Samantha R. Cichella - A New Successor

Virginia and Evelyn quickly went around to the side of the castle. They were looking for a side door or a servant’s entry or something. Finally, Evelyn spotted a door hidden by ivy and shrubs. They tried opening it but it had a padlock on it. Even though the lock was rusted it still held. Virginia desperately tugged on it, but it remained. Evelyn looked around and saw a large rock nearby and picked it up. She jammed it down on the lock. The lock broke off and they pushed the door open.

Virginia went in first and Evelyn followed. They found themselves in a semi-dark kitchen. The only light came through the door and windows. The kitchen was big but still smaller than the one at Wendell’s castle. They quietly made their way to the door of the kitchen, staying in the shadows. Virginia cracked open the door very slightly and peeked out. The corridor was long, dark, and vacant. It was lined with ancient paintings and rusted suits of armor.

Virginia nodded to Evelyn and the two of them slipped out into the corridor without making a sound. Almost immediately, they heard footsteps coming in their direction. They both ducked behind separate suits of armor, hiding in the shadows. They watched as a guard walked by, humming to himself. When he was gone, Virginia let out a sigh of relief and the two girls slipped back out from behind the armor and hurried off in the opposite direction the guard had gone in.

They were able to reach the main hall without running into anybody else. The main hall was big but not exactly elegant. There were cobwebs and dust everywhere. Everything seemed neglected except for a large painting of a woman at the top of the staircase. The woman was beautiful, yet evil. Her cold eyes were merciless and Virginia got shivers just looking at it. Then a voice brought her back to reality and Virginia realized that a girl was standing just to the right of the top of the staircase

. “She was beautiful wasn’t she? She looks quite different now. I don’t think you would recognize her in her current state. Although I hear you have had the pleasure of meeting her on your previous adventure. You didn’t exactly make a good first impression on her you know. First you stole her comb and then you killed her successor.”

Virginia had already concluded that this must be Jessica. She had been surprised to see she was so young. Not more than sixteen and yet her voice was cold and powerful. Jessica made an tsk-tsk sound and walked down a few steps. Virginia and Evelyn stood still.

“Yes, her plans were foiled again, so she sought for a new successor. One that would not be so easily defeated.”

“Let me guess, you?” Virginia said with her voice just as cool. Jessica smiled evilly.

“You must be the heroine Lady Virginia. We haven’t had the pleasure of meeting yet. I must say that you are not what I expected.”

Virginia snorted. “You aren’t exactly what I expected either. How old are you?”

Annoyance flashed across Jessica’s face, but then was quickly replaced by her cool calmness again.

“I realize I may be young, but I have no doubt that I have more determination and a lot more intelligence then you may think. Nothing will come between me and my goal.” Jessica turned to Evelyn. “And who might you be? You weren’t with them when they started their little quest, so you must have joined them recently. No matter, I’ll take care of you later. Guards!” Ten guards came from one corridor and another ten came from the one Virginia and Evelyn had come from. “Take that girl to the dungeon.” She pointed to Evelyn and four guards came forward.

However, Evelyn would not go without a fight. She kicked one of the guards in the stomach as he went to grab her and punched another one in the jaw. She looked as though she was going to take on the other two as well, but another guard came up to her from behind and hit Evelyn with the butt of his sword. She collapsed onto the floor and was carried away.

“Evelyn!” Virginia screamed and attempted to run over there but the last guard drew his sword and pointed it at her. Virginia froze. She turned to Jessica and yelled, “She hasn’t done anything to you. Let her go!” But Jessica just shook her head and descended the last couple of stairs and was soon right in front of her. Virginia decided to try talking some sense into her. “Listen, Jessica. You don’t need to kill anybody. We haven’t done anything to you. I’m sure if you give us a chance, we can work something out.”

Jessica smirked. “Did you really think that you could negotiate with me? No, I have my plans. I had the Peeps kidnap your wolf. Hadn’t you wondered why I didn’t have the Peeps just grab you when they grabbed him? Or why they didn’t take the mirror with them?” Virginia didn’t answer. She just stared at the cruel teenager in front of her. Jessica was already making a mistake. One that every villain in every story made. They unveiled their plan to the hero. “It’s very simple. I wanted you to get help. I wanted you to flee to Wendell.” Virginia looked at Jessica as if she was insane, which was very well possible. Jessica continued. “You see, I want Wendell dead as well. But it was almost impossible to get ahold of him when he is cooped up in that castle of his. So I figured that I would kill two birds with one stone, as the saying goes.” Jessica smiled and started circling Virginia. Virginia just stood there, still trying to control her anger. “I would have Wolf killed, meanwhile luring silly Wendell out of the castle. But the Peeps proved unreliable as I guessed they would. I had just been hoping that they would kill the wolf before you arrived, but they failed that. So, I sent my bounty hunters. Unlike those before me, I knew how powerful you four were together. I figured that your pride would take quite a hit if your father and your “mate” was killed. Leaving only you and Wendell. However, you managed to get quite far before my bounty hunters caught you. And then Wendell had to flee back to the safety of his castle, leaving the fate of his kingdom in his stepsister’s hands. No matter, I’ll just have to arrange a little something for him at his castle. Or should I say my future castle. Although, once I have the Fourth Kingdom, the other eight will be mine as well. Then I will have plenty of castles.”

Virginia had had enough. Trying to sound braver than she really felt, she said, “No you won’t. First of all, I won’t let you. Second, Wendell has an army at his control. You have about twenty guards, and from what I’ve seen, they don’t know how to fight.” Virginia was referring to moments before when Evelyn had taken two guards out before they could draw their weapons.

“Oh, I doubt that there is anything you can do for Wendell. You won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.” The icy tone in her voice sent shivers down Virginia’s spine. “As for the army…” Virginia looked at Jessica and found her smirking and looking behind Virginia.

Virginia slowly looked behind her and saw that there were no longer twenty guards. Instead, there was somewhere between seventy-five and a hundred. They must have come in while Jessica was talking. Virginia felt the little hope she had held slip away. She had been able to remain so calm up until then because she kept thinking Wendell would be arriving soon with his soldiers. But even if he arrived now, his thirty soldiers would be no match for almost a hundred. Even if Wendell’s men were more skilled, numbers usually prevailed. Virginia looked back to Jessica with a picture of defeat etched on her face.

Jessica smirked and ordered the soldiers to wait outside; they would be leaving shortly. Virginia had never felt so helpless. She had no clue if her father and Wolf were okay. Evelyn had been injured and taken away and now Wendell was in danger as well as his throne.

Jessica watched Virginia’s shoulders as they sagged in defeat and then the look of despair that Virginia now had. She couldn’t even look Jessica in the face. For a second, Jessica felt a tinge of guilt but she quickly dismissed it. It was too late in the game to feel remorse. Time for one last hit.

“What’s this? The Lady Virginia has finally been defeated? I suppose it won’t make things any easier for you to find out that your father and the wolf were no match for my bounty hunters.” Jessica pulled out a small hand mirror from the inside of her cloak. Virginia looked up. “Not two seconds before you arrived, Blake contacted me to inform me that they had succeeded.” Jessica watched the effects of her little game on Virginia. The truth was that Jessica hadn’t heard from Blake since Rivertown. She had figured that Virginia would be completely defeated if her father and Wolf were dead.

Virginia felt a lump in her throat. “No, you’re lying…” It couldn’t be true. Wolf and her father had to be alive. They couldn’t have died. They had promised her. Virginia looked into Jessica’s eyes to find any sign that she was lying. But the young girl’s face gave nothing away. Something inside Virginia snapped. She knew that she should be feeling sadness over this news but now she could find nothing except hatred.

Jessica saw the switch and knew she had made a mistake and gone too far. Virginia looked into Jessica’s eyes and she saw a hatred so great that for a second fear flashed across Jessica’s face. That was when Virginia struck. She completely lost it and forget everything else (including the fact that she was pregnant) and focused on hurting Jessica. Virginia tackled Jessica and they both hit the ground. Virginia’s head hit the steps and she was momentarily disoriented. Meanwhile, Jessica pulled a dagger from her cloak and charged at Virginia.

Wolf watched the bounty hunters come to a halt with surprised expressions on their faces. They hadn’t expected Wolf and Tony to stay back and fight them. Wolf knew their hesitation would not last much longer and took advantage of it. He jumped onto the closest bounty hunter, Blake, before he had time to draw his weapon.

The other bounty hunter, Joseph, quickly drew his sword just as Tony swung his at him. Joseph easily blocked him but was surprised at the strength Tony had put into the swing. They went back and forth trying to outmaneuver the other. On any other day Joseph would have won the match in a heartbeat. But he was exhausted from all their nonstop riding and Tony was a bit stronger than he anticipated. Tony didn’t have much skill with a sword but he was able to block most of the blows and then he would just swing as hard as he could, hoping to hit the bounty hunter. Joseph ducked from one of them and, spinning around quickly, managed to hit Tony’s left arm. The sword made a slash about six inches long and an inch deep. Tony yelled and dropped the sword, grasping his wound.

Blake had somehow managed to get his dagger out and tried swinging it at Wolf. Wolf rolled away and was able to dodge it. Blake kept swinging and Wolf caught him and bit his wrist as hard as he could. Blake dropped the dagger cursing and saw blood coming from the bite wound. Swearing loudly, he charged into Wolf, taking him down. Blake attempted to strangle him but Wolf heard Tony yelling from getting injured and found more strength. He pushed Blake off and before Blake could react, Wolf was on top of him again.

Joseph grinned as Tony staggered back, one hand over his wound, trying to stop the bleeding. Tony backed into a tree and looked around but his sword was a good twenty feet away. Joseph moved forward, and just as he went to stab his sword into Tony, Tony twisted around so the sword missed and went right into the tree. Joseph tried pulling the sword out but it was jammed. He looked behind him just in time to see Tony punch him. Tony punched him three times as hard as he could. Joseph finally fell to the ground, unconscious. Tony collapsed and crawled so he was up against the tree. He was exhausted and his arm was killing him. He was loosing a lot of blood too. Then he remembered Wolf and very slowly got up. He looked around but couldn’t see Wolf or the other bounty hunter. Then he heard a howl. Wolf. Tony took off in the direction that the howl had come from.

Blake had managed to pull out his other knife and jammed it into Wolf’s leg. Wolf howled in pain and pulled the knife out tenderly. He looked up to see Blake pull himself up to a standing position. Wolf tried standing but the pain in his leg was almost unbearable. He collapsed again. Blake was searching for anther weapon. He finally found his dagger and when he turned to stick it into the wolf, he was gone. All of the sudden Wolf came at him from behind and hit him in the head with a rock. Blake fell into a heap on the ground and Wolf leaned against a tree, trying not to put any pressure on his injured leg.

Just then, Tony came running over. He was looking very pale and Wolf figured he must look the same. Tony stopped right next to him and leaned up against the tree also, gasping for breath. That’s when Wolf remembered hearing Tony yell and looked down to see his arm soaked in blood and with a very nasty looking cut going down it. Tony looked down at the wound in Wolf’s leg too. They both started laughing.

“Looks like you didn’t do to well,” Tony commented. Wolf grinned and pointed to the unconscious bounty hunter.

“He was no problem. I just slipped that’s all. You?”

“Yeah, mine is unconscious too. Not that hard. Got his sword stuck in the tree.” Tony chuckled but a sharp pain went through his arm. He sat down and gently held his arm. Wolf knelt down next to him. Tony really was a pale color.

“Cripes, Tone, you alright?” Wolf asked seriously. Tony nodded and then suddenly he tried standing up again. But all of his energy was spent. He started swaying and became lightheaded. Wolf took hold his arm and gently sat him back down.

“Wolf, you need to go after Virginia.” Tony said, his breath restricted again. Wolf nodded but looked at him concerned. Tony saw him. “Go! I’ll be fine. You need to go help her. I’ll tie these two up as soon as I can get up. Now go!”

Wolf didn’t have to be told again. He tore off a piece of his shirt and wrapped it tightly around his leg. He then ran the best he could toward the castle. From a way back he could see all the soldiers forming outside the castle and decided he would need to go around the back. He caught Virginia and Evelyn’s scent and followed it while running.

Suddenly he remembered his dream. The one he had been having for weeks now. The dream where he was running through a forest trying to get somewhere, but was too late. Oh, no, Virginia! Wolf ran faster, ignoring the sharp pains in his leg. Three times he tripped but got right back up and kept running. Virginia had to be okay. He would get there in time. He had to.

Finally he saw the door that the girls had gone in. It was still cracked open some and the lock was lying off to the side. He threw open the door and ran across to the other. He opened it and looked out but didn’t see anyone, so he took off down the corridor. Just as the main hall was coming into view, he heard a scream. Virginia.

Virginia watched as Jessica came at her with the dagger. She rolled to the side but felt a sharp pain in her leg. She screamed. She looked over to see Jessica had tripped and had dug the dagger into her leg as she fell. There was already a lot of blood leaking onto the stone floor. The corners of her eyes started to get blurry and she knew she was going to be blacking out. Jessica was still sprawled on the floor. Virginia fought the upcoming blackness and wearily pulled herself up by using the railing to the staircase. More blood was coming and Virginia remembered the baby. Was the baby okay? She was loosing a lot of blood already. But she couldn’t stop now. Jessica had taken away her fiancé and her father and she would pay for it.

Jessica was starting to get up. She saw Virginia place her hand on her swollen stomach and Jessica felt ill. She hadn’t noticed it before but Virginia’s stomach was slightly large. Was it possible that she was pregnant? Jessica wanted Virginia dead, but she didn’t want to kill an innocent baby.

Virginia looked up and with her very last burst of energy, charged at Jessica. Jessica didn’t have time to move. Virginia tackled her and they both went flying. Jessica went headfirst into a pillar and Virginia kept sliding. Jessica immediately lost consciousness. Virginia’s vision was now very blurry with black creeping in as well. The last thing she saw before passing out was a blurry shape running toward her.

Wolf saw Virginia tackle Jessica and watched as they both went sliding across the floor. Jessica was out right away and he ran toward Virginia. He watched as she passed out. Wolf saw her leg right away. She had lost a lot of blood and it was still coming. He tried to stop the bleeding. The wound was pretty deep, although it didn’t look like it had hit an artery. He took off his shirt and pushed it onto her wound. The shirt was immediately soaked in blood as well as his hands. Wolf whined and kept trying to stop the bleeding. Virginia needed help and very quickly, for her sake and the cub’s.

Wolf brought up his head and howled. Virginia had to be all right. He couldn’t loose her. He wouldn’t be able to live without her. He hadn’t made it in time to help her. He put more pressure on her leg and checked to make sure she was still breathing. It was shallow, but she was breathing. Come on Virginia. Please don’t leave me. Wolf had forgotten all about his own pain from his injury in the leg. He had more important things to worry about. But his wound was also still bleeding and he felt really faint. He was exhausted and wounded but he needed to get Virginia some help. He wouldn’t leave her.

Then suddenly, Wolf heard something outside. It was coming from the main entrance. He looked over to see Wendell run in, followed by a bunch of soldiers and Tony. Two of the soldiers were helping Tony. Wolf got up and ran over to Wendell.

“Wendell, you need to help. Virginia…she was wounded…she’s not moving…still breathing…the cub…” Wolf had tears in his eyes and his face was full of fear.

Wendell looked over and saw his stepsister lying in a small pool of blood. He quickly called for his doctor that he had brought and they ran over to her. Tony, with the help of the two guards, went over there to. Tony collapsed next to his daughter.

“Oh, God, Virginia. Is she all right? Is she going to be alright?” Tony put his hand on his daughter’s cheek. It was starting to get cold. Her breathing was also still shallow. Tony looked at the doctor desperately.

Wendell watched as the doctor checked her wound.

“She has lost a lot of blood. I need to get the bleeding to stop. Luckily, her artery wasn’t hit, otherwise she would have been gone by now.” He grabbed two towels from his pack and applied pressure to the wound. Within minutes he had gotten it to stop. “I need to patch it up right now, before she can go anywhere.” Wendell nodded and instructed to soldiers to go and find some sort of cot and bring it down to put Virginia on.

Then he turned to Wolf and Tony who were both still sitting next to Virginia. They both looked horrible. Wolf’s leg was still bleeding and Tony’s arm was in bad condition. The skin around the wound was starting to turn purple. They were both still really pale, too. Wendell had the doctor check on them real quick while they were waiting for the cot. The doctor cleaned both of their wounds and patched them up. He also gave them some sort of herbal tea. Within minutes, both of them had their color back. Wendell brought Wolf a blanket, since his shirt had been used to try and stop the bleeding.

The soldiers came back carrying a thin cot with sheets piled on top. The cot was rather disgusting looking but they had no choice. The soldiers gently lifted Virginia onto the cot and the doctor went to work cleaning and fixing the wound.

Wendell walked over and sat down next to Wolf and Tony who were watching the doctor. That’s when Wendell remembered Jessica and Evelyn. He yelled for more guards to come over. He told two of them to tie up Jessica and keep watch over her and then he ordered the other three to go and find Evelyn. They returned five minutes later carrying Evelyn who was still unconscious. Wendell ran over to them.

“What happened?”

“We found her like this in the dungeon. She’s breathing fine, she’s just knocked out.” They laid her down gently on top of the extra sheets on the floor and Wendell watched over her and kept checking on the doctor’s progress on Virginia as well. The doctor finally finished stitching the wound together and put a wet rag on her forehead. Virginia had begun to get a small fever but the doctor was able to get her temperature back down to normal. As soon as Wolf saw he was done, he got up and ran over there. Tony got up a little slower but with Wendell’s help, he still made it over there.

“Is she okay Doc? What about the cub?” Wolf asked worried. He sat next to his mate and looked up to the doctor.

“Both her and the baby are fine. They are very lucky. A few more minutes and they both could have died. Virginia lost a lot of blood. But she’ll be fine. I don’t expect her to come around anytime soon though. I recommend you getting her back to the castle so she could be properly looked after,” the doctor said and they all nodded, relieved. Wendell asked a guard to return to Rivertown and buy a cart, preferably a big one. Also, to buy lots of sheets and pillows. Wendell handed him the money and the guard hurried off.

It was only a few minutes later when Evelyn started to come around. She sat up, rubbing her head and Wendell rushed over to help her.

“Evelyn, are you alright?” Wendell asked worriedly. He sat down next to her so he could support her to keep from falling.

Evelyn looked at him in confusion, trying to remember what had happened. Then it all came back to her and her eyes darted around looking for Virginia. “Where’s Virginia? Is she okay? I tried to stay but one of them knocked me out.” Wendell put his arms around her to calm her. Evelyn finally spotted Virginia, lying on the cot. She gasped and tried to get up. But she was still dizzy.

“Evelyn, you need to stay lying down. Virginia will be okay. She was stabbed in the leg. But she and the baby are fine.”

The doctor brought Evelyn over a cup of the tea and Evelyn sipped it gratefully. The tea helped and Evelyn felt better within minutes. She stood up again and Wendell kept his arm around her to keep her steady. Evelyn walked a little unsteadily, but made it over to where Wolf and Tony were sitting around Virginia. She sat down next to her too.

“What happened? The last thing I remembered was Jessica ordering some of her guards to take me to the dungeon. I hit two of them and then I felt a sharp pain in my head.” Evelyn put her hand on her head and felt the large lump that was forming.

Tony and Wolf told them about their fight with the two bounty hunters and then Wolf running to the castle. Wolf told them about what he had seen just as he got to the main hall. Then he turned to Wendell.

“Wendell, what about all those soldiers I saw outside the castle when I ran up here? They weren’t yours and there had to have been a hundred.”

Wendell smiled and led them over to the main doors. “What you mean those soldiers?” Wolf looked out and saw that there were a bunch of soldiers surrounded by trolls and soldiers dressed in navy blue and white, obviously Wendell’s. There were about three dozen dead soldiers that were being dragged off by guards. Burly and his siblings stood eating magic mushrooms and laughing. Wolf looked at Wendell confused, so he explained.

“Well, when I left you at the crossroads, I rode the rest of the day and stopped at night. My grandmother visited me in a dream and told me that I would need a lot more than thirty men. She also told me that one of the bounty hunters was following my trail and was getting close. She said that I needed to hurry and I didn’t have much time. So when I woke, it was still the middle of the night but I gathered my things and rode straight to my castle. I took about fifty soldiers since most of them were away from the castle at the time. It just so happened that as I was on my way back out of the castle, we came across the bounty hunter, Daniel I think his name was. We arrested him and he was sent back to the castle to be thrown in the dungeon for the time being. So we rode on toward this castle and we took the quickest route from where we were. When we got to Rivertown and was making our way to the castle, we saw Burly and a group of his men out hunting across the River. So I asked him if he would like to help and they agreed, since there was more than likely going to be fighting. We were just outside the castle when we found Antony tying up the other two bounty hunters. He was looking very bad but said we needed to hurry up to the castle. It only took a few of Jessica’s soldiers to die before the others surrendered. They didn’t want to go up against a bunch of trolls. And here we are.” Wendell concluded and Wolf smiled. Maybe having trolls on their side really did come in handy.

Just then, the guard who had been sent to buy a cart returned. They prepared the cart and got it as comfortable as they could, arranging blankets and pillows. Two guards carried Virginia and gently placed her on the cart covering her with blankets. Wolf and Tony got up next and placed themselves on either side of Virginia. Wendell told Evelyn to get up there but she said no, that she was fine riding a horse. Wendell tried to change her mind, even ordering her as her king, but she still wouldn’t listen.

“They need the cart more than I do. Besides, put Jessica in there. She’s still unconscious and will hardly be able to ride a horse.” Evelyn pointed out and Wendell reluctantly agreed.

The two bounty hunters had woken up and were being guarded by four trolls who were grinning at them while holding their swords. They were just daring them to try and escape but the two men stayed put, looking unusually pale and not from being injured. Jessica’s wrists were chained as well as her ankles and she was placed at the back of the cart with no blankets or pillows. When she had first been loaded onto cart, Wolf had given her a funny look. Tony had seen him and asked about it but Wolf said it was nothing. The doctor also climbed into the cart, as he needed to keep an eye on Virginia.

The remaining forty or so of Jessica’s soldiers were escorted to Snow White Memorial Prison where they would serve a relatively short sentence, as they had not done all that much. Besides, there were not that many empty cells at that prison. Wendell decided to send the two bounty hunters there as well, but their sentence was not to be so light. Wendell asked that the four trolls be the ones to escort them to the prison since he didn’t want any escape attempts. Burly agreed and one of Wendell’s soldiers (he was rather nervous about traveling with trolls, but did it for his king) went with them to explain everything to the Prison Governor. Wendell turned to King Burly and his two siblings who were finishing off the magic mushrooms.

“King Burly, I would like to thank you again for your help. If you ever need anything, you can ask me, as it seems I owe you.” Wendell wondered if he would regret saying that and knew he probably would. Oh well. Too late now. The troll king nodded and he led his troll soldiers down to the river. Bluebell tripped a few times and laughed each time. Wendell shook his head. Trolls were really such stupid creatures. But then they were also good at fighting.

He turned around and mounted his horse. Evelyn got up on hers and brought it up next to Wendell’s. They led the way down from the castle. The cart rode behind Wendell and Evelyn and the soldiers rode behind. They rode in silence for a while, until Wendell heard Wolf cough behind him. He looked back to see Wolf sitting up and was pointing to Evelyn. He mouthed something to Wendell, who had a hard time understanding it. Finally Wendell understood. Wolf wanted him to talk to Evelyn. Feeling very nervous, he turned to Evelyn, who was staring off to the side watching the landscape.

“Err, Evelyn? There’s something I want to say.” He started and Evelyn looked over at him. Wendell tried looking down but when he glanced up, her eyes held his gaze. “Back there, at the castle, I was really worried about you…I’ve grown kind of fond of you and…I guess…well, what I’m trying to say is…” Another cough from Wolf. Wendell wanted to glare at him but he couldn’t take his eyes from Evelyn. “I really like you. Ever since I first saw you when we rescued you. I think you are very beautiful and you have a great personality.” Wendell would have blabbered on but Evelyn stopped him.

“I really like you too Wendell. I get really nervous around you. But I didn’t know if you liked me too, and besides you’re a king. So I didn’t think that you were allowed to like me.” Evelyn knew it sounded kind of lame but it was true. Wolf was watching from the cart. He nudged Tony and they both watched as the two young ones expressed their feelings.

“Of course I’m allowed to like you. I am a king after all.” Wendell and Evelyn smiled. Wendell hesitantly put his hand out and Evelyn took it. They stayed holding hands the rest of the journey and kept quite close to each other.

Tony fell asleep during the trip back but Wolf never slept a wink, staying wide-awake next to Virginia. Both of them never left her side. Wendell took them through a different path that didn’t lead them through the Disenchanted Forest. It was longer but less dangerous.

They reached the castle the next day around noon. Virginia was still unconscious. The doctor said that she should be coming back around anytime soon. Wolf and Tony hardly ever left her room, both staying by her bedside. Tony slept a lot of the time, and Wendell suggested that he go and get some sleep in his own bed but he refused. Wolf hardly slept at all. He caught himself dozing off a few times and fought to stay awake. Wendell and Evelyn spent a lot of time in Virginia’s room as well, waiting until she would wake up.