She was floating, her feet resting a few inches above the Moonhaven spring. The sunlight bouncing off the water was dancing as merrily as the surface it was reflecting from. It was blinding, forcing her to look away. The castle rose before her, towering and imposing, the water-lily seal engraved on its stone walls looking mighty and powerful in its own shadow, a stark contrast against the various shades of green and brown that was the forest. Leafmen and Leafwomen flew on hummingbirds' overhead, the Jinn chattered and moved, and the rhythm of the swaying enormous trees overwhelmed her senses, but she stopped listening. A young Leafman had dismounted from his bird, his movements casual and carefree. He had a kind face, and warm eyes, but his smile (smirk, really) was pure mischief. An older man came to join him, his silver hair that came from years of responsibility shone from under his crescent moon helmet. They were familiar with each other, the older giving the younger an affectionate reprimand.

She recognized them. Missed them even. She wanted to join them, but she couldn't move. She wanted to speak, but no sound emerged.

They were walking away…. without her.

Right under her feet, a flower pod bloomed into a lily. And then she woke up.

MK took a deep breath. That dream was real. Not in the way like it actually happened, but in the way that it made sense. Her regular dreams normally make no sense, and are a jumble of pictures and places that shouldn't connect but do, but this one was different. In this dream she could think clearly, she was conscious. She could even feel the breeze in her hair and the sun on her skin. And the longing to be two inches tall burned with more intensity than she had ever felt in the past seven months. Why?

Her alarm went off beside nearby, calling her out of the world of floating girls and magic flowers, to the world that has a calculus final today and the teen wanted nothing more than to throw it into the wall.

But, she didn't.

She gently turned it off and opened her curtains, throwing light onto her unfinished bedroom. Accepting that there was no way she could crawl back into her bed, the girl started her day.

(Line Break)

Mary Katherine lived in Oak valley, a little dot on the map of America, full of people who all had dreams of getting out of this town and then woke up one day realizing they never got around to it. It was quiet, and nice. There were only two grocery stores in town, and one traffic light. It was a lot different from the city life that MK was used to. Her biggest complaint was the lack of diversity- not just culturally, but in personality as well. That's why it was so exciting for the kids at Oak Valley High school when she was enrolled; nothing had ever changed until she showed up. But she loved her dad, and she had made friends fairly quickly at her school, so living the vanilla life wasn't too much of a problem to her.

Mostly because of Nod.

The teens spoke every afternoon, talking about their day and explaining their separate worlds to each other. Even her closest friends back in the city didn't know as much about MK as Nod did. She told him everything, her childhood, her school day, her problems with her dad, her dreams. And he said the same back. Her friends at school were amazed at how uninterested she was in drama, and she explained painstakingly to them that she had "other things to worry about." It was nice; this feeling of having something that no one else could ever know about, ever experience. MK was always able to put on an outer smile, pretend that all was well with the world and she had nothing to worry about. It was a trick she learned when her mom died. But the knowledge that magic was real was what gave her an inner smile, as well as an outer one.

Her father dropped the Daily Paper down on the breakfast table; bring the sleepy teen out of her daydream.

"I just- I just brought this in for you Mary Katherine, thought you might want to read it before school," He downed his coffee in one gulp, and grabbed a piece of toast. The entomologist had just started his job at the local environmental studies building, and was extremely excited about it. MK smiled at him, and picked up the paper even though she knew she wasn't going to read it.

"Thanks Dad. And I can make my own way to school this morning; Angela just got her license so she can drive me to school."

He nodded, and after a moment looked up in thought, and then scribbled something in his spiral notebook. The teenager smiled to herself, for her father's quirks were one of her favorite things about him. And sometimes her least favorite, but she wasn't thinking about that when she caught him writing his scientific inquiries about their favorite advanced society of tiny people living in the woods. It made her cringe hearing it said like that, and then she cringed even more, because she actually believed in it this time.

"Well, I'll head out now, and I'll probably pick up some groceries from Tom's down the street. Anything in particular you want, sweetheart?"

"List is on the fridge."

"All right then, I'll get going," he started making his way out the door, tripping over Ozzie's water bowl. MK followed, knowing he'd forget something (Like his keys) and she'd need to open the door for him. "I'll see you tonight, alright!" She waved him into his car, shut the door, and opened it seconds later to hand him his brief case.

"Good luck, Dad. And don't forget to pick up the dish soap." He drove off in a cloud of dust, and MK finished her breakfast, hoping she wouldn't barf it back up again on her ride to school with Angela, which she probably shouldn't have agreed to. About to run out the door she left her bedroom window slightly open, in case Nod wanted to drop something off. Or any Leafman. But hopefully Nod. Honking coming from the driveway in front had her racing out the door and into Angela's mothers Subaru.

"Hey, aren't you going to ask me for it?" MK's close friend asked.

"Ask for what?"

"My drivers license of course! Well, I wouldn't be here driving you if I didn't have it, but I want to show it to you anyways and then gloat about it, so ask me."

MK laughed. "Okay, Angela show me your rightfully earned drivers license." The brunette didn't hesitate and grabbed the piece of plastic down from the dashboard.

"Damn right I earned it. I even had to miss Heather Pearson's party because I was studying." She saw MK's exasperated expression and added "And even though you think it's stupid I don't, so don't look at me that way. Anyways, now I can drive you anywhere, anytime. And I'll probably have to because you refuse to get your license. And I don't even look bad in the picture." Angela shifted the car into drive, and they started their journey. Looking down at the photo, MK didn't think Angela could look bad in any picture. With slanting almond eyes, a button nose, and dimples she was object of every boys fantasy.

"It's nice. And now you can rub your haircut in your moms face even after it grows back out." The redhead teased, and put the license back on the dashboard. Angela had recently cut her hair into a short bob (which of course looked great on her) after she heard her mom complaining about the style on one of the models in a magazine. She had that sort of relationship with her mother.

"Yeah, 'cause she deserves it." Angela grumbled, and then pulled up to park in two different parking spaces and not even noticing it. "Here we are, Oak Valley high, otherwise known as hell."

MK laughed as they got out of the vehicle and asked, "Did you study for the calculus test?"

Angela stopped in her tracks. "That's today!"

"Yeah, and it's been for the last two weeks."

"Shit! Can I borrow your notes?" A pleading look was accompanied with these words. MK just rolled her eyes and grudgingly agreed, and they made their way up into the school.