Poor Chloe :(
When I woke up Derek was human again, dressed and organizing his backpack. Simon and Tori had also returned sometime during the night and were both asleep still.
"Hey," I yawned, sitting up and stretching.
His green eyes flashed to me. "How are you doing?"
"Good. What's for breakfast?"
"A rotten apple." he tossed one to me. "But are you really ok? I'm so sorry about last night. I was so stupid, forgetting about your injury-"
"Don't. I'm fine now." I grimaced as I bit into the too sweet apple. "It was an accident."
"I still should have remembered to be more careful."
"Look Derek," I sighed, "not even you can be perfect all the time."
"Hardly." he snorted before his gaze turned serious again. "But you're really ok? And not just after I accidentally hurt you last night- your injury's ok?"
I bit my lip. Now was the time to tell him. So why couldn't I make myself choke out the words? I nodded, hating myself for it.
"Really?" Doubt quirked his eyebrow up. "Because you smell…off."
"Oh sorry," I snapped, "showers are kind of hard to come by when you're homeless."
His steady gaze didn't waver. "You know that's not what I meant," he said evenly.
"I know," I sighed, wishing I wasn't so cranky. "I'm sorry."
"But you are ok?"
"Yeah." He seemed to accept that, letting the matter drop.
Pretty soon the other three were awake and it was time to keep moving.
We walked along side roads, no one saying much. As the sun migrated across the sky, I began to feel steadily worse. My whole body felt shaky and feverish. I subtly reached up to feel my forehead, disguising the movement as brushing the hair out of my eyes, cursing as it burned my hand. Of the many things I had learned being raised by a nurse, I had forgotten fever and infection go hand in hand.
Derek fell back a little to walk beside me, hands nonchalantly tucked into his jean pockets. "You doing ok?" he tried again after a few moments of silence.
"Yes." I responded curtly, not wanting to waste valuable energy on pointless conversations.
"You'd tell me if you didn't feel good, right?"
I couldn't bring myself to verbally lie so I nodded again. This seemed to satisfy him, for he didn't press the subject anymore. Still, he kept walking next to me for the rest of the afternoon, as if ready to catch me if I fell. Though under better circumstances I would have found this romantically chivalrous, I now was paranoid he'd be able to figure out what I was hiding.
By the time the sun was just starting to shrink, I felt on the verge of collapse. Derek must have noticed for as we passed another abandoned warehouse he suggested we stop for the night. When Tori opened her mouth to protest, probably arguing it was only about 5:30, he said "We're all pretty tired." Though he thoughtfully left out names, I felt everybody else glance at me out of the corners of their eyes. I must not have been doing a good enough job hiding my fatigue: a fact I felt guilty about.
Derek was able to easily break the lock on the door and then we were in, able to creep through the silent stacks of boxes that to my sleep deprived mind seemed to be leering at us.
"Chloe, you hungry?" Derek called from where he and the others sat in a circle picking through our meager food supply. I realized only then that for the past two minutes I had been frozen, leaning heavily against the wall.
I detached myself from the brick with a shake of my head to Derek. Just the thought of food sent my stomach roiling. I felt light-headed and dizzy, as if about to faint. I sat down before that could happen.
"I'm kind of tired…" I heard myself speaking, as if from a distance. "I think I'm just going to go right to sleep."
Concern was bare on Derek's face but he nodded. "You look like you need it."
Tell them! my subconscious shouted in the back of my mind. If I was feeling this bad, I had let it drag on for too long without telling them.
Tomorrow. I promised myself, and then I surrendered to my closing eye lashes.
SPOV/ 3rd Person
"Hey, I'm going to run out to the Duncan Donuts we passed on the way in. Can you wake everyone up?" Derek addressed Simon, the only other one awake.
"Sure thing bro," he agreed readily, already looking forward to the donuts Derek was going to bring back. He hoped there would be a Boston Crème in there somewhere.
"Be back soon," Derek promised before creeping out of the warehouse.
Simon turned to his current designated task, deciding to wake up Tori first as she always took the longest to get ready. He crouched next to where she sprawled on the ground, one arm draped dramatically over her face.
He poked her in the shoulder. "Tori, time to wake up." She lifted her arm up high enough to peek open one eye and glare at him.
"Screw you, sorcerer." He left her, knowing she would eventually wake herself up. This is how Tori's wake up calls went every morning.
He decided Aliena would be next, since Chloe had looked like she could have really used a full nights sleep last night. "Hey- you awake?" he tapped Aliena on the arm.
She yawned and rubbed at her eyes before sitting up and giving him a tiny smile. "Now I am."
He nodded acknowledgement and moved towards Chloe. Her mouth was puckered in an 'o' and her breath came softly whooshing out of it. There was a light sheen of sweat on her brow and her face was flushed. Concern dominated his brain. "Chloe?" he shook her shoulder gently. "We have to get going now." She didn't stir. "Chloe?" he tried tapping her on the head, splashing water on her face, even pinching her, all the while calling her name with growing panic. She didn't wake up.
"Is she ok?" Aliena came up behind him, voice thick with worry.
"She isn't waking up! What's wrong with her?"
"Oh god. I told her," Tori bit her lip.
"Told her what?" Simon rounded on her for an explanation.
She opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by Derek's appearance with the familiar pink and orange bag. "We have glazed, chocolate, cinnamon…" his listing of the donuts died out as he saw the three of them crouched around Chloe's still slumbering form, everyone wearing identical masks of panic.
"What happened?" he demanded, closing the distance in a few quick strides to kneel next to her.
"She won't wake up!" Simon wailed.
Derek lifted a huge hand to feel her forehead, cursing as it scalded him. "Fever." he spat. "Does anyone have any water and a t-shirt or something?"
Aliena silently peeled away to follow his command. "How'd she get a fever?" Simon fretted. "Especially one this bad."
"I don't know!" Derek had a panicked gleam in his eyes as he accepted the water bottle and t-shirt Aliena was holding out to him. He dunked the water bottle over the shirt and held the effective wet rag to bathe her forehead. "wake up, wake up," he muttered under his breath.
"I know." Tori spoke up quietly.
Derek turned to stare at her. "Explain." he ordered.
"Look at her injury." Tori turned away.
Fingers trembling, he did as she asked. When he saw it was infected he cursed. "You knew about this and didn't tell us?" he demanded of Tori.
"I didn't think it was that bad!" She yelled back. Simon grabbed her arm and tugged her away before a real shouting match could ensue, leaving Derek to fret over Chloe.
"We have to get some kind of medicine for this…" Derek's hands fluttered uselessly over the injury.
"On it." Simon bee-lined for the door. Aliena followed him.
Silently they walked the mile back to the nearest town, heading through the suburbs until they came to main street. There it only took them five minutes to locate the pharmacy.
"Ok, what are we looking for?" Aliena peeked down an aisle of shampoo.
"Some kind of antibiotic," Simon shrugged.
A scrawny teen with massive glasses and a bad case of acne as red as his nametag wandered over to them. "Need any help finding anything?"
"We're looking for an antibiotic. Something to fight infection."
"This way," the kid, sounding bored, shuffled to one of the last aisles. He gestured at several shelves of official looking containers. "Any in particular?"
"What's the strongest?" Simon wasn't prepared to take any chances of it not working.
"Here," The kid passed them a spray bottle of translucent liquid. "This is for the worst kind of infections."
"We'll take it."
Only five minutes later they were speed-walking back the way they came, the blue plastic bag with the antibiotic in it swinging at Simon's waist. They journeyed in silence for a few minutes before Aliena spoke up. "Do you think she's going to be ok?"
Simon chewed on the inside of his cheek. "Yeah," he said, more confidently than he felt.
"Derek will find some way to save her," Aliena told him.
"He'll sure as hell try."
She was silent for a few more minutes before blurting, "Will you teach me some spells?"
Simon, taken aback, asked "Why?"
She shrugged. "I just want some kind of defense. I mean, I haven't forgotten the so called werewolf after me, and from what I understand you guys aren't exactly free of pursuance either. In case one of the bad guys shows up, I don't want to be the easy prey."
"Yeah. That's probably a good idea…" he said thoughtfully, eyes fixed on the paved road ahead of them. "Of course, Tori's a better spell-caster than I am…"
She chose her next words carefully. "Tori wouldn't be my first choice for a teacher…"
"And I would be?"
"Probably better than Tori, at least."
"True." he agreed, knowing Tori had the patience of an angry bull. "I'll show you some stuff when we get back." With that agreed, they spent the remaining walk in silence.
When they arrived back at the warehouse, Derek was still hunched over Chloe. Tori was sulking in the corner, methodically ripping up a shirt and tying the strips together to make a new bandage.
Simon tapped his brother on the shoulder, doing his best not to look too closely at the eerily dormant face of Chloe. "Here," he passed him the bag.
"Thanks." Derek ripped it out and skimmed the instructions on the label before pulling up Chloe's shirt and squirting the infection.
"Did it work?" Aliena asked hopefully.
"We'll see," he muttered, moving back to sponging Chloe's forehead with the wet t-shirt and squeezing her hand tightly, as if sheer will power could bring her back to consciousness.
Simon stood watching for a minute before turning to Aliena. "You ready?"
Resolutely she nodded, following him to the far side of the room.
"All right…um, any spells in particular you wanted to learn?" Simon was at a loss for where to begin.
"Turning people into frogs?" Aliena suggested, only half kidding. Tori snorted from the opposite wall.
"Don't know that one." Simon smiled a little, running his hand through his hair. "What about a basic knock-back spell?"
"What does that do?"
"This," he held his hands up and directed a knock-back spell at her, only meaning to push her back a step. Instead, she tumbled to the ground.
"Ow." she scowled, picking herself up again and brushing the dirt off. "I didn't need to feel it demonstrated."
"Sorry," Simon said, though inside he was feeling smug. All his practicing must be paying off if he could now actually knock people over. "But does that look like something you'd want to learn?"
"Well, it definitely would get rid of attackers. Can you show me how?"
"Well lift your hands up like this," he demonstrated, holding his arms parallel with the palms facing out. "And now just imagine you're pushing me over with your mind."
"All right…" she looked doubtful but she assumed the position.
"Focus," he advised after a moment where nothing happened.
"Trying to," she muttered through gritted teeth, squeezing her eyes shut in concentration like she had when trying to conjure the fireball the other day. Simon felt a telepathetic poke.
"Did it work?" she opened her eyes again and let her arms fall to her sides, breathing heavily.
"Yeah, just try pushing a little harder this time." he suggested gently.
She nodded then resumed her attempt. This time Simon was actually forced to take a step back.
"Good job!" he praised, pleased his pupil had had a relative success on her second try.
She gave him a shaky smile, and only then did he notice all the color had drained out of her face. Beads of sweat clung to her brow and she was swaying on her feet. "Are you-"
"I'm fine. Just give me a minute," she slid down to sit against the wall, eyes closed and mouth open as she struggled to regain her breath.
"Yeah, sure," he agreed, concerned by how exhausted she seemed. He felt a wave of sympathy as he realized Liz's description of her "failure" weak powers was all too accurate.
Several minutes later she pushed herself to her feet. "Can I try again?"
"Go for it." he tensed his muscles, waiting to be pushed back. Like before he was shoved back a step. Like before, she almost fainted.
They continued this process for over an hour; Aliena trying to cast the spell and then having to take a five minute break. When her breaks started getting longer and longer and the color stopped returning to her cheeks, Simon decided she had had enough for the day.
"Why don't we practice again tomorrow?" he recommended gently.
"But I almost got it-" she protested, a stubbornly determined look on her face.
"Quit while you're still conscious," Tori, who had been silently watching the training, piped up. After a moment where Simon thought she was going to argue, Aliena nodded.
"Ok. We can try again later."
Simon turned back to Derek and Chloe, neither of whom had moved. "Did the antibiotic help?" he called.
"Not yet," Derek snapped, voice tense.
Simon let out a heavy breath of disappointment then proceeded to sit and wait in silent vigil for Chloe to wake up. After another hour where she didn't, he decided he couldn't take this waiting anymore.
Gently he placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. Derek didn't look up from her feverish face. "We need to get her to a hospital, bro," he suggested as cautiously as possible. "She needs help, like, urgently."
"No."
"Look, Derek," Simon sighed, kneeling next to him. "I know you want to help her, but you can't save her. Not this time."
"No." Derek repeated, still not meeting Simon's concerned gaze.
"She should have woken up by now."
"I know that."
"Derek, she could die." That was what did it.
Several thoughtful moments later, after Derek had confronted logic and lost, he nodded slowly. "Ok. But only I'm going."
"Derek-"
"No." he said firmly. "It'll be risky. The Edison Group might find us. I don't want you three in danger."
"Derek-" he tried again but like before was cut off.
"There's food in the backpacks. Stay here. We'll be back as soon as possible, but if we aren't- just go. Do you remember May's number?"
Simon, realizing there was no more point arguing, nodded. "Yeah, I know it."
"Good." Derek sounded satisfied. "Use that to call her. She should remember you. Go to her apartment and hopefully we'll meet you there."
"Be careful, bro. And don't worry, she's going to be ok." Simon needed to convince himself this as much as Derek.
"You be careful." he said, before scooping Chloe up seemingly effortlessly to cradle her in his arms. Then he was gone, taking the dying girl with him.
"We're not really going to stay her and wait, are we?" Tori said after Derek had gotten out of earshot.
"Of course not." Simon led the way to the warehouse door to follow them.
Yay! Go Simon! Don't listen to your protective bully of a brother (Love you Derek)! What do you think Derek will do when he finds out they didn't listen to him and followed him? Will Chloe be ok? I love hearing your guesses!
Oh, and I'm sorry I'm making Chloe out to be an overly proud idiot who refuses to accept help. I know it's kind of OOC, but I really needed this to happen to set up for my next chapter (which will be majorly dramatic- advanced warning.) Sorry Chloe fans! And more apologies if some of the dialogue is kind of weird in this one. I didn't know how to word all the conversations, but I tried my best to make them in-character.
Thank you to the 6 people who have taken my poll! (and Bertle…sorry you couldn't take it) If you haven't taken my poll yet… *wink, wink*