MuseBlog

That’s National Novel Writing Month, a worldwide outbreak of madness that takes place in November–all November. Some of you plan to take part. Here’s a place to talk about it.

*Round-Robin ‘Riting, by special request of Elassë~Adæl. Not a continuation of version 2006.5 or any earlier version. Each version is its own distinct story (which may be continued in parts 2, 3, etc.).

*Round-Robin ‘Riting. All new and no doubt destined to be wonderful.

If you’re not sure how RRRs work, just type “RRR” into the searchbox at the top of the screen and hit “Go.” If you’re still confused, ask.

A fresh thread for poems and songs of interest. Elassë~adael’s idea.

A clean slate for your prose. Write on, MuseBloggers.

‘Twas brillig and the slithy toves, quoth the raven, “Nevermore.” A continuation of the poems and songs thread because Kuai Zi Angel Pentatonikk asked. A place for your creations or others’.

Adela looked across the algebra classroom at Archell, who was whispering to the girl in front of her. Adela could just make out the words, “In five minutes, it’s going to start snowing.”

Archell always seemed to be so confident about this stuff, much more so than any weatherman on TV. Most of the school asked her if they wanted to know whether to bring their umbrellas to school tomorrow or if it would be warm enough to go to the beach. She was rarely wrong.

“Adela?” asked Ms. Carman. “Can you show us on the board how you did number seven?”

Adela looked at her notes and found an incomprehensible mess of quadratics. This had all made so much sense last night. Now it looked like a bunch of spaghetti, which was what Adela’s mind felt like. Why do I have to do quadratics anyway? wondered Adela. Stiff-legged, she walked up to the chalkboard. She picked up her notebook and copied the problem out, hoping she wouldn’t have to explain it.

“Adela, would you please tell us how-” Ms. Carman was cut off by someone’s shout of “Snow!” from the back of the classroom. Sure enough, it was snowing. Even though it was only October, something bordering on a blizzard was raging outside. Archell wore a smirk, and the girl in front of her an awed expression. Adela took the opportunity to sneak back into her seat.

But Archell’s display had set Adela to wondering. Blizzards just didn’t happen in October, even in Michigan. Perhaps Archell had caused it? It seemed possible. At this school, there were a few people who Adela thought were a little…different. Powerful, even.

There was Leah, the one who had accidentally set the dance room on fire and then put it out without any water. The whole school knew about that one, even if they didn’t see it in the same light that Adela did. There was Ruby, the loner in Adela’s homeroom whose necklace sometimes glowed through her shirt. And there was Adela herself, and maybe Archell.

Adela wondered why nobody else seemed to pick up on the little signs that nearly screamed, “Magic!”

Because Adela was pretty sure that’s what it was. Magic.

“Show off,” sniffed someone behind Adela. She turned. It was Leah. She was glowering and twisting a strand of unpredictable reddish hair around her finger. Her math paper was covered with untidy scribbles that slightly resembled numbers in varying shapes and sizes, entertwined with random pencilly sketches. One of them was a surprisingly accurate drawing of the long, straight haired back of her head. Adela smiled slightly. Leah always seemed to have a very short attention span.

Ms. Carman appeared to have heard Leah say something, because she looked up. “Leah,” she said, “Perhaps you would like to explain the concept of problem ten to us.” As Leah launched off into a long, surprisingly accurate considering the shape of her paper, explanation of the math problem, Adela glanced around the classroom at the other students.

Ruby just sat…and watched. Her desk at the back of the classroom was absolutely bare, devoid of any apparent school supplies or adornments, carved into the soft wood or otherwise, except for a single sheet of paper which bore the partially-finished homework from the night before. Ruby only did as much homework as she needed to understand the subject, and all her teachers knew it. Some accepted it, knowing that the system worked for her; some fought outwardly against her refusal to follow the accepted rules of the school, and some simply ignored her, dismissing Ruby as an oddball. She didn’t care. She did well in classes anyway, and in subjects she needed extra practice in she voluntarily did more work than assigned.

Aside from the paper, the upper left corner of her desk bore a mark. It wasn’t carved or penciled in, or, in fact, put there in any recognizable way. It seemed to just have…melted into the surface. Even the false manufactured grain of the wood followed it, swirling around the symbol: a five-pointed star surrounded by a circle. The same one as was stenciled on every one of her few possesions. As her eyes scanned the mark her hand went involuntarily to her throat, then moved down to press at something under her shirt. Her father’s pendant, her mother’s chain. It was all she had left, and she treasured it more that anything.

Ruby looked away from the board and to the person standing in front of it, demonstrating a problem, as she felt eyes on her. It was that girl, what was her name, Adela. Seeing that Ruby had detected her gaze, the slightly-built, brown haired girl gave her a quick, sweet tempered smile and gestured out the window at the softly falling snow, which was distracting everyone, including the teacher. It was light, but the flakes were small and sticking to the panes of glass where they touched them, a sure sign of a long, deep fall every Michigan dweller knew, even those as naturally inept as Ruby. It was perfect for a snow day. And blatantly out of season. A thought took hold of Ruby, suddenly. Did Adela do that? but she dismissed the idea. Adela just wasn’t the type to delibrately cause trouble.

The notion that something possibly kinetic was going on didn’t bother Ruby in the slightest. Magic was just the word for what people didn’t understand. Light bulbs were magic to people who didn’t have electricity.

She looked back at Adela and gave her a thin, neutral smile in return. Ruby was reclusive, it was well known, but she didn’t mind making contact with other people. And no matter how differant thier personalities, Ruby liked Adela. There were several people in this room, in fact, that Ruby liked or at least accepted, including Adela’s rather touchy friend Leah, the brash Archell, and even Ehmer, who sat two seats to the left and three ahead of Ruby. She felt sort of connected with them, somehow, but still seperate.

Suddenly, an announcement blared in on the loudspeaker, heavy with static. A power line was probably down somewhere, Ruby reflected. Already the snow was deep enough to reach half way up her calves, and her height was pretty average for a ninth grader. She tuned back in and listened. “We apologize for the interruption,” the voice of the vice principal said fuzzily, “But we have recived several calls from parents asking that school be ended early due to road conditions. Unfortuanately, some parents are unable to reach the school due to the snow. All students who live more than ten miles away from the school please come to the main office. All other students will report to the multi-purpose room to wait for thier parents. Thank you.”

The loudspeaker fuzzed off. Immediately an excited babble broke out amoung the class, who all jumped up as one, ignoring the teacher’s desperate attempts to assign homework, and milled around in confusion, packing their books inside thier desks and grabbing their coats and scarves. Ruby got up too, but didn’t take her coat, merely opened her desk and put her homework paper inside it. The orphanage where she lived was too far away to come and get her; she would be staying at the school that night along with the other students who were long-distance commuters. She saw Leah and Adela doing the same, and Ehmer muttered a curse before unwinding himself from his seat, bumping his shin against the connected desk. Two other students, Jason Berk and Emily Gozlan, also prepared for a long night stay at the school, which was a familar event for all kids who lived more than ten miles away. The principal kept sleeping bags and pillows in a closet in his office; the cafeteria would supply leftovers and the kids would sleep in thier (hopefully clean) gym clothes in the dance hall, which was big and carpeted.

Ruby got up from her chair and wove carefully through the crowd of eager, chattering students, who ignored her as she slid past, touching nothing. She was very good with crowds. Reaching the front of the classroom in a suprisingly short time considering the chaos and her position in the back of the room, Ruby fell into step a little ways behind Ehmer, who was muttering and rubbing his leg, and Leah, who was, as usual, walking with Adela. Archell was several paces down the hallway already, but through the open door Ruby could see that she looked very pleased with herself for some reason. Suspicion surfaced, but she pushed it out of her head. She had enough to worry about. She followed the group of fellow school-stayers out the door towards the office, where they would doubtless be doled supplies, but she was still careful not to be obvious in her interest in these students. Call it intuition, but she had a feeling about them. Even so, her Ruby instincts told her to stay away…but watchful all the same. Archell walked purposefully to the office just ahead of Adela, Ehmer, Leah, and that one girl, Ruby. The principal calmly informed the students that they would be staying at the school for the night and that they should not panic, and blah blah blah blah blah. Archell really didn’t care. Dutifully, she followed the line of students to the autitorium and was immediately swarmed with a bunch of people asking her how she knew that it was going to snow and if it would keep up until tommorrow. She brushed them off and went to go get in line for the sleeping bags and supplies. Stumbling over a boy’s foot she tripped and fell, right into Adela.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” Archell apologized loudly.

“Oh no, it’s okay,” Adela replied, a little embarressed.

“Here, let me help you up.” Archell grasped Adela’s hand and pulled her up just as she noticed Ruby watching suspiciously. What’s up with her? Archell thought. Something was different about Ruby and she was going to find out.

Ehmer wrinkled his nose distastefully at the collection of sleeping bags and pillows in the closet. Living far from school had its advantages, but not many of them. He stooped down and picked up a sleeping bag and a pillow in one motion, nearly knocking someone over in the process. He didn’t, of course, say sorry.

Bloody hell, he thought irritably, stepping away from the crowd of students. He was a good half a foot taller than the tallest of the rest of the students and at least three years older. Why couldn’t someone his own age live far away? It hadn’t been a good day, and he was in no mood to spend an evening with kids half his age.

That wasn’t quite fair, he admitted to himself, smirking slightly as Archell fell into Adela. Some of them were two thirds his age.

“Hem, hem,” the principal’s secretary said, clearing her throat. “The library will be open to you until it is time for dinner. Please, leave your things in the Hall and do not run in the hallways. Ehmer bolted for the door. First one to the library meant the best seat.

Again, Ruby watched. Completely disregarding the secretary’s instructions not to run, Ehmer dashed out the door in the direction of the library, and Ruby smiled, mentally comparing his actions to her own contempt for the ‘rules’. She, however, saw no reason to flaunt this, and slipped out after him before the door had time to shut properly. All the others would no doubt follow, so she could keep an eye on them; she feel the energy radiating from them, like no other kind she could name. Something was going to happen that night, she knew it, and she wanted to be there.

As soon as she was out, she rose to her toes and followed Ehmer. She was just far enough behind him to keep him in view, and she followed, as far as she knew, without detection to the library. However, as he neared the door she broke course and doubled around to the other door, where she knew her enterance would be concealed by a bookcase. It never paid to be obvious.

She swung the door open, and let it close behind her. Through a gap in the books-Anne of Green Gables and the last book of The Foundation Trilogy-she could see Ehmer already spread out full length on one of the long couches. She pulled over a box of stored magazines and settled down to wait for…whatever would happen. It was fated that she wouldn’t wait long.

Ehmer stretched like a cat on the window seat and pulled a battered old blue book from his pocket, the picture of an unaware reader. He turned his head to face his book. Unless someone coudl see his eyes, it would look like he was doing just that, reading. Instead, he tuned out the noise of the cars outside and only listened to the noises in the library.

Yes, someone had followed him. He’d heard noises in the corridor, but now he was sure. Someone, probably a girl, was sitting behind a shelf a few rows a way. Casually, Ehmer yawned and began to read for real. He doubted she was a threat, so there was no need to show that he’d heard or noticed her.

Adela stepped into the library, inhaling the smell of old books and Windex. Leah was already off somewhere, no doubt hoping not to burn anything as she read. Adela looked around for Archell to ask whether it would still be snowing on her thirteenth birthday, which was tomorrow. It wasn’t that she minded, exactly. Adela loved snow and the howling, whirling wind that came with all the best blizzards. It was just that she didn’t want to be stuck with a bunch of people she barely knew, on her birthday.

Archell waltzed into the library after being shouted at for running, slipping, and knocking over the principal (by accident, of course). Finally having freed herself of her adoring “fans”, she had run to the safety of the library. Looking around, she made sure no one was around her, grabbed a book, and with a puff of air jumped onto a shelf. There, she sat down to read. Opening her book, she settled herself comfortably against the wall, and started to read. Suddenly, she could have sworn that she saw a long white cobra with purple eyes. Then it was gone. Shrugging, she returned to her book.

Issy quickly fled out of sight of Archell as she looked up from her book. Issy was here on a misson. She was actually was enjoying sneaking around the library in cobra form. Silently, Issy wished she could have used her butterfly form, but no, Hazel got to use that form. Hissing slightly, she raised her jeweled head as she saw Achmet dropping from a shelf to join Zelda on the other side of the library. Zelda and Achmet were in small cat forms so they could hide in the shelves by the prophesized ones. Just a little longer… she thought quickly slithering into a cubby hole. As she saw the students leaving for the cafeteria for dinner she decided, Time for another form…. Quickly she changed into a young teen and followed quietly and inconspiciously to the cafeteria.

Archell spotted Adela hurrying towards her with a look of question on her face. As she slowed her pace to the caf, Adela hurried up and asked her, “Will it keep snowing tommorrow? Because it’s my birthday and I was just wondering…”

Smiling, Archell said, “Why yes, Adela, I believe it will.” Her thunder gray eyes sparkled with a little light, and in a few minutes the principal came over the intercom. “Students, the incredible blizzard seems to have increased; your parents might have to pick you up on the fourteenth instead of tommorrow. Classes and school will be canceled tommorrow…” Adela looked amazed.

“Well, I guess it will!” Archell grinned, looking extremely pleased at herself for a reason only she knew. She started to walk away, then stopped, turned her head back. and said, “Hey, Adela!” Adela whirled around.

“Have a nice birthday tommorrow!” Archell grinned again and walked off to the cafeteria unaware that she and all the prophesized ones were being watched.

Ruby sat on her box. She watched as Archell and Adela came into the library, and then left, presumably for food. She was getting to be a bit nervous, she admitted it. But mixed in with that nervousness was excitement, quite a bit of excitement, and anticipation.

On a whim, she reached inside her shirt and pulled out her circled pentagram on its chain, letting it show for once. Feeling a bit exposed, Ruby looked down at the pendant-and realized it was glowing. Her head darted up and her eyes narrowed, and for a moment she thought she saw a…a cat. It seemed out of place somehow, but suddenly Ruby’s mind felt clouded and she couldn’t put her finger on why. And then the cat, a small tawney brown, winked at her, and dissapeared.

The fog in her mind vanished with the cat. For a moment she hesitated, and then decided to do something completely out of charecter. Stepping out from behind the shelf, Ruby walked out to the center of the library and just…stood there. Struggling with an urge to slip along the walls in the shadows, she walked over to Ehmer, who still appeared to be oblivious as he read a book, but his eyes were not moving. Before she lost the initiative she said softly, “Do not look now, but we are being watched. Tell the others, it has something to do with… this.” she gestured toward the glowing necklace.

Ehmer turned his head to look at the younger girl. “Huh?” he said rather stupidly, looking her up and down. His sharp eyes focused on the necklace almost at once, but he tried not to let his gaze linger. “What?” he added for good measure.

The others? Mentally, he frowned. What was she going on about? She couldn’t know could she? He shook his head ever so slightly. No, she couldn’t. She was just being queer.

“Uh, it’s very pretty,” he put in after a moment of uncomfortable silence.

Adela couldn’t believe it. What was it with Archell? She could swear that the girl was controlling the weather or something and had done this just to spite her. Or did Archell know something she didn’t? But then, that wasn’t hard. Adela didn’t know what was going on with the blizzard or the possible magic or the funny little flickers she kept seeing out of the corner of her eye or pretty much anything.

All Adela wanted were answers and to be with her family, tiny and strange as it was, on her thirteenth birthday. It didn’t look like she’d be getting either any time soon.

But she was distracted from her thoughts by a little hazel-coloured butterfly darting behind the water fountain. While it was plain and blended in with the bricks, Adela could detect a faint sort of…glimmering about it in her mind. She couldn’t see the glimmer, but she was sure it was there. Magic?

Great. Another mystery, probably another one that would never be answered. Adela hated all this. Groaning, she headed toward the cafeteria.

Most of the other junior high and high school students who weren’t going home seemed to be packed into the cafeteria. She spotted Archell, who was surrounded by a crowd of kids. Ruby and Ehmer were sitting in a dark corner, heads put together. Ruby’s hand was covering something on her chest, where Adela though that there might be another glitter, though it was hard to tell from this distance. Every so often, someone would whistle at them, which neither seemed to notice.

Did Ruby know about the glitters, if she had one? There was one way to find out. Adela grabbed a tray with mashed potatoes, peas, and tomato soup and headed over toward the corner. She hoped Ruby and Ehmer wouldn’t chew her head off for being curious.

When she got there, they both turned around to glare at her. “Bugger off,” grumbled Ehmer, but no one thought he really meant it. Adela slid into a seat.

“I have questions. You might have answers,” she said, trying to ignore the sense of apprehension she felt. Ruby and Ehmer might not be dangerous, but they weren’t that easy to be around, either.

“Questions,” said Ruby ruminatively. “Like what?”

“Like, what are you covering up with your hand? It’s got some sort of glitter to it.”

Ruby gripped the thing tightly, glaring at Adela. She could see it glowing now, making Ruby’s hand reddish and lit-up.

Ruby was saved from answering by Leah, who was coming over. “There you are, Adela. I came to say happy birthday.”

“My birthday’s tomorrow,” said Adela, glad for an excuse to look away from Ruby.

“In a few minutes, it will be tomorrow,” said Leah, sitting down with a can of soda. Adela, Ruby, and Ehmer all glanced at the clock, wondering how time could pass so quickly. But sure enough, it read 11:58.

When the bells of a nearby church bagan to chime midnight, everyone jumped. They all seemed to be surprised that it was so late.

“Happy birthday now,” said Leah, but she wasn’t so sure that it was so happy. After all, Adela had just screamed and landed face-first i her mashed potatoes.

Adela, scowling in an almost Leah – ish fashion, extracted her face from the mashed potatoes and quickly wiped it off her nose. Leah resisted the urge to giggle- barely. It was only too obvious, after all, thought Ehmer distainfully. This was very strange. First Adela, the unlucky brithday girl, than Ruby, serious and quiet, who had a glowing necklace, and than Leah. He had heard of Leah, of course: she had practically burned down the dance room, or so he was told. Though not unpleasantly so, the air around her seemed to smell a little bit like smoke. Suddenly, panic gripped him. Did they know what he could do? Deep in thought, he didn’t notice that he was staring directly at Leah for several minutes straight.

Leah, now finished snorting at Adela, turned back to her green beans. A minute later, she sensed someone watching her and looked up. Ehmer was staring her, utterly, or so it seemed, transfixed. Oh no. Had she done something abnormal again? Panicking, she glanced around, than realised her finger was growing warm. Now the heat spread to her hand, than intensified. Trying to look normal, she quickly hid her hand behind her her back and took a big drink of water.

Ruby had been staring, transfixed, at the passing events. In the corner of her eye she saw…something…flit past the window, as dark as night itself.

Suddenly she shook her head as if to clear her thoughts. She had decided on something. She stood up abruptly, another thing she did not usually do. Ruby was a lone wolf, so to speak, but she was entirely and uncomfortably aware that she knew something none of the other did. And she also knew that if she didn’t work with them, none of them would be safe.

“Listen.” she spoke quietly, lowering her voice so it wouldn’t echo around the empty cafeteria. “I have to tell you guys something…and here isn’t safe. We need to go to the dance room…now.”

She got up from her seat, but looked back down at the incredulous and slightly suspicious faces. None of them could recall Ruby ever stringing more than three words together, or standing openly in such bright light. Her pentagram, glowing slightly reddish and hanging painfully obviously over her shirt, twinkled slightly, a bit threateningly under the atmosphere of sudden doubtfulness.

Ruby said quietly, “Just trust me.” She turned on her heel and hurried down the hall to the dance room, keeping once more to the shadows.

“Oh, for God’s sake,” Ehmer started loudly, finishing with a string of curses. He frowned, half-considering not going, but something about Ruby’s tone made him a little bit curious. Just a little bit. He turned to face the group. “Go,” he said forcefully. That was all it took, they all set off after Ruby, a couple of them looking a bit scared. Ehmer’s mouth twisted in a wry smile and he followed along after them, feeling oddly protective. They were so young, after all.

The dance room was located in the top floor of the room, overlooking the parking lot and the front path. When they arrived, Ruby had already drawn the blinds and lit the small lamps on either side of the room.

Everyone stood in a group around the door. Leah’s feet tapped out a dance step on the floor and Adela stared worriedly at it. No one spoke. Ehmer shut the door and turned to face Ruby.

“What’s all this?” he asked a little bit coldly. “If this is your idea of some sort of joke, it’s not funny. We’ve followed you, so tell us what the hell is going on.” Some of the little kids’ eyes widened as Ehmer spoke.

Slightly astounded by Ruby, the others followed her in silence. Something big was happening, and presumably Ruby knew more about it than they did.

Archell couldn’t help grinning, despite the fact that she was walking in the school hallways at midnight with a bunch of people she barely knew. She felt powerful, like a catalyst. After all, if it hadn’t been for her snowstorm, they would all be sitting happily at home. Or unhappily, as it may have been. It struck Archell that she really didn’t know that much about any of the others, including what their home lives were like. If she was going to work with these people, as she was beginning to get the sense that she’d have to, she’d have to know them. She’d have to trust them.

When Leah stepped therough the doors of the dance room, she was reminded unpleasantly of the fire. That had been too close. Even the dimmest of students could tell that something was up when she set the hall on fire and then put it out. Luckily, something had happened to distract their attention. Something always did. That was the way school worked.

She could almost smell the smoke, hear the screams of the dancers. Leah had only done what she had to. Just because it required using power she had tried to hide didn’t mean she should let innocent people die. Did it?

Ehmer closed his eyes briefly as he waited for Ruby to answer. All the things he’d been able to do, everything he’d seen, it seemed like she knew. But how could she? He’d been careful to hide his steps along the way. Books from the library put back exactly where they’d been, questions asked in exactly the right way. He didn’t want to believe he’d been careless, but there didn’t seem to be any otehr alternative. He sighed, casting a calculating glance around the room. And what of the others? There was something strange about Leah, to be sure, and Ruby, herself, had always been clear. There was that girl who always knew the weather, but from what he knew, the others were fairly normal. Then again, he didn’t know very much about most of the others. He didn’t make a habit of associating with the younger students.

He crossed his arms, only later realizing what an aggressive gesture that must have been. “Well?” he asked, arching an eyebrow at Ruby.

Ruby looked up, her eyes very alive and alert. “I’m not lying,” she stated. “Maybe you think I’m making this up, but I’m not and I want you to understand that and believe me. If I were lying-.”

“Cut the prologue and get to the point.” Impatience and the strange nervous energy in the air made Ehmer sharp-tempered. It wasn’t that he disliked Ruby, but more that he found himself aching for the knowledge she’d lured them with. The knowledge that she wasn’t giving them.

Ruby fixed Ehmer with her gaze, before sighing and looking at the rest of them in turn. “All right,” she said, her voice gaining confidence.

The loudspeaker boomed on before Ruby could speak. “Students,” said the pricipal’s loud, nasal voice, “Students, I would like you to welcome Shanis Smith. We have been having some trouble with the utilities, and she is here to assist our janitors. Please try to make her feel welcome and do not bother her while she is doing her job.”

Ehmer lifted his eybrows. “You were saying?”he gestured toward Ruby. But they were interupted again. The door opened and a woman stepped out. Ehmer blinked. She didn’t look much older than him. And she was a janitor?

If she was surprised that the room was occupied, she gave no sign of it. She simply said, “What are you doing here?”

“We could ask the same of you,” Ehmer retaliated, hoping the women would be too intimidated by the fact that he was about a foot taller to ask more questions.

Her stone-faced expression didn’t even change. “Didn’t you hear the announcement? I came here to help fix the pipes and electricity. I thought I’d go here first, since their was a fire in here a few months ago. It could have weakened the electrical circuts.”

Shanis picked up her toolbox and headed for the hall that lead from the dance room to the backstage of the auditorium, then stopped, turned around, and looked at the five students. “And you can carry on your little discusion. Don’t worry, I won’t listen.”

Ehmer and the girls stood in uncomfortable silence. Finally, Leah turned and looked at Ruby. “Well?” she asked.

Ruby shook her head. The message was clear. They couldn’t risk letting this woman overhear what she was going to tell them.

Leah began to fidget impatiently, while Ehmer paced back and forth along one of the many taped lines on the floor.

Something was nagging at the back of Archell’s mind. There was something distinctly out of place about the Shanis Smith, something besides her extremely pale skin, ice-blue eyes, and long, silver hair, which was held up in a ponytail by a tie with a white feather.

After what seemed like hours, she finally returned.

“Um..how were the circuts?” Adela asked lamely.

Shanis shrugged. “They should hold out. And I have a feeling that this blizzard will stop soon. Very soon.” she finished, glaring at Archell.

And that’s when Archell noticed. Shanis had said that she had just come here, but she was wearing a rib tank, khaki shorts, and sandals.

While Archell gaped at the strange Shanis Smith, Adela was trying to place what was wrong with the woman. She looked like ice made human, sure, but there was something else different.

She didn’t get to continue her thoughts, though, because the loudspeaker blared on again. “Adela Nelson, ther’s a call for you at the front office,” it crackled. Everyone looked at Adela. She shrugged. Adela didn’t know who would be calling her after midnight, especially since Gran and Andrew were highly untrusting of phones.

But the phone was Gran, her voice distorted. “Adela. Are you alone?” The girl glanced around the office. The principal was elsewhere, and the secretary was at home. She was alone.

“Yeah. Why are you calling? You hate the phone.”

“I know,” said Gran. “I was going to tell you when you got home, but then there was that snowstorm, and this is important. I don’t have much longer. She expects me back.”

“What?” said Adela, confused as ever.

“I’m not your grandmother, and Andrew isn’t your cousin. We were sent to watch over you after your parents were killed by the Force. She realised you were in danger because of your birthday.”

“Who is ‘she’? What’s going on? What does my birthday have to do with any of this stuff?”

“A lot. It’s a full moon tonight, right? You have magic, Adela. And because of your birthday, you’re getting even more,” Gran’s voice was becoming less steady. “Now, when I leave, you have to find the others. You need to, or else you won’t stand a chance. She will send someone to meet you, escort you. Good luck, Adela. Good-bye.”

“Gran? Gran?” But the line was dead. Adela groaned. What Gran had just said sounded like some kind of a prophecy. This was crazy. Adela put her head in her hands and walked back to the dance room. At least she understood the part about ‘others.’ She’d found them.

And she faced them. “Do any of you have any clue what the Powers are? Or how important today is? Or something?”

“No clue,” said Leah with a nonchalant shrug, although it aroused something in her memory. She felt sure it would sound rather stupid saying “Yeah, sure, I just don’t know what,” though, so she kept her mouth shut and focused instead on the janitor lady, Shanisa, or whatever. There was something about her Leah felt extremely uncomfortable with, though she couldn’t name just what.

Ruby glanced at the janitor person; it was clear that she was not going to leave any time soon. She said quietly to the others, “I do.”

They looked at her in surprise, and Ehmer slightly suspiciously, but she went on almost angrily, “It was what I’ve been trying to tell you about! Before my Ma died I-” she stopped. Ruby Laan had had a hard night, and this reminder of her mother was not helping. She wasn’t used to showing her feeling to anyone. After a moment, however, she sighed, and said, “Well, I guess I’ll just have to tell it from the beginning. Get comfortable, this could take a while.”

She rather purposefully (for Ruby) moved to the end of the room farthest away from Shanis, and the rest followed after a moment’s hesitation. She sat down and they followed, all except for Ehmer, who scowled and remained standing, casting covert glances at the janitor. Ruby started to speak, softly.

“The only things I know about the Powers is that they are some kind of lunatic elitist cult, and they think they are somehow chosen to rule the world. I think they might be a little religious, because, from what my mother told me, they have some sort of, well, some sort of a prophecy. It says that they can’t take over untill they gain some sort of a power; well, actuallty I’m not sure what the prophecy says. But I think…”

She stopped, looking resigned. “I guess I’ll just have to show you, then.” Ruby took a deep, nervous breath, and said the following in a chanting, almost singsong tome: “‘Before Order might reign free, the Adversaries must be vanquished. They shall come from sand, and be born of Fire, Air, Vision, Life, and Doom. Guard well thine gates, lords of Cosmos, for from below and from above shall they come to claim dominion and shatter Law. And stone shall burn, and thunder will be heard in clear sky, and those who would be healed shall be wounded, and seen shall be the unexisting. When Chaos-child vanquishes Chaos-lord, then shall the Cosmos be torn asunder.'”

Ruby stopped. She felt suddenly weary. “Don’t ask me what it means,” she said, “I just heard it from my mother. She made me memorize it, and believe me, it took a while. All I know is that, whatever it really is, the Powers-well, I have reason to belive the Powers think the ones mentioned in the Prophecy, you know, destroying the Cosmos and all that, are, well, us.”

Archell frowned. She always felt rather proud of the fact that she had some strange control over weather, and undoubtedly it had earned her several clique-ish followers, but she didn’t like to think it meant any more – like she had some strange responsibility to the world, something she had to live up to.

As Adela listened to Ruby’s prophecy, she grew more and more alarmed. Gran had told her something like that in bedtime stories, stories about evil lords and noble shapeshifting afareet who tried to vanquish them. Her favorite had always been the one about the kids who finally defeated evil for good and lived happily ever after. She could still hear Gran’s soothing voice telling it, the tale about how a few teenagers were transported to another world, one with magic that they had to learn to use. Adela still loved that story, or at least she had when she was twelve. It was odd to think that that hadn’t been more than an hour ago.

Now, she wasn’t so sure. It was one thing to listen to a legend, safe in your grandmother’s lap. It was quite another to be alone and part of the story.

“Us?” Ehmer raised an eyebrow, still playing the fool. “Whaddya mean by that? We’re a group of kids in a school overnight. There’s nothing important ’bout that. It’s not like-.”

“There is.”

Ehmer spun around, looking for who spoke. It was Adela, who was suddenly wide-eyed as if she’d just become enlightened. “It’s my birthday,” she announced.

If it weren’t for the fact that everything was so serious, Ehmer would have laughed outloud. First, Ruby mentioned a religious cult and a prophecy and now Adela wanted them to celebrate her birthday. It was all too ridiculous. “That’s nice,” he said briskly, ignoring the shorter girl, “but as I was saying,”

“It’s the full moon tonight,” Adela stated as if this were some sort of breaking news.

Ehmer turned to glance out the window. Adela was right. In the middle of the almost black sky, a perfect sphere hung suspended, almost right outside the window. Was it possible that this was actually important? Ehmer frowned; that would complicate things. Deciding against agreeing, he gave a cruel sort of snort. “Lovely,” he drawled, his act back in place, “are you a were-wolf or something?”

“She’s right,” Ruby said from her corner. “The moon will help.” The room fell silent for a moment. Outside, the wind rattled the shutters, which banged ominously against the glass. A strange whistling could be heard from the trees just outside the window.

“That’s it,” Ehmer said, shooting Shanis a very suspicious look. “We’re getting the heck out of here. Once we’re somewhere else, you and you,” he pointed to Ruby and Adela, “are explaining exactly what you mean by all this nonsense.”

“I don’t know if that’s the best idea,” Shanis said softly, stepping towards the students. “You might be better off staying here.”

Ehmer brushed her off. “No,” he said coldly, “I don’t think we are.” Something about the girl put him on guard, but he didn’t want to stay to find out what it was. He pulled the door open sharply, half expecting it to be locked, and stuck his head out into the corridor outside. “Right, go on,” he said to Ruby. “You lead the way.”

“Uh…” Ruby looked between Ehmer and Shanis for a moment, before nodding decidedly and leading the rest of the students down the hall. Ehmer regarded Shanis for a moment, before following Ruby and the crowd.

Ruby wasn’t going anywhere in particular as she hurried down the hall, still keeping to the shadows. Most of the students and faculty were in bed already, but she wanted to be cautious anyway if what she suspected proved correct. It wasn’t that she minded leading, after all she was at least a year older than everyone but Ehmer. She just wasn’t used to being anywhere but the background. As she walked, she kept talking softly.

“Even if that prophecy is wrong, which it probably is whatever it means, I am almost positive that the Powers, the ‘cosmos’ mentioned, thinks us five are the enemies they have to defeat. I think I know how to tell, but first we have to get somewhere safe. If they are looking for us, I don’t really want to stay and find out what they plan to do to keep us from doing whatever it is we are supposed to do.”

She poked her head around a corner and, seeing it was empty, continiued. “One thing I do know is that none of us-and I mean none of us-is normal by the general meaning of the word. Firstly,” she said, slowing and turning to face them, “This,” she held up the necklace, which was still glowing with a faint red colour, “Detects energy. I just noticed in the library, when I was spying on Ehmer.”

“Oh, so it was you,” said Ehmer. “I should have known.”

Ruby glared at him and he shut up, but she strongly suspected his obedience had more to do with curiosity than respect. “So,” she continiued, “When any energy is out of balance, like around an erupting volcano, a sudden fire-” she gave Leah a glance and the other girl took a step back.

“How did you…” she stuttered, then realized what she was saying.

“As I said, I knew then because of my pentagram, although I didn’t make the connection, and I know now because, well, I can sort of feel it, if you know what I mean.”

The others looked blank, so she sighed and went on. “Also, I have been getting these feelings, these senses of disorder, all day, and I think it has to do with the full moon. Think about it, will you? Archell-yes, I know you did it as well-made a blizzard that sucsessfully buried the school in snow in the middle of October. When Adela walked past the nurse’s office on the way to the dance room all the kids in there left, I saw them, claiming to be feeling much better and, in case you haven’t all noticed, Ehmer keeps turning transparent. I take it he didn’t want me to tell you that,” she said sardonically as Ehmer gasped and shuddered. She ignored him and said finally, although quite a bit more quietly, “And every time one of you does something, well, odd, I can feel it. Listen, before today I would sometimes be able to tell if some kid was picking on another one because I could sense the energy he was using to hit him-If I was lucky. Right after Adela pitched into her potatoes I knew that a large wave just hit a fishiing boat off the coast. Don’t you see? We can do stuff that everyone else would either kill to be able to do or kill us. We can do magic, don’t you understand? And we are most likely being chased by people who do want to kill us!” With that, she turned around and slid down the hall, only her long habit of staying hidden keeping her out of sight from anyone who might be looking. Or perhaps, there was something else, because as she passed, would-be viewers would feel the sting of icy wind and then forget about her entirely. Only Ehmer, Adela, and Leah appeared to notice her pentagram, which was glowing silver and coated with frost.

“I’d be careful if I were you.” The five companions froze and spun around, trying to locate the source of the voice.

“What do you want?” asked Ruby cooly, looking at Shanis, who had just rounded the corner out of nowhere.

Shanis sighed. Adela noticed she looked sick, and her cheeks were slightly flushed. The was a long, ugly gash running down her cheek.

“I was just warning you to be careful. Some of the students here -and teachers for that matter, are not what they seem. And a snow storm in October draws the Force here like flies to a carcass, if you’ll forgive the similie.”

Adela blinked. The Force? Wasn’t that what Gran had been talking about? Happy birthday to me, she thought, if only to anchor her spinning mind to some sort of reality. Even though magic, a blizzard, and some sort of prophecy were all swirling around the school, it was still Adela’s birthday. Something was the same.

But then again, she was older now. More powerful, too, if Gran was to be believed. And Gran never lied.

Did that mean she had more healing power? She had always been able to help with pain and bleeding from little cuts. Could she erase them completely now?

Adela tapped a broken fingernail on her palm. There was a sort of sign there, a Chinese charcter that Adela couldn’t read. It appeared burned into her skin, although it certainly hadn’t been there yesterday. This probably had something else to do with the whole magic thing. Adela was getting utterly sick of the whole magic thing. It was exciting, though. And terrifying.

Her nail snagged, and a bit of blood welled up inside the mark. Excellent. Now I can see if I can heal wounds completely.

Adela pushed a tiny fraction of her energy into the cut with a little puff of mental wind. It filled her vein, bubbling up with the blood.

Suddenly, the whole character split open. Along every brush-like line, more blood than Adela thought could fill her body poured out. The lines themselves glittered slightly, like Ruby’s pentagram.

No one seemed to notice, because Adela hadn’t cried out. Oddly enough, the cuts didn’t hurt at all. She just stared at them with a sort of sick fascination before her head began to spin and her stomach to heave.

“There’s..so much,” she murmured to herself, but Leah turned around at the sound of her voice. Seeing the crimson gore that was Adela’s hand, she gasped.

Adela’s knees buckled. Shanis Smith said, “What in the name of the Makers did you do?” That was the last thing Adela heard before she pitched forward for the second time.

At Shanis’ exclamation, Ruby whirled around, saw Adela on the ground, and said a very, very bad word. Without thinking she jumped toward the prone figure, shoved a frozen Leah out of the way, and knelt down beside the younger girl. Ruby slowly reached out her hand and pressed it, palm down, on her forehead.

Suddenly, she was in excruciating pain. It felt like Adela’s self was seeping into Ruby, filling her up, and it was enourmous, more than she could hold even after the enhancement they all had gone through. And she knew that if she tried, both she and Adela would die.

With a tremendous effort of will, Ruby wrenched her hand away from Adela and touched her bleeding wounds with her other palm. The one she had used to absorb the power went on her necklace, which began to glow a bright, clear sky blue. Immediately the pain stopped, but Adela’s complexion was slowly beginning to turn ashy gray.

Ruby gritted her teeth again and forced the healing power out through her other hand. It wasn’t really coming from her hand, of course, but it was easier to focus on a confined physical object than not to, and anyway she had apparently reached her limit-if she didn’t use the power it would dissipate and be lost, which would not be good for Adela. Instead, she focused on knitting her skin together, evening the blood flow, regulating the heartbeat. With part of Adela in her, she could sense every minute action of the body, and she felt momentary exhilaration.

And then the power was gone. Adela moaned, lifted up her palm so she could see it. There was something strange there, a black mark, but no bleeding cuts, and the last thing Ruby thought was, Oh darn, I scarred her, before she fainted. The glowing pendant suddenly went dead.

“Again?” asked Ehmer, trying to keep the worry from his voice and not succeeding too well. “Do all of you magic people faint this much, or is it just a coincidence?” Shanis’s icy glare shut him up.

The woman bent down over Ruby, checking her pulse, forehead, and strangely enough, her pendant. “I can’t heal this kind of drainage. Adela at her peak and in full control of her powers might be able to, but she’s not either. That means we have to call someone all the way from China, and he can’t teleport, so it could take a while. While we’re waiting, keep her warm. If Leah could heat something up, it would be useful.”

“I have a coat in my locker,” said Archell. “I’ll go get it.”

Shanis pulled something that looked like a piece of ice out of one of her pockets. “Get me Feng,” she said. “Tell him this is Nestea, and it’s no good avoiding me, because we need him now. Now might also be a good time to mention the prophecy.”

The ice, which had turned a sparkling black, called out, “It will be done.”

Shanis-Nestea-ignored the look Ehmer was giving her. Instead, she bent over and examined Adela’s hand. “It’s fine,” said Adela. “It doesn’t really hurt much.”

“No, that’s not it,” said Nestea. “Feng just never told me he had relatives.”

Leah lurked in the back in the back of the group. This was for two reasons – firstly, that horrible Shanis person she barely knew was back, and second, Ruby knew, and now so did all the rest of them. With Archell among them, her secret would be out within minutes the next day, and than, well, as far as she could see, so would the rest of life as she knew it. What had she ever done to Ruby to deserve this? What had Ehmer done to Ruby, for that matter? She had seen the look on his face when she announced he turned partly transparent. She was in the back brooding when Ruby collapsed. Ehmer stepped forward and said something, she didn’t know what, and she didn’t care. Thoughts were rushing through her mind, and each of them pointed the same direction – that Shanis woman. She knew there was something about the woman that she just didn’t trust – a sort of invisible aura that felt icy and uncomfortable. Should she do something? Well, it came back to the question she had asked herself a few hours ago. She could remember it still. Leah had only done what she had to. Just because it required using power she had tried to hide didn’t mean she should let innocent people die. Did it? No, she decided, it didn’t. Ignoring the light leaking out of the hand Ruby was holding her necklace with, she pressed her self up against the wall so as to concentrate better.

“Feng? Who’s – ” “Never mind,” Shanis/Nestea cut off the girl. “You’ll see in a minute.” She bent down over Ruby, who had sommething clutched in her hand. Never mind that. She carefully felt her pulse. The girl would be fine for now. Her eyes fell on the chain going around Ruby’s neck and realised what she had in her hand was a pendant or a locket of some sort. She carefully pried Ruby’s fingers off the necklace, and Shanis’s eyes widened as she saw the pentagram. “Where did you get that?” she muttered, delicately picking up the pendant, but was interrupted when someone behind her said, “Don’t move!” She quickly turned around to see Leah, holding something tightly in her hand.

“What do you want, girl?” asked Shanis, annoyed.

“I want you to explain to me exactly who you are and what business you have here, and why I should trust you.” Leah threateningly revealed the contents of her hand, which was a crackling, dancing flame that didn’t appear to be hurting Leah at all.

Shanis sighed. “We don’t have time to discuss-”

Her reply was cut short by an earthshaking roar.

“-this.”, she finished smoothly. “Would you rather trust me, or a two thousand pound polar bear thirsting for your blood? And”, she added as an afterthought, looking at the flame in Leah’s hand “could blow that out like it was a candle.”

Mentaly, she sent a message to Issy. We have a problem. They only let polar bears into the elite guard.

“I’m serious,” said Leah desperately, trying to hide the fact she was shaking like mad. Polar bears?! “I don’t follow strangers and I’ve got no reason to trust you any more than a ravenous polar bear.” She tried to keep the flame in her hand under control, but her emotion was making it harder. Once, she only barerly managed to keep it from trying to obscure everything within an eight foot radius. “Go on! Give me an answer!”

What’s taking him this long? wondered Nestea. Is it so hard for him to manipulate a little wind that will bring him here? Or is he just being stubborn and staying away from me? Feng can be so annoying sometimes.

A black wind, thought Feng. Someone’s calling. It swirled around him, and he heard Nestea’s voice, still as sharp and cold as ever. Nestea hadn’t changed at all since he’d last seen her, three hundred years ago.

Hmph. She was somehere in America, and the fierceness of the wind told him the north. The rest…well, he could sense Nestea’s aura, and a magically conjured blizzard like the one he felt in the wind would stand out like a fish in the air.

Feng would go see what Nestea wanted. It had been a while since he’d talked to anyone from before. And while he was there, he might be able to catch up on news. Three hundred years away from the rest of his people would detach him a bit.

Feng wrapped a gust of air around him and shaped it into a wind that would take him to Nestea and whoever was with her. That blizzard wasn’t hers. It was too bold, too showy for Nestea. New blood? They could always use that.

Maybe it would be good to get back in the world again.

There was a low growling sound coming from the opposite end of the corridor, maybe a few bends away. Leah was sweating. She was going to follow Shanis if she had too, but in the meantime, she had a chance to figure out what was going on and didn’t want to miss it. She continued to stare piercingly at the woman, who looked as if she was contemplating doing something she didn’t want to.

Finally, Shanis looked up, a sympathetic line on her brow. “Ah yes, Miss Leah. You’re the force of ember and flame, than?”

“What?”

“I feared as much. Of course, it was correct. I’m really dreadfully sorry about this, but I’m sure you’d prefer this to being gobbled up by a hungry, rabid polar bear.” With a pitiful type of smile, she raised a hand and made a strange motion towards Leah.

As Shanis’s hand dropped, Leah felt something cold wash over her. Her flame withered, but didn’t die. There was a strange feeling like someone had whacked her over the head with a rather large frying pan, only it didn’t hurt. Though she fought to keep them open, her eyes shut and her legs gave away. The only thought that stayed in her head was, What was she talking about? and then, quite abruptly, she was asleep. Shanis sighed regretfully.

“What did you do?” demanded Ehmer.

“Nothing permanent,” answered Shanis, quickly extinguishing Leah’s flame before it caught fire to the wall, grabbing Leah and Ruby by the wrist and shoving them up against it, and motioned for the others to do the same with themselves.

There was a heavy, growly breathing coming from the opposite end of the corridor. Ehmer shut his eyes tight and pressed himself against the wall. Someone was clinging to his wrist and was just about to cut of his circulation, but he was to scared to shake her off. Given the bracelets that were digging into his forearm, it was Archell. He smirked to himself. Scaredy cat. He wasn’t too fond of the girl, himself.

Now there was loud, lumbering footsteps coming up the hallway. Ehmer felt a wave of sickness come over him at the combined smell of rotting flesh and skunk waft through the air, and Archell’s hand gripped his wrist harder, if that was possible. He sensed a great, shaggy body passing him on all fours. There was something inhuman about it – even for a bear, for that was what it was. He noticed, now his eyes were getting used to the dark and he could see, that the bear’s eyes were bloodshot and strangely fogged over. He shivered and scrunched himself into the wall.

Feng felt the blizzard dancing furiously, swirling. The wind was different, terrified now. It was howling frantically, with some sort of urgency that hadn’t been there before. Inside the human building, Feng felt Nestea’s aura, and those of some part-afareet he didn’t know. There was another aura in there too, but he hoped he was mistaken about that. If Nanook were here, Feng’s job would be much more difficult.

Get in, heal, get out. Maybe talk to Nestea a bit, catch up on old times. That was what he was supposed to be doing. But Nanook had to show up, didn’t he? This was why Feng had left the world of afareet and Powers. It tended to complicate itself unnecessarily.

He shaped a gust of wind to open the door, and it swung inward, blowing a tiny drift of snow in along with it. Feng looked for Nestea and Nanook’s magic in the stale, stagnant air of the building. He flet himself going light-headed, even though the doors weren’t closed yet. Couldn’t Nestea had moved the drained person outside?

To save energy, Feng stopped the wind and walked. The nausea that came from being in a closed space was overpowering him now, but he could see Nestea’s icy hair.

“I’m here,” he gasped, causing everyone to turn around, even the polar bear.

Yes, that is Nanook. Feng muttered a curse in Chinese as he fought for verticality.

Ehmer was almost sure they were going to get away, when a small whisper on his other side said, “Oh god, what have they done to you?” It was Adela. She had stepped away from the wall and was looking with unabashed horror and pity at the bear, which turned and reared up on al four legs, revealing bloodstains from his mouth to stomach. He roared, sending flecks of bloody spit all over the room.

“Are you crazy, girl?” snarled Shanis, seizing Adela’s forearm and letting Ruby and Leah drop to the floor, but Adela wouldn’t move.

“You poor, poor thing…” the bear fell on all fours, than, to everyone’s disbelief, crumpled to the ground. Adela sank to her knees and placed her hand on the bear’s bristly mane. It was almost like hair, and the rest of the bear seemed so oddly human… although she was sure he was – yes, it was deifinitely a boy – quite bearlike when she had first seen him. He seemed even more human by the second. His paws were like hands and feet, and his arms were losing their hair. Adela, frowning, flopped the bear over onto his back. His eyes – they were human. She sprang to her feet. Something completely incomprehensible was going on here. And sure enough, a moment later, there was a man lying on the floor.

“Dear god,” muttered a half-concious Leah, getting weakly to her feet. The bear – no the man – let out a great shuddering sob, and Shanis cried, “Nanook?!”

“Yeah, that’s him.” Everyone turned and stared. There was a lean Asian man standing on the doorway. Despite his long and lanky appearance, he walked with a certain grace. “Feng!” cried Shanis. “Here – I think there’s someone here you’d like to meet. She stepped out of the way to revealing the kneeling Adela, and Feng’s jaw dropped. As he was about to say something, two young girls came rushing in the room, innocent looks on their faces.

“What happened?” cried one with unnaturally pale skin and violet eyes.

“Wait, I thought…” the other one started. The other girl had equally pale skin and oddly whitish moon eyes that creeped everyone in the room out.

“Shut up, you idiot!” the first girl said.

Shanis rolled her eyes at the ceiling and said, “Issy, Stella, these kids have already been exposed to magic. Get rid of those disguises.”

Grinning the girls said, “Well, if you really want us to… You know that this will freak them out a bit…”

“Especially if we do it before the spell wears off… Well at least for me, because Issy is already part shape-shifter…” the second girl grinned happily.

“Just do it,” Shanis sighed.

Then the girls’ outlines began to waver as their clothes transformed into long swishy pants and wavy blouses meant for swift riding or battle. The girls grew taller, though just by an inch, and their bodies crackled with purple and blue light. Finally the transformation was complete. The two girls were now young adults with long white hair and glittering eyes.

Ehmer jumped in surprise and Leah’s eyes widened. A thunderstorm began over their heads and then ended with Archell looking a little embarrassed. Feng nodded in acknowledgment and turned back to Adela.

“This is just creepy,” said Leah. Her voice cracked and she slid down the wall and buried her face in her knees. “Why won’t anyone tell me what’s going on? First there’s a random guy who shows up and it turns out he’s half polar bear, than I get drained for lack of patience, and now people are turning into other people! It’s so frusterating! Why won’t anyone tell me what the hell is going on?” She would have liked to storm down the hallway in the opposite direction, run to the library and find a book to lose herself in. But she knew she couldn’t, so she curled up in a ball and sobbed silently to herself.

“Adela?” gasped Feng. “I – I – but – they killed you.”

“No,” said Adela, confused. “No, I’m definitely alive.”

“I’m confusing you,” Feng decided. “I’m your mother’s brother’s on – your cousin.” There was an awkward silence. Adela’s head spun. She felt trapped, and the mark on her hand ached. She grabbed onto the wall for support. What’s-his-name- Feng- leaned on the doorframe, looking as queasy as Adela felt.

“How did you do that? Honestly, please.” asked Shanis, her calm expression betraying some sort of interest.

Honestly, Adela had no clue. She’d just felt sorry for the poor bear, and suddenly this…stuff had come flowing out of her hands. And now she was sick, tired, and completely terrified. What had she been thinking? Standing in front of a giant polar bear, and turning it into a man?

“How, exactly?” asked one of the newly transformed girls. “We’d like to know. Today, preferably.”

“But I don’t know,” said Adela, sitting down. This hall was so thin, the walls so high, enclosing. Why had she never noticed how awful it was before?

“If I could see your hand, I might be able to help,” gasped Feng, sounding ill. Adela showed him her aching palm reluctantly. She didn’t exactly like the prospect of him doing anything to it.

“While the two of you indoors may be hilarious,” said one of the girls, “neither is going to be much use if someone attacks us again.”

“Adela was,” said Leah quietly.

“That was before she performed a major work of magic,” said the other girl, the one with the violet eyes. “She’s drained, for one, and for another, she’s now really kicked in her afreet blood.”

“What’s afreet?” asked Archell.

“We’re afareet,” said Shanis, gesturing towards Feng and the man lying on the floor. “Although perhaps they aren’t the best examples.”

“Could we continue this discussion outside?” groaned Feng from the ground.

Leah looked out the window. “Do we have to?” It was so cold.

“All right. Everybody line up. We are getting some answers. Real answers. Now.”

Everyone turned to look at Ehmer. He stopped, stared, and then began agian, quieter. “You first, Feng, or whatever your name is. Why exactly do you have that same marking on your neck that Adela does on her hand? And what does it have to do with anything?”

Feng glanced at Stella. Stella stepped forward and pulled down the collar of her shirt (just the collar, mind you) to reveal a cresent moon shaped marking in the exact same spot as Feng’s and Shanis’s.

“What you see here is the marking of the afareet, although why I have it no one is sure. Probably from being a sorcerer, but that’s not the point here. The point is that you girls, and Ehmer here, too, are part afareet. You didn’t know it, but right now even as we speak a dangerous and dreadful battle is being fought. All you need to do is ask Issy or Zelda and they’ll… well, let’s not get into that. The battle is against the Powers and the… Force. This battle is centered around the afareet but most of all it is being fought because of a prophecy that was made before time as we know it was in existence. The prophecy concerns a few young adults that will put an end to the evil Powers that ruled in our dimension. This prophecy gave the afareet hope and they began to rebel. The Force is what we call the army of the Powers. Together, they slaughtered innocent people in their rise to power. Once they controlled the land, the afreet population had dwindled and there was only a small number left. You would think that the Powers would be content with their rule and leave the other dimensions in peace. But they wanted more. Their greedy hearts made them seek new dimensions for rule and wealth, and they have been looking to Earth for quite a while now. Their reign lasted for millenia, but then it was demolished by a traitor. No one knew who it was because the traitor killed himself shortly after. A few peaceful years passed in which Issy and the rest of us were born. But then tragedy struck. A Power was outraged at the defeat and decided to rebuild the empire that they had controlled before. My parents were slaughtered, like many others, trying to protect my sisters and me. That when we, the afareet and us, decided to find the young adults of the prophecy and well, here you are.” Stella finished.

“A story for another time,” said Feng with a grimace. “Nestea, what did you want?” “Well – it’s her. Ruby. I think Adela panicked and drained her. Way beyond what I did to Leah, there.” She gestured to Leah, who was now looking agitated and had slumped down against to stop her shaking knees. “And I’m pretty sure she drained it back into him.” She pointed at the man who used to be a polar bear, and kneeled down beside Ruby. Feng did the same, relieved to have a chance to rest his legs, which felt a bit like jelly. Once he was there, Shanis put her head close to his.

“Look,” she whispered furtively, and held up the necklace.

Feng’s jaw dropped again. “Whoaaaa…”

“That’s not all,” Shanis/Nestea said. “That polar bear? Nanook. He nearly bit all our heads off, and he’s been eating something. Something human. There’s human blood all over him.”

“Nanook? But why? He didn’t side with the powers, he vowed-” “I know,” hissed Nestea.

“There’s something even more abnormal than I thought happening here.” Feng rubbed his eyes.

“Ai… I shouldn’t leave this long anymore.” He tapped Ruby on the forehead. Yes, it’s clear she needs energy, he thought, qiockly withdrawing his finger. But who had extra? “Nestea, I need energy.” Nestea frowned and looked around. Not any of the children, Nanook could lose control in his current emotional state… Feng needed his, so as not to spew. Issy and Stella would downright refuse, if it meant they’d have to be a little less stunning. She sighed. Nothing for it.

“Use mine,” she said, holding out a palm to Feng.

“Right,” he said, placing a hand on hers. He stretched out his other and lightly placed it on Ruby’s forhead, than swiftly withdrew all his energy to the back of his body as a stream of Nestea’s swept through his outstretched arms, and into Ruby. Nestea twitched in discomfort.

“I can’t do this by myself,” she told him firmly. “Can’t you spare a little of your own?” He sighed and let a little of his silky white energy mingle with the stream of electric blue coming from Nestea into Ruby. A moment later, he let go of Nestea and Ruby and the flow was cut off. “That should do it,” said Nestea, rubbing her forearm and frowning as Ruby lifted herself up onto her elbows.

Ruby was flying in a world of black and red. Light and darkness swirled around her, touching and joining and seperating and suddenly shattering into a million infinitesimal peices, which shimmered and melted into nothingness. She soared past bright stars and planets and moons of all sorts, some glowing with gold and green and yet others were dark anand barren and lifeless. She was sure she once saw what looked like a cd disk perched on the back of four elephants swim past on the back of a turtle, but she wasn’t sure. She was moving too quickly to examine any of the objects closely.

And then, red and black gave way in an explosion of force and silent sound. From a gap in the fabric of the sky came a burst of color, and pale blue tendrils reached for her, fouling her scarlet wings and wrapping around her scaled body, dragging out of her flight. Ruby arched her prehensile neck back and let out a half-roar, half-shriek like some great predatory bird, struggling to escape from the clinging threads, sending a great burst of dark fire from her great maw at the stuff. It faltered, shimmered- and was suddenly joined by more power, colored white and that seemed to flow, like silk. A great black hawk and a giant golden eagle stooped from the sky.

Two spirit-birds fought the spirit-dragon, who screamed defiance even as it rapidly lost ground. It infuriated Ruby that she could not shake them off; they were only birds! She longed to snap the little pests out of the sky, the power to do so was there, but still out of her reach. in desperation, she spat more of the dark, seemingly heatless flame over her shoulder, but they had driven her too far. She saw the tear in the sky too late-

Ruby jerked awake. Then she wished she hadn’t. A terrible headache threatened to split her skull in two, but she could make out through the fog of pain the figures of Nestea and an Asian man whom she didn’t know hovering over her. She flexed her wings and discovered that they were arms. Oh, bother.

Slowly, she sat up. Nestea gave her an amused glare but said simply, “About time. You certainly were reluctant to wake, Ruby.”

The Asian man smiled. “Nice to see you in the material world again, my dear. Thank you for helping my young cousin.” He gestured at Adela, who was on her feet again and biting her lip nervously over the form of a man lying on the floor.

“Good quick thinking. However, your magic, while it is substantial and could even be described as unusually powerful for your age, is too untrained to safely do what you did. It was truly fortunate that Nestea was able to call me to heal you.”

Ruby’s head slowly stopped spinning. “Don’t tell me this will happen every time I do… uh…whatever, Mr. Black Hawk Man.”

Feng looked startled. “Mr. Black Hawk Man?”

Confused, Ruby said, “I think you were the black hawk. Were you the golden eagle? I just assumed that was Nestea.” When she saw that he still looked baffled, she explained, “In my dream, a black hawk and a golden eagle chased me and made me wake up. I didn’t exactly want you to.”

Being Ruby, she neglected to tell the man about how she had tried to seriously hurt the two birds.

The Asian man looked interested. “You saw birds, you say? Tell me, what did you see yourself as?”

“Uh, I think some sort of dragon thing.”

“Ah.” Feng did not elaborate. “Well, anyway, my name is Feng, not Mr. Black Hawk Man. And as an answer to your question, the more you excercise your power the greater it will become, and the easier to use. But,” he said, with a hint of a smile, “I suggest you start smaller than healing a magically-induced wound, inflicted by a power that is just as strong as yours if not more so.”

Nestea broke in. “We do not need to discuss this now. We need to get to the Sandstone Fortress before he,” she nudged the man whom Adela was bent over, “wakes up, or any more of his kind are summoned. Let’s hope the heat keeps him neutralized. At least you will be happy there.” She gestured to Leah, who was looking very sullen for some reason. Leah glowered at her. Nestea opened a hall window, and climbed out into the snow. Quickly, Feng scrambled out as well, so that it almost seemed he’d disappeared.

As Adela gaped at the place where Feng had been standing few minutes ago, Leah looked disturbed, and Ehmer muttered under his breath, Archell cautiously approached the polar bear man. He was wearing fur boots, silk britches tucked into them, a bit like a pirate. In addition to this, he had a baggy, long sleeved tunic tied with a silk sash. They were all in a blinding white, which contrasted brightly with his dark skin and glossy black, hair, which was pulled back into a loose ponytail at the base of his neck, just far enough to reveal a large gold hoop on high left ear. It was all very nice looking, aside from the dribbling bloodstain down his front. He pulled himself half upright as Archell neared him.

“What happened?” he asked. Even in his ill state, one could distinguish a deep, majestic voice.

“You were a polar bear, and you reared up at us, and than when Adela went up to you, you just sort fo fell over and turned into yourself… whoever that is,” answered Archell meekly. There was something about the man that demanded respect.

“I knew it,” said the man bitterly, spitting out a mouthful of blood, making Archell recoil slightly. “Shouldn’t of stayed a bear for so long.. not that I had a choice. I should have run away earlier, by the time I panicked I was out of time. Went mad,” he finished, glancing at Archell, who was looking very inquisitive. “I stayed in polar bear form for too long… tried to last, but by the time I felt my sanity slipping, it was too late. I wasn’t myself. Using your powers so much is dangerous business.” He coughed up another glob of congealed blood. “You can end up killing someone… Like I did, obviously.” He winced. Archell just stared. It had never occured to her that there was a downside to her powers. After a moment, she finally shook it off.

“Maybe it was just a squirrel,” she said bracingly.

“No, it was human,” answered the man. He lifted a bloodstained hand. “I can tell. And seeing as we’re in a school, I can only imagine who it was I killed… an innocent child, probably.”

“Can’t you tell who it was?”

“Nope,” said the man, getting to his feet. “I’ve got absolutely no idea. All there is is a big blank period… I’ve got a couple of those in my history.”

“Why didn’t you transform?”

“I couldn’t – I’d be killed in the situation I was in. Greedy of me, really, killing others so I wouldn’t die.”

Archell sat there in horrified silence for a minute, than realised the man was proffering a hand. “Nanook.”

“Archell.”

“Sandstone fortress…” said Ehmer vaguely. “Where is the sandstone fortress? What is the sandstone fortress?”

“It’s a fortress, presumably,” said Archell, which was not a great deal of help. “Made of sandstone.”

“Excellent guess,” muttered Issy. “You have a sharp mind.” She laughed, showing white teeth.

Stella rolled her eyes at her sister. “The Sandstone Fortress is one of the few remaining afreet strongholds. It’s where Akkavish and Athanath are. We’re supposed to be bringing you to them.”

“Bringing us…” said Ruby, letting her sentence trail off. “Whose side are they on? Whose side are you on?”

“Oh, yours,” said Issy. “Definitely yours. If we weren’t, you’d know by now.”

Adela rubbed her head. All that magic, and then the tiny hallway, just made her want to lie down in bed, preferably outside. “So, who are Athanath and Akkavish?”

“Our leaders, much as you cousin-uncle-grandfather-whatever might hate to admit it,” said Stella. “Speaking of them, we should probably get going, if Feng and Nestea have already left. And we’ll have to take him, too. Athanath will definitely wnat to know about him.” She gestured toward Nanook with her slim hand.

Frowning, Issy waved her hand. “Surely Feng could have stayed to transport us all by wind. Athanath hates it when people teleport into the fortress.”

“What was that about me?” asked Feng, leaning on the windowsill. “I just needed a breather. Working up a big enough wind to transport ten people, even with Archell’s help, requires me to be at full strength.” Seeing Archell’s look, he added, “You can make wind, can’t you? You just did.”

“Yeah…”

“Then come on.”

The two of them stood at opposite ends of a circle, calling and shaping the wind. It curled through everyone’s hair, blowing it all into a mass of writhing colour streaming into the snow.

And then they started to move. The powerful currents of air carried the group higher and higher into the sky, until common laws of reasoning said they should be suffocating, but they still climbed.

Suddenly, the wind dropped them. Arms wrapped around Adela’s back, but she couldn’t tell whose. Everything was blurred, they were falling so fast.

The ground was reaching up to grab them. Predictably, Adela thought, Oh, crap. I’m going to die. Also predictably, they stopped a foot above the ground and slowly drifted downward.

A sandy-haired young man greeted them. “Welcome back. Athanath’s waiting.”

The werecat looked slyly at the whirl wind that swirled around them and sighed knowing exactly where they were going. Instead of climbing on the whirl wind for a ride, the werecat teleported into the sandstone fortress and walked up to greet the young people he was tracking… and Nestea of course.

Greetings, the werecat said yawning openly to show off his fangs.

“Well, well, well, look who we have here.” Issy said grinning.

Well?

“Yes, yes, you’re free to roam about the Fortress, just remember to go to the meeting first.” Stella answered.

Oh, I’ll remember. The werecat walked off and slowly disappeared from sight. Then Hazel and Zelda appeared next to the sandy-haired young man.

“Have you seen that werecat?” Zelda asked briskly. “Why, when I find him, I’ll…”

“Sheesh, take it easy, Zelda! You know that we were here to bring a message, not to find the werecat!” Hazel said. “Oh, Stella, you’re needed to prepare the weapons for… well, you know what. The scout said that she swore that she saw a servant of the Powers about two hundred miles away, and you know how fast they move. And Issy, you’re to accompany the girls and Ehmer to the meeting, then interrogate our prisoner that we overtook trying to spy on Athanath.”

The girls nodded. Stella then took off running towards the fortress at breakneck speed. To Archell, she looked faster than a car. Issy and the sandy-haired young man motioned for the girls and Ehmer to follow.

“What about us?” Nestea asked.

“You’ll accompany the girls and Ehmer to the meeting also. Now Zelda, we can go find that werecat!”

Nodding to the group Hazel and Zelda disappeared in a huff.

Leah swiftly stuffed her hand over her mouth to prevent herself screaming as she fell downwards. The thoughts going through her mind were almost precisely that of Adela’s only more foulmouthed. She landed flat on her back with a whump and looked up in time to see the man say, “Welcome, Athanath’s waiting.”

“Who’s Athanath?” she asked, but everyone else was already halfway along the roofless stone hallway. Cursing, she scrambled to her feet and ran after them.

“Oh no!” gasped Issy. “Where’s Nanook?” Her sister shrugged. Archell spun around. “I’m here,” said a voice halfway along the hall. They all looked. Indeed, there was a path of bloody footprints leading up to where Nanook was standing.

“Don’t run off like that,” Stella told him.”

“I wasn’t running off,” snapped Nanook irritably. “Feng and Nestea say to hurry up.”

“Well, sheesh, we’re coming, already!” Stella said while Issy scowled briefly. They quickened their pace and soon caught up with the rest of the group. Issy walked by Adela while Stella used her magic to hover along behind them.

“Umm…” Adela started.

“Yes, Adela?” Issy smiled.

“You’re Issy, right?” Adela asked.

“Yup, that’s me.”

“I was wondering… Why don’t you ever get mad? It’s just not really normal…” Adela said shyly, hoping that she didn’t anger Issy, even if it wasn’t very likely.

Issy grimaced and said, “Well, you see, I can’t control my powers when I’m angry so if I was to get angry all the time then, a lot of people would not be alive today…” Issy smiled, a little embarrassed.

“Oh.”

Nestea opened the door. “Welcome, all of you. Even the ones that should have been here three centuries ago.” She cast a glance at Feng. He shrugged.

Archell, meanwhile, peered around the doorway. What she saw made her gasp so loudly that it echoed around the huge hall. It also made the rest of the group crane their necks to look around her.

“You can go in,” remarked Feng dryly. “Athanath doesn’t bite. Not usually, anyway. Not dignified enough.”

They all sort of fell through the door, which was odd. You’d think a door that size would fit four or five people easily. Only Adela hung back. “It’s…inside. I don’t like inside anymore.”

“Open to the sky. For people like us,” said Feng, and threw himself in. He crashed to the hard slate floor, then got up. “It’s much nicer inside. Really.”

Adela pinched her lips together. She stepped through the doorway.

Suddenly, she was inside her body. It was like one of those cheesy videos you watched all the time in school, but this one was different. She couldn’t see anything. All she knew was that she was in a tight space, and oddly enough, she wasn’t terrified. It was quiet. She could feel a deep green pool right ahead of her. Walking on along her ribs, Adela inched closer.

She reached out to where she knew the pool was, pulling at draping, liquid threads of green. Trusting in her instincts, Adela wrapped them around the body that was walking inside her body. They settled over her, green and cool, becoming a living, iridescent skin that encased her. Adela took her newly visible hand toward the pool, grabbing more green to cloak her…

And then she hit the floor. She looked around, desperate to find any sign of strangeness. All she saw was a huge hall, with sandstone walls rising up to meet an open ceiling. Most of the others were standing around her by now, and as she watched, Nestea tumbled through the door. As her back foot passed through, there was a brief moment of total oblivion through the portal, and then the normal scene again. Issy and Stella were coming slowly, carrying Nanook along with them.

At the front of the giant room, immeasurably far away, a woman sat with her eyes shut. She had wild white hair and olive skin. Batlike wings lay folded on her back. Her slim hands encircled a glowing orb of blue light, and even from this distance Adela could tell that her fingers had four joints. Strangely, the woman wasn’t creepy, just…different.

And then a low voice reverberated through even the stone of the walls, echoing in Adela’s blood and bones. “Come here. All of you.”

The woman opened her eyes. They were dark black, so deep that they made Adela’s black sweatshirt look grey. And even that didn’t bother Adela.

“I am Athanath. Welcome to Aebvoraena.”

In Ruby’s mind, something clicked. Athanath. She had heard that somewhere before. But it wasn’t the one…

Once more overcoming her Ruby instincts (she did that a lot nowadays, it seemed), she said softly to the woman, “Athanath…are you the Outcast?”

She immediately regretted it.

“Yes.” said Athanath. It was impossible to read anything in the deep, emotionless, black pools she had for eyes, but Ruby thought that the Outcast looked a little angry. “Some people do call me that. I would prefer, however, that you were not among them.”

“Sorry,” muttered Ruby. She would have stood up, been a little more stubborn, but her Ruby instincts told her that Athanath was not a good person to mess with. This time, she listened.

“So, they have come.”, said a voice from the doorway.

Everyone turned to see a woman walk through the doorway with no apparent discomfort. She had on a strange sort of black, collared top that modestly covered most of her front, but left her back exposed. Her pants were also black, and she had a tatoo of a ebony spider with purple knees on her right shoulder. Her skin was tanned, and her eyes were an eerie dark violet. Her dark black hair tumbled down her back like a river.

Athanath nodded. “Akkavish.”

“Well, then, are we ready to begin?”, said Athanath.

The werecat purred. Yes, I believe we are.

“Then let’s begin.”

“Wait a minute, before we start anything,” said a voice from the ground. Being drained by Nestea didn’t exactly work wonders on your knees. It was Leah. “I don’t want to be started on until someone explains to me what that hell is going on and why I should trust you.”

Athanath glanced at Nestea. “Nestea, I assumed I had told you to explain it to them.” “Oh,” said Nestea, flushing slightly. “Well, Nanook was out of control – ” Nanook responded to his name by coughing into his hand and distastefully wiping the bloody residue onto his white briches – “And Leah there refused to move until I told her what was going on… I had to drain her. I don’t think she heard me ex-”

“I did,” answered Leah flatly. “I just think it sounded like a load of bunk.”

Issy and Stella rolled their eyes at the ceiling, and the werecat hissed, annoyed.

This is getting rather annoying, don’t you think, Zelda? the werecat thought to Zelda.

Gee, ya think? came the reply.

Should we do something? the werecat asked lashing his tail.

What do you propose we do? Zelda thought, looking at the defiant Leah while thinking.

Hmmm… Offensive approaches usually work…

We can’t do that! You know what will happen

Well, we could always get my sister in here to sort things out, the werecat replied.

You have a sister? Zelda looked at the werecat in astonishment.

Of course. Shall I get her?

Sure, I guess. The werecat concentrated on sending a message to his sister while everyone else was trying to explain everything to Leah. Leah, however, wasn’t cooperating.

Suddenly a bolt of lightning flashed and a silhouette framed the doorway. Salimila walked in the door, her fur standing straight up with lightning crackling through it.

Ah, hello Salimila. Would you care to join us?

Suddenly, Samila hissed, and Feng yelled, “Duck!” Everbody did, exept for Leah, who unfortunately was right in the path of the large crimson-furred projectile that careened into her, knocking her over.

The projectile, which no longer appeared to be furry at all, got up and revealed himself to be a young man of about nineteen or twenty. Despite the fact he looked Asian, his hair was a bright red. His eyes were black, exept for the centers, in which dance firey sparks. He offered Leah a hand, grinning from ear to ear. She flushed, and got up on her own.

Nestea looked extremely annoyed. “You’re late, Kitsune. Again.”

Just what I need, thought Leah. No one seems to remember I got drained, too. It’s all Ruby this, Ruby that… She scowled, and tried not to fall over again.

Ehmer folded his arms, looking extremely unimpressed by the whole affair. Of course, that was only on the outside. On the inside, he was marveling that there had been people all along just like him. But that was soppy girl-nonsense, and he certainly wasn’t thinking about it. No, not at all. Before anyone-and he wouldn’t have put it past any of the newcomers to be able to do that-could read his mind, he put up a block and spoke up: “Am I going to get my damn explanation or what?”

Athanath sighed quietly. “Yes, Ehmer, you will get your ‘damn explanation.’ I think we’re all here now.”

Athanath closed those black pits she called eyes again. “Although, maybe, I should show you.”

If Ehmer had been a cartoon character, a large question mark would have appeared over his head. But his gaze was soon riveted to Athanath as she reached into the light, drawing out a thin strand. She shaped it into a humanoid form, and soon it was clear that it was herself.

The light-Athanath opened its eyes now. While the rest of it looked completely blue and ghostlike, the eyes were as deep a black as Athanath’s own. Somehow, Ehmer knew that the flesh Athanath’s eyes were going to be the eerie blue colour of the construct.

“Thousands of years ago,” said the glowing figure, “we Makers created Aebvoraena. A group of us split off, wanting complete control. They are the Powers. We do not yet know all their motives. They are who we have to fight, and have been fighting for aeons. Akkavish has experienced it, though she was young. She can tell you.”

Athanath waved her fingers, and another tendril of light wrapped itself into her creation. Now afareet battled afareet, and above them, two huge blazing lights surrounded by other, smaller ones clashed with terrifying clouds of swirling darkness. As they watched, one of the big lights went out, accompanied by a bit of the dark.

Salimila walked over to her brother as Athanath told her story. Issy and Stella sat near Hazel and Zelda, whispering. Issy shuddered, remembering her own encounter with the Powers eighteen years ago. She drew closer to Stella. Stella put a hand on Issy’s and smiled. Adela was staring dumbstruck at the apparation before them. Salimila walked over and sat near her. Adela drew back a bit but did not complain.

“That was five hundred years ago,” called Athanath’s voice, echoing through the room and floating into the darkest corners. “Five hundred years ago, the second-last of the Great Makers was destroyed. Five hundred years ago, the prophecy was made that we are all living now.”

“Hold it,” said Ehmer. “You mean to tell us that everything we’re doing has been dictated by some damn prophecy? I’m standing here, asking you about the damn prophecy because of the damn prophecy? I don’t believe it.”

“No. That’s not what she means,” said Feng. “It’s that we are at the kind of time where whatever we do changes the world forever. The prophecy told us that we’d meet here, and it told us how, maybe, the Powers could be defeated. It didn’t say how we’ll do it. It doesn’t even say we will. All it says is that we have to try.”

Issy nodded her head in some sort of agreement. The werecat purred and Salimila walked over to Ehmer and sparked him on the leg with electricity.

“OW!” Ehmer yelled.

Issy giggled and finally burst out laughing.

Ehmer scowled over at the trio, and locked his hands behind his back to keep himself from bending down to see if it’d done anything beside smart and sting like all hell. On the outside, he looked a little pissed off, but on the inside, he was furious. He’d come to this stupid place on a lark, and because there wasn’t exactly a choice at the time. Now, he was here, and what did the people he was supposed to be helping do? Use their bloody magic against him. He gritted his teeth, of half a mind to mess with their heads and make them see things. It took nearly a minute of arguing with himself, before he averted his gaze and stalked away from them, to stand over near Ruby instead.

“Alright,” he said to Feng, still frowning. “So the prophecy doesn’t say anything more than that we have to try? No hints or anything?”

“Actually there are a few hints that we can reveal later,” Salimila said grinning a werecat smile that she had inherited from her brother. Sparking she walked over to Ehmer and said, “Oh, and please don’t use curse words around me. It’s rather annoying.”

Her brother grinned mischeviously at Ehmer before walking over to Hazel and talking in telepathy to her.

“Oh, and Ehmer?” Salimila said smiling sweetly. “That was only low voltage. If you don’t want to make me use high voltage, then I would watch your mouth.”

Ehmer scowled at the lightning cat and locked his hands behind his back to keep from rubbing the sore on his leg.

Ruby looked at him strangely before returning her gaze to Athanath and Feng and anyone else that seemed to know what was going on.

“Okay so Stella? Would you and Issy show Ehmer, Ruby, and Archell up to their rooms? We can show Leah and Adela up to theirs.” Zelda asked.

“Sure,” Issy and Stella said in unision.

“Follow us,” Issy said motioning for their group to follow.

Ruby’s eyes narrowed as the spark leaped from Samalia’s finger to Ehmer’s leg, and they stayed like that as he yelped and jumped back. She had had a sense of power, a feeling that was now becoming familiar to her, what with all the time she was spending around these…people…she thought. But there was something different this time. Sort of like when she had healed Adela (and nearly killed both of them), but not exactly alike. Just like two people had different colored eyes or differently pitched voices, each kind of power, belonging to different people, felt different to her. Unconsiously, she began to draw it into her…

and stopped. Not now. There would be a different time to try that, and she wasn’t sure she trusted these people. Who knew wheather they were in the right?

Ehmer, apperently intimidated into shutting up for a while, glowered at Samalia and moved over to stand by Ruby, who of course, was placed carefully out of the way. In fact, she had purpopsely stationed herself in a place and stood in a fashion that would distract attention away from her. It usually worked. Suddenly uneasy, she glanced at him and edged away, a bit wary of a person who actually paid attention. She had found that humans usually didn’t.

Looking back at the group about the Outcast-no, the Maker-she suddenly realized that Stella was beckoning impatiently at her. Did everyone notice everything around here? Would she have no more solitude?

“I need to show you three to your rooms,” said Stella, grabbing a bemused-looking Archell by the collar and Issy gave Ehmer a soft swat somewhere around the range of his ear. He flinched back involontarily, then scowled, looking around as if daring everyone to laugh. Archell looked too intimidated. Ruby never laughed.

The two sisters, or whatever they were, led the three out a wide doorway and down a hall. The rough golden walls were massive; there was no ceiling, so Ruby imagined that rain was rare here. It was already dark and the sky looked enourmous, bigger and higher than anything she had ever seen. She tore her eyes away from the starry blanket with difficulty.

By this time Stella had let go of Archell, and she dropped back to walk with Ehmer several feet ahead of Ruby. The youger girl had apperently gotten over her apprehension towards Stella and Issy enough to be talking excitedly and very fast about what had happened.

“It’s all very odd, isn’t it?” she was saying. “I mean, I’ve always known I could influence the weather, but I never thought it was magic…how cool is this? I just hope my parents aren’t worried.”

But she didn’t seem to be very concerned with her families’ worries, because she continiued to monologue. “I’ll be famous! I can irrigate the Sahara, I can contain giant hurricanes and keep ’em away from cities, I can do anything! Can you imagine anything more cool? We can do magic!”

“Maybe you like it,” grumbled Ehmer, still apperently out of sorts, “but I don’t. I don’t trust it and neither should you. How do we know these people want to help us, anyway? Because of a stupid prophecy that only they say exists? Don’t even talk to them. Don’t tell them anything. If you don’t listen to me and get hurt…I’ll kill you!”

“Don’t you go telling me what to do!” flared Archell, and a major battle might have ensued had not Ruby said, “Actualy, I also told you about the prophecy. But still, Archell, you should be careful. I’m not concerned with weather these people are telling the truth about the prophecy. I’m just worried we might be on the wrong side.”

She left them to mull over that.

Archell scowled and quickened her pace. Yet deep down she knew Ruby had a point. But who could not trust these nice people? Archell had always learned to trust whoever you could because it might pay off in the long run. Issy and Stella seemed okay, if although a little hasty. Ehmer though was really starting to get on her nerves. She was okay with the whole magic thing just Archell wondered why she had to save the world with him. Ruby Adela and Leah were nice enough but Ehmer was the rudest one there. Archell was a little intimidated but she had to really hold herself back from laughing when Salimila sparked him on the leg. Grinning, she had glanced over in Ruby’s direction and seen her cold hard gaze glaring at Salimila. Since then, a thought had been running through her head but she dared not mention it aloud. Suddenly she realized that they had stopped in front of some massive oak doors.

“This is your room Archell,” Issy said smiling. When the doors opened, Archell squealed in delight ignoring the disproving glances from Ruby and Ehmer. The room was just perfect for her. To the right was a mat to practice her powers and an enormous bed was on the left. Silk blue curtains covered the windows and beautiful ice blue sheets covered the bed. Gray carpets with lightning bolts on them lay around the room.

“Get some rest and we’ll come get you in the morning for out next meeting,” Stella said closing the door behind her.

A little ways down the hall was Ruby’s lodging. Issy leaned against the heavy stone door in an effort to open it, gave up, and flicked her hand. The slab swung open, and she gently pushed Ruby in.

She hated to admit it, but the room was pleasent. At least as pleasent as any enclosed place could be.

It was a large space, and the walls seemed to follow no particular pattern, curving and flowing with what seemed to be the natural design of the cliffside from which it was carved. At first they seemed to be undecorated but for the expected chips, crags, and lines of sandstone, but when her gaze rested on any one spot for more than a moment they resolved themselves into images. Images of nothing in this world, mostly, creatures so fantastic Ruby had only seen them in her wildest dreams, of plants and stones and things whose shape seemed to change as she looked at them. They were beautiful.

There wasn’t any bed. However, a thick, soft palette was rolled up in a niche in the wall, multihued and somehow gleaming. Ruby unrolled it and, after a moment of hesitation, spread it out in the center of the floor. A closer look at the crack where she had found it revealed a pillow, which she disgarded, and two sets of clothing, both consisting of loose pants of a light, cottonlike material, a wraparound shirt of the same stuff, and a sash apparently meant for holding them together. These were also colored in the same soft merging patterns. They were so subtle that it took a moment to make out the seperate shades. They were undoubtably quite nice, but Ruby wished she could have something less, well, showy, maybe in black or grey. She would ask Stella and Issy in the morning. At this point, however, they were all she had, and she regretfully changed into one, as they appeared to be designed just as suitably for sleep as for daytime activity, and she had never been one to scrupulously wear clothes for any specific situations that they had been ‘intended’ for.

After this was completed, Ruby crossed the room again and hesitantly pushed on the door. It swung shut easily for all Issy’s show of difficulty, merging seamlessly with the walls. A narrow groove ran from top to bottom, however, ensuring the person in the room would be able to get out. That was always good.

Gingerly, she got lay down on top of the pallette, not bothering to pull the covers up; the air was cool and blankets were just another stupid confinement. Ruby crossed her arms under her head and looked up at the stars, diamond tears in the fabric of night, and despite her grim assessment of the situation to Archell and Ehmer earlier, slept, feeling safer than she had in a long while.

Leah and Adela followed Zelda and Hazel down the sandstone coridor. Leah scowled. It seemed that the other girls had purpousfully suggested they go to their rooms to avoid explaining everything to her. She didn’t trust them, not one bit.

Adela, on the other hand, was absolutey amazed at what she saw around her. The fortress had so many doors. She noticed that some of them were breathtakingly carved and illustrated pictures of animals and symbols. Suddenly Hazel stopped and turned to a door that was labeled HERBARIUM. Opening the door, she stepped into the room. Leah couldn’t help gaping at what she saw. The room was a practical jungle. It was like the zoo, except not cheesy at all. The paths were not smooth tiles, but the same rough sandstone as the rest of the fortress. The two girls followed Hazel and Zelda down the pathways. They rounded a bend and were surprised to see a man sitting at the edge of the path, scribbling furiosly in a notebook with a mechanical pencil. Unlike most of the people they had seen her, he was thin, and with hardenly any muscles.

Adela asked,”Who’s-?”

“Mo’kala”, Zelda cut in. “It’s best to leave him alone when he’s working.”

The man remained totally oblivious to the quartet as the walked by.

Eventually, they came to another door. Instead of sandstone, like many of the other doors, it was cut out of gray rock. Hazel opened the door and stepped aside. “Make yourself comfortable, Adela.”

Someone, Ehmer suspected Issy or Stella shoved him into a room and shut the door behind him. Normally, he would have yelled at them, but exhaustion was getting the better of him. Keeping up a constant mental block was taxing at the best of times, but with all these other magic-users around, it was damn near impossible.

He took three deep breaths and counted to ten to keep himself from wasting more of his magic on the two of them. Too keep his mind of that, he glanced around what he guessed to be his new room. It wasn’t much bigger than a closet, although it had a large window on the opposite side of the room. A cot lay against a wall, made with some strangely colored wood and a matching chest was at its feet. A small desk with a stool took up the last of the remaining space. All in all, it looked more like a narrow corridor than a bedroom, but Ehmer was far past caring. Without bothering to take off his shoes or examine the trunk or desk further, he flung himself into bed. His last thoughts before he drifted off to sleep were of Issy and Stella and their other friend. For magic-users, he though, who were supposed to be honorable and spending their energy on the mysterious powers, they seemed awfullly petty, messing him like that. Maybe they were part of the Powers themselves, whatever that meant.

Zelda tapped one of the many hundreds of doors. In the curling wood, Adela could faintly make out some letters that looked Arabic. They were disguised so well, though, that it was hard to be sure. If Ehmer had been here, he would have been able to tell.

“I’m sorry,” said Zelda. “Sometimes this door is a little stubborn with sorcerors. We don’t normally go here, and afareet have been in this wing for so long that it’s steeped in their magic.” She pounded on the door, muttering to it in some strange language. With a reluctant creak, it opened, revealing a room unlike anything Adela had seen before.

For one thing, it was shaped like some screwy heptagon, with two sides extending far out, capped by a trapezoidal bed. There was no ceiling, just a huge skylight with a pullcord hanging down from it. In one of the remaining five corners, something resembling a bamboo grove appeared to be consuming a small chest. The floor was littered with scraps of paper that looked as if they had been put through a shredder and then a tornado.

Misreading Adela’s expression, Hazel said, “Sorry about the mess. It was Feng’s room, but he sleeps outside now.”

“No, it’s absolutely wonderful,” said Adela, who genuinely meant it. “So, this is my room, right?”

Zelda laughed. “Yes. Come on, Leah.”

Ruby woke up and spent a moment wondering where she was. The sun was still not up entirely, from what she could tell; someone had hung a canvas curtain across the open ceiling to block out the hot desert rays. Desert rays. That was when she remembered.

She sat up straight, still registering the previous night’s events in her mind. Then she looked down at herself; the mottled colors of her clothing seemed to now be somewhat more subdued, as if they had adapted to her over night. The different hues still blended in a chaotic pattern, though, and she liked that. Maybe she wouldn’t have to ask for darker clothes at all.

Ruby didn’t waste much time thinking about her appearance. She just ran a hand through her brown-red hair a few times to calm it down a bit, checked her pentagram was still in place, and left the room, shutting the door behind her. Then she started off down the hall in the general direction she remembered coming from.

It took a while, but she found the hall. Zelda, Issy, Hazel, and Achmet, the werecat, were already there; Adela was seated at a table with a bowl of hot cereal, but everyone else appeared to be late risers. Issy looked up as she came in. “Good morning. Do you want toast with your eggs or a potato?”

Ruby, startled at this matter-of-fact statement, hesitated for a moment before saying, “Uh…toast, I guess.” she settled down across the long table from Adela and her cereal, and the former gave her a warm smile and said, “Hi, Ruby. Did you have a good rest?”

Ruby didn’t answer, because at this moment Feng stumbled into the room, looking ill, and Adela rushed forward to help him. Behind him came a crash, and Archell ran in, bowled both the wind Afreet and his young cousin completely over, and dashed across the room. Close behind her was Ehmer, who was waving what appeared to be some sort of a hat in the air and saying increasingly foul words to in a very loud voice. And behind Ehmer was a sweeping curtain of flame, and behind that was Leah, shreiking at the top of her lungs, and Nestea, who was spraying ice out of her hands like a fire extinguisher, but having trouble keeping up with Leah, who looked out of control. Ruby just took a step back. This could prove to be interesting.

“It’s dead!” Feng snapped at Nestea. “Dead.” He fell forward, yelling in Chinese at the top of his lungs. Adela was willing to bet her bedroom that Ehmer was picking it up, just in case it contained any swear words. It probably did.

“I know,” said Nestea. “Can you just help me with Leah?”

“Wind fans the flames,” muttered Feng sullenly.

“Shut up, Archell!” yelled Ehmer, the only thing he had said so far that wasn’t X-rated.

“Will everyone shut up?” called Adela, but her voice was too quiet to carry much.

“CLOSE YOUR MOUTHS!” screamed Feng, and added a few obviously colourful phrases at the end.

Nobody listened.

“HEY!!!!!!!!!!!! ZIP IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Issy shouted.

No one listened although they turned to see who shouted.

Sighing, Issy used her magic to make them rise up in the air (telekinesis) and spun them around in circles, while Stella made Archell shut up and put out the fire.

With the fire extinguished, Issy dropped them on the floor.

Straightening herself, Zelda asked, “What the h**l is going on?!”

That was when the room plunged into a purple-black darkness. Each person was suddenly trapped, unable to move; Leah struggled furiously and seemed to be doing better than anyone else but her fire went out with a pop. Ruby tested her invisible bonds carefully, found she could move although it was like walking through think jello pudding, and sat back down (carefully and in slow motion) on the bench. It was better to go with the flow in this case; chaos went with darkness, didn’t it?

Akkavish stalked into the room, scowling like a thundercloud. They could see her because the darkness seemed to solidify around her body, and she looked perfectly normal other than the fact that her feature were even darker than usual.

“All right!” she bellowed, “What under heaven is going on in here?!”

That was when there was a popping noise, and Leah dropped from her position of slightly suspended above the floor to land lightly on the ground. Whatever battle she had been fighting, it looked like she had won.

Issy rubbed her arms and looked expectantly at the group of kids on the floor. Whatever had happened, it was up to them to explain. Salimila and the werecat walked into the room but stopped when they saw Akkavish in all her fury.

“Uh, maybe this isn’t a good time to tell you but a Power spy has been caught sneaking around outside the walls,” Salimila said boldly.

“I’ll go check it out,” Zelda and Hazel said in unision glad to get away from the scene making Issy promise to tell them what had happened later.

“Explanations, all of you,” snapped Akkavish. “You, especially,” she added, looking daggers at the older afareet. “You know the rules. This is breakfast, not practice. A magical disturbance of that magnitude will certainly tell the Powers that we have a bunch of untrained hotheads around, if they didn’t already know. This is war, not bloody social hour! Act like it!” She stopped shouting to catch her breath, then continued in a calmer voice. “First: our…new arrivals. What made you think that the Fortress was a playground to test your powers, or whatever made you act like that?”

“Well she” Ehmer poinetd at Archell accusingly, “Thought it would be funny to sneak into my room and wake me up. By making a thundercloud pour right over my head. And then when I tried to give her her just deserts, she had to run down the hall and bump into Leah, who freaked out and set me on fire. I had only just got it out when Nestea came along and started screaming like a banshee, which set Leah off again. And we all ran into Feng, and he tripped and hit his head against the wall. We only just got here. And,” he added, “It wasn’t my fault.”

Akkavish jumped again. “Issy,” she said, exasperated. “You needn’t use your magic for every little thing. For one thing, the Powers can sense it, and for another, you’ll drain yourself, even with the amount of magic you have.”

Issy was spared having to reply by her sisters, who entered the room looking worried. “Do you want the good news first, or the bad?” asked Zelda.

“Good,” said Akkavish at the same time that Ehmer said, “Bad.”

“Good, then,” said Hazel, grinning wickedly at Ehmer. “It wasn’t a real spy, just a decoy. It dissolved into smoke when we came near it. Being just a construct, it couldn’t see anything.”

“But,” Zelda took over, “this means two things. It means that the Powers probably know where the Fortress is, and that they have a djinn. Only a djinn could make something that convincing out of smoke.”

“What’s a djinn?” asked Adela. This was yet another thing she’d never heard of.

Feng raised his head from the floor, with some effort. “A djinn? They have a djinn? Oh, s***.” Then he slumped back to the stone surface.

Akkavish gave him a dissaproving look and said, “A djinn, Adela, is a very, very, very powerful spellcaster. There are very few left, and at this point probably all of them are enslaved, or have gone into hiding. They can do, well, pretty much anything, and are bound to anyone who can release them from imprisonment-a state they are born into. There used to be free born djinn, but…” she shook her head. “If the powers have a djinn, that does not bode well for us.”

“Enslaved? How can you enslave someone that powerful?” asked Archell. She sounded a bit scornful. “If I had that much power, I’d blast the Powers into little bits of dust before they even tried anything.”

Feng smiled a bit ruefully. “There are two reasons why that wouldn’t work. The first is that howevermuch magic a djinn has, the Powers will always have more. The second…well, have you ever heard of a genie?”

Most of the other afareet gave Feng blank looks, but Archell nodded. “You mean like in Aladdin?”

This time it was Feng’s turn to look puzzled. “Well, djinn are basically genies. You can trap them in lamps and bottles, and when they come out, they have to do your bidding. It’s like Akkavish said.” He leaned himself back on the floor, his breathing laboured.

“Are you all right?” asked Adela. Feng looked sicker than he had in the school, even though there were skylights and windows here. “I can heal you, I think.”

Feng’s lip cracked, spilling blood onto the stone. “Nah, I’m fine,” he said. “Besides, you can’t control all your powers yet. It would be just my luck to end up headless or something.”

“Stop trying to be so big and strong, Feng,” said Issy sharply. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he said, rather unconvincingly.

“Feng,” barked Nestea, “if you don’t tell me what’s going on, I will freeze you into an ice cube and leave you here.” She seemed concerned, for all her angry tone.

“I don’t know. It feels like someone’s draining me from far away, but that’s impossible.”

“If you think that’s impossible, you know nothing about the Powers,” said Akkavish. “Everyone, we need to put up some wards. There can be no doubt now: the Powers know where we are.”

“wards?” asked Ruby with a blank look, but then her expression cleared. “Oh, you mean like this?”

She shut her eyes, repeating one phrase over and over to herself. “I am nothingness and void. I am nothingness and void. I am nothingness and voi-”

Then she dissapeared.

Actually, she hadn’t vanished in the common term of the word. It was just that, when the others in the room tried to look at her, they found their eyes sliding away, or just losing interest in Ruby, who physically looked perfectly normal. The only ones who seemed to be unaffected (in that they could look at her for substantial periods without going cross-eyed) were Akkavish and Ehmer.

Feng whistled, his eyes connecting to something slightly to her right. “Disglamours,” he said. “Impressive.”

Ehmer shook his head. “No, I think they mean wards like protection. Walls of spells or something.” He shrugged and stuffed his hands into his pockets, most of his anger gone.

Issy nodded at Ehmer.

“In fact, that’s exactly what we mean, although Ruby’s trick will be useful later in time. In fact…” Issy rummaged through her pack and brought out an old dust covered book. Wiping off the cover she handed the book to Ruby. Or at least, handed it in the general direction of Ruby. “This, Ruby, is a book of illusions and little tricks like the one you just did. Or should I say, are still doing.” Issy grinned. “You can stop now if you like. We’ve seen enough of your magic to see that you have an unique type of magic… something that will not go unnoticed by the Powers.”

“Like this,” said Nestea. A tendril of slowly freezing water shot out from her finger, snaking around the walls as she walked by them. When the circle had been completed and the two chains of ice merged, she spoke some words in another language and a shimmering dome sprang up. It seemed encrusted with living bits of frost that slowly danced their way across the shield.

“That’s a ward,” she said, dusting off her hands.

Ruby let her ‘disglamour’, as Feng had called it, dissapate. She was still quite proud of the trick. “Can we maybe use something like that for an outside sheild? if the Powers can’t aim straight, the physical wards wouldn’t take so much battering. And anyway,” she added, “I want to help. I don’t see any other way Chaos-I am a Chaos Afreet, right?-could help.”

She looked around at the brightly colored ice. “It’s very nice. Maybe Fengcould put some wind sheild or summat outside of it to keep the Powers from melting it?”

Issy looked thoughtful. “Hmmm… That might work for a while… But remember, the Powers have a djinn. That wouldn’t keep them out very long, but it would be a good manuver… Why don’t you, Nestea, and Feng get to work on that while my sisters and I…”

“And me,” Salimila butted in.

“… and Salimila focus our magic on a different ward.”

“What type of ward?” Akkavish asked suspiciously.

Issy smiled and said, “Oh I think you might recognize it from the last time…”

“That one?” Akkavish’s eyes widened. “Issy, are you sure…”

“Of course I’m sure!!! I’ll be fine…” Issy said.

“Then let’s get to work!” Zelda cut in. “The other afareets can work on one of the wards in this book,” she said throwing a book at Ehmer.

“They underestimate us, they really do,” commented Feng dryly. Now that the ward was up, the colour had begun to enter his face again. “We won’t need the book. It’s simple enough that warding is the first thing we teach new trainees.”

Nestea said nothing, just looked thoughtful. “Ruby…” she finally murmured, “I don’t think a disglamour will do much to protect us, just make us harder to find. The Fortress is big enough that even if they couldn’t aim straight, they’d hit something.”

“It’s still worth a try, though.” said Feng. “It may buy us time to react, whenever they attack, and time always makes a difference.” He fell silent, his face betraying nothing, just staring blankly at the slowly shifting patterns of ice.

Nestea looked over at him, her face also a calculated deadpan. “Does it now?” she asked in a monotone.

“You should know,” said Feng, getting up and beginning to place a second ward.

“We weren’t going to bring that up again,” commented Nestea. “It was-”

“It was Nanook,” Feng finished for her. “Nanook and the Powers. It never could be you, could it? You never could make a mistake, admit you were wrong and maybe that you hurt someone, could you?” The air in the room was starting to swirl around Feng, pulling his hair up into a tornado. “Is it because you never were hurt? Never paid the price? Is that it, Nestea?”

Everyone stared back and forth between Feng and Nestea. Ehmer moved, following a seemingly unconsious instinct, to stand in front of Archell and Adela. Ruby backed away, pressing herself against the hard stone wall and instinctively disglamouring. Even Leah looked scared, edging away from the sudden windstorm surrounding Feng.

“Back off, Ehmer,” said Adela, suddenly all business. “Do you think either of us really cares about a bit of wind?” Starngely enough, she wasn’t. She had the presence of mind to be terrified of Feng, but she instinctively knew he wouldn’t hurt her.

“Archell!” she yelled. “Do something about the wind! Draw it away from him, or something!”

Archell looked wildly around, then put her hands in the air and began chanting in the same language Nestea had used on the wards. “Aya-kuric’h marana-ro te koram tenar urach’imir…” It seemed like she was in a trance of some sort.

Slowly, the wind reached out with tentative fingers toward Archell, spiralling around her oblivious form. It pulled at her robes, urging her to come, dance with it, journey through the air. The girl responded, spreading her arms wider and lifting her feet off the ground and soaring like a bird.

“Get down! What the hell are you doing?” called Ehmer. There was a slight hint of worry in his voice.

Archell’s eyes flew open, and she fell to the ground with a thump. Luckily, she’d only been a few feet up when Ehmer yelled.

Adela instantly turned to Feng, who looked normal once more. He was carefully avoiding Nestea as he rushed towards Archell, who was lying rather dazed on the ground.

“Sprained anything? Broken?” he asked.

“What happened? I think I blacked out or something.”

Nestea spoke, her voice frigid. “What happened, Archell, is that you lost control of your magic. You let it control you. Luckily, Ehmer shouted at you, or you could very well be dead with your brain splattered on the floor by now.”

“Some of us,” she added, “ought to know control by now. Let’s start on the wards and disglamours.”

Archell examined the discarded book of wards. Turning it over, she saw that the book’s title was Advanced Wards for the Afareet and Sorcerers By Issy.

“Maybe they don’t underestimate us,” Archell said handing the book to Nestea and pointing out the title.

Salimila walked into the room sparking dangerously. “What’s all the ruckus?”

Nestea glared at Feng. “Oh, nothing…”

Salimila rolled her eyes up at the ceiling as if better answers could be found there.

“Can we start on the wards now?” Arcell piped up.

“Of course of course…” Nestea said her mind obviously on something else. “Let’s start with disglamours… Ruby would you care to demonstrate again?”

“Sure thing.”

Admittedly, Ruby was feeling a bit proud of her ward. She concentrated on nothingness.

Nestea nodded as Ruby as she became “invisible.”

“That’s very good, Ruby,” she said her eyes concentrating somewhere near Ruby’s head. “Would you care to show the others how to do a disglamour?”

Archell nodded eagerly. She was looking forward to this.

Salimila watched with interest. Well well well… I could get used to this… she thought.

*Round-Robin ‘Riting, a MuseBlog tradition in which MBers take turns writing a story.

Continued from Part 2, which pwns, according to Pentatonikk. (It’s the one about the afareet.) You can read the whole story so far on the RRR 2006.1.3 Reference Text.

By request of Gwendolyn. Can the world possibly be ready for this?

Continued on Muse Fanfiction, v. 2007.1.

Irish poet, 1865-1939.

He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

More about Yeats at http://www.online-literature.com/yeats/

Cedar requests that this spinoff from his original Muse movie thread be used to post script ideas.

Dear Muse Contest Judges,

The authors of these
Three ladies most beauteous
Sent their warm regards.

These poems are long
But sum the Iliad well
In perfect Haiku!

Sincerely,

Carrie F., 15
Emily F., 16
Grace F., 15

Book I
Runner Achilles
Makes Agamemnon real mad
Rage is felt by all

Book II
Catalog of Ships
Is at the end of this Book
We skimmed the surface

Book III
Paris Duels Greek King
Aphrodite saves the prince
Helen laughs at him

Book IV
Trojans break a truce
Quite a large battle ensues
What a big surprise

Book V
Fighting once again
Can’t they all just get along?
Someone dies–guess not.

Book VI
The domestic book
Where we see Hector in Troy
And Paris acts dumb

Book VII
Hector fights Ajax
But don’t get too excited
It ends in a tie

Book VIII
Lightning sent by Zeus
Stops the fighting for awhile
Believe me, not long

Book IX
There is a meeting
They want the runner back now
Achilles please fight

Book X
Two Greek Captains sneak
To the Trojan camp at night
Like little children

Book XI
The fighters make war
Trojans die along with Greeks
“No way out–no end–”

Book XII
Trojan soldiers fight
Despite an evil omen
They really shouldn’t

Book XIII
Sneaky Poseidon
Starts the skirmish up again
Still fighting they are

Book XIV
This book is filled with
Seduction, deceit, and death
This sounds like a soap

Book XV
Hector was wounded
We forgot to mention but
He still kills people

Book XVI
In Runner’s armor
Patroclus will fight and die
His friend will be mad

Book XVII
Ajax slaughters foes
Defending buddy’s body
The Gods help him win

Book XVIII
Patroclus has died
Achilles goes all emo
Thetis gets armor

Book XIX
Achilles gets dressed
While all the other Greeks eat
His armor’s shiny

Book XX
Zeus lets the Gods fight
Playground bullies once again
Stealing lunch money

Book XXI
The river is full
Choked with the corpses of men
Such great imagery

Book XXII
Poor Hector is dead
As if we couldn’t have guessed
Blame foreshadowing

Book XXIII
Funeral games start
The end is drawing closer
Only one more Book

Book XXIV
Why is this book here?
A question much debated
Was Homer crazy?

Conclusion
Summary of Book:
Greeks kill many Trojan guys
Trojans kill Greeks too

You MBers certainly love to write! Here’s the latest incarnation of this ever-popular, ever-surprising thread: a place to talk about writing, or post things you’ve written and see what other Musers think.

The old P&S thread was getting a bit long and hard to find, so here’s a fresh notebook to write in.

*Round-Robin ‘Riting. No reason not to have versions .3 and .4 going at the same time. Here’s a place for one of the stories that didn’t jell on 2006.3. If anyone wants individual threads for still other story lines, just say the word.

Your ever-obliging

Administrators

For those who haven’t done it before, round-robin ‘riting is like a relay race. One person writes for a while, then stops and lets someone else take over for a while. You can find examples in earlier RRR threads. It helps to decide in advance whether to agree on an overall leader to keep the story on track, and whether certain characters “belong” to certain writers as in a role-playing game. Beyond that, anything goes.

Now: who’s in, and what’s the story?

It started on the Harry Potter thread, comment 325. Here, in installments, is the rest of the story.

Talk about writing, or post things you’ve written and see what other Musers think.

THANK YOU GAPA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!! Now my story isnt very good, and the ending was really rushed. Its really only the first chapter or too of my origanal idea, so i might continue it later. here it is:

******************************

I awoke to a sunny day. I sniffed the air, smelling the sweet herbal tea that our servant, Merinin, drinks. It was about then that I received a sharp poke to the ribs. It was Cassandra, my older sister, of course.

“Wake up, Keira!” She half sang. “There are chores to be done, and I’m not doing your share for you!” Chores. And with today nearly a holiday, too. I sighed, but got up. Cassandra was already doing her hair, twisting it up into a red-gold bun high on her head, allowing only two strands to tumble down around her face. I prefer to wear my hair loose, but with the recent heat I felt tempted to twist it up. Mother says I’m almost sixteen and should not wear my hair like a young girl, but I couldn’t help it. I don’t want to grow up. As I left the room, Cassandra called out once more.

“Don’t forget to wake Kestral!” As if I would. Kestrel is my younger sister, and the joy of my life. I head towards the room where she sleeps. She is lying across her bed, her sheets kicked off to help stay the summer heat. “Kestral,” I crooned. “Time to get up.” I nudged her. She stretched and smiled sleepily.

“Today’s the festival…” She murmurs. I helped her to sit up and brush her hair. It is golden, cascading down her back in rolling waves. So different from my hair, which is brown and straight. She smiled again, and I felt warm inside. Kestral has that effect on people.

When we had all eaten breakfast and finished our chores, Kestral begged us to take her to the carnival, and I gave in without much resistance. “Wait,” I told her. “I have to ask Mother and Cassandra.” She pouted, but stayed put while I dashed off in search of my family. Our house is big, but not grandly impressive. We are of merchant class, after all. When I found them and asked, Mother bit her lip. “I’m not sure…” My Mother murmurs. “It may not be safe out there…”

“Oh, come on Mother,” Cassandra chimed in. “I’ve been meaning to get a new necklace for myself, and weren’t you wanting some new fabric?” Mother finally relented, and gave us each a small bag of coins, with an extra one for Kestral. Fortunately, Kestral was where I left her, hopping up and down with the excitement all eight-year-olds seem to have.

“Can we go?” She asks, her eyes hopeful.

“Yes, yes. We can. But we have to be home before mid afternoon.” Cassandra told her.

When we arrived, I was amazed with how it looks, just like I was every year. The street was filled with tents, merchants and jewelers peddling their wares. Kestral laughed out loud, and I don’t blame her. Colored paper ribbons decorated all the stands, everything competing for your attention. We walked along, pausing now and then to exclaim over some trinket or other. Kestral soon lost interest, however, and dashed ahead to watch a minstrel play the lute, or a jester make a coin disappear. I fingered one of the coins Mother had given us, debating whether or not to buy an amethyst bracelet. Something flickered at the corner of my eye, and I allowed the stone bracelet to slide out of my hand and back onto the table. Carefully, I turned towards the slight glimmer. It came from a table, draped with colored scarves. They fluttered in the slight breeze, but never gave me glimpse as to what was inside. I made my way towards it, barely aware that I was moving. I stopped, suddenly uncertain. Whatever was concealed behind the tent was pulling me. Hesitant, I stepped inside. I could have sworn that the temperature had dropped from boiling to cool in the space of a few seconds. No one else was inside; save for the merchant, an old woman who sat huddled in a blanket. I glanced around, slightly disappointed. I had been hoping for an adventure, but all I saw hear were musty old scarves and tarnished necklaces.

“You have come.” A horse voice croaked out behind me. I spun around, facing the woman.

“I – I’m sorry,” I stammered. “But do I…do I know you?” She made no reply to this, only gave a horse laugh.

“I waited,” She whispered. “They said you would come to me and now you are finally here. All the years I spent searching for someone to take this curse, this burden away in vain.” She laughed again, a horrible chocking sound. “I should have listened.” She finished, with a tinge of bitterness.

“Look, I’m sorry if I’ve done anything to offend you,” I said in a hastily, backing away. “But I really have to be going now you see I-“

“Stop.” It was a command. I stopped. “Come here.” Hesitantly, I moved forward. Without asking she reached out and grabbed my hand, her fingers icy and gnarled. She twisted my arm over so my palm was facing up. She traced a design onto my hand, as if outlining a blemish.

“See that mark?!” She demanded.

“No.” I responded, truthfully. Ignoring me, she used her other hand to remove a silver bracelet from her wrist. With shaking hands, she peeled the bracelet from her wrist, slowly lifting it away from her flesh. The strange bangle flashed silver, and she winced.

“So I was not spared…” she murmured, her voice edged with sorrow, and, strangely, relief. I starred at her arm in growing horror. There were two small red holes in her forearm, slowly welling up with deep, red blood. I tried to back away, but found I couldn’t move. She reached out again, ignoring the blood, and clasped the bracelet round my wrist. It fit perfectly, the cold metal clinging to my wrist, but not tight enough to hurt. Satisfied, she collapsed back, panting.

“It’s lovely,” I said to be polite. “But I don’t think…” I trailed off, staring down at the trinket. It was shaped like a snake, coiling twice around my wrist. It shone pure silver, almost lifelike in its appearance. Emerald eyes glittered at me from the serpents head. And there was no way to remove it. I searched for a lock, a clasp, anything before-before what? I asked myself. “Thank you, but I really can’t accept-”

“Go!” She screeched, shrilly ordering me out. “Leave now!” She pointed a shaking finger at me, her eyes wide and dilated. “You must go,” she croaked. “Find the key and unlock the verse/Run from Athena’s deadly curse/Give in only to save your lives/See others flee from their demise…” I backed away and, realizing I could move, turned and ran. Out, away form the woman and the strange cool air. For the first time in months, I welcomed the scorching heat. The merchant’s voice cut after me, screaming still.

“Freezing sun and scorching frost/All light is gone, all hope is lost!”

I charged past a juggler, accidentally knocking into him and sending colored balls bouncing to the ground. Angry yells issued from his audience.

“Sorry!” I called over my shoulder. Where was Cassandra? I stopped, slightly annoyed. I stopped and glanced around. Of course. She was standing near Kanto, who was by the knives. Cassandra glanced my way, and sighed.

“Never mind, there she is.” She came towards me, looking a bit exasperated.

“Thanks,” She said.” You just made me look like a fool. And it’s your turn to amuse Kestral.”

“You make it sound like a chore.” I accused. Kestral was watching a fire-dancer, spinning and wheeling on a makeshift stage, the flames never seeming to burn or singe him. Suddenly, he leapt into the air and shot a jet of flame straight from his mouth. The crowed screamed in fright, then cheered. He bowed once, and then vanished in a puff of smoke. The announcer took his place.

“That was Blaze, the Fire Master!” he roared. I spotted Kestral one again and started working my way towards her. She saw me coming and threw herself into my arms, laughing, her voice musical and sweet.

“Did you see!” She cried. “That was amazing! Can I learn?” She looked at me eagerly. I had to laugh at her.

“We can’t have you learning to breathe fire. We’re practically noble. She looked disappointed, but only for a moment. Then she was tugging me towards more displays and chatting up a storm. I must admit, I forgot all about the old woman and the bracelet. Well, maybe not forgot, but I ignored it, at least.

An hour or two later, we set off for home. Kestral and I probably could have stayed at the festival all day, but Cassandra’s prodding brought us home on time. We were all laughing and happy upon our return. Even Cassandra was smiling. Ceto, our mother, glanced up from her weaving on the loom in the corner. She is famous for her intricate patterns and delicate hands. Her works sell for high prices and give us extra money for more frivolous things, unlike father, who works to support us and raise our social standing. Mother smiled. “Have a good time?” She asked. “Your uncle Thumas will be coming to stay with us for a while. I expect the best behavior from all of you.”

“Oh, don’t worry about us. We’ll be good” Cassandra said lightly. “Don’t you just love this necklace?” She held up a chain dangling silver flower set with purple stones.

Later, once I had escaped Cassandra and my mother, I slipped quickly up to our room, and took a closer look at the snake winding around my wrist. It was silver, as I mentioned before, with glittering emerald eyes. The mouth was closed; I could just see the hint of teeth inside. I ran my fingers along the edge, once again looking for a way to take it off. There was none. I raised my arm so I was staring directly at it. I had to admit the craft work was marvelous. The pattern was intricate, each scale individually etched into the serpents body. My eyes were starting to blur from staring at it so long and hard. I blinked, and sighed. This was useless. Why did I want to get it off anyway? It was pretty enough. I could pretend I bought it. But some deep part of me wanted it off. Off and far away from me. This would have to wait.

I sat in the front room, working on a loom. I love weaving, it is about the only useful thing I can do well. Mother also says it keeps me out of trouble. I was working on a new pattern, depicting Athena as she fought. Her sword flashed, a grim smile on her face. She fought against an entire army. Her shield was raised to block a sword slamming down at her. Mother came in, studying my work.

“Interesting,” she commented. “Did you make it as an offering after the feast?”

I sat back and examined what I had done. “I don’t think so,” I said. “I’ll probably make something a little more flattering for that.” This week we spend time honoring Athena and all are allowed to take the week off work and spend time with our family. We end with a great feast enough to feed most of our town and everyone brings offerings to place in front of Athena’s statue in our temple. “For that weaving I was thinking of doing a portrait of her.” I was interrupted by a loud banging at the door. Merinin rushed to answer it while father called to us from upstairs.

“Is that your Uncle Thumas?” The door flung open with a tall, black haired man striding in.

“Uncle” I cried, running towards him.

“And could this possibly be little Keira? I don’t believe it.” He hugged me hard, squeezing the breath out of me. He released me, turning to mother. “And this lovely lady? Could it possibly be Cassandra? No, far too young.”

“Don’t tease, Brother,” Mother laughed. “As if you don’t recognize your own sister.”

“Ah, but I envy you, dear. You haven’t aged a bit since I saw you last. And that was nearly this time last year!”

“Thumas!” It was father rushing downstairs. “Thumas, how are you?” he cried.

“As well as possible, if a little undernourished. I could eat an entire cow by myself!”

“Well dinner should be soon. Keira, go tell Merinin to set another place.” I wondered off to the kitchen and delivered mother’s message.

“That man is a bottomless stomach,” Merinin replied. “If he stays longer than a week he will eat us out of our own home,” she said shaking her head. I sat down near her, watching her as she cooked. “Here, make yourself useful”, and she set a metal tin of potatoes in front of me and handed me a knife. I started peeling, debating whether or not to tell her about the bracelet. Finally, I spoke hesitantly, “Merinin?” I asked? “Do you know if this is a symbol for anything?” I pulled back the sleeve of my dress, revealing the snake bracelet. Merinin, it turned out, knew more than I ever guessed. She studied it.

“The Snake of Might. A snake that could survive anywhere, be it sea, land or even fire. Possessing one was said to make you strong but also in danger. For along with the ability to go anywhere, it possessed a deadly poison.” She looked at me strangely, “Where did you get this?”

“At the street fair,” I replied. This was true.

“Well, we have talked far too long. Just let me finish making dinner and we can talk then.” After that, all I did was try to peel the skin off of a potato in one strip.

During dinner, Uncle Thumas talked to father about business and commented on how Cassandra was turning into a fine lady. I was bored, eating without really noticing what was going on. Kestral sitting across from me was nearly falling asleep. “Mother?” I asked during a brief pause in the conversation. “May I take Kestral upstairs? We’ve had a long day.” She hesitated and glanced towards Uncle Thumas.

He stretched. “Oh let them go, Ceta. More dessert for us, eh?” She nodded to me, and then turned back to her conversation with Cassandra. I followed Kestral upstairs, gently nudging her towards her room. Then I went into the room I shared with Cassandra.

I lay in bed, unconsciously twirling the bracelet around my wrist. The snake of might. Somehow, it fit. I could feel sleep closing in on me. Resting my arm on the pillow near my head, I stared at the snake’s emerald eye. “Why are you’re here?” I whispered. The last thing I heard before I fell asleep were the words “to help you.”

I stood on a cliff, looking down at the sea below me. Surf crashed onto the steep rocks below me. I bent my legs, crouching and sprung off the edge. Plummeting down towards the water, faster and faster until the surface was only a few feet, inches away – cool mists surrounded me. I floated, submerged completely in blissful wetness. I know that I was dreaming, but only because I could accept all of this. In real life I would never have jumped off the edge of a cliff. But here, it was all right. I slid forward into the water, looking around me. I couldn’t see much, just endless, serene blue.

“What do you seek?” a voice asked. I spun around. A snake floated in the water behind me. It was huge.

“You’re the same snake from my bracelet.” I breathed. Even in dreams, fear prevails. I glanced down at my now bare wrist. Of all things, the snake looked amused.

“Your questionsss will be ansssswered.” Its voice was whispery, like the rustle of dry leaves. “But you mussst wait.” Then I was falling again, but this time into darkness. I sat up in bed, gasping for air. Cassandra was standing in front of her wardrobe putting on a dress.

“Are you all right?” she asked me. “You were tossing and turning for the better part of the night.”

“Don’t worry, I’m fine,” I told her.

During breakfast Uncle told us a story from when he was on his ship trapped in a severe storm. “We were caught in the very middle of it,” he recalled. “A man from my crew, a fair skinned lad called Terrim, fell overboard. We threw an empty barrel at him in hopes that we could pull him back, but the storm was so fierce that the water grabbed the rope out of our hands. It was then that a terrible monster, at least 40 feet long, bursts from the watery depths.” He shook his head, dazed. “I will never forget the looks of it. Terrible, terrible beast. I called: ‘Poseidon, In the name of all wondrous things you created, let us pass!’ Well, I thought we were doomed. And so did my crew. It wasn’t an hour later when a strong humming filled my ears. I thought it would drive me mad, that sound. But low and behold, the sea serpent stopped its attack and the storm subsided. And a few seconds later, Terrim came floating towards us, clutching the barrel. It couldn’t have been anything less than the work of the sea god, Poseidon, himself.”

Uncle sat back, finished with his story. Kestral stared at him, awe-struck. Mother smiled. “Oh Thumas, you were always one for tales.” Uncle Thumas looked serious. “This isn’t a tale, dear sister. Even one such as I wouldn’t dare lie about the Gods.” Father strode in. Uncle jumped up.

“Ah, Phorcyes. You missed my story.” Father laughed. “Don’t worry; I’ve got much more to do today. After all, the great feast honoring Athena is tomorrow.” I excused myself, heading to the front room. I sat down at the loom taking off my old tapestry. I threaded the loom with the beginning of a new project. It would be of Athena of course, standing on a mountain of clouds of the whitest thread, golden on top where they met Athena’s feet. The goddess held her sword up high, the triumphant mile plain on her face. It was apparent that she had won a great battle. On her other arm she wore a shiny silver shield. I opened my eyes. The vision still imprinted in my sight and began to weave.

Hours later, I leaned back, stretching my aching limbs. I appraised my work, studying it carefully. It was good so far, although I probably could have done better on her shield. Something was missing…. Mother came in and at her glance at it, nodded once. “I like it. It looks like you could use some more white though. It looks like you are running out.” It was true. “Here, I will get you some so you don’t run out.” I nodded my thanks and returned to my weaving.

That night, I slipped into bed, barely believing I would be able to fall asleep, with the feast tomorrow and the proposal of another dream. But in moments, I was once again standing on the cliffs. I glanced around this tine, wondering what else was in this strange landscape. On all sides of me, just a few feet away lay thick mists, obstructing my view. I could not tell how far they went, only that I could walk into them forever and never find my way out. So I turned once again and like the previous night, dove down towards the water. Once I was surrounded by the crisp, sold blue I looked around for the silver serpent. I saw it, gliding towards me with effortless grace. “What is out here?” I asked “Beyond the mist.” The snake paused, its deep blue eyes clouded over.

“I can not tell you, my child, as much assss I may wish for it housssesss a terrible and beautiful power. One that I do not wish to come acrossss. It is old and dark magic. Only immortalsssss can travel to it beyond the mistssss.” I stared at the serpent.

“Your eyes” I breathed. It stopped its restless twisting for a moment, and then relaxed.

“ Yesss, my child. When I am in the water, they glow a deep blue. On land, they are an emerald green. And when I travel into fire…..they burn with the deepest red-gold, the heart of the flames. But we have not time for thiss. You mussst leave sssoon and there still is much I have to tell you, warn you of, before-” He stopped, rigid. “Roc! Run!”

There was a flash of silver and he vanished. I glanced up through the water above me and saw a pair of enormous talons swooping down, ready to rip, tear, and kill. Another flash of silver hit me hard in the chest, driving me back as the huge bird’s claws tore into the water where I had been an instant before. “I will be back sssoon. You must go!” he commanded.

“I don’t know how!” I wailed desperately. He wrapped himself around me, facing me to stare into one of his deep blue eyes. I once again fell, through a glittering cerulean haze back into my bed. I felt it under me and was asleep in a moment, exhausted from what had happened.

“Keira! Hurry up and get dressed. It is already almost 10 o’clock and no matter what mother says, I am not going to let you sleep all day.” Cassandra. Again. But at least I was well rested.

That morning was spent pre paring for the feast. Getting offerings together, changing clothes, Telling Cassandra that yes her dress did look good on her and yes, she should not change it again. But when we got there, it was worth it. Everything was draped in sheets. Olive sprigs were twining up pillars, with statues and portraits depicting Athena in all her glory I carried my weaving under one arm, fighting my way with Mother and Kestral towards the temple. When new finally got there I found an open spot a little off to the side of a statue of her. Mother spread her tapestry out, with mine along side it. Kestral and the rest of my family put their gifts on top. And, oh, there was so much food! It was everywhere, piled on tables and on blankets set on the ground. Everyone was eating and laughing. We chose a table near Kantu’s family, anther wealthy merchant. The next hour was spent eating our favorite foods and trying new, interesting looking delicacies. Everyone would eat well today. We sat, listening to Kantus’s family talk and replying and laughing with them. During a brief pause, Kantu took a breath. He hadn’t spoken much, but turned to face Father. “Sir”, he said, I would like to ask for your daughter Cassandra’s hand in marriage.” He stood tall as he asked and Cassandra, who was sitting next to me, caught her breath. I glanced at her, her eyes full of hope and fear. My father chewed thoughtfully for a moment and then swallowed.

“You are a fine young man with a respected family. If this is what Cassandra wishes, then you have my blessing. Cassandra gave a cry of joy and rushed to embrace Kantu. We surrounded her and congratulated both. You are betrothed” I whispered in excitement.

“Yes” she said, dazed. “I am.” She and Kanto sat next to each other for the rest of the meal blissfully unaware of anything else. Mother was crying.

“Oh, you just look so beautiful” she wept. “As beautiful as Athena herself”.

“Just as beautiful?” Cassandra teased.

“No, even more so.”

“More beautiful than me?” a voice rang out from behind them. It was clear and sharp as a knife. I caught my breath, not daring to believe my eyes. Could it possible be ……?

“Athena” Kestral whispered. I stared, dazzled by her beauty. But Kantu barley noticed.

“I worship you” he said, “But I could never love you like I love Cassandra. In my eyes, she is more beautiful that any goddess.”

Athena’s lips curled in a mean smile. “Is that so?” she asked. “Well what about me?” Cassandra uttered a short gasp of pain, turning to me in horror. But I felt it too. And from Kestral’s shuttering moans, I knew with a sickening feeling that something horrible was about to happen to us. My skin prickled and bronze scales rippled down my arms. My back exploded in a horrible cloud of screaming pain as wings wrenched themselves our on my back and arched skyward. I am not even sure what all happened to me. I could tell I grew claws and talons on my feet. But all I could tins of was Kestral poor Kestral, in so much pain. Somewhere distant, away from my mind I heard screaming and horrific gasps. Then a cry. Kestral’s. I fought my way into consciousness, only to feel my hair turn itself from long, twisting strands to form – snakes. Slithering, hissing snakes in the place of where my hair had been. Cassandra screamed a terrible inhuman scream. I forced my eyes open and saw what had become of us. We were horrible monsters, no longer human. Cassandra wailed, her happiness gone completely. I saw Kantu, rushing forwards, straight towards Cassandra. He took her hands in his. She hid her face, hiding it from view. He whispered fiercely,

“I still love you.” Shocked, Cassandra stared up at him, seeing truth in his eyes. And perhaps we could have gone on like that, except for the last, most terrible change of all. As she stared into his eyes first disbelief, then pure joy. Her own eyes flashed, and in a moment, Kantu had turned to stone. Grey, lifeless, all trace of human gone from him. His face still held the loving look he had last given her. Cassandra shrieked a wailing echoing cry that cut the air like a knife. She wretched herself out of his cold embrace, and clawed at her own scaly skin. Men were shouting, streaming towards us. They carried swords, daggers, anything they could use to hurt us.

“Fly, my sisters, fly!” I cried. Cassandra lifted up her wings, pure white edged with black. With a powerful down stroke, she rose into the air. A moment later I joined her, my silver tipped wings creating a gust of wind that knocked the food off the tables. Kestral leapt up and grasped my hand. I pulled her into the air until she managed to keep herself aloft using her own gold edged wings. We tore up into the starless night sky, away from the earth and those who wanted to kill us. We flew effortlessly, gilding on unseen currents of air. If I had not been a monster, I almost could have enjoyed it.

“Cassandra…” I started hesitantly.

“No,” she responded. “I am no longer Cassandra. Cassandra is dead.” Kestral sniffed from behind me.

“She is right,” she whispered coarsely. “We can never go back.” I felt confused, but I knew they were right. I had left my self behind, I was no longer Keira. “What will you call yourself?” I asked.

“Euryale.” Kestral said softly. “Wanderer, because we can never go home.”

“Sthenno.” I said. “Meaning might.” Cassandra, or what had once been Cassandra, remained silent.

“My name will mean cunning,” She finally said. “I am Medusa.”

*******************************

The hunter raised his gun. He had come here to kill a wolf. They had killed the cows he had been trying to raise so he could sell their milk. He had woken up one morning to find that there was nothing left of the cows but a trail of blood and a paw print. The wolves were near. He could hear them. Smell them. The pack was close, coming closer. He tightened his grip on the trigger. When they came, he would be ready. A twig snapped in the undergrowth behind him. He whirled around, ready to fire. What he saw made him dropped the gun in surprise. For staring into his eyes were the bright, green eyes of a girl.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Salaen stared into the deep blue eyes of a man. She threw back her head and howled. Run! Pack run! Now! She took off into the woods, dodging trees as easily as a bat. She ran on four legs, like a dog. As she ran, a dark gray wolf joined her.

Danger? He asked silently.

Yes. Salaen replied. Man with pain-stick. Hurt bad if hit. Run fast home now. The wolf gave a short bark and dashed ahead. A few moments later Salaen herself burst into a clearing among a group of wolves, all barking and yipping madly. A large, snow-white wolf leapt onto a boulder (his name was Snow-drift). He howled and the pack grew silent.

A man came. Sleep now. Hide. Do not leave. He told them. The wolves trotted obediently into several caves on the other side of the clearing.

Salaen. Stay here for a moment. Snow-drift called to her. Salaen stopped and hesitantly approached the rock. What happened back there? He asked.

I’m not sure. I saw a man. He looked at me and backed away. Then he yelped and dropped the pain-stick. Snow-drift nodded.

The Song Pack will be coming in 5 moons. He said suddenly. Salaen almost yipped in excitement. The Song Pack was well known among wolves. The elders often told tales about them, wandering endlessly. They would travel all night in silence until the full moon. Then the wolf at the head of the pack would stop, sit down and throwback his or her head and sing. The rest of the wolves would then the file past them as they listened until the head wolf was at the back. Then the next wolf at the front would sing. Any pack that wanted to could join them for as long as they wanted.

I want you to sing for our pack, along with Leaf and Siera.

Salaen stared at him. Me? She asked disbelievingly.

Yes. Snow-drift said. Then Snow-drift shook his head and gave a short, low bark, which probably meant something like that will be all. Salaen dipped her head respectfully before trotting over to a cave. As she walked in, a dark wolf raised his head sleepily.

All is well? He asked drowsily.

Yes, Rahea. All is well. He yawned and lay down again. Salaen stayed up for a while and thought. Snowdrift and Rahea were different from most wolves. They spoke differently. (Spoke is a very lose word. Wolves communicate more with understandings, such as the raw, half-formed thoughts that race through your head.) These wolves spoke in sentences with complexity, not in short statements accompanied by a bark or a growl. Like her. They spoke like her.

Salaen knew she was different from the other wolves. For one thing, she was covered, not in fur as the others were, but in tough, light brown skin. She also had longer back legs than fore legs. This made running difficult but it was easier to jump with her long back legs. She also had longer front paws with slender, narrow toes. She could do odd things with these paws, such as pulling burrs out of a comrade’s fur or even holding onto tree limbs with them. They were very useful. She sighed and settled down.

It was noon when she woke, or what wolves call shan, their word for no shadows. She stretched and yawned. Day was not when wolves were most awake. But she was hungry so she left the warmth of the cave to go and eat.

As she went out, she noticed several other wolves standing in the clearing. Leaf was there, one of the other wolfs that would sing. He had gotten his name from his eyes. They were brown with green around the edges, like an almost dead leaf. Green was not a normal color for wolfs eyes. Any wolf that had even a spec of green was rare. Salaen supposed that was why she was different. She had pure green eyes. She walked over the dew covered grass towards the lake. She was a few strides (a stride is about a yard) away when a great black shape hurdled itself at her, pinning her to the ground.

She gave a low growl and flung herself into the air. Whatever held her, let go. She twisted and sprang at a wolf as black as night. His coal black eyes glistened with surprise at the sudden attack. This gave her a moment to push him to the ground and bat at his head. Then she leapt to a small patch of dirt and lay down panting. The black wolf lay down and growled.

You’ve killed me. I’m dead. He rolled onto his back and looked at her, his legs in the air.

Salaen laughed. Stop it, Rahea. She said. I’m going for a walk. Rahea was her best friend. The rest of the wolves saw her as different, but not Rahea. He understood her better, like Snow-drift. She supposed that this was because they all talk the same way, but wasn’t sure. Plus, she had known Rahea as long as she could remember. They were good friends.

Okay. He sprang up on to his feet. I’ll meet you in a few minutes. Salaen headed into the bright forest. Once inside, she stopped to study a spider web. The pattern connected easily in her mind. The dew drops on it glistened like tiny rainbows. The yellow and orange spider still slept in the middle. She went on to look at flowers and single stems of grass. She did not know why she was interested in these things. Maybe she just wanted to understand them better. She was about to step closer to a brown and red leaf when she felt something. It wasn’t like a thing had poked her or like she had stepped on something. The forest just seemed different for a second. She paused and sniffed the air. Something smelled wrong. Almost like………Humans! They sprung out from behind trees and ran towards her. Salaen twisted around and saw more of them. She growled as they came ever closer. Suddenly a voice shot through the forest like lightening.

Salaen! Rahea cried, crashing through the trees. Snow-drift and two other wolves (Sol and Tora) followed. The men made surprised noises.

Run! Snow-drift bellowed to her. She tried to, sprinting towards a small opening between the humans. But then a buzzing sound filled her ears followed by a sharp pain in her shoulder, and she remembered nothing more.

Pain……moving fast………so fast…people……all white, blinding ……… muttering…….can’t…….understand……..must learn……….

Salaen woke slowly, pain throbbing in her head. A dim awareness told her that she had been sleeping, but her body was all wrong. She was laid out flat across something that was neither rock nor moss. She tried to curl up into a ball, but spasms of pain rushed down her spine. She gave a soft moan and tried again. She soon learned that if she moved slowly enough, she could move a few inches at a time, but would have to stop for a short while after. Strange sounds came floating towards her. Suddenly, a face stared down at her. It was a human face, with grey eyes. She stared back, too startled to do anything. It said something, the voice low. Another female face joined it, this one with brown eyes. It spoke in a high, twittery voice, much like that of a sparrow. They looked down at her. She gave a weak moan and heard the low voice again, this time sounding surprised.

Suddenly the surface she was laying on gave another jolt. She thrashed and sent another wave of pain down her spine. She laid, heart racing, while the bed moved into an upright position. Then the grey eyed man looked her up and down, took a strange machine and attached something to it. He picked up what looked like a pine needle. He made a sudden movement and jabbed her in the arm with it.

Salaen yelled at the sharp pain and was once more plunged into darkness.

More voices…..many, many voices….. language……. I must learn ……….. to speak……now…….more darkness………no!

Doctor’s Medical Journal: Day 7

The girl my colleagues brought back from the forest is strange. She does not behave like a normal teenager, but like an animal. A wild animal. Mrs. Sprek, the nurse, reported that she had actually bit her the other day. I am glad at this sign of liveliness from her, as she seems to have been very weak for the four days she has been awake. When I first stuck the IV tube into her, she shrieked and passed out from shock and exhaustion. But strangest of all, scientists want to see her. They are astounded that she could have been living with animals all of her life and still be alive and in reasonably good health. Most assume that she is stupid and is not capable of learning anything. This is not true. Whenever I or Mrs. Sprek comes into her room, recognition flashes in her eyes. She knows us, maybe even trusts us.

Salaen lay in bed staring perplexedly at a box on the wall. When she hit a panel on a certain spot, people inside it changed appearance and started doing different things. She made them change about five more times when all of a sudden, the woods were inside the box. She stared at the screen amazed. Then of all things, a wolf trotted into her view. She gave a cry of sorrow and pain and joy. The sparrow lady came running. She made strange sounds in her throat and looked at Salaen. Salaen opened her mouth and tried to speak human but all that came out was garbled wolf. She desperately tried again and this time she spoke in a different way. The shocked Mrs. Sprek heard in a cracked, husky voice a single word: “wolves.”

Salaen stared coolly at an unfamiliar lady sitting in her room. She spoke to Salaen as if she were stupid.

“Can … you…understand…me?” She looked at Salaen, and she looked back.

“No.” Salaen said firmly. The lady blinked. Salaen had learned much of the human language in a few short days. It was like the way she spoke to Rahera or Snow-drift, only with more noise.

“Can…you…say…anything…else?” Salaen looked at her in disgust.

“No.” she said again.

“Yes…. you… can.” the women replied.

“I am not stupid” Salaen retorted. “Go away.” The lady sighed and left. As soon as she was out the door, Mrs. Sprek, the sparrow women, hurried in.

“How was it…” she asked, “…that Miss Adrian seemed sort of ….” She paused to think.

“She thinks I’m stupid,” Salaen said flatly.

“No, No! She just doesn’t understand you.”

“Am sorry.”

“For what dear?”

“For bite you.”

“Oh, that’s okay. My son bites me harder. Now, how about some lunch?”

Salaen nodded vigorously. Talking in human was hard work. Lunch consisted of soup and bread, though she would have preferred meat. Salaen ate everything.

“My, I remember when you never ate anything” Mrs. Sprek laughed. Now let’s see what we can do with your hair.” Mrs. Sprek had been dying to comb this girl’s hair. It was all knotted and tangled, and she wanted it to be neater. The girl looked at the items in her hands suspiciously.

“You not stick me with needle again?”

“Oh no, of course not dear. Just sit up straight now…”

Two hours later, Mrs. Sprek looked proudly at her work. Instead of a tangled mess, Salaen’s hair was long, going down almost to her waist. It would have been longer, but Mrs. Sprek had to cut a few burs off of the bottom. It was also jet black, and contrasted wonderfully with her green eyes.

“My head is sore.” Salaen said. She did not like having her hair brushed. It was annoying. She lay back down, tired. She could feel the sun overhead, even though three stories separated her from it. It was around 1:00 pm when most wolves would still be sleeping. But the doctors had gotten her out of the habit of sleeping only during the day.

Doctor’s Medical Journal Day 16

Salaen has been here for over two weeks and is fully recovered. We are still in a bit of a dispute about where she is going to live after this. As far as I know, a scientist named Adrian Troy has asked for Salaen to be living with her for observation. That does not sound like a good idea to me.

Salaen stared dully out of the window in the lobby of the hospital.

“Oh, don’t worry sweetie. I am sure you’ll have a lovely time at Miss Troy’s house.

“No, I won’t,” Salaen Salaen said miserably. Mrs. Sprek sighed.

“I know you don’t like her, but you will have to try.”

Three days later Adriane was giving Salaen a tour of her new home.

“And this will be your room” she continued. Salaen walked inside and looked around. A bed covered with a light green blanket rested in one corner. A dresser and a mirror stood opposite. The walls were colored a dark green and the rug was just a shade darker. Then Salaen noticed the window. It was small, only about a foot and a half square, but it looked out into the woods. Salaen had never been on this side of it, but she was almost completely positive that this was the woods where she had once lived. A pang of homesickness suddenly struck her. She turned and walked out of the room and back to the hallway. Miss Troy, unfazed by her silence, continued on.

“And this is where you will spend most of your time, working” she concluded. The room she pointed at was painted light blue, with a white tile floor. A large table stood in the middle, with several pieces of paper on it. As they turned, another woman came towards them.

“Salaen, meet Mrs. Jay. She will be working with you most of the time and with Lark.” Salaen was confused.

“Lark?” she asked.

“Yes, Lark is another girl like you who also lives here. She is Mrs. Jay’s adopted daughter. Lark was found as a young girl living all alone in an abandoned house. Now, if you will excuse me for a moment.” Miss Troy walked out of the hallway and into a side room that she had not shown Salaen. Miss Jay smiled at Salaen.

“Hello. You can just call me Allison or Allie for short.” Salaen just looked at her. She was tall, but shorter than Miss Troy. She also had light brown hair. Allison seemed used to this.

“Come on then.” She led Salaen into the room and sat her down at the table. She sat opposite and pulled out a deck of cards with pictures on them. Facing Salaen, she laid out the cards.

“Can you tell me which one is a picture of a mouse?”

Salaen studied the pictures. One picture had a strange box, one with a fuzzy animal and the other with a plant. Salaen pointed to the animal.

“Mouse.” She repeated.

“Good. Now show me the computer.” Salaen guessed and pointed to the last picture.

“No Salaen that is a type of plant.”

Two hours later Salaen climbed into her new bed. A crescent moon bathed her room in silver light. She closed her eyes and almost at once fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

The next day, Salaen went into the work room once more. Mrs. Jay was there, already seated in her chair. Today they were going to review letters. Mrs. Jay once again placed three flash cards in front of Salaen. This time the cards had strange symbols on them.

“Show me the letter M.” Salaen pointed to an F.

“No Salaen that is an F. This is the M. Now, show me the M. No, that’s the F again. This one is the M. That’s better. Now show me the F.” Salaen pointed to the F.

“Good. Now show me the Q.” Salaen pointed to the Q. Mrs. Jay took the letter away and replaced them with new ones.

“Salaen, point to the letter O. This one looks almost like a Q.” This went on for awhile, then Salaen was handed paper with lines on it. A row of letters was printed on top.

“Now try to copy the letters onto the lines.” Mrs. Jay instructed. Salaen tried. Most of her lines were crooked and her writing barley legible. She showed Mrs. Jay her work proudly.

“Good job, Salaen. Let’s do some more.”

Salaen stretched her fingers. Learning how to write was harder than talking.

“Do you want to rest for awhile? We could go outside.” Mrs. Jay said. Salaen perked up. She has not been outside since she was taken from the woods “yes!” She said joyously. Mrs. Jay walked to a small door with Salaen closely following. She took the ring of keys and several large locks. Then she opened the door, letting a warm autumn breeze fill the room. Salaen took a deep breath, and dashed outside. She stopped to study her surroundings. A high fence surrounded a yard filled with grasses and small, bright flowers. She inhaled deeply sensing a rabbit. She glanced toward it, tensed, and leapt. The rabbit shot like a lighting bolt across the yard. Salaen had barely taken one leap after it when she heard a voice. “Stop!” It cried. Salaen flicked her ear in agitation at seeing something to chase it away. Then she turned to see who had called to her. A small girl, maybe a year or two younger than Salaen herself, walked towards her. “I’m Lark,” She said. She talked strangely, as if she was used to thinking and speaking another language. “I am Salaen.” She struggled to say. “Why you call me?”

“I did not know who you were. Do you know Allison?”

“Allison?” Salaen said, confused. “Mrs. Jay? ”

“Yes, do you know her?” Lark asked again.

“Yes. I do.” Salaen said haltingly. “ Why?”

“Oh! So you must be the new girl she’s working with. She said I can have a lesson at the same time as you. What you want me about? I was studying…”

She continued to chatter on, as Salaen half listened. She could certainly see where this Lark she would have got her name. She sounded like a bird, with all her talking. As if on cue, a black crow flew out of the trees into the grasses front of them, cawing. Lark caught her breath in fright, eyes full of terror. She stared at it and uttered a tiny moan as it drew closer. Salaen was outraged. How dare this bird frighten her new friend. With a growl and a leap, she was upon it. It’s squawked in surprise, and tried to flap a way, but Salaen was pinning one of its wings down. She squeezed it tight, and then released. It took off in a lopsided flight into the sky and out of sight. Lark was shaking. Before Salaen could do anything, Mrs. Jay rushed out and escorted the girl inside, with Salaen following. As they went, Adrian appeared. This was the first time Salaen had seen her since she had first come. She stopped next to her.

“What happened to Lark?”

“She is terrified of crows. When she was found at a young age, crows were attacking her and she was covered with scars. She has feared them ever since.” Adrian said simply, “Now if you will excuse me. I have to go.” She walked into the side door again and disappeared from sight. Salaen was alone. For lack of anything to do, she went to her room and sat there until she fell asleep.

The next day as she walked into the classroom she saw Lark sitting at the table. They did not mention the crow for the entire lesson. From that time on, Lark was at most of her lessons, working with her on more difficult tasks. Salaen was surprised to find that on some tasks (mostly concerning the English language), she was helping Lark. One day something was bothering her.

“Mrs. Jay, how does Miss Troy know what we are doing? She never comes in and sees us.”

“She looks at us through a video camera. That one, up there.” Allison pointed to a black box in the corner of the ceiling.

“It lets her see us, even when she is not in here.”

Salaen was mystified, but Lark just laughed. Lark’s laughter sounded almost like bird talk. They had been reviewing colors and shapes that week. Pick up the red ball, the orange cube and so on. I was easy for both of them, so they were allowed to go to their rooms early.

“Want to see my room?” Lark asked. “Miss Troy probably didn’t show you it.” She walked down the hall to a door Salaen had never noticed before. Lark opened it, revealing a room, bright yellow in color and her bed light blue. Then Salaen noticed the mirror, like the one in her room, though this one was much more obviously placed. Salaen turned towards it, surprised at her own reflection. She had never really looked at herself standing upright. She was used to being crouched down on her hands and feet. Then she noticed something odd.

“Lark, does the mirror flash light?”

“Huh?” Lark asked.

“The corner flashes red light. Look.” Larks face screwed up.

“I don’t know. Maybe it is one of those video recorder things.” Salaen was disturbed. She did not like to be watched, but she pushed it out of her mind.

“Want to see my room?”

It was 10:00 pm and Mrs. Sprek was still working. There had recently been an outbreak of flu and people just kept on coming in. She sighed and grabbed her coffee mug. She then muttered something to the other nurse on duty about needing some fresh air. She walked to the elevator and waited patiently until she was at the first floor. Then she hurried to a side door and stepped outside into the fresh morning air. She inhaled and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she nearly choked in surprise. For standing in front of her was a snow white wolf. It stared at her levelly. As it stood, other wolves appeared out of the darkness, one with a white chest and paws. One grey, one with black ears. And then a wolf so black, she would not have seen it if it hadn’t stepped towards her. It was big, bigger than any dog. It made a low noise in its’ throat, more questioning than threatening, but Mrs. Sprek flinched any way. The wolf seemed to draw her eyes toward his, as if silently saying look at me. It held her gaze, and then Mrs. Sprek suddenly thought of Salaen, running through grass. Salaen jumping over a dead log. Salaen running with – the wolves. These were the ones who had raised her. Mrs. Sprek new this as well as she new her own name. The wolves missed her. She was one of them, and they needed to find her. Mrs. Sprek knew what she had to do.

“She is that way”, she whispered looking towards Miss Adriane’s house. The black wolf dipped his head in acknowledgement and they disappeared as quietly and quickly as they had come.

Salaen tossed and turned. She couldn’t sleep. She did not like it here where people always watched her. Eventually she fell into a restless sleep. Then she dreamed. In her dream, she was in the forest. She saw the wolf named Leaf. He looked at her and backed away. “It is me” she called, but she was speaking human. “Leaf” she called again, running towards him. He whined, and ran away. Then she was in a circle of wolves, her pack among them. “Remember me” she cried. Snowdrift stepped forward.

You are not a wolf. You are human. Go away. Then they lunged at her and she was in darkness once again. When dawn finally came, a pit of sadness ached in her chest and it did not matter how many games she played with Lark or how many lessons she had. It would not go away. That night she could not sleep again. Mrs. Jay asked her if there was anything wrong, but Salaen would not answer her. This went on for three more days. Adriane tried to make her take a pill before she went to sleep, but Salaen hid it under her tongue and spat it out later. On the fifth day of not sleeping, she heard something outside. She looked out the window and heard it again. She did not hear the strange noise with human ears, but with the ears of a wolf. A pack was traveling through the forest. Salaen almost went mad. She had to get outside. Had too. She stepped back and studied the window. She looked at the hinges, the bolts, and the latch on the bottom.

“Wait. Latch on the bottom?” She pressed down hard and the window silently swung open. She easily leapt through and landed lightly on the ground outside. The light of the full moon looked as if it had fallen in shining drops onto the grass instead of dew. She listened again, all of her senses on edge. Then she saw him. It was Rahera running towards her. She gave a cry of pure joy and ran to meet him.

Rahera, she called. He was just a few yards away when a terrible noise rang through the silence. She saw Rahera stumble. She saw him fall. She saw the blood pour from his wound. She fell by his side and wept.

Go! He yelled to her. Go!

She ran, her tear stained face clouding her vision. But she made it to the hole under the fence where the wolves had dug through. As she squirmed under it, Rahera lifted his head for the last time, and sang. Salaen joined him, and for a moment the world was still. Then Rahera was dead, and Salaen and her pack were gone.

Mrs. Sprek stood with her husband on the wet ground outside the hospital. “There’re coming.” She whispered “I know they are.” Her husband said nothing, his gray eyes shining in the moonlight. Then they saw them. The wolves. But it was much larger than it should have been. There were 40 or 50 wolves at least. The wolf at the front stopped. It was gray, with a black head and paws. Then it looked straight at them, and they both nearly fainted. Mrs. Sprek clutched the doctors’ arm.

“Look,” she breathed. The wolf had green eyes. Human eyes. Then she, for the wolf was a she, threw back her head, and sang.

OK, we’re helping out a friend here. But we just had to post Musepal Polly’s latest news about her book:

Please excuse the self-serving email, but:

Time Magazine reviewed Enthusiasm!!!!!!!

Julie Lefkowitz is accustomed to public embarrassment: “When your best friend goes around town dressed in armor constructed from cookware, eyes naturally turn your way.” Julie’s best friend is Ashleigh, and Ashleigh is an enthusiast: she gets obsessed–way, over-the-top obsessed–with things like King Arthur or ballet or juggling. Ashleigh’s latest craze is Jane Austen, and in addition to dressing in gowns and talking in period English, she persuades long-suffering Julie to crash a dance at a fancy all-boys private school, hoping to meet a Mr. Darcy, or at least a Mr. Bingley. Winsome and witty, loaded with lunatic junior-high aperçus (“Juliet’s not even 14 yet,” a young Shakespeare scholar remarks. “He’s going to kill himself over an eighth-grader?”), Enthusiasm has the makings of an instant classic.

(It should be on newsstands now; it’s on the web, anyway.)

Your own or your favorites–post them here for everyone to appreciate.

*Round-Robin ‘Riting. A new story, not about the afareet.

The story of the afareet, continued from Round-Robin ‘Riting, v. 2006.1, part 1.

(By the way, in Arabic afareet is plural. The singular is afreet. I’m an afreet, but you all are afareet–in case you want to be technically correct about it.)

MuseBlog historical note: This story started in the blog’s original group-writing experiment, “Round-Robin ‘Riting,” and was revived on “Out with the Old…”

Has anyone seen Polly Shulman’s Jane-Austen-inspired book yet? Or read it?

Polly says some nice things about MuseBlog on her website, www.pollyshulman.com.

The story of the afareet, continued.

Revived on “Out with the Old…”
Original group-writing experiment on “Round-Robin ‘Riting”