Hain felt adrift in the darkness, his body floating atop water still as glass, the knotted muscles in his back from days of travel all unwound.

He'd heard a voice only seconds ago. A voice calling to him from the void of unconsciousness.

A woman's voice.

You must head south, Hain.

Hain had struggled against the command. He needed to go east. Toward Sierra. Toward Sam. Not south into the static wastes of the Geigerlands.

El Todo wills it.

The words shocked Hain from his semi-sleep. Was he dead? Maybe, he thought. But then, that would mean he was–where? The world beyond? He hoped not. Floating in water, even as comfortable as he was, seemed an uneventful eternity.

The sound of raised voices beyond his mind met his ears. Two voices. Female. Arguing.

"When is he going to wake up?"

Even through the murk clouding his thoughts, Hain recognized that voice, strained and hard as it was. Lilith's voice. He heard her words, but their meaning slipped from his grasp and into the fog of his thoughts.

"You have to give him time, Lilith. Predicting the effect from the Guardian's toxin isn't simple, especially when I don't know how long it's been in his system."

Lilith let out a string of curses.

"First it was the Cats, now its this," Lilith said. "I don't understand why Hume insists on having those vicious things out there if they can't be called off."

"Don't blame the Guardians just because the human wandered into the wrong part of the forest."

"Please don't call him that," Lilith said.

"Call him what?"

"The human," Lilith said. "He's more than that to me."

"I thought you were interested in the other one," the other said. "I didn't realize you wanted collect the entire family."

"Can we not drag your baggage into this, Sanger? Please?" Lilith drew a trembling breath. "I'm stressed out enough about Hain as it is."

"If you're so worried then you should have let me take him to–"

"I've already told you that we're not taking him to the haven," Lilith said over her. "Not until I know for sure that he's going to be alright." Lilith's voice suddenly sounded very tired. "I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to him."

"Don't let the others hear you say that, or they'll start thinking you're getting too attached."

Lilith's voice went sharp again. "I don't care what they think."

"Well you should," the other said, just as sharply. "You have a job to do, Lilith. Don't forget that."

"I haven't forgotten." Lilith's voice was closer now. Softer. Hain felt a hand brush back hair from his forehead. "But I do care about him."

Hain jerked at her touch, a weak moan spilling over his lips.

Lilith's voice went bright. "Did you see that?"

Hain heard footsteps coming closer.

"See what?"

"He moved when I touched him."

"Step aside." The other spoke in a voice that was all authority. "I need room to look at him."

Hain heard feet shuffling around him, then hands gripping one of his wrists.

"What are you doing?" Lilith sounded worried.

"You said you wanted him awake, didn't you?"

"I do but–" Lilith broke off, voice unsure. "Are you sure its safe?"

A moment's hesitation passed before the other answered. "Should be."

"Should be, or is?"

The other didn't answer. In the next moment, Hain felt a pinprick pierce his skin followed by cold snaking up his arm and into his chest. He tasted salt on the back of his tongue.

Strength flooded over him, his thoughts snapping into focus all at once. His muscles filled with life, and slowly, he dragged himself up. Body aching. Eyes fluttering against the black splotches swimming at the corners of his vision.

"Hain!" Lilith cried out.

A blob of dark color lunged toward him, and he was nearly knocked back as she flung her arms around his neck. He could feel the smoothness of her cheek against his face, the feathery tickle of her hair on his eyelids. He squeezed her back, breathing in the clean smell of her.

"I thought you were dead," she said into his ear.

"Not quite," Hain said, and his voice came out cracked and worn. "But you're close to finishing the job with how tight you're squeezing."

Lilith laughed and pulled back. Tears painted glistening tracks down her cheeks and traced the curve of her smile.

"I might actually kill you if you do something as stupid as running off again." She let out a wet-sounding laugh and bound herself around his neck again. "I'm so glad you're alright."

Hain squeezed his eyes shut and leaned into her. He wanted to explain. To apologize. But he knew that she knew. Her touch said it as much as her voice.

Not dead, he thought. He didn't know where he was, but he certainly was not dead.

She let him go, an even broader smile on her mouth as she sat beside him. "How do you feel?"

"Sore," he said, turning his head side to side and wincing at the stiffness. "My neck and shoulders are killing me."

"Take that as a lesson. The next time we're fleeing for our lives from the haven, maybe you ought to pack a little lighter." She snorted a laugh. "It sure would have made dragging you here a lot easier."

"Where is here?" Hain blinked blearily into the brightness around them. At the cot beneath them. At the fabric walls the color of cream drooping around them. "And whose tent is this?"

"A friend's," Lilith said, then hesitated for a beat before going on. "She's letting us use it for now."

Hain's brow creased. "Someone else was here," Hain looked over Lilith's shoulder. "In the tent with us. I remember."

Lilith showed him a worried look. "You were awake?"

"No." He shook his head. "Well, yes. I guess. Kind of." He squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed at them with his palms. "I mean, I don't know. It's all kind of hazy."

"That's the toxin's effect," Lilith said. "You'll feel a bit out of it for a while, but it'll wear off."

"Toxin?" Hain's hands fell from his face, the memories of the clearing in the Godless flooding back into his mind. "That creature in the Godless. It bit me."

Lilith nodded. "You were in pretty bad shape when I got it off of you."

Hain shuddered at the memory of the thing's high, warbling shriek. Of its fat, writhing body.

"I thought I was going to die."

"You almost did," Lilith said. "Between the toxin and the fever, it's actually a miracle that you recovered so quickly."

"The fever," Hain said, his eyes falling to his hands.

Shiny pink flesh slashed his palms where the rope had burned him. But the redness, and the pulsing, swollen throb was gone.

And that wasn't all. For the first time, he noticed that his clothes were different as well, his leather armor replaced by a thin white shift that felt smooth as poured water against his skin.

"My hands," he said, turning them over in his lap. "My clothes." He looked up to find Lilith's eyes trained on him already, and realized that she was without her armor as well. "Your clothes."

Hain gaped as he raked his eyes over her loose fitting shirt and pants, their color the same white as his own. Her sleeves ended above the elbow, and the loping script of her tattoo stood out dark on her skin.

"I'm glad you appreciate the wardrobe changes." Lilith let out a small laugh, though Hain thought he heard a nervous tinge to the sound. "But there are a more important things we need to talk through before we get to that."

"Where are we, Lilith?" Hain's nerves lit up, and he leaned back from her. "What is this place?"

"It's a camp," she said. "Outside a haven in the Godless."

"A haven in Godless?" Hain frowned hard enough to make his face hurt. "With the Cats?"

"With friends," she said. "My friends. They're good people, Hain. We can trust them."

"What friends, Lilith?" Hain said, an uneasy feeling stealing into his chest. "I don't understand."

"I understand how disorienting this must feel, but you don't have to worry." Lilith laid a hand on his shoulder. "I'll explain everything."

Hain showed her a wary look, but he didn't move to shrug her hand from his shoulder.

"I'll listen, but you'd better have a good explanation for what's going on."

"Thank you," she said, and drew her hand back into her lap. "Now, there's someone I want you to meet. But I need you to stay calm, alright. No freaking out."

Hain searched her icy blue eyes for some hint as to what troubled her so much, but found nothing there.

"Sure," he said after a moment. "I'll stay calm."

"That's all I ask." She took a deep breath, then said, more to herself than to him, "This is all fine. Everything is fine."

Then she turned her face toward the door, and called out in a loud voice. "You can come in now, Sanger."

Confusion painted over Hain's expression at Lilith's words, but it didn't remain long as someone pushed aside the tent's flap and slid inside, her alabaster skin and long ringlet hair seeming all the more ghostly against the off-white backdrop of the tent.

It was a Vrai.