Annabelle sat at Erin's side as she slept the uneasy sleep of the drugged.

Annabelle dozed in the ugly brown plastic chair beside the unnaturally high hospital bed. She felt guilty for being tired when her family was in such turmoil.

Why had things started going so badly for the Tinkers? When had they?

Never had Annabelle missed her father more than now.

"Dad would know exactly what to do," she said, realizing even as she said the words they weren't true. Vern Tinker had been no more Superman than the guy in the movies and unfortunately, no more immune to death, but to Annabelle, he'd seemed able to handle any emergency.

"Mom?" Erin's voice, cloudy with sleep, interrupted Annabelle's self-pity.

"Mom's gone home, honey." Annabelle leaned over Erin and brushed back her hair. "I'm here, though."

Erin turned up a weak smile. "I knew you would be." She tried to sit up, prompting Annabelle to reach for the remote control for the bed. After raising the head of the bed to make Erin more comfortable, she sat down again.

"How do you feel now?" It was a stupid question, but how else to get a conversation started?

Erin shrugged. "Okay, I guess." A flush colored her fair face. "I'm sorry I went crazy like that."

"It's okay. Don't worry-"

"No, it's not okay. I don't know why I acted like that. It's not like me to go out of control." She raised her eyes to Annabelle's. "You know that, right?"

"Sure, I do. You're as normal as I am."

Erin smiled. "I had wondered if maybe whatever happened to Mom..." She didn't need to finish. Both Tinker sisters had heard their Granny Smith's words on how Susan Smith Tinker had changed in her twenty-second year. They sat in an uneasy silence.

"Annabelle, I have to ask you a favor."

"Sure, honey, anything."

Erin didn't give her a second to think about her promise.

"Find Lucas for me."

Annabelle felt her eyes go wide. "What? You can't be serious, Erin."

"You don't believe something happened to him, do you?"

Annabelle paused before deciding to answer truthfully. "No."

"Then he's right here in town somewhere. If he was just using me and left me after he got what he was after, find him and bring him here so I can spit in his face."

Sounded like a good idea.

"I don't know what the doctor would say."

"I don't care. If nothing's happened to him, find him."

It was a challenge to Annabelle's certainty. If you're so smart and I'm so gullible, Erin was saying, go prove it.

"All right. Do you have a picture?"

"Yes, but it's not a good one." Erin pointed to the small closet in the corner of the room. "I think my things might be in there."

Annabelle opened the closet and got Erin's bag. She tossed it to Erin and waited while she went through it. Erin finally retrieved her wallet and popped it open. She pulled a picture from a plastic frame and held it up.

"The light was funny. He was angry my friend snuck up on him and snapped it."

Annabelle took the picture and glanced quickly. "What's with him? Camera shy?" Suddenly, her attention was pulled back to the image of the tall, handsome man standing by Erin in the picture. "What's this?"

Holding the picture so Erin could see, Annabelle pointed to a spectrum of light surrounding the man. It radiated from him, shades of purple and deepest blue.

"It looks like an aura," Annabelle said, marveling at the photographed radiance.

"Lucas said it was a reflection off the camera lens. My friend said she'd never seen anything like it before."

Annabelle passed her finger over the picture as she stared at the image.