AN: Okay, I realise I haven't updated in ages. A very long age... oops. Anyway, this is an update, but not really... :-/ The perfectionist that I am, I was very unhappy with the previous chapter so decided to almost completely rewrite it... double oops.

So, sorry if this is disappointing. BUT if you do want to continue following the story, then the new version of this chapter is VITAL to the story :)

Thanks, enjoy :)

Chapter 3

The next day in Biology, after asking Mr. B about yesterday's homework and noting it down, I made sure to spread myself out as much as possible on my bench. I put my bag on the seat next to me, and spread my textbooks across the whole length of the table. I wanted to avoid anyone sitting there at all costs, especially Seamus. I was still angry at his sudden change of personality yesterday afternoon.

I thought, that maybe he'd realised that he didn't really like me after all. Immediately I scorned myself for that thought. Of course he didn't like me. What had I been thinking in the first place? Well, I had thought that we'd formed some sort of friendship. I'd begun to realise that we were two quite similar creatures. I decided then and there that I would never speak another nice word to Seamus. I shouldn't even care what he thought. I took all the anger and hate harbouring inside of me and directed it at him. So, when he walked into the classroom, looking so forbiddingly handsome, acting as if he owned the classroom, I immediately shifted my gaze to the blank page of my textbook.

I blocked out everything I heard and sensed and directed all my focus towards my pen. Admiring the workmanship and effort put into it. Anything to keep from looking at him. I wondered for a second if I hated him more than Percy, but quickly directed my thoughts in a different direction. Because deep down, I knew I didn't really want to hate Seamus. Unfortunately for him, that small inconsequential part of me was currently being subdued by the rest of my frustratingly stubborn mind.

Suddenly I felt someone next to me. Without looking up I knew it was him. I knew I would have been able to smell his scent and sense his presence even if he was in the next room. He smelled appealingly of cinnamon, honey and summer. The smell made me feel strangely at home.

Remembering all my hatred and transferring it into my eyes, I looked up and glared at him.

He seemed a bit surprised at my expression, but quickly hid any emotion from his face.

"Hey, Catrin." He greeted me, pleasantly.

I managed to hide the shiver that travelled down my spine when he said my name. I didn't want anything to do with him, I reminded myself.

"What do you want?" I hissed at him, looking to see if anyone was watching.

"I wanted to sit next to you."

His answer was so simple and plain that I was disarmed for a moment. I quickly recovered. "I don't want you here. Get lost!" I snapped again.

I thought I saw a tiny bit of hurt in his eyes, but quickly convinced myself I'd imagined it.

Just then Mr. B. cleared his throat, motioning for everyone to sit down. Without another word to me, Seamus removed my bag from the table and placed it on the floor next to him. He shifted over my textbooks and replaced them with his own.

I was positively seething now, "What, do you think you're doing?" I growled at him.

He looked at me, face perfectly innocent, but I knew that he knew the reason for my anger. "Sitting down." He said as if it was perfectly obvious.

"I'm sorry if I haven't made this clear enough for you, but I don't want you to sit here."

A slight smile ghosted his lips. "I don't see that there's anything you can do about it now."

That was it. I snapped. "Fine." I growled at him and raised my hand. Mr. B. was currently facing the blackboard, which meant he hadn't seen it, yet.

I had Seamus' attention now. "What are you doing?" He asked, and I swear he sounded exasperated.

"What does it look like?" I retorted angrily.

He sighed. "Catrin, please stop it."

"No," I quipped stubbornly.

Again that slight smile flew across his face. "God, she was right, you are so stubborn." He ran his hand through his hair in frustration. An action that made me want to replace that hand with my own. Quickly erasing that thought I returned my attention to Mr. B., wondering who "she" was.

He sighed again, aggravating me even more. "Catrin, look I'm sorry." He sounded sincere.

That wasn't enough for my overly and afore mentioned stubborn personality. "Sorry, about what?" I hissed.

"Sorry for being a jerk, okay? I just… I can't help it."

I scoffed, "You can't help it? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Why can't you simply apologise?"

He turned to look at me and I thought that he would start a rant, instead he completely surprised me. He looked deeply into my eyes and I could feel the heat flush into my cheeks. "I'm really sorry, Catrin. Honestly."

He looked so sincere that I almost believed him, almost.

"Yeah, right." Nonetheless I lowered my hand.

Seamus frowned at me. "I meant it Catrin."

"Uh huh. Sure." I said sarcastically

He was so close all of a sudden I could feel the heat radiating of him. His scent hit me like a cannonball and I felt drunk on it. He moved his mouth to my ear and whispered, "I promise, Catrin," he breathed, "I mean it with all of my being."

And just as quick as he'd approached, he had retreated and was sitting upright again.

I looked around the classroom to see if anyone had noticed our intimate exchange, but no one was looking in our direction.

My whole body felt alive, the feeling of his breath on my ear burnt into my memory.

The annoying thing was that all my anger had dissipated. I only felt, emotionally drained. Which was unusual enough as I always seemed to feel such strong emotions that mostly didn't even make sense. Sometimes I even thought that I was feeling other people's emotions, which would explain my terrible temper. I had once asked my mum about it, and she reckoned it was teenage hormones. That had made the most sense to me and I'd never questioned it again, until now.

I glanced sideways at him, trying to sense his mood. That thought took me off guard how would I sense his mood? How stupid was that? I wasn't some sort of psychic, was I?

"You look very pensive." Seamus stated curiously, interrupting my line of thought.

My face must have looked blank, because he kept talking.

"Hello, earth to Catrin?"

I looked at him. "What?" I asked, a little annoyed.

He chuckled, "where did you disappear off to, just now?"

I scowled at him. "Mind your own business!"

He blushed, which just confused me even more. What reason did he have to be blushing?

"Sorry, I didn't mean to pry or anything…" He trailed off.

I was utterly confused. "What did you think I was thinking about?" I asked exasperated, again.

He seemed embarrassed, "Uh, nothing. Never mind." He smiled, uncertain.

"Seamus, tell me." I demanded.

He just shook his head, not willing to tell me.

I sighed and shook my head in frustration. This was just the most impossible conversation I had ever had.

"So, you and new boy made up then?" He asked, and I thought I heard a note of bitterness in his voice.

I frowned, something tugging at the corner of my mind. "Yes." I replied cautiously wondering if he was changing the subject on purpose.

"Good." He answered simply, although it didn't sound like he really found it very good at all.

"What's it got to do with you, anyway?" I asked, defensive about Rhys.

He shrugged. "Nothing."

"Uh huh." I answered, not believing him for a second.

"You know that saying, 'choose your friends wisely'?"

"Yeah, what about it?" I retorted.

He raised one eyebrow, and looked at me pointedly.

I scoffed. "If you're saying what I think you're saying, you better make yourself scarce because I can't stand people who spread lies about other people without getting the facts right first!" I was almost shouting at this point, so I was lucky that the rest of the class was equally noisy at the moment and my voice was lost in the room.

"How dare you tell me, who to befriend! If I think someone is a good person, I'll stick by that opinion until proven wrong."

"That's the thing Catrin, I don't want you to be proven wrong."

"Well then stick your judgements where the sun don't shine, cause I don't want to hear them!"

I sensed him getting irritated, which only made my anger mount. "Why don't you ever listen, Catrin?" He accused, "I'm just trying to help here, and all you do is get upset!"

"Help? How are you helping, exactly? By destroying friendships, ha great help that! You are such an arrogant s-…" The bell went, interrupting the stream of profanities I was about to unleash on him. Angrily I gathered up my things and stormed out of the room, before Seamus could make me do something I'd regret.

I was rushing out of the classroom not looking where I was going, so I was surprised when all of sudden I was sprawled out on the floor. I heard mocking laughter above me and recognised it as Percy's voice.

A hand was held out for me, I ignored it and stood up with as much dignity as I could muster. I saw Percy standing there; proud of himself, his foot still in the same place I had been walking a couple of seconds ago. Obviously placed there just so the following would happen.

I glared at him with all the hate in my being. I had been upset one time too many over the past 36 hours.

"What is your problem, asshole?" I hissed at him.

He shrugged; amused at my anger and oblivious he was this close to having my fist in his face.

"I think it's pretty obvious, don't you?" He quipped overconfidently.

I wanted to wipe that awful smirk right of his face.

I noticed that some of Percy's mates were eyeing me warily, as if they could tell what was about to happen.

I was visibly shaking now, about to explode, when I felt a soothing hand on my shoulder and immediately knew it was Seamus.

"Don't touch me!" I hissed at him, not even looking back at him and shaking his hand of.

Percy laughed arrogantly. I glared at him, but was distracted by the feeling of Seamus' body so close behind mine. I forced my thoughts away from that direction and all my previous feelings of fury came flooding back.

"Catrin, calm down." Seamus tried to soothe me, it was futile. I could feel my anger bubbling over; I could even feel Seamus' anger radiating from him and fuelling my own rage. It wouldn't be long, before someone would get hurt.

"Catrin, think about it. You don't want to do this." Seamus whispered soothingly in my ear.

It would have worked, had I not been almost equally pissed of with him. "Stop. Telling. Me. To. Calm. The. Fuck. Down!" I didn't swear a lot, actually I hardly ever swore, only when I was really riled up, obviously this was one of those occasions.

I saw Percy grinning victoriously. "See I told you, you were wasting your time. She is such a bitch!"

That did it, without thinking about it; I lunged out putting all of my strength into my fist and smashing it right into Percy's grimacing face. I could feel the pain travelling up my arm and through my hand, but ignored it and was rewarded with the satisfying sound of Percy howling in pain. I smiled proudly, feeling much better now that my anger had been released.

I grabbed my bag from the floor and quickly skipped off to my next class, not thinking about the consequences my actions may have caused.

My last class was Chemistry, as I walked in I realised that gossip travelled fast and by the time I was seated next to Rhys I had apparently not just punched Percy in the face, but also threatened to kill him with a knife and broken his jaw with my 'super-punch'. I smiled inwardly thinking how ridiculous a story could get.

Rhys nudged me in the side, I shuddered at his touch. I couldn't quite figure out if it was a good reaction or a bad one.

I looked at him expectantly.

"I heard what happened." He whispered.

I rolled my eyes. "No, I did not break Percy's jaw."

Rhys looked shocked, "you didn't?"

I sighed, "Do you think I could do that? Of course I didn't, I only punched him, I didn't permanently harm him. Unfortunately…" I added wistfully, smiling at him mischievously.

He raised an eyebrow, "well it seems to have cheered you up."

I grinned. "It's a nice feeling, I finally stood up to him."

Rhys returned my smile. "You should do it more often."

I froze. "What?" I asked shocked.

"You should stand up to him more often." He repeated.

I looked at him quizzically, hoping he hadn't meant what I was thinking. "You mean I should hit him every time he picks on me?" I asked, incredulously.

Rhys shrugged, as if it wasn't a big deal. "If it helps, why not?"

I scoffed. "I can't just go around punching everyone who annoys me, Rhys!"

He looked at me, puzzled. "Isn't that what you just did?"

I looked at him, taken aback. My good feeling was fading fast. Had I just lost it? Should I not have struck Percy? I felt feelings of remorse, guilt and shame bubbling up within me.

"What have I done?" I whispered. I would get into serious trouble once the teachers found out what had happened.

"Catrin, what's the matter? Did I say something?" He sounded worried.

I looked at him and came to the sudden realisation that he wasn't quite the person who I thought he was. I knew now, that if it had been Rhys by my side in that corridor with Percy, that he'd have only egged me on to punch him, or done it himself. Even though I remembered Rhys telling me that he was far to scared to ever hit someone, I highly doubted that now. Rhys gave me the strong impression that he wasn't afraid to throw a few punches at someone, and that not much would stop him.

"You know that saying, 'choose your friends wisely'?" An eerie echo of Seamus earlier this morning went through my head. I shivered suddenly, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up.

"Catrin?" Rhys' voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

"Have you ever hit someone?" I asked him, absentmindedly. A little afraid his answer would confirm my suspicions.

He shrugged nonchalantly. "A couple of times, maybe. Why?"

I felt lied to, suddenly. "I thought you said you'd 'never have the guts' to hit someone?"

Rhys' expression froze. He looked at me suspiciously, a hint of anger playing on his features. "So? Maybe I lied, okay! It's not like I go around and beat people up for fun."

Abruptly I had a vision of Rhys stalking through the streets at night, looking for innocent victims he could brutalise. I shook my head to clear the thoughts away, but the image was branded into my mind. I didn't think that Rhys was telling me the whole truth. Jeez, first he's the best person in the world and now he's and uncontrollable criminal! I must have gone insane. That might have been the case, and I really wanted to forget the suspicious thoughts tugging at the edge of my mind, but something was different. I could tell.

"Catrin, will you tell me what the hell you're thinking about!" Rhys demanded.

I looked at him, a little voice in the back of my mind was telling me to act normal, give nothing away, but as usual I ignored it.

"Why did you lie to me?" I asked, the betrayal I felt coming through in my voice. Couldn't I just have one friend, who really liked to hang out with me? You did, but she's gone. I sighed, thinking that Leisha would've known exactly what to do in this situation.

Rhys looked irritated, but there was an emotion underneath the surface that I couldn't quite discern.

"I lied to you? It was one stupid sentence, Catrin! I'm sorry, okay? You don't need to get all worked up about it."

I studied his face, calculatingly. "You're hiding something." I stated simply, wondering at his reaction.

He thought about it for a second, seeming to decide whether to tell me or not. He looked around the classroom, as if he didn't want to be overheard.

"Not here." He whispered.

I raised an eyebrow, thinking how secret this could be, but my curiosity got the better of me. "Okay, where then?"

I might have imagined the slight victorious smile that flashed across his face, I might not. I had no way of knowing either way.

He looked at me, piercingly with those emerald eyes of his. "Can I come to your place after school?" He asked, hushed.

I squirmed, uncomfortable. I didn't want him in my home. I knew Eva wouldn't mind, she'd been wanting to meet Rhys anyway, even though she wouldn't be home until at least midnight tonight. It was just the thought of being alone with Rhys that raised Goosebumps on my skin; there was something about him now, that I didn't trust.

I sighed, hoping I wasn't going to regret this, "Yeah, okay. Come around at six." I wrote the address down for him and soon after the bell went.

I hurried home, thinking about the strange events of the day and worrying what would happen tonight with Rhys.

There was something constantly tugging at the edge of my mind as if it would clue me in to what was really happening. My thoughts kept returning to Seamus, and how his warning might have been more accurate than I would care to admit.

You're imagining things, Catrin. You've had a very stressful day. I wondered if that was it, if I was just stressed out, and all that was going to happen tonight was two friends getting to know each other better. I wondered if I wanted to know Rhys better than just a friend. It hadn't really crossed my mind before; I asked myself if I thought of Rhys that way. My mind couldn't form an answer, it kept warning be to be wary of him. Something was telling me that something bad would happen tonight. Something that couldn't be reversed, something that would change my life forever.

When I got home, I performed all my usual chores and started to do a little homework. I wondered if I should change before Rhys arrived. This wasn't a date, was it? I doubted it, we wouldn't discuss family secrets on a first date, I hoped at least. I was trying to imagine myself with Rhys, to see how I felt about it. My mind seemed to shy away from it, every time I imagined touching Rhys or kissing him, Rhys' face always transformed into Seamus'. I was getting angry with myself for even thinking about him that way, after he'd been such a jerk. But when I thought about it, I realised that he hadn't really been a jerk; he'd only been trying to help, hadn't he?

I sighed, all this speculation and stress too much for the moment, it was best just to get tonight over with and find out what was really going on.

Just as I had shoved the freshly prepared dinner in the oven, the doorbell rang. Nervous, suddenly I made my way to the door and opened it. Behind it I found Rhys, his hair slightly damp from the slight drizzle that had begun outside. Rhys had changed into something a little more casual, jeans and a v-neck sweatshirt. The top hugged his form tightly, showing off all his muscles. I wondered how hard he had worked to obtain that form.

Rhys smiled a warm smile at me. "Hey Catrin, I hope I'm not late."

He seemed so different, so relaxed. All the suspicious thoughts I had had about him went to the back of my mind, and again I wondered if I wanted to be more than just 'friends' with Rhys.

"Nope, right on time." I ushered him in, speculating how this evening was going to turn out.

"Mmh, what's cooking?" He asked, sniffing the air.

"Lasagne." I answered, it was my signature dish.

"Smells lovely." He complimented.

"Thanks." I replied, flattered. "It'll be ready in about half an hour, do you want something to drink?"

He smiled, "why don't you set things up in the living room, and I'll get the drinks?"

I returned his smile, not wanting to tell him that I'd already cleared the living room. "Sure, why not. There's some lemonade and some juice in the fridge."

I left him to it and went into the lounge, searching for the remote to switch the telly on. I found it just as Rhys walked in with two Orange Juices. I took mine and set it down on the coffee table.

"Do you want to watch some telly?" Why was this feeling more and more like a date?

He shrugged. "Not particularly, but don't let me stop you."

I put the remote away, "probably nothing on anyway."

We both sat down on the couch. It was strange to be with him outside of the school environment. He seemed much calmer. Tentatively I took a sip of my orange juice, the cool soothing liquid slid down my throat. I sighed, contentedly, and started to take another sip. The moment the liquid touched my lips I knew something was wrong. All of a sudden my mouth felt numb, my tongue felt heavy and leaden. Every movement of my body seemed a great effort. My mind screamed out in confusion, 'what the hell was going on here?' Was I dreaming? I raised my gaze to Rhys' face, only to be baffled by the expression I found on it. He was wearing a smug and horribly foreboding looking smile. I shuddered, knowing that I needed to get out of here. The problem was my limbs seemed uncooperative.

"It's awful, isn't it? Not being able to move like that?"

I looked up at the sound of the cold voice, completely alien to me. This wasn't Rhys. At least not the Rhys I had come to know over the past two days. My mind screamed at that fact. Two days! I'd known him two days and already invited him into my home? Well it wasn't as if he had seemed particularly dangerous, although observing his manner now, had quickly changed my mind.

I tried to open my mouth to say something, but it was getting increasingly difficult to even breathe.

Rhys noticed my attempt and his smug smile transformed into a fully-fledged evil grin. "Don't bother trying to speak. The paralytic powder I mixed into you orange juice means that you will be at my mercy in let's say…' he glanced at his watch speculatively, 'ooh about another two minutes. And in less than five…' he trailed off, raising a taunting eyebrow. 'You'll be dead.'

I flinched. This couldn't be happening, not to me. I must be dreaming. But, why did this all feel so real?

Again I tried to speak, but only managed a few slurred syllables before my tongue faltered. In vain I tried to raise my hand to get up, clutching with my fingers at the back of the settee, but my hands felt as if filled with lead and I could barely keep myself sitting upright, let alone move.

Shuddering I thought, this was just like one of those dreams where you can never move when you want to, your mind screaming at you to go. I wanted to shout, scream, anything to bring help, but I knew it was in vain. My lungs were too weak, and my heartbeat was starting to slow down. I could hear it pounding in my ears, like a sombre drumbeat announcing my certain doom.

'Why is he doing this?' My mind screamed out in panicked confusion.

My eyes were drawn to Rhys once more as he let out a vile laugh. "Why? You would never understand. Your wretched father died before he could tell you his secret and your grandmother thought it safer for you not to know." He laughed again. "Ironic really isn't it? Trying in vain to protect you and all it got you was your death."

How had he known what I was thinking? My mind puzzled over the strange occurrence. Something in my mind clicked, it wasn't possible, but could he…-

"Read minds? Yes, yes I can." His grin bore such a resemblance to Percy that morning it made me shiver. "Unfortunately," he went on, "Your heritage will only let me into your dull head once you are under the influence of a toxin that weakens the protective walls around your mind. So you see the partial necessity for the drug." He beckoned to the orange juice, with a glint in his eye.

'My heritage?' I wondered, what did he mean by that?

Rhys sighed. "I'm not going to go into it now, what would be the point when you're only going to die anyway? Let's just say, your parents are not who you think they are."

My mind was close to shattering under the pressure it was under. The realisation that my death was just seconds away hit me like a bullet to the stomach and a surge of adrenaline flowed through my body. I wasn't going to sit here on this sofa and die peacefully in front of him. I was going to fight with whatever strength there was left in me and make it known to the world that Rhys was a crazy and sick murderer who needed to be locked away.

Apparently listening in on my plan of protest, Rhys rolled his eyes. "And here we go, with the attempted escape. Jeez you people are all the same."

The cold, nonchalant way he said that made me all the more resolute. Gathering all the strength left in my body and focusing all my anger and hate towards Rhys, I managed to lift my right hand and slap him hard across the face.

Rage filled his eyes. "You bitch!" He shouted. A red mark was starting to appear where my hand had wounded his skin.

I cringed, it had made me feel better, but unfortunately it had completely unleashed Rhys' rage. Flinching away from Rhys' raised hand; I tried to roll off the sofa. I landed with a thud on my stomach, a helpless lump on the floor. Abruptly something heavy landed on my back. I tried to get out underneath, of what I now knew to be Rhys' raging form, but was to weak to kick my legs hard enough. His fists started beating upon my back, I wanted to cry out in pain, but all I could do was lie there and take it.

Suddenly the pain was gone, and the weight was shifted off my back. I heard a resounding crash echo through the room. It had sounded like something had been smashed. Hope filled my body. Had somebody heard a disturbance and decided to call the cops?

Determined to see what was happening I twisted my body on the ground to catch a glimpse of the events evolving in my living room. All I could hear were several people grunting with effort, as if they were fighting.

Two pairs of legs appeared in my sight and I recognised one of them as Rhys', the other seemed familiar, but my sluggish mind wasn't able to identify them.

"Get Catrin and get out of here!"

Immediately I recognised the voice that seemed to come from the strangely familiar set of legs, locked in battle with Rhys. It was Seamus. Relief flooded me like never before, and at once I felt safe. I had no idea, why this one person would make me feel so secure, but my body had been through enough for one day and did nothing to fight when a pair of warm, gentle hands started to lift me up from the floor. Reassured that everything would be all right, my mind took on a strange sense of calm. So, it was a great surprise when suddenly my head was slammed into the table above me, and pain spread throughout my skull. I heard a softly muttered curse before everything went black.

AN: Hope you liked it! :)

I'll try and get a new update on here soon, I've already started on the next chapter, but it's quite a complex one, so bear with me! If there even is anyone still left bothering to read this... LOL

Love x

Tiga