A few long hours after our conversation about Hundsen, Jaxon got the truck running again. We drove all through the rest of the night. When I woke up in the dimly lit truck, the sky was an ashy mauve, meaning that the sun was rising again.

      After the others had awoken, Jaxon told us, "I don't know how much longer this truck has before the engine gives out again. To be safe, we should take the A26 train that goes almost directly to the French harbor."

      Finn pointed out, "We have no boarding passes and no money. How are we going to get on that train?"

      "Well," Kane broke in, looking up from the computer he'd just been typing on, "I may or may not have just hacked into the station's database so that it looks like we bought electronic tickets for both the train and the ferry."

      "You didn't," Arlo said, shaking his head in disbelief. "How is that even possible?"

      "I did," he replied, showing a rare smile on his handsome face. "Once I got into the station's mainframe and past the security program, it was easy to make it to the secured infrastructure. I got the tickets for the ferry the same way."

      "God, you're such a nerd," Riley teased him with a smirk on her face.

      "That's mean."

      She shrugged. "It's true."

      Kane gave her a narrow-eyed look.

      "Hey," Riley assured him suggestively, "I never said that it was a bad thing."

      Kane suddenly became very absorbed with something on the computer screen. Riley's grin widened at his response to her unabashed flirting.

Jaxon stopped the truck in a parking space and unlocked the back of the truck to let the rest of us out. We had to gather the few things that we'd brought with us because we weren't coming back to the truck.

Inside the underground station, it was busy. Mostly men and women clad in suits and buisness-attire walked through the station, some with a coffee in hand. It was that time of the morning where businesspeople were rushing off to the metro to get to work.

A woman's cool voice made an announcement over the loudspeaker in rapid French. "Come on, I think that's us," Finn stated, gesturing for us to follow him to board the train.

      Soon, we were aboard the locomotive and ready to go. The wheels started to turn and the dark walls out the window began to move back. The scene out the window got brighter and brighter as the train increased in speed and neared the end of the tunnel.

      Once we were above ground, the small city opened up around us. Old-looking buildings were clustered together and people milled about on the sidewalks and in city squares. A river snaked its way through the city and we crossed over a bridge as the stream took a sharp turn to the right.

      "Delphinium?" asked Finn, who sat to my left.

      I focused my gaze on him. "Yes?"

      "I just wanted to let you know that I'm sorry about the other day. Particularly what I said."

      I frowned, not knowing what the incident was that he was talking about.

      "It was when you and Jake had saved us," he clarified, looking slightly embarrassed. "I was nervous, given everything that had happened, and didn't know who I could trust. I didn't know if I could trust you."

      "And do you now?"

      He hesitated. "I think I can trust you. You've helped us a lot against Hundsen and, after all, you were the reason that the six of us got rescued. But Jake...I don't trust him at all. He's too ruthless and he only does what's best for himself; he doesn't do anything unless it profits him in some way."

      I turned to glance to my right, where Jake was seated across the aisle. Jaxon was talking animatedly to him and he seemed to have his attention focused on the blonde boy.

      "True, he does seem to only work for himself," I agreed with Finn. "But Jake did help rescue you from Hundsen. He singlehandedly took on Hundsen's men as I unloaded you six from their trucks."

      Finn gave Jake a worried glance. "Be that as it may, he's still not trustworthy. He's a different kind of dangerous; not the kind that openly shows off its power in great displays, but the kind that lurks in the darkness and strategically destroys what's stopping it from getting what it wants."

      "You don't think I'm like that?" I asked in a low voice, curious to hear his response.

      "Oh, I think that you're dangerous," he assured me. "But I think you still have your morals. I think you have limits to what you'd do in order to get what you want."

      I heard my mother's faint screams echo in my ears. I thought of a blazing fire, quickly turning everything I hated to ash, and didn't know if I agreed with Finn anymore.

      I opened my mouth to respond, but I was cut off by a large booming sound up ahead. Suddenly, the train creaked and groaned as it tipped over, car by car falling off the tracks. Screams erupted from the frightened passengers as the train flipped over.

      When the train stopped moving, I pushed myself up from the floor, dizzy from the sudden jerking movement. "What was that?" Finn asked in disbelief as he got to his feet. He wiped away a trickle of blood oozing from a cut on his brow bone.

      "I don't know," I said in a voice so low I was almost whispering. "But I have a feeling that we're about to find out."

      Just then, another explosion rocked the already-ruined train. I grasped onto the seat in front of me to avoid stumbling into Finn as the compartment lurched. A few passengers screamed again in shock and fear.

      "What the hell is happening?" Jaxon asked no one in particular, wiping his bloody lip on his sleeve.

      Jake stood up. "Step back," he told Jaxon as he wielded a dagger-like icicle in his hand.

      Jaxon swiftly obeyed. "What are you-"

Jake cut him off by smashing the window open with the icicle in his hand. When the glass had all fallen in pieces to the floor, he climbed out the window and disappeared. I crossed the aisle and followed him outside.

Upon my first look outside, I saw nothing unusual. The train was stopped in a small valley. Steep hills on each side of us were lush with greenery. It was a beautiful place, but could easily conceal something or someone from above.

I knew I was correct when gunfire suddenly rang out in the air and bullets fell like metal rain around us. Sweeping my hand through the air, I tore up a large chunk of the concrete ground and used it to shield myself and Jake from the onslaught of bullets from our attacker's machine gun. I held it up long enough for the others to exit the train. When they had, I sent the chunk of concrete flying into the area where I estimated our attacker was. The gunshots stopped coming, so I knew I'd either met my mark or some close enough to scare them.

My eyes gazed frantically over my teammates, looking for our strongman. "Kane, we have to get the train back on the tracks."

He nodded solemnly, understanding immediately. The others covered for us as the two of us ran back to the train. With my hands seeking any groove or niche on the side of the train to lift myself up, I climbed up and over like a spider. I dropped down to the other side and my feet hit the pavement below.

"Ready?" Kane yelled to me over the commotion.

"Yes!" I shouted back, but I doubted it could be heard over the sound of the machine gun that had started up again.

I focused all of the power I had into lifting the train off the ground. Adrenaline pumped through my body.

Gripping the underside, Kane began to carry it closer to the tracks it had been forced off of. After he had done so, I brought the train slowly forward with all my might. The front of the train was sagging downward and was beginning to bring the rest of the cars down with it. While still keeping the train moving towards the tracks, I siphoned a part of the energy in my mind off to keep the front of the train level.

With the extra power I was exerting, I knew that I would be tired soon. In fact, I could already feel my arms becoming heavier the longer I kept the entire train afloat.

Kane continued to push the locomotive towards the tracks. His feet dug into the ground as he slowly took step after step.

Glancing over the roof of the train, I surveyed the battle on the side of the hill. I couldn't exactly tell what was happening from where I was standing, but our crew seemed to be winning. Finn blasted fire out of his hands, and as a result, the entire area was now smoking. Gigi pulled back the string on her bow and let an arrow fly into the fog.

I turned my attention back to the task I was given. Kane's legs shook with every step he took, but his muscled arms were still over his head as he kept moving forward. Still having both arms outstretched, I took a few struggling steps backward until I had crossed over the tracks and stood on the opposite side.

My arms felt like lead. All I wanted to do was collapse into a heap on the ground. I had never lifted something so large or heavy with my mind before, especially for this long of a time period.

Black dots marred my vision. I blinked a few times, trying to get a clear view.

But by bit, the train sank down farther as both Kane and I became exhausted from carrying the several thousands of pounds worth of metal. We were so close to the tracks, but I didn't know if I could make it. My outstretched hands shook. My heart was beating so fast in my chest that I was half-afraid that it might explode.

I can do this, I told myself. I have to do this. Our lives depend on it.

With the last shred of power I still had flowing through my veins, I yanked the series of train cars towards myself. I can do this.

Kane jumped out from under the train in the knick of time. I loosened my mental grip on the train and let it fall onto the tracks with a horrible screeching noise that I could barely hear due to the blood pumping in my ears.

My knees hit the ground. I rested both hands on the cool ground as I struggled to catch my breath. Closing my eyes, I waited for my vision to stop spinning.

After a few blessed minutes of rest, I forced myself to get up and off the ground. I walked around the back of the locomotive and staggered over to Kane. He was seated on the ground, leaning against the metal side of a car.

He looked up when he heard me approaching. "That..." He paused to take a panting breath, "was amazing."

"Yeah," I exhaled, pushing my hair back from my tired face.

We were both startled by the sounds of more gunfire from the fight on the hillside. Someone yelled something I couldn't decipher. Fresh flames came from the center of the smoke cloud.

I sighed. "We should probably go help."

Kane wiped the sweat off of his tan face. "I wish that you weren't right about that."

I gave a breathy chuckle and held my hand out to him. After a moment, he took it and I helped him to his feet. We made our way to the fight.

When I was closer, I could see more clearly what was happening. There was one figure fighting against the six of my crew mates. The attacker wasn't easy to see from where I was because of the smoke Finn had caused.

      Jake opened his palm, face up, and formed three spikes of ice. He sent them whirling through the air and into the figure. When the weapons met their mark, their opponent stepped back, and I could see him clearly for the first time.

      It was the hooded man that had attacked us at the Los Angeles airport. His face was covered by a metal black mask, preventing me from seeing his identity.

      The man grasped at the icicles imbedded in his chest and yanked one out. The tip was covered in fresh maroon blood. As he attempted to wrench out a second one, Riley sent vines to snake around his feet and up his body. They grew tighter around his form like a snake constricting its prey.

      "I have the bomb!" Jaxon yelled. "Stand back!"

      Where he'd come up with the materials to make a bomb, I had no idea. But I had no time to think about it before he lobbed it at the masked man.

      I watched it fly through the air and land into the man's hand, outstretched as far as Riley's vines would let him. Faster than anyone could register, he threw it back at the group of us and we all ducked for cover.

      The bomb blew up, too close for comfort. I could feel the columns of heat coming off of it from where I knelt in the grass. My ears rang from the explosion. My vision swam as I attempted to stand back up after I'd recovered from my shock.

      Coughing and dusting themselves off, the rest of my team got up from the ground. When the dust and debris settled, we all looked towards the masked man.

      But all that was left in the spot where he had been was a pile of charred vines. For the assailant had escaped.