Important chapter! Complete with angst and dark humor! I should really write a happy chapter.

Chapter Thirteen: My Sister's Creeper

Something is very wrong…

Larman has been running around in a panic all day, and the other residents seem as clueless as I am. The most information I got comes from an older couple who live here, who claim that they heard some sort of commotion last night but are unaware of what it was about. Tad and I traced the building and the rest of the property for some kind of clue. This is what we found:

Blood with an inexplicable shimmer on the front porch, a trail of it leading to Larman's room. VERY suspicious. Starclops thinks that the butler is the killer. Please note that we do NOT currently have any evidence of a murder. Or, a butler.

Another thing we noticed is that whenever Larman leaves his room, it's to grab something and bring it back. The items he's taken (that we know of) are mainly food, water, and medical supplies. He even grabbed Nadia an hour ago. Said he needed her "rad healing powers." Haven't heard from either of them since. Starclops thinks the (probably non-existent) butler killed them.

This may or may not have anything to do with Larman, but Violet's friend, Cleo - who was spending the night with us - has been almost as on-edge on Larman. She claims that she feels "super cold and achy in all her parts." Last night she had a vision of someone dying, and she told me that banshees can't stand being close to the people they have visions of.

REALLY hoping there's no butler right now…

Nadia didn't know what to expect when Larman grabbed her by the arm and almost wrenched her shoulder while pulling her to his bedroom. Had it been anyone else, she would have fought back, fearing harassment or worse. But, she trusted Larman and figured that he had some kind of legal reason.

She just hadn't expected this.

The person lying on Larman's bed was a brown gopher-creature like him but clearly female. Dried blood and hastily dressed wounds covered her body, as well as patches of missing fur, and she did not appear conscious. Bloody bandages lay on the floor around her, and a bottle of antiseptic had been knocked over and spilled onto the carpet. A plate of uneaten food and a half-full bottle of water sat on the night stand.

A shaky "What happened?" was the only thing that Nadia could force from her own lips.

Instead of answering, Larman forced her into the chair next to the broken woman. "You gotta help her, dude! She's hurt bad, and I- Oh, gosh, I-I don't know what else to do!"

Nadia nodded. Helping this woman was more important than getting answers. (Of course, she would definitely ask again when things calmed down.) She reached out and gently started to peel off the bandage on the woman's arm-

Larman gripped her wrist so tight that it hurt. "W-What are you doing, dude?"

"I can't heal her unless I make direct contact with the injuries," Nadia explained calmly, even though Larman's reaction truly was scaring her.

With a pained look on his face, he hesitantly let go of her wrist. "Okay…"

Nadia peeled off the bandage, trying to ignore her friend's anxious squeak. She choked back one of her own when she saw the injury underneath. The flesh and even the muscle underneath the bandage was torn - no, burned - off, exposing charred bone. Blood - glittery blood - flowed out of the now-open wound, and Nadia fought back a wave of nausea as she rested her hands on the wound. The tingling warmth of power surged down her arms and through her fingertips, as she attempted to fix the injury as well as she could. She managed to momentarily stanch the bleeding, but she knew it wouldn't last long.

Letting go of the injury, she quickly wiped her hands on her jeans - they were covered in paint anyway, so hopefully no one would notice - and re-bandaged the wound as sadness thick as the blood washed over her. She knew what happened to the poor woman.

ShimmerFlame. She'd recognize it anywhere. And, short of prolonging the inevitable, there was nothing she could do. Frankly, this woman was lucky to have survived as long as she did.

Larman's small voice brought her back to reality. "I know the ShimmerFlame's lethal." He knew about it? Nadia supposed the mutant-ability wasn't exactly unknown. "I just thought… Well, you're a mutant, Nadia. Is there, like, some mutant-thing that can help her?"

Nadia couldn't look at his face. Hearing his grief was hard enough. She didn't think she handle seeing it too. "Um…"

Larman's quiet, "Oh," told her that he got the message.

"Who is she, Larman?" Nadia asked, brushing a still-healing hand through the woman's soft curls, hoping to do everything she could.

The male-gopher was silent for a while then said with a shaky voice. "Her name is Laurel. She...She's my big sis."

Her heart cracked, and all Nadia managed to say was, "Oh."

Larman walked up to the bed and gently took his sister's hand in his. "Our mom died when I was a baby, so she's always kinda doubled as my mom. Does-Does that make sense?" Nadia nodded. "A couple years ago, Laurel got involved with some bad dudes."

"A gang?"

"Um... Sort of. Not really? I don't know exactly. She never told me much about them. All I know is they're all mutants. Laurel's a mutant too, you see." Nadia processed this as Larman composed himself. "One day, Laurel called me, asking for help. She found out that the mutants were evil, but their leader got really mad when she tried to leave. I tried to help, but he said he wouldn't let her go unless I…"

Nadia looked at him then. He was physically tense and seemed to be having a mental war with himself. "Unless you what?"

Larman swallowed hard, his dark eyes still locked on his unconscious sister. "He wanted me to keep Ford out of his way."

Nadia's stomach twisted. "Is that why you let us stay here?"

"Part of it. But, I honestly do like you dudes, and I would've let you stay anyway."

"But, why does this guy want Ford out of his way?"

Larman sighed and shook his head. "Your guess is as good as mine, girl-dude."

They were silent for a moment, until a certain realization made Nadia's blood boil. "We've been staying here for five years. This guy just brought Laurel back?"

"And, he brought her back like this!" Larman's shaking was from fury now. "And, for what? Because she wanted to leave? Because, she wanted to fight back? If I find that bastard, I'll...I'll...I'll do many bad things to him!"

Nadia put a hand on his shoulder, and he relaxed slightly at the touch. "Who is he, Larman?"

"Not sure. He calls himself Guardian, which is kind of ironic, considering…"

Nadia nodded. "Yeah."

"You know...Laurel's been kind of in and out of consciousness since she got here this morning. She keeps saying stuff I don't understand. Something about an Enhanced and a Protector and junk. I-I don't really know what it means."

"Ford's a Protector," Nadia recalled, "but I don't know what that has to do with anything. And, I've never heard of an Enhanced."

They stayed with Laurel in silence until she died an hour later.

Tragedy has struck. The reason that Larman was so tense was because his older sister, Laurel, was found critically injured on the porch. She died less than ten minutes before I started writing this. I feel the greatest sorrow for poor Larman, who threw Nadia out of his room and has since locked himself inside. For a good while, Starclops continued to blame the butler we don't have. Until, she randomly said that my father was the killer, which… makes even less sense than a butler doing it. (Although, I'm pretty sure she was joking in her own sick brand of comedy and bad timing for it.) In actuality, the culprit's identity is still unclear. All we know is his alias…

Guardian

Not much is known about him, besides the fact he apparently maims people just because he can. He is a mutant, though what powers he possesses is unknown to me. Nadia didn't say what the cause of Laurel's death was, so I assume that means she doesn't know. Though, it must have been pretty bad, if Nadia's powers couldn't save her.

One thing that disturbs me is that Guardian wants to distance himself from me. As in, me specifically. This brings up an interesting theory: is Guardian the evil I am destined to face? It is entirely possible, but at this point I have no way of knowing for sure. Based on what I've learned (which isn't much), the man has something against Protectors (is this what he has against me?), and… Well, I've never heard of an "Enhanced," but I intend to find out what it is and what is has to do with Guardian.

GSV YFGOVI WRW RG! GSV YFGOVI ZODZBH WLVH RG!

The Enhanced was thought up by PFDroids5198. The ShimmerFlame was inspired by the Throne of Glass series by Sara J Maas. I highly recommend it. Review!