Mystery POV

We sat in the car, watching the boy and the girl as they quickly made their way out of the diner. The boy had gotten a phone call, said something hastily to the girl, and they'd laid down cash for their bill and gotten out of the place. Now, as their car screeched away, we snapped pictures. The license plate, the details of the car. Pictures of the boy and girl themselves as they had rushed out. We had all we needed.

The girl had looked confused as she followed the boy out. Messy brown hair, glasses, pretty average looking young lady. And the boy. Oh, we'd seen him before. Many times. He was a legend. He was all the talk. He was hated, hunted, and reviled.

'Why are we still sitting here? Our instructions were to follow her wherever she went.', my partner said, irritating me. Pea brained.

'We're giving them some space so as to not look suspicious. We don't want that boy on our trail. He's a genius. And if he picks up our scent, we're dead meat. Have you not watched the footage of the London job?', I explained, allowing myself to speak in my native accent. Walking among the Americans meant holding up an accent to not be recognized.

'Yes, I understand that. But I also understand that we've been given blatantly clear instructions to keep the girl away from him. And so far, we're not doing a great job at that. Have you seen how touchy they've gotten? And they only met today.'

He had a point. The commission had strictly instructed us to keep this girl away from him. But what were we supposed to do? Waltz right up to the girl, pull her away with the relationship advice of 'I just don't feel like he's right for you?'? We couldn't kill her. And we weren't allowed to kill him. Not yet. We weren't allowed to touch any of them at this point. Too early.

'Just shut up and sit there, dummkopf.'

'They've headed down Maple street. Out of sight now. We're going to lose them.'

I put the keys in the ignition, and the car engine rumbled to life. I brushed a piece of hair behind my ear and breathed in, then out.

'I guess we're following, then.'

And I pulled the car out of the diner's parking lot, headed in their direction.

Five POV

'What did Vanya say? Why are you driving so fast?'

I didn't usually get so worked up. But when Vanya said something terrible had happened, I immediately knew it was no exaggeration. She never exaggerated.

'There was no time for her to explain. She needs me - us.', I corrected myself. I didn't want Dolores to feel left out. In truth, there was a good possibility that there was nothing she could do to help, and I usually would have no sympathy for an involved party that offered no help, but Dolores was different. For the first time, I cared about someone's feelings. I was careful about what I said. I didn't want to cause her any sort of negative emotion. Once again, what had this girl done to me?

'Turn here.'

'I know the way to my own house.'

'Well you're driving like a maniac so you could miss it.'

I laughed it off. No need to chew her out for her comment on my driving skills, or my judgement. However, if it had been one of my brothers...

'What do you think's happening?'

'We're about to find out.', I answered, pulling the car into park by the sidewalk. I got out, slamming the door. Reaching my hand out for Dolores to grab, we hurried inside together.

Vanya came running out the door to meet us, leaving it swinging open.

'Five, thank God you're here.'

'What happened?', I said, wanting the info as soon as possible. As I stepped through the door, I saw Klaus holding Annie on the stairs, and Allison wrapped up in Diego's arms. Sobbing. Crap.

'Allison!', Dolores exclaimed as she ran to her side, and I looked around for the source of her tears. And then, looking into the den, I saw it.

A pool of blood the size of a bathtub, it was a mess. All extending from around his crushed head. Getting closer, I saw that his neck was broken, fixed in a horrifyingly unnatural position. His huge body laid there in the pool, limp and unmoving. This was why Allison was crying.

'How on earth did this happen?', I yelled back, crouching down to feel for a pulse. There was nothing. He was dead.

Diego met me in the den at Luther's body while Klaus, Vanya and Dolores stayed back to comfort Allison.

'He was stomping around up on the balcony above this room. Lost his balance, fell right backward over the railing, hit his head on the floor. No struggle, dead upon impact.'

'And why haven't you idiots done anything about it? Called an ambulance? Told Grace?'

'There's an ambulance on the way, smart one. It all happened so fast. Vanya called you as soon as his head hit the floor.'

This was not looking good for Luther, or for Allison. No pulse, that amount of blood loss. There was no way he was surviving through this. Broken neck, likely irreversible spinal cord damage. I heard Allison's sobbing intensify. I wasn't soft or easily affected, but hearing that was heart wrenching. This was her brother, a friend, and most importantly, her husband.

'Well, I'm honestly not sure there's much they're gonna be able to do.', I whispered. He shook his head. Speechless. It was a surreal feeling. Our brother was ninety-nine percent likely to be gone forever.

'Annie, no!'

'Annie, sweetie, come back here, don't go in there!'

Annie had broken away from Klaus, speeding into the den where Luther's body lay, and Klaus came after her. Diego moved to stop her, but before he could, she was knelt down in the pool of blood surrounding the body, looking into Luther's cold face.

'Honey, get up, get out of here, you don't need to see this.', Klaus said as he came after her, trying to pick her up. But when he attempted to take her from the body, she shot him a glance like fire. A glance that was so unusual and unearthly for a near four year old, that he backed away from her.

'Klaus, get her away from him!', Allison shouted through her tears.

'Shhh. Wait a second. Just wait.'

The kid was looking at Luther like she could see straight into his soul. Vanya moved forward as Allison and Dolores stayed standing in the doorway. Moving towards Annie, she tried to pick her up, but she shot her the same glance she'd used on Klaus. It was as if Vanya had been stunned.

Annie, now soaked in blood, stretched out her right hand, placing it on Luther's chest. Nothing happened.

'Annie, sweetie-'

And then she dropped limp in the floor. Her hair sprawled out in the blood, just as if she was dead next to him.

I jumped down to her side, feeling for the small veins on her neck that would let me know if she still had a pulse. Under my fingers, I felt a steady rhythm. Annie was fine. But what had happened?

'Annie!', Allison shouted, now running in. Klaus stood off in the corner, hands raised behind his head, not able to look.

'She's fine. Just unconscious.'

'What did she just do?'

'I have no idea, but something drained her energy.'

And then, Luther coughed.

Allison gasped louder than I'd ever heard, and flung herself down into the pool of blood, touching his face. The whole group collectively began to freak out, and I kept calm by placing a finger on his neck to check for a heartbeat. A minute ago, there was nothing. But now, there was a slowly strengthening pattern of beats. Unbelievable.

'He's got a heartbeat.'

'Thank God, Luther!', Allison exclaimed, her sobbing intensifying once more, but now out of relief.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dolores run in and meet Klaus, and they picked up Annie, her body as limp as a rag doll in his arms, and set her down on the bar at the far side of the room, clearing it off first. Klaus touched her face, trying to wake her up. He looked so genuinely worried for her safety. Fatherly. It wasn't a role I ever expected to see him in.

'What happened?', Luther asked, his voice breathy and next to nothing.

'You fell, and you died! You were dead! And now you aren't anymore!'

Luther coughed in response. He couldn't move his head, because of his broken neck. I was astonished. His injuries had been fatal. But here he was now, awake and conscious. His injuries should make that impossible.

'He's still bleeding, that dang ambulance needs to get a move on.', Diego said, walking into the foyer to see if they were close.

'It's gonna be alright. You're going to be okay. You just got a miracle. A miracle. You're alive, thank God, I love you so much, they're going to fix you.', Allison sobbed, burying her head in Luther's chest.

I heard the sirens beginning to blare outside, and the windows behind the bar lit up with blue and red lights as they approached from down the street. They came racing in the door, and Diego directed them to Luther's body. Allison wouldn't leave his side as they strapped him to a gurney and hooked him up to oxygen, applying pressure to his wounds and transporting him out. Diego went along with some of them and explained what happened.

A pair of emergency workers ran over to Annie, Klaus, and Dolores.

'Was she involved in the accident?'

'No, no, she just spontaneously passed out.', Dolores explained. Spontaneously wasn't the word I'd use to describe it. But they didn't need to know that.

They strapped Annie to a gurney of her own, transporting her out as the rest of us followed the paramedics out the door. As they put Annie and Luther in the back of the ambulance, Klaus, Vanya, Dolores and I loaded into my car and headed for the hospital. Diego and Allison rode in the back of the ambulance. Dolores grabbed my hand, her skin ice cold, and I gripped it as I drove to the nearest hospital.

We all sat around in the warmly lit hospital room they'd placed Annie in, watching her sleep. The doctors had let us know she was fine. But out of caution, they were keeping her overnight for observation.

Allison, Klaus and Vanya sat on a couch under the window together, huddled up and both of them holding Allison's hands. Luther was in surgery, and we were all anxiously waiting for any news. Annie may have done something miraculous, but it was up to the doctors to fix his injuries for good.

We'd been waiting for two hours, and I'd gone out to Griddy's to bring us all food. Diego had devoured two jelly donuts, Klaus one, and Allison wouldn't eat at all. She wouldn't even take a sip of water when we tried to get her to.

But then, a tall man dressed in scrubs came into the room, rubbing his hands together. We all stood up, ready to hear the news he had, hoping and praying it was good.

'He's out of surgery.' Everyone in the room sighed in relief.

'We were able to fix his spinal damage, and he will likely return to full brain function after physical therapy and healing. But it's going to be a long recovery process.'

Allison immediately started bawling in relief, and Klaus pulled her into a hug.

'Thank you, doctor.', I said, shaking his hand. He nodded firmly, then turned and walked out.

The tension in the room melted away like butter in a hot pan as the moments went by. We all sat back down, finally able to rest our minds.

I rested my gaze on Annie, as did Vanya. She slept peacefully, gripping her stuffed monkey under her arm.

'Now that we can recollect...'

'Annie ... did she ...did she resurrect him?'

'I see no other explanation. His injuries were too severe for him to just come back.'

We were all silent for a moment.

'Klaus, what have you made?'

'I have no idea, but I have a hunch that it's incredible.'

And we all fixed our gaze on the soft looking little girl, wondering what power she held.