I was hesitant to leave my sister when she'd yet to wake up. I did it to avoid worrying Eni more than he already was, but I hardly wanted to eat. I had next to no appetite.

Recah finally convinced me to shower around eleven. She would watch my sister if I needed her to. Soon before that, I got my sleeping bag out of my camping gear. I wasn't sleeping much as it was, so Eni deserved the bed.

He had fallen asleep on the sleeping bag while I was in the shower. Recah was about to cover him with a blanket. I shook my head and put him in the bed.

With their parents dead, T was the only family he had left. They needed to be together. Love was a powerful force. I had to hope his love for her would give her strength.

Not that I was surprised, but I didn't get to sleep 'til three or four. I tried to read my mystery and some of the books I had on my shelves but no dice. My body wasn't going to let me get to sleep at a reasonable hour.

I woke up at seven or eight, so I got five hours of sleep at best. This was probably going to be a long day...

Marshall and Duke were in the kitchen. That was when I noticed. He had a bandage on his wrist.

"Kayleigh... How did I not notice?" I had a dull pain behind my eyes. "That lady got you back there..."

"Don't worry about it." Marshall gazed into my eyes. "Give it a couple weeks, and I'll be good as new. I didn't even realize it happened until after we got home."

"You want eggs?" Duke asked. "I'm about to make some cuz that's what I want."

I still hardly wanted to eat. I didn't really have to seeing as Eni was still asleep.

"You didn't come in here to make coffee, did you?" Duke looked at me sideways.

I scoffed. "You think I like coffee?" I got another lemon-lime soda out of the fridge. "I only use it when I absolutely need it to not crash. I'm not even close to that point yet."

"You're not gonna try to eat anything?" Marshall asked.

"It's too early."

Even if I just had toast or something, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to keep it down then. I woke up nauseated, but I wasn't surprised given the circumstances.

I went back to my room and opened my soda. This would be enough for a few hours. I'd eat when Eni woke up.

I dug out my phone and wireless headphones and laid down. It was the only thing I could think to do to keep my sanity. After last night, I doubted I could concentrate well enough to read.

I was about to fall asleep when I heard the door creak open.

My heart skipped a beat. "Recah...?"

"It's not."

It couldn't have been T for obvious reasons... She said she wasn't Recah... I was sure I'd know if she was Mama... Lie's voice was higher... Ai couldn't get to Earth without me... Who was she? Audrey would've sounded more abrasive...

"Did you miss me?" She was wearing a flowing white dress.

If I hadn't been on the floor already, I probably would've fallen. "Noelle!"

She shut the door behind her. I couldn't see her eyes from my vantage point. "Oh, Tia..."

I sat up and teared up. "How is she?"

"She's weak. She needs rest." Noelle brushed T's hair out of her face. "Her life isn't in danger right now though."

Eni bolted up. He was looking past everything. His body was rigid. When he touched T, his eyes went back to normal. He had tears in his eyes. "Ellie..."

"Both of you, come here."

My body got up without me deciding to. I sat on the edge of my bed.

Noelle put her arms around us. "It's alright if you want to cry. I don't blame you for being scared. Tia will wake up when she's ready. I promise."

"Is there anything we can do?" I asked.

Noelle put her hand on T's forehead. It gave off a golden glow. "I can give her some energy, but she'll still need more rest before she can wake up."

T needed energy. Sure, Noelle just gave her some. Was there a way I could give her more?

"Are you cold?" she asked Eni.

"Not with the blankets."

She smiled. "Why don't you go change your shirt?"

"I'm okay."

"Why don't you go change your shirt?"

Eni sighed before he got up to change his shirt. It looked alright for it being mid-September, but I hadn't realized he was cold. The others could've had the air on too high.

"I'll be right back," Noelle said.

Eni came back with a thicker shirt. "Where did Ellie go?" He looked at the sleeping bag. "Ain? Did you sleep on the floor?"

"Dunno. She said she'd be right back." I smiled. "I wanted you to have the bed."

"You didn't sleep very good, did you?"

I looked at our sleeping sister. "I knew I wasn't going to. That's part of why I gave you the bed. Didn't it feel good to have T next to you?"

"You didn't want that?"

"She is your big sister."

Eni looked at me sideways. That was a terrible response.

Noelle came back with a pair of plastic bowls. "You haven't eaten, have you?"

I couldn't avoid it now. Eni was awake. Besides, I'd known Noelle for two years now. She'd call me out on it if I didn't take the food. It did smell good.

When I took the bowl, it was full of noodles and vegetables. It looked like something Mama would make when one of us didn't feel good or was coming off of something.

I couldn't really just slow myself down. It tasted like Mama made it. It was amazing.

Eni came and sat by me. "You didn't want me to notice, but you didn't really eat last night."

My flames pooled in my cheeks. I guess I didn't hide it as well as I thought I did.

Noelle looked us both in the eye. "If your moms were here right now, they'd probably tell you if you can't take care of yourselves then take care of each other."

That made sense... I was definitely more worried about Eni than myself. Couldn't speak for my brother, though.

A while after that, I went into the kitchen to stretch my legs. I passed Ai in the hallway.

She said, "I came with Noelle," before I could even ask my question.

Why did she come? Because of what I said to her on the phone yesterday? Did I really worry her that much?

***

Duke and Recah were in the kitchen with my parents when I got in there. The pair looked like they were drinking sodas. Mama had her keys in her hand.

"Won't you go for a drive with me?"

Did I want to go for a drive with Mama? Of course, I did. Still, I couldn't leave. Not when T hadn't woken up yet. Noelle was here, but Eni needed me.

Dad had gone into Japanese. "You should go with your mom, son. Get out for a bit and clear your head."

Duke and Recah were staring at me.

Noelle walked in through the wall. Duke and Recah seemed to see her but my parents didn't. 'Go with your mom. You've hardly left Tia's side since you brought her home. It'll be a while before she wakes up. Phoenix and I are here to watch her. You need to get out of your own head for a bit.'

Get out of my own head? Was Noelle listening to herself? Was that even physically possible?

Mama and I went into garage to get into her car. I got her door for her before getting in the passenger side. This was my first time in her car since I left home.

She'd gotten a new car. This one was grey as opposed to the other one being black. It looked like this was an electric car or at least a hybrid.

Once we were off the property, Mama was ready to talk. "It felt like everyone decided to gang up on you back there, huh?"

My flames pooled in my cheeks. "Kinda..."

"You're worried about your sister, aren't you?"

"Yeah..."

"It's just us in here. You know I won't judge you. Can you tell me what happened?"

I teared up. "We went to check a lead on where Vanny could be. This lady didn't like that we were poking around. We had to fight her. We expected it could happen, but I'm not sure we were truly prepared."

"Because she wasn't the only one who got hurt?"

"I wish I could've stopped that, but that's not why..." I bit my lip. "Our friends and I might as well as have been living furniture."

Mama looked at me in the mirror. "It couldn't have been that bad. You had to fight bad people to get your sister back, didn't you?"

"I fought most of those battles mostly by myself. I kept the friends that are staying on the property with me out of it as much as I could. I didn't want them to pay for my decisions."

"But they did what they could to help you."

I nodded.

"It sounds like they knew what could happen when they went with you."

"That's not the worst part." I clenched my fists. "I grazed her one time. My friend that got hurt didn't land one attack. Kaze basically took her out by herself."

"You didn't want to fight, but you knew that person wouldn't give you a choice if you wanted to find Vanna. There's nothing wrong with self-defense, Lany."

That was hard to remember. That was something I hadn't really allowed myself to think about.

"How did you—?"

"The stories you have told me about being away. You didn't really think about it back then, but you knew you couldn't. It bothers you more to know others could get mixed up in it all."

I looked out the window. "I couldn't think about it when I found out about Vanny. With T hurt because of it, it won't leave me alone..."

"I'm sure she doesn't blame you. She wanted to help her little brother however she could."

I was crying now. "She probably won't, but it feels like I should be the one that had to go through that..."

Mama put her hand on mine since we were at a light. "It's easy to think that way, but it won't help. Your friends want to help you. You just need to give them a chance to."

That was something we both struggled with. Andrea had to farm things out or she couldn't be sure they would be. Mama never thought twice about getting her hands dirty.

"Were you able to get any sleep last night?"

"A few hours."

"You think there's anything I could do to help you with that tonight?" she asked.

I wiped my eyes. "Dunno. Just couldn't get my mind to let me sleep."

We pulled into a parking lot. I wasn't sure I'd seen the restaurant in front of us before.

"Did you eat?"

"One of my friends made food earlier. I'm good for a while."

"Well, I'm going to get myself some soup cuz I don't feel like cooking."

I laughed. They probably had the staff with them, but some things never change.

Mama ordered from the drive-thru before we went on our way.

"Do you think your friend needs help?"

"You'd have to get him to tell you. He's not exactly good at getting help, either."

"Are you going to shower soon?"

I shook my head. "I'm gonna wait a while."

"I have something you can try. I'll give it to you when we get home. I think we used to use it when you weren't sleeping that great."

I sighed. "Okay."

We took the short way home. Audrey was in the other room when I got inside. I did not want to talk to her. I went straight to my room to be with my brother and sister and Noelle.

T hadn't woken up yet, but she somehow looked better. It'd take whatever little measures of progress I could get. I just wanted my sister to get better.

***

Surprise, minna! MtK is 3. Will post 2 other updates today to celebrate!

Thoughts on Ain and his mama? Noelle and the others? Theories? Predictions?

~Shino out!