Mia

I come to, opening my eyes and exhaling a sigh of relief. So I'm alive. I think.

I'm a bed that isn't mine. The silky sheets feel nice and soft against my skin. I'm wearing nothing but a black tank top and some black sleep shorts...not the clothes I was wearing when I was stabbed.

I was stabbed.

I fling the covers off me and put my hands to my side, which doesn't hurt at all. I lift the tank top up, seeing that all that is there is a faint scar. How is this possible? Deno said he'd fix me up if I went with him...but that was before I blacked out. So maybe he did heal me. Then what else happened last night? After the black out, I have no memory of what happened or how I got here. The clock adjusted on the wall says it's 9:34 AM.

I take in the room. It's huge, a master bedroom. So fancy, it could pass as a five star hotel suite. I can tell by the look of the room that no one lives here, so I must be in someone's guest room if I'm not in a hotel.

But then all of the pieces to puzzle click together in my brain, and I realize where I am. I'm in Deno's house. His huge frickin mansion...

I try to get down off the bed, but I can't. There's a force field holding me on the bed. It ripples a red mist as I touch it. A few moments later, the door opens to reveal Deno. I shudder at his sight, moving backwards until my back hits the headboard. He smirks, and a shiver runs through my body.

"Hello, Mia. Nice to see you again, all fixed up now. Last night...probably one of the most exciting in my life. How are you feeling?" he says in a sinister tone.

"What happened last night? After I blacked out?" I question. I'm getting angry now.

"Nothing you need to know about, Mia."

"Fine. If you don't want to talk, I'm not gonna fight you to. Can I go home now?" I ask him. The truth is, I don't really know where to go. I don't have a real home. The place where I live is just that, a place where I live. And worse, Milo is there. I'm so disgusted with him, I don't want to see him. But where else where I go? School? Iridium isn't that bad, but after last night...I feel sick to my stomach. I don't feel alright, I just want to lie in bed and pretend none of this ever happened.

"Sure, whatever. But I gotta go, so you're gonna have to find your own way home. There's a phone around here somewhere you can use to call someone. Thanks for last night, Mia. You've been very useful. If you ever need anything, just give me a ring. I wrote my number below the one on your wrist, whatever reason that number is there for. Okay, Mia?" he says. He smiles at me. I hate that smile. It's evil, there's poison behind it.

And what is he talking about, that I'd been 'useful'? I thought I just lost him some drug money and had a huge fight with him. He was the one that stabbed me and then had to take care of it. So how was I useful? I have so many questions, my mind is going into overdrive and I can't process everything all at once.

He casts a spell, and I see the barrier surrounding my bed disappear. Then he exits. I'm left alone again. I hop out of the bed, and search for a phone. Who am I gonna call? All the numbers I use are saved as contacts on my phone. I don't have any numbers memorized.

I wrote my number below the one written on your wrist...

Jax's phone number is on my wrist. It may not be perfect, but it's the best option I have. What will I explain to Jax? That I got involved with a gang, that their leader is a wizard and that he stabbed me and I stayed the night at his place? Will he believe me?

I think I'll take my chances. I just want out of this nightmare, out of this god forsaken mansion.

Finally, I find the phone. I press the buttons corresponding to Jax's cell number, and it rings a few times before he picks up. I suddenly feel even sicker than when I woke up.

"Hello?" his voice says from the other end.

"Jax, it's Mia...I need your help," I tell him. I hate how desperate I sound. Like I need to be saved. Maybe I could use a little saving after the events of last night, no matter how much I don't want to admit it.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" I think about his question. No, I'm not okay. Everything is wrong. A lump rises up in my throat, and I get the painful, raw feeling in my throat that happens when you're trying to hold back your tears...

"Yeah, no, I'm fine. I just-" I take in a deep breath. "I need you to teletransport to where I am and get me. I'll explain things when you get here, I just need help."

"Are you sure you're okay? You don't sound quite like yourself, Mia. What happened? I'm in school at my locker right now, but where are you? I'll pick you up, everything is going to be fine."

"I don't know the address. Can't you get something from locker and track me with it? Please," I say, just wanting him to get here. I want to see someone's familiar face, even if it's Jax's.

"Okay. I'll be there in a few, Mia. Just tell me what's going on when I get there, okay? Hang tight." It's weird that I'm being comforted by Jax. He is one of the most repulsive people I've ever met, and a wizard! He's not someone I'd ever call for help in a regular situation. But this is different. Now I need him, and he's here for me when I need him. At least he says he is.

Everything is so strange. How did I get into these clothes? How did Deno get so much power that he was able to heal me? What is going to happen to me and Milo, too, now? Is Deno finally done with me?

A smoky, cloudy dark blue light manifests before me, and Jax emerges out of it. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Mia, what is this place? Why are you here? What happened to you? No offense, but you look awful."

"Thanks. I don't know exactly where we are. Thank you for coming," I admit.

"Of course. The way you sounded over that call, the way you look now...what happened to you?" This is probably the third or fourth time he's asked this question.

"Where do I start," I let out a sad little laugh, dropping my head a bit. I look at him with sad eyes and a sarcastic smile, "why don't I start from the beginning?"

So that's when I told Jax everything. Every last detail. Starting from how I got to living with Milo, to the drugs, to burning to money, to getting dragged to Deno's...I told him about our fight, finding out he was a wizard. How I got stabbed, how I woke up this morning, not knowing a single bit of what happened after blacking out. I let it all out, realizing just how fucked up it all was. I still had the sick feeling in my stomach.

"Wow," he said, "I'm...sorry. Really, Mia. If there's anything I can do, just say the word." He was already such a different person from yesterday. Maybe he's just a really good guy, hiding behind his bad boy façade. After that break up with Emma, I bet his emotions are everywhere right now.

"Let's get going," I say. "I don't feel good, I just wanna lie in bed. It's all been too much."

"Mia, you are the strongest most bad ass girl I know. You'll be fine," he says reassuringly.

"I know. It might just take a while longer than usual. Everything in my life just became a little bit more complicated," I respond. I take his hand, and in a moment where in his house.

"I don't know where you live, I figured you didn't want to be at school, and no one else is here, so here should be good for now, right?" he suggests.

"Actually it's perfect. I don't want to be at my house right now, after what happened with my cousin."

"Yeah, I understand. Make yourself at home. You can go in my room. I have to get back to school, but text me if you need anything." He conjures up a cell phone for me, since I obviously don't have mine. He starts to head for his front door, but I stop him.

"Jax," I shout. He turns around to look at me. "Thanks again, it means a lot." I stare down at my feet. This is insane. I'm staying at Jax's for the day? I'm constantly thanking him? I'm truly thankful, though. I'm out of that mess, and I can put it all behind me. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get over it right away but I'll try. I just hate that I lost to Deno, that I didn't have control. That I don't know everything about what happened, and that I had to ask for help.

I climb into Jax's soft bed, wrap myself in his sheets, and cry into his pillows, giving me some alone time with my sobs. I'm not really sue what I'm feeling right now, but I know that everything isn't alright. I just don't want to think about it anymore.

Jax

I was really worried about Mia when she called me. Hell, I'm still worried about her now. She's alone and safe in my house, but what if she doesn't want to be alone? What if she's hurt, what if she needs someone?

Yesterday Mia and I were more like frenemies. But after all that happened with her trying to destroy the realm and then apologizing, being with her in the video game, I knew she was a good person deep down. I couldn't just leave her. Life hasn't always been easy for me either, and I couldn't expect Mia to go through shit, too, without needing help. She called me for help, of course I had to answer her.

Mia had a fucked up night. Maybe I'm just being 'emotional' after the Emma thing, or maybe I'm just actually a caring person. I'm hoping it's the ladder.

I'm trying not to have too much concern for Mia throughout the school day. I shoot her a text every once in a while, and she asks me a question or makes a request whenever she needs. Besides the whole Mia situation, my day is filled with basic high school drama.

It still stings a little whenever I see Emma. I'm seriously getting sick of a the little string of girls who seem to be attached to me now. They treat me like a charity case they want to hook up with. I'm not interesting in hooking up, I'm not interested in them. Basically the only people I can talk to normally are Andi and Diego. They are pretty much to only people in school I have now.

Getting rejected seriously sucks.

Emma

Okay, so things have been pretty great. Daniel is pretty great. We've gone on dates every night this week, and each one has been better than the last. Daniel was my first love, and I think I'm falling in love with him all over again.

The thing about being with your first love is that everything feels like the first time. It's like every moment with him is a step forward. Now that Daniel's finally accepted that I'm a witch and that's not going to change, he's willing to support me in my reign as Chosen One. It's everything I could of asked for. Somehow, the second time around with Daniel seems to be working.

I open the door to the nurses office. "Lily, you wanted to see me?"

"Yes, Emma, I wanted to talk to you." Lily sitting in her chair, hands folded tougher on top of her desk. Her posture is perfect and straight like always. She's young, but so wise and mature. Maybe that's why she's on the council.

"What do you want to talk about?" I ask, taking a seat on on of the patient beds across from my guardian.

"Emma, you may not like what I have to say," she tells me.

"Is this about Daniel? Lily, aren't we over the whole humans-can't-be-with-witches thing? Daniel already knows about magic, and he's supporting me in my position as Chosen One! Keeping me from Daniel is going to cause problems, not being with him," I say, very straightforward.

"This isn't about Daniel. I can't say that the Council is thrilled about him, but that isn't what this is about."

"What is it about then? Lily, you're starting to worry me."

"Emma...this is about your powers. We, the Council, wanted to conceal this from you until you were old enough, but things have changed and we need to unveil the truth now. As you already know, your powers have no limits. You may not be as strong as Agamemnon, Desdemona, or Jake Novoa, but you possess more power and potential than all three of them combined. But being the Chosen One comes at a cost.

"Aggie and Dezi have been on the Council for over four decades, and they've overseen 3 Chosen Ones in their reign as Council. You know of Principal Torres, and yourself, but there was a third witch that had been the Chosen One in recent history. Her name Tasha Wilbur, she was a teen when she found out about her powers and that she was Chosen One, much like you. The difference between Tasha and you, and Torres is that Torres was born into a pure blood coven, much like the Novoas or the Van Pelts. She had known about her powers since she was a young child, but didn't become Chosen One until she was well into her thirties, only several years before you knew her." Lily pauses for a moment, but I don't say anything because I'm to interested in the story.

Come to think of it, I don't know much about past Chosen Ones or their powers. I had never heard of Tasha, or even wondered about witches who had once had the powers I have. Maybe I should be studying more Realm History. Lily speaks again. "Emma, do you know how a Chosen One gets their powers?"

"I thought I was born that way. I was born the Chosen One, I just didn't develop my powers until few years ago," I say.

"You're mistaken. You weren't born the Chosen One. The Chosen One powers came to you when the Council took Torres's powers. Emma, you weren't born a witch. You didn't inherit your mother's genes, since you father was human, you had a 50/50 chance of getting powers. You're either born with witch blood or you aren't, and you weren't. You weren't supposed to be Chosen One. You were never supposed to get involved in the Realm. Tasha had the same situation," Lily explains.

"Okay. But how did the powers land of me? If the Council took them, wouldn't they have them in a bottle, like when they took Jax's? And when they threatened to take my powers, they said they would just keep them until I was ready to handle them. It isn't adding up."

"Only witches like you and Tasha, we call you Cross witches, can have your powers taken by the Council and be contained. With witches called Naturals, like Torres, that are Chosen Ones, the Council can only expel their powers from them. They can't contain a Natural Chosen One's powers. What Torres did was she attempted to use her powers and overthrow the Council. She wanted to lead the Realm on her own, like a queen so to say.

"Many Chosen Ones in the past felt this way, and Torres was one of them. She tried to attack the Realm Headquarters and take the powers of everyone who worked for the Realm government. Agamemnon, Desdemona, and myself are just a branch of the larger tree that is the Realm and its government. So when Torres tried to overthrow the Realm, the Council battled her, eventually winning and ridding her of her powers and her Chosen One title. She was banished to the human world, where she became a principal. The rest you know."

The story shocks me down to the bone.

"Why did the powers land on me specifically? I was alive when this was happening, but so were plenty of other witches," I question. If I wasn't born with these powers, how did they choose me?

"We don't really know how Cross witches are selected. Technically you were born a powerless witch, like me. I would only be able to attain powers if another witch's were misplaced or not contained," Lily explains.

"Like Maddie's when they landed on her mom," I guess. Lily nods. "So the Principal's powers landed on me, and since she was the Chosen One, I then became Chosen One. But Lily, this doesn't make sense. The Principal still had powers, just my Chosen One powers," I say.

"She stole them from Ursula. We were never able to retrieve them from her, so Ursula ended up powerless," Lily explains.

"So how did Tasha become Chosen One, and how did Torres? Neither of them were born with it, so they had to get it from someone," I say. So many questions, so many new revelations...why wasn't I told this information before? And it's all leading up to something bigger Lily has to tell me. The 'cost' of being Chosen One.

"Tasha was a Cross, so her powers landed on her, and she became Chosen One. Torres got hers by a different kind of selection. Emma, what I'm about to tell you is the reason I brought you here today." Lily pauses. "Torres got her powers when Tasha died. She only died at 27 years old, from something we call Cross Syndrome. Only Cross witches can get it...and you are vulnerable to developing it, too."

"What!" I burst out. "Why didn't you tell me that I could be carrying some lethal disease! What is this Cross Syndrome exactly? Why did it kill Tasha?" I shout. Lily looks at me with bewilderment on her face. "Lily!" I yell at her, causing her to flinch. I recoil a bit, suddenly realizing I had just screamed at her.

"We didn't want to scare you, Emma. But we wanted you to know because there was a small outbreak of Cross Syndrome, dubbed CroSynd by many witches, and we need to make sure you don't have it," Lily says.

"Okay," I say calmly, but shocked by this news. "What are the symptoms? What does this CroSynd do? What chance do I have of getting it?"

"Well, the definition of Cross Syndrome is a Cross witch's body rejecting her powers, since they weren't originally hers. This causes more...magical injuries. Physically, cuts and bruises will appear on a victim's body, they will loose a lot of energy and require more sleep, puking and nausea, and high blood pressure. Mentally and emotionally, the toll is much larger. Anxiety and depression, plus spontaneous out bursts, sometimes using powers. Hallucinations, in some cases.

"A few victims just went crazy. There isn't much treatment since your powers can't be taken from you once you develop the disease, but many have survived. An estimated 12% of Cross witches have Cross Syndrome. About 40% of those cases resulted in death. If someone has this disease, their powers are hurting them. As Chosen One, developing this disease means you have a 10% chance of living. I know the symptoms don't sound to awful as to cause death, but trust me, Em. CroSynds slowly kills a witch from the inside, and even if you're lucky enough to survive, there will still be scars. I'm just praying you don't get it. I'm sorry, Emma." Lily deeply exhales.

Before I know it, tears are flooding out of my eyes. I just don't understand...a disease targeting Cross witches like me? And it could kill me? Why didn't I know this?

Maybe I'm just overreacting...I might not have this disease. I could fine.

Or I could be dying and not even know it.

"Lily," I cry, "please tell me that I don't have it, that I'll be fine. I don't know if I can take this...is this the cost of being Chosen One?" I ask.

"Yes. There are many costs to being Chosen One, but this is one of the biggest...Emma, I don't know if you have CroSynds or not. That's why we're admitting you to St. Greta Magic Realm Hospital for extensive testing. We will do anything to keep you alive, Emma. The Realm still needs their Chosen One, and we're ready to let you go," Lily says. I let out a sob, still petrified of the future.

I'm scared. I was just getting my life figured out, when they drop this bombshell on me. I'm so unfamiliar with the Realm. Wouldn't I have know this if I was more involved in the world I come from? Maybe.

Would they make me leave Miami if I were sick? I'm already spending a few days in a realm hospital. Will Daniel or Andi be allowed to see me? My dad doesn't know about magic, what will I tell him?

Magic just can't cut me a break.

After talking with the Council about my upcoming 2 days at St. Greta's, they're allowing me to take Andi, and are casting a spell on my dad, despite my protests, to make him believe Andi and I are going on an educational school trip. I won't be able to see Daniel, and I can't text between the human world and the Realm, so no contact with him.

Last night I explained everything to Andi. She was really shocked and worried about me, but I told her things would be fine, even thought I had no idea.

As I walk into the hospital with the Council, Andi holds my hand tight. I'm so grateful I have her here.

Staff show me to the room I'll be staying in, with the bed I'll be sleeping in tonight. Only tonight, thankfully. Tomorrow afternoon, I'll hopefully be going home if there aren't any complication. But maybe I'm actually sick and that's all just wishful thinking.

They immediately start running tests on me. Doctors and nurses come in and out, asking too many questions, making me change into a ridiculous hospital gown, drawing blood from me and taking my temperature. All these procedures are just standard preparations for the actual CroSynds tests, but the preparations take at least 2 hours.

Then I'm led to a room where they put me into what looks like the machine you get a cat scan in, but it's more high tech and magical. My whole body is slid into this contraption, which is called The Reicroater, whatever that means. I'm tested on for another couple hours, and become very uncomfortable in the process. When I'm finally out, it seems the testing for today is done..

Andi and I go grab dinner from the hospital caf, talking about anything that doesn't involve magic. And it's nice. We're back to same old cheerful Emma and Andi for a few moments. I start up the topic of Daniel, and we talk it out.

"I mean, what you did to Jax was really messed up," she admits. She's right. "But I think he's doing better. And I love seeing you so happy with Daniel."

"Thanks for the support, Andi. Most girls at school have been treating me like I personally offended just because I dumped Jax." It comes out harsher than I want.

"Well I'm most girls at school, Emma. I'm your best friends and I'll always want what's best for you," Andi says.

"I love you," I tell her.

"I love you, too," she replies. I look at the clock. It's late, and we're both tired. We walk back to my room, binge watch a few episodes of Grey's Anatomy and fall asleep next to each other, someone strengthening our friendship with this awful trip, turning it into something good.

But that doesn't stop me from having nightmares about Cross Syndrome.

»

Hey guys! I hope you liked this chapter.

So we have some interesting things going on. Emma finds out she's a Cross witch, and also that she might be carrying a life-threatening disease.

Mia is finally out of Deno's hands, but did anything else happen that night? Are Mia's problems over? Why is Jax being so kind?

I hope to get another update within the next two weeks. We'll see :)

Review! Ily guys. Tell me what you're thinking! Xx, sela