Whee! New long chapter again!

I was starting to make progression the third day of lessons with Nathanael, but his constant tormenting grated on me, and I ended up in a tree on my first successful attempt.

Of course, he wouldn't believe I'd done it on purpose until I could repeat the result; I went to another tree. I realized that as far as I'd come, I couldn't go to places I wasn't looking at yet.

I sort of looked forward to the lessons, and sort of dreaded them for the same reason: it meant seeing Alex twice in a day, even though it was totally awkward.

It was more than a week after that that I was able to go somewhere beyond my line of sight. Nathanael was a good teacher, but he wasted too much time talking.

He was teasing me about Alex when I decided enough was enough and put myself back in the living room.

I saw Alex start when I arrived. Elizabeth looked coolly in my direction.

"Where's Nathanael?" she asked.

"I left him back at the park. He was being a jerk again."

"This is good!" she said, grinning. "You can travel long distances! It won't be long before you can go home."

Nathanael came in that second, looking haggard.

"Liz! I've lost her! I looked every—" He stopped when he saw me, then gave me a glare that rivaled my mom's. "You sneaky little—how did you get here?"

"Same way I found myself in New York," I said.

I could hear Alex laughing at Nathanael, but I didn't look in his direction, afraid of causing another awkward moment. I turned from them and headed upstairs to my room.

Their voices traveled up the stairs, and I couldn't help but hear.

"So, if we're fighting a battle against the Primordial Darkness," I heard Alex start, "then why haven't there been any signs of trouble since Nathanael got me out of the subway?"

"Well," Lena began, "Nathanael's been keeping an eye on you. Well, I've been keeping an eye on you; Nat's just been keeping the trouble away from you."

I wondered for a moment how that was possible, as Nathanael was at home almost all the time, but then I remembered that time-travelers can be in two places at once.

Nathanael broke in. "You wouldn't believe how many people almost run you over; how many times you almost get knocked off your fire escape; how many times I've had to—"

"I get it," Alex interrupted. "I'm a danger-magnet, just like Lela." He paused. "Anything else you want to tell me that I'd rather not hear?"

"Well, Lela's likely able to go home within the week," Nathanael said brightly.

"Shut up," I heard Alex say moodily.

"Well, you asked for it."

"Nathanael," Lela said warningly, "don't you think you're pushing his buttons a little too hard today?"

"Aww, but I was having fun!"

"Too much fun," commented Alex.

A picture of Shigure popped into my head, then one of Alex crossing his arms and glaring at him.

I stifled a laugh.

Nathanael wasn't done yet, though. "You wouldn't believe how many stalkers I caught following Lela the other day. It was crazy! The hunter assigned to our region managed to find one creep after another."

"Shut up!" I heard Alex yell.

I ran down the stairs and found Alex on his feet, looking like he was about to hit Nathanael, who had an amused smile on his face. Elizabeth looked worriedly from one to the other, not sure what was going to happen.

"Nat," she said, "You should be ashamed. Darkness has no place in this house, and you're just dragging it in like a stray cat!"

His face fell. "Sorry, Liz."

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to Alex."

I watched him scratch his face before glancing up at Alex and mumbling, "Sorry."

The three of them hadn't noticed me until then.

I couldn't help but notice that when Alex saw me, his features relaxed a bit. Don't go overboard here, I thought. It's just wishful thinking. That's all.

Elizabeth looked a little upset, and Nathanael looked like he could melt into a puddle of shame.

"Are you okay, Lela?" Elizabeth asked, glancing at the two guys in front of her.

I did a quick facial-expression-check, and realized my face mirrored hers. I let myself relax before answering. "I'm fine. What was going on down here?"

"Nathanael was teasing Alex," she said, looking pointedly at her husband.

I allowed myself another look at Alex at the risk of being unable to string together a sentence for a whole minute. He looked… wary, more than anything else.

"How much did you hear?" he asked, something I didn't recognize filling his brown eyes.

"Enough," I said. I turned and glared at Nathanael, who took that moment to jump into the time-stream.

Next chapter is going to be pretty long, too, if everything works out okay.

Please review!