Lia stayed with Percy, along with Bri's group watching on from the treehouse. Everybody else - Miles, Aaron, Eira, and Bri - moved towards the shed in the corner of the yard. That was, bar Luca, who had fearfully scrambled into the treehouse to get away from what was happening below.

The shed was so old that not a single part of it was the silver colour of metal anymore - it was thoroughly rusted. The handle was hidden behind a leafy vine that had wound its way up the wall and the door. There was ivy clinging to almost every inch of the small shed, and what was left visible was teeming with small insects.

Miles deliberately gagged. "This is disgusting. I'm not opening that door."

"Oh, you're more dramatic than Percy," Eira replied and took a few steps towards the door.

"Eira -" Aaron warned, but he didn't have time to finish. His sister lifted her leg and slammed it hard against the door. With a jarring noise, the corroded door clattered in.

Eira straightened up again, grinning with satisfaction at her work while the others stood dumbfounded by her side. "I've always wanted to do that," she breathed.

"You should be in a cop film," Bri decided.

"We're wasting time." Miles started towards the shed, course grass crunching beneath his feet. Eira's excitement seemed to deflate when he said this, so he made a last-minute decision to add, "Sick kick, though." He flashed her a sharp grin before ducking inside the shed.

Bri was the first to follow him. She had to duck to get through the door, for she was closer to Aaron's height than she was to Miles', who was realising - not for the first time - that he hated his short height. Aaron, who was the tallest, had to duck as well, and still just narrowly avoided hitting his head on the roof. Eira accompanied him without struggle.

Once they were inside, nobody had to bend over anymore for the ceiling slanted upwards. "I stand by my decision not to want to come in here," Miles grunted as he flicked a spider corpse off his shoulder.

Bri coughed. "I can hardly see anything in here."

The shed was musty and hot and had seldom enough space for four people. "What the hell are we even looking for?" Eira murmured, holding still to let her eyes adjust to the darkness. Miles was doing the same, and outlines of shapes were becoming clearer. There was no sunlight peeking through the door, for the rainclouds were completely masking it.

"I don't really know," Bri confessed, starting to rattle through a pile of old things and immediately moving away when a whole horde of insects came angrily scrambling out. "Maybe a sturdy ladder or something."

"I doubt anything in here is sturdy anymore," Miles pointed out, keeping his hands to himself for the time being as to not disturb any insects.

"This is so unhealthy," Aaron said matter-of-factly as he moved slowly about the shed's small area. "Try not to touch anything. With a place this old, I doubt we should even be breathing in the dust."

"Then let's be quick." Bri started kicking things over, but in a somehow careful manner as she searched for something they could use to get Percy up into the treehouse.

Miles started rummaging around carefully, picking his way over fallen shovels and equipment he'd never seen before. Things that probably weren't manufactured anymore. He'd hardly started searching before there was a mighty crash from nearby and just as he turned around in a panic, Eira cried, "Found it!"

There was Eira: sprawled on top of a folded metal ladder that was now on the ground, having crushed many other items on its way down. Eira was quick to struggle to her feet, and as soon as she was up, she ignored Aaron's frightened asking if she was okay, and folded her arms triumphantly. "It's one of those fold-able ladders people used, like, twenty years ago!"

"Perfect!" Bri leaned down to grab the metal ladder. "This should work. We just... need to get it out." She hefted the ladder up and only managed to keep it - and herself - upright when Eira rushed to help her hold it.

Both because he didn't want to consume space in the shed that the girls might need for maneuvering, and because he could hardly bear being stuck in the decrepit shed a moment longer, Miles slipped quickly out the door. He sucked in one long, deep breath of fresh air. Even though it was humid outside, it was a significant improvement from the air inside the shed. Of which there had been little.

Aaron emerged from the shed with his head showered in dust and small dead insects. Miles pulled a repulsed expression and immediately moved forward. Without asking Aaron, he reached out to ruffle the other boy's hair to get rid of the grime.

"What was that for?" Aaron asked, cheeks reddening.

"There was dead stuff in your hair," replied Miles with a careless shrug. Aaron's hands immediately shot up to his hair and he ruffled it himself this time. "It's gone now, by the way."

The screech of metal on metal sounded as Bri and Eira struggled to not let the ladder knock against the walls of the shed. The pair of them was dragging the ladder, but once they were out of the confined walls, it was less of a difficulty to carry it.

"Need any help?" Aaron asked.

Eira panted, "No, cripple."

Miles couldn't help but let out a laugh at Aaron's hurt expression. Eira's grin only made him laugh harder.

"Who knew?" sneered Aaron, casting Miles a glance. "You actually do have a sense of humor.

While Miles tried not to let this offend him, Bri hid her own grin and hiked the ladder into a more comfortable position for her to carry it. "We're wasting time. Let's go."

Miles hiccupped back another snort of laughter before pursuing the girls, Aaron hurrying to catch up. The ladder, as it was carried, made a painfully loud noise with every step, scraping and grinding and squealing like it was about to snap in two. Miles didn't know just how stable it would be with about three people on it working on tugging up another unconscious person, but he didn't dwell for too long on that thought.

By the time they returned to where Lia was sitting worriedly beside Percy, the latter was still shivering despite his own long-sleeved shirt and Lia's cardigan on top. His eyes were closed now, but he hadn't calmed down much.

"Took you long enough," Lia said, though she looked utterly relieved. "Set that ladder up, quick. It's going to start raining any minute now."

Eira and Bri unfolded the ladder; everybody else cringed at the noise. From the treehouse, two of Bri's friends assisted them in resting the ladder in place.

"Okay," Bri said as she and Eira stepped away from the ladder. "That's as good as we'll get. Let's be quick - we don't know if it's stable or not."

Lia's voice was thick with sarcasm. "Thanks for the encouragement." She slipped her hands under Percy's arms and staggered while yanking him up. Miles moved forward to help her, even though the wound on his shoulder warned him not to try and carry anything heavy. Lia let Miles support Percy's upper half and she awkwardly hefted up Percy's kicking legs.

The only thing that was telling Miles that Percy was still actually alive was the boy's constant squirming. Other than that, his skin was a chalky white and his eyes were closed. His hair stuck to his sweaty forehead and his lips were a sickly shade of blue. "This is going to be difficult," Miles complained quietly as he and Lia stared at the ladder, trying to think of the best way to get their passenger up. Miles shot Percy a glare. "Little shit should have collapsed once he was up in the treehouse."

"Miles," said Lia harshly, and he didn't say anything else.

From the treehouse, somebody that hadn't spoken before called, "You're both going to have to hold him as best you can with one hand each and use your other hand to grab the rungs. Get him halfway and Kano and I will help you lift him the rest of the way." A boy's face appeared beside hers, and Miles assumed that's who she'd been referring to as Kano.

Lia inclined her head slightly towards the ladder while addressing Miles. "You go up first. Be careful."

Miles stared at the ladder, which suddenly looked like a very steep, dangerous obstacle. The metal rungs were bent unnaturally after years of use before they'd been stored in a shed and left untouched. Reaching for the first rung and biting his lip harshly when a bolt of pain shot through him, Miles lifted his feet onto the lower rungs and started to pull himself up. From beneath him, Lia was grappling to help him lift Percy while he climbed.

Once Miles had managed to heave himself up a few rungs higher, Lia started to climb too. He'd assumed it would make things harder, and though it did make the ladder feel a lot more unstable, it wasn't as difficult as he'd thought it would be.

It was difficult to get to halfway, but once they'd reached it, two teens from the treehouse reached down to grab Percy's arms, and along with Miles and Lia, dragged the unconscious boy into the treehouse. Miles scaled the last few rungs and immediately collapsed onto the floor, panting, lifting a hand to hold to his shoulder.

Lia appeared shortly after. "That," she puffed, watching as Kano slowly set down Percy on the hard floor, "was hard."

"But not impossible," Miles piped in, wincing as he shifted into a sitting position.

Aaron's head popped up through the trapdoor. "You did it!" he cheered as he pulled himself up, arms shaking with the strain as his wound stretched. Just as he had earlier, he shrunk away from all the people in the treehouse once he realised that he was surrounded.

While Miles crawled towards where Percy twitched and groaned in his sleep, Bri and Lia and Eira also found their way up the ladder. "I'll introduce everyone to you guys," Bri said as she pulled herself in.

Miles seated himself beside Percy, reaching for the boy's arm again. Even while unconscious, Percy still tried to wrench his arm free of Miles' grasp, but Miles held it firmly. Watching Percy, Miles let the cogs turn in his brain, processing and considering this.

Something was reminding Miles over and over of how similar Percy's condition was to how the Altered were behaving. Minus the sickness Percy was experiencing too, the loss of control over himself was oddly related.

Something clicked.

"Miles, what are you doing?" Lia snapped as Miles started to tug off Percy's shirt.

"I thought you said you had a boyfriend," Aaron put in suspiciously.

Ignoring Aaron, Miles blurted, "I think I know what's wrong!"

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+1822 Words.