Hi guys :D

I don't know if an apology is enough, but I'm really sorry. Monthly updates were supposed to become weekly once summer rolled around. Writer's block stopped that, unfortunately. I had to work on a completely different story so I could write this (if you want to read that completely different story, info is below).

Again, some review-answering to do before we can move on.

TheSixthGatekeeper: Yay! Glad you liked it! (and I hope your cold's better!) I didn't want Matt and Scarlett's relationship to be like that – I wanted them to be friends first. And I can't be mean to the twins! That would be evil! Oh, and thanks for the mention in Chapter 2 of The Journey! That cookie was yummy XD

Readersally: Thanks for pointing that out! Okay, I'm gonna clear any confusion – I didn't forget Lohan was there, I just never put him in this story. As far as I'm concerned, he went back to Hong Kong. Sorry, I should've made that clear in the story :)

Thank you all so much for your reviews. Anyways, I'm here with a brand new chapter, which I hope you will enjoy.

Disclaimer: Look, I tried to convince him the other day. I really did. But Anthony Horowitz is still the owner of the Power of Five series. Dammit.

Three weeks had passed. Matt, Pedro and Scarlett were settling well in school. Jamie, Scott and Holly were doing well in their lessons at home, although Scott still felt slightly uncomfortable around their teacher. Things were going great.

But, of course, when things are going great, it never lasts.

Matt had noticed something was up very quickly. Scarlett had been acting strange – she refused to walk home, she took the car or the bus. She was fidgety and anxious in school, especially at lunch. Pedro had noticed too, but hadn't thought much of it. Matt was worried.

He soon found out he was right to be worried.

'Two o' clock,' Pedro yelled happily. 'Football!' He raced out the door, only stopping to wait for Matt and Scarlett. Even then he was bouncing on his heels, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Indigo, a friend of theirs, smiled a little. Matt and Scarlett had both agreed a few days ago that she had a crush on Pedro. She was American, from New York to be exact. She was beautiful in her own way – she wore black dresses and net tights, and her blonde hair was dip-dyed indigo purple. Her deep blue eyes were always lined with black eyeliner. Matt couldn't help but wonder where she had gotten her clothes and make-up, with the war barely over a few months.

They headed in the direction of the fields. The whole school would be having P.E. today - the school only consisted of around 70 pupils. Matt felt relieved that there was at least that many children were left. He had thought the losses were worse.

He felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Scarlett smiling at him. 'I'm going to change.'

Matt smiled. 'Okay. Will you be alright?'

He saw Scarlett's smile falter just a little. Most people wouldn't have noticed, but Matt had. He always noticed things like that when it came to her.

She nodded slightly. 'Yeah, sure. I'll be fine.' She brushed his wrist accidently as she left, and Matt saw her blush slightly. He gave a small, knowing smile and went to play football.

He couldn't concentrate on his game though. Scarlett wasn't back yet. She was usually back within ten minutes, smiling brightly and ready for a game of hockey. But she had been gone half an hour. The P.E. teacher eventually let Matt go looking for her.

He crept along the halls, some instinct telling him to be as silent as possible. The halls were deserted, as everyone was outside. Well, almost everyone. After a while, and with no sign of Scarlett, Matt began to worry more. Where was she?

Matt suddenly felt a sharp pain in his side. He gasped, leaning against the lockers. He lifted his shirt. No evidence of injury. Nothing. He felt another pain in his stomach. He groaned. What was going on?

Then he heard something that chilled his blood.

He heard Scarlett scream.

'Alright! I want a nature sketch, fully shaded, within an hour,' Miss Griffin said loudly.

'Yes, ma'am,' the twins mumbled, heading towards the tree by the lake. Their teacher nodded and hauled the unfortunate Holly inside for Home Ec. Jamie led Scott into the tree's shade. It was hot today. The sun was blazing. Jamie was half-thinking of making Miss Griffin end classes early so they could swim in the lake for the afternoon, but decided against it. His power still scared him sometimes.

'This sucks.' Scott huffed, flopping carelessly on the grass. 'I can't draw a freaking circle!'

'Scott, no one can draw a perfect circle,' Jamie said calmly, 'It's impossible.'

'Not without a maths set.' Scott gave a small smirk.

Jamie frowned and then laughed. 'Okay. You got me.' He sat on the grass beside him and sighed, looking for something to draw. He settled on sketching a dandelion. Scott sighed and reluctantly began to draw too.

After about a half hour, the twins were called back in. Miss Griffin inspected their drawings.

'Wonderful, Jamie! Excellent work.' Miss Griffin gave a nod of approval, which was enough because the woman barely smiled. She then looked at Scott's.

'What is this?'

'It's the lake, ma'am.'

'The lake.'

'Yeah! See, there's the skin of the water, and that's the deeper bits-'

'Scott. It's a set of squiggles.'

'Same thing!'

Jamie snorted and turned away, laughing. He glanced at Holly, who was grinning widely. Scott tended to have tiny pointless arguments with Miss Griffin. It was one of their only sources of entertainment, so they never called it off.

'Scott, you are to go out and draw that again. Properly.'

Scott scowled and went out.

I hate this.

Jamie smiled. They had started having regular conversations in their heads again. It was almost like old times.

Maybe if you made an effort…

It's pointless. Why should we be doing art? Even Richard thinks we should be learning self-defense, after what happened to Holly.

Yeah, but we're not gonna leave here.

How do you know that? And how do you know that the danger won't come to us? It has so far.

Jamie had to admit, Scott had a point. They should've been doing something useful.

Haha. I win.

Shut up, Scott.

Jamie grinned despite himself and went upstairs.

'You don't mess with me, ya hear?' he yelled. Another punch in the face. Another feeble whimper escaping her lips.

'Leave me alone,' she said softly, covering her now bruised face.

He laughed. 'No way. You don't stand up to me. That Spanish-speaking idiot wasn't worth it. Was he?'

Scarlett didn't answer. She bit her lip, hard.

She had just left to get changed for hockey. Not a person in sight. But suddenly she had passed the boys' changing room and they leapt out. The boy with the puke green hair was striking his revenge. Scarlett vaguely wondered why they had waited until now. She had fought back at first, but now she was too sore.

She felt a kick in her stomach and groaned, curling up to shield herself. She heard their sick laughter. She saw stars dance in front of her eyes. What was going to happen to her?

She felt him lean down beside her and she could smell his foul breath. Garlic. Ugh.

'You know you shouldn't mess with me, don't you, Adams?' he murmured. 'You don't mess with me, or you'll be sorry. Are you sorry?'

'The only person who should be sorry is you, you son of a bitch.'

Scarlett recognised that voice. She couldn't place it.

Before she could register anything, Green Hair and his cronies were on the ground. She felt someone lift her up. She made a noise of protest.

'Shh, it's alright. You're okay. Let's get you cleaned up.'

Scarlett laid her head on his shoulder and passed out.

Okay, so I'm working on this other story on my Wattpad account called Innocent. It's an end-of-the-world kind of story. I would love if you read the chapter I have up at the moment and gave me some feedback :)

It won't let me post the url, but I'll put my profile url in my bio and you can find it that way, if you're interested.

Thanks a million. Hopefully I'll be back soon!

CG xx