Clover's POV

"This is a bad idea. I think we should turn back." Flora yet again goes against the plan for the third time in the last minute. She goes quiet before starting up again. "Guys! This is insane! When they realise that Cleo is missing-"

"Put a sock in it, Flora," Anna smirks. "If they find out Cleo is missing-"

"Which they will." Flora now interrupts Anna. "They will find out Cleo is missing and they will find her. They always have and always will. I work at this place remember?"

"If they find out Cleo is missing," Anna continues, ignoring Flora. Flora throws her hands up in the air "They'll just presume that a worker had just killed her batch already. They are planning to!"

Anna strolls forward, leading the group with Mat, Emily, May and I trailing behind. Flora walks at the back of the team, occasionally stopping to try and convince us to turn back. "You guys have lost it. You all used to be responsible children and now......."

"And now we're doing the right thing." Mat says, pointing Anna in the correct direction, back towards Cleo's room. "Door on the left."

"Don't tell me what to do, Clefield." Anna snaps.

"That sentence is useless, Clefield." Mat fires back as we reach the door. I look into the room, the door being wide open. Cleo sits on the floor, cross-legged, with her back to us facing the machine.

She hasn't heard us arrive, even with Anna and Mat's bickering. I open my mouth to say something when I hear her speak. "You ruined my life." She snarls and I look towards my friends who are as confused as I am.

"You decided that I was a danger to this world. You can end someone's life with just one scan." I realise she's talking to the machine like it's a person. She continues. "Why did it have to be me? What did I ever do in my past life to deserve this?"

"But that's the funny thing. You just pick on random people to attack. Yes, they are destructive, but can't you just say......we're normal? That we're like every other person on this planet and we can be left to do our own thing. But that won't be enough for people eh?"

"And the worse thing is that our parents get told that we're being taken for a doctors check up when really.....they might not ever see us again. 'Good bye darling, see you in a few hours!' Chances are, they will. But for some unlucky ones......"

"I know what they tell our parents. 'I'm so sorry. Your child ended up having a deadly disease where we have to put them down immediately.' My parents think I'm dead! Because of you! They didn't even have a body to mourn over! They couldn't have a funeral because where did the fairies say my body was? Oh, yea? Testing."

"That's the thing about fairies. When you think of them you think happiness when all they really care about is science. And that is all my life is going to be. A simple science experiment. One of many actually. And I'll be dying soon. This is how I'm spending my last days. Speaking to a dumb machine."

"Cleo we're here to kidnap you." I finally decide to intervene in the conversation. She snaps her head around at my voice, eyes wide.

"Did you hear the whole conversation?" She asks frantically. "Please tell me you didn't."

"Yup. Basically the whole thing." Anna tells her and Cleo puts her face in her hands. "Talking to a machine? Not cool." Anna laughs.

"What do you mean you're here to kidnap me?" Cleo now takes notice of the first thing I said.

"We overheard my parents," I start but Cleo holds up a hand, stopping me.

"Your parents? Do you mean Mary and Liam? They're your parents?" Cleo questions, scrambling to her feet.

"Yes. We overheard them talking about killing your batch." I say and she sighs, looking down to the ground. "But we want to kidnap you so that you won't die."

"Liam said to me that he was going to try and convince Mary to keep me alive. He said he was going to do everything in his power. What if he's still trying? I can't just leave and let him down. He is the only person who has believed in me this whole time."

"Well, she doesn't want to leave so let's go!" Flora clicks her fingers and begins to walk out.

"Flora." I glare at her. "Cleo, if you stay here, you'll die. My dad, he'll just be disappointed but he wants you to be alive. If you escape, you will be."

"But Liam....he's like a dad to me too! He's always favorited me over the other destructives and treated me like I was one of his daughters. He would tell me stories about you guys and then do those kind of things with me so I won't be bored. I can't just leave him and pretend he hasn't been there for me."

"What if you tell him that someone is going to take you out of here so that you stay alive. Maybe Liam will understand and let you go." Mat says to Cleo who looks conflicted.

"Maybe....How will you get me out? It's impossible for a destructive to get out of here. Trust me, we've all tried but every time an alarm goes off."

"Cleo! Where are you?" My dad's voice shouts down the corridor. "Cleo we need to talk."

"Quick! Behind the machine. I'll deal with him." Cleo whispers to us, pushing us into a corner. My dad then comes through the door. "Liam! I haven't seen you today."

"Yea, sorry about that. I've been stuck at work. I wasn't able to wish you good luck in court. How was it?" He asks her, kindness in every word. I can tell how much my dad like Cleo.

"It was good. We won the case!" Cleo's eyes light up.

"That's great kiddo! Celebration ice cream?" He asks her but Cleo quietens. My dad notices this and walks towards her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong?" He asks worryingly.

"Liam I.....These people I met they were really nice to me. They were also on our side in the court and I've been talking to them a lot. They had a child with them so I tested to see if she was a destructive which she wasn't. But they......I'm leaving Liam."

"Cleo I don't understand."

"They want to kidnap me. Take me away so that I won't get killed. I know I'm the next batch. But I wanted to tell you so that you wouldn't be disappointed in me for leaving you after everything you've done for me." Cleo sighs but Dad smiles at her.

"You won't be able to get out with your chip. Come here." My dad gestures her towards him. She looks reluctant at first but then does what he says. He reaches for her ear and takes something out. "Now the alarm won't go off."

"Why are you doing this? Why are you being so nice?" She asks him as he plays with the chip in his hand.

"Well if I was able to keep you alive, I was going to take you home. But if this is how you want to escape I'm going to let you do it. Are you sure the people you're going with are safe?" He checks and she nods her head frantically.

I turn to Flora and mouth to her 'should we tell him' but she shakes her head. "Yes, they're really nice. One is a fairy and the rest are Penels who live on earth!" She says excitably.

"Can't I know who they are and then the fairy erase my memory?" He smiles.

"Liam, you know that you'll remember at some point if you get a fairy to do it." Flora flies up from behind the machine, showing herself to my dad. "Anyway, no can do, I'm out of fairy dust."

"Flora? You're the fairy? Then the person you must be training is the Penel right?" My dad susses her out. "I can just look on the computer and check who that is."

"Please, Liam. Can't you just trust your favorite fairy in the world?"

"Hm. I guess I can leave you with this hooligan. But Flora, make her visit me every once in a while though. I can't go long without seeing my favourite destructive. Stay safe kid. I'll leave so that your Penel friends can come out."

"Thank you Liam. I'll phone you every day." She promises as he walks out the room. "I will see him again, won't I?"

"Yes, don't worry Cleo. Let's go before anyone else comes." We all get out of our hiding space and quickly leave the building.

*************

"Cleo, please calm down. This is your second time out today and we don't want your powers flaring up and breaking the power defenders." Flora scolds her and Cleo runs down the street with massive metal blocks on her hands.

"THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!" Cleo jumps up and down, her massive smile brightening up her face. "What do we do first? Go shopping?"

"Actually we're heading back to my house first." Flora walks on with Amelia. Cleo face drops. "Oh don't look so miserable. We need to look into May's head."

"Wait what?" Both I and May say together.

"Oh, yea I forgot to tell you. Amelia is getting better at her fairy powers so she is now able to look into people's thought and stuff. We'll be able to see what L is doing to May without May needing to tell us."

"And maybe we'll be able to find a bit more about her powers. I can also do that thing now." Amelia puts her hands on her hips but Flora rolls her eyes.

"That thing is where you can tell what kind of powers someone has. And no you can't, you're still really bad at it. You need to listen to your teacher more." Flora scolds her sister.

"I do listen! But I prefer putting her to sleep than listening to 'safety measures when using your powers'." Amelia giggles, making Flora sigh. "We're here!"

"Hallelujah," Flora mutters, opening the door to her house, allowing everyone in. I step into the mushroom house, recognising the ornaments and furniture from being here so many times. Flora takes us into the living room and gestures for us to sit down.

"Right May! Let's look into your brain." Amelia sits scared May in front of her and rustles her hands together. "Sorry, am I acting creepy? I just get really excited by using my powers."

"Amelia you need to calm down or you'll mess up and May will wake up with a headache." Flora scolds her sisters again.

"OK! I'm calm! In through my nose, out through my mouth. See?" Amelia turns to May. "Right so you have three options. I can either sing, play my recorder or play music from my body. Which one do you want me to do?"

"Sing. A good song though. Not a cringy one." May smiles through her nerves.

"Alright, Just relax. You'll just fall asleep and dream. And when we're finished, I'll wake you up, kay?" May nods her head.

"And I'm almost there, I'm almost there

People down here think I'm crazy, but I don't care

Trials and tribulations, I've had my share

There ain't nothing gonna stop me now because I'm almost there."

Amelia sings softly. May falls onto the pillow beside her, shutting her eyes and falling asleep. "I did it."

"Great job Amelia. Now, you need to look into her head. " Flora instructs her.

"Great singing Amelia. Oh, thank you big sis!" Amelia has a conversation with herself, glaring at her sister.

"This side of Christmas please Amelia," Flora complains.

"Alright, alright. You'll see a projection of May's thoughts and wonders that are in her brain. Some might just be symbols that we'll have to ask her about, other could be full on visions. Just be prepared." Amelia tells us.

She places a hand on May's head and sucks in a breath. A blue circle comes up above her head and an image immediately comes into view. It's a man, with black hair and black eyes. He has a snarling face.

"That's L. She's described him to me before," I say, remembering the features that she told me and comparing it to him. Then, it changes to a blue symbol.

"Ah, we've come across that symbol before. It's the health symbol to signify her powers. She must've seen it when my mum was testing her powers." Anna looks at the symbol.

"But look! It's clouded." Emily points out to us. "Amelia, have you come across this before?"

"Yes, I have. Thankfully, her powers aren't failing. Usually, this means that she's is worrying about her powers a lot. Being quite a young Penel and not having the support of your parents can make her feel like she doesn't have anyone to go to for help."

"So to make her power unclouded, I need to talk to her more?" I ask and Amelia nods her head. Next, the image goes to a scene. "Here we go."

The scene is a dark room with May tied to a chair by ropes. L walks towards her and slaps her across her face. "This is what L does to her? And she wakes up with bruises and pains?" Flora asks.

"Yea. Though he hasn't visited in a while since Anna's mum gave her spell." I say, continuing to painfully watch. May doesn't tell us what exactly L does to her because it hurts her to remember.

The vision disappears and the blue circle fades. May stirs from her sleep and rubs her eyes. "That wasn't as much as I would've liked it to be. We need more." Flora mutters to herself.

"Maybe in her next training session we will. And we'll have Cleo to help." Anna mentions. May sits up, sighing.

"Next stop, home."

***********************************************************************

Tada! Hello my baby little fireballs ( and I guess I could call you guys healing balls now.....hmmm )

This chapter was a mix really. Cleo is finally coming home with the gang! You'll learn more about her past in the upcoming chapters. Next chapter, however, will be an interesting one and I'm really looking forward to writing it!

So it was ma birthday on Wednesday and I turned 15. It was ok I guess. I got a new laptop ( which I'm using now ) and a loooaddd of chocolate and sweets. Upcoming struggles this week is just really opening evening where I have to sing the same song 12 times but I think I'll be fine.

Please remember to Comment and Vote for support on my book and also Follow for more updates on this book and all my other books!

Bye!