Chapter 5

It had been two days since Julian had left the Realm of Shadows for what could quite easily have been for the last time, and in spite of Jenny's reservations, those two days had passed with comparative ease.

There would probably be a couple more days of taking it easy, too, before her parents got back.

Which was good, because she currently had no idea how she was going to explain to them how, over the period length of their holiday, a guy had come to move in with her. She could only imagine what they would think, even thought it most certainly wouldn't be true.

It was even more likely to be their first thought when she explained that there was no possible way that she could let him move out.

There had been no word from the rest of the Gang. Not even Dee had been in touch.

But that probably wasn't surprising, considering that she hadn't gone back to the diner on the day that she had been collected. They probably thought that she'd just blown them off. And the truth was, it wouldn't have been the first time that she had, since they'd finally escaped from the game for good.

There was something that just wouldn't ever be what it once was between them.

Some times, the people that were meant to have been her best friends seemed like nothing more, and nothing less, than complete strangers.

Of course, none of that seemed as though it mattered now.

Since she had came back through to the Earth Realm, everything seemed new.

She was seeing flashes of colors that she'd never noticed before, surrounding random people on the streets. She was hearing sounds that she would have never though could have existed, strange in-between sounds. She could remember everything that she had dreamed.

And the final difference was that if she was separated from Julian for any length of time over ten minutes, or if she passed a certain distance from him, she began to feel physically sick. Once, she had tried to ignore it, and had would up vomiting before she finally gave in, and came back.

And when she had gotten back she had found Julian lying back on the couch, sweating, and shaking, and even whiter than usual. His eyes had lost that spark, and fire, and that had frightened her, even though it had came back as soon as she had placed her hand within his.

Truth be told, there was a lot about it that frightened her. She didn't understand what was going on. And she desperately wanted to know. But whenever she tried to bring the subject up with Julian, he turned away, and walked out of the room.

After a while she had decided that there was no point in even trying.

She had a feeling that when he thought the time was right, he would bring it up on his own.

And since he was the only one that might possibly know, she had no choice but to trust him.

That, however, didn't mean that she had to like it.