Nick paced the floor in front of the Elder healers, his heart in his throat. “How is she?” he begged to know.            The Doctor finally came out, it seemed like hours. “She’ll live, you have to watch her closely, she is the key.” She spoke softly.            “Take her upstairs, watch her close.” Another hissed at him.            “Alright.” He said picking her up and carrying her to a spare bedroom.          Footsteps paced the floor near her. Ivy still wasn’t able to open her eyes, “Well, how is she?” Marcie asked.            “She's healing, but slowly. We could still lose her. Why didn’t I go after her? Why didn’t I take her home?” Nick sounded frantic.             “Nick, it’s not your fault. I am s

             Nick sat down next to Ivy; Marcie set their plates down in front of them. It smelled great, but something inside Ivy wanted out. She closed her eyes and counted to ten, the feeling went away.             Ivy wanted to tell Nick about what she was feeling, but she didn’t want him to worry about what she was feeling. Maybe it was all the stress from everything from her parent's murders, from everything that happened at school. She was hoping she wasn’t losing her mind. Maybe she was losing her mind and she would find herself locked away in a padded room. Maybe that would be good for everyone, maybe she did kill her parents and the town would kill her for it. Maybe they would torture her for it. She sighed, but Nick didn’t say anything, she was thankful for that.            Ivy ate quickly and looked at Nick. He was stunned. “What?” s

             Nick knew it was a bad idea to go to school tomorrow, but he wanted to keep it as normal as possible for Ivy. She was going to go through the ritual and it was going to be hard enough on her to not be able to control where she would go. Just the fact the Shadow Dwellers forced their magic into her body, she would be with them first, he wanted her to fight, but she would lose the fight.            “Damn.” He said out loud, but Ivy didn’t hear him, and he was glad. Nick wanted to know what she was thinking, but he didn’t want to force her to tell him. He wanted her to be upfront about her thoughts, but she didn’t know him, so that put her guards up. He knew a lot more about her, but he didn’t want her to know that, not yet at least.            “Tell me something, Nick,” Ivy said turning to face h

             Ivy wasn’t sure if she should follow him out of the room. She didn’t want to go through this stupid ritual. She wanted to be a normal teenager, but that all was taken from her when she was thrown into this world that she thought didn’t exist. She wasn’t sure if her parents left any clues for her back at her house. She wanted to visit there alone, maybe she could sneak there and find out.            Looking back out the window, she heard Nick’s voice outside, he wasn’t happy. He was arguing with his father about leaving. He was yelling about the ritual and how he knew they were going to be doing it tonight and he wanted it stopped and that she wasn’t ready, but his father ignored him.            Ivy sighed, she watched them drive off. A soft knock at the door, she turned to see Marcy standing at the doorway, she was smiling.      

           Ivy couldn’t take it anymore, she moved her legs to the side of the bed, walking to the door she opened it, and of course like promised two men stood there. One turned to her and smiled.            “Needing to find Drake?” he said clearing his throat.            “Yes.” She whispered. “Do you know where he is?”            “I’m here,” Drake said coming down the hall. “I just had some things to take care of, did you want some food?”            “Yes.” She said half smiling at him.            “Why don’t we get something then.” He said wrapping his arm around her. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to sleep so I had some pizza brought here just in ca