hotch looked at the team. "morgan, gather an investigative team and visit schumacher and carlton. i'll get a search warrants for their homes." he ordered.

spencer wondered why hotch didn't let him tag along, but didn't say anything scared that hotch would just scold him for complaining.

they sat in silence watching them continue interrogating gracen jones.

"what were you like in high school, gracen? could you tell us about that?" jj asked.

"high school...i was-i was so happy." she smiled sadly, still wringing her wrists. "i had friends. a lot of them."

"were you one of the popular kids?"

gracen nodded slowly. "i-i was a cheerleader."

figured. spencer thought. she was beautiful and popular. unlike him in high school, he was a loser and a weirdo. another reason why they didn't match.

"what did you do in your free time, gracen?"

"i liked to draw and paint. i sold my paintings to people online. i hung out with my friends a lot—we-we went to a lot of parties. i was never home." she bit her lip, eyes watering. "i was never home to spend time with my parents." her voice broke.

"if she sold her paintings, there's probably a very high chance that her stalker bought one of them if he was that obsessed with her." spencer said, pushing back the urge to storm inside and give her a hug. it looked like she needed it.

"you said he killed most of your friends. out of these people, who do you not see in here that you were close with?" emily prentiss gestured are the photos laying on the table.

"i-uh..." she thought. "hazel turner. shawn wilkinson. lindsey stone. they were some of my friends."

"garcia send the addresses to rossi's cell." hotch said into his phone that was still on a call with the computer analyst. "dave, tell them their friend was found and ask them why they never went looking for her."

rossi soon left, following hotch's orders.

spencer's eyebrows furrowed. "why hasn't the unsub gone after them?"

hotch shook his head. "he must've not known about them. maybe the unsub didn't have eyes on her 24/7."

"when did you hang out with these people—outside or inside of school?" prentiss asked.

"outside. parties."

"that would mean that the unsub didn't stalk her at parties or outside of school that much." reid muttered. "he has to have been at the school."

"alright, i know this is going to be difficult, but can you close your eyes and listen to our voices. we're going to take you back to the day when you were kidnapped." jj said softly. "we'll be right here. you're safe with us."

spencer noticeably stiffened, knowing that this wasn't going to end well at all. he didn't say anything and hotch eyed the genius.

gracen's eyes fluttered closed and she nodded. "i'm ready."

"go back to october 12, 1997. that was a tuesday." prentiss said, her voice calm. "you woke up, did your normal routine getting ready to go to school, correct? can you see yourself grabbing your backpack and leaving the house?"

gracen nodded. "yeah. my backpack was green. i had toast with fig jam that morning. my parents weren't home because they already left for work."

prentiss and jj exchanged a pleased look. she was doing well already.

"how did you get to school?"

gracen furrowed her eyebrows. "tommy picked me up."

"describe his car."

"it was a gray porsche. a convertible one. i-i don't know cars so i can't tell you it's make, but we liked to ride around town with the hood down, listening to loud music." she smiled and chuckled, vividly remembering the moments they had together. then his dead corpse flashed in her mind, and her smile dropped.

"did you guys go straight to school?" jj asked.

gracen shook her head. "we...um, stopped by yokes and got bottles. i think there was going to be a party that night."

"you and you're boyfriend weren't legal to buy alcohol. who bought it for you guys?"

gracen strained to remember how she and tommy got them. she shook her head. "i only remember walking out with them and tommy saying we got lucky."

jj was writing all this down. "then what happened?"

"we went to school. i was late to...second period i think. but my teacher was running late also apparently so i got away with it." gracen said.

"did anything weird happen throughout the school day? anything that interrupted your normal day?"

she shook her head, going back to every detail of that day. she remembered it vividly.

"explain the rest of your day when you left school."

"tommy drove me to his house where we were having the party. we-um, did some things, and afterwards people started showing up."

spencer's eyebrows furrowed. "the unsub must've taken her out of school, so maybe he was at this party."

"or waiting for it to end." hotch said.

"what happened at the party, gracen?"

"what normally happened. kids got drunk, we danced."

"do you remember anyone in particular that approached you?"

"yeah. no one was being weird though. i didn't give my number or anything to anyone who asked, and my boyfriend or friends were always with me." gracen paused, her breath hitching. "wait, i remember—"

"i-i think s-someone put something inside my drink." gracen said, her hands wringing her wrists harder. "i downed my drink and that's when my friends saw i started acting weird. i was sleepy."

"do you know who drugged you?" prentiss asked.

gracen shook her head.

"who were your friends at the party?"

"analeise was there. uh-hazel, lindsey, kara."

"two out of the four were killed..." spencer said. "those other two could be the unsub's next targets."

"i made a call to put them in protective custody already, although i doubt the killer would go for them anymore."

"why?" spencer asked.

"gracen's gone. he has no point in killing those girls."

spencer nodded in agreement, focusing back on the cognitive.

"did they know who drugged you, gracen?"

gracen shook her head again. "no, but lindsey said something about some weirdo who kept looking at me that night. i don't know who it was, but she might've."

"okay, what happened then?"

"my friends are walking up to tommy's room. i laid his bed after throwing up, ready to sleep."

"did your friends leave you?"

gracen rubbed her head. "i don't remember."

"did you fall asleep then?"

gracen stayed silent for a while, trying to remember another big thing that happened. she visualized the room, seeing tommy's clothes piled on his chair by the computer, that was turned on. his room was messier than usual, but gracen figured it was probably because they had their fun in there. she remembered a certain detail, stiffening.

"w-wait. the window's wide open, we didn't open it earlier or anything and tommy gets cold easily." she nibbled on her lip. "it-it smells weird in here, his room."

"what does it smell like, gracen?"

"it's smells strongly of cinnamon, and something weird—like chemical. tommy's room always smells like vanilla because he has a diffuser."

"is that strange to you?"

gracen nodded. "he wouldn't—" gracen stopped breathing when she viewed the tommy's closet, only to see someone wearing black standing inside, watching her. her stomach churned and her chest rose up and down, trying to regain her breathe.

"what? what do you see, gracen?"

"h-he's here." she was clutching onto the arms of her chair now, lightly sobbing.

"who, gracen? who's here?"

gracen only saw the man approach her, slowly. he was tall. "a man. h-he's wearing black. tall." she quickly said.

gracen let out a scream when the man grabbed her by the throat, choking the air out of her. she tried punching the him but she was took weak. always too weak.

her sobs got louder now. "help! HELP!" she screamed.

jj and prentiss stood up, rushing to her side.

hotch and spencer flinched, and spencer, panicking, looked at hotch. the cold man remained stone and silent, only watching the madness unveil before him.

"what's happening, gracen?! gracen!!" prentiss shook her, only to be slapped by the hands of gracen.

"GET OFF ME! GET OFF!" gracen screamed, punching the air, but punching the man in her mind. tears streamed down her face. she clearly couldn't breathe, heaving, gasping for air.

gracen saw the man hold up a knife, threatening her. another scream erupted from the interrogation room. "STOP! DON'T HURT ME!"

she was so scared. he was going to take her away and no one would care. no one would notice.

the man held the knife up to her throat, and gracen screamed louder, crying and sobbing. "he's going to kill me!!! HELP!!!"

"gracen, you're safe. snap out of it!!" jj said, trying to restrain the girl from hurting herself.

when gracen continued screaming, spencer looked desperately at hotch. "are you going to do something?!"

hotch stayed silent. "this is the only way we're going to get information."

"she's having a panic attack, hotch!!" spencer grabbed both sides of his head, not bearing to see the girl break down and scream like that. his heart ached painfully for her.

the girl continued hysterically screaming and crying, so much so that prentiss and jj had to take a step back in order to not get their eyes gauged out.

"that's it." spencer ran out of the viewing room.

"reid, stay here. we're already requesting backup—get out of the room—" hotch said in a stern manner, calling after him.

reid ignored the unit chief's commands, bursting into the interrogation room.

prentiss' attention went to the doctor that stormed in. her gaze lowered. "reid, get out, help is coming."

"the longer she's in there the more scarred she'll be when she snaps out of it. i'm getting her out of there right now." reid said, slowly stepping towards the screaming and thrashing girl.

"spence, we already tried—"

"i've done this before. can't you guys just believe in me?" reid snapped. his pride was really getting in the way of his level of sensibility. he really didn't know if he could get gracen to return to reality like last time, but if spencer couldn't help her, what could he do for this team?

the two ladies stayed quiet, watching spencer as he drew in closer.

"gracen. gracen."

the girl continued screaming and crying.

"it's spencer—" he laid a hand on her shoulder, but he stumbled back when gracen socked the genius in the face. spencer ignored the stinging pain on his cheekbone. he was already here, there was at least something he could do for her.

"someone help me!!! he's taking me away!! PLEASE!!!" she let out a shriek, grabbing her both sides of her head, her eyes still shut closed tight.

spencer grabbed both of her wrists, which had indent marks that were bleeding from her digging into them with her fingernails. she struggled in his grip, screaming and kicking. spencer was stronger than her, but that didn't mean she was a weak kicker. "gracen!! you're safe!!!" with the amount of resistance she was offering, spencer was afraid that his hold on her wrists was hurting her.

she screeched as he pulled her up, where he wrapped his arms around her tightly, resisting as she scratched and punched his chest, face, and neck—but after spencer assured her, whispering in her ear that she was safe and who he was, her screams died down very slowly.

"it's okay." he murmured softly into her hair. "you're okay. you're not in that room, that cellar, or anywhere with him for that matter."

"i'm scared." the girl choked out, her voice raw and breaking. "he was taking me away. he had a knife—he had a knife, spencer." gracen buried wet face into spencer's shoulder.

"i'm sorry, i'm so sorry."

just then, her nurse burst inside the room, a doctor following suit.

gracen jumped and let out a cry at the people coming in. the poor girl trembled violently in his arms, and spencer held her tighter. "your nurse is here." he informed the girl.

"gracen, are you alright?" her nurse asked, voice laced with deep concern.

spencer shook his head, "she's calming down." he looked at the needle in her hands, filled with a liquid. he turned gracen away from it before she got scared. "she doesn't need it."

the nurse nodded, putting the syringe away.

gracen was now quiet, only lightly sobbing. "spencer, i just want to give up."

the curly haired man reached up, running his hands through her blonde hair. "you're strong, gracen."

"i'm not. i'm crazy—psychotic—"

"no gracen. i believe in you. i really do."

—