~~~~ Chapter 3 ~~~~

By: Cat Paws

"They're back!!" cried Kento, flinging the small stack of cards that he had been gathering along his way to the front door.

"Kento!" Before Rowen could stop him, the cards fluttered about. "Great, now we're going to lose more of them."

"Don't worry. It's not that bad." said Cye, all ready gathering them.

"Clear the table boys, cause the food has arrived!" announced Kento. He had all six boxes and spread them out on the table.

"Good. I'm starved." said Ryo.

"They may be a little soggy because of the rain." said Mia.

"I don't think it really matters." said Sage. They were both a little wet themselves, but they didn't care. Rowen and Cye had gone to get some plates and a pizza cutter. Kento however, had all ready started in on one of the pies.

Cye kept his distance from the one with anchovies, though he did get a look at the poor fishes every now and then, to his dismay. It was kind of hard to avoid considering the fact that Kento was sitting in front of him. In no time, they devoured the pizzas.

After wards, clean up duty was left to Kento and Sage, not a good idea. They gathered up the plates and Kento took the boxes and other garbage out to the garbage cans. In the mean time, Sage started the dishes with plenty of soap.

Kento came back in some what damp. "Boy, it is pouring out there. I'm soaked," he exclaimed, looking down at himself and his dripping clothes. Sage glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and thought, Not soaked enough.

He whirled around and shot Kento with the sprayer, suds flying. "Ahhhh!" yelled Kento, blocking the ambush and trying to search for a place to take cover. Sage stopped and grinned.

"I didn't think that you were wet enough."

"Mannnn. Now I'm drenched! You're gonna pay!" He charged for Sage, who dropped the sprayer and ran for the door. Kento chased after him.

A trail of soap and water was left behind as they raced around the house. Sage had a lead on Kento, but he wouldn't give up.

They did several laps around the dinning room table, up the stairs, through some of the rooms, and back down. They leaped over White Blaze, who was becoming excited about the chase, and one of the couches in the living room. Sage nearly crashed into Ryo and used him as a barrier between him and Kento.

"Ahhh! What's going on?!"

"Sorry Ryo!"

"I'm gonna kill him!"

"If you can catch me!" Ryo stood there for a moment, a blank expression on his face then shrugged.

"What the...." said Cye as he came from the den. He had just seen Sage fly by with Kento in hot pursuit. "Ryo, are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"What was that about?"

"I don't think we want to know."

Mia and Rowen came out of their respective rooms and watched the next set of laps around the dinning room from the second floor balcony. "Go Sage!" yelled Rowen.

Suddenly, Sage stopped. Kento grabbed him and dragged him to the sliding glass doors. He opened them and threw Sage out into the down pour. "Let's see how you like it." said Kento in a bratty type tone, a large smile plastered on his face.

Sage curled up on his knees and shut his eyes tight. He began to slowly rock back and forth, clutching himself. A silent cry of pain had slashed its way into his body and mind. It hurt every fiber in him. What is this? What's happening?

"Hey, Sage? You can come in now." said Kento. "Sage?" Kento was soon joined by the others at the door.

"Sage, come inside. You're soaked." called Mia. Still, he did not answer.

"Let's get him." said Rowen. He and Cye went out to retrieve a water logged Sage.

I guess I got to go out in the rain after all. thought Cye as he helped to support Sage. They brought him back inside and he sank to the floor instead of the offered chair. He curled up again. The pain had stopped, but he could still feel the effects.

This is not right, he thought.

"Sage?" Mia said, gently pushing a lock of wet, blond hair out of his face. There was a look of fear in his normally strong eyes.

"I'm okay." he said, gathering himself.

"Here." said Ryo, offering him a towel.

"Thanks." He stood and wrapped himself in it. He started to head for the stairs.

"Look, man, I'm sorry. I only met to get you a little wet. I didn't think you would let me drag you all the way out. I'm sorry, man." said Kento. He was beginning to feel pretty guilty for doing what he did.

Sage stopped and looked at him and smiled. "It's all right. Fair payment for soaking you in the first place. Besides, it wasn't you." He continued on his way to his room to change and dry off.

The others looked at one another in silence, not sure what to think. Rowen and Cye were fairly dry at this point. Rowen took Cye's towel, one of the ones Ryo had retrieved, and brought it and his to the bathroom.

"I hope he's all right."

"Me too, Mia." said Ryo.

"I didn't mean to hurt him. It was only for fun."

"It's not your fault, Kento. There is something major going on with our friend. I just wish that he would let us in on it." said Cye.

"I tried talking to him earlier, but he didn't say much." Mia said as she sat in one of the chairs. "He seem kind of distant, and cold." She wrapped herself in her arms. " I'm worried."

"Don't be. I'm sure once he figures something out, he'll tell us." said Ryo, trying to reassure her, though having his own doubts.

************

Sage stood in front of the window with his arms crossed. That's it! This has to end. But where do I start? I've got pieces, but there is still so much that I don't know. Someone is definitely trying to mess with my head. I wont let them get away with it. There were a few flashes of lightning followed, soon after, by thunder that shook the entire house. Quite the storm out there.

He turned from the window and the lights went out. The room became completely dark. It took his eyes a few minutes to adjust to the change. He went to the door to go and find the others and get some candles. He stuck his head out and heard a crash followed by a scream.

He rushed to the stairs and smashed into something, knocking himself to the floor. "Oohhh."

"What was that?"

"My face hitting the door." The power flicked back on and Rowen looked around the door to find Sage dazed from the collision.

"Oh, man, you okay?"

"I'll live." Rowen offered his hand and helped him up. They went down stairs to investigate the earlier scream and crash.

"My poor statue." said Mia. She was kneeling beside a pile of porcelain pieces.

"It was Colonel Mustard, in the dinning room, with the pipe." said Kento.

"What?" asked Ryo.

"Ya know, Clue."

"Oh. Oh yeah!"

"This was a priceless heir loom. There is not another one like it, anywhere."

"With some glue, we could put it back together." said Ryo.

"What happened down here?" asked Rowen.

"Something or someone," eyeing the other three, " knocked down my statue during the black out."

"It wasn't me, I swear." said Kento.

"I'm going to find some glue." said Cye.

"I think there's some in the desk in the den." said Mia still awe struck by the pile of pieces. Ryo and Kento started to pick them up.

"This is going to take awhile." said Ryo.

"Great! I love puzzles." said Rowen.

"Hey, Sage. What's with the red mark on your forehead?" asked Kento, just noticing him.

"A close encounter with a door."

"I found the crazy glue." said Cye, returning with two sticks of the stuff.

"Let's get started."

"Mia, I think you should leave this to us." said Sage.

"No. I want to help. I know what it looked like before. You might put it together wrong."

"Such little faith in us. I'm hurt." They began the reconstruction of the once towering statue.

**********

They worked for several hours, only managing to get about a third of the statue back together.

"Ya know? All these pieces are starting to look the same." said Kento.

"Really. Who knew it could brake into so many tiny, itty-bitty pieces?" said Ryo.

"How about we call it a night? Maybe it will look better in the morning." said Cye.

"Mia? Miiiaaahh," whispered Sage as he nudged her.

"Hmmmm? Wha.....?" She looked at him with sleepy eyes.

"Um, guys. Oh, never mind." said Kento.

"What?" asked Rowen.

"Nothing. Don't worry."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"What?"

"Nothing!"

"I'm going to keep asking until you tell me."

"Nothing. I was just unsticking my hands. I think I got glue all over me."

"I'm going to bed. Good night." said Ryo at the top of the stairs. "And Kento, stay away from the glue."

"I'll try. Night."

"Come on Mia." Sage helped a half sleeping Mia to her room.

"I think there's a piece stuck to your pant leg, Kento." said Cye as he followed him up the stairs.

"Oh great." He fumbled with it, trying to pull it off. "Does this mean I have to cut my pants up?"

"Only if you can't get it off."

"This stinks." He went to his room mumbling curses.

"Rowen, are you going to bed?" asked Cye.

"In a little while." he answered half-mindedly. He was still working on the statue. One thing about Rowen was that he was always intrigued by puzzles and riddles and other mind boggling situations. Once given one, he would not put it down until it was solved and understood to his satisfaction. This shattered statue as yet another puzzle to be conquered, with the objective of making it look the way it had before.

He continued to work, making little progress. All the pieces just did not fit together. They weren't connecting no matter what he did. Why can't I do this?

Finally, he gave in and vowed to finish it tomorrow. It was a few minutes past three in the morning. Wow! The time flew, he thought. He went up to his room. He got ready for bed in the dark so as not to disturb Sage by turning on the light. He climbed into bed and was about to fall into a deep sleep. Sleep, another one of his favorite things.

Slowly, he began to drift into the world of dreams, exhaustion over coming him. There came a slight rustling sound, bringing him back to full awareness. His curiosity getting the better of him, he sat up and looked in the dark to find the source of the sound. The moon provided a little light but not enough to fully eliminate the room with its silvery glow.

He scanned the room. Nothing seem to be out of order as far as he could tell. He looked over at Sage's bed. He was sleeping peacefully. What made that sound? Maybe it was my imagination.

He sank back to bed, not wanting to use any more energy on trying to find something that probably didn't exist or had already left. He closed his eyes and this time, sleep took over. Some time passed before there came more rustling

In the bed next to Rowen, Sage began to toss and turn. He trashed about, tangling himself in the blankets and sheets. "STOP!" he screamed, sitting up, then falling back down because of the tangled mess. He was filled with rage. He shut his eyes, slowly calming himself down, and untangled the knots.

This was a different dream, or nightmare. Not the same as before. Let me remember, he thought, desperately. It came back to him slowly and a little foggy. There was a girl. He'd seen her before. She was crying, hurting. Something was missing in her. Then there was a demon. The demon was controlling the girl, hurting her with his power if she would not obey him. He wanted the demon to stop torturing the girl. He was the spectator, but he had to make the demon stop. Was that real? Could it have been? If only I had gotten a better look at where they were.

He got up and left the room. No one seemed to have heard his scream, this was good. He wondered down to the broken statue pieces on the table in the darkness. He could see surprisingly well despite the lack of light.

There's something about that girl. What is it? His mind began toiling over the past events. His mysterious dreams that he could never remember, his encounter with a being on another plane, the fight with Ryo, the surging pain during the chase with Kento, and now this new dream. They all had to be connected some how. Once together, it would it would make perfect sense. If he could decipher the meanings and make the connections, maybe he could help the girl in his dream. He had to try.

Hey, maybe this is linked to the Evil Dynasty. That would explain a lot. That's it, they were in an ancient looking room, like the ones in the palace of Talpa. The Dynasty must be flaring up again. But why does it seem that I'm the only one being affected? Are the others having strange dreams as well? I should talk to them about this. If the Dynasty is involved then we all have to be on the same page.

He then realized that the statue was complete, all except for one little piece. Must be the one stuck to Kento, he thought, with a laugh. He did not seem the least bit amazed at the completion of such a difficult task, more like relieved. It was as though pieces of his own puzzle were being put into place.

He went back to his room and fell into a peaceful sleep.