“Oh, well,” Benedict said, grinning widely as he stood up. “I’m sure you’ll both make some fire at some point.”

Augh. My cheeks were so hot now, they did feel on fire.

I was relieved when he ambled back over to the water. Though he stopped to throw a painfully visible wink at me just before he rushed into the waves.

Hazel looked at me apologetically on behalf of her brother.

I no longer felt comfortable sitting next to Heath. I stood up. “I’m going to go and take a dip,” I said, rolling up my pants.

And maybe wring that little brat’s neck while I’m at it…

Sofia

Derek was still seething when we returned to our penthouse. He paced back and forth in the living room, rubbing his temples.

“That was out of line,” he said. “Way out of line. I don’t know what’s going on, but something isn’t right. Something has changed.”

I wasn’t sure what to say or what to suggest. Knowing that the hunters could show up and jeopardize one of our missions, as they’d done this one, and get away with it… it was extremely unnerving. Nothing of this magnitude had ever happened before. Yes, they had reached locations before us—obviously on purpose—but they’d never jeopardized a mission that we were clearly in the middle of. It was like they were sending us a message…

Derek took a seat in the armchair opposite me and leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees. He was silent for a while, rubbing his face in his hands, before looking up, a spark of resolution in his eyes.

“What is it?” I asked.

“I want a look into Thornton’s headquarters.”

I bit my lower lip. We both knew that was illegal. No spies or trespassers were allowed to go anywhere near IBSI headquarters for any reason whatsoever. If we got caught… it would certainly heighten the tension. And more than likely, we would lose the support of the authorities. If presented with a choice, they would pick the hunters over us every time.

Still, I nodded. Something had shifted with these hunters and until we knew what it was, we couldn’t go out on another mission again without fearing for both our lives and the lives of the humans we were trying to rescue.

“I agree, Derek,” I said, standing up and placing a hand on his shoulder. “If they don’t play by the rules, why should we?”

Victoria

I never could have expected the League to be called on another mission so soon. I didn’t have to go, of course—none of us did—but I wanted to.

At least this time, we knew exactly where we were heading before we left.

Uncle Derek and Ben called a meeting in the Great Dome, where Derek informed us of his plan. He wanted to spy on the Philippines branch of IBSI, where Thornton was based. It would involve taking our chopper this time— another massive contraption given to us by the US government. Its name, Nightshade, was painted in pale blue on either side of its body. Nightshade was no ordinary helicopter though. It could convert into an amphibious tank. The witches would cast an invisibility spell over the machine, as well as mask its noise.

Once the meeting was over, I made sure to sleep for the rest of the day because it would be another early start. When I woke up at about two AM the next morning, it felt like déjà vu.

But as I arrived with my parents in the clearing in front of the Black Heights—where our helicopter pads were located—ours was a much smaller group than the previous day. This had been at Derek’s request, because there was really no need to take such a large group. I was pleased to spot Brock, Heath, Grace and Arwen again, however.

“Gluttons for punishment, aren’t we?” Arwen grinned.

“Something like that,” Brock muttered, rubbing his eyes and still looking half asleep.

Boarding the helicopter, I parted ways with them to move to the front of the chopper where I found Kyle already in the pilot’s cabin. I had no experience piloting helicopters, that was for sure, but I was eager to watch how it was done.

Kyle waited until my father gave him the go-ahead, and then, blades slicing the air, we launched upward through the boundary and into the star-speckled sky.

I ended up falling asleep in my chair for most of the journey. When I woke up, we were already descending. I gazed out of the window. The sun was close to peeking above the horizon and sprawled beneath us was a vast compound of square, steel buildings with tinted glass windows, surrounded by dense jungle. Kyle piloted us back to the shore which lined the edge of the jungle and we touched down on a deserted beach.

Kyle pressed a series of buttons and the aircraft transformed into a tank. We rolled across the beach, following a path into the jungle that had already been carved out by other tanks, until we neared the entrance to the compound—towering steel gates. It would of course be too risky to park here, so we continued along the wide path, deeper into the jungle, until we found a spot further out of the way, that still afforded us a view of the entrance.

Derek, Ben, Lucas and my parents sat behind me. I looked to them, raising my brows and wondering what was next.

Ben and Lucas exchanged glances, then stood up. “We will leave now,” Ben said. “Can’t say how long we will be.”

“Be careful,” Sofia said, hugging Ben.

“Yeah,” he muttered.

“And you, too, Uncle Lucas,” I added with a smile, not wanting him to feel left out.

He smirked at me appreciatively and ruffled my hair before he and Ben thinned themselves and left the room.