"So now that we're together, what do we do?" I asked.

"I'm not sure. But I think it has something to do with the invisible walls around Jamaa's borders." Mark replied.

"THE WHAT?"

"Yesterday, I tried...I tried to leave Jamaa, but I hit a wall whenever I went past the border."

"Like...a border wall? To keep Phantoms out?"

"Or to keep us in."

"Wait. If these walls exist, that means that the only way to get to the places we go by portal...is by portal. Think about it. There could be anything between us and those places."

Snow had been silent this whole time. Now, she spoke. "But that doesn't make sense. Who has the technology to make something like that? Phantoms? But they want to invade Jamaa, not keep themselves out. Maybe this is some kind of spell...but who would cast it? It doesn't make sense."

"It does not make sense? Why should everything make sense? What about nonsense?"

All three of us whipped around to see a red fox with black triangles by her eyes, black paws, a tuft of fur on her forehead sticking up, and a silver earring. The most disturbing thing was her white-blue eyes. In my brief visit to the jail, I'd seen enough to recognize the look of madness.

"You don't look like a normal fox. You look like a fox Alpha...if there was one." I mused.

"I am an Alpha. Perhaps they do not tell you. I am from first set." the strange fox murmured.

"What do you mean, first set?"

"Zios brought us here. Wanted us to fight Phantoms. Wrong side, so we fled."

"Mira's side wasn't the wrong side!"

"Bloodthirsty heron. Zios couldn't see it yet. We did, so we ran."

"Then why are you here now? Why didn't I ever learn about this so-called first set?"

"Heard about the lies. Crawled through the ones and zeroes, saw things. I see beyond sight. As for the second, they don't want you to learn us. They think us cowards."

"What ones and zeroes? What lies? Why are you speaking in haikus?"

"I can speak other ways. Feel the sun's golden rays. For I am Amelia." Amelia's eyes darted to each of us. "There should be four. Why are no more?"

I looked at her confusedly. "Four? The blue mist only said three. You know the blue mist, right? I mean, in Jamaa you don't usually run into misty things every day, but…"

"I can understand. She wouldn't want alliance. With a Phantom, yes."

"You mean the fourth is a Phantom? And how do you even know about this?"

"Heard the prophecy. Mirage Well, Great Savannah. There were three of us."

"What-" I began, but I stopped as I heard Amelia gasp. Her eyes turned jet black - not just the irises, but the entire eyes. When she spoke, it sounded as if two voices were speaking: a high-pitched voice and a deeper one.

"Time of war has ended, time of lies to start. Force once fallen rises, strikes at the very heart. Four will come and bring the change. Four will come to make the turn. Four will come and bridge the gap. Both will prevail or one will burn." Amelia took a deep breath, then continued. "The Half-Alpha, the seal near rebellion, the crippled wolf, the Phantom who seeks revenge. Together to be four."

What the heck was that supposed to mean? I could only stare, dumbfounded, as Amelia's eyes returned to normal. The thing that really scared me about the prophecy she'd just uttered (it was definitely a prophecy. What else could've made her eyes and voice go funny?) was knowing that we would be bringing a change. But what was the change? Would it be good, or bad? What about the force? Did it have something to do with the change, or the invisible walls? And who was lying?

Looking at Snow's face, I saw only shock. But Mark looked furious, his green eyes flashing.

"No. NO! I am NOT working with a Phantom." he spat. "I don't care about this stupid prophecy! Just leave me alone. Pick another wolf!"

"But it must be you. You recognize the Phantom. Found the unseen walls." Amelia whispered. Mark turned away.

"But why us?" Snow wondered. "Why not the Alphas?"

Amelia gasped again, her eyes rolling back in her head. "There once were the ones and the zeroes. A place with no thoughts and no heroes. A place where all thought is turned into naught. I thought I escaped from the zeroes." I snorted. It had to be a limerick? Limericks were supposed to be funny. But the words Amelia spoke sent a shiver down my spine.

"No! Go! Do not send me back! Do not attack! Do not come back!" Amelia screamed. A moment later, she vanished.

"What...what...I don't understand." Snow muttered.

"Oh, I understand. We were talking to a crazy fox. We can't trust anything she says." Mark hissed.

"The prophecy was real, Mark. Didn't you feel the energy behind the words? Didn't you feel the trueness?"

"I don't care what this prophecy says. Let's just ignore it and do what we feel is right, okay? And no Phantoms."

"I guess that could work until we figure this out. What do you think, Lia?"

I already knew my answer. "Let's do it. So, we're gonna report this to the Alphas, right?"

"Right." Snow confirmed.

Mark didn't hesitate. "Right."

…

We arrived in Jammer Central a few minutes later. Snow and I led Mark, who had never come here before, to the Alpha headquarters. A sign on the wooden door read Meeting In Progress.

"I guess we can wait." I chirped, pointing to a bench right next to the door. We all sat down.

"Can you hear something?" Mark asked. Now that he'd mentioned it, I did hear something...voices. The voices of the Alphas, coming from behind the mostly closed door (it was open a crack).

"No. Impossible. He couldn't...he shouldn't...he wouldn't...impossible." Liza muttered, barely audible.

"Liza, the fact is that Snowbelle was right. Cosmo fled right after we found the maps and letters. We were wrong. Maybe it's some sort of glitch. But the why doesn't matter right now. Graham could figure out the technical part later. But what we need to figure out is what to tell the public." Greely snapped. There was a moment of silence, and then the talking resumed.

"Look. This would ruin our picture. For an Alpha to be the first Jammer to work with the Phantoms? After we've worked so hard to be respected, trusted leaders? Absolutely terrifying! And for the traitor to be Cosmo? The BOTANIST? This is - it's just…" Liza trailed off and used a swear word my mother would've grounded me for saying. Liza, the Alpha who always wanted things picture perfect. Then, there were at least six crashes and thuds, followed by the sound of Peck giggling.

"Liza, you look like Bad Cop from Rules and Reports. Was it just me or did our perfect Liza throw a chair at the wall?" Peck chuckled. Peck was an artist and could make jokes out of anything, which made her my favorite Alpha - no, my FORMER favorite Alpha.

"I didn't know that stool could even make such a big crack." Graham mused.

"I know, right? It was like Liza was karate-slamming the chair into the wall, like HIIIIII-YAH!"

"Will you two stop goofing off and figure out what to do about the Cosmo situation? We can't tell the public, or else they'll start thinking that more of us might be traitors. So maybe we can say Cosmo died and the Phantoms created an evil clone of him." Liza growled. I waited for an Alpha to say what a bad idea not telling the public was.

Nothing.

"Okay, so we need to find, like, the cause of death. Boomseed malfunction? Assassination? Drowning?" Peck wondered.

"If we said he was assassinated and then the Phantoms took the body and made an evil clone, then we could blame it on Snowbelle. Think about it. We could say that she still thought that Cosmo was a traitor, and so she knocked him off a cliff or something. Then we could just forget about the stupid prophecy." When I heard the voice, my blood ran cold. No. It couldn't be! Marco would never suggest such a thing!

But...he just had.

No. It didn't make sense. IT DIDN'T MAKE SENSE! My father wasn't… he wouldn't… I knew him…

Well, I knew him from the time I talked to him four years ago.

My whole body shivered as I realized that I knew next to nothing about Marco.

…

Snow was the first to recover from the shock. At first she only growled, growing louder and louder until I had to put a wing over her mouth to keep the Alphas from hearing. Mark looked just as stunned and angry, but he simply sat and stared at the wall. The Alphas continued to talk, but I wasn't listening. I didn't want to listen.

Finally, Snow jerked away from my wing. "We have to get out of here!" she whispered.

I nodded, and all three of us walked back down the hallway toward the exit. As we reached the front desk, I jumped at a sudden noise before realizing that it was just the arctic wolf that worked there, clearing her throat. Her eyes widened as she saw Mark.

"Snowbelle?" the arctic wolf called.

"Y-yes?" Snow stammered.

"Some seal came in here a few hours ago. He said he was your brother. He had grey fur, but his eyes looked just like yours. His name was Ethan, I think." The arctic wolf seemed rather annoyed about having to talk to Snow.

"Ethan? I don't know anybody by that name. I do know that my parents put one of their kids up for adoption… something about a disorder, I think. Maybe Ethan was that kid. I'll keep an eye out for him." Snow looked both surprised and reviled, a hard look to pull off (I knew from experience).

"Good."

I turned to go, Snow following me. A few moments later, I noticed that Mark hadn't moved. He just sat there, staring at the arctic wolf with a befuddled expression.

"Mark?" Snow called.

"Oh! I'm coming!" Mark yelped, racing to catch up to me.

"What was that all about?" I asked.

Mark shrugged. "The arctic wolf looked like somebody I used to know. Different fur, but the same voice and eyes."

"Huh. Wierd."

As I spoke, we exited the building.

"Where are we gonna go?" Mark wondered.

Snow narrowed her eyes. "The press. We're going to tell everyone the truth about the Alphas."