Midge couldn't reach that hotel room fast enough. To everyone else it looked fancy, but to Midge it was a strategic point. This hotel was one of the oldest in the Lower-Levels—in the Colony, and for the most part, E-portal proof.

The main door was nice and thick and Midge dragged Lydia in and bolted it.

"Wow." Lydia gasped. "Look at this place."

But Midge didn't. He had no time to take in the long entranceway. Beyond it was a set of sliding doors he knew no doubt led to a huge bed. That wasn't his concern; safeguarding the room was.

Another gasp from Lydia meant she'd seen the area beyond those sliding doors, and she was quite vocal in her delight.

"I don't even drink but I'm dying to try this. Look at these."

Midge rushed to a small window in the entranceway, muttering, "Can't expect less from the honeymoon suite."

A dainty hand slipped around his waist and he picked his arm up to regard Lydia's pleased smile.

"Yeah, I had noticed that."

He took in her bright cheeks and pleasant expression and almost calmed. Though this wasn't the time, he could admit that she was nice to look at. And if they made it out of this alive, he'd be sure to keep that good memory no matter where he ended up.

Midge regretted not leaving when he had the chance. Deep down, he appreciated Lydia's affection as she leaned into him—it was electrifying. He even appreciated each blush Lydia had in reaction to him.

The hotel they'd chosen was a nice one, and the room was topnotch. It would have been better if Midge had any money, but he never took credits as payment. He never took affection, either.

Though they weren't as high up as Big Henry, which would afford Lydia the best view, they could still see a great deal of buildings from here.

Lydia stood behind him, holding tight as she leaned around to look down. "Oh wow. We're high as ever."

Unlike the other insincere attempts at garnering attention, Lydia was serious when she eased into Midge with a shiver.

"Fuck, that's high."

Midge chuckled. "This is nothing compared to that." He gestured to the building in the distance and managed to calm his beating heart—he needed the distraction.

"It is amazing, though." Lydia breathed out, safely tucked at Midge's side. "It's sorta weird, but pretty how the buildings all look like they should fall, but they don't, you know?"

"Less pretty and more tragic," Midge said, easing back. He thought better of it when Lydia reached down to hold his backside. Brushing the hand off as discretely as he could, Midge pointed. "See those there, those two. If you look at the base, you'll see that it looks fixed, yet there's nothing there."

"Hmm?"

A hand slipped around between Midge's legs and he flinched. Face warming, Midge decided to keep on with his efforts for a distraction.

"I'm sorry," Lydia said. "Is it uncomfortable?"

Midge didn't answer, instead, he continued with his explanation. "E's carry their homes on their backs. That's what we say. So when we open a portal, we actually...." He cleared his throat when Lydia maneuvered herself until his left arm rested on her shoulder. "We head home."

"I'm not sure I get what you mean," Lydia whispered.

"Well, there are seven known realms of reality. We exist in the second realm."

"Not the first?"

"No. The first is the land of the dead. The second is that of the living. The third is where wild energy resides. The fourth is a void, absolutely nothing." The close proximity had him rambling. "Fifth is supposed to be the past; but I think that's imp-shit. The sixth is supposed to be the future. You can only see it though, not interfere. I've never gotten past the fourth really. Most E's reside in the third realm, we keep our homes there. We enter our homes by way of a portal and fall back out where we want."

One button opened on Midge's trousers, then another.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," Midge said, waiting. When Lydia paused, anticipating more, Midge complied. "So, taking the house out of that realm is pretty taboo, and pretty awful because it means the E loses his or her safe haven. But fifty E's did just that. They anchored their homes right into the Lower-Levels."

Lydia's warm hand slipped in as she asked, "Why would they do that?"

From this location, they could see the transport wall clearly—Midge kept his eyes there. Nothing and no one came his way. Maybe he'd avoided a confrontation. He could make it out of this—they both could.

"Well, we E's don't really touch. Our houses don't either. By anchoring—and anchoring so many on top of each other, they couldn't send them into the next realm again when the E from the last house to anchor was killed. Only the E to create that structure can command it. They made it impossible to create random portals in the Lower-Levels, basically turning this place into a fortress. We can't go where we've never been by conventional means and there's no way of going into all fifty houses as most are booby-trapped. That's why they come out of only one wall now. It's the only safe place. Try to enter into an unknown structure, and you might come out in stone."

"Hmm? And that'd be bad, I take it."

"Coming into solid matter? Um, yeah, it would be pretty damn bad." Midge caught Lydia's hand, finally, and closed his eyes. "Look, I'm flattered, but...."

Her breathing short, Lydia whispered, "Sorry. I'm just so anxious. But that's your fault. My heart's pounding."

She traced Midge's right hand and brought it to her chest.

"See?"

Lydia's taut body throbbed through the fabric.

"I see," Midge said, clearing his throat. "I do see."

"You sure you don't wanna do something about it? We can go back there to that big room, or right here is okay, too. Maybe you can press me up against a wall." They were both silent until Lydia insisted, "I'd really love it if you'd press me up against a wall. Trust me."

Midge wondered why his body wouldn't listen to his very reasonable plea to calm down and not react. He ached from the touch.

"It wouldn't be right," Midge grumbled. "It really wouldn't be right."

"Oh trust me, it'd be so right."

"Considering what we've been through," Midge risked meeting her gaze, finally. "Believe me when I say, it wouldn't be right."

A smile peeked through Lydia's flushed face. "You're right. How awful of me. I should call you 'Mr. Osbourne' when you're taking me."

Midge had to remind himself of his original job as a medic. This situation was bad beyond belief. He half wondered if maybe this was in fact the worst case scenario.

As Midge's body faded of all interest, Lydia leaned away. "What is it? Something I said?"

Midge tried to answer that question himself. What was it? He wasn't sure, but suddenly he wasn't filled with an aching need anymore, but rather, disapproval.

"I wish you wouldn't call me 'Mr. Osbourne,' though," Midge confessed.

"If it's the work thing you're worried about. What if I hired you on as my tutor instead?" Lydia asked. "What would you charge?"

"I'd tutor you for free." Midge smiled. "I need no payment."

Lydia looked him in the eye, finally and asked, "How would you charge? You're an E, and E's like balance, right? My mother's always taught me that you should always pay and never accept anything for free. And because E's don't need money, and I don't have any of my own money, anyway, so I want to ask you, how can I pay you?"

"What do you mean?" Midge asked. "You have a great sum of money right now."

Face reddening, Lydia cleared her throat. "Well, yes but...it's not for me. It's...for the estate." She didn't sound so sure but she paused to consider it. "But I guess I could use some and get you something."

"You don't listen very well, do you?" Midge said. "I said I don't need anything. There's nothing in the Colony I want from anyone."

"Not even a touch?" Lydia asked. She seemed apprehensive for the first time as she said, "I figured out what it was Ruckus took as payment from Mitchellii. Somehow Mitchellii's figured out how to pay an E—someone who doesn't value credits; someone who doesn't eat so doesn't need credits. I don't know if he does it directly, but I suspect that he does." Lydia's eyes scanned Midge up and down as she whispered, "I assure you. I'd be very interested in doing it directly."

She waited for a response but Midge had none to give. Midge would be lying if he denied that Ruckus's choice of payment was not only reckless, but understandable. It was lonely living as an E. Elementals could touch each other, but his family was rather large, and there weren't many foreign E's about that sought out other E's. And although E's from unrelated houses could very well find affection together, it was taboo for two E's to fornicate. Breeding E's with other E's was the reason for the Colony's very conception. E's with E's now was as low as any Elemental could go. Companionship was best sought out from a stable source; not an E. For that, they'd need an Assist, a Yule with potential. Female E's to male assists amounted in a guaranteed full-blown E baby. Male E to female assist's children weren't as strong.

Not all E's could sync with an Assist.

Midge had resolved to die alone. He and Pan couldn't sync, and now Pan had become distant.

Till Lydia, Midge had never physically laid hands on someone who didn't cause pain. Midge would never bargain with affection or emotions like Ruckus, especially not with a total stranger—but Lydia had piqued his interest.

Blushing, the infatuated noblewoman started to undo her collar.

"Wait," Midge said, stopping her. What could he say? The very idea of putting his hand against someone else's skin made his heart cry out, but this was never the way he wanted his encounters to go. He'd wooed Pan. He'd wooed Pan until they were both sick of each other. Maybe that's why Pan gave up.

Nothing.

Every blistering touch failed to contact with Pan's skin as Midge had needed to numb it. Now this woman was here, offering him the one thing he couldn't accept.

"Mr. Osbourne," Lydia said, her eyes fixed on Midge's chest, hands still at her collar. "I don't know what's going on with me either, but I'm not willing to curb my interest. And you react to me, and that reaction's just lighting me up more. I know it's pretty forward but this is a big deal for me. This is.... I'm nineteen and this is the first time I've felt this way."

She was slow as she undid the top buttons, revealing the sheer beneath.

"I made sure and wore the one you liked. So let me hire you on, be it bodyguard, tutor, what have you...." Lydia opened her shirt.

Midge caught it by the collar, using one hand to keep it closed.

"Don't," Midge begged. "I've done a lot of things in my life, things I'm not proud of, things I should be killed for, resurrected and killed again. I won't add rape to the list." Distant thoughts of the shower reared its ugly head and he felt all the more adamant.

Lydia's somber brown eyes widened. "Rape? But I'm willing and able—"

"And pretty emotional," Midge argued. "It's like you're drunk on the emotion. I'd rather you be sober. That shower was a mistake. That's not what you base a physical encounter on."

They stared at each other for some time; each wrestling with what to say or do.

The way Lydia's drive shut down was a wonderment. Head hung, Lydia redid her shirt. Suddenly the view didn't hold her interest, neither did the drinks on the small table or the posh decoration of the room.

Midge tried to be a discrete as he could, but he felt like hell as he re-buttoned his trousers.

No sooner had he finished when Lydia picked her clothes up from the floor and shoved them into Midge's arms.

"Could you please hold these...the...the things?" Lydia asked, eyebrows raised.

"Um, sure."

Lydia turned to the door and Midge watched her. He thought to ask where she was going but he could take a few guesses. Even as they reserved a room, Lydia had drawn attention.

The bolt of the door clicked and Midge came back to himself.

"Stay in your room. We have a rogue War-gen on the loose. Ma'am, stay in your room," a voice called out.

Midge slammed that door shut before Lydia could make the mistake of stepping out.

They came. They were here. And they were on this very floor. "Top to bottom," Midge muttered, cursing himself. The bastards were doing the search from the highest floor down. No wonder he saw no one.

After rushing to the window to look out, Midge cringed. One of the old E's was gone—that's how they knew where to find him. This was low; using Tan, this was a new low. Other than his own Mother, Tan was the only E in the colony Midge would never fight.

It was over. This was it. He never imagined it'd end like this.

"No!" Midge growled. "No. This can't be how it goes." Still with Lydia's clothes in hand, he rushed around, desperate to find a way out. He could strip the walls, maybe break a hole through the ceiling and.... And do what? Keep on making holes—easy to follow holes until he was on top of a building too low to reach the roof of the Lower-Levels and too shallow to give him much distance.

"Mr. Osbourne," Lydia asked, panicked. "What's wrong?"

She didn't know the danger; she had no idea what was going on; she was reacting to Midge's fear.

Midge trembled, eyes on the window. It was small but he could risk punching through. A big enough ball of fire would give him a way out—it might also collapse a small E house embedding in countless buildings, too.

"No. There has to be a way." Frantic, Midge dragged the sliding doors open and stepped into the room. There must be a way. But each second that ticked by and every loud bang he heard from the hall told him there wasn't.

"Mr. Osbourne...." Lydia put a hand on Midge's back, causing him to flinch.

Midge spun around. Through his panic, he thought of her. "It's over," he whispered again. "When they take me...when they take me," he repeated, "you make sure you hide this money. Put...put it under your skirt. Put—don't let it be for nothing."

Boom.

One bang came from the front door.

"It's locked," someone said. Midge recognized the voice. His brother, Tan. "Sir, what do I do?"

"What do you mean locked? You should have a key."

"At least one room on each floor uses a bolt," Tan said. "And this one's locked."

Silence.

Heart pounding, Midge trembled as he handed the clothes and hidden diskettes over.

"You take care," he said. A big man like him should at least take the beating standing up.

The woosh that followed meant a small fireball.

Lydia stared Midge down. The next bang came with such force that the room shook. Midge lost his footing but Lydia shoved him back the rest of the way. The bed broke his fall, but barely.

What the petite noblewoman did next confused and angered him—she climbed onto his lap and yanked off not only her shirt but the sheer undergarment below it.

The sliding doors banged when they were dragged open to the hilt.

Lydia let out a gut-wrenching cry.

"Oh no! Ma'am, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." The chatter grew distant and hurried. "There's a naked couple in there."

"Like I care."

The voice made Midge swallow hard. It wasn't Met. All this time he'd thought Met had come through—it wasn't Met, this was worse.

"You get back in there and drag those bastards out."

"Mr. Osbourne," Lydia whispered. "Do not move, do you hear me?"

Everything in Midge said to run but there was no place to go—not with Tan here.

Lydia slipped from him, still half naked as she rushed out the sliding doors. She dragged them shut.

"What the hell is going on?"

One slap rang through and all fell silent.

Lydia's shaking voice came in time. "That's one hit for ruining what was supposed to be the best night of my life. The next one won't be as tamed."

Midge risked picking his head up to see the outline of the two men towering over Lydia's small shadow.

"Ma'am, ma'am, I'm so sorry," one said. He was wasting his time, though, hardly any Yules spoke that language.

"Sorry doesn't help me," Lydia said, stunning the men into silence.

Midge was equally shocked. Lydia could understand them. This was bad.

"Allow free thought," the other man demanded. "By order of a Colony official."

"Of course," Lydia said, crossing her arms over her chest. "What is the meaning of this?"

"I'm so sorry, ma'am. I'm real sorry."

Midge's heart broke as he heard Tan's plea. Inside, he willed Lydia to at least acknowledge his brother. Tan's need to please others would be his downfall one day.

Lydia was still bare and although she might have done that intentionally, it wouldn't have worked against anyone but Tan. She was lucky because Tan was the one using free thought. Looking at that old face, no one would guess they were dealing with a fifteen-year-old boy.

That trick didn't work on the other one.

"We're looking for an E. A pretty powerful one—a pretty sick one," the other bastard said.

"I haven't seen an E," Lydia answered.

"That's all well and good, but until we scour this place. We ain't leaving."

Lydia stepped in the path of whoever tried to get by her.

"No. You're not going in. Not on a night like tonight."

"Then just let him come out," Tan said, his eyes still cast upward. "That's enough."

And then it happened, Lydia let out a sob. The sound of it tore Midge up with guilt—maybe she'd finally realized who she was currently up against.

"He can't come out," Lydia blubbered. "He can't—he can't walk." Her voice softened with another cry. "And this is why your actions right now are so unforgiveable."

The silence that followed could have meant a number of things. Another attempt at stepping past Lydia meant at least one of them wasn't buying it.

Tan stopped his colleague this time. "That's it. You said this was my run—that's why I agreed. I didn't set out to ruing someone's wedding night. If this is what I have to do to get into a division post then I'm done."

"Calm down, little brother," the man said. "Take a deep breath and calm down. If you can't, I'll take over."

Stepping closer, Tan turned to him. "You don't get to undermine my authority when it suits you."

Midge's heart swelled with pride. Tan.... Tan was doing okay. He was doing better; finally standing up for himself.

"Fine. I'll respect your decision here, little one, but this is no joke. Scan this woman and if you say go...we'll leave."

Scan?

There was a reason Tan was chosen for this—his skill at stealing thoughts was unmatched. Midge tried to think of a way to come to Lydia's rescue instead. He took a chance. Teeth gritted, he rolled from the bed and fell with a thud.

Lydia gasped and Tan groan.

"That's it. We're leaving. We're leaving right now." Tan made his way to the door but his counterpart didn't budge.

"So much fuss for nothing," the man said. "I don't buy it, Midge. I know it's you, and I know you're there. We're trying to help you—we're trying to save you, you big idiot. Come out."

Lydia's tears came stronger as she pointed toward the doors. "Is this what the Colony thinks nobles should be subjected to? Go in and see for yourself if you're so hell bent on putting an end to this night."

Midge held his breath. The air was tense. Tan was the first to walk out, and then the other man.

"Ma'am, I'm very sorry," Tan said again.

"It's—it's all right," Lydia said through the tears. "I can tell you hadn't intended this."

No sooner had the door closed, Lydia turned and rushed back into the room, crying out, "Darling, darling, are you all right? Darling."

Midge sat up to watch her—in awe.

The lights flashed and the System's voice filled the room. "Please excuse the intrusion. Stand clear for a briefing."

Before Lydia could reach out for him, Midge held her shirt up to her, wiping that relieved smile off her face.

"We'll wait this out for another hour or so," Midge said. "And then I have to make one more stop before I go."

Lydia's woeful expression was hard to bear. She deserved a thank you. She deserved a lot more than that, but this experience sobered Midge up. Today was do or die.

"I have to visit my woman. I might not get another chance. And then we have to find a way out of here. Now."