I sat in a tree, bored, staring at the Moon. Shadow was on the limb next to me, sleeping.

Sighing, I jumped down, landing on the ground 50 feet below. Hopefully Raina was here...we haven't seen each other outside of school in forever.

I walked over to the wall surrounding the park and easily climbed over it. I headed for Pirate Island, avoiding contact with the other states in the park.

When I reached the entrance, where Karl used to stand, I paused. Everything was quiet, except for the occasional footsteps of a random statue.

I entered Pirate Island. I headed to the center of the entrance courtyard and stood there, listening.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps running toward me.

Instinct kicked in. I whirled away from the sound and dashed behind a nearby water-gun game.

Cold steel buried itself in my right shoulder blade.

Shouting out in pain, I jerked the blade out of me and turned on my assailant.

Raina was standing there, sword bloodied, shock on her face. "Kelly!?"

I smiled, moving my hand up to cover the wound. "What's up?"

"'What's up?'!" She dropped her sword and approached me, flipping out. "I'm so sorry! I probably cut through your tendons and veins and now you need to go to the hospital and your parents will be angry and upset and I will get in so much trouble and you will get in trouble and—"

"Raina!" I shouted, cutting her off. "I'm fine, jeez..."

"No you're not fine!"

I raised my hand away from the wound, showing a small scar that was fading as seconds passed.

Raina's eyes widened. "How..."

I smiled, showing my fangs. "Vampire, remember?"

She blinked, then smacked her forehead. "Right. Duh."

I nodded, then asked, "Why were you hiding back here anyway?"

"Me and Karl were—" A whooshing sound cut her off.

I turned, froze, then ducked. A black axe buried itself where my head had been seconds ago.

"Deary me, sorry about that!" Karl walked up to us, crazy grin on his face. He strode past us and pulled Arma out of the wall.

"Why is it," I started, "whenever you see, me, you try to DECAPITATE ME?!"

"Not always, just most of the time," he replied matter-of-factly.

I rolled my eyes to the stars.

Raina smiled, then picked up her sword. "So Kelly, what are you doing here?"

I shrugged. "I was bored, so I headed here. Interesting stuff always happens at Pirate Island."

Too late, I realized my mistake.

I barely got out of the way before the axe buried itself into the ground where I had been standing.

Karl looked at me, eye twitching.

I raised an eyebrow. "Looking for I fight?" I asked impulsively, forming a sword in my hand from the nearby shadows.

Karl pointed Arma at me, who morphed into a sword.

"Karl!? Kelly!?" Raina exclaimed, shocked at the sudden turn of events.

My eyes turned red. I showed my fangs. "Let's dance."

We lunged toward each other, our blades meeting in a burst of sparks. I feigned one way, then stuck at his head. He ducked, swinging at my legs. I jumped and flipped over him, jabbing at his back, but he whirled around and blocked the strike.

The battle continued furiously, winner uncertain; we were evenly matched, and neither of us were backing down.

As best as I could tell, ten minutes had passed before we locked our blades, eye to eye.

Karl smiled. "You're good."

I pushed back slightly harder, moving the blades an inch closer to him. "Thanks for the compliment."

He met my added force and returned the swords to their original place; he didn't look fatigued at all. Raising an eyebrow, he asked, "Giving up anytime soon?"

I growled. "As if."

Karl studied me for a moment, then leaned his face toward mine. "You sure?" he asked quietly, staring into my eyes.

My heart skipped a beat, mind going blank. My arm weakened.

He slammed me backwards, knocking the sword out of my hand. He pinned me against a wall and flicked Arma up to my throat.

Realizing what he hade done, I bared my fangs. "You bloody cheater."

Karl raised an eyebrow. "Taking advantage of an opponent's weakness is not cheating."

I blushed, looking away. "It's not a weakness..." I mumbled.

"Mm hm." He released me. Arma turned back to her bird form and flew onto his shoulder.

Raina walked over, overwhelmed. "That battle was insane." She looked at me smiling slightly. "It ended rather suddenly though, didn't it?"

I blushed even more and looked up at the Moon. She wasn't going to let me forget this.

Ever.

"There you are!" The three of us looked up.

Shadow was padding toward us, ears up.

Raina blinked. "Did that fox just talk?"

Shadow stared at her. "So dragons can talk, but a fox can't?"

Raina looked stumped "I, er...um..."

Shadow shook her head. "Never mind."

Realizing introductions were in order, I said, "Raina, Karl, this is Shadow. She's my companion and friend."

"Pleased to meet you acquaintance."

"Nice to meet you," Raina said.

Karl just studied Shadow, not saying a word.

Arma flew down and landed next to her. She must have said something, because Shadow smiled and replied, "Same here."

Great, I thought. I'm the only one who can't hear Arma...

Shadow looked up at me. "We should go home now if you want decent sleep before STAR testing."

"Crap! That's tomorrow!?" Raina exclaimed.

"Today actually," I replied, looking at my watch.

"Shit!" She looked at Karl. "We've got to go."

He shrugged. "Whatever. I'll see you later." He walked deeper into Pirate Island, Arma flying after him.

The three of us headed out to the main entrance.

While we were walking, Raina asked, "How did you make that sword?"

I winced at a memory: A huge black dragon with glowing red eyes stood in front of me, roaring. "You know how I can use shadows? Well, I found out that I can create objects out of them, including weapons."

"'Kay." She cleared her throat. "And...you like Karl?"

I said nothing, but I couldn't stop the red from creeping onto my face, which pretty much said everything.

I saw her smiling.

"Shut up," I mumbled, walking into the nearest shadow to go home.