Elie looked at the floor, unwilling to meet her friend's confused gazes. This might be the last time they'd talk to her. She'd been lying to them for so long...

"Elie, what are you talking about?" Odd asked.

"Everything you know about me is a lie." She thought about that for a moment. "Well, not everything. Most of it though." Elie sighed. "It's complicated."

"How?" Jeremie asked. Elie hadn't even heard him come down.

"Well, for starters... No." She shook her head. "I don't want to repeat myself. Let's go to the school and get Ulrich, then we'll talk. Besides, I want to make sure Sissi didn't hurt him."

"No, we need to know now, Elie." Jeremie said. She didn't have to look up to know that Yumi and Odd had huddled closer to Jeremie. The group was on guard.

"You can relax. I'm not a threat. It won't compromise Lyoko or any of you. I won't run away ether. Isn't making sure Ulrich is safe worth waiting a few extra minuets?"

There was a long pause before Jeremie said "She's right." His voice got a bit harder when he turned. "Elie, you're our friend. We wouldn't have thought you'd run or that you were a threat. But after saying something like that I hope you can understand our concern."

"I can." She said softly. Hearing Odd and Yumi move, she did as well and joined the group in the elevator. The trip back to school was tense and quiet.

Ulrich was fine, and better yet Sissi had gained control of herself and had no memory of what happened. On the down side, each person in the group had four hours of detention for skipping class.

Once back in her room, Elie took her spot at the head of the bed. Aelita sat at the foot, Jeremie sat in the computer chair, and Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich stood or sat against the wall.

"I think it's about time you tell us the truth." Jeremie said. On the walk up, the group had filled Ulrich in about the Lyoko trip, how Elie had freaked out about her eyes, and what she'd said about lying.

"Right." She said, taking a deep breath. "I'm not really sure where to start..."

"The beginning." Ulrich said firmly.

"I can't tell you that." She said, holding her hand up to hold off the protests that were already being voiced. "I have my reasons. You'll understand soon, but should tell you why I'm here first. I guess that would be as good a place to start as any. There are some things I can't tell you guys. But it's not by choice. Not entirely anyway." She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "You see, I'm in Witness Protection."

"Witness protection?" Ulrich scoffed. "Yeah right. "

"I'm not lying." She said, looking him dead in the eyes. He was the first to look away. "I helped take down some very dangerous criminals. I can't tell you how or why, but I had information on them which I traded the authorities. I gave them the information, they helped me to disappear. That's how I got here, not because I transferred. I'm not even from Pittsburgh. I'm from Atlanta."

"You realize that sounds crazy, don't you?" Ulrich asked. Elie just nodded.

"I don't get it. What kind of criminals could you have taken down? You're just a kid." Jeremie's eyes were fixed on her but she wouldn't look back at him.

"You guys are kids too, and yet you go into a virtual world and save the world on a weekly basis." She replied.

"Well, we've got to give you that point." Odd said, shrugging. "But still. The whole thing sounds like something out of a bad soap opera."

"I know." She said, looking at her knees.

"But what about your Dad?" Yumi asked. "He said he came here so you could stay at Kadic."

"He wasn't lying, mostly. He's not my father, he's the agent assigned to monitor the area and make sure I'm not discoverer. If he knew I was telling you this, he'd relocate me, and I doubt I'd end up anywhere as nice as this."

"But what about your eyes?" Odd asked. "Why did you freak out so badly when we saw them?"

"My eyes are unique. Very very few people have any yellow in their eyes, let alone fully golden eyes like mine. I think there's one other person from the US with eyes even close to mine. And his eyes are more brown than yellow. That's why I ware brown contacts to cover them. They are to obvious, and if someone who knew me saw them it would be a dead give away. Or if word got out that there was a girl with gold eyes at this school it might lead people to me."

"Elie, why did you have that information?" Jeremie asked.

"I already said I can't tell you."

"Can't, or won't?" Ulrich asked.

"Both." Elie replied. "I want to be honest with you, but this is something I don't want to tell anyone. If things were different, maybe I could, but-"

"That's Bullshit!" Ulrich snapped. "You won't tell us because you're afraid, right?"

"Obviously." She said, not flinching away from his harsh words or tone. "But keep your voice down."

Ulrich glared, making a frustrated angry sound. "You know our secret, about Lyoko and XANA. Why won't you tell us yours?"

"Lyoko is my secret now too, remember?"

"Yeah. And how do we know you won't go running off to the cops with this huh? Maybe you've just been waiting until you had more information to trade off."

"Because she doesn't trust adults. Right Elie?" Odd asked. Elie nodded. "Then why would you go to the police in the first place?"

"I was desperate. I was... I still am, in trouble. Hence why I'm in WP."

"We still need to know what connection you have with the people you turned in." Yumi said. "Maybe we can help you."

"There's nothing you could do." Elie said with a shrug. "So leave it at that please."

"Elie, please. Let us help. We can keep an eye out for you." Odd said.

"No." Her voice was quiet but firm. "The rest is ether classified or to hard for me to talk about."

"Elie, we need more than that. Why did you have that information to start with? How did you get involved with criminals?" Jeremie's quiet voice was insistent.

Elie was quiet for a long time. "You aren't going to let it go... are you?" She asked.

Everyone nodded, even Aelita. "It's important. We need to know." Aelita put her hand gently on Elie's knee but Elie pulled away.

"Because..." She shrank in on herself, bracing for their anger. "I worked for them." As she'd expected the anger and shock was almost a physical thing, even though no one said a word. "I ran messages for them, mostly. A few other things like stealing and such. I won't go into that anymore, so don't bother asking. It's a part of my life I want to forget."

The room was quiet for several more minuets before Elie sighed. "If you want me out of the group, just say the word. I won't mention anything about Lyoko to anyone."

"We'll have to think about it." Jeremie said. "Are you sure there's nothing else you want to tell us about this?"

"Of course i want to tell you more. If i could, I think I'd tell you guys everything, even the worst parts, but I can't. I've already risked a lot with my slip up. I wish you guys hadn't found out. It would have been easier that way."

"We'll talk about it and talk to you later." Jeremie said.

Elie nodded. "Ok." Her voice was small and shook; for once Elie didn't try to hide it. "I won't talk to you guys unless you talk to me first."

"That's probably a good idea." Ulrich said, glaring at her.

"Good night then." Her voice wasn't a whisper, though it was hard to find any other word to describe it. She waited until the door closed, then gave in to the dread and sorrow and bitter regret that threatened to overwhelm her.

She didn't cry. Elie hadn't cried since she was six, but she wanted to. She wanted to run, scream, fight, anything to relive the boiling pressure of emotions she didn't dare show. Sher shook with the force of them and her hands tightened as she fought back emotion. Dimly she was aware that her nails were biting into the skin of her arms, but she didn't care anymore.

Then, of all things, she felt a hand on hers, prying her nails out of her arms. Startled, she looked up into Odd's worried face. He held both of her hands in his.

"Elie..." He said softly, lowering himself to meet her eyes. "Relax your hands."

Elie tried, but only managed to relax her fingers enough for him to slide his palms against hers. He didn't let her go, but he didn't try to move any closer. "I have one more question for you. You don't have to talk, just nod or shake your head." Elie nodded very slightly. "Do you regret lying to us?" This time her nod was more forceful. She was glad he didn't ask her to talk; she didn't trust her voice anymore.

"Then that's good enough for me. I do want to know more. I think you gave us more questions than answers, but... We'll manage. It might take the others a bit to calm down. Ulrich especially. I'll see you in the morning." He let her hands go and Elie felt their loss bitterly. As if she'd been looking up at the moon on a clear night and storm cloud had suddenly moved in to block it.

"Don't go." Her whisper was more of a plea than a request.

Odd gave her his classic grin. "I can't. Jim will skin us both if he find me up here. It's almost time for lights out."

"oh.." Elie looked down again. "I see. Then I'll see you in the morning?"

"Yeah." He grinned and waved, then closed her door. Elie locked it behind him, glad that, for the moment at least, she had at least kept one friend.