ELLI POV

By the time I woke up again, it was noon. I looked around and noticed that my mother was gone. On the table was a parchment that was held down by an empty mug. I slowly stood, blinking away sleep as I reached for the paper. Inside it said in my mother's elegant handwriting,

I'm sorry to have left so early, but I had to go to work.
I'll be back at six, and if you're hungry,
the number for pizza and the money is on the counter..

-Mom

I sighed. It was a Saturday and I am spending it alone in my house because I'm afraid of what would happen if I left it. The memories came back to me. I sat down again, suddenly nauseous. If that boy got in my house without me or my mom knowing, who is there to say that he can't do it again? Instead of waiting to find out, I grabbed my coat and decided to pay the coffee shop another visit. Maybe I would run into Jace again. Just thinking about him brightened my day considerably. I was an only child so there was no one there to ask me where I was going or to monitor me. For that, I was thankful, because I didn't need people messing around in my business. As I rounded the corner to the coffee shop, I stopped dead in my tracks. It was the boy from my dream -I would not allow myself to think about it as anything but a dream. I quickly hid back around the corner. I stood there for a few moments, regaining my composure before I took a peek.

He was standing there, looking perfect, and just like he did in my dreams. His attractiveness was startling, and I felt myself being pulled towards him... NO! I would not let that happen. I continued to study him when I noticed that he was talking. I didn't know to who, I couldn't see the other person. He was lifting his hands in a gentle motion, and I could tell by the smile on his face that whoever he was talking to was agreeing with him. Then, abruptly, he looked up, straight into my eyes and gave a slow, menacing smile. To anyone else, it would seem as if he was only being friendly, but I knew what his intentions were. He said something else to the person he was talking to before starting off in my direction. I knew that this wasn't very good.

JACE POV

I blurred back to my house. The familiar tugging on the invisible chain that ran through my heart was telling to go back to Elli. I ignored it the best I could and set out to find out more about her. I opened my mind, letting it search for my target. I found her mother within milliseconds. My mind probed at her thoughts, and I immediately skipped past to her memories, particularly about Elli. I know it's wrong, but I needed this information for my Guarded. Since I couldn't hang around Elli without the urges to shadow her, I had to use an indirect source. Her mother was that said source. I looked through the memories before a particular one popped out at me.

Elli looked to be about five or six. She had pigtails with green ribbons, and a green dress on. The only thing that came to mind was cute, and I almost said it out loud. Except, in this picture, something was wrong. She was looking down with anguish and confusion in her brown orbs. Her hands held a strange golden light, but that wasn't what was making her looked so troubled. It was the butterfly that was twitching back to life. The one she accidentally sat on. The one...

I was suddenly forced out of her mind by some unseen force. I tried to reenter once again, but was met with a mental wall. I inched around it, trying to find a fault in this blockage, but coming up unsuccessful. I groaned in frustration. Apparently her mother was as skilled in blocking her thoughts as her daughter was, but both did it unknowingly. Instead of spending my day trying to break past the barrier, I sent my energy out to finding his brother. My brother, I hissed in annoyance. I may be an angel-or as close to it as I can get, since I'm technically not dead- but I still hold my brother as a nuisance. I can't bring himself to hate my uncontrolled twin for all the things he did. He wasn't exactly evil, but he was bad. In his defense, he didn't exactly have the spoiled childhood I did. Thinking about it brought a pang to my chest.

I pushed those feelings away too as I continued to search for my brother. Once I found him I looked around through his eyes. He immediately sensed me and in an annoyed tone asked,

"What do you want, brother?And get out of my head, it is rather bothering to have you in here." I smirked and decided to toy with him a little.

"Why must I always have a reason to check up on you?Is it because, maybe, oh I don't know, I can't trust to leave you alone for a few minutes without the certainty that you won't cause chaos?"

"Oh, you're just so funny. I'm coming, just to let you know, and I will cause physical pain the next time you do this without real reason."


"Quit your whining and hurry up. I need help with my charge." I confessed. Might as well tell him now instead of having to wait for him to humiliate me face to face.

"My perfect brother having trouble," he mocked, "I always thought you had control over situations like these. But on a serious note, tell me about this Guarded of yours. I'll see what I can do." He may not be "perfect" but he was still my brother, and would help me in any situation.

"Not now, it would take too long. I'll tell you when you get here." And on that note I severed our mental bond. Now to wait for him to arrive. I needed all the help I could get to find out about Elli's secret...

ELLI POV

Maybe I should have just stayed at home... He walked closer looking directly at me. I thought he was going to walk right through me, but he just... vanished. He vanished. I stared at the spot he just occupied with suspicion and distrust. I looked around timidly, and continued on my way to the coffee shop, pretending that nothing happened. It made it much easier to accept. Once I entered though, all hopes of seeing Jace died, as he was not there. I ordered my usual and took a seat next to the window. I decided to forget about the boy completely seeing as it was doing my mental state no good. I decided that I should pay Sarah a visit. Maybe call her in advance, in case I was interrupting anything. It was, after all, a Saturday.

Please, review! It gives me fuel to update, and helps me with ideas. The idea that someone actually wants to read my story and I'm not wasting my time is pretty useful for getting me to work harder with these chapters. Right now, I feel like I have no one to write for except two people (You know who you are ;D and thank you).