AN: I've had this chapter written for awhile, but I haven't posted it because it bothers me. There's something about it that doesn't feel right, and I haven't been able to identify just what that thing is. So please review and tell me what you think of this. Thanks, guys!

What?

"What?" I said out loud. I took a step back, just because all of a sudden the intensity between us was too strong. Had he really said that?

"You're human? What? How? Tobias, what happened?"

"Same thing as last time." His face and voice were emotionless. He sounded dead. "Yeerk pool, and I couldn't get out in time. We came in as human, and there was no way I could morph back with all of them on the lookout after you guys escaped. I had to pretend to be a controller and blend in with a group. I'm lucky I got out at all." He looked up at the ceiling again. "Yeah," he muttered. "Lucky."

I heard him, but I wasn't really hearing. Tobias was human. If I looked hard enough, I could see the pain there on his face. I could see the frustration, the self-reproach, and just how lost he felt. I could see how mad he was at himself for getting trapped again. I could see all of that, just in his eyes.

It made me want to cry.

But at the same time, it made me feel…relieved. I wouldn't have to worry about Tobias sleeping all alone in the woods anymore. I wouldn't have to worry about the psychological strain put on him by this war. I wouldn't have to worry about how he was coping, being trapped in the body of a hawk.

And I was also…strangely glad. It was selfish, I know, but I couldn't help but think of how I wouldn't have to worry about a two-hour time limit when Tobias and I were on our rare dates. Tobias was human.

I could see with clarity how much this devastated Tobias.

But could he see how much it delighted me?

He was still looking at me, I realized. He was waiting for a response, an answer. Anything.

I didn't know what I could say without giving away how I felt. No matter how I felt, the important person right now was Tobias. That's what I had to keep reminding myself.

I guess the fact that I had to consciously remind myself of that proves that I'm not a very nice person.

"It'll be okay," I said lamely. He looked away, and I looked down, both of us aware of how the bond between us had just been broken by my pathetic attempt at a lie to make him feel better.

"Everyone else is looking for you," I tried again. "We've been worried…" This wasn't working. Tobias wasn't even paying attention to me anymore. He was lost in his own little messed-up world of depression where all the blame fell on him. I had to snap him out of it.

"You want some Chinese food?" I blurted out. No answer. "Tobias?" I reached out and gently grabbed his arm.

The reaction was instantaneous. He pulled back immediately, frightened. "Do you want some food?" I repeated. He stared at me for a second, his eyes blank. He looked uncomfortable. I realized that I was still holding him and embarrassedly dropped my arm. The tension in the room was unbearable.

What was I supposed to do? I've said this before, but I'm not Cassie. Why had Tobias come to me?

Somehow, I was pretty sure of the answer.

I know I'm strong. And I know that I give others extra strength. But with Tobias, I thought that it was a little more than that.

There was an awkward silence in the room. The air felt thick and heavy and uncomfortable. Both of us were glancing around, at the ceiling, the floor, the walls, the Chinese food, at everywhere and everything other than each other.

Facing each other meant facing the truth.

The phone rang and cut through the air. I reached for it, but it was as if my body was on auto-pilot; I felt like I was a million miles away from the room and the phone.

"Hello?" I asked monotonously.

"Rachel?" It was Cassie, sounding worried. Typical Cassie. "Hey, Rachel, it's me. I'm just checking to see that you're alright."

Alright? Was I alright? I glanced at Tobias before I said my next words.

"Yeah, everything's alright. How did the scavenger hunt go for all of you?" After months of practice, talking on the phone in code had become pretty easy.

"Not bad. Toby didn't show up, though." Cassie somehow managed to use a nonchalant, conversational, tone. I swear, that girl should be an actress.

"Yeah, well…Toby's here," I blurted out.

Cassie was silent for a minute. "What!" She almost yelled. She lowered her voice, and said it again, this time calmly. "What?"

"I said, Toby's here. He…couldn't find where the scavenger hunt was, so he came here. He's actually here beside me right now."

"What? He is? Is he okay?" Cassie asked frantically, pretty much dropping our cover.

"He's…he's…well, he's here," I finished hesitantly. "Hey, Cassie, could you do me a favor and spread the news to everyone else? Oh, and it'd be great if we could all work on that project together in your barn at about nine tomorrow morning."

"Sure," Cassie said carefully. She knew something was wrong by my tone of voice. "Tell Toby I say hi and I'm glad that he was able to find your house."

"I will. Bye." I hung up the phone quietly, then turned to Tobias. "That was Cassie," I said. "She says hi and that she's glad that you're alright."

He nodded. It struck me that Tobias really wasn't alright. And then we were back to the same state we had been in before: uncomfortable silence. I decided to break it.

"Tobias, what are we going to do?"

He seemed surprised that I had used "we." But the way I saw it, we were all in this together. "I don't know," he admitted. By hearing and answering my question, he seemed to come back to the real world. "Where's your family?"

"Out for the weekend," I responded. "So you can stay here."

"Thanks," he said.

Everything felt so surreal, and so wrong.

"And I have some of Jake's clothes that should probably fit you. And…tomorrow we have to go to a meeting and tell the others. About this, I mean." There. I had said it. It hadn't been as hard as I thought it would be.

He nodded slowly. "It hasn't really hit me yet," He said quietly. He closed his eyes, and leaned his head back against the wall. "This sucks." It was a completely out of character thing for him to say, but it fit the mood.

All I could do was agree halfheartedly with him, all the while knowing that in my heart I meant the exact opposite. "Yeah, it does."