Chapter 4:

I woke up to find Izzy crying. Tears streaming down her face.

"OH MY GOD! Lexi, are you okay?" She managed to say between sobs and gasps.

"Yeah." My voice was husky and it sounded like I had just smoked a whole pack of cigarettes. (I don't smoke). "How come my body doesn't hurt?"

Izzy sniffed. "I don't know. You fell off the wall. It's…it's all blurry from there. But you died. And then…and then I…I think I healed you back to life. But I, I'm not sure." She stammered through the sentence. She started to sob again. This time she was sobbing so hard that her shoulders were shaking back and fourth. Well, now Izzy might have been experimented on too! Great, just great. I thought. "I…I thought that…" she sucked in air and gasped like a fish with no water. "Lexi, I thought I lost you!" She nearly yelled. Her voice cracked and she cleared her throat. She pulled her knees up to her chest, put her face in her hands, placed her buried face on her denim covered knees, and sobbed. Her knees were already soaked. I wondered how long she could cry before she didn't have any tears left. I heard her mumbling something that sounded like 'ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod.'

"Izzy, honey, stop crying." She looked up at me. Her eyes were filled with guilt and dread. I looked deep down in those big green eyes and saw that she thought that how I fell off a building was her fault. I puffed out a little cough. It sounded more like a wheeze and I felt my body flinch. "My throat hurts." I managed to say. I didn't even recognize my voice. It sounded like a stranger trying to get my attention.

She got up from the chair all too quickly. "Here, let me help." Before I could protest she had put her hands on mine and I felt a weird shudder. First, an ice-cold feeling that rippled from my toes to my head. Following that was a fire-hot cold feeling that also rippled. After what seemed like an eternity, the sensations stopped. My throat didn't hurt anymore and my eyes were so wide that it felt as if the skin around my eyes was stretching. "What? That's not possible. Or at least it shouldn't be." I heard myself whisper. "How...do you think that Mom and Dad experimented on you too?"

Before she could answer I heard the door to the hospital room fling open, then the soft thump of footsteps as they made their way over to my bed. It was Shaun, all dressed in baby blue, (which made him look fairly gay), and a bundle of white and yellow roses. "Lexi! How are you feeling?" His, what should have been familiar, voice should have swept over me in a wave of relief, but this time, it only frightened me. His squeaky voice was gone. Now he had a deep voice with a hint of bad ass in it. But what made me scared shitless was that his voice sounded like one I had heard too many times before. An unmistakable tone: pure evil.

I decided not to tell Shaun about the whole 'I died' thing and lie. "My head hurts."

"That's understandable. The doctor said you fell and hit your head pretty hard. He was surprised that you made it. Most people die when they hit their head that hard."

"I guess I'm not most people." I managed a low chuckle. Bravo! Super-healing!

"Yeah, I guess not." He sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Anyways, I have to go, meeting someone at Starbucks and three. Can't be late!" He laughed so lightly that I barely heard him. Then, right before he left the room, his eyes glazed over to a prickly color of dark maroon, and then he stalked off and slammed the door shut behind him.

"What's his problem?" Izzy sounded worried.

"I don't know. But did you see his eyes? They changed color."

"What do you mean?" Her smile was long faded.

I thought about his eyes. Maybe I was just imagining things. I mean, could eyes really change color? "I'm not exactly sure. Maybe he was an experiment to. But he's not in the best of moods."

"Maybe he's having a man PMS." Izzy sounded thoughtful, as if she actually believed that could happen. So I did the one thing that anyone could do: I laughed. Or tried to laugh, but when I opened my mouth to laugh, all that came out was a wheeze. Then I went into an out of coughing fit. The door of my hospital room flew open and a worried doctor, accompanied by a young nurse, ran over to my bed side. The doctor started playing with the machines, pushing buttons that made a little beep-ing noise. The nurse stood over me, her voice silky as satin.

"Calm down, calm down." She said softly. It was as if she could control my actions because, at a snail's pace, my coughing fit disappeared. The nurse backed away from the bed and stood there, pondering. If I were to put a large smile on her, bug rainbow colored hair and a red nose, she would have looked like the sinister clown from Stephen King's It. The doctor took one look at her and then gave her a 'what the hell' look. Then she stepped out of the room and shut the door behind her. The doctor came around to the front of my bed.

"What?" I asked, my voice high with a malicious tone. I gave him the 'what the hell' look that he had given the nurse.

"I'm afraid to tell you that while coughing you have popped a blood vessel, and now you have red dots all over your face." He chuckled under his breath then looked at me. I glared at him, trying to make my eyes seem like an ice-cold stare that sank deep into his soul. I could tell he didn't like my fierce look because he cleared his throat, looked down at the ground, and said, "I shall be going." then walked out of the room. My eyes followed him, still staring defiantly as if I was a tiger and he was intruding into my territory. I kept my eyes on his back. Then the door shut behind him and I let my eye muscles relax.

I looked over at my sister who was staring dreamily to the door of which he exited. "What's with you?"

"He's so hot…" She said that as if she had just seen the car of her dreams.

"No, he's not. I told you, no dating doctors. If you ever get hurt by demons, which I hope not, then how are you going to explain to the doctors why you have teeth marks all over you and an arm missing?" I pictured that in my mind, and it was enough to make my eyes burn with tears. "How…how did you…heal me?"

"I…I don't know. I just felt this need to help, to do anything to keep you safe. But when I touched you," she looked down at her hands, "when I touched you my hands started glowing. I don't know what happened, but I felt a sense of pure happiness. Like everything good was happening at once. And then you came back to life or something like that. Maybe you were just unconscious. But whatever happened, I definitely healed you."

"But…How is that possible? Only witches and certain demons can do that."

Izzy started pacing the room. Back and fourth and back and fourth. "I don't know." She gave out a little sob. "If I did, don't you think I would have told you? Maybe Mom and Dad are responsible."

The door to my hospital room opened again, and Izzy sat back down in her chair. "Why do we keep getting interrupted? FUCK OFF!" I muttered to myself.

A different doctor than before strode to the end of my bed; his face had no expression, or at least none that I could read. The edges of his lips twisted into a smile, "You are free to go home now." was all he said before he walked out of the room.

"Thank you…?" I muttered after him. I yanked the needles out of my arms, then, slowly and carefully, I started to get out of the hospital bed.

"Here, let me help." Izzy said, her voice soaked in worry.

"No. I can take care of myself!" I said a little more harshly than needed. Izzy flinched then sat back down, pouting. She was so ridiculously sensitive! "I'm sorry, it's just been a long day."

"Tell me about it…" I barely heard her mutter.

"Hey, what time is it?"

Izzy looked at the dark blue watch she had around her wrist. She rubbed her eyes so that the tears wouldn't blur her vision. "Hmm… It's about eleven." She looked up at me. "Why?"

"At night?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Well, Shaun said that he was going to meet someone at Starbucks at three, and unless he's meeting someone at three in the morning, he was lying." I sat for a while recalling what had happened. He had said three. And he had said he didn't want to be late. Well, whatever the hell he was going to sure as hell wasn't at three in the morning, and even if it was, he sure as hell wasn't going to be late!

"Yeah. I guess." Izzy sniffled. She didn't sound too concerned. She was engrossed in her own problems, or it might be my problems. I don't know. Everything was so damn confusing. I wish I was a bird. Then I could fly away and forget everything behind me. I wouldn't be restrained from the sky. I could lay a hand on the clouds with a single bound and fly into the sunset. But I'm not a bird. I don't have wings. I also don't have very much freedom right now. I might have ninja skills, but that's not what I want to do with my life. All of my dreams – wasted.

But poor Izzy. All of this information she had acquired in the last few days have all been new to her. She not only didn't know that I had super human powers, but now she had found out that she might have super human powers as well. She must feel shocked at the least, if she's not in shock already.

"Alright, just let me change and we'll get the out of here." I said, "I'm tired of all of these doctors, especially since they don't know what the fuck they're talking about!"

"Umm… okay…?" Confused, Izzy gave me a wtf? look.

"Well, with my, uh, powers," if you put it that way, "I can heal unusually fast."

"Oh, you're a freak!" Izzy said, only half kidding.

"Yeah," I said, a bubble of giggles escaping from my lips, "I guess I am." Then, in a fit of rage, I took the ugly baby-blue hospital gown, threw it on the floor, and stomped on it. It was actually much more fun than I expected. Izzy rolled her eyes at me and I stuck out my tongue at her. After that, I took Izzy's hand, and together we walked out of the hospital.

Izzy and I walked out of the hospital with confidence galore, only stopping once to grab a snack out of the vending machine to fulfill our sweet tooth cravings.

Beside me, Izzy prattled like a typical teenage girl, "Mmm mmm mmm! The yummy taste of Butterfingers!" Izzy chuckled, "'Nobody's gonna lay a finger, on my Butterfinger!' I love that commercial! The phone rings and this guy is eating one of these–" she pointed to her candy bar, "– and then out of, like, thin-air this other guy appears and tries to steal the guy-on-the-phone's Butterfinger. But the guy-on-the-phone catches the Butterfinger-stealer-guy and staples him, well, not really him, but his clothes to the wall. Well, more like the cubical thingy."

Wow, she talks a lot! I thought. Just then my high-tech iPhone vibrates. I click on the view text button to find that it's a text from Shaun.

Shaun: Realized what time it was and then remembered my date isn't until today, at 3:00 p.m. So I'm at home. See ya soon!

Well, at least I knew where he was. I replied:

Me: Okay! Izzy and I just left the hospital. See ya when we get home!

Just as I hit the send button, I hear Izzy shriek in surprise and I run right smack into some stranger in the parking lot. In shock, I jump 3 feet in the air, literally, and immediately reach for my stake inside my red leather jacket, (which is quite sexy). Fortunately, before I can pull out my stake and beat the living crap of whatever type of demon had the nerve to approach me, the stranger, with his very human hand, reached out and touched my arm. Not in an 'I'm going to kill you' type of way, but as a friendly gesture of apology. I looked up into the person's face and came across the most beautiful set of eyes I had ever seen. They were green, with a hint of purple in them, with a few very small specks of grey dotted here and there. These were the kind of eyes that I could find myself getting lost in, very easily. I shifted my gaze to his whole face, his nose, perfectly shaped with just the right amount of point at the end. His ears, not monkey ears, but not stuck flat to his head either. His mouth, fine lips with just a hint of pink, had a perfect Cupid's bow. He had slightly tousled, short brown hair. I looked to his muscles, his biceps were large and firm. It was as if – and I know this is such a cliché – but it was as it there was no one else in the world but us two. We stood there, like complete idiots, him grabbing my arm as I reached for my weapon. Then beside me, I heard Izzy squeal in excitement and take a bite of her Butterfinger, making a very large crunch noise.

"Uh, sorry. I, uh, wasn't looking. I should have been paying more attention. Silly me!" I said and laughed nervously, the smile feeling awkward on my lips. This guy was seriously hot. Me likey!

"No worries," said the completely gorgeous guy who was actually talking to me! He flashed me a genuine smile and kept his eyes glued to mine. Of course, knowing me, I just stood there like a complete idiot and grinned. Say something! Say anything! My mind was screaming, but I just stood there. "So, I never caught your name."

"Oh, uh, I'm Lexi. Lexi Parker. " I said, sounding like a dumb-founded three year old. "Hi."

"I'm Chase. Chase Jackson," his flirty smile never once leaving his face. I smiled back.

"Nice to meet you."

"Ditto," he said. Meaning, same here. "What do you say about dinner and a movie sometime. You seem like someone who appreciates a good comedy." He winked at me.

I couldn't believe that I was actually considering his offer! I mean, for one thing, I had just met the guy, and I didn't even know if he is one of the good guys or not! Plus, he could be a total player. But my completely clueless self got the best of me; "Sure. I mean, I would love to. Uh, wanna swap numbers?" I laughed nervously again.

"Definitely," if it was possible, his grin got wider. I pulled my hand out of my jacket and into my jean pocket to grab my phone. I handed him my cell and he handed me his. After we traded phone numbers, Izzy and I said 'Bye' to Chase and both got in the car.

"What was that about?" Izzy asked.

"Hmm?"

"Don't play dumb with me Lexi! That's my job!" She laughed, "You know, the whole new-hottie-guy-just-asked-you-out thing and how you said yes! Oh my gawd! I never thought this would happen! He is hawt! Nice pick! I would give him, on the hottie-scale of one to ten, he probably gets a 9! Well, unless he's a total douche-bag! In that case I would definitely have to whoop some ass! But he seemed nice. And maybe I'm just over-reacting. He's probably really sweet! And maybe some day you and him will get married and have children and I will become an aunt!" That will never happen! She nearly jumped out of the car with excitement. Okay, who gave her sugar this morning? I thought. Then she picked up right where she left off, "Oh my gawd! I wonder if he has any brothers! Oooo! I'm gonna have to get me some of that Jackson meat! I wonder if they're hot too…" And this is how the whole car ride home went. AHH! My ears! I'm surprised my ears didn't fall off. Literally.