If these were Plumber's people, that would mean he knew we were coming. That we'd lost our element of surprise and we were walking into a trap.Which, you know, was obviously at the top of my to-do list today.

The Divines may have taken our homes, our friends, our family, but what we had now we would fight to keep hold of.And if the Divines did decide to try and take it, they'd have a hell of a fight on their hands.

Just then they were both vulnerable, and the only thing standing between them and our enemies, was me.It seemed nobody wanted to take those odds because no one approached. I was mildly flattered.

Our enemies had a tendency to take one look at Charlotte, with her short, slim figure and her pretty, delicate Asian features, and assume she was weak. A low level threat.Ten seconds later, the look of surprise on his face as he lay on his back, winded, eyes rolled up and watching her support Kate towards the stairs, said he'd possibly learnt his lesson. Never judge a book by it's cover.

She hadn't been scared for herself, she'd been frightened for me.Good. Her A-class horror movie scream earlier had nearly put me in an early grave. When this was over, I could call us even.

Instead I watched Layla as she bolted over the battered desk, heading for the door Charlotte and Kate had just disappeared through. Good girl.The thought screeched to a halt as I watched her run straight past it.

I wasn't the kind of girl who liked to wait around to be rescued.

Did you see them? They're kids, Nathan. Children, who ended up being in the wrong place, at the wrong time." I blew out a frustrated breath, tracking one of the angry young teens in topic as he was dragged kicking and yelling from the room. "They won't even consider switching sides. Plumber has them so scared, all they can see if the numbers advantage he has over us.""Numbers don't mean shit when you're fighters have the same level of skill as a two year old." He sniffed, shaking his head at the kid who was finally pulled from the room. "And that's insulting to two year olds.

Ugh. I do not miss being your age." Sarah muttered, retracting her hand and wrinkling her nose. "It's like all teenagers have hormones coming out of their ears.

That was one thing the Divines had taught us: treasure every precious moment. Do the things you've always dreamed of doing. Spend as much time as you can with the ones you love, because tomorrow you might not get the chance.

Don't be cute." Luke murmured, amusement lacing his tone. He moved forward, leaning against the slice of wall at the other end of the floor to ceiling window. "I promise you, I wouldn't even know where to start.

The view wasn't exactly breath-taking. Kind of boring actually. Unless, of course, you had a rare, strong appreciation for deserts, in which case it was downright mind blowing.

Lacey?" He bowed his head until his face was inches from mine. His smile was still in place, and as his eyes swept over my face, it widened. "Uh-oh. Did you break?

When her voice cracked and tears started spilling down her cheeks, I panicked. I wasn't good at consoling people at the best of times, but even a trained therapist would have struggled in my shoes. What could you possibly say to a girl who'd dug for hours trying to rescue her family after they'd been buried alive?

He was slowly starting to recover. I could tell by the eye roll and sigh. Oh, so only he could be a comedian?

They were smart enough to know that handing out superpowers like sweets to the general public was never going to be a good idea.Not that that stopped it from happening anyway.

For all our guessing and speculating, there were a few things we all agree on. Things we knew to be fact. The drug was never meant to get out. Ordinary people were never supposed to develop extraordinary powers. Divines weren't supposed to take over the world.But they did.

Anyone who'd ever kept a secret could tell you, the bigger the secret, the more draining it was to carry around with you. Every second, of every minute, of every day, lying to the people around you. Waiting for the inevitable moment that the truth would come out and you would have to deal with the fallout.It was exhausting.

After a hasty gulp, I lowered the bottle and grinned. "How much are you betting it's that and the melons they put in the fridge yesterday on the menu for tonight?"Luke grinned but said nothing. I shook my head. "You're grinning because I said "melons", aren't you?"His smile widened. I rolled my eyes. Boys, they never grew up.

Studying him then, it was hard not to notice how handsome Luke was, a fact that that most of the girls hadn't missed either. To their delight, his almost OCD obsession with having his hair no more than several inches long meant he regularly asked them to trim his sandy brown hair with nail scissors. An honour they held rock, paper, scissor tournaments for. It was all very serious stuff.

Never underestimate the power of telling a teenage boy he's risking his chances of getting laid. Works almost every time.

Same. I don't like to think I might have ended up in Plumber's gang, but given the alternative..."I raised both eyebrows. "Yeah. Drug-dealers or super-powered psychopaths? Choices, choices.

Kate! Get some ice on that ankle or it's going to swell to the size of Luke's head. Then neither of you will be able to get through the front door.

I caught sight of a small twitch on Plumber's face, like he was battling the urge not to frown.Well Plumber, if you didn't want your bitch making noise, you should have put a muzzle on her.

What?" I asked, the word coming out much softer than I'd intended. Not quite a whisper, but close."Nothing. Just glad we ended up here, all of us, together.

I wasn't one to judge others when it came to fashion choices, but even I knew he'd drawn the short straw in the apocalyptic wardrobe department.

Jesus, Lacey. You just scared me half to death."I forced a laugh. "Only half? Damn.

My sister and I both survived the apocalypse. But that day was only the beginning of our struggles.Three years later, and this is where I ended up, alone, bound and awaiting my surely unpleasant fate.And man, how I wished they'd just get on with it.

I didn't even know this guy's name. I'd never heard him referred to as anything but "Plumber', a hideous nickname he'd dubbed himself for no other reason than that it had been his occupation Before. Oh, and he carried a wrench around as his signature weapon. The whole thing screamed sanity.Not.

You going to let me go now?""That depends." He muttered. "Are you going to try and nosedive down the stairs again?""Wasn't planning on it, but who knows how this might play out.