The bed I wake up in isn't mine, but it's warm. I find myself wanting to keep my sore body wrapped up in the duvet forever, especially as I realise that everyone I've ever loved is probably dead so there's no point in me awakening, anyway.

The realisation hits me lightly at first, like a splash of cold water, before I think of my brothers with bleeding necks and Danielle stabbed and Maeve and Jayden and Colby and Enoch and Chelsea and Zavier and Blake blown to pieces. It feels like I'm being dragged to the very depths of he ocean and I can't breathe and the pressure squeezes at my body as if I'm being crushed into a large fist. I can't help but allow myself to cry, the sobs racking my body as I think of everything and everyone I've lost.

"Don't cry," a sad voice sounds out from the room.

My head lifts up faster than my brain can register and I'm standing to my feet within a millisecond, ignoring the searing pain in my lungs from what must be injured ribs. Two girls are stood before me, completely harmless with their arms raised in surrender, but I know they're going to kill me. They were waiting for me to wake up to torture and kill me.

"Please don't hurt me!" I beg. I wrap my arm around myself as if it would hold my fragile body in one piece. "Please..."

The two girls exchange an alarmed look.

"We're not going to hurt you," one of them says gently. She's like an angel on earth, with dark dreadlocks and honey coloured eyes that are striking against her dark, dark skin. I'm momentarily in awe at her whole presence until she takes a step forward, causing me to step back. Anything beautiful can be deadly. I should know that by now.

"It's going to be okay," the other girl says. She's tan with bronze waves of hair, just as stunning as the girl beside her. She turns to her. "Go and get Crystal."

"No, wait!" I say, panicked. But she's already gone. I'm going to die.

I'm left with the girl with bronze hair. She takes a few, cautious steps forward, right up until I've backed into a wall and there's no escape. The pain in my ribs is pounding through me, so I dejectedly slide down the wall until I'm sat on the floor. I can't imagine what a mess I must look to this... God in front of me.

The girl's steps continue until she's crouching down in front of me. I curl myself into the wall as if I could pass through it and find my escape.

"You're going to be fine," she tells me. She looks deeply into my eyes as she says it, but I find it too hard to trust her. She places a hand on her heart. "I'm Ophelia, and I know you're Aurora," she says. "You're a Vasquez thief, and I'm a Winter thief."

I remember seeing a picture of them in the book Blake showed me. A group solely made of women created at the end of the industrial revolution.

Ophelia sighs. "You might've, possibly, heard of me?"

She says it like it's a question, so I shake my head to answer no.

"Do you know Adam Clark?" She asks. My eyes widen and she chuckles warmly at my reaction. Adam, our guardian angel and Danielle's fiancé. "He's my brother," she tells me. "And, although we don't talk much, I already know that he's pretty fond of you, so I promise I'm not going to hurt you."

I'm still unsure. I can only hope that she's telling the truth and Adam's great kindness shines through her, too.

Just then, the door to the room opens. I hear the murmur of multiple angelic voices, before a woman, who's similar beauty and confidence to Danielle shoots an arrow through my heart, makes her way over to me. A few other girls enter but stay by the door, keeping their distance from what must look like a rabid animal.

The woman approaches me and crouches down, too, reaching out to gently touch my arm. "I know you must be frightened. You have every right to be. But you should find reassurance in that Danielle and I have a great load of history and our thieves have been allies for a number of generations. I'm Crystal Winter, the leader."

I nod my head in understanding, but not a sound can pass through the giant lump in my throat and, before I know it, tears are once again welling up in my eyes. I need to get a hold of myself. The girls give me a moment to breathe and swallow and blink away the tears, before I ask the one question I'm dying to know. "What happened to them?"

Crystal and Ophelia glance at one another, before looking back at me. "Why don't you get changed and I can tell you everything later?" Crystal suggests. She turns her head to look at a pale, petite girl with wild curls of flaming, orange hair with skin speckled with freckles. "Pandora has some clothes for you."

Pandora steps over and places a small pile of material onto the bed, giving me a shy smile before retreating back to the other girls. They all begin to leave to give me some privacy, before I stand to my feet. "Wait," I say desperately. "Can you at least tell me if they're alive?"

Crystal struggles for a moment. "Later," she says. "I promise."

I'm left in the room alone.

The only word circling my mind as I get changed is 'please'. Please let Danielle be alive. Please let Maeve be okay. Please let Chelsea see her baby. Please let me be able to hug Jayden and Colby again. Please let me joke with Enoch and be teased by Zavier and trained by Adam again. Please, please give me the chance to tell Blake that I've grown to maybe love him. Please.

The clothes I've been given to replace the nightgown I've been changed into include a forest green skater dress and a large, white cardigan, so it's not long before I'm changed. Glancing around the room, all dark wood and plush, white furnishings, I notice a mirror atop a vanity table. I look into it to see that my hair has been washed and brushed, the injuries on my face have been plastered and fixed with steri-strips, and although my eyes are bruised and bloodshot, I look relatively normal.

I leave the room to see a girl. I barely notice it at first, but as soon as I recognise her, I feel a massive sense of relief. Aspen, the girl I only ever met at the nightclub all those weeks ago and who was nothing but kind to me, is waiting for me.

"Aurora," she breathes, instantly bringing me into her embrace. She smells of lavender and fresh air and I'm beyond glad to see a somewhat familiar face. She pulls away to look me in the eyes. "Are you okay?"

I start to lie and answer yes, but something tells me I don't have to. I shake my head instead.

"I'm so sorry," she says. She loops her arm through mine as we slowly start to walk through this mansion.

"It's okay," I say. "I'm glad to be alive, but I really just want to know what's happened to my family." I almost choke up on the last word and she must hear the waver in my voice.

Aspen nods. "Crystal will tell you everything soon, and you are really lucky to be here. You were pretty beaten when we brought you to the house. And I should mention, I was the one who cleaned you up and everything, I hope you don't mind."

I give her a friendly smile, as genuine as I can make it. "Of course not, I appreciate it."

She smiles back before we walk the rest of the way to wherever she's taking me. I take the time to inspect the house, finding it so unique and beautiful while also very homely. It reminds me of a very cosy log cabin in the woods despite the huge size.

We stop outside a door in one of the corridors. Aspen turns to me again. "Just... be prepared," she says, letting out a sigh. "The other night was hectic, to say the least. We... we couldn't save everyone."

My heart constricts.

We couldn't save everyone.

Before I can wait any longer to find out what this means, I enter the room, my heart stopping for an entirely different reason.

Because, stood in the room and sat on the couches, are three people I thought I'd never see again. My father and my two brothers. Tristan and Sean are alive and Dad is here.

Emotions are high as I rush into the room. The twins stand to their feet and I hold onto each of them, crushing them even with my aching ribcage to convince myself they really are here. Then I run into Dad's open arms. He tells me how much he's missed me, how he's glad I'm safe and how he's sorry for everything. I just shake my head. He's here and they're alive and that's all that matters.

Taking a seat on the couches, I finally get a good look at the twins. Similarly to me, they're beaten and bruised and both have identical marks on their neck from the knives, but thankfully they didn't go far enough to cause proper damage. The bags under Dad's eyes are heavy and he looks even worse than he did when we met at that restaurant, but his smile continues to be one of the few bright spots of my life.

After talking with them for barely a few minutes, Crystal waltzes into the room. She definitely captures the attention of my brothers who, although have been through a traumatising experience, still clearly fancy every girl they lay their eyes upon. I can pretty much hear the thoughts they share through twin telepathy as they admire her curves and smokey cat eyes.

However, looking at her fills me with dread. Dad takes my hand in his and holds onto it, unknowingly bringing the trembling to a stop. Crystal takes a seat in the armchair between the two couches.

What is she about to tell me? Who couldn't be saved?

I feel sick.

"I know that keeping you in the unknown is wrong, so I'm going to get on with it," she says calmly. She takes a breath before starting. "The Drakan thieves have had it all planned from the start. Around the time that you became a thief with Danielle, Simon decided that he wanted to finally take over the Vasquez thieves, killing everyone while taking all the money and cadets to be even bigger than any gang on the planet. As you know, the Drakan thieves and Vasquez thieves have been huge rivals since the beginning, so they've always been trying to overthrow the other and many lives have been lost in the process. But Simon was sure that now would be the time, for reasons Danielle has yet to tell me.

"Again, as you're aware, Simon started sending his thieves to take individual shifts to watch you all and work out a sort-of schedule for when you'd all be in the mansion. He didn't send cadets instead as, if his thieves were to be caught, he'd want Danielle to know it was him, so she'd feel threatened and put her guard up.

"Aurora, you finding Victoria in the garden is what set off a whole chain reaction. As soon as she had gotten out alive, she was driven back to Simon's house to be treated for her injuries. She told them she had been caught, so they knew it would be time to strike. The only thing is, they had already sent Sara to be the next watch, so when she was found and put into your cells, Simon knew he'd have to act fast. So, he sent many of his cadets to your home, telling them to get the job done.

"But they failed. All the cadets were eventually killed and none of you Vasquez thieves were dead. Simon quickly found out about this and knew he had to put a plan into action as he knew that Danielle would want revenge. He set up the party purely to lure you all in at the right time, and you took the bait. You walked right into their trap.

"However, obviously Danielle wasn't oblivious to this. She wasn't going to walk right in there without any precautions, and that's where we came in. She asked me that, if shit was to hit the fan, we'd set up a bomb explosion as a distraction and get as many of you out of the building. She particularly wanted to make sure you were safe, Aurora, and that you were brought here where you would meet with your father and brothers. She already knew way before the party that they had kidnapped the twins, so wanted to make sure they were safe, too. For you."

"Storm, one of the thieves, was standing in the lobby. As soon as he saw each of you walk in, he called up to Simon to let him know you had entered. He waited until everyone had arrived, went up onto the balcony with the rest of the thieves, and made up some bullshit until Danielle walked into the room. Us Winter thieves had already set up the bomb in another room and we were just waiting for shit to go wrong. Danielle had planned to make a truce with Simon, performed by cutting open the palms to shake hands, but of course Simon took the knife and that's when his cadets knew to step in. Obviously there was a fight, your brothers were brought out. Aspen was at that party, too, keeping a watch on everything, so as soon as she told us that your brothers were about to be killed, we set off the bomb.

"Simon, his thieves and his cadets made their run for it while the guests, those who were still alive, did too. Then we went in with our cadets and helped all of you before me and some of the girls brought you and your brothers here safely. Danielle called us later that night to... give me some news."

I cover my mouth with a shaking hand, the nerves kicking in as soon as her face turns solemn. Please. Please. Please.

"You should know that you all got out alive," Crystal says. My whole body shudders with the fear. "But, unfortunately, Simon's cadets ran off with two of you without us realising and is now keeping them prisoner, and we have no idea what is happening to them."

"Who is it?" I whisper.

She sighs again, leaning forward and taking the other hand that isn't in Dad's in hers. "I'm so sorry, Aurora, but they took Chelsea and Enoch."