CHAPTER TWO

Marina immediately cries out, lunges forward and catches Eight before he hits the ground. She slowly lays him on the terrace in front of our house and carefully presses her hands on his wounds. For a second nothing happens, then he suddenly begins to breathe at double speed. His legs start twitching, and I help Ella to hold them in place. Sweat runs down Eight's face and his eyelids fly open.

Then, the bullet that must have been inside his shoulder all this time suddenly shoots out of the wound and the sore closes.

I watch as his chest rises and falls even faster than before. Once again, I'm amazed at Marina's ability to heal anything in a matter of second. I don't know what Eight would do without her. During the last two days Marina has already saved his life twice. And I only know them for this long.

As Eight's arm pops back into its proper place, I suddenly realize Six is missing. Her and Eight were supposed to get some groceries and a new car together, but now only Eight is back.

Guilt creeps in, together with a presentiment that something really bad is happening to Six right now. I know Eight would never leave her behind if it isn't something serious.

I was so shocked about Eight's horrible condition that I hadn't even thought about Six. What could have happened that he is so badly wounded? I know Six is an incredible fighter, and from what I've seen from Eight he isn't bad either. Plus they have Six's invisibility and Eight's shape shifting.

My mind races, but I decide to give Eight some space and wait until he is fully healed before I ask him what's going on.

Nine isn't as patient as me, though. He shoves Marina aside and grabs Eight by the shoulders. The intense in his voice surprises me.

"Where is she? Where is Six?" He yells at him.

Eight starts coughing and spits blood on the ground beside him. Nine doesn't seem to care.

"Tell me where she is!" He demands, shaking Eight by the arms. Eight groans in pain and I know I have to intervene.

I tackle Nine and pin him down to the floor. He struggles to raise his head me and I can tell he's furious at me. He's way stronger than me, and I can't keep him at bay much longer. But before he gets the chance to throw me off of him, Eight coughs again and we both turn our attention back to him, when he narrowly mutters two words.

"Six…Trees…"

Then Marina bobs up and crawls back to him. She puts her hands on his head and he closes his eyes.

"Trees?", Sarah mumbles behind me.

Marina sends Nine a venomous look, then nods in my direction. "Trees…I saw a Park full of trees on the drive here. Go! Help Six, I'll fix Eight."

"Right," I say and get off Nine. I offer him a hand, but he doesn't even look at it and pushes me away. He pulls himself together, brushes the dust off his shirt and then points at Sarah.

"You. Get the Loric chests and bring them outside. And you," he spits out and points at me. "Come with me."

Then he runs out the house, faster than any normal human can, and disappears down the street

I scowl at the way he talks to Sarah, but it's not the right time for hard feelings. I know Six might be in danger. Any second I waste could be the second she dies.

"Try to contact Six with telepathy," I say to Ella.

Then I kiss Sarah goodbye and turn around. As I speed in the direction Nine has gone off to I hear her shout "be careful!"

I race down the street and catch just a glimpse of Nine disappearing around the corner. I sprint after him and corner yell for him to wait up at the next, but he only speeds up, so there's nothing left to do but follow him.

As I chase him through the streets of the town, I think about the way he reacted to Six' missing. He almost killed Eight right there, trying to find out where she is. I would never expect Nine to care about anyone this much. Except for himself, maybe.

I have no idea where we are by the time I catch up to him. When we got here two days ago , the city had seemed much smaller. I hope Nine knows where he's going, or else it will probably take us hours to find that park Eight spoke about.

Just when I am about to ask Nine where we're heading, I hear two gunshots from close by. Nine and I take the street to our right, from where the shots came. Two more blocks and we reach the park Marina told us about. It is round shaped and its diameter is less than ten yards. Trees grow all over the place, except for a circular clearing in the middle.

No sign of Six.

One more gunshot, then silence. One of the trees rustles and then I see her.

Six is comes jumping down from a treetop near the clearing, her dyed blond hair wafting around her. As she hits the ground a pile of ash slowly sinks down to the ground from the tree she has just stood on. Six looks exhausted and hurriedly turns her head from side to side, as if being hunted, but at least she's alive.

I gasp when I see the cuts and wounds all across her body. Her shirt and trousers are fully covered in a mix of blood and ash, as if she had been dunked in it. When she spots us running towards her, she raises her hand in alarm, shouting at us to stop.

Slithering I come to a stand, just outside the park, but Nine just keeps going until he is in the middle of the clearing, right next to Six. He gives her a hug and almost lifts her off the ground.

"Thank god you're alive, Six! We were so worried", he laughs, and I allow myself a relieved sigh. I start trotting towards them, happy that Six is okay. Well, not exactly okay, she's struggling to stand on her own; but at least she's not dead or got captured by Mogs or what else could have happened.

Nine lets go of her and takes a step back to examine a few of the wounds on her leg, and I get a look at her face. Except for a couple of smaller cuts her head has been left unharmed. With Marina's help she will be alright in just a few minutes. That's a weight off my mind.

I expect Six to laugh and say something witty, like she always does. She'll probably laugh at us for worrying so much, and then she'll keep teasing us about it for the rest of the week.

Instead, when I look into her hazel eyes, I see the exact opposite.

Fear.

Six is afraid.

No, she's terrified. Tears run down her cheeks, but she looks too shocked to speak. From her expression I know something is about to happen. Something bad. Something horrible, horrible enough to frighten even her. Her eyes tell me to stop where I am standing right now, to stay away from the Park. It sends freezing chills down my spine.

In exactly that second, when I ask myself what on earth could scare Six – Six, the bravest person I know – like that, the earth starts shaking.

I am thrown off my feet; inches from where I was standing half a second ago the ground splits into pieces and a gigantic tree root shoot out of the soil. I look around and see the same thing happening all around the park. The roots grow bigger and bigger and intertwine so fast they become blurry, and still more spread out of the ground. The asphalt of the road below me cracks and I jump out of the way just in time to dodge two roots that shatter the entire street. The noise is deafening.

I role off and come to my feet, only to immediately get thrown back down by another root that rises from the crack in the asphalt.

Just as I lift my head again, the rumble disappears, as suddenly as it started.

The tree roots have stopped moving, too, and now I can see they've wrapped themselves in a perfectly round ball around the park; the net of vines is so tight it's impossible to tell how thick it is.

And trapped in the middle of the whole thing Six and Nine scream at the top of their lungs.

Hello everyone!

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