Prologue - The Little One

At 10 in the morning, Doctor Palatino Rigardi was leaning over an unconscious patient, appeared to be a little girl, about 10 years old, with bright brown hair that reached little over her slender shoulders, her skin was ivory colored. He hadn't seen her eyes, but according to his files, they were an unusually bright red. This girl had two parents, together, and 4 other siblings, 3 are older and one is younger. Their names, in order, were: Jeremy, Sy, Tom, and Leslie. The story on this girl had been kidnapped, but she wasn't murdered, and the police had found her unconscious body somewhere in New York. The kidnapper's name was unknown, but the police had several leads to who it might possibly be. Palatino didn't even know the girl's name, it was not on file, unfortunately.

"This girl had a miracle happen," a colleague of his, named Ian Wilkes, said. Ian was watching carefully (and worryingly) as Palatino examined her from head to toe.

"She could have been killed, so yes, that's a legit statement," he said, still feeling the girl's arms and legs for possible bruises or cuts. This girl was in perfect shape, but he couldn't find the cause to her unconsciousness. Did her kidnapper knock her out? No, he would have felt some bumps... did the kidnapper sedate her? No, there was nothing in her body that could've caused her to go into this state. This wasn't rocket science, Palatino thought, but it sure felt like it.

"Why won't she wake up?" Frustration was obvious in Palatino's voice. Ian turned to him, his wonderful dark brown eyes holding a question. Palatino sighed, and stepped aside for him to see the girl up closely. This girl was beautiful, he thought, much too gorgeous to really be a little girl, but she was. Her skin was so perfect, there wasn't a flaw he could see. Ian ran his fingers across the girl's cold cheek, and sighed with sadness. He wasn't used to being at the hospital so much, but now that he's training to be one like Palatino Rigardi, he needed to not show fear, but confidence. He had to be brave if he had a dying patient, and not throw everything out of proportion, or he'd kill someone. Not intentionally, of course.

Suddenly, the girl's cheek, the one Ian had touched, started to redden, and he jumped back with surprise. Palatino jerked his head towards the heart monitor, which had flat lined for quite some time, suddenly started to beat wildly.

"Oh, my God! Ian, what did you do?" He wasn't angry, he was extremely pleased, but Ian wasn't. He nearly had a heart attack when he saw the little girl's hand twitch, along with her sneakered toes and her eyes. Palatino and Ian stood on each side of her, and the girl's eyes slowly started to open, and Ian tried hard to fight back a gasp. Palatino grabbed his notepad and a pen, ready to ask questions the moment the girl was ready to.

The girl's mouth opened slightly, as if trying to say something. Ian and Palatino leaned in closely, trying to hear her. Her eyes widened to the fullest, and Palatino saw that her eyes really were a bright yellow, like golden. They were shining, twinkling, maybe, in the lamp that was above her, and she blinked a few times.

"Ahhh..." the girl murmured. She was still woozy from being unconscious, but she could speak clearly.

"Little One?" Palatino had thought of a nickname to use for her if she had woken up, and hopefully she'll respond kindly to it. "Little One, are you alright?"

The girl turned her beautiful head towards the doctor, and her lips twitched into a smile, her perfect white teeh flashed. Ian was smiling to himself, unable to believe what he was seeing.

"Hi, Pal," Little One said, dazedly. "I haven't see you in such a long time."

Palatino's eyes widened. They had met before? Before he could react, the Little One turned to Ian, and her smile widened. She was gawking at Ian's looks, his scruffy-ish black hair, his bright blue eyes, and his evenly toned skin. He had some stubble to his skin, and she could easily make out that he was in his early, maybe mid 20s. Little One was staring at him as if she was a blind woman seeing the sun for the first time, a starving child seeing real food, or maybe a girl who was in the arms of her soldier father, who had been in war, for the first time in months.

"Ian?" She looked uncertain, but he nodded, still smiling. She extended her arm out towards him, but she was unable to reach him. He stepped closer to her, and bent down for her to touch his face.

"Mm," she said, her eyes lowering tiredly. "Friend?"
He nodded again. The girl turned to face upwards, and her eyes closed, her arm going limp, and Ian gasped.

"Palatino!"
"Relax, Ian, she's merely sleeping. She's perfectly fine... for now." He sounded unsure, and Ian's eyes narrowed. He looked down at the girl, and realized what Palatino had meant when he said, "for now".

"She's in danger, isn't she?" Ian wished he would say no.

He sighed heavily, and Ian knew he didn't have to answer. He wrapped a blue blanket around the girl, like a newborn baby, and scooped her up in his arms. Palatino shook off his white coat and grabbed his sweater hanging from a hook, and gestured towards the emergency exit. He ran out, with Ian following after him, causing the alarm to wail, but they ignored it. They rushed over to their blue Suburban, and placed the girl in the back seat. Palatino got into the driver's seat and Ian in the passanger, but before departing, Ian turned to him, wanting to say one more thing.

"This girl... she's special, isn't she?"
Palatino chuckled softly as if he'd made a good joke.

"No, Ian, she isn't special... she's more than that. This girl, Little One, can do so many things you can't imagine... for an example... she just might save the world before The Day comes."

Chapter One - Meeting Rian

"The Day? What in the bloody hell is, 'The Day'?" Ian exclaimed angrily, but Palatino refused to answer. Little One refused to wake up, but he knew she would soon. Ian had been asking the same questions for the past hout, and he's been close to snapping. His hands clenched the steering wheel, biting his bottom lip.

"I'll explain what the hell it is once we get to where we need to go, dammit!"

Ian silenced quickly. He looked back to face the Little One, who was sleepily peacefully in the backseat. He outstretched his arm to touch her revealed arm, and the Little One's eyes instantly opened. Awkwardly, he drew it back, but she grabbed it, smiling.

"Good morning, Ian," she said, politely. Then she realized they were in a car. "Where are we going? Is this a road trip?"

Ian and Palatino looked at each other, unsure of how to answer her. Little One laughed, and sat up straight, brushing her long, beautiful hair with her fingers. She kept the blanket wrapped around her, and leaned forward towards them.

Ian leaned away slightly, his face red. Palatino's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but the Little One spoke before he could say anything.

"Can we get something to eat. please? I'm hungry."

"Of course, Little One," Ian answered, not looking at her. "Palatino, stop at the next gas station, for her."
"It's going to throw us off schedule! Every moment we can get killed!" He exclaimed horribly, forgetting that she was there. Her eyes widened with alarm, and Ian slapped his shoulder, shaking his head.

"He's joking," Ian chuckled nervously. "He's just picky about getting to places in time."

"Oh," said the girl, unconvinced. "Well, okay."