GWEN
I FELT someone dragging me upward through the continuous cascade of dirt and clay, Anna pressed against my side, my cat huddled in my arms, and a strong arm around my waist. After what seemed like hours my head broke out of the dirt and I gasped, pulling myself the rest of the way out of the dirt and collapsing on my hands and knees to catch my breath. I let go of Ginny and she ran off, hopefully away from the danger. My hands were scratched and stuck with little shards of clay. Anna collapsed beside me, and I saw my mom and Jessie a little farther away.
    "Are you guys alright?" I heard someone say.
    "We're fine," Dad responded on my other side.
    I looked up and my heart nearly stopped. All around us there was wreckage of the restaurant and shattered bits of clay from the once-secret headquarters' tunnels. Choronuses were everywhere in the wreckage, and more were still digging their way to the surface. Choronian medics were running around between families, making sure that everyone was alright and had gotten out of the dirt. I saw Theo and his wife Katherine going around with the medics. What was most terrifying was that the Choronuses weren't the only ones here.
    There was a wrecking ball now exactly where the restaurant used to be. But instead of a de-construction crew, there was the entirety of the New York City Police Department and some of the Pennsylvania Police, their guns trained on us. There were maybe five or six different news channels reporting live.
   Suddenly Anna gasped and hurried over to a patch of dirt that was raised a little bit higher than the rest. She started digging at the top of the mound and uncovered a rung of metal. At first I was confused, but then something clicked in my mind.
   "Octaveus!" I screamed and ran over to help Anna dig up the chandelier. Theo and a bunch of other Choronuses heard and noticed us and came over to help, sensing that we were trying to get someone out of the dirt. Eventually Anna and I were pushed away while five other Choronuses uncovered more and more of the chandelier. Theo and three other medics came over to help too.
   The Choronuses dug up enough of the chandelier to fit their hands under it and lifted it out of the hole a little bit as one of the medics peered under it. I noticed with a sickening lurch that the nine points and eight downward curves of the chandelier were stained with a black liquid. The medic started digging frantically at the edges of the hole, the five holding the chandelier up lifting it completely out of the hole. The three medics reached into the hole, the human police officers watching in astonishment, and carefully maneuvered a body out of the dirt.
   They set Octaveus down on his back on top of the packed dirt next to them and Anna and I rushed over to them, Mom, Dad, and Jessie following.
   "Hold on," Theo blocked us from going up to them. "They need space."
'For what? He's not breathing!' I thought.
   Vee's loose-fitting tank top and once-grey sweatpants were shredded and had bits of tile threaded in the remaining fabric. His pale skin was covered in dirt, but the medics soon wiped it off, and he had small chips of clay in his hair and tail. His eyes were closed, his lips blue.
   One of the medics pinched Vee's nose shut and blew air into his mouth, pausing to press on his chest and stomach with his palms. The medic had repeated this process three times before Vee finally responded. His eyes half opened and he retched, dark chunky liquid pouring out of his mouth. For a sickening second I thought the liquid was blood, but then I remembered that he'd been pinned face-first to the dirt by the chandelier, and concluded that he had probably inhaled a lot of the dirt trying to get out. The medics quickly turned his head to the side before he could vomit on himself any more and what seemed like gallons of the dark chunky liquid soon covered the dirt. As soon as the mud was out of his lungs Vee started coughing violently and the medic that had given him mouth-to-mouth held him upright in a sitting position while the other two medics and Theo went around to find any more injured ones.
The humans gathered on the other side of the wreckage were watching all of the Choronuses in disbelief. I suppose some of them may recognize a few of the adults from their work, but I think the majority of the police officers and reporters were staring at Vee. Basically all of New York and probably the surrounding states had seen him on the news after he was attacked by the werewolf.
   Jessie walked up to the medic holding Vee and said something to him. The medic nodded, tapped Vee's forehead, and held Vee out to Jessie. To my great astonishment, Jessie took him and leaned him against his shoulder so that Vee's back was facing the medic. By now Vee had stopped coughing and just sat with his head over Jessie's shoulder with his eyes closed, his breathing rough. The medic looked up at us standing a little bit behind them.
   "Would you guys mind helping us out and finding more injured?" He asked us.
   "Not at all," Dad said and we dispersed to help the medics.

JESSIE
I held Vee against my shoulder while the medic looked at the deep grooves the chandelier had cut into his back, listening to his rough breathing to make sure he was still breathing. After his coughing fit it was a little worrying at how quiet he was suddenly. I kept thinking, 'What if he inhaled clay and his lungs were punctured?' then he'd shake a little bit or sigh and I'd think 'Oh, good.'
    I watched Vee's sides contract with his breathing, noticing the sharp outlines of his ribs through his skin. (He still hasn't fully recovered from almost starving to death from the werewolf attack, and he's probably always going to be thin enough for his ribs to be visible.) He was basically shirtless by now; most of his shirt had been in tatters when he was pulled out from under the chandelier and now there was a small pile of fabric shreds near us where the shirt had started to fall apart. The medic just took the rest of the fabric from his shirt that was still on him and used it to soak some of the blood off of his back, but it didn't do so well. Eventually the medic resorted to using his white medical jacket to soak the blood until they could find bandages to wrap the wound. He tied the jacket around Vee and ran off to assist the other medics, leaving me with my brother.
    By now almost half of the choroni had been uncovered from the dirt and we all stared at the humans. One of the police officers-- probably the general-- walked toward me and Octaveus, both of us who were the closest Choronuses to the humans, his hand on the gun in his belt. Vee was half-conscious over my shoulder, so I was the only one that saw him. As the general got closer I slowly bared my teeth at him and he stopped about a hundred feet away.
    "What did you do to him?" The general said, bravely considering he was facing two men with fangs and claws, and almost a hundred more behind us.
    "I did nothing," I snarled at him. Vee shivered as a cool breeze blew through and I wrapped my arms around him to try and warm him up. Blood had already started to seep through the white medical jacket.
    The general narrowed his eyes at me. "You're lying. This boy was human when he was attacked by that wolf. My officers found human DNA."
    "Your officers were wrong," I barked. "Vee was never human, I should know, I'm his brother."
    "Did you just accuse a general of lying?" The general's voice was low.
    "No," I said calmly. "I accused your officers of lying."
    The general swiftly pulled his gun and cocked it, aiming it at my chest through Vee. "One more word and you both die."
    I slowly got to my feet, crouching with Vee still propped up against me. I put one hand on Vee's head, feeling around for his pressure point. 'I know your pressure point is on your head somewhere.' I was sure the medic had pressed his pressure point, and if this was true then the only way to wake him up was with his pressure point again.
    The general watched me oddly. 'This is starting to get weird Vee. Hurry and wake up already.' Finally I touched a point right at his hairline on his forehead and his eyes snapped open. I quickly stood up and put him on his feet, and he looked at me in surprise.
    "Wha--?" He stopped mid-word at the sound of a gun being loaded. "There's a gun pointed at my head, isn't there?"
    "Turn around slowly with your weapons visible." The general's voice said. Vee turned around, and I saw the general's eyes widen at how muscular he was now that he was awake and facing him. Some of the female reporters took their eyes off their cameras and stared at him.
   "Bare your weapons," The general said, but now there was fear in his eyes. Vee raised his arms over his head and unsheathed his claws and fangs at the general, smiling momentarily. 'Cheeky little bitch.' Even though he acted as normal, I could see in the stiff way he moved that Vee was in pain. The blood had started dripping down his back. The general noticed this too and redirected his gun to Vee, walking close enough that the barrel of the gun was against my brother's chest. I slowly backed away and ran to find Theo. Maybe he'll be able to communicate with this guy without getting killed.
   As I was running toward Theo, I heard the general giving orders to his officers. Suddenly there was a loud bark and I whipped around. One of the officers had grabbed their K9 and the German Shepherd was snarling at Vee, whose eyes were wide in fear. I yelled Theo's name and he followed me back over to Vee, but we were stopped by more K9s. The dog growling at Vee had started slowly advancing, and I could tell my brother was trying hard not to run. The dog suddenly lunged and Vee hissed and instinctively swatted it out of the air, a loud snap resonating through the wreckage when his fist came into contact with the dog's neck. All the K9s howled and attacked at the death of their comrade, and suddenly everything was chaos. The police started firing their guns and I lost sight of Vee and the general. Dust and dirt rose from the ground where bullets missed their targets. Bullets whistled through the air and I heard Choronuses screaming, sending out warning cries.
   Theo's voice rose above the screams, ordering us to retreat in Choronian. I have to find Vee first, I thought and ran forward toward where I'd last seen him. Almost as soon as I started running, however, I heard his voice yelling at me to run away and I stopped dead in my tracks, trying to locate him. I felt a sudden stinging pain in my arm and screamed, clamping my hand over the wound. Suddenly someone was pulling me through the dust and I was thrown to the ground behind something.
   "Shut up and stop struggling!" I heard Octaveus' voice snarl in my ear as he pressed me against something behind me. He'd lost the medical jacket that was tied around him and there was blood smeared down his back from the cuts. There was a shallow scrape on his cheek that wasn't there before. He was still moving stiffly because of pain. He grabbed my arm and inspected the bullet wound there.
  "The bullet just grazed your arm," he said.
  "Well, if that's what it feels like for the bullet to graze skin then it'd feel like hell to get shot," I said through clenched teeth. There was a metallic bang and Octaveus pulled us closer to the thing behind us. I pointed at the scrape on his cheek.
   "You got shot too," I said.
   "I'm fine," he responded, wincing. "It'll heal."
   "So will my arm," I pulled my arm away from his grasp, doing my best to ignore the pain. "We need to get you back to the medics."
   Vee was going to argue but suddenly someone was behind him. He whipped around.
   "Summer? What are you doing here?" He asked.
   "Making sure you don't die," the girl responded. She had long red hair and blue eyes. "Those police officers don't understand you guys, they think you are trying to take over New York City."
   "What?" Vee exclaimed incredulously. "That's bull."
   "I know, right? Anyway, they think you're dangerous creatures set out to destroy the human race and repopulate the world with your kind." She said, looking at Vee and me. "On a related note, Vee, where is your shirt?"
   "Well, some of it is in that hole over there, the rest of it is scattered somewhere."
   Summer stared at him, but apparently decided not to argue.
   "You're Summer?" I asked her. She was going to respond, but Vee interrupted.
   "Hold on," he cut in. "You have her number but you don't even know what she looks like?"
   "I don't remember what she looks like!"
   "We can do introductions later," Summer said, "but right now you two need to find the rest of your clan."
   "Choroni," Vee corrected.
   "Oh, and also, WHY DOES SHE KNOW WHAT WE ARE!" I yelled at Vee before Summer could say anything.
   Vee sighed. "It's a long and depressing story that I'll tell you when we're safe."
   "Speaking of," Summer said. "I know a place you can hide. Follow me."
   She started sneaking toward the building across the street, staying in the cover of the Dumpster we were behind. Vee went to follow her, his movements still stiff with pain, and I got a good look of the damage on his back. There were nine puncture wounds that resembled knife wounds and eight places where his skin had been torn by the curves of the chandelier. Blood was smeared all over his back, and the cuts were still bleeding, turning the low waistband of his tattered grey sweatpants red. I followed close behind him, vowing silently to myself to make sure he didn't get hurt any more than he already was. I would never forgive myself if he died when there was something I could have done to stop it.
   'Like the wolf attack,' I thought. I had been devastated when Theo brought him back to the infirmary. I could barely stay in the room. I visited him a couple times when he was unconscious, but I couldn't stand to see him like that anymore after I overheard Callie telling a Main Hospital doctor that he was losing too much blood and was most likely going to die of heart failure or blood loss when there wasn't enough blood in his body left to keep his heart beating. (The Main Hospital is the Choronus equivalent to 911.) Then Talon had diagnosed the weird shaking fit Vee'd had before Theo could move him as a seizure and I couldn't just sit there while my brother was on his deathbed. Anna stayed with him daily and reported to me when something happened during the time he wasn't able to move from his hospital bed. I kept thinking, 'Anna hasn't reported anything in hours. She must've fallen asleep. What if he died already, and I didn't know? What if they accidentally overdosed him with pain relievers and it stopped his heart?' I hated it. It was like his suicide attempt all over again, just worse because he was dying from a cause other than himself and we all knew he was never going to be the same. At least with the suicide attempt we knew he'd been like that for years before.
   I watched Summer's movements closely, and I was just about to ask her where she was leading us before she darted across the street and into an alleyway. She hadn't attracted any attention, but I knew Vee and I would. Still, I crouched next to my brother and got ready to run. I glanced sideways at him;  his eyes were dull from the pain, and his face was looking somehow paler.
   Summer gave us the queue and we jumped out of our hiding place and sprinted toward her. I stayed by Vee's side until we reached the safety of the alley before walking a little bit away from him. Vee sat down against the wall once we reached were Summer was hiding, wincing. No matter how much he denied it, I knew how much the cuts on his back were hurting him.

OCTAVEUS
I leaned back against the wall of the alleyway, trying to ignore the pain coursing through the cuts on my back. I did my best to mask the pain in my face, but I don't think I was doing a good enough job, judging by the look Jessie was giving me. Summer somehow convinced him to let her inspect the bullet graze mark on his arm and they sat against the wall opposite of me. (She'd already asked me to let her look at my cuts but I refused.) Suddenly my phone started ringing in my pocket (somehow it hadn't been crushed or broken) and I shifted, pulling my phone out and answering. "Yeah?"
    "Vee," I heard Drew's voice on the other line and immediately I felt slightly happier. (Well, as "happy" as I can feel, at least.) "Vee, are you okay? I saw the police collapse the tunnels on TV. Did you get hurt?" His voice was frantic.
    "Slow down," I said, shifting against the wall. "I'm fine."
    "I want to be there, but Mom won't let me go," Drew continued, a little bit calmer. "She says it's hazardous, that I could get hurt."
    "I agree with her," I said. "I don't want you to get hurt. It's dangerous down here."
    "But what about you? It's twice as dangerous for you to be there than it is for me."
    "I'll be fine, Summer's helping me and Jessie hide until the police stop shooting at us."
    "Summer's there?"
    "She came to help us get out. Listen, I'll call you back when we're safe, okay? I have to go."
    "Be careful," Drew's voice was quieter now, almost pleading me.
    "I will." I said and hung up, putting my phone back in my pocket.

JESSIE
"That was Drew, wasn't it?" I asked. Vee nodded.
    Summer stood up from where she was crouched by my side. "We need to find a better hiding place," she said. "Drew lives a little over half a mile from here."
   I was about to argue that Vee should probably rest for a while, but before I could argue there was a loud series of rapid gunfire and dogs barking.
   "Let's go," I said, getting up and going over to my brother. The cuts on his back were obviously hurting more now than they had been before; the pain was starting to show on his face. I helped him to his feet and walked close to him as we followed Summer again, jumping between the shadows in alleys and behind buildings. As the sounds of guns got slowly quieter, Vee's pained expression got worse. By the time we'd passed six blocks the gunfire was no longer heard and Vee looked like he was going to pass out.
   "How much farther until we're at Drew's?" I asked Summer, glancing worriedly at Vee. The blood had dried on his back, but there was still some blood coming from the wounds, though now there was less than there had been before.
   She turned around and noticed how injured Vee looked. "Just two more blocks until we reach his neighborhood, then his house is the third on the right." She looked worried as well, but she hid it from her face and continued leading us. I put one arm around Vee's waist to help support him-- careful to not touch the wounds-- and he put his arm over my shoulders in return.
   By the time we'd reached Drew's house Vee was barely walking on his own and was wincing with every movement he or I made. Summer went up to the door and pressed the doorbell, but Drew answered almost immediately.
  "Come inside," he said, but it wasn't a demand, more like an urgent invitation. Drew's eyes were wide with worry as soon as he saw Vee half draped over my shoulder. He shut the door quickly behind us and led us into the living room, immediately afterward spreading a blanket out over a couch and directing me to set Vee on top of it on his stomach. I did as he said and Summer went into the kitchen to find wet towels while Drew knelt beside me next to Vee. Vee's legs and arms hung off the couch.
   "He lied," Drew said, not really talking to anyone in particular. "He told me he was fine."
   "You're not the only one," I said and Drew looked at me.
   "What happened?" He asked.
   "When the tunnels collapsed we were still in the den," I began. "Gwen's friend Anna was with us, and Vee saw that she was under a chandelier. When the chandelier fell, he pushed Anna out of the way, and the chandelier hit him instead. He was pinned under the chandelier long enough to almost suffocate in the dirt before we dug him up and medics saved him."
   Drew looked back at Vee and gently tilted his head to look at the new scrape on his cheek.
   "He was shot," I said, "but fortunately they missed hitting anything vital."
   Drew looked at my arm. "They shot you too," he said, indicating the bleeding cut where the bullet had grazed my arm. I shook my head.
   "Vee needs more attention right now," I said, ignoring the stinging pain in my arm. Summer returned with a stack of hand towels and a pitcher of water and placed three unfolded towels on Vee's back, covering the cuts, then poured a little bit of the water from the pitcher onto the towels. Vee winced and whimpered when they put the towels on the cuts.
   "Please make him stop crying," Drew said to me, a sad look in his eyes. It hadn't occurred to me that to a human, especially someone who cared for a Choronus, a Choronus' sounds of sadness or pain would sound like an equivalent to a human sobbing. Choronuses have different sounds that sort of represent messages, and a lot of these sounds sound a lot different to a human. For example, a Choronus' grieving or mourning cry sounds like a series of sobs and soft sad screams, to other Choronuses. To a human, it'd sound like literally the most heartbreaking sound they've ever heard and cause them to start crying and feeling the grief as if it was their own. Another example, a Choronus' war cry. To other Choronuses, it sounds like just a long, held-out angry snarl, but to a human it would sound like some sort of Big Cat hissing and strike immense fear and an urge to run and hide.
   I pressed Vee's pressure point and he immediately fell silent, his face relaxing a little bit. Drew sighed in relief and he and Summer finished covering Vee's wounds with the towels.
   "Sorry I can't stay," Summer said. "But my mom thinks I'm at Micah's and I have to get home before she finds out I'm helping fugitives."
   Drew nodded in understanding, I thanked her for her help, and Summer left. I sat on the floor leaning against Vee's couch, Drew kneeling by his head and stroking his hair.
    "Where are your parents?" I asked Drew after a moment of silence. "I doubt they'd like it very much if they found out you're harboring fugitives in your living room."
   "They left with my sister to go to some late night party thing for one of her friend's birthdays," he responded, pouring water on a clean towel and handing it to me to put on my arm. I thanked him and put the towel over the wound. "Besides," Drew continued. "They wouldn't mind if those fugitives are Vee and his brother. That reminds me, you guys don't have a place to go back to, do you?"
   I snorted angrily. "Not since those bastard humans destroyed it."
   "You two can stay here tonight," Drew offered, checking to see if Vee's wounds were still bleeding. I was really beginning to like this guy. (Not in the same way that Vee liked him, though.) I realized what a good person he was for Vee; he didn't flip out when Vee got hurt, he knew exactly how to comfort and take care of him, he didn't seem very stubborn or arrogant. (Which is good, because Vee was arrogant enough for the both of them.)
   "Thanks," I said, smiling at him. He smiled back momentarily, then carefully lifted one of the towels off of Vee's back. The towel had been white before, but now it was stained red. The part of the cut that the towel had been over was now clear of dried blood, but the inside of the puncture wound and cut was still bloody, though it wasn't bleeding. Drew replaced the towel with a clean one, dampened it with the water, and moved on to check the other wounds. I shifted onto my knees to help.
   After we'd replaced all the bloody towels with clean ones Drew sat back on his knees by Vee's head. "You can take the other couch," Drew said to me. "You should probably rest a little bit before dawn."
   I nodded thanks at him, pressing Vee's pressure point again, and lay down on the other couch closest to Vee's, closing my eyes to see if I could get any sleep.

Alright, not as much of a cliffhanger this time.
-Snake Eyes