From what I could remember, I'd left my last class twenty minutes before the end of school and it was now fifteen minutes after school had finished. I'd been missing for about thirty-five minutes. I was sure Jared would be looking for me. Needing to get out of the room before Mason returned, I shoved my phone back into the front pocket of my jeans.

I peered out of the window and I gulped. I was petrified of heights, but I didn't have time to be scared. Slowly, I climbed out of the bedroom window. Luckily there was some sort of wooden vine climber attached to the side of the house. It was flimsy, but I didn't weigh much, so I managed to use it as a ladder to get down the side of the house safely.

As soon as my feet touched the ground, I was running.

I kept imagining Mason would appear out of nowhere to stop me. I began to panic, because I had no idea where I was. Luckily from what I remembered Mason telling me, as soon as I was normal again it wouldn't be easy for him to find me. I just had to get away from the house and out of sight and wait for Jared to track me down.

He would be looking for me already. I continued to run down the road. I glanced back over my shoulder. There was nothing. But fearing I would be discovered, I needed to get out of sight.

When I rounded a corner, I saw the boundary of the forest; I could hide in there. I pushed myself and continued to run like my life depended on it. If Mason caught me now, I feared he would lock me away. I was lucky I was able to escape so easily although something gnawed at my subconscious that it had been too easy. Brushing the thought to the back of my mind, I continued to run.

I made it into the forest. My lungs hurt and I was breathing hard. It would now be harder for Mason to find me. I slowed down to a walk and struggled to catch my breath. Sweat dripped down my face. The forest was dense and it was difficult to navigate the rough and damp terrain without falling. I made my way as quickly as I could, farther into the forest. The branches scratched my arms, but I didn't feel the pain because I was high on adrenaline. I found some very dense bushes and crawled in among them.

The ground was damp and it was cold, but I didn't dare move so I sat with my arms wrapped around my knees and I waited. I didn't want to move or make a sound in case Mason and his sidekicks had managed to follow me. My heart hammered in my chest with fear. It echoed in my ears. Even though I was nowhere near Mason or the house, I still didn't feel safe. The truth was I wouldn't feel safe until Jared found me.

Hearing a sound I held my breath. I heard the sound again—I tensed. There was definitely someone there, but I couldn't be sure who it was, so I pressed my hand to my lips, trying to stop myself from making a sound that would give me away.

"I can't see her. Are you sure she's here?" It was Jared. Then I remembered Mason's voice was exactly the same, so it could be Mason. There was no way of identifying the owner of the voice through the thickness of the bush that hid me.

I nearly cried with relief when I heard Tyler say, "Yes, keep looking."

"Jared," I cried in a panic as I crawled out from in-between the bushes.

His strong hands lifted me up. Relief flooded through his features. I stifled a sob as his arms wrapped around me. The dam had erupted and the tears fell unchecked down my face. I was crying so much I couldn't speak. The sobs shook my body. I'd been in so much danger and now, in Jared's arms, I was safe.

He let me go. I watched him scan me quickly to see if I was injured and then he picked me up, holding me close to his body as he carried me out of the forest. Tyler followed closely behind.

Tyler's car wasn't parked far away. He opened the back door for Jared, who put me in the car and then climbed in after me. I crawled onto his lap because I didn't want him to let me go.

"You're safe now," he soothed as he held me. Tyler climbed into the driver's seat and started up the car. I heard Tyler in the background on the phone. "We found her. I should be there in ten minutes." Then I heard him disconnect the call.

I lay my head on Jared's shoulder. The tears had finally slowed. He pulled me tightly against his chest—he didn't want to let me go either. We'd come too close to losing each other. I couldn't think about it because a wave of despair washed over me. I took a deep breath.

All that mattered was Jared and having his arms wrapped around me. Feeling safe. The car stopped and I looked up to see that we were parked outside a strange house. I gave Jared a questioning look.

"We need to keep you safe so, until all of this is over, we'll be staying here."

Was this an attempt to keep me hidden from Mason so he wouldn't be able to find me? But as I'd learned, Mason could find me the next time I became a Hue—so it didn't matter where I was. I would never be safe.

It felt so hopeless.

I shifted off Jared so that he could get out of the car and I got out after him. He held my hand tightly and pulled me toward the strange house. Jared walked in first. It probably belonged to one of the Archaic. I hadn't even made it past the hallway before I felt a pair of arms wrap around me.

"You're safe," Catherine whispered as she hugged me tightly.

I couldn't talk because emotion had overwhelmed me, so I simply nodded my head and hugged her back.

"We don't have much time before she becomes a Hue again and we need to get some stuff organized," Jared reminded us.

She released me and I followed Jared as he moved through the house. Neve was standing in the kitchen when we entered. She rushed over and hugged me. "I'm so glad they found you," she said.

"Me too," I whispered as I hugged her back.

As she released me, I saw Jared take something out of the fridge. Soda. Perfect. I am thirsty. After he handed one to me, I gulped half the can down as quickly as I could. Neve and Jared hovered around me.

"You can't go back to school. You're staying home for the rest of the week," Jared stated.

I nodded as I took a seat by the kitchen table. Jared and Neve sat down on either side of me.

Thinking back to how I'd escaped out of the restroom, I realized, it had been too easy for me to get away from the Archaic at school. I was worried that if I managed to do it again I probably wouldn't be able to escape again. I shuddered at that thought.

"You can't go home, either. Mason knows where I live, so we're going to stay here. This is Neve and Tyler's house," he explained.

"There's no point because as soon as I become emotionless, he can pick up on the Hue energy," I explained to them. Jared and Neve looked taken aback by my information.

"How do you know this?" he asked, sounding surprised.

"He told me. It also explains why he is always around when I'm in an emotionless state. He can feel it."

"So there is no way to hide you from him when you enter an emotionless state?" he questioned further.

"No." It was a hard blow. It meant that they couldn't really protect me from Mason. It also meant that he would probably find me and take me away from them the next time I entered an emotionless state.

"What else did he tell you?" he asked, and I tried to think back.