My eyes open and I reach up. My fist snaps out and connects with someone's head. A low masculine yell cuts through the fog cloaking my ears. I twist my face into a cruel smile. All I can see is whiteness.

"Woah, woah, woah, Emma, calm down. You just punched Logan." A relieved voice says. I blink a few times, my vision clearing enough so I can see Hannah, Rose, Ronan, and Logan leaning over me. I sit up, rubbing my head.

"Easy, Emma. Easy." Rose soothes. "You kind of breathed in a lot of chloroform."

"Chloroform. Right." I take the plastic cup of water that Logan offers to me. "Sorry Logan."

"All good. Any normal person would react like that." He says politely. "Drink the water. I'll leave you four alone."

Logan pats Ronan on his head and leaves the room. I skull the water, then look over at my friends. "Right, where am I, what happened, how long have I been asleep?"

"You're in a spare bed in Ronan's garage, I dunno what happened, it's Tuesday." Hannah was counting on her fingers. "Ronan, tell her what happened!"

I see Ronan then, really see him, and gasp. He looks beat up, with a black eye and a cut lip and stitches on his arm. Again.

"Oh my god." I spit. "What happened to you? The police? Good Samaritans?"

"Pretty rich, coming from you." He growls back. "Seeing as you're the one who asked me for help. I almost got killed trying to get you out of that house."

I turn away from him. "Where's my family?"

"In the hospital, all still asleep." says Rose promptly. "They're fine. The intruders decided to let them live."

"Oh thank god." I sigh, lying back on the uncomfortable pillow.

"Emma?" Ronan's voice is very soft. I turn to look at him. "I will explain everything in the near future. Just trust me okay?"

"No Ronan, you won't explain it in the near future you will explain everything right now. Got it?" I growl. Ronan holds his hands up in surrender.

"Well seeing as the three of you believe I'm a murderer I may as well." He takes a breath. Then another.

"Oh just spit it out!"  Hannah explodes. A cacophony explodes outside and Chickpea runs in. Her wings are flapping wildly and she's cackling. Felix bounds after her, and the two of them spin around the room. Boxes and bikes go flying aside.

Ronan takes this opportunity to run, chasing the animals around the room. Rose rolls her eyes. "Come on you guys, let's get outta here."

I hop off the table and the three of us slip out of the house, as Ronan grapples with Chickpea under the car.

Later, we all sit around a table at the Mad Hatter, sipping at milkshakes. Rose drains hers in a few large gulps, and waits patiently for me and Hannah  to finish. I take my time, swirling the cream around the bottom of the glass.

"Hey, Em, you okay?" Rose seems concerned. "You seem kind of down."

"Course I'm down." I retort. "My entire family just got gassed! The bad guys know where I live!"

"The bad guys know where Ronan lives too." Hannah points out mildly. "They didn't hurt him." I pull a face and take a gulp of milkshake.

"They gassed her family with chloroform. We're still waiting for them to wake up." Rose argues. I squint at them with doleful eyes as they debate about my misfortune. There's a loud screech as I push my chair back and stand. My friends fall silent and look up at me.

"Why aren't you two in school? It's Tuesday." I say tonelessly. Rose shakes her head impatiently, red curls bouncing.

"How could we go to school while you were passed out in the Caninamara's garage?"

"Agreed." Hannah decides. "We were forced to go yesterday, but today is different. Ben, Danny, Daisy, Mia, Cody, Callum, William.... It's like a freaking riot, half the class went on strike. In fact....." She glances over at the table next to us, waving. "Hi Daisy! Hi Melanie!"

"Okay, okay. Maybe we should go back to Ronan's, it's the safest place for Emma right now." Hannah says lowly. Rose glances at her in surprise.

"Hannah, the psycho daredevil with a criminal record, opting for safety?" She exclaims in disbelief. I tug on her sleeve, forcing her to sit down. She does so, reluctantly. I sigh and push back my chair.

"No, but Hannah's right!" Melanie shouts. "I don't know what's going on, but Emma's safety is important."

"There's a couple of thugs out for Ronan and Emma's blood." Rose explains kind of loudly. The entire hatter falls silent, staring. I rest my head on the table as Rose tries to fix her mistake by saying something about roleplay games.

"Okay that's enough, we're going back." Hannah jumps up, grabbing my arm and dragging me beside her. "Come on Em, Rose."

"Bye guys!" Rose shouts. Melanie raises one hand in a bemused half-wave as we charge out of the Hatter and spin the corner down the street. I pull away from Hannah and run ahead, thinking. The heavy, even pace helped clear my head. Liz. Alex. Mum. Dad. Oh, when I find Thomas I'm gonna-

My thoughts are cut off as I slam into some man in a business suit. "Oh, sorry, I- hey!" The man turns and nails me in the chin with one ring studded fist. I stumble back, spitting blood onto the pavement. Rose and Hannah draw up beside me as I wipe my mouth.

"Excuse me my good sir." Rose snaps angrily. "We could file a report on that. Hitting a girl, a sixteen year old girl, that has to be against the law. I should know, my mother-"

Bam. Rose topples back, clutching her stomach. She falls to the ground and wheezes, winded. The blood keeps coming, streaming from my split lips. I look around quickly, but Hannah's gone. Beside me, Rose scrambles back to her feet.

"You two are coming with me." He rumbles. I grab Rose and spin around to run, but his hand claps over my shoulder. I struggle violently, staring up and down the street. All we need is one person, just one random person to call the police....

"We'll never go with you. Leave us alone." Rose gasps. She swings a punch, clipping the man on the shoulder. His grip on us tightens, and something hits the back of my head. I lose consciousness.