Author's Note: Hey everyone! As promised, here are my thank-yous:

Eve Eastborne~ *tear* my fave reviewer! I think everyone know that you rock and they should all bow down and worship you. Anyway, be sure to get back to me on the whole "why" thing. And tell Alice I said thanks. (Sharing a body with an alternate personality sounds fun. I'll have to try that…)

Lady of the Shadows~ Thanks! I'm glad you like it.

*sniff sniff* no one gave me any ideas L Oh well. It's your loss for leaving me to my own devices *shakes head at the poor readers who have to deal with another chapter written solely by her* I love you anyways tho, you guys are so cool! Reading my story and all… *sigh* Okay, enough lovey/sappy stuff. It's story time.

Jordan sat on the couch, gazing into the newly lit fire. That damn boy had betrayed him, and delayed the "unfortunate" demise of those two scoundrel children further. No matter, he would just have to die too. Of course, Jordan had never meant to let him live in the first place but at least the little street rat would have lived a bit longer and died a less brutal death. This would take further planning on his part, and delay this whole charade again.

Then an idea hit him. A malicious smile slowly spread across his face. Getting up, he grabbed a pile of blank parchment, a bottle of ink, and a quill. He had a lot of messages to write…

Adam went through the next day automatically, just going through the motions. He did his chores and went to his lesson as usual. The sky was clear and beautiful and seemed to mock him as he went through his day in a mood that screamed for storm clouds and earthquakes. No one said much to him and he didn't say much to anyone else. Small talk was pointless. He had betrayed everyone he knew; everyone he cared about. And it pissed him off. Why the hell did I have to care? He thought dejectedly. Because, you're human. That means you can't murder without caring, without feeling. You can't just hurt people without feeling guilty. His rational half told him. Yeah, well, that didn't change anything. He still hurt the people that meant the most to him and that meant they no longer trusted him. And they shouldn't…should they? I mean, after all, I did almost kill two of them. But I saved them in the end; doesn't that count for something? And so his mental battle went back and forth.

Adam went to his room and shut the door. He needed to get out, but he wasn't feeling up to talking to anyone. He wasn't feeling up to even looking at them. Since asking permission to leave was now out of the question, Adam used a locking spell he'd written, locked his door and opened the small window in his wall. There was no way any human, except for maybe a very young child, could get through it. Looking out of it, he changed into a seagull and flew outside.

Adam gave a mental smile to feel the wind under his wings. Flying was truly divine. Leave your troubles at the shutters (A/N: get it? He flew out a window! Window…shutters? Okay, fine, I'm not funny.) and just get away from it all.

All of a sudden, he started feeling weak; not physically or mentally, but magically. SHIT!!!! Adam made a crash landing and changed back to human form. Panicked, he touched what looked to be a gold earring in his ear. "AH!" He pulled it away as a welt raised where he had burned his finger on the gold. "Oh shit. This is SO not good."

"No shit Sherlock. You're outside buck naked in a temple community." Called a sarcastic voice behind him. Spinning, he found himself face-to-face with Dan. Adam's mind raced. Should he tell him? Would it put a bigger rift between them? But what if he didn't tell him and Dan found out on his own?

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" Dan asked, then added, with a questioning look at him, "And your clothes?"

Deciding there was no room for any more lies between them, Adam responded urgently, "Jordan's doing something. Something big." Dan's face fell and a shadow of fear passed over it. Then his expression hardened.

"What is it? And how do you know about it?" He demanded harshly. Adam shifted his weight from one foot to the next. "What?! Spit it out already!!!" Dan yelled, losing his patience.

"Look, when I was working for Jordan, he tied himself to my magic. He burned a hole through my ear and filled it with molten gold that he had spelled. When the skin finally healed onto it, my magic had connected to it as well. Through this little gold blob he can sap my magic and use it for whatever he wants. Normally he'd take it in a certain shape. It's easier and takes less of it, so he can use more of it. But he's just sapping raw power. That means either he can't shape it through my abilities, which means that he really needs this power, or he needs a lot of power fast and doesn't have time to shape it. Either way, the outcome is bad." Dan took a moment to process all this information. He opened his mouth to yell at Adam for not telling them about this before, but thought better of it and closed it again. After a moment he spoke.

"Come on. We better go tell the others." Dan allowed himself a disapproving shake of the head to show Adam that just because he hadn't commented on his foolish withholding of information, did not mean he thought it was okay. Glancing back at him, Dan said, "You better get your clothes on. I don't even want to know what you were doing without them in the first place." Adam's face reddened with embarrassment.

"I shape shifted. I don't have my clothes." This visibly annoyed Dan, but since there was nothing he could do about it, he took a breath and let it go.

"Fine. I'll go tell the others. Then I'll bring back some clothes for you." With that, he took off running while Adam found someplace to screen himself from view.

Author's Note: hehe. I have an idea for what the big thing is, but if anyone else has any ideas for it, I could put mine off for a later date and use theirs. Any and all suggestions for any and all parts of the story are more than welcome and even if you have no suggestions, reviews are appreciated.