The darkness surrounded him, not allowing any breathing room. The black was smothering. He went to take a much needed breath, but his heart was blocked. Panicking, he tried to get air, not believing it was impossible. He was faintly aware of brightness touching the lids of his eyes. Only faintly, for his full attention was on breathing.  He thought he registered the sound of voices, but again, he couldn't stop thinking about air going into his lungs. 

But then there was a muffled shout, by a familiar-sounding voice.  And whatever was blocking his airway was gone.  Desperately, he sucked in a huge gulp of air, fighting whatever was keeping his eyes closed.  Delicate hands moved to his eyelids, pulling off what felt like tape.  But that was weird.  Why would they put tape on my eyes?  Looking up, he blinked away the dark splotches.  A face, as familiar to him as his own, swam into view. 

"Rette..."  Her name came from his lips softly, nearly inaudible.  The girl in question's eyes widened and she turned around, speaking to someone behind her. 

"Come here.  He'll want to see you," she said.  The other person responded but Keaton was too dopey to hear it.  Another face filled his vision.  Dare's.  Keaton smiled. 

"Hey, man."

"Hey."  Then Dare slapped his arm, and Rette started hitting at his head. 

Dare crouched a little, smiling, but holding his head away from her all the same.  "What's wrong with you?  Your best friend nearly bled to death, and you hit him?"  Incredulity laced her tone. 

"Yeah, I did!"  He turned his eyes to the boy in the hospital bed.  "You bloody wanker, going and almost dying on us."

Keaton laughed a bit, immediately regretting it when his chest started to ache.  "Sorry.  I can't control who tries to kill me."

Both of their brows furrowed, but Rette was the one to speak up.  "Yeah, about that.  Did you ever see them?  Your attackers?"

Keaton shook his head.  "No.  All I saw were shadows.  Most looked like men, but I thought there was a slighter one, so maybe there was a woman.  It was really dark."  His head started getting less foggy, so he took that to mean the painkillers were wearing off.  Good.  I don't need to lose focus.  I have to figure out who those guys were.  But something strange happened.  His ears picked up on sounds coming from another room. Voices, it seemed.

"Yes, I'm aware," a man's voice said. "I know he's lost a lot of blood, but from what I can tell, there aren't any serious injuries aside."

"What do you mean?" Another man's voice boomed. "His neck was pierced with a spear. If that's not serious, I don't know what is."

"Well, Doctor, I have a theory." He paused. "I've come to believe that because he was in second form when he was pierced, his body reacted quicker. So, his immune system must've pushed off whatever the shadows were trying to inject him with."

Keaton frowned, knowing they were talking about him, but unsure what all the fuss was about. But then there was a snapping of the fingers in front of his face. He looked up, startled. It was Rette, looking slightly annoyed. "Keaton. Are you even listening to us?"

He looked down, heat rushing to his face. "Sorry." 

"Ah, whatever.  What's even going on with you?"  Keaton shook his head, placing his fingertips to his temples.  The voices were becoming too much.  So much white noise in a small space. 

"You wouldn't even believe me if I told you what was happening."  He laughed it off, meeting both of their gazes.  When they didn't speak, he continued.  "I can hear.  Everything.  It's as if I never came out of second form." 

Dare's brows furrowed, perplexity dawning on his face.  "But that's impossible.  Your second form abilities can't transfer over."

He threw his hands up in exasperation. "That's what I thought, but apparently, I was wrong." Rette stood up then, moving to the door.

She bit her lip, clearly hesitant about something. "Maybe we should go talk to Fallow..." Immediately, Dare and Keaton exchanged a glance before quietly showing - so as not to draw attention - "No!"

She grunted. "Sorry. Knew you guys would shut that one down." She narrowed her eyes at Keaton. "But why? Aren't you Fallow's shiny new toy?" When he shot her a glance, a conversation slid into her mind. "Oh.  Right. Sori." 

About to speak again, Keaton opened his mouth, only to close it once more when a burst of pain entered his head.  His hands flew to the crown of his head, trying and failing to diffuse the blow.  "No, Father."  Tyris's voice spoke.  Keaton listened intently, trying to fight this newfound pain.  "You can't make me do that to him.  I actually care about him, and he me.  Unlike you do."  Something that sounded like a slap resonated in Keaton's mind.  A sharp voice followed.

"You'll take his side over mine?  I am the only family that you have left.  This boy that you 'care about' so much won't be able to protect you.  Not if he's dead."

"No!  No!  Father, please."  She was sobbing now. "Don't kill him. I beg of you. I would never forgive you. Ever."

"It's not like you could stop me, Ty. But I will give you two choices One is obviously the better one. I'll let you decide, and I'll give you a little time. You can either let my men... dispose of you little... friend. And we'll just go on living like he never existed. You still love me. Or-"

Keaton faintly heard her think of Dare and Rette, but then the thought that it would be better for everyone not to bring them up. Fallow continued in his head.

"Or we let my men dispose of him. You can no longer bear the sight of me so you start to resent me. If that happens, daughter, you will be banished to the Wastelands. It'll be as if you never existed." He waited. "You have a week. No more."

And the voices faded out.

•

A/N:  See!  I told you I'd update in the next week.  So this chapter is like half-filler.  Some serious stuff is going to start going on in the next couple chapters.  Keaton is going through some weird changes.  Tyris has a week to make a life-altering decision.  And we'll learn more about how the other characters are dealing with Keaton's injury and what comes along with it soon.  Like Rette, Dare, the other 13 members, and Fallow.  Ahhhh!  Serious stuff!

See ya in Chapter Thirteen!
Jordan