We had arrived back at my home in a matter of an hour or so, and for the whole of that hour, neither of us spoke. We could only stare off into space as we each went through our own thoughts. I suppose you need not guess what our thoughts were, they were fairly obvious, but for those who simply must know, then here is the truth.

We thought of her as lost. There was truely no way we could get to her without being caught. Durriken and his group of rabbiters led us to the edge of the forest, and from there, we could see the compound that was Jennifer's prison. We all stood there, and I believe it took Erik a great deal of strength not to run and grab Jennifer, but I believe that even he saw the foolishness of that.

We first had to find out if Jennifer was even in there, but the Gypsies promised us that they would find out for us, they somehow believed that they were in debt to her, though I can't imagine why, from what I had managed to learn from them, she did nothing, except giving one of their children a few coins and buying a card pack from them. We were grateful for the help though, and I prompty told where they could find us. Durriken gave us his solemn oath that we would be treated like brothers amongst his family, on the understanding that we suceeded in rescuing Jennifer. He also swore an 'allegiance' of sorts to us, swearing that his 'clan' would help us to spring Jennifer from the mental asylum, if that indeed was where she was.

So now, all we had to do was wait. While the gypsies were finding out the revelent information, Erik and I would decide how best to get Jennifer out from there. I just hoped that Jennifer could wait just a little longer. I wished I could tell her that we were coming. No doubt Erik would say the same.

Upon entering the house, Erik had quietly went up to Jennifer's room, where he had been 'resting' for the last week or so. I doubted he slept. He mostly just stayed in that room all day, moaning in his sleep, crying for Jennifer.

I spent days following reading up the story of the Opera House's destruction in the local newspapers. There was a small paragraph on Meg, though it didn't say anything on Jennifer, or her 'rants of the future'. I wondered if the courts had decided to keep that certain piece of news out of the newspaper for the public's safety. Or perhaps it was for the opera house's sake, but who knew?

Rouge and Texas left for a while during these days, securing a place for Jennifer to hide once we retireved her from the Asylum. Though honestly, I couldn't see that far ahead in time. It hurt me to think of Jennnifer there, hiding in that god-forsaken place.

May Allah have mercy on her soul.

The screaming, it was getting worse. I couldn't hear myself anymore. It was getting louder. I had to hold my hands to my ears and scream myself to block out their shrieks of horror. Who was I hearing? Why were they in terror? What had they seen that I had not? Oh god, in this timeless place, how long would it be until I became like those cries of torture? Or was I already like them?

What was I becoming?

What had I lost in this place? What kind of person would I be when, or even if, I left? Would Erik even recognise me? Would I even recognise myself?

The screams! They were getting louder! They were in my head now, louder and clearer than before! Was it my own screams, or theirs? Was I a part of this sea of screams already? Was I already lost?

Erik! Please, where are you? Please, I need you here, I'm going insane!

Oh god, Erik!

It had been three days since Nadir and I had spoken to the Gypsies, and Durriken sat awkwardly in Nadir's lounge, stiffly holding a cup of water. There were stains of tea around the saucer, where Durriken had fumbled with the fragile cup and split some of the tea. Nadir had then asked him if he would prefer something else, and Durriken had grumbled 'water'. Nadir walked away, frowning as he stared at his latest stain on his light Persian rugs. I had smirked at the time, but I no longer smiled when Nadir returned. It was down to business now.

"We've found out that Jennifer is there, alright. She's in one of the shared cells." Durriken spoke, his speech a telltale sign of his uneducation. It was so odd to hear such simple words after having living with Jennifer, who had been a refreshing mind full of intelligence.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

"Means that she's in a large room, sharing it with probably 30 other women." Nadir asnwered, a man knowledgeable of prisons. "Apparently though, that's going to be changed very soon. Standards are being set."

"Right you are. Now it's just getting her out that's the problem. You two have any ideas of how you want to get her?"

"I see." Nadir said, leaning back into his chair. "We haven't been able to find anything of use. We might just of have to sneak in, get Jennifer, then sneak out, and hope we don't get caught."

"I told you already, Daroga, I plan to kill whoever gets in my way." I sighed in irritation. It was a simple fact, I wasn't going to sweeten my words for anyone.

"Or, you know, we could just take the back door." Durriken offered cheekily, pulling out a tattered map. "But I'm not opposed 'ta killin', just so you know..."

"What do you mean?" Nadir asked slowly, leaning back into the circle we formed.

"There a small tunnel which runs underneath the forest," Durriken began, jabbing his finger on the map, on a crudely drawn line which led to the hospital. "It used to be used for the underground patients, the one that were absolutely hopeless, when there was fire. They'd get 'em into the forest. It's forgotten now, the patients used get left behind now, left to burn. Better off dead than mad, that's what they believe."

I kneeled down, pulling the map towards me. "How'd you get this information?"

Durriken sniffed haughtily. "If you don't trust my word..."

"I do, it's just it's too good to be true." I admitted. "Plus, these don't look like regular blueprints of..."

"That's cos I sneaked this map out of the library." Durriken said proudly. "Got an older worker to draw on the tunnel. Ma boy Ferka found the door, him and the lads are clearing it out. We could bring our Jenny out tonight."

I winced at the term 'our Jenny'. I didn't like to think of the gypsies claiming her as one of their own.

"Our Jenny?" Nadir asked, clearly having the same thoughts as my own.

"Yeah, she don't know it, but she got gypsy blood in her. She must have. She said people thought of her as her being from the Tirasine clan. Good proud clan, that is."

We all stared at each other, oddly stumped for words. Durriken coughed before continuing.

"Well, we can't get her out tonight, cos you need to prepare."

"We are ready here." Nadir insisted, nodding to himself.

Durriken gave him a steady look. "Are you certain, cos once we get her outta there, they'll be looking for her."

"Don't you worry about that, they'll never find her." I said, thinking of Rouge and Texas.

"Alright, if just so you know, if you need a place to hide, you'll find no better place than ours, alright?"

"Yes, we understand. We appreciate the gesture too." Nadir said. "And do know that you will be compensation for everything you have done for us. We couldn't had done this without you."

Durriken nodded. "You probably would have, just have taken you two longer. You forget, while you high and mighty may have important contacts, it's us nobodies that can slip anywhere without being noticed." He coughed again. "We'd be grateful for anything you send us our way. Not saying I'm doing this for the money, but..."

"We understand," I said. "You have children to feed."

"Yeah," He sniffed. "Now, you go down the tunnel, and you'll come to a door. It'll be locked, but you can't bash it or nothing or you'll alert the guards or something."

"So how do we get in?"

"Boys are checking it out tonight. They'll have a key for you tomorrow afternoon." Durriken answered. "We'll also have a map for you, for the inside. It'll show you where to go from there."

I looked at Durriken hasty red scribbles on the green and brown map. I wondered what this other map would look like.

"Thank you, my friend. We are in your debt." Nadir said as we all stood up. He shook Durriken's hand proudly. "Know that you are welcome here any time."

"Thank you." Durriken turned to face me. "Now, I dunno what makes you thinks of us Gypsies so bad, but whatever it is, I'm not gonna hold your tempter against ya. Not like me. Couldn't care less what'd uunder your mask, as'well."

"Yes, I got that impression when we walked into your camp before." I said, a little shocked by Durriken's bluntness. It was true, no-one had looked at the mask. Neither Nadir nor I had even realised this until we both got home that night. "But I am grateful for everything that you and your clan are doing for us."

"That's good." Durriken said. "Well, I'll see you boys at noon tomorrow. After that, it's up to you boys to get her out. After you get her, bring her striaght to our camp, we'll look after the three of ya until it's dawn, okay?"

"Yes, thank you." Nadir said, walking him out.

We watched him leave, his plump, happy figure broadly walking down the street, and as we stood in the doorway, a wave of happiness overthrew us.

"This is it then." I said, smirking.

"Seems like it." Nadir answered. "I just hope Jennifer can last a few more days."

I turned to look at Nadir. "What do you mean? She's a tough girl, she can handle it."

"Yes, but you don't know mental asylums. You can lose everything there. Even your soul."

I stared at the Daroga, regarding him carefully as I said my next few words. "You sound like you don't believe in Jennifer."

Nadir chuckled. "It's no that I don't believe in her, it's just I don't trust those hospitals."

I thought this over, musing over Nadir's words. Perhaps he was right. Perhaps the hospital's environment would get to her. It had been some time, who knew what would have happened.