My lungs seemed to shatter as I ran, feet pounding against the forest floor. The wind whistled in my ears adding a song to the tempo of my beating heart. The edges of my vision went blurry. I wanted to vomit from the run but I had to keep going. I had to get out.

Something heavy struck the back of my head, sending me flying to the ground, freshly wet dirt from the raid before smearing onto my flushed face. My legs felt as though they were broken from my life-or-death chase- but I suppose it didn’t matter; it seemed I had lost.

When I finally got the courage to look up, it was as I suspected. A sneering, tall man in a black leather coat was aiming his gun straight at my face. I hated him, oh how I hated him. The fury burned underneath my skin, pulsing and shifting as though I might explode if I looked at him for too long. But I had to remain calm. I had to play this out well. It was the only chance left at keeping her, the rebellion, everything we stood for safe.

“Elizabeth.” It had been so long since I had heard my name. But it sounded oily on his tongue, like he was hoping that it would die out. He wished it would meet the same fate that he was to bring upon me. “Or should I say Sparrow. It’s the end of the line for you, my dear. There’s nowhere left to run.” He smiled even wider. “No more chances to hide.”

“I’m not afraid of you,” I spat, knowing it was childish. And mostly untrue. But I needed to stall, so I could think of a way to get out. Or at least protect her for a little while longer. It was all I could do. “You may think that you’re going to get away with crushing us, eliminating us from the world, but you won’t. There’s more of us than you know. And soon, we will be able to turn the tables. Just you wait.”

“Oh, I’m waiting. I’ve been waiting. For a hundred years, little Sparrow, I’ve been waiting for your pathetic ‘coven’ to come up with a way to stop me. But they never have. And I know that you know something. But if it dies with you…”

“You’ll never know where I hid it,” I finish for him. The smug look painted across his face smudges into one of irritation. I know that I’ve pricked a nerve. “If I die, you’ll never find what you so wish to see. But if you let me live, you could die very soon. So it seems you’ve got a hard choice to make.”

“Ah yes, it does appear that way, doesn’t it. Here I am, thinking I’ve trapped you, but there you go again, cornering me into my own trap.” I almost celebrate- I really have got him. But then that scowl fades away, being replaced by yet another sadistic smirk. “Or so you’ve thought.”

As soon as the final consonant is pronounced, my arms are grasped by several cloaked figures. They hall me to my knees, like a prisoner awaiting sentence. I can feel fear clutch my chest. “W-what,” I stutter, trying to make sense of the situation. “How?”

“I knew you would pull something like this. But I really thought you would suspect me sooner! You know who these are, right?” He smirks even more maliciously, almost gleefully, at my writhing. “Mind readers.” He tilts his gun back up to my forehead. “You see, here I can kill you. But I won’t have a single regret. Because soon, I will know everything.”