I couldn't stop myself from staring off into space the next morning. I hadn't managed to get much sleep; even with Nick's arm tight around me I'd still felt aggressively alone.

I kept zoning out. Nick was my anchor. Whenever I noticed I'd done it I found him and tried to concentrate on what he was saying.

Connor was standing close by, beside Ryan, helping to organise his men with the crates they were taking through the anomaly.

Someone said something. I hadn't even realised they were talking to me until they nudged me. And I turned my attention around to see Stephen standing beside me. His smile fell when he saw my face.

'Huh?' I asked. Because the voice had been muffled in translation through my ears.

'I said aren't you going with them?' he repeated, 'I thought you were supposed to be...'

'Yeah,' I agreed; 'I was. But not this time. Nick and I talked about it...' what happened yesterday had shaken me too badly. And despite having all my fingers crossed, that bad feeling hadn't disappeared overnight like I'd hoped it would. Because after Connor had been attacked I thought that must have been what I was feeling with my inherited sixth sense, but when it didn't go away when the car was ambushed, I'd resulted to praying that it would disappear after what happened in the greenhouse. It hadn't. 'It wouldn't be safe, not while I'm like this.'

I wasn't happy about it. Honestly I was rather annoyed with myself for not being able to shake it but I'd given myself Doctor's orders. I wasn't stupid and I couldn't afford to be reckless, I knew when something was or wasn't safe for me.

I fiddled with the spectrometer in my grip, a wild sort of apprehension resurging within me at the idea that I wouldn't be out there with them.

'Well,' Stephen said like he could sense it, 'I feel better knowing you're staying here with–'

'Okay...' Nick called as he walked over to us, unaware he'd interrupted, 'if I don't make it back... push Lester through the worse anomaly you can find.'

Stephen chuckled. 'That's a given.'

'The anomaly's remaining constant at 5 tesla,' I reported lowly, 'so you should be good. Any changes and we'll send somebody through.'

'If it closes while we're on the other side, we'll wait for it to reopen.'

I looked at him. Properly looked at him a way I never had before with other people around. My hand slipped into his. He squeezed back reassuringly.

'I think we should get going,' Helen shouted. She twisted the chain of her locket around her finger.

The soldiers started to move forward, coming out of their places dotted around the clearing.

'Nick,' I breathed out, 'I have a really bad feeling about this.'

'It's gonna be fine,' he returned as he lifted my hand and kissed it, 'I'll see you soon.'

He let go of my hand and my heart immediately started to pound– heavy and oppressively inside me. And it was like a siren, wailing, a warning, a tangible physical sign that I shouldn't have let go.

I instantly felt sick. My palms started to sweat, my back got itchy and my stomach somersaulted.

'You think I should make a speech?' Lester's voice cut through as he appeared beside me, but it was barely enough to distract from the overwhelming painful tingle of my body. 'One small step for man, that sort of thing...'

I stepped forward, leaving my head and everything inside it somewhere else entirely, because I suddenly didn't care now. I didn't care that there were people who could see us, or what they might think, or about the guilt I was feeling because I didn't feel guilty about Will anymore when I should have. I found myself in front of Nick, arms winding around his neck and even only half aware of what was happening he reached around my waist to pull me more securely against him as I stretched up on my tiptoes and kissed him.

After a second he pulled back to look at me, just for a moment like he wanted to gage my own reaction to something I'd instigated, before he leant back in, pressing his lips back to mine more firmly, with more intent, chasing the feeling, biting down on my bottom lip quickly to pull the sound of my breathy exhale from me.

We broke for breath, lips still just close enough that I could feel his, while my hand was fisted so tightly into the front of his jacket he couldn't pull back. He leant his forehead against mine, eyes still closed.

'I know,' I said even though he hadn't spoken.

I had to let go.

Slowly I release my grip and we both stepped back. I stayed in front of the anomaly, staring into it after him, for a long time after he'd gone.

I could hear my phone ringing. I didn't think to answer. For some reason the noise didn't stop until Connor reached over to pull it from my pocket.

I couldn't hear him talking either. Once I'd realised that I'd zoned out again, I tried to concentrate, I tried to hear the words he was saying but it was like he was in another room and I was trying to decipher a foreign language through a glass pressed up against the wall.

'Anna...?'

I could see his mouth moving but I couldn't remember any of the words he'd said once the set sentence was finsihed.

'Say it again,' I asked, 'slowly.'

'The autopsy proved it was a male,' he replied.

'But it has to be a female,' Stephen contradicted.

'Could it be a job for the boys in this species?' Connor suggested and looked to me to back him up.

'Seahorses...' I responded.

'Alright,' Stephen humoured, 'it better be. Otherwise...' he trailed off.

Otherwise.

I didn't know what that meant. I couldn't be bothered to think about it. I turned back, took a few steps forwards towards the anomaly and stared into it again.

I couldn't stop thinking about Nick. Nick... and Will. By sadistic and terrible coincidence I heard the gunshot in my head again and I flinched and growled under my breath in frustration at myself.

Come on, Anna.

Stop feeling sorry for yourself.

I had to find some way to focus. I had to ignore anything else going on in my head for now. I had to think about the creature.

I turned on my heel and quickly followed Connor with my eyes as he and Stephen both made their way towards the tables where their equipment had been set up. Around the edge of the clearing, a few soldiers had been left on guard. They patrolled with rifles.

I familiarised myself with the landscape. Where we were. What we were doing here. I grounded myself.

Otherwise... what was the end of that sentence?

If the males don't raise the young, then the mother's still out there.

Something caught my eye, behind the trees in the shrubbery behind one of the soldiers standing at the perimeter but before I could adjust my eyes it was gone. It could have been the wind, in all fairness, but a part of me doubted that.

A twig snapped– so quiet I wouldn't have heard it had I not been straining to hear something–coming from the bushes directly to my left.

And the last thing I saw was the great black shape looming towards me, growing ever larger in the space of a fraction of a second before it crashed into me. I was knocked off my feet and fell back, connecting with a thud on the rocky landscape.