"He's awake." I hear her say and peer over at the doorway to see Joanna standing there. She nods and waits a moment after mother disappears before coming towards the bed.

"Hey," I say.

"Hey," she's smiling too but her eyes are just as red as my mother's was. Had Joanna been crying too? How bad was it?

She places herself in the vacated chair and is silent for a little while. I rub my forehead sluggishly and stare at the ceiling waiting for her to speak. I have a feeling she's going to say some things. However, as the minutes tick by and she still hasn't spoken a word I decide I better prompt her.

"What happened?"

I glance at her to see her chewing on her bottom lip in thought. She seems conflicted.

"Use your words, Joanna," I add. She opens her mouth but my mother walks in with that cup of water. I am grateful for it as I take it and chug about half of the large glass. However, I need to talk with my best friend alone. I tell my mother I need a word alone with Jo and she gratefully makes herself scare again.

"Jo, come on." I've sat up a little, leaning on a pillow against the wall. Not wealthy enough for a fancy headboard for my single bed. "Gah! I sound like I'm losing my voice."

"Not surprised considering how much you screamed," Joanna finally says and it surprises me.

"What? I was screaming?" I don't remember doing that but the pain had been excruciating enough, so maybe? I frown and stare dumbfounded.

She nods. "You were flailing all around screaming and shouting 'Shut up, shut up!' repeatedly."

Its as if I'm hearing about someone else. I mean, that could not have been me. I remember none of that. Apparently, I say this out loud.

"Really? Now I'm surprised. We had to send everyone home but don't worry no one saw you like that other than us three."

"Us three?"

"Yeah, your mother, me, and..." She trailed off and had an uncertain and strange expression.

"Felix?" I phrase it like a question, but I know.

Another nod. "He...it's like he knew exactly what was happening."

"How would he know? I don't even know." I rub at my head. It hurts.

Joanna shrugs and bites her lip, probably debating whether to tell me more. I encourage her. She runs her fingers through her hair and twirls some strands around her pointer finger. "He didn't exactly explain, still hasn't...He just told us to trust him and we did and here you are."

"What did he do exactly?"

She gives me a look that clearly states she definitely isn't sure about telling me this part. How bad could it be? Why would it be bad if I'm alive and well enough? "Jo, tell me. Please."

She sighs. "I don't know if you'd like this but it was kind of like...kissing you?" Jo is practically wincing as she finishes and with good reason.

My reaction is like a door-stopper spring. I sit up straight far too quickly. "What?!" The dizziness sets in and I'm falling back against the pillow. Fuck. I lick my lips while rubbing my temples in hopes of easing the ache there. He kissed me? I don't even remember it. Wait. Am I more upset about that?

"It wasn't as if he made out with you while you were unconscious, Colin." Jo says quickly and I glance at her, still rubbing my head. "It was more...Okay, this may sound strange or maybe it won't considering all that's happened lately, but it was like he drained energy from you."

I sit up again, though more slowly and not as far. "Drained my energy?" It hurts my brain a little but my brows knit together in utter confusion.

Jo nods. "I saw this strange light pass between you. Fucking crazy, right?" She chuckles a bit but it's sort of dry and uncertain. I realize then that she's scared, and I don't think just at Felix. She tugs hard on her hair, it looks painful, and then sighs. "You should rest more, we'll...talk later, okay?"

This frightens me.

What was that?

I finally nod and watch her get up as I lay back down. I do feel kind of exhausted still. She pauses a moment at the door. Without turning around, she speaks again. "You know what's even more strange?" She doesn't wait for response but I wasn't planning to give one. "After he was done, he looked less pale and almost rosy-cheeked." She gave a soft snort and shook her mess of bobbed hair. Another moment and she was gone.

I stare up at the ceiling for I don't know how long until my eyes just close involuntarily and I submit to the sandman once more. What was that voice?

---

I wake the next morning feeling much more myself. However, mom won't let me do anything other than sit on the couch and watch television in a cocoon of blankets and pillows. She fawns allover me all morning till about one in the afternoon. A part of me enjoys this show of motherly affection but it does start to get a bit suffocating.

I also can't stop thinking about Felix and what happened. I don't even know what I'm watching anymore, infomercials or a mindless sitcom maybe. I am more focused on the events of the past week. So much has occurred my mind is still so muddled. I bite my lip and glance over my shoulder at my mother in the kitchen. She's on the phone with someone. I face forward gain and try to come up with a sound plan as to how to get out of the apartment without my mother freaking out. I need to talk to him, like yesterday.

I hear her hang-up and I am about to make up some really brilliant excuse off the top of my head when she speaks up first. "Honey, I'm going to go to the store real quick, okay?" She wanders over and pets my head like I'm still four years old.

My heart jumps a bit but I nod. "Sure, okay."

She pauses a moment and kisses the top of my head. "No, sneaking off, alright? I want you to stay here and take it easy, understand?"

I laugh a little nervously and nod again. "Mom, I'm fine but whatever you say." I kind of hate lying to her but this is such a perfect opportunity.

I'm so worried. I hope he won't end up like his father.

I frown and tilt up my head but my mother is all soft smiles and looking at me with a questioning lift of her groomed eyebrow. "Hmm? Everything okay?"

"Yeah, sorry, I'm fine...like I said." I drop my head but I am thoroughly confused. I could have sworn I heard her speak. My head hurts a bit. "Safe trip."

"Alright, sweetie. Be back later." She gathers her things and heads out the door after that.

I wait ten minutes, just to be safe before I break free of my cocoon. I press my ear to the front door just to be sure but hear nothing. I slip on my mother's fuzzy slippers and grumble to myself about being the same shoe size. I really need to grow more, is that possible at my age? I'm already eighteen now.

Damn, eighteen.

I grab my keys and slip out the door. I glance around and see no one. I turn to head for the elevators when a strange chill runs through my body. It's not the euphoric kind I get when I'm around Felix sometimes. This makes me sick to my stomach. I swallow and peer around.

"What the hell." I whisper out loud. The feeling goes away though and I shake my head before continuing on. Would Felix have Dramamine? I doubt it. Maybe afterwards I'll make a pit stop at Joanna's. When I make it to their floor, I bypass my friend's and with determination and resolve stop in front of 14C. I knock with that same resolve.

Felix's opens the door and his expression of surprise and relief and something else has me falter a bit. My heart feels a bit tight too. He does kind of look less pale than usual. How strange. "Colin..."

This time good shivers run up and down my spine and I swallow hard. But as I mentioned before, I am all determination. I actually push pass him, though it isn't much effort as he lets me by far too easily like a blade of grass bending to the force of wind. Malcifer greets me immediately with a load of slobber and it makes me laugh and forget just for a moment why I came. I pat his head and rub his ears. He seems to really enjoy that.

"Felix, we really need to talk," I finally say.

The man closes the door and sighs. He walks pass Mal and me straight for the kitchen. "Would you like some water or anything?"

"Sure," I say half-heartedly. I walk to the sofa, pausing only a moment as I remembered that one early encounter with Felix when I woke up on this very furniture. I sit down and watch him fill a glass. Mal lies down near my feet. His breath still smells something awful. What the hell does he feed him? Rotten eggs? I don't think I want to know.

I take the water but I just hold it. Felix sits in a chair across from me. We are silent for a few heavy minutes. Finally, I look him straight in those otherworldly eyes. "Explain, right now. Everything."

His eyebrows knit a little together. "You're a psychic and your powers have just awoken."

My eyes widen to what I am sure is the size of dinner plates. "Um...excuse me?"

He leans back and rubs his neck. He won't look me in the eye anymore. "I know because I can sense it. And well...I can feed off that energy. Your energy." I am quite flabbergasted and can't even string a single word together let alone a sentence. "You're eighteenth birthday...Fuck, I should have known better...but I still wasn't a hundred percent sure. That was when they awoke. You have psychic gifts, Colin."

Well, smack my ass and call me a wizard.