Authors Note: I'm sorry it took so long, this was the first chance I've had to write since school started. Don't worry, I WILL finish Awakened and Fallen. This chapter had a bit of creepiness in it. Enjoy!


Atem woke from a nightmare, he wasn't sure what he had been dreaming about, but he remembered that it wasn't good. The feeling of utter terror still trembled through him. He looked at his hands and realized he was shaking. He clasped them to stop the tremors and control his breathing.

"My prince?"

A maidens voice called out from the other side of the door. She opened it just slightly and peaked in, a flood of light from a torch she was carrying erupted into his room making Atem wince.

"Are you alright?"

Atem realized that he must have called out in his sleep.

"Yes, I'm fine." Atem said almost breathlessly. "Leave me," he said calmly.

The maid left without a word.

Atem found himself once again alone in the darkness.

Mahado was wide awake in the late night. He had studies that he had been confused over earlier in the day and he wanted to try and work them out on his own before going to an instructor for help. The room he was in was huge with cabinets and shelves lining the walls. The small torch that stood in a holder at the other end of the desk barely illuminated the area where Mahado was working. All around Mahado he was surrounded by a sucking void of darkness. It was as if Mahado held the only light in the midst of a devastating storm.

He looked at his scrolls that gave him step by step instructions to perfectly cast the water bending spell and noticed that the symbols started to run together.

"I should stop," Mahado said to no one. When he spoke he felt as if he were speaking into a deep well that had to end in sight.

Mahado began to feel uneasy. He quivered with a touch of coldness that ran down his spine and made the hair on the back of his head stand on end.

The darkness around him suddenly felt deeper and more permanent.

Mahado looked around to determine the source of the uneasy feeling, as soon as he did a shimmering shadow ran from one bookshelf to the next only a few feet away from him.

Mahado rubbed his eyes and took a gulp of water from the clay cup next to him.

"It's not possible," He said to calm himself.

Another shadow, this time almost humanoid shaped moved between the shelves closer to Mahado.

Mahado's heart began to race, the cold surrounding him becoming sharper. Mahado inhaled and exhaled only this time he could see his breath. Mahado had never seen something like this before.

Mahado heard something move, like a scroll falling from a shelf somewhere and rolling on the ground. He couldn't tell where it was coming from, but he moved closer to the torch, lifting it from its holder and taking it with him as he tried to leave the room.

"Where are you going?" A small innocent voice rang out from nowhere.

"I'm leaving," Mahado said to the phantom voice and slammed the door behind him as he left into the well lit hallway where attentive guards stood watch.

"Did anyone enter the room after I did?" Mahado asked one of the guards.

"No young master,"

"You are sure?"

"Of course,"

Mahado left to his room, pondering what happened to him trying to keep himself from being terrified.

The Next Day

Mana loved her hiding spot. She still felt it was pure genius that no one else had thought of it but her. She had plenty of space to move around and have lean against the cool hardened clay and look out over the top of the vase and see the sky. When she looked up she felt like she was looking up at the sky up through a goddess' eyes. She felt an unbelievable freedom when she hid in the vase.

She had taken the habit of missing her lessons after realizing her instructor could care less if she showed up or not. She loved being able to do as she pleased. This way she would have a better chance of running into Atem when he had his own lessons in one of the courtyards. She would sometimes watch from the sidelines as he and Mahado sparred, with Atem usually winning.

Today was a cooler day, a day where she expected to see rain. It was that time of the year to expect the annual floods that would wash in minerals to make the land plentiful for crops. She loved it when it rained, it was her favorite kind of weather.

"Mana?" A voice echoed down on her.

"Hmm," She said dozily.

"Mind if I join you?"

Mana finally noticed it was Atem looking down on her.

"You can do as you please," Mana said coolly. Mana was finally starting to feel comfortable with her new life, as strange as it was on how she got there. She was starting to accept that seeing and talking to the prince was normal and that he was a part of her life now.

Atem jumped into the vase with her hastily and steadied his breathing. A few seconds later they heard chattering girls giggle.

"Where could he have gone?" One of them asked.

"I have no clue," Another answered.

"Maybe the chariot races?"

Soon the giggles subsided and disappeared and Atem let out a huge sigh. Atem looked at Mana and smiled a wide smile. Mana looked at him and didn't speak; she just climbed out of the vase and started to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Atem called out.

"I have a lesson to go to; I will see you later,"

"Ok…" Atem said confused as he got out of the vase and went in the opposite direction.

Mana couldn't explain why she was irritated. If anyone had come up to her and asked she didn't know what to tell them because she didn't know the answer herself. She stomped down the hallway not knowing where she was going. She wandered so long that she soon found herself deep in the palace, a place that Mana didn't recognize.

Where am I? Mana thought.

A small sound echoed from the hallway next to her. She looked down it a saw no source of light from either a window or the fire from a torch. Mana found this odd since almost every hallway was always lined with a vigilant guard.

The sobbing started to echo louder.

"Hello?"

No answer.

"Are you hurt?" Mana called again.

No answer again.

Mana weighed the options she had in front of her and decided to take a torch and go down the dark hallway.

"Why is Mana mad at me?" Atem asked Mahado as they both walked to the sparring room.

"Why ask me?"

"You two are always together, you have the same classes,"

"So? We hardly speak outside of class. She hasn't even been bothering to show up to them lately."

"Hmm," Atem pondered.

"Why do you ask?"

"I don't like it when someone is mad at me. Especially when I have no knowledge to the reason,"

"I see," Mahado said accepting the answer.

"Is something wrong Mahado? Your eyes are red and you have circles under your eyes. Where you up late again?"

"No, yes…" Mahado ran his hands through his hair. "I'm not sure,"

"What do you mean?" Atem asked concerned forgetting about Mana and her temper.

"I think I might be haunted,"

"You think a spirit it haunting you?"

"Yes,"

"But…That's impossible. The whole city is lined with talismans and sacred circles to keep them out,"

"I know that," Mahado snapped, and then he realized who he was talking to. He sighed. "I am sorry. I just," Mahado sighed and sat down on the cool stone that lined the barrier between the fountain and the courtyard. "I'm just confused. I haven't been sleeping well,"

"You either?" Atem said, forgetting about his friend snapping at him.

"You haven't been sleeping,"

"I've been awoken every night," Atem exasperated sitting next to his best friend. "I don't see any spirits, but I remember…" Atem wasn't sure how to say this. "I remember the terror of the night,"

"Terror?"

"Yes," Atem laid his back against the wall and rested for a second.

"Maybe we have a common problem,"

"Maybe,"

Mana was too afraid to speak as she moved as silently as possible down the hallway. She didn't want to call out to whomever it was that was sobbing, but somehow gathered enough courage to mutter a word.

"Hello?" Which sounded more like "mello" because she mumbled so bad.

"Hello?" She called again.

The sobbing got louder and pulled her in one direction down another hallway. Soon she walked up on a closed door where the crying was coming from.

She knocked and suddenly the crying stopped.

Mana's heart began to pound as the hairs on the back of her neck began to rise. Her breathing started to become erratic as he slowly opened up the door. As the door opened up all the way she saw only what the light from her torch would show her. In one corner she saw a huddled form of a girl. She was rocking back and forth, muttering to herself.

"Are you…" Mana didn't get to finish her statement.

The girl turned her head slowly, the light making her look almost demonic in her form. When the girl showed her face Mana almost screamed. The face wasn't a face at all, instead was a twisted almost skeletal shape of a face. Deep shadows circled the eye sockets where nothing but pure circular white eyeballs sat with the mouth elongated in a way that was humanly impossible.

Mana finally screamed when the girl twisted in an inhuman way to get up and crawl towards her and turned to run. Mana didn't wait, she ran as fast as her feet could carry her in the opposite direction.

She ran looking behind her only once to see if it was chasing her. What she saw she wished she hadn't seen. The girl was chasing after her with her back parallel to the ground and the head turned around to face her right side up. Her forearms were elongated to a spider-like form and to Mana's terror she was catching up to her.

Mana carried her feet faster and ordered her heart to help her move faster. Mana didn't have the energy to scream, she just ran but she turned in a direction where she didn't know the way out. She was confused and lost in the darkness that swallowed her. She felt the reach come from behind her and touch her back.

Mana screamed when it touched her and when she did she looked behind her and saw the elongated mouth face to face with her as if it were about to swallow her.

Then Mana felt like she ran into a wall.

"Mana!" Atem yelled as he shook Mana by the shoulders. She screamed and screamed and fought him in any way she could.

"Mana open your eyes!"

She did and as she did she looked around her and found herself surrounded by light, the creature gone and Atem in front of her. Guards with spears and swords surrounded them, ready to die for their prince.

"It…It," She stammered, her breathing starting to hyperventilate. She pointed down the hallway and Atem ordered the guards to find "It".

"Mana calm down, tell me what happened," Atem said after guiding her into a courtyard and giving her a gourd of water.

She told him everything after catching her breath, going into grim detail and Atem listened attentive and nonjudgmental.

"How did you find me?" She asked after she finished.

"Mahado and I heard you screaming, we split up to look for you and before I knew it you were running into me."

One of the guards returned and saluted Atem.

"My prince, we found no one or nothing."

"Search the palace for anything suspicious. Report to me once you find something,"

"I'm not crazy," Mana said desperately.

"I never said you were," Atem said comfortingly. He took Mana's face in his hands and brought his face close to hers. "Repeat after me, 'I am not crazy'".

"I am not crazy," Mana said hoping her face wasn't blushing.

"Okay," He said letting her go. "Come with me, we need to find Mahado,"

"We need to fix this," Atem said to the group of people surrounding him. Around the First Tree was Atem, Mahado, Isis, and Mana all looking grim the setting sun casting shadows on their faces. "Before it gets out of hand,"

"I agree, maybe we can figure this out before we have to bring in the Millennium Items," Mahado said determined.

"Well I disagree," Isis said almost snidely. "I think if something is happening, and I'm not saying it is, bringing the Priests into this would get it handled quickly. They should know about any defects in the barrier."

"My father and the Priests have enough to worry about. I believe we can handle this ourselves," Atem said, he looked down and gathered a few things out of a bag. He didn't catch it, but Isis glared at Mana blaming her for this decision. Mana stuck out her tongue.

Atem handed everyone a small satchel of salt and a talisman with carved etching in the metal.

"This talisman will direct us in the direction of the spirit and the salt will repel them if it gets too close,"

"Why would salt repel a spirit?" Mana asked immediately regretting her question. Mahado looked at her with a blank stare as if she should know the answer already. Isis looked at her as if she was an imbecile, but Atem's look was the worst. He looked at her with understanding and a smile, as if she were a child that didn't know any better.

Mana felt her face burn.

"Salt is pure, while a spirit is generally impure. Salt is something we use in our rituals to purify our magick. It won't kill a spirit, but it hurts and repels them," Atem answered.

Mana didn't respond.

"Ok then." Atem clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "Let's get going,"

"Which hallway?" Mahado asked.

Mana pointed when they got close.

"That's the same one where my study room is, let's go."

Mana didn't want to follow, but with Atem leading the way she felt safe. The four of them walked slowly down the hallway.

"Why is this hallway unguarded?" Mana asked.

"There is no exit at the end, and the rooms have to windows, anyone that goes down this hallway gets themselves trapped if they tried to escape. Everyone knows that," Isis said smugly, looking at Mana behind her. Mana fumed as she stuck her tongue out again when Isis turned her head. Isis soon caught up to Atem and wrapped her arm around his.

"Atem, I'm frightened," Isis said in a very un-Isis like way.

"I won't let anything happen to any of you," Atem said with absolute confidence.

Mana felt her hands clench. Mahado put his hand on her shoulder and when Atem and Isis were slightly ahead of them he whispered in her ear.

"Isis has liked Atem for a long time. She's pulled acts like this many times, but he always remains oblivious. Don't let it bother you,"

"Why would it bother me?" Mana said pretending to be dumb.

"I don't know. Why would it?" Mahado said with sarcasm lining his tongue.

"What are you insinuating?"

"Oh, please. It is written all over your face. You like him, admit it and life will be easier,"

"For whom?"

"Hmm?"

"For whom would life be easier? You? Atem? Certainly not me,"

Mahado didn't know what to say to that.

They continued to walk in silence keeping closer to Isis and Atem. Mana felt Mahado grasp her arm to guide her.

"Ouch, you're hurting my arm,"

"What do you mean?" Mahado asked. He looked at her confused and Atem and Isis turned to look at her. Mana felt her arm go completely cold; she looked down and saw an arm and hand grasping her forearm.

She cried out for Atem as it turned her around and pulled her into an empty room and slammed the door between her and the other three.

Please Review