Hello! For some reason I didn't have an author's note for the last one. Nothing felt right. It was sort of a poignant chapter, ya know? Anyway, keep reviewing and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

P.S. Thank you so much to those of you who did review. Your comments were a big help

Chapter Seven

I left the bathing room flushed from the heat and clad in an old pair of shorts, that James claimed belonged to his mother, and an oversized T-shirt of his. I had smelt the woody, sweet scent from the bandana the moment I pulled the shirt over my head. It wrapped around me and protected my nose from the burning tang of sulphur.

My hands stung from the dishes that we'd washed together. James explained that they needed to raid soon and had run out of everything from soap to shampoo and were back to using Jeb's homemade soap. Although 'Soap,' in my opinion, was a loose description. It didn't really lather up much and felt like it was burning holes in my skin. Eventually James had set me to drying the dishes with a towel he had brought back with him but I suspected that was just to keep my hands, and the little cuts that still marred my fingertips, away from the acerbic suds.

James had been with me for awhile now and I wondered when he would leave. Trust had become a fairly relative concept to me now. Whilst I did not know James well, or at all really, I trusted him completely in relation to Jared and Ian who not so long ago had bundled me into the back of a truck. On that same note I considered that it was Ian who had defended me in the Jeep. He also hadn't hurt me when pulling me towards said Jeep either. He had only restrained me. So perhaps he was an exception. Perhaps Wanda, and by extension, James, had made him an exception.

James pulled me from my reverie with a nudge and I realised that we were walking. However a turn later we stopped and I was blinded by sunlight. It took me awhile to convince myself we weren't actually outside.

"So, what do you think?"

What did I think?

The sunlight, I saw now, was pouring in through a large opening in the roof of the cavern. It was similar to the one I had seen last night. It was spacious and open, big enough to call vast even and had tunnels leading off every which way.

My eyes finally focused on the object of his question. Wheat. They were growing wheat.

The field stretched out all the way to the shadowy depths of the cavern before it tapered off, no doubt suffering from the lack of light in that area. The field was empty but for a trapped bird fluttering around the edges of the elaborate skylight before flying back out into the sky.

James strode into the field and turned around when I didn't follow. I traced the trail that he had taken, avoiding the bumpy chains that held row after row of tall, golden wheat. James stopped abruptly in the middle and disappeared, falling down onto the earth and stretching his legs out in front of him. As I stepped out of the maze to find him I saw that there was a long path of sorts where no seeds had been planted.

James answered my unspoken question. "Well, we've got to get around somehow."

I sat beside him, brushing my hands together to wipe off the earth.

James didn't say anything but I could see that he was thinking by the way he leant back on his hands and stared up at the sky.

"You know this was the only sky I really knew for a long time. I'd lie out here with mom, because she knows all the constellations and just watch the stars."

He stopped and eyed me. I wasn't sure what he was looking for, or what reaction I should give him. In seconds the concentrated face left him and he lay himself down, crossing his arms behind his head.

"It sounds pretty stupid when you say it out loud," he laughed, "but when your whole world is made of rock you kind of have to be a little stupid just to make it all interesting. Anyway, then when I was nine my dad took me outside, for the first time, and sat me down on another lump of rock and told me he was going to show me how boring the desert was so that I wouldn't miss it."

In my head a little boy with shining, golden hair looked out across the endless sands with wide, sorrowful eyes.

"I'm sorry," was all I could say.

It was a tragic thought. My mind wandered to Elle and Lucy, still so young and with so much yet to do. Had they ever seen the sky?

"You don't need to be sorry. You haven't done anything. It the fact that you haven't done anything that's getting Jared so stressed."

I didn't say anything.

"We can't let you go, I'm sure you've got that by now but we can't exactly lock you up for the rest of your life because –" He winked at me. "- believe it or not we don't actually do that to people."

I sighed and lay down beside him. Above me the sun shone just behind the edge of the hole in the ceiling, illuminating the sky. James seemed to enjoy the silence, which seemed odd to me as he usually chattered away to fill the silences. Finally he did begin again but this time his voice was serious.

"You're not a Soul, Lily. We can't just ship you off to another planet."

My head snapped towards him and I cringed at the pull on my neck.

"You... you know how to... your mother. Oh, of course you do," I sputtered.

My mind was racing. This community they had buried beneath the rocks was more complex than the Seekers could ever imagine. They had food, water, and a way to fight back. They also had families. They were growing with every new life they bought into this world, and every new Soul that they shoved out of it.

"James I..."

I, what? I want to stay here? I want to live here? Was it really that? Or was it more like 'James, I really don't want you to kill me.' I think it was a little of that too.

"I saw your face at breakfast. I know you don't want to go back. You are human, Lily, and you can be human here, if you want to. We promised not to hurt you but in order to keep that promise you need to stay here."

His piercing blue eyes burned as he took in my vacant expression. He was offering me the freedom I wanted, the chance to be who I was born to become. Yet he was also offering me a cage. Buried deep in these caves, never knowing when they would trust me to take a step outside... the idea was suffocating. The alternative was more ghastly than that but I had known it was one of the only choices I had. Death was preferable to insertion but could it ever win over life? No. That was the simple answer. It was not however the question that he had asked me and therefore not the simple answer that left my mouth next.

"Yes," I whispered, so quiet I wondered if I had even said it. "Yes," I said again, louder this time. "I'll stay."

He seemed surprised. Stunned into silence. I considered prodding him but he was soon on his feet and holding an open hand out towards me. His skin was warm but calloused as I gripped his hand and dragged myself to my feet.

"There'll be a tribunal. Jeb will have the final say. You'll have to speak for yourself and they'll be a vote. Don't look so worried, you've already got mine." He grinned.

There was a warm surge that ran from his hand to mine as he said that that soothed the sudden concern that came over me. It was faint, and it did little to ease the tension in my body.

"Come on," he said, pulling me out of the field and away down a tunnel I hadn't seen before. My hand was still clutched in his but he seemed unaware that his contact was unusual. On reflection I noticed that James and Ian were the only people who had dared to touch me at all. I could perhaps include Jamie in that, but even that was only barely. Those thoughts made me feel strangely lonely.

James had stopped now outside of a cave guarded by a jade green partition. Cherry blossoms stretched across the faded silk in once beautiful twists. These were probably the only flowers I would find down here so I savoured them for a moment.

"Jared," James called through the partition.

There was a shuffling from within the cave beyond and James raised an eyebrow at me conspiratorially. He began to speak but was interrupted by the scraping of the screen as it was pulled back and Melanie stuck her head out through the crack.

"Oh, James, sorry, I was just changing. You okay?"

She looked from me, to James, to my hand still wrapped tightly in his. James abruptly dropped it. I felt suddenly colder despite the humid heat of the caves.

James nodded. "Yeah, um, is Jared with you?"

Melanie shook her head, her gaze still on my face. My eyes locked onto the pretty screen again to avoid hers.

"No, he's still working. What do you need him for?" she asked, concern lacing her tone a little.

James placed his hand on my shoulder and gripped me firmly. The warmth flooded me again.

"We need to call a tribunal. We've got a new housemate on our hands."

I know, I know. This chapter is so short but I really wanted to get the tribunal all in one chapter and it just wasn't going to happen here, so this is a little filler, a little relationship developer.

As always, reviews are adored. X