Hey everybody! Thanks for all the great reviews! Still have no clue what's going on with the girls? Well, maybe this chapter will help clear things up.

Irma: Could someone PLEASE tell me why I'm throwing up water, of all things?

:sighs: You guys are here to READ THE DISCLAIMER. If you have any complaints, you can go and fill out a comment card…not like I'd read it…

Hay Lin: KaNdRaKaRgrl does not own Aly & AJ's song Rush or us…if she did, do you think this story would be on this site instead of on the air?

Thank you! And now, on with the story!

Chapter 10

Ready or Not, Here I Come

The line went dead. Hay Lin slammed the phone back down on its receiver and sprang up from her seat, bolting toward her bedroom door to run as fast as her little legs could carry her over to Irma's house. She was almost there, tripping over her legwarmers the whole way, when the long, glass windowpane behind her slid open to reveal the rushing winds of the outside world. Her frail bedroom door flew shut, and the last thing she could see before it did was a flash of silver whipping around in the bathroom across the hall…

(Back with poor Irma)

Irma's form was on all fours, kneeling on the hard, wooden surface of the floor, surrounded by a puddle of clear blue water. The weather was completely normal, and yet she found herself shaking uncontrollably, shivering as if someone had just dumped a bucket of freezing water on her. Her eyes were left staring, just staring straight into the ripples that came with every blast of cold. What is wrong with me? She asked herself. Finally, she summoned up what strength she had to lean back against the head of her bed, and her left hand traveled up to her neck, gripping the shining silver symbol of water that hung around it. What is wrong with you?

(Back with Hay Lin)

Hay Lin desperately twisted at the silver doorknob, which had twisted itself into locking and wouldn't come undone for anything. "Come on," she growled angrily. Sighing, she threw up her hands in despair. "What is wrong with the world today?" she asked no one in particular. Regaining her composure, she turned to face the door once more. Hay Lin was getting out of there by hook or by crook, so she placed both hands on the wood and focused every single ounce of thought on the task at hand…

(Back with Irma)

By now, Irma had the floor clear of any trace of the clear blue stuff, but she had left the broken mirror as it was. Just thinking about what she had seen in the glass, and what she done to it because of it was enough to bring tears to her eyes. And for the first time since this had all begun, Irma let her tears fall, not caring if the world saw her…and not knowing just how much destruction revealing her emotions would bring…

(Back with Hay Lin, I know there's a lot of switching around, sorry)

CRASH! The door finally blew right off its hinges, clattering down the hall and down the stairs, coming to a grand, loud finale in the middle of the living room. Thinking of an explanation for her parents the last thing on her mind right then, Hay Lin hightailed it for the stairs, only to slip; fall and land on her back in a puddle of…water? Getting up, she turned the corner and took a look inside of the bathroom.

The silver cold water knob had been turned up all the way, so the sink was poring over in little streams instead monstrous rivers, like a person's built up tears finally freely sliding down their face…

Hay Lin shook the thoughts from her head, turning the faucet off, using the magic of the wind to lift it off the floor and throw it out the open window, and practically flew down the stairs and out of the house for Irma's, passing a man looking up at the sunny sky, drenched, wondering where the rain had come from…when upstairs the silver faucet turned to the right of its own accord, letting the water flow where it would once more…

(At Irma's place…)

The blare of the doorbell jerked Irma from her crying spell. Wiping the tears from her face and shoving the chunks of glass under her bed, she went downstairs and unlocked the door to reveal her wiry Asian friend, who immediately jumped over the threshold and took Irma by the shoulders in a hold so strong both girls jumped a little in surprise.

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED YOU HAD ME!" Hay Lin shrieked. Irma could only close her eyes and shake her head in apology. I can't even talk to her, Irma thought in despair. What is wrong with me?

"Irma, TELL ME WHAT'S WRONG!" she cried, shaking her best friend like a rag doll. Irma looked into Hay Lin's eyes, and Hay Lin gasped at what she saw in Irma's. Pain, that was what Hay Lin saw, pain and endless misery…misery that no one knew but her.

"Why won't you tell us?" Hay Lin asked Irma, who was just staring back at her friend, trancelike. "Why won't you tell me?"

The water girl struggled helplessly within herself. The words were in her mouth, desperate to burst forth, but the water was there too, threatening to strangle her from within once again, but this time, it wouldn't let her off so easily with just a slap on the wrist again. But Irma didn't care. She had been tortured already, what difference would another bout of choking make? So, steeling herself with everything she had left, Irma opened her mouth and managed four words: "It…won't…let…me…"

"WHAT won't let you?" Hay Lin asked frantically, anxious now that they were finally getting somewhere. "Come on Irma, work with me here!"

Irma opened her mouth again. "I…I don't…know. Every time I try…something…the water…"

"What about water?" Hay Lin asked. But apparently, question time was over. Irma's body tensed up, she could feel it, feel it coming to get her again, only this time wouldn't be so mild. Her punishment for crying, for telling was coming, and all she could do was deal with it, her best friend there to bear witness to it all…

"Into your head, into your mind
Out of your soul, race through your veins
You can escape, you can escape…"

Irma fell against Hay Lin, everything started to throb, to ache. She could hear her best friend calling to her in the distance, even though she was right there with her. Her stomach knotted up tensely, her head brought back that terrible explosion, that tornado, that tidal wave…she couldn't fight it off, couldn't escape it…

And then she figured it out. Keeping her eyes shut tight, she brought the words running through her mind to life.

"Into your life, into your dreams,
Out of the dark, so light again.
You can exclaim, you can exclaim…"

She could feel Hay Lin's hand on her back, her words, her voice pleading her to come back, to please come back…but she couldn't…she wouldn't…

"Can You feel it, can you feel it,
Rushin' through your hair,
Rushin' through your head,
Can you feel it, can you feel it,

Don't let nobody tell you, your life is over,
Be every color that you are,
Into the rush now,
You don't have to know how,
Know it all before you'll try."

Irma's eyes shot open again, her head snapping toward Hay Lin immediately.

"Irma…what's happening to you? What's happening…to us?" she asked in a fearful whisper.

Irma was crying freely now, letting her friend see the torment she had suffered day in and day out. "Hay Lin…I…I wish I could answer you. But…I don't know. Something…something wants us to fight…"

"Wants us to fight?" the air girl whispered, dumbfounded.

"I…I saw a…tornado. And a tidal wave, and they…they were fighting. They were trying…trying to destroy each other…"

Hay Lin gasped, and Irma's stomach lurched. A searing sensation engulfed her hand, and she raised it up, horrified. That black symbol of water was coming again. But this time, it was etching itself into the water girl's hand instead of just appearing like the day water itself had gone completely mad, making it bleed…bleed black blood, as black as the symbol itself. Irma gritted her teeth through the burn of pain, while Hay Lin could only watch, petrified.

"More than you land spinning around,
Lifting your feet right off the ground,
You can't believe this is happening now…"

The sound of sirens blaring, moving fast saved Irma from revealing an unknown explanation. The girls followed the resounding roars until they came to Hay Lin's block…right in front of the Silver Dragon…

"Can You feel it, can you feel it,
Rushin' through your hair,
Rushin' through your head,
Can you feel it, can you feel it…"

Hay Lin's heart stopped completely. Her entire house, as well as the restaurant lying below it, had been completely flooded. Irma's bleeding hand flew to her mouth in horror, feeling she had some connection to the forlorn water leaking out the windows. The girls could only stare in horror as a drainage company arrived, cranking their ladders up to the waterfalls above. Hay Lin's frail fingers laced through Irma's blackening ones, and all could do was watch as their lives just kept falling apart…

"Don't let nobody tell you, your life is over,
Be every color that you are,
Into the rush now,
You don't have to know how,
Know it all before you'll try…"

Yay chapter 10 is up! Lol I'm so proud of myself…anyways, like? Don't like? Know what's going down? R&R and tell me! Next chapter will be up when I get 48 reviews!