I stare down at the book in front of me. The dark blue cover brings little comfort, and even Gene won't speak to me. I think he's angry with me.

My eyes keep scanning over the same sentence. I've been trying to read for the pass hour but I can't seem to focus. Terror, guilt, shame, and millions of other emotions keep threatening to spill over in this small thing that I call my body.

He left…

At that thought, the dam breaks and tears spill over my eyes. They fall down my face as I close the book and set it to the side. On instinct, I fold in to myself. My legs are tucked to my chest and I rest my forehead on my knees. The tears fall down my face and I try not to make a sound, which makes my stomach hurt. I silently pray to myself that no one walks in, I wouldn't know what to say if someone did.

"You hurt his feelings, and you're the one crying?" The soft voice of a girl says. I look up with a hiccup, and jump back.

Her face is all beaten in, with several large chunks of her meat missing. Her nose is no longer visibal, all I can see is the bone to her nose. Her hair is blonde and noticeably curly, but its dripping with blood. Her clothes cover her completely, except for mid-neck on up, with her dress being completely black.

"Uh—um…" I stutter, the tears stopped by my startle, but my face is still wet and my eyes are puffy.

"Shouldn't you be apologizing?" She asks, obviously not aware that her appearance startles people.

"W-who are y-you?" I bite out, trying to calm down and make my voice soothing for the spirit.

Instead of looking confused (as is normal), she just rolls her eyes, "I'm Annabelle. Born in April 25th, 1957. Died, but not departed, on June 7th 1962. Now answer my questions."

Annabelle? She's the girl from my dream! She's the girl the man is looking for!

Wait, she knows she's dead?

I open my mouth to ask her another question, but think better of it. She could leave and then I'd lose the only leverage on this case that we have.

I clear my throat, "Um, yes, I'm the one crying. It's because I feel horrible about it, but if I go apologize then anything could happen. He could be angry at me. The man—"

"You called him Naru, but everyone else calls him Oliver." She interrupts, as if it's a side comment.

I ignore her, "He can be very… cold, sometimes. He's really sweet one moment and the next he's very… aloof."

"Is aloof really the word?" She asks, her bloody face seeming to be drawn in an expression of a concerned friend.

"Probably not." I murmur. I sigh, and run a hand through my hair, before looking up at the blonde spirit, "Annabelle, can you please tell me what happened here?"

Her eyes grow wary, before her entire form slumps, and she nods. She breathes deeply before beginning, "The man is my husband…"

Hannah's Point of View:

Professor Davis has never been like this. He's always been the type of person to show little of emotions. Even when flirted with by other women, he always brushed them off with an indifferent face. Yet when it comes to Mai, he's a completely different person.

"What do you mean she's missing?" He hisses, anger coating every inch of his abnormally handsome face.

"Oliver, you need to calm—" Mrs. Davis starts.

"Luella, don't try to reason with him." Mr. Davis says, his voice deep and calm. Martin Davis may be a lot of things (everyone knows he used to be a delinquent in high school), but he's no pushover. Mrs. Davis closed her mouth, and didn't say another word while Mr. Davis looks at his son with a calming expression, "I'm sure Mai is fine, Oliver."

Considering it was just Mrs. Davis, Mr. Davis, Professor Davis and I, I think he lost his cool right there.

"You don't understand," he hisses at his father. The same shock I'm sure was displayed on my face was displayed on Mrs. Davis', "Mai is an idiot. She's always in trouble. I should have known better." He seemed to be speaking with out thinking now and he runs a hand through his hair, making him look ridiculously sexy.

Mai, you're one lucky bitch.

"Professor," I say, walking towards him like I'm approaching a wild animal, "Mai seems like the type to run off on a whim. Is it possible she could have found some lead on the case and gone off to investigate?"

To me, Mai seems like that type. She seems over caring of others, too nice, and way too bubbly. But she's a good person. I felt bad about acting like a bitch towards her just because I knew Kelsey would find it funny.

It didn't help my guilt that she's genuinely a really nice person. Not to mention she's obnoxiously pretty and she doesn't even seem to notice it!

"I told her not to leave the base—" he starts to say, before his eyes narrow at no one in particular, "That idiot."

"Oliver?" Mrs. Davis says as the professor starts clicking odd buttons on the monitor key boards. The dark haired woman lays a hand on her sons shoulder, "We already checked the monitors—"

"Look." Professor Davis says. He rewinds the tape and we watch as the two of them seems to argue and then the professor leaves. Mai stands for a moment and then she leaves as well.

"I don't understand." I say quietly, watching as the scene replays over and over again.

"Look at the time." He says, pointing to the screen. We watch the scene over again, and I see the time skip an entire thirty minutes.

"Why would Mai erase the time?" Mrs. Davis asks.

"Just in case some one went over the footage." He says, his voice calmer than before, "She didn't want any one to follow her, but knowing Mai, she didn't count on me checking over."

"You know her patterns?" I ask, "I thought you weren't present for most of her training?"

The room seems to grow cooler and I know what this is. I've been told by most people that you can always tell when Professor Davis is furious by the temperature of the room. I'm going to guess that right now, he's a little more than annoyed by my question.

I begin to apologize, but he answers me, "I wasn't, but Mai is still Mai. Whether she's ten times more intelligent or not." He looks at me then and I'm shocked by the utter fondness in his eyes. It's not love, but it's defiantly a lot more pleasant than I've ever seen him bestow upon any one— much less a female. He raises an eyebrow, "She's still an idiot."

I feel myself grinning goofily at him. Wow. He's probably not as bad as everyone says.

"So, wait, Oliver," Mrs. Davis says, "Mai left of her own free will?" At his nod, Mrs. Davis runs an agitated hand through her hair, "Is there any way to find her? Or recover the footage?"

"Recovering the footage is simple." The blue eyed man says to his mother, "From what Lin tells me, Mai never got the idea that when you delete something, there is still a trash bin." He turns to the computer, and it isn't long before he's turning up the volume for us to hear.

The entire time we're watching, we don't see the girl, but we can hear her. And we can hear what Mai and Annabelle are talking about. By the time they get to the end of their conversation about the professor, Mr. and Mrs. Davis are glaring at their son, who is ignoring them.

"The man is my husband…" Annabelle says and we all turn our attention back to the monitors.

"Your husband?" Mai sounds and looks shocked. Her eyes are still red from crying, but she seemed genuinely interested in what the spirit of Annabelle has to say.

"Yes. I was eleven when I married him." Annabelle says.

"Eleven? How old are you now?"

"Fifteen." Annabelle sounds annoyed for being interrupted. Mai doesn't interrupt again as the girl continues, "At first, he was really sweet. Even if he was thirty-eight years older than me, he was still the kindest man I'd ever met. He swept me off my feet and loved me like no other. But then, he found out that I was infertile, and he turned to alcohol to ease the disappointment. That's how he became violent. He'd beat on me very often, but when he'd sober up he would pick me up off the ground and tend to my wounds gently. He always seemed to regret what he did, so I forgave him. Every time I forgave him. However, the beatings began to get worse until one day he was chasing me down the hall. He yanked my hair backwards and I crashed in to a wall.

"The next thing I know, I'm waking up, and then turning to see my own dead body. I know he's here, but I can't find him. I want to tell him that I forgive him."

Mai stands up, an outraged look on her face, "But he abused you and then murdered you, Annabelle! How could you—"

"If that man, Naru, were to strike you in the face out of anger, would you forever leave him?" Annabelle's voice is soft, but it has an anxious edge to it.

Mai quiets. Her face is contemplating and we all wait for her reply. Professor leans forward slightly, a frown on his face. Suddenly, Mai deflates, "No. I defiantly wouldn't, even if it is stupid…"

"Exactly." Annabelle says, "So please, please help me. I want to contact my love."

Mai sighs, and runs a hand through her long brown hair, "Alright. But give me a second. I need to do something." She turns and walks towards the camera, then the screen goes black.

We're all quiet for a moment, before Mrs. Davis speaks up, "I don't think this needs to be said, but Oliver, if I ever find out that you lay a hand on that girl…" The threat isn't said, but we all know what's implied.

Professor Davis is silent for a moment, then he stands straight, walking towards the door, "Knowing what we do, Mai will probably try to contact the spirit of the deceased man."

"But I thought only mediums could do that," I say, "Didn't Annabelle contact Mai because they have similar wave lengths?"

The professor turns to me, "There is many things that Mai Taniyama can do. Some things she's aware of, others she isn't. Mai is a perfect medium, just like my brother was. She doesn't realize this, because at the time, Madoka had Mai under a suggestion that a spirit that speaks French was over taking her body."

"And she spoke French?" Mr. Davis says, looking interested.

The professor nods, "Fluently. No trace of her accent or even a switch to her voice. Perfect mediums, however, do have a glitch in their powers. To a ghost, it's like looking at a light in a never ending dark room, and Mai's is the brightest of them all."

"So Mai is in trouble?" Mrs. Davis asks.

The professor smirks, and I find myself giddy that such a handsome man is in front of me, "Mai's always in trouble. Like I said, she's an idiot."

The Davis family seemed used to searching for people, because the three of them immediately fell in to some type of routine that seemed to come as naturally as breathing. Immediately, they split up. Mrs. Davis took several people and went to the local grave yard, Mr. Davis took a group of people and went search the town, while the professor grabbed me and Kelsy and we went search the patch of woods behind the house.

"This girl is so stupid." Kelsy says, twirling a red curl around her finger. Annoyance irks at me. Kelsy doesn't have any room to talk. For Gods' sake, she doesn't have a grade higher than a C.

Professor Davis ignores her and keeps walking. I roll my eyes at the girl, before cupping my hands over my mouth, "MAI!"

"Does she do anything besides be a burden?" Kelsy asks, sounding like a stereotypical cheerleader. What's ironic about that is that she actually was a cheerleader (I was too, but that's beside the point), so it's just that much funnier.

Professor Davis continues to ignore her as she continues to trash talk Mai. Eventually, I get annoyed and open my mouth, but then a laugh cuts me off. Professor Davis and I start running at the same moment.

When we arrive, it's at an odd looking creak. Mai is kneeling beside the creek, with her hands grasping something tightly. She's whispering to herself,

"Quatuor turres invocabo A turre custodum usque ad invocare quattuor maiores invocabo

Invocabo maiores

Magiae tracto gladius

Dimitte me vocare ad se Nathaniel intuitus animi Raziel ha"

I have no idea what she was saying, but it sounded so elegant and beautiful. I'd never heard a language like that. Her voice seemed to grow light and airy, and it made me swoon for some odd reason. I wanted to curl up on the ground and sleep.

I watch as the air around Mai seems to glow a golden color and a man appears behind her. He's tall and lanky, with large glasses and a balding head. He stands behind Mai with an air of superiority, but with some type of gentleness. I watch as a beautiful blonde girl appears in front of Mai. Her hair is curly and she has bright blue eyes. She looks older than she actually is though (she did say she was only fifteen).

"Annabelle?" The man (Nathaniel) says, his dark eyes staring at the blonde beauty.

"My love," Annabelle says with a smile, "It's alright. Come with me. Let's go rest together."

"How can I—" Nathaniel chokes on his words.

"Trust me." Annabelle says, a smile on her face. She looks to dandy and fragile, but strong and so sure of herself at the same time. It suddenly clicks why Annabelle thought to contact Mai. Not just because Mai is a medium, but because Mai is most like her.

When did I become so 'Pro Mai'?

Nathaniel walks forward and takes Annabelle's hand. He reaches down and kisses her (gag. He's like fifty!), and the two of them glow bright before disappearing.

We're all silent for a moment, and I don't think Mai notices us until Professor Davis speaks up, "You just couldn't help yourself, could you?" Mai's head jerks up and her eyes water. The professor walks forward, shrugging off his jacket as he does. Mai hiccups as the professor places the jacket over her shoulders.

He sighs and I watch as his large hand reaches up and wipes away the stray tear on Mai's cheek. My heart thumps in my chest and I smile at the two.

I can't believe it.

Mai's Point of View:

After a lecture from both Martin and Luella, I was able to go to my room. Naru was quiet through out both lectures, and was still quiet as he walked me to my room. In a daze, I walk down the hallway with Naru following me. I don't even close my door as I walk in to my room and plop down on the bed. He follows me in, closing the door behind us.

I don't look up, but I can hear him. Naru moves like a cat, but I can still hear the soft pitter patter of his feet on the hard wood floors. He walks to the other side of the bed, and sits gently on the bed. Even if it's gently, the bed still dips harshly, and I wobble a bit before gaining my balance.

We sit in silence for what seems like eternity. The only sound I can hear is the clock that's hanging on the wall by the door.

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

To—

"Mai." His voice is quiet, yet loud in room. It interrupts my line of focus. My breathing returns to what it was, and it's then I realize that I was matching my breathing to the ticking of the clock.

"Ye-es?" Dammit. My voice cracked.

"You know I'm furious at you, right?" His voice is still quiet, but I could hear the undertone at the stressed word. It's like a fire being held in a fire place. You could hear the flames, see them, even feel them, but they aren't going to break loose.

"Yes." The word, spoken from me, is barely a whisper. I'm not even sure if he heard it, but he must have, because the bed creeks as he turns towards my back, which is facing him.

"However, it's not for the reason that you think." His voice is softer this time, "Mai. I'm not angry at you for earlier. I'm angry at you for going off on your own, after you'd been locked in a room by the spirit."

"I'm sorry, Naru." I sob, unable to the hold the emotion in, "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." I begin to hiccup as I sob, and I hear Naru sigh behind me.

"I swear, it's like every word I say goes in one ear and out the other." He's behind me then, smoothly pulling me in to the center of the bed. And it's then I realize it.

Oh. My. God.

I'm going to die.

His chest is so wide and warm against my back. His nose is buried in my hair and the warm air from his breathing is blowing the wavy tendrils around. His arms are wrapped around my waist and I'm seated awkwardly on top of his folded legs. Naru seems to be completely at ease and graceful in this position though.

Good God, is it possible for one man to smell like angels and sin all at the same time? Because that's what Naru smelt like. Whatever he had on has a light and airy scent to it, yet a sexy edge that just screams danger.

Since when did Axe make 'Naru the Narcissist'?

"Calm down." He says, his voice a low rumble in my ear, "You'll have a panic attack."

"I can't calm down with you this close." I whisper, my eyes closed and my breathing erratic. My tears may have stopped but my heart beat is going a million miles an hour.

"Yes you can." He says, not deterred by my comment, "Concentrate on the pulsing of my PK. If you reach out with your powers, I know you can feel it."

I reach out with the invisible hand that is my basic instincts. In the darkness behind my lids, I see a silver ribbon. It's just waving in the air gently, as if saying a warm hello. I reach forward and grasp it, yet instead of me pulling it, it pulls me. Then I feel it. The enormous power house that is currently placed behind me.

I gasp aloud and Naru lets out something that's considered a chuckle. It didn't have any sound, but I could feel his chest and shoulders shake.

"How…" I trail off. Is it alright for me to ask how he can control that much power?

"Lots of concentration." He says, then his narcissism seems to shine through, because then he states, "It's nothing for someone with my IQ."

Mentally, I roll my eyes but get back to my original task. I match my breathing with the steady pounding of his PK. It's like someone banging on a loud drum every few seconds with a large drum stick.

My own PK shies away for a moment, but Naru seems to notice this. His PK seems to beckon me with a gentle but firm hand, and the 'inner me' sashays forward easily. Naru's PK wraps around me like a warm blanket, and soon, my heart beat is back to normal.

"Wow…" I whisper, not expecting him to hear me.

"It's just as I expected." Naru says, that 'I-told-you-so' note to his voice.

My eyes pop open and I maneuver myself so that I'm looking up at his face, "What's just a you expected?"

"Your powers." He suddenly smiles, and my heart beat is erratic again, "It's like taming a small puppy."

Outrage fills me and I push him away, "You ass!"

Sunlight peaks through the blinds of the window, and I reach for my phone, which was currently going off.

"Mai!" Luella screams in to the phone excitedly when I answer, "Come on sweet pea! Don't tell me you're asleep still?! Wake up! You promised to come shopping with me before all the shops close! Only two days till Christmas, dear!"

A deep groan to my left makes me laugh, but I answer the overly spastic woman anyway, "I'm getting up now. Give me ten minutes and I'll be down."

"Hurry!" Then the line goes dead.

I laugh to myself quietly, while running a hand through my bed head, "Your mother will never cease to amaze me. How can one person be so up beat, so early in the morning?"

"I wonder the same thing." The dark haired professor says next to me. He rolls off of his stomach and on to his back. He yawns and rubs his eyes before sitting up. The blanket falls and I see his perfectly sculpted chest with the black tattoo stretched across. He looks down at me, and smiles, leaning forward and rubbing his nose against my briefly in the single moment of 'Happy Naru' before throwing the covers off and grabbing his pants and t-shirt from by my bag. He leaves with out another word.

I smile to myself as I remember what took place only a week ago for this arrangement to be possible.

"Oliver, have you seen— oh my God!"

My consciousness tugs at me. I need to wake up. Something's going on and someone will misunderstand if I don't wake up… but I'm so warm.

"I— he— she—" Thats Luella. Why does she sound so shocked?

"Mother, calm down." Naru's deep voice sounds so far away, "You'll wake her up."

"You two are sleeping in the same bed?! Please tell me you're using protection?!"

That comment made my eyes snap open, and I jolt up in bed with the blanket clutched to me. Luella is standing by the edge of the bed, with a shocked, slightly happy, yet slightly angry aura around her. Naru is standing up by the other side with no shirt on, yet I don't blush for that. I've seen him with out a shirt on and I dealt with the embarrassment and (oddly) descriptive fantasies.

Oh, the woe of being a virgin.

I turn scarlet because I can here Gene's loud laugh (he always shows up when I don't need him to), and because I know that after I calmed down from being angry, that Naru and I fell asleep. We didn't talk, or argue, or even really cuddle or anything. We just sat in the silence and I eventually fell asleep. I expected him to leave, but I guess he didn't.

"It's not what you think!" I squeak, trying as hard as I possibly can not to start hyperventilating.

Naru sighs, seeming to take over the explanation, "Mother, we just fell asleep. Nothing happened." He grows quiet then, "And… there wasn't any of… them."

Gene's amusement drops all together and a serious aura comes from our connection. My anxiousness notches up to 'what-the-fuck' on my scale of freaking-outness.

Luella looks completely and utterly appalled by what he just said. She does a double take at me, "How could you possibly…?"

"Um, what's going on?" I ask, my anxiousness sounding through my words, even to my own ears.

"Mother, I'm going to ask you not to tell anyone about this until we figure it out, and don't make a big deal out of it." Naru says, his voice calm while he watches his mother with the same look he gives notes on a case.

Luella swallows, before nodding. She seems close to tears, but she smiles at us tightly before walking out.

"Naru, what just—"

"Shhh." He says, sitting back on the bed, "I'll explain, just don't yell." At my silent nod, he begins, "When Gene and I were kids, we were bullied a lot in the orphanage. Because Gene always gave them the reaction they wanted, they played with him for a while, but then the other children got bored. They turned on me. When they saw I wasn't like my brother, they began to eat me up daily." I watch as this man tells me this with such a detached and emotionless face, that it's literally breaking my heart to watch him.

"Eventually, it went from simple scratches and bruises to broken bones and gashes. The beating got worse and worse and I developed nightmares. I've always dealt with them. Medicine doesn't help and neither does therapy. The only person who could ever stop them was Gene, and that's only if he woke me up with our mental connection." His eyes grow warmer suddenly, and he reaches up with his right hand, "But I didn't have one last night. Not with you."

"Why?" I somehow find my voice, and it's much stronger than I thought it was gonna be.

"I don't know." He tells me, "A hypothesis of mine is from our PK alignment last night, your instincts forced your PK in to my brain and pushed the nightmares back. I'll have to run a few tests to be sure, but I'm nearly positive."

We're both quiet for a moment, before a question pops in my head and I blurt it out with out thinking first, "So you've dealt with this since you were a kid?" My hand snaps to my mouth and I jump away, "I'm sorry! You don't have to answer that!"

"Yes. I have. That was the first good nights sleep that I've had in a long time." Naru runs a hand through his bed head (which I admit is completely sexy).

I bite my lip as the idea pops in to my head. Is it really a good idea? I mean, I don't know if I have the courage to ask. It would help him, and I'm normally really cold at night, so his natural body heat would help me. It's a win win situation.

"What is it?" Naru asks, giving me a bored stare.

"Huh?" I ask, trying to mask the inner turmoil at the moment with a confused look.

"Oh please," he rolls his eyes, "How many times have I told you you're like an open book? What is it that you want to ask?"

I feel my entire body heat up from embarrassment this time, and although I'm sure I already know the answer, I try to get the question out anyway, "Well… um, you see. I have this issue at night where I get way too cold, no matter how many blankets I use… And since you have some type of natural furnace thing going on— and I have some type of control over your nightmares, I figured it would be easier if we just— um— you know…" I trail off, and my head droops, "Never mind."

His hiccup-laugh will never cease to amaze me, "Yes, Mai. I think it's a good experiment." I look up and meet shockingly soft blue eyes, shining with an that emotion that I can't place. I grin at him.

The first few times with us sleeping together was awkward, of course. Well, I think I was the only one who thought it was awkward. Naru just kind of rolled his eyes at me all the time and slid in to the right side of the bed. Eventually, I got over whatever was making me such an idiot, and got used to it.

Both Naru's mother and father got used to it as well. Well, either that, or they just stopped caring. Martin and Luella never make any comments about us sleeping together any more.

I've noticed while Naru is sleeping better, he's in a better mood. Around me anyway. If the two of us are in the same room, he'll find a way to come talk to me, or find a way to tease me in some way. I don't understand why he does it, but I can't exactly say that I hate it. It's actually quite flattering that he'll just stop a conversation with some one just to come annoy the hell out of me.

I guess we kind of have a twisted friendship. Oh well.

Gene hasn't said much since Naru and I have been sleeping together. Just the occasional jab about me being a cover hog or about Naru's habit of sleeping on his stomach.

"Mai?!" Luella's voice bounces from the living room as I walk down the stairs. When she sees me, she grins and runs forward to grab my hand, before tugging me towards the door, "Come on! We have to be there before everyone else!"

On the way out, I check the time on my phone and blanch at the white numbers across the screen.

3:30am?!