When I closed my eyes to go to sleep I saw flames. The fresh linen sheets of Aura and warmth from someone else wasn't enough to distract me.

I saw the house going up in flames. I noticed the yellow and oranges from the fire wink at me. I did that. I burned down that house. I burned down that man. Another man I had killed. I didn't even keep count any more.

The flames beat up around me, just like they had on the beach. Before I woke up choking on sea water. I was in cased in a circle of fire, still trapped in the same dull darkness.

It's easy to sway emotions when you have a blank boring canvas.

Heat started to creep up against my back again. Not like last time where I could feel Jordan leaning against my back weakly. The heat was overwhelming. It was wrapping around me like I was snuggled in a blanket, and then it got hotter and hotter and hotter-.

The flames grew larger. They grew so tall that they wept over my head like a wave, braking as I turned to see them hit the ground. Now the fire was swirling around me in a whirlpool tunnel. Spinning around me. I was getting exhausted. I turned each time to watch them fall and start, fall and start, fall and start.

The invisible blanket continued to tighten around me. My throat started to burn. My shoulders were pulsing in pain.

And then I heard laughing. A women was cackling in the distance, lurking somewhere in the darkness. My heart started to beat faster as soon as it heard it.

Still my heart might have been going mad, but my brain was still on. I knew this was a dream. I was aware of that. Nothing could hurt me in my dreams.

The flames were still circling around me, trying to catch each other. When I looked in every direction I saw a dull blinding light and yellow, orange, and red. It was a kaleidoscope of heat and fear and control.

I stepped out of the circle. A burn didn't touch me. When I turned back around, I didn't see the fire. It had gone.

Nothing was further. It was blank darkness. Blank darkness so dark that I could see my hands or legs in front of me. It was as if I was standing in the inky blackness you only witness when your eyes are closed.

I heard more laughing. Women's laughing. The same laughing I heard countless times, but I never knew who it belonged to.

I took another defiant step.

And then a shooting pain went up my spine. A strong burning that I couldn't pin point to one place.

I collapsed on the ground. I held my head in pain. The burning climbed up my body. It reached into my shoulders. It felt like burning claws were grabbing me. Like they were shaking me. I tried to wrap up more and more. I tried to fend it away in blind darkness. I still cried out in pain on the ground.

I couldn't scream. I couldn't budge. I had been shot with pure fear and was bleeding out on the ground.

The burning claws dig into my skin. The darkness surrounded me. I couldn't feel around for my legs or shoulders. I could only stand still and wait.

Something still grabbed me even though it was a dream.

My spin and ribs felt like they were going to shoot out of me. I could feel my heart beating so fast it was hurting. I thought it would explode. My shoulders boiled. My blood got warmer. My skin was starting to smell cooked-.

I woke up. My eyes flashed open. I was staring at a white ceiling. It was no where close to dark outside. When I moved my head to the left to look out the window, it seemed like the sun had risen a few hours ago.

My body still ached from the trip. My feet were sore and my back was killing me. I wanted to swallow a whole bottle of Jordan's aspirin, plastic and all.

Pain killers would be nice, I realized, but what I really need is food.

I always do this things where I sleep for like fifteen hours after staying up for two days, and then when I wake up a have to fill my belly up for the 15 hours I had wasted sleeping.

Damn you sleep, you beautiful bastard!

I leaned up. My legs didn't want to leave the sheets. They were too soft and nice.

Then my back started to ache some more, and I realized I really had to wake up. I needed to go harass Jordan for pain killers, or I would die.

Metaphorically.

I grabbed clothes from the drawer. I actually liked light pink tops a lot. People thought you were naked with a quick glance. The faces different people make are entertaining.

I found this dusty pink tank, and the some jeans that were on the bottom drawer. I winced when I had to go to pick them up.

I really needed aspirin, like yesterday.

The pain in my feet dissipated as they had to walk around the cold floor. The cold hardwood floor was like my toes personal little ice packs.

I was calm as I walked into the bathroom. I grabbed a hair tie to put my hair in a braid, which I learned tamed my hair a lot better than a ponytail.

I faced the mirror as I started to section off my hair, and then I noticed something.

My heart started to beat faster as I shoved my hair back, and I grabbed the collar of the T-shirt I was wearing. I yanked it down, and noticed the marks on my chest and shoulders.

I became wide eyed. The pale shade my skin was becoming showed the marks more.

It has to be a sunburn. I told myself. It's just a weird sunburn.

But I started to believe myself less and less, and it got more difficult to take my shirt off as I got flustered. I almost tore it off.

My shaking hands dropped to floor as I looked at my bare shoulders. When I poked my irritated spots, my whole back burned more. My back hurt so much that I almost fell to the ground.

I followed the shapes of the red skin. They squiggled up and down my shoulders, around my back. Through the area of my spine, where they stopped and then met again at the nape of my neck.

"What the hell?" I mumbled out as I realized-

- they made the shape of two hands, holding my shoulders.

We hadn't said anything about the house yet, if you were asking. I mean when Liberty greeted us we told him about the Invaders. How they were from another Kingdom than he had never heard the name of.

Liberty then rushed off somewhere, telling us to go to bed and try to relax until morning. Liberty was down to earth, and even when he was probably loosing it inside he was able to be calm around us. So I did try to go to bed.

Then, when the aura of calm left, I couldn't sleep. I stayed up, staring into the darkness, thinking about the dolls. How scared the Dianite's were. How desperate they were to find some sort of peace that they went ahead and tried to kill us because they thought we were shapeshifters.

I also thought of the Invaders, and how they used our faces to disguise themselves. How people were probably murdered seeing me. Being horrified by me.

I started to feel sick, so I got up and walked around.

The hallway was eerily quiet. Enough that my thoughts were able to take over again, and I was in the same rabbit hole I had laying in bed. The cold started to nip at me as I headed to the gardens. Realizing I forgot a jacket didn't stop me anymore. I just needed a quiet place to think.

The invaders had taken the dolls for necromancy. That means they were gonna manipulate the dead to bring them back alive. I didn't know a lot about necromancy, but I knew that. The people in Mianite had a weird respect for the dead. Once they were buried, they were resting, and you never spoke of them again.

Which is probably why everyone in Mianite are alcoholics.

"-oh no!-"

I knocked into someone, and I quickly glanced up. I pulled my posture straight and stopped looking at the ground.

I had knocked into Faith.

She had her big rimmed glasses on her nose. The frames were loose, so they always slipped off her face. She also always had her hair up, and I understood now. With her hair down it was all over her face. Even though the length was cut to her chin, the brunette strands were flying everywhere.

"Sorry," she mumbled out, sounding more annoying at herself than she was at me. She had dropped a bunch of VHS tapes on the ground. The closest thing Mianite had to tv.

I noticed, "Did you set up a TV in your room?"

"Yeah." The fall must have actually hurt her, because her face was getting all flushed and red. "I found it in Mianite actually, in this old abandoned consignment shop. The guys never let me hang out with them, and the girls were too catty for me." She trailed off, still not looking at me, and tried her best to pick up all of the VHS tapes.

"They need returned to Lucy's library." She continued to mumbled out.

I leaned down and started to pick up VHS tapes. Before I could trim over the tape to see the title, Faith had quickly gotten up. She somehow found the strength to pick up all the tapes. Except the one on my hand.

I turned the tape around to see the title.

"Look," she said. "I can explain."

I started to laugh. "The Sex and The City set." I turned around the VHS. I hadn't see one of them in years. "This is-" laughing "-a Sex-" laughing "-and The City set."

Faith let out a deep sigh. "I was fifteen and-" she was interrupted by my laughing. "I just wanted to see - I just wanted to see - Oh would you stop laughing!"

"I just thought you would watch - like - the creation of silver or something." I inquired. I meant to mean it as she was smart, brilliant, and then I realized that made her sound boring.

"Oh thanks," she stated sarcastically. Her right hand was struggling to keep the whole set up as her other pulled down her shorts that were riding up.

She grabbed the tape I had and started to walk away.

Good job dumbass!

"Wait!" I yelled out. "Where are you going?!"

She was halfway down the hallway now. "Returning my boring tapes."

Again with the sass that they all seem to have.

I was grasping for straws in my head. Gasping for words in real life. She was just walking off, and somehow that was a bad thing. It felt like a bad thing, so I wasn't going to let it happen! Whatever that bad thing was.

"The necromancers!" I screamed out, and before I realized it I had yelled necromancers in a hallway of sleeping people.

Faith reached back to me as soon as possible, sloppily dropping her tapes behind her. "What necromancers?" She asked quickly.

Her eyes were stern, and whatever dorky girl that had just binge watched a show for the fourth time was gone.

I would've tried to pry my way out of the situation, but Faith was honestly frightening. I decided to just explain out right. "We don't know exactly if they are necromancers. We were just guessing-" I stammered. "I mean the evidence was enough to make us burn down a house, but we kinda did that on accident at the end-"

"You said there was Ianite Raiders in Mianite." She asked.

"Yes. The Invaders." I answered.

She flung her hands through her hair. "Oh no." She murmured out. Whatever vibe Liberty has given out, she was giving the opposite. "Oh no. Oh no. Oh no-."

"Is that not a good thing?"

She started to walk down the hallways, almost tripping over her tapes. She pointed to me. "Go to bed Mr. Sparkles."

I wanted to object on many things. For example, she had used my former last name and also was trying to put me to bed like a child. "But-"

"Go to bed." She said louder. She started to put her hair up.

"But, I-" I argued.

"Go to bed!" She yelled, and her voice was deep but shrill.

She was horrifying and commanding. Her yell echoed through the hall so by the time it got to me I almost got knocked over. Tapes and all, she was still part of one of the most horrifying armies I had ever met.

So I went to bed.

"Your not as good at fighting as him."

"What?"

I had only been sparring for a short while as the sun went up. I found it a lot easier to practice alone, when no one was around, other than the earthy tones of the sunrise. It simulated what it was like to be in battle. You took to one target, and one target.

I also hate people.

I was alone, until Allyssa just appeared. She was balancing herself on one of the hedge fences, watching the distance in front of her.

"Jeriah," She answered. He feet were starting to wobble around, and I could see the early humidity start to bother her. People usually try to concentrate off of whatever is causing the discomfort, and that was her legs, which had short. This caused her to start to loose her balance.

I noticed that she alway wore long sleeves, to hide the different skin colors on her arms. Her curly hair camouflaged the rest in her face.

Jeriah must have been a man. Who that man was ... I had no idea.

"Who?" I asked, again. Maybe instead of trying to sulk, this preteen would give me some information.

Or she could just leave.

"The other you," she shook her head in confusion. "Or whatever you guys are calling them."

The other yous? And then an "aha moment". She must have meant the alter egos. I hadn't met mine, and I really had know want to. I had heard that he was a blood knight, one of Mianite's elite, who had only betrayed Mianite for his own benefit. Until then of course they all became friends because when you're stuck with a group of people for ten years, it's hard not too.

"He hasn't been back in two weeks," she said, worry tinged her tiny voice. When I looked back up at the hedge, the kid was about to cry her little green eyes out.

She knew something was wrong. Something happened to Jeriah. I'm naturally a skeptic and don't keep up with bullshit, but when a person feels deeply that their teammate is hurt.

Well something is usually wrong.

"How do I help with that?" I shrugged.

And I must have sounded genuine enough because Allyssa's eyes lit up, and she stopped loosing her balance in the hedge. "Really," she gasped.

"Yeah." Why wouldn't I help?

She was looking at me now. Her hair wasn't hiding her face anymore, and she didn't push down her long sleeves when they rode up. "People usually just say he'll be back-"

I already knew the end of that question before it began.

"I'm just a stupid kid." She shrugged. "Why would they believe me?"

I thought about all the times Hope did something spontaneous when she was young. Her instincts were sharper than all of ours even then, and now they were even more. She had more precision than then all of us, and sure she had to improve, but even before she improved The was on a different level than all of us.

"You're a lot smarter than people will let you believe. You're a lot smarter than what they will believe," I stated. "Use that to your advantage."

Allyssa nodded with some core understanding. She crossed her arms, pushing both of her sleeves up.

"Thank you," She said quickly.

"I'll bring it up the next time I see Faith or Liberty," I said, trying to reassure her.

Allyssa rolled her eyes a little. It wasn't gestured to me, just kinda at the whole world. "Faith and Liberty aren't the ones you have to get through too."

Wait, what?

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Faith and Liberty aren't in charge," Allyssa stated, and then she quickly mumbled under her breath, "even though they practically do everything."

It may have been the fact that the sun went up, and it was starting to get hot, but everything started to feel heavy. Humidity makes you feel heavy because of all the moisture. This was a dry heavy. This was an air heavy.

"Who is in charge?"

"Claudias," Allyssa answered almost on an impulse. I could tell though in her heart that it took a lot for her to say his name.

My sudden thoughts of snow didn't make the air any less hot. I was still uncomfortable to a core. If anything his words made it worse.

Before I could get out anymore questions, Allyssa was suddenly running back into the institution. Something had caught her eye in the window and after that she bolted for it.

Inside stood Mot and Dianite, angrily glaring at some man with a hairline receding so far back I thought it would the doorway.

"What do you mean?" Mot has his hands shoved in his jean pockets. A little part of me thought he was searching for a knife. "You didn't go back and look for him."

At first Mot's words were calm and commanding, but I knew he was going to be in a screaming match soon. Either with himself or the man at the doorway.

The man had bags and bags and bags at his side. I didn't understand why one person would need so much luggage for one trip. He wasn't going to Paris.

"Look," the man explained. His voice wasn't harsh, but it was deep and surprisingly mellow. A grandpa that smoked weed mellow. "We have a treaty with these people. I am sure if we just say-"

"THEY KIDNAPPED HIM CLAUDIUS!" Mot screamed.

I mean sure the guy had the voice of a grandfather, but he looked mid forties, maybe fifties if we were gonna stretch. His mossy brown hair was only slightly salted, and the wrinkles on his face weren't sagging.

"Jeriah's been kidnapped?" Allyssa asked, but Dianite just shooed her away and told her to go find Andor and Andy.

I tried to catch the poor kids eyes, but she stared at the floor, sulking away.

"Do you even know where he was kidnapped?" Mot covered his face with his hands. "Please tell me you took the time to remember that."

Claudius opened his mouth but no words came out.

Mot groaned. "Oh in hell's fires-!"

"I did."

And then a women stepped out from the dimly lit side of the doorway. Her was pinned to the side, but it's clay color still seemed to be a part of her whole face. A heart shaped, tan face that could really suit any haircut. She was slim, extremely slim, and her clothes were almost made for that purpose.

I could imagine Tom and Jordan would be fighting over her for days.

"Oh thank you," Mot sighed out.

She shrugged. On her shoulders was only a small bag. All she needed to bring for the trip.

"My name doesn't mean intelligence for nothing," she insisted.

And as the fact that someone got kidnapped sunk into me, I wondered what we got ourselves into. What treachery we would have to face. More than the necromancers.