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The hours dragged on and on. Jake snored loudly behind Elijah, and Zoe was playing a game on her phone. Elijah, on the other hand, continued watching the streets. No officers had stepped foot on the sidewalk he was parked beside yet, but he still wouldn't let his guard down. He was so close, and he wasn't going to rest until he had Ronan in his grasp.

His heart beat a little faster while he plotted. He wasn't going to leave Zoe and Jake someplace while he chased down Ronan's ride, so he couldn't crash the truck into the doctor's car this time. No, he was going to have to rely on Jake or Zoe to either shoot Ronan's tyres or drive the truck so that he could shoot. The latter was probably the best option.

He tapped his fingers on her thigh and watched a man walking his dog cross the road up ahead. Then, he shifted his sights to the woman who came out of one of the houses not too far away; she swept the sidewalk and went back inside.

"Where did you learn about eating hearts?" Zoe suddenly asked, and she sounded nervous.

Elijah frowned and looked at her. He thought about it, recalling the moment he first tore someone's heart out, ate it, and gained their knowledge. "I don't know. When I escaped the lab, I killed a detainer, and I planned to keep running, but it was like some kind of instinct, I guess. I felt like I had to eat it, so I did, and I suddenly knew where he was heading and how to get off the island. I probably wouldn't have ever found that boat if I didn't learn what he knew," he explained slowly. "But the instinct wasn't like what I feel when I'm hungry; it came out of nowhere—like something inside me knew that I needed to know how to get off the island and eating that guy's heart would give me the answers."

Zoe's nervous frown thickened with confusion. "That's really unusual."

"Why?" the demon questioned.

She shrugged. "It's just not something you see every day."

He didn't reply. He set his sights back on the road ahead of him and rested one of his legs over the other.

Jake snorted and stopped snoring. He groaned, grunted, and sat up. "Ugh, it's still daytime?" he complained and checked his watch. "What time are we making a move? What's even the plan?"

Elijah crossed his arms. "Ronan leaves the El'Vorian Horizons building at eight on the dot. He reaches the town's northeast exit at eight-fifteen, where a police escort will be taking him to his home in the hills. We're going to follow him, take out the escort, and cripple Ronan's car. I grab him, find out what I need to know, and then we get the fuck out of here and find Haru."

"So...easy-peasy, huh?" Jake mumbled.

"You'll be driving," he told the pardus.

"Wait, you're shooting from the car?" Zoe questioned.

"I don't have my bike anymore, and I can't leave you two somewhere unsupervised, so yes," he answered.

Zoe frowned worriedly. "I don't like this."

"What if there's more than one police car?" Jake asked.

"There won't be," Elijah muttered.

Jake huffed irritably and leaned back in his seat, and Zoe went back to her phone.

Elijah considered sleeping; there were still fragments that he needed to understand, but he didn't want to risk it. He had to remain vigilant. So he stared out of the window, watching the street as the afternoon grew later. He tapped his claws against his thigh, jolted his leg up and down, and did everything he could to keep his mind from running and his body from falling asleep.

But like they always did when he found himself ensnared by silence, Elijah's thoughts quickly seized control. He was so close to finding where Haru was that the only thing he could think about was how Haru felt. It had been a year since he last saw him, and he didn't know if Haru had heard of his escape, but he dreaded how he might react when he saw Elijah.

He knew Haru, though, and he never seemed like the resentful type. And it wasn't like Elijah could have found him any faster; if he could have, he would have, but he'd faced so many obstacles, spent too long hiding from detainers and hunters and whatever else Lyca Corp. sent his way, and now he had to deal with Zoe and Jake, too. But he was still looking for Haru...and he was going to find him very soon.

The sun was setting. He reached back and grabbed Jake's wrist, checking the time. It was 7:52 p.m.; Ronan would be leaving El'Vorian Horizons in eight minutes.

Elijah shoved Jake. "Wake up." And then he looked at Zoe, who switched her phone off and stared expectantly at him. "We're leaving."

Jake sat up and groaned loudly, and when Elijah started the engine, the pardus shook his head and asked, "Uh...ain't I driving?"

"I'll take us to the exit," the demon muttered as he slowly drove to the end of the road. "The last thing I need is you freaking out if we come across the police."

"I wouldn't freak out," he said, crossing his arms.

"Yes, you would," Zoe replied.

Jake scowled irritably at her. "Why are you being so mean to me?"

"Why do you think? You could have gotten us killed!" she exclaimed.

"I said I saw sorry!" he shouted. "I didn't mean for any of that to happen!"

"What did you think was gonna happen when we were told that it's dangerous to use our phones?!" she questioned angrily.

Elijah snarled irritably as he turned the corner and headed towards the northeast exit; before Jake could try and reply to Zoe, the demon growled, "Can you save this shit for later? I'm trying to concentrate."

Zoe didn't say anything else, she just sighed irritably.

Jake went silent, too.

When he set his eyes on the north-east exit—which looked like a wide archway with a small line of trees on either side—Elijah pulled over and parked behind a van but left enough space so that he could see the road that Ronan would have to drive on to get out of town.

He glanced back at Jake. "You're up," he said and got out of the truck.

Jake got out, too, and switched places with Elijah. He sat in the driver's seat and put his seatbelt on, and then he looked at the demon, who sat in the back and started making sure that his weapons were loaded. "So, you just want me to follow this guy, right?"

"You'll follow behind the police escort, but not too close or they'll get spooked. Once we're on an open road, preferably a highway that isn't too busy, I'll take out the escort, and then you'll drive up as close to Ronan's car as possible so I can take the tyres out. Got it?"

The pardus nodded nervously. "Uh...yeah."

"Just drive and focus on the road," Elijah muttered, holstering his pistols back inside his jacket.

"What happens if we get chased by the police?" Zoe asked.

"I'll deal with it," the demon mumbled.

She looked horrified. "I don't want to get into trouble!"

"Calm down," he grumbled as he leaned back and watched the road. "I'll try to kill as few of them as possible. The last thing I need is to be on their most wanted list all throughout Nefastus."

"Oh, my God, I didn't even think about the most wanted list!" she exclaimed worriedly.

Elijah sighed—he was getting aggravated. "Just fucking stop," he snarled. "Lyca Corp. can't put us on it on their own because the cops would ask too many questions."

Zoe didn't say anything else.

The demon kept his eyes on the road, waiting. Every time he saw a car pass, his heart raced, and anticipation gripped him tight, but there was no police escort following any of them. He scowled impatiently, tapping his claws on the door handle—but then he saw red and blue flashing lights reflecting off the windows by the street corner, and when a black estate car drove out the town exit, a police car trailed behind it.

That was him.

"Go!" Elijah insisted.

Jake nodded nervously and pulled away from the sidewalk; he drove to the exit and turned out of it, following fifty feet behind the cop car.

Zoe sunk down in her seat, holding her dog closely.

Elijah rolled down his window. "Get me a little closer," he instructed.

"Uh...okay," Jake said anxiously and sped up.

The demon pulled out one of his pistols and focused on the police car. There were four humans inside, and they were likely armed, but if he could blow out the tyres and send the car rolling along the road, they wouldn't be a problem, and it wouldn't get him on their most wanted list—they wouldn't see his face, either.

He wasn't going to waste a moment longer. Elijah leaned out the window and aimed at the tyres; he fired two shots, but his bullets didn't blow the tyre out, and although his weapon was silenced, the police now knew that they were there.

"Shit," he snarled.

"What?" Jake panicked.

"The car's got resistant tyres—get alongside it."

"What?"

"Get alongside the fucking car!" Elijah shouted as two of the officers leaned out their windows and started shooting at their truck.

Zoe screamed and slid down even more, whimpering as her dog barked.

Jake did as he was told and sped up, panicking as bullets burst through the windscreen. "What do I do?!" he exclaimed, coming up on the car.

Elijah leaned forward as Jake drove up beside the cops; he grabbed the wheel and yanked it to the left, crashing the truck into the side of them. He then quickly steered to the right, and while the force of the collision sent the cop car rolling off the side of the road, Elijah set his eyes on Ronan's vehicle. He was trying to get away.

"Catch up to him," he growled.

Breathing frantically, Jake nodded and put his foot down.

Elijah kept his eyes on Ronan's car as Jake slowly caught up to him; he swerved onto a forest road in a pathetic attempt to escape, but the pardus followed, gaining on him.

"What now?" Jake asked.

"Keep on him," Elijah answered as he leaned out his window again. He aimed at Ronan's tyres; the guy kept swerving all over the road, but that wasn't going to stop him. He concentrated, and when he fired, his bullet cut through the front tyre of the estate car, and Ronan's swerves became attempts to keep his vehicle steady, but when Elijah shot a back tyre, too, Ronan turned uncontrollably until his car came to a slow, screeching stop.

Jake slammed on the breaks, too.

Before the truck even stopped, Elijah got out and raced over to Ronan's car. The old, whimpering man was trying to climb out, but the demon snatched his throat and pinned him against the side of his car before he had a chance to run.

Ronan yelped in horror. "I-it's you!" he cried. "Please don't kill me!"

Elijah snarled in his face, baring his fangs. "You know what I want to know, so how about you tell me without making a huge fucking fuss and maybe I'll let you live," he lied.

The man gulped and shuddered. "N-no, I don't know!"

He tightened his grip around Ronan's throat, making him choke. "Tell me where Haru was transferred to," he growled.

"W-who?"

"0547."

Ronan laughed nervously. "I-I can't remember that off the top of my head, man!"

Elijah didn't have time for this. He lifted his free hand—

"Look out!" Zoe screeched, hanging out the car window.

The demon reacted swiftly, grabbing Ronan's wrist with his free hand before he could stab him with his stupid little knife. "You really shouldn't have done that," he growled and crushed the man's wrist in his grip, making him howl and cry as he dropped the blade. Elijah then mercilessly plunged his hand into Ronan's chest and tore his heart out.

"Oh, God, you're not gonna do that again, are you?" Jake complained as he and Zoe hurried over to him.

Ignoring him, Elijah took a large bite out of the dead man's heart, dropping his body to the ground. But what he learned as he consumed it perplexed him.

"What is it?" Zoe asked, stopping beside him.

Elijah learned a lot...but he didn't know what to make of it. Haru had been moved to a lab in a place called The Spear, but it was no place he knew of. The lab where Haru was being held was another Lyca Corp. black site, one hidden away from the rest of the world. Somewhere...beyond an ice wall? He frowned and looked down at Zoe.

"What?" she asked.

"He's...in some place called The Spear...beyond an ice wall?" he told her unsurely.

"What? The Ice Wall?" she questioned, wide-eyed.

"That's what this guy knew," he muttered, kicking Ronan's corpse. "But he's never been there, so all I have are names." He then adorned a skeptical glare. "Do you know where it is?"

"Um..." she drawled. "Well...I mean...loosely."

"The Ice Wall?" Jake asked excitedly. "You mean the Ice Wall that blocks off like a whole other part of the world? That Ice Wall?"

Elijah frowned again. "What's The Ice Wall?"

"Well...it's this big wall of ice that—"

"It's a huge blockade of ice that everyone thinks surrounds the edge of the world, but there's actually this secret way through, and on the other side, there's a whole undiscovered part of the world—supercontinents," Jake interjected, speaking so fast that it was almost hard to understand what he was saying. "But it's incredibly dangerous, and apparently guarded by like...monsters and shit—and some people say the super-rich, too, for some reason."

Zoe sighed. "He's a bit of a conspiracy theorist."

"But it ain't a theory—not anymore," Jake said smugly, crossing his arms. "I told you it was real. I fucking knew it."

"I mean, I kinda knew it, too," Zoe mumbled.

Elijah wasn't surprised to hear that there was more to this world, nor was he shocked that Lyca Corp. had already staked their claim out there. But he was only interested in two things. "Where's the way through, and how do we get there?"

Zoe looked nervous. "Well...from what I heard, it's off the Ascelan coast, but Ascela's really dangerous now; it's locked down everywhere after the whole cadejo virus thing. There's Venaticus and Vârcolac all over the place."

The demon frowned. "Cadejo?"

"Uh...the mutant wolf walkers that Ridge mentioned; I told you about how something escaped from a lab out there and spread a disease. The infected were called cadejo."

Jake shivered and grimaced. "I heard stories."

"You can get us through, though, right?" Elijah asked her. "You have your cousin who works for the Venaticus."

"Um...maybe. I don't know the security situation. If I ask my cousin, though, he's probably gonna want to come, and we don't want that," she said, shaking her head.

Elijah huffed irritably. "How do we get past this wall?"

Zoe frowned unsurely. "Uh...."

"I'd say going by air is probably best," Jake said. "It's probably safer, too. I heard that there's monsters in the water—they're in the sky, too, but I'd rather like...crash on top of the ice than sink into the sea, you know?"

"I'd rather not either of those things happen," Zoe muttered.

Just then, distant sirens snatched Elijah's attention. He sharply turned his head, seeing the red and blue glow of police lights in the distance. "We need to move," he said, grabbing both their wrists as he hurried back to the car.

They didn't argue with him. Zoe climbed into the passenger seat, and Jake rushed into the back as Elijah took the wheel. He immediately put his foot down and raced off down the road; the last thing he needed was a police chase. He had a lot of questions, but there'd be time to ask them later. Right now, he had to focus on getting off the road and as far away from Flinnwick as possible.

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