"Hmmm, I thought you wouldn't be able to make it past the first door. Nor, did I think you would make it past Randolph," said an all too familiar voice. Ms. Gables folded her arms across her chest and frowned. Her eyes were still cold as she looked me up and down.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Ms. Gables, but I did," I replied rather coldly. "Now, what is the final test?"

"Your final test is to answer this riddle: What has 4 legs in the morning, 2 legs in the afternoon, and 3 legs at night?"

I frowned. Why does that sound so familiar?

"Do you give up?" she asked a smirk in her voice.

I bit my lip and shook my head, stubbornly. I knew the answer. I know that I knew it, but I didn't know when or where I had heard it before.

"Then, hurry up. We don't have all day."

I closed my eyes and I wasn't in that room anymore, with Ms. Gables.

~*~*~

I was in my sister's, Li, room and Dad was with us. We were all on the bed, having family time together. However, like always, Mom wasn't with us.

I was maybe... 9 almost 10, and I was still that happy go lucky kid. However, I had changed a bit, even at the young age.

"Come on, and tell us a riddle, please," Li said, sickly. She leaned back in her seat and watched our father. A smile was on her face, as if she couldn't wait for whatever he had to say.

"Are you sure, Elizabeth," Dad asked, sounding worried about my sister. "You need your rest."

Li was short for Elizabeth, and she looked at us stubbornly. Her blue eyes were bright with wonder as she looked at him. "Yes, Papa," she replied, coughing slightly at the end. "Please?"

"Come on, Daddy," I said, moving around in my seat. A grin was on my face, because I was just as excited as she was. "She is fine for one riddle."

He smiled at my enthusiastic way of life. "All right:What has 4 legs in the morning, 2 legs in the afternoon, and 3 legs at night?"

"A puppy!" I yelled excitedly. I bounced around, grinning. Yes, I always guessed a puppy, but I really wanted a puppy. I loved dogs.

"Why do you say that?" he asked, smiling slightly.

"Here we go again," Li said, teasingly. She rolled her eyes and shook her head, sadly at me.

I stuck my tongue out at her before looking at my father. "Well, a dog walks on four legs. If he loses two legs, then he walks on two. If he loses one leg, then he walks on three."

"That's not the correct answer," he said, laughing at my pouting face. "The answer is a person."

"Person? What's that?" I asked, angrily. I wanted it to be a dog. Dad said if I get an answer correct, then he would get me a puppy. However, I never did, because I had always guessed a dog or a puppy.

He looked at me and smiled at the way I was acting. I could see a small smirk on his face, because he knew that I had lost again. "A baby walks on four legs, since it crawls. A man walks on two legs. And an older man walks on three, since he uses a cane. That is why the answer is a person."

~*~*~

I opened my eyes and looked at her. "Person," I said. "A person is the answer."

She smirked and opened her mouth. "That is-"

"It is true. When you are a baby, you crawl and that is like having four legs. When you start to walk, maybe when you are around two, then you walk on two legs. And when you are a really old person, then you use a cane and that counts as three legs. So, it is man."

There was a loud bang as a door opened behind Ms. Gables, to show a sitting room. There were twenty people in the room staring at me and Ms. Gables. Some of the faces were smiling, because I had gotten into the room without any help from anyone of them.

Michael stood up and came towards us, smiling warmly at me. "You passed all three of the tests. Come and sit with us," he said, gesturing towards the table. "There are some open seats for you to sit at."

I didn't want to sit, so I walked into the and stood at a wall with my back on it. I cocked a foot and just looked at all the people sitting there, blinking a little as if bored. My whole body was tense, because I didn't trust them. I didn't know if they would try to do something to me or not.

"Come and sit, Joes," Michael said, patiently as he looked at me. He just sighed a little when I shook my head, no. "All right then." He shook his head and sat down in a seat, watching me.

"Lasi won't like that she is standing up," Ms. Gables said, sounding rather impatient. "That's why you have to be forceful with her."

"No, you don't," a boy, said turning to look at me. His blue eyes held some compassion and also told me that he was sorry. I blinked a couple of times to see that it was Luke. "You don't have to stare at me as if you seen a ghost. Come and take a seat." He patted the seat besides him.

Hurt, betrayal and anger filled my system, while I looked at him. I folded my arms across my chest and stayed at the wall, stubbornly. I shook my head, trying not to cry. I mean, come on. Luke had been my best friend for a long time, as long as I can remember. He had been my only friend, and he knew what was going on? Why didn't he tell me?

"She doesn't have to sit if she doesn't want to," a voice said, making the hair on the back of my neck stand up at attention. Goosebumps went up and down my arms as I shivered a little. The voice sounded ancient, as if it had been around for ages. A cat came into view, watching me. Her ears were pricked forward, while she did so. "I am Lasi," she said, as she sat down, putting her tail around her feet.

I cocked my head to one side and studied her, curious about her. She had green oval eyes with something in them... that I couldn't put a finger on it. Her coat was all black with a tint of... violet? She looked like a regular house cat, but I knew that she wasn't an ordinary cat.

"As you can see, I'm not an ordinary house cat. Never was, and never will be." She stared at me, looking me in the eye. "You can ask questions, you know. I am sure that you have multiple of them"

I stayed silent. Questions rolled around in my brain, but I didn't know where to start. Many things I thought was true was not. My life was a lie, or well, it felt like it.

"I said, ask questions," she hissed, narrowing her eyes into deadly slits. She pounced at me, her claws out and growling.

I moved away and pushed her against the wall, her paws hanging down limply as I held her by her throat. I clenched my other hand into a fist as I watched her, staying cautious.

The rest of the people that were around the table stood up, quickly as I held their leader by the throat. I could feel their anger coming off of them as waves and knew that they were planning on attacking.

"Go ahead and attack me," I said, warning lacing my tone. "It won't do you any good."

"And why won't it?" Ms. Gables asked. "I mean, you are holding her by the throat."

"She won't hurt me," Lasi said, her voice breaking a little, since I was holding her by the throat. She looked at me, daring me to do something. "Hit me."

I blinked, surprised. Why would she order me to hit her? "Why?" I asked, cautiously.

"Just hit me," she said with another hiss as she narrowed her eyes at me, again.

I made a fist and brought it back. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my frayed nerves. She did tell me to hit her.

I could feel the rest of the group tensing up around me, probably going to hurt me afterwards if I did hurt her. I started to punch her but ended up punching the wall close to her head. "No," I said. "I won't punch you." I released her, and she fell to the floor, landing on her feet. I turned to look around and looked at the wall, trying to control my frayed nerves.

"She almost hurt Lasi," Ms. Gables said, pointing accusingly towards me. There was anger in her voice. "She should be punished."

As quick as a flash, as I was at her with a knife to her throat.

"No one move," Lasi said. "Let her speak."

"Why do you hate me so much?" I growled, narrowing eyes, letting all the hatred and anger out as I looked at her. I gritted my teeth and took a deep breath. Being my teacher for a long time, she should know by now what had happened in my life."I did nothing to you, yet you still hate me. You of all people knew what I have been going through. You had me as a student for who knows how long, and you knew what had happened to m-m-m-my f-f-family," I said, bursting into tears, feeling the ache of loss for a loved one. "Y-y-you knew what had happened, and you t-t-t-treated me l-like shit."

My knife dropped out of my hand and fell onto the floor as I followed, the pain of losing her harder than it had been before.

Someone came, grabbed me, and pulled me into a hug. "Can you tell us why you think that?" It was Michael.

I pulled out of the hug and wiped my eyes, feeling down and upset. "She was born a day before my fourth birthday. I was happy that I would finally have a sibling, and I wouldn't be an only child. I hated being an only child, because people didn't want to play with me, even at a young age. She was born on the 26th of October, while I was born on the 27th of October. On her second birthday, she got very sick. We took her to the doctors, and they didn't know what it was. I had to spend the rest of that month and the next with Luke and his family, while they went to England to figure it out. They didn't know, either." I paused and wiped my eyes, taking a deep breath.

"Ms. Gables was my teacher during that time and the time after that. Every so often, I would stare off into space, wishing that I was with them. She wrote me up for that. 'Causing a disturbance', she had wrote, multiple times." I paused again and cleared my throat.

"A month after my sixth birthday, they came back. Mom was very tired and sad. She wouldn't talk to anyone. When I came back to them, Mom didn't want me to go near my baby sister. Everything had changed in that month. We moved out of my grandparent's house. We bought a house like a couple of miles away from Luke and his family and... I ran away."

"You what?!" one of the people, I didn't know exclaimed, cutting me off.

"I ran away. It was a week after we moved. Mom didn't want me to be near my sister. Dad was usually drunk. If he wasn't drunk, then he was staring off into space with a blank look on his face. Mom didn't seem to care about me. So, I ran away in the middle of the night."

"Why then?" the same person asked, cutting me off.

"Well, I thought that if I did run away in the middle of night, then... they wouldn't notice. I was right, for about a week. Luke was the first to notice that I didn't show up for school. Used to, we would meet in front of the bus loop and walk to class, even at a young age." I blushed slightly, still feeling that same feeling that I had back felt then. I liked Luke. Well... more of like like, but I didn't let him know.

"We had the same class and when I didn't show up, he had asked Ms. Gables where I was. Later he told me that she said she didn't know and she didn't care. He thought that I would come back the next day, but I didn't go back. Again, he asked Ms. Gables. This time she said 'Well maybe she is at home sick!' It was as if she didn't even care about me."

"How come your parents didn't know?"

I shrugged my shoulder, feeling the anger that I had felt back then. It had felt like I wasn't important to them. "They were more worried about my sister," I said bitterly, glaring at the floor. My nostrils flared, but I kept my anger in check.

"What happened next?" a girl asked.

"A week had passed and finally he went to my house. He rang the doorbell, twice, and no one answered. Luke walked right into the house and went up to my room, before my parents even knew that he was there. He found out that I had left and went to tell my parents. They were surprised that I had left, but they did nothing."

"What were you doing that week?"

"I was actually starving. I had a bow and arrows, but I didn't know how to use them. The first two days, I had failed to catch anything. That night, something had found me."

"Well? What found you?"

I smiled, thinking back to the face that I had called my friend and teacher. "A wolf."

"A wolf?" Michael asked. He looked surprised, but he covered it up with a blank face.

"A wolf. Somehow, I understood him, and he understood me. He wanted me to come with... him, so I followed him."

"What happened next?" the same girl asked.

"Well, first he caught me something to eat and then he taught me how to shoot the bow. Yes, he had four paws, but he was actually a good teacher."

"When did you go back home?"

"Around Christmas, but my life had changed. I was stronger than I had been. I was wary of everything and cautious around people. I learned how to fight, how to run without making any noise, and how to be stealthy, blending in with the shadows. When I got home, my parents were gone. My sister had gotten worse and was on the verge of death. I walked to Luke's house, and his parents gave me a lift to the hospital."

"Did she die?"

I shook my head no. "She didn't die. Luke's parents called mine, and they met me there. My mother wanted to take me home and give me a good scolding and lashing. But, I wanted to see my sister. I wanted to be by her deathbed, 'cause I hadn't been a good sister." My eyes went cloudy again and my voice broke. I cleared my throat and took a deep breath, trying to keep my composure. "Dad told Mom to let me see her. After a lot of persuasion, Mom finally agreed, so I went. I walked into the room, and she was just so fragile and sick. She was just... white, like a ghost. My little sister was hooked to a lot of tubes, that were trying to keep her alive. I walked over to her, sat down besides her, and just talked about anything and everything, about what I had been doing, while she was sick in bed. I had placed my hand on hers and then... I felt this tingling sensation going through my body and into her body. After that, she woke up, and Mom was shocked. She just took her gently into her arms and cried." I sighed and shook my head, blinking rapidly. I had felt so much relief when she had woken up and just grinned at me, as if she was happy to see me.

"And..?"

"Well, Luke's dad took me home to their house. I visited after school and in a weeks time, she came home. I didn't have to stay away from her. Every night, I went into her room. Dad came in and told us riddles."

"Riddles?" Ms. Gables asked.

"Yep. Every night it was a different one. I would fall asleep in class, because I would sometimes wake up in the middle of the night, to see if she was still breathing. I failed 1st grade, because I missed so many days. Ms. Gables would say that I couldn't make up the work. I also failed 2nd grade, because I "supposedly" did not do the work or failed the assignment. What was funny was that Luke asked his parents to stay back with me, in those two grades."

"Hey, you two would've killed each other, if I didn't," Luke said coming over to me. He squeezed my shoulder, reassuringly, knowing what I was going to have to say.

I felt tears coming into my eyes, and I blinked them back. I was not going to cry over this, not again. This was going to be hard for me, and I didn't need the pity of others."When I was in the third grade, she had to go back to the hospital. She was very, very sick. I moved back with Luke and his family. No one could see her, 'cept for my parents. She died when I was in fourth grade. I was about eleven. The bad thing was... she died on her birthday and we had the funeral on mine."

"And what does this have to do with... me?" Ms. Gables asked, glaring at me.

"You didn't care. When I stayed after school and tried to talk to you, you just flicked me off with, "I'm busy" every single time. I just wanted to talk. How many times did you see me burst into tears and turn away from me? A lot. All I needed was a smile, and you didn't even do that."

"So, you got that from everyone else."

"But, I wanted one from you. You were my teacher back then and are my teacher now. I needed the respect that I had given you. After failing second grade, I gave up. I knew that you didn't respect me or like me, so I gave up respecting you."

"You gave up respecting me, 'cause I didn't respect you?"

"And because you liked everyone else, except for me, and I didn't know why. What had I even done to you?"

"There is another reason, isn't there," she said coldly, glaring at me.

I looked away, blushing slightly. "Mom never told me 'I love you' after my baby sister died. Dad kind of only talked to me when I got into trouble, or he was trying to teach me stuff." I shook my head and cleared my throat.

Now would be the best time to tell them about that note that you have in your bag, Voice said, reminding me of the weird thing that happened yesterday.

"The night before last... Dad and I had this stupid fight, where I wanted to do something, and he didn't want me to do it. Well, the next morning... he had left. I don't know where he went or what had happened to him. Last afternoon, I found a note on his desk, addressed to me. Well, last night, I read it, and it said stuff that didn't make any sense to me."

"Have a seat in one of the chairs, and we'll talk about this, shall we?" Michael asked, gesturing to the table where most of the people sat.

I nodded my head as I stood up, wiping my eyes. I took a deep breath and walked towards the table, taking a seat in one that hasn't been taken.

"The first thing I want to know is why you were arguing with your father?" Ms. Gables asked, sitting down.

"Well, he wouldn't let me play basketball."

"Why?"

"I ran away a second time. This was the summer... after my sis had died and... my mark appeared."

"Your mark?" Ms. Gables asked, raising an eyebrow.

I sighed and turned over my arm, so that they could see my forearm.

"It's blank."

"I got makeup on it, duh," I replied as I pulled out some baby wipes from my bag.

"Cool."

"What's up with all these sarcastic remarks?" I asked, wiping my arm so that the makeup came off and my mark appeared. This is what it looked like: Φ.

"Michael," Ms. Gables, said looking at him.

"I know, Maria," he said, staring at me. "What happened when you ran away?"

"Well, the same wolf found me, again, and I followed him. The first two nights, I heard voices, but nothing came out. The third night, shadows moved, he woke me up, and we moved. The fourth and fifth night, they came closer and... the sixth night, they attacked. The wolf made me run, and he left me. I thought I was going to die, but... he came back... with my dad. I had fallen, tripping over a branch and my dad had stunned it or something, but he got me away from there. He made me quit doing stuff with school, except for going to school so... ya..."

"What did the note say?" Michael asked, watching me with eyes that seemed to look through my soul.