Amanda felt the small amount of calm she had felt moments before dissipate like fog in a strong wind. She only took comfort that Lori, Hillary, and Declan were all here too, so it was unlikely there'd be any more fighting, thank goodness. She didn't want to repeat her mistake from earlier. However, whatever Jessi was here for couldn't be good.

Maybe she would go home after all and wait for Kyle. She breathed a very large sigh. No, she was determined to follow through with her excursion with Hillary, even if no one else came along, or if everyone did. She shuddered at the thought.

"So be it," she muttered as she pulled Lori along behind her. It was decided: she wouldn't hide behind anyone or anything. If she was going crazy, she'd do it with conviction. She still believed she was rational, despite the day's events painting an entirely different picture.

She released Lori and they emerged from the hallway into the living room with what she considered poise and propriety. She didn't really put much of a smile on her face, to keep from offending Jessi. Considering too that she'd had a huge grin on her face before she'd punched her, she didn't want to remind her of it, or provoke her.

"Hi Jessi," she said looking into her eyes, "hi, Declan." She figured she had to get it out of the way. She turned her eyes back to Jessi, "I'm sorry for earlier."

"The punch you mean?" Jessi was always to the point. When she nodded, Jessi added, "I'm fine."

"That's good then," she said with perhaps more enthusiasm than she felt. Bringing her hands together in front of her, she announced, "We're going to the mall. I'm s—"

Hillary interrupted her, "I'm paying for everyone to have pedicures, even you Declan."

He scoffed, "No thanks."

Jessi turned to him with a smile, "Your feet need it." She laughed as he playfully turned away.

"Yeah, right." Declan said.

With a nod and a bit of a shrug, Jessi said, "Why not? Let's all go together." She and Declan shared a glance.

Amanda couldn't believe how playful Jessi was behaving. Even her eyes didn't seem as intense as usual. Nothing was going as expected. She felt her heart racing as she wondered why things were sliding out of control. She only wanted to hang out with Lori and Hillary, wanted to tell Kyle everything about their plans to remove some of his trusting innocence. Was she somehow dreaming? Of course not.

She saw Jessi staring at her intently, the intensity she'd expected earlier suddenly reappearing. "Are you okay Amanda?"

Of course, Amanda thought, she'd hear or feel my panic. She tried desperately to calm down. She nodded half-heartedly, mumbled something unintelligible even to herself, and closed her eyes. She immediately felt arms surround her. Fresh tears threatened behind her lids. She held them back for the time being, grateful she had friends who loved her. She needed them.

Hillary spoke softly, "Come on Amanda, pull yourself together girl." She opened her eyes and saw Declan had stepped and turned away. Then she realized who had comforted her.

Nothing made sense anymore. She said beside Jessi's shoulder, "I tried to rip you to shreds earlier and now, you," she swallowed, stifling a sob, "you're being nice to me."

Jessi never let go, holding her close. "I forgive you." It was what she needed to hear most: forgive those who trespass against us. She might still be losing her mind, but at least she knew she wasn't imagining the change in Jessi, however abrupt it appeared. She knew that just as abruptly she'd gone from calm and loving to raging mad. She could still hold on to her faith as her moral compass, to do to others only what she wanted done to her.

In the next few minutes, in Jessi's arms, she felt immeasurably better, better than she'd felt since she'd spied Jessi sleeping early that morning. Knowing now that Jessi cared, she didn't feel threatened. She even felt a genuine smile creeping onto her face.

Jessi withdrew, claiming she had to go freshen up, with a hand to her face. She however, simply reveled in the newfound confidence she felt, in the love. She could face anything now.

***

Hillary was really surprised when Jessi took Amanda in her arms. Not only did it seem out of character, but it seemed to her that Jessi was straining while looking as calm and peaceful as ever. When they separated, she marveled at Amanda's transformation. She practically glowed, her benevolent, trademark smile back on her face. Jessi on the other hand, just ran to the bathroom as though she'd known where it was all along.

It was moments like this that made Hillary truly wish she knew why these people were important. Her cell vibrated and she looked at the message transcribed on the screen. It took only seconds to read the itinerary that was followed by a single comment at the bottom.

She wouldn't fail. She never did.

***

Jessi hadn't even intended to heal Amanda. Before she'd even realized it, she was probing in Amanda's brain, removing insecurities, increasing positive feelings, and looking for anything physically wrong with Amanda's brain. She'd never tried to do this kind of healing before; in fact she only regularly healed little cuts and scrapes from herself or Kyle but this had felt right.

It also proved to her that Amanda had definitely seen the text that had never been sent by Declan. It would also force her to stay around Amanda until Kyle returned from training with Foss. Pulling out her cell, she typed a short text to him saying they'd all be at the mall and that Amanda was all right.

She wiped her nose, expecting blood but finding little. It seemed probing and fixing someone's overall mood was easier than healing actual damage. It was likely that had Amanda truly been going crazy, she'd be in much worse shape now.

Nonetheless she splashed some water on her face and looked at herself in the gigantic set of mirrors. She smiled to herself for a job well done. It may not be completely over, but she did enjoy helping out. The fact Kyle would appreciate it later didn't factor too heavily into her smile, because Declan seemed to approve himself.

***

Because he didn't particularly enjoy hanging around a boutique that gave pedicures and manicures, he had excused himself from Jessi and wandered to the food court. Hillary had tried pretty hard to get him to have a pedicure, but Jessi had relented and excused him. Not that he would have stayed in any case, it was nice that Jessi wasn't totally bull headed.

Sipping a soft drink, his mind wandered over the last several hours. Jessi had worked very hard to control her normally aggressive temperament. He was very proud of her, and happy that it would likely make his life easier. He smiled a little when he recalled Amanda's mood change from seemingly desperate to her normally bubbly self. Perhaps if he ever felt like crap he could ask Jessi to fix him up?

He guessed she wouldn't do it unless it was necessary. He had noticed her run to the washroom, so it had taxed her.

What vexed him now was that Latnok had planted a fake message and prevented his message from being received by Amanda's phone, and yet had gotten to her phone when it was needed. How could that have happened unless the person responsible had been at the Rack when he'd been there? Unless the Rack was bugged; he found that hard to believe. How would they go about filtering the various conversations going on when it was busy? A single house was easy; Foss had proven it himself by seriously bugging the entire Trager household.

He sighed. It had already been an hour, and the last text from Jessi implied that there was nearly an hour left to go. The high end boutique was really busy and had few employees. He could think of a number of things he could do than stay at the mall. He could check out the Rack, try to find a bug. He couldn't even examine Amanda's phone because it was in her room, turned off.

Where was Kyle already? It was nearly 4:45 and he and Jessi had both called and texted him. He assumed Lori had too. He didn't believe their cells were all compromised because when they'd sent each other test texts, he and Jessi had had no problems. Was it possible that Kyle's phone was similarly tampered with?

He didn't put it past them. He gritted his teeth. He'd leave with Jessi the moment she was done. They had too many questions to answer.

His eyes became glued to a girl's eyes sitting at the far end of the food court. He recognized them even though the hair and clothes were vastly different. It was the girl who'd left the Rack promising him really kinky things just before Jessi had made her feelings known.

Jessi wanted to take things slow for a while, "enjoy the little things" she'd said. Although she was definitely a good tease, and wasn't going too slow either.

The girl seemed to invite him over but he refused. She clearly mouthed, "Your loss," and continued to eat what seemed like a dessert. He could certainly get some booty from this girl, but then Jessi would probably snap him in two.

He sighed as he turned his attention in the opposite direction. There were definitely disadvantages to having a relationship with a pod girlfriend. Remembering this afternoon when she'd effortlessly immobilized him in an embrace, he wondered if he could survive such a relationship. It was true he was a good guy, but he was what, 80% good and 20% bad, he'd once described himself? He had to be more than that if he wanted to live.

Suddenly he received a text from Kyle. Reading it once, he sobered. He and Foss had left to do some offsite extreme training, whatever that meant. He started texting Jessi when he got a message from her. Despite all their warnings and their messages to Kyle, he and Foss were out playing, leaving everything to them, Latnok be damned. "So much for teamwork," he muttered. He clenched his teeth, his drink forgotten.

***

Jessi had waited patiently all night, through the pedicures, through an expensive dinner in this fancy restaurant, and would likely end up waiting through the movie they all planned to go see afterward. They would only get home after 11pm.

She refused to sigh just then, projecting calm when she felt little of it. The fact Hillary was paying for everything didn't hurt of course, and it was really good food, her pasta dish was delightfully seasoned and was delicious. Amanda was no longer extremely bubbly, so she knew her mind healing didn't last very long. Maybe it had been more mind adjusting. She wondered briefly if Kyle would have approved? What if she'd messed something up? What if Amanda's personality or preferences changed, or worse, her memories were modified from what she'd done?

She knew she'd done very little, but still it worried her. There didn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary. Everyone kept looking at their cells periodically, checking messages, and sending messages. The conversation was sparse actually, somewhat subdued unless it was about their pedicures or the restaurant, which was when Hillary burst in to say "Fabulous, isn't it?"

Declan remained at her side, somewhat agitated. She understood. Latnok was moving but they were needed here to help Amanda. She remembered Declan earlier commenting that he should leave her at the mall with the girls, that he was feeling "out of place," that he funnily referred to himself as being another chick.

They both knew that she was enough protection for Amanda in most circumstances, but since Kyle and Foss were out training out of town – she urgently wanted to know where they were – but was unwilling to reestablish her connection with Kyle in case that was why they'd gone out.

Then her only opportunity of the night came when both Lori and Amanda excused themselves for a moment. Hillary was viewing her fancy cell, no doubt laden with massive piles of gossip. Every now and then she'd announce some celebrity frivolity or some news-worthy nugget of information, as though she was connected to several tabloids' and news channels' instant messaging feeds.

"Excuse me," she said, before catching Declan glancing at her. She also saw Hillary start to rise. "Hillary, let's not leave poor Declan all alone at the table. Can you please keep him company? I'll only be a minute."

Hillary was standing, thinking. It struck her as odd that Hillary would want to keep an eye on her. Maybe it was because of her work on Amanda. Yes, she thought, perhaps that was exactly the reason. It had been a swift change, much too swift.

When Hillary sat down, saying "Sure thing," she smiled her thanks at her and promptly walked to the bathroom.

When the door was closed behind her, she stopped and listened for heartbeats. Both Lori and Amanda turned and stared at her, to which she replied with a small smile. When she was satisfied they were alone, she walked up to them. Looking into Amanda's eyes, "So Amanda, I'm not trying to upset you, but why the hell are you trying to corrupt Kyle? It sounds heinous!" She had tried to keep her voice level but it had nonetheless increased in pitch more than she'd hoped.

Amanda's and Lori's eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets. Lori interjected, "Jessi, how –"

They didn't have much time so Jessi interrupted her. "Sticky notes at the Rack? I read all but four of them." Amanda swallowed, unable to speak. "Some were nearly illegible from my vantage point, but yours Amanda were pretty clear." She paused, "Um, your hand writing is very neat."

Lori moved forward, "It's okay Jessi, corrupt is not really the correct word. We were only trying to make him less innocent."

"Less Kyle you mean?" She couldn't believe that Amanda of all people had started the whole thing, but she needed to hear it from her, not Lori. She looked directly at Amanda. She felt Amanda's heart beat rise but it seemed controlled. Yes, there was anger but there was something else.

Amanda started, "Kyle sees the best in everyone, wants the best for everyone. He wants to protect everyone." Jessi stayed quiet throughout. "Latnok has already kidnapped me once, Cassidy is still out there even though he hasn't shown up since he lied to Kyle they were brothers." Her eyes seemed to smolder, but her voice remained low, "Kyle couldn't bring himself to even injure someone who threatened his entire family, his whole life! When the time came to make Cassidy pay, he couldn't go through with it. Cassidy would never have hesitated to kill him." Amanda broke eye contact, looking down to her shoes. "In grade school I was called a sheep for being such a passive goody goody. Kyle is even more so than I am." Restoring the eye contact, "I thought that by removing his innocence, his desire to protect everyone at all times, that I'd make him safe from them and the experiments. That I'd make us all safe."

Amanda hesitated just a moment, "But there's simply no way they will ever let go of him. They think they own him because they created him and unleashed him into the world, both of you. Regardless of other parties' motivations, they chose not to kill you, so they're not all bad. They may not seem to care about you but they probably have some plans for you too, once they realize how closely connected you are. Some of them are probably the humanitarians that his genetic father believed."

Amanda moved forward, and spoke very low, "I've called the plan off. I've realized there's little I can do when it comes to Latnok. They're so big, but they have some good guys too. I hope we can co-exist; maybe we can help them on their more noble ideas, and refuse the others."

Jessi put her hand on Amanda's, "You were misguided in thinking you could change him so easily. I tried to make him stop loving you remember? Truth is, there was nothing I could do about that."

"He loves you too; it was clear when he couldn't feel your connection anymore. What did you–"

Jessi raised her hand, interrupting her. "He was only concerned for my well being." She smiled wryly, "I thought you were a sheep too; it's why I never saw your punch until it was too late."

Amanda's smile matched hers, "Everyone thinks I'm this really nice girl, but the ugly truth is that there's plenty of normal girl there. I'm really sorry."

"I've forgiven you remember? And now I forgive you for trying the impossible with Kyle. Just don't try it again." She'd been about to mention Latnok but she heard a heart beat approaching. She raised her hand, "I'll see you back at the table." With that she opened the door for Hillary, and said, "Sorry, got held up, the stalls were occupied."

Hillary scowled, "I thought someone maybe got flushed in here or something," and giggled.

Lori said, "We just finished, let's all go back."

***

He'd tried to keep Hillary at the table as long as possible, but in the end it was inevitable. She eventually claimed they'd be late for the movie if they "didn't emerge soon from the grasp of their alluring reflections." He smiled at the memory; Hillary could come up with interesting phrases, particularly witty ones, when she wanted to. She was normally so shallow, always buying the latest fashions, gossiping about everything that it surprised him to hear her speak so colorfully.

She'd probably had private teachers since she was a toddler anyway, so maybe he shouldn't be surprised. He'd had a basketball coach when he was seven, so maybe they weren't so different after all.

And now they were watching a romantic comedy that had more comedy than romance at the moment, and for that he was happy. Besides, holding Jessi's shoulders and having her lean against him was always a nice feeling.

Even if the movie took a turn for the worse, he'd still be smiling.