Startled, Viktor shot up from his seat and looked panicked as Caleb gave him a pat on the shoulder and nudged him in my direction. I offered him a weak smile; I didn’t know what to expect from this either. What more was there to talk about? Like I said, we were never friends. Not really.

“Hey.” Viktor muttered under his breath and I smiled. This boy was willing to die for the group of us and now he’s sacred to have a conversation with him. The thought of this made me more at ease; we came from the same Citybase and the same district, there should be plenty to talk about.

“Which area are you studying in?” I broke the silence and he seemed glad to hear this particular question.

“Mechanical engineering.” He replied with a sparkle in his eyes and I could see that he genuinely love what he studied. It was good to see him so happy and it reminded me of my distant dream to become a genetic specialist to help uncover the truth behind mutation. But then I guess I was discovering my mutation, but in a much different way.

“So that thing,” I nodded towards the totaled mode of transportation that they had. “Were you guys testing it?”

“Yeah.” He said, glancing at it sadly and scratching his head. “We were supposed to test it out and collect some samples in the Ruin, but before we could the group of Legres started chasing us so we decided to leg it.”

I nodded and we were both probably thinking that it was lucky that happened, otherwise they would be stuck on the Indian plains on that weird prototype. Nigel really was heartless.

“Have you been back home since you started?” I asked, eager for any kind of news of my friends. My last correspondence with them had probably ended about four months after Viktor had started in the School of Medicine and Science and my heart squeezed against my chest at the thought of family. Maybe Lynette had actually been so kind as to send them a message that I was alive and well. I wondered how tall Dan would be now…

“No.” He shook his head sadly, then seeing the disappointed expression on my face he quickly added. “But I got letters from people in school, and they didn’t mention anything bad.”

We fell into silence after that, and it wasn’t particularly awkward or bad. There was something about seeing a familiar face at an unexpected place that made it so much more comforting and right now I was feeling that with Viktor.

“What are you guys talking about?” Casey and Gina had decided to join us and I scooted over to make room for them.

“Nothing much.” I admitted but Casey threw me a disbelieving look. I gave her a challenging look and wondered why she kept thinking that Viktor and I had a thing. She knew about Tom and I, why would she think that I would kiss Tom if I had feelings for someone else the entire time?

“You are exactly what I imagine you would be like!” Gina chirped excitedly and I could see why Casey had come over; she never liked the chatty girly type too much despite being quite vocal herself. My eyes flickered to Viktor whose ear turned red as his friend reveal that they had apparently talked about me plenty before.

“And what did he say?” deciding to play along I asked Gina, who got even more excited and leaned forward so she could tell the story better.

“That you are a hero and saved his skin.” She said, “And it was unbelievable how a tiny person like you stood up against the Legre.”

Flattered, I gave Viktor a grateful glance but he was too busy staring out of the window in embarrassment. I turned around to see Vanessa, Liam and Caleb were inspecting the wreck and seemed to be having a pleasant conversation. Everything seemed to be going well, but this could all change as soon as Gerald and Nigel come into the picture.

How long is it till landing? I asked Gerald through my mind, not too comfortable with directly addressing Nigel, especially since he was controlling the plane and I didn’t want to be accountable for distracting him and causing us to crash.

An hour or so. he answered, agreeing with the estimate Caleb had given me. Satisfied with the new information I settled back down to my seat. Gina was chatting amiably to Viktor and Casey was giving me a look.

“What?” I asked, chucking a cushion at the brunette who smacked it back at me.

“You had never mentioned about Mr. Dreamy.” She whispered and motioned towards Viktor and I quickly hushed her in case they heard us.

“I didn’t think it was important.” I replied and that was the truth; he was central to why I was discovered, but apart from that it was an isolated incident. One that had changed our lives. Still, it wasn’t like we had suddenly developed maddening love for each other, we had merely shared a life changing moment of our live together. That made us friends.

“Can all passengers put their seatbelts on, we are about to descend.” Nigel’s voice echoed across the speaker phone and we all scrambled to fasten our seatbelt.

Taking a deep breath I stared out the window and caught a glimpse of the magnificent castle. it was surrounded by dense woodland and the first thing that came into my mind was what if there was Legres there? But as we descended closer I couldn’t help marveling at the beauty of the old building. Veins were climbing all over the wall and the fairytale like exterior seemed to have fallen into despair at several places but this somehow added to its charm.

“Where are we going to land?” I asked, pursing my lips as I studied the densely vegetated area below. There is a flat area atop the castle but as I scrutinized it I fear it might be too small.

Movements to the right caught my attention and I saw Gerald clearing the wreckage with his mind, his hands holding several bundles. No. No way.

“We are not jumping out.” I said firmly, eyeing the parachute bags in his arms with unease. I could hear the excited gasps from Casey behind me and knew she was more than up for it. Damn.

“We are coming too.” Caleb said and Gerald didn’t even flitch. He dropped his load and went back towards the cockpit, presumably to get more parachute sets. I tried to suppress the thought of getting stuck on a tree or failing to open the parachute. I can move things with my mind, I was pretty sure I could fix that situation. However the idea of leaping out of a flying aircraft was still not on the top of my to-do list.

“We need to be quick about it.” Gerald said when he came back and handed each of us a parachute said and quickly went over the rules. It was clear that the group from the School of Medicine and Science knew what they were doing as they strap themselves in. I turned around to look at my group and was glad to see Vanessa’s hesitant face. At least I wasn’t the only one who was reserved about it.

“What is Nigel going to do with the plane?” I asked; I had originally thought that we would land and give it back to the group but since they are coming with us now they would be stuck to. Caleb made it sound like such an easy decision but now I was worried on their behalf. Who was to say that Nigel wouldn’t just fly off and kept the plane to himself and leave us all stranded.

“We don’t need the plane after this.” Gerald had simply replied and I raised my eyebrow at him. How could he know that? Katerina might not be here, or we might be chased off by her guards or something unexpected might happen. Why did he always seem to be in control even when the situation was obviously out of his hands.

“Let me help you.” Gina came to my rescue as I fumbled around with the various straps nervously. “Remember to pull this when you see everyone else is doing it.” She added, grabbing a long string dangling off my left with a red plastic slider at the end. “Too soon will take you forever to land, and pull this as well,” She pointed to an identical string but with yellow slider thing. “To try and orientate yourself to the right direction.”

I nodded, running through all the instruction in my mind. My initial fear had now been pushed to a corner of my mind as I focused on the technicalities of how not to die. Gerald had already positioned himself next to the door and cleared the entrance completely.

“Jump three second after the person before you.” He instructed before pulling a pair of googles over and motioned for us to do the same. Pressing a green button to the side, the door opened with the hissing noise and a wave of current blew in my face.

My heart lurched and I shuddered in the cold current, watching as Gerald gave his equipment one last check before leaping out of the door without so much as a thumbs up. Liam quickly followed and maybe it was just me but he looked a little green. Gina quickly followed but not before giving me a smile and before I knew it, I was up next.

“Don’t worry. Just do it.” Caleb encouraged behind my back and I knew my three seconds was up. Without taking a deep breath or doing any kind of nonsense that involved using my brain I jogged towards the door and leaped out.

It felt as though my heart was trying to make its way up when my body was being drag down to the ground and it took it a while before I realized I was letting out a strangled scream. I could see the other three in front, or rather below me and I tried to imitate their posture. Air whizzed pass me and all I could hear was wind rushing against my ear and felt my skin flattered by the downward force. Taking a deep breath I smiled; it wasn’t as bad as I thought.

I didn’t know how long we were falling for before I saw Gerald pulled his parachute open, then Liam. I waited until Gina had pulled hers before I pulled mine too, the only difference was I was too scared to use my arms and ended up pulling it through telekinesis.

The air resistance dragged me back up a notch when I opened the parachute and I relished in the calmness that followed. Whilst the fall was exhilarating, this was much, much more enjoyable.

My worrying side began to kick in as we neared the castle. What if they already saw us coming and fire at us? I could do a mind field. Okay.

Keeping a close eye on Gerald I finally managed to get my hands on the puller so I could change direction manually instead of with mind. We appeared to be heading towards the entrance and were not directly onto the castle and I breathed a sigh of relieve. Even if it was safe it would be a rude gesture.

Following how the three people in front of me had landed I managed to keep myself separate from my parachute as I touched down on the ground. Smiling for the minor victory I quickly got out of the way so the others could land too.

Apart from a small hiccup where Vanessa nearly ended up on a tree we all landed safe and sound. Ditching our parachute under a pile of leaves to camouflage them we quickly regrouped.

“We are going to knock on the door?” Casey asked, her eyes popping out and her face openly judging the plan. Whilst I wasn’t a huge fan of it either I saw the simple brilliance behind it. if Katerina could predict that I would be born three hundred years ago, surely she would be able to see us coming today and be prepared for it.

“Yes.” Gerald answered and I caught Gina trying to stifle a giggle. Viktor on the other hand looked like he was about to vomit and as did Vanessa.

I looked up and saw that Nigel was long gone with the jet, leaving behind a white, fluffy trail in the sky. Thanks for caring, Nigel.

“Come on, the sooner we get this over with the faster we can get on with our lives.” Caleb waved and we all grudgingly (well, I did) followed.

Staring at the castle up close I knew it must be old even back in the Old Age. An imposing iron wrought double door stood in front, about three people tall and two people wide and I wondered if it even worked. I did a gently probing around the area and there didn’t seemed to be anyone around.

“Would you like to do the honour?” Liam joked as Gerald and him stepped sideway so I had a clear path to the door. Throwing him a sarcastic smile I stepped forward and knocked three times on the door before I could talk myself out of it. To my surprise the sound echoed loudly cutting across the silence and echoing back, announcing our presence to the area.

Just as we thought nothing was going to happen, the door began to open by itself and I took in a deep breath to ready myself.

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Hey guys! Sorry that I forgot to upload yesterday! I lost track of time a little :P but the penultimate chapter is finally here :) sorry this is a bit of a filler chapter, but I wanted to explore the inner workings of Viktor and Abigail a bit. It's interesting to see how they look back to that critical moment of their life.

Who's excited to find out what's happening next? Because A LOT will be revealed about the Originals next chapter (which is also the last!) and they are the main protagonist in the Dark Ages :D

Anyway, I look forward to see everyone's reaction on Thursday :P sorry for the delay I am sure you are all eager/dreading for this to end.

But I will start on the third book soon (votes and comments help, hint hint, yeah I am kind of needy) so stay tuned.

I do update occasionally on my facebook page - so do follow me!