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Nico’s heart was pounding in her throat when she threw the van door open; and there was Karolina, racing toward her at top speed in nothing but a flimsy cotton nightgown, with Chase and Molly close on her heels. But in truth, Nico didn’t even see the others.
“Karolina! Over here, get in!” the tiny Goth girl screamed, one hand braced against the van door as it slid open too fast with the sudden jerk of Alex hitting the brakes, while her other hand was held out beseechingly to the blonde girl like a lifeline. Karolina didn’t say anything, too breathless to speak as she practically flew the last few feet into the van, grabbing Nico’s hand and letting her momentum carry her as she jumped through the open doorway. She landed unsteadily, half on top of the smaller girl, with Molly right behind her, pushing her further in and yanking the sliding door shut as Alex hit the gas. Then they were speeding away again, before Chase even had the front passenger door closed. The Gibborim security guards had barely made it through the church doors as the van peeled away.
“Did he hurt you? Are you okay?!” Nico demanded, feeling both their hearts beating furiously against each other as she pulled the taller girl tight against her. Karolina was shaking like a leaf; but she appeared unhurt.
“I’m fine. They didn’t hurt me,” the blonde girl gasped, panting as she shook her head weakly.
“Jesus, you’re freezing,” Nico groaned, rubbing her hands up and down Karolina’s bare arms. “Gert, throw me some of those blankets.” The purple-haired girl complied without comment, her lack of witty banter showing how worried she was, too.
“I’m really fine, Nico,” Karolina insisted again feebly; but she let the shorter girl wrap the blankets protectively around her and pull her into a tight hug.
“Shh. It’s okay now…”
“Mmm,” Karolina sighed, suddenly so sleepy that it felt like her brain was sliding out of focus, like she was a low battery about to power off. Her head dropped heavily onto Nico’s shoulder as all her muscles went suddenly limp.
“Whoa…okay, I got you,” Nico hummed reassuringly, leaning back against the van wall as all of Karolina’s weight collapsed against her. The blonde girl felt like ice, and Nico held the blankets tight around them both.
“You came back for me…” Karolina murmured, her eyes already sliding closed. She’d been running on pure adrenalin from the moment her friends broke through the door, but now it was draining away rapidly. Nico looked up at Molly questioningly.
“She was in bed when we found her,” the youngest of the group explained quietly, watching the blonde girl going limp as a noodle now that they were safely in the van and the danger was past. “I think she was sleeping…she did look kinda sick."
“M’okay, guys…” Karolina mumbled against Nico’s shirt. “Really okay now…”
“Shh. I know. Just chill for a minute, it’s all good,” Nico hummed soothingly, wanting nothing but to reassure the other girl in this moment. She was so cold…inhumanly cold. But, she wasn’t human, so maybe it was okay? Nico ran one hand through long blonde hair, coming to rest at the back of Karolina’s neck, while the other stayed wrapped firmly over her back. She remembered how it had felt standing next to the blonde girl when her rainbow lights were turned on; the pulsing colors floating off her in waves, the warmth they carried, like rays of sunlight. Whatever had happened with Jonah, it obviously sucked all that light and warmth right out of her.
“Mmm…” Karolina sighed softly; and Nico could actually feel the blonde girl falling asleep on top of her. Thank God they were leaning against the back of the van, or the tiny Japanese girl could never have supported the taller girl’s weight. She kept rubbing her thumb in little circles over the back of Karolina’ neck, whispering soft assurances even after she knew the other girl was dead asleep. Molly caught Gert’s eye and raised one eyebrow questioningly; she hadn’t seen what her sister and Chase saw at the dance the night before. Gert just rolled her eyes silently. But the two sisters couldn’t help smiling at each other as they looked over the picture the other two made.
“Everybody okay back there?” Chase yelled from the front seat.
“Yeah. We’re good. We’re all good,” Nico called back, wrapping her arms a little tighter around her sleeping blondie, cuddling up under the blankets and trying to share more of her body heat. “Don’t you ever do that again,” she whispered against the top of Karolina’s head, before dropping a kiss there and closing her eyes in relief. Gert and Molly smirked at each other again.
……………………………………………
The next time Karolina opened her eyes, it was dark, and everyone was asleep in the nest of blankets left behind in the Gibborim’s teen-runaway-patrol van. She felt wrong, cold and weak in a way that didn’t quite seem natural. She didn’t feel sick exactly; but she didn’t feel well, either.
“Ughh,” the blonde girl sighed, shifting slightly under the blankets and becoming suddenly aware of Nico’s arm draped over her. She could feel the other girl’s body heat; but at the same time, she could feel that it wasn’t reaching her somehow, it wasn’t soaking in.
“Hey…whassup?” Nico mumbled sleepily, roused by Karolina’s small movements underneath her.
“Sorry, it’s okay…just go back to sleep,” the blonde girl whispered woozily, trying to pull the blankets more on top of her without disturbing anyone else.
“Nu-uh,” Nico shook her head, yawning as she propped herself up on one elbow and looked over Karolina as best she could in the darkness. “How are you doing, Kar? You’ve been asleep all day…you feel okay? Tell me the truth,” the tiny Goth girl said sternly. Karolina laughed weakly, because she had been about to say automatically that she was fine, totally fine; she always said she was fine. And Nico knew it.
“I…I’m not sure, Nic,” the blonde girl admitted in a small voice, rolling onto her back so she could seek out Nico’s eyes in the darkness. “I don’t feel right, but…I’m probably just tired…let’s just sleep more.” She coughed and curled up on her side again, and Nico frowned, reaching down to stroke the sleep-mussed hair back from Karolina’s face.
“How are you still so cold?” the shorter girl groaned, reaching behind her for the Staff of One without giving Karolina the chance to answer. “Warm!” she hissed at the staff, wincing just for a second as the tiny needle reached out and stole another drop of her blood. The circle at the top of the staff crackled to life, shooting thin strands of electricity across its surface for a moment before the van was filled with warmth, like they had suddenly been transported from a van parked on a chilly nighttime hillside in Griffith Park, to a balmy tropical beach somewhere. She hadn’t specified anything about light, only warmth; so the van stayed dark and cozy, and none of the others were disturbed.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Karolina mumbled sleepily.
“Shut up,” Nico murmured, the smile clear in her voice even before she leaned down and kissed the blonde girl’s chilled cheek.
“’Kay,” Karolina grinned back sleepily in the darkness. Nico put the staff down and curled up against the blonde girl’s back again, making sure the blankets were snug around them both before wrapping her arm securely around Karolina’s waist again.
“This okay?” Nico asked tentatively, rubbing light circles over Karolina’s stomach under the blankets. In answer, Karolina just wrapped her arm on top of Nico’s and laced their fingers together.
“Better than okay,” the blonde girl yawned softly. “So, so much better…” She fell asleep again with Nico’s heartbeat drumming a soothing rhythm against her back.
…………………………………….
The next time Nico woke up, she was dripping sweat. It was still dark, but she could feel the others rousing around her, too, mumbling to each other about the unnatural heat.
“Oh my God it’s like a thousand degrees in here…somebody open the doors and get some air in here,” Molly moaned, sitting up and pulling her beanie off her head in an effort to cool down quickly.
“No, don’t. Karolina’s still freezing,” Nico said sharply, sitting up too. “I cast a warming spell…”
“Yeah, and it worked. We’re roasting alive in here, Nico. Turn it off!” Chase complained. They were all sitting up and rubbing sweat from their eyes now…except for Karolina, who was still dead asleep, and if anything, even colder than before. Nico was officially getting freaked out now.
“But she’s so cold! I don’t understand, it doesn’t make sense,” the Goth girl shook her head sleepily, rubbing Karolina’s arm briskly to try to get her circulation going and increase her body heat. The blonde girl didn’t even flinch, still deeply asleep in her nest of blankets.
“Must be something connected to her powers,” Gert said quietly, sitting up on Karolina’s other side to feel her icy cheek. “She drained her gay-rainbow-alien-batteries fighting Jonah…and you did say you found her asleep in that weird church prison room, right Mols?”
“She said she was okay,” Molly shrugged sleepily, rubbing her eyes.
“She always says that,” Nico snapped, her worry coming out as anger.
“So what were we supposed to do? Not rescue her?” Molly shot back defensively.
“Guys, don’t fight,” Gert whined groggily, pushing a lock of sweaty purple hair back from her face. “It is what it is. I think we better just get out of the van if we want to cool off, okay? Nico’s right, Karolina needs all the heat she can get right now. She feels like a popsicle.” She laid one hand protectively on the blonde girl’s head.
“What am I supposed to do…how can I make you better?” Nico murmured anxiously, not expecting an answer since Karolina was still dead asleep.
“Hey, don’t freak out. She’ll be okay,” Gert said gently, hearing the mounting anxiety in Nico’s voice.
“How the hell do you know?” Nico hissed, trying to keep her voice low despite how angry and scared she was. “We don’t know what Jonah did to her…”
“Okay, well you guys keep arguing if you want, I’m getting the hell out of this greenhouse right now,” Chase groaned, throwing the blankets off himself and Gert, and sitting up on his knees to crawl toward the cargo doors. Nico’s eyes lit up at his choice of words—greenhouse. Not sauna, not oven…greenhouse. The heat in a greenhouse came from only one source.
“Sunlight!” Nico practically yelled as she grabbed the staff, barely even feeling the prick to her finger this time as she was so focused on her goal. The van was immediately flooded with blinding light, and the others all yelled in complaint, covering their eyes. The artificial sunlight didn’t last long, though; even the Staff of One apparently had its limits. After about thirty seconds of concentrated sunlight, it turned itself off, leaving them all dazed and seeing spots.
But Nico’s eyes were still on Karolina, whose sparkling rainbow lights had returned, flowing off of her like sunlight—and just as warm. For the first time in hours, the blonde girl stirred, turning in Nico’s arms and blinking up at her with a sleepy smile. “Hey…I think I feel better,” she mumbled croakily. Nico burst into tears and laughter at the same time, dropping the staff so she could grab Karolina’s face with both hands, kissing her soundly on the lips. Immediately, Karolina’s rainbow lights flared ten times brighter, and the others all yelled in complaint again, covering their eyes against the brilliant glow.
“Next time, Nico, just kiss her and spare us all the sauna treatment,” Gert grumbled, rubbing her eyes resentfully.
“Or I’m pretty sure you could just wait ‘till sunrise,” Karolina added, grinning dopily through the swirling colored lights coming off her skin in waves.
“No,” Nico shook her head, a huge smile plastered across her face even as she wiped away her tears. “I really, really couldn’t.” She leaned down and kissed the glowing girl again, making her lights flare spectacularly. The others all yelled and piled out of the van in protest, making sure to shut the doors behind them so the whole world wouldn’t see the giant, glowing rainbow spotlight leading right to their hiding place. It was hard enough staying under the radar while traveling with a dinosaur.
“Guys, I think we’re gonna have to find a hideout that’s underground,” Molly said seriously. Gert and Chase just laughed, watching Karolina’s brilliant, rainbow glow shining through the van windows.
“Yeah, you think?” Gert snorted. “C’mon guys, let’s go find some breakfast. I don’t want to see what happens if they do more than kiss in there.”