"We might not get a second shot at this." Viktor warned as Fred started making an arsenal of ice spears next to me, with everyone else moving as far away from the gate as they could without walking back on the outer barrier. "Don't push yourself too much."

I nodded, shaking my hands and legs to release the tension. Fred gave me a grim nod and I tried to tune out the crackling noise from the outer barrier. Despite its increase in thickness and ferocity, someone was attacking from the outside and it was motivation enough for us to keep moving.

"Let's do this." I muttered to myself, locating the first symbol I needed. Lifting one of the ice spears with my mind, I sent it straight for the shimmering hieroglyphics and pierced it dead center.

A crisp, ding-dong sound followed the shattering of the ice spear and the symbol dissipated into a smattering of dust. The barrier shimmered – and for one millisecond it was completely gone. Then it returned, but visibly thinner than before.

"It's working." Diego said, an amazed look on his face as the rest of the team all brightened up. With renewed enthusiasm, I plucked the next ice spear off from the neatly stacked pile that Fred had made next to me and threw it at the second hieroglyphics.

Everyone watched closely (except Vulture, who was still on the stretcher) as the spear once again hit the target squarely in the middle, and cheered when the barrier flickered off and came back weaker than before. I was getting the hang of the pattern, shooting icicle after icicle at the glowing hieroglyphics. The whole thing resembled some kind of a video game, but I supposed whoever built or created this thing wasn't expecting people to throw ice spears at it.

"This is the last one." I said, pausing and taking a deep breath, giving myself some time to recover. Everyone gathered behind me, surrounding Vulture and I could sense how tense they were. This was all or nothing.

Lifting another icicle, I launched it at the last hieroglyphic on the list and held my breath. The moment the ice hit the barrier a deafening sound reverberated through the entire area and it almost felt like the ground shook. Cracks started appearing on the clear shell and within three seconds, the entire thing dissipated into nothingness.

The cheers forming on our lips froze as another deafening sound echoed on the far side of the Academy, and the previously charged air was beginning to lift. I whipped my head around and sighed in relief when I saw the outer, electric blue barrier was still on, but somehow I knew that it was only a matter of time before it went out too.

"We better hurry." Diego said, sending nervous glances at the barrier too. Viktor and him picked up Vulture's stretcher and we quickly set off to the nurse's office.

"Is that me or does it feel a bit strange here?" Casey murmured as we pushed through the gate and stepped into the Academy; and she was right. It felt a little like we were moving under water, every movement seemed more sluggish and a weariness set it, like I was injected with a heavy sedative.

"It's getting better." Iris frown, I could tell she didn't like setting foot in here one bit. Though I wouldn't be either if I was working for the UGE.

"I feel fine." Viktor looked confused, and he did seem to be moving fine unlike the rest of us. Bringing him along turned out to be a brilliant idea after all. Looking down at my personal device, I tried to pull up a map, but nothing happened.

"Is everyone's personal device working?" I asked, trying to keep the panic away from my voice at the thought that our only source of communication to our pick up service is fried. It must have been damaged sometime between us entering through the first barrier and now. It wouldn't surprise me if it turned out the freakish electric blue barrier fried this thing. It certainly fried Vulture up pretty bad.

"Mine isn't working either." Iris confirmed and so did everyone else. A silence descended as we made our way through the empty courtyard, each of us deep in our own thoughts as the reality of being on our own sank in.

The front of the Academy was deserted, although no one ever hung around here anyway so it hasn't worried me. The sluggish feeling was slowly fading and we were moving faster towards the entrance of the Academy.

I tried to probe into the interior of the Academy but whatever was slowing us was stopping me from using my powers too. Kicking the door open, I peeked inside to see an empty hallway.

Nudging the door out further, I made sure it was wide enough for the stretcher to come through. A serious sense of déjà vu descended upon me as I looked around at the hall that I was supposed to be spending the last year and half. I looked around, trying to remember exactly where it was that we were.

"This way." Diego came through, holding one end of the stretcher and nodding towards the left corridor. Leading the way again, I navigated through the eerily empty and quiet school and the sense that something wasn't right set in deeper.

"Mr. Oscar's office is this way." Casey stepped next to me and started leading the way. They all knew how amazing I was with directions.

"Set him on the bed." Natalie instructed, rushing straight to the back of the room. Viktor and Diego heisted the stretcher and propped Vulture on to the bed with a thud. Tearing away the ice support, Fred and Viktor moved out of the way as Natalie came storming back with Iris right behind her, carrying a bundle of medical supplies.

"Gail, Deigo, I am going to need your help." Natalie said, dumping some bandage onto a nearby tray and wheeling it our way. I walked closer, but stayed a safe distance away, not sure how I could help.

"Is the bullet still inside?" Natalie asked, turning to look at Casey who nodded. Shuddering, I edged forward and peered at his bloody leg. Cringing a little, I located where the bullet wound was.

"Do you want me to get that?" Diego asked behind me. I shook my head; while I appreciated the offer, I could take care of things myself.

Sending a small tendril of my power in carefully so that it wouldn't disappear on contact with living tissue, I gritted my teeth trying to locate the bullet. Finally finding that little nuisance, I tugged at the bullet and effectively reduce Vulture into fits of screams. Casey squealed in alarm, and I heard someone made a gagging sound as blood splattered across the whole room as I finally yanked the bullet out.

Ignoring the urge to vomit and hide forever, I popped the bullet onto an empty tray and moved aside as Natalie rushed over to hold a cloth onto the wound to stop the bleeding. Meanwhile, Fred was creating more ice around Vulture to keep his skin cooled. They were actually beginning to blister, but at least the smokes and electricity is gone.

"Do you think he is going to be okay?" Casey asked worriedly from a safe distance. Even Iris was standing a fair way back along with a green faced Viktor. Diego was hovering behind me, looking rather uncomfortable. He managed to stop the blood splattering on both of us, which was a relief; although I doubt it would show on the dark fabric.

"He will be." Natalie said, gesturing for me to help her keep pressure on the makeshift bandage while she applied some sort of lotion on Vulture's skin. His face immediately relaxed, as well as his muscles and I breathed out a sigh of relieve. He let Casey escape through the barrier first and took the burn of things, and for that I was grateful.

"Where is everybody?" Casey asked; now that Vulture's life was no longer hanging on a thread, we had time to focus back on our original objective – finding out what was going on in the Academy. Getting through the barriers had only increased our list of questions, since their origin was a mystery in itself.

"We should check the Great Hall." Diego suggested, "It's the most central and well protected area in the Academy. If they were forced to gather or retreat to one place, that's where I would go too."

"What should we do with Vulture?" Casey asked, eyeing the injured man on the hospital bed. He didn't look like he would be in any shape to stand anytime soon, but leaving him behind didn't seem like an option.

"We will wheel him along." I decided. However cumbersome that would be, it's better than leaving him and another member behind with no backup and no way of communicating with one another.

Having replaced the carrying service with mechanical pushing, we had freed up more manpower, but ended up making a ton of noise as the hospital bed wheeled alongside us down the corridor. Diego and I carefully lifted the bed down the stairs, careful not to jostle the poor patient too much.

Moving at a normal pace now, I tapped forcefully at my personal device again, but that only resulted in more noises. Huffing, I lowered my arm back down and comforted myself with the fact that at least there was no chance of us being spied on by the UGE. Save for Iris.

"Open the door slowly." Diego whispered behind me as we tiptoed down the last stretch of corridor. The others stayed at the far end with the noise machine until the coast is clear.

Nodding, I pushed the door gently open, my heart beating wildly as an endless array of possibilities fluttered through my mind. I had no idea what I would see nor what awaits inside me and my mind was close to blanking out of sheer anticipation.

"Oh my god, we need to help them!" As soon as my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting of the hall, I immediately dashed in heading for the sprawling figures inside. Diego shouted a warning behind me before cursing and following me in.

It was the most surreal scene I had ever seen. Hundreds of students were slumped in various positions around the hall as though they all fainted or fell asleep at once. I quickly checked the girl nearest to the door and was relieved to find out that she didn't seem to be suffering from any injuries. Although if some of them were standing when they fell, they might just have a concussion.

"Do you see Mr. Andrewson?" I asked Diego, setting the girl back down slowly and looking around the hall. I could only spot a few of the teachers here, but Mr. Andrewson wasn't among them.

"He might be in his office." Diego mused, "We better go back out and let the others know what is happening." Now that I was satisfied that no one was in mortal danger, I realized that I probably shouldn't have rushed in. I still had a lot to learn to become a good leader. Thinking about me being a leader kind of made me shudder on the inside; I wondered if Akram ever felt the same way.

"What's inside?" Natalie asked and we related the crowd of unconscious people to them. I could see Natalie wasn't thrilled at the idea of leaving them unattended, but frankly they must have been there for a while now and nothing had happened.

"We should hurry." Iris said, looking around and generally acting very antsy. "Something is changing."

Since Iris wasn't a POE, I had no idea why she would feel anything and also if it would actually mean anything. But the sense of urgency was also inside me and I picked up my pace. The headmaster's office wasn't very far from the Great Hall anyway and we were at the door in no time.

Knocking on the door, I waited to see if there was any response and Casey threw me an exasperated look. Reaching forward, she bypassed me and shoved the door open.

Gasping, I barely had time to throw Casey a scrawl before my eyes was caught by the opening door. My heart both sank and leap (as if that's even possible) at the sight of the figure resting on the leather armchair facing us from the window.

"Mr. Andrewson!" I exclaimed, before noticing that the headmaster, like the rest of the people in the Great Hall, was passed out too. On closer inspection of the room, a pair of legs was peeking from behind the table and it was Mr. Oscar, who unfortunately must have succumbed to whatever came over this place standing. A third person was in the room too, and I gasped when I saw who it was.

"Miss Sewell." I whispered, and Casey's surprised squeal sounded behind me. We both knew that she was Saralisa Spenser – the Original who has healing powers and well, the ability to never age.

We shared a look at each other and I hoped she got the message to not to tell anyone else about who Miss Sewell really was. While I had retold my stories to others, the identity of Saralisa Spenser I had always omitted. If she was in disguise, then it must be for a reason.

"What do we do now?" Fred asked, staring at the group. "I don't think waking them up is that simple."

Suppressing the urge to retort a snarky remark, I decided that it was best to go to my tutor first and assessed the situation. He was the one who had given me the notebook with the hierographic or whatever it is called that's the password to the futuristic-mystical gate, surely he had planned to wake up from this as well. The nagging feeling on my mind that they had all been sitting around like this for the past year was making me uneasy as well. I really hoped that he wouldn't disintegrate into ash on touch. That would be scary.

Luckily, nothing that drastic happened when I tapped Mr. Andrewson on the shoulder. But nothing happened either. I nudged him a little harder, again nothing.

"Maybe you should have a look at that magic book again?" Casey suggested, I was turning around to face them when I caught a brilliant flash of blue out of the corner of my eyes.

Snapping my head back and forth again and ignoring the questioning glances from my friends, I walked cautiously towards the right wall. Squinting, I tried to use my mind to scout ahead, but I was still blocked by something.

"I don't think you should touch anything..." Fred started, but everyone fell quiet when I pulled on the bookcase that was built into the wall to reveal a secret compartment. It wasn't closed properly, leaving a small gap where the blue light was flashing through. My eyes were almost blinded by the intensity of the light that came through and I heard a collective sharp intake of breath from behind me.

"Oh my god."

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Hey guys - here's another cliffie, I mean chapter for you! We are finally going to start getting some answer in the next chapter! I can't believe we have finally gotten here :) I felt almost as emotional as the chapters leading up the the reveal of de Silver! So many of you thought that Katerina was talking about Lynette - the truth is Lynette is never really a key character. Even Oscar has a bigger role (ok maybe not).

I kind of feel like I am bursting with energy to finish Abigail's story - mainly because I can't wait to start the Dark Ages.

On a side note - I am stocked up with quite a few other ideas as well that's not POE related (although what would my life be without them?). Here's some of it:

1) Letting go sequence - I have actually got a plan of what will happen

2) After death - I have been meaning to change the title and hopefully I will. This story have actually got 50k words from NaNoWriMo 2013 but I haven't touched it since. It is in need of a rework and you can read a bit about it here: http://nanowrimo.org/participants/shadowcheah/novels/after-death-425588

3) A romance story - it's been a while since Letting go and the Truth about love, and i am kind of itching to write something more simple.

Which one would you guys most like to see from me? Comment and let me know below.

P.S. if I get enough votes - I just might update on New Years.