Disclaimer: I am not Stephenie Meyer, I do not own the rights to the Twlight Saga and only the characters of my own creation belong to me. This is only an attempt to prolong a thoroughly enjoyable readind ecperience.

Sorry it's taken me so long to update, this chapter was more difficult to write than I had expected!

I hope you enjoy it and will review.

The next chapter will be up much sooner.

I smelled the food in front of me, the plate contained a cut of meat, vegetables and potatoes all covered in some sort of gravy.

I knew I was hungry but the food just didn't smell appetizing. I told myself to eat it anyway and began to push the food around my plate, deliberating over what to eat first when Mr Crane began talking.

"Torrin found you three days ago. As I told you before, you were seen to have fallen from the sky in a flash of blue about three miles away. You were brought back here, to the Hub and we set you up in a bed in the med ward in the hopes you would awake soon and tell us what had happened to you.

I already had my theories by then, due to what Torrin had told me about your appearance. Your strange drivers licence was just something else to confirm my theory."

I let Crane's words wash over me. He'd not yet given me new information but I could sense it was coming. I felt nervous so I tried to occupy myself with the food, cutting off a chunk of meat and spearing it with my fork. It was dry, tasting of garlic and oil. The texture felt all wrong in my mouth. Longing to spit it out, but aware of what was acceptable table etiquette I simply chewed as fast as I could and tried to keep the grimace off my face. My teeth sliced through the flesh effortlessly, creating a meat puree that slid down my throat without me even having to swallow. It took a massive amount of effort not to gag as it hit my empty stomach.

I decided to give the meal a miss and just focus on what Mr Crane had to say.

He wasted no time, getting to the point immediately with very little backstory.

"I own a very large company based in Central City that develops new technology. Two years ago I assigned a man called Arnold Humber to a project called 'Gatemaker'. It involved the development of a machine that could fold space, creating gateways that allowed instantaneous travel from one point to another anywhere on the planet. It was a success and whilst I wished to perfect the version we had, Humber wanted to push the boundaries further by creating a new Gatemaker that would open gates to…other places."

I froze, knowing where this was going. Knowing it wasn't going to end well. Knowing that if this story had the ending I wanted it to have then I would already be back where I came from.

Crane looked into my face. His expression softened to one of sympathy, to one that told me he didn't want to tell me things I didn't wish to hear but respected me enough to do it anyway.

"When I told Humber that he was not to take the research any further and was to only concentrate on perfecting Gatemaker he grew angry. There was a confrontation which ended with me firing him, naively thinking that was the end of it."

"But it wasn't" I stated simply

"No. The next day I arrived at the lab to find nothing but a pile of rubble. Humber had stolen Gatemaker and destroyed not just that lab, but the entire building. Years and years of research wiped away in one single night.

There was a nationwide manhunt but as you can imagine, when one owns what is essentially a teleportation device one can be very difficult to find."

A hint of bitterness had crept into his voice. I could understand why.

"So you're saying that Humber got this machine to take him wherever it is that I came from and what? Kidnapped me? Why?"

"I'm saying that I think, since he destroyed my building and stole my technology that he's been trying to improve it. He got it to tear a hole in the fabric of something that should have been left alone and trespassed in a place he was not meant to be. As to the why of it, I have my theories but would be grateful if you gave me a little time to substantiate them before I shared them with you. I have no wish to provide you with false information."

I wanted to ask him to just tell me everything there and then but the gentle look in his eyes told me to be patient.

"I will tell you this though; If Humber wanted to kidnap you it's because you are special and I have absolutely no doubt that he and those who work with him are currently looking for you. It is my only wish to keep you safe until I find a way to return you home so I hope you will accept my offer of housing you here within the Hub until I get to the bottom of all this. I will do everything I can to help you get your memory back in the meantime, after all I can't help but feel responsible for this mess."

He looked utterly ashamed as he said the last and although I could see how he could come to that conclusion I held no resentment towards him. I felt only gratitude that it was Crane who found me and not Humber.

I smiled warmly at Crane and he smiled weakly back, his eyes were endless swirling azure pools of emotion.

After a brief second he seemed to rearrange his features, his eyes lost some of the immeasurable depth and he was all business again.

"Now, Mina has shown you your room but I shall assign someone to give you a proper tour. I would love to do it myself but unfortunately I have to leave the Hub for a couple of days to follow up some leads. I will be back as soon as I can."

He shifted himself off of his stool, sending a fresh waft of cloying sweetness my way and leaving his meal as unfinished as my own.

I found myself biting my tongue in order to stop the words stay, please leaving my mouth. I didn't like the idea of his absence, I would miss him, even that odd smell of his.

Just seconds after he had left, Maya, the willowy girl with auburn hair stepped through the door.

I could smell her floral scent from across the room and it cleansed the last of Crane's from the back of my mouth. It also re-awoke the burning sensation which caused me to have a minor internal panic attack whilst I kept my face as placid as possible. I stared at the two plates of now cold food upon the breakfast bar.

I was beginning to worry that this was what it was going to be like for me here. Meals with people who had pulses as loud as low flying airplanes and blood that called out to me. Plates consisting of various foul tasting delicacies that I would have to shovel down my throat whilst all the while thinking of how I would like to take my meal from theirs.

Maya approached me, unaware of my internal struggle. I noticed properly the wonderful colour of her skin, it was cream textured with just a hint of chocolate.

Her heartbeat was an irregular pitter patter and I could see her pulse jittering in her neck. She was nervous. I felt my mouth water.

"We didn't get a chance to meet before." She said in small lilting voice "I'm Maya"

She offered a delicate hand to me which I took as gently as I could before swallowing my build up of saliva and answering as casually as I could "I'm Ness. Are you here to give me a tour?"