Jack put a finger to his lips and unlocked the front door. Slowly, he pushed it opened, praying it wouldn't creak. His mother had gone to bed hours ago, leaving Jack and Carey to watch for the girls. He suspected if she woke up now, there would be a lot of explaining to do, and frankly, he wasn't sure if anyone could explain. The story of Keely and Annie going into that building to "help a girl find her cat" troubled him, but he suspected any other story would trouble him even more, so he didn't press the matter.

Walking into the kitchen, he held the door open for the others to walk through.

"Get some ice," Annie whispered, cradling her swollen wrist. She had sprained it when she'd taken the spill down the stairs, but the pain was only now catching up to her.

"Let's clean you guys up," Carey said, glancing back and forth between the two girls. Both were scratched and bloodied, and he knew they'd look worse in the morning. They had to at least try to disinfect themselves now.

"Right," Jack said back, handing Annie some ice. He took a dishrag off the sink and began wiping Annie's face with it.

"Jack, I don't need you to do that," she protested, but she let him do it anyway.

"Why doesn't Keely go upstairs and borrow some of your pajamas?" Carey asked Annie. "I think she should spend the night, if she wasn't planning to already."

"Okay," Annie said, not glancing at her friend.

"I'll help her up the stairs," Jack said, abandoning Annie and crossing to Keely's side. "You've been through a lot, I don't want you to pass out again."

She nodded, and winced, touching her neck.

"You okay?" Jack asked, immediately reaching to steady her.

"Yeah," she told him. "I'll be fine."

Once they'd tiptoed past Molly's room and into Annie's, Jack gave her hand a squeeze.

"I should get in my pajamas too," he told her. "Carey was staying over anyway, so we can all crash in the living room. You and I can pull some blankets and stuff back downstairs."

She smiled at him, and Jack was suddenly overcome with emotion. He wrapped his arms around her tightly.

"I was really worried about you, Keira," he told her, using her full name instead of her nickname. "Hearing Annie scream, going into that building… I was really scared."

"How did you know?"

He pulled away and looked down at her?

"Know what?"

"Where we'd be. How did you know that?"

'Good question,' he thought. 'I don't even know how we knew.'

"Carey… had a hunch," he said carefully.

"A hunch?"

"Look," he told her. "You're safe now. You and Annie both. And it's late. Let's get in our pajamas, go downstairs, and forget this night ever happened."

"I'd like that," Keely whispered.

Giving her a soft kiss, Jack left the room, desperately hoping the evening would be as easy to put behind him as he was making it sound.

"Jack? Carey?"

Hearing only snores, Annie rolled over on her side. As she'd thought, Keely wasn't laying in the sleeping bag Jack had brought downstairs for her. A few minutes ago, Annie had been woken up by the sound of rustling blankets and had known, even in her half-asleep state, that Keely had left the room.

Quietly, so as not to alert the boys, Annie crawled out of her own sleeping bag and left the living room. Seeing the front door slightly ajar, she crossed to it. Keely was sitting on the porch swing, watching the sunrise.

"I think you owe me an explanation," Annie said by way of greeting, and Keely flinched.

"I know I do," she said, facing her friend. "And trust me, Annie, I never wanted you to get mixed up in this."

"In what? Keely, I know what I saw in there. You weren't…" she paused, the words hard for her to say.

"I was dead," Keely told her flatly. "I know."

"How?" Annie gulped.

"It's kind of a long story."

Annie crossed to the swing and sat down.

"After a night like tonight, I don't care if it takes a week to hear it."

The next morning, Molly had been surprised to see the four teenagers fast asleep in her living room. At eleven they had finally gotten up and when asked about the cuts and bruises, the girls had simply said they had taken some basketball a little too far. Molly hadn't seemed convinced, but after determining they were all right, she had no choice but to believe them. Annie had gone upstairs to shower, and Carey had gone home after eating, and so Keely found herself once more alone with Jack on the living room couch.

"I have to talk to you," Keely said suddenly, surprising both Jack and herself.

"Sure," he said, removing his arm from her shoulder and pausing the movie they'd been watching. "What's up?"

"This isn't working," she said softly.

"What?" Jack asked, feeling a knot forming in the pit of his stomach. "This movie?"

"You know what I mean. This… us… it isn't going to work, Jack."

"Keely, what are you talking about?" he asked disbelievingly. "This is working. It's working great."

"No, it isn't," she insisted. Sighing loudly, she continued. "Jack, look. I like you, I really do. But we can't have a relationship."

"I don't understand."

"I'm not asking you to understand!" she yelled at him. "I'm asking you to let me go!"

They stared at each other, and Keely hated the hurt she saw in his eyes.

'I have to,' she thought. 'Whether I like it or not, I have to do this.'

"That's it?" Jack asked her, his voice sounding harsh. "You suddenly decide it isn't going to work, don't even tell me WHY you think that, and we're supposed to forget about everything? I like you, Keely, a lot. I can't just ignore that. Not if you like me too."

"I told you I did," she said, pained. "I wasn't lying."

"Then why are you breaking up with me!"

He gripped her shoulders tightly, and then suddenly he kissed her. It was a rough kiss, pleading, asking her to stay. For a moment she was lost in it, but she pulled herself away, standing up and turning, so he wouldn't see the tears of regret in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

And before he could say anything else, she left.

Jack stared at the doorway, his mouth hanging open in shock.

'What just happened here?' he asked himself. But he knew. Without reason, Keely had broken up with him.

All of a sudden, Annie appeared in his line of vision.

"Jack," she asked tentatively. "What's going on? You don't look so hot."

"Well yeah, generally people don't look very happy when their girlfriend decides to walk out on them," he spat at her.

"What?"

"She broke up with me, Annie! Do I really need to spell it out for you?"

She winced, and he immediately felt bad.

"I'm sorry," he sighed. "I just… I really like her, Annie. I don't know what happened."

"I don't know either," she told him softly. "She hadn't said anything about it to me. Maybe she was just… trying to protect you. Because of what happened last night."

"Protect me?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "From what?"

"Nothing," she said quickly. "It was just an idea."

Neither of them spoke for a minute, and then Annie broke the silence.

"Want me to bring you a soda or something?" she asked him.

He glanced at her, and then gave her an almost-smile.

"That would be great," he answered.

'You're running away again.'

"I am not," she answered her thoughts. "I just can't do it to him, I can't."

Turning a corner sharply, she ran smack into someone. The bags he was carrying flew every which way, and she immediately bent down to grab them.

"I'm so sorry," she said, wiping traces of tears off her face. "It's been a rough morning, I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Hey, no problem," the stranger told her, smiling. "Everybody has a tough day once in awhile."

"And don't I wish I was one of them," she muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Keely said, shaking her head. "Where'd you headed with all these bags anyway? Why not take a cab?"

"I'm a little short on cash," he told her earnestly. "Air-fare's expensive."

"Well since I knocked you down, can I at least help you carry this stuff?" she offered.

"Yeah, that'd be cool," he answered her. "I'm pretty close now, I live around here. Or, I used to. I'm back for a surprise visit."

"That's nice. Family?"

"Yeah."

The two of them walked down the street in silence until the reached a large blue house with white trim.

"This is the place," he announced. "See, not too far at all."

"Glad I could help," she said, extending a hand. "My name's Keira, by the way."

"Very cool name. I'm-"

"Is somebody out there?"

The screen door swung open from behind them, and he paused.

"Just in time, bro! Keira, my name is Clu. This is my brother, Carey."

"Small world," she muttered.

"Well don't just stand there, man!" Clu said eagerly, reaching out to hug his brother. He patted him on the back a few times before pulling away.

"I wanted to surprise you guys," he told him. "One of my professors got sick so a bunch of us are taking vacation. I ran into this cool chick on the sidewalk. Literally."

He smiled at her, and she gave a tight smile back.

'What's up with the chick?' Clu wondered. Then it hit him.

"Hey, sorry if this reunion's making you a little awkward," he told her. "Why don't you come in and have some milk or something."

"Oh, I'm sure Keely doesn't want to come in," Carey said quickly.

"Keely?"

"That's her name."

"I thought your name was Keira."

"It is," she said.

"Keely's her nickname," Carey chimed in.

"Wait, how did you know that?" Clu asked, confused.

"We've hung out once or twice," Keely said.

"She's Jack's girlfriend," Carey said.

"Ex-girlfriend."

"What!"

"What?"

"What is going on?" Clu said, rubbing his temples.

"I guess it's a long story," Carey started to explain.

"No it isn't," she cut him off. "I'm a friend of Annie's. Sometimes Carey and Jack will hang out with us. I was Jack's girlfriend, now I'm not. Easy."

"Since when did Jack have a girlfriend?" Clu wondered aloud.

"And since when didn't he?" Carey continued.

"Oooh," Clu groaned, rubbing his temples. "I am majorly confused, man."

"Maybe I'd better come in after all," Keely sighed.

"Let me get this straight," Clu said finally. "Before I ran into you, or, you ran into me, you were coming from breaking up with Jack?"

"Basically."

"Whoa. Small world, man."

Carey and Keely rolled their eyes. For the last twenty minutes they had been filling Clu in on everything that had happened since Annie and Keely had met.

'Almost everything,' Carey noticed. 'Neither of us mentioned last night.'

The phone rang, and Clu reached to answer it.

"Hello, you've reached the Bell residence, how may I help you? Jack! Yeah man, I'm back in town! What? At home. Naw, he's right here. So is-"

Keely hissed at him, making motions not to tell Jack she was there. He nodded, seeming to get the message.

"I mean… it's just us. Hang on."

He pulled the phone away from his ear.

"Jack wants to know if we went to hang out with him and Annie."

Carey stole a glance at Keely.

"Uh… no, no you go ahead," Carey said. "You guys go catch up, we can hang out later."

Clu nodded, putting the receiver back to his mouth. "Yeah, I'll come over but Carey wants to stay here. Kay. See you in a few minutes, man."

He hung up, and stood, looking again at Keely and Carey.

"You guys sure you don't want to come too?"

"Yeah."

"Positive," they chorused.

"Suit yourselves, man," Clu said. "It was very nice meeting you, Keira. See you later, bro."

They heard the door slam, and the two of them sat awkwardly for a minute.

"You should go," Carey said finally. "I've got… stuff."

"Yeah," she agreed, tucking a lock of hair behind her ears.

She started to leave, and then stopped, spinning back to face him.

"No. No, I shouldn't. Carey, I need to talk to you."

He blinked, unsure of what she needed to say.

'She's going to talk about last night,' he thought tensely. 'About what happened on the lawn.'

"Okay, sure," he chuckled nervously.

She sighed heavily and sat back down.

"Look, I know you're not going to believe me," she started. "But I have to tell you the truth about me. Please just listen, and don't decide I'm crazy until I'm done, okay?"

"Sure," he said, completely stumped as to what she was going to say.

"Okay."

Slowly, she pulled down the collar of her shirt.

"Oh my… how did you get that?"

A large, red, fresh-looking scar ran from across her neck and down her collarbone.

"I fell," she said slowly. "I broke my neck. That's where the bone came through."

"All that? That's impossible! For your neck to break like that you'd have been-"

"Dead?"

They stared at each other for a minute before Keely pulled her collar lower. She stopped it just at her breastbone, took Carey's hand. His breath caught as she lifted it to her heart and ran his fingers lightly across her skin. Warmth shot through up through his arm and he started to pull away when he felt it, a slight bump indicating another scar.

"Stab wound," she said quietly.

Carey pulled his hand away and looked at the floor.

"What are you trying to say?" he asked carefully. "That you've…"

He stopped, and then looked at her closely.

"Wait. You fell? How did you fall?"

"I think you know that."

He laughed sharply and stood up, pacing.

"No way. There is no way that this is true. You're trying to tell me that you're what? A ghost?"

"A chaten."

He paused, looking at her incredulously.

"A what?"

"Sha-ten," she explained. "It's this… race. Look, Carey I'm not going to talk about this unless you're going to listen. I'll prove it to you."

"Great," he said sarcastically. "Because right now you seem kind of-"

"Crazy," she finished flatly. "You're freaked out because you don't know what to believe. You're excited Clu is home but you're worried about the real reason because you don't want him to drop out like you did. Now you're trying to rationalize this by thinking of a number I'm never going to guess, and it's fifteen thousand four hundred and thirty seven."

He froze, his mouth dropping open.

"How… what…?"

"Ready to listen?"

He nodded weakly, slumping onto the couch beside her.

"A long time ago," she told him, "there were these two families. Two sisters and their husbands. They wanted to be more like cats, agile and empathic. So they worked some magic. They invoked the spirits of their cats into them. And then their children had children and so on until there was this race of people with cat-like powers."

Carey blinked at her.

"That's kind of…"

"It's a lame story, I know. But it's true. And that's the best part. Chaten, like the myth, have nine lives. We age like everybody else, but we won't die officially until the ninth time. And there's a legend. If you can find a chaten and kill it, nine different ways, nine different times, their blood with make you immortal. I don't know if it's ever been done before but… I'm being hunted. Last night, Annie was right. I was dead when she found me. I just… came back."

"So… can't you just run away from this guy? I mean, cats are smart, you can outsmart him, can't you?" Carey asked stupidly.

"Usually," she answered. "But this guy's working some powerful magic. He sends me pictures right before, pictures of dead kittens. However the kitten died in the picture, that's how he's going to kill me. And sometimes, it isn't even his own hand. Something invisible pulled Annie and I into that house last night, and something invisible called me to that spot in the house where the floorboards broke. It wasn't an accident. It was him."

Carey heaved a sigh and ran his fingers through his hair.

"So if this is true, and I'm not saying I believe you… why tell me about it?"

"Because you felt it," she stated.

"I don't follow."

"Jack told me it was you who took him there. You felt that I was in danger, and you knew where to go. And when I died… I have to know. Did you feel that?"

He looked away, recalling the moment the night before when he had been overcome with pain. It was her face that had flashed in his mind then, and, with a start, he realized he somehow had known. Inexplicably, he had known she'd been in trouble.

"I thought so," she whispered.

The two of them sat in silence again until Carey finally turned back to face her.

"So what can you do?" he asked quickly. "I mean, what uh… powers do you have?"

"Does this mean you believe me?" she asked hopefully, raising her eyebrow.

"I don't seem to have a choice, do I?"

Keely smiled for the first time that afternoon, a genuine smile that lit up her entire face.

"Oh Carey!" she cried, throwing her arms around his neck. "I'm so glad you believe me."

At her touch, Carey felt an electric shock go through him, and she pulled away.

"Sorry," she blushed. "That shock thing. That'll probably happen when we touch. It's one of the powers you were asking about. Every chaten has someone… a guardian of sorts. They're called a kinsa. They share this bond, and the kinsa can feel whenever their chaten is in trouble. Each time we touch, there'll be a shock. Just a reinforcement of our bond, kind of."

"And I'm your kinsa?" Carey asked.

"Well, you felt me, didn't you?"

He nodded, realizing that despite the surrealism of what she was telling him, he did believe it.

"And my job is to, what, protect you?"

She smiled again, this time a hint of mischief in her eyes.

"Think you can handle me?"

"Yeah," he smiled back. "I think so."

Okay, kinda lame, just need to get through the muck before the real adventure can begin. Hope you're enjoying! Yay!