summer weather in January?”
“I haven’t been cranky.” Edan paused, his lips twitching. “I prefer moody.”
“Oh, yes, that’s much more manly.” Dorsey reached up to whack the side of his head.
Laila gave them an amused look and then stepped back. “Let’s go. I want to stake out a good spot in the lobby so I don’t miss Julian.”
I turned to look back at Edan as we started across the parking lot. He was watching us go, and he lifted one hand with a smile when our eyes met. I returned the smile.
Inside, the hotel wasn’t as crowded as I was expecting. We left Laila in the lobby and headed up to the second floor to check in. A few men wandered around, wearing matching red badges.
“I’m here at the first annual conference of the Scrab Defense League,” Noah said, holding his phone out and doing a circle to get the full picture, “and it is a sad sight so far. Not sure how many attendees they were expecting.” He lowered his phone and glanced at us. “Instagram story. I figured it’s best to post throughout the day in case anyone tries to murder us.”
“Good thinking,” I said.
Noah smiled at me. “It’s so nice how you never tell me I’m overreacting when I say stuff like that, Clara.”
We spent the next several hours attending panels that alternated between excruciatingly boring and terrifyingly stupid. We went to one about Second Amendment rights, and another about scrab defense theory. I had to stop Maddie from standing up and telling the speaker off when he started in about how scrabs would be really helpful to local police.
We split up for the last session, and Maddie and I went to a useless session on scrab training, while Dorsey and Noah went to a panel about scrab combat. We met up in the hallway after it was over.
“Anything interesting?” Maddie asked them.
“It was mostly just talk about how to use guns against scrabs,” Dorsey said, running a hand through his hair. “I’m kind of rooting for everyone in that room to actually go up against a scrab one day, because they for sure are going to accidentally shoot themselves. I hope there’s video.”
“What about you guys?” Noah asked.
“There was nothing . . . new.” Maddie cocked her head, her attention on something behind Noah and Dorsey. She hit my arm. “Aren’t those the guys who were with Julian at the butcher yesterday?”
I followed her gaze to the end of the hallway, where two familiar men stood in front of the elevator. One was talking on his phone as they stepped on.
Maddie grabbed her phone, dialed, and pressed it to her ear. “Laila? Those two guys who were with Julian yesterday just got on the elevator.” She paused, waiting for several seconds. Her face lit up. “Yeah? You see them? Are they leaving?” She listened for a moment. “Yes! We’re headed down now.” She took a step forward, and then stopped. “No, go. Don’t wait for us.” She moved the phone away from her mouth. “They’re already in their car, we won’t make it down in time.” She listened for a moment. “OK, great. Call me back when you figure out where they’re going. And tell Patrick to try and keep a good distance from them. Julian may have told them to watch out for us.” She hung up and slipped her phone into her pocket.
“Are we going to Julian’s session, or should we try to follow them?”
Maddie chewed her lip, considering. “We probably can’t follow them until I have an address to give the Uber driver. Let’s just go to the session. Plus, if Julian sees us, maybe he won’t think we’re following those other guys.”
“Speak of the devil,” Dorsey said, nodding down the hallway.
Julian was stepping off the elevator, which caused everyone in the area to turn and look. A large, red-haired man in a black suit followed him, scanning the area as he walked.
“Does he have a bodyguard?” Maddie asked with an eyeroll.
“He sure does,” I said.
“I mean, there are probably quite a few people in world who want to punch Julian in the face,” Dorsey said. “Present company included. I’d get a bodyguard too, if I were him.”
“That’s a good point,” Maddie murmured.
“I think we could take that guy, though, if anyone wants to give it a go.” Noah looked at me expectantly.
“Come on,” I said with a laugh. Julian had just disappeared into the ballroom.
We followed the crowd inside. Though perhaps crowd was the wrong word. There were maybe two hundred people at this entire conference. The panels were half empty. This ballroom was far too big for the event, and I noticed that Julian glanced back at all the empty space as he made his way to the raised platform at the front. His bodyguard stood off to the side.
“Can I boo?” Dorsey asked.
Maddie patted his arm. “No, but I appreciate that attitude.”
“Hey, guys,” Julian said. “You don’t mind if I don’t use the mic, do you? Why don’t you all come in close? We’ll keep this informal.”
The crowd shuffled forward a bit. Julian sat down at the edge of the platform, legs dangling off. He had an easy smile on his face. If I hadn’t known him, I’d have thought he seemed friendly.
“As you all know, I’m Julian Montgomery. I just wanted to drop by to say thank you all for coming to the first annual Scrab Defense League conference.”
The crowd clapped, and a few people cheered.
“People don’t really understand this movement yet. And that’s OK. People are always slow to accept change. But not you guys. You guys see the future.”
More cheers.
“Scrabs have been a part of our lives for nearly ten years now, and it’s time to accept that they’re not going away. It doesn’t matter how they got here, it matters that they’re here now and we have to deal with them. It’s time to innovate. It’s time to figure out how to put these things to use before someone else does it first. That’s what Americans are known for, right? Innovation?”
Julian’s gaze caught on me suddenly, and he stopped talking, clearly surprised. His eyes bounced to Maddie, followed by Dorsey. He looked back at me, head tilted to one side, a smile playing on his lips. I cocked an eyebrow.
He gestured to his bodyguard, and then at us. The man frowned at us, and a few people turned.
“We should probably get out of here now,” Maddie said.
“Yep, good plan.” I said.
We walked outside and down the street to avoid a run-in with Julian or any of his admirers. My phone buzzed, and I looked down at it to see a message to the group from Edan.
Maddie typed out a reply.
“Oh my god,” Maddie said, typing frantically.
