My Guardian Destroyer.

The Girl.

"What did you mean, 'her yearly visit'?"

"Well, it's not exactly yearly. Sometimes it's once or twice a year, sometimes it's not at all."

My brow furrowed as I frowned. "It doesn't sound like she enjoys being here," I mused.

The nurse chuckled without humor. "Oh, she doesn't. Some elderly woman brought her here this time."

"This time?" I asked, getting more and more confused. Nothing made sense.

She sighed again, albeit roughly and a little frustrated. "It changes. Different people. This time it was an old woman. Last time it was a young boy, the time before that it was a middle-aged lady with her children, and so on. It always different people, but the story never changes. They always find her unconscious."

"Really?" I was incredulous. I think my brain stopped working from the sheer surprise.

She nodded sadly. "They say she's . . . in a different world when they find her, like she's transfixed or something. She's never cumbersome when she's being moved, but when she gets to the hospital and wakes up, all hell is raised."

I could believe that. It sounded like they were killing her. I had never heard of anyone screaming like that before, short of dying, that is.

"Can you guys hold her here like this?" I inquired nervously. Surely they had to let her go if she didn't want to be here, right?

"She's free to leave if she wants, but we usually keep her here for a day or two, just to make sure she's all right."

"And what's wrong with her, truly?"

The woman shook her head, looking amazed. "Nothing at all. Or, at least, none that we can find. We've run full-body tests, brain checks, everything. And there's absolutely nothing the matter there. And she's a very pleasant girl," she defended, and I could see a fondness in her eyes for the mysterious girl.

"But there's times - like now - when she's just . . . possessed." She shuddered.

I leaned back against the pillows, absorbing what she said. The wailing began to take on a sobbing tone, and it twisted my heart, even though I didn't even know this girl. I looked over at the nurse, and she seemed to be sharing in my sadness.

"Is she going to be all right?" I murmured, and the lady nodded, seemingly relieved.

She swept her carrot-colored hair behind her ears. "Yes. In a couple of hours or so she'll calm down."

A couple of hours? How long could she be in this "trance"?

The nurse sighed again before putting on a birght, false smile. It was almost painful watching her try to brush this off as if it weren't happening. It was especially strange that she was ignoring it when the girl was crying down the hall.

"So do you need anything, dear? Would you like some more medicine to get back to sleep?"

I shook my head vigorously, but having to stop when the room began to spin. Ow.

The woman sank down into the chair that had seated my friends before her. "The poor girl has woken up damn-near everyone in the hospital with her screeching."

"I'm sure," I mumbled in agreement. I wouldn't be surprised if she had woken up everyone in Seattle, period.

I glanced at the clock now that there was light in the room, and I noted with great annoyence that the clock wasn't working.

"What time is it?"

"A little after three in the morning, dear."

I almost didn't want to ask my next question.