Next chapter! wooh! i'm slightly hyper after my exam :D

Lily lead Alex through the side streets of the town, he followed the candlelight's shine as it reflected from her long brown waves of hair. The smell of honeysuckle hung in the humid air and there seemed to be a constant hum of music in the background. The walls had shadows flickered across them, dancing to the unknown tune that was now stuck in Alex's head. They passed a café and inside a radio could be heard clear above the rest of the noise;

"Four dead bodies of boys aged 14-16 were found today; it is thought that their deaths are linked to the mass drug trade happening in…" They passed by and Alex thought for a moment why the woman had been speaking in English. But lily turned a corner quickly and Alex bumped into her.

"Sorry," he said quickly.

"Don't worry." She smiled and he looked around, again feeling nervous.

"Lily, this is a dead end." He said and appraised the solid wall in front of them. He turned to her and she was smiling mischievously. "What?" But he knew what she was going to say before she said it.

"We're going to have to climb." There was an excitement in her voice that reminded Alex of the times he was little and he used to be outdoors with his dad. Lily was an only child and her parents hardly acknowledged her; they only saw her during the summer and even then they went away. But she didn't seem to mind.

"I thought you said this way was easier?" Alex was smiling now too.

"No," she walked to the wall and tapped the bricks they'd use to climb, "just faster." Alex went first, on account of the fact that Lily was in a skirt. It was relatively easy, the wall wasn't so high.

"You've done this before haven't you?" Alex said once he reached the top, he looked over and saw a platform to stand on. He turned back to help Lily up but almost fell off the wall as he saw she was already next to him.

"Yeah," she turned around to sit on the wall. "As a kid, I had a friend called Pedro; we used to play together." There was an ominous way in which she said the last sentence and Alex thought of questioning her but thought better; it was not his place. He turned around now too and looked on, he gasped. They were quite high up in comparison to the rest of the people, there was a platform beneath them with Alex guessed was the roof of a building. But that's not what was amazing; he could see the museum, it wasn't far off, but it was the backdrop, the way moonlight melted into the horizon and the stars looked down on them. "What is it?" Lily asked, noticing the look on his face. He turned to her and smiled.

"It's amazing up here." He said enthusiastically. It was odd, looking down he could see all the people in the town, the shouts of greetings from the people and the news crews talking about what to do, and here they were; sat on the edge of chaos. It was pretty amazing. Lily nodded.

"Hey look," she pointed, "Mr Curtzo, from ISOC. He's going to tell us what's happening." Alex looked but his attention was caught by something else. Behind the wall they were sat he saw three boys, teenagers, delivering crates to a van. It seemed innocent enough but there was a manner in the way they did it, that made Alex suspicious.

"Lily-" He began but was cut off as cheering came from the crowds below, Lily smiled at him.

"We did it!" She said and seemed to relax, "the museum's safe."

"Congratulations!" He said, and he meant it; he could see it meant a lot to her.

"Thanks for your help!" She smiled at him and kissed his cheek; for the second time that night he almost fell off the wall. They stared at each other a moment longer before they heard a shout below.

"OI! YOU TWO!" They stood and walked to the end of the roof, Li was looking at them with a sly smile. "DID YOU HEAR?!" She bellowed and Alex put his hands to his ears.

"Yeah we did Li!" he shouted back, "but there's no need to be so loud!" Lily laughed as Li still looked confused.

"WHAT?!" She yelled and Lily put her hands on her ears as well.

"Guys!" Ambers came over in excitement and bobbed up and down to the music that was growing louder.

"WHAT?!" Li, Alex and lily shouted; Amber jumped.

"It would only ever be you guys shouting in this town," Paulo ambled over, "I reckon you should let these people have some peace and quiet." He shook his head. "Hey…I know this song." It was some Spanish music Alex had never heard of but Paulo seemed to like it.

"Where's Hex?" lily asked.

"Helping with the sound system I think." Amber said thoughtfully, "at least, that's where I saw him last." She smiled evilly, "I'll go get him to dance. Ha!" She wandered off through the crowds. Li also began to bop the music.

"What is this song?" She asked and looked to Paulo for an explanation.

"It's called Havana nights," Lily said and jumped from the roof onto a box beneath, she then jumped to the ground. Alex followed.

"Tell me Lily," Paulo held out a hand with a smile and she took it, "do you dance?" She laughed at the overly exaggerated tone of romance Paulo used. She nodded a little shyly and everyone laughed. "Good, well then you can teach Alex, he's pathetic." Paulo dropped his tone and Alex noticed even his accent had been exaggerated.

"Thanks," Alex said sarcastically to Paulo's remark as the other boy took Li's hand.

"Fine, fine," Paulo sighed, "Lily and I will show you." The four of them walked into the crowds to find Hex and Amber. It was a shame, if Alex had decided to go back and check the boys loading the vans; he may have been able to stop events left to unfold.

"I don't think it's humanly possible for hips to move like that." Hex said simply and Li nodded her head; lost for words.

"Or that fast." Alex added, Amber's mouth hung open in astonishment. They were still outside, it was 2 'o'clock in the morning but the town just didn't want to sleep. There was a bonfire in the town centre and music filled the air from a sound system hex had helped set up. Paulo and lily stopped dancing as the song ended and there was much excitement as another song started up. The pair walked over to their friends.

"C'mon Hex," Amber said with quite determination, the boy shook his head adamantly.

"It's easy," Paulo said and grabbed Li, "you just-"

"You watch where you're putting those hands," Li said quietly. Lily let out an airy laugh and reached passed Alex to grab a bottle of Coke, Alex watched as she drained it in one. She broke away from the bottle and stood, slightly breathless.

"Alex-"

"Dancing's not my thing." He said, already aware of what she was thinking.

"It's easy," she mirrored Paulo and did the steps, again everyone was astonished at the way her hips moved and the rest of her body didn't. "You just…move with me," she knew it was a rubbish explanation but it seemed to make sense. Alex seemed to grow in confidence and he took a step towards her.

"Dad!" Lily yelled and made everyone jump. She ran from the crowds and they watched as she approached a man in a dark suit. Alpha force had only ever met Lily's dad once; he was always away on business and the time they had met him he seemed somewhat distant. They supposed that he hardly knew his daughter; their lives never intertwined.

"Mija," her dad said solemnly, he did not look up from the papers he was reading. (A/N: Mija is pronounced Mee-hah, it means daughter in Spanish.) She saw he was looking at the packing of boxes into trucks that was happening a little way off.

"Business," she said quietly and her father sighed.

"Yeah, sorry." Her dad finally looked at her; she hadn't seen his face in a long time, his face was wrinkled with what her mother called "worry lines," and his eyes were slightly bloodshot. "We'll do something tomorrow but now I need to get this done."

"It's two in the morning," lily said, suddenly remembering.

"There was a delay," he said quickly, "these need to get out ASAP." Her father talked to her as though she was another employee. "Here," Her father handed her a lollipop. "I've got to go."

"Dad what's in the-"

"Lily, just go have fun with your friends Ok?" He said sharply and went back to his papers.

"OK," she said indifferently.

She walked back to the group; her energy somewhat depleted.

"You OK?" Amber said and Lily nodded.

"Ha…" she wiped her cheek, "he gave me a lollipop." She held it up somewhat feebly. "I guess he still thinks I'm the six year old he sent away," she smiled at the ridiculousness of that statement. Paulo put an arm around her but she shrugged it off.

"I'm Ok, really," she sighed, "I'm used to it." She looked up, her usual smile played across her face. Li squealed as Paulo grabbed her hand and ran back into the dancing mass. They all smiled. Amber noticed a boy she'd met earlier look her up and down, for a minute Hex thought she'd shout at him and he smiled.

"Well, there's my cue." Amber said and walked off. Hex's smiled vanished. "See you guys later." Alex and Lily said goodbye, Hex remained silent, something that did not go unnoticed by Lily.

"Why didn't you ask her to dance then?" Hex looked at Lily sharply as she said this he found it was difficult to be angry with her and just shrugged. "Alright, where we're we?" She looked at Alex who had been looking at the sky, his eyes snapped across to her.

"Wha…? I- No, hang on." He stuttered but before anyone could say anymore water poured down on them. It was such a large amount and so sudden that they thought perhaps Li and Paulo had turned a hose on. But looking around they could see that it was actually raining. The bonfire in the centre was already being put out by the rain and people were running in different directions; trying to find shelter.

"Let's get home!" Lily shouted, Alex and Hex nodded.

"You guys go!" Hex's voice had to compete with the rain, "I'm gonna find Amber." They nodded and he left them. Alex grabbed Lily's hand, not wanting to lose her in the chaos. They began to run; everyone knew the way to Lily's house, they'd been to and from town often enough. Alex led her to where he thought the car was but it wasn't there.

"Paulo had to move it earlier!" Alex shouted to her, "I dunno where to…" they looked around.

"C'mon," Lily said, "let's go home- I'm cold!" Alex laughed and they began to run again. They were sure that everyone else would be able to find their way back; it was just a bit…OK a lot of rain. But they just kept running; now Lily led the way, they ran through the streets this time to the thundering sound of the rain. Alex found that with all the noise around him it was easier to think but the only thought that came to his head was how come we always end up alone? But he had a feeling a lot of it was orchestrated by his friends.

Alex saw Lily's mansion before them; it was the biggest building in the town, even bigger than the museum. They dropped the others hand and ran up to a door at the side of the house; they pushed on the door and practically fell into the room.

"Here!" Paulo shouted and began to climb the ladder, there was a small landing at the top and he was sure there was a way into the house.

"How come, in such a big house there aren't many doors?" Amber shouted and climbed up after him.

"Hurry up Amber! I'm getting drenched." Li shouted up at her.

"We're already drenched!" Amber smiled. Paulo had got to the landing at turned to help each of his friends up. Once they were all fine they looked around.

"There!" Hex shouted and pointed to a small door. They all ran to it and pushed it open.

"Argh!" they shouted as they had been so eager to open the door and get inside they didn't realise the door was actually half way up a wall in the house. They all fell into the room with a loud crash. For a few moments there was complete silence as they got over the shock of what happened.

"Ugh…my head." Hex groaned.

"Li that's my leg," Paulo said and Li giggled.

"Everyone get off me!" They heard and everyone immediately unscrambled themselves and stood up, Amber slowly propped herself onto her elbows. Paulo went over and bolted the small door shut; looking now they could see it was two feet above the floor. "What the heck kind of door…" Amber muttered as she stood up. She saw Hex's face had a look of awe and he was looking behind her so she turned around. The light in the room came from many TVs, lined up on a wall, in front of them were many controls of different colours and shapes, to Amber it was just pretty but to Hex it was-

"Awesome," he whispered in appreciation and walked over to the desk.

"Well, hello." Paulo said and pointed to a screen, "what do we have here?" Everyone peered at the screen; it was a large room with a long table in it. Alex and Lily were stood at the door, looking around the room.

"Oooh!" Li said, "this must be all those cameras around the place." She smiled as Hex nodded.

"It's the CCTV system," he said. "Actually," his eyes skimmed the controls, "these are the manual controls for every electrical device in the house that's connected to the mainframe." (A/N: I have no idea what I'm talking about…can you tell?)

"So that means…" Amber pointed to the label beneath the screen of the room Alex and Lily were in, "the 2nd dining room…we can control the lights?" Hex nodded, Li and Paulo smiled, knowing what Amber was thinking. "How does that work?" She asked hex who was completely unaware of her plan.

"Let's see, 2nd dining room," there was a red sticker next to the label on the screen and so Hex's finger moved to the red coloured buttons. "The lights use a dimmer switch- here." He pointed to a knob that could be twisted.

"Hmmm…" Amber said thoughtfully.

"To manually override it you have to…" but he knew her smile to well, "what're you gonna...?" Her smile widened, "don't do that!"

"Why not?" Li exclaimed.

"Yeah, Alex's clueless when it comes to girls," Paulo shook his head in disappointment. Hex frowned.

"Yeah but don't you think-"

"No." Paulo said.

"But Alex-"

"No." Li confirmed.

"C'mon-"

"Just tell me what to do code boy." Amber said. He instructed her, as though by not doing it physically he could somehow not be guilty. Amber turned off the lights manually and then turned the knob to turn the lights on but only slightly so that the room was in dim light.

"Ha…look at their faces." Paulo smirked. "What's this button?" He leant forwards to read the label. "2nd dining room, main door?" he looked to Hex.

"I guess the doors lock automatically…" He realised what Paulo was thinking.

"Do it." Li said seriously. Hex reached over, he clicked the switch.

That was ridiculously long!

Reviews appreciated!