Chapter Three: Hospitals and More Mysteries...

~Star's POV~

"This is madness!" Ella muttered under her breath as she hurried after Star. "When I said that I wished we could do something like this again...this isn't what I meant."

I rolled my eyes skyward as I paused in the middle of the airduct. "You're telling me... I'm presuming you didn't want Uncle Ryder to end up in the hospital."

Ella huffed at that, her eyes flashing dangerously as she glared at me. "No... I meant crawling through an airduct because some nurse claims we can't visit him."

I decided against telling her that I had figured as much. Before I could find something to tell her instead, the section of air duct that I was in gave way, dumping me into a tidy, white, hallway. Scrambling to my feet, I glanced around, trying to figure out where exactly I was. I didn't have to look for long before I spotted a sign that designated this area as the quarantined area. I was about to jump back up into the airduct when I noticed a clipboard hanging on the side of a cart...one that had Uncle Ryder's name on it. Moving over to it, I scanned the information to figure out where he was being kept. Well...that explains why we can't see him. They have Uncle Ryder here, in quarantine. Something must be going on for that to happen...something more than a beating. I need to get to Ella.

I hurriedly left the hallway, heading back down to the reception area. Once there, I hid behind a plant, fidgeting ever so slightly as I waited for Ella to show back up. Finally, after what felt like forever, Ella dropped down next to me. "I couldn't find Uncle Ryder anywhere."

"Probably because we thought he would be in intensive care and not quarantine." I bluntly told her, a frown creasing my features as I looked over at her.

Ella groaned, shoving her hands deep into her pockets as she looked over at me. "Great...just great... he must have contracted a virus at some point."

"Come on... let's get going before the nurses have a fit about us hovering around." I tilted my head to the door, not needing to look to realize that a nurse had just spotted us and had already pursed her lips. A good sign that she isn't happy with seeing us there.

"Right..." Ella led the way out of the hospital, with me right behind her. There's definitely more going on here than the others realize. Question is...what is F's end goal? How deep does his organization run? How far will he go to make his end goal?

"Okay you two...what were you doing at the hospital?" Kai leaned against the doorframe to the guest room that we were sharing, his left eyebrow raised.

"We just wanted to visit Uncle Ryder." Ella squirmed, her eyes darting to the floor so as to avoid his gaze.

Kai ran a hand through his hair, before speaking up, exasperation flooding his voice. "Guys...they won't even let us, the ninja, in to see him. Even though if we ask to see a patient they typically let us regardless if we're related or not due to our status. They aren't gonna let anyone in to see him until he is a bit more stable."

"That's not going to happen until we can convince the hospital to transfer him out of the quarantine area, and change all of his doctors and nurses." I bluntly told him, the information that I had gathered still bothering me a bit more than I liked.

"What are you talking about?" Ella gave me a funny look, due to the fact I haven't told her what I had found out.

"F has someone working at the hospital. Whoever it is has Uncle Ryder in a medically induced coma...and they're keeping him in it. I found the medical charts for him while we were trying to see if we couldn't sneak into his room."

"Do I want to know why you were trying to sneak into his room?" Kai mumbled under his breath, only his eyes betraying his amusement over this conversation. "I'll alert the police that F has someone working there and have them question everyone over there. As for you two... it's getting late. I believe you two have school in the morning?"

"Don't remind us!" Ella and I cried out in unison, pretending to be mortified at that thought. Turning back to being serious, I waved bye at the red ninja. "Night Kai."

"Night Star, night Ella." Kai turned and left our room, snapping the door shut behind him as he did so.

As soon as he was gone, I pulled out my pajamas, eager to use them as an excuse to get away from Ella for as long as possible... "So when were you going to tell me that Uncle Ryder is in danger at the hospital?" Ella carefully stepped between me and the wardrobe that we were currently sharing.

"Once we had more information..?" I squirmed under her gaze, not liking her glare at all.

"Star Rose Emotican! Do not give me such an lame attempt at a lie! You weren't planning on telling me anything at all, were you?" Ella planted her hands on her hip, fury flashing in her eyes.

I debated on using my powers to calm her down, but at the same time using them on her seemed wrong. "I'm sorry Ella... I just didn't want you to worry."

"You also forgot that I can sense emotions which is close enough to a lie detector...that I know when people are lying. Most of the time. Compulsive liars are different since they're more confident in their lying abilities and thus don't subconsciously worry about getting caught." Ella stepped to the side, relenting to me.

"I'm really sorry sis..." I shifted slightly, even as I made a mental note to use my journalism skills to help narrow things down for the police. I don't even need Ella's help for that!

A/N: Okay I feel like I probably should explain this quickly. Last book, Star Ella and the Tournament of Elements, it concentrated more on Ella and her process to developing a bit more character. This book will concentrate more on Star. Ella basically knows she likes being in the shadows and solving mysteries, where as Star is questioning how much of what she enjoys, which is far too easy for her since it involves interacting with others and she feels as if her powers actually are interfering with her day to day life. Eventually she'll figure everything out...

Ella