#grrlpower

The only problem was that she had no idea what happened.  They’d been on a road trip, on their way to…she couldn’t remember where. Some place rumored to be haunted of course.  Anyway, they’d been on their way to the location and then she’d been driving the van and Arthur and Sydney had been injured in the back and she had no idea what had happened between the two.

Vivi tried to figure out what had happened.  Something…They must have been attacked or something, and Arthur and Sydney had jumped forward to defend her and Mystery like they tended to do, but that didn’t make sense because Arthur tended to hang back when the threat was ephemeral, and Sydney was a long-range attacker.

Okay, maybe it was a physical attacker.  Arthur at the front, Sydney supporting from the back.  And they managed to get past Arthur’s defense and remove his arm, hard as that was to believe, and then ripped out Sydney’s eye.

Wait.  No.  The threat would have done more damage to Sydney if that was the case, and Vivi would’ve gotten hurt too because no way was she going to let anything hurt her two BFFs.

Different direction. It looked like Sydney’s eye had been ripped out of its socket.  So something got up close to her.  Still probably a physical threat because Vivi didn’t see how a metaphysical threat could get close enough to Sydney to do that.  Maybe it caught them by surprise and went for Sydney first, maybe considering her the biggest threat because of her powers.  Then Arthur tried to defend them and got hurt.  And Vivi did nothing?  That didn’t make any sense.  There’s no way Vivi would just sit back and let them do all the work!

Maybe she’d just somehow gotten really lucky?  Mystery seemed uninjured too though, and wouldn’t it make more sense for three of them to be injured if it was just luck?  Maybe they managed to get to the safe zone they set up, but how would Vivi drag both of them to the safe zone?

None of this made any sense!

Vivi took several deep breaths, relieved that the police were leaving her alone.  Let’s try this one more time.  Arthur missing an arm.  Sydney missing an eye.  No other injuries?  Hard to say. They’d both been covered in so much blood it would hide any other injuries.  Vivi and Mystery are both okay, if shaken and missing memories. Were Sydney and Arthur missing memories?  Sydney had certainly been confused so it seemed likely.  Maybe she could ask Sydney if she was still awake.

Except she couldn’t find Sydney anywhere.

Oh God.  Had Sydney had another serious injury Vivi had missed?  Vivi waved down a passing nurse.  “Excuse me, my friends, they were hurt really bad, and I can’t find Sydney.  She was-was missing her-”  She couldn’t finish.

The nurse seemed to catch on.  “She’s in the operating room.”

And Vivi slapped herself upside the head.  Of course she needed surgery!  Parts of her skull and optic nerve had been visible.  “Are Arthur and Sydney going to be all right?”  Vivi didn’t think she’d survive if they didn’t make it.

“Sydney should be fine.  Losing her eye is going to affect her for the rest of her life, but her life isn’t in any danger.  Arthur, the young man…?”  Vivi nodded. “He lost a lot of blood.  The doctors stabilized him, but it did a lot of damage.  We’ll just have to hope that he’s strong enough to pull through at this point.”

Vivi swallowed. “I…I see.  Thank you.  I-I need to call their families.  Excuse me.”

It had only just occurred to Vivi that she needed to call Lance and Sydney Senior.  She wasn’t looking forward to it.

Vivi took a few moments to pet Mystery and calm down and gather strength.  Then she dialed Sydney Senior’s number.  She kind of wanted to put off talking to Lance a bit more.

“Hello, Sydney Scoville Sr.  How can I be helping you?” asked Sydney Senior in a fake accent.

Vivi sobbed. “Mr. Scoville…”

“Vivi?”  All joviality disappeared from Sydney Senior’s voice.  “Is everything okay?”

Vivi shook her head. “No, no, there was some sort of…some sort of accident.  Arthur and Sydney were hurt really badly and I need you and Lance here.”

“Okay, okay, how bad is it?”

“Sydney’s eye is gone.”

“Her eye is gone?!”

“And Arthur’s arm is gone.”

“Bloody Hell, what the %@^%*&^ ^$**% happened?!”

“I-I don’t know.”

“How the (*)(&( do you not know how your friends lost their body parts?!”

Vivi sobbed.  “I don’t know.  I just remember being in the van, and then I was suddenly driving, and there was blood everywhere, and I found Arthur and Sydney and Mystery in the back, and I drove to the hospital.”

“Okay, okay, just tell me where you are, and I’ll get there as quickly as I can,” said Sydney Senior.

It took Vivi a moment to track down someone who could tell her the address.  As soon as she rattled it off, Sydney Sr hung up.  Vivi sniffled.  That had been bad.  Lance was probably going to be worse.  She needed a moment before dialing his number.

Lance took a few moments to answer.  “Kingsman Mechanics.”

“Lance, it’s Vivi.”

Lance was silent. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. I woke up in the van, and Arthur and Sydney were hurt, but I can’t remember how they got hurt or what happened at all, which doesn’t make any sense-”

“How bad is it?” interrupted Lance.

“Sydney lost an eye. Arthur lost an arm.  They’re in surgery.”  Vivi let out a wail.  “They don’t know if Arthur’s going to wake up!”

“That bad then. What about you and Lewis?”

Vivi’s brain skipped a painful beat.  “I’m okay.  I’m okay…”

“Good.  And Lewis?”

Vivi’s brain skipped a painful beat.  “What?”

“Is Lewis okay?” Vivi’s brain skipped a painful beat. “You didn’t mention him.”

“Didn’t mention…Are you talking about Mystery?”

“How did you get-I’m talking about Lewis!”

Vivi’s brain skipped a painful beat.  “Talking about who?”

“Lewis.”  Vivi’s brain skipped a painful beat.  “Your boyfriend.”

Vivi blinked. “I don’t have a boyfriend,” she said mechanically.

It took several moments for Lance to respond.  “How many people are in your ghost hunting club?”

“Three plus Mystery.”

Lance let out what Vivi suspected was a Gaelic curse.  “Vivi, you need to call your parents.  I’m going to call the Peppers.”

Vivi’s brain skipped a painful beat.  “I already called Sydney’s dad.”

“Good, now give me the address of the hospital slowly so I can write it down.”  Vivi had to say it a few times because she wanted to rattle it off too quickly for Lance to write it down.  “Got it.  I’ll close up the shop and drive down.”

“Great.”

“And we are going to have a very long talk once I get there,” said Lance, the threat of a promise in his voice.

Vivi swallowed. “Yes sir.”  This was going to end badly.

Now it was time for her parents.  She stared at it for a moment.  They’d warned her.  She hadn’t listened.  Why hadn’t she listened?  They’d known what they were talking about.  She knew they knew what they were talking about.  She still had chosen to ignore their lessons.

It took Mystery whining and pawing at her arm to get her to finish dialing the number.

“Hello, this is the Yukino residence,” greeted Serena.

Vivi let out a sob. “Mom.”

“Vivi?  Honey, what’s wrong?”

“I-I-”  Vivi took a shuddering breath.  “I think I got Arthur and Sydney hurt really bad…”

“Did you call their families?” asked Serena.

Vivi nodded before recalling that her mother couldn’t see it.  “Yes.  They’re not happy.”

“They’re just worried,” Serena reassured them.  “Now, do you know where you are?”

Vivi nodded and rattled off the hospital address for the third time that night.

“Okay, your father and I will be there as soon as we can,” said Serena.  “We’ll see if your grandmother can come as well.”

“Okay…”

“Until then, you kids take care of yourselves, and keep Mystery nearby at all times,” instructed Serena.

“Yes ma’am,” said Vivi.

“And remember, we love you.”