The boy doesn't see any white orbs anymore.

That's good... right?

But the word won't go away from him. "Awake..." the boy murmurs as if he's in a daze. He then shakes his head, slapping his cheeks just in case.

"Awake..."

He's about to slap himself again when he realizes that he isn't the one who said it.

A female voice did. It sounds so light and uplifting, like one of those white orbs, but without the burning sensation.

The boy sighs, but snaps out of his trance. He didn't want to be awake. He wants to be in his own darkness by himself...

Right?

The boy violently shakes his head when he hears the voice again. Why was he doubting himself all of a sudden?

But most importantly, why does he suddenly want to fight instead of fleeing?

The boy then receives his answer when he finds himself staring at a pair of teal eyes. Just like that day when both of them were drawing together, the boy seems to be under a spell of anticipation and something else he can't put his finger on. But even as the voice seems to be coming from the teal eyes, the boy finds himself following the teal eyes, not caring about the voice at all. There's a part of him that feels like he shouldn't be following her.

Of course, he doesn't hesitate to brush the doubt away.

As the boy walks forward, staring at the teal eyes, he notices how his surroundings are turning into grey and into lighter shades of that color. Stopping, he looks at grey and as it fades to darker shades again.

The teal eyes widen at this and reach forward, cupping the boy's face in her hands. The boy's eyes widen that the teal eyes belong to a girl with long hair, down to half of her torso. And although the boy's shocked at how extraordinary he thinks she is, he finds himself wanting to follow the girl even more...

No matter what shade of grey it is.

...

I hear choked sobs before I hear, "Guys! He's awake!"

I don't have time to sit up since Benen practically tackles me on my bed into a tight hug. Exhaling sharply, I manage to wrap my arms around him before he says, "You were out for three days and Sophie and Laurel are gone and they haven't come back and we were worried since you didn't respond to anything Mr. Wallace did-"

I hold my hand up to stop him, sitting up abruptly. "Wait- what?" I ask, trying to take in the slew of information the male Altruistic just gave.

Donovan walks up to the bedside, placing Benen next to him. "In actual sentences," he begins, glaring at Benen. "While you were out cold, Sophie and Laurel decided to visit this warehouse-" At this, I jump out of my bed and yelp when it feels like gravity's specifically targeting my head. Wearily sitting back on my bed, Donovan asks, "So you knew about the warehouse too?"

I nod, looking at Mr. Wallace. He stares at his right hand and at my head. His face signifies that he's wondering about something, but I don't ask him what it is. Instead, I turn to Donovan as he says, "You've been out for three days-"

"Three?!"

Donovan nods. "Yeah, three. On the first day you were out, Sophie and Laurel went to the warehouse. Mr. Wallace had to come back to try to wake you up."

I jump up again, forcing myself to stand up instead of falling back. Holding a hand to stop anyone from helping me, I ask, "And they haven't come back yet?"

Both boys nod.

"So when are we going to the warehouse?"

Before either Donovan or Benen can reply, Mr. Wallace rushes up to me. "No, no, and no," Mr. Wallace says, pointing at each one of us with a "no". Turning to me, he says, "I have another way to get them back, and yes, we'll have to be going back to the warehouse. But for now-" He points to Benen and Donovan. "It's well past midnight, so go to sleep."

Both of them shocked, they shake their heads as they diligently go to their rooms. I turn to look at my clock. Sure enough, it's 3:48. I then look at Mr. Wallace. "You sent those orbs of light, right?"

He nods. "Why didn't you wake up then?"

"They burnt me at the touch. I had to kick them to destroy the light." I frown. "Why were the teal eyes- girl- well, girl with teal eyes the one who actually was able to pull me out?"

He shakes his head. "That's because of her."

"Who's 'her'?"

"Her."

I shake my head, knowing that I won't get anywhere now. "Alright, so what do you want to do to me before we go to the warehouse?"

Mr. Wallace steps back, shocked at my directness this time. After straightening his posture, he look dead straight into my eyes. "I'll need to do the same thing I did before- and let me finish," he adds when I open my mouth to protest. "It won't be like when Sophie did it. She possesses much more power than I would have ever expected," he tells himself more than me. Looking at me, he says, "You'll have to go to sleep, but you'll hear voices when you wake up. Try to ignore them, but I'll tell you what to do next tomorrow."

I open my mouth to protest something, but when a teal light glows around me, I feel like all of my energy the rest of my body is using just went back to my mind. I can feel my eyes rolling back into my head as I fall back onto my bed, Mr. Wallace throwing my covers over me before leaving.

The only difference is that instead of pain, it feels like all the mental cloudiness I never knew I had disappeared in one second.