I sat in my room with the phone in my hand. I was trying to build up enough courage to dial the number but it wasn't working for me. I threw the phone down and rolled over. I had to tell him soon. I couldn't keep this secret from him any longer. He was my best friend and he deserved to know. I just didn't know how to tell him...

"What am I thinking? Cassie, you're definitely losing your mind. You can't tell him yet." I grabbed my pillow and hugged it tight when the phone rang. I startled me so much that I had fallen off my bed and was on the ground when I answered.

"H-hello?" I asked, still shaken from the ring.

"Hi, is Cassie there?" the voice on the other line was familiar.

"That's me, who is this?"

"It's Scott," I blinked a few times and cleared my head, "do you have time to talk?"

I nodded my head but apparently he didn't know that so I piped up, "Uhh, y-yea. What's up, Scott?" I blinked again trying to pull myself together.

"Nothing's up. What's wrong with you Cas? You sound scared." He asked with so much concern that it overwhelmed me.

"Hold on," I moved the phone away, took a deep breath, and put the phone back to my ear, "Nothing's wrong. Why'd you call the house phone?"

"I tried calling your cell but you didn't answer. Haha, are you sure you're ok?" I could hear the smile in his voice. Hearing him made me feel warm inside, something I hadn't felt in a long time.

"Yea, I just wasn't expecting the phone to ring." I smiled to myself. I loved talking on the phone to Scott. He had been my best friend since Pre-K and all the way through junior high. We had dated once before and it didn't work out too well so we decided it's best that we remain friends. But, when he talked to me, I still felt a small spark that longed for the past.

"Sorry for calling you so late. Diana took me shopping for clothes... as if I don't already have enough." He laughed and I couldn't help but join in.

"At least she buys you things. Is your dad ever going to ask her to marry him?" Diana was Scott's soon-to-be step mom. At least, that's what his father always says.

"I don't know. But I figured that she's gonna be around forever anyways so I started calling her 'mom' instead of Diana."

"I thought she said that she didn't want you to feel that you had to call her that? Didn't she say that she wanted you to see her as a friend?" Ms. Diana was a really sweet lady. Even though she's in her late 30's she still likes to hang out with Scott and me. I guess you can say she's a teenager stuck in an adults body.

"Yea, but you should have seen the look on her face when I called her mom. She looked so happy." Even though she said she wanted us to think of her as a friend, I'm sure it would have made her extremely happy.

We started talking about random things that didn't really have a meaning. I think that at one point we actually started talking about fish because he had said they saw sushi in the store. Our conversations were always like this. One of us would start talking about something completely random and if it just so happened to trigger a memory, then we'd start talking about that and go from there.

"Hahaha, wow. But of course the fish would fight back, there's no way Mr. Big and Bad Fishy Man would let a squirrel tell him off." he said. We were laughing to the point where we couldn't breathe.

"Wow, Scott. I think we're both on something!" We started laughing again. We were always so lighthearted. Always so happy.

"Oh, hey, Cass. When is your dad coming back?" My dad had gone out of town for his business. At least, that's what we told everyone.

"Oh... uhh, he said that he should be back in about 3 weeks or so." We told each other everything... well, almost everything. There was one thing that I was keeping from him.

Something that I was keeping from everyone.

"Ah, well that's good. Anyway, it's getting really late and I'm getting really tired. I'll talk to you tomorrow, Cass. Are you still coming over?" Every summer we would go and spend the night at each others house for a week at a time.

"Of course! What time is your dad coming to pick me up?"

"Around 12pm or so." I could hear that he was excited. We always had so much fun hanging out with Diana and his dad.

"Ok, I'll see you then. Night Scott! Love ya."

"See you later, Cass. Night, haha, love ya too!"

And then we hung up. I layed in my bed not wanting to be up and about just yet so I started to daydream. I thought about my friends, summer, my family, the beach, and so much more.

But most importantly, I thought about my secret.

I stayed there, not moving, for 2 more hours before I finally got out of bed. It was midnight now and I was starved. I walked out and passed my sister in the hallway.

"Oh, you're awake." she eyed me carefully.

"Yea, what about it?" I raised my eyebrows. There was something she wasn't telling me

"Nothing. Are you hungry?" her eyes met mine and she already knew the answer but I nodded anyway. "Me too, let's go find something." she smiled and motioned for me to follow her. We walked out the door and down the street headed towards the woods. We were nearly halfway there before she froze in place.

"Brianna? What's wrong?" I asked while staring into her blank eyes. She brought up a hand and pointed directly ahead of us. I looked in the direction she was pointing and there was nothing there. "Brianna, what are you pointing at?" I couldn't see anything but the way she was standing and the way her eyes turned so cold so quick gave me a bad feeling.

I wasn't sure what was going on but I could tell that it wasn't good. The atmosphere was tense and I was getting uncomfortable. We weren't alone.

That's when I saw it.

There was a loud thud coming from a few feet in front of us and something clearly was running off into the woods. Walking a bit closer I saw something that unnerved me.

Lying in the middle of the road was our father. He wasn't moving, either. I ran towards him and realized that he was badly injured; He had cuts on his face and all over his body, an open wound on his head, and a fracture in his left leg that was impossible to miss.

"Cassandra..." My father had always called me by my full name. He had refused to call me by anything other than my birth name.

"FATHER! What happened to you? Who did this?" Tears were starting to roll down my face as I held my father in my arms. Something that I had never even imagined doing. He was so weak and helpless... I didn't know what to do in this situation.

"Cassandra, where is your younger sister?" His voice was weak but I could still hear it.

"BRIANNA!" I called for my sister frantically but she didn't answer, "BRIANNA, WHERE ARE YOU?" She had just been standing not ten feet away from us when I ran to our father. I couldn't do this alone. Not now. "Father, she's not here... what do you need me to do? I'll do anything!" I bit my lip and the tears flowed continuously. I had just awakened and I didn't have my full powers just yet. Brianna, even though she was younger than me, awakened 3 years before I had. I wasn't ready for something like this. I wasn't nearly strong enough to carry my father all the way home.

"Listen to me, Cassandra. You're going to have to go get your mother. You're far too weak to carry me and I don't want to put that kind of pressure on you... I'll be fine, just go." His smile was warming but it didn't convince me.

"I WILL NOT leave you!" And with that being said, I scooped my father up and ran home. This speed and strength... it was all new to me. I wasn't sure how I was able to do it, but we made it all the way home in less than a minute. I kicked the door in and called for my mother. She was downstairs and at my side as soon as I placed my father down on the couch. He was safe now... I saved him.

I walked into the bathroom to grab towels and the first aid kit and brought them to my mother. She cleaned his wounds and took care of him as I walked into the other room. That's when the stress and excitement of the moment really hit me. I fell to my knees and began to sob. What would have happened if I couldn't carry him? What if we hadn't found him when we did? Where did Brianna run off to and why?

"Cassie?" My mother called from behind me. I stood up, wiped my tears, and turned to face her. She had blood down the front of her shirt and she was carrying a bloody towel. "Sweetie, are you alright?"

"I'm fine Mom, just a little shaken up. Go and take care of Dad, he really needs it." I was fighting back the tears that threatened to take over. She set the towel down and took my hands in hers. I looked up at her and she smiled at me.

"Cassie... have you forgotten already?" Her smile was mocking, but kind.

"Oh, you're right. We can heal on our own. I'm sorry, it's just... everything happened so fast. Father was so badly injured... Brianna went missing, I was so sc-" She cut me off.

"Brianna went missing?" Her eyes were hard now. I couldn't tell if she was angry or worried but I could tell that she needed to know.

"Yea, I went to help Dad and when I called for her, she was gone." My mother nodded her head and closed her eyes. Mom was special. She could see through anyone's eyes if she tried hard enough. Since we were family, it made it easy for her to see what we were seeing. I walked away, deciding to leave her to work her magick. I sat down next to my father on the sofa and watched him as he breathed in and out.

"You were very brave out there, Cassandra. I didn't think you had it in you." He smiled at me and put a hand on mine.

"Father... tell me: Who did this to you?" I looked down at him with curious eyes.

He sighed and took a deep breath before he finally spoke, "Every so often I go out of town, you know that," I nodded my head and he continued, "I've met some other people out there just like us. I've also met things that not even the otherworld can explain."

I stared at him as he closed his eyes and rose his hand up to my face. His fingers touched my temple and sent thousands of pictures and sounds rushing into my head all at once. I saw what had happened, where he had been, everything that had happened prior to me finding him.

I gasped and he removed his hand. His eyes were still closed and he was concentrating on his wounds. I could see the gash on his head slowly closing up.

"Cassandra, you have to go find your sister. What attacked me is still out there and I have a feeling that Brianna went after it," he opened his eyes and gazed into mine, "You must do this for me. I may be able to heal on my own but it's still going to take me a while. You're a strong girl, I have faith in you." He squeezed my hand and then let go. I nodded and walked to the door, "Cassandra, one more thing."

"Yes?" I turned to see him struggling to look at me.

"Don't you dare go after him." I nodded and made my way outside and back to where we had been standing.

"BRIANNA!" I yelled, hoping to get her attention. I slowly made my way through trees keeping my eyes peeled for any movement around me. I could sense that I wasn't alone but I couldn't tell if it was Brianna or something else...

I had been walking for a good twenty minutes when a low growl came from behind me. I whipped around only to find nothing there. The growl came again, but from a different direction.

"Who's there?" I cried out, looking everywhere. "Brianna! Brianna, where are you!" No answer.

Ten minutes passed and the growl didn't come again. The wind was picking up by now and it was getting far too cold for a summer night. I looked up and searched for the moon. After two minutes I gave up and started walking again.

At this point I had completely forgotten about Scott and our plans for tomorrow. There was no way I'd be ready by noon! I got so caught up in my thoughts that I had to began to lose track of time. I looked up again to look for the moon when I saw a dark figure move across the sky at an amazing pace.

"CASSANDRA!" A voice in the distance screamed my name and I could feel the presence of my sister close by.

"BRIANNA! I'M COMING, DON'T MOVE!" I raced through the trees in the direction of the voice. I came to an open field and found my sister standing in the middle staring up at the sky.

"Brianna! What's wrong?" I grabbed her and tried to get her attention. She continued to stare up at the night sky as if she were looking for something that wasn't there.

"You came too late." She spoke so softly that if I hadn't been paying attention I would have thought it was the wind.

"What do you mean I came too late?" She slowly dropped her head and looked at me, tears building up in her eyes. She fell into my arms and I held her close as she began to cry.

"It was here... I could have killed him but..." Her voice broke as she cried.

"But what, Brianna?"

"He was too quick. He got to me first." She looked up at me with tears running down her face as she moved away and showed me her wounds.

"Oh, Brianna... quickly, climb on my back, I'll take you home." She nodded and did as she was told. Soon we were moving swiftly through the woods and back towards our home. She buried her face in my neck as she continued to cry. I couldn't help but think of the horrible things I wanted to do to whoever hurt my father. His blood will be his punishment.

"MOM! I found her." My mother came and removed her from my arms and started to bring her upstairs. My father was sitting up on the couch and motioned for me to come to him.

"Your mother saw you, Cassandra. She saw the both of you." He smiled at me. My face flushed and I looked down. It wasn't like I had done anything bad, but the thought of my mother watching me as I searched for my sister made me somewhat embarrassed.

"Cassandra?" My father lifted my chin up to face him.

"Yes, father?" He shook his head and laughed to himself then dismissed me to my room.

I sat down on my bed and looked over at the clock. It was nearly 5:30 A.M. now and I groaned thinking about waking up early to get ready to go over to Scott's house. I pulled the covers over my head and rolled over as I drifted to sleep.