Hanzo agreed to stay with Reyna's mom, so I went back upstairs. I've jogged to the third floor when gunshots echo throughout the floor above me. The only person I know with a gun is Reyna. Three shots explode back-to-back before stopping altogether. Picking up my pace, I mentally rundown where she could be. The café, Enzo. She's in the café. 

 I ran into the door leading to the fourth floor, expecting it to fly open. Instead, it's locked. Backing up, I rear and kick it. The door rattles on its hinges but it doesn't budge one bit. I resort to going to the window and using the butt of my knife to smash it open. However, I can't use all my force when I'm gripping the knife. Putting it away, I take a deep breath. 

"On the other side of that door, there's my gun, a troubled Reyna, and a bunch of her friends..." I form my palm into a fist. "On the other side of that door is redemption, and no one can take it from me." I aim and punch through the glass, the impact of the glass solid but not exactly painful...at least, not yet. 

I fling my hand through the hole, glass tearing at my skin. My hand solidifies around a handle and I yank it open, tumbling out of the stairwell. Sharply, I veer left and sprint into Reyna's friends. Among them, Makai. He glares at me just like his sister does.

"Where's Reyna?" I ask, almost out of breath. "She has my gun and there were shots."

"Yeah, asshole, we aren't deaf," Makai spits. "Reyna took off looking for clues."

"Which way?" I inquire sizing up the new kid. He's around 5'10. He's a surfer looking dude who looks like he's the poster boy for Vogue's Purest Children. Already I hate the guy.

"This way," the kid answers, leading the group past me.

As Makai nears me, he snatches my wrist with a cast-iron grip. "I don't know what your motive is, but knock it off."

"Stop being such a cynic, Keanu." Yanking my hand away, I laugh. "I'm here trying to save your sister and this is what I get?"

Makai glares again, and I wonder how much angrier he would get if he knew that Rey actually was his sister. "You don't deserve my thanks, and I don't know how you brainwashed her, but stay away from Reyna."

I smirk. "Or what?"

"You guys coming?" the new kid asks, further down the hallway.

"You bet," I call, leaving Makai. As I regroup with the others, I suggest a plan of action.

"We split up. I'll go down here," I nod to the dark corridor. "You guys part and look elsewhere."

I start down the hall when the new kid bumps into me, tripping over his two feet like some clumsy bastard. "Can I help you?"

The kid clears his throat and looks up through apologetic, hazel eyes. "Sorry. Didn't mean to run into you. Do you mind if I tag along? I'm Ozzy, by the way."

"Look, Ozzy Osborn," I grumble, speeding down the hall. "Don't get in my way and you'll be fine."

"You must be Enzo," he grouches.

I spin on my heels and grab the kid by his collar, getting in his pretty-boy face. "What's that supposed to mean?"

His breathing comes in short spurts. He laughs. "I've heard all about you on some blog, you little psycho."

I drop him and grab his bandaged arm. Forcefully, I bang it against the wall, causing Ozzy to howl in pain. "What do you know, huh? What do you really get out of all this?"

 I tear at his bandages, revealing his wounds. There's a gash, and if I look hard enough, I can see fractured bone. As for the rest of his body, I spotted road burn almost totally healed. His arm is the only new thing about him. "Your little girlfriend patched me up this morning," he hisses.

"Did you re-break yourself?" I study his face and laugh. "Yeah, you did. And you call me the psycho." I release Ozzy and size him up. I could easily take him down if I needed to. Or if I just wanted to for fun. "So what do you really want, Oscar?"

"Nothing. I just know you, people," he argues. But he lies. He lies so much that anyone could tell. But I don't have time for this crap. Reyna is in trouble...actually, if Reyna has a gun, then someone else is in trouble. 

 "Again...stay out of my way."

I shove him back and continue down the hall until a God-awful smell washes over me. This is worse than rotten milk, body odour, and day-old fish. For a moment, I'm taken aback, but I quickly get over it and rush down. 

 The door at the end of the hall is open and emanating a shitty smell. Boldly, I charge in, searching for any trace of Reyna. The wall is decorated with pictures of Reyna and her friends, as well as old newspaper and blog clippings. 

"How can you stand the smell?" Oscar asks, plugging his nose. 

 "The same way I stand you," I absentmindedly retort, reading. "I just remember it will be gone in no time." I read about the loss of twins under my same last name. They died because no one could give blood in time, due to their extremely rare type of AB-. Their doctor at the time was..."Uncle Gio?" I haven't seen him since I was three or four. My dad says that he skipped town on some clingy girlfriend. I never knew he had kids, let alone twins.

Are these the twins whose DNA was in the mix?

"Um, there's some unzipped corpses here," Oscar nervously notifies.

I roll my eyes at him breaking my train of thought. "Great find, Sherlock." I turn to the dead things. One is opened, the other is unzipped. "Did you find them like this?" I inquire. Oscar says yes, but I didn't need to know that Reyna opened them by his answer. On the ground, next to the door, there's my pistol. I stare at it, wondering how Reyna managed to drop it. She squeezed off three shots, too, yet I saw no blood.

Oscar follows my sight and picks up the gun. "Where do you think she went?" 

 "Nowhere without a fight...she was definitely here, though." 

 I stop at the spot where the gun was, trying to imagine the scene. Reyna was grabbed, but she managed to pull the trigger without a hit...so she was nabbed from behind. We would've heard her screaming and kicking if she wasn't gagged or passed out. 

So she's incapacitated and MIA – great. I stare at the floor, looking harder for any sign of Reyna and her captor. Suddenly, I'm hit with a realization. This is what Reyna must have been like when she was looking for Makai...and when she found him all bloody and beaten only to lose him again, she must've been devastated. On top of that, she slept with the monster who did that to him. Maybe it is better if I back away...if I give her some space.

At last, I'm barely able to make out shoe skid marks – faint in the floodlights. I trace them back to a storage closet. Hurriedly, I twist the metal knob, but it's locked. Reaching for my knife to unlock the door, I realize with a start that it isn't there. "What the hell?" 

"Step aside," Ozzy demands, lightly shoving me with his body and pulling out a knife.

My knife.

"What the hell are you doing with my knife?" My voice is loud, now that the sounds of moaning and groaning are out of earshot in this lonely corridor. "And how did you get it?"

"I took it," he utters, making quick work of the lock.

"What were you planning on doing with it?" I viciously inquire, growing weary and nervous of the kid.

"Who cares?" he asks as the door clicks. "I opened your door."

Opening the thing, I render with, "I would've done that with my knife, but you took it from me."

Inside, I find Reyna, passed out. She seems fine other than the fact that her middle finger is at an odd angle. There's a note attached to it

Learn some manners.

If Reyna flipped off the kidnapper in her final moments, I'm in love.
There's another note on her forehead.

Daughter of Nancy Copulas†

I furrow my black brows in confusion. "Why is there a cross by Reyna's mom?"

"It signifies death," Ozzy supplies the obvious.

Grunting, I flash him an evil eye. "No duh, kid. But I just saw her, she was fine." 

 Just as I say the words, there's an earth-shaking explosion from downstairs, followed by a series of screams. "That doesn't sound too good," Oscar whispers, bracing himself against the wall. Even the fourth-floor shifts from the explosion below.

 "If all you're going to say is obvious, then please just stitch your mouth shut," I snap, shouting over the uprising chaos. 

I lift Reyna, cradling her body and manoeuvring her out of the closet and into the hall. "She's better off there, away from everyone," Oscar suggests.

 "I've got the gun. I'm a walking beacon of safety. And give me my knife," I growl, rushing down the hall. Della speeds past the corridor. "Adelina!" I shout, grabbing her attention.

"Shit, Reyna," she breathes, pushing Rey's bangs off her forehead. "What happened?"

"No idea. This asshole has my knife," I nod to Ozzy. "And I've got a gun. Makai and Aero were at the café before we split up to find Rey."

"Let's get her back to the café," Della suggests. "There's only one way in and out. It'll be easier to monitor, and no one is going to be in a room with a bunch of broken computers."

"Good idea," I agree. "Let's go."