I thought I wouldn't be able to sleep after returning to my room, the feelings in me tumbled like a mountain threatening avalanche, yet I still felt calm...and exhausted.

I was worried for Kael and Nevaeh, worried for James and what he needed, what I would have to be for him, how I could help heal him into the man I had known, while still feeling high with that realization that so much had been mended, that we had a plan, that we were actually going to do something, together, search out our family. The mere knowledge that my Pair wasn't just a shell, that James was still alive even beneath his Shift, that he wasn't lost to me, made me want to dance around my room. I had seen life in his eyes again, determination, heard the voice of my leader without his nature covering his eyes.

But even with the excitement, my body felt heavy and my eyes couldn't seem to stay open. Sleep dragged at me, refusing to relent. Choices could wait for the morning, enough had been decided for one day. I laid in bed with a new feeling in my chest, something light. Knowing that just one wall away was someone I truly cared for, someone I hadn't lost, someone that would no longer wither away into dust and shadows, the only person I had ever been connected to. It gave me a feeling I had almost forgotten; hope. I fell asleep with a smile on my lips.

» ✦ «

I woke to the smell of smoke and immediately my body was on alert, adrenaline in my veins and my Shift pulling at its anchor. I leapt from my bed as I heard a shrill scream. I was out my door and into thick, black smoke a moment later. I knew that scream. I had never heard it before, but I still knew it. Levi. My Shift ripped from me as I ran down the hall, seeing through the smoke like it was merely morning fog. It seemed to be coming from everywhere, each room had blackness billowing out from it, each door opened wide or kicked in, but I knew where Levi would be.

I saw the entrance to the forest and my heart stuttered, the doors were blown off their hinges, sharp splinters of wood covering the first yards of green. I ran through the opening and was met by a forest on fire, the entire woods was now red and orange and ash, as if the high vaulted ceiling was raining fire down on it. I only took in the horrible scene for a moment, before I sent out my Sight and followed it to Levi, followed it to the little boy I had sworn I'd protect.

I ran through burning leaves and crumbling trunks and roots, covering my mouth and nose to try to block out some of the smoke. My eyes burned and even my Sign couldn't rid the air of the smog that hung in it heavily. I could hear fires still crackling at times, see where the trees had become too weak and fell, snapping at blackened joints. I felt a horrid hopelessness as I searched, but then I saw the small lake, looking pristine in the midst of fire and soot and destruction. I saw Levi standing by its edge, his back to me, a tall man standing next to him. The man had his arm around the boy's shoulders and when I got closer he turned him, though the man continued to look out at the water, ignoring me.

Levi's blue eyes, filled with fear, sent a bolt through me, just like the man whose back was still toward me sent a trail of ice over my skin. I knew who he was, even if he wouldn't give me the respect of turning and facing me. Levi took a step toward me, or tried to, but the man's arm held him back. I saw Lee's lip quiver and my Shift tipped higher, burning brighter in me, through me. Everything was plunged in shades of blood when I spoke.

"Let him go."

My words ground out painfully, my voice shaking from rage. In my new bloody vision, the man seemed to glow before me, while Levi looked less real, like someone so good wasn't supposed to be seen through eyes like mine, a Shift like mine.

"Let him go or I swear I'll kill you. I'll make you suffer for every hair on his head you touch."

I knew my threat was empty, he would know it too, but that didn't matter. I couldn't let anything happen to my little brother, to that small, joy-filled boy with the dark hair and light eyes, with the Gift that made him hide from others, that made him so wise even as young as he was. Nothing would happen to him. I wouldn't let anything happen to him. Ever.

The man cocked his head to one side, in a way that was frighteningly similar to my Pair, his dark hair shining in the light of the flames. When he spoke I recognized the voice from my dreams, but it no longer sounded beautiful to me, I no longer felt a pull to it, a love for its cadence and silk. It just sounded cold, cold and evil and stained. Something that wasn't supposed to exist in this world, and certainly not in the Vault, in the haven that Levi had grown up in.

"I've come to take what is mine. I already have many of them, but there are still others..."

I felt fear grow in my stomach for James, for Ailech. Who else was he here to steal? Who else did he think he owned? Abby? Cordelia? Had he come back for Grayson? Had he had a part in getting him in? Had he betrayed Abby?

"Ailech was a loss, but I expected that. Danny too. But Gabriel came without a fight once I told him I already had you. He was always such a trusting boy."

My mind was spinning. This couldn't be happening, not now, not when everything was finally working, finally coming together and healing.

"Ailech..."

My voice faltered and I didn't even know why I was asking him, why I was giving this devil the opportunity to speak.

"Dead. He chose suicide over the prospect of working with me. He held issue with some of my past actions against his family. Pity really, he could have done great things for us."

"Us?" I almost choked on the word. "I'm not on your side. There is no us, there never will be."

"You mistake me for asking, silly Batnae. You are mine, just like my son is mine, just like this boy is mine. Your lives are not your own, nor have they ever been your own. I'll take you all. You do not have a choice any longer."

He spoke as if bored as he continued to watch the water, the reflections of the burning trees making it look on fire like the lake of Hell.

I called my Sign then, but not for the Collector, I knew that was useless, instead, I sharpened the air in front of my own heart, feeling the point press against my shirt.

"Let him go or Ailech won't be your only loss."

My threat sounded different now that it was serious, now that I had the ability to follow through. James' father didn't even change his stance, not a twitch, instead, he stayed silent for a moment, then he released Levi and I almost thought I had won. I should have known better, should have known he couldn't be beaten so easily.

Levi only took six steps toward me before I felt the cement solidify around my legs, before I saw him stop short as well, as if he was just as caught as I was, as if he felt the air hardening around his feet just like I did. I opened my mouth to speak, knowing what was about to happen, but no sound came from me, everything was frozen and I couldn't do a damn thing about it.

"Ailech won't be my only loss, but you won't be joining him, my dear. You are much too valuable for that."

The ground at Levi's bare feet began to smoke first, to smolder, and then the flames sprung up like a geyser, enveloping him. His arms reached for me wildly, his screams filling the enormous room, but I couldn't move to him, couldn't help him. Even my arms were pinned to my sides and I couldn't reach for him as he was for me. I could only stand there and watch, still and silent as he burned away, as I saw the terror in his young eyes turn to pain and then death, as his screams weakened until the only noise in the forest was the crackling of the trees as they fed the growing flames around me.

Suddenly everything went black and there was nothing, nothing but the Collector and me. The burning trees were gone, the smoke, Levi's remains and the lake. Everything was gone as if I stood in a dark room, except I could see James' father perfectly. I realized I could move again and ran for him, not even knowing what my plan was, not even having a plan, but it didn't matter. What I felt in that moment, the anger and shock and consuming, black hatred for him was all that I could see. I wanted to feel his blood run between my fingers, hear his skin rip under my hands, my teeth, see his life fade away. I wanted to destroy him, his mind, his body, his soul. I wanted to swallow it all until he was wiped from the earth.

He almost turned, almost looked back at me, the side of his face slowing revealing more of his jaw, his cheek. And then he began to walk away, strolling into the darkness surrounding us as if he was walking down any old sidewalk. No matter how I ran I couldn't catch him, no matter how I reached for him or threw my Sign out, I couldn't bridge the distance between us.

He slowly pulled further ahead of me and I knew it was useless. I screamed at him to turn, to face me, the coward, but he just kept walking. His voice drifted back to me, just like it had the last time, and I hated him even more for it.

"I'll take them all. I've got them all, and down to Hell we go. Down to Hell we go..."

His voice was almost sing-song as he left me behind, as I screamed ever louder at him, my screams turning to sobs as I realized I had failed, that Levi was dead, that I hadn't been able to protect him. That Ailech was dead. James was gone. That everything was lost again. His words echoed around me louder and louder, but I couldn't reach him, couldn't wrap my fingers around his throat, couldn't move my legs fast enough.

I could smell the smoke again, hear Levi's screams mixing with his voice as it taunted me. I hated him so much. I ran faster, trying to reach him, to make him pay but everything spun away from me into the black void. I could feel tears on my cheeks, hear screams tearing from my throat, but there was nothing I could do to reach him and I knew it.

Then I was trapped, not just slowed, not just dulled, but trapped, held by something strong and burning, white-hot chains squeezing my arms to my sides. He had caught me, he was taking me too, I knew it...

I thrashed for only a moment before the words in my mind garbled and then cleared, but they said a new message now, a new sentence with new meaning. A new voice spoke the words gently into my ear, soothing and smooth. Slowly the old words were forgotten, and only the new ones remained.

"Angel, be still. I've got you. I've got you. I'm here."

I felt myself held to something warm and firm and when I opened my eyes James was half crouched on my bed, my head tucked under his chin, his arms wrapped around me. I was surprised at how strong he still was, how his thin arms could still hold me so easily, still feel so solid. I collapsed against my mattress as I realized how hard I had been struggling to be free of the nightmare, how much my body ached from it. My covers were in a twisted pile half off the bed, my comforter completely on the floor, even my pillows were strewn about haphazardly. My body was soaked with sweat and I felt tears in my hair and on my face.

Slowly my breathing calmed and I felt James relax a little as he held me. He laid his cheek on the top of my head as he unwound his arms. He was nearly off my bed before I gathered the courage to speak, to ask my first favor of him in months, maybe my first true favor ever. I closed my eyes as I spoke.

"Will you stay with me tonight?"

He froze, one knee still on the edge of my bed, his eyes wide and I realized I had never seen the expression he wore. He looked shocked, but not just shocked, there was something else in his eyes too, in the lines of his mouth, in how suddenly and completely he had stopped his movement.

"What?"

He spoke quietly after a weighted pause, like he really hadn't heard me, though the room was completely silent.

"Will you stay? I don't want to be...I don't want to have another nightmare."

"The last time we slept in the same room you did have nightmares."

"It will be different this time. And even if it's not, nothing could be as bad as... as what I just saw."

"Would you like me to check on him?"

At my face, he continued.

"You kept saying his name, Levi, calling for him. Would you like me to make sure everything's okay, just to ease your mind?"

I nodded, realizing that was exactly what I wanted.

"Will you come back?"

James looked down at me, the same strange look on his face before he walked around the bed and laid next to me lightly, making sure to keep space between us in an oddly courtly way.

"I'm not going anywhere, we can check on him from here. Close your eyes, Angel."

I smiled at the familiar nickname, the one he had called me almost from the beginning. It sounded nice now, not like it had days earlier. It was welcomed now.

"How will we know where to look? This is a big place."

James chuckled silently next to me, little vibrations from his movements reaching me through the bed, making my heart hit harder.

"I haven't slept much in my first nights here, plenty of time to learn who sleeps where, who frequents where, and who avoids where. Levi is only six corridors away. I'll guide you."

I waited for his instruction as I kept my eyes closed, already able to see my room with my Sight.

"East down your hall, turn right. See the statue of that big lady? Take a left there, still going East now, right? Good. Down this hall a ways, past the gym on our right, past the mess hall, here, now take a right again. Then just a short way and up a floor and a sharp right, then a left, and his room is on your right, midway down. He's basically just above and south of you."

I followed his directions effortlessly and I found my brother's door just as he said. I only peeked my Sight inside, seeing the little boy sprawled in his bed, all arms and legs as he snored cutely like a kitten. I almost pulled myself back, but then I saw a movement from the corner. My moment of tension was quickly washed away as I recognized the form as Ailech. He was sitting by a window, one that looked to the real outside just barely, just the few top inches peeking above ground. He was reading by the pale moonlight that spilled in and I immediately thought of how often Levi had told me about their sleepovers, just like real brothers. I found myself smiling as I opened my eyes to my own room.

James was looking at me, his navy eyes pulling mine in as he spoke in a low, even voice.

"Is he alright?"

I nodded. "Ailech's with him."

"He usually is. He leaves his room around one in the morning most nights, goes to Levi's once he's asleep and watches over him, protects him, then comes back around five or six. He naps during the day to make up for not sleeping much at night."

I had never noticed, never realized and it seemed strange that James had observed so much more in his short time at the Vault than I had.

"And when do you make up for not sleeping at night?"

He let out a breath next to me, almost a laugh.

"I don't need sleep like he does. I get enough."

I reached out and brushed my fingers over his shoulder, feeling each bone where it stood out too prominently, feeling each sharp angle and deep indent which should have been covered with muscle and flesh.

"Are you? What about food? Do you not need that anymore either?"

He grasped my wrist lightly and placed it back on my side of the bed, his eyes still on mine.

"I'll work on that, I promise."

Duddddee. Why does this give me such feels!?? Brothers on a hotel bed style manners. Bridgerton style manners. So stinkin' cute.