I stared unblinkingly at the passing buildings as the car drove into the darkness. It seemed that with night, everything seemed darker, gloomier and without the laughter that came with sunlight.

I certainly didn't feel like laughing now; not as I lead my friends to a certain death. With such a large task looming over me, I had no time to waste, I had no time to waste but I really did not know what to do.

Whenever I had a mission with my father, the only emotion I felt was annoyance. Annoyance because he felt the need to risk his life again doing stupid things. But now, I felt a plethora of emotions churning in my stomach and it was making me feel lightheaded, and not because Brandon was a terrible driver.

I clapped a hand over my mouth as the car lurched again. It seemed that my previous night of next to no sleep was catching up to me. This was stupid. A villain who had motion sickness? It was laughable.

First, I leave my father his certain doom, and now as I go to rescue him, I get motion sickness?!

I hunched forward and clutched my stomach. Suddenly, my whole body felt like it was burning up, but I was shivering. The temperature of the car felt as if it had jumped up forty degrees. My head felt heavy as a headache threatened to form and my stomach felt like it was flopping around like a fish.

Addison, who was beside me, was already snoring lightly. I jumped as her head suddenly fell onto my shoulder.

The car lurched again and my stomach churned once more. My fingertips were buzzing from numbness, but I was on the verge of fever. Tremors rippled through my shoulders.

What is happening? Why do I feel so sick?

Another wave of nausea ran through me as a sharp pain in my head made me gasp. A white noise filled my mind, tearing it to shreds. There was a pressure on my chest and I felt like I was sinking into a pool of murky, black ink.

I dimly heard Brandon ask me what was wrong, but I couldn't reply. I was too busy biting my lip to stop from crying out.

Make it stop. Make it stop. I don't care how, just make it stop!

Make it STOP!

All of a sudden, I felt a coolness envelop me, as if they were feathers of life. The white noise faded into silence and I felt like I could breathe again. Sucking in large gulps of cool air I finally relaxed and slumped back onto my seat, feeling more awake then I had been this morning.

Brandon turned around in his seat when he stopped at a red light.

"Hey, are you ok, Levi? Do you need me to get anything?"

"Nah, its ok. Just motion sickness. I'm fine now." I hope.

I frowned. That hadn't felt like motion sickness, and even if it was it doesn't usually come with that cooling feeling from earlier...

I was broken out of my thoughts as Addison suddenly started coughing and hacking beside me as she was abruptly wrenched out of her nap. She hunched over to try and muffle her coughs as her body spasmed. Aiden woke up sleepily, disturbed by the sudden noise. Blinking at Addison in the dark, he then looked at me in confusion before his eyes widened with horror at the slick, inky liquid that was now covering her hands.

"Ad?! Hey, Ad?! What's going on?! Are you - " he turned to back at me. "Her puffer! Where's her puffer?!"

I gasped as the car swerved as Brandon pulled over to the side of the road. Fingers fumbling, he opened the glove compartment before wrenching out a puffer.

"It's a spare. Use it."

Hands shaking, I reached for the puffer before looking towards Addison. Her body was trembling uncontrollably and even through the dimness of the nearby street light, I could see tears seeping out the corners of her eyes as she gritted her teeth. She didn't look like she was breathing and her eyes were wide with fear. She had slumped back in her seat, but her head was lolling lifelessly to the side.

She was going to die.

Panicking, I inserted the puffer into her mouth that was already being held open by Aiden and pressed it once.

Twice.

Three times.

Why isn't it working!?

Furiously, I pressed it a few more times before finally, I could hear Addison breathing again. Slumping back in my seat, I breathed a sigh of relief, letting the puffer fall out of my hands. My mind was whirring.

What on earth just happened? Addison... I thought she grew out of her asthma when she was eight, so then why...

I got distracted when Brandon started up the car again.

When had he turned it off?

He leaned back and handed a bottle of water to me.

"For Addison. She needs water."

Nodding, I quickly took the bottle out of his grasp and opened to lid. Handing it to Addison, I carefully watched as she drank hungrily, worried that she might have a relapse.

"Thanks... Levi," she whispered as she handed back the bottle, before slumping back into her seat. It was only a few moments until she was snoring softly again.

A tense silence filled the car as no one dared to speak.

"Um..." came Aiden's soft voice through the darkness. "D-Do you guys want to stop to eat? I feel like I'm getting hungry."

I sighed, relieved that the silence had been broken.

"That would be nice. How about you, Brandon?"

There was a pause as if he was considering it.

"I think there's a gas station a little further onward. We can get something warm and something for Addison there." He shifted in his seat as if he was about to say something, then decided against it.

But we all knew what he was thinking.

What on earth had just happened to Addison?

~*~

"Hey Aiden," I whispered shaking him lightly so I wouldn't wake Addison. "We're at the gas station. What do you want to eat?"

Aiden blinked at me sleepily, his glasses slipping down his nose.

"What...? Gas station....?" He suddenly looked more awake. "Oh, the gas station! I was thinking maybe some hot chocolate or we can eat some of the instant noodles..."

He looked between us expectantly.

"Who packed the hot water?"

It took a while for anyone to answer and the realisation dawned on me.

"Damnit, I'm sorry guys," I laughed shakily, running a hand through my hair. "It hasn't even been two hours since we left and we already have trouble. I forgot that we'd need hot water to eat the noodles..."

I sighed and put my head into my hands. Even though it was now two o'clock in the morning, I was still wide awake. Where was sleep when you wanted it? I just wanted to forget... just for a while...

"Well.. the water..." Brandon laughed sheepishly. "Yeah... um... oh! I think the gas station should have some hot water! We could ask them for some!"

Aiden and I looked at each other, surprised.

"Wow," I said, jokingly. "So the day has come when you actually have a decent idea, Brandon!"

Brandon looked offended when Aiden laughed.

"Not you too, Aiden!" he whined. "Even I can have good ideas too, you know!"

I let a laugh escape as I lost myself to the moment, forgetting why we were there in the first place. But then reality came crashing back in like a sudden wake up call as I felt a shiver run down my spine.

Whipping my head around in all directions, I strained my eyes, searching. Outside was inky black and shadows, but from the pricks on the back of my neck and the uneasy feeling in my stomach, I knew.

We were being watched.

a.n.

so, one of my shorter chapters...

but i really didnt know how to make this bit more interesting... erm action-y and i was really stuck

so, if you find any mistakes, please tell me...

and as usual, vote, comment, follow!

SpiderPrincess

~dedicated to SilverSloth for commenting first on the last chapter~