It's two a.m. when Spencer calls, telling me to meet her at the hospital. Her voice is shaky, sounding more terrified than I've ever heard her. I ask what's wrong, but she won't tell me. "Just..... Come. Please. I need you," she says. 

   I climb out of bed and throw on an old sweatshirt and jeans. It's not like I was sleeping, anyway. I've had enough of that for a while. 

   "Mom?" I knock on her bedroom door. It's just the two of us, my dad died before I was born. When Mom answers, I poke my head into her room. "Spencer just called," I explain quietly. "She needs me to meet her at the hospital. Now." 

  Mom springs out of bed instantly. "Is she okay? Is Kitty?" She asks. "I don't know," I start rocking back and forth anxiously. "She wouldn't tell me anything." 

  "Alright," Mom somehow manages to be calm. "Let me get dressed, and I'll drive you." I nod distractedly, close the door, and bound downstairs. 

   It feels like it takes forever. When Mom is finally ready, I practically force her out the front door. By this point, I'm seriously freaking out. I always told Spencer to be careful with whatever she got herself into, and she usually was. But tonight the tables seem to have turned. I'm regretting never actually trying to stop her with every minute that passes. I'm jittery and impatient the entire car ride. 

  "Honey, calm down," Mom insists for the seventh time. "I'm sure she's fine." 

"She didn't sound fine," I retort, getting more anxious by the second. 

      The instant we pull up in front of Echo Hill General, I'm out the door and charging inside. Spencer's sitting in the waiting room, staring distantly at her lap. I breathe a sigh of relief, glad she isn't hurt. That's when I see the dried blood coating her hands. I rush forward and crouch in front of her. 

    "Spence?" I say softly, "Are you okay?" She looks up, startled, then throws her arms around me. "You're here!" She gasps. "You came!" 

"Of course I came," I can't stop staring at her hands as she pulls back. "It's not mine," she reassures me. "I'm..... Fine. But Chance....." Her voice trails off. "Chance?!" I cry. "What was-Chance?!"

   "We went to Wintergreen," Spencer explains miserably. "To check it out. Something happened. I..." She gazes off into the distance for a moment, then turns back to me. "I don't know if he'll wake up." I can't believe it. What could they have been doing at Wintergreen that would end like this? 

   "Spencer," I say, taking her hands. "What happened?" She looks down at her hands in mine and yanks them away, eyes wide. "I can't!" She yelps. "Sorry, I'm so sorry, I can't....." She looks vaguely unhinged. I've never seen her like this. "Did you.....see something?" I push. "Was there someone else there?" Spencer shakes her head violently. "It wasn't a person. It can't have been. There were too many of them, way too many. And they were just.... This is too much." Her voice breaks, and she looks up suddenly as a doctor comes toward us. "Miss Cooper?" 

    "Yeah," Spencer stands shakily. The doctor glances around the room as if not sure what to say. "Your friend.... Well, I'm not entirely sure how to put this, but he's perfectly fine. Unharmed. No injury." 

     "What?" Spencer seems to not fully process this information. "But that's impossible. I saw..." 

"I know, but underneath all that blood, there was nothing. And no symptoms of blood loss, either. He's completely normal." Spencer stares at him like he's crazy. "That isn't... That can't be right. There's no way." 

    "Spencer," a soft voice calls from behind the doctor, who steps aside so we can see Chance, in bloodstained clothing but otherwise uninjured. "It's okay," he says. Spencer seems to actually shut down and stop functioning. "Alright," the doctor says, "there doesn't seem to be a reason to keep you here, so you may go. And don't come back with any more false alarms."

   The moment he leaves us, Spencer snaps back to reality, like someone flipped a switch. "What. The. ??????!" She howls, launching herself at Chance. "What the hell is going on??" 

    "Look, I can explain," Chance says wearily. "Just not right now, okay? Tomorrow. Give me until tomorrow. Please." 

     "You're kidding me," Spencer hisses. "You have got to be freaking kidding me." She looks like she might rip him to pieces. I decide to stop her before it gets that far. "Spence." I put my hand on her shoulder gently. "Give him time. Let him rest. You've both had a hard night, and-" 

   "Hard???" Spencer's practically shrieking now. "You have no idea!! You weren't there!!"

    But I'm not paying attention to her anymore, because standing a little ways away is the boy with the fractured eyes from this morning. He sees me and gives a cheery little wave before directing that eery gaze at my best friend, blood dripping from his pale hands.