Chapter 3

Aftershock

"There are no faster or firmer friendships than those formed between people who love the same books." Irving Stone

Dear Mother,

Do you think that is true? That books loved by the same people build the fastest, firmest friendships? I suppose if they were discussed and known by the two said individuals than it could be and probably is true and yet…

is that all that can be formed is a solid friendship?

Well, now, I'm just getting ahead of myself.

I really miss you mom. I wish desperately that you were here. To love me, to advise me, because I, for one, have no idea what the hell I'm doing.

Sincerely,

Theresa

When Tessa opened her eyes the first thing she saw was not a blue sky. It was still the color blue, but not as light in shade. It was darker like those of the ey—

Tessa squeezed her eyes shut tightly enough that behind her lids she started seeing stars.

"Tessa!" someone exclaimed beside her. "Oh, thank god, you're awake! I wasn't sure you would ever stir again." She felt a sudden pair of arms around her neck grasping her along with the faint smell of butterscotch.

Mandy. Thank God, it was just a dream.

Opening her eyes again Tessa could see the light cream color of Mandy's shoulder length hair before she pulled away. "When I saw that car hit you. I just—" Mandy shook her head unable to finish the sentence. "It went by so fast. One minute you were standing and the next you were crumbled up against the sidewalk. I thought…" Mandy's voice was starting to break as her eyes started getting watery. "I thought you were dead. You weren't moving or anything. And here, at the hospital, the doctors said your injuries weren't too serious. A sprained wrist, a fractured bone in your leg, a broken ankle, bruises, cuts, and only slight swelling of the brain." She was shaking her head as she stood up and began to pace in front of the bed.

"Mandy." Tessa's voice was hoarse as if it had been weeks since she talked.

Yet Mandy continued, "Can you believe that 'slight swelling of the brain,' they said, 'it's nothing too major, really'. How can that possibly not be something serious? It's the brain!" She threw her hands in the air as she stared out the window and the darkened sky. It was night. "But, I guess it could have been much, much worse. Apparently, the car wasn't going too fast and you hit it at just the right angle to cause fairly minimal damage at least according to the doctors."

"Mandy," Tessa tried again, her voice still hoarse.

Suddenly Mandy's head snapped back as she said, "Oh, you must be thirsty, aren't you? One of the nurses said you might want water when you wake up." She went back over to the side of the bed where the nightstand was and grabbed the glass of water sitting there and handed it to her.

Sitting up higher in the bed Tessa reached for the glass, happy for it and actually wanting it. But Mandy was already starting up again about the doctors and her concern for whether or not they actually earned their degrees the legal way. "Mandy," Tessa said again, "I'm fine. Everything is fine." Her friend seemed to exhale a little from that. "I feel…well…" Tessa looked down at her bruised body. "I don't feel great, but trust me when I say I could not be happier to be in this hospital room with just you beside me."

Mandy tilted her head and gave her a strange look. She didn't understand the strange dream Tessa had and the fact that Tessa was so relieved that it was only a dream. Because of course that's all it could ever be. No one could ever travel back in time and for that matter no one could travel into a novel. Just an overreaction from her imagination probably caused by her head slamming into the concrete. Tessa was actually surprised to hear there was only a little swelling compared to how much her head hurt, although it was a dull throb now.

Taking a sip of the water she told Mandy about the whole strange dream she had while she had been unconscious. And strangely enough she remembered every detail vividly unlike her normal dreams, even the features of the…the demon that she had encountered in the dream stood out to her. It was certainly one of the more realistic dreams she had had in her life and the most memorable one on top of that.

"Seriously?" Mandy squeaked holding her palms up to her lips. "You are so lucky. I mean—not about the getting hit by the car thing, but about having the dream of going into the book. I always wanted to have a dream like that." Her eyebrows furrowed as she paused. "I wondered what type of demon it was. A Shax, maybe, who wanted to drag you back to the nest." She shrugged as she thought it over.

"A Shax Demon?" Tessa asked.

Mandy looked at her slightly exasperated, "They're a parasite demon." She looked at Tessa as if this was supposed to make complete sense to her. "Trackers. Used by warlocks sometimes." When Tessa still didn't answer, Mandy added, "You really need to read the Mortal Instruments Series and you would have a better idea about these demons."

"Yeah, that's exactly what my imagination needs a better idea on fictional demons to haunt me in my sleep." Tessa laid back down in the bed. "That would be just perfect. To have ideas of how they could kill and torture me would be even grander."

Mandy simply rolled her eyes at this. "Oh, but that wouldn't happen, drama queen. Those two shadowhunter boys would come just in the nick of time to save you and look good doing it. By the way, how did they look again?"

"I already told you five times, Mandy. Nothing about their physical descriptions has changed in the last fifteen minutes," Tessa replied and yawned.

"You're getting tired. You should probably get some rest. My mother always said the best medicine was sleep."

Tessa's eyelids were getting heavier as she looked back over at Mandy. "How long was I asleep before?"

"Five hours, six, somewhere around there."

Turning her head Tessa stared at the bright lights of civilization and the few stars that sparkled in the dark sky as Tessa closed her eyes with a small smile on her face. She was so relieved to know that she hadn't gone completely mental.

It was all just a dream. Nothing more than a dream…