Chapter 14

Day fourteen.

It had been two days since that talk with Genevieve and with Romin. Two days of constantly waiting in my tower, thinking he'd be coming to give me my punishment for making false accusations or to simply kill me.

But Romin never came.

All I did was wait, even as I spent time with Zane in the greenhouse. The cougar was indeed gone, but the winged rabbits were warming up to me.

I waited, even as I spent time with the birds in the room Grey made me, and I tried my hand at the clarinet. I had yet to touch the books or the colors, and I spent every free second reading that book on the basics of magic Quinn had bought for me.

So far, though, I couldn't do any of the things that the book wanted me to try—like conjuring up light or a flame or putting one out with a thought or calling a small object to my hands from across the room or changing the size of an object. I was convinced it was because I didn't have enough magic, even if I felt like I did. Even if I felt like I was buzzing with it, and I could feel it in others so clearly it scared me.

Not only that, but by now I was halfway convinced that others couldn't feel it on me when I was trying to sneak up on them, either.

It had happened with Sedelis and that person she'd been talking to by the lake. It had happened with Quinn—I tested her on it every night and she never knew I was there when I was trying to sneak up on her deliberately—and it had happened with Emil while he'd been finger-fucking Amita in the hallway two days ago, too.

Not that that would serve me more than doing actual magic, but I still tried to expand my senses farther and farther every night.

That's why I was out of the castle almost an hour early again, trying to feel the woods until Quinn got there—and to check on the lake again, like I'd been doing every night before training. There was never anything there anymore, which almost convinced me that I'd indeed made the whole thing up, but I kept going back anyway.

Except tonight, I was halfway there, walking as slowly and as silently as possible, when I heard that sound coming from somewhere to my side. That sound that was so unmistakable even out here in the woods with the trees whispering all around me—Shadow's wings.

I froze in place and closed my eyes and focused all my being on my ears. The sound was right there, I hadn't imagined it, and it was louder than usual, like Shadow wasn't trying to keep it down so it was easier to detect. Easier to pinpoint that it was coming from the east.

He's coming for mewas my first thought. He knew I was out here in the woods, and he was coming to end me, so my instinct was to turn back. To run as fast as I could back to the castle before he realized I knew he was there.

But then I looked to the east just to make sure he wasn't closer than my ears were telling me, and I saw the silhouette.

Valentine.

I'd know the shape of him anywhere, even in the darkness of the woods. I knew the width of his shoulders and his slicked-back hair—and most importantly, I knew the way he walked, each stride precise, purposeful.

Not only that, but Shadow just landed right on his shoulder, as if to confirm that it was indeed him.

Valentine was right there, possibly just fifteen feet away from me, walking in the woods, and he had no idea I was here.

Turning back now was out of the question. I just took in a deep breath and waited for them to get a little farther away before I followed, my focus on my feet, on my breathing, on trying not to make a single sound until I knew where the hell they were going.

It could have been the longest ten minutes of my life.

Valentine didn't rush. He didn't even look to the sides as he went, and Shadow remained mostly on his shoulder, though he flew in circles over his head every now and again. When he did, I stopped and hid behind trees just to make sure he didn't spot me, then continued to follow again, perfectly silently.

The lake.

I could have sworn that they were going to the lake and my heart all but burst out of my ribcage.

Was it possible that Valentine knew what Sedelis was doing with that person she'd been speaking to by the lake? Could it be that Valentine was part of it—or even that it had been him she'd talked to that night?

Fuck me, I was terrified suddenly. I was terrified and anxious and excited and?—

Snap.

A twig snapped in half right under my foot.

The entire world came to a halt as Valentine stopped walking, too.

He heard. My God, he heard, and I'd been too distracted to watch where I was going, and I'd made a fatal, fatal mistake.

I moved.

Pressing my back to the nearest tree trunk, I became one with it and I controlled my breathing, controlled my heartbeat as well as I could. Please, please, please, I begged whoever would listen. I didn't want to die, damn it. Not tonight. Not without at least finding out what Valentine was up to.

And then…

"You can come out now, Sunshine. I don't bite."

My eyes closed. Valentine's voice came from the other side of the tree, way, way too close to me—and he already knew I was there.

I bit my tongue hard to keep from sighing or screaming or whatever else my body wanted to automatically do at the idea of death.

Over, said a voice in my head. It was over. He'd caught me.

But if I was going to die soon, I would not cower behind trees and wait for him to attack. No, I would face him straight on, no matter how much it cost me.

A strange calm came over me as I stepped to the side to face Valentine Evernight. My heart beat steady, and my hands didn't shake, and my legs were numb, but I wasn't afraid. Not anymore—what would be the point? There was nothing I could do to stop him when he came for me, though I'd try. With the few moves Quinn had taught me, I would go down fighting at the very least.

A part of me was actually glad that this happened. It was happily waiting for death. I'd said it before—I was tired. So fucking tired already, and despite how senseless it seemed to me still, none of this mattered without Grey.

"Were you following me?"

His voice sent shivers down my back. I looked in his dark eyes and it sucked that I recognized him, recognized the emotions on his face—or I thought I did. I thought I had back then, too, when I considered him a friend.

"Yes." There was no point in lying. "Where are you going, Valentine?"

His brow raised. "Nowhere."

Since I was going to probably die soon, anyway, I said, "Maybe you're on your way to the lake?"

He wasn't even surprised. "No, actually. I'm delivering a message for Romin on the other side of town. What are you doing out here, Sunshine?" His every word rang true, but that didn't mean I believed him. Valentine might be the best liar I'd ever come across. I had no illusion that I could detect truths on him.

"You know very well what I'm doing. Don't pretend you don't follow me around."

This definitely surprised him, but he recovered quickly. "How is it going, then? Are you getting stronger?"

I smiled, shaking my head. Of course, he knew I was training with Quinn. For all I knew Shadow was in the woods with us while I trained every single night. "Ask Romin's balls."

Laughter burst out of him so suddenly, and it took him a good few seconds to stop himself. I flinched, looking away to the side. That wasn't meant as a fucking joke. I wasn't here to make him laugh.

"I wanted to send you flowers for that, but I figured you wouldn't appreciate it," he said after a moment.

"I tried to warn him, you know. About you. About Genevieve. He didn't listen. Doesn't care." I sighed, getting angry with my own self now. "Go on, then. Get it over with."

And wasn't it funny that we'd met in possibly this very forest for the first time, too, Valentine and I?

"Go on with what?" the asshole had the audacity to ask.

I forced myself to roll my eyes. "With killing me."

He moved back like I'd just slapped him across the face. "Never."

It was my turn to laugh, except my laughter sounded bitter. "Says the guy who tried to kill me two weeks ago, then got Grey banished because he saved my life!"

His head lowered and his jaws clenched, and even Shadow flew off his shoulder and up to the canopy, disappearing from our view as if he were suddenly uncomfortable.

"I would never hurt you, Sunshine. Never," Valentine insisted, whispering now.

"Don't fucking patronize me, Valentine!" I hissed. "I was there—I saw you! Shadow was coming for me. He was?—"

Suddenly, he stepped right in front of me and grabbed my arms in his hands. "I know you don't believe me, and I know what it looked like, but I would never hurt you, I swear it."

"Get your hands off me," I said, jerking away as I stepped back. "You're good at this. You're so fucking good, but I'm done believing you, Valentine. You sent me to Faeries' Aerie to kill me, and?—"

"How was I to know you would come back?!" he cut me off, and he sounded as pissed off as he was desperate now. His eyes were red. His tight fists were shaking at his sides. It was only matter of time before he broke my neck, yet I still didn't run.

"How was I to know that you would sacrifice your freedom the way you did?" he demanded. "You thought I would die, and you came back, Sunshine. You fucking came back to save me!"

It was an accusation if I'd ever heard one, and I couldn't find a single word to say still.

Valentine lowered his shaking head. "It was always easy to plot and to not care, because I knew that nobody else did, either." He looked up at me from under his lashes, a ghost of who he used to be.

And he whispered, "Then you came back. How was I to know that you cared, Sunshine?!"

His words broke me. Just when I thought I'd reached the limits, that I couldn't possibly handle any more pain, the universe showed me that I could still endure. Because in those moments I caught a glimpse of the real him—a boy who didn't really believe in love or caring or connection. I heard him, understood him, and I could barely stand on my feet.

"But you did," I whispered because I was done being the fool now. I was done seeing the best in him, done making excuses. Done understanding.

We are all responsible for our own actions, anyway.

"You did know. You just didn't want to believe it because…I don't know why, Valentine. I don't know what you're planning—are you going to challenge Romin next? Or are you going to run away?" He made no sense to me still. As much as I understood some parts of him, I had no clue who Valentine was.

He laughed, just as bitterly as me, shaking his head. "Don't be silly, Sunshine. The only way out of this place is banishment," he whispered. "And Romin wouldn't spare me. He'd go right for my neck."

Tears in my eyes. "You banished him. You…you banished him." Damn it, I would not cry in front of this man, so I blinked a million times until the tears moved back again.

"Don't expect me to feel bad about Grey's death, Sunshine. I won't," the asshole said, making my skin rise in goose bumps.

"You tried to kill me! You cheated. You…" I grabbed my head in my hands—how was it that nobody believed me when they'd all been there and had seen it with their own eyes? How?! "You tried to kill me," I ended up whispering, completely defeated.

Valentine was right in front of me again, eyes wide and sincere—or I'd have believed so before I saw who he really was.

"I know this is difficult to believe. Trust me, I know, but I would never hurt you. Please don't be afraid of me," he insisted, and it just infuriated me more.

"You tried to kill me, damn it. Why won't you admit it? Why did you lie to them about Faerie's Aerie—why?!" Was he purposely trying to make me think I was mad? Was he trying to get me to lose my mind for real?

But Valentine lowered his head with a deep sigh and stayed perfectly silent for a moment, then said, "There are things I can't explain to you, Sunshine, and it's for the best. But you never have to be afraid of me. I swear I will not hurt you no matter what happens next. Please—please believe me."

It could have been fucking funny. "I'd choose death first," I whispered.

The bitter smile on his handsome face hurt like hell. "I've never begged anyone for anything before in my life."

"And I've never loved someone who was trying to kill me behind my back. Does that make us even?" I said, in case he thought he was going to make me feel bad for not buying his lies now.

Love. Such a…strong word, and it surprised him just like I knew it would. It had surprised me, too, when I first realized that I had loved Valentine. I'd really, truly cared about him. I'd traded my life for his and never once regretted it.

Yes, I'd loved him.

Look at me now.

"I'm sorry, Sunshine," he said, stepping back just as Shadow came and landed on his shoulder again.

"Your sorry doesn't change anything." It didn't change the fact that Grey was gone. It didn't change the fact that I was stuck in this life now.

"I know," he said, moving farther back still. Like…like he really wasn't going to kill me. "I know it doesn't. And I know you love him, even if I hate it. I know a lot." Spreading his arms to the sides, he smiled. "This is my home, Sunshine. I know what goes on here. Which is why I'm telling you not to worry. Work on yourself. Train as hard as you can. You're already so incredibly hard to detect when you don't want to be seen. Protect yourself until you don't have to anymore."

I shook my head, my knees weak, because that word. That fucking word again—love.

"What the hell are you up to, Valentine?" I called, refusing to believe still that he was backing away. That he was really not going to kill me.

His laughter reached my ears in a caress. He stopped almost at the tree line and sighed deeply, shaking his head.

"I miss you," he whispered, and without these new ears, I'd have missed it.

Then Valentine moved left so fast he turned to a blur and disappeared from my sight completely.

My legs gave up on me three seconds in. I was all alone in the woods, I could tell. I could feel it. My back hit the trunk and I pulled my knees to my chest, holding them tightly, just breathing in.

So many words spun in my mind—how was I still conscious?

I'm sorry.

How was I to know you cared?

I know you love him.

I miss you.

"Goddamn you, Valentine Evernight," I whispered to the night. "Goddamn you."

What could have been halfan hour later, Quinn found me right there, still shaking.

The animals didn't help.The instruments didn't help. Writing everything down in one of Grey's journals didn't help, either, and so dawn found me sitting in the closet in front of his portrait. The rose mirror Mama Si had gifted me was next to it, showing me my reflection because I didn't have the energy to even take it out of the closet. It showed me my reflection, my skin pale and my hair bright, that necklace that Reeva Lorein had given me at the party in my hands. Sometimes I looked at the smooth surface of the white crystal trapped between the vines of gold, hoping maybe the witch hadn't lied to me. Hoping maybe that thing could really show me what I wanted most, which was, I thought, to know. To understand what the hell was going on around me, but most of all, to understand myself.

Why was I hard to detect? Why didn't any of these tests in the book Quinn had given me work for me? The book said it should—it was basics of magic that any of the brides could do in their sleep. Was I really so weak still because I wasn't with Grey that even these simple tricks were impossible to accomplish?

"Come on!" I demanded of myself, of my magic, as I held open my hand and tried to conjure up a flame. A single flame. One teeny tiny spark of magic to come to life—that's all I needed.

Of course, it didn't work. And when I caught my reflection in the mirror again, one hand clutching that necklace, the other spread open in front of my face, I realized I looked fucking ridiculous.

This wasn't me. I was not Fall, the bride of the Evernights, an Enchanted. No, I wasn't that at all! I was just Fall—human. So incredibly human that I was way out of my depth in this place since I was first thrown into the Whispering Woods.

By Storm.

Storm, who was away in a cave, starving himself, and I couldn't get to him to join him. I couldn't get to him so he didn't have to die alone. He was a part of Grey and so I felt like he was a part of me now, too—not to mention he'd saved my life.

But I was stuck in this tower because I was weak. Because Mama Si had thought I was pretty. Because I'd been possibly the easiest prey in the world for her.

Protect yourself until you don't have to, Valentine said the night before. But I always would, wouldn't I? I'd always have to protect myself, not just from him, but from everyone else. Because Romin might have let it slide when I kneed him in the balls a second time, but I could be sure that when he came for me now, he'd be twice as merciless. Twice as angry. He had convinced himself that he had the right to do with me whatever he wanted, even if it was against my will—and what the hell could I do to stop him?

If it wasn't him specifically, it would be the others. I was surrounded by the world's most sophisticated predators, and my magic refused to give me a single spark.

"Work!" I ordered it again when my thoughts, my fear got the best of me. It had to work, damn it. It had to!

This was my best chance because I'd need time to learn how to fight physically. Even though my body was primed and I moved with so much more ease and strength than I ever thought possible, I still needed time to hone my reflexes and to work on my speed. My muscles still ached the first few hours after training every night, and though I recovered quickly, and the bruises and cuts Quinn left me with healed within hours, I still wasn't even close to capable of fighting someone like Romin or the others.

Thiswas my best chance.

Sleep took me and I woke up a few hours later. Again—I stayed right there in the closet and I tried with all my strength to harness magic the way that book said I should.

Close your eyes and search inside yourself and pull at the heat of the magic as if it were a physical thing. Shape it with your mind and will. The stronger your image of what you want your magic to do, the more strength it has when it comes out into the world.

It didn't work.

And it didn't work the next day, either.

Quinn tried to cheer me up. She offered to help me train my magic, too, and the look on her face when she saw how utterly helpless I was on my tenth try said enough. When we parted ways last night, she even tried to suggest I fuck one of the Evernights, too—Maybe you should consider alternative ways of strengthening your magic. The more of it you use, the more you'll have. But to use it initially, you have to have a decent supply.

I knew exactly where she wanted me to get that supply and the thought made me sick to my stomach the same way it had that very first day, even if to her I said nothing.

But in the morning when I woke up next to Grey's portrait, I took strength from the look in his eyes, even if they were only made of colors. I took strength from the idea of him, from my hyperactive imagination that painted the scene for me in my mind of what he'd tell me if he was here. Of what he'd tell me if he knew the position I was in right now.

Try again, he'd say. Get up and try again until you make it.

Grey wasn't one to give up. He'd said it himself once—he didn't lose.

I wasn't going to lose, either, and so I was going to keep trying until I got it right. Except my kitchen was nearly empty and I needed energy. I needed a good breakfast to get me started. And I figured it was still six in the morning, so the kitchen would be empty. If not empty, then only a couple people should be there, definitely not the brides, or even Vinny and Aster.

I was right—only two of the helpers I'd seen last time were there, cleaning the appliances and turning them on to prepare them for the chefs, I figured. And they didn't stop me when I opened the fridges and the cabinets and filled my basket to the brim with everything I needed, just like last time. They just kept their heads down and waited, still as statues, until I walked out of the kitchen again.

Nobody else was in the hallways to stop me, and even though I had my ears strained and I looked about me every few seconds, I noticed no sound or movement until I pushed open the door of the third tower.

And then he simply appeared right behind me.

"Good morning, Fall."

Emil.

Every inch of my skin raised in goose bumps.

His hand closed around the back of my neck and everything came to a halt.

"I've been waiting a really long time for you to change your mind, beautiful." His mouth was right next to my ear. His tongue came out and licked the side of my neck slowly. "I'm done waiting now. I'm ready to show you why you don't want to stay away from me any longer." His arms slowly snaked around my waist and he pulled me to his chest hard.

The basket dropped from my hand and I saw it all in slow motion—when it hit the floor, when the empty plastic cups fell inside the door, when the bottle of milk broke and the apples rolled to the sides and the flour basically exploded from the container that broke open. I saw it all and the milk soaked my sneakers and the legs of my pants.

Then Emil bit my neck—without fangs—as he growled. "I'm going to enjoy you so, so much…"

I moved.

Pulling my head forward as much as he let me, I slammed it back with all my strength, and it worked. The back of my skull connected with Emil's nose and his grip around my waist loosened. I had no fucking clue what I was doing, but I was well aware that my biggest advantage was to catch him off guard, and so I just let my body move on its own. I spun around and fisted him in the face with all the strength I could muster, just like Quinn taught me.

Again, I hit him, and his head bobbed back, blood dripping down his nose from where I headbutted him.

But Emil laughed.

He laughed as he wiped the blood off his face and looked at me like he'd never seen a more curious thing. I was too stunned myself to be afraid, just kept my position with my arms raised like Quinn said, so when he came for me again, I was already moving, slamming my fists to his arms fast enough that I barely saw them.

The problem was, Emil was a vampire and he was easily twice my size. My hits didn't hurt him, and when I kicked him in the gut—much more accurately than I'd ever kicked Quinn—all I managed to do was push him back a step. Just a tiny step.

"Would you look at that?!" he said, his voice echoing in the tall ceiling of the hallway. "She's fighting me! Fuck me—she's fighting me!"

I jumped back, trying to get inside the half open door of the tower, and I managed to put a foot inside. Just one foot—and then Emil grabbed me by the back of my neck and spun me around, moved me to the side with such ease, and slammed my back against the wall.

My God, he looked mad with hunger. His fangs were on clear display now, and he was still smiling that sick smile as he pressed his body against mine and held me in place.

I couldn't fucking move.

Angry tears pricked the back of my eyes when I closed them. I knew this day was going to come. I thought about it every single second, and I'd so naively believed that I'd have a bit more time. I'd so naively believed that they would give me another month or two before they came for me.

Silly, silly Fall. Why would these men deprive themselves of what they wanted when they could have it without anybody standing in their way? On the contrary—the whole world would think they were right in doing this. Nobody would judge them. Nobody would lift a finger or speak a single word against them.

Emil was going to fucking rape me right now, and there was nothing I could do about it.

"I love it," he said, his hand closing around my neck as he licked my cheek. "I love the taste of your tears, beautiful Fall." I'd had no idea I was crying, but then he licked another tear off my cheek lightning fast, too. "I love how your heart beats. I'm going to love your blood, too. I promise you once you feel me drinking from you, you won't want to fight me anymore."

His fingers closed around my chin and he pulled my head to the side. I tried to resist with all my strength as I cried out, but it was impossible. He was far too strong.

"Hold still for me, will you?"

He was going to bite me.

Emil was going to bite me, and I was going to pass out and I wouldn't even know what the hell he would do to me while I was out of it.

No.

Heat gathered in the pit of my stomach. My entire being raged at the idea, and my eyes opened wide. I barely had a second to notice someone else was in the hallway, someone leaning against a pillar on the other side, watching us with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Tristian.

I moved.

The moment I felt the tips of Emil's fangs on my skin, I move to the side with every ounce of strength left inside me. I moved so fast, so hard, that his fangs sank in my shoulder and ripped my skin for at least a couple of inches. The pain barely registered as Emil laughed one more time, then wrapped his arm around my waist again, pinning me in place.

I screamed.

It was over, anyway. It was over just like I knew it would be since the day Grey was banished. Over.

Then…

"Let her go, Emil."

Valentine's voice echoed in the high ceiling.

Emil stopped laughing abruptly and his body froze in place.

He wasn't biting me. My God, his fangs were still not inside me, and he turned his head to see where Valentine was.

I moved faster than I ever had in my life.

By some miracle, I slipped away from his grip and I practically jumped inside the half open door of the third tower, then pushed it shut the same second.

Fists slammed on the wall outside, making the entire castle shake. Emil roared like a damn animal right after, and he sounded mad.

A scream escaped me as I moved farther and farther to the side, looking at the door, expecting it to open any second, expecting Emil to keep coming for me, roaring like that again with his fangs extended, glistening with my blood. I moved until my back hit the wall, and it fucking scared me shitless.

No more screams left in me. My legs gave up and I fell to the floor, breathing like I'd been racing, my heart about to burst out of my ribcage. Blood was coming off my shoulder where Emil's teeth had torn my skin, and it was dripping down my arm still.

So much blood.

I had no idea how long I stayed there, looking at the door, waiting for it to open, for Emil and Tristian to come devour me completely. I was in shock, so I didn't even cry, didn't think, didn't try to listen to any sound outside to try to figure out what was coming—no, I just waited.

And what could have been an eternity later, the tears came and spilled down my cheeks, and I began to shake again. I began to curse myself in my head for allowing myself to get in this position. For knowing full well that this was coming, yet choosing to walk out there again and again—for food.

I'd risked everything for that food—and where was it now? Out there on the hallway floor. Out there where I couldn't reach it. Only the plastic cups that had been in my basket had slipped through the door, and they now rested against the wall on the other side as if to mock me, as if to laugh in my face.

Before I knew it, I crawled to them on all fours, shaking still. Sobbing still. More exhausted than I'd ever been before.

Enough. This was fucking enough.

That man was never going to touch me again. That man was never going to put those filthy fucking hands on me—not him, and not his brothers.

I grabbed one of the plastic cups and held it below my fingers as the blood dripped down from the wound on my shoulder, and I collected ten drops.

Ten drops of my blood that would have been inside Emil's body right now if things had gone just a little bit differently.

If I'd gone to the kitchen just a little earlier or later.

If Valentine hadn't been there.

Then I held the cup between my hands and I cried the last of the tears right there with my back to the wall, willing courage to return to me. Willing fear to fade away just enough so I could stand up. So that I could do what needed doing to make sure that I would never, ever end up in that position again, with that man pressed against me, his hand on my neck, his arm around my waist, his fangs inside my skin.

"Never, never, never again," I chanted at myself over and over, and I somehow managed to hold onto the wall and stand up. I somehow convinced myself that it was okay to open that door again and to walk out, that if I waited, I'd only regret it more, be more afraid, find more reasons not to do what I knew I had to.

The hallway floor was clean outside the door. No sign of the basket or the milk or the apples. No sign of the brothers, either. Emil wasn't there. Tristian wasn't watching from the other side.

And Valentine was gone, too.

I walked as if in a dream without really thinking or looking where I was going. My legs knew the way all by themselves. All I heard was the wet sound of my sneakers as I went, still soaked with milk, and the light beating of Shadow's wings somewhere behind me. To bother to look took energy, so I didn't. I just kept on going until I was all the way to the south wing in front of Genevieve's doors again.

They gave, just like they had that morning. That's because she already knew I was going to her, and she wanted to see me.

Of course, she did—I was coming to give her exactly what she wanted. I was coming to admit defeat to her face and say that she was right. I was coming to fucking surrender, and while I climbed up the spiral stairway, I'd never felt smaller in my life.

When I reached the room that looked like a cloudy sky, I found Genevieve standing there with her hands folded in front of her and a bright smile on her face as she waited for me. As she watched me like she was sure I was about to put the whole world in her hands.

I reached to the side and slowly lowered the cup with ten drops of my blood in it, knowing how fast and effortless her magic was. And sure enough, by the time I let go, a small table had appeared right underneath it, had caught it safely without a single drop spilling out.

"Smart choice," Genevieve said and raised a hand toward me before that small table slid on the shiny floor and went all the way to her side. She grabbed the cup and analyzed my blood inside it, so dark it looked black from here. I fisted my hands until my nails sank inside my palms. It was already as good as done—I might as well release the fear that had me clenching my muscles so hard still.

Finally, I exhaled deeply and closed my eyes, and allowed myself to accept that I was doing this even if it killed me.

And I was never, ever going back to the old Fall again.