When she woke it was at that awful time between late night and early morning, when you weren't sure if you wanted to go foward or
backward only that either would be better than the nothingness of three a.m. What made it even worse was remembering her
conversation with Riddick. She shouldn't stay. She'd gotten to used to this place and to the man who owned it. She wasn't a part of it, no
matter how much she'd like to pretend otherwise. But she had nowhere else to go until she met Deric. Then she had an even more terrible
thought. What if Deric didn't want her either? What if he had come just out of obligation and didn't really want her around permanently?
He must have a life of his own now. He might even have children. She hadn't thought of that. He couldn't take care of her if he had his
own new family to take care of. It'd be just like when she had gone to live with her father. She would be a burden.
Hoping Riddick would be in bed, she left her room and went to get some water in the dark kitchen. She fumbled with the cup as she
was filling it and splashed water onto herself. Something about the water made her shudder, almost like it reminded her of a bad dream
she'd forgotten. She turned around and ran straight into someone. He grabbed her arms and she screamed.
"Relax kid, it's just me," said Riddick. "Hey, you don't look so good"
Li was gasping for air. Her knees started to buckle and Riddick picked her up. He sat her down on the couch and turned the lights up.
"You shouldn't be walking around in the dark like that. Look kid, just calm down. You're ok"
She caught her breath and drew her knees up to her chin. "I don't know what it was," she said, more to herself than to him. "Like deja
vu..." She pulled her left sleeve up and examined her scars. "You just need some sleep," he said. "Yeah..." She slowly rose to her feet and
headed to her room.
Lying in her bed again she stared at the ceiling, trying to remember whatever it was that she had caught a glimpse of in that awful split-
second. It was like a dream you forget after you wake up, only to have it all come rushing back hours later when you aren't thinking about
it. But this dream was a nightmare. She felt that something horrifying had happened to her and as much as she wanted to figure out what it
was, she was afraid that she was better off not remembering. And in spite of everything that she had told herself earlier, she wished
Riddick was with her, to protect her.
Riddick regretted startling her. Normally it was just standard operating procedure to remain in the dark where he had the advantage
and moniter everything else. But he never wanted to make her scream like that, like he'd made so many others scream out in terror. And
the way she'd reacted... It wasn't just him scaring her, it was something else. Something he couldn't detect. A hidden threat to Li. That
was something that worried him. He'd promised himself to protect the girl but if there was some strange new danger that he couldn't see,
what defense did he have against that? He would just have to do the best he could until she left to be with her brother. Stretching his legs
out across the hallway, he leaned his head against Li's door and waited for the morning.