Escape

verb – 1. break free from confinement or control. 2. elude or get free from (someone). 3. succeed in eluding (something dangerous or undesirable). 4. fail to be noticed or remembered by.

The dictionary's never going to get it right...

"No..." I whispered as the golden flames engulfed the hall. How many people would be dead by the time the fire engines and ambulances arrived? I felt my eyes fill with tears. Xandrell lowered his hands from my head to my middle to hug me tightly.

"There's nothing you could've done that you didn't do." he said comfortingly. "It's their own fault for not listening to you."

"No..." I repeated. "I could've been more persistent. I could've forced the out. I could've dragged them out. I could've..."

I continued coming up with suggestions which as seconds passed became more and more insane, until I was burbling about forming a conga line and leading them out. Xandrell held me tighter and made little shushing noises until I quieted.

"Uh, Amy? Xandrell?" We turned to face the confused expressions of our friends. "How did you know something was going to happen?" asked Sophie, looking slightly scared.

"Yeah..." said Charlie also looking concerned. "You guys didn't..."

"We didn't start it Charlie, no." said Xandrell quietly, before looking at me. "Should we tell them?"

"Tell us what?" asked Ceci, almost eagerly.

I stared at him. "Are you sure?"

He nodded. "I don't see any other way out of this..." he said slowly.

"What the hell is going on?!" cried Tasha.

I took a deep breath. "You guys won't believe this, but here goes. That fire was caused by aliens. They're about to attack Earth."

My words were met with disbelieving stares. "How do you know?" demanded Lucy.

"Yeah..." stammered Ceci. "How do we know you're not making it up?"

"Because Xandrell isn't a human orphan that we've taken in." I said almost hysterically.

They all turned and stared at him. He took a deep breath as I had done. "No, I'm not." he said calmly. "My parents are very much alive. They are the Dahlan and Stagreen, or the rulers in your language, of the Lokah people on Maleof Stagri, a planet as yet undiscovered by your astrologers."

There was a short silence. Then James shook his head. "It's official. You've lost the little marbles you had."

"Uh, it's just occurred to me." I interrupted, as my friends stared at Xandrell and me with open mouths. "Shouldn't we be fleeing the alien invasion?"

Xandrell shook his head, glancing up at the sky again. "They won't arrive for twenty minutes yet I shouldn't think. They like to give their target time to die."

My eyes went wide at his words. "Time to... what..."

"Then they scan the destroyed area." continued Xandrell as if I'd said nothing. "You know to check that their target has been acquired." he paused, a tiny smile creeping onto his lips. "Huh, I never thought my Maleof education would ever come in handy here."

My jaw dropped. "Oh, well how about that." I muttered sarcastically. "Well, forgive me for not randomly dancing happily, Xandrell, but their target has most definitely not been acquired." He bit his lip and shook his head in agreement. "So then what? What do they do if you're not dead?"

"Then they scan practically the whole area, looking for any alien traces." said Xandrell slowly and thoughtfully, as though trying to remember a long way back. "They close in and destroy these areas too."

My stomach suddenly lurched. "Does that include like hair and finger print traces?" I asked warily.

He frowned. "No... that only means the alien has passed by. There's this policy on my world, that the innocent must remain unharmed." He looked around at me. "Why do you ask?"

"Molly!" I cried. "Xandrell, she's still at the house!"

He suddenly blanched. "Oh God... your parents, Jenny and Nat!"

"I'm not having them dragged into this!" I told him firmly. This was our family's fight.

Xandrell nodded. "I know. I won't either. Don't worry Amy." He glanced around. "We have to get home... quickly... we need to get right away from here. I'm not having any innocents hurt tonight."

"Is that any good?" asked Charlie, gesturing into the car park. I turned to look at where he was pointing. I suddenly felt a grin creeping onto my face. "Charlie..." I said, as my eyes rested on the motorbike he was pointing at. "You're a genius, did you know that?"

Before you ask, I had driven a motorbike before. It had been illegal, and it had been dangerous, but it had been the best ride of my life. But then again, I'd had my uncle just behind me, helping when I got into trouble... was I sure I could do this?

Yes. I had to be. My little girl was depending on me now.

Xandrell and I dashed over to the bike, my friends following. As we reached the bike, it suddenly occurred to me. "We don't have the key!" I yelped.

Xandrell grinned his annoying grin and bent down to fiddle with the wires. "I've fixed spaceships before, I can do this, I'm sure!"

The bike suddenly sputtered. I twisted the handles and revved the accelerator, but nothing happened. "Xandrell, you've killed it!" I cried. "Now what?"

"Move over alien boy!" called Sophie, dashing forwards and hitching up her flouncy skirt. "Dad showed me how to hotwire these."

After a few moments of Sophie pulling at wires and such, the bike roared and began puttering under my hands. My jaw dropped. "Sophie, you're incredible!" I said, almost laughing. She looked rather pleased as I hitched up my skirt and swung my leg over the body of the bike, Xandrell scrambling on behind me. "Ok guys." I said turning to my friends. "Please come up with some excuse as to why Xandrell, me and the bike have randomly vanished. Keep away from the fire, for God's sake. I don't even really need to say that... and I hope I'll see you soon."

"What, you really think you're getting rid of us that easily?" demanded James.

"We're helping too!" said Tasha determinedly.

"What?!" I yelped. "No, you're not!"

"Yes we are!" said Charlie, taking a step forward.

"You're going to have to fit us all on that bike!" said Sophie, getting to her feet.

"Or, you know, get us a trailer." said Lucy with a slight shrug.

I looked around at them, suddenly realising how lucky I was to have such wonderful, brave, caring friends. This was one of those few moments when I cursed that fact.

"Ok." I said after a second of thought. "Just so you know, and I won't sugar coat this, this could kill us. There is a good chance that they won't take pity on us. Once you're involved, you're not innocent anymore, and by their rules, that gives them every right to slaughter us. If you're not afraid to die, then you can help. If not, step down now."

I glared at them, wishing every one of them would hesitate. Sadie, Helen, Lewis and Frankie all glanced at one another, obviously afraid now. James barely blinked. Tasha tossed her hair over her shoulder and put her hands on her hips confidently. Sophie and Ceci glanced at one another before looking back at me smiling. Charlie nodded once, giving me a just about confident smile, while Lucy grinned and gave me a thumbs up. My attention was suddenly drawn to Ceci. She was the smallest and youngest of the group, had she been born a few days later, she'd have been in the year below. I wasn't sure I could bring someone that vulnerable into this.

"Ceci, stay with the others." I said after a moment.

She immediately protested, looking outraged. "Why?!" she demanded. "I want to help!"

"I know." I said calmly, trying to disguise the desperate flurrying in my mind as I tried to think up a plausible excuse. "Remember you told me you'd taken a first aid course? I want you to stay here and look after anyone who comes out. And call a fire engine, and an ambulance. They're going to need help in there."

"Quick question." said Lucy, a slightly confused look on her face. "How exactly are we meant to get anywhere?"

I glanced around at the twenty or so cars around us. "Sophie..." I said slowly. "Do you reckon you could hotwire and drive one of these cars?"

An almost excited glimmer came into Sophie's eyes as she rubbed her hands together, looking around. "Just tell me where to meet you."

Oh God... oh God... OH GOD!

These were the only words running through my head as I somehow weaved the heavy motorbike in and out of the traffic, trying desperately to find the quickest route home. This is not the easiest task in the world... oh and did I mention I was still in my prom dress? For some reason, this does not make it any easier. Last time I had driven on one of these things, I had had trainers on. It was a lot harder in heels. Nonetheless, I was finding it strangely easy to manoeuvre the bike, and I could only assume my years of bike riding experience was finally coming into use. Xandrell was clinging to me like his life depended on it... and then of course it occurred to me that his life did depend on it. Every time we came up against something that we believed might cause us harm, Xandrell would yell and bury his face into my back, while I would just grit my teeth, and do my best to overcome the obstacle, usually not being able to face it and simply squeezing my eyes shut and praying. Fate seemed to be on our side today though thankfully. It was tough, but I decided tough would be my new middle name, and so after fifteen minutes of drivers yelling at us, we pulled up outside the house.

"I'll go in and get Molly." I said clambering off the bike. "Stay here, if the bike fails, which it probably well could, then we're pretty much screwed.

Xandrell nodded, obviously not really listening. "Got it. Now go."

I turned and sprinted up to the house, and began hammering on the door. Jenny opened it and stood frowning at me. "Aren't you meant to be at Prom?" she asked.

"Probably." I shrugged, pushing past her. "I need Molly."

Jenny frowned, quite obviously confused. "Uh, ok, but why?"

"I can't tell you." I said hesitantly, quickly kicking off my heels and yanking on my trainers, just to make the bike riding a bit easier. "Just, it's really important."

I dashed inside, where Molly and Nat were sitting propped up against pillows making baby noises at each other. Molly looked up at me as I moved in. Her eyes widened as they rested on my face. I guessed she could somehow sense my fear. I grabbed one of the blankets we kept aside for the two of them. It just so happened to be a white one with little yellow bows, my mother would kill me when I got this dirty, but that would have to be worried about later. I lifted up my daughter and carefully wrapped her in the blanket. She was staring at me like I was mad, but I ignored her expression.

"Amy, what's going on?" demanded Jenny as I picked Molly up and held her close, protectively. I could worry about details later, when my family wasn't dead.

"I can't tell you." I repeated, as I dashed towards the door. "Just please, trust me."

"I do." said Jenny. "Amy, I want to help. This is obviously important."

I paused and looked around at my little sister as she looked up at me, imploringly. In that instant, I could almost see the shadows of my old best friend in her face. I didn't want to bring her into this. This wasn't her fight.

"Ok." I said after a second. "You can help. Don't leave the house. Don't let anyone leave the house... until you get word from me or someone I trust that was at Prom. Don't tell anyone I was here. Do you understand? No exceptions. Your lives could be at risk. Don't tell anyone I was here."

Jenny blanched, and she reached out tentatively. "But... where are you going?"

"I'm trying to save us..." I said quietly, adjusting Molly so she felt more secure, and so I couldn't see her face, and she couldn't see mine. Part of me didn't want her to know, and didn't want her to see how scared her mother was. I was meant to be like her rock, her basic female figure, so how would she react if she knew the seriousness of the situation? "Maybe saving everyone... Jenny, if I don't come back, be good, be responsible... just try to be the person I wanted you to be, ok?"

"Yes." she said, slightly breathlessly. She reached out again, placing her hand on my shoulder. "Amy... I don't know what you're doing, but please be careful."

"Please, my middle name's 'Careful'... my new name, I've decided, is Amy Tough Rose Careful Wren. Has a nice ring to it doesn't it." I said with a smile and Jenny gave a nervous little giggle. After a moment, I wrapped an arm around my little sister. "Thanks Jen. You be careful too, ok?"

"Yeah." she said, her voice cracking, and when I pulled away from her, it was to see tears trickling down her face. "I love you, Amy."

"I love you too, Jen." I said feeling tears welling in my own eyes as I turned away from my baby sister and ran down to the motorbike, where Xandrell was waiting, arms outstretched for Molly. I quickly handed him our baby and got onto the motorbike and zoomed up the road without looking back.

"Jenny was waving." said Molly quietly from Xandrell's lap. I didn't answer. I couldn't answer. I didn't want to think about my sister. I didn't want to think about the innocents who might be slaughtered if we screwed up tonight. "Mummy, what's going on?" whispered Molly. I was amazed I heard her tiny voice over the roar of the engine. Again I didn't respond, but I heard Xandrell muttering, and at first thought he was explaining everything to her, but then she wailed "Tell me what's going on!"

"Amy..." said Xandrell slowly and thoughtfully. "I've just had a thought..."

"Any other time I'd say hallelujah but not now!" I snapped as we swerved into the park. The car Sophie had hotwired was already there and my friends were stood waiting. I threw on the brakes and the bike spluttered to a standstill.

"Took your time." muttered Sophie wandering over and lazily disconnecting a wire. The engine died instantly.

I glared at her for a second, so she glared back before both our faces broke into grins and we dismounted the bike. "Thanks by the way Sophie."

"My pleasure." she said with her innocent cherub like smile.

"So now what?" asked Tasha looking up at the skies nervously.

I frowned around. "We'll walk for a while, but keep on your guard."

"Amy, I really need to tell you something." said Xandrell quietly.

"Seriously, can it wait?" I asked, carefully taking Molly from him. We turned and began walking along one of the paths, my friends not taking their eyes off the skies.

"It really can't!" he cried, but before he could say anymore, Charlie yelped at me.

"Amy! I think I saw something!" he said, a tiny whine in his voice, like a cross between a toddler begging his mother for sweets, and a terrified dog. His fingers were shaking as he pointed up at the sky.

I looked up at where he was pointing, and furrowed my brow as my eyes rested on what Charlie had obviously seen. "That's supremely weird." I muttered.

What looked like two stars were darting around, standing out against the dark night sky. It almost looked like they were chasing each other.

"Aren't they rather big to be stars?" asked Lucy, frowning up at the two little lights.

"Jesus Christ!" whispered James, looking horror struck. "They're coming closer!"

"Run!" yelled Xandrell, nudging me in the back. "All of you, just get out of here, just run. I'll hold them off as long as I can!"

I stared at him. "Xandrell..."

"I said go!" he yelled at me, pushing me a little more insistently in my back.

"Amy, come on, you're not going to stop him!" said Sophie, pulling at my hand as my friends began sprinting in the other direction.

Molly was crying in my arms, reaching over my shoulder. "Daddy!" she cried in her piteous little voice. I began to move away, slowly at first, Molly weeping against me. "Daddy!" she sobbed.

I paused. What the hell was I doing? We'd all gotten into this as a family, so by God, we should all come out of it as one. I glanced up at the skies. The dancing stars had vanished. I wondered if Xandrell knew they were gone. I turned back and looked at him, only to feel my breath vanish from my lungs as the stars rocketed towards him.

"That's right!" he was yelling, holding his arms out bravely. "It's me you want! Come and get me!"

Suddenly, he was completely immersed in a brilliant green glow

My eyes widened. He had been the spitting image of the way he had been in that dream I'd had the night I'd spent in the hospital with him at my side.

"AMY!"

Wait a minute, what was I doing, just standing here? Jesus! I was going to die if I stayed here, and so was Molly!

I turned and began sprinting along the path, my friends up ahead of me, clutching my baby to me. Molly had buried her face in my chest sobbing little cries of terror now. I felt my heart hammering against my ribs, my breathing coming in short sharp gasps that made my lungs feel like they might burst. I could just about sense the glow coming closer. Oh crap! I was going to die. I couldn't save my baby, or Xandrell, my friends would die, everything we'd tried to be, to do, it would have all been a waste.

Suddenly, I felt something hit me hard in the back. I was falling, hard and fast. I just had time to put my hand over Molly's precious little head before we hit the ground. I curled up, protecting the precious little bundle in my arms, waiting for the real impact of death to hit me...

... but nothing happened. I felt the intense heat of the green light, but that was all as it passed over me. I could still feel my heart practically splintering my ribs with its thumping, I could still hear Molly's whimpering cries. I could hear footsteps slamming on the ground, vibrating against the side of my head. I opened my eyes. The trees were bowing in a slight wind, but there was no sign of lingering damage. I sat up shakily, wondering vaguely how in hell I had managed to survive, and protect Molly, then I looked at a shape beside me, and I realised, with a jolt through my stomach that almost made me retch.

Tasha was lying there, her hair covering most of her face, her skin slightly blackened, and an awful red mark on her arm that was oozing blood, her dress was torn, but not totally destroyed. I felt my breath coming in hard gasps as I looked at the almost destroyed form of my best friend. Not Tasha... why did it have to be Tasha? Why did it have to be any of them? I put Molly carefully on the ground, then reached out and gripped Tasha's shoulder, shaking her, praying to God she wasn't... she couldn't be!

Suddenly she gave a tiny cough and moaned through her nose. I felt my already hammering heart thud even harder, and I had to fight back tears.

"Tasha?" I whispered, hoping against hope that she was ok.

For a moment, she didn't move, then her fingers twitched, and she shifted her hand up to her face and swept her hair out of it. Her eyes were half closed, but she was looking up at me in the ever sarcastic way that was my best friend.

"I'm never saving your life again, Amy." she croaked as she carefully propped herself up on her arm that wasn't covered in blood. "It's just not worth the hassle."

I grinned at her before picking up Molly and helping Tasha to sit up, removing the Vederic from my wrist and twisted a dial, doing what suddenly seemed to be completely natural for me. I wasn't sure what I was doing, but damn, it was happening. I ran the face of the Vederic over Tasha's arm and instantly, the blood seemed to have been stemmed. As I got to my feet, the skin had begin to knit itself together. My friends suddenly appeared around us, making horrified exclamations, Charlie and James carefully lifting Tasha to her feet.

I was winded as Xandrell suddenly appeared out of nowhere and threw his arms around me. "Don't ever do that again!" he choked out. "I thought you were all dead!"

I smiled into his chest and put one arm around his waist. "What you don't seem to understand about humans, is that we don't go down that easily."

"I know." he said, gently pulling away from me and grinning. "I may have been taught wrong about humans. Listen, you need to go. All of you, you need to get..."

But he was cut off by the unmistakable click of a gun. All our heads snapped up to look at the incredibly handsome young man. He had longish sandy blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes, and like Xandrell, he had the body of a male model. The main difference between him and Xandrell was that he was scowling, hatred etched into every line of his face, his finger tight on the trigger of the little blue and red gun in his hand. Behind him stood at least twenty large beefy bodyguard type men. I stared as they began to spread out around him. On each of their wrists I saw a wristwatch like Xandrell's... Vederics... that explained why they were in human form.

"Put your hands up!" ordered the young man. I tightened my arms around Molly, protectively, ready to whip her away should he fire. The others simply stood, too terrified to do anything. "I said put your hands up!" the young man yelled.

Xandrell immediately put his hands shakily into the air. "Listen, these people, they don't know about me... please, just take me and let them go... please."

"Ha!" the young man gave a spiteful laugh, but it didn't really seem like a laugh, more like another order. He was stepping carefully towards Xandrell, still holding the gun up threateningly, like Xandrell was the dangerous one in this situation. "You'd want me to believe that wouldn't you! They've fraternised! They're as guilty as you!"

"Please, they don't know anything!" pleaded Xandrell. "I'm telling the tru-"

"Rattinel!" yelled the young man, jabbing his gun under Xandrell's chin. "You expect me to believe that?"

"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" said Xandrell looking revolted.

The young man pressed the gun further into Xandrell's throat, so it looked like it was getting to a painful stage. "You're on your last warning here!" he yelled, his eyes wild. "You're all as guilty as hell! Now hands in the air or I'll start shooting!"

"Don't listen to him, dears." said a velvet voice and suddenly the young man looked around, almost afraid. Xandrell looked up over at the source of the voice, his face full of a horror I did not totally understand. I couldn't work out if it was recognition, or terror on his face. "Remember Jarek, you cannot harm the innocents."

Jarek seemed to wilt slightly and pulled his gun away, albeit a little begrudgingly, from Xandrell's throat. "They're all guilty. You know they are mistress."

A young woman suddenly moved forward. Like the others, she was breathtakingly beautiful. She was tall and had thick auburn curls, big dark eyes and full lips. Her figure was perfect, like an hourglass. "Of course they're not." she laughed a silky laugh, which for some reason chilled me to the bone. "Not all of them at any rate."

Xandrell was staring at her, looking dumbstruck. He looked her up and down, before giving a tiny nervous chuckle. "Well, Earth's certainly been good to you Kaelen."

I stared. This was Kaelen? This was the woman he'd given up for me?! Jesus Christ...

She gave him a sweet, almost adoring smile, the way he looked at me. "Yes, you too I suppose Xandrell. Rather good by Earth standards aren't you? Shame, you're better in your normal form."

Xandrell narrowed his eyes at her. "I'm not the same person you fell for Kaelen. I'm not vain or spoilt anymore. I discovered there had to be more to me than that."

"More? To you, Xandrell?" said Kaelen with her tinkling laugh, but this time it seemed sinister, spiteful. "Ah Xandrell, my love, you have not changed a bit. Honestly, my dear, you couldn't change if your life depended on it."

He shrugged and looked at me and my friends out of he corner of his eye. I saw, in that glance, a little remorse, and even fear. "What if it wasn't my life on the line." he muttered, but Kaelen either didn't hear him, or chose not to.

"No, Xandrell, you can say you've changed, you can convince these humans you've changed, but inside, you're still the vain, spoilt coward I remember." said Kaelen with her horrible little laugh. "Think about it Xandrell, when I struck up the rebellion, what did you do? You fled. You ran away with your tail between your legs, hoping we'd not find you. You were doing so well, too Xandrell, just disappearing like that, but then you made a fatal mistake... you came here."

"My being here doesn't break the rules, Kaelen, you know it doesn't." said Xandrell, glaring at her. "The law states that as long as no resident of the planet sees our true form, there is no harm in us being there."

Kaelen smiled sweetly at him. "I wasn't talking about that law." she said as she turned and raised her hand. "I was talking about the law concerning her." I jumped as she pointed her long elegant finger at me. "She must be destroyed."

"Me?" I stuttered, feeling like I'd swallowed fifty knives. "What did I..."

"Not you, you stupid self-centred human." said Kaelen, lowering her finger slightly. "The law concerning her."

I felt my jaw drop, as she pointed at the baby in my arms... Molly... No! Anyone but Molly!

"The law states that there can never be an inter-galactic hybrid." said Kaelen nastily. "You know that Xandrell. Your grandfather was the one who passed that law. Do you just enjoy causing pain? And not just to yourself?"

Xandrell was staring at Molly as if he'd never really seen her before. "... no... no..." he whispered over and over.

"I'm afraid so." said Kaelen, beginning to move forward to me. "Hand her over now, and you can all go free."

I looked down at the terrified little girl in my arms. Her tiny hands were clutching at the front of my dress, like she was silently begging me not to let her go. I looked back up at Kaelen, narrowing my eyes at her.

"No." I said determinedly.

Kaelen froze, staring at me. I could almost feel her hatred emanating off her in waves. "What did you say?"

"You can't take her."

Her jaw dropped. "Do you have any idea who I am?" she asked moodily. "What I say goes, now give her to me!"

"Bite me!" I yelled, slapping her hard.

The effect was immediate. Jarek gave a cry of outrage and one of the bodyguards pulled out his own gun, aimed at me and fired. Xandrell yelled "NO!" while I yelped and held up a hand. It was a pathetic defence, but what else could I do. I felt the impact of the gun hit my wrist, and then die. I opened my eyes and looked up, feeling a small sense of amazement now, as I remembered. The light of the moon glinted off Xandrell's Vederic tied around my right wrist. I'd forgotten they had force fields...

"Full power needed!" ordered Jarek, turning to look at the guards, tossing his sandy blonde hair vainly. "Charge your guns now!"

"RUN!" yelled Xandrell.

I turned and sprinted, holding Molly so close now, she was in danger of being suffocated by my stomach. My friends and Xandrell were following close by.

"Amy, we can't just keep running." said Sophie suddenly. "We need to get them off our trail."

"She's right Amy." said Xandrell appearing beside me. "We can't just be on the run for the rest of our lives."

I knew they were right, but what was I meant to do? I didn't want to give Molly away, but what if in the end I had to...

Wait a minute... giving her away... that was it...

They expected Molly to stay with either me or Xandrell, or someone who loved her... but what if when they found us, we didn't have her?

"I've got an idea." I said suddenly. "Charlie, you take Molly, and then we all run in different directions. They won't know who to follow, but they'll come after me and Xandrell first. That'll give the rest of you a chance to escape."

"Ok, great." said Charlie, appearing on my other side. "Give her here then."

"As soon as he's got her, everyone scatter, got it?" I said, glancing around quickly, but before any of them could answer, I thrust Molly into his arms and he sprinted away towards the valley.

Without missing a beat, the rest of them vanished into the trees and bushes nearby. I ran on to the next field, glancing over my shoulder to make sure the Stagrians could still see me. I could see them pointing their guns at me. I vaguely heard Jarek yell something in his language and chose this moment to jump off the path into a ditch, defended by the passage of bushes that ran by it into the next field, which was a difficult task to achieve in a prom dress. My heart beat was hard and fast against my ribs. I was sure my chest would burst with anymore excitement tonight.

"Spread out, search the area!" I heard Jarek yelling. "If you find them alive, kill them. I declare the death penalty on them. They are not innocent anymore."

I saw several of the guards running past me towards the field up ahead. I stood stock still and prayed to God they wouldn't see me.

"I've got one!" yelled a voice up ahead of me, and I was immediately certain my heartbeat had given my position away. I closed my eyes, sure that this time, there was no escape.

"No, please, please, don't kill me! Please!" sobbed a voice up ahead and I opened my eyes as I realised who they had found.

"Load with fire bombs!" called a guard.

"Please!" sobbed Lucy's voice. "Please don't kill me, I don't have the baby!"

I crept forwards, trying to see what was going on. Lucy was stood, back pressed against the trunk of the big oak.

"Men, take aim!" called a guard. "Fire when ready."

"No!" sobbed Lucy, looking slightly hysterical. "Please! Don't, PLEASE!"

An excited looking guard was the first to fire. He missed Lucy entirely and hit the branches above her. They burst into flames and dropped down in front of her. Lucy screamed and cowered, while the guards laughed at her torture. The others also aimed at the branches and fired. The burning wood dropped down around her, trapping her. I saw Lucy coughing and choking before she vanished from my view. Oh God! Please, no!

"Alright men, one down. Leave the fire to burn out." called the guard and the Stagrians trooped out of the field.

I felt my heart hammering. Lucy couldn't die, and not like this! When I was sure the guards were gone, I leapt forward and sprinted over to the burning area around the massive tree. The smoke billowing from the area was horrible. Choking black smoke stung my eyes as I fought through the scorching flames. My skin felt taut, I was sure I was burning, but I didn't care. My mind was set on getting Lucy out of this alive.

I finally reached the middle of the burning area, where Lucy had collapsed. She was barely with it, just about able to prop herself up, trying to cough her lungs clear. I grabbed her hand and yanked her to her feet and dragged her quickly through the fire. I bit my lip as each new flame licked my skin and made me want to scream in pain. I couldn't. This wasn't the time. Behind me, Lucy was whimpering obviously scared and hurt. Suddenly, I felt cool air hit my hot skin. When Lucy was well away from the fire, I began to pat the flames out that were eating my dress and sank to my knees, finally looked down at my red blistering arms.

"Jesus..." I whispered as Lucy looked up at me.

"I'm so sorry." she choked. "Amy, you shouldn't have..."

"What choice did I really have?" I snapped. "No-one's dying tonight if I can help it!"

"Who's there?" whispered a voice and Lucy and I looked up. A shadow was moving towards us.

"Don't come any closer!" I warned them. "I don't want to hurt you!"

"I wouldn't put it past you to be honest." said Xandrell as he moved carefully out of the trees. I felt relief pulse through me when I saw him, unscathed. His eyes widened when he saw my sore arms. "What the hell have you done?"

"Yeah, it turns out I can't walk through fire." I said shrugging one raw shoulder.

He knelt down beside me and carefully slipped the Vederic off my wrist. He adjusted one of the dials and gently ran the face along my arm. "Honestly, what would you do without me?"

I shrugged again. "Probably die, you know."

He chuckled lightly as my sore arms suddenly began to heal themselves, then his face hardened into a stony expression. "Amy... how would you cope if I were... if I were to go home."

I stared at him. "What?"

"You know, hypothetically speaking." he shrugged. "If I were to go... would you be... would you be afraid to be alone?"

I paused. I'd never really thought about it. "I don't know."

"Ok." he said with a slight shrug before changing the subject. "Any idea what happened to Charlie?" he asked.

"No, I've only seen you two." I said warily.

"I just ran into James." said Xandrell looking around at Lucy. "If I were you, I'd go find him, while we go find Charlie."

Lucy nodded. "Got it." she said scrambling to her feet and disappearing the way Xandrell had come.

"So, what way did Charlie run?" asked Xandrell, carefully slipping the Vederic back onto my wrist and helping me to my feet.

"Down the valley, towards the river." I whispered as we approached the path. It was almost empty now, since most of the guards were searching in the trees and bushes. We quickly darted across the path and through the bushes on the other side, and down the steep slopes. I was forced to remember the last time I'd been here... when Xandrell and I met... suddenly, I heard a voice.

"This is your last chance boy! Give us the hybrid and we might spare you!"

"Please!" I immediately recognised Charlie's pleading voice. "I wasn't involved here by choice. I was forced to do this! Don't kill me, I don't know what's going on!"

"Then give us the baby."

"I can't."

Suddenly, I spotted him. He was stood on the riverbank, clutching Molly wrapped in her blanket. I saw his piteous terrified expression, saw his pale face with his wide blue eyes. I suddenly saw my little Charlie in his face, the scared little child he was inside.

"Last chance, boy." snarled a guard who was pointing a gun at him.

Charlie squeezed his eyes shut and bit his lip, like he was trying to hold back tears. "I can't." he repeated.

Suddenly, two gunshots rang out and there was a brilliant yellow light. Charlie yelled, there was a spurt of blood, and suddenly, he went over backwards. Both he and Molly were suddenly swallowed whole by the raging river.

Oh God... No!