Aella looked at the hallway. Hayes had pressed his nose against the glass wall, even though she doubted he could hear or see anything. She turned to Loki again. She felt wrung out, exhausted, and the fear that she still couldn't fall asleep threatened to crush her. She'd hoped to find answers here, but all she got were more questions.

Her arms hung down defeated. Tears were pushing each other away in her eyes. Disappointment grabbed her throat. This man would never help her, she didn't even needed to know him to know compassion wasn't streaming through his veins.

"Can you leave me alone? Please?" She stared at the ground. Her consciousness started to slip away again. Back to that horrible place, to the domain of Death. Her fingers clamped around the edge of the bed.

At least five minutes passed by, in which she stared at the white floor. Slowly she saw blood seeping into her field of vision. It gathered in pools in which she saw the reflection of her own battered face. She shook her head. This wasn't real, this was just a macabre game her mind was playing with her.

While she was shaking her head, she lifted her head a little. That was when she saw him.

Motionless, still in the middle of the room. She'd assumed he'd left quietly, but he hadn't.

For a moment his eyes widened when their eyes met. Was he spooked? His mocking smirk had disappeared and she thought to see a flash of pain on his face. Before she could convince herself of it, his appearance faltered as if she was looking at a malfunctioning television.

Then he was gone.

A little lost Aella kept sitting on the bed, not knowing what to think of this. Now she was alone again, the heartbreaking laments started again. Aella let herself get sucked away. After all the intense things that had happened today, this felt the most familiar.

Aella was cold to the bone when she woke up. She was lying on the ground. Her joints were burning and she discovered her head was bleeding. This started to look like epileptic seizures more and more. Was that what was really happening? Was she sick after all?

"That didn't look very nice."

In a wild movement Aella turned her head aside. Loki sat sideways on her bed, with his back against the wall.

"You just watched me while I was..." She was so stunned by disbelief she couldn't find the right words.

Loki shrugged his shoulders. "I wanted to see what would happen."

"You really are a dickhead," she grumbled.

He pulled up the corner of his mouth, but the glance in his eyes was hard as stone. "So you're twisted in the head. I'm not surprised. Is that the reason you came to us? You hoped that we could help you with our godlike powers?"

"I never expected you would help me, not for a second."

"And still I'm the one who's here. The only one."

Aella grimaced. That was a painful truth. She sighed and looked the other way. Looking at him made her restless. "A few weeks ago I was hit by lightning. Since then I haven't slept, I have perfect reflexes and apparently I can punch dents in a space ship." She sighed. "From the beginning I heard voices of dying people, nowadays I see them too and apparently I'm also blessed with seizures."

Finally she looked at him again. The fascination in his eyes made her feel sick. She wished it was Hayes who was sitting there, who would have laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. But Loki gave her the impression this was something she should be happy about.

"And what are you doing here?" he asked.

"The voices told me to go here."

The glance in his eyes changed, as if he no longer thought she was crazy. He stared at her, pensively. His thoughts were running, she was sure of it.

What the hell is going on in his head?