Chapter 1

I'm Buck Anderson. Everyone calls me Bucky. I'm 14 years old, and I'm not afraid of anything.

Until about a year or two ago, I had never believed in anything abnormal. Mythology or any of that sort was complete nonsense. Spiders weren't dangerous the way I saw it. And I wasn't, and still not, scared of the dark.

Ok, maybe the one thing I'm scared of is my little sister, but I'll explain that later.

All of this changed for me one night, in the beginning of September. It was Saturday and I was walking home to my house in Bridgeville, New York, from probably one of the coolest parties I've ever been to. The music was a bit too loud (In other words, I almost went deaf) but other than that, the competitions and the decorations were great.

I was walking home alone, but as I still today don't believe in ghost stories, I didn't mind.

For some reason, however, of all the nights that I've ever walked home alone, this one seemed different. It almost felt like I was being watched. Like someone, or something, was observing my every move. I took this to mind and shuddered slightly.

"It's probably just one of my friends trying to scare me," I reassured myself, and I relaxed. Ever since I had told my pals I wasn't afraid of anything, they'd been constantly trying to catch me off-guard. It never worked.

I kept walking. It felt like the beginning of a horror movie: the hero walking through an eerie forest on a dark and cold September night, the moon is out (although here it was only half a moon), the wind is blowing, and there is an occasional snap behind you, even when there's nothing there. I tried to ignore this as best as I could.

Suddenly, something leaped over my head and landed in front of me. I fell backward in shock. When I got to my feet, there was someone standing in front of me…a girl.

At first she looked like any other girl…but then I noticed something was different about her:

As she took a few steps forward, she moved as quickly as a cheetah, as swiftly as a horse, and as quietly as an owl. On her forehead, there was a glowing blue light in the shape of a diamond, sort of like a different version of Harry Potter's lightning-bolt scar.

The girl was now standing in the shadow of a nearby tree, so I couldn't see anything besides the diamond, preventing me from getting any idea of who she was.

As my eyes adjusted more to the light of the moon, I did see something else that probably sounds really stupid…was I seeing a pair of cat ears on her head, and…was that a tail? I could have sworn I was hallucinating. I looked down at the ground and tried to snap out of it.

"This is not happening. This is not happening," I kept whispering to myself.

Either she was really fast, or I had been thinking for a long time, and that's because when I looked up again, the girl was gone!

I hurried home, and for the first time in a long time, I was actually a little creeped out, and you could tell: my eyes were wide, and my hands we shaking the slightest bit; that was from the shock of whatever had leaped over my head.

At first I was positive I was seeing things, and the more I thought about it, the crazier this whole thing seemed; but deep down, part of me still believed it had happened.

That night was really uneasy for me. My little sister, Delilah, (I told you I would bring her up), had a feeling that something was on my mind, as she usually did, and she wouldn't stop bugging me about it.

Let me just say, for the record, that Delilah was the most annoying little sister ever. Ok, to be honest, she understood me (not many did); she was helpful, occasionally funny, and trustworthy. However, other than that, she was the worst!

"What are you thinking about, Buckinator?" she asked. I hated it when she called me Buckinator. "Is it about the party? Did you meet someone? Was it a girl? Oh my God, do you have a girlfriend? Mom is going to kill you if she finds out…"

"Shut up, Delilah, please!" I snapped, but she couldn't stop talking. How I hated my 7th grade sister sometimes! Finally, I gave up and told her everything that had happened.

"That sounds strange coming out of you, Mr. I-don't-believe-in-magic!" Delilah teased, and she left, laughing at a joke that was seriously immature for a twelve-year-old.

I groaned. Delilah was completely self-centered. She always thought she was so funny. To make a point, Delilah's one of the only people who thinks she's funny!

Anyway, I thought about talking about it with my parents, but they would probably have thought the same thing that Delilah did, so I kept my mouth shut.

That night, I couldn't sleep a wink. So many things were going through my mind. Who was this girl? What was she doing? Did she really have cat ears and a tail? What about that diamond on her forehead? Were my eyes playing tricks on me? "Don't be stupid," I thought aloud to myself. "I was seeing things. Besides, who the heck still believes in magic or mythical creatures in my grade, anyway?"

But that was the question I just couldn't answer. That's all I was thinking about before I fell into a deep sleep. What I didn't realize was that this experience was going to change my life completely…forever.