Natalia’s P. O. V

I found an alley. Looking around, I took of my shoes and ran to Killdrain, stopping just before I entered the premises. I put my shoes on and, taking a deep breath, walked into the compound.

I heard it instantly. The screeching quickly got to the point of borderline unbearable and I covered my ears in an attempt to block it out.

It didn’t work.

Come on, Natalia. You’ve been put through worse by those bastards and bitches at the Lightwood pack. This should be nothing. I thought to myself, hoping to find the resilience to stand the pain.

‘Nat, h-help!’ Candy whimpered.

Quickly, I stepped back out of the college compound and the pain receded immediately, ‘Candy, what’s wrong?’

‘It felt like I was forcefully being put to sleep.’

‘Are you alright now?’

‘Yeah, pretty much.’

I stared at the looming castle of a college building, ‘What exactly is going on here?’ I asked rhetorically.

**********

Arriving home, I locked the door behind me. Taking off my shoes, I bounded up the stairs, dropping my bag in my room and walked into the library.

I flipped through book after book in the history section, looking for anything pertaining to strange things surrounding Killdrain. I even searched through the education section. The only time I saw Killdrain was in the list of universities. It was at the top of the list in brilliance.

‘There’s nothing here that can tell us about what happened at Killdrain.’

‘Don’t worry about it, Nat. Why don’t you research about Syrenlina?’

I sighed as I closed the book, ‘Alright’

I looked through the history section but found nothing. Broadening my scope, I looked through the whole library but found nothing on Syrens or Syrenlina.

‘That’s strange. Surely, mom would have something on Syrens.’

‘Maybe she didn’t want visitors to come up here and find anything on her kind.’

I put the last book away, ‘Now that you mention it, I didn’t see anything about the Supernatural world apart from fiction novels.’

I remembered when I was five, I asked her about her house after she’d told me she didn’t really live in the pack house.

“It’s really big. The back garden is beautiful and there are chandeliers in almost every room. It has lots of rooms but my favourite is my bedroom.”

“Why is that?” I’d asked as I held the handmade doll she’d sewn for me.

She’d smiled as she stared into space, remembering, “It has a secret passage to an underground room. It was a place I could go to and feel like everything was alright. I was safe in my room.”

I’d brightened up upon hearing about the secret room, “Can I go there?”

She’d laughed. It was a melodious sound, “Someday, I promise you’ll go there.”

Opening my door, I looked at my room with new eyes, searching for any indications of a passage opening. I looked all over the room, tapping walls and raising pictures. I knocked on the floor at several places for hollow sounds.

‘What are you doing?’ Candy asked as I put my ear to the floor and hit it.

‘I remembered mom telling me about a hidden entrance to a secret room.’

‘Secret openings are usually in places no one would think of. Try the bathroom.’

I got up and dusted off my jeans, ‘Good idea.’

There were no obvious places in the bathroom. After checking every crevice and cabinet, I was about to give up.

‘Check behind the towel shelf.’ Candy offered.

Careful not to let any towels fall, I pushed the shelf aside and looked behind it.

Nothing.

‘Where else could it be’

I shrugged, ‘Let’s try the closet.’

And I did. I knocked on walls, stomped on the floor and checked every space but there was no secret entrance to the hidden passage. Giving up, I flopped on my bed.

‘Maybe there’s no passage.’ Candy mused.

I shook my head, ‘Mom would never lie to me. The house is real so the passage must be too.’

Suddenly, my phone rang. Picking up from the bedside table, I answered it,

“Hi Hailey. How ar-”

“Ari, you have to come help. It’s Keily!” Hailey cried.

Stolen novel; please report.

Grabbing my bag, I rushed downstairs and stepped into my shoes, “Hail, take a breath. Where are you?”

She paused and I heard her breathe, “I’m at Greg and Trevor’s place.”

“I’ll be right there.”

“Thank you, Ari.”

“No problem.”

Running at my full speed, I arrived in five minutes and knocked on the door. Greg opened it and ushered me inside. I rushed to a frantic Hailey in a bedroom – either Trev or Greg’s – and hugged her.

Holding her shoulders, I looked at her, “What’s wrong?”

Tears flowed freely from her worried eyes. “Keily’s been acting strange ever since she went to Dan’s place after we went shopping three days ago. She’s been throwing worse tantrums than usual and goes as far as breaking everything in sight. Today, she just stiffened up in the middle of the conversation and started muttering, just like she did just before we went to take you to the mall three days ago. Today was different, though. After some time, her eyes rolled back and she collapsed then screamed something before she passed out.”

I glanced at Keily’s prone form on the bed, “Why haven’t you called an ambulance?”

“We tried but for some reason, none of the phones or cells can dial the number.”

“The car?”

She shook her head, “It won’t start. Trev went out to hail a cab but he hasn’t found any. Greg said to call you because you might know what to do.

I ran my hand through my hair, I tried dialling 9-1-1 and sure enough, it didn’t work. Every other number worked but the one we needed the most right now.

“Don’t you have any relatives or family friends or even friends you can call?”

“I tried calling everyone I know but everything went to voicemail. Greg and Trev too. Plus, their Grams just left a few seconds before it started and she hasn’t come back. The only number that worked was yours.”

I looked around, “How long has it been?”

“Almost two hours. She kept trembling and muttering for an hour then paused some minutes and screamed for a solid thirty seconds. She’s been quiet since then.”

Keily wore a pair of skinny jeans and a short blue tube top. She was pale all over but her face was white as a sheet and her breathing was shallow.

Greg looked almost as frantic and worried as Hailey. “What do we do?” He asked.

“Unbuckle her belt first, it’s constrictive. Greg, put some pillows on the floor so that they’re almost level with the bed then put her head on them and raise her body at an angle to get the blood flowing to her head.”

They rushed to do as I instructed, accomplishing it in under five minutes. I touched her forehead. It was clammy and cold to the touch.

“Greg, where are the hot water bags?”

“In the cabinet closest to the back door in the kitchen. Grams boiled water for tea just before leaving. It should still be hot.”

I stepped out of the room and ran to the kitchen. The bags were easy to find and I boiled the water again for a minute before pouring it into three bags and carrying them upstairs. I placed one on her head, one across her chest and upper abdomen and the last one at her feet.

“I need a blanket.”

Greg handed me one from the closet. I wrapped it around Keily as best as I could. Her breathing was still shallow.

“Greg, I need you to give her mouth to mouth on my indication.”

I applied pressure on her chest five times. “Now”

Greg held her nose and breathed into her mouth.

We repeated this a few times till her breathing became deeper and evened out. The colour returned to her face after a minute so we laid her back on the bed.

I felt her head after some time, “She should be fine now. Her blood is circulating properly so she’s not pale anymore and her skin isn’t clammy. Her body temperature is normal so we might have to take the hot water bags away after some time so she doesn’t get uncomfortable.”

Hailey captured me in a vice hug, shedding tears of relief now, “Thank you so much, Ari. For all we know, she could have died. You’re a lifesaver. You’d make a great doctor.”

I smiled and returned the hug, “You’re welcome. I only did what I could.”

Greg sat at the foot of the bed, “That was incredible. Where did you learn that?”

I shrugged and sat next to him, “Just a few things I picked up in my old school’s regular First Aid lessons. I didn’t like anyone enough to talk to them so I actually paid attention.”

“Well, thank God you did. Otherwise, we’d be having an entirely different conversation right now.”

I heard Trevor’s running feet approaching the house for a few seconds before hearing the door open. He ran up the stairs and burst into the room, panting.

“I couldn’t find any cabs! Why are you just sitting there?” he breathed.

The three of us laughed at his confused expression. “It’s alright now. Ari came in five minutes after you left and did some serious first aid. She said Keily’s gonna be fine now.” Hailey explained with a wide grin as I got up and took the hot water bags away and put them on the bedside table.

“Five minutes? I didn’t see any cabs at all so how did you get here?” Trevor asked.

Greg stroked his chin, “Now that you mention it, I didn’t hear any engines when you arrived.”

I grabbed one bag and walked to the bathroom, “I ran. I was already close by when Hail called.” I fibbed as I emptied the bag into the sink.

“But I would have passed you.” Trevor countered.

Returning, I took the second bag to empty it. “You must have been in the opposite direction.” I finished emptying the second bag and went back for the third.

“Maybe… What were you doing around here anyway?”

I grabbed the last bag, “I was taking a walk.” I poured the water out slowly and returned.

“Your house is too far for you to be taking walks around here.” Trevor scowled.

I wished he’d just drop it. “I was in the city settling some of my mom’s leftover stuff. I finished early then decided to come visit you guys.”

Trevor crossed his arms, “I thought you said you were taking a walk.”

I matched his stance, “I got the cab to drop me at a distance because I wanted to walk in my old neighbourhood before I arrived.”

“Cabs only access one side of the neighbourhood when coming in.”

“I didn’t come in with the cab. I got it to drop me off outside the neighbourhood.”

At this point, we were glaring at each other. His eyes were brimming with suspicion while I stayed on the defensive. The tension was palable.

Hailey intervened and stood between the two of us, “It doesn’t matter what Ari was doing or how she got here. All that matters is that she got here in time and knew what to do, right, Greg?” She looked to him for support.

“Yeah.”

Keily stirred then woke up. Hail, Trevor and Greg rushed to her while I stayed where I was.

Her eyes landed on Greg first as she propped herself up, “What happened?”

“You passed out and looked like you needed serious help. Luckily, Ari knew what to do,” Greg explained.

Her eyes landed on me and a sour expression nestled onto her face, “Why didn’t you just call an ambulance?”

“We couldn’t dial 9-1-1 and there were no cars to take you to the hospital. Ari probably saved your life.”

The bitch just rolled her eyes. “I would have been fine either way.”

“A thank you wouldn’t kill you.” I seethed, glaring at both Trevor and Keily then left the room, not trusting myself to keep my anger from causing me to make a bad choice.

‘I liked her better when she was passed out.’ Candy muttered.

‘Me too.’

I heard them all argue but ignored their squabbling as I walked down the stairs and let myself out. If I’d known socializing would be this maddening, I would’ve kept to myself.

So much for having friends.