Chapter 13

Instructions

Chapter 13 - Lizzie Lizzie hadn’t thought it would get worse. To be fair, she wasn’t sure what it was exactly. The whole situation still alarmed her quite a bit. Her brother had wings, one of her friends had magical powers, and now someone had been stabbed. Not exactly a great Monday. Another text from Joel popped onto her phone screen. She quickly scanned it while taking another bite of toast. Lizzie was grateful for his updates on the whole situation. It wasn’t just Scott she was glad to hear about, though that was a big part of it. She was also glad that Joel was… was okay about the whole hybrid thing. He had told her about that Grian guy of course, and about his own situation as a hybrid, but she had still worried. None of them knew exactly how many people had become hybrids other than their little group. There didn’t seem to be mass chaos of any kind, so Lizzie figured most people hadn’t been changed. The sound of Jimmy practically falling down the stairs came from the top floor. Lizzie glanced over to see her brother in wrinkled pajamas trudge into the kitchen. He had the distinct look of someone who had gotten little to no sleep the night before, a large contrast to her normally peppy brother. She wasn’t surprised he’d got no sleep. Since the magic incident with Scar, He’d been getting horrible nightmares. Several times they caused him to wake up screaming. He’d even slept in her room the night before, and it had seemed to help. But even still it hadn’t sounded like he’d got much rest. He came to sit next to her, but upon seeing her breakfast, was reminded to get some food of his own. “Hello,” Lizzie mumbled, her voice still scratchy from waking up. “Hey” He slid into the seat across from her, setting his stuff down. “I talked to Joel last night, Scott’s been hospitalized.” Jimmy’s spoon fell back into his bowl, spraying milk onto the counter. “What! Why?” Lizzie figured the news would hit hard. She'd seen Jimmy and Scott hang out on occasion during school, and they seemed to be fairly good friends. She hated having to be the one to tell him. “I don’t know, Joel was pretty hard to understand. All I really heard was something like ‘oh bloody heck, he’s been stabbed’” She said, attempting to mimic boyfriend’s voice. “Well- well can we go see him?” Lizzie nodded. Jimmy sprung from his chair and left, presumably to get something to cover his wings. Lizzie was a bit surprised that he’d remembered. She went to wait in the car, taking out her keys as she pushed open their front door. It didn’t take much waiting for Jimmy to practically sprint out of the house and into the passenger seat. As soon as he was buckled, she started the engine and pulled out of the driveway. The whole ride there Jimmy anxiously stared out the front window. Lizzie could hear his foot tapping on the floor of the car, a nervous habit. The parking lot was full and it took Lizzie an annoyingly long time to find an open space. Jimmy suggested that she drop him off and she continued the search, but by that point she’d located one near the far end of the lot, a ways away from the hospital’s front doors. Before she’d even stopped the car in the parking space, the passenger door was flung open. Once fully parked, Lizzie got out and similarly sprinted with her brother through the parking lot and into the main entrance. The lady at the front desk was talking hurriedly to someone on the phone. Though seemingly deep in her conversation, it didn’t take long for her to notice the two, very out of breath siblings now standing on the other side of the counter. She put the phone down, asking the person on the other end to hold for a minute, and addressed them. “May I help you?” “We need to see Scott Smajor,” Jimmy puffed out. The lady nodded. “What are your names?” Before either of them could answer, they heard a voice from down the hall. Joel had rounded the corner and spotted them. He jogged over, and gave Lizzie a quick hug. He looked to be in the same clothes as the last time she’d seen him, though now with added wrinkles and creases. The only thing different was a grey hat atop his brown and green hair, Most likely there to cover up his own hybrid aspects. He sighed, “Scott’s down this hallway.” vv continued in N&C vv