And so they waited. Jenny sat on the sofa, in silence. She felt her heart thudding inside her chest, her stomach fluttering. She didn't know what was going to happen, but she was sure it wouldn't be good.

Julian couldn't sit down. He was pacing the room, his eyes flicking to he clock. His senses were on full alert, but in a way he was not used to. Normally he was the hunter, but now he was the prey. He tried to find where the other shadow men were in his head, but they were hidden, as he had expected. He knew that they knew he had Jenny. He knew that they knew where he was. And he knew that they knew there was no way Jenny could come out of this alive.

Then they both heard the knocking. It was the slow, hard, careful knock of doom.

Without moving his lips, Jenny heard Julian say don't make any noise. Don't even think. The noise went straight into her head without passing through her ears in the usual way. Jenny would have wondered about that, if she hadn't been specifically told not to.

The knocking sounded again. KNOCK KNOCK. A pause. KNOCK KNOCK. Then a most tremendous earth shaking BOOM sounded, and in came the shadow men. They were even more terrifying than they had been before. Against her chest, Jenny felt the black sapphire start to burn.

"Where is she?" One of the shadow men snapped, looking around the room.

"Who?" Julian sounded completely cool, but it takes more than a talent at acting to fool a shadow man.

"The girl. We know you have her. Take us to her. She is our prey."

"I don't know where she is." Julian's whole body was tense. He could see Jenny, her face terrified. But the shadow men couldn't. It wouldn't last long.

"There's some protectional force," another shadow man said, swiping at the air with a withered hand.

"That means the girl must be here, in this room," The first shadow man said, scanning the room with his eyes, "She will be ours shortly."

"Your little girlfriend's time will soon be up. Give her to us now and she won't suffer," another shadow man cackled, "much."

Julian felt a lump in his throat. He knew what was coming. His reflexes were primed, ready to spring into action the moment it did. The shadow men were right, it wouldn't be long. He watched Jenny out of the corner of his eye. She was crawling behind the sofa. Fat lot of good that would do.

The shadow men stepped forward, the black sapphire glowed white hot, Jenny bit her lip to stop herself crying out. And then it happened.

The noise was so tiny, but it seemed deafening to Julian. A tiny crack, and the sapphire had broken in two.

The faces of the shadow men glowed for a second, they blinked, and then it was gone.

"What happened?" one asked.

"The protection was gone." Another replied.

"Then why can we not see the girl?" asked another.

They all slowly turned to face Julian, who was slowly turning purple. His eyes were shining so brightly, the blue the colour of nothing any human had ever seen before.

"STOP PROTECTING HER!" A shadow man snapped.

"SHE IS OURS!" another cried.

"Do not worry," the sly smile on this shadow mans face was far more frightening than the other's anger, "the girl will be ours."

Julian had known it was coming. He felt the force of the mental blow. It shoved him backwards. His concentration broke. He mentally groped for the protection, but it was lost.

The shadow men all saw the golden haired girl curled up behind the sofa.