The train ride back didn't feel like it took nearly as long as the train ride to the city. Zak and I remained silent for most of the ride, occasionally mentioning something about what the outside of the window looks like. Pretty bland, sorry.

The train finally stopped at Joondalup station, and we left. There was the usual cue at the tag off and tag on machines, but it didn't take more than a minute. Unfortunately, Samara would be at work, so we had to wait a few minutes for our bus to arrive. Waiting a few minutes for a bus however was a lot more desirable than taking one hour to walk back.

When it arrived, we hopped on and took seats at the back of the bus, in hopes everyone else would remain in the front section and we could talk in private. One person sat in the second section, but they sat right next to the doors, so they wouldn't be a problem if we talked quietly. Which we definitely needed to do.

Not only would the Clark Corporation be trying to track me down, they'd also be hunting for Zak now that he knew. He was in as much danger as I was.

"So, I think we both know that the Clark Corporation isn't going to give up," I started. "Do you have a plan for if they target you?"

"Why would they target me?" Zak asked. "I'm not immortal?"

"Yes, but you know things," I rolled my eyes. "Haven't you watched any sci-fi movies? When people know too much, they get killed."

"Oh," Zak crossed his arms, "that does make sense."

"So, what is your plan?" I persisted.

"I don't know," Zak shrugged, starting to bite his nails. "What do you usually do?"

"Run," I stated as though it was obvious. "I did, one time, climb onto someone's roof. But I don't know how they keep finding me. It's like they don't have to watch me to know exactly where I am."

"Tracker?" Zak suggested. "Is it possible you were chipped?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I think I would know if I had been chipped, Zak."

"Well what other options are there?" Zak asked. "What happened the day this started?"

I thought back to what happened. The flowers outside of the window in my Currency class, telling me I was in danger. Then when they appeared again while I was on the bus. It was strange, I hadn't been doing anything that would cause me harm, and nothing happened when they appeared. As though they were trying to warn me of something that wasn't even happening. But they had never worked that way before. It was always immediate danger that they warned me of.

I shrugged. "I don't know. It was a normal day. But... Something was off."

"Off?" Zak raised an eyebrow. "Off how? Like, off milk kind of off, or Ciara not making some historical comment kind of off?"

"Off as in unusual and eerie," I replied.

"So, Ciara not making some historical comment kind of off then?" Zak joked.

I cracked a smile. "Yeah," I nodded. "Something like that."

Zak nodded in thought. "So, what was so off then?"

"Well, I sort of see certain types of flowers blooming depending on the situation," I explained. "For example, when we went rock climbing with Ciara, I saw irises. Dedicated friendship. And I kept seeing all these flowers that typically warn for danger, but nothing was happening."

"Is it possible you weren't in any physical danger?" Zak suggested. "What was going on specifically at the time?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. "I was talking to Gabe the first time, and the second time I was on the bus drinking water."

Zak bit his lip. "Which Gabe?" He asked. "Gabe C or Gabe E?"

"There are a lot of kids at Nangidon with the same names aren't there?" I asked.

"Yeah, nah yeah," Zak nodded. "There are five Emily's alone in our year."

"Wow, that's a lot," I sighed. "How do you know who's talking to who?"

"There's E," Zak listed, "there's Em, there's Emily, there's Emmo, and there's Jonda."

"Jonda?" I quirked an eyebrow in confusion.

"Yeah," Zak nodded. "Because her surname is Johnson."

"Well, anyway," I shook my head, "Gabe C."

"Oh," Zak paused for a moment. "No, there's nothing too dangerous about him. As far as I know at least. Ciara had a lot more classes with him than I did."

I nodded.

"What about the water?" Zak asked. "Was there anything in the water?"

"Ice?" I replied in a questioning tone.

"Maybe the flowers were trying to warn you that you were about to choke on ice," Zak shrugged. "Look, I don't know. I think this whole magic thing is too confusing for me."

"Magic?" I raised an eyebrow in slight surprise at the idea. "You think I somehow have magic?"

"Well, yeah," Zak shrugged. "Isn't that sort of what they go on about in fairy tales? That the unexplainable is simply magic? Makes it easier for us silly humans to understand."

"Yes but, magic isn't real," I claimed. "My immortality can be explained through the chemical they found."

"I thought you said the chemical was supposed to liquify your organs?" Zak raised an eyebrow.

"Yes but, it didn't liquify mine," I bit my lip at the weak defence.

"Because you're immortal," Zak crossed his arms and smiled triumphantly.

I narrowed my eyes. "Don't let your head get too big," I leant back against the window. "You might get squashed down to my height."

"That's impossible," Zak shook his head.

"So was coming back from the dead a few days ago," I smiled.

"No, I mean your height is impossible," Zak chuckled. "I thought Ciara was short until I saw you two standing next to each other."

"Oh, fuck off!" I cursed.

Zak laughed at my frustration. Okay yes, I'm really short. Yes, I've never met anyone around my age shorter than me. But no, I am not inferior. No matter how much the dang trees in my life try to teach me that I am. Reason being, I am at the perfect height to hit everyone's weak spots.

I shook my head. It still didn't make sense. If the immediate danger wasn't physical, as Zak suggested, what was it? Was I in mental danger of having an anxiety attack or something? Because I don't have anxiety and those would be some very strange times to get one. Was I in danger of, I don't know, getting heart burn? It was too small of a problem for the flowers to warn me off. It just didn't make sense.

Zak sighed, pulling me from my thoughts. "Now Flo, I want you to hear me out before you start screaming," Zak locked eyes with me. "Nature wasn't trying to warn you of physical danger, but you were in danger."

"In danger of what?" I asked.

"In danger of falling in love," Zak sighed dramatically. "You have feelings for Gabe."

"Excuse me!" I exclaimed with a burning blush on my face. "I do not! That's, ridiculous! I don't date people!"

"Flo, the heart wants what it wants," Zak shrugged, "and your heart wants Gabe."

"No! No way!" I crossed my arms. "Gabe is merely a friend! And besides, the flowers were warning me of danger. There weren't any tulips, roses or flowers like that!"

"Flora, I was joking," Zak laughed. "But guessing by the blush on your face I was right."

"You were not!" I glared daggers, and if looks could kill, trust me he would be dead. "I do not get crushes on people. It's stupid, pointless, and a distraction from what's important."

"Flo, I know you think dating is stupid and redundant," Zak sighed, "but if we could control how, we felt we probably wouldn't be here now."

I huffed and curled up to look away from him. The idea of me liking someone was absurd. It was preposterous. Dating and attachment is something people created to avoid loneliness and depression. And besides, it gets in the way of life and your goals. Unless your goal is to be happily married with plenty of children, in which case, go ahead. But ... the idea of spending the rest of my life with someone just doesn't sound all that appealing.

Okay, maybe someone will make me feel all warm and fuzzy, with butterflies in my stomach, but not anytime soon. And for that to be Gabe? I didn't know how to feel about that. It was certainly better than a lot of other options, like Enzo or Connor. But I don't know, something about dating Gabe sounded kind of, off?

"Whatever," Zak shook his head, "we'll be home soon."

The bus pulled up to our stop and we hopped off, quickly walking back to Samara's house. It would most likely be empty, seeing as Samara had work and Jade would be at school. Fortunately, Zak always had a key on hand because school finished before Samara's work ended.

Zak went up to the front door and unlocked it, pushing it aside and letting me in before himself. I let out a sigh and dropped my bag to the ground, feeling an immense amount of relief from not having that heavy weight on my shoulders and back. I pulled my lunchbox, uniform, pyjamas, and switchblade out of my bag to put them away. The uniform had been soaked in stain remover, but I still wanted to put it in the washing machine. I also may have removed my bra through the sleeve because it was getting annoying after that many hours of wearing it.

I walked into the living room and saw Zak had sat down with his hands in his hair. He looked tired, stressed, maybe a little hungry too. I went into the kitchen and grabbed a mandarin, throwing it at him when I got back.

He groaned. "Don't throw things at people," he pouted. "It's not very nice."

"Since when was I a nice person?" I asked, flopping onto the couch next to him. "Last time I checked, I was that bitch that always got into fights, and everyone thought was a slut."

"Well, you aren't wrong there," Zak cracked a smile. "Most girls at our school despise you."

"Good," I nodded, "my reputation hasn't changed much since Sacredooka."

"How did you even end up with that stereotype?" Zak asked. "You aren't that bad."

"Mm, that would be Jared Lovell's fault," I said. "He wouldn't pass me the ball in sport."

"And so, you got in a fight with him?" Zak raised an eyebrow.

I sighed. That wasn't exactly what happened. It was year seven; and looking back I know exactly why everyone hated us. Especially considering who the dickheads in my classes were. But Phys Ed was always one of the most annoying classes of the week. Not because I was terrible, but because my class had all of the super athletic boys and half the girls didn't even bother.

But then there was when we did Australia's favourite sport. Footy. There aren't enough words in any language to describe just how annoying it was. We did footy in term two, so by that point the class had gotten to know each other. But it seemed to be that all of the sporty boys, would much rather pass to their friend whose got a bunch of people surrounding them, than the girl that is wide open. It seems like they all go to this group meeting on how to make sure girls don't get even close to touching the ball.

Addison said that she had stopped trying in sport all together because the boys wouldn't let her play, and then they would complain about how the girls did nothing. It was ridiculous. Yeah, okay, there were some boys that weren't complete assholes and would pass to the most convenient person rather than their mates, but I was almost never in their class or on their team. And one lesson I fucking snapped.

Jared – I mean honestly, you've already set your kid up to be an ass with that name – hand balled the ball to Enzo, and because of that mistake the other team got the ball and scored a six pointer with three minutes left until pack up time. Whereas, if he had passed to me, the tiny blonde girl screaming his name, I would've been able to run close enough to our goals to score a six pointer myself. But no, he just had to pass it to his teddy bear murderer of a best friend.

"Hey!" I had screamed after the other team celebrated. "I was open! Why didn't you pass me the ball!?"

Jared shrugged. "I didn't see you."

That was brave of him, and stupid. Never upset a short person. We aren't big enough to hold in all our anger and sass!

"Oh really?" I crossed my arms. "Because I was screaming your name and you looked directly at me!"

Jared scoffed. "What's the big deal?"

"What's the big deal!?" I exclaimed. "At this rate I won't have been able to do anything, and so the teacher will have nothing to grade me on!"

"So?" Jared rolled his eyes. "Not my problem."

"Really?" I smiled. "Well, I guess I'm glad to not be a boy right now."

Jared raised an eyebrow before grunting out and falling to the ground. I may or may not have kicked him in the nuts, but come one, he deserved it! He knelt down on the ground, and being that I was short, he was at the perfect height to receive a kick in the head. A circle had formed around us, and the teacher struggled to squeeze through the gaps to break us apart. Of course, I managed to hit him a few times before the teacher threw me off of him.

"Fickle!" They yelled. "That is a detention at recess time with me, picking up rubbish!"

"But—"

"No buts!" They interrupted me. "We do not attack other students!"

After that, the story of how the quiet girl in the back of all of her classes, got angry enough to beat up Jared. Of all people. My parents were mad, and they didn't want to hear my excuses. Their words, not mine. My parents hadn't thought I would ever go that far, and from then on, I was constantly getting into fights. Earned me my lovely reputation as that bitch that got angry over the stupidest things and didn't know how to control her emotions. Think Regina George on a combination of steroids and crack, and you end up with a tall, blue-eyed version of me.

"That Jared guy sounds like a dick," Zak stated. "What kind of person doesn't pass to someone when they're wide open?"

"Assholes," I said with annoyance evident in my voice. "It was worse last year, he began to get quiet around me, and as it turns out he had a crush on me."

"How come you get all of the guys?" Zak whined. "I'm entertaining, I have a great personality, I am open to the idea of dating. All in all, the complete opposite of you, and exactly what makes a relationship great."

"Oh, fuck off!" I whacked him with a cushion. "I can be great."

"Not in the relationship department," Zak shook his head. "Although, maybe that's got something to do with this whole not a human thing?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Exactly what I said," Zak replied, "maybe you don't feel the same way as us about romance because you don't work the same as us humans?"

I pouted. It didn't sound like a terrible idea, but it didn't feel one hundred percent correct. I wasn't a plant, fungus, monera, or protist, which meant I was an animal like all other humans. I had bones, I had the same reproductive system as most mammals. All in all, it didn't point to Zak being right. Different mammals did form attachments differently though, so that could have been the case. Very few mammals felt the need to form emotional attachments to their mate like humans and elephants did.

"Zak, I hate to break it to you," I started, "but I don't think it has anything to do with me not being a human. Plenty of other animals form attachments, just not in the same way."

"Like mole rats," Zak cringed. "I will forever have that image burned into my brain."

"Excuse me?" I raised an eyebrow in question.

"This is why no one likes Irason's class," Zak shook his head. "Anyway, what do you think you are? What sort of creatures are immortal according to history?"

"That's a question for Ciara," I stated.

"Then we ask her advice," Zak shrugged. "For now, we figure out why you don't like romance."

"Because I don't have time to get a boyfriend," I shook my head. "I need to focus on issues I already have before dragging someone else down. Besides, you have met the boys at our school, haven't you?"

"Yes, and unfortunately dated a few," Zak shuddered at the thought. "Here's a crazy idea, the homophobes were right, and homosexuality is a contagious disease."

I laughed at his response. It was nice to have someone help me make this situation into something I could laugh about. It was a lot more helpful than I thought it would be. But you know what they say, laugher heals everything. There goes Zak again, knowing exactly what someone needs to feel better.

I yawned and slouched into the couch cushions. "I'm tired..." I trailed off.

"I'm not surprised," Zak replied. "You did die, came back to life, escaped from a massive building, and ran all the way to a hotel. You've had an eventful couple of days."

"Eventful is one word for it," I shrugged.

But before I could relax, I heard a loud thud, and bolted upright. I turned to Zak, clear expression of fear on my face and watched as his mirrored the same emotions. There was another loud thud and we jumped to our feet. It was coming from the front of the house, and both of us stood deadly still.

There was another loud thud, and we saw the door move slightly. I ducked down behind the coffee table and glanced at the front door, hoping it would hold together.

"Flora...," Zak whispered, "I didn't lock the door after we came in."

My mouth hung slightly ajar as I stared dumbfounded at Zak.

"Why didn't you lock the door!?" I hissed. "Everyone knows, when the government is after you, you lock the fucking door!"

"Sorry!" Zak whisper yelled. "I'm new to this being a badass thing!"

I turned to him with a blank expression. "No."

"What do you mean no?" Zak asked. "I can be a badass!"

"Just go lock the door before they realise it's open!" I hissed and pushed him out from behind the coffee table.

Zak stumbled to his feet, and crouched down a little, trying to avoid windows. He slowly made his way towards the door, jumping at every loud thud. He crept up to the door, pausing to wait and see if there would be another loud thud. When there wasn't, he sighed and went for the doorknob. But before he could land a finger on it, the door swung open and he fell backwards, groaning out and holding his forehead.

I froze and locked eyes with the person at the door. She was one of the people I'd seen chasing me while we were still in the city. She worked for the Clark Corporation. And there were other's behind her.