Chapter 8

The Strigoi were getting closer to Liss. No time to worry about me. I had to protect my friends. I staked the closest one with no problem. When the other two saw their partner fall they seemed shocked. Then, just like Dimitri, Liss, and Christian they stared at the stake. They both ran toward me. They didn't know what to do exactly, since they couldn't touch the stake but they were going to figure out what was up. I was able to hit them pretty easily and when I did, it distracted them enough so I could stake them.

Dimitri and Eddie were finishing up the last of the Strigoi. The other Guardians were leaving to go help others. Lissa and Christian were crouched down by my body.

"What the hell," I tried to say, but nothing came out.

When the boys finished off the last of them they came beside my body, too.

"What happened," asked Lissa. She had tears in her eyes. I was wanting to know the same thing. "Dimitri. She's barely breathing. What's wrong?"

"I don't know. I think it's like what happened last time when this happened. When she woke up she said she was in a dark land full of souls during the period of time she was like this." Not hardly! Dimitri looked seriously worried. He picked up my body and started to carry me off toward the hospital wing.

Then I got it. They couldn't see me like they couldn't Mason. But maybe since I was able to pick up the stake they could feel me. I walked up in front of Dimitri and squeezed him hard. He stopped dead in his tracks and looked down at my body.

"What's wrong?" asked Christian. Even though he is mostly a smartass and usually looked smug, he now looked a little shaken.

"Nothing," Dimitri said. "I thought I just felt her move. I guess not." He started walking again.

I tried to get Eddie's attention. I went over to him and smacked the side of his face. He ought to feel that.

"Ow," he said. "I swear my face feels like I just got slapped." He started to rub his cheek.

"I think your losing your mind more and more each day Castile," joked Christian.

I walked over and decided to punch Christian in the face, too. He deserved it. This was not the time to be joking around.

"Christian please be nice right now," Lissa said with sad puppy dog eyes at the same time that Christian said, "Shit."

I walked over and took Lissa's hand. Her eyes went wide and she lifted her hand up staring at it with my fingers still entwined. I pulled her over into the dirt. Still keeping hold of her hand I grabbed a stick and started to right in the dirt.

"What does it say," asked Dimitri from behind us. He was still carrying my body.

"It says," said Lissa slowly. "Guyz…Idk waz up…I need u … 2 help me. R."

"Rose!" Dimitri said. "What's going on? Why are you out of your body and why can't we see you?" he asked frantically.

Lissa, "Idk …membr with Mason …how u … couldn't c him …that's with … me now …except I'm alive."

They were all pretty shocked now. They probably thought they were all crazy or this was just a dream.

"Rose," said Dimitri. Taking charge. "Take Lissa's hand and come with us to the hospital wing. We need to have your body checked out and see if we can figure out what's going on."

Lissa stuck out her hand. It hit my chest. She brought her hand farther back. I backed up and grabbed her hand, doing as I was told. In the hospital wing there were Moroi and Guardians getting cuts and other injuries healed. Apparently they had fought off all of the other Strigoi. All the patients were in this one room. It was just a long hall of beds and machinery. A nurse came over and guided Dimitri to a bed. He laid me down gently.

"What happened?" she asked.

"We don't know," said Dimitri. She was in the middle of fighting when this happened." I understood why he didn't tell her that I was standing right there beside her holding Lissa's hand and that I was a ghost. She would think they were all crazy.

She got out a stethoscope and that thing that they check your blood pressure with. First, she listened to my breathing and then she checked my blood pressure. She shook her head.

"It's not good whatever it is. If she had a more normal heart rate and breathing I would say she was just in shock. But I don't think that's it. I think she may be in a coma."

Lissa burst into tears. She had forgotten that I was right there holding her hand. She let go and buried her head in Christian's chest. He inconspicuously stuck out his hand for me to grab. I took hold of it and squeezed. After the nurse hooked my body up to a heart monitor she left us alone to go check on other patients. Dimitri went and retrieved a piece of paper and a pen for me to write on. He put them on the table beside the bed.

"'Kay Rose. Talk to us," said Eddie.

"She can't," said Dimitri. "That's what the paper and pen are for."

"I am so FREAKED," I wrote. "I don't know what's going on."

"It's going to be okay, Rose," said Christian, still holding my other hand. "We'll figure out a way to get you back into your body. We promise."

"Yah," Lissa said, "We'll make it through this. I think it has to do with you being Shadow-Kissed, though. Don't you think?"

"I think you are right. This is exactly like when I see ghosts. No one else can see them. And I can't talk right now, either. The only thing that's different is that I am able to touch you guys and you are able to feel it. With Mason, he couldn't."

"Don't worry, Roza. It'll be okay. Let's just think here for a while."

He went and sat down beside my body. Everyone else sat down, too. I went and sat in his lap. I'm guessing he was able to feel my body since he wrapped his arms around me tight. I reached out to pull the hair out of my face. As soon as my hand touched my face I snapped back into my body.

My eyes flew open as I dragged in a ragged breath. The monitor behind me went wild as my heart raced in my chest. I was breathing frantically. My friends rushed to my side asking a million and one questions. My head was a jumbled mess enough as it was. I was starting to get a headache. A real one. They were still talking all at once.

"Shut the hell up," I said annoyed. Silence. "Good. I'm fine, but I'm like freaked out right now as I'm sure you can guess. I don't know what happened."

Just then my father and Adrian walked into the room.

"Rose. Are you alright? We ran into a Guardian who fought with you guys and he said that you were unconscious. He said it didn't even look like you were breathing."

"I'm fine. Honestly." I brought my hands up to cover my face. "By the way, can someone get me an aspirin. I'm getting a headache," I said without moving my hands.

"Sure," said Eddie. "And I'll go tell that nurse that you woke up."

"What happened?" asked Adrian.

"I had an out of body moment," I laughed a humorless laugh. "Literally." Ibrahim and Adrian looked confused. "I was literally out of my body. I was standing there looking at my body lying on the ground back there. I got one of my headaches again and then it was gone. As soon as it came it was gone. I felt weightless and free. Like I could do anything. Once I staked the Strigoi I turned around and there was my body. Lissa and Christian were sitting there with it and I was right in front of them and they didn't know it. Speaking of stakes, we'll have to go get mine out of that chick's body. I kinda freaked out when I saw my body and I just left the stake there."

"We'll get it later," Lissa said. "But are you sure all right?"

"Yah, I'm fine. I just have a headache now. Not the same as the one I had before, though," I added when all of their eyes widened.

"Well, I'm glad you're okay," said Ibrahim.

"Thanks guys. You can relax now. Take a seat. As soon as Eddie gets back with the nurse and she says I'm okay, I plan to be out of here."

Eddie came back with the nurse and some Ibuprofen. She said that I could go but they should check on me every couple of hours. When we were outside Dimitri and I trailed behind the group.

"Hey, is it all right if I come over and sleep on your couch tonight? Christian's spending the night with Lissa, and believe me, I do not want to be there for that and the walls are not sound proof."

"No you cannot sleep on our couch." I looked at him in surprise. He was grinning. "But you can sleep with me tonight."

"You got yourself a deal."