I watched Ian's face, but he was relaxed. If he wasn't going to try and get past me, then what did he want? I couldn't hold the question in any longer. "So what do you want, Ian? Not just an apology for Kyle, I imagine."

Ian looked up at me with shocked eyes. "Jeb didn't tell you?"

I shrugged. "Don't know what you're talking about."

Ian took a deep breath before speaking. "They've given up the search. Even the Seekers."

My whole body tensed. They did come look for it. But was the search really over? Would they just turn their backs on their own kind like that? Does this mean it didn't tell the Seekers about Jamie and I? Or were they actually looking for him and I? I shuddered violently from the thought. It wasn't from fear. It was anger.

Ian must have noticed the reaction. When he spoke again, his voice was reassuring. "We've been keeping a close watch for some change, but they never seemed overly anxious. The search never strayed from the area where we abandoned the car, and for the past few days they were clearly looking for a body rather than a survivor…" He continued talking, but I couldn't get past the fact that it didn't give up Melanie's thoughts to the Seekers. They weren't out here looking for Jamie and I. They were trying to rescue it; thinking that it strayed too far and got lost.

Ian kept talking, not noticing if I was paying attention or not. "… The other Seekers were armed, of course. They scared the coyotes off easily, and the victim wasn't seriously hurt, but the event seems to have answered any questions they might have had about what happened to our guest here."

So they thought it was killed by coyotes. I was suddenly grateful for the animal. Let them think it was dead. With them out of the way, I could focus on what I was going to do with it.

I listened to Ian as he continued to tell his story. "So they packed up and left. The Seekers gave up the search. All the volunteers went home. No one is looking for it." I watched Ian look past me, into the small prison. I heard it rustling inside, but I didn't turn to look. It was over. To the outside world, one of their own was dead. The alien we kept prisoner here has officially fallen off the face of the Earth. "Jeb's been saying 'I told you so' to anyone who'll stand still long enough to hear it."

"Of course Jeb would still be siding with it. He's gone too damn soft. Old man'll probably try and keep it alive now." I grumbled to myself. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "All right, then. I guess that's the end of it." I couldn't believe how relieved I was to have the searching over with. We got passed the hard part.

Ian nodded. "That's what it looks like." Ian paused for a moment before continuing. "Except… Well, it's probably nothing at all."

I stiffened. There was more? "Go on." I demanded.

"No one but Kyle thinks much of it, and you know how Kyle is."

I grunted. Yeah, a pain in my ass. I listened to Ian explain how there was one Seeker who didn't like the fact that they were giving up. It seemed too eager to find our prisoner. The moment he mentioned what it was wearing, there was an odd sound that came from inside the small cave behind me.

Ian and I stared at the other for a moment before it finally clicked. It knew the Seeker we were just talking about.

"What was that?" Ian asked, his eyes wide as he stared at the black hole.

We moved at the same time, crowding the small space. I could barely see it's face in the darkness, but it had information and I was prepared to do just about anything to make it talk. I leaned back out of the hole to grab the lantern. I didn't like not being able to see it's reactions. It was as bad as Melanie was with trying to keep something from me.

I stared at it's face, it was obvious that it was scared, but was it scared of the fact that both Ian and I had it cornered in this tiny space, or the Seeker we were just talking about?

"Look at its eyes," Ian muttered. "It's frightened."

I kept hold of its eyes with mine. The way it stared back at me was obvious that it wasn't scared enough of us to be shaking in the corner like that. It was definitely the Seeker. Now I actually had to speak to it. Great.

My mouth went dry just thinking of addressing the alien. But this was important. I had to make sure Jamie was safe here. I didn't have a choice when it came to his safety. "Who is the Seeker in black?" I demanded.

It seemed as if it wanted to answer me, but it kept its mouth shut. This wasn't going to work for me.

"I know you can talk," I growled. I didn't have patience for this. "You talk to Jeb and Jamie. And now you're going to talk to me." I hated having to bring Jamie's name into this, but I was going to try anything. I moved closer to it hoping I could scare it with me being so close.

My body reacted differently than I wanted. I could feel her body heat. I could see the skin on her neck tightening as she panted. The frightened look on her face was suddenly hard for me to look at. I was always quick to wipe the worry from Melanie's face, but I couldn't do that now. I kept my face tight as I stared at it.

"Tell me what you know," I ordered. "Who is the Seeker in black? Why is it still searching?" My patience was gone. I was yelling now. I kept my fists tight to my sides when I really just wanted to choke it out of it. My anger quickly shifted, though. It knew I was raged, it hid behind its hands. I didn't understand. The Seekers were prepared to handle violence. Why was this one cringing away from it?

"Ah - Jared?" Ian murmured. "Maybe you should let me…"

"Stay out of it!" I barked. This was now personal. This was between me and the body snatcher in front of me.

I could feel Ian trying to place himself inside the small space, too, but there was no more room. "Can't you see it's too scared to talk? Leave it alone for a sec-"

I turned quickly and bunched him in the face. I felt better after I hit something. He needed to understand that this body belonged to me and there was no way he was going to tell me how to treat it. I grabbed the light and brought it fully into the small hole with me.

"That's twice," Ian growled at me.

"I'm ready to go for three," I muttered. It was true. I needed to pummel something.

When I spoke to it again, I made sure to keep my voice slow and even. "Who. Is. The. Seeker."

I watched it stare at my face. It seemed to be seeing past the mask that I was wearing. Only the way Melanie knew how. It was scary how much I could still see of my Melanie with this stranger in front of me. "I don't have to hurt you," I said quietly. It was hard to speak to it with meaning in my voice. I felt vulnerable; almost as if I was falling for it's act the way Jamie and Jeb did. "But I do have to know the answer to my question."

It continued to watch my expression.

"Tell me." I didn't like the way I was starting to plead with it.

"The Seeker," It's voice was barely above a horse whisper.

"We already know it's a Seeker." I said impatiently. I needed it to get to the point.

"No, not just any Seeker," it whispered and my heart jumped to my throat, my stomach flipped. "My Seeker."

"What do you mean, your Seeker?" Did I want to know the answer to this question? No. I was sure I didn't, but my heart wasn't what was important right now.

"Assigned to me, following me. She's the reason -" It cut off looking as if it was going to say something it shouldn't.

"The reason?" I pressed. It was going to tell me everything. I wasn't leaving until it did.

"The reason I ran away," it answered me. "The reason I came here."

This made no sense to me. They're not supposed to run away from each other. They all are supposed to like each other. This had to be a lie. Yes. A lie.

"You ran away from a Seeker?" I asked it. "But you're one of them! Why would it follow you? What did it want?"

"She wanted you. You and Jamie." My heart dropped into my stomach. I would kill it right now if it put Jamie's life in danger.

I tried to keep my voice calm. "And you were trying to lead it here?"

It shook its head. "I didn't… I…"

I waited while it conjured up a good enough lie. "What?"

"I didn't want to tell her. I don't like her."

I stared at it confusingly. This makes no sense! They don't know how to hate. I've never seen two aliens argue since the invasion. Not once did one lose their patience with another. Lies. "Don't you all have to like everyone?" I decided to ask that question because I wanted it to know I knew how it's kind worked. I wasn't stupid.

"We're supposed to." It's features turned ashamed. Probably ashamed that it's lying so bad.

"Who did you tell about this place?" That was my next question, but it didn't come from my lips. Ian was back peering through the entrance. I wanted to hit him again, but I also wanted it to answer the question.

"I couldn't tell - I didn't know… I just saw the lines. The lines on the album. I drew them for the Seeker… but we didn't know what they were. She still thinks they're a road map."

This was too strange to listen to. These were Melanie's memories we were talking about. It was strange the way it was supposed to have all her memories. I could remember too easily how quick my family came in search for me. There was nothing they didn't know. "What do you mean you didn't know what they were? You're here." I was done with the lies. I wasn't sure how much more I could handle.

My hand stretched out to choke the truth out of it, but I knew that wasn't the best way to go.

"I… I was having trouble with my… with the… with her memory. I didn't understand… I couldn't access everything. There were walls. That's why the Seeker was assigned to me, waiting for me to unlock the rest."

I glanced at Ian and he had the same look as I did. It had to have been lying. This was too good to be true. Was it possible for Melanie to not have passed on some information? If she kept this place from her then…

I whipped my head around to look back at it. "Were you able to access my cabin?" It was the only place Melanie and Jared ever felt safe.

"Not for a long time."

What was that supposed to mean? "And then you told the Seeker." I guessed.

"No."

I was taken back by her answer. "No? Why not?"

"Because… but the time I remembered it… I didn't want to tell her."

This was unbelievable! Why couldn't it just tell me the truth? Tell me that my cabin had been torn apart by the damn Seeker to try and fine where I had taken Jamie. Why couldn't it tell me that the Seeker knew where we were, but was waiting for a sign from it to save it? Surprisingly I could handle that better than I was handling all this.

"Why didn't you want to tell her?" I spoke low, not trusting my voice.

Its lips closed in a tight line. It wasn't going to answer that question. It couldn't think of an answer fast enough. Fine. I could play along.

"Why weren't you able to access everything? Is that… normal?"

"She fell a long way. The body was damaged."

I cocked my head to the side. Well if the other answers weren't a lie, this one sure was. Melanie was found in a building. Where would she had fallen from? Made no sense.

"Why isn't this Seeker giving up like the rest?" Ian asked it. I was glad he asked the next question. I was running out of strength to continue this conversation.

It slumped back against the wall and closed its eyes. "I don't know. She's not like other souls. She's… annoying."

Ian laughed once. I didn't have the strength to laugh.

"And you - are you like other… souls?" I asked, not really liking the name it used to describe itself. It wasn't a soul. It was a soul-snatcher.

It opened it's eyes to look at me, but didn't answer. Instead, it closed it's eyes again. I could tell it was don't answering question. That was fine by me- I couldn't feel my legs anymore.

I backed out of the cave, taking the light with me. I stood up to stretch. My muscles were sore from the cramped space.

"That was unexpected," Ian whispered.

I shrugged. "Lies, of course." There was no other explanation. I've never known one of them to turn their backs on the others. "Only… I can't quite figure out what it wants us to believe- where it's trying to lead us."

Ian shook his head, his face serious. "I don't think it's lying. Well, except the one time. Did you notice?"

Of course I noticed. I nodded. "Part of the act." It was probably trying to throw us off to the other lies.

Ian leaned towards me, his hand on my shoulder. "Jared, when have you ever met a parasite who could lie about anything? Except a Seeker, of course."

I nodded slowly. Now he was getting it. "Which it must be."

Ian leaned away from me, his eyes wide. "Are you serious?"

I shrugged. "It's the best explanation."