The difficulties started when Heather, Lucia, and Shaun had arrived at their middle school. Heather was a complete genius, and fit in with the multi-lingual Alyssa. Shaun and Lucia were social outcasts that hung around with the three girls. But Lucia and Shaun were not just social outcasts... they should never have been allowed to even participate in society. Lucia had an addictive personality. Once she attached to you, she would hold onto you like a leech, sucking the life blood out of you, and stretching when you tried to pull her off. Shaun was not even close to being self-confident. He was a scared boy who just wanted friends- the perfect bait for Lucia, who eventually turned Alyssa, Katie, and Heather on him.

Not wanting to upset Lucia, the girls stayed around her until sophomore year in school. They put up with her selfishness, her wish to be the lead of everything, and her completely annoying ways. Then the headstrong Himeko and her friend Aidan were transferred from another private school. Alyssa, Heather, and Katie, with the help of these new people, pushed Lucia out of their elite society of geniuses and went on with their lives.

Shaun was left alone too long after Lucia left. After a few months, he was considered "unstable" by the school counselors. But would he do anything to let out his depression? Hurt himself... or maybe someone else?

On the night of 31 October 1993, Shaun invited some girls into his house and they were never heard from again. The authorities found no traces that pointed to murder in Shaun's house- until the bodies of the three teenage girls were found in Los Angeles, an hour north of Shaun's house. How had he done it? Did he do it? It is assumed that Shaun fled California in the summer between sophomore and junior year and has not yet been heard from.

So life went on. Sure, everyone wondered what really happened, but no one had the resources to really check. The social outcasts were gone, and everyone was pleased. The class graduated and the friends went to Oxford. Alyssa became an OB-GYN, Katie became an FBI agent along with Himeko and Aidan, and Heather became the first female president of the United States.

Alyssa was also a certified forensic pathologist. This credential led to her being hired by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and put in Katie's division that had been pet named the "Ficta Files." The case- find out what really happened in the Shaun McWhirter case.

The girls from long ago are now women leading affluent lives. Katie has married world-renowned author and ordained minister Robert Lago and has a two-month old daughter, Rebecca Lynn, with him. Alyssa is married to her boyfriend of many years, Matt Couturier, and they are expecting a child in July. Matt is a lawyer in Washington, D.C.

Over the years, the Ficta division has grown immensely. There has been a string of murders resembling the McWhirter Halloween murders all across the country, starting in Southern California; going around the Southwest, Texas, and the Southeast; moving up to around Chicago and Detroit; and now, a murder as close as Annapolis has occurred. It is supposed that Shaun has come out of hiding and is heading towards Washington, D.C. to kill President Heather Barbaria.

With the help of Aidan Fyrestone, Himeko Aoino, Thara Anderson, and Lile Chau, Alyssa Couturier and Katie Lago are assigned to find the location of Shaun. As of 21 January, there have been no leads or even ideas as to what happened on that Halloween night. It is unknown as to whether Shaun McWhirter was the killer or if some unknown assailant killed the girls and perhaps even Shaun.

Although it may not seem so, the people of Ficta are getting closer to the answers that they have persued for over three years...