Crystallized Dreams: Return of the Trix ((DISCONTINUED))

Chapter 12: A Familiar Face

~Two days later....~

"Hey, Katie."

Nicole walked up to Katie's bed and gave the girl a slight shove. "Hey, it's Wednesday. You gotta get up or else you'll be late for classes."

Just slightly Katie pulled down the blankets so that she could see her roommate's face. Katie had beads of sweat rolling down her face and was practically shivering. "Sorry. I just didn't want to get out of bed," she said, trying to hide the way her voice was wavering.

"Of course. Typical," Nicole replied before taking note of the way Katie was sweating and shivering . . . at the same time. "Hey, are you . . . hot . . . or cold, by any chance?"

"Huh?" Katie raised an eyebrow, then shook her head. Uneasily she replied, "No no, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You don't look fine to me." Nicole saw right through her. "Is anything wrong? Are you feeling okay?"

Katie sat up in her bed and took a deep breath. She stared down at her hands, observing the way she was trembling. Another thing she noticed was that her heart was pounding and her head was throbbing, and she was feeling short of breath. She also took note of how she was indeed sweating and shivering. One thing was made certain-she was definitely not feeling okay.

"L-Look, I don't know what's w-wrong with me," Katie admitted, her voice wavering. "But I don't think I can attend c-classes today."

A look of concern crept onto her roommate's face. "As I thought. If you want I could head on down to the nurse's office to get you a pass."

Katie nodded. "Y-Yeah, that would be great. Thank you."

And with that, Nicole left the room. Once she shut the door behind her Katie immediately reached for her phone and dialed her brother's number. He picked up almost instantaneously.

"Do you f-feel that?" Katie asked him, trying desperately to somehow will her sudden surge of adrenaline to die down.

"Mhmm," Josh replied to her. "And I don't like it. At all. And neither does he." In the background Michael could be seen on his own bed, still lying down but looking at intently at Katie through Josh's phone.

"Lake?" Katie asked. Trying not to stutter was taking a lot of effort. "My roommate is getting me a pass from the nurse, so I can skip class for today."

Both the guys nodded.

"Okay. See you there."

After the call ended she quickly slammed her phone back down on her bedside drawer and transformed, regardless of the fact that she was still in her nightwear. Then she opened the window and flew outside, not caring who saw her, and flew towards the lake. Upon arriving, she simply waited in the sky for her brother and Mike to show up. It took them a little while but eventually they came. So the three hovered there, above the treetops, to discuss matters.

"Why do I feel like coming out here just made that feeling even worse?" Michael asked. And he was correct, too. He and his companions had been feeling uneasy before, but now it felt as if they were going to go crazy. The twins could even feel their hands involuntarily clenching into fists.

"It's actually starting to hurt," Josh put a hand on his head.

"I can't take this any longer!" Katie exclaimed. She then summoned the Crystal Flame's essence out of frustration, saying, "Show us where this torture is coming from!"