I sat across from Nick at the cafeteria table the next morning, rubbing my temples groggily. I hadn't got much sleep last night. Given, it was the first time I had actually made it home that week, but despite the exhaustion I probably hadn't managed to get more than 5 or so hours.

I was being fuelled mainly by the vapours of black coffee steaming under my nose.

'I don't get it,' I stated.

He shrugged too, 'neither do I,' he admitted. 'But she asked about you.'

'She knew my name?' I asked.

Nick shook his head. 'No I had to tell her that, but she knew what you looked like. She said you were pretty, that's how the whole conversation started. I'm sorry she stared at you.'

'It wasn't your fault.'

He paused and pursed his lips in consideration. 'It might have been,' he admitted. 'I may have irked when I said you were cleverer than she could ever hope to be.'

I ducked my head to avoid him seeing the blush rising up from my neck. 'Do you think she's been watching us?'

'It's completely possible.' He picked up a packet of sugar and shook it all down to one end before he tore the paper and poured the contents of the packet into his tea. 'Oh, I really do feel violated.'

I hummed in agreement. 'She could have been in the house, honestly we'd never know.' My attention was caught a moment later by Connor as he drifted around the corner into the cafeteria, nose in a book, completely unaware we were even there until I called out to him. 'Hey, Con.'

He jumped at the sound of his name and lowered the textbook to look around for us. 'Oh, hi.'

'How's your research going?'

He came over to the table. 'Yeah, its, um, it's good, I thought you were dropping me off on your way to the home office this morning.'

I shared a look with Nick before I replied. 'We don't really want to be there at the moment.'

'Helen?' Connor asked.

'Helen,' I agreed. 'So were staying here until there's like a genuine emergency, or something.'

Connor nodded, then, as the thought came to him, his face fell and he took a step back. 'Oh my god, is this– I haven't interrupted something, have I?'

I tilted my head to the side questioningly.

'Aye, yeah, I thought I'd take your beautiful cousin on a date to the university cafeteria,' Nick replied sarcastically.

I laughed. 'Con. Come on.'

'I work at this university,' Nick continued humorously, 'I don't even have to pay for drinks.'

'You don't?' I asked, spinning around to stare across the table at him. He shook his head. 'Then why did I get the coffee this morning?'

'Not a date,' Connor repeated, 'right.'

'Anyway, do you want to sit with us?' Nick offered. I kicked out the chair beside me in invitation.

'Okay, yeah, I've got a few minutes to spare.'

He was still with us almost an hour later when we got the call about a possible anomaly in the city centre.

I refused to look at Stephen when we met him at the car.

It wasn't until after he'd set off that I wished I had said something to him, perhaps offered to drive because in the back of the car Connor and I were flying around like rag dolls. At one point Connor put his arms in the air like he was on a rollercoaster. He didn't even need to say anything for it to be funny. I had to hide my laughter behind my hand but I still wasn't sure I'd hidden it from Stephen; when we finally pulled up outside the flats he hit the brakes so hard I was concerned we'd all get whiplash.

A rogue football rolled out towards us as we made our way across the pavement to the building and Stephen kicked it straight into the no ball games sign on the wall.

Connor tutted. 'Fluke.'

'Jealous,' Stephen returned.

'I wasn't expecting the S.A.S!' the mother complained as, surrounded by soldiers, she folded her arms across her chest and looked around.

'The local council takes pest control very seriously Mrs Davis,' Nick replied in a whisper.

I pressed myself further into the bathroom door, straining for even the slightest of movements, for sort of noise or sound that could have been caused by a creature on the other side.

I gave it at least a minute. All I got was silence. So stepping back from the door I shook my head.

'Nothing,' I replied in a whisper to Nick.

'Okay,' he nodded.

I stepped back, Stephen stepped round me and pushed me behind him. I stumbled back into Connor.

'You ready?' Nick questioned. He looked across to the Captain. Ryan nodded. Nick threw the door open and the soldiers flooded into the room.

There was a momentarily quiet. 'Relax everyone,' Nick called out dismissively, 'it's only a python.'

Mrs Davis screamed. 'Only a python? What the hell were you expecting?'

Connor lifted a hand to his ear and grimaced. 'Ow!'

'Don't worry,' I said, holding the snake by its neck and tail as I tried to coil it back around itself to fit into the sack, 'this one's just a baby. Fully grown they can be up to 20 feet long.'

'That makes me feel so much better.'

Stephen's discomfort filled me with a sadistic sort of joy. I felt my lips curl up into a grin. 'Are you okay?' I asked, smiling.

'Yep, yeah I love snakes,' he replied through gritted teeth. I couldn't help but laugh. His head snapped up. 'Is this funny to you?'

'A little,' I said. Ironic. Funny that he could be afraid of snakes when he was one.

He narrowed his eyes at me and smiled. 'We're gonna need a bigger sack.' And he turned on his heel and bolted out the door. I heard Nick laughing out in the hallway.

Connor came back into the flat and stopped in the bathroom doorway.

'Anna...?' I recognised his tone of voice from the last time he'd asked for a favour.

'Connor?' I replied in the same tone, then reached up to pull the python away from where it was winding itself around my neck.

'I get what you said about the house. I agree, not that it really matters what I think because it belongs to you–'

'It's our house, Con,' I corrected lowly.

He smiled. 'But its your decision, A. We're both going to need to find somewhere to live–'

'Connor,' I interrupted, glancing over to the doorway in the hope no one else had heard him. This wasn't the time. 'Does this look like Thai-chi I'm doing?'

He shook his head. 'No, it's just– I've just had got a text from Abby and she says we can sleep on her sofa. Well– obviously not both of us it's not a very big sofa–'

The footsteps resounding back down the hallway towards the bathroom had panicked me, and I was eager to get him out before anyone overheard the conversation.

'Yeah, sure, no that's great; we'll talk about it later yeah?'

'How's this?' Stephen asked, reappearing in the doorway with a sack three times the size of the other one.

'Is it for you?' He forced a smile back at me as I placed the python in the sack. Then I stepped back and dusted off my hands. 'Well, see you later.'

'Where are you going?'

'Tea break.'

Connor hummed, 'oh, don't mind if I do.' And he wrapped an arm around my shoulder and walked with me out of the flat.

I could tell something wasn't right once Connor and I were back on the pavement outside the flat. Nick was leaning against the bonnet of the car, arms folded across his chest as he waited for us to approach him. He flashed an apologetic smile and before he even opened his mouth I knew I wasn't going to like what he had to say. He pushed himself off the car.

'I'm sorry. I tried to fight your corner but I can't get Lester to budge.'

Rolling my eyes, I muttered 'let me guess. Helen?'

'She hasn't said a word except she's not talking to anyone but you.'

I frowned. 'Me?' I questioned.

'I don't know why.'

I sighed. 'It's okay. She's obviously got her reasons. If she's going to talk to me we might as well find out what she knows.'

She'd been staring at me, silently, from the other side of the table. She hadn't said anything, not when I came in, not when I pulled out my chair and sat down opposite her. She just kept looking through me like she wanted to make me uncomfortable, like I would want to fill the silence by blabbering on about something. But I sat there, staring back at her, and waited for her to make the first move.

'Nick said you were pretty,' she said to finally break the silence, 'I thought he was exaggerating... but here you are.'

'Thanks,' I responded, 'that's very kind of you. Is that why you demanded to talk to me? So you could see my face?'

She leant forward, pulling a strand of hair out her mouth and wetting her lips. 'He also said you were very clever.'

'You didn't believe that either,' I conjected.

Helen smiled. 'I hear you're a doctor. And a zoologist. And a physicist, so there must be something in that brain of yours.'

'Where'd you hear that?' I knew Nick hadn't told her or else he would have mentioned it to me.

'Whispers.'

'Rumours then?' I clarified. 'You should know better than to believe what you hear through cracks in the wall.'

'Why? That's all true isn't it? And if that true then so is the rest of it. I know there's a boy here that hangs around the rest of you like a frightened little puppy and most of the time all he does is get in the way while the rest of you are the ones who get things done around here. And you're screwing my husband. That much I didn't believe until I saw the way he looked at you. That's how you do it, isn't it, Princess? That's how you get what you want. But why shouldn't you?You've got all the bits in the right place, still, on that tight little body of yours. You're quite... perfect.'

'Oh Helen, I'm flattered but you're not really my type.'

She smirked. 'No,' she agreed, 'because unlike the rest of them I don't care about wanting to please you,' she said. 'Don't you want to know how he looks at you?' I said nothing. Her eyes narrowed. 'Then perhaps you already know he'd do just about anything to make you cum for him.'

It didn't catch me off-guard like I knew she hoped it would. My face didn't give an inch of indication. And whilst Nick and I were barely even involved, the idea of letting her believe we were already fucking was extremely tempting. 'You know they're probably listening to every word we say, right?'

'I didn't mean to embarrass you.'

'Don't worry,' I returned, 'it'd take more than talking about my orgasms for that.'

She chuckled. 'I can see why he likes you.'

'I think he likes that I help people,' I responded, leaning on my elbows, 'that I think about others and not just myself.'

'You're a people pleaser.'

'No.'

'Really, you ran down here to talk to me, to please Lester-'

'Fuck Lester,' I interrupted, 'I came here because you said you'd talk to me and no one else. Not Lester, not Nick, not Stephen. Me. Just so that we could have this conversation but all we've done since you got here is talk about me and your ex-husband so... is that all you've got to say? I'd think very carefully if I were you because the second you stop being helpful... bye-bye sunlight.'

She fiddled with the locket around her neck, before reaching out to place both hands palm-down on the table. 'You want help?' her tongue darted out to wet her lips again, 'alright, I'll help. Unless you act within the next few hours a pride of sabre-tooth killers will be rampaging through central London.'

'Smilodon.' I announced, leaning back against the window looking down into the room I'd just come out of. Lester was standing opposite me, arms crossed, forehead furrowed, presumably completely unamused by the fact I'd essentially told him to fuck himself. Beside him Ryan was biting his cheek in amusement, staring at the ground as though it was all too funny to look up.

Nick was beside me, back to the window, watching me as I shifted my weight from one hip to the other.

'It's literal meaning is knife tooth. They are up to 3 meters long, they have sabre teeth, they hunt in packs and they are ruthless predators. Fast, elegant, real natural born killers. Now according to Helen a large pride has established its territory near an anomaly and it's only a matter of time before they find their way through.'

'London's a big place, where exactly is this gonna happen?' Ryan asked.

'Well that's your problem.'

'She won't tell us,' Nick inferred with a long sigh.

'She wants to take us there herself,' I explained.

'It's a trick,' Lester announced. He finally pulled his attention off Helen and looked to me wearily.

'Obviously,' I retorted.

'I agree.' Nick thunked his head back against the window in annoyance.

'It's completely possible,' I clarified, 'but, maybe, she wants to prove to you that she's not as callas as you imagine.'

'Well she could do that without moving a muscle,' Lester complained.

'She might well be selfish,' I said, 'but, she's not pure evil.'

'I think I trust her about as far as I can throw a stegosaurus,' Lester turned his back on us, presumably so that he could roll his eyes without us seeing it. Then, he exhaled a tiresome sigh.

'Okay,' I replied, 'then the consequences of doing nothing could be massive. I don't know how you explain that to the tourist board. There's got to be precautions you can take. She's already in handcuffs. Why don't you stick her on a leash as well?'

Lester turned back, his eyes scanned me up and down for a moment in thought before he paused. 'You know, that's not a bad idea at all, Miss Havisham. Are you volunteering?'

'For what?'

'To be the leash.' He leant over to Ryan to say something in low grumble that neither I nor Nick seemed to hear.

Ryan eyes him in confusion, before he spun around, gesturing to some of his men to follow him as he walked out the room. It didn't take me long to realise what he meant.

'I'm not exactly the best person to do that,' I said with a frown.

Lester shrugged. 'Oh well.'

Helen looked up from my left hand to my face in confusion as I extended it to her across the table.

'Give me your hand,' I said.

'Why?'

'Just...'

Helen rolled her eyes and slowly lifted her hand to mine. The guard stepped forward, slipping the key into the lock in her hand cuffs and quickly clicking them off one her wrists and clamping it down around mine.

'Princess?' Helen questioned, once the guard stepped away.

'What a shock,' I responded sarcastically, 'you're getting your way. So come on, don't complain, it was either me or beefcake Bob. Let's go before I change my mind, okay?'

'I can't believe you let them do that.'

I jumped at the sound of his voice and the hand that came to rest on my waist, and I didn't need to turn around to know Nick was standing beside me.

I glanced across at Helen. We were standing as far away from each other as humanly possible, arms outstretched whilst Ryan and his men were busy explaining a procedure to her that she wasn't listening to.

'It's okay,' I said quietly, leaning back into him. His free hand skimmed down my arm to rest on my forearm, his thumb zigzagging over my wrist.

'I want you to be safe,' he whispered.

'I am,' I assured him. I couldn't turn around; Helen was pulling far too hard from her end of the handcuffs, but I moved as best I could round towards Nick. I reached up to touch his cheek. 'Look at them, those men aren't going to let anything bad happen to me.'

'I know how you feel about the whole lake thing now.'

'And you came back– look, Nick, I know you care. I care about you too, but I'm gonna make decisions about my involvement myself.'

He smiled. 'Yeah,' he agreed, nodding. 'But they look tight.'

'It's okay,' I assured him, 'it is a little, but she won't shake me off.'

'Yeah. That's what I'm worried about.'

The car ride was uncomfortably quiet. Helen was nestled in the back of the truck, between me and one of Ryan's men, her elbows sticking out to press into my ribcage.

Nick was sitting in the front of the vehicle. Every now and again I would notice him glance up into the rear-view mirror, just to check if we were still there, like he thought, somehow, Helen would use this time to try and make a daring escape.

Helen directed the vehicle with words, left, right, here, until eventually we pulled up outside a football stadium. We got out the truck and a few moments later a second vehicle pulled up behind ours.

Connor and Stephen got out.

'Anna?' Connor questioned with a frown as I waved to him in greeting, 'you okay?'

'Ah,' I heard Helen note from beside me, 'this must be your cousin. What's his name again? I only heard about the people who are important.'

'Connor's an integral part of the team,' I replied quickly. I tried not to let my anger seep through my tone, and to avoid lunging for her with fists I tucked my hands best I could into my pocket.

'Right,' Helen returned incredulously, 'you're telling me that he'd still be here if you weren't?'

I looked at Connor. 'Of course.' She must have known, she must have heard the whisper Anna Havisham is fiercely defensive of Connor Temple. 'You're not the only person to discover the anomalies, Helen.'

I didn't even think to look at Stephen until his mouth widened to a grin at my statement and he quickly turned his back to hide his amusement. Then he cleared his throat. 'There's an anomaly here?'

Helen nodded. 'Do exactly as I say and this doesn't have to be a disaster.' She finally turned back towards the entrance to the stadium. We led the way across the pitch towards the kitchens.

At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary; the room was quiet and clean and there were no initial signs of an anomaly.

I caught Nick's eye and realised we were having the same thoughts. It was too suspicious, too convenient of her to have brought us all the way out here for nothing and not want something.

I followed Helen's gaze to the industrial fridge and cocked my head. 'In there?' I deduced.

'Yep. In there.'

'Connor?' Ryan nodded his head towards the fridge doors, and in turn Connor looked to Nick for confirmation he should do as he was told.

Nick agreed and Connor stepped cautiously forward, pulling a compass out his pocket and holding it up to the metal. 'There's no trace of a magnetic field,' he explained.

'The doors are too thick,' Helen responded casually, 'it can't penetrate the metal.'

'Is that possible?' Ryan asked as he inched closer to me, adjusting his grip on his weapon.

'Yeah, unfortunately,' I agreed.

He sighed under his breath and stepped towards the fridge, hand outstretched ready to grab hold of the handle when Helen cried out 'hey!' and he jumped. 'What if the cats have already come through? They could be right behind that door.'

'You know what, she's really starting to get on my nerves,' Ryan complained. I saw his finger twitch around his gun again as he groaned in aggravation and glowered at her over his shoulder.

'I can understand that,' Nick returned.

I trained my eyes on Helen's face and searched for any hint sincerity in her expression. 'You're bluffing,' I challenged. 'There might be an anomaly behind those doors but there arent any creatures, are there?'

'Try me,' she replied.

'Okay,' I nodded to the doors, 'I will if you will.'

'Okay,' she finished. She reached into her pocket and pulled her hand out with a knife in her grip. It didn't surprise me. It probably should have considering she should have been searched when we got to the home office. And honestly it took me longer than it should have to realise she could have pulled it at any moment and killed anyone of us.

She dragged me with her towards the doors, jammed her knife into the lock to prise it open. The padlock popped off and she returned the knife as everyone armed their weapons and pointed them at her.

Behind us there was a scuffle, the men moved around to cover the doors as Helen stepped back and Stephen came forward to grab the other handle–because the cuffs meant I couldn't– and we started to pull it open.

The metal creaked, utensils and cutleries chimed as they were caught in the pull of the magnetic field from the anomaly. Everything shifted. Helen pulled me back behind the door as different things started to come loose from their holdings and fly back into the anomaly.

After another couple of seconds, everything settled down.

'Anybody hungry?'

I hadn't even noticed that Connor had gone back into the fridge with his compass to take a reading until I turned around and saw him hanging off a bakery trolly with a pie in his hand.

'Oh my god,' Helen said suddenly, 'we've got to get rid of them. The meat will act like bait!' As she lunged forward she was caught by Ryan's men and I crashed into the back of her. 'Unless you want your men to be breakfast, I suggest you do something!'

Everyone started to move, people rushed back and forth moving boxes, shifting trolleys out and away from the anomaly whilst I, hanging back with Helen, looked around for Connor semi-consciously just to see where he was.

I should have been playing better attention. I felt Helen move, just an inch or two at first, just in the exact moment I began to shift my weight from one hip to the other to get a better view around one of the pillars. She ran, surging forward through the clear path right up to the fridge. I was yanked forward and I stumbled and crashed into her just as we passed the fridge doors. I heard my name, the panicked cries before the reality of the stadium faded and I crashed down into the grass. Helen's weight tumbled down on top of me and the momentum carried us head over heels down a steep grassy hill.

Helens scrambled up to her feet, dragging me up with her and throwing me forward again. I crashed down through another anomaly.