It didn't take me two years to update this time. I'm getting better...

Cassie entered the house cautiously, Pinky following closely behind her. He shut the door as he entered; there was no one else coming, and whoever this girl was scared of might be trying to sneak in after them.

"Can we get a light in here?" Pinky asked.

He was quickly shushed by someone he could not see. He grumbled a bit noisily, but fell silent all the same.

There was a few minutes of quiet, then an overhead light came on, illuminating the room. Cassie and Pinky saw that they were in a living room of sorts. There was only one threadbare couch sitting up against the far left wall, with a few assorted non-matching pillows thrown on for good measure.

Pinky saw a young lady leaning up against the doorframe that led into the dining room. She appeared to be in her mid-20s, Asian in complexion, with dark brown hair and piercing blue eyes.

"Emily Ha, at your service," she said, offering her hand to Pinky, who took it cautiously.

She laughed. "You do not have to worry about hurting me- or about me hurting you. I am a Watcher; my powers are solely defensive."

Pinky smiled, but still did not increase the pressure on her hand. "Pinky Stein. Shadow."

Emily's face lit up. "Ah, a Shadow! It has been a while since I have seen one of you. It will be good to have some added protection for now."

Emily turned to Cassie. "It has been too long," she said smiling.

Cassie smiled in turn. "So it has." The two of them stepped forward and embraced. When they left each other's arms, Cassie turned to Pinky.

"Emily was one of the first friends I made when I was found by Division. She and I escaped relatively close to each other, only a few days' difference."

"Cassie got back into touch with me a few hours ago," Emily said. "She said she needed help finding someone."

"Nick, Cassie's boyfriend of sorts. He's a Mover who fell into a Division trap, he and a Pusher friend of ours. We think Division has him and is planning something for him."

Emily's face fell slightly. "Planning... something? Like what?"

Pinky shrugged. "Most likely payback. Kira- the Pusher- killed one of Division's top Pushers, a guy named Carver, and-"

"Wait," Emily said, holding up a hand. "Carver is dead?"

"Yep," Cassie replied. "as far as we know. Kira must have Pushed him into killing himself. She had very briefly mentioned something about that, so I assume she did it. Regardless, I would have seen Carver in at least one of my visions since then, and I haven't."

Emily smiled again. "I almost forgot you were a fellow Watcher, though with your mother's status in Division, I should not be forgetting it that easily."

She noticed a visible change in Cassie's demeanor when she mentioned her mother. "You have gotten news regarding her?"

"She escaped," Cassie said with a grin. "I'm supposed to be going to meet her whenever she can get to a safe place, but I have no idea when that will be."

"Maybe you can introduce Nick to her," Pinky replied with a sly grin. Cassie punched at the air in his direction, knowing that there was no way she could hit him, not with the extra few feet of distance between them.

Pinky got the point, though, and fell silent, though the smile did not leave his face.

Cassie turned to Emily again. "We can't find where Nick is. That's why we came to you."

Emily looked confused. "Is he being Shadowed?"

"Maybe, I don't know. All I know is that we can't find him anywhere-"

Cassie's phone rang. She looked at it and again it read "Unknown Number." She angrily ignored it and shut her phone again.

"I'm kinda tired of getting these calls from unknown numbers. It's really annoying, and it's tying up the line maybe so Nick can't get in touch with me."

Emily shook her head. "What is the world coming to nowadays?"

She walked into the kitchen, motioning for Pinky and Cassie to follow her, and they did. Her kitchen was very simple, yet elegant in its simplicity. She opened the refrigerator.

"Anything to drink for you?" she asked.

"A Coke, if you have it," Pinky responded, and Cassie motioned that she would have the same. Emily brought out three bottles of Coca-Cola and set them down on the kitchen table. The three of them sat down.

"I cannot have visions voluntarily," Emily said. "Cassie undoubtedly already knows this-"

"As do I," Pinky said. "I do hope that this is not imposing on you, but we were thinking, Cassie and I were, that this could be a good opportunity to get a place to stay for awhile. We could protect you, and at the same time be waiting close by to see if you get a vision about Nick."

Emily thought for a moment, sipping her drink absentmindedly. After a moment, she looked at Cassie.

"What do you have to say about this?" she asked.

Cassie smiled sheepishly. "Well... as much of a Pinky idea as that sounds, it was actually my idea for us to stay here, at least for a few days. Especially with Division after you-"

"Actually, I don't think it's Division that's after me."

Pinky and Cassie both looked at Emily in surprise. "But you said they were watching-"

"Yes, I did. But they do not seem to be Division. They are psychics, no doubt, but I do not believe their allegiances lie with Division. They are out to get me, though, and that is why I have not left my house in almost a week. They are still out there, waiting for me."

Pinky got up and looked out the window. Sure enough, a black van sat on the opposite side of the street, its engine off. There were two men inside, but Pinky could not make out any of their features.

"So we can stay here?" Cassie asked.

"That is fine," Emily responded. "I have separate rooms for the two of you, assuming that is what you prefer. I do not believe that you feel that sort of attraction to him, though."

Cassie laughed. "To Pinky? No, he is just a close friend. Nick is the one that I feel that sort of attraction to..."

"Then we shall find him as soon as we possibly can-"

A gunshot rang out from outside, shattering a window pane. Emily and Cassie ducked down low, and Cassie looked to see if Pinky was hit. He was not, though he was pulling a revolver out of his cargo pants pocket.

"Guess they don't like us being here," Pinky said dryly.

More shots rang out, and more glass shards rained down onto the floor. Pinky chanced a glance outside and saw that the men who were inside the van had gotten out, and were making their way to the house. Pinky sighed.

"Well... looks like we're in this one for the long haul..."

Hope you enjoyed it. This was one of the easiest chapters I've written for this story, maybe because I had my inspirational music, aka deadmau5's Random Album Title, playing while I wrote this. :D

Hope to see you back for chapter 8!