Alex had to put a hand to his mouth to stop himself from gasping; the boy picked Lily up and turned right in front of the cupboard so Alex could see him. There was a roguish charm about the way he held himself upright; his school boy good looks and elegance were entirely different from the picture Lily had painted of him. He walked away from Alex and Lily's father; a drop of Lily's blood hit the floor in front of the cupboard and Alex moved further back into this small place as her father wiped it up. He muttered something to himself in Spanish before he too left the room. Alex was stunned, he didn't move for a few minutes until he was sure everything was clear; he wasn't just going to get out in front of her father, she had stopped him from doing that. He opened the door and walked out, trying hard not to look at the dark mark on the stone floor where her blood was spilled. He tried to think straight; all he knew was that he had to get everyone together, including Lily, and get out of here.

He walked over to the door Lily's father went through and peered around for anyone, he ducked back as he heard footsteps. A man's voice spoke quickly in Spanish to people Alex figured must be maids. Alex was no language expert but Lily and Paulo and Amber had given everyone a quick crash course so he got some of the words: "…los amigos…" Friends, Alex thought, trying to keep up as the man spoke faster. "…Encuentre…" Find. That was all Alex could work out but he got the gist; Lily's father was ordering the maids and security to find Lily's friends. He was about to move off when another voice joined the ones outside.

"Where are the rest of you?" Lily's father asked, Alex stopped, thinking he was talking to him.

"We told you," said a defiant Amber, "we don't know." Alex heard Hector swear under his breath.

"What were you going in the Security room?" He shouted back.

"Watching a film." Hex said in equal exasperation, glad he'd managed to erase the past 3 hours of it and replace it with a movie.

"We'll just check the security tapes then." Alex heard them walk away, "follow me." So that must be Hex and Amber; they were going to view the security tapes which meant they were going back to the security room. Lily had mentioned it, where was it? Up. She had pointed up. Ok so, Hex and Amber are fine, for now. Lily is in her room, with Pedro. So where the heck were Li and Paulo? Alex cursed softly; who should he go after first?

"What should we do?" Li whispered loud enough over the roar of the engine. Paulo contemplated for a moment before he opened a box and stood up. He took out his phone and switched it on. "What're you doing?" She stood up with him and saw he was taking pictures of the contents of the boxes; clear bags of white powder.

"Text everyone, tell them where we are." Paulo instructed and Li knew from his tone that she should do as instructed. "Tell them to get Lily and for Hex to track the movement of the van through us." He pointedly took out a key ring from his pocket; it was the tracking device each of them had. "Then to follow us; bring all the equipment-"

"You're not planning on revealing Lily's dad to the police are you?" Li was shocked at Paulo's change of heart.

"There's not much of a choice anymore Li; you know what Lily's like, she deserves to know." Li nodded at this.

"But Paulo…someone died. Died." She trembled at the memory of seeing the body fall. Paulo looked consoling for a moment.

"It's OK to be scared Li-"

"I'm not scared." I'm terrified.

"There's too much at stake here to be worried about things like that. We've been through stuff like this before; we can do it again." She sighed and went to new message, on her phone and began to text everyone. A few minutes passed where Paulo ensured he had pictures on his phone of pretty much everything in the van.

"Damn…" Li whispered.

"What?" Paulo looked over to her.

"Lost signal." She waved her phone in the air in vain hope to regain connection.

"Did you get through to anyone?" He asked and she nodded.

"It said it sent to Alex before it lost it." She grimaced in annoyance.

"That's fine; so long as somebody knows." He said calmly and sat down again.

Alex's phone vibrated against his leg as he crouched behind a table; luckily there was no one around to hear it and he removed his mobile from his pocket. He opened up the new message and his heart leapt; it was from Li.

Pedro and I are in one of the van's that left Lily's house. Hex, follow us with the tracker. Everyone come asap. Li, x.

He smiled and hoped they were safe; that sorted one problem out, now he just had to figure out how to get to the security room without being seen. Men and women rushed about the place; looking for the three that were left to round up. Alex was grateful Li and Paulo were out of the way but he himself was stuck. Just as he had given up hope he heard a group of people making a commotion on the stairs outside the room Alex was in.

"Take them to their room here; lock them in and do nothing to them until I give word." Lily's father's voice was full of all the authority he lacked at his "business meeting." "The others must still be in the town; we'll wait for them to come back. Until then, everyone get back to bed and have at least three men stood outside the gates." He dismissed his workers and walked away from Hex and Amber; leaving them with two male security staff.

"What about Lily?" Amber shouted to him and he stopped walking. "What're you going to tell her?" He turned to Amber.

"I gave her back the only person she ever loved; she'll be too grateful to care." He said nonchalantly.

"You don't know your own daughter." Hex said and everyone was surprised to hear him say this, even Alex had a glance around the table leg to be sure it was him. "Lily would never accept what you're doing-"

"How do you know, boy?"

"Because she's a good person." Hex replied and, with a surprising air of confidence walked away; it took a moment for the men to realise they should take him to his room and they ran after him; dragging Amber with them.

Luckily, Alex new exactly what window their room was on the house. He had managed to get into the kitchens, at four in the morning no one was around. This led him to a back door which he crawled out of and now he was sat under a tree opposite the house. Their room was on the second floor; how was he going to…but his thoughts were answered when he saw Amber open the window and look out. He took out his phone and dialled her number.

"Hello, Alex?" Said a frightened voice.

"Hey Amber, he whispered back.

"Alex! Where are you? Are you OK? Where's lily?" Amber screeched and Alex had to move the phone away from his ear to prevent himself going deaf.

"Stop screaming and look out the window." He waved as she did so and saw her drop the phone.

"Damn it," he heard and smiled as Hex too came to the window.

"I need to get up to you guys-"

"How the heck're you gonna-"

"Go to Li's bags," Alex cut across Hex, "she has her climbing equipment."

"You're not serious..." He heard Amber mutter but both Hex and Amber knew Alex wouldn't joke like this.

"Yeah I am." He thought fast; "Amber, while Hex gets that ready-"

"But what if someone sees you?!" She shrieked.

"They won't; Lily's dad told everyone to go to bed and he only has men guarding the entrance of the house." He said quickly, "Amber go to the door, the code to open it is 4665. Check no one is guarding your room." He said and began to move towards the building as he could see Hex was near enough ready.

"What if there is someone?"

"Just ask him why he didn't lock the door; they don't know I know the code. Don't worry just do it. I'll explain everything when I get up there; we just need to find Lily and get out of here." Alex looked up as Hex passed a rope down.

"Coast is clear." Amber said; she'd opened the door and peered out.

"Right, see you in a minute." Alex ended the call, shoved his phone in his pocket and began to climb the rope. It was easier here than it was in any place he'd climbed before; the storm had died down and there was just a warm breeze that unsettled his movement. He reached the window faster than he thought he would; Hex heaved him in. "thanks," Alex gasped as he fell into the room.

"Don't mention it," Hex replied.

"Ok, spill." Amber said, she stood with her hands on her hips and Hex joined her. Everyone sat down and Alex informed them of what happened and they told him their story. "So now what?" Amber asked when they had worked out how everything fitted together.

"We get Lily and go to Paulo and Li." Hex said simply, he took out his palmtop and wiped the screen with a cloth; Amber rolled her eyes. "I'll get on to tracking the other two." Alex nodded at him.

"Good," he ran a hand through his blonde hair, "now to get to Lily. That's the easy part." They all stood and gathered up their belongings; they had to discard unnecessary items such as extra clothes to which Amber protested. "There's no time!" Alex whispered urgently and she merely pouted.

"Ready?" Amber asked and turned to them, they nodded and walked to the door; Amber opened it and peered outside.

"A La Nanita Nana Nanita Ella Nanita Ella," Lily could hear a voice singing softly a lullaby she used to know. But there was a pain in her head that made it difficult to understand what the words meant. Something cold touched her head and, what she assumed was water, ran down the side of her face. She only just began to realise how tired she was, it must be about four or five in the morning by now; she wanted to sleep. But there was something, something in the back of her mind telling her to wake up, that she still had something to do. With much effort she opened her eyes and saw someone above her in the darkness of her room, at first she thought it was Alex; but Alex doesn't speak, let alone sing, Spanish. The figure reached out a hand and she recoiled but instead it turned on a lamp next to her. She looked at the boy in front of her; a vague sense of familiarity came to her. She appraised the olive skin, hazel eyes and dark hair; there was something so certain about the way he looked at her. "Lily?" Her eyes widened; only he ever said her name like that.

"Pedro?" She whispered but in an instant threw her arms around him and for the first time in a long time, Lily began to cry. His hand went instinctively to her hair and stroked it.

"I'm sorry, I left you." As he said this she moved away and he found it difficult to look at her tear stained face.

"Why did you go?" She put her head on his chest and he was thankful he didn't have to look at her eyes. "Where did you go?" She sobbed into his shirt. "I searched, for the entire summer." She whispered. "I gave up."

"I'm sorry," was all he said. "Let me look at you." He said, aware she had stopped crying. She moved back and he smiled, he hadn't seen her in years, he always knew she'd end up pretty. "you've changed." He commented and she laughed.

"So have you!" She hit his arm in that way he remembered. She looked him up and down, "you're thin!" He laughed.

"Whoa now. I was never not thin to begin with." But he smiled as she laughed again.

"yeah you were…not…" she was confused at the phrasing he'd used before. "And your hair," she yanked it to see if it were real.

"Ouch…" she remembered how he used to wince whenever she pulled his hair when they were younger. He took her hand from his head and kissed it, she withdrew from his grasp immediately.

"When did you become such a charmer?" She said slyly but with a bit of venom; Lily didn't like such affection; perhaps she just wasn't used to it.

"And when did you become so shy to my touch?" He leant forwards and she moved further back. "It's not like I've never kissed you before Lily." He said softly and she found herself hooked onto his hazel eyes, not wanting to look away but there was something telling her not to look, not to be tempted. There was something…someone…why couldn't she think straight? Pedro took that extra inch and kissed her.

"Lily?" they heard a quiet voice say, they broke apart and looked around; Alex, Amber and Hex were stood in the doorway.