I ran straight to my room, leaving the door open. Moments later the door closed softly. I turned to face Luke. He looked apologetic, but livid and vexed at the same time.
"I can't believe this! Not now...so young, too young. How dare she do this to me, to Ali...?" Luke whispered, looking very distressed.
"Luke?" I asked softly, he looked up, "what's going on? What's wrong? Who's she? Who's Hope? Please tell me..." I trailed off, silenced by his tortured expression.
Luke told me to change into my shorts—we were apparently going somewhere quite hot—then meet him in his room. He left me alone to change, I was glad to have some time to think for myself. This whole thing had me more confused than I'd ever been in my life. I dressed in a daze, not even bothering to look in the mirror to see how I looked, then, grasping the strange book walked to my brother's room and rapped timidly on the door. It opened. I walked in, looking around (I'd never been in this room before), and closed the door silently. I sat down on the sofa Luke pointed to and waited... waited... waited. Finally Luke turned to face me, his expression still agonised.
"Ali you know I love you, right?" he paused, I nodded. "Then please, please believe me when I tell you this... I don't want you to have to do this. It is too dangerous for a little girl"—I opened my mouth to protest, but he continued—"to try. Hope is wrong and...And..." he trailed off in horror. "Come on Ali, we have to go." He grabbed my wrist and rushed me to his window. He pulled me onto his back like he was giving me a piggy-back-ride, and jumped lithely out the window, landing silently. He then broke into a run. I held on so tight, it should have choked him, because he was running extremely fast, too fast. Yet, strangely, his breathing never sped up, he never started panting. This was strange. None of this made sense, it had to be a dream, but it felt real, too real. Suddenly we stopped; we were at an ancient temple, made of marble and glass. Luke gently loosened my strangle hold then set me on the ground.
"How did you do that? Run so fast...jump so far so easily...?" I asked, confused. Luke sighed, but didn't answer. He led me inside silently. A tall girl with unusual bronze hair and a short azure dress on waited for us.
"Luke, you're back—finally." The girl said, and then turned to me, "hi Ali, I'm Hope. I'm sure Luke has explained everything to you." She smiled kindly at me; I smiled back and shook my head. Hope frowned. She gestured for Luke and me to follow her. She led us down a long hallway and in to a huge empty room. She turned to face us then, smiling again.
"Ali, you are a very important person, with an extremely powerful gift. In this world there are many people who can do things that are above the norm." Hope began, looking at Luke. "Once in every few generations, these people use their powers in a bad way. I bet you're wondering what I can do...let me show you..." she stopped raising her hand. Luke—who had never let go of my wrist—pulled me back, away from Hope.
"NO!" he bellowed, almost growling. He continued to pull me back, while Hope began advance, coming towards us with her fingers out stretched.
Then it happened... a bolt of black lightning shot out of Hope's fingers, hitting Luke straight in the chest...