Hey guys, here's Chapter Eight! Enjoy!

Lily's POV

I wake up and find myself lying in a hospital bed. No...no, it can't have just been a dream! I notice my puffle sleeping next to me. Then, I slowly turn my head as I hear footsteps come toward my room.

"You're awake!" Exclaims a familiar voice.

"PH?" I say, sitting up in bed. "Where's Matt?"

The question comes instinctively out of my mouth. PH looks at me with a worried look. Her gaze sweeps over me and she puts a gentle hand on my fin.

"He's dead, Lily." She answers, softly "he's not here."

I struggle to fight the tear lands on PH's fin with a gentle plop. I turn my head and look out the window. It's a sunny day outside. The doctor came to check on me and then said I could leave.

PH offers to walk me home but I decline. I just want to be alone with my thoughts. My puffle and I leave the hospital and take decide to take a walk close by Skii Hill.

"Ahhhhh" Incoming!" A voice yells at me, overhead.

I turn to see a lime green penguin crash land, just a few feet ahead of me.

"Are you okay?" I ask, running up to him.

"Yeah" he remarks, getting back on his feet with a smile. "This happens to me all the time."

The penguin examines his burnt jetpack with a frown.

"My name is Rookie, by the way." the penguin announces.

"Lily."

"Nice. Say Lily, have you seen a red penguin fly past here at any time this week?"

"No, why?"

"Nevermind."

Rookie picks up his jetpack and starts to walk away.

"It's nice to meet you, Lily." He calls back, "maybe we'll see each other again."

I watch as Rookie stumbles toward the woods.

"Watch out!" I yell and then seconds later, I wince as Rookie smacks his head against the oncoming snowboard.

"This also happens to you all the time, I assume?" I remark, lending Rookie a fin.

Slyder's POV
Lily's friend had arrived at the hospital, earlier that day and we both had a small talk.

*Flash back starts *

"Where's Lily?" Demands a worried brown penguin.

"She's in here, asleep." I inform her.

The penguin studies me with a quick glance before entering the room.

"Who are you?" She asks, suspiciously.

"My name is Slyder," I introduce. "Lily and I met briefly once before and I was with her when she lost conciousness."

"What happened?" She questions, still suspicious of me.

"It's hard to explain." I answer quickly.

The brown penguin takes a look at Lily before returning eye contact with me.

"Tell me everything." She demands, coldly.

"Uh..."

And then after I told her a small portion of what had happened earlier...

"Who's Matt?" I ask. "Lily seems to have some strong feelings for him. I assume he is dead from the way she looked at him."

The brown penguin, introducing herself as PH, briefly lowers her eyes to stare at the floor before responding.

"Matt was Lily's boyfriend. He died during a rescue accident" She states, "they both met and worked at the Pet Store."

PH looks out the window as the moon began to rise.

"We were all on a rescue mission one day up in the mountains when a huge blizzard hit. A puffle was trapped on a ledge just below a cliff and so both Matt and Lily harnessed themselves and climbed down. They reached the puffle as the wind tossed them around."

PH turns to the green puffle, nestled by Lily's side.

"It was this little guy that they saved." PH exclaims, patting the puffle gently on the head.

She kept the puffle that would trigger her memories of that day. Why?

"Lily and the puffle had reached the top just as another wind flung Matt against the rocks and...it was enough to break the rope."

"You can stop there." I interrupt, "I think I get the picture."

PH nods, wiping a tear from her eye. Matt's rope snapped and he took the hard way down.

"There's more to the story," she insists. "It was such a huge storm that Matt's body was never found. It must be lost under several feet of snow. Lily...she may act strong and insist that everything is fine but... she has never been the same since the accident."

*Flash back ends *

I finally reach Ace's hideout where Elodie2003 and Ace are waiting.

"Slyder, where have you been?" Ace asked.

"He wouldn't tell me anything," Elodie2003 pouts. "So now that you're here. I demand you tell me everything! Why were you as pale as a ghost hours before but now you're fine? What was that blinding light? Most importantly, Where is my watch?!"

"I don't have your watch!" I exclaim, "and the rest is a long story."

Elodie looks around the room and then sits down in a chair.

"Spill," she orders.

"Seriously?" I remark, "it's getting late."

Elodie crosses her fins against her chest. Then, Elodie gave me some type of death stare.

"Eesh, fine" I state and then glance over at Ace.

Ace just shakes his head before grabbing us some food.

"Elodie...what class are you in?"

"Excuse me?"

"What level clearance do you have at the EPF?"

"I have a level three clearance, why?"

Ace hands us some fruit, "it's all I have at the moment."

I peel open the clementine and break open the slices. Elodie stares questionably at the apple before taking a bite. Ace and I exchange a silent conversation about what I should tell Elodie. Eventually Ace gives up and then just shakes his head and walks away. I turn to see Elodie already half way done with her apple.

"Can you keep a secret?" I smile at her.

Why was Rookie looking for Jet Pack guy? Is Slyder really going to tell Elodie everything? Find out what happens February 24th.

Hey guys, Agent Catherine here. I'm really sorry for getting these chapters up so late. I've been busy with school lately and my new job. On top of that, I'm struggling with writer's block on this particular story. Bear with me, I promise you won't be disappointed in what I have in store for this series. ^-^

RR:

2930- Yes, I'm still here. ^-^ A connection, maybe?