[center][color=teal][h2]Jessamyn "Jess" Bailey[/h2][/color][/center]

Jess didn't blame Roxy for heading to her room. If it truly was the safest thing for both of them, the empath couldn't protest. She'd tried reaching out, and failed. Maybe Roxy still thought she didn't care about her. Maybe they'd both be better off if she thought that. Jess didn't know. There was so little she knew about this, for good reason, but that didn't make the uncertainty any less terrifying.

With a faint smile, she muttered, [color=teal]"Thanks,"[/color] then sat down to check her messages. The skepticism was still clear in her mother's writing, from the line, [i]Please make sure you let me know if there's a problem.[/i]

At the next paragraph, Jess went cold. She gripped the phone, her mind a complete blank as to how to reply. She'd known deep down her mother was likely to ask something like this, and now here it was, as if everything were normal. How could she answer a question about the best time to next see each other?

With a deep breath, she stood up and headed towards Roxy's door. [color=teal]"Uh... Roxy,"[/color] she said, in little more than a whisper. She knew they were both away from the watchers for the time being, but talking quietly was something she couldn't help doing right now. [color=teal]"How safe is it for someone to come over? Or to go to see them?"[/color]

She was sure she already knew the answer. What if her mother ended up in trouble? Or looked too deeply into the matter, with disastrous consequences for all three of them?