Thanks to all the lovely lovely reviewers, you guys are great! XD

And I am sorry for the really long wait :( I thought that I updated this on Friday, but apparently not, so I'm really sorry and will be updating soon to make up for it!

So yes, there is definitely something sinister lurking in the house, or is there? I will be explaining it in the next chapter, and I am sure a lot of you will be very surprised. No spoilers though! You will have to keep guessing :)

On with the story!

Eight

I face John, grinning on the outside, but slightly nervous.

We are in the back yard, training, and so far we have managed to slightly wreck the garden that was so perfectly managed. I say a silent sorry to whoever planted all of the flowers for what we have done, and with John's lumen, it is only going to get worse.

"Ready?" Six asks, eyeing us warily, ready to make a quick retreat.

"Yep" John replies and I nod.

"GO"

On the sound, we both react. I disappear and appear a few metres away, not wanting to get too close as John already has his hands lit up. He shoots fireballs at the spot where I was, and, realising I'm not there anymore, spins round. As soon as he sees me, I teleport again and am behind him, using my telekinesis to jerk him backwards.

He falls, but on touching the ground, fire shoots towards me and I only have a second to get away. My shoulder takes the worst of the hit, fabric smoking and I almost cry out in pain. But John is already on his feet, readying himself for another attack. So I shape shift into the first thing that comes to mind – a bear.

He shoots at me again, and in my large form, I don't have time to move out of the way.

"Ahhh" I roar, batting at the flames with my abnormally large paw.

As I don;t have the concentration anymore, I turn back to a human and teleport behind John again – consequences damned.

He is not expecting it, as he thought he got me good, and I punch him in the back of the head.

This time when he falls, he has no time to react before I grab him, press him to the ground and hold him there in animal form – one of my favourite avatars.

His hands are pressed into the ground, so he knows that trying to turn himself into a human fireball would backfire horribly (no pun intended). Instead he lies there, feebly using his telekinesis to push me off. It doesn't work, and after five seconds, Six calls out.

"Yep, you won."

I breathe a sigh of relief, and roll off John, reverting back to myself. John grins as he gets back up, rubbing the back of his head and grimacing. Then he walks to me, and heals me quickly.

"Well done" He says, and I know the slight sarcasm in his voice is merely teasing. "But seriously dude, a bear?"

I laugh, pulling myself back up. "Yeah, that maybe wasn't my smartest idea"

"Agreed" Adds Six, coming to join us. She's grinning, but I can see something in her eyes, something I don't understand. It's the look I have seen in Marina's eyes whenever she doesn't trust somebody, or when she disagrees - but being too nice – doesn't say anything.

Scepticism I think it's called.

I decide to ignore it, knowing that if it's Six, that's mostly what she's like all the time.

"You two next?" I ask, wiping my forehead and brushing my hair back from my face. Six notices.

"You really need a haircut" She says, frowning at my curls "It's nearly as bad as Nine's"

"No" I gasp "No way!"

Not my hair!

She shrugs her shoulders, "Would you let Marina do it?" She asks, probably wondering if she can sweet-talk my girlfriend into doing it for me. I'd like to think that Marina would refuse, but as it is so long, I'm not sure

"Nope"

"Fine, Six says, getting to her feet and muttering something about 'boys', and 'long hair'.

I cant help laughing as her and John face each other. Six has a determined smirk on her face, and – after the last fight – John is looking tired and slightly defeatist.
"GO" I shout, almost jumping with excitement.

He is going to get so hammered.

After John's (quite embarrassing may I add) loss to Six, we ate dinner.

It was quite disgusting, a pasta dish thrown together by Sam and Sarah as they finished their training long before us.

I forced it down as I was hungry, but I'm sure Nine would have complained. I had a big glass of water afterwards though, which eased the shock from my taste buds, and then I ate a chocolate bar from when they went shopping earlier. Mysteriously there were only a few left when I finally gave in and went to get one. I have a sneaking suspicion that somebody had been there before me.

Now I sit in my room, watching the tablet obsessively.

I'm sure they'll be fine, they have Nine after all, but I'm still so worried. I wanted to go with them, but Nine didn't think that was such a great idea, and Marina reassured me that nothing would go wrong and they would be back in a few days. I just cant stand being away from Marina for longer than a few house ever since I came back. When I died, my greatest regret was not spending more time with her, telling her how I felt.

Now I cant even imagine what I would do if something happened to her.

So instead of thinking of all the different terrible scenarios and things that could go wrong, I watch the three dots moving towards Spain, a pit of dread in my stomach that I cant quite explain.

Nine

"Coffee?" Marina asks, poking her head through the car window to look at me. I grin back.

"Ah, my saviour!"

"I'll take that as a yes then" She says, grabbing my wallet and pulling out some money. "What kind?"

"One, you don't just take my money like that" I scold "And two, I'll have whatever. If they have Red bull, I'll have that. It's like coffee, but with like hundreds of times the amount of sugar and caffeine"

She doesn't look impressed, so I just sigh. "Fine, I'll have a latte"

I watch her go, long dark hair waving in the breeze, but it's wrong. Brown hair not black, chocolate eyes not hazel. I wish Six were here, if only to joke with her or tease.

Marina's nice, too nice in fact, and far too serious for my liking. I wouldn't go as far as to call her boring, not at all, but girls should have a bit of a spark. Or be tough. That's why I love Six, she is both, not to mention incredibly hot.

Adam snores from the back seat and I roll my eyes, snorting quietly at his vacant expression. And even though nobody is there to appreciate it, I say "Looks like he could do with some caffeine". And then grin, at least I can stay happy. Not like John or even Eight, god he's got serious since he died. Maybe Marina's rubbing off on him.

I sit in my seat for a few more minutes, bored and wondering when Marina will come back with my wake up. Then out of the rear view mirror, I see her walking back to the car, holding three coffees. Finally.

"Hey, did you ever think that..." She starts, going to say something. But all of a sudden her expression glazes over and the cups slip from her hands. For a second all I can do is stare, but when the hot liquid spills over her legs, she snaps out of her trance and looks at me with wide eyes.

"Ella" She says.

"Oh come on. I need more than that"

"She spoke to me telepathically" She whispers, obviously still shocked from whatever the kid said. "She told me that she is waiting near the orphanage, she didn't say where. I tried to reply, but she was already gone."

"Well that's good" I say "At least there is no Mog army right?"

She nods, her face still concerned "But I..."

Adam wakes then, sighing loudly and stretching his arms out. It interrupts what Marina was going to say, but I'm sure it was nothing important.

"Hello sleeping beauty" I tease, making him look round blearily. "Finally woke up hey?"

He scowls and – to my surprise and amusement – gives me the finger. I chuckle, turning back to the wheel as Marina slides back into the passenger seat and starts to explain what happened while Adam was asleep.

I never did get my coffee, I realise as we drive off. Ah well, we always have water.

Who am I kidding.

"We're nearly there" I announce, checking the navigation on my phone.

Marina bites her fingernails and frowns, a terrified expression on her face. I don't know if it's because she is scared that there may be a battle, or that Ella may be lying to us. I personally – though I would never admit it – am almost as scared as she is for the latter. But that is on the inside. On the outside, I am bouncing with excitement, looking forward to whatever this will be. Rescue or battle.

The car speeds on, kicking up dust wherever it goes.

I have to say, this truck was definitely on of better purchases. Not only is it beautiful to drive, it looks gorgeous, it's shiny top standing out from the old cars around us.

Not that I care of course – I love all the shocked looks and attention. It's what I live for. That and coffee, but since I cant have coffee, I'll settle for an awesome vehicle.

"What do we do if it is a trap?" Asks Adam, biting his lip as his black eyes scan outside the window.

I roll my eyes at his paranoia, but I guess we need some kind of a plan, otherwise we will be in shambles.

"Ummm, I'll get get Setrakus and you guys kill the rest" I say, never taking my eyes off the road – if you can call it a road that is.

"You make it sound easy" Replies Marina doubtfully.

"You don't think I can take him do you?" I ask accusingly, though it's all sarcasm. Of course she doesn't.

"What about Ella?" Adam asks quietly, careful to breach the subject of what we do with Ella.

I harden my expression, locking all my previous feelings away.

"If she's still working with them" I say "We have to kill her"

Marina's face falls, but she nods, knowing that my words ring true. We cant show mercy, or I'm sure she'll turn against us at the first possible moment.

All our gazes drop to the floor, wondering if one of us will be the one to do it, to kill Ella. But I try to stay optimistic, saying that it almost definitely was her, that we have nothing to worry about. But nobody really believes it, and it sounds more like I'm trying to convince myself than the others.

I hear Marina gasp quietly as we pass a house, her eyes glued to the building.

"What's up?" I ask, knowing that it's probably just something from her childhood. And what a great one she had, locked up in that orphanage all be herself, her Cepan an idiot who gave up on her own race. Lovely.

"Nothing, just, I recognise it." She says, eyes sad.

I know that there is more to this story, but don't want to push it. (Cant be bothered could also be used in this context).

"Are we there yet?" Adam asks, trying to break the tension in the car, and failing miserably.

"I don't know" I reply "I've never been here before. Ask Marina"

He turns to her, but she shakes her head, frowning.
"Not yet"

"But this is the town" I say, peering round for signs of Ella or Mogs.

"No" Marina sighs "She wont be in plain sight, somebody might recognise her. She might have gone to..."

She thinks for a moment. Then her face lights up as she remembers something, though it quickly reverts back to a frown. After a minute more, she answers.

"We'll have to get out and walk" She says, and I turn in horror.

"What? Where the hell has she gone then?"

Marina's expression falls even further, and I can see the terror and dread as she answers.

"The cave"

"What cave?" Adam asks, leaning forward in her seat to be part of the conversation.

"Where we used to paint" Marina says "I took her there a few times. It's far enough away from the orphanage that nobody would bother me, but it's easily within walking distance."

"Great" I reply sarcastically. But Marina holds her ground.

"She will have gone there. Trust me!"

"Fine" I mutter, still not happy about this unknown destination, some kind of cave. Sounds dodgy to me. I continue to drive though, winding through steadily smaller roads on Marinas instructions. When they get too small, Marina tells me to stop, and gets out of the car. Me and Adam follow warily.

"It's over there" She sighs quietly, bouncing on the balls of her feet and curling her fingers together tightly. She is both nervous and excited at the same time.

I lock the truck and slip the keys into my pocket, zipping it up securely, wouldn't want them to get lost now would we? Though any of us could use our telekinesis to open it.

We begin to walk, Marina always slightly ahead. By the time the cave is a black spot in the distance, she is almost running. Almost.

I follow close behind her, Adam about the same distance behind me. I cant wait to see her, see the kid. I missed her, quite a lot in fact.

"There she is" Says Adam, pointing to a spot next to the cave.

And it's true, there, right in the middle of the field, is a small auburn head that I immediately recognise.

"Ella!"

Well, I am sorry for making Ella do that, and to leave it on a cliffhanger, so you will have to wait until next time before you find out what happens! Sorry XD

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