Kim looked between the two, so many questions surging through her sore head. Why would these total strangers help her? And what did they mean by they were safe?

“My name is Nightingale,” the blonde spoke as she put a hand on the other girl’s shoulder, “and this is Skye.” The latter gave her a little wave. Kim gulped anxiously.

“Are you-you,” she gulped, “are you the police?”

“Nah, they can’t get down here.” Skye waved her hand, but Nightingale glared at this.

“They can. But only if they know where we are.” She answered bluntly. Kim shrank into the blanket, more confused than ever. Without taking her eyes off of them, she unzippped her jacket to hug her bear. Skye glared at the braided woman with narrowed eyes.

“See, Gale, this is why Meridith had me bring her in cause you got the bedside care of-!” 

“My bear!” Skye and Nightgale jumped as the frail girl suddenly leapt to her feet with alarming speed, “Where’s my bear?! What did you do with him?! Where’s my-?! Wh-where’s my-?” The mix of panic and the head rush from launching up that fast, sent Kim falling back into the couch, her head throbbing and heart pounding painfully against her ribs. Uncontrollable tears streaked down her face and she could not control her breathing, taking short and sharp breaths.

Skye scrambled across the room to a table where Kim’s bear sat and grabbed it.

“H-here!” She stammered, holding the bear out to her “look he’s right here, it’s okay! It fell out your jacket and uh- well-” Kim seized the toy and clutched it in her arms. Unable to hold it back anymore, Kim felt herself sink into the bear and breaking into great heaving sobs. 

Kim did not know how long she cried for. Skye, exchanging anxious glances with Nightingale handed her a hankie, which Kim took gratefully and dabbed her rainbow eyes. 

At that moment, Kim wanted to tell them everything. About Trudy, school, what had happened in the girls bathroom, running away, struggling to survive on the street, everything! But Kim knew she could not simply blurt out her life story to these strangers. They knew as little about her as she did about them so telling them everything felt wrong. Instead, she dabbed her eyes and kept them downcast.

“S-sorry about that…It’s just,” Kim sniffed miserably, “it’s just, that I’m so hungry.” That was not a lie, she felt extremely weak. 

“I know,” Skye said with a reassuring yet amused smile, “you’re stomach’s been rumbling the whole time you’ve been asleep.” Kim felt her face go hot with embarrassment. As if she noticed, Nightingale hit Skye on the shoulder.

“Go to Orlaith and explain what’s going on, won’t you?” She said. 

“Right,” Skye chirped cheerfully and, with a slight smile to Kim, left. Nightingale nodded as if to affirm this before turning to Kim.

“You should be fine after a few days of rest. Until then, I think it’d be best for you to stay here till you’re a bit stronger. Meridith wants to see you but she’ll understand,” Nightingale spoke rapidly seemingly more to herself than Kim, “Its been a while since we’ve had a new sister and-”

“Sister?” Kim blinked, “what do you mean? I’m not your sister, am I?” Had Tristen not been entirely truthful with her? Nightingale chuckled weakly in an ‘I’ve never heard that one before’ sort of way.

“I’ll explain after you’ve eaten.” She said, investigating a book, but not before casting Kim a sympathetic glance, “It was hard out there, wasn’t it?”

“Oh, yes!” Kim huddled herself back under the covers, “It’s been awful! I- I did try to go to the shelters but,” should she tell Nightingale about the strangely dressed policemen and the bad feeling she got from them? Would she believe her? “I…I just didn’t like the food there.”Her stomach let out a huge rumble at this statement. Nightingale raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing Kim’s explanation but choosing not to voice it.

“Right,” She spoke, her stern voice tipped with reassurance, “Let’s leave food off of the topic list for now, what’s your name?” 

“Kim,” she answered shakily. Her pounding head made her feel dizzy as if she was going to pass out again. Everything was becoming blurry like she was trying to open her eyes underwater. 

“Here, Kim.” she felt a cold glass being pushed into one hand and a couple of paracetamols in the other, “Take these and lie back down. Skye shouldn’t be too long.” Nightingale’s nurse-like tone did it’s job as Kim did not hesitate in doing so. Coughing, she lied on her back but despite her overwhelming urge to sleep, she kept her eyes on Nightingale. The longer she gazed, the heavier her eyes became. The couch was so comfortable and the blanket was warm…

…

“Right,” Skye’s voice called, jerking Kim awake. The older girl was holding a tray and smirked as Kim blinked at her, “wire in while it’s hot.” she added while placing the tray on the sofa.

Kim, with a sudden newfound energy, sat up at once. On the tray was a big bowl of creamy chicken soup and a mug of hot tea that smelled strongly of lavender. Every instinct she had was to pick the bowl up and drink the soup in one go but instead she picked up the spoon and took a mouthful of soup. Immediately, her core was filled with a sweet warmth she never thought she would experience again. Relief washed over her, and she almost felt like crying again.

“Feeling better?” Nightingale asked, the ghost of a smile on her face as she watched Kim take a big gulp of tea, letting out a sharp breath afterwards. Kim nodded, panting slightly.

“I’m going to go and speak to Meridith,” Nightingale said suddenly,making Kim jump, “keep an eye on her.” With that, she left the room with a slam of the door. The mix of her tone and roughness with the door almost sent Kim’s nerves skyward again. For a moment, she reminded her too much of Trudy.

"No bedside care,” Skye mumbled as she fished into her pocket, and pulled out a small bar of chocolate, “Gale would have my neck for this but, here this will help.”

She handed Kim the chocolate, who took it gratefully and started eating slowly. As she chewed, Kim noticed that the door that Nightingale had left through was ajar. She thought she could hear voices, muffled by the wall. Skye waved her hand toward it.

The door slammed shut! 

“Wait- did you just-!” Kim spluttered, almost choking on her chocolate.

“Um yeah,” Skye scratched the back of her neck, “sorry, it’s been a while since we’ve had a new sister-”

“What do you two mean by ‘sister’ I don’t even know you or who you are!” Kim sighed in exasperation, “Why am I here? Why are you helping me?” 

Skye went quiet at these questions, nibbling on her chocolate methodically. After about a minute, she cleared her throat.

“Well,” she crushed the wrapper, “here’s the thing; have you experienced anything weird lately?” Kim noticed her eyes instantly draw to her galaxy like hair, making her scramble for her hood. To her surprise, Skye laughed.

“Don’t worry, there’s lots here with wild hair colours, I mean look at mine!” she flicked her own locks for emphasis, “happened when I was fifteen, got my eyes too. Tell me, did it happen after a, well… incident?”

Kim blinked. How did she know?

“Um… yes, it did.” she answered finally.

“Uh-huh and did they happen when you were angry or like, when you felt like you were going to explode if something did not happen?”

“...Yeah?”

“What do you think caused this?”

“I did,” Kim groaned gloomily, “I dunno why but I did.”

“Yeah but how did you make it happen?” 

“Oh I don’t know!” Kim scoffed in annoyance, she just wanted to go to sleep right now, “Magic or something, I don’t know! Listen, I appreciate your help but I should probably go-”

“Ah ah!” Skye butted in, wagging a finger like Mrs. Craig, “stop for a moment and think about what you just said.”

Kim stopped, replaying her words back to herself in her head. One word stood out.

“Wait, magic?” Kim asked, to which Skye’s smile grew into a Cheshire one, “You mean… I used magic?”

“Yep,” Kim was wondering if Skye’s cheeks hurt from how hard she was smiling now, “And… what do you think that means?”

A thought surged its way into Kim’s sore head, one so ridiculous and out there, that she could hardly get out the words to convey this thought. 

“Are you saying…” Kim finally looked Skye in the emerald eyes, “I’m… I’m a Witch?”