After a couple more stops and a lot more hours of driving, they finally arrived at a hotel in Cleveland, 7 hours away from camp and 5 hours away from Michigan.
Courtney was sitting up front, still trying to figure out what she was going to say to Nolan.
DJ had fallen asleep in the back, his head had fallen slightly on Ryker's shoulder and his arms had wrapped around his. Hah. Gay. No homo.
Caleb had been listening to his music and icing his wrist, slipping every now and then asleep.
Leora was still unconscious.
Ryker hadn't moved once DJ fell asleep.
Chase pulled into the hotel and sat there for a moment in the silence that had become the car. He looked over at Courtney and let out a small sigh. "I think it would be best if we stop here for the night." He said, his tone quiet.
Caleb nodded."Lets just say Leora uh is a rough sleeper.." he laughed softly seeing as she was still out.
Courtney looked at him and nodded in agreement. "If we get three, we can go in the back and split into pairs." She nodded.
DJ shifted a little and shut his eyes a bit tighter, then carefully sat up. Untangling his arms from Ryker, he looked around and sighed a bit. "Where the fuck are we now?"
"We are at a hotel." Chase explained. "Once we get the rooms we can all relax for the night." He continued, opening the door and getting out.
DJ nodded a bit and climbed out, along with Courtney who took Leora.
Caleb hopped out after DJ and Courtney.
On the way inside, Chase had took out his phone really quickly. Seeing all the messages from Astrid he let out a sigh, quickly messaging her so she could stop thinking that he was dead.
Ryker kinda stuck behind the group remaining silent.
DJ looked at chase and raised an eyebrow, then just looked around. "...so... how, do we get rooms if we don't have money?"
"Knock out the desk lady and take the room keys?" Caleb suggested
Chase looked over at Caleb and frowned. "No-" he then looked over at DJ. "You have charmspeak, right?" He asked.
DJ looked at chase and blinked a few time. "...I have what now."
"Ya know you can tell people do literally anything," Caleb said.
DJ's eyes widened and he looked at Caleb. "What?"
Chase nodded a little. "You're going to get us the rooms." He smiled.
He looked back at Chase and then to Caleb."...I can do that?!?"
"I would hope so." Caleb laughed softly.
And... that's what he did.Albeit awkwardly, DJ managed to get three rooms with his charmspeak. The last three available.
They finally all split up into separate rooms, DJ and Ryker on the top floor, Leora and Courtney on the 5th, and Caleb and Chase on the 8th floor.
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Courtney had set Leora down on her bed, getting ready in the bathroom before sitting on her own. She kept staring at her phone, almost waiting to see if he would text her first.
Leora slowly sat up and held her head. "Owwwww...." she whined and then froze as she remembered what she did. She covered her mouth, she honestly thought she was going to be sick.
Courtney looked over and smiled weakly. "Hey... you're awake." She reaches over into her bag and grabbed some of the Advil she brought, handing it to her.
Leora looked at her, her eyes quickly filled with tears, "I-I'm so sorry!" She cried and covered her face with her hands, "I'm so sorry Courtney!"
Courtney's eyes widened and she shook her head. "Hey, hey hey... no, no tears..." she quickly got up and walked over, wrapping the girl in a hug. "No sorries, you're okay, it's not your fault..."
"I hurt you! I-I didnt even feel bad!" Leora cried and held onto Courtney, "and I hurt Caleb too- I'm so sorry I dont know what came over me." Leora was devastated that she hurt Courtney and Caleb. Her head was pounding but she really didn't care.
She shook her head. "Shhhhshshsh... you're okay... it was a siren, you had no control over what happened, okay? It wasn't your fault. It could've happened to any of us."
Leora sniffled and did her best to stop crying, "I promised to make sure everyone got home safe and the first thing I did was hurt two of my friends..."
"No, no you didn't. That wasn't you. That was a monster using you, okay? That wasn't you, and we aren't holding it against you. You're okay, you didn't hurt anyone, and we're all safe." Courtney smiled weakly.
Leora smiled and nodded weakly, "I'm glad none of you are mad at me... but I'm mad at me..." she said and rubbed her head, "and my head hurts really bad... did someone hit me?"
She nodded. "Yeah... Ryker hit you with the bottom of his sword."
"Ouchies..." Leora frowned and took the ballerina out of her pocket, "I don't think he likes me at all..."
Courtney frowned a bit. "Well...it's okay..."
Leora frowned, "I guess..." she said softly. "I guess I just don't like the idea of people not liking me..."
Courtney nodded. "I know... but hey, it's not the end of the world. His opinion on you doesn't change anything."
"But I really like his sister... so I want him to like me too. Maybe if I make an invention for him-" Leora trailed off and looked around for her backpack.
She shook her head. "No, Leora, stop." She grabbed her hands gently and looked at her. "It doesn't matter how he feels about you. There's nothing he can do to stop anything. If he doesn't like you, that's his own problem. It's not like you have to have his permission to talk to his sister."
Leora looked at Courtney and smiled softly, "yeah... you're right..." she said and stopped, "are you alright? Aside from your shoulder...."
Courtney paused and cleared her throat, nodding with a soft smile. "...yeah, yeah, I'm alright." She stood up and went back over to her bed.
Leora got her bag and worked on what she had been working on before. "Okay..."
Staring down at her phone, she took a deep breath, shutting her eyes. "...I think I'm going to head to sleep, it's been a long day and I'm... really tired." She laughed awkwardly, setting her phone aside. She stared at the photo in her phone case for a second, her hand going up to grab her necklace.
The picture was of her and boy, around her age, but much taller. His head rested on top of hers, his hair fluffed up and covering his forehead. His smile was very clear, and his eyes were a very dark blue. He was very handsome, and Courtney looked very happy in the picture. A lot different than she looked any time Leora would have seen her.
Leora frowned a little. She knew Courtney was really sad but she didn't know how to breach the topic. Feelings and helping people wasn't her forte.
She smiled weakly at the picture, then turned out her lamp, turning. It was immediately noticeable that she had put Leora on the side without the window on purpose, as Courtney had the blinds open and had slid her bed in the room directly beneath it so she could look at the moon.
Leora turned out her lamp and turned to focus on her little project. Her chest hurt.
Courtney slowly fell asleep. And soon, Courtney began to get the same hollow feeling everyone else had back at camp...
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Caleb walked in and sighed. He immediately sat on the bed.
Chase set his bag on the bed, taking out his phone to immediately call Astrid to catch her up on what had happened.
Astrid took a deep breath and answered the phone, she had been pacing around the infirmary trying to figure out why she hadn't heard from Chase for a while. "Hey." She was just so relieved to hear from him.
"Hey..." Chase sighed, running a hand through his hair as he walked over towards the window, keeping his voice lower but Caleb was still able to hear cause... same room. "We got everyone rooms and stuff, so, we will just be hanging out for the rest of the night. How are you holding up?" He asked.
She sighed. "I'm, decent, I guess..." she scratched the back of her neck. "I... more campers fell asleep. We have them all set up in the Hypnos cabin now except for Charlie and Alex. We didn't want her panicking when she woke up, and, Alex's dad is here..." she frowned and swallowed hard, looking down at her hand."...How are you guys doing? Long day." She asked carefully, laughing gently.
Chase chuckled a little. "Yeah, it's been a long day... I'm glad you guys got everyone all situated." He said, shifting his weight to one side."I think we are about five hours from Michigan, so in the morning we will head off again..." Chase paused for a moment, biting the inside of his lip. "Are you sure you're doing okay?" He asked, his tone gentle and quiet as it broke slightly.
Caleb had been overhearing Chase talk while texting Avery. He knew he acted a bit more worried than usual. Like there was something else, something more, scaring him.
Astrid took a deep breath and looked over at the wall. "...yeah... uh... I'm, im fine." She cleared her throat and sighed a bit, hugging herself. "I promise, I just... I'm just tired. I'm probably gonna head to sleep soon." She bit her lip.
Chase nodded a little, taking a second to think. "Alright, well... stay safe and try and get yourself some sleep honey... I'll keep you updated as much as I can on our way tomorrow." Chase said.
She nodded and shut her eyes tightly. "...okay, I love you. We both do." She laughed lightly, resting her hand on her lower abdomen.
Chase laughed softly. "I love you both too. Goodnight..."
She smiled a little. "Night."
Caleb looked up at Chase as the call ended. He stared at him and blinked for a moment before opening his mouth."You're really worried." He noted."More worried? I mean of course you're worried but- is there something else going on? You said love them both?"Caleb explained then asked.
Chase tensed a little bit, staring at his phone background. "I'm fine Caleb..." he said, then put his phone away letting out a small sigh."How are you holding up?" He asked, turning to look at him.
"I'm fine wrist is just a bit sore," Caleb responded but his thoughts didn't leave his mind. Chase seemed to not want to talk about it so he wouldn't push it but.. he couldn't really help but wonder. "You?" Caleb asked. He did kinda kick him and Ryker did smack him...
Chase shrugged, walking to his bag. "I'm alright. Sore.. mainly." He said, grabbing some pain meds out of his bag for Caleb, offering them to him.
Caleb nodded."Yea, sorry for kicking you.." he laughed weakly.
"Sorry for uh... trying to choke... you." Chase said with a weak smile.
Caleb smiled then yawned."I'm gonna go ahead and hit the hay."
Chase nodded a little, his expression softening a bit as he headed towards the bathroom to get ready for bed.
Caleb was out quick, he had been avoiding sleeping in the car since that would give him a headache and as much as he didn't want to admit it. He was fucking terrified of a coma.
Chase well.. he uh... he didn't sleep really. After getting cleaned up and changed, Chase sat on his bed in the dark, staring at his phone. He had tears welling in his eyes as he looked through his photo library. Being away from Astrid right now was very difficult for Chase, but he was trying to stay strong for her sake. He also had his sister on his mind, hoping that she was doing alright still.There was a lot going on in his mind, and he began becoming lost in his thoughts as he looked through his phone.
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