Author's Note: ::Ayeka P. comes in bowing repeatedly:: I'm soo sorry for not updating this weekend! I was just very busy with visiting a college on Saturday and a couple of other appointments on Sunday. Then yesterday I couldn't get the chapter to upload. I'm very, very sorry. Okay?
The fair was bright and alive. People were milling about trying to reach their favorite booths and rides. Kids were dragging their parents around like giant stuffed toys, and the smell of popcorn and fried dough filled Neko's nose. She'd been to fairs before, and circuses and the like, but she felt that same home feeling at the sight of the playground and the toddlers playing off to the side. For a moment she was one of those happy children, with her mother and father standing with the other parents talking.
Aki grabbed her hand and started to pull her towards one of the lines. "Come on! Let's try the ring toss!" What came next was an endless game of follow Aki, who ran around with limitless energy to what felt like every single game and ride. Neko let herself be dragged until she found herself in line for the ferris wheel.
Neko took a step back as she looked up at the immense metal structure and stepped on the foot of the person behind her. She apologized and then whispered in Aki's ear, "Please, not the ferris wheel."
Aki turned. "Why not? You can't visit a fair and not ride the ferris wheel."
Neko looked up at the terrifying ride and said, "I hate heights."
The black-hared girl sighed and stepped out of line. "Okay, if you really don't want to." Then she perked up right away and said, "What about the show tent? We haven't seen what's going on in there yet! Let's go!" Aki ran off, Neko and Mrs. Kelly close behind.
The show tent was the last part of the fair they hadn't seen yet. It was right next to the exit to the park, but Aki had gone right past when they came in. Now they entered and found seats around the ring. It was a modest tent, could fit three hundred spectators, and had a ring in the middle that could fit a couple of acrobats comfortably. There was a juggler in there at the time, so they sat down to watch. Neko sat her stuffed-cat prize next to her and the bag of other goodies she'd won. The juggler lit his batons on fire and started to dance around as he tossed them.
Maybe he wasn't used to performing inside, but whatever the reason, he tossed one too high. It smacked into the tent top and came down. Everyone held their breath, but there were no visible flames. Neko let out a relieved sigh, but it caught in her throat as her eyes focused on a darkening spot. Oh no! she thought. Very slowly, yellow flames began to grow and lick the tarp. Neko looked around, but no one else seemed to notice. She wanted to scream that the tent was on fire, but couldn't seem to open her mouth. Trapped, she stared at the tent top as the fire spread.
Someone screamed. Heads turned and then looked up. More people shouted, and almost as one, the crowd inside got up to get out. Aki jumped to her feet and started to grab her stuff. Neko still felt paralyzed. All these people, headed for the exit, the fire was spreading, they wouldn't all make it, what could they do? "Water!" Neko said loudly. Mrs. Kelly looked down at the girl in front of her and then heard a loud splash.
The tent went silent as people turned to look back at the ring. Water dripped from the tattered cloth on top, charred black by now extinguished flames. The energy seemed to ebb from the crowd, and they walked quietly out. As Neko, Aki and Aki's mother left, the juggler and a man in a suit were standing off to a side of the entrance, staring at the hole and the puddle. Neko sighed and put it behind her.
Aki's mother dropped Neko off at her new house and she went in. She looked around. No one seemed to be home. Upstairs, she carefully arranged her prizes on one of the few empty shelves that lined the walls. The stuffed cat stared back at her as she did her homework, he alone had gotten a special spot on her windowsill in front of her desk. He was stormy gray with gold eyes. She had always wanted a gray cat, but foster children usually didn't have the privilege of pets.
"Neko?" called Mrs. Kanzaki. Neko heard the rustling of paper and guessed her foster mother had been out grocery shopping. She closed her math book and padded downstairs. Mrs. Kanzaki looked up from putting things away and smiled. "Hello, is pasta okay for tonight? I haven't left myself enough time for a real meal."
Neko nodded. "Pasta would be fine. Um, how was your day?" She silently slapped herself. Why had she done that? Now she was prompting conversation.
Mrs. Kanzaki resumed her task as she spoke, "Well, I went out to lunch with some neighbors and then to the grocery store when you called and said you'd be out." She closed the fridge and asked, "How was the fair?"
Neko swallowed. "Well, Aki led me around everywhere. We went on every ride and visited every booth, I think, but I refused to ride the ferris wheel."
"You don't like heights?"
"No, I've never really liked them. Oh, and there was this one time I was taken on a family trip to Hong Kong. The moment the plane was off the ground—" For no reason Neko could conceive, she ended up talking to her new mother until dinner was on the table and Mr. Kanzaki stepped in the door. Then she was asked about her day again. During dinner she gave them the full tail of her adventures that afternoon. When she mentioned that the tent caught fire, the couple looked alarmed.
"Was it bad? Did everyone get out?" asked Mr. Kanzaki.
Neko waved a hand. "It was okay, someone outside managed to dump water on it and put the fire out before anyone got hurt."
Mrs. Kanzaki let out a sigh. "That's good." Neko went back upstairs to finish her homework after helping her newest set of parents with the dishes. She felt unusually light and happy, almost dizzy. Was this why people talked so much? This free feeling was addictive.
Neko sat down at her desk and dove into her work. In no time, she was closing up the last subject and putting it in her bag. Tomorrow was looking brighter. She realized she had plenty of time before she had to go to bed, and decided her parents would appreciate it if she cleaned up her room. In the middle of this task, she realized something was missing: Her mother's book with the cards.
She rushed about, looking everywhere she might've put it. It wasn't anywhere. "Oh! Where is it!" she said aloud as she slumped to the ground beside her bed. Her eyes closed and she felt herself calm down. She felt a glow on her eyelids and opened them. Her backpack seemed to shining. "Why would it be in there?" Neko asked herself, but sure enough, just inside her back pack sat the pink book. She took it out and traced its detailed cover. There was something missing. The front and back covers looked like they were incomplete, as if they were supposed to have two images to be centered around.
Neko opened it up and gasped. 'The Water' card was on top. She picked it up and gazed at it with wonder. She was sure all the cards had been facing down when she put them away. She also thought she'd left them at home. Oh well.
As she turned to put the book on her desk, there was a blinding flash outside. Neko squinted and blinked a few times. Then there was a series of paler flashes, just down the street from the looks of it. Neko turned and ran from the room. She went downstairs to the living room. Her parents were watching TV, oblivious to what was going on outside. No—they were asleep.
Neko slipped off her slippers, put on her shoes, and ran out the front door. She ran down the street, gaping at the windows and all the sleeping people. What was going on? The flashes seemed to be moving towards the street where they were rebuilding one of the office complexes. Neko felt her fear dwindle and vanish as she was drawn forward. She ran down the street, but ended up cutting across yards and climbing over fences. Her feet carried her faster than she thought she could run, and brought the flashing lights closer.
As the next street opened up to the construction site, Neko slowed and stopped. There were two people standing on the steel supports for one of the new edifices. How did they get up there? Weren't they afraid of falling? She gasped as one of them jumped up into the air and came down at the other, wielding a staff. The defending individual deflected the blow with a sword. Light flashed as they hit, then Neko got a big surprise.
The first one held a hand in front of himself as if in prayer, and a ball of flame appeared. His opponent held up his sword and said something as well, creating a blast of water. The flame didn't get wiped out, but deflected down. It hit one of the cranes nearby, causing it to buckle and loose the steel beam it was carrying. Neko looked up as it came down at her and screamed. The ground around her feet glowed gold and stared at it. Then the book, which she hadn't been aware of carrying with her, sprung open and a card flew out.
"Fly!" she shouted, as 'The Fly' card rose up and beyond her reach. Time seemed to freeze, then she was lifting away from the ground and there was a loud banging noise. She looked down and saw the beam where she once had been. Where was she? Neko looked around and saw wings. An angel? She tried to turn around, but the wings just stayed behind her. Wait, were they hers…?
"EEEK!" she yelled. "I hate heights!" Just as she said it, the wings vanished and she fell to the ground. It wasn't a bad fall, but it hurt nonetheless. She scowled and looked down at the book just as the errant card floated down and dissolved into the book. "So you're the one responsible for all this!" she said to it, knowing it couldn't respond.
There was a flash and Neko looked up at the battle in progress. She frowned. The combatants were a man and a woman. The lady with the staff was a young adult, twenties from her appearance in the dim light. The man with the sword looked older. At first glance they had seemed the same, but now Neko had a gut feeling, an inner voice, which told her she couldn't allow the young woman to lose.
Neko picked up the book and got to her feet. Neither individual seemed to notice her. She looked at the book. "How do I use you on purpose?" There was no sign it had heard. Neko bit her lip and looked back up at the fight. The young woman was falling back under a fierce attack by her opponent. Neko felt alarm course through her veins. She opened the book, grabbed the cards and took one off the top. She looked at it. "'The Libra'? What good could this do?" The picture was of a scale, and odd one. Well, if it didn't work, no harm would be done. Neko held the card out in front of her and concentrated on its image. "Libra," she said.
The card glowed and in a swirl of light it rose to separate the two fighters. They paused, confused at what this thing was. Then the scale on the card appeared. It glowed and tipped slowly in the young woman's direction. Neko smiled. Now she understood. She took another card and looked at it. 'The Fight' card was in her hand now. Neko smiled, she knew exactly what she wanted this card to do. "Fight." The card glowed and a figure like the one on the card rose up to the scale and balanced on top of it. She turned and looked at the man with the sword. Without warning, she leapt forward and hit him with a punch.
He fell back, unconscious, on the beam. Neko held her breath, waiting to see if he would roll off. When he didn't, she let it out. Now, how did she get her cards to become cards again? As she pondered this, the scale and fighter became streams of light which returned to her and became cards once more. She smiled at them. This could be very useful. Then she thought of something. If her mother had taken these with her when she died, how did they return without her? And if they survived, could her mother have? Or did the cards kill her mother? Suddenly Neko wasn't so enthusiastic about her newfound powers.
"Hey you! Girl! Who are you?" shouted the woman. Neko looked up, a little scared. The man was gone, where to was anyone's guess. Neko swallowed and took a few steps back, holding the book close. She hit the beam that had fallen earlier and fell back. Her head hit the pavement and everything went dark.
Author's Note: Thank-you for the sister's names!