Willem drives in silence. Now that the adrenalin has drained from my body, I can feel the consequences of getting into a bus crash and then jumping from a window. Besides the bruise on my head, my left leg is hurting. Will looks at the new boy, ignoring the road completely and making me fear for my life one more time.

"Are the books safe?"

"Yes. Don't worry, Honour and Leslie are watching over them."

"Leslie? Can we trust her?"

"Of course we can trust her. Don't be snobbish." The second boy has such and upturned voice it makes Willem sound even more stiffen in comparison. "This car smells like old metal, by the way. Someone's left wet arrows in here."

Will's eyes are dull as he stares at the boy, and I wonder, quietly, what's the tension that seems to hang between them, so obvious I can almost give it a colour. They must know each other, maybe from past crimes, and something certainly has gone terribly wrong.

"Alright." Will murmurs, turning back to the steering wheel. "I didn't know you were back."

"I like to make a surprise." The boy chuckles, then turns to look at me. "Why so pouty face?"

I raise my eyebrows at him, taking a deep breath.

"Why so pouty face?" I snap. "Perhaps because my bus just crashed, and I have no idea if my friends are alive because someone has abducted me after shooting an arrow at a girl who looked pretty normal to me. And now I'm in a car with people I don't know after listening to a crazy story. And I'm wearing a freaking tank top!"

They shut up, and I lean against the window, watching the shadowed trees outside. A large jacket is handed to me, and I put it on, feeling a little better.

"Thanks." I see the town square, and Will takes the wrong turn. I sigh, realising that going back will take at least three extra minutes. "You should have turned left."

The two in the front exchange weird glances.

"You are not going home, Violet. We can't stay in Meadowshore any longer." Will says, without looking at me.

"But my parents..."

"They'll be fine." The other boy says. "Sorry, pouty-face. But the Shadows probably know where you are. If they attacked the Source, odds are they've got your track pretty accurately. Right now, we can't trust anyone. Not even your friends and family."

"Are you insisting in this story? For real?"

"Just because you don't believe it doesn't mean it isn't true. You'll come around it eventually. Gosh, the smell is nauseating." He gives my face one more glance. "Impressive. Just as described."

"She's an assignment." Will's eyes find mine in the rear view mirror, and the boy frowns.

"You are one to talk about assignments, aren't you, Willy?"The brunette jests. "You see, she actually looks a lot like..."

The boy shuts up when Will turns to him, shooting daggers with his silver eyes. Even I shudder a little.

"Will?" I call, timidly, after five minutes of silence.

"Yes?"

"Have you seen what's caused the accident?"

"Not clearly. Probably the... girl you saw was standing on the road, the driver tried to dodge her and ended up crashing against a lorry, or something similar to this."

"And how did I get out?"

"I pulled you out to make sure you wouldn't explode if the bus did." His eyes meet mine again, and he reads the question on my face. "Unfortunately, my job requires me to be discreet, so I couldn't help the other passengers. The girl by your side looked okay."

I sigh in relief. At least Bree is alright. I'm still worried, though; it looked pretty bad when I left, and I didn't even see the other side of the vehicle. Maybe noticing my apprehension, the brunette boy hands me a mobile. I take it, and BBC is on.

"Don't try anything. It won't work." He warns, but his voice is sweet. I nod, watching the news.

Apparently, no one has died. Sixteen people are still in the hospital, including the driver and the kids in the first rows, so maybe my friends got caught. They can't give the names, but I remember some. I need to call Bree or Mabel.

"Blood! Smell of blood!" The brunette says bluntly, making me raise my eyes. "But..."

"Are you hurt?" Will asks, turning around completely, still driving like a maniac.

"Maybe."

He sighs, parking the car and jumping out, then swinging my door open and crawling next to me. The other one grabs a first aid kit from under his seat, preparing a piece of cotton with antiseptic.

"Where?"

"Left leg."

"Excuse me?" He raises his gaze to mine, asking for permission, that I grant. He slowly lifts my skirt, as little as possible, just enough to find the wound. It's not large, but it's deep, and a piece of thick glass is jutting out from it, stopping the bleeding. Will raises his eyes to the sight of it. "How are you standing the pain?"

"I've been through worse." I murmur.

"Let's solve it, then."

He puts a towel under my leg and asks the second boy to hold a torch so the injury is visible in the dark, then starts the operation. After some quick analysis, he grabs what looks like big tweezers and, very slowly, pulls the shard out, releasing a waterfall of blood. Then, he makes a tourniquet and puts pressure on the wound, what hurts like hell, but not as much as the antiseptic. The stitches are enjoyable after everything.

"Where are we going?" I ask, watching as Will slowly sews up my leg. He's doing an impressively good job, and I wonder if he's used to suturing his victims.

"Exeter, to visit a friend who might be willing to help." The boy in the front seat murmurs. From the moment Will uncovered the wound, he hasn't looked back at us, and now holds his hand on his face, as if sick. "We need all help we can find."

"If you say so." I grumble, dropping my eyes to my leg.

"For the time being, this will have to stay uncovered, so be careful." Will raises his head, five stitches later. "Try to get some rest."

I don't answer him, just turn to the window and wrap the jacket tighter around my body. Now that I'm aware of the wound, it hurts more than before, and the probability of getting an infection from it is disturbingly high.

The car falls silent, with Will driving tremendously fast and the other boy poking his nose out of the window. I close my eyes, trying to forget about this madness so I can finally fall asleep.