Cora paced around her cluttered room brushing her long rose colored hair with a hairbrush. It was an average morning with the sky the same shade of blue and the clouds sitting in the sky. The air had a cold and dull feeling to it, but the sun was up in the sky, right where it should be. Cora tied her hair up in her usual ponytail and cut off the loose ends with her scissors. She slipped on her normal white shirt, bleached denim shorts, and black sweater with the words “Autumn High School” inscripted in white thread. Cora threw on her black sneakers and tightened the shoe laces so her foot would be as ‘snug as a bug’ .  She walked slowly down the stairs, afraid to wake her parents from their slumber. Downstairs was empty, and deserted. The kitchen was icy as Cora realized the back door was open.

“Ugh,” Cora mumbled to herself and shut the door gently, “stupid wind again.”

Cora flipped on the light switch and managed to make herself a couple pieces of buttered toast, as usual. She ate quickly and cleaned up her plate at the counter. Cora headed towards the front door and grabbed her backpack to swing over her shoulder. A pounding headache appeared as she moved too quickly. Cora walked out the door, and started to rub her temples to make the feeling disappear. The leaves crunched beneath her feet as she walked to the bus stop. She sat down and opened her phone to see a text message from Linn, her childhood best friend.

New Message:

Hello Cora! I am already at school, so I will not see you at the bus stop. I had a meeting with the student council, and we are planning the spelling bee! I can’t wait! I hope you enter.

TTYL,

Linn

P.S. Have a totes-fab-mazin’ day!

Cora smiled at the text message, totes-fab-mazin’. This was a phrase they came up with as kids, and now they use it all the time as a joke. Cora’s smile faded as the bus rode up the street, and stopped at her feet. A loud screech entered her ears as skid marks were left on the road. The new bus driver sure was a clumsy one.

Cora stepped towards the bus door as it opened automatically for her. The bus driver gave Cora an emotionless smile.

“Good Morning, Cora” Mr. Huffman said, “How are you today?”

Cora placed her finger on the scanning pad. This would match the same fingerprint Cora put in her forms when she started to ride the bus. The scanning device beeped to signal the process was complete. The beam of light turned off on the device, and Cora replied, “I’m fine, Mr. Huffman” 

As usual, she headed towards the back, and felt a whoosh of cold air as the door shut behind her. She went to the seat in the very back and plopped down. Scenes of houses and yards passed by as the bus drove up and down streets. Various colors of green, yellow, and blue was a more accurate description of the outside window. Cora rummaged around a pocket in her backpack until she found her uncompleted homework. Searching to find a pencil, someone tapped on her shoulder from the side. Cora turned her head to see a beautiful pair of hazel brown eyes. She focused a bit more to make out that it was Conner, a boy from most of her classes. He was one of her crushes for a couple years now, ever since 8th Grade. They had talked a couple times and hung out with their other friends together. He had dated her best friend one time, but that ended quickly. Ever since the first day of 8th grade, until now, Conner was probably Cora’s all. But the nerves to actually talk to him, took over, and she never got to actually do so. Even if she was in the same room as him, butterflies would go crazy inside her.

“You dropped this,” he said in a warm and smooth voice. He smiled his half-smile and put the pencil in Cora’s hand. She was trying to find the words to say ‘Thank You’ but all that came out was, “Tank Yo”

Cora stammered for a bit and then said, “I mean thank you” Oh great, the butterflies were starting.

Conner smiled at Cora and turned back into his seat. He pulled out a notebook and started to move his hand swiftly across the page with a pen. Cora didn’t know how long she was staring at him, but she lost track of time. His eyes and face showed concentration on his work while his freckles made him look younger than he actually was. His hands were soft and smooth as they moved across the page. He glimpsed towards Cora a couple of times, and Cora looked away when they met eyes. She felt her face grow warm, and realized she was blushing. Warnings went off in her head saying many stange and stupid things, probably just self-doubt.

‘You think you actually have a chance with him? Haha!’

‘You’re too ugly to be with him’

‘Freakshow’

There were at least 5 billion other minds inside her head saying ‘no’ for short, but she knew how she was feeling at that moment. Cora wiped those thoughts away from her mind as the bus skidded to a stop once more, but this time, they had arrived at the high school. Conner got up slowly and grabbed his backpack. He walked down the aisle towards the bus door and jumped the steps. Cora’s concentration on him broke as he left the bus. She suddenly realized that she had to leave the bus as well, but before she even got to the aisle , the bus started to move out of the school parking lot. Cora got flung to the floor and hit her head on a metal bar of a seat. She heard a crack before red clouded her vision. Tears and blood mixed together as the moving vehicle skidded to a stop. Footsteps were coming towards her now as her body started to fail her, and passed out.

***

A faint beeping of a monitor could be heard from close distance. Cora tried to lift her eyelids, but they were too heavy to cooperate. Warm fingers stroked her forehead and a tingling feeling on her skin appeared whenever the fingers made contact. Cora tried to form words to show she was awake, but all that came out was a sharp whimper. A slight gasp came from the person beside her, and the fingers hesitated to stroke her forehead. Cora couldn’t remember what happened, but images raced from her mind. A bus, a clank of metal, and an image of a boy. Cora inhaled sharply as she remembered what events had happened, but still couldn’t see the room around her. She lifted her eyelids, which weren’t so heavy this time, to see a blur of colors. Mostly white and blue with an occasional hint of red. The room around her became clearer as she could see tubes attached to her arm and feel something heavy in her head. She tried to lift her arm up to feel the damage that was done to her head, but a warm and soft hand held it down. Cora turned to her left to see those familiar hazel brown eyes. It was Conner, sitting in a chair, leaning towards the edge of her hospital bed. His skin around his eyes were red and one hand was intertwined in hers, while the other was holding her arm down. Cora looked confused and astonished to see him here. But the one thing that caught her attention was his eyes. They sparkled with a shine Cora had only seen in so few other people. 

“It’s you” Cora managed to say.

The boy nodded and laughed a little bit. His laugh was sweet, almost like honey, as he stroked her forehead again, holding on to Cora’s hand with his other. The butterflies came back and filled Cora’s stomach.

“Do you know what happened?” Cora asked but felt a pain in her head as soon as she spoke. She winced and tried to make the feeling go away.

Conner tried to stay in a calm mood as he told the story, ”I was leaving the bus when I realized you hadn’t come off. I shouted at the bus driver to stop and I stood in front of the bus in order for Mr. Huffman to see me. He stopped and I went back on the bus to see if you were still there. You were barely conscious before you passed out. There was blood everywhere, and you were lying on the floor. I drove you to the hospital for you to get treatment immediately because no one else was available at the moment. Your mom is on her way, you’re only been passed out for twenty minutes.”

Cora took a sharp intake of breath before one of the machines monitoring her head started to beep rapidly. Conner stood up quickly and called for a doctor. Cora felt the digging pain in her head again as things started to go blurry. A figure in a white coat, assuming it was the doctor, sped-walked into Cora’s room. Her eyes started to focus a bit more, but the pain in her head started to get worse. A wave of panic rushed over Cora as the doctor rummaged through the drawers behind her. He finally pulled out a needle, and Cora closed her eyes knowing what would come next. The doctor opened a valve to the IV in her arm as Cora felt a suction-like pulling from the IV. She whimpered as it pulled harder, and then came to an abrupt stop. Cora opened her eyes to see Conner waiting by her side again, and the doctor making notes on a computer about her condition. The click clack of the keyboard and whirring of the machines filled the room. Cora tried to focus on something else besides the line of cold flowing from her arm up to her head. Instinct was to touch her head and prevent the freezing cold to reach it, but Connor held her arm down. Cora searched for something to prevent the cold, until it reached her head, and the throbbing pain started to ease. Cora sighed and realized that she was going to be okay. She relaxed and felt the muscles in her hand as well relax. Turns out she was clenching it the whole time the cold ran through her body. 

Conner saw that Cora was relieved of the pain and he was comforted to know that she was going to be alright. 

Cora tried to turn her head to face Conner, but her head was too heavy to lift as like a thirty pound weight was tied to her head.

“Come here” Cora said to Conner and motioned with her hand. Conner moved forward as a screech emerged from the plastic chair rubbing on the tile floor. Cora laughed a little bit at the awkwardness, but she was distracted by his eyes again. It was as if you were too look, only for a second, you would be sucked into the deep pools, never to regain reality again. Heat rose to her cheeks, she was blushing again. 

“Aren’t you going to go to school or what?” Cora asked wryly, but deep down, didn’t want him to leave. 

Conner shook his head, “They won’t mind if I take a day off.”

Before either of them could say anymore, the hospital room door burst open with so much force, the handle came off and fell to the floor. 

“Ma’am, do please be careful around the hospital!” The doctor said, get up from typing, and tried to fix the doorknob.

The woman immediately rushed to Cora’s side and, on instinct, started to say, “Oh my gosh, Cora, are you alright?! You’re only been gone from the house for a couple hours, and you do this?! Honey, what’s the matter with you?”

Cora laughed weakly and said, “I’m fine, Mom. At least, better than I would be if I was still on that bus.”

Apparently, she didn’t find that humorous, and Cora’s mother frowned at her. 

“She’s going to be alright. She had a mild concussion for about twenty minutes or so to thirty minutes. Her head is going to have to be operated on though. There is a dent and possible brain damage.” The doctor said, straightening their glasses. Cora had clearer enough vision now to see their nametag. It read ‘Doctor Markum Fannin - Skeletal Doctor’.  I guess something was really wrong with her skull. 

A nurse came into the room, and whispered to Dr. Fannin for a few brief moments. This gave Cora’s mother time to ask about every question possible about what happened to Conner. Cora still laid in her hospital cot, attached to all tubes and monitors, not saying a thing. Which was acceptable, since every time Cora spoke, a small pounding would emerge from the depths of her skull. 

Chapter 2

It had been one week since the accident. Unfortunately, Conner had to go back to school, and away from Cora’s grasp. She missed the time that went by when she was alone in her hospital room. Her surgery was planned for yesterday, but got bumped up to today, since the surgeon could not have been present yesterday. Cora tried to pass the time by reading the words on the walls, but it hurt her head if she tried to focus her eyes on something far away. She would strain her eyes to see on the other side of the room, but it never worked. Instead, she played mind games like ‘what shapes can you make out of three lines’ or some other imaginary games she could come up with. The nurses came in every so often to drop off full meals, although they weren’t that good. Hospital meals were never really that good. Oats and yogurt was breakfast, chicken and rice was lunch, and it was yet to be dinner time. Her surgery was scheduled for 4:45 PM, so before dinner. 

Cora was racing the thoughts around her head as the door to her room creaked open. Those familiar hazel brown eyes looked at her, as he smiled. Cora’s eyes lit up. Finally she had some company, although Conner was the only company. Well, besides her daily morning visits from her mom.

“Hey” Conner said softly, as he closed the door and sat by Cora’s bedside chair, “How are you feeling?”

Cora nodded, and gave the usual status report, “Better. The nurse gave me a heavy dose of painkiller today, since they said today would be the worst of pain.”

Conner nodded but then shook out a snicker, “I meant, How are you feeling? Not the nurse.”

“Oh,” Cora said, “Well, it’s uhm been a little lonely today. The erm pouding has gotten worse, and I can’t really seem to focus anymore on the walls. They just look like blurry white shadows. Wait, that doesn’t sound right…”

Conner laughed, that sweet honey-like laugh, “It’s okay, I know what you mean.”

Evidently, Conner was fine if Cora got overtaken by the butterflies. The bond between Cora and Conner had grown greater over the past week. Apparently, the accident that happened to Cora, had a good kind of result. Cora’s feelings had begun to overwhelm her at times for Conner. They had felt happier together in each other's company. Although they hadn’t talked about being together, the nurses ship them. Yes, they know when teenagers have that shimmer in their eyes, they have found someone worth keeping. Whenever Conner could after school, he would visit the hospital to see Cora, even if it wasn’t during visiting hours. He’d give a school report as well such as what was happening, updates for school activities and festivities. 

“Are you nervous?” Conner asked and set his school bag on the floor.

The surgery. Cora’s heart pounded at the thought of it. Her doom was waiting for her, at precisely 4:45 PM. She didn’t want to admit it to Conner, but she was absolutely petrified. But of course, she couldn’t say that!

“Uhm, I’m just going to have to get it over with, I guess.” Cora said as a wave of cold filled her body. Cora did have slight Anxiety, and it definitely was showing right now. Conner reached to hold Cora’s hand and said, “It will be alright. I’ll be waiting right here when you’re done.” They had a moment of silence, just looking into each other’s eyes before Conner reached with his other hand into his backpack, “Linn wanted me to give this to you. She said if I don’t, she will kill me.” 

Cora laughed, “Sounds like her.” Conner set down a small box on Cora’s hospital cot as Cora started unwrapping it. The pink and glitter wrapping was Linn and Cora’s fun color they used when a gift was really special. Excitement filled Cora’s body, and washed the anxiety and butterflies away. From the corner of peeled off wrapping paper, a frame revealed itself. Then a background of their school building, and not one, but two people in the picture. It was none other than Cora and Conner. On the back of the picture, in Linn’s handwriting, it said ‘I ship it’. 

Conner laughed as he saw what Linn had written on the back of the picture, and his honey-like laugh filled the air. Cora started to laugh as well.

“You know, laughing is the best medicine.” Conner said jokingly, but Cora did fully agree. Now, all of the anxiety, pain, and butterflies, were gone from her body. Pain, not fully, but somewhat. Cora smiled and rubbed Conner’s hand. She wanted badly to hug him at the moment, but the weight in her head prevented her from doing so.

“I ship it too.” Cora said, instead. It was the next best thing she could think of to get Conner to smile. Not only was his laugh sweet, but his smile was the sweetest. A little crooked, but adorable. 

Before long, a nurse had come into the room. 

“Hello, Cora my dear, how are you feeling?” she asked in a delicate breakable-like voice. The nurse looked like she was in her mid-forties, but was spunky as well.

“H-Hello Miss Canada.” Cora replied politely, but turned to Conner with panic in her eyes. They both knew what was next, but Conner was the only confident one.

“It’s time for your surgery, sugar plum. Before we roll you to the room, is anything hurting today?” Miss Canada asked sweetly, aware of Cora’s nervousness.

Cora shook her head ‘no’. All of the painkillers they gave her the previous morning had lasted her throughout the day. 

“Alrighty then, Sir, I’m going to need you to leave. You may stay in the waiting room for her results.” Miss Canada said as she started to unhook Cora from all of the tubes and monitors.

Conner looked at Cora, hiding the nervousness he was feeling at the moment. He stroked her hand and kissed Cora lightly on the forehead. Cora smiled back up at him before she had to be rolled off into surgery.

Chapter 3

Waiting seemed to last an eternity. Cora’s mom couldn’t be in the waiting room to hear Cora’s results, because she was in New York handling a business deal , so Conner volunteered to stay for her. He was going to stay anyway. Conner had been fiddling with his hands for the past hour, and reading magazines, trying to get his mind off of failure of the procedure. Memories of Cora came back to his mind. The way he teased her in elementary school to try to get her attention. The way he dated her best friend in middle school to try to get Cora jealous. Until the day of the accident. Conner reached into his backpack to pull out the paper he was sketching on the bus ride with Cora sitting next to him on the aisle. The way he sketched the lines and added shading to the picture made it come to life. That day on the bus, he had drawn Cora, and added a small detail at the bottom: C + C. Now, it just seemed like a fantasy without being next to Cora, and feeling the warmth of her presence. His hands turned cold as the door to the operating room opened, and the nurse came out, holding a clipboard in her hands. A smile was spread wide across her face. Conner stood up abruptly holding the picture of Cora in his hands. 

“She is okay. The procedure went well. She will have some minor setbacks during physical and mental practice, but as long as it’s measured, she will do fine” Miss Canada said softly.

Relief filled Conner from his head, down to his toes. Cora was going to be alright. Conner repeated the phrase over and over in his head, trying to convince himself, although the ‘minor setbacks’ gave him some notes of grief. 

“She is going to be put back in her room for recovery. The process should take four to five days, depending on how fast she heals.” Mrs. Canada said. Conner nodded, taking mental side notes along the way, to remember for later. A boulder of weight was menatally lifted off of his shoulders, knowing he didn’t have to grief anymore for the bad outlook, because there was no more possible chance of that.

“Am I allowed to see her?” Conner asked politely, but a little rushed. He was eager to see the state Cora was in. The nurse nodded, and Conner thanked her. He started to walk towards Cora’s room when he overheard a doctor speaking to a nurse in a nearby room. He skidded to a stop once he heard Cora’s name.

“Did you make sure to do the procedure on Cora?” the nurse asked the doctor. She had a rich Russian accent, which reminded Conner of a girl he had in his Biology class. He peeked in the room to see that it wasn’t a nurse at all, but it WAS the girl from his class, Arina.

The doctor replied in a slightly western-american accent, “Yes, and don’t worry, I made sure to add the Neurotoxins. She should be gone in a month. She will get hazy on her last day, so make sure to seem innocent when you ask Cora how she is feeling.”

Arina smirked with her wicked smile, “Dr. Jeffery, I was BORN to be an actor. I got this.”

A pit dropped in Conner’s stomach as his body went cold and numb. A hand grabbed over his mouth and he struggled to set it off. In doing so, he dropped the picture of Cora, and was startled backwards. The hand pulled him into another empty room, and then turned him to face the kidnapper. It was a young nurse with jet red hair and blue eyes. Her hair was in a ponytail and she was wearing white squared glasses. She shut the door quietly and shushed Conner. Conner nodded and she let her hand off of his mouth.

“What the heck was that for?! Who are you?!” Conner angrily whispered.

The girl rolled her eyes and took out an ID card and placed it in Conner’s hand.

Agent 77

Cover Name: Patrica Jones

Assigned Individual(s): Cora Benson and Conner Markum

P.O.Y.E.

(Protectors Of Young Elementals)

Conner’s brow furrowed as he lifted up the card and pointed to it.

“Is this a joke?”

The girl shook her head, “It might be best if you come with me, Conner. I need to show you how to train your magic. You’re a healer, therefore you can help Cora. You are needed. Now.”