The Gifted (Take two of 'A New World')

Prologue

I have so many names now, I forgot who I used to be. The one thing I am sure of: I am one of the Gifted.

There are times I wish that I had never been born, and times that I wish that people had just ignored me, us, my whole team, and never knew that any of us had existed. Then maybe we wouldn’t have been put through the nightmare of our ‘adventures’.

I belong to no side, not anymore, not since the betrayal within my own team. I just observe. I watch over the Gifted, like a guardian angel. I watch their games of cat and mouse, their outbursts of anger, their attempts to run from their problems. I’ve seen them as they discovered who they really are, and what they were destined for.

Allyssianne is now pacing around the white-walled room in an agitated manner, her face looking like thunder. The other two girls, her friends, watching her from their places sitting on the floor with their backs to the walls. There wasn’t much else to do until they came back. No, not much at all. They were stuck there, and there was nothing they could do, for now at least. Stuck in this game of life and death. They WERE going to get out of this mess. Of that, they were sure. Eventually...

It had all started a few weeks ago, when the governments of the world started to be threatened, and it was all over the news. No one thought anything of it, which they now see was not the best idea. If they had done something about it, they could have avoided the stress, the tears and the pain. They could have saved the lives of some of the team, a team that they would rely on in years to come.

Chapter 1

Allyssianne, more commonly known as Ally (she considered her name to be too much of a mouthful), had known for nearly three years, she had been hiding her secret, from everyone, even from her parents. She had found out on her own, in her room, while she was pacing, trying to let out the anger against her parents. She only noticed that there was something wrong when she suddenly felt drained, tired, and then she saw that all of her belongings were in the air, hovering, surrounded by some sort of dark energy. She quickly calmed herself, watching everything drop back into their normal places. No one knew, not even her best friend. No one knew of the person she had killed because of her powers, and just how much she regretted it.

Marny had known about her powers for longer than Allyssianne had, discovering them during a singing contest at her old school. She hadn’t known what the strange feeling in her mind was when she had started to sing, but as the audience fell into a trance-like state, she had realised it. Since then, she had never sung within earshot of anyone else, but that wasn’t to be the end of her problems. She had recognised the state once more when she had made eye contact with one of her teachers, when that teacher had been telling her off. Now, she refused to make eye contact with anyone, anyone except Allyssianne and her brother, Caleb. She didn’t know why, but since then, the two girls had been best friends.

Now, in class, Allyssianne leaned back in her chair, only half listening to the teacher as she played noughts and crosses with Marny. The lesson was boring; then again, you could not exactly call it a lesson with all the time they spent on deviation! It was then that the bomb really dropped. It was then that everything had started, and everything had gone wrong. It was then that they found out that they had been discovered for what they really were, and not what they pretended to be. That was the day that the two girls discovered the dark world underneath the one they had lived in before.

Allyssianne was hiding her worry. Barely a week before, her brother had disappeared. Caleb had been taken as he walked home from his rugby training. As much as Allyssianne hated her brother, the star player of his rugby team for his speed and his strength as well as being the favourite of their parents, she still hoped that he would come back soon. She didn’t know if she could stand another day of going home to be greeted with cold looks, as if the disappearance was somehow her fault, or if sh. could live another moment of being surrounded by search and rescue posters.

Everyone had all heard about the terrorism threat, that one day all the heads of the EU would be killed, either on the news or from word of mouth, but no one expected it to actually come true. After all, with the amount of security around them all, it would be almost impossible. Not many people believed that the terrorists could actually be bothered with all that. How wrong did they have to be? How many people would have to die?

Chapter 2

It happened all of a sudden, and no one was ready. They couldn’t have been. Nothing in their lives could have prepared them for such an adventure. Allyssianne was still leaning back on her chair; Marny was chewing her pencil, trying to think of the next part of the co-operative story-writing they had moved onto. After all, neither of them were listening. No one ever listened for the whole two hours of history/geography. They had wished that their lives were like those stories they wrote together, their adventurous, dangerous, romantic fantasies. Had they known, they never would have wished for that. It was the ancient seeming PA system that gave them the first alert to their fate, but the school’s technology denied them the chance to run from the fate that lay in store for them.
“Atte...Al...and...y...re...erous” It crackled and coughed at them, sounding like someone was dying on the other end.
“You know, it could have said: “The Germans have started another war.” Or it could be saying: “The canteen is now open. And we wouldn’t know the difference...” Marny mused aloud.
“True, albeit it would be rather funny if the canteen staff were on standby and all the sections in the international school turned on the German section.” Allyssianne said.

They never finished that class, because no one could understand the PA system, and neither girl fled for their lives. There would have been no point in any case to be honest. They would have found the two girls eventually, no matter where they hid, no matter how good the disguise they adopted.

I remember that day clearly, and how it began. Doors started to bang outside in the corridors, and Marny glanced at her watch.
“It’s due to ring in two minutes.”
“Lucky first years get out early.” Allysianne muttered, rolling her eyes as she remembered the easy lives of the first years at their school.

Their own door banged open as a man kicked it in, and then stride inside the classroom, wielding an automatic rifle, fully dressed in black and a balaclava covering his face. Allyssianne fell off her chair in shock, several girls screamed, Marny broke the pencil she had been playing with. Allyssianne’s hand reached up and grabbed the table, pulling herself up to stare at the man, her eyes wide.

“Nobody move!” He ordered, and the pupils of the class obeyed nervously for the first time in their lives, perhaps sensing the authority behind the gun-wielding man’s words.
“We’re looking for Allyssianne Roth and Marny Bay, police warrent.” He ordered.
“There are proper channels!” The teacher protested, but then gave a pathetic squeak as the gun was turned on her. She shakily raised a hand in the direction of the two teenagers. The man signalled outside the door, and three more figures entered the room. The first man pointed to Allyssianne and Marny, and the four figures approached them swiftly, dragging them to their feet. Both girls kicked and struggled, watched by the stunned stares of their classmates, but to no avail.

All it took was a short a short scuffle before the pair had their hands tied behind their backs and were blindfolded. The leader gave Allyssianne a sharp jab between the shoulder blades to get her moving. Marny followed her, walking out of the room, flanked by the other black figures. They walked through the school, and down into the courtyard, where there was a small cargo van waiting. Marny was uneasy, restless, but Allyssianne took the biscuit and went ballistic. The broke out of the ranks and ran, but one guard calmly raised his gun and shot her. Everyone heard the gunshot as it echoed, and they heard Allyssianne fall before footsteps of those going to get her and drag the tranquillized girl back. Marny couldn’t get her thoughts in order as she heard the commotion, she was scared. Scared for herself, for her friend, for anyone else who was in their situation.

Soon, the girls were in the compact van, sitting on benches that had been bolted to the metal floor. The doors banged shut, and the van began to move a few seconds later. Marny shifted restlessly again, trying to find a comfortable position. She didn’t know where they were going, but she hoped that there would be a chance to escape.

The journey seemed to last several nights and several days. When Allyssianne had come round again, she fought against the ropes, but soon gave up, knowing that even if she did break free, there was no chance of getting out of the moving van.

Chapter 3

The journey was long, it seemed to stretch over nearly a week, but neither Marny or Allyssianne could tell inside the van. All they knew was that they were on stretches of motorway, judging by the revving of the engine and the smoothness of the road. But then they hit ocean. Marny was distinctly uneasy. She shifted on her bench, barely picking at the food that they had been given. She didn’t know where they were going and, all of a sudden, she wished that she could go home more than ever.

They arrived at their destination, neither girl knew where, and only got an inkling when they were lead out of the van. It was cold, very cold. The girls shivered as the icy wind seemed to pass right through them giving them no mercy. Marny and Allyssianne were taken into what they guessed was a building, because instead of trampling through wet snow, their shoes squeaked like they did on the linoleum floors of the school. The people holding them said something strange, but Marny couldn’t understand it. It worried her. They must have been taken out of the country if she didn’t understand the language. What’s more, it didn’t sound like any of the languages that she had heard around the international school, meaning that she and Allyssianne were out of the European Union.

The pair were bundled into a room they didn’t know, after the guards-of-a-sort had untied their arms. Allyssianne immediately ripped off the blindfold, looking around with furious eyes just as the door slammed shut. Looking around, the trio saw that they were in a cell, but it was completely white, no windows, only the greyish metal door.. There were a few small mattresses on the ground, one occupied by another girl. The redhead merely nodded at them, seemingly lost in thought as she stared blankly at the white wall. Allyssianne’s eyes narrowed as she stormed towards her, looking ready to kill until Marny grabbed her, her own bright green eyes narrowed at her friend as she flicked her purplish brown hair out of her eyes.
“Allyssianne! Calm down!” She hissed in her friend’s ear, letting the girl go. The black haired girl glared at Marny, icy blue eyes flashing with anger. Marny turned to the girl already sitting there, staring at the spectacle.
“I’m Marny, the hot head is Allyssianne.”
The other girl nodded, “Illianna.”

All three girls sat down, discussing what they were doing. Everyone knew how this had started, but no one knew how it would end, so they had decided to try to form an escape plan. Illianna listened intently, having been there the longest; she said that she was desperate to escape. Marny seemed to warm up to her instantly, being the kind of soul who doesn’t like to see others suffer, and that she liked to have a lot of friends around her. A people person inside out.

Allyssianne sat away from the others, her back against the wall as she listened in. The other girls all engaged in the heated conversation about what was going on.
“We all know about that cult that was threatening the governments of the world.” Marny started.
“Not hard when it was on the news every night.” Allyssianne said before seeing the dirty looks she was getting. “Sorry, my parents always watch the news almost 24/7.”
Marny sighed. “Ok, anyway, I think we need to find a way out of here and get back to our friends and family.”
“Question is, how.” Illianna pointed out. “I’ve been here for about two years already, and there is no way out with all the guards that are keeping us in.”
“When they brought us here, they said something,” Marny mused aloud. “but I couldn’t make any of it out.”
They said ‘put these girls with the other, they’re both Gifted.” Allyssianne translated quietly. The others all stared at Allyssianne.
“How did you know that?” Marny asked.
“Because they were speaking Russian.” Allyssianne admitted quietly. Marny looked surprised, opening her mouth to say something, but Illianna quickly cut in, sensing the reluctance in Allyssianne’s voice when she had spoken.
“So basically, we’re ‘Gifted’. Why? What does that mean?” The other two looked slightly uncomfortable. “What? What did I say?”

Allyssianne looked distinctly uncomfortable again, and Marny fidgeted, looking at the floor. Illianna bit her lip, worried that ther reaction was because of her. She had to gain their trust, not make them wary of her. She couldn’t fail this part of her assignment, not this early, not without having to pay severely for it.

A few minutes later, Allyssianne sighed, stretching out a hand in front of her, palm facing upwards. Something black sparked in the air above her palm before it grew into an orb of something black, some sort of black energy. Marny watched her curiously, but then her curiosity dulled, she felt empty of emotion. Allyssianne looked at Illianna, her orb of magic disappearing. The other girl seemed to be concentrating on Marny, but her concentration broke when she realised that Allyssianne was watching her.
“I can dull emotions,” Illianna admitted somewhat sheepishly.

Marny smiled slightly, locking gazes with Illianna. The other girl’s facial features seemed to relax, but her eyes were far away. Marny broke eye contact, muttering something under her breath. Illianna shook her head, returning to her previous state.
“I’m a hypnotist,” She said with a slight smile. Allyssianne grinned at her friend, giving her a high five.
“So, that explains why the call us ‘Gifted’.” Marny mused aloud.
“I think we have to get out of here.” Illianna said, her face determined
“Aye.” Allyssianne agreed quietly, but her fury echoed under her tone. “I need to find Caleb.” Illianna looked slightly confused before Marny took pity on her and explained.
“Her brother.” The redhead nodded wisely, and Marny turned to Allyssianne, “Are you sure that he was taken by these people?”
“There was more to him that the rugby club thought.” Allyssianne said quietly.
“Ah...”

Plans formed between the three of them, and gradually they managed to agree on one and started to go into the details, forming a backup plan as well... aka, if it does not go well, kick some butt and run as fast as you can. That being Allyssianne’s contribution, apart from the technical side, as technology was one of her strong points.

Several guards walked into the room, pointing guns at them as if afraid of the girls. They ordered that Illianna and the new girls followed them quietly. After a few questioning and worried looks between them, the girls nodded and walked out of the cell, surrounded by the soldiers.

On the other side of the equator, a sixteen-year-old boy growled, throwing his weight against the door, intending to break it down. He yelped as it refused to yield, falling back, holding his shoulder. His pale blonde hair fell over his eyes as he bowed his head, breathing heavily and gritting his teeth. The five other boys watched. One of those boys, seemingly his twin as they shared the same hair, features and fiery eyes tried to calm his brother down, leading him back into the centre of the white cell.
“Daniel, that’ll get you nowhere. You’ve been trying to break it down for the past hour. We’re better off trying to form a plan than just blundering into things like you’re trying to.”
“I want to get out of here, James.” Daniel growled, his eyes flashing with anger. “You know full on well that I can’t stand captivity!”
“But this is not the way to go about it!” Another boy snapped, flicking his black hair out of his dark eyes.
“What would you know Caleb?!”
“Just calm down.” Said another boy though gritted teeth, his brown eyes glaring beneath blond hair. He seemed to be in pain, trying to mask the emotions flashing across his face. The last boy was sitting calmly in the corner, ignoring the goings on as he contemplated the white ceiling.
“Listen to Alex.” He said at last.
“Thank you Jamie.” Alex said, seemingly relieved that someone agreed with him. James began to pace frantically while his brother tried equally frantically to get him to calm down. That’s when an aura of calm seemed to fall over the boys like a blanket, smoothing out the frowns and quenching all worries.
“There, that’s better. Now, what are we going to do?” Alex asked lightly.
“Break out of here.” Caleb said in his growling voice.

Chapter 4

Meanwhile, the girls were escorted to a different room, Illianna having been taken somewhere during the short journey. This cell was filled with various pieces of medical equipment and fitness material with seemed to loom over the girl with a terrifying prescence. The girls looked around, just as the female doctor walked into the room, looking cheerful.
“Welcome girls, now, no need to be afraid, we’re just going to be running tests to make sure that you’re all healthy. Now, who is going first?”

Neither girl volunteered, so they had to go in alphabetical order. Marny groaned. Her last name began with B, making her first. She stepped forward, but the doctor stopped her.
“Why you dear?”
“Because my last name is Bay.”
“No it isn’t dear.” Marny frowned.
“I should know my own last name! I’ve been stuck with it for the last fifteen years!”
“But you don’t have a last name anymore, sweetheart. You don’t have any connection to the outside world. Neither of you do.” The girls were speechless. Taking away someone’s name is like taking away your whole family’s history, but the doctor just smiled. “So, Allyssianne...”

Allyssianne was obviously uncomfortable as she stepped forwards, but did as she was told. The doctor took blood samples of each girl, and took the normal measurements, like breathing and pulse. After this, the girls were all given a pill to help them cope and calm down from the apparent stress they were under.

Two guards escorted each girl to a different, smaller cell, but the girls had found that they were too tired to argue. Some food had been laid out in each cell. Allyssianne and Marny picked at it before walking away from the chair and table to the only other furniture in the cell. A small bed. They had only eaten a few mouthfuls, but they felt ill, like something was wrong, very wrong. Allyssianne stretched out wolfishly before falling into an abnormally deep sleep, Marny not far behind.

Chapter 5

Allyssianne was the first up the next morning, meditating quietly until she realised what was wrong. The others woke up gradually, also realising the problem. Each girl explored the cell their own way, but only Marny really realised the problem. They shouldn’t be in different cells, they shouldn’t be in cells! Gradually, everything that had happened in the previous days came back to her, and she growled low in her throat. Allyssianne, scowled the same thoughts going through her mind. The other girls were just curious, exploring the room, searching every corner. Allyssianne immediately took out the CCTV camera rotating in a corner of the room, while Marny first made sure there were no guards outside before doing the same. Marny, at least, was a bit more cautious than the sorceress was.

In a dark room somewhere, a man was watching their actions on several different screens, each one linked to the CCTV camera. Two of them were showing blizzards. The man gritted his teeth and turned to the set of screens to his right. There were five more screens lit up there, showing a different set of cells. A boy, in the same situation, occupied each one.

A month dragged past, and the girls were getting sick of their captivity. Although they had been returned to their collective cell, they had returned, but part of them was missing. They had no confidence left and they were as jumpy as a child stealing a biscuit. They were skittish, jumping at every little thing. Marny often had lapses into more feral behaviour, Allyssianne released lightning like bolts of magic every time she jumped. They were waiting for something to happen, but all they knew was that it wasn’t going to be good.

Allyssianne was the first one to snap out of it, closely followed by Marny. Illianna watched their actions carefully. She hadn’t been affected like the others, or if she had, she made a very good job of hiding it. Allyssianne frowned when she realised this. What was up with Illianna?

Chapter 6

On the other side of the world, the boys were still in their separate cells. James and Daniel were sitting on the floor, backs against the wall, separated only by brick and plaster. They were the most affected by the separation, having never been separated in their life. Caleb was pacing around the room, and Jamie lay on the floor, a small hole in the side of his head and blood on the floor. Alex was nowhere to be seen on the screens, but that’s because the man watching them knew that he daren’t do anything against the carefully placed rules, not while he knew the punishment for doing so.

The man in the dark room was watching the boys, and his eyebrows raised in interest as Jamie picked himself up, the only trace of the bullet hole being a spot of blood on his forehead and the small pool of it on the ground. He made a quick note on a laptop sitting beside him before turning his gaze back to the screens, observing their behaviour closely. Separating them into quarantine cells allowed him access to their weaknesses, how to use them, and he planned to use them.

Back in the girl’s cell, plans were taking form, and suspicions were arising. No one knew where Illianna went on her daily excursions, although they were told that she was just going to the infirmary to take the tablets for her diabetes. The plans had to be twisted every day, because every day, new measures came in to stop their plan, even though Allyssianne had found a way to stop the CCTV camera being able to record their voices, and they always kept their backs to it. How was he finding out about their every move?

Soon, by being quiet around Illianna and disconnecting the CCTV camera completely in order to communicate their plans to each other, the plan was able to be put into place. Everyone was at their stations, Allyssianne was on the ground, crying as she clutched a broken shin, and Marny was hiding behind the door.

A guard walked in, carrying their evening meal. Illianna was nowhere in sight as usual. So far, everything was going to plan as he caught sight of the injured Allyssianne, kneeling beside her. Marny started to sing, pouring hypnotic power into her voice as she did. Allyssianne smirked slightly as the guard’s eyes drifted out of focus. The sorceress had plugged her ears with cotton to ward off the effect of her friend’s voice, not knowing that the hypnotism had a lessened effect on her. She stood up, nothing wrong with her and she nudged the guard with her foot to make sure he was responding to Marny. The girls then put in the earpieces that had been re-frequenced so that it was hidden from the soldiers’ radios. Allyssianne nodded once at her friend, signalling that everything was in place. Marny gave her the thumbs up, grinning nervously before the two girls ran as silently as they could out of the cell, taking off in different directions to try and find any exit possible from the only place they had found that was a worse hell hole than school was.

Chapter 7

Allyssianne ran silently down the corridor, looking anxiously around for any sign of an exit. She tripped over a broken tile, landing heavily on the ground. She sat up, massaging her shoulder, when she spotted something going on through a grill floor level. Lying down on her stomach, curiosity peaked, she looked through, and saw an old looking but vigorous man sitting behind a desk, and in the chair in front of her, sat Illianna. Allyssianne eavesdropped on their conversation.
“It’s not working anymore.” Illianna was saying. “They don’t seem to trust me.”
“Then make them trust you.” The man growled, his hand drifting over to a small black box that was sitting on the desk just in front of him. Illianna started to tremble, her eyes wide, her tone higher and slightly panicked as she hurriedly spoke again.
“But Allyssianne is so... cautious!”
“We’ll deal with her. Just keep trying with Marny and you should be able to get to Allyssianne through her...”

Allyssianne pulled back, unable to take anymore. Her mind was reeling, and she felt ill. Illianna was betraying them? Working with their captors? No, she couldn’t be! The girl tried to get a hold of her thoughts, pushing the topic out of her mind, and concentrated on her mission, but it nagged at the back of her conscience, refusing to be forgotten, but Allyssianne had to forget it for now. She couldn’t have a lapse in her control, not here, not now, not without putting Marny and herself in danger.

The hypnotist snuck along a corridor, glad of the once-white clothes that blended in quite well with the once-white walls. She looked around warily, as if waiting for a guard to spring out from behind a corner and grab them. Marny split off from the main corridor as she came across corridors that lead off from the one they had been following in an attempt to find the one she needed.

Allyssianne, having moved on from the scene that cast horrible shivers through her mind every time she thought about it, came across a room filled with screens. On one screen, she recognised the collective cell that she and Marny had recently vacated, alongside various other shots of corridors around the complex. However, there was another brilliantly white screen, in a corner of the bank, isolated, but close to the one of the girls’ cell. This room was almost identical, but it was occupied. Occupied by five boys. Allyssianne frowned, taking a closer look. There was a head of familiar looking rebellious black hair. Caleb! Her heart suddenly felt lighter, and she memorised the place stamp at the bottom of the screen before hurrying on, scared that the leader of the organisation would come back and catch her snooping.

Chapter 8

It was Marny that discovered the exit through a lot of winding corridors and silent doors. She was tired. They hadn’t been out of their cell, in the corridors, for this long before and she was continually scared of being found. At each door, she listened carefully before opening it. She listened carefully at one, but heard nothing. She turned the handle, opening the door and poking her head round. She stifled a gasp, her eyes wide, pulling her head back quickly. There were soldiers in there, lots of soldiers. The hypnotist closed the door, running as quietly as she could for a couple of metres before stopping to try and calm herself down. She must have stumbled upon the soldier’s dorm.

When she found the exit, she pressed the transmit button on her earpiece.
“This is Spine Tail to Blackie, Come in Blackie.” She whispered as loud as she dared. After a brief burst of static, Allyssianne answered.
“Spine Tail, this is Blackie.” Came Allyssianne’s thankfully familiar voice.
“Blackie, I’ve located the grail.”
“Ok, I’ve eyeballed a double agent.”
“What?”
“We have a double agent!”
“Where did you learn this language?”
“I read too many spy novels, now get a move on!”

Marny and Allyssianne, or Spine Tail and Blackie soon met at the exit, but someone had obviously been spotted, or someone had noticed their absence. An alarm began to blare and the sound of heavy army boots resonated off the dark grey concrete walls. Marny was well ahead as she sprinted through the door and out into a compound surrounded by chain link fencing, Allyssianne arriving not far behind her. They looked wide eyed, panicked and desperate as they ran towards the fence, starting to climb up.

Chapter 9

It was painful, agony as they scaled the wire. It cut into their fingers, their shoes being just too wide to get a decent grip between the links. Getting to the top, the girls had to carefully negotiate the barbed wire, and by this time, there were guards there, shouting at them, some trying to scale the fence, and several were sprinting for the only gate. Although it was a security advantage for them, this was one of the times it didn’t work, because it was on the other side of the compound. The two girls leapt lightly down from the fence just as the soldiers came charging round the corner, but the girls were already running as fast as they could the opposite direction, desperately trying to outrun and escape the grasp of the soldiers.

The chase went on throughout empty, cold and dark streets. If they hadn’t been concentrating so hard on outrunning their pursuers, they might have stopped to find out where they were. Allyssianne thought she recognised one of the squares they ran through, but wasn’t about to stop and think about it. Marny fell to the ground suddenly as she caught her foot on a curb hidden by a snow drift. Sprawled in the icy crystals, she yelled at Allyssianne that she’d catch up, but the sorceress slammed on the brakes, haring back towards her friend as the soldiers rapidly closed the gap between them. The hypnotist scrabbled at the snow, trying to scramble back to her feet, but she couldn’t, she kept slipping on the icy road underneath. Allyssianne grabbed her friend’s arm, pulling her to her feet, launching a few bolts of magic at the soldiers in a futile attempt to slow them down. The two girls started to sprint again, running away from the soldiers.


After ducking in and out of side streets, running anywhere that wasn’t large, open or straight for long distances, they managed to escape from the city and the guards, and into a forest nearby.

They collapsed in a panting heap a few kilometres in, their adrenaline rush over. The pair dragged themselves back to their feet and walked slowly away to find a sheltered place to stay. There was snow all around, even in the city, most of it was coated in white. Allyssianne thought back to the square she had seen, and tried to think of where she had seen it before.

The girls took off army style backpacks that Allyssianne had managed to swipe, complete with material, from a storeroom when they reached a small clearing, thankfully sheltered from the snow. They took out thick grey cloaks, putting them around their shoulders to try and ward off the chill as Marny tiredly gathered the resources to start a fire. Allyssianne, to Marny’s surprise, morphed into a wolf and loped off to hunt some food.

When she got back dragging a small deer with her, the other girl was huddled around the small fire, trying to escape the chill of the rapidly approaching night. While eating the cooked deer, they tried to think of what they were going to do. Allyssianne was silent, still puzzling over the square. Marny, however, was throwing ideas at her like snowballs to try to create a plan. It wasn’t long before they had an idea of their next course of action.
“We should find the guys that you saw on that screen.” Marny said, her teeth chattering as she huddled closer to the fire. “It would be easier to coordinate that rescue plan if we knew where we were...” She then pointed out to herself.
“We’re near Moscow.” Allyssianne said, her puzzle finally solved.
“WHAT?!”

Marny looked at her friend in shock. The thought of being in Moscow was a bit much. After all, Allyssianne and Marny had been in France! She shook her head, disbelieving.
“Moscow, you mean we’re in RUSSIA?” She said, her eyes wide
“Is there any other?” Allyssianne asked sarcastically. “Look, it’s isolated; those people clearly didn’t want us around. There are piles of snow around even though we’re in the middle of APRIL, and the fact we ran through the Red Square. All of these are a bit of a giveaway.”
“I dunno.” Marny said. “It could be Scotland...” But it was obvious that the sorceress wasn’t joking. Marny had also been through Russian geography when they did Stalin’s Russia, and it hit her that it had been the Red Square they had run through. Allyssianne drew a crude map of the world in the dirt, trying to bring her friend’s flagging spirits up, despite the fact that the sorceress had never been particularly bright in geography and had drawn America upside down and forgotten Greenland.
“Ok, we can go down through Russia, across Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria. Across the water to Turkey, though Syria, Jordan and into Egypt. We know that the boys are being held there, on the outskirts of Cairo.”
“It’s gonna take a while...” Marny mused aloud, “But I think we should go for it.”

And so the travel began.

Chapter 10

Allyssianne gazed moodily into the fire nearly an hour later, and Marny watched her with a worried but curious look.
“How come you understood those soldiers back there? You never told me that you understood Russian...”
Allyssianne sighed, leaning back on her hands before she began to speak. “My blood father is Russian. I’ve been bilingual ever since I could speak. My family’s a bit complicated. Caleb’s only my half brother. His father was French, and our mother was Scottish.”
“I didn’t know that,” Marny mused aloud, “I didn’t realise that you had a step-mum.”
“You think that I haven’t been able to get on with my mum since I was born?”
“No! I just... just didn’t think...”
“S’ok Marny, I only pretend to be a part of the family for appearances anyway. As soon as she finds out that I’m, well, like this, I wouldn’t be surprised to find myself up for adoption or sent to live with my real mum.”
Marny stayed silent, not knowing what to reply to Allyssianne’s seemingly sure statement.

Allyssianne kept watch that night, while the Marny slept. Marny woke up at midnight to take over the watch so that the sorceress could get some sleep as well.

Allyssianne tossed and turned for the first hour before she could fall into a fitful sleep. She had never been able to sleep right if she wasn’t in a place that she deemed to be safe. In her sleep, she could see things, things happening in the future. A battlefield, thick with blood. She, Marny, the boys she could see on the screen, several adults were there, dressed in a camouflage uniform different to the others. Gunshots echoed everywhere around her, an unseen enemy. What was happening? Where was she? Why did everyone look so calm about this? They shouldn’t be in a battle! Suddenly, there was another boy beside her, Alex, she remembered his name. He slung his rifle over his shoulder briefly to envelope her in an embrace.
“It’s ok Ally, it’s all going to be ok. Don’t be scared. We’ve been through worse, remember?
Allyssianne nodded automatically, but she didn’t remember. Alarm bells were tolling in her head. She was scared, so scared. Alex backed away again, taking his rifle in hand.
“Let’s show them what confronting a team of Gifted is like.” He said encouragingly. Why did he like this battle? Why was he so calm about it? He cocked his rifle, a slightly cheeky grin on his face as he turned to face the ridge across from them where the enemy gunfire was coming from.

Allyssianne woke with a start, terrified. Several objects were hovering in the air with her magic, and she quickly recalled the black energy. The few objects fell back to the ground with a more or less loud thud and the sorceress took a deep breath, trying to calm down, swallowing hard. She closed her eyes briefly, the images of the dream trickling away. She shook her head, bringing herself back into the present. It was a dream, no more, no less. You need to get a grip on yourself. She thought sternly to herself, lying down again, but sleep refused to come again.

Marny was the one to raise the alarm not long after Allyssianne had started to doze off again. She had heard quiet footsteps. The two girls pulled handguns out of the bags they had, loading the clips of ammunition into them before looking around, standing back to back. Allyssianne’s eyes were wide as she they darted around, trying to find the source of the disturbance. She took a shaky breath, needing to get her emotions back under control or she risked harming Marny. She closed her eyes briefly again,

Tension was thick in the air as they were on their guard, waiting for the intruder or attacker to show themselves. Eyes were darting around the clearing as slight, cold breeze ruffled the leaves on the ever green trees, making the girls shift restlessly, fingers on the triggers. The rustling grew louder and louder, until a figure appeared in the gloom. The pair turned their eyes and their aim towards the figure, who put their hands up.
“Who are you?!” Marny demanded.
“It’s me!” A terrified voice called out. “Illianna!”


Marny lowered her gun in relief, but Allyssianne didn’t. She had no trust in this girl whatsoever. Illianna certainly looked terrified, her eyes red from crying. Marny smiled at the newcomer welcomingly.
“I, how’d you get out?”
“I knocked out the guard and ran for it!” She said tearfully. Allyssianne gritted her teeth. There was an alarm bell in her mind going off, ringing ‘fake! Fake!’. There was no way that she was innocent! How could Marny be stupid enough not to see past her act? Anger boiled in the back of her mind, but she desperately tried to get a grasp on it before it triggered a magical reaction from her, scared of hurting one of the two, even though she didn’t really care about what happened to Illianna after the scene she had witnessed.

They were settled around the fire now, two of the girls happily chatting away while the other three sat, silent. Allyssianne looked furious. Illianna looked over at her, and the smile on her face faded.
“What?” She asked, seemingly worried.
“You don’t belong here with us.” Allyssianne said, getting to her feet. “Traitor.”
“I’m not a traitor!” Illianna exclaimed.
“Don’t play the innocent!” Allyssianne spat. “I saw you speaking to some of those guards! You’re spying on us!”
“Enough Allyssianne!” Marny snarled. The sorceress narrowed her eyes, but stormed off into the forest before she could attack anything. Illianna looked worried.
“I’d better go and settle the score with her.” She said quietly before she got up and followed Allyssianne. In the back of her mind, Illianna was planning her next move. How to discredit Allyssianne before finally converting Marny?

Chapter 11

When the sorceress got back to the camp site the next morning, having calmed down enough to do so, but she was greeted with frosty glares from the other two. Confused, she tilted her head on one side as she looked at them, looking like a wolf in her actions. She frowned slightly, trying to think of anything she could have possibly done to deserve the looks she was getting.
“What?” She asked.
“Don’t play the innocent Ally.” Marny spat. “Illianna saw you talking to two guards and telling them about our plans.”

The two girls advanced on Allyssianne, who didn’t move, trying to think of a response, but in her shock, none came, leaving her frozen to the spot as she tried to make sense of the situation. Marny grabbed her arm, tying it tightly to a tree before turning her back. The hypnotist felt troubled about leaving one of her friends behind, especially as they had just been thrown into this whole new world that they didn’t understand, but she had to trust Illianna’s word on this one, as much as it seemed impossible.

Allyssianne badly wanted to yell out to Marny, to tell her the truth about Illianna, but she knew that it was too late. Even the bonds of friendship that she had cherished since they had met seemed to have melted away because of a simple story that Illianna had spun to try and get Marny to follow her. She didn’t know what the other girl was planning to do with Marny, but in the back of her mind, she had a nagging feeling that it probably had something to do with that man and the way that he controlled Illianna so easily. Marny, however, almost as if she sensed Allyssianne’s wishing thoughts, turned around briefly. Her gaze was sad, as if she really believed Illianna’s story.
“Why?” She murmured.
“Please believe me, I didn’t!” Allyssianne said quietly, trying to convince her friend of her innocence as she gazed into Marny’s green eyes, but the hypnotist broke eye contact, scared of hypnotising the other girl.
“Illianna saw you, Ally. I’m sorry.” She said before she glanced over her shoulder at Illianna’s departing back. She reached into her bag, one that she had swiped from the Medical Research Centre that they had been held in as they escaped, drawing out a thick grey cloak and a hunting knife. Allyssianne leant her head to one side, confused for a moment before Marny smiled a dejected smile and turned her back, hurrying after Illianna.

Chapter 12

The other girls trudged through the sheltered woodland. Silence reigned between them as they thought about the betrayal. They walked steadily onwards, heading for the border between Russia and Ukraine. Marny looked up at the sky see yellowish, heavy looking clouds drifting above them, and the first few fluffy flakes drifting down. She shivered in the cold, pulling the cloak further around her. Marny was thinking Allyssianne, about all the times they had told each other their secrets, they had gotten to know each other so well that Marny knew exactly when Ally was lying or telling the truth...

The sky darkened as the day wore on, and they soon started to scout around for a place to set up camp. Illianna came across a small wall of stones, left by an old landslide. It created a nice wind barrier, and they soon set to work to prepare for the cold night ahead. Illianna gathered some wood from the dead trees brought down with the rocks, starting a fire. The two girls huddled around it, looking for warmth. The heat was one of the few small luxuries they could give themselves after a day of trekking through the almost freezing temperatures of Russia, and of course it thawed out their frozen toes. No one spoke for a few moments until Marny broke the silence.
“We should go back for her.”
“We can’t turn back for a traitor.” Illianna growled.
“Prove that she’s a traitor!” Marny challenged.
“I saw her talking to the guards and giving them our exact locations and plans!”
Marny fell silent, but the two girls glared at each other, looking ready to rip out the other’s throat. You could almost see the sparks flying until they came to their senses. Marny looked like she was going to rip someone’s throat out while Illianna somehow managed to look murderous and calm at the same time. The silence had a violent air to it for a few minutes before Marny spoke, sounding slightly defeated.
“I just can’t believe that Ally would betray us like that.”
“I understand, but we have to keep moving so that we can get to the boys and free them. Forget about Allyssianne.”
“I know, it’s just, I’ve known her for so long.”

Chapter 13


Allyssianne froze. There were people coming. She could hear the twigs snapping beneath feet, the crunching of snow as it compacted. She bit her lip, scared, trying to think of anything that she could do to prevent her recapture. The footsteps were getting closer, and Allyssianne could see the shadows of at least two people, armed people, approaching over the snow. She allowed herself to slump against the ropes holding herself to the tree, kicking herself for not memorising all of those how-to-untie-knots tricks that she had read about.

The shadows stretched out on the snow in front of her, and now the light thrown by torches made the snow glitter in its deadly beauty like tiny fragments of broken glass. The sorceress heard someone speak, a man, his low voice whispering among the silent trees as he spoke in Russian.
“Exactly where Illianna said that she would be,” He said. Allyssianne’s blood seemed to freeze in her veins. She had been right about the girl’s collaboration, but her mind went back to the scene that she had witnessed. There was something more behind the Illianna’s actions.
“Is she unconscious?” The second soldier said, sounding nervous.
“It would seem so. Their uniforms are not designed to combat the cold. She would have died within a few days.” The older soldier said. She heard the rustle of fabric as he drew a penknife from a pocket, proceeding to cut through the ropes.
“Sir?” The younger soldier said, holding up the cloak and knife that Marny had accidently-on-purpose left behind.
“It must have been the other girl, the one that was seized at the same time. Their files said that they were close to each other.” He finished cutting through the ropes, slinging his rifle over his shoulder before picking the teenage girl up, turning to head back to the base.

The sorceress opened her eyes a fraction, and saw that the guard’s arm was in a prime position. Her eyes glittered evilly as she bit down hard on the offending limb. The guard let out a yell of pain, dropping Allyssianne as he clutched the bitten arm. She sprung back up to her feet before staggering slightly until they held, weak from the lack of use combined with the icy snow. She drew the hunting knife that Marny had left behind, adopting a fight stance. She lunged at one man, swinging the short blade against his chest. She didn’t, however, see the other man grab his gun, load, cock and aim. When she turned round, she realised, and jumped out of the way a split second too late. The shot echoed through the silent trees, and Allyssianne fell to the ground, blood staining the white snow.

Marny and Illianna trudged on through the snow, Marny trying to convince herself that they were doing the right thing. The previous footprints had been covered up by the newest layer of snow, and the new tracks they were making were soon covered by the glittering crystals, as if they had never passed by there at all. Then a shot rang through the trees.

It sounded distant enough, but the two girls knew that there were no hunters around here. Quickening their pace, they hurried away from the origin of the noise.

Chapter 14

Allyssianne looked up at the man, eyes full of pain, before she faked death. It wasn’t that hard to be honest. The bullet had embedded itself in her shoulder, just missing her collar bone and her lung, but it was painful. Her shoulder felt as if it was on fire, as if it had just been torn apart but white hot pincers. One of the guards knelt down warily and checked for breathing. She held her breath and listened to them talk in Russian, her heart hit by a sudden pang of homesickness. She had spoken Russian nearly all the time with her father, because Caleb and her step mother had never learnt the language. It had allowed them a bit of privacy.
“Blade will be most displeased if we bring her back with an injury like that...”
“I know, but what else do we do?”
“Say that we fired a warning shot, she got in the way and say that she was killed and that we burnt the body. She will be dead in a matter of days anyway.”

They turned and walked off, leaving Allyssianne there, bleeding and in pain. The girl blinked once, no words coming to express the pain in her shoulder. She drew a shaky breath, trying to calm herself, but it felt like the metal had torn her shoulder apart and shattered the fragile bone beneath. What had she done to come to this? Only one answer came to her. She had been born a Gifted, and because of that, her life was destined to be full of a whole load of crap.
Great, She thought to herself, Just great...

She waited until they were out of earshot until rolling back onto her feet with a low moan. The shot to the shoulder wouldn’t be fatal unless it became infected, or didn’t stop bleeding, but she felt like dying at that precise moment in time, she didn’t want to face the pain. She knelt in the snow for a few moments, eyes squeezed shut as she panted in pain, bent almost double.


Thinking that the best course of action was to find the others, she closed her eyes and reached into a more feral part of her mind. She felt it awaken, sniffing the air before it spread through her consciousness and then through her body, taking over.

Once she opened her eyes again, she swayed a little for a few steps until she was confident enough on her black wolf paws. Keeping her injured leg off the ground as much as possible, the hunting knife between her teeth, the wolf set of at a steady rhythm, planning to stick to it until her weary limbs couldn’t carry her any more.

She covered the snow with a lopsided lope, hopefully heading in the same direction as Illianna and Marny. A quiet whine tickled the back of her throat as she ran. The pain was so great, she felt as if she was already in hell. Despite her atheism, she now wondered if God was now punishing her for being born a Gifted.

She loped onwards, her pace gradually growing slower and slower, going from determined but lopsided to barely dragging herself along on three legs. Eventually, she collapsed into the snow, breathless, her eyes closed, a heap of black fur starting to be covered by the falling snowflakes.

Chapter 15

Illianna was walking in front, Marny lagging behind, tired out. They came within sight of a rundown city. It was dark, and Marny didn’t bother to look at the signs bearing the name of the town. She was too tired to think, but there was some sort of nagging feeling in the back of her mind that something wasn’t right, as it had been for the last three days. Marny had stayed despite this, truly believing that Illianna could get her out of the mess she found herself in. She had learnt to ignore the nagging feeling when Illianna said that she was just being paranoid, and her mind turned to concentrate on her hunger and tiredness. Even the normally ever-present topic of cute boys wasn’t in the foremost of her mind, ever since she had met the other girl and her iron-cast will to rescue the boys trapped in Cairo.

Illianna continued to march on, and Marny tried doggedly to keep up as the other girl passed over the border into the city. That’s when the first alarm bells started to ring in her head. There was something eerily familiar about this city, a fleeting memory of fear. She walked past the rundown bell tower, seeing its bell lying on its side.
“Illi?” Marny asked, slightly scared.
“We’re nearly there.” The other girl replied without turning round.
“No, where are we?”
“Somewhere, I don’t know where.”

Marny stopped dead, and folded her arms. Her face was stubborn, the tiredness having vanished as an adrenaline rush started to creep through her muscles. She looked around, and saw that they were in the Red Square. She pushed her fear back down into herself, trying to summon up all her energy into open defiance.
“I’m not going any further until you tell me.”

Illianna stopped as well, her head bowed. Marny heard a small click. Illianna turned round and pointed a small colt pistol at Marny’s heart. There was no pity, no sorrow, no remorse in her eyes, just wells of cold, steely determination.
“Come on Marny, don’t make me shoot you.”
Marny swallowed hard, fear welling up in her mind again, threatening to take over.
Illianna put her finger on the trigger, threatening to shoot.
Marny’s mind screamed at her to run, to get as far away from Illianna as she possibly could.
Illianna took aim, looking down the short barrel of the gun.
Marny could do nothing by stare, feet stuck to the ground. She stared at Illianna, disbelieving that someone she considered a friend would be capable of shooting her. With a millisecond’s notice, anger started to boil within Marny’s mind, and her feet came unstuck from the ground. She turned and fled back the way they had come.
A shot rang through the Square as Illianna squeezed the trigger, firing the shot.
Marny heard the dull thunk of metal on wood as the bullet hit a building in front of her. Something scarlet splattered onto the snow beside her, and a warm liquid ran down her arm, and Marny knew that she hadn’t been completely spared from the bullet as a raging fire seemed to take up residence in her upper arm. She turned a corner quickly, the forest back in sight again, and left Illianna far behind.

Chapter 16

In a clearing, a black wolf lay, half covered in glittering white, standing out against the white glare of the snow. Its teeth were bared in a snarl of pain, and a trail of blood-stained snow marked where she had come from. Her fur had frozen into icy spikes, glittering red where the crimson blood had stained it. An ear twitched feebly as she heard someone in the distance crashing through the undergrowth, but she paid no other attention to it.

Marny, in Manticore form, crashed through the undergrowth, the cut on her arm stinging, but she ignored it. She was heading back, looking for Allyssianne. She could smell the blood, and that lead her to the clearing. Morphing back, Marny knelt beside the wolf.
“Ally, it’s Marny, come on.” She said, quietly begging her friend to be ok. Slowly, the black wolf changed back into her human form. Marny took one look at Allyssianne’s shoulder and winced.
“Who did that to you?” She asked but Allyssianne shook her head.
“It’s nothing,” She said, putting one hand lightly over the wound as it twinged in pain again. Her icy eyes found the bloodstains on Marny’s once white shirt.
“Illianna?” She asked, her gaze turning to Marny’s. Marny nodded silently, looking away from Allyssianne’s eyes, scared of hypnotising her. The sorceress groaned as she stood up, her joints having stiffened with the cold. She cleared a patch of snow from the ground before gathering some wood, careful not to use her injured arm. She created a small fire and summoned a small sphere of her magic, setting it under the branches, hoping to cause the dry pine needles to catch fire. After several minutes, it began to smoke, and then flames started to lick up the wood.

The two girls curled up side by side, sharing their warmth as they fell asleep. Neither of them heard the near-silent moving of a small group of people in the bushes. One of them used a pair of binoculars to check if it was indeed those two girls that they were looking for. He nodded once, using two fingers to silently signal an advance. The two other soldiers drew out rifles, but everyone froze as Marny stirred, but she only curled into a tighter ball on the ground. Taking a deep breath, the soldiers fired brightly coloured darts, tranquillizer darts, at the pair, hitting their targets. The three men walked out into the clearing, picking up the two girls before turning, taking them away.

Chapter 17

The girls came round in a cell, not unlike the one they had vacated barely a few days ago. It was bright as they opened their eyes, too bright. At first, they merely thought that snow had fallen during the night, and decided to get up and stretch. Allyssianne tried to stretch her arms above her head, but a manacle around her wrists stopped her. Growling low in her throat, she started to battle them, alerting Marny to the danger. The two girls battled against the restraints, but to no avail.

The door opened, revealing three people who walked into the cell. One, seemingly the leader, was unarmed, but the other two, guards, were armed. The two girls were confused, as the guards were wearing a black uniform with a strange emblem and the word GRAIL written across the left breast.
“Welcome! Welcome to GRAIL.” The first man declared, arms outstretched as if to welcome them, but the gesture was met with steely silence and glares. He seemed undeterred, and signalled for the two guards to release the girls. A boy leant against the doorway, about fourteen in age, with reddish blond hair and calm, emotionless grey eyes. As soon as he had appeared, an aura of calm swept over the angry pair, soothing all the worries and calming the stress.
“Thank you Alex.” The leader said, smiling at the boy. “Now, I understand that you are all wound up after your time spent with the GH, and your journey in the wilderness. I must admit you survived extremely well for people with no training.. I will leave you to rest.”

The man left the room, Alex following him. As soon as the boy had left, the aura of calm disappeared. Allyssianne paced around the white-walled room in an agitated manner, her face looking like thunder. The other girl, her friend, watched her from her place sitting on the floor with her back to the wall. There wasn’t much else to do until they came back. No, not much at all...

Two days passed in seemingly slow motion before the man came back again. They were kept occupied, given books to read, but they mainly sat on the beds that had been put in the room for them, thinking or talking about their experiences in quiet tones in case anyone was eavesdropping on their conversation. Allyssianne had taken to pacing the cell while Marny preferred to sit quietly in a corner, humming along to a tune that she had stuck in her head.

The two girls were in the middle of a meal when he knocked and entered. He smiled at them, but the girls were wary, and his smile faded at the cautious looks he was getting. He wondered what it was going to take for the girls to be able to trust him. The boys has trusted him almost right from the start, but the two girls seemed to be a lot more cautious, as if something had happened to shatter their trust in anyone outside of those that they knew already. He took a deep breath before addressing them.
“I’m going to come straight to the point here. I need you to help me.”
“With what?” Allyssianne asked suspiciously. Her head was turned slightly to the side so that she looked at him out of the corner of her eye.
“With bringing the G.H down. I understand that one of your number is still with them.”
The two snorted quietly. “Only the traitor.” Marny muttered.
“Traitor?”
“Illianna.” She clarified.
“Anyway, will you help us bring them down and save your friend? Whichever one you choose, we’ll get you safely back to your families.”

The girls conferred in low voices for a few moments, before the agreement was reached. Allyssianne felt uncomfortable about leaving Illianna with the GH, despite all that the girl had done to prove that she wasn’t a person to trust. They looked up at the man before nodding once in synchronisation. They would help him.


Two guards brought the boys to see them, and then the three adults left. Allyssianne made the first move, hugging Jamie tightly.
“You do know that she’s never going to let you go now?” Marny warned jokingly, and Allyssianne glared at her friend, and let go of the boy. Jamie gave a pretend gasp of air before smiling at Allyssianne.
“Sorry, but do you know if there was a girl in Moscow, red hair, called Illianna?” Asked one boy, the same one that the girls had seen two days prior.
“This is Alex,” Jamie explained, “Illianna is his sister.”
“You mean the traitor?” Allyssianne said.
“She’s not a traitor!” Alex snarled.
“Eh, yeah! She tried to kill me!” Marny spat.

A seemingly endless fog of sadness drifted over the teenagers assembled in the cell as Alex lamented his sister’s choice. It lasted for a few minutes before one boy, with pale blond hair and almost red eyes recovered.
“Alex! Snap out of it!”
The fog vanished as Alex shook his head, clearing his mind of the emotion. “Sorry Daniel.” He murmured, taking a deep breath before setting his face in a determined look. “We have to get Illi out of there.”
“Count me out.” Marny said. None of the others seemed too keen on the idea until Allyssianne stepped forwards.
“I’ll go.”

Chapter 18

The team started to protest, but Allyssianne raised her hand for silence, a few sparks of magic sparking from her palm. The team fell silent, watching her.
“I have to go back for her. Illianna tried to turn Marny against me. I need to show her that I don’t bear any grudges against her.” Allyssianne explained, praying to whatever god there was up in the heavens or down in hell that the rest of the team understood that it was just something she had to do to feel at ease.
Jack sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Ok, you can go on this mission, but someone has to accompany you. Not into the MMRL itself, but at least somewhere nearby so that whoever goes can radio back with any information needed.” A few murmurs whispered around the team like a ghostly wind that would only bring despair. Jamie looked up, flicking his dark brown hair out of his eyes.
“I’ll go with Allyssianne,” He said, throwing a smile at the sorceress, who’s heart flipped at the sight of it. She smiled back somewhat shyly. Marny shook her head jokingly, grinning at her friend.

That very evening, Allyssianne boarded a helicopter that would drop her a few kilometres away from Moscow. Jamie and Marny were with her, Caleb having preferred not to accompany his sister. Allyssianne was just making a few last minute checks on her parachute.
“You can still turn around.” Jamie told her, but Allyssianne grimly shook her head.
“I have to bring her back.”
Jamie smiled at her, the same smile that had made Allyssianne’s heart falter for a second. He took his parachute, strapping it on before checking that Allyssianne’s was on correctly, as this was her first time jumping. He turned to Marny.
“Make sure the other guys don’t kill each other, ok?” He said, winking at her just as the light in the helicopter turned green, signalling that it was time for the two Gifted to jump.

The hypnotist jokingly saluted the pair just before they leapt out of the helicopter, aiming to land in a small clearing just below them.

Chapter 19

Allyssianne felt the cold Russian air streaming through her black hair as she fell, counting in her head. On the count of eight, she yanked hard on the release cord, glad when she heard the rustling of the parachute billowing out to slow her descent.

It was oddly peaceful in the air, floating down towards the Earth. It gave her the much needed time to think over the things that had happened to her over the past two months. She had been kidnapped and observed like some sort of lab rat. She had escaped, been shot, travelled through a Russian forest, and then been found by GRAIL. Now she was part of a team, a team of people like her, the Gifted, and she was off on a rescue mission to save someone else who was like her.

The sorceress couldn’t help but smile as she enjoyed the flight down, but it was only then when she realised that she was off course, heading for the trees next to the clearing that she was supposed to be in. She pulled hard on the directional cords, trying to pull herself back on course, but the branches were so close, so close, she was going to land in them!

Jamie landed cleanly on the ground, and took off the parachute before looking around for Allyssianne. Seeing no parachute around, he started to worry slightly, but was reassured by the sound of swearing from the edge of the clearing. Striding towards the sound, he saw Allyssianne suspended from a tree, the ‘chute having caught on a branch. She was just undoing the final strap, and fell to the ground, where she picked herself up to see Jamie’s laughing face.
“No comment,” She warned, and pulled out a compass. Taking a reading, the sorceress then morphed into a wolf and loped away, followed by a sleek black panther.

Jamie relied on Allyssianne for the main part of the direction, because he didn’t know where he was going. She was carrying the bag with maps and the compass. He couldn’t help but notice the limp in Allyssianne’s foreleg getting steadily worse as she ran over the ground. He didn’t want to stop her and point it out, as she seemed so determined to complete this mission. He wondered why it meant so much to her.

Allyssianne trotted into the city, ducking and avoiding the busy streets. Her rough, thick coat was flecked with snow, but it didn’t bother her. Jamie, on the other hand, with his thin, sleek black coat was shivering slightly as the cold wind cut into him.

They stopped in the ruins of an old church, near the research centre. The two teenagers morphed back, and Allyssianne passed her backpack to Jamie, flicking her hair out of her face as she looked the boy straight in the eyes.
“If I’m not back within 24 hours, then go home. Do you understand?”
“I won’t leave you!”
“You must.”

Chapter 20

With those words, Allyssianne strode wearily towards the base. Jamie watched her go until she was lost from his sight. He took a blanket out of the bag, morphed into a panther, and lay down in a fairly warm pocket of air, blanket tucked around him to keep off the chill, to wait out the twenty four hours. His gaze was firmly fixed upon the point where Allyssianne had vanished from his view, hoping that she’d reappear soon.

Allyssianne’s pace flagged as she approached the entrance gate, heavily guarded as always. She was glad that she had never thrown out the white uniform they had worn before escaping, despite the fact that it was now varying shades of brown and green as well as ripped in several places from the hard trek to the clearing where Jack had found them. She took a deep breath, trying to set a determined face but her stride became slower and slower, and the fear started to mount, taking over her mind.

A guard jumped as he saw Allyssianne, and immediately pointed his gun between her eyes. The girl tiredly raised her hands in surrender before her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she collapsed in a heap on the ground. The guard, having recognised her as one of the Gifted, immediately radioed for back up. Several more armed men ran out of the base, and one picked the unconscious girl up and carried her inside.

Now lying on a bed in the medical wing of the base, Allyssianne came round again. There was a stabbing pain in her shoulder, where there was a scar from the bullet wound she had obtained a week or two back. She looked around groggily before coming back to her senses. Blade was there, watching her. She watched back, no expression on her face and no words escaping her mouth. As much as she hated his guts for locking them up for so long, she was back. She had returned to save Illianna, and she would complete this task, no matter the cost.

Blade watched her carefully as Illianna stepped into the room. Allyssianne made no move. Blade nodded curtly and left. Allyssianne laid her head back again before attempting to get up. Illianna walked towards her, and pressed down gently on her uninjured shoulder. Allyssianne narrowed her eyes.
“Don’t,” Illianna said. Allyssianne looked at her, and tried to move her arm, but it was strapped down. Panic started to creep up into her mind, paralyzing her.
“Calm down.” Illianna said quietly. Her voice gave Allyssianne something to hold on to until she could pull her mind back into sensible thinking.
“Why did you come back?” Illianna asked quietly.
Allyssianne sighed. “We debated about leaving you here, but Alex was really upset.”
Something sparked in Illianna’s eyes. “Alex? He’s alive? Is he ok? Tell me!”
“He’s fine,” Allyssianne assured the other girl. “He’s with the others.”
A weight seemed to be lifted from Illianna’s shoulders. “He’s my twin,” She said, “I haven’t seen him for two years now...”
“I can take you to see him.”
“You can’t...” Said a voice.

Chapter 21


Blade was leaning against the doorway again. Allyssianne cursed under her breath as she remembered the room of screens, her eyes wide as she watched him. He must have heard their conversation. He walked towards her, stopping a few metres away.
“We have removed the bullet from your shoulder, and installed a little device that will stop you having any more rebellious thoughts or plans.”
Allyssianne snarled at Blade. “You have no right to keep us here.”
“But I do,” Blade said with a small smile. “You see, I wiped your records clean. None of the Gifted exist in this world any more. Birth records, medical records, anything proving that you were ever there has been erased.”

Allyssianne was stunned. She watched him, her expression obviously betraying her thoughts judging by the pleased look on Blade’s face. Her eyes narrowed dangerously. “You’re talking out of your arse.”
Blade’s smile turned into a scowl as he took a small black remote out of his pocket. Adjusting something on it, he then tapped a switch.
Allyssianne gasped, electricity coursing through her nervous system, blinding her with pain. She twisted and struggled against the bonds, thinking that they were the reason for the surge. She begged Blade to stop the electricity, and he obliged a few moments later. Her anger started to boil in the back of her mind, and she struggled desperately to keep a hold on the magic she could feel
“You will address me as ‘sir’ or ‘master’.” He snarled.
Allyssianne summoned up her courage. She might manage to get herself thrown out. “You’re still talking out of your arse, sir.”
Blade flicked the switch again.

Allyssianne kicked out at the door of her new cell before hopping away, nursing her toes and making a mental note never to kick a reinforced steel door again. She looked around the cell again. Bare concrete walls and floors, about three metres by three. There was no furniture. Allyssianne curled up in a corner, and hoped Jamie was ok, and that he had had the sense to radio GRAIL and get himself back to them.
Allyssianne was still sitting in the corner, her knees tucked up to her chest when Illianna was thrown in as well. The girl lay there, shaking, for a few moments before she stood up and sat next to Allyssianne.
“How can we get out of here now?”
“There’s someone outside who can contact the others. We won’t be here for long...”

In the screen room, Blade scowled. Pressing a switch on the intercom, ordering a squad of guards to search the surrounding areas for anything suspicious.

Chapter 22

Jamie curled up into a tighter ball beneath his blanket in his corner, listening to the church bells toll the twenty third hour since Shadow had gone in. His ears pricked up as he heard the sound of snow crunching under boot, and pricked up his ears. Was Allyssianne coming back? But then he listened more carefully. There was more than two pairs of boots, and they were moving in formation. He musy have been found out!

The radio was carefully between his paws, but he moved it under the blanket and tried to resemble a dead animal of some sort as the torches flashed over him. He held his breath as they walked by. They hadn’t seen him for now, but he didn’t know if they’d be back. He listened to the bell tolling quarter past.
Only forty-five minutes... She should know that, she’ll be out with Illianna soon... He thought to himself, turning his gaze to fixate upon the spot where Allyssianne had vanished.

Jamie breathed out again, silently. That was a lucky break. He heard the bell toll the twenty fourth hour since Allyssianne had gone in, and with a heavy heart, he morphed back into his human self, and picked up the radio. He swallowed hard, and pressed transmit.
“Panzer to Hanger, Panzer to Hanger.”
“Hanger reading you,” Jack’s voice responded.
“Twenty-four hours past, no sign of Blackie.”
“Withdraw immediately, chopper sent to meet you.”
“We can’t leave her!”
“We don’t have another option. Hanger out.” And the radio went dead.

Back in GRAIL, Jack pushed his chair away from the radio equipment, his head in his hands, mentally kicking himself.
“This was a stupid mission. I never should have authorised it!” The Gifted were all gathered round, looking at each other. No one knew what to say. “I put two Gifted at risk for the sake of one more.”
“Jack,” Alex said quietly, “it’s my sister. Ally seemed to know what she was doing.”
“Yeah,” Marny agreed, “No one could have seen this coming.”
“Gwen would have...” Jack murmured.
The Gifted looked at each other again, but said nothing. This wasn’t their territory.
“So what do we do?” Holly asked.
“We wait for Jamie to get back here, and then we plan our next move.”

Chapter 23

Back in Moscow, Illianna watched from the sidelines as Allyssianne twitched on the concrete floor, Blade standing over her. She had never felt so helpless as she did now, watching one of her own friends, who had risked her neck to come back for her, tortured like this. In all her years at GH, she had only seen this spectacle once or twice.
“Where is GRAIL located!?” He demanded for the fourth time.
“I don’t know!” Allyssianne replied pleadingly, eyes squeezed tightly closed.
Blade gritted his teeth, and twisted a small dial on the remote controlling the device he had implanted into her neck. The girl cried out, begging him breathlessly to stop, but he refused. She held her head tightly, the electricity sending wave after wave of pain through her.
“Tell me where they’re located!” He ordered.

No matter how high Blade twisted the dial, her answer never changed. Eventually, he gave up and left. Illianna waited for a few moments before kneeling next to Allyssianne, hugging her. Allyssianne closed her eyes, wishing she could leave, and go back to a normal life, life before she knew about her magic. Life when the only excitement was getting up in the morning to go to school. She even wanted to go back to those boring Monday morning lets-all-fall-asleep-because-it’s-eight-in-the-morning-in-history classes.

The next morning, in Romania, where GRAIL was based, Jack walked into the room that had been set out for the Gifted to play in. Everyone could tell just by the look on his face that the news wasn’t good. He was holding a newspaper in his hands. Jamie looked up moodily from his book. He had been like that ever since he got back from Moscow. Marny stood up, and took the newspaper. On the page it had been opened to, there was a small picture of the Medical Research Centre that hid darker secrets in its sterile rooms. Marny read out the start of the article.
“In the early hours of this morning, a death was registered in the Moscow Medical Research Lab. Fifteen-year-old Allyssianne had been flown to the MMRL, suffering from a severe case of pneumonia lasting several weeks. The research staff did all they could to save her, but Allyssianne died at 4:03 this morning...”
“Rubbish!” Jamie yelled, throwing his book away. “She was fine just before she left!”
Jack rubbed his temples. “We need to get both of them out of there as soon as possible, but we have to consider that this case of pneumonia was just to cover up for her death in a different way...”

Chapter 24

Allyssianne and Illianna sat on a helicopter two days later, flying out to Romania. They didn’t know where they were headed until they were half way there. Both girls were on edge. Blade was keeping their chips activated, but at a low frequency so that they had an uncomfortable reminder of their situation. Allyssianne moved her hands, trying to keep the blood circulating through the rope binding them together. She was nervous. Attacking the others? It was practically a suicide mission! Nevertheless, Blade had ordered them to carry out the task.

Marny was restless, and her Manticore side wasn’t helping. She paced around the room, trying to think. She looked at the other girls, worried. And her worries were confirmed by one of the guards yelling about an attack.

Allyssianne and Illianna were walking towards the GRAIL complex, faces impassive, flanked by several soldiers. Their white uniforms were torn in a few places. Allyssianne’s face contorted into a look of pain for a split second in reaction to the chip in her neck.

On the other side of the yard, the GRAIL side stood in a line, ready to face their friends. No one smiled, no one showed any emotion. An aura of fear descended on the GH side, causing the soldiers to shift restlessly. Allyssianne was battling the fear, but Illianna was completely unaffected. The two GH Gifted wanted to shout out what was happening to them, but they knew the price. Death.

The advancing party stopped about thirty metres away from the defending party, and the battle of nerves began. Blade’s voice whispered through communicators fixed in the girl’s ears, telling them to attack. No one moved. He repeated the order, his voice becoming more threatening, and then the electricity grew until Allyssianne obeyed. She raised a hand, and shot a bolt of magic at the line of Gifted opposite her.

The bolt of magic missed the intended target, but it sparked off the fight. Marny was the first to retaliate on the GRAIL side, leaping forwards, morphing as she went. The other Gifted started to take care of the accompanying soldiers. It didn’t take long, and the GRAIL side now advanced on the two Gifted.

Allyssianne and Illianna put their hands on their heads in surrender, knowing that it would be suicide to attempt to fight their friends, and that they would rather be held captive here than with Blade.
“Kill us...” Illianna said quietly.
“We’re not quite that pissed off at you,” Daniel said, confused.
“If you don’t, he will,” Allyssianne murmured.
“He?” Caleb asked, but he didn’t get an answer as several GRAIL soldiers stormed out of the complex and took the pair inside.