I feel like the vibes for this story just won't stop coming. I really wish I could just bang out college essays like these chapters. Oh well, I hope you enjoy this one.

P.S. I also realised I haven't really done any disclaimers but this is FanFiction so I suppose it's just kind of a given.

Chapter Four

The silence was unnerving. Ian's hand moved to the small of my back and he pushed me forwards kindly. He led me around the corner and the first thing I noticed was the light that had seemed like just a slight glow in the tunnel. It was still pale and dim, casting a silvery shine on what I could only think of as a large, open cavern. The high, stony ceiling opened up into a jagged hole through which the moon shone vibrantly. Thousands of twinkling stars added to the beams of light that illuminated the cavernous interior.

I knew my eyes were wide. I could feel eyes on me also.

Ian scooted my forwards again, a little more forcefully this time because my attention was elsewhere. Before us stood a small group of people, all fixing intense eyes on my face. I recognised Jared and Jamie, standing close to two women that looked a little sleepy. I supposed it was the middle of the night.

Jared, who had been leaning in close to speak intently with one of the women, turned around when I entered. I could see her face clearly now. Her hair was a rich, chocolate brown and straight, falling just past her shoulders. She was tall, almost as tall as Jared and I would see her arms and legs were toned and strong for her age. I wasn't a very good guess when it came to ages but I believed she was younger than Jared, perhaps a lot younger, it was difficult to tell with the bluish smudges under her eyes from lack of sleep. She looked me over with kind but stormy eyes.

Beside her a short, slight blonde thing, that looked no bigger than a child appeared to be on the edge of tears. Her little fists were clenched though her face didn't show anything but love. Love, devotion and relief. No, she seemed almost to be holding back, as though she was struggling with herself to stay stood where she was.

Her eyes. It was her eyes that made me recoil slightly, leaning into Ian's side. He sensed my unease.

"It's okay, she's with us," he whispered in my ear.

The woman's eyes were light, sky blue and ringed with silver that reflected the moonlight onto the walls of the cave in faint rippling circles. A Soul.

Unable to focus on her glowing eyes for much longer my gaze swept along the line, passed Jamie, to an old, white haired man. I balked slightly when he tipped his head and raised his hand to an invisible hat. I struggled to even guess anything about this man. His body looked frail and his face was lined, half covered by a solid, white beard. Yet there was a vibrancy about the way he stood, his back straight and shoulders relaxed but not hunched. His face was alive with a vitality that made him look younger than I guessed he was.

Lastly, my eyes fell upon the youngest member of the group. Blonde haired and blue eyed like Ian but with the same soft face as the fair haired woman that stood beside Jamie. He was appraising me more curiously than the others with his head crooked slightly to one side and a light smile on his lips. He also nodded his head towards me. I felt like I should nod back, introduce myself but again they were not Souls; they did not enter into every meeting with the intention of an interesting and friendly conversation.

Ian was still holding my silently. He didn't speak and I was sure he didn't quite know what to say. I remembered how he had called me 'miss' back at the Jeep. It didn't feel right to tell them my name now though so I just let him lead me towards them.

I couldn't see any weapons nor fierce twisted faces of humans ready to hurt me. The only fist I could see was the tiny blonde Soul but even she seemed more relaxed as Ian and I drew closer. Besides, I liked to think I could at least take her, if I had too.

It was when we reached her that Ian's hands finally left me and I felt oddly exposed. Not afraid or in danger but just very bare.

Out of the blue she pushed a fragile hand out in my direction and spoke in a high, whimsical voice.

"Hello. I'm Wanda. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Her hand was still stretched out, waiting. I glanced at Ian and he nodded. I took her hand weakly, afraid I might break her with a touch.

"And you."

My voice came out more quietly than usual but she smiled at me.

Was this it? They had only mentioned five names on the way here. It seemed funny that so few people would live in a place like this, could live in a place like this. But there were not enough women. If this Soul was Wanda then was the dark haired girl Elle? Or Lucy? Ian had said they were both very young though so perhaps she was Mel.

I soon found out. Wanda, having let go of my hand, seeming unaware of the tension our contact had caused in the room, gestured to each of her companions in turn as she spoke again.

"You already know Ian, I see, and Jared and Jamie." She waved her hand towards both of them. "This is Melanie." She put her arm around the smiling woman to her right. "Jeb - this is his house, - and James." Wanda pointed first at the white haired man and then at the younger man beside him.

Jeb's house. I thought about this. If Elle and Lucy were missing then there were definitely more of them. A houseful though? How much was that? I wasn't sure that this little group couple really facilitate living in a place like this. As I inspected the cavern more closely I could see tunnels, much like the one me and Ian had just entered from, leading off in different directions. Who knows how big these, I guess they were caves, were.

"What do they call you?"

I noticed with a start that Wanda was still speaking to me.

"Lilies of the Valley, it..." I trailed off, thinking of my mother's face. She must be so worried. I was shocked that I wasn't worried too. "My mother's host, it was her favourite flower. You can call me Lily. They do," I finished with a whisper, unsure whether they would all be as easily offended as Jared.

Back here in the safety of his home however he was regarding me with the same bewilderment as the others.

"That's lovely-" she began but her words were cut off by two soft giggle that echoes through the cave tunnels eerily.

Across the cavern I could make out two flitting shadows and whispered murmurs. There was a scoffing sound like somebody covering their mouth with a hand, holding back another titter. In the moonlight there was a quick glint of swishing brown waves and the silhouettes flickered again.

Melanie issued an audible sign and it was answered by a less than subtle shushing from the mouth of the tunnel. Melanie's face wore a resigned expression. Jared's was even less enthused and his voice resonated around us.

"Back to bed, both of you!"

There was a little shriek and the sound of pattering footsteps in the tunnel. They faded swiftly.

Jeb chuckled. It was the first sound I had heard from him.

"I think we should all be getting back to our beds. Valleys here looks about to drop," he said, his tone had a commanding edge to it.

Did I really look that bad?

Jeb had not finished. "James, how 'bout you find our guest somewhere to put that pretty head down."

I glanced at James and he nodded grimly at Jeb before reaching a hand out to me. He also took the bandana from Ian who patted him on the shoulder. Slowly they all filtered away, dividing into two smaller groups and disappearing into the darkness of the tunnels.

I felt naked again. There was too much space and it made me uncomfortable. It took me a moment to recognize that it was not the tension that caused sweat to bead on my forehead but the stifling heat. Even in the dead of night, when I would have expected a cool evening breeze, nothing stirred. The warmth was stagnant in the air and the humidity made my skin feel clammy.

James shifted his feet beside me.

"You must be tired," he mused, eyeing me.

His sudden remark shocked me. He seemed to notice he'd startled me.

"I'm sorry; I just meant... anyway, umm, I should really blindfold you again. I really am sorry."

He didn't wait for me to respond. He stepped towards and I didn't flinch. I wouldn't.

He tied the bandana around my head again, carefully avoiding my nose as Ian had forgotten to. The syrupy scent filled my nose again. It was like pancakes and pinecones and something else, something clean that I couldn't place.

I jumped when James' hand found the small of my back and he stifled a laugh, covering it with a quick cough.

"Don't worry; no one's going to hurt you. They're just not sure what to do with you," he said.

That did not exactly make me feel better.

He continued. "It's a difficult situation, I guess. You're human. It's not like we can just fish a Soul out of the back of your head. You could bring an army of Seekers down on this place, not that Jeb really thinks you would but then again they might be looking for you. Are they, do you think?" he rambled. His words bounded back at us as we entered one of the tunnels. The air compressed again as it had before, pressing in on us, contained by the craggy walls.

"I don't know," I mumbled. "Maybe. My father might."

I expected him to ask about my family but he remained silent, our footsteps were the only sound in the tunnel. It didn't seem long, a few twists, a sharp turn and one moment where I was convinced he had turned me around in a circle just to confuse me.

My mind was frantic. The No Pain must be wearing off, if that really was what they had given me, because the serene, almost Soul-like feeling, which had come over me, was crumbling. I was blind. So very blind. My mother had told me about her lifetime on the Singing World. It was her first planet, which meant she didn't miss the sight that she had never had. She had also said that she could never bear to lose any of the senses she had now. She was right.

It was disorientating. My fraught imaginings fluctuated from images of them leading me torture chambers I had read about in Gothic novels, more stolen books, to a depiction of an underground community, small though it may be. My chest panged with longing. I begged that there might be more. More humans. More people who knew what it was like to have fast food suddenly vanish from their hands, to be relentlessly reminded how cruel the humans are by nature.

James grip loosened around my waist and before I could comprehend what was happening the bandana was gone and he was in front of me, standing close in a section of the tunnel that was no more than four feet wide.

Behind him a low semi circular opening in the rock leaked light into the tunnel.

James stood to the side and spread one hand out and in a mock bow gestured towards the 'door' like he was welcoming me to a suite. I half crouched and stumbled through into a dimly lit cave. It was oddly shaped, like a tear drop laid on its side with the wall to my right curving around and tapering into a point to my left.

James, at least a head taller than me, grunted as he ducked under the archway behind me. I stepped further into the cave to give him space.

"It's not much. We don't use this one often, because of the door, obviously," he admitted behind me.

There were no shelves, probably because of the way the walls curved, but instead there was an old, grubby side table and a mattress, blankets and pillow lay in the centre of the room. Above the side table, a small hole, about the size of a dustbin lid allowed the moonlight, and most likely sunlight during the day, to illuminate the cave enough to see.

James coughed. "So, I guess you should make yourself at home then."

I don't know why but I just didn't like this chapter as much. It seems a little bitty. Oh well...