Chapter Four~
I wake screaming Willow's name. She runs out of her tent to me and says something that I don't understand.
"Were you there?" I demand "Willow. Were. You. There?" She's shaking slightly.
"Yes." she responds after a moment.
"Willow! What happened? Is everything okay?" Kyle yells. He probably thinks that I did something to Willow. Are those two dating or something? If they are Willow might tell him about the dream…
"Don't tell him. Promise me you won't tell him." I'm plead silently. "Please. I don't want anyone getting hurt. Please."
"I promise, If, you explain all this to me later." Willow says to me just before Kyle runs up to the both of us.
"What the hell happened? I wake up to you screaming," he motions to me "and you almost stepping on my face trying to get out of the tent!" he finishes by gesturing to Willow.
"I just had a nightmare. And the reason I screamed Willow's name is because she is the only person here so far that has actually been nice to me." I snapped. Why is he so infuriating? "Sorry about waking you up. Go back to bed. I'll be fine." Kyle huffs off and Willow stays at my side, probably waiting for a safe moment to ask for an explanation.
"What was that?"
I sigh, "A few weeks after I turned thirteen I had that same dream. I was being overcome by the shadows, but no one came and saved me. When I woke up that night I heard someone talking, but there was no one in my room or in the hallway. Thats when I realized that the shadows were whispering to me." I stop, not sure about telling her the rest, but I feel that she needs to know. "They told me to run away because it wasn't safe, and if I didn't…"
"What?" She prods gently. "What would happen?"
"If I didn't leave, then everyone I know will feel his wrath. I didn't know who 'he' was, but I was still scared. I ran away. I took a bus to Philadelphia and stayed at the Institute there for a few weeks.
"A few weeks later, I had the same dream and the shadows told me to run away again. It's been like that for almost three years: running away, finding a home, having the dream, running away again i close my eyes and think about the countless times i ran away.
"You didn't have to tell me all that, Charlie" She tells me quietly as she puts one of her hands on my left shoulder. I resist the urge to shrug it off "It's going to be okay. I mean, its not like you deserved it. You were an innocent kid. At least now you know that you aren't crazy. Unless there's some telepathic power you don't know you have to give me the same dream you had." I look up and try to smile. Its a little hard in these kinds of situations
"Funny." I roll my eyes, "Thanks, Willow. I've only just met you, but I feel like we've known each other for years."
"Yeah, me too." I have mixed feelings about telling Willow about the choice I made all those years ago with the two glasses filled with blood.
"Good night, Charlie" Willow says quietly as she gets up.
"Yeah. Nite." I respond. I turn on my side and try to fall asleep

*** *** ***
I have this horrible habit of getting under people's skin easily. That person might have made and innocent comment like, "Oh, the weather today is horrible! Rain clouds make me feel so sad!", and I will completely explode in their face and start an argument over rain clouds or sadness or something like that. Something similar happened this morning.
I had just woken up. The sun was shining in my face and when my eyes opened, Willow was walking over to Kyle who was going into the forest. She crossed her hands and said something that I couldn't hear. Kyle responded quietly, but Willow almost lost it. Her voice rose, and I knew that she wasn't okay.
I soundlessly got up and walked over to them. Kyle had his hands on her shoulders and was leaning down slightly to look into Willow's eyes. By then I was close enough to hear if they said anything at a normal volume, but Kyle was whispering something only they could hear. I stop right behind Willow. She's taller than me by a few inches. "Ooh, why are you two whispering? Is it something you don't want me to hear?" I look at Willow. She has turned slightly to look at me. "What did he say Willow? Or is it a secret? You can tell me, right?" I'm kidding, and Willow knows it. But obviously Kyle didn't

His lip curls "Yes, Charlie. It is a secret. Something that I didn't think people like you would understand." After that, I don't remember the entire conversation. I remember bits and pieces, like him calling me naive, me yelling at the top of my lungs at him for calling me that, and I remember promising that I would leave right away... And I would've, if Willow hadn't collapsed.

Three hours later, she hadn't moved. Or blinked. Or flinched. Or do anything other than breathe. If Willow was a Shadowhunter, there would be some rune that I could draw on her pale skin that forces her to wake, but if I draw one on her, she might die of the pain. Or go crazy... You never know.
Anyway, since i didn't know what to do in this kind of situation I sat by her and pressed a cold cloth to her forehead. Kyle didn't want me to move her body at all. He said that she had done this a few times before, and each time, no one dared to move her.
"According to the town's psychic ," Kyle started "Willow's soul has left her body. Physically she's here, but mentally she's somewhere else."
"You took Willow to a psychic? Why?"
"We didn't take her anywhere. She showed up at the door after Willow collapsed."
"Oh..." I look down on Willow and see her twitch. Just slightly. Then a minute later she opened her eyes weakly.
"Willow! Kyle, Willow's awake!" He rushes over to us.
"Willow? You there?"
A moan.
"Water" she croaks. Kyle rushes to get a bottle of water for her. I help to sit her up and he tilts the bottle slightly up into her mouth. She drinks almost the entire bottle.
"What happened?" Kyle asks Willow after she finishes her water.
She looks up at Kyle and asks, "Did you know my father was Apollo?" He doesn't answer, instead he looks at his hands that are clenched together in his lap "Kyle, I know you know. Why didn't you tell me? Why did you lie?" Her voice isn't harsh, it's gentle.
"I wanted you to find out in your own. And, anyways, my Aunt told me that your mother loved music when she was young. She met a musician at a guitar shop and fell in love with him. She got pregnant with you and he disappeared. Without a trace." He stops to look at her. "As I got to know you better, I saw that your mother didn't like music in the house. When you told me that we were demigods, you didn't say who your dad was. I put the pieces together, and I thought Apollo."
Willow is silent. Her eyes are locked onto mine, as if she was trying to say something. If she is, I don't understand.
"I was in a beautiful ballroom in Idris." She starts "There was wine flowing from a fountain in the middle of the room. Apollo was there, looking at tables covered in food. He told me the story about the Angel Raziel, and how he created the Shadowhunters. Then he started talking about mom. How she sung, how she looked." She shakes her head.
"Willow, its okay if you want to rest a little-" I start
"No." Willow interrupts "I won't rest. This is important, If I fall asleep then i might forget it. We need to go to Chicago."
Kyle looks surprised. "Chicago? Apollo told you that? Why there?" He asks.
"I dunno… He said to take the Greyhound bus from Denver to Chicago. There we're supposed to find a dump across from a bank. But in reality, its a old church or something. We knock on the door and Charlie shows the inside of her left wrist to whoever runs the place." I look at the inside of my wrist-the one i need to show to the person was talking about. Theres nothing there. Just my pale skin and the silvery, almost invisible rune scars.
One thing strikes me as strange. When Willow described the whole "dump is really an old church" it reminded me of the Chicago Institute, which I'd visited last summer. The only problem is that It doesn't look like a dump to mundane eye. Its an abandoned construction site for some apartments. I'd know because I was lost and I was going to spend the night in the big skeleton of the place. To my surprize, it really was the Institute.
Always trust abandoned construction sites.
"No. I am not going anywhere with her." Kyle gestures to me, his eyes still looking at Willow's. "She's insane and I just know we're going to be attacked by some monster on the way."
I close my eyes and try to suppress a groan. "You do realise that you don't need to go, right? Willow said that I need to go, cuz I need to show my wrist to some dude running some church. You aren't needed for anything." I open my eyes and see Kyle staring at me with fury in his manure-colored eyes.
"No. If I don't go then Willow doesn't go. And I'm not going." He spits.
I raise my eyebrows and look over to Willow, "your choice. You going or not? If you guys aren't, then I'm taking those tickets. I haven't been to Chicago in a while." I say. After that, I just wait for Willow to make the decision.
"Fine. We go, but how what are we going to do with our families, Kyle? Do we tell them where we're going or about my me-" Kyle cuts her off
"No. We're going back home. You're going back to Iris, and I'm going back to Aunt Mai's. Let's go Willow." He grabs her hand, but she doesn't budge.
"No, Kyle. This is important. I may not remember too much, but I do remember my family is understanding. We'll go to Chicago, and come straight back. Simple." She argues.
"What if you get hurt?"
"I won't"
"How would you know?"
"I just do." Willow reaches up, and kisses him lightly on the cheek. "Please?"
Kyle blushes slightly, and rolls his eyes "Fine. But we go into town and tell Aunt Mai where we're going."
"So it's settled. We get on our way to Denver tomorrow morning."
Kyle takes a deep breath, "Joy" he mutters sarcastically. He moves into the tent to sulk, leaving me and Willow outside. I look at her, my left eyebrow raised in question.
"Works every time" she says satisfied.
I laugh.