I felt like my heart was beating in my throat as we made our way through the coppice and undergrowth with a careful and controlled pace. I don't know if it was due to the adrenaline running through my veins, but all my perceptions seemed amplified. I felt like I could sense everything that was going on from several meters away, starting with the heartbeats of the two men who were framing me. Almost as if three hearts were beating in me. It was strange and almost disturbing, because to this was added a kind of nauseous feeling that I could not describe or define exactly. I didn't know if it came from me or if it was just an external sensation... but it wasn't reassuring, especially since it was the first time that my perceptions had increased without me voluntarily triggering the phenomenon.

Jude was walking a few meters ahead of us. A supernatural wind, which he no longer even bothered to hide, emanated from him and seemed to surround us like a protective cocoon. He was moving forward in a fluid and natural, almost animal way: cautiously but with all his senses on alert. His way of moving reminded me a little of a cat or rather a feline, a very big feline. It was both intimidating and strangely reassuring, at least for me, because Inspector Worth seemed to be getting a little closer to me every second and having more and more trouble stopping himself from taking his gun and pointing it at Jude's back.

- 'Wha... what the hell is he doing?' he stammered in my ear, apparently unable to formulate his question any better.

- 'He is finally himself,' I replied, repressing the smile I felt blossoming on my face.

I was so amazed to see him so naturally at ease with his powers, that it gave me a little hope for the future. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all to have him as a teacher?

- 'We are not on a bucolic hike... Move it!' the latter scolded before we even realized that we had stopped walking.

I started again with an ironic grin, "not so bad", yeah! I'd better stop daydreaming and make up my mind. His wild dog attitude was not about to change, apparently. After that, we trudged for about an hour in the woods, without seeing anything more exciting than squirrels. We finally ended up on a road where a car was waiting, parked on the side of the road. Jude's, obviously, since he walked towards it without hesitation and unlocked it from a distance. He put his bow in the trunk, and ordered us, more than he invited us, to come aboard. I rode shotgun, and sat in obvious relief. Inspector Worth, on the other hand, climbed into the back and we barely had time to fasten our seatbelts when Jude started off.

He drove quickly until the forest was behind us, then made so many turns and detours that I started to get carsick. The inspector took the opportunity to call his men and tell them to withdraw, on the advice of a laconic Jude.

Worth's more than annoyed mask in the rear view mirror suggested an imminent explosion if the explanations he expected did not come quickly. After a few more minutes, Jude finally stopped in front of a kind of decayed house in the middle of nowhere, surrounded, wherever you look, by a gloomy and dreary landscape under the autumnal light.

- 'Stay in the car!' he ordered in a commanding voice before slamming the door and walking away fast.

- 'He thinks I'm just gonna sit here and wait for him nicely? He's dreaming!' the inspector blurted out, about to follow him.

I thought no less of Jude's more than rude behaviour but, unlike the inspector, I knew he was trustworthy. If he had told us to stay in the car, it was because there was a good reason and I assumed he wanted to call Charles, without prying ears around.

- 'Wait! Give him a few minutes,' I said to stop his movement as I turned around to face him. 'I know he's acting like a pretentious jerk, but he can be trusted.'

- ' "A pretentious jerk",' he repeated laughing. 'I find it difficult to disagree with you on this, even if I would be tempted to say it in... less polite terms. What do you think he went to do?'

- 'I think he went to ask permission to accept your offer.'

- 'Because Mister Tall, Dark and Shady needs to ask for "permission"?' he snickered. 'I'd be curious to meet his supervisor. On the ego-level, we have to go through the roof!'

I could not retain a small grin at his more than shrewd remark, although in my opinion Charles' most worrying aspect was not his ego.

- 'More precisely, what he is entitled to reveal to you or not,' I added to clarify my comment.

- I deduce from your significant choice of pronoun that you are not entirely in confidence yourself?' he affirmed more than he questioned me, his green gaze fixed on me.

- 'Let's just say there are still some blurry areas,' I said.

For some reason, I didn't want to lie to him anymore. Maybe it was due to the little comforting hug earlier. If it was a calculated gesture on his part, it was a masterstroke. As I watched him, I thought it was quite possible, if not very likely, because this man gave the impression that he never did anything without reason or prior reflection. At this thought, I had a little twinge in my heart. I know, it was stupid.

- 'What exactly are you two? Because he, for sure, is more than just human, if I may say so. I've never seen anyone move like that before! And this wind.... It seemed to emanate directly from him,' he added slightly surprised, as if he himself had trouble believing what he was saying.

I didn't answer him and simply smiled and shrugged. It was up to him to interpret it as he wanted. He closed his eyes for a short while and laughed a little before he opened them again and fixed them on me.

- 'I can't figure out if you don't want to or can't talk about it.... But since the question didn't concern you, I can understand your reluctance. What about you? You had a strange reaction just before he entered the meadow... Is he your boyfriend?'

His last question was so incongruous that it left me speechless. After a moment of astonishment, I remembered that he was a cop and that destabilizing people to get answers had to be his specialty. I pulled myself together and just stared at him, while I wondered what had been bothering me the most in this conversation for a few minutes, apart from his questions.

When all of a sudden, I knew. That was his tone. Apart from his slight surprise at first, which could very well have been faked, the rest of the conversation took place in a calm and relaxed voice without the slightest hint of surprise. Either he was the best at hiding his feelings or he wasn't surprised because he already knew and was messing with me from the beginning!

A shiver of apprehension ran through my spine. Could it be that he was in cahoots with those who were chasing us? No, it didn't make sense... He would have had plenty of time to kidnap me in the forest before Jude showed up. Not if he had felt his presence, reminded me of a vicious little voice in my head. No... I was getting paranoid! I thought, but that didn't stop me from mechanically moving back into my seat.

- 'Do I have to remind you of the "no questions" clause?' I said with a slight smile as I tilted my head to the side to hide my incipient panic. 'What surprises me, however, is your lack of surprise at all this,' I said on a whim.

I decided to be honest and see how he reacted. I could always run away screaming if it was not the one I was expecting. Sitting at the back of my seat, my body was hiding my right hand, tight on the door handle.

- 'I don't know how to explain it...' he began, shaking his head, and clicking his tongue, frustrated. 'But the fact that you're different doesn't surprise me, I don't know, it's a bit like... if I'd always known,' he said in a dazed voice, his eyes lost in the clouds.

His gaze quickly refocused on mine and without being able to explain it to me, I believed him. We stayed a few minutes to observe each other, a relaxed silence now hovering between us. I used it to let the adrenaline gently flow away and return to a more comfortable position. We jumped in unison when Jude violently opened the door with an even wilder look than usual.

- 'Should I deduce from your pretty smile that your phone call didn't go as well as expected?' I whispered and sneered softly at him.

He ignored me. Nothing new so far. He leaned with one hand on the open door, with the other hand on the roof of the car and leaned over so that his head was level with the inspector's.

- 'I was ordered not to reveal anything to you. But as I think it's a big mistake of judgment... I'm going to override it,' he grunted as he forced Worth to keep his eyes open. 'I really hope that you are trustworthy and that your offer of help was not just empty words, because I'm really putting my neck on the line, here... if I trust you.'

He stared at him intensely for a long minute, as if he was testing him.

- 'But if it can save lives, I'm willing to try it.'

A feeling of both resigned obstinacy and despair emanated from him and bothered me. When he turned to me, I questioned him silently, but he just stared at me, a little sad smile on his face, before addressing our temporary companion once again.

- 'And what about you? If what drives you is just a misplaced curiosity, I suggest you tell me right away, and we'll leave it at that.'

- 'I'm a cop and this case has been bothering me from the beginning! Not to mention Miss Jones' more than suspicious behavior. I hate to leave an investigation unfinished... Moreover, I promised you I would find your friend,' he said as he addressed me, 'and I always keep my promises. I will do everything I can to help you, as long as it does not interfere with my work and put anyone's life in danger. But as I have already said, I will not seek to know more than necessary...'

- 'All right, follow me then,' Jude sighed.

Once we got out of the vehicle, we headed for the house. Jude was walking in front of us and I was surprised to see that he seemed to be limping slightly. Which was not the case in the woods earlier... I frowned and looked at him again more carefully, taking care not to let my eyes linger on his butt. There was no need for him to think I'm a peeping Tom. No, his gait looked normal. I must have been the one who was imagining things. I shook my head. I was confused. This whole thing was really driving me crazy. As he walked through the door, which was now held only by a rusty hinge, Jude took a short break.

- 'No questions!' he roared in a voice that removed any desire to disobey.

As I walked through the door, I perceived a thin veil passing over my skin and small tingles running all over my body. The air then seemed to wavy around us and I recognized the characteristic sensation of the magic of Charles' camouflage spell. The dilapidated room, filled with weeds and rubble, turned into a rustic but welcoming living room with a large fireplace surrounded by a sofa and two armchairs. On the left, a minimalist kitchen shared the remaining space with a table surrounded by four chairs. Even if I had understood what was happening the minute the air began to shimmer around me, I still had my eyes wide open for a few seconds.

Inspector Worth, on the other hand, looked like a kid who saw Santa on Christmas Eve. His eyes shone and he looked everywhere with a stunned look. I couldn't blame him, it was a big shock the first time! He did not open his mouth and, once his surprise was over, waited without a word for what would happen next. Jude went to stand with his back to the fireplace and invited us with a wave of his hand to sit in the seats facing him. We both declined and so everyone stood in a heavy silence.

- 'We are safe here. This house is a refuge. Normally, nothing and no one is supposed to be able to find us here. So go ahead, ask your questions. I will answer them as much as possible.'

- 'First of all, why did you run away into the woods earlier? What frightened you so much?' I asked him, although I knew he was talking to the inspector and not to me.

Nevertheless, the wording of his sentence reminded me that he had said "things" and not "people" to describe what was pursuing us, and this term did not reassure me at all.

- 'That's the problem, I don't know what it was. I picked up their presence, but it doesn't feel like anything I know. That's why I've blurred the tracks as much as I could and brought you here. Never underestimate your enemy, especially if you don't know them,' he replied in a calm and relaxed voice, as he relaxed and leaned against the chimney.

- 'Precisely, if you don't know what it was, how can you be sure of their hostility? Maybe it had nothing to do with us? Now, are you finally going to explain to me clearly what's going on? Ah, and by the way, tell me about that bullet and why you wanted me to find it? Because it was you who put it there?' he asked me.

Although the second question was addressed to me, it was Jude who answered and I gladly let him do so.

- 'You can be sure that they were there for us... and don't ask me how I know, because I won't answer you. As for the bullet, it was indeed Christina who put it there for you to find it, because we need to know what materials it is made of, without having to answer too many questions. It was the ideal solution, except that you decided to play Columbo,' Jude snorted.

- 'I will take it as a compliment,' he replied in the same tone. 'Where did this bullet come from and what makes you think it's different from conventional ammunition? Above all, why did you bother to clean it? Do you have something to hide?'

Worth had put his inspector's mask back on and his hand was not far from his gun. At first sight, he still did not trust Jude and even believed him to be responsible for some apparently unspeakable crimes.

- 'We cleaned it because we didn't want you to take a too close interest in the blood on it.'

- 'Yes, it seems rather obvious to me! What bothers me is the reason for this precaution.'

- 'The reason, you see, is that it's mine and I wanted to avoid being examined too closely,' Jude said with a provocative smile, as he lifted his shirt and turned to show the inspector his lower back.

I was speechless for a moment. I didn't expect him to be so honest, not to mention that his wound was almost in the same condition as the day before, red and puffy. For all I knew, it wasn't normal at all. It was therefore necessary to know quickly what these munitions were made of, as they were initially specially designed to kill metamorphs. This visual revelation suddenly made me aware of the frightening reality of the situation, and Jude's behaviour immediately seemed much more coherent to me. It was an emergency!

The reality that my brain had tried to protect me from at all costs was coming back to me in full force, and of course it was anything but the right time. I staggered and, so that it would not be noticed, leaned with one hip against the back of the sofa. This was not the time to flinch. I turned my attention to the inspector when I heard him exclaim surprised as he approached to examine the wound more closely.

- 'When did you get this wound? It doesn't look very nice,' he said, carefully touching the edges of the wound.

Jude moved back a little, but to my surprise, let him proceed without saying anything.

- 'It's from yesterday,' he laughed softly. 'But you're right about the aspect. I should hardly have a mark left at all, and as you can see, that's not the case. Especially since it's the most attractive of the three, if I may say so.'

- 'Huh?' Worth said as he rushed back as if he was facing a particularly dangerous rattlesnake, while shaking his head incredulously as he contemplated Jude's ever-exposed back.

- 'It's not... Yes, yes, I know... no questions,' he said, raising his hands as a sign of appeasement in front of Jude's warning look. 'But you can't just throw that at me and wonder why I'm surprised! Although ultimately, it explains a lot,' he murmured, ostensibly staring at my arm, before his interrogating gaze went up into mine.

- 'Let's summarize... You took three bullets yesterday. Which, given the location of one of the wounds, must have at least punctured your liver, without you having any serious damage! Well, all right,' he said, shaking his head incredulously and with his eyes wide open. 'Why is the composition of the bullet important? So I know what to look for exactly.'

- 'Those bullets shouldn't have done so much damage... not to someone like me. Without Christina, I would have died,' he said in a very detached way. 'I won't go into details, but these munitions were specially designed to kill people like me, and it just so happens that four of us have disappeared and we no longer think it's a coincidence.'

We explained to him as best we could all that we knew and expected from him, avoiding giving him too many details.

- 'All right, I'll take this bullet to the lab and ask to speed things up. And you?'

- 'It's the "no questions" part. We will keep you informed if we find something interesting.'

The two men exchanged their mobile numbers and we took the car to escort the inspector back to his, which we had left at the edge of the forest in the morning. He asked me tensely, while not taking his eyes off Jude, if I wanted him to drive me back to the police station where I had left my vehicle. I politely declined given the tension and the aura of anger that instantly emanated from Jude, seemingly dripping from him like water. Furthermore, we had to tackle the difficult task of tracing the other missing persons. So we went our separate ways.