Unheeding of whatever else is going on around me, I tear through the forest, running full-tilt toward the city. I need to get to Alora. I need to find her, to help her with whatever she needs help with. My sister is the most important thing I've ever had in my life. She's not getting away from me, and I'm not letting her stay in danger. That scream was pure, unadulterated fear. It scares me to death.

Finally, finally I get to our house. It's built on the outskirts of the city, but it's still more than close enough that someone should've heard Alora. Someone should be here, helping her, even just seeing what's going on. Right?

Wrong.

There's nobody.

I always knew nobody in our town liked us, but I'd never thought they'd go this far, ignore my sister's screams because of who we are. It's not our fault Mom wasn't exactly an exemplary, entirely clean person. It isn't my fault we're both illegitimate children. The thing is, because Mom's gone, the people in the town have nobody to blame for it. So they blame us, turning their backs on us entirely.

I just didn't know "entirely" applied to this, too.

The wooden door, one that's so annoyingly flimsy, has been knocked down, and the one window is broken. Obviously, something's wrong. Dead wrong.

Alora screams that blood-curling scream again, and my heart leaps into my throat. I dash into the house, throwing caution to the wind, just trying to reach my sister. I can hear Jordan's steps just behind me, following me in.

We both stop, Jordan a foot in front of me, staring at the sight we're met with. My brain won't even fully comprehend it.

There's a tall man, standing just in front of Alora, pushing her up against the wall, his left hand choking her and a spear held tightly in his right hand, pushed firmly to her throat. Immediately, they both look to us. I lock eyes with Alora, inwardly screaming but outwardly shocked beyond words. Her bright blue eyes are scared and full of pain in a way I've never seen them before in my life. They're usually so happy, but right now they're just terrified.

After about a half-second, the man snarls and pushes his spear forward, and I have to watch as the sharp point pierces her throat, crimson blood bubbling out of her neck as she lets out a muffled scream. The man pulls the spear away and whirls to face us, and Alora crumples, curling up in a protective ball on the floor. She's whimpering quietly, but I can't even comprehend it. That's my sister.

That's my baby sister dying on the floor.

Finally, my brain snaps back into gear. "Alora!!" I scream, trying to move forward to get to her, to help her, so she doesn't die somehow. I don't even know what I'm going to do. I just need to save my baby sister.

Jordan holds me back, grabbing my arm and pulling me back behind him. "Neiva, stay back!" Usually, Jordan doesn't yell, and it scares me enough to paralyze me again.

In return, the man throws his spear straight at him, impaling him directly in his chest, going right through his heart and coming a good foot out of his back. Quietly, he gasps, bringing his fingers to his chest. He pushes on the staff hilt, and his face blanches, turning white as a sheet, as the front of his shirt turns dark red, blood pooling out over his clothes. He lets go of my arm and stumbles away from me. Then he falls, and somehow I know he's dead before he even hits the ground.

I'm paralyzed. Not Jordan, too. Please, no. Not both of them. I love them both. They're the only ones I love. I can't have them die. It hurts too much; the feeling's more than overwhelming.

I look up to the man, who doesn't even look fazed. He uses his right forearm to push me against the wall, reaching back into his belt and pulling out a long knife that he lays across my neck, pushing it into my skin. He pauses for a second, just looking into my eyes. "Kill me," I hiss. "You've already done it, for all intents and purposes. Alora and Jordan were my life. I have nothing left to live for. Just kill me."

He's about to, but then another man comes out of my room and holds up a small bag. "Jeffrey, we've got everything. You know how little these kinds of houses end up with. A couple pieces of jewelry and some money."

Robbers?

Wait, really?

I can feel the absolute and utter shock register in my eyes as I look, disgusted, at the man holding me against the wall.

These men killed my sister and my best friend because they wanted money. They took my mother's jewelry and everything I've saved up to keep Alora and I alive. All of which, together, is worth ever so slightly more than nothing.

Definitely not worth more than two lives.

"Jeffrey. There are people coming. Let's go."

The man holding me rolls his eyes and drops me, jumping deftly out of the broken window after the other one. They leave me there, though, not even injured. Not dead like I was sure I was going to be.

I stumble over to where Alora is lying. "Alora, no. No, no, no... please, no." I pull her into my lap and hold her tightly as tears start to fall from my eyes. "Wake up. Please. Don't just leave me here."

She stirs, just slightly, and my breath catches. "Neiva," she whispers, her voice bubbling through the blood still running from her throat, "you're still here?"

"Yeah, Alora," I say, desperately trying to keep sobs out of my voice. "Of course I'm here. Why would I leave?"

"Oh..." she sluggishly nestles closer to me, dripping dark, slimy blood all across my already red dress, and starts absent-mindedly stroking my hair. "Can you sing me a song, then? I'm sleepy..."

I want to scream at her not to leave me, to stay here, to fight against it, but I can't. I can't do it. She's going to die, I know she is and I might as well make it as easy as possible for her. "Sure, Alora."

"The normal one?"

"Yeah," I reply, choking back my tears. We learned this song from Mom, someone who many people called a witch. I kind of believe it, too, not that I really care. She's my mother; she could be pretty much anything and I'd be okay with it. She had always said that it was an old magic song, meant for a drop of sunlight. Alora and I pretty much always thought she meant Alora. After all, that's just about what we called her. A single ray of sunshine. So, after Mom died, we started to sing it. I sing it to her all the time, when she's going to bed.

Now that she's going to bed for the last time, I might as well again.

Keeping my voice as steady as possible, I sing softly, "Flower, gleam and glow... let your power shine... make the clock reverse... bring back what once was mine. Heal what has been hurt... change the fates' design... save what has been lost... bring back what once was mine... what once was mine."

I start to sob, but I keep singing. Heal what has been hurt? Really? This song is so hard to sing right now. I can't stop, though. Alora needs me to keep going.

Slowly, ever so slowly, her hand stops stroking my hair. Eventually, it falls limp, and I can feel her fall away from me. I stop even trying to sing and hug her to me tightly, letting myself sob into her silky tresses. "Alora..."

I can hear someone walking just outside the house. "We heard Jordan yell. Is everything-" suddenly, he stops, shocked. Obviously, he's walked in. "What's happened?"

I just keep rocking back and forth on my knees, Alora's body clasped tightly to mine. My cries are almost hysterical at this point, even as much as I try to control them. My baby sister is dead. My best friend is gone. They've both been erased from my life, in a cruel and unnecessary manner.

My whole reason for living, the one reason I've been able to support myself since Mom died back when I was twelve, is gone.

The man- I want to say he does something important for the town, but I can't remember right now- walks toward me. I can hear his footsteps on the wooden floor. "Did you hear me, girl? I asked you a question. What happened?" He reaches out and pulls on my shoulder, but I jerk away from him. I don't want this man touching me. He wouldn't come when my sister screamed. He's responsible, at least partially.

"Don't touch me!" I shriek. "I swear, if you touch me one more time, I will hurt you."

"What's wrong?"

"What's... wrong?" I laugh bitterly, madly, more than overwhelmed from the events of the last three minutes. "Oh, nothing much. I mean, my baby sister and my best friend are dead. They were killed in front of me. Nothing at all. Oh, no. I'm fine. Utterly, entirely fine."

"Jordan is... dead?"

"No, he's taking a nap." I snarl. "Of course he's dead, you idiot."

"You little brat." The man doesn't touch me, though, which means that I must have scared him. I don't mind. "Illegitimate daughter of a witch, trouble of our city, terrible, inconsiderate child. Why didn't you protect him?"

"Who, Jordan?" I find myself growing furious with this man. Illegitimate daughter of a witch? It's true, of course. But that doesn't mean it hurts less. "Oh, excuse me, I forgot. I'm supposed to somehow defend people twice my size even when they're trying to defend me."

"He tried to defend you?" The man laughs. "Why would anyone want to defend you? You don't deserve it."

"Why, because of my mother?"

"Yes." He moves closer. "Your mother was a terrible person, too. Honestly, you should be dead right now, or never have existed. If we'd have killed her like the mayor had wanted to all those years ago, when she found out she had conceived a child, this would never have happened."

I shake my head and hold Alora even closer. No. Please, I can't do this. Leave me alone. Go away. I need to stay with Alora, I need to be a kid, I need to have time to just sit here.

He scoffs. "Fine. I'm taking the body of the girl, though."

"No."

"Yes. I'm bigger than you."

"You take her, and I will kill you." I'm dead serious. I refuse to let Alora's body out of my arms, refuse to entrust it to these people who didn't care enough to come see what was wrong. Who only wanted to help when they heard that Jordan was in danger.

"An extreme threat, coming from a girl child." He laughs and starts as if to touch my shoulder.

"I mean it. You touch me, and I'm going to kill you." Now that I'm done being overwhelmed, I have this sense of coldness. I would kill this man in a second.

He just laughs, though, and I steel myself to attack him.

Then another voice, a far more melodious voice, comes from the doorway. It's filled with sorrow, but also understanding. "Jasper, don't touch the girl. Leave her alone."