It was never easy for him to sleep in places other than his own bed. That was part of the reason why I wanted to move in with him—not him moving in ...with me. It was around 7 AM when I woke up, so I decided to call my mom. I figured she was up, since she had always been an early bird. She lived in Springfield—the capital of Illinois—where I was born and raised. I picked up my cell phone and went to the living room, then dialed her number. It rang two times before she answered. ‘Hello?’ her. ‘Then I’ll do anything you want afterwards, k?’ I cooed. ‘You can take me anywhere, and I’ll behave just like you tell me.’ I could see he was torn now, and I just held my breath. ‘Okay, but we can’t stay long. Like right in and right out, okay,’ he said apprehensively. A great flood of relief engulfed me. ‘Right, that’s perfect. Right in and right out! Just enough for him to see what a hot babe you’ve got, okay.’ Still, there was considerable tension in the car as we drove to Derrick’s. It had been the same beautiful woman who had appeared in a previous connection to Merlin. Eoric didn't know who she was, but it was clear she was behind the mental attack on the wizard and he feared that she was being successful. He didn't know why, but he sensed Merlin was important to him in some way and he increasingly felt the need to try and protect him.Merlin became increasingly aware that he was connected to the apprentice blacksmith once more. He could feel the boy working inside his. It was July and ungodly hot, with humidity levels off the scale. During the morning and afternoon rush hours, the trains were horrible. Always packed to capacity, plus extra people. The subways were so over-worked and over-packed, that they hired 'packers'. During rush hours, these people showed up in uniforms, with little white pith helmets on their heads and did their jobs on the subway platforms. Their jobs? Train packing. When everyone had squeezed into a car, and it was obvious that no one.