Disclaimer: Not only do I not own any of the concepts of the Night World series, but I'm also quite broke. Everything belongs to LJS, original characters are my own.

Chapter Two

Aubrey felt hands beneath her. Wait, beneath? She hadn't realized that she had fallen. After a moment the room stopped moving and she saw that she hadn't actually fallen, but had come very close. She focused on the person in front of her and recognized Jonathan's eyes, very close. They're a very dark blue, she thought to herself. All these years, I always thought they were black. His handsome face showed hints of concern.

Looking around, she noticed everyone shared the worried expression. Perry was halfway over the plush desk chair he had been sitting in, glancing towards the arm that was holding her up. Heather was rushing toward her. "Oh God, are you okay?" Her voice was frantic.

Now that she actually was okay, Aubrey felt rather foolish. Her face grew warm as she replied, "Yeah, I just had a bit of a spell." She stood up on her own, giving Jonathan a smile in thanks, holding on to his arm in case she needed the support. She looked around at her friends. "I'm fine, really." To prove this, she let go of Jonathan and took a couple of steps toward the desk where they had quickly set the cake.

"Are you positive?" Perry asked, his voice fierce and filled with protection. "That didn't seem normal." He was completely out of the chair and standing near her now.

Aubrey knew for a fact that it wasn't normal, but as much as she loved having his attention, she didn't want to spoil the party. She gave a reassuring laugh, touching Perry's sleeve. "I'm okay now. If it happens again, we'll check it out. I promise."

He nodded, his face still uneasy, but noticeably calmer. He put his arms around her shoulder in a sort of half-hug. "You had me worried, kid."

She felt a pang go through her chest as their bodies were held together, as she always did, except this time it felt . . . different; dull and almost appalling. She pulled away, trying not to do it too hastily.

"Let's cut the cake, then," Althea said, taking one last careful look at Aubrey before pulling out the cake knife.

It was a small cake, just enough so that each person had a piece, and elaborately decorated with lemon frosting. When Aubrey took a bite her senses were attacked, combining numerous smells and tastes. There was a spicy, floral scent that reminded her of a perfume she used to have, which was immediately swept away by a slightly bitter, yet familiar taste that managed to blend perfectly with the walnuts. She looked over the cake and marvelled at how a simple white cake could be so enjoyable. She mentioned it out loud to the group.

Althea and Dilys laughed together, but Althea was the one that answered. "It's a cake that we traditionally make in my family."

Perry dropped his fork onto his plate as he turned to look at the two girls. "This is what?"

Althea rolled her eyes. "Oh, relax. Remember, I'm a professional."

"Hardly," he mumbled, pushing the plate away.

Aubrey looked between the two, rather confused, and saw that Heather appeared to feel the same. Neither of them said anything, but continued to watch as the battle of wits continued.

"Even if you were a 'professional', what about her?" He pointed toward Dilys. "She helped, didn't she?"

Althea looked generally upset. "It's not like she hasn't watched me do hundreds of other things like this."

Jonathan seemed completely unaware of the argument and had obviously enjoyed the cake. He was trying to scoop up the remainder that was left in the centre of the serving dish. There was a loud clink as he set the pile onto his plate.

The sound seemed to echo in the room as everyone turned to look. Perry's face was tense, while Althea's eyes grew wide in wonder. Dilys looked as if she was going to be sick.

"What is that?" Perry asked calmly.

Jonathan used his fork to separate the crumbs. At first Aubrey thought there was a rock in the cake, but after he picked it up and wiped it with a napkin, she saw that it was some sort of crystal. It was mostly cloudy and white, but appeared to be clear in some places. It was about half the size of her thumb and just as thick.

Suddenly Althea's hand was grabbing for it. "Oh, wow, I've been looking all over for this." Her voice seemed panicked. "I bet you guys are a little disgusted now, huh? Sorry. It must have fallen off of my necklace when I was baking last night." Her other hand flew out and grabbed Dilys's arm. "I wonder how that could have happened."

All the while, Aubrey had been getting dizzy again. It was almost overwhelming now as she reached for the side of the desk for balance. She took a deep breath, trying to gather her wits. "I hate to spoil the party you guys, but something is wrong with me."

Heather was already next to her, offering her arm. "I'll take you home. Do you think you can walk that far?"

Before she could answer, Jonathan was already standing. "I'll drive you guys. Just let me go get my car."

Aubrey was warmed by the gesture and very relieved. She knew she wouldn't be able to make it to the apartment on foot. Her body suddenly felt very heavy. The different scents of the cake seemed to drift back toward her, weighing down her mind and eyelids.

Perry was coming towards her, offering his hand. "Here, let me help."

In that instant she knew she couldn't let him touch her. She wasn't quite sure why, but her body was controlling itself now, pulling back from him quickly before he had a chance to make contact. "That's okay."

She could see the hurt in his eyes, but she couldn't worry about it right now. Pulling back from him had drained what energy she had left. She made a movement toward the door as Heather tried to keep her up. As she stumbled, she saw Perry's arm come toward her.

"No," she whispered, but it was too late. He caught her.

The contact burned. Not in the giddy, warming way that she was used to. The pain actually made her yell out. She heard him grunt, as if something was happening to him as well, and felt his arm pull back.

She began to fall in slow motion. Everything was growing dark. There was a noise from the entry . . . a flash of red hair . . . somebody was yelling. She blacked out completely before she hit the ground.

He had let her fall.

Perry looked down at his arm, trying to figure out what had happened. There was no mark on the skin, but he could still feel the electricity running through his blood.

Althea was kneeling over Aubrey, moving her lips but not letting out a word. Dilys was standing above Althea, a whine coming from her throat that a normal human wouldn't be able to hear. Heather's face was completely white as she kept babbling hysterically in a high pitched voice. Jonathan was picking Aubrey up gently, despite Althea's attempts to keep her on the ground.

Perry just stood there, looking over the whole situation in shock.

He had let her fall. Instead of holding on, he had dropped her. Nothing like that had ever happened before. He had always been protective of Aubrey, had never let anything happen to her in all the years he had known her. He looked back at his arm as if it were some sort of animal that might attack him.

Jonathan was taking her out the door now. Heather turned to Perry, having calmed a bit, but still looking distressed. There was something like disbelief in her eyes. "We'll get together and do something when she's better." She glanced toward his arm before following Jonathan.

Althea and Dilys were coming up to follow. He could suddenly move again, forcing his good arm out in front of them to block the doorway. "You two are staying here."

Althea was stuttering, "I—I need to help—"

He turned a glare on her, cutting her sentence short. "You've helped enough." His voice was fierce and on the edge of rage. "Sit down. Now!" He put power behind the command, making sure they would obey.

The two girls looked at each other before turning toward his bed and taking a seat. Neither of them could meet his eyes. He was oddly reminded of two children who had been caught sneaking cookies before dinner.

But that wasn't the case. This was a witch and a werewolf that had been caught dabbling with magic.

Trying to stay calm, he spoke through his teeth, "Now which one of you wants to explain what happened?"

Neither of the girls said anything at first. They both just stared at their laps, fidgeting. Finally, Dilys broke the silence, still refusing to look up. "We wanted to do something special for your birthday."

"Continue."

"We . . ." Althea began. "We sort of . . . well . . . we kind of . . ."

"We enchanted the cake." Dilys cringed as she said it.

He could feel the fury building up inside of him. "What do you mean, you 'enchanted the cake'?"

Taking a deep breath, Althea began to explain. "We thought it would be fun to do a cake spell. It's the same cake that we make for birthdays in my family. It's supposed to encourage your deepest desire. You know, it helps wishes to come true. We just . . . well, we made it a little stronger. I added some extra herbs to it."

"Like?"

"Like, well, the recipe called for dandelion, hazel and bay leaf, so we put them in, just a little strong. And then I added a tiny bit of dogwood . . . and violet." She looked at her jewelled hands dismally.

"And a whole quartz crystal?" His voice was sarcastic and came out like suppressed anger.

At the mention of the crystal, Dilys flinched and Althea's eyes shot up to meet his. "I swear, I had nothing to do with the quartz! I know better than to throw a whole crystal into a batter." She turned to glare at the girl next to her. "But I don't imagine a werewolf would know that."

"I had no clue it would do that!" Dilys pointed toward the door that Aubrey had been carried out of. "You always talk about how quartz magnifies your spells. I just thought it would make it a little stronger." She turned to look at Perry. "I had no clue." Tears were threatening to spill from her eyes. "I would never hurt Aubrey."

"Did it ever occur to you guys that this wasn't a group of witches that you were making this cake for?" He spoke quietly, so the people in the neighbouring dorm rooms wouldn't hear him. "That you were, in fact, making it for one witch, a werewolf, a vampire, and three humans!"

Althea stood up in defence. "My family has humans over for gatherings all of the time! Nothing like this has ever happened. And if it was going to affect humans so bad, why didn't anything happen to Jonathan or Heather?"

Suddenly her jaw dropped and her eyes grew wide in what almost looked like horror. "Oh, goddess." She grabbed Perry's shoulders. "What did you wish for?"

He pulled out of her grip. "What are you talking about?"

She seemed to be at some sort of breaking point. "When you were blowing out the candles, I told you to make a wish. What did you wish for?"

He looked around, confused. "I wished . . . my wish was for Aubrey. I wished she would stop hurting, that the sad look in her eyes would go away."

"Oh no." The tears began to spill onto Dilys's cheek.

Althea took in a deep breath. "What do you mean by 'hurting', Perry? How is Aubrey 'hurting'?"

"I can sense it in her. She hurts sometimes, even though she smiles. I want her to be happy." He had been staring in the distance as he remembered, but now he turned back to the girls. "You guys had to sense it. At least you should have." He gestured at Dilys, who only shook her head in response. Surely another Night person would be able to sense the pain that Aubrey was putting out? He turned back to Althea. "But what does my wish have to do with anything? I'm amazed I even thought of anything, because I don't believe in superstitious things like wishing on birthday candles."

Althea let out a sigh of defeat. "We didn't just enchant the cake." She walked over to the desk and grabbed something. When she came back, she opened her hand to reveal three of the candles from the cake. They were a soft yellow, delicately twisted with lines of gold, and smelled of citrus and ginger. When the light ran across it, he could see that the wax glittered in many different colours.

"We stayed up all night making them. This was our gift to you. The cake was to help everyone's desires get moving, but these candles we made especially to fortify your wish. It was meant for a wish for you." She was getting upset again. "I didn't know you were going to make a wish for her, you sick, son of a—"

"I'm sick?" he interrupted, catching her fists as she tried to attack his chest. "I'm not the one who enchanted a cake and birthday candles and didn't let anybody in on it!" He was breathing heavy now, no longer furious, but worried sick. "But what does that mean? What's going to happen?"

"I don't know!" she cried. "I don't know why she was hurting! I never sensed anything wrong in her. Sure, I saw the look in her eyes, but I just figured it was natural. But if you wished for her to stop hurting, and then the wish was strengthened when you ate the cake, whatever it is that hurts is going to stop."

"Maybe . . ." Dilys said softly. "Maybe she got sick from the power? We've already agreed that the cake spell was too strong, right? Add to that the power of the candles; she might have just been overwhelmed by the energy that was going through her."

"Yeah, maybe," Perry said softly. It sounded possible, but something still felt wrong at the back of his mind.

"Whatever it is," Althea said, "we can't to anything about it right now. I hate to say it, but we have to wait and see what happens. Once she's awake we can try to figure out exactly what's going on."

He groaned. He knew it was the truth. And he was suddenly very, very tired. "Okay. But I want one of you to go over there and check on her, make sure she's okay."

A sardonic appearance came over Dilys's features. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you sounded like one of us damned Daybreakers."

He turned a glare on the wolf. "I'm neutral, not stupid."

Althea looked him over. "There's going to be a time when you can't be neutral anymore."

Perry had had enough. "I don't want to listen to anymore of your babble about the Millennium Battle, especially right now. I need to relax. Please leave me be."

The girls started making their way to the door, but Dilys continued. "Just remember, Perry, the Council isn't going to allow for any tolerance of humans if they win. At least in Circle Daybreak we're fighting to keep them alive."

He let out an aggravated sigh. "Joining Daybreak would be like having a death-wish. My parents alone would make sure I died for it. Granted, I might be concerned about a human and be friends with some, and I even support what you're doing, but that doesn't mean I have to be a part of a group that's asking to be killed by the Council and the Redfern family. I prefer living quietly and not breaking Night World Law."

Just before she closed the door, Althea looked back at him, giving him a knowing look that said more than she dare say out loud, and that he intended on ignoring.

Thanks to Rhia and incarnated-soul for the wonderful reviews. Just as a note, I wanted to let everyone reading this know that I'm staying a few chapters ahead, trying to prevent anything from distracting me and to keep from getting behind on updates. I'm going to try my best, so please keep reading, and let me know what you think.