2

Through the eyes

The school days passed by extremely slow, and the whole time it was the same thing. Gray weather, no one talked to Kim or Ron, they barely spoke to each other. you get the point. Friday, Kim had stayed for cheerleading practice and worked on her routine along with the other cheerleaders. Many times she fell from lack of concentration, but no one spoke up, knowing what troubles she had over the past days.

Finally, it was time that practice ended, and Kim didn't bother going to the locker rooms, and just put her jacket on over her cheerleading uniform and left quickly. The hall lights flickered once as she steadily walked down and then stopped, wondering if she heard correctly. Barely noticeable, she heard something that sounded like music.

Continuing to walk down curiously, she could finally make out that it was a violin. 'Who would be playing a violin here? The school has no strings class,' she thought and finally made it around a corner and realized she was entering the band room. She stood there for a moment, listening to the music flowing out. The single violin seemed to give off a feeling of a whole symphony, being a quick and high-pitched tune, but it still felt odd as she listened.

It almost felt. dark. Kim entered the band room, and raised her eyebrows as she saw the back of Liadan. The playing instantly stopped and the she quickly looked behind her and remained in that position. Kim raised her hands, slightly grinning, "I'm not going to kill you or anything... I heard your playing and it's good."

Liadan whirled around, the duster fluidly trailing after her and she walked toward her, smiling darkly. "Kill me? You can't possibly know what you're saying." She said in an Irish accent.

Kim glanced at the violin, noticing its detail. "How much did that thing cost?"

She slowly looked at the violin. "I made it," she said coldy, as if the question was an insult. Then Kim noticed something beautifully etched into the dark brown violin in black. "Hey, what's that?" She demanded, pointing out the familiar 'H' symbol. This time it had vines around it and what looked like a single raven wing coming out from the left of it.

The dark girl slightly raised the violin and narrowed her eyes. "A rune. Something you shouldn't be getting into."

Kim just nodded, and at that time Tara showed up at the band room door. "I thought you left, Kim." She said, looking from her to Liadan. "Want to walk home together?"

Kim seemed to be looking Liadan up and down, and replied with a simple 'sure.' They left and Liadan stood there for a while before sighing and delicately putting the violin in a black case. She took her cross necklace off and dangled it nearby the case for a while, before using the cross as if it was a key. Grabbing the case she walked on out of the band room.

Instead of walking toward the entrance, she went toward the lunchroom. Once there, she went into the kitchens, and out of the back door into a dark alley. Looking around her, she took off her duster and closed her eyes. The closed in space of the alley seemed to grow much darker and all the darkness withdrew into the far back where Liadan stood.

Out of the darkness, two red eyes flashed and a black shape flew upwards swiftly, screeching.

-- -- --

Kim sat in bed finishing up her math homework when the phone rang. She picked it up and immediately recognized the voice of Ron. "I'm on my dad's cell phone. is the power out where you are too?"

"No. Why?" She asked, leaning back onto her wall and getting comfortable. She could almost hear Ron shrug on the other end. "I'm bored as heck, and I just feel really weird."

Kim then remembered the encounter with Liadan. "Ron, I found something out. That Liadan girl has a violin with that 'H' symbol on it. I think there's a reason why she doesn't talk so much..."

-- -- --

The room was dark, dusty and very ancient. It seemed as though a person has never been inside of the room for years. The windows were smashed in several places, moonlight leaked through holes in the wall. The only thing that was well preserved was the large canopy bed with light covers. A bookcase was next to it, and filled with thick hard cover books that seemed incredibly ancient.

There was movement, and the familiar shape of Liadan rose very quickly, as if alert. She looked around her, and sensed someone talking about her. Closing her eyes, she could her voices inside her mind.

'What, is it a gang symbol? Remember when that 'Blood bath' gang was all around town leaving their symbols until we caught them?'

'I didn't tell you, but the same symbol was outside of the window Wade was pulled out of. And Liadan said it was a 'rune?' What the heck are those?'

Liadan groaned, talking out loud to herself. "Great, now those two are on my case."

She leaned over to the side of the bed and pulled up her violin. What should she play now? She held it in playing position and smiled, knowing what to play and how she would use it. Starting off very low, she played mourning sound and soon finished. Looking out her window, the rain quickly and swiftly got thicker, creating large pools of puddles on the ground.

Kim Possible did what all other teenagers would do when they found a new word. They would always resort to the internet. She went to a random search engine and typed in, 'Runes.' There were actually many sites, and she clicked on the first one. The page was pretty normal, and thank god there wasn't annoying music playing. She scanned down and finally found a brief explanation.

'Runes are symbols with meanings, used with many religions, practices and people such as pagans, the celts, druids and more. They are used for scrying, meditation, magick and other self-made purposes.'

Kim raised her eyebrows. She knew what a pagan was, but not a celt or druid. She clicked a link that said, 'Rune magick' and was greeted by a bug list of symbols and their meanings. Finding the one she needed, it meant 'destructive forces.' It could be used to cast to other people where they will see grief, pain and their worst fears. Kim bit her lower lip, not knowing if she wanted to read more.

Clicking the 'X' on the top right, she decided not to. It was already nine thirty, and she didn't want to be bitchy in the morning. 'I guess I'll just go over to Liadan's place after school and ask her some stuff.' She thought as she headed upstairs and into the bathroom to get ready for sleep.

-- -- --

That morning at school, puddles were around five inches deep at the most, and a lot of people's jeans were soaking wet from mistaking them for smaller puddles. Kim and Ron were also wet, and Ron groaned as it seeped through his sneakers. "Kim! Help! My socks are getting soaked!"

Kim ignored him and she leaned against her locker, waiting for Liadan to pass by. Almost as if she was reading her mind, Liadan walked quickly in front of them to her first class. It only know occurred to Kim that Ron was shaking his feet trying to get water out of them. "What's wrong?" She asked, and he gave her an 'Oh, NOW you notice look.'

-- --

After school, Kim waited on the school stairs, with her arms folded to keep the intense cold out from under her jacket. It was one of those extremely cold and wet days. Finally, Liadan came out from the building and walked down the stairs in long strides. Kim reached out and was about to call her, when Liadan stopped unexpectedly and scanned the area around her, as if trying not to be seen.

Kim narrowed her eyes. What does she have to hide?

TBC