I definitely need more inspiration. I just read the Goddess Summoning series, and it was amazing, however it's sort of mature for most of you guys, I'm sure. My other story I might not be able to write for, for a while, even if I had that sudden burst of chapters a week ago. But anyway, I hope you like this new story! BEST VIEWED IN HALF SCREEN :)

Prologue:

I never expected that my life would change so violently that I would barely recognize myself in the mirror. But that was what happened, and there was no way in heck I could turn back and rewind. There's no universal UNDO button, that just isn't the way life works.

That pinprick, that simple sixth sense everyone has, you should always listen to that. When your heartbeat increases, and you start to feel heat pulsating through your veins at a suddenly rising pace, you should start to run. The thing was, I didn't. That was my mistake. If I had, I wouldn't have had to deal with so much, only to find I was back at square one.

I wished I was somewhere warmer, maybe the Caribbean, where there are beaches and tropical waters, crystal clear how the tourist pamphlets describe it… I wished I was there. I always felt relaxed in the sand, in the salt, in the water. The feeling of it crunching between my toes and the water lapping at my feet, it always comforted me. I felt connected to it in a way no one else seemed to. I couldn't swim though, no matter how hard I tried, I felt like I was drowning at the same time. It was like a curse, I could only get a sample but not get the real thing. Sort of like a sniff of an expensive perfume.

"Talulah!" cried my best friend, Joey. He wasn't a son of a rancher, he was just a normal boy. He always looked so sad when he looked at me. I was the spitting image of my deceased fraternal twin, and he had been in love with her last year. We had been often mistaken for identical twins, like the Olsen sisters. Little differences in our appearance, because mom thought it was cute to dress up in the same clothes. I bet you she mixed us up once or twice. I might be Amadahy for all I know, that's my sister. Amy… I missed her. A lot.

"You know I don't like that name, Joey," I answered, standing on the cliff. I could spot the rocks where we had found Amy's charm bracelet the day she drowned. Joey had given her a charm, a silver heart, but it was starting to break apart, hairline cracks all over the surface. None of the other charms had been deteriorating, and even this little wood charm that grandma had sent her was still perfectly intact. I shivered, but Joey didn't notice once he was next to me. The sky before us was clear and glittering with stars, I pointed one of them out, "That's Pegasus, he carried lightning bolts for Zeus." Something thundered loudly, but I figured it was the waves crashing against the rock down below. "It doesn't really look like much of a winged horse, does it?"

"I don't even think I know what you're talking about," mumbled Joey. "I think Amy pointed him out once. But it's not like I can remember that." He sighed, like he was going to tell me something important. I bit my lip. "I'm going to camp, my dad's making me."

"Camp? But it's autumn! You have to go to school, don't you?" I cried. My group had been deteriorating. Whitney had moved away last autumn, Trey had ignored our group, and my other half had died. "You can't leave me here!"

"I'm sorry, Tali. But I have to go, I wish I could stay." He spared me a glance. Just a quick look into his eyes, and I could swear he was looking at me with some kind of pity. Like he knew something that I didn't, something that I would want to know. Then he looked behind us, "Did you hear anything?"

I felt a prickle on the back of my neck, but I was sure it was the chill. After all, I was just wearing this short sleeved shirt, thin may I add. "No, why?"

"Something's wrong, come on, let's go back to my place. My dad'll-"

Someone… or something was moving out there. I could barely hold in my gasp of horror. Joey pulled something out, and it looked like a palm frond- wait what? He was going to use a palm frond as a weapon? Bare hands would do a better job. "Why the heck do you have a palm frond with you!?"

"It's not a…" he looked down as if making sure it wasn't a palm frond, "It's a staff." I narrowed my eyes at it, almost forgetting what was out in the foliage. Once I could focus on it, it looked something like a stick in the darkness. All we really had was moonlight to rely on though. "Alright, stay behind me. And when I say run, you run for your life."

"But-"

"No buts." He took my arm and we shuffled towards the town, trying to be as quiet as possible. Of course, every noise made me jump, and I was sure I was going to blow our cover any minute now. I believed in ghosts and all that stuff, and they scared me. Very much in fact that I could be diagnosed with a phobia for them…

I really had to hope that Amadahy wasn't a ghost, I would probably run away screaming rather than talk to her on 'friendly' terms. Yeah, hopefully Amy wasn't a ghost…

We heard a guttural growl from in front of us, and Joey seemed to be afraid. I could make out little drops of sweat on his forehead. I started to shuffle back, but by then I was already on the ground.

There was a flash of bronze, and it came down hard on the creature that had landed upon me. I thanked god, because the thing smelled so horrible. "Run, Tali!" I started to run, but I realized he wasn't going to run when I continued to hear growling and thumping. I didn't know which direction we came from, until I neared the cliff. Shoot.

They emerged from the tall brush, and I saw Joey was holding it back pretty well. I felt something whizzing through the air, and it caught some of the loose cloth on my shirt. My shirt was ripped, and the cloth was on the ground pinned down by a spike.

"I won't miss next time, son of Nike. Surrender and the girl goes home." Nike like the shoe? What?

We had to be at such a high height. I was afraid I would fall. I tried to position myself by one of the layers of rock piled atop what we were standing on, but then all these spikes landed around me. I froze in place.

"I'll surrender."

"Good, good. Unfortunately, the girl is going to take a plunge."

"No! Not the water!" I yelped as the thing dragged me towards the edge. He had a face of a human, I noted, but a body of a lion with sharp thorns on the tail.

"Joey!" I cried, but it was already too late. He shoved me right off the steep cliff, air whooshing around me. It felt like such a long fall. I wondered what my sister had been thinking when the water filled the space around her, choking her. I would soon find out.

I really didn't want to find out. I prayed that I would live through this.

Instead, I felt a soft cushion around me, like being surrounded by cool blankets of silk. Not as though I had ever felt much silk in my life… but it was soft and comforting. But it triggered something in my brain, and I was thrashing. It was dark. Dark and cold… I felt like I couldn't breathe, but if I knew that if it were true then I would have already been dead or losing consciousness.

I opened my eyes, and I could see! Sheer instinct pushed me to try to swim upwards and gasp for air. I was too far from the surface. I sucked in a breath, and found I could breathe.

What the…

"Tali!"

Joey! I wanted to scream I'm here!

Is this what it feels like to drown? Am I already gone?