Chapter Two: Secrets on Your Pillow

When I finally woke up, I had no idea what time it was, what day it was and where I was. I was completely and utterly confused. I opened my eyes and looked around feverishly, only to be blinded by the shine of the fluorescent lights above me. I still could here the monotonous beep of the heart monitor, but the consistent, pounding pain in my head had ceased.

I turned my head to the side to see Greyson sitting in a chair, his head in his hands. He wasn't moving and it didn't look like he was breathing much either. I cleared my throat to get his attention.

"Marcy! Thank goodness you're up. How are you?" His eyes, which suddenly were ten shades darker, were big with worry and under them were dark circles. It appeared as if he hadn't slept in days.

"I'm fine. The pain in my head is better now." Upon saying that, I reached my hand up to my forehead to feel a thick gauze bandage wrapped around it. I groaned inwardly. "What day is it? And where am I?"

Greyson chuckled slightly. "It's Monday night. You've been out for around 24 hours…" He trailed off.

"Ugh. I feel gross. And I missed school today. My teachers are going to kill me."

Greyson coughed slightly. "No need to worry about that anymore. You won't be going back to your old school, or that beat up firehouse. You'll be living here with me and all the others."

I gazed at him confusedly. "I'll be living where with you and the others?"

He murmured a curse word under his breath. It seemed like he had said some things he didn't mean to say.

"You wouldn't understand. It's complicated," he muttered.

I shook my head at his stubbornness. "How bad could it be? You already slipped a bit, so now you've only made me more curious. I just want to know what made you hit me with a rock."

"You heard?" He asked quietly.

I nodded. "Well, most of it."

He groaned and rested his chin on his hands, looking at me with an unreadable expression.

"So tell me what you heard," he said.

I turned my body so that I was facing him.

"You have to tell me where I am and why first."

Greyson chuckled nervously and placed his hands into his pockets. There was a long pause before he started to speak.

"Well right now, you are at the Casa di Notte." The Italian words rolled off of Greyson's tongue effortlessly.

I stared at him "What the hell?"

Greyson shrugged nonchalantly. "I told you that you wouldn't understand. Casa di Notte means House of Night. That's where you are right now. That's where you're going to be staying."

"Is it some sort of school… or what?"

"It's more like an organization that is trying to prevent something really really bad from happening," Greyson explained.

"So what do I have to do with any of this? Why am I going to stay here and be a part of this "organization"? I don't get this, at all! I mean, all I did was visit my mom in the cemetery and then you appeared out of the fucking air and told me to leave. And then you proceeded to hit me with a rock and knock me out cold for a whole damn day!"

I watched his shift his feet uncomfortably until he finally sighed and stood up. Greyson walked over to my bedside and placed a cool hand on my burning skin. A wash of relief flooded over me instantly. I closed my eyes and felt his hand push my hair gently away from my forehead and linger there for a moment.

"You ask too many questions," he sighed.

"Fine. I won't ask, I'll just say. Greyson, tell me what happened," I demanded, but my voice was as strong as my will.

Greyson flinched away from me and I looked at him sadly. When he didn't respond, I slapped myself mentally. I've been too pushy on him.

"Okay, if you're not going to answer, I'll just tell you what I heard. I woke up, but my eyes wouldn't open, so I just listened and you were talking to this woman named Raine. She told you something about 'not revealing the secret' and 'don't grow attached because of what happened last time'. Then she said she would go get The Council," I said in one breath. "You need to tell me what's going on!"

No answer. I only received a blank stare.

"Please," I whispered. No response. It was worse than talking to a statue, which he scarily resembled right now.

Finally, Greyson cleared his throat, breaking his mask. "The Council came. They've reached a decision to protect my kind's existence." Then he turned away so he wouldn't have to look at me.

I was shocked. "You're kind? Why can't you just tell me…?"

With his back to me, he whispered in a pained voice, "I'm not ready. You're not ready. If you find out, we'll both just end up getting hurt and possibly killed. It's best if you just stay here with me and the others, pretend that everything is normal and wait until it is safe."

I groaned. "You still haven't told me who the others are."

Greyson turned back around, his eyes suddenly a brighter shade of bronze. "Oh, they're just my friends. You'll learn to like them."

I began to panic. I was not ready to meet new people; in fact, I have not made any new friends in the past three years. All of my friends had either abandoned me or given up on me. I was so depressed in school that I couldn't focus on my studies and had to take a year off. A few good friends have tried to contact me and get me help but it was no use. I was a lost cause.

When I finally returned to school, no one talked to me. No one even looked at me. I was a ghost, waiting for each day to end and dreading the next day to come.

"I-I-I don't know if I'm ready to… to meet new people." My voice was barely audible.

Greyson frowned. "Don't be silly. They're just like you, scared and alone. Some of them might even be worse. I'll introduce you to all of them when you're healed. And trust me; they'll accept you for who you are because you're just like them in some ways."

I nodded and swallowed my worries. "Okay. I guess." I leaned back and closed my eyes, listening to the heart monitor. It was beginning to sound awfully soothing.

Greyson sensed my drowsiness and smiled. "Get some rest. You need it."

I laughed quietly. "Thanks."

I slid down lower in the bed and closed my eyes. I faintly heard Greyson return to his seat.

xxx

I was in a dark, damp hallway. It was silent except for the constant dripping of water somewhere down the hall. Oddly, I could see everything clearly, like the whole hall was illuminated.

The hallway smelled musky and thick, and I tried my best to breathe it in. Even though I didn't need the air, breathing helped me taste the different things that were in this hallway. Somehow it made me feel safer.

Someone was walking beside me, their leather shoes clicking in time with my heels. The person next to me was male. And we are very close. So close that I could almost hear his thoughts in my mind and the thought of him being next to me made me smile. But I could not put a face with the male, nor could I place a name. I could only sense that we loved each other.

I walked down the hallway, looking cautiously from left to right. On the left side, there were windows, but they were barred up with rough pieces of wood. On the right side, there were closed doors that looked like they hadn't been opened in ages. Cob webs and dust motes floated around the air like snow.

Suddenly, a cool gust of wind blew past me and I gasped. The male beside me put a protective hand on my arm, holding me steady.

"Who's there?" I asked. There was no trace of fear in my voice. My voice was clear and solid.

There was no answer.

"It's probably her," the male said, patting my arm. His voice was smooth and familiar, but it was also strange.

I paused for a moment before we continued down the hall with an undefined destination. I wasn't thinking; my feet were just moving.

Suddenly, there was another gust of cool wind but this time, there was a hint of spices mixed in with the scent. I tilted my nose up in the air and inhaled a deep breath. Yes, I could taste it on my tongue. Someone is here; someone whom I hate very much.

The male next to me did the same. When he smelled the new scent in the air, his lips pulled into a small smirk. He turned to me and nodded, but when he faced me, I could not see his face.

"I know you're here," I stated simply.

A few seconds later, there was a light, tinkling laugh. But it wasn't a happy laugh. It was a sinister one. "You shouldn't be here," an angelic voice warned.

I growled a low, menacing growl. "I'm here so I can finish what we started."

Swiftly, a figure appeared in front of me, but I could not see her face. I only saw the outline of her lithe body in the moonlight. I smiled.

"So you're finally brave enough to face me," I snarled.

The woman growled and her eyes became a bloody red color.

"You know I've only been waiting for the perfect moment, Marcella," she replied. While she was talking, she had walked closer to me so that we were eye to eye.

"I'm not scared," I warned. The male beside me growled deeply.

"Wrong answer," the woman snickered.

I crouched down to the ground, getting ready to pounce. "I'm ready when you are."

The woman laughed again and crouched, also preparing to lunge. "Then let's dance."

"No!" The male screamed. He reached for me, but I was already gone.

The woman and I launched our bodies towards each other, facing the impact halfway. We rolled, twisted, kicked, punched and clawed. I pushed her through a door. She pushed me into the floor. It kept going on and on, back and forth.

There was no use. We were both equally as strong. But I was growing weak. There was a burning in the back of my throat and my limbs were growing limp. The woman pinned me down onto the cold stone floor and she spat in my face.

"You are weak," she snarled.

I pushed and pulled but it was no use. She suddenly felt like a mountain, sitting on top of my arms.

"Marcy! Use it!" The male voice commanded, but the sound of his voice was growing fainter and fainter.

I nodded faintly and gripped the woman's arms. Summoning all of my strength, I gripped her arms as hard as I could.

An intense white light illuminated the room. An ear-splitting scream cut the damp air in half.

And then everything went black and I fell into nothingness.

xxx

I awoke with my heart beating a mile a minute. My forehead was damp but the rest of my body was surprisingly cold. I looked to my side to see that Greyson was not there anymore. A wave of disappointment washed over me as I realized that he didn't stay with me.

But why do I want him to be with me so much? He is just a stranger after all. I shrugged off my confusion and lifted up the heavy covers.

As my feet hit the floor, the icy coldness shocked me to attention. I gasped quietly and walked away from the bed. My legs were sore from lying down for so long.

I walked towards the nearest window and peered out the window. The sun was just beginning to rise. I studied the scene outside. None of it I could recognize.

We were in a forest, and there was a big river running through the trees. I could see the faint outline of other buildings in the woods, but that was it. There were no people walking around, no cars beeping at each other. I was in the middle of no where.

"You're up. How are you feeling?" A voice suddenly sounded in the room.

I screamed and turned around, only to see Greyson's smiling face. I sighed and walked towards the bed.

"Hey, don't do that." I said, catching my breath.

Greyson chuckled. "Sorry, I can't help it. It's just so fun to scare you."

I glared at him. "Son of a bitch."

He smiled and walked towards the chair, sitting down slowly. I watched as he ran his hand through his hair a couple of times.

"So are you okay?" He asked.

I smoothed out my sweatshirt and jeans. "Yeah, I'm better now," I said. "Are you going to answer my questions?"

Greyson sighed. "As long as they're not about me and who I am."

"Darn," I smiled. "Well, what about all of my stuff and where am I going to be staying?"

Greyson looked like he had a weight lifted off his shoulders. "Thank goodness. I thought you were going to bombard me with more questions about why I hit you with a rock."

"Not funny!" I playfully yelled.

Greyson laughed a velvety laugh. "Well, you will have a roommate, but we will figure that out later. All of your stuff has been taken care of and are already unpacked in your room for you."

I stared at him like a deer caught in headlights. "How did you manage to…?"

"I stalked you for a bit and found out where you lived."

I continued to stare at him, which only made him laugh.

"Just kidding! Damn, you are gullible."

I crossed my arms at him. "Well maybe if you weren't such a good liar, I wouldn't have believed you. I bet you lie everyday to be that good."

"Ouch, that one hurt," Greyson pouted humorously.

"You deserve it."

"Yeah, I guess I do…" he trailed off but snapped back into attention. "So are you ready to meet the rest of the gang?"

I sighed. I would have to meet them sooner or later. And sooner would be best, so I could get it over with. "Um, sure."

"Good." He came over to the bed and unplugged the heart monitor from my finger. Then he grabbed my hand and led me out of the room.