Chapter 1 - Chapter 1

Rory impatiently pushed a stray strand of jet black hair out of her face. She glared at the bubbling pot that held mud-colored goo. “It's not working, it doesn't look right and-” she paused and scrunched up her nose,”-it smells like something died…oh wait that might be Robin” she grinned sweetly at her 9 year old sister. “That is so not funny! I do not smell. You're not exactly a basket of roses yourself.” Robin scowled. A woman in her mid-thirties stepped into the room. “Rory! Robin! Don't start.” She gave them a warning look. She peered into the pot at the bubbly mess. “Ree, you forgot the sugar.” Rory moaned and banged her head on the table. A muffled reply came back “Why do I bother? I can't cook!” Robin looked at her sister with mock surprise. “You can't cook?! What do you mean you can't cook?!” Their mother chuckled, “Robin leave Rory's cooking alone.” Rory scowled at both of them both. She got dressed for the cold and stomped out of the house. She wasn't about to stay and be made fun of.

Skating furiously around and around the pond was slowly venting out Rory's anger. Soon Rory was gliding along. Suddenly she heard a chuckle behind her. She spun around to face the voice and recognize her neighbor and friend, George. “You're only going to be out here a few minutes not a whole night.” He indicated her layers of clothing. “You wouldn't know how long I'd be out here.” Rory sniffed indignantly.

“I don't think you can move too well with all those layers on.”

“Really...” A smile curved her lips. She leaned over scooped up some snow and lobbed it in his face. “See? I'm nice and warm and mobile,” she smiled innocently and continued skating. Glancing over her shoulder, she could see where she had left George. She found that he had vanished. Hearing skates behind her she stopped abruptly. Not a good idea. With a crash, she and the other skater collided. Lying on her back, she looked up into a laughing face. “George! Get off me!” Rory gasped and tried to take a breath of air. “You're squishing me!” that made him laugh harder, but he untangled himself from her and stood up. When Rory was finally able to take deep breaths, she narrowed her green eyes. “Why are you at the pond?” She demanded. “Unless you enjoy banging into people and knocking the air out of them, which isn't a great-” She stopped short. George's smile was gone and replaced by an excited look. “What is it?” The answer she got surprised her.

“The Syari Masters are heading toward our village to pick out more boys for Syari. They-”

“-But wait aren't they supposed to come-“

“-Yea, I know. They're supposed to come next year. But they are coming! I couldn't wait to tell you.”

Rory had never told George she wanted to be a Syari warrior but she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to.

“How did you know I'd be out here?” Rory looked at him.

George grinned “…Wellll….”

“Yes?”

“It's the morning and you normally try to cook breakfast.” She glared at George, he continued. “After that your sister normally makes some sort of joke and you storm out of the house and go skating.”

“You sure know my mornings.” Rory commented dryly. George grinned. “C'mon lets skate. I promise not to squash you this time.” They skated around the pond, slowly at first then faster. Rory sped up. “Race ya!” She called over her shoulder.

All of a sudden the ice under her broke through. Biting back a yell, she fell through the ice. Desperately she tried to swim to the surface. Her skates were pulling her down. Reaching down, she fumbled with the laces of her skates. Finally! They were off and she was plowing toward the surface. Fortunately, she hadn't moved far from the hole in the ice so she bobbed right up through the hole. Strong hands grabbed her arms and pulled her out of the icy water. She looked into the concerned face of George. His image started to swim. “Are you okay?” He asked anxiously. The words came from far away. “Yeah.” She replied weakly before the world spun and she slipped into a black void.

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