'I love you, too,' Clary breathes into his ear. I look up at Rye, only to find him look back at me with tears in his eyes. A tear of my own slides down my cheek and then the sniffling starts.

'M-my brother j-just died?' Rye whispers, confusingly. There are not many feelings I can express right now, except for sadness and anger. I grasp my necklace tight, my hand forming into a tight fist. I close my eyes. He never deserved this. None of them did.

'I didn't even get to say it to him alive,' Clary says, emotionlessly. Loss. I know what that feels like, loss. But eventually you'll move on, living a life of fear with an endless battle of nightmares to haunt you, while you sleep. That's it. Sheila will pay, along with Colby and every other leader that works against minders.

I clear my throat, 'guys, I think it's best for us to leave this place now.' They both turn around to me like I am crazy.

'What about D-Drew?' Clary asks.

'We take him with us,' I answer, 'Rye, can you tilt him with you?' In answer he nods his head, staring with a blank stare.

'Okay, you two get ready...' I trace off, but back up again. 'And I'll search for some supplies.' They both nod and I stand up from my kneeling position. With one last look at a lifeless Drew, I fight my way out of the room. I step out of our department and am met by the dark shim of the hallway. I take a deep intake of breath and sneak off, hoping no one notices me from behind.

After searching for a couple of minutes I have found a small bag with wound supplies, and a couple of bags with syrup or oat meals. Yuck. I hope it's enough to give us some energy boosts, these last few days.

A loud bang is spread across the place. The ground shakes, which causes me to fall against the wall, down to the ground. My head makes contact with the hard concrete and I groan. I wait for the high tune in my ears to disappear. I re-open my eyes and am met by a complete shadow of darkness in the hallway. How am I supposed to find my way back, now?

The tune has disappeared and I try to stand back up. Where did that explosion come from? I ask myself without a clue.

'Colby didn't lie completely. There are minders in this building, only are they being held captive right now,' Eth had said. Wait. They are being held captive.

I look back through the darkness, no lights. Nothing. Should I go back or look for those innocent people? I decide to give it a go. They did not deserve this. Clary and Rye can survive on their own, so why not try to save some others?

I take my bow from my shoulder and grab one single arrow, I load my bow and I know I have to do this.

I take off, staying close to the wall. I squeeze my eyes together and look forward. A small let light is not far ahead of me. I grin and fasten my pace.

Just as I step into the light, something hard makes contact with my back. I fall, face forward, against the wall in front of me. Not again. I groan and instantly stand back up. As I turn around, the person who stands in front of me is the one who I did not expect to see again.

'Well, hello to you too, Lavanchy,' Carissa grins, Emile next to her. Carissa has a gun aimed at me.

'Seriously?' I mutter. Carissa giggles and Emile grins. They really know how to fuck up the mood, don't they?

'Yes, no kidding,' Emile says.

'Oh look, the spy got a mouth too!' I say out loud, sarcastically. Carissa looks me right in the eyes and shows me a look that could kill a person.

'You better shut your mouth,' Carissa spits. 'It's good that we finally get to kill you.' I burst out laughing, which pisses her off even more. She stomps right at me and pushes me against the wall, holding her gun to my head. She pushes the gun so hard, a whimper escapes my dried up lips. Her face is so close, it's not hard to smell her breath. It's a mix of... perfume and strawberries. That's a pretty good combination, if I have to be honest. Shut it, she's on their side.

'You better be quiet, or I will shoot you,' She whispers forcefully. But as I read her face, I notice something... different. It's like her action hit some spot into her brain.

'That's not very nice, Caris. Don't you agree?' a voice behind her asks.

'Shut up, Ryder. I don't need your bittersweet comments,' she doesn't break our eye contact by a millimetre. 'I can take this one.' My mind wonder off, what would she be like if she wasn't this... evil? She's pretty, and I think she'd make a great friend. The only part that is holding her from that, is her lack of sweetness.

I manage to do it fast. I slam my fist onto her temple and she lets go of the gun. I catch it and without thinking twice, I aim and let the trigger go.

I watch as she falls to the ground, clutching her stomach. Emile rushes to her side, 'Carissa!' Carissa starts hyperventilating. It's like all evil has left her body, and turned it against her. Wait, what? 'I-I'm dying, aren't I?' she whispers in such a soft tone, it's hard to describe who she is at the moment. She's still not breaking our eye contact. And just like that, guilt enters my blood streams. What have I done? I stop blinking and let go of the gun. With a loud thud it falls to the ground. My hands are shaking as I move them to my head. My eyes have grown wider and my breathing has slowed down.

'I-I'm s-sorry,' I whimper, tears streaming out of my eyes. A hand is placed on my shoulder but I shake it away, 'don't touch me!' I shout. I just killed an innocent soul. It took me one act to realize it. She's innocent, just like them.

'Breathe, Maysley,' Ryder whispers to me.

But I don't listen to him, I fall to the ground and crawl towards the one person I just shot. Her eyes are still open, watching my moves. I'm kneeled down next to Emile, who's watching me carefully.

'Carissa, I am s-so s-sorry,' I force out of my mouth. It's not what she says, it's what she does. She smiles.

'It's okay. Because of you, I'm finally free,' she whispers. I feel a soft touch at my hand, and finally break our eye contact. Her hand is trying to grab mine.

'F-free?' I raise an eyebrow, accepting her hand in mine. It's soft and warm. I did not expect her body warmth to be so high. It must be because she's dying, Maysley. I shake my head mentally and focus back on Carissa, who's clinging onto my hand.

'C-Colby is my m-mother,' she starts. I gasp, but before I can ask anything, she continues. 'I did not agree w-with her terms, I n-never had a g-good bond with her. She had enough o-of me, and decided it was time for me to c-change.'

'What did she do?' I do not want her last minutes spilled with her talking about her past. But something tells me I need to listen. Listen to what an evil monster Colby is.

'At f-first she always screamed at me. B-but one day she just injected me with this w-weird kind of syrup, and next thing I know is that e-everything looked worthless and c-cold to me.' Oh.

Ryder speaks up, 'she's my niece. I always stayed close to her to protect her from my aunt. Even though she didn't like me, Carissa I mean. Basically, the injection she got was to get her on their side. But the force of the bullet caused her blood to stream again, and it seems like it has disappeared.' This is a lot to take in for someone with no connection to any of those people.

'But, all this time...' I tremble off. Carissa smiles again and tries to give my hand a squeeze.

'It's difficult, I know,' Ryder smiles, 'all you need to know is that you saved Carissa over here, and that we really need to get out of this building.' He takes something from behind his back, it's a small suitcase. He opens it up and I sneak a look at what's inside. Bandages, syringes and three small bottles of weird syrup.

He pushes Carissa's shirt slightly up and my eyes meet the big red wound. I cringe but hold on.

'Okay, this will sting a little,' he warns Carissa. With the two of his fingers he takes hold of the bullet, that's inside her flesh. I try not to gag, that will only make it worse. He gracefully takes it out, and with all her power left, Carissa squeezes my hand. She lets out a small whimper and the bullet is out. Hurriedly, Ryder gets the bandage out and wraps it around her stomach. He ties it tightly and looks up at me.

'Her wound will heal in time, we are losing time, we really need to get out of this place,' he says.

'Why?' I ask. He closes the suitcase and answers, 'This place will explode in a couple of minutes.'

Ryder has Carissa in his arms, and I have picked up the stuff I found, along with Ryder's suitcase.

'Come on,' Ryder starts walking.

'Wait!' I panic, he turns to me. 'My friends, they're still here. Drew... He got shot.' Ryder swears under his breath and looks on his small watch. His face shows a look of hurry.

'We have nine minutes,' he says. Shit.

'Follow me,' I hurriedly say and start to move toward the hallway that I came from. I light up my flashlight, and shine it through.

We arrive at our department and I hurry inside.

'Why did it take you so long?' Clary mutters at me, still at Drew's side. I look back at Ryder and Carissa and break out a small smile.

'I got hold up for a moment,' I answer.