Lost and Found

by brntpopcorn

Sam Diamond has lost his memories. It's a common thing in a dying world, until he meets a girl who claims to have returned from the dead. Can she be the key to saving them all or is there more to Sam himself?

Lost and Found.

Samuel Diamond sat on the steps to the porch. It was dark and the street was deserted. He looked across the street to watch the neighbor close her blinds. She smiled and waved at him. He tried to smile, but it looked more like a grimace. Sam hung his head and his brown hair shone in the light of the porch. He felt more alone then at any other point in his life that he could remember. Sam was having a hard time with that now. Remembering. It had always been such an easy thing. He had never really even thought about. Sam wondered if this is how it must feel to get old. But Sam was not old. He had never even really given much thought to being old. Sam was a sophomore at Lower Branch High School, though if you asked him now he would give you a puzzled look and no answer. He lifted his head and looked to the side of the house. Soft footsteps could be heard in the snow.

A girl stepped into the light. She bore a striking resemblance to Sam. They both had the same light brown hair and piercing green eyes. They were the only ones in the family with green eyes. She walked up into the porch light and handed Sam the jacket she was carrying. She stood beneath the porch light and leaned on the wall. They both surveyed the street in silence. Sam put the jacket on and buried his cold hands in the pockets.

"It's going to be okay Sam, you know," said the girl. Her breath came out in a white mist and seemed to emphasize every word. Her voice was as soft as her eyes and the falling snow. "I mean don't worry about it so much."

Sam ignored his twin. She had given him this speech before. He had heard it all before from every member of the Diamond family, even the more distant ones as it happened to be Christmas Eve and they had been at the party.

Sam lifted his head and looked up at the ceiling of the porch. It was oddly illuminated by the light and cast nasty shadows across the many spider webs. He could see a foot ball stuck on one of the boards. He wished he could remember how that football had gotten up there. The girl lifted her head too and looked. She found no interest in the deflated ball. It had been up there for years and was just part of the scenery to her. She shoved herself off the wall and came and sat down by Sam. She leaned her head on his shoulder.

Sam stiffened slightly at her touch. He felt odd with her. He knew she was his sister and he felt the closest to her, but still it was weird. She sighed.

"Sara, why do you think this happened to me?" he asked.

"I don't know. You're just unlucky I guess," Sarah said. She smiled, but Sam didn't. She looked up at him. "Oh come on it could be worse. At least it went slow. I mean you still got your journal."

"Yeah," he sighed. He did still have his journal. It was tucked snugly under his mattress. He hadn't taken it out. Sarah was the only other person who knew about the journal. It had been her idea, or so she told him. He couldn't bring himself to read it; to look at those unfamiliar words in that all too familiar hand writing. He couldn't do it.

"Oh come on Sammy brighten up. It's not the end of the world," Sarah said. She picked her head up and offered another bright smile. Sam turned away. She didn't understand and she never would. She had no idea what it felt like.

"Fine be like that. At least just come inside 'cause I'm cold and I'm freezing my ass off," she said. She stood up and brushed the snow and salt from the seat of her pants. She held a hand out to Sam. He was reluctant to take it. He didn't want to go back in there. He couldn't take the way they looked at him, the pity and the disappointment. He chose the cold.

He shook his head.

"But there's cookies," she sang.

"No. I'm fine, just save me one if you can," he said.

"God Sam did you even forget your love of cookies? What about if I let you dip them in milk?" He crinkled his nose at the thought of soggy cookies. He may like them fresh and a little pliable, but not soggy.

"Good," she said at the sight of his face. "You never like cookies and milk."

He managed a weak smile at that. At least he was still the same person or liked the same things. He had been wondering about that, if he had changed or if he was still the same. Sarah told him that he always was worrying and moping around before so she saw no difference. Stue had made a joke about it that everyone laughed at, but Sam and Sarah had whispered to him that he never found Stue's jokes funny. Then she had laughed herself. Sam wondered how he had ever fit in with this family.

The familiar crunch of snow could be heard again as another boy rounded the corner. He had the same brown hair and nose as Sam and Sarah though he was taller than both of them and with a thinner build. He had his arms wrapped around himself and was stomping his feet.

"Mom say's you both need to get in the house," he said. He was the oldest of all the Diamond children and had been their leader and role model until he had moved out last year. Snow clung to his short hair and slowly melted. He shifted impatiently in the cold.

"See. I told'cha, I got that psychic power," she said. Sam took her hand and let her pull him up. He stood the same height as her. She smiled and started heading into the house. Siphicul was waiting at the side door holding it open.

Sam stomped the snow off his shoes then entered the warmth of the house. Sarah threw her jacket to the side and opened the fridge. She grabbed out some of the left over food from the Christmas part and turned around. Her cheeks and nose were red from the cold.

"You want to get first dibbs?" she asked. Sam threw his jacket on top of hers. Siphicul walked past them and gave her a dirty look. She stuck her tongue out at him. "Oh come on Siph its Christmas."

"No," he whispered. "Mom's already asleep."

'Oh,' Sarah mouthed. She looked around the corner and their mother was indeed a sleep on the couch. Even in her sleep Ms. Diamond looked troubled. Her thin mouth was pursed shut and her eyes darted around behind their lids. Her long black hair was thrown around the couch. The lights from the Christmas tree gave her an eerie almost deathly pale look. Sarah turned back to Sam and gave him a guilt smile. Siphicul shook his head and headed back to one of the three bedrooms.

"Come on," Sarah whispered. She tiptoed through the living room, even though there was no need. Ms. Diamond could sleep through anything. She opened the door to the first bedroom on the left. Sam followed her in and shut the door. Sarah plopped on the bed with her plate of cold left over's. She tore the cellophane off and threw it on the floor.

Sarah had the only room to herself. She had offered to share, but being the only girl meant it was hers. She had painted it a lovely shade of light purple. Everything else in the room was some form of green. The bed she was sprawled on matched her eyes perfectly. She used her finger to shovel mashed potatoes into her mouth.

"You want some," she mumbled. Sam wondered over to the bed and sat down awkwardly. She held the plate out to him. He grabbed a cookie shaped like a tree and covered in red sprinkles. He ate it and wondered if it was okay to be getting so many crumbs on her bad. He brushed some of them off.

"I really think you should read that diary. It might help you remember something," she mumbled as she started in on the chunk of ham.

"No one else has remembered anything," he said. This unsavory little fact had been pointed out to him by Sanhuel. Sanhuel was the youngest and the cutest of all the Diamond children. He was two years younger than Sam and Sarah. He was the baby and had always been treated as such. Sanhuel was the smartest and the best of them all. He got all the attention, but seeing Sam's current condition the doting had switched to Sam. Sanhuel found that that tiny fact had been just enough to make sure Sam didn't enjoy it.

"So be the first."

Sam couldn't sit there and watch her eat any more. He wasn't feeling hungry at all, himself. He was feeling out of place and lost and alone.

"I'm going to bed," he said. He shoved himself off the bed and started making his way to the door.

"Kay. Good night." She blew him an over dramatic kiss and he shut the door. He crossed the hallway and went one door down. The first door on the right was the bathroom. The second was his and Sanhuel's room. The lights were off and Sanhuel was already asleep in the bed. Sam crawled in next to him and closed his eyes.

He couldn't sleep. He felt uncomfortable next to Sanhuel, listening to his steady breathing. He wished that he had his own bed. He wanted to be alone like he felt. He didn't want all these people around trying to pretend he knew them. He didn't want to act like he was okay. He wasn't. He was worried and scared and he felt lost.

"Come on Sam," Sarah wined. Sam recognized her voice and smiled. He rolled over and opened his eyes. Sanhuel was already gone.

"It's a miracle. He lives," Stuart yelled. Sarah shoved him and he toppled off the bed. Stuart fell in a massive pile of legs and arms. He was the tallest of them all with black hair like his mother. He could have been an amazing basket ball player if he would put in the effort. He popped his head back over the bed and rested his chin on it. His brown eyes sparkled with mischief. Stuart had the Diamond eyes. At least that's what they called them. All of the Diamond children had never met any other Diamond family members. The oldest who remembered their father claimed that his eyes were the same dark brown. At first look they looked black in color, but if one leaned in closer they found that they were actually a deep brown. "We couldn't have you sleeping in."

"Come on Sam. Siph's dishing out chores," Sarah said. She threw the blanket off him.

"Yep. He has reasserted himself as king of big headed-ness. We have to find him a job," Stue said. He stood up and walked out of the room.

"Come on. He sent me to go get groceries and I don't want to go alone," she pouted. She brandished a list in front of his face. Her pout disappeared and she put on an overly exacerbated smile. "Please."

"Fine. Let me get ready," Sam said. He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"Kay," she said and pranced to the door. Sam looked around the room confused. Sarah stopped and looked back at him. She put on a sad smile. He hated the pity he could see in her eyes.

"Your clothes are in the top thee drawers," she said pointing to the dresser crammed against the wall at the end of the bed. She stared at him for a second then shut the door.

Sam crawled to the end of the bed and sat on it while he opened the drawers. They were full of his clothes. He didn't recognize any of them. He went through and looked at them all. He opened the bottom two drawers and found them shoved full with clothes too. He shut them and decided not to wear any of them. Sarah had said the top three. He picked out some clothes and got dressed.

He walked out into the living room. Siphicul was sitting on the couch watching TV and Sarah was resting on the edge. The glare from the Christmas tree lights made it almost impossible to see the screen. Sanhuel came out of the laundry room carrying a huge basket of laundry.

"Come on Sam lets get going," Sarah said. She jumped of the arm rest onto the floor.

"Hey! How come I have to do the laundry when Sam gets to go with Sarah? Not remembering nothing don't keep him form being able to do laundry," Sanhuel said as he set the basket on the floor next to Siphicul. Siphicul tore his eyes away from the TV and looked between the two.

"Fine. When Sam gets back, he can help you with the laundry," Siphicul said. Sanhuel smiled and sat down next to the basket. Sarah glared at him. She grabbed Sam's arm and started dragging him into the kitchen.

"God, Sanhuel can be such a brat sometimes," she said as she put her shoes on grabbed her coat. Sam did the same. "Grab the keys."

Sam looked around for a set of keys. He couldn't see any.

"Sorry," Sarah said. She reached past him and grabbed a cup of the table. She shook it and Sam heard keys jingle. "Ah! Stue took the car!"

"Yeah, He had to take it to work," Siphicul yelled from the other room.

"Then how to you expect me to get groceries?" Sarah yelled back.

"Take the buss."

"Its five blocks!"

"You got Sam. He'll help you carry stuff. Right Sam?"

Sam looked to Sarah. She did not look happy. She grabbed the buss pass off the counter.

"I'll help you," Sam said.

"Yeah, I bet you will," she sighed and shoved him out the door.

They walked the five blocks to the bass stop with hunched shoulders and bent heads. The wind yanked Sarah's hair from her hood and whipped the fresh snow around their ankles. It looked like a low mist lay across the street.

The buss stop was just a bench on the side of the street. An elderly black woman sat on the bench. She huddled her coat around her. A cane leaned up against her leg. She looked up as they approached and clutched her purse watching them with weary, watery eyes. They chose to stand. She didn't take her eyes off them. Sam and Sarah shifted their feet uncomfortably and occasionally stomped them to help keep them warm. The bus couldn't have arrived soon enough.

They sat in the back. The bus was deathly silent. The old woman sat in the front and the two awake passengers, looking out their windows. The sleeping one was in the back with Sam and Sarah. He had a dirty patched look about and his thin wispy hair seemed to stick to the window he was currently drooling on. He had a battered looking brief case on his lap.

Sarah looked over the list again and Sam stared out the window. He tried his hardest to see anything familiar. It all pasted by like it was the first time it had streamed before him. The trees and houses slid by without a second thought. It was frustrating because the more he looked the more he realized there was nothing there. He wanted to at least know what he had forgotten, but then it wouldn't be forgotten. He rubbed his hands together to warm them up.

"Stue put rocky mountain oysters on here. Like I wouldn't recognize his writing," Sarah said. "And he didn't even spell oyster right."

Sam pulled away from the window, but she wasn't even looking at him. She was shaking her head and staring at the list. She sighed and put it back in her pocket.

"God these busses are cold," she said.

"Yeah," Sam said. "What are rocky mountain oysters?"

"Bull testicles," Sarah said waving him away. The bus had pulled over and she was getting out of her seat. She grabbed his jacket and pulled him up too. "He thinks he's so funny."

The bus stopped right at the end of the grocery store parking lot. It was still a long walk and the parking lot was amazingly full. Sarah set a fast pace down the middle row. The wind seemed even colder in the open. Sam looked up at the giant letters plastered on the front in their alternating colors. He noticed a few birds had made nests in the R, B, and W. He saw no birds flying.

The automatic doors slid open to blast them with warm air. Sarah rushed in and in habit stomped off snow. The dry snow had not clung to them and nothing fell off when she did it. It was too cold for sticky snow. She grabbed a cart and headed it.

Sarah led them all around. She seemed to know the isles well and grabbed something out of each. She made Sam hold the list and read all the items as they entered each isle. It seemed they wanted something from each. Sarah took her time in each of them. She looked. She wandered and Sam didn't mind. He was enjoying the warm. He had forgotten what cold even felt like.

He had wandered a head of Sarah. He was reading cereal names. It amazed him how he could remember what cereal was, but not the names of the different brands. He read them each to himself he remembered the different flavors, but he couldn't place them with their specific brands. He had no idea about some of the characters. Those were lost to him completely. He reached the end of the isle and looked across at the fresh fruits and vegetables all lying piled in the bins. There was a girl. She was wearing a black hoodie and faded jeans. She had the hood up. She reached into the grape pile and grabbed a few. She shoved them in her mouth. Sam looked around to see if anyone else had seen that. No one else was there. The girl moved down to the green grapes. She grabbed a few more. This time she turned around to see if anyone had seen her. Her eyes settled on Sam and she smiled.

Sam's eyes widened in shock, that girl was familiar. He recognized her. He knew he had seen her before. She had bright blues that sparkled as she smiled. She was short and light and the front of her hoodie said lost. There was a small tear in one knee of her jeans.

"Eh, she's cute," Sarah said peering over his shoulder. Sam jumped and looked back at her.

"Who is she?" he asked.

"I don't know. I've never seen her before."

"Have I?"

"Nope, you would have told me about her. Is she eating the grapes?" The girl had shoved the handful of grapes into her mouth and was moving down to the corn. She wasn't looking at him anymore and Sam was suddenly not sure she even had. She moved past the corn and onto the radishes. She grabbed one and ate it then moved on. Sam felt awkward for staring so long and pulled his eyes away. He felt a sense of loss as he did. Sarah had already moved onto the next isle. Sam hurried after her.

They finished their shopping and with a cart full food they in got in line for a register. Sarah had chosen this one claiming that even though there were more people in it, it would be a shorter wait because they had less stuff. The woman up front was having a coupon problem and Sam was starting to realize that listening to Sarah wasn't always the best idea. The balding man in front of them sighed and switched his large ham to the other arm.

"Ah shit," Sarah said. She pulled the list back out of her pocket. She looked it over, then back into the cart. She shifted a frozen pizza, and then turned to Sam. "San can you go grab some milk. Get the kind with the two hooked together." She mimed the milk with her hands.

"Sure," Sam said. He smiled and turned to leave. He was glad to leave the monotony of waiting in line listening to the woman screech about how the coupon only expired last week.

"You remember where the milk is?" she yelled after him. It was a teasing way more than a patronizing way and Sam was glad for it. He waved her off and continued toward the back.

Sam made it to the milk and was looking it over. He saw the two clasped together. That was no problem. His problem was he had no idea what percent to get. He had no idea. He started reading the labels and the fat content. He had no idea. He leaned in as if he was going to find some secret message on one of them.

"They're all just milk."

Sam jumped and snapped up straight at the sound of the voice. He turned and saw the girl in the black hoodie leaning on the shelf next to him. The cold air was blasting them. He stared at her and was filled with the same sense of remembering as before. It was stronger now that she was closer.

She had her hood off this time. Her hair was short and choppy. The front layer hung in her eyes and she shook it out. She had highlighted the dirty blond color with streaks of red green and blue. She smiled again. She had a light layer of freckles over the bridge of her nose.

"I saw you watchin' me," she said.

"Do I know you?" Sam asked.

"Nope, never met before." She started walking around him and looked him up and down. "You got the forgettin' thing. Don't'cha."

Sam just stared at her. He took a step back now. She smirked like she held all the answers to all his questions and she was just teasing him. Sam showed no sign of answering.

"So, looking at milk, huh?" she asked. She turned to the milk and ran her finger down one of the gallons. She looked back at him.

"Yeah," Sam finally said, finding his voice. "I um I can't remember what kind to get."

"Get the skim. It's the pink one. That way when they're all like 'we don't get that you' can be all like 'yeah, but we should 'cause it's healthy'." She grabbed the gallon off the shelf and held it out to him. She smiled at him. Sam was a little taken aback.

"We want the two gallons," he mumbled. She put it back and grabbed the two gallons. Sam took it from her. "Thanks." He started walking. She followed matching his steps. She swung her arms in an exaggerated motion.

"No prob," she said. "My name's Devon, Devon Rodgers. Well actually Devon Robin Rodgers. I got the same middle name as my mom. I think it's after her great-aunt or something. What 'bout'chew?"

"Sam."

"Just Sam?"

"Oh, ah Samuel Noah Diamond," Sam said. "I don't got the same name as anyone."

"Well actually I bet you got the same name as lots a people. Sam's pretty common name, but I know what'cha mean. Diamond's a pretty cool name, I mean like, nothing can even scratch a diamond. So where ya goin' Sammy-Sam?"

"Home. Are you sure I don't know you?" Sam asked. He had slowed down the pace so they wouldn't reach Sarah as soon.

"Nope. I can honestly say we haven't never met before," she said, nodding her head to emphasize each word.

"Oh." Sam was still puzzled. He looked toward the end of the isle. He was sure he must have seen her before. He was almost positive of it.

"You know you don't got it that bad, 'cause you still recognize me. Some people full out know me, and some have no idea. It's always sad when they got no idea, 'cause there's nothing I can do for them, but you Sam. You got hope." She put her hands up and fanned them out at the word hope like it was up in lights.

"What?" Sam asked. He had stopped walking altogether now and was looking at her. She smiled.

"You got hope."

"Hope for what?"

She laced her hands behind her and stuck a foot out. She leaned forward and let her weight fall on it, like a slow motion Charlie Brown. She put her other foot forward and did the same. "It's sad that every ones losing their memory like that. And you know pretty soon it will be everyone, except us."

"What do you mean us?"

"You know I died once. And no not one of them stupid heart failures where they bring you back with the shocky thing." She mimed using an EKG on someone. "Nope. That kind's for wimps. I was all out dead buried in the ground dead."

Sam backed away. He had assured himself she was crazy now. He had held out hope because he thought he knew her, but now he felt like he needed to get away. He didn't want to alarm her. No use upsetting a crazy person. He cradled the milk as he slowly backed up. She laughed.

"The crazy look. I sure seem to be getting that one a lot. I'm giving you a second chance Sam. Come on what else have you recognized? You know you wanna trust me," She said the last part in a sing song voice. Sam stopped backing up. "See. You can't even deny it. I'm just so lovable. Do you want your memory back?" Sam nodded. "Good, 'cause I want to give it to ya. See now there's something I want. Now I'm not usually all give me this or you won't get your memory back. Usually I just give them to people, well once they prove themselves, stupid little rule about that, but you see there's something I need. It's gotten God awful cold outside and I don't think I can take any more. I don't need to die twice. I mean this time's on loan already lets not screw it up, but the thing is I need some where warm to stay. You hook me up with that and I'll hook you up with your memories. Sound like a deal?" She finished with a big cheesy grin.

"How do I know you can get my memories back?" Sam asked. He didn't want to get his hopes up. No one got their memories back and especially from random girls in the grocery store. It didn't happen.

"Proof. Of coarse you want proof. Everyone always wants proof. See the thing is I can't give you proof. It's this long 'faith is the whole key' thing. Listen just forget about the whole memory thing. I'm cold and I'm hungry, and ain't I just the saddest thing you ever seen. Come on you know you want to take me home and show me to mommy. You wouldn't just leave me. Do a good deed. You know ya wanna."

"You got to ask my sister. I don't know," Sam said.

"Kay. Let's go," she said. She raced forward and Sam chased after. Sarah was luckily still in line and the bald guy had just gotten. He had paid for his ham was done in the time it took them to explain the situation to Sarah. They left out the whole 'bring back memories' thing.

"I don't know," Sarah said after listening to it all. They had stacked all the things on the conveyor belt and the cashier was slowly running them by the scanned. She kept giving them all curious looks. "You re . . . um, Well one time we found a dog and brought it home and tried to hide it my room and Mom found it and she was pissed. Imagine what she would do about a person."

"I'll take the blame," Sam said. It seemed the more they had explained things to Sarah the more he himself had wanted Devon to stay.

"Yeah we can just say he had no idea. And she'll have to go easy on him 'cause he lost all his memories," Devon said. Sarah glared at Devon as she talked, but Devon didn't seem to notice. Sarah turned back to Sam and he offered her a smiled.

"Fine," she sighed. She turned away from them and set all her attention on the cashier. They got the hint that she didn't want to hear any more and from here on in she was not involved.

They reached the house and all crowded in the door. Their hands were red and chapped. None of them had any gloves and the many bags prevented them from putting their hands in their pockets. Sam and Sarah were glad to have Devon with to carry some of them. She was shivering the worst of them all with out a jacket, but she didn't complain. They set all the bags on the kitchen table.

"Who's this?" Siphicul asked. Sarah turned away and started unpacking the groceries. Siphicul turned to Sam.

"Um well this is. . . "Sam started.

"Hi. I'm Devon Rodgers," Devon said. She smiled brightly at Siphicul. He didn't seem to have anything to say to her. He looked between her and Sam then went back into the living room.

"How come Sam can bring a friend over," they heard Sanhuel complain.

"Don't just stand there. Help me put away the groceries," Sarah said. Sam and Devon immediately set to work. They ended up un-bagging all the things while Sarah instructed on where to put them.

"You know we always saved the bags too. I mean you never know when you're going to need a bag. Well that was before, you know... I died," Devon said as she folded up an empty bag.

"What," Sarah sputtered from her spot on top of the kitchen table. She looked at Sam and noted the lack of shock.

"Yup. We used to save the bags. We had this little garbage can that we'd stick them in. Saved a fortune on garbage bags and you know they're good for all kinds of things, like..."

"No! Not that. You died?"

"Oh, crazy look again. You know you look a lot like Sam when you do that. Hey are you and Sam twins?" Devon asked. Sarah made to answer the question then shook her head.

"Wait. You didn't answer my question," Sarah said.

"You didn't answer mine."

"I asked first."

"You sure did." Devon tucked the bag next to the fridge and grabbed the one Sam was holding and put it there too. Sarah stared at Devon. Devon looked back to her and smiled.

"You died?" Sarah finally asked again.

"Yeah. See I already told you the answer to that so I think it's only fair that you answer my question since your's already was. It's not my fault you don't listen," Devon said. Sarah looked absolutely mutinous.

"Yeah, we're twins. So how did you die?" Sam asked. He moved in front of Sarah blocking her view of Devon.

"Wow. That's not a question you get to ask some one every day. You know I think death is kinda a personal question, but not as personal as 'what happened after' I guess. Still it's one of those questions that's lost on most of the people you can actually ask it to, seein' as they can't answer, well most of them. I can answer, that's only 'cause I'm not dead now, then I guess it depends on who you're askin' it to. Not dead people like me can answer, but I don't think there's that many that have actually died. In fact I think I might just be the only one, all other people who died and can answer that question are probably the un-dead. Do you believe in vampires?"

Sam actually turned around and looked at Sarah after that one. Devon watched them, patiently waiting for her answer. All anger was gone from Sarah's face. She just stared at Devon. Sam turned back to her.

"So... um, how'd you die?" he asked.

"Wow you guys repeat questions, and you're not very good at answering them. It's like you want me to repeat myself. Okay like I said, I already answered your question so I think it's only fair you answer mine," Devon said.

"What?"

"Do you believe in vampires, you know, 'the un-dead'?"

"Oh. No not really," Sam said.

"Really? Why not?" Devon had all the bags folded and put away now.

"I don't know, I've never seen one, and it doesn't sound very possible. Where'd you go after you died?"

"Sam. Come here," Sarah said before Devon even had a chance to answer. She hopped off the table and grabbed the front of Sam's shirt. She dragged him into the living room. Siphicul and Sanhuel barely even gave them a glance as she dragged him into the hallway and into the bath room. She shut the door behind them.

"You brought a crazy person here," she hissed. "This is way worse then the puppy and we were scrubbing piss out of the carpet for a week."

"Maybe she's not crazy," Sam whispered.

"Maybe my ass. The dead thing was bad enough, but listen to her for two seconds. I mean I understand she's cute, but not that cute Sam. You can do better, trust me. She's crazy."

"It's not that."

"Then what is it, 'cause we need to get rid of her before she starts talking to Siphicul or worse Sanhuel. I got your back Sam, but this is going too far, the pity thing can only get you so much."

"I think I know her. I remember her."

"Sam you lost your memory. You don't remember your own family, but you remember her?"

"She said that she can get my memory back."

"God Sam! I want you to get your memory back too, but this is crazy. How is she going to get your memory back?"

"I don't know, but I believe her."

"What?"

"I do. Please, can you just trust me on this?"

"Why should I?"

"Please."

"Fine, but... ah, just take care of it yourself and keep her away from me." Sarah opened the door and left. Sam followed. They stopped at the living room. Devon was sitting on the couch matching the miss-match socks for Sanhuel and watching the TV with Siphicul. Sarah gave Sam a worried look then went in her room. Loud music could soon be heard through the wall. Sam sat down with Devon.

"You want to help?" Devon asked.

"Yeah," Sam said. Devon set the basket between them and they both looked through it.

The rest of the afternoon was incredibly quiet. No one said anything. Sam was glad. He was scared what they would think of Devon's 'I've died' speech, but she seemed oddly pleasant. She didn't say any thing about herself and she only talked to Sam occasionally. When Sanhuel was done with the laundry he left to one his friends house. Then it was even quieter. Siphicul tried to turn up the TV to compensate, but it seemed to make it worse.

"Can we go some where and talk?" Devon finally asked. She leaned in and whispered it. She looked to Siphicul then back to Sam. Siphicul didn't even seem to notice.

"Sure," Sam said. He got up and walked back to his and Sanhuel's room. He was glad Sanhuel had left. It left the room empty. He had wanted to talk to Devon alone. Devon climbed onto the dresser and perched herself on top of it. Sam sat on the edge of the bed.

"Okay Sam. I got a message for you, well not you specifically, but people like you," Devon said.

"People like me?" Sam asked.

"You know, can't remember people. You don't get a second chance for nothing. I mean I'm here for a reason. Every one is. You know every one has a specific purpose. Some people is stupid and small, and some people get the totally awesome ones. I used to think mine was awesome. I mean to die and come back is pretty awesome. Except when you first get back. That sucks. You know what it must be like to be bourn the first time. I think that's why we're in our mom's stomach first. It kinda makes it easier, like a speed bump," Devon said. Sam blinked a couple times. It was going to take him a while to get used to Devon's rambling.

"What?" Sam asked. Devon opened her mouth again. "No hold on. First you have a message for me."

"Yep. I sure do."

"What is it?"

"That's the thing, I forgot." Devon looked down and fiddled with her hands. "I mean I know it was something important, but I don't think it was urgent. So it's okay, we have time to remember it." She smiled.

"From who?" Sam asked.

"Well, who do you think? I had to die to get the message. I mean that was my purpose, die and come back to spread the message."

"Kind of ruins the purpose if you don't remember it."

"Oh, I remember that. That's the one for every one. I just don't remember the one for you."

"Well then what's the one for every one?"

"It was that you're all killin' yourselves and you brought the forgetting thing on yourselves and your all going to die. Cheery I know."

"I brought it on myself," Sam muttered. That part had hit him. It stuck to him and he couldn't shake it off. He tried to think, but there was nothing there to think over, just him new memories, nothing before. It was empty and hollow and dark feeling. He shivered because he knew her words rand true.

"Yeah, but yours must not of been too bad 'cause you still remember a lot. You're not like one of those mindless ones who can't remember how to talk or do anything. You still remember a lot," Devon said. She jumped off the dresser and sat on the bed next to him.

"We forget because we did something bad?"

"Yeah. It's kinda like a punishment, or warning, or no. I got it. It's like a second chance because you forget what you've done and you get a chance to be a better person and not have all that before stuff with you. Oh my God it all makes sense now. So, I can give you your memories back if you prove you've changed."

"How can you give me memories back, and how do I know I've changed if I can't remember before?"

"Well first off, I can do only do what I'm told and I don't get to decide who gets what when, but I do get to do the giving. I don't know. It's what I am now, the 'memory putter backer'. Second that's the point. If you know what you need to change then you won't be actually changed. It's the whole the journey is its own reward thing. Hey, I didn't think it up. I'm just following orders."

"Why do you put memories back? Why you?" Sam asked. Devon smiled. She took no offence.

"Well, I wonder that myself sometimes. I think it's 'cause I wasn't supposed to die. I was never a good kid and I never cared about any one else, but one day there was this guy and he was getting beat up in this alley and I actually stopped and helped him. It's wasn't something I would ever do and no one who knew me would have believed it, but I did and I actually don't know why. And well long story short, was girl is no match for five guys, lets just say eventually I died. So I was dead and I wasn't supposed to be and that guy was dead and we were both dead and I guess I got a second chance, well almost. I wouldn't call this a chance, more like a job."

The door opened and Sanhuel came in looking upset and disheveled. He glared at them from the door way.

"Get out," he said. He shoved the door all the way open and stood in the door way. He turned to the side and let them pass then slammed the door.

"I wonder what happened to him," Devon said. They wandered back in to the kitchen past Siphicul who had fallen asleep.

"Hey. Damn Sam you work fast. Who's this?" Stue asked.

"Hi my name's Devon Rodgers," Devon said. She sat herself down next to Stue.

"Well my name is Stuart Diamond. Sam's older and better looking brother."

"Sam's newest and most helpful friend." Devon offered her hand and they shook. Sam reluctant sat down with them. Stue had a pile of mail in front of him. He pushed it to the side and smiled. Sam looked at the pile and noticed none of it was addressed to Stue, the ones he could see all said Nora Diamond. Sam was not sure if that was his mom's name since he had only heard her referred to as mom, but he thought it was a pretty good assumption. Most of it was open and a few of the letters were falling out. They barely managed to be classified as a pile.

"So. New friend huh?"

"Yup. We met at the grocery store and since I have no where to go Sam was nice enough to let me come here," Devon said.

"Yeah. Sam's always been a softy. How come you don't got any where to go?" Stue asked. Sam's looked to Devon. He was really hoping the whole 'I died' thing wasn't about to come out. Devon smiled.

"Well I do now and it's really nice. I'm so happy that you guys are letting me stay here."

"Yeah... um, Sam you didn't ask Siphicul, did you?"

"No," Sam said. Devon was making it sound like she intended to stay for awhile. Sam was a little taken a back.

"I know Mom won't mind, but with Siphicul back, you gotta okay anything with him first," Stue said.

"Siphicul left?" Devon asked. Sam had been wanting to ask. There were a lot of things he wanted to know, but he felt like it was pointing out the problem asking. He had avoided it. Stue looked at Devon a little surprised then back to Sam.

"Yeah. He thought he was going to make something of himself, but I guess it didn't work out," Stue said.

"What did he try to be?" Devon asked.

"I don't know. An actor or something."

"Really he doesn't look like the actor type to me." Devon and Stue talked. Stue was hesitant at first, but after a while he opened up and talked freely. Sam listened to it. It seem liked Devon knew everything he had been wondering and was now asking all the questions. She didn't seem to find anything to personal and they stuck mostly to Siphicul. Eventually Sam found that he didn't care that much. He had been interested right away, but his interest faded.

Nora Diamond came home tired. It was dark out. She never saw the sun in the winter; it was the thing she missed most. She went work before in rose and returned after it set. People often asked her why she kept the last name Diamond. She and Jason had only been married for less than a year. It had been messy and stupid. No one had been surprised at the divorce, but they had when Nora kept the name. She didn't know herself. She kept it more as a reminder of what could happen, a punishment to keep herself from letting it happen again.

Nora had loved Jason. The only person she had ever loved. Nora had been a victim of abuse and Jason had been her savior. She had been the other woman at first. Jason had been in a committed relationship when he and Nora got together, but he had left Jane for her. That had made her feel more special than anything. She should have seen it coming though, yet she remained to blind. She had even tried to deny it when the proof was there.

Nora had never been a strong person. Her children had made her strong, but she still felt like a coward. She stood outside the house and looked at it. Her children were inside. Her own children and she was afraid to enter. She couldn't face them. They were every thing to her. They held her up. She thought she would raze them to be successful. To become something she never had the chance to be. She had dreams for them, but her dreams were fading. She couldn't face them because she felt it was her fault. It was her fault Siphicul was back, crushed by the world. She remained a crutch to him. Then there was Sam.

Sam was Nora's worst fear. She stood out here watching the warmth with in because she couldn't face Sam. He was her biggest worry. She thought about him always. The way he had looked at her with those blanks eyes, then the fear that had filled them. He had forgotten her, but who wouldn't. She had never been there for him. Siphicul had raised them, he had raised them all. She was no mother. She simply paid the bills and now it was Stue who did that. She was nothing.

She knew Stue would drop out and she knew she was the cause. She had created a cycle. Her children would become nothing just as she had. She had made the problem. She had never told Stue he needed to get a job, but he saw the bills. He knew the situation, more than Siphicul ever had. Stue would do it for her. She couldn't face them.

Nora Simarah Diamond turned and continued walking down the street. She put the house and the children behind her. She was nothing to them and she felt she had nothing left to offer. She wandered down the street to the nothing that lay before her. She gave into her fear and left them. She abandoned them and their memory slowly slipped from her mind as she walked. She could never return.

The Diamond children went to bed. Sarah finally had some one to share her room with though she was not happy about it. Sanhuel had locked the door and refused to open it. Siphicul had threatened to break the door down, but it had been an empty threat. Sam slept with Stue and Siphicul took the couch. They slept peacefully.

Siphicul was the first up. It was morning and no one had woken him up. It took a second for him to realize what was wrong with that. He looked around the light room puzzled, and then it hit him. His mom had not woken him to send him to bed. He had been expecting that. She worked late, but she would have needed some where to sleep. She would have already left for work, but where had she slept. Siphicul didn't want to upset the others. He kept it to himself.

Sanhuel was still locked in his room. The phone kept ringing. Siphicul had answered it the first few times. It was always for Sanhuel. It rang again and he got up.

"Come on. Just leave it," Sarah sighed. The phone rang again.

"SANHUEL, GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE. THE PHONE'S FOR YOU," Stue screamed.

"I got it," Devon said. She jumped up and ran to the phone before any one could say any different. "Hello." They all listened carefully as Devon smiled listening. She nodded. "Yeah, well he sure is here, but he doesn't want to talk to you... I'm sure... Of coarse... yeah no problem... okay now see I don't really care... this is not my problem... no you listen... no... HEY... No that was uncalled for... oh no trust me you don't want to start nothing with me..."

"SANHUEL, YOU MIGHT WANT TO GET OUT HERE. SAM'S FRIEND IS ON THE PHONE WITH YOUR GIRLFRIEND AND IT DOESN'T SOUND GOOD," Stue yelled.

"No, I'm not the one with the 'won't stop calling some one who obviously doesn't want to talk to them' problem... What's your name.…? What to scared to tell me your name and back this up... Devon Rodgers... Well listen Brittany Murphy I got friends in some high places and," Sanhuel's door flew open and he came tearing out of the room. He snatched the phone from Devon and gave her a death glare.

"Hello, hello," Sanhuel gasped. "No it's me. No I'm sorry."

"Hey. It's snowing," Devon said. She peered out the window. "Oh and it's all fluffy. Come on lets go build a snowman." The rest of the morning was spent with Devon trying to convince every one else to come out side. She had no hope with Stue who left to work shortly after, and Siphicul who blatantly refused, but Sam, Sarah, and Sanhuel all eventually were talked into going outside.

They all started building a monster snowman, but quickly discovered that giant snowballs were incredibly heavy. Sanhuel was the first to give up on lifting them. Sarah built a ramp, but when rolling them up a snow ramp showed to be just as fruitful as lifting them, she joined Sanhuel. Sam and Devon tried cutting the snowballs in half to just move each half of them. Devon held one half in place on top of the first ball. Sam lifted up the second one and set it next to hers. They didn't stick. Devon started patting them together. Sam held his half in place. A snowball careened into the two halves. They fell to the ground and crumbled. Sam looked at all his wasted effort, and then another snowball plummeted towards him and hit him in the shoulder. Devon pulled him behind the giant base snowball of the snowman. Sarah and Sanhuel laughed manically from behind the wall them had constructed.

"They took all the good snow," Devon said. Sam looked around and found that most of the good snow had not been stolen by Sarah and Sanhuel, but had been used in the snowman.

"Why don't we use the snowman?" Sam asked. They were sitting in the crumbled remains of the middle ball.

"Great idea Sam. We sacrifice the shelter. They'll never see it coming," Devon said. She began hacking chunks off the back of the snowman with her miss-match mittens. She was wearing Siphicul's jacket. It was big on her and cam down to her knees. "Hurry up Sam."

Sarah and Sanhuel left their snow wall and carried as many snowballs as they could across the now dirty brown yard. They rounded the snowman and pummeled them. Devon and Sam had no chance. They threw what ever snow they could grab back up at them. It was an all out snow ball fight after that. There were no sides. Every one against every one, though Sanhuel did seem to hit Devon with a few more than the others.

Stue came home from work. Every one was inside warming up from their day in the snow. He noted the tracks in the snow with a sense of longing. He parked the car in the drive way and got out. He had barely made it halfway to the house when Siphicul came out the door. He had no jacket or shoes on and he ran quickly across the snow.

"Going for a quick run in the snow, Siph?" Stue asked.

"Get in the car," Siphicul said. He jumped in the passenger seat and shut the door. Stue sighed and headed back to the car. He got in. Siphicul looked serious, more than his tired passive look he had been exhibiting since he had gotten back. Stue was worried.

"Mom didn't come back last night," Siphicul said.

"What?"

"I didn't want to upset every one by bringing it up, but I slept on the couch and she never came back."

"Are you sure? I mean, maybe she just didn't want to wake you," Stue said.

"Maybe, but I don't know."

"What if something happened to her?"

"I know."

"Should we call the cops? Who calls the cops for a missing mother? What if she lost her memory like Sam? We have to call the cops."

"Yeah, I'll go do that," Siphicul said. They sat for a second in silence. Stue cursed and left Siphicul in the car. He went in the house.

Christmas break went by fast. The last few days were spent mostly with Sanhuel and Sarah trying to catch up on the homework they had been assigned. Sam wasn't going back. It was a basic understanding that if some one lost their memory they stopped showing up to school. Sam felt he still understood enough to be able to understand his classes, he helped Sarah with her homework, but it was not done. If you lost your memory you became a dependant on your family. Devon did her best to cheer him up. She didn't go to school either. Stue didn't bother with schoolwork.

"Aren't you going to start your homework," Sarah snapped. It was the night before school started again. Sarah and Sanhuel were spread out on the floor surrounded by books and papers. Stue was spread out on the couch. He had a text book lying uselessly on the floor next to him.

"Like I need to do homework," Stue said.

"You're smarter than this Stue," she said.

"My point exactly," he said, and turned the volume up on the TV.

The house was filled with the delicious smells of Siphicul cooking. He was making them all a big dinner before school started again. Devon had tried her best to help. Siphicul had become frustrated with her and had made Sam come and entertain her. This was not one of Sam's specialties. They both sat at the table and stared fixedly as Siphicul pulled a large roast out of the over. He placed it on top of the stove.

"That looks so good," Devon mumbled. Sam could feel his own mouth watering. "Is it done?"

"Almost," Siphicul said.

"I don't know if I can wait."

"Go get the others."

Sam jumped up and headed into the other room. Devon stayed and stared at the food.

"Food ready?" Stue asked.

"Yeah. Siphicul wants you all in the kitchen," Sam said. They had all jumped up and were in to the kitchen before Sam could even move all the way over. "What's this?"

"It's back to school dinner. We eat at the table for it," Sanhuel said. He had reached in to the cupboard and was passing out plates. They all heaped their plates full of the roast, rice and gravy, and the steamed vegetables. They sat down with their plates equally over flowing.

"Last one to clean their plate does dishes," Sarah yelled. They all dug in and seemed to almost inhale the food. Sam watched for a second before the possibility of dishes crossed his mind. He ate as fast as he could.

Sam was the last to finish, but after a large argument over what exactly qualified as a cleaned plate it was decided that Stue would be doing dishes. He complained as he scraped his un-wanted broccoli in to the garbage. No one listened.

"Sam," Sarah whispered. She shook him gently. Sam opened his eyes. Sarah was sitting on the edge of the bed. Sanhuel was gone.

"What time is it?" he mumbled.

"Like six."

"What are you doing?" Sam asked. He pulled the blanket over his head and rolled away.

"Listen Sam. I need to talk to you." Sam heard the urgency in her whisper. He lowered the blanket and rolled back over. "I woke up early to finish some homework and Mom wasn't here. I don't think she came home from work last night. Think about it Sam. When's the last time you seen Mom?"

"Christmas," Sam said after a little thought.

"Me too."

"Well, don't worry about it so much. I don't know. Talk to Siphicul." Sam could feel himself beginning to worry, though the tiredness seemed to over ride it. Sarah left and Sam fell back to sleep.

Sam was never a big dreamer. He couldn't remember any of his old dreams, or if he even had any, but he hadn't dreamed since. He did now. It didn't feel like a normal dream, not like Sam had any to compare it to, but he knew it felt weird. He could feel the warm sun beating on the back of his neck and a cool breeze on his skin. It was a nice combination. Sam enjoyed the feeling.

"Come on Sammy. Please. I know you can do it," Sarah wined. She was younger maybe six or seven. They were standing in the middle of a parking lot. There was a line of garages to one side. Their green paint was faded and peeling in the sun. To the other side was a line of grass then the broad flat brick face of an apartment building. Decks jutted up from the flat surface in rows leading up. Their green paint matched the garages. Sarah pouted and brandished the rope in one hand. "Please."

"You know you really want to. It's not that hard," said Devon. Sam turned to her a little surprised that she was there. She smiled her bright smile. She was just as young as Sarah and, as he looked down he realized, himself. She jumped off the hood the old beat up car parked in the lot. The metal creaked with the release of her weight.

"I don't want to. It's for girls," Sam said. He crossed his arms and shook his head stubbornly.

"No it's not. Stue was only saying that 'cause he can't do it," Sarah said. "Come on Sam no one else will play with me."

Devon walked behind Sam. He didn't pay any attention to her.

"Where's Tia," he asked.

"She had to go to the doctor today," Sarah said. "Come on. If you do today you won't have to play tomorrow."

"You know that's a good deal," Devon said from behind him.

"Fine, but don't tell Stue," Sam said.

"Kay. I won't,"

Sam woke up to find the house surprisingly quiet. He crawled out of bed and walked into the living room. Devon was sitting on the floor eating a bowl of cereal. She was watching the news.

"Where is every one?" Sam asked.

"Well, Sarah and Sanhuel and Stue went to school, and Siphicul went . . . out. I don't remember where. Yeah, I think it might have been to find a job. I mean it's about time he got another one. No offence or anything, but he needs one. I feel bad for Stue, working for the both of them," Devon. She turned back to the news and spooned more cereal into her mouth.

"Mom works," Sam said. Devon turned back to him. She gave him an apologetic look. Sam chose to ignore it and went into the kitchen to get himself some cereal.

Sam hated the news, but it seemed exactly what Devon wanted to watch. She wouldn't even flip through the channels during a commercial. Sam finished his cereal and set the bowl on the floor. Now he had nothing to do, but watch.

It was a commercial for cold soar Chap Stick. It was called Herpecin. Sam really wondered would buy a chap stick caller Herpecin. That just sounded bad. Devon seemed to be thinking the same thing as she started laughing.

"I wouldn't even want to be in that commercial," she said. "You know there's some commercials for stuff and I really wonder how much they pay the actors to be in them. I wonder about the people who actually agree to do them. I bet they're in a serious relationship because other wise they would never find some one after that. They'd always be like 'aren't you that person with herpes on your lip.' I bet they don't get paid nearly enough for that. Every body sees this; I mean who doesn't watch TV."

Sam didn't respond. He had found that Devon talked a lot; she more just said what she thought as she thought it. This meant he could usually get away with out answering. The news was back on and that wasn't any better. It was an on the scene story. The reporter was on the corner of some street. It was nice and sunny and the people walking by were dressed in all different clothes. Some where in jackets and others in sweaters. One person even walked by in a pair of shorts. He looked out of place with the snow drift behind him.

"The first warm day of the year had every one outside. With temperatures up in the low 50's people are throwing out their winter jackets and getting ready for an early spring. It seems such a sharp contrast to the cold front we have been having," the reporter said. She smiled to the camera. "Of coarse some people have taken this to the extreme and Care Time News in the morning is here to warn our viewers that it may feel warmer than it actually is. Please remember to dress appropriately so you may best enjoy this weather. This Susan Breeze reporting from right in front of the studio, telling you all to go out side and enjoy your weather."

"Thank you Susan," said a man sitting behind a large wood table. They had switched back to the regular news room. "For our next story. . ."

"It's warm out?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. Real warm. All the snows melting and running in the streets. It's like one giant puddle out there. I seen more joggers today then all last year," Devon said. "I think every one is crazy about the warm after it being cold so long. I'd rather have the cold; all the puddles and dead grass are ugly and the suns so bright it almost blinds you. Every one better hope it doesn't get warm tomorrow or the world will be one giant frozen ball of ice. Ha! Try jogging then. I always though joggers were insecure. I wouldn't run if I thought I was fat. I would just sit. I feel like running would make all that fat jiggle. You got any plans today Sammy?"

"No," Sam said.

"Good, 'cause now that they're all gone you can help me."

"How?" Sam asked. He was a little suspicious. He could only imagine what Devon had planned.

"Well, you know how I got that message I got to deliver, and there's some one who I was supposed to give their memories back to. Well, I been putting it off, but seein' as we got nothing else to do today, it might be a good idea," Devon said.

"You put off giving some one back their memories."

"Well, yeah."

"That's terrible."

"Hey, at least they're getting them back. I'm doing them a favor. It's not like I'm keeping them for myself. I'm just holding on to them for a little bit. Maybe I had a hard time finding them or something. It happens. Trust me they'll be so thankful they won't even mind about the couple days."

"So you have the memories?"

"Yep. They just pop into my head some times. Then I figure out who they belong to and go deliver them. It's really easy. I usually just look for when they're filling something out to get the name then go for when they're looking in the mirror to get the look, so I don't go for the wrong person."

"You can look through they're memories?"

"Of course. I have them, and how else would I know who they belong to."

"Don't you feel like that's an invasion of their privacy?"

"Like I said, I don't think they'll mind. It's a small price to pay for getting them back. Besides, what am I going to do with them?" Devon got up and wandered into the kitchen. "Where's the phone book?"

"I don't know," Sam said. There was a lot of banging and moving around, and then Devon came back out with the large white book in her hands. She sat down next to Sam and opened it up.

"We're looking for Rwanda Applegater."

"How do you know she's even in here?" Sam asked. Devon shoved half the book on his lap.

"'Cause I only get ones that are close to me. I've never gotten one that was far away, so I'm assuming that she's in here. I got no guarantee that they'll always be like that. It's just the way it's always gone, and I know for this one. I seen her before, just not sure where. I'm sure it was around here, 'cause I think it was more resent." Devon flipped pages until she got to the AP's. She trailed her finger down the page. "Okay. Never mind. I found them. There's only two. That's nice." Devon grabbed the book and headed to the kitchen.

A couple hours later they were heading down the street with buss pass in hand. They didn't need jackets as it was amazingly nice out. Devon had insisted on wearing caprice and Sam quickly found out why as the bottom of his pants were soaked before the end of the block. Sarah's caprice were long on Devon and almost made pants. She had rolled them up to her knees.

"Where are we going?" Sam asked. Devon had called both numbers and both had denied knowing a Rwanda.

"Well. I like calling, 'cause I don't like going through memories that much, it's confusing and weird feeling, so I just get the name and call, but I mean I can look and find their home. Most people know their own address, but I have a lot of them and I think she lived alone. So, most people tend to go some where, familiar. They go where they feel safe, even if they don't remember it. She was pretty religious and I see a lot of this church, so I say our best bet is The Lord's Flock," Devon said.

It took longer then Devon had thought. The buss had stopped a couple blocks and they had actually walked past it twice. They spent hour walking in circles before Devon finally looked back into the memory and realized that it was a house. They back tracked looking carefully at all the houses.

"She hasn't been here since she was little, so I can't really tell and all these houses kinda fit. They all got the same shape. Hey," Devon said. Sam ran over to her. She stood in front of a two level older looking house. The foundation was beginning to sink and it gave it a lopsided look. There was a large over hand and vines that seemed to cascade off it on one side. Devon smiled. There was a small sign next to the dive way that said 'The Lord's Flock' in faded white paint. Sam wondered if the church was still open. There was one old Volkswagen with wood panels on the side. It looked well taken cared for. The lights were all on in the house.

Devon marched right up to the front door and knocked. Sam felt a little out of place and hovered behind her. Devon knocked again. An elderly looking man opened the door. It took him a second, but he managed to get the door all the way open. Devon held the screen door behind her.

"May I help you? Services are only held on Sundays," he said.

"Yes you can. Have you seen a Rwanda Applegator recently?" Devon asked.

"Why no. I can't say that I have. I haven't seen little Wanda in many years. My that name brings back memories. She started our whole choir. No she went here as a child, but I haven't seen her since she married, oh maybe, forty years ago. What do you want with Wanda?" he asked.

"I just need to talk with her about something. Do you know where she might live now, or a number I could call?" Devon asked.

"I'm sorry. We haven't kept in touch. It's one of my greatest regrets. You could always recognize Wanda by her voice. She sung so loud and clear, no one could match her. If you find her, you give her my regards?"

"I'll be sure to do that and thank you for your time," Devon said. She backed up and let the screen door bang shut. She kept the smile on until the man had shut the front door and they were back in the street.

"I hate it when that happens. I don't know her last address. I can't get it and I don't like to long. You know it's your memory's that make you a lot of who you are. If I spend to much time looking I start to forget my own. I can't keep these much longer. I need to find her. Slap me if you hear me start singing, Sam," Devon said as they got onto the bus.

"What does Rwanda look like?" Sam asked. Devon wasn't looking. She stared out the window for awhile, and then turned back to Sam.

"Are you sad about not being able to go to school no more?" Devon asked.

"Not really. I don't remember anything about school, so I guess it's hard to miss when I don't know," he said.

"I miss it sometimes. It was nice, getting to see every one. I mean where else does every one your age get together. I had to come here, 'cause it was some where, where no one would recognize me. I don't know any one here form before. I miss them some times. You know I never had a Dad either. Well I did, every one has to have a Dad, but mine died when I was a baby, so I never had one. My mom died when I was little too. I don't miss them 'cause I don't remember them. I grew up in a group home and I miss the kids there, even the one's I didn't like. I wonder if it might be better not to remember."

They reached the house and the car was back in the driveway. It was still to early for every one to be back from school yet. The house still had that empty look.

Siphicul was sprawled out on the couch when they got in. The TV was off and the house was oddly quiet. He sat up when he saw them come in.

"Where have you been?" he asked.

"We just went for a walk," Devon said. The answer hung in the air. Siphicul looked between them.

"We really did," Sam said.

"Fine," Siphicul said. "Just be careful. Okay."

"Don't worry. I'll make sure to keep Sam out of trouble. I'm a great influence. I baby sat once before and the people said that I was the best babysitter they ever had. I didn't break anything and I kept the kids out of trouble the whole time, of coarse I'm not big on kids. They practically begged me to come back, but I just wanted to see what it was like, and trust me little kids are so not worth the money parents are willing to spend on them. Parents are cheap-skates. I think you should pay some one a lot for watching your kids, I mean how important are they to you. Definitely more than five dollars an hour. That's less than minimum wage," Devon said.

"So where have you been?" Sam asked.

"I applied for some jobs."

"Really. Do you think you got any? Where?" Devon asked. They came into the living room and made themselves comfortable.

"I don't know. I'm not sure. I have to wait for them to call me back," Siphicul said.

That night Sam dreamed again. He was back at the apartment building. This time in the grass on the side of the building. He was staring at one of the doors. It was an apartment on the ground level. The sliding door led out to a little cement square that was actually in the ground. Two steps led up to the grass where Sam stood. He was little again. The sliding door was open and gnats buzzed around in his eyes. Sam held his hand as high as he could in the air to try and attract them away from his face.

"Hurry up Charlie," Sam yelled.

"Okay. Sanny wants to come. Your mom said we have to bring him," came a child's voice from inside the apartment. He came running out with one shoe on and another in his hand. He had a net stuck under his arm. He stopped and tried to get the other shoes on. He dropped the net and picked it up, shoving it back under his arm. He went back to getting his shoe on and the net fell again. He seemed determined to put the shoe on and hold the net at the same time.

The little boy had a sandy blond almost red hair. He looked a year older than Sam. His eyes were black and his clothes looked a little too big. He bent to pick up the net, but a smaller boy came running out. He grabbed the net laughing manically. He looked maybe four, possibly a little older. He ran up the two stairs out of the older boys reach.

"I got net. I got net," he chanted. His words were unclear and broken by his laughter.

"You can't come if you don't give me back my net. I had it first," said the boy. He put his hands on his hips. He had given up on getting the shoe on and removed the other. He stood barefoot.

"Just let him have the net, Charlie," Siphicul said. He shut the screen door and pressed his forehead to it. The bottom corner was already ripped. He still looked like the Siphicul Sam remembered just so much younger. He was short and his hair was a messy mop on top of his head. He looked like a typical ten year old.

"You sure you don't want to come, Siph?" Charlie asked.

"No. I got lots of homework to do." Siphicul turned and walked back into the house.

"You better give me my net back when we get there, Sanhuel or I won't play with you any more," Charlie said as he walked up the stairs. Sanhuel stuck his tongue out and clutched the net to his chest.

"Come on Sanny," Sam said. Sanhuel turned and hopped after him. Charlie walked fast and Sam had a hard time keeping up and not running, eventually he gave up and ran all the way around the buildings. Charlie passed him up and he ran faster.

"Wait for me," Sanhuel yelled as he chased after them.

Charlie stopped at the edge of a large chunk of grass in the middle of four apartment buildings. The middle of the grass was sunken in and filled with water. The grass was squishy to walk on and mud bubbled up between their toes. Sanhuel came panting up behind them still clutching the net.

"I don't see no frogs," Sam said.

"Stue said he got one yesterday," Charlie said.

"Stue was grounded yesterday."

"Oow, I'm telling Mom," Sanhuel said.

"You better not, or he'll know it was me that told you. That's why no one tells you anything Sanhuel, 'cause you always go and tell your mom. You're such a little tattle tale," Charlie said.

"I am not," Sanhuel screamed.

"Yeah Charlie. He won't tell if you tell him not to," Sam said.

"He better not." Charlie grabbed the net from Sanhuel and headed towards the giant puddle. Sanhuel ran after him yelling about the net. The gnats were even worse here.

"Sam get up," Sarah said. Sam opened his eyes and looked at her. She looked at tired as he felt. He could hear Sanhuel still sleeping next to him.

"What time is it?" he slurred.

"Five, but that's not important. Mom never came home. I stayed up and checked today. She never came home. Sam, I'm worried."

"Yeah," Sam said. He sat up and tried to rub some of the sleep from his eyes. He looked over at Sanhuel.

"Don't worry. He's a heavy sleeper. It's takes for ever to wake him up. What if something really did happen to her?"

"I don't know."

"Sam we have to do something."

"What? It's five in the morning. What are we going to do?"

"She's our mother," Sarah said. Sam could see tears start to shine in her tired eyes. "I know you don't remember, but she's our mother and she loves us and she'd never leave. Something had to happen."

"Did you tell Siphicul?"

"No I wanted to make sure first."

"Then talk to him. Maybe she told him she was going to work late."

"Late! Sam, she never came home, at all. Late would be a couple hours, not all night!" A tear slipped over now and fell down her cheek.

"Okay, but there's nothing we can do now."

"Fine," she choked. Her voice broke as she said it. She turned and left the room. Sam yawned and lay back down. He couldn't sleep this time. He kept thinking if the reason he didn't care was because he couldn't remember her. The thought plagued him that he didn't love his mother. He couldn't bring himself to worry that much. He had seen the caring in her eyes at the thought of losing her mother and that was his mother too, but he couldn't bring the same emotions upon himself. He felt . . . empty.

Sam was still awake when Sanhuel got up. He hears him and Sarah getting ready for school. He heard them leave. He rolled over and tossed and turned in the bed. He couldn't sleep. He heard Siphicul or Stue get up. He hadn't heard Stue leave to school so he wasn't sure which. Sam got up and wandered out into the kitchen after them.

It was Siphicul. He sat at the table with his head in his hands. He looked tired.

"Has Sarah talked to you?" Sam asked.

Siphicul jumped at the sudden noise. He looked to Sam and sighed.

"You mean today? No," Siphicul said. He got up and started the coffee maker. He filled the pot with water and poured it into the top. "Why?"

"She wanted to talk to you about something."

"What?"

"She says Mom hasn't been home in a few days."

"Yeah." Siphicul kept his back to him.

"Is she okay?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean, she's really gone . . . and you knew?" Sam felt his voice rise slightly.

"I don't know. She didn't come home one day. I called the police, but they said that they're getting a lot of calls like that and they're doing every thing they can. A lot of people are disappearing now and they have more than they can handle."

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"I didn't want to bother you guys."

"She's our mother too."

Devon entered the room. They immediately stopped arguing and looked at her. She smiled, slightly.

"I can just leave. You know. I mean I'm really tired." She gave a quick fake yawn. "Yeah. I can just go back to bed. I'm just gunna leave. Yup, um . . . good morning. I hope." She backed out of the kitchen. Sam turned around and followed her. He didn't want to talk to Siphicul any more.

Devon had stopped just on the other side of the living room. She jumped at the sight of Sam.

"I swear I wasn't trying to listen," she said.

"I don't care."

"I'm sorry about your mom, Sam."

Siphicul left again that day and Stue went to work. They must have both taken the bus because the car sat un-used in the driveway. The day was slightly colder then the one before, but not cold enough to cover everything in ice. The world was still soggy and wet, though the breeze had a sharp bite to it. Sam and Devon sat on the porch.

"Don't you think you should keep looking for Rwanda?" Sam asked. He leaned back against the step behind him. The sky was a boring slate grey. He couldn't even tell where the sun was. He wondered how it could still be so bright.

"I don't know how. I think I'll run into her. She has to be some where around. I'm not worried about it. It'll happen when it happens. I don't want to keep going through her memories, even if I find something she won't have the memory to know where it is, so there's no point. The church thing was my best bet. I tried," Devon said.

"That's selfish."

"I ain't no saint. I never said I was. I didn't choose to do this. Give me some motivation and I'll pick up the pace a little."

"Don't you feel bad for the people?"

"Nope."

"You have to. Don't you ever think about what it would be like to be them?"

"Nope. Not the most pleasant thoughts. I'm not trying to depress myself. Besides, what would it solve thinking about stuff like that? Nothing. Waist of my time."

"Oh, yeah, 'cause you're really doing something with it now."

"Wow, Sam. I think that's the first time I've heard you be sarcastic. I feel so special. So, you want to do something productive, make a difference. You want to become a little crusader, maybe a martyr if your lucky?"

"I don't know."

"Well I don't. I'm not sacrificing myself for some stupid reason. No way, I mean I'll do, but it better not cost me much. I enjoy my life, thank you very much. I plan on living this one the way I want, and enjoying it. I'll try, 'cause, I mean I owe that much, but I'm trying too hard."

"Don't you feel like you have to? You were giving a second chance for that reason."

"It's not my fault I got picked. I mean, I would of never picked me. I'm not exactly the greatest candidate. If it were me I would of kept me and sent the other guy back. I'm sure he's more loyal and stuff."

"Why'd you try and help him? What did you get out of it?"

"Ta, this. I got this. You can see why I'm a little reluctant to help people now." Devon laughed. Sam didn't find it as funny.

"Maybe you'd be a little happier if your life had a purpose?"

"Oh, it's got purpose now. Plenty of purpose, I'm practically oozing purpose. I think it's be better if I got to choose my own. You have more feeling if you pick your own. I mean this really took all the fun out of it."

"If you could do what ever you wanted, what would it be?"

"Well, I guess . . . I actually never thought about it. I don't know. What about you?"

"I would be going to school."

"Why, school sucks. It's not that great. You have to ask to do anything. There's no choice at all. You'd think it'd be great 'cause it should be, but it's so over rated. School's for nerds. Don't go nerd on me Sam. It's me and you."

"You need school for everything."

"Not for long. Like I said, every ones going to forget every thing soon. School will be a thing of the past. Don't worry. Futures are about to change."

"Yeah." Sam sat up a little. He could see a group of three guys walking up the street. They looked about his age. He wondered why they weren't in school.

The group made their way up the street. Devon was watching them now too. A tall one led them. The others seemed a little more hesitant. When they got close enough the tall one raised his hand and waved to them. Devon smiled and waved back.

"You know them?" Sam whispered. The group made a bee line across the street and onto the front lawn.

"Nope," Devon said. "You probably do, or did. I bet you five bucks they're here to see you."

"Sam. How you been we haven't seen you in for ever," the tall one said. He stopped in the yard. He smiled a big broad smile. He looked overly friendly and the other two slowly moved to either side of him. They looked nothing, but sympathetic. The black one gave a half smile. He was surprisingly short and his puffy coat gave him the look of a giant brown marshmallow.

"Yeah," Sam said.

"Yeah Sarah told us about what happened. Bummer man." said the marshmallow.

"Aw, Sam, look you have friends. I was starting to worry you didn't have any. I was telling myself maybe you were just way into your family or something. I mean you and Sarah seem close. And, hey, three of them. I'm impressed," Devon said. Sam couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not. They looked at her. "Oh, I'm Devon Rodgers. Devon Robin Rodgers, if you want the full name. DRR. I always wanted DDR so then I'd just call myself DDR and be like yeah 'cause I'm a dance dance revolution." Devon looked totally serious. The marshmallow guy started laughing. He doubled over in laughter. The other two couldn't help, but smile. The marshmallow finally straightened up. He wiped the tears form his eyes.

"You so have to use that one," he managed. He punched the arm of the tall one as he said.

"Shut up," the tall one mumbled.

"No. No, man. You really gotta. The chicks will really dig that. They'll be all over you."

"You don't remember us at all, Sam," the third one said. "I'm Stan, Stan Silver. We met in second grade. We've been friends for forever?"

"Coarse not. He's got the forgetting thing. He don't remember nothing. You guys should know that. Who doesn't know that," Devon said.

"Yeah, but maybe he don't got it that bad," said the third one again.

"I don't remember you," Sam said.

"Wow. Way to be blunt, Sam. You could have let them down slowly. I mean they're obviously delusional. You just go right for the heart. No use poking the chest when you can just rip the heart out."

"Who are you?" the tall one asked.

"I told you. Devon. Devon Rodgers. Wow, not only are you delusional, but also pretty forgetful. You sure Sam's the only one with the memory loss? I mean I told you my name, like what, three seconds ago and you already forgotten. Sad, sad, but I guess it's not your fault, I mean."

"Devon," Sam interrupted. Devon turned to him and smiled indolently. "What are your names?"

"You really don't remember us," said marshmallow. "Damn. Drew almost had us talked into it too. I'm Jerome. Jerome Jackson. We met in like seventh grade, I think. Any way, man, it was some where in middle school. We totally hated each other until high school. We were both pretty much asses before that. I put gum in Shelly's hair and blamed it on you and she punched you out. Not coming back to you? Nothing?"

Sam shook his head.

"Thought I'd try."

"I'm Drew," said the tall one.

"Shouldn't you all be in school? I mean, you sure don't look old enough for you to be out and I'm pretty sure there's school today. I really doubt this is a field trip," Devon said.

"Where the fuck did you find her?" Stan asked.

"We came to see you and try and get your memories back," Drew said, ignoring Stan. Too bad Devon didn't.

"Where the fuck did they find you or are you just one of them annoying things that follows you around and never seems to get the hint that they smell so bad no one can stand being near them. You know them pathetic dogs that you kick, but they just keep coming back?"

Stan looked in shock for a second. He looked form Sam to Devon. Sam seemed to just be ignoring her. "Who is she?" This time he asked Sam.

"Wow. This world is just full of question repeaters. I swear, around you guys, I just gunna spend the rest of my life repeating myself. It's like a curse. Please, send me some one who only asks a question once or at least listens when I talk. I MIGHT BE SAYING SOMETHING IMPORTANT." They had all taken the hint from Sam and started ignoring her. Devon stared at them all for a second. "Fine." She stood up and went into the house.

"Who was she?" Stan asked again. Sam couldn't help, but smile a little.

"Devon. I met her at the grocery store. She's just a friend," Sam said.

"Like just just a friend."

"Yeah."

"So you wouldn't get all pissed if I bitched her out, 'cause she was asking for it."

"No."

"Good."

"You got the car?" Drew asked. Sam saw identical grins spread across all their faces.

"I don't remember how to drive," Sam said.

"Yeah. Probably 'cause you never knew . . . but since when did that ever stop us," Jerome said. He had started inching towards the car.

"But Sarah knows," Sam said.

"Yeah, man, we gotta get you caught back up," Drew said.

"I don't think we should take the car," Sam said.

"Come on. Don't wimp out on us," Jerome said.

"No. I can't."

"You're luck that you got the whole memory loss thing. We're going to go easy on you, but next time," Drew said. Stan and Jerome looked disappointed. They walked over and sat on the porch with him.

They spent the rest of the afternoon talking about old times. They filled Sam in on all of the old adventurers they had had and all the crazy things they had talked each other into. They stayed out on the porch and talked the whole time. Sam actually lost track of time. At first he had felt out of place. The others didn't notice and they included him, they didn't treat him any different, and soon Sam found his place in the group.

Sarah came walking up the street and Sam was surprised to realize that school was already over.

"Hi Sarah," Drew said.

"Hey guys. Missed you all in school today, I figured this is where you went," Sarah said. She smiled. "And I thought Sam was rid of your guys's bad influence."

"We're just trying to help a friend out in his hard time," Jerome said.

"Sure, just don't get him into any trouble," Sarah said and she continued into the house.

"Drew dated you sister," Stan blurted. Drew glared at him. Sam looked at Drew, he liked him, but he didn't like that.

"Why do you gotta bring stuff like that up," Drew said.

"She broke up with him and he was crushed and he still likes her," Stan said.

"He's just using you to get to your sister, man," Jerome added. He threw an arm around Sam's shoulders.

"You guys are so immature."

The talked for a while longer, but eventually they had to go. Sam found he wasn't that sad to see them leave. He knew that no matter what they would be coming back. He went back into the house. He walked in the front door. Devon was sitting on the couch eating an apple. She took a large bite.

"They coming back tomorrow?" she asked through the mouth full. "'Cause I been thinking about what you said and maybe I could do a little more. I mean I used to do more, before, and I have been slacking lately. I could pick it up a little; maybe spread a little message around. I don't know, thought you might want to come and nag me on. I'm not going by myself."

"Where?" Sam asked. Sarah walked out of the bathroom and Devon grew silent.

"Where you guys talking about me?" she asked.

"You know what? I can honestly say we weren't and I can also that being honest is not all it's cracked up to be. Oh telling the truth is supposed to be like some big relief. I didn't feel no different. Talking is talking is what I say. It's what you feel behind that tips people off. The key to lying is believing it yourself, but I'm so not lying now, besides what would we be talking about you about?"

"I don't know," Sarah said. "It something I can't hear then?" She pulled her feet up on the couch with her.

"You went out with Drew?" Sam asked. Sarah looked surprised by the question.

"Yeah," she said. She got up and went into the kitchen.

"Hmm. I could see them together. They would make a pretty good couple. He's taller than her. That's always a good thing. You know I always think that the guy should be taller than the girl. It looks better. It might just be that I'm shallow, but people that deny it are just lying to themselves. You can't tell when they say it 'cause they actually believe it themselves. It goes with my whole lying thing," Devon said.

Sam dreamed again that night. He wondered if he was staring to form a pattern. His life seemed to be falling into a pattern. He felt like he actually knew the people around him and the places. He was finding familiarity again.

He was sitting in a room. The TV was droning on if front of him, but he wasn't paying any attention. Sarah was walking across the top of the couch. All the cushions had been leaned against the back like a slide to the bottom then a sharp drop to the ground. A young Sarah held an oversized plastic bat in her hands. It was bright orange and the glow reflected on her already flushed face.

Charlie pulled his arm back and threw a rather ragged looking pink elephant stuffed animal at her as hard as he could. Sarah bent low with the plastic bat and hit it. It died on the bat and rolled down the slide. She smiled at Charlie.

"Her hand touched the couch. Her hand touched the couch," Charlie yelled.

"I did not," Sarah yelled back. They both turned to Sam.

"I didn't see," Sam said

"That's 'cause her hair was blocking it. Her hand touched. I seen it." Sarah's hair was amazingly long and thinner looking. It hung down and ended right at the small of her back.

"Redo," Sam said.

"Okay, but you gotta watch this time," Charlie said. He ran forward and grabbed the elephant again. Sarah took a few steps back.

"That's not where you were standing before," Sarah yelled. Charlie backed up a little further.

"Move over so you can see." Sam stood up. He moved over and bumped the Sega Genesis Stue was playing.

"You froze my game," He cried. He crawled forward and yanked the cartridge out. He blew in the bottom of the Sonic game then shoved it back in. "You better hope it works this time." He flipped the switch and the familiar music filled the house again.

"Did you hear something?" Sarah asked. She sat down on the top of the couch. She cocked her head to one side.

"Turn the game off," Charlie said.

"No. I just got it started and I need to work my way back up again. I was getting a high score too," Stue said, but he turned the game off. They listened. It was faint, but they all heard it.

Sam woke up. His heart was raising and he couldn't understand why. He remembered his dream, but it was just simple and boring. There was no need for his heart to be racing like this. He shook to try and clear it. He buried his face in the soft fluffy pillow and fell back to sleep.

"Come on Sam. Rise and shine. It is time to get up. We got a mission today. You wanted action and I'm gunna deliver some action. Come on lets go, the ones you can get to believe you are usually the first ones up. I don't want to deal with the afternoon crowd so you need to get up now," Devon said.

"I'm up," Sam mumbled. He crinkled his eyes shut and pulled the pillow over his head.

"Really. I had no idea, you look like your still sleeping to me, I mean you are still lying in a bed with you eyes closed." Sam felt pressure on the bed, and then Devon began to jump. "I mean that says sleeping to me."

"I'm up." She jumped higher on the bed.

"Really. I can't tell." Sam grabbed the pillow and sat up. He hit Devon with it. He caught her by surprise and she tumbled of the bed, half of the blanket pulled of with her.

"How about now?" Sam asked.

"That was so not nice. I was just trying to get you up so we wouldn't be late," Devon said as she pulled herself back up onto the bed, her hair slightly messier than before. "See if I ever wake you up again."

"Good," Sam yawned.

"I feel so un-appreciated."

"Where are we going?"

"I don't know. Where do you think a lot of people will be around now? I was trying to think about it all night. The best I got is them big buss stops for all them people who work down town. People get angry if you waste their time, but if they're already waiting for the bus . . . we'd be fine."

"Sounds good. You done this a lot before?"

"Yep. I used to have to do it all the time, but since Paul died no ones been making me. I can just do what I want now, though I don't know how much better that is. Turns out I'm a little lazy."

"Who's Paul?"

"Father Paul. The guy who dug me up. Come on you don't think I got myself out of that coffin. I was freakin' out enough as it is. He traveled with me and helped me 'spread my message'. I had to of mentioned him before. He got me all started and was in charge of me."

"What happened to him?"

"He died I said."

"How?"

"I don't know he just died. There's no need to keep thinking about it. We're running late. Let's just go. I want to get there soon. You sure you want to do this Sam? You get the whole crazy title after you go ranting about the end of the world."

"Yeah."

"Okay. Lets go."

Sam and Devon left. Siphicul was home this time. Devon talked to him about them leaving and got him to agree to let them go. Sam didn't even want to know what she had told him. The day was chilly, but not to bad. The sun was out and the air was crisp and clean feeling. It made his eyes feel dry and he blinked a couple times before getting used to it. Devon didn't seem to mind. She did a slow motion skipping all the way to the bus stop. They waited for the bus that went a couple cities over to where Siphicul told them a large buss station was. He was right.

Sam and Devon got off the buss in Dedril. It was a fairly large city. It had it's own mall and just on the border of the mall was the buss stop. There were two rows of three large buildings to shelter the people form the weather while they waited. Groups were huddled inside of them. A couple people held umbrellas. Sam wondered if it was supposed to rain later. He thought it was still to cold for rain. People paced back and forth outside. A young man dressed in a tie and white button down shirt tapped his foot as he looked through a large fold out map he held.

"Do any of you know any one who has lost their memory?" Devon asked in an overly loud voice. The people outside all their turned their heads to her. Sam watched as she looked each one of them in the eyes. "Did you ever wonder why? I have a massage, or more a warning, to all of you. The loss of memory is a sign. It is not some random problem that will fix it's self. It's the result of a deeper problem. It is an obvious result meant to open your eyes because there is still hope for each of you. Time is not over yet." Some people were giving her strange looks and some had backed away, but a lot of them looked interested. A woman had even got up and pulled her iPod from one of her ears. "We have fallen, all of us together. We have forgotten what is truly important. We must each look inside of our selves and find what it is we have lost. We need to reform this world and come together, because it is only by working together that we may achieve true restoration. I say time has not run out, but it will and it will all to quickly if we don't act now. It is not a matter of some one else will or I can tomorrow, because tomorrow is not a promise. No one can look inside of you, but yourself. We can achieve nothing if every one does not work together. Please listen to me and head my words. Take the sign that have been given to you. Do not let these people suffer in vain. Open your eyes and allow yourself to see the truth. There is still hope for us. We still have a chance. Please take it."

There was silence. People had come out to listen and they all stood amazed. Sam couldn't tell if they believed her or not, but he saw them starting to think. None of them took their eyes of Devon as she spoke, and she didn't seem to mind. Devon met their gaze strong. He was amazed by her.

A buss pulled up and broke their trance. People shuffled around trying to remember if this was the bus they were waiting for. It took longer than usual to board and pull away. The crown was significantly smaller now. It was less than a third the size it had been and they people seemed less interested now. A biting wind picked up and they all huddled into the shelters. Only Sam and Devon remained in the wind.

"Let's go to the mall," Devon said over the wind. It was starting to howl now.

"Where did you learn to give a speech?" Sam asked as he started walking towards the mall. The parking lot was almost totally deserted.

"Oh, Paul wrote it, or something like it. It always comes out a little different each time. I thought this one was pretty good. They seemed to be listening, didn't get as many crazy stares as usual and no arguments. Sometimes these crazy people come up and start yelling about how I'm a liar. I was scared we might run into one of them, but this was a good spot. I think we got through to a few of them."

"You don't believe it."

"Huh?"

"Do you believe what your saying yourself?"

"Not really. I'm not for the whole, pull together thing. I guess I believe most of it, 'cause I got a lot of proof, but I don't really think there's hope for every one. No one's going to do anything. I kinda think the whole telling people thing is pointless. They're just going to go on with their lives and keep doing what they were doing. It's easier to forget than change."

"You can tell. I bet if you believed what you were saying you could get every one of those people to believe you. You had them, but you didn't have the thing, you know, that would make them believe, and I think it was 'cause you could tell you didn't believe it yourself."

"I didn't hear you helping any, and any way there's not much I can do about. I'm not changing what I believe and if they wanted some one with more conviction then they shouldn't have picked me. You can do it next time if you want."

"Why do you think they picked you?" They reached the door and Sam pulled. "It's locked. They don't open until 10:00." Devon read the paper and rolled her eyes. She sat down on the curb.

"I don't feel like going home. I wish we could drive," she said.

"Yeah. I never learned."

"Yeah, well I was never exactly in a position to get my license. I mean the whole dying thing really screwed it all up. I have no idea why they picked me. I have no talent what so ever that even slightly does anything good. I think they were just dumping an unwanted task off on me 'cause it was easy and they didn't know what else to do with me. I don't think they'd trust me with a real important job so I don't think what I do matters that much in the big scheme of things. I don't worry about it."

"It matters to the people you help."

"Oh great. Why don't you give me a big useless meddle or something." Devon stood up. "Let's just walk around for a while. I don't feel like just sitting here. We can just walk around and look at stuff. It's not like we have anything better to do, I mean maybe we can find something constructive or what ever." She held out her hand and helped Sam up. "I want a cell phone."

"Who would you call?"

"I got people to call . . . or at, well. Okay way to bring me down Sam, just crush my dreams.

"Getting a cell phone was your dream?"

"Yes it was, and it was a very good dream. I like to pick possible ones, you know, stuff I can actually get. Some one told me one time that your supposed to pick dreams you can't get and that's what makes them dreams, but that's stupid. If I know I can't get it, I'm not going to dream about it. That's like rubbing the fact in that you can't have it. One day I actually will have a cell phone and a computer too."

"How are you going to pay the bill?" They left the mall parking lot and stopped at the side of the street waiting for cars. Devon ran across at a break in the traffic. Sam ran after her. They paused at the middle waiting for the traffic heading the other direction.

"I could get a job, easy. It's not like it's that hard. Quit picking on my dreams." She darted across the rest of the way.

"No you can't."

"Of coarse I can. I have a very good work ethic, and I am very charismatic." He looked at her skeptically. "When I want to be. No one can be wonderful all the time. I think I could get a job easy. No problem, I just don't feel like it and that's why I don't have one."

"You don't have a valid social security number. You can't get a job."

"Oh, I forgot about that. So I can't have a valid job. You know I had one before, when I was with Paul. He said we needed to get some jobs. I painted the inside of houses. They didn't even care if I did a good job. No tape or nothing, just slap the paint on the walls and don't drip on the floor. That was the thing, don't drip on the floor. I didn't need a social security number for that job, I think it was more 'cause they paid under minimum wage, but it was still a job. It counts. Besides you can't get a job either."

"I know."

"We're sad. We could definitely be some awesome workers. I think any place would be lucky to have us working for them. It's their loss. So what can we do for money?"

They wandered around the rest of the day until they found themselves back at the bus stop. It was late after noon when they reached the house.

"So where have you guys been?" Sarah asked.

"We went to the mall, but it wasn't open yet so we went and walked around a while, or all day. Then we came home. It was pretty boring, nothing exciting happened, like a car crash or a parade or nothing," Devon said. "Where have you been?"

"School."

"Oh. How was that?"

Sam was not interested in that. His stomach growled as he went back into the kitchen. He was just really hungry. He took out a pan and started boiling water for macaroni and cheese. He opened the box and started to chew a few of the hard noodles while he waited. They really hadn't done anything. They walked all over, and now he just wanted to sit and rest and eat some food. He picked out another noodle and crunched on it. Sarah left Devon and came and sat in a chair next to him.

"She's so annoying," Sarah said.

"She's not that bad. Where'd she go anyways?"

"In OUR room. You don't have to share a room with her. She never sleeps. I think she's read every book in my room. When is she leaving?"

"I don't know."

"Not soon, huh? I should just get used to her?"

"She's not that bad."

"Say's you."

The weekend came and Sam was not at all surprised to see Drew, Jerome, and Stan show up. They were all in his kitchen when he woke up. He hadn't expected that. They were talking to Sarah and Devon.

"Wow, Sam, sleep in much?" Jerome said.

"When did you guys get here," Sam slurred. He was still half asleep.

"We've been waiting forever."

"They just got here," Sarah said.

"Good, then you can wait a little longer," Sam said. He grabbed a bowl and reached on top of the fridge to grab a bowl of cereal. "Why are you guys here?"

"What we can't just come to visit our best friend Sam?" Drew asked.

"No, and I know none of you guys are up this early with out a reason," Sarah said.

"What are you insinuating Sarah? It's not our fault Sam is just so easy to miss," Stan said. They all put on innocent faces and nodded.

"Fine, it's better if I don't know anything," she said and walked out of the room. They turned to Devon now.

"I'm not gunna tell," she said.

"She won't," Sam said and sat down with his cereal. The looked amongst each other and identical mischievous grins formed on all their faces.

"Just do it. It'll be great," Drew yelled. Sam didn't know how he had gotten talked into this. He knew this wasn't a good idea and he was a little worried that it had gone this far before he realized it. He had found out quickly that Devon was no help. She was worse than all of them. It was like she knew it was a bad idea so she tried to talk him into it more. He had to remember that about her.

"Fine," Sam yelled back. He tightened his grip on the shopping cart handle. Stan shifted his weight in the cart and grabbed the front.

"Ready," he yelled.

"Ready," Jerome yelled from his position in the other shopping cart down the parking lot isle. Drew leaned down behind the handles. He was smiling manically.

"Ready," he said.

"Okay. On your mark, get set," Devon was cut of.

"Drewen Daniel Richard what do you think your doing," a voice screeched out.

Mitch jumped off the rail of the cart drop off. He looked more nervous then all of them. Mitch had just got a job returning carts for the grocery store, and being the nice guy that he was he said he's let them mess around with a few them on his shift. He didn't look so happy about his decision now.

"Hi mom," Drew said. His mother, Mrs. Richard, had her head sticking out the window of their dark blue SUV. She didn't look happy. Drew backed away from the shopping cart.

"Jerome you get out of there right now, and is that you Stan. Get out of there too. What are you boys thinking? I am parking the car and you better still be here when I get back." She drove off to a parking spot a couple isles down.

"You guys better not tell on me. I can't lose this job," Mitch said. He was already backing away from the situation.

"We're not snitches man," Jerome said as he jumped out of the cart.

"Good." Mitch took off running.

"Yeah we gotta go too. It's fun, but sorry. We gotta go," Devon said. She grabbed Sam's arm and stared dragging him away.

"You can't bail on us Sam," Stan said.

"Yeah, he can, and he is, and bye. Sorry it had to come to this. Good luck," Devon said before Sam could even open his mouth. She started running and pulling him behind her.

"I hate my mom," they heard Drew mumble as they ran. Devon skirted a few isles over then started walking.

"I hate parents," she said.

"Yeah. I guess. We wouldn't have gotten in trouble for it. What's she gunna do, tell Siphicul?" Sam said as he pulled his hand away and matched her pace.

"I don't. I didn't actually think about that. All I could think of was 'I don't want to actually talk to her'. I didn't want to explain why I was there, and who I was, and then the whole parent question comes up. Though I could have just said I was your cousin or something and staying with you for a while. That might have worked. How well does she know your family?" Sam gave her a pointed look. "Oh that's right, the whole memory thing. I always forget. Wow I might as well have it with how much I forget. I need to work on getting a better memory. I could become one of them super memory people. I seen this guy on TV once and he greeted every one in the studio audience on the way in and then at the end of the show he had them all stand up and staid every one of their names, first and last. It was crazy. He almost missed a few and had to come back to them, but in the end it got them all. If I could get a memory like that, I don't even know what I'd do with it. Never forget I guess."

They reached the end of the parking lot. There was a gas station at the end. It faced out towards the street and every pump had a car at it.

"I also watched this info-mercial once for this drug that's supposed to increase your memory. I don't know how good it works though. I tried to talk every one into ordering it so I could find out, but I forgot the number." She laughed. "That's so ironic. I forgot the number to get the memory medicine."

Sam watched as a dark blue SUV pulled into the gas station. It pulled into the parking spot next to them. Devon's face filled with shock. Drew mouthed 'sorry' from the passenger window. Mrs. Richards got out her door and walked around to them.

"Samuel Noah Diamond, don't think you could get away from me that easily. I seen you. I suppose your mother is at work and has no idea where you are," she said. She put her hands on her hips and leaned forward. She looked slightly like a chicken in that stance. She was surprisingly tall and thin. Her hair fell in messy waves around her shoulders.

"Don't play dumb with me, young man. Wipe that look off your face and get in the car. Who are you?" she asked, finally turning to Devon.

"Um, well . . . I'm Devon. I'm Sam's cousin . . . I'm staying with him for a while," Devon stammered. She was significantly shorter than this woman and she looked up with large eyes.

Devon's head suddenly snapped away from Mrs. Richard. She looked to Sam he had crumpled to the ground.

Sam hadn't expected it. It had happened suddenly, pain had just exploded from behind his eyes. It had shot through the rest of his head until he could no longer tell where it had originated from. It crippled him, and he didn't even feel himself fall to the ground. He could feel nothing, but the pain. His body shook with it. Then it was gone. He blinked a couple times and he could see again. He realized he was on the ground. He looked over and saw Devon was there too. She pushed herself up on all fours and Drew grabbed her arm, helping her up. She was shaking and breathing heavy. Sam shoved himself up and saw Mrs. Richard staring at them. She had her hand over her mouth and she seemed frozen.

"What happened?" Drew asked. Sam didn't know.

"Nothing," Devon panted. "Nothing happened. We just, we just need to go home."

Sam expected some argument, but there was none. Mrs. Richard just went around to the driver's side and got in. Drew got in the passenger and Devon opened the back door.

"Get in," she said. Sam did and she crawled in after him. Mrs. Richard drove them home in a complete, awkward silence. She pulled over in front of their house. Devon got out and wavered. Sam felt weak himself, but Devon seemed to much worse off. He hopped out and grabbed her arm.

"I'm fine," she said and pulled away. Mrs. Richard drove off with out another word.

"What happened?" Sam asked.

"You were going to lose your memory again, only worse this time. I stopped it."

"What? Why?" Sam asked. He had stopped walking and stood in the drive way. Devon turned around and sighed. She sat down where she was.

"I don't know why, but you were. I think it's 'cause your with me. It happens. People who stay around me to long, well, they have bad things happen to them. I guess I just been here to long."

"What? But how, how did you stop it?" Sam asked. He sat down too, now.

"I don't know. I mean this doesn't happen. It's not supposed to happen. You lose your memories once and then that's it. You can't lose them twice. It's impossible. I mean people around me they die or get hit by a car or some thing. It's not possible. I'm really confused by it."

"How did you stop it?"

"Like I said I don't know. I just did it. I don't even know what I did, but it hurt like hell."

"I know. What about Mrs. Richard and Drew?"

"Oh, don't worry. I took care of them."

"You took care of them?"

"Yeah. I mean, putting back memories isn't my only talent. I can take them too, I'm just not supposed to. It's kinda like an extra benefit I wasn't supposed to get. They tell me not to use it, like I'm going to listen."

"Have you ever used it on me?"

"No. I don't think. No, no. I never used it on you before. Why? Do you want me to? Got something you want to forget?"

"No, just promise me you won't, no matter what, you won't take any of my memories," Sam said.

"Fine, okay, I won't take any of your memories."

"Do you have any other powers?"

"I can make people believe what I say. I don't know about that one. I just realized it one day. It doesn't work on your sister though. She's got a serious stubborn streak."

"Have you used that on me?"

"Do you really want to know the answer to that?"

"You have!"

"Maybe once or twice, not that much."

"What are you guys doing?" They both looked over to see Sanhuel had walked up into the driveway. He looked at them both like they were crazy.

"Well, it appears to me that we're sitting in the driveway, talking, but I'm not sure. What do you think Sam?" Devon asked.

"What!? I thought we were skiing," he said.

"You guys are so weird. I can't believe I'm related to you or Sam at least. I don't know about you," Sanhuel said as he started walking away.

"And where have you been young man?" Devon asked. She flinched right after she said it.

"I was at Marietta's."

"Marietta?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, my girlfriend."

"You mean that bitch from the phone!?" Devon said.

"She's not a bitch and you should think twice before calling her that again."

"Bitch," Devon said. Sanhuel didn't look in the least bit amused. In fact he didn't look anything. He turned his gaze to Sam.

"You better watch her, 'cause I'm not gunna." And he walked over to the house. Devon looked to Sam.

"I have no idea what he meant by that."

"Me either."

The weekend ended uneventful and the week stared. Siphicul got a job and was gone all the time too. He worked for a factory putting the instructions in Life games. He said it was the most boring thing in the world. It paid, and gave him over time. Otherwise the week continued as uneventful as the end of the week end had been. Sam continued to dream, he woke up calm and peaceful from all them. He liked it that way.

Sam was dreaming. He had his ear pressed up against the wall. His little hand rested next to his head.

"Quiet Sarah. I can't hear," Sam said. Sarah was on the bottom bunk of a bunk bed against the wall.

"No. I don't want to hear," she sobbed. Stue walked in the door. He was holding an empty cup in one hand.

"We can use this," he said as he held the cup up. Siphicul walked in after him. Sam yanked his head away from the wall.

"What are you guys doing," he asked. He held a cheese sandwich in one hand. A chunk of the square yellow cheese fell out onto the floor. He ignored it.

"Nothing," Stue said.

"Sam?"

"Nothing." Siphicul narrowed his eyes, but left the room. Sarah let out another low sob.

"Shut up Sarah, quit being such a baby," Stue said as he put the cup to the wall and then his ear on the other end. His eyes grew wide as he listened.

"I am not a baby!"

"Shut up," Stue whispered.

"What do you hear," Sam asked. "Give me a turn."

"No, your as big a baby as Sarah. I am not, go get your own."

"No, give me a turn," Sam whined. Stue ignored him and kept listening to the wall. Sam made a grab for the cup. Stue pulled his head off the wall and shoved Sam. He tripped over a small blue plastic piano and landed hard on the floor.

"Don't push Sam," Sarah cried. She jumped up of the bed.

"You guys ruin every thing," Stue said. He threw the cup down. It bounced on the carpet.

"What did you hear?" Sam asked. Sarah was still glaring at him menacingly.

"Nothing. She's probably dead anyways."

"Sam!"

"Sam!"

"Get up!" This wasn't part of the dream. His dream had blended into reality and he hadn't even noticed. He forced his eyes open with a lot of effort. Sarah was standing in the door way. She wasn't bothering to whisper. Sam looked over and saw that Sanhuel wasn't there. He looked back to Sarah.

"Get up. Charlie's here," she said. Sam shoved himself up. He wasn't sure if he was still dreaming. "Hurry up." She turned and went back into the hallway, leaving the door open with the blaring hallway light falling in on him. Sam got up and wandered out into the kitchen. He felt his give a great lurch when he saw who was sitting at the table.

Charlie sat at the table. He looked so much like the child Sam had dreamed about that there was no doubt it was him. Sam couldn't take his eyes off him. He had thought he was imaginary. It had never crossed his mind that Charlie could be a real person, and yet here he sat. Charlie smiled at him.

"How you doing Sam, long time no see. I'm your brother, well actually half brother, Charlie," he said.

"Hi," Sam managed. He quickly snapped out of it and rubbed his eyes.

"Charlie's gunna stay with us for a little bit. Right Char," Stue said.

"Just for a little bit," Charlie said.

"Stay as long as you want," Siphicul said. He leaned against the fridge and regarded them all with a slightly dazed look.

"Thanks, but I'm only staying 'til my mom calms down. Where's Nora?" There was silence. Everyone regarded each other with concerned looks. No one knew what to say.

"Aw, she's probably working late or something," Sanhuel said. He took at seat at the table with Charlie.

"Where's Nora?" Charlie looked at them. Sanhuel opened his sleepy eyes a little further and looked at them all too.

"Where's Mom?" he asked. His voice rose with worry.

"We don't know. She didn't come home," Siphicul said with a sigh.

Sanhuel looked between them all. "You all knew! When? When did she disappear?"

"Right after Christmas," Siphicul said. He hung his head. Charlie looked away too.

"Why didn't anyone tell me? You all knew and no one took the time to tell me!?" Sanhuel was yelling now and his voice rang through the quiet house. It was uncomfortably silent after. They all heard the patter of feet and turned the door. Devon walked in. She paused when she saw them all. No one looked back at her.

"Who's this?" asked Charlie in an overly upbeat tone. They all flinched at the falseness of it.

"My names Devon Rodgers," she said. She said it slowly and looked between them all.

"Devon's been staying with us," Stue said. Sam was glad for the change in subject. Sanhuel sat with his arms crossed looking like he was about to blow smoke out his ears any moment.

"Hi Devon. My name's Charlie Rise."

"Nice to meet yeah," Devon said. She shifted her weight uncomfortably.

"Yup. I'm all their all's half- brother."

"Really? I didn't realize they had any other brothers. Mom or Dad?"

"We have the same dad." He laughed. They smiled. Sanhuel stood up abruptly and his chair slid back. He placed his hands on the table.

"I'm leaving," he said. He looked at them all then marched to the door.

"Sanhuel, you can't leave. I just got here. I wanted to spend some time with my favorite little brother," Charlie said.

"Sorry Sam. I guess you just weren't good enough," Stue whispered.

"Like you care," Sanhuel growled and slammed the door behind him. Charlie immediately turned his gaze to Siphicul, expecting him to chase after him.

"He's just going to Marietta's," Siphicul sighed. He wandered out into the living room.

"Marietta's his girlfriend," Stue said and followed.

"Yeah. She's a real bitch," Devon said. Sarah burst out laughing at that. Charlie smiled.

"I'm tired. It's been a long night."

"Okay. I guess you can sleep in Sanhuel's bed since he won't be here," Sarah said. She stared leading Charlie out of the kitchen. Devon went to follow, but Sam grabbed her arm and stopped her. He was glad she didn't say anything and just stared at him, as Sarah and Charlie left the room.

"What are you doing?" Devon asked. Sam shook his head and waited to hear the bed room door's close. When he finally heard Sarah's shut he turned back to Devon.

"Can anyone get their memories back?" he asked.

"Yeah, when I give them to them. Did you forget that that's kinda what I do. I go around giving people their memories back. My special purpose in life, you know, like my calling."

"No. I mean some way for people to get them back on their own."

"Listen Sam, I know it's hard losing your memories, well actually I don't, I have no idea, but what I mean is, you probably want them back, but there's no way. I don't got your memories. I mean if I do, I'll give them right to you. There's no looking or nothing. You just have to wait for the right time; you got to earn them back. Learn from the mistake you made, though I don't know how you're supposed to do that when you can't remember it. You need the whole inner, who you are, change. Work on that and then you'll get your memories back."

"So, they can't just come back to you in like a dream, or something?"

"Nope. I'm the one and only memory returner, though I been starting to doubt that, 'cause, like, I only get people close to where I am, and people got to be getting memories back in other places, though it is pretty rare. . . so I think there must be others. Maybe I'm not the one and only, but seeing as I'm this close to you, I'm your one and only memory returner."

"I've been having these dreams."

"Really. I love hearing dreams. I think they're the most interesting things ever. What was it about?"

"Nothing really, but Charlie was in it."

"Okay. Well seeing as you didn't get it that bad, maybe he was just one of those things that you still remember, like talking and eating and stuff. It happens. I mean, if what you did wasn't that bad, you won't forget that much. He might just be one of those things you didn't forget."

"Yeah."

Sam didn't dream for the rest of the week and Charlie didn't leave. Sam still felt a slight shock every time he saw him. He thought it would go away, but it didn't. It dulled a little, either that or he got used to it. He liked to think it dulled.

Devon squinted her eyes shut for a second then opened them. She left them as tiny slits and peered through her eyelashes.

"You okay?" Sam asked. It was just Devon and himself at home today. Everyone else was at school or work. Devon forced her eyes open a little further and smiled.

"Yeah. I'm just a little tired," she said. She brought the book into the living room and sat down on the floor with Sam. She set the book in between them. The cover was a worn brown and the red indented title was worn in, in some places. Devon ran her hand over the cover. "This is the book."

"What book?"

"Oh. The one I was thinking about. I got it from the library. I don't think I'm going to return it. It's really cool. I been reading it all the time. It's actually got some useful stuff in it. I wish I could use it more, but I don't dream that much. . ."

Sam wasn't really listening. He was reading the title of the book. 'Dreams and Their Relation to the Subconscious Mind' it sounded smart, like you'd have to be really into the stuff to read it. He couldn't find an author. There was no picture on the front, or anything else, just the title. He looked at Devon. He had never thought her to be the type that would read a book by that title.

"When did you go to the library?" Sam asked.

"When all of you guys were sleeping. No one seemed to notice."

"Aren't libraries closed at night?"

"Not for me. Stuff is only closed if you let it be closed. Well that's not actually true. Technical it was closed, but I didn't let that stop me, so for me it wasn't closed. It was sure pretty open. That's another reason I don't plan on going to bring this book back. I also don't have a library card. I want one. We should go sometime during the day, when it's open to the public, and get me a library card. Then I can check out all the books I want."

"You don't seem like the book reading type," said Sam as he grabbed the book. He flipped it open to the first page and looked at it. He found the author, Richard Norman.

"Yeah. I never was. It was when I came back that I started liking it. Father Paul kept me at his church for a while right away and I started reading the books in the little library there. It just seemed more meaningful, reading, I don't know how to explain it, but it's better, and kinda addictive. I can't help reading now and I can even do big books like this, with no plot, and they don't get boring."

"Yeah?"

"Yup." She grabbed the book back and opened it. She flipped through the pages and finally stopped. "Right here. This whole chapter is about the potential of dreams to explain the inner feelings of your soul, the whole suppressed memory thing. It says that they most likely won't be out right memories, or have any thing to do with them, but the over all theme can serve a deeper meaning, and be like a window to your true thoughts and feelings. So Sam, about that Charlie dream, what was the deeper theme?" Sam sat and thought. It took him awhile to actually remember what was in the dreams, and then it was fuzzy and spotty.

"I've had a few with Charlie in them."

"Really? You keep having them. Is it the same dream? 'Cause there's this whole chapter on repeating dreams." She started flipping to the chapter.

"No. I haven't had the same dream, and I haven't dreamed in awhile. It was before I told you. I've been having them for a long time."

"I asked Sarah when the last time Charlie visited was, and she said he stayed for a few weeks last month. I think you'd remember Sarah before Charlie. I been thinking about it, and there's a lot of things I don't understand about you. There's something weird Sam. Something not right is going on, and I think it had something to do with the message I was supposed to give you. I wish I hadn't forgot it, but it was a long time ago, and I never thought I'd actually meet you. What were the dreams like?"

"We were all way younger. I was in all of them; Charlie and Sarah were in most of them, and Sanhuel and Stuart and Siphicul. They were all at an apartment building. Nothing important happened in any of them." All of a sudden Sam remembered. "You were in the first one!"

"Well then I don't think they were actual memory, 'cause we never met before. What happened in the one I was in?"

"That was the first one, you were trying to talk me into playing jump rope with Sarah, I think. I don't remember it that good. You were younger, like all of us. Sarah wanted me to play and I didn't want to."

"Okay." She flipped through the book. "If I were a psychologist I would say that your dream means that you feel that me and Sarah are controlling your life and that you want to take control yourself. You feeling a little impressionable Sam, a little out of control? Oh and the everyone being children can refer to a sense of innocents or can play into that under some ones control thing again."

"Really?"

"Oh I got this. Me and Sarah are trying to persuade you into something you don't want, but we're also children 'cause you feel there is some one else controlling us, or maybe it's that we're innocent and don't realize what we are doing."

"I don't believe in reading into your dreams," Sam said. He stood up. Devon quickly stood up too. She left the book on the floor.

"Yeah. I don't think it's all that important. What worries me the most is when your memories tried to leave again? I keep thinking about that and I can't figure it out. I have no idea why, Sam. I just keep trying, but it don't make sense. At all."

"I try not to remember that," Sam said and walked away. Devon followed.

"Yeah, but don't'cha want to know?"

"No."

"But if you figure it out, you can stop it from happening again."

"There's no guarantee in that."

"I want to know." She crinkled her eyes shut again and paused.

"You sure your okay?"

"Yeah. I told you, I'm just tired." She turned around and left. He heard the bedroom door close. Sam went back in the living room and picked up the book. He looked at the worn cover and read through a few of the pages.

"The mind is a complex and infinite tool that can not be fully explained in the depths of this book. The purpose of the book is not to find answers because at this point in time there is no, nor do I ever believe there will be a, person that can fully understand it's depths. The purpose of this book is there for to make some logical inferences that I have come to through my vast research on this topic. I will back up and better explain the conclusions I have come to through out it's pages.

"I have found there is not enough time to explain all that I have found, so I will there for concentrate on the topic that has most greatly held my interest. The topic of dreams and the relations that I have found them to have with the subconscious. It is a topic that has fascinated and consumed me for the better part of my life now and I feel that I have finally accomplished enough to write a valid book on the topic. I feel that the dominant public has had an unhealthy lack of interest in the sub conscious that may eventually lead to a catastrophic misfortune that will cost us more than we can ever conceive. I fear for the future generations with an intensity that can only come from years of intense conjecture through the simulation of various situations. There will be an extreme focus on the topic of lack of dreams in the current and future years. I will extrapolate the effect this will have after I first explain the effect and interpretations of the dreams that the mind does produce. I feel that after I am through the reader who has graciously stuck with me will be enlightened on the topic and find they have a better understanding of the occurrences with in their own mind."

Sam stopped reading. He was bored and from the little he had read he knew that he would not be able to make it through the book. He flipped through the pages a little, but found no pictures. There was just the small repetitive text. He shut the book with a sigh. He could just ask Devon. She had actually read the book. He didn't have to. He set the book down and turned on the TV. He flipped through the channels and watched some boring show, when a commercial came on he couldn't even remember what he was watching.

He was sitting in a living room. The low light filtered through the blinds on a sliding glass door. It must be bright outside, but the room was dim. Dust floated in the beams of light, dancing and twirling. The TV was on, but the glare from the streams of light seemed to fall directly on it. The picture was unwatchable. Voices echoed, muffled, from some where else. They sounded far away and loud. The TV was on mute and the voices were the only noise. Sam just sat on the couch staring at the screen. Sarah sat next to him and Stue on the other side. Siphicul poked his head around the kitchen wall. They all turned and looked at him.

"She's out there," Siphicul whispered. His eyes were wide.

Stue hung his head and put his hands over it. Sarah leaned her head on Sam's shoulder. He just kept his eyes on the TV.

"Are you dreaming?" Sam blinked and he was looking at the TV, but there was no glare. It was clearly visible. He was in his living room. Devon leaned over him a little more. It took him a second to gain his bearings.

"Not anymore," he sighed.

"What were you dreaming about this time? Was it Charlie? Ooo, was I in it? You weren't asleep that long so you couldn't have dreamed that much. What was it?"

"I was just sitting on a couch with Sarah and Stue and Charlie wasn't in it and neither were you," Sam said as he pushed himself back up a little.

"Really, that was it? Well were you still little?"

"Yeah. You really read that whole book?"

"Yup! I sure did the whole, front to back, cover to cover, every last word. I even read the references."

"People don't dream anymore?"

"Well, when the book was written people didn't. They're starting to again, some people." Devon stopped. They heard the side door open and some one walk in. they both looked up and weighted. Some one giggled in a high pitched, repetitive sort of way, then a girl cam bounding around the corner. She was still giggling; they died in her throat when she saw Sam and Devon. The smile still stayed on her face. She looked Asian, with thick black hair that was layered and side swept bangs. They fell in her face and she flicked them out with a practiced ease.

"Hi," she said. Her voice was equally high pitched. She pulled her shirt down and made sure it was in place. "Um, Sanhuel?"

"Yeah." Sanhuel poked his head around the corner and looked at them.

"That's just Sam and Devon," he said and went back into the kitchen.

"Oh. Hi, I'm Marietta," she said. Sam flinched. He knew what was coming.

"Bitch! You're the one with the big mouth from the phone!" Devon yelled. Marietta looked a little taken aback. The smile slowly slid off her face then was replaced by a more tentative one.

"Sanhuel," Sam yelled over Devon.

"You thought you wouldn't see me, but now you're here. What don't got nothing to say now? That's what I thought. You're all talk, you got nothing to back it up with. I'm not scared of you. You come face to face and you got nothing. All talk." Devon stood up.

"Listen, I'm really sorry about that," Marietta giggled, "I was upset then, and me and Sanny were in a bit of a fight, and I just wanted to talk to him. I'm sorry I exploded on you."

"Damn. I think you might be more of a psycho bitch then I thought. I mean, the whole calling every five minutes was creepy enough, but this smile happy thing might juts be worse. Wow, I gotta admit, I didn't expect this. You, your, well, I don't know."

"Sanhuel!" She didn't wine it his time. She yelled. The smile looked fake, but it stayed. She flicked her bangs again.

Sanhuel walked out into the living room. "God, Sam can't you keep her in line for like five minutes?" Marietta took a step behind Sanhuel and smiled at them.

"Nope. I guess I can't," Sam said. He leaned back on the couch. Sanhuel glared at him. Devon looked mutinous. She turned to Sanhuel now, Sam was expecting some yelling, but she suddenly smiled.

"God Marietta, can't you keep him in line for like five minutes. I mean come on, how hard can it be. Not only are you crazy, but you're a totally disappointment. Sad, sad. I don't even know if there is any hope for such a spineless piece of shit." She smiled. Marietta looked a little hurt.

"Devon. I think you need to look at yourself a little bit instead of focusing on every one else," Sanhuel said.

"What?" Devon asked.

"You talk about every one else, but look at yourself. Where are your parents, your family? What are you hiding from? You have nothing to offer, and it's only a matter of time before we quit putting up with you, and unless you do something that's the way it's going to be every where you go. You have nothing Devon, so you have no reason to talk," Sanhuel said. Devon moved her mouth like a fish then she clamped it shut and glared at him. She walked right past then, Marietta flinched a little, but Devon did nothing. She walked out the door and shut it behind her.

Sam sighed and got up and followed after her. He didn't say anything to Sanhuel because it was Devon's problem not his. He slipped on his shoes and followed after her. It was unbelievably cold today. The warm spell had ended, and the snow was high again.

"Well, that's one way to get the house to ourselves," Sanhuel said.

When Sam got outside Devon was already halfway down the driveway. She turned around and walked backwards slowly waiting for Sam to catch up. He took his time. She didn't look to upset.

"Where you going?" Sam asked.

"I don't know. For a walk, I guess. You know what bugs me about what Sanhuel said? It's true. I got no special talents, well besides the," she threw her hands up into the air to try and communicate what she meant. She turned back around and started walking forward again. "But that doesn't count. I mean who would want me for that long, kindness only goes so far. It's the whole costs and benefits thing. I got no benefits, but a lot of costs, and the warm fuzzy feeling of helping some one only last so long. The cost out weigh the benefits and poof, I'm out. Bye-bye Devon, maybe you'll learn some useful talent later, until then your like a leech, a big giant leech that I'm pulling off now." She mimed yanking a leech off her arm and throwing it on the ground. "At least you got the family thing going for you."

They reached the end of the block and turned. Devon was walking faster than she normally did, and Sam was actually having trouble keeping up. He jumped over a chuck of snow the plow had left and matched her step. She didn't notice.

"I need to find something to do that contributes. Something easy, 'cause I'm not into all that hard work stuff. Well there's not much I can do, at all. Money's the easiest way to contribute to anything, but that's outa the picture, so I need something besides that. It has to be good. Like, like . . ."

"Siphicul doesn't care that your staying with us. It doesn't make a difference to him," Sam said.

"Yeah. I know that, Siphicul's a little spacey. He don't know the difference. It's Sanhuel that's going to screw me over. I should of thought twice before I upset him. I never think things through."

"What?" Sam was a little lost.

"Come on Sam connect the dots. Who is Siphicul's favorite? Who can totally manipulate him? Sanhuel and he knows it. Sanhuel's not stupid. He will use it to get rid of me 'cause I went and made him hate me. Siphicul thinks he controls everything, but really it's Sanhuel. You need to pay attention a little more. This stuff is important."

"My, my, little Devon, you sure have grown," said a voice. They tuned around and looked at the owner. He was tall, maybe in his young 30's. He had a mop of untidy blond hair and hazel eyes. He smiled reveling perfect white teeth. Sam had no idea who he was, or where he had come from. Devon didn't look happy. Her immediate shock seemed to melt away to anger.

"What? Not happy to see me, my favorite little doll face?" he asked. He had stopped walking and stood a good distance away from them. He put his hands in his pockets and looked at them expectantly.

"No. I gotta admit, I'm really not that happy to see you again. I can't imagine why that would be," she said. Her voice was dripping with sarcasm on the last part. "What are you doing here Nevin?"

"As nice as it is to see you again, I have to admit that I'm not here to see you. It's your little friend there that I really came to see," he said.

"What do you want with Sam?"

"I believe you know what I want with Sam. You are Samuel Noah Diamond, correct?"

"Yeah," Sam said. He had debated lying, but he wanted to know more.

"What I am wondering more is what are you, Devon, doing with him. He's not yours," he said.

"Leave him. I was here first and so you can just go. I don't care about the rules and everything," Devon said.

"Oh, what a coincidence, neither do I. the rules are breaking down, Devon, don't put so much faith in them. We are all disregarding them now."

"We all?"

"Don't tell me you thought you were the only one. Sure you're the only one who was once human, but there are many others."

Devon put a hand to her head and squinted again. She even gasped a little bit this time.

"What's wrong Devon? Oh that's right, human have slight problem holding onto memories. Having you had those a little to long? All the better," he said. He started walking towards them. Devon shook her head and stood her ground.

"Back up Nevin," she growled. Sam looked between them. He had no idea what was going on or why they were acting like this or who this man was.

"You don't want to do that, Devon. Move aside. You remember what happened last time, don't you, or do I need to refresh your memory?" he asked.

Devon screamed and crumpled to the ground, but as soon as she hit it she was pushing herself back up. She was breathing hard. Her eyes were locked on the man and she didn't remove them, even as Sam jumped forward and started helping her up. She kept an arm on Sam to keep herself steady. He was worried about her. Devon didn't look so good and cheery anymore, but her eyes held more intensity then every.

"Oh I forget, you're Devon Rodgers the great protector of the human race. Give it up Devon, your only going to cause more suffering. This is their fate." He took another step forward with each word of his last sentence almost as if it was a punctuation.

"Oh fuck you Nevin. You're to full of yourself," Devon said. She pushed off of Sam and stood on her own.

"Have it your way," he said. He held his arm out and snapped his fingers. The ground seemed to shake beneath them, and suddenly Devon was plummeting to the ground again. This time her eyes were closed and she was not moving. Sam grabbed a hold of her before she could hit it. He looked at her. He could still feel her breathing and her face seemed peaceful. He looked up to the man, Nevin, who had now walked all the way over to them.

"Hey Sam," he said. "I believe you have something that belongs to me."

Sam had no idea what he was talking about. He just stared back up at him and clutched Devon's unconscious body.

"Those memories of yours, I believe they belong to me." He knelt down in front of Sam and held his hand out, like Sam was supposed to hand them to him. Sam picked up Devon and quickly backed up. She was lighter than he had expected her to be.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked. He stood back up too.

"Who are you?" Sam asked.

"I? Well I am Nevin the bringing of destruction and chaos. This is my domain and you will submit to me, you all will," he said. He started to move forward again and Sam continued to back up. "There is no point in resisting. I will get what I want." He raised his hand again and Sam felt his heart race in panic. He snapped his fingers again and this time the ground shook worse than ever. Sam clenched his eyes shut and fell to the ground. Everything stopped and it grew amazingly still and quiet. Sam opened his eyes. A girl stood in the middle of the street between him and Nevin. She looked ten at the oldest. Her long light blue hair fell beyond her waist and looked amazingly silky and smooth. She had one hand held out in front of her.

"I don't have time for this," Nevin screamed. He snapped his fingers one last time close to himself and disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. The girl turned around and Sam saw that she had the palest skin and white eyes, going into almost a smoky grey.

"Who are you?" Sam whispered.

"I am Tia. I am here to protect you," she said. "Devon called me." Her voice sounded slightly older than she looked. Sam nodded and picked himself and Devon off the street. He carried Devon the few blocks to his house and Tia followed humming a slight song under her breath.

Sam stopped outside the house. He didn't really feel like walking in carrying an unconscious Devon and with Tia, who looked anything but human. In the already darkening light she looked like she was even glowing. Where ever she went seemed to follow the slight sent of flowers.

A car quickly pulled into the driveway and Sam lost all hopes of going some where else, not like he knew anywhere else to go. It was Siphicul. He stopped the car as soon as the end was into the driveway.

"Sam. What happened?" Siphicul asked. He got out of the car and slammed the door. The keys jingled in his hand. Tia looked at him with her big doe eyes. Sam gave an awkward smile. It was the best answer he had. Siphicul's eyes had found Tia and he just stared at her.

Stue came out the front the door onto the porch. The screen door swung behind him.

"Thank God Siph. I'm going to be late to work," Stue said as he skipped down the steps. "Damn Sam went and found another one." He grabbed the keys from Siphicul's hand and jumped in the car. It roared back to life and he pulled out. Sam shifted Devon in his arms. Siphicul was still staring at Tia. He wasn't sure if he even noticed Stue leave. Sam decided to ignore them and continued with Devon into the house.

He shifted Devon so he freed his hand enough to get the door open. He shoved it and it hit the wall loud. He looked back and saw Tia floating behind him. The impassive look still plastered on her face. He didn't see Siphicul. Sam turned back around and walked into the living room. Sanhuel and Marietta were on the couch. Marietta gasped when she saw Devon.

"What happened," she gasped. Sam ignored her and continued back into Sarah and Devon's room. He was glad the door was already open. He laid Devon on the bed and turned around to find Sanhuel and Marietta had also followed him in.

Sanhuel tore his eyes away from Tia and looked at Sam.

"What happened?" he asked. Marietta knelt down in front of Tia.

"Nothing," Sam said. He looked at Devon. She looked so peaceful. He wasn't worried about her. He turned back around and Sanhuel looked like he wasn't going to accept that answer.

"Hi. My name's Marietta. What's yours?" she asked.

"Tia," Sam said. Marietta looked up at him.

"Is she okay?" she asked.

"Yeah. She should be."

"She will be fine," Tia said and walked out of the bedroom.

"Who are you?" Sanhuel asked.

"I am Tia the child of pain and sadness. I am here to protect Sam," she said and continued past him.

"What?" Sanhuel asked looking to Sam. Sam gave him the same smile he had given Siphicul and made to follow Tia.

"Paul!" Devon gasped. She sat up suddenly and stared around with blank confused eyes. She blinked a couple times then recognition seemed to filter in and she relaxed a little. She sighed and held her head. Then she hung it lower and closed her eyes. Sam came back into the room.

Marietta was the first to reach the bed. She reached out and set a hand on Devon's shoulder.

"Don't touch me," Devon growled. "Don't anyone touch me!" She curled up in a ball and lay back down.

"What happened?" Sanhuel asked. His voice was more demanding this time.

"Nothing," Sam said again.

"Fine," Sanhuel said. He turned and left the room. Marietta made like she wanted to help Devon. She reached out then pulled her and back and followed Sanhuel. Sam heard the door to his room shut and he knew they had gone in there.

"Hey Devon?" Sam asked.

"Yeah?" she moaned.

"Who's Tia?"

"What?"

"Who's Tia?"

"I don't know. Some girl you met?" Devon asked from her muffled position on the bed.

"She's in the living room."

"Okay. I don't care. My head is killing me. Maybe you should go in the living room with her." She curled up into a tighter.

"She said you called her."

"I don't call people. The only time a used a phone was when I talked to Sanhuel's bitch of a girlfriend."

"Okay," Sam said and he walked out of the room. Tia was indeed in the living room. She was just sitting there, staring at the TV. Her face had the characteristic blank look. She turned and watched Sam enter the room and come sit by her.

"You're Tia?" She just stared. "And Devon called you?" She gave a slight nod, her eyes stayed locked on his and jus her head gave a slight movement.

"She says she didn't," Sam said.

"Of coarse. She did not consciously call me," she said and turned away. She focused on the TV. Sam let it go. She didn't seem as talkative as Devon. He got a weird feeling form her and would rather not talk to her. He didn't even like sitting here with her. He felt like she was judging him, like she was better than him and the whole time he spent with her she was gathering information to prove just that. He felt like he was breathing to loud and the tension lay thick in the air. He tried to watch the TV, but couldn't concentrate.

"Guess who's back, and you'll never guess who I brought with me?" Charlie' voice rang from the kitchen as he walked in the side door. "Hello?"

Sam got up and walked into the kitchen. Tia didn't even look away from the TV.

"It's me," Sarah said as Sam walked in. Charlie laughed and threw his jacket on the table. Sarah shook her head picking it up and hanging it on the hooks with hers. "So what'd you do today?" she asked.

"Nothing," Sam said. "Sanhuel's back."

"Really? That little shit, I thought he wouldn't be back until I was gone," Charlie said. "You will not believe what Sarah did in school today." Charlie went to the same school as them; in fact his mother's house wasn't that far from theirs. He stopped over there sometimes after school, when she was at work. They were still in a fight. Today he didn't. He opened up the fridge and leaned down looking into it.

"So what do you want to do today?" Charlie asked shutting the fridge after grabbing nothing. He smiled at them.

"Where's Devon?" Sarah asked. "I haven't seen you two apart since she got here."

Tia walked into the room. She walked right past them ignoring them and went to the cupboard. They all got silent and stared at her. Then Sarah and Charlie's gaze traveled back to Sam. They had identical looks of shock.

"Who's this?" Sarah asked.

"This is Tia," Sam said.

"And, how did you meet her?"

"It's a long story, but she just kind of followed me home."

"Oh." Tai climbed on the counter to reach. Tia grabbed a glass. She jumped down and went over to the sink. She filled it with water and carried it back into the kitchen without giving them so much as a glance.

"Tia?" Charlie asked. Sam nodded 'the child of pain and sadness' he thought.

"Is she okay?" Sarah asked.

Sam shrugged. He had no idea. He had no idea what was normal for her.

"Where did you find her?" asked Charlie as he walked out into the kitchen.

"Just in the street." Charlie nodded and Sam and Sarah followed him into the living room. Devon was sitting on the couch now too. Her eyes were still squinted shut a little, and even from here Sam could tell they were slightly red. She managed to smile at them. It was half of her usual.

"You okay Devon?" Charlie asked. He sat down next to her.

"I'm fine."

"Yeah. You look like it. So miss Tia here, she your friend?"

Devon looked at Tia then she looked at Sam. He could tell that she was trying to communicate something with her eyes, but he wasn't getting it. She gave up and turned back to Charlie. "Something like that."

"Do you have to be home sometime or something?" Sarah asked kneeling I front of Tia so they were eye to eye. Tia turned and looked at her. Sarah scooted back a little.

"No." Tia turned away after she answered.

"Oh, well then . . . Where do you live?"

Tia turned back to Sarah and this time she looked like she was getting frustrated. Every one watched.

"Can she just stay here for a night, with me?" Devon asked. Tia looked back to the TV.

"I don't care. It's not up to me," Sarah said. "Where's Sanhuel?"

"In his room." Sarah got up and walked off down the hallway.

"I can go home," Charlie said.

"You don't have to go home," Devon said. She had her eyes closed and leaned her head back against the wall. "She'd have to sleep in mine and Sarah's room anyways. I mean your really not in the way so quit trying to make it about you."

Charlie laughed and leaned back too.

Sam was sleeping. He liked to sleep. He liked the nothingness of it, the peace and the total calm. He liked to sleep, but for some reason people kept trying to wake him up. No one else seemed to like it when Sam slept.

"Sam," Devon wined. She was kneeling by the bed and trying to be quiet. Sam was just glad he was on the end. Charlie was snoring lightly next to him. He didn't want to get up, but he knew he had to. He begrudgingly opened his eyes.

"We need to talk," she whispered when she saw his eyes open.

"Tomorrow," he mumbled.

"With out Tia."

"Tomorrow." He rolled over and folded the pillow around his head. He was hoping Devon would get the idea. He drifted back to sleep before Devon even had a chance to respond.

"Sam," Sarah whispered. He rolled back over and glared. He felt like he had just closed his eyes and now some one was waking him up again. "Who is Tia? Where did you find her?"

"Can't I just sleep? I'll tell you tomorrow," Sam slurred. He could feel his eyes already shutting.

"No. Sam, when we were little we lived in this apartment building. I know you don't remember, but just listen. My best friend was Tia. She lived in the apartment next to us. This girl, Tia, she looks just like her Sam. She has different hair and eyes, but besides that exactly. Who is she?"

"We lived in an apartment?" Sam asked. He was awake now.

"Yeah, when we were little," Sarah said.

"What did they look like?"

"I don't know, it was a big brick complex. We were in the bottom. Sam that's not the point. What is she?"

"I don't know, ask Devon," he said. He couldn't think now. He was trying to remember if the apartment building had been brick. He couldn't. He knew they had been in the bottom, but was it brick? Sarah stared at him from awhile. She couldn't understand his lack of interest. She turned and left.

Sam lay there thinking. He couldn't fall asleep again. He just lay there thinking. He listened to the other's calm steady breathing and envied their peace of mind. He didn't sleep any more that night.

He got up when Sarah came back in to get Charlie and Sanhuel up for school. He waited until they were both up before he got up too. He went out in the living room and saw Tia and Devon were both also up. Siphicul had let Tia spend the night. In fact he had not even questioned it. He hadn't said a word to Tia and no one else seemed to mind her staying; she didn't eat that much. Devon and Tia were watching the news. Sam went and sat down with them.

"Wow Sam, you're up early," Sarah said as she ran out of the bathroom and into the kitchen. Sanhuel took the bathroom next. Stue cam out of the kitchen and sat down with them.

"Yeah Sam, I don't think I've even seen you up this early. It's like a miracle or something, I mean congratulations you almost beat the sun. Sleeps got nothing on you," Devon said. Stue sat on the couch and grabbed the remote. He changed the channel. Sam only caught the last of the reporter's sentence, but that was enough for him.

"Change it back," Sam said.

"You don't like the news," Stue said as he aimlessly switched through the channels.

"No, put it back."

"What channel was it," Stue sighed.

"9," Devon said. He put in the numbers and the channel changed.

"Thank you," Tia said. They all looked at her for a second then turned back to the TV. They had a small picture in the corner of a snowy street with a few blank looking houses and a person wandering across the street.

"Unfortunately the police were alerted to the situation to late for one local citizen," the anchorwoman said. Her immobile blond hair framed her flawless face. The picture next to her head changed to a middle aged man with a big smile. It looked like an amateur picture. "Brian Avers, who's friends say was a very lively and fun loving person, was affected by this strange out break. He wandered out of his house with out proper clothing and, our experts say, suffered for hypothermia with in hours. Some good Samaritans saw Brain and called the local authorities. The police say that when they arrived it was already to late. Brian was found 300ft from his front door."

"Quite the tragedy," so her co-anchorman. "Do the authorities have any leads to the cause of this out break?"

"They are still refusing to make a statement, but an officer on the scene did disclose that they are blocking off the area and as investigation should be starting immediately. We have estimated that approximately 17 people were affected. This is the first out break to affect a specific area and the fact that no people were left untouched has us all worried. Channel 9 will be following this topic through the upcoming days and will report information as soon as possible. We hold all citizens that were on Monroe Dr. in our thoughts and prayers."

"And on a lighter note local citizen Ellen Myer was reunited with her daughter Maria Myers. You may remember Ellen from the story we did on her and her daughter earlier this month."

"Isn't Monroe Dr. like a few blocks down?" Stue asked. No one answered. He got up and walked into the kitchen. "Hey Sarah."

"When you kill Nevin we will right this," Tia said.

"When you kill Nevin. I don't plan on killing anyone. I just want to live a nice peaceful life. I mean I might cause a little mischief here and there, but nothing big. Nice quiet life, that's what I plan on. They are so not my problem. You want to go kill Nevin you go right a head. I hate the bastard, but I ain't got no death wish. I'm just fine with letting him alone as long as he lets me alone. Not my problem and I don't plan on making it," Devon said.

"It is more your problem then any others and there for it falls on you to right. I will not interfere in matters that do not concern me. Nevin is yours and yours alone. If your chose not to reprimand this then it will not be reprimanded. The powers that be have turned a blind eye on us," Tia said. "Do as you wish, but know that it is your wish that is being done."

Sam felt a little out of place in this conversation. He almost felt like he was eaves dropping. He tried not to make his interest so obvious, but he listened intently none the less. Devon just glared at Tia. She didn't seem to have a response to that. She turned to Sam and he jumped a little.

"Come on Sam, lets go," Devon said.

"Where?" Sam asked.

"You can do what you want Tia." Devon stood up and walked out of the room. Sam looked at Tia. She looked as impassive as ever. He followed Devon.

"Where are you guys going?" Stue asked as they walked into the kitchen. Devon had already grabbed a jacket and was putting it on. Charlie and Stue were sitting at the table. Sarah stopped looking through the cupboards. She stood with her hand on the door and looked at them.

"Out. That's kinda the point in putting on a jacket. I mean I don't know about you, but that's why I put one on, except maybe if I was trying them on, but besides that I don't like walking around the house with them 'cause it tends to get a little, but maybe if the heat got shut off. I think they have a law against that though," Devon said. Charlie laughed and Stue smiled.

"I meant where to, like the final locations," Sarah said. She didn't look as amused.

"Well if that's what you meant then you should have said. You could confuse a person with them nonspecific questions. I mean I wouldn't say nothing if it was your first time, but this seems to be a persistent problem and being the nice person that I am I'm going to tell you, you need to be a little more specific when you answer question, either that or just quit asking them. You don't seem to be very happy with the answers you get and I don't see that changing so it would probably be best if you didn't ask questions and seeing as these two haven't asked anything I'll be off." She opened the door. "Come on Sam. Bye guys." She smiled and walked out the door.

"Ah! I hate her," Sarah said. She slammed the cupboard shut. "You know I think she does that on purpose she knows exactly what I'm asking then she gives me some bullshit answer and keeps talking so I can't even ask again."

"Bye," Sam said. He grabbed his jacket and made a dash for the door.

"Uh-uh you are not leaving with out taking that thing with you," Sarah said. She put a hand on her hip and pointed into the living room.

"Tia?"

"Yes Tia. I don't care where you go, just don't leave it here. I know that things not normal and I don't want it around me."

"Aren't you going to school?"

"Just take her Sam."

Tia appeared in the door way. Sam walked out the door and Tia followed him. He wasn't sure if she had heard what Sarah said or if she was already planning on following him.

"Where are we going?" Sam asked as they caught up with Devon.

"To the library," Devon said.

"The library's not open this early," Sam said. He looked over and there walked Tia with no jacket on. "Are you cold?"

"Cold is for the weak," she said.

"Okay." He turned back to Devon, "The library isn't open."

"I know. They open at eight. I'm not that worried about it. It's a library and a small one. Their security system sucks. I mean it's like a locked door. Yeah, that'll really keep people out, but I guess not many people are trying to break into a library. It's not they got large amounts of money or anything really valuable. They just kinda got books and a lot of them are old and falling apart. Not much reason to break in, for most people."

"I don't think we should," he said. Devon looked over at Tia and rolled her eyes. "Who was Nevin?"

"Nevin, the bringer of destruction and chaos," Tia said.

"What is he?"

"The bringer of destruction and chaos," Devon said. She smiled. "No. I don't know what he is. I'm a little illiterate on the whole thing. I just been kept in the dark. No one tells me nothing. Just find the people and give them back their memories. That's all I get, but I bet Tia here knows. Tia's like a water balloon full of information. He just need to throw her at some one, or something, or just get a pin."

"You're analogies are wrongly based," Tia said.

"You don't know anything either?"

"Your analogy is wrongly based because I am no water balloon. I shall not pop as your water balloons do. You offend me by assuming so."

"So, how do you know Nevin?" Sam asked, switching the subject.

"He killed Paul," Devon said. "I hate him."

"And yet you plan to do nothing. You lose a comrade and yet avenging him is of no priority to you. Maybe you are the one who most closely resembles a weak skinned water balloon," Tia said, her voice just as impassive as ever.

"Where we on Monroe Dr.?" Sam asked. He could see future problem between Devon and Tia.

"Yeah. I think it was Monroe Dr. at least that's what I remember. Nevin's an ass. He had no right to do that. He went and broke all the rules, but what worries me more than that is that he could take out a whole block like that. I always knew he was powerful, but I never knew he was that powerful. So how powerful are you Tia?"

"Insignificant plankton flee before my wrath. Nevin is nothing before me," Tia said. Sam shivered. He could see Devon looked a little uneasy at that too. Devon shook it of and started to skip.

"So you guys don't want to go to the library until it opens and I don't feel like sitting in the house and doing nothing. I want to get out, do something. I can't just sit. What's open this early?"

"Nothing," Sam sighed.

"Oh, brighten up Sam. I'm sure we'll find something. I mean there has to be something somewhere. We just gotta look for it. That's what we can do. We can look for something to do. Wow, that sounds a little sad, but what ever. It's better than nothing. I mean at least we're doing something." Devon smiled and skipped higher. "Now where to look?" She looked around the street at all the nice little houses sitting in their plots of snow. "Yeah. This might take a while."

They walked for hours and had gotten no where. Sam didn't recognize any of the stuff around them, but in Devon defense it was a lot more interesting then the blocks before it. Devon claimed she still knew where she was going, but Sam had his doubts. She skipped past a gas station and jumped the curb into the laundry mat parking lot. Sam was amazed she was still skipping. He was about done skipping when she stopped. The laundry mat was called 'Suds' of Glory' it was a simple brick building with a huge front window to one side of the glass door. Devon stopped mid skip with one leg up and her arms frozen in a swinging motion. Her mouth fell open and her eyes got huge. Sam and Tia stopped behind her. She leaned forward until she fell on her other foot then she spun around.

"Do you have any money?" she asked. She looked to Sam.

"No," Sam said. She looked to Tia.

"Money is for the insipid," Tia said.

"Noooo," Devon yelled, throwing her arms up and falling to her knees. "My dream is ruined."

"I thought your dream was to get a cell phone?" Sam said.

"I have a new dream and it's been crushed. I finally thought of the most awesome thing ever that we can do and we don't have any money. Why? It's like I'm destined to have my dreams crushed. It's not fair." She got up and marched over to the laundry mat. "I will figure this out." She opened the door and went in.

Sam and Tia followed a little more reluctantly. There were four rows of laundry machines surrounded by four very yellow walls. The color was almost blinding. The paint was chipped around the door. On the back wall was eight large driers and a coin machine. An extremely fat woman was sitting at the left wall on a bench. There was a matching one on the right wall. The woman rook up most of the bench and Sam wondered how she fit down the isles. Her curly red hair was up in a messy bun and her jacket slid off the bench and onto the floor. She bent down and picked it up. She didn't take her eyes off them. Devon gave her a big smile and went and sat at the bench. Sam and Tia followed her. They sat down too.

"What are we doing here?" Sam asked.

"Juts waiting," Devon said and smiled. She pulled her jacket off and set it on the floor. They sat for a while in silence. The woman had begun reading a magazine. Sam was the only one who could see across to her, but he couldn't see the magazine in her lap. She kept flicking her eyes up to them. She looked uncomfortable. Sam felt a little uncomfortable himself and the bench wasn't that comfortable either. Tia just kept staring at the washing machine in front of her and Sam was pretty sure Devon had fallen asleep. She had her head tilted back against the wall and the hood of Sanhuel's overly large hoodie over her head. It covered her eyes. Devon had taken to not just wearing Sarah's clothes, but every one else's. Considering Devon was slightly smaller than all of them, this gave a very baggy, slightly homeless look. She was lucky Sarah was at least just as skinny.

The woman's dryer buzzed. They all jumped. Devon jumped the worst of them all and fell off the bench. She started laughing hysterically as she pushed herself up off the floor. The woman rolled her eyes at them and shoved her body up. She grabbed a navy sack of the floor and went to the drier as Devon stood back up. She leaned against the wall and watched as the woman put all her clothes out of the drier into the sack. She huffed back up the isle with the bag. She grabbed her jacket, put it on and left. A giant grin spread across Devon's face as the door closed. She looked at them.

"Okay. So I got this great plan. How many washing machines do you think as are in here? 1, 2, 3 . . . 6, 1, 3 . . . Like 24. Okay, so now imagine if we got like tons of things of soap and filled all these machines with it and turned them on. We could fill this place with bubbles!" She looked at them.

"I see no purpose in this expedition. I will not help in any further pursuing of it," Tia said. She turned her head away from them.

"Come on Sam. You know it sounds like fun," Devon sang.

"Fine."

"Okay. We gotta see how much money it's going to take to over flow these machines."

"Stue?" Sam asked. It was just him and Stue sitting in the kitchen. Every one else was either asleep or in the living room. This was his chance. They had decided that Sam was the one who should ask for the money. He was family and it would just seem weird if Devon asked for the money. So here sat Sam ready to ask. Stue didn't seem as interested. He was looking through the mail.

"Huh?" he asked not taking his eyes off the letter. He had just torn another open and he was reading through it.

"Can I borrow some money?" Sam asked.

Stue mumbled something indistinct as he flipped to the next page.

"So I can?"

Stue flicked his eyes up and then back down. "What was that Sam?"

"Can I borrow some money?"

Stue looked up now. Sam could already see the answer. "Listen, I'm really sorry Sam. I want to give you some money, but I can't right now. I feel bad about it, 'cause you don't ask for much, but I don't have. And don't ask Siphicul. He'll give it to you, but he really can't now. You know what I mean. He's got no sense of money. Don't do it, you'll screw us all over," Stue said.

Sam nodded his head. He got up and walked out of the kitchen and to the hallway. Devon was waiting for him there. She smiled at him hopefully. He shook his head and her face fell.

"That's okay. We'll just go to Siphicul. Stue was my best bet, but Siphicul might do. I mean he is a little bit of an air head, meant in the nicest way of coarse," Devon said.

"Stue said not to ask Siphicul."

"And I suppose you won't then, and I'm not going to be giving this up, so lets see. Stue said no, you won't ask Siphicul, so how about Charlie. Does Charlie got any money?"

"I don't know. I feel weird about asking Charlie," Sam said.

"Oh, get over it. Just 'cause you had few dreams about him doesn't make him not have money, and it's dream Sam. Come on please. For me." She put her hands together and smiled. Sam sighed.

"Fine. Where is he?"

"In Stue's room," Devon said jumping up and down. She followed Sam to the door then leaned up against the wall outside. Sam went in.

"Yeah," Charlie said looking up. He was sitting cross legged on the bed with a chemistry book open in his lap. He had a note book next to it, but the page looked empty.

"Hi," Sam said. He walked over to the bed.

"What do you want?" Charlie asked. He narrowed his eyes, but he was smiling.

"Well, I was just wondering if I could borrow some money," Sam said.

"Anything for my favorite little brother, as long as it's not to much. I can't be living here forever."

"Just like 30," Sam said.

"Now I can't just give this to you. What kind of brother would I be? Come on. You better tell me why you suddenly need $30."

"You can't just give it to me?"

"Nope, not that lucky," Charlie said. He closed his book and leaned forward. Sam had to think fast.

"I want to go to the movies," Sam said. It was the only thing he could think of it.

"And what movie do you suddenly want to see so badly?" He was smirking now.

"I don't know."

"Movies don't cost $30."

"I forgot that," Sam said. He was going to work this. He looked really sad. "I just can't remember ever going, and I thought it might help."

"Don't pull that bull shit on me," Charlie said. "I'm not stupid. You want to take Devon out. Don't you?"

"Okay. I do, but don't go telling everybody. I don't want them all to know." Sam could make this work too. He gave a sheepish smile.

"That's all you needed to say." Charlie reached in his pocket and pulled out a battered looking wallet. He flipped it open with practiced ease and pulled out two twenties. He held them out to Sam. "Here take 40."

"Thanks," Sam said. He grabbed the money and left. He couldn't believe that had worked. Devon nearly pounced on him as soon as he had the door shut.

"Did you get it?" she asked. He handed her the twenties. "Yes! Charlie, I don't know why I didn't think of him first. I see it now. Charlie wouldn't give it as willingly, but 'cause he ain't got no responsibilities he's got more to give, so he can give it more willingly. It all evens out. I gotta remember this stuff." She shoved the money in her pocket and wandered back up the hallway to Sarah's room.

"Night Sam," she said and went in the room.

"Night."

Sam dreamed. He was at a river. He was slightly older than the other dreams. He could feel it. Sarah was standing in front of him. She looked about ten. Stue was on the other side of Sarah. He was holding a long squirming worm in his hand. He had it held out towards them.

"Just leave Sam alone," Sarah yelled. "He don't like worms."

Sam turned and took off running up the beach. Stue chased him and Sarah chased Stue. The ran up the beach kicking sand up behind them. They sped past a young looking Nora on a towel. She smiled at them.

"Stuart, leave your brother alone!" she yelled. Her voice was kind and strong. It rung across the deserted beach. Sanhuel pushed himself of the sand next to her and chased after them.

"Mom said to stop," Siphicul yelled after them. He stood up on the other side f her holding a sandwich. He shook it at them. They kept running down the beach.

"I'm gunna throw you in the water when I catch you Stue," Sarah yelled.

"I'll help you," Sanhuel yelled.

Sam made a large turn and started running back up the beach.

"Ahh!" Stue screamed. He threw the worm up in the air. "It bit me!"

"Worm's don't bite," Sarah said as she came to a stop next to him. Sam stopped a few feet in front. They all looked up waiting for the worm to come back down.

"Where'd he go," Sanhuel asked looking up too. Stue had lost interest in the worm and was looking at his injured finger as a dropped of blood led a trail down it and fell to the ground.

Sam woke up on his own this day. Sanhuel was already gone. He stretched and took his time. He got up and walked out into the living room. Devon and Tia were sitting there waiting. Devon jumped up when she saw him walk out.

"Took you long enough. Tia here wouldn't let me go wake you up and I thought you had died or something. Do you know what time is? I mean I wanted to go as soon as the place opened, but nooo we have to wait for you to wake up 'cause you need your sleep or something like that. Like you need sleep. You slept all night. I don't see why it would have been so bad to wake you up," Devon said. Sam yawned and went into the bathroom. He took his time getting ready. Devon was even more impatient by the time he was ready to go.

"Okay. Okay! Okay, let's go," she said and darted in and out the side door. Sam put on his jacket and shoes. He wasn't quite as excited as her. Tia was even less, but Sam wasn't sure that even meant anything. Tia followed Sam out the door. Devon set a fast pace all the way to the laundry mat. It seemed she did know where she was going as she found the way back easily. She stopped at the gas station.

"We gotta buy the soap. I mean there's no point in paying to turn them all on if you got no soap to put in them," Devon said as she passed the pumps on the way in.

"Do they have laundry detergent in a gas station?" Sam asked.

"Sure they do," Devon said. "They got everything, just not as much variety. I meant they got toothpaste, chips, pop, slinkies, they got a whole isle of stuff you might need."

Devon was right. They stood in front of the first row and sure enough there on the bottom under the shave gel and deodorant was gain laundry detergent in little green bottles. They only had gain and only in the small bottle. Devon wasn't upset. She grabbed four and made her way back up to the cashier. Devon hopped around in line causing people to stare and then Tia caught their attention and they stared even more. Sam tried to ignore it, but the people didn't even bother to hide. People were even stopping their shopping to look. One man at the fountain drink dispenser had his cup pushed against it and it had been overflowing for the past couple moments. Sam watched it pour down his hand. The cashier was the worst. She forgot to ring up one of the detergents. They didn't bother to correct her. Devon gave the woman a twenty and she handed them the change. Devon pocketed it quickly and they left. She didn't bother to walk now. Devon ran all the way to 'Suds of Glory' Sam and Tia opted to walk. When the got there Devon had all the lids of all the washing machines open. Sam was glad no one had been in here today. Devon was back at the coin machine now. She put in a twenty and Sam was amazed at how many tokens came out. He hadn't realized how many quarts went into it. Devon started handing Sam handfuls of token. She put in another twenty.

"Where did you get that?" Sam asked.

"What?" Devon asked as the tokens poured out again.

"Charlie only gave us 40. Where did you get the other 20?"

"Oh, the lady messed up on the change too," Devon said with a large grin.

"How much did she give you?"

"$28.21."

Sam had the tokens and Devon had the Gain. It was 'spring time breeze' and it smelled pretty good. Devon poured in a generous amount and Sam put in the tokens. He pushed in the slot and the washing machine hummed into life. Devon looked around. The room was now filled with the sounds of the washing machine.

"Now what do we do?" Sam asked. He still had a large amount of tokens in his pocket.

"We wait," Devon said. She went and sat in the middle isle on the floor. Sam went and sat with her. He was worried some one would walk in to use one of the machines, but no one came. He kept watching the door. His doubt was growing. He didn't think this was such a good idea. They sat for what seemed like forever. Devon hummed a song. Sam had no idea what it was. He was pretty sure that she was just making it up as she went. It had started out fast, but now it was nothing put a slow variation of a couple notes. He didn't think this was going to work. Then the first machine on their left began to spill bubbles out the top. They slid down the side and pooled on the floor. They began to make a giant wet puddle. Devon jumped up and ran over to the machine. It was closely followed by the whole first row. Sam stared at them in amazement. The whole floor was slowly covered in bubbles and Sam's socks were soaked. He had never realized how wet bubbles were.

Devon took off running down the isle she turned into the next one. It didn't work for her and she slid down the next isle and slipped to the ground. Sam could hear her laughing put she was lost in the quickly growing floor of bubbles. She popped back up. The bubbles stuck to hair and clung to her shirt. She had the biggest grin Sam had ever seen on her face.

"You have got to try that," she said. She bent over and coughed up a few bubbles. "I mean it's great, just remember to keep your mouth shut. They don't taste as good as they look."

Sam laughed. He ran down the isle and found his socks couldn't find purchase on the wet floor. He slipped and fell to the ground. It was hard and Sam didn't think that was exactly that much fun, but he kept going. He was sliding uncontrollably. The bubbles rushed over him. He closed his eyes and shut his mouth. Finally he came to a stop. He pushed himself up. He was breathing hard and he felt a sudden rush of energy. That was more fun than he had thought. His clothes were wet where he had slid, but he didn't even notice. Devon laughed harder and took off running again. He watched her head disappear as she slipped. The bubbles just kept spilling out. Tia stood up on top of the bench. She clutched their jackets and shoes. She didn't look happy. Sam didn't care right now. He took off running again. This time he managed to keep his balance and slid on his feet. He was going too fast. He tried his best to stop, but lost his balance and fell to the ground again. He slid into the wall of driers. Devon fell over laughing in the isle next to him. He smiled and stood back up. He was fully soaked now.

"I'll race ya," Devon said. She took a running stance at the front of her row. Sam nodded and she took off running. He quickly ran down his. They both ended up slipping and sliding towards the end.

A couple hours' later bubbles were spilling out the front door and they were all out of tokens and soap. They had taken the last of the soap and just poured it on the floor. It had made it considerably more slippery. They were both tired and soaking wet. They stood there shivering and dripping. Tia handed them their jackets and shoes. The back of the laundry mat was more a giant puddle than anything else. It was time to go. Sam put his shoes on his wet feet and pulled his jacket over his soaked shirt. Devon did the same. They left and the cold air hit them like hurricane. It knocked the breath out of them.

"At least our jackets are dry," Devon chattered. "My legs are so cold. It feels like some one's stabbing them, you know?" They were almost home now, but Sam felt like it would never come. Tia stopped. They both took a couple steps before they stopped and turned around. She was looking over at one of the houses. It was white with a black trim. There was a pink flamingo poking out of the snow by the path to the front door. Sam knew there was something weird about it. He shivered and wrapped his arms around himself. He was too cold to think.

"There's no foot prints in the snow," Devon said. Sam looked and there weren't. There was a slight indent in the yard leading up the front door and Sam assumed that was the path, but it looked like it hadn't been shoveled for a month. Devon went over and touched the snow. Her hand slid across it like it was a smooth surface. Sam went over and slid his hand across it too. He pushed and the crust broke revealing the fluffy dry snow beneath. He had seen snow like this many times. It was nothing weird like he had first thought. It was cold and he quickly pulled his hand back inside his sleeve.

Tia was still standing in the middle of the street. She was staring at the house exactly as she had been at first. Sam gave the house another look. All the lights were off inside. He didn't see anything special. It looked empty. She shivered again. He was ready to go home. Devon seemed to be thinking the same thing, and then she gasped. Sam wheeled back around to the house. The font door had opened and a boy looking maybe a few years older than them came bounding out. His feet didn't pierce the snow. Sam basked up. That wasn't normal. He wasn't looking at them his eyes had settled on Tia.

"What are you doing here?" Tia asked.

"Just getting a meal ma'am," he said. He bowed as he stepped off the snow. He even dropped one knee and knelt, and then he stood up and stood in front of Tia. He didn't seem to even notice Sam and Devon. Sam looked to Devon, but she looked just as confused as him.

"This is not your area, Fantom. You do not have permission to feed here," Tia said. The boy was a complete opposite of Tia. Her skin was so pale it gave the snow competition. His was so dark he would disappear on a dark night. Her long hair shone in the light while his was nonexistent. His eyes glowed a dark red.

"The areas have dropped, ma'am. We feed every where now," he said. He bowed while he said. He looked nervous about even saying it in the first place.

"Not around me they haven't. I will continue to enforce them so do not patronize me with your feeble excuses," she said.

"I'm sorry ma'am. I did not mean them in that way." he knelt down again.

"Silence yourself until I ask for your response. I see manners are crumbling as well. Get up. You will help me with my mission to repay for your insolence." He stood up, but kept his head bowed. Tia turned to Sam and Devon.

"Okay, lets go home," Sam said feeling the cold all over again. Him and Devon set off at a fast pace. Tia followed behind them and Fantom trailed right behind her. Sam really didn't want to go home with another person. He was filling like he was pressing his luck. They reached the house and he forgot about caring. All he thought about was getting into the house and getting warm. He ran into the house. It was a school day. No one should be home anyway.

Stue sat at the table. He was deep in thought. He had taken the day off of school to go to work, but they had sent him home early. He was debating going to his last few classes. The door flung open and Sam came stumbling. He was soaking wet and shivering. Devon came in behind him looking equally wet. She was shivering if anything worse. Then Stue was a little shocked to see Tia followed by some guy. The guy smiled at him and he smiled back. Sam looked surprised to see him. He couldn't blame him. He wasn't supposed to be here anyway.

"Hey there Stue. What it do?" Devon said as she hung her jacket on the back of a chair. "How are you? Feeling blue? Anything new? Need a shoe? What can I do? It's all coo'"

"You don't mind if we brought some one else back?" Sam asked.

"No, it's okay," Stue said.

"This is Fantom," Sam said. He made it more of a question and looked to Fantom to make sure he was saying it right. Fantom nodded.

"Stue," he said and nodded to him. Fantom nodded and looked to Tia. She walked into the living room and he quickly chased after her. "Who's he?"

"Not really sure. I've never seen him before. He's Tia's friend. I mean he seems nice enough, but, you know. What I'm really wondering is how long Tia plans on keeping him with her. She's got like total control over the guy. It makes you wonder more about Tia. I think they know each other from some where. It's all weird. I mean I thought my whole thing was weird enough, but shit just keeps getting weirder. Where will it end? And the whole mission thing, or what ever he has to help her with. Do you think we're part of it. Why is she staying with us?" Devon suddenly looked at Stue. She seemed a little shocked to see him there. She gave a week smiled. "I gotta go get changed." She hurried out of the room.

"What was she talking about, and why are you guys all wet and smell like . . . is that laundry? Where have you been?" Stue asked. Sam shuffled his feet.

"We just went out," Sam said. "It's no big deal. We didn't get in any trouble or nothing."

"What? Okay, first what was she just talking about?" Stue asked.

"Nothing. You know Devon. She just kind of rambles sometimes. It didn't mean anything. She was just talking," he said.

"Fine. Who's your friend then?"

"Fantom. We ran into him while we were walking. He's an old friend of Tia's."

"Okay. Now why exactly are you and Devon so wet?"

"A fire hydrant broke downtown and a car drove through the puddle and splashed us."

"Fine. I don't care. Go warm up. You're shaking so bad I'm scared your heads going to fall off." Sam smiled and left the room.

Devon changed into some nice warm pajama pants and a t-shirt. She was already feeling warmer. She walked back out into the living room. Stue was sitting there talking with Fantom. Devon's breath caught in her throat.

"Yeah, I'm from Nemlore. You would have never heard of it 'cause you're human. It's really nice. One of the most beautiful places. I'm very proud to be from there. My mother is originally from there. Her family has been in that area for over a thousand years, since it was called Lore," Fantom said.

"Really? So if I'm human, what are you?" Stue asked. Devon hesitated, but jumped in.

"Well I feel a lot better. I'm glad I could get those wet clothes off. I was freezing. It totally didn't seem that cold walking over there," Devon she walked in and forced herself between Fantom and Stue. They were having a hard time fitting on the couch.

"So, how did you and Sam get so wet Devon?" Stue asked.

"You should have been there. It was the greatest thing ever. We went to this laundry mat and we turned on all the washing machines and filled them with tons of soap and then we turned them all on and filled the place with bubbles. You wouldn't believe it, it was sooo fun and it got all slippery. I mean we were slipping all over the place."

"That's not what Sam told me," Stue said. Devon grimaced.

"What did Sam tell you?" she asked.

"That it was from a broken fire hydrant."

"I swear that kids always lying," Devon laughed. "I mean sometimes he doesn't even need to. Like what are you going to do about it? It's not like you'd even get mad. It was a great idea you gotta admit it."

"Yeah, it was," Stue said smiling and shaking his head. Devon smiled too. Her hair was crunchy and still partly frozen. She rubbed a piece between her fingers. "What's going on Devon?"

"Can you just go with I'm not really sure and I don't think you'd believe me if I told you. I mean I understand why you're asking, but it's complicated and no one really knows, except maybe Tia here, but she's a little vague. I'm lost too," Devon said. Fantom was looking incredibly out of place. He shifted on the couch. Devon turned to him. She smiled.

"I shouldn't have opened my mouth. I forget about the whole human rules. I came in late and I never got to learn. With the crumbling I've been on my own. I skipped a lot of the initiation stuff. I'm not even supposed to be here," he said.

"You're insolence may prove useful," Tia said. Fantom smiled at that.

"Thank you ma'am. You are too kind," he said. He bowed his head again.

Sam walked back out into the living room. Stue got up.

"Well I guess I should go to school then," he said.

"Hey! Why aren't you on school anyway?" Devon asked.

Stue winked and headed into the kitchen.

"What were you guys talking about?" Sam asked.

"Just how much of a liar you are. I mean I can't even trust what's coming out of your mouth. You know this isn't a good habit to get into. This is your intervention Sam. We care about you and that's why we have to do this. It's for your own good. You were out of control," Devon said. Fantom laughed and Sam rolled his eyes.

"Bye," Stue yelled from the kitchen. They heard the side door open and close. Stue was gone. Devon smiled and turned back to Fantom.

"So there Fantom, is it? What exactly are you?" she asked.

"Well what are you?" he asked Devon.

"I'm human. Devon Robin Rodgers the human, and this Sam Diamond the other human. And I have no idea about Tia here. She's like a brick wall. Tia the giant black hole, we get nothing out of her," Devon said.

"She's Tia the daughter of pain of sadness. How can you not know who Tia is? And I think I've heard of you. Devon Rodgers the protector of the human race. You're the first of you're kind. I wasn't expecting, well . . . you're just different then I thought." He smiled.

"Thanks, I guess. So what are you? I mean I know I asked, but I didn't exactly hear an answer on that."

"Oh well, I'm just the consumer of fear."

"Wow, I'm getting sick of all these stupid titles. I mean what so they mean? C'mon, that answers nothing. That title don't mean nothing to me. Give me something I can use. It's just like a wimp excuse so no one has to actually tell anything. Ah," Devon said. She leaned back and covered her eyes. "I don't care."

Sarah and Sam were alone sitting on the porch. Sam wasn't sure why they were there. He didn't know why he had come out here. Maybe to think. He had needed to just sit somewhere and think. This seemed like the place to go. It just seemed right in his mind. Sarah had joined him slightly after. She sat down next to him on the step.

"We don't ever get to talk any more Sam. I can't remember the last time. So how you been?" she asked.

"Fine," Sam said.

"You know. We used to talk Sam. We used to tell each other everything."

Sam was silent. He didn't know what to say to that. He looked away.

"It's okay. Who's the new guy, Fantom?" Sarah looked out into the street. The light was dimming and the street was empty.

"I don't know," Sam said. "He's a friend of Tia's I guess."

"Sam, you don't even know these people. They just show up and you don't say anything, and then you ask if they can stay here, and Sam do you ever think that they might be using you. I hate to admit it, but you don't even know them. You're my brother and I worry about you."

"There's more to it."

"What? Sam tell me. I don't understand. You used to tell me everything. I wish you could remember."

"I don't even know how to tell you," Sam said.

"What is Tia?"

"I don't know. The only answer I get to that is the child of pain and sadness. You tell me what that's supposed to mean," Sam sighed.

"What is she? I'd just say she's crazy, but have you seen her. I can't even think that's crazy. There has to be more to it."

"Devon is supposed to be the protector of human kind, and Fantom is the consumer or fear."

"Yeah. It's all weird. It's like a giant crazy cult that's trying suck you in."

"There was this guy."

"Yeah?"

"When we first met Tia, there was this guy. He knew Devon. He said he wanted my memories."

"Who was he?"

"His name was Nevin the bringer of destruction and chaos."

"How many of them are there?"

"I don't know. He could snap his fingers and make things happen."

"What kind of things?"

"I don't know. I wasn't sure what he was doing. He made the whole ground shake and he did something to Devon. She passed out and then Tia just appeared in the street, then Nevin left. He disappeared. We were on Monroe Dr. then I saw the news and they said everyone on that street lost their memories. I think Nevin did it."

"What?"

"Devon puts memories back in people."

"How?"

"She gets them in her head and goes and finds the person and gives them back."

"What do Tia and this Fantom guy do?"

"I don't know. I think Tia might be really powerful though. Fantom worships her and Nevin didn't want to fight her. I don't know what she can do. She said she was here to protect me."

"From what?"

"I don't know. I want to say Nevin, but he didn't seem like he wanted to hurt me. He just told me to give him my memories." Sarah leaned back and smiled.

Sam dreamed he was falling. He had been walking down a street and at the end there had been this large hole. He knew that he needed to get to the other side, but he was terribly scared he was going to fall in the hole. The street was wet, but it wasn't raining. All the water from the street was slowly dripping into the hole. There was room to the side so Sam tried walking there. He almost made it past the hole when he tripped. He felt his stomach drop as he tried desperately to catch his balance. He didn't. He fell in the hole and he just kept falling.

Sam woke up. His heart was racing and he was gasping for breath. He sat up and took deep breathes. He had never had a dream like that. It wasn't like any of his others and it scared him. For one thing he still felt his heart racing, like he really had just plummeted 300ft. He shook his head, but he couldn't shake the feeling. He got up. Every one was at school or work. Fantom had disappeared a couple days ago. Sam wasn't sure were he went. Devon had tried asking Tia, but she wasn't talking about it. He didn't bother thinking about it that much.

Sam stretched and left his room. There was no point sitting there thinking about it. He walked into the living room to find just Devon sitting there.

"Where's Tia?" he asked.

Devon jumped at the sounded of his voice. "I'm so glad your up. She was acting really weird and then she left. She told me that she'd trust me keeping you safe for now. It was scary. She looked really pissed. I thought she was going to eat me or something. Then Fantom showed up all nervous and sweaty and stuff and they left together. She said not to move until she came back, and she was really scary about it. She was all serious and stuff, like more than usual," Devon said. She had turned all the way around on the couch by the end. She was facing him and using her hands to try and get the message across a little better.

Sam nodded and continued on into the kitchen. He was glad to have Tia gone for a while. He didn't really care why she was gone. He wasn't sure why he was glad about it, but he breathed easier. Sam poured himself a bowl of cereal and went back in the living room to sit with Devon.

"She didn't say were she went?" Sam asked. His voice sounded hoarse and scratched his throat. He cleared it and it felt better. He took a big bite of his Fruit Loops.

"Nope," Devon said. She changed the channel. They watched TV. There was nothing else to do and neither of them felt like being creative. They were both content to sit there and watch the nothingness. The house was oddly quiet and they both enjoyed it for a time.

The front door shot open. Sam looked at it confused. Fantom came stumbling in. he wasn't looking very good. He grabbed the door frame and pushed himself up. He looked around the room quick and then his eyes settled on them.

"Get up! We have to go," he yelled. He was pulling himself out the door before he even finished his sentence. Sam and Devon didn't move. Fantom danced around on the stop. "Hurry!"

Sam was the first to get up. Devon looked a little hesitant. Sam was worried Fantom would pee his pants if Devon didn't get soon. She looked between them.

"Why?" she asked, but it was too late. Fantom had lost his nerve. He sped out the door, leaving it open.

"Come on," Sam said. Devon looked around. She sighed and stood up. Sam walked out the door and found the front yard empty. There were a couple more trails of foot prints in the snow, but that was it. There was no Fantom. There was no Tia. Devon poked her head out, and then her body slowly followed it. She tisked beside him.

"Okay. I knew we shouldn't believe Fantom. I mean the guys totally lost it. He's not even out here. I had to get off the couch for nothing. If I ever see him again I'm giving him a piece of my mind. This is so not okay. No one just comes in and starts yelling and then disappears," Devon said. She put her hands on her hips.

"Do you hear something?" Sam asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about Sam. I mean, I don't hear anything."

"Yeah li-

BOOM

The rest of Sam's sentence was lost in a loud explosion behind them. It felt like two large hands landed on his back and shoved him with all its force into the front yard. Sam landed in the soft snow and felt a huge amount of heat wash over the top of him. He put his hands instinctively over his head and splintered wood rained down all around him. He gasped for breath, but got a mouthful of snow. He pushed himself up and the heat was extreme. He crawled forward. Devon was sitting up in the snow near the end of the yard. She looked back at him and her eyes settled on him then passed him. Her jaw dropped. Sam stopped and turned around and looked. There was nothing left of the roof and most of the tops of the walls. He gasped, but just ended up coughing.

"Oh, um. Come on!"

They turned to the street. Fantom stood in the middle. He beckoned them to him. "Hurry!"

Sam took one look back at the house. The image almost seemed to shimmer before his eyes. He shoved himself up and ran out into the street. Devon was already there.

"Did you know that was going to happen?" she screamed.

"I, um . . . well, it's. No?" Fantom stammered.

"You did. You selfish little bastard, you knew. I can't believe it. I mean, you must be crazy!"

"What happened?" Sam asked, cutting her off. Devon still looked fuming. She stomped her feet a little, but her rant was cut off.

"I, I don't know. Tia just told me to get y'all out of the house. I ah swear I didn't know that was going to happen. Really," Fantom said. "Tia told me to get both of you away." He gave a weak smile and started running up the street. Sam and Devon followed. Sam was amazed to see no one had come out to see what the explosion was. It has been loud. His ears were slightly ringing. He supposed most of them were at work, at least that's what he hoped. Fantom paused at the end of the block. He looked at them. Sam was staring to worry.

"I don't where to go. She didn't tell me where to take you guys. She just said away," Fantom said.

"Great. We're going to die. We're going to explode just like the house, 'cause the idiot here had no idea where to take us. I mean great. This is it. I have no idea where to go. Wow, doesn't way mean any where. Come on Fantom, use you're head, any where, just some where that's not going to explode please."

"Where's Tia?" Sam asked. Fantom shrugged and took off running again. Sam rolled his eyes and followed. Running at least kept him warm. It's not like he had been able to grab a jacket.

"My feet are freezing. I mean they hurt," Devon yelled. Fantom just kept going. He seemed to turn randomly. Sam had no idea where he was taking them. Devon caught up to Sam and ran next to him.

"This is the way to the school," Devon whispered to him. Sam looked ahead. He could feel a stitch forming in his side, but he pushed it away. Devon didn't even seem to be fazed by the running. She looked at him, waiting for his reaction. Sam managed a shrug. Fantom seemed to have no trouble running either. Sam didn't know how much further his feet would last. They were cold and hard feeling and stung every time they hit they ground. He never realized how great shoes were.

They ran a little longer. Sam had no idea how far away the school was. "How do you know where the school is?" Sam panted. Devon looked to him a little surprised.

"I don't know. I mean, I been by it before. I guess I just remember things, you know," Devon said. Sam nodded and slowed down a little bit. He couldn't keep up this pace. Devon slowed down with him. Fantom looked back and saw them losing ground.

"Hurry up," he panted. Maybe he was a little more tired than Sam had thought. Sam pushed himself a little faster. The air felt like it was burning his lungs. This was not fun.

"How far is the school?" Sam managed.

"Further. I mean it's not that close," Devon said. Sam concentrated on running. There was no one on the streets. They were empty. Sam expected to see more people. The only ones he had seen were a group of children followed by a woman pushing a few more in a stroller. He assumed it was a daycare going to the park. That had been a few blocks ago.

Suddenly a man was right in front of Sam, right in his path. Sam dug his feet into the ground and stumbled. He almost ran into the man, but stopped just in time. Devon must have seen him soon because she stopped a couple feet behind him. Sam backed up fast. He recognized this man. He could feel the tension in Devon as he got back to next to her. Nevin looked around closely then he smiled. The smile made him look even more intimidating. Sam could hear Devon almost growling next to him.

"Not glad to see me again?" he asked. "Tia's a little busy at the moments, so it's just me and the two of you." Sam looked around for Fantom, but he couldn't see him any where. It really was just Nevin and the two of them. Sam was feeling pretty insignificant at the time.

"You're not getting it Nevin," Devon growled. Sam jumped slightly at the harshness of her voice. He looked over at her and saw her slightly crouched, like she was ready to pounce on him.

"Are you going to stop me?" he asked.

"Why do you want my memories?" Sam asked. Nevin looked at him and smiled.

"Because they are mine now," he said. Sam looked to Devon hoping she would offer something more, but she didn't even notice. Her eyes were locked on Nevin and Sam didn't think anything could pry them off right now.

"Leave Nevin," Devon said.

"Fine, hand over those memories and I will."

"What is so significant about these memories?"

"I don't have time for your pointless questions," Nevin said. He raised his hand, and there was a snap. Sam reeled around to see it was Devon this time who had snapped her fingers. Nevin lowered his hand. His brow furrowed.

"What did you do?" he asked. Sam was wondering the same thing. Devon smiled.

"Nothing," she said. Sam looked around. Nothing seemed different. Nevin looked around too. He turned back to Devon.

"It doesn't matter I will kill you anyway," Nevin said. He raised his hand again, and then he paused. Devon smiled wider. Nevin looked at his hand then he turned to Devon. "Un-do it!"

"Un-do what? I mean, I have no idea what you're talking about. You should really be more specific when you ask stuff like that or you might just confuse people. We can't all be mind readers. That would make the world pretty boring if we could all just read each other's minds," Devon said.

"You should be dead."

"Yeah, no one's arguin' that, but the thing is I'm not. You can't deny the truth. I'm pretty sure I'm standing right here and last time I checked I was alive."

"Shut up! Can you just shut the fuck up? I don't care about you." Suddenly Nevin was in front of Sam. He blinked and there he was. Sam almost stumbled backwards, but Nevin grabbed his head. His hand locked into his hair and Sam wished he had gotten a shorter hair cut.

Devon hit Nevin. Devon drew back her fist and stepped into it. It made contact with the side of Nevin's head and she followed through. Nevin took a couple steps back with the force. He dragged Sam with him. Nevin looked dazed and Sam's jaw was dropped in shock. Devon didn't waist her time. She brought her foot up and kicked him right in the face.

He let go of Sam this time and Sam fell backwards onto the ground. Nevin fell too. Nevin was up fast and he looked mad. His eyes were wide and crazy. Sam was scared, but Nevin went after Devon. He grabbed her throat and lifted her off the ground. Devon didn't even have a chance. Devon grabbed his arm and Sam could see her nails sink into the back of his hand. Sam was frozen. He watched in horror as Nevin brought her closer to his face. Then it happened Devon reached forward and poked him in the eye. Nevin screamed. He dropped her and grabbed his eye. He fell to the ground holding it and screaming. Devon knelt on the ground gagging and gasping. Nevin was looking worse. He stumbled around and then he was gone. The air was suddenly silent with out his screams. Sam looked to Devon.

"What an idiot," Devon laughed. Sam couldn't calm down enough to find what just happened funny. "I can't believe he didn't see that coming. I mean, come on. I'm Devon Rodgers. I know how to fight. It's not like I never got choked before."

"Where did he go?" Sam asked.

"Oh, trust me he's not coming back. At least not with two eyes," she said laughing harder.

"You poked his eye."

"Oh it was a little more than poking. That's the biggest mistake people make, they start getting choked and they panic and focus on their throat. Stupid people, I mean focus on the guy choking you." Devon got up and offered Sam her hand. He took it and she pulled him up. "It's best if you don't panic." Sam offered a weak smile. She started walking off down the street and he followed.

"Where's Fantom?" Sam asked.

"I don't know. I mean, I didn't exactly expect for him to stick around. He doesn't seem like the bravest guy, more like a little suck up rat, but what can you say. He's gone we're still here, and I don't plan on ever letting him live it down. Spineless worm."

"So where are we going now?"

"To the school. I mean I'm pretty sure that's where Fantom was leading us, and let's just say I'd feel a little safer with Tia around. So I thought we'd just go with out him. I'm sure Tia would love to hear about his disappearance, you know."

Sam nodded and they walked in silence again. His feet were killing him and he could really feel the cold now. He shivered uncontrollably. Devon didn't seem any better. Finally she stopped and sat down on the curb. She picked her foot up and rubbed it through her sock. Sam sat down next to her and did the same.

"My feet hurt," Devon moaned.

"What did you do to Nevin?" Sam asked.

"I beat the shit out of him and he didn't even see it coming." Devon smiled, but it quickly died and she rubbed her foot with both hands. Sam could see that her knuckles were bruised.

"No, when he went to do the snapping thing."

"Oh, well I seen him do it once, and I'm not stupid. I wasn't letting him do it again. So I just made him forget how to do it. He knew what he wanted to do, but he couldn't remember how to do it." Devon was grinning. She set her foot down and picked up the other. "Why is it so cold?!"

"Because it's winter."

"No way!" Devon said with exaggerated wonder. Sam shook his head.

They made it to the school. They both paused outside looking at it. Sam rubbed his arms. He was hoping when he saw the school he would remember it. That there would be some hint, maybe déjà vu, but there was nothing. They were across the street and down slightly, but they could see it. It looked empty. A couple students seemed to wonder in the front, but that was it. There was a desolate feeling about it. Sam was cold and wanted to go in, but something held him back.

"There's something wrong, you know?" Devon asked.

"Yeah, I feel it."

"I don't see Tia. Maybe we weren't going here."

"Maybe."

They both stared at the square building. It was flat and plain and definitely not exploded, yet they were intimidated.

"I haven't been in a school in a long time, and even then it was rare. I was a terrible student," Devon whispered. "I bet you were a good student Sam."

"I don't know. They'll recognize me if I go in."

"It's to cold to stay out here."

"I see your shivering. Your weakness surprises me." They both wheeled around to see Tia standing behind them. She looked them over. "You look pathetic."

"What are you doing here Tia?" Sam asked.

"Following a false lead, like a blind dog in a butcher shop," she said.

"Where are we going? I mean the house isn't exactly some where we can return to. So where did you plan on taking us?" Devon asked.

"I did not plan on taking you any where. I sent Fantom to remove you from the house. You are safe there for I plan nothing else," Tia said. She turned on her small feet and started walking away.

"Where are you going now?" Sam asked.

"You might want to worry more about your family," Tia said.

"Why?"

"Because they will quickly be in a position to deserve worry."

Sam looked worried. He turned to Devon. She just looked slightly worried and cold. Her teeth chattered. Tia turned back around and kept going. This was their problem.

"Come on," he said and crossed the street towards the school. Devon followed. Sam wasn't going to let his family be put in danger.

They reached the school. Sam pulled the door and it was open. The office was just past it. The halls were empty. They slipped past the front office. The empty halls played to their advantage. Sam had no idea what classes they would be in. Devon was just as clueless.

"If they're in trouble there'll be some sign of something. I mean danger's kinda obvious. Don't'cha think," Devon said. She was enjoying the warm. She skipped down the hallway.

"Yeah," Sam mumbled.

Sanhuel walked around the corner and paused. He was sure he saw Devon and Sam at the end of the hallway. He debated just turning around and walking back, but he had to know.

"Sam!" he yelled. The two figures turned around. It was Sam and Devon. He regretted yelling as soon as they turned around. Devon stood up on her tip toes and waved.

"Sanhuel, I haven't seen you in forever," she yelled back. "How have you been, I mean wow school. Who knew."

Sanhuel walked over to them. "What are you guys doing here?" He watched them exchange a nervous glance. He waited. Devon turned to him and grinned. He knew he wasn't going to get a straight answer.

"Well we were just walked down the hallway, but right now we're talking to you, 'cause you're just the greatest to talk to. I mean we were just sitting at home and were like damn we need to go talk to Sanhuel, it's been for ever. We just couldn't wait for you to get out of school. It's really all your fault. If you weren't so great we wouldn't have to come visit you," Devon said. Sanhuel turned to Sam, but he didn't seem like he felt like adding anything else. Sanhuel rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, well I'm going to go," Sanhuel said. This wasn't his problem and he didn't feel like getting involved.

"Aw, come on Sanhuel. We came all this way to see you. You can't just leave us like that. I mean how important is school anyway? You can just skip and spend the day with us," Devon said.

"No. I can't," Sanhuel said and kept going.

"Fine, but it's your choice. I tried. The least you can do is tell us where Sarah and Stue is," she said.

"Sarah's in English, 2nd floor room 220. Stue didn't come to school today."

"Why aren't you in class if it's important?"

"I was helping a sub," he said and left them. Devon rolled her eyes.

"Do you think they'll be safer with us?" Sam asked when Sanhuel had turned down another hallway.

"Coarse. I mean strength in numbers. Right?"

"Yeah."

They went up to the second floor and walked down the hallway only to find that this side of the school only had the odd numbered classrooms. It took them longer than they thought to find the even side. After that they had no problem finding the right room. Devon was excited now. They turned into the next hallway. The numbers had been climbing and 220 should be right here. Devon stopped and Sam walked right into her. She backed up quickly and dragged him with her back around the corner.

"What-

She clamped a hand over his mouth cutting him off. Sam looked around. There was no one else in this hallway. She removed her hand and looked around. Sam could feel how tense she had gotten.

She carefully walked over to the corner again. She crouched down and leaned her head around. She yanked it back and leaned against the wall. She held up three fingers.

Sam listened as hard as he could. He couldn't hear anything. He strained. He could hear some mumbling. It quickly turned to muffled shouting. He looked to Devon, but she just put a finger to her lips. There was screaming. It wasn't so muffled any more. He could hear the people shouting now. He could hear running. A girl came running around the corner, coughing. She didn't even notice them. She was quickly followed by more. Devon stood up and walked around the corner. Sam followed her.

A few students had poured out of the open classroom door, but not that many. A man came out of the classroom and Sam was pretty sure he wasn't a student or teacher. He bore a strong resemblance to Fantom. Sam didn't think it was just the red eyes. There seemed to be something else. His eyes passed right over them like he considered them just students. Sam let his breath out. He hadn't even realized he was holding it.

A second man came out and joined the first. He was smiling. His teeth looked jagged and thin. They seemed out of place in his mouth.

"We got her. Jerry said we can go after the other one," he said. The red eyes one was grinning too now.

"Where's Sarah!"

Sam turned. It was Devon. She was yelling at them. Sam felt his heart catch in his throat. He would have much appreciate laying low and figuring out what's going on. He wanted to know everything and get a plan. Apparently Devon didn't.

The two men turned to her. Pointy teeth's smile faltered for a second, but the red eyed one's stayed strong. Sam wanted to melt into the floor.

"Hey there little girl. Who do you think you are?" pointy teeth said.

"Answer my question first. Where is Sarah?"

"Why do you ask about Sarah? Who are you?" red eyes asked. He took a step towards them.

"My name is Devon Robin Rodgers. Now where is she?"

"Well Devon, my name is Dayton the producer of hope. You might not want to mess with me little Devon. I have powers you can't even imagine," said pointy teeth.

"Try me," Devon growled. She took her own step forward. Sam took a step back.

"What are you two doing, get going." A man stepped out the door. Sam could see a splatter f blood on the front his shirt. He shivered. The man whipped his mouth with one arm and dragged an unconscious Sarah out behind him. He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. He turned and his eyes fell on Devon and Sam.

"Who are they?" he asked. He only sounded mildly interested. He looked to his companions.

"I don't know, some kid," Dayton said. He turned and started walking away. Red eyes and the other guy stayed.

"Let her go," Devon said. Sam was amazed at how calm she said it. The guy looked a little surprised too. He looked to the red eyed guy and smiled. He turned back.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because she's not yours. What do you want with her?"

"Who are you?"

"I am Devon Robin Rodgers and you better let her go."

"What are you? You seem human, but."

"She is a simple human child, Jerry," red eyes said. Jerry tilted his head.

"I don't think so," he said.

"I am Devon Rodgers the protector of the human race."

They were silent. Jerry narrowed his eyes. He handed Sarah's limp body to red eyes.

"Go. Take her away and help Dayton get the other. I'll handle this," he said. Red eyes nodded and ran off down the hallway. "Now, who's your friend?"

"Sam, go after Sarah," Devon said. "I can handle him." Sam looked at her. His eyes were wide. "Go." He didn't move. "Get Sarah."

"I can't leave you," Sam said. He looked at Jerry then back to her. He couldn't do it. He wanted more than anything to go after Sarah, and Sanhuel. He was sure they were going for Sanhuel next. But he couldn't. He couldn't just leave Devon. He couldn't desert her. He shook his head.

"Fine. We'll get her after," Devon said. She turned back to Jerry. He was grinning at them.

"What are you doing here? Why are you after Sarah?"

"I am Jericho the creator of death. I do as I am told. I do not ask why," he said.

"What have you been told?" Sam asked.

"That is not for you to know; besides it is the end for you both. The information will mean nothing in a couple seconds." He ran at them his speed was amazing and the best Sam could do was trip on his own feet and fall backwards. He had no idea what Devon was planning. The door right behind him opened. It almost hit him in the head. Jericho changed his path flawlessly. He landed on the unsuspecting teacher and they fell back into the classroom. The air was quickly filled with the teachers screams. Devon grabbed Sam's arm and started doing her best to drag him up the hallway. Sam quickly got his feet beneath him and they ran.

"Damn that was luck. I mean I had no idea what I was going to do. He was huge," Devon said. Sam almost tripped on his own feet again.

"You didn't know what you were going to do?" he asked

"Nope. That was straight instinct." She grinned and turned into the stairwell. They ran to the first floor and kept going.

"Do you know where we're going?" Sam asked.

"Nope. I thought I was on a role with that instinct thing, so I'm just winging it. I mean it seems to be working." Devon leaned into it and ran faster. She pulled to go around another corner and went flying back onto the ground. Sam stopped. He bent over panting. He didn't need his memory to know he had never been on the track team. Devon scrambled up fast as Dayton and the red eyes guy came around the corner. The red eyes guy was rubbing his chest. He glared at her.

"Where's Sarah?" Devon asked. They both smiled. Suddenly there was a loud beep and then all the intercoms turned on.

"There is an environmental hazard. Every one is instructed to go into emergence protocol."

There was another beep and the voice was gone.

A few doors opened along the hallway and students began pouring out. They were yelling and running and some just wandered. Sam was pretty sure that wasn't emergency protocol. Teachers followed yelling at them all to get back in the classrooms. It was chaos. Sam turned back and found every one gone, even Devon.

"Sam!" He turned around. It was Jerome. Stan came up behind him.

"What are you doing here?" Stan asked.

"Oh, um . . . I just came to visit everybody. Have you seen Sanhuel?" Sam asked.

"No. Doesn't he aid in the office this hour?"

"Yeah," Jerome agreed.

"Where's that?" Sam asked.

"Down the hallway, near the end," Jerome said pointing down the hallway. Sam nodded and set off. He left Stan and Jerome behind. He pushed his way through the crowd. It was steadily thinking, but there were still quite a few people. Sam pushed around them. He heard some of them whisper to each other. A lot of them recognized him. He ignored them. He couldn't see Sanhuel. He kept going, but he was near the end. He turned around and looked harder.

He gave up and started following the crowd. He assumed Sanhuel had already left. He made it back to the front door and shivered at the burst of cold air. He didn't want to go out. It was too cold, and he didn't feel like putting up with it again. He stopped in the door way. The steady flow of people pushed him forward and he moved to the side. He needed to find every one.

"Um, Sam?"

Sam turned. Fantom was standing next to him. Fantom smiled, but Sam didn't feel much like smiling at him.

"Where's every one else?" he asked.

"Outside," Fantom said. He turned and waited for Sam to follow. The air seemed colder than Sam had remembered. He started shivering almost immediately. Fantom walked fast. He seemed to be an expert at weaving through the crowd. It seemed everyone had stopped in the front and pulled out their cell phones.

"Sam!" He was nearly tackled by Devon running out of the crowd. "C'mon." she started leading him out to the street. Sam could see a little group. He recognized Sanhuel, Drew, Stan, Jerome, and Sarah. She was clinging to Sanhuel and crying. Sam felt relief rush over him seeing she was okay. As soon as they joined the group Sarah let go of Sanhuel. She let go of him and latched onto Sam. He stumbled back a little, but then wrapped his arms around her. He could feel the front of his shirt getting wet. She was shivering worse than him.

"What happened?" he asked. They all looked to Drew. Drew gave a half smile.

"There were these two guys and let's just say they didn't know how to take a geography book," Drew said. He smiled, but his eyes still looked slightly sad. Sam looked around. Fantom was gone again. Devon seemed nervous. She kept shifting back and forth.

"You guys need a ride home?" Stan asked. He pulled out a set of keys and jingled them in the air.

"You got a car?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. My mom gave me hers, now that I got my license." He pulled out a license.

"You guys aren't even a little worried that some guys broke into the school and killed a bunch of people?" Sanhuel asked.

"Nope," Jerome said.

"No, not really," Stan said.

"We should go," Drew said.

"Yeah, we'll just walk. I mean, we can use the exercise and it's not that far. We'll be fine. Come on Sam, Sanhuel," Devon said. She gave a big smile and started backing up.

"Yeah, we gotta go," Sam said. He helped Sarah get enough control of herself to start walking away.

"What are you guys doing? It's cold. We don't live close and you and Devon don't even have shoes or jackets. Why don't you have shoes?" Sanhuel asked.

"Well okay, way to be mean, Sanhuel. You just couldn't leave it. There was a terrible shoe accident at the house and cold is for wimps. There now you know. I mean thanks for being nosey. Now we are walking. We can't all fit in the car anyways. Quit being selfish," Devon said.

"Fine," Sanhuel said and started walking away with them.

"You sure?" Stan asked.

"Yeah. Go ahead, we're fine," Devon said. Sarah sniffled and wiped her face. They could hear sirens now. They walked faster. As soon as they were far enough away Sanhuel turned to them.

"What is going on?" Sanhuel asked. He glared at them.

"Okay, so there was a little accident at the house and we can't exactly go back there right now, so is there anywhere else we can go?" Devon said. "Hopefully close."

"What happened to the house?"

"It might have exploded just a little bit. I mean it's not that bad, but it's not exactly warm no more."

Sanhuel glared at them for a little bit. Sarah was looking around too. She kept looking behind her. "We can go to Charlie's. He wasn't in school today, but he might be home. Does Siph know?"

"No," Sam said.

Sanhuel led the way to Charlie's house. It was further than Sam would have liked, but they made it. Charlie was home. He answered the door wrapped in a blanket.

"Hey Charlie, haven't seen you in forever. How you been? Not to good it looks. And as nice as it to talk about you, do you think we could stay here a little bit?" Devon asked. Charlie looked them all over a second then moved out of the way and let them into the house.

"Isn't there school right now?" Charlie asked. He broke into a coughing fit right after.

"You okay Charlie? I mean that didn't sound too good," Devon said. Charlie smiled.

"Yeah, I think I just got a cold or something. My throat is killing me and my stomach and my eyes. God colds suck," he said and sat down on the couch. He coughed again and lay down. They came into the room and made themselves comfortable.

"So, where's your mom?" Sanhuel asked.

"At work," Charlie said and closed his eyes. "I'm just gunna sleep a little bit. You guys can do what ever you want."

"Kay, sorry to bother you," Sarah said. They were all a little surprised to hear her talk. Sanhuel got up and grabbed the cordless phone on the floor. He walked into the kitchen with it.

"Some, some guys tried to kidnap me. They, they killed Ms. Marshall," she said. Her voice broke at the end and she buried her head in her hands.

"Okay, so I'm pretty sure Tia knew that was going on. Why didn't she help us? She just sent us in there and left. I thought she was here to help us. I mean what else was she doing with us?" Devon asked.

"I don't know," Sam said.

"Her and that stupid Fantom, the both of them are terrible. They just leave us," Devon said. "What do you think happened to her?"

"What do you mean?"

"C'mon Sam, you gotta keep up. Nevin said she was busy. Do you think he had some distraction for her? I mean she was like all clingy and everything and then she just acts all weird and disappears, and than Fantom. I don't even want to get started on Fantom," Devon said. Her voice started to rise as she said it, but she gave Charlie a look and lowered it again.

"You seen Nevin again?" Sarah asked. She seemed to have herself under control now. Sanhuel could be heard faintly in the background talking on the phone.

"Yeah, we did. You and Sam been talking I see. I guess that intervention really worked," Devon said. Sam just smiled.

"What happened?"

"Not much. It's not like Nevin's that tuff. He ran like a little pussy when I was done with him. No one messes with me. It's just some people gotta learn it the hard way."

"Did he tell you anything else?"

"No. he was just saying the same old things."

Sanhuel walked back into the room. It really wasn't much of different rooms. There was no wall between the kitchen and the living room. The kitchen just started where the carpet ended. He set the phone back on the floor.

"Siph called. He was freaking out. The house really did explode," Sanhuel said.

"What do you mean really did? I don't lie. I can't believe you doubted me, well actually I can. A house exploding is not the most common thing you expect to hear. It's not every day some one comes up to you and is like 'wow you're house just exploded and the roof is kinda gone'," Devon said.

"You talk too much. What exactly happened to the house to make it explode?" Sanhuel asked.

"I don't know."

"That's it? You have no idea?"

"You said I talk too much so I thought I'd cut it short."

Sanhuel looked frustrated. He sat on the floor. "What are we going to do?" he mumbled.

Sam was sleeping on the couch. Devon was on the loveseat. She didn't fit and her legs hung limp over the edge. For not sleeping much she sure was sleeping. There was a book open on her chest. Retina had come home from work and hadn't seemed that surprised to find them all at her house. Stue and Siphicul had both joined them by them. She had found them all sleeping arrangements and now they were all asleep, including Sam. He was having a peaceful non-dreaming nights sleep when he was suddenly startled awake. He felt disoriented and it took him a second to gain his bearings. Devon was sitting up looking just about as confused as he was. He turned to the center of the room and his question was immediately answered.

Some one was in the middle of the room. She was clutching at herself and crying. She had no clothes and looked like she was all wet. Her short black hair clung to her forehead. Devon was the first to move. She got up and brought her blanket over. She wrapped it around the girl's shoulders. She knelt down in front of her. Sam slowly got off the couch and knelt down on the floor too. The girl clutched the blanket around her. She was shaking so bad Sam thought she might break.

"Are you okay?" Devon asked. She leaned forward and went to put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch her!" Tia screamed. They both turned around shocked to see her in there too. Tia stepped in the room and shoved Sam out of the way. The girl raised her head, her huge tear filled eyes seemed to grow even bigger at the sight of Tia. She crawled backwards still grasping at the blanket. She held her hand out protectively and turned her head, clutching her eyes shut. Tia shoved past her hand. She held out her own hand. Tia shoved it to the girls forehead. The girls screamed like nothing Sam had ever heard. He covered his ears with his hands, but it seemed to do nothing to stop the sound. Tia hit her head with so much force that she flew back onto the ground. Tia followed and her hand kept pushing. It seemed the girl melted into the carpet as Tia pushed, until there was nothing and the screams faded. Tia stood up panting. She wiped her hand on her pants.

"What's going on?!"

Sam and Devon turned around to see everyone else had been awaken now and here they stood. Sam was relived to see Charlie and Retina weren't among them.

"Look, Tia's back," Devon said with a smile. No one else smiled. They just glared. Sam looked away.

"Fine," Siphicul yawned. "I'm going back to bed." He gave the others a pointed look and they followed him.

"What was all the noise?" Sanhuel asked. He stayed standing there knowing Siphicul wouldn't say anything to him.

"Well it was a general out put of sounds waves that came in contact with your ear. They caused a vibration on a thin membrane in your in ear that was then interpreted by your brain and translated into a sound that you were then able to comprehend. I mean, that's how hear. It's kinda what noise is. Maybe not to you. I really got no idea if that's how you hear. It's just for most people, kinda like a stereo type, but I'm pretty sure you fit it," Devon said.

"What caused the sound waves?" he asked.

"They're caused by a flow of electrons-

"That's electricity."

"Okay, if you're so smart then quit asking me," Devon said. She gave him an even bigger smile.

"You're not as smart as you think," he said and left the room.

"He really doesn't like me," Devon said as she climbed back on the little couch. She left her blanket on the floor.

"Where were you Tia?" Sam asked. He went back on the couch and Tia came and sat with him. She didn't bother to answer. Sam waited.

"You just left us, you know? I mean we could of died in there. You tell us to go in and there's some murdering guys in there. Nice job Tia, I really feel lover and my favorite part is the lack of excuse. It's real nice," Devon said. Sometimes Sam just wished Devon would keep her mouth shut. Tia didn't notice. Sam yawned. He hadn't really realized how tired he was. He lay down and curled his feet up so Tia still had room. He was glad she was so little.

"Leave her alone Devon. At least she told us. She didn't even have to do that," he mumbled.

"Fine," Devon said. She lay back and threw her legs over the arm rest again. "So, who was that girl?"

"No one of any importance to you," Tia said.

"I think that's more for me to decide. So, then was she important to you?"

"She was filth that needed to be dealt with. I got what I needed and dealt with her. I just can't believe I she was able to infiltrate my mind. I underestimated her. I understand now why she meant so much to Nevin," Tia said.

Sam listened to them talk. He wasn't sure when he fell asleep, but the next thing he knew it was light and the voices had changed. He wasn't paying attention to them though. He sat up. He had been having the weirdest dream, but he couldn't remember it. It was right there on the tip of his tongue. He closed his eyes and tried to go back to it. It was something. It was something important, something he couldn't forget. He tried his hardest, it was there, but just out of his reach and he was getting a sense of panic from not being able to get it. He opened his eyes. It was just a dream. He nearly jumped. Tia was sitting right next him. He sighed and rubbed his sleepy eyes. He could hear some of the others were up in the kitchen.

"You dream?" Tia asked. She looked interested and Sam was a little thrown off by the sudden show of emotion.

"Yeah," he said.

"What did you dream?" She lowered her voice so the others couldn't hear. She leaned in closer to him.

"I can't remember. Why are you so interested in my dreams?"

"Dreams are rare Sam. They should not be taken lightly."

"I usually do remember them. It's just this one," he said

"What have you dreamed before?" She did nothing to cover her interest. It seemed even more exaggerated compared to her usual mask.

"Nothing much, they didn't seem that important." He gasped. The dream had hit him, not the actual events, but what had been bothering him about it.

"What is it?" Tia asked.

"I had the dream before," he said. He had had the dream before. He knew it. It was from before. It wasn't one he could remember, but the familiarity was undeniable.

"A repeated dream is the rarest and most significant. You must dedicate all the time you have to the recollection of these dreams," Tia said.

Sam nodded and got up. He walked into the kitchen. No one had bothered to go to school today. Charlie was sitting at the table on one of the stools. Sanhuel sat on his left and Stue sat on the other side. Devon sat across from them and Sarah was sitting on top of the kitchen counter. Sam went and stood next to Sarah.

"Sam! You're finally up," Charlie said. He coughed.

They spent the rest of the day together. No one seemed to want to go anywhere. Charlie slept most of the day. He was still feeling terrible. The other talked less than they normally would have. Tia stuck by Sam. She didn't question anymore. He was glad. Sam went into the kitchen to get a drink.

"Hey Sam?" Devon asked. She leaned against the counter and looked at him.

"Yeah," he said absentmindedly as he grabbed a glass.

"What did Tia ask you about?"

Sam looked around, but found they were the only ones in the kitchen. Every one else was in the living room and he could clearly see they were all staring at the TV. He turned back to her.

"About my dreaming."

"Why? Did you have another dream? What was it?"

"I can't remember, but I had it before," he said. He had given up getting the drink. The glass sat forgotten on the counter.

"What do you mean?"

"I know I had the dream before. You know, before I lost my memory."

"What!?"

"I know that's when I had to have it. That's why I can't remember it and why it seems so familiar."

"Really? We have to figure out what it was. You're sure you had it before?"

"Yeah, I really am. Tia was saying about how important dreams are. That's what she kept telling me."

"I guess keep trying to remember it really hard, or work on being a really good person so I can get them for you. I mean, you gotta work really hard on this."

"I know," Sam said. He looked at the forgotten glass and opened the fridge.

"Okay, just make sure you do," she said and went back into the living room.

Retina came home late and ushered them all to bed. She looked tired and her hair had fallen out of the bun she had it in. she didn't seem to notice. She absentmindedly brushed it off the back of her neck. Retina looked extremely young for a mother. She wasn't nearly as young as she looked. She smiled and made them all forget the fact that Siphicul hadn't come back yet. Retina went around Tia. She didn't even look at her. She was tired.

"Sarah wait," Sam said as she went to go to bed. Retina looked at them, but chose not to comment. She kept going. Sam looked around and was glad to find no one listening.

"I used to tell you everything," Sam said.

"Yeah," Sarah said.

"Did I ever tell you about having a dream?" Sam asked.

"People don't dream, Sam."

"So I never did?"

"No, why?"

"I was just wondering. It was stupid."

"You wrote everything in that journal. It might help you get some of your memory back. Did you read any of it?"

"No, but that's all I wanted to know. Thanks," Sam said and Sarah continued off to bed. Sam felt like an idiot for not reading it. It was back at the house. Devon was still watching TV. Sam went back over to her.

"Devon?" Sam asked. She turned away from the TV. She didn't look at all tired.

"Yeah?"

"I kept a journal. I think if I had the dream before I would have written it in there," Sam said.

"We have to go get it. I mean, there might be tons of stuff in there," Devon had jumped up. She ran in place a couple times. "Let's go right now."

"Can't we go in the morning?"

"What? Why? I can't wait."

"It'll still be there in the morning."

"Fine," Devon sighed. "You better not sleep in." She flopped down on the little couch. "Where's Tia?"

"I don't know. Don't worry about it. She can take care of herself." Sam lay down too. He had a hard time falling asleep. He was hoping to have the dream again and thinking about the journal. His mind couldn't relax. Eventually he drifted off.

"C'mon Sam. You said you wouldn't sleep in." Sam heard Devon say. He rolled over and quickly realized he was not in his bed. He hit the floor. It was harder than it looked. He rubbed the back of his head.

"Well that's one way to get up," Devon laughed. She knelt down next to him.

"What time is it?" he groaned. The room was still dark and Sam had the inkling feeling any normal person should still be asleep.

"It's like five something. Hurry up, you said no sleeping in."

"It's too early. This isn't even sleeping in."

"Yeah, but we should have gone at night. I want to go when it's still dark and well schools canceled for the week so every one will be sleeping in. C'mon Retina just left."

"Fine," Sam mumbled. He stood up. Devon was already half way to the door. She opened it as slowly and as quietly as she could. Sam could see she had already turned the TV on to cover the noise and had a jacket and shoes. He wasn't sure who's they were. He grabbed Sanhuel's shoes and jacket. She smiled and pulled it open the rest of the way. Sam followed and closed door as quietly as he could behind them. They paused for a second making sure no one else heard. The house looked still. They started walking. Devon began singing and skipping down the street.

"How can you have so much energy? Did you even sleep?" Sam asked. He could feel his feet dragging and he couldn't stop yawning.

"I told you I don't sleep much," Devon said.

"Where's Tia?" he asked.

"I don't know. She just kinda disappeared. She seems to have a habit of doing that."

Sam nodded. He dragged behind Devon the whole way to the house. She seemed to be in a good mood. The cold slowly woke him up. It was hard to stay sleepy when it was cold out. He was glad there was no wind. The world seems empty and still, like time had frozen. All the streets were deserted, a few birds chirping were the only signs that life still went on. Devon slowed down until she matched Sam's pace.

"Look," she whispered. Sam followed her finger and Sam a man sitting in a yard. There was a car pulled over on the street I front of where he sat. The driver side door was open, but the interior light wasn't on. The car was half way into the yard. The snow looked blue around him in the morning light. He hadn't seen them yet. He was looking the other direction. They grew closer and his head finally swiveled. They were only a house down from him and Sam could see his eyes narrow.

"Stay back!" he shouted. Sam and Devon both stopped walking. The man stood up and he was huge. Sam definitely planned on staying back. He looked like he could squish his head with out breaking a sweat.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"You recognize me, huh?" Devon said.

"How do I know you? Where am I?" he asked.

"Well right now we're in Burnid on Washington Street. You lost your memory," she said. Sam looked at the man and felt instant sympathy. The man looked around. He turned back to them.

"Who are you?"

"My name's Devon Rodgers. I can't help you now, but if you're a good little boy you might just be lucky enough to see me again. Now you probably want to get in your car and get warm. You can' just be sitting in the snow. Drive some where."

"I can't remember how," he said. His voice was full of sudden sadness and worry. It betrayed his fierce look. He walked back and forth a little.

"Yeah, can't help you there. I say just wing it. If you're bad enough at it at least you'll get arrested and then you got a warm place to stay. Just go for it," Devon said. She started walking again. Sam followed after her. He felt terrible leaving the man, but Devon didn't think anything of it. He tried to think, but he couldn't think of anything to help the man. Devon turned down the next block and away from the man. Sam tried not to think about it. The man really wasn't his problem. Devon was singing again. Some protector of the human race.

They walked the rest of the way. The house seemed to stand out. As they grew closer it became more and more obvious it was not okay. The roof and splintered top made it look like something large had been squeezed out the top. The yard was marked off with yellow tape. Devon stepped over it easily. They walked up on to the porch. The door was boarded shut.

"Great," Devon said. She walked off the porch and over to the side window. She limbed over the low bushes and reached the window. Sam stood a little back. The window was already broken. Jagged pieces still stood out in the bottom of the sill. Devon took off her jacket and rapped it around her hand. She knocked out the last pieces of glass then laid it over the ledge. She turned around.

"C'mon Sam, lift me up," she said. He took a step forward and by the wall. The snow crunched. He looked around but the world was still sleeping. She put a hand on his shoulder. "Hurry up." He laced his hands together and she put her foot in it. She climbed up into the window and pushed herself through. She disappeared.

"This place is a disaster," he heard her say. She poked her head back out Sarah's window. "Where is it?"

"Under my mattress," he said.

"Nice," she laughed and disappeared into the house again. Sam could hear stuff being pushed around and a few loud crashed. Time seemed to stretch on for ever. He watched the neighbor's houses. He was just waiting to see the lights turn on. They didn't. Sam was seriously hoping for the watched pot never boils thing.

"I can't find it." Sam jumped and looked up. Devon had her head poked out again. "I looked all over. It's not there. Can you get in the window?"

"Yeah," Sam said. It wasn't too high for him. He pushed himself up and pulled through the window. The room was no longer recognizable as Sarah's. Everything seemed to be knocked over or shifted away from the walls. Splinter wood littered the room. Sam tried not to step on it, but no part of the floor was clean. Devon was already climbing over an extra large beam into the hallway.

"Hurry up," she said. Sam followed her. The hallway was a little better than Sarah's room had been. He followed her and found his room was just as bad. It looked like Devon had dragged the whole mattress off the bed. There was nothing there.

"See. I can't find it. It must be some where else. Are you sure you didn't move it? I mean, you didn't take it out to read it or something?" she asked. She started moving some of the roof out of the way and looking around.

"No," Sam said and joined her.

They searched the whole room. They moved everything, looked under everything. It wasn't there. Sam sat on the remainder of the bed. He looked up at the sky. It was staring to turn light. He sighed. Devon flopped down next to him. She lay back.

"Okay, it's not here," she said. She put her arm over her eyes.

"Yeah," Sam said.

"Sarah told you about the diary? Maybe she didn't know what she was talking about. I bet you got rid of it before you lost your memory, didn't tell her and then lost your memory so now you have no idea. That has to be it."

"Yeah," Sam mumbled. She got back up.

"C'mon we gotta go. We stayed too long," she said. Sam pushed himself up and they walked the rest of the way home slowly. They were both discouraged. They went back in the front door. Devon stopped as soon as she entered the room. Sam ran into the back of her. He took a step back and looked around. Siphicul was sitting on the couch. Devon smiled at him. He did not return it.

"Where have you guys been?" he asked.

"Siphicul, it's so nice to see you. I forgot you were still at work. When did you get back?" Devon asked. She walked in and sat on the little couch. Sam chose to sit with her.

"Where have you guys been?" he asked again. Sam saw Devon open her mouth and knew nothing helpful was coming out.

"We just went for a walk. We couldn't sleep," Sam said. Devon shut her mouth and just smiled.

"Just tell me next time. You're lucky I trust you Sam," Siphicul said. He glared at Devon. She smirked. Siphicul looked tired. He got up and walked out of the room. Sam sighed and leaned back.

"All that for nothing," he mumbled.

Everyone else woke up later. It was light out and warmer. The snow was disappearing fast. Charlie looked ever worse. They were beginning to worry about him. Siphicul slept in. Charlie was leaning on the couch. The whites of his eyes were completely red and his breathing was labored. Sarah draped a blanket over him.

"You okay Char?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he rasped. It was obvious in his voice that he was not fine. He didn't open his eyes. Sarah felt his forehead. She looked at him for awhile then went into the kitchen. She got him a glass of water and set it on the floor next to him then joined the others in the kitchen.

"I'm worried about Charlie. I gave him some stuff, but his fever won't go down, and you know Charlie. It's ten times worse then he would ever let on," she said. Stue had gone to work. He had taken on extra hours since school was canceled. Sarah put her elbows on the table and put her head in her hands.

"He should go to the doctor," Sanhuel said.

"Oh yeah 'cause we can just take him there. Here let me carry him," Sarah said. Sanhuel rolled his eyes and ignored her.

"When does Retina get home?" he asked.

"How am I supposed to know," Sarah said. She coughed lightly.

"Don't tell me you're getting sick now too," Devon said.

"No," Sarah spat. She closed her eyes.

"Way to be bitchy Sarah," Sanhuel said. He got up and opened the fridge. "I feel bad eating all their food."

"Well where the hell are we supposed to go then?" Sarah growled.

"Wow, PMS much?"

"No my I just got a head ache." Sarah stood up. "I'm gunna go lie down." She disappeared into the living room.

"We really are eating all the food. There's nothing, but bread and cheese left," Sanhuel said as he sat back down. He took a bite out of his cheese sandwich. Charlie broke out into another coughing fit in the other room. They all flinched and waited for it to pass. "And Charlie needs to see a doctor."

No one said anything.

"You guys are really quiet. It's starting to creep me out," he said.

"Nothing to say I guess," Devon said.

"Yeah." Sanhuel looked at them suspiciously and ate his sandwich.

"So where's your weird friend and that crazy thing that follows her?" Sanhuel asked.

"I don't know where Tia went. And Fantom, while I hope I never have to see that coward again," Devon said.

"Why?"

"He's a coward that I wouldn't trust to shuck my corn."

"What?" Sanhuel asked, laughing. Sam couldn't help, but smile at that. "I don't think I've ever heard that one before."

"Oh." Devon gave a little smile. "Yeah, well you know what I mean." Sanhuel was still laughing. She shook her head, but she was smiling too.

Siphicul walked into the room looking half asleep. He poured himself a cup of cold coffee and stuck it in the microwave.

"Uh, how old is this?" he asked. He swished around the contents of the coffee pot.

"I have no idea," Sanhuel said. Siphicul nodded. He put the coffee pot back.

"I'm late for work," he sighed. He grabbed his jacket and wandered back into the living room and out the door. The microwave beeped. They ignored it.

"You know, I kind of miss school. It gave me something to do," Sanhuel said. He got up and went into the living room. "You guys are boring."

"Wow that's quite the insult. I mean, boringer than school," Devon said. She got up went into the living room too. Sam followed. Charlie was coughing again. Sam stopped.

"You okay Charlie?" Sam asked. Charlie shook his head no. He pulled his knees up and wrapped his arms around his stomach. "Charlie?" Sam knelt down next to him. Sanhuel got up and came over too. Charlie was shaking bad now. Sanhuel ran out of the living room. He came back quickly with Sarah, her eyes were slightly red. She knelt down next to Sam.

"Do we have a car?" she asked.

Sanhuel went and looked out the door. He came back.

"Yeah, Stue and Siphicul must have both taken the buss," he said.

"Okay. Sam, get Charlie out in the car. Sanhuel, find Retina's cell number and tell her we're taking Charlie to the hospital. Devon . . . well just don't do anything," Sarah said. Sarah got up and found the keys. Sam picked up Charlie and Sanhuel dashed back into the kitchen. Devon glared at Sarah, but Sarah didn't notice. Sanhuel finally found the number and left a massage. Retina didn't answer. They had Charlie in the car and were on their way in minutes. Sarah drove and Sanhuel sat in the front with her. Devon and Sam sat on either side of Charlie. He was leaning on Sam now. Sam could feel the heat through his jacket. Charlie was burning up. His eyes fluttered.

Sarah drove fast, but the miles seemed to drag by. She couldn't get there fast enough. They all stared at the road, willing it to pass faster. The only sound was the hum of the car and the rustle of Charlie's labored breathing. They were all tense.

Sarah pulled into the hospital and parked hastily. She took up two spots. Sam got Charlie out and managed to carry Charlie up to the emergency entrance. Sarah led the way. Devon and Sanhuel seemed to trail behind. Sam couldn't hear Charlie breathing anymore. Sarah went up to the front desk and they brought out a stretched and wheeled Charlie back. Sam watched the whole time. It was only after the doors closed that Sam turned around and saw the rest of the waiting room. Sarah was still busy at the desk.

Sam went and sat down with Devon and Sanhuel. The room was filled with coughs. Sanhuel turned to him.

"Did you look around?" he asked.

"They're all just like Charlie, just some not as bad," Devon whispered. She was right. Most of the people in there were coughing like Charlie. They all looked terrible. Sam was surprised. He felt like he wanted to hold his breath.

"Can we go wait outside?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, I'll go tell Sarah," Sanhuel said. He got up and walked over to the desk. Sam and Devon got up and wet back out the automatic doors. Sanhuel quickly joined them.

"If Siphicul comes home now he's going to be pissed. You said you'd tell him next time we left," Devon said. Sanhuel looked like he wanted to question it, but he didn't. Sam smiled and nodded.

"Do you think it's contagious, what Charlie has?" Sanhuel asked. He leaned back against the brick wall.

"Yeah! Did you see all the people in there . . ." Devon broke off. Tia was walking up the parking lot carrying something in her hand. Sanhuel looked at Devon then followed her gaze. Tia looked them over then went to Sam. She stood in front of him and brought up the object in her hand. It was a red notebook. It looked completely normal. There was a large white 70 on the cover.

"I need you to finish this, Sam," she said. She flipped through the note book to near the end. "It is the only dream you mention and you left it unfinished. I need you to finish it." She handed the book to him. Sam looked he recognized his hand writing, but the words flowed through him unfamiliar. Then he got to it.

"So Tia, where you been this time?" Devon asked.

"Tending to the book," she said.

"The book, huh? Sounds real important," Devon mocked.

"Devon, it's my journal," Sam said. Devon looked to him a little surprised.

"Why do you have Sam's journal?" Devon asked Tia.

"Because I assumed it held information of consequence."

"My dreams in here," Sam said.

"You dream?" Sanhuel asked, but he was ignored. Devon moved over and read over Sam's shoulder, or more arm since she was too short to see over his shoulder. She started at the top of the page.

'Dec 23,

I saved some one today. I can barely believe it myself. She was standing in the middle of the street and I shoved her out of the way of a car. She thinks I'm some kind of hero, but id didn't even know I was doing it until we were both on the curb and the truck was wizzing by. She twisted her ankle. I think that was more my fault. That's not what's weird though. She told me her name was Charmin the creator of dreams. She told me that she was no longer usefull and some one was coming to kill her. I don't know what to think. Charlie helped me hide her. She had no where to go. Good thing we're on Christmas break or I'd have to skip school tomorrow and talk to her. She said she'd be safe with her sister. Her sister's name is Thermion the granter of wishes. I think she might have hit her head too, but I'll help her find her sister anyway. She seems so nice and genuine. I can't just leave her.

Dec 24,

I'm bringing her to her sister tomorrow. We spent all day trying to figure out where she lives. Charmin said that she was going to give me a gift for helping her. She said she'd make me able to dream. I thought she was joking cuz people don't dream anymore, but I just woke up, from a dream. I think I shouldn't spend so much time with Charmin. I had a dream about her sister. It was weird. I don't know what dreams are sapposed to feel like, but this was like nothing else. It seemed like there was more to it, like it was important. In the dream every one was sick and dying. They had all gotten the forgetting thing. I didn't know what to do, but I started walking. I went to Dirkwood, I don't remember how I got there, but I did. Then there was these woods up from the exit on the freeway. I think I drove because I remember taking the last exit. I walked into the woods then on this dirt road. There was this big old mansion in this clearing. I went in and went up to the third level. Then I wandered around until I came to this wing. I hated the kitchen. It had a bad feeling around, but I had to go through it to get to the wing. The carpet was all old and moldy and the hallway was full of doors. I wasn't sure which one I was sapposed to go in so I started searching them all. I finally found the one I wanted. I marked it with a big D. like this

D

I don't know remember how I did it, but I did, so I think there's some one at the window.'

That was the end. The rest of the pages were blank. Tia waited patiently. Sam handed the notebook to Devon and let her finish reading."How does the dream end Sam? Where is Thermion?" Tia asked. "What does the shape shifter look like now?"

"I don't remember," Sam said.

"Where is Dirkwood?"

"I don't know."

"I do," Sanhuel said. They all looked to him a little shocked. "Why do you want to know?"

"I need to travel there. I must find Thermion," Tia said.

Devon finished reading and closed the notebook. She watched them.

"Where's Fantom?" Devon asked.

"He is to know nothing about the book," Tia said. The doors wooshed and Sarah stepped out. She looked tired and sad. Her eyes were red. She sighed and looked at them. She seemed a little surprised to see Tia.

"I will return later," Tia said and walked away. Sarah stared at her until she was out of sight. She looked back at them.

"I wish she'd just leave. I don't like her," Sarah said. She glanced at Devon then sat down on the curb. "What did she want?"

"To give me my journal back," Sam said. He sat down next to her. "What sis they say about Charlie?"

"He's critical, they'll come and get us when he's stabilized," Sarah said. Her voice broke and she looked near tears again. She rested her head in her hands. Her hands were shaking.

Devon sat down on the other side of Sam and handed him the notebook. Sanhuel came and sat with them too. Sam opened to the first page and started reading.

'Nov 7,

Ms. Marshall assigned us journals. She said we have to write in them at least once a week. I don't think that sounds to bad. Sarah's upset. She hates writing. I don't have much to write. I got my permit revoked for driving with out a licensed adult again. I can't get it until I'm 21. I blame Stan and Drew and Jerome. They always talk me into driving them somewhere. Stans got his permit to and he's had it longer, but he's a terrible driver. He already crashed once. His mom won't let him use the car anymore. Sense moms always out and Siph left I can take the car when ever it's there. I don't think I will anymore. I already screwed myself over enough. I'm definitely not waiting til I'm 21 though. How does Sarah never get caught? She gets her actually license soon too. She'll pass. She's a good driver.'

Sam kept reading. Every entry he found interesting. He hated the feeling that he was reading about some one else's life and not his own, but it was something. It brought just as much sadness as happiness. He wasn't sure if it was worth reading it, but he couldn't stop. He wanted to know.

They sat there for awhile watching the cars pull in and out. They watched people enter and leave. Then they saw it. Retina's blue car pulled into a parking spot half way down. Sam didn't notice. He was reading his journal and Sarah had her eyes shut. Devon nudged Sam and he looked up. Sanhuel was already standing up. Sam shut his journal and stood up. Sarah felt him move and opened her eyes. They all got up and waited for Retina. She was frantic. She made them all go inside and sit in the waiting room. Sarah explained what little there was to explain to her. She sat there with a stony face, just staring at the emergency doors. Sam didn't even think she blinked. Every once in awhile a lone tear would slip down her cheek. They stayed in there with her and tried to ignore all the sick people moving around them. The truth of what had happened seemed to sink into all of them as they sat there.

Finally the doors swung open. A man came out holding a chart. He looked like a doctor. They all watched as he went to the reception desk. He whispered to the plump woman and she pointed to their group. They all held their breath as he turned and made a bee line towards them. He wasn't smiling. He looked tired and strained. They saw pain on his face. Retina was already beginning to cry. He seemed to almost flinch as he paused in front of them.

"Are you Ms. Rise?" he asked. Retina nodded. She stared at him with her big watering eyes. Her lower lip quivered. "My name is Dr. Brady." He knelt down in front o her so they were on eye level. "Would you like to come with me to a backroom?"

"No," Retina whispered.

"I really think it would be best if you did," Dr. Brady said.

"No!" Retina cried. "Tell me now! Tell me now! Where is my baby? I want to see Charlie." She was near hysterics, but she hadn't quite reached it yet.

"I really feel that . . ." Retina glared at him and his sentence died. "This is the worst part of my job."

"Yeah it's no walk in the park for us either," Devon said. "Trade ya any day."

He looked a little surprised at her out burst. He seemed to forget about Retina until she let out a sob. He turned back to her.

"I'm so sorry to have to tell you this. We did everything we could." He didn't get any further. Retina crumbled. She screamed and cried. She fell to the ground. Sanhuel knelt down and hugged her. Sam looked over and saw Sarah begin to cry to. Her head fell forward and her hair covered her face. She shook with sobs. Sam was in shock. He let go of his journal and it slowly slid to the ground.

"Are you family?" Dr. Brady asked. Sam looked up to find he was looking at him. Sam nodded. "This disease is spreading faster than anything we have seen. We you get home get rid of all his things, everything he touched. I know it's hard, but it must be done." Sam nodded. "My condolences." Dr. Brady got up and went back through the swinging doors. Sam watched. He stared. His brain seemed to have frozen. Devon got them out of it. She waited until most of it was over then she got them all up. They made their way to the cars. Retina took hers, and drove off. They watched her leave before getting into the car. Sarah had stopped crying, but her eyes were red and puffy. She drove slowly.

"Can we stop at Marietta's?" Sanhuel asked. His voice sounded rough and unemotional. Sarah nodded. She drove to Marietta's house and parked out front.

"You want us to wait for you?" she asked.

"You don't mind? It might be a little bit," he said.

"Yeah, I don't mind."

"Okay, thanks." Sanhuel got out and shut the door. Sarah turned the car off.

Sam looked around. He didn't have his journal anymore. Devon handed it to him with out having to be asked. She gave him a weak smile. He took it and opened it up again. His eyes wouldn't focus on the page and he shut it. He didn't need to read about what else he lost anyway. He wanted Charlie to still be there. He wanted to ask him about Charmin. There was so much he still didn't know about him. Sam hung his head. The loss weighed heavily on his heart. They waited in silence.

"Oh my God," Devon said. She was staring out the window and her eyes grew huge. Sarah turned around and looked at her. She followed her gaze back out the front window. Sam looked too. The street looked pretty normal. There was a dog running around in the front yard. He yapped and bounced at his fence. A man was walking a larger dog past the yard. They were both ignoring the little thing. There was an elderly woman walking down the street towards them. That was it. There was no one else in the street. The rest was just houses sitting on their little plots. Sam didn't understand. He looked to Devon, but she had already thrown her door open and was getting out.

She got in the middle of the street and stopped. The guy walking the dog gave her a glance and kept going. The elderly woman was watching the ground. She slowly looked up and stopped. Sam got out of the car and shut the door. The old woman's mouth quivered then finally set in a line. She held her head high and started walking again. Devon looked disappointed.

"Hey! Don't you want to ask me who I am?" Devon asked.

"No, child, I want to get on with my business. I don't need no trouble," she said. She walked past the car.

"But I have something I think you might want, Rwanda," Devon sang.

The elderly woman stopped again and turned around. Sam's jaw dropped. He had forgotten about Rwanda. He felt like a hypocrite, after all his talk of helping her he had just forgotten her. Rwanda tilted her head to the side.

"What do you have?" she asked. She narrowed her eyes. Sam recognized her. He knew where he had seen her before. She had been at the buss stop on the day he met Devon. He wondered if she had already lost her memory back then.

"Don't you recognize me?" Devon asked.

"You look familiar, but I'm not foolish enough to just trust feelings," Rwanda said.

"You should with this one. My names Devon and I'm here to give you your memories back." Sam heard Devon's voice falter on the last part. He looked at her, but she smiled. Rwanda walked a little bit closer.

"People can't give memories back," she said. "They're gone. Don't pester me." But she didn't move. She just stared at Devon.

"You earned them. They're yours," Devon said. Rwanda walked closer to her. She stopped inches in front of her. Devon closed her eyes and reached her hand up. She laid it on Rwanda's face. Rwanda's eyes slowly closed, and then they crinkled. Her mouth set and her jaw clenched. She looked like every one of her muscles had grown taught. Sam watched as Devon began to breathe harder. Her face contorted and she began to gasp for breath. Sam took a step towards them, but stopped. Devon felt to her knees and her hand dropped to her side. Her head fell forward. Rwanda just stood there, frozen. Devon let out a sob. Sam moved forward. He knelt down by her.

"Devon?" he asked. Rwanda seemed like a statue. Devon lifted her head and looked at him. She didn't meet his eyes.

"Nevin did something. I mean I had them to long so some of them became a part of me, but not all of them. I can't give them to her Sam. There's something wrong, really really wrong. I have to get them out. You don't understand my head can't hold that much. Like Nevin said, humans have a hard time holding memories. I have to get them out," Devon said. She put her hands to her head. They shook uncontrollably. He closed her eyes again.

"I don't know what to do," Sam said.

"Call Tia," Devon gasped.

"How?"

"I don't know, yell," Devon gasped. Sam looked at her a little confused. He didn't think yelling would help. "In your head." Devon finished like it was the most obvious thing ever.

Sam wasn't exactly sure how to yell in his head, but Devon didn't exactly look like she was okay. He couldn't ask her.

"Are you okay?" Sarah asked. Sam turned around to see she had stepped out of the car. She looked confused and took a step towards them. Sam opened his mouth to answer, but the words died. Nevin was walking up behind her. Sarah saw the look on Sam's face. She turned around. She went to scream, but Nevin threw a hand over her mouth. He spun her around in a fluid movement and held her against him.

"Now, who do I have here?" he asked. He grinned and his eyes sparkled as he looked at Sam. Devon fell onto all fours now. Sam looked at her then turned back to Sarah. This was up to him. There was no one here to help him. Rwanda was still frozen.

"Let her go," Sam said. He stood up. Nevin was still grinning. He leaned in next to Sarah's head.

"Who's this Sam?" Nevin asked. "Some one special? I don't know if I want to give her up."

"Let Sarah go," Sam said.

"Hmm, Sarah is it? I think you know what I want to let her go. The memories I'm owed."

"Why are my memories yours?" Sam asked. Sarah's eyes widened. He could tell she thought he was getting of topic. She started to struggle.

"Feisty one. We made a little deal not to long ago. I held up my half now I expect you to hold up yours."

"I didn't make a deal with you."

"Not directly with me, with my servant Tia so graciously disposed of. There is no backing out now. I know you are Sam Diamond and I want the memories I am owed."

"I owe you nothing."

"Sam lost his memories," Devon gasped. "He doesn't have them." She lifted her head up and looked at him.

"And I suppose you do?" Nevin asked. His grip loosened slightly on Sarah. She shook his hand off her mouth.

"No," Devon panted. She let her head fall back down.

"Oh, I see. You're having a little trouble giving those memories back. Slight problem?" Nevin smirked.

"I will have Sam's memories. I will be the one to get them, not Sam. Leave him alone." Devon flinched and shuddered. She looked back up at him. "Not if I die, I won't."

"Fine," Nevin sighed. He lifted the hand that had been on Sarah's mouth and snapped his fingers.

"I see you learned how to snap again," Devon said as she stood up. She still looked a little shaky. She put her hand back on Rwanda's head. She closed her eyes and they all held their breath for a second. Rwanda crumpled this time. She fell to her knees. She held her head in her hands and began to sob. Devon bent over and put her hands on her knees.

"Thank you, thank you," Rwanda sobbed. Nevin snapped his fingers again. Rwanda sobs suddenly turned to a choking gargling noise. She fell to the ground side ways and began to twitch. Her legs kicked erratically. Sam moved to help her, but Devon grabbed his arm. She didn't look at all surprised. She shook her head. He looked to the elderly woman. He was glad she had fallen away from them so he couldn't see her face. She was still and silent now.

"Now that we have that out of the way, I want my memories," Nevin said. He ran a finger down Sarah's cheek. She tried to bite it. He smiled and took his finger back.

"Give me Sarah," Sam said.

"It seems we need to make a little trade," Nevin said. "Bring me the memories when you have them." Nevin disappeared along with Sarah.

"No!" Sam yelled, but it was already too late.

Sam and Devon sat by the car. They sat in Marietta's yard and leaned against the car. Devon had her head leaned on Sam's shoulder. They both looked lost. Their eyes seemed vacant, as if they were looking at something that wasn't really there. They remained unfocussed. Sam wasn't sure if he could take. Charlie had been bad enough, but Sarah too. He kept telling himself she was still alive. He just kept repeating 'she's still alive'. Devon closed her eyes. She had never felt so tired or drained in her entire life.

Sanhuel finally wandered out. He took one look at them and paused.

"What happened?" Sanhuel asked. Devon's eyes remained closed, but Sam's lifted. He looked at Sanhuel, but couldn't get his eyes to focus. Sanhuel looked around. He noticed the body in the street, the empty car, the lack of Sarah. He waited, but no answer was coming. He walked over to them. He decided to ignore the body. "Where's Sarah?"

Sam felt Devon stiffen at the question. He didn't know how to answer it. He looked away.

"Where's Sarah?" Sanhuel asked again. He looked in the car. He looked up and down the street. "Where is she?!"

"He took her," Devon mumbled. Sanhuel rounded on her.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean Nevin came and took her. That's what happened to Sarah."

"Who's Nevin?"

"The bringer of destruction and chaos."

"Where did he take her?"

"I have no idea." Sanhuel paused.

"People don't just come and take people. Why didn't you stop him?"

"We couldn't. He's powerful. We really couldn't."

"Get in the car."

Devon got in front and Sam got in back. Sanhuel drove. They didn't question him on not having a license. He proved to be a better driver than either of them would have been.

"Why did Nevin take her?" Sanhuel asked, breaking the silence.

"Because Sam owes him his memories, apparently he made a deal with him. Sam doesn't have his memories and I haven't got them yet, so he took Sarah to make sure we give them to him when we get them," Devon said. She had her head leaned up against the window and she spoke with a lazy drawl.

"Why would you have Sam's memories?"

"I am Devon Rodgers the protector of the human race. I return memories to those who have lost them and have earned them back. It's what I do. I get the memories find the person and give them back," Devon said with a half hearted laugh. There was a touch of sarcasm to her words.

"Who was the dead lady in the street?"

"Rwanda Applegator. Nevin killed her right after I gave her her memories back, while most of them. I held onto them too long and some of them kinda became a part of me." Devon managed an almost shrug. "I need to sleep." Sanhuel didn't ask any other question.

Sanhuel parked in the street. Devon slowly opened her eyes. She looked to see that they were back at Retina's house. She sighed and opened the door. Sanhuel was already out and walking up to the door. Sam seemed even more sluggish then her. He grabbed his journal and followed Devon into the house.

Retina was sitting at the kitchen table with Stue and Siphicul. It looked like she had explained things to them. They all looked like they had been crying. Sam felt like he was intruding. Sanhuel walked by and hung his head. This was not his to explain.

"Where's Sarah?" Stue asked. Devon looked reluctant to talk for once. Her usual smile was gone. Her eyes flickered around the room. Sam looked impassive. He wasn't sure if he had even heard the question. Stue turned to Sanhuel who was trying to get out of the room. Sanhuel buckled.

"She was kidnapped," Sanhuel said.

"What!?" Stue and Siphicul said at the same time. Stue actually stood up off of the stool. Sanhuel looked to Devon and Sam. Devon knew what was coming now.

"I don't know. We stopped at Marietta's so I could see her and when I came back out Sarah was gone," Sanhuel said. Every one looked to Devon except Retina. She had lain her head down on the table. Her back shook with silent sobs.

There was a moment of awkward silence. The air was thick with unanswered questions. Devon shifted uncomfortably. Sam looked at his feet. All he could think about was getting his memories back. He needed to know. He needed to remember why had made a deal with Nevin. He needed to get Sarah back.

"What happened?" Siphicul finally asked. His voice cut through the air. Stue was still standing. He regarded them with narrowed eyes.

"Nothing," Sam said. He didn't think they needed to get involved.

"What happened to Sarah then?" Siphicul asked.

"Nothing," Sam said.

"It obviously wasn't nothing or she would be here," Siphicul yelled. Sanhuel flinched. He looked at Sam and Devon then turned back to Siphicul.

"Just leave it Siph. Sarah will come back," Sanhuel said. Siphicul turned to him and his hard gaze seemed to soften. He didn't say anything else. That ended the topic, and they all knew better than to bring it up again. Sam and Devon went and sat in the living room. Sanhuel followed them.

"Why the fuck would you tell them Sarah was kidnapped. I mean did you somehow think that they would take that well, or what?" Devon hissed. She was angry, but she knew better than to talk loud enough for the others to hear. Sanhuel met her eyes with an equally cold gaze. He sat down on the couch.

"I must not have been thinking. It's not like its true or nothing," Sanhuel said.

"You're an idiot," Devon said.

"I didn't think he'd get so angry. I got him off it anyway."

"Next time think."

"There better not be a next time."

The rest of the day was quiet. They all seemed to move around with out a purpose. There was a feel of sadness in the air. The night was even worse. No one slept much at all. Sam woke up early. The room was still dark. He didn't care what time it was he knew there was no chance of getting anymore sleep. His mind wouldn't calm down enough to let him. Devon was up too.

"You up?" Devon asked.

"Yeah," Sam said.

"You feeling any better?"

"No."

"Okay, well you really can't remember anything Sam? You sure you never seen Nevin before, well I guess it wouldn't have been Nevin, but some one related to him? Some one who talked about him?"

"No."

"You know what I been thinking about? If you made this trade with Nevin's person guy what did you get. You know, you had to of gotten something. I wonder what it was. You should keep reading that journal, 'cause if it's in there that might be a lot of help." Sam heard Devon roll over. "I been thinking about it and why would Nevin want your memories? You had to of known something or seen something important. I really think that journal will be a lot help. We gotta be careful what we give Nevin. I don't want to be like an idiot and give him something before we even know what it is ourselves. Screw keeping your end of the deal."

Time went by. Stue had managed to get a lot of their stuff out of the house. No one asked him how, but they were all grateful. Siphicul worked longer hours and Stue and Sanhuel went back to school. Retina took sometime off work, when she went back she was quickly fired. No one knew where she went all day or night. She was rarely at the house. They didn't worry about her kicking them out. Sam had read the journal countless times. He sat glaring at the unsupportive page. It was the last page with writing on it. The end. He flipped back to the beginning again. He started reading the first page once more. Devon peered over his shoulder.

"You find anything?" Devon asked.

"No, you got my memories yet?" he asked.

"No," Devon leaned back and sighed. "We have to do something. I can't just sit here and wait any longer."

"What are we going to do Devon?" This conversation was not new, and Sam was tired of the dead end it always led to.

"I don't know." Sam handed her the notebook and she began reading it again. She had already read through it many times before also. She flipped through the pages not bothering with every word. "There's nothing in there."

"I know. It's just . . . there has to be. We don't got anything else."

"I hate Tia," Sam said. "I've been thinking about her and I hate her. She came and saved me before, but then when we really needed her she didn't even show up. She let Sarah get taken. She just disappeared. She gave us the notebook and was gone."

"Tia was all interested in the dream. She wanted you to remember the dream. Do you think Nevin's after the dream too? It would make sense, I mean I have no idea what the dream means, but it must be something. You got the dreams as a gift. Maybe there is more to it than that." Devon stopped on the entry with the dream in it. "Who do you think was at the window?" They had been through this before too.

"Charmin or Nevin or Stue or Stan and Drew and Jerome. We have no idea," Sam sighed.

"Yeah, but maybe you told them the rest of the dream. We know you didn't tell Sarah, but what about them?"

"Yeah."

"Where do you think Charmin is now?"

"Dead." The both wheeled around at the sound of the new voice. Tia stood there looking as impassive as ever.

"What do you want?" Sam growled.

"I see you have made no progress," Tia said. She walked into the living room and took a seat with them. Fantom followed behind her. He stood next to her instead of sitting. "Leave us Fantom." He looked disappointed, but walked over to the door. He opened it and left. Tia looked back at them.

"What do you want?" Sam asked again.

"I want to ask you about Nevin. I know you have contacted him and I know he has Sarah. I want to know why? What does he want with you Sam?" Tia asked.

"If you had been there you would have know," Sam said.

"Yes that is my mistake and I accept it. I am here now to right it."

"Where have you been?"

"Busy. Now what does Nevin want?"

"My memories."

"Then it is as I feared. What do you know of Thermion?"

"Besides she's Charmin's sister? Nothing. What do you know Tia?"

"Nothing that concerns you. When you receive you receive Sam's memories I want you to bring them to me first. Understand?"

"No, I don't really. So why exactly should we give the memories to you? I mean I understand Nevin, but . . ." Devon trailed off. She watched Tia. There was a slight smirk on her lips. Tia looked to Sam instead.

"Listen Sam, I understand that Sarah is your sister. I know that you feel a certain attachment to her, but what guarantee do you have that Nevin will return her once he has received the memories. If you give them to me I can secure that you will receive Sarah as compensation."

"How can you do that?" Sam asked.

"That is not of your concern. The point that you should focus on is that I can get you Sarah."

"Why should I trust you?"

"I saved your life. You owe me those memories whether I offer you a deal or not. It is in your best interest to agree to it."

"So, it must be in your best interest too. What are you getting out of it, besides the memories?" Devon asked. Tia flicked her eyes to her then back to Sam.

"It would be best if you concerned yourselves with matters of your own."

"Get Sarah back now," Sam said. Tia tilted her head. "Get Sarah back now and I'll give you the memories when I get them."

"I can't," Tia said.

"Then your deal is the same as Nevin's. I'm not taking it," Sam said.

"I will continue to protect you Sam, but I will assist you in nothing else. Do not blame me for your misfortunes. They are the fault of no one, but you." Tia stood up. She walked to the door and left. Sam turned back to Devon.

"We have so got to get your memories back," Devon said. She smiled.

"Do you think we should go with Tia?" Sam asked.

"No. Like you said, it's the same deal as Nevin's, until she makes a better one I don't see why we should. I mean, I bet Tia will come back with a better offer. She's not as high up on the food chain as she wants us to think. How much you want to bet she answers to some one and she can't make any other decisions on her own. We just need to wait."

"I can't wait any longer," Sam said.

"Not much of a choice."

Sanhuel came home from school to find Devon trying to cook. He knew this wasn't a good idea. Devon had tried to cook eggs once before and started a monster fire that had melted the side of the microwave. It was ever since slightly brown and bubbly looking. Sanhuel couldn't smell any smoke so he assumed Devon had just started.

"You're letting her cook?" Sanhuel said as he kicked off his shoes. Sam tore his eyes away from the TV and looked at him. He blinked a couple times.

"Yeah," Sam said. Sanhuel could tell he was in a spacey mood. He knew there was no hope of a conversation. He went into the kitchen.

"What are you cooking?" Sanhuel asked.

"Hamburgers!" Devon said. She held a spatula in one hand. She smiled. Sanhuel sat down at the table. "Where's Stue?"

"He went straight to work."

"You want a hamburger? There pretty good," Devon sang. She brandished a box of frozen hamburgers. They slid around in the box.

"Sure," Sanhuel said. "What did you guys do today?"

"Nothing. How was school?"

"School was boring, got a bunch of homework. You did nothing today?"

"Well, Tia stopped by," Devon said. She slid a hamburger into the frying pan. It sizzled and smoke billowed up. "She wants Sam's memories too. You don't know if Sam knew something before, do you? I mean it had to of been something huge. She said she'd get us Sarah and that Nevin's just trying to rip us off, but she wouldn't get us Sarah now. We said no."

"Yeah that's a little bit more than nothing. I've been trying to think about that. Tia's in on it to now. I was thinking why didn't Nevin take Sam instead of Sarah?"

"Oh easy. It's 'cause Sam can't get his memories back. I'll get them and only if I'm the one closest to him. So if Nevin wanted to do that he'd have to take both of us and Tia wouldn't have that." Devon pushed down the burger and it sizzled louder. "Tia asked about Thermion."

"She was the granter of wishes right?"

"Yeah, I think. I'm pretty sure." Devon shrugged.

"Ask Fantom."

"Huh?"

"Ask Fantom. He follows Tia every where and does what she tells him to. He has to know something and I bet he'll be more willing to talk than Tia."

"That's genius. Now we just gotta get to Fantom. . . We'll put Sam in danger so Tia has to come to save him and then one of us can get Fantom on his own. It'll be perfect. Now how to put Sam in danger," Devon said.

"C'mon Sam. It'll be fine. What could possibly go wrong?" Devon said. She gave her best biggest, brightest smile. Sam wasn't convinced. Devon gave him a shove. Sam tried his best to stop, but he propelled into the line of traffic. He closed his eyes and heard the squeal of tires. He prepared for the impact, but it didn't come. Then the air was filled with the crashing of metal. Sam opened his eyes in tiny slits. Tia stood in front of him. She had her hands on the bumper of a large blue SUV. A black truck was crumpled into the back bumper of it. The driver of the truck got out. Tia took a step back and snapped her fingers. The man froze, the look of pure anger etched into his face. Fantom walked around the SUV. He gaped at the damage. Car horns began to sound as the traffic backed up.

"Take care of that," Tia said. Fantom nodded and hurried off to the line of cars. Sam could see the driver f the SUV frozen half way between taking her sunglasses off, her mouth hanging open. She barely looked old enough to drive.

"What were you doing Sam?" Tia asked. The air was filled with the smell of burning rubber.

"No way! That's Chelsea Summers. She was just bragging about her dad buying her that car," Sanhuel said. He stepped into the street now too. Tia glared at him and he quickly took a step back onto the median. Devon grabbed his arm and started dragging him back. Tia had already returned her attention to Sam. Sam knew they were going to leave, but he still hated them for it. Tia's gaze could melt a brick wall. Sam gave a little smile that he couldn't even convince himself was real.

"Um, thanks," Sam said.

"What were you doing?" Tia asked. The car horns were slowly dying out.

"I was trying to cross the street. I really better look next time."

"Yes, I would have to agree with that statement."

"So, I was wondering why you look like Sarah's friend Tia from when we were little?" Sam asked. He was proud of himself for that one. It was actually something he had been wanting to ask her.

"I am the child of pain and sadness. I was created with out a body. I found a willing host and allowed her to escape from her torment. I was born from pain and sadness, I embodied pain and sadness. It is my fate."

"Oh, that's cool. So why Tia, why not some one else?"

"She was an exquisite match and I enjoyed the name. Is there anything else you have been pondering Sam?"

"Yeah, I was actually wondering, um . . . if, who is your boss? I mean do you have one?"

"Yes, I do. Don't we all? No one is truly in charge of themselves. You waist time Sam. You are no longer in danger. There is no purpose in this conversation."

"Yeah, but . . . why do you protect me?"

"Because you are worth protecting. Now I must leave."

"Did your boss tell you to protect me?" Tia didn't answer she turned around and started walking away. Sam thought he should run after her, but they did push him in front of a car. He let her go. He walked over to the median and sat down. Traffic was forming on the other side of the cement divider. Apparently every one was interested in the accident. Sam leaned his head down. He wanted to leave. Devon and Sanhuel came running up the line. Sam stood up. Devon grabbed his arm as she ran by. She dragged him down the ditch and back up to the strip mall on the other side. They dodged through the parking lot and past the buildings. They slowed down when they were out of sight of the freeway.

"I can't believe you just pushed me into on coming traffic," Sam said as they walked. He shook his head.

"Hey, I was pretty sure Tia would come save you," Devon said.

"Yeah pretty sure," Sanhuel laughed.

"You guys are terrible. I shouldn't even be waling down the street with you guys," Sam said.

"Don't you wanna know what we found out," Devon beamed.

"I don't know if it was worth it," Sam said.

"Good 'cause I was going to tell you anyways," Devon said. "Oh yeah and thanks for the whole letting Tia go thing. I mean, that was the greatest stalling ever. What did you do, count to three and tell her what we were doing?"

"Just tell him what we found out," Sanhuel said.

"Okay, fine. So turns out Fantom knows more than we thought. He says that Tia is doing this on her own not with the permission of Paco, he's her boss. He says she wants your memories so she can find the wish granter. He doesn't know how, but you know where she is Sam. If some one else gets your memories then they know where she is. Thermion has been in hiding and it turns out she's a shape shifter so no one knows what she looks like. She doesn't grant wishes anymore Sam. She quit." Devon started laughing hysterically. They both looked at her not getting what was so funny. She held up a hand and got herself under control. "You could screw them all over, keep your memories find Thermion and wish for Sarah back."

"Yeah, if he knew how to make the wish," Sanhuel said.

They walked the rest of the way home. The weather was considerably warmer. All the yards were now filled with patches of yellow grass. The trees still looked dead and forgotten. It gave the world a sickly look. Sam coughed. It was nothing new, everyone coughed now. Nearly half the school was missing either form memory loss or getting sick. They were giving out free shots at all the grocery stores, but there was little hope of them working. Coughing had just become a part of life.

"Where you guys been on this wonderful Saturday?" Stue asked as they walked in the door.

"Walking around. Tell me if you find anything else to do," Sanhuel said. He plopped down on the couch. Devon smiled and skipped in after him. Sam lagged a little. He was thinking over all they had found out.

"So why aren't you at work Stue?" Devon asked.

"I don't work today, actually I don't know if I'll be working there again. To many people got sick and they had to close. No more Sibil's Box Emporium," Stue said. He fell into a coughing fit. Stue didn't look too good. He blinked his red eyes a couple times. "My head is killing me."

"Oh quit complaining," Devon said. She grabbed the remote from his hand and changed the channel.

Sam dreamed that night. It was the first time since Charlie died. He dreamed he was walking down the street. A girl was walking beside him. She looked maybe a couple years older than him. She had long gold curl hair. It tumbled around her perfect face. She seemed to have a slight glow to her skin. She smiled at him as they walked. Her smile was so white it put the snow to shame.

"I really want to thank you for helping me Sam. It means a lot to me. It really does," she said.

"It's no problem," Sam said. He smiled back.

"Aw, your to nice." She leaned over and ruffled his hair. Sam rolled his eyes and pulled away.

They continued up the street. One side was covered in houses and the other was forest. The pine trees stood tall and green. The sun just reached the top of the houses. The light gleamed off the snow.

They came to the intersection of a road. It cut off the block of houses and led into the forest. The green sign read 'Plaster Dr' and '12th'. They took 12th street and turned down into the cover of the trees. The street was only plowed a little ways in. They had to climb through the snow, following the break in the trees.

"You know I'm glad you came with me Sam. I would hate to be alone out here. You better make your wish to be back at your house," she said.

"Yeah, I should," Sam laughed. His breath came out in little white puffs.

"Stop," she said. She placed a hand on Sam's chest. There was total silence. "Run!"

"I'm not leaving you," Sam said.

"Oh how sweet," a woman said. She stepped out from behind the trees. "I guess I'm not as quiet as I used to be." Her short choppy hair seemed to exaggerate her heavy jaw. She smiled.

"Tiandra."

Sam woke up. He sat up on the couch. He bent over coughing and closed his eyes for a second. He opened them again and they felt better.

"Oh my God, did you have a dream?" Devon asked. She was sitting up on the little couch. She closed the book in her lap.

"Yeah," Sam croaked. He cleared his throat and tried again. "I seen that girl that showed up that one night, that Tia got rid of. I was in a forest and she popped out from behind a tree. I think her name was Tiandra. I was with some one else, but I don't know who she was," Sam said.

"Really?" Devon asked. She leaned forward.

"Yeah."

"What else?"

"Not much, me and her just walked down some street then turned into these woods then that girl popped out."

"Oh." Devon sounded disappointed. "Go back to sleep, maybe you'll dream again."

Sam smiled. He sat up. "How do you think Tia and Nevin know where we are?"

"Well, I think Tia's watching your mind, not like all out reading it, but just watching for distress or anything. I don't know about Nevin. I wouldn't put it past him to have some one following us, but I don't know. I'm just assuming Tia can do the mind thing, maybe Nevin can too. I really have no idea. Or maybe some one's a spy and telling them where we are! I bet its Siphicul or Stue, but they don't know very much. Oo Retina, but she's never here. Oh Sanhuel, I bet its Sanhuel, that two faced little . . . What if it's you Sam, or me. Oh my God . . . no wait, I got going there. I'm pretty sure it's not you or me. Oh I got it! Let's start telling every one something different and see where she shows up, but then we can't see if we're not there, so we'd need people there who aren't the spy, but then we don't know who that is. . . Okay I confused myself. Let's just pretend there is no spy."

"Yeeaah." Sam grabbed the remote and began flipping through the channels. "I don't know about that."

"Fine, it was just an idea," Devon said. She picked her book back up and started flipping through it trying to find her place.

Siphicul woke up a while latter and went to work. Retina hadn't come home that night. Stue woke up and sat in the living room with them. He coughed and shifted uncomfortably.

"I can't sit here and do nothing all day. It's killing me. I've been sitting here, for what, three hours? How can you guys stand it?" Stue asked. He stood up and stretched. He sighed and sat back down. "There's no where to go today."

Sanhuel walked out into the room. "Good. You can drive me over to Marietta's" he said.

"You know you're lucky I'm bored," Stue said. He stood back up again. "Go," He broke into a coughing fit. He held up a hand until it passed. "Go grab the keys off the table."

Sanhuel and Stue left. Devon and Sam still didn't bother to do anything. Devon had quit cooking after Sanhuel found a chunk of pineapple in his burger. It wouldn't have been too bad except there was no pineapple in the house. Devon wasn't allowed to cook anymore. They were both hungry. Devon kicked the finished book and it slid across the floor.

"I been thinking. You need to work a little harder on getting those memories back. I think we should focus on that. You need to become a better person. Go rescue some kittens in a tree or something, volunteer at an orphanage, teach inner city kids to read," Devon said.

"I don't think there's any point in doing them if my motive is to get the memories back," Sam said.

"Your sooo pessimistic, lighten up. Maybe the experience will cause you to change."

"I'm not that bad of a person, am I?"

"I don't think so, but apparently you are. You had to of done something. Maybe we should figure out what you did so we can figure out what you need to fix. I mean, that's a pretty good idea."

"How are we supposed to figure that out?"

"You lost your memories on Christmas, right?" And we know you still had them on Christmas Eve, soo we'll just ask everyone what you did on Christmas. It's simple. Now if only some one was home to ask." Devon looked around like she expected some one to pop out of the wall. The front door open and she jumped. "No way!"

"What happened?" Sam asked as Sanhuel and Stue walked back in.

"Nothing," Sanhuel said. He went in the kitchen and lay his head down on the table. Sam looked at Stue, but he just shrugged. Devon got up and walked into the kitchen. Sam wasn't sure how good of an idea that was. Stue sat down in her spot.

"So still doing nothing?" Stue asked. He swiped the remote of the edge and changed the channel.

"Is Sanhuel okay?" Sam asked.

"I don't know. He went in and then he came right back out. I don't know what happened," Stue mumbled. He was intent on watching TV. Sam let the topic drop.

Devon came back and sat down next to Sam.

"Guess what," she whispered. Stue was watching the TV and didn't notice her.

"What?" Sam asked.

"Marietta got the memory loss thing and her dad wouldn't let Sanhuel see her. He said it would be too stressful. He said it would be best if Sanhuel didn't come back," Devon whispered.

"Is Sanhuel okay?"

"I don't know. You should go talk to him. I'm not god at the whole comforting thing. I mean I have no idea what I'm supposed to say to that."

"And I do?"

"You can't be any worse than me. You're his brother. You're supposed to do the whole bonding helping out thing. You can't be any worse than me."

"What did you say?"

"Nothing. Okay I just said it'd be easier to get a one night stand. I mean it would, there's not the emotional attachment anymore. I mean the kid doesn't have to be so serious. It's not like she died."

Sam got up and walked into the kitchen. He sat down next to Sanhuel. Stue gave them a glance then went back to the TV. Sam could hear Devon start to talk to him about the show.

"I guess Devon told you what happened," Sanhuel said.

"Yeah," Sam said. He didn't know what he was supposed to say.

"I got it. I'm fine. You don't have to try and comfort me or anything, Sam. It's not your thing," Sanhuel said.

"Fine," Sam said. "We can talk about something else. What did I do for Christmas?"

"Okay, random question, but I don't remember. Let's see, I don't know what you did in the afternoon. In the morning we went to Grandma Paula's. We opened presents. I got a gift card from Grandma Paula and a couple shirts from mom. You got a gift card from Grandma Paula and some new pillows and a watch from Mom, so you wouldn't be late anymore."

"Who's Grandma Paula?"

"Sorry. She's not really our Grandma. She's our babysitter from when we were little. A lot of time we were on our own, but we stayed with her every weekend. She was like a Grandma to us. She told us to call her Grandma Paula. We stopped going there every weekend when she sold her house. She moved into a smaller apartment and she said we could still visit her, but it wasn't fit for young children so we couldn't stay every weekend. We kept visiting and then pretty soon we only went on holidays."

"How come you don't know what I did in the afternoon?" Sam asked.

"I don't know. You left some where. You even tried to talk Mom into leaving early. I was really wonder, because where is there to go on Christmas, but you always were so secretive. You made up some stupid excuse and left. Mom told you to be back early, she said Christmas was family time, but you didn't show up. Sarah had to go out looking for you. It took her forever to find you. She brought you back and you couldn't remember anything. That's what happened."

"You don't know where I went or why?"

"Nope."

"Where did Sarah find me?"

"Sorry forgot to ask with all the confusion in you losing your memory and everything. You should remember."

"I don't."

"What's the first thing you remember?"

"I'm not sure. I remember seeing you all when I got home. I kind of remember sitting in the car with Sarah. I can't remember much of it and the orders a little weird. I remember when I finally figured out what you guys were trying to tell me. I remember it all pretty clear after that."

"It's not that bad, losing your memories, is it?"

"It sucks. Everything is so confusing and nothing seems right. It makes you feel alone and lost. You get used to it, you build everything back."

"I wish I could be there for her," Sanhuel said.

"Her parents will be. She has people to look out for her. She'll be fine," Sam said.

"Yeah I just wish I could be one of them."

"Yeah well, you can't. It's better if you just forget about it because there's nothing you can do."

"You had it going good there, but that last one just really didn't make me feel any better at all. Give up while your ahead, I'm fine."

Devon came bounding into the kitchen. She smiled and plopped down on a stool.

"So, you feeling any better Sanhuel? Sam here work some miracles?" she asked. "I mean, I understand no one can be as good as me, but he could still help a little."

"Yeah, he helped," Sanhuel said.

Sam dreamed again that night. He dreamed he was on the ground in the snow. He was near the base of a tree and the snow was thin here. He could see the trail of his scuffled foot prints leading to this spot.

"Get up Sam!" some one screamed. Sam turned his head to see the curly blond girl from before. She was panting and bent over leaning on the tree. Her eyes look frantic and darted around the area. Her hair now had a disheveled look. "I don't know where she went. She's too fast. Sam, you can't let her find out where Thermion is. It's too late for me."

"Your right about that." Sam jumped and got away from the tree. Tiandra walked out. She had a hold of her curly blond hair. The girl lost her balance and struggled. She kicked and twisted on the chunk.

"Stop that," Tiandra said. She shook the clump of hair. "You don't want nothing to happen to your little friend here?"

"Leave him alone. He has nothing to do with this," the dangling girl said.

"He was helping you. He has everything to do with this."

"Can't you just let me go Tiandra? He doesn't have to know." Tiandra's face contorted in anger. She let go of the hair and followed it with a swift kick. The girl moaned as all the air left her. She crumpled into a ball. Tiandra brought her foot down again.

"How could you even think something like that. I am loyal. I am not some filthy deserter. You deserve your punishment. You deserve to die," Tiandra yelled. She kicked her again.

"Stop," Sam said. Tiandra turned to him. She tilted her head and clenched her jaw. Her nose crinkled as she furrowed her brow.

"Shut up. You'll get your turn. Nevin will want one of you left alive. He'll only need one of you. Now witch one," Tiandra said. She smiled.

"What do you want?" Sam asked. He stood up. Tiandra was considerably smaller than him, yet something about her was intimidating. He couldn't understand why he was so scared.

"Simple. I want two things. I want to punish Charmin for running away and I want the location of Thermion since it seems she's reappeared. Right Charmin?" Charmin had gotten up onto all fours. Tiandra kicked her and she fell back to the ground. She coughed and cowered.

"Who's Thermion?" Sam asked.

"Nice try, but I am Tiandra the master of lies. You can't fool me."

"And I am Charmin the controller of deceptions and loss," Charmin gasped.

"You can't hurt me. I am more powerful than you," Tiandra said.

"I wasn't going for you."

Sam woke up. He snapped up. He was gasping. He rolled over and tried to calm himself down. It felt like he had just gotten the wind knocked out of him. He closed his eyes. They felt tired and dry. His mind was reeling. He looked over, but Devon was actually sleeping. He coughed.

"Devon," Sam whispered. "Devon."

"Huh?" she asked. She didn't open her eyes.

"I had a dream. I think you want to hear about it," he said.

"What kinda dream?" she asked, opening her eyes slightly. She smirked.

"The kind that involved Nevin and Charmin and Tiandra," Sam said. Devon opened her eyes and sat up.

"No way. What happened?"

"Tiandra caught Charmin and she said that Charmin escaped from Nevin to find her sister who reappeared and Tiandra wanted to get the location for Nevin. I told her I didn't know and she knew I was lying because she's the master if lies then Charmin said it didn't matter because she was the controller of deceptions and loss, then Tiandra said it wouldn't work on her because she was more powerful. Then Charmin said she wasn't going to use it on her and I woke up," Sam said.

"Oh I bet she used it on you. I mean the controlled of loss, lost memories. It makes perfect sense. That would mean she's still alive, I think. 'cause if you don't have the memory then they'd have to go to her. He have to find her."

"So you think the dream was real?" Sam asked. He sat up and had his breathing under control. He gave a small cough.

"I don't know. I'm starting to. I mean it's not like we got nothing else," Devon said. Sam nodded. "You really think Tiandra is that girl from before?"

"Yeah."

"Damn, we should of asked Fantom about her. Fantom probably told Tia about us asking him so I don't think that will work again. I don't feel like just sitting around waiting for Tia to come to us, soooooo . . . I have no idea." Devon sighed. She leaned back on the couch. "Tia needs like a cell phone or something."

The door crashed open and both of them jumped. Retina stumbled in. She looked terrible. She bent over and coughed then lost her balance and fell to the ground. Sam got up and helped her to get back up. She was crying. Devon closed the door. Sam found it hard to breath around her. She reeked of alcohol.

"I was so mean to him," Retina sobbed. "I didn't mean it."

"Come on lets get you into bed," Sam said.

"No, no, no," Retina slurred. She pushed Sam off of her. "It's not okay."

"Great, just what we need, an out of control alcoholic," Devon said.

"I never told him I loved him," Retina said. She started waling towards the kitchen. She teetered from side to side, but made it. She opened the fridge. Sam and Devon followed her. "I'm hungry." She reached in the fridge and knocked every thing off the in side shelf. It clattered to the ground. Sam grabbed her shoulders and steered her out of the fridge.

"What do you want? I'll get it for you," Sam said. Devon knelt down and started to pick up all the spilt objects. She shoved back in the fridge in not bothering with placing. Retina put a hand up, Sam watched as her face fell. He barely managed to get her head over the sink before she through up. Sam turned away as the clear liquid poured out of her mouth. It smelled like alcohol. She through up again, but only a little came out. She retched one more time, but her stomach was empty. She leaned on top of the sink and cried.

"My throat hurts," she sobbed then she passed out.

"Finally," Sam said. He picked her up and carried her back into her bed room. He came back out to see Devon with a big grin on her face. She pointed at Tia. It took Sam a second to realize it really was Tia.

"I have returned Retina as a symbol of my good will. I mean only to help by receiving your memories Sam. I wish for you to understand that," Tia said.

"You know what a better show of your will would be?" Devon asked. The grin was still on her face. Tia didn't look as excited. "If you answered some of our questions."

"You may ask your question, but I can not promise to answer them," Tia said.

"Okay, okay, okay. First is who is Tiandra?" Devon asked.

"Tiandra was one of Nevin's most loyal servants. He trusted her above all others. In my attempt to kill her she was able to momentarily gain control of my mind and transport herself here, I then killed her," Tia said.

"Who is Charmin?" Sam asked.

"Charmin is the controller of deceptions and loss."

"Besides that," Sam said.

"She worked for Nevin until she escaped. I believe it was then that you came across her Sam. No one knows what became of her after that."

"Okay, I got it. So if you want all this good-ness and stuff, why are you doing this without Paco knowing?" Devon asked.

"Paco does not care for the general benefit of others."

"Why do you?" Sam asked. Tia didn't answer. She regarded them through impassive eyes.

"Okaaay . . . how about if Charmin is the controller of deceptions and loss how can she also be the dream thing?" Devon asked.

"It is the power of deception that allowed Charmin to change reality for a time," Tia said.

"What about Thermion, why does every one want to find her?" Sam asked.

"Thermion is the slave of obedience. That is her true name. It gives her the power to be the granter of wishes. She has gone into hiding to try and escape the selfishness of this world. I believe it is her attempt to grant her own wish in destroying it. I, as a part of this world, wish to prevent that. It is imperative that Thermion is found."

"I think I know where Thermion is," Sam said. Tia and Devon both turned to him. He could see the shock on their faces. Sam grabbed the journal form its place under the couch. He flipped to the back.

"I think it's in Dirkwood," Sam said.

"Where in Dirkwood?" Tia asked.

"I seen it in my dream. I'll know it when I'm there."

"Fine. We leave now," Tia said. "Get Sanhuel." They both looked at her confused. "Does he not know where Dirkwood is?"

"Oh," Devon said. She ran back and woke up Sanhuel. Sam and Tia waited. Devon came out with a slightly upset looking Sanhuel. He regarded them though half closed eyes.

"What?" he growled.

"Do you know the location of Dirkwood?" Tia asked.

"Why?" Sanhuel groaned. He rubbed his eyes. "It's the middle of the night."

"Then we are leaving. You will be accompanying us," Tia said. She turned and started walking towards the door.

"No I won't. I will be accompanying myself back to sleep."

"No you won't. You gotta help us Sanhuel. You know where Dirkwood is and you gotta show us, plus you can drive and I know Sam can't and I sure as hell can't and look at Tia. That's just asking to get pulled over. You have to help us," Devon said.

"Okay, I'll help you," Sanhuel said. Sam had the sneaking suspicion Devon had just used her persuasive power. He smiled and kept the thought to himself. Tia continued out the door. They followed, but where quickly stopped.

"Hello there," said a man. Sam recognized him as the third man from the school. His pointed teeth shone in the moon light.

"What is it that you are here for?" Tia asked. She seemed to suddenly glow brighter than usual.

"I was just come to grab Sam. Seems he finally remember what he need to," he said.

"How do you know that?" Devon asked.

"I am Terrance the observer of thoughts. I saw it soon as you think it."

"Well then," Devon began. Terrance cut her off.

"There is no escape. Soon as you think I see it, I know before you move."

"Well that sure sucks for us. I mean what can we possibly do now, except beat the shit out of you for thinking that. One against four, let me tell you those odds are not in your favor," Devon said.

"Where's Sarah?" Sam asked.

"Sarah died of the sickness. She is gone." His words hit them all like a silent blow. Tia pulled them out of it.

"We won't waist out time," Tia said. "Fantom?"

"Yes ma'am?" They all turned around to find Fantom standing behind them.

"Take care of him. I do not wish to see him again," Tia said.

"Yes ma'am."

They got in the car. Tia sat in the passenger seat and Sanhuel got in the drivers seat. He turned and looked at Tia.

"I don't have the keys," he said. The car suddenly rocked with a silent explosion. "And I'm not getting out."

Tia laid her hands on the dashboard. The engine turned over. Sanhuel started at her with his mouth open for a second. She looked at him and he snapped out of it. He put the car in reverse and pulled out.

"I gotta be dreaming," Sanhuel muttered. He drove them to the freeway and got onto it silently.

"You don't think Sarah's really dead?" Devon asked.

"No," Sam said.

"Listen to me now," Tia said. "Your sister is lost. She was sick before and none survives it. The most likely possibility is that she is now dead. Terrance made the mistake of sharing this information with us. Nevin has lost his leverage. That is the fact that we must take from this. Cope with your loss now; there might not be time later."

Sam couldn't accept the words. He heard them, but he wouldn't let them sink in. He held them out. He could not accept that Sarah was dead. His mind couldn't grasp it. He watched the street pass by. There were no other cars out this late. The street lamps gave the word an eerie look. It all passed before Sam's eyes. Sam fell into a coughing fit. He closed his eyes for a while. It stopped the burning.

"Which exit do I take?" Sanhuel asked. He whispered it.

"The last one," Sam said. Sanhuel switched lanes and took the exit.

"Now where?"

"I don't know keep driving." Sam watched, but none of the streets looked familiar. He watched sleepy street by sleepy street pass by. "Go more near the edges."

They continued to drive.

"We're going in circles, Sam. You're wasting all the gas," Sanhuel said. He yawned. Sam blinked through the dull throb in his head. It was hard to concentrate on the street.

"Stop!" Sam yelled. Sanhuel pulled over and turned around to look at him. Sam was already out the door. He recognized the house. He ran through the yard and into the back yard. He got to the street behind it. This was the street. He looked at the forest to one side then the houses. Devon and Sanhuel came after him, then Tia. Sam was out of breath from the run. His lungs burned. He ignored it. He had found the street.

"This way," Sam said. He started walking up the street. They followed.

"I should of stayed in the car and slept," Sanhuel said. He yawned again.

"Oh come on you know you wanna see what happens too. You wouldn't have been able to sleep in the car anyways," Devon said. Sanhuel didn't answer. They continued down the street. Sam walked as fast as he could. His heart had begun to race in anticipation. He couldn't get there fast enough, but he wasn't sure what he was racing towards. He stopped at the sign. They gathered around him. The blatant green and white seemed suddenly unimpressive.

"Plaster Drive? I thought we would be on a more impressive street, you know? Like all this work you think the street be called like 'Finally Lane' or 'Why the Hell are We Here Boulevard'. Oh and 12th street is sooo not any better. I mean, it's not even a word. It's just some stupid number. How anti climactic," Devon said. She looked at them, but they didn't seem to be listening. She sighed. "Are we going or not?"

"Yeah. We turn here," Sam said. He started coughing. He doubled over and gained control of the fit then turned down 12th street. It looked significantly different. The snow was melted and the dirt road was visible. It was only paved for the first couple yards. They walked beneath the cover of the trees and the darkness seemed to thicken. They followed the path.

"We couldn't have taken the car?" Sanhuel mused. "I don't like walking through the woods at night."

Sam began to slow down. He suddenly didn't want to get any closer to the spot. The trees seemed to look more and more familiar as they passed. A sense of foreboding seemed to settle into his stomach. He wasn't so sure he wanted to keep going.

"Tell me of your dreams Sam. Tell me of this path," Tia said. She had been carefully watching him.

"Me and Charmin walked down it. We didn't make it much further though because Tiandra stopped us," Sam said. His voice didn't seem willing to talk. He swallowed, but it did nothing to ease his throat. Tia stopped. She looked at him.

"Tiandra knew of this path?" Tia asked. Sam nodded. "Good. It is time Nevin and I finally face."

"Yeah, I'm not so sure about this," Devon said. "You may won't to face him, but I'm done. I did it. I don't feel like tempting fate. I mean that was enough for me."

"You're lack of courage and vengeance astounds me. Why you were chosen as protector will forever elude me."

"I got to agree with Devon here. I don't feel like meeting this Nevin guy," Sanhuel said. They both looked to Sam.

"We keep going," Sam said. He took the first step forward and they all followed. Their pace was considerably slower, but they kept going. They were in no hurry. Sam knew he wanted to continue. He knew he had to continue, but something inside of him was bucking at the thought. It made it hard to force his feet forward. It seemed as if half his brain was telling was them to stop and he had no control over it. He continued and the uncontrolled part seemed to be slowly gaining more control. He saw the path leading into the clearing. He made it to the edge, but he could force his feet no further.

"You okay, Sam?" Devon asked. "Shit!" Tia grabbed Devon and stopped her as Sam crumpled to the ground.

Sam hadn't expected it. He had forgotten all about it, but as soon as the pain exploded behind he had a fraction of a second to fill with dread and recognition. He didn't want t go through it again. That was the thought that filled his mind. He didn't want to feel that pain again, but he had no choice. His body filled with pain and shook. He wanted nothing, but for the pain to end. It did. As quickly and suddenly as the pain had taken him over it was gone. He pushed himself up on shaky arms. He couldn't remember if it had been that bad the last time. He looked over and saw Tia bent over. She was breathing hard.

"What happened?" Sanhuel asked. He helped Sam back up.

"Nevin is trying to weaken us," Tia panted.

"Yeah, it looks like its working. Maybe we should just go. I mean we can come back when we're stronger and then it'll all be good."

"I will not be scared. There is no return," Tia said. She stood up as tall as her small stature would allow. "Show yourself Nevin. The time for trickery has passed."

"Aw Tia, you ruin all my fun," Nevin said. They all spun back around to see Nevin step out onto the path behind them. Jerry and Dayton walked out behind him. They smiled from either side.

"My fun is only beginning," Tia said. Sam watched as something seemed to pass over Nevin's face. He quickly covered it with a cocky smiled. Sam leaned on Sanhuel. He felt beyond weak. He cleared his mind; thinking was too much for him.

"Get them," Nevin said. Dayton and Jerry seemed to smiled bigger. They both came running at them. Neither of them was taking their time.

"You can not hide behind your cohorts," Tia said. She threw her arm out and sent Dayton flying into the trees. Jerry shifted off his path slightly, but moved back on. The small arc seemed to do nothing to him. His eyes looked inhuman as pummeled toward them. Tia was ignored her. Her focus was concentrated on Nevin.

Devon began backing up as she realized Jerry's path was aimed at her. "No, no no no no," she whisper. She turned and ran, but her reaction proved too late. Jerry tackled her to the ground. Sanhuel let go of Sam and he felt his legs buckle. Sam felt to the ground. Sanhuel looked between the struggling Devon and Sam. He paused for a second then ran to help Devon.

Sam tried to push himself off the ground, but he was t weak. His head was racing. It felt too heavy to even lift. He heard Devon scream and the noise ripped through him. He couldn't just sit there, but his body refused to help him. His muscles shook with the effort, but he couldn't pick himself up. The ground shook beneath him. Something was going on. He picked his head up and nearly fell over backwards. Fantom was kneeling directly in front of him.

"We gotta get you out of here, we gotta get you out of here," Fantom whispered. His eyes rolled around their surroundings. He got an arm around Sam and pulled him up. Sam raised his head. All he could see was Tia. She was glowing brighter than anything he had seen. The glowing didn't draw his attention. It was her smiled. Tia's face seemed to have transformed. The smile made her look like a different person. She lunged at Nevin, but he dodged her. Sam couldn't tear his eyes away. She looked like a child, a small child. There was nothing adult about her now. She looked like a kid at the carnival.

"We gotta get you out of here," Fantom said. He pulled on him and Sam felt some strength return. He helped as much as he could as Fantom pulled him into the trees. He couldn't see Devon or Sanhuel anywhere. The ground shook more violently this time. Sam felt himself loose his balance. Fantom steadied him and hurried their pace. Suddenly they were plummeting to the ground. Fantom was gone. Sam rolled out of the way as Fantom and Dayton landed next to him.

Some grabbed Sam and pulled him to his feet. Sam tensed.

"Get up," Sanhuel panted. He was out of breath and his eyes were wide. They reflected the moonlight. Devon came running up behind him.

"Hurry," she said. Sam got up and Sam helped him follow. Devon flew through the wood. Sam could see something wet and glistening on her pants legs. It looked black in the low light. Sam tried not to think about. He could feel Sanhuel shaking. He had no idea where they were going. He was pretty sure Sanhuel and Devon didn't know either.

"Where ya think your going in such a hurry?" Jerry asked. Sanhuel immediately stopped at the sound of the voice. Devon wheeled around. Jerry looked slightly out of breath and one arm of his shirt was ripped. Blood dripped off onto the ground. "I believe I still owe you for this." Sam could see the fear on both of their faced. Jerry fell to the ground. It looked like he fainted. His body lay their unmoving.

"Watch out," Devon yelled. She was slowly backing up looking around them. Sam had no idea what she was looking for. He felt Sanhuel stiffen. He looked at him. Sam stared at him for a second then pushed himself away. Sanhuel smiled, but the smile looked strange like it didn't belong to him. Sam couldn't stop looking at his eyes. They were so cold and hard. They were not the Diamond eyes. Something was wrong. Sam backed up.

"Sanhuel?" he asked. The smile broadened. Sanhuel began walking towards him. Sam kept watching his eyes. He couldn't move. His head swam and he forced it to focus. Something was wrong with Sanhuel. Devon wrapped her arms around Sam. She started pulling him backwards.

"That's not Sanhuel," Devon cried. "Well it is, but he's possessed his. That's not Sanhuel right now." Sanhuel's smile melted and he lunged at them. He grabbed a hold of Sam and Devon fell over backwards. She pushed herself back up and wrapped her arms back around Sam.

"Let go," she growled. Sam felt a little like a dog toy in a game of tug-of-war. He planted his feet and tried to drag away from Sanhuel. His grip felt cold and hard. It was relentless. Sam's head swam again and he fell to his knees. He felt Devon's hands let go and be replaced on his shoulders. She pushed on his shoulders and jumped over him she landed on top of Sanhuel and shoved him to the ground. Sam pushed up. Devon had Sanhuel pinned to the ground. Sam was confused at the lack of struggle.

"What are you going to do Devon?" Sanhuel asked. Sam walked around them. Devon had a small pocket knife held to Sanhuel's throat. He felt his stomach turn. Even possessed that was still his brother. The ground shook worse than ever. It seemed like it would go on forever. Sam fell down again. He closed his eyes and waited for it to pass. His head couldn't take the shaking images. It slowed and the ground was calm with a small groan. Sam could see Devon's hand shaking. She looked over at him.

"I don't know what to do. I mean how do we get him out of Sanhuel?" Devon asked.

"I have an idea," Sam said. He crawled over to the tree Jerry's body lay at. He grabbed it and dragged it up as high as he could. "Throw me the knife."

"Okay, I see what your saying, but I don't think we should throw the knife," Devon said. Her voice shook as bad as her hands. "I mean how are you going to catch it?"

"Throw to the ground right by me."

"I'm not that good at throwing-

"Just throw the knife!" Devon threw it. Sam watched it spin threw the air. Sanhuel had shoved Devon up and moving towards Sam as soon as the blade left his throat. The knife hit Jerry's leg then fell to the ground. Sam scrambled for the knife. He was amazed to see how bad his hands were shaking now too. He grabbed the knife. It fell from his hand and he clasped his hand around it tighter. He brought it to Jerry's throat in one quick movement. Sanhuel stopped a couple feet away. Sam's breath caught. He hadn't realized how close Sanhuel had gotten.

"Kill him," Devon yelled.

"Kill me and he dies also," Sanhuel growled.

"He's bluffing Sam. Kill him," Devon yelled.

Sam pushed and he felt the blade sink into the man's skin. His stomach tightened. The feeling sickened him. He closed his eyes and tried to gain control over his stomach. All the blood left his face and it turned a ghostly white. Sam swallowed hard and forced his burning eyes open again. Sanhuel was smiling now.

"You don't got the guts," Sanhuel said. "You can't do it."

Sam slid the blade in the groove he made and blood began to ooze out. He knew the cut he made wasn't deep enough to do anything, but the sight of the blood was too much. He could barely keep his hand on the blade. Sanhuel laughed.

"Get out of my brother," Sam said.

"And what? Go back in there? I don't think so. This way if you kill me at least I can take him with me," Sanhuel said. Sam looked to Devon. Now he was the one that didn't know what to do.

"Just do it Sam," Devon said.

Sam's hand sunk in deep. He felt the knife cut through every part of the man's throat. He pulled and the knife severed through. As soon as it was out he dropped. He pushed away as Jerry's body fell limp. He couldn't believe what he had done. His mind was reeling. Blood poured down the front of Jerry. Sam could feel it on his arm. It was on his hand. He wiped at it frantically. He looked up and saw Sanhuel sitting with his eyes fogged over. Devon was watching him too. Sam kept expecting him to blink and return to himself, but it wasn't happening. All thoughts of the blood left him. All feelings of weakness faded. He reached Sanhuel and grabbed his shoulders. Sam shook him. His lolled limp and his face remained expressionless. Sam looked to Devon. He saw an equal look of shock on her face. He turned back to Sanhuel.

"Sanhuel?!" Sam yelled.

"There is no longer a point in yelling. He has gone beyond hearing." Sam recognized Tia's voice. He spun around ready to beg her to help him, but the plea died in his throat. Fantom was carrying her. Her head leaded against him and only her eyes moved.

"Set me down Fantom. You need to carry me no further," Tia said. Fantom set her down on the ground and leaned her against a tree so she was able to sit up. She regarded them through heavy lidded eyes. "You know what you must do now Sam?"

Sam tried to think, but his brain wasn't cooperating. All he could see was Sanhuel. He couldn't loose him too. "I have to fix Sanhuel," Sam said.

"There is no point in fixing him if there is nothing for him to return too. You must think of these things Sam. I understand your personal attachment, but you must not let it doom us all. You must make it to the wish granter. You have to save us Sam. I can no longer continue on. My part is finished. It is up to you Sam. You are the only one who knows where to go from here. It is your responsibility and you must not let your mind get clouded.

"Fantom, leave me here and accompany them. Make sure that they remain safe. It is my final command to you. Protect Sam as long as he remains on the path of the wish granter. After you are released from my bondage. You have served me well.

"You must leave now. Time is short for you Sam. Do not waist it. You hold all our hope. I will stay with your brother and do what I can. Do not worry about him. Go now."

Sam looked at Sanhuel. He heard Tia, but he could bring himself to leave her. Fantom grabbed his arm and he let him pull him up. He knew Tia was right. Devon followed them and Fantom led them away.

"Where to?" Fantom asked. Sam gave one final look back. He knew there would be no returning for him. Sam wasn't sure if it was the fever or if he could really sense it, but he knew where to go. He could feel it pulsing and calling to him. His mind had given up fighting him. He could hear it clearly now. The wish granter was calling him.

"That way," Sam said. He lifted his arm and pointed. There was no path this way. The path had been leading them the wrong way. There would be no path leading to where they were going. Sam leaned on Fantom and walked as best he could. He closed his eyes to try and sooth the burning. It was easier to listen then anyway. He tried to regain as much strength as he could.

They walked silently through the dark woods. The moon was their only light, though a slight blue tint had come to the sky. Morning was not too far off.

"I'm sorry," Devon sobbed. Sam opened his eyes and looked at her. She looked away. "I made you do it."

"What?" Sam asked. She turned back to him and Sam saw the sadness in her eyes.

"I made you kill him," Devon said.

"It's okay," Sam said. His mind was beyond that. He was trying not to think of it. He felt no resentment towards Devon. Devon nodded. They continue further and further into the forest. There was nothing, but trees. They seemed to get bigger and thicker as they went. Sam pushed them on. He didn't think he could stop now. The call was too strong. He found he didn't even need Fantom to help anymore. He could feel his body protesting, but the call had taken over. The fog of the fever was slowly clearing.

"Oh my God, is that it?" Devon asked. She stopped at the end of the trees. Sam and Fantom came up beside her and Sam knew they had made it.

The mansion that stretched out before them looked like it had once been extremely out of place in its surroundings. It looked like it had dropped out of the sky, but the forest had slowly become a part of it. The exterior had become faded and tarnished, resembling the barren ground around it. Sam had never seen such a grand building. He wondered if it would crumble down on top of them as soon as them got the front door open.

"This is it," Sam whispered. He stepped out into the clearing and fell all of the sickness fall back down on him. He wavered and felt Devon steady him. She gave him a weak smile.

Fantom got the front doors open after a few tries. The entrance hall was even grander then the exterior had been. The marble floor, even as dust as old as it looks, shone. The moldings stared down from their positions at the top of the walls. A huge stair case opened in front of them. It gave a half curl up and connected with the second floor. Sam fell over coughing. It seemed to tear his throat apart. Devon helped back up. She couldn't take her eyes off the surroundings. The room stunk of mold.

"Where do we go now Sam?" she asked. Sam could hear the call. It was stronger than ever. It filled his mind and pushed out everything else. He couldn't help, but obey it. He pushed on. Fantom had to help him again. His mind was willing, but his body just wasn't strong enough. He coughed.

Sam led them as best he could to the wing. He led them down the hallway. His feet dragged and it took the last of his strength to make it through the door. They entered the kitchen. There were three rows of stainless steel tables. The far wall was covered in stoves. Sam saw none of it. He collapsed to the floor. The sickness had gotten him. Devon was at his side.

"C'mon Sam. It's not that far. I mean you made it this far, you're almost there," Devon said. Sam coughed and tried to focus his eyes. The fever had him. He wanted to go on. The call was almost unbearable. He knew what he had to do.

"You have to take my memory Devon," Sam croaked. His throat burned.

"No, c'mon get up Sam," Devon said. She could do nothing to cover the worry in her voice.

"I'm done. I can't make it Devon."

"Don't say that. I promised I wouldn't. You have to get up."

"Take it Devon," Sam whispered. He couldn't get his voice any louder. He felt like his throat was going to split as it is. He couldn't focus his eyes. He closed them, feeling them burn as well. He could feel her still near.

"I can't," Devon said. Sam could hear the tears in her voice. "I can't do it Sam. Please don't make me. You're going to be fine. I mean I don't have to 'cause you're going to be fine and then you can do it yourself. I can wait Sam. You just need a little bit of time to get better. You're going to get better. Don't make me do it."

Fantom looked around nervously. He shifted and walked back and forth, like a caged animal in the zoo. Devon ignored him. She didn't even notice he was in the room right now. She forced her eyes shut and the built up tears finally spilled over. They led trails down her dirty cheeks. She shook her head frantically.

"Just do it Devon," Sam croaked. He gasped for enough air for his next sentence. "It's up to you now Devon. You can't fail us. You hold all our hopes."

"No, no, no," Devon sobbed. She shook her head even more furiously then before. Her hair whipped around and stuck to her wet cheeks. Fantom was pacing ever faster.

"You are the protector of the human race," he gasped. He paused and caught his breath again. Talking had never been this hard before. He could feel the ball of fire exploding in his stomach. "You have to do it. Now!"

Devon was alone now. It was only her and she planned on doing this right. This was her chance and she was taking it. They said she was the protector of the human race and that was what she was planning on being. She finally felt like that was who she was, that it was her destiny. She walked with purpose. There was no bounce or skip on her step. Each footfall fell with a sense of determination, each bringing her one step closer. Fantom pulled up out of the shadows beside her. She did not look at him. He stood to the side and watched her pass. His part was played. It was time for Devon.

She continued down the dim hallway. The molded carpet muffled all sound. Devon didn't notice. She was not listening. She was not looking. She was stuck in the memory, and that was where she was meant to be. She pushed past door after door, until she saw it. The thick wood door stood alone. The only one with a large burned D on it, a D for Devon, a D for destiny, a D for determination, and a D for Diamond. She ran her hand over it. She let her fingers sink into the deep black groove. She felt the jagged edge, and the door almost seemed to hum with her touch. This was the door. She was ready. She grabbed the handle and quickly let go. Her hand sizzled. She looked at her palm and saw the blister forming. She had not expected the door handle to be hot. That was not in the memory. That was for her, and it almost made her turn around. It was a bad sign. She wasn't ready. This door did not hold the same things for her as it had for Sam.

There was no turning back now. She couldn't. She bit through the pain. This was nothing. Her simple pain was nothing compared to if she didn't make it through that door. She took it in both hands and turned it. She let go as soon as she heard the handle click. She pushed it open with her foot. She was in. She held her head high and pushed forward. Devon nearly walked right back out. There in the middle of the room stood herself. She was smiling with her hands laced behind her back.

"I was wondering when you'd show up," she said. She flicked her hair and Devon saw a black symbol on her neck.

"Who are you?" Devon asked. She wouldn't take another step into the room. The door slammed behind her. Devon jumped and spun around, but she wasn't grabbing the door handle again. Her palms throbbed seeming to almost take on a rhythm and have a pulse of their own.

"Who do I look like? Wow you're already disappointing me," she said.

"I mean are you me? Then who am I?" Devon asked.

"You are nothing and I am no one. Don't bother me with stupid stuff. That doesn't matter. You came here for a reason?"

Devon was a little taken aback. It took her a second to regain her composure. Her mind fought with itself. Bring Sam back. She wanted to say it so bad. It the one thing she really wanted, but he was counting on her. The whole world was depending on her. She couldn't be selfish now. This was no longer about her and her wishes. Sam was dead and as much as she wanted him back it was not something she could do. "I am Devon Robin Rodgers the protector of the human race. I am here to save them."

"Hmm, save the human race, seems like a noble cause. There's a problem in that though. Hate to tell ya this, but I can't just do that with out getting something first. I mean, it's a trade. You can't have just expected me to save the human race 'cause you want it," she said laughing.

"What do you want?" Devon asked before she could even think. Her mind was crumbling in on itself now. Sam was gone, her chance of getting him back was gone. She was glad she had done it or she might not have been able to ask it, for now she feared the answer.

"Only the greatest gift of all," she said. "You have to promise to give it to me before I ask."

"I can't if I don't know what it is," Devon whispered.

"Ah, see that's not the way it works. If you're not willing to give up everything you can turn around and walk back out that door. Go enjoy you're last moments with the selfish human race."

"No! I'll do it. I mean you can have anything, everything," Devon said. She felt herself loosing control of her body. Her legs let go and Devon fell to her knees. She took a step towards Devon and Devon closed her eyes. She bowed her head. This was good bye.

Sam wasn't sure how he got there. He had been dying. He remembered it clearly. It was the end and he had accepted it. It was the fate of all humans. Devon. It hit him so fast it took his breath away. Maybe he hadn't remembered it all right away. Devon must have succeeded. He sat up and ran his fingers through the thick manicured grass. He looked around. He felt his heart jump. Devon was sitting next to him. She smiled.

"Hi there," she said.

"Hi," Sam said. He couldn't help, but smile. He was so happy to see her again.

"You were really sleeping there. I mean I tried waking you up, but it just wasn't happening. Oh, my name's Devon by the way, Devon Robin Rodgers. And you are?"

Sam felt his smile falter. His happiness seemed to fade a little. Devon couldn't remember him. But how could he even think that. The whole human race was alive and he still had her. Devon was still sitting here in front of him.

"Sam Diamond," he said.

"This is the first day of the rest of our lives Sam. We can do anything," said Devon making triumphant fists and holding them up in the air. She turned to Sam with a big grin plastered on her face. "What do you want to do?"

Sam smiled. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"We got a second chance Sammy-Sam. I don't plan on wasting it. You know?"

"Yeah, I know" Sam didn't know how he was here or where here was. He didn't care.

"I think I just saved the whole human race. I deserve a treat," Devon said.

"You sure do."