Pay close attention to what happens in this chapter! You might see some of it pop up later!

Special thanks to: fansfavorite9, jadebeckcattori, keshafever and sloth13 for reviewing! You guys are awesome!


CHAPTER 8
Tori's POV

Everybody started acting strange after Cat (and Jade) got violently attacked the second time around. My father was working relentlessly on the case, but there was only so much he could do with so little evidence of the event. After visiting Cat and asking her some questions, the only thing he managed to make out of it was that it was the same person who had hurt her the first time. That was a start, but it didn't really lead anywhere.

I told him that I wanted to help, and so did my friends, but he explained that it was one, his 'job' to solve the case, and two, it was for my own safety that I stay out of it, but I didn't agree.

At school, life was dulled down and boring. Just the fact that a fellow classmate and student were almost killed was enough to make even the most hyper teachers serious for once. Sikowitz stopped being so random, forcing us to focus on actual paperwork; we did less improv and listened to more lectures.

André liked to keep to himself, rarely saying anything and barely ever bringing out his piano or sheet music again. Occasionally, Robbie would join us for lunch, but other than those few times, he stayed out of everyone's way with his puppet.

Beck made it his duty to stay with Jade as much as possible, and that was why she had now resorted to eating lunch in the girls' bathroom just to spend some time away from him.

But sometimes when I went in there to take wazz or fix my makeup, I would catch her crying by the sinks of in one of the stalls. I knew she was sad, as was I and all my friends, but everyone was acting like Cat had died or something (which she didn't).

As a matter of fact, every day at least one of us would visit Cat in the hospital, seeing as she was probably bored all the time and was going to be in there for a while more while she fully healed.

Today it was my turn, and it was going to mark the two week anniversary since she had been brought in to the place. After school, I returned home to get my bag of things (I had bought her a little something to keep her busy) and after that I went straight to the hospital.

"Here to see Cat Valentine, Miss?" the kind old lady at the front desk asked me. I nodded; it was nice to know that I was now recognized here. Of course, that probably wasn't a good thing. "All right, go ahead. She'll be taking her medication in an hour, so you have until then to keep her company." She smiled warmly, her wrinkled cheeks pulling back into a friendly grin. I gave her my thanks and made a beeline up to Cat's room.

"Cat! It's Tori!" I said, knocking. Even though she couldn't get to the door, we learned to at least give her a warning that someone was coming in, because the one time André didn't, she freaked out and almost upturned the entire room throwing anything she could get her hands on at him.

I waited a few seconds and opened it slowly, finding her sitting upright in the bed for the first time. Looking immensely happy in a papery hospital gown covered with pink teddy bears, she waved at me, her eyes lighting up. Although she was still covered in bruises and cuts, she was recovering very quickly.

"Hi, Tori!" she bubbled. Even her voice had returned to normal so soon.

"Hey, Cat. Here, I brought you something." I walked up to her bedside, at the same time reaching into my bag and pulling out a diary, the cover adorning a white kitty cat. The outside was made out of a pink furry felt and there was a strap that held several gel pens.

"Oh! That's so cool, Tori!" she gushed, taking it from my hands and opening it. "I don't know how I'm going to write in it though…since my right arm is all…" She glanced down at her wrapped up arm, sticking out her bottom lip in an adorable pout.

"It's okay. You don't need to do anything with it right away."

"I have another journal at home that I used to write in a lot before I ended up here," Cat said in a small voice. "So I think I'll just continue it in here." My heart leapt as I saw how excited she was.

I sat there with her for the next hour and we talked about all sorts of things that she liked discussing, like why unicorns went 'extinct' and her favorite songs and artists. I promised her that as soon as she was admitted from the hospital, I was going to take her and rest of my friends to Disneyland.

Because it was just about time for the nurse to come in and give Cat her medicine, I was busy packing up when she started coughing violently, almost looking like she was about to throw up.

"Are you okay?" I asked, going up and touching her shoulder.

"Cough—cough—um, I think I'm fine, Tor—cough!" she spluttered, her hand grasping her throat.

"Let me get the nurse now," I assured, pressing the call button on the side of the bed.

"No—no—it's—cough, cough—fine!" she wheezed.

The nurse barged into the room, looking stunned at having been called in a few minutes earlier than necessary. She was obviously about to ask what was wrong and then spotted Cat having a coughing fit, who was now going green in the face, like her system was suddenly being attacked by a fever or flu.

"Cat, what's wrong?" the nurse asked, approaching her slowly.

"Ugh…my stomach really hurts…" she confessed, bending over and holding her abdomen. Tears slipped from the corners of her eyes. "It feels like something is eating me from the inside."

The nurse's eyes widened and she raced to the door, calling out to anyone that might be walking by.

"Cat?" I asked, kneeling down as she started to gag and cough some more.

"Tor-Tori," she gasped, "I forgot to tell you. Can you…can you remember something for me?"

"Yes, anything."

"Could you w-wr-write it down?"

I looked around frantically for a scrap of paper or something. For a hospital room where there usually always is, there was none. I wrenched out my blue PearPhone and opened up the Notes app, showing it to her. "Is this good enough?"

Cat barely nodded, her sharp gasps becoming more noticeable. The nurse was still out in the hall, frantic to get somebody's attention. "W-w-write…write down the word 'iller.'"

"Iller?" I typed in the word quickly. "Iller as in, miller without the M?"

"Just iller!" Cat almost screamed. "I-L-L-E-R!" She started crying in pain just as a doctor entered the room. He ran up to her side, pushing me out the way and putting his hand over her heart.

"Excuse me Miss, but I think you'll need to leave, please," he told me, taking out his stethoscope. "What's wrong, Cat? Tell me what hurts."

Cat seriously looked out of it. "I-i-it burns," she choked. "Everything b-b-burns…"

"Okay, just lean back and take deep breaths, okay? You're going to be all right." He forced Cat to put her shoulders against the pillows, her breathing becoming erratic and uneven. "Miss, I need you to leave the room!" He looked right at me.

"What's wrong with Cat?" I wanted to know, not following the doctor's orders until I had the answer.

The nurse came over and grabbed me roughly, forcing me to walk towards the door as the doctor pried Cat's arms apart from her body, ripping through her gown and revealing her stomach covered in bloody bandages.

"Let's go, Miss!" the nurse sounded scared as the doctor tried to comfort Cat at the same time while taking a pair of surgical scissors and cutting open the gauze.

I wasn't ready to leave, but then passed out at the sight before us.


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Jade's POV

"Stop blubbering like a baby and frickin' tell us what you saw!" I screamed at Vega, who was cowering the corner of the HA parking lot. Tears were streaming down her face and she was hiccupping like a two-year-old.

Yesterday I had gotten a call from the hospital that Cat's condition was declining dramatically, and nothing else. Seeing as Vega was the one who saw her last, I figured she would have some information on what exactly happened to my best friend.

"Jade! Calm down!" Beck warned. I guess he wasn't approving of my attitude towards her, but besides that, he wasn't really doing anything to fend me off from her. André was just standing there alike, not doing anything to stop me and I knew for a fact that he liked Tori as much as he liked me all those months ago.

We all must be so desperate for news on Cat.

I was about to kick Vega's head off at this point because she wouldn't stop crying. Pulling my foot back and aiming at her face, I prepared to give her a sharp smack but André tackled me to the ground before I could release it.

"Stop, Jade!"

"Get off of me, you idiot!" I screeched, trying to push him away.

"Why do you have to be such a gank all the time?" André questioned, helping me up but holding on to keep me from getting to Vega. "Give her a few seconds, okay? If you wanted to see what happened to Cat so bad, why didn't you just go yourself?"

"No..no…stop…" Beck's arms came around my chest before I could rip André's head off.

"I WOULD'VE GONE BUT IT WAS FRICKIN' VEGA'S TURN TO!"

"Okay, okay. No need to get so upset." André backed up, looking almost scared. I didn't mean to lose my temper with him. He was a decent guy; it was just that Vega kept wazzing me off right now. "And stop using that F word," he added, "It's kinda creeping me out."

"I could use worse," I glared at him.

"Y-y-you're s-s-so mean s-s-sometimes, J-Jade," Tori said, finally standing up and using André's body for support.

I growled at her like a dog, Beck crushing me in his grip warningly. I hissed, scratching his arms.

"Tori, can you just tell us before she skins me alive?" Beck asked kindly.

"What's the magic word, Jade?" Tori taunted, coming extremely close to my face.

"Imperio."

"No it's not!" she practically pouted, with André rolling his eyes.

"Crucio," I tried again, playing stupid on purpose and wishing that I could really use the spell on her.

Vega actually stamped her foot. And I thought I was the frustrated one here.

"Avada Kedavra," I said. That had been my favorite curse from the Harry Potter series, and this was the perfect time to annoy Vega with it, even though I desperately wanted to know what had happened to Cat.

"Please," André had the nerve to correct me, anxious for some knowledge.

"All right, all right," Vega snapped, but I could tell that she wasn't fully satisfied. "Well, so I went to visit Cat, and you know, I bought her this really cool journal to write about her life in, but apparently she already had one and stuff, and—"

"Get to the point," I interrupted.

"Please," Tori shot back. My top lip pulled back in a snarl. "So then we were just talking for a while, and then my hour was up because she had to take her medicines, but then, she started like having this weird coughing fit, so I called the nurse in early.

"Cat started complaining that her stomach was really hurting so when the actual doctor came into the room he, uh, cut open her gown and the bandages off and that's when I saw…" Vega trailed off, looking very sick.

"What did you see exactly?" André insisted after a pause.

"Her skin was so mutilated it didn't even look possible…" Vega shuddered. "The edges of the cuts were…literally a bright green." She started gagging, bending over and her face turning white.

"Green?" Beck sounded skeptical. "That…can't be possible…unless…" He thought for a moment, "Yeah, that can't be possible."

Something clicked in my mind, an image flashed before me.

I remembered the knife the man attempted (and failed) to use on me. The blade was all greasy-looking, not with blood but a cloudy white liquid. I collapsed in Beck's arms as the realization hit me.

"The knife he used to stab her…" I whispered, everyone looking at me, "was covered in poison."


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