Trying to stop Ashton's rage from taking over while in The Gears was a feat in and of itself. The scales erupting all over his body as he rushed to defend himself, and me, made Abigail cringe away with fear while Charlotte readied herself for battle. Shocking them all, I shoved Ashton back, putting myself between them and yanked his head down locking eyes with him.

"Come on Blue Eyes," I whispered to him, "No one here's going to hurt you."

He relaxed and stopped his scale. Jasper, on the other hand, had his blade drawn ready to battle with a Black Sapphire. I held my hand up for him to calm down as well.

"We just need a place to catch our breath before we get out of here," I told Jasper.

"You brought one of them things down here and expect me to give you a place to rest your head?!" he shouted.

Turning around, his entire face was the shade of a setting sun. That crimson hue along with the vein bulging underneath the strap of the eye patch made me wonder about how much he truly cared about me.

"Do you have any idea what we've been through looking for you? Only to find out that you went with him, willingly!? As his pet!" Charlotte sounded. "I told you we should have left her out there with that damn bike!"

"SHUT UP!" I screamed at her, "You have no idea what's going on! Jasper, I need you! Please."

He looked to me and then to the twins. Abigail was useless while Charlotte stood there with a stunned expression on her face. I don't think she ever heard me talk back to her before.

"I can't have you down here. You put everyone's life in jeopardy by being here," he said to us.

Ashton, in a far more softer tone, spoke to him, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all of this. This only happened because I never marked her. And because I still haven't, even with her coming with me to The Towers, they want … Well, I'm not exactly sure what they want to do with her, but they want me now too. I just need a quiet space to get my head together and figure out where to go. Please, just an hour, tops."

"Fine," Jasper relented.

"What?!" Charlotte exclaimed. "Absolutely not! They'll come down here and kill us all!"

"I won't let that happen," Ashton promised her.

"Follow me," Jasper said sheathing his blade.

I let out a sigh of relief as we walked through the station. I hadn't been inside the main quarters in so long, I almost forgot what they looked like. This tunnel took us to the same opening under the manhole cover, but instead of heading toward Jasper's shop, we took another entrance into the living quarters.

There weren't many families down here, ten to fifteen at any given time. We hunted, scavenged and kept each other safe. It reminded me of The Towers, just not as nice and a severe lack of privacy. That's why I enjoyed my little nook away from it all. The main space reminded me of those shanty towns I used to read about in those papers Jasper hung around. He called them newspapers. Imagine a main hub of information where everybody could read about what's going on in the world around them. Everything traveled by word of mouth and flame beacons these days. I never knew what the different flame signals and colors meant, but with Ashton by my side, I could give them at least that much.

I'd let Jasper and Ashton know my idea as soon as we got to the quiet space. Until then, I kept my eyes on him, refusing to look at everyone eyeing me. The only person I made any sort of connection with was Raven. Her beautiful little smile lit up like a starry night as she waved frantically to me. I smiled and waved to her only. I didn't feel as bad anymore, I didn't lie to her.

Once we were out of the main living area, Jasper led us down another hallway to a room near the water pipe. It sounded like a waterfall had been bottled up. The pipe itself was about two stories tall. When you put your hand on it, you could feel the vibrations of the cool liquid from the bay gushing by. We were in the treatment room. Jasper had locked into this pipe and was able to siphon water out of it without drowning us all. A pipe roughly about the size of me protruded from it leading to a system of hoses that he ran across the top of the Station ceilings and along the walls. There was an entire system in the room to control the flow and the filters. Jasper had spent many days locked in this room.

"Here, you can talk here," he said. "The sound and scent of the water should mask your scents for a while but not long. Once them Skulls got a fix for you, that's it. I don't want that kind of terror finding its way down here. It took me damn near a decade to get this place up and running like clockwork and I don't need you and your friends coming down here to make a mess of it."

"I promise to be out of here soon."

"I'm going with him," I added.

Jasper squinted his eye at me and moved closer to me lowering my shirt down around my shoulder.

"You shouldn't go anywhere until he's marked you," Jasper sighed. "That's the only little bit of protection you got left. I can only do so much with this."

He tapped the butt of his bayonet.

"That's a nice blade," Ashton called out to Jasper, "Onyx bone?"

"Dipped in their venom too," Jasper replied with a smile.

"How many have you killed with that thing?" Ashton asked him with genuine curiosity in his eyes.

"Not enough," Jasper growled. "Figure it out you two, then you gotta go."

There was a simple cot along the wall along with a block of dry ice sitting under a metal container. I assumed there was some sort of food in there, but after eating beef with Ashton, I didn't want scraps of rat or rabbit.

He sat down, and I sat between his legs leaning back into him. His arms wrapped around me for a moment before turning my face up toward him. He kissed me softly before running his thumb over the sore spot under my eyes.

"I'm sorry, Whisper," he told me again.

"I'll be fine. What are we going to do? Where are we going to go?"

"I have no idea. But I know it has to be outside of Black Harbor. I just need the beacons to stop. I can hear them, feel them, like my father is trying to hone in on me or something," he said with a slight tremble.

"Can he find us?" I sat up turning to him.

"No, he shouldn't be able to. The only problem would be if Skinner's looking for me. If he's on this beacon, we're definitely in deep shit."

"Why?"

"He cut me the other day. He's got my blood scent. There's no telling how quickly he'll find me with it."

"Then let's just leave. I should have never brought you down here. It was a mistake. I don't want him to find this place. We should just go and figure it out as we leave the city," I told him with fear dripping through every syllable.

"You're right. But let's get you some supplies. You won't last anywhere on the road with me in just jeans and my jacket. Pack light but pack warm," he said. "Let's go."

Since we didn't need the entire hour to figure that out, I thought we'd be safe. I thought they wouldn't find us at The Gears. But I was wrong.

By the time we reached the main receiving area under the manhole cover, there was an air of panic coursing through the space. People were scattering about. Everything was going into lockdown mode. I could hear the thunderous sound of someone running through the tunnel. I just didn't know which one.

"Whisper go!" Ashton shouted. "He found me."

Just as I turned to leave, he emerged from the tunnel with glee in his eyes. That platinum blonde hair still flowed down his back and around his wings. But Skinner was alone.

"These Anthros have nothing for you," Ashton shouted to him, "Let's take this to the sky."

"Let's not!" Finch cackled, flying toward Ashton at full speed. He dug his hand into his stomach causing Ashton to cry out in pain. They both scaled at the same time. There wasn't enough room for this to happen. Not down here … And if either one of them let their flames loose, we'd all be baked down here.

I watched them go blow for blow with their dragons bouncing off the walls in the confined space. Ashton's charcoal and black scales to Skinner's matte black, tar-colored wings … it was a flurry of rage, snarls, and claws.

Finally, Ashton got the upper hand, flying Skinner up toward the manhole cover and slamming him against the ceiling. A few rocks and debris crumbled from the blow forcing me to seek shelter against the wall. But that was the hit to end this battle. Ashton let Skinner fall those few dozen feet to the ground.

He scaled back down after he landed and soon everyone had come out to see the defeated Finch Skinner.

"That's twice in one week," Ashton declared proudly. "But this isn't going to stop others from coming after me, after us. Go get your stuff. We have to get out of here. If he found us, I'm sure Miranda and my father know my whereabouts by now too. We have to go Whisper."

"I can't believe you fought him," Abigail said with her mouth agape in awe.

Charlotte scoffed, "I can't believe you beat him. What are we supposed to do with a dead Onyx Skull? You know their whole clan will come down here after him!"

"I know what to do with him," Jasper said unsheathing his blade. But others spoke up about killing Skinner here. They didn't want that kind of retribution following them. While I grabbed a bag of stuff, I heard them bicker and argue. By the time I got back to the space, Ashton was the center of their attention. But something was different as they continued to go back and forth about what to do with the unconscious leader of the Onyx Skulls.

"HEY!" I shouted. Everyone turned to face me. I eyed the ground where Skinner was laying only to see the outline of his body, "Where the hell is he?!"

"Alright, anybody with bullets and a blade, spread out! We gotta find him!" Jasper called out.

"He's gone," Ashton said. "He's not down here."

I peered into his eyes, "How do you know?"

He tapped the tip of his nose, "That and whenever he loses a battle he goes to get reinforcements. I suggest you guys lock this place down for a while until Whisper and I get outside of the city. No one should get in or out. Reinforce that steel cover, booby trap it if necessary. It was way too easy for him to get down here."

Looking to Jasper, sadness came over me and tears fell. We both knew this was it. So I threw my arms around my Jasper for one last time. He hugged me tighter than he ever had before. Sniffing back tears, he held me back, kissed my forehead and told me, "You remember everything I've taught you, young lady. I may not have been as good as your parents, but I loved them almost as much as I loved you. They were good to me and having you survive this long, I say I've paid them back tenfold."

"You certainly have," I hugged him again, "Thank you for everything, my Jasper."

"You're welcome, Whisper."