"Well, that looks promising."

Jade turns towards Tori, sending the girl a surprised look. "Hey there. I thought I'm the one who's bitter and pessimistic."

"Jade, I told you I was at dozens of places like this. No one knew I was there. We might as well just go straight to the hospital."

Jade sighs and turns back to the large shop window, where a thick red curtain prevents eyes from seeing inside and the name 'Magnus Perili' is written in gold cursive on the glass. "You weren't here, were you? Maybe stupid you just went to the wrong people." Jade grins and lifts her eyebrows at Tori. "Come on. Let's get in," Jade murmurs, the annoyed expression on Tori's face satisfying her extremely. The inside of the shop was dark, various drapes hanging around, the whole room completely held in different tones of red. The distinctive smell of incense reaches both of the girls and Tori wrinkles her nose. "Where did you find this place?"

"The internet, of course," Jade keeps her voice low, her eyes roaming all around the shop, "Do you think I have those people in my phonebook?"

The light sound of something rattling catches their attention and they turn around to see a man with tan skin come through a beaded curtain. His hair, black with a little bit of grey here and there, stood up on his head like it has been electrified, his hazel eyes come to rest on Jade, a bright smile forming on his lips. "Welcome. I see some greater power brought you into my little world," Jade normally would have rolled her eyes at that but she's too occupied with figuring out with what kind of accent he speaks. "I'm Magnus. How can I help you?"

"Well, I found you on the internet. Read that you can communicate with the dead?"

A loud annoyed breath from Tori rings in Jade's ears. "How often do I have to tell you-"

"Shut up," Jade pushes out through gritted teeth to which Magnus only raises his eyebrows. He steps further into the room, the red stone on the necklace hanging around his neck swaying back and forth with his movements. "Yes indeed. Is that why you came to me?"

"Not exactly, I… have a question." Magnus nods and makes a motion with his hands for Jade to continue. "See, I don't really have a problem with… communicating. And the person isn't dead either, just lying in a coma and I guess-"

"Oh! That is so interesting," Magnus chirps, clapping his hands together excitedly. "Come, come," he waves his hand towards the room he came from just a couple of seconds ago, "Let's talk about this."

Jade follows him hesitantly, Tori being close behind her. "You know, for someone who supposedly can communicate with dead people, he seems pretty excited about this."

"Just shut up for a second, will you? I'm trying to help you here and if you can't accept my methods then fine! Go search for someone else."

The two girls glare at each other until the sound of someone clearing their throat catches their attention. Magnus looks at Jade with raised eyebrows. "Are you… talking to him right now?"

"Him?! Okay seriously now, wrong gender! Jade come on, let's go."

"Why do you think it's a guy?" Jade asks, ignoring Tori again while sitting down at the round table across from Magnus.

"Oh, it was just a guess. It's a girl then, yes?"

"Yes," Jade answers warily, slightly narrowing her eyes.

"I'm telling you Jade: He just wants to strip you off of your money. He can't communicate with the dead." Tori lets her eyes wander across his body, his fingers wearing various gold rings, his velvety red pants baggy, and a white shirt that looks like it belongs to a pirate. "He looks like a fat version of Aladdin."

Jade chokes on a laugh and clears her throat before she says "Okay, listen. Here's the deal. She's in a coma, or… her body is and… I want to get her soul back into her body. So that she can wake up again. How do I do that?"

The psychic narrows his eyes and begins to rub his chin. "Hm. Well, I must admit that I've never heard of such a thing before," he pauses, tilts his head and leans forward, "But it seems as though you really need my help. Let's talk about the price."

"See? Told you. He wants to screw you over."

Jade looks at Magnus. She may not like it very much but she knows Tori is right. He doesn't really seem to be much of a great help, more interested in earning easy money than anything else. "Well, how do I know you can help us? You can't even see her, let alone communicate with her."

"Good point." He leans back in his chair and starts to grin smugly. "But maybe I can do something for you. It's your decision. Twenty Dollars, because I'm feeling nice."

Jade hesitates for a moment before making up her mind and reaching into her bag. Tori's eyes widen as she watches her take out her wallet and pluck out a twenty dollar bill. "No! What are you doing? No, no, no, you're not giving this guy anything!"

But Jade doesn't listen, flipping her hair over her shoulder and holding out the bill for Magnus to take. The man reaches out but before he can take the money, Tori snatches it out of Jade's hands, causing for the psychic's eyes to widen. "Tori, what are you doing?"

The chair Magnus sits on squeaks loudly as he slides back on it. "I'm not letting you do this! This is your money, you shouldn't spend it for such crap!"

"This 'crap' could help you!" Jade gets up and lunges forward, but Tori quickly steps out of the way. "Tori, don't be stupid! Just let me pay him!"

"No!"

"You're such an idiot, I swear!"

"You are an idiot if you really believe this Marcus guy."

Jade huffs, narrowing her eyes. "His name is Magnus."

"So w-wait," Magnus' voice rings out, Jade and Tori both turning towards the obviously frightened man, his wide eyes still fixed on the twenty dollar bill seemingly floating in the air. "Th-there really is someone," He leans forward a bit and looks at Jade, whispering the last part. "here?"

"See Jade?" Tori says, crossing her arms, "He doesn't even believe in this stuff. And you wanted to give him your money."

Jade rolls her eyes, she too crossing her arms. "No need to whisper." She turns to Tori. "Okay. You were right, alright? Let's get out of here." Her hand reaches out and plucks the money out of Tori's grasp, walking out of the shop and ignoring the way Magnus calls after her. She quickly unlocks her car and climbs in, Tori closely following her. "Well, that guy was an idiot," she states as she starts the car, "But then again, I shouldn't really have expected much, right?"

"Well, I could have told you that it's pointless. We're on our own." A big sigh from Jade catches Tori's attention and she turns her eyes away from the passing cars and houses to look at the dark haired girl. A slight smirk starts to form on her lips and Tori raises her eyebrows.

"It was worth it though. Did you see his face when you grabbed the money?" Jade laughs and Tori joins in, remembering Magnus' horror stricken face. "That was priceless."

"Yeah, that was great." She nods and bites her lip. "So Jade?"

"Hm?"

"You don't have to be anywhere else now, right?"

"Right," Jade slowly answers, glancing at Tori.

"Then… we could go to the hospital now."

Jade groans loudly. "Do we have to?"

"Yes," Tori exclaims, vigorously nodding her head, "Come on, Jade. Just turn left here."

And even though she really doesn't want to, she turns the wheel to the left with a loud, exaggerated sigh, a weird feeling creeping up inside of her at the thought of visiting Tori's body at the hospital.

x.X.x

"4th floor."

Jade's eyes move from watching the doors of the elevator close to Tori who raises her eyebrows at her, flicking her head towards the large row of buttons. "Right," Jade breathes, her finger reaching out to push down the button with the alit '4' on it. The way Jade tightly crosses her arms and her continuous tapping of her foot slightly confuses Tori.

"Are you nervous?"

"No," Jade scoffs but refuses to meet Tori's eyes. She really is nervous for some unexplainable reason. It's not her body that they're about to visit, not her life that totally spun out of control and took a wrong turn into 'Ghostland'. The doors open with a 'ding'. They step out, Jade steering for the reception. "So," Jade sighs, hoping to be able to talk without anyone noticing. But when she turns to face Tori, she's met with nothing. Quickly turning back around, Jade sees her walking down the hall. "Hey!" At Jade's harsh whisper Tori turns around, eyebrows drawn together.

"What? Let's go! My room is this way."

Jade sighs and shakes her head, stepping closer and trying to keep her voice as quiet as possible. "I can't just waltz into your room. Unlike you, I'm not invisible. Technically, I don't even know you."

"Oh. Right." She hadn't thought about that. Of course Jade is right, she really can't just walk in there without anyone knowing her relation with Tori. The brunette frowns but then her eyes light up. "Ooh, wait! That's Angela," Tori points to a middle aged ginger with short, curly hair. "She's really nice. You should go talk to her, she's one of the nurses who take care of me."

"Well, what do I say?" Her feet set in motion, her eyes fixed on the nurse who's turned away from her, scribbling something on the clipboard in her hand.

"Ask about me. Tell her that you're a friend and that you want to see me."

The strong pumping of her heart pulses through Jade's ears, the steady drumming noise making her stomach queasy. She's sure that her nervousness – she still isn't sure where it's coming from – is radiating from her body and she really hopes her acting skills would come to good use, now standing directly in front of Angela.

"Uh, excuse me?"

The nurse turns around, a nice smile immediately urging Jade on to continue. "I'm Jade West and um… I was wondering if you could tell me something about a friend of mine? Her name's Tori Vega."

At the mention of Tori's name Angela's smile slips but before she can open her mouth to say anything Jade proceeds to continue. "I heard she's in a coma. I would have come sooner but… I only found out about it a couple of days ago. I'd just really like to see her."

The older woman nods slowly, and Jade risks a glance at Tori, who smiles at her encouragingly and gives a firm nod. "Well… of course I can't give you any information about her condition since you're not related to her or in any way connected to the family." Her eyes travel back and forth between Jade's. "But I could let Tori's mother know you're here. She came in just five minutes ago. Does she know you?"

"N-no, she doesn't."

"Jade," Tori's voice fills her ears and she resists the urge to turn towards her, "Let her tell my mom you're here."

Jade nods almost automatically, Angela slightly tilting her head in confusion. "But could you… could you let her know? That I'm here, I mean? It really is important to me."

Angela hesitates for just a second before she smiles again, that really nice smile that could comfort you no matter what, and nods her head. "I will. Wait here, I'll be back in a minute."

A deep breath escapes Jade's lungs as she watches the nurse swiftly walk down the hallway. "Told you she's nice," Tori says into her ear and Jade nods, humming in agreement and crossing her arms. Tori watches her, a smile forming on her lips. "Thank you. I'm really happy you're doing this for me."

Jade turns towards her and although all she wants to tell her is that she's not doing it for her but rather for herself, she doesn't, simply nodding her head in a silent way of telling Tori she's welcome. Even if Jade doesn't want to admit it – and she wouldn't admit it, that much is clear to her – she most definitely is doing this for Tori. She didn't have to do all this research and she also didn't have to come here, Tori couldn't do anything to force her. And Jade is sure, if she would have just ignored her pleas for a little while longer, Tori would have given up eventually and left her alone for good. But there just is something about the brunette that makes Jade want to help her, and it's not just the fact that she's amazing at mastering the puppy dog eyes.

"There's my mom."

Tori's voice snaps her out of her thoughts and she follows Tori's gaze towards Angela, who's looking back at her while talking to a woman who slightly resembled Tori. The curious eyes of Tori's mom settle on her and Jade's heart slightly speeds up. She hesitantly smiles back when Angela sends her one of her own warm smiles before she takes off, Jade's eyes moving to watch Tori's mother slowly approaching her. "Hello," she says cautiously and Jade can't help but feel like a criminal all of sudden, "You're here to see Tori?"

"Yeah… my name is Jade. I'm a friend of hers and… I just found out about the… accident."

A fleeting sadness flickers over her face at the mention of Tori's accident, but otherwise Mrs. Vega still looks at her cautiously, almost reluctant to believe her. "I usually know all of Tori's friends. How do you know her?"

Well, she's going to be a tough nut to crack.

"Just tell her that-"

But Jade starts talking again, not letting Tori finish her sentence, much to the surprise of the invisible girl. "We met at Hollywood Arts. She was there, looking around I guess, and we bumped into each other in the hallway. She almost made me spill my coffee all over myself." Tori smiles, because even though that story wasn't true, it could have easily happened to her. Mrs. Vega seems to believe Jade, her wary expression wearing off and a smile appearing. "She kept apologizing and somehow… we got into a conversation. Tori told me that she would be starting at Hollywood Arts soon and she was so excited about it. Then, completely out of the blue she asked me if I could show her around when she had her first day and, usually, I would have said no without missing a beat but… Tori," she stops for a moment, shrugging her shoulders, "I don't know. I just looked at her and I couldn't bring it over me to decline her anything."

Jade laughs a little, looking at a spot by Mrs. Vega's feet. Her face takes on a somber expression as she gets ready for the last part of her story. "She never showed up though. I… I was so confused and I never heard from her again. But then… I found an article on the internet about Tori's accident, that she fell into a coma. And I… I just came here to… to see her."

She finishes off with a deep breath and catches Mrs. Vega's eyes again. Not all that surprised, Jade sees a smile on her face and tears in her eyes. Slowly, she nods her head. "Well… if you want to see her…" She trails off, keeping her eyes fixed on Jade as she motions her head in the direction Tori wanted to go earlier. Jade smiles and nods, following Mrs. Vega down the hall, a sudden feeling of relief flooding through her body. She turns her head and sees Tori walking next to her, staring at her in slight astonishment. Jade only smirks, sending her a wink and turning to look away again. Mrs. Vega stops suddenly and pushes open a white door to one of the many rooms. She motions for Jade to come in and after Jade stepped into the room, she quietly closes the door behind them.

Jade's smile abruptly falls as her eyes land on the figure lying in the hospital bed. It really is Tori but she looks nothing like the cheerful and… 'alive' Tori Jade had come to know. Her normally so tan skin sickly pale, her brown eyes closed and various machines and monitors connected to her, this Tori is nothing like the Tori Jade sees every day. "Oh man," she whispers, hesitantly taking a couple of steps closer to the bed.

"See," Tori quietly says, her eyes fixed on her body as she approaches the side of the bed, "Now you can see for yourself. I'm still alive."

"She's been in a coma for exactly one year and three and a half months now," Tori's mom says as she too, steps closer. Jade swallows harshly but doesn't take her eyes off of the lifeless girl, this situation affecting her more than she wants to admit.

"Will she… wake up again?"

A sigh leaves Mrs. Vega's mouth. "She could. There's still vivid brain activity and her injuries have long since healed. It's possible that she could wake up any day but…"

When Tori's mom doesn't continue, Jade tears her eyes away and looks up at the woman. "But what?"

"Well… you never know what happens," she murmurs thoughtfully, her eyes fixed on her daughter in the hospital bed, "But of course we're not giving up. We won't stop believing that she will wake up."

"That's good," Jade smiles, her eyes finding Tori's, who's standing behind her mother with a glum expression on her face. Jade bites her lip and turns back to Mrs. Vega. "Does she have a lot of visitors?"

Much to Jade's surprise, Tori's mom shakes her head. "No. Just me, her dad and her sister. And her aunt too."

Jade frowns. "What about her friends?" She finds it hard to believe that a person like Tori wouldn't have any friends. She's so… peppy. People like that, right?

"They visited the first couple of months. But after a while they just… stopped coming. I guess it was just too much for them to handle."

Jade's eyes flick to Tori again who averts her eyes uncomfortably and just like that, Jade feels really bad for her. She's sure that, if she would ever be in a coma – which hopefully will never happen – her friends would stay with her, no matter how long it would take for her to wake up. They would never just… give up on her just because it's "too much to handle". "Well, it shouldn't be," Jade speaks up, both mother and daughter snapping their eyes up at Jade's determined tone, "If they really were her friends, they would have stuck by her side. When Tori wakes up she should be grateful that she got rid of them. People like that aren't worth it. They're just morons."

She doesn't really know where this stupid want to make Tori feel better is coming from or why that smile Tori shoots her means so much to her but if she's honest, she doesn't even want to know. She's seriously getting too attached but nevertheless, she can't stop the next question to bubble out of her mouth.

"Would you mind if I'd come by every once in a while?"

Mrs. Vega's already stunned expression doubles, but then a slight smile comes to her face. "No, I… No, you can come if you want to. That's fine."

Jade smiles and nods her head, her eyes flicking to Tori lying in the hospital bed. "Thanks. Um… I should go now." She looks at Mrs. Vega. "But I'll come back soon." Tori's mom nods with a smile on her face and Jade focuses her eyes on Tori's unconscious form again, her fingers lightly running down Tori's arm. "Bye, Tori. See you soon."

She bids goodbye to Tori's mother and then exits the room without a look back. When she's back in the elevator and the doors close, Tori appears next to her again. Jade turns her head to look at the brunette but Tori continues to stare straight ahead. Then, she lightly shrugs her shoulders and a small smile appears on her lips. "My mom likes you."

It's Jade's turn to shrug and she turns her head away, a smirk playing on her lips as she stares at the grey elevator doors. "I was just being my usual so charming self."

Tori laughs, turning to look at Jade. "Yeah," she softly says, fondly smiling at the black haired girl, "You were."

Jade turns her head at Tori's words, their eyes meeting and it's almost impossible for them to look away from each other. Something seems to buzz between them, neither one of them really knowing what exactly it is. Only when the doors open with a ding does their strong gaze break, Tori clearing her throat and Jade fighting the blush that creeps its way onto her face.

"Let's go."