It was Friday night, and instead of doing anything fun – or even normal – Mia and her friends were going to the hospital to snoop. It was bad enough that they were going in the first place, but they didn't even know anyone who was sick! No, instead they were going to the hospital to see if some mythical creature was hanging out down there. And the worst part was the fact that they shouldn't even have to be the ones taking care of it. It wasn't their responsibility – why didn't that annoying Summer just deal with her problems herself? She and her little friends should be out here doing this. But no, instead Mia and her friends had been blackmailed into doing their work for them. So now Mia, Anna, and Carmine were sitting on a dirty bench, waiting for the bus that would take them to the hospital downtown.

The bus pulled up and the three got on. It was more crowded than Mia would have liked, but they were all still able to find seats. The ride was quiet; no one felt much like talking. Mia decided to spend the time pouting about having to go to the hospital.

As the bus pulled away, Mia sat staring out the window, watching the trees go by. She thought about why it was she hated hospitals so much. It wasn't because she'd been forced to stay in one; even before she'd become a vampire, Mia had never really gotten sick. In fact, no one Mia had ever known had gotten sick enough to stay at a hospital. No, it wasn't personal experience that made her hate them so much. It was really more of a feeling she got from the few times she'd been forced to visit with her school. They were full of sickness and death. People went there to die, even if they realize it. And the smell. Every hospital Mia had ever been in always seemed to smell. She didn't know what the smell was exactly – maybe too much cleaner being used. All she knew was that she didn't like it.

Mia was still counting off all the things she hated about hospitals when Carmine nudged her.

"Mia!" she said somewhat loudly.

Mia turned expectantly.

"We're here. Come on."

Startled, Mia got up quickly and hurried after her friends before the bus had a chance to pull away with her still on it.

Silently, the girls started walking the four blocks it would take to get to the hospital. Each one of them seemed to be keeping an eye out, as if they might spot a banshee any minute now, just hiding behind a tree.

The girls had just rounded the corner, hospital finally in sight, when Mia caught something out of the corner of her eye. She stopped. She turned around and craned her neck, trying to figure out what had moved in that darkened street. She didn't see anything for a minute, and as she waited, her friends got further and further away, unaware that Mia was no longer following.

"Mia!" Carmine called from about twenty feet ahead. "What are you doing?"

Carmine walked back to where Mia was still standing, Anna in tow.

"Look," Carmine said as she approached, "if you really don't want to go, you can wait here. We'll be back in about an hour, ok?"

"No, it's not that." Mia said, somewhat exasperated. "I saw something."

"Like what?" Anna asked, as the three stared down the street. "Did you see the banshee?"

"No, I don't think so." Mia wasn't quite sure what she'd seen, but she was pretty sure she'd know if it was a banshee.

The girls continued to stare down the street. After what felt like several minutes of not seeing anything, Mia started to wonder if her mind was just playing tricks on her. Finally, they turned around, heading for the hospital once again. They were almost back to the main street when a loud crash behind them made them turn around.

"Luke!" Anna called out in surprise. Luke was standing between some bushes and the curb of a house, righting a garbage can that had been knocked over. A cat sprinted across the street, away from the noise.

"Stupid cat." Mia thought she heard Luke mutter under his breath.

"What are you doing here?"

Luke stood there for a minute before smiling at the three girls.

"I was just going to the hospital." he told them. He seemed a little embarrassed, maybe because he'd knocked the trash can over.

"Why were you hiding?" Mia asked. She was sure it was him she'd seen.

"I wasn't hiding." Luke said with what seemed like genuine surprise. "I knelt down for a second to check on a cat – he looked like he was hurt or something. But when I went to see, he jumped up and bit me."

"So why're you going to the hospital?" Carmine asked.

Mia was impressed; she hadn't asked because she wasn't sure if she'd be able to keep the suspicion out of her voice. But Carmine managed to ask it like it was a genuine question.

"Well," he said, looking suddenly uncomfortable. "I'm just going to visit, you know?"

"Oh, I'm sorry." Anna said, looking sad. "Who do you know who's in the hospital?"

"...My grandma?"

It took Luke a little longer than what Mia thought was normal for him to come up with the answer. And even when he did, Mia was almost positive it was more of a question than anything else.

Mia's eyes narrowed. He was obviously hiding something, and she wanted to know what. She was close to asking him what he was really doing, but she decided it would be better to just play along. Summer had made it clear that there were a lot more fae in this town than just her and her friends, and for just a minute, Mia wondered if Luke might be one. Maybe he was really following them to see if they would do as they were told.

"I'm sorry she's sick." Mia said, sounding sincere. "I hope she feels better. We won't keep you."

"Yeah, ok." he said, but he didn't make much of an attempt to leave. Instead, he turned back to the girls. "Where are you guys heading, anyway?"

"We're actually going to the hospital too." Anna said before Mia could stop her.

"Oh, yeah?" he brightened. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go."

Mia tried to come up with a reason why they wouldn't be able to walk with Luke the rest of the way to the hospital. It wasn't that she had anything against Luke; it was just that if he was there to check up on them, she'd rather go without him. And even if he wasn't there to watch them – if he'd just happened to be going to the same place as them – Mia wasn't sure how to get rid of him once they got to the hospital. She didn't want to have to explain that they weren't looking for any room in particular, and she figured the less time they spent with him, the less likely it would be to come up.

Unfortunately, Mia wasn't able to come up with anything she thought would be convincing. So, he ended up walking the rest of the way with Mia and her friends. Anna seemed to be unaware of what Mia was thinking; she walked along next to Luke, chatting the whole time. Mia and Carmine walked a few feet behind them, and Mia took the opportunity to glance at Carmine. She was biting her lip, and Mia was glad that at least one other person seemed to be thinking the same thing as she was. When she was sure Anna and Luke weren't listening, Mia leaned over and whispered to Carmine.

"As soon as we get to the hospital, we have to get rid of Luke." she said.

"Exactly." Carmine whispered back. Mia could tell from her tone that Carmine had found his explanation just as strange as she had.

A few minutes later, the group walked through the big glass doors at the front of the hospital. There were two wide hallways that intersected where they stood. On the right was an information desk and beyond that, elevators. On the left was a directory. They headed over to the directory, and Mia started scanning the map. She pretended to look for a specific room while actually checking for any stairs that might have roof access. The only set she saw looked like they were right around the corner from the elevators at the end of this hallway. Perfect.

"Well, I guess we'll see you later..." Mia said to Luke as she started inching her way towards the elevators.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." he replied, still looking at the map.

"Bye, Luke." Anna said, following Mia and Carmine down the hall.

The girls walked to the elevators and pushed the button. It seemed to take forever, but when it finally came, they piled in, and Mia pushed the button for the sixth floor.

Of course, the elevator wouldn't take them all the way to the roof, but it could take them up to the top floor. Then they'd only have to climb one flight of stairs. The map didn't actually say that the stairs had roof access, but they were the only ones in this half the building, so Mia thought the odds were pretty great. How else would maintenance crews get up there?

The elevator doors slid open, and the girls walked out. They turned the corner and found the door leading to the stairwell. After checking that nobody was around, Mia opened the door and walked inside, followed by Anna and then Carmine. They walked slowly up the stairs, and Mia couldn't help but wonder what they would find once they got to the top. Part of her wanted to find a banshee; she wanted to get it over with as soon as possible and go back to having a normal life. But part of her was hoping just as strongly that there wouldn't be anything up there at all. After all, they weren't really prepared, were they? They hadn't brought anything with them; they were mostly hoping they'd be able to either reason with whatever was there or that they could capture it without too much trouble. But what if they were wrong? What if there was more to banshees than Carmine knew about?

Mia slowly reached her hand out and put it on the handle. She took a deep breath and started to turn the knob, only mildly surprised that it was actually unlocked. As she stood there, ready to push the door open and see what, if anything, was there, she hesitated. Suddenly, she wasn't sure if she really wanted to go through with this. And it wasn't just because she didn't want to help Summer. If there really was a banshee, who knew if they'd even be able to catch it? And if they couldn't, it would mean possibly months of work. Mia wasn't sure she wanted to devote that kind of time to this.

As she sat there, thinking, Carmine reached over. Mia still had her hand on the knob, so all Carmine had to do was push the door. It swung partly open, and Mia shook her head to clear it. She slowly finished opening the door, hoping that the squeak wouldn't be loud enough to scare anything away that might be on the other side. Quickly, the girls rushed though the door and scanned as quickly as they could. It didn't take long to find what they were looking for.

The roof was made of flat concrete and had a wall around the edge, about four feet high. And sitting on that wall was a banshee.