-Paul-

Curling my fingers around her tanned curves I felt slightly agitated that I could never really be with the beauty in my arms. I smoothed her midnight bangs from her face a tugged on her shirt to lower it in an attempt to try and cover more of her stomach only it only succeeded in showing more of her cleavage. Her shirt was a loose white off the shoulder crop top with a tie at the bottom showing her curves, stomach, pearl belly ring, and tan skin. She had on light pink soffe shorts lined with white and light pink and white striped stockings reaching just above the knees. Even when dressing for bed she managed to be gorgeous.

Upon arriving at the girl's dorm we realized they were all making their way toward their rooms except Ellen. So we only brought enough knock-out power for her. Unfortunately this troublesome girl had to just ruin the whole party. We hadn't planned on kidnapping any of them; we went just to get our stuff back before they got any useful information out of it, but when she waltzed in the room all carefree and we had nothing to knock her out with we were left with no choice. And now here we were in the car our way back home.

I was in the passenger's seat with the struggling girl in my lap blindfolded with her hands bound behind her. She certainly didn't act like any other hunter I'd seen. Most of them were loners, and most of them wouldn't be taken down so easily and none of them would except sitting in the lap of a mind reader as well as she was now. 'Drew, there's no way she's a hunter. Her whole demeanor screams cheerleading preppy bitch with absolutely no self-value. A hunter wouldn't be caught dead in what she's got on and she doesn't even act like she has any defensive training at all. She, literally, is just wiggling here, like a worm.' My eyes never left the strands of midnight blue still over the girls face while I argued with the driver.

Drew turned to me smirking and replied smugly, 'Yeah and you love every second of it.' I glared at him but did nothing for revenge, because he was right. I was bathing in the feel of this girl's body on mine, the smell of her hair in my nose, the beauty my eyes took in every time I saw her, and the feel of her smooth skin against my callused, rough fingers. . She drove me nuts all round; every sense, every idea was thrown off when she was near. I didn't quite love her, but you couldn't describe my affections for this girl with the word 'like'.

When I heard Drew's voice once more I turned to him, 'Oh and I know dude; she wouldn't last a second as a hunter. She could win a medal yeah but…it'd have to be the 'I suck' medal. Or, I guess it could be the 'I'm too happy so I make friends with everyone I'm supposed to kill' medal. But I've known she wasn't a hunter ever since you guys brought her back to the car. A hunter would rather die than be taken down, there's no way'. He agreed with me, yet he didn't think to tell me this when we first got in the car; all this time was spent worrying about what Drew wanted to do to her because he was afraid that she was a hunter. We had decided that they were all hunters, it was the only way to explain their behavior, but even so, Ellen's tactics were cruel.

'Wait, so you've known this the whole time and you never thought to tell me the woman in my lap is not someone who may very well be trained to kill me? Oh yeah Drew, comfort levels are real high!' I shot him another icy glare while straightening her against the car door. He laughed loudly and smiled at me.

After hearing Dawn's whines from under the tape I felt sorry for her. She was scared and frantic, she had no idea what was going on and she obviously didn't want to find out what we had in store for her, which I really didn't know if we had anything. 'Yeah, guys we're home!

Gary screamed loudly in our heads making us all flinch, only I was the only one with a girl in my lap, which I had made hit her head on the car; this only frightened her more. Then poor girl was shaking even after we gave her a good dose of the knock-out crap Drew had made. I swear it looked like cocaine.

I laid her gently on my glittering bed and strode to the living room where everyone else was sorting out our things. Once we were all settled were began to gaze over everything figuring out what belonged to who when Drew's face turned hard and he slapped his face to his hands and drug them down his face.

I watched everything unfold before me; Ash ask what happened, Drew respond with a cocky remark, Ash not understand, Drew explain, and from there was a lot of arguing. Everyone was upset and we had no idea how we could miss this; we had left both of Drew's mind reader box's. BOTH of them, with the five, now four, girls each of us had a hopeless romance with. Wonderful.

I interrupted their bickering by yelling and they all seemed startled while swirling around to me. "We left both of the most important items we were supposed to get and you're just sitting here arguing? Let's just go back and get them!" I stated rather angry; it was late and we were all tired.

Drew sighed and laid back lazily on the couch with his hands covering his face in frustration, "I wish we could, we didn't give Ellen as much of the stuff we gave Dawn therefore she should already be up by now and I don't think they are stupid enough to fall for our little trick again; twice in one night." He was scared; you could tell by his movements, each one was rigid. We all were; this was the closest someone had ever come to our secret, also the closest someone has come to our hearts.

Thomas bent down to the floor to grasp his knife and began to speak, "We should get some rest, it's late and we had a rough day. I'll see you guys in the morning." He sprang up and made his way to his room, the only one not raided by the girls. Everyone else began to nod and make their way to their own room except Ash who just lounged around on the couch.

"Would you leave, you're such a nuisance." I grumbled out at him. He just cocked his head and squinted like he had no idea what I was talking about. "We fixed your room, remember, Drew's Spell. Yeah, well my room has a troublesome brat in it so I'm either sleeping here or I'm throwing you out of your room. Your choice, but I suggest you make it quickly." I growled at him, he infuriates me even more than…her.

Quickly he scurried off to his room frightened by my threat while I fixed the couch to fit my needs. I didn't get much sleep though, my mind kept drifting toward a touchy subject. I wondered if she was warm enough, or if she was too hot, or if she was comfortable, or if she even liked me in any way. I was always so mean to her, and it would be a miracle if she didn't hate me, though she never acted like she hated me; not completely anyways. I rolled over before finally letting my mind slip into slumber.

-Time Skippy-

-Dawn-

I woke up to feel strong arms lifting me from my comfortable position on the soft blankets. They smelled good whoever they were, and I snuggled into them making them flinch under me. I fell back into sleep in their arms after hearing soft whispers but was woken up shortly afterwards by a gentle push on my shoulder and someone whispering my name. The voice was rather familiar and when it clicked I sprang to life startling everyone else in the room.

The boys recovered fast as I recalled what happened from last night; they were the ones who broke in, well we kinda deserved it. Paul was leaning on the wall to my right while Thomas mirrored him to my left with Ash and Gary slouched on the couch next to Paul. Drew was standing in front of me arms over chest and with a scowl similar to Paul's; I had never seen Drew's scowl and to be honest it rivaled Paul's.

I was strapped to a chair in the middle of their living room, their perfect, nice, clean living room. A living room which looked like nothing had happened to it, which neither did the rest of their house, it was all clean and pretty.

Well seeing as how they KIDNAPPED ME, they must already know it was us. "How'd you clean your house so well, I mean when we left it was a wreck?" I said looking around the clean area avoiding all eye contact.

All the boys were surprised by my question; they obviously didn't expect me to admit to it that quickly. Drew looked at Paul and then back to me with a confused expression on his face. "So you admit to your crime?" He asked suspiciously.

I laughed at his formality; he was so silly. "Yeah, but I would hardly call it a crime I mean you guys picked up pretty well! Oh by the way how'd you know it was us anyway?"

Drew just seemed more confused and stuttered for a sec or two then replied. "Hey, I'm the one asking the questions here; what were you looking for when you broke in?" Paul leapt up off the wall and strode in front of Drew and stuck his finger in my face after Drew had finished with his comment.

"My room smells like fresh strawberries and tulips and there's a bus load of pink glitter stock piled in my room that I highly doubt will ever come out of my carpet. Who else do you think would do that to my room?" He said angrily, then Ash stood from the couch and placed his arms around his chest.

He made a noise then spoke. "Plus, my room is clean and neat, also surprisingly my cologne is missing, you guys didn't take that to did you, or did I just loose it?" Wow, I guess we really did give ourselves away, oh well!

I turned my head and closed my eyes; they should appreciate what we did for them. "Humph, well you have no right to complain; tulips smell nice, pink is a pretty color, and Ash your room was horrifying." I said the last part with a disgusted expression on my face.

Ash and Paul were about to retort but Drew cleared his throat annoyed at them both and repeated himself. I thought for a while; I couldn't tell them why I was really there they would freak and they wouldn't understand. I had to come up with a lie, but would they buy it? I straightened myself trying to look proud and opened my mouth to begin when Thomas interrupted me. "Holy crap guys I gotta go, Ellen could already be at the coffee shop." He said while grasping his wrist and hopping off the wall.

Then Gary hopped up off the couch and joined the conversation. "Perhaps we should go with you, I mean look at what happened last time? Plus this girl tricked you by going on a date just to get you out of the house, that's cruel and now she knows you like her. She's smart, she could use that to get to you and that would hurt us all." After he said this Thomas flipped out pointing at me with an expression and Gary seemed confused for a few seconds before finally getting it. "She already knows you like Ellen, you asked her out remember?" Thomas lowered his eyebrows and scowled at Paul for no apparent reason who just smirked in response. Then he took off yelling for them to hurry up and both boys who were previously on the couch scampered off with him while Drew sighed and turned to Paul.

"Do you think you can handle her by yourself? Ellen might have brought the other girls and if she did then we're outnumbered; I need to go to." Paul nodded and soon it was only him left unbound.

He looked at me quizzically and walked over to place him only a foot in front of me with his hands in his pockets. "You're not a hunter, are you?" He asked. I tilted my head in confusion and he started again. "You don't even know what I mean huh?" Of course I knew what he meant but how could he know what he meant? How did he know about hunters, unless he meant a hunter of animals then that's even more of a definite no! Either way, the answer's the same.

I looked at him appalled and retorted. "Hell no, I would never kill anything. Why would you think I'm a hunter?" He sighed then and knelled next to me putting his eyes level with mine; they were full of sadness and hurt, but also love and a cold kindness. They pierced my soul and I felt sparks fly within me; those eyes, his eyes always had an effect on me and I could never escape their grasp.

"How did you know what kind of hunter I meant? And don't even try denying it, if you didn't know ten you would've said I would never kill any creature or animal, not anything. Even if you didn't know which kind I meant, you know of both kinds." I was stunned, he did know of the magical hunters, but how? How could a mortal know of the magical kind of hunters, unless he was one?

I was so shocked I was able to bring my eyes away from his, but I could feel them follow my movements carefully. "Are you?" my voice was cracking and I was shaking wildly; if he was a hunter, he would kill me, but how could he be? He never showed signs of being a hunter; he never acted like he wanted to kill me or anything for that matter.

He laughed lightly and looked down for a few before bringing his gaze back to me. "No. I'm not a hunter, and I'm not going to hurt you." I looked back at him if he wasn't a hunter then; suddenly I remembered what Ellen had murmured before she went to sleep last night. I had barely been able to hear her but I remember chanting the words in my head a million times before I felt myself sleep for the same powdery substance. He was a mind reader, they were all mind readers.

Evidently I said something out loud for Paul chuckled and stood up without moving his eyes. "How'd you know?" He asked sadly.

I was so shocked I couldn't believe he was admitting to it. Paul, my Paul, was standing before me saying that he was a mind reader and that he was ultimately not human either. But how was this possible, they had our pendants and they were mind readers and they…So many questions flooded my mind at once making my brain falter completely. I could barely whisper Ellen's name to him but he seemed to understand as he nodded accordingly and began talking about how he thought I heard him.

I began to come back to reality as I heard him finish up what he was talking about. "Now there only remains one thing in the unfinished business pile…" After he said this he placed both his hands on either side of my head at the top of the chair and leaned forward making his head only inches away from mine; I could feel his soft, warm breath on me while we gazed at each other. "I'm a mind reader, what are you?" He asked softly and waited anxiously for my response.

-Gary (I realized I don't think I've done anything in his P.O.V.)-

When we walked into the coffee shop Ellen was seated by the window in a booth to the right. She was gazing lazily out the window but seemed extremely jumpy and scared. Probably because they have no idea where Dawn was; I looked away from her when I felt Drew lightly hit me with his hand and point to the back left corner of the shop to see Misty, May and Leaf with the exact same expression and demeanor as Ellen. They were all here, great. I nodded and drug Ash over to the table as Thomas and Drew walked toward Ellen.

Almost immediately after we sat down Leaf and the girls sprang to life. They all jumped and May almost threw her glass of water at us making Ash flinch; what a wimp. Turning toward the girls I saw Misty had turned and was looking at a panicking Ellen; obviously they had startled her too. Leaf was staring shocked that we were here two and May was busy cleaning up the little water she did happen to spill. "So…" I began; we had to get all the girls together. "Y'all want to go over to Ellen, Thomas, and Drew? I think the conversations a lot more interesting over there don't you?" I asked while setting my head on my hand and smiling smugly. Misty turned back and scowled but got up and made her way toward Ellen. Leaf and May seemed confused then did the same while Ash and I high fived. "Gott'em." I whispered.

Ash nodded and smile as we walked over too, just in time to hear the conversation get good. Drew was talking and all the girls seemed defensive. Misty was leaning on the booth Ellen, Leaf and May were in while Drew and Thomas were across form them. "So, you want to tell us why you broke into our house last night? You know that would be the least you could do after wrecking it so badly." Drew taunted. Misty said something about not wanting to be accused and motioned for the girls to follow her. She turned to leave but Ash and I moved in her way blocking any hopes of escape. Luckily we were in the corner booth which meant it curved with the wall so there was room for ten people. I motioned for her to take a seat and Ash sat next to Misty with me next to him, we had sealed off and exits and now they would have to talk. We had forced everyone to scoot over and now Ellen was next to Thomas with Leaf next to her and then May and Misty. They all shared a scared glance then Misty came to their defense, she always was the quick thinker.

"How do you know it was us who 'wrecked' your house, you do realize it's rude and inappropriate to accuse someone right?" She asked leaning back into the booth, she was trying to give off the impression that she was confident; it wasn't working.

Drew leaned onto the table set his head in his hand while using his other hand to poke the table with every syllable he spoke. "You realize it's a crime to break in and steal right? Oh and it's also rude to lie to people too." He said sarcastically and then turned to Ellen. "And to toy with people." His voice changed and he said this full of hate. We were angry with her, how she could just play with Thomas like that was cruel and just screamed hunter, but that was the only thing about any of them that even resembled the word mean.

Ellen cocked her head and eyed Drew suspiciously; how could she not understand? Drew sneered at her and leaned back letting Ash take the lead. "Look, we know it was you okay? We just want to know why and what you wanted. This can be real easy alright, just tell us." Misty and Leaf's expressions softened while Ellen still looked confused with May looking out the window worriedly.

Leaf spoke up, "Look, we can't really tell you everything but we can tell you that you have some things of ours and we want them back. They are really important not only to us but many others and…" She glanced at Misty who nodded. "We're not the only ones who want them." She stated sadly.

"That 'thing' that attacked Ellen and I at the diner the other day, it's the other thing that wants what you want isn't it?" Thomas asked suddenly popping into the conversation. Ellen nodded and joined in as well.

"His name I Sindar and he is the leader of the Vardin, but that is all we can tell you about him, and that he is crazy dangerous and to never ever trust him." She sped up as she talked and made motions to emphasize what she was telling us. I leaned forward and felt my pendant peel off my chest and hang loosely around my neck. It made a noise as it hit the table and Leaf immediately snapped her head toward it. This whole action sparked another very important question.

"So what exactly do we have that 'belongs' to you?" I said adding my fingers to emphasize belong. Leaf brought her eyes to mine and pointed at my chest. I understood her then, she wanted my pendant.

May sighed and looked at Ellen and Misty then answered and confirmed my thoughts. "We need your pendants, they belong to our ancestors and they are very important to us. It was why we were so distracted every time we saw one of them and why we took the box's that contained them."

Drew cocked his head and snickered. "If you think we're just going to believe you only from what you have just told us and based on your current actions, then you're stupider than I thought Maple, there's no way in hell I'm just going to hand over my pendant to a girl who has done nothing but lie to me." He said angrily while eyeing her evilly. "If you want my pendant, you're going to have to tell me everything, and I think that stands for all of us. Plus, if you were only after our pendants, then why did you take our other two boxes; the two black ones?" He leaned back and slouched; he was right and he knew it, if Leaf wanted my pendant she was going to have to tell me the truth.

May turned defensive at Drew's comment. "I haven't lied to you about everything! I told you my name, age, birthday, and lots of other stuff that's been true thank you very much! And we've never actually seen the pendants! It's taken us years to locate them and we had no idea what we were looking for so when we took your other two flipping boxes we thought they had something to do with our freaking pendants Sir. Arrogance!" She huffed and slammed her palm on the table starling everyone.

Drew flicked his hair and chuckled. "If you're asking me to send you a birthday card I think I'll send it with a dead flower too." He said arrogantly.

Then Ellen's face turned harsh and cold. "Well you haven't exactly been honestly with us either; how did you get the pendants hmm? Did you kill someone for them or did you just find them at the bottom of the sea in a rapped present saying 'take me' and run off into paradise?"

The four of us were stunned; did she just ask if we had killed someone for the pendants? I needed to ask Drew something right away. 'Do you think she thinks were hunters?' I channeled my message to Thomas's and Ash's minds as well and I felt Drew do the same.

'Yeah I do, but how would she know about hunters in the first place?" Drew pondered.

Thomas said the comment out loud and Ellen grew a little white then shook it off and told us to just and her question. I looked at Drew who nodded and gave a little wink mouthing 'I got it.' "We bought them online, ever heard of e-bay?" He lied rather well; if it weren't for these pendants we would've never met. When we were young we had all felt drawn to the pendants so we all journeyed to a mysterious mountain. At the top we found five graves with the boxes on them and when we got there each pendant just glowed and of course we each checked a box, and when we did we felt a certain pull to the pendant we first laid eyes on. So we kept them and we took care of them and they, in a way, took care of us. Before we had no idea that the others were mind readers as well and once we touched the pendants we could just feel that we all were, and from then on best friends forever, you know like the girl thing.

But where I thought Drew was an expert liar Ellen saw right through it. "I'm no idiot, now tell me the truth." She said pointing as Drew.

Feeling a slight pinch I turned to Ash who lightly nodded letting me know he got it to. Then I looked at Thomas and Drew who nodded as well while I gave my own light little nod. Paul was trying to contact us and as the connection was made he immediately began speaking. 'Drew Ellen knows our secret, but they have one that rivals our own…" He started and even though he was mainly talking to Drew I could hear him clearly; Drew and I shared a look, one that went from terror to pure bewilderment. 'They're not human," I turned to Leaf as he said the last part, 'They're mermaids.'

Hey so I have to start Band Camp tomorrow (On my birthday! Yay fun right-not really) so updates might not come as often until like the 2nd or 3rd week of school, sorry guys. This is not a definite thing just a maybe and I thought that if there was any chance of it happening I should warn you guys so you don't think I've discontinued the whole story. But hey my birthdays tomorrow! That's probably the only bit of good news I can give you, for me anyway! As always, thank you for your time and please vote in my poll!

Courtesy of,

Jay Gatsby