She looked up at me, a very scared look in her wide, violet eyes. Her mutterings tapered off, and she sat up, shivering. Her mouth (the lips a deadly pale blue) worked on forming words, trying to say something. I stood quickly, grabbing a blanket from the couch and wrapped it around her shoulders. She shied away from me, dipping her shoulders away from my hands as one accidentally brushed up against her neck. Kid was freezing; quite a feat, considering the temperature outside was well into the 90s. Plus she had been running for her life from whatever that thing was, so there was no way that was natural. Which only left me the options that either that thing had somehow infected her with whatever it was, or that she, herself, was unnatural. I really hoped for neither.

"I-is it g-gone?" She managed to croak out, her arms wrapped tightly around one another, her fingers squeezing her arms to the point the skin was past turning white and was on to red, certain to be bruised later.

"Yah, yah, it's gone. It's gone." I repeated, keeping my voice low and made sure I did everything slowly. She must have been in some sort of shock from whatever that thing did to her, I reasoned. "It's gone. It's ok now. You're ok." I carefully brushed her hair away from her face, trying to take a look at her. "You're safe. That thing can't get in here. Trust me, I've got the stuff that'll ward just about anything away." She glanced up at me, wide-eyed, then lunged forward, plastering herself to my chest, and started to cry quietly. Not the reaction I was hoping for, but better than some of the other ones, I guess. I glanced across the room from over her head, meeting Bob's eyes as he stepped through the wall. His eyes widened in surprise, making an "Oh, you're busy" face, and then nodded his head at the scene she was making. I frowned, scrunching my shoulders slightly in an upwards mini-shrugging motion, and cocked my head at an angle to point my chin at the wall behind him, our universal signal for him to get lost. He gave me a raised-eyebrow glare of "You better tell me what is going on the first chance you get" and then left.

Boy, so much could be said if people just shut up sometimes, am I right?

Anyways, the girl started to slowly grow quiet, so I took the chance to ease myself away from her, and tried to get another look at her in general. Long, pretty blond hair the rich golden color that was only found in royalty and honey fell around her face. Her eyes were certainly violet, the white around them standing out that much more from the intensity of their coloring, with the hue darkening as the iris bled into the pupil. She was thin, more so than normal, and with the way her clothes fell around her, I could see why Murphy would think she was a runaway.

She hiccupped, shyly looking up at me through ratty bangs.

"I'm so sorry..." She whispered. Using the heel of her hand, she wiped away the tears left on her face, and sat back on her heels. "I'm guessing you really didn't need that."

"What? You mean having some strange, yet beautiful girl throw herself at me?" I joked, getting a small wry smile in return. Boy, if Bob or Murphy heard me using that one, I'd get a set of eye rolls and a jab to the gut, courtesy of Murphy's elbow or fist. I stood, lending her a hand to steady herself as she stood as well, and pulled the chair from my desk for her to sit on. She sat, a grateful look on her face, and gazed around shyly. "That bruise looks like it's going to heal fine..." I mentioned, nodding at the red welt on her forehead where she struck the floor. She gingerly touched it, a note of surprise on her face. "Does it hurt? I could get you some ice..." She shrugged, then shook her head.

"No, it...it'll be alright." She spoke quietly, lowering her hand to her lap. "Thank you, though."

"Right." I nodded, then took a step back to lean against the side of the couch. "So, what was that thing?" I asked. "Did have anything to do with the wind you created yesterday in the alley?" Her head shot up to look at me, but instead of an expression of guilt or trying to hide guilt, she bore a look of deep confusion.

"What? I didn't do that...how could anyone do that?" She asked. "You can't create wind...it was just a weird draft or whatever...those things just happen..."

"Those sort of things just happen a lot around you?" I shot back, and then sort of regretted it. If she did cause the wind, then she might not be aware of it. Like Bob had said, the emerging of powers is confusing at first, denied sometimes as weird but random 'happenings'. I remembered when my powers started, all the light bulbs that would suddenly burn out around me or the weird way the wind would push things around when I was angry. It happens. Just not the way you reason it out. "I'm sorry...Look," I paused, running my hand awkwardly through the back of my hair. "What's your name?"

"Celeste." She muttered. Great. Good Job, Harry, I told myself. You scared her off before you could find out why she's even here. Must be a record. I tried to smile reassuringly, but I'm not sure it even made it past friendly.

"Celeste. Ok. I'm Harry." I blurted, my manners finally catching up with my mouth. "Harry Dresden. And I want to help you in any way I can. But you got to let me know what's going on. You can't start lying to me, or leaving anything out that could be important." She didn't look my way, glancing out the storefront window instead. I turned and watched the last of the sun's light disappear beyond the cityscape line. Nightfall. "For now, why don't you catch up on some sleep?" I suggested. "You can stay here tonight, at least away from whatever's out there." For a moment, Celeste paused, thinking it over, then nodded.

"Thank you, Mr. Dresden." She said quietly with a small smile. I smiled back (the category of "reassuringly" finally made it into the smile department) and stood.

"Please, call me Harry." I replied with a grin. Suddenly, her stomach growled and she blushed crimson. "Hungry?" I asked, mock-innocently and she gave a small, embarrassed smile back. "Come on, let's get you something to eat."

I could not believe the state of my kitchen after those words were uttered.

As fast as I could make something, she's scarf it right now, pausing to breathe in between plates. Or maybe not. Maybe she just inhaled everything that didn't move fast enough when I blinked. Either way, it was a sight to behold. Every little thing Bob had ever said about my lack of cleaning abilities didn't hold a candle to this girl.

"You...you haven't had anything to eat in the last couple of days, have you?" I stated, more of a declaration than a question. She paused, looking up at me with a nearly embarrassed look in her eyes, and nodded. Gulping whatever was in her mouth (I think all I had left to make at that point was peanut butter sandwiches), she gasped out.

"Nearly a week. I've been running."

"From that thing. Celeste," I paused, pulling out a chair across from her and sat down. "Celeste, what was that thing?" She froze for a moment, then set the sandwich down onto the plate and laid her hands on the table.

"You felt it? Those hands that reach inside you and grip you heart with ice?" She asked, her voice barely louder than a whisper. I nodded, remembering that cold, dark feeling just before I had closed the door. "That was it. Don't know what, and I really don't want to find out, but that was it." I nodded after a moment and dropped the issue. Let her get a good meal tucked in, and a good nights rest, before I pressed it any further.

Finally sated, she sighed and rose to collect the scattered dishes. "Thank you so much, Dre----Harry." She smiled, catching herself in mid-sentence. "You've been really kind to me. You don't even know me, yet you've saved my life, taken me in for the night, and fed me."

"Well, hey, its the least I could do, really." I shrugged. Grabbing a rag from the counter, I start to dry and stack some of the plates "Actually, I can do one better. A warm bed." She gave a hesitated look then went back to washing the dished. I puzzled my brain for a moment, trying to decipher her expression.

Oh.

"I'll take the couch in the front of my apartment, of course, so you can get a good nights sleep." I continued after a beat. Duh, Harry! I mentally kicked myself. This girl has been running for a long time, and then you start to help her selflessly out of the blue? No wonder she's gonna be weary of the generosity!! She gave me a blushing smile and I knew I had hit the fear on its head. I returned the smile and stacked up the last of the dishes. "Anything I can get you?"

"Um..." She wrinkled her nose, (quite a cute gesture if I do say so myself) and blushed slightly again. "You wouldn't happen to have a shower available, would you?"

"Down the hall, on the left." I nodded with a grin. "It only runs cold water, just so you know, but it runs clean."

"Thanks."

"Uhmn...there's clean towels under the sink...Oh! Hey, if you see a large metal door, that's the wrong one!" I called after her, wishing I had warned her against the door to my lab before she left. I had replaced the lab door with a three-foot thick solid slab of metal after I had accidentally blown apart the original one with a potion-gone-wrong.

Live and learn.

After a few moments, I followed her down the hall. I waited and listened to hear the shower going before I pushed open the door to the lab. Cluttered shelves and strewn papers met my gaze, with each of the stone walls filled floor to ceiling with cabinets and shelves, all flooded with various bottles and boxes of things. A table sat like an island in the middle of the room, papers and objects littered across its surface, with a human skull decorated with runes perched atop of several books. As I shut the door behind me, the skull's eyes flickered to life, an orb of orange flame dancing in each socket.

"Ok, come on out Bob, its safe." I muttered, leaning on the table. As soon as I spoke, a burst of red-and-black smoke filtered out from the skull, drifting and swirling to form Bob's image.

"Where is the girl now, Harry?"

"In the shower. Now look," I started in before he could say anything at all, his expression the main drive of my actions. There was about a hundred snarky things he could say, and the way his eyes danced told me he was itching to say at least one or three of them. "She's in some sort of danger. There was something after her, and as far as I know, still is. I think she caused that wind Murphy was talking about, but if she did, she doesn't know it."

"Are you sure?" Bob asked, the tone of seriousness in his voice chased away anything he had previously wanted to tease.

"Yah, pretty much. If she knew she had some sort of power, then she would have used it by now against whatever that was. She's been running for weeks, Bob. There's no way she knows she has any power at all." Bob listened, nodding, and sighed.

"Mm...yes, I agree, Harry. But that still doesn't mean it was she who caused it."