A/N O. M. G. It hasn't been a thousand years! I really need to re-watch the movie, but I'll keep going, since so many people have been reading! 600 hits last month! I'm so happy! Do you know what would make me happier? If everyone would read my other stories! Because I love people who read. XD Anyway, enjoy!

Cassie's POV

"Who are you?" I ask tentatively, my knife still held out in front of me. The girl grins and takes the sucker out of her mouth.

"My name is Xiao." Despite her petite and very feminine appearance, the girl--Xiao--has a very deep voice, rustic, almost. "And this is my brother, Zhao."

"Do you two have last names?" Nick rolls his eyes at me.

"Cass, must you be so mistrusting? Emily invited them here; you don't have to give them the third degree!"

"Excuse me for being cautious! If you remember what we've determined about these people, I'd think you might be a bit more concerned."

"What you've determined?" Zhao asks sharply. Unlike his sister, his voice is almost laughably high, as if they had gotten the wrong vocal chords at birth.

"Do you know the…erm…Pops?" Is that their real names? Hell if I know…

"Oh. Them. Yes, unfortunately."

"How?" I begin to ease my grip on the knife. Nick looks relaxed, as does Emily, and I haven't Seen anything negative to do with Zhao and Xiao (must have been a confusing childhood).

"They…are our extended family." Zhao says sadly. His sister looks sheepishly at me.

"They sort of disinherited us when we refused to use our gifts for their less than savory needs." I nod once, putting away the knife all together. I've got to learn how to trust some if I'm going to make it through this alive.

"If it's not too much trouble, may I ask what your gifts are?" It would be a little more than suspicious if I just came out and knew exactly what they were. Even if I did reveal that I'm a Watcher. But, as will any intelligent person tell you, it's important to keep half of your hand hidden.

"We're Bleeders. Not very good Bleeders. But we have the power, none-the-less." Xiao answers, waving her sucker around.

"Cassie?" Nick catches my attention.

"Hmm?" I turn to him, annoyed.

"Could…could you give Emily the…er…" His eyes turn scarlet.

"Oh, you want me to give her the crabby underwear?" His eyes widen.

"THEY ARE NOT CRABBY!" Zhao and Xiao both choke out a half-laugh.

"Sure, sure." I wave my hand dismissively. "Here, Em." I hand over the underwear. Emily takes it gingerly, a faint look of distaste on her face. She closes her eyes and the air around her hands seems to vibrate. Her eyebrows knit together.

"What's going on?" I ask Nick, beginning to panic. "Why isn't she saying anything?"

"Because I can't see anything!" Emily shouts angrily. "What the fuck? Kira must have amazing Shadows on her to keep me out…" The Pops' eyes are trained on us, both of them wearing a similar expression of concern.

"How is this going to affect us?" Xiao asks.

"I assume you know by now that we're taking down the American Division." The Pops nod. "And we need to kill Kira before we can do that. She's our major threat right now."

"DAMNIT!" Emily screams, lobbing the underwear at the wall. I don't think I've ever seen Emily lose her temper so completely.

"Em. Chill." Nick whispers. He puts his arm around her, and, again, I feel an uneasy pain shoot me somewhere near my heart. I don't like this. Not at all.

"I just don't understand. When we need it the most, my powers fail. I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry about it. We'll figure it out." Nick says soothingly.

"X!" I shout at Xiao. She turns quickly to face me. "I need a favor of you and Z."

"What is it?" Xiao asks expectantly.

"I need you to help with some team building."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Where'd you send them to?" Nick asks me later that night from the grimy hotel bed. We'd stayed at Emily's for another few hours, beginning our planning. We decided that we'd start out together and travel around, gathering others who wanted to aid in taking down the Division. We hope that, with enough help and power, we'll be able to do it without too much trouble. I didn't bring it up, but I've decided that, eventually, I'm going to go off on my own to find my mother. I realized that Nick would be too much of a nuisance to take with me.

"While we were at Em's I Saw a couple kids that looked like they could help."

"Who?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know? I don't See names, I See people." I snap.

"Don't get sassy with me." Nick glares over at me.

"Sassy? Are you fucking kidding me?" I bark out a laugh. Nick is getting older each day. This thoughts wipes the smile off my face. I must look as sad outside as I do inside, for Nick asks, "Cass, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing…But, Nick, have you ever…" I choke off and dive into the often horrific world that are my visions.

A dark room, only a little bit of light filtering it. It's dusty, very dusty, and it chokes me. It's all I can breathe, this dust flying through the air. There's a brief burst of gunfire--something falls to my left. The picture keeps fading in and out, like something is passing in front of my eyes. Something big, something sinister. I hear a scream, feel a hand pulling on my arm.

"This way! This way!" It's Nick. It's too dark for me to see him, but I can hear the terror in his voice. "Hurry!" Our feet pound the ground. I step on something soft and hear a crack from beneath my foot. There's a sliver of light in front of us.

"To the door. Come on, come on!" There's a loud bang and the sliver explodes into a large hole. Nick and I are almost there, only a few feet away. I can feel the air filtering in through the dust. Then a figure steps in front of the light. It raises a hand, attached to a gun. I see the action before I hear the sound; a recoil of the figure and the loud blast of the gun, followed by the ping of the bullet finding a home in Nick's chest.

"No!" I yell. Only, it's not me. My voice is lower, more musical. I turn and look at the figure and see who it really is. Another bullet hits me, but not before I see that me, the real me, is the one holding the gun.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Cass? CASSIE!" Something is shaking me. I bolt upright.

"Where the hell am I?" I shout, flailing about. I jump to my feet. Everything is a rush of blended color.

"Settle the fuck down!" Someone yells and tackles me onto a bed. Finally, my vision clears and I can see Nick's face swimming above mine. Suddenly, I'm painfully aware of his body pressing against mine, perfectly molding to my every curve. I gulp tightly, trying to ignore the fire erupting in my stomach.

"Are you okay?" Nick asks. His nose is almost touching mine. It would be so easy, just to lean up a little bit…

"I'm fine." I feel my face flushing.

"What did you see?"

"Nothing. Nothing important, I should say." My heart is like a hummingbird. I don't think it's ever beat this fast. But, of course, me being me, I ruin the moment and say, "Now can you get your fat ass off of me? I'm suffocating here." Nick purses his lips and gets off quickly, muttering an apology. I sit up, straightening my blouse, which had somehow crept up a bit during the…uh…pressing?

"Um. Cass? About what you were going to say before you passed out--"

"OPEN THE DOOR!" Nick and I both whip around to face the hotel door. There's a loud thudding on the other side, and it flies open.

"CASSIE! DOWN!" I flatten myself as the gunshots begin.

A/N Hey, so, review. A lot. Also, I've started (and sort of returned) to betaing. Go see my betaees: bananacupcake09 (who hopefully still wants me to beta…*hopeful smile*) and Lottie556. No promises on when the next chappie'll be up. It's getting crazy at school!