Time Will Tell [Complete]

Chapter Nine

  As Lizzy walked, she couldn't help thinking over what she had heard. What had Liam done after she had told him to leave? Turned back to evil? She scoffed. "Not falling for that again." she muttered.

Why was he looking for MNT? Was he looking for a job at headquarters? This was ridiculous. Did men never get better?

She kicked a stick in the middle of the dirt road. She knew where MNT lived. She felt like going there right now and throwing Liam in the dirt, punching MNT in the face, and – and...

Lizzy wrapped her arms around herself. "Get a hold of yourself, Emily."

Somehow, her real name calmed her down better than a hot cup of tea would have. She sighed and released herself, walking at a more leisurely pace.

Then she punched a tree and kicked a log. "Why can't they do anything right?!" she yelled. A nearby squirrel ran away as fast as he could, not bothering to see who was making all the noise.

Lizzy collapsed on the log. "All right. I made a decision. I need to stick to it. Let's go. Let's make a plan, and let's overthrow my brother, and let's – let's..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but she stood and kept walking. She would do this, and she would succeed, she would stay calm. She walked faster. The sooner she made it back, the sooner they could start to plan.

And she was starving, so she wanted to make it back in time for dinner...

* * *

Lizzy arrived back at Patrick's two hours later. She slammed the door open, making as dramatic an entrance as she could. Marjorie, Finn, Kit and Jack were all sitting at the dining room table with Erin, who was sitting on the table itself. She looked at Lizzy and smiled. The rest just stared.

"Uh – Elizabeth?" Marjorie said. Jack looked extremely confused when he heard the name 'Elizabeth'. He had thought her name was Emily – "Probably some sort of odd nickname," he said, and shrugged.

"We need a plan. Just overthrowing my brother won't be enough. We need to squash the entire corporation. And we need volunteers. And we WILL win!"

Kit smiled encouragingly. Marjorie and Finn exchanged a look. Finn shrugged. Erin clapped, and Jack joined in. Marjorie watched Lizzy with a concerned expression on her face.

Lizzy buried her face in her hands, noticing everyone's unsure reactions. The only two people who reacted positively were the only two who had no idea what was going on! Lizzy had to confess, it was discouraging. "All right. Well, that went well. I'm going to go see how Patrick's doing..."

"Oh – no! No, no, no, absolutely not." Finn stood up and blocked the hall. "Not when he's – er – when you are in this kind of... mood, I suppose you would call it. Besides, Alexander and Minnie are in there. But you really can't go there right now. Really." He shrugged contritely.

"What... ?" Lizzy looked at Erin. She beamed up at her but didn't look like she was paying any attention at all to what was happening.

Lizzy turned back to Finn. "Fine. I'm going outside. And –" she paused and picked the little girl up, struggling a bit with the five-year-old's bulk. "I'm taking Erin with me."

She turned on her heel and exited the house just as she had entered, not two minutes before.

"Well," said Kit, leaning back in his chair and propping his feet up on the table. "I think that went well."

Marjorie thumped her head into her arms that were folded on the table. Finn scratched his head. Jack shook his. "It definitely didn't."

"What?" Kit shrugged. "She just needs sleep. She's exhausted. She also just walked for five hours. Obviously, she just needs some time with soothing people. You," he said, gesturing to everyone in the room, "are not soothing."