It's strange how all it takes is a few seconds to turn your world upside down.

When I woke up on a Sunday morning two weeks ago, I never thought that it might be the day my mom would die. I thought that I was going to wake up, be briefed about the weekend's events, and spend the rest of the evening planning for another mission.

That's how the day started out, anyway. I did wake up. I was updated on the mafia issue in Russia making its way into the United States. I was in Jupiter, conversing with some of my partners when I heard my mother shouting my name.

"Zara!"

Her shrill voice echoed through the forest and bounced off of the rock walls of Jupiter, where I sat with Oliver, Maya, and James.

Never had I seen her eyes so wide, fear riddled across her aging features as she stumbled into the cave. Her hair was messy and pulled out of her bun in several places, her shirt ripped at the collar, and a gash was burning a bright crimson on her right arm, which held a journal close to her chest.

The four of us sprung to our feet, sharing looks of concern and fear.

We had never seen her scared, much less hysterical.

The unbreakable woman was broken.

I rushed to her side, helping her sit down. Her hands were trembling, eyes searching our surroundings erratically. I placed a hand on her chest, squeezing her fingers tightly.

"Breathe, Mom." I tried to sound confident, reassuring, but it was difficult to do when the person you love most is crumbling right in front of you. Oliver was by her side in an instant, cleaning the wound that looked like it was caused by a blade.

Maya rummaged through the cooler in the corner, finally arriving with a bottle of water. She twisted the cap open and poured some into my mother's mouth, her own hands shaking.

James bolted outside with a gun, keeping guard around the cave.

"They're coming," she finally breathed, her words broken and urgent, "You need to run, Zara. All of you. You need to run—"

"Mom!"

I cupped her cold cheeks with my hands, turning her face towards mine so that my eyes stared into her hazel, almost identical ones. It was then that I noticed that they were red, glazed with tears that had dried on her cheeks.

She'd been crying.

Feeling sick, I took a deep breath.

"Slow down. Who's coming? Who did this to you?"

A million thoughts were racing through my mind. Why was she running?  Did someone attack the headquarters? Who else was in danger?

Who was she running from?

"Harris—he's going to kill me. He'll kill all of us. Chandler, Yuna, Walker... they're all dead."

The other Elite.

My blood ran cold, and I felt Oliver and Maya tense up beside me, their expressions mirroring mine. These were some of the people that had raised us. And they were gone.

"Who killed them? Mom, please talk to me," I begged, squeezing her face between my hands. Her breathing finally slowed, but her heart was still pounding dangerously fast. A tear rolled down her cheek and onto her collar. She sniffled, not even wincing when Oliver poured a nearby bottle of alcohol onto her open wound.

She'd been hurt worse.

"All of you need to listen to me," she said slowly, her voice with us but her eyes distant, as if they were in another world.

"They're evil. Harris and the rest of the board; you need to get away from them. We've been lied to and cheated and now that..."

She breathed deeply, taking another sip of water.

"Now that I know the truth, they will kill me. And anyone who tries to protect me, like..."

I knew what she was going to say, and it seemed that Maya knew as well.

"Like the other Elite," Maya whispered, her face pale as a ghost, breathing halted. She looked at me and back at Oliver, who slipped his hand into hers.

We were in danger. Not the type of danger we faced willingly. Actual, terrifying danger. My head was spinning, unable to process the words sputtering from her mouth.

I wasn't hurt; I was angry. How could Harris do this to us?

He was the Director of G.O.L.D., and for as long as I could remember, he treated Mother and I as his family.

My mind was a frenzy, and I wanted to ask Mom question after question, but my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of an agonizing scream.

It came from right outside the cave.

James.

My heart fell to my stomach.

Oliver stepped away from us, holding up his hands, which were stained with Mother's blood.

"Stay here," he warned, his aphotic eyes darker than ever before. Seeing my mom terrified was unsettling enough, but seeing Oliver, a man stronger than anyone I knew, fearful made me nauseous. And I could tell Maya felt the same way.

She nodded, even though I knew she wanted to follow him out of the cave.

I had forgotten about the journal in my mother's lap until her hands frantically gripped it, pushing it into my chest. I wrapped my fingers around its leather surface, unaware that there were tears rolling down my own cheeks.

From her sweet, melancholy smile, I knew what she was going to ask of me. It felt as if my heart stopped beating completely, a ringing sensation in my ears as she began to speak.

"Take this and run. I need you to promise that you won't come back for me."

Maya shook her head frantically, her hands wiping tears from her eyes, which were flitting back in forth between the scene unfolding inside the cave and back at the entrance out of which Oliver had ran.

"No," I said sternly, pushing the journal back into her hands.

"Zara Dubois," she hissed, her tone motherly, no longer vulnerable.

There was fire in her eyes. Coolness in her voice.

"You will do as I say. All of you will. Take this journal and heed my words. Disappear."

Maya opened her mouth to speak, barely croaking out a few words, her voice dry from the terror poisoning her blood.

"They're coming for us, aren't they?"

Mother nodded grimly, her gaze not once breaking from mine. She squeezed my hand tight before reaching up to her neck and undoing the crescent moon necklace that she'd never once taken off.

She pried my fingers open and placed it in my palm, closing my fingers into a fist around it.

I felt a pang in my chest, somewhere around where my heart was.

She was asking me to let go.

"Come with us." My words were desperate and childish. Tears continued to fall from my eyes uncontrollably. This wasn't like us. None of us were ever vulnerable—we were trained to be strong and bury our emotions deep within ourselves.

She shook her head solemnly, her eyes speaking a thousand words that only I understood.

"I can't. Read and you'll understand why."

I knew my mother. She was stubborn. And too good for this world.

Which is why she did what she did.

We were interrupted by Oliver, who came stumbling in, his hands running through his messy brown hair. His sharp jaw was clenched so hard that it looked painful, the tips of his ears set ablaze.

Maya rushed to his side, placing a hand on his shoulder, her touch making him relax the slightest bit.

"James..." he was out of breath, "He's not out there. I think we're surrounded."

Before we could comprehend his words, Mother sprung to her feet, seemingly recovered from her meltdown.

"Follow me," she ordered, one hand on the switchblade that remained attached to her torso.

I tucked the necklace and the journal into my jacket and looked at Maya and Oliver.

They were waiting for my signal.

I nodded curtly, pushing my vulnerability aside. They jumped into action, grabbing any weapon nearby. I had a pistol in my belt and a knife tucked into the side of my boot, yet I still felt weaker than ever before.

Mother looked at the three of us, her eyes gleaming with what seemed to be admiration and pride.

"Stay close and be careful," she warned, the maternal tone once again making an appearance.

Her eyes were set ablaze as she stepped out of the cave. We followed suit.

A cold breeze blew her messy hair slightly to the right and leaves ruffled somewhere in the Eastern part of the forest.

Confident, she turned and began running West with us at her heels.

I don't know how long we were running. It seemed like it could've been days, yet it seemed as if we stayed in the same exact spot. The trees of Falls Forest were everywhere. Trees so identical that they felt like an illusion.

My hair whipped in my face, winds whistling around us, singing a tune for us to run to. Tears dried and hearts sank, but our legs kept moving, guiding us to an unknown fate.

We were driven by nothing but adrenaline. Finally, Mother slowed down when we spotted the familiar structure that marked the headquarters.

Her expression like stone, she turned to face the three of us, keeping her gaze solely on me.

"This is where we part." She spoke slowly, knowing that each word pierced my heart individually, leaving it in shattered pieces upon the forest grounds.

"You need to run and don't turn around."

Now, she was looking at Maya and Oliver, daring them to defy her command. They nodded reluctantly, their hands still intertwined.

She turned to me. My heart was lodged in my throat. I had so much to say but not enough words to speak.

She pulled me into an embrace, letting me nuzzle my face into her sweating neck.

Mothers always have their distinct scents. Mine used to smell like lavender with a touch of honey.

She pulled away far too quickly. I wanted to stay there forever.

Her gleaming eyes boring into mine, she began to speak, her words muffled by the ringing in my ears.

This is not happening. It's not real. It's just a bad dream. A really bad fucking dream.

"I'm so proud of you," she whispered, a faint smile gracing her lips, which were framed by delicate wrinkles.

The world spun around me. It felt like she was standing miles away from me when she was just a mere foot away.

"Zara." She pressed her hand to my chest, my heart thumping erratically against the taut skin of her palm. She looked back at the trees between us and the building.

Leaves began rustling. Indistinguishable voices were heard shouting commands and directions.

"Breathe."

I was trying, but that was the last thing on my mind.

"I love you, sweetheart."

She brought me into an agonizing embrace, one that screamed so loudly that only the two of us could hear it.

I choked back tears, my eyes numb from crying.

"I love you, too."

She ran her hands through my hair, tucking it behind my ears. Her hand reached down to her belt and she pulled out her switchblade, tucking it into mine.

 And she stepped away.  

This was it. She was letting go.

Not real. The words rang through my mind. Wake up, Zara. Wake up.

Bringing Maya and Oliver in for quick embraces, she began to back into the forest that would steal her from us.

From me.

"Take care of each other."

She kept her eyes on mine, smiling as she spun on her heel and ran into the trees and right into the imminent danger that was chasing us. The trees swallowed her as she bolted straight for the building. Subconsciously, my feet began to follow her path slowly.

Oliver ran towards me, tugging my arm.  His shouts were like vibrations to my ears. I heard them, but could not distinguish his words.

My body worked mechanically. I began to run in the opposite direction, away from the building, with Maya sprinting in front of us and Oliver holding my hand as if I'd fall apart if he didn't.

Thunder roared in the sky. The clouds were praising my mother's braveness, I like to think. She was a hero.

My feet were moving without my permission as we jumped over branches and falling trees, away from our deaths.

A terrifyingly loud sound echoed through the forest, leaving our ears in pain and rendering the entire atmosphere eerily silent. We turned around in unison to see the headquarters up in flames. Debris showered everything in its proximity, smoke almost as gray as the clouds dancing in the air.

The same building Mother had ran into was being rapidly succumbed by fire, every inch blazing like the sunset that guided us away from it.

There was no way anyone could have survived that.

My knees buckled, head spinning, ears ringing.

She was gone.

The memories of that day were so vivid in my mind. They found home in the nightmares that would awaken my every night since, leaving me restless and vulnerable.

And the same scene of the explosion was now playing through my head, making my heart race as if I was reliving it.

"Zara," Maya cooed, her voice dripping with concern.

"We need to focus."

She didn't say it, but she knew what I was thinking about. She knew me better than anyone. Well, besides my mother.

The journal was laid out on the desk in front of me. We were in the apartment I'd been secretly and quite illegally living in for a few days, hidden far away from the city.

It was time to open the journal that was going to change our fates. I'd only  opened it to the last page, not having it in me to find out what my mother was warning us about.

Sighing, I flipped the cover open, the intricate designs on the inside bringing a smile to my lips. Floral patterns were embedded into the leather, connected by thin vines. I continued to study it as Maya spoke.

"Oliver will meet us tomorrow. He's trying to get in touch with his connections at Arc. He thinks--"

She was interrupted by the shrill sound of a phone ringing through the apartment.

My burner phone. No one but Maya should have been able to contact it.

Praying that it was a wrong number, I picked it up from off of the table. Maya shared my look of concern as she tucked her short hair behind her ear and came to my side.

Private Number.

I let it ring. Three more times. Then I answered, holding my breath as I put it on speaker.

I did not speak. There was silence on the other end. Just as I was about to hang up, a familiar voice spoke.

"Ganymede," he said, his tone sinister and offsetting. My blood ran cold and Maya gulped next to me.

It was Clinton. Harris's right hand man. He was very much alive and very much thirsty for our blood.

How they found a way to contact me--I wasn't sure, but it meant that they knew where we were.

I didn't speak. There were no words.

"I'll assume that you're listening," he chuckled, "I'm sorry about Rose. I truly am. She was a great woman."

There was not a trace of sympathy in his voice. He was playing with me.

My fist clenched by my side and rage pulsed through my veins, but Maya shook her head, warning me to remain silent.

She was right. I couldn't let him get to me.

"I'm sure you're aware that you possess something of value to me."

The journal.

His disgusting voice was enticing. Content.

"You've known me to be a fair man, Zara, so I'm graciously willing to offer a trade."

What could he possibly offer us? I'd already lost everything that was important to me.

Maya shared my confusion, putting her ear closer to the phone as some shuffling sounded through the speaker.

"H—Hello? I don't know where I am—  "

The familiar deep voice echoed through the phone and straight to my heart.

Silas.

I drew in a sharp breath, my heart pumping in my ears.

"What do you want, Clinton? Stop being childish. He's innocent," I sneered into the phone. This was exactly what I didn't want for Silas. Or for anyone. 

"You have a soft spot for the innocent, Zara. You're too much like your mother. It's a shame."

His cackle was repulsive.

"Meet me tonight with Rose's journal. At the docks where we carried out Mission Nova. 11p.m. Alone. Don't be late, or our boy here may pay for your tardiness."

He hung up.

Silas was innocent. He was older than me, yet he reminded me too much of a child. And now he was in danger because of me. I couldn't let him die, but I also couldn't give Clinton the journal.

I had forgotten that Maya was beside me until she placed a hand on my shoulder, shaking me back to reality.

"Who was that? Do you know him?"

My eyes narrowed and ears ablaze, I nodded.

"He's the reason I didn't die in the fire."

(A/N)

Super long, eventful chapter for you! Thank you to everyone who's been reading and especially those who have been voting/commenting!

It means the world.

Next update should be coming soon. And I promise it'll be action-packed!