The man looked flustered now. "I told you that isn't possible."

The panic turned into rage.

"YOU HAVE TO LET ME SEE HIM!"

My breath caught and my vision blurred again. Noah. I needed him. He would make this go away. I needed to hold him, to have him hold me. To stroke my hair and cup my face and tell me it was all a dream and soon we'd wake up in his light-drenched bedroom and laugh at my silly nightmare.

Although, it was becoming increasingly obvious this wasn't a nightmare.

"Noah!" I screamed.

"Shh, Poppy. Don't get yourself wound up."

"Noah! Noah? Noah. Noah. Noah."

My heart sped up to full-whack. I felt light-headed.

"Poppy?"

"Noah Noah Noah Noah Noah..."

And I fell once more into nothingness, welcoming it this time.

I woke up to whisperings.

"This is worse than I ever thought it would be." It was Rain again.

"What do you mean?"

"The connection. It's too strong. We should've intervened weeks ago."

A pregnant silence.

I kept my eyes closed and listened.

"Look at her, she's a mess. One attack after another. She won't stop screaming his name in her sleep. And he is just as bad." Rain was talking about Noah! I tried to control my instinctive reaction, desperate not to alert them to the fact I was awake. "He's completely retreated into himself, barely spoken, only to ask if she was safe and if he could see her. When he was told he couldn't, he curled up on the bed and hasn't moved since. They're both in a state, Anita! How can we expect them to live normal lives when-"

The other voice cut him off. I didn't know this voice. Female. I didn't like it.

"Why do you care?"

"I'm just worried about them."

"You need to stop worrying. Remember the threat your life was under yesterday? Have you forgotten already?"

Silence.

"No."

"Good. Now it's time to wake this star-crossed lover."

They meant me. I pretended I was still unconscious.

I could feel her standing over my bed.

"Right, Poppy, up you get. I know you're not really sleeping."

I kept my eyes closed.

"These theatrics aren't going to help. I need to talk to you. We can either do this the easy way, with you cooperating, or we can do it through force. It's up to you, honey."

Her voice sounded breezy, but I could detect the evil underneath.

Reluctantly I opened my eyes and surveyed my kidnapper.

She was unexpectedly pretty. Tall, thin, designer glasses. Her hair was scraped back laboriously into a tight bun. She wasn't smiling.

"That's better. Are you coming for a little chat?"

I just stared back, half frightened-rabbit, half stark-raving-angry.

"Good. Now, I'm afraid we're going to have to handcuff you."

She registered the shock on my face.

"Just for our own personal safety. It's merely procedure."

Their safety? They were scared I would hurt them? I was the one who'd been kidnapped, sedated and locked up.

I held out my hands, deciding I'd be difficult once I was out of this damned cell.

Rain took a pair of cuffs from his coat pocket and clasped them over my wrists. I stood up.

"Follow me then."

My legs felt weak. Partly from fear, partly because I hadn't used them for who knew how long? My cell opened out onto a small corridor. I looked round frantically for a hint of Noah but couldn't see him anywhere. The lady held up a pass at a security door, it beeped and slid open to reveal another long corridor. I followed them through.

The place was like an international space station. Whatever this operation was, it had money. And technology, judging from the eyeball-scanner that opened the doors. We didn't come across any other people, which was weird. Somehow it didn't seem like a natural lack of people, but rather an artificially enforced closure, like the building had been deliberately cleared for me.

We stopped walking when we reached a small white door.

"We're here," the lady said.

They led me inside, un-handcuffed me and gestured for me to sit. It was a small room. Nothing particularly fancy about it, just a table with three chairs. They sat opposite me. There was a plate of sandwiches on the table and a glass of what looked like banana milk. I examined the plate. Hungry as I was, could I trust it?

"You should eat," the lady said. "It's Marmite sandwiches and banana milk. Your favourite."

I had no idea how they knew this but it made me feel sick.

"And no, it's not poisoned," she said, guessing my thoughts. "As my colleague, Rain, told you earlier, we're not here to hurt you."

My stomach growled, like it could sense the food nearby. I tentatively picked up a sandwich and nibbled on the corner. I swallowed. Nothing happened. I took another small bite. And another. Then I took a sip of banana milk and waited. Still nothing. I took another sip.

Soon the plate was empty. The lady looked pleased.

"Good, good," she murmured.

I stared back at her.

"Why am I here?" I asked. The food had helped me regain my courage.

"Why don't we start with introductions?" she said. "Hi, Poppy. I'm Dr. Anita Beaumont, and this is my assistant, Mr. Rain Hamilton."

I ignored her. "Why am I here?"

She ignored me in return. "Now," she continued, "we've been aware of you for a very long time, although you might not have been aware of us-"

I raised my voice. "WHY AM I HERE?" I kicked my chair back as I stood up. "Do my parents know I'm here? Are they okay? Where's Noah? What have you done with him? What right do you have to imprison me here? You're not the police."

Anita narrowed her eyes. They looked like slits behind her thick lenses.

"Sit down, Poppy."

I didn't.

"Sit," she said more sharply. "And I'll answer your questions."

Like a petulant teenager bored in a Maths lesson, I rolled my eyes and sat back down on my chair reluctantly. "So?"

Anita put both hands on the table and leaned forward. She spoke quickly. "We're allowed to keep you here under terrorism laws. There's been lots of hoo-ha about these recently in your country, but legally I'm allowed to keep you here for twenty-eight days."

My head swam.

"Terrorism?" I shook my head. "There must be some mistake. I'm not a terrorist. Noah and I...honestly...there must have been a mix-up. I would NEVER hurt anyone. I'm not dangerous."

Anita eyed me over her glasses.

"To the contrary, Poppy, at this moment in time, you and your boyfriend " she almost spat the word "are considered the two most dangerous people on the planet."

I let the meaning of her words sink in, and then I laughed and shook my head. "You're joking."

"I most certainly am not."

I put my hands on the table. I didn't mean to bang them, but I did. "This is insane! I'm not dangerous. I couldn't even punch someone without hurting my hand."

"It's going to take a while for me to explain this to you."

I shook my head. "You need to explain this to me? Aren't I supposed to be the terrorist? Aren't you supposed to be interrogating information out of me? Where's your permission to keep me here anyway? I don't see any warrant for my arrest."

Anita calmly reached into her jacket pocket and took out a piece of paper. She unfolded it and pushed it across the table. It had an official crest on the top. I saw my name and Noah's. There were also the words Strictly confidential, matter of national security.

"What's this?"

"It's a warrant for your arrest. As you can see, it's been signed by the Minister of Defence as well as your Prime Minister."

Prime Minister? My head got fuzzy. I put the paper face down on the table.

"Poppy?"

"I want to go home."

"You may be able to. Don't worry about your parents, we've been in contact with them. They know you're safe and they're not worried. But I'm afraid you and I need to have a talk first."

I raised my head and looked at her. "About what?"

"About you and Noah."

At the mention of his name, fresh tears catapulted into my eyes. "I don't understand what's going on or what we've got to do with anything..." My voice choked. "We're not dangerous and we've not done anything wrong."

By now the tears were escaping rapidly. I let them fall, no longer caring. If they were able to keep me here for twenty-eight days then they would have to put up with my crying.

Anita turned to Rain. "Do you mind leaving us alone for a moment?" she asked.

I didn't want him to leave. He seemed nicer than her. He didn't seem eager to go either but pushed back his chair and exited.

Anita and I were left. Just the two of us.

I looked at her and she looked at me.

I felt exhausted already.

She broke the silence.

"Miss Lawson. What I'm about to tell you is a secret, kept so fiercely private that probably less than a hundred people know about it on this entire planet."

"So why are you telling me then?"

"Because it's your right to know. I can promise you, you don't want to know it, just like I didn't want to know it. There's no going back. Your life, from now on, is going to be very difficult."

I wasn't sure I had the capability for being surprised any more.

"Well, go on then," I said, not sure how the situation could get any worse.

"Are you in love, Poppy Lawson?"

The question was so direct it actually did surprise me.

I glared at her. "I don't see how that's any of your business."