Ready Or Not

All Of It

**Daniel**

"She wants to what now?" Anna sounded incredulous. I couldn't blame her.

Theo was sound asleep next to me, the sheets tracing the lines of his body; he was perfectly still. His chest didn't even rise and fall. It never does when he sleeps. I had watched him for a little while; the gears turning in my head after my sister's unexpected visit.

"She's genuinely worried about us. About the new regulations, about the task force...she's scared something will happen to us."

"No, GQ, she's worried about you. She hates the rest of us."

"Hate is a strong word."

"Okay. She tolerates your nest, and harbours strong, unfavorable beliefs about the rest of our species. But I like Melanie. I can't help it. So yeah, if she wants to come around and do some digging, I could use a research assistant."

I ran my hand along my jaw. "About that. I know you haven't gotten started yet, the news being so fresh, so you have about a million things to look into already...but could I add some stuff to your list?"

Anna had immediately started making a list of everything she wanted to research the minute she'd freed herself of Anne Beghley. How much yew did we have to ingest to be weakened? What were the signs we'd been ingesting it? How were they getting it into the blood we drank? How had they implemented their horrible system so quickly and so quietly? So many questions.

"What stuff, babe?" she asked, voice betraying no hint of annoyance. Anna will always do whatever she can to help a friend.

"Legal stuff."

"Your area, Daniel. Not mine."

"No, but if I specifically told you what I needed to know, you could find answers, right?"

She seemed to think this over. "Probably."

"This can't happen, you know. They can't do this to us."

"We're getting ready to fight, aren't we?"

We. Anna can't walk away from a righteous cause. She'd probably been gearing up for battle since before the thought even entered my head, truth be told.

"Yeah, Angel. I think we are."

"Your sister, too?"

"Very possibly." I hoped so. She'd helped us before. She was sharp as hell, and saw angles the rest of us would miss.

Just a fraction of a second passed while Anna absorbed this. "Tell me what you need. I'll get it for you."

**Lydia**

"Is that how you're spending your days, then?"

Hannah looked me right in the eye as she asked. It seemed like a simple enough question, but I knew there were layers upon layers of things she was trying to get answers for. I knew, and I froze.

"Lydia," she prompted. "How much trouble have you been getting into?"

I fought the urge to roll over and away from her. I'd been the one that brought it up in the first place. It would hardly be fair to run away from the topic.

"You really want to know? All of it?" I didn't need to breathe, but right then, I couldn't have if I'd wanted to.

She shifted so that she was sitting up and drew her knees to her chest. I mirrored her while I waited for her answer.

"You could just take it all away if I didn't like it, right?"

I looked at her in confusion. "I could, but... Yeah. I could." Would she want that?