Chapter One






I guess I’d better tell you about myself before I get you involved in the mess I’m in. My name is Emily Green. I’m fifteen years old and live in Apple Valley, Minnesota. I’m about 5’ 4” with a slim frame. My most startling feature is my fiery red hair and my vivid green eyes. I keep my hair down most of the time because if you looked at my ears, you would see they’re a little pointy. I know. I find it a little freaky, too. My parents have always said I was born like that. My face has a nice complexion, with curved lips and a thin nose.
But that’s not important.
The important thing is that I see things, or at least I think I do. Once, when I was little, my mom took me to see a doctor. I would say I’d seen fairies in the back yard and little men peeking at me through the bushes. She thought I was just kidding, but I never stopped. The poor woman must’ve thought I was crazy or something when she took me in. The doctor said I just had an active imagination and not to be worried. Whenever I brought it up again, mom would make me stop talking. I figured out I should just keep these strange things to myself. All the weird things got better, too. I’d stopped seeing things and forgot all about it for years… until now.
Look, I didn’t ask to see her. It’s honestly not my fault. If I had the choice I would have stayed at home instead of going to Collin’s house. Then I would be safe in my room reading a novel with a mug of hot chocolate.
But I just had to go to Collin’s house expecting a nice relaxing evening.

Then she came along and here I am, staring at her, hoping she won’t see me as I watch her walk out of a cloud darkness. Darkness as in “oh-no-that’s-got-to-be-the-villan-I-better-run-before-she-turns-me-to-dust” darkness. Enough about that; let’s get back to now.

Collin is a nice guy. Not my boyfriend or anything, no way! That would just be weird. He lives about five blocks from my house. Not very far and easy to walk, even in the middle of winter when it was twenty degrees below zero on a chilly Minnesota day.
I pull my jacket tighter around me as I head down the street, with snowflakes fluttering in my face. I just got onto 12th Street when I see the wall of black in front of me. Just this black writhing mess about ten feet tall and a few feet wide, and weird enough that it would frighten even the boldest of any fifteen-year-old girls like me. I squint my eyes and see an outline of a person. What in the world is that? The wall dies down, and I start to make out the details of a girl.
The air turns even colder, or maybe it’s just me, as she strides out of the swarms of black. She wasn’t faced toward me, which was a plus. Who is she? She’s a girl about my age with short black hair and a pale face. About five feet tall and skinny, with long legs, and almost petite looking. As much as I will her not to, she turns around and looks at me. I freeze. Trust me, if you had a girl appear out of nowhere in front of you then look at you with piercing dark eyes, you would freeze too. The girl had an angular face, with high set cheekbones. That wasn’t very common around here. She walked towards me and I started to back away, scared out of my wits, and almost tripping into a snow bank.

“Hmmm…” she says, looking me up and down. “ I guess you’re the one.” I managed to speak, saying something as I stood dazed and confused. Something real smart, like "Uh… What?” She holds out her hand. “Take it.”
Like I’m gonna do that. I don’t know if any sane person would. I think I’d rather go stick my hand in boiling water.
She looks at me expectantly. “Well?” she says. My decision is pretty quick on what I’m about to do.

I turn around and run for it, my long red hair streaming behind me with the wind whistling in my ears and the snow going into my face. Run! Run! Run! is going through my mind as fast as I can think. I’m pretty fast, but suddenly she’s ahead of me. Just out of thin air. Impossible! I stop and change directions, but as I turn around she appears five feet away from me with tendrils of dark shadows twisting around her ankles.

“WHAT?!” I scream.
How can she be doing this! My mind is in ballistics.
She grabs on to me trying to tell me, “It’s okay, Emily.” I kick at her shins, but she narrowly avoids me. I start to scream but she puts her hand around my mouth, cutting it off. I hear, ”Calm down, calm down,” when I’m struggling. How am I supposed to calm down with a witch or something trying to take me away! As I try to break free she loosens her grip and I stumble backwards, slipping on ice. I trip over the curb with my arms flailing around me. The next thing I know is nothingness.

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