Chapter 1 - Preparations

It was the end of the school year in the small rural town called Raventon in northern New Hampshire, but for the teenagers still stuck in Raventon High, the few hours left until summer freedom seemed to last forever. The fact that the town was being hit by the first major heat wave of the summer didn't help, either. Even the teachers were antsy and longing to go home: you could see it in the way they distractedly answered the questions directed to them, as if their minds were already at home lounging in the living room recliner and cranking up the air conditioning.

For one class, however, the Final Exam meant something a bit different than multiple choice answers or fill-in-the-blanks. You see, Raventon was large enough to have a community pool, but just small enough not to have the budget for a football team. Not that they really wanted one, in any case; in this town soccer, baseball, and basketball was the name of the game. Literally. And, for most of the sports players in this place where not much else was available for entertainment, they were an obsession.

But due to a determined (and slightly eccentric) teacher, and a tidy sum of money the school had set aside for such an occasion, Raventon High produced a recreational pastime that was less costly than football and much more entertaining than schoolwork: fencing.

That was why this group of students, instead of pouring over tedious textbooks and frantically jotting down essays, were standing in the gym. They watched from the sidelines as two people fought before them, each clad in the white uniforms and wielding the thin rapiers that make the sport so unique.

The gym rang with sound; the cheers of the onlookers, the humming of the A/C, and the scuffing sound their shoes made across the wooden floor echoed in the high expanses of the room. But the only sounds that interested these two were the metallic crash their swords made as they met, and the panting sound of their own breath. Outside sounds were only a distant distraction; much less irritating than the sweat trickling down their bodies beneath the uniforms, or the bruises they had received in spite of them.

One of the fighters was taller than the other, and their longer reach seemed a clear advantage. But the other, shorter foe was undaunted, moving with swift, fluid movements that any athlete would envy. They went back and forth, exchanging parries, thrusts, lunges, and other classic moves that passed before the eyes of the spectators like steps in some strange, deadly dance.

Suddenly, as if by some unspoken signal, the battle intensified. Attacks and blocks came in flurries nearly too quick for the eye to follow until finally, with a strong twist of wrist and sword, the shorter combatant disarmed the other. The sword was flung away, and some of the audience had to move to avoid being hit by it.

The victor tapped the end of the blade beneath the other's jaw. "Yield." she (for the voice issuing from behind that barred mask was too light and sweet to be male) ordered firmly.

"I yield, I yield." After raising a hand in surrender, the other fighter took off her helmet and grinned at the girl. She looked to be still on the twenties side of thirty, with back hair cropped around her earlobes and hazel eyes sparkling with surprised mirth. "I see you finally mastered that move, Lena. Excellent work."

Lena (short for Milena Caloreic) had since taken off her mask as well. Her deep brown hair, tied back in a ponytail low against her neck, stuck to her skin in dark curls from the sweat on her skin. The bangs in front, dyed a rich scarlet, clung to her face as well; they were exactly the same shade as the striking eyes below them. Her fair skin was already faintly touched with gilt from the strengthening summer sun; right now, it was also flushed a rosy from the practice bout. "Well, you did help me a lot, Ms. Parray." she said, smiling. "Practice makes perfect!"


"Ah, you were always too modest for your own good." Ms. Parray stretched for a moment, cooling down her muscles. "But, in any case, that was a good match. And I believe . . .  She reached over and snagged a list from where it rested on a bleacher nearby, " . . . that we're all done." She put her hands on her hips and surveyed her students appraisingly. "A few of you have some more work to do if you mean to participate in the contest next year . . . but, as a whole, you've done very well this year. For Freshmen." She grinned and made a shooing motion. "Now, go on. I know you guys have more classes to go to. Especially you, Adrienne. If any of you need help with something this summer, you know where to find me. Now scat!"

With laughs, groans, and farewells, the class shuffled out of the gym. Milena stayed behind, peeling off her uniform. "You know, I don't get why we have to wear these in summer. They're so hot!" she said, flapping the front of the T-shirt she had worn underneath in an effort to cool herself down.

Her teacher leaned over and poked a quarter-sized bruise on her arm, which had b]definitely [/b]not been there thirty minutes ago. Lena yelped and jerked away; Ms. Parray just grinned. "That's why. I don't know about you, young lady, but I dislike walking around festooned with bruises and scrapes. Especially in summer." She winked. "Who knows what handsome boys will be watching?"

Milena grinned. Ms. Parray was unique out of all the teachers she'd ever had; unlike the uptight aides or strict teachers, she acted like she was a teenager herself. But she dealt out discipline like a teacher, and that was the truth; no one fooled off more than once in her classes.

"Well, I'd better go wait for my friends now." she said, taking the scrunchie from her hair and shaking it out. Once that was done, it hung nearly to her waist. "I'll probably see you this summer, right?"

"Most likely. You're coming to the Festival, right?" Ms. Parray knelt to pick up her sword from where it had fallen; if its point had been a little sharper, it would have been sticking up from the pad on the floor rather than just laying on it.

"Most likely." The Festival was the yearly summer celebration in Raventon; the whole stretch of Main Street would be blocked in and filled with everything from food vendors to live musicians, to a clown doing balloon animals. (Milena didn't like that clown. Reminded her too much of Steven King's ItShe disliked clowns in general, but Mr. Happy Slappy there was just . . . creepy. Damn clowns.) There would be demonstrations of local talents; for example, there was nearly always a square dancing or martial arts exhibition at some point. Milena wasn't exactly the social type, (too many people made her uneasy) but she did enjoy mingling at the Festival. Everyone was happy! And being able to walk around in the middle of the road (legally) was pretty cool, in any case.

This year Milena would probably just go to watch, but next year she might be part of the show herself. Sophomores, or anyone who had completed more than one full year of Fencing could enter a statewide contest. It occurred during the summer, and anyone who wanted to enter would put on a show for the town during the Festival. The school had one a few awards before. It would be exciting . . . but nerve-wracking, as well. With her lack of self-confidence, she doubted she would do it. But, maybe someday. You never knew.

"Alright then, Milena." Ms. Parray's voice brought her back from her thoughts. Her teacher gathered the uniforms up in her arms and stuffed them into a bag- the school would pay for them to be cleaned later. "Do you [/color]have another class to go to? I hope I'm not making you late. Should I make a pass?"

She shook her head. "Nope, I don't have anywhere to go. Had three exams yesterday, and two the day before that, so I'm finished."Thank god, she thought with relief. Exams, especially Algebra I, had sucked big-time. Damn math; it should die. Or at least go away somewhere where it couldn't bother people. "I'm gonna go to study hall to wait for school to let out. Trixie, Jewel, and I are having a sleepover tonight."

"That's great! Well, I'll be in touch." Ms. Parray reached out and shook Lena's hand. "Say, what do you think about helping me teach this class? You could be my assistant."

Milena blinked; for a moment, the information didn't get through. Then, as realization hit, her face flushed red again and she shook her head violently. "Me?! But, Ms. Parray, I'm just a freshman, I couldn't-"

"A Freshman who's going to be a sophomore, and one who just happens to be a natural." her teacher said calmly, arching amused eyebrows at the girl's antics. "You've learned more in this one year then many of my sophomores learn in two." Her voice gentled a bit; by now, she knew about Lena's self-confident problem, and was fully aware of the pressure. "I'm not asking you to decide now. Think about it, okay?"

"O-okay . . . " Milena nodded, dragging a hand through her bangs. What a day this was turning out to be! "I will. Um . . . I guess I'll talk to you later, Ms. Parray. Thanks for everything. Bye!" With that she turned and strode out of the gym, waving good-bye to her teacher as she went.

~ ~ ~

She had stashed her backpack near the stairs and picked it up as she went. After a brief stop at the water fountain, she carried on through the hallways. No one noticed her; barely anyone was here on the last official day of school. It was a little strange, being in this old school without all of her fellow students. The wooden floors seemed to creak more loudly than usual, and much of the furniture and bookcases were covered for the summer already, making strange shapes in the shadows. She finally found the study room she was looking for. It was right next to where her friends were testing, so they would know where to find her when they got out.

She peeked in through the doorway and, seeing no one, she walked over to the desk. A sticky-note proclaimed that the teacher was out for a moment; she could deal with that. Mr. Crehr knew she was coming anyway. So she simply picked a spot on the long tables he used for desks in her Earth Science class and threw down her backpack. She would be so happy to get rid of that thing for the summer! She only brought it today because she'd thought she'd be bored and had stuffed a bunch of books and things inside.

Now that she was sitting down, though, she didn't feel like reading. In fact, she wasn't feeling like doing anything. She'd had to get up early to get to school, and, since the school wasn't serving it these last few days, couldn't have breakfast. That was a major thing; though she got up readily enough, she often was fully awake until after lunch if she didn't have her breakfast. (Food: it rocks.) That, the long duel she had just battled, and the lazy heat combined to make her feel extremely sleepy. She put her arms on the table and rested her head on them.

I'll just rest my eyes a moment, she thought muzzily.

Moments later, she was sleeping peacefully.

~ ~ ~

She peers out from the alley, scarlet eyes wide with amazement at the sites all around her, excitement at being in the city . . . and fear, from being lost. She does have a map in her purse- she knows that, in a fuzzy sort of way- but what use is it she doesn't know where she is right now? It makes her want to cry. But, no. Daddy said big girls shouldn't cry, and she would prove him right.


Hearing a sound behind her, she spins around. A huge man stands behind her. He reminds her of one of her father's friends, big, with a beer belly growing, a beard, and truck-driver's clothes. Her child's eyes don't register the bleary, glazed look in his eyes or the beer on his breath; she simply walks up to him with a shy, gap-toothed smile on her face. "Excuse me sir, but I think I'm lost." She rummages in her purse for the map her father gave her. She gets it, but ends up the spilling quarters and dollar bills her father had given her to buy mementos with and everything else in the purse on the ground as well. "Can you please help me get he- oh, no!" She cries out in dismay and falls to her knees, scooping things back into the handbag.

The man- she can tell he's drunk now, is close enough to smell his reeking breath- lunges toward her and snatches the purse. "What are you doing?! That's mine!" Without even thinking, she grabs it back and backs up, now frightened and angry.

The man growls and comes after her, swinging a ham-sized fist at her head. She dodges, but just enough so that it slams into her shoulder instead of her head- either way, it still smashes her into the wall. She cries out in pain and ducked again. When the man grabs for the purse again, the strap he's holding snaps, and she throws it behind one of the huge green dumpsters lining the alley.

She's fast enough so that the man couldn't hurt her a lot again; she doesn't like pain, and especially doesn't like the Bad Man that was making her feel it. She still gets hurt, from dodging and getting knocked into things. It's like playing with her brother, Jake- but much, much scarier. For some reason, he won't touch her skin; whenever he does manage to touch a part the sea-green dress doesn't cover, he yelps and pulls his hands away, like he touched a stove.

She doesn't have time to think about it, because then he catches her and hauls her up by the front of her dress. It hurts, and she can barely breathe with the collar that tight around her throat. She kicks her feet wildly, tiny fists pounding against his arms. None of it seems to make any difference.

Suddenly, a girl says something from over near the street. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Git out of here, this ain't none of yur business!" the man says in a rough, slurred voice. She kicks more frantically, because she hopes she can get free while his attention is taken up by the two people in the alleyway.

She can see them now; a boy and a girl, with similar-looking faces and weird mismatched clothes. The boy has on something that reminded her of her father's trench coat, with a baseball cap and had sneakers on his feet beneath the jeans. The girl is wearing a dress like hers, yellow with blue flowers, with boots, a flower-covered straw hat, and a green knitted shawl. Not something her Mom would pick out for her.

The boy steps forward now. "Let her go. Right now." His voice is so calm and steady; it makes her calm down slightly.

"I told ya, git out of here! D'ya shrimps wanna beatin' too?!" The man yells at them again, but they keep coming. No, don't! she wants to yell, but doesn't have the breath. Don't, he'll hurt you too! But they don't stop. The man roars in anger and goes to hit the boy's head.

All it does is knock his hat off his head, and then she's able to slip out of his grasp- it weakens as he stares in shock. From behind the green dumpster, she stares as well. Two ears, the same blue-black color of the boy's hair, are on his head. Little red tufts are on the end of them, like the ones on the lynxes she sees on TV. A tail the same color as the ears lashes back and forth under the trench coat.

The Bad Man seems shocked, for some reason. "C-cat ears?" He says, stumbling backward and crossing himself. "Demon!"

"Oh? You thought that was scary?" the girl says this with a mocking look in her orange eyes, and pulls off her hat too. The other girl sees with interest that she has ears too, these ones with little feathers on them. A tail, the gold-orange color of her hair, comes out from under her dress.

"Then you definitely won't like what's coming up next." The boy speaks this time, and his smile is as sharp-toothed and vicious as hers.

Suddenly, in the midst of orange and earthy brown/green light, the boy and girl change. They both become cats- not cute, like the ones at her friend's house, but more like the panthers she'd seen on the same TV special with the lynx. Both have fur the color of their hair (his is short, hers is long and silky), and gold or silver collars with a half-moon, half-sun symbol on them. They also have other jewelry; he a silver moon between his eyes, she a gold, jeweled sun. He has red and black bat wings, while hers are angelic, shimmery light green and blue like the tufts on her ears.

They both jump on him and that makes him crash to the ground. Scared, he screams and gets to his feet- the boy slashes his face and leaves long slashes on his face. The blood looks really bright against his pale skin; for some reason, she noted that particularly. He then runs away, and the boy and girl turn back to normal.

The girl who had been watching all this came out from behind the dumpster, holding her purse and their hats. She hands them to the two. "Thanks for saving me." she says shyly.

No problem." The other girl says brightly, smiling. "We probably shouldn't have done that, but I couldn't resist. The look on his face!" All three children giggle. By this point the original girl has many bruises and feels filthy, but she's happy for the moment, just being with these two people.

Time slips, and suddenly they are in front of the apartment building she is staying at with her parent's friend. She turns to talk to the others, to ask if they could come in, but they say they have somewhere to go themselves.

This makes her so unhappy. "Will I ever see you again?" she asks, looking at her clasped hands.

"Probably not." he murmurs sadly. All three were holding hands until now, but their hands slip apart as they face each other.

"I can't thank you enough. You saved my life!" Tears are starting to come in her eyes, but she doesn't want to cry in front of her new friends. "I'll miss you so much!"

The other girl hugs her tightly. "I'll miss you too." she admits, pulling back. "But we'll never forget each other, right?"

"Right." she says, sniffling.

The boy pulls a smooth river rock, deep crimson red with gold flecks, and presses it into her hands. "This comes from where I'm from; this way, you really won't forget us! It's for good luck." He smiles sadly at her, and she can see that he's missing one of his front teeth too. She never noticed until now, but his eyes are an earthy brown, with green specks, like freckles, all around them. She's never seen any like them.

"Then, take this." She hands them some things from her purse: a hard plastic key chain with the words "Boston Aquarium" on one side and a leaping dolphin on the other goes to the boy, while the girl gets a handmade bead necklace of rainbow colors. "This way, you won't forget me, either." she says firmly.

They hug one last time, then the two strangers leave. She watches them leave, holding the stone close to her heart. It thrums gently. As such a young child, she doesn't question the strangeness of the twins or their gift; she simply accepts it and the fact that they must leave in a way that only young children can.

I'll never forget you.



"Milena? Hey, Lena, wake up!"

Someone was calling her name and shaking her shoulder, but she didn't want to get up. "Mmmph." she said simply, not willing to wake yet. Even though she knew whom the owner of that voice was.

"Le-naaa, school's over!!! No more sleeping through Algebra I! We can do that next year! Rise and shine!"

That struck warning bells, and Milena abruptly got up. The surface of the table underneath her head was moist from her breathing. Wait, those hadn't been warning bells- those were the actual bells of the school, ringing for the last time that year, signifying freedom for a whole three months.

Lena, rubbing her eyes sleepily, turned to two people who had shaken her awake. "How was the French exam?" she asked.

Trixie rolled her eyes. Light brown hair, streaked with a blue the same color as her eyes and pulled back into a high ponytail, swung as she shook her head violently. "I couldn't understand a word of it. Guess I didn't study hard enough, even with Ms. Walking Dictionary here to help." She put a hand around the next girl's shoulders. "It's all Greek to me."

"But, Trixie, you are Greek." Jewel said, golden eyes puzzled behind her large glasses. She often didn't get Trixie's jokes. "Half-Greek, half-French, actually. By all rights, shouldn't you know this stuff?"

Trixie flung her hands up in the air. "Where your blood comes from doesn't mean a thing! I might be half French, but I'm a hundred-percent American!" She grinned mischievously and tugged on Jewel's braid, black hair with bright blonde highlights.
The other girl yelped and snatched it away. "Knock it off!" she snapped.

"Whatcha gonna do, deport me?" Trixie got on her knees and stared wide-eyed up at her bespectacled friend. "Please massta, I swears that I ain't done nuttin' wrong!"

There was silence for a moment, then everyone burst out laughing. "You need to watch out who you use that impression on." Milena told Trixie as they left the room and began walking down the hallway she had come through before. This was the first floor, so no stairs were needed. That was good- the old, creaky stairs in this ancient building creeped her out. "It's no good unless you're actually, you know, African-American. Otherwise, it's racism. Or so our oh-so-wonderful principal believes."

The stupid woman had given her brother a detention only last week for exchanging black jokes with one of the few African-American kids in school. She just didn't seem to realize that they were both saying black jokes, and having fun doing it. Again, stupid woman; in her quest to stop racism in their little corner of the universe, she was actually being prejudiced against everyone else.

"Jeez woman, you still look worn out. How hard did Ms. Parray work you, anyway?" Trixie said, taking the backpack from her friend and slinging it over her shoulder. "I'm really surprised that you fell asleep. Normally, you're an insomniac even at home."

"Yeah, I know." Milena said, smiling a little sheepishly. "But we had a really long fight this time. Plus, it's hot in there."

Jewel raised an eyebrow at that. "But, that usually doesn't bother you. In fact, most of the time, you get more energized when it's hot." she pointed out.

Trixie grinned. "It's like you're a flower, and heat's sunshine." She clapped Milena on the back, then got a thoughtful look on her face. "Wonder what kind of flower you'd be, though . . . " She suddenly snapped her fingers. "A rose, of course! Pretty, but deadly! And it's red, which fits perfectly."

Milena just shook her head, smiling. "I think you'd be a blue tulip. Something colorful and loud, because you never shut up!!"

Trixie didn't seem offended; on the contrary, she bowed as though it were a compliment, then turned to the last girl. "Hmm . . . Ms. Waibelle here, what should she be . . . ?" she mused.

"Black-eyed Susan, definitely. It's black, yellow, and tall, which fits our girl just right." Milena elbowed Jewel, the tall and slim one of the group, gently in the ribs.

Jewel pushed her away good-temperedly. "I suppose, but we're not flowers. Flowers don't have to take exams."

"Lucky things." Milena agreed, but her mind was on other things. She absently rubbed the rock in her pocket; a smooth red river rock, speckled with gold that, someone had once told her, was for good luck. Her fingers glided along its water-polished surface like it was glass; much like her mind glided along the plane of memory in her dreams.

Trixie noticed this and, lacing her fingers behind her head, looked with curious azure eyes at her friend. "What's up? You seem a little preoccupied."

"Nothing much. I just had that dream again." Lena replied a little sheepishly.

"About those kids that saved you when you went to Boston when you were younger?" Now even Jewel was interested; she enjoyed analyzing her friend's frequent, vivid dreams almost as much as she liked her textbooks and autobiographies.

"Yeah." Seven years ago, when she had been eight years old, Milena and her family had taken a trip to Boston and stayed with her father's friend. One morning, she had gotten it into her head to go out and shop for some souvenir for her friends- and had quickly gotten lost. The drunken attacker (the Bad Man, her mind corrected her softly) had been there . . . but what happened afterwards seemed, to her older mind, a hallucination. And, yet, here she was, with that same rock in her pocket . . . a rock that even Jewel, the great Walking Dictionary and straight-A student, couldn't identify as any kind she'd ever seen. "I seem to be having it a lot lately; at least four times a week, I think."

Trixie, arms still behind her head, shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe your subconscious is trying to tell you something. Like, 'buy Trixie ice cream! I command you!' "

The others laughed. Milena pushed Trixie lightly on the arm, causing her to stumble slightly; at that moment, she was balancing on the very edge of the sidewalk. But she had amazing balance, and righted herself, giving Lena a wounded look. She responded by saying, "Free ice cream? In your dreams, woman," and grinning.

"But we're talking about yours, at the moment." Jewel reminded her.

Milena shrugged. "Not much to talk about, really. I don't have any explanation for it . . . but even if I didn't have the rock as proof, I know it's real." She paused. "I just wish they'd told me their names. They never did introduce themselves." She had this idea that, if they'd just told her their names, they would seem more real. A crazy idea, but it had stuck for seven years. It was strange, but in the few minutes that they'd spent together, they had become friends so quickly.

(Will I ever see you again?)

(Probably not.)

Even now, she felt a pang of loss, thinking of them; the same sort one would feel for a friend that's moved away. But then, everyone made friends quickly as a child. Or, so she'd been told. She hadn't had much luck with it herself since . . . except for with a certain two girls.


The subject was dropped (it was one that had been gone over too many time to be interesting anymore), and went on to talking about their exams. Milena listened to this exchange quietly, still rubbing a thumb along the surface of the stone in her pocket. Thinking of those two strangers always made her value the friends she had now even more.

Trixie Avails, like many of the kids around here, played sports; she, in particular, was a starter for the Raventon travel team, also known as the Raventon Rocs. She was never still, always doing something, and always with a wisecrack or joke on the tip of her tongue. She was also the resident daredevil: it was she who suggested that they streak their hair the color of their eyes. Milena grinned at the memory: her parents had been angry that she hadn't asked them first, Jewel's had been absolutely furious (but eventually accepted it anyway-it wasn't as if grounding her would bring her hair back to her natural color), while Trixie's parents just didn't care. Mr. and Mrs. Avails knew by now that preventing Trixie from doing something was a surefire way to force it to be done.

Despite the fact that she was pretty and had many other friends, she had never let that come in the way of her friendships with Milena and Jewel; quite the contrary, she defended her friends fiercely if anyone against those who would insult them. That was how they'd become friends in the first place. She smiled, remembering the incident with bittersweet feelings.

A teacher pulled the girl away from the boy, still swinging her small fists. "Milena, stop this right this minute!" she snapped.

"I won't!" the child snapped, scarlet eyes flashing. "Not until they stop it!"

"Stop what?" the boy whined, rubbing what soon would be a black eye. "I didn't do anything to you!"

"Yes you did!" she shrieked.

Before she could say anything else, the teacher knelt down to her eye level and spoke sternly. "There's no reason for this, Milena. No one saw him do anything to you, and yet you hit him."

"That's it! They don't do anything! That's why I did it!" she protested, eyes filling with tears.

The teacher shook her head despairingly. "Go to the corner and think about what you've done!"

"But-"

"Now." she said flatly. But this had no effect on the girl, and she only stood there, arms folded, face tight with anger. In the end, it took a threat of a call to her parents to get her moving. Even then it was a sullen, slow shuffle that took her to the corner.

A few minutes later (and a few minutes can feel like a long time to a child), Milena snuck a look around. Two girls were standing behind her; she recognized both of them as being in her class. One wore spectacles- Jewel, that was her name- and the other was Trixie. She wasn't so bad; she'd let her join in her games once or twice on the playground; but she was still one of them.

"What? What do you have to say? Or are you just gonna ignore me or make fun of me again?" she snapped.

Trixie shook her head. "Actually, we wanted to ask you something."

Milena turned her head back into the corner. "Well? Say it already, and leave me alone."

Jewel touched her arm, and she turned around to face them again, startled. "Actually, we wanted to know if you'd consider being our friend." she said softly.

It had taken Milena days to realize that they were telling the truth. But after that the three had been inseparable; they ate, played, read, and did everything together. They hardly ever argued, and made up quickly if they did. Teachers always found themselves putting them in the same classes together, if only for the fact that there were less fights between Milena and her tormentors if all three were in the same room together.

Having burning-red eyes and a hair-trigger temper had made her an outcast from her peers since the beginning. As a Kindergartener, the kids would often just ignore her, pretending she didn't exist; some of the kids parents (the deeply religious ones) would even cross themselves if she came near them, protecting themselves from the "demon." Having to deal with these things had changed her personality somewhat; unless she was with friends and family, she was introverted, moody, and self-conscious. A great lover of comics of all kinds (she'd get into anime and manga, but that was in the future), as a child Lena had identified herself with the X-men Gambit and Cyclops; both had to deal with the same problems as she did.

That didn't seem to be a problem for her friends, though. Trixie, well, she just didn't care. She had looked past Milena's differences and seen the girl within, and had become her friend almost instantly. Jewel also had unusual eyes, but their tawny-gold color wasn't unheard of: there were a few other people in the school who shared the same characteristic, though the color wasn't as vivid. In any case, she didn't care either: she saw immediately that here was someone who would be loyal and a good friend to the last.

Jewel . . . Milena glanced over at the girl in question, who was at the moment trying to explain something about math to Trixie. Jewel Waibelle was bookish and quiet, with a tendency to make long speeches about what she liked. People sometimes mistook her for being timid (and she was, a bit) but mostly she just preferred listening to talking, like Lena herself, filing away information in that intelligent brain of hers to use for later.

One of her weak points was thinking outside the box; if there wasn't any proof something existed, she ignored it. That was why Milena's saviors had been such a paradox for her; there was proof, but the idea of transforming children just seemed impossible. So she simply gave the excuse that Milena had, A)hallucinated slightly from lack of air and B)seen kids that had been in costume at the time. Milena had her own thoughts about that, but kept them to herself; if you got into an intellectual argument with Jewel, chances were it would stretch on for hours. That was pretty much the one time she talked for long periods of time.

Despite how quiet she was, Jewel had a healthy amount of friends as well. Being a writer for the school newspaper and part of quite a few clubs often did that for you. But, like Trixie, her friendships with Milena and Trixie were stronger than any other ones. Milena alone of the trio had no other friends, but that was fine with her; with these two, she never felt alone.

A lull in the conversation brought Milena out of her thoughts, and she looked up to see that they'd arrived at her house. At the moment, she lived in one half of a duplex on main street, near Trixie's house; at the moment because they'd had to move a few times already this year, after their land was bought and their home torn down. After frantic, busy months of moving and transporting things, they'd finally moved into this new place. It was bigger, true, but people always miss their homes if they move. She especially missed her home of fifteen years, no matter how small it had been.

She took back her backpack from Trixie and peeked into the living room. Her father was sprawled on the couch, tired from work. Her brother was nowhere in sight. "Hi, Dad! We're home!" she said cheerfully.

"Yo, Ken!" Trixie said brightly, waving as she and Jewel followed her in. "How's it going, man?"

"Good afternoon." the other girl echoed more seriously.

Ken turned his head and smiled. "Oh, hello girls! Have a good day at school?"

"Do we ever, Dad?" Milena asked dryly, and he laughed. Putting down the backpack for a moment, she looked around, raising an eyebrow. "Where are Jake and Mom?"

"Your mother's bringing Jake to one of his friend's houses." Ken shrugged. "Says he's gonna stay there for the night. Would you girls like something to drink?"

"No thank you, we're good." Jewel said; she then followed Trixie, who was climbing the stairs. "Thank you for letting us sleep over!"

Her father turned back to the TV as his daughter went up as well. She heard his voice follow them up; "No problem. You guys know the door's always been open. Have fun."



The three certainly managed that during that night. They spent a few hours playing video games; Trixie particularly enjoyed beating both Milena and Jewel in one of Jake's many racing games, but Jewel got revenge later by throwing her character off the platform in Soul Caliber 3. Trixie's jaw dropped, but a lesson was learned that day. Never underestimate the Walking Dictionary, especially when it comes to kicking major butt in video games.

After that, they watched a movie- Austin Power's Goldmember, one of their personal favorites; they watched it at nearly every sleepover. Trixie got her free ice cream after all; Milena's mother poked her head in during the opening credits and passed out tiny tubs of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. Milena just had to laugh; Trixie's face had lit up like a child's on Christmas morning. (Ice cream: it, like food, rules.) Still, she envied the others- the only reason she wasn't fat was that fencing was strenuous work, and it kept her active. Trixie and Jewel, on the other hand, had naturally fast metabolisms- they could eat fatty food continuously and not gain a pound. Especially Trixie, who was also involved in sports. Lucky women.

The movie took up a few hours, but they still weren't quite tired to go to sleep- it was, after all, the day they'd gotten out of school for the summer- so they fooled around for a while, ate dinner, then put in another movie: Spirited Away. They'd considered Princess Mononoke, another Miyazaki film, but decided to stick with the former- like Goldmember, it was a classic.

By the time the movie (which was over two hours long) was over, Trixie was nodding off over her half-eaten bag of popcorn, and Jewel was frequently taking off her glasses to rub her eyes. Milena was feeling quite tired herself, so she put out blankets on the floor for her friends to sleep on and climbed into bed herself. Everyone called out their goodnights, then there was silence. She faintly heard a screeching thunderstorm warning from the TV still on downstairs; from the dark clouds they'd seen on the way home today, she wasn't surprised.

As always, her friend's breathing had audibly deepened and slowed down long before she fell asleep, but Milena finally managed it. Before her eyes closed, they alighted upon a certain stone, which lay upon the table next to her bed. Golden bits caught faint light coming in from the orange streetlamps and reflected onto the walls like a kaleidoscope. In that brief moment between waking and sleep, a fuzzy sense of nostalgia colored that last thought; then, all thoughts were gone, and she dreamed.



It was the thunder that woke Jewel up; thunder, and the flash of bright light she could even through her eyelids. She opened her eyes and sat up, looking around. Everything was dark and blurry; she swore under her breath and reached for her glasses, folded up on the table nearby. Of course something like this would happen, she thought grumpily, mind still muzzy with sleep. The first day I can actually sleep in, and Mother Nature decides to come calling. Fun fun fun.


Jamming the glasses onto her nose, she peered around again. It was still dark, besides the light from the street outside, but this time she could see the sharply outlined shapes of the room's furniture. Lightening flashes again, showing them more distinctly; she could see that Trixie was still sleeping. Jeez, that woman can sleep through anything. she thought, affectionately annoyed. But in that flash, she saw something else that disturbed her a little more than her friend's sleeping habits. Milena was standing near the window. She couldn't say what it was that tipped her off that something was wrong; her posture, maybe, or the way her hands hung limply at her sides.

"Lena? What's the matter?" she said softly, trying not to wake Trixie (though she does kinda want her to wake up.) She winced as thunder crashes overhead. It sounded like it was right nearby.

Trixie grumbled and opened her eyes, rubbing at one eye sleepily. "Turn down the damn volume on that thing, 'Tony!" she growled: still half-asleep, she thought the thunder was her older brother blasting his music. Then she apparently caught sight of the scene. "Jewel? What-"

Jewel pressed a finger to her lips. She was sure now that Lena was sleepwalking, as she often did; and when someone is sleepwalking, it's best not to wake them up.

She was, however, startled when her friend turned to them. Another flash of lightening lit the room, and she could see that her friend's eyes were wide and blank. She shivered slightly. Though she didn't much care about what color they were, unlike some of their classmates, for a moment she did see why they would be freaked out by them. Lit from behind, they almost had their own fiery glow. What surprised her most, however, was when she started to speak.

"He's free." Milena whispered, and her voice held such fright that it held Jewel and Trixie captive.

"Who's free, Lena?" Jewel asked gently. Normally she'd just dismiss whatever she said as sleep talk, but this . . . these words sent shivers up her spine.

"The Dark one." Her eyes stared at the girls, but seemed to go right through them. "He's awake and he's . . . searching."

Another cold chill ran up and down Jewel's spine. "Lena, are you dreaming?"

"No." she said, almost absent-mindedly. "Seeing." She then turned back to the window, and for a few moments all three stood still.

Thunder (the loudest yet) came again, and Milena flinched and jumped. The spell of stillness was broken; with quite a bit of relief, Jewel saw that the spark- the essential essence- was back in her friends eyes. She blinked, looked down at herself, then over to the others. "What am I doing here?" she asked, sounding bewildered. "Guys?"

"Sleepwalking." Trixie said simply. "You said some weird stuff."

She blinked again. "Like what?"

Trixie shrugged. "Said someone was awake and searching. You have a peeping tom or something, woman? Maybe your subconscious is trying to tell you something." Despite the lightness of her voice, Jewel could see that she seemed a little wierded out as well. Good. She didn't want to think that she was the only one who thought things were a bit odd. Then again, these sleepwalking incidents were always strange.

Lena thought for a bit, then shook her head. "I don't think so . . . " Lightening flashed again, and she jumped. "Jeez! How long has this been going on?" she exclaimed, kneeling down and pulling aside her curtains.

Jewel and Trixie came over as well and looked outside. "Dunno. It woke me up; that's all I know." the bespectacled teen admitted. Thunder once again crashed; at nearly the same time, heavy raindrops started pounding against the window. They hurriedly shut it as some began coming through the screen, and laughed as they brushed water from the sill.

For a long time they simply knelt there, watching with childlike amazement and wide eyes at the thunderstorm outside. Howling wind, claps of thunder, splattering rain, and their own breathing filled their ears. It almost felt like a tornado was on its way. Jewel gasped with amazement at the lightening; one flash would light up the area like daylight, bringing the clouds and mountains surrounding the town into sharp relief. Another flash moments later, however, let her see something else; she shuddered, feeling her blood turn to ice within her veins.

Milena, sitting shoulder to shoulder with her, looked over. "What's the matter?" she asked, concerned.

"Nothing, nothing." Jewel reassured, but couldn't get what she'd seen out of her head. It remained with her even when, a few moments later, the novelty of watching the storm faded and they went to sleep again.

She knew it was just chance, that the strange conditions of the thunderstorm; that, combined with wind, the position of stars, and other factors, it had just been a random occurrence. But something there was something . . . sinister . . . about how it had looked.

A vague foreboding filled her thoughts as she remembered the shape she'd seen in the clouds above the mountains to the north. Two slitted holes like staring eyes, with a strip of clear black sky in the center of each, broken only by a star glinting near the center. The stars had looked, oddly, red. Something to do with the dust carried on the wind, perhaps.

Still, she couldn't get those eyes out of her head. Milena's words seemed to follow her down as she slipped back into sleep; those, and a pair of glaring, looking eyes.

"He's free. The Dark one. He's awake and he's . . . searching."



The next morning found all three girls sprawled out in the living room. All were dressed in comfy pajamas, and paper and pencils were flung around the chair where Milena sat, curled up with pamphlets in her lap. Trixie was on the couch watching cartoons- at the moment, she was watching was sounded like "Ed, Edd, and Eddy." (Not one of Lena's favorites- she liked the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy better- but it was fine as long as she didn't have to watch it.) As for Jewel, she on the other end of the couch and was, of course, reading. A psychology book, by the looks of it.

"Better decide where's the party's gonna be, woman, before your bro gets home." Trixie said, not taking her eyes off the TV. "Otherwise, he'll blackmail you into somewhere we don't wanna go. Like, ChuckE Cheeses or something."

There was a pause at that, and all three laughed at the image of her sixteen-year-old brother at ChuckE Cheeses. "Nah, this year's gonna be good." Lena said finally. "After all, this was our first year of high school!"

The party mentioned had been going on for a few years now. Since Milena and the others couldn't have parties on their birthdays (Lena's was December 9, Trixie's was February 15, and Jewel's was October 21), they always went somewhere together during the summer. Each took turns picking the place; this year, it was Lena's. Their parents had mentioned something about them picking it on their sixteenth birthday, but that was another year from now and thus had no bearing on the current party.

Of course, some choices had been duds; one year, the amusement park they'd wanted to go to was closed down, while in another the place had turned out to be exceedingly dull. But they always made up for it later; after all, they had a whole summer! Whoot!

"We're sophomores now, right?" Jewel said; she was, wonder of wonders, looking up from her book. "After all, I think our teachers would tell us if we failed. But none of us should; I think we did okay this year."

"Speak for yourself, oh wondrous scholar." Trixie groaned. "Let's count my failed classes, shall we? French, perhaps World History, and almost certainly Earth Science."

"But that's only last quarter. You'll pull through." Jewel reminded her, turning back to her book. Trixie shrugged and turned the channel to Comedy Central. There were more sympathetic people there, for sure.

Milena, meanwhile, ignored this (except for briefly considering that she might have failed Algebra I), and began leafing through the packets in her lap. Let's see . . .

She picked up one. Story Land? No, they'd gone a few years ago. Didn't feel like going again. She set it down on her armrest. Santa's Village? Ah, no. Definitely not. She just wasn't in the mood for little kid rides.

And so she went on and nothing seemed right. They didn't really have to worry about money, because each parent would pay their kid's way- not that everyone was rich or anything, but they'd set aside a little cash for this every year. She'd paused at Whale's Tails for a moment but, since they almost always went there once a summer anyways, it wasn't really special. And Six Gun City was supposed to be really crappy; perhaps some other time, they'd see just how bad it was, but not right now.

The last one she looked at was for the Polar Caves. Although this one didn't feel right either, it did give her an idea . . . and made her think about a much more local place they could go.

As she was pondering this, Trixie, impatient as ever, called over. "Yoo-hoo, earth to Milena?!"

"Hmm?"

"Houston, we have a problem." Trixie said, rolling her eyes. Getting off the couch, she walked over to her friend. "You decided yet, woman?" she asked, sitting on the arm of the chair not currently taken up with pamphlets. Jewel, mostly absorbed in her book, looked up once, an eyebrow arched over one golden eye, then resumed reading, ears sharp to hear the answer.

Milena smiled, meeting her friend's sky-hued eyes with her scarlet ones. "Yes, I believe I've got an idea. I think you'll like it."

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