Chapter 1

"His palms are sweaty; knees weak/ arms are heavy. There's vomit on his sweater already; mom's spaghetti. He's nervous/ but on the surface he looks calm and ready/ to drop bombs/ but he keeps on forgetting what he wrote down.

"The whole crowd goes so loud. He opens his mouth/ but the words won't come out. He's chokin' now. Everybody's jokin' now. The clock's run out; Time's up! Over! Plow!"

"Honestly Lys, how do you remember every lyric to that song?" Amber asked.

The girl with dark brown eyes and medium length brown hair looked at her with a smirk. "I'm just Boss like that, Ber."

The three girls laughed as they walked to Alyssia's car. They had just spent a day at the carnival near where they lived. Alyssia had just finished her first enlistment in the Marine Corps and had only one month at home before she'd be sent away to Okinawa, Japan. She was going to spend as much quality time with her friends and family as she could.

"Six days down, twenty-two to go." Jessica stated. She was Alyssia's cousin on her mother's side of the family. She stood roughly 5'6" tall and was twenty-two years old. She had long black hair and greenish eyes. She was a mellow and random individual who sometimes liked to speak in a British accent out of nowhere. She was on vacation from her college in Virginia and decided to spend her time with Alyssia.

"I don't want you to go!" Amber cried as she hugged Alyssia tightly. Amber was Alyssia's closest friend thanks to their mothers who practically raised them together. Amber was roughly 5'4" and twenty years old. She had blondish brown hair and grey-green eyes. She wore glasses and had a bubbly and spontaneous personality. She was a bit more heavyset than the other two girls but it didn't bother her what-so-ever.

Alyssia was a 5'5" 21-year-old Sargent of the Marine Corps. She had been promoted just before coming back home. She had brunette colored medium length hair and brown eyes. She had a reserved and timid personality but could be quite the little firecracker when angered. She did have a green belt after all.

"Amber, you're crushing me! Let go!" Alyssia huffed.

She finally managed to wiggle free from her grasp and continued walking. "Honestly, it's not like I'm going away forever. I doubt I'm even going to reenlist a third time." She explained as she crossed her arms. "Look, can we just not talk about it now? I want to enjoy being home for a while."

Jess and Ber looked at each other before they noticed Alyssia walking into the old pawnshop. They followed her and entered as well.

"Ah, if it isn't our hometown Marine! Come for a visit, have ya?" An elderly man asked Alyssia with a smile.

"We're just looking around Mr. Wilson." Alyssia replied with a smile of her own.

The three girls disbanded and began to look around. Amber looked at some old porcelain Dolls while Jess played with an old camera. Alyssia was walking around in the very back of the store where Mr. Wilson kept the new items, not seeing anything that interested her.

She turned to walk up an isle when she saw a strange blue glow from the corner of her eye. She turned around and saw that the glow was coming from an object under a white sheet. She approached and carefully pulled the sheet off.

Sitting there was a strange six-sided object that looked like some sort of rubics cube. She picked up the object and examined it closely as she turned it around in her hands. The puzzle had a different symbol on each little square side, making it impossible for her to figure out how exactly to solve it. ("Hey, these look like… Forerunner Symbols. So is this some type of Halo Collectible? I've never seen anything like it on EBay.")

"That was given to me several days ago by some stranger. I didn't know it glowed like that."

Mr. Wilson walked up to the young woman and gazed at the puzzle. "Fella didn't ask for money or anything. He just walked in, sat it on my counter and left without as much as a peep. I have absolutely no idea what it is."

"It looks like an arum or some six-sided puzzle." She told him as she turned a part, changing the pattern of the glowing symbols. "Probably a collectible from the Halo Glasslands novel or perhaps the Thursday war since there are Forerunner symbols on it."

"Ah, so you are familiar with it then? Well you can have it; I don't have much use for such a strange trinket and the wife says I have to stop hoarding junk." He laughed. "Think of it as a welcome home gift from me."

Alyssia looked at the puzzle then at Mr. Wilson and smiled. "Thank you."

gently took the object from her. The moment he touched it the symbols stopped glowing. He paused and looked at it curiously. "Hmm, how strange." The old man went behind the counter and placed it in a bag before handing it back to her.

"Jess, Ber come on before my dad has a fit about us missing our curfew!"

The 2013 Ford Mustang's engine roared as it pulled up the long driveway and parked between the 2009 Dodge Ram and the 2006 Jeep Wrangler. The muscle car was Alyssia's Uncle's. He had to go to Maine for his job and traded cars with her since her 2004 Dodge Stratus got better gas mileage.

'Bass Down Low' by Dev ft. The Cataracs blared through the speakers, causing the vehicles speakers to thump loud enough for even the neighbors a few blocks down the road to hear.

"About time they got back, it's almost midnight." Alyssia's father grumbled as he flipped through the channels on the TV.

"Tim, Alyssia's twenty-one now and a Sargent; I don't think a curfew is necessary anymore." Her mom argued as she made some tea.

Alyssia put the Mustang into park and sat with Jess and Ber as they listened to 'Missing' by Evanescence. Alyssia drank some Mountain Dew and leaned back, thinking about the first four years she spent in the service and how much longer she wanted to stay in.

"Hey Lys, what's wrong?" Jess asked.

"Hmm? Oh it's nothing… I just…" She sighed and looked distantly out the window of the car. "I thought I was doing what I desired by joining the Marine Corps but… I still feel out of place; like I'm meant for something greater than this." She chuckled and looked at her older cousin. "It sounds ridiculous, I know."

"Yeah no kidding; how about we make some mudslides with Captain Morgan and paly some Halo: Reach? That'll cheer you up, Iale 'Sylod." Alyssia chuckled at the name. It was what she called her Elite Ultra on Halo: Reach. That sounds like a blast.

"And if I bleed…I'll bleed. Knowing you don't ca-bzzt! BZZZTTT! KOFF!" The radio suddenly started breaking up. Alyssia looked at it confused. "What's wrong with this thing? It was working just fine a second ago and we haven't moved." She said as she tried pushing the buttons.

"Maybe the satellite got hit by a solar flare or something." Jess said as she tried to help.

Amber watched the two as they tried to figure out the problem and noticed something glowing in the paper bag beside her. She reached in and pulled out the six-sided puzzle box. The glow its symbols were producing were pulsating, matching the rhythm of a heartbeat.

"Damn it, Uncle Branden will kill me if something's wrong with his car!" Alyssia groaned.

"Uhh Lys, your puzzle thingy's turned on by itself." Amber said a little nervously as the pulsing glow got brighter and brighter.

Alyssia looked back and took it from her. "What did you do? Did you move the peaces?"

"No, no! I didn't do anything! It just started glowing in the bag." Amber explained.

Alyssia turned some pieces and looked at the puzzle curiously. "How the hell do you turn this thing off?"

"...I've found you at last…"

The three girls froze as a female voice came through the static of the radio.

"D-Did you hear that?!" Amber asked. "That wasn't a song or a radio host…was it?"

Jess reached up and pushed the power button to the radio but it didn't turn off. The voice came through the static once more.

"I am afraid that I cannot wait for you any longer for you may slip out of reach… The time is now."

Suddenly the puzzle box shot out of Alyssia's hands and floated above the dashboard in front of the radio. The pieces began to move on their own slowly but soon quickened their movements.

The girls freaked out and Alyssia tried to open the door. "Wha-IT'S STUCK!" She yelled as she yanked on the handle and slammed her shoulder into it. The door was unlocked but it refused to budge.

"MINE'S STUCK TOO!" Jess screamed as she tried to open hers.

"What the hell's wrong with the TV?!" Time growled as he tried to flip through the channels. The picture broke up and the TV's screen went white and static came through the surround sound.

"Damn it Tim, I told you we should have stuck with Comcast!" Alyssia's mother grumbled.

The lights suddenly began flickering as well. "What the?!"

Just then Alyssia's fifteen year old sister and six year old brother came running into the living room. "Mom what's happening? My Xbox went all weird and the lights are turning on and off by themselves!"

"Aubry, Timmy calm down; it's probably nothing more than a power surge."

"Rachel, I fail to see how a little power surge can cause all this to happen." Tim spoke as he stood up.

Suddenly the family heard the alarms of the cars go off and noticed bright bluish-white light shining from inside the windows. Tim and Rachel ran out the front door and onto the porch. What they saw in the driveway made them pause. Their daughter and nieces were trapped in the Black 2013 Ford Mustang GT; a strange brightly glowing object floated in the center of the dashboard. The car was surrounded by a field of energy that shock bolts of energy out. One bolt struck the Dodge Ram, causing its alarm to go off and its hazard lights to flicker.

"ALYSSIA!" Rachel screamed in terror as she ran down the porch steps and toward her child.

A bolt shot out and stuck the ground in front of her, stopping her in her tracks. Tim grabbed her and pulled her back. "Rachel, get back!" He hollered as she tried to break free from him.

"THEY CAN'T GET OUT TIM!" She cried hysterically.

Aubry and Timmy came running out and gasped at the sight. "SISSA!" Timmy yelled.

"Lys, break the damn thing!" Amber yelled.

Alyssia kicked at the puzzle box multiple times but it seemed to be protected by a barrier. She cursed and slammed her elbow into the window but that didn't do anything either. It was then that she saw her family outside.

"STAY BACK!" She yelled.

Forerunner symbols that were on the puzzle box suddenly appeared all around them, floating by themselves.

"It is done…"

The puzzle box clicked as the last piece slid into place.

"Your journey shall begin now…"

A bright flash engulfed the Mustang and blinded everyone. Alyssia's mother screamed.

"AALLLLYYYYSSSSSIIIIIAAAAAAAAAA!"

In an instant the light was gone…and so was the car and the three girls who were trapped inside it. Rachel and Tim ran to where the car had once been.

"S-She's gone…She's gone!" Rachel whispered as she fell to her knees. The woman then began to weep hysterically.

Tim stared at the scorched earth where the car had once been.

("My God… What the hell happened to them?")