Incessant beeping woke me from a deep sleep.So deep in fact that I struggled to open my eyes while my mind was taking in all the sounds and smells around me. There was the beeping that sounded close and a strong antiseptic smell that made the inside of my nose burn. Off in the distance I could hear soft foot steps shuffling around.

Part of me wanted to open my eyes and find out where I was. Another part of me was too scared to face the world beyond my eyelids. Images from the cave flashed through my mind. Giant demons, Lolly being trapped, fireballs, rocks, yelling, Wes' demonic form being crushed by boulders, and those golden teens that swooped in to save us. It was all too much to process. All I wanted to do was go back to sleep and avoid the outcome of our failure, which is why my body betrayed me as my mouth opened to yawn.

"I think she's waking up," a soft unfamiliar voice announced to whomever else was with them.

There was no use in fighting it. I opened my eyes and immediately had to close them again as I was blinded by a bright light. After blinking several times to adjust, I was finally able to look around me. The room was stark white, machines stood on either side of the stiff bed I was laying in. A hospital, great.

"It's not a hospital, Chloe. You're in the medical wing of one of the Organization's outposts," Sage informed me as she stood up from the couch I hadn't noticed in the far corner.

I rubbed my eyes a few times before asking, "What happened?"

"Well, what's the last thing you remember?" she asked with a small smile as she approached my bed.

"Kids, in gold."

She nodded and patted my hand.

"Not really sure who they were but you know Ms. Pierce, she says she'll explain that part when everyone is feeling better."

"The book?" I asked, wrapping my hand around hers. It was then I noticed the small cuts and scrapes along her arms. Even though I didn't like seeing her hurt, I felt better that it was me in the bed rather than her.

"We got it, its safe. The portal is still cracked but at least it's not fully open. Barbas and Shax, Lucas and Lolly's fathers, were sent back through. Unfortunately, Azazel, Alicia, and Zozo got away."

I remembered that part. The images of Alicia's father scooping her up and disappearing was just as clear as the one of Azazel scampering off like a scared child. We would have to do something about them, but I couldn't do anything with this bed. I need to get out of here, and most of all, I needed to see Wes.

Pushing myself up into a sitting position, my vision blurred and the room spun. I quickly placed my hand on my head to try and compose myself. Once everything stopped spinning, I grabbed the IV's in my arm and yanked them out. A little blood shot out but I quickly ripped a piece off my sheets and wrapped it around my arm.

"Shit, Chloe, chill out, your gonna hurt yourself," Sage barked before darting off into the hall. She quickly reappeared a second later with a wheelchair and pulled it up next to my bed. "Let me help you. Everyone else is in the lounge, I'll take you there."

Reluctantly, I allowed Sage to help me into the wheelchair. I hated feeling like I couldn't take care of myself, hated being weak.

"Stop complaining, sisters are supposed to help each other," Sage scolded me as she started to push my chair.

I wanted to argue back, arguing would at least mean I had some fight left. But there was no point in fighting now, especially not with her. So instead, I opted for another question.

"How's Wes?"

My quivering voice betrayed just how badly I needed to see him. The uncontrollable urge to see him with my own eyes, and know he was alive and well, was killing me. All I could picture was the cave roof falling on him, over and over again. The idea of his body shrinking to its normal form like the others and being trapped under the rocks was a recurring nightmare while I had slept. But it was better than the ones of me lifting the rocks up only to find him dead. I wasn't sure how long I slept but with the nightmares, it felt like years.

"It's only been two days," Sage informed me.

Normally I wouldn't have minded her being in my head, but I didn't want her to see my nightmares any more than I wanted to see them myself.

Sage stopped the chair int he middle of the glaringly white hallway and walked around until she could crouch in front of me.

"I'm sorry. I'm not trying to dig in your head, I just can't stop it right now. Ms. Pierce and the staff here think my abilities are on overload after the cave."

She looked down at the floor as a small tear traveled down her cheek. The need to comfort her was too much. I reached out and wiped the tear away with my hand.

Lifting her chin to look at me, I asked for the second time since I woke up, "What happened?"

A few more tears escaped her eyes but she didn't look down.

"I tried to tap into everyone's heads. Keep track of who was where, who was hurt, what the demons were going to do next. I opened myself to everyone. It was overwhelming, I couldn't think but I had to keep going so I could help. I tried, Chloe, I really did."

Her voice broke with my name and a tear slid down my face. Without saying anything, I pulled Sage in for a hug and held her as tightly as I could. We both wanted to be helpful, to win, but we both felt like we failed. I wasn't sure what hurt more, feeling like I failed, or knowing Sage felt the same way.

Sage wiped her eyes, took a deep breath, and walked about around to push my chair. We traveled down several hallways, the walls turned from a bright white to a warm beige the further we went. Every door we passed was closed, and none of them held signs indicating what the purpose of each room was. Eventually, we reached the first open door since we left my room. I knew it was the lounge and not because the door was open but because I could hear Lucas and Declan shouting.

When we walked through the door I was prepared to see the two arguing with all the commotion I had heard out in the hall. Instead, I found them both watching a football game on a small television, both them on their feet, yelling at the ref on the screen.

"Bullshit, that was a touchdown!" Declan shouted, raising his fist in the air.

Lucas was stomping his foot as he called to the people who couldn't hear him, "Watch the damn footage, you idiot!"

Sage cleared her throat causing both boys to nearly jump out of their skin. When they turned around their mirrored expressions of outrage turned soft as they smiled at us. Declan jumped over a chair and darted over only to wrap his arms around Sage in a bear hug. The look on her face said just how surprised she was by his actions but soon she closed her eyes and surrendered herself to Declan's comfort. It was sweet but I wanted a hug from a certain someone too.

"Where's Wes?" I asked Lucas, who still stood by the TV. It felt weird to see him without his other half. "and Lolly?" I added on, remembering that she had been hurt as well.

Lucas ran his hand through his red hair and let out a deep breath.

"Lolly's fine, her legs in a cast but the doctors say she's healing fast. Guess it's a benefit of our DNA or something. She should be back from the bathroom in a minute."

"And Wes?" I urged him on. I was relieved Lolly was okay, really I was. But I needed to know about Wes.

"He's been in a coma since we got here."

My emotions broke in half. One side was rejoicing that he was alive, while the other was crying that he was injured so badly. I buried my face in my hands and tried to take deep calming breaths to keep the tears at bay. He was alive, I shouldn't be crying. But with having all my questions answered, I felt like I could finally mourn our defeat. Nothing went how it was supposed to go, and my nerves felt like they were crumbling into pieces.

"He was in a coma," a familiar voice announced.

Lifting my head, I turned to see Ms. Pierce walk into the room. Mr. B was by her side, along with his sister Freya.

Ms. Pierce smiled at me as she added, "Wes woke up a couple hours ago. He's going to be okay."

I jumped out of my wheelchair with excitement, only to have a sharp pain pulsate through my head and down my neck. The pain made me flinch but I wasn't going to sit down, not when Wes was awake and I could go see him. I moved to the door as quickly as I could, which wasn't very fast at all in my condition but was blocked by Mr. B who stood in my path.

"Not so fast. We have a lot to talk about," Ms. Pierce informed the room and waved her hand in a way that said we all needed to go sit down.

Each of us took a seat, me in my wheelchair and the rest of them in several of the lounge chairs. Before Ms. Pierce could begin her speech, Lolly hobbled in on crutches.

"Sorry," she said to Ms. Pierce who merely smiled at her and waited as Lucas helped her to an empty chair.

Ms. Pierce stood proud and strong in front of us, Mr. B and Freya on either side of her.

"I'm sure you all already know the details about what happened, but let me clarify. The Gate Keepers are still out there, we were only able to take out the ones who were present in the cave. There are still many of them to deal with. Along with that, Azazel, Zozo, and Alicia escaped."

All of us dropped our heads at the mention of them. It seemed Sage and I wasn't the only ones who looked at our actions as failures.

"Don't do that," Ms. Pierce demanded through gritted teeth. "You all fought as best you could. You did better than anyone could have expected you to with such little training. The portal wasn't opened fully and we retrieved the book of Vernon. That alone is a success in my eyes."

"Yeah, but we weren't the ones who finished that fight. Some heroes had to jump in and save our asses," Lucas stated, his hand tightly gripping the arm of his chair.

"Who were they anyway?" Lolly's small voice asked from beside Lucas, her arm small arm wrapped around his shoulders to comfort him.

Ms. Pierce nodded and took a deep breath.

"Nephilim."

My head tilted to the side in confusion as I stared at her before she clarified, "it appears that demons aren't the only ones who like to procreate with humans from time to time. The Nephilim are children of a human parent and a parent from the doorway of light."

"So, like us, but....good?" Declan asked, his voice sounding unsure and confused.

"You, Mr. Shaw, are good," Ms. Pierce stated in a tone so confident it erased any ideas of arguing the issues. "You all are good," she added.

"But their our opposite basically," Sage suggested.

Ms. Pierce shrugged before continuing on, "They stuck around after the fight. They want to help and the Organization is willing to accept their help on a trial based period. Not sure exactly how that is going to work, but since they all seem to be about your ages, there's a good chance you will all be seeing a lot more of them."

I wasn't sure how to take this news. Help seemed like a good idea, but we didn't know these kids. Plus, if they were our opposites, how would they react to us? I tried to think of scenarios of what could happen. Declan making a joke and pissing one of them off. Lucas or Wes losing their temper and getting into a fight with them. Them snubbing us and treating us like less than what they were. Things could go wrong in so many different ways.

"But that is an issue for another day," Ms. Pierce began. "Today is a day to celebrate. You all are safe, the book is safe, and you all held up your end of the deal."

What was the deal again?

"We're released from Landry's?" Declan asked, excitement laced through each word.

Right, that.

Ms. Pierce grimaced before sighing and saying, "Well, not exactly."

Each of us let out breaths of frustration and irritation. We were supposed to get time off for our good deeds, maybe even released. We were owed at least that.

"Now don't start getting all deflated," Ms. Pierce announced, her frown turning into a small smile. "We can't officially let you off the hook for your crimes. No matter how many connections the Organization has, they can't erase your infractions. But we have come up with the best possible option."

She grew quiet, probably waiting for our reactions. We all stayed silent. None of us was willing to celebrate until we knew what this new option was.

Ms. Pierce nodded and continued, "You will be released from Landry's on the ground that you are emitted into a halfway house." She used her fingers to make air quotes while saying "halfway house."

"Please meet your new house mom," she added with a big smile as she waved her hands to indicate Freya, who gave all of us a tentative wave.

Before any of us could respond, a ringing sound filled the room and Ms. Pierce reached into her pocket to pull out a cell phone.

"Hello," she answered, placing the phone to her ear.

Quickly, her happy expression began to change. Her brows pulled together and her eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean he's gone?" she asked the person on the other line while turning away from us. But her new direction didn't keep us from hearing her side of the conversation.

"How did he get out?......Why?.......Wasn't someone watching him?......What do you mean you don't know?..........You idiots!" She yelled the last part into the phone before hanging up and shoving it back into her pocket.

Ms. Pierce turned back to us while holding her hand on her head like she was beginning to get a migraine.

"I'm so sorry, kids. It seems that Wes has snuck out."