Eden fell to the ground, but there was no sound or sensation as she landed. She lifted her face, and she caught sight of Mary continuing to strike Ariel with an audience surrounding her. There were claws marks on her face that had not been there before she had fallen, so she knew Ariel had gotten to hit her back. She turned away from the scene, and she saw the two men that had been holding her captive. In between them, she saw a girl with dark hair tamed into a braid and dark eyes.

Eden gasped as she realized the girl was herself. She looked at herself. Her body was transparent, and she emitted a faint silver glow. A thin, glittery line went from her tailbone to the opaque Eden.

The captured Eden looked right at her, and she smirked.

Samael’s voice echoed in her head:

If you look, there’s a silver thread that keeps you connected to your body. As long as you don’t sever it, you can take back this body at any time.

Samael--inside Eden’s body--lifted one leg and smashed Eden’s heel into one of the fiends’ foot. The fiend let out a howl, and Samael shoved him to the ground. He drew back Eden's liberated fist and slammed it hard into the other one’s face, and he pushed her elbow into his chest, knocking him onto his back.

The other five fiends paused and looked at the scene Samuel had made, and the four standing around Mary charged toward her. Samuel turned on Eden's heels, and he ran into the forest in the same direction of the old ruins, which Ariel and Eden had just explored. Transparent Eden felt a sharp pain in her tailbone, and she climbed to her feet to run after him.

"Wait!" she called. "We have to help Ariel!"

He'll be fine, I promise, Samuel said in her head again.

"They're going to hurt him!"

Mary won't let them kill him. She might have been possessed, but she has enough will left in herself to stop them from doing that.

"But--"

I know too much is happening right now, Eden, but I need you to trust me on this. If we stay to fight, you'll get hurt, and if you get hurt, then you won't be able to help anyone right now. All we can do is run and find somewhere safe.

Eden curled her hands into fists, but she knew he was right. He might have helped her get away from the two fiends holding her, but she stood no chance against seven people.

"Get back here!" one of the fiends shouted, but they already sounded distant. "We still haven't our fun with you yet!"

Samuel did not even turn to see how far they were, so Eden turned. The fiends following them were too far to see, and she realized that he was making her body move faster than she had ever thought possible.

"Are you taking me back to the houses?" Eden asked.

No, somewhere closer but safer. I'll have to make sure we lose them, first, however, and they won't give up so easily.

Samuel took an abrupt turn in the forest, turning East. Eden never felt tired herself as she ran after him, but that was no surprise given her lack of a solid form. As she watched Samuel continue to run in her form, she was glad she was unable to feel anything happening to her own body, as she was sure that her legs were in severe pain.

You're not going to be feeling well when you take control of your body, Samuel said.

"Can you read my thoughts?"

To a degree, yes.

"Could you read my thoughts before you possessed my body?"

To a lesser degree, yes.

Eden would have shivered had been capable of it.

I know it sounds creepy, Eden, but it's part of what an angel can do.

"Fiends can do it, too, can't they?"

Yes, but fiends use your thoughts to manipulate you. That's one of the biggest differences between angels and their kind.

Samuel paused from running, and he leaned heavily against the trunk of a tree. Opaque Eden's chest heaved, and her breathing was ragged. There were no other sounds beyond that. The fiends had fallen far behind her, and it was likely they were running in the wrong direction entirely.

"Are we safe now?" Eden asked.

Almost, but I think you can take your body back if you want to.

Eden stepped closer to her physical body. The silver thread that connected her to her body sparked as she shortened the distance between the two of them. She reached out and touched her arm, but her hand just passed through it.

"How do I do it?" Eden asked.

Samuel held out Opaque Eden's hand. Transparent Eden touched it. While there was no sensation nor heat from the hand, she could not move her hand through it, but then Samuel closed her hand around it and pulled her forward. Eden felt vertigo as she jolted toward her body. Her vision turned white, and the intense heat of a campfire spread throughout her body. The heat faded, except in her legs. They felt like someone had set them on fire.

Eden fell onto her rear, and she rubbed at her calf muscles.

"Forgive me," Samuel said, "for pushing your body further than it was used to. It was the only way I could save you."

Eden looked up, even though she knew there was nothing to see. She felt her throat tighten, as she realized they had left her brother behind.

"I'm not in the mood to forgive you," she said.

There was a long silence between the two of them, and Eden only rubbed her calves as she sat.

"I understand, Eden," Samuel said after a while. "I understand, but I promise you I can help you find Ariel again."

"Is he even still alive?"

"I know that he is alive, and I can help you find him again."

"When?"

"I'm not for certain, but I will get you to him before any too serious happens to him."

Eden sighed, shaking her head.

"I shouldn't have agreed--"

"It saved your life, Eden. You may not understand now, but you will see him again--alive. I can promise you that."

"Okay, but I still don't like any of this."

"Who would? But let's not sit idly as we dwell on it, all right? There's a safe place for you just a mile ahead of us. The fiends are all far enough away that you shouldn't have to worry about anything once you get there."

Eden used the nearest tree to help herself onto her sore feet, and she walked East, the direction where Samuel insisted she needed to go. Without the help of trees, she staggered with every step, and sharp pains shot through her legs. It took much longer to get there than it might have had she let Samuel keep control of her body, but she was grateful for the time when she could just think about everything that had happened and try to understand it.

"It's there," Samuel said. "Just ahead."

His voice snapped Eden out of her thoughts. They had reached a small clearing in the forest, but right up against a large tree, there was a small cottage. It was made of rocks and mortar on the outside, and the roof was rusting sheets of metal. A metal pipe protruded from the roof. There was a regular wooden door, but it was small. The top of her head was even with the top of the door as she walked up to it.

"Is this the place?" Eden whispered.

"You don't have to speak aloud," Samuel said. "You can speak to me within your mind, and no one else will be able to hear you."

"But that's really creepy."

Eden could have sworn she heard him chuckle, but she ignored him.

"This is indeed the place," Samuel explained. "It's abandoned. No one's been here for a while, and even if someone does come along, I'll be able to warn you long before they arrive."

"What do you mean you can warn me?"

"I'm sure you have many questions for me. Go inside, and I'll answer as many of them as I can."

There was no handle on the door, so she just pushed against it. Even with her weakened legs, it opened with little effort. The bright moonlight streamed through an open window, illuminating the dust-covered iron wood stove and a few cabinets. There was a small table in one corner of the room, and something hid beneath it.

Samuel told Eden to grab the thing under the little table, and it made a loud scraping sound as she dragged it onto the open floor. It was a black backpack, and there was an open padlock hooked onto a string outside of it.

"You can use that to lock the door," Samuel suggested.

Eden looked through the bag for a key. She found a couple of bottles of water, some shirts, and pants, but there was no key.

"If I lock the door with this, how would I open the door?" she asked.

"The window. You can lock the window from the inside without relying on a key."

Eden balked at the idea of climbing out of the window with her sore body, but it looked like her only option.

Eden put the lock on the door, and then she went to the wood stove. There was already a pile of wood and paper inside it, and she found a box of sulfur-smelling matches and a can of oil. After she lit a fire inside the stove, she went to the window to close it, but she found a small pile of wood just below it. She leaned over the window to gather the wood in her arms, and she gritted her teeth against the stabbing pains in her legs as she stretched the muscles.

Once Eden felt she had enough wood to last her through the night, she shut the window, and there was a metal latch to hold it in place. The wood stove allowed enough light for Eden to see inside the little cottage, and the heat thawed out her skin, causing it to tingle. She set her backpack next to the one she had found under the small table, and she frowned as she realized how empty it was. There was a knife in one of the outside pockets and a single bottle of water, a small bag of dried meat, and a first aid kit.

Eden felt too sick to eat, but she drank the water, replacing it with the two had found in the other bag. Samuel assured her it was safe to drink, and since she had already put so much trust in him, she thought she might as well continue to do so until he proved he was just toying with her.

Eden felt her eyes droop as she stared into the burning fire inside the stove, but there was no comfortable place to rest inside the cottage. She laid on her side, using her arm as a pillow, and she let her eyes drift shut.