The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.

- Albert Einstein 

Leah had been plowing through the bush for the last twenty minutes, head down and feet zooming across the dirt. Jared stayed beside her, but she didn't acknowledge him, encompassed by the awful realisation that she'd probably just injured three men justified in their hatred.

She'd offered no support when they mentioned harming Jared. She should've want to hurt him more than anybody else, and yet her instant reaction hadn't been akin to theirs, it'd been quite the opposite.

"Are you angry with me?" Jared demanded.

His gaze was hot, searing her face and adding to her confusion.

"No."

As Leah passed over a log, the ankle that beer belly guy grabbed throbbed uncomfortably, but she was too caught up in her thoughts to notice.

"You seem angry," Jared observed.

"Well, I'm not."

"Bullshit."

Jared grabbed Leah's arm, forcing her to a halt, and she winced when her ankle strained against the unexpected movement.

"Let me go," Leah said, avoiding his eyes. Panic was building inside her, making her want to run away, back to Alice and Zarah and what had been a safe, though admittedly boring, life.

"No," Jared snapped. "You've been walking in the wrong direction for the past twenty minutes and you're limping. Sit down."

Leah considered arguing with him, but decided against it. She perched on the nearest rock and lifted her leg up, studying her ankle critically. It was swollen to twice its regular size, straining against the material of her boot.

"Let me see it," Jared said.

Before Leah could protest, he crouched in front of her, lifting her foot. He bent his head down to look, moving it carefully from side to side. She let out a hiss when pain shot up her leg and he glanced up at her. She couldn't help but notice how freakishly long and dark his eyelashes were when he looked at her like that; the sort that girls killed for and guys didn't care about at all.

"I don't think it's broken," Jared said, standing up. "But you probably tore a ligament. We shouldn't walk much further today."

His eyes met hers again and she looked away quickly.

"Okay," she said. "What are we going to do then? Those guys will wake up and find us."

Jared stood and paced away from her, running a hand through his hair. "We should go into town. I know a hotel that won't ask any questions."

Leah eyed him dubiously. "Someone will recognise me."

"Then they'll probably also recognise me," Jared said. "Not many people down here are as dumb as those men."

Leah looked away from him and nodded stiffly.

She hoisted herself back up and found her ankle more resistant to movement now that her determination and adrenaline had ebbed.

She'd hobbled a few metres when her foot tangled in a branch and she swayed unsteadily. Just before she fell, Jared's arms slipped around her waist, holding her up. Leah jerked away from him in surprise and nearly fell over again. Jared pulled her closer once more and raised an eyebrow at the glare she shot him.

"We'll be faster if I help you."

Leah felt deflated. She wanted to scream at him not to touch her. He was meant to be the bad guy and she would have appreciated it if he just stayed that way.

"Fine," she grunted and started forward, dragging him along with her.

They moved silently for a few minutes. Jared was shooting her glances every few seconds, but Leah ignored him. Eventually he cleared his throat.

"So, why are you angry with me?"

Leah huffed. "I'm not angry with you. I'm —" Leah paused, her frustration getting the better of her. "I'm confused by you."

"Well, then just ask me what you're confused about."

She looked up at him in surprise and regretted it immediately. He was turned towards her, his face only a few centimetres away.

"I have no reason to trust anything you say."

There was a shift in Jared's eyes, a flash of something so quickly covered it'd hardly been there at all.

"But you trust what those men said?"

"They never kidnapped me," Leah said, surprised by the harshness in her voice. "They never starved me or scared me enough to make me jump off a cliff."

Jared's eyes were unreadable when they met hers. There was a weight behind them whose origin Leah couldn't determine. "And yet, you fought them instead of me."

Leah flushed and looked away. His voice held an unspoken question, and Leah quickly diverted away from it.

"Why did you kill them?"

Jared was silent for a moment, his arm around her waist tightening slightly. "There was a reason I was sent down here to find you."

"I know, you want the Mors Mortis Device."

Jared nodded briefly. "I work for a man who wants it. You're the daughter of the man who's hiding it."

They'd reached another fallen tree and Leah was preparing to jump over it when she felt Jared's hands grip her hips and lift her. A small gasp of surprise escaped her mouth as he deposited her on the other side and stepped over himself, wrapping his arm securely around her waist again.

"What does that have to do with killing those men?" she asked.

Jared sighed. "Have you ever seen someone actually die here?"

Leah opened her mouth to answer and then paused. "No," she said slowly. "No, I haven't."

"Exactly," Jared said. "In this world, people are given a choice. If you're about to die, you have the choice to be reborn. That's why you came back after you jumped off the cliff. You could live here forever if you wanted. The man I work for wants to give people that choice. He wants to use the Mors Mortis Device to destroy the live world and move everyone here. To give the world immortality."

Leah's mouth gaped open in surprise.

"Those men worked with me," Jared continued. "Sometimes people get sent down here as scouts, test dummies, I guess. They knew what they were getting into."

Leah was staring at him. "And you're the one this man decided should kill them?"

Jared nodded, his gaze travelling over her face, watching her reaction carefully.

"He got a 17-year-old boy to kill for him?" Leah confirmed.

Jared scowled. "I'm not a boy."

"He sounds like a maniac!" Leah exploded. Jared pulled back from her in surprise. "He isn't giving people a choice, he's doing the opposite! He's forcing this world upon them. How could you support that? Didn't you say there needed to be a balance between the worlds?"

"Yes," Jared said. "But once one is destroyed, the connection will be, too. The balance won't be necessary."

"How do you know that?" Leah exclaimed. "You can't just alter something like that because some crazy man thinks it'd be a good idea!"

"He's not crazy," Jared said quietly.

"And those men back there!" Leah continued. "Weren't you paying attention? They hated you."

Jared flinched as if she'd hit him.

"If they wanted to be killed when they were alive, they sure as hell changed their minds about it once they weren't. How can you fight for death when you've seen stuff like that? Life is important."

Jared's eyes narrowed. "You don't know that. You can't even remember yours."

"That's not the point," Leah said. "Things are created to be a certain way, you can't just change them."

Jared stepped closer to her, his eyes dark.

"You're an idiot if you think that's true. Nothing about the way humans live is natural. We've changed everything to suit what we want. Why not this?"

"Because," Leah spluttered, "you can't just move people between worlds whenever you want to. I'm proof of that! I've been miserable here. I've always felt out of place."

Jared scoffed. "That isn't unique to this world, Leah. Life isn't all its crack up to be. Plenty of people are miserable there too."

"I don't understand you," Leah said. "You're down here. Doesn't that mean he's killed you too?"

Jared shook his head. "I'm an exception. I can move between worlds when I want."

"So, what's going to happen to you when one is destroyed then?" Leah asked.

Jared was silent, eyes widening fractionally in surprise, before narrowing again and fixing on her. "You don't get it. You haven't heard him explain it."

"I don't want to. He sounds like a manipulative bastard," Leah snapped. "I thought you'd be smarter then to be swayed by some lunatic."

Jared'sjaw clenched and he spun on his heels, dropping her arm and moving away fromher, refusing to look back.