DISCLAIMER! I have never, nor will I ever own SoN (Though that would rock!) They belong to The N and Tom Lynch.

Chapter Ten: So Hard For Me To Breathe

Previously:

"Spencer!"

What?

"Spencer, please, wake up!"

Who is that? Who's there?

"No! Leave her alone! SPENCER! WAKE UP! IT'S NOT REAL!"

Ashley? Ashley! I can hear you! What's going on?

"AHHHHH!"

Sedate her. We don't need her screwing this up.

"SPENCER!"

"Aiden!"

…

"Hey, little sister. I finally found you. I told you I would. I promised."

She pulled her head from his shoulder to look into his eyes. He wiped away her tears with his thumb.

"Is it really you, big brother?"

He pulled her close, kissing her forehead.

"Yes, Ashley. It's really me."

He finally found her.

And he was never letting go.

Ashley screamed as she heard the body that was still laying in the room move about on its own metal slab. As she turned to see what was causing the noise, Aiden pulled her around and hid the both of them behind a concrete wall near the back of the room.

"Shhh…"

Aiden put his finger up to his mouth, and Ashley nodded, keeping her mouth tightly sealed. Less than a minute later, the door that Aiden had entered through slammed open to reveal none other than Theodahm and Adamin Cauper.

"Adamin, prepare the syringe, she's crashing!"

Adamin nodded and quickly sprang into action, filling up the syringe with a noxious looking green liquid.

"Do it now!"

He stepped closer, aiming the syringe and quickly sunk it into her neck, but before he could pump the liquid into her blood he noticed something strange.

"Father!"

Adamin spun around to face his father.

"What is it now you insolent cretin?"

"It's Ashley. She's gone!"

Aiden tightened his grip around his little sisters shoulders, placing himself in front of her just in case something happened.

"Hit the alarm. She's not left the building, I can assure that."

Adamin stared after Theodahm.

"How would you know, father?"

Theodahm turned back to stare at his son, a small sliver of disgust showing in his eyes, and his voice not betraying his sarcasm that he aimed so heatedly at his own son.

"Because," Theodahm jabbed a finger in the direction of the other body. "She wouldn't dare leave without Spencer. Finish your job here, and meet me in the atrium. We must form a search with the Redgard."

Ashley and Aiden watched as Theodahm left the room. A few seconds after the door closed, Adamin walked slowly over to the twitching body, placing his hand upon the syringe that was currently sticking out of her neck.

"This won't kill you," he said as he started to push the liquid in. "No it won't kill you…yet."

Ashley's eyes turned coal black, and Aiden knew that he had no way of stopping her, but he would save her if she needed him to. Ashley wasn't paying attention to her brother's movements as he slid out from in front of her and quietly snuck over to one of the metal carts and quickly ducked behind it.

Her black eyes never left her target, the syringe. She focused every ounce of energy she had left, careful to keep out of Aiden's way. She had just found her brother, she couldn't handle losing him again.

Adamin still had yet to see what Ashley was doing, and when he finally turned his head, hand still on the offending weapon in Spencer's neck, it was far too late for him to do anything other than grimace.

Then with a loud scream, Ashley unleashed whatever power she had stored.

And the room went black.

"He's dead. Adamin Cauper is dead."

My silence was interrupted by a voice.

"It's okay, I've got Ashley, you grab Spencer. We need to get the others before they find out what's happened."

I felt myself being lifted from a hot metal surface. Where was I now? Was that a mans voice just now?

"This way, quickly!"

It was. Who is he? I don't recognize it…

"I made sure to get the location of the other children before I found you."

That was a woman's voice. It sounded so familiar, but I couldn't match a face to it. We were running now, whoever we were. The woman that was carrying me held me tightly to her chest as if she were afraid that I would die.

Would I?

"I didn't think she'd go all out! She's totally spent right now, I don't think she's going to be conscious for a while…"

That man. He's talking about Ashley. He has to be, who else could he be referring to?

"She's still boiling hot, I need to find her a cool surface to lay on!"

We turned suddenly and my head lolled against the woman's shoulder. I felt her hair tickle my face, but I couldn't seem to move anything. I was feeling very light headed again, but I tried to stay conscious. I needed to know that they found my babies safely…

The woman stopped. Her movements frantic. What were we running from? Where was I?

Suddenly I was lying down again. This time, the metal surface was cold, making goose bumps appear on my arms.

I heard a light thud to my right, but I had no idea what was going on, and I was getting steadily frustrated with the whole situation.

Was it so hard to explain what was going on?

"Spencer…"

The woman, she was talking to me!

"Spencer, baby, wake up. Please? Just wake up!"

My eyes opened into slits, barely able to see anything but the woman standing above me.

She was tall and blonde, with a white lab coat on, and all at once I realized why her voice had sounded so familiar to me.

Why she had held me so tightly during our escape from the really hot room. And then I did something I haven't done in eleven years…

I spoke.