No one answered the door after Jay rang the bell. He and the others were left standing outside Lou's house.
"Should I ring it again?" Jay asked.
"I don't know. Lou's usually quick to answer it," Kai said.
"Are we early?" Nya asked.
"We are late. Cole said to come over at eleven. It is now two minutes past eleven," Zane commented.
"That's not late, Zane," Lloyd said as he rang the bell a second time.
They heard someone stomp over to the door before it flung open. A tall man with gray hair glared at them. His large frame filled the doorframe.
"Uh… do we have the right house?" Jay asked.
"This is the correct address. Unless Lou has moved to a new house," Zane said.
"He's not here right now. I am. Who the heck are you lot?" The man spoke with a thick Celtic accent. He crossed his arms and refused to let them in the house.
"We're here to see Cole," Kai said.
The man didn't move.
"He said we could come over," Jay added.
The man stepped towards them, arms still crossed.
"Who's here, luv?" A petite older woman with gray streaks in her red hair came up behind him. She too spoke with a Celtic accent.
"No idea."
"We're Cole's friends," Lloyd said.
"Oi let them in then." The woman gently slapped the man's arm. He begrudgingly stepped aside and let them in.
"Thank you. Where's Cole?" Kai asked.
"In the restroom. I'm Bea, by the way. That's my husband, Victor."
"That's General Lavinsky to you lot."
"Luv, go back to watching your soccer game. Cole, you can't live in the bathroom!" Bea ran off to attend to Cole. The ninja stood there awkwardly. The General sat down in the recliner in the living room and watched the game on TV.
"Lavinsky? Where have I heard that name before?" Kai asked himself.
"That was the name on the grave Lou visited when Cole first went into a coma," Zane pointed out.
"You're Anna's parents?" Lloyd asked.
"Yes. Be quiet," General Lavinsky snapped.
"Vic, be nice," Bea said. She was helping Cole out of the bathroom.
Cole looked better in the sense that his hair was cut and he had shaved his beard off, but he looked worse in that he was extremely pale, thin, there were dark circles under his eyes, and even though he was leaning against the wall, he looked like he was about to pass out.
"Dude, you look terrible," Jay said.
"Are you okay?" Kai asked.
"Eh." Cole slowly made his way to the couch to lie down. Bea gave him a sports drink, but he only took one tiny sip of it.
"I still say you ought to go back to the hospital," Bea said as she sat down next to him.
"No. No, I'll be fine," Cole mumbled.
"Where's your dad?" Nya asked.
"Work. He's out of money. He needs money."
"I thought your family was rich," Jay said.
"Eh." Cole curled up under a blanket on the couch.
"Let him rest. Maybe you can visit again later," Bea said as she ushered the group to the door.
"She's right. He needs to rest. Oh, we brought him some stuff from the monastery. His laptop, some more clothes, and a couple books," Lloyd said as he handed the bag to Bea.
"I'll be sure to give it to him. It was nice to meet you."
Cole hated how sick he was. He had been home for five days, and he was sicker than ever. The comments his friends made stuck in his mind, and that was four days ago. He had a doctor's appointment the next day at noon and he was just trying to survive until then. He had a fever, a massive headache, his muscles were still sore, and he was dizzy. On top of that, every time he moved it felt like someone was twisting a knife in his stomach and he was nauseous as all get out.
It was two in the morning, and once again he couldn't sleep even though he was exhausted. He told his dad that he wanted to sleep downstairs on the couch because it was closer to the bathroom, and that was partly true, but the real reason was so he could watch TV when he couldn't sleep at night. Except nothing was on in the middle of the night.
Cole sighed and sat up. He was immediately nauseous again, but he fought it as he made his way into his dad's study and turned the computer on. Not expecting any real results, he typed "why am I throwing up all the time" into the internet search bar. He skimmed through the headlines of thousands of articles about what causes nausea and vomiting and how to cure them. Nothing seemed the likely cause, so he grabbed his pill bottles and started searching for ingredients lists. Maybe they had given him something that was in the morphine family by mistake. He knew his pain medication caused nausea as a side effect, but surely something more had to be going on.
The first two medicines came up with nothing, but when he searched for his anti-nausea pill, one ingredient jumped out at him: vengestone. Another search told him that in addition to neutralizing elemental powers, vengestone was also an excellent remedy for nausea since it acted like a giant sponge for toxins and anything else that might make you sick.
Cole printed the page out and placed it on the kitchen table where his dad was sure to see it. As he looked for a highlighter, his stomach pains started up again and he ran to the bathroom.
Lou looked over at the clock. It was four-thirty in the morning and he had no idea why he was awake. His alarm wasn't due to go off for another two and a half hours. He needed to sleep if he was to function properly at work. And he needed to go to work since he had blown through his savings while Cole was in the hospital. Still, he was awake and he didn't think he was going to fall back asleep anytime soon. He decided to go downstairs and see if Cole had managed to fall asleep.
He saw some lights on, but he knew Cole kept a light on for when he needed to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. He glanced in his study and saw the computer was in sleep mode. He turned the light off and went into the kitchen. Only the light above the table was turned on. He picked up a sheet of paper on the table. It was a list of ingredients in one of Cole's medicines. He skimmed it, but nothing stuck out to him. He wandered into the living room and found it empty. Concerned, he went to the bathroom.
"Cole? You in there?" Lou asked as he knocked on the door. There was no answer, so he opened the door.
Cole was lying down on the floor, curled around the toilet. Lou called his name again, but Cole didn't respond. Lou went over and shook Cole's shoulder. Nothing. He felt Cole's pulse, which was rapid. He noticed Cole's breathing was also rapid and shallow. Lou ran and grabbed the first phone he found and phoned for an ambulance.
Paramedics arrived within ten minutes. They quickly loaded Cole into the ambulance and raced towards the hospital. Lou grabbed the paper on the table and stuck it in his pocket as he climbed into the ambulance with them.
Cole was severely dehydrated. The doctor said if Lou had waited a couple more hours, Cole might have died. Now, he was heavily sedated while he received fluids through an IV. Lou showed the paper to the nurses and doctor, but they didn't know why Cole might be reacting to it. They had to wait for Cole to wake up so he could tell them.
Cole woke around two in the afternoon, and he was not happy when he realized he was back in the hospital. He was especially grouchy when he learned there was no chance of being discharged that day and he had to stay the night. A nurse pulled the curtains around his bed closed while she examined him.
"Vengestone takes away my powers," Cole groggily explained when Lou asked him about the paper.
"Really? I didn't know that. I'll talk to the doctor about other medications. Cole, are you alright?" Lou asked when he noticed Cole wasn't looking at him.
"Did they give me vengestone when was in the coma?"
"I don't know."