Undiscovered Power
~
Prida turned from her window after wiping the tear from her cheek, and found herself looking at her reflection in her full-sized mirror. After her shower she had donned a pair of plain, blue jeans, and one of Korey's blue checkered buttoned shirts, rolled up many times at the sleeves so they only just hid her elbows. Typical tomboy she found herself thinking. Her hair was still dripping from the shower, and she carelessly squeezed it out onto her bedroom floor. Then she made her way to her door, jumping the two steps leading into her bedroom, down the stairs, through the house again, and down the basement stairs, where she sat down on Raph's bed, or should she say, her old bed. She began to think about the situation she was in. She could not leave the house in case he woke and she really wanted to be there when he would, no matter how hard it made her heart thump against her ribcage.
"Oh, hey wait a minute," she said quietly to herself, looking down at the floor. A thought had just occurred to her, and she got to her feet to leave the basement; but before she did she quickly drenched the washcloth on Raph's forehead and replaced it. Then she dashed up the basement stairs, through the house for the uncountable time, back up the stairs and into her room. She walked over to her dressing table and pulled out one of the two top wooden draws. Inside was not clothes, but odd things for a teenager girl, like three flashlights, all different sizes; two tennis balls; a silver slinky; a couple of letters about banking details which she didn't know why she had; a note pad and drawing pad; a gameboy with its adapter and battery pack; a small working model of a car; two small stop watches; a pack of photos, loads of other little things and a small, screwdriver. Under this lot, buried under the bank envelopes, was a small piece of paper with a telephone number written in an untidy scrawl. This was Mikey's writing, she remembered it so well: he had begged her to buy a dress, and he would be there with her when she chose one; but to make sure she kept her promise, he gave her April's phone number and told her to call it. She had known it was there for four months, but to pick it up and call the reporter after was had happened brought her fear about the reaction from her adult friend. She kept imagining herself greeting April on the phone, who might burst into tears because Prida might have brought back memories of the guys to her. But that was when she, Prida, thought they were dead, and she still didn't know if the rest weren't. Plus, it had been too much on Prida's heart to call and be reminded of their deaths. Surprised by her weakness of emotions she didn't know she had, Prida had not dared to phone; after all, her traumatizing coma still wrenched at her suffering heart every time she thought about them. It had affected her so much more than she could have thought. But maybe now, as Prida looked at the piece of paper trapped at either end between the thumb and forefinger of both her hands, she would dare to phone someone who she was afraid to speak to.
Closing her messy draw again, she sat down at her computer desk, took the phone from its hold on the wall, and shakily started to dial the number.
Oh God, whaddo I say? Prida thought quickly to herself as she listened to the ringing tone. Er, 'Hi it's Prida, you might remember me – well you probably thought I was dead – but I have something important to tell you, apart from the minor news I'm alive . . . ? No, nonono, er,' Hi, I'm sorry I haven't phoned you sooner, but I thought I should give you a bell and tell you that I just ran down one of your 'nephews'' . . . ? God no. But before she could think of any other silly phrases that she might try and rehearse before the phone was picked up, she realized it had been ringing for longer than it took for someone to answer it. With a very shaky sigh, and with her heart fluttering in nervousness, she hung up.
"Must be at work," she whispered to herself. April WAS a reporter, she would be very busy in the daytime. But what time WOULD she be in? And who else could she call? She never got to see their sewer home, so she had no clue where it was. What about Casey? Did he even survive that night? She did not know, she had not heard anything about that after she was woken from her coma, and her sister had forbidden the police to ask her any questions about what happened. She didn't know where Casey lived anyway, if he was still alive. Prida didn't realize she had moved out of her room and was in fact walking down the basement stairs, until she stumbled and grabbed the banister to steady herself.
She made it down the stairs without tripping anymore, and walked around to the bed, where she sat, and was just thinking about what sort of illness her green friend had when his head turned in the pillow and he gave out a groan through his now parted mouth.
Prida turned towards him, eyes widened in surprise. She dropped off the edge of the bed and knelt on the floor right next to his face. His eyes were still closed, and she caught the washcloth as it dropped off the bed. Her heart begun to pound so ferociously she had to breath hard to keep up with it.
Raph groaned again, but after tossing his head for a third time, he had not opened his eyes. She only just noticed the few sweat beads decorating his forehead, meaning his temperature must have risen.
"R-Raph?" She called gently. Her voice was shaky, careful, as though talking to loud might affect him into taking longer to open his eyes. While her voice sounded unsteady and slightly scared, she herself was the host of growing excitement of which she had never felt. It was mixed with fear, nervousness, excitement and surprise. Even though she knew he had had to wake up some time, she felt surprised it was now.
"Eugh . . ." he groaned. His eyes opened slightly as though too sore to open fully. He closed them again and his head stopped moving. He appeared to be catching his breath.
"Raph . . . ?" Prida swallowed, catching her words in her throat. She rose higher on her knees, overlooking him.
He opened his eyes again, squinted sorely at her and breathed, "Who?"
Prida's smile disappeared slowly from her open mouth. She frowned softly but before she could ask him why he didn't recognize her he spoke again.
"Where am I?" By the breathless tone in his voice he seemed to want this question answered immediately, as though he thought he knew he was in danger.
He was squinting at her face, and she was completely shocked he didn't seem to recognize her.
But from Raph's view, all he could see as his head throbbed painfully was a blurred figure above him, and even blurrier colors of walls past the face that was staring at him. He couldn't even see any of the figure's features, and his ears were ringing so painfully that every sound seemed to echo and was distorted as though he was listening to them underwater,.
"You're . . . you're safe," Prida managed to say, though her throat seemed blocked. Through the extreme disappointment that had filled her heart with what seemed like ice, she felt something of a small warm feeling hearing his voice again after so long. If the others were alive, she couldn't wait to hear Mikey's sweet, fun-filled voice; Donny's intelligent tone, and Leo's graceful voice.
When Prida finished replaying some sentences said by each of the other three brothers from four months ago in her head, she looked back to see Raph falling limp on the pillow again, and a second later he was asleep again, though this time she knew he hadn't been knocked unconscious.
Prida stared at him for a few seconds with a saddened frown creasing her forehead. She sighed miserably and drenched the warm washcloth in the now warm water. Sighing again in irritation at the warmed water, she dropped the cloth in the water, picked up the bowl, stood up and walked to the end of the wall towards the stairs. Before she did, she turned around and looked at the bed, hoping that next time he woke, he would be less disorientated.
()()()()
The night came and went, and April felt exhausted from the workload she had at the office. She had returned home late every night, and this morning she woke very early to go down to the lair. Because she had not had time to receive phone calls at work, one of the assistants had brought her a message from someone called Leo, saying that something had happened, and he would like to see her as soon as she had the time. So as soon as she was allowed a few free hours before work in the morning, she had rushed straight to the Lair, wondering what Leo could mean. On arriving she could feel an absence in the air when she climbed down the ladder.
"Leo," she said when she saw him, greeting him with a hug. He didn't hug back; his arms remained limp at his sides and his features showed apologetic sorrow. He didn't want to have to bring her the worry, but he needed everyone at the minute.
"Hey April," Mikey said, much less cheery than usual. He was just coming from his room, looking as though he had just woken up.
April pulled away from Leo, keeping her hands on his shoulders. "What's happened, guys?" She asked softly, hoping it was the right tone for whatever news they were going to give her.
Leo's tired eyes looked into hers. "It's Raph . . ." he said. There was not a lot of sadness in his voice, and it was clear, but his tone and lack of body movement gave April the impression that he was definitely not happy either.
April cocked her head ever so slightly, an indication that she was listening carefully to what he would tell her next. She moved her eyebrows so her face was gentle and worried.
Leo blinked down at the floor, before taking an intake of breath and looking back into her face.
"He's missing . . ."
These words usually brought the message of a few hours worth of 'missing', but Leo's tone told her it was longer than a few hours. Her hands dropped from his shoulders, but she continued to look into his face; her frown grew slightly more.
"How long?" She asked in a very quiet voice, as though speaking in a library. She heard in the background Donny appearing from his lab, and could vaguely sense his movements stop at Splinter's armchair.
Leo, again, looked past her shoulder to the wall behind, and then, with his face at an angle to hers, he looked at her from the left side of his eyes.
"Two nights," he said, as though he had given those two night's absence out to Raph, and regretted it. His tones were strange in this situation, but April didn't mull on it for long.
April looked at Mikey to her side, and then at Donny behind her.
"He was ill when he left," Donny said to her, his frown was identical to Mikey's worried one.
"Ill?" April turned her body to Donny now, knowing how seriously ill her friends could get if they remained in the cold for too long. Donny had made sure she had known about their conditions in situations that involved temperature or other things that affect turtles differently to humans.
Donny formed the 'W' of 'we' with his mouth before he breathed it away, and then said it again, "We thought he had a cold two nights ago when he went out for a walk late at night, so we were worried straight when he hadn't returned the following morning . . . he knows a cold could turn into something more if he was exposed to cold temperatures."
"We searched all day yesterday," Leo said. "We even asked Casey if he had seen him, but he hadn't, and he started looking too. But we do know that Raph had been up and running the night he disappeared, because we heard the crooks had tried to catch him and failed."
April didn't know what to say at the minutes, and she kicked herself mentally for being useless when her friends had asked her to come down, probably to be something of a comfort to them.
"Where's Splinter?" She asked. "Has he been able to meditate into it?"
"He's in his room, meditating right now," Leo said. "He hasn't been able to find anything either."
April gave a small sigh. "Okay, I'll do whatever I can during work and my free periods to see if I can hear or see anything that might tell us where Raph is."
Leo managed a small, thankful smile. "Thanks April."
The sound of movement from the ladder made them all look up to see Casey stood there. It was early in the morning for him to be awake, but they were not about to rudely point this out. They did notice that, as Casey walked down the steps to them, he held something in his hand, which he was showing them. Leo took it from him as Casey joined him and April.
"I found it," Casey said, indicating the object in Leo's hand, "a few blocks from April's apartment."
Leo held up Raph's fedora and blinked at the floor. He looked up at Casey.
"D'y' think he had been trying to get to April's?" He asked.
Casey lifted his arms in a shrug. "No idea, but I found that next to a dumpster down a small road at the back of a few houses."
Leo looked up at Casey. "There was nothing . . . in the dumpster, was there?"
Casey shook his head. "Nope, check it, and the surrounding alleys. That was the only thing I found. I didn't even find anything that might have looked like a struggle."
Leo nodded hopelessly. Without looking at her, he said to April, "April, you should get going to work, don't wanna get you in trouble."
April was about to tell him she wasn't the least bit worried about getting in trouble while her friend was missing, but he had turned away and was slowly walking towards Mikey. Instead, April closed her mouth and nodded, giving Donny, who was the only was with whom she could catch his eye, a one-sided grim smile. She turned away and, standing on tiptoes, gave Casey a soft kiss, before stepping around him and leaving by the ladder. As she was climbing out into the square tunnels above, she was thinking to herself how could she possibly concentrate on her work now? She would keep a good eye on her neighborhood for any signs of unusualness from now on.
()()()()
Oh why is she never in! Prida though desperately, throwing her phone down on her bed for the fifth time that day. She had woken up early, hoping that she might be able to catch April before she started work, but no, the phone had rung for ages before she had put it down, and now it was past midday, and still no reply. Should she go to the building where April works? No, she didn't know where that was, and even if she asked for directions, she might give April a heart attack if she saw a girl who she thought was dead walk into her office. And she really didn't want to leave Raph alone. She would just have to keep waiting until April answered the phone. Maybe Prida might get lucky and catch her in her dinner hour, unless it was cancelled because of her work.
"Damn," she said to herself, nervously biting her thumb while staring at her purple bed sheets. She had done nothing but read down in the basement, and change her clothes as she had slept in the ones she had been wearing yesterday. Now she wore lavender colored shorts with a baggy light blue t-shirt that belonged to her sister. It was quite warm in the house, unlike outside, but she had turned down the heat as much as she could, hoping the basement would remain cooler than the rest of the house.
What could she do in the meantime? She had read a whole book while she had been down with Raph in the basement, and she had nothing else to do. Well, maybe she could check out some of her Health books that Mai had bought. She nodded to herself, and ran out of her room, past the bathroom, past Mai's king-sized room and into one of their spare rooms. It was a big room, about the same size as Prida's bedroom, and it had a few book shelves in here, most were filled with videos, but she walked up to one with three shelves of books, and let her eyes skim across the titles. There was a small and a big book entitled First Aid; another called Family Health; one called The Human Body (Dictionary), well Raph wasn't exactly human, so she doubted that would come in handy; and a book entitled Symptoms – Family Guide, a large book for even the most inexperienced medical people. She pulled this one out, finding it heavy for a book, and carried it out of the room, and all the way down to the basement where she could read it in the company of her friend. Awake or not she felt happier in his presence.
"Let's see if we can find your symptoms in here," she said quietly to him, opening the book to the contents page and running her finger down the listed text. "At least let's hope your symptoms are the same as human symptoms . . ."
She began flicking through the pages, reading the writing there, finding nothing useful and turning more pages. She didn't realized, as she flicked through the 865 pages, that the time flew, and she was soon asleep on Raph's feet, her cheek on page 434 of the open book.
()()()()
"Leo I think you should get some sleep," Donny suggested to his brother as he almost tripped walking to the couch from having been talking to Splinter in his room.
Leo nodded tiredly, with his eyes half open. "Yeah . . . okay." He knew he should get some sleep, it wasn't helping their search for him to stay awake. "G'nigh', Don . . ." he sighed, and made his way over to his and Donny's car with heavy feet, dragging them.
Donny watched him disappear, and then turned back to his lab. He was certain he had uncovered more information, but with the search for their brother he had not looked into it. Now, even though his eyelids were sore with sleep, he dropped into his chair, which tilted alarmingly back, steadied the chair, and switched on his computer. It gave a few small beeps as it booted up, and he leant forward, put his elbow on the desk and rested his chin on his thumb and forefinger, watching the screen. Eventually he managed to get his information back up, and started clicking and typing from thereon for a few minutes. He stopped movement altogether as new information flashed on the screen, and he started to read, his mouth forming the words silently as his eyes skimmed the sentences. He sat back with a frown, still staring at the screen.
"The small group of star-glazing Egyptians discovered," Donny read aloud, "that the Eye of Yailea itself gave a clue about the being it was created for, and left a single sentence etched with hieroglyphics about their discovery: 'A certain feature of the Eye can identify.'"
Don moved his head a fraction backwards as he re-read the line, "A certain feature of the Eye can identify . . ." He swallowed and read the whole paragraph again. "Well that obviously means something on The Eye artifact LOOKS like . . ." he frowned, "something on someone."
He got up and walked over to the cabinet next to his lab door. He pulled open the second draw and took out the precious artifact. He took it back to his desk, sat down and began to study it intently.
"Well, I don't think anyone is going to be made of twisting metal patterns," Donny said to himself, a half amused smile on his face, "that I can be sure of." He held it up to the small desk lamp light, turning it over. There was nothing on the back, so he looked at the front again, and looked at the deep purple crystal in the center. "Well, the crystal is called 'the Eye', and I don't think anyone has purple eyes . . ."
Donny's amused smile slowly fell from his face . . .