The LYOKO warriors gathered in Odd and Ulrich's room. They would have time before Yin would send them to the dimension. She said that she needed to prepare a few things. Jeremy had a few things to get in order as well. He was currently modifying their specter bands.
"Okay, that's the last one," said Jeremy. He turned away from the desk and handed Eva her specter band. "I modified the program to allow us to be 'Jeremy-fied', as Odd would put it. Also, I programed the bands to activate when you are under extreme stress."
"Not just programed to monitor heart rate, I hope," Eva said.
"No," replied Jeremy. "Yin gave me a program to use. It'll trigger when it senses elevated blood pressure and sweat."
"Sweat?" asked Odd.
"A lot of moisture is lost through the skin," said Kayla. "I'm assuming that the program analyzes the hormones in the sweat."
"Yes," answered Jeremy. "How did you know?"
"My dad's a doctor," said Kayla.
"So when you sweat, the band analyzes the sweat's chemical composition and if it finds a certain amount of hormones, it activates," said Yumi.
"More or less," said Jeremy, "but it monitors heart rate and breathing as well."
"No one thing triggers it," said Eva. "What's the target heart rate?"
"It's different for everyone," said Jeremy. "I used your biological scans to come up with the figures."
Kiwi barked.
"Yeah, you know what's going on, diggity dog," said Odd, petting his head.
"Let's get what we need together," said Eva.
"That reminds me," said Odd, getting off his bed. He opened the closet and pulled out a package covered with purple wrapping paper with little blue kittens. "This is for you, Eva. Happy birthday, phantasm."
Eva had a confused look on her face. "It's not my birthday, Odd."
"I figured that," said Odd. "Go on, open it."
Eva removed the blue bow and set it beside her only to have Kayla reach over and stick it on Eva's head. Eva gave her an unhappy glance and unwrapped her gift.
"Dude!" whispered Eva in awe as she held up a black hooded sweatshirt.
"Wait, there's more," said Odd. He reached into the kangaroo pocket and pulled out a black bandana. "Now you can disappear into the shadows."
"Odd, thank you," said Eva, slipping it over her head.
"I figured since your last one got ruined, you could use a new one," Odd said.
Eva adjusted the sweatshirt and tied the bandana around her mouth and nose. "What do you think?" she asked, standing up and giving a twirl.
"Looks good," said Yumi.
"Thank you, brother," said Eva.
"Aw, shucks," said Odd, a little embarrassed.
"The last thing he needs is another sister," said Ulrich.
"At least this one won't lock me in the bathroom," Odd said.
"Are you ready?" Yin was standing by the door. The LYOKO warriors didn't see her or hear her enter.
"Yes," answered Kayla.
"All right," said Yin. "Tomorrow we will leave for the next dimension. I found which one it is. Be aware that you will not be the only ones with special powers."
"We were prepared for that already," said Yumi.
Yin nodded. "Good. I'll see you in the morning." Yin opened the door and left.
"Time for bed," said Eva. "We all need to get our sleep."
"My parents are probably wondering where I am," said Yumi.
"Mine, too," said Kayla. "See you tomorrow."
In the middle of the night, Eva heard someone moving in the hallway. With her penknife in one hand she got up and opened the door a crack. Experience told her that any strange sounds could be the work of XANA. There was no one in the hall.
Eva sighed and grabbed her shower items and went to the bathroom. She stripped down and got stepped under the hot water. Something told her that this was going to be the last hot shower for a long time.
Eva heard the bathroom door close and she poked her head around the shower stall to see who it was. Aelita was standing at the threshold to the showers. Eva sighed with relief.
"I thought no one would be up at this hour," Eva said.
"I thought the same," Aelita said.
Eva finished her shower and wrapped a towel around herself. She and Aelita sat on one of the benches.
"What are you doing up?" asked Aelita.
"I thought I heard something," said Eva. "And since I was up, I thought I would take a shower. What about you?"
"Nightmares again," Aelita replied.
"What about?"
"The memories that haunt me," Aelita answered.
Eva nodded. "I know how that is. Sometimes I still think I'm at home and that my sister is alive. And then everything unravels again like it did two years ago. That's the reason for this most of the time." Eva rubbed the dark circles under her eyes. "I don't think I'll ever truly sleep again."
Eva got up and dressed herself. Aelita got a full view of the scars on her back and shoulders. Each scar had a different story, a story Aelita wasn't sure she wanted to hear.
"Come on," said Eva after she pulled her shirt on. "Let's go back to bed."