My eyes fluttered open to the sight of a clear blue sky. It reminded me of something I couldn't quite put my finger on. There was the familiar hum of wheels on pavement and the quiet workings of an engine.

I broke the peace with a tired noise from my throat. My hair was all over my face. I pushed it over to one side and looked over to my left. I was met with eyes like the sky and a small smile like the sun.

"Have a good nap, princess?" Danny asked me, rather bemused.

I stretched my arms up. The wind that had messed up my hair caressed my fingertips "How long have I been asleep?" I asked.

"Well, we left about three hours ago, so I'd say about three hours," Danny answered.

I frowned. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

He shrugged and looked back towards the road. "Thought you needed the sleep. Also figured that we'd be heading the same direction anyway. That coffee wasn't as caffeinated as you thought."

Damn hotel coffee.

"I'll stop at a Starbucks once we exit so you don't get a caffeine headache," he added.

"That's sweet," I yawned. It didn't come out nearly as sarcastic as I intended it to.

"What?" Danny laughed.

"Nothing," I covered up. I closed my eyes and searched for Emily's signal. Something felt off.

"How are we doing?" Danny asked.

Just like that, my sense of Emily's signal amplified. It was blaring and loud in my mind.

"Exit!" My eyes flew open. There had to be an exit coming up.

"Wha-"

"Exit! Now! Now! Now!" I shouted and pointed to the diverging road off to the right.

"Shit, shit..." Danny cussed as he yanked the steering wheel far to the right. He cut over two traffic lanes, barely missing a car, in order to make the exit on time. We jerked to a stop at the preceding stop sign.

Danny stayed silent for a moment, then he started laughing. He couldn't drive, so he threw the car into park right there on the empty road.

I used my hand to cover up the smile that escaped onto my face. I snorted as I tried too hard to keep from laughing with him.

"What was that?" he laughed.

"We're close," I said through muffled giggles, nearly in an apology. "We're really close."

"Yeah, no kidding. Could've given me a warning..." Danny said.

I removed my hand from over my mouth. "Just shut up and drive." I pursed my lips together, but I could feel the corners curve up a bit as I tried my hardest to resist.

"I know this won't sound like much coming from me." Danny put the car back in drive. "But damn, you're pretty when you smile."

"Danny..." I sighed.

"Let me guess. 'Stop it. This is strictly a professional relationship, Daniel. I can't even consider anyone seeing as how I'm a psychic and am way to busy doing psychic things.' Am I right, princess?" he mocked me comically.

I didn't say anything.

"Ha! The psychic thing must be wearing off on me too."

"Or maybe it's just because you're an asshole 99% of the time," I said.

He started genuinely laughing again after that. "Maybe. Maybe that too. Which way, princess?"

"Left," I said. There was a city near the coast. My best bet was Emily and the other person were there.

The town was small, but big enough to find a Starbucks without too much trouble. Danny drove slowly through the narrow streets as I sipped on my frapaccino. Emily had to be close by.

"There." I pointed to a little shop no more than a block ahead of where we were.

"You sure?" he asked. "What's the situation?"

I closed my eyes and focussed. It was a little easier when Danny pulled over and parked his car on the side of the street.

"She's somewhere dark but doesn't seem to be under any sort of distress," I recounted. She almost seemed...happy? Almost. Focussed maybe.

"What about the other guy? Is he around?" Danny asked.

His aura was still really staticky to me. There's was too much I didn't know about him. "Yeah, he's there. In the front of the store." Proximity was a little more helpful. He seemed bored. Like he was waiting for someone. For whom, I still wasn't sure.

"Okay," Danny grunted. He reached under his leather jacket to adjust the straps that kept his guns hidden and strapped to his chest. "Stay in the car."

I rolled my eyes. "You've got to be kidding me. He's not hostile," I said.

"No offense, but you tend to get on people's bad side. If he has a thing against Callaways..."

"He would have killed Emily by now. And who are you to talk about bad sides?"

"Look, I think we can pretty much assume that he'll recognize you..." Danny argued.

"You too. You've been trying to single handedly take down the Chu syndicate. You haven't exactly been very subtle," I pointed out.

"Then, what do you suggest we do?" he nearlyshouted in frustration. "Just go in there and hope he just gives Detective Callaway back?"

"Look," I said calmly. "We go in. If the guy resists, you restrain him. I'll get Emily, and we'll figure this thing out."

He didn't have very well formed objections in his mind. "Fine, but if things go south, you get out of there. Keeping you safe is my first priority."

That wasn't necessarily our objective, but I didn't have any well formed objections. "Agreed."

We exited the car and walked side by side on the sidewalk. Our strides lined up perfectly, but Danny was on edge and tense.

"Mind toning it down a notch? You're going to give me a headache if you keep worrying about me," I pathetically tried to lighten the mood.

"Or maybe, you should get out of my head, princess." The door to the shop jingled as Danny pushed it open.

Danny's shoulder motioned to block me in preparation for a fight, but nothing happeneded. I brushed him aside to get a better look. It looked like a regular little shop. Not any sort of hideout or anything. The shelves were sloppily put together boxes of photo albums and picture frames.

"We're closed," a man's voice called out lazily.

I looked to the counter, where the source of the voice and static was coming from. He didn't seem to know we were there. A giant pair of headphones were set into place on his perfectly stylized hair. He was also flipping through a magazine and didn't bother to look at either Danny or me. This...really didn't seem like the work of a criminal mastermind.

Danny gave me a look before he reached under his jacket to grip his gun. His feet were placed carefully on the ground as he snuck towards the counter. I figured Danny could handle him. I was in no mood for sneaking. Emily and the dark room had to be somewhere in the back.

"I said we're clo..." the staticky man started again. He finally looked up at me first. He panicked, and his mind flickered through everything I needed to know about who he was and who he knew I was. He tried to throw up superficial barriers, but it was too late.

"He's Chu," I said loudly for Danny to hear.

Danny laughed. "Ha! I've been waiting for this." He drew his gun. "Where is she?"

"Wait! I don't know who you're talking about! Don't shoot!" he feigned innocence.

I had to admit, he did a better job at hiding Emily than he did his other little secrets. "He's going to run," I announced a split second before the Chu boy acted.

Rather than running towards the exit, Chu boy ran towards the back where Emily was. And rather than me blocking him, it seemed to be the other way around. Not only was he physically keeping me from going to the back of the store, his mind put up barriers between all things Emily. He wasn't as good at blocking his mind as Yao, but he made up for it in his singularity. He didn't care that I could see his panic.

I narrowed my eyes and glared down at him. "What did you do to Emily?"

"Trust me." He almost smirked. "You really don't want to know what I've done with her."

His barrier wavered then. He really couldn't resist thinking about her. His aura turned disturbingly warm.

"You're really annoying," I said as I tried to step around him.

"So, I've been told," he said.

I tried to push him out of the way, but before I could reach the door, he childishly pushed me back. I noticed his headphones had fallen off in the excitement and we're hanging around his neck.

"Let me through!" I demanded.

"No way. I'm not scared of you, Elenora Callaway."

That was odd. Especially coming from a Chu subordinate. If I wasn't the one he was scared of, why was he so panicked?

"I'm only going to warn you once. Step away from the lady or I'm going to shoot."

Danny's mind was surprisingly steady. His nervousness and worry was replaced by determination. He really would shoot.

The man, probably very aware of this, did step back closer to the door. In a swift motion, opened said door and slammed it quickly behind him.

"You've got to be kidding me..." I muttered. He had locked the door behind him. The door handle clinked uselessly. It was completely idiotic. There was no other exit in that tiny room.

"Hang on..." Danny said as he came up behind me. He took my arm and pulled me back a couple of steps. He forced a well placed kick near the handle, and the door swung open, revealing my sister and the Chu. More than just a simple dark room this was a literal dark room used for developing film. Lines of developing pictures were hung up to dry using cloths pins. A dull red light was enough to reveal the faces of both the Chu and my sister.

The barricade was free. There was nothing keeping me from the connections now. I could see everything. I stopped in the doorway, overwhelmed with trying to take everything in. The connections were much, much stronger than I anticipated.

Leon Chu. His name was Leon Chu. Simultaneously syndicate heir and traitor. This wasn't a kidnapping. This was far from a kidnapping. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no...

"What the hell? Get out of my dark room!" Emily exclaimed.

She was in love. She was in love with him. It was pulsating and raw and exposed.

"Nora? Hey, are you alright?" Danny asked warily. He stopped his advance to check on me.

I was seething. "Oh, how could you?" I spit. I had been mistaken. There were two traitors in the room.

"Emily, I'm sorry. I'll get us out somehow." Leon Chu grabbed Emily's hand.

"Don't you dare touch her," I hissed.

"What did he do?" Danny trustingly joined in on my anger.

"I figured you'd show up eventually," Emily said. "You're later than I expected. Must be getting rusty. As for Leon, he's just over reacting. I don't see why you're so mad."

I tried to calm down. "Emily, you know why..."

"Oh, I am perfectly aware why you avoid anything close to love and relationships like the plague, but your insane personal restrictions to make yourself miserable for the rest of your life have nothing to do with me. In fact, you made it clear that you have nothing to do with me a long time ago."

She let me see her pain and hurt unashamed. She felt betrayed.

"Emily, I told you, it's best if I just..." I tried to explain for the thousandth time.

"Oh, because of what happened to Mom? She was crazy, Nora. Plain and simple," Emily interrupted firmly.

I could feel anger bubbling up again. "How could you say that?" She didn't know. She wasn't there.

"Because she was. And you're just as crazy if you think I'll you both keep contaminating my room with light. Get out of here. We need to talk."

I didn't move.

"Uh, I'm just going to follow your lead on this one," Danny whispered low for me to hear.

"Fine. We'll talk," I sighed loudly.

Tensions in the room relaxed audibly with a wave of relieved sighs. But to me, there was nothing relieving about this situation.

"And you're not supposed to be back here either. What were you thinking leading them back here?" Emily scolded her...her...

"I don't know. I was honestly trying not to think. I guess I just wanted to be closer to you, sugar babe," Leon said cheesily. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of candy. He popped it into his mouth and gave her a cheeky half-smile.

Emily wasn't too impressed, but when he leaned over to kiss her, her aura unconsciously fluctuated to compliment his.

I couldn't stand it. I turned on my heel and walked away.