Chapter 1:

Unexpected Visitors

Disclaimer: We, unfortunately, do not own Jon, Raoul, Alanna, Gary, George, In The Hand Of The Goddess, or any of the other cool things that Tamora Pierce invented... Although we wish we were as cool as she was, we are not, and as hard as it is, must own up to this fact... If we feel like it...

The hum of snoring emitted gently from underneath a large, crumpled comforter. Suddenly, a groan could be heard as a girl sat up

on the edge of her bed with a start. She noticed her clock/radio was flashing 12:00 AM as it would had their been a power outage.

But there couldn't have been one... The lamp on the bedside table was still on. She cursed herself for leaving it on. But at the same

time relief swept over her as she remembered it was a Saturday and she didn't have to go to work. Still, she was one of those

orderly people who actually flossed their teeth, think sleeping past nine is unhealthy, and actually gets a full nine hours off sleep

when staying over at a friends place for the night. She had deep brown eyes and frizzy brown hair that she could never control, a

deep, Iranian skin-tone, and an obsession with the colour pink.

Introducing Nina Payne.

She glanced at her bright pink wristwatch.

"11:57" it screamed to her mind with every tick the second hand made.

Then, she heard a giggle. A faint giggle. But still, one of triumphant excitment. Like a four-year-old might make after successfully

sacking the poor guy playing Santa in the mall. She prodded the two girls next to her in bed, she wondered why they were sleeping

there as opposed to in their own rooms... On second thought she didn't really want to know. They didn't move. Apparently

still asleep. Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

Slowly, cautiously, she glanced over the edge of the bed, muttering about not yet having coffee. Her eyes widened as they

focused. A rather tall man with tight black curly hair was laying on the floor in between the wall and the bed. There wasn't much

room. Nina was surprised he could fit, as he looked particularly... Buff! There was just enough room in between the wall and the

bed to fit a bedside table that held a lamp, a clock/radio (still flashing), and a well-thumbed copy of "Lionness Rampant".

All the crap they had lying on the floor didn't give the unusual man much space to lie on his side, either. Indeed, this man was

seeking enjoyment by pulling the plug of the previously-mentioned clock/radio in and out of the electrical wall socket. Finally, Nina

realized he really was there and screamed a harassed high-pitched sixteen-year-old-girl-getting-raped-by-an-ugly-old-man-in-a-

dark-alley shriek.

"Shut up!" someone said from the other side of the king-size bed.

"Meaghan!" Nina screamed in desperation.The girl on the other side of the bed was actually only half-on the bed. The top portion

of her body was dangling off the edge of the bed."What do you want?" The muffled voice responded.

"There's a strange man on the side of the bed! Staring at me!" Nina exclaimed.

"I've got a hangover! Leave me ALONE!!!"

"But-"

"Nina, if this is one of your stupid jokes, I cannot handle it right now!"

"MEAGHAN!"

"Nina, it's probably just someone you met at a party last night and screwed around with, but you were too drunk to remember."

"Meaghan..." Nina was desperate."Meaghan is not in right now, please do not leave a message as she does not consult her brain to

check them."

"But Meaghan! He looks allot like Sir Raoul Of Goldenlake!"

"WHAT?!" Meaghan screeched as she fell off the bed with a ka-thunk.

"That's Lord Sir Raoul of Goldenlake and Mallory's Peak to you!" a rather deep voice said from his position on the floor.

Apparently, Meaghan caught a glimpse of him from under the bed. "AAAHHH!" she screamed, throwing a teddy bear. (She called

it "Bear", but it looked more like a road kill muskrat.) It soared over the bed and hit Raoul square in the face. He started to scream,

horrified that a stuffed animal that looked like a dead mouse had fallen from the ceiling.

"UGH! SHUT UP! SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!"

The girl in the center of the bed sounded rather annoyed. She burrowed her face in a

pillow. Knowing better than to annoy Erica in the morning, Nina and Meaghan left her alone. Meaghan rolled over on the floor so

that she was facing up. She had brown, straight hair so dark most mistook it for black. It had blue streaks in it, which tended to,

when her hair was brushed properly, make it shimmer. Her eyes were big, and resembled her hair in the way

that they were so dark brown that they looked black. She was French, giving her pale skin. Unfortunately, genetics gave her

reappearing and disappearing acne.

Yet another scream pierced the air. More high-pitched. Alanna of Trebond came running out of an en-suite bathroom clutching her

left hand. The skin was raw, red, and burned.

"Guh," Erica moaned. The girl in the middle of the bed concluded that sleep was impossible, and yanked the pink comforter off her

face. She had mid-length, straight, chestnut hair she highlighted different colours and eyes that couldn't decide to be green or brown.

She just called them hazel. She was Italian, making all of her hair - everywhere - thick. Which concluded in eyebrow

problems that Meaghan was often fixing.

"Guh!" She repeated.

Nina rolled her eyes.

"Hang-over!" Erica groaned.

"Maybe you shouldn't go out partying all the time, and if you do, at least accept the consequences that take-" Nina started.

"Nina, you came with us! I remember! I didn't drink that much!" Erica argued.

"Yes, but I didn't drink as much as-" Nina started and got cut off by Erica, but her accusing pointing finger conclued the un-finnished

sentence. The sender finger pointed directly at Meaghan."GUH!" Erica interrupted, as a headache worked its way into her

forehead. "My head feels like 50 people are inside, standing in a circle, facing out. And each one of them is hacking at the inside of

my brain with a sword."

Alanna screamed again. She had burned her hand on Meaghan's curling iron, which in the commotion had been dropped on the

floor, and since then had started to smoke.

"What the hell did you do to my curling iron?!" Meaghan yelled.

"GAH!" Erica jumped out of bed at noticing the possible floor-harassment. Particularly worried about the kitchen and bathroom

floors, as Nina and Meaghan had blackmailed her into using her "Pocket Guitar Amp" fund to get the floors properly tiled. Erica ran

into the en-suite and grabbed a toothbrush cup. She filled it with water and dumped it on the curling iron, which, in response, began

to hiss and sizzle.

"That was stupid." Nina observed.

"Don't do that! God! You'll ruin it!" Meaghan shrieked as she ran over and unplugged the hair-curling device. She picked it up with

a towel, careful to only touch the handle, and placed it in the sink."Hopefully it's not ruined!" she hissed.

"See that?" Erica said, pointing to the floor where a small brown burn was, no bigger than a Converse All Star sticker. "That is my

pocket guitar amp. Right there. Funny how you didn't have to use your 'Green Day Bass Drum' fund on the flat." Erica complained.

Meaghan glared at her.

"Because my dead uncle is the one who gave us the flat," she retorted, Meaghan was a grumpy person in the morning. The real

reason Nina hadn't forced Meaghan to use that money on some kitchen cabinets or something was because she didn't actually know

that Meaghan had some money stashed away to buy a bass drum signed by her favorite band, whom she practically worshipped.

"What 'Green Day Bass Drum' fund?" Nina asked, obliviously.

"WHAT ARE ALANNA AND RAOUL DOING IN OUR FLAT?" Meaghan shrieked, trying to change the topic. Nina shook

her head. "I need coffee." She stated. She got out of bed and trudged down the hallway to the kitchen. As she entered the room of

cuisine, she saw King Jonathan playing with Meaghan's crystal margarita glass. "PUT IT DOWN! MEAGHAN WILL MURDER

YOU IF SO MUCH AS A SCRATCH- EEEEE!"

In the shock of Nina yelling at him, Jon dropped the precious glass. It plummeted towards the floor. Nina dove. She couldn't let it

hit the floor... Meaghan would murder! She felt the cool crystal in her hands as she barely caught it. "Oh-my-God." She gasped.She

got up and turned the corner to the living room. Only to find Gary playing with the TV remote. He had managed to turn it on, and it

was on MTV. 50 Cent was "singing" Candy Shop, half-naked girls "dancing" on-screen. Gary was standing in front of the sofa and-

Nina closed her eyes and bowed her head in shame-imitating them.She pretended she had not seen what she had and walked back

to the bedroom. Apparently, Meaghan and Erica had discovered George in the walk-in closet... Wearing Nina's $500.00

dress.

"TAKE THAT OFF!!! TAKE IT OFF, NOW!!!" Meaghan screamed.

Erica, Alanna, and Raoul were laughing too hard to yell at him.

"What? Don't you think I look pretty?" George asked, rhetorically.

"It doesn't belong to you!" Meaghan argued.

"Fine. I did not think I looked good in women's garments, anyhow." he said. He looked down thoughtfully, then up at

Meaghan."Mayhap you already noticed, but these skirts seem to be missing quite a few layers! They do not even come to my

knees!"

"Erica! Go sort out Alanna and Raoul! I'll get what's-his-face!" Meaghan directed, indicating George.

"What about Jon playing with Meaghan's margarita glass and Gary imitating sluts on TV?"

Nina questioned."WHAT?" Meaghan screamed, marching out the bedroom door.

"Oh, I'm sure Gary will be fine! He'll come around to a normal state in a while!" Nina called after her.

"It's not Gary I'm after! It's my margarita glass I'm worried about!" She shrieked from down the hall.

Hey. Thanks for reading. Trust us, it gets better in the following chapters. This is... weird. Very weird... Constructive criticism welcome!!!