Ground volcanic rocks, ground cacao beans, dead carcass, lighter, and… Janna gulped ...Steph's ashes. She organized her ingredients then, occasionally glancing at the séance book for instructions, started the ritual. First the sacrificial carcass…. Janna placed a dead mouse that her cat had killed on the ground. Then a ring of the volcanic dust around it…. She took the bag and walked a circle around the corpse, pouring the powder as she went. Then the cacao…. She continued with the cacao powder in the same fashion, pouring it on top of the already-made ring. And now for the urn…. Tears threatened to spring from Janna's eyes from the recollection of bad memories. She unscrewed the lid of the container that contained her sister's ashes. She poured it in the shape of triangle, which surrounded it all. Then she read from the book:

From the fiery depths of the underworld

I give you this sacrifice and this ritual in return

For the resurrection of this cherished soul

To bring the spirit named Stephanie Ordonia back to the world above.

"Please." Janna's eyes were shut tight and were becoming moist. She snapped them open and flicked the lighter on. She carefully lit the rat's body aflame. She watched as the flame spread outward, eating up the grassy turf. It stopped at the circle of dark powder. With nowhere to go outward, the flames grew upward, its fingers grasping at the air and pulling it into itself to make it fuel. The flames grew to an atypical height, about six feet high. Janna had been sure to pick an area surrounded by trees so that no one would see the column of flame.

A figure rose out from the ground. It was… could it be? It was an olive-skinned, dark brown-haired girl of about ten years old-eight to be exact. Her brown eyes matched Janna's in shade and shape. The girl was the spitting image of Janna's mother, which was why she could never find rest from thinking about her. Every time Janna saw her own mother, she was reminded of the dead girl. But she was different. Her pupils were unnaturally orange… or was that just the reflection of the flames? Her hair stood up as if charged with static electricity.

"Steph!"

But something was off. Her body seemed unnaturally… empty. She felt sure that if she reached through the flames, her hand would pass right through her sister's body, or the lack thereof. This wasn't little Steph's soul, this was just a figment, a projection. But a bit of hope still remained behind her eyes. It was crushed when the image of her started to fade. Replacing it was a demonic figure with a purple face, horns, and three red eyes. (A/N: This is Tom!)

"Tribute insufficient. You cannot right your wrongs with nothing but a mouse that you didn't even have the nerve to kill yourself! Get me more, and I may consider."

Janna started trembling, and, suddenly, her legs could not hold her. She sat against a tree, her legs pulled up to her chin, her head in her hands, and cried. She cried and cried until it felt like days had passed.

Then a rustling came from the bushes. She rubbed her eyes quickly, trying to convert into the cool and collected persona she assumed in front of other people. But as she tried to wipe the tears away, more spang out.

She started to see bits of the figure through the bushes. Blue jeans. A red hoodie. Oh. Marco. Marco! She couldn't decide whether it was a good or bad thing for Marco to see her like this. Maybe he'll understand me. Maybe we'll get closer. But how can I let him see me like this? How can I let anyone see me like this? But if there was one person she would want to be there, one shoulder she would want to lean on, it would be him.

Marco came through and saw her. His eyes widened. "Whoa, what happened?"

Janna sniffled. "Just normal… life stuff."

"No, this isn't normal of you. You're usually so-"

"That's what I want you to think."

He had no response to that.

Finally, Marco found something to say. "So this is how you really feel? Like, every day."
"Yes."

"Not to be insensitive, but why?"

"Because…." The words were drowned out by tears.

"Calm… calm down," Marco soothed. Once Janna stopped crying, he said, "If you tell me what it is, maybe I can help."

"It's… it's Steph," she uttered in a miniscule voice.

Marco nodded. "I thought so. He paused for a while. "Look… you just have to learn to move on. Like… like I did with Jackie."

"You never moved on from that."

"That's the truth."

The words spilled out from Janna's mouth: "I can't move on from her, I just can't. It's not too painful at school, but when I go home, every time I see the guest room, every time I see my mother's face, I'm reminded of her and that awful, awful night."

Marco had heard the story. The killer in the night. The one who had happened to be… the thought was almost too harsh to bear… he was Jackie's older half-brother. He was no boy-he was twenty-five. Jackie despised him and had spent all of her life separate from him, but there was always that connection lingering in the back of one's mind. Marco didn't hold a grudge, but, then again, his sister hadn't been killed.

But did he? He really did, although for another reason. Another stupid one. Marco had had a huge crush on her ever since… well, ever since he could remember, really. Just recently he had finally worked up the nerve to ask her out-and she had politely declined. Despite Jackie's assurance, Marco had felt so dejected. And he still was. No one liked him. No one would want to be his girlfriend. No one he had met yet, at least.

Little do Marco know, he was wrong.

There was someone out there, someone he had known since he was five. That someone just happened to be sitting right next to him.

While Marco had been lost in thought, Janna had started to break down again. She choked out words through tears gasps: "I… just… need… someone… there… for me."

Marco's eyes softened. Maybe he could bend his no-socialization policy for one girl. "I will."

Janna threw herself around Marco and cried into his shoulder.

With a start, Marco realized that it was a… a hug. Something couples did. Although that freaked him out a bit, he let himself relax and give Janna strength. Minutes later, he realized that he had wrapped his arms around her, too.

A/N: All right, there's the preview for Introvert vs. Extrovert! That story will be started somewhere between late November and early December. This scene will not appear in the story itself-it's a bonus scene!