Fullepub 
25
25
I woke up early the next morning, my body buzzing with excitement and anticipation.
Edan texted me as I was getting ready, and I smiled as I opened it. It was a link to a Twitter account from a guy I didn’t know. “She tried to tell y’all what Julian was like. NOW do you believe her?” it read, with the video of Julian in the lobby last night below it. It had thousands of likes and retweets.
I didn’t know if I cared if people believed me or not. I wanted Julian to pay for what he’d done, but mostly I just wanted people to stop mentioning my name with his.
I typed to Edan.
he replied immediately.
Maddie’s phone buzzed, and she emerged from under the blankets to grab it.
“Any news about the scrabs?” I asked, pulling my hair into a ponytail.
She rolled over, rubbing her eyes. “Not yet. It’s just Mom.”
“I’m going to go grab coffee with Edan. Do you want anything?”
“No.” She glanced away from her phone for a moment to grin at me. “Have fun.”
Edan was waiting by the lobby doors, a frown on his face as he looked down at his phone. It disappeared when he looked up and spotted me.
He put both hands on my cheeks and kissed me, making every thought fly out of my head. I smiled at him as we pulled away. My eyes caught on the front desk behind him, where both of the people working there were staring at us. They weren’t the same ones from last night, but they were looking at us like they’d heard (or seen) everything.
I took Edan’s hand, and we walked outside into the cool morning air. It was sunny, but a bit chillier than yesterday.
“Is something wrong?” I asked. He looked confused. “You looked worried when I came down.”
“Oh! Right.” A small smile crossed his lips. “I got distracted.”
I grinned, and he leaned over and kissed me quickly.
“TMZ posted a picture of Julian being released from jail this morning,” he said, almost apologetically.
“Great.” I glanced back at our hotel. “Do you think maybe we should ask Maddie to change hotels? It doesn’t seem safe to stay here since he knows where we are.”
“Yeah, we probably should. And we maybe shouldn’t walk through the lobby together at the next place.”
“Yeah, we’re pretty obvious in a big group.”
We walked to a nearby coffee shop, and found a table in the corner.
“I’ve been wondering about something Julian said last night,” Edan said.
“What’s that?”
“Julian said that he asked you why I deserved a second chance and he didn’t. You said you gave him an answer and he just didn’t like it.”
“I told him that you’d never hurt me. Or spied on me. Or tried to manipulate me. It’s not even fair to compare the two of you. It only makes sense in his twisted brain.”
The edges of his lips turned up. “Thank you.” He laughed softly. “Is that a weird response? I just appreciate that you know that about me.”
“Of course I know that about you.”
He took a sip of his coffee and seemed to consider his words carefully. “Do you feel OK about everything? The things he said to you were really mean, and I couldn’t tell if you were just pretending not to be upset or if you really weren’t.”
I looked at him in surprise. “Upset? About what Julian yelled at me?”
“Yes,” he said, with a slightly confused laugh. “He was awful to you.”
I cocked my head, considering. “I guess he was. But no, that didn’t upset me. It scared me—I keep looking out that window, checking to see if he’s coming for us.” I pointed to the front of the coffee shop. “But otherwise I’m fine. If you yelled at me like that, I’d be devastated. I don’t care what Julian thinks of me.”
“I would never yell at you like that. I would never yell at anyone like that.”
I smiled at him. “I know.”
Maddie texted me as we were walking back to the hotel.
I typed out a response.
“Oh my god,” I said with an incredulous laugh. I passed my phone to Edan so he could read the messages.
We raced upstairs and found the team crammed into the room, glued to the television. Maddie waved us over with a grin and we moved closer.
The chyron on the bottom of the screen said Julian Montgomery implicated in scrab theft. An anchor was behind the desk, talking to the camera.
“An arrest warrant has been issued for Julian Montgomery this morning in connection with the missing scrabs in Lubbock, Texas. Multiple witnesses have put Mr. Montgomery in Lubbock when the theft occurred, and sources tell us that he had recently been fired from his role at MDG.
Mr. Montgomery was in police custody in Dallas until early this morning, when he posted bail after being arrested on disorderly conduct and misdemeanor assault charges last night. Those charges are unrelated to the scrab theft.”
Tori’s video flashed on the screen, showing Julian lunging at me and Edan.
“Police ask anyone with knowledge of his whereabouts to come forward immediately.”
“Holy shit,” I breathed. I sat down on the edge of my bed. Edan lowered down beside me, slipping an arm around my waist.
“My thoughts exactly,” Laila said.
“Have they mentioned the Scrab Defense League guys yet?” Edan asked.
“The Post is reporting it,” Maddie said, looking at her phone. “I talked to one of their reporters last night, and he definitely didn’t seem surprised when I said I’d seen guys from the conference go fetch the scrabs. And they have a source that confirms Julian’s exit from MDG was nasty. Multiple people saw him screaming and throwing a fit when they fired him.”
“That’s why he didn’t warn MDG to empty out Dust Storm,” I said. “He just grabbed the scrabs and let us find everything to screw them over.”
Maddie’s eyes lit up as she looked at her phone. “Oh my god, one of the Scrab Defense League guys just confirmed to the Times that Julian stole the scrabs because he had an interested buyer. He’d promised the league guys that they could have a few if they helped him.”
I leaned into Edan’s arm, overwhelmed by the flood of information. He pulled me a little closer.
“That asshole is going to prison for sure this time,” Maddie said. “And you should look at Twitter. Everyone has changed their tune after seeing that video. Lots of people are saying you’re owed an apology.”
“Edan sent it to me. And Julian going to prison will be enough of an apology for me.” I turned to smile at Edan, who gently pressed his lips to mine.
“Hey,” I heard Priya say in a loud whisper. “Edan and Clara are kissing!”
We both laughed as we pulled away. Everyone was looking at us. Priya silently clapped her hands, a delighted expression on her face.
“Thank you, Captain Obvious,” Maddie said dryly.
“They’ve been doing that since yesterday,” Dorsey said.
Priya looked insulted. “What? How come no one told me?”
“Sorry, forgot,” Laila said, her eyes still on the television.
“Finally,” Priya said. “I was about to say something to one of you, because the tension was starting to get to me.”
“Same,” Dorsey said.
“Plus, we all already have enough stress trying to pretend we don’t know Maddie and Noah are hooking up,” Laila said.
Noah’s head snapped up from his phone. Priya clapped her hand over her mouth to suppress a giggle.
Maddie shot Laila an amused look. “I guess you’re tired of pretending, then?”
Laila waved her hand. “Please, we all know.”
“It’s true, we do,” Patrick said.
“Well, it doesn’t matter because Noah’s about to tell us he’s leaving in a week anyway,” Maddie said.
We all looked at Noah, who nodded sheepishly.
“I decided to take that job,” he said. “The scrab documentary? They want me to go to China with them in a week to start scouting locations.”
“That’s awesome,” Priya said.
“It’s going to take several months,” he said. “But I plan on coming back when I’m done. Wherever you guys are. I think I’m going to hold off on college for a couple years.”
“You’re always welcome back,” Maddie said. Noah shot her a smile.
“So, you’re leaving from here?” Dorsey asked.
“Yeah, they bought me a ticket out of Dallas. But I have a few days to keep looking for those missing scrabs, and Maddie said you guys aren’t going anywhere.”
I looked at her in surprise. “We’re staying in Dallas?”
“You are not staying in Dallas,” Maddie said, pointing to me. “Not with Julian still on the loose. Not to mention that your parents might have seen that video and decided to change their minds about making you come home. I’ll buy a ticket for you and Edan to go back to New York tonight.”
“But the scrabs are still unaccounted for,” I protested. “We can’t just leave you guys.”
“Julian screamed repeatedly that he was going to kill you, and I really believe him,” Priya said. “You can’t stay here. We can handle the scrabs if we have to.”
“The governor already deployed the National Guard here, and they’re trained in scrab combat,” Maddie said. “And the FBI sent a bunch of people down too. We probably won’t even have anything to do.”
I frowned, still hesitant to leave them.
“Go somewhere closer, if you don’t want to go back to New York,” Patrick said. “Go to Austin. It’s only, like, three hours by bus. You can come back and help if we need it.”
I brightened. That was a better plan. Plus, I didn’t hate the idea of spending time alone with Edan. Alone in a city without scrabs, without the rest of the team. I loved them, but I certainly wouldn’t mind a hotel room with just the two of us.
“What do you think?” I asked Edan.
“I’m game if you are,” he said. He smiled, and I got the impression he was just as excited at the prospect of being alone as I was.
“We’ll do it,” I said, squeezing his hand.
“Perfect,” Maddie said. “I’ll book you guys a hotel where you can’t get upstairs without a room key. And lie low while you’re there. Just in case.” She scooted off her bed. “Everyone go get dressed. We’re going for a celebratory breakfast.”
Edan leaned over to kiss me and then followed the rest of the team out of the room. Maddie swiped at her phone.
“Go ahead and pack your bag. There’s a bus that leaves at noon. We’ll drop you guys off after breakfast. And do you want one room or two at the hotel?”
“One.”
She grinned at me. “Good choice.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Hang around, wait to see if the police find the scrabs. Noah flies out on Wednesday, so I’ll at least stay until then.”
“And then?”
She sighed. “I haven’t decided about Germany. You’re right about a lot of stuff, but Patrick’s been coordinating with Connor about the teams still left in the UK. There’s a decent amount left who are willing to jump right back in.”
“A decent amount isn’t a safe amount,” I said.
“I know. Just give me a few days. I feel sort of overwhelmed by everything right now.” She rubbed at her forehead. “If Grayson were still around, he’d already have figured out a way to turn the MDG revelation about them creating scrabs into a big recruitment effort.”
“We can definitely do that. I imagine the news will be reporting it any day now.”
She smiled. “Send me any ideas you have. And hurry up and pack, because I am eating an entire mountain of pancakes to celebrate Julian’s upcoming jail time.”
We went to a diner down the street for breakfast. The news about Julian was playing on the televisions, the reporters all speculating about what Julian had planned to do with the scrabs and where they were now.
I hadn’t seen Maddie so happy in months. Her phone kept dinging with interview requests and apologies from people back in New York, but she ignored them. She must have really been thrilled if she didn’t even want to gloat.
All the reporters on television were saying that it probably wouldn’t be long before Julian surrendered. They suspected he was just strategizing with his lawyers before turning himself in. They also said that bail was unlikely, given his wealth and resources. Which meant that I could relax soon. I was going to shut down the email account with all of Julian’s emails and maybe (hopefully) never hear from him again.
Edan slipped his arm around my shoulders, and I leaned into him. I still needed to finish my plans for noncombat teams and present them to Maddie, but I’d decided to enjoy a few days with Edan first. A few days without scrabs or Julian or MDG.
Maddie drove us across town to the bus station after we finished eating. It was the same bus station where I’d joined the St. John teams back in May. The whole team piled out of the van to say goodbye, even though we would see them in a few days.
“Eat tacos for me,” Priya said as she hugged me.
“I will,” I said with a laugh.
“What?” I heard Noah say softly, and I turned to see him looking at Maddie worriedly. She was staring down at her phone.
“It’s Julian,” she said, her eyes flicking up to mine. “He’s calling me.”
“Answer it,” Noah said.
She swiped to answer the call and put it on speaker. “Julian?”
“Hi, Madison.” He sounded calm. Almost cheerful, actually.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“Is Clara with you?”
Maddie looked up at me, clearly unsure if she should answer that honestly.
I stepped closer to the phone with a sigh. “Yeah, I’m here.”
“Oh, perfect. Hi, Clara.”
An uneasy feeling began to creep into my chest. He sounded almost . . . happy? It was unsettling. I felt Edan’s hand brush mine, and I gripped it, weaving my fingers through his.
“Your neighborhood is a real shithole, you know that?” Julian said. “When you told me you grew up in Dallas. I was picturing a big suburb with those houses that all look alike. You know the ones. Kind of tacky, but still nice enough. But this is definitely not that.”
The blood drained from my face. “Julian, wh—what are you—”
“You kept treating me like I was some kind of monster. No matter what I did or how many times I tried to apologize, you refused to see me as anything but this horrible guy. Even after my parents died, you didn’t have one ounce of sympathy for me. So, I just figured, what the hell?” He laughed hollowly. “If you’re going to insist that I’m the bad guy here, I might as well be one, right?”
I heard screams in the background, followed by a crashing sound.
“Everyone here is running from the scrabs, which is an . . . interesting choice,” Julian said. “But I guess there have never been any scrabs in Dallas, huh? People don’t know what to do.” Distantly, I heard gunshots. “Yep, that dude just tried to shoot a scrab. That did not work out for him, let me tell you.”
Patrick grabbed the van keys from Maddie and ran around to the driver’s seat. The engine roared to life. Edan guided me into the van as I talked into the phone Maddie was still holding.
“Julian, what are you doing?” My words came out frantic. “You’re hurting innocent people, you can’t—”
“You have no one to blame here but yourself, Clara. If you’d just listened to me, none of this would have happened. If you hadn’t been such a selfish, judgmental bitch, we could have avoided all of this! Instead, the whole world has turned against me and everyone thinks you’re some kind of hero.”
“Clara, which way is your neighborhood?” Patrick asked, hitting the gas.
“Her brother’s apartment is at 385 Iris Spring Road,” Julian said. “Don’t be fooled by the pretty street name—the place is a real dump.”
My blood went cold. I fumbled for my phone in my pocket.
“You assholes are so convinced you’re heroes, so come on out here. Save everyone.” The call abruptly ended.
