"I just don't think Caleb would have a mamodo," Eve said, sitting on the kitchen floor while Sundance mixed a concoction of tomato juice and hot sauce in a cup. "And you guys found him in the forest? Don't get me wrong, I believe you but I'm still trying to digest the idea of Caleb in wilderness. He goes batshit if his carrots and peas are mixed together."

Kyo nodded and smiled. "It was him. He looked exactly like the missing picture,"

Eve shook her head and brought her hands across her forehead. "He's so stupid. So many people are volunteering to look for him and he's being selfish by hiding out. What could control him to do this?"

"A mamodo," Amera answered. "Despite their being a hundred of us, not all of us are pleasant or welcoming. Caleb's mamodo seems to be a good example of that. She must have a demonic control over Caleb to make him avoid his family and friends like this. The only thing on his mind is bloodlust and violence. He won't stop until the win is achieved and will hurt anyone in his path to gain it."

Eve shook her head again. She looked delusional. "But…Caleb would never hurt anyone."

Sundance turned his eyes to the floor sadly.

Kyo held his fists shut in his lap. "How can you be so sure?"

He was right. She couldn't. She had no idea. Ever since they parted ways, she hardly knew him anymore. If she were to run into him on the street, he could pull a weapon on her whether she'd be protected or not. Would he want to fight her if she were seen out with Sundance? Burn his book and possibly do something to harm her?

Kyo smiled ruefully. "He said he had better prey to hunt…whatever that meant."

"Do you know anything about that, Eve?" Sundance asked with an uncharacteristic change to his voice. Black-circled eyes widened and worried. She looked away because they made her feel bad.

"Not a thing…"

She felt the heat of questioning eyes on her and kept her gaze down. She locked eyes with Sundance for a long time and his eyes were cloudy with concern. He turned to Kyo and Amera, and then burst into animated conversation, beaming, and jabbering about the green-tea ice cream Sindri brought home for him.

Eve sighed in relief. Seemingly, he was smarter than she thought.

Eve jogged through the park to distract her tense mind. Techno-blended pop music blasted from her MP3 and filled her head with something other than unease. She ran in place and sang an appallingly off-key verse of the current song on her music player.

Even though she's been admiring every minute she's had without Sundance or his book, she couldn't not feel lonely. No Sundance pouncing onto her back or having to repay the corner-store vendor when Sundance was caught stealing a chocolate bar, or having to remind Sundance that if he shot another rubber-band gun at one of Sindri's neighbors, he'd be sleeping in a futon on the floor.

She laughed at the reminder and dwelled by the public water fountain to quench her thirst. Holding her loose earphone wires out of way, she moved forward and drank from the spout. After a while, she got bored and sank into her daydreams, gazing at the water as it arcs down the drain.

When she turned, she expected to see no one behind her. Unless it was only another jogger in line for the fountain, she could never get on people's good sides. She wasn't exactly the world's miracle.

Someone so familiar, so memorized, encountered her eyes. Their eyes were cold and flinty; their physique was skinner and pronounced with an injurious diet. Their face was gaunt but not because they were sick. They only appeared cold and horrific like an assassin.

Eve held her heart, panting, breathless.

"Dear Eve, I always told you how bad it is to jog alone. Who knows what can happen?"

She threw herself back against the fountain. "Caleb, no…everyone is looking for you. You have to g-get back home. Local canines are sniffing for blood on your block, your mother is crying on TV! Please, Cal–"

"Why should I listen to you?" He most definitely wasn't. "You're nothing to me, you're a bitch. You never listened to me so why should I repay the favor? Payback is a gorgeous thing. I'm thinkin' I should repay you with it." He moved fast and roughly took her waist, forcing her near him. It didn't hurt but she still shook. "I'll let you off with a sweet, sweet warning. Where's that book of yours, Eve?"

It felt like he punched her. "I don't know what you're talking about."

From behind Caleb, she saw a little girl in the shadows. A girl with pink braided hair and equally unclean clothes, a jacket looked to be Caleb's on her shoulders. Her white grin was ice in the darkness.

She groaned in pain when Caleb held her chin in his hand, meeting her eyes bravely. "You've never been a good liar. Can't ya try to hide the heartbreak in your eyes? I ain't always the bad guy."

"Yes, you are," she mumbled.

He let her go, clearly hearing what she said. Caleb pulled back against the grass, the girl threw him a light blue square and he caught it with one hand, popping it open. He turned a bunch of pages and skimmed what was printed before reading it.

Caleb smirked. "I warned you."

The pink-haired child held her hands up from behind Caleb. She said nothing.

Caleb laughed. Eve noticed for a split second, he sounded nothing like himself. The Caleb she knew would never sleep in caves or attack an unarmed girl.

"Last chance, Eve…"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" she shouted helplessly, tears formed in her eyes. She could hardly lie.

He frowned.

The child giggled.

"Caleb, please!" It took this long to realize how right Kyo and Amera were about him. How did he know she had a spell book? Did he see Sundance in the park? How did he have a spell book? Was that the demonic child?

She trusted him.

"Primando!"

Sundance jolted off the couch, gasping at a mamodo world nightmare. Just a dream…

"Eve?" he called out. She could make him hot chocolate that Sindri sucked at. Sindri made the premade ones without the marshmallows and poured it into a lame plastic cup. Eve let him use the special, huge coffee mugs that she stole from the guy she was living with. "Eve?"

He saw his spell book on the table and he jumped to get it. She wasn't supposed to leave the house without him or the book. How could she be so stupid?

Sundance ran out of the house, shoeless, screaming the name of his partner and hoping that she will suffice fine without him.

I blame Hurricane Sandy and my failed laptop battery for the wait. Any on the East Coast agree?