Disclaimer: Hush, Hush belongs to Becca Fitzpatrick. Samuel is mine though. :)

Patch didn't stay after he dropped me off. Instead, he made an excuse of needing to go back to his place and "sort things out". I knew his encounter with Samuel had him shaken, despite discouraging the idea. I made only one attempt to squeeze anything out of him on the drive back, but he wouldn't give.

Back in my own house, in pyjamas, I felt like the entire day happened a century ago. I wasn't left alone with my thoughts for long. Vee called shortly after I brushed my teeth and had settled into bed with a book.

"So wasn't tonight just totally weird?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" I ventured. There was no easy way around this conversation.

"I mean, Patch and Samuel. They hardly said anything."

"Maybe they were just uncomfortable," I tried to reason. It seemed likely, if only Patch wasn't an Angel.

"No, it was like they knew each other."

I sat up straight. The thought had never occurred to me. Maybe I was just overreacting. Samuel could know Patch from somewhere else—the pool hall for one. Could Patch have won something off Samuel? It was unlikely, really. Had it been as simple as that, Patch would have told me on the way home.

"Samuel is never that quiet unless there is something completely wrong," Vee continued.

Letting out a sigh, I tried to think it out. "I don't know Vee... we can't just jump to conclusions."

"Oh! I think I know. Samuel loves to play Ultimate Frisbee. Maybe they're sport rivals."

Yeah, that would be the answer if Patch played Ultimate Frisbee, I thought. It was best for Vee to come to her own innocent conclusions. "Maybe," I offered.

"I'm going to have to ask Samuel. He's not here right now. Is Patch over?"

"He went home."

"What! He left you home alone after seeing you in that killer dress? Unbelievable. Here I was thinking you were going to get some tonight."

"You did?"

"Oh yeah."

I thought about it for a moment. Intimacy was a foreign thing to me. Patch never pushed it and I didn't think he would. I'm not sure what all the rules are for being a Guardian Angel, but I do know that he fell the first time because of lust. Lust for another girl...

"Nora?"

"Yeah?"

"You kind of went quiet. Is everything okay?"

"I think I'm falling in love Vee," I blurted out. I regretted it immediately.

She whistled into the phone. "Wow, big step. Want me to come over and bring cookies?"

"Aren't you on some weird diet?"

"Today doesn't count. Besides, it sounds like you need girl time and my parents are gone for a week. They abandoned me to have another honeymoon. It's like I'm chopped liver. They actually left the country."

I ran a hand over my face. "I think I need to be alone for an evening. It's just that I haven't been able to admit it to myself and I'm feeling weird."

"Ah, verbal diarrhea."

"Gross Vee."

There was another pause in our conversation. It was strange for us to have a lapse.

"Nora?"

"Mm hmm?"

"Would it be completely crazy if I said I was falling in love, too?"

I wanted to say Yes! It's ridiculous, but Vee wasn't the type for tough criticism. There wasn't a straight answer I could give her. "I've been dating Patch for months and it's taken me this long to figure out my feelings. Am I really the right person to ask?"

Vee laughed. "No, but you are my best friend."

I should have been the good friend and just said yes. I just couldn't shake the weird feeling I had about Samuel. If Patch knew something vital about him, there was no way I was going to encourage any kind of serious relationship. Especially if he was dangerous.

"I'll just say that it would be better to take things slow. Get to know him completely."

"Like you and Patch?"

"Yes," I lied. I didn't know half the things about him that he knew about me. There were still too many secrets between us.

"Okay. I can see why you're the smart one of the two of us."

"You're not stupid," I reminded her.

She laughed a little. "True. I think I'm going to nod off. I'll call you tomorrow."

"Okay Vee."

When I hung up, I felt utterly lost. There was no way I would sleep now. My mind kept drifting back to my conversation with Vee, what she said. It was like they knew each other... Sure, she had drawn her own conclusion—which was utterly bogus—but there was some truth in what she said. Were they rivals of some sort? Was Samuel a Guardian Angel? Or worse, another Fallen Angel?

I could feel my hands beginning to tremble. It was so obvious now. He was an Angel! That was why his face was so similar to Patch's. It had to be the reason they were both so quiet and withdrawn. I didn't know much about being an Angel, but perhaps they had some sort of telepathic communication... or... or... my mind couldn't come up with anything logical.

One thing that I knew was Patch had only been able to feel as long as Samuel had been around. There must have been a connection.

A noise downstairs caught my attention. Someone walked on the creaky floorboards by the door. I knew the sound well enough; I'd been caught sneaking home well after curfew enough times this summer to know the tell-tale sign.

I was supposed to be alone in the house. That was the first thought that rang loud and clear in my mind. Patch didn't let himself in the front door unless my mother or Dorothea was here with me. But you were alone with Vee and he came in the front door, my mind reminded me. And that was only this afternoon. Perhaps whatever had been here earlier had come back.

I snatched up my cell phone and dialled Patch.

He didn't pick up.

The hairs on the back of my neck rose as I heard movement coming up the stairs this time.

I jumped out of my bed and picked up the first thing I could find on my dresser to use as a weapon. It was a trophy I had won back in elementary school for a spelling bee. For a moment, I stood poised with the trophy in one hand, and my cell in the other. My heartbeat rose fast and I wished I had some iron pills with me.

At the last second, I dashed at the wall by my door and shut off the light. Then I dove onto the floor and squeezed under my bed. Had I been a child, I would have fit easily, but with an adult body I was fighting to get enough air into my lungs.

I pulled a few discarded items shoved under my bed around me as best as I could to conceal my body and what felt like a teddy bear to my mouth to hush my breathing.

The door opened and someone turned on the light. I heard two different sets of footsteps in my room before I saw two pairs of shoes.

"I told you he wouldn't just leave her here alone," a man spoke with a heavy Irish accent. I knew that voice.

Rixon.

How did he know I lived here?

I heard a grunting sound, and could only assume it was the other person agreeing with Rixon.

Anger replaced the fear in my body temporarily. Traitor! I wanted to scream at him, but instincts told me to keep quiet. If they were in here looking for me, only bad things would come out of me getting caught.

"The bed is untidy," another male voice spoke. "There's a book lying open. Check the closet."

I watched as one pair of shoes disappeared from my view—it must have been Rixon—and listened to the soft click of my closet door opening. "She's not in here," he replied after shuffling through the few boxes.

"Check under the bed," the second man ordered. I thought I knew his voice too, but the sound of blood rushing to my ears made his voice hard to pick out of my memory.

Another thought blocked out any attempt to figure out his voice. Rixon was going to check under my bed. If he looked at the left side, I was clearly visible. To my right, there was enough junk crammed under here that if I lay still, I wouldn't be noticed.

I held my breath and squeezed my eyes shut, praying he would look on the right side.

I heard his knees hit the floor, then his hands. My chest burned from lack of oxygen.

"Nope," Rixon finally announced. "We can try Bo's Arcade. At the very least we can find some women tonight," he offered. His voice was unsteady, I hadn't noticed before. Was he even here on his own free will?

I waited silently until they finally left the room. Their footsteps carried down the stairs and into the reception area. Only when I was sure they were gone did I take the teddy bear from my mouth and suck in a large breath of musty air.

I was tempted to end this chapter a little earlier, to leave it on a cliffhanger, but this ending seemed better. Ideas are starting to flow into my mind faster than usual, so this chapter happened very fast for me.

I also have to say thanks to my beta ddpjclaf for such a quick turn-around.

The mystery isn't going to be solved fast. I know a lot of you keep guessing, and I'm going to let you keep doing so. I love to hear your theories. Where's the fun in giving everything away at once?