Thirteen Isn't Just A Lucky Number
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Every iota of ideas and characters belong to Scott Westerfeld.
Author's Note- Thanks to charmed-freak292 for the review. I hope all you Midnighters fans like the story so far.
Ch. 2:
Dess woke up the next morning feeling like she'd been hit by a bus. Correction. It felt like she had been hit with two buses full of slithers. She groaned and rolled over to look at her alarm clock, which read 10:46 in blinking red lights. Thank God I don't have school. There is no way possible to make me get up from my nice, comfy, cozy bed.
"Ring, ring, ring!" The annoying sound of Dess's cell phone cut through the silence of the room. Damn it. The cosmos must have it out for me. And knowing my luck, it'll be Rex freaking out about how we need to fight the darklings.
Dess grudgingly got out of bed and answered her phone. "Hello, this better be good," she snapped. She was definitely not happy about this.
"Dess? It's Rex. I'm just calling to tell you that we're meeting behind the school in an hour to discuss how we need to fight the darklings. I'll see you there. Bye." Rex hung up. I rest my case. Who needs Melissa? We just need my dead-on intuition.
Dess sighed. "After the meeting, I seriously need to go on a steel raid. Those damn darklings cleaned me out." She sighed again. Oh, well. I'll worry about that after I take my shower.
Thirty minutes later, Dess was dressed and ready to go. Her trusty bike was chained outside the door and she even had a list of new thirteen and thirty-nine letter words and phrases for the group. I better get major kudos for this. It sapped all the brainpower I had left after that rumble.
Dess continued on her way to the school. Good idea Rex picked this place; absolutely no one would be here in the summer. At least he's good for something other than ordering us around. Dess spotted the Midnighters. But something looked wrong. Rex was shaking Melissa. Who was on the ground. Unconscious. Out cold.
Even though Dess had not completely forgiven Melissa, she wasn't about to just leave her there. She jumped off her bike and ran to the group. "What happened? What's going on? And why the hell is Melissa out cold on the grass?" Dess's thought were jumbling in her mind. What is going on? Melissa never goes like this even if there were many people intruding on her mind. I mean, she never fainted at school. Or walking downtown in the height of Christmas shopping.
Dess saw Jess and Jonathan trying to revive Melissa. "Go get cold water, smelling salts, or both. Make sure you make it quick," she told them. They nodded and left without a word. Melissa, after all you did to me, you better get your conscious butt back here right now. You're starting to even freak me out more than you did before.
Suddenly, Melissa's eyes fluttered open. "Help," she said, but it wasn't her voice. It was the voice of another girl. Dess was in shock. Okay, now this is going too far. "Help," Melissa repeated in that eerie voice. "I need your help. Please. I don't know what to do. Scary things are after me at night and I can't stop them. Please help me. Please…" the other girl's voice faded away. Melissa sat up, a little disoriented. "Uh, what just happened?"
Rex looked at her in utter disbelief. "You practically fell to the ground out cold and then started talking in some other girl's voice!" Gee, Rex, ever think to soften that up a bit? If you ever said that to me, I'd think you'd gone off the deep end.
"Um, Rex, I think you'd just went off the deep end," said Melissa as she tried to stand up. Dess shook her head. Like I said, who needs Melissa? My gut is golden.
Rex still looked shocked, but he decided to let it go for now. "Are you feeling better?" Melissa nodded in reply. "Thank God," he whispered. Then he started rambling like a baby. "I didn't know what was going on and I was so worried that you were hurt and I freaked out…."
Dess rolled her eyes. "Rex, shut up," she snapped. "Melissa's fine, you're fine, I'm fine, the lovebirds are fine, chill, will you?" Dess rubbed her temples; all the excitement was giving her a monstrous headache. "Can we get down to business so I can make some more weapons or do you suggest that we go into the blue time tonight totally and completely unarmed and at the mercy of evil little slithers?"
"Alright, Dess, we get the point," said Melissa. Ah, the bitch goddess has returned. However, Dess was still worried. How and why did she just faint and blank out like that? Something's up and my gut tells me it's something bad.
Author's PS- Good so far? I hope so. Reviews welcome.