~Abby~

"Remind me again why you brought her here?"

"It seemed like my only option!"

Male voices filtered through the fog in her brain, but she didn't know who they belonged to. Her lids weighed a hundred pounds, she couldn't get them to open. Where was she? The last thing she remembered was arriving in the cemetery outside of town. And who were the people talking around her? Was she in a hospital or something?

"Wesley, if she really is a -"

"You know she is. You can smell it on her as well as I can."

Smell what on her? She hadn't taken a shower that morning, but there was no way she smelled bad. She had to get up, but when she tried to move, her body wasn't listening. Her limbs were heavy and thick, her eyes refused to open.

"Alex, I've never met a witch with this kind of power signature. But I know you have. I know you can sense it too...if her magic smells this strongly, she has to be -"

"Enough, Wesley. I know very well what this could mean."

Witch? Whoa, what the hell was going on? Who were these people? Where the hell was she? Movement on her right turned to pressure on the bed beside her leg. Someone sat down. A moment later she felt a damp cloth rest on her forehead.

"Would you two shut up?" That was a female voice, "The poor girl is trying to wake-up, but you two blabbermouths are being too loud to notice."

Slowly, squinting in the dim room, Abby's eyes finally listened to her. A teenage girl with long blonde hair sat beside her, a small smile and calming brown eyes looked at her. Her face was rounder than Abby's, as if her body was still holding onto childhood. The damp cloth she felt on her forehead moments before was sitting limp in the girl's hand.

"Hi, gorgeous. My name is Tori, how are you feeling?" She smiled warmly, setting the damp cloth on the nightstand beside the bed. Half expecting a doctor twice her age to be looking down at her, Tori's kind face was a bit of a shock. Squeezing her eyes tight, trying to clear them of the remaining fog, Abby shook her head.

"Uhhh," Abby lifted a hand to her head -- man did it hurt. She had enough migraines in the last few weeks to know when one was imminent. Great, just what she needed. She tried clearing her throat, her tongue feeling as heavy as her body did. "Okay...head hurts."

Tori looked concerned, her brows pinched tight. Picking up a small glass of water, she reached forward and helped Abby sit up enough to take a small sip. "Here, this might help."

Tori turned her head away from Abby, "I thought you said you caught her before she hit her head."

"I did! If you just blacked out, I'd bet you'd have a headache too!" The man standing by the end of the bed, arms crossed, looked vaguely familiar. He had dark scruffy hair, a little curly here and there. Tanned skin contrasted against the red flannel shirt he wore, sleeves rolled up. He was too far away for her to see his face clearly.

"Both of you, enough. Wesley, keep your voice down."

Abby leaned back into the fluffy pillows while the voices filled the room. Looking past Tori, Abby noticed another man standing off to the side of the bed, this one older than the first one. He had short-cut chocolate brown hair and a strong jawline. There was an aura of authority about him, in the way his thick arms were folded over his broad chest. But when Abby looked higher she found kind green eyes, a softer color than her own.

The younger man, Wesley, didn't take his eyes off her.

Well, she definitely wasn't in a hospital. Wood-covered walls surrounded her, a painting of the mountains hung behind Wesley's head. It looked like someone's bedroom, complete with a low dresser against the far wall and a closet on the other. She put her arms underneath her, trying to sit up and failing miserably. Her muscles had no strength in them. It felt like that time she had gotten the flu when she was twelve and had spent days on the couch unable to move.

Tori's head spun back around and she put an arm around Abby's shoulders, helping her to lean up against the wood headboard. The older man came around the other side of the bed, an extra pillow in his hands. He put it behind Abby's head as Tori helped her lean away from the headboard briefly.

"There we go, that will be a bit more comfortable than wood behind your head, I'd say." The man gave her a gentle smile, his forest green eyes bright in the dim room. He didn't look to be over thirty years old, if that. But something in the small wrinkles on his temples, and the way he held his head told Abby he had seen a lot.

Abby took a breath, clearing her throat one more time, before trying to speak again. "Where- where am I?" Her voice sounded hoarse to her own ears. Her brain was waking up and she really wanted to know where she was.

The man beside her pulled a chair over and sat down, leaning on his legs. "What's the last thing you remember, Abigail?"

Half of her brain wondered how this stranger knew her name. The other half wanted to know where the hell she was. But then she found herself answering his question anyway, the pain behind her eyes beginning to pound harder.

"Um...I drove out of town to the cemetery...I remember getting out of my car..." Her eyebrows pulled together tightly, she couldn't remember anything after that, no matter how hard she tried. After a moment she gave a meek shrug, "That's it...I don't remember anything after that."

The man nodded, rubbing a hand over the stubble on his chin. He inclined his head towards the end of the bed where Wesley still stood, arms crossed over his chest. "Wesley here found you out there, seems like you blacked out. Does that happen often?"

Since waking up in a room full of strangers, Abby hadn't felt in danger. She realized she should have -- she could have been kidnapped and should be terrified. But none of the inhabitants of the room gave her any reason to feel uncomfortable or afraid, and the pounding in her head was making it more difficult to think by the second.

Just because she wasn't threatened, though, didn't mean she didn't want her own questions answered.

"Where am I?" she asked again, hoping her voice sounded stronger that time.

Tori answered, handing the glass of water back to Abby and urging her to take another drink. "You're at Alex's house -" she indicated with her head to the man beside the bed, "-Wesley wasn't sure what else to do, so he brought you here."

Abby gave the glass back to Tori after taking a drink, and glanced from Alex to the end of the bed. She didn't bother saying that he could've taken her to the local clinic, which would have made more sense. She pulled the blanket covering her legs closer to her chest. "How long have I been out?"

The three people in the room shared a glance before Alex sighed and looked back at her. "Almost five hours."

Five hours? That had never happened before. What could have changed to make her pass out for that long? Her heartbeat quickened, anxiety making her skin crawl. Her face must have shown the panic she felt inside, because Tori and Alex were quick to reassure her.

"It's okay, we brought your car here and it's in the garage..." said Tori.

"No need to worry, child. You're perfectly safe here, don't feel like you are in any danger..." Alex said as he laid a gentle hand on her arm.

She had blacked out before, a couple of times. But it had always been in the safety of her home and never for that long. She was still in such shock she barely registered Tori leaving the dim room, heading to the right down a narrow hallway, the empty water glass in her hand.

Alex gave her arm a slight squeeze, tearing her attention out of her own thoughts and back to him. The sudden movement made her head spin. "It's alright, Abigail. I promise you, you are safe here."

She was starting to feel like passing out again. The pounding in her head was almost unbearable, spots occasionally danced in her vision. The room felt too small, tightly packed with the people and furniture it held. She was fairly sure her voice shook when she spoke, "How do you know my name?"

A sheepishness came to Alex's face, "We looked at your driver's license."

Oh.

She was going to give in to the impending blackness that threatened to swallow her when Wesley took up the place Tori had vacated. He looked at her intently for a moment. She had just enough sense left in her to notice his skin color made his crystal blue eyes seem unnaturally bright. "Why were you in the cemetery, Abigail?"

She heard Alex say something, his tone not as gentle as it had been a moment before. But she couldn't tear her eyes away from Wesley's. She squeezed her eyes shut tight, trying to rid them of the fog that clouded them. "I...I needed answers...."

Wesley's brows pulled tight on his forehead, "Have you ever blacked out like that before when you channel a spirit?"

What was he talking about -- channeling a spirit? Had some ghost taken over her body in the cemetery? Is that way she couldn't remember anything? Raising a hand to her forehead, Abby shook her head, "I..I don't know what you mean...I didn't do anything."

Wesley's lips parted to say something else but was interrupted by Alex, "Wesley, enough. The girl needs rest."

Transfixed, Abby watched as Wesley's eyes left hers and looked across at Alex. The small lamp beside the bed, that Abby hadn't even realized was on, reflected in his eyes. The crystal-blue pools seemed to shimmer.

"We need answers, Alex. If she's behind the murders --"

"Don't be ridiculous, son. Does she look like a murderer to you?"

Wesley scoffed, "Well, no, but-"

"Wesley."

The tone of Alex's voice shifted deeper, sharper. Even in her bleary state of mind Abby could hear an order when one was given. She watched as Wesley snapped his mouth shut, his lips pushed into a thin line. He might not have been speaking but Abby got the impression he had a whole lot to say. How such cool-toned eyes could look so fiery was a mystery to her. Her eyelids were feeling heavy, her limbs starting to feel like they were made of led again. Why was she so tired? She didn't usually feel so drained after an episode.

"You need to rest, Abigail. Your body is still recovering."

Forcing her eyes to stay open, she shifted her head on the pillow to look at Alex. There were small wrinkles beside his eyes, a small frown on his lips. Somehow, she found the strength to speak, "Why do I feel like this? This...this hasn't happened before."

Alex glanced past her briefly before meeting her eyes again. "From what Wesley described, your body was overtaken by a spirit. Given enough time, your body just can't handle that invasion and it begins to shut down. But I haven't seen this happen in quite a long time."

There were so many questions filling her but just the thought of asking them made her more tired. So many things didn't make sense and yet here she was, laying in a strange bed with barely enough energy to lift her head. She'd been safe until now -- she believed that no one in this house meant her any harm. Maybe she could rest a bit more before getting her questions answered.

As if he could read her thoughts, Alex smiled softly, "Rest, child. I will help in any way I can when you wake up."

Before she could form a thought of agreement, her eyes slid shut. The last thing she heard was the shuffling of footsteps and the door being gently shut.