Chapter 3

Evie leant against the stack of wooden crates with her arms folded, watching her brother fight with someone who she did not know. The warehouse was full of cheers and jeers depending on which person they were backing to win. Evie looked away as Jacob failed to miss an incoming punch, she did not like watching her brother get hurt but he was determined to take part in this fight club. It was only a week since they've first found this club but Jacob and his friends had become constant competitors. Some days they'd come drunk to the fight club which always ending in Evie and Robert dragging Jacob from the ring to prevent him hurting himself further. However, this time Jacob was completely sober which hopefully meant that Evie would not have to drag him from the ring. Somehow after a week of both of them sneaking out at night their father was still in the dark about this. He did not know that both his children were going out at night and coming back late. But Evie knew it was only a matter of time before their father found out, Jacob always came back with injures but somehow he'd been able to hide the minor injuries he's sustained from their father. As Evie looked back towards the ring her eyes caught a glance of a group of men who'd she could have sworn she'd seen before. There was about five men in that little group and they were all looking at Evie in a way which made her uncomfortable. It was when that feeling hit that she realised where see had seen these men before. One the first night Jacob had been to this fight club those same men had been in the pub with them. Evie quickly looked away as one of them leered at her. What were they doing here? Were they just here for the fight club or were they following her? She could feel something building up inside her, perhaps she could even say that it was slight panic but she refused to believe that she was capable of panic. An Assassin did not panic. But she knew that this feeling had been caused by seeing those men again. As much as she hated to admit it there was no denying that it had completely unnerved her. A voice suddenly brought her out of her thoughts.

"Hey Evie." It was Robert, "Jacob's doing pretty well tonight."

Evie rolled her eyes, "I still say this is a bad idea."

"Come on Evie, Jacob's a star. He dominates the ring."

"So you think this is ok?" Evie snapped, "Watching people beat the stuffing out of each other for fun? For money?"

She placed a hand over her face and closed her eyes. She really did not like being here, but as much as she tried she could not persuade Jacob to stop coming. She especially did not like it here now she knew those men came here as well. She let out a rough breath. She could feel eyes on her, she couldn't lose her cool.

"It's ok Evie," Robert said, in an attempt to comfort her, "Jacob's really good, he knows how to handle himself. If you're worried about him getting hurt then don't he is always fine."

"No it's not. None of this is ok Robert, you know that. How many times have we had to drag him from the ring and patch him up."

"Evie, just calm down. You're getting too worked up over this, this is completely normal. Everyone does things like this. It's nothing to worry about."

Evie glared at Robert for a moment before turning and exiting the warehouse. The cool evening breeze hit her face pushing the loose strands of hair across her face. She stood there and slowly breathed in the cool air. The cool air helped her to start calming down, although her hands still trembled slightly. Why were those damn men making her feel this unnerved? She did not even know who they were so what was making her feel like this? Taking a deep breath Evie regained her composure, they were just creepy men. Nothing for her to worry about. Now she was going to go back inside grab her brother and drag him home. She turned and took a step back towards the fight club but her path was blocked by a group of people. The same people who had forced her to come out here to calm down. The men were still wearing the nasty expressions on their faces.

"Well looking what we have here." One of them said.

"A pretty young girl all alone out in the night." Another said.

Evie folded her arms, "Look I really don't care to find out the rest of what you plan to say. So if you will excuse me I am going back inside."

She made to move towards the warehouse doors but one of the men grabbed her shoulder. Her Assassin instincts kicked in and she grabbed the hand roughly and forced the men to let go.

"Oh look we have a fighter here, that will makes things all the sweeter."

The men were still looking at her in such a way which continued to much her feel so uncomfortable. Something told her that they were not here to only start a fight. One of the men, who seemed to be the leader, stepped towards her. Evie decided that enough was enough, she had to protect herself from whatever intentions these men had. She tried to deliver a punch to the man but the men saw it come and grabbed her wrist tightly. She could feel her wrist being crushed in vice like grip.

"You know lads I think we need to wait a bit longer." The men said, still crushing Evie's wrist, "Let's go to the pub."

The man leant in towards Evie, far too close for her liking.

"See you around… Miss."

The man let go and walked away, glancing over his shoulder as he went. Evie looked down at her wrist, it was bright red. No doubt a bruise would appear there. Great. How was she going to hide that from her father. Looking up she could just about see the retreating back of those men. Adrenaline was flowing through her body, what the hell had just happened? She suddenly felt another hand on her shoulder. Jumping violently away from whoever it was Evie spun around to confront the person, only to find it was her brother. Jacob looked at her with a questioning look. Apart from a slightly bloody nose, he seemed unharmed.

"Evie? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm fine."

Jacob heard the tremble in her voice and gave her a look. He knew her to well to not know when something was up. Moving towards her he pulled her into a hug which she returned.

"Look, I know you had a chat with Robert. I know you disapprove of this place but for me this is the only place I can let my frustrations out. I know you don't like it but I think this will help me to stop arguing with father."

Evie pulled away from her twin and looked at him. She could not decide whether to tell him about what had just happened. Deciding against it she sighed.

"Look, can we just go home?"

Jacob smiled slightly, "Sure, I've been all those losers in there twice already tonight. Time to rest and do it all again tomorrow."

If Evie had been in better frame of mind then she might have rolled her eyes but instead she did not react. Jacob began to lead the way home but a voice called out to them.

"Oi. You must be Jacob Frye, the champion of the ring."

The twins turned to find a boy perhaps a year older then them smirking at them. The boy had two other boys either side of him, they were sneering at Jacob.

"Yeah that's me." Jacob said, taking a couple of steps towards the boy, "And who do you think you are?"

"Me? I'm Will Curtis." The boy said, "I was the champion of this ring until you came along. I'm here to warn you, stay away from my ring. Or else."

Jacob laughed, "And what are you going to do if I don't"

"Trust me friend." Will sneered, "You don't want to find out."

Jacob scoffed, "You don't scare me. You look like that little rich boy whose mummy still does everything for."

Will smirked, "At least I still have a mother."

That hit a nerve, Jacob marched up to Will and glare at him.

"You're asking for it now. Meet me here tomorrow and we shall settle this. I'll kick your ass and when I do you will piss off and I will never have to see your pathetic face again."

"Deal."

The two shook hands but Jacob turned and marched away. He marched past his sister who was wearing a concerned expression. There was silence on the way back, apart from when Evie tried to talk to Jacob about what had just happened. Jacob was too cross to discuss what had happened. When the pair reached the house they managed to sneak in through the back door which was the way they'd come out. Jacob knew as he climbed the stairs that Evie was going to try and talk again so he darted into his room and shut the door. He was too angry to talk, tomorrow when he'd calmed down he'd talk to her.

Ethan Frye noticed that both of his children were quieter then usual, as the three of them sat in the study. The twins were supposed to be following the text that Ethan was reading but it appeared they were not listening. Jacob was always quiet and never seemed to pay much attention to anything. But Evie was normally so attentive. She was currently sat with the book he'd given both of them open in front of her but it seemed she wasn't really following it. She was wearing an unreadable expression which was odd. Jacob, on the over hand, was not even trying to hide the fact that he was not listening, he was staring straight out of the window, obviously lost in thought. Ethan sighed internally, there was no way he was going to teach either of them anything at the moment. Perhaps giving them time to straighten out whatever it was that was troubling them then they might be ready to learn. Well, Jacob still probably wouldn't but Evie would then she could teach Jacob. She had a knack of somehow managing to get Ethan's teaching in to Jacob's brain even if he then didn't follow them. Putting down the book Ethan looked at his children.

"Go get some fresh air, we shall continue in an hour." He said.

He watched his children leave the room rather quietly, normally Jacob would almost break down the door to escape from the study. But today... today was different. There was no haste from either of them, they just quietly left the room. Ethan sat back in his chair, interlocking his fingers. Something was definitely up with those two.

The twins moved to the back garden where they sat together under the shade of an oak tree. Evie rubbed her bruised wrist and looked at her brother. There was silence for a while but Evie finally broke it.

"Jacob, last night –"

"Last night we met a spoilt rich kid who thinks he is the bees knees. Tonight I'm going to teach that asshole a lesson."

"I really think it is a bad idea Jacob, I have a feeling that I've heard that his name somewhere before."

"So what Evie, he disrespected us and mother. He has to be taught a lesson."

Evie sighed and looked away across the back garden. Her eyes caught a glimpse of the church spire. In that churchyard she knew that their mother was buried there. Evie sighed, she missed her. Even though Cecily had died after giving birth to Jacob and therefore Evie had not known her, she could not help but long to talk to her. There were so many things she wanted to ask her mother. After the events of last night it was about now that she could really do with a talk to mother or someone who'd been a mother figure to them. The closest person to be like a mother to them had been their grandmother. But they'd not seen her in a long time although they were both in regular contact with her.

"I'm sorry Evie." Jacob was saying, "I don't want to upset you."

He sat up and put an arm around his twin.

"Look, maybe it is best that you stay here tonight. Tomorrow you can go all big sister on me and come protect me but maybe tonight it is better that you stay away from all this,"

Evie looked at him, she could not deny that that was a very agreeable option. After that unnerving encounter last night with these creepy men she really did not want to go back into the town and risk meeting them again. But at the same time she did not like the idea of leaving her brother alone. What happened if he got badly hurt? Who would be there to help him? Well the answer to that was Robert, he was Jacob's best friend. Sighing Evie nodded.

"Ok but promise me that you'll be careful."

Jacob laughed, "I'm always careful."

Evie shook her head then rested it on her twin's shoulder. Everything would be alright… wouldn't it?

The evening had drawn in. It was cold and unforgiving much like Jacob currently. He was staring out the window, preparing himself for what was to come. He knew his father had gone to bed but he was waiting for the right time to leave. His father took a while to fall asleep, he could not risk getting caught by him. Not tonight. A few more minutes past before he decided that it was safe to leave. Creeping out on to the landing, with his boots in hand, he made his way to the front door. He slipped out and closed it with a soft click. Jacob paused on the front steps to put his boots on before setting off towards the gates and after that the fight club. Somewhere along the route to the fight club Robert appeared, seemingly for nowhere. He clapped Jacob on the back.

"Well my old friend, are you ready for this fight?"

Jacob smirked, "Of course, let's teach Mister Will Curtis a lesson shall we?"