The Lost Ones (Closed, Started)

Casey

The drive to the set seemed endless. Everyone else was having their own conversations and ignoring Casey completely. Usually it made her feel somewhat insecure, the fact that she had never really had any real friends and people didn't much like talking to her. But here, with the dudes all picking on Hannah, she was happy to be excluded from this conversation.

She pressed her face against the window and watched the scenery as they drove by and ventured closer into the Amazon Rainforest. She was still getting used to the fact that she was in Brazil, her first real day out of the country. Casey wasn't sure how long had passed in the drive because she started to doze off. She was awoken when the driver turned to the backseat and said, "We're about the enter the rainforest."

Casey shot awake and looked out the window. Almost immediately she could hear the sounds of the different critters, of the nearby river. Everything was so alive and beautiful. They must have driven for a minute or so before the driver finally pulled aside and announced the road was too narrow to venture further with the car, so they would have to walk- not far- to get to camp.

Casey felt butterflies in her stomach. This adventure was actually happening, and she would want to live in the moments that the next few weeks would bring as fully as possible, because she knew she would remember this forever.

Hannah Davenport

"Excuse me?"

Theo was quick to stand up, and Hannah couldn't do anything but gape at him. "I'm not walking in that! It's... disgusting!"

Theo only laughed. "The driver said it isn't far."

Archie jumped up and leaned over the seat. "I'll keep you safe--"

Hannah took Theo's outstretched hand and scurried away from Archie's offer. "

Slowly, they filed out of the van. Casey was quick to jump out -- she seemed very excited about this whole ordeal, but Hannah supposed she never had a hairdresser before either. Her hair's gonna frizz worse than Hannah's.

"Wow, the rainforest is awesome!" Ralph said once he jumped outside.

Theo crawled out after Archie and turned to help Hannah, but Hannah merely stood by the door, looking at the ground. The muddy, grassy, buggy, wet ground. "I'm not walking in that."

"No one's carrying you, Hannah!" Ralph called out without even looking behind him. Casey giggled as Ralph started walking away.

Theo held out a hand anxiously. "Come on, you're going to be left behind!"

Hannah glared at him, slapped his hand, squeezed incredibly hard, and carefully stepped outside, making sure her boots were on sturdy, least-muddy ground. Her lip was awfully curled in disgust. "It's going to take a week to clean these boots now!"

Theo let go and stretched. "It's good to be out of that van! How long 'til we reach camp?"

"Should be about fifteen minutes if we keep a good pace," the driver said. "Hurry up, now. I want to lock up."

Hannah watched the driver walk past her without a care in the world they were in the middle of the forest. She couldn't believe everyone was taking this so well.

She adjusted her handbag onto her shoulder, straightened herself out, and stood there stiffly. "They'll be hearing from my agent about this one. My lawyer, in fact!"

Ralph

Ralph walked a pace or two ahead of the group, leading them down the muddy path. The rainforest was breathtaking, every sound and sight unique. Ralph felt more inspired already. The trees were taller than any he'd ever seen. Colourful birds sang and flew about in the trees. Bright flowers littered the ground. Every now and then a beam of sunlight broke through the filter of green, dazzling him. And was that a monkey? He stopped in his tracks, grabbed Casey's arm, and pointed. They watched the monkey swing away from them in the canopy.

The only thing that spoiled it was Hannah's constant complaining about the outdoors. "You knew what you were getting into when you accepted the part, Hannah," Ralph called over his shoulder, walking on. If he were to be completely honest, though, he was a little bit worried about getting all this mud off of his new sneakers. Nobody had told him they would be walking anywhere!

Archie

Okay so that Hannah chick? Mucho fun to tease. Archie gave her a sly grin as she scuttled away from him and decided to grab hold of Theo instead. He sure was playing along. He did realise she was like seventeen, right? Whatever.

Archie stuck his hands in his pockets as he squelched through the mud and looked around himself. Pretty nifty scenery. That tree over there would be so hot for a photo shoot or if they strung a hammock over by that-

"Urggghhh! Yes, but if I had been given photos then I would have known what I was in for." That voice could of course belong to only one person. Hannah Montana, queen of the jungle.

"I could take a photo," Archie suggested helpfully. "How about you sit over there by that tree and cover yourself in mud or something? You could be a native."

That suggestion didn't go down too well. Hannah shot him a glare and if he'd been any closer, Archie felt sure he might have got punched in the face. As it was, it looked like a mud pie might not be off the menu. Except of course this was Hannah and she couldn't possibly get her fingers dirty.

"Well here we are," the driver said gruffly as he pushed some canopy aside and there was a huddle of tents and not much else.

"Aren't we going to the hotel first?" Theo asked as he gave the tents a suspicious look. Archie just kind of guessed they must be starting on filming straight away, but he could hardly believe it when the driver snorted and said he'd not seen any hotels. He started to move away.

"Maybe it won't be so bad?" Casey asked uncertainly. Hannah looked ready to cry.

Theo

This was not what he expected. There were some sorry looking green tents and a handful of trailers, but very small ones. Worryingly small. And what were all the tents for? It wasn't called a rainforest for nothing, surely there were a lot of things they needed to keep dry and away from the dangers of the Amazon.

Theo wasn't a diva. This just wasn't what he was expecting.

The heat was beginning to get at him and he wiped his arms and forehead down as if hoping to rid himself of the humidity, but it made no difference. The others were looking equally nervous, especially the kids.

"What's up?" he asked Casey, who was chewing on her thumbnail, one arm hugging herself around the middle.

"It's just not what I was expecting," she said. "I mean, I knew it wouldn't be the lap of luxury but I thought it'd be a bit..."

"More glamourous?" Theo teased.

"Bigger," she said shortly.

Theo conceded. "Come on, maybe the trailers aren't so bad."

The first thing that made him think otherwise was the size of the trailers close up, the second thing was the way the doors were marked. In permanent marker, somebody had written "TMH." He pushed the door open and inspected inside. It wasn't like anything he'd even stayed in. Even movies in LA, where he stayed at home and not on set, he had had a trailer with a king size bed and a lit-up mirror and a drinks cooler and there were always flowers.

This one just made him feel like he was staying at a dodgy motel.

But hey, the rainforest. Okay, so it was a little shabby. He wasn't Hannah or Manon Devereux. He could deal with it. It was just a little weird. But Pollux was a genius. He probably thought it'd help their method acting or something.

"Hey Casey!" he said, blundering down the steps of his trailer and over to hers to tell her this. "Casey, it's probably to help with our method acting or something?"

Except this wasn't Casey's trailer. Parker stared at him wide-eyed. "Um. Method acting. Like understanding your character's hardships and stuff."

"What is?"

"The trailers."

"What's wrong with the-"

"Never mind." Theo jumped back down the steps of Parker's trailer and hopped along looking for the CM. Archie and Hannah were standing uncomfortably chatting to one another. As he passed, Archie raised an eyebrow.

"I thought he was a stunt double, not special effects."

"Well, those abs-"

"I was talking about the earthquake he's causing."

"Casey!" Theo at last found the initials and pushed the door open. Casey did not look impressed with her first impressions of stardom.

Hannah Davenport

Hannah's eyes followed Theo while Archie babble next to her. She had no idea what he was saying, but she really didn't care to listen. She was extremely unhappy, and it's taking a lot of willpower to not smack him silent.

"This is ridiculous," Hannah finally said matter-of-factly. She stomped away from where she and Archie stood, people looking at her oddly, and she threw herself into the trailer marked HAD.

The place was cramped. How low-budgeted was this film? She couldn't believe how little space she actually had. She could barely walk down the hall! Well, okay, maybe a slight over-exaggeration, but it was still considerably smaller than her trailer back home. Any trailer she used.

This was ridiculous.

Hannah used two fingers to open doors slowly, her lip curled at the poor beverage options in the fridge, and she screamed bloody murder when a huge-butt spider was sitting inside a cabinet.

Theo burst into the trailer. "What's wrong--woah, look at the size of that thing."

Hannah gave him the angriest look and shrieked some more. She shoved Theo aside with all the force she could muster and ran out of the nature-infested trailer. Her flailing convinced the mob in front of her door to jump out of her way. "I was never told I'd be living in nature's dumpster for this!" Hannah fumed.

"Nature's dumpster?" Ralph repeated quietly as she passed him.

Hannah opened her bag and dug around for her cellphone. "I'm calling my agent. This role is not worth this."

"Why'd you take the role in the first place?"

"I didn't want to at first," Hannah snapped at Archie. "But my agent convinced me it would pay off. Pollux isn't a complete loser, I guess. Plus, I get good face-time, and quite frankly, that's all I really care about. The audience loves me. Pollux needed me. And now he can't have me." She turned her back at the group again and put her phone to her ear.

But it didn't ring.

Growling through clenched teeth, she checked her cell. No service.

Hannah was white with rage. She spun on her heel. "Get that filthy thing out of my trailer. I'm going in there, and I'm not coming out until a plane shows up and gets me out of here."

Theo emerged from the trailer as Hannah stomped back over. He, of course, only laughed and leaned against her doorframe. God, why was he so hot? "Ralph got it out for you. You need to relax--"

"No." She looked inside and saw Ralph leaning out of a window. Content with what she saw, she took a deep breath. "Fine. The last thing I want is a zit anyway. If I'm going to be on camera soon..." She took another deep breath and suddenly looked mellow. Like the result of yoga. "...I have to look my best. High school class presidents do not have zits, and my character will not be the first."

There was a chorus of chuckling and snorting that didn't faze her one bit.

Casey

Trailers. Small, uncomfortable trailers. They hadn't seen Pollux yet, but Casey somehow got the feeling that they wouldn't be leaving the rainforest until shooting finished. She set her things beside the bed and felt a pang of homesicknesses. Don't be silly, she thought. At home you're a nobody. Here you are somebody. You're going to become to a big movie star. Do you really want to go back to the way things were before? Besides, Pollux must have known what he was doing. He was a world famous and extremely wealthy director. December Star, one of Casey's favorite movies, had won 12 Academy Awards. Casey knew that Pollux probably had some genius reason for keeping them isolated like this.

Casey heard a knock at door. She went to go answer it, wondering who it could be. She hoped it wasn't Hannah randomly deciding to harass her for no reason. To her surprise, it was Theo.

"Casey!" She felt a smile creep onto her lips.

"Theo, hey!" Then a knot in her stomach. "What's up?"

"Can I come in?" Theo asked.

"Uh..."

"If you need some time to yourself, I can leave."

"No...it's fine." Casey looked down at her boots so Theo couldn't see her blushing. Why did she have to act like such a dork? She hoped it wasn't incredibly obvious to him that she'd never been with anyone before. "This whole stardom thing is just going to take some getting used to. But you've never known anything but, have you?"

Theo laughed. "You're gonna do great. Pollux didn't cast you for no reason."

"Hey, Theo?" Casey asked. She needed an excuse to get away from him so that he wouldn't see her going into a nervous wreck. "I need to take a shower, but I'll join you guys out in a sec."

"Okay. See ya." With that Theo left, and Casey breathed a deep sigh. He was so attractive, and she couldn't believe he had actually come to her trailer just to talk to her. Boys never talked to Casey, let alone attractive and world famous ones.

Casey took a quick hot shower. It was slightly uncomfortable and the water felt like it was rusty or something, so she got out as fast as she could and changed into a sundress, jean jacket, and her lace-up boots before joining the rest of the cast outside.

Everyone was gathered in the pavillion around Pollux, who must have just come out of his trailer.

"Hey Casey!" He said. "Come join us. We're going to have lunch."

Sorry about the double post, but on rare occasions where I need to cover important plot points, I will post as Pollux. This is one of those times. The posts will give us a sense of how the plot is progressing through his eyes and give us a more well-rounded view of what is happening. Also, the posts will serve as a guide for anyone who wishes to NPC Pollux in their posts. Without further ado:

Pollux

They were finally here, the whole cast assembled where the majority of the action would be filmed. He set the ham and cheese sandwiches and coke cans he'd gotten for the cast down on the table that everyone was gathered. They were all such beautiful, strong actors, and it would be a shame to see them go. But he thought of the sacrifice as just a necessary one that would assure The Lost Ones would become the film of the century-no, the decade.

"Take the sandwiches and guys!" Pollux exclaimed. "It's not there for nothing!" He noticed all of them were anxiously picking at the sandwiches. Casey had grabbed one but she hadn't picked at it. And Hannah, well, the sandwich might as well have been a dead rat.

"Uh, Mr. Pollux," Casey said. "This bread is moldy. We can't eat this."

The rest of the cast chimed in. Stupid kids. What did they think they were entitled to? Well, of course, he'd treated them all very well back in New York City, on the plane, and even given them a trip to Peru. They'd had to adjust fast. Besides, he needed to know the cast could trust him, especially since filming began tomorrow. There wouldn't be any death scenes until later..first, they had to film the twenty mile hike and and the first few days in the forest.

For their next meal, they would have to take ham and cheese sandwiches or starve. But for now, he wanted them to not feel uncomfortable going into filming. "Tell you guys what," Pollux said. "There's a Chinese take-out place in the city. I can grab food for us all. It won't take me that long - the cokes can tide you over until then. And later, we can look at the weapons I have for your characters to use."

Those gorgeous weapons were waiting in Pollux's trailer. It had cost him a fortune, having to acquire them illegally and what not, so he hoped the kids would appreciate them.

Without another word, he got in his car and drove away.

(OOC: In case I didn't make it clear, the weapons are very real and deadly. Each character has a weapon, so you can chose what kind your character will wield. Casey/Lucy is going to have an axe. And the next person that posts can have Pollux returning to the campsite after the cast gets some time to themselves)

Theo Marner-Hilliard

"Well, he seems..." Theo began.

"Interesting," Ralph finished, casting a sideways glance to where Pollux's car had vanished up the road.

"I don't like this at all," said Hannah. "I'm calling my agent."

"No, you're not," Theo said with a sigh. "Stop saying that."

"Look, I'm sure he's just a bit scatterbrained," Casey said. "I mean, he's an artist, right?"

"So are we, technically, but even you don't want to eat mouldy sandwiches, Miss America's Sweetheart," Archie said.

"Oh please, like she could ever be America's Sweetheart," Hannah said, sitting down on a stool and folding her arms, looking thoroughly unimpressed. "The pay better be worth it. I don't usually eat take-out."

"Is that really all you're concerned about?" said Parker. "I mean, does it not all seem a little bit weird?"

Theo had to agree. But despite her brave face, Casey still seemed a little scared, Archie looked openly terrified and he didn't want Hannah to have another tantrum. He had been on the receiving end of her tantrums before. They weren't pretty.

"Look, there's no use speculating after five minutes of conversation. If he's still weird when he gets back, then we can all have a good old panic. Until then- look! The rainforest. Can we appreciate that for a second?"

It was a week ruse, but Theo was an actor. And he had a knack for putting people at ease, he liked to think. He took a sideways glance at Casey, whose blue eyes were narrowed. Maybe it wasn't as good a trick as he thought. But it had at least started Hannah and Archie complaining about bugs and Parker said quietly, "They have some amazing insects in the Amazon" but nobody listened to him. Not the result he was looking for, but at least it stopped them being paranoid about their director.

Which was insane.

Right?

Archie Montana

Wherever the nearest take out was it had to be far away because Hannah and Archie had complained about almost every species of bug by the time Pollux returned with the food.

"So who ordered the mouldy cheese?" Pollux asked as he approached them with a few large bags under his arms. Nobody cracked a smile and Hannah looked ready to cry - so much for the director being any more normal on his return. "Just kidding, guys. Here you are, dig in and help yourselves!"

The bags were thrown into the middle of the group and slowly at first, people started reaching forward. Theo seemed the most collected and he opened a few tubs before passing one to Casey. "This looks pretty good - I think its got beef in it," Theo said with a reassuring grin.

Hannah did not look pleased and she opened the container and gave a careful sniff of the contents. "What are we meant to even eat this with and are they bringing out the plates?"

Archie snorted. "There's chopsticks in the bag, Miss America. Aren't chopsticks meant to be fashionable or some such stupidity?" Archie didn't like it and he didn't plan on eating more than a few mouthfuls but the chopsticks would help with that. They should really have had the kitchen arrangements sorted by now and he did not expect to have to deal with this again tomorrow. Archie selected a tub of egg fried rice.

"Eat up, eat up!" Pollux urged with a strange glint in his eye. "I'm very eager to show you the weapons. I - that is to say our props department - spent a long time picking them out!"

Whether it was to please Pollux or simply because nobody enjoyed the food, the actors weren't long in finishing their meals and quickly found themselves facing a wall of weaponry.

"Go on, don't be shy! Casey, the axe is yours, remember." Pollux urged them on, gesturing with his arms to take down the weapons and give them a whirl.

Archie was very quick to grab the killer looking crossbow and looked around for someone to show him how to load it. Really, the suckiest thing about this movie was that the character he played was such a pacifist. He'd barely get to shoot any bolts at all! Not that Archie liked maiming or killing; he hated blood. But there was something very fun about pretending to shoot at people.

Parker Jamison

Parker had been swept to the sidelines, and he was perfectly okay with that. After arriving at the campsite, he had plenty of time to acquaint himself with his trailer - which was perfectly ordinary and fine, he didn't know what the big deal was - and its contents. The bed was comfortable enough, and they were lucky to even have a mini-fridge and working plumbing. This was the Amazon after all.

When they got to the weapons rack, he could only sigh as the other actors squealed and complained about the idea of having to train with such dangerous 'props' as Pollux called them.

As Parker weighed a pistol in one hand, he couldn't imagine any of these being props. This was a .45 cal Glock 22, fully loaded . It could take down a jungle cat at close range if it really needed to. Parker couldn't imagine why they'd be supplied with such 'props' unless they were expected to have to use them.

He eyed the remaining - much more high powered - weaponry on the rack and shrugged. Even with his military father's obsessive range training Parker wasn't comfortable handling something more than a pistol. He did, though, grab a pretty fierce looking hunting knife for good measure.

As he stuck the handgun into the back of his jeans, he caught Casey watching him as she nervously handled her ax. "You know how to use one of those?" he asked, eyeing her grip on the stainless steel handle.

She looked down at the weapon in her hands. "They'll train us," she said, as if needing to assure herself.

Parker let a soft laugh and slid the knife into a sheath he'd slipped onto his belt. "Well, at least try it like this." He took her hands and adjusted them on the handle, moving her arms into a more stable form as he did. "It won't slip out of your grip this way, at least."

Her eyes widened, a light blush creeping over her cheeks and Parker stepped back, feeling his own face burning. The last thing he wanted was to attract girls, let alone make them blush. He hoped she was just embarrassed about not being able to handle a weapon. But she was a girl, of course, and he didn't know a lot about girls but he was pretty sure they didn't get embarrassed about lacking ax-wielding experience.

Luckily - or perhaps very unluckily - Theo was quick to break the tension. "Parker , check it out!" He waved a shotgun in his face, a menacing expression in his eyes. "I'm like a terrorist!"

Struggling to manage the dizziness coming over him, Parker slowly moved the barrel of the gun out of his face. "Not the best idea," he said. Theo only laughed and pranced away to wave the weapon in Hannah's face.

Parker sighed, and took several steps back from the crowd to get some air. This was going to be a long shoot.

Hannah Davenport

"Go on, Hannah! Jenna Winters has to have one, too."

Hannah pouted, folding her arms across her chest, but her eyes still skimmed over the pile of weapons he had brought them. Guns, axes, bows, daggers -- but it wasn't everything.

"I'll stick with my pepper spray, thanks," Hannah said and turned away from the pile.

"Sweetheart, you're not your character. Jenna Winters gets a weapon, so which one would she choose? I'm thinking a dagger--"

"High school princess here!" Hannah snapped. "Cheerleader, popular -- she wouldn't be carrying a gun on her. She'd be carrying pepper spray."

"She's not on a school campus, though--"

"Alright, Archie!" Hannah snapped, her fists stubbornly thrown down to her sides.

A dagger appeared in front of her, Theo holding it out to her. "Jenna Winters would go for something small stuffed inside her purse. She would also run away as soon as she saw danger, so a gun would be useless."

"None of the guns here seem like appropriate for a typical Hannah -- I mean, uh. high school cheerleader," Parker said, checking them all out. "They're pretty heavy-duty."

"Jenna Winters would have no experience with a gun, I assume."

"Another character teachers her, right?"

Hannah huffed as the boys discussed her character for her. Instead of taking the proposed dagger, she walked away from them and up to Pollux. "You just wait 'til my lawyer hears about this!"

Pollux chuckled with amusement, which only angered her more. "I told him all the details before he accepted. Your battle's not with me, Barbie. But you know?" He put a dirt-covered hand on her light blue jacket, making her lip curl in further disgust. "I think this experience is needed. Not everyone is as spoiled as you are. Casey! I see you found a mighty-fine piece there..."

Hannah watched him walk away, white with rage and shock.

OOC: Time skip to that evening, as everyone's in bed. Whoever likes can post a transition reacting to the day and once enough have posted I'll post for Pollux debriefing you on how the first day of filming is going to go.

Casey

Casey couldn't sleep. Not with the first day of filming tomorrow. Not with everything that had happened today. Maybe the feelings were silly. As an actress who was not yet eighteen, she was the lead in her first movie ever by one of the most current renowned directors.

This day, though, had just been so odd. The flight, the fact that they were staying in the middle of the jungle instead of at a hotel where it was probably safer, the whole issue with the ham and cheese sandwiches, her mixed feelings for Theo...then there were the weapons. Something had happened there that she wasn't quite sure of. When she was handling her axe, she'd cut herself just a little bit on the thumb. It hadn't been bad, and sucking it had removed any trace of the wound. She didn't tell anyone, not knowing what to think. But shouldn't plastic props not have been able to do that?

Casey tried to close her eyes and fall asleep. She wondered what waited for her tomorrow, when they filmed the hike.

Pollux

The next morning, Pollux woke up at 5 am so that he could everything ready for filming. He took the costumes from a drawer in his trailer and folded each of them on the doorstep of each cast member's trailer. He then went to the weapons room and placed each person's respective weapon by their costume. They wouldn't be needing them, not yet, but the characters would have their weapons on them in case anything happened during the hike.

He got dressed in something suitable and started the thirty minute drive into town to get McDonalds for the cast. As he was driving back, he sent out a mass text to everyone in the crew reminding them that they were going to meet to start filming at eight am. He had them situated in a hotel in town; better to keep them separate from what he had planned.

When he returned, it was seven am. Casey and Theo were the only two people up. He noticed they were in costume, talking. Pollux, not exactly sure of what seemed so important--he noticed Casey smiling and looking a little red--rudely inserted himself into the conversation.

"Are you guys hungry?" Without waiting for a response, he threw the bags down on the table.

Casey took an egg burrito and Theo took an Egg McMuffin.

"Drinks?" Theo asked.

"No," Pollux said. "Do you guys not remember the script at all and what scene we're filming?"

"Uh, we're filming the hike, aren't we?" Casey asked.

"What is part of the challenge in the hike?"

"They hike ten miles without water?" Casey paused. "But Pollux, you're not really going to make us go without water, aren't you? I can't act if my head is throbbing and my throat is dry, especially when it's this hot."

Pollux scowled and didn't say anything. "I'm going to get everyone up," he said, "and then go back to my trailer. Let me know when you guys are done eating breakfast, and we'll leave."

*

It was seven forty five when Casey went to Pollux's trailer.

"Hi," she said, "we're ready."

"Alright, let's all get in the car." They walked down to the pavilion together, neither saying anything to the other. Everyone got into the car, but they were silent.

Pollux drove, trying to get them to say something. No one did. They all seemed uneasy and he didn't know why. Finally, he just gave up and let the rest of the drive pass in silence.

--
OOC: Casey told them what Pollux said about the water, and how she cut herself with her axe.

Theo Marner-Hilliard

"Ten miles without water," Theo said blankly.

"Ten miles without water," Ralph repeated.

"I'm calling my agent," said Hannah.

For once, Theo agreed with the sentiment, even though he knew she couldn't, not with the lack of signal. He would have been calling his own agent too, if he could. This wasn't what he agreed to, this wasn't what any of them had agreed to. He tried to make light of it in his head, but found that he really couldn't. He was already parched.

Casey was chewing her nails. Theo felt sorry for her- the poor girl, this was her first shoot. It was how people like Pollux were going to ruin Hollywood, by pushing away talented young actresses. Theo went over to her and slung an arm around her shoulders.

Thankfully her head was hiding his biceps from the rest of the cast.

"You okay? You look worried."

"I don't know if I can do this."

"It'll be okay. I'll take care of you." He patted the gun at his hip.

"You said you had no idea how to shoot that thing!"

"James gets taught how to shoot by his father before he's taken to the rainforest. My father is an LA lawyer. In his free time he does pilates." Casey snorted. "I have no idea how to use a gun. But it can't be that hard, right? Just point and bang." He made accompanying actions.

Casey looked alarmed. "You don't think you'll need to shoot anyone, surely?"

No, because that would be ridiculous, Theo told himself. "I don't know. A caiman. Or maybe a butterfly. I hear they can be deadly- I assume you've heard of the butterfly effect? I mean we wouldn't want that happening."

Casey smiled but didn't laugh. Theo didn't laugh himself.

Eventually, everybody was ready, but still very reluctant, and they all got in the car with Pollux. Theo took the front seat, beside Pollux. The man's facial expressions were weird, so intense, and his eyes kept flicking off the road as if he was watching a movie in his head.

None of the others said anything. They didn't have a good track record for talking in moving vehicles. But this time, Theo didn't say anything either.

He patted the gun by his side again. He may not have known how to use it.

That didn't mean he wasn't glad to have it.