Hey guys! I'm so sorry that I haven't been updating but school's been crazy. For future reference, I'll probably be updating about once every fortnight. To my reviewers: Emm10, GuysGirls3, xxkissesandcuddlesxx, FAN, bookwormgrl101, BlazingWolfFire, xXRavenBlackXx, Sabuku-no-Torai, love-30stm, Lillyymayy-x and iMakesPaxtch: When my maths teacher asks me tomorrow why I didn't do the homework I will read out your usernames and explain that I simply had to post because of all of your kind words! Hope you enjoy, Please Review!!!

The big plot development comes in like the last line by the way

CHAPTER 13

My eyes flickered as I came back into the real world. I hadn't really been asleep, just resting. I rubbed my eyes, giving them a second to adjust to the rays of amber that were streaming through the windshield. The car was pulled up in the parking lot of seedy looking motel. For a second my thoughts flashed back to when Patch and I had been forced to take a room in a place like this.

That night seemed so long ago. Hell, this morning seemed forever ago. All my memories were blurring, their order becoming indistinct. In my mind, things were either happening right now, or had happened ages ago.

My eyes drifted over to the right and I saw that the driver's seat was empty. I closed my eyes hoping Rixon would be back soon. My body was aching and I felt horrible. I really needed to lie down and the cramped passenger seat just wasn't working.

As if he had heard my mental call Rixon appeared, walking towards the car. He held something tiny and grimy in his hand. I wound down the window and he leant through.

"It's room eighteen, upstairs," Rixon told me as he put the single grubby looking key into my palm. "Go and open up. I'll get the stuff out."

"Fine," I replied with nonchalance. I probably should've asked where we were but I was so exhausted-both physically and mentally-that I no longer cared where we were.

As I got out of the car I stumbled a little, my legs numb from being confined for however long we'd been driving. My feet dragged slowly across the pavement towards the cement stairs at the end of the building. Climbing those stairs felt like climbing Everest. By the time I reached the top I was even more exhausted than I'd been before, which I hadn't thought possible. The room was about five steps from the landing and I staggered towards the door. I could only imagine what I would have looked like to a stranger. My guess was drunk or worse. I closed my eyes and couldn't repress the thought, the silent prayer: This isn't my life, I'll wake up soon.

Rixon's voice solidified my dismal reality.

"Geez, little slow aren't we? Didn't have our weeties, huh?" he joked as his fingers gently pried the room key from my closed hand.

"Need. To. Lie. Down." I mumbled. Sure enough my body backed up this statement and I slumped forward into Rixon. He caught me with one hand as his other swung the door open. Pulling me through the door with one hand, he carried in some of the stuff with the other. He dropped me over the bed before going to get the other stuff he'd left outside the door.

I let out a long breath of relief as I felt the mattress swell around my limp body. I sank further down into its lumped cushioning, not bothered to readjust myself. Rixon's movements became less noticeable as sleep took hold of me.

***

I woke up feeling better, yet the mirror on the other side of the room showed that I still looked just as bad. I looked to the small window, which now had no light coming through it. It was night, or maybe even early morning.

The sound of running water was coming from the bathroom so I guessed that Rixon was grabbing a shower. This reminded me of my own hygiene needs and I discreetly smelt my shirt, afraid that somehow somebody could be watching. I definitely needed a shower. I was surprised Rixon had survived the car trip with me.

I stood up and walked the entire step and a half to Rixon's mattress, hoping he had grabbed deodorant. No such luck. At least he had been decent enough to get us two queens though. I looked more closely at the mound of stuff on Rixon's queen. It was everything he'd grabbed from the house before he'd come to my rescue.

As my eyes combed over the pile I couldn't help but feel a little resentment towards it. For every thing I saw, I couldn't help but think 'my head was slammed into a wall because of you'. I mean, now that I looked at them closely, they weren't even that important. Just books and crumpled letters. Not even essential runaway stuff like food. Although as I picked up a book from the pile a can of Guinness rolled out from under it. I suppose that Rixon thought that that counted as a form of sustenance.

I flipped the maroon bound book I now held in my hand on it's side and read the spine; or at least tried to. The title was in a different language. It looked like Latin but I couldn't be sure. My Latin stretched about as far as the Hogwarts motto. I picked up a second book, hoping to find the title in English. I didn't. In fact, on closer examination I found that every single book was written in a foreign language.

The water in the bathroom stopped and I called out to Rixon. "Hey, I'm up…"

"Good to know," he called back. I waited silently for him to get dressed, growing more and more curious by the second about the "essentials" Rixon had packed.

"Rixon," I called, hoping it would cause him to hurry.

"What?" he said as he swung the door open. Rixon stood there in his jeans with damp hair while pulling a navy shirt over his head.

"Done?" I asked.

"Done," he replied as he fixed his crumpled shirt. "Why?" He asked looking up from the shirt, suspicion colouring his voice.

"Why did you risk my head being pummelled for the sake of books that aren't even written in English?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at him.

He let out a sigh and for a second I saw regret flash in his eyes. "I told you Nora, I'm sorry. I would have never risked it on purpose, I didn't know that she was there. I thought we had time-"

"I accept that, alright. I know you wouldn't have done it on purpose. But what is all this crap?" I said, gesturing over the pile.

"It's how we're gonna get our boy back."