~amelie~

The voices float up to me from the next grille across, and I hurriedly propel myself towards it until i'm almost directly on top of it.

"What do you want?" The question is sharp and pointed, and I recognise the dark male voice I heard earlier from below me. I whip my gaze down, peering through the grille, and see two figures, shrouded in darkness.
"You know exactly why I'm here, Roman." The most surprising thing about that sentence is not the revelation that the voice is Agent Roman.

It's the fact that the person saying it is my mother.

I press my lips together to keep from gasping, my heart hammering, as they speak - Roman, and my mother.
"Let her go," commands my mother.
Roman's tone is low and authoritative, reminding her who holds the power. "No."
"Our arrangement was for someone else. Not my daughter. I never expected her to keep my directions to herself. She should have told someone else, and then-"
"That is irrelevant," he cuts in. "That is your fault for misjudging her. I made a deal for rebel information - now I have my source. You daughter was never part of, or expressly not part of, our bargain."

What?

My mother's voice becomes increasingly agitated as she says again, "Let her go."
Roman repeats his refusal. "No. I don't gain anything from freeing her - in fact, I lose. I upheld my end of the deal, you yours. Simple."
"But-"
"Grace. I gave you all the resources and help you needed to free your brother. Is that not enough?"
My mother's voice is firm. "Not when it's my daughter we're talking about."

A crack splits the air, and I flinch as the gunshot noise reverberates around me for a second, bouncing through the vents. I clamp my hand over my mouth as I stare downwards, at the crumpled figure slowly sliding against the wall, and the second standing over them, holding a slim black pistol. The shooter is strangely still, frozen, motionless as they hold their gun pointing towards the body.

Either my mother has just killed Roman, or he's shot... her.

I scramble back from the grille, tears in my eyes, hand still over my mouth. The full weight of my mother's betrayal hits me as I realise just how much she sacrificed to get Matthew back, and it overwhelms me. One of my parents is a mass murderer and the other is a traitor, and I don't know how to handle it. But the emotion is suddenly overcome when I have another realisation. Although unwillingly, I've just told Roman's forces all they need to know about where the rebel base is. I have to get back to my father, Hunter, Amber, Lila, Elian, Thomas - I have to tell them exactly what's coming.

So I push down my despair, clamping my lips together, crawling through the vents once more to get away from the horrifying, eerily still scene.

~~~

~hunter~

"We need to find her," I say firmly, clenching my fists.

Elian looks up at my outburst and so does Markus, and all the other people in the room avoid my gaze awkwardly. After I failed to find Amelie, Elian called an emergency meeting. We're all gathered together to figure out what to do if an attack is launched at us - Grace and Amelie are gone, and one of the worst case scenarios is that mother has kidnapped daughter. The other... even after all she's done, some people have suggested it's Amelie herself who's turned traitor.

I've never wanted to punch anyone more in my life.

"Hunter, we have bigger things to worry about," says Elian, weariness etched into every corner of his face. "We have no idea where to even start looking for her, and we don't know if we can even help her." That's the other part that makes me so angry - the giving up on her, even after all she's been through, all she's found her way out of. Nobody except me is willing to accept she's in no way a lost cause. "Right now, we need to prepare ourselves. And then, only then, we can talk about Amelie."

With that simple sentence he shuts me down and my cheeks flame as the room falls into silence. Nobody understands how much she means to people - Nathan's silently furious, Sophia and Matthew are equally distraught, Amber and Lila are quieter than usual, I can tell Elian's trying to hide his guilt, and me... I can't even describe how not knowing what's happening to her makes me feel. Still, none of them fully comprehend how much we need - I need - her back. We're all falling apart slightly now she's disappeared, and none of us know how to fix it.

My thoughts come to an abrupt end as someone clears their throat next to me. "I... I'm not disagreeing with you," says Matthew, looking straight at Elian, "but what if we could do both?"
"What?" I frown, and Elian echoes my confusion.
"What if we made plans to defend ourselves, but meanwhile a small team went out to find her?" he elaborates. "Just, say... Hunter, Lila, Amber, me?"
I stare at Matthew, but the words that follow are directed at Elian. "That... that would work. We could get her back," I say, not daring to allow the hope to take hold.
Elian sounds old and tired as he says, "We don't know where to start. How are you going to find her?"
Matthew shrugs. "First, we figure out why she left. And why she hasn't come back. What happened just before she went?"
"Of course," Elian breathes. "She must have gone to find her mother." He frowns. "But... why so suddenly? Why didn't she tell anyone?"
"Something must have pushed her to leave immediately," Matthew says, biting his lip.

Something cold writhes in my gut. She couldn't have overhead my conversation with Nathan... could she?

"Hunter," Elian begins, and my attention snaps to him. "Do you have any idea why she would have left? The last time I saw her, she was going to find you."

And if she was looking for me, and she found me, and she heard what we were saying... that would shock her into fleeing.

"Oh," I say blankly. "Oh."
"What?" Elian asks, but I'm unable to answer him. The pieces fit together so perfectly - Nathan's revelations, the person we heard running away, her leaving. And I can't think past the buzzing in my head that says it's my fault she left, my fault...
"Hunter? Are you okay?" Matthew asks, a concerned look on his face.
I look up at him and he stares at me, and somehow I manage to pull together a coherent explanation. "I... I think she overheard something we were talking about."
"We?"
"Me, and... and Nathan."
Elian frowns. "What? What did you talk about?"
I shut my eyes, wishing I didn't have to say it. "I... he said..."

"It's okay, Hunter. I'll take it from here." Nathan's voice comes from behind me, and I turn quickly, staring at him. His eyes are slightly blotchy and he carries a heavy-looking bag, but he looks alert and ready to explain. So I keep quiet, and he steps forward, everyone's eyes on him.
"Why," Elian begins, accentuating the first word, "are you two having secret conversations?"
Nathan's voice is expressionless as he replies, "I needed him to know something."
"What?"
Amelie's father hesitates, and Elian's eyes narrow.
"Everyone, out," he says, but shooting meaningful glances to Matthew and I. We stay put as the rest of the room empties quickly, flooding out of the doors, eager to be rid of the tangible tension in the air. Eventually, the space is clear apart from us four, and nobody says a word until Elian gestures at Nathan.

"Tell me," he states.
But Nathan hesitates again, and glances at me. I'm so grateful for the look, because it means he understands what I want to do. So we nod at each other and I slip out of the room, unwilling to hear the story again. He told me once, and that's more than enough.

I stand outside the room for what feels like hours, trying not to imagine the conversation taking place, and thankfully everyone else has cleared out of the outside hallway as well. It means that, when shouts of exclamation, panic, and pain come from inside the room, nobody is there to see me flinch, and clench my fists.

Suddenly, I hear a loud thud from somewhere near me, and I frown, blocking out the other sounds. I walk to the end of the corridor, listening carefully, but I don't hear anything else. My frown deepens. I'm sure I heard something, but... what? I look back reluctantly at the closed door opposite me, and although I know I should stick around to be a part of whatever happens next, I can't stop the curious (and suspicious) feelings that makes me want to investigate.

So I decide to listen again, and that's when I hear it - heavy breathing, like someone's hurt. That's when my instincts send shockwaves through me, huge warnings, signs I can't ignore. I start to run towards the sound, and as I skid around the next corner I see her.

Amelie is propped up against the wall, supporting herself with one hand as she limps along the corridor. Tears are streaming down her face, mixing with the blood on her lip, and when she sees me she lets out a sob and I rush towards her, shouting her name.

"Oh my God, Amelie, what happened, we thought you were gone, I thought you were gone, I-" Words tumble out of my mouth uncontrollably, and I find my own tears running down my face as I hold her tightly, supporting her.
"Hunter..." she murmurs.
"Amber!" I scream. "Amber, I need you!"
"Hunter, you... you have to listen to me!" Amelie says suddenly, unexpectedly, staring up at me with startlingly clear eyes. "I saw... he... Roman is coming, and... and he knows where we are!"
Shock crashes into me and it feels like I've been kicked in the stomach as I stare at her, unable to comprehend her words. "What?"

At that moment, there's a crash from behind me and my head whips around to see Amber and Lila sprinting towards me. When she catches sight of Amelie she gasps, and runs even faster, and then she's skidding to a halt on her knees beside Amelie, and places her hands on her immediately.

"Come on, come on..." she whispers, screwing her eyes shut in concentration. She doesn't even ask what's wrong - she just knows that something has happened, and Amelie is hurt.
Lila's eyes are wide and scared as she asks, "What happened?"
"I don't know," I say, panicked, staring at Amelie. "I... I don't know."
Amber takes her hands off Amelie then and clenches them, staring at her patient. "I fixed her," she says quietly. "But... she needs rest."

She's right - Amelie's eyes are closed, and she's passed out, presumably from pain. So I pick her up gently, and start walking with her body clutched in my arms.