The man stepped out of the bathroom and into the main bedroom. Femi quickly stole a glimpse of the door as a plan of escape filled her mind. The only thing stopping that door from opening was a chair on the other side, locking the handle. If Femi rammed into it at a fast enough speed, she might just be able to break the barrier.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk" The man tutted playfully "You should know bedder' 'dan to try and anger us any more than you already have."

"W-what do you want with me...?" Femi bluffed.

The man laughed "Playing dumb again, are we?"

He spun his dagger tauntingly in his head, and within the blink of an eye, suddenly darted it towards Femi and it slammed into the wall just an inch next to her head; it had caught one of her curls, however, which was now hanging from the wall like a painting. Femi leapt away from the wall and sprinted across the room towards the door as fast as she could. The man leapt across the bed and chased after her with no fear of her escaping whatsoever. Femi gritted her teeth and slammed herself into the door as hard as she could. All she succeeded in doing was bruising the entire left side of her body. Her vision became blotched with black sparks and she felt far too light headed to protect herself. The man caught up to her and, grabbing the back of her neck and arm, swung her round and threw her back across the room. She screamed and landed on the floor with a painful bang, where she rolled over a couple of times, and landed lifeless in a weak twist.

Her body throbbed with aching pain, just as her mind did with icy dizziness. She moaned under her breath and rolled onto her back with her curls lying across her face and her vision blurred up. The man's footsteps vibrated from the floor and into her mind which really didn't help the situation at all. When he reached her, he leant down and grabbed her by the throat and pulled her up to her feet. Femi gasped and coughed and stumbled up with his hand - as though she had much choice.

The man moved behind her and, wrapping one arm around her stomach, held the dagger to her throat threateningly "Where is 'de diamond heart?"

Femi closed her eyes and swallowed "I... I don't..."--

He pressed the cold blade against her skin "Where?!"

Femi flinched and tilted her head back nervously. She really thought that she was going to be killed, now. She had slipped away from death a one too many times. The man smelt her hair and slowly stroked the blade down her throat and onto her chest. He parted the dressed gown slightly and ran the tip of the blade across the top of her left breast. He drew blood. Femi gasped from the stinging pain and squirmed in his grasp.

"You're just making dis' harder for yourself... tell me where de' diamond heart is, and 'de lives of you and your companions may be spared." He whispered.

Femi stared at the wall opposite and gritted her teeth. She breathed heavily through her nose and kept her ground. She could hear her mother's laugh echoing in the back of her mind, and ghostly visions of her father's smile drifted before her. She couldn't give in. She couldn't. Not for anything. The fate of the world was at their hands.

The man growled impatiently and tightened his arm around her stomach so that she was finding it hard to breath. He pushed the blade down the very center of her dressing gown and she felt the cold blade tickling her stomach. She had to do something. Anything. So what if she gained a few cuts - it was worth her life! Femi closed her eyes and casually eased her head forwards as though she was giving in. The man smiled cockily and began pulling the dagger back up again.

"'Dat's it, little girlie..." He whispered in her ear.

Femi's face scrunched up with determination and she suddenly threw her head back and cracked it into his forehead. The man lost all sense of control and Femi ran forwards and onto the bed when he forgot all about holding onto her. He fell back onto the floor, clutching his nose, and the dagger dropped to the ground before him. Femi turned around and glanced down at it desirably. It was merely one foot away from the man; she couldn't risk it. She turned and leapt down from the bed with immense power and ran to the door once more where she began pounding her fists upon it as hard as her nerves could stand.

"ALEX! LET ME OUT!" She screamed madly.

She heard an angry groan and looked over her shoulder. The man was slowly standing back up once more. Femi turned around with her back pressed up against the door. What exactly could she do now?! Without thinking anything through, Femi ran to the bed again and fell to the floor. She flattened herself out and desperately crawled to the far back of it where she was squashed up against the wall with her knees bent. The man lowered back down onto the floor and pulled himself towards her with his elbows. When he was close enough, he started reaching out. Femi screamed and started kicking at his hands and arms with everything she had.

"Get away!" She yelled.

She man grabbed onto her shin and pulled her towards him some. Femi kicked her other foot out and smacked it straight into his nose. He groaned, but didn't let go. So she did it again, this time, with even more force. This guy was strong! But the time finally arrived when he couldn't hold on any longer and fell unconscious. Femi whimpered in relief and quickly crawled off to the side where she came out from under the bed. Standing up, she looked around for another escape route.

Her eyes fell upon the window and she whinged "Not again..."

A loud smash came from the other side of her bedroom door and she yelped loudly. There was a serious fight going on out there. But Femi couldn't stay in here much longer, for there would surely be more of those men in no time. Femi rolled her eyes anxiously and ran to the window. Peering out, she looked left and right. There was no drain pipe to climb down, but there was a thick, concrete ledge trailing around the house for decoration. It ran all the way to the front of the house where the porch roof stood solidly above it. Femi glanced back over at the door and sighed. She had to go. Femi bit on her bottom lip in concentration and carefully lifted herself out of the window and onto the ledge. She gripped the frame of the window and stood with her back facing the outside. Taking a deep breath in, Femi nodded to herself. She was just about to start moving along when she heard the door burst open with a thundering boom.

"Search de' room!" A voice yelled.

Femi gasped and quickly shuffled away from the window. A head poked out of it and spotted her moving away. When Femi saw him, her shock and fear caused her to lose grip, and with a scream, she quickly pressed herself to the wall. The man leant out of the window and waved his hands out to try and grab Femi. Femi squealed and squeaked as she attempted to stand strong against his hands. She turned her head away and hurriedly moved along the ledge, away from the man. The wind was so chilly and her long hair was waving around her face as though purposely trying to distract her. Femi was now out of reach from the man that was trying to get her, and she felt fairly relieved. However, she had stupidly forgotten that there was more than one window in her room.

The window ahead of her opened up and two men poked their heads out to look at her. Femi gasped and stopped walking. What was she going to do? She was trapped! She couldn't go forwards, and she couldn't go backwards either. A loud boom came from a room somewhere inside the house and many shouts and calls followed. It sounded like the next World War was blooming from inside the house! The two men in front of her chuckled in victory and one of them climbed out onto the ledge with Femi. Femi squinted her helpless eyes and backed away from him. He drew out a silver dagger - which Femi had become more than acquainted with for her own liking - and slashed it out at her tauntingly. Femi's foot slipped over the edge of the ledge and she screamed, and quickly pressed her cheek to the wall.

The man laughed "Careful where you 'sdep, girlie. You're no use 'do us dead."

Femi ignored his teasing and shuffled away from him with each step that he took towards her. Femi had completely forgotten about the man waiting for her back at the other window; her mind was so focussed on keeping a distance between her and the dagger that she was oblivious to it.

A hand slapped onto her back and grabbed the scruff of her dressing gown. Femi screamed and twisted around to get the hand off of her, but in her attempt, she lost balance once more. This time, she couldn't save herself.

"Grab her!" The man to her right yelled.

The other man reached out to try and catch her, but missed hopelessly. Femi fell backwards and, trying to push herself back up, pressed her feet onto the corner of the ledge. It only gave her a large push backwards which made her soar across the open air as she plummeted down towards the hard ground. Femi screamed up at the dark sky with that horrid sensation stinging in her stomach. She felt her body be surrounded with sharp prickles and suddenly landed front-down on something long, hard and... wooden. Femi groaned and pushed herself up into a sitting position; she was in a tree, sitting on a thick branch!

Femi rubbed her aching ribs and coughed a leaf off of her bottom lip. She looked around to try and find a way down, and to her advantage, the ground was only ten feet down. Femi slipped her right leg over the back and held onto the branch with her arms. She immediately let go and fell down onto the ground where she stumbled to her knees. Femi got up right away and stumbled to the side ungracefully as she tried to regain her balance. She brushed herself down and hid behind the trunk of the tree to look around. Nothing was happening outside. All the action was inside. Femi stepped out from behind the tree and cautiously looked up at the window ledge that she fell from; the men were gone. No doubt, they were on their way to fetch her from the tree she had fallen in. Femi had to move, now!

She spun to the left and ran off along the green grass towards the back of the house. She didn't know exactly what she was going to do when she found a hiding spot, but she did know that she had to get away from that tree. Those men would soon arrive and start searching for her. The grass finished and Femi was forced to run along the side-road made of cobble. It was so cold beneath her bare feet. Femi already looked as though she had been living in the forest for a week, and she had only just had a bath! So much for safety, warmth and sleep, huh.

Femi came to a skidding stop when she reached the back of the house. About eight stables were lined up next to each other with sleeping horses inside. A loud bang exploded from a room above her and she jumped. The stables, it was. It was better than nothing. Femi licked her dry, bottom lip and ran over to the line of stables with a racing heart and stinging cheeks. She felt so cold again. Luckily, Femi found a pair of jelly boots sitting outside one of the horse houses and quickly slipped them on. They would definitely help her run faster upon rougher ground. She saw on the gate of the stable in front of her that the horse's name was 'Acorn'. Pretty.

"Faster! We can't let her get away!" Someone roared from the distance.

Femi gasped and whipped her head around just in time to see a group of men run out from the darkness cast down on the side of the house. She quickly pulled the silver bolt across and opened the gate to slip inside. Closing it, she backed away from the door and looked up at the beautiful chestnut horse that was chewing on some hay. Femi stroked Acorn's side affectionately to try and keep him calm and still, and she moved up to his neck where she bent over slightly. She continued to stroke his neck and whisper shaky 'sssssshhh's to him. Acorn gruffled out of his nose and lifted his head up and down excitedly. Femi raised an eyebrow and looked up at his face. Acorn finished chewing his hay and scraped his front, left foot upon the ground. Femi narrowed her eyes in thought and looked back out of the stable. A shadow was being cast on the wooden stable opposite to the one she was in; someone was getting closer.

"Alright..." Femi whispered.

She grabbed onto the mane of Acorn and carefully walked backwards to bring him around with her. He gruffled again and nodded his head up and down. Femi walked back to the middle of his body and gripped the top of the wooden fence either side of the stable. It was only then that she realised there was a horse either side of her, also. These stables weren't individual at all, but merely had fences separating them. As Femi jumped up onto the back of Acorn - almost falling backwards, might I add - she looked to her left. Over the top of all the other horses, she could see one of those men in each stable, searching around under the horses and in the hay. Femi gripped Acorn's blonde mane and took a deep breath in. She had never ridden a horse before, let along without a saddle or reigns. Femi closed her eyes and leant down to the horse.

"Help me out, Acorn." She whispered into his ear.

His ear twitched a couple of times and Femi released a heavy breath. This was the moment. Femi nudged Acorn in the side with her foot and shouted out loudly. Acorn whinnied and charged at the gate so that it swung right open and granted him freedom without any hesitation at all. Femi pulled on the right part of his mane to turn him in the correct direction, towards the house. As she galloped back along the road towards the side of the house, she heard the men shouting angrily and looked over her shoulder to see several other horses who had escaped from their stables running up behind her.

Femi pressed her knees against the side of Acorn's body to keep her tightly upon his back and gripped his hair to keep herself steady. She bobbed up and down with his galloping and squinted her eyes with the strong wind. Keeping her eyes locked upon the long, dark path before her, she could hear the galloping footsteps of the other horses growing louder and louder. She glanced over her shoulder to check that she wasn't being followed by anything more than just horses; and she wasn't. She looked away just before a figure fell down from one of the windows above and landed comfortably on the back of a cream horse not too far back from Femi. Femi only knew that she had such company when they called out:

"Miss me?!"

Femi gasped and whipped her head around to see who it was. She was greeted with Alex and one of his cocky smiles. Nonetheless, Femi found herself smiling at him.

"Alex! I thought you were fighting!" She called out.

Alex nodded once and galloped up beside her "And I thought I told you to stay in your room!" He grunted.

"Well I would have if you hadn't locked me in a room with one of those men!" She snapped back at him.

Alex's expression seemed to change into something somewhat shocked. Shocked and, perhaps, rather guilty. Worried. Concerned.

"You -- what??" He growled angrily.

Femi cast her gaze back onto the path as she galloped along "Yes! And I hope you feel perfectly awful because of it!"

Alex sighed under his breath and watched Femi from his seat next to her. Her dark hair flowing in the wind behind her, and her pale skin which only looked all the more alluring under the influence of the night. Even through all of everything that had happened so far, Femi still managed to maintain an image of determination and strength. He knew about her past now, and why she was so stiff and snappy, and not only that, but now she was being taken on a dangerous adventure to save her father. She was still strong, nonetheless. Alex's eyes caught onto a small path of blood that had stained into the chest area of her dressing gown. She had been cut, quite obviously.

"You're alright though, aren't ya'?!" He called over to her.

Femi glanced back at him "I'm alright!"

He nodded at her "Good!"

"So what's the plan??" Femi asked nervously.

Alex narrowed his eyes to focus on the road "Moss is waiting for us in the Courtyard with his plane, so we sh"--

There was a sudden loud bang - definitely not from inside the house. Acorn came to a skidding stop and whinnied loudly, jumping back into his hind legs. Femi gasped loudly and slipped down his back to fall straight off him and crash down onto the ground helplessly.

"Femi!" Alex shouted.

He pulled on the mane of his horse and jumped down from its back when it had slowed down enough. He rushed over to Femi with the other horses fleeing on either side of him and leant down to her. She coughed softly and then sighed. It just never ended. Alex took both of her hands and pulled her up onto her feet so she could brush herself down.

"You alright?" He panted.

Femi nodded "Yes."

Femi then looked around to see Acorn lying lifelessly on the ground. There was a small, red hole in the front of his chest and blood was slowly seeping out of it. Femi gasped and spun around to face Alex with her hands to her horrified face. Alex looked down at her, in slight awkwardness perhaps; he was never good at the whole 'comforting women' thing. Hesitantly, he pulled her to him and loosely wrapped his arms around her, and as she hid within them to try and overcome the horrid incident that had just taken place. Femi was such an animal person. She loved all creatures, to such strength. But as Alex comforted her, dark figures suddenly began to appear from every angle until, at last, they were surrounded. Alex glared out at them in defeat. There were far too many for Alex to take on. He gripped Femi's forearms tightly and lowered his head to whisper in her ear.

"Whatever happens, don't make them angry." He told her.

Femi removed her hands from her teary face and looked up at him in confusion. She saw that his dark eyes were glaring out at something, and so she turned around to see.

"Make who"-- She cut herself off with a startled gasp.

They were surrounded.

"Seize them!" One of the men ordered.

Femi gasped and looked around in a panic as all of the men moved in on them. Alex just remained still and waited for them to come. Four men came forwards and grabbed onto Alex rather aggressively and tore him away from Femi. Femi spun around and stepped forwards to defend him when she felt a pair of hands grab onto each of her arms. She looked left and right and tried yanking her arms free.

"Let go of me!" She growled.

"Femi." Alex snapped.

Femi looked over at him and sighed helplessly. She remembered what he had told her. Not to make them angry. Femi lowered her head and stopped struggling. Whatever Alex was planning, he had better make sure it was worth it.

"Bring them." The man ordered secondly.

Femi was brought around by the two men and forced to walk past Acorn's body. She turned her head away and refused to look; it was too upsetting. Femi was a real animal person, and to see an innocent animal get killed... it broke her heart. Femi was led to the front of the house, with Alex right behind her, and taken to the porch. The other men loaded into the house and Femi was pulled in afterwards. It seemed as though every single person was waiting in the entrance hall. From what Femi could estimate, there were about forty men in black lined up around the room, just standing there. Femi was dragged into the center of the room and held tightly by the men so she couldn't get away. Alex was kept right beside her. Femi looked around at all of the men with burning fury and fear in her eyes. She then spotted Carter, next to Jonathan, Moss and his friend, being held captive by other men.

"Carter!" Femi gasped, and struggled again.

Carter frowned at her and also tried to yank himself free. They attempted to do so until the sound of clicking footsteps entered the room. Femi paused and looked ahead. Who was it? Her eyes locked onto the doorway of the living room, and after waiting for what seemed to be forever, a woman dressed in a black attire entered the hall. She had a black snake wrapped around her neck that made Jonathan lean back in distaste. Femi's face paled at the sight of the woman, and when her wide eyes met with her dark ones, her heart gave an odd, warm boom...

Femi was sitting at her golden mirror with a golden comb in her hand. She brought the comb round to her long, black hair and stroked it through all the way to the end. As she stared at herself in the mirror, a ghostly face appeared staring back at her. It was transparent, so that she could still see her own face, but the new countenance staring at her was definitely different. Femi continued brushing her hair as though it wasn't even there. To the Femi in this vision, it really wasn't... But to the part of Femi that was watching and taking in the vision, she was.

Femi blinked rapidly and her lips parted in disbelief. The woman who she had just seen in the mirror was now standing before her. Who was she? Why was she in her head? Femi had never seen her before in her life. Alex, however, suddenly took a change in attitude. He began struggling angrily within the grasp of the men detaining him. Femi tore her eyes away from the alluring woman, who was now walking towards them, and glanced over at Alex. He looked furious.

"What the hell are you doing here??" He spat.