I leaned back in my chair, putting my feet on my desk. The phone rang a few times, and then she picked up.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Claryn, it's Sebastian. How's Gwen?" I looked up at my walls, blank except for a single picture of me, Jefferson, Claryn, Gwen, and Dracen, which I had only put it up after J left. His arms were around Gwen, her arms around Claryn, and I was standing next to J, laughing my head off. Dracen stood next to Claryn, smiling, with his hands in his pockets.
"Hey, Sebastian. She's ok now, I guess."
"Everything's fine? Are you sure?"
"Yeah. She didn't break anything, just kind of went into shock. We cleaned her up as much as we could, but now all there's left to do is wait. She's still out cold. But she's breathing."
"Is there any head trauma?"
"Head trauma?"
"Well that gash on her head looked bad, so she must have hit her head pretty hard..."
"Oh, of course..."
"And sometimes when you hit your head it can cause dementia or other kinds of brain damage..."
"Oh, I hope not! That would crush me. Yeah, I could never..." I heard her voice crack, and I pushed my feet off the desk, sitting up straight, wanting to be there to comfort her. "ugh, I can't even imagine. Brain damage would be so..."
"Claryn?" I said, concern rising into my voice. "Are you ok? Is there someone else there with you?"
"It's just me in here now. Her mom and I..."
"Claryn, do you need me to come there?"
Silence. I stood up, grabbing my coat. I didn't want her to be alone in a hospital with her best friend possibly dying. Her and Gwen her best friends, and if something happened, and no one was there to comfort her...
I pulled on my coat, still holding the phone to my ear. "Claryn?"
"I have to get her. The doctor could be back any minute."
"Claryn, can you see if anyone else is coming to see her? And what the doctors say about the chances head trauma?"
"Sure, I'll go check."
She hung up, and I put the phone in my pocket. I ran my hands through my hair, messing it up more than it already was, and grabbed the keys.
"Chelsea, I'm going out!" I yelled up at her. I didn't wait for an answer. She'd be fine. Mom would be home in an hour or so.
I walked out of the house, closing the door gently. I sat down on the front steps, the wind stinging my face and making me shiver. Claryn obviously didn't want me there, who knows why, but I wanted to be there for her. I didn't think it was safe to leave her there alone.
I sat there for a few more minutes, then made up my mind and started walking to the hospital. For the first time in weeks, the walk out of the neighborhood didn't reek of the lack of Jefferson. Now all I could think about is Gwen and Claryn. I crossed the street, heading into the busier streets. A few people walked behind me, but I didn't pay them any attention. I needed to get to Claryn, as fast as possible. I pushed my way through the crowds of people on the sidewalks, ignored the music and lights pouring from the shops, looking in anticipation at each street sign, hurrying to the hospital.
I turned into a dark back alley, taking a short cut to the hospital, that I heard the footsteps behind me. I ignored them, focused on getting to Claryn. But the footsteps started to grow louder and louder, getting closer to me. I turned my head, looking over my shoulder. A man, tall and muscular, hands in his pockets, wearing a trench coat. I looked ahead and started to walk faster, a million thoughts going through my head, my pulse pounding in my head. It's nothing, I tried to reassure myself. Just get to Claryn.
I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I turned around, looking into the eyes of the man. His eyes were black and endless, like staring into space, and I felt my heart skip a beat. "Can I help you?" I said, keeping my voice even. The man snarled.
"Are you Sebastian Price?"
I forced myself to smile. "I am. Do you have an appointment?"
The man roared and threw me into the wall across the alley, knocking the wind out of me. I crumpled the ground, my ribs and back screaming in white hot pain. I put a hand to my side, gritting my teeth in pain. I looked up at him, standing over me, panting in rage."I'm going to take that as a no," I chocked out. "I'm sorry, sir, we don't accept walk ins." He grabbed the front of my shirt and pinned me against the wall, his huge forearm against my neck, allowing just enough air in my lungs to stay conscious. I scratched at his arm and kicked against the walls, but it was futile. I swallowed the fear rising in my throat,
"She has risen. She must be stopped." He growled at me.
"That sounds like a personal issue," I said. He dropped me on the ground, and I gasped for breath. White spots danced across my vision. WHY, SEBASTIAN? WHY? WHY ARE YOU SO SARCASTIC WHEN YOU ARE SCARED? SHUT UP. I screamed at myself. I pushed myself off the ground, and sat up, looking at the man.
"Where is Felicity Price?" He demanded. I shook my head. "Where IS SHE?"
Don't do it. Don't make another remark. Just shut up.
My hair hung in my eyes, my ribs might have been broken, and I was panting, not able to properly force air into my lungs. He could kill me right now. And I knew he could kill me.
"What do you think I am, an address book?" I groaned at the pain shooting through my spine. "You must be a lot dumber than you look." The man took a step forward and I braced myself for the final blow, looking at him right in the eyes. His fist came down, almost in slow motion, and right before he hit me, I felt a jolt through my spine. He was suddenly knocked back into the wall behind him by an invisible force. He got up and looked at me, angrier than ever now, even though there was no way I had done that. He took a few steps toward me, and I felt another jolt, as if I was being shocked, making me sit up straight. I looked at my hands, which were suddenly filled with something, an invisible ball of energy that rippled and moved in my hands. I looked back at the man. Fear filled his face, looking unwelcome on his features. I moved my hands up, somehow knowing what to do, as if it was something I had done a thousand times. The man started to hover in the air, and when I yanked my hands down, he crashed into the pavement.
I stood up, walking over to him, standing over him. My heart was pounding. "Who is Felicity Price?" I demanded. "Who has risen? Who are you? What do you want from me?" He shook his head. "You'll know soon enough." I glared at him, raising my hands again, but in a flash of light, he disappeared, leaving a small crater in the pavement.
I lowered my hands and looked around, at the small dents in the walls and the pavement, and then I looked at my hands, trembling, and fell onto my knees. I was exhausted. And I was terrified. And I was very, very confused. I sat there for a minute, trying to catch my breath. What the heck was that? Where did the air powers come from? Who was that man?
I don't know if it was my imagination, or if somewhere, someone was playing music. But I heard the song Air Catcher- one of J's favorites, playing softly somewhere behind me.
I don't fall slow like I used to
I fall straight down
You've stolen my air catcher
That kept me safe and sound
I won't fall in
Love with falling
I will try to avoid
Those eyes
I was doing fine on my own
And there wasn't much I lacked
But you've stolen my air catcher
And I don't know if I want it back
'Cause I'm not sure
I want to give you
Tools that can destroy
My heart
And I just don't say
What you want to hear
So I'll write my fears
And I don't believe
In talking just to breathe
And falling selfishly
I got up, wincing at the pain in my ribs, and started limping toward the hospital. I still needed to make it to Claryn. Maybe she was in trouble, too; or maybe she would know what was going on. I hobbled through the alleys, making my way to the major streets. I turned a corner and was plowed over by someone running. I shook my head, trying to see who it was. All I could hear was a girl mumbling "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry," Over and over again. I propped myself up and looked at the girl who had run into me.
"Claryn?" I asked. I couldn't see her face, but the red hair was unmistakable. She stopped mumbling and looked up at me.
"Sebastian?" I nodded, feeling a slight warmth crawling into my cheeks. "What are you doing here?" She asked.
"I came to see you and check on Gwen." I replied, standing up and offering her my hand. "What are you doing here?"
She took my hand and I pulled her up onto her feet, staring into her bright blue eyes, eyes the color of the morning sky. Eyes full of worry. "Is everything ok?" I asked. She shook her head.
"Gwen ran out of the hospital. She has some kind of dementia- they think it's Alzheimer's- and she's gone. I came to look for her." Her eyes filled with unformed tears threatening to spill, and I could feel her hands shaking. I put a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Claryn," I said softly. "I'll help you find her. It'll be ok." Claryn nodded, but I could tell the comfort didn't mean much to her. I put my hands in my pockets, concern, worry, and embarrassment flooding my brain, but I didn't do anything. Claryn hardly knew who I was- a friend of a friend, and anyway, she liked Dracen. She didn't want my help.
Claryn turned around, walking quickly, and I walked beside her. We didn't say anything, though I had a million ideas of what to say. The silence was almost painful, but I knew it was what she wanted. I tried to push the attack out of my head. It was just a weird hallucination. Focus on Claryn.
We walked through the whole town, asking people if they had seen her, going into every store, texted her a million times, and searched again. It was almost eight when Mrs. James texted Claryn.
Got Gwen. She's fine.
It seemed more out of duty and not out of concern, and the four words made me instantly resent Mrs. James. I knew she and Claryn had had some issues, but I thought she might at least pretend to care for Gwen's sake, or out of respect for Claryn, who had just spent the whole afternoon searching for Gwen. It was dark, and it was cold, and we were tired. She sat down on the steps of the library, which reeked with lack of Jefferson, but I sat down next to her and tried to ignore the pain in my heart and my ribs.
"Sebastian, have you ever had something weird and almost inexpiable happen to you?" She asked, sounding frustrated and defeated. I thought about Jefferson's disappearance, Gwen's accident, and the incident earlier today with the man who was looking for Felicity Price. My life seemed riddled with weird inexplicable events recently.
"Yeah, I suppose. Why? What's happened to you?" Claryn looked up at me with those big, bright blue eyes, and sighed.
"Today at the hospital, when Gwen woke up, she looked as if she had never seen me in her whole life. And then, she shot a ball of purple lighting at me and I passed out." I raised my eyebrows in suprise. She looked away. "I know. It sounds impossible. The doctors told me it was a hallucination caused by stress." I looked at her, studying every inch of her face, memorizing every curve, every flush of color, every eyelash. If Gwen had this- this whatever it is too- Gwen might be in danger, and so might Claryn.
"Are you ok?" I asked her. "That lighting must have hurt." She looked at me angrily.
"Sure, Sebastian. Make fun of me." I shook my head.
"No, I believe you. I swear." I put all the sincerity I could into my voice, which wasn't easy, since most of my life I had only dealt in jokes and lies. But she seemed to believe me.
"You don't think I'm crazy?" I shook my head.
"I think we're all a bit mad. But I also think you are telling the truth. I don't think it was a hallucination." I didn't tell her a similar thing had happened to me today. I still wasn't sure what to make of that. Relief shone through her features.
"What's going on, Sebastian? How did this happen?"
"I don't know. I've been asking myself that a lot, and I still don't have an answer. I'm sorry."
She looked down at her phone, checking the time and sighed. "I have to go. See you later." She stood up, and I quickly clammered to my feet.
"I could, uh, walk you home." I said. She raised her eyebrows in question. "Well, it's late." I started to ramble. "It's dark. Something could happen to you." She smiled.
"I think I'm ok."
I swallowed. The man could still be out there. I was worried about her, and like it or not, she needed my help. "But how do you know? You could get mugged. Attacked. or- or kidnapped by a dragon."
She laughed. "A dragon? Wouldn't I need a knight to protect me in that case?"
I grinned, feeling her warming up to me. I bowed. "At your service, milady."
"I said a knight, not a squire." She replied.
"They were all eaten by the dragon." I replied, not offended. I could see the light dancing across her eyes- the first time I had seen it in a few weeks.
"Well, then, what chance do you have?" She asked, starting to walk in the direction of home. I ran in front of her, causing her to stop in her tracks. I knelt on one knee and bowed my head.
"My lady, I may not be a knight, but I will gladly get eaten in order to save you." I stood up and winked at her. "Besides, they say you don't need to be able to outrun a dragon, just be able to outrun your companion." She laughed, and we started to walk together.
"Isn't that for bears?" She said skeptically.
I shrugged. "Bears, dragons, what's the difference? Either way, I don't like my chances in a footrace against you."
She laughed- a real, genuine laugh, and it sounded like bells. I grinned, glad I could help erase today's crazy events from her mind. We walked into her neighborhood, and she stopped in front of her house.
"Thank you, my gallant squire, for protecting me from dragon attacks."
I bowed. "My pleasure, Your highness."
She smiled. "Bye, Sebastian." She opened the door and stepped in.
"Night, Claryn." I replied. And she shut the door, still smiling.
My grin widened, and I had to use all my energy to stop me from yelling in joy. I might actually have a chance with Claryn. My only regret was that I couldn't tell Jefferson about it.
I started walking home, hoping that when I woke up the next morning things would start making sense.
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Squichy Mushins- Thanks for reading!
Maddie- dont mess this up
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