Daniel and Kenjii ran after Maya and everyone was stunned into silence. Sam decided to follow them and demand to know what was going on so Corey and Hayley followed her.

"Daniel?" Sam called out and they followed her closely. Corey still couldn't help but look over his shoulder, hoping to catch a glimpse of Asaya in her animal form, hoping and failing to get rid of the disappointment when he couldn't spot her.

"What about Nicole?" Sam asked as they came into view.

Corey, Hayley, and Sam were eyeing her carefully but either Maya didn't notice or didn't care. She then began to tell them what happened with Moreno and Nicole.

"So Nicole's alive," Sam said after Maya finished talking.

"Somewhere." Daniel's look said he knew exactly where this was headed. "They won't be holding her around here."

"Why not?" Maya said. "She's their best source of information about us. And she'd be the perfect lure."

"Which is exactly why we can't try to rescue her. It's a setup." As Daniel and Maya argued, the others were quiet, still assimilating the news.

Corey spoke first. "Okay, it's freaking amazing that Nic is alive. I have no idea whether we should look for her or not, but I'm pretty sure we need to discuss a few other things. Like what the hell happened to Maya back there."

"She's a shape-shifter, just like-" Daniel cut off when Corey shot him a dangerous look that dared him to finish that sentence. "Eventually she's going to be able to turn into a cougar. Sam and I? We're demonhunters."

Corey studied Daniel's face, then mine.

"This is going to be a long talk, isn't it?" he said at last, finally feeling that he could get somewhere.

"Yep. Better sit down." Daniel pointed at the bag in Corey's hand. "And break out the granola bars and drink boxes."

Once everyone got comfortable, Maya began to tell them everything and that was everything. So many things began to make sense to him and in a sense he finally could get a little bit more closure with Asaya and her being a shape shifter. He did keep interrupting with "Are you sure?" because his mind rebelled with the information but what he saw and felt was totally different.

He saw his own girlfriend turn into an amur leopard right in front of his eyes.

Hayley even said, "Are you crazy?" which earned a "Hey!" from Sam.

"No, seriously. You think you're going to change into a cougar? Maybe in thirty years you'll start thinking college boys are kinda hot, but that's the only sort of cougar you can turn into, Maya. Anything else is nuts."

"Right," Sam said. "So you weren't here an hour ago? When her face started changing?"

"Yes, something did happen to her face. I don't know what it was, but I'll bet it has to do with those vitamins and drugs they were feeding us back in Salmon Creek. That's what all this is about. They were doing medical experiments on us. It explains what Daniel did on the helicopter and what happened with Maya's face."

"And Rafe?" Sam said. "Does medical research explain why Rafe thought he was a skin-walker, too, when he'd never even been to the clinic?"

"I...I don't know." Hayley squared her shoulders. "No one ever saw Rafe do anything magical. He just thought he was one of these skin-walkers. That's from your religion or whatever, right?"

"My religion?" Maya said.

"The stuff you people believe in."

"You people?" Corey said. That was offensive, even for Corey and he knew for a fact he said a lot of offensive things to people. But he wasn't racist. Hell, Asaya was hispanic and he was white and that didn't stop him from falling in love with her. "Holy hell, Hayley. Did you really just say that?"

She went beet red. "I—I didn't mean—"

"We know exactly what you meant," Sam said. "Got a racist streak there, huh? Surprise, surprise."

"I—I didn't mean it like that," Hayley stammered. "I just meant their, you know, heritage. Indian. Um, Native. Or—or—"

"It's okay," Maya said. "I'm sure you didn't mean it like that. Yes, I'm Navajo. Mostly anyway. Rafe's mother was Hopi. Both have skinwalkers as part of their belief systems, but I hadn't even heard the walkers as part of their belief systems, but I hadn't even heard the word until a few days ago. My mom—my adopted one—is Haida. That's what I know. No skin-walkers there."

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm really sorry. I'm just...I'm going to take a walk, okay?"

"You can't wander off," Sam said. "We're being chased by—"

"She's fine," Daniel said. "I think we should all take a walk. Were you done looking at the ATV, Corey?"

Corey hesitated. "Um, no. You want me to see if I can get it running?"

Daniel nodded.

"What?" Sam said. "We don't have time—"

"Yes, we do." Daniel's voice took on that low, soothing tone.

"We're going to walk back to the ATV. Hayley's going to follow us. Corey's going to try to fix the machine. And we'll all relax. Just take twenty minutes to relax. If he can't get it going, we'll set out again."

The ATV still sat there, keys in the ignition. Sam stalked off to sit on a fallen log and glower at us. Hayley murmured that she was going to walk a bit and promised to stay close

Corey was good mechanically—without him, Daniel's truck would have been relegated to a scrap heap long ago. Right now, it gave him some time to think.

Like how this whole thing didn't make sense at all but at the same time it helped clear up a lot of confusion about Asaya sense of smell and about his headaches and how Dr. Inglis always asked if he saw stuff.

After a while, Corey turned on his haunches and said, "Too much damage. I'd need tools and even then I doubt I'd get her started."

"It was worth a shot," Daniel said. "Thanks."

Corey nodded and wiped a spot of grease from the red ATV's paint. "I don't have the same symptoms as you guys," he finally said. "But I know you think I'm something, too. Something supernatural."

It had to be based on how they were looking at him half the time.

"There were two other terms on that list," Daniel said. "Xana and sileni."

"Which are…?"

"I have no idea. I tried a Web search on all the terms. I couldn't get results for any, including benandanti and skin-walkers, which makes no sense, because we know they're part of folklore."

"We think the St. Clouds were blocking those terms," Maya said. "In case something like this happened and we tried looking them up. If we want clues, we need to look at the extracurricular activities they pushed at us. Clearly, with Daniel and me, they were trying to boost our natural talents: fighting for him and running for me. Serena, Hayley, and Nicole were all in the choir and on the swim team. Plus they're all blonde and pretty."

Asaya.

No one said it but they were thinking it. Especially Corey.

"Um, thanks," Hayley said as she came over. "But what..." Her brow furrowed. "You think we're mermaids?"

"Isn't that sirens?" Corey said. "Those chicks we studied in Greek mythology. Lured guys to their deaths by singing."

Hayley glared at him. "I thought you liked my singing."

"Yeah, because apparently it's magical. That's how you seduce guys."

"Seduce them? Or kill them?"

"Same thing, kind of, if you think about it. Like that other guy in mythology. The one who got his hair cut and lost all his power. Mr. Parks said it symbolized men losing their power by falling for women."

"No," Maya said. "Mr. Parks said it symbolizes men's irrational fear of losing their power to women. And unless I'm remembering it wrong, mermaids don't sing and sirens don't swim."

"Ariel sang in The Little Mermaid," Corey said.

Sam came over to join them. "Do I even want to know why you remember her name?"

"Mermaids and sirens weren't on the list," Daniel said.

"Maya's point is that Hayley, Nicole, and Serena shared common characteristics, which probably means they're the same type, and it has something to do with singing and swimming."

"And being pretty," Hayley said.

"That's not a superpower," Sam muttered.

Hayley turned to her. "No? How many times have you gotten into movies for free because you're a tough warrior chick?"

"What about me?" Corey said. "What's my superpower?"

Silence fell.

"Oh, come on. I'm good at a lot of stuff. Right?"

More silence.

"You're cute," Hayley said. "Well, cute enough."

"Fun to be around," Maya offered.

"So I'm...a clown?"

"At least you're a cute clown," Hayley said. "Not a scary one."

"You're a good fighter," Daniel said.

"And you're a good drinker," Hayley added. "You can hold your liquor better than anyone I know."

"Uh-huh," Corey said. "So Maya will grow up to be an amazing healer who can change into a killer cat. Daniel and Sam will roam healer who can change into a killer cat. Daniel and Sam will roam the country hunting criminals and demons. Hayley and Nicole will divide their time between recording platinum albums and winning gold medals in swimming. And me? I'll be the cute, funny guy sitting at the bar, hoping for a good brawl to break out."

And his girlfriend will stay as a leopard for as long as she can to be away from all of them. He just felt offended.

"In other words, exactly where you were already headed," Hayley said.

"I'm sure you have powers," Maya said. "You're just a late bloomer."

"Thanks...I think."

"Your headaches might be related to it," Daniel said. "They began a year ago, right?"

"And Dr. Inglis was very interested in them," I said. "She started looking after you personally and giving you special medicine."

Corey nodded. "She asked about them a lot, too. Whether anything was happening when I got them."

"Happening?"

"Like whether I was seeing things or hearing things. I thought she meant like my dad, who always smelled burned toast before he had a seizure. I figured she thought it was a sign I was getting epilepsy."

"More like a sign you're getting your powers," Maya said.

"And the headaches went away with the pills, right?" Sam said.

Corey nodded.

"That was the point," I said. "Suppress whatever was happening to you until they were ready to tell us all the truth."

"Or suppress it because it's dangerous," Sam said.

"We don't know it is," Maya said.

"And we don't know it isn't."

"Ultimately, it doesn't matter," Daniel cut in. "Because we're doing our damnedest to get to safety before anyone needs to worry about a superpower meltdown."

"Where's safety?" Sam said. "With the people who apparently want to help us...by burning down our homes, killing Uncle Phil, and shooting us with tranq guns? Or with the people who did this to us in the first place?"

"Obviously you have some third option," Maya said. "So let's hear it."

"I can contact people my parents knew. One of them must have known why they were on the run. Maybe they can help. I was going to do that after my parents died, only I got shipped to Salmon Creek and for a while everything seemed to be okay."

"Until you discovered your fake aunt and uncle were evil," Maya said.

"What? No. I never said—"

"Because they aren't evil. I don't know whether my folks knew anything about this, but I know one thing. They're amazing parents. So were your aunt and uncle."

"My dad's not Father of the Year material," Daniel said. "But he isn't evil. If our parents did know, then it's like Rafe said about his mom—they agreed to this experiment because they honestly thought it was a good thing. Right or wrong, they didn't mean to hurt us. I'm not as sure about the St. Clouds, but I still believe we can trust our parents."

"So let's go back to Salmon Creek," Maya said. "Check it out. See if it's safe to return. Agreed?"

They all nodded. But Corey hesitated. Asaya was still out here, somewhere unable or unwilling to go home and he wanted to see her again. They eventually talked about rescuing Nicole and he wavered on that but Sam stated that they should keep going.

So, they did and pushed on and Corey was still looking around for Asaya, hoping she was safe and okay, hoping she could come back to him. Eventually Daniel and Maya went up ahead before coming back to them.

Then they went up ahead, this time with Sam, leaving him with Hayley and for the first time, she was quiet, just walking alongside him but his thoughts weren't on anything right now. They were on one person.

Asaya.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice when they stopped until Daniel said something and when they went to sleep, he couldn't sleep. Not at all.

He didn't know how long that he tossed and turned when everyone was asleep until he heard a soft crunch of a twig and he sat upright, his heart racing as he heard it again. Hope and wariness fought in him, hoping it was Asaya but worrying it might not be her. He looked around to see everyone knocked out until he decided to be quiet and wait.

The crack came again, closer now and he turned his head to see a flash of fur and his heart ached because he knew it was her, knew it in the deepest, parts of her soul. He didn't think as he stood up and raced after her.

The amur leopard seemed to be stalking something and Corey stood quiet as he followed her, his heart racing and his palms sweaty. He followed, forgetting that the leopard could kill him if it wasn't Asaya. He followed for a long time until the leopard stopped and turned towards him and before he could react, he was on the ground with a heavy amur leopard on top of him, hot breath swarming his face as the animal growled menacingly.

He saw the teeth on the animal and felt the blood drain from his face.

He was going to die. He really was and he closed his eyes, hoping this would be fast and easy until a long while passed and he risked an eye open and they landed on honey colored eyes and he knew then that it was her. It really was Asaya.

"Asaya?" He murmured, unable to believe she was there and he waited, waited what felt like hours for such a long time until she tilted her head to the side and licked him.

"It is you." He exclaimed, so happy that he forgot that she was animal and reached to hug her to him, never wanting to let go, missing her for so much and for so long. He needed her like he needed air. But she reacted angrily when he raised his arms.

Her honey eyes flashed with fear and anger and she had jumped away from him, tail high and swishing rapidly, her body in a crouch as she growled heavily at him. He was stunned at her aggressive behavior and that prick of fear struck him like lightning as he watched her.

One look at her honey colored eyes told him everything. She was terrified.

"I won't hurt you." He murmured as he kneeled towards her, hands raised in a placating manner, a habit he always did when she was pissed and he tried to calm her down. She didn't move but she stared at him, the terror clear in her eyes. His own eyes watered at the mere thought that she was so scared of being touched.

"Asaya, it's okay. I won't hurt you. I will never hurt you. You know that, don't you?"

He didn't know how long he stayed kneeling, but he couldn't feel his legs or knees but slowly, so painstakingly slowly, did she come out of her defensive crouch, staring at him warily and he refused to move because he knew this was something she had to do. Slowly, so painfully slowly, she walked towards him and stopped in front of him, her tail swishing nervously.

His heart was pounding as he waited for her to do something. He ached to hold her and kiss her and tell her how much he loved her and missed her.

She leaned, taking in a deep sniff and laid her head head on his shoulder before licking his face. He let her until she nudges his arms and slowly, he raised his arms and hugged her body. He felt everything in his body come to a halt, all those confused and messy feelings, the ache and pain.

They all ceased.

"I missed you so much." He murmured into her neck, his arms hugging her, feeling how soft and warm her fur was. She let out a soft growl before she pushed her body closer to him, her paw in between his legs and he wanted to cry so much but he sucked in his emotions.

She gave a soft purr as she rubbed against him and he knew that she still loved him, that she still wanted him.

"Oh, baby, I missed you so much. I am so sorry for everything I've done. For blaming you. It wasn't your fault." He whispered fervently into her fur and she growled softly into his ear and he could hear the power behind it. She pulled back and licked his face with her heavy, wet tongue and he let her until she stopped and her head tilted to her side, those eyes of hers boring deep into his eyes, the one thing very human like despite her being an animal.

"Asaya." One word that said everything he couldn't even begin to think or understand. She leaned forward before rubbing herself under his chin and she gently pushed him. Well for her it was gentle but for him, it felt like being smacked around in wrestling.

He fell back and she was on top of him, looking down at him and he reached up, scratching his hands behind her ears and she purred, her spine arching and he felt at peace. She pulled back, jumping off of him and he sat up and she was laying herself on the ground, paws crossed over in front of her, head sitting down now, her paws on the ground and he smiled at her, a true, loving smile and she let out a snort.

"I love you." He said seriously, looking at her, finding it strange she was an amur leopard but at the same time she was familiar also. She did nothing except her tail that flicked up off the ground before staying on the ground. She crawled forward, paws out in front of her, claws outstretched as she stretched and he found it very sensual despite her being an animal. She stopped and yawned, a soft growl escaping before she lay herself on the ground, paws crossed as she let her head down on top of them, tail swishing.

Corey crawled over to her and noticed she had stiffened up, tail pointed high until he was close enough to touch her. She relaxed long enough that he laid a hand on her body, soothing her and she relaxed more, tail swishing. Those fucking bastards did something to her that made her wary of touch and it killed him that he wasn't there to help her, to protect her.

"They hurt you, didn't they?" He murmured as he continued to touch her and felt the shift in her body and knew that he hit a sore spot. She said nothing but he knew they had and he felt the rage grow in him. She lifted her head, a soft growl leaving her mouth as she turned her head to him.

"I'm sorry. I really am. I wish I could-"

A menacing growl erupted from her mouth and he knew that she was telling him to shut up. He gave her a sad smile before he stifled a yawn. He was getting tired and sleepy but he did not want to leave her. She got up and moved away and he let his hand drop before rubbing his face.

He felt her hot breath and felt her nose nudge his hands away. He listened and saw her grab his shirt between her teeth, tugging at him gently and he knew she was telling him to go and get sleep.

"I'm fine."

She growled at him, a little louder, her version of reprimanding him. "I don't want to leave you."

She stopped tugging and walked forward, licking his face before tugging him again. He was reluctant to leave her, he wanted her with him and he was about to say it when she jerked to her full height, her ear swiveling before turning to see something he could not see.

She looked back at him, relaxed now but she continued to tug him and knew he could not change her mind. Sighing, he got up, body creaking in protest.

"Will you be okay?" He asked her, feeling stupid since in the forest, she was the most dangerous predator besides the St. Clouds. She rolled her eyes and snorted before she tugged at him again. Reluctantly, he let her until they reached the campsite where he noticed that Maya and Daniel were together.

He turned back to Asaya who had stepped back into the forest.

"Will I see you again?" He asked, heart racing now with panic. He did not want to let her go. She stepped forward and he noticed she didn't make a sound unlike him. She rubbed herself against his legs before standing on her hind legs, paws on his chest. She was heavy and he was struggling but all she did was lick him twice before landing on all her paws before bounding off into the forest, the bushes shaking as she ran away.

He watched in the direction she took off, knowing she was no longer there and he sighed, heart aching but feeling a certain sense of peace that she was okay and was watching them. He turned back and decided to bother Maya and Daniel. It was freaking obvious Daniel was in love with her that he wondered how in the hell Maya did not see it.

Sighing, he made his way to Maya and Daniel. He couldn't sleep anyways.