After the shower, Kyle felt even better. While in the warm water he had decided that his parents must be waiting for him here.

Surely he had passed out or something? This had to be a medical facility. A private one. Was this the Mayo Clinic? He hadn't known his parents could afford a place like this.

Fully dressed, he gave himself a once-over in the full-length mirror. There he was again, same unruly brown hair, pale skin (it was very difficult for him to tan), and brown eyes.

He was wearing the same green polo shirt and blue jeans he had been wearing…last night? Two night ago?

Kyle moved toward the bedroom door and reached out for the doorknob. He didn't know if he was ready for what might be on the other side of this door. His hand hovered over the knob for long moments.

Then he heard a loud, rapid series of knocks on the door, which made him jump, and then a voice from the other side:

"Are you coming out, or what? I don't have all day for this!"

The voice was female, and sounded annoyed. Highly annoyed.

Kyle gently opened the door, which revealed a young girl who looked about his age, maybe a little but younger. She was tall, blonde, very cute, and in addition to her school uniform, the expression she was wearing on her face was annoyed.

Highly annoyed.

"Hi." She chirped out in a terse staccato. "I was supposed to take you to breakfast, but since you slept forever we'll have to skip it. Here."

With that last word her hand shot forward. Kyle recoiled in alarm, but then he saw that the girl was holding an apple.

"There's your breakfast. We've gotta go see my dad. I mean, the Headmaster." Kyle took the apple from her. And with that the girl spun and began stalking off, the short skirt she was wearing flared as she twirled, revealing the upper regions of firm, shapely thighs and a quick flash of a juicy butt cheek.

Despite his situation, as Kyle followed he helped himself to a long look. The girl's head whipped around suddenly, and Kyle tried to snap his head up, but he saw he was too late. She had seen him. Her annoyed look changed to a satisfied smirk.

"I'm Lizzie." She said. Her tone was now a good deal friendlier.

Kyle wanted to groan. Instead he just said "I'm Kyle. Kyle Carter."

"I know. Now keep up." She said, not turning to speak to him this time. Kyle matched her hurried pace as they descended a rather grand set of stairs. While the upstairs was empty, now there were young kids everywhere in what looked to be a common area for the kids to gather.

Instead of walking into them, she took a quick turn down a quieter hallway.

"This way. Come on." She came to a closed door, and without knocking she threw it open and burst through as if she owned the place.

"Alright here he is, can I go now?"

Kyle came in behind her. There was a man sitting at a desk off to his right. The same man from the other night.

"Hello Kyle, thanks for joining us." The man said.

"Us?" Lizzie said, then spun to her left. "Oh."

Kyle also turned to his left. There was another girl there. Brunette, long dark hair. Big eyes, beautiful face. Kyle thought her whole presence seemed dark somehow. She didn't speak. She just looked at Kyle.

He took her in. She looked possibly a bit older than him, and she had curves.

My god, Kyle thought, those BOOBS. They were huge. The girl's clingy, v-neck top was almost form-fitting, and the two plump breasts were doing their best to command all of his attention.

Kyle shook his head. He was not here to look at boobs.

He whirled back to the man behind the desk.

"Where are my parents? Who are you? And where am I? What happened to me?" The questions erupted out of him.

The man's face looked sad for a brief moment. He turned to Lizzie and said "Lizzie, thanks for your help. Why don't you go back to your classes?"

But Lizzie didn't move. Kyle was dimly aware that Lizzie was still staring at the other girl. She was not looking at her breasts.

"No, I think I'll stay." Lizzie said in clipped tones.

"Lizzie…", the man said in an exasperated tone, but Lizzie cut him off.

"If she gets to stay then I want to stay!" she blurted out.

"Fine, Lizzie! Fine." The man got up from behind the desk. He moved to the door and closed it gently.

Then he went and stood by Lizzie. Now there was the three of them facing the one of him.

"My name is Alaric Saltzman. I'm the Headmaster of The Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted."

Kyle said nothing, just waited for him to go on.

"You've already met my daughter, Lizzie." He gestured at Lizzie, who was staring at him now.

"And this is Hope, another student here." Hope said nothing, and Lizzie's cute face twisted into an ugly grimace for just a moment when her father said Hope's name.

"Why am I here? Where are my parents?"

Again, Alaric's face looked sad.

"Kyle, you're here for your protection. Your parents are…I'm sorry, Kyle. They're dead."

Kyle's knees almost buckled. He saw Hope's face morph from stone to compassionate. She took a step forward as if to steady him, but Lizzie also saw her, and surged forward to cut her off. She grasped his arms and said "Here, hold onto me." She tried to wrangle his arm around her shoulder.

Alaric stepped over and gently untangled his daughter from Kyle. He took the young boy and guided him to a chair. Kyle didn't register who was touching him. He just needed to sit down before he fell down.

"What? What happened?" Kyle's voice broke and caught in his throat as he tried to get the question out.

"We don't know exactly." Alaric said. He took a breath and then continued. "We detected an unusual amount of magical activity out in Colorado, and when we went to investigate…we were unprepared."

Now Lizzie was hovering over Kyle, holding his hand. "What happened, dad?" She asked.

"Hope and I arrived just as someone…or something…attacked the Carters. We interrupted some kind of ritual, and Mr. Carter…your dad, Kyle, he sacrificed himself so we could get you out of there."

Kyle felt like he couldn't breathe. He felt something fall out of his hand. He looked down at the floor.

Apple. That's right. Apple. Lizzie had given him the apple a million years ago, back when his parents were alive.

"How long have I been here?"

Alaric hesitated before answering. "It's been over a week."

Kyle was so confused. "I've been asleep for a week?!"

"Something like that. You were under some kind of trance, but you kept waking up and acting out. That's why you were restrained. We had to give you something to prevent somnambulism. Once we did that you finally got some real rest."

Kyle was shaking his head.

"I have to go. I have to go back. I have to call my friends, I have to call my school, my dad's job. Tell them what happened."

Alaric came over and rested a strong hand on Kyle's shoulder.

"You can't go back Kyle. You're in danger. Whoever did this is still out there, and we've got to keep you safe."

"Why would someone do this to us?" Kyle wailed.

Alaric shook his head. "I don't know yet, Kyle. But I'm going to find out, you have my word on that. Listen, why don't you go get something to eat now, and I'll talk to you later. I know this is a lot to deal with right now."

Lizzie grabbed Kyle's arm. "I'll take him, dad."

But Alaric reached over and grabbed Lizzie's hand. "No sweetheart, I want to talk to you. Hope, would you mind showing Kyle around?"

Kyle registered that Lizzie was unhappy she wasn't going with him, and he also registered the look between Hope and Alaric that showed Hope was unhappy that she was going with him. He also registered Alaric mouthing the words 'be nice' to Hope.

But Kyle didn't care about any of that just then. His parents were gone. No, not gone…dead.

He didn't know what he was going to do.