"Do I really have to me here?" Virgil Hawkins whined to his father Robert, and his sister Sharon while they waited at the door of their new neighbors house.

"Yes. They are your neighbors too." Sharon said in a harsh tone that instantly became sweet when an elderly lady answered the door. "Hi, my name is Sharon Hawkins, and this is father Robert, and my little brother Virgil. We're your new neighbors." Sharon gave the woman a sweet smile. Sharon was always nicer to other people, than she was to Virgil.

"Aw. How sweet of you to come by and welcome us to the neighborhood. Please, come in." The woman stepped away from the door to let Sharon, Robert, and Virgil in.

A man walked into the room just as they all got in. "My name is Kimberly Delmay, and this is my son JC. JC, these are our new neighbors, Robert Hawkins, and his kids Sharon and Virgil." Kimberly told her son.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." JC said, shaking everyone's hands. "Do you go to Dakota Union High young man?" He asked Virgil.

"Yes sir." Virgil replied politely.

"My daughter will be staring there tomorrow." JC said, then looked to his mother. "Where is she?" He asked her.

"Upstairs doing something. I think she's giving the dog a bath." Kimberly said. "Can I get you three something to drink?" She asked their guests.

"Water is fine with me." Robert said.

"Same for me." Sharon replied.

"Can I get you a soda Virgil?" Kimberly asked the teenager.

"Sure, thanks." Virgil said.

"Will any kind do?" The older woman asked.

"As long as it's not diet." Virgil said, giving a disgusted look.

"My grand-daughter doesn't like diet drinks either." Kimberly said as she walked toward the kitchen.

"Can I help you with those drink Mrs. Delmay?" Sharon asked.

"I suppose you can, if you really want to. And please, call me Kimberly." She said, stopping so Sharon could catch up.

All of a sudden a loud scream could be heard from upstairs, causing Virgil to go into hero mode, charging up. There was a loud thud, followed by a wet dog running down the stairs. The dog stopped right in front of the electrically charged Virgil, and shook the water off himself, and onto the human in front of him.

Somehow Virgil managed to hide the pain the water caused him. A girl his age then came running down the stairs after the dog, yelling something Virgil couldn't understand. The dog looked back, and seeing the girl, took off running out the open backdoor. Just as the girl ran past Virgil, time seamed to slow. She looked at him for a millisecond, and then the pain was gone, and he could feel his powers return.

JC reached out and catch the girl by the arm, not enough to hurt her, just enough to get her to stop. Something told Virgil that is it had hurt, it wouldn't have really bothered her.

"Dara, these are our new neighbors. This is Robert Hawkins, and these are his kids, Sharon and Virgil. Virgil goes to Dakota Union High, so you'll be going to school together." He said in a very happy voice, which seemed to annoy the girl a little. "This is my daughter Dara." JC said to Robert and his kids.

"It's nice to meet you all." Dara said, any sign of annoyance masked by a look of happiness. Virgil wondered if he noticed it because of all his time as a hero, cause no one, not even her father, seemed to notice it. "I hope we can be friends." Dara then said to Virgil.

"Yeah, me too." Virgil said, trying to hide the fact he was now staring at her hair. It was black just like her father's, but her's was platinum about halfway down, and the tips were a bright pink. It was straight, and about halfway down her back. She had on cargo pants with at least twenty pockets all over them, a black T-shirt, and with a wet spot on it, and black combat boots. She had her ears pierced all the way up both, and a very old fashioned key on a chain around her neck. At least she wouldn't be called a fear at their school, what with all the bang-babies.

"It's really nice to meet you, but I have to get my dog out of the backyard before he get's dirty again. Excuse me." Dara walked out the backdoor, yelling something that sounded like Anubis and then something else no one seemed to understand, not even her family.

"What did she say?" Virgil asked out loud, but more to himself.

"The first word was Anubis, which is the dog's name, but the other words, I have no clue. they were something she learned while in Egypt when we went there on vacation once. I don't know what they mean, but she does. I don't even know what the dog's name means." JC said.

"It's the name of the Egyptian God most often seen with the head of a Jackel. Anubis is a very rare breed of Egyptian dog." Dara said as she led the strange looking dog back into the house, with an even bigger dog following close behind.

"That dog is huge." Virgil said when he saw it.

"She's a great dane. Her name is Isis. I named her after the Egyptian Goddess often seen with the throne shaped headdress. And that is Bast, named after the Egyptian Goddess of cats. She's an Egyptian Mau, a rare breed of cat." Dara pointed out a cat lazily laying on top entertainment center.

"What a beautiful cat." Sharon said, sipping her water. the cat seemed to have understood her, since she started to purr as soon as she said it.

"So, you can speak Egyptian?" Robert asked Sara.

"Yeah. Anubis listens better when I speak Egyptian." She replied.

"Dara can also speak other languages." Kimberly said.

"Grandmother, I don't think our guest want to heart about all the languages I can speak." Dara said, hating having all the attention on her.

"How many can you speak?" Virgil asked, quite interested.

"Quite a few. I have what some might call a silver tongue, meaning I can learn a language really fast, and I can talk my way out of almost anything." Dara replied emotionlessly.

"That's cool." Virgil said.

"Well, I hate to leave so soon, but we have to go to the community center. Feel free to some by anytime you like." Robert said as he got up to shake their hands.

"Thanks for that. We'll be sure to stop by sometime. Thanks for stopping by. It was a real treat meeting you." JC said as he and Dara showed them to the door. Kimberly started to clean up the cups from the living room.

"I'll see you at school Virgil." Dara said sweetly, making her father happy.

"Okay. I'll introduce you to my best friends Richie, and Freida, and my girlfriend Daisy." Virgil said as he walked out the door with his dad and sister.

"Cool. I look forward to it." Dara said when he reached the bottom step.

Then Dara went to help her grandmother with the dishes.