Chapter 10: Beginnings and Endings

Thanks for all the reviews Hope yall like Chapter 9!!! I'm skipping ahead so they are finally in Dallas. Here goes….

Oh and I don't own Darkest Powers….yet.

The rest of the bus ride was just a sleep filled blur. It took almost exactly fifteen hours to get from Columbus to Dallas and I swear I had to have slept at least 13 of those hours, only waking up to get food at the designated stops. I had been on such high alert for weeks that the lack of sleep hadn't really bothered me that much, but when finally put in a situation where I wasn't fighting for my life my body shut down and caught up on as much sleep as possible, which I suppose was a good thing because once we settled in Dallas who knew when we would get to rest again.

Besides making the trip go by a little faster, my coma also kept me from thinking about Derek. I wasn't sure what was going on between us, whether positive or negative, and I was just too exhausted to sort it out… I was also worried about what conclusions I might come to if I did have time to think about it…With everything I had to deal with Simon, I did not need any added complications in my life, especially under the circumstances that we were in. Running for your life didn't leave much time for sorting out my little romantic issues….if they even existed.

As we pulled in to our station I pressed my forehead against the window, suddenly not wanting to leave the bus. What we find here….more problems, more trouble? No matter what we always managed to, and now we were in uncharted territory. Maybe this time we wouldn't be able to get ourselves out of it. I was really afraid of what we would find here and wished for a second that none of this had happened. That it would all just stop. My eyes shut tight as I pretended that this was the bus taking me to A.R. Gurney (OK so this wasn't exactly my typical mode transportation to school, but hey, it's my fantasy). I would get out and see my friends. My solid, non-ghost friends. In fact I would never see a ghost again. I was just going to step off this bus and be the way I was: normal and happy.

I sighed during my dream. It didn't include Simon, Derek or Tori and I immediately retracted my wish. Over the past few weeks they had become my best friends (yes, even Tori) and now after all we'd been through I couldn't, and didn't want to imagine a life without them. They had become a part of me and as different as we all were, we had managed to become somewhat of a family. I couldn't give that up, no matter how appealing my old life seemed. Just thinking about not seeing them again made my stomach clench up in sadness. We had gone through this ordeal together, and it had connected us all in ways that could never be reversed.

I removed my forehead from the cool glass of the window and looked up. No one was in front of me and it looked like I was the last person on the bus. It felt a little weird that Simon hadn't waited for me to get off. I guess he had noticed my new indifference toward him. I had managed to avoid sitting by him the entire way here, not wanting to lead him on anymore than I already had. It was just wrong. My gut twisted guiltily. It wasn't fair for me to keep Simon hanging like I was. Something needed to be done soon if I wanted to keep our friendship. Even if I didn't like Simon in a romantic way I wasn't ready to lose him. He had always been there to comfort me and make me laugh. He truly was a good friend, I thought sadly. I wouldn't blame him if he stopped talking to me at all after how I'd treated him.

A heavy hand fell on my shoulder and I almost jumped out of my seat.

"Chill Chloe, it's me." Derek's voice was so deep and….appealing? I had to admit that when he spoke he sounded like Arnold Schwarzenegger, minus the thick Austrian accent, and he did have the muscles to match that voice…hmmm….

"Uhh…Chloe?" he sounded concerned at my lack of response. "Everyone's off the bus. We gotta go."

I sighed and looked up at him. "Sorry. I was lost in thought I guess."

He just nodded and helped me up. One of the nicest things about Derek was that he never forced me to talk about things that I might not want to talk about. It wasn't that he didn't care, contrary to popular belief. My mind flashed back to Derek's file at the Lyle House. They thought he "showed a complete disregard for others". They were wrong. It was just that he liked his privacy, and respected everyone else's.

As soon as we got off the bus I took in my surroundings. Dallas surprisingly looked a lot like Albany. I guess the buildings were taller and a little more modern looking. The colors were different too. Albany was redder and the trees all had yellowish leaves like it was always fall, while Dallas was greener and the buildings were almost all grey instead of the brick that I was used to seeing so much, but I didn't see any differences that just blew me away. I don't know what I was expecting….maybe cowboys and pastures? Not this that's for sure, but then again, most big cities looked similar to me. It was when you got outside the city limits that you saw the uniqueness of the area. I hoped that maybe we would get to do that, but I guessed that sightseeing probably wasn't on our agenda.

"So….what now?" Tori asked impatiently.

"Cool it Tori, I'm sure Derek has a plan." Simon looked expectantly at Derek. We all looked expectantly at Derek. He was our unofficial leader. He always knew what to do, but now he was suddenly very interested in the sidewalk.

"Um actually, I don't know yet." He said with his teeth gritted. He hated not knowing. "I know the group is in Dallas, but I'm not exactly sure where…."

"Great job Dog Breath!" Tori yelled. "Drag us all the way down here and not have a clue what we're going to do! Awesome!"

Derek glared at her, but it was half-hearted. I'm sure he agreed with her, but I wasn't going to let him beat himself up over this. He had gotten us headed on the right track. If we weren't here we would just be wondering around Albany with no plan, getting absolutely nothing accomplished. He needed to realize that bringing us here was the right thing to do. Not knowing where the group was would just be a minor setback. It was so typical of Derek to shoulder the blame if things didn't go right, but I wouldn't allow him to. Besides, it's not like we couldn't find the group. We just needed to do a little digging around.

"Tori. Stop." I said, "Look, its dark so let's just find somewhere to sleep for the night. We can start searching tomorrow. I think I might actually know a way to find these people."

"How?" Derek asked.

"Liz." Liz would be the perfect person…well ghost, entity, thing, whatever…to help us out. I could just tell her what we were looking for and she could just scan the city and probably have an answer for us within a few hours…at least I hoped it would be that easy. Of course my Aunt Lauren would be the better option considering her recent work with the Edison Group. Odds were she knew at least something about the Dallas rebels, but I just wasn't ready to summon her yet. I had just found out she was dead a few days ago and I was still having a hard time accepting it. I would need more time before I could face her ghost again, but if things didn't work out with Liz I would have to suck it up and summon Aunt Lauren. But only if I absolutely needed to.

"Oh." Tori said, speechless for once. I guess this was weird for her with Liz being her former best friend and all before she was taken away and killed by the Edison Group because of her uncontrollable powers…which apparently we all had.

"That's a great idea Chloe." Simon said. "Let's go find a place to sleep." Derek also grunted his approval and then led the way to look for a safe spot for the night.

Tori mumbled something that sounded like "Of course you'd agree with Chloe…she can do no wrong." But I ignored it.

I shouldn't be so hard to find a spot here since we didn't have to be as incognito as we were in New York. News of my disappearance probably hadn't gotten here yet, and even if it did no one would pay much attention to a missing girl from Buffalo because the odds of her ending up in Dallas were slim. How ironic.

As we walked, Simon pulled me back. "Chloe, can we talk for a sec?"

Crap. This didn't sound good.

"Uh s-sure." I mumbled as I slowed my stride so that we were out of earshot from the other two. Well Derek could probably hear us, but at least Tori couldn't. I noticed that Derek looked back and I silently prayed that he would yell at us to keep up so that I wouldn't have to deal with this right now, but instead he just stared unemotionally for a while before turning his gaze back in front of him. Great, the one time Derek isn't snappy…

Simon cleared his throat awkwardly. "Look, you know I like you right?"

"Yes." I said lamely. How could I not after his impromptu kiss back at the truck stop that I had oh so gracefully rejected…

"Well, I can't help but notice…you've been acting different around me…ever since I, you know, kissed you…" He was looking at the ground as he spoke, clearly nervous to hear what I had to say.

As I thought of a response I looked up at him. He really was cute. His thin athletic body, blonde hair, and cute smile would have any girl drooling, and from stories I'd heard, there definitely hadn't been a shortage of love-struck girls in his life. As I looked him over I tried one last time to convince myself that Simon was the one for me. He had to be the one I wanted. He was nice, cute, funny, and he was into the same things as me…Okay so I still didn't think our relationship had depth but that could change over time right? Maybe my second thoughts about him were just stress related.

"Chloe please say something," he said quietly.

I sighed. No, things wouldn't get better with time. I wasn't into Simon like any normal girl would be. I mean, I did have a crush on him, but that was back when I was still semi-normal. I mean sure I had just started seeing dead people, but I still possessed some of my old normalcy. These past few weeks had managed to drain every last drop of it from me though. I guess I just was a freak.

"I'm s-s-sorry." I said. God, I wish I had something more to say, but all I could think of was 'hey Simon, sorry I've lead you on all this time. I don't like you as more than a friend, even though I act like it!' and there was no way in hell I was saying that, no matter how true it was.

"So that's it then…" he said, "I'm sorry too."

He started to walk a little faster but I grabbed his arm. "I really am sorry." I said. "It's just, things have changed for me and well…I'm just not sure about much of anything anymore. You really are a great guy Simon. Better than great, actually. I just…I don't know…nothing makes sense. Please don't be mad."

He sighed and smiled weakly. "I can't be mad. You didn't do anything. You just don't like me like I thought you did. I guess I'm just disappointed is all…"

With those words I let him walk ahead. Hopefully in time, he would get over this and forgive me. Until then, I would feel guilty for what I'd done.

Despite the guilt though, I couldn't help but feel a little relieved. Sure this wasn't exactly how I wanted things to go but at least now I wouldn't have to worry about sending false signals to Simon.

"We can stay here," Derek suddenly announced.

We had ended up under a bridge of highway 75. When did we get to a highway? I really needed to stop spacing so much.

"Well this is safe." Tori spat sarcastically. "People here drive like lunatics; we're just asking to get squashed like bugs!"

"The angle up from the highway is too steep." Derek replied. "A car would have to be going over 110 miles per hour to make it up here in a crash." Why was he always so smart?

"Huh." Tori replied, not looking convinced, but also not exactly know what to say back.

I awkwardly helped set up the sleeping area. I felt weird being around Simon… Derek sure seemed in high spirits though. He didn't even snap at Tori when she made a comment about having to find a portable dog house to take with us from now on. He even looked over and smiled at me a few times which never failed to make me blush. Huh, wonder what the sudden mood change is all about…

A/N: Ok I think we know EXACTLY what that's all about ;)

Also, I hope yall aren't getting bored with the story :/ The action will come next chapter, and soon some more characters will be introduced. Just bear with me and keep reading! Also feel free to message me any suggestions

And of course….REVIEW PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!!!