I don't own this, blah blah blah... Meh.

I woke up again at some point, my eyes catching the light out the windows of the still-moving van. It looked as if it was the crack of dawn outside. I sighed.

Victor was still driving? I thought to myself, stretching slightly as to not wake Fabian.

Too late. He was already awake. His gaze bore down on me. I looked back at him and saw circles under his eyes.

"I thought you slept last night," I whispered. There was no need to wake anyone else.

"Yeah, about that…" he trailed off, twirling a piece of my hair on his index finger.

"I thought you fell asleep after the nightmare."

"Well I did, but I kept waking and falling back to sleep again… It was a very restless sleep."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

We were silent for a while. The only other person who happened to wake up was Amber, and she turned around to talk to us. Alfie fell back against his sleep, snoring quietly, while everyone else was out like lights.

"So, what's the plan?" she asked.

"Um. Well, Amber." I didn't really have a plan - other than be cooperative and give Rufus what he wanted so he would't kill Mick and Mara.

"Oh, right. We're going to give up all our hard work to that creepy old man so he doesn't kill the two people who made me sad!" She was getting madder and madder, and I swear I saw a tear trickle down her face. She wiped it away instantly, sniffling afterwards.

"Amber! What choice do we have?" Fabian looked as if he were about to snap again. "It's either give him what he wants, or he kills our housemates!"

"And possibly us in the process!" I added, now sitting up straight. "What do you have for an idea, Ams? Huh?"

"I'm sorry! It's just, well, he scares me!" she whined.

"He scares all of us!" Fabian and I said in unison.

"We have to find a way for us to still have the Cup and have him not blow us up into oblivion." I stated this like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Luckily, they nodded in agreement instead of criticizing my statement.

"But what if he has those zapping killer lightening bugs with him again?" Amber cringed. I sighed in frustration and Fabian put his head in his hands before speaking again.

"Somehow, I think he has something much, much worse," he muttered.

"How do you think?"

"My nightmare… What if it was a sign or something?"

"Um, I thought Nina was the one who got creepy dreams and heard voices? I mean, she is the Chosen One." Amber said that with satisfaction, as if me being the Chosen One had everything to do with this rescue mission.

Oh wait. It did.

"Amber, I'm not hearing voices. Yes, Nina is the Chosen One, but that was just a theory that maybe my subconscious is trying to tell me something." He looked even more tired and upset than he had during the night when he told me about the nightmare. He began explaining what he saw to Amber.

"Aww, that's so cute! You two were definitely made for each other," she cooed after hearing the story. It was as if the entire message and impact of what he told her didn't matter - only the fact that we were in a relationship mattered. Then, she spoke again. "By the way, I'm throwing you guys a party when we get back!"

"What? No!" I said it kind of rudely, but I hoped she got the message. She did, and nodded solemnly in understanding.

"Sorry Amber," I apologized, resting my hand on her arm. She didn't exactly look upset, but I felt the need to anyways. "It's just that, well, we have a lot of stuff to handle right now. Rufus kidnapped Mara and Mick, somehow Corbierre is linked to the mystery again, and since I'm not getting guidance from Sarah anymore, we're all on our own."

"The good news is that Victor and his Society seem to be on our side now," Fabian mentioned, smiling almost brightly.

"No offense, but why are you smiling like that? This is kind of serious."

"Sorry Love, I know. I just can't help but notice the irony," he smiled even bigger. Calling me Love also contributed to giving me the slight chills.

"Okay Romeo and Juliet," Amber interrupted. Everyone always interrupted us. It was like we could never have a moment around our housemates because people just came in from everywhere. "We've been driving for who-knows-how-long, everyone's asleep, and by the looks of Victor glancing over at that notepad" -she pointed at Victor- "we're going to a new location."

"Yeah we are," Fabian answered, snapping out of whatever haze he was in. "Rufus texted Jerome a long time ago, telling him to meet him at a new place and gave a set of directions. Patricia copied them down and we passed them to Victor, who's kept driving for quite a while. I don't even know if we've stopped at all."

"Not only that," I added, "but he hans't spoken a word since we left Anubis House."

"Who? Jerome or Victor?" Amber asked.

"Victor. He's just been driving like a zombie."

"Oh well. I'm going back to sleep. Night guys!"

And with that, Amber fell back asleep against Alfie's shoulder. Now it was just Fabian and I like always.

"Just like old times," I muttered.

"Huh?" he looked puzzled.

"Everyone's gone - well, asleep - and we're the only ones awake to deal with the crap being thrown at us."

"Nina, I'm not stepping down here. I'm staying with you and we're going to overcome this… this… whatever it is. The new mystery. Rufus. Everything. We're going to make it."

"You're the most inspirational person I've ever met," I said, chuckling softly and taking his hand in mine. He squeezed it, then looked meaningfully at me.

"I love you," he said softly, taking his free hand and playing with my hair. Then he cupped my chin and leaned closer, our faces only an inch or two apart.

"I love you, too," I responded.

And we kissed.

The moment was broken by someone screaming.