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The moment the three of us came trundling through the door, Auntie Steph was instantly in the room and pouncing on us.

"Where the hell have you been?" she yelled, wringing her hands around anxiously. "I was worried sick! I - I thought you had been killed ... or worse!"

"Mum!" Teyla complained loudly. "We're fine. It's okay."

"No - no it's not okay!" Auntie Steph continued to rant. "It is extremely cruel to put a mother through that kind of thing! Don't you ever do that again!"

I opened my mouth to protest, but Wesley beat me to it by saying, "Did - did you see what happened?"

"Didn't everybody?" Auntie Steph shook her head. Heaving a deep breath, she collapsed onto a nearby kitchen stool. She buried her face in her hands and rocked back and forth. "We're - we're all gonna die. We're all gonna die."

I hunched my shoulders together, glancing sideways at Wesley and Teyla. Scared expressions were plastered on their faces. They didn't need this, not now.

"Where's Daniel?" I quickly piped up, trying to divert the topic to something else.

Auntie Steph glanced up at me and shrugged. "Last I saw him he was chopping wood around the back waiting for you to come home ... which you should have done a bloody half hour ago!"

I winced, instinctively stepping backwards. "T-Thanks," I stuttered. "I'll go find him."

"I tell you what, you don't deserve that boy!" Auntie Steph hollered after me. "He'll always be a better boyfriend than you are girlfriend!"

I stomped down the hallway and through the back door, slamming it hard behind me. As I stood on the outside steps, I forced my heart-rate to calm down and my breathing to still. I knew Auntie Steph hadn't meant what she said. I knew she would apologise later. I knew she was upset. But the words still hurt. Mostly because I knew ... they were true.

"Hayley?"

At the sound of that deep, gentle voice, I couldn't help but smile as I lifted my head. My eyes scanned my surroundings until they fell on the tall, muscular figure leaning against the corner of the house's brick wall.

His thick brown hair fell in waves across his forehead. His deep brown eyes sparkled with life. His lips were stretched in a broad smile. His tan leather jacket reflected the bright rays of the afternoon sun. His hands were thrust into the jacket's pockets, his entire body posture indicating one of a smooth, calm, and devilishly handsome boy ... my boy.

"Daniel ..." I whispered, hopping over the stair railing and hurrying towards him. "Daniel, did you see?"

"Of course I saw," Daniel returned, enveloping me in a tight hug. "When your aunt said you weren't home, well, I couldn't help but feel worried when I realised you were still gone. Hayley ... you know the rules. You know you shouldn't have wandered off like that."

I pulled away, my brow furrowed. "Are you serious? You're taking Auntie Steph's side?"

"I only want you to be safe."

"Yeah? Well, we're not safe, Daniel, not as long as we're still stuck in this awful place."

Daniel sighed. "Please Hayley, not this again."

My eyes widened in anger and shock. "This? This is our life! You heard him! You heard the Author! Everyone did! We're all gonna die. You're gonna die, Daniel! And if you think, for one second, that I'm gonna sit back and let that happen ... then you don't know me, you don't know me at all."

Daniel chewed his bottom lip, biting back a retort.

I noticed the movement and huffed, ducking my head and shoving my hands deep inside my pockets. I knew that every single girl in town, including Teyla, would do anything to be in my position right now ... If only they knew how hard my life really was, even when Daniel was apart of it.

Daniel reached forward and placed two fingers beneath my chin, tilting my head up so he could look straight into my eyes.

"Hayley," he whispered. "I know how much you're struggling. I'm struggling too. So whatever you do, we do it together."

I cracked a smile, my heart swelling with thankfulness and appreciation. "Thank you."

"No, thank you," Daniel responded. "If it weren't for you ... the rest of us might not have a second chance."

I shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant. "Stop being silly. We better get back inside or Auntie Steph will have another fit."

Daniel nodded, indicating that I should lead the way. 

As I trudged up the cobblestone path winding it's way through our back garden, I suddenly caught sight of something. I paused, stooping back to take a closer look. Several chalk-like figures had been drawn on the underside of our outside stairs!

"What the heck?" I murmured, my fingers reaching out to trace the odd, unusual pattern.

"What is that?" Daniel inquired, confused.

I sat back on my heels and shook my head. "I - I dunno. Maybe Wesley will know what it is. He loves cracking codes."

Daniel gave a short laugh. "Um ... yeah, you can say that again. Well go on then, if you're so curious about it, ask him to take a look."

I straightened to my feet and gave him a mock glare. "I'm not curious, just - er - interested. I've never noticed this here before."

"I'm 100% certain that 'curious' and 'interested' mean the exact same thing," Daniel replied pointedly with a shrug. "But whatever."

I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out at him. "Shut-up."

"What's all this ruckus about?"

Daniel and I whirled around, surprised. Wesley was framed in the doorway, leaning his arm casually up against the wooden sill. He twirled his glasses between the fingers of his other hand, frowning slightly as he stared intently at the two of us.

I clapped a hand over my mouth, stifling a guffaw.  "Put those glasses back on, you dim-wit! You can't see a thing without those on."

"Hey, you're ruining my cool vibe," Wesley grumbled, crinkling up his nose and shoving his glasses back on.

"I hate to break it to you, Wes, but you're not cool," I returned lightly.

Wesley shrugged, annoyed. "Whatever. So I'll leave you two to your love-session now, shall I?"

My jaw dropped open, my cheeks flaming a bright red.

Daniel noticed and started laughing. "Wes," he reproved, shooting him a knowing look as he placed a hand on the small of my back. However, the smile crinkling the corners of his mouth gave him away. He thought this situation was just too funny.

I shook my head and inwardly groaned.

Boys.

"Wes, I - I actually was gonna come in and find you," I began haltingly, trying to change the subject as quickly as possible. "I wanted you to look at something."

Wesley raised his eyebrows. "Mmm?"

Daniel took a few steps backward and motioned to one of the supports underneath the stairs Wesley was on. "Have a look, aye?"

Frowning, Wesley hurried down the steps, his eyes riveted to the wooden beam Daniel had pointed out. He crouched down and stared, long and hard, at the jumble of meaningless symbols.

"Damn," he finally spoke up. "As strange as it may seem, it - it looks like Chinese."

"What?" I scoffed disbelievingly. "No one in this entire village speaks Chinese, nonetheless writes it!"

Wesley got to his feet. "No. There's one person that does."

"And whose that?" I demanded.

"Mr Wang."

_________

"I can't believe I'm doing this."

I glanced over at a grumpy Daniel and sighed. "Relax, this won't take long," I told him.

Daniel just rolled his eyes.

I turned back and watched as Wesley marched up to the front door of the old log cabin. He rapped a series of sharp knocks on the hard wooden surface and called out, "Mr Wang? Are you home?"

"What do you kids think you're doing?" a gruff voice sounded from right behind us.

I shrieked with fright and whipped around to face the speaker.

A short, stocky man stood there, his tough, leathery hands full with a variety of gardening tools. His balding head gave way to tufts of white hair and he sported a full beard that came to just below his chin.

"Can I help you?" he demanded, putting a lot of emphasis on the sentence.

"Umm ... we're looking for Mr Wang?" Wesley piped up. "Do you know...?"

"You're looking at him!" he snapped irritably. "What do you want?"

I traded a quick side-glance with Daniel. "We - we need your help."

_________

"Has Mr Wang deciphered the code yet?"

"Geez Hayley, chill," Wesley warned me, raising his eyebrows and plonking his thick leather book onto the table top. "Stop pacing around the room like that. It's giving me the heebie-jeebies."

"He won't take long," Daniel spoke up. "He said he'd give us the results and that's what he's gonna do."

I sighed. "I'm sorry, it's just that if Auntie Steph finds out we're here ..."

"She won't," Daniel assured me.

"But what if ...?" I began protesting.

"Hayley," Daniel gently reproved. "She's grounded Teyla. She hasn't grounded you."

"Not yet anyways," I grumbled under my breath.

"Stop being such a worry wart," Wesley frowned, pushing his glasses back up onto the bridge of his nose. I rolled my eyes. I knew he was only annoyed that I was disturbing his precious reading time.

Just then, the door leading to the adjacent room flew open, to reveal Mr Wang's flushed and flustered features.

I turned around, my shoulders sagging with relief.

Finally.

I took a few steps towards Mr Wang only to be stopped in my tracks.

"Wesley," he beckoned the boy over to him. "I need you to take a quick look at something."

"Oh for the love of ..." I shook my head and sighed, watching Wesley's retreating figure with suspicious eyes.

Daniel chuckled softly, watching as I started pacing the room again.

Suddenly, Wesley reappeared, bursting into the room dramatically.

"Hayley!" he cried out. "Mr Wang wants you in here now! He says it's urgent."

"Okay, because that was too hard to do himself ..." I mumbled under my breath. "W-what is it?" I raised my voice, addressing Wesley.

He took a deep, long breath before replying, "H-he's cracked the code."

A/N: I hope u readers enjoyed this & if so please do comment & vote, I'd love it so much!It makes my day! Thank you so much for reading.

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