The boy ran down the hill, stumbling in the tall grass but not daring to lessen his pace. He knew that his pursuers were not far behind him.

He chanced a backwards glance and saw the first black head come over the top of the hill. It was quickly followed by several more. The boy turned his head frontwards again and kept running.

They were centipedes, giant, black centipedes with silver, pointed teeth and thousands of long, spindly legs. A whole herd of giant centipedes were swarming after this one boy, with the two harlequins flying overhead, keeping the insects moving at just the right speed so that they were close enough to frighten the Visitor by too far away to actually catch him. They had already taken his Ideya; this chase was merely for fun.

NiGHTS and Reala swooped low over the boy's head, making him cringe in fear. They laughed as they took to the sky again, urging the centipedes on. Humans were so easy to scare!

The Nightmarens and Visitor were steadily nearing a thick forest at the edge of the field; seeing this, Reala came up alongside his sibling.

"The Visitor will try to lose us in the trees," he said. "I'll continue to chase him with the centipedes; you go around in front of him. Just when he thinks that he is safe, jump out at him!"

NiGHTS laughed and nodded. "Good idea. This is going to be fantastic!"

Below them, the boy had just reached the cover of the trees. Reala swooped down to pursue him more closely, while NiGHTS pulled away from the pack to take her own path through the forest. She slowed her flight as she twisted around the trees; there was no need to hurry, and a little suspense always made Visitors more susceptible to being scared in the end.

Listening for the centipedes' footsteps to judge her distance from the swarm, NiGHTS was surprised to hear another, unfamiliar sound instead. It was like a whistle, but different, moving, almost. NiGHTS curiously peered through the trees. There was a clearing just ahead of her, with a girl Visitor standing in the center. She was holding a shiny metal stick to her lips and blowing into it, making the whistling sound. A few Nightopians here gathered around her, sitting and listening to the sound.

The Visitor's eyes were closed and her fingers were moving along the stick; each time they moved, the sound changed, becoming higher or lower. The different sounds seemed to blend together into an order that somehow made sense. NiGHTS had neither seen nor heard anything like it before. Fascinated, she crept closer, entering the clearing.

Catching sight of the Nightmaren, one of the Nightopians let out a shrill squeal. The little imps scattered, jabbering with alarm, leaving the Visitor blinking, bewildered, and alone. Her eyes fell on NiGHTS then, and she gasped. NiGHTS glided closer. The girl stood there, frozen with fear, but NiGHTS only had eyes for the metal stick.

"What is that?" she asked, pointing at the stick.

The girl's eyes flickered towards the object in her hands. "I-It's a flute," she stammered.

A flute. NiGHTS studied the stick, the flute; it appeared to be hollow, with little holes on one side.

"And the sound?" she said. "The whistle noise; what do you call that?"

"Um…" the Visitor licked her lips nervously. "N-Notes. A song? M-Music."

"Music…" NiGHTS whispered the word, the strange, new word. "Make the music again," she said.

"Y-You want me to play for you?"

NiGHTS hesitated. "Does that mean make music?"

"Yes."

"Then play," said NiGHTS.

The girl lifted the flute to her lips and blew. This time the notes were quavering and unsteady, due to the trembling of the girl's hands, but as NiGHTS continued to simply watch and listen, the Visitor grew more confident, and NiGHTS heard the music as it had been played before.

It was the most beautiful thing that the Nightmaren had ever heard, these rising and falling notes, this music. She suddenly wanted to make it, to play it—so "play" had another meaning, one just as nice!—herself. NiGHTS raised her hands, pretending to hold a flute. She moved her fingers, imitating how the girl moved hers, and blew.

A soft, low note emerged from the imaginary flute. Both NiGHTS and the Visitor gaped in surprise.

"NiGHTS!"

Reala's angry voice echoed through the trees. NiGHTS whirled around. The Visitor took that moment to flee, sprinting out of the clearing and out of sight just as the red Nightmaren came into view.

"NiGHTS!" he shouted again, rushing up to her. "Why did you disappear like that? The Visitor got away! What sort of an ending is that?"

"I'm sorry, Reala…" NiGHTS bowed her head sheepishly. "I got sidetracked.

"Sidetracked." Reala snorted derisively. "Sidetracked by what?"

"By this." NiGHTS raised her hands again and blew into the imaginary flute. The low note sounded again, and this time NiGHTS moved her fingers, making the note switch from low to high.

"What's that sound?" Reala asked. "What are you doing?"

"It's music," NiGHTS explained. "I'm playing music."

"Playing!" Reala slapped her hands down, a horrorstruck expression on his face. "NiGHTS, you know that's forbidden!"

"It's not the same, Reala!" NiGHTS protested. "It's not like the other playing. The girl just stood there, and—"

"A girl? There was a Visitor here? Where are her Ideya?"

NiGHTS looked down at the ground, starting to realize just how much she'd messed up.

"…you let her go." Reala shook his head in disbelief. "You let a Visitor go…"

"I didn't mean to…"

It was a lame excuse, and they both knew it.

"NiGHTS, what's come over you lately?" Reala asked. "You're not usually this…disobedient."

"I don't know," NiGHTS replied. "It's not that I want to be bad, Reala, it's just… Well… I just want to try new things, I guess."

"New things which go against Master Wizeman's orders."

NiGHTS shrugged, keeping her eyes cast down.

Reala placed his hands on her shoulders.

"NiGHTS, look at me," he said. The purple harlequin's eyes slowly turned up to meet his.

"You need to stop pursuing new things," Reala continued. "You'll only get into trouble. Forget playing, forget this…music. We don't need them. We are Master Wizeman's Nightmarens; we have the power of thousands of stored Ideya, and we hold dominance over everything in the Dream Dimension. There's no need to go looking for trouble."

NiGHTS nodded. "I understand, my brother."

"Good." Reala withdrew his hands and glanced upwards self-conciously.

"We don't have to tell Master Wizeman about today," he whispered. "He'd melt us down for sure… Just this once, it'll be our secret."

"Thank you, Reala."

The red harlequin grinned. "Let's go," he said. "Maybe there's another Visitor running around in this forest somewhere."

The two Nightmarens flew off through the trees, leaving the clearing behind them.