A/N: Argh! Bad author I know but it has been so hot in the UK recently that I just had no motivation to sit at my computer for a couple of hours to do you guys a chapter! I know  I'm sorry but I've done one now because I'm going on holiday on Friday for two weeks so I really thought I should. Also, I realised I made an error in putting Will's parents in the HCC when they had been abducted by Barron so I changed them into Will's grandparents!

-

Back in the main hall everyone was exhausted, especially the children who had never used their powers so much for so long. Will could no longer fly which meant he had to take cover as Kass attempted to drop things on him. When he could, Will helped out Dara in her fight against Creon. Luckily for them Thorn was still tied to his pillar and no one had tried to free him yet.

Warren and Barron Battle were still fighting. Warren had made a barricade out of a door and some fallen pillar that had crumbled when he'd slammed his father into it one too many times. Barron hadn't even thought about trying to turn the children against him, the goal was now to hurt his son. He'd been embarrassed when he'd been caught off guard and everything within him now was focused on revenge. He shot at his son more frequently than before but only hit him occasionally. Warren was more nimble than he appeared but was still praying for rescue. He couldn't hold his dad off for much longer.

Both Crystal and her father were tired. They were fighting out of a necessity to stay alive, mechanically without any passion or originality. Crystal wasn't sure how much longer she could last against her father without help but her friends had more than enough to deal with. She would have to cope on her own.

Glancing past her father she saw the dawn arrive. She was shocked it was that time already and then thought of Tullia. She must be so worried. As sunlight started to stream into the room, lighting up dark corners, one of the beams struck Crystal right in the face, catching the necklace she had been given. She smiled as she felt the warmth spread through her body and knew now that she had the power to defeat her father. She didn't have to appeal to him like a child as her mother had suggested. She could fight him as an equal, now that she had her power boost.

Summoning her remaining energy and leapt from her defensive position to face her father effectively shooting sun beams from her hands. Her father had been caught off guard and hadn't expected the attack. The two beams landed straight on his chest, the best hit Crystal had achieved all day and knocked him clear across the room, crashing into Creon.

Inspired by this show of power, Dara and Will found new strength in their tired muscles and flung the two villains into the wall. Even though they managed to knock them unconscious they weren't taking any chances and bound them with vines and other random foliage from Layla's jungle. With Creon they were still unsure as to whether the vines would hold him but had to hope he would stay unconscious until help arrived.

Kass, outraged at seeing Black and Creon trussed up like turkeys flew down to the ground but on his descent Crystal shot sunbeams straight at him. His wings now had two gaping holes in them and Kass plummeted into the ground, knocking himself unconscious as well. Crystal made a mental note to thank her mother later for saving their lives, Dara and Will tied Kass up as well, dumping him next to his comrades.

Barron turned around at all the noise and when he saw the defeat of his villains he stood there with his jaw hanging. As utter disbelief washed over him, Warren took this opportunity to launch himself over his barricade which was almost gone and landed squarely on his father's back, knocking him to the ground and, amazingly, also unconscious. Warren could scarcely believe that he'd just done that but shook off the feeling as his friends came to help tie up his father.

'We should find Layla and Ethan. We've got to get rescued,' said Will urgently.

They all agreed and started running out of the hall only to crash into Will as he stopped suddenly.

'Does anyone know where they are?' he asked.

-

Back on the ground all the parents were sat holding new cups of coffee as the clock ticked round to 7am. No one spoke, everyone was too tired to murmur platitudes to each other and the workers were almost dead from exhaustion having been terrorised by James Stronghold into working around the clock.

Suddenly, into the silence, exploded the sound of a telephone. Before anyone could stop him, Will's grandfather had dived towards the phone and almost crushed it in his eagerness to answer the call.

'Listen to me you pathetic excuse for a human being! You have no idea who you are messing with! If you have hurt one hair on any of those kids' heads I will personally come up there and make you wish you were never born do you understand me?' he yelled so loudly that the light fixtures rattled.

On the other end of the phone Ethan turned very pale and sank to the floor in a quivering heap leaving Layla to take the call.

'Um, hello?' she said quietly.

'Who is this?' barked James.

'This is Layla, sir. I'm a friend of Will's,' came the trembling reply.

'Ah, um, right. I expect you want to speak with your mother then,' he said gruffly, clearly embarrassed at having shouted at a young girl.

'Yes but first don't you want to know where the school is? You need to send rescue teams as soon as possible. When I left there was some pretty heavy fighting going on,' she said urgently.

'You know where the school is? Quickly child tell me!' he snapped.

'We're 20km away from the Maxville mountain range, 10,000 feet above the lake.'

As she gave this information it was relayed to the Hero Support Service which started its journey towards the school. Then the phone was passed over to Layla's mother who had been hovering next to the phone ever since she had found it was Layla on the other end.

'Layla! Are you alright? Are you hurt? What's happening? How did this happen? Are you ok?' she gabbled out all at once.

'I'm fine, I'm just tired. It's a really long story, I have no idea how it happened and I am fine,' she said with a smile. Her mother's neurotic behaviour could almost always bring a smile to her face although in this case the behaviour was understandable.

'What about the other kids? Are they ok?' she asked for the other parents.

'I don't know-.' Layla stopped as she was cut off in mid sentence as the door of the office exploded into the room.

A/N: little evil smile I hope this keeps you hanging on! The next one will be longer I promise!