Julian turned the chaos driver over in his hand, examining the blue and silver coloured disc. It felt comfortable in his palm, like it was always meant to be there, though he was well aware that it only really felt like that because of the favourable reaction between the energy contained within the chaos driver and the energy he himself contained.

It all seemed so clear to him, how the chaos drivers worked, how they were created, what powers they could unleash. As an Architect, he had spent much time exploring the depths of that power and had become one of the most powerful Architects in existence. It was that power that had allowed him to survive until these last days, when there were so few left, so few to fight with, and so few to fight against.

As he thought about the capabilities of the chaos driver, and the method behind their operation, he became aware that, although it seemed like he had known and understood the chaos drivers to an extremely deep level almost forever, it felt as if he was thinking about it and realising the facts for the first time.

Chaos existed in another world, another plane of reality. It was not a natural force in his own world, at least, not to the extent that it was in the world that the chaos driver sourced it from. But it was not a device that simply punched through into this other world and brought forth the chaos. Others who tried to operate the chaos drivers on that principle found themselves frustrated and unable to call forth any more than a tiny amount of power.

The chaos driver was a conduit, a passageway through which chaos could flow. Anyone trying to pull chaos through that conduit suffered little success. The best way Julian could think of to describe it was that pulling didn't do any good. It was a case of having to push the gateway open, and the chaos would flow by itself.

Chaos would flow from the place it was abundant to the place it was not, trying to restore the balance that was disrupted by opening the gateway between the two worlds. The real trick lay within controlling that flow, only opening the gateway as much as was needed, and then capturing that chaos as it tried to escape and shaping it with the force of willpower to assume the form or force that the wielder wished.

Those were the basics of chaos physics, or chaotics as it was sometimes more humorously referred to. Julian had mastered the concepts at an early age, and then went on to learn more in depth about the complex intricacies of wielding chaos, and both the benefits and dangers to be experienced though it. Subtle different forms and variations of chaos, the results of wielding chaos in specific, special ways, Julian knew them all, and had even taken his study further, to the point where he was the one discovering new things, and others would study his work. Julian admitted some small sense of pride in that.

But that was all over now. No more studying, no more being studied, just fighting and death and all the pain that accompanied the perversion of his studies.

Julian sighed and let his arm fall to his side, carrying the chaos driver with it. He looked to the aggressively swirling purple and green sky and wished that, just for a moment, he could see the sky as it used to be, radiant and peaceful. But to undo a chaos corruption of that scale was beyond even his ability. He had no idea how many demon Architects it had taken to throw so much chaos pollution in to the world so quickly, but it must have been a sizeable number.

Thinking of the demon Architects reminded him; they would be here soon. Or at least, whatever demons there were left. He had sent a message, through the power of the chaos driver, telling them plainly where he was and that he was alone. He had hoped that knowing he was alone would entice them to come. He was tired of waiting for them to find him, living each day alone in the ruined city that used to be his home, a fouled and spoilt shadow of the home he remembered. Sooner or later they would find him anyway, he was just speeding up that process.

Of course, he had not left himself unprepared. Thin slivers of chaos spread all over the city alerted him to any small movement that could signify an intruder. Any Architect trying to sneak their way in would have a hard time even detecting the slivers, and disarming them once discovered would prove to be extremely tricky without setting them off and alerting Julian to their presence anyway. If anything larger than a mouse tried to enter the city, Julian would know about it.

Almost as soon as the thought of the chaos slivers drifted through his mind, he felt a sensation like softly ringing chimes echo in the back of his perception. Ah, they had arrived.

Julian had masked his own presence well enough, and he knew the demons would expect that. The message he had sent told them the city he hid in, but they would have to search that city by themselves. No point in making it too easy for them, after all. It gave Julian a few minutes in which to prepare and ready himself for the inevitable battle, all the while his slivers of chaos sending back to him a record of exactly where the intruders were.

Slowly, Julian felt the chimes become slightly more intense, signifying the demons' approach to his position. He dispelled the chaos with the merest thought and silenced the ringing in his mind. Standing from the wall of the broken building against which he had been nonchalantly leaning, Julian turned and prepared to step out into the street he knew the demons were approaching down. He knew their approximate numbers from the chaos slivers he had dispelled, and he knew that he had a chance against them.

One more deep breath, and Julian began to stride out into the adjoining street. He walked only a few paces, then turned on his heels to face up the street, facing his foes. The demons were numerous, but he could feel only one Architect amongst them. Was this it? Was this all they had left?

"I am Kyarth," Julian proclaimed. "Greatest Architect and last of my kind." The words felt somehow alien to him, yet again feeling as if he spoke them for the very first time. There was no fear in his voice, no trace of any strong emotion, just fact. Julian had grown out of fear and anger a long time ago. If anything remained, it was just sadness.

He regarded the demons one by one, seeing their grotesque forms, some with wings, some without. Most with nasty looking claws, and many with eyes that seemed to burn with red-hot intensity and purpose. Their skin was leathery and dark, they felt like an incarnation of everything he was not. But then, given the polarity of the two sides that had been summoned to fight here, that was not surprising.

Julian sighed and half shrugged to himself. "Do your worst, demons."

The attack came just as Julian expected it, the demons launching themselves at him simultaneously, except for the one who wielded the black and red chaos driver that was squarely seated in its ugly paw, the demon Architect, who began to cast forth chaos attacks and raised shields of energy around his comrades.

It was pitiful, and just as he had done before, knowing that he had faced this battle before, he cut down the demons easily with his own chaos attacks. The shields raised against him were weak and meaningless, and without emotion he cut the demon force to pieces, bodies falling before him, feeling his soul collapsing further in on itself and diminishing for each life he claimed. Once the final demon trying to reach him had been felled, he turned his attention to the Architect who faced him. With virtually no effort, he punched through the demon's defences and slaughtered him without hesitation, not even attempting to stop the attack that he knew would cut him down in the same instant. It didn't matter now, he knew this for the dream it was.

This time, after feeling the arrow of energy slice through his body, Julian didn't even fall to his knees, as he knew he had done before. He just turned around, leaving the scene of death and destruction he had just created with his chaos driver, and faced the giant lemon that he knew would be there waiting for him.

But before him stood not a lemon, gold, yellow, with a face or without, or otherwise. It was difficult to describe exactly what it was that did face him. It could have been said to be a swirling cloud of gold, not quite taking the shape it was trying to, but that didn't quite fit. Rather, whatever it was had taken shape, and somehow, every time Julian tried to lock on to and recognise what it was, his perception somehow rolled around the edges of whatever it was supposed to be. Julian was more unnerved, though, by the fact that he didn't feel at all apprehensive about the phenomenon he was witnessing, rather than by the phenomenon itself. It felt familiar in someway Julian couldn't quite discern.

"Kyarth?" Julian asked, "Was that my name?"

"Yes," the strange creature replied, "that was our name."

Julian nodded and considered the name for a moment. "Kyarth. Quite nice, I suppose. I like it." He looked back at the creature and tilted his head. "Well then, Kyarth, if I may call you that-"

"You may," the creature interrupted, and Julian thought he detected a slight tone of mirth in its voice.

"Why can't I se you?" Julian finished his sentence. "If you and I are the same, both Kyarth, both Julian, then how come I can't see you for what you are. I know you're still hiding something from me."

"You are not yet ready," Kyarth replied blankly.

"Not ready?" Julian protested. "You know what I've been through, and you say I'm not ready? I think I deserve the truth, especially from myself."

"If you knew the truth, as you already do, because I know it, then you would disagree. I am not stopping you from seeing yourself. You are stopping yourself because you are not yet able to cope with what you would see." Julian couldn't see for sure, but he was sure that he could hear Kyarth's grin in his voice.

"I'm glad you find this amusing," Julian snorted.

"I would imagine," Kyarth replied grimly, "that having seen what happened to us through the war we fought, seeing me smile or find anything amusing would be something to be glad about."

Julian looked down and nodded, remembering the feeling of having his soul slowly fade away as he took life after life. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I remember, and I am glad that we finally managed to find ourselves again, as strange as the place we find ourselves in now may be."

"Don't ever lose that sense of gratitude, Julian." Kyarth advised sagely. "We are lucky to still be even half the soul we were. Whatever happens, don't let us become that empty again. I don't think we could bear it."

"I won't," Julian nodded solemnly. "I won't let that happen to us."

"Thank you," Kyarth said, sounding satisfied with the response. "I am glad I turned out so well."

"I'm glad you think so," Julian smiled. "I think we'll be just fine."

Kyarth chuckled, and Julian thought he somehow saw the briefest hint of a nod from somewhere within Kyarth's imperceptible form. "Well then, Julian, in that case I think you are ready."

"Ready for what?" Julian asked, and suddenly found himself waking up.

**********

For the second time in two days, Julian awoke to find himself in an unfamiliar place. But, he noted with some measure of relief, at least his eyesight was intact this time.

The room seemed to be some sort of old, small medical unit. He was laid in a typical hospital style bed, with a metal frame, hard mattress and white linen sheets. To the sides of the bed were white painted wooden cabinets with glass front containing a number of jars and containers, all labelled, but not in large enough print to read from his position. Further around the walls were more cabinets containing various medical equipment, a small shelf of what Julian assumed were medical textbooks, and a desk holding tidy piles of notes.

Curtains in the room, covering large windows which stretched from waist height to ceiling, were all of a cream colour, and let most of the light from outside straight through. They were all closed. There were also a couple of extra bed, made up and ready for new occupants, but currently empty.

By each bed, including his own, were a couple of chairs, presumably for people visiting the patients, and it was in one of the chairs next to his bed that Julian saw Kershaw sitting, watching him intently.

After forcing himself through the panic that charged to the front of his mind upon seeing the person who had tried to shoot him at least twice, Julian noticed that, beneath the long brown leather coat that he had worn on previous encounters with Julian, he appeared to have one arm in a sling. Julian suppressed a grin at realising that Nathan had been telling the truth in claiming that he had shot Kershaw in the shoulder during their fight in the Angel.

Julian tried to think of something witty to say to his former adversary, but before he could even draw a blank, Kershaw turned his head and called towards the door. "The freak is awake, get the Professor."

Julian snorted a chuckle. "Nice to see you too. I heard you got shot the other day. So sorry to hear about that." His voice dripped with sarcasm, as did his expression.

"Shut up, freak." Kershaw replied curtly. "Nothing here to stop me from killing you right now."

"Really?" Julian smiled, trying to force himself to look as confident as possible. "Then why haven't you tried already? You seemed so eager before..."

Julian tensed up as he saw Kershaw sharply raise his hand into his coat, presumably to pull out some sort of weapon, but relaxed again when he grimaced, clutched his injured shoulder with his free hand, and sank back into the chair he was sitting in, his angry gaze virtually burning into Julian's head.

Deciding not to push his luck any further, but secretly pleased at his ability to stand up to the person who had tried to kill him previously, Julian waited for the Professor to arrive, suffering Kershaw's burning stare every moment he laid there. Fortunately, Arkwright took little time in appearing through the doorway of the medical bay, walking over quickly to Julian's side, and looking down at him with a blank expression.

"I trust you are well recovered from your ordeal?" He asked, almost concerned.

Julian found some reassurance in the fact that having the Professor in such close proximity now seemed to raise an uncomfortable, almost sickly sensation in him, reminding him of a watered down version of the Shriek that he had suffered when colliding with Kershaw that first night. Nathan had been right, he could tell now who the demons were, without having to be in direct contact with them.

Nathan seemed to have been right about a lot of things. At least the problem of wondering who was on which side had been resolved for him, but two problems had sprung up in its place; how to get out of this situation alive, and just what to do about the demon-made chaos driver the Professor had in his possession.

"I'm just fine," Julian replied flatly, but with a confident smile on his face.

"Good," Arkwright nodded. "Then we can discuss our agreement. We give you control of your life back, and you tell us what you know about the chaos driver."

"All right," Julian pushed himself upwards and back on top of the bed, so he was in a sitting up position. His expression was calm, but his mind raced, trying to figure out how best to handle the situation. "What exactly do you want to know?"

"Everything," Charles stated simply.

There was a pause as Julian formed his next question in his head. "And exactly what assurances do you have for me that you'll live up to your half of the bargain once I have told you what I know?"

"None at all," the Professor smiled widely. "Save for the fact that, if you decided not to tell us what you know, I'm sure that our mutual friend Kershaw here would find great pleasure in dealing with you, since you would have outlived your usefulness."

Julian could feel Kershaw's stare still burning into the side of his face, knowing instinctively that Kershaw would certainly very much like to take his revenge on him for the past couple of defeats that Nathan had dealt the demon. "But as soon as you know what I do, won't I have outlived my usefulness anyway?" Julian began to worry more about where that particular string of logic took him, and he was fairly certain that his confident expression was cracking with the strain.

"Perhaps, or perhaps we may find other uses for you yet." Charles considered, his voice sounding as if he was thinking of those ‘other uses' right at that moment, and Julian found himself very mistrustful of the grin that started to spread across Arkwirght's face.

"So it's not just this information you want now," Julian sighed. "You might want my assistance in the future as well. So, effectively, you're asking me to switch sides."

The Professor nodded. "Protection in this war we fight is not cheap, Julian, and it is not easy. We may have the upper hand over you all, but you and your friends are like rats, creeping in every little corner and hole they can find. We'll protect you from all that, remove that burden from you, but we may ask you in the future to assist us in some small ways. We all have to make our sacrifices, Julian, and compared to the scale of security and protection we could offer you, it seems like a small price to pay. We're offering you your life back."

Julian shuffled uneasily and let his gaze drift around the room while he considered the Professor's words. "I suppose you're right, and it's not like I have very much of a choice. I can either take your offer of my life back, or have you take my life away completely."

"You make it sound so one sided, Julian." Arkwright pretended to look hurt at Julian's interpretation of his offer.

"Isn't it?" Julian stated firmly.

"I suppose," Charles admitted, the grin creeping back across his face. "But then, that's not to say that it is without its benefits. You really can have your life back if you co-operate."

"You'll excuse me if I don't completely trust you on that one," Julian said through gritted teeth.

"Certainly," Arkwright nodded. "But enough conjecture, you have your choices. Which will it be?"

Julian looked around for a few more seconds, not wanting to admit defeat, but seeing no other way to get out of the situation in one piece. He considered telling Arkwright exactly what he could do with his offer and paying the dire consequence, but he decided it was too early to become a martyr and, besides, seeing Kershaw so frustrated that he was this close to the person he had tried and failed to kill twice and was now not allowed to harm him was too good a thing to pass up. He didn't want Kershaw to have the satisfaction of finally getting his target.

"Fair enough," Julian sighed resignedly. "If only to see Kershaw not getting his way for the moment, I'll tell you."

Julian could have sworn he heard Kershaw growling at him, but he didn't dare turn his head to look and find out. Professor Arkwright just grinned widely and nodded. He pulled out a small tape recorder from his jacket pocket and set it down gently on the table next to Julian's bed, making sure it was recording. "Go ahead, Julian. Tell us what you know."

"Chaos drivers," Julian contemplated the phrase. "Devices used to facilitate and control a flow of chaos that can then be manipulated by the wielder of the chaos driver in any number of ways, depending on their skill and ability." He was fairly sure that the demons would know that already. If they had previously had one among their number who knew how to create such an artefact, then they must surely have known what the basic purpose of it was. So far, so good.

"Go on," the Professor prompted.

"The chaos driver accesses another level of reality, where chaos is abundant, and creates a conduit through which it can flow. The chaos is drawn from the chaos-heavy environment to the virtual chaos-vacuum that exists here, like a river running downhill. The wielder of the chaos driver, Architects, as they used to be called, then has to regulate the rate of that flow proportionally to the scale of the task he or she is utilising the chaos for, and manipulate the chaos to that end as it empties out into the world." Julian considered his words carefully, trying to be as truthful as possible, but still not wanting to reveal anything that he thought that Arkwright and his associates might find practically useful. He wondered how long he could get away with that for.

Julian waited for a moment, but Arkwright and Kershaw just watched him, waiting for the next bit of information about their little toy. Julian thought about what he could say next. It was all very strange to him, recounting knowledge that he hadn't gained through any tangible process in his present life. It felt like he was learning everything anew for himself even as he explained it all to his audience.

"Chaos can be used to generate forces or energy in any imaginable form, and with training, can be shaped into simple matter, or more complex forms, depending on the control the Architect is able to exert on the chaos as it flows through the chaos driver, which is mostly down to the training, experience and natural ability of the Architect." Julian suddenly felt like a lecturer at a university, instructing his students. Ironic, really, given that he was in a university at that moment. Or at least, he assumed he was still in the university, he didn't see why they would have moved him anywhere else. The only difference here was that, if he didn't lecture well enough, his students would probably kill him, which wasn't a reassuring thought. He concentrated on what he was going to explain next.

"This is all very interesting, Julian," the Professor interrupted as Julian considered his next words, his voice straining slightly with frustration. "But you're tell us mostly what we already knew, or at the very least suspected. You must know more than that, someone with the power I can sense in you must have wielded chaos drivers many times, how do we use them?"

Julian felt a sinking feeling inside him as remembered just how many times he had used chaos drivers in his previous life, and how many times it had been for all the wrong reasons. His heart sank further as he realised that Arkwright had figured him out. He was going to have to tell them some actually useful information. His mind drifted back to an event he hadn't previously recalled, and it made him smile, even in this dire situation. He remembered that he had once been responsible for training new Architects in the art of wielding the chaos driver. Reliving the memory, he began to repeat one of his old training speeches, as if he was giving it again for the first time.

"You would imagine that you drive your will into the chaos, and pull out what you need. But if you try that, you'll find nothing there to draw out. The chaos driver is merely a door through which chaos will flow; all you have to do is open it.

"There is no need for force, once the door is open, you will feel the chaos flowing through naturally. All you have to do then is channel it through your will, shaping it as you do. Don't try to widen the doorway too much, though, as trying to handle more chaos than you can stand will cause more damage than harm. Start small and learn your limits, the rest will come with experience."

Julian stopped, blinked, and sat back a little, feeling as though he had just come out of a trance. It was almost as though Kyarth was talking through him, but Kyarth was him to begin with, there was no other personality there to override him as such. No, it felt deeper than that, as if a part of him that had been hidden until now and had only revealed itself in small parts had finally begun to properly unveil its true nature to him. Julian suddenly felt a great inner calm fill his mind, clearing his thoughts. He smiled widely.

Looking up at the Professor, and even across to Kershaw, finding the courage to do so no longer an obstacle, he saw them both wearing uncertain expressions, as if they could sense something was happening, but were unsure exactly what it was.

Julian wondered if this was it, if this was finally his true Awakening. He also wondered just how much Kershaw and Arkwright recognised it, whether their uncertainty was because they didn't know what had happened to him to cause his sudden change in demeanour, or because they knew exactly what it was, and didn't know how it would affect him, if it could even be considered a threat. Maybe they even thought he might regain his powers as an Architect and start hurling fireballs around the medical bay. No, he didn't think that was possible, and besides, he didn't have a chaos driver to assist him even if he could. But, even more than before, he now knew it was imperative that he escape the university and find Nathan again. There were a lot of things he had to know.

Taking a deep breath mentally, Julian decided to try and take advantage of the confused situation, bolstered by the new confidence he felt. He looked back at Professor Arkwright, directly into his eyes, and grinned intently. "I think you had better let me leave. Now."

Charles shook his head slowly and smiled, as if coming to a realisation. "I don't think so, Julian. I commend your bravery, though. Don't think for even a minute, though, that I haven't seen someone Awaken before. And don't fool yourself that you're more dangerous than you were. You already know that we don't regain our former glory when we Awaken. No one ever has, just the same as you have not. But," he paused slightly and grinned, "you may have just become more useful. Kershaw?"

The Professor's companion turned his head slightly and looked up. "Yes, Professor?"

"Our friend Julian needs some time to think," Arkwright didn't let his gaze leave Julian as he spoke. "Take him to the artefact room and watch him."

Kershaw got up slowly and tipped his wide brimmed hat forward a little, the shadow obscuring his eyes, though Julian knew it was him he was looking at. "You sure about that, Professor? You want him in with the stuff downstairs?"

"Quite sure," Charles nodded. "You can make sure he causes no trouble and, besides, Julian here isn't the destructive type. He respects our mutual history as much as I do. Isn't that right, Julian?"

Julian didn't answer, instead just cursing himself under his breath for being too bold in his failed gamble. Kershaw just shrugged and jerked his head a little towards the door while he stared at Julian. "Come on, freak."

Sliding himself to the side and off the bed, Julian silently took his jacket from here it had been deposited on one of the bedside chairs and threw it around his shoulders. He walked towards the door and heard footsteps on the floor behind him as Kershaw turned to follow.

"Don't worry, Julian." Arkwright spoke from behind the pair as they approached the door. "As long as you co-operate, I will keep my side of our bargain. You will get your life back."

Julian stopped suddenly. Without turning, he smiled at the space in front of him and lowered his gaze a little. "Don't bother, I just did." Giving the Professor no time to reply, he reached out for the door and opened it to exit into the corridor beyond, pausing only briefly for Kershaw to push him roughly in the direction he was supposed to go, causing Julian to stumble slightly.

**********

The corridor outside the medical bay looked unfamiliar to Julian, though it carried all the same hallmarks of the university in general; light painted walls, old feeling architecture and heavy wooden doorframes. His footsteps echoed as he walked along, but he wasn't paying any attention to them.

At the far end of the corridor there was a window looking outwards from the university grounds into the suburbia beyond. Julian didn't recognise anything out there in particular, the mess of houses and streets too distant to pick out any real details, but he could tell from the elevated view that he wasn't on the ground floor, a conclusion backed up when the pair turned into the stairwell at the end of the corridor and headed downwards.

As they entered the lower floor, Julian sighed and began to speak, not looking back to his captor, but just letting his voice echo down the corridor. "You're always so quiet, Kershaw. Is it me, or are you just generally not very talkative?"

"Shut up, freak." Kershaw snorted his terse reply, not anything other that Julian had expected.

Smiling slightly, Julian continued undeterred. "You see? That's just what I mean? You need to open up a little, get out more. For reasons other than to murder un-Awakened innocents, that is."

Kershaw snarled and clapped the hand attached to his good arm on Julian's shoulder roughly. "I said shut up, fre-"

At that moment, as Kershaw gripped his shoulder, Julian felt something snap in him. Some small part of his consciousness told him he would get no better chance, and in that single instant he decided to grab hold of the opportunity.

Turning on his heels suddenly, Julian twisted his shoulder out of Kershaw's grip and raised his hands, clenching them together as one fist and slamming them into Kershaw's bad shoulder, almost surprising himself with the ferocity and force with which he was able to strike.

Kershaw fell backwards, flailing and crying out at the pain in his injured shoulder as he tumbled. He tried to raise his good hand away from clutching his shoulder to defend himself, but the action was meaningless as Julian continued moving in one fluid motion, parting his hands and punching downwards with one fist as Kershaw hit the ground, striking his head and knocking it roughly into the hard floor. He grimaced at the pain that flashed through his hand as he struck, but the effect was as he desired; Kershaw's head rolled limply to one side, either unconscious or dead.

Julian stepped backwards, suddenly stunned at what he had done. After leaving his old life behind, somehow escaping the pain his soul had carried over the deaths he had caused through the misuse of the chaos drivers, regardless of how necessary it had been to protect his kind, had he just taken another life, starting the whole cycle of self-loathing and hatred again? Was he to become a murderer yet again?

Despite knowing that he needed to escape the university, Julian couldn't help but lean forward slightly over Kershaw's limp form, reaching out a hand and placing it just above his mouth, trying to feel if Kershaw was still breathing. To his great relief, Julian felt a slightly pressure against his palm as Kershaw breathed in an out.

With that immediate matter resolved, Julian's mind turned again to escape. Looking around to confirm no one was watching, he stepped over Kershaw and gripped his shoulders, dragging him roughly into the nearest room and leaving him there, slumped against the leg of what seemed to be a desk in a lecture theatre. He didn't stop to take further note of what was in the room, just taking long enough to confirm the room was otherwise unoccupied, and then quietly closing the door behind him as he left.

Briskly pacing down the corridor, Julian quickly fished his mobile phone from his pocket and scanned through his directory listing with a thumb, keeping one eye on the corridor ahead, making sure no one appeared unexpectedly at the bottom of the stairway or through what looked like one of the entrances to the building as he approached them.

As he pushed his way through the large wooden doors that led out of the building, Julian looked quickly to both sides to make sure no one could see him. In front of him rose another building, much the same one as he had just left, three floors in height and with old-looking architecture, giving it a rather distinguished and wise appearance, just as Julian imagined a place of learning should look. But he wasn't here to admire the architecture.

To Julian's right the central courtyard lay unoccupied, quiet and empty, and to his left was a stretch of grass, about ten metres or so wide, before the main outer wall of the university rose up from the ground. It was high enough that Julian immediately abandoned any idea of climbing it to escape, not to mention the sharp metal ornamental spikes that rose from its top.

The stretch of grass, covered by the shadow of the building rising above it, seemed like the most sensible place to hide for the moment, as entering the courtyard would almost certainly mean he would be spotted, and he knew so little of any of the buildings that he might get lost and run into one of the demons that would no doubt be searching for him as soon as Kershaw's failure to appear at the artefact store in the basement was noticed. He followed the wall around the back of the building and rested against it, panting slightly with the sudden exertion.

Looking down at his mobile phone, he saw Nathan's number highlighted in the phone directory. He pressed a button to dial the number and raised the phone to his ear as it began to ring.

"Nathan here," the call was quickly answered and Nathan's voice rang out clearly, his tone more business-like than usual. Julian almost collapsed to the floor in relief at hearing the voice of his friend. Despite the confidence that had flooded through him as the Awakening had taken him, Julian suddenly felt very small and isolated.

"Nathan, it's Julian." Julian spoke quietly, not wanting to give away his location to anyone who might be listening nearby. He slid himself a few more metres along the back of the building as he spoke, moving further away from the entrance to the building, and ducking beneath windows as he passed them, avoiding the notice of anyone who might be inside.

"Julian!" Nathan's voice switched suddenly into the more friendly tone that Julian was used to, but now coloured with concern. "Are you all right?"

"So far," Julian said, trying to sound reassuring. "I've decided I trust you now."

"Glad to hear it," Nathan replied, his voice maintaining the concerned tone. "But I'm sure you're not calling just to tell me that. What's wrong? Did you get away from Arkwright okay?"

"Not quite, I'm afraid." Julian sounded slightly apologetic. "There's no time to explain. I got away from them for now, but I'm stuck in the grounds of Greenwood University and I need to get out."

"I imagine you do," Julian could almost hear Nathan's ironic smile as he spoke. "All right, don't panic, I'm not all that far away. Where exactly are you in the grounds?"

"Behind one of the buildings." Julian looked quickly to either side of him. "There's not much to describe it by, just the wall in front of me."

"Where is the Sun relative to the building?" Nathan's voice was hurried.

Julian looked upwards into the sky, then down at the shadow the building was casting on the grass. "Almost directly behind me."

"Good. Can you see a church spire behind the wall?"

Looking along the wall in front of him, Julian nodded to himself as he saw the very top of a spire just poking above the metal spikes along the top of the wall. "Yes, just to my right."

"Excellent," Nathan said, sounding slightly less concerned and a little more excited now. "All right, stay right where you are and give me a couple of minutes, okay?"

"Right," Julian confirmed. The phone bleeped, signifying that the call had ended. Julian lowered his arm, but kept the mobile phone in hand in case Nathan tried to call back for any reason. He looked nervously along both sides of the building again, suddenly feeling very exposed, as if he should be doing more than just waiting.

Without warning, a loud ringing echoed inside the building behind him, followed by similar alarms sounding in the neighbouring building, with echoes of more from the buildings around the rest of the courtyard reaching his ears a moment later. The sudden crescendo of noise made Julian push himself off the wall and stumbled forwards a few steps in shock. As he quickly collected his thoughts again, Julian realised that it was the fire alarms that were sounding, but he also recognised, with a sinking feeling in his stomach, that the alarms were meant to signal his escape. He doubted universities were built with escapee alarms as standard.

The adrenaline already flowing through his veins was joined by more as he realised that every demon and guard within the university would now be in the process of being instructed to hunt him down. Julian threw himself back against the wall of the building, pressing himself against it as if he could sink into it and hide himself from anyone who might investigate behind the buildings. He knew it was only a matter of time before someone did.

Seconds seemed like hours to Julian as he waited, wondering exactly what Nathan had been thinking of when he had spoken to him just moment earlier. He didn't have to wait long to find out, though, as the sound of a car engine faded into his perception from the far side of the wall. It sounded as though whoever was driving was pushing the vehicle hard, and there was the sound of tyres screeching as it turned a corner somewhere a short distance away.

Julian sent a silent prayer to anyone or anything that was watching over him at that moment. His heart soared with relief as the engine noise suddenly dropped, and tyres screeched again, this time with the sound of heavy and sudden braking, just on the other side of the wall. Julian stood up straight, ready for whatever was about to happen. The sound of a sliding door rumbled over the wall, and Julian realised it was a van than had pulled up. There was some movement, then the sound of wood being placed against stone as the top of a ladder rose above the wall, followed quickly by Nathan, who climbed the rungs quickly. He looked quickly along the wall in both directions, and then fixed his gaze on Julian.

"Well, fancy meeting you here," Nathan grinned, signalling to someone below him.

"Nathan!" Julian exclaimed as he began to move quickly to the base of the wall. "I never thought I'd be this glad to see you."

Nathan chuckled to himself as he ducked a little, quickly reaching down to take something being handed to him. "You say the sweetest things, Julian. Quick, grab this." Nathan threw a length of rope over the side of the wall, securing one end around the spikes at the top.

Julian grabbed hold of the bottom of the rope as it thumped against the base of the wall and tugged at it experimentally, making sure it was secure before pulling hard against it and curling his legs slightly around the bottom, climbing as quickly as he could manage.

"Best not hang around," Nathan warned as Julian neared the top. He pointed towards one side of the university building behind Julian. "I don't think they want you to leave just yet."

Sparing himself the briefest of glances back as he climbed, Julian saw two dark-suited figures at the corner of the building, watching him and reaching to their sides. They didn't get a chance to pull out their weapons, though, as Julian heard two shots ring out from above him as Nathan fired his own quickly drawn gun at the pair. One of them slumped to the ground, at least injured, and the other dived to the side to avoid further fire.

"Best hurry, Julian, there's not a demon within a mile that won't have heard that." Nathan hurriedly put his gun away and reached his hand down over the wall to help Julian up the last few feet. Julian took the hand and pulled, raising his feet to lever himself up to the top of the wall, crouching there as Nathan slid down the ladder, giving Julian space to carefully step over the metal spikes and climb down to the other side, where a large white van was waiting at the roadside, side door already open.

"Quick, inside," Nathan urged, pointing to the side door of the van as Julian reached the pavement. Julian nodded and obeyed, climbing through the door and sliding it shut as Nathan abandoned the ladder and rope and jumped up into the passenger side at the front of the van, slamming the door behind him. "Go!" He called, and there was a short screeching of tyres as the van pulled away, accompanied by a jolt which sent Julian tumbling to the floor.

Nathan looked back between the seats into the dark rear compartment of the van and saw Julian in his suddenly enforced sitting position. "Sorry about that," he apologised. He turned and glanced through the front window of the van, where the outside world was now zipping past, before looking back at Julian. "Just sit tight, we'll have you safe in a little while and you can tell us all what happened."

"Where is ‘safe' exactly," Julian asked cautiously. "And who is ‘we'?"

Picking up on the tone in Julian's voice, Nathan smiled ironically. "Still don't trust me?"

"More than the other guys now," Julian smiled. "I think I just need to let things settle in my head."

"I understand," Nathan nodded grimly. "It's always difficult for everyone that goes through the Awakening, more so for you even, as you were pulled into it before your time. That, and of course, we usually don't have to rescue all our newly Awakened as they escape from a demon stronghold."

Julian chuckled wryly and look down at the floor by his feet. "Sorry."

"Don't mention it," Nathan grinned. "Always good to show that we can get one over on them from time to time."

"Thanks." There was a slight bump as the van went over a pothole in the road, and Julian too the prompt to shuffle backwards against one of the side walls of the back compartment and relax a little. He looked back up at Nathan. "So just where are we going? And to see who?"

"A little ways out of town, to see some friends," Nathan said cryptically.

"Friends?" Julian repeated, questioningly, one eyebrow slightly raised. "You mean more Awakened people?"

Nathan nodded and smiled.