Coraline Jones

Her hair is wet, damp mostly and twisted and probably tangled at the back. Her feet were bare, dangling from the edge of the bed. Her bandage was covered by the baggy t-shirt but even then she looked worn, tired. There were pools of- it was horrible. She couldn't- she could still smell it. She wanted another shower, she wanted to go home, she wanted Percy.

Head hung low, she pressed her hands to the bed and pushed. And quit pushing. Wincing, she pressed her hand against her side and looked up.

"Hey," Coraline said softly. One of these days she might stop getting into trouble, today wasn't that day.

There was one excitable puppy running towards a young man, bouncing and yipping at his heels. There was one haughty black cat, slinking through the open door to the Homestead and miaowing a soft warning at his human. And there was one teenage girl, her face covered in fading bruises and scratches lying beneath a set of blankets and dozing softly. She dreamt of dark girls and darker deaths and terrible things and it was only Cat, leaping onto her, that woke her up and startled her.

"What? Oh, what are you doing hey fusspuss? See, I'm okay you need to stop worrying silly Cat. Were you worrying?" Coraline asked curiously, tickling Cat beneath his chin and wrapping her arms loosely around him before hugging him. Listening to his soft miaow, Coraline looked up at the warning and listened out for the excitable bark of Bobo. Staring at the door curiously, Coraline waved at the familiar sight of Percy and made a face at him. "What are you doing here?"