WrathofaShardKitten

Kira shook her head. "Abrasion and progression." She was actually a little surprised that the man had guessed a real surge. He was clearly a bloodsealer, but still. Kira only knew about other investiture types because Lyssa had told her about them. The man must have researched Radiants, and probably other magic types too, though Kira shuddered inwardly to think what kind of research it might have been. The thought drew her attention back to the body. She shivered as her gaze fell upon it once more. It's pale skin and rumpled clothes, surrounded by a pool of blood. Like . . . No. She couldn't think about that right now. "What happened?" she asked Marcel again, her voice quiet. "Who was he?" . . . Lyssa giggled as Wita offered her finger, and touched it gently. "Are you a fairy?" Wita asked. Lyssa cocked her head in puzzlement at the question. Was she a fairy? Better ask Kira. "Hey, Kira, am I a fairy?" Kira didn't respond immediately, and Lyssa shrugged. "You look like a beautiful little fairy. Can you dance?" Lyssa nodded, bright crystal spots appearing or her cheeks as she imitated a blush. "Kira likes to dance," she wrote, "and she showed me how."

"Thanks!" Lyssa wrote. "You're pretty, too! Like, really pretty! Do you want to be my friend?" Wita seemed to have forgotten her question for now, and Lyssa seemed totally enamored with her. Kira decided that she would answer Wita's question later, and turned her attention back to Marcel. "Yeah, I'm a radiant. Though to be fair, I came over because I noticed you both going into the alley. I thought Wita was the one who had screamed earlier, so I wanted to make sure she was alright. I had no idea that there was going to be all of this." She gestured to the body and pooled blood, intentionally including Marcel's blood seal, which was still glowing. "As for my surges . . . I don't suppose you'd care to hazard a guess?" Hopefully he would. If he answered, then Kira might learn a little bit more about what this man knew of radiants.

Kira looked at Marcel, then back to Wita, and gave a resigned sigh. "Lyssa, you can come back." Lyssa was there in a flash, writing an enthusiastic "Hi!" to Wita. She even dotted the "i" with a heart. "This," Kira said, addressing Wita, "is Alyssandria. She goes by Lyssa, and she's my spren. Either that, or I'm her radiant. I'm fairly certain it's one of the two. "And Lyssa, this is . . ." She let the sentence trail off, as she still didn't know the other girl's name.

He knows. No, he can't. He's just guessing. Don't let him know he got it right. Kira looked up, wrinkling her nose in an expression of confusion. "Radiant? What's that?" she said, watching carefully for his reaction.

"That's alright." The girl seemed to be calmer now. It occurred to Kira that she didn't actually know her name yet. "I'm Kira. What's your name?"

Evelyn had started to raise her hand again when Leona set the papers on fire. She jumped back, sending a stab of pain through her back and head and knocking her chair over. She stared at the flames. How had they gotten there? The light hurt her eyes, but she couldn't look away. Suddenly, the flames were gone, replaced with a piece of cake. Leona. She took a shaky breath, and looked up as she realized that one of the police officers had spoken. "Is there anything else you would like to add?" "I . . ." What had she been going to say? "Did you need me to describe the person I hit?"

"I'm not sure that I know that one. How does it go?" Distract her, get her thinking about something else. It helped. It didn't heal the pain, but it helped for a little bit.

Memories. So it wasn't -- Kira glanced at the body again and then quickly looked away -- So it wasn't . . . about what had happened. Kira wrapped her free arm around Wita's shoulders and pulled her closer, holding her tight. "They'll go away soon. I promise. I'll stay here while we wait for them to leave. "Do you have a favorite song or story?"

"Uh, Kira? That girl from earlier, I don't think she's okay," Lyssa said. Kira nodded slightly and started making her way away from her group, telling those who asked that she had seen the girl from earlier and wanted to see if she was okay. They nodded and let her go. "Hooray! We're going to go say hi!" Lyssa made what looked like a little girl clapping her hands. Once Kira was far enough from the group that they wouldn't hear her talking to herself, she whispered, "Lyssa, that pale guy is still here. I know you want to meet them, but possibly stay a bit father away for now? I don't exactly want to advertise the fact that I'm a radiant, especially when I don't know them." Lyssa didn't answer, but she did as Kira requested. Kira reached the alley, and her eyes fell almost immediately on the body that lay there. "Oh no . . ." Kira whispered. She crouched down next to the girl and put a gentle hand on her arm. "Are you okay?" she asked the girl. Then, to the man, "What happened?"

Lyssa zipped away, going over and through a couple of buildings before coming through the thickest part of the crowd just in case anyone tried to follow her. She arrived at where Kira was standing about half a minute later and began telling Kira what happened. The first words were, "The girl thought I was pretty!" Lyssa, rather than forming faces with her vines, preferred to make little figures. This time, it looked like a ballerina pirouetting across the ground. "And?" Kira whispered. "What else?" "Oh. Uh. One of the people knows you're here." "What?" Kira hissed. She tried not to change expressions just in case whoever it was was watching. "Did they follow you?" "I don't think so?" The ballerina had stopped spinning, and now appeared to be shifting their weight from one foot to the other. "I did what you said. I didn't come straight back here. I went over lots of roofs and stuff first, so hopefully they don't know where you are, but they said 'I know you are there.'" Lyssa even copied the accent. Was that a hint of French? "Which one? What else did they say?" Kira pretended to spot her friends for the first time and waved, beginning to make her way over to them. "It was the really pale guy," Lyssa said as she followed. "And they said something about magic and finding a solution. The girl seems to be friends with the pale guy, too. Should we go and say hi?" "Not yet." Kira reached her friends and was quickly absorbed into the conversation, though she still shot occasional glances at the "pale guy" who apparently knew they were there. Lyssa stayed mainly in the center of the group, trying to stay out of sight from anyone who might be able to see her trails, and occasionally making faces at Kira. Luckily, none of Kira's friends had the ability to see Lyssa. It was supposed to be somewhat rare.

Evelyn raised her hand. "I hit one with a book. I think he got knocked unconscious?"

Kira scanned the crowd for her friends. She didn't see them right away, though she thought she saw the girl who had been screaming earlier. The girl seemed to be talking to the guy who had grabbed her. "Hey, Lyssa," she whispered. There was still a lot of noise, so hopefully no one would hear her. "Could you go listen to what those people over there are saying? Once you know what they're talking about, come back and tell me." "Sure!" Lyssa streaked off through the crowd, leaving a trail of crystals behind her that quickly crumbled away. Kira continued looking for her friends and soon saw them in a small group. They were just talking and looked fine so Kira decided to stay where she was until Lyssa came back.

Evelyn, realizing that no one else was about to say anything, lifted her head from the table and said, "We were at the school dance."

Evelyn followed the others into the building and sat down. The people had discussed sending her to the hospital, but the ambulances were full and she wasn't too badly hurt. Well, technically she had been diagnosed with a concussion and shock. And she had a headache. And her back still hurt, but not as bad. That was practically fine, right? The doctors had told her that she should come to the hospital after whatever was happening, but she was fine. Or at least, she would be in a week or two. Right now what Evelyn wanted was to hear what exactly had happened. She remembered running to help Shana and Ben, because something had happened to them, but other than that, it was pretty much a blank. Except for getting hit, of course. That she remembered. Also cake. Why had there been cake again? There had been cake everywhere. And a plant in the road. Her brain felt too muddled to keep on thinking. Hopefully someone would tell her if Shana and Ben and everyone else were okay. Hopefully a tad more quietly than they were currently speaking, too.

Evelyn could hear voices. They seemed strangely far away. Hazy. Evelyn groaned and tried to sit up. That was a mistake. Pain exploded in her back, and she fell to the ground again with a small cry. Pain. Why was there pain again? One of the voidbringers must have hit her. Her head hurt too. At least she could hear the voices now, though they were far too loud. She couldn't figure out what they were talking about. Could they be voidbringers? Evelyn dismissed the idea almost immediately. Should she try sitting up? Again, the answer was no. Last time she had tried sitting up it had hurt a lot. I should at least try to see what's happening, Evelyn thought. Evelyn rolled over and opened her eyes. There were lots of lights. And people. Walking around. One of the people approached her. "Miss, are you alright?" Evelyn stared at them blankly for a moment as the words penetrated, and then she slowly shook her head.

Shana was down, hit by a voidbringer. Before Evelyn could stop to think, she had run forward, pulled a book from her bag, and hit a voidbringer over the head with it. The voidbringer collapsed. Evelyn's eyes widened in surprise and amazement. I just barely took down a voidbringer! Without Aons! Sirens began to sound, getting closer, and Evelyn turned to see police cars approaching. That was when a lightning bolt struck her in the back. Evelyn screamed as pain exploded in her back, falling to the ground.

Lightning flashing through the air, voidbringers in the streets, Shana, fighting them alone, screams of pain mixing with the sound of battle. Focus! Shana needs help, what can you do? Aon Daa. Evelyn reached up, and drew the symbol in the air aiming it towards an isolated voidbringer. The beam of light shot out, clear and bright against the viodbringers dark illumination, and striking the voidbringer in the side. The voidbringer stumbled as the power hit it, falling backwards with a look of intense pain on it's face before recovering. The voidbringer turned to face Evelyn, and began to run. Stupid enhanced voidbringers! Turns out Aon Daa didn't work against them. Options, options, what else can you try? The voidbringer was getting closer. Aon Edo? To easy to get around. I could try . . . ? Evelyn sped through her next Aon, finishing it as the voidbringer drew a knife from it's belt and tried to stab her. The knife never connected. Her Aon had turned the voidbringer's clothes to diamond. They were currently frozen in place, though Evelyn wasn't sure how long that would last. She took a few steps back and created several Aon Edo walls to box the voidbringer in. Then, Evelyn turned back to the fight. These ones were too close to Shana for her to be able to use Aon Daa, but now she had something else she could do. Evelyn began to turn the shoes of the voidbringer's into the heaviest material she could think of. Lets see how well they can fight Shana when their shoes are made of metal, Evelyn thought, an evil grin beginning to creep onto her face.