After entering the room, Thalia sat down on the bed in an elegant posture and stared them down. “Go on, then. Ask away.”
The three kids exchanged glances. Eventually, it was Tony who spoke up first. “Are you guys hiding something from us?”
Thalia immediately understood what he meant, but playing dumb was a skill she had developed after spending so much time around them.
“Who are you referring to?” Thalia asked. Tony frowned. “You adults.”
“And which 'us' are you referring to?” Thalia asked. “The three of us, of course,” Tony replied patiently.
There's no way Thalia wouldn't know what I'm talking about. She's definitely playing dumb! Thalia simply nodded without saying anything in response.
The three kids were starting to lose their patience when they saw how relaxed she was.
“Well? Tell us, Thalia!” Donna urged her.
Thalia glanced at her and asked, “Tell you what?”
“Um...” Donna suddenly found herself at a loss for words.
Thalia let out a sigh and flashed them a confused look as she said, “You kids should be going after the people you think are suspicious. How would I know the answer to such things? We're on the same side, aren't we? I share everything I know with you kids. The four of us are members of Darknetz, so if they're keeping secrets, they're sure to keep me in the dark as well!”
The kids fell silent after hearing that.
They didn't know what to say as her explanation seemed to make perfect sense. Tony and Ben exchanged glances as they processed Thalia's words.
“Those are two different things, Thalia. We say you're keeping secrets from us. If it really is related to this, then Alpha Dave wouldn't have let you stay here while you recover from your injuries!” Donna said.
Thalia froze as she wasn't expecting her to be so sharp.
Upon realizing how they nearly let Thalia fool them, Tony and Ben shifted their gazes back toward Thalia as they waited for her answer.
In the face of the three intelligent kids, all Thalia could do was continue playing dumb.
“I have no idea what you're talking about,” she replied while shaking her head and putting on the most innocent look possible.
Donna nodded. “Okay, fine, we'll assume you don't know that for now. What about Spencer's laboratory, then? You should know what he researches in there, right?”
Whoa... That question really hit the target! Great job, Donna !
Tony and Ben were staring at Donna with proud looks in their eyes. “I...” Thalia didn't know what to say.
“You should at least know about your relationship with Spencer, right?” Donna pressed on.
For some reason, hearing that question made Thalia a little happy. “What is my relationship with Spencer? Are we really that close?”
“You two were hugging each other!” Tony snapped at her. Thalia shot him a glare in response.
Tony arched an eyebrow at her as he added, “Hey, I'm just stating the facts.”
“And you ruined the moment for us. Besides, that doesn't mean I know everything. As you all know,
Spencer and I aren't exactly that close. He's avoiding me every day, so there's no way he'd tell me everything!” Thalia said with a pout.
“That doesn't make sense,” Donna protested. “How so?” Thalia asked.
“Knowing you, there's no way you'd just sit by and let Spencer keep you in the dark. Are you not at all curious about what he's up to?” Donna asked.
Tony and Ben both nodded in agreement when they heard that, much to Thalia's dismay. Ugh... Could Donna just shut up?
Thalia pursed her lips and struggled to maintain her composure as she replied, “I only care about him as a person, so I don't know anything about his work. He could blow this entire place up, and I'd still take his side.”
“You know what, Thalia? I just realized you're better than Tony when it comes to making stuff up!” Donna exclaimed.
Thalia arched an eyebrow at her. “What are you talking about? I don't know if Tony is making stuff up, but I'm telling the truth!”
Donna flashed her a smile in response.
Looks like she isn't going to tell us the truth. The fact that she's still putting up an act suggests she has a reason for keeping it from us, not that she doesn't know the answer.
With that in mind, Tony said, “Okay, maybe we're just overthinking things here. Thalia's probably tired, so we should let her get some rest.”
Thalia flashed him a teasing smile as she said, “Oh? What's this? Tony is being caring for once?”
“We'll be on our way now. Make sure to get some rest,” Tony replied with a grin that did not reach his eyes.
Right as they were about to leave, Thalia thought of something and called out to them, “Wait!” The three kids stopped in their tracks and turned around to look at her.
“How is Nelly doing?” Thalia asked.
“What, are we just going to give up?” Donna asked with a helpless expression after leaving Thalia's room.
“Tony would never give up so easily!” Ben replied calmly.
“As much as I hate to admit it, Ben does know me very well,” Tony said. “Then why did you stop questioning her?” Donna asked.
“Thalia may seem all carefree and gullible, but she's actually incredibly smart about what she says. She only tells us stuff that she wants us to hear. She wouldn't disclose any information that she doesn't feel like disclosing or isn't allowed to disclose. I mean, she's professionally trained to resist interrogation!
There's no way a bunch of kids like us could ever get her to tell us anything against her will!” Tony explained.
Donna nodded in agreement after hearing that. “I suppose you're right... What should we do, then? We're not going to just leave this be, are we?”
“Leave this be? Do I look like the kind of person who would do such a thing?” Tony asked. “Wow! You look a lot like Daddy when you said that, Tony!” Donna exclaimed.
Tony narrowed his eyes. “I look really cool, don't I?” “You know what? Forget I said anything...”
Tony decided to stop teasing her as he continued, “Spencer, Dave, and Thalia are the key individuals we should focus on. Daddy and Nelly aren't going to tell us anything, so we can just ignore them and focus on the above three. We've tested Thalia and confirmed that she definitely knows something. She just
won't tell us about it.” “So?”
“So, we will have to split up to make this work.” “What will we do?”
“We'll each pick one of the three and try to find out whatever we can from them. It'll be a lot more effective to attack them all at once instead of focusing on one at a time. That should somewhat increase our chances of success,” Tony explained.
Ben nodded in approval. “That makes sense.”
Donna nodded as well. “All right, then. I'll go along with your plan.”
“Right now, we need to decide on how we pick our targets,” Tony said.
Ben and Donna knew exactly what he meant. “I'll pick Alpha Dave! Just a few days ago, he was
talking about taking me in as his goddaughter. He won't be on guard when dealing with me!” Donna proposed.
Tony nodded. “That sounds good.”
“I'll go with Thalia, then?” Ben asked.
“Yeah. She likes you the most, so she should drop her guard when she's with you. I'd say you have a very high chance at getting that information out of her.”
“You get Spencer, then?”
“Spencer and I aren't that close, but I can still give it a shot,” Tony replied with a frown. “Tony, I think your chances of success are low regardless of who you pick. You just give off that
impression that you want something out of others whenever you approach them,” Donna commented.
Of course, Tony knew that very well. “Yeah, because I'm born with an air of excellence. It's not easy being so great.”
“Come on, Donna . Let's go grab a snack downstairs,” Ben said. “Yeah, let's go!” Donna was quick to go along with his suggestion.
Tony glared at them as he said, “I know you two don't want to admit it, but it's the truth.” Ben and Donna ignored him and continued walking toward the stairs.
“Hey, wait up! What are you guys going to eat? Wait for me!” he shouted while running after them. Nelly went over to Thalia's room as usual that afternoon.
Thalia was sitting on the bed and staring blankly into space when she came in through the door.
She quickly put her phone down when she saw Nelly come in. “How are you doing? Are you all right?”
“What do you mean?” Nelly asked as she made her way over to the bed.
“Donna told me that you fainted while you were outside today. Are you...” Thalia was about to say something but held herself back in the end.
Nelly let out a chuckle. “Oh, Donna and her big mouth... I didn't think she'd tell you about it so soon!”
“She's worried about you, after all,” Thalia said.
Nelly sat down on the side of her bed and said with a smile, “I'm fine.”
“I was going to pay you a visit, but the kids told me that Alpha Kilian was around, so I didn't want to disturb you two,” Thalia replied with a hesitant look on her face.
Nelly let out a sigh. “They've been taking care of me ever since I donated my blood to you.”
Thalia couldn't help but laugh when she heard that. “You seem to be living a very happy life right now.” Nelly nodded in agreement. “You could say that.”
“Back then, I could never stand Alpha Kilian . I felt like his good looks were all that he had. He couldn't do anything else right, and his love life was a total mess. I thought he didn't deserve to be with you at all, but he changed completely after dating you,” Thalia continued.
“Oh, you haven't seen Alpha Kilian when he was little. Not only was he very serious and single-minded about everything, but he also trusted me unconditionally. On top of that, he treated me very well and always kept his promises. Oh, and let's not forget how handsome he is!” Nelly replied.
Thalia shot her a doubtful look. “Are you sure we're talking about the same person here?”