Young Writers Society

Ollie
Ollie felt a slight disturbance in one of her patients. Maria... She walked quietly over and put a hand to her forehead. Her hands began to glow and the girl relaxed. Shh. It's all right. Calm down.

Lydia

Lydia Newman lay on her vine bed, curled up and watching as Ollie cared for the other patents.


Ester
Ester quell you walked into the room and, even though she was frazzled from Raven, gave everyone a big, cheerful smile. She didn't say anything incase Ollie had ordered silence so she just listened to her foot steps as she walked across the floor to Ollie.

"Excuse me." She whispered and when she had Ollie's attention, she said, "My animal friends where wondering if your patents would like them to come visit. They promised to behave and they said that, if it's alright with you, they would curl up with you patents and keep them company." Ester gave a smile, "I don't know about other people, but having an animal around can sure cheer me up."

Ollie
"Why of course, my dear," she said, smiling huge, "What better than animals to cheer someone up?"

María

María's strong hearing caught the words spoken in hushed tones. Animals?

Nero Sapienti:

"Animals?" he questioned, sounding a bit more squeaky than he had intended. The little girl nodded with a gigantic smile on her tiny face.. "Um..." He glanced in Ollie's direction. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm perfectly fine with the weekly therapy sessions!"

He gave the largest grin he could muster. "See? I'm perfectly fine! Raven and I have made up, and Ollie's healing works pretty great!" His voice was still stubbornly several octaves too high.

He started to inch his way over to the door. "You know what? I think I might just stay here, so I'd better explore. And then when María wakes up, I can show her the ropes. You know what I mean?"

María

María, still pretending to be asleep, wondered if there would be any cute little pájaros, like a sparrow, chickadee, or titmouse.

She had to keep herself from smirking. Thankfully, her face remained still. Nero thought that he would be able to help her out? María usually figured things out for herself. She had learned early on to not rely on others, but she supposed it was nice when others wanted to help . . . even if it was just an excuse to escape from the possibility of a visitation from animales.

Ester

"Okay!" She said, a little louder than she should have. She looked around, embarrassed and then walked out of the room, quickly returning with some of her animal friends. She gave Lydia a sea turtle since Lydia could control water. Lydia thanked her and smiled at the turtle, bringing it into the air in a large bubble of water. The bubble was unstable because she was still in a little bit of shock so she put the turtle down and stroked it happily.

For María, Ester gave her a small calico kitten who's name was Patch because of the large orange patch around its left eye. Ester gently put the kitten against María's stomach and Patch erupted into a soothing purr, closing her eyes contently.

Finally, for Nero, Ester gave him something sweet and playful. A large, clumsy, Great Dane puppy walked into the room and jumped onto Nero, licking his face. The puppy's grey fur outlined against Nero's black cloths.
"Dan!" Ester exclaimed, "You said you would behave!"
He got off of Nero and apologized, noting Nero's hand so that he could pet him.
Ester wondered if this was the first being in Nero's life that had shown him vigorous love. She hoped that they would form a bond.

María

With the cat being set on her stomach, María figured that it was all right to pretend to wake up.

She opened her eyes and tried to sit up, pretending to look surprised at the cat and bleary-eyed at the same time.

"You're awake!" exclaimed a girl who María guessed was Ollie, by her voice. The girl hurried over. "Are you okay? You were out for quite some time."

"I'm fine," said María, glancing about as she put the kitten down. Her eyes fell on Nero, who was trying to avoid the dog's tongue, then on Raven, who looked nearly normal and happy.

"If you don't mind, could you take me to Señorita Willow?" said María softly to Ollie, looking down now to escape eye contact with anyone. "I have to see her. She was expecting me to come here."

Nero Sapienti:

"You know," Nero said with an incredibly nervous laugh, "I think I should come with you, María. I mean, she still thinks I'm a jerk and everythin-" His face went a shade paler as the puppy bounded over to his side and tried to lick his face again. He ran over to the other side of the room and hopped onto one of the beds.

The dog, of course, did the exact same thing.

He was trembling now, to his annoyance. Everyone could see him doing it - which he had been trying to desperately avoid. "N-Nice dog," he told it, but it was still just as energetic as before.

He jumped off the bed and ran over to María. He almost grabbed her hand. But that was too intimate for him. Instead, he settled with her sleeve. He gave said sleeve a gentle tug, not wanting to hurt María.

"Let's go now!" he quickly said. His voice was a couple octaves higher than it had been at the mention of animals. He just had to escape the room, had to escape the dog.

María

María didn't exactly resist his tugging on her sleeve, but she didn't speak to him either as he pulled her out of the room as fast as he could. She could feel herself fading slightly at all of the others' stares on her back.

"Wait!" cried Ollie, but Nero ignored her and kept running.

They ran and ran down long hallways, until María was beginning to lose her breath. She pulled away from Nero's grip.

"Do you even know where you're going?" she asked quietly, breathing hard.

"Uh . . ."

Nos perdimos. Fantástico.

At that moment, María's eyes found a door nearby. She walked to it, tentatively touching the name on the door: María Romero.

She already had a room! María couldn't resist looking inside, though she remembered Nero, standing sheepishly behind her.

"Em . . . Maybe there's a way to call her," said María. "I think I will try and find one." As she twisted the doorknob to open the door, Nero tried to follow her in. María blurted, "Stay here. I-I'll be out soon."

She went inside and left the door ajar, just a crack.

Nero Sapienti:

He untied his hoodie from his waist. After slipping it on, he zipped it and pulled up the hood. It was just as calming as being in his natural form. And he needed to be calmed.

From his pocket, he withdrew the knife he had nicked. It was the first thing he had ever stolen. Though it was a reminder of the dark times in his past, it was also a reminder he was a survivor.

He flicked it open. A pale, tired face peeked out from its smooth and polished side. He stared at his reflection. When he had first seen it, he had been terrified of the boy glaring back at him.

He gently closed it before flicking it back open. He continued this process several more times.

Nero leaned up against the wall and waited for María to come back into the hallway.

Ollie
Ollie searched everywhere for the two newcomers. Finally, she found Nero standing outside a door, a knife in hand. She approached cautiously.

"Nero?" she said, a little afraid.

María

María gasped when she walked into the bedroom. It was beautiful, with mint green walls and edged with gold. Bright light streamed into the room from a large window with lacy white curtains.

She could feel tears welling in her eyes. It was just like her room at home, when her parents were still alive.

She shook her head, releasing the memories. Then, she glanced down in a corner. There were her things, just as la señorita had promised, before María had left España.

Her eyes scanned the walls again, but she didn't see anything that would help her contact Miss Willow.

She sighed. She supposed that she and Nero would have to ask for help. But before she went outside, she opened a bag and pulled out a picture frame and set it on the stand by the bed. Os quiero, Mamá y Papá. Seré buena.

When she finally was about to go back out, she stopped short when she heard Ollie saying Nero's name. She stayed where she was, peeking out of the tiny crack of the door. Honestly, she wasn't really looking forward to facing either of them.

Nero Sapienti:

As he flicked his pocket knife open once more, he heard Ollie say, "Nero?" He looked up from the knife. Nero was startled to see fear in her blue eyes.

His heart skipped a beat. Had she found out about him slapping Raven? Even though she had tried to kill him afterwards (she had PTSD, most likely. He was okay with it - sort of), slapping a child was a terrible thing for a person to do.

Or did she hate shapeshifters as much as Raven did? Did she believe him to be a monster?

Even worse, had his other ability come to light?

His fear causing him to forget what exactly he was holding, the blade cut his hand. The sudden pain snapped him back into reality. He was in possession of a pocket knife, which could be used as a weapon. Ollie wasn't scared of his abilities, per say. She was scared of what he was planning to use the knife for.

He closed it and slipped it back into his pocket. "Just looking at my reflection," he said. He decided not to elaborate - there was no need to. Nero gestured at the door behind him, which was open just a crack. "María is in there."

Ollie
Ollie took a breath and relaxed. He put the wee knife away. Good. She came towards him, unafraid this time.

"I'm so sorry if Ester scared ye. I wanted to schedule a therapy session with ye. What days work for ye?"