After a few hours, the man, Wyatt Cain he'd finally told us, from the iron suit was cleaned up and looked alive and human again. He'd shaved his face clean, cut his hair and taking a very, very long shower. Needless to say, he cleaned up very nice, but what really drew my attention (and DG's) were his eyes.

"Didn't you tell me about all those dreams with the blue eyes."

"Shut up," I told her quietly as Glitch just paced and mumbled to himself not far from us.

"But you can't tell me those aren't the eyes you'd been seeing." I groaned at her words and wanted nothing more than to lock myself in that damn suit.

"Yes, I noticed his eyes when I helped him earlier, but if you hadn't noticed we're in a bit of a situation and I'm not about to add attempting to romance a complete stranger who watched his wife and son being beaten for who knows how long to the mix." She took a deep breath at my words before we looked back to Cain who was kneeling of a small pier next to a large lake.

"So, he just had to stand there and watch as his family got tortured over and over again?" DG asked as Glitch joined us.

"The most imaginative tortures are saved for those who resist Azkadellia," Glitch told us, and I growled while shaking my head.

"If we ever meet her, remind me to punch her in the face."

"She'll kill you!" Glitch told me stunned by my words.

"You're going to need to learn how to take sarcasm if you're going to continue to travel with us," I told him. DG just gave me a look. "Ok, not all of it was sarcasm." Cain got up and walked back over to us.

"How long were you trapped in there?" DG asked him.

"Since that was a sapling." We all looked to the tree next to the lake that shot straight into the sky. How long did people live around here? "Much obliged for the help."

"You're welcome, Mr. Cain," DG said as we followed him back to his family home. "I'm DG, by the way, this is my sister, Rose, and—"

"I know," he interrupted her. "A head case." Glitch laughed ruefully at him.

"I have a proper name, you know." I looked back at Glitch as he seemed to be trying to think of his name. "And when I remember it, I will tell you." We watched as Cain pulled out a box from under the house and opened it. He pulled out a gun holster and quickly got to work putting it on.

"What's a head case?" DG asked him curiously.

"It's what the state does to re-educate criminals," Cain told us and I looked at Glitch, giving him a couple once overs. "They rip out their brains, make them prisoners of their own minds." Once his holster was on, we watched as Cain pulled out a small toy horse and held it longingly in both hands before tucking it away and picking up something else. "Ain't that right, convict?"

"Hey, whoa." Glitch walked up to him as Cain rose from his kneeling position. "I ain't no convict, and just in case I am, it-it was a bogus charge, a frame-job, I'm sure of it." Cain disappeared for a moment before coming back with a trench coat on and a hat in hand. He walked up to us and his blue eyes dug into my own.

"How could you be okay allowing this man near your sister?"

"Glitch won't hurt her," I told him confidently. "And if he does, I'll kill him myself."

"Why does that not make me feel better?" Glitch mumbled next to me.

"Yeah, well, I'll see you down the road," Cain told us before putting on his hat, and DG jumped at the topic change.

"Oh, actually, a road is what we're looking for," she told him jogging up to mine and Glitch's side. "We're looking for the brick route—"

"Brick route."

"That leads to a place called Central City—"

"Central City."

"Do you know of it?"

"Yeah," Cain told us messing with his gun. "It's where Zero was headed after… That's where I'm headed now."

"Great! We'll go with you," DG said as we started to follow him.

"I got business. Besides, I don't travel with kids or convicts," he told us.

"Do we look like kids to you?" I asked stopping him by getting in his way. "Look, the people who hurt your family are hunting mine. DG and I are just looking for our parents."

"And I'm looking for my brain," Glitch added.

"I mean, maybe we help you find—"

"Maybe you can what? Find what?" Cain asked turning to her. "My family? My boy? They're gone. Probably just like your folks are." He turned from her and looked down at me before walked past me. I took a deep breath before hearing him sigh and growl. "Look, nothing personal, girl, but look at ya. First sign of trouble, you're kid sister is just going to cut and run and you'll get yourself killed defending her." I closed my eyes and clenched my teeth hard enough to hurt at his words. Why did the words from a stranger hurt so much?

"Nothing personal, but when we found you, you were in a tin box," DG reminded him angrily and I turned to him.

"You don't know anything about us, Mr. Cain. Don't assume you know what will happen. You'll only make yourself look like an idiot," I warned him.

"Come on, Glitch, Rose, we'll find the way ourselves." DG grabbed my arm as she passed by me with Glitch behind us. She gripped my hand tightly in both comfort and anger.

"The way?" Cain asked as we walked past him. "The way leads through the fields of the Pa-Pay."

"Pa-Pay?" Glitch asked sounding scared and DG and I turned to look at the two of them.

"What the heck is a Pa-Pay?" I asked Cain as Glitch turned to us shaking his head.

"What? We've been tossed into a storm, trussed up by lawn gnomes, chased by madmen on horseback, how bad can Pa-Pays be?" DG asked throwing her hands up in the air.

"I've seen them gnaw people in half inside 30 seconds," Cain told us.

"Well, that definitely sounds like something to look out for," I said and Cain just turned to me as though he couldn't believe what I'd just said.

"Zipper head, keep your mouth shut. Girl, you and your sister stay behind me," Cain told us.

"Why the sudden change of heart?" DG asked him.

"Believe me, hearts got nothing to do with it." He moved past us down the road and Glitch followed close behind. DG and I shared a look before shrugging and joining the boys.