All For You

Five

August

"Did they just jump?" Elliot yells, catching up to me and Warner on the bridge. Looking over the edge of it, completely baffled.

Is she insane? That's a hard drop, and right into a flowing river, at that. Not to mention how cold it is.

"She's not coming up," Warner mumbles, scanning the water as intensely as I am. Did she just kill herself trying to run away from us?

Not that we would've let her live if we did catch her, but that all depends on who she works for, and what answers she gave us.

We've had quite a few assassin's break into the house these past few days, and we've gotten nothing out of any of them. The saddest part is they all could have lived and joined us instead of dying or going back to the place they came from, but none of them said a word, despite just being kids.

Whoever trained them trained them well. Or scared them so bad they might as well have cut their tongues out.

"She's gone. I'll tell Reid," I say, grabbing my phone out of my back pocket. I tap on his name and put the phone up to my ear, and he answers almost immediately. "We lost her. She jumped into the fucking river."

"Why would she do that?" He asks, and I'm guessing he's in a car just from the way his voice sounds. The slight crack on my end of the call and the hum of an engine on his.

"We were catching up to her, so I guess she freaked out and took a chance." I'm not sure if I should call her smart or not. She was in danger either way.

Though, she would've had a better chance with us. But she couldn't have known that.

Reid sighs, clicking his tongue. I hear Hayden say something in the background, but I don't catch it. It's good that he tagged along. We can't leave him at the house alone. Not when he's the very reason so many assassin's have been breaking in lately.

But it's not like we didn't know this was going to happen. We planned for it to happen, actually.

As annoying as it is to have to use a seventeen year old we all care about as bait, he's our only bet. We've spent the last five years planning our move and then preparing for it, but now that we're actually on the move, it's stressful.

Still, Hayden's not just some weak kid. He's got some good muscle on him, and he's been trained to take down the professionals after him. It's just a little frustrating having to use him to corner the rats who took his sister away from us when no one actually wants to.

It shouldn't have to be him. Not now or ever. Especially not after what he's been through.

I can't imagine how horrible that night would've been for him. And then waking up and being told your sisters gone? It's fucking sick. He was twelve years old, for fucks sake.

None of us even understand what happened that night. Why he wasn't taken as well.

He barely remembers anything. Just that a bunch of men broke into the house they were staying at and knocked him out cold. He's got no idea what happened to Isla, or why they took her and not him.

Worst part is: the poor kid feels guilty for it. Like he thinks he should've been the one who got taken instead. It doesn't matter how much we assure him that it wasn't his fault and we're glad he's here with us still. He'll always feel that guilt weighing down on his shoulders like a truck.

It's practically embedded in his brain to feel as bad as he does.

I hate that he has to deal with that.

I hate that there's nothing I can do about it.

I may not be a Frazer by blood, but I love these guys like they're my own brothers, and I hate seeing them suffer as much as they do.