The token

[Halie]

Illyana hoisted the heavy Labrador onto the medical table. He was clean, and smelled faintly of baby shampoo.

He was shivering with fear, his tail tucked between his legs, letting out small breathy whimpers, his muscles stiff with tension. She sighed. So, this animal had indeed been traumatized at a clinic. He looked at her with big, glassy brown eyes.

Her heart clenched.

She stroked the dogs head, running a soft over his silky fur to soothe him.

"It's ok" She crooned "No needles today, just a check up."

She worked swiftly. Checking his underbelly for abnormal lumps, his teeth for decay, and his legs for any growth issues, she stuck to the normal check-up procedure. The poor thing looked like he was about to piss on himself any minute now.

She promptly set him down onto the floor, hooked his leash to his collar, and took him back to the waiting room. He rushed ahead, pulling at the leash, his tail suddenly wagging. She laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, i bet you're happy now. You're not out of the woods yet. You still have to get your shots Charlie."

Charlie was oblivous to this as they walked into the waiting room, and pounced upon the legs of his owner, Chelsea, a long time client of Illiyana's. The redheaded woman smiled at the small vet.

"Thank you Dr. Jasi. I appreciate your services."

Illiyana smiled back cordiality.

"It was a pleasure Ms. Johnson. Charlie is quite gentle."

She bit back the urge to question the woman about the dogs history. Some clients found it to be a bit too personal, and this woman had made it clear the she was one of them. She simply said her good-bye's.

"Have a nice day." She said.

Inside, she jumped in jubilation. It was a late shift, and the last one. After this she had three days off to relax, regroup, relish her self time.

Unfortunately, her friends had other plans.

She is in the locker rooms, when her cell phone goes of, the ring tone cutting through the air, and irritating her. Even that small thing was enough to put her in a foul mood. She answers the call.

"What."

"JUNIPERZ!"

"Ow. What."

She holds the phone away from her ear for a moment, now further irritated. Then again, what didn't aggravate her after her shifts? Aside from her soft spot for animals, and intolerance for neglecting some one in need, just about anything could make her want to bite when she was tired.

Especially Rebecca. High on energy, loud, never stopping, no one would ever guess that they'd been friends for six years.

"Yes."

" I Have to talk to you!"

"You're doing that right now Becca."

"No! Come outside. I have a surprise!"

Illiyana cringed with trepidation.

Surprises from Rebecca could range from an invitation to an orgy party, to a greeting containing a bone crushing hug from her while she's dressed in a cosplay costume which consists of nothing but straps of leather.

"Rebecca...what kind of surprise?"

"I've got all entrances to the clinic Under watch. You can't run. Come. Out. Side."

So. She wasn't alone in the scheme. Illiyana spoke through gritted teeth.

"I swear to Allah, If I am trampled, bitten, humped, or drooled on, all of which your surprises have included, i will shove a stick so far up your anus that you'll never be able to fornicate in the proper fashion for a month."

For a while there was silence on the other side of the phone. Then,

"...Not this time. You are spared. Mwa-haha."

She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. At least the Rebecca made life interesting. But in all honesty she'd need rest before she was able to be around the abominable Asian american woman. She put her elbows on her knees,
and let her head hang. Her voice was flat when she spoke.

"I don't trust you. Tell me now."

"Nope nope."

"....Becca."

"...."

"Becca."

"...."

Illyanah's brow twitched. So. She was playing that game. This meant that the surprise probably entailed some of what, or probably all that she was trying to avoid. The next words she spoke came out through gritted teeth.

"Becca. I am going to come out. If i see any one, or a number of persons bunny suits sprinting at me for hugs like last week, i will not hesitate to leap into my volts wagon and run them down. I am tired of your rediculous, confusing, and some what frightening attempts to 'pep up my day'. You have been warned, child."

She hung up the phone, but her anger fled her in a almost immediately, and she smiled. Rebecca was well meaning, and she couldn't deny that the eccentric Media designer was one of they few people who could make her laugh.

Rebecca had a strange talent for getting people to participate in her outlandish schemes. She had been the victim of many. Last week she had been subject to one of the stranger ones.

It'd started much the same as what had just transpired. Hanging up the phone, she'd simply headed out front, to greet the asian woman, curious about the 'surprise.'

She walked out the door and got the shock of her life.

She'd screamed bloody murder when four people, each one towering over her by at least a foot and wearing fluffy pink, had come running at her full speed and swept her up in a sneeze inducing group hug that knocked the breath for her lungs.

Having a slight phobia of clowns, the event had just short of traumatized her.

Remembering this, Illiyanah vetured out the clinic entrance with gaurded caution with her car keys in hand. She hadn't been bluffing.

 

[Shuboni]

Round about the same time, a man was sitting at his desk, enjoying his break. It was calming, so the company claimed, to work in this kind of environment. Though, Benjamin didn't agree. It was quite stressful and sometimes made him sick to work with all of these people. These people who yelled, screamed, and plainly told him that he was one of the worst people on earth and so forth.

Yes, fun at the call center. Benjamin sipped on some coffee that he had just gotten from a machine, even a machine had coffee that was overpriced. It was flavored to taste like a caramel machiatto, but didn't taste anything near what it claimed. But, he drank it anyway. More for the caffeine to help him wake up a little. He usually went through work in a daze, trying to push off everything that the customers had said to him.

Well, break was up, and he was about off his shift. He signed back on to the dialer and waited for calls to come to him. But. There were no calls. His manager stood up from her own cubicle and yelled, "Well, that's a wrap. We can't call anyone else because the rest of the people on the list are 'Do not calls'. See ya tomorrow!" The news was candy to his ears. In a matter of, what seemed seconds, he signed off of the dialer, off of his computer, and was racing down to the first floor to get out of that wretched building.

So, back down to his car, he opened the driver door and got in. Shifted to drive and was off. Relaxing, the drive was, he stayed at the speed limit and decided to take a more scenic route to get back home. As he was driving, he noticed something was sitting on his passenger side seat. He took a quick glance, and had to double take. It was a small necklace, with the oddest looking scull on it! Instantly, Ben pulled over to check out this gem. Who had gotten him this? And, how did they get it in his car without his keys?

He tapped the pendant on his teeth to test if it was real bone, and it was. But the skull looked like a giraffe had mated with a really tiny fish. It was about three inches long, had little horns on the top, and the jaw of a fish. With, something in it's mouth that looked like an eye in the middle of a blue hurricane. The jaw didn't move, and neither did the eye-icane. But it was quite interesting. And how did someone make it? There was no glue residue. Maybe the local veterinarian could help him solve this mystery.

Well, the office was on his way back home, so he rerouted his trip to stop by there, just to check on this little gem. Fascinating, it was, but he didn't want to put it on. "Little fish thing, let's solve your mystery shall we?"

 

[Halie]

Illiyana stepped out into the cool October night with trepidation. She saw Rebecca's Yellow Hummer parked alone at the far corner of the parking lot, noting how looking at the giant jeep gave her a chill down her spine.

She froze.

Something was going to go wrong tonight, and that vehicle was going to be the center of it all. Suddenly concerened for her friends well being, she called her.

"Rebecca? Where are you?"

"Im in my jeep, hurry up and get your little ass over here!"

Illiyana sees the silhouette of Rebecca's figure in the driver's seat, holding her cell phone. She walks closer to the car and the strange foreboding feeling grows.

"Can you come here? Meet me halfway?"

She heard an exasperated sigh.

"Yeah, sure."

Rebecca hangs up the phone and steps out of the car. The woman stands at a decent 5'5, yet still manages to towar over Illiyana. The thought of this causes her to frown slightly. They finally meet in the middle of the lot. Illiyanah stares up at Rebecca, waiting.

"Well?" She prods.

Rebecca smiles estatically, practically bouncing with suppressed joy. Illiyanah semi consciously leans away.

"I got us an invitation to the party at the Gonodine Manor for hollows eve!"

Illiyanah frowns, confused. She was supposed to be excited? Rebecca deflates, then grow petulant.

"Come on, you need to go to a party sometime, now is perfect. You need to relax, have fun, get over..."

Illiyana grew very still. Emotions broiled within her, none of which were calming in the least bit. Her eyes locked on Rebecca's as she struggled stay calm.

"Get over nothing." She finished for the suddenly somber Asian.

Suddenly her friend seemed to shrink in on herself. Suddenly, Illiyana felt like an ass.

She sighed.

"Honestly, thank you. But you know how i am. Especially - "

"Yea. Yea i know."

Rebecca cuts her off, refusing to meet her in the eye.

" I Know. Shouldn't have bothered." She continues.

Illiyana sighs again, guilt erasing all of her irritation and anger.

"I - "

Before Illiyana can say another word Rebecca wordlessly turns and head's back to her jeep.

"Rebecca wait! Don't - "

The hummer door slams shut, cutting of her words. She watches regretfully as the jeeps pulls out of the parking lot and merges into the traffic of the street. An uneasy, cold feeling churns her stomach. She realizes that it had never left her.

Her eyes dart back to her convertible, the only car left in that corner of the parking lot.

She stands frozen on the spot, her eyes wide and riveted on her little red car which had suddenly become an object to fear. She wordlessly walks back into the clinic.

"Forgot Something Ms. Jasi?"

She doesn't turn to look at the receptionist, but answers

"There are a few things in my office i need to get done. I think I'll put in some extra hours."


"

 

[Shuboni]

Ben barely arrived at the intersection where the veterinarian's office was. He saw a yellow jeep drive by, but didn't see any signs of an animal in the car. Probably a smaller pet. He proceeded to pull into the parking lot, in his powder blue Prius. He didn't buy the thing, it was left to him by his late father. "Well, your mystery is about to be solved, little fish thing." He opened the door to his car, and fell out of it. Groaning a little, he looked up to see that his ankle was tangled in the seat belt. "Lousy..."

He pulled his leg out from the belt, bouncing on one foot away from the car, and sighed a little. "I'm trading you in as soon as they come up with something a bit better in gas mileage. Or even a little worse." He gave the car a little glare. He walked up to the door of the office, then realized that he forgot the necklace. "You fool." He walked away, back to his car, opened his door, yanked the necklace by it's chain from the passenger seat, and walked back to the door. He was pretty annoyed by this time.

"I'm about ready to throw you down a storm drain, you pesky thing." He walked into the office and stopped by the receptionist. She greeted him, then asked why he was there without a pet. "I actually had an inquiry about something I had found. Are any of the veterinarians not busy at the moment? I can wait if I have to." He was instructed to wait until she could get someone to help.

So, begrudgingly, he sat in one of the little seats and waited. Of course, like any other office, minutes turned into hours while waiting. He picked up a magazine and skimmed through it. Nothing interesting. He skimmed through another one. Everything was either about animals or something by National Geographics, which was pretty close to being only about animals. he wasn't really ready for a pet at this point in time. So, instead he decided to study the little fish head thing. He stared into the eye that was in its mouth. "What are you...?"

 

[Halie]

Illiyana collapsed into her chair, frustrated.

So apparently her car was 'marked'. A term she used for objects or people she got a bad vibe from. Sometimes it affected her daily life. Like tonight, for instance. However inconvenient it may have been, she knew better than to ignore it.

She nearly fell out the chair when the phone rang shrilly, cutting through the silence like a knife. After she recovered she growled, but answered the phone. Her voice was a bit more terse than she intended it to be when she spoke.

"Yes Rachel?" She asked.

"There's a man here who's asked for some one to help answer some questions. Are you free at the moment?"

She gritted her teeth. Now was the worse possible time for a potential client. Her nerves were jumbled, she was beyond exhausted, and she was currently trying to think of a way to get home without getting her car towed. Still, she decided it was dutiful to be honest.

Hoping the man was a saint, she answered.

"Send him right up. I'm free."

 

[Shuboni]

Ben waited for a couple more minutes when the receptionist advised him that Dr. Jasi was available to help. So, he got up from his chair and went with her to the doctor's office to have this all straightened out. When he came through the door, he was greeted with a woman who seemed quite distraught. "Well, Dr. Jasi, I seem to have a prank being pulled on me. I get into my car and there's a little necklace on my passenger seat." He set the necklace with the strange skull pendant on the doctor's desk.

"I knew the best way to test if it's bone is to tap it on your teeth. That is, when you don't have actual instruments. But I've never seen an animal that looks like that before. Could you help me out?" Ben fidgeted in his chair a little, the excitement about the little mystery getting to him. Yes, with his fabulous life at his amazing job, this little thing could excite him so. Though, learning was always a rewarding experience. "It looks like a strange fish. But I've never seen a fish with horns on it. And the jaw..." The bottom jaw was larger than the top, allowing it to hold the eye pendant.

 

[Halie]

"Please, sit." She watched him take a chair across from her.

Illiyana looked at the pendant within the man's grasp, and her immediate assumption was that perhaps it was a native american spirit token of sorts, or a lizards skull.

The man handed the skull to her, and she was disturbed by an involuntary shiver as a jolt went up her fingers, her arms, and shook her teeth like fire.

It took everything within her not to yelp, to drop the thing. But alas, she simply observed the skull, and the only indication she felt her face give away of the ordeal was a twitch of her left brow.

This pendant was marked.

She cleared her throat and truly looked at the object for the first time. She couldn't identify the species. At least, not immediately. She'd have to do some research.

Yet...

She fingered the small orb in the jaws of the skull, clutched within the creatures serrated teeth. I had a cylindrical design, and the effect was of staring into a minuscule abyss, or a pit. The iris of it seemed to spin into the pupil, shades of muted sapphire and turquoise being sucked into a dark place. Curiously, the little spit it was the only part of the glossy eye-like gem that did not reflect light. She finger the surface and flinched in alarm when it gave, slightly, seeming to pucker upon her touch. She allowed herself a repulsed tremor before setting it onto her desk and sliding it towards the man.

She did not want that thing, whatever it was, in her presence any more than it had to be. Yet, he requested her aide, she would give it to him. Her voice was soft when she spoke.

"Do you mind leaving it here for the night? I could study it, and give you some answers tomorrow morning."

 

[Shuboni]

Ben watched while she examined it. He looked to see if there were any moments where her body language showed that she had found something. There were moments, but it seemed to him like they were more of confusion or something. He wasn't good with this sort of stuff. He was better at talking people out of money. Then she asked if he could leave the necklace there. "I... uh... Huh?" He gave her a sideways glance. It was only a necklace with something like a fish head on the end. But, if there were certain tests that had to be done to figure it all out, Ben didn't mind. "Well sure. I mean, I would like to know what the little guy is."

There was a low rumbling noise coming from outside. Then a train horn. "I didn't know there was a train around here." He listened harder to figure out where it was coming from. Sounded like somewhere East. "You hear that, right?" Ben didn't want to seem crazy.

 

[Halie]

Illiyana dismissed the sound from outside as a train passing by. But then, that sound. An eerie, Resonating whistle that rattle her teeth and made her ears ring. It didn't sound like a train. And that's when something in her head clicked.

Of course. There was no train.

She stared at the man, rising slowly from her feet as possibilities shot through her head. Earth quake? Plane? Truck?

THe rumbling sound grew louder, the whistle fading away in an unearthly, melodic echo.

Then, silence.

She felt her heart hammering and a sickly feeling of unease began to stew within her belly, and she knew that if it went unchecked it would grow into full blown panic. Strangely, the silence seemed to be driving her insane.

"Yes. I heard it. Very clearly."

 

[Shuboni]

So Ben wasn't going insane. But that eerie sound of... whatever that was was getting to him. "I'm starting to get the feeling that that thing has more to it than a strange pendant and fish-giraffe-lizard skull." Pretty obvious, especially since there wasn't a train for miles and trucks weren't aloud on the main road. "I say we should get home and have ourselves a good sleep." There was a sound of something opening outside, like a steel door of a large truck that was rusted. "Or see what that is..."

He looked out the window, but didn't see anything. "What sort of madness is this, then?" He looked long and hard, but didn't see anything. "I don't see anything out there. Do people normally play pranks on you like this? They sure don't me." He thought about that necklace again. "Maybe I should just come back here early tomorrow so those tests can be run in the morning instead of the evening." Was it getting cold in there? Or was it just him?

He went back to the desk and sat down, rubbing his arms. He didn't hear anything then. He was hearing clacking sounds from a keyboard downstairs before that train, but now it was nothing. That necklace was in his head again. He picked it up off of the desk and stared at it. He then put it on and.... saw something... out in the lobby. "I think there's someone here that isn't too friendly..."

 

[Halie]

Illiyana sat frozen at her desk at his words, the self control starting to break away as her breath quickened, a sign that perhaps she will panic soon if she's not careful. She feels the strange, dissonant feeling from the necklace grow stronger when the man puts the necklace around his neck.

"I think you should take that thing off." She murmured.

She began to shiver, the temperature in the room dropping at alarming rate. Finally she stood, and walked over to her office door.

"Come, im locking us in. I'm gonna call the cops."

It was the only thing she could think of doing right now. The silence was getting to her.

 

[Shuboni]

Ben followed after, quite obediently. He didn't want to be around those people, especially after what he had seen. "This necklace... It let me see what was going on. I don't think I should take it off beca-" His statement was interrupted by a large banging noise. Then a crash of what sounded like a computer. Now a heavy thudding noise, like someone coming up stairs. He concentrated and saw that those people were coming after them. "We should hurry."

After they were secured, so he hoped, he tried calling the cops himself. The line was dead. He had no clue what to do. "This is no good at all." And his cellphone was out in his car. "What do we do now? Someone cut the line and I have no personal phone."

 

[Halie]

Illiyana shut the door, and locked it, her hands beginning to shake a bit. What ever 'visitor' had come knocking on their door, or rather, various objects to and fro, was most certainly no natural by any means. A particularly gargantuan boom sounded through the walls, the tremor shaking small objects on her desk and rattling her teeth.

Then, silence.

Too afraid to move, she looked at him, the man whose name she'd not even had the chance to obtain, and spoke to him in a low, soft whisper.

"I don't know who you are, or what that thing is. But as soon a this is over, i suggest you toss that thing in a river and soon as you can. It is marked."

Before she can explain what she means, or even draw another breath, a larger boom rankles the air around them, and she can identify the shriek of splintering wood within the explosive sound. Her fists curl into agitated fists.

They are breaking through the doors.

She thinks fast.

"We don't have much we can do. No windows, no alternate exits. The only option left is to hide."

Her eyes dart about the office. A small closet with a lockable door. Her desk, with two cabinets small enough to fit a small child inside. That was it. It was all they had.

"Get into the closet."

She rushes to her desk, pulls out her drawer which hold her personal surgical tools, and gives him the largest of her scalpels.

"Use this if you have to."

Without giving him tim to argue she ushers him into the closet, and locks it.

"All you have to do is turn the knob and it will open for you. Easy out, no easy in."

She forcefully dismissed the thought that they could easily kick down the door if they wanted. But honestly, she could think of nothing else, and she hoped that her winter coats she kept there year round would protect him from any injury.

There was no way he could fit where she was about to go.

Quickly she opened the left ward cabinet, grabbing the longest, thickest syringe she could find. It may not do much, but she knew where to stab to make it hurt the most.

She kneeled and opened her cabinet. For once, it was virtually empty aside from a few folders, as she had been doing some 'fall cleaning' for the colder months. She tossed them out, and crawled into the tight space, thoroughly thankful for once that she was quite petite. She crossed her legs so that her chin was resting upon her knees, and her forearms were lying flat against her thighs.

She closed the cabinet door with a click, and actually felt safer within the tight, dark space. Her breathing was quite constricted, so she closed her eyes, forcing herself to take shallow, calming breaths, realizing too late that she should have done so before squeezing into such a small area. She gripped the syringe, wary of breaking the glass, listening closely to her heart beat to calm herself.

 

[Shuboni]

Ben was in the closet now, scalpel in hand. He listened as the things broke through the door. They sounded massive. He wanted a better look, but couldn't see past the door. All of the sudden, the door seemed to be transparent. Now that was odd because the things couldn't see him. Was it this necklace? Well now he could get what he wanted.

They weren't all that big, and there were only two of them.. They looked like average people, just wearing large cloaks and masks. Both of them had strange weapon-like things in their hands. They searched the office, ransacked the place. Where was the doctor? One of them walked up to the closet door, when all of a sudden the eerie whistle came again. The things looked in the direction of the whistle and ran off. Was that their calling?

Ben waited a while to make sure that those violent people were gone. He opened his door and looked for the doctor. "They're gone now... I don't think they'll be coming back again anytime soon." He had a feeling that they were carted off somewhere else to look. Maybe he could track where they were with that necklace? He concentrated, but couldn't see a damn thing. "Well I can't do that..." But he could see every place that he had ever been.

He set the scalpel down on the table, feeling quite shaken from the whole experience. Hopefully those things would never catch him. If it was him that they were looking for. And what did the doctor mean by it being marked? He was staring at the pendant now, trying to find this mark she was talking about.

 

[Halie]

Illiyana pushed the cabinet open and, none too gracefully, crawled out of the cabinet. The man looked at her with what she assumed to be surprise. Or bemusement? She didn't know. Didn't care.

"That...thing..."

At first, she couldn't form words. She was on her hands and knees, trying to catch her breath. It'd been a tight squeeze, and she found herself reveling in the privilege of being able to let her lungs expand to their full capacity.

"It's marked. You should get rid of it. It's been used for something, or it's been somewhere, or it is going somewhere. It might even be destined to do something to someone. I don't know. It's just...it's not malevolent, or benevolent. It's in-between."


Her voice gave out, and she swallowed in an effort to clear her throat. She rose to her feet.

And looked at him. His energy. She hadn't been able to feel it before, but now, she noticed it was different. Like the pendant.

"You used it." Her eyes widened. "It's done something to you...altered you."

Her eyes narrowed.

"How did you know not to take off the necklace?"

 

[Shuboni]

Ben backed up a little, hands held up nonconfrontationally. "I I I I..." He stuttered before he finally got out, "I don't know. I'm sure this thing is letting me see things that aren't here." He stopped, knowing what he had just said made absolutely no sense. "Wait... I mean... I can see places. Places in real time that I'm not in. After I put it on, I saw that those things were here. I know that there are two of them, and that they almost found me but couldn't figure out where you were."

"Though, I can only see places where I've been..." then something hit him. "or where I'm going. We need to leave as soon as we can. I'm sorry I got you into this, but those things might use you to find me and this pendant. And I highly doubt they'll leave either of us in good standing afterwards." He looked at her. He hadn't noticed before how stunning she was. "I understand leaving everything behind like this, and so suddenly, will be hard. But I assure you it's the best course of action we have right now."

He knew that he would have to leave everything behind as well. But, frankly, he didn't care. He didn't like his life and he always wanted an excuse to take a 'vacation', and health was a good reason. Now he could call his floor manager and tell him that he could go suck a lemon. His team manager was nice, he would tell her to have a nice day and hope that he could be replaced. "Get everything you're going to need for a while." He looked towards where they were going. "If you need anything from your house, we can go there."

 

[Halie]

At first, she stared at him dumbly, her large brown eyes wide, giving him a frozen doe eyed look. Then, she blinked.

Her anger at his assumption that she'd simply pack up and go with him, a man whose name was still a mystery, who she'd been kind enough to into her office after she was off her shift, who brings an object surging with energies far more different than anything she'd ever encountered on this earth, was telling her to drop her career, her home, her life.

To run. Run from what?.

She clasped her hands together and closed her eyes. She took a deep, calming breath, and composed herself in order to speak to him in a cool, rational manner. Underneath the anger, the tension, there was a very real, very cold ball of fear.

"You will answer me these questions, before I become very, very unprofessional and get a tad bit unpleasant."

She stared at him, her dark brown eyes blazing with dark hostility. She felt anxious, strange, jittery. Wound tight.

"What is your name. Why do you want to keep this thing, and what are they? What am I to them that i would have to follow you? which, by the way i must correct you, will not be happening unless you shoot me and drag my cold, lifeless body into the trunk."

She took a step toward him, her small stature doing nothing to diminish the effect of her building fury. In fact, her small body seemed to concentrate it so that she projected from her like a bullet.

She stared at him, and that's when she realized that she was shaking. She realized that her anger was her own way of trying to escape another wave of hysteria.

She hugged herself, refusing to let her anxiety show. She absolutely refused to be complacent and trusting, no matter how badly she knew she was failing to understand she how radically her life had changed in a span of a few moments.

 

[Shuboni]

Ben decided the best thing to do at this time was to answer her questions precisely and accurately as possible. "My name is Benjamin Pascualli, I don't want to keep this thing but whatever these things are they'll kill me if I have it or not, I'm not sure what they are but I do know that they're at least twenty times stronger than any human and I'm skeptical if they have actual faces because they were wearing Guy Fox masks, to them you're a lead to get to this necklace and I think they can trace whoever has touched it and that's how they found us since we both had touched it, and I realize that this would be quite a bit to take in at the time but we don't have much of that left right now now do we? Those things could be coming back in at any time now, so I say we both should go somewhere. Where?" He concentrated. "Train station first." It was as iff the necklace was telling him where he should go.

"Look, I'll pay for everything, okay? Which is the least that I should do for dragging you into this. I have a huge amount in savings and my 401K that I can get access to after I stop my job. I never liked that job anyways... But I strongly suggest that you come with me." He paced around a little bit, quite frustrated. "I saw what they did to the receptionist, and you don't want to see that..." It was pretty gruesome, and really unpleasant. "If we don't get out of here, it will happen to both of us too. And that should be the last thing that we want." He gestured to the door. "I'm sure that quite a few of the things that are now tossed around like pillows in this room were bolted to the floor. So, are you going to come with me?"

 

[Halie]

She looked her panic finnally taking a hold of her. His words confirmed her fears. It wasn't marked, it was connected.

She'd rarely come across an object like that before, aside from sensing a similar energy from the graves of beloved husband's whose wives were still grieving. It was somthing that was shared between living beings that were significant to eachother in some way, and sentimental objects could be connected to a person in the same way. Yet... that pendant didn't exactly send off the same energy. There was somthing else to it, something...wrong.
Her breathing started to quicken, her vision beginning to cloud over as her mind began to race.

This was too much, too fast. Yet it was undeniable. She'd been marked as well. The moment she'd touched it, that skull had done something to make her susceptible to being...open to something. Noticed. She was no longer safe.

A dark, cold shiver shot through her spine, and her body responded with a short violent tremor.

She closes her eyes, and takes a deep, cleansing breath. Immediately her heart rate begins to slow. A few breaths later, she her fear is forcefully kept at bay.

"Very well."

Her dark eyes lock on Benjamin's with a look her friend's sometimes described as her 'tiger stare'. A look that gives her a deceivingly calm, rational appearance. Those who knew her the best would know that she had come close to either having a break down, or a black out of rage.

"I will follow you. I just need you to drive me to my house. I just need to pick up some things."

 

[Shuboni]

Ben was terrible with body language. The person would have to flinch pretty badly before he would be able to tell if the person was gonna hit him. So, he couldn't tell what was on Illiyana's mind. Though, he was pretty good at telling emotions by how someone spoke. Illiyana's voice wavered in a way that could mean she was really stressed, afraid, or angry. Maybe a mixture of the three. He knew that this little discussion would work in convincing her, mainly because he could see where her house was. "Alright then. Let's be off."

He lead her to his car, trying to act as cool and as collected as he could. When passing through the lobby, there was a lot of gore and blood on the walls behind the front desk. He didn't want to make any comments about what had happened, because he didn't know the girl that well. He stepped to the door and waited for a bit to see what Illiyana would do. "Should we be on our way or should we do something for her..?" He didn't want to be disrespectful, but he didn't want to waste too much time either.

Ben could tell that Illiyana would make a pretty good decision by weighing the pros and the cons of any situation. He was probably going to let the doctor make the large decisions.