Part Two

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Castian sat next to him. "No problem man." He watched Vellis take a drink. If he was sick, why hadn't he told Taff? Did he think he'd just throw Vellis out? It didn't seem likely, there were too few of them, and they were too valuable. Right...? Castian itched his palm with his nails till his hand stung, it still itched though. He was going to kill whoever thought it was funny to put something on he doorknob. Teach them to screw around with him. And here he'd thought they'd already learned that. He rubbed his hand on his pants, trying to wipe away whatever they'd used.

Vellis held the cup in both his hands when Castian looked up, they were still shaking. His eyes were shut tightly. Vellis curled forward a little, groaning.

"Hey," Castian snatched the half filled cup before it could spill, "I thought you were joking about catching a bug." He leaned across the bed and set the cup on the end table.

"I'm fine." Vellis didn't open his eyes or straighten.

"Yeah, you look great." Castian, stop snapping at dying people. He sighed. "Lay down before you fall over and I can never look you in the eye again."

"Ha.. ha, hilarious."

"I am entirely serious."

Vellis shot him a look dripping with venom, he must be feeling a little better. "Because we all know how meaningful your ability to look me in the eye is to me," he said sarcastically.

"I know." Castian watched his face as the pain lines washed away, masked by annoyance.

Vellis rubbed his hands over his face suddenly. "Look, Cas, I need help, okay? Something is wrong with me, and I can't ask Taff for help, I won't. I don't think he would, anyway, and--"

"Help how, and what's wrong?" Castian broke in. Time to get to the damn point already. Pushing him didn't feel like the world's best idea, but Castian didn't care.

"Okay you can't..." Vellis glanced around. "You... Can we go to my room, man?"

Castian frowned. "Why?"

"Because I know it isn't bugged."

"Bugged?" Castian looked around sharply. "What do you mean, bugged. By who?"

"Taff." Vellis stared at his hands. "He likes to keep track of everyone. Deric, he's the one who showed me to look for them."

A sharp stabbing pain shot through him, then Castian banished it. So there had been a lot of things Deric hadn't told him. It didn't matter now, whatever his reasons had been they were as dead as he was. Don't be angry at the dead. Don't let it hurt. He took a slow breath. "Oh," was all Castian could manage as he watch Vellis stand. He was unsteady for a moment, then it seemed to pass.

"I'm fine," Vellis snarled, looking back at him. Castian pressed his lips together, eating the unasked questions. He was obviously not fine, but if he wanted to lie through his teeth and fall over that wasn't Castian's probably.

He stood. "Sure." Castian brushed past him towards the door. He scrubbed his hand against his pants again. It was starting to tingle and go numb. At least it wasn't as itchy he supposed. Vellis followed behind him.

"What's wrong with your hand," he asked, grabbing Castian's arm. He jerked back, yanking free.

"Hey, don't... do that..." Castian's words trickled off as he stared at his hand. Green light coiled off of it, misting into the air. He hadn't called the power up though. It had been months since it just happened, and his hands hadn't done... this. He looked up and his eyes met Vellis'.

"So it's not just me then," his voice came out tight, but Castian didn't know what emotion was strangling it off. Anger? Pain? Fear? Something else entirely? He didn't know, the look on Vellis' face was too many different feelings to read. Then the actually words hit him.

"What?"

Vellis grabbed his arm, reaching for the door handle. "Come on we need to go to my--"

A roar filled Castian's ears, crashing over the words and deafening them. The hand on his arm tightened till pain shot from his wrist to his shoulder and back, throbbing there. Vellis slid towards the floor, pulling him down too. The roaring grew louder, and louder, ringing inside his head. His hand pulsed green in hard flashes.

Then the entire room vanished under a wash of greens.

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Yaaaay, another completed chapter! And a cliffhanger! I'm a good person, really, I don't like making my readers wait in agony. Really.