Arkham RPG

September 28th, Friday - Casey Silpetti

Casey’s eyes snap open as the blare of her alarm clock finally cuts through the fog and dreams of her sleep. She groans as she reaches over and slaps it a little harder than she has to, to silence it.

She buries her head under her pillow, contemplating going back to sleep. Last night was a later night than she should’ve liked, it being a school night. The dull rumble of thunder shakes her pool house, reminding her of something.

She lifts her head from under her pillow and peers blearily over to the window she had last seen Cadence sitting at. The blankets and pillows were neatly folded and stacked, the other girl – as good as her word – no where in sight.

She gets ready and heads over to the main house, grateful for the covered walkway as a light rain is falling. The sky is ominously dark, threatening a day of rain, wind and thunder.

Inside she finds a more-bubbly-than-normal Veronica, thanks to the fact that Harmony is taking her out shopping tonight. Seems they really bonded on the ride home last night, Harmony promising to get Roni all caught up on the things that her sister and mother haven’t let her in on. She’s obviously feeling better than yesterday.

Bianca flitters into the room. “Hey squirt, dad’s letting me take moms car today, since she’s out of town. I have some stuff to do after school.” She playfully ruffles her younger sisters hair as she passes by, bouncing out of the room.

Casey and Veronica head out to the car, Veronica refusing to let the gloomy morning get the better of her sunny disposition. On the ride to school, she turns to Casey.

“So, are you going to go out with me and Harmony tonight? If not, Fetch will be able to give you a ride home whenever you want, unless you’re doing something with Aiden tonight.”

She’s quiet for a moment, and then leans in close to Casey with a serious look on her face. “She misses you, you know.” She pauses, but not long enough for Casey to get in a comment before she continues. “Harmony? I think she misses hanging out with you. She didn’t say anything, but I got the feeling from her last night. She knows that something’s happening that she doesn’t know about, and that she’s kind of in the dark about things. I think she’s hanging out with Chris so much because she doesn’t know what else to do.”

A forgotten conversation comes to Casey’s mind, and she remembers promising to tell Harmony everything that was going on after her birthday, when nothing could hurt her chances of getting away from her foster home. They never had that talk, now that she thinks about it.

Veronica breaks her out of her reverie by reaching over and patting her leg. “It’s ok, like I said, she didn’t say anything. I could be wrong, you know. But maybe y’all should do something sometime soon.”

They get to school, Veronica lowering the partition to tell Fetch that she won’t need a ride home that afternoon.

Fetch gives Casey that million dollar smile of his, and hands over one of his cards. “If you need a ride, Ms. Silpetti, please call me. I don’t mind at all, ok?”

They rush inside, trying to avoid the fat drops of rain just starting to fall in a tumultuous rush. Inside, they grab some breakfast and head back to their table, where an exhausted and depressed Cadence is sitting by herself.

She’s nursing a Mountain Dew, which doesn’t seem to be helping much given the dark circles under her eyes. She’s wearing her uniform with no thought given to the little touches she usually has, her hair unstyled and wet from the rain.

Before they reach the table, Veronica takes Casey’s arm in her hand. “I’ll be right there.” She turns and heads back the way they came.

Casey walks over and sits across from Cadence. “Hey, you must have left early. You ok?”

The other girl glances up. “Yeah. Got into it with my mother again.” A roll of thunder shakes the building, causing her to cringe slightly.

Veronica walks up and sits next to Cadence, placing a big chocolate chocolate-chip muffin in front of her. She shifts closer to the other girl. “Morning.”

A small smile plays across Cadence’s lips as she reaches for the muffin. “Mornin’ tiger. Thanks, I needed this.” She takes a bite out of the muffin, closing her eyes as she savors it.

“Morning ladies!” Tom plops down next to Veronica.

Veronica and Casey both tell him morning, Cadence just continues to eat in silence. Or at least she does until several violent thunder blasts literally shake the entire building. Then she stands quickly. “I’ll see y’all in class,” she says before bolting away.

She brushes past Harmony, who heads over. “Hey guys, what’s up with Connor? Looked a little green around the gills.” She flops into the seat next to Casey and reaches over to steal some cereal out of her mini-cereal box.

“Hey Mini-Kane, we still on for tonight, right?”

Veronica turns back to the table and smiles at Harmony. “Of course I am!”

Tom leans forward. “What are y’all doing?”

Harmony ignore him and turns to Casey. “So what are your plans for this weekend, Silpetti? Two nights ahead of you, you can give each of your guys a try.” She grins evilly when she says this.

She suddenly perks up. “Speaking of your guys, there’s Dennison. Have to go ask him a favor.”  She grabs another handful of cereal as she stands.

Veronica has stopped her explanation to Tom, and looks over at Harmony with what Casey can only describe as a look of mild horror. “You’re not seriously…”

Harmony turns to face her and smiles that evil smile of hers. “Of course. I told you there’d be homework.” She turns and heads over to Aiden.

Casey turns to ask Veronica for an explanation, only to notice the girls eyes getting wider as they follow Harmony over to where Aiden is standing. Her face is burning a ruddy red as she blushes furiously.

Casey turns to look over at Harmony and Aiden talking, noticing a bewildered look on Aiden as he glances in their direction. As he does, she hears Veronica ‘Eep!’ behind her, so she turns back around to see Roni quickly gathering her stuff.

The younger girl stands quickly, almost spilling her drink. “OksoI’llseeyouinclassCaseylaterforsecondperiod!” She turns and almost runs from the table, Tom jumping up and rushing to try and keep up.

“Hey, let me walk you to class!” He reaches out and grabs her hand, and they both disappear into the crowd.

Casey shakes her head slowly, wondering if everyone she knows has gone suddenly insane, when Aiden walks up and takes the seat across from her. Harmony sits back next to her, grabbing the last of her cereal.

“Hey Case, I’m glad you could make it last night, even though we lost,” Aiden says.

She just stares at him, waiting for an explanation. When he finally asks, “What? Is there something on my face?” she breaks down.

“What the heck was all of that about?”

Aiden actually blushes a bit, throwing Casey for a loop. She didn’t think that was even possible, considering everything else he’d handled to this point with aplomb.

Harmony answers for him. “Oh, that? I asked him for some porn.”

When Casey turns to gape at her, she snickers. “Oh… not for me. Well, depending on how good it is,” she smirks at Aiden before turning back to Casey. “For Mini-Kane. She might know the science and medicine behind everything, but the girl has no clue what anything’s like. And it’s not like anyone else is going to help her figure it out, so I figure a little homework might help out. And to keep her options open, I figure the three major food groups should be filled: boy/girl, girl/girl and some yellowpages stuff.”

Seeing both Casey and Aiden look at her in confusion, she clarifies. “You know, yellowpages? Let your fingers do the walking? Some solo stuff.”

Casey wonders if she’s blushing as red as she thinks she might be. “Wh…why Aiden?” She finally gets out.

Harmony crumples the empty cereal box. “Well, he’s the only guy I’m close enough to ask without it being socially awkward, and also the most likely to have some normal stuff, and not too freaky. I couldn’t ask Chris, I’d be breaking the whole ‘Porn/Girlfriend Barrier Law’ that all guys have, to try and separate the two. That way he doesn’t have to admit to me that he has any. That’s why I asked your boyfriend.”

The bell rings, and Harmony pops up out of her seat. “Remember Dennison, tomorrow.” She turns to Casey. “See ya later Case!” she says, before bouncing away.

Casey turns back to Aiden, who has already stood up and is reaching for her bag. “Can I walk you to your class?”

Second period finds only Veronica sitting there at their table when Casey walks in. She perks up. “Hey Case! Some weather, eh?” The thunder now is almost a constant background rumble, some loud enough to shake the building and cause the lights to flicker. The rain has been a steady downpour, and there’s been some talk about letting school out early in case it begins to flood, as Old Arkham is much lower than the rest of the city.

“Harm went home and switched out with her dad, she has his SUV now so we can still get around tonight. Did you figure out if you wanted to come out with us or not? Fetch has a truck that can make it here if the roads are bad, you don’t need to worry about that.”

Veronica suddenly makes a small “eep” noise, and starts turning red as she quickly looks down at her textbook. Casey turns and notices a smiling Aiden walk in, sitting down next to her. “Crazy weather, huh?” he asks her.

The bell rings to start the class, and Prof Z closes the door as he gets ready to start his lecture. Veronica looks at the clock and then at the door, and turns to Casey. “Where’s Cadence? “

Casey shrugs, hoping whatever reason Cadence had decided to skip wasn’t a bad one.

During Prof Z’s lecture, Aiden passes Casey a note. Subtly unfolding it, she reads Did you still want to do something this weekend?

He looks at her hopefully.

By lunch, the weather has calmed down, but only by a few degrees. The rain is still constant, but not the drenching sheets that it was earlier. The lightning and thunder are still there, but there haven’t been any close strikes in the past few hours.

Aiden is waiting for her at the table, clearly ready to continue their conversation from class earlier. Veronica is sitting there chatting with Tom, though she keeps looking around every once in a while – Casey assumes for Cadence, whom none of them have seen since this morning.

Tom is trying to make plans with Veronica for this weekend, even if it’s just the two of them and not with Casey and Aiden like originally planned.

September 27th, Thursday Night - Casey Silpetti

Going into the half, both teams are tied, and the game has been pretty exciting. Veronica turns to Casey and gushes over how well Aiden has been playing. She tries to start up a conversation with Casey, clearly hoping to get everyone else involved. It doesn’t quite work, and an awkward air settles over the group.

Finally she gives up trying to bait a conversation. Instead, she turns to Jill and her fingers flash through a few quick movements. Jill lights up for the first time that night, her hands answering back in quick sign.

Veronica grins and answers back in silent sign, ignoring the looks that everyone is giving her. Cadence’s eyes are wide open, watching the silent conversation like watching a tennis match.

Jill opens her mouth in silent laughter, clearly enjoying whatever it was Roni just signed. Cadence turns to her. “You know sign?”

Anyone else would probably have replied with a sarcastic retort, but Roni just shrugs. “I was bored one day, so I learned it. First time I’ve used it in three years, so I’m a little rusty though.”

Harmony finally steps in. “So Connor, should we start taking lessons from Roni in sign? Are you and Jill an item? Cause Silpetti and Mini-Kane here have a double-date thing planned, I’m sure if y’all wanted to go I could get Chris too, we could make it an eight-way date.”

Casey turns to Harmony, her eyes wide. Her friend ignores her, waiting for an answer while subtly watching Roni, who’s also less subtly waiting for Cadence’s answer.

Cadence on the other hand, shakes her head no quickly while Jill watches on grinning. “Oh no, no… we’re not an item.” She looks over at Jill, who just grins wider at how flustered she is. “I mean, we used to be. But we haven’t been… not for years. Not that…” she finally bites her lip and shuts herself up.

Jill laughs her silent laugh, shaking her head in amusement. She starts writing in her tablet, even as Tom turns to Roni. “Double-date? Who are you dating?” he asks her in a confused and grumpy tone.

Roni turns to him a little abashed. “Well, I was going to ask you…” she starts, stammering a little.

Jill holds up her tablet, We’re just friends. I think her heart is already somewhere else written on it, which just flusters Cadence even more.

Harmony watches it all in silent amusement, the wheels still obviously spinning in her head. Casey sighs, thinking to herself humorously that no good can come of this.

Luckily, the game starts back up. But while Aiden and Chance both play well -obviously the best on the team tonight - they can’t hold onto a win.  Holsey loses by 1 point in OT.

Aiden waves to Casey as the team walks off field to the locker rooms. Looks like he decided to give her some space tonight instead of coming over to talk, since she said she had plans with Cadence.

“So now what?” Veronica asks, as they all gather at the bottom of the bleachers. Tom turns to her, about to ask something, but Harmony interrupts him.

She steps next to Roni and links her arm with the younger girl. “Well, I need to get Mini-Kane here back home, since it’s a school night. Plus, we have things to talk about, girl.” She turns to Casey, nodding over at Cadence and Jill. “Y’all be careful and have fun, but not too much, since I won’t be there. See you at school tomorrow!”

Harmony smiles and gives Casey an air kiss as Roni turns to tell Tom goodnight. She squeals with laughter and giggling as Harmony says something and pulls her away, and she turns around to wave goodnight at everyone as they walk off.

Tom rolls his eyes, and starts to walk off. He stops and turns, saying “Goodnight Casey,” before walking off again. Cadence makes a quiet clucking noise under her breath as she stands next to Casey, but forces a smile when the other girl turns to her.

“Well, sure you’re ready to go?”

Casey nods and the three of them walk over to where Sarah’s mustang is parked. Jill gives Casey a quick smile as she climbs into the back, leaving the front seat for her.

The ride starts off quiet, the radio turned off as they pass through the dark streets. Cadence seems to favor taking the odd back street instead of using the major roads to get there, even though it takes longer.

She turns to Casey. “A few things. Legal Tender is a completely neutral place. No one can do anything to anyone without consent. Any violence has to be taken outside. But with that said, stick close to me and try not to talk to many people. There are plenty things there that can influence your mind, and I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“Remember to be ready to see anything. The place can be kinda overwhelming. We’re going to find a nice quiet place to sit while Jill makes her rounds. I’m not going to be any further than a few inches from you at all times, so don’t worry, k?”

Cadence pulls the car into a parking lot near the Power Plant. They get out and walk into an alley on side the building, the same alley that Casey and Aiden had searched the day they were trying to find their way in.

On the way, Jill drops the glamour surrounding her. Her skin pales and takes on a similar opalescent cast to Cadence’s, her features sharpening slightly. Her ears come up to a graceful point, and her almond eyes seem to get much larger, the blue of them taking on the bright shining color of a clear summer sky.

Cadence moves with the grace of a dancer, but Jill puts her to shame. She more seems to flow than to actually walk, and Casey has an appreciation for how dangerous it’s going to be in a building full of people like them, the unconscious pull of their nature against all of her senses.

She starts to work on blocking some of it out, going a little on some of what she’s read in the book that Faust gave to her. By the time they get to where they are going, she feels pretty secure that it shouldn’t be a problem.

They stop in front of a section of wall that looks no different to the rest. It is spray painted with graffiti and caked with the grime that tends to form in the center of cities like this. Jill turns to her, smiles, and then walks straight through the wall.

Casey stares in amazement for a moment, Cadence’s hand resting on her back breaking her out of it. “Don’t worry about it, just close your eyes and step through. Trust me.”

She takes Casey’s hand, and holding it tight, pulls her forward. Casey closes her eyes at the last moment, tensing up, but feels no impact with the wall.

She opens her eyes to find herself in a covered little walkway leading to a large, brass door. A plaque next to it is inscribed: Accorded Neutral Territory.

Jill rests her hand against the door, and with a quiet click it opens, letting them into a place that Casey will never be able to forget. The place is huge on the inside, much larger than she had expected it. Along the walls are openings into different nooks and rooms, taking up most of the left center is a huge bar. Many different tables take up the majority of the space, none too close to the other.

Hanging from the ceiling are a number of cages, dancers inside. Raised platforms are also abundant, filled with men and women dancers/strippers.  A wall of voices and sound rush over her, throbbing music the predominant ingredient. Most of the languages she can hear are foreign to her, some clearly inhuman.

With the sound also comes a wave of different odors, incense and perfume and spices mixing with the smell of so many bodies packed into such a small area. If she hadn’t have run through the techniques to wall off her senses, she’d be easily overwhelmed by everything.

Jill disappears into the throng, and Casey gratefully finds Cadence standing close behind her, one hand on her back to guide her through the crowd. Some of the people in here are clearly not human. Some wear the cover of glamours that she can spot, but others simply don’t care. Horns sprout from this one’s head; a thin tail whips behind that one. One guy walks past, hulking over everyone nearby, his leathery face split by the tusks he has for teeth.

Cadence walks Casey to an empty table, and waits till she’s sitting before taking her own seat. There is a metal ring embedded in the floor around the table, its surface carved with runes that look familiar. They also adorn the wooden table in between them.

Cadence runs her finger over the rune on the table, and Casey gets the sudden feeling of a pressure change, almost like her mystic ears just popped. The sound around them dulls to a barely heard whisper. The sights of everything around them is blurred, as though a curtain had been drawn around them as well.

“There, now no one can hear us. Not by listening in, or by spell, or even by technical means. I figure we can talk a bit, while we wait. You said you found out something about Roni?”

She says it casually enough, but Casey can feel the quiet tension in her voice when she says the other girl’s name.

“Wait, how’d you do that? Can anybody do that? Can people still see us?” Casey asks as she looks out from the table.  She shakes her head and turns her attention back to Cadence.  “Nevermind, I’m not sure I’ll ever be used to all this.  Anyway, she’s a Star. I realized it when I was reading that book that Faust gave us.”

Cadence’s eyes widen as she leans back in her chair, silent for a long moment as she considers it. Finally, she nods slightly. “Even my people have legends of Stars. You’re right, it explains a lot. Brings up a lot of questions too.”

“Questions?”

“Yeah. Why doesn’t she remember Falling? What caused her to? Why is she getting older? It doesn’t make sense. But it explains why someone is out to get her, and why they haven’t really pushed the issue yet.”

“What do you mean, why would they wait?”

“A Star’s heart is what they’re after. And a heart is most powerful just before it’s given away in love.” She suddenly looks miserable. “Which means that if she doesn’t get close enough to Tom quick enough, they’ll be after her.”

Casey tries to find a way to broach the subject she’s been wondering about. “What about… well, didn’t she ask you…”

Cadence turns her face away from Casey, leaving her in profile as she stares out into the crowd. “Ask me out with you and Aiden? She did. But earlier she talked to me, and said that it was just to celebrate me being able to stay here and all. She didn’t want me to get the wrong idea, and since so much was going on – I guess she meant Jill being here – that she was going to take Tom instead. I think it was easier for her to take him anyway. Seeing the way Bianca looks at me, I can’t imagine her family being too happy her taking me out, even if it wasn’t a real date.”

She goes quiet after finishing, leaving Casey unsure of what to say in response. After a long moment, Cadence fills the quiet, “It’s a good thing too. I mean, she was out of my league to begin with, but a Star? Shit, way beyond me. I’m just a goblin girl, not…” she drifts off, her lips pursed tight.

Casey just waits quietly, sensing that Cadence needs to run through something in her head.  A long moment later, Cade starts as if she hadn’t said anything else, “Jill shouldn’t be too long, and I’ll get you home. You should be real careful if you ever come here without me, ok?”

As Casey is about to answer, someone walks up to the table. Cadence slides her finger back across the rune, dropping the barrier around them. A waitress stands there, looking over her shoulder.

“Do you want anything?” She asks, turning to them. Her eyes widen comically. “Shit! I mean, Casey!”

It’s Shelly.

She’s wearing a blue tank top that’s nearly skintight, a black bra underneath it. Black shorts so short they disappear behind the small apron tied around her waist. A black leather collar that makes Cadence’s choker seem demure wraps around her neck. Her skin is so pale against the color of her top that it almost seems to glow from within.

“Hey… Casey.” Her eyes flick over to Cadence quickly before coming back to Casey’s. “Look, I wanted to apologize for that other night. I called and talked to Harmony, but I didn’t have your number. Somebody I know decided to play a trick on me and spike our drinks, and I feel so bad about all that. I really, really do. I hope you forgive me?”

Casey looks over at Cadence, who hasn’t taken her eyes off of Shelly. Her body is spring coiled tight, her eyes narrowed slightly as she waits for any threatening move to set her off.

“Do you forgive her, Case?” she asks.

Casey bites her lip at glances from Cadence to Shelly before answering, “Ummm, I guess so…”  She trails off, not sounding very sure of her answer.

Shelly relaxes just slightly, “I really am sorry about it, I wish it didn’t have to involve you.  What do you guys want to drink?  First one’s on me tonight.”  She forces a smile as she finishes.

Cadence names some drink that Casey has never heard of and Casey just asks for a Diet Coke.  “She’s the one from the video, isn’t she?”  Casey nods and Cadence brings the barrier back up around them, half-smiling at her friend.  “She likes you…and Harmony too, otherwise she would have had more of a group love-fest going that night.  If she’s telling the truth about her drink being spiked, there’s only a couple of things that can make a vamp act like that.  Be careful around her Case. At least if she’s working here, she can’t be too bad. The owner is a stickler for a lot of things, no way she’d hire on a feral fang-face.”

Casey nods as Shelly and Jill both come back to the table at the same time.  Cadence drops the barrier and Shelly sets down their drinks, looking toward Jill and asking for her order at the same time.  Jill shakes her head no as she sits down.

Shelly turns back to Cadence and raises an eyebrow as she points out the girl’s drink with her chin. “I hope you’re not the designated driver.”

Cadence shrugs and reaches into her pants pocket, pulling out her keys and tossing them on the table. Casey thanks Shelly and gives her a couple bucks for tip and Cadence brings back the barrier the second her back is turned.

“What did you find out,” she asks Jill, before reaching for her glass. The tall, skinny glass is filled with various layers of color: blue on the bottom fading to a deep purple in the middle, orange and brilliant red on top. She had called it a “Night on –something- Sunset”, Casey didn’t quite catch it.

Casey turns to look at Jill, who is busy writing in her notebook. She smiles as she shows them both the page. Found my Sister. She’s supposed to come in tonight, I’m going to wait and see. You can go, I’ll find someplace if she doesn’t.

Cadence shakes her head. “No way, I’ll wait until she shows, or you’re ready to leave.” She turns to Casey. “If you need to leave before then, it’s not a problem. I’ll run you home, or you can just drive yourself home,” she nods at the keys on the table between them.

After a moment, Cadence reaches for the rune carved in the table, and lets the barrier fall again. Noticing Casey’s look, she leans closer. “Costs money, and catches attention if it’s up for a long time. People get curious, even if it’s a common sight. Better to save it for important talks.”

Her eyes flick around the room as she talks, never staying in one spot for too long. Casey wonders what it is like, having to live her life in such a constant state of paranoia. She suddenly feels sorry for her.

Cadence turns her attention back to Casey. “So how are things going with you and Aiden? Better I hope. I’m still not sure what happened with y’all, was it the Kale nonsense? I mean, he likes you and all, but it’s not reciprocal, is it?”

As the night gets longer and Cadence’s drink gets lower, she gets quieter… sinking into a clearly “not wanting to talk” mood. It gives Casey time to pay a little attention to what’s going on around her – which may be a good or bad thing.

Every few minutes there is a sight of something even more astounding than what came before it. And all of it moving around together around her in a way that is utterly pedestrian, the cognitive dissonance of it all is a bit much.

Jill does her part to distract Casey after Cadence falls silent, passing her notebook back and forth and just trying to get a little background on everything that’s happened before she got here, without overly prying.

Shelly doesn’t exactly hover around – especially considering she seems somewhat cautious around a clearly hostilely protective Cadence – but she comes around several times to refill drinks or check up on them. At one point Casey watches her flirting with a guy one table over, and when she laughs the tips of her fangs are obvious, driving in the fact of what she truly is.

Cadence pulls off her baseball cap and flips it into the empty chair next to her, one hand going up to ruffle her hair. The neon pink streaks on either side contrast with the deep black of the rest of her hair. “I’ll be back in a minute.” She shoots Jill a wary eye, the other girl nodding slightly, which seems to satisfy Cadence. She stands and stalks off, her small frame disappearing quickly into the crowd.

Jill frowns as she watches the other girl leave. She turns to Casey and writes something out on her notepad, before passing it over. She’s not happy I came back.

They’re not sitting there long before Shelly walks up. She hesitantly looks between Casey and Jill. “Casey, do you mind if we talked? I kind of wanted to clear the air between us.”

Jill gives Casey a questioning look, and at her nod writes something on her pad. I won’t be far. You’re perfectly safe, just don’t leave the table. I won’t let her do anything, promise.

Casey smiles at the other girl, who gives Shelly a threatening look before standing and walking towards the bar. Shelly sits in Cadence’s seat, across from Casey.

“Look, I had no idea you were in the know on things.” At Casey’s confused look, she makes a gesture that encompasses the building around them. “If you’re here, you know things. I mean, I had heard you were dealing with Faust, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you know what goes bump in the night, you know… things like me.”

She huddles miserably in her seat. “I really didn’t mean to do that to you and Harm. Some of my friends got wrapped up in the Carlin-Kane girl’s kidnapping, they’re police. When she was rescued, they started looking into things, following her. That’s how they twigged to you and her other friends. They followed you to some of the games, to Faust’s place. I still look young, so I could kind of fit in with y’all, so they asked for my help.

“At your birthday, I kind of worked on Harmony to get some answers as to who you were. That’s why she thought she knew me, I kind of pushed her into believing that. They still suspected you might have something to do with it, and they’re looking out for the Kane girl. I wasn’t supposed to bump into you at the dance, and especially not let on that I knew you.

“But look, we all know you’re on the up and up now, and that y’all are trying to protect her too. And I really, really didn’t mean for that to happen the other night, someone really did spike my drink. If someone wouldn’t have broken things up…” she doesn’t finish that answer, shuddering slightly.

A shadow falls over them, and Casey looks over to see Cadence standing there, another glass of whatever she was having in her hand. Her eyes are a deep violet, the irises slit like a cat as she glares at Shelly.

Before anyone can say anything, Shelly raises her hands in a non-threatening gesture, and smiles up at the other girl, the tips of her fangs peeking out from under her lips. “Hey, was just keeping your seat cold for you.”

She stands and walks off, giving Casey a wink before she does. Cadence sits down. “Where’s Jill?”

“She gave me some space, so Shelly could talk to me. She said she’d be close, there she is. Who is she talking to?”

Cadence turns to follow Casey’s gaze, and they both watch Jill and the two people she was talking to walk over. The girl is clearly cut from the same cloth as Jill. Statuesque, seeming to shine with an inner light, and almost alien in her beauty. The man with her is her opposite in almost every way: big versus lithe, dark verses pale, hostile versus serene.

They are both wearing the uniform that Casey has become familiar with, the suits and fashionably understated look of bodyguards. However the tailoring and materials lend Casey to believe that they must be very successful.

The man steps up and smiles as he makes introductions, though the smile is a wary one that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Hello, I’m Alec Guiness.” He reaches to shake their hands, and when Casey touches him she feels the faint prickling of glamour. If she were to ‘open’ her newfound senses, she would surely see something other than a normal human man standing in front of her.

“This is my associate and friend, Angel Monroe.” He gestures to the woman standing next to him. Up close, Casey can see that there is something a little ‘off’ about the woman, from the way she stands there unmoving to the completely neutral expression on her face. That lasts for a moment as though it has to sink in, and then she turns to Casey and smiles brilliantly, her whole being coming to life.

“It’s nice to meet you.” She reaches out and shakes Casey’s hand before turning to Cadence.

“We own a small security and transportation company. Angel knows about Jill’s situation, and having been there herself, has given full hospitality to her.” Casey glances over at Angel, who has gone back to that oddly neutral poise. “She can stay with us until she finds something else, and we’ll help her find a job as well.”

Jill smiles and nods enthusiastically. She pulls Cadence over to the side, and they ‘talk’ for a few moments, before heading back. Casey notices Cadence pulling a cellphone out her cargo pocket and passing it over to the other girl.

“Thank you Alec, Angel. I hope y’all take good care of my friend. She has my number if you need to reach me for any reason.” She reaches in her pocket and throws some money on the table to cover their drinks, and they all head out to her car. She gets the keys from Casey and opens the trunk, helping to carry the few items that Jill owns over to the limo that Alec points out.

They have another conversation to the side, Casey waiting at the car. Finally Cadence pulls the other girl to her for a quick, tight hug, before turning and walking back to the car without looking back.

She climbs into the passenger seat without saying a word, staying silent for a while as Casey cautiously starts the drive back home. She can tell from the other girl’s posture that now isn’t the time to tell her she doesn’t have her license, and after what she drank, she’s clearly not capable of driving herself.

“Case?” Cadence doesn’t turn towards her, staying slumped against the door, staring out the window.

“Yeah Cade?”

“You mind if I crash with you tonight? I can’t drive like this. I’ll be gone before the Carlin’s wake up, don’t worry.”

Casey looks back over at the other girl still slumped against the door. She’s got her glamour back up, the wild and exotic look replaced with that of a sad, tired, little girl.

“Yeah, sure Cade.” She cringes a little to herself. She can’t afford to get the Carlin-Kane’s mad at her – which really boils down to Madison – but there’s no way she can say no to her friend in this condition either.

They park a little way away from the house, and make it to the pool house without any problem. Cadence drops her on the floor next to the sofa-like cushions lining the sill of one of the floor-to-ceiling windows that make up the walls.

“I’ll just be a few minutes in the bathroom, and then it’s all yours if you don’t mind.” Casey nods at her, and she disappears into the door in back leading to the bathroom. Casey hears the shower turn on right after, so she heads to her closet to grab her nightclothes and change into a nice fluffy robe.

By the time she’s finished, she hears the shower turn off and thinks to herself, She really means it when she says just a few minutes!

Cadence walks out a few minutes later, wearing the brown short sleeve t-shirt she was wearing as an over shirt earlier, and the same white boyshorts she was wearing when she rescued Smudge from the drain. The rest of her clothes are neatly folded in a pile in her hands, and her black and pink hair is pulled back into a pony-tail.

She still has the look of someone who doesn’t want to talk, so Casey heads into the bathroom herself to wash up and get ready for sleep.

Casey steps out of the bathroom a darkness broken only by the light of the moon through the shades and the small lamp next to her bed. Cadence is sitting on the sofa-like cushions in the window, leaning against the glass as she looks out into the night. The shades on that one window are open to just above her head, backlighting her into a black silhouette.

“You don’t need to sleep over there, we can share the bed you know,” Casey tells her softly.

“I know. Thanks, but I’m ok.” Casey has to strain to hear the other girl’s voice, quiet as she is.

Casey climbs into the bed, reaching over to turn the light off as Cadence’s voice cuts through the darkness again.

“There’s a storm coming.” As though to punctuate her words with uncanny timing, lightning flashes in the distance illuminating her sitting there, staring out into the night.

September 27th, Thursday Day - Casey Silpetti

Weird dreams plague Casey’s sleep, keeping her from resting very well that night and making the morning seem like it comes all too soon. She glares at her alarm clock for a long moment before finally swatting it into silence, and stretches hard before even thinking about trying to get up.

She goes through her normal morning routine in a dreary limbo, finally finding herself in the kitchen fixing something to drink without even realizing it. The TV is on in the corner, and even though the volume is low she catches a bit of the broadcast:

“It has been a little over a month since the body of Tina O’Bradain was found. Tina – daughter of two Arkham Police Officers - was the sixteenth child known to have gone missing this year. Last night, another name was added to that list.

Timothy Wells, a nine year old resident of the Cook Housing Development in Outer Arkham was found missing from his bedroom this morning. While no evidence of a struggle was found inside his room, his window was found opened.

This is the first child to have gone missing from inside their home, though several have disappeared while close to home.

Police are searching for any lead, and ask that anyone who has information to please call the special hotline set up for this investigation…”

“Horrible, isn’t it?” Bianca’s question startles Casey, who thought she was alone in the kitchen. She turns to look at the other girl, who holds out the remote and mutes the tv. “I can’t imagine what those poor parents are going through. I remember when Vee was taken, I just…” She shudders and falls silent for a long moment, before finally looking down and spooning her own coffee around. “Guess mom will be busy again, with the council meetings and all. I hope they find whoever’s doing it soon… it’s so horrible.”

Casey nods and sits across from Bianca, joining her in silence. Casey finds herself getting lost in thought again, this time thanks to the news broadcast. Now that she knows the kinds of things that are stalking around in the dark, listening to the news of it happening to someone is that much more frightening. Bianca is right; someone needs to be out there doing something about it. Obviously there are more people with power like Faust or Cadence or even herself out there in this world, so shouldn’t something be stopping these attacks?

Her internal dialog is interrupted when Roni finally walks into the room. She’s moving listlessly, her skin pale and deep shadows lurking under unfocused eyes. She’s dressed in her uniform, but unkempt. Her hair is a wild tangle of knots and frizz… all in all Casey has never seen her in this bad a state of disarray.

Bianca jumps up at once and helps her sister to the table. “Hey you, is it bad?”

Veronica shakes her head dully. Bianca rushes over to the sink and gets her a glass of water. “Don’t go anywhere, I’ll be right back.” True to her word, she rushes from the room and is back a mere few moments later, panting from her run upstairs and back.

She places a line of pill bottles in a row in front of Roni, who starts silently pushing them into some kind of order – nudging them into a perfectly straight line. One at a time, she takes a pill from each bottle and swallows it silently, pausing for a second and then moving down the line to the next bottle.

While she’s doing that, Bianca starts brushing her hair lovingly, neatening her appearance. She glances over at Casey. “Sometimes she has episodes. She’s been doing pretty well lately, but every once in a while…  The pills should help some later. It’s nothing to worry about though, she’ll be fine.” She says it matter of factly, in a tone that sounds as though it’s been repeated many times. At the same time, it sounds as though she’s still trying to convince herself as well.

Casey looks at Bianca, then at Veronica, confused and a worried about her friend.  “Episodes?  From what?  Are you sick, Roni?  Is there anything I can do?”

Roni shakes her head listlessly. “It’s ok. Just a condition I have, if flares up sometimes.”

Bianca finishes her hair and starts cleaning up the pill bottles and cups. “Ok little bear, go get your books. That is, if you’re sure you want to go to school. We can stay home today, if you feel like it?”

“No, no. I’ll be fine, I want to go to school today.” She heads out to get her books, Bianca watching her closely as she does, frowning slightly. When Veronica is out of the room, she turns to Casey and sighs.

“The doctors don’t know what it is. They think it’s similar to autism or something. And sometimes she just gets really exhausted, rundown or something. But she’ll be ok, the medicine usually works. And if she’s actually wanting to go to school, it can’t be too bad. Just make sure if you’re in class with her or whatever, she doesn’t get too worked up. She doesn’t deal good with a lot of stimulus like this. She doesn’t like to be touched, or bright lights and loud sounds.”

Casey nods, wondering what’s really causing Roni to feel this way.

By the time they all head out to the car, a little color has come to Veronica’s cheeks, and her eyes are a little clearer. But she still sits off to the side, as if she’s in her own little world. Bianca idly chats with the two of them, not seeming to care that Veronica isn’t answering back anything.

With Bianca talking to her she doesn’t have the chance to actually focus her senses and check, but sitting this close to Veronica, Casey notices that the faint – static-electric – like buzz of power she normally feels around Roni isn’t as strong as it usually is.

When they arrive at school, Bianca walks in with Veronica while Casey waits for Harmony, who she spots heading towards her from the student parking lot. They walk towards the SC together.

“So, we still all going to the game tonight? Chris can’t go, so I can give everyone a ride no problem.”

“I think so.  Not sure about Roni, she wasn’t feeling good this morning.” After a few steps, she adds, “And of course, if we make the play, we have that meeting after school to hit.”

They get inside and grab some breakfast. They get to their table to find it empty other than Cadence, who’s resting her head against her books – seemingly fast asleep.  Casey tries to sit quietly and let Cadence rest, Harmony on the other hand…doesn’t.

“Yo Cade,” she practically yells, “late night last night?  What’d you do, have a never-ending date that no one knew about?”

Cadence stirs and looks blearily at Casey and Harm, “Not exactly, Harmony, but it was a late night.”  She looks around, “Where’s Veronica?”

Casey shrugs, “Not sure.  She wasn’t feeling very good today and she and Bianca both headed inside.  I thought they were coming in here, but I don’t know where they ended up going.”

At the mention of Roni not feeling well, Cadence looks more alert.  “I’m gonna go see if I can find her.”  She stands up and scans the room.  “See you guys later,” she says distractedly as she heads away from the table.

“That was kinda weird…even for her,” Harmony says.  Casey nods in agreement as they eat breakfast together, moving into idle chit-chat until it’s time to go to class.

Casey walks into second period to find Aiden and Cadence laughing. Aiden smiles up at Casey as she walks up, and he looks happier than he’s been for a while. Cadence still looks tired, but she smiles up at Casey too.

“So, ready to find out at lunch which part you get? I already told Cade here to threaten her mom not to give you a munchkin role, though I guess ya’ll could both get away with it.” He grins, and laughs a bit as Cadence punches him in the arm, a laugh that turns into an honest “Ow!” in response.

Veronica walks in, and makes her way over to the table. She’s brightened up some, but Casey can still tell that she must be under the weather. Cadence frowns as the other girl sits down gingerly.

“Hey tiger, you ok?”

Roni gives a weak smile. “Just having an attack, not feeling so great.”

Aiden looks over at Casey with confusion written on his face, but Cadence nods as if she understands. When she answers, she lowers her voice and speaks slower. “Bad?” She reaches out to touch the other girl’s arm, but stops when Roni shies away. “Sorry, forgot. Why don’t you go home, tiger?”

Roni just shakes her head. “I’ll be fine. Besides, I want to go to the game tonight, and if I’d stayed home I wouldn’t be able to.” She pulls out her books and turns towards the front of the class, subtly leaning as far away from everyone in her seat as she can.

Lunch comes around all too soon, and Casey’s not sure she’ll be able to eat well while waiting for the end of the lunch hour, when the audition results go up. She and Veronica grab some lunch and head out to their table where Harmony is waiting, busy texting Chris.  They all make final plans for getting to the game after school and Veronica promises to fill Cadence in on it.

Casey’s a little glad that Veronica isn’t all wound up about the results, she’s not sure if she could have lived through what would have surely been an energetic ball of nervous meltdown. Still, she wishes the other girl felt better, as it just seems so unnatural how quiet and withdrawn she’s being. But at least she’s sitting down and eating with them, unlike breakfast this morning when she just disappeared. But Casey’s distracted, worrying about how the auditions will turn out and doesn’t pay much attention to the other girls for most of the lunch period.

Cadence passes by while they’re eating, but only to say that she’ll see them at the audition board at the end of lunch. “Mom’s not home, so I can sneak some food and talk a little bit more about our plans. I’ll catch ya’ll on the other side.” She heads off towards her house, leaving a confused looking Harmony behind.  Harmony looks to Casey for an explanation, but doesn’t press the issue as she reads the nervousness on her friend’s face.

Lunch comes to a close, and the girls make their way towards the post board where the audition results are going up. Cadence catches up with them, and pulls Casey off to the side. “I think we might have found someone who can help out. Jill says that there is another of her Sisters working in town, exiled like she is. So after the game we’re going to head to Legal Tender to try and get a lead on her. So I’m going to drive to the game, and sneak Jill with us. Unless you think that’s a bad idea?”

Casey pauses, biting her lip and finally looks Cadence straight in the eyes, “You’re sure she’s telling the truth?  I know you have history and this has to be hard for you to even consider, but what if she’s still supposed to kill you?  What if it’s all a ruse?”

Cadence looks away for a moment and Casey can see her holding back tears.  She takes a deep breath and looks back at Casey, “I honestly don’t know if she’s telling the truth, but if she is, I need to help her and if she’s not…I don’t know.”

“I’m going with you then.  I may not be able to help much if something bad happens, but at least I’ll be there to do something.  Plus, Faust said I need to go to Legal Tender at some point, so I guess now is as good a time as any.”

“You don’t need to if you don’t want to. Even if Jill isn’t telling the whole truth, she did give me her word she’s not here to hurt me or anyone else, and she even spoke it thrice. She can’t break her word, so I’ll be safe with her.” She sighs.

“I still want to go. Just in case.”

Cadence looks over at her friend and smiles a genuine smile, clearly thankful. “I’ll tell Roni the basics, but with the way she’s feeling she needs to rest, and I’m not sure I want her going anywhere near Legal Tender, ever.”

Casey nods in agreement and they start again toward the audition results.  Casey stops after a few steps, catching Cadence’s arm to make her stop too.  “I almost forgot,” she looks around and lowers her voice, getting close to Cadence’s ear and whispering so she’s the only one who can hear, “I figured out what Roni is…”

Cadence pulls back abruptly, clapping a hand over Casey’s mouth, “Shhhh…we’ll talk about this later.”  And with that, she turns and beelines it for the casting sheet.

Before Casey can even make it through the crowd, Roni is back at her side, looking almost like her usual self.  “I made it Case!  I’m gonna be Glinda!”  She grabs Casey’s hands and twirls them around, abruptly stopping as the adrenaline leaves her system and she feels the funk that she’s been in all day hit her again.  She looks like she’s going to fall over or faint, so Casey moves and grabs her around the waist, holding her up.

“Hey, you ok?” Casey feels a sudden wave of dizziness flash through her. She feels something completely weird, like a subtle draining feeling that seems to pull at the energy Casey has been able to feel inside herself thanks to her new learnings.

It passes quickly, barely noticeable as it was weak even at the first touch. But it’s odd, as Veronica usually seems to radiate energy.

Roni shakes her head as if to clear it, “Yeah, just a little too much excitement all at once.”  She takes a couple of deep breaths and continues, “I wish I felt better…but I’ll be fine.”

“Roni, are you sure you’re up for the game tonight?  Maybe you should just go home and rest.”

She perks up a little, “No!  I’m going to the game.  We have to cheer on Aiden.  I’ll be fine.  I just get like this sometimes.”  Cadence emerges from the crowd around the casting sheet and hurries over as soon as she sees Veronica.

“Hey tiger, you ok?” she says, reaching out to touch Veronica, but stopping before she actually makes contact, dropping her hand back to her side.

Veronica stands up a little straighter, stepping away from Casey a little.  “Yeah, just too much excitement.  I think I’m gonna head to my next class.  I’ll see you guys after school for the play meeting and then we’ll go to the game.”  She gets a couple steps away before turning back, “Oh, and Case, congratulations…you’ll make an awesome Dorothy.”  She doesn’t wait for Casey’s reaction and just keeps going to her next class.

Casey pales immediately and looks at Cadence who gives her a little smile and nods at her, “Uh yeah, you’re Dorothy, Case.”

“Really?” Casey asks, feeling a bit nauseated.

“Yup.”

“Do you think your mom will change it?  I can’t be Dorothy.  I’ll forget the words.  I can’t dance, I’ll fall on my face.”  She pales even more, looking at the floor.  “Oh god, what am I going to do?”  She looks back up at Cadence, pleading, “I didn’t even want to be in it, I just tried out for Roni…you have to help me get your mom to change it, please…”

Cadence grins, “I don’t think she’ll change it.  It’ll be fun.  We’ll all help you with it, I promise.  Come on, let’s go find Harmony, she’ll want to congratulate you too.”

Casey takes a deep breath and they head off to find Harm.  “By the way Cade, what part did you get?”

“Auntie Em.  We’re related,” she smiles as Harmony rushes up to meet them, with Kale slightly behind her.

Harmony gives Casey a big hug, “Congrats girl!  I can tell by the look on your face that you found out you’re Dorothy.  Don’t worry, you’ll do great!  We can help you with the memorizing and everything.”  She steps back as Casey gets even paler at the thought of memorizing everything.

Kale looks at her, very concerned.  “Are you ok, Casey?  You look like you’re gonna pass out.  Shouldn’t you be happy about this?”

She takes a minute to compose herself, and some of her color returns as Harmony answers his last question, “She didn’t really want to try out, Stevens…and even though we all know she can do this, she doesn’t think she’s capable.  Is that about right, Case?”

Casey nods, “I’m fine…well, I’ll be fine.  I just…I just never expected this.”  She takes another moment to pull herself together.  “So Harm, what part did you get?  Roni’s Glinda, Cade is Auntie Em, and I’m Dorothy…so who are you?”

“She changed the parts around a bit, I’m the Tin Woodswoman.”  She starts to sing in an over-the-top way, “If I only had a heart…”  Cadence and Kale join her as they all whistle the next part, not even close to matching tones, before they all crack up.

“OK, you guys are gonna have to keep me going with all this,” Casey says to them as they calm down a little.  “I never expected this part and I really don’t know if I can pull it off.”

“You’ll be great, Casey,” Kale says, blushing a little as he gives her an awkward hug.  “I’ll see y’all later.”  He takes off, leaving the three girls together.

“He’s right,” Harmony adds, “you’ll be great!”  The first bell rings and all of a sudden, the noise in the room goes up and everyone is on the move to get to class.  “I’ll see you after school!”  She gives Casey a hug and runs off toward her locker.

“Yeah, I should get going too, Case,” Cadence says.  “I’ll see you at the play meeting and we’ll figure out some of the other stuff later, kay?”  Casey nods as Cadence disappears into the flow of people.  Casey heads over the casting sheet to see that she’s Dorothy for herself.  There’s finally nobody around it, so she easily makes her way up to the posting and there it is, her name at the top saying she’s playing Dorothy Gale.  She feels herself pale again as she sees for herself that she’s the lead.  She composes herself, and as she starts off for class, the bell rings.  She breaks into a run, making it to her next class a few minutes late and takes her seat.

Casey makes it through all her afternoon classes and when she gets to her art class, she’s already decided that she’s sticking around the school today.  She doesn’t want to be late for the play meeting after school, plus she needs to talk to Mr. Boyd about her new time issues for her project thanks to the play.

Casey tells Mr. Boyd that she needs to talk to him about her project and he tells her to set up at a station and work on her pictures.  He’ll be around to everyone today to see how they’re doing.  So, that’s what she does.  She pulls out her laptop and gets online.  She checks her email to see if Mr. Mors, or anyone else, wants to buy any of the pictures she took, especially the ones she took for her project.

Sure enough, there is an email waiting for her from Mr. Mors himself.

Ms. Silpetti, I’ve been trying to reach you on your cellphone to no avail. I have a project that I wish to speak to you about. Please make an appointment with Owen as soon as you can meet me. -David

She checks her cellphone, and there are a few voicemails waiting for her. There are no missed calls showing, but the messages are certainly there.

After she finishes that, Mr. Boyd has already talked to some of the other students but hasn’t gotten to her yet, so she gets into the files for her project photos.  She gets absorbed in examining them, tagging the ones she really wants to use, and noting what worked with composition and what didn’t for her future pictures.  Casey doesn’t even notice that Mr. Boyd has made it to her, and he startles her when he sits down.

“How’s your project going, Casey?”

“It’s going all right.  I have some good pictures to use already and I talked to Father Piccoli.  He’s going to let me go shoot at the shelter.  We’re going to make it a fundraiser for them.”  She shows him the ones she’s tagged so far, and he scans through the rest of them as well.

“It looks like you’re off to a good start.  I know you still have a while until the end of the semester, but I want to make sure you get it done in time.  Don’t bite off more than you can chew with this.”

“I know.  But, um, what I wanted to talk to you about was the school play, or musical I guess it is.”

“I don’t have anything to do with the play, Casey.”

She smiles, “I know, but I made it into the play, so I do now, and I don’t know when I’m going to be able to take my pictures with all the rehearsals and stuff for that.  I can still do them during the last 2 periods of school, but by the time I get to wherever I need to take pictures, I won’t have long before I have to be back for rehearsals.  And I’m sure rehearsals will go kind of late, so I’m not going to have a ton of after-school time either, and I’ll still have my other homework to do.”  She’s about to keep rambling, when he cuts her off.

“Casey, I’m sure you’ll be able to figure something out.  You may have to work on this project more on the weekends instead and use your study period for homework, so you don’t fall behind in your other classes.  You’re a smart girl and I’m sure the Carlin-Kane’s will do what they can to help you get your schoolwork done.”

Casey gapes at him.  She’s not sure how many people know about her living situation, but she’s surprised that Mr. Boyd knows.  He senses where her confusion is coming from and answers her question before she gets a chance to ask it.  “Mr. Carlin spoke with the administration about some of what’s going on.  All of us that have you in our classes right now were told the basics of the situation and that they are your guardians right now.”

She relaxes a little, relieved she doesn’t have to explain everything to him.  “I just found out at lunch about the play and I’ll talk to Sandy about getting more rides so that I can still work on this when I need to.  I just wanted to make sure you knew.”

“I’m sure you’ll get everything done well, Casey.  You have a good eye, and you’re a natural at capturing people in a good, well-composed photograph.  Let me know if any more issues come up.”  He points at one of the later pictures in the group on her computer that she hadn’t gotten around to examining yet.  “I’d definitely use that one.  The lighting, the composition, even the shallow focus really work together.  Like I said, a natural.”  Casey smiles to herself as she focuses again on her computer, examining the photo he just pointed out up close and then continuing to work her way through the others for the rest of the class period.

After class, Aiden is waiting at Casey’s locker.  “Congratulations Dorothy,” he says, moving out of her way.

She blushes and opens her locker, putting away what she doesn’t need and grabbing a couple books to work on homework during her study period.  “Thanks.  I’m really nervous about it though.  Cade and Roni and Harmony all said they’ll help me with it, so I guess I should relax some about it.  You ready for the game?”

“I think so.  Coach has been pushing us really hard this week.”  He shuffles his feet, looking nervous.  “So, um, you wanna go to dinner after the game tonight?”

Casey smiles at him, “I wish I could, but I’m helping Cadence out with a project.  I already promised.  But, um, maybe we could do something this weekend instead.”

“Sure, this weekend!”  The first bell rings.  “I, uh, gotta get to class.  I’ll look for you tonight at the game.”  He gives her a quick peck on the cheek without really thinking about it.  “Uh…see ya later,” he says as he practically runs off to class.

Casey heads for the student center to get some homework done before the play meeting and the soccer game, knowing she probably won’t have much time afterwards to do any.  About ten minutes before the period is over, she packs up and slips out into the hallway to call Mr. Mors.  Owen Spiner answers and, after apologies from Casey and an explanation that the calls never actually came through, just the voicemails, they quickly set up a meeting for Saturday morning at 9am.  Casey is a little surprised that Mr. Mors is so ready to use up his weekend free time to meet with her, but doesn’t say anything.  She finishes the call and heads to her locker.

Harmony catches up with Casey at her locker.  “You feeling any better about all this, Silpetti?”

Casey grabs one schoolbook to take home and her camera bag before shutting the locker.  “I guess so.  I’m still nervous about it, and I’m not really sure why Ms. Connor picked me for Dorothy.  There were other people who were better than me.  But, oh well.”

“That’s my girl,” Harmony says, slinging her arm across Casey’s shoulders.  “Let’s go find out when all our rehearsals are.”  They meet up with Veronica and Cadence just outside Ms. Connor’s room and all go in and sit together at one table.

Ms. Connor is waiting for all of them, packets of information in her hand. She passes them out to each person according to their role.

Casey is surprised to see Kale standing in the room, holding a packet. He smiles and walks over. “Kale, what are you doing here?”

He looks at the floor. “Oh, I told Ms. Connor I could help with the technical stuff. It’s no big deal, I do stuff like that all the time.” He smiles self-depreciatingly. “Don’t worry, I’ll be so busy behind the scenes you probably won’t even know I’m here!”

She smiles at him, “I didn’t even know you were interested in all this stuff.”

“Oh yeah, I actually joined the journalism department to run all their tech stuff, but they had a shortage of people so I ended up reporting too.”

“Well that’s a bonus for them, since you’re a really good reporter, huh?”  Kale doesn’t answer, just blushes a little and nods.

Ms. Connor finally calls the room to order.

“This will be our Fall presentation. We will have six showings, one each Friday during November, and the first two Fridays of December. Starting next week, you will each be expected to be here for at least  three hours each week. Please schedule with me before hand, you can either come during lunch, before school, after school, or during your free period.

“If that’s a problem, you need to let me know now. Some of you Seniors, you have the more difficult roles. I’ll be relying on you to help me with your understudies, as they’ll likely be filling those roles in the future.

“There may be some set nights or days when you’ll be asked to come in. We’ll try to work around your schedules, don’t worry about that. Are there any questions?”

Casey finds the girl playing her understudy, Stormee James, and they work out a good time when they can both come in to rehearse.  Casey talks to Ms. Connor and arranges to come in during her free period for some individual work, and after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays to work with Stormee.

“Now, Casey, because you have such a large role, you are in practically every scene.  I will need you to come in some other times as well.”

“Oh…um…my last period every day is a free period, and I can probably arrange to come in early some days if I need to.  And I can do lunchtime too, if I have to.  I’d rather keep after school free except for Tuesdays and Thursdays, if at all possible so I can keep up on my photography project this semester.”

Ms. Connor writes down Casey’s preferences.  “I’ll keep those times in mind when speaking with other students who need to rehearse with you, but as we get closer to the actual dates, we’ll be ramping up our schedule and I will need you every day after school so we can do full run-throughs.”  Casey nods hesitantly and Ms. Connor looks like she’s about to say more when she’s interrupted by another student.  Casey slips away and finds her friends.

When the meeting is finally over, they all head outside as a group. Kale says his goodbyes and makes a quick disappearance. Veronica takes Cadence by the arm and walks away from Casey and Harmony, waiting until they’re out of earshot to start talking to her.

Harmony raises an eyebrow at Casey, who just shrugs in return. “Well, I’m headed home to get ready for the game. I’m still up to give everyone a ride.”

“Thanks Harm. I’ll txt you and let you know.”

“K.” She turns towards the other two girls, who have finished talking. Veronica is walking back towards them, Cadence is standing there with a distracted look on her face. “Hey Connor, you need a ride tonight?” Harm yells out at her.

Cadence shakes her head and looks over. “No, no, I’ll be driving. See y’all there.” She turns and walks towards her place.

Roni smiles as she wraps her arm around Casey’s. “We’d love a ride, if you don’t mind Harm. That way my sister can go separate from us, if you know what I mean. Just call us when you’re on the way?”

Harmony smiles back. “Sure thing, girl.” They all make their separate ways to their rides.

Casey looks over at Roni, who seems to be feeling better but is still being a lot more quiet than normal. She’s curious about the conversation between Roni and Cadence, but if the younger girl wants to keep it under wraps, Casey will keep her curiosity under wraps.

When they get to the house, Casey goes looking for something to wear for the night. The weather has been around 65° today, and it might get a little cooler tonight with a breeze. There’s also a chance of rain, as it did sprinkle on and off throughout the day. And on top of that, it has to be something suitable for a super-secret supernatural bar that’s on the plans for later.  She finally decides on the dark-washed skinny jeans that Aiden got her at Bullseye that sit low on her hips.  On top, she layers a pair of fitted t-shirts, one black and one in Holsey red, that Harmony had given her, and adds a pair of black ballet flats, also from Aiden, to her feet.  She plays with her hair and some of the products Sandy filled her bathroom with, bringing out some curl, then adding enough makeup to not look out of place at the bar, but not enough to really stand out at the game.  She puts her ID and her cellphone in her pockets, hoping she doesn’t need any cash since she doesn’t have any.  She debates about bringing her camera to the game, but decides she doesn’t want to risk it getting stolen afterward and leaves it in her room.

After getting ready, Casey grabs her coat and heads inside to grab something to eat. Veronica is sitting at the table doing the same. She’s wearing a red Blake Holsey rain jacket with a black hoodie she borrowed from her sister underneath, with a pair of comfortable jeans and her school sneakers. Her hair is pulled back and she has a hint of makeup on. It’s subtle but not exactly a perfect match for her coloring, it looks like it was probably borrowed from her sister as well. However, with her simple outfit and the color that’s come back to her cheeks plus the makeup, she looks quite cute tonight.

Casey’s phone beeps, and when she looks at it the message is from Harmony. Be there in ten.

She tells Veronica, and they eat quickly, Bianca swinging in to grab something herself. She asks Veronica if she’s sure she doesn’t want a ride, and Veronica answers her with a tone that says she’s tired of repeating herself.

Bianca is dressed up much nicer than a soccer game calls for, and is flushed with anticipation. Roni cracks a grin at Casey and sighs when Bianca rushes out. Casey grins back at her.

Harmony walks into the kitchen from the front of the house. She’s wearing an expensive leather jacket over a silk top and designer jeans. Her hair and makeup is impeccably done, and tastefully subtle as well. Her top, makeup and accessories are all Holsey red, making her outfit both practical and stylish. As usual, she looks like she’s just stepped off the pages of a modeling magazine.

“Hey kids, Fetch let me in. We ready to go?”

They grab their stuff and head out to the opposing school, Fetch and Bianca following behind them. Harmony kicks the heater up and leaves the top down, her music blaring as they laugh and sing.

When they get there, Veronica insists on paying for all of their tickets. They make their way over to the bleachers, finding good seats pretty close down. Kale waves to them from the bottom line, his little digital camcorder and notepad in his hands complimenting his “Press” tag.

They sit and chat for a few minutes as people start to slowly fill in the seats.  Veronica stands and waves down to someone filtering in, smiling as she does.  Harmony nudges Casey in her side, and Casey turns to note her friend grinning at her – matchmaking plans twirling in her eyes.

They’re both surprised when Tom makes his way over, a large tub of popcorn in his hands. “Hey, I hope you want some. I’m so glad you called me,” he says, smiling widely. He glances over at Casey and Harmony and nods at them. “Hey Casey, Harmony. I hope Aiden and the guys do well tonight!” Even as he says this, Casey notices that while he’s dressed up really nice – too nice for a soccer game – he’s not wearing a single thing in Holsey’s colors.

He sits on the other side of Veronica, and holds the popcorn in between them. Harmony shoots Casey a “What-the-hell is this?” look, before looking past Casey and suddenly seeming even more confused.

Casey turns and spots Cadence and Jill making their way up. They take the seats behind Casey and Harmony. Cadence is wearing an olive drab baseball cap turned backwards, her hair poking out on either side. Her hair seems darker than normal, a solid raven black instead of the dark brown it normally is. That is, except for the shocks of neon, bubblegum pink that stick out of the cap on either side, framing her face. Her heart shaped face seems paler than normal, her skin almost glowing in the lights. Contrasting with her skin are eyes a deep violet instead of their normal brown under her chunky black framed glasses. Silver glints from multiple piercings in her ears, a ring in her left eyebrow, and the stud in her left nostril.

A black long sleeve jersey layered under a dark brown short sleeve tee, and a pair of olive drab cargo pants over her usual Doc Martin’s complete her attire. Her low-slung pants are held up with a studded black leather belt. A similar studded black leather choker circles her throat. Dark eye-shadow and black lipstick are the only makeup she wears tonight, but with her almost iridescent skin is all that is needed.

Casey realizes that this is the real Cadence, that there is almost no glamour hiding her tonight. Her looks have taken on a subtle, wild exoticness that would make her too noticeable, if she didn’t tamp it down normally. But whatever her reasons, she’s not hiding much of it tonight.

Jill looks the same as Casey had last seen her, and is clearly a match in the exotic attractiveness levels as the girl sitting next to her. Simple, worn jeans and a sweatshirt complete her outfit, with the addition of an Army Surplus jacket similar to the one Casey herself has. Casey can feel the faint glimmer of a glamour still cloaking her, for which Casey is glad. Cadence is only half-fae, if she could pump out that much power without even trying, Casey wouldn’t want to see what the full blood elf sitting next to her could do.

“Jill, you know Casey and Veronica. That’s Harmony and Tom. Harmony, this is an old friend of mine, Jill. We didn’t miss anything, did we?” Cadence asks, her teeth shining white as she smiles at Casey and Harmony. Her eyes flick over to where Veronica is laughing with Tom, then back to Casey. For a moment - as the lights flicker across her eyes – they seem to be the vertically slit eyes of a cat. But the moment is so quick that Casey’s not sure if that’s what she saw or not. Either way, Cadence doesn’t seem surprised by Tom’s presence here tonight.

Harmony saves her from answering, “Nope, we just got here a few minutes ago. Looks like we have about 10 minutes before they start. Hey, want anything to eat or drink?” She grabs Casey by the arm and drags her off with her towards the concession stands, not even waiting for an answer.

Harmony tries to wait until they’re out of earshot range, but can only contain it so long. She rounds on Casey. “What the heck is going on here? Why is Mini-Kane here with Tom stick-in-the-mud? And who’s the chick with Cadence? What did I miss?!?!?”

“Shhhh…Harm.”  Casey pulls her the rest of the way down the bleachers and behind the concession stand, where they’re mostly alone.  “I have no idea why Tom is here with Roni.  I didn’t even know she’d invited him.  But Cadence didn’t seem surprised to see him, so it’s probably something they cooked up.  As for Jill, she’s an old friend of Cadence’s from where she lived before moving here.  She showed up yesterday right after we got done with auditions and I think Cade is trying to keep her mom out of the loop about Jill’s appearance in town.  She’s worried her mom will make them move again.  I don’t know details Harm.”

Harmony glares at Casey for minute, trying to figure out if she’s telling the truth or not.  She must believe Casey because she lets out a big sigh and shrugs her shoulders.  “Fine, I won’t pick at this…for now.  So, what’s with your mod look tonight Case?  Make-up, hair done, no sneakers…whatcha doin’ after the game?  Making up with Aiden?  Gettin’ it on with Kale?”

Casey laughs out loud, “Neither.  Cadence thinks we can find someone for Jill to stay with or something and I wasn’t sure what to wear.  From her looks, I’d say I’m not quite dressed right.”

Harmony looks bummed.  “Oh.  Are you gonna get back together with Aiden?”

“I don’t know for sure Harm.  We’re gonna go out sometime this weekend, so we’ll see.  Can we go back to the stands now?  We’re missing the game.”

“Yeah, let’s get some snacks first though.”  They stand in line and Harmony orders two large diet cokes, nachos and two hot dogs.

Casey quietly says in Harmony’s ear, “Hey, I don’t have any money on me…you don’t have to order anything me anything.”  Harmony ignores her and pays for the food and drinks, handing half of it to Casey, and heading off to their group.  Casey just shakes her head and follows.

They get back up into the stands and Casey notices that Jill and Cadence are pretty much ignoring the game.  They seem to both be on high alert.  Tom looks bored out of his mind, and even though Veronica is into the game and cheering on the team, she’s still not back to her usual self.  Harmony offers the nachos to everyone to share and while Cadence and Jill eat some, Veronica and Tom stick to popcorn.  Casey thanks Harm for the food and eats her hot dog and some nachos.  She shares her drink with Cade and Jill, and they all get a little more into the game.

September 17th, Monday - Shelly D’arcourt

The annoying buzzing of an alarm clock finally breaks through the haze of fog filling Shelly’s skull, setting up an answering throbbing pain that brings a moan to her lips.

She reaches out blindly, and hears the crunch as she brings her hand down on the clock a little harder than she had planned to.

She lays there, her eyes closed tight, and tries to catalog all the aches and pains of her body. She feels too light, almost as if she’s floating a few inches above the mattress. She reaches out and makes sure that she can actually feel the mattress below her, to check and make sure she’s not actually floating. Her jaw aches, her fangs throbbing in a bad case of “blue fangs,” as she’s jokingly called it before. She feels nauseous, the room swimming around her.

“Fuck me,” she mutters. She opens her eyes, groaning as the ceiling above her twirls for a long moment before finally settling down.

Last night is a blurred dream, and all the pieces of the puzzle are adding up to a picture that is not making her too happy.

She sits up, and notices the note next to her ruined alarm clock. ‘You’re off work for the next few days. Clean yourself up. -Alanna’

“Shit.” She crumbles the note and tosses it over her shoulder and into the garbage can. She can imagine how pissed her boss must be, if what she thinks happened did. ‘Question is, how bad was it?’

She walks over to her desk, and wakes her computer. She turns on the webcam, and takes a look at herself on the screen.

Her eyes are still dilated, almost no color showing in them. Dark bruises under her eyes and fever spots burning her cheeks show up against the unhealthy pallor of her skin - a more sickly shade of pale than normal. Her neck has the slightly darker spots that pass for a hicky on her. She checks both sides, and sighs with relief when she spots no fang marks.

She stands and walks toward the bathroom, stripping her clothes and letting them drop wherever they land on the way. She starts the water in the shower, turning it as hot as it can go. She winces as the pipes make their grumbling unhappiness known, the sound painfully echoing in the dull throb between her ears.

She walks back to her computer, turning this way and that to look for anything worth noticing on her body. Her pale skin is almost completely unblemished, just the dark mark of a hicky on the curve of one adolescently perky breast and the tattooed black runes across her back marking her. Her skin is cold and shares the unhealthy grayish pallor that her face has, she must have burned a lot of blood last night.

She takes her time in the shower; letting the steaming hot water beat against her and wash away some of the remaining funk of last night. The heat of the water soaks into her body, the feeling rather sublime. It doesn’t do anything for the pangs of hunger twisting deep inside her, but for a moment the heat makes her feel alive again.

When the hot water is finally gone, she turns off the shower and walks back to the computer, wrapping a towel around her and another around her hair.

She sits with a sigh, and opens her IM program. She scans through, looking for someone who might be able to fill in some of the blanks for last night.

She fires off some questions at a few of the people who are online, and when she’s satisfied that she’s done all she can there, she turns to drying off and getting dressed.

She forgoes any underwear, sliding into a pair of jeans that would be way too tight if she still needed to breath. Being dead did have some advantages - after all - and wearing uncomfortable clothes was one of smaller ones.

She has to take a minute rooting though the piles of clothes on the floor to find the Mickey Mouse t-shirt she’s looking for. It’s just a simple white t-shirt, but so worn that it’s one of the softest and most comfortable shirts she owns.

The beep of an incoming email pulls her attention back to her desk. She wanders over to it, dropping the towel she’d been using to dry her hair.

She opens her mail to find a short message waiting for her from one of her hacker friends. Found this. Looks like you were having fun. Jealous, you should’ve called me. -Ace Attached is a link to MeVid.

She clicks the link, opening the movie in her browser.

It’s a bad cellphone video, and it doesn’t take her long to realize that it was filmed in the Power Plant – which brings another groan to her lips. She’s dancing with Casey and Harmony, and from the looks on their faces and the people in the background surrounding them it’s obvious that she’s got them all under the thrall of her pheromones.

From the look on her own face, it’s also quite clear that the bad feeling she had was correct. She’s seen the look on plenty of mortals… she’s doped up on vampire venom. For it to actually affect her, it’s got to be some really strong venom, or…_

She shudders as the thought passes through her mind. ‘No. No way is she back in town. Please please please… let her not be back in town.’

On the screen, the three of them are all over each other, stopping just short of actually having sex right there on the club’s dance floor. Luckily a fight breaks it up before that happens, and the video ends.

Shelly sits there for a minute, staring at the still screen in front of her. ‘Marc is going to kill me. That wasn’t exactly keeping a low profile.’

For the past few weeks, she had been helping Marc keep an eye on Veronica Carlin-Kane and her friends, ever since Veronica’s rescue in a brilliant Police raid. A police raid that stunk to high heaven, according to one of their oldest friends who just happened to be at the spearhead of it.

Since they’d been looking into it, they found that there was a deeper plot going on, and that Veronica was at the center of it. The girl was in trouble she didn’t even know of yet, though it appeared as though some of her friends might know.

Shelly had wrapped Harmony around her finger at a previous party at the Power Plant, but she didn’t quite know enough information to fill in any important blanks. Casey seemed to be the one who knew things, but at the same time she had the aura of someone who had Power, so Marc had warned her to stay away from her.

Which is of course the reason she accidentally bumped into Casey at one of their school dances that Shelly had crashed. Not only did she accidentally run into the girl, but she even accidentally called the girl by her name. She had tried to cover the slip, saying that she was a friend of Harmony, but she didn’t think it worked as well as she had hoped. As always, the only kind of luck she had was the bad sort.

And now after last night…

Shelly sighs, and picks up her cellphone. She considers for a second, and then decides to call the backdoor number that will go straight to Marc’s voicemail, instead of calling him direct.

She waits for the beep. “Marc, this is Shelly. Something went down at the club last night. I was drugged, and kinda had an… encounter with Veronica’s friends. It’s not good. I’ll send you the details through email. Call me.”

She forwards him the link to MeVid, stripping off the message from Ace and his email information. She grabs some socks and her combat boots, her mind trying to tamp down on the Thirst aching through her body. One of the pimps she’d had a run in with a few weeks ago hadn’t taken her warnings to heart, and put one of his girls back in the hospital. Easy way to kill two birds with one stone, taking care of him.

She grabbed the keys to her VW Bug, and started for the door – interrupted by another incoming email beep.

She hesitated, but walked back over to her laptop. She checked her mail, and saw the new message. It was from a contact of hers in the Court. Not someone she normally talked to, which worried her.

She opened it to find an attached picture that chilled her blood, metaphorically speaking. It was a young blonde girl, captured without her noticing outside the Power Plant. It was a face she would never forget, and it put the nail in the coffin of the fear she’d been harboring all night.

Her sire was back in town.

Shit.

A few hours later, Shelly was crouched against the wall of her blood room. She was stripped naked, her pearlescent pale skin streaked and spotted with crimson gore. Her clothes and shoes were neatly piled on a shelf high enough to stay clean. The room was Spartan, tiled floor and walls with bathroom tiles. The floor sloped down to the center of the room where a heavy duty drain was installed, and was brightly lit with plenty of fluorescent bulbs. A hose and a few shower heads decorated the walls, and another shelf with a bucket, bottles of bleach and some kind of compound used to clean organic mess at crime-scenes that cost a ton, but was worth it. Shampoo and body soap looked out of place next to her clothes, making the room seem like some kind of highschool shower room right out of hell.

The dead body across from her didn’t help that image any. A hint of steam from the small swirls of blood that ran towards the drain floated in the air. Shelly’s eyes were on the pimp’s body, but they weren’t focused on the present. Her bare feet and naked skin didn’t feel the cold chill of the room. The pains of the Thirst were gone, and with the absence her mind was allowed to wander.

It was clear to her now that her sire was behind last night’s little escapade. It’s what Elle did, it’s who she was. Shelly didn’t know a lot about her sire, but what she did know scared her. Even the oldest vampires of the Court knew Elle, claimed that she was old before they were even turned. She was a near mythological figure, a boogeyman to scare even the most wayward Blooded.

Elle was a daughter of Chaos. She worshipped at the altar of Janus, Coyote, Loki. She was not mad, and yet her actions could not be explained by the wisest as anything other than insanity. She had attempted to bring about the Apocalypse, simply because she was bored if you could believe her. And yet she had also helped destroy some of the most powerful and vicious Vampire warlords the world had ever seen.

Everything she did, she did to further her own inexplicable causes. Even that of turning Shelly.

Shelly had been a few months shy of 16, a wild child and black sheep of her family. Her father had all but publically disowned her, and even her mother had turned from her, not even caring if she was coming or going. Her older sister Ivy was the only one who cared for her, trying to get her to calm down and stop acting out.

Shelly looked up to Ivy in the deepest way. Her sister was pretty, was smart, and so very popular. Her boyfriend Marc was the older brother she didn’t have, even if she did try pressing his buttons by flirting with him all of the time. Not that it was completely innocent flirting, Shelly’s life was a hedonistic journey that included sex with pretty much anyone willing.

Ivy had just broken up with Marc, the Valentine’s Day before graduation. She was planning on moving to go to college somewhere out of state, and thought it would be best to get it over with now instead of waiting. It wasn’t long after that a horrible murder of a student shut down their school for a while, and with their parents out on an international trip, it was just Ivy and Shelly at home alone.

At least until someone threw a brick through their window. It was probably directed at her, she had made plenty of enemies on the streets and with different school kids. She had slept with enough people that there were various boyfriends and girlfriends who were out to make her life hell.

Whoever it was, it brought Marc over to stay with them. He was involved in some weird stuff that was going on, a thread that would lead him to where he was now, running the “Bump In The Night” division of Arkham PD.

Shelly had planned to try and get them back together. She loved her sister, had thought she was making a big mistake by breaking up with Marc. And she cared for Marc too, and her brother in all but blood was hurting at the breakup. It was up to her to get them back together.

Shelly didn’t know when she had caught the eye of Elle, or how long and deep the plans that led up to that night were. How much of her own plans might have been influenced by the ancient power the vampire had, she might never know.

The bottle of wine showed up on her doorstep, with a simple card that only said ‘To: Shelly, thanks for the fun.’

It gave her the idea, and she rooted through her father’s wine rack to find the best stuff he had. The bottle she had found, she opened for herself. The night was one long seduction, candlelight and dinner cooked for the two pained lovers. Shelly had gotten a camcorder when she was still the darling child of her parents, and it had been her constant companion through her turbulent adolescence.

Wine and food lulled their senses, as Shelly played back memory after memory that the two of them shared. Her own bottle of wine was almost empty now, and it wouldn’t be for some time later that she found out who tainted it with Vampire’s blood, where it was already changing her into something else.

She felt the effects of the change without realizing it, and her fledgling vampiric powers were being birthed, the pheromones that allowed them to hunt so easily filling the room and opening the minds of Ivy and Marc.

She didn’t remember when the mood turned so intimate, but between the wine and pheromones and everything else, it was bound to. Shelly broke out videos she had secretly taped, videos of Ivy and Marc together in ways that would have caused her father to pop an aneurism. She had many tapes of herself with her various lovers or by herself, but these videos of Marc and Ivy together, and those she had of Ivy alone were her most secret possessions.

She had lusted after her sister for years and after Marc as well. The night became not just a plan to seduce the two of them into getting back together, but a seduction of each of them individually with her as well. And with her new – unknown – powers, it was all too easy.

She still had the video of that night. She had switched to a blank tape and started filming once Ivy and Marc kissed, setup the tripod and joined them. The three of them spent the next few hours trying to slake their lust with each other’s bodies.

It only ended when Shelly, the blood inside her burning as she Turned, bit into her sister’s neck in search of the blood she could sense was just under the skin.

Luckily Shelly managed not to kill her, but her sister still carried the pale scar as a reminder of that night. Marc managed to separate them and lock Shelly up, at least until she managed to free herself and run into the night.

It was a long time before she learned what had happened, even longer struggling against it before getting the runes of power tattooed on her, helping keep her humanity in check.

It was after that, when Elle finally came into her life. She swept into Shelly’s life, admitting it was her blood in the wine, her plan to change the young girl. She taught Shelly for two years before suddenly disappearing as suddenly as she had appeared. Shelly still bore the psychic scars of her sire’s tutelage, and was no closer than anyone else to understanding her.

A small sound pierces her thoughts, bringing her back to the present. She had no idea how long she had crouched there motionless, as though carved from marble. It always bothered people how motionless she was when she didn’t purposely remember to move as those who were still living.

The body in the corner moved feebly. Its head rose unsteadily, turning side to side as it tried to find the source of the blood it could smell, the blood that would stop the hurting inside of it.

Shelly rose silently, the dried blood cracking and flaking off her as she finally moved. She reached carefully for something that lay on top of her clothes, and stalked towards the body, keeping her hand behind her back.

The pimp sat up, watching her walk towards him. A smile crossed his lips as he watched her lithe nakedness move in the bright light. “My god, the power I feel. I never knew…”

She straddled him, her left hand curling around the back of his neck. She leaned close to him, and whispered in his ear, “And you never will.”

Her right hand flashes around, the gold and iron blade biting deep into the center of his chest. She didn’t aim for his heart, but rather a point lower than his solar plexus and above his belly button, the point some referred to as the “Seat-of-the-Soul” chakra point.

He didn’t get the chance to do anything other than scream out a single note of pain, his body bursting into a stinging cloud of dust around her. She knew it would later turn to the slimy mess of ectoplasm before evaporating completely.

She stood and threw his clothes into the bucket - she’d burn them later - then walked over to the knobs for the shower heads, tossing the blade onto the shelf as she did. It didn’t bother her, turning her victims before killing them with the blade. It took longer, but was much easier to clean up that way – a bit of wisdom from her sire. Of course, she only used it on those she didn’t intend to survive her feeding from, so it wasn’t used too often.

The water sluiced down, washing away the blood covering her and the remains of her kill. If only it could wash away the anxiety she felt as well. Elle was back in town, and obviously looking to play again. Hopefully they’d all survive it.

September 26th, Wednesday - Casey Silpetti

The next morning falls into the same routine as the past two, at least until they get ready to leave. Instead of Fetch bringing the car around, Sandy walks them out to the garage himself. He opens the door for them, and Bianca gives him a curious look.

“Why are you bringing us to school today, dad?”

“Oh, I just have a meeting with the principal. But it is nothing for any of you to worry about.”

Veronica spends the entire ride staring at the photocopied dance routines, going over the routine in her head. Casey watches her out of the corner of her eye, trying to ignore thoughts of the auditions while thinking about what she read last night, and fitting it in with what she knows about Veronica. It makes the lack of baby pictures for her a little more understandable, for one.

They pull into the visitor’s parking lot, and Sandy walks with them to the school. He hugs the girls bye as they head to the Student Center, and he walks towards the Administration building. Inside the SC, Harmony and Cadence are waiting for them at their table.

“Hey girl, ready for tonight? Practice any last night?” Harmony asks. Casey nods, still trying her best to tune out the thought of this afternoon. She looks over at Cadence, who looks tired this morning even though she’s cautiously smiling at Veronica’s chatter. She remembers the crystal Cadence gave her last night, the spells they cast, what she found out about Roni. She wonders if she should tell Cadence about that last bit.

“Hey Aiden, why don’t you come over and sit with us?” Bianca calls out. Casey turns and sees Aiden stopped a little ways away, looking at their table. He has a juice in his hand, obviously what he came in here for.

He walks over, and smiles at everyone, a little more warmly at Casey than the rest of course. “Actually Bianca, I have to jet. Just came in here for a snack, but coach is waiting for me.” He looks at Casey. “But maybe we can all sit together in class later?” He turns back to Bianca, “And lunch if we’re not practicing,” he adds before turning back to see if Casey will answer him. Casey blushes and nods yes, feeling nervous like they’re just starting dating all over again.  He beams and grins at them all before heading back out of the Student Center.

Veronica turns her chatter from Cadence to Casey, “So does this mean you guys made up?  You know, we may have to rethink the double date arrangements.”  She gives Casey a big wink, making her blush again, and even Cadence’s cheeks turn a little pink.  Roni sees Bianca start to butt in and cuts her off, “Didn’t you need to talk to Chris about something this morning Binks?  He’s right over there.”  She points and waves as he smiles at their group from across the room.

Bianca grumbles to herself as she gets up and heads over to Chris’s group, barely mumbling a “See ya’ later” to the four of them as she leaves.

“So,” Veronica says once Bianca is gone, “now that Grumpy is gone, and I need to rearrange my part of the date later without a crowd, and you probably still need to talk to Aiden…are you guys ready for the dance auditions today?  I stayed up and practiced and I think I got it down, but I’m worried I’ll forget some of the steps right here.”  Roni points at the most complicated part of the routine.  She stands up and starts counting as she goes through the moves, “…2…3…4…”  She stops after a minute, realizing no one else is going to join her.  “Come on…I want to do really good…give me a hand…”  Casey and Cadence both look at each other and immediately start clapping, stopping when they start laughing too hard to continue.

Harmony manages to keep a straight face, “Come on Veronica, I’ll help you.  Let’s go over here where we have some more room.”  They head off to an almost empty corner and work on the dance moves as Casey and Cadence compose themselves.

Casey turns to Cadence and asks quietly, “Were you able to get your um…thing done last night?  To make you hidden or whatever…”

“Yeah, thanks,” Cadence answers.  She looks like she’s going to continue, but Kale comes over with a donut and juice in his hands.

“Mind if I sit here?” he asks, looking from Casey to Cadence.  They both nod and he sits down.  “You guys sounded good Monday in the auditions, are you ready for the dance part today?”  He takes a bite, waiting for an answer while he chews.

Casey blushes, “Umm, yeah I guess.  Roni made me practice more last night, and she’s still going at it,” she points toward Veronica and Harmony.  Kale looks toward Cadence waiting for her answer.

“Yeah I’m ready.  Hey, I need to talk to my mom about something, so I’ll see you guys later.”  She gets up from the table and is gone before Casey can beg her to stay.

Casey looks around, hoping Harmony and Veronica will come back, but she sees that they’re still engrossed in the dance steps.  “So ummm,” she says to Kale, “thank you for the flowers the other day.  They were really pretty.”

He blushes.  “You…you’re welcome.”  They sit in awkward silence for a little bit before he continues.  “So, umm…what part do you want in the play?”

Casey blurts out a laugh before she can stop herself.  “I don’t really want any part.  I told Roni I’d audition with her.  Maybe I can be a flying monkey or a munchkin or something.”

“But you did really good…why don’t you want a big part?”

“I’m not big on the whole spotlight thing.  I’d rather be behind the scenes, preferably looking through a camera lens.”

“Yeah I guess I can see that.”  He eats a little more of his donut, the silence more comfortable this time.  “So did you figure out what you’re doing for your senior art project?”

Casey gets more excited now, “Yeah, I’m working on a fundraiser project with Father Piccoli for the shelter he runs.  I’m going to do portraits of some of the homeless people and the kids and stuff.  I talked with him yesterday, and he seems really excited about it.  I hope we can raise a decent amount of money for it…” she gets quieter, “it’s a really important place for uh, for people with no place else to go.”

“Cool.  Let me know if you need any help with it…and when it is.  I can do a story on it for the school paper at least.”

Casey gives him a genuine smile, “I will.”  Roni and Harmony come back to the table then and sit down.

Roni beams, “I think I got it figured out.  Harmony’s a great teacher!”

Harmony’s cheeks turn a little bit pink, “Yeah, yeah.  Thanks V.”  The first bell rings and they all grab their things and stand up.  “See ya’ll later.”

When Advanced Chemistry rolls around, Casey walks in to find only Cadence sitting there. The other girl is chewing the leg of her glasses, and brushes her bright red streak of hair behind her ear as Casey sits across from her.

“So… thanks again, for last night. I appreciate the help.”

Aiden and Veronica both walk in the class together, laughing about something. They both sit down at the table, Aiden a little awkward with Casey.  It doesn’t take long though before they fall back into a natural routine.  They follow along with Professor Z for his lecture portion and then easily make their way through the lab portion of class, chatting while they work on the project.

They finish quickly and get their table cleaned up.  Aiden asks them all if they’re ready for the dance auditions, and they all give the standard replies they’ve been giving all day.  “Well good luck ladies, I’m sure you’ll do great,” he says.  “Are you planning on coming to the game tomorrow?”

“I didn’t think it was a home game,” Roni says, confused.

Aiden laughs.  “It’s not, but it’s just across town.”

“Oh.”  Roni bites her lip, thinking about it.  “I think I can go.”  She turns to Casey and then Cadence, “You guys have to come with though.”

“We’ll see, tiger,” Cadence answers.  “If we get in the play, we’ll have a meeting for that after school.”

“I didn’t think about that.”  She’s quiet for a minute before continuing, “It won’t last very long tomorrow though, right?  We should still be able to get to the game.”

Cadence smiles softly, “Yes, we should.”

“So, you’re all gonna make it?” Aiden asks again, watching Casey closely.  She blushes, but nods yes as Veronica and Cadence also agree.  “Cool,” he says, unable to stop from smiling himself.

The bell rings, but before they leave Veronica asks Aiden, “Are you gonna get to sit with us at lunch, or do you have to go to practice?”

“Sorry, Roni, but we have practice at lunch again today.  We’re really trying to work out some things before tomorrow.  Wish I could hang out…coach has been slamming us with practice,” he smiles at Casey again before they all part ways in the hall to go to their next classes.  “See ya’ll later.”

Casey beats everyone else to lunch and she’s working on more descriptions and info for her photos from the carnival on her website.  She’s so into it she doesn’t even realize when Harmony comes up and start looking at them over her shoulder until she speaks.

“Those turned out awesome Case!”  Casey jumps and almost knocks her pop over onto her computer, but steadies it just in time.

“Harm!  You almost gave me a heart attack.  Don’t sneak up on me like that.”

Harmony sits down, “Girl, I was looking over your shoulder for like 10 minutes.  You were way into whatever it is you’re doing.”  She looks around for a little bit, “Where’s everybody else?”

Casey finally looks away from her computer long enough to realize the room is crowded, but their usual table full of people is currently just Harmony and her.  “Ummm…I don’t know.  I know Aiden said he had practice, but I thought everyone else was gonna be here.  Maybe Roni conned Cade into practicing the dance routine some more…I really don’t know.”  Casey puts her computer away and she and Harmony chat while they eat.  It’s a little over halfway through lunchtime when Cadence and Veronica show up.

“Where have you been?  We were feeling a little lonely here at this big table all by ourselves,” Harmony states.

Veronica blushes slightly, “We just had some things we needed to talk about.”  She looks at the rest of the empty seats, “Where’s Binks, or Kale?”

Casey shrugs, “Don’t know.”  They all start talking about the auditions coming up, until lunch is over and they head their separate ways.

Casey finally makes it to her art class and Mr. Boyd lets her sign out again.  She puts everything but her camera bag into her locker and hops on a bus.  She gets off in a shady area of town, near the warehouse district and heads off to one of her old haunts.  It takes some doing, but she finds a couple of the guys she used to hang around with, Cam and Shaun.  They catch up for a little bit and she fills them in on her project, asking if she can follow them around for a bit and take some pictures.  Even though they’re hesitant, they finally agree once she tells them the photos will also be used for a fundraiser for Father Piccoli’s shelter.

They each round up a few more people that are hanging about and convince them to let Casey take photos of them too.  She gets release forms from everyone and starts snapping photos as they goof around with each other.  They eventually stop goofing off and start acting more normal and Casey gets what she thinks will be some really good portraits of each of them.  They even take Casey to the new tent city that they’re living in and she is able to get some poignant photos of Cam and Shaun there.

She checks her watch and realizes she has to go, that she’s already going to be a little late getting back.  Shaun and Cam each give her a hug and she promises to come back and show them the prints.  She slips them $32, all the money she has on her except for what she needs to get back to school, and they tell her to come back, they’ll fill everyone in so she shouldn’t have to explain what she’s doing every time she shows up.  With one last hug, Casey runs off to catch a bus back to school.

Casey flat out runs from the bus stop to the auditorium, trying to sneak in without being noticed. Unfortunately, as she rounds the corner to the side door, she slams almost full steam into someone.

They both go down, Casey managing to cradle her camera bag in her arms to protect it. The other girl falls backwards onto her butt, her face scrunched in pain.

“OhmygoshI’msosorry!!” Casey blurts out, rising quickly to help her up. The other girl takes her hand and stands, her other hand rubbing her backside for a moment. She smiles at Casey and shakes her head, adding a hand wave in a ‘no problem’ sort of motion.

The other girl clearly doesn’t go to school here. She’s got on the threadbare and clearly worn clothes of someone who’s probably spending a lot of time on the streets. Her only possessions appear to be a handmade leather backpack that seems oddly familiar, and a notebook with a pen tied to it with a measure of string. She’s pretty, with piercing blue eyes that seem guarded, and a shy smile. Her face has those smudges of dirt that are hard to clean up when you’re down to using public sinks to try and bathe yourself.

She hands her notebook over to Casey, she had been writing in it as Casey took her measure. Neat, plain handwriting is written there. Sorry, I heard you coming but didn’t realize you were running. I was hoping you could help me? I’m looking for someone. Do you know this girl?

When Casey looks up, she sees that the girl is holding out a worn photograph. In it, she and Cadence are leaning against Sarah’s mustang, both smiling at the camera.

“Why do you need to find her?  How do you know her?”

She writes back: We were old friends. I’ve been looking for her since she left without saying where she was going. I saw her in a video at this school, I was hoping that you might know her?

She looks carefully hopeful as Casey reads her response.

Casey looks at the photo, biting her lip.  “I’ve seen her around I think.  I’m running late for something, can you stick around for a little bit and I’ll see if I can find her, or someone who knows her, as soon as I can…”

The other girl nods enthusiastically, a bright smile splitting her face as she flashes Casey the “OK” hand signal. She takes the picture and the notebook back from Casey, nods again, and walks off towards some benches in the quad.

Casey watches her walk off for a moment, then rushes to get inside the auditorium. She tries to sneak in the last little bit, but realizes it’s too late when she sees Sarah glaring at the rest of her group, who are looking around for her.

She has no time to tell Cadence anything before Harmony notices her with a relieved sigh. She rushes over and grabs Casey, who barely has time to put down her bags before being swept out onto the floor.

They run through the routine three separate times, Ms. Connor’s eyes following them carefully the entire time. When they finally finish, Casey tries to edge her way towards Cadence, only to be interrupted as Sarah calls everyone into a half-circle in front of her.

“I’ll be going over everything tonight, and the parts will be listed tomorrow at lunch outside my office. If your name is on the list, I’ll need you to show up after school – promptly please – to fill out the paperwork.” Her eyes glance over to Casey on the last bit, and someone on the side snickers quietly. “Thank you all for showing up, and for all of your effort. You all did great.”

The crowd starts to break up, Casey and her little group heading over to the corner where all of their bags are waiting. “Cadence?” she calls out, and the smaller girl stops and turns towards her.

Harmony gets in between them, pulling Casey along with her. “Girl, sorry to interrupt, but I’m late to meet Chris. I’m going to call you tonight, k?”

Casey nods quickly, “Yeah, sure Harm. Tonight.” She cuts around her, and spots Cadence standing over by their bags talking to Roni quietly. She rushes that way, a little out of breath for all this running around.

“Cade, I need to talk to you.”

“What’s up Case?” Both of the other girls face her questioningly.

“Someone is here, looking for you. A girl…” Casey pulls up short as she sees the girl in question walk up behind her two friends. “Eep.”

Cadence turns when she sees Casey’s face, and for what feels like a long moment everything freezes. The other girl stands there with a hopeful look on her face, but she has her hands out away from her body, palms up. In her left hand is her notebook, a message of some sort written on it, but Casey can’t see it from where she stands. It’s the position of someone trying to appear non-threatening.

The moment stretches for an eternity longer, and then like a movie reel stuck and suddenly freed, everything jumps into action. Moving faster than Casey can follow, Cadence strikes.

She slams the other girl into the wall behind her, the impact echoing through the auditorium. The girl opens her mouth in silent pain, her notebook flying out of her hand. The bag that had been on Cadence’s shoulder hits the ground a moment later.

Veronica gasps, and steps a half-step forward. Cadence has the other girl pinned to the wall, the black length of the cold iron dagger in her hand, pressed against the other girl’s neck. “What are you doing here?” She rasps out, her voice cold and hard.

Casey glances around, but the auditorium is empty save for the four of them. She turns back to the tableau in front of her. Veronica is standing in stunned silence, her eyes flicking back and forth between the two.

The other girl stays completely motionless as Cadence holds her against the wall, her feet barely touching the ground below her. Her arms are flat against the wall behind her, afraid to move for fear of the dagger pressed against her throat, its edge glowing as it touches her, a small hint of smoke curling away from it.

She mouths something, tears starting to shine across her eyes. Cadence pulls her away from the wall and slams her back into it. “Why are you here?! Answer me!” The other girl looks over at Casey, her eyes wide as she mouths something else.

“Cadence, she can’t talk.” The words are out of her mouth before Casey realizes she’s saying them.

The smaller girl pauses, but doesn’t look over her shoulder. “What?”

Casey can feel the dangerous aura of power flowing through the other girl; can almost see her true form as the glamour starts to ripple in front of her. She can feel the waves of emotion tumble from her friend, beating against her like the leading edge of a storm.

“Her notebook. She wrote to me, outside. I don’t think she can talk.” Casey walks carefully over to where the notebook lays on the ground, and picks it up. She hesitates, and then walks slowly towards Cadence.

Her friend hasn’t moved, just stands there trembling with barely restrained violence.  Casey stands close to her, trying to shield herself from the emotion and energy surrounding the other girl. She holds out the notebook so that Cadence can read the simple statement written there.

I’m sorry.

Suddenly Veronica is standing on Cadence’s other side, her hand reaching out to clasp the smaller girl’s shoulder. Instantly Casey can feel the tumble of emotions and energy calm, and Cadence lets out a short, choked gasp that almost turns into a sob.

She lowers the mute girl down to the ground, but still holds her pressed against the wall, her dagger still posed to strike. “Casey, please look in my bag. There’s a length of chain in there, bring it here please.” Her voice is that cool, passionless voice that Casey remembers the other girl using when she was giving her and Aiden instructions on what to do with her gunshot wound.

Casey rushes over and looks through the various odds and ends in Cadence’s bag, ignoring all the strange stuff until she finds the coil of chain that Cadence must have been talking about. It’s the same odd, black metal her dagger is made out of – faint hints of silver, copper and gold running through it. The slender metal strand has small barbs along its length, just like a length of barbed wire fence.

As she moves back up to Cadence, the smaller girl steps to the side, letting go of her prisoner but keeping the dagger to her throat. “Put your hands in front of you, Jill. Casey, wrap the wire around them tightly.”

The other girl moves her arms slowly, bringing them together in front of Casey. Her deep blue eyes flick over to Casey, and she nods at her, even though it brings a fresh wince of pain as the dagger bites deeper.

Casey starts to wind the wire around her hands and arms; noticing the wire gets uncomfortably warm as it presses against the girl’s pale skin. Once Cadence is satisfied the other girl is bound well, she steps back and lets the dagger fall to her side.

They stand there for a long moment, both girls staring at each other. Cadence’s face could be chiseled from rock for all the emotion it gives away. Jill can barely meet her eyes, a deep sadness so evident in her eyes that it pulls at Casey’s sympathy.

Cadence reaches into her bag and pulls out her gym shirt, and uses that to blindfold Jill, and the four of them walk silently to the empty apartment that they claimed last night as their clubhouse.

On walking through the door, Casey feels a slight tingle rush across her skin. There is a slight pressure that she has to push to step through, and she knows that it’s the spells that they warded the place with. Cadence walks Jill upstairs to one of the empty bedrooms, the one opposite that which Casey had used as her own earlier this year.

She unwraps the strand of wire from the girl’s upper arm, and winds it around the bed frame, where it seems to pull itself tight. The three of them walk back downstairs, dropping their bags on the way. Roni drops Jill’s bags on the ground with theirs, and she and Casey sit while Cadence paces in front of them.

She paces fitfully, her friends letting her decompress without interrupting her. Finally she stops and turns to them. “I owe you an explanation. But to do so, I have to tell you my story. It’ll put you both in danger. If you’d rather leave, I’ll…” She blinks quickly and looks down, “I’ll understand if you leave now.”

Roni leans forward, putting everything she can into a calming, warm smile. “We’re not going anywhere Cadence. Tell us.”  Casey nods in agreement.

The smaller girl relaxes as though a great weight dropped from her, and sits across from them on the edge of the table. Her hands fiddle with the dagger as she tells her story, her eyes closed and expression far away.

“My name is Cadence Annabeth Williams. I wasn’t born here, on this world. My mother - when she was my age – caught the attention of my father, the Goblin King. He kidnapped my uncle, thinking it was the way to win my mother’s heart, but of course it wasn’t. She challenged him, went to his very home and in the end, beat him. But once home, she couldn’t forget him, as he couldn’t forget her.”

“She eventually went back to his lands, to become the Goblin Queen of Underground. But my father was no ordinary goblin, either. He was a Faerie prince, of the Autumn Court. He had been given domain over Underground after a long war with the original Goblin Queen, Grandmother Hag.” She shivers when the name leaves her lips in a whisper.

“The ancient prison where she was held kept her for over thirteen hundred years, but somehow she got out. She wanted to take the war back to the Faerie lands, the very enemies who had defeated her so long before. But to do that, she had to win her lands back.”

“My father disappeared in the fighting. No one knows if he is dead, or captured. My mother is only human, though some of his magic had rubbed off on her. Now, I was the next target, for I am the heir to the kingdom of Underground. So we did the only thing we could do, we ran.”

“We came back here, to the real world. Ever since, we’ve been on the run, trying to stay ahead of the assassins that Grandmother Hag has set upon me, so that she can control the armies of Goblins and wage a war that will shake the very pillars of Heaven and Earth.”

She pauses for a long moment, but finally continues. “We were in Las Vegas two years ago. I met Jill there, and I fell in love with her. She was my first… my first everything. I didn’t know she was an assassin sent to kill me. She said she didn’t know that was the job, she was just told to befriend me. She said they later told her to kill me, and that’s when she came to me and told me the truth, that she was an Elvin assassin in the employ of Grandmother Hag.”

“She promised me that she would let us run, that she would not betray us. I… I was heartbroken.” Silent tears fall onto the dagger in her hands, and Casey hears Roni sniffle next to her. “My mom wanted me to kill her, but… but I couldn’t. We barely got out of town alive.”

She looks up, her eyes raw. “I am a Faerie Princess of the Autumn Court, and heir to the lands of Underground. When I turn eighteen, I will become its rightful ruler. I have been on the run almost my entire life, my mother and one other friend the only people who knew who I was, trying to keep me safe. And now, you both know my story.”

They all sit quietly for a moment before Casey pipes in with her questions.  “So, um, what’s she doing here now?  And why can’t she talk anymore?  I mean, I’m assuming she could before because you didn’t know…  What do we need to do now?”

Cadence turns to Casey, and she can see in her friend’s eyes a lost look. Cadence shakes her head. “I don’t know. If my mom or Jack found out, they’d probably kill her, and we’d be leaving even though I cast that spell. We might just hide nearby to make sure it worked… I guess she was already in town looking for me when I cast it, it’s limited to outside of town.”

Her eyes focus on Casey. “I don’t know why she’s here, or why she can’t talk. She used to have one of the most beautiful voices, she could sing the birds from the sky. I just… I… I can’t let them kill her. As much as I sometimes wish I could, I can’t do that.”

Veronica fidgets, fighting against an urge to go over to Cadence and hold her, probably. She glances over at Casey too, her upset clear in her eyes.

Cadence’s voice brings Casey’s attention back over to her. “I guess I’ll have to talk to her, question her. I just can’t do it right now, I need to just think for a while or something.”

Casey can still feel the tumult of emotions surrounding her friend as she falls silent.

They’re all quiet for a bit, thinking about the situation. Casey finally speaks up, “Roni, you should call Fetch and head home like nothing’s wrong. Cade, you can go home or wherever and figure out what to do. I have a bunch of pictures I need to upload and work on, so I can stay here and do that.  If I finish, I can do homework or something until Cade comes back, and then I’ll call Fetch for a ride.  How’s that sound?”

Cadence thinks about it for a minute and slowly nods her agreement. Veronica looks a little nervous, “Um, what am I supposed to tell Fetch, and Dad? They know you had tryouts today after school, so you should be coming home too?”

“Tell them the truth, I’m working on my photography project. They don’t need to know that I don’t have to do it here.”

“OK, I guess that works.” Veronica turns to Cade, “You’ll call me if you need help figuring…whatever out, right?” And to Casey, “You’ll be OK here with her by yourself?”

They both answer, “Yes,” at the same time, tense laughs following. Cadence stands up, “Case, I’ll be right back, Roni, call Fetch and I’ll walk you over to the parking lot.” Casey nods as they quietly talk on their way out the door.

She pulls out her camera and laptop, hooking them together and starting the upload as she paces the room, automatically stretching at various intervals. She sits back down and checks her email while the photos continue uploading. Nothing major in there, so she starts working with the photos she’s already uploaded; naming them, cropping the ones that need it, and rotating the ones that are supposed to be vertical. She looks up as she hears Cadence come back in. “Roni get off OK?”

“Yeah, and Fetch bought the excuse for you, so you should be good here for a little bit. I stopped next door and got you some food. It’s not much, just some cheese and crackers and a water. My mom would notice if anything else went missing. I’m gonna take my stuff home and go for a run. I should be back in an hour, or hour and a half to relieve you. By then I should have figured out what to do with Jill. Do not, and mean do NOT go upstairs except to use the bathroom, and do not go near her when you do.”

“OK, Cade. Thanks for the snack.” Cadence grabs her bag and heads next door. Now that she’s listening for it, Casey can hear her enter the house and a quiet interaction with Sarah. After a few minutes, she hears Cadence leave and her feet picking up the pace into a run. The rest of the photos have uploaded, so Casey unhooks the camera and puts it away, snacking while she works on labeling and editing the rest of them.

She doesn’t realize how long it’s been, but she finally makes it through all the photos she hadn’t posted before tonight. She gets everything up on the site for Mr. Mors to look at, and shoots him an email to inform him as she hears Cadence come in, still breathing a little hard. She puts her computer to sleep and slides it into her bag, wrapping up the power cord as she turns to Cadence, “So, what’re you gonna do?”

“I’m not entirely sure yet, but I have figured out some questions that I need answered, and if she can’t talk, that means I have to loosen one of her hands. Can you stay while I question her? I just want to make sure I’m not here by myself if she tries to do something.”

“Yeah. Let’s get it over with.”

They make their way up the stairs, and walk into the bedroom turned prison. Jill’s face lights up just a bit when Cadence walks in, her lips twitching in a cautious smile. When she sees Casey walk in behind her, her look turns a bit more curious.

Cadence walks into the room just far enough for Casey to be able to make it through the door, as though she’s afraid to get any closer to the girl sitting on the floor. The room is quiet for a long moment, before Cadence breaks the silence.

“I’m going to undo one of your hands, so I can ask you some questions. If you try anything… the chain is enchanted. It will hurt you if I say the words. So don’t… don’t try anything, ok?”

Jill smiles and nods, her hands drawing a cross over her heart.

Cadence slowly steps forward, dropping a tablet and pen on the floor before reaching out for the wire. At her touch it unfolds easily, allowing her to unwrap one of Jill’s hands.

Jill waits for her to step back before reaching for the tablet and pen. She hastily writes something, turning it so that the other two girls can read it.

Laptop in my bag. Make this easier.

Cadence frowns, but walks over to the bag and carefully opens it. She pulls out a beat up laptop, and starts it up. Casey hears the familiar “bong” as it boots, and once it’s up Cadence passes it over to Jill.

It’s a little awkward for the girl to type on the laptop with the chain still wrapped around one arm, but she manages. And she types quick enough that it’s obvious she has lots of practice. It doesn’t take long before a slightly stilted, vaguely artificial female voice starts to speak from the computer.

‘This is easier than passing notes.’ She smiles up at the two girls standing opposite of her.

Cadence doesn’t smile back. “Why are you here, Jill?”

Jill frowns at the question, her eyes hurt. Her fingers start tapping away at the keyboard. ‘You know why I’m here. I love you. I told you I didn’t know what they had planned. I didn’t tell them anything.’

“What happened?”

Jill frowns, and then turns to her computer, her fingers tapping away quickly. ‘When I found out what the job was I went straight to you and told you. When you left, everything happened quickly. Grandmother Hag took me and tried to get information from me. She tortured me until my sisters showed up to collect me. Not even Grandmother Hag would deny them so she let me go. They asked why I broke the contract and I told them. They exiled me, and in penalty for breaking contract they took my voice. Thought it fitting since I wouldn’t tell them where you had gone.’

She looks up at Cadence, perhaps looking for any glimpse of sympathy or caring.

Casey sees nothing of the sort from her friend. “Are you here to do any harm to me, or anyone I consider friend or family?” Cadence’s voice is hard, flat.

Jill shakes her head, and types. ‘No.’

Cadence leans forward, her voice becoming a little more heated. “I ask again, will you endanger me or anyone I care about?”

Jill crosses her heart again. ‘No,” the woman’s voice speaks again from the computer.

A subtle hint of power floats around the room as Cadence steps forward. Casey can feel the tickle of it against her skin. Cadence’s voice is rough, “Thrice I ask, and done. Will I or anyone I care about be in danger because you are here?” She pauses, and adds “We both know how this works, don’t waste my time.”

Jill pauses for a moment, and for some reason Casey finds herself holding her breath. Finally, the other girl shakes her head solemnly, her lips forming the word no even as her fingers type it. ‘No. Thrice you ask, thrice I have answered. Is it enough?’

Casey can feel the faint pop as the energy building dissipates quickly. Something just happened, though she’s not sure what. She cautiously looks over at Cadence, who is standing next to her biting her lip, clearly conflicted.

Casey can tell the moment the decision is made, as most of the tension drains from her friend. The smaller girl steps forward and touches the chain attached to Jill’s arm, muttering a word in that harsh, guttural language Casey has heard her use before – Goblin?

The wire unwraps itself from Jill’s arm, coiling neatly in Cadence’s. “The bathroom is through the door, first door on your right. There are towels and all if you want to take a shower, and I’ll bring you something for the bruises and scratches. I’ll also see if I can find some food for you.”

She turns and walks towards the door, guiding Casey along with her. Before they walk out she stops and turns. “I extend the courtesy and hospitality of this place, and of my word, to you. But please, don’t leave the house. I’ll see if I can find some other place for you to stay, as this isn’t only my place, and I don’t have the support of anyone else yet.”

She turns away from Jill, who had just started to smile brightly. Her smile breaks a little, but Cadence pulls Casey out of the room with her and down the stairs.

“I’m sorry I don’t have time to get permission from everyone to let her stay here, I’ll try to find some other place but for tonight at least she’ll have to stay. I’ll make sure she doesn’t know where the place is, so she can’t find her way back to it once we leave, and I’ll clean up and all afterwards…”

Casey puts her hand on the smaller girl’s shoulder, and finally gets a word in to interrupt her. “Cade, you ok? What was all that about?”

Cadence finally looks up at her, conflict still battling deep in her eyes. “She’s an elf. A fey can’t lie, although they can play around with words and the truth some. But if you ask the same thing three times, and make them answer three times, they have to make it true. It binds them to fulfill the promise of what they said. So now, she’s actually obligated to try and make sure no harm becomes any of us because she’s here.”

“And likewise, by me granting her hospitality, it means I’ll do whatever I can to make sure she is safe here. I’ve taken her into my responsibility, which is why I’ll need to find someplace for her to stay, so I don’t drag all ya’ll into this too.”

She finally stops, which Casey is glad for. Her words had gotten quicker and quicker, reminding her of Veronica on a sugar buzz. She’s trembling, and doesn’t look the steadiest on her feet at the moment. “My mother is going to kill me, if Jack doesn’t first.”

Casey squeezes her hand, willing support and sympathy through her grip. Cadence closes her eyes and puts her hand over Casey’s for a moment, pulling in a deep breath and blinking away tears.

She smiles. “Never a dull moment?” she croaks out. “I think Aiden was still here, when I came back from my run. If you’d rather, I’ll give you a ride home. I need to go get some food, I can take the car if you’d rather not ask him for a ride.”

“Let me text him and see if he’s even still here.  Cade, you have to calm down, you look like you’re gonna have a break down.  Do you want me to stick around for a little bit?”

Cadence bites her lip and finally shakes her head no, “See if Aiden’s still here.  Jill and I have some things to hash out tonight, and I have to try and find her a different place to stay.”  She gives Casey a tentative hug and then forces herself to be cheerful, “Get outta’ here.  I’m sure you have plenty to do.”

Casey watches Cadence for some clue that she needs to stay, but after a minute texts Aiden to see if he’s still at the school.  He quickly texts back that he’s still there and will meet her in the parking lot.  She quickly texts Roni and tells her to inform her parents that she’s getting a ride home from Aiden.  Casey grabs her camera bag and gives Cadence a hug.  “Gotta’ go.  I have to get the rest of my stuff out of my locker and meet Aiden.  Call me if you need help with anything tonight. Got it?”  She waits until Cadence nods in agreement and then gives her another quick hug as she hurries off toward her locker.

Casey makes it out to Aiden’s SUV before he does, her senses switching to high alert as she realizes the parking lot is empty and it’s mostly dark out.  She’s so focused, she feels him coming before she can even see him.  He waves as soon as he sees her and hurries over to the SUV.  “Hey Case.”  He gives her a quick hug and leans in to kiss her, but stops himself.  After an awkward moment, Casey leans in and gives him a quick kiss, blushing and smiling after.

“How was practice?  Ready for your game?”

Aiden opens the door and loads their bags in as he answers, “It was good.  I think we are ready.  How did your dance audition go?  I wasn’t able to sneak out and see it today.”

Casey laughs as he opens the door for her and she gets in, “I was late, so Ms. Connor was pissed.  I was kind of distracted, so I guess I don’t really know how I did.  We had to do the whole routine like 3 or 4 times in a row.  We’ll find out who’s in tomorrow.”

Aiden shuts her door and goes around to the driver’s side and gets in.  They chit chat the entire way to the Carlin-Kane house, avoiding anything important and avoiding talking about what’s going on between them.  Once there, he helps her get her bags out of the back and sticks around until she’s inside before driving off.

Inside, the house is quiet even though it’s still early. Casey walks through, planning on passing through the kitchen and fixing something to eat before heading out to the pool house.

She stops short in the kitchen doorway when she notices Madison standing at the sink. Madison looks up at her and flashes a polite – and very practiced – smile at Casey, before turning back to where she’s dabbing a wet tablecloth to her sleeve. It looks like she’s trying to wipe off some chalk or something. She looks tired.

“Casey, I hope you’re finding everything well enough.” Her tone is pleasant enough, but there is no real warmth to it. It’s a studied tone that has probably been practiced for a long time during her political career.

“Yes ma’am, thank you.” She sets her book bag down and walks over to the refrigerator.

Madison drops the hand towel next to the sink, watching Casey silently for a moment. She finally picks up a box of matches and heads toward the door, pausing there for a moment. “Veronica was feeling tired, so she went to bed. Bianca is in her room, and Sandy is working in his office. I trust you can find everything you need?”

Not really waiting for a reply, she walks up, leaving Casey in silence. She fixes herself something to eat, and quickly heads out to the pool house – the silence of the big house just a little bit creepy when she’s all alone.

She spends the night fighting with home work and thinking over everything that’s happened the past few days. She wonders for a while if she should call Cadence, but ends up falling asleep before making up her mind.

September 25th, Tuesday - Casey Silpetti

Getting ready the next morning goes pretty well, since thanks for the first time Casey has a bathroom she doesn’t have to share with anyone else. The cold front that had moved in over the weekend is lingering, and it’s a little chilly outside, so Casey makes sure and dresses appropriately for it.

She makes sure and puts Faust’s book in the same bag as her camera, hoping that she’ll have some time to read it today. She grabs her bag and heads inside for breakfast, finding Sandy and Bianca already sitting at the table sharing bagels. Sandy smiles when he sees her, and pushes over a napkin with a bagel on it for her.

Bianca looks down at her watch and sighs. “I better go get Veronica, I’m sure she was up all night again.” She gives her dad a pointed look that Sandy completely misses – or ignores – then stands and walks out. Sandy busies himself by cutting the bagels and spreading cream cheese on them, looking up at Casey so that he can talk with her.

“So, sleep ok out there? If you need anything, just let me know, I’ll probably be running errands today and I can get it.”

Casey shakes her head vigorously. “No, no, everything’s fine! Really, you didn’t need to go through all the trouble you did. I slept fine, everything is great.”

Sandy doesn’t get the chance to answer, as Madison walks in. She’s clearly just woken up, still dressed in a nightgown and robe, which she pulls closed and ties as she notices Casey sitting there. Even in her current condition, she’s more imperious looking than the pictures Casey’s seen of her. Her cold manner from the last time Casey met her comes to mind, and she certainly gives Casey a long, judging look as she walks to the refrigerator.

Sandy breaks the silence. “Madison dear, I’m sure you remember Casey?”

“Certainly,” she replies in her clipped British accent. “Good morning Casey, I hope that our Pool House was comfortable for you last night.” Her tone is cool, but not completely unfriendly.

“Yes ma’am,” Casey replies instinctively. She’s happy to see Bianca and Veronica walk in right then, Roni yawning and ignoring her sister’s admonishments for staying up late. Roni walks around the table and grabs a bagel, standing close enough to Casey that their shoulders brush together, and once again Casey feels that warm wave of comfort flow from the other girl and through her.

“Morning Case, sleep ok?” she mumbles around a mouthful of bagel. Casey just nods in reply, trying to hold back the smile creeping around the corners of her mouth.

“Good, cause you’ll need it when we start the dance routines. I was thinking…”

Sandy cuts her off, for which Casey could hug him. “Veronica, it’s a little too early in the morning for all that energy, don’t you think? Now grab your things gals, Fetch is waiting outside for you.”

Once at school, they all head into the Student Center to find Harmony and Cadence waiting for them at their regular table. Both girls are once again pushing the limits of their uniform requirements, but looking good at doing it.

Cadence is wearing her glasses instead of her contacts, and when she notices them walking up she pushing her red-streaked hair back behind her ear shyly. Harmony looks up at Casey and pulls her bag out of the seat next to her, motioning for Casey to take the seat.

“So spill Silpetti, how was the auditions? Connors here won’t tell me much.”

Casey shrugs, causing Roni to huff loudly. “Auditions were great! They were a ton of fun, and Casey here blew everyone away. She was the best there, honest! You should come watch them Harmony. Besides, these two weenies could use the moral support. I’m going to make them have fun even if it kills them!”

They all laugh at her serious expression and outburst. Harmony leans closer to Casey, “Well in that case I better get a front row seat!”

Veronica chuckles for a moment, then turns to Cadence. “I’m glad you listened to me and wore your glasses! It’s such a cute look, you really should wear them more often. And you know—”

Bianca turns to Casey and talks over her sister. “So Case, did you get a chance to talk with Aiden? I was going to take you and Veronica out shopping for dresses for your double date. Harm, think you might be up for some makeover shopping?”

Veronica brightens up and turns. “Oh Harmony, would you? You’re always so stylish, that’d be great! And Case, you and Aiden are gonna work things out, aren’t you? I mean, not cause of our double date or anything, it’s just you two are so good for each other.”

Casey only pays her half attention, also noting the subtle look that Bianca is shooting Cadence, who’s just staring back cooly.

Harmony saves Casey from answering by answering Roni. “Sure thing kiddo, if you’re  still on for the date, I’ll do some shopping with you. But I think we should give Case some time to work things out with Aiden.”

Cadence stands abruptly. “I left something in my locker, I’ll catch ya’ll later.” Veronica shoots her a questioning look that she ignores as she brushes past. Roni turns back to the table, glancing around to see if anyone else had thought there was something wrong.

Bianca hides a small half smile as she stands too. “Bell’s about to ring, Veronica. Don’t be late to class!” she says lightly. She waves to the rest of them, and walks off. Roni doesn’t pay her any attention, staring into space with a frown on her face.

Casey watches Bianca walk off, and notices Tom walk up to her as they walk out of the Student Center together. The bell rings, and everyone stands. Harmony taps Casey on the shoulder. “Hey, if you want to talk about the Aiden thing later, pass me a note in Math.”

Casey nods to Harmony, and they all leave the table to head to their homerooms.

Casey makes it through homeroom and her first period class without incident, but passes Tom on the way to Chem and he shoots her the same kinda creepy giant grin he had for her yesterday at lunch.  She smiles back tentatively, wondering what she did to make him so super happy with her.

Casey gets to second period and finds a still quiet Veronica waiting at the table for her. It’s rare to see little miss sunshine with stormclouds over her head, and this makes twice this week. Casey almost hopes Aiden and Cadence will sit at their own table today, because she can foresee a whole bunch of different conversations come up, and none of them are ones she wants to have.

She sits down, and Veronica comes out of her funk enough to give her a small smile. “Hey Case, sorry about this morning. I don’t want you to think I’m pressuring you about making up with Aiden or anything, I mean, it’s more important that you figure things out on your own time and all.”

She pauses as Aiden and Cadence both walk in together. Aiden looks over at Casey and gives her a smile and small wave as he heads over towards them, only to pause at the last moment as Cadence brushes by and heads to the back table without a word to the two of them. He follows her with his eyes, gives Casey a small shrug, and follows her.

Casey waits for Veronica to start, but the other girl is abnormally quiet throughout the entire first half of the class. In fact, it’s half way through the lab section before she finally blurts out to Casey, “I don’t get it! What did I do to make Cadence upset?” She gives Casey a completely hangdog look, and Casey sighs.

As perceptive as the other girl is, it’s clear that she has no clue about the crush that Cadence has on her. Casey wonders if she should be the one to tell her something, as she’s clearly upset and in the dark. It hasn’t helped that through the whole period, Casey has also glanced back there to notice Cadence ignoring them both even while Aiden keeps shooting her puppy dog eyes.

Casey puts her hand on Veronica’s arm, “Roni, I don’t think it’s anything you did.  I just think…ummm…I think maybe…well…”  Casey stammers on as Veronica looks at her as if she has all the answers in the worlds, “OK, let’s see…you know how you said yesterday that you just knew Cadence was meant to be your friend when you met her?”  Veronica nods and Casey continues after a moment.  “Well, maybe she feels it too and doesn’t know how to deal with it…or maybe ummmm…maybe you’re meant to be more for each other and she feels it, but isn’t sure if you do…” Casey finishes in a rush and looks down at her hands, not sure how Veronica will take it.

Veronica stares at Casey for a long moment, the wheels spinning furiously behind her eyes. When she finally speaks, she doesn’t sound anywhere near like the smartest person in school. Instead, she leans forward and exclaims, “Huh?”

Casey can’t help but giggle a little at her reaction, it’s so out of character it’s funny. But Veronica leans forward intently. “No, I mean… what do you mean, ‘maybe you’re meant to be more for each other’? Did you have a vision or something? Or did she have one? That we’re supposed to be more… I mean… you mean like more more?” She gasps and leans even closer, her voice dropping to a whisper. “You can’t mean that you think she has a crush on me, do you? No… it had to be some kinda vision or something.”

She furtively looks over her shoulder at Cadence, and then turns back to Casey, a slightly forlorn look on her face. “I’d get your money back if you had some kinda vision or feeling or something, because you might have been right about Binks and Fetch, but not this. I mean, she’s too cool and all to have… to think of me… I mean, no way.” She sighs. “Even Tom only likes me because I’m the smartest girl here, and it’d be a step up for him to get inroads in with my family. I mean, I’m not exactly Miss Popular or anything.”

“Roni, it wasn’t a vision, it’s just…things I’ve noticed.  I think you don’t quite know the impact you have on the people nearest to you.  But, if it is a crush…would that be a good thing or a bad thing?  I mean, um…” Casey stammers, “It’s just that, well, if it is a crush and you don’t think you’d ever feel the same way about her, then um, maybe you shouldn’t say anything about it…but um, if you think that maybe you might feel the same way, then you should talk to her…and uh, figure it out…”

Veronica is quiet the last few minutes of class, clearly chewing on what Casey just said. The glances she shoots at Casey make it seem that she’s still expecting Casey to say she was just pulling her leg or something.

Casey finally makes it to math class, where she sits next to Harmony and they listen to Ms. Beaupre lecture for a little bit before she has them work on some problems.  Casey passes a note to Harmony, “Ditch out on lunch with me?” Harm doesn’t even write back, she just nods yes as soon as she reads it.

The bell rings and Harmony stands up, linking her arm in Casey’s as soon as Casey is up too, and drags her out of the room toward the parking lot, not even letting her stop at her locker.  They throw their books into the back seat and Harmony zips out of the lot, making her way to The Max.  They grab a booth and order lunch before Harmony digs in, “So what is up with you and Aiden?  Are you guys fighting or over or what?”

“We’re not over…I don’t think, and we’re not really fighting.  He’s really jealous of Kale and he said that with all the other weird stuff that’s going on that he feels like I don’t need him or he can’t help with whatever…I think he’s just feeling insecure.”

“That’s it?  Well mini-Kane is back now, so all the weird stuff should be over right?  And he’ll get over the Kale thing…so you guys should be back to normal soon, right?”

Casey laughs, “I hope so, but I don’t think all the weird stuff is over.  Plus umm…you know how I ended up in foster care, right?  My mom hurting me…”

“Yeah.”

“Aiden kinda…the other night after the movie he…uh, he grabbed my arm.”  She pauses as the waitress drops off their food, and then continues once she’s gone.  “I still have a bruise and um…I don’t really know what to do.”  She rambles on, as Harmony takes her hand.  “I mean, I like him, I really, really do, but I just…I don’t know if I can stay with someone who’s capable of hurting me.  I’ve had enough of that in my life that I really don’t want to invite someone into it even more when I don’t know if he’ll do it again.  And I don’t think he will…but how do I know?”

Harmony sits there just gaping at Casey.  “He did what?”

“You heard me, Harm.  I just…I really think it was a one time thing, but I don’t know…”

“Does he know he hurt you?  You didn’t just bottle it up and not tell him, right?”

“He knows…and I haven’t really talked to him since, except for a couple of emails last night.  I’ve been thinking about it and trying to figure out what I want to do, and I still don’t know.”

“I know you Case, and you’ve made it this far by trusting yourself, so I think that’s what you’ve gotta do.  Just trust your gut.  I’m here for you whatever you choose.  Now…eat up!  We gotta get back to school.”  They chow down, Casey feeling lighter than before after confiding in Harmony.  They zip back to school in record time and they each head to their lockers to swap books for their next class.

Casey drifts through her last few classes without really having to pay attention, just losing herself in the work and rhythm of classes. As the day draws to an end, she starts getting a little nervous about the dance audition class, but she pushes it out of her mind. She passes by Mr. Boyd’s to let him know she’s going to see Father Piccoli today, and signs out of the office.

She grabs a bus and once again heads out to Kings Row, walking quickly to St. Alexander Sauli’s Holy Catholic Church. As usual, Father Piccoli is out back in the adjoining lot that has been turned into a playground, and is watching over/horsing around with some of the kids there.

When he sees Casey, he smiles and waves, he asks one of the Sisters to take over for him, and walks over to meet Casey. “Casey, how nice to see you again, it’s been a while child. I hope that you’re doing ok, if you don’t mind me asking? You’re certainly looking well.”

“I’m doing better in a lot of ways than the last time you saw me, but I did see you at the town hall thing, I was taking pictures.  You looked really nervous, but then you calmed down and made it through your speech well.”

“Yes, I’m afraid television cameras and all make things a lot different than my normal sermons,” he smiles.

He leads her over to a bench, and they both take seats. She goes over her ideas with him about photographing the homeless, and perhaps turning it into a fundraiser. He’s quite excited over the project, and adds that perhaps they should also think about doing the same for the children on the street and in the bad areas, as he’s been working with Mrs. Carlin-Kane about them ever since the disappearances had begun. Casey tells him that she’s staying with the Carlin-Kane’s right now and that she’ll try to find a good time to talk to her about it if he thinks it really is a project that will work.

He brightens when he hears this. “Oh, that’s wonderful! Sandy is a dear friend, I just wish he wasn’t working such long hours. I haven’t seen him since his daughter was found, a blessing that. Would you mind telling him I’m still waiting for him to show up for dinner?” Casey nods in answer.

“Do you think the people I’ll be taking pictures of will object?  It’s just, well, you know I’ve slept here a few times and I know that if it was me, I wouldn’t want someone taking pictures of me for their art…I’d feel like I was being used, but as a um, as a runaway I wouldn’t want them taking pictures cuz I wouldn’t want to get caught and sent back.  But I also know that you always need money to keep the shelter going and I just thought that this would be a way to hopefully bring in some decent donations if we set up the fundraiser right.”

“Oh, not all the children are running from something. Some simply have no place left to go. Don’t worry; I would never jeopardize a child in any way. But people need to see what’s going on still in areas of the city. And while whatever villain it was who’s been taking these children off the streets has been quiet lately, we cannot rely on that. Something must be done.”

Casey makes arrangements to come back Saturday morning for the hot breakfast that they serve to start working on her project.  Father Piccoli promises to help her smooth things over with the homeless and the street kids as much as he can. He also gets a copy of the model release form she has, so that he can make copies and have them ready.

He also tells her about the memorial to Tina O’Braiden that had been put up, and offers that it would make a fine subject for her skills. He gives her his number, and tells her that he’ll do anything to assist her with the project, hoping that maybe he can even get some backing by Mrs. Carlin-Kane for it.

While she’s taking advantage of the little bit of time she has left to take some pictures of the kids on the playground, she realizes she still hasn’t uploaded any of the ones she took over the weekend.

On the bus ride back, the bus isn’t as full, and she reads through the journal that Faust had given her. There are a lot of cryptic notes, hand drawn pictures, and scrawled descriptions and thoughts. There is also a sticky note from Faust:

Add to this. Use it. You’re in this world now. You’re useless and helpless until you learn about it. Find friends. Find enemies. Explore this world.

There are numerous mythic beings and fairy tales hidden in between the covers of this journal. Elves, goblins, ogres, trolls, werewolves, vampires, demons and angels. Some are descriptions of entire races, some are descriptions of individuals. Some of the earliest notes tell that most of these creatures and beings are masked by a ‘glamour,’ which is how they can move amongst those who are still in the dark. Piercing that glamour is what Faust was teaching her to do the other day, and is what she’s unconsciously almost managed to do with Cadence, Veronica, and the mayor’s men.

She’s so wrapped up in reading it that she has to rush to get off the bus at the right stop before it starts moving again. Suddenly she remembers what’s waiting for her at the auditions, and she groans to herself as she walks into the auditorium.

Veronica is waiting for her, and rushes over. “Case! I was worried you might not be coming when I didn’t see you for lunch. Nobody was there; well, except for me and Kale. I was hoping nothing happened!” She glances around, looking for the third member of their little group.

“Sorry, I just needed to get out of here for a little bit and have some girl time with Harm.  I should’ve said something about skipping.  What did you and Kale do?”

“Nothing much. He’s kinda shy, and well… so am I. He had a little information for me on a side project I had him working on, but not too much.”

She’s interrupted when instead of Cadence, it’s Harmony who walks up. “Hey guys, I just wanted to wish ya’ll luck. I’ll be watching!” She grins at the two of them, especially reveling in Casey’s misery as she chuckles good-naturedly and walks off.

She brushes past Cadence and stops to wish her luck as well before heading out to her seat. Cadence walks up and turns to Casey. “I was looking for you at lunch. I need your help with something, think you might be able to after this? I really need to try and get it done tonight if you don’t mind.”

Casey nods, and the other girl pulls something out of a pocket, passing one to each of them. “Here are the keys I promised you, to our new clubhouse. I finally had them made.”

“Alright, everyone gather around please!” Sarah calls out.

She passes out the instructions to everyone, and groups people together to learn their dance steps. Much to everyone’s good humor, she doesn’t allow any spectators and calls them down to join the tryouts, putting Harmony with the three of them.

Harmony takes control and reads over the steps before having the other three girls line up behind her.  She slowly walks them through the whole dance routine, section by section.  It takes them longer than some of the other groups since Veronica and Casey, at least, don’t have any previous dance experience.

They eventually all make it through the entire routine three times in a row.  Harmony breezes through learning and teaching the routine.  Cadence does pretty well, showing off some grace, but not a lot of technical experience.  Her mom glares at her most of the time, and they all seem to be able to feel the vibes coming their way from Sarah.  Veronica manages to make it through the whole routine those last two times, but she’s a beat or two behind for the whole thing.  She definitely exceeds the other three in excitement and drive, but unfortunately isn’t very graceful while she dances.  Even a blind man would see how much fun she’s having.  Casey catches onto the routine before Veronica does and manages to stay on the beat, but she’s far from graceful while she dances, completely uncomfortable with the thought of being in the spotlight.

They all grab photocopies of the routine before they leave and the look that Casey sees in Roni’s eye means they have more practice coming later tonight.  She groans inwardly at the thought, since her body is already sore from what they did this afternoon.

They all walk out into the night air and head towards the parking lot, grateful it’s over and thinking about the actual tryouts tomorrow. They all joke with Harmony as she grouses about how she ‘just had to listen and come watch ya’ll.’

She hugs them all goodbye, and hops into her car. Loud music fills the air as she peels out of the lot, leaving them standing alone. “You mind coming over to help me Casey? It shouldn’t take too long.”

Roni steps up and twines her arm with Casey’s stubbornly. “Nope, we don’t mind.”

Cadence turns to her, a small frown on her lips. Veronica notices it too, and stiffens a little. “I’m Casey’s ride; I can’t call Fetch until both of us are ready.”

Cadence just smiles and shakes her head. “Ok tiger, I can definitely use all the help I can get right now.” The three of them turn and head towards Cadence’s apartment. On the way, Cadence starts talking. “My mom is mega pissed at me. She saw the MeVid clip from Saturday. Needless to say, it doesn’t exactly match her definition of ‘staying under the radar.’”

She falls silent, and finally Roni asks, “Why are you trying to hide?”

For a moment, Casey wonders if the other girl will answer. “There are people looking for me that are bad news, tiger. Real bad news. It’s kinda why I need ya’lls help tonight.”

They get to the apartment, but instead of going inside Cadence’s side, they go around to the empty half. Cadence lets them in, and Casey notices that the inside of the door frame has been scratched up, some sort of inscription carved into the wood.

Cadence flips on the light, and Casey notices her leather messenger bag on the floor, the book Faust gave her the other day resting on top of it. Cadence sits next to it. “First things first.” She reaches inside the bag and pulls out the pouch that she had Casey sneak in to the hospital to her. From inside, she pulls out a crystal sphere the size of a racquetball.

“I swore an oath that I owed you for your help, Casey. So I want you to have this. If you should ever need me, just hold this, think of me and call my name, and I will know.” She passes the sphere to Casey, who finds it oddly warm instead of cold.

She pulls out a second, this one is glowing a pale yellow, as though lit from within. She places this on top of her bag. She takes Faust’s book, and opens it to a page marked by a different marker than the one he had described to her. “I found this while reading through this, and thought we might find it handy. Faust gave me this so that I could cast a ritual, one that would help hide me from the people looking for me. It’s a really powerful spell.”

“This one is a similar spell, but not the same. With it, we can make this apartment a safe place for us to use. No one we didn’t bring here would ever think to come inside, they’d never rent the place out, etc. People would pretty much just forget about this half of the building. Problem is, I can’t cast it. I can help you Case, but you need to do it.”

“I’ve gone through all the hard prep work. I just need you to read some lines when I’m done. Will you do it?”

Casey feels an excited tingle pass through her. She’s still not used to all this, but it sings to her, it seems almost to have an addictive quality to it. Cadence passes her the book, and points out the lines to her. They seem jibberish at first, but suddenly they snap into focus and Casey can feel them almost burn into her mind, and she knows without a doubt that she can say them.  She nods at Cadence.

Cadence stands, and motions for Casey to follow her. Roni gets up and follows behind both of them silently, her eyes widening when Cadence motions for her to grab the first-aid kit left out on the counter.

They walk over to the back door, and Cadence opens it, showing the same inscriptions carved into the frame. Cadence pulls her knife from somewhere hidden on her person, and Casey feels her heartbeat jump in speed. Veronica reaches out to stop her, but Cadence quickly runs the blade down her hand, gritting her teeth around the grunt of pain that escapes.

Casey swears she seems a small wisp of smoke rise from the cut, but Cadence moves before she can look closer, and smears her blood on the door frame. She steps back, and Casey realizes that she’s up.

She looks down at the book, and hesitantly begins to speak the words. Her voice quickly turns confident and strong as the words echo their way through her, etching themselves into her mind and essence, and she knows that she’ll never forget them again. The rush of pleasure that runs through her was just as she feared, and she could see how someone could get addicted to the power she’s wielding at the moment.

She feels the change happen as soon as the words are finished, though they seem to still be echoing almost as though they are floating in the air around her. The very nature of the door frame changes, though not in any way she could describe it. The inscriptions glow for a moment, and then fade from view entirely, as though never carved.

The same procedure is followed at the front door, and this time when she’s finished Casey feels the change not just in the door frame, but the entire apartment. It’s closed in on itself now, as though a bubble adrift in space, totally separate from the world outside. It’s a comforting feeling.

She reflects on all of this as they sit back on the floor, Veronica fussing over Cadence’s hand with the first aid kit. Casey feels lighter somehow, and she realizes that the stored power in her has dipped lower, that her battery isn’t at full charge anymore so to say.

“That better be the last of you hurting yourself, if you think we’re going to help anymore.”

Cadence smiles at her and reaches out to ruffle Veronica’s hair before catching herself. “No, no more hurting myself. This was something I wanted to do for all of us, the next part is just more me. The ritual to hide myself. My mom warned me if I didn’t get it done before Friday, we were leaving town.”

Casey sees Veronica stiffen and her eyes widen, though she carefully doesn’t look up from Cadence’s hand. “What do you need us to do?”

Cadence leans her head back and closes her eyes. “Not much. I have to be the one to cast it. The problem is, I’m not like you Casey. I don’t have the power inside me like that. So I have to… ‘borrow’ some I guess you would say.” She looks back and points at the crystal ball glowing on her bag. “That’s acting as a battery. There’s a spell in the book that allows me to pull energy from someone if they’re willing, just like you do unconsciously Case. I’ve already done it to mom and to—to someone else who helps me out. But it’s not enough; it has to change through the spectrum up to purple. So I still have a way to go.”

“How does it work?”

She stands, leaning over to pick up the crystal. “Like how it does for Casey. The amount I can pull depends on the connection between me and that person. It also depends on how I… I connect with them, I guess you could say. I would get a little bit with a word, or a conversation or a look. With a handshake a little more, etc.” She turns to Casey and grins. “That’s why Casey has so much stored up, with her relationship with Aiden.” She winks jokingly, stepping closer to Casey.

“Don’t worry though, I won’t ask for that much.” She speaks a word, and the crystal flashes even as the word echoes in Casey’s mind, adding itself to the rest written there tonight. Instinctively part of her realizes how the word works, how it opens pathways to allow power to be manipulated.

She forces herself to pay attention to the here and now, and Cadence steps even closer. “Just a hug, Case, if you don’t mind.” She slips up against her, the smaller girl’s arms wrapping warmly around Casey as they clinch. She can feel the power pass through her, through Cadence and into the crystal ball. The power feels like Aiden, and she can feel her ‘battery’ dip even lower, feel the clarity of her knowledge about these things fade a little as her strength weakens.

Cadence slips away from her, and the crystal ball is now glowing a deep sea-green with hints of sky blue. Cadence shivers a second, stepping back a step further. “Thanks Casey, that’s a big step closer. I didn’t think I’d really have a chance to get it done by Friday, but this helps a lot.”

The smaller girl turns to Veronica now, shyly tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “You don’t have to do this tiger, if you don’t want.”

Veronica steps up, her face hard – like she’s about to go into battle – but her eyes worried. Casey sits tiredly as Cadence says the word again, this time it doesn’t seem to echo so loudly between her ears.

Roni steps into Cadence’s hug as the smaller girl steps up to her, and with almost no hesitation other than a quick start-stop-start, she pulls Cadence to her with one hand wrapped around her waist, and other sliding across Cadence’s cheek to cup the back of her neck as she pulls her into a kiss.

It’s isn’t a spectacularly passionate kiss, as Veronica obviously has no experience in the matters and Cadence is completely too shocked to take the initiative. Still, the closed mouth kiss brings the world to a momentary halt, the energy level of the room spiking to insane levels.

Casey can feel the power beat against her skin, can see Roni glow from within, that glow bright enough to almost blind her. The energy filling the room is enough to recharge Casey, and when the younger girl finally pulls away, the crystal about to fall from Cadence’s hand is glowing such an intense violet that it’s almost beyond the range her eyes can see.

Cadence stands shock still, her eyes still closed and for a second Casey wonders if she’s even still breathing. Veronica steps back, but still stands close, her skin burning bright red as she waits for some response. Casey can see the other girl is still glowing, as though there were a bright searchlight just underneath her skin.

Cadence’s eyes finally open and she looks down to the crystal held in her hand even as her other hand reaches up to softly brush her lips. She looks back over to Veronica, confusion dancing in her eyes. “Wha?”

Casey snickers silently to herself, flashing back to Veronica’s response to her earlier in the day in class.

It’s Roni’s turn to look shyly away, luckily for her, her phone starts ringing. She answers it, “Hello? You’re here already? Oh. We’ll be right there Fetch, thanks.” She hangs up, and then slowly turns back to Cadence.

“I didn’t want you to have to leave.” She turns back to Casey. “Fetch is waiting for us in the parking lot, we better go.” She picks up her schoolbag, and heads toward the door. Casey joins her, but Roni pauses and turns before they walk out. “I’ll catch you online tonight?” she asks Cadence.

“Yeah… yeah. After I finish the… yeah, I’ll be on tonight, tiger.”

Veronica smiles and gives a small wave, and she and Casey step out into the night and toward the car to head home.

Casey loosely links arms with Veronica as they walk to the parking lot.  “So, I guess you decided it’s a good thing?” she gently teases.  Veronica blushes, but smiles and nods and Casey notices that she’s still glowing a little bit.  She grins to herself, glad that Roni is happy.

The ride home is quiet, Veronica staring out the window with her small smile growing into a big grin.  Casey sits and thinks about what she read in the book Faust gave her, trying to decide if she’s going to show it to anybody else, and trying to figure out when she’s going to be able to go to Legal Tender, since Faust said she needed to.  As soon as the car stops, Roni bounds out of the car and up to her room, shouting thanks to Fetch for the ride.  Casey gets out more slowly and also thanks Fetch before heading toward the pool house.

Once she’s in the pool house, she pulls out her computer and turns it on, letting it boot up while she changes out of her school uniform.  She slips on a pair of jeans and layers a tank top under a t-shirt.  She grabs her computer and lounges on the couch with it to check her emails and to upload her photos from the weekend and today.  She gets her camera hooked up and starts the upload as her stomach growls loudly.

Casey leaves her camera and computer to upload as she pads into the main part of the house to see what’s for dinner.

For a change, it looks like everyone will be here for dinner. Sandy is busy cooking with Roni assisting, and Madison is setting the table with Bianca’s help. When she sees Casey walk in, she gets another place setting out for her.

Sandy grins at her, his ‘Kiss the Chef’ apron covered in stains. “I hope you’re hungry! Tonight we have some of the very best gumbo, straight from an old southern family recipe.”

Veronica grins and elbows him. “Yeah, not out family though.”

Sandy fakes being upset. “Oh, just wait till I tell Mack that! We’ll see if you get anything from him for your birthday!”

They joke as the food is brought to the table, and they all observe a moment of silence before digging in. The food is quite good, and there’s plenty of it. Once again, Sandy makes it a point to ask all the girls how their day went, and what all is going on with them. Needless to say Veronica doesn’t quite bring up everything, though she’s still excited about the tryouts, and talking about them puts that gleam back in her eye. When she asks Casey if she’ll be ready to practice a bit more after dinner, Casey tries her hardest not to groan.  Casey mentions that she met with Father Piccoli today, and tells them about the fundraiser she’s trying to get set up with him to benefit the shelter.  She also passes along his message to Sandy.

After dinner Casey asks Sandy if there’s anything new he’s found out about her case, but by his look she can tell there hasn’t been. He makes it a point to warn her that it may take a little time, but tells her not to worry, that he will get things taken care of.

He invites Fetch in to have some leftovers, and ends up sitting downstairs with him talking sports and what not, even as Veronica pulls Casey to the piano room, where there is enough room for them to practice.

The younger girl has too much energy, but finally Casey begs off and manages to pull away and hightail it to the pool house.

She collapses on the bed, her muscles aching from exertion. She glances over to see that the computer has finished uploading everything, and she really should go ahead and work on the pictures before sleeping – at least naming them and adding descriptions.

She also notices poor Lobster is eyeing her moodily, and she dumps some food in his cup that he eagerly devours. She fixes up some of the pictures, and finally closes down the laptop.

She grabs Faust’s journal, and crawls into bed. She doesn’t have much homework, she should be able to finish it in the morning, but the events of the night have her curious about this new world she’s found herself in.

She flips through some of the pages as her eyes start to droop, until something finally catches her attention. She rereads the page several times, her eyes opening wider and wider.

‘I actually met a Star today. She had fallen some time ago, and had adjusted to living here on earth, though she was still looking for a way back to her home in the sky. She glowed as though lit from within, and was so very sweet, though possessing a fiery temper.

I have heard a few legends of Stars, how they are made of pure Possibility, and thus are almost pure magic. The heart of a Star is one of the rarest and most sought after artifacts. Though it is pure evil and stains those who actually imbibe it, it is said that dining on the heart of a Star is enough to grant near eternal life, and great stores of magical power.’

“That’s what she is,” Casey thinks to herself.  “How does a star fall?  How does she look human?” So many thoughts run through Casey’s head, but no answers come.  Eventually she turns off the light, still thinking about stars as she falls asleep from exhaustion.

September 24th, Monday - Casey Silpetti

The alarm on Casey’s phone beeps, waking her up rather blearily. She set it for earlier than normal, not sure when the Carlin-Kane’s usually got ready. She didn’t sleep so well last night, and is in no rush to pull herself out of bed, but eventually she does.

She runs into Bianca in the hallway, the other girl is already dressed and ready to go. She smiles at Casey, “Morning! Dad told me you were going to be staying with us. Bathroom’s empty, Roni tends to wake up at the last moment; she’s not a morning person.”

She washes up and gets ready, finding Sandy and Bianca sitting at the breakfast table chatting. Sandy smiles up at her, “I hope you slept well last night? I know strange places aren’t exactly restful.” He points to a plate of bagels sitting on the table. “Please, help yourself. There’s also cereal and some other stuff, if you’d rather not eat breakfast at school.” Casey pours herself a glass of orange juice, but doesn’t take anything to eat.

“Not a breakfast eater, huh?”

“Um, well, my breakfasts are already paid for, so uh, I might as well just eat at school.”

He laughs, “Casey, eat if you’re hungry.”  She finds some grapes in the fridge and grabs some of them to eat.  Sandy reaches into his pocket and pulls out a business card, passing it over to her. “This is Fetch’s number; he’ll be bringing you all to school. Veronica told me that the two of you might be late due to drama auditions, if for some reason you need to stay later than her you can call him on that line, and he’ll come pick you up.”

“Our lawyer is stopping by this afternoon, and we’ll be going over some stuff for your case. But before then, I’d like you to sign these. They’re basically forms stating that you’re giving me permission to help you out and look into your files, and that I’m acting as legal guardian for you for now.” He pushes the forms over to her with an ink pen. “Last chance kiddo, if you want to get out of here. I know it can’t be too easy to trust someone you barely know with all this.”

Veronica picks that moment to walk in, her face still swollen from sleep, her eyes bleary. “Case isn’t going anywhere, right Casey? You’ll let dad fix all this stuff, and those meanies won’t get a thing.” The last of her sentence is mostly guesswork, as she tries talking through a large yawn.

Casey studies the papers, trying to make sense of the legalese as Veronica smears cream cheese on a bagel and takes a big bite.  Casey eventually gives up on making sense of all the papers and just signs them, Sandy quietly giving her a basic explanation of each one when he realizes she doesn’t understand it all.

When they’re done with the paperwork, Bianca asks Casey, “So what song are you singing for your audition?”  Casey’s eyes get large and her mouth drops open as she looks from Bianca to Roni.

“Ummm…song?”

Bianca laughs softly.  “It is a musical.  You have to sing a song for the audition.”

Veronica chimes in, “Yeah, we sing our audition songs today, then we learn a dance tomorrow and do dance auditions on Wednesday.  They post who has what parts on Thursday.”

“You uh, you didn’t tell me I had to do all that…I can’t do this…I’m a horrible singer, and now you tell me I have to dance…” Casey puts both elbows on the counter, resting her head in her hands as she shakes it no.

Sandy puts his hand on her shoulder, “What songs do you know Casey?”

“A bunch…” she says, picking her head up, “but that doesn’t mean I can sing.”

“But what musical songs do you know?”

“A bunch.” Sandy gives her a look that says ‘How?’ and she explains, “You know that old movie theater down by AU campus?” They all nod and she continues, “Well they play classic movies and movie musicals all throughout the summer and I worked there one summer, ran the projectors.” She bites her lip and looks down at the table, “The um, the owner let me stay there if I worked for her.  You learn the songs pretty quick when you’re hearing them 4 or 5 times a day for a week or two straight.”

“What’s your favorite one then?” Roni asks.  “That’s the one you’ll sing.”

Casey just shrugs, “I don’t know.”  Sandy starts singing songs from musicals as Bianca and Veronica roll their eyes.  After a minute they both start laughing and join in, all three changing songs after a few stanzas of each.  Eventually Casey joins in and the other three trail off after a couple of song changes to listen to her.  She stops abruptly when she realizes they’re not singing anymore.  “Sorry…I didn’t mean to ruin it.”  She feels the tears in her eyes.  “I can’t do this Roni, I’m sorry.  You and Cade can audition.  I’ll, um, I’ll take pictures and help with the set or something.”

She stands up to go somewhere else, but Roni stops her with a hand on her arm.  “Casey, whoever told you that you can’t sing was totally wrong!”

“Yeah, you have a beautiful voice,” Bianca adds.  Casey just blushes.  “You have to audition, you’ll blow everyone out of the water.”

“Sing any of those, Casey, you’ll do great!  I’m off to work.  See you girls later,” Sandy says as he kisses Roni and Bianca on the tops of their heads, and pats Casey’s shoulder, heading toward the garage.  Casey blushes slightly and Fetch walks into the room.  Veronica and Bianca automatically head for the door, grabbing their bags off the floor as they leave the kitchen.  Casey realizes it’s time to go and hurries, struggling with her bags and coat as she tries to catch up.  She stops just inside the kitchen, setting down her bags as she gets her coat on right.  Fetch takes her bags, and again Casey is rushing to follow, taking them from him just as they walk out of the house.

The ride to school is definitely different when it’s in an armored limousine instead of a simple SUV. At least it’s quiet, both Veronica and Bianca seemingly willing to enjoy the silence, poor Veronica barely managing to keep her eyes open.

Fetch drops them off in the parking lot, wishing the three of them a good day with a smile. Veronica and Bianca head toward the student center.  Harmony is waiting in the parking lot for her. Putting her arm through Casey’s, she pulls the other girl towards the cafeteria.

“Good thing you finally got here, I was getting hungry!” They head towards the cafeteria, Casey grabbing a bagel and milk while Harmony grabs something for her own breakfast before going to join the others. “So, how was your first night at Casa de Kane? Did their mom break out the padlocks on your door, and her dad show off his collection of whips and chains?”

“Harm!” Casey exclaims, rolling her eyes. She’s saved from a response, as they both run into Cadence. They all walk over to where they find Veronica, but Bianca is nowhere to be seen.

Veronica smiles as she greets the other two girls, moving over to make room for them to sit. She glances around, and turns to Casey. “Where’s Aiden?”

Casey looks down at her bagel, but Harmony cuts in and saves her from having to answer. “He got here earlier, but coach has been really riding him about missing practice and all, so he’s doing that.”

The early bell rings, and they all get up to get ready for classes. Casey walks over to throw away her juice box, and nearly gets run over by Bianca. “Sorry Case,” the other girl mutters, barely breaking stride.

“Err… no problem?” She walks over to the trash bin, getting behind a smiling Tom as he throws away his own breakfast trash. He grins at her when he turns around, and holds the garbage lid open for her.

“Let me get that for you, Case,” he says, just a little too chipper. She nods her thanks and rushes off to home room.

Casey wanders into second period science; the only one at her normal table is Cadence. She sits down, pulling her notes out.

“Hey Case, I was looking through that book Faust gave me. There’s some stuff in there that I could use your help with, if you’re game. I think we can make that apartment next to mine into a pretty good secret clubhouse, I’m going to go get keys made today.”

Aiden walks in, brushing past their table without stopping and heading to the table in the back that Cadence used to sit at. Cadence watches him walk back there, then glances back at Casey. She glances back at Aiden, and then quietly gathers her stuff and walks back to join him.

Casey sits by herself for a moment, until she notices Roni stalking over. Bianca is still standing in the doorway, glaring towards her younger sister as she flings herself into her seat next to Casey. The younger girl pointedly ignores her sister, who is forced to leave as the tardy bell rings.

Veronica pulls her notes out, clearly aggravated. Casey is forced to wait to ask her what’s wrong, as Prof. Z picks that moment to close the door and start class. They follow his lecture for the first half-hour, and then he finally lets them work on their notes with their partners.

Casey turns to look at Veronica, who has clearly been stewing this entire time, looking even more agitated now then when she walked in, if at all possible. “Hey Roni, not to pry, but is everything ok?”

Roni’s glare softens as she looks over at Casey. “My sister is on the warpath. I mean, I know she cares and all, but she’s always been so protective! She smothers me sometimes, and it’s not like she needs to!” She stops as her voice starts edging up in volume.

She takes one look at Casey’s confused demeanor, and sighs. She leans in close, speaking quickly and confidentially now.

“She doesn’t think I should be hanging out with Cadence. Someone’s been filling her head with all kinds of rumors and all about her, like her getting kicked out of schools before, and how she acts, and cause she’s gay and all. Like she’s dangerous or something, and it going to get me in trouble or something. I mean, it’s all stupid! I mean, she’s not like that at all!”

She glances over her shoulder at the table where Cadence and Aiden sit, Aiden chuckling at something that was just said.

She turns back to Casey. “I mean, yeah, we’ve been talking and hanging out a lot. But it’s cool, I mean, I’ve never had a real friend before, to just talk to and stuff.” She looks towards the window, watching the rain make trails down the glass as her eyes lose focus. “It’s funny… you know, when you’ve just met someone, but straight away you feel as if they are going to be your friend. Who knows why… past life… physiognomy… but for some reason you just kind of… click.” She turns back to Casey abruptly. “I don’t know what I’m saying, but do you know what I mean?”

She glances back over her shoulder before Casey can answer. “And why are they sitting back there?” She turns to Casey, her face turning red again. “Did Bianca tell her not to sit here or something? If she did, I’m gonna kill her!”

“Shhhh…” Casey says, and blushes slightly.  “They’re back there because of me…Aiden’s, um, giving me some space I guess.  Cadence was sitting here with me until he came in and sat back there.  And hey, maybe you just need to give Bianca some time to sort out truths from rumors…I mean how bad can Cade’s past be compared to mine…and your parents had me move in with you guys…”

“I guess…I just wish she wasn’t so overprotective.  Mom and Dad get that way too and I can’t stand it sometimes,” Veronica rants, her voice getting louder again.  She makes herself speak more quietly as she turns the focus to Casey, “And why is Aiden giving you space?”  She takes a quick breath, “Are you guys fighting?  Did you break up?”

Casey looks down at her book quickly, “Umm…not really…maybe…I don’t know…”  Roni puts her hand on Casey’s shoulder and she immediately feels lighter.  “He just…he’s a little jealous of Kale.”  Casey’s hand flutters to the bruised spot on her arm and she absently strokes it through her uniform.  “I don’t really know what to do about it…he’s not handling it very well.”  She starts to say something else, but the bell rings and Veronica sweeps all her things up off the table and practically runs over to Cadence, chattering the whole way out of the room.  Casey catches Aiden looking at her and smiles softly as she grabs her things and heads out to her next class.

The rest of the morning passes quickly for Casey, but just as her last class before lunch ends she’s called to the office.  She nervously walks in and the school secretary points toward 2 bouquets of flowers on the counter.  “Those are for you.”

Casey blushes and pulls the cards off each bunch.  The first bouquet is a dozen pink roses with baby’s breath all around them.  The card reads <I’m Sorry. Please forgive me.  Break a leg today at auditions! Love, Aiden>.  Casey blushes, hoping nobody else read the card.  The second bouquet is a group of mixed flowers; black-eyed Susans, daisies, and fall flowers and leaves.  This card has a section of it crossed out, but Casey can read that it had said <Break a Leg!>.  Underneath the crossed out part is written <Good luck with your audition Casey! – Kale>.  She blushes more and even looks over her shoulder to make sure Aiden isn’t there to read it.  She turns to the secretary and asks, “Um, can I leave them here until the end of the day?”

“Sure, just don’t forget to come back and pick them up.”  Casey sticks both cards in her bag and hurries to the cafeteria for lunch.

Harmony catches up with her and follows her through the line, almost whispering as Casey grabs her food.  “Case, what’s up with you and Aiden and Kale?  They both sat at our table and if looks could kill, Kale would be fried up and sitting on a platter right now.  Kale’s like totally jumpy and they both keep looking around for you.”

Casey mutters under her breath, “Shit.”  She stops and looks toward the table and can practically feel the tension from where she stands.  She finishes through the line and is debating eating in a stairwell when Veronica bounces over.

“Good, you found her!  Come on and eat Casey.”  She chatters the whole way over to the table where Casey warily sits down across from Aiden.  Cadence gives her a questioning look and Casey shakes her head almost imperceptibly.  Casey starts eating, piping into the conversation every once in a while, but basically trying to ignore Kale and Aiden as they both stare at her, taking breaks only to glance or glare at each other.

Veronica chatters for a few moments, but it doesn’t take her long to pick up on the tension surrounding the table. She looks back and forth between Casey and the two boys, and Casey feels her stomach drop as she realizes that Veronica is about to say something.

Cadence drops her hand below the table, and Veronica jumps and turns to look at her, her ears turning red. Cadence subtly shakes her head no, and turns back to her food, her hand coming back up to rest on the table.

Veronica frowns and takes a cookie from the bag of home-made ones that Cadence is sharing with her. Casey catches Cadence’s eye and mouths “thank you,” the other girl nodding in response. No one else at the table noticed the little exchange, thankfully.

Veronica chews the cookie silently, her eyes narrowed as the blush starts to fade from her face. Casey gets the sinking feeling that she’s not going to let go of it easily, but she’s saved by the sudden appearance of Bianca, who sits down next to Casey.

She makes her hellos as Veronica’s face sets into a stony silence. Bianca looks over at her cautiously. “How’s your classes, sis?”

“They’ve been fine, thank you.” Her tone is pleasant enough, but her British accent deepens, just like it did this morning when she was ranting to Casey in class. Casey pauses, realizing it’s never occurred to her that the three women of the Carlin-Kane household all have British accents, while Sandy has anything but.

She shakes herself out of her reverie, noticing that that the table is now completely silent between the shared knots of tension. She starts planning a daring escape, thinking that she might have to sacrifice Harmony as a diversion, when yet another interruption suddenly intervenes.

A soccer team member walks by, pausing for a second at their table. “Yo Aiden, Coach is looking for you.” He gives Aiden a knowing look, and continues on by.

Aiden sighs, and shakes his head. “Yeah, I know.” For a moment he pauses, like he’s going to say something, but then he just stands and walks off, dumping his mostly uneaten lunch into a garbage bin.

Casey keeps her eyes down after he leaves, but she notices Roni taking in the whole thing. Her eyes flick between Casey and Kale, and then a sudden light pops on over her head. She eyes flick between Cadence and Bianca, and then she turns excitedly to Kale, who looks like he was just preparing to say something to Casey.

“Kale! I was wondering if you could help me research something. Please?” She stands and grabs Kale’s hand, all but pulling him from the table. “I’ll see ya’ll at auditions!” she shouts over her shoulder, waving bye as she drags Kale away bodily.

Casey can almost visibly notice everyone relax as soon as Veronica and Kale are out of sight, everyone but Cadence that is.  “What do you think she’s up to?” Harmony asks.  There are murmurs of “I don’t knows” and shrugs all around the table.  “OK, if you don’t want to talk about that,” Harmony turns straight to Casey, “then what is up with you and Aiden and Kale…cuz that was awk-ward girl.”

Casey blushes bright red and looks down at her tray as she very quickly explains the situation, “Kale has a crush and Aiden’s jealous, and they don’t know it yet, but they both sent me flowers today.”  She pushes her lunch away and props her elbows up on the table, leaning forward and resting her head in her hands.  “I don’t know what to do…I don’t know how to deal with this.”  She looks at each of the three girls, “I don’t even understand how this happened.  How do I stay under the radar for so long and now this?  I don’t think I can handle all of it.”

“Case,” Harmony says as she puts her hand on the other girl’s shoulder, “I think they’ve both liked you for awhile.  I mean you got to know Aiden real good in chem last year, and I think Kale’s been watching from the sidelines and finally found an excuse to get to know you.”

“But why now?  Why couldn’t they just take turns or something, why does it have to be at the same time?”

Cadence cracks a little half-smile, “That’d be too easy, Case and life isn’t all about easy.  You’ll figure something out, but it’ll probably be rough for a little bit first.”

Casey smiles a little, “Oh wise one…what should I do about it then?”

“Well, I’d invite them both over to a night of crazy passion, and whoever survives is the lucky one. If they both survive, then you’re the lucky one. I’m sure you could teach them to take turns. Just borrow a video camera from Harm, I’m sure you’ll want instant replay later,” she jokes with a crooked smile.

Casey can feel Bianca stiffen next to her, and she groans inwardly.

Before she can say anything, Cadence turns serious. “Follow your heart. Be true to it, and you’ll figure things out.”

The bell rings, and Bianca stands quickly. “I’ll see you tonight Casey.”

Cadence makes a face. “Yeah, I guess I’ll see you at auditions. Say Harm, what are you doing after school? Why don’t you think about a career in drama…” She folds her arm through Harmony’s, pulling the other girl along with her.

The next couple of classes go pretty smoothly for Casey and she heads toward her art class.  She turns the corner and sees Aiden talking to Chance.  He sees her and stops talking abruptly before begging off with Chance and heading down a side hall, taking a roundabout way to his next class.  Chance’s eyes follow her as she walks past him in awkward silence.  She almost misses what he says as she passes, it’s so quiet.  “You weren’t supposed to hurt him.”

She stops and turns around, saying almost as quietly, “Yeah, well he wasn’t supposed to hurt me either, so unless you have all the facts, maybe you should keep your opinions to yourself.”

He rounds on her. “You know, maybe you don’t know him as well as you think. I don’t know what you’re involved in, but he’s been lost ever since he hooked up with you. He’s been shirking classwork, missing practice, screwing up on the field. He’s pretty much alienated his old friends and the whole cool clique. I don’t know what it is about you that’s got him thinking he doesn’t match up, but whatever it is, it’s tearing him up.” His voice is shaking with anger by the time he finishes, and he stalks off.

Casey stands there for a moment, her mouth gaping like a fish at what Chance said before hurrying off as the first bell rings. Casey finally makes it to art class, barely on time and Mr. Boyd asks to speak with her.  They sit down and he asks her what her thoughts are for her senior art project.

“Well, I have a couple of ideas running through my head.  I’d really like to focus on my portrait work, so I thought about talking to Father Piccoli about making contacts through his program and getting shots of some of the homeless people…maybe try and turn it into a fundraiser for them.  My other idea is to do some architecture work and focus on the old buildings in town and really showcase some of the unique aspects that you just don’t see in the new buildings.  What do you think?”

He thinks things over for a minute, tapping his pencil on his desk.  “I think that you have more potential with the portraits.  I think you already do great work with still lifes and architecture, so I would like to see you expand a little more and I think this is doable.  You have the rest of the year to work on this, but you need to take the rest of the year to do it.  I don’t want to see all the pictures you take in the next few weeks being the ones that are in your final portfolio.”  Casey nods in agreement and he continues, “Now, Ms. Connor has asked me to talk to my most promising seniors about submitting ideas for the yearbook cover.  I’d love to see what you come up with, Casey.  It needs to be abstract, but that’s the only requirement.  You can do something that would be just the front and the rest of it could be a complementary color or you can do something that would wrap around and be the entire cover.  We’re taking submissions until the end of January and then we’ll have a committee of seniors and teachers pick the winner.”

“OK.”

“Do you have any questions about the senior project requirements or the yearbook cover?”

“Nope.  I was wondering though if I could head out into town for the rest of class today for some inspiration, and then some other days to actually take pictures?  Everybody else can work on theirs here in class, but I’m not going to be able to.”

He ponders her request for a minute and then agrees.  “Yes, I think you’re going to need to.  What class do you have after this?”

“Free period, so I don’t stay on campus a lot of the time anyway.”

“OK, since you don’t have to be back after this class, I’m going to say yes.  You will need to sign out in the office though.  I’ll call down and let them know the situation, and if you’d like to head out today you may.”

“Thank you.”  Casey goes back to her work area and packs up as Mr. Boyd calls the office.  She checks her watch and hurries off toward the bus stop.

Casey catches a bus to Faust’s neighborhood and makes her way to his door, she knocks and it swings open.  She steps inside warily and looks around for Faust.  He comes in from the back, “What are you doing here?  Didn’t I answer enough questions for you this weekend?”

She takes an involuntary step back before answering, “Um, you said to come by for training.  I can come back later, I’m sorry.”  She turns to leave, but he stops her.

“Stay.  I didn’t think you’d be back so soon.  Come with me.”

She doesn’t have long before having to head back to school, so he talks quickly and with no patience for nonsense. He has her practice opening her senses, to allow her to touch on this new world that she’s a part of. She’s been doing it haphazardly up ‘til now, the sudden flashes when she looks at certain people. With practice, she’ll be able to control it easily, and in fact by the time she boards the bus she’s made a decent amount of progress at being able to “switch” her senses from mundane to the otherworld.

He also hands her a worn journal, before she leaves. “What’s this?”

“There are many things out there, Casey. Things you’ve always thought were myth, or legend, or movie creations. Goblins, fairies, elves, trolls, ogres… they all exist. They can hide right in front of you, with the most human of faces. But they’re not human, and you have to know what they’re capable of.”

“You need to learn how to see them, to know who and what you’re dealing with. That’s why I’m teaching you what I did today. That journal was from a former student of mine, and is a collection of information put together on what’s out there. It may help you.”

“It’s another reason you need to get out there and see more of the world you’re now a part of. If you haven’t been to Legal Tender yet, you should go. Just be careful.  Between this book and the one that Cadence has, you should be able to figure out a lot of things. Just be careful.”

Casey hops off the bus near the school and runs back, barely making it to the auditions on time.  She finds Cadence and Veronica and they sit down as Ms. Connor explains the audition process.  Everyone is given 10 minutes for vocal warm-ups, during which the three girls chat, and then the singing portion begins.

Veronica is the first of them to go up, fairly glowing with excitement as she does. She sings “Think of Me” from Phantom of the Opera, and clearly gives it her all. She’s quite good at singing, but her stage presence is what captivates the entire hall. Even without trying, Casey can see a glow of light fill the room; feel the warmth of a summer’s day sun wash across her. She doesn’t think that Cadence takes a single breath until the song is over, her eyes dark pools unable to tear themselves away from the younger girl.

The hall fills with applause as the last notes trill away, and Veronica rushes back to their sides, blushing with pleasure. She throws herself at Cadence, hugging her tight even as the shorter girl tries to compliment her. They clinch for a moment that stretches, and then both pull away awkwardly.

Veronica turns and hugs Casey, smiling demurely at her compliments as her skin burns red. She spends the next few songs trying to come down from her high, her blush finally fading even though her smile doesn’t.

Cadence grimaces a little as her turn comes closer. When it’s her turn, they both wish her luck, each squeezing an arm. She chose “On My Own” from Les Miserables. Her odd voice doesn’t seem suited for singing at first, but the haunted emotion she puts into it sways that opinion quickly. Still, Casey has to wonder if she’s not singing as well as she could for some reason.

Veronica is bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet as Cadence’s song comes to an end, clapping and cheering. She turns to Casey with her huge smile, and hugs her again for luck.

“Have fun out there Casey, it’s so awesome! You’ll do great, you sounded beautiful this morning!” She starts pushing Casey towards the stage, Cadence meeting her on the way.

She grins at Casey, and Casey can see that, try as she might to hide it, the other girl enjoyed being up there. “Good luck, Case!” She hugs her and steps off the stage, her step light.

Casey takes a deep breath before stepping on stage.  She chose to sing “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from Jesus Christ Superstar, knowing it’s in her range, even though it’s a hard song.  She hits the notes, but starts out so soft; barely anyone in the room can hear her.  She catches Cadence and Veronica in the audience and they motion for her to bring it up.  She gets a little louder, looking back at them for approval and they motion for her to keep going.  She finally gets to a good volume and they give her the ok as she continues the song.  She finishes the song well and rushes off the stage as Roni and Cadence cheer for her, along with a couple of other people in the audience.

The girls both give Casey a big hug before sitting down to wait for the rest of the auditions.  Cadence leans over whispering to Casey, “I didn’t know you could sing…you have a beautiful voice.  You should do it more often.”

Casey blushes as Veronica whispers back, “You should!  How come you don’t?”

“You guys really don’t have to lie to make me feel better about singing, but thank you for trying,” Casey whispers, looking down at the floor.  Cadence grabs Casey’s hand and pulls her quietly out of the auditorium, Veronica following close behind.

“Case, we’re not lying,” Cadence says once they’re out of the room.  “Who told you that you can’t?  Cuz really, you just blew most of us out of the water with that audition…at least once you started singing loud enough for us to hear.  Seriously, whoever said you can’t sing is the one that’s lying.”

Casey blushes again and looks away, “Up until this morning, pretty much everyone who’s ever heard me sing said I didn’t sound good or told me I was giving them a headache or things like that.  Roni, you and your dad and Bianca…and now Cadence are the only ones who ever said I sounded good.”  She looks at her watch, “Um, are we done in there, or do I need to stick around, do you know?”

“I think we’re done, since we’ve already sung, why?” Cadence answers.

“I um, I’m gonna try and find Aiden and see if we can talk.”

Cadence puts her hands on Casey’s shoulder, “Are you sure that’s a good idea right now, Case?”

“No, but I think I need to…but I don’t know if he’ll talk back…or even listen.”

Veronica and Cadence each give Casey a quick hug.  “Will you be ready to ride home with me and Binks?”

“Probably not, but either Aiden and I will work something out or I’ll call Fetch to come get me.  Your dad gave me his number.  I’ll see you later.”

“Don’t be too late; mom’s back and we’re all supposed to have dinner tonight.”

Casey does a mental head slap, “Crap!  I forgot about that.  Um…I guess I’ll have to talk to him later.  Ummmm….I guess I’ll grab my stuff and head out with you guys then.  I guess I’ll meet you in the parking lot then.”  Veronica and Cadence say bye to Casey and she heads off to the office to pick up her flowers and then to her locker.  She grabs what she needs for homework and heads out to the parking lot to get a ride home.

Casey gets out to the parking lot to find Sandy and Roni waiting for her in Sandy’s BMW. He smiles at her as she climbs into the back seat and sets the flowers on the floorboards. “I hear the auditions went well. Sorry I wasn’t there to see all of you.”

As he pulls out, he continues talking over his shoulder. “I hope you don’t mind, but Madison is still pretty busy, so the three of us are just going to have dinner out. Hope you don’t mind pizza, there’s a little place I haven’t been to in a while.”

Roni turns around. “Binks had something to take care of, so she had Fetch pick her up.”

Sandy spends the ride asking both Roni and Casey about their day. He’s interested in the auditions, but also makes sure and asks how classes went as well, what they were going over, etc. As they start heading further away from the city proper, closer to King’s Row, Casey starts getting a little nervous. But she remembers that Sandy is from here too, and so far they’re not heading in the direction that would bring her close to her foster home.

Instead, they pull into a small Italian restaurant that’s almost hidden in one of the older neighborhoods. The building is run down, but the parking lot is almost full so it’s no surprise when they get inside that the little place is crowded. The owners recognize Sandy and chatter with him in broken but enthusiastic English, making sure they get a booth off by the kitchen entrance, where the best smells are coming from. Several other people recognize Sandy as well, and either nod or wave to him as he walks by. A few stop him to thank him or say a few nice words to him as they walk to the booth.

Dinner is fun, and the food delicious. Unlike her times staying with Harmony or Aiden, Sandy goes out of his way to subtly make Casey feel like part of the family. They ride home in a warm buzz, full of good food and company.

When they get there, Roni bolts to go check up on Smudge and finish her homework. Sandy asks Casey to follow him to his office.

Once sitting across from each other at his desk, Sandy leans forward. “I know you want to change out of your uniform and you have stuff to do, but I wanted to talk to you for a bit. My lawyer stopped by earlier, so you won’t have to sit in on that tonight. Someone high up is backing these claims against you, that’s the only reason they’ve been going through. I don’t know who your foster parents have in their pocket, but I’m going to get to the bottom of that.”

“How is this even possible?  I mean, I just don’t understand how they can say I’m incompetent.  I’ve never even heard of anything like this…and I’ve heard about so many things from other foster kids…but nothing like this.  Who would help them do this to me?”

“I wish I had an answer for you. It’s got to be someone either high up in the local government, or with their ear. But whoever it is, they’re good at hiding their tracks. We’ll find out who it is though, don’t worry about that. I’ve never heard of a case like this before either, Casey. Half these laws I’ve never read before, because no one has ever brought them up before.

“But there are a few options we can do to halt their claims, we’re putting together a few battle plans before we present them to you.”

Casey starts to object, realizing that this has to be costing a lot more money than she could ever hope to repay him, but Sandy cuts her off quickly.

“I have a feeling I know what you’re about to say, and I don’t want to hear it. You may think I’m being purely charitable, but I’m not.” He leans back and sighs. “Casey, I need to thank you, I mean… really thank you.”

“I know that Veronica isn’t exactly a normal child. Her intelligence and social awkwardness has kept her on the outside for so long, and I really worried about her. But now she has all these friends, and is happier than I’ve ever seen her, she even asked me if she could go on a double date with you and Aiden! She’s never been the type to try anything like that, unlike her sister.”

“I know you have a lot to do with it. I know that this all started when she told me she was assigned to you as her lab partner, and that you included her into your little circle of friends. For you to get her out of her shell like that, well, I really don’t have enough words to thank you. So I’m doing this for you not only because of all the reasons I normally would, but for that one as well.”

Casey blushes bright red, “It’s really not all me.  I mean I did get assigned as her lab partner, but part of it is Cadence.  They’ve really clicked.”  Casey looks down at her feet, “And um, until this year, my only real friend was Harmony…so um, I think you’re giving me more credit than I deserve.”

“Oh, I know my daughter a little better than that, Casey. Yes, I’ve heard her talk a lot about Cadence lately, but you’ve been mentioned just as much. I think you’re giving yourself less credit than you deserve.”

He sighs again, his smile fading. “But on another note, and with all of that in mind, I have something else to bring up. Madison… she’s under a lot of pressure and a lot of scrutiny lately. And while I know when she meets you she’ll think you’re as wonderful as I do… but for now, I was hoping you wouldn’t mind if we moved you out to the pool house.”

Not giving her a chance to answer, he continues quickly, “It’ll give you more privacy, which I’m sure you’ll like. I took the time and bought all new stuff for it, so you didn’t have to use all the guest linens and all. I even got you some materials to kinda setup a little darkroom in the changing room, if you like. We’ll keep the heaters on in the walkway between the houses, and keep the glass closed so you don’t have any problems going back and forth. And you’re welcome to anything in the kitchen still, although Fetch or I can take you out to stock the fridge out there if you like.”

He pauses hesitantly, waiting for her answer.  Casey slowly nods yes, “I guess that’s ok, and I don’t need anything special for out there.  I’ll be fine.”

He smiles, suppressing a laugh, “I know you’ll be fine, but I want you to make yourself at home.  You need to let me know if there’s something you want or need.  We’ll do our best to take care of it.  Oh, and Gladys did your laundry, everything but what you have on is clean.  She mentioned that a few of your clothes are almost worn through.  Maybe Madison or I can take you shopping this weekend for some more.”

Casey blushes again, even redder than before.  “I’ll be fine.  Don’t worry about it.”

Sandy puts his hand on her shoulder, waiting to speak until she looks up at him.  “Casey, if you don’t let us take you shopping,” he winks at her, “don’t be surprised if things magically appear out in the pool house that only fit you.”  Casey looks away from him again, but he continues, “And if some of the worn out clothes magically disappear…”

She speaks without looking up at him, “You don’t have to do all this, really.  I can just stay here and stay out of your way.  I promise you won’t even know I’m here.  Whenever the Senator –“

“Madison,” Sandy interrupts.

“Whenever, Madison, has press here or wherever I can go away.”  She smiles softly up at Sandy now.  “I’m pretty good at blending in or disappearing.”

She’s about to continue when Sandy stops her.  “You don’t have to disappear Casey.  You do have to blend in…with our family.  Unless some judge says otherwise, you’re part of it now.  No more talk like this, ok?”  She barely nods and he stands up, “Come on; let’s get you out to the pool house so you can settle in again.  I’m sorry for all the moving around, this should be it for awhile.”

Casey grabs her bags and the flowers and stands up.  “I’m ok.  I can get out there myself.”  She takes a couple of steps, “And thank you.  You’re doing way more for me than anyone ever has, and you don’t have to.  I just hope I don’t disappoint you.”  She leaves the room before Sandy has a chance to respond.

When she gets out to the pool house, she sees that Sandy was right about moving her in. All of her stuff is neatly put up, and all the linens are brand new and very nice. In the corner is an old light table, perhaps one from when Sandy used to dabble in photography.

She sets her stuff down, noticing the book Faust gave her in her bag. She opens her laptop and sees a few emails; it seems she made a little bit of money off her webpage. There’s also a message from Aiden.

She hesitates, but opens it. It’s short.

Casey,

I wanted to apologize again for the other night, and the way I’ve been acting lately. I thought I could let it all not bother me, but I guess it was more under my skin than I thought. Things have been so weird since Roni was kidnapped. We’ve been shot at, met people who could do things I still can’t believe, I mean, it just seems like everything is going upside down on me. It seems like everyone around you is special somehow, except for me. Even Kale can get information and all because he works with the papers and stuff. I guess I was just feeling lost… like you wouldn’t need me anymore. I couldn’t even keep you from getting hurt at the party. If you want to take some time, I don’t blame you. I hope the auditions go well for you tomorrow; you certainly blew their socks off today! You sing beautifully, you should do it more often.

Love, Aiden

PS: I think you should set your sights higher than ‘Munchkin!’ =)

She rereads the email and then gets up, puttering around the pool house.  She gets both bunches of flowers refilled with water and up on the kitchenette counter.  She checks out the changing room and sees bottles of chemicals and an empty table in there.  She smiles to herself, knowing there’s a lot more that it needs, but it’s a good start.  She finally goes back in and reads the email one more time before responding.

Aiden,

You don’t think all this is weird for me too?  I’ve living in my 4th place in a month, not counting the few nights I spent with you.  I just got moved out to the pool house here, to appease Roni’s mom, or to look better for her or something.  Supposedly she’s back in town and we were all supposed to have dinner tonight, but I haven’t even seen her.  We need to talk about all this; I don’t know what I want to do.  You really scared me the other day when you grabbed my arm and then you sent me flowers today (thank you btw, they’re beautiful!) and then this email…I just don’t know what to think right now…and Chance said you haven’t been yourself lately either…  How did you hear my audition today?  Weren’t you at practice?  Look, I don’t want to do all this through email, but I don’t know when we’re going to have time to talk with more audition stuff tomorrow and you with all your practice.  I wish things could just go back to how they were…I can’t decide which is better, but at least I knew how to deal before.

I miss you, and I think I really do need you – Casey

She rereads her reply before hitting send and then closes her laptop as Veronica comes bouncing into the pool house, knocking at the same time as she enters.  She holds the door open for Smudge to pad in and he beelines for Casey, revving his little motor before he gets to her.  Casey smiles and picks him up.  He curls in her lap as she pets him.  Veronica sits down on the bed.  “I liked it better with you just down the hall,” she fake pouts before breaking into a huge grin, “but at least you’re still here!”  She lays back on the bed, “Are you ready to learn the dance audition tomorrow?  It shouldn’t be too hard I don’t think, but who knows.  Then we do our dance auditions on Wednesday and find out our parts on Thursday.  I hope I get a good one!”  She sits up abruptly and looks at Casey, “You know what?”  Casey shakes her head no and Roni continues, “I kinda hope I get to be the Wicked Witch of the West.  I heard they’re gonna rig her up to fly around the stage.  That sounds like so much fun!”  Veronica keeps going about the play and Casey listens, nodding and making small comments where appropriate, but otherwise just letting Roni spread her enthusiasm.

After a bit, Veronica changes her topic.  “So, did dad figure out a way to help you with your foster parents and all?”

Casey looks down at her feet, then back at Roni before answering.  “Not yet.  He said they have some ideas, but that someone big is backing the claims, which is why they’re getting pushed through.  They don’t know who yet, but they’re working on it.  This is way more complicated than I thought it would be.”  They sit in comfortable silence for a while, playing with Smudge.  Casey eventually breaks the silence, “Hey Roni, um, I hate to ask, but do you mind if I have some time to myself.  I have some homework to do tonight, and I think I’m gonna turn in early…”

“Oh sure! Sorry ‘bout that, guess I’m just too excited for my own good,” she smiles. She sits up, and turns suddenly serious. “Hey, I’m sorry about earlier, in class. If you want to talk about you and Aiden… well, I’m not too good at all that cuz I don’t have any experience, but I can be a good listener. Sometimes I get too wrapped up in what’s going on in my head, and I didn’t realize how lamebrain I acted until later. Sorry!”

She walks over to the desk and writes something down on the pad, then walks over and looks at Smudge. “You want him to sleep out here with you, give you some company? I don’t mind! And I wrote down my uchat name, the phone number for out here in case you want to give it out, and the phone number to my room in case you wanna talk. I’m usually up almost all night, I leave my computer on if you want to talk.”

Casey lounges on the couch and reads for her Lit in Film class and gets her math and science homework for the next day finished.  She feels brain dead and decides that she’s done, so she packs up her bag.  She stands and stretches big and digs through the dresser for her pj pants and a tank top, along with clean underwear, and she heads into the bathroom.

Casey’s surprised to find an array of bath salts, shampoos, conditioners, soaps and other bath items in a giant basket in the tub.  There’s a note on top with her name scrawled in Sandy’s handwriting.  She opens and reads it: “We didn’t know what you liked so we got a little of everything.  Relax Casey, you deserve it! – Sandy”

She looks around the rest of the room, finding a new toothbrush, 4 different kinds of toothpaste, 4 different kinds of deodorant, 3 kinds of floss, hand soap, 2 kinds of mouthwash, 6 different lotions and body butters, 5 kinds of facial cleansers and toners, Q-tips, cotton balls, Kleenex, 3 hairbrushes, 2 combs, lots of hair ties and barrettes and headbands, a blow dryer, a curling iron, a flat iron, and a whole bunch more.  She also sees about 20 candles spread throughout the room, and finds matches in a drawer.  It’s almost like Sandy looked in Roni, Bianca, and Madison’s bathrooms and got Casey one of everything they had.  She finds all new bath towels, hand towels and wash cloths, plus a brand new fluffy, terry cloth robe hanging behind the door, with slippers on the floor below.

Casey pulls the basket out of the tub and sets it on the floor in the closet, where she also notices a new hamper for her dirty clothes.  She digs through the tub and pulls out some lavender scented milk bath and starts running a bath, pouring a little in.  She lights a couple of the candles, then slips out of her clothes and slides into the hot water.  She feels the tension flow out of her as she relaxes until she’s almost asleep.  She finally gets out, draining the water and snuggling into the big, fluffy robe and slippers.  Casey grabs the pajamas she had gotten out and puts them on the bed before looking around the main room some more.  She goes around and closes all the blinds before flopping on the bed with her laptop to check her email one more time.  She sees another email from Aiden and hesitates again before opening it.  She clicks on it and reads:

Case,

I guess I didn’t realize it was all so new to you too. We never really talked about all of it, and a lot of your past, so I didn’t realize you felt more lost than I did. I didn’t mean to scare you, I’m really really sorry. When did you talk to Chance? He’s biased, don’t listen to him if he gives you any trouble, and tell me if he does. I snuck out of practice to listen to you sing, you didn’t think I’d miss that, did you? You know my number if – whenever – you need me.

I miss you too…so much. Aiden.

She finally feels the day and the hot bath catch up with her and she closes the laptop and puts it away.  She slips into her pjs and hangs the robe back up before climbing into bed and going to sleep.

September 23rd, Sunday - Casey Silpetti

The girls all sleep in, until around 10 when Kale, Aiden and Sandy come into the pool house carrying breakfast on trays.  “Wake up sleepyheads,” Sandy calls.  The girls all stir on the bed, Cadence bolting upright, Casey and Roni taking their time to sit up.  The guys all set the trays down in the kitchen area.  “So, what are you kids doing today?” Sandy asks.

Veronica climbs out of the bed and goes over to her dad, giving him a kiss on the cheek.  “Well, we’ll probably eat this breakfast you brought, get dressed and figure out something else to do,” she says smiling.

“Ah, my cheeky daughter…wait, you’re not Bianca…what happened?  Anyway, eat up, I’ll see you all later,” Sandy says on his way back to the house.

Aiden and Kale fill their plates to overflowing while Cadence and Casey get out of bed and join them all in the kitchen.  The girls fill plates and everyone heads in to sit on the couch, chairs and floor to eat.  Smudge heads straight to Veronica, hoping for treats.

“So, we’re all going with Casey to see Faust today…anything else on the agenda?” Kale asks.

“I need to talk to Harmony about all this, and ummm…probably pack up my stuff.”

“You’re gonna move in?” Veronica practically squeals with excitement.

“I don’t think I have much choice unless I leave town,” Casey answers.  “And I already stuck around once when given that choice, I’d hate to run now.  Your dad won’t represent me unless I move in.  He said he’d find someone else to help if I didn’t stay here…but I’m not sure I’d trust anyone else.”

“You know you don’t have to decide right now, Case, right?” Aiden says, putting his hand on her thigh.

“I’ve been thinking about it all night.  I kept waking up.  Unless Faust has some other option for me…this is what I need to do.”  They all finish eating while chatting about school and people at school, with everyone going back for seconds.

“OK, I’m supposed to be at Faust’s at 1, and I have a couple things I need to do before that,” Cadence says.  “How ‘bout we all meet at my place at 12:30 and then head over?”

Everyone agrees and Aiden says, “Come on Case, Cade, get dressed and I’ll take you home.”  Veronica heads inside to change while Casey and Cadence take turns in the bathroom and cleaning up the leftovers in the kitchen.  Kale and Aiden clean up the bedding and leftover snacks from the main room of the pool house.

Veronica comes back out and grabs the breakfast remains.  “You guys ready?”  They nod and grab their things, heading back through the house to leave.  “Cade, is it ok if I come with you?”

Cadence’s cheeks turn a little pink as she nod yes, “Yeah, that’s fine.”

Kale heads off on his own while Aiden drops Veronica and Cadence at her place and takes Casey to Harmony’s.  “Hey, why don’t you go home and get some clean clothes?  I’ll talk to Harmony and you can just pick me back up later.  Sound good?”

“Are you sure Case?  I can go in with you.”

“No.  I need to talk to Harmony alone.”  She leans over and kisses him.  “I’ll see you later.”  Casey hops out of the Xterra and grabs her things from the back, waving at Aiden as she steps inside.  She heads up to her room and drops her things off before going to Harmony’s.  She knocks softly, but doesn’t hear anything.  She knocks a little louder, and when there’s no response, she goes in anyway.  Harmony is nowhere to be seen.  “Crap!”  Casey heads back to her room, texting Harm on the way to see where she is. “I’m home…where are you?”

She gets a quick reply, “Just pulling in.  Don’t tell the Rents I didn’t stay at mini-Kane’s.”

“No prob.  Come to my room when you’re done with whatever.” Casey puts her dirty clothes in the hamper and starts getting her clean clothes out of the dresser and onto her bed.  After about 15 minutes, Harmony comes in from the bathroom, looking fresh.

“What’s up?”  She looks around, noticing the clothes on the bed.  “Case, are you going somewhere?”

“Sit down.”  Casey stops with the clothes and sits at the head of the bed with Harmony.  “I have to move out, Harm.  I wish I could just stay here, but…I can’t.  So, you know Mr. Carlin was talking to me when you got there yesterday, right?”  Harmony nods, so Casey continues.  “He said that my foster parents stopped cashing the checks and reported me missing.  There’s a college fund set up for me…he thinks from my dad, but he doesn’t know…  They’re trying to get that money.”  Casey wipes at the tears in her eyes that spring up every time she thinks about having to move back to her foster parent’s house.  She sniffles and keeps going as Harmony puts her arm around Casey’s shoulders.  “They’re trying to say I’m incompetent and Mr. Carlin says I might have to go back and live with them, but he said he’ll take my case and fight it…”

“That’s awesome Case!  He’ll keep you safe and out of that house.”

“I hope so.  But, he’ll only take the case if I move into their house.  So…I don’t really have a choice.  I’m sorry, Harm.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Harmony gives her a big hug.  “You moving out sucks, but if it’s moving in with the Carlin-Kane’s or moving back to the foster parents…I’m glad this is where you’re going.”

They sit there quietly for a minute before Harmony breaks the silence.  “So, when do you have to go?”

“I don’t know.  I haven’t told Mr. Carlin yet, but I’m sure he’ll want me to move in as soon as I can.  Hey, do you care if I leave these boxes from my camera and stuff here?  I’ll put ‘em in the back of the closet, they won’t be in the way or anything.  I just don’t feel like dragging them to a new place when the only reason I’m keeping them is in case I have to give the gear back or something breaks.”

“No problem, Case.  You know, I kinda liked having you here.  I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too…but hey, at least we’ll still see each other at school and stuff.”

“Harm, um, we’re going to Faust’s place to see about finding my mom.  I’m hoping she’ll tell me who my dad is so I can figure out who set up the fund.  You wanna come with?”

“Hell yeah!  Let’s go!”

Casey laughs at her enthusiasm.  “We’re meeting at Cade’s at 12:30 and Aiden’s picking me up here.  We don’t have to leave right now.”

“Ok…ummm…who’s Faust?”

“Sorry, I forgot you don’t know about him.  Remember all that Cloak & Dagger stuff from when Roni got kidnapped?”

“Yeah.”

“I met him then.  He gave me that lens that was on your doorstep for my birthday.  He knows my mom, and he’s…he’s got some special talents and connections.”

“Cool.  So is he kinda spooky?”

“A little.  He has this crow that sits there and stares at you.  It’s creepy.  Hey, is your dad here?  I want to thank him for letting me stay and tell him I’ll be moving out soon.”

“Nope, I only saw the step-monster’s car.  He probably got called in for some ‘emergency,’” she says with air-quotes.  Harmony stays sitting at the head of the bed while Casey finishes getting the rest of her clothes from the dresser and closet.  They hear a car pull in and a moment later Casey gets a text from Aiden saying he’s there.  They each grab a jacket and Casey brings her camera bag and they head out.

Aiden opens the door for them and Harmony climbs in back.  They head out to Cadence’s, making small talk the whole way.  They follow Kale the last couple of blocks and all get out of their cars at the same time that Cadence and Veronica come out of the house.  They can hear Cadence making more “be safe” promises to her mother.

Cadence and Veronica ride over to Faust’s with Kale, while Casey and Harmony stay with Aiden.  They find parking spots about a block away and walk to Faust’s building.  Cadence knocks and his door swings open.  They all go in, those who’ve never been there looking around nervously.

The crow caws loudly, stepping forward with its head tilted as it looks at Cadence. The sudden sound in such a spooky room causes both Kale and Veronica to jump. Veronica backs instinctively against Cadence, who wraps an arm around her comfortingly, her hand resting on Roni’s hip.

Casey can feel Aiden step close up behind her, his hand resting against the small of her back. He knows how Faust affects her, and his protectiveness is a sweet gesture. And one she might need soon.

Faust walks in, stopping abruptly as he notices the crowd in his building. His eyes darken as they slide across those here, until he looks silently furious by the time he finishes. Casey takes an involuntary step back in fear as he turns his glare to her, his aura filling the room with the silent static of a thousand lightning bolts waiting to strike.

Cadence steps in front of Casey, even as she feels Aiden tense against her. “I invited them,” she declares quietly, taking the brunt of his glare without wilting. Casey feels a small pang of awe at the other girl’s backbone, it’s like she’s made out of steel or something.

“Why did you invite them? I do not do parlor tricks! I don’t babysit! I don’t need this many children underfoot!” He steps closer to her, his finger poking viciously into her chest. “I thought you wanted something from me, but obviously you just want to piss me off!”

“They came for me…we both invited them,” Casey says at the same time as Veronica steps up quickly, a thunderstorm brewing in her eyes. “Hey, we came here because Cadence and Casey need your help, and we’re their friends. So we’re here too!” Her voice cracks a little as his glare turns on her, but she stands close behind Cadence, glaring back over her shoulder at him.

Casey waits for the explosion that must be coming, in response to Roni’s use of the word ‘help.’ But she’s surprised when it doesn’t come, not only that but Faust backs down somewhat, something about Roni making him nervous.

He looks over at the group, and sighs. “Sit, all of you! And you,” he points at Kale, who turns pale. “One word of me or any of this-“he motions around at the room,” in anything you write, and you’ll never write again! Understand me?” He waits until Kale nods nervously, and turns to walk back towards where the small kitchen is. As he does, he snorts, “Mobster!” Kale turns sheet white.

Aiden sits on the corner of the sofa, pulling Casey down into his lap. Harmony sits next to them and Kale next to her. Roni and Cadence share the loveseat next to them, leaving the chair for Faust as he returns, a mug of steaming tea in his hand.

He sits across from them, not asking if anyone else would like anything, sipping his tea. He turns his eyes to Casey. “I know why Cadence is here, but what can I now do for you, Casey? Is it something you can speak of in front of your… friends?”

“I need to find my mom.  You said you know her and I…I need to talk to her.”

“And if she doesn’t want you to know where she is?”

“You said things aren’t what they seem with her, right?”  Faust barely nods and Casey continues.  “There’s a fund set up for me for college.  Roni’s dad thinks my father set it up and I always assumed that since I didn’t know who he was either he didn’t care about me or didn’t know I existed, I’d like that explained by my mom.  But, even if he didn’t set up the fund, I’m guessing my mom knows who did, and I need to talk to whoever that is.  My foster parents finally reported me missing and they’re trying to have me declared incompetent so they can get the money.  I need to talk to my mom.  Do you know where she is and will you tell me how to find her?”

“I cannot tell you where to find her. Not without speaking to her and knowing her wishes first. It might take a while for me to speak to her, Casey, let me warn you about that first. I’ll try my best, and I should be able to in the next day or so, but I can make no promises.”

“If she wants to talk to you about it, I’ll work out a meeting between you.” He hesitates, and then adds, “I don’t think she knows about the fund. There’s a chance she does, but I’m not sure. Anything else?” he asks.

“Do you know who my father is?”

His mood darkens and he throws his hands up, almost spilling his tea. “What is this? Now I’m purveyor of public records? Do I look like a library or a courthouse? Maybe I should go get a crystal ball or a Ouija board or something, and I can answer all of your questions for you!”

He shoots Casey a look that asks if she has any more questions.

“No more questions from me right now,” she answers.

Finished with Casey, Faust turns all of his attention to Cadence, who stiffens under his glare. It’s easy to tell that he’s still not happy with her, though he’s at least keeping a civil tongue. Roni has her hand resting on Cadence’s, silently lending support and trying to give the Red Eye to Faust, but she’s not too good at looking scary.

“Well Cadence, now we come to you.” He leans forward in his seat. “Will you be responsible for all of your friends here, in what they may learn if we continue? Or shall we retire downstairs?”

She sets her jaw, and answers quietly. “No, I won’t endanger them. As long as they are safe up here, I’ll go downstairs with you.” Roni squeezes her hand, looking worried. Cadence turns and smiles at her, “I’ll be ok tiger, honest. I’ll only be gone a minute.”

Faust stands, and points at Casey. “You too.” Aiden’s arm tightens protectively around her, but she stands. She looks at him, giving him a nod and silently repeating Cadence.

Faust gives one last glare at the rest of them, and then leads Casey and Cadence downstairs to a room that Casey remembers all too well, all things considered. However, today there is a table in the center of the room, with a chair on either side. He grabs a third chair from against the wall, and sets it down next to one of the others.

All three of them sit. On the table between them is a deck of well worn cards, and a very old, battered leather bound book kept closed with an elastic band. A book mark peeks out of the top of it.

He picks up the book and tosses it down in front of Cadence. “The spell you need is marked. You have to be the one to cast it, which means you’ll need to find a way to power it. It’s not a small spell, and your… talents… won’t help you much in casting it. You’ll need to find yourself power, like Casey has.”

He turns to her as he says her name. “So how did it feel, using your power? I’m impressed you were able to heal yourself with no training. But you have to remember to be careful about when and what you do. Did you feel how the power went through you?”

Casey stares open-mouthed at him.  “H..how did you know?  I didn’t tell you yet…”

“You are – linked to me.  How did it feel to use your power?”

“It… it felt like Aiden, somehow.” She wishes she had the words to describe what she felt, what she’s thinking.

Faust just nods. “It was probably power you pulled from him. I told you, people that are close to you, they give you power and you give them power in return. The stronger your feelings – and that includes hate, by the way, not just friendship or love – the stronger the power.

Casey interrupts, “Does it hurt them to have me pull power from other people?”

“No, no it doesn’t… hurt them. Normal people would never even be able to tell that you did it. But… you’re taking possibilities from them. Take too much, they might get sick. They might have bad luck for a while. Get greedy, and the universe will notice, and your relationship will hurt. It also depends on how close you are with them, take too much from a stranger, and bad things can happen. From a lover, even if you take a lot at one time, nothing might happen. Just don’t keep drawing that much. Moderation, unless it’s an emergency.

“There are ways to draw that power consciously. The act of an agreement, whether a verbal or handshake on a bargain, is one way. It’s the weakest way, but it gives you power to use that one time. A relationship; however, is like a battery. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

“The more intimate the contact with that person, the more you can draw from them. Companionship is weak, a kiss is good, sex the best. But be careful with how much you draw, or karma can lead to friction. You’ll instinctively get a feel for this, Casey, as you progress.” He closes his eyes dreamily, as though he can smell something tasty.

“You have a reservoir of energy, Aiden’s and Cadence’s, Veronica’s and Harmony’s. Aiden’s is the most familiar to you, the easiest to use.” He opens his eyes. “But you’ll start to understand how this works. And then maybe you can help out Cadence, because she doesn’t have your talents, but will have to mimic them if she wants to cast that ritual to make her safe.”

“So people that hate me give me power, like the mayor…and this girl at school?”

“A girl at school? That would explain that… I did feel power tainted by anger stored in you. Yes, in a way she gives you power, ironic, isn’t it? Laithe, now he is a different story. He’s skilled enough that even if he did hate you, you aren’t strong enough to gain a benefit of that. But he also doesn’t hate you. He’s just… noticed you, for lack of a better word.”

“What do I need to do to train it…to know how it works?”

“Let me ask you this first.  How did you know you could heal yourself?”

She looks over at Cadence before answering.  “I didn’t.  I just guessed.  Veronica made my foot better when May stepped on it at the dance, and I thought that if she could do that, then maybe I could too.  I just kept thinking and saying that I was OK and then there was like…a whoosh or something and it was mostly better.  It still hurt a little to touch, but the stitches were gone, the hair grew back and the nausea went away.”

“You’ll get better with it. Training comes with using the power. Being shown how it works. There are some books that can help you.”

“Can I choose who I pull power from?  Do they have to be near me?”

“Yes, once you practice you will be able to do it at will. You’re instinctually drawing on strong sources at the moment, which is why you don’t have the reservoir of power to do anything strong at the moment. And yes, they have to be near you unless you have a very strong connection to them, and even then you would generally need something of theirs to create a connection.”

He turns back to Cadence and points at the book. “There is another spell in there, marked with the green mark. It will allow you to pull energy from others, as Casey does naturally. It’s that energy that you’ll have to use to cast your ritual.”

He turns back to Casey. “That book is yours when Cadence is done with it. There are some spells in there that you might find useful. Just remember, some spells anyone can do, if they have access to it. So guard that book well.”

He turns back to Cadence, reaches over and picks up the cards. “And now, since we’re all in this little war together, and for now on the same side, I want to read you your cards.” He looks at Casey. “I can’t do this for you. The nature of our power makes seeing our futures impossible. Hers will be hard enough to read, since you and Veronica will be causing so much interference, but we’ll see what we see.”

He turns to Cadence, his hands shuffling the cards effortlessly. He sets them down for her to cut them. “This is the Oracle of the Four Seasons. It’s meant to clarify important matters surrounding a present situation..”

He puts four cards down in front of her, all face down, in a line straight across. He taps the first, on her left. “This is Winter, the far past, a time of resolution.” He flips the card over, showing an Egyptian king sitting on a throne, cartouches inscribed on the wall behind him. Above in scrollwork is the title ‘The King,’ and below in more scrollwork is ‘Authority And Diplomacy.’

He looks up at Cadence. “I don’t think we need to go over what this card could symbolize, do we?” She shakes her head, a quick no, her eyes never leaving the card.

He taps the next in line. “This is Autumn, your favorite time, I think? It is the recent past, a time of reflection.” She glances up quickly at that, her lips compressed into a thin line. He flips it over, and her eyes cut down to take in the card. It is a mask, the top inscribed ‘The Harlequin’ and the bottom ‘True Feelings Are Masked.’

“Like The King, The Harlequin is a Royal Court card. They can symbolize actual people, or may reveal dispositions or actions that should be taken. “The Harlequin here is an actor whose true feelings are masked in order to gain acceptance. Sometimes The Harlequin is the fool, the prankster who seeks attention. Other times the mask hides sadness, loneliness, or a broken heart.”

Cadence lips twitch, and Casey can see her eyes under her glasses start to glisten. She nods to Faust, obviously putting something to his words.

He taps the next. “Summer. A time of action, the immediate future.” He flips the card, and Casey can see the startled reaction he tries to hide as he looks at it himself. The card is a simple motif of blue stars surrounding one central one. Above it ‘The Stars,’ and below is ‘A Long Journey Brings Rewards.’

He almost chuckles, pausing a long moment before speaking, his eyes drilling deep into Cadence’s. “This is a card from the suite of Elements. They represent those various forces of nature that surround us, influence us, and empower us. The Stars normally represent that of possibilities, for that is what Stars are. It can be taken to symbolize a voyage, in some circles. It is your dream becoming reality, the possible becoming concrete.” He hesitates, seemingly wanting to say more, but instead reaching down to tap the final card.

“Spring, a time of growth, the distant future.” He flips it over, and Cadence gasps quietly. It is an Egyptian queen staring straight out of the card, her arms crossed and cartouches surrounding her. Above is ‘The Queen’ and below is ‘Love and Prosperity.’

“Not the Queen you’re expecting. This is a dominant female who is supportive, respected, refined. One who is emotionally confident, and nurturing. The card also represents love, prosperity, and fertility. Certainly the antithesis of Grandmother Wolf, is she not? She might be your destiny…” He lets his sentence drift off, and Cadence sits staring at the card for a long moment.

Casey sits there confused, not able to make sense of all that Faust just said about the cards.  Cadence finally speaks a she stands up, “Thank you.”

“And the payment you promised?” he asks lightly.

She reaches into her bag, and pulls out a silk cloth wrapped around something. She unwraps the racquetball sized crystal sphere, holding it delicately on top of her fingertips. She moves her hand fluidly, and the ball rolls across the back of her hand and into her palm, and she hands it over to him.

He takes it gently. “Thank you. Is that all for today?” Faust asks, looking from Cadence to Casey.

Casey nods and stands to go back upstairs.  Cadence doesn’t move.  “The mayor pulled his guards from watching Veronica after Casey was awakened, is that why or would he have another reason? He supposedly told her parents something had happened and she didn’t need them anymore…”

He frowns severely. “No, it didn’t have to do with that. He cast a ritual of protection on her, so that it would be more difficult for anyone else to hurt her. It would let him know if she were in danger as well. He doesn’t want anyone else to get to her.”

“Can he do that without her knowing?” Casey asks.

“If he has something of hers, he can. It’s like a voodoo doll works. That’s dangerous, very dangerous for her if he has something he can cast through.”

They start upstairs but Casey stops suddenly, turning around to face Faust, “Did you get the chance to find out what happened with me and Harmony and Shelly at the club?”

“Oh, I had forgotten about that. Yes, I found out. It seems that Shelly’s sire is in town. Her sire worships Chaos, and loves to mess with her progeny’s minds. She drugged Shelly without her knowing it, to see what would happen. She seemed very upset it happened. By the way, I haven’t told her that you know about her.”

“Am I not supposed to know about her?”

He pauses, and they stand there for a moment. She almost waits for another outburst from him, but it never comes. “She’s not a threat to me; in fact she’s been a lot of help to me in the past. But I’m not you; you have to make those decisions for yourself. And if you decide that she is a threat to you, it would be much more helpful to you if she thought you didn’t know about her… talents.

“You have a lot of decisions like that, that you’ll all have to make. Choosing your friends, and your enemies, is quite possibly the most important choices you’ll have to make.” He grins suddenly. “Plus, she thinks the two of you are cute, and I didn’t want to embarrass her more by letting her know that she basically ruffied the two of you.”

They walk into the main room and see the rest of the group on the couch, talking softly.  Cadence says brightly, “Ready to go?”  Harmony, Kale, Veronica and Aiden stand up with Harmony and Kale heading toward the door.  Veronica takes Cadence’s hand, giving her an “Are you ok?” look with her eyes.  Aiden takes Casey’s hand and they all four follow Harmony and Kale to the door.

Just as they’re about to leave Faust says, “Casey.”  She stops and turns around and he continues.  “Come by after school this week.  We’ll work on training.”  He finishes and disappears into the kitchen as they head down to their cars.

They all huddle on the sidewalk next to Aiden’s SUV.  “What do y’all wanna do now?” Harmony asks.

Everybody kind of shuffles their feet, not really saying anything until Veronica speaks up.  “Let’s go to a movie!  We never made it to one on Labor Day, cuz..well, you know.”

Everyone agrees and Harmony pulls up the movie listings on her phone.  They decide to see the newest big comedy movie, even though it’s been out for a couple weeks, and all pile into the cars to head over to the theater, Harmony calling and inviting Christian on the way and Cadence texting her mom to tell her where she’s going now.

They meet Christian at the theater and all get their tickets and go in to find seats.  Even though it’s getting crowded, they’re able to find seats all together and sit in a row.  Christian and Harmony sit on the end with Veronica and Cadence next to them.  Kale sits next to Cadence, then Casey, then Aiden.

Aiden and Kale both turn to Casey, and at the same time say, “Do you want anything from the snack bar?”  Kale turns a bit red and looks down at his shoes.

Before Casey can answer, Cadence stands up.  “I’m gonna get some popcorn and drinks for me and Roni, anybody else want something?”  Christian stands up to go with and so do Aiden and Kale, who both look at Casey to see what she wants.

She looks back and forth between them, “Ummm, I can share some popcorn and I’d like a drink…diet whatever.”

Aiden says, “OK, be back in a few.”  He gives Kale the evil eye and leans over to kiss Casey.  Kale turns even more red and follows them down to the concession stand to get his own snacks.

Once they’re gone, Harmony turns in her seat toward Casey and very loudly says, “Wow…awk-ward!  I can’t believe you’re in a lu-uve triangle, Case.”

Casey makes “be quiet” motions with her hands and answers in a softer voice, “It’s not a love triangle.”

“Then what is it?” Harmony asks.  Veronica’s head is bouncing back and forth, following the conversation like a tennis match.  Plus the people in front and behind them have grown suddenly quiet as they listen.  “Aiden’s into you and so is Kale.  That’s two points of the triangle, and you’re the third.  Love triangle.”

“Well…it’s…”

Veronica interrupts, “I think she’s right, Case.  It sounds like a love triangle.”

“But…don’t…I mean, don’t you all have to be in love…or someone needs to be in love with someone…I mean, you know for it to work, I mean, to be a love triangle?”

“Fine,” Harmony says, her voice still loud, “it’s just a lust triangle.  Does that make you feel better?”

“Not really, Harm, but thanks for making the whole theater aware that I’m in a weird position for the entire movie.”

“You’ll be fine, Casey,” Veronica says.  The girls chit-chat until everyone come back with snacks.  They all get settled and get their drinks in holders as the previews start.

Kale leans over and whispers to Casey, “I got some Twizzlers if you want any…just uh, let me know.”

“Thanks,” she answers as Aiden glares at Kale and moves Casey’s drink to her outside cup holder and puts up the arm rest between them, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and pulling her towards him.  She gives Kale an “I’m sorry” look, and doesn’t quite relax into Aiden.

They all laugh their way through the movie until the end.  Harmony excuses herself from the group and leaves with Christian, his arm around her waist as they walk out of the theater.  There’s a bit of awkward silence, as Aiden possessively keeps his arm around Casey.  Finally she breaks the silence, “Hey Roni, what’s your home number?  I should probably tell your dad I’ll be staying with you…”

“Really!?!  We’ll have so much fun Case!  It’s 555-0912.  I wonder what room he’ll have you sleep in…hopefully the one next to mine.”  Veronica keeps talking to the group as Casey steps away to a quieter hallway, Aiden staying with her.

Casey dials and asks for Mr. Carlin.  “Hi, uh, Mr. Carlin, it’s Casey, Roni’s friend.”

«Good to hear from you Casey.  I’m assuming you’re calling because you’ve thought about my offer and made your decision.»

“Um, yeah.  Is it still ok if I move in?  I don’t want to be in the way or anything, but I think I’m gonna need your help with all this.”

«Of course it’s ok.  I wouldn’t have offered if it wasn’t.  I can help you move your things, whenever you’re ready.»

Casey laughs.  “It’s ok.  I got most of it packed up this morning.  I didn’t know when you’d want me to move, so I was getting ready…and um, I’m sure Aiden can help me bring everything over.  Just, uh, let me know when you want me to move in.”

«If you want to bring everything over tonight you can, but it needs to be sometime this week, Casey.»

“Ok…ummm…I guess I’ll have Aiden help me bring my stuff over tonight.  You’re sure that’s ok?”

«That’s perfect, Casey.  I’ll get your room ready.  See you tonight.»

“Thanks Mr. Carlin.”

«Casey?»

“Uh, yeah?”

«Call me Sandy.  Mr. Carlin is a little too formal, especially if you’re going to be living here.»

“Oh…uh, ok, Sandy.  I guess I’ll see you later.  Bye.”

«Goodbye Casey.  See you tonight.»

She hangs up and Aiden says, “What’s the plan?”

“Um, I’m gonna move tonight.  Can you help me bring everything over from Harmony’s?”

He kisses her forehead, “Of course sweetheart.  We should probably go before it gets too late then.”  They meet up with the rest of the group and fill them in on the plan.  Kale offers to take Veronica and Cadence home while Aiden goes with Casey.  The girls all hug and Casey looks awkwardly at Kale before Aiden takes her hand and pulls her away and out to his car.

They get inside and he almost blows up.  “What is up with you and Kale?  And don’t say nothing, because it’s not nothing!”

“Aiden, it’s not nothing on his part, but it is nothing on my part.  He’s a nice guy and he has a crush on me.  I think he’d be a good friend but that’s…”

“Well you’re not doing anything to discourage him!  You sat next to him!  You didn’t tell him I’d get your snacks!  You were going to hug him goodbye, weren’t you?” Aiden yells at her from the driver’s seat, reaching over and grabbing her arm, shaking Casey as he yells.

She tries to pull back, but doesn’t have any room to move.  “Aiden!  Stop it!  You’re scaring me!  I didn’t do anything!”  She starts crying, talking through the tears.  “He just asked if I wanted anything to eat.  I don’t know how he ended up next to me…he was on the other side of Veronica, but they must’ve shuffled.  I didn’t know what to do when we left; you were being all weird and possessive.”  She shakes her arm, trying to pull it from his grip.  “Will you please let go of me?”

Aiden looks down at his hand, releasing his grip on Casey quickly.  He sees the tears on her cheeks, “I’m so sorry Casey.  I didn’t mean to…I’ve never…I…” he trails off as Casey rubs the red marks on her arm where he was grabbing it, noting that it’s already starting to bruise.  “I don’t know what came over me.  I just…I’m sorry.”  He leans forward to wipe the tears from her cheeks and she jerks away.  He drops his hand and sits in his seat, unsure what to do.

Casey sniffles.  “Will you please take me to Harmony’s?”  She faces forward and buckles up, ignoring him as best she can.  After a moment, Aiden starts the SUV and drives off.  They ride in silence, but Casey can feel the hurt and confusion emanating from him.  They get to Harmony’s and go inside, still without speaking.  She quickly changes into a long sleeved shirt to cover the marks on her arm.  Aiden sits in her desk chair as she finishes packing, putting all her clothes in a garbage bag along with her stuffed bunny from the carnival.  Everything else goes in her backpack, laptop bag and camera bag, except her fish, who’s in his bowl.  She gives Aiden the garbage bag and the fish.  “Can you take these out?  I think Harm’s dad is here, I just want to talk to him for a minute.  I’ll be right out.”

He takes them, but doesn’t go anywhere.  “I’m really sorry Casey.  I don’t know what happened.  I didn’t mean to hurt you…”

“I know…but you did.  Please, just take those out to the car.  I’ll be out in a minute.”  Casey grabs her backpack, laptop bag, and camera bag and double checks the room to make sure she has everything.  She turns off the light and goes to find Harmony’s dad.  She thanks him for letting her stay, and tells him some things have come up with her foster parents so she’ll be staying at the Carlin-Kane’s while Sandy handles her case.  Then she heads out to Aiden’s SUV and puts her bags in back before climbing in.  Again they ride in silence to the Carlin-Kane house, and once they’re through security Aiden helps her bring everything in.

Sandy greets them at the door.  “Here, come in.  Set everything down here and I’ll help you get another load.”  He starts out toward the SUV.

“Ummm…Mr…uh, Sandy.  This is it.”

“Oh,” he looks a little stunned, but clears the expression from his face quickly, replacing it with a smile.  “All right then, let me show you to your room.”  He tries to take the camera bag from her, but she doesn’t let him.

They get to her room and the second they’re inside, Veronica comes bouncing in, giving Casey a big hug, almost making her drop her camera bag.  “I’m so glad you’re staying here Case!  My room’s just down the hall.  I’m gonna go take a quick shower, but I’ll come back when I’m done.  Then you can get settled.”  She bounces out of the room, almost as quickly as she came in.

Sandy laughs.  “She is a force to be reckoned with.  Get unpacked, get settled.  I’ll come back up in a little bit.  Make yourself at home Casey.”

Casey sets down her bags and puts Lobster on the desk.  She grabs the garbage bag and sets it on the bed to start unpacking.  Aiden comes over to help, but she stops what she’s doing and turns to him.  “Thanks for helping me bring everything over, but I think you need to go now.”

“I’m sorry Case.”

“I know…I just need time away from you right now.”  Her hand goes to the spot on her arm where he had grabbed her without her thinking about it.  She lightly rubs it through her shirt.  “I just…I need you to leave.”  He steps forward to kiss her goodbye, but she steps back.  “Just…just go Aiden.”  He looks hurt, and stands there for a minute, just looking at her.  Finally he turns and leaves.  Casey stands there a minute longer before going about putting her clothes in the dresser and closet.  Her dirty clothes going into the hamper.

She’s just about to get her laptop and books out so she can work on homework when there’s a knock on the door.  Nothing happens for a moment and Casey finally says, “Come in.”

Sandy walks in and sits on the edge of the bed, patting a spot next to him for Casey to sit down.  She does so, but reluctantly.  “I know this is odd for you Casey, but our house is now your home.  Feel free to eat whatever you want, swim, work out, hang out – whenever you want.  Madison doesn’t like us to watch a lot of television, so we don’t usually have it on, but feel free to watch if you’d like.”  Casey nods and Sandy keeps going.  “We do have a few rules that you’ll need to follow.  Ok?”  She nods again, and again, Sandy continues.  “No boys allowed after 10pm.  No boys in your room if no one else is present.  Curfew for all is 10pm on school nights.  On non-school nights, Veronica’s curfew is 11pm, Bianca’s is midnight.  Your curfew is also midnight.  I don’t care how late you stay up each night, but you must be ready to leave for school each day at 7:15.”  Again, he waits for her to nod in understanding and then continues.  “Also, due to Madison’s position, anyone that’s coming over needs to be on the secret service list.  They will have a background check done and need to be cleared.  Unfortunately, there’s not much I can do about that one.  That’s pretty much it.  Think you can follow them?”

“Yes.  And, thank you…for taking my case…and for letting me stay here.”

“It’s not a problem Casey.  We’re glad to have you.  Madison will be back tomorrow afternoon, so we’ll all have dinner together.”  He stands and heads out, turning around before he’s out the door.  “Also, I know you’re very into photography and we have an extra room in the basement.  If you let me know what you need, we’ll get it set up as a dark room for you.”

Casey stares at him open-mouthed.  “Uh…I can’t ask you to do that…all that equipment…it’s too expensive.  I uh, I just use the one at school.”

“You didn’t ask me to do it Casey.  Plus, I’ve always been kind of a photo buff…maybe you can teach me.”  He doesn’t give her a chance to answer, just leaves the room, quietly shutting the door behind him.

Casey gets her computer set up and is just about to pull out her math book when Veronica comes blowing back into the room, Smudge following.  Roni plops on the bed and Smudge rubs up against Casey’s ankles until she picks him up and pets him.  “Watcha doin Case?”

“I thought I’d do some homework…you know, since we have school tomorrow.” Casey says lightly.  “Is your dad always this cool to your friends?”

“Mostly, but I think you’re special.  He has a soft spot for people that really need help but are too strong to ask for it.”

Veronica and Casey chatter for a little bit, Smudge finding Lobster and stalking him through the bowl, until Casey finally says, “Hey Roni…I hate to kick you out, but this day has been so weird.  I just need to get my bearings and I do need to finish up my homework.  Do you care?”

“Nah, I’ve got a little bit of homework to finish too.”  She gives Casey a big hug and picks up Smudge from the desk.  “I’ll see ya in the morning.”

Casey feeds Lobster, finishes her homework, and checks her email before changing and going to bed.  She gets a quick “Good night sweetheart!” text from Aiden, but doesn’t reply, setting the alarm on her phone before falling asleep.

September 22nd, Saturday Night - Casey Silpetti

Sandy shows Casey to the powder room in the hallway, “Take your time.  The pool house is just down this hallway and out those doors.”  He points the way as he gives her directions.  “Let me know what you decide.”

Casey splashes her face with cool water, trying to make it look like she wasn’t crying.  Her eyes are still a little puffy and she hopes no one will notice.  She gets out to the pool house and sees that everyone else, except Bianca, has arrived.  Nobody says anything, but she can tell that Aiden, Cadence and Harmony have noticed her eyes.

“You thirsty, Case?” Veronica asks, standing up and leading Casey into the little kitchen area.

“Yeah, um, do you have Diet Coke?”  Veronica nods, grabbing a can out of the fridge as Casey gets a glass and fills it with ice.

“We have pizza on the way, and plenty of sandwich fixings in the kitchen. Also tons of snacks and soft drinks and all, dad went a little crazy. Ya’ll are welcome to whatever!” Veronica calls out from the kitchen. Casey stands next to her, fixing a soft drink.

“Where’s Bianca, is she coming?”

Veronica smiles back. “I don’t think so.” She looks around, and leans close to whisper, “She’s kinda spending time with her boyfriend; tonight was a good night for them to sneak off together.”

“I didn’t know she was actually dating anyone.  Who’s her boyfriend?” Casey asks quietly, wondering if Bianca and Fetch finally got together.

“Well, they’re not really dating; unfortunately I don’t think my folks would really agree with it all. It’s all kinda a secret, but he’s a really nice guy. Really sweet and protective and all.”

Casey whispers, “Secret…like secret service?  Like someone who got shot protecting you?”

Veronica almost drops the drink she has in her hand. “How did you find out?! I thought they were doing so good keeping it secret!” She smiles her crooked smile. “They do make a cute couple, but Fetch would be fired and all, so it’s gotta stay secret!”

“I see. It’s just that I’m pretty observant.  It’s in how they look at each other…I’m not even sure anyone else would notice.  And my lips are sealed.” Casey pantomimes the zip your lips, lock it, and throw away the key.  Casey and Veronica grab their drinks and a couple bags of chips and head back into the main room.  Casey sitting next to Aiden, Veronica sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch and pulling Smudge into her lap.  They open the chips and start passing them around.  Casey grabs her camera from the bag, taking some candid shots as they all sit around chatting and munching on snacks.

“Ok, I do have a little present for Cadence, and I hope you all don’t mind humoring us,” Aiden announces. Cadence looks over at him with a questioning look, as he pulls a DVD out of his bag.

“I seem to remember us declaring we’d have a little bet on our favorite UMC fighters last time we got together, and we were all supposed to get together to watch the PPV. Well, with everything that happened and Cade here being in the hospital, we didn’t get the chance. Soooo… I downloaded it and burned it to DVD so we can at least watch the title fight. I guess we’ll be nice and not put ya’ll through watching the rest of it.”

Cadence’s eyes have widened, and might even be a little shiny. “You did that for me? Damnit Aiden, for a jock you kinda have a sensitive, girly side,” she jokes, punching him in the arm.

Aiden pops the DVD in, and pulls Casey into his arms. He skips ahead to the title match. Cadence starts explaining what’s going on to Veronica, who’s sitting on the floor next to her legs, leaning back against the sofa.

“Ok, so that’s my fighter, Woods Phoenix.” He’s a tall, lanky guy whose face is broken in a wide grin, like he’s having the time of his life. “And in the Red Corner is Aiden’s guy, Donner Stephen.” He is shorter and stockier than Woods, and much more of a pretty-boy. He looks all serious.

“The first time these two fought, it was crazy. Most popular fight ever, probably. They beat the snot out of each other, but neither one would quit. They were both given contracts because of it.”

The first round starts, and the two circle each other and start throwing numerous punches and kicks. Cadence and Aiden both intercut the action with various expletives, descriptions of moves, etc.

“Oh! Superman punch.”

“Nice inside leg kick!”

“Uh oh, see that? Woods doesn’t really get into the fight until he gets hurt, now that he’s bleeding he’s going to get crazy!”

The first round ends, and the second starts. They stand up and “bang” for a while longer, as Aiden puts it, but now they start taking each other to the ground and wrestling too.

“Oh! See that? He’s trying to get a kimora, see how he’s bending his arm back like that?” “Ouch, that looks painful!” “Trust me, it is!”

“Nice reversal!” “Yeah, it looks like Donnie has been improving his ground game, I’ll give him that Aiden.”

The second round ends, and they start the final round. Both fighters are battered and bleeding, Woods from a nasty gash under his left eye. Both look tired. Cadence and Aiden are on the edges of their seats; even Kale and Christian look interested. Tom seems like he could care less about the whole thing.

The two fighters circle each other, the few times they try to go for a takedown, the other person defends. Donnie gets in a few good punches, and then a kick, and Aiden starts cheering as he chases Woods backwards, trying to finish him off. But he manages to hang in there, and not only grab Donner, but to throw him to the ground.

They wrestle for position, now it’s Cadence cheering her fighter on, and suddenly she goes crazy, bouncing in her seat. “See how he’s sitting on his stomach? He’s got a full mount, ground-and-pound coming!” Sure enough, Woods sits on his opponent and starts raining punches down on the other guys head. The other guy tries to buck him off, but it’s no good, and a few of the punches get through his defenses and really rock him.

The ref is standing right on top of them, leaning in and watching closely. Cadence is hooting and hollering for Woods to “beat the snot out of him!”, Aiden is yelling for him to “roll out! Defend! Get out of there!” Finally the ref jumps in, waving his hands and pulling Woods off of Donner.

Cadence cheers long and loud as Aiden covers his face with his hands and moans his disappointment. On screen, a bloody but excited Woods Phoenix is running around in circles in the ring, his arms up in the air. He then runs over to Donner and helps him up, hugging him and raising the other man’s arm in the air, pointing at the crowd to cheer for him too.

Cadence leans over and punches Aiden in the arm again, smiling brightly. “Good fight, real good fight. Thanks Aiden.” Then, grinning evilly, she gets up and walks over to her nylon bag. She leans over, opens it, and roots through it for a second before pulling out the Woods Phoenix t-shirt that started all this weeks ago.

She turns towards the room and shows it to Aiden. “I just happened to bring this to sleep in tonight. I wasn’t going to say anything until I knew whether he won or not, I was about to have to sleep in what I was wearing if he lost!” She pulls her layered shirt and tank off, and drops them on her bag, leaving her in a cute, lacy bra. Kale’s eyes bug out and Christian coughs as she pulls the t-shirt on, and walks back over to flop on the sofa.

Tom finally pipes up, “I’m sorry, but I don’t get the big deal about it. In today’s age, what’s the use of all that fighting? I mean, maybe in the past you needed to know how to do it, but with modern civilization, one would hope that sports –and I use the term lightly – like that would go the way of the dodo.”

Aiden sits up a little, his smile fading. “Sometimes fighting is necessary. It doesn’t matter where you are.”

Tom shakes his head. “Not amongst mature people. I mean, seriously. Have you ever seen a fight that wasn’t over something stupid, that couldn’t have been completely handled in a different - better - way? Between adults, or at least mature, people?”

Aiden sits even further up, and Casey rests her hand on his thigh. “As a matter of fact, yeah. I have. Ask Cadence about it. When those scumbags were trying to kidnap Roni, she beat the shit out of one of their guys trying to grab her. I don’t think polite discussion would have handled him quite the same as she did, and she did it without a single hesitation. And if one of the other ones wouldn’t have shot her, Roni would have probably got away!” He cuts off, obviously quite angry.

Veronica is staring at Aiden, her mouth open in surprise, before turning to look up at Cadence. Cadence is looking away from everyone, her face blank but a hint of embarrassment on it. Veronica reaches up and puts her hand on Cadence’s leg, the other girl tensing. “That’s what happened? You got shot trying to protect me?”

Cadence doesn’t answer, so Aiden does. “She did Roni. You should have seen her; she jumped that guy even though he was bigger than me, and went all furious on him. I couldn’t even move, I was so scared, but she just jumped on his back and beat the snot out of him.”

Veronica glanced over at him while he was telling the story, and then turns back to face Cade. “Why didn’t you tell me that? I didn’t know…”

Kale pipes up, “It wasn’t in any of the reports.” When everyone looks at him, he turns red. “I mean, I read all the reports and all. I’m a reporter, ya know? It wasn’t in anything I read.”

Cadence glances over at him, calmly neutral. “Keep it that way.”

He nods quickly. “Yeah, yeah sure, of course.”

Veronica tugs at Cadence’s pants leg. “Cade, seriously, why didn’t you tell me?” She turns so that she’s kneeling in front of her, upsetting Smudge from his napping place in her lap. He walks over towards Casey and makes his little “plurp?” noise at her.  She picks him up to pet him, watching the scene play out in front of her.

Cadence finally meets Veronica’s eyes. “There was a lot going on when we got you back, and I was just too happy about that. Besides, it’s not like I did anything anyone else wouldn’t have done. I didn’t even mange to really help out.”

Casey could swear she sees Tom roll his eyes out of the corner of her vision.

“Let me see it?”

Cadence hesitates, and then pulls her shirt high enough to show the puckered, pale star that still scars her stomach. Veronica reaches out and rests her hand against it, causing Cadence to tense and flush red from chest to cheeks. “It means a lot to me. Thank you.”  Casey takes two quick close shots with her camera, showing only part of Roni’s hand and a glimpse of Cadence’s stomach.  She feels the energy rise in the room until they break contact.

The room is quiet for a long moment, until Harmony finally breaks the mood. “So, Parcheesi anyone?”

Veronica looks at Harmony, “I don’t have Parcheesi.”

Aiden looks around at everyone assembled. “Ok, so now what? Is it time to stick some bras in the freezer? Prank call someone? What do gals do at this kind of sleepover? Truth or Dare?”

Veronica sticks her tongue out at him. “Well, I have some board games and stuff. I thought we might go swimming, but that was before I knew Casey didn’t like swimming.”

Aiden wraps his arm around Casey’s waist. “Oh, I wouldn’t say she doesn’t like swimming, if we stay in the shallow end. What do you think?” He grins an evil grin at her.  She playfully elbows him.  “Swimming is fine…but uh, it’s kinda nasty outside.”

“Oh, dad closed the glass, so we’re fine to swim.  How’s that sound to everyone?  The pizza will be here by the time we’re done.  I’ll just have dad bring it out here when it comes.”  They all agree and Veronica points everyone to different rooms to change, calling Sandy through the intercom to tell him just to bring the pizza out the pool house when it comes.

They all meet by the pool.  Tom is wearing plain navy blue trunks.  Kale’s are yellow with green down the sides and along the bottom.  Christian’s trunks are big, bold tropical flowers.  And Aiden’s are a red and navy geometric design.  The girls’ suits are just as varied.  Veronica has a light pink tankini and boy shorts with little white daisies all over them.  Cadence has a dark olive Speedo one-piece.  Harmony’s is a bright fuchsia one-piece cut out suit that looks like a miniscule bikini from behind.  And, of course, Casey has on the red bikini that Aiden bought, but she has a towel wrapped around her, covering it for now.

Aiden wraps his arms around Casey from behind, “Come on honey, let’s see that suit.”  He steps around to face her and winks at her.  “You’re gonna have to drop the towel before you get in the pool anyway.”  Kale tries to ignore their interaction, but can’t help watching as he waits for Casey to drop the towel.  She bites her lip and undoes the towel, dropping it on a lounge chair.  She hears wolf whistles from almost everyone, and hooting and hollering from those that can’t, causing her to blush.  Even with Harmony’s skimpy suit, Casey’s is the one that covers the least, the cloth covering the important bits and not much more.  She’s obviously self-conscious and Aiden gives her a kiss and says, “It looks great on you, Case.”

They all get in the pool and almost everyone stays in the shallow end, with Christian doing a few laps and hanging with Harmony for a little bit in the deep end, and Tom floating on a lounger in the deep end for the majority of the time.  They play Marco Polo and have chicken fights with Kale and Cadence as the grand champions.  They notice the storm getting a little worse and all decide to head back to the pool house for pizza.

They all get dried off and changed and start chowing down on pizza.  “So, do we want to watch a movie, or play games, or what?” Veronica asks the group.  “I have Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution, if anyone likes those?”

Aiden looks around. “Well, we still have enough for Truth or Dare, Spin the Bottle, even Wink if anyone’s game? Anyone?” He waggles his eyebrows at the crowd.

“Oooh, I’ve always wanted to try Guitar Hero,” Cadence says as she feeds a little chunk of pizza to Smudge.  “Maybe we can do one of Aiden’s games later.”

“Cool!”  Veronica sets down her pizza and puts the game in the Xbox that’s hooked up to the TV in the pool house.  She turns everything on and gets two wireless guitars out of the closet.  She hands one to Cadence and shows her how to set it up.  “Who else?”

“I’ll give it a try,” Harmony answers.  Veronica gets her set up too, and between her, Christian, Kale and Aiden they teach the two girls how to play.  Eventually, they all have a turn rocking out.  Aiden and Christian battle each other on expert, cracking everyone else up with how serious they are about it, and ending with Christian just barely getting a higher score than Aiden.  Even Tom plays one song before deciding he doesn’t care about it and it won’t help further his college dreams.

Tom stands. “Well, it’s been a lot of fun, really, but I think I’m going to be going before the weather gets worse.”

Veronica looks up at him, “Ok, be careful getting home. I’ll talk to you Monday.”

He looks mildly shocked that she’s not even going to walk him out, and just picks up his coat and walks out without saying anything to anyone else.

Harmony waits just until he’s out of earshot, “OK, now that the party pooper’s gone…whaddya’ wanna do?”

“Harmony!” Veronica shouts.

“Well it’s true.  He was a party pooper.  It’s like he didn’t even want to be here.  Why would you show up somewhere you didn’t want to be?”  She doesn’t even give anyone a chance to respond, “OK, it’s time for Spin the Bottle.”

Cadence turns her attention to Smudge as Roni protests.  “I’m not sure we can do Spin the Bottle…all I have is cans.”

“Truth or Dare then!”

“Um, Harm,” Casey interjects, “how ‘bout we play a board game?  What games do you have Roni?”

“We have Monopoly, Scattergories, Scrabble, and I think we have Risk somewhere too.”  They all agree on Scattergories, and Roni and Cadence go in the house to find it.  They get all set up on the couches and floor in the pool house, with snacks in arms reach and play every round of Scattergories.  They all get riled up, defending their answers and have a great time.

Once the game is over, people spread out, going to the restroom, getting more snacks and drinks, and Harmony and Christian end up whispering together in a corner.  Everyone congregates back in the main area again and Harmony stands up.  “Mini-Kane, this was awesome, but uh, we’re gonna head out now.”

“Oh,” Veronica says, a little disappointed, but she perks right back up.  “I’m glad you both could make it.”  She turns to the rest of the group, “I’m gonna walk them out, I’ll be back in a sec.”  Harmony gives Casey a hug, and even gives Cadence a kind of awkward hug, waving to the guys.  Christian waves his goodbyes and they head off to the main house to leave.

Smudge chooses to attach himself to Aiden for the moment, crawling up in his lap and sinking his claws into Aiden’s shirt as he tries to climb up onto his shoulder.  Casey and Cadence laugh, and Casey even manages to take a couple of photos, even getting a close up of Aiden’s frustrated face when he can’t get Smudge disentangled from his shirt.  Kale even grins as he watches.  Veronica comes back in and sees the kitten all tangled up with Aiden.  She softly pets his head and he immediately lets go of Aiden to climb into her arms.

Veronica sits on the couch, putting Smudge on her lap.  “What now?  Another game?  A movie?  Dad has a decent stash of ‘em out here, cuz mom doesn’t like us to watch too much TV, so he hides them.”

“What’s he got?” Cadence asks.

“A ton, come on.”  Veronica sets Smudge on the floor and heads over to an armoire and opens it, laughing as movies fall out because it’s so packed.  “Pick one.”  Cadence, Kale and Veronica pore over the movies, arguing over what they want to watch.

Casey and Aiden stay seated on the floor and he whispers in Casey’s ear, “What did Mr. Carlin want?”

Casey feels her eyes get watery and she whispers back, “We’ll talk about it later.  I don’t want to ruin tonight.”  Aiden gives her a hug, kissing the top of her head as Veronica comes over with three movies in her hands.

“OK, we’ve got it down to three movies.  You two have to decide which one we’re going to watch.  We have this Die Hard movie…the newest one, I guess.  There were a couple of them in there.  And we have 13 Going On 30…”

Aiden interrupts, “Your dad has 13 Going On 30?”

“Well, that one’s mine and Binks’s, we hide movies out here too.  And we also have The Wizard of Oz…to get ready for auditions this week.”  She stands there waiting for them to pick.

“You pick, Case.”

“OK.  Let me see the boxes.”  Veronica hands them over and Casey looks over each one, reading the descriptions on the back.  “This one,” she says, holding out the Die Hard movie.  She gets incredulous looks from Aiden and Veronica.

“Really?” asks Cadence.  “What made you pick that one?”

“Well Wizard of Oz reminds me of school right now, and I don’t feel like thinking about that tonight.  The other one looks a little fluffy for me right now.  We can put that one on when we go to bed…kay?”

“Cool.”  Roni puts in the movie and puts the other two away; making sure to get the ones that fell out back in too.  “Where’s everybody gonna sit to watch?  We can pull out the couch if we want to.”

“Yeah, let’s do that,” Cadence says, pulling off cushions.  Kale helps and Veronica picks up Smudge so he doesn’t get smooshed.  They pull it out and Roni, Kale, Cadence and Smudge all pile on, pulling pillows and snacks with them.  Aiden stands up off the floor and pulls Casey up with him, dragging her over to share the oversized chair with him.

The weather outside has turned absolutely vengeful, and suddenly Sandy shows up at the door, just as they’re starting the movie. “Well guys, the weather is nasty out. I can get the Secret Service to drive you home, or you’re welcome to stay here. Well, not here, as the girls are sleeping out here. But you’re welcome to stay in the house… as long as you stay in the house,” he finishes comically.

“Da-ad, we were just starting a movie…”

“All right, the guys can stay out here until the movie’s over…BUT, when people start falling asleep, you two had better be inside the house or have gotten a ride home.  I don’t want either of you driving in this weather.  I’ll have the guest bedrooms made up.  Veronica, make sure they find their way later.”

There’s a chorus of “Thanks, Dad!”, “Thanks, Mr. Carlin!”, and “Thank you!” as he heads back to the house.

They turn back to start the movie, but before she hits play Veronica turns toward Kale and Aiden, “Sorry guys, I didn’t even ask if you wanted a ride home now or if you wanted to stay…is this ok?”  They both answer yes, very enthusiastically and Roni starts the movie.

At some point during the movie, it really started storming out again, and Casey can see Cadence jump with every flash of lightning and rumble of thunder. Veronica, sitting next to her, rests her hand on Cadence’s arm for a moment, and smiles at her comfortingly when she turns to look. Roni picks up Smudge and sets him on Cadence’s leg, where he promptly curls up and falls back to sleep. Both girls pet him, their fingers gently mingling together.

Even with the weather, they all get into the movie and before they know it it’s over.  “OK guys, um, I guess you have to go to the house now,” Roni says.

They start to get up when Casey stops them.  “Um, actually I need to talk to you guys and it’ll be a lot faster if I get all of you at once, instead of one at a time.”  She pulls Aiden over to the sofa bed, and they crowd on with the other three.  “So, um, Roni’s dad wanted to talk to me earlier, and uh…well, he said that when you got taken Roni, that they looked into all her friends.”  Casey glances at Cadence with an ‘I’m sorry’ look on her face.  “And um, they found out that I haven’t been living with my foster parents.  They know it’s been a couple of months at least, but didn’t know how long for sure.”

“And they know now?” asks Kale.

“Mr. Carlin does because I told him.  He wanted to know why I left.  Anyway, he said they’ve been cashing the checks that come in for me until recently.  They reported me missing.”  Casey can feel the tears start to fall, knowing she can’t stop them and Veronica and Cadence push Aiden out of the way to sit on either side of her and comfort her.  “He said there’s a fund for me with money for college.  They don’t know who set it up, but he thinks it was my dad.  My foster parents are trying to get the money.  They’re saying I’m incompetent to handle it since I ran away.  He…he said I might have to go back there.”  She breaks down, sobbing.  Kale and Aiden move closer, each touching a leg.  Casey finally gets control enough to continue.  “Mr. Carlin wants to help, take the case, but he wants me to stay here…to keep an eye on me.”

“Really?” Veronica asks excitedly.

“Yeah.  If I don’t let your dad help, then they’ll probably get the money…and I might have to go back and live with them.”  She starts sobbing again, unable to stop.

Once she calms down some, Aiden takes her chin, turning her to face him.  “You have to let him help, Case.”

“I…I don’t want to move again…I like staying with Harmony…”

“Maybe we can talk to Mr. Carlin about having you emancipated or something then. But Case, this is college. It’s your dream, your future. And you can’t let those people steal that away from you. Plus, if it comes out how they treated you, they wouldn’t be able to sucker the state into giving them another foster kid, and doing the same thing.”

“They treated you bad?” asks Kale.  Casey just nods, feeling the tears ready to fall again and holding them back.

“Real bad,” Aiden practically growls.

Veronica’s hand is warm where it rests on Casey’s skin and she can feel the waves of comfort flowing through her touch. “Yeah Case, I’ll make sure my dad can help. He’s a wiz with that sort of thing; I’ve seen him help out all kinds of people before. I’m sure he can help you out! And Aiden’s right, we can’t let those people do this to you or anyone else! It’s not fair!”

Kale pipes up, “Case, I can get some info on them, stuff that Mr. Carlin can use. I know a lot of people in different places, and some owe me favors. We could get them in really hot water, maybe they’ll back down.”

Casey turns to Cadence, who’s been silent next to her. Her hand is also resting on Casey’s arm, her hand cool as the chill breeze that seems to blow around her. Her eyes have picked up a purple tint, and Casey realizes that she’s seeing her true eye color peeking through. Her face is set and neutral, and she gives Casey a curt nod before whispering, “And if that doesn’t do it, I will take care of things.”

Something in her tone causes a chill to sweep through Casey. She turns back to Aiden, who’s waiting for her to say something… anything.

Through watery eyes Casey manages to say, “I’m not sure how I ended up with friends like you guys, cuz I never had any before, but I’m glad you’re here.”  She sniffles a little and bites her lip before sitting up straighter.  “I still need to think about things, but first I need to try and find my mom.”  She looks straight at Aiden, “That means we go see Faust again.”  Cadence and Aiden both nod, while Veronica and Kale look confused.

“Malcolm Faust?” Kale asks.  When Casey nods, he continues.  “Isn’t he some big shady, underworld guy?  I’ve heard about him and it almost sounds like he’s a mobster, but on his own, without any lackeys.  Why on earth would you have any dealings with someone like him?”

“He’s not in the mob…he’s just…” Casey looks to Aiden and Cadence, trying to figure out a way to explain Faust.  “He’s just…tapped into a lot of places and people with info.  He was hired to help find you, Roni, when you got…kidnapped, but he didn’t get much of a chance to work on it, since you were ‘found’ the next day.”

“OK, but what does any of that have to do with finding your mom?”

“He knows her.  On my birthday he gave me a picture of myself that only my mom would’ve had.  Plus he told me he knows her.  I don’t know the last time he saw her, but he’s the best lead I have.”

“I’ll take you over tomorrow if you want, sweetheart,” Aiden says.

“Which works out, because I’m supposed to go see him tomorrow anyway. You’re not going without me,” Cadence says, the energy from her flowing stronger.

Veronica pipes in, “Me either.”

“Well, I’m not gonna’ miss out on this, so count me in too,” Kale says.

Casey bites her lip, “I’m not so sure Faust is gonna like all of us in his place.  He doesn’t seem to keen on visitors.  And, I have to talk to Harmony about all this still, and think about what I want to do, so it might have to wait until Monday or Tuesday.”

“What do you mean; you have to think about what you want to do?” Roni asks.  “You have to let my dad take on your case.  You can’t just let these mean people take your money, Casey.”  There’s a chorus of agreement from everyone in the room.

“I just…” Casey protests, “I know I have to let him help me if I don’t want to go back there…I’m just…not used to having people who want to help me.”

“Well it seems you need to get used to it, girl,” Cadence says, leaning forward to give Casey a hug, Veronica not far behind.  After a moment, Kale and Aiden both tentatively join the group hug.

The hug dissipates and they all sit back in their places on the bed. “Ok guys, I’ll show ya’ll where you can stay. Let’s hurry before the rain picks back up.” Roni herds the guys towards the door, Aiden pausing to give Casey a long kiss and whisper “good-night” in her ear.

They head out towards the main house, leaving Cadence and Casey alone. Cadence heads into the restroom, and comes out a few minutes later in the same shirt, but with a well-worn, low-hanging pair of yoga pants on. She’s also wearing black, plastic framed glasses that Casey’s never seen her in before.

She notices Casey’s look, and shyly brushes a lock of hair behind her ear. “My contacts started bothering me, I think from swimming. Plus I’m not big on wearing them to sleep.” She packs her pants and socks into the nylon bag. She grabs her leather bag and shoes, and walks over to put them next to the sofa, taking great pains to place them just so. She glances around the room and at the door, as if memorizing the layout of the place and where everything is.

Her phone beeps as Roni comes rushing in through the door, through it Casey can see the rain really coming down. Roni’s hair and shirt are wet and she just sighs comically as she heads to the bathroom to change. She stops on the way, when she notices Cadence’s glasses. “Oh, Cade! Those are so cute! Why don’t you wear them more often?”

Cadence looks up from her bag, where she’s digging for her phone. She shrugs. “I don’t know, I guess I never really thought of how they looked.”

“Well you should. They’re absolutely adorable on you. You should wear them more often, tell her Casey!” With that she continues into the bathroom to change.

Casey looks over at Cadence, who’s blushing a little at the compliment. When she sees Casey looking over at her, she blushes worse, and then looks down at her cellphone. She gets a funny look on her face as she puts her phone back down. “Well, that was Harm. Seems my little stunt hit MyVid already. Poor May… I do so wonder if she’ll survive her newfound fame?” she asks with a southern belle accent, both of them giggling in reply.

Veronica steps out in a spaghetti-strapped top and her gym shorts, her clothes and underclothes in a neat, folded pile in her hands. She sets them down on the dresser, and turns to the other two. “What’s so funny?”

Cadence fills her in while Casey heads to the restroom to change into her pajama’s. When she comes back outside, she sees the two girls facing off against each other. Veronica has her arms crossed, and her face set. She turns to Casey.

“You don’t mind all of us sharing the bed, do you? It’s huge; we could’ve all fit into it, if the guys wouldn’t have had to go inside.” She points down at the bed that takes up most of the main room. It sits on the ground, and in fact if it weren’t for the pillows stacked up on one end, Casey could mistake it for just a really cushiony section of the room it’s so big.

Casey shakes her head no, and Roni turns back to Cadence. “See, there’s no reason for you to sleep on the sofa. So get comfortable, while I get the DVD player ready.”

Cadence surrenders, and moves her bag and shoes over to sit on the side of the bed that she’s on. Once again she carefully places them, fiddling with them to get them just right and eyeing the layout of everything before nodding her head.

Roni gets everything setup, then goes to the closet to grab two small blankets out, saying over her shoulder, “I hope you don’t mind, I like it really cold when I sleep, so I made sure to have extra blankets for whoever was staying tonight.” She drops the thermostat, and walks over to spread the blankets out on either side of the bed, one for each of them with a spot for her in the middle.

“The doctors used to think there was something wrong with me, because it seemed like I always had a fever. They can’t explain it, but for some reason I’m just warmer than most people. They finally said it must be normal for me, because they couldn’t find anything else wrong with me.” She turns off the light, and climbs up the bottom of the bed, in between them. “That’s why I don’t have any cute pajamas or anything; I don’t usually wear anything to sleep. Give me a freezing room with a couple of blankets, and I’m set!”

“Really?” Cadence asks casually, her voice cracking almost as bad as Kale’s. Casey feels a smile creep across her face.

“Yup.” She uses the remote to start the movie. They sit there and share a bowl of popcorn while they watch it, Smudge frolicking on the bed until he tires himself out again.

After it’s over, Roni turns off the TV letting the room go dark and the three girls settle into their spots on the bed. The blinds are drawn on all the walls – seems like almost the whole pool house is made of glass – but moonlight and lightning light up enough for them to see the room around them. The sound of rain against the glass is calming.

Roni finally breaks the silence. “So, uh, Case. What you said about… you know… your head getting better, and what I can do sometimes. How does… how does all that work?”

“I’m not really sure, honest.  It’s all really new to me and um, that guy I mentioned earlier, Faust, he’s kind of teaching me about it.  He seems pretty good at all this stuff.”  Cadence lays there listening, petting Smudge who’s curled up on her chest.

“Why did you ask him to help find me?”

“Actually, it was Bianca that asked me to go to him.”

Veronica sits up, and Casey can see her outline in the room.  “How did she know him?”

“I don’t think she did.  She said she heard your mom, I think, and some other people talking about going to him for help and she said the mayor’s people vetoed the idea.  She gave me some money and asked me to find him since she couldn’t leave the house on her own.  That’s how I met Faust.  Honestly, Aiden and I found him, and signed a contract that he’d look for you, and then the next day you were found.  He gave back most of the money, since he wasn’t the one that found you…just took some out for his expenses.”

“What is he teaching you now?”

“Ummmm…let’s see.  He told me that there are three kinds of people: players, pieces and pawns.  He said that most people are pawns, they don’t have any powers, or very little and they don’t know about it.  He said that I’m a piece and have some power, but I’m just learning how to use it.  He called it, umm, possibilities.  He said there are possibilities everywhere and like, I can take those possibilities and kinda make things go my way.  I don’t really know how.  Anyway, the players are people with lots of power, and some of them are good and some are bad, but there aren’t very many of them.  I’m sure I’m leaving stuff out, but that’s kind of the basics of what he told me,” Casey yawns as she finishes.

“How did you know how to fix your stitches?”

“I guessed…and if it would’ve been a week ago, I don’t think I could’ve done it.”

“Why not?”

“Well, we had a ceremony to bring me more into my power.  He said if I didn’t that I would have to leave town and not come back or else risk being killed.”

“What?  Someone was going to kill you?  Who?”

Cadence speaks up, “Tiger, there are a lot of things out there, that people wouldn’t always believe. Surely you’ve seen or felt something like that?”

Roni is quiet for a moment, then nods. “Yeah. Sometimes I have these weird dreams that almost feel like memories. It’s like I’m flying, or at least floating, high up above everything looking down. But I can never really remember them when I wake up. But they’re not like regular dreams, ya know?”

It’s Cadence’s turn to nod. “I do. And what I want to do, is make us copies of the key to the building next to mine. And I’m gonna make sure it stays a safe place, so that we can all get together there and talk about whatever we need to. It’ll also be a good place for us to work on helping you out, Case, if you want help with those foster-parent scum. I’m gonna do that tomorrow, so maybe sometime later this week we can get together there and talk. But we shouldn’t tell anyone we don’t want to know, ok?”

“Cool, our own little hang-out. I won’t tell anyone.”

They’re silent for a long time, and Casey has almost drifted off when the other two start talking quietly. “This is weird; I’m used to chatting with you all night, but not in person. It’s kinda nice.”

Cadence is quiet for a moment, before replying “Yeah, it’s real nice tiger.”

“So, what’s it like dating a girl?”

Casey can hear the catch in Cadence’s voice, as she replies, “Oh, nothing you’d be interested in hearing about.”

“Cadence! It’s important to you, so it’s important to me. I’m your friend, and I want to know. I mean, is it hard? “

“Actually, dating a girl is just like dating a guy.”

“Really?”

“Except that it vastly enlarges your wardrobe, and if you’re lucky you’ll have the same shoe size.”

Roni giggles. “Wow, I never thought of it that way.”

“There are a lot of cool benefits. Mostly, another girl gets you. Your ups, your downs, your openness, and your vulnerability. And they can give it right back, no coaxing. No having to go out and buy a Cosmo article on “How to Get a Guy to Open Up,” it’s just all right there.”

Silence for a moment. “And the bad part?”

“Dating a girl is just like dating a guy. They can lie, dump you for the pretty cheerleader, screw with your head the same, semi-psychotic way a guy can. And plus – yuck – worse, they want to talk endlessly about all their feelings. I mean, it’s one good thing about guys, they never say anything they actually listen to.” She pauses, “Did I mention the down side?”

“I thought you already did.”

“Some of your family, friends, people who you don’t even know, are probably going to hate you.”

“Like May?”

“Yeah, like May. Sometimes a lot, lot worse.” Her voice is rough with quiet pain.

Casey can feel Roni move, shifting a bit next to her.

They’re quiet for a long moment, and between the rain and the loud purring of Smudge, who’s curled up against the back of Casey’s neck, she doesn’t hear if they ever continue their talk as she drifts away into sleep.