The sun was just coming up when Eva woke. She pulled herself out of bed and looked at her legs. Purple and painful, not a surprise. Eva got dressed, making sure she could pass for a boy and went downstairs to the kitchen. Eva made breakfast for herself and started the coffee maker.

Robbins came downstairs a half an hour later in a bathrobe.

"Ricky, is that you?" he called.

"Yes," replied Eva. "I made you breakfast. I can't make any other eggs except scrambled. I hope that's okay."

"That's fine," said Robbins.

Eva fixed a plate of food for Robbins and poured him a cup of coffee. She found him sitting in the living room in his chair. She gave him the food and went back to the kitchen to eat hers.

Her mobile vibrated in her pocket. Eva took it out and saw that she had a new text message from Kayla.

"Where are you?"

Eva quickly texted back.

"Still here. I'll see you soon."

She waited a moment. Her mobile vibrated again.

"C.U."

"L8R."

Eva tucked her mobile back into her pocket and finished her breakfast. She wondered why Kayla had texted her and not used their specter bands. Probably because it was easier to keep a text a secret than a conversation over the bands.

Now what to do next? Eva thought about what needed to be done. They needed to get to the castle and stop XANA from getting its virtual hands on that infant. Jeremy and Aelita had found the castle last night. Now they needed a plan.

"Ricky, where are you?" Robbins called.

"In the kitchen," said Eva. She got up from the table and hurried into the living room. "Do you need something?"

Robbins smiled. "I know you have your reasons, Ricky, but I would appreciate if you did not lie to me."

"Sorry," said Eva. "But it is better this way. Being blind, you can honestly say you never saw me, and by me keeping my name and my agenda a secret. You are safer in ignorance."

"Hmm."

"What?" asked Eva.

"I'm trying to figure out who you are," said Robbins. "You would make an interesting character for one of my stories. You are quiet, intelligent, strong. You do not let your pain slow you down."

Eva clenched her fist. He knew she was hurt.

"And something else. You seem almost feminine. You're a girl, aren't you?" Robbins had a smile on his face.

"And if I am?" asked Eva with a growl.

"Then you are," said Robbins with a shrug. "It makes no difference to me. I just want you to know that I may be old, but I am far from senile."

"Then be straight with me," said Eva. "Who is Hudson?"

"Did we wake you last night?" asked Robbins. "I'm sorry. I thought we were being quiet."

"I'm a very light sleeper."

"Hudson is a good friend of mine. I haven't known him for very long. Only two years. He is a very strange man. He only comes at night and does not like being caught in the daylight." Robbins listened carefully. "Ricky, if you think any harder, I'll be able to hear your thoughts. What are you thinking, anyway?"

Eva wasn't thinking about Hudson. She was staring out the window, her mouth agape. Walking along the beach was a young man with black hair in jeans and a jacket.

"William," breathed Eva.

"What?" asked Robbins.

"Mr. Robbins, do you own a car?" Eva asked.

Robbins laughed. "I've been blind for years," he said. "No, I don't own a car. Why? What's going on?"

"Put some clothes on," said Eva. "We have to leave now."

"Why?"

"No questions. Just do it."

Eva helped Robbins upstairs. Gilly, sensing something was wrong, followed. Eva grabbed some clothes for Robbins and handed them to him. She left and checked to see where William was. She grabbed the telephone and dialed the number for the Plaza.

"Hello?" came Odd's voice when the receptionist put her through.

"It's me, brother," said Eva. "William is here."

"What?" cried Odd. "Where are you?"

"Getting out of here," said Eva.

"What's going on?" Eva heard Kayla's voice.

"William's wherever she is," Odd replied.

"Odd, listen to me," said Eva. "I don't know where the Eyrie Building is. Call Aelita and Jeremy and tell them what's going on. Have them call me on my mobile. Using the bands for communications is not a good idea right now."

"What about you?" asked Odd.

"I'm going to try to get to the Eyrie Building," Eva said. "Getting in is going to be the problem."

"If anyone can do it, it's you, phantasm," said Odd. "Good luck, sis."

Eva hung up the phone.

"The Eyrie Building?" asked Robbins, coming out of his room. "The headquarters of Xanatos Enterprises? What is there?"

Eva looked out the window and saw William coming to the front door.

"Mr. Robbins, whatever happens, don't turn back to help me," said Eva.

"What?" asked Robbins.

There was a knock at the door.

"Don't answer it," said Eva. "Just wait."

After a minute, William left and continued his search.

"Let's go," said Eva.

She led Robbins downstairs and outside. Eva looked over her shoulder as they walked in the opposite direction of William. Eva purposely kept a few steps ahead of Robbins, Robbins giving Gilly the command to follow her.

"Okay, I think we're safe for now," said Eva.

"Now will you please tell me what is going on?" asked Robbins.

Eva looked around. She reached into her pocket and saw that she had a few dollars on her, enough for lunch but not enough for a cab ride. They needed a place to stay until she got word from one of the others.

"I'll do the best I can," said Eva. "But we need to keep moving."

Yin lifted her head when she heard a moan and a cough. Yang was waking up.

"Yang," she said.

"Yin?" Yang turned his head to look at her. "Are you okay?"

"No," said Yin. "And you are one to talk. All those years of being controlled by Bane. I'm surprised that you still have your sanity."

"My sanity is intact, sister dear," Yang murmured. "I grew up with you, remember?"

Yin laughed weakly. "Yeah. I don't know how we are going to get out of this one though."

"Bane is cunning," said Yang. "I don't think there is anything we can think of that he didn't think of first. He's watched you through me. He still is."

"He doesn't have you to tell him," said Yin.

"But he has another piece of my crystal," said Yang.

Yin sighed. If Bane had a piece of Yang's crystal body, he could use Yin's left eye and Yang's eyes to see what was going on.

"This sucks," said Yin. "This is what I hate about our kind."

"But that was not our choice," said Yang. "Being the crystal beings that we are, all we need is one part of our bodies to survive to keep us alive. Whoever saved you, saved me. I must thank them some day."

"If we get out of this, I will make sure that you meet him," said Yin.

"If," repeated Yang glumly.

An idea crossed Yin's mind. "Yang, you said that Bane had a piece of your crystal. Do you know if he implanted that crystal?"

"Of course I know," answered Yang. "He did implant it. In his eye. It has granted him the power to see the unseen."

"The same power your crystal gave me," sighed Yin. "Yang, you have that power still, right?"

"Yes," answered Yang. "I don't know what you are getting at."

"And it allows you to see what he sees?"

"Yes, but what good does that do for us? He still can use us to see our plans."

"Right, he can see," said Yin. "He can't hear. What if he didn't have a way to see us?" There was a mischievous look in her eyes, one that warned others that she was planning something that would seem insane to other people.

"Yin," Yang said, smiling. "I haven't seen that look in your eyes since we were children."

"And there's a chance that we might not be seeing anything for a few minutes," said Yin. "Can you move at all?"

"Yes," replied Yang, pulling himself up on his elbows. He crawled to his sister's side. "What do you need me to do?"

"Take the dagger out of my waistband," said Yin.

Yang fumbled with the chains for a moment so he could get to her dagger.

"All right," said Yang. "Now what?"

"It's my left eye," said Yin.

"What?" asked Yang.

"Time to think outside of the box," said Yin. She laughed. "I love this about our kind."

Yang stared at her like she was insane. "You mean?" Yin nodded. Yang smiled. "You're mad."

"Just make sure when you're done that you close your eyes and don't open them," said Yin.

Yang pulled himself up on his knees and cupped Yin's face in one hand.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Don't be," Yin said. "I'm not."

Jeremy got the call about Eva just as the Mazas were getting up. He woke Aelita and they went about their business like there was nothing wrong.

"Do you think she's okay?" asked Aelita.

"It's Eva," said Jeremy. "I'm sure she is."

"We should get back with the others," said Aelita.

"When?" asked Jeremy. "The Mazas will know we're gone."

"We have to," said Aelita. "We're stronger together. That means we need Eva, too." Aelita pulled out her mobile and sent a text message to Eva.

"Meet us back at Plaza," it read.

"Okay," came the reply.

Aelita and Jeremy got their things together and waited until the Mazas were occupied. They ducked out the front door and began to run down the street.

"We haven't a clue where we are," said Jeremy.

"We'll find a way," said Aelita. She checked her pockets. "How much money do you have?"

"Not much," replied Jeremy.

"I think there's enough between us to get back to the Plaza," said Aelita. She hailed a taxi. "It's the fastest way."

Jeremy and Aelita got into the taxi.

"I hope they're okay," said Kayla, pacing the room.

The door to the room opened and Jeremy and Aelita entered.

"Look who's here!" cried Odd. "Mr. and Mrs. Einstein, how nice of you to drop by."

"Where's Eva?" asked Kayla.

"She's not here?" asked Jeremy. "I was sure she would make it here before us."

There was a knock on the door. The six of them looked at each other. The knock came again.

"Kayla?"

The six of them raced to the door and nearly yanked the door off its hinges.

"Eva!" screamed Kayla, throwing her arms around her. "You're okay!"

"Uh," said Jeremy. "Who's this?"

"This is Jeffrey Robbins," said Eva. "He's the one who helped me last night."

"How much does he know?" asked Jeremy.

"Just about everything," said Eva. "I had to tell him. William showed up on his doorstep. We pretended like no one was home, but I think it only bought us some time."

"We almost had an encounter with William last night, too," said Jeremy.

"He was probably looking for me to see if they had killed me," said Eva. She pulled up her pants to show the bruises. "Specter forms are invincible. I got hit by a car and I was only knocked out. My band was running out of power at the time, too."

"Imagine what the seven of us can do together at full strength," said Ulrich.

"And we have the element of surprise," said Yumi. "William's been searching for Eva all night. He probably thinks she's dead."

"Way to go, phantasm," said Odd.

"So what now?" asked Yumi.

"Jeremy and I found where those monsters are," said Aelita. "The Eyrie Building. There's a castle that sits on top of the skyscraper."

"The headquarters of Xanatos Enterprises," said Eva.

"All we need is a way to get in," said Ulrich.

"The place is guarded like Fort Knox," said Robbins. "Xanatos Enterprises deals with security systems and weaponry. It's the home to David Xanatos himself. No expense was spared on security."

"Nothing the Einsteins can't handle," said Odd.

They turned to Aelita and Jeremy.

"Maybe I can get a layout of the castle," said Jeremy. "If the specter bands work as well as Eva says, getting into the castle will be easy."

"And if it's easy for us, XANA will have no trouble at all," said Aelita.

"Yeah, but what do we do when we get there?" asked Ulrich.

"Something tells me that we won't be bored," said Odd.

Take a wild guess at what Yin is planning. I'm doing my best to keep this rated T, so I can only hint at what is going on. New chapters will be up soon. In the meantime, review or send a PM. I would like to know what you think.