A New Start Chapter (7), a hollows, kim harrison fanfic

A disclaimer: Kim Harrison owns the series the hollows and its characters. I'm just using some of them to tell my version of the story.
After finishing reading pale demon I got so pissed off that I decided that I wanted to make my story.

NOTES: I'VE STARTED THIS STORY FROM SCRATCH SO I CANT PLACE IT BEFORE OR AFTER ANY OF THE BOOKS.
I SERIOUSLY HOPE YOU ENJOY IT. I KEPT SOME THINGS CHANGED ANOTHER LIKE: NO ROSEWOOD SYNDROME FOR
RACHEL. SHE'S NOT WITH THE I.S AND OTHER STUFF.

ENJOY.

"It's dark." He responded.

"Focus on the spot at the center of your forehead. The universe is deathless. Is deathless cause having no finite self it stays infinite. A sound man by not advancing himself stays the further ahead of himself." I went to the other side of the room were Jenks was and handed him a small vial with a sleeping potion in case anything goes bad. He was already prepared, but no harm done. I returned to my previous position and sat on top of Steve's desk and crossed my legs.

"I see a door, I'm heading towards it." He continued talking.

"That is the door that keeps you from remembering what happened. You need to cross it. But be cautious once you pass it you may not like what you see. There is a chance you may experience all the previous pain you went through." I warned him. Jenks entered in battle mode. I saw the stiffness on Steve's shoulders, he was for sure nervous, but had already decided to go through with it.

"I'm doing it." This time he sounded more confident. I nodded. I sensed a change in the air. He had definitely gone through the door. Steve exhaled deeply.

"Now you're inside let my voice guide you." Steve's face twitched his eyes flutter as his eyeballs probe in all directions underneath the closed eyelids.

"Steve, I will now establish contact with your mind. It will be like before, but this time I will use my second sight. I will only be a bystander; I won't be able to help you." I focused and connected my mind to Steve's, a little trick i learned from the Mages.

The soft sound of moving water can be heard in the background. I see a young man on the floor is eyes are closed. Suddenly his eyes open, he wakes up and starts to struggle coughing and gasping from the shock. The room is pitch black, I can only see him due to my second sight. Steve lifts himself up out of the floor but as he moves himself forward, he realizes that his ankle is chained to something. He feels his way over to a pipe in the corner that is attached to it. Pulling and pulling, he struggles only to realize he is not strong enough. Steve crumbles to his knees.

"You're wasting your time; he made sure we wouldn't escape. The metallic taste in your mouth…it's a Wolfsbane cocktail. He somehow depraved us of our abilities. Save your strength, the chains are charmed. We are lambs for the slaughter." The voice said in a slightly softer but still panicked voice. Steve panics as the meaning of the words wash over his conscience, he feels even more trapped and fear and desperation start coloring his emotional state.

"Help! Someone help me!" Steve keeps struggling to break the chain from the pip on the wall.

"There is no point in yelling, I already tried." The other man said, slightly irritated with Steve's reaction to the situation. Suddenly, from out the darkness comes a man's low raspy voice. It startles Steve. He forces himself to calm down, he needs information. He needs to be collected and cool.

"Who are you?" Steve asks the other man.

"Mark." The other Were answers slowly lowering himself into a sitting position against the wall poking slightly at the iron cuff around his foot.

"I'm Steve. How did you get caught." Steve drops himself in the same position and asks also poking his chain.

"Deceit and deception. You?" Mark answers softly. He is unusually calm for his position.

"My guard was low." Steve answers. The other Were laughs. Steve frowns.

"You mean you were drunk, you stink of liquor." Steve doesn't answer.

"You must have been pretty hammered not be able to react. Weres don't drink that much unless they want to drown themselves. Bad experience?" Steve doesn't answer.

We ear steps, Mark suddenly falls to the side. He stops moving, Steve tries to reach him, but also starts feeling very dizzy. The steps draw closer and closer. The fear is returning to him now that he realizes he can't fight back whatever is coming.

The door opens and with a loud clicking sound the very bright fluorescent lights come to life. Both Weres are nearly blinded by the sudden change of pitch black to bright light. Mark instinctively closes his eyes Steve held up his arms to cover his eyes. A cloaked figure appears holding out a gun at Mark it looks like a sedative. Mark gets shot with it, struggles a bit then loses consciousness. Steve tries to help Mark but gets shot too.

"Wait your turn, animal. I have plans for you as well." The voice spats angrily Steve collapses, but before losing consciousness Steve witnesses Mark being dragged away like a rag doll. The door closes violently shut.

I switch off my second sight a sit back up, Steve's head falls into his chest.

"Steve, are you all right?" I see Steve starts to shake and breathing heavily. I approach him. This is bad, the panic attacks can start at any moment he already has a fear of confined spaces. Sweat starts to pour from his forehead and he tightens his grip on the chair.

"No stop, don't touch me. Let me gooooo." The panic attack starts.

"From the power invested in me, I Rachel Morgan, release you from your bond to this circle. Open your eyes." The five candles extinguished themselves at the sound of my command. I had to stop this it was going too far. Steve struggled a bit, but after a few seconds he opened his eyes. He was breathing heavily and still sweating, his pupils were dilated and he still was gripping that chair like there is no tomorrow. Jenks flew from the back of the room right into my shoulder.

"Steve, calm down, it's over just relax." The smell of burned candle was still lingering in the room, I could hear Jenks pixie wing clapping on my right ear. Steve stood up abruptly from his chair gasping for air.

"Steve, calm down." I asked again. His breathing slowed down. Jenks was hovering next to me.

"Is he going to be ok?" Jenks asked concerned. Steve knelt down with both hands in front of him trying to recover from the experience.

"Do you have trouble sleeping? Panic attacks?" I folded my arms across my chest. He looked up at me from his kneeling position, but didn't answer. He didn't have to.

"Have you been to a doctor after…?" Still no answer. He got back up, but refused to maintain eye contact.

"Steve you have a serious problem. You have PTSD." (Stress Post Traumatic Disorder.)

PTSD is an anxiety a disorder that some people develop after seeing or living through an event that caused or threatened serious harm or death.

Steve turned his back at me, I glanced at Jenks and Jenks flew over to him.

"Are you ok, wolfman?" Jenks landed on his shoulder. Steve turned his head slightly to the 4 inches pixie were.

"I'll be fine, Jenks." Steve turned back at me with a smile, a forced one.

"You saw all that?" He asked and I nodded.

"Why didn't you try this before?" Steve wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.

"Cause' your memory was switched off, I had to turn it back on before attempting something else." I explained.

"Just don't ask me to do that again, I don't know how much my heart can take." Steve winked at me, forcing himself to calm down just as I had witnessed moments ago, he had a very strong will. I nodded.

"Steve this is serious, after a traumatic experience, it's normal to feel frightened, sad, anxious, and disconnected. It can seem like you'll never get over what happened or feel normal again. But by seeking treatment, reaching out for support, and developing new coping skills, you can overcome PTSD and move on with your life." I told him with a soft and concerned voice. He needs to get this fixed ASAP.

"Ok ,ok, I'll take care of it." He raised his hands up in surrender. Jenks flew off his shoulder and back into mine.

"Promise me." I folded my arms in defiance my gaze never leaving his.

"Promise." He answered.

"I guess we're done here." Jenks said on the air, doing his Peter Pan pose. I went back to Steve and gave him a hug and he returned the affection.

"It's going to be ok, I promise." I whispered in his ear and he tightened the embrace.

It was 7.30 pm and it was time to go back into that house and find what I'm meant to find and be done with it. We said our goodbyes to Steve and went on our way.

At the entrance of the house I stopped for a second and took a deep breath. Jenks was seated on my shoulder like he usually is.

"Something wrong?" He asked shrugging his shoulders, his wings clapping together at top speed.

"No, it's just I don't know what to expect from this. I just know I have to find something in there, we're getting in blind." I brought with me my backpack just in case something goes wrong. The door to the house was sealed with the yellow tape police uses to seal off an area of a crime scene. That tape had to come out in order for us to get in.

"You know we can get arrested for disrupting a crime scene, right?" Jenks asked with an amused grin on his face.

"Yeah, like that has ever stopped you." My eyes went to the surrounding area, it was dark by now, we took almost half an hour to reach the house from Steve's shop.

Decaying tree branches creaked in the hissing wind as the blood-thirsty bats cackled. The house windows were blinded with rotting shutters. The sticky air was heavy with loneliness. This place was way too quiet for my liking, typical horror movie scenario. We stepped inside the house, a cool shudder tickled down my spine. I conjured a small orb of light the interior was as dark as the exterior. Glancing around nervously, I saw some portraits staring right at us from behind the layers upon layers of dust I felt quite intimidated actually.

The small orb of light shaded some light into the darkness of the room. As we walked forward I couldn't help but feel that someone was following us. Whirling around I saw nothing but an empty hallway and the faces in the portraits staring at me and Jenks. It's like they're saying turn back. We kept moving forward.

"Geez, this place is creepy." Jenks muttered. On my right, there's a room. Shadows seemed to swirl around my feet sucking me in. In a burst of panic, I reached for the switch on the wall flipping it up and down frantically but the rooms remain buried in darkness.

An overwhelming sense of fear took over me and deep down I realized that we were not alone in the dark. Something brushed my back.

"What the hell was THAT?" I turned, Jenks almost fell off my shoulder. He hovered back on it.

"Something is wrong about this place, Rache." There was nothing behind us, well, nothing we could see. I tried to switch on my second sight, but it didn't work. Instead, I got a small headache and it was getting hard to breath also. Outside the house we could hear the winter wind howling almost sounding like laughter.

"Let's step outside, Jenks." Jenks led the way back to the front door. Outside it was like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. The sense of fear was gone and now I could switch to my second sight again.

"Rache, what was that?" Jenks was hovering in front of me, pouring pixie dust from him. His wings were clapping nervously together and his hands on his hips, trying to look much cooler than he felt.

"You felt it too, right?" He nodded. With my second sight on, I glanced over to the house and saw nothing off. The energy was gone. Was that sensing emotion through someone else? Can I do that?

"I don't see anything out of the ordinary, Jenks. What's going on in here?" I wondered out loud.

"Maybe it was a projection?" Jenks said.

"A what?" I said, blinking at him.

"It's when a ghost projects emotion into you." That's what I thought.

"You mean like empathic perception?" Empathic Perception is the power to fully interpret and replicate the emotions, moods and temperaments of others. People with this ability are often called Empaths. The user can read and mirrors the feelings of others without reading apparent symptoms allowing them to understand introverts or discover that one emotion is actually hiding another. Some users can learn emotional imprints left in the environment or objects.

"Something like that, there is for sure paranormal activity in that house, Rache." Jenks warned me in a serious tone. It wasn't often that Jenks turned serious.

"Was there any activity when the I.S guys were here swapping the area?" It was windy outside and my hair was getting in my way, I pushed the unruly curls behind my ear to make them less obvious.

"No, nothing was reported." I can honestly say I never had an evening quite like this.

"Ready for round two?" Jenks teased.

"Yup, let's go." It was my witty retort.

We got back inside the house and the energy was different, the air was different everything was different. Those feelings were gone there was nothing there. This time I left my second sight on and increased the size of my light orb a few inches. Jenks was now in the air no longer on my shoulder, like before.

"The energy is gone, I can't feel anything anymore. Let's head to the basement." Jenks nodded.

The basement looked as scary as the rest of the house. The icy wind blew the dusty shutters against the peeling window frames just as it did in the upper floor. A single light globe, long blown circled lazily on the emptiness on the ceiling. If it were to somehow come back to life, it would for sure illuminate a scene of utter emptiness and desolation. I directed my light orb up so we could have a better view of the basement. The sight was horrid. There were still blood marks on the walls and floor. This place looked like a medieval torture chamber; there were chains on the wall and pieces of rope and leather straps on the floor. Jenks looked as shocked as me, he was now waving around the room. I like horror movies, but god damn…

"What kind of sick f—" I had no time to finish my though cause Jenks yelled my name.

"Rachel, over here!" Jenks was on the opposite side of me.

"What?" I walked to him.

"There is something behind this wall I can sense it, there is also something written on the wall." Jenks pointed to the lower right corner of the wall.

"Use your second sight, witch." Jenks wings hummed.

"Take a chill pill, insect." My eyes narrowed and he smiled.

"I really want to meet that ex of yours, she sounded…interesting."

"Not on your life." I said hotly and he chuckled.

"I wonder what Your "panther" will think about her when she finds out." He quoted the word panther with his tiny fingers. I know of a little finger I could show him. I clenched my teeth and he smirked.

Turning on my second sight I noticed the door had some engravings on it like Jenks said.

"Jenks, pour some pixie dust over the door." I directed him to the middle of the wall. Jenks did as I asked and in the mean time I took my journal out of my backpack and started drawing these symbols on its pages. The second Jenks flew over the symbols they started to glow.

"They seem to react to magic. What do you think it means?" Jenks asked he was still in mid air.

"I don't know, but I intend to find out, they look familiar, though." I finished drawing the last symbol and started to translate them. I suddenly remember where I knew these symbols from, they were Gaelic, there was another symbol below, that one I knew it was druid, it meant servant of the moon. I put the journal back in my backpack. I needed to take an extra look at it once I'm done here.

"Stand back, Jenks I want to try something." I concentrated and placed both my hands on the wall. The second I opened my eyes to speak out I noticed something was wrong with the light orb. There was a weird shaped shadow on the wall.

"What the hell—" I looked back at Jenks, he was in front of the light orb making figures with his tiny hands.

"Look Rachel, a bunny isn't he cute?" You have got to be kidding me.

"Jenks!" I shouted. "I'm trying to work here, damn it." I hissed.

"Ok, Ok, I was just kidding." There is no chance he was sorry for that.

I could see the door again and the symbols were still glowing. I placed both my hands on the wall again and concentrated.

The light orb went off.

"JENNNNNKKKSS!"

"I didn't do anything, it went off by itself." I couldn't see him, but I knew for sure he did not look apologetic at all. I bet my ass on it.

I reached in my pocket and grabbed my phone, maybe its light will help. It directed the phone's light onto the floor and picked up a few pieces of rope and a wooden stick off the floor and wrapped the rope on the wooden stick and lit it on fire.

"Ascendio." The wooden lit up and now I could continue. Only this time I could only use one of my hands cause the other was holding the …I guess I could call it torch by now.

"Such enchantment shall unveil

That which common sight both fail

Disclosing, thus, for thou to see

All passageways that hidden be."

The wall moved, revealing a hidden passageway.

"It worked, nice job, Rache." We entered the secret passage moving slowly into the inky darkness with only my torch as a source of light. The tunnel became smaller as we moved further forcing us to lower ourselves not to hit the ceiling. As I crawled on my hands and knees continue to crunch on the cold and dusty floor. Jenks was flying ahead and found what seemed to be a large chamber.

"Over here, Rache." I reached the large chamber.

"There's an oil lamp here, Rache, light it." Jenks directed me to it. There were several oil lamps on the chamber, I lit them all up. That made the work a lot easier. Big hairy rats scurried through the floor.

There were symbols on the floor, as I moved to my right to have a better look the door we came through shut off, trapping us inside. I ran to the door trying to avoid the shutting but I fail.

"God damn it." I yelled pissed off.

"That's not good." Jenks muttered.

"Geez, you think?" I hissed.

We started looking around the door for a way out, but we're out of luck. To my back, I noticed a circle and in the middle of it was a strange, twisted altar. Muck made out of filthy water and presumably human remains are scattered throughout the chamber. The silence was deafening and tension hung in the air thickly. I switched to my second sight and looked around the place. I approached the altar. I also notice that the same symbols we found on the previous door were on it and on the floor. I grabbed my journal from the backpack and started studying them.

"These are the same symbols as the ones on the previous door. I don't think it's a coincidence." Jenks flew over to me and landed on my shoulder to take a look.

"Maybe if you step on the right symbols something happens." Jenks says. I think he is right. I stepped on each symbol, but nothing happened.

"That's odd." Jenks mumbled and I sighed heavily. I'm not dying here. Hell, no.

"The altar, Rache, maybe it's the symbols on the altar." I nodded. Maybe Jenks was right or maybe it would set another trap. I pressed each symbols carefully, at the last symbol I heard a clicking sound. It sounded like a lock unlocking. The altar opened up revealing a small compartment, there was something inside, a stone with the same druid symbol I found on the wall. The servant of the moon symbol.

"Is that it? The thing you were supposed to find?" Jenks asked curiously pointing at the stone in my hand. I was curious too.

"I don't know." The stone started to glow and getting warmer. A bright beam of light burst out from the stone almost blinding us. I instinctively raised my arm to cover for my eyes.

"What the hell was that?" Jenks hissed.

"Where's the stone?" Jenks asked. He was right, I looked to the floor and the stone was nowhere to be found. The ground started to shake.

"Shit, that's better not to be another trap." I hissed and the floor under my feet parted and I fell.

"Rachellll, Rachel, are you ok? Rachel, say something." Jenks yelled alarmed, going down to find me.

"OWWWW, my ass, I think I broke something." I fell on my ass. But it didn't hurt as much as I thought. I didn't hit the cold hard floor, because there was something else under me and it was not the stone. I struggled a bit for air as I staggered wildly to my feet. Jenks flew down to me.

"Rache, you ok?" Jenks asked on my face.

"Yeah, I'm good." Still gasping for air I called for a light orb.

"OH MY GOD." I gasped.

"These are bones, Rachel. And for the look of it, there are thousands of them." Jenks stated the obvious.

There were bones everywhere. I had fallen on another crypt, as I moved forward I noticed side passages branching to the left and right. What have I got myself into this time? I'll never know unless I try, so I kept moving forward.

As I passed by the numerous side passages I started to hear sounds in my head.

'Find me, find me.'

It was like a shiver that runs down your spine. A low voice whispered from the dark, caressing my body like a breeze within this airless labyrinth. I strained to make out the words, but there's nothing more to hear, I kept moving forward.

We reached the end of the path, it's a dead end, but not quite. There's a statue hanging on the wall. As we approached the end of the path my left forearm starts to hitch. I lift my jacket's sleeve and discovered the druid symbol from the stone tattooed on my forearm.

"Whoa Rachel, how did that happened?" Jenks looked as stunned as I did.

"I have no idea, it's cool though, I always wanted a tattoo." I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly. Approaching the statue we realized it was a small gargoyle with an opened mouth in a threatening way, its wings were spread all the way to the sides. There was something in its mouth as I was reaching for it. It glowed and so did my tattoo. The statue of the gargoyle came to life closing its mouth and spreading its wings further. Jenks and I jumped back a few steps and prepared for a fight.

"Hi, I'm Bis, what's your name?" the gargoyle asked in a non threatening way. I glanced at Jenks, who was staring suspiciously at the gargoyle.

"I'm Rachel, this is Jenks." I pointed at Jenks, he didn't say a word. Bis was a small gargoyle probably the size of a dvd, he looked young, gargoyles grow up to 7 feet tall and some have magical properties like healing or offense spells. I've read about gargoyles they were supposedly great familiars and guardians. Bis noticed my new tattoo and spread his wings excitedly.

"It's you. I finally found you." He flew into us stopping in mid air,his lifeless form coming back to life. I could tell by the stance Jenks took that he didn't trust Bis one bit. Bis didn't have the grotesque look expected from a gargoyle, like a stone figure meant to scare off intruders that often depicts gruesome devils or other deformed faces. Bis was...different, adorable.

"Calm down, Jenks. You found me? What are you talking about?" I folded my arms across my chest.

"You are the keeper of the stone. The servant of the moon." He said excitedly pointing at the symbol on my forearm.

"I'm to serve a keeper, you are the keeper. It was foretold." Bis got on his knees and bowed his head. I reached for him, he was cold to the touch, like stone cold. I placed my hands on his shoulders.

"I don't want a servant." He frowned. "But I will accept a friend." I smiled at him and he returned the smile. We both got on our feet and shook hands. i noticed the huge claws on his hands, they were quite pointy.

"Are you serious, Rachel?" Jenks looked annoyed. He was still hovering, the clapping of his wings was the only sound on this corridor.

"Jenks be nice, give him a chance." I pointed at Bis.

"Fine, but I'm not sharing my room with him." Jenks frowned landing on my shoulder. I smirked and winked at Bis. Bis jumped at me giving me a hug. Jenks almost fell off my shoulder. I laughed at the gesture. I now had both Bis and Jenks on my shoulders, one for Jenks and the other for Bis. It feels right, balanced somewhat, I feel good.

"Do you happen to know a way out of here?" Jenks asked Bis.

"Sure, you need to place your hand on the stone wall and the way will reveal itself." Our new friend responded proudly to be useful.

I placed my hand on the wall and it moved revealing a set of stairs up behind it. I could see light at the end. I looked at my wrist watch and it showed 5.27 am, we had spent all night in this tomb and I was tired, my ass was still sore from the fall. I really miss my bed right now.

"Let's get out of here." We went up the stairs and exited the tunnels. The sun was beginning to rise. I watched as the large glowing sphere rose slowly into the dull morning sky, casting sunbeams in every direction. I realized we were far from our start point, but I could still see the rail track from afar.

It took me a 30 minute walk to get back into the car. Jenks kept quiet and Bis was glancing everywhere. It suddenly hit me.

"Bis, aren't you supposed to turn into stone at sunrise?" The book said so, but it could have been wrong.

"Most gargoyles do turn to stone at sunrise but I'm not most gargoyles. I'm a guardian." He held his hand to his chest. He looked very proud of it. Jenks muttered between clenched teeth.

"What was that, Jenks?" he didn't answer.

"So what are you saying exactly?" I asked curious.

"I'm saying that I can turn in and out of stone at will." Interesting.

"That way you can protect your keep more effectively." I reached the conclusion and he smiled.

I reached the car and threw my backpack into the trunk. We got inside, Jenks and Bis remained on my shoulders. While I was starting the engine Jenks asked.

"Where are we going?"

"I have to go to the I.S, they need to know about what we found." Jenks nodded.

"What about him?" Jenks asked.

"They don't need to know about that." I said pensively, it was a development I hadn't expected and no one was to be trusted at this point. I picked up my phone which apparently had suffered no damage from my little adventure and called Clarisse.

"Rachel, what can I do for you this early in the morning?" She asked ironically her voice tainted with weariness.

"I need to see you , you are not gonna believe what happened to me."

"Came by the office. I'll be there by 9:30, the most ungodly hour." She hang up and I made my way to the IS.

I drove back to the IS headquarters it was now 10 am. I barely managed to drive I was so tired my eyes refused to remain open. On the way we stopped at a gas station I was in desperate need of coffee and Jenks had to pee. I told Bis to remain in the car and it would not to draw attention. Bis struggled a bit he didn't want me to go unprotected. I reassured him that Jenks would watch over me. Bis agreed and turned to stone and I placed him under my seat. Inside Margaret greeted me.

"Hey Rachel, damn you look like crap." She chuckled and I smirked.

"Is Clarisse here I need to talk to her." I yawned.

"Rough night?" she asked amused.

"You have no idea." I smirked.

"She's waiting for you." I headed to her office.

Inside I told her all about my little adventure. All but except Bis and the druid symbol. Clarisse listened very carefully never interrupting. She was in a two pieces office suit in a shade of obscure blue, the shirt showing a tasteful but sensual cleavage, the miniskirt and the stilettos high lightening the never ending long legs. How can she seem so dashing and ravishing at this hour especially when I just took her out of bed without having enough sleep? At the end of my report she made a number of phone calls.

"Go home, Rachel you look tired. Does Ivy know about this?" She asked, smirking intertwining her fingers together. Oh shit. Panther. I wonder how she is.

"She has no idea you went back to the house on your own, does she?" I didn't answer and she chuckled.

"What's so funny?" I asked annoyed. She raised her hands up in surrender. Jenks had fallen asleep on my earring. Clarisse offered me a cup of coffee when suddenly I hear a loud noise. Clarisse rushed to the office door and opened it. I turned to see my panther chocking Denon against the wall, he was gasping for air. I heard her say.

"Don't you dare touch her, you thrall scum she's mine." She shouted angrily at Denon. The man looked scared, although he was trying not to show it.

"Enough." Clarisse growled at them both. My panther let go of Denon's throat. He growled at my panther threatening to make her pay for it. Clarisse told Ivy to step inside the office. My panther was upset, her eyes were pitch black, she was panting hard. The second she saw me she looked away almost like she was embarrassed. She had leather pants in black, biker boots and a short jacket also in black leather. Her tank top was blood red. Her long hair was in a ponytail. She looked yummy.

Like i promised here it is.

I'd like to thank agmartin40 for the help and the special touch she always gives my chapters.

To Mkthrall: Still think i was bluffing? MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

Ideas are welcome and reviews make me write faster so review away and let me know what you think and if there's anything you would change what it would be.

Later.