Okay, what chapter is this now? Five rightio- And by the way, thanks for so many reviews. I was feeling unloved at first, then they came rushing in!
Piper paced in the kitchen, occasionally calling for Leo. He wasn't answering. She fidgeted nervously for a while, then decided she might as well work out what Paige and Cole actually had. She rustled through her grandmothers old dusty medical dictionary (A/N- I Love mine!). It didn't take long to work out what Cole had. She couldn't say she was entirely surprised when she found the page.
Yellow Fever (Yes, you were right, son gomay vidal goku. you can be smug now)
Yellow fever is a virus infection transmitted to humans from the bite of a mosquito. The yellow Fever virus often damages many body tissues, such as the brain and heart, but especially the liver. As a result of the liver damage, yellow bile pigments gather in the skin, giving the disease it's name.
Symptons are:
High Fever
Severe headache
Bone Pains
Mild Confusion.
Yellow skin
Bleeding from gums and stomach lining
Most people recover from this stage. Others, however, become delirious and fall into a coma. Only 2-5% of cases result in death.
Piper realized her hands were clutching the book in a vice like grip. She breathed deeply, then began looking for whatever it was that Paige had. Remembering her Fever, she checked under F. Then something from her memory whispered, then faded just as quickly. She scowled. What was it? She knew this. Then she remembered. She flicked through the book, her spine shivering in fear.
Scarlet Fever. Now she remembered. It was in Little Women. She flipped through most of the paragraph, down to the symptoms:
Sudden Fever and sore throat.
Vomiting, diarrhea
Severe headache
A fine rash
Tongue coated with small, red spots.
Scarlet fever is not very serious, but can develop into the more dangerous rheumatic fever.
Rheumatic Fever
Symptoms:
Swelling in Joints
Tonsillitis
Chorea (A/N- Inflammation of the brain)
Abdominal Pains
Attack on the nervous system.
It took Piper a long time to read through all the possible coincidences. The worst was death through a coma (A/N- I think. I got a bit confused with all the dame footnotes. If not, I'll just use poetic license). Just as bad was permanent nerve and brain damage. Piper was wondering which was worse. Paige dead or as a vegetable (A/N (again)- Sorry to anyone I just offended.). Piper was mulling this over when Leo finally orbed in. This time Piper knew he was slower. It took nearly a minute before all the tiny blue sparkles came together. When he became opaque, he was looking ill. Piper, I-". He swayed and nearly fell. Piper grabbed him and helped him to a chair. He sank into the chair gratefully and looked up, and Piper saw fear in his eyes.
"I asked my friend what he thought. He said it was a wyvren... Wyvern?"
"Wyvern." Said Piper flatly. Leo looked at her, surprised. Piper sighed and explained what she had found in the Book of Shadows. And the medical dictionary. Leo went pale. "We're in trouble." He said, sounding slightly hysterical. Piper saw the sweat on his forehead and nearly cried. She couldn't cope with all these sick people. She took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. Calm down and think! She ordered herself. After a minutes thought she came up with at least some kind of idea. "We'll move everyone in here. It'll be easier to look after them. Then we'll tell them what's happening. Maybe someone will think of something."
Cole managed to get downstairs himself, though his bones creaked and ached like an old tooth. He collapsed on the camp bed that Leo set up gratefully, watching Piper push a mattress down the stairs. Paige orbed herself into the room, though swayed dizzily when she appeared, and would have thrown up again, had there been something to vomit. Phoebe had to be woken and helped down the stairs. When everyone was assembled the situation was explained. They took it quite well.
"Oh, great. So this gets worse. Now all I've got to look forward to is Chorea and a coma."
"Yellow Fever? I'm a demon, I don't get yellow fever."
"What is Chorea?"
"Yellow Fever?"
"Guys!" Phoebe croaked, then began to cough. The coughs were high and weak, but they made her whole body shake. Leo went for water and Cole patted her anxiously on the back. Leo hurried back and thrust the water into her hands. She drank, and the coughs gradually faded.
The silence pressed down on them, and the weight of the situation fell upon them. More specifically, it fell on Piper, the only one who wasn't sick. Piper waited apprehensively for one of them to voice it. She didn't have to wait long.
"Hang on," said Cole suddenly. Piper braced herself for a question she couldn't answer "Why isn't Piper sick?" They all looked at her, and she could feel their resentment as if it was a living thing, coiling around her like a snake. "I don't know," she said steadily, though she was anything but. "Maybe it just...missed me?" she suggested half-heartedly.
"I got sick and I'm in the same room as you." Said Leo, rather guiltily, as though he felt he was betraying her. Cole opened his mouth to speak, but Paige cut in. "Look, it doesn't matter why Piper isn't sick. We need to find this stupid...whatever it is and get a tooth."
"It's a Wyvern. And it won't be easy, getting a tooth. Wyverns are smart. Some of them hire themselves out as assassins, so maybe this one was hired to knock us off." Said Cole grimly.
"Wouldn't be the first time" Phoebe quipped, then coughed.
"We're would it go though? The Underworld?"
"If it's an assassin, then yes." Said Cole, biting his lip as he thought. "It would probably be in the Fire Wave sector, most of the assassins hang out there." An idea suddenly occurred to Phoebe.
"Scry for it." She said carefully, fully aware that her aching throat would rebel against it's use. It did. She spluttered, and emptied the cup, trying vainly to sooth the biting scratch at the back of her esophagus. Leo frowned "But we don't have any maps of the underworld. I doubt if there even is a map for that place."
"I could try and draw one" suggested Cole. It was decided that this was the best course of action (A/N- and I was sick of dialogue). It didn't take long for Cole to draw the map, and Paige scryed while Cole, Phoebe and Leo rested. Piper set about finding some Mandragora root and onyx.
"Score!" said Paige excitedly as the crystal attached itself to part of Cole's map. Piper came from the kitchen as the rest gathered around.
"Guess you were wrong, Cole" said Paige slyly. The crystal was firmly attached to a small cave in Cole's map, labelled Wildray's Hollow.
"Wildray. As always, I should have known. He keeps all sorts of weird pets."
"I'm betting that one of them is a Wyvern." said Piper grimly.
This is where the ad break would be if this was on the show. Sorry if the chapter's boring, It's one of those 'fill in' chapters. Come on and review, people!