The words sparked a feeling of fear within me, and I tried to leave the room in any way I could, only to be held back by Santos' sinister comrades.

"If you leave, you'll be seriously endangered." Santos spoke. Everything he had said so far sounded like a statement, a fact, something he made us believe, even though I had a feeling most of his words were untrue.

To be fair, though, he was actually speaking the truth; there was no word yet on whether they'd caught the criminal, and so they could still be at large. Though it was hard to admit, here, in this dark, dingy box room, was the best place to be at this moment.

"OK then." I replied as the men released me. "What do you have for us next?"

"Paperwork."

"Oh, joy." Logan murmured sarcastically, making me giggle.

Santos turned his gaze to one of the men, who immediately let go of me, walking off into another doorway, coming back seconds later with piles of paper.

"Before you ask, you don't have to go through all of this." Santos explained coldly. "All you need to know is that we'll be keeping tabs on you throughout your time in the programme. We need to know that you're OK with that."

It seemed like a reasonable bargain. After all, there were regulations with these sorts of things, and if there wasn't someone overlooking everything, then those more mischievous people could easily break the rules.

We both picked up the provided pens, and were seconds away from signing our names, when a knock at the door made us stop and turn around.

"Mr Santos, sir."

It was the police officer from earlier.

"Yes?"

"I have some news for Georgia and Logan."

We both had a pretty good idea about what he wanted to say.

"It's Nina, isn't it?" Logan asked, brushing his hair out of his face.

"I'm afraid so." he answered. "The medics did the best they could, but she died in hospital."

An uneasy silence enveloped the room.

"We've told your Academy, and the headmistress says there'll be a remembrance assembly tomorrow morning. They're expecting you to be there."

From behind us, we heard Santos sigh. "It'll mean a delay in our plans, but I'll let you off on this occasion. Now, moving onto other matters…"

He gestured to yet another man, who went down the same doorway, this time bringing out a laptop.

He opened it, clicking a few buttons and keypads before handing it to Santos.

A smile formed on the leader's face.

He leant over to him, and whispered something, before going back to his original position.

"Georgia, Logan…we're letting you go, for now. Tomorrow, after the assembly, you'll come back here. Understood?"

We nodded, before being led out.

I was still slightly nervous, but that wasn't what mattered now.

What mattered was that, tomorrow, I was there. For Nina, for Gabby, for everyone.

*the next day*

As we all filed into the theatre, I saw Gabby's eyes grow wide.

"Georgie, Logan…you're a-alive?"

I nodded.

"Oh thank God!" she exclaimed, hugging me tightly. "I'm so sorry for running away like I did. I was so selfish…but seriously, I thought that those men, after they shot Nina-"

I covered her mouth before she could get any further.

"Gabs, I don't think you should talk about that here. No one knows we were there, and the teachers have agreed not to tell anyone…" I sighed. "Look, it's a long story, but I'll tell you everything later, alright?"

I took my hand away, directing my attention to the front as the headmistress, walked out. She had a stern look on her face, as ever, but her eyes projected sadness.

"Good morning, everyone. Now, you may have noticed that today is not a Friday, and so you probably weren't expecting an assembly."

Chatter arose, as most people tried to protest against the sudden change of plan.

"But," she continued loudly, silencing them, "we are here today to pay tribute to one of our students."

Nina's face appeared on the big screen behind her, and Gabby looked to me for comfort.

"I am very sad to announce the passing of Nina Jocelyn Glover. She died in hospital yesterday, after a…"

She looked down at her notes for a second, adjusting her glasses.

"After a gunshot to the chest." she finished, almost in disbelief. "As a sign of respect, may we bow our heads in prayer."

That was exactly what happened, for a full 60 seconds. A short amount of time to some, but to me, the fact that she was even being acknowledged was soothing.

After most of the crying and general angry conversation had subsided, we were dismissed. As I said, there was no need for it to be a huge affair, at least, not inside the school.

Once we got into the corridor, I explained every aspect of our predicament to Gabby.

"But, doesn't that mean-"

"Yeah." Logan cut in sombrely. At least she got what the Witness Portection programme was about right off the bat, which would spare her a considerable amount of heartbreak later on.

She sighed. "I understand. But, both of you, promise me something."

"Name it." I said.

She swallowed hard before speaking. "Promise…that you won't forget me."

I pulled her into a hug, not wanting to cry in front of the exiting masses.

"Promise."

Logan mumbled an agreement behind me.

I stayed in the hug for a few more seconds, before Logan jumped, tapping his watch.

I reluctantly set myself free from the hug, joining hands with Logan.

"Look after the rest of the girls for me." I requested with a smile.

"And the boys!" Logan chimed in. "You know how much of a handful they can be!"

We shared a final laugh and bittersweet wave, before leaving through the door.

Looking around, we knew our old lives were melting away from us more by the second.

The car was there waiting for us, as we'd expected it to be, but the location was a surprise.

Instead of the clean, white police station of yesterday, we were drove to a large, imposing, and darkly beautiful brown building. It looked like a stately home; perhaps that was what it had been in the past.

"Welcome to our Headquarters!" the other man greeted cheerfully.

"And," Santos added in his trademark cold tone, "the location of all your Witness Protection Programme operations from now on."

He gave the other man a stern look, meaning that effectively, those words were the last we heard from him that day.

As the other man silently walked up to, disclosed, and keyed a code into the jarringly high-tech security pad, the massive door swung open, and we went inside.

I immediately saw why they had based their headquarters in such an old setting- it was the perfect juxtaposition to the extremely futuristic content inside.

Huge, touch screen supercomputers, projections springing up all across the room, and an abundance of men in black suits. Some were leaving through other doors; some were talking (though about what, I had no idea), and a few turned to look at us for just a second, before turning back. They've probably seen people like us a million times before, I thought.

We were guided away from all the hustle and bustle of what seemed to be the main room, off to the side, and into a large hall. It was closed off, but from what I could see, there were white stands, with red curtains draped around them. People were typing information into computers at their side.

"Georgia Walls and Logan Saunders." Santos said, before the stern, redheaded lady at the desk nodded, and let us in. This, like everywhere else in the building, was clearly heavily protected.

"Children," he asked, his attitude changing to one of bemusement for the first time, "how would you like to have a makeover?"