I OWN NOTHING!

Okay, here's Chapter 2, just like I promised! I hope you guys are enjoying this. :) And I want to send out a super-special thanks to my first reviewer enchantednight84!

Jenny awoke groggily, remembering vaguely that she'd lain down beside Julian and fallen asleep almost instantly. Fighting off Shadow Men in an attempt to save the one she thought would love her forever was quite exhausting.

She didn't even bother opening her eyes. She just wanted to sleep forever and never wake up, never face the inquiring gazes of her friends, never see Tom's sorrowful green-flecked eyes, never see Julian's astonishing otherworldly beauty again. She just wanted to stay asleep forever, and then she would never have to worry about facing the world again.

Grudgingly, she reached her arms out on either side of her and stretched.

And realized that Julian's body wasn't there anymore.

She jerked her body into a sitting position, her eyes open wide to see through the darkness of the room—she must've slept into the night. She could see a silhouette at the window, leaning against the frame with cat-like grace.

"Julian?" She asked, her voice hoarse from sleep.

The silhouette turned, and from the silver moonlight and the way the shoulders were, she could tell he was facing her.

She stood up and walked toward him slowly, wondering what mood he would be in now. "Julian?" She asked again. She reached out a timid hand to him, like a child reaching out to a stray dog.

Her stomach somersaulted when he threaded his fingers through hers and pulled her closer. When she was close enough, he wrapped his free arm around her waist and drew her body so near to his that she could feel his hard chest through their clothing.

"Why am I not dead?" He whispered intensely.

From such a close proximity, she could see his bright blue eyes, full of concern and confusion.

She shook her head, entranced by his flawless beauty. The moonlight cast surreal shadows across his face, making him even more seductive than before. "I thought you could tell us. You said if they cut your name out of the runestave then you would die."

"But I'm not dead."

Neither of them talked over a whisper, like the moment was too solemn to break with mere words.

"I know."

"I have a theory." He said, gently running his fingers through her soft tresses. Jenny found it increasingly difficult to focus on the conversation. "Maybe since you took me to your world before I died, that it didn't kill me because I wasn't in the Shadow World. Maybe I can only die if they cut my name out and let me die while I'm there."

"But you're still a Shadow Man?"

He nodded. "Feels like it. But I can't go back to the Shadow World unless I want them to kill me."

"Then don't go back."

"And where do you propose I go?" He responded. "I can't stay with any of you, because you have your own lives to live. And you have Tommy." He spit the word like it was a disease.

She shook her head instantly. "Tommy—Tom, and I aren't together anymore." She said. She held up her hand, the one with the ring on her finger. "He saw this."

He smiled and pulled her hand closer to catch the ring in the moonlight. "You found it." Letting her hand drop back to her side, he said, "So what do you want me to do?"

"Why are you asking me?" She asked, perturbed.

"Because you're the one that matters here." He whispered, tucking a lock of her hair behind her head.

She bit her lip. "Don't go back to the Shadow World."

"But then where will I go? I have nothing here." His voice gained a little strength. "My home is the Shadow World. What am I supposed to do now that I can never return there? The others all think I'm dead—."

"Then that means you can start over." She fought the urge to grab his shoulders and shake him. "If they think you're dead then you can do whatever you want and they can't bother you anymore, Julian. You can change now."

That ugly spark returned to his eyes, the same way it did the last time she mentioned that he could change. "But what's the point?" He asked viciously, letting go of her and walking back to the center of the room. "Why should I change? For who? It doesn't matter if I change or not, Jenny. Nothing else has changed, so why should I? Nothing between us has changed."

"That's not true." She protested, her voice soft.

"Isn't it?"

"No." Her voice rose to match his. "We've already changed. We changed when you changed this." She jerked the ring off her finger and showed him the inscription. I am my only master.

He reached out for the ring, but he didn't take it out of her fingers. Instead, he lightly touched her fingertips with his. Moonbeam, she thought as she looked up into his blue eyes.

His other hand reached up beneath her hair to cup her neck. He stepped toward her, closing off the distance between them, and bent his head down to hers.

It was—different from any of the other kisses they'd shared. Perhaps because this one wasn't in the Shadow World. She still thought her legs were going to give out, though.

Knock, knock!

Jenny jerked back and said loudly, "Come in," which put an effective end to the mood.

All of the gang filed in. First Dee, then Audrey and Michael, Zach and Summer, and finally Tom. Jenny slipped the ring back onto her finger and stared at them all in confusion.

"We want to know what's going on." Dee answered her expression and shrugged. "We could hear you two up here talking so we thought we'd come and join you. We need to know what happened…and what's going to happen."

"Julian can't return to the Shadow World. They'll kill him if they find out he's still alive." She noticed Tom flinched when she said Julian's name.

"Obviously." Audrey retorted.

"So, what are we going to do with him?" Jenny asked, her eyes sweeping across her friends.

"What do you mean 'what are we going to do with him'?" Tom repeated. "He isn't our problem. What can we do with him? He's not one of your stray kittens, Jenny." He sounded like a father reprimanding a child. "You can't just take him home with you."

Jenny looked to Julian. He was standing in profile to her, his thumbs in his pockets. But she couldn't see his face. His head was bowed and turned away from her slightly. His entire stance was in defensive mode.

Tom's words had hurt him, Jenny realized. Nothing for him is like it is in the Shadow World. There, he's on his own turf and no one can touch him, but here—he's unfamiliar with everything, and he's unprepared. Vulnerable.

"Tom…" Jenny started, but she trailed off, realizing there was nothing she could say to make him take back the words or to turn it around on him. He was right, even if he could've found a nicer way to put it. "Guys…listen. Let's go downstairs. We can talk down there. Julian needs to rest." Julian snapped his head up, turning wild blue eyes to her own green ones, which were dark with sympathy.

"All right." Dee agreed and motioned for everyone to follow her downstairs. Tom was the last to leave. He just stood there, watching Jenny and Julian watch each other, their eyes never straying from one another's. Finally, defeated, Tom followed the rest out the door and pulled it closed behind him.

"I'm sorry." Jenny broke the heavy silence between the two of them.

Julian nodded. "It's all right. I should've expected them to be a little less understanding than you." His eyes looked so tired and weary of—everything that it made her heart ache for him. It made her want to take him in her arms and hug him and rock him like a child and say that everything would be okay.

Instead, she said, "I guess I should go down there and talk to them."

He nodded. "I guess you should."

"Try and get some rest, okay? You went through a lot back there."

On her way out the door, she thought she heard him mutter under his breath, "Not as much as you."

Don't forget to review my lovelies! I'll get the third chapter out A.S.A.P.