We made it to the safe house by late evening. It was a little white beach house down southeast of the United States. The windows were wide and long to allow a lot of light coming in as the sun rose in the morning, but right now, it was lined with solar lights.

Quentin and I walked down the lit path until we reached the front door. It swung open seconds later and Lucy jumped into my arms.

"Grace!"

"Careful." Quentin jumped between Lucy and I. He pointed my wounds, but I pushed him away and wrapped my arms around my sister.

"Lucy, I missed you."

"Me too."

The overwhelming familial feeling vibrated between us and the overwhelming truth of our loss seemed to be enhanced in this moment. We were silent as we held each other, grieving and comforting each other at the same time.

After a minute, Lucy pulled back and wiped her tears. I wiped mine and she slipped her hands through mine. It felt great to be next to her. She was a symbol of home and family and I missed both.

She pulled me inside the house. As soon as we made it inside, I was hit with Kian. He cupped my face and looked at me all over. I smiled back at him.

"You're growing a moustache and beard," I said.

He smirked and kissed the top of my head.

"I'm so happy to see you safe. I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you."

"Same here," I replied. I looked at Lucy and him. "I am happy to see you both safe."

My eyes wandered for Alec. Kian seemed to catch my silent question.

"He's out back talking to the higher ups."

I nodded my head. I would like to go see him, but I felt awful and I ached all over. A nice, warm shower would help ease the pain.

"I need a shower."

"Here, let me take you to the bathroom." Quentin handed me the backpack. I walked slowly to the bathroom.

As soon as I was alone, I put my backpack on top of the bathroom countertop and stripped out of my clothes. Taking off the jacket was painful, but stripping out of my sweats was excruciating. I whimpered as I peeled back the bandages on my legs.

I hopped into the shower and felt the sting on my body. Blood dripped down my body and puddled at my feet as I showered in a clear, glass shower.

As soon as I finished, I saw the wounds on my body weren't too bad after I washed the blood and dirt off. However, there were some parts where I could see the cut was deeper. Bruises were all over my body.

I bandaged as much as I could, but I see there were a few injuries on my back I couldn't get to. I called out to Lucy from inside the bathroom. I prayed she would hear me.

After a few call outs, it wasn't Lucy that answered.

"Grace? You need something?" Alec asked.

I stopped and glanced in the mirror.

"Could you get Lucy for me?"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just need her help applying medicine on my back."

"Open the door."

"What?"

"You heard me, Grace. Open the damn door before I break it down."

"Okay!" I unlocked the door.

Alec appeared in the door frame in all his glory. He wore a dark grey muscle tee and black athletic shorts. His gaze started at the top of my head and traveled down my body. I had only a towel wrapped around my body. Good thing I bandaged my legs. As soon as he saw my legs, his facial expression darkened.

"It's not as bad as it looks."

"You said it was a scratch."

"Times ten...?" I gave him a weak smile.

"I can't with you." He turned me around and looked at my back. What he saw deepened his scowl even more.

"It's really not-"

"Not a single word. I'm going to kill Quentin."

"He saved me."

"He hurt you!"

"It wasn't his fault!"

"He's dead."

"Touch him, and you're dead."

He looked at me in surprise and I gave him a dead serious look. He sighed and leaned over me to grab hand sanitizer. He cleaned his hands and then he grabbed the medicine before applying it to my back. The tips of his fingers were gentle. I bit my lips from whimpering.

After he was done, he looked angrier.

"I'm fine, Alec. I'm here and I'm safe."

His scowl relaxed and dropped the medicine back onto the counter. Grabbing his old green t-shirt he began to put it over my head.

"I can do it myself."

"You stiff as a board. You won't be able to do it yourself."

"How-"

"I can see it." I allowed him to help me put on the shirt and a pair of shorts. He helped dry my hair and brush through the knots. Then he gave me some pain reliever and water. Tending to me gently like a good boyfriend—but he wasn't my boyfriend.

"Thank you." I stepped away from him.

Alec tucked a strand a hair behind my left ear. His gaze swept over my wounds on my face again until it stopped just under my right eye. He cradled my face and swept his thumb across my mole.

"I'm glad you're safe," he whispered.

"Me too."

"Grace?" Lucy called from down the stairs.

Alec and I broke apart. I pushed him away and walked past him and down the hallway. I met her at the top of the stairs.

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to sleep with me tonight?"

I smiled and nodded my head. As Lucy led me to her bedroom, I could feel Alec's gaze on my back. He watched me until I disappeared behind the bedroom door.

Lying in bed, Lucy and I turned to our side to face each other. Looking at her was like looking at myself in the mirror. She and I tricked our ways through school. I've gone on blind dates as her and she has gone as blind dates as me. It was sort of a pre screening to see if this guy would be good for a second date.

Lucy placed a hand over mine. Although we didn't say anything. Words passed through our eyes and they glistened with unshed tears.

"We can do this," Lucy whispered.

I nodded my head.

"We can. For us, and for everyone that we loved and that have loved us." Tears slipped down at the corner of my eyes and Lucy leaned over to kiss my forehead.

"You still have me." Always being the older sister.

Lucy and I fell asleep in that position.

When I woke up, there was throbbing pain throughout my body. I whimpered as I got out of bed and wobbled slowly down the steps and into the bathroom to look for the pain reliever bottle Alec gave me earlier.

"Grace?" Alec whispered and I turned to him in surprise.

"Alec? What are you still doing up?"

"I couldn't sleep."

"So, you just so happen to-"

He moved into the bathroom and popped open the medicine bottle before handing me two of them. He filled the cup with water and handed it to me.

"I heard a noise and came to check."

I finished the medicine and handed him back the cup. His eyes swept me once more.

"Are you in a lot of pain?"

"My whole body aches. I feel like I've been run over by a truck repeatedly."

Alec swept me up into his arms and carried me down the hall and the few steps of the stairs to the living room downstairs. He sat me down on the sofa before he sat down next to me.

It looked like something had been lingering on his mind.

"What's on your mind?" I asked.

He leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees as he looked at the horizon through the tall glass window. A little bit of light was peeking already.

"I heard you call out to me. It was what woke me. The terror that I heard in your voice. It woke me up."

I wasn't exactly following him.

"What are you saying?"

"I don't fucking know. When all shit went down. I was fast asleep. In my dreams, I saw you. You came and I called out to you. But then you walked away. A few minutes later, I heard you scream. It scared the fuck out of me. It woke me up immediately. As soon as I woke up, I saw the Shadows had already made their way into the apartment. It took a lot of power, but we managed to get out."

My dream.

"Alec...I thought it was a dream. I dreamt that I walked into your room and then I went to go see Lucy. For some reason, I felt something was wrong. I looked out the window and saw the lights flickering like crazy and then I saw this man—he was staring right through me. I felt so much fear."

"It might not be a dream at all then," Alec replied.

"What do you mean? That I have some kind of soul deviation while asleep?"

"That's a possibility, but whatever that was, you have to be careful. If the Shadows could see you through your dreams, they could know where you are."

"What am I supposed to do then? Don't sleep?"

"Just be careful and don't trust everything you dream about. Be smart and fast. I'll do some more research about it, but until then, you must be careful."

"Careful, right? Isn't that what everyone's been telling me?"

Alec sighed. "I know it's been hard."

"It's been real fucking hard, Alec. I just can't catch a break. I have some kind of supernatural power that I can't control and it looks like I'm some kind of stupid, broken machine that can't turn the on and off switch appropriately."

"Hey, hey, hey." Alec cradled my neck to get my attention. "You'll be fine. We're safe here for now. In this beach house we have back up features installed to keep Shadows away and us hidden."

His thumbs brushed up against my cheeks and I relaxed. Looking at him now, I was glad to see him again. Although I don't know how all of this would end up, the truth was still there. I still need to draw a line between him and I. Especially now, since Lucy was here. I pulled away from him and pushed myself up.

"I'm going back to bed."

"Let me carry-"

"No!" I shouted and stumbled back. He caught me by my elbow and his eyes narrowed at me suspiciously. "I got this. I'm fine."

I brushed his hand away before waddling to the stairs. I felt his eyes on me as I made my way up the stairs and to the bedroom again.