After that call, we contemplated in silence for a minute.

"Can we track the call?" I asked softly.

Dad shook his head, "already tried but there are some strong signals blocking it."

"What do we do?" Oscar asked despondently.

"We could send the video to our technicians and see if they can glean any information?" Jax suggested.

Lisa sighed and ran a hand through her hair, "it's our only choice. Let's hope they'll find something."

X

It's been five days. Each day I was beaten and battered. Sure, it's less than what I used to have, but it still hurt. My mood rapidly deteriorated and I was dishing out my usual sarcastic remarks rather than the sweet smile and kind words.

"Hello," I looked up to see MT standing there. My cracked lips quipped into a smile and I returned the greeting. MT was, by far, the nicest person out here- but that wasn't saying much considering the only other people I had contact with threatened to kill me. At least MT was polite about it. I didn't see MK after that night. MT and FT told me that I would be meeting the 'Big Boss' later in the week. I didn't like the way FT was smirking at me.

Today, I had a feeling. I felt like something was going to happen- whether good or bad, I didn't know.

The kicks and punched begin, but I can barely feel them over the anxiety gnawing at my stomach. Afterwards, I drifted off into a restless sleep.

X

A couple hours later, I felt someone shaking me awake.

"Wake up," she hissed and I groaned, opening my eyes blearily.

The person had a mask covering their face, apart from their eyes which were a bright green. They furiously cut the ropes that bound me and hauled me to my feet.

"Once you leave this cell, take a right then left. You will see a wooden door. Go through it and start running as fast as you can. Don't look back. Take this gun for protection," she pressed the weapon in my hand.

I nodded and quickly left, muttering a quick 'thank you' as I went, hoping she was a friend and not a foe. There was no time to ask questions. I followed the woman's instructions and went through the wooden door that she described. My body was drowsy with pain ans sleep, but my mind was as sharp as a tack. I gripped the gun tightly. The door lead outside and I blinked rapidly in the dying sun, unused to the sudden light.

I heard someone shout and the thud of footsteps running behind me. I heard guns and fists clash and soon, the air was filled with tortured screams. However, I didn't look back. My bare feet slapped against the concrete and I concentrated on the dense woods in front.

The shortest distance between any two points is a straight line, my mentor's- Milly- voice rang in my mind, when being chased, go in different directions to confuse your assailants.

My body seared with pain, but I didn't stop. I heard bullets I hiding about and ducked behind a boulder, breathing heavily. If I was completely healed, I would have had little problem. I leaned against the rock and peeked over the top getting my gun into position and seeing roughly 6 people advancing cautiously towards me. I fired. They dived and rolled at my bullets. I managed to take three down before running out of bullets. I threw the gun and ran, hearing them shout and follow me.

I kept running. I zig-zagged all over the place and tried to increase the distance between me and my attackers. Then I did the stupidest thing imaginable.

I tripped on air.

Gasping, I landed face first in the dirt. The footsteps behind me stopped, but I kept going. I clawed my way through the debris, cutting my damaged stomach on rocks.

Suddenly, I somebody picked me up from behind. I flailed and trashed, successfully getting free. I knew I wouldn't be able to outrun them; that left me with one choice- to fight. I faced my three chasers and got into position. If they were surprised to see a battered 15-year-old girl trying to fight them, they didn't show it.

Unexpectedly, the three of then stiffened and went limp, collapsing in a crumpled heap. My heart was pounding and I looked up warily to see my saviours.

It was my brothers.

Elijah, Daimen and Brandon were glaring at the fallen people, but their expressions softened when they saw me. I limped of to them, my shoulders sagging with relief.

"Hi," I croaked, grinning, "you took your time."

Daimen chuckled, "sorry sunshine, traffic was murder."

I looked at him in shock. Did he... did he just make a Heroes of Olympus reference? I filed that away in my brain to ask about later.

"Come on," Elijah said, smiling, "let's go home," he looked at me feet and frowned.

"Yeah, they took away my shoes when I came here," I laughed lightly, "my feet really hurt."

Wordlessly, Elijah picked me up, bridal style. I was surprised at how easily he managed it. I remembered him picking me up when I was little, when I was either tired or hurt. I could tell he was thinking the same thing.

Silently, the four of us walked in the woods. I had no idea where I was going, but I trusted them.

Soon, we reached a black van. Daimen tapped the door sharply and it slid open, revealing a very worried David and Lisa.

"Oh thank God!" Lisa sighed when she saw me, taking me from Elijah's grasp. Upon seeing my bruises, her face contorted angrily, but she relaxed and smiled. She bandaged my feet and told me to get some rest. But I was too pumped up with adrenaline to sleep.

David's phone rang and he answered it, "we got her," he stated happily, "blow the place up."

I heard a loud BOOM! And deduced what happened next.

The car started and I leaned back in my seat. There were 5 seats opposite me, on which David, Lisa, Elijah, Julian and Brandon sat. On my side was Will, Daimen, me and Oscar.

The West-Brown family were silently making plans on how to brutally murder the people who hurt Iris as they saw her bruises. They looked sadly at their little Princess.

Suddenly, Iris started crying. She buried her face in her hands and her shoulders racked with sobs as the last few days finally hit her. Daimen wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gently pulled her towards him, like he used to do when Iris was younger and upset. Iris hugged him and cried into his shirt as her older brother held her tight and whispered kind words in her ear.

She pulled away after a minute and shakily wiped away tears. The rest of the family tried to make her smile, and were successful too.

The family felt the barrier slowly disappearing between them and Iris.