I climb the steps of the house slowly as Tamara’s words sink in. I do not understand what I have done wrong, apart from the accident I mean, which I have already agreed was entirely my fault and for which I have already apologised profusely.

Yes, Adam Stevens was not there then to hear my apologies, but it’s hardly my fault that he decided to go gallivanting God knows where.

Men! Sometimes they are so unreasonable. One moment they are all magnanimous and kind. The next moment, the façade falls to reveal their black heart.

I chew my lips as I enter the house. On my left is the kitchen and dining area. Today it’s full of officers. Many young women are bustling over them, some are feeding them, some are hugging them, some are sitting in their laps slogging the mouth off them. Many of them are grinding against each other in obvious discomfort.

How nice and thoughtful. I roll my eyes. I never knew military camps conducted drunken orgies to celebrate the return of their brave.

“Chop chop Dummy! Your destination is to the right.” Tamara’s voice startles as she walks past me hanging on the arm of an officer. “They are waiting for you in the study.”

On her way, her shoulder brushes against me. The impact is such that I get pushed forward and ram my face into a wall.

Urghh! My face is scrunched. I feel a wet hotness and know my nose is bleeding. Great. This is just what I needed before I presented myself to the High and Mighty of this camp.

“Are you alright? Let me look at that,” says the wall.

I squint my scrunched eyes open. Apparently, it’s not a wall. It’s Gabe-the-handsome, peering at my nose with a worried look. He is close. So close, I forget the stars blinking in front of my unfocused eyes. His pine scent hits me like an assault of a killer weapon. The only reason I don’t fall is because he is holding me in his arms.

Wait, what? I look down. His left arm is around my waist, holding me up. With his right arm, he tucks a strand of my hair away from my forehead.

“Hmm. That’s just yesterday’s bruise. I thought I gave you that.”

I step back, my heart thumping, immediately putting a distance between us. He was supposed to be looking at my nose. Why is he not?

Wait. He is now.

“Here.” He gets a tissue from my pocket and hands it to me. “Wipe your nose. It’s not a good look going in front of them with a runny nose.”

I colour as I grab the tissue and wipe my face. Apparently, it was just snot, not blood that I imagined earlier.

I stand there, not knowing what to do next. I need to find the study where I am going to be judged for some offence I did not even know I committed. Adam would be there, and John and, of course, Phyllis. Luckily, Tamara is not allowed, or I would have died of humiliation.

“Calm down. They aren’t going to eat you,” Gabe says with his voice gentle as a humming breeze. It helps me settle, but barely.

“I do not understand what I have done wrong. Why am I being summoned like this? I just thought I would take a walk in the camp. I wanted to see the area, get to know a few people if possible. Is that a problem?”

“It’s not that.” Gabe shakes his head, leaning against the actual wall I was supposed to hit. “This is about the accident. Something happened there that’s set Adam on the edge. He is never like this.”

I chew my lips. Well, Adam was there. He knew exactly what had happened. And in my defence, he did not carry a torch, nor did he look remotely human. For me, it was a boulder, or a particularly misshapen tree, or a weird animal. And hitting them is not a capital offence in any book.

I blow my nose in with a determination and straighten my self up. I will not be bullied. I might be a weakling, but I will not show any weakness in front of these people.

“Where is the study?” I ask Gabe and storm towards it when he points to a solid door at the far end of the corridor. I am about to knock and enter when it bursts open, revealing a dishevelled-looking Olly.

“Oh, Danny! Where have you been? It’s all your mess. You should be the one taking shit from these people, and instead, it’s me. It’s so unfair!”

She barges past me, and Jeff and Billy rush out after her. I watch them dumbstruck as the trio disappears round the corner towards the kitchen.

*****

I exhale and go in.

The study is a medium sized room, dark, cosy, and comfortable. A large rectangular table occupies one wall. Sitting behind the table is John, wearing a frosty expression. Phyllis stands next to him. Her face is flushed red. I cannot think what they could have said to Olly to upset her this much.

At the window on the far side is a figure facing outward. He turns as the door shuts behind me with a soft click.

For a moment, I do not know what to think. The man in front of me is not what I expected. I had an image in my mind, a ‘Stevens man’ image, closer to Gabe, John, Jeff, and Billy. Adam lives up to the expectation in the size part. Hell, he even exceeds them by a mile, but his face… I come to the face and stop.

He moves from the window and takes a step forward towards me. I blanch but cannot not look away. Looking away would be rude. In polite society, it’s considered bad manners to openly flinch at any disfigurement.

I stand my ground and try to smile. His face twists into what looks like a half-smile, half-smirk.

“Ms. Winters. Glad you are here. I was wondering when you’d grace me with your presence.”

I swallow. His tone is caustic, his expression is smooth. Tina said he was angry. Maybe this was his way of expressing it. By playing a solicitous, sarcastic devil.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Fair enough. I too enjoy the game.

“It’s not a problem, Mr. Stevens,” I smile smoothly, keeping my eyes on the left part of his face. That part is much easier to look at. The skin is smooth, clear of any marks, and the jawline is sharp as a razor.

The pupil on that side is obsidian black. It watches me as my eyes involuntarily flit to the right. There, the eye turns into a red-hot orb, sucking me into the depths of an inferno.

My smile falters as my face heats. My whole body seems to be on fire. I do not know what is happening. It feels like I am impaled by sharp lasers.

He gives another smirk. His left side twitches. The right part remains hostile.

He turns to his parents.

“Could you please leave us alone? I need to talk to Ms Winters privately.”

John signs and gets up. "I don't think this is really necessary, Adam. Olly already left crying. There is no need to upset Danny, too."

"Please father. The security of this camp is my responsibility. I would prefer it if no one interferes in my work."

Phyllis bristles.

“We are not interfering Adam. Your father has every right to be here, much more than you do. And I too, as your mother and the Luna of this pa…”

“NO Mother,” Adam shuts her up mercilessly. “You must leave. Otherwise, Ms Winters will have to leave here without a chance of redemption.”

Huh? My redemption? From what, I pray? For running over this fool in the dark of a night? I’ll do it again gladly, if given a chance.

My mercury starts soaring. I grind my teeth and march to the table to pull a chair for myself. My legs are aching and I’d rather be comfortable if this buffoon has plans to torture me. John raises an amused eyebrow. Phyllis gives me a stunned look.

Adam’s left looks surprised. Right is inscrutable.

“Please leave us, Father. I’ll talk to you later tonight once I am done with Ms Winters.”

*****

I sit in the chair, waiting. John and Phyllis have left ten minutes ago. Behind me, Adam paces the room, left to right, right to left, then back again. I try to keep still, but my eyes follow the movement involuntarily. My sockets hurt, swinging like a pendulum. If he was in the front, it would still have been okay, but with my back to him, I just cannot fathom what is going on.

Sighing, I slump in the chair and start chewing my nails. I’ll give him two more minutes, then I am out of here.

On the dot of one-hundred-and-twentieth second, he stops pacing.

“I think we should get going, Ms. Winters.”

“I think so too, Mr. Stevens.”

“I think let’s begin with yourself." He sighs. "I hope you remember our first encounter?”

How could I forget? It was just yesterday, wasn’t it? Here I was bouncing in my car, crapping myself sick, going at the speed of a meteor. I was bound to crash, and this rock came in front of me to fulfil the prophecy. If I had failed to see him, he too had failed the see my car lights. But obviously, no one saw his fault. And now suddenly he is angry and blaming me for it. Amusing, isn’t it?

My version of events does not go down well with him. He glares at me, making a weird grinding noise, then leans on the table menacingly. I watch merrily. His half-and-half is kind of interesting. It reminds me of my favourite pizza - pepperoni and ham with veggie supreme.

He grunts, making a guttural sound.

“I think you are omitting a crucial detail, Ms Winters. Let’s start again. What happened yesterday?”

I look in annoyance. I am not omitting anything. It's everything as it happened. He knows it well too. And I was unconscious after the crash. How am I to remember what happened after that?

“I know what happened after the crash, Ms. Winters.” He is getting impatient. “I am asking about the crash. Before the crash, during the crash, anything about the crash.”

“May I ask why you are so set on it?” I ask in exasperation. “It’s gone, done, in the past. I don’t even see a scratch on you. So why the fuss?”

“There is no scratch on me because it takes more than an engineered crash to hurt me.” He humphs with disdain. “But that’s not the point. I want to know how it happened. Who did it, how they managed it, how the hell you knew I would be there at that exact time!”

Well, we didn't know it, but neither was that the point. He said engineered. Why did he say that? What conspiracy theories are going on in his head?

“This is preposterous! Are you saying I crashed into you on purpose?” I push my chair back and stand up. This is insane. He is like a suspicious husband, trying to eschew every possibility before vindicating his wife. I have begged and grovelled and apologised to this family about a hundred times. Yes, I have not yet apologised to Adam in person, but that does not mean he can talk nonsense like this.

“Please explain. Why do you think it was intentional? I have never met you in my life before. Are you saying I have a grudge from a past life or something?”

He waves me away in irritation. “It’s not a question of why, Ms. Winters. I know the answer to that one. I only want to know how you did it. It’s not easy to plan something to that detail and looking at you…” his face scrunches as looks me up and down, “…I know you are incapable of it. I only want to know who helped you, and where that person is now.”

I look at him, confused. This puzzle just keeps getting infuriatingly lengthy. Two days and I have heard nothing but the damned crash. Crash, crash, crash… my head is pounding.

“I do not understand what you mean.” I give up.

He sighs. “Let me explain. Yesterday when you arrived, there was a third person with you. A wi... woman. Where is she now?”

“Oh…Mrs. Bates!” I relax as understanding dawns. “She is just our housekeeper. She came with us as she had nowhere else to go. But she disappeared after the crash. We tried to look for her but could not find her. So, we assumed she must have rolled into a ditch and…”

… been eaten by wolves. I conclude this in mind, as my heart sinks to the bottom. I had planned to look for her, to talk to someone about her and take out a search party. But these people have kept me otherwise occupied. They have barely asked me and Olly about our problems. All they care about their prodigious son and his accident.

And now he is set on Mrs. Bates. Why does he think she has a hand in the crash? My, my. Talk about delusion!

“Let me assure you, Mrs. Bates had no part to play in it. She just happened to be with us in the wrong place at the wrong time. She cannot hurt a mouse, let alone plan and execute a murder. It was an innocuous accident, nothing more.”

And all the while, the poor woman was sitting in the backseat, enjoying the ride. It was I who was on tenterhooks. Why was this guy blaming her?

“I think you have got the wrong end of the stick, Mr Stevens. It was my fault; I have a habit of getting nervous. It had nothing to do with Mrs Bates.”

He gives me an exasperated look. It seems like it’s not the answer he expects. His agitation is clear on his left side. The right side watches me with disdain.

“It’s not I who has got it wrong, Ms Winters. It’s you. Think again, clearly. Try to remember. Was there anything suspicious about your Mrs Bates? Ever?”

I scrunch my eyes hard, rake my brain, but nothing comes forth. Mrs Bates has always been…Mrs Bates. The utterly normal and common Mrs Bates. She did call the pest control from time to time and use rat poison for servant quarters once a year, but other than that, she never hurt a fly.

I tell him this. He does not believe me.

“For the last time, Ms Winters, I need information on your servant. It’s important and urgent.”

“And you won’t tell me why it’s important and urgent.”

“I can’t. All I can say is that she is a security threat. And by association, you too get classified as such. If you do not supply any information voluntarily, you leave me no choice.”

“No choice for what?”

He sighs and straightens. I start getting apprehensive. Have I unintentionally caused us a bigger problem? Olly will kill me for this.

“I did not want to do this, but you leave me no option, Ms. Winters. I take it from my father that you and your sister want to settle here permanently. So here are your choices. Give me information on Mrs. Bates and you can live here forever…”

My ears perk up as I sit straight. So no tests or training? Yay!!

“…and, if you fail to provide more information, you must pass our most rigorous training. In case you fail that too, you must leave.”

I stare as I try to comprehend. Slowly it dawns. He needs info on Mrs bates. Or we must pass their training. In the event we could do neither, we must leave.

I feel air leaving my lungs. I can see there are 99% chances we won't survive this.

“So go back and think hard, Ms Winters. Come up with something that will help me track Mrs Bates. Any names, places, conversations, anything. If you can’t, you will be joining my men in the training fields.”

***** *****