Tehya Harper was an inquisitive child, one open to new experiences, and one that despite all warnings went charging head first into everything she did. Try as her parents might, there was no stifling a will such as hers. So it was with arguments, name calling, and thrown objects that they finally managed to get Tehya to move to a small house in Brooklyn, New York.

She hated it.

She had grown up in the country, a place where she was constantly surrounded by the brushing sounds of wheat. The sun was a constant sphere that seemed to be shining only for her. Her world had tall oak trees that she could climb. Her world seemed to stretch on forever, and always she could feel that constant beating of life. She felt it in every plant, every animal, and every tree, even her mother and father, the same energy. Brooklyn, she noted, at the tender age of ten held no brooks whatsoever, it was a lie. There was nothing but dirty streets, dirty buildings, and people who offered nothing but cold and dirty looks. She was cut off from all the trees, and the ones that she could feel gave off such despairing waves of fear and self-loathing, that it was all she could do not to cry every time she passed one. Being in New York she felt as if she were cut off from everything and there was not one friend to her at all. Her neighbors were strange people;ones who would much rather peer at her from their blinds than say hello to her. She would wave sometimes as she walked by, but the boy she noticed was either nervous or hated her, and would walk away from the window.

She hated it here.

School was not the same either. Her favorite teacher Miss Samson was not here. Her sweet country drawl, and her beautiful blond hair and open eyes, were not there to teach and to guide her. Instead, a large hulkish man named Mr. Nelson replaced her. He spit when he talked, he yelled at the students when they didn't get answers right. He was cold and distant, and his eyes were a watery blue. His life force spoke of dirty secrets, dirty basement rooms, where he paid for nasty things with women. She was afraid of him.

After one of Mr. Nelson's so called lessons she trampled off to recess where she would sometimes see the little boy who was her neighbor. He was lanky, and had an angular face. He seemed to fit almost awkwardly in his body, but it seemed that way only because parts of him seemed to be growing taller, but his face was still boyish and soft. His eyebrows were thick and constantly seemed to be constantly fixed in a position that made him look sad and lost. Tehya noted that he had the most beautiful brown eyes she had ever seen, but they were filled with fear and hurt. She knew just from his body language and his face that he was almost always in a state of constant terror, that he always treaded lightly, and that he shriveled at the first sign of danger.

She was not the only one who sensed this because she noticed that there was a group of children that hung near the edge of the playground that were looking at him. The leader appeared to be one of the most beautiful girls she had ever seen. She was almost elfish in build and had long blonde hair, blue eyes, which were dusted with lovely black lashes, and below them cute pinkish lips that appeared to always be on the verge of pouting.

Tehya noted that her energy was crackling with malice towards her neighbor's pale and timid energy. The elf nodded to her cronies, three large boys, whose ogrish figures, coupled with their hate-filled energy almost made her hair rise. The group trudged over to the lone boy, and as he saw this he made a move to run away. The boys were far too fast, and the elfish girl smirked as they cornered him at the edge of the playground, away from the watchful eyes of the playground monitor. Tehya walked slowly behind them.

"Hey Gabe, what's good man," the largest boy said as he slapped the boy with a not so friendly palm over the back.

"N-nothing, nothing, Taylor. I was just staying here not playing like you guys told me to do."

"Really," the elfish girl said as she stepped forward, "well it doesn't look that way to me Gabriel."

She wore a light brown skirt with a white blouse accompanied by polished buckled shoes. "Lick the ground Gabriel and I'll forgive you for being stupid and ugly."

Tehya saw as Gabriel squirmed in his secondhand clothes; his eyes pricking with unshed tears. She knew that it hurt inside to have to deal with these jerks, and so despite the fact that she didn't know him at all she strutted in front of him staring at the elfin girl and her cronies.

"You guys back off!"

"Hey who are you," one of the boys said.

"My name is Tehya and Gabriel here is my friend now, and you guys can't pick on him!"

The elfin girl stepped up to Tehya until they were nose to nose.

"Well, my friends will break you like a cheap toy, isn't that right boys," she said jerking her blonde head in their direction.

They nodded in unison and knew that it was time to teach the new girl a lesson. Tehya knew that in a fair fight there was no way that she could beat them, but she smirked because she knew that she had no intention of fighting fair. She saw that their energy was moving sporadically, practically itching to fight. She reached out her hand and touched the pulsing energies in her hand. The boys froze suddenly their mouths agape. Tehya knew that if she did not let go the boys could suffer serious physical damage, but still the feeling of taking energy of humans…

It felt good.

It wasn't until after a few moments that she realized she should let go, and with a shuddering breath she released their energy. They all collapsed on the floor, eyes bloodshot, chests heaving, and then Tehya turned to the girl, "Your friends are sick. I think you should take them to the nurse's office." The young elfish girl scowled at Tehya and then ran to the school monitor. It seemed that Tehya now had an enemy and-

"You didn't ha-have to help me you know."

"Yeah, I did. They were picking on you."

"They always do I'm used to it."

Tehya looked carefully at the awkward boy noticing how immaculate he kept his second hand clothes, how she shifted from foot to foot, how he couldn't look her in the eye, but instead chose to look at the pavement. Without thinking she touched his face turning him to look at her. "You don't have to do that anymore. I'm watching over you Gabriel." He smiled nervously, "Thanks, Tehya."