Page 27 of Surviving in Everton

“Well, that guy is scary. He knows shit people aren’t supposed to know. And he can find outanythingaboutanyone. So... I met with him today. I explained the situation and asked if he knew of anyone at your school that might have been selling potions. We went back to his place so he could do his computer magic and hopefully find something helpful. Dude lives in those new apartments they just built! That place isnice! He lives on the top floor and his whole apartment is just so cool. He has thisawesomegaming setup! I wonder if he would let me come over and play some games with him…” Ayden trails off lost in thought.

“Uh… Ayden? You were saying?” Rowe tries to get his attention back on the matter at hand.

“Oh! Sorry,” he says sheepishly. “His place is amazing, but anyway, yeah he did his thing on his computer… computers?” He furrows his brow in concentration. “I don’t know, there were a lot of screens, like all over every wall. It was crazy, but I’m not sure if it was just one computer working or not.” He shrugs but carries on with his story, so I don’t have to pop him upside his head. Damn.

“Right, so he gave me all of this.” He drops a stack of papers on the coffee table. I can see a picture of some preppy guy on the first page. Ayden points to the page and says, “That’s Brad. Apparently, he’s some trust fund loser that doesn’t like being told no. Do you recognize him, Rowe?” He asks her hopefully.

Rowe takes the paper from him and examines the picture. “Oh shit! This guy? You think he helped Harris somehow?” Rowen continues to stare at the picture with wide eyes.

“Yeah, why? You know him?” Ayden asks.

“Just another guy that can’t take no as an answer,” she grumbles.

“What do you mean? Did this clown ask you out?” I demand.

Rowe sighs and gives me a look. “Of course he did. That asshole thinks he’s god’s gift to women.” She rolls her eyes. “You wouldn’t believe some of the things I heard girls say about him.” She shudders at the memory. “He was a creep.”

“Well then, looks like a good place to start,” Hudson says. “What do you have on him, Ayden?”

“Every fuckin’ thing!” he exclaims. “I told you, West is fucking scary with what he can find out on his computer. And he’s freakingfasttoo! He came up with all of this as I was standing there. Took him like three minutes. I’ve got literally everything we could possibly need to find him,” Ayden declares then starts passing out the papers West gave him.

Quinn snatches a piece of paper out of his hands, guess she wanted to make sure he didn’t forget about her. I mean, she’s been awfully quiet over there.

“Damn. How’d he find all of this? He’s got friends and family’s names and numbers, his fucking schedule, where he hangs out, where he shops… man this guy is scary, you weren’t joking, Ayden,” Quinn says in awe.

“I told you! Dude’s got mad skills on the computer. No idea how he does what he does, but I’m very grateful for it,” he replies.

“I wonder if it’s all skill, or a little magic mixed in,” Rowen speculates. “Do you know all of the different abilities there are out there? Would not surprise me if he has some kind of information or investigation ability or something equally ridiculous.”

“I don’t honestly know a lot about the different abilities. I know there’s actually a lot of them, yet they’re somehow rare at the same time. It’s pretty confusing actually, so who knows, maybe.” Ayden shrugs.

“Okay, enough talk. Let’s go find this fucker,” I interrupt the blabbering. “Where’s it say he’s going to be tonight? I’m ready to go.”

“Wait, don’t you think we should take a minute and figure out what we’re going to say to him?” Hudson suggests. “We can’t just hunt him down and beat answers out of him, Nate.”

“Why the hell not?!? I’ll get fucking answers, just let me find him,” I snap back.

“And what if he’s not our guy, Nate? What if he has nothin’ to do with it and you beat the shit out of him for no reason?” Declan tries to persuade me.

“I don’t know, Dec, sounds like there’s plenty of reasons for someone to beat this asshole’s ass. Why shouldn’t it be me?” I argue.

“Oh, I don’t know, because you could go tojail? We can’t risk you bein’ taken away right now, Nate. If we find out he did this, aftertalkin’to him, then you have my permission to fuck him up,” Declan allows.

“Ugh, fine,” I huff. I was really looking forward to getting my hands dirty tonight. Oh well, there’s still hope, I just have to be patient I suppose. Though, that’s not exactly my strong suit.

Declan chuckles across the room. “Oh trust me, Nate, we know that’s not your strong suit. You’re the least patient one in the group.” He smirks at me, and everyone voices their agreement.

I raise a brow at Rowen. “Oh, like you have room to talk, Kitten?” I challenge.

She just smiles and shrugs her shoulders. “I may be impatient, but not as much as you,” she tells me smugly.

“Whatever.” I roll my eyes. “ Can we make a plan now? Because I’m going after this pricktonightwith or without the rest of you,” I declare.

Declan is studying the papers, he’s really the best one to trust this part to. “Nate, I hate to break it to you, but this guy doesn’t live in town. We’re not gonna be able to hunt him down tonight. If I’m rememberin’ correctly, the town he lives in is four hours away. It’s gonna have to be a weekend trip,” Declan announces.

“Well, damn. I didn’t even think to look at where he lives. Fuck! Fine, but we leave first thing Saturday morning,” I demand. “Now, who’s going?”

“You guys have fun. I’ll stay home with the kids,” Rowen tells us.

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