Mary here with me feels much more real than the alternate reality I knew really existed. Her hands are cold in mine, but I can feel the warmth finally begin to drift from her skin. She is here with me, and I don't have to leave my beautiful family to be there. Her hand cups my slim chin, and my arms are around her as I pull her into a hard embrace.

"Mary... I miss you..." There is no way this is real in any sense. She feels so cold, like she was near to just collapsing from lack of body heat. Plus, I knew I was asleep. This wasn't a vision. This was a dream.

"Yeah... Thinking of you safe and sound really is just a dream, isn't it?" I hunch my back the slightest bit to be as tall as her, and bury my chin into her shoulder, pulling her into my chest. "What's happening to you right now? They're hurting you, aren't they?"

I didn't want to leave her side. If I left this dream, I would shift back into a reality without her. I didn't want to wake up... I never wanted to wake up...

"Wake up, Extant."

The first thing I felt was someone gently shaking my shoulder, and my shoulder suddenly aching from the position I had been sleeping in. I glanced over, recognizing my environment as the one of the truck we had taken. I was now in the middle between Carter and Oliver, with Oliver being in the driver's seat. My head was leaned against Oliver's shoulder, as if I was using the padded white jacket covering his shoulders as a pillow.

I yawned, pulling myself away from him. I would have probably hit him for letting me sleep on him, but I felt too hollow today. Stupid fucking dreams. At least I wasn't dreaming about my mother's death by my hands anymore...

I looked at my Apotropaic. "Just a question, what exactly happened back at the time we took the truck?"

"Some cannibal family took two Apotropaics. Neither survived their wounds," said Oliver.

I lifted a brow. "You're acting pretty casual about all of this. Why?"

Oliver parked the truck, letting out a slow breath. "They felt no pain. Let me assure you. And since they just used vessels, Gan and Caleb are safe and sound, back in Croma. We won't summon them again. After all, maybe a slimmer group would be better for this mission. Besides, vessels take a lot of energy to create."

I glanced outside of the windows to see that we were parked outside of a Western-style barbecue place, a bull next to a blurred jumble of letters lit up in neon colors. Then, my eyes made their way to our trunk, where everyone else was sitting either asleep or awake.

My eyebrows creased. "Damn. I sat in here the whole time without trading with anyone, didn't I?" I attempted to shrug off that guilt, but couldn't quite do that.

Oliver shrugged, a small smile on his face. "We live in a desert, Emma. I think we will all be fine. Besides, the Extents thought it was fun. You should have seen the smiles on their faces!"

I rolled my eyes, but a gave a small smile, too. Mary would have loved to sit in the bed of the truck, and I would have loved to sit beside her. I twisted over to Carter, shook him awake, and unbuckled myself.

"If we eat minimum," Oliver said, opening the driver's side door, "then we will save some of our money. Perhaps the Extants can split something cheap, and the Apotropaics can go without."

Carter, yawning, nodded in his direction. The two got out on either side, and I followed Oliver out. Nahara was already busy waking everyone else up while Dillan was setting the limit on our money and counting it.

The inside of the restaurant had peanut shells littered all over the floor, and looked a little shy of people. Many of the tables were bare, save for a few people who looked just as poor as we currently were.

My eyes slid over to Oliver. Good call. Eat somewhere where all the poor people go. Did you do this on purpose? I straightened the folds on my Metallica t-shirt, then slowed to take up the rear of our group with Oliver. As much as I hated it, I was starting to bond with him. After all, you can't just watch someone's dramatic childhood events unravel in front of you and not want to reach out to them. That seemed to be how I came to like people.

Mary and I met at a young age, and her father was an angry alcoholic.

I had looked through the eyes of Ebony, although I hadn't met her yet.

I had seen Oliver's past.

Dillan was an exception, and I didn't really like him all that much. The only person I seemed to truly be bonded with was Mary, and I had been young and didn't know any better.

I shouldered the thoughts away as we all took seats as a table. Delta, Fango, Dillan, and Nahara all squeezed in at the side across from me. Carter, Mun, Ace, Oliver and I all sat on the side opposite to them.

Ace was the one to take charge. "Emma and Dillan can share, Delta and Fango can share, then Nahara will eat half of hers and the rest will go in a to-go box. Sound good?"

I gave a curt dip of my head. Dillan turned to me and said, "I call the potatoes."

Lightening up bit by bit, I narrowed my eyes at him. "Try me."

His own violet ones widened. "What's this? The Kalos Extant is... joking? Dearie, me thinks she was replaced by a Martian."

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up, Raking. I'm not joking. Eat my share of potatoes and I will legitimately kill you."

"I honestly don't know what to think anymore."

I flashed him a small smile.

The waiter approached out table, a huge and exaggerated smile on his face as he flipped his notepad open. "What can I get for you fine people today?" It could have been my imagination, but I could have sworn I saw one of his eyes twitch.

Dillan was the one to order for everyone. "No drinks. Three number two's."

The waiter, possibly gritting his teeth under his closed smile, let his eyebrows flip as if Dillan has just said something unbelievable. Then, he waltzed away, muttering something under his breath.

"Well that fellow had a nice day," said Nahara sarcastically. "You can really tell he loves his job. They should give him a raise."

I gave Nahara a curious glance. When she had first saved me from Salt, she had seemed very wise and had a serious mood. Now, her personality was beginning to show through, and I was unsure if I liked what I was getting. Sarcasm.

Oliver poked me in the elbow, and I turned stiffly to face him. "This is really scary for you, huh?" He had the decency to keep his tone low. "I assure you, they won't hurt Mary. She is way too powerful to just discard. It won't be long now."

I narrowed my eyes at the table and turned away from him, feeling the heat of irritation plume under my skin. "Shut up about her."

"Sorry, I was just trying to-"

"I can deal with my emotions..." I hunched over a little to get face-to-face with the white-haired demon. "Can you? Are you able to help me with mine when you can't deal with your own?"

Instead of questioning how I knew why he acted like a monotone soldier, he blinked and looked down at the table with guilt. "Yeah... Sorry... Just... Worried about you, Extant..."

Time to swallow your pride. I clenched my jaw and put my arms around him. I rested my chin on his shoulder, my entire body stiff and uncomfortable from the hug I was giving. But whatever. He needed it. Not that he would get another one after this one...

Almost immediately, he put his arms around me in return, the weight probably much more gentle and relaxed than my stiffened muscles. I pulled away from him only seconds later.

Dillan lifted his eyebrows at me. Unintentionally, Oliver and I had become the center of attention to everyone at the table. "What's this? Who is this new Emma?"

I ignored the purple-eyed boy and gave Oliver a small shove. "We need to talk. Outside. Now. I can eat later. I'm not even that hungry."

It was probably time I share my visions with someone.

Oliver's eyes seemed to sparkle with shock as he slid out of the seat, and I followed after him. The two of us made our way outside hurriedly. We dodged past another person that was leaving, and then took the matter behind the restaurant.

I leaned against the wall, kicking over a copy of today's newspaper that someone had left on the ground.

"What is it, Extant?" He took up the space to my right, but didn't bother to lean against the wall like me.

I sighed. "Listen, Oliver. The only reason I'm telling you this is because you should know as my Apotropaic. Not my friend. It doesn't mean I will trust you with all my secrets or anything. But this one I thought I should share." I straightened my back and glanced at him through the corner of my black eyes. "Is it normal for me to have visions? Visions of the future, and times that earth wasn't there to see?"

Oliver blinked in surprise. "What are you talking about, Emma?" He brought his hands of of his hoodie's pockets.

My heart thudded in my chest as I dipped my head and rested my eyes on the puddle of light that rested on the wrap around the newspaper. "Even before I met you guys... I had a dream that I kept having over and over again. Let's just say... I wish that is just something mental, rather than a vision. But I had visions about Croma even before I knew what it was... And I had visions that let me see into Ebony's life. And recently, ones that let me see into yours."

Oliver paled. "What exactly did you see?"

I turned to face my left side. I refused to keep eye contact when the horrible name passed my lips. "What Salt tried to do to you... How Ebony treated you..."

"Oh..." I wasn't looking at him, but the tone dropping in his accented voice told me that I had hit the soft spot he was expecting me to hit. "I don't know, Em. Perhaps there is a flaw in your bloodline? A flaw that makes you see these things. Why haven't you told Dillan about this? I though he was your next-to-best friend?"

"He may be what comes next... But I have a hard time trusting people." I sighed. "There's nothing you can do. I just thought you should know. After all, you are my Apotropaic."

He moved an inch closer to me. "Yeah..." He muttered. "That's all I will ever be to you, huh?"

I don't suppose he intended for me to hear that last part, but I openly rolled my eyes anyways. What is your deal with wanting to be my damn friend? I pushed myself away from the wall, then began walking back to the doors to the restaurant. Oliver followed me sullenly. We were both stopped abruptly as someone stormed out of the restaurant, not even apologizing for almost hitting me, with two men storming after her.

Oliver pulled my back just as the door would have hit my face. I recovered quickly and began barking at the woman, "Watch where you're going!"

The lot ignored me. One of the men, a redhead, covered his mouth with one hand. "Where is the car, Linda?!"

The woman, Linda apparently, scowled at him. "That's what I told you, damn it! That white-haired hot shot took it!"

White hair? I sauntered away from Oliver and waved at her. "Excuse me, Miss, what did the guy look like?"

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Listen, kid, shut the hell up. There is nothing you can do."

I struggled not to make her trip on air and continued, "I think I my dad, a cop, knows the guy. Escaped convict, maybe." That was obviously a lie, but also the only way that the stubborn woman would speak. "You would have to describe him to me so I can tell my daddy?"

"How about you go get your daddy, brat?" Her eyes then flew to Oliver. "Oh, daddy doesn't know you're here with your boytoy, does he? Fine. Whatever. I hope you get in trouble for foolin' around though..." Before I could interject with a comeback, she said, "Long white hair, like, down to his butt. The guy wore loose silk."

I glanced back that Oliver. "Yeah... That's the guy..." Salt. "Well, I hope you get in trouble for fooling around with two boys at once."

She gaped. "Rick there is my cousin!" She pointed at the other man, a blonde who hadn't spoken up yet.

I gave her a small smile. "I didn't ask who he was. Good day to you." I walked towards Oliver again, who was fidgeting in place nervously at this new bit of information. "Oliver, we have to chase him."

His sapphire eyes widened. "With that beaten-down truck of ours? Shouldn't we call in the other Cromans? I mean... It is their truck, too..."

"Speaking of which, do you think the cannibals will report us for stealing the truck?" I asked.

He shook his head. "They are more guilty than we are for murder. Um... Emma, you want to go in alone, don't you?"

"You're coming with me," I informed him, tugging him forward by the sleeve of his hooded jacket. We began pacing towards the truck. "I may want to work alone, but I learned that sometimes it's better to have people with you. If all we are doing is killing Salt's vessel, we won't need anyone else. He is stuck up on getting into people's heads. We just need to kill the vessel and we will be all good!"

As I nestled my body into the driver's seat, Oliver took out a pen and a piece of paper from the glove compartment and wrote a little note to the others. Then, he tossed it out the window. I obliged to use my air to drop a rock on it to hold it in place. Strapping out buckles over ourselves, I backed the truck out of the parking space.

"A-are you sure you don't want Ace and I to do this? I mean, we are immortal. And you might get injuries-"

I sped up the rusty little vehicle. "I should have asked what the vehicle looked like, too. That would have made my job much easier..." Pressing my foot against the gas pedal, we began winding down another road while keeping an eye out for the Dark General in the driver's side of a vehicle.

"Really, Emma, maybe we should just head back..."

I ignored him as the truck began making its way in an actual street filled with other vehicles. "This is going to be impossible..." A bead of sweat rolled down my forehead as I put the rust bucket into something speed-limit worthy and began glancing from car to car.

Oliver nudged me. "Emma, can we please go back? I don't want my Extant getting hurt on my watch."

I pressed my lips into a thin line, continuing my way across the road. Oliver was right... And sure, Salt was a coward who hid behind lies, but what kind of power stood with him to make him as strong as Gary Bluethorne? Maybe it was best if I didn't do this and save it for another time...

I sighed and found a place where I could turn around and head back to the restaurant. "Fine. What good are you if I ignore you? We'll go back, we'll eat, then we'll try and figure out a method to get to LA..." I paused. "And Oliver?"

"Yes, Extant?"

I turned the face the front window and sighed. "Thank you for looking out for me. I guess you can be an okay Apotropaic if you want to."

I felt a flare of happiness drift from him. Sure, I didn't acknowledge his friendship here, but this was as close as he was going to get... For now.

Character development! Rawr. Don't forget to vote, comment, and\or share! What are some things I need to work on? Who is your favorite character? If I mess up somewhere, please tell me! The picture is Lord Ebony. Tell me what you think of the story so far!