Chapter 2: Home Again, Home Again, to Go to Rest

Yami jerked awake and frantically looked around. She quickly remembered where she was and relaxed. With a groan, she raised a hand to rub her forehead.

"Good morning," chimed Serena's cheerful voice. "I was trying to be quiet so I wouldn't wake you, but since you're up anyway, I guess I don't have to worry about it." She giggled, and Yami could not help but smile. "Did you sleep well?"

Yami nodded as she sat up and stretched. "Yeah, I did."

"No dreams?"

With a smile, she shook her head. "No dreams."

"Well," Serena quickly moved on to another subject as she continued getting around for school, "since you don't have any clothes aside from the ones you're wearing," — which are yours, anyway, Yami thought to herself — "you can borrow some of mine until we have a chance to go shopping. I'm thinking mall trip on Saturday. Sound good?"

Yami shrugged. "Fine with me. You've already been nice enough. Anyone else would've left me on the street all night."

Serena set her jaw. "Well, I don't plan on leaving you on the street any night. You can stay here until your parents get back. By the way, when are your parents coming back?"

Yami had never thought of that before. She had no idea where her parents were or when they would come back… if they were coming back. Then again, there were few things she did have any idea of. "Uh, I don't know exactly. They were going on a business trip, and it all depends on how well things go."

"Hmm. Well, you can stay here, anyway. My parents won't mind. I mean, if they can put up with Sammy twenty-four seven, then you certainly won't be a problem."

"Is Sammy your brother?"

"Yep. I guess you haven't met him yet, huh? Don't worry — you will soon enough. Then you'll wish you could go back to having never met him."

Yami laughed. There was a tap on the door before Serena's mother poked her head into the room. "Serena, you'll need to come down soon if you want breakfast, or you're going to be late for school. Good morning, Yami. How did you sleep last night?"

"Very well, Mrs. Tsukino. Thank you."

"Well, I'll see you girls at breakfast." With that, Mrs. Tsukino was gone, and Yami and Serena were alone again. Even Luna had disappeared.

"Here." Serena tossed Yami a pair of blue jeans. "These look like your size. Ooh, this top would look great on you!"

"Uh, thanks." Grabbing her school uniform, Serena scurried off to the bathroom, leaving Yami to change.

* * * * *

When Yami got downstairs, she found that Serena had not come down yet. The rest of the Tsukinos were gathered around the table. A young boy was playing with his Cheerios, trying to balance them on the back of his spoon. Yami guessed he must be Sammy. Mr. Tsukino was sitting at the table, sipping his coffee and reading yesterday's newspaper. Mrs. Tsukino was fixing herself a cup of coffee and scolding Sammy for playing with his food.

Yami had frozen at the door, staring at the family of her only friend, people she had barely met but who cared for Serena — even if Sammy would never admit it. Mrs. Tsukino was the one who finally looked up and smiled. "Yami, come sit down for breakfast. I'm sure my daughter will be down soon."

Before Yami could open her mouth to reply, Serena appeared behind her. "Hey, everyone! What's for breakfast?" She was at the table before Yami could move.

Smiling and running a hand through her short, boyish hair, the teen moved to sit down with Serena's family.

"Where do you go to school, Yami?" Serena's mother asked casually as she sat down with everyone else.

"Yami is home-schooled," Serena answered for her friend. The girl had a knack for speaking before Yami could even compose a thought in her mind — another source of amusement, Yami took note of.

"Well, feel free to stay here during the day, even when Serena's at school."

"Thank you, Mrs. Tsukino."

Just then, Luna padded into the kitchen. She sat down by the door, watching the family calmly like a sentinel. With only a brief glance her way, Yami continued eating her breakfast. She did not notice the careful looks the cat was giving her.

When she had finished her own breakfast, Serena jumped up, grabbing her bookbag, which she had dropped next to her chair. "I have to get to school! I hope I'm not late yet."

Yami stood up as well, sliding her chair in as she picked up her cereal bowl. "I'll walk with you. I have nothing better to do for now." Placing their dishes in the sink, the girls set off for Juuban Middle, walking rather quickly so as not to make Serena late.

As they neared the alleyway in which Yami had awoken the other night and hid for much of the morning, the teenager noticed Serena's bag still sitting on the sidewalk. Serena noticed it a moment later and ran to pick it up. "Look, my gym bag! I lost it yesterday when I ran into Darien. Hmm, that's funny — my clothes are missing, but my tennis shoes are still here." Looking down at Yami's bare feet, she handed one of the shoes to her friend. "Here, why don't you see if these fit?"

Yami already knew they did not — she had tried them on the previous morning, but of course she kept her mouth shut about that. After trying to slip on the shoe and finding that it was still — go figure — too small, she handed it back to Serena, shaking her head. "No, it's too small for me."

"Hmm. I guess we'll just have to get some shoes when we go shopping tomorrow." As they continued on their way, nothing more was said about the gym bag or its contents, either the ones remaining or those that had miraculously disappeared.

Upon reaching Juuban Middle School, Serena said a hurried goodbye and left Yami alone. Briefly wondering what to do next, the teenager decided to head to the arcade where Serena and her friends hung out. At least she could expect to see someone she knew there.

As she entered the arcade, Andrew looked up and smiled, recognizing the girl from the day before. "Lose your shoes again?" he asked with a grin.

"I stayed at Serena's house last night."

"Couldn't've borrowed some of her shoes?"

Yami shook her head. "Her feet are too small."

"I see. So what can I do for ya?"

"I don't have any money," she replied with a slight shrug. "Serena's at school, so I was just looking for some way to pass time."

"Well, I'm not busy right now. How about a game of air hockey?"

Yami shrugged. "Sure. Why not?"

Andrew inserted a coin to start up the game, and a plastic disc popped out of a slot on his side of the table. "You've played before, right?"

"No."

"Well, just try to get the puck into my goal and keep it out of yours using this thing." He held up his pusher, sliding hers across the table. "It's not too hard once you get the hang of it." Yami nodded. "All right, you ready?" Another nod. He held up the puck. "You wanna start?"

"Sure." Yami took the puck and set it down on the table. With her eyes on the goal slot on the opposite end of the table, she hit the puck with her pusher. It flew to the right, apparently a totally wild shot. But as it bounced back, it headed straight for Andrew's goal, sliding in just at the edge, just missing his pusher.

Andrew stared at Yami in amazement for a moment. "That was a good shot." Setting the puck back on the table, his face hardened in determination. "All right. Now it gets serious."

* * * * *

Yami left the arcade a few hours later when more customers started to come in. Andrew told her to come back around three o'clock to three thirty — that was when Serena and her friends always showed up. As she exited, she noticed a black cat sitting on the sidewalk just outside. With a gold crescent moon on her forehead, the cat was unmistakable.

Bending down, Yami stroked the cat's back. "Hey, Luna. You following me or something?" Of course the cat did not reply — cats could not talk. With a grin and a shake of her head, Yami stood up and continued on her way. The cat followed, padding along behind so innocently. Yami wondered why Luna was following her. She hadn't thought the cat had taken a liking to her or anything. This only reminded her of the strange feeling she got about Luna, but she did not dwell on it. After all, it was only a cat.

Making her way back to Falls Avenue. Yami watched her house from a block down the street. After only twenty minutes, she saw the unfamiliar car pull out of the driveway and turn away from her, driving off down the street. Slowly approaching the house, Yami circled it cautiously. There were no lights on. Apparently, no one was there. Moving around to the back door, she withdrew a paperclip she had found on the sidewalk from her pocket. Carefully folding it and inserting it into the keyhole, she expertly picked the lock. Wait a second… where had she learned how to do that? Brushing off the thought, she entered the house quietly. Looking back, she saw Luna sitting outside, watching her. Leaving the cat behind, Yami pushed the door shut.

Moving through the darkened house, Yami's horror grew by the minute. She did not recognize anything inside her home — the furniture, the toys, the dishes in the sink…. What bothered her most of all, though, were the pictures hanging on the wall. She did not recognize anyone in those pictures. Two days ago, this had been her home. What had happened? And how had it happened so quickly?
Making her way upstairs, Yami gently pushed open the door to her room. It was obviously no longer her room, though. An unmade bed was pushed up against the wall to her right. Her bed belonged underneath the window on the wall opposite the door. Sports equipment, Game Boy cartridges, action figures, and Spiderman comics littered the floor. A poster featuring a band she'd never heard of hung on the wall over the bed. A photograph of a little boy holding an electric guitar sat on the dresser on the left side of the room. Walking slowly over to it, Yami picked up the picture, staring at it for she could only guess how long. "So," she said softly, "I guess this is your home now." A small tear threatened to push its way out of the corner of her eye, but she insistently repressed it. Forcing herself to set the photograph down, she stepped away from the dresser.

Looking around, Yami moved to the closet, easing the folding doors open. Khaki pants and ragged blue jeans hung from hangars from the top shelf. Baseball caps and toy trucks and starships sat in unorganized heaps on the lower shelves. Dirty tennis shoes were pushed back into one corner, right next to a polished pair of black dress shoes, apparently for Sundays and special occasions. Underneath a mountain of old stuffed animals, toy guns, worn baseball mitts, and a sports jacket, leaned up against a wall and apparently long forgotten judging by the thick layer of dust, something caught Yami's eyes.

Being careful so as not to cause an avalanche, Yami eased out the nearly hidden skateboard. The wheels were just barely worn, so it apparently had only been used a few times. It was a nice board — good bearings, sturdy trucks, two kicktails, strong but flexible deck…. It was a wonder it had never gotten more use.

The underside of the deck portrayed an intricate piece of artwork. An evil sorcerer stood above everything else. The darkness swirled around him, seeming to swallow everything like a black hole. A young man with dirty blond hair and dressed in rags stood below the sorcerer, holding up a glowing sword, which pierced the darkness with its pulsing light. The sorcerer appeared angry at the young man and somehow injured by the light of the sword. Yami marveled at the picture, wondering who could have imagined it and then painted it so vividly, as if there were no denying that it had been real.

Suddenly jolting back into reality, Yami looked at the clock sitting on the boy's dresser. She had been there over an hour. Hurrying back downstairs, she slipped out the back door and pulled it shut behind her. Just as she did so, she heard the car pull back into the driveway. Turning around, she saw Luna sitting right where she'd been an hour before. Ignoring the cat, Yami cut across the backyard of the house next door and then headed for the street. When she was well out of the neighborhood, she stopped and leaned up against a building, her head spinning. She did not know whose home that house was now, but it was obviously no longer hers.

Looking down, Yami saw Luna at her feet. She smiled down at the cat. "You're lucky," she said. "Cats don't have to worry about anything." She could have sworn she saw Luna raise an eyebrow as if in skepticism, but she forgot about that as she realized the skateboard was still gripped firmly in her left hand. Well, I guess I can't take it back now. Don't think it'll be missed, anyway.

Shrugging, Yami dropped the board down onto the sidewalk. The back wheels clattered on the pavement first. Before the forward wheels had even touched down, the girl had jumped aboard. She glided smoothly down the sidewalk. Turning, she came upon a short staircase. Almost effortlessly, the teen ollied up and landed on the handrail, grinding down the metal bar before sliding off the end and landing gracefully onto the pavement again. Performing a kickflip, she smiled at the comfort of familiarity — a thing she'd lost of late. Briefly, memories flashed in her mind of her father teaching her how to skateboard when she was only a small child. She remembered learning to ollie in the very driveway she'd seen the unfamiliar car in just that day. Quickly, she pushed the memories away, letting her thoughts settle only on the moment.

Finally coming to a stop and stomping the skateboard up into her grasp, Yami looked down. Luna jogged up to sit at her feet. Apparently, the cat had been following her the entire time she'd been skating. Must've been quite a workout, she mused. Running a hand through her short, sandy hair, which was nearly soaked with sweat, she released a long sigh. "Ready to go home, Luna? Well, your home, anyway. I apparently don't have a home anymore." The cat tilted her head as if she understood what Yami had said. With a smile down at her little four-legged companion, Yami started off — walking this time so as not to exhaust Luna — toward Serena's home.

* * * * *

Despite Mrs. Tsukino's invitation to hang around the house even when Serena was gone, Yami still felt nervousness twisting in her stomach as she rang the doorbell. But Serena's mother welcomed her in with a smile. The smile made her a bit more comfortable around the woman, though "more comfortable" certainly did not mean comfortable.

Trotting up the stairs to Serena's bedroom with Luna at her heels, the teenager stopped as she heard a loud thwack coming from… it must have been Sammy's room. Easing the door open, she peered inside, where Serena's little brother was busy lining up a dart to throw at a target hung on the wall opposite the door. After carefully taking aim, he threw the dart hard. Thwack! A bit of paint chipped off the wall as the dart hit a good foot and a half away from the target. Yami could not help but giggle.

Sammy turned around to notice his audience and immediately blushed. "I… I don't do as well when people watch."

"I'll bet," the teenager giggled. "Can I try?"

Sammy looked reluctant, but he shrugged and handed her a dart. She's a girl — how good could she possibly be? Yami stepped back a little more than a meter farther from the target than he'd been standing. Carefully aiming, she threw the dart. Thwack! Sammy's jaw dropped. "Bull's-eye!" He ran to the target, carefully looking at the dart protruding from it, blinking to make sure he was seeing clearly. "Perfect shot! How did you do that?"

Yami shrugged. "Just lucky, I guess."

"Luck!" He pulled the dart out and ran back to Yami, handing it to her. Running back to the dartboard, he pointed to a very small section. "This is worth sixty points. See if you can hit it." Stepping out of the way, he watched anxiously as the girl took aim. Thwack! The boy's jaw dropped once again. "Dang!" He yanked the dart out again and ran back to Yami. "Can you teach me?" he asked excitedly.

Taking the boy by the shoulders, she positioned him in front of the target. "Here's a tip: when you throw, step with the opposite foot."

"All right." Sammy aimed carefully and threw. Thwack! Yami winced at the loud noise, much louder than when she'd thrown the dart.

"Already a little better. Don't throw it so hard. You don't have to kill the thing." Thwack! The sound was significantly reduced in volume. "Good."

* * * * *

"I'll tell ya, the girl can aim. Whipped my butt half a dozen times at air hockey! I didn't make a goal!"

"Wow." Serena had to admit she was impressed. "You know, that's kind of weird, 'cause she didn't do well at all in the Sailor V game."

"That's not so weird," Raye said, waving off Serena's comment. "Maybe it's some kind of hand-eye coordination thing that doesn't work with video games."

"Yeah," Lita put in. "Kind of like being able to beat someone up in real life and then totally sucking at Mortal Kombat."

"I guess so." Serena nodded thoughtfully.

"You know what is weird," Andrew said. "She told me she'd never played before in her life. I had to explain the rules before we even started."

"Now that's impressive!" Lita nodded her head in obvious respect of Yami's talent.

Just then, there was a jingling of bells as the door opened, and Yami entered the arcade, her short hair unruly and a skateboard gripped loosely in her left hand. "Hey, Yami!" Serena chimed. "Have a good day? Probably so — you didn't have to take any stupid tests in school. So how was your day?"

"Uh, it was… fine."

"Where'd you get the skateboard?"

"The skateboard?" She hadn't thought of an excuse. Her mind worked frantically. "I… left it sitting in the d… driveway at home. So, uh, I… I didn't need a house key to get it." She smiled nervously. She always wondered if her excuses would work, but Serena seemed to accept them without question. It made her feel even worse for lying.

"Hey, isn't it dangerous to skateboard barefoot?" Lita asked, raising an eyebrow.

Yami grinned. "Not if you don't mess up."

"Oh, hey!" Serena's sudden, highly energetic epiphanies never ceased to make Yami jump. "You haven't met Raye yet. Raye, this is Yami. This is my friend Raye."

Raye nodded. "Pleased to meet you." Yami nodded back nervously, painfully aware of how uncomfortable she was meeting new people.

Serena did not seem to notice Yami's nervousness. She grinned mischievously at her sandy-haired friend before glancing over toward Andrew. "You know, we were just talking about how you pulverized Andrew this morning… at a game you'd never played before."

Yami laughed. "Just lucky, I guess."

"Luck! Hah!" Andrew had to contradict her. "Do you know how many times I've played that game? I hardly ever lose, and never to a rookie. I didn't make one blasted goal!"

Yami shrugged. "Dunno. Maybe my calling is to play professional air hockey." Everyone stared at her for a moment before they all burst out laughing. Before the laughter had ceased, the bells jingled again, and Yami turned to see Darien enter. She immediately heard Serena go silent and could imagine the beaming joy on the girl's face. She could not help but smirk as the dark-haired college student moved to sit down next to his Meatball Head, placing a butterfly kiss on her forehead. Yami noticed the sparkle in Serena's eyes as he pulled away. The fairy tale, she thought with a smile.

As Serena and Darien disappeared into their own world, Yami found herself falling into a kind of isolation in her own mind. Quickly, she shook her head, pushing away the troubling thoughts that so insistently forced their way forward whenever she had a silent moment.

"Hey!" Yami jumped as Serena's friend Lita called upon her attention. The brunette smirked mischievously, and Yami found she rather liked the expression — it seemed one that would be offered a friend. "How about a game of air hockey?"

* * * * *

"So, what did you do all day?" Serena asked innocently as she and Yami trotted side-by-side back to the blonde's home.

Yami shrugged. "Andrew and I played air hockey for a while. I stopped by my house, but… well, you know I didn't have the key or anything. Skated a while, hung out with your brother…"

Serena made a face. "With Sammy? Why would you wanna hang out with him?"

Yami laughed. "I taught him to throw darts. Not to bash him, but he pretty much sucked at it."

"By all means, bash the little monster. He deserves it."

"Come on! He is your brother. It must be nice having a brother." Must be nice having a family.

"Nice! You've obviously never had one."

Yami laughed. "Nope. Only child."

"Lucky you."

The sandy-haired teen shrugged. "I dunno. I'd kind of like having a brother or sister. Having a friend living right there in your house, a friend who you know will never leave you…"

"You can have Sammy. Take him! And don't ever send him back!"

Yami laughed. "Come on. Deep down, you really love your brother."

Serena frowned. "Does that mean I have to like him?"

"No. You don't. Just remember that you love him."

They arrived at Serena's home, and the blonde smiled. "Home again, home again, to go to rest," she recited cheerily. "By hearth and heart, house and nest." Yami's breath caught in her chest. A shadow must have passed across her face, for Serena's smile quickly faded. "What is it?"

"My mother used to say that when I was little," the teen responded. "I remember her teaching it to me almost before I was old enough to talk."

"Well," Serena said happily, "she can recite it again when your parents get home."

Yami swallowed and nodded, forcing a smile. Together, the girls made their way into the house just in time for dinner, to Serena's great delight. After they had eaten, they trotted up the stairs to Serena's bedroom, Luna bounding up step by step after them.

Falling back onto the bed with a sigh — the day had been a trying one, like the one before — Yami did her best to still the swirling of her mind and push away the memories and unwelcome thoughts that made up her confusion. She noticed a book sitting on the floor next to the bed and, interested, picked it up. "The Iliad?" The Greek epic did not strike her as something Serena would read.

The blonde wrinkled her nose. "Yeah. We're reading it in school. I personally think that if Mr. Hoover…"

"Homer?"

"Whatever… had a story to tell, he should have just told it like a normal person instead of trying to be all confusing and junk. I can't get through a sentence without having to read it two dozen times to figure out what he's saying!"

Yami could not help but laugh. "It's not that hard."

Serena cocked her head. "Have you read it?" She received a nod in return.

"Yeah. My mother used to read to me from classics before I went to sleep every night."

"She read The Iliad to you when you were a little kid?"

"Yeah."

"How cruel."

Yami laughed again. "No, it's not. I found the stories… intriguing. And truthful."

"What else did she read to you?"

"Oh, I don't know… a lot of stuff. Uh… Hamlet, The Scarlet Letter, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Paradise Lost, The Inferno — stuff like that."

"Doesn't sound like the most upbeat of selections."

"No, I guess not."

"Didn't you ever read happy things?"

Yami cocked her head. "Like what?"

"Well, gee, there are plenty of sunny-type books out there. Hmm… let's see… Old Yeller! It's about a puppy dog, right?"

"He gets rabies in the end, and his owners shoot him."

"Well… how about Where the Red Fern Grows? That one's about puppies too."

"Those dogs die."

"To Kill a Mockingbird…"

"About societal flaws such as racism. And I wouldn't call anything with 'kill' in the title a sunshine-and-daisies book."

Serena let out a frustrated sigh. "Romeo and Juliet."

"Did you even read that one?"

"Yes. My mother read it to me when I was little."

"Well, she must've gotten a kiddie version with an alternate ending. They committed suicide in the end."

"Grr… Huck Finn."

"Slavery."

"The Crucible."

"If you're suggesting that as a happy tale, I know you haven't read it. Do you even know what 'crucible' means?"

"Tarzan."

"Tarzan's mother dies, and he and Jane don't even end up together."

"That's not true!"

"Are you talking about the novel or the Disney version?"

"Ahh! You are totally hopeless."

"What's your point?"

"Black Beauty."

"Don't even try to tell me that horse had a good life."

"The Call of the Wild."

"You don't get warm fuzzy books that take place in the Yukon… or that are written by Jack London."

"Hatchet."

"That boy went through a lot of crap before he was rescued. People who are stranded alone in the wilderness aren't happy-go-lucky."

"Number the Stars."

"Nazis… enough said."

"The Count of Monte Cristo."

"Suffering, revenge, more suffering, death."

"A Walk to Remember."

"The girl had cancer!"

"Tuck Everlasting."

"Puts a damper on immortality, don't you think?"

"The Once and Future King."

"Must I use the word? Sigh… incest."

"The Bible."

"Must I justify that with a comment?"

"The Outsiders."

"Oh, please. Members of different gangs pulverizing and murdering each other?"

"The Wizard of Oz!"

"Dorothy basically murders the Witch of the West, and it's the latter who's wicked?"

"Anne Frank!"

"You're not even trying anymore."

Defeated, Serena plopped down onto the bed with a sigh. "I've got a question for you. Is there anything you haven't read?"

"Shadows of the Empire."

"What's that?"

"A Star Wars book. Got a picture of Darth Vader on the front. I never read that."

"Well," Serena sighed, "I guess you win."

There was a brief pause. "Arms and the Man."

"What?"

"Arms and the Man is a fairly happy book. Play, actually. A satire, but… True love, shedding social facades, and then, to top it off, a happy ending."

Serena smiled. "You know, if you'd've said that earlier, we could've saved a lot of breath."

Yami laughed. "So what did your parents read to you when you were a kid?"

"They read me normal kid books — The Giving Tree, Love You Forever, a bunch of books… My favorite was about a daddy bunny and a baby bunny."

Yami grinned. "You said you like bunnies."

"Yep."

"What was it about? The book, I mean."

"Well, the baby bunny would always say things like 'Daddy, I love you as long as my ears' or 'I love you as high as I can jump.' And then the daddy bunny would say, 'Well, I love you as long as my ears' or 'as high as I can jump.' And however much the baby bunny said he loved his daddy, the daddy bunny would always say something that was even bigger in measure. In the end of the book, as the baby bunny is falling asleep, he says, 'Daddy, I love you all the way to the moon.' And then he goes to sleep, and the daddy bunny whispers, 'I love you to the moon and back.'"

There was a silence for several long seconds. Finally, Yami whispered, "It's a good story."

"To this day, it's my very favorite. Someday, I'm going to read it to my children."

That night, Yami went to sleep with thoughts of bunnies and childhood poems offering a little light to the grim knowledge that ever-presently, ever-persistently floated inside of her mind. Serena was sleeping quite contentedly next to her until a furry paw insistently nudged at her face. What's the big idea? she was about to shout before Luna shushed her, and she found herself groggily staring up at a gold crescent moon against black fur.

"What is it, Luna?" The frustration was obvious in the girl's voice. But the cat ignored it.

"I'm becoming increasingly suspicious of your friend, Serena. Something is not right."

"You said that last night. Can I go to sleep now?"

Luna ignored the comment as well as the question. "I followed her around today, and I must say I was less than pleased with some of her behavior."

"You're less than pleased with most of my behavior, so Yami must've been an angel."

"Serena, do pay attention. And please attempt to be serious. I believe this is a matter of some importance."

"All right, Luna," the girl sighed. "Let's hear it. Some of us are very tired after a long day of school. You try reading poems without rhythm or rhyme by a deaf guy named Hoover for an hour straight. And that's just one class!"

"Homer was blind, not deaf, and I hardly think that a little classic literature could hurt you."

"Why is it you don't like Yami, again? Seems to me you two would get along fine."

"Serena! I'm rather tired of this. You're not the only one who's had a long day — try chasing a skateboard for an hour straight, why don't you?"

"Luna, just tell me what you're trying to say so I can get some sleep!"

With a sigh and a shake of her head, Luna continued on her original topic of discussion. "Well, I followed Yami today after she left Crown Center Arcade. The first place she went was a neighborhood called Falls Avenue."

"That's where she lives."

"Please, let me continue, Serena."

"Sorry."

"At Falls Avenue, she broke into a house using a paperclip."

"Must've been her place! Remember, her parents forgot to give her a key. Guess she got in after all!"

"No, I do not believe this was her residence, Serena. A car was in the driveway when we arrived, and she entered only after the car had left. And when she was leaving, the same car returned. I'm sure the driver is the real occupant of the house."

"But why would she break into one of her neighbors' houses? That hardly makes sense."

"Yes, and there's another thing. She said to me… that she apparently no longer has a home. Do you have any idea what she could have meant, Serena?"

For the first time, the girl looked concerned. "No. 'No longer has a home'? But her parents are just out of town."

"Are you positively certain of that?"

"Well, she told me…"

"People lie, Serena. Some people do lie."

There was a silence, as if Serena could not decide whether to believe it or deny it. Finally, she sat up in bed, looking down at the cat. "Luna, where did she get that skateboard?"

"She took it from the house. Accidentally, I think — she appeared to have forgotten she was holding it."

Serena sighed. "She told me she left it in her driveway."

There was sadness in the girl's voice, and Luna almost regretted ever bringing up the subject. "I'm sorry, Serena. Yami has lied to you. Though perhaps she lied for reasons that she could not escape — or felt she could not escape."

"What do you mean?"

"The girl is lost and confused, there is no doubt of that. Perhaps she needs help and knows not where to look."

"But what is wrong with her? Why does she need help so badly?"

"I'm afraid I can't answer that. Perhaps time will."