One year after the Games and Jenny felt better than ever. It was a warm, bright afternoon in July and Jenny and her friends were having a pool party at her house. Summer, still as innocent as ever splashing Dee constantly in the pool. Michael and Audrey were sunbathing and Zach was busy with his camera. Jenny looked around and it was as if nothing had ever changed. But it had, mostly to Jenny, but they all had something just slightly different about them. Jenny looked at the ring, twisting it round her finger. She hadn't taken it off once since the last Game, and had realised that she had had feelings for Julian, despite how much she had denied it before.

Jenny peered over to Tom. He had noticed the change in Jenny most of all, and some part of her knew that the ring still made him nervous, made him distant. Jenny had thought that after the Games they would stay together, after all they had gone through so much together it was hard to recall everything. But it hadn't turned out quite as she had expected or hoped. Almost three weeks after when Jenny refused to take the ring off Tom began to realise that Jenny had not just loved Tom, but Julian too. Jenny tried to explain to him the things that happened in the cave to make him understand, but he wouldn't listen to her, or maybe he didn't want to. Anyway, things got out of hand and they decided to take a break from each other for a while until things cooled down. They hadn't got back together since.

Jenny had told the others about Julian's, well, true-ish and also hidden character, and they accepted it when she recalled him sacrificing his life for her. Jenny had always remembered one line when he was dying in her arms: "nothing really dies as long as it's not forgotten" and Jenny had never forgotten him. Not once.

"Hey, you okay?" asked Dee. Jenny hadn't realised that she had just been staring at nothing for about ten minutes.

"Can we talk? You know, just us and away from everyone?"

"Yeah, sure."

Dee and Jenny walked up to her bedroom after Dee had dried herself off. Jenny always knew that she could count on Dee for anything, and she needed someone to talk to.

"So, what is it you want to say?" asked Dee, knowing that Jenny had had some kind of deep thought. Dee could understand. Jenny had been through a lot, but in the end the guy who she had grown to love had just disappeared, literally.

"I've been thinking about him again Dee, and I can't seem to shake off the fact that I can't ever see him again. It's been eating away at me; I know I have denied these feelings before, but they've just grown stronger. Tom looks at me as if I'm a stranger and I just can't handle it," said Jenny, breaking into a small sob.

"Oh Jenny," said Dee whilst she put an arm around Jenny, "you never know, he could come back. Anything is possible, I think you of all people know that."

Jenny sighed. She wished she could just steal that rune stave and carve his name back on, but the Shadow Men would probably try to take her before she got anywhere near it. Jenny dismissed the thought. It would never happen, not ever.

"I guess so. Sometimes I wonder what things would have been like if he had come up to my door and just asked me out, then told me the truth later."

"I'm sure that would have been better for all of us. I mean what was he thinking? Sometimes even I wonder things about him: what he would be like if he was human? Would he be an evil arse or would he be nice? I guess we'll never know. And I've noticed that Tom has grown distant from you and started to look at other girls."

This didn't surprise Jenny. Things would never be the same after that fight. It would never cool off and even though Jenny was angry at Tom, she felt happy that he was able to move on. If only she could do the same, especially when it came to Julian. Her feelings for him had grown and grown in his absence and she missed his element of danger and playfulness.

"Yeah, I've noticed and I'm happy for him," she snapped, "although I am a little envious that he has had the strength to move on with his life, you know?"

Dee nodded, and they both sat there in silence as the sun started to make its way towards the horizon.

After sunset the group went inside, all except for Tom who said that he had some work to do. Summer dried herself and changed into a mid-length, turquoise dress, with the rest of the girls in skirts (except for Dee who was in shorts) and the guys in shorts and vest tops. Jenny and Dee decided to keep their conversation to themselves as it could make the atmosphere a little awkward for Jenny. They were all glad when the evening came because the temperature cooled down a lot; they were tired of the heat of the afternoon. Audrey ordered the pizza and they all sat down together round the coffee table. They chatted with each other about how school was over, the latest music, any holidays that they had planned with their families, but it soon turned to smaller conversations between them. Jenny was absent-minded, lost in her own thought when she heard a knock on the door. Tom? unlikely. Her parents were away for the weekend, so it couldn't be them.

"I'll get it. I think there's some films in the cupboard if you if want to watch one?" Jenny announced.

She looked around at them and they all looked fine with the idea, so she strolled over to the front door. Jenny opened the door and saw nothing. Then, the knock came again, but this time from her upstairs in her bedroom. What the hell? thought Jenny, laughing. She climbed the stairs as she began to feel nervous. jenny was halfway up when there was another knock, but from the door again. Okay this really isn't funny now, thought Jenny. She opened the door again and peered outside, looking left and then right. That was when she saw him. It was Julian and he was back.