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Author's Note: Sorry for the month between chapters here. I was trying to figure out how to word this chapter properly and I was also waiting for Two Sirens to end so that I didn't end up spoiling something. As I'm sure a lot of you can tell this is the last chapter of Season. I've had a lot of fun writing this story, it took a little longer to write it then I would have liked but sometimes things like that happen lol. I'd like to thank everyone for sticking with it to the end, I hope the conclusion of this story doesn't disappoint. Oh and stay tuned for another DRU story coming soon :) I'd like to thank djkauf and Indy for the magical editing and everyone for enjoying this universe :)

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TWENTY-FIVE:

One Week Later:

“You sure about this?”

“I’ve never been more sure in my entire life”

I woke to voices, familiar voices. I didn’t quite open my eyes yet because I wasn’t sure if I actually could. Though I was awake, it felt as if my entire body was still asleep. I suppose that was a good thing because a short while ago I was pretty certain I was dead. After all, it’s not every day you survive a kidnaping, a fire and an attempt at murder. It also wasn’t everyday that your boyfriend tried to murder you. I could still feel the knife as he plunged it into me, the pain something like that caused and the realization that that could have been it. I could have died, I should have died. So how was it that I was alive? I’d seen the TV shows and movies, people who are stabbed in the stomach and left for dead don’t usually survive something like that. Yet here I was alive and I had no idea how it happened.

All of that was lost though as my mind drifted away. When I came back, the voices were talking again.
“What do we do?”

“Nothing for now. She’s still asleep; we don’t have to deal with anything until then.”

“And when she wakes up?”

“We’ll get to that when the time comes.”

I drifted off again. I tried not to but it was hard to stay conscious. The next thing I knew there was someone holding my hand. It was a soft touch, someone who generally cared a great deal about me. I wanted to grip that hand too but there was something wrong. It was as if I had no strength in my fingers to do so. I tried desperately to hold on but my hand didn’t respond. I wanted to cry but no tears wanted to come. Instead, I took comfort in the person holding my hand. I tried to center my entire mind on that feeling, hoping it was enough. I drifted off for what I hoped was the last time.

When I came to the third time, something was different. I was different. What strength I didn’t have before was back. I slowly opened my eyes and the first thing I did was snap them shut. There was a blinding light around me. It was so intense, so overpowering. I squeezed my eyes shut to keep it away. I kept them shut for a whole minute before trying again. When I reopened them, the brightness was still there but not nearly as intense. I managed to see shapes and then everything started to fade into view. I was lying in a bed, I think, in a white room. There was color all around me. No not color, flowers. There were lots of flowers. I saw stuffed animals too. There was something else too: a beeping sound. I turned my head and saw a machine. It was the kind you see in hospital shows. There was a tube leading from it to my arm.

I was in the hospital. The machine, the flowers. It all made sense now. Someone must have found me and saved my life. They brought me to the hospital and now I was recovering. I sighed heavily, my breath sounded strained, my throat and lips dry. How long had it been? Days, weeks, months? Certainly not years? Oh, God, please don’t let it be years. I’m not sure how I’d ever be able to deal with years. I’d seen those movies as well. The guy or girl gets in an accident and wakes up from a coma only to think it’s been a few hours when it’s actually been a few years. Their life is completely different: parents dead, friends all grown up, loved ones moved on. It terrified me to think that my life as I knew it could be gone and I missed it all.

My heart started to pound heavily. I heard a loud beeping sound. A moment later, there was a great deal of commotion and a blonde woman in pink shrubs rushed into the room. She ran over to the machine, completely ignoring me for the moment. She checked the readings then looked at me. Our eyes locked and she smiled but not before letting out a sigh.

“I see you’re finally back with the living”

I nodded. “Can I have some water?”

She smiled. “I’ll get it as soon as I can but first let me get your doctor and your parents.”

My parents? “They’re here?”

“Of course they are sweetie” she said, brushed some hair from my face.

I reached up to touch the woman’s hands. That’s when I noticed the bandages. My arm was wrapped in them, my whole arm from my elbow up to my fingers. My fingers were wrapped too. I flexed them, hoping nothing horrible happened. They were fine but my other arm was the same.

“What happened?”

The nurse gave me a sad smile. “There was a fire sweetie, don’t you remember?” I nodded. “It was at The Pit, it burned down.”

“And my stab wound?”

The nurse gave me a strange look, almost as if I’d grown a second head. “What stab wound sweetheart?”

I panicked. I fumbled with the flimsy gown I was wearing. I went right to where I knew Jack had stabbed me. I lifted it up, took a good look at my stomach. There wasn’t a mark on it. That was impossible though. I saw it there, I knew what he did. He stabbed me and me…I…I’m not sure what happened after that actually. I remember him stabbing me though and then I must have blacked out.

“I was stabbed,” I said frantically. “My boyfriend…he…he…”

The nurse gave me one of those looks. I bet she thought I was crazy.
“Let me get the doctor.”

The nurse left in an orderly fashion. I continued to stare at my stomach, at the place where there should been something. A scar or a bandage or anything other than what there. I wasn’t crazy, I knew Jack stabbed me. Just like I knew he was involved with all of that somehow. Him and his whole family. They were monsters, first they tried to do something horrible to me, and when that failed, they tried to kill me. Jack was a nut job, told me all these crazy things and then he stabbed me. I knew I didn’t make any of that up. Surely, there was someone out there who believed me?

A minute or two later, a man in a white coat came into the room. The nurse in the pink shrubs followed a moment later.

“Good morning Kelly, its glad to see you’re finally up and about. You gave us quite a scare.”

I ignored his attempt to be pleasant. “Where am I?”

“Brendsen Memorial. What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Getting stabbed by my boyfriend.”

The doctor and the nurse exchanged looks.

“I know surviving something like a fire can be a traumatic event Kelly but I assure you that you have not been stabbed.”

“And I know for a fact that I was” I snapped.

The doctor gave me a cross look. “I think I know a stab wound when I see one and I’m telling you that there was none.”

I couldn’t argue with that. I’m not sure what happened to it but it was there. Jack stabbed me. Someone doesn’t get stabbed and not leave a mark.

“I’m not sure what happened but I was stabbed.”

The doctor ignored me, speaking instead to the nurse. “I think we might need a consultation. Miss Crawford is still under a bit of stress. Can you contact Dr. Grant?”

The nurse nodded, turning to leave the room.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” snapped a voice from the doorway, my mother’s voice.

I could have cried. I might have cried. I sure felt the tears. My mother swept into the room and suddenly all my anger at the doctor evaporated at the sight of her. The last time I’d seen either of my parents they were running for their lives. Sure I’d talked to Mom on the phone but that felt like months, but now here she was, in the flesh. She was in full force too as she pushed her way past the nurse. The doctor tried to stop her but he didn’t stand much of a chance. She went right to me and I threw my arms around her, crying into her shoulder. I heard her snap something angry at the doctor and the nurse. Both of them left like little children just being scolded for doing something stupid. I was alone now with my mom, alone to cry away all my sorrows. I cried for a long time too as she held me. I couldn’t remember the last time she held me like that or for that long. It felt good. I felt safe and strong as if there wasn’t a care in the world that could harm me now.

When I finally pulled away, she smiled. She brushed the hair from my face.
“So let me get a good look at my new daughter.”

She took my hands and stared a long time. I felt a little strange. The last time I saw her I was her son and now so many things had changed since then.

“Are you disappointed?”

She shook her head, tearing up. “No sweetie, I could never be disappointed in you.”

I ended up in her arms again. It felt good.

The hug didn’t last nearly as long though. When we parted the second time, I bit my lip.

“I’m sorry for all the trouble,” I said softly.

She shook her head. “No, the only trouble has been our fault. We should have been honest with you from the beginning. There are some things you should know sweetie, some things about you that your father and I should have told you.”

“Things?” I asked, confused and scared. “What kind of things?”

“Something happened when you were a baby. Your father and I managed to stop it but this group, this cult; they tried to do something to you.”

I nodded. I think I knew where this was going. It had something to do with what almost happened to me. I didn’t want to hear it though. It was probably something horrible and stupid but they stopped it. I was still alive and the Cult failed. Sure, they tried to do whatever it was again but I stopped it this time. That is all that mattered now. I was alive and they were gone.

“Mom” I said, “I think I know what happened. I think they tried the same thing at the club but it’s over. I stopped it, they’re all dead.”

My Mom gave me a look. “You stopped it?”

I nodded. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t want to relive it again. I just want you to know that I’m alive and so happy to see you again.”
I gave her a third hug. This one was the shortest of them all.

When we pulled away again. “Honey I’m glad you’re happy that everything is ok but we really need to talk about this. Your grandmother and the Coven, the new Inquisitor. They really need to know what happened.”

I nodded. “Not today though Mom. Today I just want to hold my mother and feel safe in her strong, wonderful arms.”

My mother smiled. We hugged again and I closed my eyes, feeling the tears once again. I wasn’t ready to talk about it---not yet. I knew the day would come but not today.

“And that’s all of it?”

“All that I can remember.”

My mother gave my hand a gentle, reassuring squeeze. The five of us were sitting in the living room. It was hard to imagine that only a few days ago this place had looked like a bomb had gone off in it. I’m not sure how my grandmother did it but the room looked cleaner than before if that was even possible. It was now actually a week since the incident at The Pit, a day since waking up from my little coma. I’m still not sure what caused that, my grandmother says it was over-extension of my magic but I found that hard to believe. A whole week---and what’s worse, I missed Christmas. My mother said none of them really felt like celebrating what with me being in the hospital. We were planning to do something soon though, even if it was just a quick pass the presents. Besides Mom said my waking up was the best present she could ever have.

“And you’re sure it was Matilda Pratchett?” asked the girl sitting across from me.

I nodded. “Jack all but confirmed it to me. I remembered her cane too. It was definitely her with the cult.”

The girl---Scarlet DeWitt---exchanged a glance with my grandmother. I’m not sure of the significance but clearly the two of them knew something I didn’t. It was still a bit hard to even look at Scarlet. When she showed up at the door this morning, I didn’t know what to make of her. It’s not every day that you see a Goth girl with bright red hair, let alone hair in braid locks. It floored me when she was introduced---not only as Ms DeWitt’s daughter but also the new Inquisitor. That last part was the reason I was having a hard time making eye contact with her. Her mother was dead because of me. Sure, it wasn’t my fault but she wouldn’t have been dead if those men hadn’t come after me. It’s hard not to feel slightly responsible. To be fair though, Scarlet wasn’t making eye contact with me either.

I was done telling my side of things. I wanted some answers now. “Something else happened, didn’t it?”

My mother squeezed my hand a bit more but didn’t say anything. My grandmother didn’t say anything either. Of course, Scarlet wasn’t going to say anything.

Mary was the one who finally broke the silence. “You people are cowards” she snapped then turned to me. “Something else happened. It was a day or so after you went into the coma. Those bastards tried again, it was real mess.”

“They came after me?”

“No” my grandmother said calmly. “There was another girl in town targeted. She was Aka Manah’s original target all along.”

“Who’s Aka Manah?”

“A demon” said Mary, cutting off whatever her grandmother was going to say. “He’s what was in that orb thingy. He’s been working away on a girl named Ashley for months apparently. She finally lost it a few days ago. There was another group of Black Horn here and they nearly got her. Tracy’s cousins and a few others managed to fight them. Everything turned out all right in the end.”

I couldn’t help but feel that that was somehow my fault too. If Sophie hadn’t made me take the orb from the Vault then none of this would have happened.

“Don’t even think that,” my mother said as if reading my thoughts. “There was some suspicions surrounding the Coven to begin with. Your grandmother suspected a traitor but had no proof but it’s now pretty clear her suspicions were right.”

My eyes perked up. “Did you catch her?”

My grandmother rubbed her temples. “Matilda and her daughter-in-law went on an extended vacation a day after Christmas. In light of the new evidence, I’m guessing they’re not coming back.”

“What about Jack and his sister?”

“Diane has been investigated,” said Scarlet “she’s a ditz. Sure she might have been involved but that girl doesn’t know her ass from a hole in the ground.” My grandmother gave her a cross look. “I mean….we interrogated her and it’s been proven she had no knowledge of anything her grandmother or mother were up to.”

“You sure Ms. Craven was involved?”

“No but it’s hardly surprising” said my grandmother and she left it at that.

My hands started to shake and I found myself crying. So many lives ruined and I was part of that. Sure the Pratchetts were rotten to the core but if I hadn’t have come here…damn it. My mother pulled me into a hug. I heard her tell everyone that this meeting was over. I didn’t hear any complaints. My grandmother and Scarlet left. I’m not sure how long I cried in my mother’s arms but when I pulled away, Mary pulled me into a hug too. If there was one good thing that came out of all of this it was that Mary and I were closer than ever. According to my Mom, she was at the hospital even more than her. Mary had been sleeping very little and she looked like hell now. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen her without all her heavy makeup. When I woke up yesterday, she was one of my first visitors after Mom and Dad of course. It was kind of nice but smothering too. I kind of liked it though.

“I’ll leave you two girls alone for a bit,” said my Mom, slowly getting to her feet.

She headed for the kitchen as quietly as she could.

We sat there for a while, not saying a thing to one another. It was hard to say much, especially after the ordeal the two of us had gone through. There was something I wanted to know, something that had nagging me ever since I woke. I did not really want to know the truth but I had to ask if only to clear my conscience.

“Ummm….about Jack….”

Mary gave me a look. It was a long look. I think I knew the answer before she said it. “I found the two of you. When you weren’t at the ambulance, I went looking. At first, I thought you went home but then I saw you by the trees. You and Jack were lying there. I thought the two of you had reconciled until I saw the blood. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what happened. I screamed and the paramedics came running. By the time they got to you, you were barely breathing. I got into the ambulance when they rushed you to the hospital; there was so much blood but no cuts. They couldn’t figure it out.”

Mary was crying. I held her hand, trying to ignore the bandages still wrapped around my whole forearm. I knew some of that story but I was glad Mary stayed with me for so long.

“And Jack?”

She shook her head. “He’s dead, Kel. The paramedics could do nothing for him. They tried to bring him back but…”

I started to cry. I’m not sure why. I should have been happy that the murdering bastard was dead but I knew that somehow I killed him. Mary was still crying and we started hugging again. We cried and held onto one another for a long time, neither wanting to pull away. When we finally did, there wasn’t much else to say. So the two of us just sat there in silence, staring blankly at the wall. About twenty minutes later, I managed to end up in my room---not sure how. I dropped onto the bed, buried my face in my pillow and cried some more.

My crying was short lived because a few minutes later there was a knock on my door. I didn’t even have a chance to tell whoever it was to go away before my Mom came walking in. She didn’t say anything as she walked through her former bedroom and sat on the edge of my bed. I managed to stop myself from crying, I’d been doing enough of that lately.

“Why didn’t you tell me about Jack?”

She sighed. “Your grandmother thought it best if we left that part out.”

“No offense Mom but Grandma is a lousy parent.”

Mom laughed. “You’re not going to get any argument from me there.”

She gave me a quick hug, no crying this time.
“So are you sad about Jack?”

I shrugged. “I thought I loved him and then he turned into this whole different person. He said some awful things and then he tried to kill me.” I teared up. “Mom I can’t remember it all but something happened. Something I’m not proud of. I think I might have killed him.”

This time I started to cry. I had to stop doing that. My Mom hugged me again and managed to calm me down. After that, we talked about what might have happened. I use might because my mother was convinced that I was under a lot of stress. But I knew stress had nothing to do with it. Jack tried to kill me, he stabbed me and I did something----I killed him. I’m not sure how I did it or what exactly happened but I know I did it. I was going to have to live with that. What I couldn’t live with was the fact that this was his town---his home, me his murderer would be walking around in it, and he couldn’t. I felt sick to my stomach thinking about it. The only thing I wanted was to be home---back in California where I belonged.

Away from all of this.

“Mom” I said softly through my continued sobs. “Take me home, I want to go home.”

It was kind of strange staring out the window---my window. Sure, this was my bedroom and my house but it felt like it belonged to someone else now. I was sitting at my desk like always, staring out at the world as it passed me by. Things were different now though. When I was in Ravencrest---in my mother’s old childhood room---all I could think about was being back here. I wanted to be back here with my computer and its games, my comic book collection and my solidarity. Now all of that seemed so distant to me. Sure, I still liked those things but there were other things I wanted now too. I wanted what I had there: I wanted friends, I wanted to go out to the club and dance, I wanted to laugh and have a good, and maybe I even wanted to be held again. I wanted things that my old life as Kelly the Dud could never give me.

Staring out the window, I couldn’t help but feel like I had been shutting myself out to the world. It was definitely a strange feeling. I was home now and yet I felt like I didn’t really fit here anymore. We’d been home for two days now----it hadn’t been easy to leave New York after all. There were a lot of tearful goodbyes; of course Maggie had to cry which got me crying. I told her everything was going to be ok. We exchanged emails, I told her I’d download Skype so the two of us could talk every night and I told her she wasn’t the same girl she was before. She was different now. Maybe I had something to do with that or maybe she was always that girl, just hiding and waiting to get out. Since I’d moved there, Maggie’s number of friends had tripled. She was even making friends with people she would have never been friends with before. I think she was going to be ok. Mary was a different story. She and I were so different when I got there. Hell if it wasn’t for her I’d never be the New Me in the first place. A relationship that was built on hate and lies was finally starting to turn into something worthy of friendship---maybe even family too. She and Mom talked some and already made plans for Mary to come live with us over the summer. Who knows maybe more permanent arrangements can be made soon.

Things were definitely different.

Except some things were still the same, too. I’d left things here in a bit of a bind. Tommy Phelps had been my best friend since forever. He and I used to do everything together. Then he was mixed up with the wrong guys---to protect me he said---but it still felt wrong. Sure, we handled those guys before I left but things with Tommy were definitely going to be hard. For one thing, I was a girl now. We still hadn’t figured out how to explain that to people. Mom was thinking about magic but Dad thinks he might be able to come up with a more logical solution. I told him I didn’t want to be a distant cousin or a long lost sister but he said there might be a way for me to be me and be my old self as well. I’m not sure what he was thinking but knowing Dad it would be good, he’s the smartest man I know, after all.

That still left Tommy though.

After what happened with Jack and Sophie and even Troy, I decided that I wasn’t going to lie anymore. Sure, I was going to have to stretch the truth a bit with people, but there was going to be no more super lies. I wanted to be as honest and as true as I possibly could be. So that’s why I decided to email Tommy last night. I told him where I’d been and that everything was ok. After all the last time I saw him was at the college---I’m not sure if he even remembered that bit. I also told him I was back in town and wanted to meet. There were some things the two of us needed to discuss.

Now I was trying to get up enough courage to actually leave my room and go and meet him. I’d gotten so far as getting dressed---I decided to go simple. Mom and I spent all of yesterday shopping, she wanted to get me the perfect new wardrobe for when I started school again in January. We went pretty simple actually---tees, shorts, jeans. She was even able to talk me into a skirt or two. No dresses yet though, I wasn’t ready for one of those back home. Now I was wearing a new tank and a pair of jean shorts. I saw a lot of girls my age wear something similar around here. It was probably a little cold for the shorts but after spending all that time in freezing cold Ravencrest I wasn’t going to turn down the chance to finally wear shorts again. Now all I needed was the courage to get out of my chair and out the door.

My cell rang a second later. I jumped at the sound. I spun around in my chair and snatched it off my desk, not even bothering to look before clicking it on.

“You’re a chicken,” said Mary’s voice.

We talked about my plans last night. In fact, Mary had talked me into it. We both decided that if I was going to be honest, I needed to be honest about everything. Even though Tommy’s memories of the last time were altered, according to her he’d never really forget what happened. It was something that happened with Norms. That’s why people claimed to see UFO’s and Big Foot. They were really encountering the Unseen and the rational part of their brain was trying to process it. Some people even remembered everything. Those people were dangerous but were handled in different ways. Mary said she was confident that Tommy could handle whatever was thrown at him. So she have me all the proper nudging I needed to finally email him.

“I’m not a chicken,” I said, pulling my feet up onto the chair.

“You’re in your room aren’t you, sitting there, staring out the window.”

“So what.”

She sighed heavily. “Kelly, you’re not that dweeb anymore. Sure, you may still be him a little bit but you’ve changed so much since then. You can’t let him stop you from having the life you should have always led.”

“Yeah but…”

“No buts” she interrupted. “Get off your ass and go to your best friend. Tell him what you wanted to tell him and honor his reaction, no matter what it is.”

“And if it’s bad?”

“It’s not going to be,” she said then added a second or two later. “But if it is, I’ll send you a spell that gives him the symptoms of PMS for a month; trust me he won’t tell anyone what you said after that.”

She started laughing. I couldn’t help but laugh a bit too.

I sighed and nodded, even though she couldn’t see me. Mary gave me a little bit of a pep talk then I shut off my phone. I took a deep breath and climbed out of the chair. I stuck my phone in my left pocket and grabbed a light jacket off my doorknob. I pulled open my door as quick as I could and bolted down the stairs. When I got to the kitchen, I was glad to see Dad there and not Mom. Dad was easy, Mom could see through me. It was even worse now since my change. It was like we were connected on a whole new level now. When I finally talked to Jess on the plane ride home---after lots of squealing---Jess told me to look out for Mom but that Dad was like puddy. She also told she couldn’t wait to give her new little sis a makeover.

“Hey dad” I said, trying to look as sweet as possible. “You think you can give me a ride to the Square?”

“The Square?” he said, putting down his paper. “Like in the big place where all you kids hang out?”

I nodded. “I want to do some window shopping, maybe get some lunch. Possibly see if I can make some new friends?”

Dad smiled at that bit then laughed. “Who would have thought my so…daughter would want to go to the Square.”

I frowned at that bit. I think Dad was still trying to adjust a bit. It was going to be hard for all of us for a while.
“I won’t be long, just a couple of hours.”

I gave him a look I used to see my sister always give him. It was the look that always helped her get what she wanted. When he saw me give him the look, his eyes bugged out a bit. He caved a few seconds later. He grabbed his car keys and I jumped up, giving him a kiss on the cheek. As soon as I did it, I realized what I did and both of us felt pretty strange afterwards. It felt like the right thing to do though. Dad shook it off with a smile and the two of us headed out to the car. Neither one of us said much on the car ride there. Dad and I had a strange relationship. Sure, he’d been training me to be a Warden like him before but we didn’t really spend all that much time together. He was either working or reading in his study. Neither of us was athletic.

When we finally got to the Square, Dad parked far enough away so that I wouldn’t be seen getting out of the car driven by my father. He used to do that all the time with Jess.

“You need any money?”

I shook my head. “I have some.”

I still had a lot left over from my birthday.

Dad nodded. “I’ll see you in a couple of hours then princess,” he said before catching himself and laughing. “Sorry about that, force of habit with your sister and all.”

I shook my head. “No, I kind of like it.”

We both smiled. Maybe things weren’t going to be so bad with Dad after all. I climbed out of the car and shut the door but not before Dad rolled down the window and dropped the bomb on me. “Oh Kelly, say hi to Tommy for me.”

Shit, busted.

I turned to him, forcing a smile and nodding. Dad laughed before he rolled up the window and drove away. Here I thought I’d charmed the hell out of him. I was so going to kill Mary and Jess for this. I closed my eyes and willed that all away. Right now, I was a girl on a mission and today’s target was Tommy. When I opened my eyes again, I took slow steps toward the Square. It was a local hang out spot; there were a lot of kids my age here today. Everything was centered around a large fountain with a little eatery and shops all about. Some of the kids I passed were from school, a few of them, gave me strange looks. Like they recognized me but couldn’t quite place who I was.

I started toward our agreed meeting spot. Up ahead I saw him. He was sitting at a bench, his back to me. I took a deep breath as I slowly approached. Now or never. I took in all the confidence I’d been learning over the past two months and used all of it to do the unthinkable. I walked right up to the bench and dropped down next to him. To say it surprised him was an understatement. Tommy nearly jumped off the bench. When he recovered long enough, he looked at me and smiled. Though it was bit awkward until he stared a bit longer.

It took him a second or two to place the face.
“Kelly?” he asked, his voice in a low whisper.

“Hey Tommy” I said, moving some hair from my face.

“I…ummm….I….” he stopped and took a breath. “What’s going on?”

I smiled and took a deep breath of my own. “I think you and I need to talk” He nodded numbly. “Ok, so first of all, I might look like a girl but I’m really your best friend Kelly Daniels. You see it all started back at the beginning of November when I was looking out my bedroom window…”

THE END FOR NOW

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF