Darkest Powers
this is an alternate universe where Chloe doesn't have any powers-and her mother didn't die until recently in the story line (as did her brothers and dad) so she and her sister are sent to Lyle House because her sister can see people who aren't really there….(there are still powers…only Chloe is ordinary) told in varying Chloe and her sister's POV. Also, physical descriptions are slightly different (only of Chloe though, I mean how often have we wished-me and my sis have anyways-that we could be part of this world together? SO I may have made them-couphChloecouph-look slightly like us...)
I don't own Darkest Powers!
Cassie
I looked out the window as Buffalo flashed by. Honestly-I had never been in the New England (Note: I know most of you know, but for those of you who are confused this is the U.S. area where the colonists first settled.) area. I had only ever been in the Midwest and South. Places I had grown up.
I looked up at my sister-elder than me by two years, almost exactly. Her birthday was the twenty-seventh of November (1994, in case you were wondering), mine the 25 of November (1996 if you couldn't figure that out).
Even though I'm only fourteen, I already tower over my sister by a good five-inches. She's only five foot two. People sometimes mistake us as twins, and yeah, I can see how, since she looks younger and I look a little older. Then when they find out we're not, they think I'm older...
The differences though are more than obvious. My hair is shoulder length, and a kind of wispy thin and blonde. I'm an athletic thin, but no obvious muscle. Also-tragically-I inherited my mom's b-cup sized chest. My lips are too thin, my nose too small, and my eyebrows are thin. I have curves-if I wear too tight clothing.
My sister may be shorter-but she's the beauty. She has beautiful thick, curly hair that she wears long (midway down her back) and she has light brown hair that isn't dirty blonde-but more like golden brown…when she's out in the sun the light really catches the blonde streaks-though its more than obvious she's a brunette. She's thin too, but not like me. She has more than obvious curves and a double D-sized chest that she got from our dad's grandmother (got her height from her too). Her lips are full and a beautiful shade of somewhere between a perfect pink and red, her nose is just right for her face (which is just a smidge rounder than mine), and her eyebrows are thick, like a guys but more feminine. Needless to say she's the one guys go after, not me.
Neither of us wear make-up (unless you count her black eyeliner, which I don't) because we're pretty much allergic to most brands. She buys eyeliner, blackest black, and she's not allergic to it. But that's it for make up.
"What's wrong Cas?" she asked, in a whisper. I realized she was looking at me. I wonder how long I had been out of it.
"Sorry, nothing, just thinking, don't worry about it Chlo," I went back to looking out my own window and after a minute she sighed and went back to looking out of her own.
"Here we are," the man said as he pulled up to a two story house with a fenced in back yard. "Lyle House."
I had no idea who he was-I just knew he was from some sort of thing that I was pretty much unclear about. Mom, dad, and our two younger brothers died about a week ago in a sudden car wreak. So, we were sent to live in a group home until things could be arranged.
Why we were sent from Huntsville, Alabama to live in Buffalo, I would never know. If they were going by birth place they were more than off-we were both born in Florida. Though, until two years ago we had lived in Northern Indiana and Northern Michigan (both U.P. and L.P.).
My sister and I got our things out of the trunk and headed up to the house watched closely by the man. He knocked, and the door was opened by some lady.
"Saunders girls," he said, pushing us threw the door. He didn't come in. She shut the door and smiled at us.
"Well, hello. I'm Nurse Van Dop, remind me what our first names are-" she trailed off, obviously waiting for us to tell her who was who.
"I'm Cassie and this is Chloe," I told her. Chloe's chin length bangs covered her left eye, making it easy to hide her face. I didn't have such luck, my bangs barely touched my eyebrows.
"Wonderful, follow me please," she turned and lead up through a well worn living room, though a dining room, and into the kitchen.
"Sit," another woman was seated at the kitchen table, and we both sat across form her.
"My name is Nurse Talbot," she pushed chocolate chip cookies towards us. Neither one of us made any move to touch them.
"Food allergies," I explained.
"Enlighten me," Nurse Talbot said.
"We can't eat anything artificial, food colorings, flavorings, you get it?" I asked. I became suicidal when I ate that kind of stuff, and Chloe…. Well…. Oh! And Chloe is a vegetarian, but she eats stuff like fish, milk, eggs, cheese, and butter."
"So no white or red meat," she looked at Chloe, obviously expecting her to answer.
"Right," I answered for her.
"Well, then, I guess the others can have these as a treat tomorrow. We normally don't have a lot of sugar filled foods," she explained, obviously as an afterthought.
"Do you girls have any physical activities you love to do? We require thirty minutes of active time a day," Nurse Von Dop talked as though we were three.
"Yeah, I love all sports, but Chloe only does running and yoga," I glanced at Chloe, but knew she wouldn't say anything. She was far too shy. It would be at least a week before she spoke to the nurses.
"You will be required to speak with Dr. Gill everyday for therapy," Nurse Talbot said crossly, looking at Chloe.
She nodded. And that was it.
Chloe
I unpacked my clothes, just dumping them on my bed. I put everything else on the desk, throwing my backpack and duffle under the bed. Cassie followed my example.
"This is nice," she said cheerfully.
"Sure," I agreed, my voice breaking from disuse. I cleared my throat. "Um, yeah."
I started folding my clothes and putting them in the dresser.
"How long are we going to be here?"
I had been lying to her. I had told her it was just until they found a home for us, but since she was considered 'crazy' we wouldn't be going anywhere soon-or at least she wouldn't be.
"I don't know," I looked at the window, and started praying to God things would get better soon.
After I unpacked, I headed for the shower. When I got back to the room, Ayden was already asleep, still fully dressed.
I pulled off her boots, and took my quilt off of my bed. I spread it over her, before looking at the clock and realizing it was already ten.
I turned off the light, and dove under the thin sheet on my bed.
I laid there for a minute, trying to go to sleep. When I was finally comfortable-I did. But I wished I hadn't.
Because all I dreamt about were nightmares.
….
I had already been up for a while when Cassie stretched, yawned, and made her way sluggishly out of bed.
"Do you know when we have to be up?" she asked. Cassie was not a morning person.
"I don't know," I crouched by the towel I had been using as a mat over the carpet, before folding it up.
"Hmp," she grabbed a towel and a change of clothes, before disappearing into the hallway.
I dressed quickly, before running my finger through my hair. It was good enough.
I walked through the hall, running into a tall, black haired girl about my age as she exited her room.
"Watch it!" she snapped.
I opened my mouth, but then a shorter-but still taller than me-blonde girl followed her out.
"Be nice," she teased. Then she turned to me. "I'm Liz, and this is Tori."
"Nice to meet you..." I trailed off as Tori glared at me. She stomped off down the stairs.
"Ignore her," Liz said cheerfully. "She'll come around."
"Umm...okay," I walked with Liz down the stairs, her chattering on about Tori, needing no encouragement from me other than a few polite nods.
"Aren't there guys in this house," Cassie said as she walked into the kitchen, where Liz was telling me about breakfast, looking pointedly at her nightclothes.
"Yep, but they don't eat with us," a black girl entered the kitchen at that moment. "I'm Rae."
"Cassie, and this is Chloe," Cassie gestured at me. I nodded at her as I grabbed my breakfast before following Liz into the dining room.
Cassie
"The guys get up later," Rae said, after Chloe followed some blonde girl into the dining room. She reached in a cabinet and pulled out a box of cheerios. "Want some?"
"Na," I reached past her and pulled out some all natural cereal. "Food allergies."
"That sucks," she poured milk into her bowl and grabbed two spoons, passing me one.
"Thanks," I plunked it down in my bowl before pouring in the milk before the cereal. I noticed Rae wasn't heading toward the dining room. "Aren't you going to eat in the dining room?"
"Nah. Queen Victoria is in there," she said, sitting on the counter. "She makes fun of my weight, I'd much rather eat in here."
"Why would she do that?" I asked horrified. Rae was stick thin-kind of. I was thinner than her, and I was stick thin. But Rae didn't have any weight to really make fun of.
"She's a drama queen," she shrugged as I joined her on the counter. "But you can eat out there if you want to."
"Nah," I said. "I couldn't now that I know about 'Queen Victoria'."
We both grinned.
"Do you like manga?" she asked.
"Yep," I smiled as I took a bite. "You?"
I could tell we were going to get along.
Chloe
The Nurses had told us that as soon as our books came, we would have to join the others in the classroom. Until then, however, we were almost at liberty to do whatever we wanted.
Cassie had gone upstairs to play video games on her ds; and Nurse Van Dop cornered me into peeling carrots.
As I stood there, peeling a ridiculous amount of carrots, I wondered if Cassie knew that this may not be temporary. I knew that I had to be the older sister and make sure she was safe and keep her spirits up, but I also knew she wasn't stupid.
A hand tapped my shoulder, I gasped as a carrot slipped from my fingers into the sink.
I looked up, dizzy, to see the biggest guy I had ever seen in my life.
I dropped the peeler with a yelp. He raised his eyebrows.
As I bent to retrieve the peeler, I remembered that there were guys here too.
"Hey," I looked over my shoulder to see a blonde, Asian guy looking at me worriedly.
"Ummm...h-h-hey," I stammered.
"You must be the new girl," the blonde guy said. "I'm Simon, and this is my brother, Derek."
He gestured at the simply huge guy. And I found it hard to believe they were brothers.
Simon was, well, not a jock, more of an artistic guy that played sports build. Not to mention Asian, despite being blonde.
Derek, despite being huge, was obviously only around my age. Maybe eighteen at most. His clothes were baggy, so I couldn't tell if he was fat or muscular. But either way he was intimidating. It didn't help that Mother Nature was obviously cutting him no slack what-so-ever.
"B-b-b-brothers?" I knew my eyes were wide with this. It just didn't make sense-unless one was adopted.
"Yeah, identical twins," Derek rumbled.
I bit my lip to keep from smiling. At least he had a sense of humor. Well, so far anyway.
"Are you okay though?" Simon asked. "You were kinda zoned out."
"Y-y-y-yeah, I'm f-f-f-f-"
"Slow down," Derek said as he went into the pantry. I frowned, I was strongly tempted to just talk faster, but I knew it would be hard for them to keep up with my stutter.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I put a five second pause between each word, causing Simon to laugh. Derek just glared as he came out with an open and an unopened pack of crackers.
Derek left the room, walking awfully quiet for such a large guy.
"That's good," Simon smiled, patting my back. "Don't put up with his crap. See you at lunch."
He left with a wink, and I almost smiled.
Cassie
I was pretty much addicted to video games, and manga. I enjoyed a good battle for its gruesome tactics and just the adrenaline-Chloe was more books and movies with good strong plots.
Chloe thought I was just playing my ds-which I was. But, I was also thinking about when we would leave. When we could leave. All I had to do was get better and get out. Chloe would probably have a place in mind already. A lost aunt, or a lost cousin.
"Cassie."
I just looked up-if I had been Chloe I would have jumped a foot in the air-and saw Rae standing in the doorway.
"Hey," I got up, switching off my ds. "What's going on?"
"Lunch is about done, and I thought you'd appreciate it if I told you instead of the nurses coming for you," she grinned. "You shouldn't hole up in here, I'd go to the media room to play games."
"Why's that?" I asked as I entered the hall and we started down the stairs together.
"They prefer 'forced interaction'," she rolled her eyes. "But the boys mostly keep to themselves. And Tori is a, well, you know. Liz is pretty nice though. You might get along with Peter, he's about your age, twelve."
"I'm fourteen," I said, knowing that, even though I was tall, people still thought I was about twelve.
"Oops, sorry," she winced theatrically. I laughed.
"Uh-oh," she said looking behind herself.
"Uh-oh?" I looked, but didn't see anything.
"I forgot-go on in," she waved toward the dining room. "I'll..."
She didn't finish, and I remembered what she had said about 'Queen Victoria'.
"Hey, I'll ditch with you."
"Nah," she shook her head. "Meet everyone else before you get labeled 'anti-social'."
"Okay," I slipped into the dining room as Rae fled into another room.
"Hey!" the blonde girl from earlier waved enthusiastically from where she sat by a dark haired girl, who didn't pay me any attention.
"Hello," I said, taking the seat she had pushed out for me. "I'm Cassie."
"Liz," the blonde bubbled. "And this is Tori."
She waved in the dark haired girl's direction as a boy about twelve walked in.
"And that's Peter! Peter say hi!" she didn't bounce in her seat, but I almost expected her to.
"Hi," he said without looking up from his ds.
"Hey," I answered. "What are you playing?"
He looked up with a grin, obviously glad to talk about his video game. "It's-"
But he was cut off as Chloe walked in and Liz shouted, "Hey!"
Chloe nodded at her and sat down on my other side. Peter reluctantly took a seat across from Liz.
Chloe
I sat by Cassie while some boy about twelve sat across from Liz, with a bit of reluctance.
"I think he likes you," I whispered in Cassie's ear, and she glared at me.
"Simon!"
I looked up, realizing it was Liz who had shouted just as Derek and Simon had walked in.
Simon saw me, and sat down next to me, grinning. Derek took the open chair between him and Peter.
"Hey," he said to me. And then he looked at Cassie. "Looks like there's two newbies."
"Yep," Liz didn't bounce, but her word's did.
"I'm Simon, and thats my brother Derek," he said, helping himself to some of the food that was on the table.
"Cassie," she said breathlessly. Oh boy, well we'd just have to wait and see...
"I didn't get your name earlier," Simon said, turning his attention back to me.
"She's my sis, Chloe," Cassie said, more than used to speaking for me.
I helped myself to some of whatever didn't have meat in it.
"Is Cassie a nickname?" he asked, seeming genuinely curious.
"Nope," Cassie wrinkled her nose. "You know parents always think they're naming their child something cool…"
Simon laughed. "Well, that's parents for you."
Cassie's grin vanished.
"Yep," she whispered, disguising the pain by helping herself to some of the casserole.
Cassie
It still hurt to think about it. So I was really glad when Simon stopped talking about parents and started on about schools.
He was really nice too. And cute. But it was obvious from the way he kept glancing at Chloe whenever he talked, even when I talked, that he hoped she would give him some attention.
She would look at him when he talked, and back to me when I talked. Looking at each of us in turn politely whenever we were speaking.
Simon tried talking to her, but I always answered. He seemed confused by this, but went with it.
"Art school," Tori stepped in the conversation just as I finished telling Simon where we had last gone to school. "Now isn't that just fascinating. What did you study there? Ghost art? Ghost writing? Ghost photography?"
Chloe choked on her last bite. Simon gently pounded on her back until she had finished coughing.
"Maybe Cassie could help Liz with her poltergeist problem," Tori mocked, and I wondered if she knew why I was here. How, if she did know, was something else I wanted to know.
"Tori!" Liz shrieked before fleeing the room in tears.
"Here we go again," I heard Derek mutter.
"Ghosts? That's pretty cool," Peter grinned at me.
"I don't see ghosts," I frowned. I didn't see ghosts. There was no way any one could see ghosts.
"Wh-why w-would y-y-you even a-ask th-that?" Chloe asked Tori in her quiet stutter.
"Oh, Simon, pound her back again, I think you broke her," Tori said sarcastically.
I leapt to my feet.
"Leave her out of this!" I practically snarled at Tori, my blonde hair falling out of my ponytail and into my face with the sudden motion.
"Oops sorry, didn't realize stutters were 'cool' now," she said sarcastically, bunny earring 'cool' as she spoke.
"Tori, don't be such a bitch," Simon snapped, as Derek stood up.
I glared at her, and felt a tug at the hem of my shirt. I looked down to see Chloe's wide blue eyes.
"Cassie-" she whispered, and I knew she wanted me to back down.
"You ever insult her again-" I didn't even finish, just plopped down. And nothing else was said.
Chloe
The rest of lunch was uneventful. In fact, the rest of the week was uneventful.
Liz-after I sat down next to her and she just talked to me-was her usual cheerful self. I liked Liz, I didn't have to say much, but she didn't seem to mind. Cassie and Rae defiantly got along. They seemed to be Bffs within seconds. Simon was nice and hung out with us-when he wasn't with Derek or in his room. I didn't see much of Peter-except at meals. And I smiled in amusement as he and Ayden debated which games were best.
Simon seemed to think I should talk, and always tried to engage in conversations at meal times. But he seemed disappointed when Cassie would always talk for me-unless she was too busy talking with Peter. A few times, Cassie and I went out with Simon to the back yard-under Van Dop's supervision of course, and I watched as they played some one on one basketball.
Cassie and I even had to go to meetings with a lady named Gil. Cassie said she had been bored out of her mind, and she didn't want to talk to this lady at all. So she told her what she wanted to hear. Cassie wanted to get better, she accepted she was schizo, no she hadn't seen or heard anything recently, yes her parents death affected her, and so on.
The session with Gil was hard for me. I would whisper short answers, basically the same as Cassie's. Though Gil finally declared that I needed therapy to talk about my parent's and brothers' deaths.
Also, our schoolwork followed us about three days after we had arrived. The tutor was nice enough, but she didn't seem to really care.
Then the school week started all over again, and we got Thursday off for one reason: to celebrate. Peter's parents had come to take him home.
We celebrated over sugar-free, icing-free carrot cake, and watched while Peter got into his parents car and drove away.
"Well," Tori said snottily. "Glad that's over."
Tori made it clear from the start that she didn't particularly like me. She gave me the cold shoulder, glared, and made fun of me whenever she could. Honestly, it did bother me.
"Tori will come around," Liz had said, when she had seen it. "You'll see."
"I'll miss the kid," Simon said as we all headed to do something since we didn't have any school today.
"He was pretty cool," Cassie said, stepping between me and Simon.
Cassie, like Tori, made it pretty clear that she liked Simon, but while Tori was a bit of drama, Simon didn't didn't seem to mind Cassie being around.
"Hey Cassie," Rae said walking up the stairs to the bedrooms. "I'm gonna get a head start on the laundry, do you guys need anything washed?"
"Yeah, I'll come help," Cassie disappeared with her up the stairs.
"Well," Simon scratched the back of his head awkwardly, it was the first time we had ever been alone together before. "You wanna go outside and shoot some hoops?"
"Sure," I said softly, wishing I could be like Cassie and just say what was on my mind. "But I haven't played since..."
I thought, trying to remember when I had played, but couldn't.
"That's cool," he grinned. "I'll re-teach you."
Smiling, I followed him to find a nurse.
…..
Nurse Van Dop let us out, and we headed for the court.
"Here's how you dribble," Simon teased as he fetched the ball from the far side of the court, making me laugh. He tossed it to me-and I managed to dribble while walking towards him.
"You're getting it," he teased again, then laughed as I failed to get the ball into the basket. He ran to get it, then tossed it back to me.
"Here like this," he stood behind me, moving my arms, holding the ball with me. "Move your feet-" he pushed my feet into place gently with his own. "Bend your knees-and shoot."
I shot-and it went through with a perfect swish.
"Not bad," he teased still holding my hands. "Not bad."
"Chloe!" we broke apart as the backdoor swung open.
"Yeah?" I asked as Cassie looked at us, then shrugged.
"Can you go get your clothes?" she asked, and I nodded.
"Yeah, be right there," I turned to Simon and gave him a small smile. "Thanks for the recap!"
I turned, and jogged towards the door.
Cassie
Rae and I were just starting to sort the lights from the darks, and I wondered how long it would take Chloe to get down here.
"So why are you in?" she asked. I looked at her in surprise, Gil had said not to talk about it with others... "I know that they said not to tell, but I just think they don't want us comparing notes. I'm a pyromaniac."
She made quotation marks in the air as she said it.
"Schizo," I said.
"But you're not really-" Rae started to say but Gil's voice floated down the stairs.
"Rae honey, you're late for our session."
Rae swore.
"Go, I'll finish," I said rolling my eyes.
"Thanks," she said, disappearing up the stairs.
I had just finished when a man's voice floated to me "-girl-"
I froze. "Hello?"
"-door-open-help-"
I went to open the door, wondering why my imagination would send me to a door.
Obviously they were right.
I was skitzo.
A freak.
"It's locked," I said helplessly to myself.
"-locked-key-"
"Key? Where?" I pressed my ear to the door, trying to hear better.
"Who are you talking to?"
I spun around, Derek was standing at the bottom of the steps. Wow, he moved quietly.
"I'm not talking to anyone," I lied, thinking of how Hunter would have stuttered.
"It was a ghost wasn't it?" he asked, walking foreword.
"Gh-gh-ost?" Oh perfect, now was not the time for Chloe's stutter to rub off on me.
"You can see them can't you?" he said it more of a statement than a question.
"Tori only thinks I can," I said thinking of what she had said at lunch a week earlier.
"What does it want, Cassie?" he asked, rolling his eyes. "What do they look like?"
"They were bedsheets and say 'boo'," I said crossly. "Now let me through."
He looked amused, and was about to say something when my temper flared.
"Oh just let me through, scaring me into telling you I see ghosts-when I don't-isn't going to work, now let me through or-" my words weren't impressive, but I said them with enough venom to make them a thousand times worse.
Derek's eyes changed, I swear I heard a growl and then-
"Cassie leave. Now."
I looked up to see Chloe-laundry in her arms, lights and darks each having a side in the basket she held-standing behind Derek. An angry Derek.
"Cassie. Go."
I fled, leaving Chloe and Derek alone.
She would be okay, she had to be.
Chloe
"Cassie. Go." I said sharply.
She ran up the stairs.
"Don't tell the nurses," I told her retreating figure. I walked across the room and put the basket by the others.
"You," I turned toward Derek. He was still obviously really mad. But I was pretty mad as well. "If you ever hurt her, you'll never ever be able to do several things you should be able to do-most likely with a bit of your favored anatomy."
I didn't spit the words, didn't shout them. Just said them as coldly as I could.
Then I turned to leave, my anger disappearing as quickly as it had come.
"You-" Derek grabbed my arm-I'm sure he would leave bruises-and threw me across the room.
I looked up at him, terrified.
"I'm sorry," he dropped his hand, horror on his face. "I'm so sorry, I-" he reached for me, most likely to help me up, but I sprung up, dodging around him to get to the stairs.
And then I went to find Cassie.
Cassie
I sat in the media room panicking.
Hunter would be okay, she had to be. So what if Derek was about several feet taller and about twice as wide. Chloe would be okay. She'd be okay.
While I sat there trying not to hyperventilate, Nurse Talbot walked in. Perfect.
"Ayden? Is there something wrong?" Despite being older then Nurse Van Dop-and stricter looking-Nurse Talbot was the kinder of the two.
But that didn't mean I could tell her, Chloe had called after me telling me not to say anything.
"Cassie?" we looked to the doorway to see Chloe. I sighed in relief. She was okay. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," I told them both. "I was just worrying over school, you know," I rolled my eyes. "Grades and stuff."
Chloe nodded, and hugged me as I walked by her.
"It's okay, I'm f-f-fine," she reassured me.
"Nurse Talbot?" she whispered as I walked away. "I hate asking but do you have any tylenol?"
"Of course dear." I turned to see Hunter and Nurse Talbot walking toward the kitchen; Chloe holding her head in pain.
I walked up the stairs, and knocked on a door.
"Cassie! What is it?" Rae said, after opening the door to her room.
I was sure I looked pale, worried, and scared. I wasn't sure how to ask-after all I had never done anything like I was about to propose.
"Do you think there's a way I can see Derek-and Simon's-files?"
…
Rae and I agreed not to sneak into Gil's office that night.
So, instead, we watched some chick flick with Liz and Tori.
Chloe was there, but about halfway through, she got up-unnoticed even by me. I just happened to look back, expecting to hear her quiet laughter at one part, but she was gone.
I thought she had gone to the bathroom, but she didn't come back.
After the movie, I walked up the stairs with Rae. Both of us thinking about stealing the boys' files for two different reasons.
Rae wanted Simon's file because she wanted to know why he was here-after all, he never went to consoling. I wanted Derek's file so I could know just how dangerous he was. Simon's for the same reason as Rae-after all, he had it for Chloe.
What had he done to Chloe? She hadn't come down for dinner-though both the boys had been there. Simon had seemed overly-concerned about her-Derek was his usual quiet self-as if whatever hadn't happened between him and Chloe didn't matter.
And then, Chloe hadn't even really talked-even to me. She seemed out of it, unsure about something.
Rae and I both got ready for bed and then went into our respective rooms.
Chloe was already there, sitting crossed legged on her bed with a journal on her lap. She frowned as she wrote things-and then promptly crossed the words out.
"Do you think you should-?" I left the question hanging, though I didn't want her to know that Rae and I were going to steal the boys' files.
"Hmmm?" she looked up at me, her eyes going from dreamy to one of recognition. "Oh, n-n-no. Don't b-b-bother."
She went back to writing, reading, and crossing out.
"Chloe," I sat by her, and she promptly closed the book on her pen. "What happened with Derek?"
"N-n-n-nothing," she shook her head, before getting up to put the pen away. "Wh-wh-why w-w-would you think-"
My eyes widened when Chloe stretched to put the journal on the top shelf of her closet; her sleeve had ridden down so I could see five bruises. Five bruises that distinctly looked like fingerprints.
"Where did these come from then?" I pulled her arm toward me-where it wasn't bruised-and rolled up the sleeve. "What did he do to you?"
Chloe pulled her arm away. "H-h-he d-d-didn't-"
"Well obviously he did!" Why? Why did Chloe defend everyone? I was pretty sure if Derek and Tori killed her she wouldn't blame them. In fact, she would probably be the one keeping them out of jail. Why couldn't she just hate someone for hurting her?
"Chloe you have to tell the nurses!" I let go of her hand. She walked away and pulled out her pajamas. "He can't get away with this!"
"Cas," she moved towards the door. "D-d-don't, please. Don't t-t-tell."
I followed her out into the hall.
"I have to Chloe," I told her as she went into the bathroom to take a shower.
"D-d-don't," she told me, closing the door.
Chloe
I closed the door carefully. Then locked it.
I turned toward the tub and turned on the shower. I went back to the mirror-peeling off my shirt as I walked.
I gasped as I looked at the bruise.
It was huge, obviously I wouldn't be able to wear short sleeves for a while.
I tentatively touched it, and winced. Yep, this was a really bad bruise.
I knew without a doubt I should tell the nurses-but didn't bullies just come after their victims even more?
Not that he meant to. I remembered his look of panic-though it could have been at the thought of getting into trouble.
Sighing, I slid out of the rest of my clothes. I picked them up, and folded them, leaving them on the counter before finally stepping into the shower.
I shivered as the cold water hit me-though it only took a few seconds before it warmed up.
As I washed I wondered how Derek had done that. How he had managed to throw me across the room. I sighed, as I realized the answer wouldn't come easily. There was really only three ways to know about him.
One and two: ask him or Simon-like that would happen with my stutter.
Three: get his file-I had seen a thing full of our files one day in Gil's office. But, I couldn't do that-steal I mean.
So what was I going to do?
Cassie
I knocked on Rae's door.
She opened it and looked at me in confusion.
"What-" she began to ask, but I cut her off.
"Tonight," I told her. "We have to do it tonight."
"Why?" she asked. I listened to make sure Chloe was in the shower, and looked down the hall to make sure Liz and Tori weren't nearby.
"Derek hurt Chloe," I whispered so only she could hear.
"What?" Rae looked outraged. "How could he hurt her? She's so sweet and innocent-"
"Shh!" I motioned to be quiet. "I know, but the only way we know how dangerous he really is…"
"Is to get his file," Rae finished for me.
…
I slipped out of the room as Chloe came out of the bathroom. I mumbled something about staying in Rae's room for a sleepover.
Rae and I had decided that the best way was to ask the nurses if I could sleep in her room so we wouldn't accidentally wake up Chloe-she would be dead against this.
"This is fun!" Rae laughed at some point. Even though the nurses told us to go to sleep, we were staying up until we could sneak downstairs.
"I know," I giggled as quietly as I could.
"So what do you think?" she asked, returning to our conversation from earlier in the basement, before Derek had confronted me, and then hurt Chloe.
"I don't know," I hesitated, obviously I was skitzo-so it could be just paranoia-but something told me it wasn't. Something told me things were more than they seemed.
"You know how you like mangas and video games?" she asked and I nodded. "They would say you're obsessed, right? Crazy about video games?"
"Yeah," I nodded. " They wouldn't lock people up for being crazy about something."
She nodded. "Thats what its like for me-about fire. I just like it. I don't set fires."
I nodded, getting what she meant. I wondered why she wanted to talk about, but then I realized, I wanted to talk about why I was here too-and Chloe didn't.
"Do you really see stuff?" she asked. "Like ghosts?"
"Yes, I see stuff," I shook my head. "But, as for them being ghosts…"
Rae started telling me about how she had gotten here-about how she had nothing in her hands and they said she had been holding matches and burned her mom.
Then she asked about me.
So I told her.
The alarm clock had gone off late. My brothers were arguing about who got the bigger bag of pretzels (even though they were the same size). Chloe was trying to do something with her hair that was being impossibly frizzy this morning since it was so frizzy. Mom and dad were stressing about money since we were broke-as always.
I had missed the bus-and dad took the boys and Chloe with him, since his work was closer to the boys' school-elementary and middle private school-while mom had driven me to the high school.
Chloe wasn't going with me because mom had enrolled her in Indiana University (A/N real high school) online, so she worked part time at a day care.
Mom had dropped me off, and I had narrowly missed my first class.
I didn't worry-didn't have to.
"Hey Mila," I said as I finally reached the lunch room. God I had thought that morning had been so long.
"Hey girl," she shook her dreads out at me. "Check out what I had done last night."
"Sweet!" I admitted, laughing, pretending to be envious. "Too bad I couldn't do that-mom would kill me."
Mila gave me a look that plainly said, since-when-do-you-care-what-your-mom-thinks?
"Yeah, I know, but she's been on my case recently," I sighed. Mom had been really over-protective or whatever recently.
"She just doesn't get it," Mila encouraged me in my rebellious ways-as did Kari.
"Yo," Kari said as we sat down at the table. Kari and Mila were my bffs. Though we had only known each other since the last year of middle school.
"You'll hate my parents," I warned-this was typically what we said before we told each other how our parents were ruining our lives. "They want to move-to California!"
"Shit," Kari said.
"That sucks," then she added something about them being f-upped.
"Tell me something I don't know," I rolled my eyes.
"Hey," I looked over Kari's shoulder to see the speaker-and I screamed.
There was a man-or what remained of a man. His features were toast-literally, and I nearly lost my lunch.
"What is is?" Kari whirled but saw nothing.
He reached for me.
"Girl, help me, please-"
I got up-screaming-and started running. I ran into a full classroom, and it took tow teachers to restrain me-though I was screaming as this guy tried talking to me, until I passed out.
Rae didn't say anything, then, "Was that the first time?"
"No, I saw other things, a boy jumped out in front of our van when mom was driving me to school," I admitted. She didn't say anything for a long while.
"It's two," I said, breaking the silence while looking at the clock, before getting up.
"Yeah it is," she slipped into the hall behind me.
We snuck down, and I paused in the kitchen while Rae went into the office. I pulled out two juice boxes and put them on the counter and went to stand in front of the office door.
I could hear a swish and a click, and Rae came out holding papers.
"Got 'em." she grinned. "Well, Derek's anyway."
"What about Simon?" I couldn't help asking.
"He didn't have a file," she said, walking back to the kitchen. "I didn't want to waste time looking for something that wasn't in the filer."
I agreed, this was already very bad. We walked into the kitchen to get the juice and-
-and Liz was sitting on the counter.
"Liz!" we both gasped, Rae tucking the paper into her pajama bottoms.
"You have to help me!" she cried in a whisper. "Please, make the poltergeist go away!"
"But-" I didn't know what to do. I had never seen anything with Liz. Ever.
"No one believes me!" she shrieked, not at all in a whisper. Cabinets started rattling, bowls fell from shelves.
"Liz!" Rae called out, but her words were drowned out to Liz as the faucet exploded, water flying everywhere.
I could hear Liz crying, then I saw a dark shape in the door.
"Elizabeth!" I heard Nurse Talbot's voice. I wondered if the paper was safe from the water in Rae's pj bottoms.
"I didn't mean it!" she cried. "I didn't!"
Nurse Van Dop entered, and pulled a needle out. She put the tranquilizer into Liz's system and everything stopped. Except the water.
"Girls," Nurse Talbot turned to us. Oh no. "What were you doing up?"
"We, well, we got hungry," Rae shifted nervously on her feet, before pointing to the exploded juice boxes on the floor.
"You should have waited for breakfast," she said gently, handing us a pill along with our medicine. I took the pill, but hid the medicine under my tongue as I had been doing. I didn't want to be too drugged up. "Go up to bed now."
"We could help clean up," Rae offered half-heartedly. I started to feel drowsy.
"I know you could," she said as she ushered us out of the kitchen. "I know you could."
I could barely remember to spit out the pill, before my head hit the pillow on the spare bed in Rae's room.
I wondered for a minute why it was so bright; then I wondered why I had woken up. The fog in my mind slowly rolled back and I realized someone was screaming.
Chloe
My eyes opened slowly. I could swear I heard chaos somewhere in the house as my eyes shut.
Then I opened my eyes-it was light out, and with a start, I realized I hadn't had any nightmare.
I swung my legs out of bed, grabbed my towel, and did my yoga exercises.
When I was done, I got to my feet and picked the towel-make-shift yoga mat from the floor and folded it before draping it over the chair to my desk.
I went downstairs, expecting to see Cassie and Rae, or Liz and Tori in the dining room, but instead I was greeted by Simon's happy face, and Derek's silence.
"What a-a-are you d-d-doing up?" I asked, confused. The girls always ate first.
"Apparently, we're the only ones on time today," Simon said with a grin, before he frowned suddenly.
I'm pretty sure I looked confused.
"No one else has been up yet except the nurses," Simon explained.
"Ah," I went to walk out, but Simon grabbed the back of my shirt.
"You can eat with us," he held out a plate of sausages. "Want one?"
"I-I'm a," I took a deep breath to settle myself. "I'm a vegetarian."
"Oh, oops," he set down the sausages as if they had caught on fire before offering me an apple.
"Thanks," I said, taking it, and sat across from Derek, and next to him.
Derek stood up, and went toward the kitchen.
"It's locked bro," Simon said, taking another sausage.
Derek swore under his breath and sat back down, before continuing to eat.
"I-" I wanted to tell them, but I wasn't sure how to. Most people like me would have no problem talking to others-at least in the movies they didn't.
"What is it?" Simon asked.
"N-nothing," I felt my cheeks flame.
"Well obviously it is," Derek said, before snapping his jaw shut and studiously ignoring me.
I bit into the apple, knowing that he was beating himself up about yesterday.
"Are you okay?" I looked up at Simon. He looked concerned, as always.
"I-I'm fine," I told him, knowing how much of a lie it was. Thankfully, it was a lie I told so often that my face didn't betray me.
"Necromancer," Derek said, looking up.
"W-what?" I asked, startled, wondering what the hell he was talking about.
"You're a necromancer," he said.
"Derek-" Simon started to say, but Derek cut in.
"She should know what she is," he said simply. "I'm going upstairs."
He threw his fork down and, I wanted to say stomped, but he walked far too quietly for that, left.
Simon sighed.
"He thinks that you and Cassie are necromancers," he said, eyeing the piece of toast on his plate, obviously wondering if it was worth eating.
"W-what d-do you th-think?" I asked, then wondered what a necromancer was. "What i-is a n-necrom-m-mancer?"
"That he's right," Simon said, picking up the toast and eating it in about four bites. "A necromancer sees ghosts."
"And you think that we-" I stopped. Cassie had seen people who weren't there-but she wasn't paranoid. Wasn't scared.
Could Derek be right? Could she be a necromancer?
"The person she saw," I whispered, as Simon nodded.
Then Tori walked in.
He swore low enough that Tori didn't hear.
"Hey Simon," she battered her eyes at him, before glaring at me.
"Tori," he grabbed my arm and dragged me to the media room.
"Sit," he nodded at the couch and I sat. "Look, I-"
He started pacing, I knew he would tell me, but the wait seemed to go on forever.
"Look, I know Derek," he swore. "This really isn't easy."
"I can t-tell," I swallowed. "So D-derek told you a-about y-yesterday-"
"Yeah, he did," he sighed. "Look, he just doesn't know his strength, it came on really fast. He can't control it."
I just watched as Simon paced.
"He-"
"He w-what?" the stutter was starting to feel annoying. And I accidentally took it out on him. "S-simon, he t-threw me. A-across a r-room. Ex-explain t-that."
"He doesn't know his strength," he said as Derek's shadow filled the doorway.
"I-" I got up to go. Simon didn't have anything else to say that I wanted to hear, and I didn't want to talk to Derek right now.
A cloud sprung up above me. I looked back at Simon.
"Simon, don't," I heard Derek say from behind me.
Simon exhaled, jaw clenching, and the cloud disappeared.
I pushed past Derek.
"Sweet-heart?" I looked up to see Nurse Talbot gesturing for me to come over.
"Y-yes?" I asked in a whisper.
"Why don't you go wake up Cassie, Rae, and Tori?" she suggested. "We're all going to go to the pool."
"What a-about L-liz?"
Nurse Talbot paled.
"That won't be necessary, she was transferred last night."
"What do you mean she was transferred last night?"
We looked up to see Tori, who saw the truth on Talbot's face, and she started screaming.
Cassie
Rae's head shot up from under the covers.
"What's goin' on?" she asked drowsily as I shot out from under the covers.
"I don't know," I said, yanking on jeans that I had left in Rae's room so it would seem like a real sleep over.
"Tori? Do you think?" she asked grabbing a skirt and sliding it over her pj bottoms so she could slid the pjs off without having to undress.
"Why would she be screaming?" I wondered aloud.
"Liz," Rae whispered, turning pale.
"They're best friends, aren't they?" I had noticed they always hung out together-even though Tori tended to be a bitch.
"Yes," Rae hesitated with her hand on the doorknob.
"Let's go," I walked into the hall followed closely by Rae.
I looked back at her-her hair was like mine, bed head. And her brown skin was pale-for being brown.
We both raced down the stairs.
We found Tori crying hysterically, and Talbot was handing her medications.
Chloe and Simon were standing together, and Van Dop approached up.
"Go get your swimsuits," she told us, Rae, Simon, and I raced up our respective stairs, and I heard the murmur of Chloe's voice. I turned slightly, saw Van Dop nod, and pat her shoulder, before I couldn't see them anymore.
"What do you think that was about?" Rae asked, already coming out of her room with her bikini.
"I don't know, Liz?" I asked as I went into my room.
Rae followed me.
"I think we should look over Derek's file when we're at the swimming place," she told me.
"How do you know where we're going?" I asked, taking my one-piece out of my dresser.
"Swim-suits?" she raised an eyebrow.
"Right," I shook my head. "My bad."
Rae went into her room-reemerging paper in hand. She folded it, and stuck it in her pocket.
"Ready?" she asked, not waiting for my answer.
….
We stood in the locker room-Talbot was out lone chaperone, and she was outside by the pool already-and Rae was just finishing whispering the final words of Derek's file.
I swore, and Rae raised her eyebrows.
"C'mon, do you really think I swear in front of my sister? No matter how laid back she may be?"
"Yeah, wow, he's messed up," Rae shook his head. "No wonder he's here."
"Yeah," I sighed, then froze. "Do you think?"
"No, no way, not with Van Dop there," she shook her head violently.
"Yeah, you're right."
Derek wasn't swimming-now I knew why-Tori was doped up, and Chloe had aqua phobia. So obviously, they were staying at Lyle House while we went swimming.
"Cassie! Rae! Where are we?"
I looked up, jaw dropping in surprise.
"LIZ!"
Hunter
For once I was in my room-and the nurses weren't on my case about it. Of course, lying about a headache helped stay home and stay in the room.
I heard a knock, and I went to answer it. Expecting Van Dop-instead it was Tori.
She held up her hand, and I waited for her to speak.
She looked down at her feet. "i just wanted to say sorry, and Simon, you can have him."
"Wh-" her glare shut me up.
"I want to show you something, you know, to make it up to you," she shuffled her feet.
"O-okay," I tried to see what it was, but I couldn't.
She led me down the stairs and through the halls, and past Nurse Talbot, who looked at us and smiled.
"Feeling better Chloe?" she asked. I could only nod.
"C'mon," Tori hissed, grabbing my arm. I guess Tori could only change so much.
She led me down into the basement.
"I heard Cassie trying to get in here the other day," she slipped keys out from behind the shelf. "I thought you might like to show her this."
"What i-is i-it?"
"Treasure." I heard the click of the door unlocking.
We went into the small room, and Tori showed me where the crawlspace was hidden.
"In here," she slipped a flashlight out of a back pocket. I hadn't even realized she was carrying it.
"It's behind the pillar."
We walked toward the pillar, the light dimmed for a second, but before I could turn around to ask her about it my whole world went black.
…
Huh, so this is what being tied up feels like, an irrational part of my brain thought as I swam through the black.
My eyes snapped open and I found myself still in the basement where Tori had led me-
Tori, of course. I couldn't believe she was capable of doing something this despicable!
I struggled with my bonds-realizing my mouth was gagged so it would be useless to scream. I fell to the side, and tried to push myself back up-failing miserably until I put my hands under my stomach and pushing myself up onto my hip and rolling onto my bottom.
Perfect, just perfect. Yeah, let's just go with the witch who thinks you like the guy she likes and follow her into the basement. Nice. Real nice.
This was the part where I would be shouting at the heroine of the movie she could have avoided what just happened if she just paused and thought! Apparently I would turn out to be one of those heroines-you know, if my life were a movie.
I wondered how long I had been down here. Cassie must be worried. Then again, she had gone swimming so they may not be back yet-so she may not know. Depending on when it was now.
I sighed.
"Hey!"
I looked up and let out a muffled yelp as my eyes closed against the light.
"Are you okay?" Derek asked as he pulled the gag off.
"Y-y-yep," I stammered. "P-p-peachy."
Derek let out a stressed laugh, then stuck the flashlight in his mouth, making me think of a dog carrying a stick. He started undoing the knots around my feet.
"Thanks," I whispered as he moved onto my hands.
He shrugged-obviously not able to say much with the light in his mouth.
"How did you find me?" I asked as I felt my wrists being released.
He hosted me up by my elbow, and I could see he had to bend slightly to stand in the small space-lucky me I didn't have to.
"I-" he shrugged. "I thought it was weird that Tori was upstairs and you were nowhere to be seen since you didn't go swimming…."
"Okay, r-really?" I asked, looking up at him. "You know that Cassie sees ghosts-and you think I do too, though hate to break it to you, I don't-and Simon creates a fog-in the media room-and all you do is say little cryptic messages. What about you? H-how did you really find me?"
I could see his shoulders sag, and his nostrils flared. I could tell even in the dim light his nostrils were flaring.
I wondered for a second if i had wet myself-before realizing I hadn't (and thank God that was one less thing I needed).
"What is it?" I asked as he sniffed.
"Death."