Golden

Chapter XIV: Bad Liar

"He's the Keyper?"
"Gross. Get away from me!"
"He doesn't deserve this!"
"Man up!"
"Stop crying, you fool."
"Stand up straight!"
"We're gonna get so rich!"
"Just leave him and get the money."
"It'll be like a fresh new start!"
"They left without even saying goodbye."

Selena gasped awake, sitting up and immediately putting her hands on her ears. She closed her eyes as she tried blocking all the noise that she could suddenly hear - from whispers, car engines to even the chirps of birds.

"It'll pass, come on, just breathe. Listen to my voice, it'll pass," Liam said.

I can't. Everything's so loud!

"Concentrate on my voice. Come on. You can do it."

No. No. No!

"Selena!"

Her eyes snapped open and the loud sounds around her abated, like a wave finally receding.

"There, that's it. It's just the bond, you can do it." Liam's eyebrows suddenly raised and he lifted his feet off the ground just as Selena bent over and puked at the ground outside.

"Well, that was fun wasn't it?" Liam grinned when Selena finished. She groaned. Her head was pounding and the sun was too bright to her liking.

They were still inside the car, in the middle of nowhere and in the middle of the day.

Harry handed her a bottle of water from the driver's seat.

Niall was on the passenger seat up front, with a map on his hand.

She rinsed her bitter mouth before draining it of its contents.

"Close the door and let's go," Harry said. "We need to find a hospital."

"Scoot over," Liam gently pushed her so he could sit properly.

She rested her head on the seat and groaned some more, "What happened?"

Niall put down the map and turned to her, "The craziest shit happened that's what."

"What?"

"You know, after you made a wish all the cars in that lot hit up their high beams! It was literally lit! So all the Damned shrieked and scattered away before they fizzled in the light. And Liam was going crazy because of the creepy noise they were making," Niall said.

"I was not. I was just distracted." Liam threw a crumpled up tissue at Niall.

"You're a bad liar when you're embarrassed. We all know you were going batshit crazy. If you didn't bond with Sel then you might've really gone bonkers."

Selena's jaw dropped, "What did you just say?

"You don't remember? Huh, I was sure you were still awake when you bonded with Liam."

Selena paused for a moment and thought back at what happened. She remembered the bright lights that flooded them. Then she remembered Liam shouting as he held onto his head tightly.

And then there was a sudden burst of gold from her fingertips. It wrapped around Liam slowly, helping him calm down.

Then she blacked out.

"Oh God," Selena groaned.

"You sound like it's a bad thing," Liam chuckled. "You officially have power over my blood, Selena."

She looked at him curiously for a few seconds much to Harry's chagrin. She didn't see it but he was watching her closely from the rear view mirror.