Feared

Ten: Not That Bad

"Yes, that I must agree with," Ramsey nodded. "It is very strange; stranger than I would be willing to admit to anybody else, but we are all friends here. I cannot deny I was alarmed when the questions were put to you, but you handled them with more grace and common-sense than I could have ever expected. This is not as big a deal as you think".

Charlotte gazed at him, watching his twitching lips, unable to read his expression, unable to know the true meaning of his words.

"So that's it – hope it blows over and that the world will be more interested in our love-lives than the alterations?" James asked, his tone rife with disgust. "Aren't you even trying to figure out where he got his information? What if he knows more? What if... Aren't you even trying to protect us?"

"We will protect you James – I give you my word," Fiennes pressed.

"No – I want to hear him say it," James snapped, jabbing his finger at Ramsey.

"James, don't," Charlotte warned, glancing up at him. James met her with anger green eyes, his worry and fear palpable.

"We will do everything in our power to keep you all safe James," Ramsey offered uncertainly, a nervous tone creeping into his voice. James' anger towards him had not gone unnoticed, and yet, despite his tone, Charlotte could still only see him as an empty shell, void of all emotion.

"This will be forgotten," Maxwell grumbled. "I mean there will be more focus on reuniting you with your families now. By tomorrow that will be the main story – any suspicions that you are freaks will have faded to the back of their minds".

"We're done here," Charlotte breathed, far from any mood to deal with Maxwell's jibes and jokes, if that's what they were supposed to be. "Fix this mess, before it gets out of control," she hissed, her tone final. Their so-called protectors glanced at each other before reluctantly moving towards the door.

"Right then," Fiennes exhaled, turning back to face them. "We will see you tomorrow".

"Tomorrow," Ramsey nodded. "Get some rest".

Charlotte watched them as the door clicked shut, leaving them alone at last. They had done little to ease either James or Charlotte's mind, and even seeing them made Charlotte sick with anger. Yet how ever she felt, James' anger seemed to be magnified far greater than hers.

She gazed at James as he stared out the window to the distant view along The Mall to Capitol Hill. He looked less like the boy she knew now and more like a shade of the past, a memory of the Head Boy she had struggled to tolerate. His straw-coloured hair was standing on end and even as she watched him, he ran his hands through it again. His jaw was gritted, the veins in his neck bulging, and his green eyes clouded. He almost seemed beyond her reach, too lost to his frustration to draw him back to her.

She stepped towards him, sliding her arms around him, trying to comfort him, protect him somehow from his own worries and fears, a concept she was not entirely adept at. He glanced down at her, his expression confused for a moment, as if he had overlooked her presence in the room, as if her embrace had been unexpected. His angry daze softened, a weary sadness taking its place.

"It will be okay," she breathed. "We can beat this". He seemed to deflate before her.

"If anything happens to you just because..." he trailed off, running his thumb along her jaw.

"Nothing will happen to me," she smiled, revelling in the dizziness she felt as his cool breath washed over her. "As long as we're together..."

He pressed his lips together as if he was trying to stop unwanted words escaping. His eyes clouded again, his forehead puckering. She knew what he wasn't allowing himself to say. They weren't going to be together.