Darkness of the Light

Chapter 5: The Plan

“Katrina,” a voice said off in the distance. Slowly I sat up and pain rocketed through my head. Gently, I opened my eyes to my familiar room. “We have to go,” Xander told me.

“What?” I stuttered. Xander sighed and grabbed my wrist, carefully pulling me up to my feet. “Why are you even here?”

Xander looked at me. “Javier were here...” I gasped. No, no, no.

“Oh no,” I whispered. “Wait! Where's Rachael? And Gabby?”

Xander hesitated. “Rachael's with Gabby, but Gabby...” I reached for Xander's shoulders and stared into his chocolate eyes while he looked into my eyes. “I can't explain, Katrina.” I sighed and let go of his shoulders, then hurried down the stairs, ignoring everything except for Gabby. I turned around the corner and walked towards the living room.

“Gabby!” I yelled.

“Kat?” a hoarse voice asked: Gabby. I looked onto the couch to see Gabby. Her skin, more pale than usual, was stained red with blood. I screamed as I came to the realization that Gabby had been slashed across the face, side, and legs. Because of this, she has been losing too much blood. 

“Oh, Gabby,” I said with tears forming in my eyes. Gabby, my friend and sister, was dying. “What do I do?” I heard a noise from her.

“Jordan...” she whispered. For an unknown reason, I didn't question why, I just jumped up and ran towards the kitchen where Jordan was. I picked up the small glass bowl that held the tiny fuchsia fish and carried it as quickly as I could back to Gabby. Gabby's frail hands reached for the bowl and I gave it to her. After all, I did not have a better idea.

I watched in confusion as Gabby dipped her hand into the water. Then she winced as the water fell into her open cuts. Suddenly, the cut disappeared with the blood that washed away. “Gabby, how did you know that would happen?”

Gabby held up her hand, then with her fingers, counted down. Three, two, one. I looked at her oddly, then realized what she was counting down. Her legs formed together into a single tail the color of the sky. I gasped, and then remembered that this is what we are.

Gabby sighed. “When my...parents...told me about the Cali, they gave me Jordan. They said if I ever was hurt, Jordan would help.”

“What happened to you, though?” I asked.

“A little after you fainted, someone knocked on the door and Rachael went to check. When she opened the door, Javier knocked her out and attacked me, but luckily Xander and Kendrick got here about the same time. Kendrick went after the two Javier who broke in.” I wrapped my arms around Gabby.

“I'm so sorry,” I told her. “I should have been there for you.”

“It's okay, Kat,” she said, “but we do need a plan so this doesn't happen again. I'm scared.”

“I have an idea,” Rachael said from behind us, “but it's going to be hard.”

“What?” Gabby and I asked.

“You'll have to hunt the Javier down, and to do that, you'll have to find more Mayv.”