Petal's POV

I could hear voices from downstairs like a heated argument was going on, but I was too scared to make my way down and see. I'd survived another day in the Benedict household, and I felt like I was honestly pushing my luck by this point, which was the main reason I was staying cooped up in my room. The other reason was Gray.

He made me feel more alive than I had in so long. He was different to everyone else. In fact, so different that my heart was screaming at me to trust him, because he wasn't like the monster. He wouldn't have told me he'd punch the living daylights out of anyone who tried to harm me. He would never put as much effort as Gray did into making sure that I wasn't afraid. Gray was different from the monster, but even that wasn't enough for me to be able to trust him.

Yet whenever I was around him, all precaution seemed to be thrown out the window. All those defence mechanisms that had kept me alive for so long were deemed unnecessary in his presence, and I was scared of that. My shields had always been up, I couldn't stand the idea of anyone being able to surpass them, especially if it ended up being my fault.

Deciding I had nothing better to do than listen in on the argument brewing downstairs, I leaned against the door, silencing my thoughts in hope of being able to interpret the mumbles that arrived at my ears.

"Gray, calm down… You… It's just the…" I couldn't make out exactly what she was saying but, judging by how female the voice sounded, I could just about work out that it was Sky speaking.

"No! They scared her… She didn't want… And they still…" Once again, half the message remained hidden. My heart was telling me it was Gray saying the lines, but I had no way of making sure. And in any case, I didn't know who this 'she' was.

"We didn't mean… do anything! She just… We only…" It was a guy speaking this time. This mysterious 'she' kept popping up, making me more and more curious. I know I had told myself I wouldn't, but I slowly eased open my door, trying to hear more of the conversation. Now I was perched atop the stairs, ready to make a run for it if anyone so much as walked into the hallway. But the living room door was shut, so their voices were still partly concealed from me.

"Did you not hear what we said during the first family meeting? Maisee's been hurt before! She's been hurt really really bad. And then you came in without a care in the world, harassing her like she doesn't even have any feelings." I was 100% sure that it was Gray, if only because I didn't know anyone else who'd be willing to defend me that way. But… Why was I the 'she'? I didn't matter enough to have an argument over, not if I wasn't being insulted anyway.

"Why do you even care so much? She's probably in her bedroom, daydreaming about birds and flowers without a care in the world. You're the only one getting so caught up in this!" They didn't understand anything. Of course I was hurting, looking out a window and hearing birds chirping didn't alleviate my pain any. They'd brought back so many memories of the monster that for a minute I'd almost gotten drowned in them. That was, until Gray asked me to look into his eyes. Just like always, the brown seemed to root me down to the real world, and for once I was thankful of that.

"Did you not see her eyes? She was close to a panic attack dude, and you're just brushing it off as if it doesn't even matter." Did this mean that he was actually willing to defend me in front of his family like he promised? I'd never known anyone to have done that. Promises were constantly broken in my world, especially if I wasn't there to see them be destroyed. But Gray wasn't turning his back on it, not even now that I couldn't judge him for doing anything less.

"Of course her feelings matter but they don't matter enough to have a fucking argument over. I mean seriously Gray, she's not even here, you can drop the bloody hero act." And there it was. I knew it wouldn't take long before they noticed that I didn't matter.

"It's not a hero act! I care about her!" Shuffling was heard inside the room and I stood up, ready to sprint away.

"Why?!"

"Because she's my soulfinder!" A bang was heard as someone hit the wall, the echo resounding all the way through the house. And then, simply silence, everyone in the room seemingly as shocked as I was. Now's the time when I really wished I had waited for a response to my earlier question. Because what the hell is a soulfinder? They sounded important. Important enough to drive Gray up a wall for. "But, you know, thanks guys." The door knob turned and without giving it a second thought, I ran back to my bedroom, the door shutting closed firmly behind me. He passed by, his footsteps quiet, but not so silent that I didn't hear them pause at my door. Just like yesterday, the chimney lit up soon after, putting a smile to my face. Now I knew who had caused it. But should I open the door and confront him about it? Did I even want to know what a soulfinder was?

Something told me I really didn't, but the curiosity was eating me up inside.

Hi :)

So, recently I've started writing a lot more, meaning I've got quite a few stored chapters in my stash. And I was just too excited about it to not give it to you guys - so updating will go up to twice a week. One will still be on Thursdays and the other will be Mondays or Sundays. I also felt kind of bad, cause this story is quite slow, due to Petal having trust issues, so I wanted to treat you all for bearing with me :) (Wow this is a long A/N)

Once again, thanks so much to all of my reviewers, your response to the last chapter really made me smile :)

Bye bye =^.^=