"How the hell did you get back so fast?"

Cassandra loomed close to me as I sat on the floor of our bedroom, taking my shoes off.

"I got a ride."

It was late, and I really didn't feel like unpacking all of tonight's developments with her at the moment. Especially with how dramatic she can be at times.

She nudged me. "Do not tell me you let that old creep drive you home."

It took me a second to remember who she was talking about. "No, Carson didn't drive me home..."

I started to crawl over to my bed as I undressed further, trying as hard as I could to get away from this conversation both physically and mentally.

I was whipped around sharply as one of her hands caught my shoulder. "You can't just leave me hanging like this. What happened?"

Any hope of going to sleep was extinguished as her determined gaze told me that she wasn't going to let up anytime soon.

"James."

"What?"

"James drove me home."

Her face turned pale as her expression morphed into fear. "He caught you, didn't he?"

"Sort of?" I sat back down, not entirely sure where to start.

"Sort of? What do you mean, sort of?"

I looked to the wall, trying to summarize.

"He found me in the shed, but he didn't catch Carson. I managed to make up a story about raccoons, and he believed me—at least, he pretended to. Then he insisted on driving me home."

I left out the very intimate car conversation. I didn't even fully understand what I was feeling at the moment and explaining that to her didn't feel like something I wanted to do.

Some things could wait for later.

Her lips clamped shut as she stared alarmingly. "He was for sure pretending. That's really bad. Jane, he had to have known we were there."

Her hands raked her face as she whined, getting up to pace around me.

"Look, I think I covered well enough that he won't be suspicious of anything important. A lot happened tonight. Let's go to sleep. I have to get up with Ben in the morning; I'd rather not be too tired."

"Are you kidding me?" Cassandra's voice was a sharp whisper, panic lacing her tone. "How can you think about sleeping after all that?"

I sighed, rubbing my temples. "Cass, I get it. But we can't do anything about it tonight. Let's regroup tomorrow, okay?"

I could see that she didn't want to end the conversation but eventually gave in when I turned the lights off.

"Okay, I'll get Nick too and we'll talk after school." Her voice rang out in the dark room.

I nodded; grateful she was letting it go for now. "Agreed. Tomorrow."

As I lay there, my mind kept drifting back to the conversation with Carson, the mystery surrounding Pretoria, and the unexpected warmth in James's eyes.

Sleep came slowly, but when it did, it was restless and filled with fragmented dreams.

I found the second my eyes shut I was awoken by Ben's light shaking. "Miss, it's time to get up."

I could feel every hour of sleep I didn't get as my body seemed too heavy to lift from my bed.

The blue ambient darkness outside told me I couldn't have gotten more than four hours of sleep. 

My head hung low as Ben squatted, making him eye level with me. "Rise n shine, I've got biscuits ready."

The older man ruffled my hair before exiting the room, turning the overhead light on as he did so.

"Oh, what the fuck?" Cassandra hissed from somewhere under her sheets, pulling them tighter around her.

The day continued on with no real changes in routine. Ben and I ate a quick breakfast, the sun rose on our way to work, and Ben had disappeared about an hour ago.

Leaving me to sit in the shed and drink my third cup of coffee all by myself.

Not that I was complaining. I didn't feel like doing much after last night. I sat in the same spot on the floor that James had found me in and went over every detail of what Carson had told me.

The warmth of the mug did little to shake off the weariness that clung to me like a second skin. I honestly didn't know what or who to believe.

At this point, it seemed like this was all too big for me to grasp.

I pushed off the anxiety that had been ruining my day and decided to take a walk. One or two trips around the cemetery should help take my mind off things.

The cemetery stretched out before me, an expanse of emptiness, where rows of weathered tombstones stood like sentinels amidst the lush, dew-kissed grass.

The sky was a soft gray, the sun barely peeking through the horizon, casting a muted glow that bathed the entire scene in a delicate, melancholic light.

It was a rightly placed atmosphere for my day. The air was filled with the earthy scent of damp soil and freshly cut grass, mingling with the faint fragrance from the nearby flowers that Ben recently planted.

I drifted over the varied headstones, none of which stood out of place. They all looked terribly eroded with time, most of them not bearing any writing on them left at all.

We cleaned them and kept them as nice-looking as crumbling rock could look.

An oak tree stood tall and imposing in the center, its gnarled branches reaching skyward, covering the entire graveyard in almost permanent shade. A silent witness to the land and the people that came before.

Both above the land and below it.

I did my best not to wander close to the tree. It lay very close to the grave James liked to come to, and for some reason, it felt intrusive to be near it.

That and I never knew when he was going to show up, so avoiding it was always something I did.

I stared at the tombstone. Realizing even though it was as old as the others, it still had some light engravings still left.

I could read a lot better now, and I could probably make out names, maybe. I crept forward slowly, unsure why I was so apprehensive about it.

I reasoned with myself that none of the graves were off-limits. So, I trudged with fake confidence, looking around to make sure no one was coming.

The closer I got, the more I saw around the grave that seemed out of place. For starters, the grass grew much taller, as if Ben hadn't been cutting it. Weeds poked out of several places, and the tombstone stood very crooked.

I guess I hadn't noticed before, but now that I thought about it, Ben never really did come over to this grave. I shrugged off the unsettled feeling once more as I sat on the grass in front of it.

I stared at the tombstone, tracing the faint engravings with my eyes, trying to decipher the name etched into the weathered stone.

The letters were worn and hard to make out, but with some effort, I managed to piece together what looked like the letter "C."

I rubbed the stone with my shirt sleeve, trying to get the impression clear. Dirt covered my lap as it flaked off in heavy chunks from the rubbing.

A small stick at my side seemed a better tool, as I used it to scrape out some of the indentations.

It started to form what looked like a full name. I put my stick down and started to follow with my finger, sounding it out.

"C-a-v-i-"

My brain stopped functioning. I did not want to believe what I was seeing.

"There's no way it is him," I whispered.

"Oh yes, it is."

I jumped back as the voice from behind became visible. Carson stood, unbothered by my screech, taking a long drag off an almost completely burnt cigarette.

"Believe me now?"

I stared at the man as I lay hugging the stone I was just cleaning. "Can you stop jump scaring me? A warning next time would be appreciated."

Carson held his hand out to help me up. "Yeah, yeah, c'mon. We have to make this quick."

He started off, going past me to the shed.

I stood, brushing the stray dirt off me before following him. "You say that a lot!"

I entered the shed, looking behind me. "Aren't you worried Ben is gonna find you here?"

It seemed risky for him to just show up in the middle of the day.

He shook his head. "No, that old bastard is asleep in his car."

My head panned to the car parked behind the gate. The sun visor was up, not allowing me to see inside.

"He's in there, I checked."

"Is that where he goes all day?" I asked myself more than Carson. Utter disbelief fell over me that he was asleep just a few feet away from me all these months and I couldn't find him.

A loud clatter brought my attention back to Carson, who pulled items from his bag before handing me something.

A large smile overwhelmed my face when I realized what I was holding. "You got me a phone!"

It didn't look like the flat-looking phones I was used to seeing but instead flipped open to reveal a smaller screen and a keypad.

"Yes. I meant to give it to you last night, but I obviously didn't get a chance considering Thomas ambushed us. It's a burner phone. Only use it to talk to me, understand?"

I nodded, still very excited, although a bit stifled now. "Okay."

"It also takes pictures." He added.

"You remember when I told you my office burned down?"

I nodded.

"When I went through all of the damage after that, I couldn't find any of my files. I understand paper is flammable, but I held these documents in metal containers. If anything, I should have found one of them-" He stopped to look out the door for a second, making sure no one was coming.

"Anyway, I think they might be in the town hall archives. Since you work there now, there's a good chance you can get some pictures."

I shook my head. "There's no way I'm getting in there anytime soon. I don't know if you've been to town hall, but there are people everywhere." Appalled by the thought of having to sneak off on my own.

"It's not like you weren't planning on getting down there anyway. All I'm saying is when you find yourself there, just try to look for anything with my name on it. All of my documents were watermarked."

"How did you know I was planning on getting into the archives?" Once again unnerved by his seeming endless knowledge of me.

He smiled slyly. "In this line of work, I have to be one step ahead. I know it's weird, but it's for the greater good. I've got to go."

He was already packing and halfway out the door when I was able to remember my question from earlier.

"Why does James visit Cavil?"

He stopped, only briefly though as his answer came sharply,

"Because that's where his loyalties lie, girl. Be careful around him."

Once I was alone, I allowed myself a small laugh.

Funny how they told me the same thing.