The helicopters were silent and came out of nowhere.

Parie and Amadeo had been walking back to their impromptu campsite for a meal and some conversation with the wraiths. Now that she was feeling better Parie remembered her curiosity and was dying to get some information from the mysterious beings. An eerie shiver crawled down her spine, muting her enthusiasm. It didn’t feel like a shiver from the cold, and she would have thought her body was just protesting against the emotional ups and downs of the past week were it not for the way Amadeo stiffened beside her and stopped to stare at the navy blue sky above them.

“What is it?” she asked nervously. She moved closer and followed his gaze. A fast-moving black dot appeared in the sky not too far away, and though they couldn’t hear it they both knew what it was. More dots soon joined it.

We need to leave. He grabbed her hand and they began to run, instinctively dodging trees and bushes in their path but paying no heed to the noise they were making. Parie felt her lungs compress with fear. Adrenaline pumped through her veins as she ran, determined to outrun their pursuers who she knew would be on them any minute and wanting desperately not to hold Amadeo back. The sprite was setting an incredible pace and wasn’t even breathing heavily.

They stumbled down a short mud wall into a dried out riverbed and Parie felt her ankle twist slightly. She stumbled and winced. It hurt, but she was too terrified to pay it any heed. Amadeo didn’t slow down as they rushed over rocks and logs.

Just a bit farther Parie.

“Until. . .what?” she asked between gasps. They climbed up the other side. Amadeo was two steps ahead of her now and she felt him tighten his grip on her hand, pulling her along. She tried to increase her speed. They heard a shout come from somewhere to their left and a yellow beam fell on them. More beams joined it.

Amadeo abruptly turned and started to the right, dragging Parie behind him, but soon enough lights shone on them from that direction as well. Panicked, they glanced around and saw that they were surrounded, and a group of at least fifty men was quickly closing in on them.

“Amadeo?” she whispered. He let go of her hand and was now clutching her arm, bringing her closer to his side. He didn’t look at her.

The portal is a ten minute walk from here. Soon you’ll see the moon rising behind that large oak tree. Feeling like she was in a dream, she scanned the trees around her until she saw the tree he meant. She could see specks of white shiny from behind its branches, and knew them to be the moon. When I tell you to, run in that direction until you come to a pond beside a willow tree. Think of Neela, concentrate on the idea of it very hard, and then jump into the pond. Don’t hesitate.

Parie could feel her knees shaking. It was much more terrifying to be surrounded by a group of threatening black figures here in the darkening forest than it was to face them in her uncle’s basement. There was no way she could get through them, they’d be on her before she even had a chance.

“I can’t.” Her voice was soft and shaking. She felt his hand on her tighten slightly.

You can. Trust me. They will be otherwise occupied.

He was going to do something stupid. She didn’t know how she knew, but she did.She could see even in the quickly fading light that every man was wearing the strange black hats that protected them from Amadeo’s power, and it seemed as if their clothes were made of the same grainy material. The guns they held were swathed in it as well. She remembered how Amadeo hadn’t been able to manipulate the men last time because of that material, until something happened and he got them to safety. Hadn’t Amadeo said he wouldn’t be able to do that again? Did he just mean the way they got to Michigan, or did he mean everything that came before that as well?

The men were shouting back and forth to each other now:

“That’s them, everybody stay still!”

“Close the gaps first!”

The horror of their situation was slowly dawning on Parie. They wanted Amadeo, wanted to dissect him and use him, and no doubt wanted to hurt him for the damage he’d done to them while escaping the lab. It was him they wanted; she was merely a nuisance. They had no reason not to kill her, and in her mind, this made her position far more favourable than Amadeo’s. Better to die than live in agony. Could his sanity survive another month of torture?

A year of it?

Two years?

No, she thought firmly. Even if he managed to create a distraction, she couldn’t just leave him. She said she would be his friend and she would.

Somehow, she was going to get him to that portal. The newfound resolution settled like ice in the pit of her stomach, and she found that her head cleared. Her fate was sealed; she didn’t have the luxury of falling apart and it wouldn’t do her any good right now. This was about Amadeo. She hadn’t freed him from her uncle only to have him captured by men who were possibly even worse. No, he was going to live a long, healthy life if she had anything to say about it.

Her knees still shook, but behind her frightened blue eyes her mind was working.

Garret Ford approached them, a wide, pleasant smile peeking out from beneath his mass of facial hair. “Good evening my pets. Have you had a nice vacation?” Beside her, Amadeo’s every muscle coiled like a snake, ready to strike at the slightest provocation. Garret’s protective head covering prevented Amadeo from responding, and Parie knew it infuriated him.

“No?” Garret continued. He clucked his tongue. “That’s a shame, because it has unfortunately come to an end. It’s time for you to come with us, creature.” The deceptively easy-going leader drew nearer, and Amadeo immediately moved so he was shielding Parie’s body with his own. When Ford spoke again his voice was dry. “Creature, if you want Miss Carr to live you will have to resign yourself to the fact that she belongs to Agent Harris.”

This threw Parie completely off balance. Harris, as in Prince Harris? As in Zack? She involuntarily made a small, helpless sound in her throat. She couldn’t go with him, not after he’d humiliated her and violated her trust, not when some feminine instinct within her told her that he was dangerous.

A strange ripple of pressure from Amadeo’s direction went through Parie, like the feeling of attraction or repulsion between two magnets, intangible but there, and she felt the first stirrings of hope at this display of power. The men around her never even flinched. She hoped their protective clothing would work against them and the sprite would take them by surprise.

“Excuse me you demented prick, but I don’t belong to anybody,” Parie said, pushing Amadeo to the side and standing on her own. Maybe she could buy them some time somehow, buy Amadeo some time so he could think of something.

Don’t. . . Amadeo warned, but she ignored him.

“The fuck you don’t,” a deep voice snapped. Parie knew who it was before he came to stand beside his leader. Even though she despised him, Parie wanted to smile at how silly her old friend looked with his messy brown hair sticking out from under his black cap. Tense with pent-up emotion, Prince clenched a fist at his side. “You owe me, Parie,” he said darkly. “You know you owe me.” Was that hurt she heard in his voice? The very idea of it was ludicrous and yet she was certain that was what she was hearing. Ford reached over and put a hand on Prince’s shoulder.

“Calm yourself Agent Harris. The girl will come around. As long as that mouth of hers doesn’t get her killed.”

“There’s nothing to come around to,” she said defiantly, but her heart pounded with fear, both for herself and for Amadeo. She was willing to risk death, but was she willing to risk rape? She was afraid that was what she faced if Prince took her. Sensing her fear and the threat this man posed, Amadeo reached out and grabbed her arm, jerking her to his side again. A lance of pain spread up her calf from the strain the action put on her ankle, and she stumbled against him.

She could see Prince’s expression darken, his deep chestnut eyes flashing murderously. He took a step forward and lifted his gun, aiming it at Amadeo. “Let go of her, creature. She doesn’t belong to you.”

“I’m getting really sick of repeating myself, but I don’t belong to you either,” she reminded him harshly, secretly frightened by the carefully controlled rage and possessiveness in her old friend’s voice. She was suddenly glad of Amadeo’s warmth beside her; he didn’t release her and she didn’t try to move away.

Prince watched the way she huddled next to the creature with increasing fury, watched the way she seemed to draw comfort from him. And something in him snapped. “Fuck you,” he growled, before pulling the trigger of his revolver repeatedly. Parie had a moment to wonder who he was aiming at.

It was exactly what Amadeo had been waiting for. With reflexes honed by years of training, he threw out his powers and stopped the bullets in midair, using their momentum and sending them towards the necks of the men by the large oak tree. The men screamed and dropped to the ground, dead or dying. More shots were fired and Amadeo directed every one of them away from he and Parie and towards the side of the circle, creating a window large enough for Parie to get through to safety. Garret and Prince stood nearby, apparently waiting for something, and Amadeo knew the time for action was now.

Run, he instructed in Parie’s mind, shoving her to the side. She froze for a moment and stared at him. Frustrated by her stillness, he sent enough power at her to shove her a couple more steps forward, and the lapse in concentration caused him to be hit in the arm by a single bullet. He inhaled sharply but stopped himself from clutching at his arm in pain. It would heal soon. Parie, by all that is holy I swear if you don’t run to that portal I will kill you myself.

If she left him here, he would not escape. The knowledge came to her out of nowhere, but she didn’t question it. She could see four tall men rapidly approaching Amadeo with a large sack of the grainy protective material, could see the rest of the well-trained group gathering their wits and rushing forward, having figured out that they would have better luck fighting him with their bodies.

Her mind made up, Parie darted forward, stumbling once on a raised tree root, and grabbed Amadeo’s hand. “Don’t be stupid,” she scolded, eyes wide with fear even though she tried to glare. She pulled but Amadeo didn’t budge, didn’t look at her, only stared at the men with the sack who were seconds away from being on him.

Leave. It was a command, delivered with as much ice and resolve as she’d heard from Garret Ford. Parie didn’t like it, but she liked what he was doing even less. She moved to pull harder, and was startled as a huge wave of the magnet-like energy swept up from underneath her and threw her across the clearing. She screamed in shock when she landed, her backside coming down hard on a small boulder. What part of ‘leave’ don’t you understand? Amadeo snapped, before muttering a curse she didn’t understand. If you don’t leave, my lack of focus will see me dead. Is that what you want? Go.

The four men reached him. Amadeo lifted his right hand and out of nowhere a crumbling tree log flew at them, knocking them to the ground. But it wasn’t enough, because six men came up behind him and literally tackled him to the ground. Rocks and branches whipped themselves at the men, and clearly it was painful because more than one of them bled, but they didn’t budge. Amadeo’s struggles amounted to nothing.

Garret Ford approached Amadeo with a small object Parie couldn’t make out in the dark. She squinted and focussed carefully, and felt her breath leave her. She brought a hand to her stomach. The sickening, watery feeling in her mouth told her she was going to throw up if she wasn’t careful. It was a syringe. They had him; there was nothing she could do.

“A little gift from your uncle’s lab,” a low voice murmured. “We have you to thank for that.” Prince knelt down beside her and gazed at her face, gazed at those big blue eyes made even more beautiful by fear and moonlight.She ignored him to watch helplessly as Ford brought the syringe to the sprite’s neck. It infuriated him, the way she ignored him for that creature, but he told himself to remain calm and bide his time. She loved him, she just didn’t know it yet. Once pretty boy was out of the picture she’d come to her senses.

Suddenly, a blinding white light appeared in the forest. Prince jumped to his feet in surprise and squeezed his eyes shut only to find that his eyelids were useless against this latest threat. Screams broke out as men brought their hands to their eyes, desperately trying to stop the pain that assailed them. Soon they were on the ground, writhing or curled up in a ball, or pressing their faces into the cool earth. Prince kept one hand on his eyes and reached out with the other, trying to find Parie. He hadn’t heard her scream, but needed some assurance that she was okay.

“Parie? Are you alright?” he bit out, wanting nothing more than to scream from the searing pain. There was no answer, and then he did scream, panic and frustration rising like bile in his throat. “You bitch!”

Parie heard him, but remained silent from her hiding spot nearby. She didn’t understand what was going on. Everything had been in the soldiers’ favour until they had suddenly dropped to the ground screaming and clutching their eyes. Heart pounding, she took advantage of the opportunity fate gave her and jogged over to Amadeo, ignoring Prince as he collapsed. Her ankle flared with pain every step of the way and she winced from the new pain on her backside. Amadeo was sitting up now, having thrown the men off of him and pushed Garret Ford away, who now grimaced on the ground with the rest of them.

“Let’s get out the hell of here,” Parie said quickly, reaching a hand down to help the sprite. He blinked up at her dazedly, and nodded, grabbing her hand and stumbling to his feet, nearly pulling them both to the ground. She frowned. “You okay?” she asked, putting a steadying hand on his shoulder. He swayed slightly and blinked again, as if to clear his vision, and looked down at her.

The needle, was all he managed to say, before his eyes slid shut and his muscles gave out. Parie gasped as one hundred and ninety pounds of solid male fell against her. Moving quickly so she wouldn’t fall over, she lowered them both to the ground and pulled him into a sitting position against her chest, holding him up with an arm around his torso.Shaking, she ran her left hand through his hair. It came back a bit sticky. A quick glance told her that the blood was his, as was the blood dripping from his arm onto her lap. Again, the sick watery feeling assailed her, and she forced herself to breathe deeply. She didn’t know how much time they had.

“Amadeo, I need you to walk. Walk walk, walky time. Can you do that?” It was a stupid question, but she didn’t know what else to say. He made no response; the drugs had done their job. “Shit!” she cursed, tears welling in her eyes. She looked around. The men were still moaning and clutching at their faces, but they weren’t screaming anymore and one or two were already getting to their feet. If they were going to escape, they had to do it now.

Then four figures emerged from the trees, their silky long hair glowing in the darkness like strands of pure energy, except for one who glowed like fire. It could only be the wraiths. Parie was so glad to see them she nearly laughed out loud, and would have had the situation not been so desperate.

“Over here!” she called out. “Please!” Amadeo’s head rolled back against her shoulder, his soft breaths reaching up to tickle her ear. The wraiths took their time but they were coming, and she whispered down at the man in her arms soothingly. “Help is here. You’re going to be fine. You’re going home.” When the wraiths were upon them Parie looked up to see the elder wraith looming over her intimidatingly, grey eyes flashing.

“These men are a blight on my forest,” Rikkar growled down at her. The disgust on his face struck a chord within her for some reason, and she suddenly felt like the vilest sort of criminal for bringing humanity to this refuge of the creatures of magic.

“I’m sorry,” she replied, unconsciously hugging Amadeo to her with both arms. Under different circumstances it would have looked like she was drawing comfort from the sprite, but right now the gesture was clearly protective. The wraith raised a brow, and, thinking he was doubting her sincerity, a bit of Parie’s spirit returned. “We had nowhere else to go,” she said defensively.

The elder sprite just stared. Cora touched Rikkar’s forearm lightly and then knelt down beside Parie and Amadeo. Her eerie green eyes glowed in the darkness, but the sympathy they showed stopped them from being frightening.

“We apologize for not arriving sooner. These men will not harm you with Rikkar here.” She reached forward to touch Amadeo’s forehead and Parie jerked him back a bit, out of her reach. Cora smiled softly. “I will not harm him. You know this.” After a moment of thought Parie had to acknowledge to herself that she was being ridiculous. The wraiths were here to help. She nodded, and Cora again reached forward and placed her hand on Amadeo’s forehead. The wraith closed her eyes, and a soft green glow emerged from beneath her palm, shining up through the cracks in her fingers. Parie’s face felt warm where the glow touched her.

Cora withdrew and smiled another soft smile. “He will be fine once the toxins are out of his system. His home soil will aid in his recovery.”

Parie nodded distractedly and snuck a glance at the injured and dead men around her. “Can we hurry? I want to hurry.”

The wraiths agreed and soon Bronze and Silver were twirling their hands in the air, tracing shapes only they could see. A bright blue light seeped out of their fingertips, floating and swirling in the air like drops of dye in a glass of water. A whispered word from each of them--a word that Parie didn’t understand but which set all the hairs of her arm on end--and the light fell to the ground like a waterfall. It surrounded Parie and Amadeo. She looked up at the wraiths sharply.

“You said you wouldn’t hurt us!” But her words were lost in the swirl of blue, and then everything was too bright for her to handle and she had to close her eyes. In an instant she knew what had happened to Ford and his men. Even closing her eyes didn’t keep out the bright blue glare, and it stung fiercely. She wanted to bring her hands up, to claw at her eyes, but nothing was going to convince her to let go of Amadeo. He was her friend, and she’d be damned if she didn’t return the favour.

The light was warm against her face, and she could feel it through the wraith garments she wore, behind her and beneath her. They were no longer on the ground, but she didn’t know how she knew that since she no longer had a point of reference. Amadeo suddenly got lighter, and she was so scared he was going to float out of her reach never to be seen again that she tightened her arms around him even further. Only the feel of him and the faint scent of male and ginger told her he was still there.

And then the light was gone. They were on solid ground.

Relieved, Parie let out a strangled noise and buried her face in Amadeo’s hair. She stayed that way for a good two minutes, just holding him and trying to feel strong again, trying to feel like she wasn’t completely out of her depth. She took deep breaths and focussed on his hair. It was wonderfully soft, she absently noted, but it smelled like copper.

Copper. The blood. She’d completely forgotten.

Realizing that she was taking liberties with a drugged and injured man and completely ashamed, she jerked her face out of his hair and snapped her eyes open, loosening her hold on him. She looked around. They were beside a small, inky black pond. High above them the moon was full, and its light played tricks on the water and in the leaves of the trees. Everything seemed to glitter faintly, but did not. They were underneath a large willow tree, the leaf-draped branches of which formed a small haven around them.

The pond. So the wraiths hadn’t harmed them after all.

Parie sat in stunned silence for a minute, collecting her thoughts and analysing the situation. Aside from a few bumps and scrapes caused by their flight through the forest--and, she thought with a scowl, Amadeo throwing her onto a boulder--she was fine. Her head ached and her heart felt like it would pound itself into exploding, but she was fine. Strengthened by this information, she wiggled herself out from underneath the unconscious man she held, and then placed him carefully down on the ground. She made sure she kept his head on her lap until he was mostly settled, so he could be set down without further injury.

She brushed a strand of hair off of his face and then sat back on her heels, sighing. The idiot had tried to sacrifice himself for her safety. Again. As long as she lived she would never understand it. She supposed that where he came from chivalry was far from dead, and it would be a slight to his honour if he failed to protect a female, or something ridiculous like that. But no matter how she looked at it, she owed him a lot. At least if she got him home before the maniacs got to him, she’d have repaid some of the debt.

Now Parie was faced with a very real problem. He’d told her in no uncertain terms to just jump into the pond and think of Neela, and she suspected that the concentration aspect was very important. So, she thought with a wry grimace, how the hell was she supposed to get Mr. Drugged and Pointedly Unconscious to his homeland?

“Great,” she muttered tiredly. She really wanted to curl up in a ball and cry, but she’d done far too much of that lately for her tastes and right now she had somebody depending on her. So she pushed the tangled ball of fear and frustration to the side and once again forced her logic to take over.

First thing’s first: get Amadeo closer to the water.

She eyed his muscled form dubiously, remembering very well how heavy he was. Deciding there was no other choice, she walked up to him, grabbed a hold of his feet, and began to drag him to the shore, careful to avoid tree roots and rocks–not that he’d done the same for her, she thought. Her bum was killing her, and would probably be black and blue for a week.

“Now what?” she asked the moon wearily. Amadeo couldn’t concentrate, and he couldn’t jump into the water. Parie could think of only one solution, and not only would it probably not work, it also unnerved her on more than one level. But it was all she could think of. So, steeling her resolve, she lowered herself to the ground and pressed the full length of herself against Amadeo’s warm body. It was a new sensation to her, and she was completely disgusted by herself when she felt a sort of relaxed giddiness seep into her bones.

“You’d better be really, really unconscious,” she warned the silent man, cheeks ablaze. Working quickly now, she slid one arm under him and brought the other around to meet it so she was once again hugging him, then executed a similar move so her legs were wrapped firmly around his. Her heart pounded for a reason completely different from fear, and she felt with a sick certainty that if anybody ever found out about this she would literally die of embarrassment.

“After this we’re even.” Parie took a deep breath, and filled her mind with thoughts of Neela, with every tiny thing she’d learned about it so far, as well as with what she imagined. It became a chant in her mind:

Neela Neela Neela Neela Neela Neela. . .

Then, using her body weight for momentum, she began to roll them down the bank. It was an awkward, bumpy ride, and while she tucked her face into the folds of Amadeo’s sweater she felt a pang of guilt for the fact that his head had no support at all. But she couldn’t help it, and they were almost. . .

They fell into the pond with a splash.

The freezing temperature of the water shocked her into gasping. It was a mistake, she realized as she inhaled a mouthful of water. She began to cough. She couldn’t breathe; they were sinking; she couldn’t let go; she had killed them both; she had let him down. . .

Warmth.

The change in temperature was as sudden as it was welcome. The liquid around them no longer felt like water, it was too soft, too thick, too everything. She still couldn’t breathe, but it no longer bothered her. Her lungs felt fine, as if she’d never even swallowed the dirty pond water to begin with. Curious, she opened her right eye a crack and turned her face against Amadeo’s chest so she could see. The liquid was a sweet golden colour, like honey. And they were still sinking.

Parie looked up at Amadeo’s face and saw that he was still unconscious. Worried, but hopeful, Parie held on tight and squeezed her eyes shut. It was suddenly getting difficult to think. Where were they? What was going on? She was so tired. . .

Parie fell asleep.

---

AN: Erm. . .weird, weird, weird. Third chapter I've written in like, the past month. After not writing for a very long time. And it's so much easier than it used to be. FUN!! XD

Anyway, Brekay asked me if Amadeo could always hear Parie's thoughts. I thought you might all wonder: “In answer to your question, Amadeo always can read her mind, but that doesn't mean he always does. (Yes, it is terribly creepy. I think so anyway, and I know Parie thinks so.) It's sort of like his mind is an extra appendage; he can reach out with it to do things, and reading/manipulating other people's minds is one of them. But pota sprites are taught manners and self control when it comes to this--Amadeo was a bit harder to train in this regard then some of the others, but usually he's pretty restrained unless he's feeling particularly curious.” I'd like to add that he's being honest about Parie broadcasting emotion to him. He really can't help that part.

If you guys have other questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Again, I'd like to know your thoughts! I liked this chapter. I still feel like chapter 10 onward is totally different from the first part, and it annoys me, but I will fix it one day.

Thoughts? Comments? Love? Hate? Indifference?

Call me. My number is 1-800-SUBMIT. (Down there, hinty hinty)

--May