I considered stomping back through the woods to find him and demand he tell me, but I was afraid of coming off too dramatic, or being wrong. It was possible that he was just assuming and I was jumping to conclusions. I waded in the water and tried to calm my suspicions. Theon and I had just now gotten to a decent place, and I don't need to ruin it by being too jumpy. I'll just wait until he comes by tomorrow to ask him.

The next day, however, he didn't show up.

Or the next.

When the third day came, and still no Theon, I confessed to the girls my suspicions.

"Do you think I'm being silly?" I asked them. "I mean, he is the one who specifically said he knows more about me than I think, and he keeps saying little things like that that make me feel like he does know something."

Levi shrugged. "I don't know, Serena." She admitted. "It does sound a little bit strange, but at the same time it's not like there have been any obvious red flags, right?"

I sighed. "Well, no."

"What is it exactly you think he is hiding?" Cassandra asked me, raising her eyebrows.

I thought hard, but I couldn't put my finger on it. "I'm just being ridiculous." I said, dismissing it.

After five whole days without showing up, I finally heard his boat entering the bay on the sixth day.

He swam ashore and shook out his hair, looking confused. "Did you clean the beach?" He asked surprised.

I turned and looked around. I had gotten so bored, and the beach was looking run down without anyone looking after it, so I had kind of taken it upon myself to pick up the slack. I shrugged. "I couldn't stand it looking dirty." I told him.

He smiled and crossed his arms. "Well, I don't guess I have much to do today then." He said, plopping down in the sand in his checkered shorts. "Thanks."

I stood in the warm breeze and watched the wind blow his wet hair. "Where were you?" I asked nonchalantly, coming to sit beside him.

He glanced over at me as I sat, but then turned his eyes back out to the water. "I was, uh, sick." He mumbled.

"You don't sound too sure about that." I pointed out and he kept his eyes turned. "Were you sick or not?"

"Yeah." He nodded.

I rolled my eyes, it was obvious that he was lying, which only added to my frustrations. I almost had myself convinced that I was being paranoid, but now this too. "Theon?"

"Serena?" He repeated my tone, turning to raise his eyebrows at me.

I huffed. "Can I ask you something?"

"I have a feeling you will anyway." He shrugged, digging his feet down into the sand.

"The day we met, you mentioned something about knowing more about me than I thought." I reminded him. "What did you mean?"

He wrapped his arms around his legs and sighed. "Nothing."

"Nothing?" I repeated him, widening my eyes.

"Yeah, nothing." He mumbled under his breath.

"You're lying." I said evenly, looking away from him and staring instead at his boat floating out in the waves.

"Yeah." He whispered, making me whip my head back to look at him again.

"What?"

"You're right." He said, turning to look at me evenly.

I was getting more and more confused in this conversation the longer it went on. "I don't understand." I finally told him.

He blinked hard and sighed again. "I know."

I was starting to get annoyed, so I stood up and crossed my arms. "You're ticking me off." I admitted.

He laughed under his breath but there was an undercut of anxiety to the sound of it. "I'm sorry, I can't say anything." He said. "I'm trying to, but I can't." I ran my fingers through my hair and groaned. "I'm sorry, Serena." He said, smiling up at me a little.

I found myself slightly distracted by it, but I snapped back. "Does it have to do with Alana and what you do for her?" I asked and he nodded his head. "If I guessed it could you tell me?" I asked, already running through good questions in my head.

"No." He whispered, bursting my bubble.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm bound not to, Serena."

I groaned loudly again. One little thought kept popping up in my head over and over. I plopped back down on the sand beside him and I looked him square in the eyes. "Are you the reason I'm here, Theon?"

I expected him to cut his gaze away from me like he usually does, but instead he stared back at me with the same intensity I had. "I don't know." He whispered, shaking his head.

"You don't know or can't tell me?" I demanded.

"Probably both, but I really don't know." He admitted.

I wanted to question him further on it, but for some reason I trusted him, and if said he couldn't tell me, then he can't tell me. "So," I said, changing the subject. "Who was that girl the other day?" I asked. "She sure was...friendly." I laughed.

He smiled at me and I felt in in my stomach. "She's nobody." He said shaking his head.

I laughed at his pinched up expression. "How nice of you, I'm sure she'd really appreciate hearing that from you."

He scooped up some sand and tossed it at me, making me giggle. "I'm not dating her, if that's what you're getting at." He laughed. "She works with me, and she hates my guts, she wanted to switch shifts with me, that's all."

"Oh." I nodded.

"Why did you want to know?" He asked, raising one eyebrow. "You weren't jealous were you?" He winked at me and I dropped my jaw.

"Oh my god, no!" I gasped. "I was just wondering, and besides, I have a boyfriend."

He smirked and nodded. "Yeah."

I narrowed my eyes at him, but he just kept smiling at me. It was weird, I'd never seen him smile so much before. "You're in a good mood." I commented and he finally looked away.

"I should get going." He said, standing up and brushing the sand off of his hands. "Someone already did my work for me, so I guess I'll be early for my next job."

"Ok." I smiled from the sand. "See you next time."

He kind of half waved then turned for the water. He was up to his knees when he whipped back around. "Hey, Serena?" He called to me, and I raised my brows. "Tally starts school tomorrow, and I got her some things to wear, but I'm not sure what goes with what, and I'd like her to actually have a good first day, so I was wondering," He stammered. "If you mind if I bring some stuff back up here later and you tell me what she should wear? If I tell her you suggested it, she'd never deny it."

I felt a little surge of excitement run through my core. "Of course, I'd love to do that." I yelled out to him and he smiled before swimming out to his boat.

"See you later, princess!" He yelled then he was gone.

I was feeling right on the edge of giddy for some reason. I was happy that we were getting along so well, and I was glad he seemed to really be starting to trust me too. I still felt weird about his secret Alana workings, but what could I really say about that. I mean, I work for her too, so I can kind of understand. I still feel a little like he might have something to do with my being here, though.

I stayed out on the beach a while longer.

The water was crazy choppy today, and when the waves would come up to the cove, they'd crash into the rocks, sending a gorgeous spray of water up into the air that would fall back down around me like a mist of little diamonds. It gets a little cooler at night now, but the days are still pretty warm, today especially. The heat is so heavy it gives everything a hazy look to it.

I waded out into the angry water, catching it in my mouth from time to time as waves smacked into me. A few hours skated passed as I floated on top of the water, the waves making my stomach jump every now and then.

I heard a boat in the distance and at first I thought it was Theon's but as it got closer I could see that it wasn't.

I looked around at the other girls but they both waved me on. "Go ahead!" Levi called. I was half thankful that they were letting me take this one since I'd missed out the last time there was any people, but I was also dreading doing it. Taking another person's life never feels good, even if you try to justify it in your mind.

I swam for the boat. "Hi!" I called out and the man on board tried not to look at me, he kept his back turned, and the woman looked terrified.

"Please!" She yelled with a deep accent. "We don't want any trouble, we're just lost." She pleaded.

I looked at the look on her face and I sighed. "Ok." I called, backing away.

The man still had his back turned, but the boat was rocked by an enormous wave and he lost his balance, stumbling towards me, his eyes catching with my amulet as he held onto the boats railing. "No!" I screamed. "Don't look at it."

The woman grabbed the man, but I could already see it in his eyes. I tried to swim away but I could hear the woman yelling at him. "John, no!" She screamed. "Please, don't go in the water! Think of the children!"

I turned back to see him crash into the water, flailing to me before the trance fully took him under the water. I tried to stop it, I tried to push him back above the water, I tried to cover my amulet with my hands to break the trance, I tried to scream over the sounds of the beautiful lulling, but it did no good. His soul exited him and entered my amulet, making it glow brightly.

I came back to the surface to see the woman sobbing. "I'm so sorry!" I cried too. "I didn't mean to!"

She looked up at me with daggers in her eyes. "Stay the hell away from me you demon!" She screamed. "He had a family!"

I couldn't listen to anymore.

I swam away as fast as I could and ran up onto the beach.

I'm not going to do this anymore. That was the absolute last straw. I wonder how many other families we have destroyed by doing this. How many little kids like Tally are out there without parents because of people like me and the other girls?

My legs gave out halfway up the beach and I crawled a little further to be sure I'd be out of the way of the water. "Serena?" Cassandra called to me. "Are you ok?"

"Leave me alone!" I screamed back. "Both of you, stay away from me! I'm so done!"

"What do you mean?" Levi called out.

"I mean just what I said!" I told them through my cries. "I'm done, I won't do it anymore."

"Serena, you can't jus-."

"Leave me alone!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

I don't want to be a monster anymore. I refuse to move from this spot, I will just have to die right here on this beach and then I can begin my lifetime of servitude to Alana. Anything is better than having to live with the guilt of stealing souls from innocent people.

My crying wore me out, and I could feel all of my strength draining after a while. "I'm sorry, Asher." I whispered hoarsely. "I love you, but I can't do this."