Chapter 1
Prologue
"Wind howled through the night, carrying a scent that would change the world."
"Oh God, I don't understand how you two can read that book. It sucked."
Rachel and Mikenzie looked up from the blue novel, glaring at their friend.
"This coming from the girl who only read the first sixty pages?" Rachel queried, annoyed.
"So?" Zi sat next to them and continued, "If it was suck-ish then, so I didn't miss anything."
Mikenzie and Rachel both stuck their tongues out at her.
The three girls were sitting at the base of an oak tree on their school lawn, squishing dead leaves that had begun to fall with the coming of autumn. They were waiting for first period to start. Mikenzie and Rachel had Eragon squished between them, protecting it like it was the meaning to life. Zi rolled her eyes at them.
They were all juniors in high school, including Maddy, their currently missing member. Rachel was the oldest, two months away from turning seventeen. Her long golden hair and bangs framed her face, while her blue-gray eyes shone with a quiet intensity. A birthmark the color of red wine stained her left hand. She wore a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and black tee-shirt that read 'Light up the Night'.
Mikenzie was the youngest of the four, not even turning sixteen for another month. She had long brown hair with a maroon-ish tinge, and warm brown eyes. Her sleepy eyes were always masked by the hyper attitude she possessed, often driving the other girls crazy. She wore light denim short-shorts and a floral tank-top.
Maddy and Zi were almost physically identical, yet not. Both had chocolate brown hair and were slim. They were both the same height, standing an inch or two above the others. Zi did gymnastics and was so thin she looked like a stick. Her curly hair was everywhere, often covering her hazel eyes. Maddy had orange-brown eyes with straight, thin hair. When she was a child she had a rollerblading accident, resulting in her front teeth being knocked askew, and staying that way permanently.
"Heeeeeeeyyyyyyy."
"Hey, slut," Rachel said, greeting their approaching fourth member. It was true, Maddy really was a slut. She refused to wear anything that went below mid-thigh and did not show off her cleavage. She'd been with too many people to count and flirted with everyone else. She was what others would call a 'prep', or at least a fancy whore, and how she came to be friends with their group was beyond their logic. But they loved her.
Maddy carefully set her designer bag against the tree and sat next to them, not caring that her skirt had ridden up.
"Soo, what's up? Oh God, you're reading again?"
"Hey, it's not our fault you're the only one of us who hates books," Mikenzie said.
"That's not true," Maddy huffed. "I liked Perks of Being a Wallflower."
"Of course you did," Rachel said off-handedly. "It was all sex and drama."
Maddy thought for a moment then shrugged.
"Hey, Maddy," Zi said, looking at the other brunette, "has Anthony broken up with his girlfriend yet?"
Maddy pouted. "No. He told me he was gonna break it off with her at homecoming, but he didn't. That little be-yotch has him on such a tight leash."
Rachel rolled her eyes. "No, she doesn't. You just hate her because you want Anthony. We've all met her and she's nice. It's your fault for trying to make him be disloyal." Maddy opened her mouth but the blonde continued. "Yes, I know, he doesn't love her. Then he should be straight with her unless he wants her to find out the painful way…besides, he's two years younger than you. Gross."
Maddy glared at her friend and stuck her tongue out.
"I love you too," Rachel said.
The girls chatted idly for a while, catching up from the weekend.
Zi looked at the girls still cradling the novel. "Oh wait, isn't the fourth book supposed to be coming out in like…a month?"
"A month and a half," the girls said in unison. Zi nodded.
Distantly, they heard the bell ring. Standing, the girls grabbed their backpacks (and Maddy's designer bag), and wiped dead leaves from their clothes.
Rachel turned around, and was met with white. An extremely thick mist covered the ground, rising quickly before their eyes.
"Umm, guys," she said slowly, "was that their before?"
Mikenzie also turned. "HOLY-SHIT, MOTHER EFFER!"
'Guess that's a no.'
"Uh," Maddy stared at the mist, "is that natural?"
The others looked at her and shrugged.
Rachel's eyes grew wide suddenly. Not only was the mist growing higher, it was moving towards them. The blonde blinked a few times, but it was still coming closer. Then, as if being controlled, a white tendril rose from it and snaked its way toward the teenagers. It looked vaguely like a hand. More tendrils started to rise, reaching out as if to grab them and drag them under.
Rachel felt Maddy dig her nails into her arm painfully. "Is that real?"
Rachel couldn't bring herself to answer. She continued to stare at the lively mist, entranced. She thought she heard…singing? Yes, singing. A low, melancholy voice was coming from its depths, beckoning to her. Then others joined in the haunting melody, making Rachel's skin crawl.
Then slowly, lightly, one of the ghostly hands caressed her face, pulling her towards the wall of white.
A scream came from Mikenzie and she slashed at the hand, making it disappear. But she didn't have enough hands. Hundreds of the white tendrils had formed, grabbing at the girls' ankles and arms, dragging them to whatever the mysterious white mist was.
Like she was underwater, Rachel could hear the distant and muffled cries of her friends, before darkness covered her eyes and she slipped into unconsciousness.
HIHIHIHI
Whatever Rachel was lying on wasn't comfortable. It was hard and cool to the touch, but grainy. With all the will she possessed, the girl cracked her eyes open. Her vision was foggy at first but started to clear with every blink.
Green. Lots and lots of green. She was lying on the ground in the middle of a forest. Rachel groaned.
The teen's throat felt seriously parched and she coughed to bring some amount of feeling back to it. She was curled into a ball and her muscles were stiff as if she'd been there for days. She slowly and painfully began to uncurl them, restraining from crying out.
A groan came from behind her.
Rachel tried to turn her head but instead coughed and asked dryly, "Guys?"
She heard a trio of groans.
Using them as motivation, she attempted to sit and get a better view of things.
Before she could, however, she heard one thing.
"…Goddamnit Rachel, what did you do?"
HIHIHIHI
AN: Hey guys! Oh my God it feels so good to be writing again! The plot bunnies won't leave me alone but it seems school has a way of not wanting me to do anything except suffer under mountains of homework.
Stupid school. Okay, I'm not in the mood to write much of an AN today, so sorry :| But here, I'll give you a cookie just for being great people and clicking on my story :)
Oh, just to let you let you know, I should be updating chapter two tomorrow, I already have it written out.
As always, reviews are extremely welcome and my life force. Please let me know what you thought, but don't be a dick about it.
Love ~Blackspade003
