I'm so fuckin sorry everyone. I have no excuse for being gone this long. Thank you to the people who stuck around to continue reading.

Here's the next chapter, please don't hate me. Ily guys :3

Tyler's P.O.V.

Stephanie rolled her eyes and answered her phone anyway. "Hey, Dad, what's up?"

"Where the hell are you? Joey and the others came home without Tyler, no one's saying what went on but I heard them say something about you." Damn, Kai was so loud... he must have been REALLY pissed.

"Dad, I told you I just went for a walk. I kinda lost track of where I was going and went NEAR where they were fighting. Besides, I saw the cops putting the snakes in handcuffs when I got there, so the fight was already over, and there was no danger. Trust me, I'm not gonna fight with them any time soon." That seemed to appease him, but I'm surprised how well she handled that. "No, I didn't go inside the bank." Well, that was a lie. "I don't know where Tyler is. Like I said, I wasn't in the bank, so I didn't see any of the ninja, or Jess." That was also a lie. I'm standing right here. "Alright, I'll see you when I get home... love you, too. Bye."

"You just lied to your dad," I said in disbelief when she hung up.

"Yea, and? You're the one who said I shouldn't explain what actually happened to others, and I can't just ignore his call. So what do you need to tell me?"

"We should probably go sit somewhere or something. This might take a while."

Steph's P.O.V.

"It's getting late, though," I said, glancing at the darkening sky. "Maybe we can talk about this at the house?"

"No, that's not such a good idea," Tyler replied. "I don't want the adults hearing this conversation." Then, with a touch of disgust, and in a low voice, "I also don't want them seeing you with me, it'll ruin your reputation."

I rolled my eyes. "They can't hate me for being friends with a teammate. We all have to work together, so we should all get along, right?"

He sighed. "Fine. Let's just wait until everyone's asleep."

"Alright. Meet me in the basement at midnight, then?"

"The basement?"

"Yea, no one goes in there at night." I wasn't going to admit the fact that I usually spent my nights down there anyway, since I haven't been able to sleep since I turned into a 17-year-old. I think it's impossible. I can't keep my eyes shut for more than 5 minutes.

We walked back to the house in silence, which suited me fine. As the house came into sight, Tyler stopped in his tracks.

"You should go in alone," he said.

"Why?"

"It'll be too suspicious."

"Who cares?" I don't see what the big deal is. Tyler looked like he wanted to explode for a second, then he sighed and started walking again.

Dad, Zane, Amanda, and Dr. Steinsberry were all waiting for us when we walked in the house, and they all jumped up simultaneously at the sound of the door opening. Dad'd face quickly turned angry. "You were with him?" He said "him" with so much disgust I thought he might hurl. "I thought you didn't know where he was?"

"Hey! That's my SON that you're speaking of!" Dr. Steinsberry commented. I noticed Zane and Amanda didn't try to defend Tyler.

"I ran into him on my way home, after you called. What's the big deal?" I asked, getting defensive.

Dad - infamous for his anger - turned the color of Joey's ninja outfit. "Just... go to bed. We'll talk about this in the morning." He then left the room, with Zane following him. Amanda shot me a disappointed look - did she know I was lying? - and followed her husband.

Dr. Steinsberry, on the other hand, enveloped Tyler in a hug and started bawling like a 5-year-old. "THANK GOODNESS YOU'RE ALRIGHT I WAS SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU!" I let them have their moment. I then got ready for bed because it was almost 9:00, and going against Dad's orders is never a good idea.

As I got my pajamas to go to bed, I noticed that all the other non-adults had gone to sleep already. Considering some were almost adults, the earliness of their bedtime surprised me. Choosing to let it go, I crawled into bed and stared at the clock, willing it to be midnight. I tried sleeping again, but it didn't work. Of course. What did I expect?

Finally, it was midnight. I made sure everyone in my room was asleep, then snuck down into the basement like I always do. Tyler was already down there, sitting in a ball and squeezing his head with his hands. He looked like he was shaking. As I got closer, I heard him softly and furiously whispering to himself.

"Um, Tyler? Are you ok?" I asked softly.

His head snapped up. Not only was his face the color of his white ninja suit, but he looked completely terrified. Upon seeing me, he quickly composed himself and stood up. Although he tried to hide it, I still saw that terror in his eyes. "Of course I'm ok. Why wouldn't I be ok?"

"Dude. You were on the floor crying."

He rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Yea, because I have a reason to cry. People cry out of fear. I fear nothing."

I heard a soft laughter coming from somewhere in the room. As I turned around to search the room, they laughing grew louder. I locked eyes with Tyler. "Do you hear that?"

"Of course I hear that," he said sharply. His left eye twitched violently. "The fact that you hear that as well is why I need to talk to you."

Yes, because talking about your feelings makes everything better.

Yea! Why don't you two girls go back to the kitchen where you belong!

And bring us some sandwiches! We're starved!

"Who's saying that?!" I asked Tyler, growing more and more panicked.

Ha, she thinks we're people!

Wow, she's stupider than HE is!

Then those voices began to laugh.

Tyler sighed. "Those are the voices you hear when you're mentally insane."

"Is there any other kind of insane?" I joked nervously. Tyler glared at me. The voices quieted for a moment.

Wow, she's a funny one. Interesting.

I'm gonna enjoy this one. A LOT.

I could almost hear them hungrily licking their lips, as if I were some kind of chocolate dessert.

"Stephanie, you're insane," Tyler said, making me look at him again. "That's why you can hear the voices like I can. That's also why we can talk like this." That's when I realized that his lips weren't moving.

"What?!" I asked frantically.

He sighed, obviously frustrated. "It's really not that fucking hard to understand," he said telepathically. "You're insane. Therefore you hear voices that enjoy seeing you suffer. That's also the reason we can talk telepathically. Because we are both insane. Get it?"

I stood in silence, letting that sink in, while trying to ignore the voices in my head. I mean, Tyler does have some valid points. And it kind of makes sense. It may also explain why I can't even force myself to sleep anymore. I don't even see what's so bad about it. Like, so what, I hear some voices? Cool. New friends to talk to. And I can talk to Tyler without even having to open my mouth. THAT'S pretty hardcore, right?

Suddenly, I realized that the voices were quiet, and Tyler was staring at me like... well, like I was insane. But more insane than he was. I guess. That doesn't make much sense, does it?

"What?" I asked out loud.

"Whatever you just said... yea, you need to filter your thoughts more..."

I sighed. "I just said that telepall - telepathically, didn't I?" I cringed horribly over that stutter. Great, I'm insane and stutter. Fun.

"You just did it again!" Tyler shouted, but not too loud, or he'd wake everyone up.

"Oh." The voices were laughing again.

Look, a sense of humor, AND she stutters!

We hit the jackpot with this bitch!

Fuck YEA!

I facepalmed. You guys are so STUPID, I said. Seriously, you sound like a bunch of teenaged girls on crack.

The voices got quiet again. Tyler coughed to cover a laugh. Come to think of it, that's probably the first time I've seen him come close to smiling.

You're going to regret that statement, skank.

"Oh wow, I'm a skank now? I'm sooo scared."

"You should probably stop now..." Tyler said.

"What are they gonna do? They're just voices. Just a bunch of words."

"If you say so." For the look on his face, I could tell that he disagreed. Strongly. "Hold on. I'm gonna try something." Before I could protest, he grabbed my hand. Suddenly, it was like something shut off in my head. I looked at Tyler questioningly. "See? The voices are gone," Tyler said.

"What? How?"

"You didn't notice it before?" He must've read the blank look on my face, because he shook his head and continued. "That one time you ran out on training, right after you turned into a teenager, and you stopped me from running away again, and you hugged me? Yea, well, that's how I figured it out. Because when you hugged me, the voices stopped. Of course then I wanted to murder you..."

"WHAT?!"

"Calm down, it's part of being insane. You haven't gotten to that point yet, but I get the urge to kill people often." I pushed his hand away and stepped back a couple of inches. "It's not like I actually killed anyone. Or am going to kill anyone. Damn. Don't get so sensitive."

HA! He called the whore sensitive!

Haaaa! Dumb BITCH!

I sighed. "Are they always this annoying?"

Tyler looked at me with dead eyes. "It's a phase. They'll get back to slowly killing us soon."

Oh.

The voices are sexist sons of bitches. But yea.

Next chapter will get back into fighting and saving Julia and the ninja and stuff.

And thank you again for staying with the story all this time. Please review & feel free to annoy me for more chapters.

Have a fabulous day everyone~