Soul Stitched (book one)

Chapter 36: Aqua

I was lying on my back on a hard hospital bed when suddenly, 2 security guards or something, grabbed my arms and practically dragged me out of the room! I was sore from the car crash so this isn't helping. Dr. Shep told me I had gotten a concussion so my head was spinning. 

The police literally threw me in another room. This room was large, without anything in it besides a closet door. "Aqua?" I raised my head. "Cashmere?!" A smile spread across my face. I got up and hugged her. "Are you okay? They wouldn't let me see you." she hugged me again. "Yea, I'm fine. Just a mild concussion." I waved my hand to dismiss the idea. "How are you still alive?" she asked me. "How are you still alive?" I replied. "I'm immune to the virus." We said at the same time. My jaw dropped. "Really? No way!" she said. I nodded. "Yea. They took tests and they told me I was immune." I explained. "Same!" I grinned. "We're not going to die!" I laughed. But suddenly it hit me. Why wasn't my dad immune? And my grandma? What if my grandma is already dead? These questions raced through my mind. Why was I immune and not my dad? What's so special about me? I deserved to die, not my dad.

A tear streaked down my face and Cashmere wrapped her arm around my shoulder. "It's alright, don't worry." she said. I nodded. "Yea, we can go home together." she said. That is if the crazy virus people don't eat us first.

Just as we reached the door, it opened and another girl was thrown into the room. She skidded across the white tiles and slammed into the walls. She groaned and slowly got to her feet. I blinked at her, in confusion. "Who are you?" I asked. She brushed dust off her black clothes and shoved her black hair out of her eyes. "Which one of you is Aqua?" she asked. Cashmere pointed to me and took a step away. I rolled my eyes at Cashmere. "How do you know my name?" I asked the strange goth girl. "The doctors told me you were immune to the virus? Well, I am too, and I want to know why only we are." she said. I raised my eyes. "Oh. Well, Cashmere here is immune also." I said as I pulled Cashmere back into the conversation. She smiled sheepishly at her. "Hi." Cashmere waved. I don't blame Cashmere for being scared of the girl, she looked threatening. Her eyeliner really made her look...deathly. "I'm Wilt, I just wanted to meet you guys." she said. I raised my eyes at the name. I looked over at Cashmere.

Wilt? Who names their kid Wilt? That's something you name a dying flowing, not a child. We stood there in silence. "You hear about Pluto? That's messed up, right?" I squeaked. Cashmere shook her head and sighed. "Aqua's not good in situations like this." Cashmere explained. "Wait...you two already know each other?" Wilt asked. I nodded. "We met in-"

My words were cut off by the door opening again. Once again, another girl was shoved into the room. She tripped over her snow boots and fell to the ground. "Crystal!" Wilt cried as she helped her up. "You're alive!" They embraced and I stood there awkwardly. The new girl had long brown braids down her back and a large blue sweater and black tights on. She seemed like a girl that everyone would want to be. I cleared my throat. "Um...hi?" I said. Crystal turned around. "Who are they?" she asked Wilt. "The girl with the red hair is Aqua, the other is Cashmere, and we're immune to the virus." Wilt explained. "Really? Me too!" Crystal said. Confusion washed over me. "You two know each other as well?" I asked. They nodded. "This is a little suspicious..." My voice trailed off.

"We met in Alaska, I know, long story." Crystal explained. "We have time." I said. So, we exchanged stories. They were both equally strange. "Oh, and where's Cryptic?" Wilt asked Crystal. Crystal frowned. "Well, the sumo dudes took me away, but I think Cryptic got onto another truck. So he might be here too." Crystal frowned. "Sumo dudes? What? Wait...you left Cryptic? Why would you do that? You know with his black outs and everything." Wilt cried. "Oh please, he's already gone into zombie land. There's no getting him back." she joked. "Who's Cryptic?" I asked. "Can someone tell me what's going on?" Cashmere shrieked. "Gladly." Dr. Shep said as he stepped into the room. We all jumped.

"I would like you to all look at your palms." Dr. Shep said. What is going on? I pulled my hand from my pocket and looked down at my engraving. "So what?" Wilt mumbled. "Now, look at everyone else's palm." he instructed. I looked at our outstretched hands and gasped. We all had similar markings. In my whole life, no one had ever had markings like mine, now I meet three other girls from different places that have them. What on Earth? "What gives?" Crystal asked. Dr. Shep shrugged. "I was hoping maybe you four girls could explain? I mean, you all have similar markings and are immune to this virus. Do you know anything?" Dr. Shep asked. We all shook our heads. "It doesn't make much sense. I've been studying this virus for years. Nothing like this has ever happened." Dr. Shep said.

"Years?" Wilt asked. "This virus has only just sprung up this week." I smirked at Wilt. She's smarter then she looks. Dr. Shep's eyes widened in horror. He begins to stutter over his words. "What do you know? What aren't you telling us?" I asked. He backed up, but there was no where to go. Dr. Shep shook his head. "I don't know anything, I'm just a doctor." He whispered, horrified. "You created this virus, didn't you? You and many other people have spread this around the world. But how?" Cashmere asked. Good question, but my mind was fixed on one thing.

"You killed my father!" I screamed. I took a step forward and punched him in the jaw. "Calm down Aqua." Cashmere pulled me back. My fist stung but I wasn't going to let Dr. Shep know this. "Why? Why should I calm down? He and other people have killed innocent kids, mothers, and fathers. Doesn't he deserve to suffer?" I asked. Where was this anger coming from?  Wilt grabbed Dr. Shep's arm and shoved him into the closet. I walked over and locked the closet door. When I pulled my hand away, the lock was covered in water. Not sweat, but actual water. It dripped onto the ground. I stared at it in confusion. "What's wrong?" Cashmere asked.

When I looked up at her, everything smacked me in the face. It was a crazy idea, but it made sense...no it couldn't be...could it?

"What?" Wilt asked. My mouth hung open. "Our palms." When we looked down at them, they were glowing! Mine glowed a soft teal color like it did on the cruise. Wilt's swirl engraving glowed purple, Cashmere's sun glowed and orange color, and Crystal's shown a sliver color. We all gasped. Something inside me stirred and I looked back up at them.

"It all makes sense now." I whispered. "What?" Crystal asked as she looked over at Wilt, worry in her eyes.

"Cashmere, on the cruise, when we were fighting, you were glowing and it was raining really hard when I was mad? Remember? A-and how when I'm upset, I need the water to cheer me up! And Wilt...you said you almost killed your dad with a black mist and that random snow storm when Crystal was mad..? And our engravings!" They all looked at me like I was nuts, all except Wilt. Something clicked and she understood.

"Oh my God." Wilt whispered. "We have powers."