O brave new world

The End

A/N: I'm really sorry, but I don't think I will be continuing this story. I'm going to add my last drafts and where I thought this story might go, but I'm not coming back to it.

22

The moment the car is out of sight I get a strong urge to cower and hide in some dark corner where no evil person will ever find me. It's bright here, the full afternoon sun is bouncing off the cream colored walls, practically blinding me. Not a good place to hide. The parking lot is full of scary machines and... Cream walls? I squint, getting a better look. Cream walls. Big, inviting windows. Tiny wrought iron balconies in front of them, so beautiful I want to cry. A sign proclaiming it to be the Jordan E. Douglas house of therapy. I know where I am!

I bolt inside, eyes half closed, pretending all those people staring at me don't exist. They don't exist. It's only statues. Creepy statues staring at me. No one's...

Someone's in my way. I crash into something warm and go flying, my eyes popping open to asses the damage. A very pretty girl with raven hair sneers at me from the floor. Instinctivly, I clutch my knife. "And what do you think you're doing, missy?" the girl on the floor demands. There's no blood, and lots and lots and lots – lots too many – people around, so I scramble back to my feet and take off again. Where was it, where was it, where was it... There!

I open the door forcefully, causing it to hit the wall with a loud bang. Startled, I dive for the desk, huddling in its little cave.

"Sang?" Miss Rachel asks, dropping the phone. People, people, so many people. My mind is still trying to process what happened. "Are you okay?" She pushes her chair back and crouches down next to the desk. "Sang?"

I curl into a little shivering ball. I want Poughkeepsie. Or Max. Or some other living, breathing teddy bear that can bare it's claws and protect me.

"Sh, sh, it's okay Sang, everything will be all right." Warm hands touch my head, smoothing my hair, my clothes, wrapping me into a hug. "Everything's all right, Sang. Just breath. In, two, three, out, two, three, in, two, three, out, two, three..."

More voices come into the room. Spring soap. Vanilla. Spices. Musk. Warm arms wrap around me and then it's so bright and open and exposed. I burry myself into my new teddy bear.

"Is she okay?" "What happened?" "How did she get here?" "Miss Sorenson?" I blink, slowly looking up to meek Mr. Blackbourne's steel grey eyes. "Are you hurt?" I shake my head, no. "Can you tell us what happened?" I shiver, not wanting to feel the icy rage locked behind those eyes on me, but my teddy bear – my very warm teddy bear, who will protect me from all that coldness – gives me an encouraging squeeze so I fumble around with my still shaking hands.

- I was in the woods. But then I grew hungry, so I walked to the road to come back. I was going to send you a text to tell everyone what was going on, but there's a clock on the phone and I noticed I was really late. So I ran down the road, and you were driving towards me and opened the door for me to get in. So I did. But it wasn't you. It was Volto, and he looked just like Kota described him. Anyway, he talked a lot and then he pushed me out of the car. And I was really scared but I noticed that this was where Miss Rachel works so I came here. And now you're here. And I'm not scared anymore.

Kota curses under his breath. "It's like we jinxed it. The moment after I tell you about him and to stay away from him he comes and kidnaps you."

- He didn't kidnap me. I went into his car.

"Yeah, but you didn't know it was him in the car. And once you were in there you couldn't really go away, could you. So it was kidnapping."

"Can someone please tell me what the fuck is going on?" North growls, hugging me closer to his chest. I tune out Mr. Blackbourne's recap and look straight at Kota.

- I would have gone with him anyway. He's not bad.

"And how would you know that?! Sang, you could have been killed!"

- That's what he said.

"Wait, what?" Kota sputters.

- I told him he wasn't bad, and he said: And how would you know? He said I was too trusting and it could get me killed. I should remember air friction. And I need to be around people to get more data so my intuition starts working properly.

They all stare at me.

Luke starts laughing. "Are you telling me..." and he burst into another round of giggles "... that Volto kidnapped you and spent the ride discussing how to judge situations and people? Gabriel's conversation with him was weird enough, but this?" He shakes his head, laughter still rolling out of him. How can he do that with so many disapproving glares directed at him?

A/N: So, Sang was supposed to gradually grow closer to the boys. She gets more active: Nathan is starting her on an exercise regime where she leaves the house and runs around on the property a lot. She learns to speak again, though she doesn't like doing it (mostly she'll only speak French or German, and only when she's reasonably sure the boys don't understand her - other wise she uses sign language). It turns out that the entire humongous property, with the lake and all, was actually Owen's family home at one point, but he only kept the small guest house to himself, the rest has too many bad memories. So he donated the manor to the academy, which uses it as a kind of headquarters now, and there's actually like a camp-ground and a parkour they run to make some money. There's also a nursery, where Sang starts to work - this is where she meets Will. Will is the only boy in a team of girls, and he's in a relationship with all of them. He gives Sang lots of advice (which I sadly can't find anymore) and she slowly starts to form a relationship.

But there's also Volto. Volto keeps appearing and kidnapping Sang. He informs her on everything he knows about the academy, she gives him some information on the academy, and slowly they fall into a kind of relationship. The boys are of course suspicious and don't like it, but Will is supportive once he figures out Volto and Sang are friends now. He think's it's very important for her to have relationships outside of the Academy. Anyway, turns out Volto isn't much older than Sang. His Dad is someone mercarnerary with lots of contacts in the intelligence community, and while he has his own agenda - looking for his missing sister, Volto decided that he wants to figure out what the academy is up to. He grudgingly admits that the academy is not evil, but he's still not happy with their secrecy. Anyway, Volto and the academy are both looking into Sang's mother, and when Volto's dad finally comes back to the states from a favour he was doing for a contact of his, we finally find out that his missing sister is actually Sang's mother, and Volto and Sang are cousins. Sang's father was a relative who raped her mother, and her mother ran away and developed extrem agoraphobia as a result. The relative gets put into prison, the academy finds a compromise with Volto, and everyone is happy.

There was also supposed to be a plot with Jade (Jay? I can't even remember her name, that's how long it's been since I read the books : (  Anyway, that's the mean girl at the therapy center) but I sadly can't remember what that plot was about at all.

There is also this random fragment I found - I think this is a metaphor Sang's Mom used to use (Sang's grandparents, which she meets, by the way, are second-generation immigrants from France and Germany, which is why she speaks those three languages):

The difference between the three countries is best described in the Metaphor of the pedestrian light. A German, standing at the light, will wait for it to turn green, then look to the left, to the right and back to the left again to be absolutely sure that no car will squash him, and then he will finally cross. A Frenchman doesn't care about lights or cars and simply continues on across the street. And an American would never stand at a pedestrian light, because, why else does he have a car?