Chapter One

"Dad, please." I whined. "I want to go with Ellie."

"Aleta, you know we have too much to do around the farm." He told me. I pouted and he laughed, pushing some of my sun-bleached silky hair from my face. "Not today, baby girl."

"But daddy, I spent four hours with the fruit yesterday. It's Brett's turn." I complained. He sighed.

"Aleta, Meredith thinks you should stay here. You're out with the girls every day." He stated. I narrowed my eyes and pulled away.

"Of course. Meredith thinks. Meredith controls you dad. Make your own decisions for once. You completely changed after she came along."

I turned and ran down to my favorite part of our land. The apple trees. There was a bundle of ten apple trees or so that were very closely planted so all inside of it was a canopy of green and red. I climbed up the one smack in the middle and sat at the very top concealed by the foliage before calling Ellie.

"Mary Elizabeth, here." She sang. I rolled my eyes, laughing.

"Hey Ellie. Dad won't let me go because Meredith won't let me. You know what that means?" I asked. I heard her melodic laugh.

"I know. I'll be right outside your orchard with Bella in two minutes." She stated. "We'll have you back by seven for your family dinner night."

"Great. Hurry up." I ordered. The line went dead and I shoved it into my pocket. About five minutes later I heard the gentle purr of Bella's car. Bella was sixteen, older than the rest of us by two years.

I climbed down the tree quickly and got into the back with Izzy, unclipping the straps to my overalls. Ellie handed me the bag with the clothes and I pinned up the blankets in the back to the windows before changing in the backseat. A purple pastel sun dress, white leggings and dark purple converse.

"Okay, fill us in. What's happening with your parents?" Izzy demanded. I laughed and shoved the grass stained overalls into the bag.

"Nothing new. The Wicked Witch of the west is the exact same as usual." I stated bitterly. "Dad succumbs to her will even more now.

"I'm so sorry, baby." Bella told me. I smiled.

"Why?" She shrugged and we all laughed. "Where are we going?" I wondered, taking down the blankets.

"There's a big carnival in town." Izzy told me. "It'll be totally, completely awesome." I laughed. Izzy was always the one that was into the adrenalin rushes and thrill. I was the one into nature and farming and such. Bella was the music lover and Ellie was the completely strange one.

"Today is the last day that Ellie and I will be here." Bella added. "We go to camp tomorrow morning."

"Aw, I'll miss you." I whined. Elli laughed and nodded.

"I don't wanna go but I miss Octavian and Gwen and Dakota and Jason. It's mandatory anyway." She stated.

"I know. You complain about it every year." Izzy teased. Bella stuck her tongue out at us in the mirror and we both laughed. "I still hate you for leaving Ally and I alone."

"You do not hate me." she disagreed.

"You're right. We love you too much to ever hate you." I stated. She grinned but slammed on the brakes letting out a small scream. The car skidded to a halt about two feet from a girl.

Ellie and Bella both reached into their pockets pulling out pocket knives which elongated into three foot swords and climbed out of the car. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. What the heck is going on here?" Izzy demanded, her voice going high like it usually did when she got freaked.

"She's just a girl!" I yelled.

"She's not. The mist is covering her up." Bella said growling. They slammed the doors shut and Ellie bent down to the window.

"Stay in the car. This is an empousa." she snapped.

"A what?" Izzy shrieked. I put my hand over her mouth to shut her up and she shot an evil glare at me.

"Izzy, we need to get out here before anything happens. This is not a joke." I told her, sensing something bad was going to happen. I also felt a force pulling me away, a feeling I shouldn't be here for their fight.

I opened the door quietly and the two of us slipped out. "Where exactly do you plan on going?"

"I don't know. Just go East. The West feels like bad news." I ordered.

"I have an aunt and cousin in Manhatten. I can give them a call." she suggested. I nodded and pulled her into some trees so no one would see us. She quickly dialed the number.

"Hey, Aunt Sally... um, some weird things have been happening. Do you mind if a friend and I come to visit you, just to get away?" she asked. She paused. "Yeah, I totally asked dad first. He's cool with it." she lied. Another pause. "Great. We'll be there soon."

She hung up and turned to me. "Got any money? I get the feeling we are gonna need to get a ride." I told her. She laughed and reached into her knee high converse, pulling out a stack of hundreds. "Jesus, girl."

"Rich daddy." she stated. "Airport?" I nodded and we began picking our way through the woods the long way around to the airport to take a flight to New York.