The first thing Gael says to me when he and his family get back inside is nothing less than what I expected: "Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Are you in pain?" I don't how long I spend telling him that I really am fine, but I know it's not a short amount of time. I can't help wanting to laugh; Gael gets stressed easily, and it's difficult to get him un-stressed.

The two of us stand in the foyer, the rest of his family tired from dinner and a movie. As for Kip, I haven't seen him since nearly breaking his arm, which is a good thing. I don't need his obnoxious questions or rude interruptions; the fact that he knows is bad enough, and I can't have it getting any worse. "I'm fine, Gael," I say again. "What you should be asking is if Shi is okay."

Gael blinks. "Well, is he? Should I be concerned?"

"Nope," I say, taking Gael's hand and dragging him up the stairs. It's almost ten and I'm on the verge of exhaustion, both because of the effort I put in earlier and the sudden headache pounding away at my temples. I have to get up early, anyway, to make sure I get to Shi before anyone else does. Explaining why he spent the night in the ballet room and is tied to the barre he broke off the wall would not be easy, and let's just say I'm not up for the challenge. Plus, he'll be disoriented, half-dead, as he said. "Shi's fine. Everything went as planned, except..."

Gael grabs at my arm, and we come to a sharp halt outside the guest bedroom. His eyes burn into mine, intense and demanding. "I don't like the except. Why is there an except?"

"Kip knows."

For a moment, all Gael can do is sputter, as if he doesn't believe me. He releases my arm, stepping back and shaking his head. Nearly stumbling, he has to catch himself against the wall, staring down at the floor as if it holds the answers to all his questions, which I imagine must now be quite a lot. "Kip...he can't...how the heck—I thought—"

"It was you that let him out of your sight, Gael," I say, and Gael's eyes flit up to mine. He at first looks like he's going to counter that statement, but drops it, so I go on. "He came up on me just after I'd taken care of Shi. He saw Shi's bite heal, Gael—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Gael shakes his head again, waving his hands in the air. Standing upright, his eyes narrow. "You're telling me that Shi bit you? That son of a—"

"Hey, hey," I say. "It's not like he knew what he was doing. It doesn't matter. It healed. I'm fine. You're missing the point, Gael. The point is Kip knows and we don't know if he's going to keep his mouth shut."

"He must have left when we were in the movie theater," Gael muses, dropping his head into his chin. I can't help but think that's a rather attractive position for him: his studious eyes on the ground, curls hanging down over his forehead, one leg bent with his foot against the wall. He looks intelligent but sorrowful, a healthy mix of the two that makes my heart flutter in my chest. It's funny to think that I am well aware of my love for him and so is he, and yet it's still just like a little girl's crush. "It was dark in there. Of course I didn't see him leave."

"Don't beat yourself up about it. He knows, he knows; we just have to deal with it. I think I threatened him well enough."

Gael's eyes lift to mine, one eyebrow raised. "You threatened him?"

"How else was I supposed to keep him from hurting Shi? Hurting me?" I reply, then, because I can't take another second of standing around in the hall, reach to open the guest bedroom's door. I amble inside, crawling atop the bed and lying on my back. I watch the fan whirl around above my head, stretching my arms up. "I mean, you should have seen the pain in the guy's face." I roll my head to the side to see Gael, leaning back against the door. "I get the feeling he'll be leaving us alone."

"How much does he know?" Gael asks me. "He doesn't know...the whole story, does he?"

My gaze switches back to the fan. "No. He knows Shi and me 'aren't like him,' and he thinks we have something to do with your disappearance—which, I guess, we do but don't—and that's about it. So he doesn't too much, not yet."

"Mm..." Gael groans, and when I look sideways at him again, he folds his arm across his chest, biting his lip. "Why do I still have a bad feeling, then?"

"Everyone has bad feelings. Doesn't mean they're always valid, though," I say, then allow myself to giggle a little, making a beckoning motion. "Why are you so far away? C'mere, Gael."

Gael's lips pull up at one side, his eyes twinkling as he cocks his head at me. "Nah, that's alright, Gem. I should go to bed. We have a werewolf to see in the morning." He reaches for the door, but my voice stops him.

"Eh eh eh," I scold. "Get that little cute smile over here, Mr. Echeart," I say, my heart warming a little as he just heaves a sigh and approaches me. I giggle as he nears the bed, craning over it to kiss me. My eyes flit shut, but the embrace is all too brief; before I know it, Gael has pulled back again, plopping himself down on the bed beside me and pulling me into his chest.

His lips meet my forehead this time. "I'm still mad that he bit you."

"Stop being the overly aggressive boyfriend, Gael."

"Soon as you stop getting bitten by people."

I laugh despite myself, snuggling deeper into his neck, feeling his pulse against mine, his skin warm. "You're being ridiculous."

"Am not," Gael argues, his arm coming around my head he combs fingers through my hair. I can feel his breath stir the strands on top of my head, light and reassuring, and he sighs. "I'm just glad you're okay."

I shut my eyes, resting in his embrace, frowning. "Me too."

Pinkish orange light douses the interior the house, the sun yet to reach its apex and everyone still tucked away in their beds. I had tried to wake Gael earlier, but had come unsuccessful; he's fast asleep, mouth hanging open with his hand resting underneath his cheek. So, Shi therapy is left to me, not that I expected any different.

I grab an English muffin and pour some coffee in a to-go cup before taking tentative steps down the basement stairs. There's no sound around me but the whirring of the air conditioning, and I'm glad for it. I have always loved an empty house in the morning; you notice things you never can with people milling about, like the flutter of a house plant's leaves underneath the fan, or the slight blinking red light on the home phone telling us of a new message, or even the subtle wind blowing through cracks in the doorways. "Shi...?" I call, rounding the corner and heading for the ballet room. "Shi, you in there?"

My only reply is a moan. A flower of concern blooming in my chest, my hand tightens on the knob as I draw the ballet room's door open.

Shi is lying where I left him the night before, rolled in an almost fetal position on the floor. The rope is still tight around his wrist, the now broken barre beside him. "Shi," I say softly, flicking on the overhead light as I enter. "Wakey-wakey, eggs and bakey."

With another moan, he sits up, blinking sleepy yellow eyes at me. His clothes, torn beyond recognition, showcase his utterly pale skin, his shoulders shuddering as if cold. Plum-colored semicircles rest underneath his eyes, tawny hair sticking up in more than one place. "Oh...Gemma, is that you?" Shi squints in my direction, mouth opening in a yawn.

"Ah," I say, "glasses." I pull them from my pocket, grinning at this lethargic version of Shi as I come down to my knees before him, setting his breakfast down for a moment. I put his spectacles upon his nose, sitting back. "There he is. There's Shi. How are you feeling?"

He coughs, still shuddering, giving a rueful smile. "To be frank, I feel the crappiest I have ever felt. Ever."

I frown at him, handing him the English muffin, which he accepts gratefully, tearing into it like meat off a bone. "Why is that?"

Shi speaks around a mouthful of bread, chewing with significant effort, even it looks like it hurts him to do so. "Every time I move, even an inch, something in me burns. It's not a good burn, either. Not the 'I just exercised' kind of burn."

I cross my legs, squinting up at the ballet room's window, shrouded by heavy curtains that make this place awfully dark. "The wolfsbane must not be out of your system quite yet, if I had to guess."

"No," says Shi, swallowing another bite of the muffin and adjusting his wire-rims with a deft nudge. "Must not be...okay, so, judging by the fact that you're alive and I'm not smeared in blood, I'm guessing everything went as planned last night?"

I stare at the hope in his expression, his eyes round beneath his lenses, face still blanched and sweaty. I hate to lay all this on him the morning after he went all berserk—which I guess was unintentional—but I have no choice. I'd rather he find out from me than from Kip bombarding him with questions. "See...about that," I begin, getting up to head for the window, because I can't stand the darkness anymore. "It seemed okay. I mean, I came in, you broke the barre off the wall"—I watch as Shi examines the wooden barre and the rope linking it to him, looking perplexed— "and you nearly bit my hand off, but in the end the plan worked and you were out cold. The problem is what happened after."

I draw the curtains aside, and a jarring light floods in, causing Shi to wince and cover his eyes. I hear the concern in his tone, the uneasiness: "What happened after?"

"I came outside the door and—"

"Wait, wait," Shi interrupts, waving his hands expressively and shaking his head. "Don't tell me yet. Rate how bad the news, on a scale of one to ten, so I can decide whether or not I want to know."

I blink at him, since I've never gotten such a request, and have to consider before I give my answer: "Uh, seven, maybe? Because it seems bad but it might not be."

Shi hesitates for a second, dropping his gaze to the floor, and for a moment I'm positive he's going to look back up and say no, but that's not the case. He rakes a hand back through his hair, reaches for the to-go cup near him, and says, "Okay, fine. Lay it on me."

I retake my seat in front of him, sighing. "Well, to be brief about this, Kip knows. He knows what we are and has the idea that we're somehow connected to Gael's disappearance. It's only a matter of days or so before he puts the puzzle together."

"Seven!" exclaims Shi, nearly spilling his coffee as his eyes widen in exasperation and apprehension. I scoot back on instinct; I've never seen him so upset, so freaked out. "You classify that as a seven? That's more like an eleven! That's call 9-1-1. That's sound the alarm. That's get the hell out, evacuate! Are you kidding me? Humans find out Maris exists, and we're done for. That's it. I'm over. Everyone will die, maybe even the vampires. It will be the apocalypse of all apocalypses—you know what? No."

Shi reaches forward, grabbing my arm and yanking me upwards. His grip painfully tight, I stumble after him as he heads for the door. "Shi! What on earth are you doing?"

"We can't stay here a second longer. Something's going to go wrong if we do, I'm telling you—" Shi swings the door open, and stops dead in his tracks, dragging me to a halt as well. When I see what it is that stopped him, I feel like I want to throw up, or even slap Shi for totally jinxing us.

Before us is a few men in what look like police uniforms, their expressions bleak and their eyes cold. Standing beside them is none other than Kip, holding a terrified Gael back, no matter how much his younger brother kicks and kicks to get away. Shi's pulse accelerates; I feel it racing underneath the skin of his palm. "Uh...can I help you?"

"We're with the Revlin Police Department," states one of the officers, in a voice that sounds both deep and threatening. He holds up his badge, as if I wouldn't have believed him anyway. "We've gotten a call for some...unusual activity here, and I'm sure President Hersch would love to speak with you two."

"Sorry, what?" I say, stepping out from behind Shi and glancing at Kip in disbelief. I told him to keep his mouth shut! Why couldn't he do that? "I don't know what you're talking about, sir, you'll have to be more specific—"

"Great God, don't listen to the freaks," groans Kip, tightening his grip on Gael, who's fighting harder. "The boy's a wolf and the girl's some healing witch or something. Take them in; I get the feeling they're just what you've been looking for."

Gael says, "Kip, you bastard! Hersch is going to kill them! You've seen—"

"Stay out of this, little brother," Kip scolds as the officers grab both Shi and me by our arms, with surprisingly tight grips. Shi and I both try to break free, but it seems useless, and soon I just stop struggling, because their hands tighten on me like vices. I see Gael's wide eyes and Kip's sadistic ones as he says: "Those two were a lost cause a long time ago."