The Immigrant Song

“Cops or no cops, I’m not going to leave my patients behind. Especially when you probably won’t make it near a hospital before being arrested.” Probably not the most sensible course of action but Richard meant what he said. Regardless of who they were, he would try and help anyone who needed medical attention.

Between them Richard and Rome we able to get Callum to and into the car. The rest piled in while Richard returned to his bike. As both car and bike set off, the flashing lights from the police we visible through the trees.

Rome was surprised. Pleasantly surprised.

And, yeah, okay, still completely loopy.

"Rome, we're in the middle of a car chase, hands off," Georgie ground out.

"You're sitting on my lap!" he protested. "And when you punched Bela in the face--oh, man, I am so turned on right now."

"I'd like to see you make good on that promise without passing out--considering the blood you lost!"

Rome chuckled. "Yeah..." He watched the dark world speed by outside the humming car as Aly kept them going at a fair clip, the bike just keeping pace behind them.

"Turn here!" Rome said suddenly.

Aly obeyed as he continued. "We don't want to go to Canada. Head west, hook around and take I-9 out of here. I don't care...where..." Moment of lucidity gone. He shifted slightly and rested his face against Georgie's chest. "Mm. Soft," he said, and then, "Okay. How we doing, gang? Roll call."

Lenna grinned for a moment, no matter how much Rome was hurt he was still Rome hitting on everything with boobs (everything except her). But her smile disappeared when she saw Callum. He was in pain and confused, and maybe slightly scared? Lenna was sitting next to Rome in the backseat, while Callum was sitting next to the driving Aly.
Her hands hurt, but he mind kept wandering back to the sword and the trapped fire in it. Was it possible that she was able to see the curse in it? She had to do some research on that, and also she felt as if her powers increased but not in a way she ever planned.

“Are we going to the Safehouse, or just crash at the next motel? Rome and Callum need to rest and we all need a shower and get changed.”

It was weird she sat in the crowded Ferrari and had butterflies in her stomach, she would nearly dare to say that she was happy about everything that happened and maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing that she had to wear a friggen dress on this party.

“Hey Rome, can we keep Callum it will be so much fun to have him around. He is smart, well read and he has a cute accent.”

Callum was relieved that the worst was over. He was sitting in the front seat of the ferrari with no sword and no curse. Yes, maybe he had a few injuries to show for his escapades and yes he was as tired as he had ever been, but it was nothing he couldn't deal with.

His mind was drifting, only paying half attention to what the others were saying, squished in the back. He heard Elenna say she wanted to keep him. He twisted carefully in his chair.

"I suppose I could stay for a wee while," he said, playing up on his accent. "If you'll have me?"

Elenna almost blushed and avoided the question. "I thought you were asleep."

Callum shrugged. "Too much to think about... and a gunshot in the shoulder doesn't help."

He turned back to face out the front window. He didn't think it had quite sunk in yet. So much had happened. And there was so much he didn't remember. He wasn't sure if he wanted to remember.

Lenna smiled shy she had forgotten that she had asked Rome a question, she actually had forgotten that three other people were in the car.

“I’ll explain everything. I’m quite good at it by now, aren’t I Aly?”

“If you mean by good, scaring people with horror stories you are great.” Aly teased Lenna.

“It’s not my fault everything out there in the dark is horrible.” Lenna pulled her book from under the seat in front of her. She had some troubles with her bandaged hands.

“I still wonder how you could touch the sword and when I kind of did it burnt my hands. Also it looks like as if in the sword was a fire trapped.” Lenna tried to sound not worried, but she wasn’t sure she managed to ban the worry out of her voice, but maybe her friends were too busy with their own worries.

“I think back at the mansion I used too much magic, I might end being in trouble for it. But it was amazing it was so easy to control it this time.”

Rome grinned at Callum over Georgie's shoulder. "You can't just let it go? Geez, I said I was sorry! Didn't they tell you that's how we say 'Hi, how are ya, welcome to the team' in America?" There. That got a grin. Thank God. Because 'you're stuck with us until they decide their hit-and-run murderer had gone back to Scotland' didn't usually go over as well. And Rome knew enough about not remembering killing people to know how much fun the Big Reveal was not.

And as for Elenna...

"So you started the fire?" he shouted, dredging up enough energy to be furious. "With magic?"

"Yes, I--Rome, it was--well, I had to--"

"Jesus, Lennie, a few sleepover tricks with a ouji board is one thing, but launching your magic missiles in a public place is unacceptable. We can't be proud of the whole Freak angle, chica, we're not the X-Men!"

The car was quiet after his tirade.

Until Elenna started giggling. "Sorry, 'Slim'," she joked. Then Aly snorted. Georgie covered a smile with her hand.

Rome was outnumbered. He'd scold her about using her magic later, but for now, "Oh, bite me, 'Marvel Girl'!"

The police sirens seemed not to follow them, which was good that meant they were save.

“There should be a motel we can crash, recover some strength and see what we do next, and I have a book I wanna show Callum.” Lenna was hiding her face pretty much behind the book she was reading, or pretending to read?

“And to be honest we are like the X-Men without the suits.”

Lenna hoped very much that no one noticed how happy she was that Callum had said he would stay.

“Thank God we don’t have those suits”, Georgie mumbled. “They are hideous.” She shot Elenna a side-glance. “And you’re reading the book upside down, honey. Or is that the new ‘geek-way’ to read books?”

Elenna blushed because she was caught. She cleared her throat and turned the book around.

“But yes, we definitely should find a hotel or something. I need to catch up on some beauty sleep.”

Rome was just about to make a sarcastic comment when she pressed her hand on his lips. “Don’t say anything! I got one of my favourite dresses ruined, my hair has never looked worse and on top of that I had to sit on a bike where I almost froze to death…so, yes, I do need a long beauty sleep.” A smile appeared on her face. “But punching that British chick was definitely worth it.”

Elenna looked at Georgie’s purse and pulled out the jewellery box she had seen in Bela’s room. “Seriously?”

“Hey, don’t go through my purse!”

“You took that stupid box?”

“What?” Georgie blinked innocently. “I needed a box that goes with my new jewellery.” She pointed at the necklace that Rome had taken from Bela.

Elenna rolled her eyes and went back to her book.

They drove an hour before they found a motel in the middle of nowhere. Lenna went to the reception and got two rooms with each three beds, in the farthest corner. It wasn’t their usual many star hotels but it was better not to show off that they have two rich hunters in the team.

“Okay guys we have one room for all girls and one for the guys.” Lenna handed Richard a key. “Unless you prefer private rooms, for which I’m not paying.”

Lenna took her bags and went to the girl’s room, she unlocked the door and heard moan Georgie right behind her.

“This is horrible, I can’t sleep in there.”

“Fine sleep in the car.” Lenna said slightly annoyed of her friend’s expectations in hotels. “I call dibs on the shower." Lenna picked the bed at the very end of the room and was on her way to the shower.

“Hey, no!” Georgie wanted to grab Elenna’s arm to hold her back but she already ran into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. Georgie knocked against the door. “Objection!”

Elenna chuckled behind the closed door. “This is not a courtroom!”

“Damn!” Georgie crossed her arms and looked around. She wanted to sit down on the bed, but then she made a face. “Gross! I don’t want to imagine how many unsanitary people slept here! And what are those stains…?” She took a step back. “Eww! I don’t think I want to know.” She sighed as she turned around to face Aly who didn’t really pay attention to Georgie’s complaints. “This is a nightmare…” She walked back to the bathroom and knocked on the door. “Lenna, hurry up!”

“I’m not even in the shower yet! And besides, I highly doubt you will put one foot inside this shower. It’s really gross.”

“Brilliant!”, Georgie grunted. “I’m going to check if the room of the boys is better. If it is, they’ll have to swap with ours.”

“I think all the rooms are crappy”, Elenna said. Georgie waited until she heard the sound of the shower, then she left the room and knocked on the door of the others.

“Who is it?”, she heard Rome’s voice.

“It’s me”, Georgie replied impatiently. She waited a second until he opened the door with a sloppy grin.

“You know that I’m not alone in the room right now.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m not here for that, idiot. I need to see your room.”

“Why?”

“Because!” She pushed him aside and looked around the room, ignoring Callum and Richard who were just about to get changed and immediately stopped when she walked in. “Great. It looks just as lousy as ours!”

“Is something wrong with your room?”, Callum asked.

“Let’s rephrase your question. What is not wrong with our room?” Georgie turned to Rome. “It smells like dead feet everywhere and there are stains on the beds. I can’t sleep here, that’s an imposition!”

Rome chuckled and turned to the other two guys. “Now that you’re part of our team there are a few things you need to know about our ladies”, he said. “Just to give a heads up… And don’t tell me I haven’t warned you.”

“Okay…” Richard and Callum seemed rather confused.

“Rule number one: never piss off the ladies.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll try not to”, Richard said.

“Neither will I”, Callum agreed.

“You’re optimism is great, but trust me, it is very easy to piss those girls off. You will come to witness many fights between those chicks… and they don’t always make sense. And the fighting is actually their way to show how much they love each other.” He grinned. “Anyway, you absolutely have to remember the most important rule: never, and I repeat, never get involved in their discussions, they’ll rip you apart!”

“That’s not true”, Georgie protested.

“Hell yes, it is! So, it doesn’t matter what those two fight about, never take anybody’side, never! Just stay out of it. Even if they ask for your opinion, don’t get involved. That’s the most important rule to remember.”

“Okay”, they nodded slightly, still looking a bit confused.

“Is there anything else we need to know?”, Callum asked.

“Anything else?” Rome chuckled. “Buddy, there’s a LOT you have to know. Elenna is not a morning person, so you have to be very careful about what you say to her in the morning. Georgie, on the other hand, is the crankiest late at night, especially when she has the feeling that someone interrupts her beauty sleep.”

“Well, that’s true…kind of”, Georgie admitted.

Rome continued. “When Elenna reads a book, no matter how boring it may seem to you, never say anything like that to her because she will take it very personal. Never comment negatively on anything she reads, and the same counts for Georgie’s appearance. You may have noticed that she’s very concerned with her looks- I would even say obsessed- so if you say something like ‘Wow, you look tired today’, she will automatically misinterpret it and think that you said something like ‘Wow, you’re an ugly cow’!” Rome looked at the Georgie who watched him with raised eyebrows, warning him that he shouldn’t take a step too far.

“Aha…” Both Richard and Callum seemed a bit overwhelmed by all the information they had to take in at once.

“Thank you, Rome, really…” Georgie smiled cynically. “I really appreciate the fact that you put in a good word for me in front of Richard who probably feels really sorry for himself to be related to such a crazy person, and Lenna will also appreciate the fact that you said all that stuff about her in front of Callum. As a matter of fact, I’m going back to my disgusting room and will tell her exactly how kindly you spoke of her…”

“Come on, G!”, Rome laughed, a bit nervously because he had just broken the most important rule (don’t piss those girls off!). “I’m just joking.”

Georgie pursed her lips. “Yeah, sure…” She threw her hair back, walked to the door and gave him a smile. “Don’t worry, we’ll make sure your funeral will be especially nice.”

As soon as she was gone Rome turned around. “Okay guys, I wasn’t joking! Don’t piss the girls off, never!”

Lenna didn’t go under the shower she waited until she heard the door and went back in the room. “I’m still calling dibs for the shower.” She informed Aly who was lying on the first bed.

“Whatever.”

Lenna went to the third bag and took out a pink satin sheet, a super soft pillow and a warm cozy duvet. She quickly made Georgie’s bed and disappeared back in the bathroom and this time really under the shower, which actually wasn’t that gross. It wasn’t a five star hotel shower but it was clean-ish and had hot water.
The room door opened and Lenna could hear Georgie complaining something like the boys room is even worse. Just when she heard a hysterical shriek. She smiled under the shower rinsed off all soap and went in just a towel dressed back in the room.

“The shower isn’t that back, at least the water is hot and…”

“Lenna did you do this?”

“What no whatever it is it wasn’t me… oh you mean the bed? Yeah I know how picky you are and thought it would be nice to be prepared, you know so you get your beauty sleep and I get some sleep too.”

Georgie hugged the surprised Lenna, which nearly lost her towel. “Thank you so much. It is still horrible here, but this is really cute of you.” Lenna smiled and changed into her pajamas, took her book she was reading right now - an actual novel nothing insanely geeky – and sat down on her crappy bed.

“How are the boys?” She asked trying to sound as if she not really cared or thought about to go over to them, what she probably should to have Richard put a new bandage on her hands. A thought that scared her but at least it would let her see Callum before she went to bed.

“They are fine.” Georgie grinned at her, and the grin got even wider when Lenna got up and mumbled something about her hands and bandages.

“You are not going dressed like this, are you?”

She put on a sweater, walked across the corridor to the boys room and knocked at their door.

Callum had no clothes other than his kilt and a tattered, bloodstained shirt and jacket. Rome found him a clean t-shirt from somewhere, he didn't really care where. As for his kilt, he found he was strangely comfortable to keep wearing it. Maybe it was the last familiar thing he had left.

There was another knock at the door. Callum hoped it wasn't Georgie again. That had been slightly awkward.

It wasn't. It was Elenna and that changed things. Rome let her in. Callum sat on his bed, suddenly feeling very self-conscious. Get a grip, he told himself, you're twenty-five. But that didn't stop him from getting a squirmy feeling in his stomach as Elenna came over towards him.

Lenna smiled shy at Callum, when she remembered why she came to the boys room in the first place. Well at least what she intended to use as cover.

"Um Richard. I... My hands... I showered and... the bandages stuff came off and I need... help."

She didn't look at Rome because she was worried he would see right through her lie why she came, and she didn't looked and Callum because she didn't want him to think of her as a weak little girl. Which she totally was tright now, but actually Richard had scared her when she said her hands could fall off. No matter that she did consider it to be a bluff, but all this together was a good reason to come to the boys room and show of for someone a little what she has.

He still wears his hot kilt, if he knows how awesome he looks in it?

Richard had just finished wrapping Rome's arm up properly when Elenna came in to flirt.

Which was about two seconds too long for him to be in there.

"Sure is handy having a Doc on the team," Rome remarked, standing up and ignoring Richard's quiet "I'm not a doctor."

"I'll be in the car," Rome concluded, grabbing his coat, gun and laptop.

"There...are three beds?" Richard said, confused.

"Yeah, that's another thing you'll need to learn: I don't sleep," he winked, nodded to everyone, gave Elenna a chaste hug and made his way outside.

Damn, it was cold. And quiet. No sirens, and a beautiful night: it was times like these Rome wished he had something to do out here--hunt constellations, have a cigarette, something. But it looked like another night trolling Four Chan and checking out the Thong of the Day.

If it had been a good day, all that would have been a lie, and he would have been headed for the nearest club to kill a few hours of normal person sleep time. But, as the walk to the car alone made him breathless and he wasn't sure this town even had a club, he decided to make good on his threat and just hang out in the car until everyone else woke up.

As soon Rome let her go of her after she got a quick hug she felt cold and rather silly. What did she expect when she came here, half naked.

“Elenna, your hands?” Richard sounded careful.

“Yes.” She sat down next to Callum on the bad, as if she needed him to protect her, not that she would admit this. Lenna held her hands up and waited slightly shivering until Richard had put on fresh bandages on.

“Um hey guys excuse me but I after all this I should better go to bed it was a long day. Um Callum I’ll explain you everything tomorrow don’t worry there are many hour to kill in the car on our rides. Thanks for the bandages.”

Lenna got up and went in her own room.

“You are already back?” Aly asked still lying on her bed.

“No I just need pants.” Lenna got into her sweatpants and disappeared back out of the room. She saw Rome sitting in the car. For some reason she needed Rome to be okay with Callum staying with the team and also she felt as if he had to yell at her for using magic. Lenna shivered, the November night was cold and she actually forgot to put on shoes. She went slowly to the car and opened the door.

"You are not running away, are you?”

Georgie had just gotten into the shower and was more than glad that the water turned out to look normal, when she saw it. Sitting in the upper corner of the shower, just waiting for an opportunity to fall on her head.

“SPIDER!!!” Georgie jumped out of the shower, grabbed a towel and stormed out of the bathroom. “Aly!” She looked around but nobody was there. “Aly? Please be here!” No sign of Aly.

“Dammit!” Georgie wrapped the towel around her and walked around helplessly. She didn’t know what to do because on one hand she was too scared to kill the spider, but on the other hand she didn’t want to go to the boys’ room and ask for help because that would look- let’s face it- ridiculous. She was probably the only person in the world who killed monsters but was too scared to kill a spider. Georgie took a deep breath. “Everything is fine…just relax.” She could wait for Aly but she didn’t know how long that would take, so there was not much choice left. She looked for something she could use to kill the beast in the bathroom and picked up one of her shoes, but then she hesitated. “No, I’m not going to use my Chanels!” She put them back down and looked for something else. She spotted one of Elenna’s books on the bed and took it. She knew that she put herself in great danger by using one of Lenna’s precious books as a murder weapon but at this moment she didn’t really care, she just wanted that thing dead.

Georgie walked into the bathroom and held her breath while she slowly got closer to the shower. “You can do this…it’s just a spider. It’s not going to kill you…” Her heart started racing extremely fast. “One…two…” She didn’t even count to three, she just threw the book at the spider, shrieked and jumped two steps back. The book landed on the floor of the shower and there was no sign of the spider. That was bad. Very bad. If there was no corpse that usually meant it was still alive. Georgie tiptoed to the shower and stared at the book, not knowing what to do next, when she saw something moving.
“Oh my God, OH MY GOD!” She ran out of the room again, grabbed her purse and stormed out into the hallway. She hated playing the damsel in distress, but when she faced a spider she couldn’t think properly anymore. “Hello? Help? Help!” She hoped Aly would show up since it would be only half as embarrassing to ask her if she could kill the spider, but instead Richard and Callum walked out of their room, Richard was holding a gun.

“What happened? Are you okay?”, he asked.

Georgie stood in the middle of the hallway, still in hear towel, tightly clasping her purse. “Ahem…yes…”

“Why did you yell for help?”, Callum wanted to know.

“See…there’s a problem that…how can I explain it? Actually…” She cleared her throat. “You know what? Just forget it!” She smiled nervously. “I’ll just…walk around a bit…get some fresh air…” And wait until Aly or Lenna comes and kills that monster in the bathroom, she added in her thoughts.

“Okay…” Both men seemed a little confused, but at least nobody was in danger.

“Wait…you’re not going to walk around like that, are you?”, Richard asked.

“I don’t care, I seriously have to get out of…wait a minute… You just sounded like my uncle!” She shot him a smile, but then she spotted Aly at the end of the hallway.

“Finally! I’m saved!”

Aly raised her eyebrows when she saw Georgie in her towel. “What’s going on?”

“Where have you been?”

“I just got some coffee.”

“I really need your help!” She pushed her to their room. “I was very close to shoot a spider with my gun…”

Rome raised his eyebrows at his guest and shut the laptop, well, if not quite guiltily, then at least with the idea of not wanting her to see.

"Hey, chica," he said. "What're you doing here? How's those hands?" He lifted his arm and she settled under it, against his chest.

"Fine," she said.

"It's sure handy having a doctor on the team, isn't it?" he said.

"Yeah, I guess," she replied despondently.

"So, what, you staying here all night with me?" Rome grinned. "You'll have to close your eyes while I shut a few windows."

"No, I just..."

"Chica, talk to me. You're like ten times weirder than normal, and that's pretty freaking weird. You look guilty and like you want me to scold you for coming on to the first, like, seriously, the first ever half-decent guy you ever slipped a condom on."

"You're gross," Elenna said, whacking him in the chest.

"I'm not even kidding, chica," he laughed. "You sure know how to pick 'em. So you want me to get mad at you for Mr. Boy Scout in there? You know he's probably still a virgin, right? So I should probably tell you to be gentle with him before I get all territorial and big-brotherly on his ass!"

Lenna frowned into his chest.

"I guess I do need to get mad at you about the very public display of magic in a crowded building full of people who are more likely than our usual crowd to know about the supernatural. Jesus, chica, we're lucky Richard didn't turn around and start hunting you instead of helping us! You know better than that."

"Sowwy."

"Being cute didn't help against those witch hunters, did it?"

"No, but it usually works on you."

Rome barked out a laugh, watching his breath cloud in the cold car.

"You should go back inside."

"Nahh," Rome said. "I got enough battery for the night, don't want to keep the guys up, and--" don't want them to see if I fall asleep and have a vision. "I'll comb the interwebs for news reports on what happened tonight, in between surfing for porn."

"So that's the sign for 'go to bed, chica'?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

Lenna sighed. "Fine but try to get a little sleep between all this. Please." She looked pleading with her pretty brown eyes at him, just before she kissed his cheek.

"See you in the morning big bro." She got up before she looked grinning back at him. "Hey you do know that Barbie was riding a bike today, in her dress with her serious hot uncle... And just so you know it will not just be sex with Callum, I just met him what do you think from me?"

Callum stayed seated on his bed, confused by Elenna. She had just come and then left after Rome. He didn't quite know what to make of this strange group of people. What parts of their story had been true and what parts had been a cover story for the auction? Even though he liked Elenna, he knew it would be best to take things slow before he ended up somewhere he regretted.

But before anything else Callum had one important phone call to make. He had told his boss he was going after the sword and hadn't reported back since. He didn't think his boss was going to be terribly pleased. But Callum dialled the number anyway.

"Hello," came the reply.

"Hi, Jon, it's Callum."

"Callum! You've taken your time. We thought you'd run off on us. What news on our sword?"

Callum thought carefully before answering. His best bet was to stick as close to the truth as possible. "I lost the trail at an auction. I think its been sold on the black market."

"I feared as much," said Jon.

Callum sensed hesitation in Jon's voice. "What is it?" he asked.

"I have some bad news for you Callum. You see my supervisor from the university came to investigate this whole business... He explicitly told me to fire you... you see you were the last person with the sword and the blame falls to you..."

"How could I know it would be stolen?" Callum was angry by this turn of events.

"I'm sorry Callum, but as much as I would like to have you back, I can't give you a job."

Callum was silent. He sighed and then spoke again. "I know there's nothing you can do Jon. I'll keep in touch and maybe in a few years, when this whole mess has blown over, I'll come back. As for now, I sense a break from archaeology is in need. I can't think of anyone who would want to hire the man who lost the key artefact telling us about the Norse in America."

Callum and Jon said their farewells. Callum hung up the phone. It was decided. It seemed for now that he really was going to stay with this strange group of people. He had no idea what was in store but then he liked a bit of adventure every now and again. What would Indiana Jones do, he thought.

So where was he?

Richard pondered the night while staring up at the discoloured ceiling. He still had his hunt to finish, though if he was lucky all that would require was a journey south to pick up his payment. But that was a mere sideshow now and Richard’s mind moved to more important things.

This morning he’d thought his family were dead. Now he discovered that he had a brother and a niece, and she was a hunter to boot. To call it a shock would be an understatement, thankfully it hadn’t all come out in a rush like it had for Georgina. It at least made it slightly manageable. It would be callus in the extreme to simply run away at this point as he usually did after a job. If nothing else he should stick around for a few days to try and get to know her and catch up on lost time. And hopefully find out his brother’s address. Richard had a few choice words he wanted to say to him.

And then there was Elenna. Hunters didn’t run around with witches. This first sign of anything unusual and they’d turn on you, as Richard already knew. Which meant there was something strange about her, or the whole group, or both. Not one for pussy-footing around, Richard was determined to ask her, but preferably not around any of the others. Hopefully there wouldn’t be company next time her hands needed patched up.

So there was one good reason and one cat killing reason to stay. And as a hat-trick, none of them seemed to have anything other than a vague idea of medical care. It was a wonder they were still alive. Plus, Richard checked his pocket book, his quota was sitting comfortably for now. He'd have a little time at least to stick around.

I'll sleep when I'm dead, I'll sleep when I'm dead, I'll sleep when I'm dead...

It became his mantra at times like these. There was always a window of honest to goodness pain, at about 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning, where staying awake actually hurt, and he just wanted to close his eyes and let himself drift off, but never allowed himself, waiting until the early risers were up and coffee shops were open so he could go get breakfast and energy drinks to keep him going until the next 3:00 or 4:00 AM.

He didn't ever give up. Let that be known. He was too, well, scared, really: it came down to that. He didn't want the fear, the twisted nightmares, the flashbacks from Andre, he didn't want the actual physical pain--also, and perhaps most of all, he was scared of what the visions meant about him. They made him a freak. So if he didn't have the visions, didn't have the dreams, he wasn't a freak.

He was just an insomniac. Real cool, Rome...

So, when he did slip into sleep, in the wee painful hours of the morning, he chalked it up to the blood loss. Usually he was better than this.

The laptop slipped off his knees onto the seat next to him.

His head fell back, mouth open.

His eyes weren't even fully closed. They'd forgotten how to close properly, completely, having been forced to stay open all hours.

But he was dreaming.

He was remember-dreaming. This was where he usually found out--lucky him--about the things Andre had been up to with his meatsuit that he didn't remember with his waking mind. Like murdering that store clerk and burying her carcass in the woods. Drowning that family dog so they wouldn't be alerted to him stealing their car. And leaving the gas stove on in the kitchen, so that the house exploded as he drove away, with a blinding white flash of--

Oh no.

BAM!

Rome was in a wooded clearing. It reminded him of Pembroke, that sort of cold, east-coast woodlands. There were a few nondescript buildings around him. There was snow on the ground.

And there was blood in the snow. He dropped down to a knee to inspect it, followed the trail, found a pair of Chanel boots.

"G!" he cried, picking her up out of the snow.

Her eyes snapped open, but they weren't her eyes. With a bloodcurdling shriek she knocked him back, flicked open her pink folding knife, and jumped on top of him. He tried to hold her back, but she bore down on him with superhuman strength.

"We have to shoot her!" Someone was saying, and another voice shouted "Shoot her!"

The wildness in her eyes was pants-wettingly terrifying. It was all he could focus on. So it came as a shock when the knife was no longer in his field of vision and there was instead a sharp stab of pain in his chest--

BAM!

He was back. In the cold car. Drool dribbled out the corner of his mouth, and tear tracks were drying on his cheeks. His laptop was frozen on bustyasianbeauties.com.

He snapped his head back up.

It was still dark outside--hopefully no one had seen him. He checked his watch. 5:00 AM. Awesome. At least McDonald's was probably open. And a walk in the cold dawn would do a good job of keeping him awake.

Rome hard-rebooted his laptop. He flicked on the radio in the car, listened for news reports, and eventually found the Top 40 station. He slipped his shoes back on, put on his belt, and found a sweatshirt.

If only his brain could do a hard-reboot.

But Rome didn't want to think about it. He didn't even want to think about how much he didn't want to think about it. So he downloaded a Podcast on restoring classic cars, plugged it into his ears, walked to the McDonald's his GPS told him was closest, and arrived with breakfast back at the motel when the others were just beginning to wake.

And at 6:00 in the morning in the dead of winter, he was definitely wearing sunglasses.