"Can you stay?"

(Alex to Vlad)

Alex looks panicked. I'm not even sure he realizes how panicked he looks. And he's freaking me out.

Cameo's shaking wasn't like she was having a seziure or anything. She was just cold. Icy cold, give that she was holding my hand and she'd been getting progressively colder. As she gradually stopped convulsing from the cold, she got colder.

"Is she....dying?" Alex asks me. The only thing he'd ever ask me advice on besides matters of the heart is matters of science. He'd done well in history, I'd always kick ass in science. You have dreams of going to medical school, naturally you're good at science.

"I'm not sure." And I really wasn't. She'd always been slightly colder than other people. Next to Delaina, she felt like a freezer most of the time. According to Alex, that's how half ghosts normally feel. Cold to the touch.

Suddenly, Cameo stops shaking. Alex and I look at each other, unsure of what to do.

That's when her eyes snap open.

She looks at us like she didn't know we were even here. Then something clicks in her head.

"Have you guys been watching me this whole time?"
Alex responds first. "No, but I came in to talk to Vlad and you started...convulsing, so I stayed to make sure you were okay."

She considers his explanation, then speaks.

"Alex, can I talk to Vlad for a second, privately?"
He exits.

Am I in trouble or something?

My expression must have given my thought away, because she knew what I was thinking.

"No, Vlad, you're not in trouble." She smiles as she says this. "You just have to understand that I can take care of myself, okay? I'm not used to being taken care of. I didn't have that kind of childhood where people were taking care of me."
"So because you were self sufficient as a kid, you don't want to let anybody in now?" I try to interpret her words. I don't think I'm doing the best job.

"No, its not that." She sits up to look at me. "My parents died when I was really young. Ashleigh was like seventeen when my uncle delivered me to her. She was the closest relation to me, and that's what their will said. The closest relation had to take care of me. Only the adults didn't want me, because...Ashleigh doesn't talk to most of them now, because of the things they said."

"What did they say?" Damn, she had a sucky childhood.
"They said...that there was something weird about me. Something that they couldn't put their finger on. They all thought...I can't believe they'd say that now, but before I believed them."
"What?" I ask. "Do you want t talk about this, because you don't..."
"I wouldn't have brought it up otherwise." She interrupts me. "Like I said, you guys can't protect me forever. They thought...that I'd killed my parents."

"What? Didn't they die in a car accident?"
"No. They did, but they didn't. They said my mother nearly died on the delivery table giving birth to me. I was healthy, yeah, but I'd nearly killed her. She never was healthy after that. My dad suffered along with her. They were on their way to pick me up from ballet class when it happened. I'd been dropped off at the hospital to my aunt and uncle on my father's side, when they got the news. They said my mother would have made it if she had been healthy...had she not had a risky childbirth. Nobody ever looked at me the same, except Ashleigh. Her mom was still alive. Is still alive. She was in the middle of moving out when my uncle delivered me to her house about a month later. They said they couldn't handle me anymore. I heard them telling Ashleigh's mom that I'd been...taking the life out of everything I touched. Like plants, I'd touch them and they'd die. They got paranoid and abandoned me to Ashleigh, who wasn't even legal at the time. So she had to juggle college and raising me. I owe her the world. Everything."

"That's why I haven't been good with people taking care of me. I altered Ashleigh's life, and either killed or drove crazy everybody else. I can't do anything about them, but I can do something about you guys. Your lives shouldn't be altered because of me." She finished her speech.

So she has deep seated feelings, not of abandonment, but that she'll kill us. Okay. What else can I say?

"Cameo, listen to me. Just like you can take care of yourself, so can we. I can't speak for Alex, but I know you've already changed me. There's nothing that can be done about that. It's for the better, so don't worry about it. And I'll be sure to give you space. Everybody will. But we're dealing with invisible, malevolent, ghost people who want to use you as a weapon of mass destruction against all humanity. So we're going to end up being a little close."
"I understand that. But as much as I'm half ghost or something like that, I'm human too. I don't want to destroy the world. You guys know that. I know you do. You guys are going to have to trust me. If I feel anything that I shouldn't, or feel like there's one more ghost then there should be, I'll let you know, okay?"
"That sounds fair, I guess."

I'm unsure as what to do next. I decide to get up and leave her alone for a bit.

"Okay, so...I'm going to go now, give you some space, get some breakfast, talk to Alex. He's trying to get Delaina. It's kind of cute really."

She smiles as I get up to leave.

I'm almost to the door when...

"Vlad?"
I turn around. She's off her bed and walking toward me. She's maybe five steps away from me.

"Can you stay?" Without waiting for an answer, she closes the gap and hugs me like she'll never let go. I'm actually pretty surprised.

"I thought you wanted space?" I question her.
She squeezes me tighter than I ever thought her capable of. "Not right now. Not from you." She lets go, only to lead me to her room's sofa. We both sit down.

"I don't want you to leave." she says simply as she leans her head on my shoulder and grabs my hand. She's still cold, only not as cold as before. If anything, she's...getting warmer. Odd.

I look down at her. She's staring down at my hand in hers. I focus my head to look into hers.

She's happy. Unequivocably happy. It's not a feeling I've seen in her often. And I made her that happy. Yay.

That's when I look up. And get the bejesus scared of me by...

Yasmine?