Tyler


Tyler woke up at about noon. I love you Saturday. He thought, putting his head full of short black hair back on his pillow.

Just then, his computer made a dinging sound.

He got up, and walked over to it. He opened it up, and saw that he left his Facebook open. He had five messages. One from Daniel Evony, a good friend of his, another from Sally Cook, a girl who had a really creepy crush on Tyler, and three messages from Karla Lester. Pretty much his best friend.

He opened up the chat box, and read his messages.

Daniel said,


You know man, your last name relly reminds me of fish.


Sally gave a long speech about how he’s there’s something missing in her heart and Tyler can fill it or something like that. Karla said,


Hey Tyler


Hello?


R u there?


Tyler put his hands on the keyboard.


Yeah I'm here. Sorry, left it open overnight.


He closed the chat box and decided to do get a bowl of cereal to eat while he was chatting with Karla.

He ran downstairs, and grabbed a bowl. Tyler filled the bowl with Rice Krispies, and a spoon. Milk wasn't his favorite thing with cereal.

As he walked up the stairs, he decided to wake up his brother, Adam. He had a long history of sleeping until 6 PM on Saturdays. Tyler knocked on the door to his brother's room. “Adam, wake up.” he said quietly.

After a while, Tyler opened the door.

Adam was gone.

Tyler ran into the room, to see if he was hiding anywhere. A note sat on his bed. Tyler picked it up.


Dear Tyler,


I've decided that it's just too much to bear here. What with the bullies and all that. So I'm leaving. I'm not going to say where I'm going, because I don't want to come back.


Sincerely,

Adam.


Tyler stared at the note, then dropped it.

He ran to his computer, as his parents weren't home, and opened the chat box.


Lol. Such a kltz Tyler. Jk.


Karla had typed that as he was gone.


Adam's missing!


Tyler jammed about twenty-seven extra exclamation points, and pressed 'Enter'.


He ran away! There was a note!


Tyler typed and pressed enter.
There was a slight pause.


Call him


Karla had been a guru with just two words to Tyler.

Tyler grabbed his Samsung phone, and instantly started typing Adam's iPhone number.

He pressed the phone to his cheek, and waited.

Tyler waited, and waited. Adam’s ringtone blasted on the other end.

Right after a long decrescendo, the music stopped, and Adam's voicemail popped on.

“Hey, this is Adam Bass.” said Adam's voice. “I can't get my phone picked up right now, so leave a message and I get back to you as soon as I can. Bye!”

“Adam! This is Tyler! Where are you?” he asked.

Tyler went through the same thing about two hundred and three times. Same result.

Every.

Single.

Time.

He got on his laptop again.


No answer


Tyler jammed the letters into the box, and miraculously spelled every word right in his haste.

It was about negative three seconds when another message popped up.


Call the police


Tyler dialed 911 into his phone, and waited.

“Hello. What is your emergency?” said a calm female voice.

“My brother is missing!”

“All right sir. What is your name, and your brother's name?”

“I'm Tyler Bass, I'm 13, and Adam Bass is my brother. He's 12.”

“All right. When did you last see him?”

Tyler thought. Adam had come home late last night. When Tyler was asleep.

“I guess after school yesterday. About 4?”

The woman asked for plenty of other information. Address, Adam's phone number, Social Security Number.

Tyler shot out answers. Olympic speed answers.

“All right Tyler.” said the woman, unrealistically calm. “We'll find your brother soon. Mind giving us your number so we can call you if he's found?”

Tyler tried to follow the woman's example, and calmly said his cell phone number, home phone number, and just about every other number you could reach him with.

“Okay Mr. Bass. We will send somebody out looking as soon as possible.”

“Thanks.” he said, then hung up.

Tyler got on the computer again.


They're looking for him. And if any police call you, let me know.

Dylan


Dylan picked up his binder after 8th period with Mr. Miller in U.S. History.

He had just finished ranting on about some war or something that he probably fought in two thousand years ago.

He looked over at his friend Henry.

“Dylan, can I speak to you for a minute?” said Mr. Miller.

“Henry, you and Crystal wait for me. I'll be out in a minute.” said Dylan. Crystal was his twin sister. Two minutes younger. He always walked home with her and Henry.

Dylan really hated staying after school, especially with Mr. Miller. Miller gave him the creeps. He was a rather old man. Realistically, he was probably in his mid 50s. But Dylan guessed he was over three thousand years old. He had gray hair and gray stubble around his mouth. His eyes were bloodshot, to the point where his normal eye color was unknown. He was also pretty fat. He had a belly that was visible through his shirt.

After everybody had filed out, Dylan went up to Miller's desk.

Mr. Miller opened his drawer. And pulled out four small figurines.

“Dylan, do you know what each of these are?” asked Mr. Miller.

Dylan looked at them, lined up on the desk.

The first one was a fully black wolf. It's eyes were the only part that weren't pitch black. The eyes were red. The entire set was mounted on individual black pedestals. The second featured a thin black rod pointed up, with three small wasps poking out on the edge of the rod. They were so complex. It must've been crafted with magic. If such a thing existed.

The third had the same rod as the second, but instead of wasps, it had three deep blue piranhas.

The fourth was the largest. It showed off a large yellow snake-like dragon. It had no legs or wings, and it had what looked like a beck. It's eyes were blood red, and it had hair on it's neck and tail. It was curved so just its middle was touching the pedestal.

“That's a wolf.” said Dylan, “Wasps, Piranhas, and a Dragon.”

Miller opened his desk again, and took out a small red rod, about the size of a pencil. “More or less right. This first one is a Lupa Shadus. Or, in common terms, a Shadow Wolf. Little things made of shadows.” He talked about it like they were his children. “This next one is not just wasps. They're North American Blaze Wasps. They fit their name perfectly. Next is the Pacific Flying Piranha. Can't go five minutes without water, but can fly miles in those five minutes.”

Miller looked at the last one as if the others didn't exist. “This one. My favorite. The Sahara Wyvern. By the way, never mix up a dragon with a wyvern. Big mistake. Each one is unique. A trait that all wyverns have, but not dragons. This one is just beautiful. Isn't it?”

“Look, I gotta get home.” said Dylan. “Got a big project in Science.”

Miller closed his drawer, and held up the red rod. “You know what this is?”

“A red stick.”

“No.”

“Fine. A crimson rod. Now can I go?”

Miller tapped the Shadow Wolf with the rod. “It's the Life Rod. Makes inanimate objects come to life.”

And, as he had stated, the Wolf had come to life. It jumped off the pedestal, and was now leaping around on the desk. Careful to avoid any papers or pencils.

The little wolf barked at Dylan. It would've been cute, if it hadn't grown into a full size version.

The small thing jumped off the desk, and grew. It was the size of a bear when it was done. Miller snapped, and the doors and windows slammed shut.

“What's going on?” asked Dylan.

Miller pet the Shadow Wolf (somehow), who wagged its tail affectionately. “My friends here don't really like you. Truth is, me and them, want you dead.” Miller's voice quickly changed from the fake friends voice, to a real enemy voice.

The Wolf jumped at Dylan and latched its teeth into his shoulder.

Dylan tried to remember what Miller had said about it. Made of shadows. Dylan thought about that. It had to be useful. He limped over to the light switch, and the wolf let go of his shoulder, and pounced again. Dylan brought his arm up, and slammed on the light switch. The room was nearly pitch black now. The wolf faded, and faded, until it reappeared on its pedestal. Dylan massaged the shoulder, and tried to pop it.

“Nice job Dylan.” said Miller. Again with the fake friend voice! “Can you beat the next ones?”

Miller tapped the rod on the wasps, and the pole disappeared. The wasps grew slightly, and lit on fire.

The name was appropriate.

They launched at him, and all three jammed into his face.

It was agonizing. Dylan was being burned, which hurt a lot more than the lame stings.

Dylan grabbed one, and ripped it off his face. He threw it towards the ground, but it came right back up on his chin. Dylan looked around.

He saw the metal flyswatter that Miller kept. Did he have it for this reason? Dylan ran over to it, and grabbed it. It was light. Very light.

He ripped a wasp off his face, and smacked it mid-flight with the swatter.

He quickly did the same to the other two. They were all dead now.

Miller held out the pedestal, and the corpses flew back. By the time they were there, they had returned to normal form.

Two down, two to go! Thought Dylan. He dropped the metal swatter, and got ready.

“Already figured out how to beat my piranhas?” asked Miller.

Dylan didn't answer. This would be easy. He would have to get rid of all water, and just stall them for five minutes.

Miller tapped them with his rod, and they came to life.

They flew at Dylan, and dug their teeth into his left arm. One on his bicep, another on his elbow, and a third on his hand.

He ran towards the fish tank Miller had, and tipped it over. The piranhas let go, ripping skin off Dylan. The one that gripped his hand had decided to take a souvenir. His pinky.

Blood flew everywhere. Dylan fought it, and limped towards the drinking fountain, while the piranhas splashed around in the spilled water, trying the salvage all they could.

Dylan took two corks that sat next to the sink, and plugged the faucet, and the fountain.

The piranhas chased him around for a while. Dylan did all he could to evade them. He even ripped the back off a chair, and smacked one of the fish.

The fish flew at him. When they were right in front of him; as if the gods were looking down at him; they stopped and fell towards the ground.

Miller brought them back, and stared at Dylan, who was using tissues and tape to make a quick bandage for his hand.

Miller tapped the wyvern, and it came to life, filling the room, and ripping off the roof.

Henry

Henry walked out, thinking Dylan's stay had something to do with the kid falling asleep yesterday. So Henry gathered his backpack and grabbed his iPod Shuffle. He liked the iPod. It was small, and simple.

He put his headphones in, and turned on the iPod.

Henry walked almost out the door when a teacher snapped at him.

“No iPods in school!” she said.

Henry pushed open the door and stepped out. “There.” he said.

He walked out onto the stairs of the school. Crystal Petersburg sat on the top step, waiting.

“Dylan had to stay after with Miller.” he said.

Crystal looked at him. “What’d he do this time?” she joked.

They listened to music on Henry's iPod, and talked. Anyone would think Henry liked Crystal, but it wasn't true. Henry thought of Crystal as a very good friend. And he had already been threatened by Dylan not to go for her.

He didn't really care. She was like his sister, just as Dylan was like his brother.

Henry looked back. There was a girls basketball game going on. He knew there were plenty of students inside.

The sun was just starting to set and Henry was getting impatient, when the roof of the school ripped off.

Henry and Crystal launched to their feet, and saw a huge, 50 foot dragon roaring from Mr. Miller's room.

Henry stared at it. Did he fall asleep? The two rushed inside the school, and dodged storms of screaming students and teachers.

They got to Miller's room, and threw the door open. Miller was sitting on the dragon, and it flew off. The room was demolished.

Desks were broken and overturned. Miller's aquarium was smashed. And Dylan lay on the floor.

Henry and Crystal ran up to him. Dylan was breathing. He was covered with blood and sweat. He coughed, and they helped him up.

Dylan’s head popped up.

“What happened?” asked Chrystal.

Dylan looked around. “Miller tried to kill me. Did you guys just see the dragon?”

“Yeah. Kinda hard to miss.” said Henry.

“Not as hard as you may think.”

Henry looked towards the doorway. A man stood there, maybe sixteen years old. He wore a BYU sweatshirt, and jeans. Linked to his belt, was a sword. A full metal sword.

“Nice to meet you, I'm Raop. But I gotta go after Miller, so any questions you have, make ‘em fast.” he said.

“Raop?” asked Dylan.

Raop completely disregarded Dylan. “People didn't see the wyvern. They probably saw like an elephant. Or maybe a tornado.”

“But, why did we see a dragon?” asked Crystal.

“Wyvern.”

“Whatever.”

“Because you need eyes of a Mag to see them.”

“Mag?” asked Dylan. “Does that have something to do with my green eyes?”

Raop looked at Dylan. Into his Emerald Green eyes. “Oh no. You're the one who was attacked?” Raop sounded afraid.

“Yeah. Miller totally went crazy!” said Dylan.

Raop bit his bottom lip. “That means you don't have long. None of you do.”

“Not long before what?” asked Crystal.

Raop looked towards the clouds, like they held the answer. “You've got a week. In that time, get ready to run. And do some looking up on your parents.”

Raop ran out of the room through a gaping hole in the wall, and soon left Henry's sight,

Lauren


The girl pushed through the heavy crowd of seventh and eighth grade students. Lauren was tall for her age, so she kind of blended in with the crowd. But she was also a bit young for her height.

Some idiot held out an leg as Lauren got to her feet from almost tripping. Her momentum forced her onto the leg, and onto the ground.

“Haha! Such a klutz!” laughed Katie. Katie was the sixth grade bully. She had a way of mixing actions and words into the ultimate weapon against nerds, geeks, and socially challenged kids.

Lauren fell into the third group.

“Wow, I didn't think it was possible to trip over your own ugliness.” said Katie sarcastically.

Lauren felt a tear drain down her face.

“Oh, is the baby about to cry? Tough it up!” Katie was a total jerk!

“Hey, If I were you, I'd shut up.” said an eighth grade girl.

“What are you gonna do about it?”

The newcomer, with her long blond hair, and blue eyes stood right above Katie. She was taller. Way taller.

Katie looked like a midget compared to her.

“I'm gonna punch you in the freaking face and make sure you cry.”

“I can take you!” Katie held up her fists. With her green hair extensions in her blonde hair, she looked like a leprechaun ready to fight.

Katie threw a fist at the girl, but she slapped it out of the way. She grabbed Katie's arm, and held it behind her back. When Katie started screaming for mercy, the girl let go, and Katie ran away.

The girl smiled at her work and turned around. “You okay?” she asked.

“Yeah.” said Lauren, still trying to wipe away tears.

“No, don't. Crying washes the emotion. I'm Jessie.”

“Short for Jessica?” Lauren guessed.

“No. Just Jessie. My parents really don't like that name, but they liked Jessie.”

“Okay.” Lauren said, in place of That's pretty messed up.

“Well, you gonna tell me your name?” asked Jessie.

“Oh right. It's Lauren.”

“That's a very pretty name.” said Jessie.

“Thanks. Not fit for me though.”

“What are you talking about? You're gorgeous!” Jessie said.

“Don't lie.” Lauren always heard people compliment her. Pretty, beautiful, gorgeous. Which was true. Her curly black hair always was perfect when she woke up. Her dark brown eyes provided a finishing touch to her Navajo face.

“My mom taught me to never lie. So I'm not.”

“Well you lied again. Need me to tell your mom?”

Jessie started laughing. “You're alright kid. Funny. Got a boyfriend yet?”

Lauren's face turned red. She didn't even have a crush. Most guys at her school were just ugly jerks. Two very unpreferable things in her mind.

“So you don't?”

“No. Nobody.” Lauren felt relieved to say it out loud. She just hoped that nobody else heard. “Why are you talking to me. You're like two years older.”

“Actually, my parents put me in kindergarten a year early, so technically, I'm 12. You're eleven? Twelve?”

“Eleven.”

“So yeah. I'm only a year older.” Jessie smiled. “Two grades up, but one year up. As for why I'm talking to you, it looks like all you need is a friend.”

Jessie was right. Lauren was very hated by the people in her grade. She didn't have any real friends.

“But don’t you’re friends not appreciate you talking to me?” Lauren asked.

“My friends can shut up if they know what’s good for them.”

The bell rang. “See ya. Mrs. Larson flips out if you're late for homeroom. A little tip for eighth grade.”

“Bye.” said Lauren, and walked to her homeroom class.

Lauren


“Late much? Miss Johnson?” Lauren ended up late to her homeroom when Katie tripped her. Again.

“Locker trouble, tripped.” Lauren said. Mr. Jefferson was so annoying! Most days she wanted to punch him in the face.

Lauren took her seat next to Rita, the goth girl. Or at least, that's what everybody called her. Well, what Katie and her goons called her.

“I'm not buying it.”

“Look, as much as I hate you and your class, I'm going for perfect attendance. So shut your dumb little face and leave me alone.”

Mr. Jefferson was caught off guard with this outburst. “Wha- How- You- Principal's! Now!” he stuttered out.

Lauren stood up, and walked out of the room, in the direction of the principals office.

She walked in, and saw an eighth grade girl leaning back in the cushioned chair of the office.

“Hey Squirt.” said Jessie.

“Hey.” said Lauren.

“All right, sit down.” said Mr. Kolten, the principal. Lauren sat in a seat next to Jessie. “All right, both of you talked back to a teacher, so I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone.”

“We're not the birds are we?” asked Jessie.

“See, this is what I mean! You give your dumb comment, and think it's funny!” Mr. Kolten talked for about thirty minutes. Giving the full lecture on talking back, and somehow got on the topic on drugs, vandalism, and murder.

Lauren hoped Jefferson didn't over exaggerate, like say that she shot Rita in the face.

When Kolten let them go, she stood up, and walked out. Jessie put on more of a show. She stood up, hurled her back of the chair, stepped out and stretched.

“I underestimated you Squirt.”

“My name's not Squirt.”

“Okay, Squirt.” as annoying a Jessie was, she was funny. A good friend.


Lauren sat down on the bus, and looked out the window. She just stared at the trees, the morning frost.

It was beautiful.

“Can I sit here?”

The asker was Rita. She was wearing totally black clothes, and had silver piercings. Seven pairs along her ears.

Lauren has just realized that she had never heard Rita talk. Her voice sounded sweet, but capable of really rude things.

“Sure. You can sit here.”

Rita dropped on the seat, her black hair bouncing up and down. She closed her sapphire blue eyes, and sighed.

“Lauren, isn't it?” asked Rita.

“Yeah.” answered Lauren.

“Rita.” she introduced herself. “So you met Jessie?”

“You know her?” wondered Lauren.

Rita nodded. “Mm-hm. My sister. Parents messed up and put her in the wrong grade, but not me. I'm on top of things.”

Lauren looked at Rita. It was hard to believe that her and Jessie were related, other than the face. The face was exactly the same.

“It's weird, I always knew you as, the goth.” said Lauren.

“Yeah. Katie and her dorky friends think that just because I like the color black, I'm a goth. I'm not a goth. I look good in black, and I pierced my ears.” Lauren imagined her in other colors, red, blue, green. She really did only look good in black.

“You hate Katie too?” asked Lauren.

“Hate is a strong word.” said Rita. “So yeah. I hate her.”

Lauren giggled. Rita was like her sister. Not so much looks, but personality.

The bus pulled up at the school, and Lauren and Rita stood up. “C'mon.” Rita said.

They walked into the school together. Lauren thought people would burst out laughing when they saw Challenged Lauren with Gothic Rita.

But the only person who did, was Katie.

“Wow! I'm glad you two found each other!” said Katie. “Losers should stick together!”

“Then where are your friends?” Lauren said “Running late?”

Rita laughed, and held her hand out for a high five. Lauren proudly accepted.

Katie's face turned red. “They have better things to do!” Katie shoved Lauren to the ground, and laughed. Rita stared at her, and held out her hand.

Rita wasn't touching anything, but she slowly brought her fingers together like she was crushing an invisible grape.

Suddenly, Katie's hands lurched up to her neck. She was choking? On what?

Rita stopped the pinching, and Katie's breathing got back to normal.

Katie screamed. “I don't know what you-you freaks just did, but you're so dead for it!” Katie ran off.

Rita turned around and smiled innocently. “Guess I have some explaining to do.”

Lauren


“Before I begin,” started Rita, “I need you to promise to keep your mouth shut until I'm done. Deal?”

“Deal.” said Lauren.

“All right.” Rita sighed. “Well, me and my sister Jessie were sent here to protect you. We don't know from who or why, but we know you need to be protected. Any questions?”

“Yeah.” said Lauren.

“Good. If you weren't confused, than you'd be killed on the spot. You see, there's two Realms, or realities. This one, the Technology Realm, and the other one, the Magic Realm. Similarities are much more abundant than differences though.” Rita would be confusing anyone but Lauren. Lauren just listened to the girl, her new friend. “Anyway, I tried to get into most of your classes, and I did. Well, excluding fifth period. It's because if anything happens to you, who knows what will happen?

“You see, there's just a handful of people who know what we're up against. Me and Jessie are not in that handful, but we know it threatens both Realms. We don't know what you have to do with it, but you're very important. Oh, and we have reason to believe that you are from the Magic Realm. Found your real mother and your brother.”

“Hold it.” Lauren interrupted. “I think I'd remember being pulled away from my family.”

“You promised. Anyway. The answer to that is quite obvious. Whoever wanted to kill you didn't want anyone helping you. They tried to send you here alone, along with some others that our operatives are looking for. But we helped you guys. Gave you guys fake families.”

“There are others like me?”

Rita nodded. “Well, we think. Hopefully. Our boss doesn't know much, but he knows the most.”

“Who is it?”

“I've never met him, but I hear he's on his deathbed. We don't really have a cool name for the group. In this situation, names are a luxury we don't have time for. We just call it the Dark Star.”

Rita just sounded so different now. So foreign. Like Lauren had just met her an hour ago. And she was so serious. Either this was the truth, or Rita should join the Drama Club.

“You're real name is Lauren Melanie Palawits. And we were assigned to take you three others to the Magic Realm.”

Lauren had trouble processing all this. “So, you're gonna rip me from my entire life? For what?”

“Survival. Of everyone. Both Realms. And this isn't your real life. This is real, but not your life! Please believe me.”

“Who said I didn't?”

“So you'll come?” Rita's face lit up.

“I'll think about it.”

“Well think fast. We need to leave in about three seconds.”

It was at that time that the Art Room exploded.

Lauren


She didn't really find it a shock to see Jessie running and cheering from that direction.

“Jessie! Low profile?” Rita scolded. “You said it yourself!”

“Hereby overruled.” Jessie said, smiling. “And chill Little Sis. It wasn't me! Also got a bit of bad news.”

“What?” asked Lauren.

The black-haired boy walked down the blazing hallway. His hand was on fire. No, it held a ball of fire.

Lauren stepped back. The boy couldn't have been over a year older than her. He walked up to her, his tan face looking straight at her.

He stopped in front of her. The only sounds were of the crackling fire, and Lauren's heart racing like an Olympic Runner.

“You're like me.” he said, the maliciousness that showed from his face was gone, and now from his voice.

He shook his head. “No. You're not.” The evil back. “You need to die.” the boy's flame turned black. It didn't really look black. It looked just as if a fire was viewed through a black-tinted window.

He threw it at Lauren, and hit her square in the chest, knocking the wind out of her. How can fire knock the wind out of you?

She curled on the ground, and heard Rita and Jessie being fought off by him.

“How dare you do that to Squirt!” Jessie yelled. That was the only part Lauren wanted to repeat, due to much vulgarity.

Lauren looked up. The boy with the greasy black hair stared at her. Then, the evil left again, and he ran off. “I'm sorry!” he yelled.

Lauren got up, and looked around. Rita and Jessie were lying on the ground, and the flames were spreading.

She picked up Rita, but found Jessie was too heavy. The most she could do was drag her. She needed help.

As if by magic, two firemen looked at her.

“What are you kids still doing in here?” the shorter one asked.

Lauren tried to think of an excuse. “I was looking for my friends.”

“Well let the professionals do it.” said the tall one. “We'll take them, you get out. Now.”

Lauren didn't hesitate to run out of the building. When she looked at the building, she smiled. It was kind of beautiful. The way the flames lit up the shining bricks, the way the melting shingles and metal siding fell perfectly.

She didn't want this moment to end.

But then it did.

Mimla


Bursting down the hall with a plastic cup of Starbucks coffee in her hand, she nearly crashed into her locker. She tossed the cup into the garbage.

Made it.

Mimla opened her locker, and tossed her stuff in. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, and just went back.

The cocoa-skinned girl in the mirror looked even more trapped than Mimla, even though they were the same person.

But the girl in the mirror didn’t look worried. Being trapped in the small space of glass, you’d think they’d be sad.

But no. She didn’t look sad. She looked happy. Like even though she had little friends, even though her name meant nothing, she found the good in life.

Mimla decided it wasn’t the right time for a motivational speech from a freaking rectangle of glass, and she slammed it shut. She looked at her watch.

8:03

First period.

She wasn’t that late.

Mimla walked into room 421 for her English class.

“Mimla,” asked Ms. Porter as she walked in, “Why are you late?”

“My stupid alarm clock.” she said. A few light snickers came from the back table. The ‘popular’ girls’ table.

A quick glare at them shut them up. Ever since last month when she tipped over a desk and threw chairs at them, they learned Mimla wasn’t a comedian.

“All right.” said Ms. Porter. “You just missed attendance. I’ll fix it.”

“Thanks.” said Mimla, as she took her seat with her group of friends.

They were also African-American. Tilca was the blackest black ever, and Hilce was the whitest white.

Tilca’s name was from some really really old and forgotten language. It meant ‘Burned’. A very appropriate name for him. Hilce’s name was the same language and meant ‘Snow’. Again appropriate.

Mimla’s name was from the same language, and meant nothing. Also appropriate. She meant nothing to anybody.

“Now get out your persuasive essay, were gonna edit them.” said Ms. Porter.

Mimla grabbed hers on racism. Not the main thing she was bugged by, but a really big one.


The three walked home together. Tilca and Hilce lived together like brothers, even though it was obvious they weren’t. Hilce’s parents passed away when Hilce was about three months, and Tilca’s parents had been the godparents.

Mimla lived next door and left them when they were there.

“See ya!” she said, as she walked into her house.

That’s where she found Dave.

Mimla

She saw Dave on the couch.

“Who-who are you?” Mimla asked. “How’d you get in?”

“Mimla, it’s a long story.” he looked at her. He had short blond hair, and blue eyes, and wore a simple black shirt.

“How do you know my name?”

“What part of long story do you not understand? Look, my name’s Dave, I let myself in, and I like long walks on the beach.”

Mimla rolled her eyes. “Why are you here?”

“To warn you.”

Mimla was confused. “Warn me about what?”

Dave answered by saying, “Keep those close, closer. For they are you only downfall.”

Mimla just looked at him. That would probably be the smartest thing he’d ever said, but too bad she had no idea what it meant.

“What does that even mean?” Mimla asked.

Dave looked around. “This isnt a safe place at all.” he said, “Don’t look for me, I’ll find you.”

And with that statement, Dave literally sunk into the ground.

Karla


Karla woke up, and her brown hair was a total mess. She took a shower, then groomed her hair. When she was done, her hair was straight and clean.

She arrived at school, and sat in her seat for homeroom.

Tyler sat next to her.

“So, any news on Adam?” asked Tyler.

Karla shook her head. ‘But you know, I’ve got an idea.” she said. She was sure, that after only three days, Tyler was willing to try anything to find his brother.

“Give it to me.” he said.

“We could try looking for him ourselves.” she looked at him to predetermine if he’ll accept.

He looked to be thinking it out. Karla knew he would end up accepting, but not when he would.

“Sure, but where to start?” he asked.

At that time, their homeroom teacher looked at them, saying, “Tyler?”

“Yeah.”

“They need you in the office.”

“May I go to the bathroom?” asked Karla, as an excuse to go with him.

“I guess.”

The two went over to the office where they found a man in a police uniform.

“Any info on Adam?” asked Tyler.

“Actually, yes.” said the man. “I’m Officer Kalvin. But no need to bore you about me. Anyway, we found someone who thinks he saw Adam. He was talking to a mysterious man, who fits the description of Timothy Jenkins, in Laramie Wyoming. We’ve had trouble tracking him down, as his boss just reported he moved. And we don’t know where.”

“He was kidnapped?” asked Tyler horrified.

“Yes. The witness said Adam was hit with a hammer and knocked out, then was taken by Timothy.”

Karla put her mouth next to Tyler’s ear. “Dude, this gives us a better reason to go after him!” she whispered.

Tyler nodded. He got that Kalvin wouldn’t let them go looking for Adam.

“All right. That helps.” said Tyler.


When Tyler and Karla got home, they both agreed to pack, and meet in the park. Karla quickly packed. She grabbed a few sets of clothes, and some food. She ran out the door, and ran to the park. Tyler was sitting under a tree.

“Ready to go?” he asked.

“Sure.” she replied.

Crystal


Crystal thought about what Raop said. She also thought long and hard about it. But on the way home that day, she decided to do it.

She got onto her laptop, and went to Google.

She typed in ‘Helen Petersburg’, her mother.

Crystal scrolled through the results. There wasn’t much though. She didn’t find anything that could mean her mother.

No big deal, she thought Mom doesn’’t work. Clearly there’s nothing on her.

She then erased her mom’s name, and typed her father’s name.

“Yo Crystal. Time to eat.” said Dylan. “Woah. What are you doing?”

“Doing some looking up on mom and dad.” she said. Then she saw that there was no results on her father.

“Dude, look at this.” she said.

Dylan looked. “So?”

“What does dad do?” Crystal tested.

“He sells homes. And obviously you’d have something on him.” Dylan looked like he was still looking for something on dad.

“Let’s ask them about it during dinner.” said Crystal. “Then some looking up on us.”

The two walked down the stairs to a table of mashed potatoes.

They sat down, and their mother handed them full plates of mashed potatoes and gravy.

The two started slowly eating.

“Well, what a fun bunch.” said Mom sarcastically.

Crystal set her fork down. “Mom, I’ve been looking for information on you guys for a...school project, and I didn’t find anything.”

“Spell my name right?” asked Dad.

“Yeah. Mom I wasn’t surprised, but Dad should’ve had plenty.”

Their parents exchanged worried looks.

“Look, first of all, we know it wasn’t a school project” said mom “and second, we’re not really your parents.”

Crystal slightly suspected this, but this still came as a surprise.

“Your real father died soon after you two were born, and we don’t know where your mother is. She created us to take care of you.”

“Hold it,” said Dylan, “Created?”

“Oh. Right. We’re not even real. And I think it’s time for you guys to find your own mother. I know this is really crazy for you right now, but you know...”

“What does she look like?” Crystal didn’t know what this had to do with anything, but she wanted to know.

Her mother looked up. “Oh, a lot like me.” she said. “In the most noticeable details. Hair, eyes, skin, build. Her face is just so beautiful that I can’t describe it.”

Crystal just tried to imagine. She couldn’t. “Have you met Raop?”

“Yeah. He’s coming to get you in the morning I believe. You packed?”

Both of them agreed.

“Then look up yourselves.” her mother stood up and picked up the plates. “Go.” she said it in a way that was calm, sweet, but strict.

They went to Crystal’s room again to look themselves up.

Crystal


She decided to look up Dylan first.

The computer instantly came up with a newspaper article from some Indian reservation from eight years ago.

It was promising. In the tense that it may have information.

They opened it up, and read.

Mother of Four Children Deemed ‘Most Unlucky Parent’

Lynda Peterson, age 25, lost both her twin children, Dylan and Crystal, to a kidnapping. The unknown kidnapper also killed Lynda’s husband, Frederick. This is not the very first time it’s happened. Two years ago, the couple also lost their other children at once, Tyler and Adam Peterson, who have been found as Tyler and Adam Bass. Unfortunately, Lynda passed away due to cancer soon after this ordeal with her children. Dylan and Crystal haven’t been found yet, but police are looking all they can for the twins.


Crystal and Dylan exchanged worried looks. With this article, they realized they really didn’t have all that to find.

“Look at this.” said Dylan. “Tyler and Adam. We got brothers.”

Crystal knew what this meant. She typed in ‘Adam Bass’, and found another newspaper article.

The article was entitled, “Missing Child” and Crystal didn’t want to read it. She did anyway.

Missing Child

Adam Bass (12) was found missing from his home. He was last seen by his brother, Tyler, at their home the previous day. Adam left a note saying he had run away. Police are looking everywhere for him. Tyler reported that he woke up one Saturday morning, and decided to wake Adam up. He found the note, and called the police. Adam was taken from his home eleven years ago, but later found with his brother in the care of Jacqueline and Paul Bass. His real mother, Lynda Peterson, was unfortunately diagnosed with cancer and died four years later. If you have any information regarding Adam’s whereabouts, please contact the authorities immediatly.


It showed a full picture of Adam. He just looked like an older and dirtier version of Dylan. Then it showed Tyler, who looked like an older and cleaner version of Adam.

It also stated an address. A small town in Colorado.

Crystal scrolled down, and saw it was a page where people could leave comments.

Sheesh, looks like a serial killer. lol

man he’s dirty. No wonder he ran away.

Before Crystal could read anymore, Dylan slammed the computer shut.

She didn’t even know her brother, but hated that he was being bullied by these jerks.

“Dylan, let’s just rest.” said Crystal. “We’ll find them soon.”

Dylan left, and Crystal went to bed.

Dylan


Dylan woke up. On a normal Friday, he wouldn’t even be up at 4 in the morning. But obviously, this wasn’t a normal Friday.

He got dressed, and found Crystal waiting next to her door, totally ready.

“I printed off the articles.” she said. Dylan nodded, and they went downstairs. They found their ‘mother’ talking to Raop in the living room.

“Ready?” asked Dylan.

Raop and Helen looked at them. “Oh. Yeah.” said Raop. He stood up. “So, we’re gonna find the rest of them, and get to the Magic Realm.”

“Rest of them?” asked Crystal.

“Yeah. I’ll explain on the way. So, we ready?” he asked.

“Uh...yeah.” said Dylan, obvious fear in his voice.

“All right. Then let’s go!” Raop said, walking out the door.

Lauren


Lauren had a little trouble finding Rita and Jessie in the crowd, but eventually found Rita helping her sister stand.

“Oh. Hey!” said Rita. “What’s up?”

“So we almost get killed, and all you say is, ‘what’s up’?” said Lauren.

“Jeez. You buzzkill. Trying to be in a good mood.”

“So what all do you know about this?” she asked.

Rita sighed. “Fine. Not a good time for that friendly stuff. Anyway, all I know, is that me and Jessie are in charge of you, and it’s up to us to find the elves.”

Lauren raised an eyebrow. “Elves?”

“Yeah. Like pointy ears, all that.”

“I know what elves are. I didn’t know they were real”

Jessie managed to stand on her own. “Squirt, you saw Ritz using magic. You saw that kid use magic. Bet you didn’t know that was real.”

“I guess. So you gotta take me out of here?”

“Totally.” said Jessie. “In fact, now. Your fake folks know about all this.”

“Okay, that thing with the fake parents, I don’t believe that part.”

“Really? Well Squirt, let’s go to your place. Talk to them.”

They were excused to go home, as the building was unusable.


Lauren opened the door to her house.

“Lauren? You’re home? Thought you were leaving.” her mom walked in, holding a bowl of cookie dough.

“She didn’t believe us when was said you weren’t her mom.” said Jessie. She said it in the same way she would say, “She hates puppies.” or, “She’s allergic to fudge!”

Her mother looked at her. “Oh Lauren. I don’t know what’s going on, but these girls certainly do. Listen to them. All I know is that I’m not really your mother.”

Lauren certainly was confused. She had witnessed tons of terrible things in just one day.

But she somehow trusted Rita and Jessie. Even though she just barely met them, she felt like she had known them her entire life.

“So, bye Lauren.” said her mother. Lauren hugged her. She was just leaving her family. Her life. She wanted to say goodbye to her father, but he passed away years ago.

This woman was the only family she knew.

Lauren walked out the door with Rita and Jessie.

When they got out, Jessie changed the mood. “All right!” she said. “Let’s go find us some elves!

Mimla


Mimla just walked to her babysitting job up the hill.

It was for the Robertsons, who had three triplets. They were a bit rowdy, but Mimla had done it before.

She knocked on the door, and waited.

“Hello Mimla!” said Sam Robertson, who open the door. “So, we’ll be back at 11. Make sure the kids are in bed.”

“Got it.” she said.


She had just gotten the triplets to sleep, and she didn’t need any more stress.

But, with Mimla’s luck, stress would be in abundance.

The television was on, and she grabbed the spare remote in the kitchen. When she turned it off, a head popped out from the couch.

“Hey! That was a new episode!” said Dave.

“What the-” Mimla stuttered “You again!”

“You remember! We’re friends now right?”

“Wha-no! We’re not!” Mimla demanded “You broke into my house, and now you followed me to my job!”

“Isn’t that your definition of friendship?”

“No! That’s my definition of a creeper!”

Dave looked beat. Then, his face switched to a happy and playful face. “Just trying to soften you up a bit. Because I know you’ll be stressed soon.

Mimla tackled him, and pinned him.

Dave smiled, and cupped his hands over her ears. It hurt all right, but it didn’t feel like he was trying.

“Look in a mirror.” he smiled and sunk into the ground again.

Mimla stood up, and opened the triplets door.

All three were still asleep. Thank goodness.

Then she went to clean up the downstairs.


When she was done, she decided to take Dave’s advice, and look in a mirror.

And that’s where she saw it. The elf.

Mimla


She flipped out.

The girl looking back in the mirror totally wasn’t Mimla.

It wasn’t! Mimla’s ears were not like that! Her hair was not red either!

She felt her ears. Pointed. She grabbed a bit of her hair, and pulled it in front of her face. Red. Crimson red. Not just ginger red, or even dyed red! It looked like that red had always been her natural hair color!

She already came up with a lie for the trashed place that she had made fighting Dave, she’d just say a cat got in, but how would she explain the ears! And the red hair! What African-American had red hair?

Mimla totally flipped out when she heard the front door open.

She ran downstairs. Better explain it all to them.

“Hi Mimla.” said Mrs. Robertson.

She acted so calm.

“Do my ears look funny to you?” asked Mimla, in case she didn’t notice.

The couple looked at her. “No. Why?” said Mr. Robertson.

Mimla couldn’t believe it. “N-nothing. they just feel weird.”

“Well I like your hair.” said Mrs. Robertson. “Is that dye or just extensions?”

Mimla just stood there with her mouth open. A moth could fly in there and she wouldn’t care.

“Uh. Um...sorry, spaced out.” Mimla chuckled to add effect. “It’s dye. I’m all out though.”

“Oh. Dang.” said Mrs. Robertson. “Well, here’s your payment.”

She took a hundred dollar bill out of her wallet.

Mimla’s jaw dropped again. “That’s a hundred.”

“Good.” she said.

“Isn’t that a little...much?”

“Mimla, you managed to put to bed three four-year old ADHD boys. I think one hundred isn’t enough.”

“Well, it’s plenty. But, it’s just...most jobs I get like ten bucks.” Mimla didn’t argue as she took the money. “Well, I got a big Science project due tomorrow,” Mimla lied “And I still need to write my bibliography.”

She ran out the door, and then home.

When she opened her door, she picked up the phone, and dialed Tilca. He had to know about this.

“Hello?” said Tilca frantically over the phone.

“Hey, Tilca? I gotta tell you something. It’s bad.”

“Well, me and Hilce got our own problem...” the sound faded, as if he dropped the phone.
“Sorry.” said Tilca. “There’s this guy named Dave in our house!”

“I’ll be right over.” said Mimla. She hung up the phone, and ran next door.

Hilce


He woke up to a him right in front of his face

Hilce didn’t know the name, or why he was just standing next to his bed.

“Who are you?” yelled Hilce, as he threw his pillow at the kid,

He said, “My name is Dave. Now get up, get dressed, we don’t have much time.”

Hilce looked at DAve in confusion. He stood up. “Give me a second.” This guy was breaking and entering. He needed to call the police.

Hilce walked downstairs with Tilca, then the phone rang.

“I’ll get it.” Tilca said.

Hilce ran at Dave and Tilca picked up the phone. Hilce tried to tackle Dave to get him ready for when the police showed up., but he cupped his hands over Hilce’s ears. He screamed in pain, but his ears felt different. Along with his back, and the small of his back.

Dave ran, and knocked over the phone Tilca was still using.

Hilce rubbed his face, but scratched himself with his claws.

Wait, claws?

He looked at his hand, or paw, or whatever the heck it was now, and ran to the bathroom.

Tilca


He hung up the phone just seconds before Mimla opened the door.

“Dave! You creep!” yelled Mimla.

Dave cupped his hands over Tilca’s ears, and sunk into the ground. Tilca sunk to the ground.

She ran to help him up, and that’s when Tilca noticed her hair, and ears.

“Y-you look like an elf.” said Tilca.

“So do you.” said Mimla. She held up a mirror, and Tilca saw his face. Long pointed ears, and a pale blue head of hair. His skin was still black, so it looked weird, but also kind of cool.

“What the..he did that same thing to Hilce!” Tilca stood up “We gotta help him!”

They both ran to the bathroom, and saw Hilce curled up on the floor.

They didn’t need to see his face to see what happened to him.

Hilce’s hair had changed from its original blonde, to a deep yellow. It also had a bit of orange near the ends.

His ears were also pointed, but the big difference was that he had wings. And a tail.

Huge wings, curled up with him, and a long, reptilian tail. The scales on both were orange, and the wings had feathers. The tail also had the same feature on the end.

“Hilce, what’s happening?” asked Mimla.

Hilce grunted sadly. Probably something like, “Leave me alone!”

“His true form was revealed.”

That annoying voice! Tilce turned around, and grabbed Dave by the collar of his striped polo shirt.

“You got guts coming back here!” Tilca’s hand felt hot. Way hot. He didn’t make much of it, until he noticed that Mimla was staring in fear.

His hand was on fire. Wait, no. He was holding fire. It wasn’t burning him at all. In fact, it wasn’t burning anything. Just a disembodied orange flame. Just...there.

Tilca let go, and it hit the ground, lighting the carpet on fire. Dave blew on it like a birthday candle, and, miraculously, put the blaze out.

“Sheesh Tilca. Be a bit more careful with magic.” said Dave. How did this guy know his name?

“What did you do to us?” yelled Mimla.

“Well, if you were actually listening, Mimla,” said Dave, “Then you’d have heard that your true forms were revealed.

Tilca hated Dave, even though they didn’t know each other.

“What do you mean, true form?” said Hilce, who was now up, and baring sharp fangs.

“I mean, true form.” said Dave. “Kind of self explanatory.”

“No. How is this our true form!” said Hilce. “I never noticed these wings! Or this tail! Kind of hard to miss!”

“That’s the beauty of magic.” said Dave. He pulled a small marble out of the air, and tossed it up. It stayed in one spot for a few seconds, then it fell.

“What do you mean?” said Mimla.

“Sheesh, are you guys stupid?” asked Dave sarcastically, “These are all self explanatory!”

“Not very believable. Didn’t do a very good job establishing your credibility.” said Tilca. Dave looked and acted so stupid and annoying.

“I admit that my occupation is a difficult one, but it’s also very tedious and irritating. So I attempt to liven things up a tad but acting like that. So do not let my unpredictable behavior prejudge whether you heed my words, or ignore them.”

Tilca was proven wrong.

“And I would like to establish new theories of me in your minds. So, I’ll tell you this now. I am not what I appear to be. Well, I am. I’m am a homo sapiens, or human or normal terms. But I am a magical being or a, Mag.”

It was like Dave was trying to rub it in Tilca’s face. Like they were having a contest to see who can sound the smartest. Dave was crushing Tilca.

“Anyway,” Dave said, “There’s two realities. This one we reside in currently, the Tech Realm, and the Magic Realm, the one we need to get you three to. You were born there, but were brought here to protect you. Only my leader knows why, but he is very wise, and we normally don’t question him. He said we needed to protect you until your juvenile years. We classify eleven, twelve, in that range.

“There are ten of you. Spread across this country. There are some groups, to keep you guys together. Makes it simpler. Your parents are actually artificial guardians we have created to raise you through your infant and child age. They have served their purposes and will be taken back through the magic in which they were created. We will allow you to say goodbye, but we don’t have much time. Rita and Jessie will be here soon.”

“Who?” asked Mimla.

“Two of my operatives. I’m in charge of the branch, and we agreed to meet here. With the two and their assignment.”

Dave just sounded so smart now. He was starting to become more believable. “Who’s your leader?” asked Tilca.

Dave looked at him. “His name is unknown, as is his age, and practically all information pertaining to his existance. All we know, is that he has been working to stop people who use magic for evil for years. Just as the Tech Realm has what is called the FBI, we have our organization. We’re simply called, ‘The Dark Star’.”

Tilca really believed Dave. He was actually smart. And serious.

“So, we gotta wait for this Rita and Jessie,” started Hilce, “Then what?”

“Then we’d have to make our way the the Bermuda Triangle. A major Fracture.”

“Fracture?”

“Well, the two Realms started out as one. Separated into the Teks, and the Maags. The Teks had very logical minds and don’t often accept things for what they really are. They can’t see any magical thing. They were also very smart. Able to come up with new ideas and better thoughts. It wasn’t until the use of electricity started that the Maags stopped doing what they did, as modern technology doesn’t really agree with a Maag creating it.

“The Maags were very creative. They would easily get jobs done, and even play with magic. But they weren’t very smart. They often don’t do well remembering things, and doing things right. But they’re terrific fighters. Did you know that half the Roman empire were Maags? Anyway, they excelled in fighting, because many creatures could be Maags too. Dragons, ogres, elves. All were Maags. Other creatures don’t have one or the other. But the unique thing about humans, is that they can be both. It doesn’t matter.

“But then, billions of years ago, a great and terrible ruler rose up. He was a Maag, and hated all Teks. He would go out, and go kill as many as he could. He started a war between the two people, that went on for a while. Long story short, the person who ended the war tried to conquer them himself. And he was put in the perfect prison. The people who imprisoned him made his prison in a place that could only exist between the two Realms.

“They created a half magic, half technological barrier between the Teks and the Mags. They couldn’t see each other, they had no way to interact. Except with Fractures. After the prison guards died, the barrier stood, but it had many imperfections. Places where one can break through the barrier. The Bermuda Triangle is the oldest one. It has been there, even before they died. So people often disappear there.

“People always accidently get through the Fractures. They randomly open up and leave, all over the place. People find their way back sometimes, but if they don’t come back, they classify as missing. Children are actually a big target for Fractures. But they usually find their way back. Only a few people even know about the Fractures, much less control them. But I’m one that can. I’m working on opening up a Fracture, but haven’t mastered the skill yet. I know where all the major Fractures are, and I’m working on the minor ones also. Anyway, when Rita and Jessie get here, we’ll meet up with the other branch, and head out. Very risky, you’ll be risking your lives, but it’ll be worth it according to the Leader.”

“So, let me get this straight.” started Tilca, “We’re gonna follow you to the Bermuda Triangle, and most likely die, because a guy you hardly even know said so?”

“Yeah. Pretty much.”

Dylan


Dylan followed Raop in confusion. He didn’t even know where they were going, much less why. Then, as if reading Dylan’s mind, Raop spoke up.

“We’re heading to Colorado. To meet up with those brothers of yours.” Raop kept walking.

“Wait, we’re walking to Colorado?” asked Crystal.

“No. Walking to a car dealership. Do you think we can walk all the way there in just three days?”

“Why does it need to be in three days?” asked Dylan.

The question struck Raop. “You’ll see.” he said.

Dylan wasn’t really happy with this answer. It implied that it was too bad to say.

They arrived, and using Raop’s money, they quickly bought a used pick-up. Dylan didn’t really know if used was the right word. It looked more like a destroyed pick-up. The back window was totally gone, and cracks filled the others. It was an ugly orange color, dotted with dirt and rust. Actually, dirt and rust dotted with an ugly orange color. Bullet holes were in the hood of the car. The only new looking things were the tires.

They looked brand new.

Raop climbed in the front, and the children agreed to get in the back. They were covered with a tarp, and bungee cords.

Dylan felt that they started moving. He didn’t really feel so safe in the truck, but he somehow felt safe with Raop.

It was a very strange combination of emotions.

Something about the way the car shook when it hit bumps, was relaxing. He closed his eyes, and fell asleep.


He didn’t know what time it was, or even what day it was when he woke up. He just knew that this wasn’t a “stop sign” stop, or a “stop and ask for directions” stop. It was the stop. Their destination.

The tarp came off the truck, and Dylan found they were in a park.

“Yeah. This is it.” said Raop.

Tyler


Tyler saw the pick-up, but thought nothing of it.

But when the tired looking kid saw him, and ran at him, Tyler yelled for Karla. They were just waiting for their pizza to be ready in the park.

But Tyler did notice something about the boy. First, his eyes. They were very green. Like unnaturally green. Second, his black hair. The way it was messed up, kind of reminded him of Adam.

But this wasn’t Adam. He was shorter, had a slightly more childish face.

The boy stopped in front of him. He stared, and seemed to compare Tyler to a picture.

Then, his face lit up in a bright smile. “Crystal! Henry!” he called, “It’s him! It’s Tyler!”

Tyler was shocked. The kid knew him! How did he know him?

The boy’s friends, Crystal and Henry, ran over, Crystal seeming more excited. Tyler looked at Dylan and Crystal. They both had the same shade of black hair as Tyler, and the same Native American skin.

“Who are you guys?” Tyler asked.

“My name is Dylan Pet- I mean. Dylan Onseya, and I’m your brother.” the boy smiled, and Tyler kind of felt bad that he stood there with his mouth open.

“All right,” started the teenage boy with them. “Where’s Timothy?”

“Timothy?” asked Tyler. “The idiot who kidnapped my brother?”

The teenager looked angry. “He...what?”

“Adam was kidnapped by some dork named Timothy.”

“This is Adam, right?” Dylan said, holding up a paper with a picture of Adam, and Tyler. He was pointing to Tyler.

“No kiddo.” said Tyler. “That’s me.” Tyler pointed to Adam. “That’s Adam.”

“Oh. All right.”

“We have to get Timothy. Now!” said Raop.

Raop walked to the car, and Dylan followed. “Well, you coming or what?” he said. “You wanna find Adam, right?”

Tyler looked at Karla. “Should we?” he asked.

“It’s up to you.” she answered. “But if it weren’t, I’d say yes.”

Tyler nodded, and followed Dylan, Crystal, and Henry to the back of the pick-up.

Lauren


Lauren was just steps from her house when it happened.

A huge force pushed her down to the lawn. He got on her back, and saw her home ablaze.

What was with all the explosions today?

Miraculously, a boy walked out of the front door, totally unscathed. It was the same boy from the school explosion. Was he after her?

“We want you!” the boy said. “We need you to die!”

Lauren had only been truly afraid for her life once before, and she had been two.

But now, she was older, and knew that she could possibly die. Jessie ran up to the boy, and grabbed him by the arm.

“What do you mean by that?!” she yelled, very stern. “Who are you?!!?”

The boy’s evil look disappeared. Again.

“Wha-No. I can’t...” the look came back. “My name is Adam Onseya.” he said. “And I mean that she needs to die!” he pointed a finger at Lauren, and broke off running.

Jessie tried to chase him, but he seemed to disappear off the face of the planet.

“We need to go anyway sis.” said Rita. “Was his name really that important? He certainly said it like it was.”

“Maybe he’s conceited.” Lauren suggested.

“Nah.” said Jessie. “I know that name. That kid, is one of Timothy’s assignments.”

Lauren


Lauren didn’t really have any clue what this meant, but she knew it had something to do with the Dark Star.

Rita spoke, to answer Lauren’s questions. “Timothy is a bit of a corrupt operative. Multiple times he’s spoke of overthrowing the Leader. But right now, he can’t even overthrow Raop as Branch Master. You see, the Dark Star is split into Branches, Sections, Council, and then the Leader.

“Each Branch has three to five members, with one being the Branch Master. Then the Section is made up of three to five Branches, with one of the Branches as Master Branch, and the Master of that the Section Master. The Section Masters are representatives to the Council. Twelve people the Leader trusts. Then there's the Leader.

“We got Me, Jessie, and Dave in our Branch. Dave as the Branch Master. One part of our section is Raop, Timothy, and Lynda, who recently died. Raop is the Branch Master, and also the Section Master.”

“So, are we gonna meet up with all these other people you guys are talking about?” asked Lauren.

“In time.” said Jessie. “First, we gotta find Dave. Luckily, Rita can teleport.”

“All right, join hands people,” ordered Rita, “Tight. Don’t want to lose a leg.”

“Again.” said Jessie.

“Shut up. Alright, here we go! One! Two! Three!”

Lauren felt like she was just launched from an amusement park ride. One of those where you're launched high in the air and fall back down. They were spinning. Lauren could feel that. But all she could see were blotches of light and color. Along with Rita and Jessie.

Then, the sensation of being launched left, and now the feeling of falling came. They were falling. Fast.

Lauren was just about to hurl, but didn’t know where it would end up. Her lungs weren’t getting much oxygen, and she started to go light-headed. Then, they hit.

It didn’t hurt as much as it was just disorienting. The three collapsed in front of a small house. It was the same time of day, and very humid.

“Oh my.” said Jessie. “They won’t mind!” she proceeded to throw up in a rosebush. “Fertilizer.” she moaned.

“How you feeling Lauren?” asked Rita.

“Okay. Almost threw up, but I held it in.” she said.

Jessie smiled. “Weak stomach, Squirt.” Rita laughed, and Lauren joined her. The Jessie joined in.

Rita went over to the window. “Well, there’s Dave, but what is he doing?”

Jessie joined her sister looking in the window. “Looks like he’s still convincing them. Wanna find someplace to crash for the night?”

“It’s alright with me.” said Rita.

Lauren followed them to a nearby hotel. They checked in, and went up to their room. They all had one room, to save money.

Lauren looked out the window. She looked at how dark the sky was and headed to bed.

Then Dave came. He simply appeared right next to Jessie’s bed, and shook her up.

“Wha-Dave? Are you ready?” Jessie asked.

“Yeah.” he answered. “Well, almost. Just gotta talk to them. I’m just letting you know so you can get there faster.”

“Same place?” asked Rita.

Dave nodded. “Be there as soon as you can.

Dave then disappeared the same way he came.

Lauren


Before long, they were again standing by the door. It was just next to the previous house.

Jessie knocked on the door, and it was opened by Dave.

Standing behind him were three elves. One of which had features of a dragon.

Dave led the elves out, and Lauren got a better look at them. The one that looked like a dragon was pale white. He had yellow and orange hair, and wings with orange feathers. His tail had a deeper orange and the same feathers on the tip.

His mouth was slightly open, showing fangs, more like a vampire than a dragon. Another was the blackest black ever. His eyes were blue, and his hair was a faded blue. The third was also black, but not as black. She had short, deep red hair, and brown eyes. They were certainly...colorful.

“Hi.” said the girl. “I’m Mimla.” She held out a hand to shake.

Lauren accepted it, and said “I’m Lauren.”

She introduced herself to the boys, the black one Tilca, and the white one Hilce.

After she shook Hilce’s hand, he turned to Dave. “Is there any way to get rid of these wings and stuff?”

Dave nodded. “Pretty easy too. Just imagine they’re gone.”

Hilce closed his eyes, and slowly, his wings and tail got smaller, and smaller, until they were gone. Now he was just a very pale elf.

“All right. Now we gotta get to the others.” said Rita. “And I don’t think I can teleport again. So what do you say we go on foot?”

Jessie and Dave agreed, but Lauren and the elves were hesitant. They didn’t even know where they were going!

“How about you just tell them to meet up with us.” suggested Tilca. “We gotta get to the Bermuda Triangle, so...”

“Well we don’t have any way to tell them.” said Dave. “And we already agreed to meet with them in Colorado.”

Lauren decided she better have a say in this, “I think we should check to see if they’re doing all right. You said this Timothy is a bit of a corrupt operative, so they most likely have trouble.”

“Good point Squirt.” said Jessie.

Tyler


They got in trouble pretty fast.

Tyler, Karla, Dylan, Henry, and Crystal were all in the back of the truck.

They were silent.

Most people experience traumatizing events in slow-motion. Not Tyler. He experienced almost everything the way it was.

He first heard Raop screaming, then, almost suddenly, the impact happened. Tyler flew forward, into a spare tire. The bungee cords gave out, and wind took off the tarp. Tyler saw that Karla barely missed the tire, but Dylan wasn’t as lucky. Tyler’s newfound brother found himself in a mess of jumper cables, and an emergency kit. He was tangled up, and blood stained his clothes and skin.

It was too gruesome that Tyler didn’t want to go see if his brother was okay. Karla had a tough stomach though.

She ran up to Dylan and grabbed the emergency kit, obviously not bothered by the blood covering it.

She opened it up, and took things out. A blanket, a flashlight, a box of matches. She grabbed the blanket, and wrapped Dylan’s right thigh with it. She pressed, trying to stop the blood.

Then, like magic, a bruise on his cheek faded. She took off the blanket, and looked at Tyler.

Tyler sucked up his pain, and walked over.

“It’s gone.” she said.

“What’s gone?”

“The wound.”

Tyler stared at his brothers thigh. The blood was staining the skin, but sure enough, the huge gash that was once there went away.

“I also noticed a bruise on his cheek go away.” said Tyler, hoping it would help.

“We should ask Raop what’s up.” she said.

Tyler continuously felt stupid talking to Karla. She always gave just simple solutions. Maybe the recent events have done something.

But Tyler didn’t argue, they ran to where the drivers seat was, and saw Raop, lying on the ground about ten feet away.

Karla ran over to him, and pressed two fingers to his neck. Karla looked up in horror.

Karla


Karla knew that Tyler got the look, because he ran up fast. She pressed her ear to his chest to make sure it was true.

No. She didn’t do it right. Raop was still alive. She sighed in relief, and Tyler got this.

“Raop,” she said, hoping he was conscious.

No answer.

“Raop.” she said a bit louder.

“Try doing what you did to Dylan.” said Tyler. Tyler gave the most thoughtful solutions. Made Karla feel stupid.

She nodded and put her hands on his chest. She didn’t know of any wound, but if it worked like the bruise on Dylan, it’ll heal it all.

She focused, not exactly knowing how to do this healing.

Karla didn’t know what she was doing! The thing with Dylan was a total accident! She’d probably kill Raop!

But when Raop’s eyes opened, Karla regained hope.

“Found it out, huh?” said Raop.

Karla


Raop took a few minutes to say something else. It slightly looked like he was taking a nap. When his eyes opened, Karla instantly started pressing for answers.

“Raop! I really need to ask you something.” she said.

“Hey, just woke up.” he said calmly. “Give me a few seconds.”

By this time, Raop was the last to wake up. Henry had a nasty cut on his forehead, and Crystal had a lot of bruises. Other than that, everyone was fine.

Raop stood up. “The healing, right?” he guessed. “Wanna know what the heck it is?”

“Yes!” Karla said a little too fast.

“Okay.” he said. “Well, you all can do something extraordinary. I don’t know what the heck it is, but I know that you were given them because of some big problem that’s gonna happen. That’s all I know. For now.”

Karla was disappointed by this answer. She expected a long speech about how to use it. But Raop had stated that was all he knew, so she didn’t press him for any answers.

“Karla’s power is healing.” Raop mumbled. He produced a notepad and a pen from his coat pocket, and wrote something down. “All right. Looks like the truck is totalled. Crap.”

Raop did a quick head count, and they started walking.

“Uh, sir.” said a police officer, “What about your ca-”

“Sell it for scraps.” Raop said. “It was an old piece of junk.”

The officer didn’t argue, but looked like he wanted to.

Henry

They walked to the nearest airport, and requested a flight to Georgia.

“I’m sorry sir.” said the woman. “I’m afraid I’ll need to see an ID.”

This was apparently the thing that Raop hadn’t planned. “Well, uh...um.”

Henry reached in his coat pocket, and felt a small item. It was thin, and rectangular. He pulled it out, with Raop still trying to come up with something.

Henry read the card in his hands. It showed at picture of Raop, and a fake name of, ‘Randy Walton’. The birthday show that he was 24 years old, even though he was not. The rest of the info seem legit.

It was an ID card!

“Randy, you’re so forgetful!” said Henry. “Remember? You gave this to me for safekeeping!”

Raop took the card and looked at it. Then smiled. “Thanks bro. So dumb. Here you go.”

The woman took it, and looked over it. “All right Mr. Walton. Your flight will be Friday at 11 AM.” She smiled. “Who are these kids?”

“Oh, Dylan, Tyler, and Crystal here are my cousins, Karla’s my sister, and Henry’s my brother. We’re visiting our aunt in Atlanta.”

“Oh. Is she sick?”

Apparently, it was easier to go with what people think than to come up with a new lie. “Yeah. Cancer. I don’t know what kind, but she’s doing well.”

“Well, I hope she is. Bye!”

Raop led them out, obviously relieved that it was over.


They found a motel to stay in overnight, and Raop used the fake ID to check in. They found out they were in Laramie, so they’d look for Adam tomorrow, then catch their flight the next day.

“Henry, where’d you get the ID?” asked Raop on the way to their room.

The question caught Henry off guard. He’d totally forgotten about the ID.

“Um...I don’t know.” said Henry. “I reached into my pocket, and there it was.”

Raop looked around to see if anyone was watching. “Look, if your power is...that, then you’re in terrible danger.”

“What? Why?”

“The Dark Star’s enemy is the people I’m guessing are after you guys. The group that Timothy is thought to be in. We think that they are after your powers. Their leader is very powerful, and can take your powers if he wants it. If he has your power, then who knows what kind of stuff he can get. Opposed to Karla’s power, where he’ll just be able to heal. You’re in more danger than anyone right now.”

Henry couldn’t believe it. He was really, truly in danger.

“I’m not gonna write it down that you have this power.” Raop said. “Our Leader says that if we don’t know, then we can’t tell.” Raop sighed, “Let’s just rest, and forget about it, okay?”

Tyler


The tension woke Tyler up. He couldn’t wait to find his brother. Today was the day. He was gonna find Adam, and bring him home. Along with Dylan and Crystal.

But one thing haunted Tyler. Where was their home? Raop had said that they all were from some Magic Realm. Did he have a family there that lost him? Was this going to be a huge family reunion?

Tyler got out of bed .It was dark.

If it wasn’t for the faint light of the digital clock, which read 2:07, he would’ve stepped on Dylan, who volunteered to sleep on the floor.

He made it past the obstacles, and got to the door. Smiling at his work, he carefully opened it, and slipped out, then he closed it. He had put his shoes on already, and he was fine wearing his pajamas.

He walked slowly to the elevator. He decided not to take the stairs, to make less noise. He opened the door, and pressed the lobby button on it. He waited as the box pulled him down.

When the door opened, the lobby was fully lit. But nobody was around. He dashed for the revolving door and made it out.

He then backed away from the motel slowly. He had managed to get the address out of Raop, and a map. The place where this Timothy guy lived was only a few blocks away. Could he make it and back before everyone else woke up? Totally.

He got going. It took him about ten minutes to get to the house. He walked up, and took a deep breath.

He was going to find his brother! He was excited. He could barely handle it.

He knocked on the door.

The wait was extremely short. The door opened and a young boy just slightly shorter than Tyler stood.

“Adam!” Tyler yelled.

Adam kept the same angry expression on his face, He looked very clean too. He wore a black hoodie, and dark jeans. He also wore shoes.

“How’d you find me?” he asked in a slightly angry voice.

Tyler knew his face held a giant smile. “I just did. Long story. Come on! I’ll have Raop explain it!”

“Go away!” Adam yelled. The sudden switch in mood shocked Tyler. “I don’t want to go home! I don’t need to go home! I’m perfectly fine here!”

“No. Adam, you won’t have to...”

“Go away!” Adam yelled even louder. Then, the ground underneath Tyler shook. Fire burst out, surrounding Tyler. “Go away! Go away! Go away!” Adam repeated the two words over and over.

Tyler was scared of the way the fire lit up his brother’s face. It made him look...evil. Not just bad. But evil.

Tyler screamed, but nothing changed. Fire blazed around him, Adam kept saying “Go away!”.

Tyler didn’t know how long it was before he was snatched out of the fire by a tough arm. Tyler could barely process who it was.

Dylan. His other brother. Dylan set him down on the sidewalk, but the fire followed them.

“You son of a-” Dylan yelled. Tyler didn’t know if Dylan actually swore, as he wasn’t really focused on that.

Dylan punched Adam in his nose, and blood spewed out of it.

The fire went down, and Adam ran at Dylan.

“I don’t care if you’re my brother!” yelled Dylan. “I’m still gonna kick your butt!” Tyler changed butt from the real word Dylan said.

Adam brought his leg up and it hit right between Dylan’s legs.

“Aim high, hit low.” said Adam. Then he said something about not aiming for the butt and hit where Adam did. He managed to fit about three swears in there.

Tyler got up and ran towards his youngest brother. Adam walked back into the house.

“Don’t worry.” said Dylan, who was just getting up. “I’m tough.”

“What got into him?” asked Tyler, knowing Dylan didn’t know.

“I don’t know.” said Dylan, and he stood up. The sun was starting to rise now. “But we need to get back to the others. Tell them about this.”

Dylan


Dylan waited with his brother at the house. They figured it’d be easier to get back to the others if they waited.

They would’ve suspected Dylan and Tyler had left to find Adam, and get here.

“So Dylan, why did you come?” asked Tyler.

Dylan looked around, as if he was trying to see if anyone was watching. Although it really didn’t matter if they were.

“Well, I woke up at about 4. I wanted to find Adam. So I found the address, but didn’t have a map. Took like two hours to get here. I found you here being attacked. So, I helped you.”

The story was short. Tyler looked at his phone to verify the time. “6:02” he said. They had agreed to wake up at 6.

That’s when Dylan’s cell phone rang. He took i out of his pocket, and accepted the call. He didn’t recognize the number.

“Hello?” He asked?

“Is this Dylan.” It was a girl. Couldn’t have been much older than Dylan.

“Yeah.” Dylan said. It was awkward.

“This is Lauren. Do you guys need any help?” said the girl.

“What? Why would we need any help?”

“Getting to us stupid.” The way Lauren said stupid wasn’t insulting. It made Dylan laugh a bit. He kind of liked it.

“Um. I don’t think so.” he said. “How do you know me?”

“Long story.” said Lauren. “Gonna have to go. Jessie wants me to stop hogging the phone.”

“Um...okay.” said Dylan.

“Bye!” Lauren sounded rather excited about it.

“Bye.” said Dylan awkwardly, right before Lauren hung up the phone.

Dylan looked at his phone. He’d missed a call from Crystal. The time he’d spent talking to the mysterious Lauren made Crystal not get a call through.

Crap.

Lauren


The time spent waiting for the others was long. It had been three days already. Lauren, the elves, Jessie, Rita, and Dave spent their time in a hotel in Florida.

Jessie and Lauren were sitting in their room, just talking.

“Yeah.” said Jessie. “They started in Colorado, so, following normal flight patterns, they should be here tomorrow.”

“But didn’t Rita say that they were in Wyoming?” asked Lauren.

Jessie was caught there. “Well, um. I got one of their cell phone numbers right here. We can call and find out if they’re in trouble.” Jessie held up her phone. “Would you like to do the honors of calling...” she looked through her contacts. “Dylan?”

Lauren pulled out her own phone and copied the number. She looked at the number, and checked to see if it was right.

Yep.

She pressed call, and waited.

“Hello?” asked a calm male voice.

She talked to Dylan for a minute, asked if they needed any help, then made up an excuse that Jessie was yelling at her, because she didn’t want to feel awkward anymore.

She hung up. “They don’t need any help.”

Crystal


Crystal woke up to the door slamming shut. Her eyes opened, but she didn’t feel like getting up, and closed her eyes again.


When she woke up, Raop was shaking her frantically.

“Crystal! Crystal!” he yelled. “Get up. Oh please. Get up!”

“What’s going on?” she asked tiredly, sitting up in the bed.

“Dylan and Tyler are gone!” he said.

Crystal almost fell back asleep until the last bit of news.

“What?” she didn’t really ask anything. She heard fine. And she knew she did.

“Do you have Dylan’s number? Karla’s phone is dead and she can’t remember Tyler’s.”

Crystal grabbed her phone on the nightstand, and dialled Dylan’s cell phone number. She pressed the phone against her cheek, and waited.

It came up with the busy signal, and then Dylan’s voice mail.

She hung up, and tried to call again, but before she could press call, the phone read, “Battery Dead”, then it shut off.

Crystal was shocked. Dylan hadn’t picked up the one time Crystal was calling.

She knew it was probably not his fault, but she was still shocked. She told Raop what happened.

“Oh well duh!” he said. “Why didn’t I just think of this! Him and Tyler must’ve gone to look for Adam!”

Crystal didn’t realize how she didn’t think of this. Dylan was shaking while waiting to find Adam. She ran into the bathroom, and got ready to go.

Tyler


He sat, him and Dylan making small talk. They knew that the others would come. Dylan saved Lauren’s number into his phone to contact her if needed.

Tyler slightly ridiculed him for it, but Dylan did a good job keeping the subject off of it. They waited, and waited. It was around noon until Dylan spotted Raop in the distance. He told Tyler, who stood up.

He could see him now. It was definitely Raop, with Karla, Crystal, and Henry. He didn’t want to run up to them, because he knew they would just come back to the house anyway.

It was Karla who started running. She hugged Tyler when she reached him. Tyler and Karla always hugged. They were best friends. Although it was often suspected that Tyler and Karla liked each other, it wasn’t true.

“Sorry for ditching.” apologized Tyler when everybody else caught up.

“Understandable.” said Raop. “So what all happened?”

Tyler went through the entire story in the order he experienced it. Dylan then talked about what happened with him, not leaving out any detail. He even said that he saved Lauren’s number.

Raop looked at the house. “So Adam’s in there? We gotta go in.”

“He tried to kill me!” yelled Tyler.

“So? He’s your brother. Forgive him.”

Raop walked over to the door.

Everybody but Dylan and Tyler followed, because they knew how Adam was now.

Raop opened the door and walked in, leading them all in. Tyler decided to go after them, and did. Dylan followed close behind.

“Is this safe?” asked Dylan.

“No.” said Tyler, not caring whether Dylan knew what he was talking about or not.

They walked in, and saw the others had split up, looking for Adam.

“You two get the basement.” said Raop.


It there was anything Tyler learned from horror movies, it was to never go into the basement. It’s always where the creepy things are.

Luckily, Dylan found a light, and flicked it on.

The lone bulb showed the room dimly. It was just a couple empty chairs with ropes on them, and a table close.

“There’s something on the table.” said Dylan.

Tyler walked towards it, and saw two cell phones. An iPhone, and a normal Samsung flip phone.

The Samsung started vibrating and lighting up.

Tyler had a mini heart attack when it started. He reached for the phone, and answered it.

“Hello?” he asked.

“Where’s Sarah!??!! Where’s my sister!??!!” said a girl’s voice. She obviously wasn’t joking around.

“Sarah? I don’t know a Sarah.” said Tyler.

“Shut up. Just tell me where Sarah is!!!”

“I’m telling you! I don’t know who you’re talking about!”

“Being totally honest?”

“Yeah. My brother Adam is missing too.”

There was a slight pause. “Fine. He’s probably in the same place as Sarah. Where did you find her phone?”

“In the basement of a creepy house.”

Tyler heard the girl laugh a bit. “My name is Hannah.” Hannah hung up.

Then he decided to call Adam, just to check. He pulled out his phone again, and dialed Adam’s phone number.

Then the iPhone starting ringing.

Dylan


Dylan didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to deduce whose iPhone it was.
Adam’s.

Dylan’s theory was proven by the phone saying, “Tyler.”

Tyler hung up the phone. “That’s messed up.”

“Dylan,” said Raop from the top of the stairs. “Tyler. Adam’s not here.”


Dylan and Tyler looked everywhere about seven times. It was true. Adam was gone. Totally gone.

There were no windows that were escapable, and somebody would’ve noticed if he left through the door.

“How in the world?” mumbled Dylan.

“I don’t know.” said Tyler. “But we probably should go meet up with the others.”

Raop then looked at the time, and swore. “Our flight’s in ten minutes! We gotta go!”


They barely made it. The got on right before the stairs were pulled away.

Raop sighed as they found a seat. They took up quite a bit of room. Right after they put on their seatbelts, the plane took off.

It was calming. A bit. The plane floating through the air, the gentle sounds of breathing.

That is, until the wyvern ripped the right wing off.

Dylan


Dylan panicked when he saw the giant dragon. But he had about no seconds to tell anybody.

What were they seeing? The other passengers. Did they see just a giant bird that ripped the wing off? Dylan seriously doubted it.

The plane creaked, and oxygen masks fell down.

Dylan got his on, and it looked like his friends did to.

He wanted to scream, but for some reason, he didn’t. It didn’t sound like anyone was screaming. He wanted to just hit the stupid ground. End this terror.

His wish came true after a few minutes. The plane collided with something. Dylan didn’t know, or care what. He was launched back, the force breaking his oxygen mask. Whatever.

He ripped through thousands of pieces of metal, fabric, and worst of all, human body parts, until he hit something.

It was the ground. Finally. Dylan got up. He was still breathing heavily from the adrenaline, and he didn’t think it would stop soon.

He looked at the plane. A burning wreck. He starting running to help his friends, but then the wreckage blew up. Again, and again.

Dylan


Dylan screamed for once. There was no way they lived through that. No way anyone did. Dylan’s only hope of seeing them again was if they managed to get away before the explosion.

Big if. Dylan only got out with pure luck, and the force of the crash.

Dylan pulled out his phone. He didn’t care if where he was wouldn’t get any service. He didn’t care if the phone couldn’t live through that. He had to get help.

Miraculously, the phone escaped from the crash with only a slight crack on its screen.

Dylan then dialed Lauren.

He waited. And waited. And waited. He guessed about five seconds, but it felt like hours.

“Hello?” asked Lauren on the other end.

“Hey Lauren. It’s Dylan.” Dylan said. “Remember when you asked me if we needed help getting there?”

“Yeah.”

“We need some help here.”

There was a pause, with whispering in the background. “What’s the problem?” she finally asked.

Dylan explained. The entire thing, even back to when the met Adam. He didn’t know why he told Lauren this, but he felt like he should.

When he said the part about him calling Lauren, she asked, “Wait, if you’re in the middle of a forest, how do you have a signal?”

“I don’t know. Luck?”

“Fair enough. We’ll be there in a second.” she hung up.

Lauren then kept her promise.

They really were there in a second.

Seven people stood not ten feet away from Dylan. The girl with black hair and Navajo skin was the one Dylan guessed to be Lauren. He certainly hoped so. She was really cute.

Lauren walked up to him. “Dylan?” she guessed.

Dylan nodded. “Lauren?”

She nodded. “So who’s with them Jess?”

The blonde girl spoke. “Uh, Raop, Crystal, Henry, Tyler, Karla, and Adam.”

“Adam wasn’t with us before.” said Dylan.

“Oh right.” said Lauren. “You told me.”

Dylan nodded.

“Well, better get going.” said Lauren. “You can rest for a bit.”

Dylan nodded, and sat down. A black haired girl sat down too. “Not gonna help them?” asked Dylan.

The girl shook her head. “I teleported us here. I need to wait like an hour before I do anything. Can only teleport once a day.”

“Like, a day? Or twenty-four hours?”

“Twenty-four hours.” the girl opened her eyes. “I’m Rita.”

“I’ll take a guess you know me.”

Rita nodded. “Yeah. Dylan Onseya. That last name of yours is really kind of a curse.”

“Why?”

“Well, not a lot of people like Onseya’s. To the rest of the world, they’re stuck up jerks. With what I’ve heard, that’s true for some Onseya’s.”

Dylan looked at the sky. People didn’t like him. Tell me something I don’t know. he thought.

Karla


She awoke to her name.

“This is Karla right?”

“Yeah. Good thing we found her first.

“Yep. Has a healing power.”

Karla’s soft blue eyes opened. She saw a group of people standing around her. Three were...elves?

She must’ve hit her head hard. She didn’t know anything about what happened to the plane.

She closed her eyes again, and opened them. Still there.

“Well, looks like she’s awake.” said a blonde-haired girl.

Karla recognized Raop’s face among the others. They said they found her first. Why?

Karla sat up, her vision still a bit blurred. “What’s going on?” she asked.

“Plane crash.” said Raop.

“Yeah. I can see that.” Karla looked over at the burning wreck of a plane. Was any of her friends still inside?

“Dylan got us here.” said a black-haired girl. “I’m Lauren by the way.”

Karla looked around. “Where is Dylan?”

“Other side of plane.” said the dark-skinned girl elf. “Him and Rita are resting.”

“Rita?”

“Rita’s who teleported us here.” said the same elf. “I’m Mimla.”

“Some African language?”

Mimla looked confused. “Oh. Uh...yeah.”

She put a hand on her head, and felt something wet and painful. She focused and the pain went away. “I’m getting better at this healing stuff.” Karla said, not knowing who cared.

“Great.” said the blonde girl. “Do you think you can help if people are wounded?”

“Maybe. I’m tired and I got a headache, but...” Karla stood up and looked around again.

“All right!” said the white-skinned human. “Divide and conquer!”

They did. The boy, who was named Dave, went with the blonde girl, Jessie, Mimla, and the pale elf, who was Hilce.

The rest left, except Lauren and Karla. Karla was staying around to heal whoever was found.

“We found Raop right away.” said Lauren. “He burst right out of the plane.” She pointed to a hole in the cockpit of the plane. “He said all of you guys were launched out of the plane, and were hopefully alive. But nobody else survived.”

Karla felt a little guilty for this. She didn’t know why, or how. She just did.

It didn’t take long before Jessie ran over carrying Henry.

The healer got up, and tried to heal the massive hole in his chest. She didn’t know where it came from, but it went back together pretty well.

She even healed a few cuts and scrapes. Then they let the unconscious Henry lie down.

After Jessie left, Dylan walked over with a dark-haired girl. Probably Rita.

“Hey Dylan.” said Lauren. “Hey Rita.”

Rita lifted her chin as a greeting, and Dylan waved. They sat down next to the others.

“Henry’s all right.” said Dylan. Karla stood up when she saw how Dylan was holding his arm. It was no doubt broken.

Karla grabbed it without asking permission. Dylan winced, and then let out a relieved sigh when Karla was done.

“Don’t use that for like...a day.” said Karla, who sat down afterwards.

Tyler and Crystal came to get healed, Crystal being fully conscious during it, and Tyler almost dead. But they were fixed up all right, and then the entire group, including Lauren, Jessie, and their group, headed off.

Karla just about had a heart attack when Dave said, “We might not all get to the Magic Realm alive.”

Tilca


Tilca wanted to punch Dave in the face for freaking him out.

“Dave! Shut up!” said Jessie.

“Fine.” he said. “So, where are we?”

“Alabama. Close to the border into Florida.” Rita said. “We’re getting closer.”

Dave nodded, and looked forward. “We can rest for the night until Rita can teleport again. She can teleport us to the south beach, where the boat will be, and head off to the Bermuda Triangle. You all right with that Rita?”

Rita nodded. “Yep.”


They didn’t get to any hotel like they wanted, but they decided to just sleep outside.

It was cold. The chill November air gave Tilca a reason to cover his head in his sleeping bag. They didn’t have any tents, but there was no snow either. Not cold enough.

Tilca closed his eyes. He was more exhausted than he had ever been in his life. The world of sleep overcame him quickly.


Tilca’s eyes flashed open. He poked his head out of his sleeping bag, and found it was early afternoon. It was rather warm.

Only Dylan was up, and he was cooking a can of beans over a fire.

“Hey, Tilca? Is it?” asked Dylan.

“Yeah.” he said. “Tilca Kplar.”

“Just woke up?”

“Well, woke up like an hour ago, but didn’t want to get up.”

Dylan laughed.
“So how’d you sleep?” asked Tilca.
“Lying down.” joked Dylan.

“Really? I slept standing on my head.”

The two cracked up laughing. Tilca had a feeling him and Dylan would become great friends. “To think, we’re the lone survivors of a plane crash, and we’re telling jokes.” said Tilca.
“The glass if half-full. We should probably wake the others up.” Dylan said, still laughing.

Tilca nodded. “You keep doing...what you’re doing, and I’ll wake them up.”

“Right.” Dylan grabbed three more cans, opened them, and started cooking.

Tilca wandered around, waking up everyone. It took a while, but everybody was eventually awake. “You feeling alright Rita?” he asked, when he realized, he hadn’t woken her up.

He hadn’t even seen her.

Rita was missing.

Lauren


Lauren knew why Tilca looked worried. Rita was missing.

Lauren was worried too. Rita was a good friend of hers. Lauren suspected that the enemies of the Dark Star took her, to keep them from getting to the Magic Realm.

It sounded like a solid theory, then when Jessie said, “That son of-”, Lauren knew she felt the same.

“How are we gonna get to the Magic Realm now?” asked Lauren.

A flash of light appeared, and Rita then collapsed.

Jessie and Lauren ran over to help her.

“Did you just teleport?” asked Lauren.

Rita nodded. “Had to.” she coughed. “They said we couldn’t cheat. I don’t know what it meant, but looks like we’ll have to walk there.”

Lauren and Jessie exchanged worried glances. “Who told you not to cheat?” asked Jessie.

“I don’t know.” Rita sighed. “They said we’d find out next time we see him.”

“See who?”

“I don’t know sis. I’m quoting word-for-word.”

“Well just come on. We’ll get to the Magic Realm one way or another.”

Rita nodded, and coughed again.

Henry


It took about two hours of walking, but when they got to the next town, Henry used his power to buy a van. Raop drove, and they just went.

It was another day of driving, eating, driving, sleeping, but when they got to the coast, Henry finally got to stretch and relax.

“That was painful” exclaimed Dylan. “Crammed in the back of a van, I was going crazy!”

“Just be glad it wasn’t a crappy pick-up.” said Henry.

Dylan laughed.

“The Dark Star sent a motorboat.” said Raop. “It should fit all of us. So we can make it as far as we need to.”

“How will we know we’re in the Magic Realm?” asked Lauren.

“Trust me. You’ll know.” Raop squinted out over the corner of the Triangle. “I see it.”

As if by magic, a motorboat skidded by the coast, and stopped. It had no occupants.

“Everyone on.” said Raop.

The group followed this order, and Raop started the boat up again. He got the boat moving, and then just cruised.

Henry looked over the shimmering blue liquid. He was starting to get seasick, and he was also afraid of water.

As if the gods were laughing at him, a wave of light went over the group, the boat stopped suddenly, and Henry was launched into the wet abyss.

Henry


He tried to grab onto the edge, but waves instantly came to rip him free of any hope. Water slowly covered him. Between waves, he saw about seven hands, just out of reach.

He sank down, and took a giant gulp of air right before. He desperately tried to break free of the current and find the others, but he just wasn’t strong enough.

Henry opened his eyes, and felt the sting of the saltwater. He snapped them shut again.

He felt something hard and round in his pocket. He reached into the pants pocket, and pulled out a small sapphire.

My power sucks. he thought. About to die and it gave me a rock?

Just then, he realized he didn’t mind the salt water, and that he was staying in one spot in the ocean.

His feet felt cramped in his shoes, so he ripped them off. Flippers. Like a duck.

“What in the world?” he said. “Ah!!!” he screamed.

He could talk! Under-freaking-water! He wasn’t breathing, but he had gills. Legit gills. He had webbed fingers! Webbed fingers! He also had a tail like a beaver.

Did this rock turn him into a platypus? ‘Cause it sure looked like it.

He gripped the gem hard, and poked his head out of the water. There was no boat. Not a thing.

“Those little...” he said. He could also breathe out of water. Good.

He swam to what he guessed was west, and just swam. He was swimming fast. His flippers, his tail, his gills. All working together to save his life.

Hey Power? he thought, Sorry I said that you sucked before.

Dylan


“Is everyone alright?” announced Raop.

Dylan wiped the water from his eyes. “I’m good.” He said, coughing. “Jeez Henry. That was rough.” Dylan looked around. Henry wasn’t there.

“Henry?” Dylan called. Dylan looked in the surrounding water either. “Did we move at all?”

Raop looked around. “Heck yeah. We moved to the Magic Realm. But it does look like we moved away from Henry. With his power, he’ll find a way back.”

Dylan nodded. “Yeah. He’ll make like a helicopter or something.” He smiled, and they got moving.


When they hit the shore, it was a lot different than before. It was totally abandoned. It looked like there was a town before, but nature just now recovered from it. Rocks were in piles everywhere, mostly covered in sand. There was a few alligators wandering around.

Dylan stepped out, and everybody followed him. “We should wait for Henry.” said Dylan.

“We got to go. Now.” said Jessie.

“Look, you had to make sure all of us got here safely. Henry hasn’t yet. So we’re waiting. Whether you like it or not.”

“Dylan, we have to go!” argued Raop.

“Fine. Go. But I’m gonna stay here. Waiting for my friend.”

“Do you want to get eaten by one of these alligators?” Raop said. Dylan grabbed a metal oar hooked to the side of the boat.

“Got it covered.” Dylan held the oar threateningly.

“Fine. We’re gonna leave.” said Jessie. “Don’t get shot.” They left, and Dylan spotted Lauren looking back at him, then say something to Jessie.

The two argued for a bit, but suddenly, Lauren ran towards Dylan.

“You want to die to?” asked Raop. “Those aren’t normal alligators! They’re North American Razortooths. One bite will leave you dying!”

“Sounds fun!” said Lauren, and she sat next to Dylan.

Dylan grabbed the other metal oar for Lauren, and they waited for Henry together.

Adam


He walked up the stairs, and to the room. Again.

His life had been like this forever. After he came, a kid named Devon came, then the three; Adam, Sarah and Devon; all were let go, but had to attend these dumb meetings every day. They didn’t even do anything during them! Just discuss how to ruin the life of a group of kids going to the Magic Realm.

Adam was totally aware of the Realms. Timothy had literally beaten the information into him. He still had bruises.

He sat down.

“Adam, you’re late.” said Jeremiah, a bald dark man, maybe in his 60s.

“Bite me.” said Adam.

“Don’t make me.” said Jeremiah. He was also a vampire.

“If Jeremiah would quit drooling over Adam’s blood,” said Timothy, who sat in the front, “Let us begin.”

They talked a lot about the path they were going to take. The enemies that is. Adam had no idea who they were. Just the Enemies.

Adam pulled out his phone (the SIM card had been taken) and played Angry Birds for most of the time.

“Adam?” asked Timothy.

“Yo.” he said.

“Are you doing something important?”

“Yeah.” Throwing exploding birds at pigs in poorly built structures was perfect war study.

Adam put the phone away, just before Timothy said, “Does anybody have information they wish to bring before the Council?”

Nobody raised their hand.

“Well if that’s...”

“Hold it, Impatient Joe.” interrupted Adam. “I got something.” Adam stood up, and looked around at them. He could easily destroy them all.

He produced a giant flame in his hand. “I’m taking your place Tim. Taking over.”

Lauren


Lauren was trying to fall asleep but when Dylan nudged her, she opened her eyes.

“Yeah?” she asked, knowing that Dylan wanted to talk.

“Do you think it’s weird that these alligators are all looking at us?” he asked.

Lauren looked around. It was true. All of the Razorteeth were staring right at them. Lauren noticed one that had scars all over. It had a cut right over its left eye, so it was slightly squinted. “Yeah. It’s weird.”

Dylan picked up a rock. “Should I?” he asked.

Lauren looked at the alligators. They all looked ready to attack at the very first strike. Especially Scar over there. He took a step closer to them.

“Dylan, put the rock down.” Lauren said.

Dylan let go of the rock. It fell on the ground, and picked up some dust as it hit. “What should we do?”

Lauren looked around. “I don’t know.” she whispered, slightly implying that Dylan should do the same.

Scar made a loud sound, like a battle cry, them all the alligators charged.

Lauren screamed, and gripped Dylan’s hand.

A very dark one almost got Dylan’s leg, but he jumped out of the way. Then they were surrounded by the alligators. They were coming fast. Lauren panicked. She kicked one of them. Her foot connected with one with many missing teeth. Toothless was slightly stunned, and so were the rest.

“Run!” yelled Dylan. They jumped on the nearest alligator, and continued to do so until Scar reached up, and closed his teeth on Dylan’s leg.

Dylan didn’t scream. Not at all. No blood came either. It actually looked like Scar was in pain. Another tried to bite Lauren, but with the same result. She felt absolutely no pain whatsoever.

“What’s going on?” asked Lauren.

“One of our powers, maybe.” answered Dylan. “Let’s go!”

They kept jumping on the alligators until they reached a giant boulder. They climbed on it, and watched the alligators struggle to get on the rock, but to no avail.

“This is impossible.” said Lauren.

“But it’s good, and it’s happening. We’re lucky.” Dylan stared at Scar, and spit on him.

Scar jumped up to try to bite them, but he was not even close.

Lauren looked around, hoping for somebody who can help. She closed her eyes and sighed when she saw nobody.

A loud whistle broke through the sound of the Razorteeth. Every single reptile looked at the source, a young person standing waist-high in the ocean who looked very fish-like.

“Come and get me!” he called. “What? You all bark but no bite?”

The alligators ran at the boy, Scar leading.

Scar leaped at him, but the fish boy was first to strike. He bit Scar, and blood leaked down his scales.

The boy threw Scar aside, and Toothless tried to whip him with his tail. Fish boy ducked under water, and webbed hands reached up and gripped the scaly appendage.

He punched Toothless in the face two or three times, and used him as a weapon to take out the rest of the alligators.

Once he threw Toothless’ lifeless body aside, he looked at Dylan and Lauren.

“Dylan!” he called. “Lauren! Where are the others?” The fish boy walked out of water and his scales and everything disappeared to make him human.

Not just human. It made him Henry.

Henry


He looked at his hand. Back to good old Henry.

Henry walked closer to Dylan and Lauren. “Where are they?” he called.

Dylan slid down the rock, Lauren following. “They ditched.” said Dylan.

“We ditched.” corrected Lauren. “Dylan wanted to wait for you, and I stuck around.”

Henry nodded. “So, I’ll try my power.”

“Wait a second.” started Dylan. “How did you get here anyway?”

Henry explained it all. He even unraveled his hand to show them the orb. “Here it is.” he tossed the small blue ball in the air, but caught dust. “Well that sucks.” He let go of the dust.

Henry looked past the two. “So how long have you been here?”

“Like fifteen minutes.” replied Dylan. “We should be able to catch up.”

“Well, let’s do it fast. I don’t think I killed all of them.” said Henry. They started running. The beach went for quite a while, then faded away into a forest region.

They followed footprints made in the mud, and eventually, Henry spotted a group of people up ahead.

He raced to them, but quickly discovered it wasn’t his group. Most of them weren’t even human. They were mostly dragon-like people. But one person stood out to him. He was human. Greasy black hair, pale skin, black shirt.

Henry recognized the face.

Adam.

Dylan


Dylan instantly snapped. The first sight at Adam made Dylan angry. He was also a bit glad that his brother was there, but he was angry mostly.

He threw a punch at Adam, but one of the Dragon-Men grabbed it.

“Hold it bro.” said Adam. “Til’ar! Hymin! Go!” Two of the Dragon-Men attacked. One grabbed Dylan and put him in a headlock. The other did the same to both Henry and Lauren.

“Like my Drakes?” said Adam. “Tough, smart, and perfect for goons.”

Dylan just stared at him. Anger filled him. “Where are the rest?” asked Lauren very strictly.

One of the Drakes walked forward, and opened the sack he held. Crystal’s head poked out, asleep. She had a large bruise on the side of her head, which made Dylan think they knocked her out.

“The rest are in other bags.” Adam turned around. “Drakes! Collect them.”

The Drake that gripped Dylan pulled out a syringe, and stuck into Dylan’s arm. He let go of the young boy.

Dylan lost his balance. He tried to make it to a rock to sit down, but didn’t make it. He fell to his hands and knees.

He crawled closer to the nearest pair of legs he saw. One foot reached out and struck him in the nose.

He flipped over, and just laid on his back, staring at the giant blurry blob of blue above him. Around the edges, green resided. a blobby face looked over him.

A gruff voice said something, but he couldn’t make it out. He felt something being pulled over his legs, then pulled up to his head. He head was shoved down, and then everything went dark, and silent.


Dylan’s eyes snapped open. He looked around. It was dark. a small candle sat abandoned on the floor, providing the only light.

His eyes slightly grew accustomed to the dark. He realized he was sitting down, and could slightly make out a figure close by.

The person wasn’t moving, so Dylan stood up to get closer. He looked into the girl’s face, and recognized her as Lauren.

“Lauren!” he said, too loud. Although he didn’t know why he was too loud. “Lauren.” he repeated quietly. “Wake up.”

Her eyes flicked open. “Huh? What’s going on?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing.” Dylan surveyed the room. It was totally steel. With a small door with a handle on one side.

Dylan walked over to it. He grabbed the handle and jiggled it a bit. “Locked.” he said. He stepped back, and was shoved by an unseen force.

He wouldn’t hit Lauren if she didn’t get out of the way just before. Just then, the door opened. And there stood a large man wearing a tight muscle shirt. He held in his hand and long and hard-looking whip.

“All right!” he said in some accent. Austrian maybe? Russian? “Which one is next?”

“Next for what?” asked Dylan.

The man glared at Dylan like the boy just killed his mom. “The test.”

“What test?” asked Lauren.

The man brought the whip up, and struck Lauren on the belly with it. A thick line of blood spread across her. She screamed and gripped it tightly, and Dylan helped keep her steady.

“Kathian Snake venom.” said the man as he stared at the whip, seeming impressed. “Any more will kill you instantly. It’ll just cause you terrible pain with the dose I gave.”

Dylan yelled the worst words he could think of aimed at the man. The man brought up his whip, and snapped it.

It struck Dylan on the left cheek. It was hard, and stung. A lot. The pain was completely unbearable. He screamed, and already felt it swelling, making his eye close halfway, his nostril jammed shut, and his jaw immobile on one side.

“Now.” said the man, reaching for what looked like a knife (Dylan wasn’t sure because it had strange curves to it). “Listen, understand, and do, or you’ll lose a limb.”

Dylan nodded, not wanting to lose another appendage. He’d already lost a finger, and he didn’t want to lose an arm too.

“Good.” the man leaned his back against the door-frame. “Now one is coming with me. Adam will experiment on you to determine what is your power.” The man alternated by looking at the two. “I’ve always followed ‘Ladies First’, but I’m eager to see how the Onseya Eyes will be more powerful.”

Dylan stared at the man, knowing full well that this was his decision. Well, worth a shot. “I’ll go.” his voice was very unclear and slurred thanks to the whip to the face. “Take me first.”

The man looked at him. “That’s strange. People don’t normally volunteer. Oh well. Come Dylan.” Dylan walked towards him. “Invisible barrier.” he said. “Hold on.” the man reached toward Dylan, grabbed him by the shirt, and pulled. Dylan felt being pulled through something, but he didn’t know what. It was an odd feeling.

The man produced a large burlap sack from his pocket. Now that Dylan stood next to the man, he saw how big he was. He was most likely over seven feet, and more muscle than man. The man pulled the bag over Dylan’s head, and shoved him inside. Then Dylan saw nothing.

He could feel the big man lift the bag with ease, and Dylan squirmed into a comfortable position. The man seemed to take care to be a close to the wall as possible, so the Dylan hit it with every pace. It hurt more when they passed corners. The man’s footsteps stopped suddenly.

“Kurt Marjat. Sector 2-F. Prisoners.” the information was probably for some door with an automated security system. The man walked, stopping to punch in codes probably.

Then Dylan hit a large wooden door. He could tell because of the unique sound it made. The man used Dylan as a knocker, until the door opened. “Ah Kurt. Come in.” the voice speaking was cold and dark. Frightening. Very frightening. It was male. And sounded young. Dylan knew he hated whoever it was speaking.

Kurt walked forward, and dumped out the contents of his sack. Dylan felt like a fish, trying desperately to get up. Half his body were asleep, and the floor was slippery. He had also slightly lost his sense of balance,

He finally got up, and looked at the room. It was a giant room. Millions of books displayed on shelves covered the back wall. There was also a long desk with many papers, pencil, and other office supplies littering it. And behind the desk, in a giant black leather seat, was Adam.

Adam Onseya.

Dylan


For a few minutes, Adam and Dylan just stared at each other, in pure anger. All that was going through Dylan’s mind was, “I’m going to kill him. He’s going to die.”

“Uh, sir?” asked Kurt. “You asked me to bring a prisoner to you?”

“Yeah. I did.” answered Adam. “I see you whipped him?”

Kurt nodded. “Yes sir. He has quite a colorful vocabulary.”

Adam stood up. “You’re dismissed.”

Kurt walked out of the room. There was a very loud sigh after the door closed.

Adam walked around the desk and nearer to Dylan. “So, this is interesting.” Adam said.

“Keep your kindness for another time!” Dylan snapped. “What do you want out of me? Why did you kidnap us all?”

“To see what the heck your powers are. I’ve figured out Karla’s so far.”

“Where is she?” Dylan asked.

Adam pointed to a door near the desk. Dylan walked over and opened it. There were rows of beds. All lined up and perfect. Karla sat on one. She turned around, and smiled at Dylan. Dylan waved, and Adam closed the door.

“All right. You know she’s fine. So this won’t hurt at all.” said Adam.

“Wait.” said Dylan. “What are you going to do with the information?”

Adam sighed. “Long story. Trust me. You’ll eventually understand.”

“Long story? I got time.” Dylan sat on the ground.

Adam didn’t say anything. He just pulled out a strange rod from his desk.

“Tell me.” said Dylan.

“No.” Adam looked Dylan in the eyes. “I can’t.”

“What do you mean ‘you can’t’?”

“I mean, I can’t” Adam aimed the rod at Dylan, who felt a quick jolt of electricity. It was strong, and once again, he passed out.


Dylan woke up on one of the beds. He looked around, and saw Karla sitting on the bed next to his.

“Good morning.” she said with a smile.

“How long was I out?” Dylan asked.

Karla shrugged. “Couple minutes I guess.”

“So, is there anyone else over there? In the room?”

“I think I heard Lauren yelling, but it might’ve also been Mimla.”

Right at that moment, the door opened, and Lauren was shoved in. “I will kill you Adam!” she said with great anger in her voice.

“What did he do?” asked Dylan.

Lauren lifted her sleeve to reveal a thick scar on her bicep. “That. Apparently it was to test my power. Looks like you got one too.”

Dylan looked at his arm. Yep. There was a scar. So, what were the powers?”

Lauren shrugged. “He told me to just wait here as everyone comes.”

“Told me the same thing.” said Karla.

“How’s your belly?” asked Dylan.

“Still stings.” Lauren replied. The rip in her shirt was still there, showing the wound. “Breathing hurts.”

“Yeah. Talking hurts for me. Hope you get better.”

“Me too. You look pretty beaten up yourself.” Lauren looked at Dylan. He was covered with a giant bruise on his elbow, skinned knees, a giant bump on his forehead, and more cuts, scrapes, and scars to count.

Dylan nodded. “I’m going back to sleep.”

Tyler


Tyler felt like he’d just been attacked by a giant troll with a stone club. Oh wait, he had.

The troll came into to his luxurious prison cell, and broke everything, then hit Tyler over the head.

Tyler woke up in a large office. He didn’t really focus on the room. Just the second person in there.

“Adam!” Tyler called, standing up.

Adam smiled. Not an evil smirk. A legit happy smile. “Hey bro.” said Adam.

“So what’s this here?”

“My headquarters.” said Adam, gesturing to the room.

“Your headquarters?” said Tyler, adding a friendly giggle. “What do you mean?”

“I mean my headquarters.” Adam looked around. “You see, when Timothy abducted me, he took to a little house. Tiny. He brought a kid named Devon and another named Sarah there too, and talked to us. He told us that he took us to help his cause. Which was to own all of the Magic Realm, where were are now. He was well on his way, but since me, Sarah, and Devon had our powers to worry about, by the way, we were on the roster for Timothy to pick up in your Society, he told us that our powers were of great use. Mine is power over death and fire. Devon is an ancient kind of magic called Warcraft, and Sarah’s...we don’t know.

“But anyway, Timothy transported us to this building, but after he asked me to go take care of Dylan out in front. I don’t remember chronology, but we tried to recruit some of your group. To no avail but.” Adam looked rather embarrassed, but he still continued.

“Anyway, we had lots of meeting with Timothy and his little Council, but I realized how they weren’t running things my way. How they weren’t taking my opinion to heart. So I took down half the Council, and took over. Who knows where Ol’ Timmy is now?”

Tyler simply stared at his brother in total disbelief. Adam was tough, but he could never put up the time or effort to overthrow a even little-league ping-pong coach!

But Adam could do things he cared about. Like one time he spent seven hours on a book report because he was in danger of failing. He got a 105% on it too. As Tyler thought about it, it seemed more and more plausible. Which made Tyler more and more angry.

Adam was bad. A bad guy. And also Tyler’s enemy. Tyler had to accept it. But he didn’t want too, and didn’t. “So why am I here?” asked Tyler.

“Find out your power. You’ll find out why soon enough, and you’ll see it’ll be for a good cause. But I can’t tell you now.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Is everything a code to you bro? I literally can’t say. It hurts. Literally.”

Tyler wanted to argue, but he didn’t find a need to. Well, he did, but he didn’t know what to say even.

“So, shall we see?” asked Adam, your friends are all in there.” he pointed to a door in the corner. “You’re the last one.”

Tyler sighed. “Lay it on me.”

Adam walked over with a tiny needle. “This’ll pinch a bit.” he said, pushing the syringe into Tyler’s arm. “That should be good.” stated Adam, taking the needle out.

Tyler caressed his arm. “Got a Band-Aid?”

Adam handed him a small Pikachu Bandage, which Tyler proceed to place over the hole in his arm.

“Right this way Tyler.” Adam said leading over to the room. “Might want to get in there fast. Lauren isn’t too happy with me. Doesn’t like this whole idea.”

Tyler nodded, and slipped in, closing the door behind him.

He looked around. Lauren was banging on the wall, screaming very choice words at Adam. Mimla, Tilca, and Hilce were playing a card game, Dylan, Henry, and Crystal were sleeping, and Karla was just sketching.

“There’s the Ty-Man.” said Karla, looking up from her work.

Tyler smiled and waved. “Wonder where Raop and them are?”

Karla looked around. “I don’t know. I’m not sure if they’re coming. After all, they don’t have powers.”

“True.”

“It’ll probably take a while before he lets us out.” said Mimla. “Just a hunch.”

“It won’t be long at all.” said Dylan, who scared Tyler when he was suddenly awake. “Adam probably will take a few minutes to analyze your power, and he’ll get us out of here, and take us, who knows where? Notice how there’s no food or water? Odds are if he wants us to do something for him, he’ll want us alive.”

“Good point.” said Mimla. “I’m not so good at observing.”

“It’s all right.” said Dylan. He sat up right as a knock echoed from the door.

“Can you keep Lauren where she can’t kill me?” asked Adam from outside.

“I won’t kill you.” said Lauren. “I’ll just rip of your arms and beat you up with them!”

Karla and Mimla restrained the girl on the ground, and the door opened. “Hello.” said Adam. “The results are in!” Adam was way too enthusiastic about the whole thing. He sounded like a Reality Show host.

“Our powers?” asked Dylan.

Adam nodded. “All right, Karla, you know yours. Healing. Henry, you know it’s Materialization. I’ll just skip to those you don’t know. “ Adam produced a paper from his pocket. “Tilca. You can do a form of magic called Elementalism. You can pretty much control the four elements.”

“Water Earth Fire and Air?” Tilca asked.

“Correct. Hilce, you have traits of a Southern Ringtail Dragon. Very deadly and awesome. Easy to control too.” Hilce looked proud of this news. “Lauren, you have a cool one. You can alter some laws of physics to your advantage. Like gravity, or inertia. You make the impossible possible.”

Lauren tried out her power. She caused Karla and Mimla to float inches above her, and she stood up. “Sweet.”

“Crystal, you can track people. Mainly enhanced thieving skills. Wouldn’t trust you with my iPod.”

Crystal was wide awake, and playing on an iPod Touch. “Your Facebook password is ‘Brony35’?” she said giggling.

“Give that back!” said Adam. “Anyway. And Mimla, Dylan, and Tyler, I can’t determine yours. I know it’s there, but it’s hard to decode.” he caught the iPod after Crystal tossed it. “Anyway, we’ll work tomorrow to see if we can get it out. In the meantime, let’s move you to your rooms.”

Dylan


Adam split each one to their rooms. Each one had their own. Dylan still had no idea where Jessie and all of them were, but he was determined to get them out alive. Along with the rest of his friends.

Dylan woke up early. He was picked up by Adam, and taken to a large field. Tyler, and Mimla, and the rest of them waited for him.

Dylan looked around. He could easily get out, if Adam hadn’t have been there. “Hold on. I’ll get some targets.” Adam said, walking inside.

Dylan faced his friends. “We need to get out of here.”

“Why?” asked Mimla. “What’s Adam going to do to us?”

“Think. He took over an evil group, kidnapped us, and is now trying to find out our powers for whatever reason! We need to go!”

“I hear a plot!” said a high pitched voice. A girl with long blonde hair walked out. “I’m Sarah Soloin. Pleasure to meet you!”

“You with Adam?” asked Tyler.

Sarah rolled her eyes. “No. I’m really on your side but I just act like I’m on his side.” she said sarcastically. “Learn to think buddy! Anyway, nice try escaping. But I can stop you. I’m an Enchantress.”

“A what?”

“A rare kind of magic. Kinda cool. I found out it’s my power last night.” Sarah produced a rock in her hand, and it blew up. “That was cool. Didn’t know that one.”

“Is all magic rare here?” asked Dylan.

Sarah shrugged. “Can’t say. I’m new here too. You could ask Devon. He came from here originally.”

Adam then walked back in. He carried three targets over his head, with a bunch of stands in his arm.

“Yo guys.” he said, setting them up. “So let get started.”

Adam worked Tyler, Dylan, and Mimla for hours. Dylan grew more and more unsure if he even had a power.

It wasn’t until he collapsed on the floor when Sarah finally spoke up. “Adam, what if the eyes thing is Dylan’s power?”

Dylan remembered his Emerald Eyes. Or Onseya Eyes or whatever. He knew about the beast already, but that was genetic. Could his natural DNA really hold his power?

But Dylan was mad that Sarah chose then to say something. He noticed that she laughed when he missed his target with a bow by about fifty yards.

“Get up you lazy butt-hole.” said Sarah, kicking him in the side.

Dylan felt something happening inside him. His stomach hurt, and he had a splitting headache. He felt something rip through his skin, and he lost control.

Tyler


Tyler was horrified from what his brother had just turned into. Dylan was not Dylan anymore.

He grew about three feet taller, and he gain a more tough appearance.

He had much more muscles, and his hair and turned blood red, and covered his body. His legs had two joints, one halfway up the thigh, pointing back. His feet were now huge, and pointed with large claws, similar to a velociraptor.

His arms were huge. His hands looked strong and hard. They also had claws, but were just on the tips of his fingers. His head was the most changed. He had a slight underbite, and giant fangs prodding upwards. He had two giant bull-like horns on his head. His ears were now larger and like a foxes.

His eyes were angry. Filled with hatred and loathing. They were slitted, but the bright green color showed that deep down somewhere in that terrible beast, Dylan sat.

The beast gripped Sarah by the neck, who struggled desperately. It threw her against the wall, and she fell to the ground, still awake, but just in a state of shock.

It then lunged towards Adam, and threw its giant red fist at him. It connected with half of Adam’s body, and he flew back, hit the wall like Sarah.

It then let out an unearthly roar. It was terrifying. Full of evil and bloodlust. It was deep, and Tyler knew that there was some sounds coming from the monster’s mouth that just weren’t audible to humans. Mimla, Tilca, and Hilce were cowering on the ground. The deep sounds must have been loud.

Before the beast could strike Sarah again, a thin purple barrier formed around it. The claws slipped on the shield, and it fell.

A blond-haired boy walked outside, holding his hands out as if he was the one holding the beast in.

The dome came out of the ground, and formed a ball around Dylan. Spikes came from all sides and pierced the scales. The beast let out another roar, and it faded back into Dylan.

The blond boy extended the sphere, covering everyone but Sarah, Adam, and himself, and they went somewhere else.

Lauren


The teleporting hurt.

When she stopped feeling dizzy, she was a few yards above the ground. She fell, but saved herself with her new power.

“That was different.” She said, letting herself fall the last few inches to the ground. Lauren looked around.

Everyone was present. Karla was desperately attempting to revive Dylan. Occasionally, his eyes twitched, giving Lauren a bit of hope.

Was that beast really Dylan’s power? It was horrifying. Just horrifying.

Why couldn’t it be power over rainbows and sunshine and adorable puppies? Why did it have to be an ugly violent monster?

She walked over to Dylan. “Is he all right?” she asked.

Karla nodded. “Yeah. He’s just asleep for some reason. Probably Blondie there.”

Lauren looked at him. “Probably best to just let him sleep. That looked bad.”

They sat back, and watched all the groaning, trembling people. What now?

“We got to save Rita and Jessie and everyone.” said Lauren. “We have to know what we’re doing.”

Karla understood Lauren’s logic, and everybody else looked like they did also.

“So we’ll wait until Dylan wakes up,” said Tilca groaning and gripping his arm. He must have landed on it. “And then get our bearings. Then we’ll go find Adam again, and rescue them all?”

Lauren nodded. “Yeah. But let’s wait awhile. We need things to die down a bit.”

Wow! You made it this far? CONGRADURATION!!! Now, first, I want to mention a few things. First off, this is about as edited as a 15-year-old boy is willing (meaning spell-check says it's all good). Second, Mimla's name in the final version will be Mallory. Tilca will be Carter, Hilce will be Zach, and Raop will be Ryan. Third, I didn't realize how stupid some of it sounds, and how unfact-checked it is (is that a word? Unfact-checked?). So please, keep those minor things out of the criticism. I already know. Thanks!