A/N:
As always, not edited.
I'm starting college in a few days, so I'm not too sure what will happen to my updating schedule yet.
I. Am. Stressed.
Hopefully everything works out for the better, though, and my updates for different stories don't come to be too sporadic.
Let me know what you think of this chapter down below.
~~~~~~

Sleeping proves to be more difficult than I ever thought it could be. On either side of me, Theo and Dimitri find their way into oblivion pretty quickly, though I can't seem to force myself to follow. For hours, I have too many thoughts running through my mind to even consider falling asleep, as though everything that happened today is determined to continue haunting me around the clock.

Once I do fall asleep, my dreams are filled with the marks of Alessa's destruction, the smoke in the air and the motionless forms of Mr. And Mrs. DiLorenzo.

I was wishing to fall asleep, but now I'm fighting to wake up again.

When I come to on the cramped couch, it takes me several seconds to realize that it's beginning to grow lighter outside. I must have gotten at least a few hours of sleep, though I feel like I never closed my eyes. I'm exhausted, though there's no way I'm going to risk the sea of nightmares again.

Next to me, Dimitri is still lost in slumber while Theo has also woken up, and for a few moments I wonder if my dreaming was what disturbed him. Catching sight of my brother's sleeping figure at the far end of the opposite couch, I decide that if it had been the case then Jason would have been awakened too.

Emilio is sitting in the same position as he was when I fell asleep, staring straight ahead but looking like he's gazing off into a world I can't see. Next to him, Shemik keeps twitching in her sleep, as though nightmares are following her too.

I can't keep my gaze from finding Rose, who looks even worse in the light of early morning.

"Lili?"

I don't realize that Theo is talking to me until he stands up, stepping in front of me and obscuring my view of Rose's face.

I stare back at him, wordlessly demanding to know what he wants.

"I want to go out for a walk," Theo tells me, glancing between Emilio and me, "but he won't let me go alone, and he's not about to leave right now. I don't blame him, but you know you could come... or not ... Maybe it would help you get away from things for a while. I think we're all pretty worried, but you look like you're about to lose it."

Almost without my permission, my head begins moving up and down, giving my affirmative response before I've had the chance to completely make up my mind.

Theo doesn't seem to sense the slightest hint of reluctance in my decision, offering a small smile before turning to look at Emilio again.

"Good enough for you?" Theo asks the older boy, "We won't get ourselves killed, I promise. We'll take a backpack with us too. Please, I can't take this anymore and she won't say it, but Lili's about to go mad too."

Emilio's expression doesn't change, though he gives Theo a sharp nod. I scramble to my feet, following Theo into the kitchen as quietly as possible. Though none of us are having the best luck with sleep, there's no excuse to wake Siena up so early in the morning.

The two of us pull our boots on in silence, and Theo shoulders the smaller of our two packs.

"Where to?" he wonders, pulling open the front door and waiting curiously for my response. Following him onto the sidewalk, I give him a noncommittal shrug that proves exactly how apathetic I am toward the matter.

We start moving, in silence yet again. I focus all my energy on memorizing when and where we turn, keeping track of the sidewalks and small streets that eventually lead us to an empty park. There's more concrete than grass, but I'm still somehow comforted by the sense of tranquility associated with the place.

Theo and I are sitting on a small stone bench, watching the sunrise appearing over the horizon. Neither of us seem to be able to come up with something decent to say, so we're just staring up at the sky and trying not to get drawn back into the worries we're running away from.

It's too good to be true, I decide. I've tried running from things in the past, like the reality of mine and Jason's abilities and the realization that our parents lied to us for years. You can't hide from reality, can't escape the worries for very long before they come back for you.

After only a few minutes of watching the shades of pink and crimson color the sky, Theo's the one who breaks the spell of silence.

"Rose is just one of those people you can't help caring about." He speaks softly, his tone conveying a combination of worry and guilt, "She's like a sister to me, and I'd guess the others feel the same about her. It's different somehow for me, though. She and Olivia would nearly be the same age now, about a year apart. It's my fault Dad took Olivia away, and I'm beginning to think that I'll never see her again. Rose, though, ... she's not even my real sister, but I don't know what would happen if she died. I used to tell myself that I could make up for what happened with Olivia by watching out for Rose, but none of us were watching out for her at the mansion. Nobody thought to see how she was getting on, or to make sure Alessa wasn't trying to scare her. I keep letting people down, and I've just started to realize it. I let Mum and Dad down by being a Superior and causing the family to fall apart, I let Olivia down by letting Dad take her, and I've let Rose down. It seems like I'm never there when people really need me to be."

"You were there for me while we were stuck in that compound with Petrovich." I counter, pulling my gaze from the sky to take in his expression, "It's all of our faults what happened to Rose, I guess. No one paid attention. No one kept an eye on her. And it's not like you could have done anything to change what happened to your sister. You wouldn't have been very old then yourself. It was years ago, and even though you can think about it around the clock, I don't think there's a way to do things differently. You can't rewrite history, or something like that."

Theo takes in the look on my face, as though he's trying to find the lie hidden in the midst of my words. He can't find it, though, because as far as I'm concerned all I told him was the truth.

Mom used to have this one saying, that in life sometimes you either sink or swim. I'm beginning to feel like we're at one of those points right now, like the smallest additional worry could drown us all.

We're not really fine, but we've got to be in order to get through what's happened to Rose, to accept what might happen to her.

I'm just hoping that, when the time comes, I'll remember how to swim before I sink under the weight of everything life still has to throw at me.

~*~

As we walk along the sidewalk to Siena's home, the shouting reaches us with frightening clarity.

I'm startled to realize that Siena's door has been thrown wide open, and that no one seems concerned with making sure it winds up closed again.

My feet carry me forward at a much faster pace as I outrun Theo in my attempt to get inside. All but throwing our pack and boots into the corner, Theo and I stare around the kitchen in a desperate effort to understand what is taking place.

Siena is standing in front of a wooden cabinet, searching around for enough bowls to accommodate all of us. Jason and Dimitri are already sitting at the table, while both Emilio and Shemik are standing in the middle of the kitchen. A girl leans against the wall a few feet from Emilio, her face such a mess of bruises that I almost can't recognize her.

There's a gash across her forehead, and one cheek is swollen considerably. There's blood and grime covering the opposite side of her face. Her lengthy hair is down, and at around six feet tall she's the tallest person in the room by at least  five or six inches.

Though she doesn't have the walking cane anymore, I still manage to recognize Alessa Serpico.

"I told you!" she's shouting, "I didn't think you would be here. I was going to  get a few stitches before-"

"Before you run away from your mess?" Emilio snarls, taking a step toward her.

"You are one to talk about running." Alessa scoffs, looking a bit more like herself as she lets one of her awful smiles take control of her face.

"I ran from Florence because I wanted my own life," Emilio spits, "but you, you are running away because you are too afraid to face the consequences of what you've done."

Alessa snorts, blinking furiously as she tries to focus on meeting Emilio's gaze.

"No." she purrs, "I am smart. I know the punishment for murder, and there are more things I would like to do before I die. I would not like to be put to death in the center of Florence for all to see. That is a frustrating way to go. I am sorry though. Your parents just got in the way. I never meant to involve them."

The tension is clear in the set of Emilio's jaw. Both Theo and I move several paces away from the argument and nearer to the table, equally afraid of what could happen here. Siena has stopped digging through her cabinet, and is now staring at Alessa with wide eyes.

Emilio takes a step forward, standing directly in front of Alessa.

"I was right to leave Florence when I did, to escape from you. You were a monster before, and you are even worse now that you have somehow survived being bitten. You are despicable!" Emilio's face is getting redder by the second as the rest of us look on in shocked silence, "You are sorry about my parents? Only my parents?"

Alessa doesn't even think on it. Her head moves up and down, and all of a sudden I'm furious.

She doesn't even care that she hurt an eight-year-old?

As though Alessa hasn't quite realized that she's stepping onto dangerous ground, she starts speaking again.

"Rosalie knew what would happen if she didn't follow directions. She decided to play games with me, so I had a little fun myself."

Shemik takes a step toward Emilio, but even the mind reader isn't fast enough at predicting what the Italian boy is going to do. His fist catches Alessa in the chin, and in the next second his fingers wrap themselves around her throat.

"Holy crap!" Jason squeaks, staring at the scene with a terrified expression.

"Let her go!" Siena barks, starting across the kitchen toward the two, "Let her go, she will not go anywhere. I will get the city patrol to handle her. Please, let go of her!"

Emilio doesn't loosen his grip for an instant. Alessa is at his total mercy now, gasping for breath like a fish that's been caught out of water for too long.

In the time I've known him, I've never really been afraid of Emilio, but in this moment I'm absolutely terrified at what he's going to do to Alessa. He looks as though he's lost all sense of reason, like some kind of warrior taking out his revenge. He's still shouting at Alessa, but now he's resorted to Italian and I can't understand a word of it.

Shemik takes up a position next to him, glancing in his direction for a moment before taking in Alessa.

"Emilio!" Shemik has to shout over Emilio's own yelling, "Emilio DiLorenzo, let her go before you kill her."

Alessa looks absolutely petrified, a horrified expression frozen onto her face as she gives up trying to escape. She looks as though she may get dragged away into unconsciousness in a matter of moments, and from there I decide it won't take long at all.

Shemik lands a hand on top of Emilio's, forcefully loosening his grip on Alessa. He's not ranting anymore, and I wonder if the realization of what he almost did has come back to hit him yet.

After what feels like ages but in reality has to only be a few seconds, Shemik succeeds in getting Emilio to release his grasp on Alessa. The other girl slides down the wall, coming to sit with her back against the surface as Shemik all but drags Emilio to the kitchen table and pushes him lightly toward a chair. He's staring at his hands as Siena studies us all, declaring that she'll be back in fifteen minutes with the city patrol.

None of us speak during that length of time, and Alessa remains seated on the floor. I wonder vaguely if she's afraid, if she knows that the city patrol's arrival will all but seal her fate.

I sort of wonder if she regrets what she's done more than she's letting on.

I suppose none of us will find that out for sure, that we'll never learn whether Alessa Serpico is capable of regretting her actions.

I wish someone could have helped her before it was too late for her to help herself.

Alessa doesn't resist the officers of the Florence City Patrol when Siena brings them into her home. The officers get the full story of last night's events from us, and Alessa is dragged away. She doesn't look back at any of us as she's taken out the front door, and for some reason I'm relieved by that.

I can't pity the girl who caused so much destruction. When I think of her as part Inhumane, she's a lot easier to hate. If Alessa had looked back, that all might have changed.

If I had to look into her gaze long enough, I might find humanity there, and it's a lot harder to call someone a monster when you know they're still human.