Fourteen

I had to try and hide my restlessness. Complete fear took over my body as I waited for Jamie and Mel to emerge with Popkins.

After finding out that his girlfriend Rosie had passed away this morning inside The Coal Jailhouse, Miles was sitting beside me, tears falling silently down his cheeks. I stroked his back wordlessly, knowing that nothing would comfort him but trying all the same. I knew it would be selfish to voice my fears about the three people I loved when Miles had just lost Rosie, so I kept quiet.

My eyes were trained on the door, barely daring to breathe in case I missed anything, while Maisie floated above us searching for any signs of the authorities.

After what seemed like an eternity, Mel stumbled out of the door, pulling a traumatised looking Popkins behind her. Panic rose up as I searched for Jamie. Just as I was about to go busting my way inside looking for him, he emerged. He looked far calmer than the rest of us seemed.

As the three of them got closer, I winced at how beat up Popkins was. He was still without a shirt, the lashings on his body angrily stood out. His left eye socket was black and blue and he had a nasty gash down the right side of his cheek that looked infected and deep.

I quickly took out my wand and muttered a spell under my breath. I was surprised to learn that anything worked if you made it rhyme.

"Please dear wand, Popkins is hurt. Heal his wounds and find him a shirt."

I didn't care that I was risking us being found out by doing magic right outside the jail, I only wanted Popkins to be better.

I watched with relief as his open wounds started to close up. He would probably always have scars but it was a small price to pay. His swollen and bruised face faded away, back to the usual Popkins that we all knew and loved, and a green shirt appeared on his torso.

I checked him over, his glassy eyes were staring vacant behind me.

"Popkins, are you OK?"

Silence. He didn't move or even acknowledge that I had spoken to him. Mel was staring at him anxiously, her bottom lip trembling. It just reminded me once more that she wasn't a full vampire, otherwise she wouldn't be able to show emotion the way that she often did.

"It seems as though he's in trauma. I'm afraid we can't do anything for him right now. But we do need to all get out of here, it's a miracle we've made it this far."

Maisie was right. I know it hadn't worked out for Miles, and my heart broke for him...but it had been surprisingly easy to rescue Popkins.

"Come on guys, everyone hold hands and I will get us out of here using a tricky spell Popkins taught me. It will only work if we are touching."

As Mel spoke, she took her wand out. I grabbed Popkins hand. Not that it mattered really, it was like he wasn't even here with us. Jamie was opposite me, holding Mel and Maisies hand. I needed to talk to him desperately, but it would have to wait. Maisie was just about to close the gap and take my hand when I realised that Miles was still sitting in the same spot, silently crying.

I let go of Popkins hand for a moment and walked over to Miles helping him up. He looked at me and sadly shook his head. All of a sudden, he looked so vulnerable.

I took his hand and dragged him over to the circle, taking Popkins hand again on the other side of me.

"You are coming with us Miles, there is no other option."

He sniffed quietly and hung his head, engulfed in his own sadness. I couldn't fail to notice Jamie's glare at my words. I frowned, surely he realised that we couldn't just leave Miles here on his own?

Mel swished her wand, muttering a long spell that I couldn't hear. All of a sudden, the earth started spinning and everything went blurry. I made sure to keep a tight hold of Popkins and Miles, but the pressure of swirling around sent me dizzy and disorientated. We came to an abrupt stop, all of us falling to the ground with a thud.

I looked around me, trying to get my bearings. We were in a tunnel. It was barely lit and smelt of damp and mud. It went on for as far as I could see, both ways. Popkins was the first to stand up, his head touching the roof. He was still unseeing, in a trance.

"Where are we?"

Miles's emotional voice echoed through the tunnel as he stood up, looking around him.

"What's it to you?"

Jamie's voice sounded out, hard and cold.

"Jamie, please. Miles has just lost his girlfriend. He's fragile. Would it kill you to be a bit kinder?"

Maisie, ever the voice of reason, scolded her brother. Jamie shrugged stubbornly, but looked guilty all the same.

"I'm sorry for that, I really am. But I don't see why he had to come with us, especially here. This is our world. The Sapphires is ours, not for people like him."

I wrinkled my nose, looking around me once again.

"This is The Sapphire Generation?" I couldn't hide the disappointment in my voice.

Maisie floated beside me, giving her brother a despairing look.

"Miles IS a Sapphire. We don't know his story yet Jamie. Cassie is a good person and if she saw fit to bring Miles along, we should trust her judgement. And Cassie, this is just the entrance to the Sapphires. Trust me, our world will be worth it. After having to hide in The Diamonds for so long, I can't wait to go back. Mel reckons Popkins taught her a spell that could get me back in. I have tried everything and nothing has worked yet. It's worth a try."

"I hope it will work. And if not, we will keep trying. We have a bit of a walk through this tunnel though. Maisie, why don't you and I walk along ahead with Popkins and Miles. We can figure out how to get our Popkins back and find out more about our new group member." She threw a grin at Miles, who shyly smiled back, showing the dimples that had been missing since we discovered Rosie had died. I looked sadly at Popkins who was still empty, wondering if we would ever get him back to normal. "Cassie, Jamie...why don't you two just hang back and follow us at your own pace. I'm sure you have some talking to do."

We both nodded, somewhat reluctantly. We stood still while the others went ahead, then slowly followed behind.

"Jamie...I...."

I didn't know what I was going to say. I missed him desperately. All I wanted was to fling myself into his arms and stay there forever.

"How could you leave me? How could you just walk out on us after the night we shared Cassie?"

My heart physically hurt. He sounded so angry, so hostile.

"I'm so sorry. I had to. Every minute you were in that jailhouse rescuing Popkins was a nightmare. I didn't want you to get hurt... I didn't want to see you go through that."

I went to take his hand, but he flinched away from me, stopping in the tunnel. His eyes bore into mine, but not with affection as I was used to seeing with him. With fury.

"Bull. That's crap. You got me to agree to come on this crazy ride, you made me fall in love with you, you slept with me and told me you loved me...then you ran away. You tried to hypnotise me and ran off, to have a wild adventure with another guy. Do not pretend that this is about me getting hurt Cassie. It's about your own selfish need to keep on running any time things get good."

I opened my mouth, not knowing what to say. I knew that a bit of what he was saying was true. But I also knew that I had already fallen crazy in love with him. I knew that if anything happened to him because of me, I would die.

I stepped close to him, gently touching his arm. Relief flowed through me when he didn't jerk away. I looked deep into his golden eyes, knowing that I could never feel for anyone the way I felt for Jamie.

"What I did was wrong. And I am sorry from the bottom of my heart. But I do love you. I think about you every minute we are apart. I see your face when I close my eyes. I may be selfish and I might not have known how to show my feelings properly...but don't ever doubt that I love you."

His face softened and I saw the old Jamie standing in front of me. His arms circled my waist as he pulled me to him. Everything made sense again, just from his touch.

"And I love you. But if you ever try to hypnotise me or run off again, it's not going to matter if I love you or not "

I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, stroking his neck as our noses touched.

"I won't. I promise."

As our lips touched, everything faded away. All the horrors of being on the run, the jailhouse, the authorities... everything just vanished. His body against mine felt just how it should be. It reminded me of our night together, when everything had been perfect. The kiss, slow at first, soon turned into a frenzy as we hungrily made up. He was the first to pull away, panting heavily but grinning wickedly.

"We should cool it down. As much as I'd love to relive our night again....this probably isn't the appropriate place to do it."

I giggled and started fiddling with my hair, as I always did when I was nervous. They happened to be good nerves though. Jamie made everything in my body wake up. He made my heart beat faster than it should. He made everything feel exciting and new but comforting all at the same time. I kissed his cheek, breathing in his smell. Earlier on, I had been convinced I would never see him again. And now, here he was. By my side. Even after I tried to hypnotise him and run away.

I linked my fingers with his and nodded my head towards the others who were nearly out of sight by now.

"Come on. Let's go and explore The Sapphire generation. I can't believe I'm about see where I belong for the first time. And with you at my side."

He flashed me a smile, but it was laced with worry.

"How long are we going to be able to be here though Cassie? We busted Popkins out of The Coal Jailhouse. We aren't safe anymore. They don't have Popkins now. So we become the hunted once again."

I sighed and shook my head, looking at the others.

"It didn't matter that the authorities had Popkins. We have always been hunted Jamie. They weren't ever going to let us walk free, with or without Popkins. Miles said so and it suddenly hit me that he was right."

Jamie frowned at the mention of Miles. I raised an eyebrow and squeezed his hand. "Would you stop? He's not a bad person you know."

He let out a big puff of air and shrugged his shoulders.

"Fine. Tell me everything. Tell me how you met and what his story is. I guess I better get used to him if he's tagging on with us now."

I smiled and launched into how Miles and I had met back in the Pearl Generation in the alleyway. I told him how he refused to graduate because he knew he was a Sapphire and Jamie seemed pretty impressed by that. I also told him that Miles infuriated me most of the time but that he had helped me get to The Coal Jailhouse. Lastly, I told him the very small amount I knew about Rosie and how she had passed away in the jail. I could tell by the end of the story that Jamie was looking at Miles in a different light.

I could see the group ahead had finally reached the end of the tunnel. We sped ahead to catch up with them, eager to see the generation where I belonged.

When we caught up, Jamie let go of my hand and walked up to Miles. He held his hand out for a shake. Miles eyed him warily, before shaking it limply.

"I hear you're one of us mate. And Miles, I truly am sorry about Rosie."

Miles sniffed and nodded his appreciation.

"Thanks."

His voice was still raw with emotion. I patted him on the back, still knowing that nothing would make him feel better.

Mel stepped in the middle of the group to make herself noticed.

"I'm so pleased we have at least started to build a bridge with regards to being civil, but the rest of the bonding is going to have to wait. We need to see if we can get Popkins back to himself and you three need to explore your world... especially Cassie and Miles who have never seen it before. I just hope The Sapphire Gen is going to be less drama filled than the other worlds."

As Mel said those last words, a strange feeling spread up my body. For a moment, I wondered if I were suddenly getting weak without my stone, but then I saw the all too familiar flash of light and heard the screeching, ear shattering noise.

I ran to Jamie, gripping on to his arm as tight as I could. When the blinding light went away, we were faced with the same three authorities who had taken Popkins away before, plus a crowd behind them of around ten others.

The woman, who had appeared to be the leader last time we saw her, cackled manically.

"What a shame you will never get to find out. You were so close as well."

Popkins, Mel, Maisie and Miles were all huddled up in a group. Popkins looked at peace for the first time since we had rescued him. I wondered if he had been acting so different because he had known deep down. He had known we were always going to be caught. So now he didn't need to be on high alert. They had found us. The woman spoke again.

"Did you really think it was going to be that easy? The workers at The Coal Jailhouse knew who you were straight away. You are our most wanted. Having Popkins didn't change that, you were always going to be caught."

I shrugged, deciding that I wasn't going to be scared. Being fearful was what they wanted and I wasn't going to let them win.

"We knew. We knew you would catch up with us. But let them go. Take me."

I stepped forward, but Jamie instantly pulled me back.

The beady eyed woman stuck her hand in the air to silence me.

"Enough. No more pleas or bargaining. It was bad enough last time we visited. You are all going to the jailhouse."

I pushed forward again, Jamie desperately trying to hold on to me.

"Miles hasn't done anything wrong. He can go."

One of the men, the tattoo covered shaved head hooligan one laughed now.

"He refused to graduate, then he helped one of our most wanted sneak into the jailhouse, breaking many laws while trying to get there, all to rescue a girl who also refused to graduate two years in a row. He's a definite prisoner. No good begging for his life. No good begging for any of your lives."

I threw Miles an apologetic look. Yet again, it was all my fault that everybody was here in this mess. The evil woman stepped forward.

"We are taking all of you. But Maisie....Maisie our little Sapphire cross Diamond. Our creepy little law breaking ghost. You have a choice. You can either come with us and be tortured with your friends and family here....or, you can be erased."

I gasped in horror as Jamie stepped forward now pointing his finger in the woman's face.

"You are sick. You are absolutely disgusting. You won't get away with this. You won't."

Maisie floated up beside Jamie and put her hand on his shoulder. He couldn't feel it of course, but he could sense it.

"Calm down little brother. It's OK. Everything will be just fine. You know I can't do those years of torture again don't you? It's a fate worse than death."

"So are you saying you want to be erased?"

The big burly man spoke again. Maisie took a deep breath and one last look at Jamie, before nodding.

"Maisie, no...."

I started to protest, but as soon as she had confirmed with a nod, the woman put her hands up, creating another blinding light in the tunnel. When it went back to a visible level, Maisie was already gone. Erased.

"You are scum. You're monsters, all of you."

Miles screamed at them and ran forward, pushing the woman over so she fell flat on her back. In less than a second, all hell broke loose.

I screamed as I felt hands grab at me, digging in to my flesh, hard. I struggled against them, desperately trying to reach Jamie who was also being manhandled.

Another flash of light and a few cries of pain from my loved ones filled my ears.

Then just like that, everything went black.