Sadie glared at her cards. The tension was thick in the air as she studied her opponent's face. She would not allow someone to beat her!
"Do you have a five?" Her opponent asked innocently. Sadie gritted her teeth and forced out her answer.
"Yes!" Her opponent crowed and slapped her deck on the table. "I won!"
"Not again!" Sadie mock-groaned and slumped in her chair, glancing at her friend Danette doing her victory dance.
"C'mon, Sadie. Admit it. You've been defeated!" Danette gloated, whirling around the room.
"So that's... three points for Sadie and two for Danette." Paget cut in, glancing at the score sheet. Sadie stuck out her tongue at Dorothy. "I'm still the winner anyway."
Celeste looked up from her comic. "Hey, I think it's time for our- "
"Fortnight Fushigi marathon!" They chorused together. This happened practically once every two months. The five Fushigi Yuugi fans –Sadie, Danette, Celeste, Paget and Nadine would meet regularly at someone's house and choose ten continuous episodes to watch.
They were currently at Nadine's house. Or rather, mansionette. Nadine happened to be very rich, considering the fact that her dad was a very successful entrepreneur. Her room was about one-third of Sadie's apartment. And the mansionette had about seven bedrooms.
"Hey!"
"Watch it!"
"Pass the popcorn please!"
The girls huddled together in Nadine's movie projection room, giggling and jostling for a good spot. The sky was dark and the curtains were drawn, giving the room a movie theatre atmosphere. The only light source came from the projection screen, casting an eerie glow on their faces. Nadine loaded the discs into the projector and soon, the room was silent save for the speakers blaring the anime opening song out and the crunching of popcorn.
The episodes picked had been the first ten, and as Sadie gushed over Hotohori and the rest told her to keep it down, Paget couldn't help but feel that something was going to happen that night.
Something that would change their lives forever.
The ten episodes soon ended, and the girls were now talking excitedly about the show. "I think Hotohori's the hottest!" Sadie declared dreamily.
"Well duh. You're a loyal supporter of His Eminence." Celeste retorted. "For me, it would be... Ryuuen aka Nuriko."
"The gay?" Danette said incredulously. "Why would you fancy him?"
Celeste shook her head. "You lower-class people wouldn't understand." She imitated a posh accent and they all gave up to hysterical laughter.
"All right, pillow fight time!" Nadine yelled and whacked Paget with a fluffy cushion before racing out to her bedroom. "Last one there's Ashitare's wife!"
Making 'eew' noises, the girls ran out excitedly. Not one of them noticed that the projector was humming quietly.
Late into the night, the five soon got tired and just lazed around on the fluffy carpet, murmuring and giggling.
Suddenly, Danette clambered out and padded out to the hallway. Sadie stared at her, and then decided that she must be sleepwalking and groaned silently before nudging the others.
Nadine boldly led the way down the hall, while the other girls toted flashlights and called out for Danette. She noticed the projector room had the light on and motioned to the others to follow her.
When they entered the room, they saw Danette curled up on the couch. The projector was still running.
While Nadine tried to turn off the projector, the other girls went to wake Danette up.
"Hey, Danette! Wake up!" Celeste hissed. Sadie shook the sleeping girl hard, and she opened her eyes blearily.
"What?" She moaned, rubbing her eyes.
"You were sleepwalking." Paget explained. Danette stared at her. "I don't sleepwalk."
"But you were!" Sadie retorted.
"Hey," Nadine interrupted. "I can't turn off the projector."
They all glanced at the screen.
It was dark at first, but something appeared on it.
"The Universe of the Four Gods," Paget breathed.
"I don't remember seeing this part," Celeste said.
"Me neither." Sadie nodded.
The book flipped open to the page they knew so well, where the priestess would be introduced as "the girl from another world".
Suddenly, a red light emitted out from the screen, blinding the girls. They shielded their eyes and whispered excitedly, thinking that this must be some cool 3-D effect.
The light glared for an instant, and then was just as swiftly... gone.
The room now was empty, save for the echo of a whisper.
"The book... Help us."