“Are tou trying to be annoying?" I demanded. My patience was not waning, but entirely gone. "Because if you are, then be assured, you have succeeded."Jared and Wes looked at me with shocked eyes. "I am female," I complained. "That 'it' business is really getting on my nerves." Jared blinked in surprise, then his face settled back into harder lines. "Because of the body you wear?"Wes glared at him."Because of me," I hissed."By whose definition?""How about by yours? In my species, I am the one that bears young. Is that not female enough for you?"That stopped him short. I felt almost smug. 'As you should', Melanie approved. 'He's wrong and he's being a pig about it'. Thank you.'We girls have to stick together'.”

“And then we jerked to a stop. Jared was blocking the exit. "Have you lost your mind, Ian?" he asked, shocked and outraged. "What are you doing to her?""Did you know about this?" Ian shouted back, shoving me toward Jared and shaking me at him."You're going to hurt her!""Do you know what she's planning?" Ian roared.Jared stared at Ian, his face suddenly closed off. He didn't answer. That was answer enough for Ian.Ian's fist struck Jared so fast that I missed the blow - I just felt the lurch in his body and saw Jared reel back into the dark hall."Ian, stop," I begged."You stop," he growled back at me.He yanked me through the arch into the tunnel, then pulled me north. I had to almost run to keep up with his longer stride."O´Shea!" Jared shouted after us."I'm going to hurt her?" Ian roared back over his shoulder, not breaking pace. "I am? You hypocritical swine!"There was nothing but silence and blackness behind us now. I stumbled in the dark, trying to keep up.He jerked me along faster, and my breath caught in a moan, almost like a cry of pain.The sound made Ian stumble to a stop. His breathing was hoarse in the darkness."Ian, Ian, I..." I chocked, unable to finish. I didn't know what to say, picturing his furious face.His arms caught me abruptly, yanking my feet out from under me and then catching my shoulders before I could fall. He started running forward again, carrying me now. His hands were not rough and angry like before; he cradled me against his chest.”

“Melanie still grieves for Jared," she stated. I felt my head nod without willing the action. "You grieve for him."I closed my eyes."The dreams continue?""Every night," I mumbled."Tell me about then." Her voice was soft, persuasive. "I don't like to talk about them.""I know. Try. It might help.""How? How will it help to tell you that I see his face every time I close my eyes? That I wake up and cry when he's not there? That the memories are so strong I can't separate hers from mine anymore?”

“Hey Wanda! Hey Ian!" Jamie was all grins, his messy hair bouncing as he moved..."Guess what? Jared was saying at lunch that he didn't think it was fair for you to have to move out of the room you were used to. He said we weren't being good hosts. He said you should move back in with me! Isn't that great? I asked him if I could tell you right away, and he said that was a good idea. He said you would be in here.""I'll bet he did," Ian murmured."So, what do you think, Wanda? We get to be roomies again!""But Jamie, where will Jared stay?""Wait - let me guess," Ian interrupted. "I bet he said the room was big enough for three. Am I right?" "Yeah. How did you know?""Lucky guess"..."Will you come back?" Jamie begged against my shoulder..."If that's what you want, Jamie. Okay.""Woo hoo!" Jamie crowed in my ear. "Cool! I'm gonna go tell Jared! I'll get you some food, too, okay?...You want something, Ian?""Sure, kid. I want you to tell Jared he's shameless.”

“My arms broke free from my control. My left hand reached for his face, his hair, to wind my fingers in it. My right hand was faster, was not mine. Melanie's fist punched his jaw, knocked his face away from mine with a blunt, low sound. Flesh against flesh, hard and angry. The force of it was not enough to move him far, but he scrambled away from me the instant our lips were no longer connected, gaping with horrorstruck eyes at my horrorstruck expression. I stared down at the still-clenched fist, as repulsed as if I'd found a scorpion growing on the end of my arm. A gasp of revulsion choked its way out of my throat. I grabbed the right wrist with my left hand, desperate to keep Melanie from using my body for violence again. I glanced up at Jared. He was staring at the fist I restrained, too, the horror fading, surprise taking its place. In that second, his expression was entirely defenseless. I could easily read his thoughts as they moved across his unlocked face. This was not what he had expected. And he's had expectations; that was plain to see. This had been a test. A test he'd thought he was prepared to evaluate. But he'd been surprised.Did that mean pass or fail? The pain in my chest was not a surprise. I already knew that a breaking heart was more than an exaggeration. In a flight-or-fight situation, I never had a choice; it would always be flight for me. Because Jared was between me and the darkness of the tunnel exit, I wheeled and threw myself into the box-packed hole. I was sobbing because it had been a test, and, stupid, stupid, stupid, emotional creature that I was, I wanted it to be real.Melanie was writhing in agony inside me, and it was hard to make sense of the double pain. I felt as thought I was dying because it wasn't real; she felt as though she was dying because, to her, it had felt real enough. In all that she'd lost since the end of the world, so long ago, she'd never before felt betrayed. 'No one's betrayed you, stupid,' I railed at her. 'How could he? How?' she ranted, ignoring me. We sobbed beyond control. One word snapped us back from the edge of hysteria.From the mouth of the hole, Jared's low, rough voice - broken and strangely childlike - asked, "Mel?""Mel?" he asked again, the hope he didn't want to feel colouring his tone. My breath caught in another sob, an aftershock. "You know that was for you, Mel. You know that. Not for h- it. You know I wasn't kissing it." "If you're in there, Mel..." He paused.Melanie hated the "if". A sob burst up through my lungs and I gasped for air. "I love you," Jared said. "Even if you're not there, if you can't hear me, I love you.”

“I hurried to the southern corridor, relieved when I was safe in the blackness there. Relieved and horrified. It was really over now.I'm so afraid, I whimpered.Before Mel could respond, a heavy hand dropped on my shoulder from the darkness."Going somewhere?"I was so tightly wound that I shrieked in terror; I was so terrified that my shriek was only a breathless little squeal."Sorry!" Jared's arm went round my shoulders, comforting. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you.""What are you doing here?" I demanded, still breathless."Following you. I've been following you all night.""Well, stop it now."There was a hesitation in the dark, and his arm didn't move. I shrugged out from under it, but he caught my wrist. His grip was firm; I wouldn't be able to shake free easily."You're going to see Doc?" he asked, and there was no confusion in his question. It was obvious that he wasn't talking about a social visit."Of course I am." I hissed the words so that he wouldn't hear the panic in my voice. "What else can I do after today?It's not going to get any better. And this isn't Jeb's decision to make.""I know. I'm on your side."It made me angry that these words still had the power to hurt me, to bring tears stinging into my eyes. I tried to hold onto the thought of Ian - he was the anchor, as Kyle somehow had been for Sunny - but it was hard with Jared's hand touching me, with the smell of him in my nose. Like trying to make out the song of one violin when the entire percussion section was bashing away..."Then let me go, Jared. Go away. I want to be alone." The words came out fierce and fast and hard. It was easy to hear that they weren't lies."I should come with you.""You'll have Melanie back soon enough," I snapped. "I'm only asking for a few minutes, Jared. Give me that much."Another pause; his hand didn't loosen."Wanda, I would come to be with you."The tears spilled over. I was grateful for the darkness."It wouldn't feel that way," I whispered. "So there's no point.”

“I hate to burst your bubble, but you're really not as scary as you think you are. I don't find you scary at all, actually," I lied casually.He stopped, raising his eyebrows in blatant disbelief. Then he flashed a wide, wicked smile."You really shouldn't have said that," he chuckled.He growled, a low sound in the back of his throat; his lips curled back over his perfect teeth. His body shifted suddenly, half-crouched, tensed lika a lion about to pounce.I backed away from him, glaring."You wouldn't."I didn't see him leap me - it was much too fast. I only found myself suddenly airborne, and then we crashed onto the sofa, knocking it into the wall. All the while, his arms formed an iron cage of protection around me - I was barely jostled. But I still was gasping as I tried to right myself.He wasn't having that. He curled me into a ball against his chest, holding me more securely than iron chains. I glared at him in alarm, but he seemed well in control, his jaw relaxed as he grinned, his eyes bright only with humor."You were saying?" he growled playfully."That you are a very, very terrifying monster," I said, my sarcasm marred a bit my breathless voice."Much better," he approved.”