Hi guys!

Well, here's the new chapter!

Thank you all so much for reviewing. This chapter explains a lot about who May really is.

Hope you guys enjoy!

-Lauren

x.x.x

No one answered Lucy's question.

They looked around, but May's face was missing from their circle.

It was only through Tom's insistent hissings that the rest of Alex's group stayed on the ground. Mark thought the joke was already over, and had stood up, only to be wrestled back to the ground by Tom and James, albeit with some difficulty.

The girls had more sense and emotional intelligence, and so shut up and sat tight. Without the competition to be the bravest that boys had, they were all shaking. Even Caitlin, though she wasn't shaking outwardly, was pretty scared, even if she tried not to show it.

'What is Alex up to?' whispered James to Tom. Tom just shook his head and zipped his mouth shut. He was probably the most frightened of the group – because he actually knew what this was about. About spies with guns, evil masterminds and things that threatened their lives.

Phillip didn't even reach for his Game Boy, he just sat still.

It was agonizing, sitting in silence when they were all scared and 2 of them were missing, and could be in big trouble. The person it was probably worst for was Tom.

He was sitting there, knowing that both his and his best friend's life were in jeopardy.

There was a rustle in the bushes, and Tom immediately froze and James stopped whispering. Everything was still, and no one moved or said a word.

Out of the bushes came a figure dressed all in black, with a bulge at his right hip that only Tom knew was a gun.

'Well well, what have we here?' said the man, breaking into a smile that sent shivers down the teenagers' spines.

x.x.x

'Yassen!' shouted Alex. Yassen muffled the shout with his hand, placing it over Alex's mouth.

'Alex,' he said softly. 'There are enemies in the woods. Don't shout.' He let go of Alex and put a finger to his lip. Alex was so shocked that Yassen was alive that he couldn't do anything but follow his orders and keep quiet.

May was hardly less surprised than Alex, backing up against a tree, trying not to think about the fact that Yassen Gregorovich was alive. Yassen Gregorovich, the man who had haunted her dreams for years.

Her mum and dad had always been out of the house often. They went on business trips together, leaving May with a babysitter and not much to do. When she was younger, she didn't think about it too much.

But as she grew older, she became to wonder.

Mostly a self-taught child, she wasn't very close with her parents. Her babysitter was one of her parent's friend's daughters, was a university student who lived with her. May had been alone a large amount of her life. Lillian, her babysitter, or "roomie" as they called each other as they grew older, was at university a lot of the time. She saw her parents occasionally, but even the times that they were at home, they'd shut themselves up in their room and only come down to eat.

May didn't begrudge her parents for it – she knew that they were doing something important. Something adults do, something that she didn't know. She got all the love she needed from Lillian, and instead pitied her parents – she'd seen the tears in her mother's eyes when as a child she'd called Lillian "mum", and only now realised how much her mum had given up.

For the first 12 years of her life, she'd lived like this. She didn't stand out at school and preferred not to draw attention to herself, and preferred to be alone or with Lillian. Life was relatively normal for her, and things were going well.

But then Yassen Gregorovich stepped into her life.

On the day that changed everything, he kicked down the door and barged in completely uninvited to her house. Saying nothing, he knocked out Lillian, and grabbed May, screaming and kicking, and pushed her into his car. By that time she was bound and gagged, and had no say in her fate.

Roughly another man dragged her out of the car and into a compound. She kicked and screamed, but it had no effect. Yassen Gregorovich, with the face that haunted her, just watched with no trace of emotion on his face.

The possibilities were running through her mind – May had always been analytical. It was a kidnapping, because if they wanted to kill her they would have done so far earlier. But why her? There was nothing interesting about her. Except…

When she was younger, she thought that her parents were superheroes in disguise, and that was why they were always out. As she grew older, she thought up a more sophisticated explanation – they were spies. But she'd disregarded the notion and thought it stupid – her parents, spies? Never. That was, until now.

But there was nothing she could do. So she watched Yassen's face, unmoving, expressionless and yet avoiding her eyes.

She was hauled into the compound, to see the faces of the people she'd hope she wouldn't see but knew she would. Her parents. Her mother was pleading with her eyes, looking at the men like they were the only thing that could save her. Her father stood still, watching her but though his face was still his eyes were full of desperation.

'Let her go,' he said. 'She has nothing to do with this.'

'On the contrary,' said the man that May didn't know the name of. 'She has everything to do with this. You are both her parents. She means something to you. Now tell us. Tell us everything, or we'll hurt her. Yassen Gregorovich here is perfectly capable, I assure you.'

May half knew what was going on. Even if she pretended she had no idea, she knew what was going on. Her parents had something the man wanted. Her parents wouldn't tell him, not even for fear of their own lives. For her, well, that was a different matter altogether.

'Yassen…' whispered her mother. The man called Yassen took hold of May and held a knife to her neck. She could feel the dangerously cold metal slicing through her neck already. What was to stop them killing her after her parents had told?

'She's just a child!' said her father, raising his voice.

'Collateral damage,' said the man, nodding at Yassen.

'No!' screamed her mother, fighting against the men that were holding her back. 'Don't, please. We'll tell you.'

'Irene…' said her father softly. May was crying and bawling but no one seemed to care except her parents.

'She's our daughter, Stuart. Our only child. What has MI6 ever done for us? She's our child, Stuart.'

Her father paused, looked at her and sighed.

'How do we know you won't kill her afterwards?' asked her father, turning back to the man in charge. He simply grinned.

'You'll have to take my word for it, Wilkinson.'

May's father was probably facing the toughest decision any man would ever have to make. The enemy was being purposely cruel. He didn't want to destroy the nation, but he couldn't let his daughter die without knowing he tried his best to save her.

'Either you watch her die, or she watches you die. It's your choice,' said the man. And that was when May realised that her parents were actually going to die. They were going to die! Her parents, who she'd never spent that much time with, were going to die! She was never going to see them again! She started screaming and kicking and doing everything in her power to escape, and she almost did. If Yassen hadn't been the assassin he was, the pain in her cries would have softened his heart.

'We'll tell you,' said her father, with an air of defeat and a broken expression. The man in charge just grinned, beckoned Yassen over and took her parents away. That was the last time she would see them. A few of the most agonizing minutes of her life later, she heard two gunshots, and she knew it was all over. She was crying her heart out, like she'd never felt pain before, and for that moment everything was wrong, everything. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't think. She couldn't do anything but cry.

Her parents never came out of that room, and May knew it was because of her.

'Yassen,' said the man. 'Kill the girl. Go, now.'

Yassen Gregorovich nodded, no sign of expression on his face, grabbed May and walked outside.

He took his gun out of its holster and closed his eyes. He loaded the bullet in, and May was slightly glad that the agony would end soon. She'd be with her parents soon. She'd be out of this world soon, and she wouldn't have to face the world anymore. Maybe she was a bit sad that it would all end, but she'd had enough of life at that moment and just wanted it all to be over.

But when she opened her eyes, she wasn't in heaven, and the man who was meant to kill her was still standing in front of her with the gun pointed at her head.

'Do it,' she hissed at him, with all the anger she could muster. 'Do it.'

'Why?' he asked. 'Why are you so eager for me to kill you?' he asked, sounding amused, but also a little sad.

May felt all the bitterness and anger inside her spill out.

'JUST DO IT!' she screamed at him, grabbing him by the collar, not caring that he was over twice her size. 'I DON'T WANT TO LIVE ANYMORE!' she screamed, punching his chest as hard as she could and crying.

Yassen just stood there, shocked to hear such terrible words coming out of a thirteen year old. He knew he shouldn't talk to his victims, but he couldn't resist.

'Why not?' he asked her.

'Everything's gone,' she said, weeping into his chest even though he was the man who would probably kill her. 'It's all gone. My parents are gone, my life is gone; JUST KILL ME!' she screamed, crying harder.

'Don't you have anything to live for?' he whispered in her ear.

'There's nothing for me,' she sobbed. 'Nothing.'

'Friends?'

'JUST KILL ME, YOU COWARD!' she screamed, beating at his chest with her fists.

'Some people out there are fighting for their lives,' he told her softly. 'Your parents fought for yours. Would you throw that all away?' he asked.

'SHUT UP!' she screamed at him, crying. 'You don't know anything! I can't live… anymore.'

Yassen looked at the broken girl in his arms and saw himself, when his parents had first died. He, too, didn't think he had anything to live for. But there had been no one there to pull the trigger for him.

He held the gun to her neck, but couldn't pull the trigger.

'Do it,' she cried.

'Yassen, hurry up!' called his boss from inside the compound. Yassen, sighing, took the gun away from her neck, shot one bullet into the air and tucked his gun back in its holster.

'Go down those stairs. Down the underground corridor until you reach the sewers, and then you'll find a manhole,' he whispered to May, who was still crying hysterically. He grabbed her hand and dragged her to the stairs, and pushed her down until she was out of sight.

Then he left, and returned to his employer, leaving May alone.

She was still crying, but her brain went into autopilot; chanting Yassen's instructions in her head and following them mindlessly. She went down the corridor, reached the sewers and clambered around in the sewage until she found a manhole, which she climbed up. Everything was numb and empty for her. She wandered around the streets, thoughts of her parents occasionally flickering through the void of her mind, but like a black hole, her mind sucked them up.

Eventually she found herself back home, and Lillian had recovered, and attended to her immediately. But May, now, was like a blank canvas with all the life sucked out of her.

For about a month she didn't speak at all, and when she was finally asked about the incident, she wouldn't say a word. The entire incident had been extremely traumatic for her, and she would probably never be the same again. After about half a year she went back to school, but kept to herself and didn't talk to others. She built a wall inside her heart to prevent anyone from getting in, and preoccupied herself with sport and her schoolwork, anything to keep her mind off her parents and that terrible day.

She never thought she'd see Yassen Gregorovich again.

'May Wilkinson,' said Yassen, nodding.

'WHY ARE YOU HERE?!' she screamed, starting to cry again. The last time she'd cried was that day – after that she had been too numb for crying.

'How do you know her?' asked Alex. Yassen relaxed his arm and Alex slipped out of his grip, immediately rushing to May's side.

'I never said I was sorry about your parents,' Yassen said to May, ignoring Alex.

'SHUT UP!' she screamed at him. All the emptiness had suddenly been filled with an inconsolable rage, and she charged at him, trying to hurt him in any way she could. 'SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!'

Alex thought he saw a flicker of sadness cross Yassen's face, but as it returned to its appearance of cold stone instantly, he decided he must have been mistaken.

'May, there's no time,' Yassen said softly. To Alex's extreme surprise, he saw that Yassen was rubbing May's back with his hand. Maybe he was just trying to calm her down.

'Alex,' said Yassen, turning to him.

'Why are you alive?' Alex asked, still hardly believing his eyes.

'It's a long story,' said Yassen, a ghost of a smile on his face. 'But now's not the time. There's an enemy somewhere in the area. And your friends are in danger,' said Yassen.

Alex froze.

An enemy? There were schoolchildren, all by themselves, in the area! If there was a criminal, they were all in great danger. Alex thought of Tom, and the others, and finally realised how much danger they were in.

Alex swore.

'That's right, Alex,' said Yassen. 'We need to get going.'