Bringing my hand back down to my side slowly, I managed to open up my eyes. I took in how Frost was dressed, how his face looked. He had one leg crossed over the other and his grin was a scheming one. His blond hair was slicked back away from his forehead and he had piercing, crystal blue eyes. He also looked to be in his early thirties, though these days, it was hard to tell someone's age because of all of the expensive procedures people could buy (especially in the Sera Section) to make themselves look younger.

   "I was wondering if you'd arrive. Did you get lost?" he questioned, tilting his head to the side slightly.

   I could see out of the corner of my eye Miles and Ana watching me intently, willing me to speak. I stepped forwards. "I know what you do here," I decided to say, "and...and I need some of that chemical." I was just making it up as I went and I really just wanted to get right to the point.

   Frost raised an eyebrow and smirked. "What for?"

   So he was going to be difficult. I took a deep breath and crossed my arms, stepping closer to him. Just when I opened my mouth, he spoke. "There's no need to get all huffy. I do business with Hale, but I don't work for that place. I work for no one and I'm not gonna pass up an opportunity when there's money involved," he explained, licking his lips, "and it's kind of fun to see the broadcasts the next day, find out what my clients ended up using the chemical for."

This was dangerous. Frost was just selling this chemical to anyone that would pay him a bunch of money? So this was how Miles' father had gotten the chemical for his sick experiment.

   "How much are you asking for the chemicals right now?" I asked, walking a little farther. I was now standing right behind the table that was directly in front of Frost.

   The man looked to his bodyguards, then to the woman in the room, then back up at me. "100k for five ounces," he answered confidently.

   "No way," I said immediately. 100,000 dollars for basically nothing? He laughed and leaned forward in his chair.

   "How about I give you the Cory Cavey discount?" he suggested. "90,000 for five."

   "No," I refused, unable to believe he was asking that much for so little of the chemical. "No," I said again, "I only want one ounce."

   He dipped his head. "That will be 18,000 dollars," he proclaimed and I watched his lips twist up into a disgusting grin.

   I shook my head, trying to be as difficult as I could to buy Miles and Ana some time to creep past. "I'm not giving you that much," I retorted.

   "Listen, girl," the woman growled, coming out from behind Frost's chair and stepping right up to me. She was at least a foot taller with her black heels and she was wearing a long, backless dress that matched the shoes. She glared down at me, her eyes the color of silver and her lips a scarlet red. "You're wasting our time," she hissed. As she spoke, I caught a glimpse of her forked tongue.

   She whirled around, the back of her dress sliding across the floor like a snake as she made her way back behind Frost.

   "Alright," I said bravely, though on the inside I was screaming. I strolled around the chair, following the woman and standing in front of the pool. This made Frost spin around to watch me and so did the woman and bodyguards. This was Ana's and Miles' chance to sneak into the room with the chemicals. I kept my focus on Frost and the woman. "I'll buy the one ounce, but I'll pay it back over time."

   Frost narrowed his blue eyes. "I hope you're not trying anything with me, Cory. That wouldn't be very nice, now would it? And I don't think you want to make me angry, right? I don't want you to have to see that, it's not very pretty," he threatened.

   "Oh, no, I don't want that," I said, playing along. That was when I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Miles and Ana start crossing the room. However, one of the bodyguards must have heard something or lost interest in me because he began to turn back around. I gave a sharp squeal like I'd been pinched and this made the bodyguard whip his attention back to me.

   "What was that for?" Frost questioned, rubbing one of his ears.

   "That!" The forked tongue woman wheeled around, pointing at Miles and Ana in the middle of their act. They'd been so close, the door to the chemical room a little over ten feet away.

   The bodyguards rose from their places swiftly and rushed toward Miles and Ana who sprinted straight for the room. Unfortunately, before they could get away, the bodyguards aimed guns at them and shot, bullets both striking Miles' and Ana's legs. This made them stumble to the floor, Miles hitting his chin on a sharp shelf and Ana getting the wind knocked out of her.

   There was no blood where the bullet had struck them, but they were both unable to move. Miles swore under his breath and Ana tried dragging herself towards the room until she was stopped by the bodyguards, pointing the gun close to her head.

   The way the two were paralyzed reminded me of what had happened to my leg when the officers had found me. This had to be the work of the same kind of weapon. The bullets had stunned me for at least an hour, so this would certainly slow our plan down tremendously or prevent it from happing all together.

   Frost was standing now, at least six feet tall and towering over me now. "Catalina!" he ordered the woman beside me, "lock her up." He looked at me, smiled, and slowly took my hand in his. I tried to rip myself away from his grip and could feel Catalina behind me, taking one of my wrists and clamping a sharp band around it before yanking my other arm down and connecting them together.

   "Don't worry, Cory," he soothed, but all I felt was my blood sizzling in my veins, "Catalina here is going to make sure your friends are happy and taken care of." He turned to the forked-tongue woman with a grin. "Isn't that right?"

   The woman headed over to Miles and Ana and gave a wicked smile. She knelt down and her tongue flicked out, right near Ana's ear. "Ana Grayson," she said softly, "I've heard so much about you." Ana glowered at Catalina, but I saw the hint of worry in her eyes that quickly evaporated when Catalina moved on to Miles. He was sitting up now, one hand on his paralyzed leg.

   "And Miles Laurier," she purred, "such a shame about what your father did to you."

   Miles glared at her, his eyes dangerous, waiting for the woman to continue. She stroked his face with the back of her hand then and Miles recoiled and spat at her in disgust. Flinching, she pulled away, a wide smile forming on her lips. Her voice sounded so innocent. "Oh, I'm sorry, did I say something?"

   I struggled in my restraints, attempting to kick Frost with my heel, but he dodged me nimbly and pushed me backwards, into the deep pool that'd been behind me. All time stopped. Everything blended together, moving in slow motion.

   My back hit the cool water then and I crashed down, bubbles flooding my nose and stinging my eyes as froth billowed up, clouding my vision. I hadn't even realized I was a few feet down already and I was sinking fast, my hands still bound behind my back. My hair floated all around me, tickling my face as I struggled to swim upward.

   I checked my bag to make sure it was closed, though I knew water had already found its way inside of it. But that wasn't what my mind was focused on.

   The binds Catalina had clicked onto my wrists were now cutting into my skin and no matter how hard I tried to fight my way to the surface, the water was stronger than my kicking legs. I was going to run out of air if I didn't free myself soon.

   My head was starting to feel heavy on my neck and I was a little dizzy, my breaths growing short and shallow and my heart hammering faster, thrumming in my ears. I could barely think. There was an outline of something in the distance that made me tense up and it kept swimming around and around and eventually, the hazy shape was getting bigger, clearer. I realized then that I was in a tank. The face of the animal came into view and it emitted a low hum as it swam, waves rippling outward from its body. It whipped to the side at the last second, turning, and I took in its disturbing features.

   It was some kind of shark, possessing gills, a fin or two coming up from its back, and blank, haunting eyes. It had the long body of an eel though, sharp, black scales that shimmered under the water, and a snout like a crocodile's, as long as both of my arms combined. Teeth jutted out from its gaping mouth and its tail thrashed once in the water, sending spirals of bubbles upwards. It circled again, slowly approaching me in the murky water and I sank farther, the shark quickly losing interest in me as my lungs begged for oxygen.

   It was when I had almost reached the bottom of the tank that I saw a figure swimming down for me. It wasn't the creature. The "something" was a person and they reached me a few seconds later, allowing me to recognize a face from earlier tonight.

The man I had run from, the one I'd thought was an undercover officer. He was right in front of me now. When and how had he gotten here? He was holding his breath and briefly showed me some device in his hands before spinning me around underwater and unlocking the metal binds on my wrists. My arms fell to my sides once the cuffs were sucked down and he turned me back around, grabbing my hand and pulling me with him, up to the surface. I kicked my legs, then realized my heels were weighing me down, so I quickly unstrapped them and let them fall away. Then I pushed myself to keep going, even though I was this close to passing out now.

   My dress wasn't helping the situation either. It was heavier now that the fabric was soaked through and it tried to drag me back down, fighting against the man's hold on me. Thankfully, he was stronger and he pulled on my arm with one last, urgent tug.

   I burst out of the water with a gasp, coughing violently and struggling to paddle over to where Frost had pushed me in. My rescuer broke the surface right after me and swam over to the edge of the tank, hopping out with little effort. He turned around and reached down, offering me his hand and all of the strength sucked out of my body as he pulled me up. I flopped down on the floor once he got me out and rolled over onto my back, limp as a fish. I didn't have the energy to do anything except breathe and think of the shark in the tank, flashes of its face sparking in my mind.

The man then ran off and I heard a voice shout at me from somewhere. "Cory! Cory, watch out!"

   Everything sounded so far away and I was exhausted, drained of air. I had no time to react to what the voice had said and a boot kicked my shivering form, causing me to curl up from the impact. "I'm glad I finally got to meet you, Cory," another voice drawled. I stared up at the ceiling and the face of one of Frost's guards entered my view. "You guys did a good job, just not good enough."

   I coughed, surprised to see him step back, daring me to try to escape. I attempted to sit up, until his boot rammed into my side again. I heard Frost's voice now, speaking from somewhere else in the room. "Put her back in," he ordered the guard.

   Before the man could obey him, the stranger had come back for me, suddenly in my field of vision, blood smeared above one of his hazel eyes, and I saw him swing his fist at the guard's neck. I used this time to push myself up, resting my back against the wall before struggling to my bare feet. I steadied myself, then scanned the room. Miles was standing, all of his weight shifted onto one good foot while Frost's other bodyguard watched his every move. Ana was also being watched by a guard (who I guess had arrived from somewhere else to aid Frost) but her head lolled to the side, like she was about to fall asleep. Catalina flipped her long, black hair over her shoulder near Frost's chair, and Frost was marching over towards me, his expression furious and terrifying.

   "Get over here, you brat!" he barked, "you're going to make a nice meal for somebody today." His blond hair was no longer slicked back and neat and his gaze was crazy with rage. He stuck a gun in my face and I swallowed, shutting my eyes tight. I took a deep breath and subtly reached in my bag, my fingers finding my wet pocket knife. Then I ducked, narrowly escaping Frost's first shot. I pulled out my knife and went for his legs, swiping him swiftly.

   He flinched, stunned for a moment, which gave the man plenty of time to come up behind him and throw a punch to Frost's head. I slipped away from the two and was immediately shoved into the wall by Catalina. "Thought you were smart, huh?" her forked tongue flicked out of her mouth. She held a blade to my neck and grinned. "Naive is what you are."

   I was breathing heavily as I looked her in her evil, silver eyes. She brought the knife closer, pressing it against my skin. "No way out now," she hissed.

   In the midst of my encounter with Catalina, I heard a couple angry shouts, then two people cry out in pain and shots rang out into the large room. This caused me to jump and Catalina looked over her shoulder, coming face to face with Miles and the vicious look in his eyes. He held a gun to her, a gun I was desperate to look away from. The image of the razor spikes had forever seared its way into my memory.