The last thing that Jasmine remembered was eating dinner with Robbie in the food court in the mall. Robbie had claimed that he needed to use the restroom, and hadn't come back for about 15 minutes. When Jasmine had gone knocking on the door for him, she had heard a muffled reply. She peeked in, against her womanly morals, and screamed when she saw Robbie on the floor of the bathroom, spitting out a grayish blue liquid. He gazed up at her with pleading eyes and pointed towards his backpack. She ran over and opened it. Inside was a dark purple crystal. She saw him nod vigorously and handed him the crystal, which he proceeded to swallow. After about a minute, he seemed fine again, except for that reddish glow in his eyes.
For about an hour, their date had gone well. The two had gone through all the stores at least twice, and had stopped for a quick Pepsi. But on the start of the second hour, it all went downhill. Robbie had stopped talking, the glow in his eyes had grown tremendously darker, and he seemed meaner.
Suddenly, on the way to the food court to exit the mall, Jasmine was grabbed roughly from behind. She was unable to scream, for she had the wind knocked out of her by a knee in the chest. She felt an electric zap, and fell to the ground in a muffled gasp of pain, and then submission. But before she blacked out, she saw Robbie huddle in front of her and stick one of the purplish crystals in her right ear.
It was pain from a nightmare. She was tempted to scream, but the electric zap seemed to have drained her energy. She felt a drilling sensation in her head, and then all was dark and silent. She was no longer alone in her head.
When Jasmine awoke, all she saw was darkness. She still felt the pain in her head, but it was less intense than it had been. For this, she felt immensely grateful. But the feeling didn't last long.
"Welcome Jasmine. We've been expecting you." Came a muffled voice in the distance. Jasmine tried to crane her neck to spot the voice, but she couldn't move. She just sat in silent submission until the voice ordered her to move. Suddenly, it felt as though she was a marionette that had just had its strings cut. She slumped further to the ground.
She felt a strong hand pull her chin to eye level, and she gasped. She was staring into Robbie's intense eyes. He smiled at her as she desperately tried to move, back away, or even speak. Finally, she said her first words. "Why?"
Robbie let go of her chin and stood up. He held out his hand to her, as she pulled herself up from the cold ground. "Well, you see it's like this.." He turned form her, his face shadowed in the sleek mass of his dark red hair. "I love you a lot, Jas." Jasmine let out a small huff as he said this, her memory constantly returning to the image of Robbie in bed with her best friend.
Robbie, seeing this look on Jas' face, walked to her and held her tight. "Jas, as hard as this is to say, that wasn't me with Amanda that night."
Jasmine huffed again, this time more contentiously. He looked at her disbelieving face hard, his gaze, one of true love. "And I'll prove it." With a snap of his fingers, a tall boy, about the same size as Robbie came from the shadows. "Jas, this is Joe. My twin."
It was about 10:30, and Tanner had been a nervous wreck all morning. Their group had separated, and that had left her with Taylor. She had to admit he was nice. But the whole time that she should be carefreely shopping for nice clothes, she was worrying about her clothes, her hair, and all the rest of her appearance. She had stopped in bathrooms about 4 times now, just redoing her lipstick, or adjusting her skirt. And she also had this paranoid feeling that he was always watching her. You're just nervous. Her mind told her. It's perfectly normal for a teenage girl to get nervous around a gorgeous, sweet, hunky… Suddenly, the pain hit her like a tidal wave washing up on a desert. She fell to the ground in pain. "T…Tay…. Help…"
Taylor stopped short when he heard Tanner say something. There she was her hands on her temples, squeezing her eyes shut. He ran over to her and dropped to his knees beside her. He grabbed her hands and pulled her chin up until she was on eye level. "Tanner? What's wrong?"
Tanner would've answered, but the pain…oh man the pain! It was too great to even be physically there. It was almost to the point of unreal. She curled her body into a tight ball and started to thrash around wildly, her arms and legs flailing up in the air, and then back to the ground just as fast.
Tay tried to pin her shoulders to the ground as to keep her from inflicting any pain upon herself, but he couldn't keep her down. Suddenly, her body lurched up, and then fell back down to the ground, almost lifeless.
Her head hit the ground with a loud and audible crack, and her body sprawled flat onto the cold stone floor. Her eyes were closed, but her eyelids fluttered slightly.
"Oh God….Tanner!"
As Cari and Eric walked up and down alleyways of Tulsa's main streets, the two talked nothing of the Shee, and Cari was amazed to see that Erik was once, himself, just like her. Alone and helpless to a superior seeming race. He had talked of movies, and events that he had always loved, but now could never enjoy. People could never see him again, because of his appearance. They would not understand. But he still enjoyed talking to old friends, ones who would always stick with him, despite his blue hair and dark orange-red eyes.
Cari just listened as Eric vented, paying close attention to every word he spoke, as though it held some deeper meaning than he was letting on. Soon, he turned to her and grinned.
"I bet I am boring you."
Cari shook her head and smiled back. "Not at all. I find listening to you very interesting." The two returned to walking, but this time, Eric began to speak of the Shee.
"Well," He began. "We are a race of beings who live as parasites. We live off other people. But why you were chosen, is because you are very strong. You are strong willed, and you fight for what you believe in. I know that taking you hostage and then sticking a controlling being in your head isn't exactly your idea of something you believe in, but we actually choose our so-called "victims" by certain standards. They are not random."
This fact bewildered Cari. She had not thought of the Shee as caring beings. They had stolen her life from her, and now she was a prisoner in her own body. But the was Eric said this, it made her change her entire outlook on the whole situation. She stopped when she noticed Eric lagging behind.
Eric looked up at her. "Cari, will you be one of us?"
Suddenly, a light, one which Cari had never seen before, shone in her mind. It showed happiness. A new life with Eric. Love beyond all possible imagination. And it was all hers for the taking!
She nodded slowly, but deliberately. "Yes. I will join you." She held out her hand. "Guardian."
