"Sad, but true.' Desiree agreed with a nod.

"It really is a shame. " She said. "Oh well."

"Not like there's anything that can be done about it. We just gotta move on with life."

---

She sighed as she stepped outside into the blinding light. She'd been staying with Jaden for a couple of weeks by this point, and there'd been no evidence of her 'family' anywhere around her, either. Suffice to say, she was relieved, but cautious. For all she knew, they were lying in wait.

As she started to walk to an alleyway though, so as to just mana home, she paused. As she looked around, she could have sworn she heard something, footsteps near her.

"Desiree" She was sure she just heard her name in the air. When she looked around though, she didn't see anyone in the alley. There was nothing more than the shadows there, and they weren't super dark either. It was the middle of the day.

". . . Ok... I need to get back to Jadens." she muttered before hurriedly stepping hurriedly through the alley to the road on the other side.

The entire trek home, she was watching over her shoulder. She decided against the mana because she didn't know who was there, f anyone was, and didn't dare have the wrong people see it.

♫Born of graves and left below ♪ Painted ashes, painted snow♫

Desiree jumped before shaking her head.

"Please, don't worry. I'm just a bit jumpy is all." She told him with a soft smile as she met his gaze, her hair falling out of the way of her face slightly, revealing the ends of the scarring she hid.

"Spent the night watching too many horror flicks, I think." She added with an almost nervous chuckle.

♫Born of graves and left below ♪ Painted ashes, painted snow♫

"Not at all." Desiree answered with a smile.

"I just need to get home, a mug of tea and a good book... and hope my nerves calm down." She added with a laugh.

"I'm so sorry to have bumped into you! I didn't hurt you or anything, did I?" She then asked

♫Born of graves and left below ♪ Painted ashes, painted snow♫

Desiree shook her head, hard, before continuing on.

"I didn't see that. I swear I didn't see that." She muttered, trying to convince herself of that. She hadn't been watching horror movies as she'd claimed to the man she'd bumped into. She knew she was on edge because of her history, and because of what had happened. She couldn't deny it, she felt like she was being followed, and she really didn't like it.

She wanted to mana back to Jadens, but also knew that she couldn't. She couldn't confirm if someone was, or was not, following her. If someone was, she couldn't risk them finding out about mana if they didn't already knew.

So she was walking back there.

♫Born of graves and left below ♪ Painted ashes, painted snow♫

". . . Son of a..." Desiree muttered before shaking her head and diving into a restaurant and asked to use their washroom. Once allowed, she made her way in before sighing, staring at her reflection for a few seconds before just using her mana to vanish from where she was. She appeared back in what was, in essence, her bedroom (as it had almost permanently, they were both sure, become more than just a guest room in use by a guest) and just sat on her bed, trying to calm down.

". . . What in the world... am I going crazy?" She asked the air quietly as she grasped what was beneath her shirt.

She didn't know if Jaden was home, and wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to go hunt him out to see.

♫Born of graves and left below ♪ Painted ashes, painted snow♫

Desiree was completely silent for a few seconds before just taking a few steadying breaths and getting to her feet.

"Hey." She said as she opened the door with a light smile.

"And.. yeah. Change of plans." she then said, not saying anything more than that.

"Oh, right. Here's the book you said you wanted me to grab." She added as she made her way into the room, grabbing the book, and returning to the door, handing it to him.

♫Born of graves and left below ♪ Painted ashes, painted snow♫

"I'll be all right." Desiree assured him.

"For now, I'm just going to go and have a bath. I am a bit on edge." She admitted.

"I'll be all right though, I promise." She added. "You don't need to worry about me."

♫Born of graves and left below ♪ Painted ashes, painted snow♫

"Yeah... I'll keep that in mind." Desiree said with a nod.

"Thanks." She added with a light sigh.

"I'll... see you afterward." She then said with a sigh. There was definitely something on her mind.

♫Born of graves and left below ♪ Painted ashes, painted snow♫

He received silence for a moment before he heard the air get quiet. At first, it wasn't easy to identify what had happened, specifically, but it didn't last too long.

The water for the shower stopped running.

"Ahh, probably couldn't hear me, even if I were to go bang on the door." Jaden commented with a light laugh as he put what he'd brought back home into the fridge.

He had made his way to the couch and taken a seat before Desiree met him there.

"Oh! Hey there." She said with a smile.

"You're back earlier than I expected. I thought that meeting thing was gonna be another hour."

♫Born of graves and left below ♪ Painted ashes, painted snow♫

Desiree paused a moment.

"Buffet?" She asked, her voice curious.

"I didn't know you were going to be anywhere with food." She added with a light laugh.

"Always good to bring food back though. Anything interesting?"

♫Born of graves and left below ♪ Painted ashes, painted snow♫