Mina lay awake in the room Diana had showed her to, staring at the ceiling. Thoughts of the rest of the Coates kids battered her mind, swirling around and buzzing like angry bees. She closed her eyes and then sat up abruptly, wide awake. Her mind had reached Caine's thoughts...or rather his dreams. They sent her disturbing images of pain and darkness. Hungry in the dark. She shivered and then she felt Caine wake up, but the pictures were still in his mind. Mina lay down and found Caine's mind, she looked at his thoughts and dreams and turned them off. Turned off the scary pictures and the bad thoughts, letting him sleep for the rest of the night without any dreams. "I don't know why I bother," muttered Mina to herself as she rolled over and fell asleep herself.

The next morning Mina woke up early and got dressed, then waited for Diana to come and pick her up. She sat by the window, staring down at the world below. The sun rose, casting an orange light over the room and illuminating Mina's face in a pale yellow light. It was a few hours before Diana came calling "How long have you been up?" She said as Mina got up and went to the door. Mina shrugged "long enough," she said.

"Well, Caine's not up yet. I'm going to go and wake him soon, but I have to say, it's unusual for him to sleep late. Usually up by the crack of dawn." She shook her head.

"Don't. Let him sleep." Diana looked at Mina, confused "he's been sleeping badly lately, nightmares."

"And you'd know, wouldn't you?" Said Diana, an edge to her voice.

"He slept alright last night. No dreams." Mina smiled sadly "at least he'll get one night's sleep. I don't think he'll get many of those."

"Thanks." Said Diana quietly.

"What for?"

"For helping."

"Only one night." Mina sighed "I don't think I can keep it up long."

"Why, though? We haven't been exactly welcoming."

"I guess I'm just nice like that." Diana and Mina walked into the kitchen to find Penny sitting there, not doing anything in particular. She looked up at Diana and then her eyes flicked to Mina "Who's this?" She said.

"Mina." Said Diana shortly.

Penny rolled her eyes "what's she doing here?"

"Staying with us."

"Just staying? For some reason, I can't see Caine agreeing for her to just stay. What can she do?" Before Diana could answer, Mina said wouldn't you like to know? In both Penny 's and Diana's head. Diana smirked as Penny almost jumped out of her seat, Mina was grinning to herself. "Think that's funny, do you?" Snapped Penny. She began to make a hallucination, to scare Mina. To get payback. But was stopped in her tracks. "Don't play mind games with me." Said Mina frostily "you're always going to lose." Penny didn't have anything to say to this so she just sat and fumed silently. Diana laughed "aww, look. Poor little Penny's finally met her match. Wonder how long Caine's going to keep you around now?"

"Shut up you witch!" Snarled Penny

"Is that the best you can come up with? Is it?" With that Penny scraped her chair back and stalked out of the room, the last thing she heard was Diana's mocking laughter. "I don't like her." Said Mina.

"Join the club." Said Diana.

It was about midday when Caine came down into the kitchen. Mina didn't say anything, just took a moment to glance at him as he walked through the door and then lowered her eyes back to the table top. "Sweet dreams, Caine?" Said Diana.

"No dreams...no nightmares. Makes a change." He said "I actually got a good night's sleep...for once." He looked at Mina and, ever so slightly, nodded his head. It wouldn't have been noticeable if Mina couldn't hear his thoughts, she acknowledged it with a small smile. "So, how's our fearless leader this morning? Hatched any plans yet?" Said Diana, leaning her elbows on the table.

"Diana," Said Caine "if I hadn't been in such a good mood this morning, you'd be sorry you'd called me that. So how about you shut up for a minute and let me tell you what I have to say."

"Whatever you say," she said and then whispered "fearless leader," and grinned. Caine chose to ignore her teasing and said "so, Mina. How do you feel about a trip into town?"

"I'm not on your side yet, Caine, don't push it."

"I just thought...you know. Since I'm not welcome there any more, you could go and...catch up on the latest news for me." He smiled, trying act warm and charming.

"You seem to forget that any act you can put on, is wasted on me. Because behind that stupid smile you've got on your face, I can hear your thoughts saying: spy. Do you want to rephrase the question?"

Caine's smile disappeared and said "fine, if you want to be serious. Do you want to go into town and spy on Sam and tell me what he's thinking?"

Mina smiled "much more realistic, and, in answer to your question, maybe."

Caine sighed and looked over at Diana "have you seen Drake?"

"Yes, a boy about this height," said Diana, holding her hand in a rough estimate of Drake's height "a whip arm and-"

"Diana." Said Caine "I'm being serious. Have you seen him lately?"

"No, why?"

"He disappeared a while ago and I'd like to know where he's gone."

"How long?"

"2 days."

"He'll turn up, Caine. It's not long for Drake really."

Caine turned back to Mina and said "so, how about that trip into town?" Mina raised her eye brows "sorry, I mean, spying mission." He rolled his eyes.

"Ok, I'll go...in about an hour." Said Mina, standing up. She was about to leave when she said "Oh, and Caine,"

"Yes?"

"Keep an eye on Penny or have someone else watch her."

"What? Why?"

"Just...she's planning something. I don't trust her."

"Just because she was mean to you this morning-" Diana began. She didn't like Penny, but she didn't think she was up to something.

"I can read minds. She's up to something. I don't trust her. End of story. Keep an eye on her...if you don't...well, it's your fault if you get a nasty surprise one day."