I feel really awesome! I actually made the Medusa Project a category! :D That's a good feeling.

Anyway, where was I? Right. Medusa Project… yes…

Hrm. Don't know what to put here. Um…

ED! ED! Gotta love Ed, right? ANYONE reading this right now that knows what the Medusa Project is, freaking read it and write a couple hundred fanfics by next Tuesday. Okay? Got it? Good.

Thanks so much to Smile Please10, Gypsy Stars, ILoveOneDirection (SO DO I, BY THE WAY :DD), lifeiscool10, pendragon2601, MiaRocks and milkymudkip for your lovely reviews and support! I haven't been working on this for a while, but it was so lovely two or three days ago to have two reviews in one day x3 So TY, gaizu! You've made me so happy *wipes trickling tears away*

Now here's the next chapter :D


The Medusa Project

Picking Up the Pieces

"It's good to have you kids back." I remembered the last time we'd seen Uncle Fergus he was a freakin' wreck after giving us a hard time over the whole 'acting on our own' crap. And now he was all smiles. I guess after hearing about the incident in Mahore, he was willing to become Mr Smiley again.

"Good to see you again too, Mr Fox," Ketty said politely. Heh.

"Excuse me, I'm going to have to take this call outside," Geri said apologetically, before leaving the room. Me and Uncle Fergus blew raspberries in union. Nico raised his eyebrows. Heh. He's probably never seen Uncle Fergus blow a raspberry in his life.

"Cow," I said, sticking my tongue out. Uncle Fergus chuckled.

"You haven't changed a bit, Dylan," he said. "It's such a relief to know that you're all okay. I mean, I was angry that you were doing such dangerous things, but to know that you were being taken away like that… I'm so glad that you're all back in my hands again."

"And not in Geri's," I added. Nico fidgeted with a scrap piece of paper, turning it into a paper aeroplane.

"Hey, give it to me," I said, jumping off of the desk. He scowled.

"No way."

"But I wanna throw it at Geri's head when she comes back into the room," I reasoned.

"I can make that happen with my telekinesis," he replied, demonstrating on me. Well shit, that HURT.

"But I want her to know that I did it," I said, irritably. "Jeez, Nico, you're such a stick in the mud."

"Whatever." Nico glared at me.

"Guys, don't fight," Ketty warned, holding onto Nico's arm lightly. He relaxed at her touch. Sap.

"I apologise that I didn't have a chance to visit you kids while you were at the camp closer to home, but, as you can see, I was quite busy re-arranging the room once it was built again. I hope that you were fine there."

"Well, yeah, compared to that brat-camp in Spain the other camp was a freakin' holiday. For the first four days all I did was lie around my jammies watching Ketty pace our tent cause she couldn't be near her precious Nico while he was resting up. It was hilarious."

"Shut up, Dyl," snarled Nico. I glared at him.

"Don't call me that, you freakin' wanker."

"Dylan, language," Uncle Fergus warned me. I sat back on his desk irritably, folding my arms.

"Why do we have to stay so long in your office, anyway? Why can't we just go back to our dorms? I mean, no offence or anything, but this place kinda sucks. There's nothing to do." I jammed in my earphones again and switched to a Ke$ha song. Ketty rolled her eyes.

I couldn't make out what she was saying to Uncle Fergus, but it sounded like she was apologizing or something. Figures. She's always so polite. It really ticks me off sometimes.

I let my gaze flitter across the room. Nico and Ketty were stood by the door, Nico playing with that freakin' paper plane and Ketty holding his hand, giggling softly. Uncle Fergus was standing with his back to us, examining his bookcase like it was the most fascinating thing in the world. And Ed was stood staring out the window, his expression unreadable. I suddenly remembered the conversation we'd had earlier and felt an unfamiliar feeling twist in my gut.

Was I pitying him?

Okay, Dylan. Review today's little chit-chat behind the rose bushes. Ed was puking so you came to make fun of him. You accuse him of still liking Ketty, which is entirely true and he knows it. Then when you tell him to try and win her back, he refuses, referring to his dead girlfriend Luz. You feel bad, but Dylan Fox does NOT let people know she feels bad, so you try and negociate. And now, not only have you screwed up whatever half-friendship thing you two had, but now Ed's stood looking out of the window feeling sorry for himself and you're listening to Ke$ha. Well done, Dylan Fox.

This whole thing made me seem like a complete jerk, but I am completely INNOCENT. I was actually trying to do the great of good, attempting to convince him to confess his feelings of love to Ketty. He was the one who's moping around about his dead girlfriend (they didn't even go out, so I don't even class that as a girlfriend) and shooting his mouth off at me instead of getting up off his lazy ass and stealing Ketty away from Nico (that'd put a smile on my face. Lover-boy Nico gets ditched for a complete dweeb).

And now he's guilting me into feeling bad for him so that I'll apologise! Well, no way am I going down that rocky road of mushy feelings. Let Ed wallow alone in a deep pit of singuality for all I care.

As I was about to say something, a thought occurred to me. Recently, Ed had been figuring out how to communicate remotely - in other words, without eye contact. Which was convenient, because he wasn't looking at me at all. But what if, for some random, crazy reason, we should be able to communicate back? Not with just anyone, I know that much - that's Ed's gift, after all. But what if us Medusas could somehow communicate with Ed without him contacting us first?

Hmm… Well, it was worth a shot.

I squinted, trying to work out how Ed did this kinda thing. Okay… Steady breathing… clear thoughts… right, better turn this music off. Now, where was I? Okay, got it. Clear thoughts…


For a second I was completely stunned. I had done it. I had done the whoosh thingy. This was a start, at least.

Now, for my whooshy-thoughts to travel into Ed's head…


At once Ed's head jerked up, and he blinked wildly.

Wh-What the hell?

Nice to see you too, Chino Boy.

He stared at me, his eyes so wide it looked almost impossible.

B-But how? he thought-cried, his gaze never leaving my face.

Well, I don't know. I just… cleared my head, and it just sorta happened. I guess.

This is mega weird… How the heck are you doing this? And why, that's what I want to know.

Look… I paused for a moment. Well… You know. It was stupid of me… y'know… to bring up Luz and all that earlier. I know that I shouldn't have.

A-A-Are you…?

Yes! Yes, you know what I mean… Ummm… What I'm trying to say is… Well, I'M SO-

Geri strode into the room again, not a hair out of place, but with a slightly tired expression on her face. I broke the connection almost immediately, panicking that I mighta looked like I was staring at him in a mushy way. Dylan Fox does NOT do that.

Geri took a deep breath, before smoothing down her hair and addressing us.

"Please excuse me for leaving earlier. I received a phone call from the United States." My ears perked up. Nothing like a good old reminder of that rat-hole they call a country.

"It was about Dylan's relatives." My ears perked up a whole lot more now. What about my snotty relatives?

"It seems that you won't be going back there, Dylan," Geri said, clasping her hands together in about the most nervous state I'd ever caught Geri in. I scowled.

"I wasn't planning on paying them a visit any time soon, you know," I snarled. "But go on. Tell me why I can't return to my snobby relatives in Philadelphia."

"They've passed, dear." Okay, this was so not the answer I'd been expecting. Was she serious?

"Passed? You mean, they died?" I frowned. "Was there an accident or something? Or a tornado? We got them a lot."

"I'm afraid not. To cut short, they were murdered."

At that moment, it was like time stopped. A lame expression, I know. But it was true. All I could do was gawp like a freakin' fish. I felt everyone else tense up as well. Ketty even clapped a hand over her mouth, the sound vibrating around the room like rolling thunder.

I didn't ever particularly like my relatives, especially Aunt Patrice, and they way she'd sniff at anything I said or asked about my mom, or the fact that she was only after my inherited money.

And yet, when I'd pictured attending her funeral, I'd always imagined being grown-up, perhaps even with a kid or whatever. I didn't imagine her to be murdered, not in a million.

I zoned into reality a moment later. After all, time waits for no one.

"Yes… your family was discovered in their home, which had been ransacked, as if the killer was looking for something. No one knows of any possible suspects though."

A cold fear set in the pit of my stomach. Oh, god.

My family had been murdered. The killer had left no trace of who they were… only that they were in search of something.

"Oh, Dylan… I'm so sorry," Ketty said, looking at me with sad eyes. I shrugged, keeping my hard expression in tact. Nico nodded in agreement.

"Yeah… Seriously. We… er, well, we feel for ya."

Ed nodded, his face pale and haunted, the way he looked after mind-reading Foster.

Uncle Fergus bowed his head.

"I'm sorry to hear about your family…" He paused. "…If we can help in any way-"

"You don't have to," I cut in quickly. I didn't want them feeling sorry for me. I hated my family. If they felt worse than I did and they'd never met my relatives, what did that make me, some kind of heartless bitch?

After a few moments, I picked up my earphones again and flicked to random, hoping something would take my mind off the freaky news, and the looks Ed kept giving me after our little "connection".

And then, the recording started to play.

"So, it looks like that patronising cow and her family are gone now, and what I was looking for had been shipped out to England." I froze. What the hell was this?

"And yes, I'm talking about you, Dylan. I was searching for you in that house," the voice continued. I could barely breathe, or sense anything else around me other than my loudly beating heart, which was in overdrive as fear clung to me with a vice grip.

"But you've moved to Shitland, haven't you? Well, you have no one anymore. Your family's dead. And you're next, Dylan Fox."

I felt uneasy sweat trickling down the back of my neck like rain. This recording… I hadn't put it on. I'd know if I put it on, I didn't let anyone touch my iPod except for me. This was scary. I mean, real scary. Dylan Fox doesn't fear most things. But this? This is terrifying.

I didn't tell Geri. Like she didn't have enough on her plate, what with dealing with creeps that were busy terrorising the country up north, as she'd put it so lightly when we'd bugged her about it before.

Instead I kept it to myself. Which, at the time, I'd agree whole-heartedly with the next person that it was stupid.

I didn't realise back then, that it was exactly the secret that I was hiding that saved my life.


Alas, forgive me for the short chapter! I've been very busy organising my chorus group, sending in vocals, working on other fanfic-related stuff, and just catching up with my friends cause I haven't seen or talked to them much over xmas!

Plus the very exciting fourth volume came out and I read it in a single night, as well as drawing a ton of fanart for it (I got to sleep at 4 DX) so I slept until past noon and had very little time to actually write.

I'll probably be ranting about the fourth book by the time I update again, cause by then it'll probably be on sale everywhere (I got it on the 29th, and it's supposed to be released on the 6th of January OwO) so most of you will have read it.

Here's a tip for ya to look out for… The cover's bright blue and has a picture of Dylan doing a karate kick, with Harry (spoiler character, my bad XD) and Nico in the background. It's also called "The Medusa Project: Hunted". I hope you guys can find it easily enough now! ^w^

Lets give three cheers and a review for the last day of 2010!