Thank you so much RedHeadDiaries and graybabe for favouriting/following! And to those commenting. And to those reading! You're all awesome.

I've already written chapter 10(ish) but not the chapters inbetween :( I know that chapter is gonna be totally awesome, because I love writing action!

There's some action here, so without any further ado:

Chapter 5

As he showed me his absolutely huge 'holiday home' (ideally situated 40 minutes from both London and the sea) I found out more about him. He was going to study Biology at Oxford in the autumn- I had to gasp at that. It was like fate put us together- I was going to the same college to do French. He laughed at that but said, perfectly seriously, that it probably was. His family in Paris consisted of a 'very annoying' (in his words) younger sister, an absolutely mad mother and a saintly father for putting up with her and my sister. It sounded like he had an amazing family- especially as there were so many cousins and aunts and uncles that he saw so often.

Over lunch, he told me that his whole family was crazy and he used to hide in the closet when he was young just to get away from them. I tried to imagine him as a little kid, hiding in some cupboard with his hands over his ears to block out the screams and noise of his family. He looked very cute in my mind, with that thick floppy hair and big brown eyes. I smiled at the thought, just as his phone dinged, telling him Maggie and Caleb were going to the shops to get food for dinner.

"And this," he said, stopping outside a closed door, "is the room I stay in." He pushed it open and revealed a light, airy room with a large window facing the huge garden behind the house. I jumped on the extremely comfy bed and lay back with my eyes closed. He sat on the edge of the bed, making it dip down from his weight.

I hadn't even realised I'd fallen asleep until I was dreaming. I was, strangely enough, at the North Pole. Or at least, close. I knew it was the North because the South Pole was solid ground, but the North was just frozen ice. Ha, mediocre geography knowledge and I still knew where I was. But I wasn't cold. This was strange, because I had always been the girl that got cold in summer. But then, I saw him. Marcus. Followed by a guy I had to assume was a relation, because they had a similar look.

"Ah, nice to see you've joined the party," Marcus mocked, smiling menacingly. I backed away slowly as he came nearer, but then just turned and ran. The wind was rising into a gale and a snowstorm was beginning. He caught up with me laughably quickly, except no-one was laughing but Marcus. He grabbed my arm, but when he did, my arm burned like his hand was hot. He hissed and withdrew his hand, obviously feeling it as well as me. His eyes were wild and furious.

"Sikes, she's imprinted!" he shouted, louder than the wind's howling which was growing louder every second.

"I… what?" I asked, playing dumb.

"Don't play stupid, little human!" he sneered. "I know you've imprinted because I can't touch you. Well, not without some pain on my side. So, unless you want lots of offence marks, who did you imprint with?"

"You're the stupid one for talking rubbish!" I retorted bravely. In my mind, I thought that maybe I could call for Luc again.

Luc! Help me! Marcus! He's here!

"Who is it?!" he roared, grabbing my hair, his knuckles that grazed my head burning my scalp.

Luc! I screamed in my head, but no sound came from my mouth. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Then, I heard it. His voice, calling to me.

Anna, wake up! ANNA!

"LUC!" I shouted. Marcus gave a triumphant smirk.

"Ha! So it was that stupid Frenchie!" Don't worry, little human, you'll be seeing me again!" He shouted above the wind, shaking me.

The dreamscape dissolved and I woke up to strong arms around me and Luc's worried eyes. I took a deep breath and told him in a few sentences what had happened.

"It was a dream, but Marcus was there and someone called… Sikes, I think? They attacked me, but when Marcus grabbed me it burned- he knew I was imprinted. I called for you and he said he'd be back, before I…" I stopped as I saw that on my wrist, where Marcus had grabbed me, was a blackened mark, in the shape of his handprint. It didn't hurt, just made me want to throw up that his skin had left a mark on me.

"He… he burned me," I said, incredulously. And then I finally started crying. I sobbed into his chest as his arms tightened around me protectively. His hand stroked my hair and I rested my ear against his heart to hear our two heartbeats.

I had more I had to say, so I pulled back to admit it to him.

"I'm so sorry…" I told him, sniffing.

"What do you have to be sorry for?" he asked gently, leaning over and handing me a tissue.

"I… I told Marcus it was you, that I imprinted with you, when I heard you, I called out your name by accident and he heard, and now he's going to come after you, and it's all my fault for shouting out and I'm just so stupid for making it your problem and.." he cut off my increasingly agitated tirade by pulling me back into his arms and holding me tightly for my second round of sobbing. I had always thought I was a bit of a 'tough cookie' as the Americans might say, but I certainly wasn't right now- I was being a wet blanket.

This time, it was Luc who pulled back to look seriously into my watering eyes.

"Stop," he told me firmly, "blaming yourself. Marcus would have guessed anyway, but he was my problem, mine, the moment he became your problem. End of." He had a hard look in his eyes and I knew he would go to any lengths to protect me.

He told me about echolings, how any attacks they made in the dream would appear in real life as well. He explained that if any Ace touched me with bad intent, they would be burned, as if my skin was saying 'hands off!' to them. Unfortunately, it would such some of my strength and leave the black mark until we either 'ascended' or Caleb's grandmother came for Reunification, because her ability was healing supernatural wounds. That was cool. He phoned Caleb and Maggie and they appeared soon after, luckily having just finished the shopping when they heard. They were fussing over me like mother hens. Not cool. I knew Luc wanted to fuss over me like the other two, but he also knew I hated being fussed over. Every time he did anything, or didn't do anything, it just made me feel all the more lucky that I was his and he was mine. I vaguely heard Maggie tell Luc that his Gran would be there tomorrow to heal me, because I was still buried in his chest, listening to our heartbeats to calm me down. Maggie saw my slightly irritated swirling thoughts and pulled Caleb from the room, coming back a few minutes later with a hot chocolate for me, which made me a lot less irritated at her. The way to my heart was chocolate.

I'll remember chocolate for if you ever get angry, his teasing voice reached my head. I gaped at him. "I heard you!" I exclaimed.

Well of course, it's chocolate right?

"Wait, let me try!" I didn't even realise that Maggie and Caleb had left the room.

Hellooo? Testing, testing, Houston do you copy?

This is ground control to major Tom I heard, and that was it. I started to sing the rest of Space Oddity (one of my all-time favourite songs) very loudly and very enthusiastically. He laughed at me and told me the words when I forgot them. From there, I found out we had really similar music interests- the era of David Bowie, Queen and The Rolling stones. I was a music snob, only liking certain modern music, like Coldplay, indie bands like Mumford and Sons, Bastille and Avicii. He told me some French bands that he assured me were nothing like what he disdainfully called 'French pop'. I leant back against his chest and sang quietly:

"For here am I sitting in a tin can

Far above the world

Planet Earth is blue

And there's nothing I can do"

Realising that I was really quite hungry after my hot chocolate, which he had stolen sips of (and got told off for), we made our way to the kitchen, where Maggie and Caleb had made dinner for us. I promised to teach her how to make some awesome traditional English dishes like Yorkshire puddings (not puddings at all), toad-in-the-hole, steak and kidney pie and apple crumble (actually a pudding). She, in return, would teach me to make honey buns, which were really growing on me.

But I could tell she was still really worried, because Caleb had his hand touching her almost every moment of the meal. It was because now we had another person who was supposed to be dead, and, even more worrying, was supposed to be human, but here Sikes Watson was, attacking me in echolings, perfectly alive.

Caleb and Maggie left to go to bed, but I stayed, talking, but more often not, with Luc. It was amazing how little we needed to say. And yet, we still had a thousand conversations in the silence, a small secret smile, a glance, a look. It made my heart feel tight and whenever my eyes met Luc's, I saw his deep concern for me. I wondered how I had ever thought that it was just the imprint making him feel for me when he didn't want to. And it certainly wasn't forcing me either. He cleared his throat- I could tell he was about to say something he knew might upset me.

"Anna, there is a way to stop the echoling attacks. It's… well, my touch."

I thought I knew what he was about to say but I made him say it anyway.

"What? I mean, how?"

"Our touch heals and connects us. If we… touch whilst you're sleeping, Marcus and Sikes cannot attack you. Which means…"

"…we need to sleep together." I finished, then blushed and quickly amended my statement. "I mean, we need to sleep… in the same bed. I mean, sleep whilst, um, having skin contact. No, it just sounds worse each time, doesn't it?" I was a little flustered. He smiled and nodded.

"I know what you mean. Yes, we need to sleep with each other. I don't want to have to force you, but if it keeps you safe, then…"

"Don't worry about it," I interrupted him. "I understand. But I do need to go and get my stuff from my house."

"I'll come with you," he replied.

Once I'd collected my things and we were back in his room, I finally acknowledged my apprehension. I had chosen long pyjama bottoms with a strappy top, but I felt very self-conscious. He came out in pyjama trousers and a white t-shirt and, taking my turn in the bathroom, my stomach clenched with nerves. I swallowed when I came out of the bathroom to see him sitting in bed, leaning over the bedside table to set his phone for the next morning. Avoiding looking at him, I slid in the other side of the comfy double bed, which he had told me he normally shared with his cousin. He lay down beside me and we looked into each other's eyes for a while.

Without thinking, I reached out and traced his jaw line with my fingertips, and rested my hand lightly on his cheek. He reached up his own hand and took my fingertips, kissing them lightly before resting my hand against his heart, his hand on top of mine.

"Goodnight." He whispered.

"Goodnight," I whispered back.

The plot thickens! This is definitely one of my favourite chapters so far!

Btw, check out my Divergent fanfic and please review!

See you next time! :)