Evelyn shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she bore the brunt of his stares. She continued to ignore him all the same, what she had been doing for the past few days as she helped Azurel with her painting. Blade had started monitoring the children's activities which inevitable included Evelyn to be subjected to his unwanted presence. She still remembered the conversation from a week ago.

" This is Mr. Blade Astemont, an important member of the council of HOI. He will be here for the next few days to monitor the progress of the children and make sure everything is in accordance with the regulations provided by the Education Board."

Evelyn had not been surprised with Blade's position. She was aware he would end up as an important member of the government like his father but she had no idea he would align himself with the education committee. She was awfully oblivious of his academic prowess. She tensed ever so slightly as she realized she would have to be within his vicinity as well. She fought to keep the rising annoyance and apprehension in check as she bowed politely. "Of course"

Evelyn knew for a fact it was not how the initiation process worked, there had been no monitoring of Sienna's activities before her induction. All she was aware of was the extensive questionnaire that children had to fill up. It revealed their strengths and weakness, aiding in determining their compatibility with the several divisions under the halls of ivy before they were sorted into one.

She was not sure what kind of 'appraisal' was taking place, if any at all. For all he seemed to do ever since he had started visiting them during the afternoon was study her. He rarely interacted with the children, preferring to sit in a secluded corner and stare at her. At first she had thought she was being paranoid but her suspicions had been confirmed when she caught his eyes one day. And he had not looked away. His gleaming eyes had challenged her to command him to look away. In the end Evelyn had looked away, gritting her teeth as a horrible thought had sinked in.

He was not there for the children at all.

He was there to mess with her head.

And so she had started ignoring his presence, something she was honorably commendable at. She could feel when his gaze intensified; it felt akin to someone burning a hole at the back of her head. She had caught him during one of his fervent staring sessions. He had been deep in thought, trying to assess something about her with a determined expression.

She wished to bring the matter into light before someone, anyone. But it seemed unlikely they would do anything about it. Technically, he wasn't doing anything wrong or hindering her regular activities. Nonetheless, it was distracting. She tried her luck one fine day, after almost a week of sitting through the same thing. Blade was in a conversation with Mr. Raystar, the father of the children, about something she particularly did not care about and that was when she found her opening

" Sorry to interrupt but I was wondering if I could review the reports of the appraisal. Stephen has been quite excited about it" She lied effortlessly, in the politest tone she could muster up. Stephen never got excited over anything that had to do with the halls of ivy and shared the aggravation she felt towards the brooding, blond man.

Not that the said man had to be aware of it.

Blade shot her a pointed look. He knew what she was doing. Even Mr. Raystar seemed interested. Evelyn only gave him a perfectly carved innocent look. Blade cleared his throat "The assessment results are incomplete at the moment. I will present them soon"

Evelyn did not get to celebrate her little victory. She had thought that she had hit the nail right on the head so when he actually slapped down a file on the dining table where she was helping Anna, she was taken aback.

"Here is your file Miss Crawford" He was sporting a smug expression. Evelyn picked it up gingerly and reviewed the front pages, noticing the exact and accurate traits he had covered of Stephen. His work was judiciously edited and she looked back at him unable to hide the surprise in her face.

"I'm not as much of a creep you think I am Crawford" the distaste was clearly discernible in his words. He knew what she had conjectured him to be.

Anna snorted at that as Evelyn felt her temperature rise alarmingly. She forced herself to retort but she could only open and close her mouth a few times, failing to come up with something intelligent enough to save face. Blade looked at her with amusement, an expression she was often being graced with these days.

She shot a glare at Anna, the person who had planted the idea in her head in the first place.

"That was interesting" Anna said to her after Blade had left.

"The children say they have never seen him before." Evelyn said a frown on her face. Her bully had turned out to be quite the authoritative figurehead.

"Maybe he is stalking you." Anna said expecting Evelyn to laugh at her but when she turned serious Anna gaped at her.

Evelyn's thoughts had just been voiced out by Anna. As unbelievable as the thought was, she had entertained the notion. Could it be possible that he was in fact the one who had been stalking her and the reason she always felt as if she was being watched? Had she actually been stalked this whole time? She wasn't sure how he would accomplish that. Still, when she had walked in upon Emma and Blade's unusual exchange the other day, she had thought they were acting weird. He was acting weird. She cut off her musings and dismissed the notions.

What reason could he possibly have for stalking her? She doubted even he would go to such extreme lengths just for the sake of his petty revenge and amusement.

"Hey! Are you listening to me?" Anna waved her hand in front of her face and she blinked.

"What?"

"So you do think he is stalking you!?" Anna gasped dramatically, eyes wide with shock.

"Don't be ridiculous. Besides weren't you the one who said he was asking for my address from Ethan?" She dismissed Anna's concern even though she wasn't quite sure herself.

"Besides why would he show his face after stalking?" Evelyn said as she sipped on the water she had just poured into a glass when Anna's next words made her spit the water out.

"Gross! you messed up the kitchen!"

"What did you just say?"

"I think he likes you" Anna shrugged as Evelyn stared at Anna in horror, feeling a sense of déjà vu washing over her.

"Anna!"

Evelyn laid on the bed and carried out her daily ritual of sifting through the events of the day. Her expression hardened as he recalled the events. She had been right. Blade was there because of some ulterior motive. She heated up as she recalled how she had almost assumed him to be her stalker. She felt like an idiot. It had nothing to do with him wanting her. The children didn't seem like they played a big role in it either. And somehow, everyone around her seemed to have an inkling of it except herself. She had seen the look that had passed between Blade and Anna when they had first come across each other. It was brief and she hadn't been able to catch onto it completely. But there was some sort of unspoken understanding. A sense of familiarity. She recalled Emma's conversation with Blade. What had she said?

"If you want to see her or talk to her again, you better not mention anything of the past."

The past. Blade had been her bully and that was all there to it. Emma had known all about it but she had never been so fiercely protective of Evelyn back then. Emma had always been too wrapped up in her desolation, being the unstable and impulsive one. She did care for Evelyn but her personal woes had always been on the forefront of her mind. Emma had done a lot of crazy things namely being a wreck, having mental breakdowns and throwing tantrums. But she had never seen Emma harboring homicidal tendencies before, the maniacal expression she had sported whilst threatening Blade, her murderous intent leaking out. Why Emma would become so fiercely protective of her was questionable.

She was over looking something. There was more to it than it met the eyes.

"What happened to you?"

Blade had implied he had known her, enough to be considered more than just acquaintances. An uneasy thought entered her mind.

Had her memories been tampered with?

Evelyn thought back to the day of her graduation, that fateful day when the tragedy had occurred.

She remembered the ceremony. A certain speech was blurred and fuzzy in her memory but she remembered collecting her certificate. She remembered Anna and Ethan congratulating her. Maya had not been present there but she recalled Emma's presence there and asking her whether she was ready to go. She remembered looking across the street and then there was darkness. When she had waken up at the hospital with a busted head, she had learned that a steel beam had collapsed and hit her head due to faulty architecture, a fatal but common mishap . They had told her she had been unconscious for a month and been brought to a different state because the treatment was better there. Cheaper. And that is how they had started residing where she was currently living. She didn't feel like she was missing memories. They were all there, order wise. It was impossible to miss memories. Her chest tightened uncomfortably. What could it be that they were hiding from her?

Even Anna seemed aware of it.

Blade and Anna also seemed to get along. The times he was not present in the children's room, she had spied him talking to Anna. They seemed to know each other which was strange because she was sure Anna and Blade had never interacted back in the university. Anna was not particularly familiar with elites, at least not in the way Emma was so to see her interacting rather freely with blade left had left her bewildered.

She was running through a forest. The crunching of branches underneath her feet and the violent thrumming of her heart against her chest was the only thing she registered. If she had paid attention, she would have noticed the strange reddish and purple clouds looming over her or the rather unusually tall , leafless trees and the glowing orbs scattered all along their branches but she took no note of her surroundings. She could feel limbs aching in protest as she pushed herself to run faster. Her left foot got entangled in a vine and she fell face first onto the forest floor. Kicking herself back to action, she tried to run again but winced as her sprained ankle thwarted her plan.

Limping, she quickly ducked behind a nearby bush with red leaves. Her hands were shaking as she tried to muffle the whimpers she was making, unable to swallow them. Precipitation trickled down her forehead. Her limbs were on fire but she forced herself to push aside her pain and listen for any sound. It was absolutely quiet. She could not sense his presence. It only increased her agitation. He was playing, she realized. She looked on from her hiding place behind the bushes, petrified as he stepped into view. She tried not to hyperventilate.

His chuckle sent shivers down her spine.
"I know you are here, my little human. Come out come out now. You don't want to play do you?"

There was a hand on her shoulders and she screamed as she twisted her body away, limbs flailing around as she tried to break free "No! Get off me! Let me go!"

"Evelyn! It's me, Emma!" Evelyn's panicked eyes met Emma's blue ones that were shrouded in concern. She looked around, making sure she was in her room and sat up shakily. She felt like she had run a marathon. She still remembered the voice, the way it sent shivers down her spine.

Cold and deadly. This was not a dream she had ever encountered. Her dreams never used to be this vivid before. She focused on her breathing and when she thought she could speak again she looked back at her sister's worried and tense form.

"I'm fine Emma. It was a nightmare."

"You gave me a fright. It was almost time for your work so I was surprised when I saw your shoes still inside the doorway. You kept screaming at someone and moving around your limbs as though you were running from someone. I tried to wake you up but you only seemed to struggle more" Evelyn took note of the time and realized she was running late.

"Perhaps you should stay in today" She shook her head.

"I can't take a day off from work. Besides I'm supposed to meet Blade today to discuss Stephen's appraisal progress " Evelyn observed the way Emma froze when she brought him up, for a moment , before schooling her features into a smile. " Well be careful then. You have been working too hard for the past few days"

She nodded and as Emma got up to leave, she stopped her "Emma, after my accident..did I suffer from any trauma or side effects from the injuries?" Emma looked back at her in confusion but she could see the unease from the way she tensed up again, ever so slightly 'Well apart from the migraines, no. Why are you asking?"

"Did I- Did I lose my memories?" Something flickered across Emma's face but it was gone in an instant. She shook her head rather vigorously.

"No. Why would you think that?"

Evelyn nodded. "I was just curious"

Emma left her to her own devises and as she got ready for work she was determined to find out, even if it meant asking Blade. Because even though Emma had tried to cover it, she had seen the brief flicker of the expression that had crossed her face.

Fear.

Blade had left her alone that day, much to her relief and she had no intentions of engaging him in conversation even though she had initially planned to interrogate him about his ambiguous exchange with Emma. As she observed Blade asking Anna things about her sister, she came to a conclusion. Blade liked Emma. Perhaps they had been lovers at some point of time. She wouldn't be surprised. He was attractive, rich and an elite.

Emma's type.

Maybe that was 'the past' Emma had warned Blade against revealing. Perhaps Emma had thought that Evelyn would be angry at the fact that her sister had associated herself with her bully. That might have also been the reason why he had refrained from asking her about Emma.

She did not understand where she fit into the picture. She thought back to Emma's words of him offering truce. Maybe she had been right. Maybe Blade wanted to make truce before courting Emma again considering that she was Emma's sister. When Blade offered to drop them home that because 'it was late' she did not protest and let Anna do the talking.

"That is your car?" Anna gawked openly and almost drooled at his and Evelyn felt the second hand embarrassment from her friend's actions. The vehicle was built to impress but then again she had seen a lot of other amazing inventions. A car with a futuristic concept was hardly impressive when they had the technology to build hover bikes.

The car ride was not very awkward courtesy of Anna's rather incessant chattering. She had never seen Blade interacting freely with humans before. It was hard to believe the same guy that had bullied her in the past was laughing with her best friend. Evelyn only continued to observe the interactions between them, rarely participating and completely missing the blue pair of eye staring at her through the mirror, almost the entire journey.

After Anna was dropped off an uncomfortable silence settled on the car as he drove her towards her block. The expensive car felt terribly out of place in the surroundings. A thought began creeping up to her about how Blade could possibly be aware of her address but she squashed it before it could form coherently. Of course he would know if he intended to court Emma. Emma had also brought him to their house. Besides he knew Anna's house as well.

She was brought out of her reverie when Blade interrupted her thoughts. " So when did you move here?"

"Three years ago"

"Right after your accident?" She looked at Blade sharply catching his eyes on her for the first time on the rear view mirror. She and Blade had minimal interactions as she thought about it, from the day he had started visiting the Raystars. There had been a few questions here and there about the children, or the rules and other strictly professional topics. The little too personal question made her feel slightly uncomfortable. She wasn't sure how Blade was aware of her accident in the first place considering their lack of interactions.

"Yes." She said, realizing she was alone in a car with a foreign entity. She did not think Blade would try to kill her but then again maybe he would. Elites were not the most trustworthy people. She shifted to the other side discreetly, right behind the driver's seat so that she would be in a less vulnerable position if he decided to try anything. Blade caught onto her little act and smirked at her, his eyes sparkling in mischief. She was not even embarrassed.

Better safe than sorry.

She was eager to get out of his car as her apartment came into view but she grew anxious when she spied the the group of rebels perched atop the concrete fence enclosing the building. She caught sight of Emma who had unfortunately noticed their presence. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw the man accompanying Evelyn.

"Drop me off here" She said to Blade before he could pull into the driveway. Blade looked at her confused "Are you sure?"

She nodded her head.

Muttering a quick thanks to him, she slithered away, aware of the attention she was or rather Blade's flashy car was drawing.

"Mrs Grundy has a lover?" There were gasps and peals of laughter from the group of humans as they caught sight of him, much to Evelyn's misfortune. Ignoring the obnoxious taunts, she briskly walked past them and up the stairs, intending to drag Emma out of there later when she herself did not feel so flustered and regained composure. She was surprised when Emma followed after her.

"Was that Blade?"

She nodded, gauging Emma's reactions carefully. Emma was intoxicated, not alarmingly so but enough so that she could not find the will to mask her emotions. Emma's disapproval was evident on her face.

"Didn't I tell you I would be with him in the morning?"

"Yes but I did not think he would come to drop you off. You really shouldn't interact with him too much. He, did he tell you?" Emma blurted out, annoyed.

"Tell me what?" Emma's eyes widened, her cloudy eyes clearing up as she regained her senses slowly, realizing her mistake. She could sense the slight hysteria that was beginning to take hold of Emma
"Emma,what was he supposed to tell me?" Evelyn said grabbing Emma's shoulders as she shook her slightly. Emma could barely wipe the horror of her face before she shook her head. "Nothing! Nothing" she continued repeating the same thing before she made a dash towards her room. Evelyn stared after her, her mouth set in a hard line.

She had been right. There was something wrong with her. She just wished her second thesis was the reason, and not her initial theory of amnesia.