Slugterra: The New Shane

Chapter 35: The Lightwell

Alana's POV

I woke up multiple times in the middle of the night. Always feeling chilled and shaky, I tossed and turned a bit, and only because I felt so exhausted did I eventually fall asleep, only to wake up again an hour later. Every time I woke up, I would curl up tighter under my blanket and try to expel the cold feeling that was creeping all over me. I also had a headache that seemed to be continuously getting worse. When I woke up around seven in the morning, I shivered and turned to face Ash, who was usually by my side. Instead, he was curled up on my bedside table. I think I even heard him sneeze a few times. I wanted to get up and see if he was okay, but getting out of bed didn't seem too likely.

Shivering again, I started to realize that the cold feeling felt a lot like dark energy. It wasn't the direct dark energy that I had experienced when Dana had tried to ghoul me. This felt like there was just dark energy surrounding me, but never coming into contact. Like there was no light energy to balance things out, so all I felt was the dark.

Bearing that happy thought, I didn't fall asleep again. I only stared at the wall of my room, trying to make sense of what was happening. I only got out of my daze when I heard a knock on my door. I turned around with some difficulty and saw that the clock read nine in the morning. I sighed- usually I was awake by eight, but here I was, sleeping in and still feeling exhausted.

"Yeah?" I called out a little weakly to whoever had knocked.

"Alana?" It was Trixie. "Are you okay? You never came downstairs, so we just sorta let you sleep in. Eli went out, but he should be back any minute. Pronto's downstairs arguing with the slugs on which movie to watch. Wanna come watch? I'll be filming," she added, laughing.

"I'm actually not feeling well," I said. On cue, I started coughing and shivered. "Could you maybe grab me another blanket-" I began to ask, but suddenly there was a crash from downstairs, and I could hear Pronto yelling. "Is everything okay?" I called. I heard Trixie sigh.

"Pronto's stuck up on the ceiling, I think. I'll get him down real quick, then I'll get another blanket for you," she said. I smiled a bit and nodded.

"Okay," I said quietly.

I heard Trixie hurriedly descend down to the living room, but then I heard another slam, this time sounding like a door. I winced- the noise didn't exactly help my headache. I heard voices coming from downstairs. It sounded like Eli was back, but something was wrong. Everyone sounded worried, but I couldn't pick up the exact conversation.

"Never seen one sick..." I heard Kord say. I frowned and gathered my energy, sitting up and getting to my feet. I stumbled, but quickly regained my balance. I glanced over at my bedside table. Ash yawned and opened his eyes, and I couldn't help but wince at his poor state.

He looked much paler than usual, and his eyes were dark and without the usual flame that the Infurnus usually had. He chirped quietly and sighed.

"We'll fix this, buddy," I said warmly, pulling on my slinging gear. The longer pants, gloves, and vest kept me much warmer than my pajamas, but the chill I had didn't seem to disappear. Sighing, I grabbed the black blanket off my bed and wrapped it around me, clutching it tightly. The sight would have been amusing in different circumstances. I looked like a child pretending their blanket was a cape. Except this child was cold and could hardly walk.

I walked over and picked up Ash with my free hand, holding him close to me and under the blanket. If he had whatever I had, he would be as miserable and cold as I felt.

I took slow, shaky steps down the staircase, listening to the gang's conversation as I went.

The gang (with the exception of Pronto, who was dangling from the ceiling by Jellyish goop and Arachnet webs) was huddled around a pillow on the floor. Laying on the pillow was Burpy, who looked like Ash- sickly pale and low on energy. It was heart wrenching to see the Infurnuses like this.