Validus closed his dark, dangerous eyes and rubbed his temples.  "This can't be happening.  Where are all these groups of humans with powers coming from?"

Demisses shrugged.  "I don't know, your majesty.  Could it be the Faeries?  Could they be trying to find the Chosen Ones?"

"You know very well that the Faeries know nothing more about the Chosen Ones than we do.  But that could very well be true.  Even if they don't know who the Chosen Ones are, they could still get to them before we do.  We must not allow them to awaken the 'true Chosen Ones'."  Validus's dark gray skin was barely visible in the shadows of which he stood, but just his voice was enough to make Demisses, Validus's second in command, quiver in fear.  "We'll have to kill these humans before they get used to their powers.  If they gain hold of their powers, then the 'true Chosen Ones' may come forth."

"The 'true Chosen Ones'?  Can't any humans be the Chosen Ones?" asked Demisses.

Validus shook his head.  "No.  Only a special group of humans hand selected by the Goddess can be the Chosen ones."

"Are they really that much of a threat to us?" Demisses asked. 

"Demisses, as much as I despise saying this, I will tell you the truth.  If united with the Goddess, they will have more than enough power to destroy myself, along with entire Demon race.  And it especially bothers me that we won't know who they are right away.  And this is because they themselves won't know if they're actually them until they have made the transformation.  And what the transformation is, even I don't know.  But, any humans knowing of our existence is definitely a threat, especially ones with powers."

"Idonea and I'll dispatch some messenger demons at once to take care of the two newest groups," stated Demisses, now very worried about the current situation.

"Good.  We must slim the chances of the Chosen Ones' awakening as much as we can."

Lydia's wide eyes opened abruptly.  She smiled to herself.  She had had a very good dream.  She couldn't remember quite what had happened but it had, thankfully, not been the same dream that had been haunting her for months.  She glanced over at the magical sundial that floated in the air beside her and gasped.  She had slept in!  And today of all days!  She quickly jumped out of bed and threw off her green nightgown and replaced it with her dress of the exact same shade.  She stared into the mirror, which floated next to the sundial and attempted to tame her curly locks.  She resorted to putting them into a tight bun before grabbing her wand and running out of her luxurious bedroom.

The reason she was so mad at herself was that today was the day she would get her group.  Lydia was, after all, a female Faerie, and female Faeries were assigned groups to watch after.  These groups were made up of humans given powers to fight demons and return the Goddess to full strength.  It was the most important ceremony in a Faerie's life.  It made Lydia mad that she overslept, but it didn't surprise her.  She had never been on time.  This wouldn't have been such a big deal if she weren't also a Faerie Royal.  She was born a Faerie Princess and had wished she wasn't probably her entire life.

But today it was a definite perk.  Since she was a Royal, she lived in the Faerie Palace.  This also happened to be where the ceremony was being held.  Quickly, she ran down the long, winding stairwell that led to the Hall of Wonders, the site of the event.  When she arrived in the magnificent crystal-walled room she found it had already started.  She checked that her bun was still in place and ran to the back of the line of other female Faeries waiting to get their groups.  She saw her mother, the Queen, and her father, the King, and the other Royals at the front of the Hall.  She sighed with relief when she saw they had not noticed her late arrival.

Lydia now began to take in her surrounding a little better.  She had never seen the Hall quite like this before.  The Hall was made completely of glistening crystal and shined brightly at every nook.  She now realized she was standing on a plush purple carpet that went from the doorway to the thrones at the front.  Usually the Hall was decorated head to foot with tinsel and golden statues of important Faeries of the past, but today it was quite bare.  This really didn't surprise Lydia, after all, this was a sacred rite.  It seemed almost appropriate the Hall be bare.  Lydia also noticed another difference—there was no one else there besides the Royals and her fellow Faeries in line.  This made Lydia very happy, as she had always hated the large crowds that normally filled there.

Suddenly, she realized she was now near the front of the line.  She nervously straightened her dress.  She then stood on tiptoe to get a better view of what was going on at the very front.  This was quite easy for Lydia, considering she was rather tall for a Faerie.  First she noticed a large ball of light emanating around the Faerie now at the front.  A male Faerie was asking her something.  Upon second glance, she discovered it was Newton Frog, an extremely proper male Faerie who was not a Royal, but still held a very high position in society.  He seemed to always carry out ceremonies such as this.  Lydia rather liked Newton as well.  Most male Faeries were rather surly and had green, mossy teeth.  They also usually wore horrible, dirty moss shirts (which matched their teeth perfectly) ripped at the sleeves and went down to their knees.  Newton Frog, on the other hand, was always impeccably dressed in a long violet tuxedo jacket and a matching top hat and vest.

It was now Lydia's turn.  Newton smiled at her sweetly.  Lydia smiled back feebly.

"I suppose we saved the best for last," he said, his voice booming throughout the Hall.

Lydia's mother beamed out at her.

"First off, Lydia, some questions," Newton continued.

Lydia nodded in understanding.

"Have you passed your Faerie Quests?"

"Yes," Lydia replied.  She remembered them well.  They were an extremely hard series of tests that assess your magical prowess, your knowledge, and your bravery.  She had passed them about a year ago and had still not quite recovered from that grueling Quest.

"Are you of a sound mind?"

"Yes."

"And lastly, will you give everything to your group?"

"Yes," Lydia returned immediately.

Newton smiled again.  "Well then," and a huge ball of light engulfed her, just as it had the other girls.

An image came before her.  It was of seven humans who looked to be in their teens.  They were standing in a clearing.  There was an eight figure, which was shrouded in fog.  Lydia gasped and fainted to the floor.

Brystol pushed through the branches that hung in her way as she tried to keep up with Johnny.  She was lost in thought about everything that had happened.  She looked up from the ground that she had been staring at to see that Johnny had gotten quite a lead on her.  "Johnny, wait!" she called out to him, and quickened her pace to a brisk jog to try to catch up to him before tripping over a tree root.  "Ah!" she let out a short scream of frustration and one of her little light balls appeared and started hovering around her head.  She swatted at it angrily, not noticing that Johnny had been walking back to help her until he was standing right in front of her.  She reached for his outstretched hand, but fell short when she hit her head off of a low branch.  Johnny laughed and Brystol blushed.  Brystol attempted again to reach for Johnny's hand.  She reached out to grab it, and as she looked into his eyes, her own eyes sparkled and she smiled at him.  Johnny pulled her up and returned the smile, but had no idea what it meant.  The little light above her disappeared and she walked with him to the clearing, trying not to stare at him.

When they arrived, everyone else was already there, but they didn't seem like their usual chatty and happy selves.  They all sat there silently, even Truman, the cheerful and optimistic one, stared downward.  But, the arrival of the last two made Allora brighten, and she very quickly hopped to her feet.  "Okay, you guys," she announced.  "We have to learn how to control our powers.  We can't allow them to run wild."

Truman got up and brushed the back of his khaki pants off.  "Agreed," he stated.  "But how will we learn to control them?"

Allora nodded to Brystol.  "Brys, I need you for this one.  We have to experiment with the power that is least threatening."

Brystol shot Allora a look, but obeyed and came over to her.  "Oh, great, thanks.  Thanks a whole lot," she muttered.

Allora looked to Morrigan who was lying on a tree limb.  Morrigan nodded, acknowledging the fact the Allora was allowing her to take over and then turned her head toward Brystol.  "Brystol, try to channel your light energy.  I know you can feel that it's there, so try to channel it.  Control it.  Bring it forth." 

Brystol closed her eyes and tried her hardest.  A tiny spark of light about the size of a Christmas tree bulb appeared in front of her and stayed for about five seconds then went out.  Allora and Morrigan slumped, but brightened again as to encourage their friends.  "Uh that's a start, Brys," Morrigan said unconvincingly.  She the then looked to Truman and gave him a big smile.  "Your turn, Tru," she declared.

"Truman!" he corrected, then walked to the center of the clearing.

"Go on!" Allora urged with the best smile she could pull off.

Truman tried to concentrate on his water energy.  "This is making me have to pee," he complained.

Morrigan threw a berry from the tree she was sitting in at Truman's head.  "Not THAT type of water energy, idiot.  You know perfectly well what I mean.  Now try to bring forth water."

Truman tried harder.  All of the sudden, his mouth filled with water.  He spat it out quickly.  "Blah," he choked.  Everyone laughed, and Morrigan nearly fell out of the tree.  Truman's little escapade really seemed to brighten the mood.

But then, all of the sudden, a plume of black and red fire shot up from the ground and the air filled with smoke.  "Johnny," Allora asked.  "Did you do that?"

"N-n-no," Johnny stuttered, in a voice he tried to render as brave and macho, though unsuccessfully. 

When the smoke cleared, there stood a band of six demons.  All were about four feet in height and varied in appearance and color.  They almost didn't seem all that menacing, but they seemed angry.

"Ewww!  They're so ugly!" cried Brystol.

Morrigan shook her head in disgust.  "This is not good, guys...these demons seem mad.  Even though their appearance leads me to believe they are of a lower class of Messenger Demons, with our inability to channel our powers..."

Truman scratched his head.  "Is that good or bad?"

Brystol ran over and hit Truman in the arm.  "They're demons!  Of course they're bad!"

Truman was about to comment when a seventh demon appeared.  She was nearly seven feet tall and had a wild angry face with horns set atop her head.  She had long, wiry red hair and scaly green skin.  She was truly a sight to be seen. 

Morrigan tilted her head thoughtfully.  "That could be a high ranked demon."

The demon laughed.  "Ah, someone with knowledge of our kind.  You are very right young lady; I am a high-ranked demon, I'm a Superior, In fact.  My name is Idonea."

Allora stepped forward with an angry smirk on her face.  "What do you want with us?"

The demon also stepped forward as if to meet Allora's challenge.  "I want you dead," she stated firmly.  "You could become a problem to the demon race if I let you live.  You have gained powers, if they are from the Goddess, I do not know.  But you could very well become the 'Chosen Ones'.  And I can't have that happening.  Like I said, you must die."

Brystol began to cry.  "That is so mean!"

Idonea stared wide-eyed at her.  "That's kind of what I was going for."

Now Brystol began crying hysterically.

Idonea shook her head at the odd girl and turned to her demonic army and pointed to three of them.  "Okay, you're coming with me to take care of another group of powerful humans."  Then she looked to the other six.  "The rest of you, take care of these annoyances."

With that, Idonea and half her entourage disappeared.  The rest of the demons huddled for a quick moment then let out vicious, cackling laughs.

"What's so funny?" asked Johnny confused.

"The way you're going to die!" they all yelled in unison.

Brystol ran up to Allora and poked her rib.  "You're the smart one, do something!"

Allora's eyes widened.  "Wha... what do you mean?  There's nothing to do..."

Brystol began to jump up and down with frustration.  "Just leave us alone.  We're just kids!  I... just got my driver's license last week.  Go away.  We're no threat to you!"

"Foolish girl.  Children you are, but warriors you may become," said a demon from behind the initial three.

The three demons turned to the demon behind them.  "Demisses..." they whispered.

Demisses snarled and he ran his fingers through his wire-like hair.  "If you three don't pick up the pace soon, I will.  And I can guarantee that the blood of those children won't be the only blood to stain my clothes."

With that, Demisses disappeared and the three demons snickered.  "He couldn't even take care of these guys," one demon cackled.  They seemed to regain control of themselves, and attacked the five head on.

"I think Demisses was a Superior demon, too," said Morrigan as she and the others ran through the forest as they all tried to escape their demonic adversaries. 

"Nobody cares!"  Brystol cried as she pushed through overgrown weeds.  "Ugh!  There's too much shrubbery!"

Johnny and Truman ran back a few steps to aid Brystol.  "Brystol, you gotta keep up!" commanded Johnny.

Truman nodded.  "It seems that our knowledge of these woods has come to an advantage, but they will find us eventually so we have to get out into the public as soon as possible."

"Why out in public?" asked Brystol as she and Truman and Johnny raced to catch up with Allora and Morrigan who were hiding behind a large oak impatiently.

"Because," explained Morrigan.  "They want to keep themselves as low key as possible.  A public appearance is out of the question."

Allora stomped her foot.  "No!  You heard that other demon.  He wants us dead.  And an order like that is usually one to be followed. Especially when the assassins' lives are on the line as well.  Or atleast that's the feeling I got, even though that Demisses didn't seem to be too respected.  We should fight here.  There's no chance of anyone else getting hurt."

Morrigan nodded.  "Agreed.  We fight here."

Johnny and Truman also nodded and whispered their own forms of the word "yes".

Brystol shook her head violently.  "I don't think so!  Me?  Fight?  Not in this lifetime.  You are crazy.  We won't win.  We can't.  We are pathetic little humans and they are big, well they're actually rather small, but still scary, nasty, DEMONS!  Excuse me for calling you the smart one, Allora."

"You want to make it on your own?" questioned Allora.

"N-no..."

"Then you fight with the rest of us."

Brystol nodded sheepishly then screamed.  "Looky!  There they are!"

Everyone turned to see the approaching demons.  Only two were present, but that meant that the other could be hiding elsewhere.

Morrigan put her hand on the ground.  "Please let this work..." she begged.  She closed her eyes and concentrated on her power.  Suddenly, a boulder landed right on top of one of the demons.  It shrieked in surprise, unfortunately not pain.  The boulder didn't even seem to stun it.  Morrigan shook her head in disappointment.

Johnny stepped forward with an outstretched arm, trying to command fire.  He did bring forth fire, but it came from the wrong hand and set his shoes on fire.  He was about to yell an obscenity, but before he could, everyone had been transported to Morrigan's bedroom and no one had any idea how.

          Everyone was astounded.

          "How did we get here?" asked Truman, completely in awe.

          "I dunno," replied Johnny as he looked down at his foot to find it was still on fire.  "Ah!  My foot is still on fire!"

          Morrigan grabbed a vase of flowers from her desk and dumped all the water out on his foot.  "There."

          Truman scratched his head.  "I could've done that you know..."

          "Yes I know you could," Morrigan said with a sneer.  "But, I don't want my silk bedspread ruined either."

          Truman frowned and sat down in one of Morrigan's chairs.  He looked to Allora and Brystol who were unusually quiet.  They both had blank expressions on their faces.  Well, it wasn't that unusual for Allora to be lost in thought, but Brystol almost always had something to say, even if it was of no relevance.  "You guys okay?" asked Truman, with a noticeable amount of worry in his voice.

          Allora sighed and gave Truman a warm smile.  "Yeah, I'm just a little freaked.  This just isn't sinking in very well.  You know... after all we've been taught..."

          Truman nodded as well as Morrigan and Johnny who also had shared the same view as their friend.  Brystol however had still remained silent.

          "Brystol?  Earth to Brystol?  Helloooo?" said Johnny as he went over to Brystol's side.

          She finally shook her head and faked a smile.  "Yes, Johnny?"

          "What's wrong, Brys?" he asked.

          Brystol sniffed and automatically everyone knew Brystol's silence was due to the fact that she was trying not to cry again.  "Everything..." she sobbed.  "We're going to die, you know.  Everyone dies.  It's inevitable.  But I'm not ready yet.  I don't want to die."  Brystol sank to the floor and covered her face with her hands.  "I'm not ready yet!" she repeated through her tears.

          Allora knelt beside Brystol and put an arm around her.  "None of us want to die.  That's why we have to fight.  We have to fight them, the Demons.  But not just for us, for everyone on this planet.  We were given extraordinary powers.  We have to learn how to control them and use them to our advantage.  These powers just may be the very things that save us," Allora bit her lip. "Those Demons said something about a Goddess.  Maybe she gave us our powers."

          Morrigan chuckled.

          "What?" Allora asked, not really thinking this was a laughing matter.

          "The Goddess is like numero uno in Wiccan religion.  You are being a tad pretentious to think She gave you these powers."

"Sorry I don't know who the Goddess is.  But no one really thought about what could happen when we held that séance anyway.  But something did happen.  And we can't change that.  So we have to do this.  Together.  Not alone.  Together."  Allora looked to each of her friends and each of them showed some sign of understanding and agreement.  She then looked back to Brystol who was beginning to end her crying.  "Are you with us?"

Brystol nodded slowly and smiled at Allora.  "Thanks, Al.  But... I'm still scared... what if..."

Johnny crouched to the floor beside Allora and Brystol and gently ran his fingers along Brystol's cheek.  "Don't cry, Brys.  I'll protect you.  I promise."

Brystol's smile widened and she hugged Johnny.  "Thanks."

Allora stood up with a grin. "Enough mushy stuff you two.  We need a plan of action, and an explanation of all this including how we even got to Morrigan's room like that."

Morrigan nodded as Brystol and Johnny rose from the floor, both blushing.  "Yeah, but first we need a meeting place.  And a time."

"Okay.  Good thinking.  We have a game tomorrow so... umm we'll figure that out at Damon's after the game.  Okay?"

Morrigan shook her head in agreement.  "Okay.  But, Allora, I want you to stay the night at my house.  We need to do some serious research about all that's happened. "

"Okay," she agreed without hesitation.  "I was thinking the same thing.  We need to find out how we got these powers and why.  I'd also like to look up some things on demons.  And uh, how we got from the woods to your house."

"Okay, Allora, you keep those things in mind.  As for the rest of you... you should really leave... my mom'll be pissed if she finds all of you up here."

Everyone except for Allora quickly slipped down Morrigan's steps and out the door.  On the way out, Brystol turned to Johnny.  "Do you mean what you said?"

Johnny, not exactly remembering what she was talking about, replied with a "yeah" and walked to his house with Brystol and Truman not far behind.