Disclaimer:I don't own any of the characters here, except for Cate.

It started like a normal Saturday. Only it was far from normal, as always for me. I sat up, groaning and rubbing the sleep from my eyes. Wait. I looked around quickly, closing my left eye right away. Force of habit. You can't be too careful with making sure no one is watching you.

I thought I'd seen the curtain move, the crack in the door disappearing as it was shut, and something being withdrawn from the window. I glared at all the places in question, glaring as well as I could with one eye only.

I slipped out of bed, over to the mirror, and opened my left eye. I could see it, but it was still only three in the morning, so I turned the light on. With closer inspection, I couldn't really discern anything in my eye. But...I looked still closer. There. It looked like a contact, but not quite. Crap, an iris cam?

I jerked away, poking my head out the open window. A breeze ruffled my hair. But none of the trees were moving. Not even rustling leaves. I glanced up, to see...something, retreating. Something small. I ran to the door and yanked it open. Nothing.

Gritting my teeth, I went to the bathroom, grabbing a towel on the way and closing and locking the door behind me. Then I opened my small cabinet and screamed, jerking back and landing on my backside. A large Snowy owl and what looked like a Barn owl were sitting in there. Or rather, they had been sitting there. They were now flying out the window.

"What the heck!?" I barely managed to keep from screaming, but it was still loud enough to make my dad shout at me to 'shut up Cate, it's three in the morning'. I unlocked the door and bolted, narrowly missing running into a blur of writhing air. I dodged that and ran into my room, slamming and locking the door behind me. I was gasping for air and leaning back against the door for maybe a minute, before I walked unevenly over to the door of my closet, opening it cautiously.

"Hello, female Overlander. I-" I slammed the door, unable to keep from screaming again. It'd been a huge rat this time; at least eight feet long, including its tail. I ran to the window, shoving myself through it and bolting for the ladder that led up to the third floor deck. I stayed there, shuddering, trying to process what was happening. Then two pairs of elegantly clad feet materialized before me. I glanced up, and groaned. They both had stark white skin, and were extremely beautiful.

I scrabbled away, up further onto the roof where I almost fell over a boy, about twelve or thirteen years old, holding a bejeweled sword. I skipped past him, finally getting up to the chimney, where I was tapped on the shoulder by another boy. He looked Egyptian, and I glared at him. Though it's hard to look stern and angry when you're hugging a chimney.

"Would everyone in this whole danged world stop materializing in my house and around me?!" I screeched, closing my eyes to yell.

Hundreds of miles below ground, a centaur leans back in his chair, laughing, and a red-haired elf shakes silently with laughter at his side.

In Dublin, Ireland, a black-haired, blue-eyed boy sitting in his study in a mansion grins vampiricly.

In London, a tall, dark boy, or man, smirks, and the Egyptian boy standing next to him chuckles.

In Forks, Washington, two people, a teenage boy and a girl, smile angelically and high-five each other.

In a forest lost by age, a chaw of owls churr with each other.

Deep below New York city, an enormous rat chortles with a girl and a boy, both around 13, and their giant bats.

Why me?

I thought I'd redo this story, fix up some stuff...so there isn't really a chapter two; I'm just fixing this up. :)