They had only three days left in Scotland, and so far, no sign of any kelpie. Even after several diving excursions to the bottom of the loch, they hadn't found so much as a human foot bone. Radais had mused about the possibility that Bruja had been mistaken for a kelpie, but the mare had been in France for the past thirty-four years, and Russia before that. A hoax was the only other thing she could think of. Abe had informally closed the case, initiating a yearly dive for the next ten years, but taking no further action.

"Be good to be home," Radais said to herself, attempting to stretch out on the couch. Abe was shut in his room, probably reviewing old volumes on Gaelic and Scottish lore, looking for clues and staying away from Radais. Things had been tense between the two, as Radais always seemed to find something new to upset him about. The most recent argument was over why Bruja had left three days ago for America. Six days early seemed suspicious to Abe, but Radais defended the mare, saying "You try to cross the Atlantic in six days," to which Abe responded, "The idiot thing could've gone with us in the plane!" Admittedly, it was a dumb move on his part, but he wouldn't've said it if she had been a bit nicer to him.

Radais flipped a page in her magazine, then heard a loud cough, then a thud, from Abe's room. She jumped up, knocking her CosmoGirl to the floor, bolted down the hallway, and nearly broke the door down. Abe was lying on his bed, leaning against the headboard, several books on the floor and one, unopened, in his hand.

"Are you okay?" she asked breathlessly.

"Yes, I'm fine," he pronounced slowly, "Can I help you?"

"I-I heard you cough and some kind of loud noise, I thought you were hurt."

Abe considered, then his face changed from annoyed to open. "Oh," he said, his voice lighter and more natural, "I just coughed on some dust from an old book and dropped it on the floor."

Radais felt silly and didn't quite know what to say in wake of her mistake.

"Sorry for barging in," she said finally. Abe laughed lightly. Radais bit her lip, walked into the room, and sat down at the foot of the bed.

"And, I'm sorry about my attitude as of late. I'm such a bitch sometimes."

Abe laughed again, then sat up farther.

"It's okay," he said, "I forgave you when you came bursting in here. If you care so much, you obviously don't mean half the things you say when you're mad. And I understand that this can be stressful."

"Thanks," she said meekly.

"You know, you aren't a bitch all the time," Abe said. Radais smiled.

"Friends?" she said, offering her hand to him. He took it and shook, but then a strange mix of expressions crossed his face.

"What?" she asked, studying him. She bit her lip again, afraid of his answer.

"You," he said, his brow furrowed. He considered for another moment, then continued, "Or rather, your mind."

"What about it?"

"Silence in your screams, tranquility in your rage, open gates to your heart, the deepest soul, like an ocean undiscovered. You are bottled lightning and a living wasteland."

Radais recognized the words with every fiber in her being, they rang forever inside her skull. She had written them when she was 17, as an "assignment" from Greg. They, amazingly, still held true today, perhaps truer than they had in years.

Abe noticed that he still grasped her hand, and quickly dropped it. He studied the girl. Her eyes were downcast and half-hidden with waves of blonde hair, her full lips drawn tight and one of her large canines stuck out as she chewed her lower lip. Her hand had gone to her neck, to the silver cross, in the usual fashion. After a moment, she spoke.

"I wrote that a long time ago, for Greg. He said that giving myself words would help me stay true to myself."

For a moment, the pair sat in silence, lost in thought again.

The half-breed girl was finally coming to terms with something that had been weighing on her mind for the better part of the last month, her growing infatuation and enamour with Abe. Of course, she had had "crushes", just like every girl, but never a full-blown storm of emotion and longing, like the one that raged in the place where her lungs should have been. But the knowledge of his seemingly-"undying" love for the dead princess stood as a brick wall in front of a mustang, unbreakable and unjumpable.

Abe, on the other hand, replayed his conversation with Red from so many days ago that he had lost track. Could he really ever let go of the princess? Everything in Radais' mind was now challenging his whole life. And that was the problem with psychometry, once you see it, it become a part of you. While she held respect for Nuala, she held deeper and stronger contempt for her. And the thunderhead that shrouded her heart held a range of emotions so strong, that if he had ventured farther he might have blacked out.

"You can see, can't you?" Radais said, feeling awkward. Now that he knew her white-burning fire for him, what would he say? "Get over yourself"?

"Yes, if I assume correctly what you are talking about."

"Aren't you going to admonish me, or tell me I'm ridiculous, or that you are forever locked in the grasp of an ice queen?" she said. Anger, an attempt at recovery and self-preservation, flooded her words and mind, and her heart raced.

Abe looked taken aback, but then his face fell and the atmosphere changed uncomfortably.

"Hellboy told me to wake up and realize that I'm letting life, and happiness, pass me by. I don't know what or how to feel, Radais. Seeing your mind is kind of throwing me for a spin I'm not ready for."

Radais took advantage of his pause and stood.

"Don't worry about it," she said. She quickly retreated, out into the hallway and out the front door, to sit on the concrete stairs. Thought and emotion overwhelmed her, and she began to pray, her left hand clutching her cross and her right, white-knuckled, on the steel railing.

The next three days were awkward, Abe and Radais barely spoke to each other. The plane trip home was awkward, each of them sat on the ends of the small four-seat row and only spoke in awkward monotone to relay information when one of them fell asleep. The flight landed at B.P.R.D. headquarters at three in the morning after major delays due to turbulence, which was enough to irritate even the most good-natured of people. Radais stumbled down the flight of stairs awkwardly before Abe, her suitcase slung over her shoulder, and was greeted by a pajama-clad Manning and an over-eager, hornless unicorn.

"I just met your Bruja," Manning began as Radais clamored down the stairs, "And I'm letting her stay, so long as she is clean and things of that nature."

Radais just gritted her teeth, patted the mare's nose, and walked passed Manning, pausing only to catch him saying that they would reconvene to talk about Scotland tomorrow evening. She left the horse outside, saying that they would figure lodging out for her in the morning, and retreated to her room.

The thick carpet was warm and soft under the girl's feet, and the air matched. She undressed slowly and crawled into bed in only her undergarments. The bed was soft and the pillows smelled of lavender, and Radais slipped immediately into deep, dreamless sleep.

"Ra-day-iss!" someone was cooing on the edge of the girl's consciousness. An earthquake rumbled through her mind, and she was pulled unwillingly out of sleep.

"Huh?" she said stupidly, registering that the little earthquakes were actually someone shaking her shoulder.

"Wake up, sleepyhead," said a deep, familiar voice in her ear. She opened her eyes and rolled over on her back, blinking away sleep. She focused on her waker, realizing that it was Hellboy.

"Red!" she shouted, leaping up and throwing her arms around his neck. He laughed heartily and hugged her with his left arm.

"Good morning, kiddo! How was Scotland?" he said, once their embrace was broken.

Radais groaned, immediately jumping on the subject of Abe. "It was weird," she began, "First, Abe and I weren't speaking, then we were arguing, and then we were just weird. He drives me crazy!" She paused, thinking of a way to change topic, then said, "But I got a pony. Did you meet her?"

"Don't try to change the subject," Red said, apparently stuck on the Abe thing.

"I wasn't. There's nothing to say and nothing is going to change, so it's a moot point. Did you meet my unicorn?"

Red grimaced, unhappy with being forced to abandon the subject. "We're not finished talking about it," he growled, "Yeah, I met your horse."

Radais smiled a rather fake smile, then ushered Red out of her room so she could get dressed.

"Manning wants you to come talk to him in the briefing room," he said as he closed the door behind him. Radais hollered in agreement, then quickly dressed. She wouldn't have time for a shower until after she had spoken with Manning, which ticked her off. That, combined with that fact that she would probably have to talk to Red more about Abe made to put her in a pretty crappy mood.

The trip to the briefing room was quick. Radais practically jogged there, in an attempt to make up for lost time and to insure that she wouldn't meet anyone on the way. Once she got there, she slipped inside, trying to go unnoticed.

"Radais, nice of you to join us," Manning said as she tried to take a seat near the door. She winced and stood, then walked over to where he and Abe, the only people present, stood at the front.

"Didn't want to let you down," she said sarcastically, yawning widely for emphasis.

"God forbid. Now, Abe was just telling me how you found that lucrative unicorn of yours, I want your explanation," Manning said, raising an eyebrow at the girl.

"Well," she began, looking awkwardly to Abe for help, "I was walking, with my hair tied up and my sunglasses on, and I saw some bats. I followed the bats. Then they called the unicorn, I hid, she found me, and here we are!"

"Uh-huh. Anything else?"

"I named her, and Abe thinks that this prince guy and me have some sort of mental connection. I think it's more like, we think similarly or something. Did you know that siblings that grow up apart from each other are more alike than siblings that do grow up together?"

Manning raised his eyebrow at her again. Abe did the same. She could tell that they both were fighting the "What are you thinking?"'s that were building on their tongues. A sigh of resignation escaped her lips.

"I'm gunna go shower if I can't be of any more assistance. Abe probably can tell you the story a lot better than I can, anyway. Call me if you need me," she said, her irritation with the whole situation boiling over a little bit. She quickly retreated, not giving Manning enough time to object to her decision. All she wanted at the moment was a shower.

The shower thing didn't work as she planned. As Radais was lathering her hair with strawberry-smelling shampoo, she heard heavy footfalls through the sound of the shower.

"Radais! We have to talk!" It was red. The girl groaned.

"Yes?"

"You got to tell me about this Abe thing. He said you handed Manning some kind of teenager attitude about your damn horse and Abe being a know-it-all or something."

"While I'm in the shower? Can't it wait?"

"No, now. I don't care what you're doing."

Radais sighed and washed the little dribbles of soap from her forehead.

"I don't know what you want me to tell you. I can't have him, can't even think about having him, and it hurts. So I just resort to being a bitch, I guess."

"What do you mean, have him?"

A bitter sensation welled in Radais' chest.

"I want to fall in love with him, live for him, feel his touch. And vise versa. I don't know, it's just what I feel."

Red was silent for a long time, then he cleared his throat.

"But I realize that he's too far gone. Even when he saw my mind, nothing changed. So I'm not worrying about it anymore, I'm just trying to get over it at this point," she continued.

"Radais," said a new voice, soft with sadness. It was Abe. "Come to my room when you've finished. We need to talk." He didn't wait for her reply and padded out of the locker room briskly. Radais heard Hellboy heave a sigh and stand slowly.

"Don't be mad," he said, his voice shallow.

"I'm not. Thanks for your help," she responded, attempting to be sincere. Her heart pounded in her chest and she tried to keep her breathing even, her mind racing over all the possible things Abe could need to talk to her about. Probably he wanted to yell at her and make her leave him alone. Not that she had been bothering him, but obviously her attitude was. She honestly didn't want to be a bitch. It was just how the pain translated.

"It was my idea, so don't be mad at him, either."

"Red, seriously, it's fine. Just go, give me time to think before I go talk to him, alright? I'll come see you later."

As far as Radais could tell, through the sound of the shower running, Red sighed again, reluctantly, and then shuffled away. He was upset with himself, probably as upset as Radais was with herself. But there was little use worrying about him now. He could be berated about his trick later.

As much as Radais wanted to know what Abe had to say, she dreaded it, and thus prolonged the getting-out-of-the-shower-and-getting-dressed process. Despite her best efforts, however, she found herself dressed and standing in front of Abe's closed door in only a matter of minutes. She bit her lip and raised her fist to knock.

"Come in." Abe's voice was shallow, sad and muffled by distance and the door. The girl thought for a moment about turning around and never speaking to the icthyosapien again and almost did it, but a spire of guilt prodded her back uncomfortably and she forced open the heavy door with her shoulder.

The room, which was actually a library that had belonged to the B.P.R.D.'s founder, the late Professor Trevor Bruttenholm, was large and most of the surfaces were gilded with a sort of gold leaf. Abe's large glowing fish tank was built into the wall on the far left and an enormous fireplace sat in a column in the center on the room. A sort of alcove, seated on a platform only a few steps tall, contained several tall bookcases, populated floor-to-ceiling with hundreds of manuscripts and novels, and a large, ancient table, scattered with books and papers. Several other tables, similarly cluttered, populated the rest of the vast room.

Abe was putting a thick leather novel onto a shelf as Radais stepped cautiously inside. He paused, glancing in the girl's direction, and then selected another novel, one with a light blue binding. He opened it and read for a moment. Radais strode across the room and up three or so stairs, into the little library. She stopped at the table and sat down on the edge of it, her wary purple orbs never leaving the fishman's back.

"She liked this poem," he said, neglecting to turn around. His head was bent over the book, as if he was still immersed in the words.

"Look Abe, I'm really sorry about this whole situation," she started, sliding down from the table and turning in an attempt to leave. Abe cleared his throat and turned, closing the book loudly and gripping it tightly in his hand.

"I had a dream last night, on the plane. She spoke to me. Told me what you and Hellboy have been trying to say to me all along."

Radais wasn't sure how to handle this. Her mind immediately produced five hundred questions, and each one now bounced around inside her skull. She furrowed her brow and bit her lip, and waited for what Abe would say next.

"So don't be sorry. I just want you to know that I'm, how should I put it, turning over a new leaf," he said, lightly setting the book on the table.

"Like, startin' fresh?"

Abe nodded, a little smile crossing his face briefly.

Radais was just opening her mouth to say that she was proud of him for beginning to move on when her cellphone rang.

"Hello?" she snapped into the receiver.

"Where are you?" It was Liz. Her voice was urgent and strained.

"In Abe's room," Radais replied uneasily. She and Liz hadn't spent much time together since Radais had joined the B.P.R.D., she was always wrapped up in herself. Her obvious rudeness irritated the half-breed.

"Well both of you need to get upstairs. Your horse dredged up something rather unpleasant. And he wants to talk to you."

"A'ight, be there soon."

"Liz?" Abe asked perceptively, his face a bit more business-like.

"Apparently, we're needed topside. I wonder what it could be?"