They joined Morgan and Amara for lunch. Afterwards, Max promptly excused himself to finally go into work. Reine spent the rest of the afternoon with the girls and didn't see him return even by bedtime.

Once again, nightmares continued to haunt her.

In the dreams, she was running through crowds of maniacally laughing people, bumping into them, and being shoved to and fro. Although she tried desperately to see what it was she was running from, no matter how much she looked behind her, a pursuer was always out of sight. Ultimately, she left the crowds behind, but she continued to run from the invisible adversary through empty, dark alleyways. When she thought she was finally safe, she tripped and began endlessly falling into a bottomless pit, which only exists in dreams.

She woke with a start. Not only was she still tired, but she was also extremely hungry. While it seemed like a good night's rest was impossible lately, at least she could do something about the latter problem.

After pulling on some clothes, Reine headed downstairs to the dining room. While all the places were already set for breakfast, there was neither food nor anyone else in the room. There was, however, an encouraging smell of bacon and pancakes in the air.

As she walked out the door toward the kitchen, something interrupted her steps.

"Oww, oww, oww!" she automatically exclaimed, trying to regain her balance while avoiding the dark mass of fur underneath her feet.

"What are you doing, Frankenpuss?" She greeted the cat with the full name Amara had given him. Bending down to scratch the purring feline's head, Reine smiled while remembering Max's fondness for the animal. "Where's everybody, buddy?"

Although she naturally didn't expect an answer, the cat turned out to be just as unpredictable as his master. As if giving a response, he ran to a slightly ajar door nearby. Sticking his paw into the gap, he knocked it wide open and ran down another flight of stairs.

"All right, show me what you've got," Reine said as she followed the animal. As she neared the bottom of the stairs, she could hear muffled voices and water splashing. There was also a faint smell of chlorine in the air.

While the cat had initially outrun her, she caught up with him when a closed, frosted glass door blocked his path. Opening it, her eyes widened.

"Is there anything he doesn't have?" Reine muttered under her breath, crossing the threshold.

The air in the large room was much warmer and a lot more humid than in the rest of the house. The space was enormous, and one wall was made entirely of glass. Because the house sat on a hill, the indoor pool in front of her - which took up most of the room - was at ground level compared to the rear of the property.

There were two people in the water swimming at a feverish pace. Mikey sat in a beach chair on the side, occasionally cheering and clapping.

"Come on, man! You can still take her!" he yelled at the figure trailing by a half body length.

The swimmers had just turned at the near wall and were now starting another lap. In front, a woman with long, red hair was cutting through the water with such grace and impossible speed that Reine could easily imagine mistaking her for a mermaid. It could only have been Morgan.

"She's amazing. Are you sure she doesn't have a couple of fins down there?" She joked as she reached Mikey's side.

"Oh, I can guarantee she's all woman." Seeing Reine's raised eyebrow at the statement, he topped the declaration with a sly wink.

Looking away, she tried to hide the blush that came to her face. "Is that Max?"

After turning at the far wall, the man was now a full body length behind in spite of his own superhuman speed.

"Yeah. They do this once in a while, but he hasn't beaten her yet."

Reinforcing the statement, Morgan touched the wall in victory a few seconds later. She actually won by such a large margin that she was able to turn around and watch her opponent finish.

"What is that? Eleven to none?" She wiped the dripping water off her face.

Max shook the water out of his hair and scoffed. "I've stopped keeping count." Looking up over Morgan's head, he noticed the additional person in the room. "Good morning."

Whipping her head around to see the newcomer, the red haired girl gave a much more cheerful greeting. "Morning, Reine! Wanna join us? I've got an extra suit."

Reine smiled and shook her head. "No, thank you. I'm not a water person."

"Oh, come on! I'll even let ya win."

The girl wasn't about to give up easily, so Reine had to find a suitable excuse. "It's too cold for me," she said.

"Naw it's not. It's perfect. Come feel." Morgan splashed the shimmering liquid around her.

Reine glanced at Max as he climbed out over the ledge and stopped to watch the negotiations between the two women. Taking a big breath, she stepped forward and crouched at the water's edge before sticking in her hand.

"Sorry, too cold." She frowned, hoping Morgan would now stop insisting.

Their girl didn't get a chance to press on because Dodger, dressed in hunter's camouflage and followed by an eager Retriever, walked in through the exterior door.

"Stay. Stay," he commanded the canine, but the smell and sight of Max's cat - still unassumingly roaming the room - was too tempting for the dog. Not even Dodger's stout frame was enough to keep it from rushing in to chase its natural enemy.

Reine instinctively stood up, but she didn't have time to step away from the pool. The frazzled feline ran between her and Mikey's chair, followed by the larger and more aggressive dog.

Stepping backwards to avoid colliding with the dog, she forgot just how close she was to the edge. Instead of more tiles, her foot sank into the empty air, and she fell backwards into the water.

Her worst fear came true as she hit the surface. With time to only take half of a breath, her head quickly went under. Although her limbs were wildly flailing, she was heading lower to the bottom rather than higher toward the top. Gasping in panic, her throat burned from the chlorinated water. When she felt an arm around her, relief suddenly seemed possible.

Reine wasn't sure how long she was in the water or exactly how she had gotten out, but eventually she was lying on the hard floor. Someone rolled her onto her side and between coughs, cool, sweet air replaced the harsh water suffocating her lungs.

"Jesus, Reine, you gave us a right scare. Sank like a brick, ya did!" Morgan was kneeling next to her.

Still shaking, Reine pushed herself up to a sitting position. Mikey stood above them, anxiously hovering and ready to help.

Max was motionless on the adjacent side of the pool about twenty feet away. It was the same spot where he had climbed out just minutes earlier. His wide eyes and clenched fists showed he was almost as shaken up as she felt. The crack in his façade was only momentary because as soon as his gaze caught hers, his look turned to anger.

"How many times do I have to tell you to keep that mutt out of my house?" He roared at Dodger, who'd been trying to sneak away.

"Wouldn't have been a problem if she hadn't seen that ugly pussy of yours. Not gonna stop now until she's chased him up the tallest tree." He opened the door leading upstairs.

"Make sure you get this messed cleaned up!" Max yelled after him, referring to the trail of muddy paw prints running across the otherwise pristine, white tile. "And you two, get her up into her room. She's freezing."

Reine wouldn't let Morgan and Mikey support her. Grabbing a towel and leaving everyone behind, she hurried upstairs and ran into Dodger outsider her door. He looked like he wanted to say something, but she pre-empted him.

"Do you think someone can give me a ride back to Maryland?" she asked.

He raised an eyebrow. "Thinking of leaving already, are you?"

"There's not much reason for me to stay." She clutched the soft fabric tighter around her body.

Touching her elbow, he turned serious for the first time since she'd met him. "Give it another day or two. If you feel the same by the end of the week, I'll find you a ride." He looked deep into her eyes. "But let me tell you something. Living endless lifetimes is both a gift and a curse. We get many second chances, but they come with a hefty price. Some may think we're lucky to be refreshed by the cool, sweet waters of oblivion, but I disagree. I think we'd be much better off living with all of our memories. Even those we wish we could forget."

Reine pouted. "I thought you couldn't remember your past."

"There's a big difference between can't and won't," he said with a wink. "One way or another, the past will forever haunt us and that's how it should be."

His ominous words stayed with Reine long after Dodger left.