Ack! I got so many threats (well, not really, but it makes me feel important if I say how I got threats) about my cliffy that I'm writing the next chapter at an advanced rate! Be proud of me! and it's the weekend! Yay! (Unfortunately no three-er for me, Edi – by the way, what in god's name does larzdinn mean?) Since it's the weekend, I'll try to get at least one more chapter up, and who knows – maybe if I get inspired I'll finish the damn thing.

And thanks to Keita for breaking down the ole writer's block. (haha, I told you I'd say that.)

Oh. My. God. mary-kate and ashley are sooooooo demented. My sister is watching them. And all of their shows suck. Except the england movie, because the american guy was hot.

Ooooh. I'm watching bounce now and it's really sad. Ooh. ben affleck is hot.

Maybe I should let you read the story. Ooh! ben affleck with no shirt on!

Yeah, definitely story time.

A Botched Escape

Kel and Neal froze, following the men's movements with their eyes. But then the last man moved into the darkness of the Treasury and vanished in the gloom.

The door slammed shut, leaving them in total darkness, and the terrifying sound of the gears started up. Kel grabbed Neal's arm in a sudden panic, her throat closing up. But a few seconds later, the gears stopped, proving that they were familiar with the Treasury. The door swung open again, but the six men were still lost in the darkness – the light from the doorway didn't penetrate very far.

"Six against two – that's three to one odds. Should we try and take them?" Neal's mouth was right against her ear, so quiet that if she was a foot farther away, she couldn't have heard him.

Kel moved her face to his ear to reply. "No. We'd get killed. We have to try and get out."

"How? For all we know, they've surrounded the doorway!"

"I don't know – I'm sure we'll think of someth–" Kel broke off.

"What's wrong?" Neal's voice was urgent at her ear.

"The Stones. They – They're humming!" A deep thrumming, originating from her belt purse, was slowly spreading throughout her bones. It made her teeth chatter in her head, and her eyeballs were vibrating in her skull.

"What?!" Neal's voice was incredulous. His eyes opened wide in shock. Wait – his eyes? How could she see him? Kel frowned, and looked around for the source of the light. She would have gasped if not for her training when she found out where it was coming from.

"Neal! The Stones! They've started glowing again!"

"What? We're going to get killed!"

To her horror, Kel heard a man's voice from in front of them. It seemed one of the men had heard them. And the Stones kept getting brighter. Their radiance shone through the tightly knit fabric of her belt purse, leaving a clear signal for the men to follow. They ran towards the light as fast as they could, making their way around piles of wealth.

Suddenly, the humming stopped, replaced by a throbbing against her waist. "Wha–?" Kel exclaimed. The Stones kept getting brighter, and as they acquired more light, the throbbing gained in speed. When before it had felt like a drum, it had sped up to the rhythm of a heartbeat, and kept getting faster. It kept getting faster, and faster, and faster . . .

"Neal!" she cried, utterly terrified. "Close your eyes! Hunch over! Something's going to happen!" Neal obeyed instantly, and she followed her own advice, throwing herself to the floor.

Suddenly at her waist, she felt a burst of white hot pain, so hot that it burned through her overtunic. The light on the other side of her eyelids flashed white, so bright that it left spots dancing across her vision. Kel heard one agonized scream, than nothing more. And then there was no heat, and the light faded – all that was left was the sharp pain of a burned side.

Hesitantly, Kel opened her eyes. Less than three feet away, six columns of smoke raised from scorch marks on the floor. Kel gulped, rightly guessing that that was all that remained of their six pursuers. She nudged Neal, who opened his eyes and stared as openly as she did. They waited for a minute, forgetting their mission.

Neal jumped. "Kel! We have to get out of here! They've already sent six men – how many more do you think they'll send the next time?" Kel started, the movement sending pain through her side. She winced, and let Neal pull her to her feet after he stood up.

"You're hurt!" he exclaimed. "But I don't have time to heal you now – can you hold off?" Kel gritted her teeth and nodded. "Then we must fly!" he cried, and pulled her towards the door, tripping over piles of coins.

Just before they reached the door, three new men ran into the room. Kel and Neal dispatched the first before he was even aware of their presence. The next two took almost the same amount of time.

Kel and Neal ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Four more men met them halfway up.

Neal ran the first one through the chest, yanking his blade free as the man fell down the stairs. Kel cut a man's sword arm off, and he was out of the fight. Neal chopped deeply into the third man's side, and he fell down the stairs as well, although he was only injured. The fourth man huddled in terror against a wall. Kel disarmed his as they returned to their mad dash upwards. The sound of the blade clattering down the stairs followed them upwards.

Finally they reached the top. There was no one in sight.

"Edward said left, right?" Neal asked as they ran towards the doorway. Kel agreed with a small noise.

Neal pulled her towards the left. Kel ran behind him. Growing behind her, she heard the sound of running boots. Hazarding a glance backwards, she gulped. Seven men pursued them.

"Oy! You there! Stop!" one of the men called. Neal's only response was to run faster.

Ahead of them, the corridor dead-ended into a wall. Two passages led off: one left and one right. Upon reaching the branching, Neal pulled Kel down the right hand one.

"What are you doing?" she shreiked. "This is the wrong way!"

"What?" Neal skidded to a halt. "You agreed with me! You said it was left, right!"

"I was saying, yes, left is the right way to go!"

"Oh." He bit his lip. "In that case, we might be running into a little bit of trouble . . ."

The seven men ran into the corridor.

"Too late now!" Neal cried, and pulled her off down the hall.

After a few minutes, they came to a staircase.

"Up! Go up! Up is better than down!" Kel shouted. Neal nodded, and ran up the stairs.

The stairway was a spiral stairway – a tight and narrow spiral to boot. They didn't have room to go two at a time, but on the upside, only one man could come at them at a time.

"Up, up, up, up . . ." Neal panted, in time with each foot hitting the next stair.

"Save your breath!" Kel shouted.

"Save my breath, save my breath . . ." he adopted. Kel gave up.

A few minutes in the future, Kel's thighs were burning with the exertion of running up the stairs continuously. Sweat dripped into her burn wound, stinging like lemon juice. (A/N: let's hope they have lemon juice.) Her right calf was cramping; she had a side ache on each side of her ribcage. She couldn't keep this up much longer. Judging from the weezing sounds in front of her, Neal couldn't either.

The sound of the men had fallen behind, but it didn't matter – they knew that their prey was on a one way staircase, going up. Plus, the men had the benefit of knowing what was at the top of the stairs.

Thirty more stairs and they had reached the top, but it didn't help them very much. It was a single room, with a bed, a chair, a wardrobe, and a giant bay window.

"No way," Neal gasped. "No way."

"What do we do?" Kel moaned. They stood frozen. The sound of clattering weapons drifted up the staircase.

Neal ran to the bay window. He paused, then slowly turned around. "This window – it opens onto the ocean." He bit his lip and looked at her.

Kel shook her head vehemently. "No. I won't. I can't." The clattering was dangerously close.

"We'll die if we stay in this room," said Neal.

"Neal," she pleaded. "I can't. I just . . . I can't!" The first man jumped into the room with a triumphant look. Kel beheaded him.

Four more crowded into the room.

Neal ran to Kel, grabbed her arm, and pulled her out the window.

"I can't!" she wailed as she plummeted to the water, 100 feet down.

Hehe. Another cliffy.

Wow. I got out of breath just writing that. Adrenaline rush – yeah!

Cami! I miss you! you're never online any more!