Author's Notes: Hi everyone! I just want to apologise, again, for taking so long to update this story. I'm sorry if I have disappointed any of you, my loyal readers, but I can promise you that no matter how long it may sometimes take - this story WILL be FINISHED. I will not abandon it, so keep following. It will be juicy. It will be romantic. It will be SHOCKING, so if you hate cliffhangers... tough :P Enjoy...
They all screamed out as they saw the sparkling blackness opening its mouth to them; none of them could do anything else. Hearts racing, minds frozen - they could only watch in horror, and wait for the impact. They were all thrown forwards as they smashed into the freezing, black water and it begun to rapidly flood into the car through the smashed windows and pinch icily at their skin. At first, they were all in too much shock to decide upon any actions, and it was only when the water immersed them completely that the fear of never feeling oxygen enter their lungs again occurred.
Jonathan grabbed Femi by the arm and, turning to look at him, she could make out that he was signalling his hand towards the open window beside him. He appeared as a slight blur, but she could still understand from the way he was tugging her. Pushing the terrible endurance of the freezing water to the back of her mind, Femi used her feet and hands to drag herself through the window behind Jonathan and out into the freedom of the open water. Femi looked back momentarily with the expectation to see Alex and Carl right behind her - but they weren't. Were they still in the car? Jonathan tugged on Femi's arm once again and pulled her away from staring at the shadowed figure of the large, sinking vehicle and she knew that breaking the surface was the one thing she needed; her lungs were beginning to strain.
Kicking and waving her arms, she swam upwards beside Jonathan towards the rippling, round moon that sat high in the sky above. It made the water light up with small glitter-like particles that almost appeared magical to her. Her feet paddled anxiously to push her upwards as fast as possible and when her head broke the surface they felt sheer comfort in being able to rest for a moment; the cold, night air stabbed her face and eyes at first but the sensation of being able to breathe overpowered the discomfort. Seconds passed until Femi and Jonathan realised they were safe, but Alex and Carl were nowhere to be seen.
"Where is he?" Femi quivered to Jonathan, "Alex? Alex?"
She swam in circles as she desperately searched for her lover. He definitely hadn't surfaced yet.
"Oh god! He's still down there Jonathan!" Femi cried in a panic, splashing about as she continued to circle.
Jonathan inhaled a deep breath so that his cheeks blew up like a fish; he then ducked forwards and disappeared under the water. Seconds felt like hours to Femi as she bobbed alone, helpless, terrified for Alex's life in the silence of the empty water. She could hear police and fire squad sirens whispering through the City of London and the traffic on the bridge had come to a solid halt. Wherever her brother was, it was far away from those sirens now. It was so still and eerie on her own that when Jonathan surfaced with a huge gasp for air, she flinched with a light yelp of surprise. To her dismay, he was alone.
"I can't see anything," Jonathan gulped down on some air, "it's so dark down there. The car's gone."
"Oh, god…" Femi frowned deeply, feeling tears at her eyes, "we shouldn't have left him! We should have checked!"
"Give him a minute," Jonathan tried to calm her, "you know better than anyone that he'll be"-
And just like that, Alex rose from the depths of the water and inhaled a long, desperate breath to fill his lungs with air. He started coughing and blinking rapidly as he adjusted to the shock of the cold, and life.
"Alex!" Femi exclaimed emotionally.
She splashed her way over to him, completely unaware of an unconscious Carl hanging from his arm, and wrapped her arms around him in absolute joy. She would have held onto him forever if it weren't for the fact that she was dunking him back into the water.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" She gasped, moving back, "I thought you were"-
"I couldn't leave him," Alex panted, smiling at her with his eyes, "the map."
"You fool," Femi splashed some water at him, "you petrified me!"
Alex sighed to himself. One moment she was happy to see him, and the next she was angry. She was like a bloody yo-yo.
"I'll say!" Jonathan added to the conversation, "my bloody life flashed before my eyes! … It wasn't as exciting as I thought it'd be."
Femi and Alex ignored his silly waffling; they were now just staring at each other in a short moment of appreciation. Femi was awfully glad to see him and her irritation had fizzed away into pure love. He was the only thing that existed in that moment.
"Is he dead?" Jonathan interrupted, pointing to Carl.
Alex shook his head, "Unconscious. I didn't have time to search for a soggy map so I just grabbed him."
Femi rolled her eyes, "You're not a murderer, Alex. The map wasn't the reason."
"Think what you want, doll face," Alex snickered, "this guy is nothing to me but a giant map. Got that?"
Femi knew that he was denying his softer side, his human side - his moral side. Alex would never have left him behind if he was mapless. It was just his excuse. The sirens had now arrived on the bridge and voices could be heard shouting from the officers scouting the accident scene. It was time to go.
"Jonathan," Alex beckoned him over, "come help me with this oaf."
Jonathan swam over and took Carls' other arm to take some of weight off of Alex and then, with Femi following, headed towards the riverbank beside the bridge. It was far too dark for anyone to have seen them. When they reached the shore, Carl was set down on the ground and Jonathan had to lie next to him to catch his breath. Alex and Femi were fine.
"Come on," Jonathan frowned with embarrassment, "you haven't had thirty years added onto you, now, have you?"
He held up his aged hand and twinkled the ring at them in his defence. They had completely forgotten. Femi frowned and felt a mixture of anger and sympathy rouse inside of her. This was all Jonathan and Carter's fault, after all, but she couldn't help feeling sorry for Jonathan's position. A soft groaning coming from Carl stole everyone's attention and they saw him stirring from his slumber; he awoke with a sharp hiss and grabbed his wounded shoulder only to bark out in pain and rip it away again.
Carl opened his eyes, "Jesus god-damn, mother f"-
"We get it," Alex rolled his eyes, "unc, I need some of your shirt."
"What?" Jonathan blinked owlishly, stepping backwards, "why mine?"
"Because this is all your fault and I'll literally shoot you if you don't give it to me." Alex bluntly responded as he approached him.
"Now, now," Jonathan chuckled awkwardly, removing his waist jacket at once, "let's be civilised my dear, baby nephew!"
Alex marched over to him where he forwardly ripped Jonathan's sleeve and stripped it from his arm without any hint of hesitation. Femi's eyes wandered down onto Carl, who was lying with his eyes clenched shut and his hand hovering by his bloody shoulder. She felt sorry for him. All he had done was try to help them. When Alex had ripped the sleeve free, he turned and walked back over to Carl.
"No problem," Jonathan held a sarcastic hand up, "you're perfectly welcome."
Alex ignored him and threw the sleeve down to Carl, "Here. It should stop the bleeding till' we get to Moss' place."
"Moss?" Femi repeated in disbelief, "since when did we agree on that?"
Alex didn't look at her, "We didn't. I just decided."
As Carl tied up his shoulder using his teeth and free hand, Femi rushed up to her lover and looked up into his face with a determined expression of disapproval. Alex tried to avoid her stare.
"Stop that." He grunted at her.
"Alex, I'm not going back there. That house is full of wild animals! You do remember what happened last time, don't you?" Femi scolded him, shaking her head.
"It's just a couple of farm animals, Femi," Alex sighed, "n' plus, Armand'll never find us there and Moss has transport. You know if anyone can get's to Mexico fast, it's him."
Femi released a long sigh of disappointment and rubbed her forehead. Moss was lovely to them last time, but the night ended in gunfight, explosions and Meela nearly killing them. Not to mention the snakes lying around his house… And besides, why on earth would Moss simply welcome them back into his home after they almost destroyed it last time?
"And how do you plan on getting us there, exactly?" Femi brutishly quizzed him.
Alex smirked, "Doll', have you learnt anything' from me?"
"Oh, do you happen to be referring to the skills of firing fire a gun in the middle of a life-endangering car chase? No. Certainly not, Alex." Femi sarcastically bit back at him, folding her arms.
"Good on ya', old mum." Jonathan supported her with a punch of the air.
Alex just turned around and sent him a small glare; Jonathan resorted to his usual, simple silence where he knew he was safe. Alex turned back to look at Femi, who was still standing with her arms folded and lips pouted stubbornly.
"We're going. That's that." Alex told her, before walking off.
Femi looked up at the starlit sky and sighed quietly to herself. Why did he never consider asking her first? He was always like that. Deciding by himself, never giving her the chance. That probably explained the reason he still hadn't proposed to her… That was all Femi wanted. A life with Alex, as a couple, together. As a family. When Femi looked down from the sky, she saw Carl was now standing and watching her subtly as he put his jacket back on, covering his wound. Femi didn't look away but nor did she feel totally comfortable in staring into those strangely handsome eyes of his. He was supposed to be the bad guy, so why did she not despise him?
"Come on!" Alex called back to them as he marched up the hillside, "we haven't got time to stand around!"
Jonathan walked past Femi, stealing her away from Carls' eyes that glowed a lovely hazel beneath his black fringe. He had lost his hat, and now his full and playful hair had added to his overall appearance and character. By the time Femi and Jonathan had reached the top of the hill, leading onto the busy roadside, Alex had already caught the attention of a passing taxi it was pulling over to service him. Femi heard him give the address, but upon being asked for money, she froze in total puzzlement as she saw him remove his watch and hand it to the driver.
"Alex!" Femi marched over to him, "that was your father's…"
Alex turned, sighing, and opened the back door, "Yeah well if we don't get in this cab, the whole world might end. Kinda' not bothered about a watch right now."
Femi weighed the idea in her mind and realised he was right. They had to sort this whole 'Quetzalcoatl' nonsense out or else he would become free and transform their world as they knew it. A watch, for a world. Simple choice.
"Stop worryin' about me, doll," Alex smirked down at her, "I know what I'm doin'. Your worth a million times more than some watch, got that?"
His words made her blush faintly, but she nodded nonetheless and allowed him to help her into the cab. He got in after her where he scooched up beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders so that she could fall onto him, safe and snug. Jonathan sat beside them while Carl moved into the front. Femi leant her head against Alex's damp chest as the driver pulled the car away from the side of the road and performed a U-Turn to head away from the bridge and towards the train station. Femi loved the way Alex wrapped his arms around her and made her feel so safe, and the way she could hear his breathing and heart beat. But all she could think about was her poor brother.
"You alright there son?" The old cab driver ask Carl, glancing at him once.
Carl was sitting, leaning to one side to rest his shoulder, and he appeared stiff and quite pale. It was obvious something was wrong.
"I'm fine." Was all he said back, through slightly gritted teeth.
The cab driver took this as a hint to stop being nosey, despite his genuine expression of concern for him. The remainder of the journey consisted with silence from the group as they watched London drift past them and their minds swelled with recollections of everything that had happened so far, and what was to come. It was s bizarre, watching the naïve world go by. None of them had a single idea what Femi and the group were involved with; it was their secret and it had to remain that way, but there was something awfully ironic about it as they strolled along in their fancy outfits on the way to an expensive dinner or theatre show as they marched on to save them.
When they arrived at the station, the group looked to the timetable board for the correct platform and waited until their train arrived, which was only fourteen minutes. When it arrived, Alex took them all on board and quickly found them an empty cabin which they could hide away in for the hour journey ahead. Locking the door after him, Alex pulled down the blinds at all windows to ensure that no one could see inside. They had no ticket after all.
Femi sat back in her seat and gazed out of the window at the other side of the platform. All the women looked so elegant and pretty, with their husbands standing beside them, laughing and chatting about anything and everything. Femi wanted that. A promise from Alex, a happy life, good friends. Right now, all that seemed a lifetime away… Femi felt more irony stabbing at her. Alex had spotted Femi gazing longingly at the group and automatically understood the reason for the lonely sloping in the corner of her lips. He knew. And as they disappeared out of the station and Femi lost interest, she looked away to find Alex staring at her. There wasn't much expression in his face, but she could tell by his eyes that he knew. Femi just faked a tender smile. This, Alex also knew.
The whistle blew from the train conductor and seconds later the engines begun to hiss and churn in a catchy rhythm that relaxed Femi. Jonathan was busy observing the ring on his finger, questioning it and admiring it at the same time. It was strange, how such a beautiful thing could be so deadly.
"Just make sure… you don't wish for anything else." Carl teased through his breathlessness.
Jonathan looked up, a little unnerved, "Nothing's worth my youth, mate, I can tell you that. I like my women young. Firm."
Femi tutted and rolled her eyes but Carl smiled in amusement at his comment. There was nothing like a bit of sense of humour to lighten the serious mood.
"It does look rather… royal on me… doesn't it." Jonathan arrogantly commented, holding his hand up.
"No." Both Femi and Alex said, sending him a don't-even-think-about-it stare.
Jonathan frowned at them a little but shrugged nonetheless, "All the while, I'd love to get the darn thing off. I feel like making wishes in my head are even out of bounds."
"The ring's bound to you- ah"- Carl paused with a little wince, "you can't get it off. Not till' all four wishes are made."
The train begun to gracefully roll along its tracks and the platform slowly rolled on by, leaving the fancy gowns and tux's as a stained memory on Femi's mind. Soon, it was blankness outside apart from the dottings of light around the City.
"Well," Alex sighed, in response to Carl's last comment, "hopefully this Totonac tribe can help us with that."
"Hopefully." Jonathan repeated in agreement, though he was still musing over the ring.
Femi kept her mystified eyes on the views outside, "That's if Armand doesn't beat us there."
She was right. Her words of truth bestowed a philosophical silence upon the group, brains ticking and hopes weighing heavily. It was a race against time, but Femi and her companions were well experienced with that. They were quite familiar with the concept of stay alive, move fast and, consequently, save the world from perish.