"How do I look?"

The faerie queen was entirely serious as she descended down the metal stairs and into the living room. She stopped only feet away from the table where her roommate was drawing - she was so glad that she'd invested in the art materials simply to give him something to do - to give a twirl. When he didn't look up immediately, the girl paused long enough to consider the question that she'd asked of her companion, and with a laugh, she shook her head, looking down at her outfit. Despite that she was in jeans and a tank top, she still exposed enough skin that Dorian would likely comment she looked like a prostitute. Again.

"You know what, scratch that. I look great." She leaned down, putting her arms around his shoulders from behind in a loose hug. She leaned her chin on his shoulder as she observed his drawings for the evening. "That's beautiful. You're getting so good at that, you know." She squeezed him again before she stood up fully, straightening out her shirt. "I'm going to spend the night with Aiden. He said he wanted to take me to the beach tonight. I'll see you in the morning." Her gaze slid over to the sword that was leaning by the door. "It's only a five minute walk. I'll be fine." She assured him.

With that, the woman grabbed her bag and headed out of the apartment building.

She knew, given the last few days of near constant being walked to and from work, that Dorian would have offered to walk her to the Ark if she'd asked. But she still wasn't quite ready for Dorian to see the Ark, just as she hadn't allowed him inside the burlesque either. Dorian was acclimating well to the modern world, but there were just some things that she wasn't quite ready to explain. And besides, she would be fine. It had been weeks since Frost had warned her, and there had not been a single incident or reason for her to be afraid.

There was no reason to be afraid.

She repeated the words to herself over and over as her feet hit the pavement. There may not have been a reason to be afraid, but the fear that the young girl felt threatened to overwhelm her. There was no one else on the street. No other sounds littered the streets other than the sound of her converse on the pavement. There was no reason for the goosebumps that trailed down her spine.

And yet, there they were.

She was only a block or so away from the Ark when she could feel it. She could feel that she wasn't alone anymore. Her affinity reached out, trying to feel the emotions of whoever it was. But there was nothing. No one was there. It must have been an animal. Something. No threat to her. But she could hear footsteps that weren't hers. She could hear breathing. She could hear laughing. The young woman turned, spinning to look for the source of the sound. But there was nothing. She was alone.

She was alone. But she wasn't. But there was no one there. But she could hear them. What was going on? She could feel her heart racing. Her breathing was uneven. She wished now that she would have grabbed Dorian's sword to protect herself. But how could she protect herself from something that she couldn't even see?

She forced herself on. She could see the top of the Ark, and yet she was still too far away to see it entirely. She wished she was closer. She wished that she could scream out for Jackal, but he wasn't close enough and would have never been able to hear her. She needed to relax. No one was there. It was all in her head, and she knew it. And yet she couldn't shake the feeling that she wasn't alone, that she was in danger.

It was a single sound that caused the girl's steady pace to falter entirely. She paused in place, unable to move herself forward anymore. Her bones felt as though they were made of stone, and her blood felt icy. She would recognize that sound anywhere. She heard it in her nightmares. She heard it in the walls in the night when she couldn't sleep. She heard it over and over again in her memories. It was the sing-song voice that she knew from years ago, and the sound was saying one thing.

Her name.