The Zodiacs

61. One Order

"What?" Layla grumbled with eyes narrowed in confusion, attempting to rise from the bed by resisting Akil's solid hold.

"Don't fight back," he repeated, letting her sit up as he stood up at the bedside. There was something in the tone of his voice, the speed of each word that made her stomach drop. "Mask yourself and stay quiet."

She furrowed her eyebrows at him for a moment before Layla's hearing caught on something just outside of their bedroom. One glance toward the window confirmed that it was still the middle of the night, but the hushed whispers and turning of their bedroom lock didn't seem to care for the late time.

He repeated his orders. "Mask yourself, Layla."

"What are they...?" Layla began before realizing who it was trying to enter their hotel room. Her eyes widened in fear as she shot up from her place, her fingers latching onto Akil's arm. "We have to hurry and escape before they come in!" She shouted in a hushed tone.

"We have no time. I've already checked and they have us surrounded," he shook his head, his jaw working with hidden tension. "Mask yourself right now."

Layla looked to the window, beginning to pull him. "Come on-."

But Akil yanked her back, slamming the back of her legs into the bedside as he held her in front of him. "Mask yourself, Layla, then we can talk. Do it now," he growled, the look in his eyes unaccepting of anything at all until she did as he said. They were running out of time with every minute she desperately searched for an exit because there was no exit.

No way to flee this time.

"You mask yourself too," she nodded, beginning to redirect the little amount of light rays around her body as she spoke to Akil, beginning to melt into the air before him like a reflection in the rippling water. "They won't see us and we can figure out a way to sneak out."

He nodded. "Just do it first."

Layla closed her eyes, altering the path of the final rays of light until they no longer touched her like they touched everything around her. She became nothing in the eyes of everybody who would see her, even though the fire sign was still there, looking back at Akil. "Now you," she began, but Akil had no time.

"No matter what happens, don't show yourself," he whispered.

He never planned to make himself invisible from the start, he'd only nodded along with her ideas to get the girl to mask her presence from all the men that would storm their room in the next few seconds. Because they knew their location, whether Akil and Layla tried to hide, they had located them... which meant they needed to find somebody. So they'd find him.

"Aki-," Layla tried to whisper, but her words didn't carry because he didn't allow them to move through the air to be heard.

Instead, Layla could only watch as dozens of men flooded through the door just past Akil, catching sight of the air sign who stood with his back to them. They were not gentle or kind when they pounced on him like wild animals, forcefully shoving Akil forward into the mattress just as he stepped to Layla's side --knowing that she could still be touched, and if he fell on top of her, they'd see her.

He groaned but didn't fight back when they pressed their knees into his body, yanking Akil's hands behind his back and into cuffs that were much thicker and heavier than the ones they'd used on them before. Layla reached for him, her fingers barely beginning to wrap around the material of his shirt before they wrenched him away from the bed with an aggression that made her flinch. Akil noticed the slight tug on his clothing just as he was pulled from her grasp.

Layla's hands flew to her mouth to stifle another gasp at the loud sound his body made when they slammed Akil into the wall, holding the back of his head to firmly press his cheek against the dividing border between them and the next room. It had a volume that probably could have woken up anybody on the floor.