I got a bit more sleep after the x-rays, but I was awake plenty of time before a hospital volunteer delivered a breakfast tray at about half past seven. I smiled and thanked her and stuff, but none of the food looked very interesting. I ended up taking the little carton of milk but I ignored the rest.

Fortunately mum came to the rescue, she visited the cafe in the lobby then returned with coffees and croissants for her and mom, and a big jelly donut for me.

After breakfast a new nurse came in. She introduced herself as Nadia, and she was friendly and polite like Brian was last night. Nadia was a shorter woman, middle aged, and her dark hair was wrapped up in a bun. She wore pale purple scrubs and she did the usual nurse stuff. She checked my IV and my blood pressure and heart rate and stuff, she took my temperature, and asked how I was feeling and if I was still in pain.

I actually didn't feel so bad, and either the pain had faded or I got used to it because it was more like a faint dull ache.

When she was done I asked again about going home and she said a doctor would come to see me around noon and they'd be the one to talk to about being discharged.

Resigned to a boring morning in my hospital bed I turned on the TV and found more cartoons, while mom and mum sat with me. None of us talked about the stuff from yesterday or the stuff from the x-rays early this morning, it felt like all three of us wanted to just take it easy and try to pretend everything was fine for now. That other stuff would still be there later, we could deal with it after the doctor said I could go home.

Then about half past nine I got two unexpected visitors. Marissa and Melanie showed up, they knocked at my door and asked if they could come in and see me. As usual the short blonde was done up in her giant witch-hat and frills and layered skirts and stuff, while the werewolf was in jeans and boots and her leather jacket.

When they came in Mom and mum got up and stepped out to stand by the door so my friends could visit without it feeling cramped or crowded around my bed.

"Sorry for coming so early," the short blonde apologized as the two of them stood next to my bed. "Melanie has to work later today so this was the best time to drop by."

I just nodded but I didn't say anything yet. I was still kind of wary, like I didn't know yet if Marissa was going to freak out about me allegedly being part demon or something. And I really didn't know how to deal with the werewolf, there was just too much stuff between her and me. So I was kind of surprised when she started to apologize, in a quiet voice that sounded like she actually meant it.

"Cass I'm sorry I've been such a bitch to you all this time," Melanie said with a sigh. "I know we got off to a bad start right at the beginning, then everything just got worse when Miss Hawthorne told me not to say anything about your scent. Like I guess she kind of set it up so I didn't trust you, or she made it sound like you were maybe dangerous or something? The way she said it in January made it sound like you knew what you were, and you were keeping it secret from the rest of the club. It wasn't till yesterday that I realized you had no idea."

By that point she looked angry, but not at me. Then she sighed again, "Anyways it was crap and I didn't question her like maybe I should have. And I know you've been trying non-stop to be friends with me. I know back in December when the others were all trying to catch me you're the one who was telling them to go easy on me. And I guess I just want to say sorry, ok? Sorry for being such a bad friend, sorry for not trusting you, sorry for keeping stuff secret."

Her voice got even quieter as she added, "I probably don't deserve a second chance, but I'd like to try and start over with you? Maybe we can be friends this time around. I know we've got some stuff in common, like we're both trans girls with some weird supernatural stuff going on. Stuff neither of us bargained on or asked for. And um, I guess that's it. I'm sorry. I hope you're feeling better soon."

For the next few seconds I just sort of stared at Melanie while she was looking down at her feet or something. I never really expected anything like that from her, but I couldn't deny it made me happy to hear it.

"Thanks Melanie," I finally responded. "I really appreciate that. And I'd still like to be your friend."

She gave me a tentative smile, and I smiled back.

Then Marissa grinned, "I'm glad you two are finally friends! It sucked having all that tension and stress going on between the pair of you."

Without waiting for a response the brash witch continued, "So anyways I don't know what's going on between you and Miss Hawthorne, but me and Melanie talked about it last night? After what happened yesterday, if anyone's picking sides we're sticking with you Cass. That whole thing with her keeping secrets and forcing my girlfriend to keep secrets and stuff was crap. And whatever May did that got you hurt was double-crap. Even if it was an accident, she should'a known better."

"Um, thanks?" I wasn't sure what else to say.

I was still really unhappy with Miss Hawthorne, but I had trouble thinking of her as an enemy. And knowing she was a goddess, I really didn't want any of my friends to cross her or get her angry with them. I wasn't sure how to tell them or warn them of that though, without revealing what I learned.

Then again, it crossed my mind that maybe they had a right to know. And I realized, I never actually swore or promised not to tell her secrets. She asked me and my folks not to, but we never agreed or anything.

It was during that awkward pause that my next guest arrived. Kaylee came in, and was momentarily surprised and maybe even worried when she saw who was already with me.

"It's ok," I told her as she moved to stand right next to me. "Me and Melanie made up, we're friends now."

My girlfriend was obviously surprised, but in a good way.

"Cass honey," mom spoke up at that point, "Me and your mum are going to head home for an hour to freshen up and put on some clean clothes. We'll be back here by eleven so we're with you when the doctor sees you. Will you be ok with your friends till we get back?"

I nodded, but Marissa responded before I could say anything. "We'll stick with her Mrs. Underwood. We'll keep an eye on things here till you two get back."

That actually made me smile, like it was such a Marissa thing to do. She had no idea what was going on, she didn't even know if I was in any danger or not. She just automatically figured my folks would be happier knowing I had people with me while they were gone.

Mom smiled too, "Thank you Marissa. And Kaylee, and Melanie. We'll try not to be too long."

"Bye mom, bye mum," I said, and waved as my parents headed out.

With my folks gone the four of us kind of relaxed a bit to talk. Marissa and Melanie took the two guest chairs while Kaylee sat on the edge of my bed. That was kind of nice but also made me blush, especially since I was just in a nightie and it felt kind of strange to be so close to her with other people right there with us.

And it didn't take long before I found myself telling my friends some of the stuff my parents and I learned yesterday. I swore the three of them to secrecy first, and even then I didn't tell them everything.

I told them the big stuff though. Like Socha was some sort of goddess of chaos who'd been banished from the Earth, and that she had a demon consort. And I told them how Socha and her demon were apparently plotting to bring her back to Earth using me as some kind of conduit or something.

On the other hand I decided not to tell them about May yet, and I didn't tell them about how Socha and her demon lover were maybe my bio parents. I wanted to check with my parents before mentioning that stuff, incase it was dangerous or something.

I wasn't going to tell them about the runes and stuff we saw on the x-rays either, but it turned out they all saw the burns on my wrists before May covered them up. When they asked about that I ended up telling them about the runes that were hidden inside my body, like in my arms and legs. I didn't mention the broken circles in my chest or whatever that thing was buried next to my heart though. Considering I didn't even know what it was myself, I figured there was no point worrying them about it.

At that point there was a knock at the door which put our quiet conversation on pause. Brian the nurse was back to see me again. He had another cup of water in one hand, and a plastic sachet with two little red capsules in it.

He greeted me as he came in, "Good morning Cassandra. And hello Cassandra's friends. Can I ask you all to give us a little space for a few minutes?"

The others nodded and got up but they didn't leave the room. They just moved back to stand out of the way in the opposite corner.

"So how are we doing this morning?" Brian asked as he came to stand by my bed.

I shrugged, "Just waiting for the doctor to say I can go home."

He grinned, "That must mean you're feeling all right, which is great to hear. I'm sure the doctor won't keep you waiting too long. In the meantime though I have some meds here for you."

Brian handed me the cup then tore open the sachet to offer me the capsules, and I noticed they looked different from the pills I had last night. Then Melanie gestured at me from behind him and shook her head. She sort of tilted her head up and twitched her nose like she was sniffing the air, while pointing at Brian.

I got the message loud and clear, the polite friendly nurse was supernatural and my werewolf friend didn't trust him.

"Um Brian," I asked as I tried not to sound too anxious or anything. "I don't actually need these I think? I'm not in pain now, not like I was last night."

He held out the open sachet as he replied, "It's a precaution. I have to change your dressings this morning, and that's probably not going to feel so great. Trust me, you're better off taking these now rather than waiting till afterwards."

That made me frown, it sounded reasonable and if he was messing with the burns that'd probably hurt a lot. But Melanie was still shaking her head and gesturing no as she stood behind him. I looked from her to him, then suddenly I felt a shock of fear go through me as I realized why Brian's face looked sort of familiar.

It was back in March, when we had that first group date night. He was the tall slim guy who almost bumped into me in the restaurant. He was the guy who'd been watching us in the parking lot outside the theatre. And he was the guy I spotted following Kaylee and me when we were walking home.

The only thing I was left wondering is if he was going to try something, why wait till this morning? He had lots of chances last night. The answer was pretty obvious though. Mom stayed the whole night with me, and mum was here half the night too. He was probably waiting for them to leave before doing anything suspicious.

Brian must have seen it in my face, the fear or the recognition or something. Like he realized I wasn't going to take whatever drugs he was offering, and maybe he knew he was busted.

His smile faded, along with the pleasant friendly demeanour. He let the pills fall to the floor as he sighed, "I guess we'll do it the hard way then."

I didn't even have a chance to respond before he moved. The cup of water went flying as his left hand grabbed me by the throat. His right hand was surrounded in a globe of glowing purple magic the size of a basketball, and I knew if he hit me with that it might be the end of me.

Whatever his plans, he didn't get the chance to do anything else. No sooner had he grabbed me when Melanie was ontop of him. She pulled him off me and practically tossed the guy across the room into the wall, and when he slammed into it that magic in his hand dissipated away. He slumped down to the floor and my werewolf friend pounced on him before he could get back up. Or she tackled him or whatever, pouncing's more of a cat thing. She wolf-pounced him, and it was awesome.

"Crud this guy's strong!" the wolfgirl growled as she pulled him into some kind of wrestling hold. "Little help, Marissa?"

The brash blonde already had her magic prepared, and as soon as she had a clear shot she hit the guy with a sleep spell. He shrugged it off though and kept struggling, so Marissa hit him again. And a third time.

It actually took four spells before Brian stopped struggling. By that point all four of us were kind of freaking out. My heart was racing, and Kaylee was in the corner staring with wide-eyes.

"Don't let go of him yet," Marissa stated as she grabbed the sheet off my bed. "Let's tie him up to be sure!"

Melanie kept a tight grip on the unconscious nurse as she agreed, "Good call. I don't know what this guy is, but he sure ain't friendly."

"Cass can you walk?" Kaylee asked as she moved to my side. "I think we should get you out of here."

I gulped but nodded, "I think so. Let me get dressed first though."

As much as I was embarrassed to get changed in front of my friends, I absolutely didn't want to be alone at that point. So with Melanie and Marissa tying up the supernatural nurse on the floor and Kaylee standing watch by my bed, I pulled the clean clothes out of my overnight bag and started getting dressed. I didn't have any trouble with my undies but there was some pain pulling the leggings on over the bandages on my ankles. I grit my teeth and forced myself to ignore it though.

Then I had to contend with the IV and after a moment's hesitation I grit my teeth again and pulled it out of my hand myself. That stung for a few seconds and there were a few drops of blood, but I ignored that as well. Then with my back to the others I pulled off my nightie and pulled on a bra and a t-shirt. There was more pain getting my bra on over that big bandage, but I ignored that too. And finally I put on my footie socks and my sneakers and I was good to go.

Well almost. My bun and my nightie went into the overnight bag and I grabbed my phone, then I was good to go.

Brian was all tied up by that point, and Melanie hauled the guy up and tossed him onto my bed. She pulled a blanket over him, and Marissa hit him with another spell or two just to be sure. We pulled the privacy curtain closed too, so hopefully nobody would notice the tied-up nurse we'd hidden in there.

We were all just about ready to sneak out when a knock at the door sent my heart rate even higher.

"Hey, can we come in?" Brooke asked, and all four of us let out a big sigh of relief when we heard her voice.

"Yes!" Kaylee hissed. "Get in here now!"

Brooke and Paige came in then frowned when they saw I was ready to go, "Oh did you get discharged already? Where's your moms?"

I shook my head while Marissa announced, "A supernatural assassin posing as a nurse just attacked Cass! Melanie took him down and I knocked him out but we gotta get her outta here, before someone else tries to get her!"

Paige rolled her eyes while Brooke looked like she was about to question the excitable young blonde, but Kaylee shut them both up.

"Brooke this is serious!" my girlfriend stated. "There's a rogue goddess and a demon after Cass! We need to get her home, where her moms can protect her."

Brooke and Paige exchanged a worried look then the older girl nodded, "My car's in the lot. Let's go, we'll stick together. Cass can you walk ok?"

"I'll be ok," I nodded. "Please let's just go!"

All six of us headed out of my room and we kind of tried to act natural as we walked out of the ward. Fortunately whoever the real nurse on duty was, she wasn't at the desk as we walked past. I had my phone in my hand as we made our way to the elevators, and I started typing out a short urgent message to my parents.

I kept it brief but said nurse Brian attacked me and my friends saved me and they were going to drive me home. I finished the message just as the doors opened, and the six of us crowded into the elevator as I hit send. The doors closed, and I felt a little lurch as my phone gave me a 'no signal' alert instead of a 'delivered' confirmation on my text.

My heart was still racing and all six of us watched the indicator as we waited for the lobby. Except that's not where the elevator took us.

"Um..." Kaylee commented as the indicator changed to the basement, then 'B-2', and finally the sub-basement.

Marissa started rapid-fire tapping the button while Paige tried her techno-magic, but neither of them could make the elevator take us to the lobby.

It finally stopped at the very bottom sub-basement, and with an ominous 'ding' the doors slid open to a dimly-lit bare concrete hallway. Then the elevator's power failed, and the six of us were stuck. The only thing we could do was hope there were stairs and an emergency exit.

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