Make sure to read the note at the bottom for important information, plus good news. ;)

--

I closed my hands as I lifted Jordan's warm, but limp hand, to my face and held it there with a shaky sigh. My sister was still unconscious, her coma state not seeming to lessen any. She hasn't twitched, and she was pretty much still a doll. She would live, I knew that much, but we had to wait for her body and mind to decide when she'll wake up.

This, visiting Jordan here at the hospital, is the first time I have left the house in days. I spoke to Terrance and Carly three days ago, and since then I've not let the house until an hour ago when my parents agreed that I could visit my sister for a while.

"Come on, Jordan," I whispered against her hand, keeping my eyes squeezed shut tightly. "Wake up. I need you here. With me. You're not going to stay like this, I will not allow it.. so wake up, damn it." 

My begging did nothing to waken her, and I sighed again. It was no use, but talking to her about whatever I wanted helped me to get things off my chest. Even though she probably couldn't hear me, it was nice to be able to talk to her. Plus, I was hoping that talking to her would help her to realize that I'm here and get her to wake up faster.

I don't know how long I was like this, but I snapped my head up when I felt someone's hand on my shoulder. I lifted my eyes to look at the person who was touching me and saw Quince standing there. I watched as she sat down in a chair next to mine and leaned forward, watching Jordan's still body. The heart monitor beeped rhythmically, telling us Jordan's heartrate was normal.

"When did you get here?" I asked after a while, giving into my pure curiousity and looking at my friend.

Quince flicked her green eyes to me and offered a small smile. "I left when I heard your parents let you visit. I thought you might want someone else here with you."

"Thanks, Quince," I whispered gratefully, my chest warming with affection for my friend. She was so loyal to me, and she was one of the people I knew I could always count on in times like this. "It means a lot."

Quince, most likely sensing my emotional state, reached over and took my hand in hers. She gave it a gentle squeeze, sending a rush of reassuring warmth through me. I relaxed somewhat, a soft sigh leaving my lips as I offered her a smile.

"She's going to pull through this, Faye," Quince said with determination, her eyes firmly on mine. "She's pulled through worse than this, and she'll do it again."

"I feel like this is my fault," I blurted out softly, gripping her hand tighter as I admitted this to her. "They were after me, but Jordan got in their way and she paid the price. How screwed up is that, Quince?" I urged myself to keep from crying. No waterworks. 

My best friend sighed softly and moved some hair away from her face, to her back. "Listen, Faye, no matter how much you blame yourself for this .. it's not your fault, alright? They may have been after you, but Jordan was just there on accident."

"Hence it being my fault."

She winced. "Stop, it's not your fault. That sounded wrong, but trust me it's not. Nobody knew what was going on and that this was happening." She squeezed my hand once more and I sighed shakily. "Please don't blame yourself, it causes bad emotions. It all leads to stress which is very bad on the baby."

I flinched slightly, but she was right. The stress I was causing myself would not help me nor the baby and I needed to realize that now. But how can I calm down when these people have put my sister into a coma in an attempt to capture me? How does someone deal with shit like that, without being stressed?

"It's hard, Quince," I whimpered, removing my hand from hers and burying my face in both of my hands. "You don't understand how hard."

"Maybe not," the girl agreed, frowning softly. "But talking to me about it might help for me to help you."

"You may not be able to help me with what I'm feeling, Q," I whispered, looking back at her and then Jordan with a well of pain and sadness. "Emotions cannot be helped when they're as strong as mine are."

"I never said I would completely understand it," she replied, shaking her head. "But getting it out to someone other than your sister will help a lot more than you can imagine, trust me."

I studied her, and she studied me. Finally I told her everything I was feeling, and everything that I was thinking about these past few days. I told her about how stressed I was for this stupid war, knowing it would only bring more and more death should it break out. I told her about Terrance, Carly, and everything else in between.

But by the time I was done, I was sobbing loudly and leaning into my best friend as she rubbed my back and whispered things in an attempt to comfort me. I can't believe I had told her every single thing I thought and felt, never expecting that it would feel so much better to get it out of my head.

She pulled her hands away from my face, which she'd been holding as I sobbed, and looked at me with a soft smile. "See, doesn't that feel better?"

I nodded shakily, and wiped at my eyes with a soft gulp. "Y-yeah," I admitted shakily, licking my lips and sniffling.

"There we go," she told me, wiping at my tears. "Just keep talking to me when you need it, or Lucy, or Jackson. Anyone you trust will do, so long as you don't keep it bottled up like that again. It's never good to keep these things bottled up, especially if it has the chance of you breaking down from it."

"I'll remember that," I chuckled, a watery chuckle, smiling slightly. She returned the smile. "Thank you so much, it means the world to me that you listened."

"Of course I listened, I'll always-" Suddenly the lights shut off, the room going black.

--

Sorry for how short this was, but I'm really busy right now guys. I'm sorry I haven't updated, but I have a reason. So, some of you might know that I'm probably getting published sooner than expected. PROBABLY, it's not set in stone right now. We have a family friend who knows a publisher of a really popular Magazine, People, who said they're willing to take a look at The Heart of A Dragon Rider.

You guys know what this means right? Yup, I might be getting published earlier than I thought! As some of you who stalk me might know, I'm going into my junior year of high school this month.. a couple weeks. I originally planned on getting published in college or sometime after, but with this new chance I might get published early, depending.

With that being said, my attention has been focused on completely editing The Heart of A Dragon Rider. If you guys read it before my edits, then .. I applaud you. It was terrible. But if you refresh your library / remove and re-add THOADR, you will for sure see the changes and edits I have done to make it better. 

Please understand that this is all a big step for me and my updates will be slow until my edits are done and I get everything sorted out.

Thank you, and see you next time!

-Grace xx :)