Author's Note: Another update! * bow * Be very surprised. Color guard/summer band has started. My schedule for next week looks like this:
Monday– Mini-camp, 1-9
Tuesday– Mini-camp, 1-9,
Wednesday– 10-5
Thursday – Mini-camp 9-5
Busy busy busy! (But hey, I've gotta a sexy tan, so why complain?)
I'd like to thank Marie Delacroix, The Illumination, WhiteAngel43, HarleyQuinn1307, and Kathleen Victoria Wintersfor all of the reviews they posted on nearly all of my stories. Thank you all for your criticism and encouragement. Thank you to Multi-Shipper Girlwho sent me all of her ideas for this chapter and to Matthew Pridefor helping with this chapter.
Funny story time!So my friend, Mackenzie was having a scavenger hunt all across our time for her seventeenth birthday, and she has a black car with no defining features. So every time we got in and out of her car we had to move really fast because we had to get so many items done on the list in a certain amount of time. We went to this church where we had to sing a religious song, had our friends' dad jump rope in a hula hoop, and took a group photo in the elevator then we all ran outside to go do the next thing on the list. I remembered Mackenzie parking close to the door, so I opened the door to the closest black car and jumped in the back. Then I heard this frantic female voice scream, "Wrong car!" So then I was, like, "OH!" Then I scrambled out of the car and found all my friends keeled over in laughter, and the woman that gets out of the car (who's having a panic attack) just so happens to be my yearbook teacher. She was flipping out, but then realized it was me and starts laughing at me, too. Kind of embarrassing...
You guys have voted! The "right now" side received one more vote than the "later" side. In order to appease both, I'm going to write a couple chapters of Unmasking the Arcanum now while I wrap up Hide and Seek. (I still have a lot of chapters to go according to Multi-Shipper Girl, so don't hold your breath.) Then when H&S is nearly finished, I will post the first chapter of my Danish story.
Chapter Fourteen: Reflections in the Sunset
The moment we came crashing into Vlad's lab, I let out a sigh of relief. We made it. Barely, but still in one piece. That's more than I can say for Tucker though. Blood is still seeping from his wounds all over the light interior and floor of the Speeder.
Vlad, who had been hammering away on a computer, sprung from his chair to assist us. I sat Valerie down on a chair and leaned her gently against the wall.
"Tell me the details later," said Vlad hurriedly. "Help me move him to the infirmary."
Danny nodded and held onto Tucker as Vlad pulled a stretcher out from a long cabinet. A flash of curly, brown hair made me whip my head around just in time to see Valerie leap towards Danny with a scalpel in her hand.
Time seemed to slow down around me as I lunged at Valerie, slamming into her knees as I brought her down to the ground. My reflexes dodged her kicking feet, but they weren't fast enough to sidestep the shiny scalpel that was thrust into my left shoulder.
My scream that pierced the air didn't compare to my next cry when Valerie sliced through the blue jumpsuit's fabric and into my lower stomach. Flashing lights danced in front of my eyes clouding my vision. I could barely see the scalpel blasted out of Valerie's hand by a green light. She shrieked as her hand smoked from the blast. She prepared to pounce towards her attacker like a savage animal only to be intercepted by a glowing white net that trapped her on the floor of the lab.
Breathing became more and more difficult. My own blood didn't bother me, but I hadn't felt this pain before. It was a completely unnatural feeling to have flesh exposed to the air. With every heave of my chest, blood gushed from stomach wound. All I could do was lay on the floor propped up on my good arm and watch as a calm Vlad sedated Valerie with an abnormally large syringe. I winced when she yelped as the needle slid into her neck before slumping on the ground motionless.
Danny on the other hand wasn't so calm.
"Sam?" His blurry figure was kneeling down beside me and breathing heavier than I was. "Can you see me?"
"Define... 'see'," I grimaced.
A pair of hands were applying pressure to my stomach, but I couldn't find the energy to voice my discomfort. I gave up supporting my weight with my right arm and sunk to the ground as gracefully as my injuries would allow. (Not very.)
"You're pretty stupid, you know that?" Danny narrowed his too-blue eyes at me which were coming into focus along with the rest of his body. He placed another hand on my shoulder and pressed down on the wound.
I scowled in response. "You're one... to talk." I tasted something rusty in my mouth. It only took me a second to figure out it was blood. Peachy.
Vlad placed some pillows underneath my head a moment later. "You're going to have to lay on your side so you don't choke on your blood," he instructed.
With some pained efforts I managed to roll onto my side. The act made me feel disorientated all over again. It felt as though someone had opened a window and let cold winter air swirl in the room. It wasn't this cold when we got here, was it?
"She's going into shock," Danny concluded.
"... medical kit, ... sure her ... clear," Vlad ordered.
He was talking funny by leaving every other few words out. Maybe they were playing a game to see if the other could guess what they were trying to say?
The lights in the room dimmed drastically. What were they up to? Maybe we were going to play a game of hide and seek in the dark.
Warmth spread across my lips. It was a welcoming feeling after being so cold. Why was that again? I mentally waved the question away as a new one arose in my head. Why was it so dark? Suddenly I realized my eyes were shut. With great difficulty I forced them to open to find Danny's lips pressed to mine. I jolted up and coughed which hurt like hell for some reason. The pain eventually subsided, but the tingly feeling I felt on my lips still remained.
"What're you doing?" I asked incredulously. Surprise coursed through me when I heard my weak voice. I sucked in a rickety breath. What was wrong with me?
Danny seemed very embarrassed, and his cheeks flushed a bright pink as he backed away from me. "You... I had to use an AED after the CPR didn't work."
Is he saying what I think he's saying?
"You mean I..." Unable to finish, I let to unfinished question trail off.
Danny nodded then rubbed the back of his neck with one hand, looking at a spot just over my shoulder.
"Something wrong?"
"I, um, brought you you're regular clothes to back on." He motioned to my black and purple clothes laying neatly folded on a chair.
I sat up to go retrieve them when my left shoulder rippled in agony. I fell back down and gasped. That's when I realized I was laying on a mattress that had been laid on the floor of the lab. I craned my neck to examine my shoulder to find it wrapped up in white gauze. A few tiny spots of red had surfaced on the material.
That's when I became conscious of the fact that my chest was entirely exposed with only a blue cloth to cover my endowments.
"I had to jump-start your heart," Danny quickly explained. "You can't have any metal on your chest when you use an AED, and that includes underwires on, um, ladies wear, and –"
"I know, Danny," I interrupted. Half because I already know the medical procedure, half just to make him stop blabbing. I chuckled at the fact that Danny was too embarrassed to say the word bra. I gasped as that motion hurt, too. Narrowing my eyes at my exposed chest I found more gauze on the lower right side of my torso, just about my pelvis.
Danny frowned. "Valerie stabbed you in your appendix. We've already removed it and cleaned up the wound site. You lost so much blood Vlad and I had to give you a transfusion, only..."
"Only?" I prompted.
"Only we couldn't give you blood from Tucker because he needed a transfusion as well, and we couldn't give you any from Valerie because we don't know what's wrong with her yet that's making her want to kill me. Vaughn could've put a drug in her bloodstream or something."
I furrowed my brow. "So then who did it come from?"
He bit his lip then said, "It was my blood. We used my blood for Tucker, too. We hoped that with my healing powers it would save you two... and it did."
My head started swimming with questions. "What about your ghost DNA, though? Doesn't that mean that I –"
"Have ectoplasm in your blood?" He paused for a second. "Yeah, it does."
Suddenly then I was angry. "Did you or Vlad even think for a second to ask me how I felt about that?"
"Of course we did! But you were dying, and it was the only way to save you. My blood may not even affect you," he reasoned.
I knew my former statement was illogical, but what if I turned half ghost like Danny? How would I explain that to my parents?
Hey, Mom.
Sweetie! We're so glad you're home. How did your rescue mission go?
Well, I only got stabbed twice by my psychotic friend, and now there's a possibility that I'm half ghost.
Oh, Samantha, we're so proud of you!
Probably not.
"Tucker's almost completely healed," Danny announced. "His arm's in a sling, but other than that, he's almost completely healed. The same for you except for some tissue hasn't healed all the way on your stomach incision, and your shoulder is still trying to mend some ligaments."
"Sounds, grand. When can I get up?"
The corner of his mouth pulled to the side. I had noticed him doing that whenever he was thinking.
"You should probably wait another hour to try to stand. At least that's what it would be at the rate my blood is healing your wounds," he answered.
Another hour of staring at this ceiling flat on my back. Yippee.
"How's Valerie?" I asked.
Danny's eyes seemed to sadden at the sound of her name. "Every time she's regained consciousness she's trying to kill me."
"Oh," I murmured. He sounded hurt. Hurt because Valerie was hurt. For one reason or another, jealousy coursed through me. Was it because I wanted him to sound hurt when he talked about my wounds? Like he cared about what happened to me? Or was it because he had reserved those feelings for Valerie?
I shouldn't be having these thoughts. There wasn't anything between me and Danny, so why do I feel like this?
"Has Tucker seen her yet?" I wondered aloud. Maybe if she saw her boyfriend, she would snap out of... whatever state she was in.
"We have her restrained, and Tucker tried talking to her. She calmed down, but then when I came into view she went crazy trying to break her binds, so Vlad had to sedate her again," Danny replied mournfully.
I refrained from rolling my eyes. He sounded like a puppy that got kicked by his owner. It was beginning to become annoying. Valerie moved on, so why can't he?
"Run along then, I'm sure you want to see how she's doing. I'll be fine here." Honestly, I just wanted his lovesick expression out of my face.
"And leave you here with no one to talk to?" Danny asked, bemused.
I scowled. "Some people like to be alone."
"Not you," he remarked after a moments hesitation.
And it was true. I didn't mind having someone to spend time with. Especially when that someone was Danny.
Less than an hour later I was up and kicking. It was a relief to stretch my muscles and pop my back.
First, Danny and I went to visit Vlad to check on his progress with Valerie. It was a good thing Danny was there to lead the way because I would've gotten lost in the enormous mansion.
When we walked into Vlad's medical room, we saw him flicking a syringe to expel the air bubbles in the serum. Not surprisingly, Tucker (still wearing a sling on his right arm) sat in a chair positioned not far from a sleeping Valerie. She was strapped down to a table, but seemed to be blissfully ignorant of that fact given the peaceful expression she wore.
Tucker was so intent on watching Valerie that he didn't notice us when we walked in the room. Vlad, however, was immediately aware of our presence. He lay the syringe on a metal tray and slipped off his latex gloves, disposing of them before making his way towards us.
"She's been out for about half an hour now," Vlad informed. "I've been giving her small doses of a calming serum while she's been unconscious in hopes of expelling... whatever is causing her to be so unbalanced. We'll be able to see how it's changed her state of mind only when she wakes up from the anesthetics."
As if on cue, I heard a timid voice say, "Tuck?"
The three of us went to Valerie's bedside with Danny hanging back out of her sight. Probably for the best.
"My head is killing me," Valerie groaned. She made a motion with her hand then became confused when she noticed her restraints. Fear crept onto her face. "What's going on?"
"Shh," Tucker comforted her. He smoothed down her curly hair. "You're alright." Then he leaned down and kissed her gently. Their lips parted softly, twining against each others as relief flushed their features at a return to something that was obviously a normal occurrence for them.
They... actually look kinda good together, I admitted.
"I love you."
Valerie laughed a little, and nodded. "And I love you."
If I was a hopeless romantic, I probably would've thought of the action as endearing. Fortunately, I'm not. So I forced down an, "Ugh."
In the brief silence that seemed to stretch for miles one sound broke through - the slap of sneakers against a marble floor. I realized suddenly that Danny had been lurking behind me. I spun on my heel, knowing his reaction would likely be volatile, but he was nowhere to be seen. A retreating shadow strode swiftly down the dim hallway of the Victorian mansion.
Catching only glimpses of his shoes or hands every time I rounded a corner, I broke into a run. Where was he going?
After running up two flights of stairs in hot pursuit, I had to stop to catch my breath. Apparently the ghost blood hadn't healed me completely yet if I could be tired from a jog. Did he know I was following him and was trying to lose me?
Fearing I'd lost his trail, I resorted to guessing which path he'd taken. Finally I spotted a head of raven colored hair fleeing to a balcony. I raced towards Danny, now upset at the exercise he'd put me through.
"You're kinda hard to follow," I said through my gasps for air. "Why did you come out here?"
No answer. I folded my arms against my chest to block out the chilly breeze. He was sitting on a chair with his legs pulled tight to his chest, his arms locked around them. He was just staring at the sun disappearing into the horizon. His expression wasn't sad, or even pained. Not confused or hurt.
Just... lost.
"Missing something?"
Danny shook his head morosely. "I can't miss what I never had."
I sighed and pulled a chair up next to his. "Valerie?"
He nodded.
Racking my brain for the right thing to say, I finally spoke. "Some of us think that holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it's letting go."
"Way to quote Herman Hesse," he mumbled glumly.
The sun had almost completely vanished now, leaving behind an array of soft colors. Not far away was the silver outline of the crescent moon floating beside the glittering stars.
"Then here's one of my own." I turned my attention to him, and he turned to face me. The moment our eyes met I told him, "This sun may have set, Danny, but all that means is that there's a new moon waiting for you just over the horizon."