Thank you to CosmicGunslinger now and forever for beta'ing my work.

Prologue

Lara heaved the duffel bag onto her shoulder and huffed as she picked up the box. She started carefully down the stairs.

Sam was sitting on Lara's suitcase at the bottom, watching her carefully. "Are you sure you don't want me to help?" she asked.

Lara winced as the duffel bag slipped off her shoulder and caught heavily on the inside of her elbow. "It's okay," she said as Sam got up. She readjusted her grip on the box. "I'm fine." Sam reluctantly sat down again. The box was actually quite heavy but she didn't want to admit that in front of Sam. It was stupid, she knew, but she didn't want her to think she was weak.

"Why did you even buy so many books?" Sam asked. "Haven't you heard of the internet?"

"Sometimes the internet doesn't have what I'm looking for, Sam." She stepped off the stairs and put her stuff down.

"Pfft, the internet has everything you're looking for." She tapped the side of her nose. "Rule 34, Lara."

Lara stared blankly at her.

Sam broke out into a grin. "Oh my god," she said gleefully. "I so need to show you this now." There was a mischievous glint in her eye that Lara did not like at all. "Name me…something, anything. Your favourite Disney character."

Lara didn't think that would be a good idea. She stopped Sam with a touch on her arm as she brought out her phone. "Umm, why don't we save this for another day?" she suggested nervously, "Winston will be here soon."

Sam looked amused. "Whatever you want sweetie." She knelt down and picked up the heavy box with a grunt. "Are you coming Lara?" she asked as she started towards the exit.

Lara frowned as she slung the duffel bag over her shoulder and grabbed her suitcase. She would have to look up 'rule 34' as soon as possible.

Sam was waiting for her by the door. She waved to someone and Lara looked to see that it was Ms Thompson. Lara lifted a hand in farewell as her teacher flashed her a warm smile. She was going to miss her; Ms Thompson was an amazing history teacher.

"So what are you going to do when you get home?" Sam asked.

Lara shrugged but she could feel herself smiling. She had been told that her parents had gone missing four years ago and she had all but thought they were dead. But just a month ago, Roth had called her telling her that they were found, alive and recovering in an New Zealand hospital. Now Winston was picking her up to go see her parents, who were waiting back at the manor.

"I'm not sure," she said, "I'm just excited to see my parents again and just do…normal stuff. I don't think I've properly been with them for almost five years now." She winced when she remembered Sam's own situation. "I'm sorry. I know you've had more problems with your parents than me."

Sam snorted. "I don't think my situation compares to yours. But they finally want me back in Japan and I think mom is coming up as well. It'll be nice to spend time as a family again, though I hope dad can turn his phone off for that long."

"That's ironic coming from you."

Sam bumped her shoulder. "I can't help if I'm popular," she grinned.

They walked out the gate and Sam put the box down. There were no other kids from their school around as everyone else had left a few days before so it had just been Sam, Lara, the janitor and two teachers for the past couple of days.

"Achoo!" Sam sneezed next to her. She sniffed and rubbed her nose.

Lara looked at her and furrowed her brow. "Are you sick?" she asked.

Sam looked up and snorted. "Relax Lara, my nose was just itchy."

Lara sunk back. "Sorry. But you know how sick some people have been getting. It's an epidemic."

"Don't worry," Sam said. "I have a strong immune system. You're so sweet for caring, though." She ruffled her hair, grinning. Lara pushed her away and stuck her tongue out.

The blue and fluro-green of a police car raced past them followed by an ambulance. Sam and Lara turned and saw them disappear around a corner.

Sam frowned. "Huh, wonder what the emergency is."

Lara looked back up the road and spotted a black four-wheel drive at the traffic light. "I think that's Winston," she said, pointing at the car.

Sam squinted. "Really? Already?"

Lara turned to her and met Sam's eyes. She hadn't been looking forward to this moment.

Sam threw her arms around her and hugged her tight. "I'm going to miss you so much," she said, squeezing tighter. "Call me every day, okay? Promise me."

"I will if you let me breathe," Lara rasped.

Sam laughed and let go of her. "Promise me?"

Lara smiled. "I promise, Sam." She embraced her friend again as the four-wheel drive pulled up behind them.

Sam pecked her cheek as she pulled away. Lara felt herself blush and she bent down to pick up the box to cover it.

Sam, thankfully, didn't seem to notice. "I'll see you soon, Lara," she smiled.

Lara smiled back, feeling butterflies in her stomach. "See you soon, Sam."

She turned around and started towards the car, feeling a little bewildered. She had never thought about Sam in that way before until about a week ago. She didn't even know what brought it on. This was normal, right?

It didn't really matter though, did it? She could never tell Sam about this. A part of Lara was already missing Sam but maybe this break was just what she needed to get over this girl crush on her best friend.

A man stepped out of the car and Lara stopped in her tracks. It wasn't Winston.

"Dad?" Lara exclaimed.

Her dad walked up to her and took the box from her hands as she just stared at him. "My my, Lara," he said, looking at her. He put the box down. "You've grown."

Lara suddenly threw her arms around him and laughed. "Oh my god, dad!" She buried her face in his shoulder as he hugged her back. "I thought…" she pulled back. "I thought I was meeting you at the mansion!"

A woman answered. "We couldn't wait to see you, dear."

Lara looked past her dad. "Mum!" She ran forward and hugged her.

"Lara," her mum breathed into her hair. "God, I've missed you."

Lara pulled back. "I've missed you too," she said. She blinked back the tears as her mum cupped her face.

Lara didn't realise how much she had missed them until they were holding her in their arms again. She missed their warmth; she had missed how her mother would absent-mindedly braid her hair and how her dad would chatter about his past adventures.

They had been gone for five years; and in those years a pit of anxiety had been growing in Lara's stomach. What if they never came back? What if the last thing she had said to them had been months before, unimportant and meaningless?

But that was all behind her now, and she had the future to look forward to.

Her mum glanced at her dad for a moment and he nodded. "Here," her mum said, taking out a small jewellery box. "This is for you."

Lara took the box curiously and lifted the lid. Nestled within white velvet was a jade pendant. The jade was shaped into a rough circle and it vaguely reminded her of Ying and Yang but she didn't recognise the pattern. Lara threaded her fingers gingerly through the leather cord and lifted the pendant out.

"This is for me?" she asked, hardly believing it.

Her dad put a hand on her shoulder. "Yes," he said. "Your mum was given it by some natives during our adventures."

"Do you want me to put it on for you?" her mum asked.

Lara turned back to her and smiled, giving her the pendant. The jade was cool as it settled on her chest and she looked down at it. "There," her mum said. She turned back to her. "Beautiful."

Lara smiled and hugged her. "Thank you," she murmured. She hugged her dad as well. "I'm not sure what it means though."

Her dad laughed. "Come on then. We'll tell you all about it in the car."

Her dad put her luggage in the back of the four-wheel drive as Lara climbed into the back seat with her mum.

As her dad drove them towards Surrey, her mum told her about the necklace, explaining their adventure. Lara ran her thumb over her new pendant as her mum explained its origin.

"After we got shipwrecked on an island near New Zealand," she explained. "We met these indigenous locals which helped us repair the boat. They gave me that pendant one night. It's the Maori Koru- it represents a new start." She looked at dad and they both smiled. She turned back to Lara. "It brought us luck for the rest of our journey, and it brought us back to you. So I hope it will bring you luck as well."

Lara looked down at the pendant and smiled. A new start…maybe her parents were hinting at something? Maybe they wanted to have a normal life again; a life where they were a proper family. "Thanks mum," she said, and hugged her. "I love it even more now."

"We have more presents for you back at the manor," her dad said. "Artefacts that we've found. We get to have two days with them before we need to hand them over to the British Museum. I'm curious to see how much you know about Maori culture."

Lara's eyes lit up. She would actually get to study artefacts? Well, with extreme care of course but, oh my god, she could not wait. She could be a proper archaeologist for once.

She turned to her mum. "So what happened next?" she asked.

Her mum told her about the rest of their journey; finding the ruins of an ancient village, almost drowning in a cave and then being helped out by spirits. Lara wasn't sure if 'spirits' was a metaphor for something else or if her mother was actually being serious.

Still, Lara was hanging on her mum's every word. It was terrifying to hear her mum talk about death like it was a great adventure- she didn't think she would ever understand that but it was exciting all the same. It was a little hard to concentrate though as sirens kept blaring past them throughout the whole story.

"Hmm…what's going on here?" her dad muttered.

Lara looked up. They were slowing down as they joined a massive traffic queue. She didn't think the road out of London was this busy, especially on a weekday.

Her dad's phone rang and he answered it immediately. "Conrad, something wrong?"

Lara frowned and looked out of the window.

It was chaos outside. Cars were constantly honking and people were shouting at each other through the windows. There seemed to be absolutely no sense of order.

Lara looked up and saw a black military helicopter circling above them. A voice amplified over a megaphone sounded but the words were inaudible amongst all the raucous. Several people got out of their car and began shouting at it, as if that would do anything.

Lara swallowed a lump of panic rising in her throat. Something was seriously wrong.

As she watched, a bloodied man ran onto the road. He made a disgusting sound between a yell and a gurgle that sent shivers across her skin and then charged for the nearest woman. The woman tried to get back in her car but the man grabbed her violently and sunk his teeth into her arm.

Lara yelped and jerked away from the window. What the hell?!

Her mum put an arm around her and pulled her against her. "It's okay, Lara," she said, way too calmly for what just happened, "I'm sure we're fine." She looked at Dad as he hung up. "Right Richard?"

Her father's frown deepened and he put the gear in reverse. He looked behind them and said, "We need to get out of London. Immediately."