Petal's POV

Quietly closing the door, I retreated to a corner of my bedroom. My head was spinning, unable to comprehend what had just happened. The hopeful part of me, the one that had proposed the idea of 'soulfinder' sounding really similar to 'soulmate' rejoiced in my head. However, it was battling with the rest of me that was convinced this was bad. Really really bad

Because Gray couldn't possibly see me in that way, and this cosmic arranged marriage was forcing him to. I felt bad for what he'd been forced into. God knew I didn't have any problem with being paired off with Gray for the rest of my existence, but he couldn't see me the same way – I was despicable. Sure, he'd been treating me like a friend but that didn't equate to wanting to spend forever with me.

The monster had once explained that even spending a couple of minutes in my presence was excruciating. I could only imagine how horrible Gray must be feeling about having to spend an hour with me… And then another hour… And then a day, a week, a month a year. The 'couple of minutes' piling up until he wouldn't be able to take it anymore. I wouldn't blame him.

A soft knock sounded at the door, his worried voice drifting through, but I ignored it, drifting back into my thoughts. Would there be any way to make this easier for him? I couldn't run away – that'd already gone badly enough that first time – and I couldn't just distance myself from him. No one in this house knew me (mostly because of me avoiding contact constantly) so he was my only ally. How could I show him that I was worthless?

But then I remembered a couple nights ago, the clear anger in his eyes as I told him that I was worthless. He'd already formed his opinion, believing me to be something worthy. The soulmate bond must've already worked its magic then. It was forcing Gray to see things that weren't there. I was ready to call it a lost cause at that point; if the arranged marriage was skewing his view of reality there'd be nothing I could do except try to annoy him less with my presence. But then an idea popped into my head. All those years at school with nothing but glares and nasty comments from others. Surely if he saw me like that he'd see what the rest of the world saw and be relieved of pretending to care for me.

Standing up determinedly, I marched to the door without letting myself think about it. If I stopped I'd see what a disastrous idea this was, but just as long as I kept walking and walking the negative side of me wouldn't be able to make me retreat to my room. So I didn't stop when I passed Gray, not when I tripped over my own two feet and definitely not when poor little Vince said sorry.

Trying to persuade myself that this was for the best, I forced myself to remember that day two weeks ago when I'd started crying in the middle of the shopping centre. After I'd calmed down we'd continued shopping, and I'd promised myself I'd get a job to pay them back – but I couldn't exactly do that if I was stuck at home, could I? So this was not only a chance to show Gray who I really was but also to end my debt to the Benedicts. It was a win-win. At least that's what I was trying to convince myself of.

"Um, Mrs Benedict?" Her eyes met mine as she lifted her gaze from her book, waving me over to sit next to her with a warm smile. I'd never met anyone as kind as Sky so I was sure she'd let me do whatever I wanted. That was part of the reason for asking her and not Zed (the other reason being that he was too tall, even taller than Gray, and it scared me to be so close to someone who could snap me like a twig).

"Call me Sky, sweetheart." This was the beginning of every single one of our conversations. "What do you need?"

"I was, uh, wondering if I could start school." This seemed to surprise her for a second, but then she narrowed her eyes in her confusion. I shuffled awkwardly on the couch beside her, her penetrating gaze making me feel exposed.

"Are you sure?" No.

"Yeah, of course, why wouldn't I be?" Total lie. And the worst part was that she caught on. I thought I'd gotten pretty good at lying, what with needing to deal with the monster on a daily basis, but she saw that I was lying straight away.

"Your aura… It looks like you're sad and scared. And you lied before." Of course. The kindest person in this house had to be able to see through my fibs and attempts at hiding behind my feelings. I wanted to simply close my mouth and refuse to speak anymore – she didn't want me to lie? I'd show her. But in the end the feeling of loneliness won out. I just needed someone who understood what I was going through with the whole soulfinder business, and Vince had said that Sky was Zed's. "Are you ok?"

"I…" Unsure how to tell her, I leaned forward as if I was telling her a big secret. Which, for all I knew, it might've been, despite Gray having shouted it to his whole family all that time ago. "Gray… He told me something and… I'm not really sure how to react."

"What did he tell you?" It seemed like she already knew but wanted me to confirm it first.

"About s-soulfinders." Understanding dawned on her features. The confused look finally abandoned her, a small smile returning to her. The same one that she'd greeted me with and that made me long for my mother.

"Ah, yes. And you're afraid of it, I can imagine." I nodded slightly. Words weren't enough to describe what I was feeling so I hoped my eyes conveyed the message well enough. "I – partly – understand how you feel. You see, I didn't know anything about savants when I met Zed. He didn't take nearly as long to tell me about him being my soulfinder as Gray did, but that's not saying much, considering he told me as soon as he could. He was really excited about having met me – soulfinders are rare in the savant world – so much in fact that he went a little nuts when I told him I didn't believe him.

"After a while I finally got to the point where I wanted to try with him. It took him a little longer to convince me that I myself had superpowers but… Well, I guess that hurdle's already been passed with you, huh?" She then closed her eyes for a couple of seconds, as if reminiscing. They opened again slowly, taking in my appearance carefully. I probably looked just as terrified as before. She had to understand that I wasn't worried about him lying to me or anything. Sky was a wonderful person, her story might be one from a fairy tale but mine wouldn't be. "What're you afraid is going to happen, Maisee?" Before I could stop myself, I started babbling. The urge to have a mother was just too strong, overpowering me in the split second I had to make a decision about whether to confide in her or stay away.

"I'm afraid for him. I… I know what I am and I know girls like me don't deserve guys like Gray. I don't want him to feel trapped by me and- and I don't want him to see the rest of his life as ruined because he's got this cosmic arranged marriage linking us together."

"You know, I called it a cosmic arranged marriage at first too." A laugh left her mouth, turning up the corners of her mouth slightly. But she wasn't joking, it was obvious she'd seen this soulfinder business as a disaster, just like I'd done. "I know it can be scary, and feeling unworthy of him, well, that's only natural. But do you know why?" I shook my head silently. I didn't want her to tell me that it was normal for someone like me to feel unworthy because I was unworthy and she wanted me to stay away from her son. But I stayed quiet, waiting for her to talk again. I guess a part of me was desperate for her to tell me something different, maybe even some kind words like my mother would've done if she loved me. "Because he was made for you. For the rest of your life you'll look at him as if he draws the sunset each day or decorates the night sky. He'll be your sun, your stars, your moon, your everything, and it's only normal to feel like you don't belong with someone so perfect. But you need to remember that he sees you in exactly the same way – in his eyes he's the one that doesn't deserve you. You're both perfect in the other's eyes, and imperfect in your own opinion.

"So of course you're going to think you don't deserve him, just like he doesn't deserve you. But you know what? It's the people who look past the 'I don't deserve him' and still give it a shot, still try to make him as happy as he makes them, that are able to get the man of their life." I stared at her in slight shock, trying to process what she had said. Surely, it couldn't be true? But the hopeful part of me was doing a little happy dance at the notion of someone believing I was perfect with all my imperfections.

"I don't really know what to say."

"Don't then. Just let that sink in, alright? That's all I'm asking, because I've seen how happy you've been making my son and… well, I don't want him to lose the twinkle in his eyes that he gets when you're around." She then patted my knee, standing up and beckoning me to follow her with her eyes. "Now what do you say to some tea?" I'd discovered in the past month that Sky really liked her tea, and I couldn't really blame her, I'd become quite fond of it myself. So I nodded, going with her into the kitchen as my mind still buzzed with possibilities. Could it be possible that Gray really saw me in that way? He couldn't… But I wanted so badly for it to be true. I'd become one of the lovesick teenagers that I'd made fun of back at the monster's. I'd made myself promise all that time ago that I wouldn't let myself go stupid with love. It was survival above anything else, and I wouldn't let anyone jeopardise that by making me believe I was worthy of love.

For the next hour, Sky and I talked about whether I actually wanted to go to school – to which I answered with yes, I was getting bored out of my mind stuck in this house – and what I was going to do about the Gray fiasco – I just shrugged, I didn't even know the answer to that one myself. I called her Sky throughout our chat and I felt my heart warming to her more and more. All my defence mechanisms were being deactivated by this family, one by one. Gray making me believe that I could have friends (or maybe even a boyfriend but I was trying to avoid thinking too much about that one). Vince making me less afraid of contact; the cute little guy had hugged me when we first met, nearly giving me a heart attack, until I realised that not everyone who hugged me or held my hand was out to destroy me. And now Sky, with her kind voice and understanding nature, who made me leave behind my ideas of no one being able comprehend my pain. I wanted to let them all into my heart.

Now the only question was, was I even capable of doing that?

Hi :)

Oh my god guys, this chapter is ridiculously long. Like, 2200 words long. And I'm super excited about it cause it has Sky in it, and she's my favourite character in the whole savant series. I was honestly upset that there was so little of her in Stealing Phoenix and Seeking Crystal. But I hope you guys liked grown up Sky :)

You guys are stars, honestly. I don't know how you put up with me xD But I did want to give you all a treat for all the reviews I've gotten (we've passed the 50 mark! I've never gotten this many reviews in a story!) so I made this chapter extra extra long =^.^=

Bye bye :)