This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Michael Grant, various publishers including but not limited to Harper Collins Publishers. No money is being made and No copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Literally he owns it I don't, Enjoy!

A story within a story:

So I had just finished writing this chapter and I really wanted to get it out to my lovely readers ASAP. I was halfway through typing when I decided to go shower. Not to bore you with details but let's just say due to an accident in the bathroom I am unable to use the middle finger in my right hand for a unpredictable amount of time.(It was not pretty my mum's a nurse and even she said she felt nausous at the amount of blood lost). I cannot use my had very effectively and even now am having trouble typing this message. So for a maxium amount of time of 3 weeks this story will be on short term Hiatus.

For those of you curious as to what happened I'll leave it to your imagination. . .

Thanks to . . .

Awesomet88 (),emilyroorose,Alyssa (),piratekaine,Dancegirl98 () and Cloud-Lover26

You guys are all soo lovely Cookies all around!

Chapter 16: Ginger girls and Guilty Hearts

The weeks flew by since the meeting at Coates. Not much had happened except the mysterious disappearance of the human crew, leaving everybody on edge. Little Pete continued playing on his video game on stopping to eat, sleep and for toilet breaks. Astrid no longer felt ill but had mysteriously gained alot of weight despite her lack of diet however that was the last thing on her mind right now as she settled Pete in for bed.

"Sleep tight Pete I'll see you tomorrow." She whispered, them kissed his temple and left the room. She walked down the corridor and entered her room. It was different from her last one. She and Little Pete had moved house 3 weeks after the meeting at Coates, just for convenience of location. She got dressed and climbed into bed eventually falling asleep.

Edilio was walking to his house when he saw the orange hue on the horizon. He broke into a sprint and rushed to the source. The closer he got the more children he saw running away from the origin, he stopped suddenly and stared at the scene before him. People screaming running in random directions dressed in pyjamas, sometimes underwear. He looked closer and could see members of the Human crew throwing petrol bombs, running around with flame throwers and pushing lit matches through letter boxes. He saw one boy poised to throw a bomb at a house where he knew small children lived. He quickly cupped his mouth and shouted.

"HEY!" he startled the kid who threw off his aim. The bomb was thrown far into the distance, after a few seconds Edilio heard a window smash. He turned back to the boy who had already run off. Edilio looked around shocked the fire was rapidly growing and was starting to get out of control. He saw Dekka run up next to him eyes wide with horror. The fire was spreading fast and it wouldn't be long before it surrounded the both of them. Edilio felt her grab his wrist.

"We have to go!" She yelled over the roar of the flames. Somewhere in the distance they could hear screaming shortly cut off by an explosion, a big one. It knocked Dekka and Edilio on their backs then was followed by a wall of flames 20 feet high."NOW!" Come on!" she screamed half dragging Edilio behind her.

"NO! " He screamed "We can't just leave these people!" Dekka grabbed his head between her two hands.

"LISTEN TO ME! We can't do anything now, we have to go!" Edilio gave in her knew she was right, He let himself be dragged as he stared back down the street heart heavy with guilt as tears fell from his eyes.

Dekka hauled Edilio down half the length of Pacific Boulevard* before dropping him off at the town plaza and running to find Taylor. No one had seen very much of Taylor since the incident at the Caretaker's Quarters. Most people had thought she'd run off to join Caine but she was in Perdido Beach in fact she was living somewhere off Sunset Street.** Dekka barged through the door calling her name frantically. Taylor popped up right in front of her.

"AAAAHH! Oh it's just you Taylor" she exclaimed relieved. Taylor just kept her face blank. Dekka sighed; Taylor had been the same since that fateful day. She never went outside; she barely talked and never smiled.

"Taylor I need you to go to Coates and get Louisa and her sister."

"And what makes you think I'm going to do that?" She answered face still blank.

"Half of Perdido Beach is on fire and the only water supply we have lies with that girl!" Dekka growled through gritted teeth trying to reign in her patience.

"And so?" Taylor replied in a non-committal tone. Dekka snapped. She grabbed Taylor by her upper arms, ignoring the flinch she gave and started shaking her violently.

"Listen to me, Goddammit! HALF of Perdido Beach is gone! People are DYING! Little children are dying! Now wipe that stupid look off your face and start thinking about someone rather than yourself!" She pushed Taylor away causing the girl to stumble then fall on her bottom. Taylor looked at Dekka before sighing and popping away. Dekka let out a huff of breath then went to sit on the stairs waiting for Taylor's return.

Sam had just happened to be looking at the sky when he saw a small black object sail through. He followed its course until it smashed a window on impact. Just as he was starting to wonder what the UFO was, a large explosion broke through his thoughts engulfing the house in flames. He gasped when realisation hit him.

That was Astrid's house . . .

She was running again. Down the same corridor with the same doors and the same small windows. She ran faster aware that this time it was a race to get to the door first. She reached the door at the dead end but this time it was made out of hard black glass that was cold to the touch. Immediately she searched for a door handle but alas her search was in vain. The floor disappeared from underneath her and she fell. Astrid screamed, when she looked down she saw a clear polished surface fast approaching. She gasped bracing herself, pulling her forearms to cover her face and crouching into a small ball. Astrid peaked in-between her arms impact was inches away . . . BAM!

The sound of smashing glass had awoken Astrid, she groaned rubbing her heard before dragging herself out of bed and towards the bathroom. BOOM! She let out a panicked shriek as her legs buckled out beneath her. She looked up and gasped the roof and attic were gone and the walls were coated in fire, she scrambled for the bathroom sink and hauled herself up then ran towards Little Pete's room. She burst in eyes searching.

"Peter! Peter, where are you?" She found him on the floor sitting straight up as if he'd fallen off then sat up

"Oh, thank goodness" She sighed relieved before picking up L.P and covering him in a blanket.

"Come on Pete we've got to get outta here." She rushed forward and instinctively grabbed the brass door handle. Her skin seared and she let out a cry of pain. With tears in her eyes she laid Pete on the bed and searched for a form of escape. She ran to the window and forced it open ignoring the strong pain in her hand leaned out and started screaming for help.

"HELP! Please someone help us!"

"Astrid?" a voice came from beneath her. She peered into the dark backyard, just about making out his silhouette.

"Sam? Sam! Help us!"

"Don't worry I'm coming!" He shouted back.

"Sam there's a ladder next to the house quickly prop it up!" He ran off into the darkness followed by the sounds of rummaging and grunts of strain. He swung around the ladders as if in a circus act but the situation was nothing to laugh about. Astrid hurried back into the room and grabbed L.P . The room was filled with black, heavy smoke and Astrid was finding it hard to breathe. She glanced back over to the window and could see Sam climbing up to reach them. Astrid heard L.P coughing so she used the blanket to cover his mouth and nose. Sam had reached the window and was leaning in arms stretched.

"Astrid, come on" he said beckoning quickly with his hands. She walked over and handed him the bundle in her arms.

"TAKE LITTLE PETE!" She screamed at him before having a major coughing fit.

"But, Astrid-"

"NO! I'll be right behind you!" He looked at her as if to object before wrapping his arms around the blanket and carefully climbing back down the ladder. Astrid looked around the room for anything she could scavenge then deciding against it started manoeuvring herself out the window. She looked down and could see Sam and L.P safely on the lawn. Astrid sighed then started making her way down. She was about halfway when somewhere in the house an explosion sounded causing the ladder to shake violently. Unprepared for the shaking Astrid clung unto the ladder even as it fell backwards onto the garden below . . .

Dakota had been sitting on Jack's roof when the fire had broken out she made no move to stop it or to warn any possible victims. She just sat there with a sinister smirk watching the local residents ran around aimlessly. She watched as the fire grew and claimed more innocent lives but she continued to sit on the roof not making any move to help. Dakota even found slight amusement watching the scene unfold in front of her. Unfortunately for her the fun came to an abrupt end when Louisa and her sister Chelsea arrived. It wasn't so much of their presence that upset Dakota it was more of what they're presence would cause. For Louisa and Chelsea were no ordinary twins they were both 3 bars.

Louisa had the power to produce, manipulate and destroy water in any shape or form which included ice, steam and water. The same could be said for her sister but instead of water she could produce, manipulate and destroy fire. They both worked in the kitchens at Coates where they'd cook meals thoroughly and freeze extra food for storage. Both girls had bright red waist length hair that was always in two plaits on either side of their head and clashed dangerously with their sky blue eyes. They always insisted on wearing Jean dungarees with different coloured t-shirts depending on what day of the week it was, right now Louisa was wearing red and Chelsea wore blue, with matching coloured sneakers.

Apparently they'd already been debriefed on the situation because on arrival both sprang into action, one dousing the flames with gallons of water while the other banished the flames with a wave of the hand. Dakota stood up grimly and started climbing off the roof there was no point in staying there her fun was over.

Edilio sat heavily on the church steps sighing and rubbing his face with his hands. The sun was starting to come up revealing just how much of the town had been destroyed last night. Edilio had been helping Lana and Dahra all night helping people with smoke inhalation to shock to even some 3rd degree burns. He'd help calm everyone down and prioritise them depending on how serious their injury was. Edilio could feel exhaustion creep up to him gradually; he'd been up all night and was definitely starting to feel the effects.

Dahra had insisted he go for a quick break but he didn't want to leave just yet in case she would need his help. He was right to stay. No sooner before he could fall asleep did Edilio hear heavy footsteps run into the basement. He could hear raised voices and people running around. He quickly got up and clambered down the stairs. Edilio quickly scanned the room finding Astrid laid out on an examining table and Sam next to her clutching onto her hand desperately. Lana stood at the head of the table hands placed on either side of Astrid's head, her eyes closed in concentration. Edilio stood by the door watching, knowing there was nothing he could do except to step aside and Lana do her thing.

Sam couldn't bring himself to let go of her hand, it was limp and clammy though occasionally her fingers twitched. He wrenched his eyes away from her face to look at Lana who'd stopped healing her. Lana wiped her brow before opening her eyes top meet his gaze. She flicked her eyes towards the door then got up to leave. Sam got the subtle message; he leaned down and kissed her forehead whispering his return then got up to follow Lana outside. They walked round to the back of the Church in a comfortable silence; Lana turned and looked at Sam. She looked him up and down as if to study him.

"She's going to be fine" Lana said but avoided looking at him. She quickly turned to walk away but Sam knew something was up. He quickly grabbed her wrist and swung her around to face him.

"There's something you're not telling me," He said in a voice close to a whisper

"Don't try to deny it I can tell it's written all over your face." Lana suddenly moved her face away from Sam."Please what aren't you telling me?" Lana sighed then looked back at him slowly.

"When I heal people it's like I do a scan of their bodies to check their vitals, you know like heart rate, oxygen levels in the blood or even which organs are damaged. This information is usually easy to find, in fact it kind of pops up. After I have this information I can see what needs to be fixed and . . . well fix it."Sam digested all this information then looked to Lana wondering how her answer related in any way to his question. Lana seemed to read his face, so she continued. "Now today when I laid my hands on Astrid the information didn't appear, even when I put my hand on her head (where the information is usually the clearest) it was still hard to find almost as if it was jumbled up. Astrid's vitals were all over the place even after I healed her. Her heart rate was high, however hormone levels were unexpectedly high for a teenager and . . ." Lana drifted off.

"And what?" Sam demanded "what's the last thing?" Lana looked Sam right in the eye

"She had two different sets of heart rates" Sam's eyes widened noticeably, "Sam, She's pregnant."

BUM BUM BUUUM! Astrid's Pregnant! Tell me what you think about that and what you think should happen!

So the fire is the first major event that happened in Lies that I added to the fic hopefully my evrsion had it's own little twist to how Michael put it.

Also I didn't know if Taylor can teleport with people well in this story she can!

What do you think about the twins pretty cool uh?

* refer to map at the back of Gone books

** Again refer to map

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Hunnybunny