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The pod hissed open. Two months had finally passed.

Ennéa jerked awake with a sharp gasp, scrambling, falling out of the pod in a disorientated tumble. She looked wildly around the room, waiting for the locusts to start pouring down from the ceiling; or for the pods to explode in bright fiery pops; or for the floor to suddenly crumble like quicksand; some horrible continuation of that never ending nightmare.

She was so distracted that she utterly missed the door closing. Whoever had released her from her punishment apparently didn't care to stay around.

She clutched her knees to her chest, curled up against the side of her pod and sat in tense silence alert for something to happen. The minutes passed but aside from the occasional gentle beeps of the machinery monitoring the other pods, there was no other sound or movement and eventually Ennéa relaxed.

She giggled shakily, the sound was abnormally loud in the still room, causing her to momentarily tense up again. Was it really over? Was she really, truly awake? She ran her hands through her snarled hair and rubbed at her face. And then she was crying. Great heaving sobs of relief, of fear, of loss/regret/guilt. It all came pouring out.

Ennéa didn't know how long she cried for but eventually the tears subsided and she was hiccuping more than sobbing. Her throat ached and her eyes burned and she was really thirsty, she realized suddenly.

Now that the thought had occurred to her, her throat felt utterly, unbearably parched. She climbed wobbly to her feet. Her punishment was over so that meant she could leave, right? There was no one here to say otherwise.

Well, permission or no, she was leaving, she decided. She took a couple steps but then had to stop, leaning heavily against an empty pod. Ennéa had fully healed but that fight two months ago and then her extended stay in the pod had left her weak and dizzy. There was no way she'd make it to her old room like this, she realized.

Frustration shot through her and Ennéa slumped against the pod, sliding down the side to sit with a soft thump. She just wanted to get out of here. She sighed and then made a face and shifted; she was sitting on something.

Some digging around in her pocket revealed it to be her cellphone. Maybe... Ennéa stared at it for a long moment before flicking it open. The inbox was clogged full of messages but she ignored those, choosing instead to compose a new text.

She added Jordan and Maddie's addresses to the 'To:' field and then quickly typed out her message:


That done, Ennéa hesitated, thumb hovering over the 'send' key. She desperately wanted out of there and she wanted to see her friends too and yet another part of her was oddly reluctant. She was... ashamed. Calling them here meant having to face them and admitting what she'd done.

In the end, she closed her eyes and hit 'send'. The floor was cold and she was still thirsty.

Come to think of it, she opened a new text field and added:


Ennéa then leaned back and closed her eyes. Waiting.

The phone buzzed. Jordan took it out of his pocket and glanced at the message, only half paying attention; he'd been busy reshelving books, a task that bored him stupid but required just enough attention to detail that he couldn't think about other things while doing it. Then the text on the Sender line registered, and he nearly dropped the phone. Ennea, holy s**t, it was Ennea - he'd apologize to the other trainee working with him later for ditching, but there were more important things.



He paused just long enough to get a bottle of water out of the nearest drink machine, then flat-out ran to the pod room. Had Ennea been there the whole time she was gone? Or had she run into something terrible, spent her time healing in stasis? What had happened?

The important thing was that she was back.

Jordan skidded into the pod room, hurried down the rows, glancing hurriedly down each in search of Ennea. There. There she was, and Maddie with her - good, that was good. Why was Ennea on the floor? He came to a stop beside her, going to one knee and glancing up once at Madison, then back to Ennea. "Ennea," he said. "We're here."

What happened? Where have you been? What's going on? The questions hung heavily in Madison's mind, but she refused to let them escape. Now wasn't the time. "I'm just glad you're, like... okay, y'know? That you woke up, and stuff."

A pause. "We missed you. Robert's gonna smush you with a hug, better watch out. Actually, I might kinda smush you too. If you wanted. Um."

Ennéa went stiff when Jordan scooped her up into a hug; the last time that had happened he had turned into a horrible gelatinous blood monster and suffocated her. But nothing happened and Jordan was merely Jordan: warm, strong, and immensely comforting.

It was like exhaling after holding your breath for so long. Ennéa melted and hugged Jordan back just as tightly, biting her lip and trying not to cry yet again. "It's good to s-see you too." She said with a quaver in her voice.

She gave an uncertain smile at Maddie over Jordan's shoulder. "I'm okay... Group hug?" She extended her free arm out to the other girl. The guilt and shame was still there but for now Ennéa was reveling in what she had dreamed about for months.

"I tried to go home." She blurted out. Ennéa flushed in shame when she realized she had spoken aloud but then everything started tumbling out, like a burst dam. "I just couldn't-- I had to try, I couldn't just leave.... running away and him believing."

Ennéa hiccuped but it turned into a sob and she leaned her head against Jordan's shoulder "Believing that it was his fault. It was Christmas and I dunno why that was so important but I... I... used the portal to go back and then this-- this thing attacked me, right outside the door. They attack our families, you know. It's hereditary, hunter potential. And th-there were all these locusts biting stinging crawling everywhere and I-- he saved me."

"But he took me back and put me here. I... I'm sorry for making you worry." Ennéa finished miserably.

"Group hug," Jordan agreed, holding Ennea a little tighter. He listened quietly to her stumbling explanation. Her brother? Yeah - yeah, and of course it was hereditary, that made sense, and of course the Horsemen would go for the families, that made too much sense, chilling and awful. There was a brief and irrational flare of jealousy - Ennea's brother was alive still, at home, even if he did think she was dead - but he squashed it firmly and guiltily.

"It's okay," he said finally. "I just - I'm glad you're back. It's okay." A deep breath. "I know we're not your real family, but we love you anyway."

Oh, god, she was awful at this comforting thing. She was pretty sure Jordan was way better at it, or even Robert, but - s**t. "It's okay," she said quietly, feeling rather helpless. "You... you did what you had to do, um, and now you're... you're back here, and you can, like, start fresh? Or something? Yeah. It'll be fine."

Ugh, she felt like she was chewing enthusiastically on her own foot; she tried to catch Jordan's gaze, hoping he had the right words. He usually did. It was his Bossly gift, or something.