Disclaimer: Hi again, people. Part VII is officially now up, and
VIII should follow shortly. Thanks to all who submitted their opinions
on the story continuing past England hugs everyone gleefully Don't
forget to review, and we don't own Sweep. If we did, the cheers would
be audible around the world, so you would know. pause Oh, yeah, I
knew I forgot something. The song is "My Last Breath" by Evanescence.

Summary: A night at a rave turns deadly for one of the members of the coven.

Part VII: The Path to Nowhere

Hold on to me, love
You know I can't stay long
All I wanted to say was I love you
And I'm not afraid
Can you hear me ?
Can you feel me in your arms?

MORGAN'S P.O.V

"I still want to go shopping."

"Oh, drop it."

I just grinned serenely at Hunter while he gave me a semi-affectionate, semi-annoyed look and returned to his oatmeal. Or, as he called it, 'porridge'. How utterly British.

"So what's the plan for today?" Bree asked calmly, taking a sip from her mug. "And can I just say that British people, regardless of their strange affiliation with tea leaves, sure know how to do coffee."

"Coffee is nothing but a poor substitute for tea," Hunter stated matter-of- factly. "It has been scientifically proven that tea provides an admittedly more gradual but overall more effective ... 'boost', for lack of a better term, than coffee does."

I put my hand on his knee gently. "Let it go, Hunter."

"So what are the lot of you up to?" Beck asked pleasantly as he and Aunt Shelagh approached the circle of couches and chairs in the Greenshackle Inn's lobby, where Kithic's six members were haphazardly grouped.

"There's lounging to be done," Sky said with a yawn. "Can't slack off on that now, can we?"

Aunt Shelagh's face brightened slightly. "Oh! If I may suggest, I have a friend from work that owns an abandoned warehouse downtown. He's holding a rave tonight, and even though it's last minute, I may be able to affix six more names to the guest list."

Simultaneously, seven pairs of jaws dropped and fourteen eyes widened in shock.

"Doth my ears deceive me?" Hunter asked in a slightly awed tone of voice.

I couldn't believe it, either. Was Shelagh Eventide, who merely days ago had been screaming her head off at all of us, attempting to make some sort of gesture of peace? Was Shelagh Eventide actually being ... nice to us? Frankly, it didn't seem plausible to me.

But what the heck. Why look a gift horse in the mouth?

Sky was the first of us to recover. "Um ... yes ... I think that sounds ... fairly enjoyable." Raven just nodded her head, still looking sort of stunned, as did Robbie and Bree.

Hunter looked at me with his eyebrows slightly raised, searching for approval, which I gave with a slight nod and smile. This could be fun.

"Yes, Aunt Shelagh," he said finally, still looking at me. Then he looked at her. "I think that we would all enjoy that."

Shelagh nodded slightly, clearly uncomfortable with all of the stares that she was receiving, and looked quickly to her husband, who was still gaping at her in open-mouthed confusion.

"Well, all right, then," she said. "I suppose that I'll call him, then."

With that, she all but fled the scene. A moment of silence was met with Beck's satisfied sigh.

"Well, congratulations, kids," he said with an amused laugh. "I think you finally broke her."

It's weird how these things work out, I thought with a grin as Bree and Sky immediately went in to fashion consultation mode and began discussing the best place nearby to buy new clothes.

"Hey," Hunter said quietly, taking my hand in his. "Are you okay? You spaced out."

"I'm just thinking," I said. "Ready to go back to being my usual wallflower self."

"You're not a wallflower," he said in surprise. I just gave him a wry smile.

"Sure, Hunter. That's easy for you to say, being a guy of incredible hotness."

He just laughed and pulled me up out of the chair by my arm. "And I hope you always feel that way." He paused. "Not the wallflower thing. The hotness thing."

"Sure, Hunter. Whatever."

"... INCREDIBLE hotness, huh?"

I never really knew how long it could take for a day to go by until then. All of us were anxious to go to the rave and finally be able to unwind after having spent the last three days in mortal peril and fearing for the lives of a fair number of people. Now that the situation was under control, thankfully not by us, I knew that everyone was desperate for a chance to relax and have a good time.

And can I just point out now that it is not, I repeat, NOT my fault that I overheard Sky and her parents talking. When they leave the door wide open, someone is bound to hear them! If it hadn't been me, it would have just been someone else. So I hereby release all responsibility and declare that it was NOT my fault.

"Are you sure you're going to this, Athar?"

"Ma, I'm not thirteen anymore. Of course I am."

"... Your friends don't know, do they?"

"About what happened? No. At least, I don't think they do."

"Don't give them an opportunity to find out."

Sarcasm. "Oh, right. Because I really do want them to know about the time that I nearly, due to a stupid mistake, got myself killed."

Okay, time to stop listening! I had clapped my hands to my ears forcibly and strode away from the inn room as fast as I could humanly go, my ears buzzing slightly. Sky had nearly gotten herself killed when she was thirteen? What had happened? Bad thoughts, Morgan, bad thoughts! It's none of my business. It's none of my business. It's none of my ... was it because of magick? Did she do a spell or something that went wrong? No! Stop thinking about that! It's none of my business!

"Morgan?"

With a startled gasp, I whirled around to see Hunter standing behind me, looking confused.

"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned. He touched my arm lightly. "You look sort of pale."

"I'm fine." I groaned inwardly. Sure. Fine. I just heard Sky talking about a near suicide and I was fine. Liar.

At that exact moment, Sky and Aunt Shelagh walked out of the inn room; it took just about all of my internal strength not to run away in the opposite direction out of guilt resulting from my eavesdropping.

"Oh, hey, guys," Sky said, looking surprised to see us. "Hey, Da wants me to stop by the pharmacy to pick up his painkillers for his back on our way to the rave, so can we leave a little early?"

Hunter just shrugged. "Sure."

Sky grinned. "Great. In that case, we'd better start getting ready, Morgan."

I nodded as Hunter looked confused.

"We don't have to leave for two hours."

"... Your point being?"

"No point. I'm pointless."

Holding my last breath
Safe inside myself
Are all my thoughts of you
Sweet raptured light
It ends here tonight

HUNTER'S P.O.V

"Morgan, are you coming out?" I called into the bathroom, where Morgan had been locked for the last hour and a half. "Because, you know, the others are ready to go, and I suspect that they won't hesitate to leave without us if we –"

"Fine, fine, fine." She gave a beleaguered sigh and, unlocking the door, stepped out of the bathroom.

My mouth, for the second time in half as many days, dropped open in shock. Morgan, being the gorgeous angel that she is even if she were covered from head to foot in mud, looked even more amazing than I had ever seen her before. Sky and Bree must have put some effort into her preparation, because I had previously always heard her denouncing those that were concerned only with their physical appearances and therefore let their spiritual, or emotional, processes slip. Now, though, seeing her knee- length red ruffled skirt and matching tank top that miraculously brought out her eyes like I had never seen them before, I was almost certain that I was in the presence of some divine spirit.

If I were Catholic, I would have had her canonized as a saint immediately.

"You-You-You look ..." I stuttered incoherently for several more minutes as Morgan just looked anxiously at me, and after mentally slapping myself, I grinned nervously. "Amazing."

She flushed a deep red, nearly matching the hues of her outfit, and pushed me out of the inn room.

"Come on, Romeo. We've got to go get really drunk and hyped up on psychedelic drugs."

"I would advise against the use of drugs in any case, especially MDMA, for its long-term effects are still being deliberated by the Food and Drug Admini –"

She sighed with frustration. "Hunter, your nerd side is showing."

"Anything you say, Juliet."

"Doofus."

"Geek."

"Prat."

"Did you just say 'prat'? I thought that only we English were allowed to say that."

"I must have picked it up from you."

And so it went on until we reached the lobby.

I'll miss the winter
A world of fragile things
Look for me in the white forest
Hiding in a hollow tree Come find me
I know you hear me
I can taste it in your tears

MORGAN'S P.O.V

"Are we all ready, then?" Sky asked, looking up from checking her makeup and making sure that her navy blue strapless dress was wrinkle-free in a portable mirror as Hunter and I walked down the spiral staircase and into the lobby.

"As ready as I'll ever be," I said with a nervous smile as Bree and Raven squabbled over whose turn it was to use Sky's mini-mirror next. "I'll take that, thanks." With that, I quickly snatched the mirror out of Sky's hands and proceeded to scan myself for any errors in preparation while Bree and Raven glared at me and then resumed their battle of rock-paper-scissors.

When Raven and Bree had finally stopped bickering and had both checked their outfits, for Raven a black asymmetrically-hemmed tank top and tight black jeans and for Bree a skintight black halter dress, Hunter finally managed to push all of us out of the door and into Aunt Shelagh and Uncle Beck's car, which Beck had generously agreed to let us use.

"Don't do drugs!" I could hear Aunt Shelagh calling out of her room's window at us as Hunter drove us away.

Holding my last breath
Safe inside myself
Are all my thoughts of you
Sweet raptured light
It ends here tonight

I had never been to a rave before, and now I was starting to understand why I had never held much interest in them. The music was REALLY annoying. Techno. Which is clearly quite popular here in Europe. Even Hunter and Sky had to cover their ears when we first got past the bouncer, to whom Sky had innocently mentioned that she was Shelagh and Beck's daughter. This rave seemed to be something that I was pretty sure my mother would describe as "a hippie love-in from back in the day". Dancing, bars, and flashing lights. And the techno.

Gag.

Bree, Sky, Raven, and Robbie all immediately headed for the dance floor while Hunter and I retired to a table near the back and ordered drinks from one of the wandering bartenders, who appeared to be a little drunk himself. I hesitated when it was my turn to order something, remembering that disastrous night at the Twilite with Killian, but caved. This wasn't New York. This was London, and I was going to take advantage of every opportunity possible.

And can I just make clear the size of the warehouse that the rave was being held in. Huge. I mean, like, super-humongous. Shelagh's friend must have a pretty penny (or pence, but whatever) in his pocket, because I didn't know how anyone could afford upkeep on a place like this, considering that it seemed to be a pretty well-manicured building for a warehouse. The black carpet covering the floor was clean and dirt-free, and the walls were covered with posters depicting different techno European bands in various stages of undress.

Once again, gag.

But just because I wasn't terribly fond of the music ... the pounding, pulsating, would-give-me-a-headache-in-five-minutes music ... didn't mean I wasn't having a good time, and it appeared all of my friends were of the good, too.

"Are most of the people here witches?" I asked Hunter curiously, feeling the same sort of strange buzzing that I had felt at the witch club in New York City and wondering whether this was the blood witch hangout of the London underground.

Hunter shook his head. "Not many ... a few are, obviously, as the guy who owns it is one, but if you're feeling the buzziness, I doubt that it's because of that. It's probably just the music."

I figured that was probably true.

"Hmm. Wanna get something to eat?"

"Sure. I hate dancing to techno."

I gave him a weird look. "I thought you hated dancing of any kind."

He just gave a little cough and returned to sipping his Abbot Ale, which had just arrived at the table along with my Landlord.

Have I mentioned that they give beer really odd names in Britain?

Closing your eyes to disappear
You pray your dreams will leave you here
But still you wake and know the truth
No one's there

HUNTER'S P.O.V

I left Morgan in the care of Robbie and Bree, who had returned from the dance floor and joined us at our table due to the ear damages that both had sustained from dancing too close to the DJ, and found Raven and Sky at the bar, immersed in a heavy makeout session that was attracting the open stares of dozens of horny guys on the dance floor, not to mention the bartender.

"Raven?" No response. "Um, Raven? Can I have a word with you?"

As they separated, Sky mock-glared at me and Raven shrugged, looking slightly confused.

"Um, sure."

"What's with you, Hunter?" Sky asked good-naturedly, wrapping a possessive arm around Raven's shoulders. "You trying to steal my girlfriend?"

"Nothing of the sort," I assured her with a sardonic grin. "I just need to talk to her for a moment." I looked my cousin in the eyes. "In private."

"Fine," Sky said with an overly dramatic sigh. "But ..." She pointed at me. "You try to feel her up, I throw witch fire at you."

"Deal," I said as Raven gave a tiny huff, most likely disgruntled that she was being treated like an object.

"I AM standing right here, you know," she said, giving Sky a brief kiss before turning to me. "Speak now or forever hold your peace, Hunter."

"Come over here." I led her over to an empty corner of the warehouse near the back door, pushing a few people clearly high on ecstasy out of my way. Not forcefully, mind.

"So ..." Raven said with an exaggerated sigh. "Is this one of those if-you- hurt-Sky-I'll-kick-your-ass-so-bad-that-you'll-limp-for-the-rest-of-your- human-life sort of talks, because believe me, I already got two of those in detail from Shelagh and Beck."

I smiled in spite of myself. Seeing the two of them together, I highly doubted that that sort of thing would ever happen again. "No. I just ..." This was the harder part. "There was something I needed to inform you of. I was sort of hoping you could ... um ... help me inform Sky of it, as well."

"Do tell."

Okay, Hunter. She would be the first person that I had told. Uncle Beck had asked me in private not to relay the information to anyone else.

"My guardians ... Sky's parents ... are ... um ... they're ..." She raised her eyebrows, and I got to the point in one fell swoop. "AuntShelaghandUncleBeckaregettingdivorced."

Raven's mouth fell open with shock, as I was certain mine had done when I first found out.

"WHAT?"

I gave a grave nod. "Unfortunately, Uncle Beck told me a few days ago. And ... they're afraid to tell Sky."

Raven gave a snort, still staring at me in stunned surprise. "Of course they are! I mean, believe me, I've lived parents getting divorced, and it's not especially a party –"

"No," I said urgently, needing her to understand. "I mean, they're REALLY afraid to tell Sky."

Now she paused. "Why?"

All right. Get a grip, Hunter. It's time to relive one of the most painful moments of my life. I drudged up the memories that I had for so long tried to bury.

"It ... it really started when we were thirteen ..."

SKY'S P.O.V

Oh, Goddess.

"She did WHAT?"

Oh, no. Please don't have told her, Hunter. Please don't have told her ...

"I don't believe you! There's no way she would do that!"

"Take a look at what happened after you two broke up."

He told her.

I can't believe that he told her. He promised me that he would never tell anyone!

WHY THE HELL WOULD HE TELL HER?

"And you think that because Shelagh and Beck are splitting up, it might happen again?"

What? Ma and Da are –

"Yes. Or, at least, that is their concern. The last time that this happened ... well, it tore her up inside, as you know well."

Raven's miserable tone made me involuntarily reach out for her, but I kept my feet planted behind them where they couldn't see me. "I know."

"Divorce is a hard thing to accept for anyone. For me, too. But I'm very worried about how Sky will react when she finds out."

"She won't do what she did before. I trust her." Raven sounded livid. "How long do you expect me to keep it a secret from her?"

I couldn't listen to any more of this. Ma and Da ... Raven ... Hunter ... no ... it's not true, it can't be true. The blood was rushing to my ears and all that I could hear was a dull, pounding roar that destroyed everything. No. it wasn't true. It couldn't be true. Ma and Da were soulmates. I had lived with them for almost my entire life, I was their daughter! They belonged together!

I was just going to ask the two of them if they wanted to go to the club a few blocks away from here with Robbie, Bree, Morgan, and I. And instead my entire life was torn apart.

I needed to get out of here.

MORGAN'S P.O.V

"Hey, Sky, what'd they say?"

She didn't answer me and just strode past our table. I noticed the tearstains on her cheeks, as did Bree. Both of us stood up quickly and hurried after her.

"Sky! What happened? What's going on?"

No response.

"Sky!" Bree demanded, struggling to keep up with us in her high-heeled black shoes. "What's going on?"

Sky spun around, and I jumped back instinctively upon seeing the primal fury in her eyes. "Leave me alone!" She turned on her heel without another word and strode away. Bree made to go after her, but I grabbed her arm, stopping her.

"No," I whispered, shaking my head. "I don't know what happened, but she doesn't seem very stable. She probably wouldn't hesitate to barbeque us with her witch fire."

Bree stared at me in disbelief. "She's our friend, Morgan! If you just want to let her go out there, angry and probably a little drunk, then that's your prerogative, but –"

"Hey, where'd Sky go?" Raven and Hunter had appeared behind us, both looking concerned. "She wasn't at the bar where she was before."

"Yeah, she just stormed out of here in a rage," Bree said angrily. "She was crying. What's going on? What happened?"

Hunter and Raven exchanged a terrified look, and my eyes narrowed.

"What were you two talking about? Did she overhear something that you said about her?"

"Goddess, I hope not," Hunter muttered as he and Raven both desperately hurried to the door, past the bouncer, and out of the warehouse without further ado.

"What's going on?" Bree demanded again, her voice growing slightly whiney. "Why won't anyone tell us?"

"Come on," I told her quickly, pulling her back towards our table. "Let's get Robbie and get out of here. I think that the party is over."

Say goodnight
Don't be afraid
Calling me
Calling me
As you fade to black

SKY'S P.O.V

The park was dismally depressing at night. As I sank down onto the bench silently, my mind a blur, I was only vaguely aware of how much I would rather still be at the rave, having a good time with my friends. This was too much; I couldn't handle this much in one night. If I had to see any of them right now ...

"Sky?"

Ask and ye shall receive.

At least it was Raven. I would rather talk to her, understandably, than any of the others. Especially Hunter. Right now, at least. But I didn't want to talk. I wanted to sit here forever and just stare off into space, forgetting everything that had happened tonight.

"Why didn't you tell me." My voice was low. It wasn't a question that I just asked.

Raven looked pained, her eyes tired. "Sky, I'm so sorry, I –"

Suddenly I was on my feet and not caring whether or not I was yelling or whether anyone could hear me. "How could you have kept this from me? I can understand why Hunter wouldn't want to tell me, but you –"

"Sky, I just found out, I swear!" she said quickly, sounding both reassuring and afraid. "Hunter just told me now because he and Beck and Shelagh –"

"And you knew, too!" My voice is rising. I haven't heard a thing that she's said, and I don't care. "Am I the last one to know? Why didn't he tell me? Why didn't they tell me?"

"Sky, listen to me, please!" She grabbed my arms and forced me to look at her. The desperation in her eyes was visible. I used to be able to get lost in her eyes for hours. Now, though, I just wanted to escape and run. "Listen, Sky, I know what you're going through, really. I've been there, too, remember? When my parents split up, I had ..." She paused. "A ... really hard time. An awful time. I SWEAR that I would have told you if I had found out sooner." She touched my cheek lightly, but I pulled back. "I don't want to keep secrets from you if this is what happens."

Wait a minute.

"Can we not do this now?" she said pleadingly. "Can we not ruin tonight for everyone because of –"

My mind was stuck. "But it's all right otherwise?" I said furiously, wrenching my arms away from her.

Raven looked confused. "What?"

"If I don't find out, it's all right to keep secrets from me, isn't it?" I said through gritted teeth, my voice rising. "That's what you just said."

"I didn't say that!"

"But you meant it."

Raven looked irritated now. "Why are you turning this into such a big deal, Sky? I just said –"

"WELL, EXCUSE ME FOR THINKING THAT MY PARENTS' DIVORCE IS A BIG DEAL!" I was yelling now, and I didn't even care.

"That's not what I meant," Raven said emphatically, her eyebrows furrowing slightly. Then a sudden, wide-eyed look swept over her face and her voice was reduced to a whisper. "Is this about Killian?"

Well, if there was one thing that would make this night worse.

"Don't you dare bring him into this," I growled, feeling a primitive burst of anger swell inside me at the mention of his name. That bastard had torn my life apart at the seams. And he had enjoyed doing it.

"I'm not the one who did," Raven said quietly, staring at me with a new intensity. "Not really."

"Why would this be about Killian?" I muttered, barely managing to contain my fury that was bubbling up underneath the surface and about to make me explode.

"Because you couldn't stand what happened with him," Raven whispered. I want to shake her. Why is she so calm about this? Doesn't she understand what this is doing to me? Doesn't she understand that I've been through WAY too much tonight to deal with a share-all about Killian, perhaps my least favorite person in the entire world? "You couldn't stand the fact that I flirted with him and hid secrets from you."

"I know what happened, Raven," I said coldly. "I was there, remember?" I couldn't look at her anymore. "I thought that we had moved past that."

Her voice was quieter than I've ever heard it before. "So did I." She paused and looked at the ground. I could sense that she was feeling bleakly depressed, and suddenly I felt worse. "But apparently, one of us hasn't." She paused again as she struggled to pick her next words. "I know you've ... been through a lot, Sky. I ... I can't imagine most of the things you've been through. If I could ... protect you from everything, I would ... but ... I can't."

She raised her head to look at me as I stared at her in shock. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, and after a moment, slowly turned around and began to walk away.

I wasn't sure how long I stood there. It might have been hours. It might have been just a few minutes. But I knew where I was going when I left the park that night. If everyone was so worried about my reaction, I was going to at least give them something to worry about.

Say goodnight

MORGAN'S P.O.V

"Where did she go?" I asked Hunter desperately, whom we had just run into on the crowded street outside of the warehouse.

"What?" he shouted, straining to hear me over the noise that the crowd was making as they tried to get into the rave.

"WHERE DID SHE GO?"

"I don't know. I didn't find her. Maybe Raven did."

"Can't you just send her a witch message and find out where she is?" Bree asked in confusion as Hunter ushered us all into an alleyway behind the warehouse. Robbie squealed girlishly as he almost stepped on a dead rat that had been lying in front of a garbage can, but with a slap on the arm, I silenced him.

"I CAN'T send her a witch message," Hunter said, clearly irritated. "I already tried, believe me! She's been blocking them."

"Well, we have to find her somehow," I said desperately, my heart beating abnormally fast.

"DO YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT?" Hunter yelled, frustrated beyond belief; as Robbie, Bree, and I all shrunk back with fear, he sighed angrily and let out an angry bellow of aggravation.

"This is why I wanted to tell her gently," he muttered to himself, his voice shaking with rage.

"Tell her what gently?" Bree asked, confused.

"That Aunt Shelagh and Uncle Beck are ... they're getting a divorce."

Whoa! What? Back up! Divorce? They're getting a divorce, and Hunter knew, and Hunter didn't tell me?

He held up a hand as all three of us dropped our jaws and widened our eyes in shock. "I know. But now, that's not important. What's important is that we find Sky before she ..." He broke off abruptly. "We have to find her."

"Before what?" Robbie demanded. "Hunter, what's going on? You owe it to us to tell us! If it'll help us save Sky, then we have to know what's going on!"

"You have no idea," Hunter said, his voice sounding choked, as he turned his back to us. "You have no idea what it was like." He spun around to face us accusingly. "You don't know what it was like to almost lose her right after I lost Linden!"

My heart nearly stopped. "Hunter ..."

"No," he said furiously. "You three wanted to know, then you'll know. After Linden died, we were all a mess. Understandably. Aunt Shelagh the most of us all. She had a nervous breakdown one night and started screaming, yelling things at us that no thirteen-year-old should ever have to hear after losing a sibling! Sky was devastated. Even though she was barely a few weeks older than her twelfth birthday, she wanted an escape. She went drinking with an older friend and got hit with a car when someone accidentally knocked into the street. She would have been able to escape under normal circumstances, but she was so smashed that she could barely walk. She broke her leg and nearly all of the bones in her right arm. She would have been killed if she hadn't ..." he broke off with a strangled noise in his throat and looked down.

My mouth was openly wide with stunned incredulity, as were Robbie and Bree's.

"Goddess ..." I whispered, so quietly that I could barely hear myself. "Hunter, I'm so sorry, I had no –"

"It doesn't matter," he muttered quietly, his breath still coming harshly. "What matters now is that we find her before she does something that she'll regret later."

An uncomfortable, seemingly infinite stretch of silence.

"Where do we ... where do we look for her?" Robbie asked, pained. "The rave?"

"No, that's too obvious," Hunter said with a shake of his head. "She'll be somewhere where she doesn't think we can find her. We should check the bar down the street. There are a few in the area."

"Should we split up?" Bree asked with no small amount of hesitation.

Hunter just gave her a small nod. "I think that it would be best. We can cover more ground."

I looked around at all of them, feeling my heart rate spiking again. "All right, then. Let's get going."

Holding my last breath

Don't be afraid
Safe inside myself

Calling me, calling me
Are all my thoughts of you
Sweet raptured light
It ends here tonight

SKY'S P.O.V

I was glad that I took those psychology classes in high school. I couldn't remember who had first thought of using reverse psychology, but I was pretty grateful to them as I sat down at the warehouse rave's bar and ordered a tray of vodka shots. It was time to forget. Even if for just a little bit, I couldn't deal with this night right now.

First shot. A little buzz. Suddenly, things didn't appear as clear.

Second shot. A stronger buzz. My vision started to blur.

Third ... fourth ... my head hurt ... fifth ... or was it sixth? I couldn't remember ... my head was killing me ... Ma and Da ... divorcing ... fight with Raven ... break up with Raven? Goddess, I hoped not. I wouldn't be able to survive that again ... I tried to clear my thoughts, but the flow of alcohol was clouding me, covering me completely. My head ... I could barely see ... since when had there been two bartenders? My hand found its way to my purse. Hey ... there was something in there ... a bottle ... oh, yeah, Da's painkillers. The ones that I was supposed to bring to him tomorrow. The ones that I was swallowing with another vodka shot now.

Wait a moment, painkillers? Swallowing ... with vodka ... they're not meant for this kind of pain ... maybe they could help this monster headache that I had ... oh, Goddess ... that wasn't a good idea ... now my stomach hurt, too ...

Raven ... Hunter ... where are you? I need you ...

"Goddess, where is she ..." Hunter muttered under his breath in extreme desperation as Morgan fought through the heavy crowds to keep up with his striding run.

My hand was shaking so badly that I dropped the bottle ... my head was pounding as if I were being struck repeatedly by a hammer and my stomach was tossing and turning as if it were riding the highest, fastest, and most loopy rollercoaster in the Western Hemisphere ... couldn't breathe ... okay, could breathe again ... barely ... suddenly I was off of the bar stool and almost on the ground. The world was tilting beneath me ... I couldn't see anything but nothing ... it was all nothing ...

"She can't be far away. I can feel her."

"Is she okay?"

"I don't think so."

The noises were so loud ... honking, yelling, screaming ... crying ... my head was splitting open ... get out! Get out of my head and leave me alone! This was unbearable ... painkillers didn't do their jobs ... oh, Goddess, and now the smell ... something scurried away in front of my feet, but they were so staggery and I was so blind with pain that I couldn't tell what it was ... I felt a cold brick wall ... I was outside, I was certain ... uncertain ... where am I ... I was just resting against the wall. One minute and then I would get up. Oh ... I was going down ... no, I wanted to go up ... oh, Goddess ... the ground was a lot closer now ... it was cold ...

It was really cold.

Holding my last breath
Safe inside myself
Are all my thoughts of you

MORGAN'S P.O.V

Hunter saw her first. Collapsed, unconscious, in the alley behind the warehouse. She was covered in dirt and grime from the alley, her face unearthly pale and her whole body covered in sweat.

I'll never forget the look on Hunter's face. Absolute horror. As he ran over to her and got down on his knees, shaking her gently as tears began to escape his eyes, and Robbie and Bree appeared behind me, both out of breath and staring at Sky in stunned silence, my face crumpled and I began to cry.

What had we become?

Sweet raptured light

It ends here tonight



A/N: Disclaimer in next chapter.