As soon as he stepped in his room, Evan had changed into pajamas and flopped down on his bed. He laid above the covers... he didn't have the energy to pull them over himself.

Today had been draining.

Time ticked by slowly. He didn't know how long he had been laying there for. An hour, maybe two. Three, even? It was hard for him to remember, and even harder for him to care. He was just so burnt out... everything sucked.

Being grounded was gonna be the worst. Moving to Uncle Lot's was gonna be the worst. And those etiquette lessons were definitely gonna be the worst. But, what was the worst of all?

His date with Ellie. It was supposed to be tomorrow. He'd have to miss it.

Evan pounded his fist against his forehead.

Whatever... Sam was right. "I'll consider it" just meant no... I'm so fucking dumb.

He hit himself again.

He shouldn't have gone to the baths. He shouldn't have climbed on that stupid beam. The girls there weren't even that cute.

I just want to sleep...

The teen rolled over, grabbing his pillow and fluffing it back up. He was trying to make himself more comfortable, but something caught his eye.

On his desk were the envelope and package Gramps had sent him. Glancing at them, Evan thought about the contents of the letter. Specifically, the last line.

DO NOT OPEN THE PACKAGE.

All capital letters, super-serious. It really pushed aside those bad thoughts, made Evan wonder... just what was beneath that paper and string?

With a lot of effort, Evan slid his tired legs over the side of his bed. He propped up his arms on his bent knees, still messing with his pillow. The package was right there, just a few feet away. He stared at it.

Should I...?

Well, Gramps knew how curious Evan was. He probably expected him to take a peek. No harm in it, right? And besides, his life was ending at the end of the summer when he left to work at Uncle Lot's, so really, what did he have to lose?

Tossing the pillow towards the front of his bed, Evan got to his feet. He stretched, yawning loudly, then collapsed in his desk chair, swiveling it around. Taking one last look at the letter, he cast it aside.

Alright...

He took the package in his hands, giving it a shake like he had done before. It made that same jingling noise... gingerly, Evan slid a finger beneath a spot where two of the strands of white string crossed over. Pushing them upwards, he used his other hand to undo the knot that was there, then stripped all of the string away. All that was left now was the paper. He found where it folded over, then unwrapped it.

Inside was a long, glimmering chain, the individual links so small and close together it looked like a rope of steel... Evan lifted it up to view it closer. Hanging from it was a thin, polished, violet-colored amethyst, cut in a pointed oval shape and set in the middle of a large silver ring. One of the oval's points was at the top of the ring, opposite where the chain was attached, and the other was at the bottom. Combined with the negative space and the ring's outline, it almost resembled the pupil of some sort of eye... the moonlight cast on through Evan's window gave the entire thing a bright shine.

A necklace? Well, I don't see why Gramps would be so secretive about a necklace... sure is pretty, though.

Suddenly, that shine grew even brighter.

Yelping, Evan dropped the necklace to the ground. It landed with a clattering noise... the teen gripped his hand tightly, trying to stop the pain.

In an instant, the chain had suddenly grew unbearably hot. The spot of metal that Evan had been in contact with glowed from within, like a sword being forged. Evan stared down at it, then opened his hand back up slowly. A thin red mark ran across his fingers... the necklace had burned him.

Breathing heavily, Evan raced through the streets of Dewton. He nearly tripped on his untied shoelaces - he had been in such a rush to get out he forgot to tie them, or do any more than throw a coat on over his pajamas.

Sneaking out on the first day he was grounded wasn't the best, but there was someone he had to talk to: Ellie. The girl was the only person he knew who seemed to know a thing about magic or other weird stuff.

He reached the marketplace by the river. Though he had visited it just that afternoon, it felt like a lifetime had gone by. At night, the place looked completely different. Most of the colorful tents had come down, and the few that stayed there were bathed in moonlight. The swimming reflections cast off the river's churning water gave everything an eerie appearance.

"Please be here, please be here, please be here..." he begged under his breath.

With no bustle to push his way through, it was a short path to Ellie's tent. She told him that sometimes she stayed the night there, when she didn't want to see her grandfather. He prayed that the old man had been rude to her recently.

"Ellie, Ellie!"

The tent obviously didn't have a door, so he was left to call out her name to try and rouse her. He rattled the length of chain that served to secure the tent's flaps at night... the lock was facing in, so that meant she was there.

"Wh... who..." after a few seconds, Evan could hear Ellie's groggy voice coming from inside. "Who's there?"

"Ellie!" he shook the chain again, just to try and wake her up some more. "It's me, Evan!"

"Evan?" he could hear her getting up. A light came on inside the tent, and the chain began to shake from the other side. Before he knew it, he was standing face to face with Ellie, a candle in her hand. She wiped the sleep out of her eyes with her wrist. The girl had on a pinkish nightgown made from thin fabric... one of the straps hung loose over her shoulder. Evan tried to keep his eyes off it and his mind on what he had come here for.

"What... what is it?" once she spotted Evan staring, Ellie fixed her strap. There was a twinge of anger in her voice, same as would be in anyone's if they were woken up late at night.

"I need to show you something!" Evan said frantically, digging into the pocket of his coat. From it, he pulled out the necklace. Part of it he had wrapped with some of the brown paper it arrived in, which he figured would block out the heat.

Ellie stared at the dangling jewelry with an unamused expression, then her eyes moved to Evan's. Her glare pierced into him.

"If this is some kind of stupid present..."

"No, no!" Evan said. "It burned my hand!"

She suddenly became more awake. "Excuse me?"

"Here, watch." deciding the best way to show what happened was a demonstration, Evan took the necklace with his other hand, dropping the protective paper covering.

To his surprise... nothing happened.

"Wait, wait." he gripped it tighter, making sure to touch the same area he had before, but still... nothing. "It, uh, it worked just a little bit ago..."

Ellie interrupted him, grabbing his wrist and giving it a squeeze.

"Did you say it... burned you?" as she asked her question, she looked him right in the eye.

Oh man, her hand is so soft...

"Evan?"

"Oh!" he snapped out of it. "Yeah, it burned me!" opening up his other hand, he turned it around to show her the mark it had left. The red line had faded a bit, but was still clearly visible. Ellie let go of his wrist, taking his burnt hand in hers to bring it closer.

"Oh... oh, dear." wide-eyed, she stumbled over her words. "Are, are you sure it was the necklace?"

Man, her hand is soft!...

"Evan?"

"Oh! Um, yeah, it went all... glowy." he said. A grimace twisted the girl's lips as she drew her hand back. Evan didn't notice, but it was trembling. "I don't really know how to describe it..."

"I'm taking this." she said, snatching it from him... but she hastily gave it back, shaking her head. Confused, Evan just went with it. "No... keep it. Come back tomorrow... what time was the, uh, the carnival you mentioned?"

Evan was taken aback. "Wait, but-"

"Answer the question!" she snapped.

"Well, the carnival goes all night..."

"Wonderful!" Ellie smiled awkwardly. "We're definitely going! It's a, it's a date, are you happy?! We can hold hands, and you can, um... buy me food?"

Evan raised an eyebrow.

"Ellie, you're acting kind of-"

"See you tomorrow, stop by anytime, bring the necklace!" she rushed out some words as she disappeared back into her tent. Evan stepped to follow, but Ellie closed the flaps, locking them back up from inside. "Goodnight!"

Evan stood there for a few seconds, hands in his pockets. Turning around, he began to walk home... he couldn't see inside the tent, but he could hear Ellie busily packing up.

He had a strange feeling in his gut about the necklace. Like it had some kind of... significance, or something. Why else would Ellie act that way? Eventually, he just sighed, idly kicking away a nearby stone.

Well, I didn't learn anything... but at least I got a date.