The chances of this plan working were so close to zero it was a miracle it was even happening. Clearly spy thriller films could only teach someone so much about the exact art of espionage. After out brief discussion in the hotel room, we'd done a sweep of the whole hotel and realized that someone who was instructed not to let us out guarded every exit out of here. Therefore, Plan B was to have Zahra punch us a way out of here. However, Rose wasn't too big on violence so Plan A went with plain deception. It was honestly the worst plan I'd ever made in history.

"Ma'am is there a reason you are leaving with your luggage in hand? Your checkout time isn't until tomorrow." Oh great the receptionist was here; an incredibly annoying middle-aged man that had a high pitched whiny voice.

"Oh you see the wheels of our suitcases are slightly wobbly and we wanted to get them fixed nearby," Rosaline said. I resisted the urge to bang my head against a wall or something. This wasn't going to work. Oh my god this was so stupid.

"All of your suitcases? At the same time," he asked while raising an eyebrow. Exactly. We should have just gone for Plan B.

"Yes. Freaky coincidence isn't it," Zahra butted in. I resisted the urge to burst out laughing. He wasn't dumb. He knew exactly what we were trying to do and sure enough, he was going to stop us.

"Ma'am would you care to open your suitcase," he asked, gesturing to Rosaline's bag. She was just about to retort when another man came to stand by Steve. Immediately, every one of my instincts flared up. It was like I wanted to fold into myself until no one could see me anymore. He was a tall man, broad yet lean with the coldest eyes and the palest skin I'd ever seen. When his green eyes fixed on me, I almost melted into a puddle on the ground out of primal fear he seemed to wear like cologne.

"I don't think that will be necessary Steve. Is there a problem?" His voice was saccharine sweet, velvet, and immediately, I felt like myself once again. What the hell just happened? Who was he?

"Our suitcases are damaged," Rose stuttered out. Clearly she was feeling just as weird as I was. Something was wrong about this man but I couldn't put my finger on it. He'd been nothing but gracious so far.

"Oh we'll have the staff tend to it right away," the strange man suggested while waving over some of the staff. Zahra was quick to swoop in.

"There's no need. We'll get it done ourselves."

"Very well. Steven please let them leave." Steven's eyes bulged out of their head as he stared at the cold man. Shock personified. There was definitely some story behind this man but I could care less about it now. He was actually letting us leave!

"Sir but," Steven interjected.

"Steven." Gone was that saccharine voice and in its place was blunt authority without a hint of respect. I could almost swear his eyes flashed red for just a second before he turned to us with a smile once more.

"Thank you," I said without meaning to. Something flared in his eyes for a second but was gone the next.

"It's best that you leave right away. The island isn't the safest place at night," he said cautiously. There was nothing odd about his words. It could have even come out of some protective concern he felt for a group of young girls leaving the hotel late at night. I may have believed that explanation if it weren't for the way he emphasized the word 'leave' and drew it out.

And in that moment I knew deep down. When we locked eyes, a sensation I hadn't felt since that dreadful night in the beach arose once again. Primal fear but more importantly, that feeling that someone was watching every breath you inhaled and every step you took. No one had ever looked at me with such unforgiving forwardness.

He was the one I'd seen in the woods. And that meant he was the one that had killed Alia just minutes after I'd seen him on that fateful day. Those green eyes had been the last things she'd seen, that fear the last thing she'd ever felt. It took every ounce of self-control I had to shut down the urge to tackle him onto the ground and beat the living shit out of him. He exuded power and brute strength, to which I was no match. Rosaline's hand on my shoulder had me stopping from trying to kill him anyway. We needed to leave and he was giving us a way out. Focus. Breath. Make the right choice, I told myself, slowly making a fist before releasing it.

But Rosaline and I had forgotten about Zahra.

And Zahra, for all her talk of putting us first and not getting into any more danger, wasn't going to let this opportunity go. With a scream that was part human, part beast, she launched herself at the man, about to punch him straight in his porcelain face that deserved to crack into a million shards. I heard Rosaline scream Zahra's name and involuntarily, I closed my eyes.

The punch never landed. The cry of pain I'd been waiting for never came. When I opened my eyes, he held her fist in his hand so calmly, like it took no effort before turning to Steven who was just gawking at the scene before him. It took me a minute to realize I was doing the same and I quickly snapped my mouth shut.

"Steven make sure these ladies get where they need to go," the man requested. Fear, actual fear had my knees shaking at how easily he held back Zahra, how still his face had been, almost bored. He looked like a pure predator and if I didn't think that the thought made me sound crazy, I would have voiced it out loud.

This man wasn't human. Those reflexes, the focus, the unnatural stillness was something of horror movies. Before I could even begin to recollect my thoughts onto a sane path, Steven was shoving the three of us out the door to a car that waited outside. Zahra was staring at her fist like it had suddenly turned blue and due to both of our flabbergasted states, Rosaline took control of the situation as she put our suitcases in the back and requested our location to the taxi driver. He raised an eyebrow at the word airport but drove off anyway.

"Thank god that's over," Rosaline said as she leaned back in her seat. I wasn't so sure about that. Until we reached Brooklyn, I wasn't really going to be sure about anything.

"He stopped my fist. How the hell did he stop my fist," Zahra muttered as she turned her fist around over and over again. I didn't want to share my, 'he's not human'; theory so I kept my mouth shut and let Rosaline do the talking.

"Fast reflexes Zahra. What else could it be?"

"He killed Alia like that. God she must have been terrified." I could see it now. She was like a petite little pixie. It must have been so easy, the perfect encounter between predator and prey. But on some level it was also reassuring knowing that we couldn't have saved her no matter what.

"Whatever it is, the nightmare is behind us guys. It's all going to be okay," Rosaline soothed. At least one of us was happy about all of this. I realized I'd been sitting ramrod straight in my seat and I slowly leaned back. Maybe I should be happy about all of this. But I could only feel guilt, for not avenging Alia and for leaving the boys behind without so much as the right explanation.

"I'm not leaving this island," Zahra said. Rosaline's head snapped around to look at us form the front seat. Shock, fear and anger all passed her face.

"Zahra have you lost it," she finally managed to choke out. If we'd been on the ground, now would have been the time Zahra would have started pacing. Her restlessness was disconcerting to say the least.

"I thought I could leave knowing it was keeping you two safe but after seeing that guy, knowing what he did, I can't leave without doing something about it," she said determinedly. Finally, she'd come to her senses. This was the Zahra I knew, the Zahra that wouldn't run from a fight no matter how dangerous it was. It made her reckless to some people, but I always thought it was her best quality.

"But Zahra we're so close to leaving," Rosaline whined. She knew there was no changing Zahra's mind once it was set and she knew I'd follow Zahra. Looks like this nightmare wasn't over just yet. We were going back and we were going to make things right somehow.

"No you're not," the driver muttered so softly I barely heard. Rosaline turned to face him with question.

"I'm sorry did you say something," she asked.

"Ma'am if you don't mind me asking, why are you requesting me to drive you to the airport," he asked as he took the next turn. What kind of question was that?

"To leave the island of course," she responded and the boy looked like he was about to burst out laughing at that.

"Ma'am there isn't any flights that leave this island. Only those that fly in," he said like it was known fact. What kind of airport didn't let anyone leave? How the hell could we get off this island then?

The answer came to my head but saying it out loud, actually acknowledging it was too bloody terrifying.

"What no you don't know what you're talking about. I have my ticket right here," Rose said as she started fishing through her bag. The boy did laugh this time and looked at me this time through the mirror.

"Trust me. I've seen all the fake tickets but there is no flight that leaves this island. At least not one that is commissioned to commoners," he said, stopping the car on the side of the road when he realized our destination was useless.

"Commoners," Zahra asked as she leaned forward to face the front man. He swallowed in nervousness at the rough timbre of Zahra's voice. Zahra always gave off a slightly intimidating vibe without meaning to.

"You'll figure it all out soon enough, not that it will be of any use." What kind of messed up island was this? What was everyone hiding from us?

"Kid is there something you want to tell us," Zahra pressed and the boy's eyes met hers, wide with genuine fear.

"I think you already know," he said softly. I did. It was obvious with the tremble in his tone and all that he'd already spoken. We were definitely the commoners, which meant one thing only.

"There's no way off this island is there? It's a trap isn't it," I said. His next words had my heart dropping in my chest, even if I'd already known they were coming.

"I'm afraid it is," he said sadly. Holy shit. This really had turned into some kind of horror film I'd never signed up for.

"Damn it we should have gone to the Bahamas," I huffed out as I flopped back in my seat. When did my life get this complicated? Was I ever going to see Brooklyn again? That was definitely not a question I wanted answered right now.

"Take us back to the hotel please," I heard Rosaline faintly say and the boy pulled the car around to head back to that hotel, quite possible owned by the man that had killed our best friend. He'd pay for that, and he'd pay for trying to keep us on this island. There was no way I was dying in this messed up place.

"We're going to get out here," I said to Rose, who looked dejected as she looked out her window. Dejection wasn't going to get us anywhere. We needed to work as a team and we needed more people.

"I think it's time we get the boys in on this," Zahra said, echoing my thoughts. She was right. We couldn't do this alone. A part of my mind was already whispering another dreadful thought.

We couldn't do this at all.