Part One: Repercussions and Punishment
AN: This chap is going to be divided into two parts. This first one deals with Imy and Aria.
Riley didn't look back as she stepped out of the room. She slowly walked down the hall, her sneakers squeaking slightly against the heavily polished floor. Her face was as hard as stone, and her fingers were clenched in a fist, but she continued nevertheless, determined to get out of the place before the negative emotions and stress crashed down on her. She was in such a hurry to leave the place that she had entirely forgotten about the small silver pendant that she had earlier tossed on the waiting room floor.
As soon as she had exited the building, Riley absently felt the back of her jeans for the small silver phone she had always kept with her. Riley wanted vengeance, yes, even more so after seeing Twiggy lying helpless, but she wasn't stupid.
She would need backup if she were to confront her mother, with the possibility of facing Tymmie with his cronies. Who knew, she still hadn't counted Trysten entirely out of the running for being corrupt and evil, he could pose a threat. So getting another with power to accompany her would be a necessity.
She couldn't go with Imy, who would have been her first choice, because she was injured. Aria was out of the running as well, Riley felt as if she had asked too much of her already.
That left one other.
Dialing the phone number from memory, Riley spoke quietly and directly into the phone, "Hello, may I speak with Tessa?"
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"Riley did what!" Proclaimed Imy, in a semi-state of shock as she lay across her hospital bed. Her arm was in a sling, and there were heavy bandages around her waist.
Aria sighed, "She just up and left Imy, I've told you twice!"
"That doesn't make sense!" She pouted, "Riley would never do something like that… I mean, come on, it's Riley for christsakes! Shy, quiet Riley. She wouldn't just go military psycho and leave us here while she went looking for revenge!"
Aria shrugged, not knowing what else to do. It was true that Riley was the least likely of the four to go and maim somebody, but then again, from what Aria knew Riley wasn't the type to have an emotional breakdown like she had earlier either. Something just wasn't adding up, "I don't know what to tell you, she was acting way different than she normally does."
Imy then seemed to be scrutinizing Aria, "Why should I trust you?" She mused to herself, and then narrowing her eyes at her, "You hate Riley."
Aria awkwardly scratched the back of her neck. For the longest time, she had believed that to be true, she had hated her. But with the recent string of events she didn't think she could ever go back to the feelings of revulsion she once had for Riley. For once, she actually felt like she was on the same page as her; hating being a goddess, angry at the circumstances, and most of all, scared. Now it seemed unlikely that the two would ever become close, or maybe even friends, but they at least understood where each of them were coming from. "I don't hate her." She muttered bluntly.
Imy looked like she was about to respond, but suddenly there was a brash knock on the door. Her face paled, "Aria, you're not supposed to be in here." She said in a harsh whisper.
Aria kept her glance nervously flickering back and forth between the door and Imy, "Thank you Captain Obvious." She looked around quickly, trying to find a place to hide. "What should I do?"
"Hello?" Came a polite voice from the other side of the door, "Are you awake?"
"Here!" rasped Imy extending her hand, "Take it!" Then, in a more level voice, "Yes, just a second please."
Aria shook her head, "That could only injure yourself further, and I don't have enough energy to heal you and Twiggy in the same day."
Imy also shook her head, "Look, it'll be a quick trip to the parking lot and back."
"What if someone sees us?" She responded.
"What if someone connects you to Twiggy?" Imy countered, "Just take my hand, it'll be quick."
"Are you alright in there?" Came the voice behind the door once again.
Sighing, Aria placed her hand in Imy's bandaged one, and the two disappeared.
"I'm coming in," Came the voice again, this time opening the door.
The voice belonged to Officer Gordon Jacobson, LAPD. His eyes surveyed the room, a perfectly normal recovery room, with the television on, and a few scattered paintings and plants to help with the serene effect. The blinds were partially opened, revealing a few cracks of fading sunlight from the Los Angeles evening.
But one thing was missing.
There was no patient.
He scratched the back of his head in confusion, but then his doubts were dispelled when he heard the flush of the toilet from the room's adjacent bathroom. There was the sound of running water, then the door opened to reveal a teenage girl in a hospital gown with a sling and bandages around her chest.
"Um, hi." She stated, looking at the officer quizzically, "Is something wrong?"
Gordon, a middle aged man with sandy blond hair flicked with gray and a gruff demeanor just rubbed his temples and took a seat next to the hospital bed. "Nothing, I just thought that the room was empty for a minute."
"That's definitely strange." She agreed, carefully hoisting herself onto the bed, "So, er, you're not a nurse or a doctor." She stated bluntly, looking at the shiny silver badge pinned to his navy uniform.
"No, I'm not." He replied, extending a calloused hand, "Ms. Imy Vanessa Ormond, I presume? I'm Officer Jacobson."
She nodded but did not return the gesture. When he looked slightly offended at her rudeness, she simply gestured to her slinged arm, "I'd shake your hand, but I'm afraid to move this arm." A thin tremor of worry passed over her face, "Can I ask why you're here?" a pause, "I'm not in some sort of trouble, am I?"
Gordon gave her a level stare, "That remains to be seen. First of all, I have some questions about the accident, a hit and run is no minor offense."
"Naturally." She replied.
Absently, the policeman removed a small notebook from the lining of his jacket and grabbed a pencil from his pocket, "So, when did this accident occur?"
Imy thought, "Around 9:30."
"And whose car were you in?"
"Twiggy, er, Todd Towlen's car." She replied, using his legal name.
"What type of car was it?" He asked, chewing on the end of the pencil, his intimidating stare never leaving Imy's.
"A '76 Chevy." She said.
"What model?"
"Er, couldn't tell you. I don't know a whole lot about cars." She was trying to keep from getting nervous or anxious, which could convince the cop that something else was going on other than a simple accident.
"And where were you going?" All the questions he spoke were with a coarseness that told Imy he would go to any lengths to ensure the answers were factual. It worried her slightly.
"Band practice."
"And who was in the car?" He asked again.
She was sure that information as basic as this had already been supplied to him, but she answered anyways, "Myself, Todd Towlen, and Riley Zalank."
"How old are each of you?"
"Todd is eighteen, Riley and I are fifteen."
"Where and how did the accident occur?" He asked.
"We were at an intersection off of Wilshire Boulevard and Perrin Street, someone ran a red light. They cut us off, so Twiggy, um, Todd swerved to avoid hitting them and instead hit a telephone pole."
"Were any of you wearing seat belts?" He questioned, scribbling down notes on the paper.
Imy turned slightly crimson, "Todd and I weren't. I think Riley was."
"And how fast were you going?"
"Maybe 40, 45."
"You realize the intersection was a 30 mile an hour zone?"
She turned her attention from the cop to a nearby scenic painting, "Uh, ya."
"Interesting. What happened on impact?" Now, his expression had changed from uninterested to extreme attention.
"I'm not quite sure." She muttered, still staring at the painting. She didn't like where the conversation was going, and now more than ever she wanted to use her powers to get away.
"Do you know what happened to Riley, or Todd?" His eyes narrowed, "Yourself?"
She scratched her neck with her free hand, "Not really, no."
"Well," His voice dripped with skeptism, "Let me enlighten you. Mr. Towlen was thrown head-first into the dashboard of his car. Since cars of that age are not equipped with air bags, the force he hit it with cracked his skull and created some severe hemorrhaging to the brain. He fell into a coma, and doctors suspected he wouldn't wake up anytime in the near future, if ever. By all rights, he should have been dead on impact." He paused, carefully reading Imy's face for clues, she gave him none, "Riley Zalank was fortunate and wearing her seatbelt, she suffered a minor abrasion on her head, and about ten stitches in her leg. She was out in under an hour." His mouth was practically severing the poor eraser from the end of the pencil, "And you, you are an interesting case, Ms. Ormond."
"Interesting?" She asked, mocking ignorance. Her face was pale and her jaw was clenched.
"Yes. According to eyewitness reports, Ms. Ormond, you were ejected from the passenger seat on impact." He drummed his fingers on the bed's railings, "Yet you are fine, saved the dislocated shoulder and bruised ribs." There was an awkward pause, "Ms. Ormond, are you aware that the force in which you hit the windshield is your weight times the miles per hour you were traveling?"
She bit her lip, "No."
"And I'd say you're about, what? 115, 120 pounds?"
She nodded.
"That would imply that the force you hit the windshield with was around 4,800 miles per hour, since you said the car was driving at about 40 mph and you were not wearing a seatbelt." He leaned forward in his seat, "Tell me, Ms. Ormond, why is it that you aren't dead?"
I can't teleport, I can't teleport. She muttered to herself.
"And also, can you please explain to me how it is medically possible that Mr. Towlen was able to miraculously heal from a fatal hemorrhage and check out of the hospital, oh say," He glanced at his watch, "A mere seven hours after he was admitted?" In response to Imy's silence, he continued, "And also, why is it that Riley Zalank, the only one with a coherent mind at the time of the accident, has suddenly vanished?" He slowly sat up in his chair, "Now, I'm not going to bother you about this now, you've had a trying day, but know this; I will be calling."
He stood up and slowly headed to the door, leaving a stunned Imy behind him, "When they evacuated the totaled car from the crash site, the windshield was totally intact." He turned and looked at her, "How exactly were you able to be thrown out of the car, and land in front of it, without shattering a windshield?" He opened the door as he started leaving, "Your parents have checked you out of the hospital, I'm sure they're dying to see if you're alright." He uttered before he left.
Once she was sure he had left the room and was out of hearing distance, Imy collapsed against her bed, "Oh. Shit."
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After Imy had hastily teleported her to the hospital's parking lot, Aria collapsed against the iron benches that lined the sidewalk. She was exhausted. Saving some guy from the brink of death was not exactly a walk in the park, and she had a racking headache.
That happened sometimes. Occasionally, when she used her powers, a small percentage of the pain that the victims were feeling circled back to her. Right now, given the circumstances, she wouldn't be surprised if she had a mild concussion. She wouldn't go back into the hospital, not if her life depended on it, for treatment. It would eventually work its way out of her system. Thanks to her gifts from Selene, she had a faster immune system and better healing capabilities. It would be painless soon.
She was drained, naturally. The inexperience with her power due to lack of practice had created a severe handicap for her. Though repairing a cracked skull was no small task, she couldn't help the nagging little voice inside of her head that told her she would have been able to walk away scot-free without a headache with plenty energy to spare had she just practiced a little. She absently toyed with her moon amulet, glowing brightly despite the fatigue of its owner.
She now knew there would be no escape of her destiny. There would be no excuses, or forgetting, or abandoning. She had power, she knew it, and now, so did Riley. Whereas before she could have just shrugged it off, saying the ability to heal was a meager gift in battle against an evil force, but now there was no avoiding it. Healing was a gift, and she couldn't avoid or hide it anymore.
It was time for Aria to step up to the plate, and to accept responsibility.
She grabbed her pink cell phone out of her fringe purse, and dialed a number. There were a few rings before someone finally picked up.
"Hello? Dylan? Could you tell mom I'm going to be out late tonight?"
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There was a long moment when both of her parents had been hysterical, frantically crying and fussing over her, ensuring she really was o.k. and not on a death bed, and that she was, in fact, still breathing.
Then that moment passed rapidly fast, and by the time the car ride home came, her parents, namely her father, was furious.
"Honestly, Imy! What was he thinking!" Her dad bellowed, his hands gripping the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles were white, "Speeding! Not wearing a seat belt, or paying attention to the road! You and Riley could've been killed!"
"Kyle, calm down," Muttered her mom from the passenger's seat, "The police told us it wasn't Twiggy's fault."
"I don't care what the police say!" He said, fuming, "Your daughter, your only child, could be road kill on the side of the road due to that boy's irresponsibility!"
Her mom seemed to almost subdue, then her temper also started flaring up, "It was a hit and run, Kyle! There was no way possible to avoid it, and it's extremely unfair of you to blame it solely on him!"
"I never trusted that boy, never." He shook his head violently, and Imy feared he'd get whiplash, "With that ratty hair, chain-smoking, and reckless driving. Never trusted him a bit."
"Quit it Kyle, just quit it!" Catty replied, practically removing her hair from its roots, "It was an accident! Imy's safe, that's all that matters."
"We should sue." He snarled, "It's just about as close as vehicular manslaughter as you could get. He should be in jail."
Catty's face was read and about ready to burst, when Imy interjected, "You know, did it ever occur to either of you that I might have an opinion on the matter?"
Both of her parents immediately shut up, her father glanced at her through the overview mirror, and her mother turned around in her seat. "Sorry." They both mumbled.
Imy sighed, "Mom's right dad, it was an accident, at least on Twiggy's part. The police will find out who really hit us, and they'll take things over from there." She gestured at herself, "Look? See? Still breathing. Now, just stop bickering. I've got a huge headache."
The car ride remained silent from that point on.
When the Ormonds arrived home, Imy was immediately sent to bed with much fussing. Sighing as she looked at the time to discover it was only 6:30, and that there was much more pressing matters to attend to.
For instance, stopping Riley before she tried to kill herself.
She reached painfully for the phone in her room, dialing Tessa's number, she was disappointed to hear a man's voice on the other line.
"Hey, is Tessa there? It's Imy."
"Sorry, she left about an hour ago." Came Ezra, Tessa's older brother and legal guardian.
"Do you know where? It's kinda important."
"Yeah, she headed out with Riley to go shopping or something."
Imy paled. There was no way in hell Riley would storm out of the hospital to go shopping, "Erm, do you know which mall?"
"I think they were going over to that new one they've built, on the opposite side of Sunset." Ezra replied, now sounding concerned, "Is everything alright?"
Imy gave a hard swallow, "Everything's fine. Later Ezra." She mumbled.
"Bye Imy, take care."
She set the phone down on the receiver. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. So Riley and Tessa were heading to the new mall to go…shopping… Her mind raced, something about the new mall didn't sit right, and she mentally scanned through her memories.
"Jimena wants us to check out this new hotspot for Followers." Riley said.
Hotspot. Followers. New mall.
"Oh no." She whispered.
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Aria sat at the bench for a while, wondering what to do. It was imperative that she had to somehow stop or help Riley, but the problem was, she didn't know where to find her. And thanks to her reluctance, she didn't know either Imy or Tessa's phone numbers.
"Stupid," She berated herself, as she sat with her feet swaying back and forth on the bench she was too short for.
Almost through a miracle, her phone rang at that instant, she picked it up.
"Aria!" The voice practically screeched.
"Yes?" She asked.
"Thank god. Look, it's Imy, Riley's in way over her head."
Aria had to physically restrain herself from rolling her eyes, "I figured that. How?"
"Somehow, Riley's convinced Tessa to go with her to the new mall."
"The agony." Muttered Aria.
"The new mall is the new local spot for Followers. For instance, oh, say Tymmie? Cassandra? Ring any bells?"
Aria involuntarily shuddered at the mere memory of her first encounter with the Followers. If not for the intervention of the three guys, the Daughters could have very well lost their hope. Tymmie, especially, gave her the creeps. "Oy."
"Yeah. Oy." Replied Imy caustically.
Aria put her hand to her forehead, relieved that the burning was fading away, "So, sorry if this sounds stupid, but what exactly does Tessa do again?"
"She's an illusionist."
"So she does what? Mirror tricks?"
"Not exactly. Tessa's probably the one with the gift that's actually good for fighting. She can change the surroundings to appear different. For instance, in someone's eye, changing downtown Los Angeles into a lonely barren desert."
"So what do you need me for if she can do all that?"
"Because Tessa's not exactly perfect at controlling her power. All those years of binge drinking and hopping up on ecstasy have done something to her mind. She might be aiming to do something, but it never comes out completely right. She's learning, but so far the most impressive trick I've seen her do, with complete control, was to make herself appear about six feet to the left of where she actually was." Explained Imy.
"They're screwed, you're saying."
"Perhaps, perhaps not. Sometimes Tessa gets a scenario to work out perfectly with only a few bugs. Other times… well, let's just say its not pretty."
Aria nodded, "Got it, so what do you want me to do?"
"Well, normally I'd do this myself, but I'm currently incapacitated, what with my parents checking in on me every five minutes, but I want you to meet them at the mall. Riley might need some calming down, but chances are, if you can talk Tessa out of it, Riley will follow." There was a pause, "I don't want Riley getting hurt. Tessa either."
"I understand what you want me to do, but what if we get ambushed? My power's dry, I don't know what kind of help I'll be." Aria said, anxiety creeping into her voice.
"That's why I'm calling Jimena after I'm done with you," she replied, "I figure as the Magna Mater, she's got to have some kind of gift from Selene herself." There was another pause, "If nothing else, give me a call, I'll risk teleporting."
"Is that smart, I mean with your-"
"I know, I know." She sighed, "But if me being bedridden a couple more days is what it comes down to, I'll take my chances."
"What are some backups?" Aria demanded.
"What do you mean?" Asked Imy.
"I mean, what if Jimena or you teleporting isn't an option? What then?"
There was a long pause on the other line, "I've got an idea for backup."
"Who?" She once again demanded.
"An ex-boyfriend of mine."
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These chapters just keep getting longer, don't they? Of course they do.
Anyways, I'm not going to be able to respond to individual reviews this time. My internet is down, so I have to upload this chap at school (we're not supposed to do that, and they're all monitored. It's like friggin Big Brother.) so it's virtually impossible to type the responses out. Sorry : ( when internet's back up I'll continue doing that, but for now, it's on hiatus.
Next Up: Riley and Tessa
Thanks to all the reviewers
Toodles
!nym!