"A man once told me that even the darkest of times can be a gift... When in Reality, they strengthen us for a better tomorrow."

- UNKNOWN TO US

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"What do you mean that 'She's in the Infirmary?'" exclaimed Nico.

"Apparently, she fainted in the middle of class." replied Chris. He shut the locker, which creaked as it did do.

"Are we even sure she's going to be okay?"

"Yes..." said Yugo as he walked briskly past them.

"How so?" inquired Nico, speeding up his pace to catch up to the former.

"She is..." he hesitated, "Who she is. We know there's a reason. Something had to have happened." he scratched the nape of his neck.

"From what I've heard from Travis," Chris started, "Was that something nothing less than a spectacle of pure questionability."

"Is that even a word?" Nico snickered. Chris glared at him.

The trio then nodded. Their footsteps echoed throughout the hallway. "I'll see how she's doing." Yugo broke the silence.

"Okay then," replied Chris right away, not allowing Nico to put out any rebuts, "Let's go Nico." He put a hand on his shoulder.

"Okay I guess." Nico muttered, walking away with Chris towards their classrooms.

Yugo sighed, and pulled out his phone. 'What did she mean with her slightly cryptic message?' he thought.

He wandered down the hallway, his footsteps echoing throughout the dimly-lit hallway.

It took a while until he had found the infamous blood red door, marked with a white splatter, remnants of a failed paint bucket prank. Near the top, marked in bold, black paint, letters that spelled "INFIRMARY" were spelled across the width of the door, barely missing the window. Heaving a long, heavy sigh, he hesitantly reached out for the slightly rusty doorknob. He exhaled, and twisted the golden bulb and pushed the door open slowly.

He walked inside the room.

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"What do you mean 'It's begun' Master?" said a raspy voice. The speaker seemed old and worn-out. His arm had reached out to the black-clad hooded figure, but he stopped reaching out to his said "Master".

"I can feel it... The growth of It in the last..." said the black-clad figure, standing up from a stony pedestal.

"But how? I thought that they all died..."

"Don't question me... I feel it... Those Brats from six years ago..."

"Did they..."

"Yes... They are beginning to be able to use Good ol' Jean's Creation..." The raspy-voiced figure could tell that his master was smiling, and he brought back his wiry arm and winced as he had done so.

"What shall I do?"

"Use it.  And DON'T MESS UP."

"Yes......" The figure bowed down and walked away.

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Never, in her life did she ever think that she'd one day, eventually want to go back into a dream.

But that was precisely what had happened just now. This dream, however, seemed to be more... Realistic...  It was too life-like to only be just a dream.

She lazily opened her heavy eyes, gazing around to get a full view of her surroundings. Black spots seeming to dance around in her vision as she wearily blinked her eyes.

She had lost feeling in her arms, they were also sore. One of them were constantly slipping, as if it was rubbing on a sleek, slick surface. She saw the familiar lockers of Poster Grove; bits of tape, glue, and paper attached to the walls, doors, and the lockers themselves.

Her eyes lazily swerved back in front of her, so she could slowly move her head form one side to the other.

Her arms were draped around the necks of Travis and her other friend. She felt the duo slow down to a halt, allowing her to rest a bit. They positioned her arms, and it was impossible to not let out a groan of pain, signaling to them that she was sort of beginning to wake up, to which they didn't really react. They just begun to trudge along the stretch.

"So," said the voice on her left, "What exactly happened?" He was panting, she noted, as if they have gone a long way.

'How long has it been since I passed out?' she thought.

"I dunno," said the other voice, to which she had recognized as Travis, "Like I said, it was like magic, Bryce."

"Well, let's hurry. It seems as though she's waking up."

She felt the duo of boys speed up for a minute. And then they stopped abruptly.

And the person on her left, who she assumed as Bryce, even though she still hadn't looked over, left her side to knock on a door.

She slowly opened an eye to spot the red and white door, with the black bold letters that spelled 'Infirmary'.

She heard the familiar words of Dr. McPhee, who grunted "Come in." with his normally husky, deep voice.

She once again felt her eyelids beginning to get heavy once again. And her consciousness slipped from her.

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The boys were just watching her unconscious form lay on the old, musty, creaky bed.

Dr. McPhee had told them that even though she hadn't shown any signs of abrasions, she had lost a remarkable amount of blood, in which even he couldn't discern the reason as to why that happened.

"Is she going to be alright?" Travis asked.

"She will be okay, nothing a good rest can't fix," he replied, "Though, I do have to ask," Travis looked into the Doctor's blazing bright green eyes, "How come she, and you for that matter, are soaked? And what happened?" He rose an eyebrow suspiciously at the boy.

Travis glanced over at Bryce, whom of which shook his head and mouthed "Not yet."

Travis gulped, his eyes widening. He didn't quite want to lie to anybody, no less the Doctor, but Travis knew with every fiber of his being that Brycee was right. If he told him the truth, the Doctor would most likely dismiss it as a lie.

"Sprinklers," Bryce blurted out, Travis sighed in relief, "They turned on during lunch, soaking them and getting me slightly." He pulled off his black jacket to reveal a mostly-dried water stain on his shirt.

Dr. McPhee stared at Bryce, then he opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted, causing the trio to turn their heads to the nearby window, by the clapping of thunder.

Bryce walked around the hospital bed to look outside the dual-panned acrylic glass. He squinted his eyes to focus out towards the far away landscape.

Great, dark rain clouds had begun to form, turning the bright blue sky to that of darkness and gloom. There was a bolt of lightning, and a thunderclap not long after was heard. The lights began to flicker, creating flashes of light and darkness, day and night, Huge drops of rain fell from the dark clouds.

They splattered against the window, producing a plitter-platter like sound. The trio began to feel nervous, their senses frightened, and they panicked at this. They hesitantly backed away from the window. Travis was confused, and stated "But the weather guy said that it wouldn't rain today, let alone a storm system like this!"

"Well," replied the doctor, "The weatherman is almost always wrong!"

"Come on, help me pull the bed away from the window!" Bryce exclaimed, waving his hand in the motion of come over.

The two remaining looked at each other and nodded. Dr. McPhee put up three fingers, putting down one... Another... And as soon as the last one went down, the three men pulled the bed as hard as they could, causing the bed to creak loudly as it slid across the tile floor.

Bryce felt a rather rapid set of taps on his shoulder. He turned his head to the left, only to find Travis motioning his head down to the bed, remembering that there was somebody still slumbering.

Bryce looked down to see Melissa, who had been sleeping the entire time. She appeared to be asleep, although it wasn't a peaceful state.

She was sweating profusely, and she was repeating a phrase. He couldn't tell what it meant, for he didn't know if it was Finnish or Russian, but he knew for sure it wasn't Russian for he was fluent.

"What is going on?" Bryce thought aloud.

"Could this day get any worse?" Travis asked.

"Maybe... This is weird..." He mumbled the last part.

"What is?"

"Well... Think about it... Everything seemed normal, except for the fact that Melissa went and got herself knocked out, and nobody knows what, and how it happened except for you, who keeps saying that 'It was like magic'. She has lost a ton of blood, but nobody knows why..." he kept mumbling on and on.

"Wait a second," Travis muttered, "Her necklace keeps glowing though. It was when.." he trailed off.

"What was that?"

"Look at her." Travis pointed at the bed, Bryce's gaze followed.

Travis was right, to Bryce's dismay. It was indeed true that the limp figure had a brightly glowing pendant.

"Is that normal?" he asked.

"No," Travis replied, scratching the back of his head, "It was glowing back at the gym after she-"

Bryce grabbed Travis' shoulders, and forced him to turn abruptly. He put a hand on his mouth, cutting him off. He mouthed 'Nobody can know'. Travis nodded nervously.

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"Seriously?" Melissa yelled, although in her subconscious it mattered not. Her voice echoed all over the beach, searching for signs of life along the pale sandy shoreline. She sighed shallowly, struggling to gasp for air. She recognized this place. Her heart raced and she frantically ran down the shoreline, panting.

"Not this place." she muttered as she turned sharply to the left.

Eventually she slowed down ascending the grassy green slope. She placed her hands on her knees as she leaned forward. She panted, struggling to breathe.

She looked at the northern direction. She saw six figures. She gritted her teeth angrily. "How could you do this to us!" she heard a shout, to which she recognized, "We never did anything to de- OOF!!!"

The brunette boy was cut off when the blonde sent a fist into his stomach. "No! Don't hurt him!" shouted the girl.

"Shut it Melissa." the blonde replied, walking over to her younger self, both Melissas flinched. He pulled an arm back, to which the older one ran up to intercept, but she passed right through, as if she were running through a misty fog. She fell to her knees, tears filling her eyes.

"Don't do it Bertrand. Let her go, or I'll jump. You don't want to be charged with murder."

"You're bluffing," Bertrand called out, "No kid is stupid enough to-"

"Don't do it Kyle!" the younger girl shouted, "You can't do th-"

"Yes I can," he said, "I promised to protect you. Besides, I have a plan. I'll be home before dinner." he promised, a smile scrawled on his face.

He broke free of the two kids who held him and ran at his sister. He shoved a box into her hands, and ran towards the precipice.

The older Melissa's mouth gaped open as she began to hyperventilate.

"Not again..." She wrapped her arms around her knees as she began to sob.

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Before Yugo could twist the door knob, he heard a commotion. The lights flickered, pouring rain thundered on the rooftop.

"Thats weird," he muttered, "Is everybody alright in there?" he called.

"Everything is NOT alright in here!" yelled the familiar voice of Dr. McPhee, "What in the world is happening in here?!"

Uh-oh. Yugo twisted the knob and the door was swung open as a large, rambunctious gust of wind blew it open, launching the boy back into the facing lockers, which provided no cushion as he slammed his left shoulder into it.

He cried out in pain, pushing a hand through the gust, he barely opened his eyes and got up. He trudged forwards the door. When he finally walked in, he placed his other hand painfully on the small metallic-like table. All around him the wind seemed to blow everything. He could hear the rattling of medical utensils, the flapping of clothes, the frantic shouts of people of people.

"What in bloody Hell is happening!" Yugo shouted.

"That, we do not know for sure young Mr. Cage." Dr. McPhee stated.

"Look!" shouted another voice, he then whispered to the other boy, who stared at Melissa's unconscious form.

Yugo stared at where they were looking at. There underneath her sweatshirt, was the necklace. The same one that she had been wearing for the past six years.

The pendant that marked her as Heir of Jean Persuary.

And, the very same, was glowing. He had remembered how freaked out she was in the morning, after they left the car. Yugo didn't quite understand it at the time, but he remembered something that Chris had mentioned three years prior.

"I at a time looked up what our ancestor Jean's last project was. What I found bewildered me. I found many different speculations, but only one of them had many supporters. It told of how he had made a gift. One for each of his children, including his unborn child. These gifts were called 'Pendants', of 'Amulets of Jean'. Not much is known except they saw it in a some old notebooks." Chris had shown Yugo the post, and pictures.

He struggled to reach the limp body. He knelt down and closed his eyes. "Back away please." he muttered. The duo of boys hesitated. "Now." The two complied.

"I hope this works." he muttered. He placed a hand warily oh her forehead, and the other reached into his sweatshirt, causing him to hiss in pain.

He took a deep breath, and concentrated. He felt his pendant vibrate, signaling to him that it was glowing dimly, he opened his eyes.

He urged the consciousness to stop. And to wake up, he felt sweat beginning to build up on his temples, his breath becoming shaky. He finally snapped out of his concentrating state, and was pushed backwards. He panted heavily, his face drenched with sweat.

Melissa shot up, awake and abruptly, and her pendant dimmed. 

She seemed exasperated. She clenched her fists as she stared off into the distance, her pale fists turning more white, her breathing slowed to a steady pace.

"Are you...  Alright?" said one of the boys, "Both of you?"

"Both?" asked Melissa, she turned towards Yugo, "I'm... Very tired..." Her voice seemed to trail off.

"I'll be fine," Yugo said, he turned back to Melissa, "There will be a discussion later on."

She opened her mouth to rebuttal, but Yugo said"Rest now. Talk later." She pursed her lips, and looked around.

"What happened in here?" she inquired, "It looks although a tornado went through here."

"Or rather, a hurricane." Yugo added, stifling a laugh.

"One," said Travis, at a loss of words, "Sort of did..." Hunter nodded his head in agreement.

"Okay..." came her reply. She turned her head towards the window. "How did that happen? The weather-" she still seemed rather clueless as to what had happened.

"We know that but he is usually-" said Yugo.

"Wrong. I know, but to be that far off though..."

"Yeah. On that note," Travis stated, sounding slightly annoyed, "Can anyone tell me what is going on?"

"Yeah. I wish I knew..." She looked at her hands, "Anyone know what happened to Doc?"

"I think he fainted." Hunter jerked a thumb behind him.

"I guess I'll be fine," Melissa commented, "A little bit light headed, but otherwise I'm okay." She stood up, immediately feeling as if she was going to puke. She sat back down on the edge of the bed.

"Fine by me," Yugo agreed, "But I'm telling you that we're definitely going to talk later." He whispered the last bit into her ear. The sentence sent a shivering chill down her spine it was so serious.

She nodded. "As long as we'll never speak of this afterwards, I'll be okay with that." She responded. 

Quick Note:

I am proud to announce that I have gotten back into the swing of things. I am also willing to say that each chapter will be longer and that I'll be updating more often. Thanks for keeping up in all the new chapters of my books!

Many thanks,

Sir Mel, a Knight of the Square Table, A.K.A Knight SoniczurcX