When Rachel opened her eyes again, she found herself sitting at the edge of Cassie's bed. Her best friend was in her PJ's, sleeping in an awkward position. The sound of her soft breathing filled the room.

She looked around the room where she had spent countless weekends sleeping over, talking late into the night about everything under the sun. She stared at the spot where she used to sleep on each of those weekends. It brought back memories. So many wonderful memories…

She turned her attention to the only source of light in the room-the lamp sitting on the bedside table. It illuminated the top of Cassie's head, and an object lying near it.

It was a diary. It lay open at a page full of words in Cassie's neat, small handwriting. Rachel hesitated, but only for a brief moment. "Oh what the heck, I'm already dead anyway. Who cares about morals?" she muttered.

She began to read.

"27/5/01

Dear Diary,

I still miss Rachel a lot. The pain and hollow feeling inside my heart has not let up. I can't believe she will never drag me to some sale again, or comment about my bad fashion sense. God, I miss her so, so much…Wherever you are, Rachel, we'll always be best friends. I will never forget you. Ever.

I feel that Jake has been avoiding me since the final battle. He looked away whenever he saw me, and has not even visited me once since Rachel's funeral. I hear from Marco that he is quite depressed.

He must think I blame him for her death. I don't. Nobody does. Not even Tobias. Sigh…if only he would understand that. But I know he has other issues to sort out. The guilt…the decisions he made…everything. This war has taken such a heavy toll on him.

I wish I could be there to comfort him, but it seems he is pushing everyone away and seething in his own fiery pit of grief and guilt. I wish I could see him again, and talk to him. Make him understand.

But sitting here wishing is not going to help, is it? I should go visit him tomorrow. Yeah. But I also have my own issues to sort out. All those people I've killed. I'm so, so tired of thinking….I"

Poor Cassie. She had fallen asleep before finishing the entry. Rachel sat down beside her best friend, and let out a long sigh.

"Please go talk to Jake tomorrow, okay? You know he needs you. And yeah. We'll always be best friends. No matter what." Her voice cracked. She could feel the tears threatening to fall. She blinked them away.

"I'd hate to interrupt this touching display of emotions, but time's running out. Don't say I didn't warn you!" the Drode's voice boomed in her head.

Rachel jumped. "God, you're worse than a Yeerk!" she rolled her eyes, annoyed at herself for being startled. She tried to ignore the maniacal laughter that followed.

She gave her best friend one last ghost-hug, and whispered "I love you."

She eased the pen out of Cassie's clenched fist, slotted it into the diary, placed the diary on the bedside table, and switched off the lamp. Then, she was off.

Destination: Tobias's meadow.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A minute after Rachel's departure, Cassie woke with a start. She'd just had a really nice dream. She felt for her diary, remembering that she had fallen asleep while writing in it. She wanted to record her dream before it disappeared from her mind.

Her fingers found nothing. She got up, switched on the lamp, and found it on the bedside table. Her pen was slotted in between the pages of her diary. She didn't remember doing that before she drifted off to sleep. Shrugging, she opened her diary to the page where she had left off. Picking up her pen, she was just about to begin writing when she realized that she needed the toilet. Urgently.

She stood up. The first rays of dawn shone in from her window and illuminated the room. As she walked, something shiny gave off a soft sparkle that caught the corner of her eye. She stopped, looking for its source.

There, lying on the spot where Rachel used to sleep whenever she stayed over, was a single strand of long blond hair.

Shocked, she lowered herself slowly to the ground and picked it up. Could it be-? Her thoughts went back to her dream. She placed the hair carefully in her pocket and continued walking, her mind preoccupied with the possibility.

When she returned to her diary and began to write, her attention drifted to a spot on the page where the ink had been smudged. It was a roundish wet spot. She touched it. The spot was still damp. It looked like it had been caused by a freshly shed tear…

"Oh my god…" she whispered, tears springing to her eyes as she was overcome by emotion.