Chapter Four: Choices

Xandar dropped both bags and went to the top of the stairs. He lay down on the floor and peered through the banisters. He saw two cloaked figures standing at the table where he had left Jane, and she was pinned between them, both of them with a hand on each shoulder holding her down.

"There's no one else back here, apart from the bartender."

Xandar tilted his head to try and see where the voice was coming from but he couldn't see any further into the room.

"The guardian said to leave him here."

"Right."

"Actually bring him out here; I want to ask him some questions about her."

Xandar heard a door open and a few seconds later the bartender was being pushed into view by another cloaked figure.

"Was there anyone else travelling with this girl?"

"No, she was alone." the bartender replied.

"Are you sure? Because we've caught someone sneaking around the church."

"I wouldn't lie to you Luke"

"So the motorbike outside belongs to the man we caught?" Luke asked

"Yes, but they came separately, not together."

"Really?" said Luke sounding unconvinced.

Xandar saw Luke looking in the direction of the bar. He couldn't see what he was looking at but he had a good guess, the key rack, and not all of the keys were there, he was holding one in his hand.

"You two go and check upstairs. See if there's anyone else. We'll stay here a watch these two." Luke ordered.

Xandar quickly got to his feet, and dashed into the room. He didn't have much time to decide what to do; he could hear the two men heading up the stairs. He threw the room key and Jane's rucksack onto the bed and pushed open the window, looked out on both sides and saw what he was looking for on the right. He grabbed hold of the drainpipe, pulled himself out of the window and started to climb up to the roof. It sounded like he had escaped just in time as he heard the door open, and two people walk into the room.

"Go and look out that window."

Xandar pulled himself onto the roof just as the man looked out of the window.

"There's no sign of anyone."

"OK. Let's try the other rooms."

Xandar heard them leave the room. He slowly crawled over to the part of the roof that was over the front door, so he could see when the four men left. After a couple of minutes he heard some voices drifting up from out of the bar.

"There's no one else here. All of the rooms are locked apart from one, and all we found in there was a room key and a rucksack."

"Well, it seems you were telling the truth." said Luke. "I'm sorry for doubting you."

"So will you leave the girl here with me, as she is not withthe intruder?" asked the bartender.

"No, I cannot do that. The Guardian wants her at the church; he says that is Zoot's will." replied Luke.

"If it's Zoot's will then she'll have to go with you."

"We shall leave you then."

The sound of a scraping chair and footsteps alerted Xandar that they were heading toward the inn door, so he pushed himself away from the roof's edge to properly hide himself. He lay there for about a minute until he heard the footstep getting fainter then, when he decided that they were a safe distance away, he pulled himself closer to the edge again. Looking down the road towards the church he saw five people walking toward it, four wearing cloak's surrounding one that wasn't. He crawled back to the side of the roof with the drainpipe and shimmed down it.

When he reached the ground he didn't know what to do, should he go and try and rescue Slade and Jane? or should he get out of there when he had the chance? He reasoned with himself that he had only just met Slade so he didn't really owe him anything, and that maybe he'd done all he could for Jane. And even if he went in there to rescue them there were thirty odd of them and only one of him. So his mind made up, he headed to Slade's motorbike.

He climbed onto it and was about to start the engine when he remembered something, the promise he'd made to Ian (Jane's brother) that he would protect his sister. He couldn't break that promise now after what Ian had done for him, and Jane was the only friend, and the only living tie to his past that he'd got. So he got off the bike and as he did he caught a glimpse of the ignition. He smiled to himself, there were no keys, it looked like fate even wanted him to go back.

His mind made up for certain this time he headed back towards the church. He didn't have any idea how he was going to rescue Jane, but he was sure he would think of something. Halfway down the road to the church however, his thoughts were cut off when he felt a sharp blow to the head and it all went black.

"So you're the new guy then?"

Xandar looked around and saw a wide school yard with lots of kids in uniforms hurrying into a big school building. He turned to where the voice came from and saw a small boy with spiky red hair looking up at him.

"Well as you're new here you're going to need someone to show you around the place, and tell you who's who and what's what."

"Sure." said Xandar. "Aren't you a bit young to be in the same year as me?"

"Well normally yeah, but I've been skipped forward a few years cause I'm a genius."

"Really?"

"Yeah, my dad's really proud of me. He works at Pandorax so you're dad will probably meet him at some point."

"How do you know my dad works for Pandorax?"

"I saw the lab-coat he was wearing when he dropped you off. By the way my name's Jack."

"I'm Xandar."

Xandar woke up with a dull ache on the back of his head, he felt where the pain was coming from and found a small lump. He wasn't completely sure where he was, but he knew that it was comfortable. Looking around the room he saw an open window, a wardrobe and the bed that he was lying in. Slowly he realised that he was back in the inn.

A/N: Any reviews would really beappreciated