Cora woke up an hour later, feeling just as exhausted as before. She laid in bed for a while until she heard the chatter of her siblings and cousins as they came upstairs to do their homework. She tried to ignore all the talking, but finally, her sister Ambrosia opened her door.

"Cora! Look what I made at school today!"

"What is it?"

"It's a suncatcher! Isn't it pretty?"

"Oh, yeah, it's really pretty," Cora said, trying to muster up some enthusiasm.

Ambrosia's face fell. "You don't like it?"

"No, no, I love it! But I have a headache and I'm tired, so could you please go? I'll look at it closer later, 'kay?"

"Okay!" She said, her excitement returning as she walked out, closing the door behind her. Cora could hear her outside, talking to their cousins about her day as they wandered off. She groaned and grabbed her phone. There were a few texts from Raina and Faye, asking if she was feeling any better. She responded, and put it down.

After a failed attempt to go back to sleep, she got up and went downstairs to the huge kitchen. Her family was big, and most of them lived in this house, which had been in the family since it had been built a couple hundred years ago. The kitchen was large, but always bustling with someone making something. She breathed in the scent of the kitchen before going over to the sink with disgust. They had a dishwasher, but it was usually too full, and so they had to wash some of the dishes by hand. Cora hated doing it, but it was her turn to do them today. She put on a pair of dish gloves and grabbed the first pan while filling the sink with hot water. Within a few minutes, she was scrubbing it clean, and setting it up to dry. She kept working for a while until her grandmother entered.

"Oh, Cora, your mom told me you weren't feeling well, you shouldn't be doing dishes, you need to rest! Here, let me finish those." She grabbed the pan Cora was holding, and gently pushed Cora out of the way.

Cora thanked her grandmother and decided to go outside and sit by the massive oak tree that sat in the middle of the courtyard. The tree was the magic oak, the tree that sent magic through all of North America. Cora's family had been protecting it for longer than anyone could remember, and they were tied to the oak in an inexplicable way. Cora had been taught her whole life that she had to protect the tree at all costs, and she accepted that, although a part of her had always wanted to run away to someplace without the responsibility of protecting magic for a whole continent. She tried to relax on the soft grass, but she couldn't get comfortable. Finally, she decided to go back inside. She went up to her room and she was about to lay down again when Raina called. She answered, "Hello?"

"Cora, can you get over here? Something's wrong"

"What is it?"

"I don't know, but I'm scared and mom isn't home yet,"

"Doesn't your mom get home right after you do?"

"Yes, but I don't know where she is and she's not answering her phone.

"I'll be over. Do you want me to ask Aunt Maria to come keep you company too?"

"Sure"

In a few minutes, Cora and her aunt arrived at Raina's house. Maria bustled around the room, finding things to do. She asked Raina what was for dinner, and Raina pointed to the freezer. "There's leftovers in there," she said quietly. Maria nodded and began to preheat the oven when there was a knock at the door.

"Cora, could you get that?" her aunt asked.

Cora opened the door and looked in surprise at Ren, the son of her parents' friends who had recently moved to Araville. He was breathing heavily, and as she watched, he shifted from his hybrid form, into a fully human form.

"I was sent to tell y'all that something's happened and that Raina needs to come with me to the hospital, the one in the city, ASAP"

"Why? What happened? Is this some sort of joke?" Cora demanded to know as he leaned against the doorframe, looking exhausted.

"Not a joke, Coral-"

"It's Cora!"

"-I don't know what exactly happened, but it's not anything good, from the way I was told to run over here," Ren finished.

"Alright, I'm coming," Raina said, her big, blue eyes wide with fear.

"I'm coming too," Cora insisted.

"I'll go back to the house and tell your parents where you are, go ahead, Cora," Maria said, looking more worried than before. She walked out, turning up the street and going towards the Leacock's home.

"Well? Let's go," Cora decided. "Ren, do you have your car, or are we supposed to walk all the way to the hospital?"

"My car's at my house, it was faster to run here than to get the car started. Come on," he responded, already walking down the driveway. Cora grabbed Raina's hand and nearly ran to catch up with him, pulling her reluctant friend behind her. They got to the Arrion's house, and Ren started his car as Cora and Raina got in. As soon as the doors were closed, Ren began to drive them out of the town, and toward the city.

An hour later, they pulled up to the hospital. Cora and Raina went inside as Ren drove off to find a place to park. They got into the lobby, and Cora walked with Raina up to the desk.

"We're looking for Ivy Johnson, we were told she was brought in here an hour or so ago?" Cora asked.

"She's still in room 307. I'm so sorry, honey," The nurse answered sympathetically.

"Sorry? What happened?"

"What are your names?" the nurse asked, avoiding the question.

"Cora Leacock and Raina Johnson," Cora nodded towards Raina, who was standing beside her.

"Alright. Are you two family of Ivy?"

"I am, and Cora's with me," Raina said as she grabbed Cora's hand.

The nurse nodded and wrote their names down before handing them each a visitor sticker. "There, write your names on those. Room 307 is down that hallway, through the set of doors, and it should be the third door on the right,"

They nodded and set off down the halls of the hospital. While they were there, Raina's father called. "Hello? Dad?" she said anxiously.

"Hey, honey. You at the hospital yet? I sent Ren to drive you, you should be here by now," he said.

"Yeah, I'm here. We got here about 10 minutes ago, we're on our way to Mom's room. Why? What happened?"

"Just come on, okay?"

"Okay?" Raina's dad hung up as soon as she said that, and she turned to Cora, "What do you think happened?"

"I don't know. We'll see, I guess. Maybe I should go, though?"

"No, stay with me, please,"

"Okay, but I'm going to tell Faye what's up, if that's alright with you," Cora pulled out her phone and began to text Faye as soon as she saw Raina nod in agreement. Cora slowed down as Raina entered the room, and waited outside. A moment later, she heard the sound of Raina quietly crying. She poked her head into the room and saw her friend's mother lying on the bed, too still to be alive. Raina was sitting next to her dad, in tears. She backed out before she was noticed, and slumped down against the wall as she tried not to cry too. After a few minutes, she checked her phone and saw Faye's responses to her texts. They were worried, and Cora sent back that there was no need to come into the city; it would be better for Faye to stay put. Right after she sent that, Raina texted her to say that she should go home, her dad was going to drive her back. Cora nodded and responded on her way out of the hospital. Once she was outside, she called Ren.

"Bring your car back to the entrance,"

"Already? I just parked!"

"Now,"

"Alright, alright, I'm coming,"

Cora hung up and sat down on the lonely bench that was in front of the hospital's entrance, to wait for Ren. In a few minutes, he pulled up, and she got in the car.

"Do you want to stop and grab something to eat on the way back?" He asked quietly.

"Whatever," she said dully.

"I know a really good coffee place that's not too out of the way,"

"Are you asking me out? Because no. If that's so, let's just get fast food," she snapped

He shook his head, "No, it's not a date. It's the fact that you're clearly exhausted, and from the look on your face, I'm going to have to assume that whatever state Raina's mother is in isn't good at all."

"She's dead," Cora murmured, looking down.

"Oh. I'm sorry. Do you want food?"

"I don't care,"

"Okay..." He trailed off as they continued driving. Soon enough, they pulled into the drive-thru at a fast-food restaurant. Cora wasn't sure which one, because it took too much effort to focus. Finally, she was handed a container of something hot, and she looked down. She had a bag of food in her lap, and as they started driving again, Ren handed her a cup of coffee.

"Here you go, try to drink this and eat something too,"

"Okay," she acknowledged the instructions but didn't do anything more than lean her head against the window and watched as the sun slowly set.