YES! IM NOT DEAD! YAY! Lol, no, but I just wasn't able to be active during the school year really. OKAY OKAY OKAY! YES I DID A THIRD BOOK! YES! OK! You can stop giving me death threats now (lol XD, jk, but I have gotten quite a few messages about this) So, yep, this third book will probs be updated slow. This is actually the first book that I am posting chapters before the book is completely finished. Im techinaclly still in the school year and what you are about to read is legit all I have written for this story... so, uh, read it well. It's gonna be all you are getting for awhile. Lol. Anyways! Enjooooy! (btw I didnt prof red this, su u hav ben wurned)

Nova read the letter three times, just to make sure. It was what she feared. It had happened. Who knows what would go down in the future if Nora escaped. If she got a hold of… Nova stopped in her thought process. She had to make sure it was safe. She quickly ran over to the bookshelf and frantically yanked books and bottles and other nicknacks off. Which shelf was it? There! She found the little notch in the wood of the backboard of the bookshelf. It looked natural but it was shaped just right for Nova to fit her finger in. She curled her index around the whole and pulled. A small little door swung open, revealing a square shaped compartment. It was disguised as the back of the bookshelf, and the whole acted as its handle. Nova dropped the books and bottles she had cradled in her arms. Her hands trembled. No… No… No… it was empty.

Jesse's eyes flashed open. Something had woken him up. He wasn't surprised that he'd woken up, though. He had grown accustom to being a light sleeper, in fact this was his fourth time this week he had woken up in the middle of the night. He trained himself to be sensitive to every little sound and movement, this came in handy whenever he was on some kind of adventure and had to sleep in an unsecured place. This was different though, Jesse didn't wake up to the sound of a tree limb rapping against the window, or a cricket and frog that had decided to team up so they could be twice as loud in their unconscious mission of noise, or the wind being extra rowdy. This noise came from inside. It was an unnatural clashing of metal that came from downstairs. The building was big with thick walls, due to the entire 'new' (although Jesse didn't quite feel like they needed the title of new anymore) Order living there. Each member had their own bedroom, bathroom, and closet, not to mention that there was multiple guest chambers. Plus, there was a massive kitchen and grand dining room, several combat training centers, a brewery room, and various other rooms for all other imaginable 'necessities'. It was true that the Order's recently built Headquarters was spacious, but the metallic noise reverberated through the winding marble halls, nevertheless. Jesse sat up, wondering what the noise could've been. He got out of bed, making sure to grab his sword, and quietly crept through the halls. He estimated that the noise came from the other side of Headquarters, so he had a little bit of a trech. It wasn't anything to much, a couple of flights of stairs, a handful of corners, and many long hallways. So enough, he found himself in a wide corridor sided with doorways on the left side. This was the combat hall, and the noise came from from of the training rooms. He was able to pinpoint the location eventually because as he walked he ended up hearing a soft version of the noise that wasn't quite loud enough to be heard from Jesse's room on the upper floor. Now that he had followed the sound to this hallway, it was much louder. The source was coming from one of training rooms at the end of the corridor. Jesse slowly drew his sword and took one stealthy step in front of the other. When he arrived next to the open archway that the sound was coming from, he froze. He pressed himself against the wall. What could it be? Had a monster gotten into Headquarters somehow? But that was physically impossible, it's defenses were built like a fortress. Yet, that was the only thing Jesse could think of. Had a spider been rummaging through the armor and weapons? Or had a zombie been wandering into walls and ended up tripping over some of the supplies? Jesse shook his head and told himself to stop thinking and just find out. He peered around the door frame at an angle so he hopefully wouldn't be spotted. He sighed and eased up, it was just Petra. Petra? What was she doing up at this hour, and hanging around the combat rooms no less. She was wearing a casual outfit but in her right hand was a stone sword. On the ground behind her were broken bits and pieces of stone. Jesse assumed the loud noise he heard was the sound of a previous stone sword breaking. She was relentlessly slashing at a practice dummy. Jesse stepped into the room,

"Petra?" He said softly. She jumped and flung around with her sword outstretched. "Woah." Jesse held up his hands as a sign that he meant no harm. There was a good few feet between Jesse and the tip of Petra's sword, but he still decided to be cautious around her when she blindly wielded a sword. When Petra realized it was just Jesse she put her sword down.

"Oh." She relaxed.

"Petra? What… What are you doing?"

"Practicing."

"At this hour? Why?"

"Because I want to."

"Why?"

"Because I can."

"Why?"

"Jesse." Petra sighed, "you can stop now."

"Sorry, but uh… why though?" He paused and grinned sheepishly when he said the word 'why' for the fourth time. "It's not like you need it."

"Yes I do." By now Petra had turned back to the dummy and started to spar with it again.

"Do you honestly think that? You already so strong, though."

"Obviously not." Jesse felt unwanted, her answers were concise and short and she didn't stop her practice to engage in conversation.

"Are you kidding? How could you say that?" He tried not to get too loud, but he was shocked by her response. Petra sighed again and release tension in her arm, making her sword tip to the ground.

"Jesse, you a first hand witness of how weak I am. I can't even protect myself." She slightly turned her head so she could make small eye contact with Jesse standing behind her.

"Is this… Is this about PAMA?" Jesse was nervous to ask the question. Petra didn't respond but just lifted her weapon and looked back at the wooden, human shaped target. "You know that wasn't your fault."

"Was it, though? I mean, was it really not my fault?" Her voiced started to lace itself with annoyance and anger.

"Of course not!"

"It was a rhetorical question, Jesse." She said bluntly.

"Well, still you-"

"Jesse, I was weak!" Her voice suddenly rose to obvious anger as swerved to face him. Maybe it was because of Petra's reaction in changing the mood, but Jesse's voice also grew in volume and in anger.

"No you weren't! There was nothing you could do! You-"

"Exactly! There was nothing I could do! But there you and the others were! Doing everything!" Petra's voice cracked suddenly and as she continued speaking, she voice softened, "And there I was. Being absolute… helpless… useless. I couldn't even bring myself to properly fight, well, myself. In both circumstances I was-"

"Petra-"

"Jesse, I was pathetic!" Her voice shot up again and Jesse took a step back at her lash out. He couldn't say anymore, at least he couldn't say anything that'd help her. He just couldn't find the right words. He turned to leave, he was going back to sleep. Perhaps they could talk in the morning.

So yes, it is short. Sorry. But school is almost out! Hope you guys will end up liking this book as much as PND and BTD. Thanks! Tschüss!