"This is kinda nice, being the one to drive you around for once." Paige beamed. "It's usually you driving me home drunk."

  "Uh huh." Autumn murmured, focusing on if she was covered by the blanket enough. "Thanks for this."

  "It's no problem." Paige shrugged. "A little weird, but you're always weird."

  She really didn't remember a thing about what happened earlier. The girl had no trace of fear towards me anymore. Mind compulsion was a terrifying thing.

  Thankfully Autumn hadn't had to use it a second time, Paige had agreed to drive us without much thought. I didn't know where we were going, Autumn wouldn't say anything beyond 'to go feed', and it was kind of a relief for her to take care of it.

  We both were camping out in the backseats, right in the middle to avoid the light. Anything that wasn't covered by a blanket was shielded by our hats and hoodies. My eyesight was almost back to normal, but not all of my burns were gone. Some of the scar tissue remained, and while the pigments had levelled out, some texture lingered here or there. Not ideal.

  Paige was apparently dropping us off somewhere underground so we would be saved from the sun. Thank god.

  "She doesn't remember jack shit." I whispered, eyeing Paige warily. "What did you compel her to think?"

  "I told her you're sensitive to the sun and you have anger issues." Autumn snickered quietly. "But also that you're not a bad guy, and anything weird about you isn't worth dwelling on."

  "You're the best." I sighed into her hair. "Are you still tired from doing that?"

  "I'll be fine."

  "Mm."

  Deja vu's a bitch. All I wanted was to be able to be present in the moment without that damn dark cloud above me reminding me how different everything was. It was all I'd been thinking about for a while. I just wanted one normal day, especially with only a few days left until everything was gonna go to shit. If something did go wrong and god forbid Autumn got hurt, I'd have spent 90% of my time with her either arguing or feeling depressed. We could come up with our murder plan tomorrow, today was a rest day.

  Hopefully.

  Paige stopped the car pretty far into an underground car park. I wasn't paying attention before we went down, but I assumed we were under a mall. We were also the only car in sight.

  I sat up to look around, letting the blanket fall to my waist.

  "Where are we?"

  "Pick us up in half an hour?" Autumn smiled to Paige.

  "Sure!" Paige nodded. "Have fun."

  Autumn grabbed me by the wrist and yanked me out of the car. A sharp sting ripped through my arm from the force and I lost my breath as I fell onto the ground, blanket tied up in my legs. Autumn's eyes rolled. She slammed the door shut and waved Paige off as the car left us stranded. I pushed myself back up, rolling the blanket up with a huff.

  "Why does it feel like you're mad at me?" I muttered.

  "Good question." Autumn chimed sarcastically.

  When I looked back up, she was already halfway to the nearest mall entrance. I groaned and ran after her.

  "What do I do with this?" I gestured to the blanket.

  "Throw it in a bin or something, I don't care." She shook her head.

  As we ascended up the escalator and the first rows of stores came into view, we both winced in unison from the ambient sunlight coming through the completely glass ceiling. The light was indirect enough to not cause external injury for now, but I pushed my sunglasses higher up my nose regardless.

  "Why–"

  "Stop it!"

  "Huh?" I frowned. "I can't even speak now?"

  "Just shut up until we're fed." Autumn growled, leading me down towards the food court. "My head is killing me."

  "You're being a bitch." I ripped my hand free. "It kinda feels like you're using the hunger as an excuse."

  She didn't reply.

  How the hell was she planning on getting us blood here? Every shopper we passed woke our stomachs up again. The jumbled scents of the fast food joints mixing with that of the bakeries was nauseating. I fought the urge to hold my nose closed, hugging the blanket to my chest instead.

  As we walked by a butcher shop, my mind flickered back to my own one back home, and a thought hit me.

  "Hey, Jean told me you were a usual at her place." I blurted, ignoring her requests to stay silent. "But you live like an hour away. You don't seriously drive all that way just to buy from the same place I do, right?"

  Autumn froze for a brief moment before shaking her head in utter bewilderment.

  "I... did sometimes."

  "What?" I smirked. "That's ridiculous. Why?"

  "Well, you've always gone there, and I thought if only buying offcuts, hearts, and blood would raise concern at normal butcher shops, at least your place is used to someone doing that." She sighed, a little embarrassed. "After a few visits, Jean started getting suspicious of me too, so I started buying things like coffee and donuts from the other shops in the area. That way I'd seem more human."

  "She told me she thought you and I were 'the same species if you know what I mean.' You got caught quick."

  "At least I'm not a local she can track down to hunt with a pitchfork." She groaned. "Not that she would bother when we pay her so much."

  I'd gotten so distracted by the conversation that I hadn't registered we'd walked past the counter of a cafe and into the staff area until the overstimulation of the food court had become noticeably weak. No one had stopped us from entering, strangely. I gripped the blanket a little tighter and narrowed my eyes at both my surroundings and the workers we slipped by.

  "I thought you hate the smell of food. Just the other night you crapped on about how gross popcorn is." I murmured under my breath. "Why do you work in a cafe?"

  "I don't make the food or drinks, I'm a waitress. It's easy to tune the stench out after a while." Autumn replied quietly. "Besides, Autumn was already working here when I took over, and I have to keep up appearances."

  After the cleaning rooms and past the storage rooms, the tight corridor opened up into a lounge of sorts. The lights were both warmer and dimmer than before, with a few small sofas lining the room's edges. The wooden coffee table was littered with mobile phones and half empty coffee cups. Other than that and the lockers in the corner, the room was mostly bare.

  Autumn dropped onto a couch and crossed her legs. Her hand raked through her hair while she took out her phone and started messaging someone. Feeling out of place, I sheepishly set myself down beside her. The quiet hum of the ceiling fan was quickly becoming irritating. I bit my lip.

  Now what?

  "So..."

  "Just wait a second."

  "Ok."

  Despite all the weird shit I'd gone through this week, this was somehow more uncomfortable than any of that. Or maybe I was just paranoid because my messed up donor feeding schedule was leaving me malnourished. Hard to say.

  Eventually an employee came into the break room with a smile, and finally Autumn relaxed. The barista was a guy in his early twenties, I guessed, and I couldn't help but feel a smidge intimidated. He was annoyingly attractive. Warm skin, dark brown eyes, defined cheekbones, slight stubble. Damn, even the way his shirt fit was kinda hot. He clearly worked out often. Ate well. Stayed healthy. His blood probably tasted like holy water.

  Okay maybe that last bit was the hunger talking.

  "You look exhausted." He chuckled as he put two new coffee cups on the table. "And you're hours late."

  "I know, I'm sorry." Autumn sighed and picked up one of the cups. "Had a rough morning."

  "Who's this?" I muttered tensely, eyeing the man up and down.

  "Oh. I'm sorry." He smiled politely. "I'm Dean, I work with Autumn."

  "Uh huh." I glared further. "You know her pretty well, then?"

  Autumn lightly smacked my arm.

  "Drink." She shoved the other cup in front of me.

  I grumbled under my breath and took a sip. A harsh wave of electricity sounded through my bones from my jaw the moment the thick liquid hit my tongue. From the very first drop, dread pooled in my stomach. I froze and slowly gulped my mouthful down, looking frantically between the two in front of me.

  "Is it alright?" Dean frowned, gauging my reaction. "I tried putting the cups in the fridge to stop them from going gross. Sorry if it's cold."

  I stared at him unblinkingly.

  "Are we... all aware of what's... going on?" I whispered. "Do you... usually drink blood in staff rooms?"

  "He consents. Does it all himself. I never had to compel him." Autumn shrugged, sipping her own cup again. "He's just a weirdo."

  "You told me you fed from compelled coworkers."

  "I do. Plus Dean."

  "So when you told me no one knows you're a vampire that was an outright lie?" I hissed. "How many things have you lied about?!"

  "Woah, hey, it's not a big deal. I just like providing for people." Dean cut in, crossing his arms. "It's no different to offering the homeless a meal."

  "You see vampires as homeless people?" I cringed, incredibly confused by the whole situation. "Do you have a saviour complex?"

  "Oh, I didn't mean it like that." The guy gulped. "Sorry. I meant I like helping people however I can, and I never judge their situations. I've been a blood donor for years through legal and normal routes, this isn't much different."

  "Yup. Saviour complex." Autumn whispered, words beginning to slur.

  With a more concrete understanding now, I let my walls back down and continued drinking from the cup. How could I refuse anyway? Even if this strange and annoyingly pretty guy was only giving me his blood to make his ego bigger, blood is blood, and god knows I needed it.

  He and Autumn went on to talk about some topic I wasn't paying the slightest attention to while I was busy buzzing. The guy's blood was incredible. Even though it was cold and from a cup instead of a vein, it quickly climbed up the ladder of my personal top ten. Which was only another reason for me to feel bitter; who let him be so perfect?

  Actually, why was I thinking about a man like this at all? Damn vampire brain.

  I shut my eyes so I wouldn't have to look at him anymore and finished my drink. Dean's phone chimed a few times, each ping ringing in my head rather loudly. He sighed as he checked the notifications.

  "You good?" Autumn asked.

  "Yeah, yeah. It's just Julian." Dean rubbed his temples. "He sends me a hundred memes a minute–"

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  "Who's Julian?" I cut in, my voice far more slurred than I'd have liked. "Does he like feeding Autumn too?"

  The two shot me a similar look.

  "No." Autumn murmured tensely. "Go back to spacing out."

  "Actually, what exactly is your relationship with miss Autumn?" I pointed a finger at Dean, barely able to speak coherently thanks to the blood. "I don't like you. You know a lot about her."

  "Wow." Dean chuckled. "You are really blunt when you're–"

  "Answer my question, you beautiful home wrecker!"

  "I told you, we're workmates." Dean laughed. "I assure you that's all. Are you her boyfriend or something?"

  "We haven't really figured that out." Autumn mumbled between sips, also falling intoxicated. "I have... a lot of mixed emotions about it."

  "Who's Julian?" I asked the man again.

  "Julian's my boyfriend." Dean deadpanned, amused. "As I said, you don't have to worry about Autumn."

  "Oh." I froze.

  Attractive, older, and queer. This man could become my mortal enemy. He looked like a fantasy version of myself in a different timeline. Maybe if I hadn't become a vampire, could tan without dying, and ate a healthy diet.

  "Man, I'm sorry." I whined, swaying a little. "I'm on edge lately. Didn't mean to assume anything."

  "You're just looking out for her." Dean shrugged. "No offence taken."

  "I'm so confused." I sighed. "I don't even know where I am, y'know? I'm only here because I got kicked out of my own house."

  "Zach?" Autumn poked my shoulder. "Shut up."

  "M'kay."

  "Are you guys alright to get home?" Dean asked Autumn. "I'm not off for another few hours."

  "We've got a ride, it's fine." She nodded, wiping her mouth with her hoodie sleeve. "We'll go right home."

  "I don't wanna go back to your house." My words came out a lot more pathetically than intended. "I'll fuck things up again. But I can't go home either. Wait, can I? What's going on in Tori's world?"

  "Zach." Autumn hissed under her breath in a warning. "Where do you expect us to go? We can't stay here forever."

  "Can we go have fun?" I pouted. "I wanna go shopping! I wanna go run through a field! I don't wanna think about how shit everything is right now."

  Autumn and Dean exchanged an uncertain glance.

  "You probably shouldn't be out shopping while blood-drunk." Dean said. "I'd wait here until it wears off."

  "I kinda wanna go shopping, too." Autumn mumbled.

  "Perfect! Let's go!" I giggled.

  I grabbed her arm and shot off the couch, marching right past Mr Perfect and back down the corridor. Dean froze for a moment, only to sigh to himself.

  "Don't hurt anyone!" He called out. "Please."

  I loved shopping. Who doesn't? Not me. It's fun! Especially when you desperately need a distraction from the fact that you're running out of time to plot the murders of two adults you know nothing about and you've never actually killed anyone on purpose, only when you've been in a blackout state and had zero control over yourself, and part of you doesn't want to hurt anyone and hopes that a conversation could fix everything but you know that that's a risk you cannot afford to take when you don't know how serious the threat is.

  But hey, clothes!

  "Zach." Autumn murmured.

  She blinked slowly at the sight of her own hands, turning them over in the patchy sunlight coming down from the glass ceiling. Lips parted, eyes dilated. She looked like she'd only just discovered herself.

  "Boring." I deadpanned, turning my attention back to the mannequin beside me. "You're so tall. I'll name you Jeff."

  "So shiny." Autumn whispered, her nails glowing in the light. "Pretty."

  "Don't distract me from Jeff!" I huffed. "We're having a very important meeting!"

  "AH! Sorry!" She jumped. "I'll go away."

  I tracked her as she scurried off to the other end of the store, parting a row of hanging jeans to hide behind them. I rolled my eyes and nudged Jeff's arm.

  "Girls. Am I right?"

  A woman glared at me for saying that as she walked by.

  "Hi!" I smiled wide at her. "I like your hat."

  She grimaced and walked faster.

  "Zachzachzachzachzach!" Autumn hissed from her hiding area. "Come here!"

  I grumbled under my breath and waved goodbye to Jeff before running over to her. She'd made herself comfortable, wearing a pair of jeans around her shoulders like a scarf.

  "I'm literally a god." She blurted.

  I paused for a moment before shaking my head.

  "What?"

  "I am! I can make everyone do my bidding!" She jumped out of her cubby. "I can compel anyone to do whatever I want."

  "Oh my god, you're a god."

  "Who should I command first?"

  "The cashier! The cashier!" I shook her arm excitedly. "Make him... uh... pick his nose!"

  "Ew!"

  Autumn skipped her way over to the counter with me following quickly behind her. The worker tried to hide his confusion towards our bubbly expressions and worked to stay composed.

  "Can I help–"

  "Cry!" Autumn beamed.

  A long moment of awkward silence passed between us all.

  "I'm sorry?" The guy chuckled nervously.

  "Aw!" Autumn groaned. "I wasn't concentrating!"

  "You can do it. You can do it." I shook her shoulders from behind. "Close your eyes."

  "Are you guys okay?" The cashier mumbled.

  Autumn took a deep breath and forced down her smile. Her eyes shut tightly, an electric warmth spreading from the tips of her fingers up her arms. She exhaled slowly, feeling the sensation climb up to her eyes. She quickly opened them.

  "Faint."

  Her words escaped as calm thunder. A rumbling from the earth. A command from above. The cashier fell frozen, his eyes glossing over. He slumped forwards, but immediately snapped out of it as his face hit the counter. He jolted upright and took heavy, confused breaths.

  "Damn it!" I sighed.

  "Ugh!" Autumn groaned.

  She suddenly fell backwards against me. I caught her by the waist and stood her back up, and she hopped away again as if the fatigue didn't exist anymore. I glared daggers at the cashier before taking off after her.

  "I hope you get paid enough to cover your therapy bills."

  The guy paled and swallowed thickly. "What?"

  "This shop's boring, let's go somewhere else." I poked Autumn's shoulder repeatedly. "Ooh! Maybe the arcade?"

  "No, here's fine." She spoke softly, a little less excitedly than before. "I don't wanna walk that far."

  "What? No! We need fun! This isn't fun." I growled. "Come on. Let's go compel people to give us free stuff."

  "It didn't work." She glanced back to the frightened worker. "I don't think I can use it when I'm intoxicated."

  "Then we can do something else thats fun until you sober up, I guess." I grumbled. "I wanna go."

  "Maybe Dean was right, we shouldn't be in public like this."

  "What is up with you? We've only just started! You're already over it?"

  "I just... My head hurts."

  "Fine! I'll have fun without you."

  "No!" She grabbed my arm. "Don't leave me alone."

  I narrowed my eyes at her and prepared to snarl, but her expression caught me off guard. She seemed fine again. Had the effects really worn off that quickly? I frowned.

  "Let's go get more blood so we can keep having fun." I took her hands in mine. "We could stalk a bathroom waiting for victims–"

  "Let's just go home." Autumn winced, the exhaustion clear on her face. "This was a bad idea. It's already worn off, and we have really important things to do and we're running short on time."

  I paused and shook my head.

  "I don't... want to."

  Autumn took a moment to take in my words. She searched my eyes with her own, her brow creasing. Her head tilted as confusion spiked.

  "Why are you still drunk?" She spoke sternly.

  I frowned and opened my mouth to retort but she cut me off before I could try.

  "You get over it quicker than I do. I'm a younger vampire, I only have a few months experience, I'm a total lightweight. You always sober up after just five or ten minutes. It's been half an hour."

  "I'm not... drunk. I don't drink alcohol."

  She scoffed and grabbed me by the jaw rather harshly, inspecting me closely.

  "You don't even know what we're talking about anymore. What the hell?" She murmured. "Is it... your mirroring thing? I thought that's only for emotions."

  "Don't touch me." I winced despite making no effort to remove her hands.

  "Did you bounce off of me because I was intoxicated?" Autumn continued her one-sided conversation, which I couldn't take seriously with the jean-scarf around her neck. "You really do mirror. Wow."

  "We can go home if you really want." I sighed, suddenly feeling my body fall weak. "It's fine. Not a big deal."

  "And now you've got my fatigue?" Autumn murmured in wonder. "That was so fast. Can you even understand me right now?"

  "Yeah, yeah, cool vampire power shit happening." I whined, stepping back and raising my hands. "Cool. Whatever. We have stuff to do. We shouldn't be wasting time."

  "It's getting worse." She exhaled. "It never used to be this... direct. It was always subtle. When I'd cry, you'd start crying. When someone would yell, you'd scream. Not... whatever this is."

  "Actually I have noticed that a lot recently," my eyes lit up, "Maybe it's my mental state? But I've always had a horrible mental state, so I guess not. Maybe it's an age thing? But again, I don't age very much. Ooh, maybe it's because you're a vampire so the effects are amplified?"

  She stared at me in silence, not a hint of recognition in her eyes. Her skin had paled almost to the state of Tori's. Her lip quivered as she slowly shook her head and relaxed her shoulders.

  "Damn it, this is not the time for your powers to be all weird! W-We don't have time for this. We have to get home, figure out what to do about Apple and Diego–"

  "Totally. Let's go."

  I grabbed her by the wrist and marched her out of the store. She yelped as she trailed behind me. After a few seconds of worried glaring, Autumn regained her footing and walked parallel to me. She kept her head low, her head in the clouds. It was clear she felt the weight of the world on her shoulders once again, no longer shielded by the brief denial blood-highs give.

  I on the other hand had only one thing on my mind.

  Don't let her see the silverleaf in your pocket.

  Fresh air wasn't something I knew I missed until the breeze hit me. The lingering scent of the earlier rain felt like when I would wake up to pancakes in the morning, back when I was little. Back when mum's place had more cattle on the land than buried carcasses. Back when the furthest I'd stray from a loose vegan diet would be eggs and milk.

  "My head's being dumb again!" I groaned, slumping against the tree beside me.

  "You have time to think about other things right now?" Autumn scoffed. "I'm jealous."

  "I can multitask."

  The last time the two of us had sat in this spot was when we were kids. The first New Year's we spent together, we were too busy rolling down the tall hill on rafts of cardboard to pay attention to the fireworks over the water. Eastern beach was too far of a drive for us to visit regularly, so whenever the occasion called for it, I'd make sure Tori could tag along. But now here we were four years later, dead, reanimated, stressed, and tiptoeing towards accepting death. If you spoke those words to that younger version of me, he'd probably kick you in the balls and run away like you were a maniac.

  Paige had been 'five minutes away' for three times that length, leaving Autumn and I with nothing else to do but stare out at the pier and contemplate how we were going to be dealt with. I wanted so badly to believe that we had a chance of taking down Apple and Diego in a fight, and I truly had at the start, but the more I thought about it the more I realised that the only way I could bring myself to commit murder would be while in a blackout.

  I'd read my journal and my guidebook cover to cover a hundred times since retrieving the two books. I knew damn well that there were several snippets in either where I'd expressed feeling no guilt, no regret, or even sometimes relief and joy after killing someone, but the truth was I didn't write those. Blackout-me did. I never told Carly that when I let her read those passages, I assumed it wouldn't be hard to figure out anyway, but I had zero recollection of ever enjoying violence after the moment. Stalking 'prey' and plotting or fantasising about hurting people? I'd enjoy that every day. Shooting my fangs out and ripping someone to shreds? If I was lucid during that, I'd probably enjoy it at the time. But it's always the second the blood-high crashes that my empathy goes to overdrive and I become miserable.

  Could I kill either of the two one on one? Diego was smart, but also cocky. For a man who prided himself on apparently making it his 'mission' to stop vampires from hurting people, he sure didn't seem to have a problem with how many lives I'd been taking under his nose. It was like he let me do all that. At least until I overstepped and killed Victoria somehow. His limp still bothered me; if he had a permanent injury, it would need to be severe or it would've healed already. Maybe a prosthetic limb? Maybe a broken leg? Whatever it was, it was a weakness in a battle. If I went for his leg first, could I immobilise him a bit?

  What about Apple? She seemed like a can of worms ready to explode. Diego described her as a vampire with the ability to get intoxicated. I didn't care for that at first until I really thought about the repercussions of a curse like that. If she'd spent years as an addict, getting high from intoxicated victims, she could've turned outright insane. Depending on the severity of the effects. I'd never imagined what it would be like to be an addict to every substance on the planet and a vampire at the same time. It was a miracle she kept herself presentable enough to be a principal.

  If I attacked her, would she snap back into a state of frenzy? What if she purposely took something before the fight to make herself even less predictable? Or maybe I could use it against her somehow?

  God, I was so lost. How the hell was I even going to find them without making it obvious by going on school grounds?

  "Is that Miss Harvey?" Autumn nudged me, pointing out to the docks.

  Oh. That's how.

  Exiting the Boat House along the pier, sure enough, was Apple. I recognised those curls anywhere. Once again, she wasn't dressed for the weather, sporting a summer dress and heels. In one hand was a purse, while the other carried a clipboard. She talked to some worker outside the restaurant, laughing a bit too much, probably trying to get something out of them. Then she looked our direction.

  I harshly shoved Autumn behind the tree trunk and looked up to the sky, trying to seem like a normal person, and not a guy fearing for his life.

  "Dude." Autumn grumbled, sitting up and brushing herself off. "We're in public. The worst she'll do is stare."

  "Shut up." I whispered, looking back down to the docks.

  Apple was busy chatting again. I tried to focus on where the employee was from, since the pier held several different businesses in a row. The logo on his shirt was just barely readable.

  Finally, an actual benefit to enhanced senses.

  "She's talking to one of the Ferry workers."

  "What?" Autumn frowned. "What the hell does she want from a ferry company? Shouldn't she be busy trying to kill me?"

  "She's holding papers. I can't read them from here. Some sort of forms?" I shook my head. "Maybe she bought a ferry ride?"

  "Or maybe she bought a ferry." Autumn shrugged.

  "On a principal's salary?" I smirked.

  "Says the guy who compelled charity donors to give him an income forever."

  "Alright, fair point."

  It seemed completely out of character for her. No matter how hard I racked my brain I couldn't think up a single plausible reason for her to do such a thing. Especially not right now.

  Apple parted ways with the employee and went off on her merry way, shining brightly like she'd never known a negative emotion. I sat straighter, uncomfortable. Seeing an uncontrollable, barely stable vampire walking about in broad daylight looking more innocent than a young Rapunzel raised in a tower made me feel sick.

  "Huh." I muttered. "She's on a human blood diet."

  "So?"

  "Diego isn't."

  Autumn turned to me with a confused expression.

  "When we spoke on the boat, I could just tell." I shrugged. "Diego seemed detached from any vampiric instincts. He's cold and calculating but that's just his personality. I can't imagine him biting someone if I try. Apple on the other hand..."

  "You think she's supposed to be on animal blood too?" Autumn crossed her arms. "I mean, I don't think Diego would let someone so volatile roam around a high school freely. If he was keeping her on an animal diet, she wouldn't be able to leave the buildings, she'd have to stay out of the sunlight."

  "Have you ever seen her or Diego out in the day?" I raised a brow. "The only time I can think of is the swimming carnival, but they stayed in the shade."

  "Maybe this is good. Maybe we can use this." Autumn nodded. "If Apple's lying to Diego, maybe we can cause that rift to widen. We can turn them on each other."

  "It's a long shot." I winced. "But it's good to know."

  Paige's car honked from behind us, making the both of us jump in unison. As we got up and hurried over, a sudden thought hit me.

  "We need to get Tori." I said firmly. "We can't have her out of our sight. We shouldn't have left her with the others, either. Apple could go straight to her and kill her before we'd ever know."

  Autumn hesitated. Her grip halted on the door handle. Something passed over her eyes I couldn't quite identify just right.

  "She's fine. We don't need to collect her like custody." She murmured tensely. "I can't be near her without reacting anyway."

  "If you say she's fine, I believe you. You see through her eyes, I don't." I nodded. "But we need to go to my house anyway. Just incase we die before I get the chance to hide my books."

  She faltered momentarily. Something was holding her back. Without another word, she ripped the car door open and climbed inside. I shook off the weird feeling it gave me and followed after her.