/AN: Okay so I think the only things that needed fixed here were grammatical. Anyhow, it's fixed so enjoy! PS. This chapter has been edited... a second time.
Disclaimer: No. Still don't own it./
Chloe's POV
Another week passed. Derek and Chloe avoided each other, Derek opting to sleep on the couch. Chloe's process had begun and her fever spiked every now and then. To add to her misfortune, she had contracted some sort of stomach flu. Tori and Lucy came to visit her multiple times a day.
"That's it! I can't take this moping around anymore. You're getting out of the house! We are going to the mall and getting ice cream and I am buying you and Lucy a shit load of clothes." Tori was in Chloe's face.
Lucy had been rubbing Chloe's forehead with a wet washcloth after Chloe had regurgitated her dinner. "What's the point?" Chloe asked.
"The point, dear Chloe, is to get your mind off of Wolfie and have some fun. I want you to get up off your ass and get dressed." Tori instructed.
"Do I have a choice?"
"No."
Chloe rolled her eyes but got up anyway. After taking a shower, she got her clothes out for the day. From her closet, she dug out an orange t-shirt and a pair of jeans.
Tori gave her a look of disgust. "I'll be back." She said with a roll of her eyes. When she came back, she held in her arms a pile of clothes. "Put these on."
Chloe took the clothes from Tori, seeing what they were, she took one annoyed look at Tori and proceeded to put them on. Tori brought Chloe a gray mini skirt, a white form fitting tank top, and a matching gray denim jacket. "Tori, do I really have to wear this?" Chloe asked, staring at her bare feet.
"I'm not done yet, hun. You can't go to the mall without shoes." Tori began rummaging in the bag that she had brought in, before bringing out a silver pair of strappy gladiator flats and a gray hair band. "Put these shoes on and I'll do your hair and makeup."
Tori had Chloe sit below her while she sat on the bed. Lucy got dressed in the bathroom. Tori took a brush and pulled Chloe's hair to the side, putting in a low ponytail, and sliding in the hair band. "Turn around so I can do your makeup."
"Really, Tori, I don't look good in makeup—" Chloe protested. Tori looked at Lucy's outfit as she came out of the bathroom.
"Ugh. Am I going to have to dress everyone?" After finishing Chloe's makeup, Tori returned to her room to gather more clothes for Lucy.
When Lucy finished dressing, she looked herself over in the mirror. She was wearing light beige cargo pants and a camouflage green shirt. Tori handed her a white hoodie and looked over her work. "There's something missing…" The puzzled look on Tori's face vanished when she found the missing link. Tori walked leisurely out of the room, taking her time. Lucy glanced at Chloe, who shrugged in response. Finally, Tori came back, with two clips in hand. "Pull the sides of your hair back. It'll look better. The dark green compliments the color of your hair." Tori looked from Lucy to Chloe.
"Now that you're both finished, I'm going to go get myself ready." Tori left again. When she came back, her hair was flowing loosely down her back and she was dressed in a lime green halter top and light blue skinny jeans that were ripped slightly at the knees. She wore very little make up.
Chloe looked Tori over. "Why am I the only one wearing makeup?"
"Because you need to get back in the field. Find a new man and forget about Derek. You'll feel much better. Promise." Tori replied.
"Shall we?" Lucy led the way to the door. Reluctantly, Chloe followed. As they neared the bottom of the steps, Tori spotted Derek, Simon and Mason lounging on the couches, talking about nothing in particular. Derek stayed silent, seeming to be in deep thought. He avoided eye contact with everyone, especially Chloe.
Lucy and Tori glanced back at Chloe who had her eyes trained on the floor. "Just hold your head high and act like nothing is wrong." Tori said, taking Chloe by her shoulders. Chloe nodded, taking Tori's advice.
The trio headed down the steps again, just making it to their destination before they were stopped once more. "I hope you weren't planning on going anywhere." Simon had turned his head towards the door.
"And why is that dear brother?" Tori asked in a mocking voice.
"We're on lock down." Simon replied. "Dad's orders. No one is allowed to go anywhere with out an adult escort." Tori groaned.
"Why are we on lock down?" Lucy asked.
"Kit said the security cameras picked up someone lurking around outside for about an hour last night. He's worried they might be part of the Edison Group." Mason replied.
Chloe fidgeted. She could feel Derek's gaze on her back. "Tori, we can just chill upstairs. It's no big deal." Chloe insisted.
Tori grumbled but complied, following Chloe up the steps, Lucy in tow. As Tori passed Derek, she gave him the finger.
Normal POV
Derek ignored Tori's obscene gesture. "You do realize they'll try to sneak out again." Simon said.
"Of course. What Tori wants Tori gets. Even I know that." Mason replied.
Derek's ear twitched in a dog like way. "They just went through an upstairs window." He informed them.
"Let's head them at the front." Simon got to his feet, walking to the door.
Derek's eyes quickly adjusted to the dim moon lit night. "There." He pointed to the other side of the lawn, where three dark figures were running across the yard.
Simon jumped from his spot, locating Tori, tackling her to the ground. The other two girls stopped in their tracks, fearing the worst. "What are you, my guard dog?" Tori spat.
"Nah. More like your brother." Simon let her up.
"Lock down. Do you need the definition?" Derek glowered, grabbing Chloe's arm.
"Last time I check, you weren't my boss, Derek." Chloe wrenched her arm out of his grasp.
"I'm your—"
"Boyfriend? Last time I knew, you ended that too! Or did you forget? You don't control me anymore. Leave me alone."
"Way to go, Chloe! Tell him who's boss!" Tori cheered. Simon slapped the back of her head. "What the hell was that for?"
"Trying to tell you to shut up discreetly."
Chloe began walking toward the barn where Marlee kept the extra cars, not wanting to be around anyone.
Mason and Simon glanced around awkwardly. Tori turned to Simon. "Can we at least go look for her? We'll bring her back to the house." She said.
"Fine. Go." Simon let Lucy and Tori leave in the way Chloe left.
Chloe's POV
I looked through the door of the barn/garage thing and saw that two other people were heading my way. The three remaining people, who I assumed were Simon, Derek and Mason, stayed put.
"Are you okay, Chloe?" Lucy asked sitting next to me.
"That fucking douche bag! That insensitive jerk! That chauvinistic pig! I can't believe he'd grab you like that a week after he dumped you! I should light up his ass!" Tori sat on the tail end of the car that Lucy and I were sitting in front of.
"Be my guest." I told her.
"I would but, we have some late night shopping to do." I looked at her, puzzled.
"You mean we're still going shopping?" Lucy jumped up in excitement.
"Of course we are! You think a creepy guy on a camera is gonna scare me away from doing what I love most? Now get in the car." Tori said, climbing into the drivers seat.
"Ooh! Shot gun!" Lucy exclaimed, leaving Chloe in the back seat.
Tori performed an invisibility spell on themselves and the car as she drove out of sight of the house.
Derek's POV
Derek swept into his room at the end of the hall. He was tired of sleeping on the couch so he had taken up one of the extra rooms.
He missed Chloe. But Chloe would never forgive him for walking out on her when she needed him. Tonight was evidence of that.
The silence of his newly acquired room was driving him mad. There should've been a soft snore, or an incoherent mumble, or laughter… the sound of the shower running… something. The fact was… he missed his Chloe. His mate.
Simon's POV
Lucy and the girls had been gone for a while. I was getting worried. "Do you think they're okay?" I asked Mason.
"I don't know. I haven't heard anything. Maybe we should look for them?" Mason replied.
"Yeah. Let's go." I led Mason over to the barn. The doors were wide open. "They took the car. Dad said not to let Chloe leave." I started to panic.
"Why?"
"He didn't say. But he was adamant about it. So whatever the reason it had to be serious." I told him.
"I'll get Kit."
Chloe's POV
The entire ride to the mall was a blur. I kept feeling as if we were being watched. Like it was a very bad thing that we were out. I pushed the thoughts out of my head, too determined to have fun.
We tumbled out of the old Toyota and headed for the entrance through the food court. "Okay. We need to buy stuff that will help us blend in or else Kit and Marlee will kill us even more for sneaking out. So… what's normal?" Tori asked.
Normally, if I heard a girl like Tori ask me, "what's something normal?" my head would've exploded. But in this case, we had been on the run for the greater part of two years and we moved so much that there was no point in subscribing to a fashion magazine. So all three of us were lost in this subject.
"I'm a necromancer. I've never been normal." I told her, for lack of anything better to say.
"I've been goth since I was eleven. I'm less normal than Chloe." Lucy said, shrugging.
"Let's face it, Tori. You're the only 'normal' teenage girl here." I said.
Tori looked around at some of the other girls walking around the mall. Suddenly, a shiver was sent up my spine and beside my shoes little giraffe slippers appeared. "Liz is here. Just pretend like we're talking to each other, don't look excessively to my side and no one will notice." I said. Thankfully since the incident I had with Derek at the china shop, way back when, I've learned to make it look like I'm talking to another normal person.
"Liz! Baby! So good to see you!" Tori looked to my left.
"Other side." Tori switched sides. "Liz says hi." I told him.
"Hi Liz!" Lucy said, jumping on her toes.
"She says, 'hello, again, Lucy.'" I interpreted.
"Liz, sweetheart, you know fashion, right?" Tori asked, looking right at me.
"Of course I do! I can't believe you'd doubt my expertise."
"Chloe, do you have a frog in your throat? Your voice sounds a little like—Oh my god, Liz?" A look of realization came over her face.
"In the flesh! Sorry, Chloe, I just couldn't help it. I was tired of you translating."
"Wait, Chloe's still in there? She can hear us?" Lucy asked.
"Yuppers."
"Shame on you, Liz. Taking over Chloe body!" Tori mock scolded, with a smile on her face.
"Thanks! Dear sweet god, Chloe! What did you eat today? I—I think I'm gonna be sick…" Liz threw herself from my body, swiveling it to the right, before my body promptly upchucked more digested pasta.
When the ordeal was over, I opened my eyes to see a brown haired guy kneeling in front of me, maneuvering around the puke. "You're not a ghost, are you?"
He gave me a weird look. "No. I don't think so." He lifted two fingers to his neck, checking his pulse. "Nope. Definitely still alive. I'm Dylan. Is she gonna be okay?" He asked Tori. Dylan… that name sounded familiar. Where did I know it from?
"Yeah. She just has a bit of food poisoning. And on top of it, she just had a bad break up with her ex. A real jerk. We were trying to cheer her up by going shopping. I guess it was a bad idea, looking back on it. Did she puke on you? If she did, I'm sorry. I can buy you—"
"It's okay. She didn't get anything on me. I'm Dylan Mungovan, in case you didn't catch it before." Mungovan. I definitely knew that name. Who was he?
"Tori Enright. This is Lucy and Chloe. We should probably go and get her home."
"Do you need some help carrying her? It doesn't look like she's going to be able to walk." Dylan said. I couldn't open my eyes to see his face.
A very unpleasant feeling grew in the pit of my stomach, telling me not to trust him. If only I could get myself to my feet…
Suddenly, I felt myself being lifted from the floor and into Dylan's arms. 'I know who you are. I know your secret.' The voice in my head was low and dangerous.
Quickly, I felt the night air on my face and the disappearance of the noises and lights of mall life. Then I was being sat down in the front seat of the car. With a final slam of the car door we were off.
Tori was babbling away but my brain couldn't form words out of the sounds she was making I opened my eyes just in time to see the head lights speeding towards us. 'Shit…' was my last thought before everything went black and silent.
x-x-x
Derek's POV
Dad got to the phone before I did. Marlee had gone looking for the girls about two hours ago.
"Are they okay?"
"Who is it?" Simon asked dad. He didn't get an answer. "D, who is it?"
"I don't recognize the voice, and I can't hear what they're saying. It's not Marlee." I said. Dad's face was lined with seriousness and worry.
"I see. I'll be right over… of course. Thank you." Dad slowly hung up the phone.
"What's going on? Where are they?" Mason was on his feet now too.
Dad ran a hand over his face and his eyes were glistening. "Boys… sit down." Simon and Mason were hesitant, but obeyed. "Derek, please."
There was something wrong, and I was too pumped full of adrenaline to sit or even stand still. "Dad. What. Happened?"
He took another shaky breath. "They've been in an accident." He said the words at a normal pace, but for me it seemed to take him forever to say them. "It was a double hit and run. Tori has a few bruises and cuts. She has a mild concussion and a broken arm. Lucy has a fractured cheek bone and a broken rib or two. They'll both be okay…" Dad's voice trailed off as his words registered in my mind.
"Chloe. What about Chloe?" I couldn't care less about what happened to the others. He wouldn't meet my eyes.
"Derek," he said slowly, "You have to understand, they were hit from behind at ninety miles an hour and on the passenger side at sixty. Their car wasn't moving—"
"What. Happened. To. Chloe? Just tell me." My voice wouldn't raise above a whisper.
"She… was propelled through the windshield… over another car. They found her by a tree twelve feet away from the intersection." He became silent and I didn't have the strength to speak. "Here entire right arm is crushed and she has six broken ribs. The front of her skull is fractured and she has a major concussion. She went into cardiac arrest twice in the emergency room alone and they had to drain her left lung of fluid. Because of that she can't breath on her own, They also believe she has extensive damage to her spinal cord. But they won't be sure until she wakes up."
"Wakes up?" Mason had his head in his hands.
"She's in a coma. They don't know if—"
"I can't… listen to anymore details right now… I just want to know… is she going to be… okay?"
"I'm sorry…" All of us had tears on our faces. I could smell the salt. "There's a ninety percent chance she won't make it. They told me… not to get our hopes up. Even if she does make it…" He couldn't say anymore. He didn't have to. Chloe was gone. It was my fault. And I couldn't take any of it back.
I didn't realize I had fallen to my knees until Simon was beside me. His mouth was moving but I couldn't hear what he was saying. I couldn't focus on his face. My vision began going black around the edges and I couldn't stop it. I didn't want to. My life was over. I honestly hoped I'd never wake up.
/AN: And that's it for the editing. For the next couple of days I'll be working on finishing up chapter 5 for you guys. I promis it will be no longer than a couple days... Yeah, I know I've said that before but: :P Review Please! -Kit/