Disclaimer: I do not own anything by Diane Duane. Yada yada yada.

A/N: Please review! This is my first fanfic so be kind.

Chapter One: Assignments

Nita rolled out of bed and sighed. It had been a week since everything with the Pullulus happened, and she was still exhausted.Going from an immensely huge level of power back to the normal in such a short period of time had left her feeling drained. She imagined every other wizard in the universe young enough to have kept their powers was feeling exactly the same thing she was. She was thankful she didn't have to lug around that massive manual anymore though.

She paged through her manual, still wondering about her newfound ability: precognition. Just when I thought my specialty was going to stay like it was. I guess nothing's really ever as set in stone as we think it is. Though her manual wasn't anywhere near as big as it was when she was a senior, it was still considerable larger than it had been before the Pullulus had started to cause problems. I guess the more experience you get, the more information you get access to.

As she flipped past the part of her manual with the listings of wizards in the area, she paused, confused. There, under her listing, it said on assignment. Above it, the same was for Dairine's listing. She had thought she would at least get a little break before the next one. Even as she thought about it though, she knew it wasn't likely to happen. When you're a wizard, you could expect to be given something to do at any given time, regardless of how close to another assignment it was. Still, I would have thought that the fiasco with the Pullulus would be an exception. . . .

She flipped to Kit's listing, and found that she had been right, and that he, too, was on active status. This looks big . . . Kit?

Mmf.

Looks like we've been given an assignment.

Already?

Apparently so. I have no idea what we're supposed to do. Come over and eat lunch and then we'll go over to Tom and Carl's house to see if they know each other.

Okay, I'll be right over, hold on . . .

Nita felt him silently recite the words for the familiar spell and then heard the pop of displaced air in her backyard. She went downstairs to great him and make a sandwich.

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While Nita was researching precognition, Dairine and Spot had been having a lengthy conversation with Gigo, trying to decipher the strange dream she had just about every night now. Dairine knew that Roshaun was out there somewhere, she just couldn't figure out where, and she had a feeling her dream might hold some clues.

Noticing the time, she decided to come get something to eat. She and Spot said goodby to Gigo, and went downstairs. Spot immediately went toward the bowl holding fruit on the table. She laughed quietly to herself, for as one of his more resent upgrades, Spot had gained the ability to use human food as an alternate energy source, and with it came the ability to taste. He had taken a particular liking to star fruit.

"Hey," she said to Nita and Kit, who were eating sandwiches when she came in.

"Hey," they both said, not looking up from their manuals.

Dairine knew something was up. "What happened?"

"Apparently, we are all on assignment," Nita answered.

"Already?" she asked incredulously.

"That's what I said when she told me," Kit said, looking up from his manual long enough to cast an amused look at Spot, who had finished half of his fruit. "We're going to see Tom and Carl once we eat. Wanna come?"

"Sure. I wanted to check with them about something, anyway."

At this, Nita looked at her sister and raised her eyebrows. When Dairine didn't shed any more light on what she was talking about, she closed the manual and got up to start cleaning up. Once everyone was finished (Dairine having polished off about two or three bananas)

"Okay, let's go."

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A/N: I felt that Dairine had acted very mature for her age in the last few books, and couldn't imagine her as twelve, so she is now fourteen. Due to this, Kit is fifteen and Nita is sixteen (I thing, review and tell me if Nita and Kit should be older) Just imagine that about a year passed between books five and six, and then another between six and seven.

Also, I have a few vague ideas about what big thing is gonna happen in the story, but if you have any ideas, review or PM me. I will give credit to you if I use any ideas, and tell you beforehand.