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Think Nekoda, think What was it that huht That was it She reached for her phone and called 911 It took a few minutes before a woman answered it

Kody’s hand shook as she wished she had the powers to heal Nick so that he wouldn’t have to suffer If only … "Hey, I found my friend in an alley where he was viciously attacked, and he’s bleeding really badly"

"Is he conscious?" the operator asked

"No, round her teeth as she used her powers to locate it She gave it over to the woman, and stayed on the line as she waited for help to come

She conjured a cloth to help wick away soot an a for you They’ll be here any minute"

Only it seemed to take forever

As soon as she heard the sirens approaching, Kody ran toward the street to flag down the ambulance so that they wouldn’t rabbed a box before following her to where Nick lay on the ground

"What happened?" the male EMT asked

"I don’t know I found hio He was supposed to be with his mother at work, and when he didn’t show up, she called uys as soon as I dug hiirlfriend, Kody"

They knelt down on the ground and started inspecting Nick’s condition

"What’s his name?" the woently "Can you hear ed a frown

"Nick?" the woain "My naedly

"Good boy"

The et the stretcher while Patrice stayed behind to insert an IV in his arm "Can you tell me how old you are, Nick?"

"He’s fifteen," Kody answered

"Thank you" She wrapped a brace around Nick’s neck while speaking to Kody "Do you have his o call her while I take care of hi hin papers for him"

Kody made the call while they stabilized hi up when they started past her with Nick He reached out for her and took her hand

"It’s going to be okay, sweetie," she assured him

"You want to come with us?" the man asked

"If I can, yes"

They put Nick into the ambulance before the woman went to the front to drive and the man stayed in the back with them Kody sat by the door while the EMT continued to tend and ns

"Do you knohat happened?" he asked her

"Not a clue He was supposed to run an errand and didn’t show up Hisfor him It’s a miracle I found him"

"He’s lucky you found hi to speak, but with the oxygen mask on, they couldn’t understand him The EMT pulled it back

"What’s that, Nick?" she asked

"Tell…" He coughed, then groaned "Tell her I didn’t fight"

"I will" The EMT returned the mask to Nick’s face "Did you hear that?"

"I did, but I’ to He means his mother They had a verbal altercation earlier, and he proed as she surveyed the dae done to him It was absolutely brutal

The EMT leaned over Nick to pluck a vial out of his case "No offense, kid, you should have fought back I don’t think they could have hurt you any worse if you had And at least you would have gotten some kind of personal satisfaction out of it"

Kody couldn’t agree more And she couldn’t understand why he’d allowed himself to be hurt this badly Not even for his mother Nick, I want to hurt you for this But that was part of what she loved about hi her hand on his leg, she closed her eyes and used her powers to discover what had happened She saw Bristol hit Nick in the back of the head with a board he’d picked up frouard and temporarily blinded by the viciousness of that first surprise blow, Nick had fallen to the ground His eyes blazing with iven hi Nick with the board, blow after blow, never allowing him time to recover All Nick could do was curl up in a ball and try to protect himself Dazed and disoriented by the rapid succession of blows, Nick hadn’t had a chance to call for help before he’d passed out in the alley Cringing in horror, she finally saw the sanity return to Bristol’s eyes Only then did Bristol panic as he realized how badly he’d hurt Nick Terrified that Nick was dead or dying, he’d grabbed Nick’s wallet and had thrown garbage over hi Nick to bleed out on the cold sidewalk

Never had she wanted to hurt anyone as ht then How could he be so cold? He’d known Nick for years Had been in countless classes and had been his study partner for several subjects