A/N: Thanks everyone for the reviews! I love reading them.

This one starts right where the last chapter left off, so if you haven't read 9, read it first. :)

I hope you like it!

Thanks for reading.

KELLAN

I reached for the holster on my belt that held my gun- the most dangerous weapon we carried, which shot tranquilizer darts capable of knocking a grown man out for several hours. Keeping my arms around Wanda, I whispered into her ear. "Someone's followed us, and we may have to make a run for it. Get everyone into the cruiser, and act casual."

Wanda gently broke out of the hug. Her eyes were frightened, but amazingly she managed to keep her posture and body language neutral. I watched her walk to the others and whisper something in Ian's ear. Then I turned my attention back to the approaching figure.

Trying to draw attention away from the three people climbing into my cruiser, I walked quickly towards the Seeker. When I was close enough to make out his face in the dim light, I realized I recognized him.

His name was James Mulligan. He had taken the name from his earth host, which was his first. He had no wife or children, and was very devoted to his job. I had always liked the man, from a distance. He was honest and simple, focused and to-the-point with everything related to Seeking, though he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, so to speak. As he approached now, I felt a sense of dread seep through me. I didn't want to be in conflict with him. He wasn't someone I could throw easily off the trail, and I didn't want to be forced to subdue someone I respected.

"Hello, James." I said when we were close enough to speak. He nodded. "Hello, Kellan." He replied briefly. He peered over my shoulder. "What's the situation with your- passengers?" He asked. There was a suspicious tone in his voice, one that made me uneasy. I kept a calm front. "I'm taking the soul Deep Song and her son to Sun Glade." I hesitated, unsure of how to explain Sunny and Ian's presence. "The other two are a couple." I finally said. "Only the man has a driver's license, and he's ill. I told them I'd take them to Sun Glade for healing and then give them a ride back to the car."

James' eyebrows came down. "You've passed Sun Glade. It's half a mile behind us." I nodded. "I wanted to keep that car in view," I said, motioning toward the car Sunny and Ian had been driving and hoping James had not been following closely enough to watch the whole situation. "I didn't pull them over until I was sure there was something wrong."

James still looked suspicious when I was finished, but less so, and more concerned. "Let me take the couple," he offered. "I'm not busy this time of night. You don't need to worry about little cases like these." Here he actually smiled. "You have bigger things to focus on, Kellan. I can deal with them." I felt a stab of regret. He was just being helpful, but I had a feeling this wasn't going to end well.

"I'm fine, thanks," I replied, "I'm going to Sun Glade anyhow. It's really no trouble to drop them off. You should go home and get some rest." Now James frowned. "Kellan, is there something you're keeping from me?" I bit my lip. God, was it that obvious? "No." I said shortly, before I realized how unconvincing that sounded. "I mean- of course not. Why would I hide something from you? It would just be more convenient for me to take them to Sun Glade. And besides- the two women are friends. It'll be good for them to be there together. You know, support each other."

It was a last-ditch attempt to salvage the situation without using force. Unfortunately, James didn't seem to be falling for my desperate babbling. "The two women are friends." James repeated slowly. "These are two cases entirely separate from one another?" His tone was deeply skeptical. I gave a short, forced chuckle. "I know. Funny how these things happen, huh?"

James didn't reply. After a long pause, he began walking toward my cruiser. "I'm just gonna take a look at these people." he said as he ambled off. I was between him and my cruiser in a moment. "No!" I commanded. James looked taken aback. "Kellan, I just want to check your facts. No big deal. Not unless you're hiding something." I shook my head forcefully. "No, I'm not. It's just- tensions are a little high in there. I don't want you to make any of them uncomfortable."

This was greeted by another long silence. James stared at me searchingly for several moments. Then he shook his head. "Something funny's going on here." he said shortly. Pulling his radio out of the holster on his belt, he pressed the talk button on the side. "Send me backup. I have a conflict in front of the old schoolhouse."

WANDA

Everything happened very fast. We had just closed the doors on the back of the cruiser and gotten ourselves as comfortable as possible in the small, unyielding rear seats when Kellan jumped into the front seat, slamming the door and starting the car in an instant. "Hold on." he cautioned briefly. Then we swerved onto the road and began to race down it.

I had never gone that fast in a car before. The engine roared, the surroundings blurred as we passed. I was holding on tightly to the door. Sunny looked terrified. "Where are we going?" I asked Kellan after our speed seemed to have stabilized. "Doesn't matter." Kellan said tightly. "James Mulligan was about to inadvertently ruin everything your humans have worked for. I'm just losing him. Then we can figure out what to do next."

I didn't respond. I was thinking what Kellan had just done for us. He had probably just become a fugitive. Now that they were suspicious, the souls would likely examine him further if they caught him. Now that the souls were suspicious. The thought didn't even make sense in my head. "Kellan," Ian started suddenly, "do you carry a radio, or anything that could be tracked?" Kellan turned his head to glance at Ian. "You're sharp." He commented. He undid the snaps on a holster clipped to his belt and pulled his radio out. Rolling down the window, he tossed the device into the dark night.

After about ten minutes of speeding down the road, Kellan made several abrupt turns through side streets, then parked and turned off then engine. There was a collective sigh of relief as the four of us relaxed into the still silence of the night. Kellan turned in his seat to face us. "What now?" he asked.

I bit my lip. I could think of no real solution but one. I had told Kellan so much already- I had been stupid not to warn him that it came with an obligatory cyanide pill. Stupid, too, not to withold more. It seemed that my loose lips would now seal Kellan's fate. We couldn't allow him to be here where there was a chance of capture.

It was Ian, though, who spoke first. "Will you join us in the caves? If Wanda has told you all about us already, it seems there is not much choice." Kellan inhaled deeply, shakily. "You would let me..." he trailed off. Sunny reached out and laid a hand on his arm. "Kellan, everyone would be happy to have you join us." Kellan looked at me, as if for one last assurance. I smiled. "Of course we would." I agreed.

Kellan took one more deep breath. "There's something I haven't told you." he admitted. I tensed, mind jumping to find the worst possible conclusion. Kellan is human, I told myself. He couldn't betray us, not now. Not with everything I had learned about him. Kellan was biting his lip. "I have a sister." he said finally.

Ian was frowning thoughtfully. "A biological sister?" he asked. Kellan nodded briefly. "She's still human." he said after a moment, answering the question that hung unspoken in the air. I sighed with relief. This was not a dangerous secret. "Does she use the same alibi as you?" I asked. Kellan shook his head. "You see-" He broke off his sentence and sighed. "Yes?" Ian prompted after a moment.

Kellan bit his lip again. "Adia was born without legs." he said, as if stating a simple fact. His eyes, though, were careful, probing us for our reactions. Sunny frowned deeply. "Without legs?" Kellan bristled visibly. "There's nothing wrong with her." he said sharply. Then he sighed. "That was uncalled for, I'm sorry." he said. "But it's a bit of a sore spot. The reason she could never go out in public was because she would have been recognized as a human. Because your kind don't think her 'damaged' body is worth even living in."

I felt a stab of guilt at his words. It was true. But... "I'm sorry." I said, on behalf of my race. "Not that there are any excuses, but remember that it's not the soul bound to live in the body that makes the choice, but the healer that inserts them. It's one thing to decide for yourself that you want to live in a way that could compromise you- another for the healer to decide to bind someone into that situation." Kellan looked at me for a long moment, then nodded. "That's true. However, I want you to know that, physically, Adia is not compromised in the ways you might think. She usually uses a wheelchair to get around because she feels comfortable that way, but she can function fine without one."

There was another short pause after this, then Kellan continued. "Adia is 18. She was born when I was eleven, and she was only seven when our parents left. My mother made me swear that I would take care of her. I was old enough that it wasn't an issue, and she was very responsible already. My mother had coached her since she was tiny about the dangers of the outdoors, so there wasn't any fear she would run off." Ian frowned. "She never went outdoors?"

Kellan sighed, and I noticed that, though Ian's question carried the same tone as Sunny's had, Kellan did not object immediately and strongly as he had to Sunny's. It's because Ian's human, I thought. Kellan was only upset about Sunny's question because she represents the souls to him, represents us. Represents them, I corrected. This is probably the first time he's been able to vent his feelings to a soul since his parents left.

"She goes outdoors sometimes." Kellan said at last. "But only at night. She's never been noticed by anyone, and we mean to keep it that way." This was followed by a long silence, and then Kellan turned back in his seat so he was facing away from us. "You want to go in?" he asked.

A few minutes later, we had all piled out of the door to discover that Kellan had parked us directly in front of a small yellow house, which he was opening the door to. We followed him into a spacious coatroom that opened onto a cozy living room. "Wait here just a minute." Kellan instructed us. "And make yourself at home." he added with a smile. Then he disappeared down a flight of carpeted stairs.

I sat carefully on the couch to nurse Lyell, who had woken up again. Ian walked off to explore, and Sunny flopped down next to me with a sigh. "It's been so long since I've been in a real house." she said with relish. "I have to admit, though I love living with Kyle and all of you guys, I've missed this." I smiled. I couldn't quite sympathize. I had only lived in a "real house" for a very short time before coming to live in the caves. They were normal to me.

After a minute Ian returned. "Not much up here." he commented. "There's one bedroom, but it doesn't look very lived-in. Neither does the kitchen, and it's tiny. They must live almost all down there." he speculated, pointing to the stairwell Kellan had just taken. In another minute, Kellan reappeared up the stairs. "Adia wants to see you." he said cautiously. "We should take it slow, though. She's not used to seeing other people, or at least interacting with them."

Sunny smiled. "She'll be coming to the caves, of course?" Kellan looked apprehensive. "I can't leave her here alone. Is that alright?" Sunny looked at him as she would an especially adorable pet. "Aw, Kellan, of course she can come. Don't be so worried about these things. You humans and we human-wannabees have to stick together." I chuckled. Human-wannabees. That was a good way to put it.

Kellan took a deep breath. "Okay, come on down." he said, a little bit as if he was inviting us to bungee jump. One by one, we filed down the stairs after him.