"Hey Nathan." Melody grinned, taking a seat next to me on the bench I was sitting on outside. It was lunch hour, and most of the kids decided the best use of that time was the walk laps around the schools hallways, it kinda reminded me of rats on a treadmill. Humans.

"Hey." I smiled, taking out one of my earbuds. I wasn't actually listening to any music, I just figured people would leave me alone if they thought that I was. They also wouldn't know I was listening into their conversations that flooded in from the open door. The sooner we found Number Ten, the sooner we could move on. This whole school thing was awful. Sandor didn't make me go to school. It wasn't like Number Ten would flat out say, 'I'm the Tenth Loric garde' to make our lives easier either. Whoever Number Ten is is good at hiding. It's no wonder they stayed off the radar for so long. For now I was stuck listening in to conversations. Some of them were talking about video games, some were talking about the science work and some were talking about their plans of getting drunk and stoned on the weekend.

"What's up?" she asked, taking a seat next to me. River wasn't here today, and neither was Serena and those were normally the only people that I saw her with. Marina and Eight had started hanging out with their new friends so I was stuck on my own, until Melody showed up.

"Not much." I shrugged. "Just trying to finish up the science homework before Mrs. Lange comes to collect it, she gave me an extension because I didn't have it done." Four didn't have time to do my homework for me like we had arranged, he had passed out from being so stoned, so I was stuck doing it myself this time.

"The answer to that question is A." She told me, nodding to my paper. The science booklet was on soundwaves.

"Thanks." I nodded, circling A. Just as I finished the last question, Mrs. Lange popped out of the doorway, smiling and taking the paper from me without a word. The bell rang signalling the end of the lunch so we grab our stuff and walked back inside. It was time for English now so I followed the crowd to that class and sat at my usual desk. Only me and Mason were in the class, the teacher off doing whatever it was they did to prepare classes.

"So," Mason turned around to face me. "You and Melody, huh?" he grinned.

"Me and Melody are just friends," I retorted, crossing my arms. "What's it to you?"

"If you knew the truth about her," he scoffed. "You wouldn't want to be her friend."

"What?" I raised an eyebrow. "That she lives on her own? Big whoop. At least she can do whatever she wants, when she wants without anyone telling her what to do."

"Why do you think she lives alone?" he rolled his eyes. "She's a freak." What is he talking about?

"What are you talking about?" I demanded.

"Ask her about Sawyer," he sneered before turning around. Students had started shuffling in and the teacher had arrived. What is he talking about? Who's Sawyer? I watched the clock instead of paying attention any of the classes and when the bell rang, I didn't wait for the other garde. I went straight home.

"Nine," Malcolm said when I walked through the door. Sam was right behind me, bumping into me and muttering under his breath when I stopped abruptly. "Can I speak to you please?" Sam shot me a surprised look but said nothing.

"Sure." I shrugged, following him into his study and closing the door behind me.

"You remember when you asked me to find that family?" Malcolm asked, shuffling through some papers.

"Yeah." I nodded. "Did you find anything?" I asked hopefully.

"I found a phone number for a Thomas O'Brien. The article that I read said that Thomas lost his daughter in a tornado incident. And he also had a son. His son's name was Andy."

"That's them." I nodded before realising what he said. "Wait, did you say had?" I frowned. "What do you mean he had a son?"

"Andy also went missing that day." Malcolm explained. "Thomas has been looking for both Melody and Andy since the tornado incident."

"Alright." I shrugged. "What's the number?"

"Here," he handed me a piece of paper with a number on it.

"Thank you, Malcolm." I said before leaving him to his work. I'll call him later.

"Again." I hissed. Five and I were sparring in the basement that we had made the training room. It was pathetic compared to the lecture hall Sandor created at the John Hancock centre in Chicago. Just thinking about the place made me miss it. The sooner I could go back there the better.

"I'm done sparring with you," Five snarled, walking away. I had just kicked his ass and now he was being a baby about it, once again.

"Then you're weak!" I called after him. He spun around, furious.

"I'm not weak." he snarled angrily. "Tell you what, I'll let you hit me. If you can hurt me, then we spar for as long as you want. But if you cant," he paused, taking a step forward so he was inches from me. "Then we quit and you leave me alone." he added.

"Alright," I shrugged cooley.

"Is that really a good idea?" Eight scoffed.

"Nine," Marina hissed but I ignored them and reeled my arm back. I swung my fist, aiming for his stupid face. I didn't notice that he was holding something in his hand. Right before my fist hit his face his skin changed to silver. I felt my bones break when they hit the steel surface that seconds ago had been Five's face. I groaned in agony, try to suppress my pain as much as I could. I definitely hadn't seen that coming and neither did Eight and Marina because they were speechless.

"You didn't pay much attention to Number Four when he told you about the trouble we go into in Arkansas? Did you?" he retorted. I hadn't. "If you had, you would have seen that coming." I cursed under my breath and walked away without a word. I could let Marina heal it, but Five is there. I needed to keep the shred of dignity I had left. I found Four in the living room, his head tilted back while him and Sam idly chatted.

"Heal this." I scoffed, holding out my hand in front of his face. Sam shot me a strange look but I ignored it. Four laughed as he took my hand.

"Let me guess" he laughed. "Five showed you his externa legacy? He can turn into whatever he touches and he carries around a steel ball." This was awkward and I just wanted it to end quickly. I could feel it healing itself, the muscles in my wrist pulling each other back together. When he was finished, there wasn't even a mark.

"Thanks." I muttered before leaving them alone once more. I just wanted to be alone so I went to my room and sat on the edge of my bed. It was the only furniture in the room, and like the training room, it was pathetic compared to the setup that Sandor and me had in Chicago. We must all make our sacrifices, apparently mine includes my comfort. I reached into my pocket, and pulled out the piece of paper that Malcolm had given me, his messy scribbling sprawled across it with a name and number. I took a deep breath. What if I call him, and he comes to take her away? I thought selfishly. I don't want her to leave. She's the only one I can tolerate at that school, she can't leave before we find Ten, I'll be all alone with all the dumb humans. I considered just throwing out the paper, pretending I never had it to begin with but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I got Malcolm to search for him so I could call him to tell him that Melody is fine. So that he didn't have to worry. I sighed, knowing what I had to do. I took my phone out of my other pocket, and dialed the number. It rang for a while. Oh well. I tried. Just before I was about to hang up, the line crackled.

"Hello?" A man's voice called on the other end. I took a deep breath and spoke.

"Is this Thomas O'Brien?" I asked. There was a long pause before the line crackled.

"Yes." the man answered. "How can I help you?"

"Actually, it's the other way around. I can help you." I told him.

"How exactly can you help me?" The man scoffed.

"I found Melody." I said dreadfully. "She's safe. She's been safe for years."

"You found my daughter?" the voice choked. "What about Andy, my son? Is he with you too? Where can I find you? Find her?" I couldn't bring myself answer him. If he finds out where she is, he'll just come to take her away. She can't leave, not yet.

"I called to tell you that she is safe and that she's happy. You don't need to worry about her anymore." I said slowly.

"No! Wait!" he said urgently. "You don't understand!" I hung up the phone before he could finished what he was about to say, tossing my my phone. I lay on my bed, staring at the boring ceiling while my heart thumped like crazy. Did I do the right thing?