Thanks to the lovely Bronte who made this poster for me <3 I meant to put it in the last one but clearly I didn't.
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Joseph pulled up outside the warehouse and we hopped out of the car. We hadn't had a chance to talk during the drive because he'd made phone call after phone call about organising my escape route.

'They seem eager to help,' I noted.

'Victoria's not exactly likeable. She's really tough and she's constantly firing people for the slightest mistakes. A lot of people turned down high paying jobs to work with her because she used to be an amazing scientist. She's discovered a lot of things about genetic structure and purposeful mutation. But now that all the fame and glory of discovering all those things has died down, she's become a bit bitter and twisted if you ask me. She docked Eduardo's pay last week, and he's out for revenge so he's happy to help,' Joseph explained.

'Why do you all stick around then?'

'Sometimes she'll do something, or say something that reminds us of the old Victoria, and it's an incentive to stay I guess.'

'I see, so you never actually told me why Victoria took us into the chambers in the first place,' I said, turning to look at Joseph.

He sighed deeply, 'I don't know really, I overheard something about her base being destroyed.'

'Her base?' I questioned.

'That's all I heard, well anyway, Martin, her PA reckons that she's still looking for her chance to prove to the government that she's ready to take on another batch.'

I stepped back completely confused. Victoria had a base? Another batch? Another batch of what? Were there more people like me? Like... us?

'Woah, okay, so there are more people like us?' I asked, shocked.

'Look, I don't know, I'm just repeating what I heard.' Joseph leaned back against the car and pulled out something from his pocket and stuck in his mouth. I recognised it as a cigarette. In science we did a whole topic on harmful substances that humans indulge in.

Joseph fumbled around a little more in his pocket and growled under his breath.

'Got a lighter?' He asked, the cigarette dangling as he spoke.

'A what?'

'You know, flint and gas and it makes fire.' He moved his hands in an arc as he said fire.

'Those will kill you.' I said, crossing my arms.

'I don't normally smoke, but my hands are shaking like crazy and this will calm me down, it has something to do with the...' And then he launched into a full scientific explanation of cigarettes. It was then that I remembered I was dealing with a nerd. I snorted at that. A nerd, I got that from the Breakfast Club.

I realised that I couldn't act like his mother, and he was doing me a massive favour, so what if he breathed in the same stuff that's in farts, if it got us to the middle quicker, I guess I had to let him.

'We're wasting time.' I noted, as he opened and shut consoles in the car.

'Are you sure you don't have a lighter?' He pleaded.

'I don't, but...' I focussed on the palm of my hand and a small orange flame formed on the surface.

I thought he might be scared, but he leaned down and examined the flame.

'That's amazing. It's like you're combusting, but you're not. Where is it coming from, your pores? I just, wow.'

'They never go into details.' I murmured, as he lit his cigarette.

'They?' He asked as he took a drag.

'Scientists: elusive creatures that take our blood and penetrate our skin with sharp objects.' I explained, repeating what Fidelia had said once. I felt a pang of worry, I hoped she was okay.

Joseph snorted, 'So vampires?' And then laughed.

'Vampires?'

'Sometimes I forget that despite the fact you are strong and smart, you are like a five year old. Vampires: a corpse supposed to leave its grave at night to drink the blood of the living by biting their necks with long pointed canine teeth, and apparently change you into a vampire if you survive the bite.'

'Are they real?'

'No.'

'Oh.'

Joseph dropped his cigarette and stamped it before blowing a plume of smoke out of his mouth. 'Let's go.'

**

I walked back into that dreaded warehouse. I had a white lab coat on, black shoes, clear safety goggles and a cap. Joseph had helped me tuck my hair under the hat and I now looked like a boy from behind.

'Keep your head down, let me do the talking.' Joseph had said before we entered.

We walked past a lot of people, none of them recognising me, luckily.

'This way.' Joseph hissed and turned a corner leading to a flight of stairs.

I followed him up, and up until we reached a heavy metal door. There was a caution sign in Portuguese saying to be careful in event of monsoon weather.

With a big heave, the door was pushed open and sunlight streamed into the stairwell. It seemed that we were on a roof. A man stood with his hands pushed into his pockets, behind him was a small boat moored to a post beside a ramp leading into a large channel of water.

'Magdalene, this is Eduardo, he designed the maze, and he'll help you get to your friends.'

'Hello.' I smiled.

Eduardo nodded his head and turned and started to prepare the boat.

'Joseph, thank you.' I looked at Joseph as he brushed a lock of dark, curly hair from his face.

He held out a card with writing printed on it. 'This has my number, address, email all that stuff. You're not as bad as I thought you were, so just, if you ever need my help, you know how to get to me.'

I took it from him and slipped it into my dry suit. 'Thank you, seriously.'

'Bye.' Joseph said, and started towards the door.

'Hey, Joseph' I called out.

'Yeah?'

'Ask that girl from the restaurant out. She really likes you.' I said.

'Really?'

'Yeah.' I grinned, and he grinned back, his eyes sparkling and his cheeks reddening.

Eduardo helped me onto the boat and I turned to wave to Joseph.

'Bye Joseph.'

'Bye Magdalene, be safe.' Then he slipped through the door and I thought that I was never going to see him again.

I realised quite quickly that Eduardo didn't speak much.

I tried more than once to strike up conversation, but each time I got a one syllable response so I gave up all together.

'Rest.' Eduardo grunted, and motioned towards a leather bench. I obliged and curled up on the seat, wishing I had a snickers bar in my pocket. Instead I had Joseph's contact details. I wondered if I'd ever need to use them, but quickly pushed away the thought. I am safe at the base; no one can hurt me there. I repeated this over and over in my mind. Eventually the gentle thrum of the motor and the lapping of the waves against the boat sent me into a dreamless sleep.

I was woken by Eduardo shaking my shoulder. I immediately leapt from the bench onto the balls of my feet, fists clenched. I relaxed once I realised who it was, Eduardo didn't seemed phased at all by my reaction.

'You swim from here.' Eduardo said, and pointed along the channel. 'Friends are all there.'

'Thank you Eduardo.' I said gratefully, and slid into the water.

'Be safe.' Eduardo called out as he started up the little boat and sped back the way we came.

Be safe. Joseph had said that too.

I took a deep breath and swam as fast as I could along the channel, my arms worked over time, out of the water, into the water, scoop, out of the water, into the water, scoop. I turned onto my side and took another breath before continuing.

Eventually I slowed as I found that I could touch the bottom of the channel. I continued to swim, but less urgently. Finally I heard voices.

'I told you she wasn't ready!' Fidelia shouted. 'What if she's been hurt? It will be entirely your fault.'

I didn't need to guess who she was yelling at. I sprinted out of the water and towards the voices.

'She wasn't ready!' Fidelia's voice cracked and I heard her sobbing, and then someone murmuring comfort.

I turned a corner and found myself in a large circle clearing. A helipad had two helicopters side by side on it, and both teams were scattered around them.

As soon as I saw Avery, the pain in my head ebbed. He was sitting on the ground, running his fingers through his damp hair.

He looked up, and a look of relief washed across his features. He stood and I launched myself into his arms.

'She's back!' I heard someone yell.

'Oh thank god!' Fidelia exclaimed.

Avery's arms stayed firmly wrapped around my back. 'I shouldn't have let you go.'

'Avery, I'm fine. Seriously, it was nothing I couldn't handle.'

'They could have killed you.'

'But they didn't.'

'But they could have.'

I sighed and pulled away. 'Look,' I turned in a circle, 'I'm absolutely fine.'

I felt someone place their hands on my shoulders and spin me around. Fidelia.

'Honestly. You could have been seriously hurt. What were you thinking?' She yelled.

'I was thinking, that I just saved your ass and you should be thanking me.'

Fidelia shook my shoulders. 'You are a nincompoop.'

'A nincompoop. Did you actually just call me a nincompoop?'

'I'm mad, I can't form intelligent insults right now.'

I laughed, but the excitement of our reunion was short lived. Mentor Christian strode over to us, an angered look plastered on his face.

'We have been waiting for you for over three hours. Where were you?' He spat.

My mouth opened and closed as I tried to come up with an explanation. I couldn't so I just said, 'Victoria.' Like that would explain everything.

Well apparently it did.

'I should have known.' Mentor Christian shook his head. He picked up his satellite phone and dialled a number.

'Hi, she's back.' Pause. 'Victoria.' Pause. 'We should have known really.' Pause. 'Yeah, twice before.' Pause. 'She's fine.' Pause. 'I'll ask hold on.' He turned to me, 'did you hear anything odd?' I shook my head. I did, but nothing that would help them. Mentor Christian went back to his conversation. 'No, nothing.' Pause. 'Well we can't come here anymore.' Pause. 'Pity.' Pause. 'Hmm.' Pause. 'Okay, righto, see you back at the base.' He then hung up and walked purposefully back to the helipad to fill in Mentor Peter.

'Who's Victoria?' Wyatt asked.

'A scientist.' I replied.

'Strange.' Wyatt furrowed his eyebrows in concentration, as if he was trying to work out a really difficult physics equation.

'Very.' I agreed, but he wasn't listening.

I turned back to Avery who looked at me with his green eyes. They looked so troubled, they always looked so troubled.

'Here's your pack.' He mumbled, and held it out.

'Thanks.' I took it from him and slung it over my shoulders.

'Are you okay? Was it painful like before?'

'Yeah I'm better now, but it was really bad if I'm honest.' I looked around to see a few people hopping into the helicopters. There wasn't enough to take everyone back to the planes so I assumed that we'd have to wait.

'Liveable though, right?'

'I guess.' I shrugged, wondering where this was going.

'Hey, hurry up, we saved you two seats!' I heard Karoline call, I slipped my hand into Avery's and gently tugged him towards the helipad.

I sat next to Avery for the trip back to the plane. There were eight seats including the pilots' seats.

Wyatt and Karoline sat in two next to each other and Karoline was laughing hysterically at something Wyatt had just said. Kermit and Fidelia sat together in the middle two seats, and Avery and I sat at the back.

We entered to hear Kermit saying to Fidelia, 'if you don't take a sedative, you can't sit next to me.'

Fidelia turned to me, 'well can I sit with you then?'

I shook my head and held my hands up. 'I'm with Kermit on this one, last time I sat next to you, you nearly broke my hand because you squeezed it so tightly.'

'Sisters before misters!' Fidelia's voice followed me to the back of the helicopter.

'He's not my mister,' I shouted back, as I looked up and smiled at Avery.

The helicopter ride was short and bumpy, so I was glad when it was over. We wanted to wait outside to get some fresh air before the long ride back to the base, but it was too cold, and my wet hair wasn't helping the situation.

I was tired, so I didn't mind having to wait in the plane. It meant I could catch up on my sleep. Unfortunately, Avery took the opportunity to take me through a massive debriefing of everything that happened in the warehouse.

'Can we talk about this later?' I asked, ignoring his persistent questions, and instead tore open my plane pack.

'It's kind of important.' Avery told me darkly. He was slowly going back into that dark shell that he had hidden himself in for so many years.

I didn't want him to go back into his shell. Sometimes I would see flashes of the funny, sweet and mischievous Avery, and I liked that.

'I know, I will tell you, later.' I said, and gave up rummaging. Apparently they had stopped putting snickers bars in the plane packs. I groaned and fell back against the seat. He furrowed his eyebrows and let out a sigh.

'Let's do something else.' I said.

'Like what?' Avery huffed, 'We're on a plane in the middle of-'

'The middle of Amapa, in a town called Macapa.' I repeated what Joseph had told me.

'Brazil.' Avery finished.

'Brazil.' I confirmed.

'I've always wanted to go to Brazil,' he said.

'Really?'

'Actually no, not particularly.' Avery said, and I laughed. We sat in contented silence.

After about three minutes Avery started to fidget, like me, he was bored. I looked around for something to amuse myself with, but Karoline had all the magazines stacked on her lap and was giggling with Wyatt who had torn the eyes out of the close up faces in the magazine, putting his eyes against the holes. 'My name's Wyattina, I'm vapid and seriously lack intellect...' then he crossed his eyes and attempted tried to flip his hair. I couldn't help but laugh too.

As I scanned the plane, something shiny caught my eye. It was under a seat and I used my telekinesis to bring it to me.

It was a small silver ball, about three centimetres wide in diameter. A thought struck me, so I pulled down the three trays in front of us. They were quite big trays and if you flicked a latch underneath them you could attach them together.

Next, I spotted some chopsticks in the small kitchenette thing and held out my hand. They flew into them and I took them out of the packet.

'What are you doing?' Avery asked, curious.

'Eliminating boredom.' I replied, pressing a finger into the plastic tray. It melted a small dent in the plastic and I stuck a chopstick in it before it hardened. I made two goals like this, well the goals were just two chopsticks side by side but I decided they were goal like enough.

'Okay, so, this is plane soccer.' I announced to Avery. He raised an eyebrow. 'No hands.' I added, and put mine behind my back. 'That's your goal, you have to try and make sure I don't get the ball in there.' I pointed to the two chopsticks nearest to him. 'And this is my goal. You have to try and get the ball in here.'

'Easy.' Avery grinned.

So we were only allowed to use telekinesis and that was all. Avery thought he could stop time and score goal after goal but I caught him out after the second time.

'Avery, you can't do that.' I growled.

'Fine.' He agreed although somewhat grumpily, and for an hour or so we played Plane silver. Fidelia came up with it and thought it was just so clever.

'It's a play on words. A pun.' She tried to explain. 'Silver, because the ball's silver and it's plain silver, P-L-A-I-N, but because we're on a plane, it's spelt plane silver, P-L-A-N-E.'

We all looked at her.

'What? Don't you get it? It's a joke.'

'We get it, it's just not funny.' Wyatt told her, and we all chuckled. I felt bad though and decided to go with Plane Silver.

Everyone ended up crowding around us as we played and were placing bets on who'd win each round.

'I bet on Avery.' Wyatt said, holding up a new type of chocolate bar that apparently everyone else had in their pack except me. 'Behold, a Moro.' He grinned.

'Thanks for your confidence.' I said sarcastically.

'Sorry mate, but I'm being realistic.' He told me, and I swore at him.

I won, and Wyatt lost his chocolate bar to Fidelia who had loyally betted on me. Avery looked across the plastic tray pitch at me and mouthed, I let you win.

Prove it. I mouthed back, and, to prove his point, he cleaned up the rest of the games. I tried to convince myself that he was just lucky, but I knew that he had beaten me. We moved out of our seats and let everyone else have a go. Mentor Peter even joined in, but because he didn't have any alms we let him use a spoon. He lost every game except for when Pansy felt sorry for him and grabbed a spoon herself.

After another hour everyone went back to their seats and either slept, watched movies or played games on the small screen in front of them.

I went to sleep and slept for the remainder of the trip. I awoke, curled up next to Avery who was absentmindedly stroking my hair. I then sluggishly made my way to my room where I intended on sleeping till the morning.

As it turned out, we'd been in Brazil for two days, and my body clock was all wrong.

I didn't even smell the white or the grey or even the disinfectant because I was so tired. Just as I opened the door to my room, Mentor Trudy called down the hall.

'Magdalene, you have a debriefing in the lab.'

'Seriously?' I groaned, and trudged down the hallway.

'Serves you right for bagging on Plane Silver.' Fidelia chided.

'I didn't!' I protested, but Fidelia winked and closed the door. I slapped my cheeks to wake me up a little.

'You've been getting in trouble again I hear? When are you going to learn? People aren't going to think you're a good soldier if you don't stop getting into trouble.'

I hadn't missed Mentor Trudy that was for sure. I took a deep breath in through my nose to calm myself, and the base seemed to smell slightly different, maybe a slight hint of beige.

'Beige,' I murmured.

'What?'

'It smells a little like beige.'

'How many times do I have to tell you? You can't smell colours.'

I just nodded and ignored her as she blabbered on about how her daughter Simone had gotten a prefect at her school, and she might be able to go on special leave to attend the ceremony.

Fidelia said she was just lonely, and often her loneliness came off as hostility. I told Fidelia that Mentor Trudy was just a bitch.

We finally got to the lab, and I waited for the beep that would let me in. The door beeped and I opened the door a crack and slid through, shutting it before Mentor Trudy and her big obnoxious mouth could follow me through.

Linda popped her head round the corner, 'Magdalene!' She pulled me into a big hug. She smelled like flowers.

'You smell nice.' I told her.

'You...' She took a sniff. 'You don't.' She laughed.

'Two days without showering in hot weather and a dry suit does that to you.' I replied, and attempted to smooth my frizzy hair down with my hands.

'Well, we will try not to keep you long. Come through.' Linda said, and ushered me through a door.

'We?' I asked, and my question was answered as I entered. Two more scientists sat around a table, and they motioned for me to sit down. I obliged and folded my hands in my lap.

'We just need to ask a few questions about the exercise, and what happened with Victoria.' The male scientist informed me.

'Okay sir.' I replied, and continued wringing my hands out of nervousness.

'Did you hear anything about Victoria?'

I thought about telling them what Joseph had said, but the base had told me as I was growing up that we were special, we were the only ones in the world, that maybe I wasn't supposed to know that there were others, or maybe there weren't others and Joseph had heard wrong.

So I lied. 'No sir.'

'Are you sure, not even something you picked up from the scientists and workers there?'

'No sir.'

'Okay, good. So tell us what happened.'

So I told them what happened. I told them about the vent, the gas and the chambers. I told them about my encounter with Victoria, but was careful not to tell them about Joseph, or the restaurant or Eduardo.

'I see. Well thank you.' He didn't look up and continued tapping his tablet.

I stood up to leave, but before I left the room I asked, 'is there something we should be worried about, with Victoria?'

The man coughed and looked taken aback. 'What? No, of course not, it's just a routine debrief.' He blinked rapidly and his lip lifted slightly. He was lying.

I nodded and left.

As I left, I heard the man tell the group, 'lucky she doesn't have telepathy.'

On the way back to my room, I started to think about everything I'd just witnessed in the lab. There was clearly something they were hiding from us.

I was going to find out what it was.

I strode purposefully back to my room, ready to tell Fidelia everything, but then I collided with Avery.

'Oops, sorry.' I apologised.

'I was, just, erm, waiting,' Avery told me.

Of course he was. No wonder I didn't have a headache.

'Oh, I'm sorry. Um, debrief.' I tried to explain, whilst for some reason gesturing wildly with my hands.

'I know.'

'Oh?'

'Fidelia.'

'Oh.'

And so as if automatically, we both walked side by side to Avery's room. I could barely contain myself as we went down the hallway. As soon as we entered his room, I opened my mouth and blurted out everything. I told him about the warehouse, and I didn't leave out Joseph, and I talked about Victoria and how there might be more bases, which meant more people like us, and lastly I told him about my very strange debriefing.

I flopped back on the bed and sucked in a breath. I closed one eye and traced my finger around the light on the roof.

'What if I'm right Avery? What then?' My voice came out a lot shakier then I intended. He was silent, mulling over what I had told him probably.

'What then?' I whispered again.

Avery sat down next to me and the bed dipped a little. 'Don't think about it too much. It's probably nothing.' He said it without conviction, and I didn't believe him.

'Probably nothing.' I yawned, struggling to believe it myself

And not for the first time that day, we fell into a very loud silence.

'It is loud isn't it?' Avery said quietly, almost as if he didn't think I would hear him.

I froze.

'What?' I asked.

'You said...'

'I didn't say anything.' I told him, and sat up.

'You didn't?'

'No.' I shook my head.

'Oh.'

'Oh.' I shook my head again.

'Did you develop telepathy?' Avery asked.

'Not that I know of...' When you developed it, everyone that had telepathy would project their thoughts into yours. You would get an intense headache, then pass out for at least an hour and then wake up and be fine. I think I would know if I got telepathy.

'Oh.'

'I think we need to tell Linda about this.' I said finally.

Avery shot up off the bed. 'No, no absolutely not.'

I stood up and faced him, although unfortunately I only came up to his chest so I couldn't look menacing. I tried anyway. 'Why do you hate her so much? We can trust her! I trust her!'

'We can't trust anyone Magdalene for god's sake! We can't trust anyone that isn't one of us.'

I looked at him grumpily and took a step back. 'What aren't you telling me?'

'Nothing, just trust me okay?'

'Trust you?' I scoffed.

'Damn it Mags, for once in your life can you just stop questioning everything. It's not safe to be asking these kinds of questions okay? Not now, not ever. Just drop it.'

I stormed out and tried to make my way to my room. However, Avery stayed in his room so I couldn't get to mine. It was meant to be a dramatic gesture, but I knew, and Avery knew that I wouldn't get very far. I'd had enough of it feeling like a group of toy soldiers had marched into my head and stabbed it with their bayonets, so I waited in the corridor for about ten minutes and then eventually sulkily walked back into Avery's room.

He was sprawled out on his bed reading my copy of To Kill a Mockingbird.

I cleared my throat.

'Hi.' He said, not even looking up from my book.

'I need to go and have a shower and get changed.'

'Okay.' He still didn't look up from his book.

'Avery.'

'Okay! I'm coming.' He slapped the book closed and stood up. I hadn't noticed but he had showered and changed into night clothes.

I didn't even wait for him before walking out.

'We should tell Fidelia.' I said, not even looking behind me to see if he had followed.

'Maybe.'

And then an awkward pause.

I sped my steps up and power walked down the hallway. Avery just sauntered along behind me, acting like this was just another walk in the park, not that I knew what that would be like, because I'd never been to a park but theoretically speaking.

I slammed my door in Avery's face. For effect.

'There you are! You've been in the lab for ages, tell me what happened. You know what I heard? The new male scientist is hot.' Fidelia showered me with questions. 'Go fish.' She then said to Tadpole who was sitting at the end of the bed with a set of cards in his hand.

'Damn.' Tadpole cursed and picked up a card from the middle.

'Have you got an eight?' Fidelia asked Kermit who was on the floor, his arms resting on the bed.

'Go fish.' Kermit replied.

'So?' Fidelia turned back to me.

'I'm having a shower.' I mumbled.

'A shower can wait. I can kick these little froggies out?' Fidelia offered, winking at Tadpole who was doing a backwards roly poly off the bed. He miscalculated and hit the floor with a thud. Fidelia cracked up laughing, and when Tadpole tried to stand up, Kermit swept his legs out from underneath him and Tadpole fell to the floor again.

'No, the little froggies can stay. I'll be back soon. Oh, and Avery's loitering outside like a criminal just so you know.' I told her, and started rummaging around in my drawers for my night clothes, a towel and clean underwear.

'Avery, huh?' Tadpole waggled his eyebrows.

'Shut up.' I groaned, but I could help but smile. There was just something about Tadpole, maybe the sprinkling of freckles that were spattered across his little button nose, or his contagious smile and endless positivity.

'Got an eight?' Fidelia then asked Tadpole, who groaned.

'Oh man, I was just about to ask you!' He handed the eight of spades over grumpily.

I walked out and spotted Avery leaning against the wall. 'They're playing go fish. Join them and stop acting like a sociopath.'

'Sociopath is a little extreme don't you think?' He asked with a smirk.

'What would you rather I use then?' I huffed impatiently.

'I'm not sure, maybe handsome, or mysterious, or, or, this is a good one, delightful.' Avery replied, his voice absolutely dripping with sarcasm.

'Or, or, this, now this is a great one.' I turned to him. 'What about abhorrently obnoxious?'

Avery put his hand over his heart and feigned being stabbed. 'Ouch, such big words for such a little girl.'

'Go fish.' I said, and headed off in the direction of the showers.

**

'Go fish!' I heard Tadpole shout as I walked up the corridor. My towel fell from my shoulder and I bent down to pick it up. As I stood, someone barrelled into me and I dropped it again.

It was Wen.

'Oh, gosh, Mags I'm so sorry.' She stumbled and quickly gathered it up and thrust it at me.

'It's fine, don't worry about it.' I told her with a smile. She bounced on the spot looking like an excited puppy when you teased it with a tennis ball. I planted my hands firmly on Wen's shoulders, and even though she was a year and a bit younger than me, she was still taller and so it was a little difficult. 'Wen, what's up?' I asked and raised my eyebrows.

'It's nothing, it's just that, well, Linda's put a movie on in the lounge and she's made this food called Popcorn-' She rolled the word around on her tongue and the 'o' was a really long sound so it sounded like 'Popcoooooorn.'

'- and anyway apparently its corn that's been popped and it looks like puffy clouds and it's supposed to be amazing!' Wen babbled and I took my hands off her shoulders.

'Cool, tell her I say hi.' I told Wen, who didn't hear me because she had already bolted up the corridor and into the lounge.

I heard screaming and I rushed into my room where Fidelia was jumping on the bed, sending the cards flying everywhere.

'I won! I won! I told you I would!' She screeched and bounced up and down. 'That will be one Moro bar please Big Frog.' Fidelia hopped gracefully off the bed and held her hand out expectantly in front of Kermit's face.

Kermit grudgingly pulled a slightly bent Moro bar out of his pocket and Fidelia snatched it before he could pull his hand away.

Avery was sitting on my bed with Tadpole, engrossed in what looked like a very violent game of Pinch, well Tadpole was being violent. Avery was wincing but not making a sound, he was clearly a lot softer on Tadpole, who was grinning ear to ear.

I looked at the clock on the wall. It was getting late, two minutes to eleven.

'It's getting late.' I said, but no one was listening.

Then Kermit sprinted in front of me and I staggered backwards. He flung the door open and scampered down the hall.

'Kermit you bloody ugly toad! Give me back my Moro!' Fidelia squealed and chased him.

Tadpole looked at Avery and grinned, before tearing off after them.

'Bye little Frog.' I called out.

I sighed and picked up all the cards and counted them before sliding them back into the packet. I was just tucking the sheets in on Fidelia's bed when Avery's voice cut through my cleaning haze.

'I went back and looked for you.' His voice was hoarse, like he hadn't spoken in a long time.

I grunted something incoherent and fluffed up some pillows.

'At the warehouse I mean. I went back.'

I exhaled and folded a spare blanket.

'I overheard some guy talking about you, although he thought your name was Gwen. Very clever by the way.'

I inhaled and flattened out the crinkles in the duvet.

'I came back for you Magdalene.'

I stopped cleaning and stood back, admiring my bed making skills.

'Look, I'm sorry okay? For being abhorrently obnoxious.' He got up from my bed and made his way over to me.

'And not being delightful.' I added, not daring to look him in the eye in case I melted into the floor.

'And being slightly sociopathic.'

'Slightly.'

'But at least I'm not an ugly toad,' Avery stated.

'Thank you for coming back for me.' I looked up at him, and into his sparkling emerald eyes.

'I'll always come back for you.' He said.

And then he kissed me.

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Authors note: Hi, I'm back and not dead like it may have seemed. I've finished my exams so I wrote a really long chapter to thank you all for waiting patiently, although some not as patiently I'm talking to you Hannah Davis ;) nah I love yah. I'll try and update as frequently as I can. I was trying to finish by the end of the year but If I'm going to be honest it probably won't be done by then.

Well anyways, thank you so much for 1.6k reads wow that's exciting. Almost close to 2k. Just kidding it's not but I'm being ambitious.

Love you all <3