"I think you're thinking too much, Ross."

Ross glared at Markl from beneath swollen eyelids. A thick gash ran between her eyes down her left cheek and along towards her left ear. Multiple bandages wound themselves up and down her body and limbs; they weren't there to cover her wounds from infection, but to hold her bones and joints together so they healed faster. Damien had done his best – the remedy for a Seeker was to set and heal rather than what the humans use, with their operations and fancy medications.

"I may be injured, but I'm not comatose. I'm telling you: Tora is dangerous."

"You do realise unsubstantiated accusations put the team's harmony at risk," Markl said with a frown, leaning forward in his seat beside her bed.

"Since when I do say anything unsubstantiated?"

Markl gave a small sigh. The tension in the air was palpable. He looked at his lieutenant, such a fragile contrast to her usual headstrong self – in physicality, at least. Her narrowed green eyes eyed him back with resolution, her usual fierce expression on her freckled face.

"It's my duty to the team and to the humans that I raise concerns. If there's a rat on the team, I have to root them out, otherwise everyone is at risk."

"I do realise that." Markl chose his words carefully. "Your intuition is sharp, perhaps too sharp. I wonder if you sometimes get to the conclusion before the perpetrator herself does."

"So you disagree with me."

"Tora's powers and self-control leaves a bit to be desired, but she's not evil."

"So it seems. It's fooled everyone so far, including me."

"You think she's lying?"

"I think she's doing more than that. I think she's a demon."

Markl shook his head, a small smile on his face. Ross scowled at him.

"You still stand by that theory after two years."

"I can't really buy into the 'I'm an amnesiac' rigmarole. Tora doesn't play the victim card very well."

"I don't think she's playing anything, Ross."

"Amnesia for the past fourteen years? And still nothing since she's joined and with Damien's help? She's definitely hiding something."

"I trust her, Ross."

"And I trust you, but I wonder sometimes if you're letting some of that friendship with her cloud your judgement."

"I don't play favouritism."

Markl met her eyes steadily. He could almost see her thoughts churn. Ross didn't play games. Her mind worked like clockwork. That was one of her best features.

"I've known you for five years, Markl. You've never let me down."

"And you me."

"But neither has my intuition. I can't let her stay here knowing what I know."

"You work with facts. I know that. But what are those? I can't let you do anything without you letting me in on this."

Ross pushed herself further up her bed so that she leaned against the headboard. Pain flitted across her face, which was bathed in moonlight. She looked so young, although she was sixteen like the rest of them. Yet mentally, she was the strongest of them all.

"I know. Which is why I'm telling you this now, without Damien and Carlos around. I don't have all the facts, but it's pretty obvious from where I'm standing – or lying."

Markl nodded.

"I saw Tora interacting with a demon on the roof." Her voice was flat and matter-of-fact. Markl's brow knitted at her words. "It was a demon unlike anything we've come across before. The sheer power of it was unbelievable. I couldn't make contact. No matter how many copies I made, no matter how fast I was, he managed to deflect each one as if I was no more than a fly."

"You're sure he was a demon?"

"He reeked of their scent. He couldn't possibly have been anything else."

"But he was humanoid?"

"Yes. He looked human, but everything about him screamed demon. Smell, mannerism, powers... He knew which illusion was the real me. It took him almost no effort to beat me. And all this time, Tora just stood there."

"Tora stood out of a fight?" Markl's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline.

Ross gave a dry laugh.

"You should have seen the way she spoke to that demon. Even friendlier than she is to you or Damien."

"What did they talk about?"

"I don't know." She shook her head and then winced, putting a lacerated hand to her forehead. "I think I interrupted in their little heart-to-heart, then I fought him. It was obvious from their tones they knew each other. And from seeing Tora watch that demon kick the hell out of me."

"What did he look like?"

"Blonde. Alien-looking."

"Any other recognisable features?"

"I don't know, Markl. I was too busy being kicked off the roof to my death."

"But you didn't die, though."

"I expected to. Imagine my surprise when I woke up to Carlos's ugly mug."

"You should have died. What stopped the fall?"

"Nothing." Ross gestured down at her broken body. "Does anything here look wholesome or healthy to you? No? I didn't think so. I've seen road-kill look hotter."

"But you were, what, six storeys? Seven storeys? Off the ground. I don't know if even I could survive it. It was either Tora or that demon who rescued you."

"Somehow I get the feeling the demon was more likely to have saved me."

"Give her some credit, Ross." A trace of impatience crept into Markl's voice. He propped his chin on his hands, resting his elbows on his knees. "For all her faults, Tora doesn't want us dead."

"It's not just that I think she's a lying sack of excrement. She doesn't have the power. We've seen the extent of her telekinesis. She can throw boulders, yeah, and she's pretty good at making chowder out of demon meat, but she can't make big forcefields or reinforced ones, nor can she pinpoint accurately when she's on the move. You're saying she stayed on the roof and caught me in free fall? Or fell with me and caught me? I think Carlos coming up with something intelligent has a bigger chance of happening than anything like that."

"I don't know." Markl ran a hand through his hair, sighing again. "None of this makes very much sense. All I know is the humans found you and Tora unconscious in the car park near where you must have fallen."

"Oh, the joy. Lucky I remember none of that."

"I just wish I could know what really happened. The whole event."

"Go ask her yourself. You know how bad a liar she is. If she lies to a simple question like that, especially from you, then you know she can't be trusted."

"I will. I just wanted to make sure you're all right."

"Oh, I'm brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. See how my femur's broken into three bits? See how my pelvis split down the side? I've never been better."

"At least your sense of humour is still intact." Markl smiled at her. Ross rolled her eyes at him. His face became serious. "I don't want you engaging in any fights with Tora in the meantime, for your own physical wellbeing as well as everything else. Do I have your word?"

"Well, I'm not going to be dancing out of this room any time soon."

"Do I have your word?"

"Yes, yes."

****

"Tora – can we talk?"

Tora unwound her legs and sat up from her slumped position on the sofa. She tried to hide it, but the dread was obvious in those bright blue eyes.

"Ooooh you're in trouble!" crowed Carlos. She gave him a punch, hitching on a playful grin. Markl could feel Damien throwing her a worried look from where he sat at the computer. He didn't look at him. Damien was too soft-hearted. He would never want team conflict or anything bad to happen to Tora. Markl was the one in the difficult shoes.

Tora made her way to the bottom of the stairs, her hands in her pockets. Dressed in leggings and a hooded top, she couldn't look more like an ordinary girl. Even those sharp blue eyes just look anxious than anything worrying. But he remembered when he first saw her she was nothing like this. Wild and disorientated, her features were distorted – whether just out of fear or something more sinister, he probably would never know. Ross had been convinced from the first moment she laid eyes on her that Tora was a demon, but Damien had assured him otherwise. He'd been right so far.

After the events of that morning, though, something must be done.

"Let's go down to the basement. We can get some privacy there."

"Fine." Without another look at him, Tora crossed her arms and marched down the steps to the training area. Markl followed suit, shutting the door behind them.

He turned to find her standing in the middle of the room, stiff and watchful, her arms still wrapped around her. Her guard was high – even though there were only two of them.

"Is there anything you want to tell me?"

"You've asked me this already."

She was avoiding his question.

"What happened on the roof?"

"Why don't you ask Ross?" she shot back. "She's wide awake. Everyone's clamouring over each other to go visit her."

"Why are you answering all my questions with more questions?"

"'Cos I know you know the answers already. Why are you asking me?"

"I want to hear it from you."

She fell silent, averting his gaze. Her eyes gazed to the corner and were glassed over.

"Tora?"

"Huh?" Her head snapped up.

"You're very distracted."

"It's been a long day. It's not often I have to throw myself off the roof."

"So it was you who saved Ross?"

Tora looked as though she regretted saying so much.

"Who was that demon with you on the roof?"

She hesitated. Her eyes darted down to her hands in front of her, as if she was expecting something other than fingers there.

"I... I don't know."

"Is it someone you're familiar with?"

"... I don't know."

"But you think so?"

She didn't say anything.

"Is he someone we should be worried about?"

Silence.

"I trust you, Tora. But if you don't trust me back, it's hard to—"

"I do trust you!" she burst out, her cheeks going pink. She unwrapped her arms from around her waist, her hands curling into fists. "I just... I don't know what's going on any more."

"Start from the beginning and take it from there."

"I don't know who he is. I don't know what he wants. He acts like he knows me but I don't remember him, okay?" Her face filled with desperation, her eyes begging him to believe her.

He believed her.

"Cyrus," she said, and then bit her lip so hard she almost drew blood. "His name is Cyrus."

Markl nodded and waited for her to continue, but it seemed it was the most she was about to come up with.

"Will you tell one of us the next time he seeks you out again?"

"I—I'll try."

Markl observed her. She was so tense and closed in, vastly different from the headstrong smart-mouthed girl from just a few days earlier.

"Is that all?"

"Yes. You can go."

Markl watched her trudge back up the steps, her ponytail swinging. 

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