Gone.

Dear Diary,

Minogan's dead.

Two mornings ago, I woke up with a bad feeling. I couldn't find anything on my out-of-body scan, though, so I chose to ignore it, the decision that cost Minogan his life.

The Eid Gomen came out of the water, like they have the past two times they surprised us. Only this time they weren't aiming to capture; they came to kill. One of them came after me, Minogan tried to stop him...

I feel like the Queen in Macbeth. I tried to stop the bleeding, tried to heal him, like I did with Errigal's arm. But I wasn't fast enough, or strong enough, and now even though I've scrubbed my hands with sand and salt water a million times, I still feel like I can smell his blood. Think I catch a speck of it on my palm or between my fingers if I look at my hand too fast.

The others are all devastated, but Koen is the worst. All I can say is that I'm so grateful they made up, because if they hadn't...

I will never forget the terror in Minogan's eyes as he tried to catch his breath. I've never seen him scared of anything before. And I don't think I'll ever forgive myself.

--June

Buy Surviving Serendipity at Amazon or Quake Direct!