I heard Avalon gasp, so I looked out of the door. I heard footsteps walking into the middle of the room, and another pair came right next to me.

“I hear you are harboring a fugitive.” A male said.

“No, Uncle, I promise you, I am not.” Avalon said. With her calmness and strength, it made me believe her, and I am the fugitive.

“I see…” Her Uncle said. Then I heard people leaving this room.

“But, remember Avalon, if you are hiding someone who is part of a different clan in here, it will be the death of you, and it won’t matter that you are my neice.”

“Well, you are going to be dissapointed, because no one is in here besides you and me.” Avalon said.

I heard her Uncle snicker, then leave. I was going to come out when Avalon stopped me.

“Let me come out!” I said.

“BE QUIET.” She said, and pushed me further into the closet, “He is not yet gone.” Avalon said. She had saved me again. I was grateful that I had met her and not another one of the cruel people of the Purple Clan.

“Okay, he’s gone now.” She said, then opened the door.

“What do we do now?” I asked her, coming out of the closet.

“I guess… we wait for Margot to come. Then we’ll explain to her what we’re trying to do.”

“What are we trying to do, again?”

“We… I want to kill Uncle. I’m sure Margot would have some use in that field.” Avalon said.

“Why do you want to kill your Uncle? He’s the last family you have, besides your brother, as far as I’ve heard.” I asked, concerned.

“That’s what I like about you,” She said, smiling, “But Uncle is a cruel monster. I didn’t realize this until I met you, and went inside Margot’s head. I need to stop him so our Clan’s can live in peace with each other.”

“Okay. I like that idea. I’m in.” I said, walking over to Avalon and holding out my hand for her to shake.

“Really?” She asked.

“Yeah. There’s a lot you don’t know about me. I might actually be helpful in combat.” I said, smiling.

“But… there is a risk of you-” She started.

“I know,” I said, cutting her off, “and I don’t care. If I didn’t want to help, I would be flying home already.” I said. She looked at me one more time, then took my hand.

“Okay, deal. No matter what happens, we will fight for the safety of our worlds - and our future.” She said,

“Deal!” I exclaimed. All of this talking was making me hyped.

Just then, there was another knock on the door. But before we could react, the door burst open. Another girl our age was standing there.

“You are Avalon?” She asked, walking over to Avalon.

“You… are Margot!” Avalon exclaimed, stepping backwards, “Please, listen to me! I do not want to fight you. I want to work with you!”

“So you can kill me?!” Margot said, raising her blade to Avalon.

“No, she’s telling the truth,” I said, backing Avalon up. Margot walked over to me. She stopped when she was three feet away from me.

“You are that other girl. Tell me, what is your name?” She asked gently.

“My name is Ruhani.” I told her. Even though she was a stranger, I felt calm and safe around her.

“There is something I sense in both of you. For you, Ruhani, I feel a field of daisies, in the spring with a nice breeze. And for you, Avalon, I see a lot of… ghosts.” Margot said, unpleasantly.

“Okay, that’s enough.” Avalon said.

“Does it seem like Avalon has a fear?” Margot asked me, smiling.

“I said stop.” Avalon said, then went pacing across the room again.

“I see now that you are literal. I only want to help.”

“You are not helping at this moment, none of you are.”

“Well, if an invisible man is sleeping in your bed, I’ll call the Ghostbusters!” Margot sang, then laughed. I tried to hold in my laugh; I didn’t want Avalon to feel bad. Avalon stormed out of the room.

“Oh, I have an idea! To get her to like and trust me, as a friend, because that’s all I want out of her now. I actually trust her.” Margot said.

“What is your idea?” I asked.

“Tell me, in the short time you’ve known her, what does she like to do?” Margot asked. I rummaged through my brain, to find something on Avalon.

“Avalon has been listening to music lately, especially songs that she learned when she visited Earth.” I said. I didn’t know how I knew this, but it sounded like someone whispered it into my ear.

“Good, good.” Margot said, then walked out of the room. I was left there, with a cold breeze in the room, one that wasn’t there in the hallway outside.

“Avalon?” I asked when I thought I was in the correct room.

“Why are you here?! You can’t just go around looking like yourself, the Blue Clan are mortal enemies to the Purple Clan!” She exclaimed, coming over to me.

I looked down and saw something sticking out of her pocket. I grabbed it quickly and scrolled through the hundreds of songs.

“Hey, that’s mine!” Avalon yelled, then dove at me. I dodged her attack.

“Just listen to me. I want to be your friend, and this is the only way I could think of becoming friends! So, trust me.” I said, looking into her blue eyes.

“Okay.” Avalon said. I looked back down at the device, and decided to just pick one that had a heart on it, which I’m guessing that Avalon made it one of her favorites. I got Avalon’s ear things and held them up to my ears, to hear the song. I pressed play, and listened to the first minute of it.

“This is the perfect song.” I said, then paused the song. Avalon tried to look over my shoulder, but I pushed her away, “Not yet.” I said. I unplugged the ear things (I never learned what they were called) and pushed play. After only four seconds, Avalon’s face softened.

“Oh. This song.” Avalon said.

“C’mon, let’s dance!” I said.

“I am… not much of a dancer.”

“Well, let’s dance anyway.” I said. Avalon laughed, so that was a good sign.

I took her by the hand and spun her around. After the song finished, Avalon collapsed on the ground.

“Are you alright?” I asked, standing her up.

“Yeah, I’m… I’m fine.” She wheezed, then she got a weird look on her face, “We have to go now.” She said without looking at me.

“Why? What’s wrong?” I asked her as she pushed me towards the door.

“Nothing, it’s fine.” Avalon said, then opened the door.

“Is it the whole your-people-are-not-friends-with-my-people deal?” I asked jokingly, but Avalon’s face just got stranger.

“No, it’s something worse.” She said,

“What is it?” I asked, starting to get a little nervous.

“Nevermind, but we’re here now.” Avalon said, opening the door to her bedroom. Ruhani was there, looking at us. Then she gave me a little look that looked like she was asking me how it went. I nodded a little bit, to signal her that it went well. She nodded back at me.

“What were you both talking about?” Ruhani asked, coming over and closing the door.

“So, how are we going to override my Uncle?” Avalon asked out loud, avoiding Ruhani’s question.

“Well, first we need a disguise.” I said.

Avalon hesitated. Then she got up and left her bedroom, leaving me and Ruhani alone. The door opened, and she was there, holding circular containers.

“This is a hair dye from when I went to Earth, so maybe it would work on skin.” She said, opening them up. The color was a deep purple.

“Oh, so you are going to put that on our skin?” Ruhani asked.

“Yes. And just so you know, it only needs to be put on exposed skin. You don’t need it on your legs if you’re wearing pants.” Avalon responded, then started rubbing the dye on Ruhani’s arm.

I grabbed a container and started putting it on myself. When Avalon finished Ruhani, I had just finished.

“So, now we need to test it.” Ruhani said confidently and excitedly.

“Uh - huh.” Avalon agreed, walking over to the garbage can. When she came back, she opened the door, grabbed mine and Ruhani’s hand, then started walking.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“To the cafeteria.” She responded.

The whole time we’re there, nobody really noticed us. We did get a few glances our way, but nothing major. After lunch, Avalon said that she was going to go back to the bedroom. Ruhani and I went to explore. We came to an arena type room, where people were fighting one another. I realized that this was a training arena.

“We should try this.” I said, “We need to figure out how our enemy fights.”

“Good idea.” Ruhani said, then walked over to a grown man. She said something, then brought her fists ready. Then they went at it, throwing and kicking and punching. Ruhani brought the man down, then he tapped. She let him go, then came bouncing back to me.

“Wow. You took down a whole man.” I was amazed.

“I can take down ANYBODY - as long as I need to.” Ruhani laughed.

Just as I was going to take my turn at fighting, a woman walked up to us. I remembered her from the cafeteria.

“Hello, young lady,” She said to Ruhani, “I saw you fight and I want to acknowledge your skills.”

“How? And what’re you talking about?” Ruhani asked, putting her hands on her hips. Avalon told us to be wary of all people here.

“I am going to offer you and your friend here a deal.”

“What kind of deal?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

“Our best experienced fighters are all training on one planet. I would love to send you there so you could get some good practice, and so you can become better.”

“Can we think about it, first?” I asked.

“Of course!” She said,

I grabbed Ruhani by her hand and took her to Avalon’s room. She was sitting on her bed with the lights turned off. I reached over and felt around the wall, until I felt the light switch. I turned it on and Avalon immediately turned over to us.

“What’re you doing here already?” She asked, coming over to us.

“Well, me and Ruhani have something we want to tell you.” I responded, looking into her eyes.

“Oh, yeah? What’s that?” Avalon genuinely asked, walking back to her bed and sitting down.

“Well, me and Margot were offered a chance to go to a planet to practice our fighting.” Ruhani said, walking over to Avalon. She twisted around and stared at Ruhani.

“What?!” She demanded.

“This woman came over to us and said that because I was so good at fighting, we were offered a chance to go to a different planet to work on our fighting abilities.” Ruhani said again. I couldn’t believe it. I was trying to do everything I could to keep my two new friends safe, and they just kept getting into more trouble

“I don’t really like this idea.” I said, “What would I do if something happened to you both?”

“We wouldn’t get into any trouble with Ruhani’s fighting.” Margot said. I walked over to her.

“But the people there have more experience and they’re better fighters. You wouldn’t last long. I hate this idea.” I argued, then grabbed something off of my dresser that I was working on. I had got it from Earth, and it was plastic strings that could make something like a bracelet.

“I know you do, but I think that this is best so we can learn the way our enemy fights.” Ruhani said.

“Yeah, and so we could learn more about ourselves.” Margot said. I couldn’t believe that she was going along with this.

“So you both think this is for the best?” I asked, weaving my final strands.

“Yeah. What is that?” Margot asked me, nodding her head over in the direction of the section I was making.

“Nothing, I’ll tell you later. But I guess because you both are deciding to go, I cannot stop you.”

“Can’t you go, too?” Ruhani asked.

“I would. But I need to stay here. I get enough training from Uncle, and it would look suspicious if I go.” I said.

“Aww, okay.” Margot sighed.

I took them out of my room and down the hall. When we got to the arena, the woman was still there. I didn’t recognise her, though.

“Hi, I am here for my friends, they would love to go to your planet to learn more about fighting.” I said, holding Ruhani and Margot out.

“Oh, so you say yes?” The woman asked excitedly.

“Yeah.” Margot said.

“Oh, goody! So, just come along over here.” The woman said. Ruhani and Margot got up to follow her. I walked with them, but stayed back about three feet. After about ten minutes of walking, we came to an aircraft.

“This will take you to the planet.” The woman said.

“Will it be too much to ask for your name?” I asked. The woman seemed familiar, like I knew her, but not in a good way.

“Of course not! I am Emily Paroan. You can call me Ms. Em.” Ms. Em said. That name sounded VERY familiar… but I couldn’t place a finger on it.

“Should we board the ship now, Ms. Em?” Ruhani asked her.

“Of course!” Ms. Em smiled. I felt like she was being too nice, but that could’ve been my paranoia.

“Bye, Avalon!” Margot called, waving.

“See you when we come back!” Ruhani said, standing next to Margot.

“How long will you be gone?” I called.

“Only two months - but it’ll go like that!” Ms. Em said, snapping her fingers. She took my two new friends and went into the ship. My heart sank when I saw them sitting down in the main compartment. I went back into my room and I felt like I was going to throw up.

“What’s wrong?” Someone said, I looked next to me and saw Sylvaine sitting there. How had I not seen him?

“Oh, some of my friends… wait a minute.” I looked closer at Sylvaine. He had the same dark blue glow as my parents had. I gasped.

“Sylvaine… how?!” I demanded. He looked at me sadly.

“I knew you could see ghosts…” He muttered.

“Who DID this to you?!” I yelled at him.

“Uncle.”

“But.. why?”

“I knew your friends weren’t from the Purple Clan, and Uncle knew I was keeping a secret from him… but no matter what he did to me, I wouldn’t tell him. And so, underneath all of that tension and torture… I died.”

“Don’t worry, brother, I will avenge you.” I said.

“Uncle is too strong. And do you know who Emily Paroan is?” He asked.

“Yeah, she’s the lady who took Margot and Ruhani to a different planet.” I said, crossing my arms, “Why do you ask?”

“Well, I came here to warn you that she is one of the most dangerous women in the Purple Clan. She… she’s the one that killed the rest of the family. And she is going to take your friends to a planet of torture. If you do not hurry, she will kill them. That’ll make you weak, then she will strike, which means that any chance of killing Uncle will fly out of the window.” My brother said,

“Thank you, Sylvaine. May you rest in peace.” I said, then ran out of the room. As if Uncle timed it, every other ghost that had visited me before appeared there.

“Excuse me!” I yelled, trying to get past them. I did not want to go through one - that was one of the most traumatic experiences I’ve had with my grandpa.

When I finally made it past them, I ran over to a dropship. I got inside, and sat down on the chair. The only problem was that I had not flown one before. I pressed a red button that closed the door and launched me into space. I took the steering wheel thing (it surely did not look like the ones from Earth) and moved the ship around, trying to find the one that my friends were on.

I thought I saw the one, and just as I was about to fly over to it, I heard a noise behind me. I looked back (because I thought I was alone), but no, there was a ghost girl. And not just any girl, it was my fairly young sister.

“That’s not the ship.” She said,

“What’re you doing here, Layla?” I asked her, sitting her on my lap. She immediately fell through my legs and I felt a very cold chill creep through me.

“I am here to try to help you. Your family is, but there are some others who will try to stop you.” She said, “And that is not the ship your friends are on.” Layla said again.

“Then where is it?” I asked.

“Over there.” She pointed to a smaller aircraft, and I flew over to it. I followed it and waited until it landed. It was a smallish planet - with a red aura around it. I felt creeped out when I flew into its atmosphere.

All of a sudden I heard a loud beeping noise. I looked over and saw a blue - red light blinking.

“What does that mean?” I asked Layla.

“Your ship is out of fuel. You need to land.” She said, then disappeared.

“Okay. C’mon, Avalon, your friends are counting on you.” I said to myself. I slowly pointed the ship to the ground. I flicked a switch that turned off the spotlights - I didn’t want anyone to see me. I saw the treeline come up into my view and I ran to a seat in the back. I strapped myself in and braced for impact. I came down hard. When I landed on the ground, a branch flew up and broke the windshield, and it hit me in the head. I felt something warm on my hand, and it looked like blood. Just then, I passed out.

When we landed, Margot and I were taken to a base. It was dome shaped, and I couldn’t believe that an arena (that was bigger than the one on Avalon’s ship) could fit in there. But as I walked up to the door, I could see that there was a staircase leading down.

“That looks like a long way down.” Margot said, peering over my shoulder.

“Don’t worry! Everyone down there is completely fine! Now come along!” Ms. Em said, grabbing mine and Margot’s arm.

“Stop, let go! You are hurting me!” I cried, but she did not listen to me. She pushed us in then closed the door and locked it. Then she grabbed us again, and marched down the stairs.

Margot narrowed her eyes, “You aren’t Ms. Em, are you? This isn't an arena, is it?” She asked.

“No, I am Ms. Em,” The woman said, shaking her head. “But you are correct on the last part. This isn’t an arena. It’s a torturing chamber. And because you figured all of that out, you get to go first!” Ms. Em yelled, and she threw Margot down the stairs.

I heard Margot let out a gasp as she tumbled down the stairs. I looked at Ms. Em, and she was smiling. I felt a thing of anger rush through me. I started punching Ms. Em’s arm, trying to break free. Once I had, I practically flew down the stairs, and when I reached Margot, she had cuts and bruises and blood on her. Most of what I could see was on her head, but I didn’t know how bad it was underneath her clothes.

“Why would you do that?!” I screamed at Ms. Em. She just looked at me, and she looked pleased with herself.

“I must do what’s best for the Purple Clan, even if it means killing you two. But you both are going to tell me what Avalon is planning on doing.” She said, then cackled like a witch. That’s when I started despising the Purple Clan - except for the good people, like Avalon.

Ms. Em grabbed us both by the shirt collar and dragged us farther into the room. I hoped she would let go soon, because my shirt started choking me. She picked us up (I was surprised that she could do that) and put us on this device that had a bench in the middle with two big wheels on the front and back. Ms. Em layed us on the table/bench then took our hands and tied them to the wheel in the front.

“What’re you going to do to us?!” Margot yelled, straining and trying to escape. But she had no luck.

“Once I start this machine working, you will be tortured until you tell me WHAT Avalon is doing.” Ms. Em said, tying our feet to the other wheel. She walked over to a lever, which she pressed her body against and pushed it. The machine started and I heard a loud noise, like wood scraping against metal.

I felt some of the worst pain ever. I realized that Ms. Em was pulling our legs one way and our arms another. I tried to stretch out my body, to make it less painful, but it wasn’t working. I looked over at Margot and her face was what I assumed mine to be; pain, misery, and hate.

“We will never tell you anything!” Margot gasped.

“You may not now, but what about tomorrow? Or the next day? Or how about the following month? Will you tell me then?” Ms. Em taunted. I got nervous, thinking about staying here for more than what was planned. Would Avalon come for us? I looked back at Margot and she was looking at me. I could tell she was thinking the same thing.

‘Make it past this minute’ I thought to myself, ‘make it past this minute. Then the next. Okay, now I just have to live past this next one.’ And it actually seemed to be working. I wasn’t hurting as much now, but I knew that the more I sat here, the more it would hurt, and it won’t work anymore.

Just then, I heard some noise upstairs like someone was trying to break in. Ms. Em growled then walked up to the door. When she came back, five men were following her. The men were holding something, or someone, but I couldn’t see what it was.

“Where do you want me to put her?” One of them asked Ms. Em. He was the one holding the thing.

“Set it down in front of the prisoners. They will see now just how weak and poor their friend is.”

I gasped when he walked over to us. He stood next to us and put what he was holding on the ground. It was Avalon, and she looked awful. There were twigs and specks of dirt weaved into her hair and her face was all bloody. I could see a hole near her chin, which the blood was pouring out of. She looked up at us, her bright blue eyes the only clean thing, and she smiled.

“Looks like I was r-right. This w-wasn’t a good… a good idea.” She gasped. Tears came to her eyes.

“Avalon, don’t die!” Margot cried.

“Do I have any intention of dying? No, so I will live.” I didn’t see any logic in that. Ms. Em swooped down and clutched Avalon in a deathly tight grip.

“What are you planning on doing, little one?” She asked Avalon. Avalon just stared into her eyes.

“Your skin may be purple, as well as Uncle’s, but you are not a part of the Purple Clan. We would never do this to people. You are a fake.”

Ms. Em took that badly, and I could tell because she grabbed one of the sticks in Avalon’s hair and wedged it into the hole on Avalon’s face.

“Tell me, what were you planning on doing?!” Ms. Em asked again, only this time, more fiercely.

“You think I’d a-actually tell you?” Avalon laughed, “Oh, that’s… that’s funny.”

“Stop laughing!” Ms. Em shouted, but Avalon just laughed harder.

“Sylvaine! And Layla!” Avalon said, looking off into the distance. I looked where she was looking but I didn’t see anyone, “Have you come to rescue us?” She asked.

“Who are you talking to?” I asked. Avalon looked over at me.

“I can’t say anything about it. But anyways, are you going to help us?” Avalon asked again.

I waited for a response, but I didn’t hear anything. I looked for anything to give me signs, but I saw not one. I felt like this was just wasting time, and Avalon could be gone from us in a matter of seconds. All of a sudden, I saw Ms. Em fly across the room.

“Thanks, Layla.” Avalon said, standing up. She staggered slowly over to us, then pushed the lever back to its position to stop the machine. After being stretched out for long, it hurt and felt weird to move again. After a couple of minutes, I was able to move my body normally.

“C’mon Ruhani, help me pick up Avalon.” Margot said, running over to her.

I walked over to her and lifted her feet up in the air. Margot walked over to her head, and lifted her that way. Just as we were about to make our ascent up the stairs, Ms. Em came over to us and picked up Margot. When Margot was grabbed, Avalon fell to the ground and hit her head on the floor. I put her feet on the ground and ran to her side.

“If you leave, I will keep her here.” She said, I looked at Margot’s facial expression and she looked mortified, and I knew what was going to happen.

“Well, good luck getting us out of here, then.” Avalon replied. She stood up slowly then threw herself at Ms. Em, hoping to hit her when she was off guard and grab Margot. But Ms. Em was too smart for that (as well as Avalon was too weak to act quickly) and she threw Margot to the ground. Margot, when she landed, slid on the floors and landed close to a lava pit that was there for another torturing device. She was so close to the pit that her head was tipping over the side, inches from the burning hot liquid. Ms. Em walked over to her and stepped on Margot’s back, like she was a roach.

“If you do not tell me what you were going to do immediately, this one gets it.” Ms. Em threatened. Avalon stood up again, and with the little energy she had left, pushed Ms. Em over the side of the lava pit, and she fell in. Avalon then grabbed Margot and me, sat down on the ground and wrapped herself around us so we couldn’t see Ms. Em anymore.

“Don’t worry, my friends. We have no worry for her anymore.” Avalon comforted. I felt at ease there, and I didn’t want this moment to end.

“Hang on.” Avalon said, then got up and walked away from us. She seemed to be talking to someone. She came back over to us after three minutes.

“What’s going on?” Margot asked.

“S-someone told me something. We have 5 more people to kill. One in every Clan. That means that there are two more Clans that we will have to visit. Anyways, once we kill the 5 people, that will weaken the main villain, one that I cannot explain how big or evil it truly is. But that would be the battle of a lifetime. And, of course, the first one is my Uncle.” Avalon told us both.

“How are we going to do that with only three people?” I asked. Just then, I heard a giggle. Avalon heard it too, then looked over at where she thought it was coming from.

“Hello?” Avalon asked.

“Hi.” A voice from where Avalon was walking to said.

“You don’t have to worry about having only three people,” Another voice said, then they laughed again, “We’re here.”

“Can you come out so we can see you?” I asked. I saw movement in the shadows and saw two girls walk into the light.

“I am CC.” The first girl said. She was short, way shorter than anyone here. I wondered how old she was.

“And I am Mahi.” The second girl said, then they both curtsied. Mahi was a bit shorter than Avalon.

“We’re both 15.” They said together. I was amazed, and I think that my friends were, too.

“Hello, CC and Mahi. So what are you doing here?” Margot asked, getting up and walking over to them. I did the same.

“Ms. Em thought it would be good to keep some “pet” here, where if anybody didn’t do what she asked, she would bring us out and torture us, and just because we were from the poorer of Clan’s.” CC explained. I noticed then that Mahi had light purple skin, which meant she was from the Light Purple Clan, or the LP Clan. CC had light blue skin, so she was part of the LB Clan. The difference between tones in color depended on how people treated you (which I thought was wrong) but because they were part of the light groups, they were treated poorly.

“That’s horrible!” Margot said.

“Yeah!” I agreed.

“So, do you want to help us? Are you both risking your life for the safety of our Clan’s, and our future?” Avalon asked.

“Yes.” Mahi and CC said in unison.

“Okay, now how’re we going to get out of here?” I asked. I could tell that everyone started thinking about my question.

“Your ship crashed, so we can’t use that.” Ruhani stated.

“That’s right.” I said.

“We could try to see if there are any ships here. Does anybody know how to fly one of those things?” CC asked.

“I can - sort of,” I said, “But Layla and Sylvaine should be there for help.”

“Who are they?” Mahi asked, looking around.

“I cannot… I cannot answer that.” I said. I didn’t know what they would do if they knew I could see ghosts - I didn’t want them to view me any differently.

“That’s okay! You can answer when you like.” CC said.

“Thank you! Now c’mon!” I said, then pushed everyone towards the stairs.

“Okay, okay! We get it!” Margot retaliated, running ahead of me so I wouldn’t be pushing anymore. I laughed.

“Well, come on! We have to hurry!” Ruhani said, then she ran up the stairs, “Oh, yeah, I forgot. It was locked.”

“Yeah, I can deal with that.” I said. I stopped where I was, caught my breath, then ran up the stairs and charged at the glass door. It immediately broke, and soon we were all outside.

All five of us ran to the dome that they used to store flying vehicles. We got there in no time. I picked out a ship that was big enough to house all of us, and that had enough fuel to get us back to my ship. I got into the captain’s compartment and turned the spaceship on. It made a low rumbling sound, which sounded bad. Margot and Ruhani were by my side instantly.

“What’s wrong?” Ruhani asked.

“The engine’s having trouble starting.” I said, trying to turn it on again. But all that happened was some smoke shot out of a tube used for breathing.

“Uh oh.. This can’t be good.” Margot said, inspecting the pipe.

“Well, this is the best shot we have. The rest of the ships were only big enough to house two people, and we can’t use that because you four do not know how to fly one. So, do we take our chances and use this one or do we stay here so I can teach two of you how to fly a plane?” I asked, turning on the lights that shone in my eyes.

“I think this one is best.” Margot said, turning off the lights.

“Hey, I need those on!” I argued, turning them back on. I didn’t care if they blinded me - I needed to get us out of here.

“Okay fine.” Margot gave up and went back down to the passenger part of the plane.

“Wait, don’t go yet.” I said, looking back over my shoulder, but she was already gone, “Okay, Ruhani, you take these,” I gave her the purple hair dye, “and put it on CC and Mahi. Then strap yourselves down. This could be bad.”

“Of course.” Ruhani said, and like a pup following its mother, she hurried after Margot.

I somehow managed to get the aircraft off of the ground, but as we crept higher and higher, I could feel that the ship was straining. I got my ship I was living on in sight.

“Please state who you are.” A voice from the ship said. I flipped on a switch and pressed a button to let me talk.

“I am Avalon, and I am here with my friends who are part of the Purple Clan. Please let us in, this is not a good ship.”

“I don’t think you are who you say you are. Avalon is in here.” The voice said.

“No, I am Avalon! Let me come in, and you’ll see!” I started panicking.

“...Fine.” The voice said, and the laser beams that were there before opened, so we could go through.

When we got inside, guards immediately came over to us and made sure we were supposed to be there. Luckily they found nothing against us, and everyone’s paint looked like normal skin. But I was shaking the whole time the guards were standing there. I took everyone and showed Mahi and CC my room.

“Woah, this is so big!” Mahi exclaimed.

“No, I don’t think so.” I smiled. CC and Mahi went to explore around my room (which they kept insisting was huge.) All of a sudden, I felt a little light headed and thought I was going to throw up.

“Hey, guys? I will be in the bathroom if you need me.” I said, then dashed out of the room and into the bathroom a little ways away.

I stood over the toilet and waited. But the experience of this was way worse than actually puking. I broke out into a sweat, and it was a cold sweat. I started panting and everything went dizzy. A darkness started creeping through everything, until I was alone in a black void. But the things I was feeling before just went away - I wasn’t dizzy anymore.

I started my way down a corridor, still everything was black. I finally saw a little glimpse of light, so I ran towards it. I stopped mid-way, because there was an evil message coming from the light. I tried to turn around and run away, but whatever was there, it kept pulling me closer to the light. The invisible arms finally pulled me through the light, and I was standing in a blank white room with nothing in it.

“Welcome, little one.” A voice said. I looked around, but I didn’t see anyone.

“Who are you?” I called out.

“It’s not a matter of ‘who am I.’ It is more like ‘where am I?’” The voice replied.

“What do you mean? And how come I cannot see you? I can see ghosts as well as humans.” I said.

“Do not call me a person!,” It yelled, “I am an entity. And if you were to see me, your little mind would go crazy.”

“How do we know that? After all, I am not like most other beings.” I said, putting my hands in my pockets.

“Would you like to try?” The voice asked. I didn’t know if the entity was bluffing or not, but I didn’t really want to find out right then and there.

“I thought so.” The voice cackled.

“How did you know?”

“Know what, my darling?”

“First of all, don’t ever call me that. Second, how did you know what I was thinking?” I asked, sitting down on the blinding white floor.

“Little things that would be easy to learn how to do. I also know how to feel your emotions, and read your past. All of that and much more.”

“Can you do that with everyone?” I asked.

“No. Only you, my little pawn. But once I am powerful enough, I would be able to control your emotions. And if I were you, I wouldn’t tell your friends about this. Imagine what they would do if you could see ghosts and talk to powerful entities.” I could hear the laughter in its voice.

Then the white room started spinning. I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t see it, but I could feel it. The room seemed to be getting smaller, as if someone was sucking it up in a straw. I gripped onto the sides of my head and screamed. Finally, it seemed to stop. I opened my eyes and sat up. It took a second for me to see everything, but once I was able to, I could see that I was back in my bedroom with my friends surrounding me.

“Are you okay, Avalon?” Ruhani asked.

“Give her some room before you ask her questions.” CC called, scooting everyone away from me. After laying on the floor for a little longer, everyone came back over to me.

“So what happened?” Margot asked.

“I just fainted.” I said. I didn’t know if the entity was right - about them treating me differently. I wasn’t going to risk it, though. And I also didn’t want them to worry about me.

“Well, are you alright?” Mahi questioned me.

“I’m fine!” I said, standing up. Though I had shouted, I was not mad. They were just trying to take care of me. Everyone kind of left me alone after that - except CC.

“What did you see?” She asked, following me around.

“I didn’t see anything!” I lied. She put her hands on her hips.

“I know you saw something. Tell me, please!” She demanded.

“No, because you would just tell the others, and I don’t want to deal with that right now.” I said. That was definitely the wrong thing to say.

“So you DID see something!”

I sighed, “Yes, I saw something. But I do not want to talk about it.”

“Okay! Whenever you are ready, we’ll all be there because I am going to go tell the others. Maybe then they’ll worm something out of you.” CC said, and with that, she went skipping to the others. I sat down on my bed.

“Avalon.” Someone said, I looked over to my right and saw a male ghost. Something was familiar about this ghost. I suddenly had a feeling of who he was, even though I had not seen him my whole life.

“D-dad?” I asked.

“Yes, Avalon. I am here.”

I gasped and almost went to hug him, but then I remembered I couldn’t actually feel ghosts. I would just slip through him.

“Avalon, listen to me. The stronger the entity is, the more it can control. If you do not hurry, you will soon be fully controlled by it. You must hurry. I came here as a message from your mother, who had figured this out.” All of this was moving too quickly. I sat there, trying to process what my dad was saying.

“Why does everything have to fall on me?” I asked, hopelessly.

“Because you were the strongest one to take it. Nobody else would be strong enough, and that is why you can see ghosts.”

“But I do not want to be the one!” I shouted angrily.

“If you do not do this, then there will be no one to do it, and everyone will be a slave to the monster.”

“O-okay, dad.” I stuttered.

“That’s my girl.” He said, then he disappeared. I reached out slowly, to see if he was actually gone.

“I’ll do what you say, father. I promise.” I said quietly.

I got up and walked over to my friends. I grabbed an iron rail that made sure I wouldn’t fall out of bed at night - I’ve had that there since I was three, but I did not complain about it. I wrapped my arms around it, and held onto it, as if I let go, I would fall.

“Are you okay, Avalon?” Margot, the observer, asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s go kill Uncle.”

***

“So, tell me again, how’re we going to defeat your Uncle?” Margot asked.

“Mahi and CC will go in there as a distraction, with their paint off. They will hopefully lure all of the guards out, and away from Uncle. They know their hiding spot, so do not worry. Next, Ruhani and you will draw Uncle out of wherever he is and bring him to the middle of the room. We will attack there, the three of us.”

“Tell me, why can’t me and Mahi do something fun?” CC complained.

“You can do more important things when we trust you. If you do this for us, you both will have more of our trust.” I explained. CC just crossed her arms.

“Okay. We’ll do it, then.” Mahi said quickly.

I had brought soapy water in here before, then I began scrubbing the paint off of CC. Margot worked on Mahi while Ruhani focused on herself. After everyone’s paint was off, I opened the door to the bedroom and we all ran out.

“This way to the throne room.” I said quietly. When we got to the gate outside, me, Ruhani and Margot hid behind some barrels that were around there. CC and Mahi went in, and I silently wished them good luck. A couple of minutes later, the both of them came running out, with at least 15 guards chasing them. CC was laughing her head off.

That was our chance to get inside, so we did that quickly. Ruhani and Margot stood in the middle of the room while I climbed on top of the archway, that was far enough so Uncle couldn’t see me. I crossed my fingers and wished that everything would go according to plan, and nothing would take a turn for the worst. I heard footsteps, so I ducked down more, and I peered at my friends. Uncle was walking over to them.

“Oh, hello, you two.” Uncle said to them. I jumped down from where I was hiding and hid behind that wall. I looked around the corner and I saw that he hadn’t moved, which meant he hadn't heard me. I let out a sigh of relief. I slowly crept behind him. I raised my blade, and was about to bring it down, but I heard Uncle chuckle.

“It was a shame you had to come over here and get me, and not Avalon. Well, she did have a reputation for not being able to save anyone, so why get your hopes up? Am I right?” Uncle said. I froze, with my arm in the air. He reminded me of my family, whom I was not able to save.

‘Get your mind back. This is all he wants.’ I thought to myself. I finally got my mind cleared, and brought my sword down, upon Uncle. He turned around and looked me in the eye.

“You’re… you’re going to be f-food for him.” Uncle said, then collapsed on the ground. I sobbed as light spewed from Uncle’s body.

“I can change your intentions, now.” A voice rang in my head. It sounded like the entity. I shut my eyes tight, trying to block out everything, but it was no use. I could still hear everything. When everything stopped, and I stopped crying, Ruhani and Margot came over to me.

“It’s okay.” Ruhani comforted me, then wrapped her arms around me. Margot did the same.

“C’mon, let’s go find the others.” Margot said, then they both took me and helped me out of the room. When we got outside, they let go of me.

“I can go on my own now. Thanks.” I said, walking ahead of them. When we got to my bedroom, I lifted a painting of my family and Mahi and CC were sitting in the crest of the hole.

“Did you do it?” CC asked, climbing out. I nodded. All of a sudden, I felt dizzy again. This time, I didn’t even tell them where I was going, I just headed straight into the bathroom. I closed my eyes and waited until I got sucked back into that black void. But instead of going to the void, I immediately went into the white room. I guess that this was going to happen no matter what.

“Hello again. You really missed me that much to come back?” The entity asked.

“No.” I said flatly, “Tell me what you can do now.”

“Ah ah ah. Not too quickly.”

“Well, then when are you going to tell me?”

“Right before you leave. I always have done that, and always will.” The entity said.

“What do you mean, ‘you have always done that’? Other people been here before?” I asked.

“Oh, yes. Your mother was actually here before, too.” It said. That sent shivers down my spine.

I followed Avalon this time to the bathroom. When she went inside, I stood outside the door. I heard a thud, so I quickly went inside and Avalon was laying on the floor. I picked her up and carried her back to the bedroom.

‘Why does this keep happening?’ I wondered. I was about to open the door to the bedroom when Avalon woke up. I looked down at her and I noticed she was crying.

“Is something wrong? Whatever it is, you can tell me.” I set her down on the ground. She laid there, her hands covering her eyes.

“I cannot tell, and we can only move forward. We cannot dwell on the past.” She said, standing up.

“Okay.” I said, then walked down the hall.

“Where are you going?”

“I am moving forward.” I turned back around to face her. She was smiling.

“Haha, very funny. It’s probably best if we return to the room now.” Avalon said, then held open the door for me. I walked inside, and Ruhani, CC, and Mahi were there, staring at me.

“What happened?” Mahi asked.

“I honestly don’t know. I found Avalon collapsed in the bathroom again.” I said, glancing at her. I didn’t think that she wanted me to tell everyone that.

Ruhani walked over to us, “You have to tell us what’s going on.” She said,

“I can’t.” Avalon whispered.

“Why not?”

“Because it could kill me.” She said, and tears came down her face, “It could kill all of you. Just let me deal with this alone.”

I walked over to her and hugged her, “We wouldn’t want that.” I said, trying to be comforting.

“Yeah, we wouldn’t. Now let’s decide who we should go for next.” Mahi said.

“Maybe we should go to my Clan first.” CC suggested, shifting her weight from one foot to another and crossing her arms. “I think I have an idea on who the person is.”

“Great! We’ll go there first then to Mahi’s Clan, then to mine and then to Margot’s.” Ruhani planned out our “trip”.

“Yeah, but I don’t think you’re going to like my person.” CC said. But we were all tired, so we had to sleep before going anywhere. There were two beds, so CC and Mahi doubled, while Ruhani and I doubled. Avalon said she could sleep on the floor with a pillow and a couple of blankets.

In the middle of the night, I heard a noise that woke me up. I looked down at the ground and noticed that Avalon was gone. I got up and out of the bed and looked for her. When I went to the corner of the room, I could see Avalon standing there, her back towards me.

“Hey, Avalon? Are you okay?” I whispered. She turned around and in the moonlight I could see that her usual blue eyes were a glossy black.

“You are Margot.” She said, but it didn’t sound like her.

“Yes… yes I am.” I said slowly.

“Good… I can use you, too.”

“What do you mean, Avalon?”

“You think I am Avalon?” She laughed, “No. I am not, I am just using Avalon. Do not worry, though. She can be yours once I am through with her.”

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Someone you need not worry about. Let me see…” It said, then Avalon’s figure walked up to me and studied me, “Ah, I see. Sorry to let you know, but…” The voice faded away.

“What?” I asked. Then Avalon blinked and shook her head.

“What’re we doing over here?” She asked, in her voice. I hugged her.

“You were taken from us.” I tried to explain it the best I could, but it sounded weird whatever I said.

“What do you mean?” She asked wearily, rubbing her eyes. I grabbed her shoulders.

“You go to sleep now,” I said, putting her in her “bed”. “I will tell you and the others in the morning.”

“No.” She said immediately, “You must not tell the others. They must not know what is happening to me.” Avalon pleaded. I just stared at her.

“You know we are here for you and can help you through anything.” I said, standing up and walking back to my bed.

“It’s not that. I would trust you guys with my life, but this is more than that. I need this to myself, because if I let everyone I see know, there is no future for anyone in this galaxy. I am sorry.” I could tell that she was genuinely sorry, and I felt bad for her.

“Okay. I won’t tell anyone.” I promised, and went to sleep. In the morning, I woke up to the smell of a really good breakfast and talking. I picked my head up off my pillow and looked around. Everyone else, except CC, were sitting at the table, laughing and talking.

“I still don’t know who the “bad guy” in my world is, though..” Mahi said.

“Well, whoever it is, better put up a good fight.” Ruhani said, cracking her knuckles. Everyone laughed at her joke, “Oh, good morning Margot!”

“Mmm.” I said, still tired. I just remembered what happened last night, with Avalon. I glanced over at her and she was staring at me, as if she was trying to read my thoughts. I focused my attention on Ruhani and Mahi as I grabbed a carton of milk from the fridge.

“Hey, Avalon, are you okay?” Mahi asked suddenly.

“Yeah, why?” She glanced at Mahi.

“Well, I saw you get up in the middle of the night, but I thought you were just sleepwalking, so I fell back asleep.”

Avalon froze, “Well, maybe…” She trailed off, trying to come up with a reason why she wasn’t in her bed.

“Hey, guys, I had a cool dream last night!” I said quickly, trying to steer the subject away from Avalon, “I got a jet pack and was flying around with you guys by a belt that was attached to my waist.”

“I had something like that a couple months ago,” Ruhani admitted, “It was amazing!”

Avalon stared at me with a look of thankfulness and admiration. I was just happy I didn’t make things bad enough.

I was woken up by someone rubbing my arm. I moved around in my bed, trying to go back to sleep.

“CC, c’mon. We have to get ready to go.” It was Mahi. I sat up in my bed and looked around to see everyone else eating breakfast.

“Where are we going?” I asked, getting out of my bed and over to the table. Mahi followed me.

“We’re going to your world, silly.” She said, “So you said you may know who the bad guy is on your planet. Will you tell us?” She asked politely.

“I don’t know…” I said, grabbing a bowl.

“Please? It would be so helpful.” Everyone stared at me with their best version of puppy-dog-eyes. I sighed.

“Fine. I believe the guy is… my ex-boyfriend.” I said. They all stared at me. I wished I could take it back.

“Okay… but don’t worry! We’ll get through this together!” Ruhani said optimistically. I silently thanked her for it.

After we all had breakfast, we got ready to go. We silently walked down to the armory (because it was very early in the morning) and we were able to choose how we wanted to fight. Ruhani chose first, and she came back with a sword and a shield. Next, Mahi went in and grabbed a crossbow. Then Margot went in, and came back out three seconds later.

“Aren’t you going to get something?” Ruhani asked her.

“Nope.” Margot replied, smiling.

“Well, then what are you going to use? There aren't many free things on my planet.” I told her. She just smiled at me.

“I will use… my voice. When I am fighting alongside you four, I will confuse the enemy! And when I am fighting someone by myself, I will grab anything next to me and use it. Like, if I was in a kitchen, and I was fighting someone, then I would grab a pot or a glass of water and use it.”

“Okay… it’s whatever you want, so I guess there’s nothing stopping you.” Ruhani said, trying to hold in her laughter.

After that, I went in. I was amazed by how many choices there were. There were bows and arrows, swords and knives, suits of armor and giant vehicles that could ride on land, fly, and also float on water. You could even adopt a couple attack dogs! I walked farther into the room when something caught my eye. There were two metal fist-like things suspended in the air, hanging over a bench. I went over to it and slipped my hands inside.

The thing made a whirring noise, then it stopped. But I could tell that it was still on. I walked out of the room, and back to my friends, still with the metal things on.

“Woah, CC, that looks cool!” Mahi said, coming over to me and inspecting my suit. Avalon did the same.

“Yeah. This could come in handy. But the thing you are in right now… you’re not in it.” Avalon said.

“What do you mean? Of course I am in it.” I said, confused. Avalon just walked right past me, and into the room with the weapons. I followed her.

“See?” She asked everyone, pointing to where the fists were.

“Oh, yeah! I know now!” Margot said.

“I don’t see anything.” I said.

“Take off your metal fists.” Ruhani instructed. I did what she told me, and all of a sudden I was back at the bench and I was holding the hands.

“How did I get over here?” I wondered out loud, walking to them.

“It’s a simulation. The metal hands are real, but you step into a “made up” suit. It will still protect you, yes, but now you can fight without leaving the comfort of wherever you are.” Mahi informed me.

“Cool!” I exclaimed, examining the fists. Avalon walked over to a rack and got a bow and a lot of arrows.

“This is my weapon.” She said,

“Now that we’re all prepared, I think we can take on the bad guy from CC’s clan.” Ruhani said confidently.

“Yeah, I think so, too!” Margot agreed. We all put our hands in the middle of our little circle.

“We’re in this together?” Ruhani asked.

“Always.” We all replied. I’ve always wanted to do that.

We ran to the ships and Avalon chose one that could carry us to CC’s planet. On our way, it was like CC was hyperventilating.

“I don’t know if I can do this…” She said,

“Hey, we’ll do this together! And you don’t have to worry, because you’ll be staying inside the ship.” I reminded her, getting her some water. That seemed to calm her down. After a few more minutes of flying, Avalon appeared in the doorway to the area us four were sitting at.

“Get ready. We’re about to land.” She said robotically. I sat down in my seat and buckled as Avalon disappeared from view. I looked out of the window and I could see the light-blue-aura planet keep coming closer to the window. I felt CC shuddering beside me, so I grabbed her hand.

“It’s okay. We have Avalon and Ruhani here.”

“Hey, what about me?” Margot asked, falling down on the ground and pretended to beg.

“You’ll be useful; if we need you to bash someone in the head with a deep-fryer.” Ruhani joked. Margot walked up to her and shook her fist at Ruhani.

“You be careful with what you say, or I might decide to become a traitor and GET YOU FIRST.” Margot threatened sarcastically.

“Yeah, in your dreams.” Ruhani said back. Me and CC laughed. Avalon stuck her head out of the doorway.

“We’ve landed.” She said, coming over to us.

“Really? I didn’t even realize it.” Margot said, standing up.

“Yeah, me neither.” I said, standing up and getting my crossbow. CC walked up to the front to get her fists.

“All right. Are you all ready?” Avalon asked.

“Yes!” We all replied. She opened the back door and stepped out.

“It’s clear.” She said, and we all followed her. CC looked down at us from the ship and then shut the door. I hoped she would be safe.

“Right. Let’s move out!” Margot said, “I’ve always wanted to say that.” I tried to keep my laughter in, but it was hard. We made our way stealthily through the thick woods, and I looked up at the sky. It was starting to lighten a bit, so we had to hurry.

“There’s a building coming up,” Avalon informed us, “We’ll scope through, and hopefully he’s there.”

“Luckily I am not actually here otherwise I might literally puke.” CC said, walking slowly behind us.

“Yeah, luckily.” I said. We walked farther until we got to the front door. I looked up at the one-story, run-down building for the first time. The roof was starting to cave in and mold was growing on the side of the old building.

“He’s in that?” CC said, “Woah. I expected him to have a bigger life.”

“We don’t know if he’s in there, yet.” Ruhani said. Avalon walked to the front door and kicked it open. We all walked inside.

“I’ll stay by the door, in case someone comes in.” CC said, starting to walk away from the group.

“No. You don’t need to stay there.” Avalon said, “C’mon.” She walked further into the room, never lowering her bow. I followed her, and soon everyone was.

“I think we should spread out, and call for help if we need it.” Ruhani suggested. I nodded at her.

“Yeah, I like that too.” I said. Avalon and Margot went to the kitchen, Ruhani and I went to the living room, and CC went down the hall. I made my way to the dining room when I heard a scream, and it sounded like a guy. Ruhani heard it too. Then I heard CC’s voice.

“Hey, everyone? I found him.” She called from down the hall. I looked at Ruhani and we both started running to the room CC was in. When we got there, Avalon and Margot were already inside. As I fought my way into the small and cramped room, I looked down at the bed. A guy was sitting there, looking at all of us.

“Who’re you?” He asked.

“You’re asking who I am?” CC asked, coming into his view, “Is that right, Dean?”

“I don’t… wait. Are you CC?!” He demanded, standing up now. He was in nothing but his underwear.

“Yeah, so what? You dumped me.” CC said, getting angrier.

“You need to know the truth.” He said.

“What I need is to leave.”

“No, just listen to me. I didn’t want to break up with you. I just wanted for us to… spend some time away from each other. That’s all! There was nothing more than that.”

“I saw you…” After that, CC had had enough. She pointed her arm at him.

“CC, don’t do something you’ll regret. We will need him to-” I said, but cut off. CC started shooting him. Then she walked out of the room, and I followed her.

“I surely didn’t regret that.” She smiled at me, “Alright, I think we should continue on our journey now.” She said, then turned and headed out the front door. I stared after her. I don’t think I could’ve done that to my ex. Everyone came out of the room and stood next to me.

“Where’d CC go?” Margot asked.

“She went back to the ship. I am going to go after her, to see if she’s okay. You guys can come when you are ready. We should leave soon.” I said, rushing outside and feeling the cool morning breeze hitting my face. I found CC on the ground outside of our spaceship. She was sitting with her head in her arms.

“Hey, are you okay?” I asked her. She looked up at me.

“Yeah.”

“Can you tell me what happened between you two?” I asked her.

“I saw him with another girl. At a dance, when we were 12. It’s been 3 years, but I still remember the look on his face when I saw him.”

“Well, he’s gone now. And don’t worry. You’re only 15, there’s-” I was going to say more but I heard a rushing noise that came from the bushes in front of us. I didn’t think it was the wind, either.

“Hello?” CC’s form called out. A male’s face emerged.

“Hi.” He said, “Can you both help me?” He asked.

“What do you need?” I asked, looking around for any signs of danger.

“My family is looking for me. I need a place to hide.” He said, and he stepped out of the shadows to reveal himself. His skin was a light blue, like CC’s.

“You can come with us.” CC said, smiling, and led him to our ship. The door opened, and the real CC was standing there.

“Wait, there are two of you?”

“No, sorry. It is just me,” She said, taking her fists off.

He said, “Oh, cool. So it is like a machine that ports you into that suit that you can control from here?”

“Yup. Now tell us, what is your name? And why are you hiding from your family?” CC asked, sitting on the couch/bench.

“My name is Carlos. I ran away from my family because… they don’t like me? I don’t know, they just have some grudge against me, even though they’re my parents. I could tell that if I left, they would be happy again with their favorite children, not me. But no, they want me to stay there for chores and work. I tried to run away when I was younger, but they found me and gave me extra work to do, and if I didn’t finish it, my Mom wouldn’t give me any dinner. There were some times where I’d go for a week without eating. But I am finally old enough to live on my own, so I escaped.”

“I am so sorry.” CC said.

“And so am I.” I told him, “Luckily you came to us, we’re definitely able to help you. Right, CC?” I smiled. She nodded violently at me.

“Is it just the two of you?” Carlos asked.

“No, our three other friends are still inside the house over there.” I said, pointing in the general direction of the old house.

“And, may I ask, who are you two?” He asked politely. I suddenly blushed.

“I am so sorry. I am Mahi, and my best friend CC. Our other three best friends are Avalon, Margot, and Ruhani.” I informed him. Then the door opened again. The three of them stood there.

“Hey, we’re ready… who’s this?” Avalon asked cautiously, raising her bow.

“Uhh, guys, meet Carlos. He ran away from his family.” CC said, “And Carlos, this is them.”

“Yes, I see that.” He walked up to them with confidence, “Let me guess: You are Ruhani,” He said, pointing to her.

“Yes!” She exclaimed. Carlos moved on.

“You are Margot…?” He asked.

“Are you asking me or telling me?” Margot said back. I laughed a little.

“Yeah, you’re definitely Margot. No doubt about it.” He said. She looked surprised.

“That must mean you are Avalon.” Carlos pointed at her. She just stared at him and put on a fake surprised face.

“Oh, how did you ever guess that?” She mocked. We all laughed at that one.

“Where are you guys going?” He asked, sitting next to CC again.

“Mahi’s world. Technically, it’s the Light Purple Clan’s world.” Margot said.

“Can I go there with you all?”

“We’re going to be fighting people.” Ruhani said.

“Why would you tell him that? We can’t fully trust him.” Avalon said, walking to the captain’s area. She then froze for a moment.

“Avalon? Are you okay?” I asked, standing up. She didn’t move or say anything.

“Hello? Avalon?” Margot asked, walking over to her. Avalon turned around at the sound of Margot’s voice.

“Help.” She muttered quietly, while tears came to her eyes. Then she fainted.

“Avalon!” Ruhani yelled, running over to her. Margot had dove at Avalon and caught her just in time before she hit the ground.

“Is she awake yet?” CC asked.

“No.” I said, biting my lip. I realized that I was pacing back and forth, which is what Avalon did when she was thinking.

“Why does she keep doing this?” Mahi asked.

“I…” Margot started.

“What?” I asked her.

“Avalon didn’t want me to tell you all this, but… I don’t know if it’ll help her if we all know.”

“Please tell us!” CC begged.

“I don’t know…” Margot said.

“If you tell us, we could help her.” Mahi said.

“Fine. Well, she said that she totally trusts us all, but this thing is more than that. She needs to be alone with this because if she tells us, there is no future for anyone in the galaxy. That’s all she said. But I think that this correlates with her fainting all of the time.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but Avalon started stirring, so I didn’t say anything. She sat up and looked around. CC went over to her and knelt before her.

“Are you okay?” She asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Good. Now you can tell us what is going on.” CC said.

“I can’t.” Avalon said.

“C’mon, we’re your best friends! We deserve to know!” I exclaimed, trying to help and get whatever was in her out.

“Yeah, do it for me? Please?” Margot asked.

Avalon took a big breath in, “Every time we kill another one of those bad guys, I get sent to this entity. And everytime I go there, he gets stronger. There’s no way that I can get past it, either. So I just spoke with him. He’s now able to control my emotions. I can’t even get mad without it being him. Besides that, he’s able to read my thoughts, manipulate me, and see my past.”

“Then we have to stop going after these guys.” I said.

“No. I am the only one strong enough to do this. If I don’t do it, then there will be no future for our beloved worlds. He will get too powerful, and attack us all. Then he’ll move on to the other worlds, and other galaxies, until every last one of them is destroyed.”

“Okay. We’ll not pressure you anymore,” I said, “Thank you.” I told her, then stood her up and took her to the captain’s area.

“I can walk.” She protested.

“We need you to fly us to the Light Purple Clan.” I said, not letting her go.

“I know. You can go back to the others.” She said, sitting down on the chair.

“Okay.” I said. I turned around and walked back to my friends. CC was sitting next to Carlos, and Iooking at him. I rolled my eyes.

“So what happened next?” CC was asking. I didn’t hear the rest because I went and sat down next to Margot and Mahi.

“She’s going to do it.” Mahi said. I noticed that she was looking at CC as well.

“What do you mean?” Margot asked.

“I’ve known CC for a long time. I know when she’s going to ask a guy out - or at least let him know she likes him.”

“Uh… can I tell you something?” I heard CC ask Carlos.

“Yeah, she’s definitely going to do it.” I said, feeling like I was getting lifted up - I think that Avalon was flying the spaceship now. I saw CC lean forward and whisper something in Carlos’s ear. He smiled a second, then whispered something in her ear. I laughed as I saw CC try to contain her excitement. CC then noticed us and blushed deeply. She came jumping over to us.

“Guess what happened?”

“We know what happened.” Mahi said.

“So you all were watching me?”

“Yeah.” Margot responded.

“Stalkers.” CC muttered, still smiling, and walked over to Carlos again. I got up and went with her, but fell over when we hit something.

“I’ll go see what is wrong.” Margot said.

“Good idea.” I told her, getting on my feet again and stabilizing myself by grabbing onto a chair. I sat down, and a few minutes later, Margot appeared and her face was white - like she just saw a ghost.

“What’s wrong?” CC asked.

“An asteroid hit our spaceship. It took out an engine.”

“Well, that isn’t so bad, right? As long as we have at least two, it should be fine.” Mahi said, putting her hand up to her chin like she was thinking.

“That’s what I thought. But apparently, this ship was poorly designed, with only two engines. We lost one, so we’re going to have to make a pit-stop on the Orange Clan’s planet to repair the engine.”

“Uh oh… that won’t be good.” CC said. Mahi rolled her eyes.

“Why not?” I asked.

“Well, one time, and I mean ONE TIME, I was paid to take a ship over here and… steal from these people.”

“What?” We all gasped.

“It was so I could feed my family.”

“Who did you steal from?” Margot asked.

“The King.” She said, “And I know what you guys are going to say, so don’t say it, please.” We went the rest of the way in silence. When we arrived, Mahi was the first to say something.

“CC, if you don’t want to, you don’t have to actually come. You can hide in the ship.” She said,

“No. I am going to do this.” CC said, grabbing Carlos’s hand. When we touched down, she was the first out the door. Avalon met up with us and walked outside, too.

“C’mon! It’s safe!” CC said. Me, Mahi, and Margot walked behind Avalon, CC, and Carlos. As we were walking, I thought I heard some noises in the bush behind us, but I wasn’t too worried, because it was windy. Then I heard voices.

“Stop right there!” Someone shouted. We all looked behind us, and saw two guards standing there.

“Where are you going?” One of them demanded. I couldn’t come up with anything, and neither could anyone else.

“You’re going to have to come with us.” The other said, and I got knocked out.

When I opened my eyes, I couldn’t see anything. I tried to move around, but my hands and feet were tied together. I heard some voices, but I couldn’t make out what anyone was talking about. Then I saw a blinding white, and it took forever for me to see again. Once I was able to, I looked around. I was kneeling on a red and golden mixed rug. I followed it with my eyes and it led to a throne. A person with orange skin was sitting on it. I heard a noise behind me, so I turned my head around. All of my friends, including Carlos, had bags over their heads. I turned back to the person sitting on the throne.

“Hello Avalon.” He said.

“Hi. Listen, we only need to be here to-” I started.

“Fix your engine.” He said for me, “I know. And sorry for bringing you in here like that - I had tried to tell the guards to be gentle.”

“Why would you help us?” I asked. He leaned forward, like he was trying to whisper a secret in my ear.

“Because I know what the Entity is doing. I know the prices that we’ll pay if we do not follow you. I have already sent word to the Light Purple Clan, the Blue Clan, and the Pink Clan.”

“How did you know all of our Clans?” I asked the King of the Orange Clan.

“Silly of me. I forgot to tell you, you’ve been asleep here for a day. I have studied you all, skin, too, but do not worry, and I have sent word to your families and everything. You should not get the rude welcome that you received when you came here.” I smiled gratefully.

“Thank you, Your Majesty.” I bowed, and he came over to me.

“I will give you rooms for your stay until your spaceship gets fixed, which I have arranged for my men to do it for you.”

“Oh, thank you, but I think I can do it myself.”

“Oh, nonsense! You must rest before you head out again.” Then he untied the rope on my hands and feet, did the same to the others, and led me away from them.

“What will become of them?” I asked, wondering why he was having me leave them. He looked down at me and put his arm around my shoulder.

“When they awake, I will have them come up to your room with the maids.” I didn’t like the idea of leaving my friends with someone whom we did not know.

“It’s fine, I can stay here and wait for them to wake up.”

“I think it would be best for you to come with me.” The King said stubbornly, but I was not going to give up without a fight.

“N-no. I will not leave my friends here alone.” I said. The King must’ve noticed that I wasn’t going to give up, so he took his arm off of me.

“Alright. Do as you wish. You’ve got fire in you, young one.” He said, and walked down the hallway. I curtsied to him, though I didn’t know if he was paying attention to me anymore. I turned around and headed back to my friends. After waiting for a few more hours (with snack and bathroom breaks), all of them woke up at almost the same time.

“Where are we?” CC asked, who was the first to speak.

“In the palace of the Orange Clan’s King.” I said, sitting up. I had been laying on the ground for a couple of minutes.

“Did he say anything about me?”

“No, you’re fine! In fact, he’s kind of nice. Not what I was expecting at all.” I told her as Ruhani stirred.

“Hello!” She called as soon as her eyes opened, “Wait. I am tied up…” She looked down at herself, and not realizing that we were here with her, she began kicking with both feet at Mahi, who was tied up beneath her.

“Hey!” Mahi cried as soon as Ruhani’s foot came in contact with her, “Stop, Ruhani, it’s me!”

“Oops. Sorry.” Ruhani said, and her cheeks went scarlet. I laughed.

“It’s okay. I’ll get you out.” I said after I finished with CC. As I was walking over to Ruhani, Margot jumped up.

“STAY AWAY FROM MY FRIENDS.” She yelled, looking around.

“Geez, we’ve got two protective nuts on our hands.” CC said when Margot realized no one was in here besides us.

“Don’t forget about me!” Carlos called. I admit, I did forget about him. He was tied up in the corner of the room.

“We can go to our room now.” I said after untying him and everyone. Then I heard the noise of shuffled footsteps. I looked towards the doorway, where the sound came from, and there was a woman standing there, dressed in rags. She couldn’t have been older than 23.

“Come. I will show you where you will be staying.” She said, and led us up a staircase. After turning down a long hallway, the woman came to a halt.

“Here is your room.” She said and opened the door. We all walked inside, and she came in and closed the door behind all of us.

“There is a bed for each of you, some extra clothes in the drawers, and a bathroom with fresh towels. Let me know if you need anything.” She said in a robotic voice, and turned to leave, but I had an idea, so I called her.

“What is your name?” I asked.

“Maren.” She responded. I grabbed some of my clothes out of the drawer, and held my arm out for her to get them.

“These are for you, Maren. Let us know if you need anything, or the other maids.” I said, and she thanked me. Then she grabbed the clothes and walked outside. After we settled, there was a knock on the door.

“Come in!” Mahi said automatically. The door opened slowly and there was a boy our age standing there. He looked like a chef.

“I made some snacks for you all.” He said, looking at everyone. Then he went around and handed the pastry he made to all of us personally, until he got to Ruhani.

“What is your name?” They asked each other at the same time.

“Ruhani.” Ruhani told him.

“Cool. My name is Jaylen.” He said, and they stared into each other’s eyes. I looked at Ruhani, and I swear, I could see fireworks in her eyes as she was looking at Jaylen. As soon as she met him, she went really quiet, which was unusual. After four minutes of them staring at each other, Carlos spoke up.

“Are you guys done yet?” Ruhani and Jaylen blushed, and Jaylen went outside. We all instantly looked at Ruhani. Her blush deepend.

“Lay off, will you?” She muttered under her breath, and she tried to hide her smile, but I could still see it.

“I think you know, Ruhani, but-” Margot started.

“Yes, I do know. It is dangerous to fall in love with someone who is not the same color as you. I’ve been taught that since I was little. But the rules need to be changed. It’s… it’s not right.”

“Once we defeat the Entity, I will make that legal for you, and for anybody who wants to have a family with someone outside their Clan. Is that alright?” I asked Ruhani.

“Thank you, Avalon. That would be fantastic. But can we take him with us, like we did with Carlos?”

“Yeah!” Carlos came in, “It would be nice to have more males here with us.” After eating dinner in our room, we thought it was best to go to sleep after so we could get up early the next morning.

When I woke up, it was still dark outside. But I knew that it was morning, because I heard the noise of feet scurrying past the door every few minutes (I thought they were maids.) I looked around and Avalon and Ruhani were already awake, and they were enjoying some cinnamon breakfast rolls that I assumed Jaylen had brought in. I got up from my bed and walked over to them.

“Oh, hey Margot!” Ruhani said.

“Yeah, hi!” Avalon said, breaking another roll in half and giving it to me.

“Thanks!” I accepted it happily and sat down next to them.

“So we’re thinking that instead of going to Mahi’s Clan next, we’d go to yours.” Ruhani told me. I nodded, with food still in my mouth.

“It is the closest to here and is also close to mine, so we’d head there once the ship is fixed.”

“Do you think the Orange Clan is evil?” I asked, once I swallowed.

“Nah, they seem alright.” Avalon said, “Why do you ask?”

“Well, first, they tied us up in the beginning,” I started, “They won’t let you work on the ship, Avalon, and they even locked us in the bedroom at night. What do they think we’re going to do? Use the King’s bathroom?”

“You forgot the part where they almost didn’t let me see you after I was the first one to wake up.” Avalon added, staring at her breakfast.

“Yeah, but I don’t think so. They all seem too nice to be evil.” Ruhani said. Mahi sat up suddenly and looked over at us.

“Those smell so good.” She mumbled, and her tired self got up and out of bed to come over to us.

“Oh, the rolls are gone. I better go get some more.” Ruhani said, and offered Mahi her seat. She accepted while Ruhani flew out of the room. A few minutes later, she came running back in with another box of cinnamon rolls and a worried look on her face.

“I just heard from Jaylen that the King’s son, Jared, who is 16 years old, heard of you giving Maren clothes, Avalon, and is furious. I reckon we need to spend the day hiding, just in case.” Ruhani said, taking long inhales to calm herself down.

“Why does Jared care?” Avalon wondered out loud, “And I am sure we could take him down.”

“Listen, he is the type of person to beat up little kids for no good reason. And besides, he is the Kings’ SON. The King would be very mad at us for hurting Jared, I’m sure.”

“Okay. We’ll spend the day in here. You could have Jaylen get us food.” Mahi suggested.

I said, “I am thinking that that plan wouldn’t work. Jared would know where we are staying, and if we lock the door, I am sure he could come in by kicking it open or something. So what if we found a new place to go? Like the garden, or the maids’ room.”

“I think that would work, but we should wake CC up so we can tell her about our plan and what’s going on.” Ruhani said, walking over to her bed. Now, there are some people who would wake someone up in a rude way. Ruhani was one of them.

“WAKE UP!” She yelled, then laughed. CC instantly sat up and looked around.

“What’s happening? Why did you wake me up so early?” CC asked while rubbing her eyes.

“The King has a son named Jared, and he found out that Avalon gave Maren clothes, and he’s mad. He’s going to try to ‘attack’ us, I think. We need somewhere to hide until the end of the day. I’ll explain the rest later.” Ruhani said briefly. CC got up and grabbed her clothes.

“Okay.” She said, and grabbed a cinnamon roll. We walked down the stairs slowly, hoping that barely anybody was awake yet.

“Where are we going to go?” I asked in a low whisper.

“The garden seems like a good idea - we can hide in many spaces as well as we can run around.” Ruhani said, and everyone else agreed with her.

We went down the hall and almost reached the back door when someone called out to all of us.

“Wait!” They said, and we turned around. It was Jaylen.

“What?” Ruhani asked.

“Don’t go out there. Jared takes his morning walk out there. He will surely see you.” Jaylen said, “You better come with me. I know a good place to hide you where Jared won’t find you.” Jaylen led us upstairs again, but this time, instead of turning right to go to our room, he went left. Walking down an unfamiliar path, I was nervous. I didn’t know if Jaylen should be trusted yet. He stopped when he got to a door.

“Where are we?” CC asked, grabbing onto Carlos’s arm.

“This is Jared’s room. He barely ever comes in here, unless the Queen makes him fetch something for her, or makes him clean, which is rarely the case. You should be fine here!” Jaylen said.

“Where are we going to stay?” I asked, looking around. There was a giant bed in the center of the room (which looked like it had not been made in a long time) and pretty much everything was covered in gold, but you could barely see it because most things were covered in dirty clothes.

“You can walk around and everything, just if he comes in here, hide in his closet. It’s big enough. I will come to get you when dinner’s ready and it’s safe to come out.” Jaylen said, walking out of the room while closing the door.

“Well… I guess we’re staying in here for the rest of the day.” CC said, walking around.

“If we’re going to stay here, we might as well clean it up.” Ruhani said, picking up a pile of clothes. CC stared at her in amazement.

“What’re you doing?” She asked. Ruhani looked up at her.

“I am cleaning the room.” Ruhani went back to picking up clothes and putting them in a bin, which I thought was a dirty laundry basket.

“Stop! This Jared fellow apparently wants to hurt us because we only gave the maid some clothes, and now you’re helping him?!” CC practically yelled.

“I don’t want to leave this place a mess.” Was Ruhani’s defense. She went back to cleaning while we all stood around, waiting for something exciting to happen. As we all stood there, none of us knew that the door had opened.

“Who do we have here?” Someone asked, and I turned around, who I assumed was Jared.

“You have Avalon, CC, Mahi, Margot, and Ruhani here. What can we get you?” Margot asked.

“Oh, so you are the ones who gave Marlen the clothes?” Jared asked, and stepped forward.

“Yes, I did. And I won’t regret it.” Avalon told him.

“You’re going to regret it when I beat the living daylights out of you.” Jared smiled, cracking his knuckles.

“We’re not afraid of you. In fact, I bet we could take you down. We’re all a lot stronger than what you think.” I said confidently.

“Don’t be so sure about that.” Jared said, and stepped toward me. Instantly everyone else was by my side. Ruhani snuck around behind him and jumped on his back, hitting Jared’s head. CC then ran next to Ruhani and locked Jared’s arm behind his back. Carlos got the other arm and did the same thing. Avalon ran forward and kicked his leg, to push him down on the ground. Margot disappeared and came back, holding the laundry basket. She came over, and brought it down upon his head. Jared was a little dizzy, but it was not enough, so I kicked him, and then he went unconscious.

“Oh, we’ll be sure about it because we just annihilated you.” CC told the unconscious body.

“Well… now that we took care of him, do we really need to stay hidden in this gross room for the rest of the day?” I wondered.

“Well, I don’t think so.” Ruhani said, “But I should go ask Jaylen. He’s been here a lot longer than we have, and would know what to do.” She said and quietly opened the door and crept down the hall, out of view.

“In the meantime, what should we do with him?” Margot asked, nodding her head in the direction of Jared.

“I have an idea. We could hide him in his closet, at least until he wakes up.” Carlos suggested. CC smiled up at him.

“I think that’s a great idea!” She said, and I helped them lift Jared into the closet, purposefully putting clothes in the way of seeing him, then we shut the doors.

“He should be good in there for a little while.” Avalon smirked.

“Yeah - at least until he wakes up and tells his parents.” Immediately after I said that, the door swung open. Ruhani stood there with her arm around Jaylen’s. I felt a weird pang of jealousy. Why, though?

“Jaylen says that the King has ordered for our ship to be completed today,” Ruhani said, “So we’ll hopefully be leaving at noon. Then, we will head to the Blue Clan’s world.” Ruhani said and sat down at the side of Jared’s bed.

“Wait, where’s Jared?” Jaylen asked. That was one of the first times that Jaylen actually spoke for himself, instead of Ruhani doing it for him. Now, don’t get me wrong! I totally think it’s cool for Ruhani to find her own guy - especially thinking that she said she never wanted to be in a relationship like that. But I feel like she’s parading it around everywhere.

“We threw him in his closet.” Margot said unemotionally. I laughed, not knowing how she could keep a straight face.

“Well, anyways, let’s get out of here before we wake him up.” Carlos suggested, and we all made our way outside in the garden, the place we wanted to visit previously. After staying the whole day there (with playing some games and Jaylen bringing us lunch), we got called for dinner, which the King requested we come.

“D’you suppose that Jared will be there?” Carlos asked as he followed us up the steps of the palace.

“He should be. He awakened an hour ago.” Jaylen said, holding open the door for everyone. We stepped into the big, open room silently, and sat down. CC was on my left, then Carlos, then Margot. Ruhani was on my right, then Avalon. Ruhani had begged Jaylen to come with us but he insisted that it wasn’t “right”. I honestly agreed with Ruhani. Jared was next to Avalon, with the king and queen on either end. I was glad it was Avalon sitting next to Jared - she could definitely take him out.

“I have fixed up your ship!” the King announced, “You shall be able to take it and leave after dessert.”

“Oh, thank you so much, Your Majesty!!” Avalon said, and we all tried to finish dinner as quickly as we could.

“Well, thank you, Your Majesty, for the lovely food and hospitality, but I think we may have to leave now.” Margot said when we all finished.

“Wait! I want to ask you one question.” Ruhani said, standing up, “Your Majesty, I have to inform you that I have fallen in love with Jaylen, the little chef. Would you be so kind as to let him come with us on our journey?” She asked politely. The King looked her up and down.

“You know that it is illegal to cross-Clan’s like that, right?” He asked.

“Oh, yes, I do.” Ruhani nodded.

“Very well. I see no reason to stop you from taking Jaylen with you. Just make sure he stays safe. That boy will be very useful.” The King said, and Ruhani let out a squeal.

“Oh, thank you! Thank you so much! You won’t regret your decision.” Ruhani said, and the rest of us stood up.

“I’ll go get Jaylen!” Ruhani said, and ran down the hall as we made our way to the garage, where they kept our ship.

“Thank goodness we got out of there without Jared making a fuss.” Avalon said, opening the big drop-down door.

“We better hurry, or he will tell them.” I said as I stepped into the ship, feeling the comfort of home again. Ruhani entered the ship a couple minutes after we did with Jaylen.

“We have to hurry. I ran past the dining room and I overheard Jared telling the King and Queen what we did. I think the King is very angry. Avalon, go to the captain’s area and start driving it.” Ruhani instructed.

“Okay, okay!” She muttered, and disappeared. Soon after, we lifted off of the ground, only to see the King enter the garage. But in seconds, we were out of there.

“Oh, thank God.” CC said, sitting down, “I thought we’d never make it.”

“Yeah.” I sat down next to her. Avalon came back a little bit later.

“I put the ship on autopilot mode, so we should be good to sleep here for the night. Or, at least until I wake up.” Avalon said, grabbing some blankets from a cupboard.

“Okay. Sleep well, everyone.” I said.

“Goodnight!” They all replied.

I went to sleep pretty quickly, and soon enough, I entered a dream.

“Hi, little ones.” I said, looking into my arms. There, laid three babies.

“Congratulations, ma’am.” Said someone who was sitting next to me, “What will you name them?” He asked.

“I like… Axel and Asher for the two boys, and Abel for my little girl.” I found myself saying. I had just realized that I had given birth to triplets. As I held them in my arms, I could actually feel me holding my babies, even though it was just a dream.

I turned to my left and I almost saw who I was married to, only the dream faded away before I could. When I woke up, it was morning, I assumed. I didn’t have the time-tracker in my room.

“G’morning.” Ruhani said, rubbing her eyes. It looked like she just woke up, too.

“Good morning. Hey, did you have any weird or cool dreams last night?” I asked, trying to work my dream into a conversation.

“No. At least, not that I can remember.” She said, “Why? Have you?”

“Yeah, I had a really cool one.” I said. She bounced over to me.

“Tell me about it! Please!” She begged. I laughed quietly.

“Okay, sure. Apparently, I was the mother of triplets. Two boys and a girl. The boys’ names were Axel and Asher. Then the girl’s name was Abel. Abel was born first, then Axel, and then Asher. It was so weird, because even though it was a dream, I could actually feel it when I was holding them.”

“Woah, that is weird. Who was the other parent?” She asked.

“I don’t know. I got sucked out before I could see them.” I sighed, “I just wish I knew who it was. Can I tell you something about me that sometimes happens?”

“Sure!”

“Well, sometimes I can… see into the future.” I said slowly. I knew how she was going to react, because anybody I tell reacts the same way.

“Woah, that’s so cool! Can you tell me if I end up marrying Jaylen? Like, right now? Please!!!!” She begged, and I shook my head.

“No. It doesn’t work like that. Sometimes, when I am sleeping, I’ll get these weird dreams that feel like it lasts 5 seconds. Like, for example, me bungee jumping or something. Then, the next day, I’ll end up bungee jumping for real, and it will go the same way it went in my dream, though I have never bungee jumped before. It’s like deja vu, though I haven’t done it before. And it only happens on some nights, not always every day.” I said. Ruhani looked at me with wide-eyes.

“Woah! That’s strange! So, does this mean that you’ll end up having triplets when you are older?” She asked me.

“I don’t know.” I responded.

“Well, that was fun. I am going to wake up Jaylen and ask if he can make those yummy cinnamon rolls he makes!” Ruhani said, and as she walked toward his bed, I walked to the flying deck. After flying for what felt like another hour, I saw the Blue Clan’s planet. It looked so cool!

“Hey, Avalon?” Margot asked.

“Yeah?” I said without turning around.

“I got you a cinnamon roll. You should eat one before Ruhani eats them all.” She said, and handed me one on a napkin. I took a bite out of it.

“Thank you so much!” I said, and she walked out. Very quietly, I heard her say “We’re almost to my Clan. Oh, and Ruhani? Maybe you should pace yourself.” I laughed to myself, knowing how much Ruhani loves those rolls. The big blue planet kept coming closer, until I could see individual buildings and trees lined up. When I landed on the ground, I heard shrieks (of joy…?) coming from my friends. I went back to them and everything looked fine - they were just sitting on the chairs.

“What happened?” I asked, grabbing my bow.

“Nothing! We’re just... playing a game!” CC said.

“What game?” I asked, being nosy on purpose, “Oh, by the way, suit up.” I told them.

“Okay! And we were just playing…” Ruhani stuttered.

“Just a game!” Mahi said, “But I forget what it’s called.”

I knew they were not going to tell me what was really going on, so I decided to drop the topic. Everyone stood up to get their weapons (luckily we had extra for Carlos, Jaylen, and whoever else we meet down the road.) I opened the door, and took a deep breath. The air was so cool, with a gentle breeze blowing - also my favorite weather.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Margot asked, “It has been like this forever, and, I hope, it always will be.”

“Yeah. Now, come along everyone. We have to move swiftly.” I said, slinging my bow across my shoulder by the string. I stepped outside, and started walking. Soon after, we were all walking fast, just waiting until we came to civilization.

“Well, well, well.” An unfamiliar girl’s voice said. I looked around, but I couldn’t see anything in the thickly dense forest.

“Wait a minute.” Margot said, looking around, “What is your name?”

“Pereign.” Pereign said. Margot gasped.

“Pereign?! Show yourself!” She called. A girl (again, about our age) stepped into the one spot of sunlight that came through the treetop. She was a brunette with skin as white as snow, with a very noticeable blush. Her hair came down to her shoulders, and she had freckles lined underneath her eyes. Margot gasped out loud again.

“Is it really you? Are you the person of… my Clan?” Margot asked.

“Oh, yes indeed, I am. And I still remember what you did to me all of those years ago.” Pereign said.

“I’ve told you many times before! I did not do that! Someone set me up so our friendship would break!” Margot cried.

“Save it. I will not listen to you or your lies anymore.” Pereign said, drawing out her sword.

“I do not want to fight you, Pereign. But I must do it for the greater good. If we do not succeed in this battle… our Clans will perish.”

“Wow, you sound like you’re an old, smart lady.” CC joked.

“Maybe I am. You’d never know.” Margot said, and I laughed.

“Stop laughing, and get ready to battle me.” Pereign said, and she lunged at us. She went for Margot first, and we ran back at her. CC put her arms in the metal fists, and out came her armored self. She got to Pereign before we could (and before she reached Margot), and slid underneath her, and punched her legs, so she fell. Mahi tackled Pereign and pushed her into the soft soil.

“Don’t move.” She said in her ear. But Pereign didn’t listen, and turned around on her back, and kicked Mahi into the air. Carlos and Jaylen tried to grab onto her, but she was too slippery (as well as too skilled for them), and knocked them away. Ruhani ran up to Pereign and fought her while Margot grabbed a branch from a nearby tree. I was shocked, and just stood there. Pereign was stronger than most of us - how would we be able to overthrow her?

“Avalon, we need your help!” Ruhani cried as she blocked one of Pereign’s blows with her shield. I finally snapped out of it, and pulled my bow off of my shoulder and raised it.

“But what if I hit one of you?” I called.

“We’ll be okay!” Margot said. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and fired one of my arrows. I heard a cry, so I opened my eyes. My arrow was in Pereign’s leg.

“I am so sorry.” I said, as a tear slipped from my eye. I fired one more, and it was over again.

“We should get to the ship before Avalon visits the Entity. I don’t want to spend extra time trying to get her unconscious body into the ship.” CC said, standing up and brushing the mud off of her pants.

“Yeah. I don’t want to be a burden to you guys at all.” I said, and we started walking again. And, just as I hoped would happen, I collapsed as soon as I entered the ship.

“This is getting old.” I said, once I was in the all-familiar white room again.

“Well, it’s nice to know you like to keep in touch with me.” The Entity said.

“So what’ll it be this time?” I said, ignoring its comment, “Are you able to physically move my body now? Am I going to turn into a zombie when you control me?” I asked impatiently.

“Calm yourself, young one. You seem excited. Anyways, now, after you killed Pereign, I can visit you at any time I’d like. But, no, you won’t be able to see me. I’ll be in your mind the whole time, talking to you, as well as seeing your thoughts when you are talking to someone.”

“That’s lovely.” I said, crossing my arms. I wondered if the Entity knows sarcasm.

“Yes, it is for me.” Apparently not.

“Well, if I am going to live with you, what are you?” I asked.

“I am an Entity.” It said, “You know that.”

I said, “That’s not what I mean. Are you male or female? What’s your name? Those things.”

“Entities don’t have genders - or, at least, I don’t. And I don’t have a name, either.” Its voice rang on the walls.

“One more question before I can leave, why do you tell me the next thing you can do? I feel like you’re letting me off easily.” I told him, my arms still crossed.

“Well, I have to do it. My station right now won’t let me. And it wouldn’t be fun to head into a battle unprepared, right? So, this is your heads up.”

“Well, that’s kind of you.” I said as the floor seemed to drop. I fell through it, and when I woke up, I was back in the ship with my friends. I didn’t realize that I looked so mad.

“What’s wrong, Avalon?” Ruhani asked, noticing my face.

“Just that the Entity is getting stronger by the minute.” I said.

“Well, we only have two more people left.” Mahi reasoned, “Do you think you can handle it?”

“Oh, I can. I promise that I won’t let it slow me down.” I said confidently.

“Don’t be so sure. I will wear you down like a crayon.” A voice inside my head said. I realized it was the Entity.

“I’m going to go fly the ship now. We are going to Mahi’s world next. And, by the way, Ruhani, I am fit enough to fly it. I know I am.” I added when I saw Ruhani open her mouth to say something.

I walked to the captain’s area and sat down in the big chair. When the engine started, I flew it up and away, before I disturbed the Blue Clan’s people. Margot came in a little bit later.

“Hi!” She said happily and sat down in the chair next to me.

“Hello!” I said by instinct.

“I know you are wondering why I am here. I just want to learn how to fly, in case you pass out suddenly and we’re up in the middle of nowhere.” I laughed.

“Well, you have a good sense.” I said, then pointed to the squared-shape heap of a steering wheel.

“This is the steering wheel.” I said. She scowled playfully.

“I know what a steering wheel is. Show me the good stuff!” Margot complained.

“Alright, fine. This is the throttle. You have to push it in order for the ship to actually get up to speed to fly. When you reach 850, which this device says when you have, you push this button that opens the engine to fly. Then, put your foot on the gas and you can bring this up to fly.” I explained, and we spent the rest of the time flying and laughing. Though a few times I thought I heard a ‘hmm’ in my head.

We were almost in the atmosphere of the Light Purple Clan when we both decided it was time to go to sleep for the night.

“I’ll go back to tell them that we’re going to take a break to sleep. Just come when you are done.” Margot said, getting up and walking towards the door.

“Okay, I promise.” I said, looking back out the windshield. After I had ‘parked’ the ship, I walked back to where everyone was. The lights were off, so it was dark, and I didn’t want to wake anyone up, so I just tried to feel around to find my bed. I found an empty spot on a bed, so I went to lay down. Just as I was about to put my head on the pillow, I felt something snap inside of me, and then I wasn’t there anymore. I had no more control of my body.

When I woke up, everyone was awake - except for CC and Carlos. They were perfect for each other. I noticed that everyone who was awake was crowding around something, or someone.

“What’s going on?” I asked. Ruhani came to my side. She looked scared.

“It’s… uh… Avalon.” She finally said, “You weren’t here when Avalon explained this to us, but you know how there’re these ‘bad guys’?” She asked.

“Yeah. What about them?”

“Well, everytime we… kill one, Avalon gets sent to an Entity. Everytime she sees it, he gets stronger. And, no, she cannot avoid it. So, it eventually got strong enough to control Avalon. The Entity is doing that now, and we basically have to wait until she snaps out of it.” Ruhani grabbed my hand and pulled me towards what they were all gathered around. She has such a tight grip, and strength.

“He knows.” Ruhani said to everyone else, and they made a bit of a gap between their circle to let me through. Avalon was sitting on a chair, tied up.

“I’ll go wake up CC and Carlos and tell them what’s happening.” Mahi said, “At least I can wake them up quietly.” She said, and stared daggers at Ruhani.

“What?! It was her fault, she wouldn’t wake up.” Ruhani said, looking at the floor, and I could see that she was smiling. She had such an amazing smile. Margot, thankfully, brought the topic back to Avalon.

“What should we do about her?” She asked, nodding her head in Avalon’s direction, who was squirming frantically, trying to escape the rope that held her in place. She had no luck, though.

“I guess we wait?” I suggested, remembering what Ruhani told me before.

“Yeah, but we need someone to fly.” Mahi said, coming over here. I looked behind her and CC and Carlos were standing there.

“I can fly! Luckily she taught me last night.” Margot said, and walked through a door, and was out of sight.

“Well, while Margot is busy flying the plane, we can watch over Avalon.” CC smirked, cracking her knuckles.

“Just don’t hurt her.” Ruhani said, “Let me do it.” Ruhani walked up to Avalon (jokingly, I hope), but before she could reach her, Avalon’s head went limp, and her eyes closed. In a few seconds, her eyes opened again.

“What am I doing here?” She asked, trying to move her arms.

“Aww, dang it!” Ruhani muttered, still smiling, and walked over to untie Avalon.

“God, did it happen again?” She asked, looking at everyone with a concerned look on her face.

“Yup. Luckily I woke up in the middle of the night when it happened.” Said Mahi.

“Where’s Margot?” Avalon asked.

“She’s flying the ship.” I offered, and Avalon had an indescribable expression on her face.

“I only taught her the basics. I need to go there. Thanks for tying me up before I could do some damage to someone!” She said, and ran to the captains' quarters.

“Well, now we can wait until we land. We’re going to the Pink Clan, right?” Carlos asked.

“Yup! Now y’all be able to see where I grew up! And also see why I am always happy.” Ruhani added, looking directly at CC. CC rolled her eyes.

“Well, at least I can see the amazing area you lived in - hopefully it’s as magnificent as you.” I said, trying to work a compliment in there as well as steer the subject away from whatever CC was rolling her eyes about.

“Aww, thank you!” Ruhani said, blushing.

“Okay, let’s wrap up this love - fest, we have to get to the Pink Clan.” CC said, rolling her eyes.

“Well, we can’t do anything and Margot and Avalon get us there.” Ruhani shot back.

“Yeah, but we could help with not fooling around with Jaylen (I’m looking at you, Ruhani), and we could wait patiently.” CC said. Carlos nodded.

“Excuse me? Jaylen gave me a compliment, what am I supposed to do, not say anything?” Ruhani looked at me.

“Guys, it’s stupid to argue about something small like this.” Mahi said, walking over to us and stood in between CC and Ruhani.

“I’m playfully arguing, don’t worry! I am not sure about CC, though.” Ruhani said, staring at CC.

“Okay, fine. I am arguing PLAYFULLY, too.” CC sighed. After a little bit of talking (and fighting), Avalon came back with Margot, and announced that we had landed.

“Wow, I didn’t even feel anything different.” Carlos said, hopping out of the ship.

“I know, same.” I said.

As we walked down the road, I could see some of the lights on in a house. Then the door opened, and a woman was standing there.

“Who are you?!” Her voice rang out on the dark, lonely road. “How did you get here?!”

“Ma’am, listen.” Avalon pleaded, but the lady waved her hand, as if to wave away Avalon’s voice.

“I don’t want to hear it. 6 of you should not be here, especially since you are children. I will call the palace.” She said, and went back inside. Ruhani ran after her.

“Wait, Ruhani! You don’t know if she’s dangerous or not!” I called out to her, but she didn’t listen.

“Should we try to find the person for the Pink Clan? Or should we catch up to her?” CC asked, putting her hands on her hips. I knew she knew what the answer would be.

“I don’t want to leave her alone.” Margot said.

“Yeah, same. We’ll go in there for 10 minutes, at the most, to get Ruhani out.” Avalon said, and walked cautiously to the door. We all followed her, except for CC, who ran right in.

When we walked in, Ruhani was standing next to the woman, facing us.

“It is too late.” The woman said, and Ruhani dropped her head.

“Ruhani? What’s wrong?” Jaylen asked, but she didn’t answer. She didn’t even lift her head. I heard the sound of sirens outside.

“What’s going on?!” CC shouted over the noise. But I couldn’t answer. None of us could, because we got knocked out by knights from the Pink Clan’s palace.

***

“Where am I?” I asked, looking around. I was in what looked like a prison cell.

“Carlos? Is that you?” I heard CC ask. I got up and ran to the door, and I saw CC across from me.

“Yes, it’s me.”

“Everyone’s here.” Avalon said, “Right?” Everyone replied, except for Ruhani. We couldn’t hear from her.

“Maybe she isn’t awake yet?” Margot suggested, looking all around.

“No. I am not in there with you.” Came Ruhani’s voice, and a door opened. There she stood, with a couple people behind her. It looked like tears were about to fall.

“Ruhani, you… betrayed us!!” Mahi cried.

“No… I - I.” Ruhani tried, but it didn’t sound like she could find the right words. Everyone else wasn’t talking, I guess they were as stunned as I was.

Avalon said softly, “Ruhani, is it true?”

“No, it isn’t. I swear.”

“Mhm. Sure.” CC stubbornly said.

“I don’t know, I feel like she’s telling the truth.” Margot said.

“Prisoners, QUIET!” Snapped the person standing behind Ruhani. I thought I saw Ruhani shiver when he talked.

“Who’s he?” Mahi asked, looking at him sideways.

“He’s our- my King.” Ruhani said, and still shivering, she turned around and headed out the door with the Pink Clans’ King. It was quiet for a little while, until Avalon began to sing. Her voice echoed on the hard stone wall. It wasn’t anything really, just a low hum. But then as time went on, she started singing words. I haven’t heard the song, but still, it was really good. It kind of put me at ease, and as I looked at everyone else, they felt the same way.

After the song finished, the door opened once more, and Ruhani was standing there, but by herself.

“Ruhani, what’s going on?” Avalon asked, standing up.

“I’ll tell you later.” She said as she ran towards the key-holder. She grabbed a set of keys and ran to Mahi’s cell. Ruhani unlocked the door, and Mahi ran out. After unlocking everyone’s cells, Ruhani stood in the middle of the hallway, panting.

“We need to leave.” She said,

“Wait, what’s happening? And what about the person?” CC asked.

“Oh, you’re right. For now, let’s just get to the ship, and we’ll discuss our plan and come back in here.”

We all ran out of the dungeon and out into the open palace. There were bodies of guards laying around everyone.

“What HAPPENED in here?!” Margot cried as we ran.

“I had to… make a quick decision.” Came the reply. We ran the rest of the way in silence (while hiding -- and peeking over our shoulders -- from guards).

When we got to the ship, Avalon toppled over.

“What’s wrong?” Mahi asked, noticing.

“Oh, it’s nothing. I get very winded at small things.” Avalon said, wiping her forehead.

“Yeah, same.” Ruhani said.

“Okay, now that we are here, Ruhani, you must tell us what happened.” Jaylen said, inching closer to her.

“Yes, fine. The King threatened to me that if I did not do what he wanted me to, which was ‘join their side’ again, he would lock you all up forever, only bringing you out to use you as a form of torture to get to me. So, I confided in him, but I wasn’t going to keep that promise. When he and I (and a few guards) were alone, I struck him. He and everyone else is only knocked out, so we need to find Arol, my person, quickly.”

“Wow. Since when do you sound like Avalon?” CC asked jokingly, and I had to laugh. Everyone else did, too, and Avalon’s face went a bright red.

“I don’t always sound like that.” She defended herself.

“No, but 95% of the time you do!” Mahi added in.

“Anyways, let's not talk about this right now. We have to focus on getting to… Arol was his name?” Margot asked. Avalon looked over at her and gave her a ‘You just saved me, thanks’ look.

“Yeah, that’s his name.” Ruhani said, smiling, and stood up, “Alright. Let’s go get him, then we’d just need the Light Purple’s one - Mahi, that’s you - and then we’re off to the Entity.”

CC opened her mouth wide, “She’s doing it again!” She said in a sarcastic tone. Ruhani just rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, let's go now.” Jaylen said. Him and I both jumped down from the ship and walked ahead of the girls, leaving them to talk about whatever they were talking about.

“Are you nervous?” I suddenly asked, remembering that once this was all over, we would have to battle the Entity.

“What do you mean? What would I be nervous about?” He asked as we trudged along.

“When we have to battle the Entity. I mean, you’re risking your life out there, as well as Ruhani’s.”

“Yeah, but I feel that we’re good enough to defeat it.”

“But it is strong enough to take down Avalon. I don’t know if we’ll be strong enough, even if it is in the future.” I reasoned.

“Yeah, you may be right, but I’m sticking to my gut feeling. I feel like everything will go how we want, even getting to Arol, and whoever is in Mahi's clan.” Jaylen said, looking up at the sky, “But I don’t want to get too cocky and ruin everything, so I am not saying anything.”

“Yeah, I agree. I hope everything works out well, too.” I said, then we walked in silence, listening to the giggles and talking the girls made. Then I heard a rustle coming from the bushes. I looked around, thinking that it was a stray cat, or the wind. But way down deep, I found it to be concerning. I felt a shiver run up my spine.

“Do you feel that?” Jaylen asked.

“Yeah. Should we see if the girls feel it, too?” I asked.

“Okay.” We both turned around, and started walking to the girls, but they must’ve known something was up, because they dropped their chatter.

“What’s wrong?” Mahi asked.

“Oh, wait.” Avalon said, and walked closer to us. Immediately she started shivering. She continued walking, but she didn’t stop at us. She went past us.

“How far do we need to go until we reach Arol?” CC asked, “I’m freezing out here.”

“Just a bit further.” Ruhani said, squinting to see what Avalon was doing. I turned around and looked at her myself.

“What’s there?” Jaylen asked. Avalon turned to face us.

“Uhm, nothing.” She said, “We have to go to Arol now.” She said, and this time, she led the march. After walking for a bit, we heard a different noise.

“What is it this time?” CC asked, rolling her eyes.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot to warn you.” Ruhani said.

“Warn us about… what?” Margot asked cautiously, eyeing Ruhani.

“Arol always has a follower following him. No doubt that tradition will not change, so I assume we’re going to have to fight two people, maybe even at once.”

“And you didn’t think about telling us this before?” Mahi asked.

“Well, sorry, I forgot.”

“That doesn’t help us now.” I said, “Just get ready for a fight, whether there are two people there or not. It’s good practice.” I grabbed my sword from its sheath.

“Ah, that won’t be necessary.” Someone I did not recognize said. I looked around.

“Who are you?” Jaylen asked.

“Me? I am Sagar.” The guy said, and he came into the light, so we could see him. He also had his sword raised, and looked like he was ready to fight us.

“Who?” I asked.

“I am Sagar. Now, let’s fight.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Is Sagar a nickname, or your actual name?” I asked, trying to hold back a laugh. I looked out of the corner of my eye and my friends were getting ready to fight.

“Sagar is my real name. Now stop.”

“But…” I kept nagging him. I could tell he was getting frustrated, as well as distracted.

“No.” Sagar interrupted me, “Now, I will fight your friends.” He said, and turned away from me, but all of my friends were out of view.

“Oh, if you’re wondering where they went, they’re around here. I was just distracting you. So, good luck!” I said, and then my friends came out of the shadows. Sagar dropped his weapon in shock, so we all lept at him. I had nothing to use (as planned) so I grabbed a branch from a tree and ran at Sagar with it. After taking in some blows, Sagar collapsed.

“There we go, we got him. Time to move on to Arol.” CC said, taking off her fists.

“Wait,” Avalon said, walking over to Sagar, “He’s still alive.” She grabbed his shirt and hoisted him up into the air.

“What do you want from me?!” He shouted.

“Do you have any idea what is going on?! Do you want to sacrifice everyone in this galaxy?!” Avalon yelled, and I could see her eyes were screaming with anger.

“What do you mean, you witch?” Sagar shot back.

“HEY! You are NOT able to speak to my friends like that!” Ruhani butted in, staring into his eyes.

“Oh, look at you, still hanging onto your friends, huh?” Sagar smirked. Jaylen opened his mouth to say something, but Ruhani beat him to it.

“Oh, look at you, still being a khotha, huh?” Ruhani said, and Sagar didn’t say anything after that.

“Why is she with you guys?” He asked, looking at Avalon, then to Ruhani, then back to Avalon.

“Because she’s our friend.” I said, “And if you come after one of my friends, we’ll all come after you. You mess with the bull, you get the horns.”

“But what does, Avalon’s your name? What do you mean, ‘Do you want to sacrifice everyone in the galaxy’?”

“I’ll take you back to the ship and explain everything. Everyone else, continue walking on.” CC said.

“I’ll come too. I don’t trust Sagar, and if he escapes, we’ll jump and chase him down. Don’t expect to get anything from us, though.” Ruhani said, grabbing Sagar’s arm.

“Okay, let's continue moving on.” Avalon said, and led the lead, with Jaylen and Carlos following, then me and Mahi. I forgot about Mahi.

“Are you okay?” I asked her, “You haven’t said anything at all this whole time.”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She replied.

“Are you sure?”

“Yup! I’m just… observing, I guess.” She said, and that was that. After walking in silence for a bit (with the occasional chatter from Jaylen and Carlos trying to make small talk). Then, out of nowhere, someone appeared.

“Who’re you?” Avalon asked, putting her hand up to halt us.

“Arol, of course. I’ve been waiting for your arrival.” He said. He winked at Mahi, but she made a disgusted face.

Without saying anything, Carlos and Jaylen ran up to Arol and just started fighting him. And then they came back, and the fighting was over.

“I thought this was going to be a big battle scene.” I said, trying to cross my arms and act mad.

“Sorry. You can have one next time.” Jaylen said.

“Well, thanks for… doing this all for us, but I am sure we could’ve done it. Next time, let’s do it as a team.” Avalon said.

“Yeah, that works.” Carlos said.

“And by the way,” Mahi added, “the girls you were trying to protect and show off your fighting skills aren’t even here.” Avalon and I started laughing, while both of their faces went red.

“That wasn’t…” Jaylen started, but he was not a liar, so he dropped what he was going to say.

“Okay, let’s get back to the other girls now. I don’t want to leave them with Sagar any longer.” I said, then turned around. Avalon made sort of a gasping noise.

“You guys go ahead, I’ll catch up in a second.” She said, waving her hand along the path down the hill we were on.

“Uh, okay, I guess.” Mahi said, then the three of them walked away. I stayed there.

“Are you okay?” I asked, walking up to her.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just want to check something.” She said,

“You can tell me if something is bothering you. You know that, right? Friends are there for each other.”

“Yeah, I just saw something, and we don’t need to hold everyone up just so I can inspect it. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine!” I could hear in her voice that she wasn’t quite sure if she was selling it or not. I didn’t believe her, but I didn’t say anything.

“Okay. I’ll see you back in the ship.” I said, and headed down the hill. When I looked over my shoulder, Avalon was walking off of the path, and into the shadows.

Carlos, Jaylen and Mahi stepped through the door almost a half an hour after we left. I noticed that Margot and Avalon weren’t with them.

“What happened?” Ruhani asked, noticing the absence of two of our friends.

“We… lost them.” Mahi said, leaning her head over.

“WHAT?! How??” Ruhani asked, starting to tear up.

“When did you see them last?” I asked, fearing for the worst. Mahi picked her head up, and then dropped it again.

“I… didn’t know that you two are so gullible.” She said, then stood up straight. She was laughing.

“What do you mean?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at her.

“We didn’t really lose them, Avalon said she saw something, and Margot stayed back for something.” Carlos explained. I punched him and Mahi lightely.

“How DARE you do that to us?” Ruhani cried, wiping away tears that had started to form.

“Because it was funny!” Jaylen said laughing. It was Ruhani’s turn to punch him playfully.

“Do you know how far Avalon and Margot were from you?” I asked.

“Since when do you worry?” Ruhani asked.

“Well, we need them to fly us out of here, otherwise we’d be stuck here.” I said, looking out the door.

“Yeah. They weren’t that far behind, like five minutes away.” Jaylen said.

“Are you sure?” Ruhani asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Positive.” Carlos said for him, then walked off into another room.

“What do you guys want to do while we wait for Margot and Avalon?” I asked, resting my head on my palm.

“Well, I want to talk to Sagar.” Ruhani said, then grabbed his rope that tied him up and dragged him off to a different room.

“That leaves us.” Mahi said, sighing. She came and sat down next to me, “What do you want to do?”

“I wish we had a television thingy, then we wouldn’t just have to sit here.” I said.

“Yeah, me too. Hey, have you watched the show ‘Emerald Dust’ back at your home?” She asked, inching closer to me.

“That was like my favorite show, even when I was little. I still would like to watch it now, and see how it ends.”

“Do you remember how Johnathon asked Kelly to the prom, but it turned out that he already had a date?”

“Yeah, and how Kelly went with Jacob, Johnathan’s twin brother instead?” I was getting excited, remembering stuff from my past life, before I met my friends.

“Girl, that is like the best comeback anyone could make.” Mahi agreed, then her eyes lit up.

“Do you remember that game that was played at Kelly’s birthday party, Truth and Dare? Season three, episode eight?” She asked.

“Yup! Are you going to ask what I think you’re going to ask?”

“That depends. Are you thinking that I am thinking about us playing it?”

“Right again! Alright, I’ll go first.” I said, and then Jaylen stood up. I had forgotten about him.

“Well, I’m going to go see what Carlos is doing, so that way I don’t have to be in here listening to your ‘girl-talk.’” Mahi stood up and punched him.

“How dare you say that? What we say is very fascinating.” She told him, laughing.

“I’ll put that in my book, along with ‘So what do you think of this weather?’” He said, then walked off. He reminded me a lot of my older brother, Peter.

“Okay, so Truth or Dare, Mahi?” I asked her, continuing our very interesting conversation.

“Uhm, give me a truth. I know you like to be mean, so I won’t do any of your dares.” She said, leaning away from me and putting on a scared face.

“Okay, so do you have a crush on someone? It could be anybody in this whole galaxy.” I told her, smirking. She didn’t know I also had ‘mean truths’.

“Oh, you’re really going to make me say it, huh? Fine. I have a tiny, itty-bitty, ant sized crush on Jaylen.” She said, blushing.

“What? No way, you know that he likes Ruhani. And you don’t want to mess with her.” I whispered, keeping Ruhani from hearing.

“Yeah, I know. I just have a hunch that something will snap between those two. Don’t you?”

“I do not, no. But if what you say is true, then don’t worry.” I said, patting her on the head. We played a few more rounds of Truth and Dare before Margot and Avalon came in.

“There you guys are!” Mahi said.

“Yeah. Where are the others?” Avalon asked, coming in and sitting on the couch across from me and Mahi.

“They’re in their own rooms. Ruhani is interrogating Sagar while Carlos and Jaylen are in another room, talking about who-knows-what.” I answered.

“I better go see if Ruhani is hurting Sagar or something.” Avalon said, chuckling. She got up and walked swiftly to the room Ruhani was in.

“Oh, I have an idea!” Mahi said.

“What is it?” Margot asked.

“What if we had a half-party tonight? That way everyone can get away from work, we can all socialize and have fun!” Mahi said. She grabbed my attention at ‘party’.

“That sounds like fun! We can have it in the living room!” I said, getting excited.

“We could even have songs, like ones to dance to, fast songs and… slow songs.” Mahi said, wiggling her eyebrows at me. I laughed. Not because I could dance with Carlos the first time, but the fact that Mahi was trying to move her eyebrows and it came out like she was worried was funny to me. For an hour after that, me and Mahi planned out what we were going to at the party and everything, with Margot adding on to it. Then Avalon came back out of the room.

“What’s going on with Ruhani?” Margot asked.

“She said she wanted to talk with Sagar alone, so I left her alone. It’s true, she might beat the lights out of him, but she insisted on being alone.” She said, sitting down again.

“What are you trying to do, make me mad?! That won’t work out good in the end for you. Now tell me, why are you here? Why were you with Arol?” I shouted into Sagar’s face.

“Because Arol was my friend, okay? And also, Avalon said something about risking everyone’s life for my selfishness. What does she mean? If you can explain that, I’ll tell you what you want to know.” Sagar said.

“Fine.” So I told him all about what was happening with Avalon, the Entity, how we had to kill the five main bad-guys, everything. I did leave out the part with me and Jaylen, though.

“Wow. What I am going to say is going to sound annoying to you, but let me join you. I see now what is going to happen, and what will happen if you fail to defeat the Entity.” He said, looking into my eyes. That just made me more frustrated.

“I’ll think about it. I’ll also have to discuss it with my friends, so don’t hope for anything, you khotha. You should know what that means, idiot.” I growled into his ear.

“Calling me names won’t change the truth. You never liked me because I’m just smarter than you, but you better be smart now and let me join you.” He snarled back.

“Making wrong accusations shouldn’t happen if you were as smart as me, or more. Next time, say something that actually makes you sound intelligent.” I said, then I stormed out of the room, leaving him in the dark room, tied to a chair. When I got to the living room, everyone else was gathered there.

“What happened, did I miss someone’s birthday party?” I asked, trying to disguise my anger.

“No, but Mahi had a great idea. She said we should have a party, to get away from work and to have fun!” CC said, grabbing a plastic bowl from a cupboard.

“Ooh, that does sound fun.” I agreed, “What’s going to happen at the party?”

“There’ll be food, games, socializing, dancing, singing, and pretty much what every other party has.” Margot said, grabbing a bag of chips.

“Oh, and you’ll be able to dance during slow songs and fast songs!” Mahi said, winking. I sighed.

“Why does that make you think I’ll be dancing with Jaylen?” I asked.

“I mean, you will, won’t you?” Avalon smirked, leaning in on our conversation.

“I don’t know,” I said, getting ready to (playfully) fire back, “Who’re you going to dance with? You don’t have a dance partner.” I said. Avalon’s face went red, so I assumed she knew what I was talking about.

“That doesn’t matter.” She said, “And who says I have to slow-dance?”

“Everyone.” CC said. We all laughed, except for Avalon.

“I don’t know why this is so hard for you to understand, but I don’t want to dance with a guy.”

“You don’t have to.” I assured her.

“Okay, fine. I don’t need to have a dance partner to have fun, unlike some people I know.” She said, smiled, then turned away, her long dirty-blonde hair waving against her legs.

“Show off.” CC muttered, who’s black hair stood above her head in curls.

“When will the party be?” Mahi asked.

“Whenever you guys want, so 7-ish?” Margot suggested.

“I have no other place to be at the moment, so… that works for me!” I joked, laughing.

“That’s not a surprise.” CC said to herself, but I could still hear it.

I asked, “I’m sorry, what was that?” CC turned her head away from me to hide her smile.

“Nothing.” She said, then she, too, walked off to get some preparation for the party later tonight. I was excited. In fact, I was so excited that I had forgotten about Sagar.

I walked back into the room where I had left him in, and he was still there. I walked over to a nearby table and grabbed a scalpel (I wasn’t going to use it, I just wanted to make him nervous)

“What’re you doing with that?” He asked, leaning over to see what I had in my hand. I glanced at him.

“Nothing, just a standard preseasure.”

“Look, I’ll do whatever you want, just as long as you let me be your dance partner. For old times’ sake.” He said. I wanted to slap him across the face.

“First, how did you know about it? Second, if you’re forgetting something, I already have Jaylen. I don’t need attention-seeking lost souls such as yourself.” I said, turning around and looking at him.

“CC came in and told me for a second. And you don’t have to slow-dance with me. I want to show you that you can trust me, and this is the best way.”

I sighed, “Just because I agree to do this, doesn’t mean I suddenly like you. You, in my mind, are still an idiot. Remember that.” I said, and walked out of the room. I just wished that I could’ve scared him with my scalpel.

Ruhani came walking over to me after she came out of the room Sagar was in. She pulled me into a closet.

“What’s going on?” I asked, knowing this was urgent.

“It’s with Sagar. He wants to dance with me tonight.” She said, looking at the floor.

“But what about Jaylen?” I asked.

“Sagar said he’ll do whatever I want just as I dance with him. And I don’t know what to do. I really want to be with Jaylen, but this could help all of us.” She pondered.

“Well, do you want to?”

She said, “I don’t know, I was kind of hoping you would know what to do.”

I thought about it for a second, “Just go with your heart. If you think you want to go with Sagar, then it’s fine, you can do it. But if you’re afraid that doing that will mess up something with Jaylen, then don’t do it. Think about yourself for once.”

“Yeah, okay. Thanks, Avalon.” She said, then walked out, leaving me alone for a bit. I walked out and my friends were just finishing decorating. It was about time, because the clock next to me read that it was 6 : 30 PM.

“Well, does it look good?” Margot asked me, looking around in the tiny living room/kitchen.

“It looks amazing. I can’t wait for tonight, even if it is only a half an hour away.” I said.

“Yeah, me too!” CC said.

“Remind me, why are we doing this?” Carlos asked.

“Because we want to have fun. We’ve been doing nothing besides work, finding the next person needed, work, flying, all of the boring stuff. I just want to have a good time.” Mahi said, shrugging.

“Yeah, good idea.” CC said again, waving her hand in the air.

“You’re right, it was a good idea, if I do say so myself.” Mahi said, and walked away. I stood there, a bit confused and speechless.

“I’m the same around them, Avalon.” Jaylen said, smiling and winking, “Sometimes. I have no idea what they are talking about.” He said.

“Yes, but I’m sure they feel the same way with you and Carlos.” I said, smiled, and turned away from him. If Ruhani was going to go with Sagar tonight, that means that Jaylen would be date-less. I frowned and scrunched my nose, thinking about this. I did not want to dance with him, if he asked me.

“Can I ask you something?” Mahi asked me. I was relieved that she was not Jaylen.

“Sure, what’s up?” I said, walking over to a nearby couch with her and sitting down.

“Well, I heard someone say that Ruhani won’t be dancing with Jaylen, she’ll be dancing with Sagar for some unknown reason. Is this true?”

“Yeah, it is.” I told her.

“Okay, good. Well, not good that Ruhani won’t be with Jaylen, but good that… oh, nevermind.” She said, and stood up. With everything going on, it felt like everyone was treating this as a mini prom. Margot came up to me.

“I feel like everyone is treating this as a mini prom, or something.” She said, and I opened my mouth.

“I was thinking of that exact sentence just now.” I said, pretending to be amazed, like I just invented time travel.

“It’s like I’m a mind-reader!” She exclaimed. I laughed.

“Yeah, either that, or we can communicate with each other in our minds!” I said.

“Okay, tell me what I am thinking of right now.” She said. I pressed my fingers against my temples, pretending to read her mind.

“You are thinking… of a puppet named Whaley.” I said. Her eyes flew wide and her mouth opened, too.

“That is what I am thinking about!” She said, and it was my turn to drop my mouth.

“No way! Okay, you read my mind!” I said, then I started imagining my school that I went to, to learn how to fight. It was a thing all teenagers went to, once they were old enough to be sent on missions.

“You are thinking of a… battlefield.” She said, twirling her hand in front of my face. I let out a little laugh.

“Eh, close enough.” I said. She stood back up properly and looked at me.

“What do you mean ‘close enough’? Is it a yes or no? I NEED ANSWERS.” She pretended to be really mad, but it wasn’t really convincing. I laughed harder.

“It’s a close no behind a yes. I was thinking of a school where they teach us how to fight. That’s why I said ‘close’.”

“Well, next time, you could be a bit more specific, and this won’t come up.” Margot laughed, and I along with her.

“I’ll be right back.” She said, and then walked away. I glanced at the time and it was 6 : 51 PM.

“It’s almost time!” I warned, saying it to no one in particular.

“Ooh, goody. I can hear the music from here!” CC said, giddying with excitement. I’ll admit, for every passing minute, I was getting more and more excited about the party.

After standing there and looking out of the window for 10 minutes (which kept me amused, counting all of the spaceships that flew by), it was time for the party.

“Okay, everyone, let our before-the-Entity-and-Mahi’s-bad-person-battle-party commence!” CC yelled, and we all cheered.

“So dancing first?” I asked, walking over to the music booth. I was secretly hoping that I could slip in some of my favorite songs - song’s from Earth during the 1960’s - 1990’s era. CC walked over to me and eyed me.

“I know what you’re doing, Farr, and it’s not going to work.” She said, then she put on one of her favorite songs from one of her favorite boy-bands; one that I would find annoying.

“I will win sooner or later.” I muttered.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” She asked.

“Nothing.” I turned around and headed out to everyone else. They were mostly dancing by themselves, just in a group. I stood by the edge of the “dance floor”, waiting to get my turn at the next song.

I walked over to the playlist set up to see what Mahi and CC wanted next, and it was all of their favorite songs. As soon as the song finished playing, I paused it and let the next song I liked play. I stood there, thinking how CC was going to be mad when she found out I switched the songs. Then a bottle came flying at my head, but I dodged it.

“Next time, I won’t miss.” CC said, eyeing me and the phone she was using to play the songs. I shrugged.

“Next time, get a bodyguard.” I suggested, then I walked onto the dance floor and let the music take control of my body. After a few songs, CC and Mahi went to the side and started giggling. I immediately got suspicious of them, and wondered what they were doing. When the first few notes of the next song started playing, I knew what they did. They put on songs for us to slow-dance to.

“Alright I’m out.” I said, and walked out of the living room and into the kitchen, leaving Ruhani to dance with Sagar, CC to dance with Carlos, and Mahi to dance with Jaylen (which I could tell she was nervous about because she kept “shivering”.)

When I walked into the kitchen, I ran into Margot.

“I’m guessing you don’t want to dance?” I asked, dipping my chips into salsa.

“Nah, I don’t feel like dancing to this song.” She said, grabbing her own chip. I didn’t really know what to say, so we sat there in silence.

“Do you prefer this song, CC’s songs, or my songs?” I asked, trying to start a conversation.

“I guess your songs, I’m not really into CC’s and Mahi’s songs.” She said,

“Okay then. I’ll wait until after this song, then we’ll be able to listen to some good songs.” I said, glancing into the living room when the next song started playing, “Or, if you have any ideas, please put them on, because I cannot stand a whole night with these songs.” I said.

“Okay, cool. If any songs I remember pop into my mind, I’ll put them on. But you’ll probably know what it is before I put it on, knowing the fact that you can read my mind.” Margot laughed.

“Yup, that will definitely be a factor in it. Then I can warn everyone before you put it on.” I said, laughing too.

“Well, if you do, it’ll be the last thing you’ll remember.” She threatened, and still laughing, holding up a frying pan that was left on the stove.

“Okay, fine, I won’t say anything.” I promised.

“Good.” She said, then the song ended. We both looked at each other, wondering if the other would walk over to the music and switch it.

When the first few slow songs started, I got up to leave. I sat on the couch, watching everyone else as Avalon left the make-shift dance floor (which was just a rug laid out in one area). Soon after, Jaylen walked up to me.

“Would you like to dance with me?” He asked, smiling. I realized that Ruhani was dancing with Sagar now.

“Sure!” I said, smiling back. I took his hand and he led me to the dance floor, where he put his arm around me and we slowly turned around in circles. I looked at CC when we both faced each other, and she gave me a thumbs up. I gave one to her, and we both held back a laugh.

After the first two songs ended, “Viva La Vida by Coldplay” came on. I looked around and saw that Avalon and Margot were not here, so I figured they had something to do with it.

“Hey!” CC shouted, breaking apart from Carlos. She looked around, and walked over to a bottle of soda that was on the ground and threw it at Avalon, who was standing at the device to play music. It soared through the air, and when it hit her chest, it exploded, and a mud brown stain was left on Avalon’s dark-purple dress.. CC had thrown a bottle of soda that was full, “Told you I wouldn’t miss the next time.” She smirked.

“Well, it’s a good excuse I won’t be needing this dress anymore.” Avalon said, and walked over to the bathroom, “Thanks.” She said, then closed the door. I remembered that Avalon hated wearing dresses. If there was an excuse to not wear one, she would take it.

“Well, let’s continue dancing.” CC said. Ruhani walked over to the door of the bathroom and knocked. She said something, then ran down the hall and into a bedroom. I stopped focusing on them and focused my attention on Jaylen, who was still swinging me around in circles slowly.

When the song finished playing, I looked up at Jaylen. His cheeks were a burning red, and I assumed mine was too. I broke away from him, chuckling to myself a bit. I looked at CC, trying to see what to do, but she wore a frown. I walked over to her.

“Why’d you stop?” She hissed at me.

“Well, it was a bit awkward.” I said, looking her in the eyes. She glanced past me, then in a little bit, her eyes lit up.

“I know! Go get food with him, so you can still hang out. Now, if you don’t mind, I would like to dance with Carlos some more.” She said, then turned and looked at Carlos. I shrugged as I made my way to Jaylen.

“Would you like to get some food?” I asked him.

“Sure!” He said, and I slipped my arm in his, and we walked to the kitchen. When we walked around the island piece, Margot was standing there. She was eating some crackers, staring off into space, like she was deep in thought.

“Can I get some?” I asked her, and she looked at me.

“Help yourself.” She passed the bowl over to me. I happily grabbed a few and threw them into my mouth. After Jaylen helped himself to a few yogurt-covered pretzels, Avalon walked into the kitchen. She was wearing a purple tank-top with black shorts.

“Well, now at least I’m comfortable.” She said, pulling out a stool and sitting down on it.

“Well, you still look good.” I offered. Margot nodded.

“Yeah, if that’s what you’re worried about.” She agreed. Avalon’s cheeks reddened, like what happened to me with Jaylen.

“I’m not worried about that, but thanks anyways.” She said, smiling. I obtained a crazy thought in my mind just then. What if Avalon was also breaking the rules, like I was? I stared at her for a second, like I was trying to read her mind. She noticed me looking at her and raised her eyebrows, making that ‘What’re you looking at me for?’ and ‘Is everything okay?’ look. I nodded, trying to signal that it didn’t matter. She nodded back.

I walked back to the dance floor with Jaylen, with Avalon still fresh in my mind.

Mahi walked off with Jaylen. I stared after her, watching her leave. When she was out of view, I looked at Avalon. She was still sitting on the stool, flicking her thumbs together to the beat of the song that was on.

“I’ll be right back.” I said, jumping down from my spot on the counter.

“Okay.” She replied, not moving. I walked over to the songs and paused the next song quickly before it came on. Then I put on “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough (by Marvin Gaye)”, which is the first song I listened to with Avalon. I walked quickly back to the kitchen, and looked at her.

“Would you like to dance with me?” I asked, smiling, holding my hand out. She glanced up at me.

“Sure.” She said. She took my hand and we made our way to the dance floor. We stood, facing each other, everyone moving their bodies. At least this time CC wasn’t complaining about our song choice. In fact, I think she enjoyed it - at least for a little bit - as she danced close to Carlos. When the song ended, Avalon was breathing heavily, like she was hyperventilating.

“Are you okay?” I asked her, grabbing onto her arm just in case she fell over.

“I’m… fine.” She wheezed, trying to inhale and exhale, “I’ll be right… back. I’m going to sit.” She said, making her way to the couch farthest from where I was standing.

“If you need me, call for me.” I called after her.

“Yup!” She said back, sitting down, breathing heavily. I wondered what was going on. I grabbed a bottle of water, walked over to her spot on the couch, and gave it to her.

“Thanks.” She tried, still breathing hard, but it wasn’t as much as before.

“What happened?” I asked her.

“Well… I don’t know, honestly. I guess my lungs can’t take too much pressure or something. I’ve had this since I was a little kid, but I’ve never figured it out.” She said, “Nobody has really been around to help me though.” Avalon shrugged, while taking deep breaths in between sentences.

“What happened with your family?” I asked.

“I’ll only tell if you do, too.” She said, making a face.

“Fine.” I smiled, “But you go first.”

“Okay. I don’t know what happened to my mother and father, really. I only have memories of them from when I was about 3. The first person we had to battle was, as you know, my Uncle. I think he had something to do with the disappearance of them as well as my little sister. My older brother too, recently. But that’s why we had to kill him.” She said, looking at the ground.

“Oh. I’m sorry.” I offered. It was all I could say. But she picked her head up, and was smiling.

“Thanks. Your turn, now!” She said, as I sighed.

“You promised!” She said loudly.

“Yes. I did. Okay, fine. My father passed when I was little due to a heart failure. My mom is still alive, and is taking care of my older brother and younger sister. Well, she takes care of my sister. My older brother is old enough to fight for himself. He joined the army, so now he fights for our clan. Sometimes I worry about him, though.” I said. I didn’t know why I said this, it just came naturally.

“What’re their names?” Avalon asked.

“Ramona and Marcus.”

“Cool. My sisters’ name is Layla and my brothers’ name is Sylvaine.” She said, looking into my eyes.

“Nice.” I said, racking my brain to say something interesting. Avalon looked back at everyone dancing.

“If only it was that easy.” She said, trying to be quiet, but I could still hear.

“If only what was that easy?” I asked.

“Doing what they’re doing. Dancing, laughing, having fun, and doing it with someone they care about.”

“Why would that be hard?” I pondered out loud.

“I… let me just say, a lot of the time I say what’s on my mind. But there are some things that I like to hold in. This is one of those things. Could you not ask about it? I’m sorry if I’m coming across meanly.” She said, glancing back at me.

“No, you’re fine!” I said, “I promise I’ll drop the topic - for now.” I added.

“How dare you.” She faked a mad/disappointed face, but she couldn’t keep it for long, and her smile crept back in.

“Well, if you tell me something, get ready to hear it back, when the rumors are flying.” I grinned. She looked at me cautiously. “I’m kidding. I promise, if you tell me, I won’t tell anyone, unless you want me to.” I said, and her face expression softened.

“That’s good to know, thanks.”

“Well, that’s what friends should do.” I said. She looked up at the ceiling, like she was staring off into space.

“What’re you looking at?” I asked jokingly.

“Nothing. I’m just thinking.”

“Can you tell me what you’re thinking of? You don’t have to say anything.”

“Just… the laws. I guess it doesn’t make sense now, but it will later, hopefully.” She told me, smiled, then stood up.

“I’m fine now. I’ve had plenty of time to recover. Let’s dance again.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m positive.” She said, and we made our way back to the dance floor. As everyone gathered underneath the big light overhead that lit up the room like a single candle in a cave, I looked around at everyone, ending at Avalon. I thought about what she said before, about it not being easy to love, and I think I finally understood what she meant.

“Do you want to get some food?” I asked Ruhani.

“Sure. And, may I ask, when could I spend some time with Jaylen?”

I was having a great time with her, and it almost broke my heart when she said it, but I am not a monster.

“After we get some food. I promise.” I told her. She seemed happy with my response, and left the conversation at that.

She grabbed my hand and we walked to the kitchen. Just before we reached it, I got a glimpse of the clock. It said it was 11 PM. No wonder. I was already feeling the effects of the day starting to wear me down. Ruhani yawned.

“I’m starting to get tired.” She said,

“I was just thinking the same thing.” I told her. She smiled, then it dropped.

“Sorry. I’m not supposed to be enjoying this. You’re still a khotha.”

“And you’re still jealous of me.” I shot back.

“That’s funny because it is a big, fat ‘FALSE’. Try to get your facts right.” She said, putting her hands on her hips.

“Okay. Let me tell you the truth: You don’t like me. I sometimes can’t tolerate you. How about that?” I asked.

“Well, it’s the same for me. Sometimes I can tolerate you, but definitely not all of the time.” She said, and smiled again.

“Then I had told half of the truth. That still puts me a notch above you.”

“Since when did I lie?”

“When we were younger.” I replied straight away.

She gave me a look, “I’ve changed since then, unlike you, khotha.”

“Calm down, I was kidding. You get angry too quickly.” I informed her.

“Oh, you think that’s angry? Then you do not want to see me when I’m actually angry. I’ll give you the warning right now.” She said, grabbing some Veggie Straws out of a bowl and eating them.

“Gee, thanks.” I said, helping myself to some little bite-sized cupcakes. How in the world did they find some (and get my favorite flavor) I’ll never know, but they did it. Ruhani kept watching me.

“How do you like them so much?” She asked.

“I don’t know. Why do you like those Veggie Straws so much?” I asked back. Ruhani looked down at her hand.

“Is that what these are called?”

“Did you not know?”

“No. All I knew was that they’re good.”

“Well, I’m glad. For you, that is.” I said, then we sat in silence for a bit.

“I’m going to ask Jaylen if he would like to dance with me now. You’ll be good here for a little while, right?” She asked like a mother.

“Yup!” I assured her.

“Great, thanks!” Ruhani said, and turned and walked away. My eyes followed her as she walked farther and farther away from me, and to Jaylen.

“Uhm, Jaylen? Can I ask you something?” Ruhani asked me.

“Sure.” I said, then I turned to Mahi, who was still by my side, “I’ll be right back!” I told her, then followed Ruhani as she made her way to a hallway.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Would you like to dance with me now? Sagar let me off the hook as soon as we finished eating, so the deal’s done.” She said with a smile on her face. I could feel beads of sweat starting to form. I still liked her, but I kind of wanted to dance with Mahi.

“I… uhm- I don’t know.” I stuttered. Ruhani’s face still was cheery.

“You don’t have to say yes. I can go back to Sagar if you’d like.”

“No, I don’t want that. I just want to finish dancing with Mahi, first.” I told her.

“Okay. As you wish.” She said, and vanished. I walked back to Mahi.

“What did she want?” Mahi asked. I tilted my head as I looked at her.

“She wanted to dance with me. If it isn’t obvious enough, I said no. I… well, I want to finish dancing with you.”

“Well, that’s great. I just hope she’s not scarred or anything. I should go check on her.” Mahi said, stepping away from me.

“You can do that tomorrow. I just want tonight to be us.” I told her, a hard feeling forming in my gut.

“Okay, fine. Let’s continue.” She said as the song ended.

“Oh, I’ll be right back.” I said. I actually had a song that I wanted to play next.

“Okay…” She said. I walked away from her and to the pedestal that held the phone, with it playing at full blast.

I put on a song that I remembered my dad playing for my mom on their wedding anniversary. The first familiar notes started as I made my way back to Mahi. She looked clueless, but then also she looked like she was remembering something from the past.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her.

“I remember this song. My dad used to listen to it with my mom.” She said, and my eyes bulged out of my head.

“Really? Same with mine!” I exclaimed.

“Woah, cool!” She said, and she placed her arm around mine, and we slowly danced the night away.

When I woke up, Carlos was still asleep. I nudged him gently, and he started to stir.

“Wake up.” I whispered, though it was not needed, because everyone else was already awake, even Jaylen. He sat up all of a sudden.

“What’s going on?” He asked. I rolled my eyes.

“Nothing. It’s just morning. Well, 10 : 30 AM, but it’s technically the same thing.” I told him, and he smiled. I felt happy.

“Okay. How did last night go after I fell asleep?”

“Great. We pretty much ate. It was like a late-night dinner.” I said. The boys had gone to sleep earlier than us, so we had time to hang out and talk.

“That’s good.” He yawned, “Can I go back to sleep?” He asked.

“No. We have to prepare for tomorrow, when we touch down on the Light Purple Clan’s world.”

“What? We’re doing that tomorrow?” He asked, throwing the blanket off of us.

“Yeah. Life can’t be all fun and games.” I stood up, looking up at him.

“No kidding.” He said.

“What does that mean?” I asked him. He just looked at me.

“It means what it sounds like. Now get dressed, we can’t go out there in our pajamas.” He said.

“We can. It’s just my friends. They wouldn’t care.”

“Well, that doesn’t mean we should do it.” Carlos said, and tossed one of my t-shirts to me. I crossed my arms stubbornly.

“Why do you have to be a grouch this morning?”

“I’m not.” Was what he said.

“You are. What does this have to do with me? Why are you acting like this?” I asked him.

“This doesn’t have anything to do with you. Just I need to think.”

“About what?”

“You don’t have to worry about it, Caitlyn. This is my business.” He said. Nobody ever calls me that, unless they were furious with me.

“Can you include me, so I know what’s going on? So maybe I can help you?”

“No, it’s just between me and my family.” He said.

“Your family?! How did you even get to them? It’s a spaceship. What the hell do they want?!” I demanded. Maybe not from him, but in general.

“No. This was before we left. Just nevermind. Stop asking questions.” He said. I grabbed the shirt he flung at me and marched into the bathroom. I changed my shirt, but I kept my shorts on. They were too comfy to take off. I walked out and past Carlos. I wanted to go talk to my friends. When I walked out, they were all sitting on the couches.

“What’s wrong?” Avalon asked, clearly noticing my face.

“Carlos.” I told her, then sat down in between everyone.

“What happened?” Mahi asked, placing her hand on top of mine.

“I don’t know. It was all fine this morning, but then he got mad because of “something that happened with his family.” I quoted him, by the way.”

“Do you know what he means?” Ruhani asked, scooting Avalon away from me and sat there instead. Avalon gave her a look.

“Honestly, no.” I said.

“Well, if you need someone to talk to, you can come to us.” Margot offered, and they all (individually) agreed.

“Thanks a lot. Now, I’m hungry.” I stood up and walked into the kitchen, smiling to myself. I poured myself a bowl of cereal and ate it as Jaylen and Mahi walked into the kitchen.

“What’s up?” Jaylen asked me. I shook my head.

“CC’s… just had to think about some things.” Mahi said. I finished the bite I was chewing and turned to Jaylen, who was buttering some toast.

“Are you and Mahi a… thing now?” I asked. Under his light-purple skin, I could see that he was blushing.

“I don’t know yet. I also don’t know about Ruhani. I don’t want to hurt her feelings, but… I guess Mahi is more my ‘type’. I don’t know how else to word it other than that.” Jaylen said. I was looking at Mahi when he was talking, and she was smiling to herself. I felt happy for her.

“Well, if you think Mahi is better, then you should tell Ruhani. I’m sure she won’t be mad - she has Sagar, after all.” I said, smiling and raising my eyebrows the best I could at Mahi. She noticed, and laughed.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Jaylen said, “I’ll be right back.” He said, and I assumed went to talk to Ruhani, leaving me and Mahi alone.

“Have you felt like this before?” She asked.

“Like what? What’re you talking about?” I asked her. She turned around, holding a plate with buttered toast on it.

“Like everything is floating, even though this ship has a gravity console. Like everything is a good dream, and you’re waiting to wake up.” Mahi explained.

“Yeah, I thought like that when I first met Carlos. It was magical.” I told her.

“I feel like that all of the time now.”

“Really? Well, you seem to hide it really well. I couldn’t even tell.” I informed her.

“Gee, thanks.” She said, and I laughed.

“I meant that in a good way, don’t worry.” I assured her.

“Okay. I thought so.” We sat in silence for a little bit.

“Can I tell you something?” She finally asked.

“Of course!” I responded.

“I have a suspicion.” She said, “It’s not about me, you, Carlos, or Jaylen, though.” She added.

“What is it?” I asked. She leaned over to my ear and whispered something that I thought couldn’t be possible. But it could be. It was about Avalon, of course. Anything could be possible.

“You’re right. But we don’t know if it’s true or not. We should…” I said, leaving her to finish the sentence.

“Spy on her.”

“That’s not what I was going to say, but I like it.” I told Mahi, and she laughed.

“So what do you think of my plan? I mean, we’re not going to just follow Avalon around, but if we could watch her from time to time I think we could get some more details.”

“Yeah. Let’s do it.” I said, and we both put our hands together and raised them up.

The rest of the day me and Mahi followed Avalon (while not giving information to anyone else, even though Ruhani begged us to let her in on whatever we were doing). Eventually, night came, forcing us to sleep.

Avalon woke me up at 7 : 30, in which I slapped her when she did.

“Hey, what was that for?!” She yelled, and I laughed.

“I’m sorry, it was a reflex, I promise.” I said, breathing heavily between the words.

“Yeah, right. I would totally believe that you, of all people, would accidentally smack me.” She said, starting to laugh, too.

“Thanks!” I said sarcastically.

“C’mon, you have to get up now.” She said, grabbing my arm and yanking me from my bed, “We’re almost there.”

“Who’s flying the plane?” I asked, but I already knew the answer.

“Margot. I lost the round of rock-paper-scissors with her, so I had to wake you up.” Avalon said, and I let out a chuckle.

“It’s nice to know that you care about me.” I said, standing up.

“Why, thank you.” Avalon said, and walked out of the room. I looked around my room, actually seeing darkness. I wasn’t used to this setting. I also noticed that Carlos was out of the room. I walked into my bathroom and grabbed my makeup brush, and focused on putting some on.

I walked out of CC’s room, and back to Margot. As I walked through the hall going into the living room (which I had to use to go back to the cockpit), it was unusually quiet. There was always someone sitting out there.

“How’d everything go?” Margot asked me when I sat down next to her.

“Wonderful.” I said, and we both cracked a smile. We sat there in silence for about 20 minutes with the occasional “Woah, look at that planet!” and “That’s a big comet.” Finally, she opened her mouth to say something

“Is that it?” She asked. I followed her extended arm to see what she was looking at.

“Yup, it is!” I said.

“Good, so we’re almost there.” Ruhani said, looking at Margot for a second, before leaving again. I raised my eyebrows at Margot, and she let out a little chuckle.

“Don’t worry about it.” She said. I smiled myself, but I didn’t have an exact reason to. I was just happy.

“So tell me about your life before I met you.” She said, looking at me. I made a mental vow that I would quiz her later.

“It was… normal, I guess. I got on great with Layla, and Sylvaine was pretty shaky at times. My mom was a maid for my Uncle, her older brother, and my dad was a stable-keeper. He took care of the ships when they flew in.” I said.

“That’s cool. You must’ve learned a thing or two then.” Margot said, and I smiled again. Then my face went grim, when I remembered something that happened in the past.

“What’s wrong?” She asked me, and I looked at her, a bit gratefully.

“I… I just remembered them. The time we went into Layla’s room, and she was… gone. The time with my mother and father, how they warned me and Sylvaine to be good, and listen to Uncle, to follow his orders. And then Sylvaine, when I saw him…” I stopped. I hadn’t told anyone that I could see ghosts. I dropped that conversation, and asked her about her family, instead.

“Well, you know Ramona and Marcus. Ramona is always doing things to annoy me, even when I’m gone, like at school. Marcus lives at his school, basically, preparing every night and day for a war. I’m afraid that soon, before we get to the Entity, a war will break out, and he’ll be positioned to fight against whoever attacks us.” She said, folding her head onto her knees, which were pulled to her chest.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to say.” I told her. She looked back up at me.

“You know, my mom always said that if you did not break anything, hurt someone, or say something mean to someone, you shouldn’t say that you’re sorry. There’s no need.” She said.

“Alright. I’ll remember that.” I said, smiling a bit bigger, if that was possible. She laughed. Somehow, I felt accomplished when she laughed. I looked out of the windshield and the big planet kept getting bigger, until we landed on it.

“Well, we’re here.” Margot said. I grabbed my bow and flung it over my shoulder, with my arrows already in my sack. I checked the monitor that told us which time of the day it was. We needed that device to feel good, energized, because if you don’t have it, you can't tell morning from night.

“Dang,” I said, “Apparently it’s night time.”

“Well, then we will deploy tomorrow. I’m sure everyone’s tired.” Margot said, picking her armrest up and getting out of her chair. I did the same, but for my chair.

***

“We have to hurry.” Ruhani said, jumping down from our ship and onto a planet, which looked like a red-black color.

“Wait up!” I called as they were all ahead of me. I ran until I was out of breath. I sat down, trying to regain control, but my lungs were still on fire. I tried to open my mouth to call my friends, but no sound came out. Ignoring the burning feeling in my chest, I got up and ran faster, in the direction they went. As I ran along, I could hear laughter building up, getting louder and louder.

“Guys?!” I shouted, “GUYS!” I looked around, still running, until I found them standing in a circle. I squinted, trying to see what they were surrounding. Then I realized that this was the Entity. It was giant, like a 10 story building. It had midnight-black skin and pale eyes, with a creepy smile. I shuddered as it stared down at me.

“Hello, Avalon. I can see that you are nervous to see my full form.” It said,

“Don’t say anything to me.” I found myself saying. I ran to Margot and waved my hand in front of her face. She didn’t even flinch.

“What are you doing?” The Entity asked me. I didn’t respond to it, instead, I shouted “All of you, run!!”, signaling to my friends. They didn’t listen.

“Avalon.” The Entity sighed, “They won’t listen to you.”

“W-why not?” I demanded, my voice breaking. I started fearing for the worst.

“I have them under my grasp. They are at my command.” It said, then it put its hand out, and grabbed me. I squirmed, trying to get out and away, but it was just too strong.

“What’re you going to do?!” I shouted at the Entity. It just smiled. The smile of nightmares.

“Well, we have to make sure that no one ever stands against me again. Which, of course, if I let you go, you’ll do, so I must… wipe your existence away.” It said, and I shuddered again. It was a bad habit I had when I was nervous.

Then the Entity held out its other hand, palm-up. A literal ball of fire appeared there about two seconds later.

“Now… Avalon. I wish to say it was nice knowing you.” It said, and threw the ball of fire at me, at full speed.

I woke up panting, with beads of sweat all over my face. I regained steady breathing, and got down from my bed slowly. When I walked into the kitchen, Margot and Ruhani were there.

“Hey, guys.” I said, wiping the sweat from my tank-top. I didn’t want them to suspect that anything happened.

“Hi.” Margot said.

“Hello! We were just talking about Mahi and Jaylen.” Ruhani said. I sighed a sigh of relief.

“Cool.” I said, walking over to the fridge and pulled out the carton of milk.

“So what woke you up?” Margot asked me.

“Just… a dream.” I responded.

“Good or bad?” Ruhani questioned. I looked at her.

“What’s with all of these questions? What are you, an interrogator?”

“Yup! Now tell me, because I know something’s up. What’s wrong?” She asked. Tears started to form in my eyes, but I wiped them away as I thought of an excuse.

“Nothing, I just heard you guys talking, which woke me up.” I said. Ruhani gave me a look. I knew she saw right past that lie, but she didn’t say anything about it anymore.

“Alright. Well, I’m going back to bed.” Margot said, getting up and leaving.

“Same.” I said, putting my glass back on the shelf we hold all of our glasses. Ruhani eyed me.

I went back into my bedroom, with Mahi still asleep. She stayed in here for the night, but her clothes and everything were all in Jaylen’s room. I whispered a silent ‘good night’ to Ruhani and Margot, layed down on my bed, and fell asleep.

In the morning, I walked through the hall going into the living room (which I had to use to go back to the cockpit), it was unusually quiet. There was always someone sitting out there.

“How’d everything go last night?” Margot asked me when I sat down next to her.

“Wonderful.” I said, and we both cracked a smile. We sat there in silence for about 20 minutes with the occasional “Woah, look at that planet!” and “That’s a big comet.” Finally, she opened her mouth to say something

“Is that it?” She asked. I followed her extended arm to see what she was looking at.

“Yup, it is!” I said.

“Good, so we’re almost there.” Ruhani said, looking at Margot for a second, before leaving again. I raised my eyebrows at Margot, and she let out a little chuckle.

“Don’t worry about it.” She said. I smiled myself, but I didn’t have an exact reason to. I was just happy.

“So tell me about your life before I met you.” She said, looking at me. I made a mental vow that I would quiz her later.

“It was… normal, I guess. I got on great with Layla, and Sylvaine was pretty shaky at times. My mom was a maid for my Uncle, her older brother, and my dad was a stable-keeper. He took care of the ships when they flew in.” I said.

“That’s cool. You must’ve learned a thing or two then.” Margot said, and I smiled again. Then my face went grim, when I remembered something that happened in the past.

“What’s wrong?” She asked me, and I looked at her, a bit gratefully.

“I… I just remembered them. The time we went into Layla’s room, and she was… gone. The time with my mother and father, how they warned me and Sylvaine to be good, and listen to Uncle, to follow his orders. And then Sylvaine, when I saw him…” I stopped. I hadn’t told anyone that I could see ghosts. I dropped that conversation, and asked her about her family, instead.

“Well, you know Ramona and Marcus. Ramona is always doing things to annoy me, even when I’m gone, like at school. Marcus lives at his school, basically, preparing every night and day for a war. I’m afraid that soon, before we get to the Entity, a war will break out, and he’ll be positioned to fight against whoever attacks us.” She said, folding her head onto her knees, which were pulled to her chest.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to say.” I told her. She looked back up at me.

“You know, my mom always said that if you did not break anything, hurt someone, or say something mean to someone, you shouldn’t say that you’re sorry. There’s no need.” She said.

“Alright. I’ll remember that.” I said, smiling a bit bigger, if that was possible. She laughed. Somehow, I felt accomplished when she laughed. I looked out of the windshield and the big planet kept getting bigger, until we landed on it.

“Well, we’re here.” Margot said. I grabbed my bow and flung it over my shoulder, with my arrows already in my sack. I checked the monitor that told us which time of the day it was. We needed that device to feel good, energized, because if you don’t have it, you can't tell morning from night.

“Dang,” I said, “Apparently it’s night time.”

“Well, then we will deploy tomorrow. I’m sure everyone’s tired.” Margot said, picking her armrest up and getting out of her chair. I did the same, but for my chair.

***

“We have to hurry.” Ruhani said, jumping down from our ship and onto a planet, which looked like a red-black color.

“Wait up!” I called as they were all ahead of me. I ran until I was out of breath. I sat down, trying to regain control, but my lungs were still on fire. I tried to open my mouth to call my friends, but no sound came out. Ignoring the burning feeling in my chest, I got up and ran faster, in the direction they went. As I ran along, I could hear laughter building up, getting louder and louder.

“Guys?!” I shouted, “GUYS!” I looked around, still running, until I found them standing in a circle. I squinted, trying to see what they were surrounding. Then I realized that this was the Entity. It was giant, like a 10 story building. It had midnight-black skin and pale eyes, with a creepy smile. I shuddered as it stared down at me.

“Hello, Avalon. I can see that you are nervous to see my full form.” It said,

“Don’t say anything to me.” I found myself saying. I ran to Margot and waved my hand in front of her face. She didn’t even flinch.

“What are you doing?” The Entity asked me. I didn’t respond to it, instead, I shouted “All of you, run!!”, signaling to my friends. They didn’t listen.

“Avalon.” The Entity sighed, “They won’t listen to you.”

“W-why not?” I demanded, my voice breaking. I started fearing for the worst.

“I have them under my grasp. They are at my command.” It said, then it put its hand out, and grabbed me. I squirmed, trying to get out and away, but it was just too strong.

“What’re you going to do?!” I shouted at the Entity. It just smiled. The smile of nightmares.

“Well, we have to make sure that no one ever stands against me again. Which, of course, if I let you go, you’ll do, so I must… wipe your existence away.” It said, and I shuddered again. It was a bad habit I had when I was nervous.

Then the Entity held out its other hand, palm-up. A literal ball of fire appeared there about two seconds later.

“Now… Avalon. I wish to say it was nice knowing you.” It said, and threw the ball of fire at me, at full speed.

I woke up panting, with beads of sweat all over my face. I regained steady breathing, and got down from my bed slowly. When I walked into the kitchen, Margot and Ruhani were there.

“Hey, guys.” I said, wiping the sweat from my tank-top. I didn’t want them to suspect that anything happened.

“Hi.” Margot said.

“Hello! We were just talking about Mahi and Jaylen.” Ruhani said. I sighed a sigh of relief.

“Cool.” I said, walking over to the fridge and pulled out the carton of milk.

“So what woke you up?” Margot asked me.

“Just… a dream.” I responded.

“Good or bad?” Ruhani questioned. I looked at her.

“What’s with all of these questions? What are you, an interrogator?”

“Yup! Now tell me, because I know something’s up. What’s wrong?” She asked. Tears started to form in my eyes, but I wiped them away as I thought of an excuse.

“Nothing, I just heard you guys talking, which woke me up.” I said. Ruhani gave me a look. I knew she saw right past that lie, but she didn’t say anything about it anymore.

“Alright. Well, I’m going back to bed.” Margot said, getting up and leaving.

“Same.” I said, putting my glass back on the shelf we hold all of our glasses. Ruhani eyed me.

I went back into my bedroom, with Mahi still asleep. She stayed in here for the night, but her clothes and everything were all in Jaylen’s room. I whispered a silent ‘good night’ to Ruhani and Margot, laid down on my bed, and fell asleep.

The rest of us kept walking down the old stone path after Ruhani went back.

“Well well well.” Someone said from the sneaky depths of the shadows.

“Wait….” Mahi said, holding up a hand to stop us from moving, “I know that voice.”

“I mean, you should. We were best friends for 5 years in fighting school. Don’t you remember me now?” The voice said.

“M- Mkayla? Is that you?” Mahi stuttered, staring off into the thick forest that surrounded us.

“Wow. You did it. I’m surprised.” Mkayla said.

Mahi gasped, “Wait. That means… Mkayla, you’re a pawn of the Entity?”

“Yes and no. Mainly no.” She giggled.

“You don’t want to say that out loud, the Entity can hear us,” Avalon said, and as quick as lightning, Mkayla appeared at Avalon’s side and lifted her up by her neck. Margot let out a little squeal, but Avalon waved her hand to stop her from doing anything else.

“Mahi, you didn’t tell me that you had a very annoying friend.” Mkayla said, and grinned.

“Put her down, Mkayla.” Mahi said.

“I’ll put her down when I’m ready too.”

“Look, Mkalie or whoever you are, you put her down right now or we might just do something that will make you regret showing up in the first place. Now, p-put her down now, or prepare for your punishment.” Margot said. Avalon planted a worried look on her face and waved her off, but Margot didn’t stand back.

“You all are so funny. I wish I had friends like you and not this backstabbing so-called friend of a monster!” Mkayla shouted and shot Mahi a dirty look.

“You were the one who decided to do your own thing and left me!” Mahi said.

Avalon looked like she was struggling. While Mahi and Mkayla were bickering, I raised my gun up and pointed it at Mkayla. Without thinking, I pulled the trigger. I watched as the bullet flew through the air. Just as it was about to hit Mkayla, it hit something and bounced off. Mkayla smiled.

“Oh, I forgot to mention that recently I have installed a force field to my vest recently, and whenever you try to strike me, you or it will get blown away.” Mkayla gave a smug grin and looked back at Avalon, who was still in her grasp. All of a sudden Mkayla looked at me and let go of Avalon. Then she started walking over to me.

“Hello there, pretty boy.” She said when she walked up close to me.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“How about I make a proposal? What if you were to say that you would join me if I left everyone else alone. Especially Avalon.”

“What do you mean, ‘especially Avalon’?” I asked. She smirked again then waved her hand in the air. In an instant Avalon gripped the side of her head and shrieked in pain. It was horrific.

“Say it. Say you’ll join me and then we’ll go and be away from everyone else, including the Entity. Say you’ll join me,” Tears started forming in her eyes, “and I will leave everyone else alone. I promise.” I looked at CC. She looked at me expectantly.

“I…. I don’t know. I love CC, but I don’t want you to hurt her.” I said, glancing back at Mkayla.

“I just want my chance to have a normal life. I was infected with this… beast when I was only a child. I just want to live like everyone else, a normal… a normal…” She couldn’t squeeze out the words. Avalon stopped screaming and looked up at Mkayla.

“Do you know… how I wish… how I so desperately wish that I could have… a normal life?” She panted, “I am not like everyone else, and everyone else is not like me.” She crawled into a sitting position. Under the long sweater sleeve that covered her entire arm, I could see that Mahi gripped onto Jaylen’s hand.

“I don’t know.” Mkayla whispered, “Oh, who am I kidding? I will never get rid of the demon living inside of me. It’s too strong, the Entity is. But I will give you a chance to fight against him. And I know… I hope you will win.”

“Mkayla? What do you mean?” Mahi asked her. Mkayla ignored her question and walked over to me.

“If I do die, I want it to be by your blade.” She said, then looked down to the knife in its sheath wrapped around my waist. She picked it up by the handle and gave it to me. When I didn’t take it, she held her breath.

“You must.” She said, but I shook my head.

“Please.” When Mkayla saw that I was not going to do it, she took it, and held it above her head, the blade facing down.

“I will not stand against what is right. You showed me that, Mahi. Carlos, remember me.” She said as her voice (and hands) shook. Then, with a mighty cry, she shoved the knife deep into her belly. Mkayla let out a yelp of pain, and in a few seconds, she lay motionless. After a few moments of looking at Mkayla in disbelief, Avalon started screaming again. It made me jump, to be honest.

“No! No! Get out of my head!” She screamed, “We need to get back to the ship! Ruhani’s in danger!” Avalon said as beads of sweat started forming on her dark purple skin. She stood up quickly and immediately put a hand against her head.

“Are you okay?” I asked her, holding my arm out for her to regain her balance. She gladly took that offer.

“Yeah, but we have got to go!” She yelled and ran back in the direction in which we came.

***

When we first walked into the ship, it looked like everything was fine. I could see that Ruhani was passed out on the couch, which I assumed was from the headache she claimed she had earlier.

“Ruhani? Are you okay?” Avalon asked, walking over to the couch. No response came. Everyone else followed Avalon. Then I heard someone crying. I finally saw that there was someone - a girl, most likely, by the silhouette - sitting in the doorway that led to Avalon’s bedroom.

“Hey.” I said in a quiet voice, and cautiously walked over to the girl. She looked up at me with sad eyes, and even the yellow on her skin looked sad.

“Get Avalon over here.” She said. I raised my eyebrows. How did she know who Avalon was?

“O-okay.” I said and hurried over to Avalon.

“Hey. I need you.” I said to her once I reached her.

“Okay.” She said, and I grabbed her arm and presented her to the girl.

“Who are you?” Avalon asked immediately.

“I need to speak to Avalon alone.” She said, and pulled Avalon into her bedroom. I left to go back to the group, and back to CC.

“What?” I asked again.

“I know it may seem… impossible to comprehend, at least for now, but you have to close your eyes and go to sleep. I need to take you somewhere that the Entity cannot hear us.” She said. I didn’t want to trust her, but for some reason, my mind remembered her from somewhere, like she was an old friend coming to greet me again.

“If I do, will you tell me who you are?”

“Yes. But only if you do this for me.” She replied, so I layed down and shut my eyes. After a few moments, I opened my eyes. Instead of being in my small one-person bedroom, I was in a whole new world, on top of a cloud.

“What the-” I gasped as I looked around. The nearby sun was about to set, casting the clouds to look like cotton candy. It was a beautiful sight, something I have not seen before.

“We have to be quick. The Entity will figure out what we are doing and target us.” The girl said. I forgot she was there with me. I turned around and looked back at her.

“Well…?” I said expectantly. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“My name is Nancy. I am a pawn to the Entity, just like you. It’s been terrorizing me for months at no end. It had me… it was making me break onto your ship and destroy your friend who was on the couch. I said no to it and it threatened to kill my family if I didn’t obey him. That’s why I was sitting there, crying.” She said, then looked back up at me. I wrapped my arms around her.

“I’m sorry.” Usually I was good with words, but when something big comes up, I don’t know what to say.

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault.” Nancy said, wiping the remaining tears from her eyes.

“I don’t know how to fix this, but if you come with us, we can help you defeat the Entity. That is our main mission right now, and we were just about to do it.”

“I don’t know if this is okay, because I just met you, but count me in!” She said, and suddenly I was back in my room, and Nancy was standing next to me. I opened the door slowly and walked back to my group of friends.

“Hey, everyone? I need to speak with you.” I said.

“Yeah? What’s up?” Ruhani asked, walking over to me.

“We have someone new joining our “team”. Meet Nancy.” I said, and I pushed her around me (she was standing behind me).

“Hello.” She said,

“Nancy, this is Ruhani, Margot, CC, Mahi, Carlos, and Jaylen. Oh, and Sagar.” I said, pointing to everyone as I went.

“Hi everyone.” Nancy said again. There were a few murmured replies.

“Come, I can show you where you can stay.” Margot said, and guided her away from everyone else. As soon as Nancy was gone, CC grabbed my arm and pulled me away, to a separate room.

“Okay. What is your deal?” She asked. I pushed her arm off of mine.

“What do you mean?” I pretended to be very busy with my stone that I was given to by Margot.

“You know what I mean. Why are you trusting people you just met when you keep telling us not to, like with me and Carlos?” CC asked.

“I’m sorry. I really am. But it feels like I know her, like I met her before.” I said.

“And that wasn’t the case with any of us? Just you?” CC put her hands on her hips.

That’s not what I said.” I said, coming to my own defense.

“No, but that’s what you meant, right?”

“No, it isn’t, and you need to stop putting words in my mouth.” I practically shouted, then I stormed off. Who was CC to tell me what I can and cannot do?

I walked into my bedroom and threw myself down on the bed head-first. All of a sudden I felt a sharp pain in my side. This was like nothing that I’ve ever experienced before. It felt like something inside of me was exploding, ever so slightly. I closed my eyes for a second, and when I did, I came face-to-face with the Entity.

“Hello, little one. I am excited to meet you in person.” It said with its snake-like voice.

“Are you excited to lose, then?” I asked.

“Listen, Avalon. Our relationship cannot grow if you continue to be stubborn.”

“I would never, not even in hell wish that I had a relationship with you.” I spit out. I heard the Entity let out a sigh.

“You are so young and naive, little one. Just wait until you meet me. Unless you join me, you will never prevail. Now, let me see what your friends are up to.”

“No!” I screamed, “You cannot control me!”

It laughed, “Watch me.”

“Have any of you heard from Avalon recently?” I suddenly asked when everyone was either reading or fidgeting with a device.

“Come to think of it, no, I haven’t.” Ruhani said. CC snorted.

“What’re you all worried about? I just recently had a… conversation with her.” She said. Ruhani glared at her.

“What do you mean by ‘conversation’? I know you don’t just talk with people.”

“Alright, fine. I got mad at her and she stormed off, into her bedroom. I haven’t seen her since. That’s it.” CC said.

“Well, I’m going to go check on her. Margot, come with me.” Ruhani said and stood up. I followed her and when we got to her bedroom door, I heard shuffling noises from inside.

“Avalon? Are you okay?” I asked, grabbing the handle to her room. She didn’t reply, which made me worry more.

“We’re coming in.” Ruhani said, and I pulled the handle down while she pushed on the door. I peered into the room and it was pitch black. There were no lights on and I couldn’t see anything, just their silhouette. My eyes followed the shape of the room until I found something that was my height.

“Avalon?” I called out, walking into the room. Then, just like an eerie movie, I saw two dark red glowing orbs where I saw her. Ruhani flipped on the light switch that was farther into the room and Avalon was standing where I was looking, but the glowing things, I realized, were her eyes.

Ruhani immediately ran to her side, “Are you okay?” She asked. Avalon only smiled, but it wasn’t a genuine smile. Ruhani looked over at me.

“Go tell the others to come here.” She said. I turned around and ran back to the living room, where everyone was.

***

“Avalon?” CC called to the figure that Avalon was. Ruhani was still there, her arms wrapped around Avalon’s shoulders. Then Avalon lunged forward and grabbed CC by the throat. She hoisted her up, just like Mkayla did to her.

“Put me down, you bitch!” CC cried

“Avalon!” Ruhani cried, and ran over to her, knocking her down. CC fell down to the ground, but before she hit it, Carlos caught her.

But Avalon didn’t stop there. She got right back up and attacked the next person within reach. That just happened to be me.

“Avalon, you know it is me. C’mon, you can work past this!” I cried as she lifted me in the air. I reached down and lightly touched her face, while staring into her eyes. Slowly, the blue came back.

“Margot.” She said quietly and set me down on the ground. Then she pulled me into a tight hug. I hugged her back.

“Thank you.” She whispered. I didn’t want to let go, but the others staring made me. She almost fell over, so I grabbed her arm. She nodded, and I let go of her arm. Avalon sheepishly looked around at all of the damage, finally noticing.

“I’m sorry everyone.” She said.

“We know it’s not your fault.” Ruhani said.

“Yeah, you can’t control it.” I butted in. CC laughed, but didn’t say anything after that.

“I’m gonna go and get the ship in. We’re almost there, if we stayed on the same path while I was “out”.” Avalon walked away, leaving us in the room.

“Does she always do that?” Nancy asked.

“Kind of. It’s hard to explain.” Mahi said. Nancy nodded, like she knew what Mahi was talking about. I thought this was a little suspicious, and so did CC.

“Nancy, could I talk to you alone for a second?” She asked. I wanted to come along, so I followed the two of them into another room.

“I’m gonna ask you once. Who are you?” CC asked. Nancy looked at the floor.

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.” I offered. They both looked up at me, but each had a different expression. CC sighed.

“What do you know about Avalon?” She asked simply.

“I know that the Entity is clouding her mind. I know you guys are in trouble. I know you guys aren’t enough to defeat the Entity. I know that the same thing that happened to her, happened to me.” Nancy said the last point quietly,

“I know her.” She finished after a long pause.

“What do you mean you know her? And also why do you think that we can’t defeat the Entity by ourselves?” I asked before CC could.

“I know her because… because I think I met her before. And you all aren’t strong enough to defeat the Entity, trust me. I have seen stronger people than you try and fail. My father was one of them. That is how I know.”

“I’m sorry.” I said. I looked expectantly at CC. She muttered a quiet ‘sorry’ and I left the room. I decided that I wanted to see how Avalon was doing. I wasn’t quite sure if she should be driving the ship.

I walked into the cockpit, and I could hear her talking to something. I strained to hear what she was saying.

“No, we got this. I’m sure of it.” She said to no one, but I could hear in her voice that she didn’t believe it herself.

“I know what happened to you. But I am confident in our team.” I waited to hear a response, to make sure that I wasn’t crazy, but yet again, I didn’t hear one, “I don’t need to lower my voice. I am mad and besides, no one is in here.” She said.

I walked out and walked back in, to pretend that I just appeared, and that I didn’t hear anything she was saying.

“Hey, Avalon, are we almost there?” I asked. She looked over at me, startled.

“Y-yes.” She said.

“Good” I said, and I sat down on the chair behind her. I wanted to ask her if she was feeling alright after what happened, and if she should continue driving, but I didn’t want to sound rude. I decided to go for it.

“Are you…? Are you okay to steer this ship?” I asked her. She glanced back at me for a second, then turned around.

“I believe so.” She said, “I don’t think the hauntings will continue for now. We’re almost coming face-to-face with it. I think it might be preparing.”

“Oh, lovely. A gigantic monster is preparing to fight us when it’s almost a one-way fight.” I muttered without thinking. I instantly covered my mouth with my hand.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Avalon asked me.

“Well, do you really think that we can defeat it? Even Nancy said that she doesn’t believe it.” I said quietly. But it was no use. She heard me.

“Yes, in fact, I do believe that we can defeat the Entity. We’ve been doing nothing but preparing and training with all of these ‘semi-leaders’ we had to kill. And we have nine people against one. I think that it’s possible.” She said. I wondered how much she actually believed it.

“What did she say?” I asked Margot when I saw her again.

“She said that she believes that we’ll be able to defeat the Entity.” She sighed and sat next to me, “But I’m still not sure if she’s right or not.”

“Yeah, me neither.” Soon, Avalon’s head poked out of the door.

“We’re here.” She said unemotionally. I exhaled loudly and grabbed my crossbow. I wasn’t prepared for the fight that was about to take place. My stomach did a somersault.

“Are you nervous?” CC asked me, grabbing around Carlos’s arm.

“Yeah.” I said, “I’ve never had to do this before.”

“It’s okay. Just stick to what you know.” She said, trying to comfort me in her own way. I could tell everyone else was nervous as well.

We walked down silently, passed the old forest where all of the trees were dead. Not a pretty sight, and also kind of eerie. Everyone was quiet, so I could hear the panting from some people, and Ruhani telling herself everything would be okay. I shivered a little, and Jaylen offered me his fur jacket. I accepted it gratefully.

“Just a little farther, I believe.” Came Avalon’s voice from farther up the line we were standing in. All of a sudden I heard a booming voice in my head.

“Closer and closer, you come to your demise.” It said, and I immediately knew it was the Entity. I looked around to see if anyone else heard it, and I knew they did, because some of my friends were covering their ears.

“Is that what it sounds like for you, Avalon, when you get sucked into “the void” with it?” I asked.

“Yeah, actually. You get used to it though, which is something that is not the best.” She replied. We continued walking in silence until I felt a throbbing in my head. I shut my eyes but kept walking. It didn’t go away, the further we walked, it only got worse. I fell down to my knees, grabbing the sides of my head. It was on fire, and felt like I was getting eaten alive, head first. The pounding became a drumbeat that I could feel throughout my body.

“Are you okay, Mahi?” Margot asked. I didn’t have the power to answer her, I just shook my head, which made it only feel worse.

“We can’t wait long. Are you coming, or are you going to need to sit down?” Avalon questioned in her concerning way.

“I-I’m fine.” I choked out, and got up on my feet. Everyone started walking again, but not before giving me a glance. I staggered forward slowly, swaying from side to side while trying to keep my balance. Then I heard someone let out a shriek. I walked to the front of the group, so I could get a better view, and I came face-to-face with a hideous beast. It was all black, and there was a swirl with a flame in the center where the eyes should have been that was purple. The only recognizable human-like feature was the creepy smile on its face. Not to mention that it was at least 30 feet tall, a normal monstrosity.

“Hello. I’ve been waiting for your arrival for a while. I’m glad it could be today.” Its smile never disappeared.

“You don’t know what you are talking about. Today is not the day you succeed, you’ve had too many of those days before.” Nancy said bravely.

“Enough talk.” It boomed, “I don’t want you to lose focus, making it more of a worthless battle than it already will be.” I rolled my eyes. I could see why Avalon thought it was so annoying.

“The only reason we’re here is to fight.” Avalon said, then pulled us aside,

“So half of you are gonna go down the right. Stick to the shadows. That will be CC, Jaylen, Mahi, Carlos, and Nancy. The others will stay behind but stay to the left (this will be Margot, Ruhani, and Sagar). I will distract the Entity, then when I give the signal, me and the people on the left attack first, throwing it off balance, then the people on the right attack. This will hopefully weaken it, so Nancy and I can give it the final blow. It will have to only be Nancy and me because of our past. It won’t work if anyone else does, I’m sure.”

“Okay. Does everyone understand?” Ruhani asked. I bobbed my head. Once everyone was ready, the right-siders stuck to the shadows like glue, using the crater in the ground to our advantage. I closed my eyes, and the pain in my head went away. Now I can focus.

We walked along slowly until we were behind it. It was better that way so we could pounce the Entity. I was scared out of my mind, so I latched myself onto Jaylen like a leech. He pulled me closer and held me for a bit, rubbing my shoulders. I could feel that he was trembling, so I knew I wasn’t the only one that was scared. I heard Avalon talking, but I couldn’t make out anything that she was saying.

“Can you guys hear her?” CC whispered, so quiet that I would’ve mistaken her for a bug flying around me.

“No. Just wait until you see it being attacked, then move forward.” Nancy replied, just as quiet. I heard yelling off in the distance, and I knew that it was our time to shine.

We ran toward the Entity when we heard Avalon call, “But little do you know I have some tricks up my sleeve!” I raised my gun above my head, trying to point it at the Entity’s. I fired a shot but it did little damage. I looked around, trying to figure out what to do, and I saw Margot climbing its leg - if it should even be called a leg - holding on for dear life. I ran over to where she was and started climbing myself. If we could get inside of it, then we could destroy it from the inside. I wasn’t sure if I’d make it out, though.

I grabbed my blade and slit down, to make a big enough cut to climb through. I looked above me and Margot wasn’t there. I assumed she was already inside. I looked back and with a deep breath, I jumped inside.

The “skin” on the inside felt the same as the outside - rough and scaly. I looked above me, but I couldn’t see anything - it was pitch black. I heard some noises above me.

“Margot, is that you?”

“Yeah, it’s me. I can’t climb that high, so I can’t get into the main system.” She replied. I climbed higher and reached her in a matter of minutes.

“I can do it. You go back outside and help with the battle out there.” I said, and started climbing higher. She thanked me and I could tell she was gone. I kept climbing, though, until the walls turned purple instead of black. I looked up and in front of me was a giant swirl with a flame inside of it, the same design as the one on the Entity’s face.

‘This must be where the main system is’ I thought to myself. I then felt something touch my shoulder. I looked up and saw a thin layer of purple goo layered like a ceiling above my head. I shuddered as I reached up and cut a me-sized hole in the substance. When I climbed above it, I found a green sack hanging from the wall. I pulled myself up onto a stable side of the skin where I could stand up fully. I pulled my knife back, then let it fly. It pierced the heart.

Without thinking, I jumped down and it almost felt like I was flying. When I got close to ground level, I took my blade and stabbed into the wall of the Entity, slowing my fall. When my feet touched down on a surface, I let go, then walked out by the same hole I cut earlier.

The Entity collapsed onto the ground. I couldn’t believe it. Sagar has just slit its heart, and its laying on the ground. We did it. We did it.

“No! This can’t be!” It shrieked, “My... my plan!” Me and Nancy walked over to it.

“Now, you can’t cause anymore destruction.” I said, pulled out one of my arrows from my quiver, and stuck it inside the flame. Nancy took her sword and did the same. I swear I could see a smile on her face when she did.

***

“What are we gonna do now?” Margot asked me when we were walking away.

“Let’s work on the discrimination in this galaxy!” Ruhani said excitedly. Mahi and Jaylen nodded their heads in agreement, though Mahi a bit more.

“Well, maybe I can tell you now.” I said, wondering if I should.

“Lemme guess. You like girls.” CC said.

“Actually, yes, I do.”

“There is a term for that on Earth. It’s called gay.” Nancy said. I think she earned her stay in this group.