The mashed potatoes sit heavily in Hope's stomach. She gently lays her fork against the white tablecloth, grabbing the serviette off the table in front of her, and gently dapping the corner of her mouth.

"Did you hear that, sweetheart?" Her father elbows her gently, gesturing with his fork across the table. "Erik's looking at a soccer scholarship to Keating."

Hope glances up at Erik across the table. The boy doesn't make eye contact with her, instead past her and down the hallway. The Thomas house should be called the Thomas manor, with its chandeliers and large entry way. It's definitely not a Jones' house, but nonetheless.

"Can we go on a walk, Daddy?" Hope leans in towards her father. "I think Erik and I are both done eating now."

Erik finally looks at Hope. Her face is cast in shadow, since the room is lit only by candles. Erik bites down on his lip to stop it from frowning.

Something is up.

Erik doesn't know if Thea can hear his thoughts like he can hear hers, but he grumbles back that it is quite obvious that Hope is being secretive. It's always the quiet ones, anyway. Also, there is a pit in his stomach from taking a soccer ball to the gut earlier (Erik chooses to ignore that his ability to heal his body generally makes pain evaporate rather quickly). Definitely not the nerves from this conversation. No doubt.

"Sure," her daddy smiles at Erik's father across the table. If Erik wasn't already nauseous, now he is.

Hope pulls herself up and out from the table. She nods at Erik to come follow her outside, and he does. When their backs are to the table, Hope smirks.

In the doorway, Hope shuffles her shoes on. She waits for Erik to lace up his boots and throw on his leather jacket before the two walk out of the house. Hope prays that her father doesn't look at the coat rack, because she has left not just her scarf and mittens, but her coat as well.

Outside, Hope shivers in the wind. Erik rolls his eyes at her, beginning to shuffle off his leather jacket. Girls never wear coats, which makes it his responsibility to give them one. People always say chivalry is dead, but it isn't. Erik wants to kill it.

He stops removing his jacket when Hope takes a step forward and breathes in the crisp air. She tucks the thick white wool of her turtleneck over her nose and wraps her hair around the rest of her to try to maintain warmth, if only for a second, before she lets the cool air hit her lips again.

"I don't want to date you," she tells him.

Erik smirks, stepping past Hope. She follows him down the sidewalk until the two are up next to each other. When Erik notices their steps are in sync, he slows down.

"Our fathers want us to, but I'm not interested," Hope tells him, staring up at the stars above her. They are bright but distant. From here, they seem cold although she imagines they would be warm to the touch. Burning in fact. Hope wants that power to electrify her skin. The same energy which ignited her That Night.

Hope sighs, stopping on the sidewalk. She turns to face Erik. His face is all sharp lines and harsh eyes. It is a pity that the power allows him to heal on command, for nothing would suit him better than to be hurt. Carefully, Hope lifts her hand up.

Erik flinches away from her fingers. Hope is shorter than him, but only barely, so ducking proves to be a bit of a challenge. For a second, Hope pauses, her arm outstretched in towards him.

"I like girls," she exhales. It's a truth she doesn't want to levy to be able to touch Erik but she does anyway. "May I?"

Erik says nothing, but he doesn't move this time. Hope's fingers slowly graze his chin, touching the light stubble on his face.

They feel it. The energy pulsing from him to her. The point of entry and the point of depart. All at once, Hope feels every one of their group leading a path to Erik. Then, she feels the dull ache in his heart.

He feels the fire, suppressed for far too long, burning inside of Hope. She was aptly named after all. Hope has been beaten down, and Erik desperately craves to rise with her.

"I like girls and boys," it's the first time Erik confesses this to Hope. Or to anyone. However, her eyes are so bright he doubts that she even hears him.

"Thea's voice has been ringing in your head," she tells him, the soft beginnings of a smile forming on her lips. "You feel her strongest because she went into you. I feel all of our echoes because it came into me last."

Erik doesn't know what to offer, so he just nods.

Hope looks up at the stars above her. Slowly, she lowers her hand from Erik's face, and the solar system grows dimmer. It is still beautiful nonetheless.

~~~

"Jamie," Wes exhales into his phone as he pushes himself down the street. The skateboard isn't moving fast enough. "Where are you?"

"On my way home," Jamie answers. Besides the panic in Wesley's voice, all Jamie can hear is the sound of his shoes clicking against the sidewalk. He makes himself stop. "Not my house, like the apartment, but the place where my brother and I grew up. Like, the one after we were adopted... I'm rambling. Why do you ask? Do you need me?"

Wesley blows a strand of hair out of his eyes. "Any chance that they live near the Jones'?"

Jamie looks around him, staring up the hills of Hamilton. The farther from the centre, the richer you get. Well, yeah, Jamie's foster parents have money, but not anywhere near Jones's money. They live probably two miles up the hill.

"Where's June?" Jamie asks. His fist clings desperately to the phone as he books it up the hill. Fuck, he is not athletic. "Weren't you on June duty?"

"Yeah, see I've got no idea where she went," Wesley begins. "So, I'm on the way there."

"I am too, but I can't run and talk," Jamie pants. "I'll meet you there."

Jamie hangs up the phone and begins to sprint to the house. He is sure his brother will understand that he has to reschedule movie night again, right? At least, Jamie hopes so.

The two converge on the house at the same time. Wes jumps off his skateboard and grabs it in his hands just as Jamie reaches him. The boys, both panting, face each other.

"Hey," Wesley exhales. He raises his fingers to his hair, pulling it out of his face.

Jamie tries to smile, but his mouth hangs open in shock. He tries to compose himself as he pants. "Hey."

The pair look up at the giant manor in front of them. June is behind those doors, at least they hope. Maybe it is better if they don't find her. God knows what the future entails for any of them.

"We should go inside," Wes suggests.

Jamie nods, coughing as he catches his breath. He finally pulls himself up into a proper standing position, facing Wesley. "Yeah, we should."

Neither of them moves towards the house.

Wesley grabs Jamie by the collar of his jacket and kisses him. Like always, Jamie is caught off guard. He wraps his hands tightly around Wes, delicately taking some of the boy's hair in one hand. The two stand for a second, Wesley pulling Jamie up towards him, locked together.

They break apart at the same time, panting still.

Wesley smirks and leads the way up to the house. Jamie takes a second to breathe, staring at Wesley's back, before he heads up to the front door.

When Wesley rings the doorbell, it resonates in the whole house. The two wait on the doorstep for a second. Jamie sneaks his hand into Wesley's.

As the door opens, Wesley sneaks it away.

"Wesley?" The boy behind the door asks.

"Archie," Wesley smiles. It has been quite a long time since he had seen his high school lab partner. Archie has gotten older, and he looks all too wise. "We were wondering if we could come up and see June. We met her at a party at Barnaby a couple of weeks ago and she said we could stop by."

Without a word, Archie nods and lets the pair inside. They head up the stairs, assuming June lives somewhere inside. In the second bedroom, they see her.

She is lying on the floor, her ginger hair spread out above her like a halo. In a flash, Wesley sees her falling to the ground. He hears her scream. He feels it resonate in his chest. Jamie walks in past Wesley to get to June, but Wesley is frozen (and not because the room is bigger than the first floor of his house).

Jamie joins June on the floor. He lies on one side of her and leans his head against her shoulder. She smells like laundry detergent and salt. She smells like she has been caught in a rainstorm, and she has only just got home and put warm clothes on. She smells like she has been crying.

Slowly, Wesley makes his way into the room. He lies down on the other side of June but doesn't touch her. If he leans against her, maybe he will feel the pain of her falling again.

"I can't believe my brother is dead and I am immortal," her voice is too quiet to fill the empty space of the room. She shakes her head back and forth, bumping into Jamie. He tries his best to sturdy her. "Like, isn't that fucking bullshit?"

Jamie can't find anything to say. When he talks, he talks too much, but when he is speechless, everything has been sucked from inside him. He has been hollowed out.

"I find out I'm immortal and I have superpowers, and I'm somehow still stuck working in a fucking diner." Wesley glances down at June, hoping he said the right thing.

June nods, continuing. "My siblings didn't understand me, and now they really don't understand me."

"My roommate came home," Jamie offers. "And he fucking sucks."

June lets out a laugh.

~~~

She can't come down the stairs. Instead, she sits and stares, her legs swinging over the end of the staircase, and watches as four FBI agents tear apart her house. One of the agents pushes up the stairs and narrowly scrapes past Lee. It doesn't matter that Lee managed to catch herself.

She can feel her blood boiling. Almost like her body is going to pop a gasket and explode. Lee hopes that she does. She hopes that all the power in her (if there is any more than needed to heal her fingers from the scratches of her guitar strings) just escapes her all at once in a violent burst. Then, she wouldn't have to chase after her missing brother. Then, her brother wouldn't be missing.

"You have no idea where your son went, Mrs. Hayde?" One of the agents asks Lee's Mom.

"Stop harassing my mother, you cock-sucker," Lee shakes her head back and forth. She pulls herself into a standing position but doesn't come down the stairs. "You think we would be letting you cut open our couch cushions to look for USBs if we could just pull my fucking shit-head of a brother out of our asses? Just let my mother cry in peace."

With that, Lee darts back up the stairs.

~~~

Never before has Cara thought of herself as impatient, but she finds herself tapping her foot at the door with her coat on, waiting for Eden to come barreling down the stairs. She doesn't want to stare at her phone, because that would be considered extremely rude. However, she can't bear to stare at the framed photographs of Thea on the wall. She is so beautiful after all, it's almost unsettling. Especially when she is dead because of her.

In the bedroom, Eden sits next to Keisha on the bed. Even though he wants to leave with Cara, he can't. At least, not until the sister of his dead best friend stops crying. Keisha is gripping Thea's teddy bear with too much force.

Eden moves off the bed. He kneels in front of Keisha, forcing her hands to let go of the teddy bear and take his. He doesn't have anything right to say, but he can try. "Thea would call you stupid for crying over her."

Keisha laughs. She takes one of her hands and wipes tears out of her eyes. "She would, wouldn't she?"

"She'd also tell you to throw out all her stuff, because minimalism is in," Eden forces a smile on his face. "I don't think Thea's wishes matter all that much now."

Keisha playfully pushes Eden, like Thea has done a thousand times to him before. "I don't know. I feel like she is still here with us. Lingering. Thea always had a habit of being just out of touch."

Eden forces himself to continue this conversation, even though he isn't really ready for the past tense of Thea. She is alive in him still. His heart beats with hers.

"For what it is worth though," Keisha leans in closer to Eden. "Thea would tell you to go comfort the pretty white girl in my living room."

Eden finally lets himself stand up. He gives Keisha's hand one final squeeze before he walks out of the room. While Keisha might normally have her head up her ass, she is right. Thea would want Eden to live and explore without her. Who knows? Maybe she'd even tell him to put his secret behind him. After all, what Cara doesn't know can't hurt either of them.

When Eden gets to the door, he opens it without a word. He puts a hand against the small of Cara's back and ushers her out of the room. They are only a block from Eden's, so the two walk back to his together.

"Sorry that it's so cold," Eden offers. He's been freezing today. Not that he is a science denier (especially around Cara) but this whole global warming this is weird because this September feels colder than any other, in the history of Septembers. "I would've taken my truck, but it's not that far away."

He forgets to add that the fumes are bad for the environment, and he silently curses himself. Now Cara is going to think he is a polluter. Like, he gets that she is in medical science, but they've got to care about the environment too, right? After all, smoke fills the lungs.

"Don't worry about it," Cara nearly adds that she could've borrowed her Baba's car, but she doesn't. She won't drive it anymore. It only brings bad things.

They continue in silence for some time. Cara enjoys herself. It's cold and dark, and awful, but she likes being able to feel someone's presence beside her. The magical feeling is unlike any other. Meanwhile, Eden panics.

"It wasn't all that bad, was it?" He looks down at Cara. He hates that he almost exclusively sees her in the dark. Here, it is hard to get a grip on all of her, because it all captures every part of his attention. From the faint line of her collarbone to the freckles across the back of her wrist.

Cara shakes her head. "Keisha is nice."

Eden laughs. "You don't have to lie. Keisha is a bitch. Like, Keisha is a genius, and Thea wouldn't have been able to eat if Keisha weren't keeping track of her groceries. Still, Thea could never shake her older sister."

Cara tries to hide her grin. How can Eden just say things as if social formalities don't exist? He is way braver than she could ever be, anyway.

Though Cara has been trying desperately to maintain the distance between her and Eden, she follows him into his apartment building and up the elevator. Cara watches at Eden reaches forward and lightly presses his floor. She isn't sure why every move of his gives her butterflies.

No. Cara says the word to herself, and she zaps her eyes away. Absolutely not. Eden is off-limits.

Eden flicks his eyes over to Cara. He sees the frown on her face, and he darts his eyes away. He wonders if she feels safe with him because he is anything but safe to be around.

The elevator doors click open, and the two-step out.

Percy is waiting on Eden's doorstep, her arms crossed over her chest. After what feels like forever, her annoying neighbour finally shows up. He's always there when she doesn't want him, and never there when she needs him. Without a word, Percy taps on his door, gesturing towards it.

His shoulders slump, but Eden walks towards Percy. With a quick turn of his wrist, he lets Percy into the apartment. Cara follows in behind him. Eden can't help but let his eyes linger on her.

Eden shuts the door behind him. "What do you want?"

"Thanks," Percy rolls her eyes, slamming herself down against the couch. "I figured I'd let you know that the police suspect that you two are blackmailing me into keeping Thea's murder quiet."

"What?" Cara asks, shaking her head back and forth. "I'd never even met you before Thea's death. Are you sure? How do you know?"

Percy smirks. "Hope."

"What did you do that is blackmail worthy?" Eden asks, raising an eyebrow.

Percy smirk falls. She isn't quite sure how this mind-reading thing works, but she tries desperately not to think about her cold gasps of air in the alley. How could she be so stupid? "Not your business."

"I'd rather not know," Cara raises her hands in defence. She tries to lean against the wall to seem more casual to Percy. If Cara pretends that she has her shit together, then everything will hopefully be fine. "The less I know the better, for interrogations. And it doesn't matter much anyway-"

"Since when did your moral code become so lacks?" Percy raises an eyebrow.

Eden crosses his arms over his chest, shaking his head at Cara. She doesn't care, because she isn't looking for his approval.

"You said it's not my business, so it's not my business."

"Cara," Eden begins.

"Keep your shirt on," Percy shakes her head back and forth. "I was railing a girl outside my work, and they have it on the cameras. It's not a big deal."

Cara's eyes go wide. It hadn't occurred to her that she might not be the only woman who likes other women in their group. So, she can't help the look of shock that takes over her face. "Yeah, well. That's cool. Super chill."

"You're ruining it," Percy shakes her head back and forth.

"I know, I'm just bi too, so like, anyway," Cara's face is bright red, and she can't look at Percy or Eden. "I say we call everyone together and discuss it. We need some excuse though, you know."

"Lee's concert is tomorrow."

Cara nods, snapping her fingers to Percy. "That. Call everyone to that. I'm going to go."

Cara ducks out of the room. Eden nearly reaches for her but turns to Percy with an eyebrow raised.

"That's called gay panic," Percy shrugs, putting her feet up on Eden's coffee table. "You'll get used to it."

~~~~~

Ah! That line makes me cackle so much, because I've finished writing the whole book and I know everything that happens now! It's in editing, so I will probably be uploading it every five-ish days. I'm also already working on my new apply fic, so that's exciting. The last chapter of this book will be officially chapter 35, followed by an epilogue. It's all coming together so quickly, oh my God!

Also, what apply fic idea do you guys like more? I've got two ideas. One is about a group of teens from across the country who are involved in a sociological experiment with the government. The other is about a group of people from across time who get transported to New England in the 1700s (lol, I'm not even from New England, I just set like every story there (I'm not even American)). 

Which idea do you find more interesting? Let me know in the comments. I'll see you soon.