Diana brought excitement with her. The people liked her; her modesty and genuine kindness gained her a lot of sympathy throughout the first weeks- she was nice and caring but tough and rational when it came to important decisions. She was nice, funny and smart, and on top of that her soul Heads To The Sky had been a highly regarded healer. Her memory was in perfect condition; she was able to retrieve all of the soul's memories to hand them over to Doc, who found them very helpful. She had contained a lot more of her soul's knowledge than Candy had done, which helped all of us to understand the progress of healing a lot more. This made Candy feel useless and she began complaining about the newcomer; she was whining about the attention we gave Diana. There came a point in which my fingers itched to shoot this annoying human we had saved. She was just as bad as the seeker that had taken her over earlier, and she made all of our lives a lot harder. Doc was beaming the whole time when he was around Diana, he couldn't get enough of her stories and information. She shared a room with Louise and Skyler, also two necomers that had only been with us for several weeks. Not only was she a very crucial source of information, but she was also a hard worker. I saw her on the fields almost every single day; and when I didn't, she was usually in the Kitchen cooking with some of the other women.

Diana very rarely spoke about herself,- the girl before all of this had happened, the human- but she loved talking about Heads To The Sky; she said that she found herself striding through those memories a lot more than through her own ones, she desired the soul's interesting profession and many lives on different planets as opposed to the boring office job she herself had attended. She hadn't shared a body with Heads To The Sky like Mel and Wanda had done, - she had been completely extinguished throughout the procedure- nor did she particularly like her like Mel liked Wanda, she just thought of her as a more interesting being than her mediocre self.

Everything was the best it had ever been, and better. There seemed to be no end to the positivity that surrounded us every single day. The new members of our community were becoming routined and more proficient at the tasks they were given. Sunny and Kyle were only a few days away from Sunny's first tour- Jeb had decided that she had been there for long enough to be a trustworthy member. „Look at her," he had said when she had found out about this new challenge and had gripped onto Kyle, „she likes Kyle too much to run away. God knows she's a fool for likin' him, but she does." And that was proof enough.

Wanda had tried to convince Kyle and Jeb that she should be the one going with Sunny; after all, two souls would be the least suspicious and especially in these times it was necessary to be as careful as we possibly could.

I had agreed.

But Ian hadn't. Obviously.

„You need to rest, Wanda" he had protested, turning to Jeb. „Jeb, she's on tour every single time! It's unfair to send her each and every single time."

„It's the safest way possible, O'Shea" I had echoed her. „Think about the whole group."

„Stay out of this, Howe" he had growled, turning back to Jeb.

And that had been the whole discussion.

I spent most of my time with Mel and Jamie. It felt like something nobody in this world could take them away from me now. Our bond was stronger than ever, stronger than the war outside that impaired it. Surprisingly, Mel and Wanda didn't spend much time with each other. Wanda was usually with Ian, and whenever she wasn't, she was with us and Jamie. We would all sit together at a big table in the kitchen and talk and laugh and eat. They weren't ever alone together.

When I asked Mel about it, she said that that wasn't necessary. They knew each other too well. There was nothing on this earth they didn't know about each other, and there wasn't much to say that the other person wouldn't have guessed beforehand. A single glance was enough to read the other persons mind; and even though they were now in seperate bodies, their hearts still somehow belonged together. They were bound in a way that none of us would ever fully understand.

The days were getting shorter now. The heat was slowly dispersing and it finally felt like we had air to breathe. I had worked in the fields all day and Mel had washed and cleansed laundry all day. She yawned and lay down beside me, and rapidly closed her eyes. I lay next to her and laid my arm under her head to act as a pillow. She clung to my chest.

I traced my fingertips down her neck and made little circular motions and patterns that she followed with her eyes. It made her smile.

„There it is again," I remarked. „That smile."

„I just...never thought that I would ever be able to feel this way again."

„Me neither."

Her fingers clasped mine and she looked at our entwined hands, unbelievingly. „I can touch you again," she whispered. „I still haven't gotten used to that."

My fingers slid to the side of her face and cupped her jaw. „I'm sorry I hit you," I said silently. I didn't know why this was suddenly relevant, but it was. A wave of sadness overcame me, and I turned away.

„That's okay."

„No, it isn't."

„I know," she replied laughing. But then she suddenly stopped and grew silent for a moment. Thoughtful, she added: „And it wasn't really me, was it? You didn't hit me. You hit her, which doesn't make it okay, but at least you didn't hit me."

„But it was your face," I said abashed.

„I was honestly quite mad at you. But I don't think anything in the world could make me stop feeling this way. So happy."

This ceased me. This time it was her than wrapped her arms around mine. She held me as tight as she could and I sensed her familiar scent that was hugging me, luring me in.

The kitchen was full of people. We sat at our tables and devoured the numerous foods that we had on our plates. Jamie and Wanda talked about something seemingly interesting, Jamie's eyes glowed of excitement, and Melanie was having a serious talk with Jeb a few meters away. They lowered their voices and discussed something.

Ian looked up, interested. His eyes inspected Mel and Jeb as he tried to decode what they were talking about. It bothered me, the way he looked at her. I knew it shouldn't, but it did. Whenever I would catch them talking or looking at each other, - regardless of whether it meant something or not- it bothered me. I knew he shared memories with the body that belonged to me, desired it in a way only I did. And even though the girl he loved was sitting right next to him, talking to the little boy with amusement, he shared something with Mel. And Mel shared something with him, in a way. She had been there when Ian and Wanda had started falling for each other. She had been there when they had kissed. That thought made me sick. Ian O'shea, kissing Mel, even if it wasn't really her, touching the body that I knew so well and her feeling every single one of his caresses-

Ian turned away and looked at me. When he saw my gaze something flickered in his eyes; little bursts of flames flared up until they disappeared again, and all that was left was severity. After a moment of silence, he said: „I'll go do the night duty." He got up and looked at me prompting.„Howe?"

I hadn't been outside for a while, so I didn't mind. I got up and said: „Fine."

It was pitchblack outside.

I didn't like the darkness. The deprivation of seeing made me alert, made me feel like an easy prey. Ian crouched next to the familiar hedges we usually hid behind. They rustled when we bent down to seize a look throught the dark leaves. It gave us a perfect view on the street a few miles away from us, which was illuminated by a few lanterns.

There was nothing out of the usual going on that night. There were about five seekers that were searching the proximity, but they didn't seem very eager on finding anything; they walked around aimlessly and stayed close to their cars, none of them were committed enough to enter the depths of the desert. They shined their torches onto the rocks but didn't see anything unusual. Obviously. Our home was very hard to decipher. When we realized they weren't heading in our direction, we relaxed a little.

Ian handed me the binoculars and I looked at the roaming souls.

After a long moment of silence,- how long exactly was unclear to me, it was so hard to keep track of time these days- Ian said: „I heard you walked Wanda to our room."

He didn't say it harshly, which surprised me. It was just a fact.

„Yes." I replied. Short, simple.

When I looked over, anticipating a response, I could discern he was biting his lip. He looked worried.

„Just... be careful, okay?"

His reply caught me off guard. I had anticipated something entirely different; anger maybe, but not this.

„What do you mean?"

„I mean that you should me careful." He sighed. „She's very... confused these days. I don't need you to confuse her further."

Slightly perplex, I responded: „I don't know what you're talking about."

„Of course you don't."

I was just about to say what the hell is that supposed to mean when I realized how tired her looked. It then became clear to me that Ian wasn't looking for a fight- he just worried about something. But what? What was this sudden dislike Wanda felt for me? Why did Ian see me as a threat? Did he seriously think I would hurt her ever again? I hadn't even remotely thought about killing her since I had Mel back, so why did they have this impression of me?

„I'm just trying to be nice," I said as calmly as I could.

„I know, I know." He answered quietly. His hands grasped the binoculars and he quickly peered through them to make sure everything was safe. Then, he put them on the grund next to him and sat down, crossing his legs. Slowly, I settled down next to him.

„Just... try and stay away from her for a while, ok, Jared? Could you do that please?"

„I'm not hurting her, O'Shea!"

„No," he agreed, „not exactly."