Groggily, I stirred and awoke in a lovely, soft bed. I sat up and examined my surroundings. With a jolt, I realised that I was back in my old room, at my old home. I looked down and saw bandages wrapped around my stomach and gently removed them and saw that the wound was healing up nicely.

Sighing, I dragged myself to the en suite and gazed at my reflection. My blue eyes were covered with sleep and my black hair was mussed up. I splashed some cold water on my face and wiped it was a towel.

Wait. Black hair? Blue eyes?

Shocked, I stared at my reflection and saw that my disguise had been removed.

I swore and desperately tried to think of a plan. My family now knew that I was alive. They probably drugged me to get the disguise off, or I'd have woken in an instant. They might think I'm still asleep. There's an unlocked window in my room.

Hastily, I went back to the room and, on my bedside table, saw my gun, pepper spray and fully charged phone.

I quickly dialled Cole and James' number and they both picked up on the second ring.

"My cover's been blown," I quickly whispered before they could say anything, "Can you meet me about five minutes away from my family's home?"

"Be there in ten," Cole answered and I thanked them and ended the call.

I wrote a note and addressed it to my family. Then, I walked over to the window and slid it open quietly, checking to make sure there were no innocent bystanders walking by before making my way down.

About halfway down, I heard someone knocking on the door and saying my name. My real name.

I jumped down the last few feet and sprinted across the garden until I reached the huge iron gates.

"I'm really sorry about this," I said to the guard and punched her hard in the face, knocking her out cold. I caught her before she fell and dragged her safely next to the gate. I walked outside the property, making a silent promise that I'd come home.

I went to Iris' room to wake her up. After we brought 'Caroline' home, Mom immediately took her from us and said she would take her to Iris' old room. 'Caroline' had a pretty high fever, so Mom carefully applied a cold cloth on her forehead. Elijah commented on how much Caroline looked like Iris and Dad immediately plucked a strand of hair from her head and took it for DNA testing. We got the results a few hours later and found out that she was Iris.

To say we were shocked would be an understatement.

Me and my brothers wanted to wake her up and interrogate her, but Mom and Dad said that she needed her rest.

However, when I went to wake her up, I found her door locked. Luckily, I had the key, so it wasn't too much of a problem. What was a problem was when I found her bed empty, window open and a note on her desk. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what happened.

"Where's Iris?" Daimen asked, rubbing up the stairs.

"I don't know!" I exclaimed, "she left this note, though-"

Daimen snatched it out of my hand and read it greedily. I was dying to know what it said, but knew that Daimen shouldn't be interrupted.

He sat down on the bed and mouthed the words.

"Where's- hey, Daimen, you okay?" Elijah questioned worriedly.

Wordlessly, Daimen handed the letter to Elijah. By this time, everyone had come upstairs and were looking at Elijah expectantly. He began reading:

To my family:

So, I guessed that- by now- you know who I really have. In case you haven't, it's me- Iris. We inhaled sharply.

A year ago, Elise told me that she would kill you all if I didn't join her. I can't join her, nor can I stand it if you guys died. So, with the help of Cole and James, I faked my death. I'm so sorry.

I've been travelling around the world, following up on leads to try and track down Elise. Don't try to find me, please. You won't succeed and will only make this harder than it already is.

I love you all and I promise to come home again. Thank you for everything.

Iris.

By the end of it, we all had tears in our eyes. Dad leaned against the wall, looked at the ceiling and mouthed 'thank you'.

"What do we do now?" Will asked hoarsely, furiously wiping his eyes.

"We tell the others and we wait for Iris to come home," Mom replied emotionally.

It's gonna be one hell of a wait.

😃