"Are you sure Angie doesn't mind waiting in the car?" Jen asked Dawson as they headed into the ruins. "She could have stayed with your parents."

"She wanted to help," Dawson said softly. "She knew that my parents would worry if I took off an hour after getting home without her." Jen nodded. Dawson looked around. "There they are," he said softly, pointing off to the side. He moved towards them, Jen close behind him. They came to a stop a few feet in front of Jack and Andie and the four friends just stared at each other for a minute.

"How have you been?" Dawson questioned finally.

"No small talk Dawson, please," Andie said softly. She held out a note to him, her hand shaking.

Dawson looked down at it and was surprised to see that it was different from his.

The time has come for you to pay. Your sin is not forgotten...or forgiven. Prepare yourself for a little game...You won't enjoy it, but I will...I will.

"That's funny," Dawson said softly.

"What?" Jen asked.

"Well, it doesn't look anything like mine," Dawson said.

"What does yours look like," Jen asked, her voice strained.

"Here," Dawson said, handing it to her. "Did you get one too?" He asked Jack.

"Yeah," Jack said. "Similar in sentiment, but worded a little differently."

"Any of you get a call?" Dawson asked softly.

"No," Jen said, looking up from Dawson's note, a terrified expression on her face. "You got a call?"

"J...Joey's voice," Dawson said softly. "She was saying something. It was familiar, but I'm not sure when she said it. I think I taped her, but I don't know who had access to those tapes, especially if it was one of the ones from film class."

"Copies are kept in the library," Jen said softly, her mind racing.

Dawson nodded. "Yeah."

"What should we do?" Jen asked, fear racing through her. She took a few deep breaths to get control of herself.

"The police?" Andie said, her voice small and scared.

"No way," Jack said. "They wouldn't care."

"But..."

"We should try and figure out who it is," Jack said. "Whoever it is, I don't think that they're going to hurt us. They sound scary, but I'm sure that they're harmless."

"Do you really think so, Jack?" Jen asked doubtfully.

"Look, all that's happened so far is that we've gotten some notes. We can't be sure what this person's intentions are. They could be harmless."

"I don't think so Jack," Dawson said. "I get a very bad feeling from these things Jack. It's better to be safe then sorry, right?"

"Yeah," Jack said. "Either way, we have to figure out who it is. Any ideas?"

"I guess we have to start with the obvious," Dawson said softly. "Does anyone know if Pacey's around?"

Andie shook her head. "He's not. He is coming home, but not for a while."

"How can we know for sure?" Jack asked. "I mean, for all we know, he's here and they're just not telling us."

"It would be kind of hard to keep that under wraps," Andie said. She sighed. "I still think that we should show these to Sheriff Witter."

"Come on, Andie!" Jen said. "It could be Sheriff Witter. And if it isn't? Well, I really don't think he'd feel to bad if someone were to knock one or two of us off."

"But..." Andie started.

"Andie, his son spent the better part of his senior year in a mental hospital, angry because he hadn't been allowed to kill himself!" Jen said. "Sheriff Witter wouldn't spit on us if we were on fire and I don't blame him."

"So the Sheriff is a suspect," Jack said with a sigh. "Let's face it guys. We have more suspects then we can possibly wade through. Pacey, his family, Joey's family, anyone in this town who thinks it would be fun to mess with us a little. We have no idea what these people want."

"I know what they want," Jen said softly.

"What!?" Dawson exclaimed.

"Well, I don't know," Jen said. "But I...I just think someone's trying to force us to face what we've all been denying since this happened," Jen said softly.

"And what's that?" Andie asked.

"That whether we want to admit it or not, it's likely that one of us was trying to kill either Pacey or Joey or Pacey and Joey that night. We can't deny that anymore, because there's someone out there who won't rest until we've all paid for what one of us did."

They were all silent for a minute, unable to think of anything to say to that. They looked at each other and then at the ground, unable or unwilling to look each other in the eye. They knew Jen was right. They had always known that, from the moment Joey fell to the ground. They had just never been able to admit it, to each other, or the world.

"The only way that we can be free of this is if whoever it was admits to it and faces the consequences," Jen said softly. "If not, we might all pay the ultimate price."

The others remained silent. "Trying to figure that out right now will only tear us apart when we need each other the most," Dawson said softly. "We have to concentrate on figuring out who this is, and why they're doing this. The rest can wait until that's taken care of."

"Dawson..." Jen started.

"It's waited for close to two years Jen. It can wait a little longer."
Jen nodded slowly, giving in for the time being.
"We're really not getting anything constructive done here. I'm exhausted and I have a guest waiting in the car."

"The girl who called us?" Jack asked.

Dawson nodded. "She knows about the notes and came along so I wouldn't have to tell my parents. If they knew they'd call the sheriff."

Jack nodded. "Okay, so I guess we should just go home, get some rest, do some thinking and meet up again tomorrow."

"Sounds good," Dawson said. He couldn't stand talking about this anymore. It brought everything back so clearly. Dawson shut his eyes for a second, images flashing in front of his eyes.

Pacey walked towards Dawson, his hatred and fury masked by the dead look in his eyes. "Are you happy now, Dawson?" Pacey asked, his voice hoarse from crying. "I mean, that was the point right? If you can't have her no one will....Or was it that even if you didn't want her, she wasn't allowed to want anyone else? Was that what this was all about? Huh Dawson?"

"Pacey..." Dawson said softly, his stomach turning at what he saw written in Pacey's eyes.

Pacey shook his head slightly. "Looking at you right now I know...I KNOW that I would have absolutely no problem killing you. It would be so easy Dawson! So easy! But you know what? I don't want to. I want you to live with this for the rest of your life. You killed Joey, Dawson! YOU KILLED HER!"

"No!" Dawson cried, every fiber of his being denying it, even though he knew it was the truth. "NO!"

"How can you even deny it?" Pacey asked shaking his head, disgust clear in his voice. "I can't even look at you anymore." He turned to go and then paused. "Live long Dawson. You deserve it." Pacey turned his back on Dawson and walked away. There was a purposefulness to his step that had frightened Dawson, and rightly so. Soon after that, Pacey had made his second attempt to take his own life.

"Dawson?" Jen asked softly.

"Huh?" Dawson said.

"You looked a little dazed," Jen said. "You okay?"

"Fine," Dawson said, shaking his head. "Let's go."

The four left the ruins silently, each lost in their own thoughts. Dawson looked at each of his friends, unable to even begin to guess which one of them it had been. Jack, Jen, Andie. None of them seemed the type. Not one of them seemed capable of this. Dawson paused as something caught his eye. His gaze flew to Andie and fear raced through him. "Watch out!" He exclaimed, but it was too late. Andie's leg had already tripped the wire. Dawson pushed Andie out of the way as an arrow came flying towards them. It nicked him in the arm and then thumped into a tree. Jack and Jen hurried over to the two who were laying on the ground and helped them to their feet. "Still not sure how serious this person is, Jack?" Dawson asked softly. Jack didn't say anything, he just shook his head, fear written clearly in his eyes...In all of their eyes.

LATER

"It was a crossbow," Jack said. "The wire pulled the trigger."

"Where would someone get a crossbow?" Dawson asked, sitting down on his bed. He, Jen and Angie had returned to his house to bandage his arm while Jack and Andie had investigated the boobie trap. They had then all met at Dawson's house to talk some more.

"Don't know," Jack said. "I've never tried. Maybe it would be easier than we think. The funny thing is, it was pointed a few feet ahead of where the trip wire was. It's lucky that Dawson didn't push Andie right into the arrow."

"But why...?" Andie asked.

"They don't want to kill us...Not yet anyway," Dawson said softly.

"So what do we do now?" Jen asked softly.

"We try and figure this thing out," Jack said, holding up another note. "It was with the crossbow."

"What does it say?" Dawson asked.

Jack sighed softly and then began to read: Now that I have your attention, it's time for the fun to start. Well, my fun anyway...your torture. Where should we begin? So many possibilities. So much fun to be had. You played Russian Roulette with someone else's lives. Now I get to play...with yours. What is the game? It's simple. You have to figure out who I am before I kill you. It's as simple as that. Go to the police if you want, but they can't help you. No one can. For further instructions go to the dock where this all began tomorrow night at 9:00. If you don't come, I promise, you will regret it. And Dawson, I suggest you spend the time between now and then figuring out what was on the arrow... your life might depend on it."

"What!?" Dawson exclaimed, his mind racing at the possibilities, from bacteria to poison. Not to mention the fact that whoever was doing this must have been there when they tripped the wire. "Something on the... Sh!t!"

"I'm sure they're just trying to scare you Dawson," Jen said, knowing what he was thinking. "They wouldn't actually..."

"Why not?" Dawson said. "Whoever this is, I don't think they're actually playing by any rules."

"Don't worry Dawson," Jack said. "I don't think they're talking about poison."

"Why not?"

"Well, look at the arrow," Jack said, handing it to him.

Dawson let out a sigh of relief. "What does that say?"

"I don't know. Do you even know what language it's in?"

"It looks like Greek characters. Ancient Greek?"

"Why would...?" Andie started.

"Who knows," Jen said. "The important question is, do any of you know Ancient Greek?" She looked around the room. Everyone was shaking their heads. "Okay, do any of you know anyone who knows Ancient Greek?"

"Angie's taken some, I think," Dawson said. "Let me go find her." She had left them alone, knowing that her presence made everyone but Dawson nervous. Dawson left the room and went downstairs, slowing as he neared the living room. He could hear her talking animatedly to someone, but he couldn't understand what she was saying. He entered the room and caught the end of her conversation. She was standing in front of a glass case and she looked frustrated.

"It's not him!" Angie insisted. "I'm telling you...." She caught sight of Dawson's reflection in the glass case in front of her and held up a finger. "He's just a friend....No...No...Yeah, well I'm sorry too! Don't....No! It's over okay? Just leave me alone!" Angie slammed down the phone and turned to Dawson, shaking her head.

"Who was that?" Dawson asked.

"Billy," Angie said.

"Your boyfriend from home?"

"Ex-boyfriend," Angie said softly.

"Oh," Dawson said softly. "I'm sorry Angie."

Angie shrugged. "No big deal. It was bound to happen sooner or later. The jealousy factor. He wasn't too happy about me spending the summer here with you. That's just the most recent reason thought. We just don't want the same things from life anymore." She paused for a moment. "How's everything going?"

"We need your help."

"Sure," Angie said. "What can I do?"

"You took Ancient Greek, right?" Angie nodded. "There's something I need you to look at."

UPSTAIRS

"The first part is a quote. Archimedes I believe. Not that it seems to have anything to do with anything, it says basically: 'Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.'"

"What?" Dawson asked.

Angie shrugged. "I told you it didn't have anything to do with anything. Just a second. I need my book for the rest of it. The only reason I recognized that part was because we just finished translating Archimedes." She hurried to the guest bedroom and then back to Dawson's room, holding a large dictionary. "It's going to take a while," she said softly. "Try and relax a little."

The other four sighed and looked at each other uncomfortably. It was hard to believe that the four of them had once been as close as friends could be. Now, they had no idea what to say to each other. They sat in silence until Angie was done.

"Okay, this is the best that I can do. 'The one you harmed the most is the one you must appease. The truth will set you free.'"

"What exactly does that mean?" Andie asked.

"Pacey?" Dawson questioned softly.

"But it can't be him," Andie said. "The letters were delivered by hand. He's in California."

"There are any number of people who would have delivered them for him," Jen said. "But I don't think that that's what Dawson was saying."

Dawson nodded. "What I'm saying is that regardless of who is sending the notes, it's Pacey we need to talk to. The person who is sending these things won't be satisfied until we've found them, told Pacey the complete truth, or have died."

"But what is the complete truth?" Andie asked desperately.

"Only one of us knows that," Jen said. "And it looks like they're not telling."

The group was silent and then Dawson spoke up again. "I don't know what's scarier, the fact that they knew that we would go to the ruins, or the fact that they were still there when we got there."

"What!?" Andie exclaimed. "Why do you say that they were there?"

"They knew that I was the one who was hit, Andie, and they threw in that little extra warning to scare me even more. And you know what? It worked. I'm really scared."

"So what do we do now?" Jen asked.

"We talk to Pacey," Dawson said. "Anyone have his number?" The others shook their heads. "Then we'll have to get it from somewhere."

"I'll get it," Andie said softly. "I...I talk to Gretchen every chance that I can to see how he's doing. It won't seem strange..."

"I'm not worried about whether or not anything seems strange right now," Dawson said. "No one's going anywhere alone. I'll go with you. We'll meet back here in an hour."

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