Maria’s hand crept to her pocket. It was her turn to look apologetically at Alex. His eyes were wide and disbelieving. “Don’t you dare Maria!” Nicholas walked towards the two people on the floor and kicked Alex. “I don’t recall anyone asking for your opinion on the topic, human.” “You’re messing with something greater than the Other World here!” Alex’s desperate cry was only answered with another sharp kick to his side. Gasping for breath and shaking his head, he spoke directly to Maria this time. “You think your being so goddamn self sacrificing by saving us when really you’re sentencing the whole world to death! Simply because you don’t want The Gang to learn what you really are.” Maria stared at him with shock, she heard Michael shifting behind her, Liz started to cry. Their audience just watched with interest. “So it is true, you haven’t enlightened them to your origins have you? Oh dear Maria, you have been keeping secrets.” “Go to hell Necedo!” “Oh I plan to my dear, once the apocalypse strikes, earth will become hell. For humans that is…and that, it would appear includes you!” “Oh my god!” The curse behind her was soft. Michael had finally found the missing piece of his puzzle. The silence that followed was so tense you would have heard a pin drop. A crashing noise behind them was heard and Maria and Michael were all at once shoved completely inside the room as four people bounded in. Michael’s arms wrapped around her, pulling her to him and away from the door, quickly though he let go and stepped away from her. Kyle and Max lead, walking straight into the centre of the room. Isabel and Tess soon followed, joining the boys. “I don’t see any treasure Michael!” Isabel was pissed, tapping her foot impatiently her whole body seemingly bristled with anger. Max and Kyle shared perplexed looks, glancing around the room. Then Tess let the bomb drop, softly, and in an unbelieving tone, she whispered. “Maria’s a human?” Nobody spoke for ages. It was Liz who broke the silence this time “Of course she’s human, she’s my cousin! What else would she be? OW!” Alex had jabbed his elbow at her, effectively silencing anything else she might be willing to reveal. Necedo, however didn’t have an elbow in his side. “Secrets indeed…let’s make this short and sweet, hand over the Orb, Maria” She did as told. Everything was lost anyway, what should she care about the rest of the humanity? Brushing past Necedo, Maria walked towards Liz and Alex. Deftly untying their binds, she helped them both to their feet. “We’re out of here.” Two large figures were blocking the exit. They’d moved from the fireplace so quickly that Maria hadn’t seen it and now they stood glaring down at the three people before them. “Not so fast people!” Nicholas’s voice was shrill and excited, he was behind them now, and as they turned to face him he started pacing, back and forth. His words were practised, like he was reading from a script he’d been dying to play out. “Our friends here, while being sent to retrieve the Orb, witnessed an interesting occurrence. The Orb lit up, which means one of you!” He paused dramatically, pointing a finger at Alex, Liz and Maria “Activated it. What I’m wondering now… Is which one? The Project Crashdown nerd, the snivelling human, or the hybrid freak? AGH!” A high-heeled boot connecting with his stomach cut of Nicholas’s words, Isabel stood back with a smug smile on her face. Necedo looked angry, but did not move. Isabel looked at him indignantly. “What? Like you’ve never wanted to do it!” She stepped back, rejoining Michael, Kyle, Max and Tess standing altogether by the window. Maria glanced at her gang. Their arms were crossed over their chests, feet spread apart either unable or unwilling to act. For the first time in her life, Maria didn’t have a clue what to do. TBC

Part 16B