**Disclaimer- I don't own anything from Valdemar. (sighs deeply) Only the wise and mighty Mercedes Lackey does. I only own Aislinn, Justine, Ellen, and everyone else you don't recognize.
Italics- Aislinn's thoughts
Chapter One- The Beginning
"Hey, hurry up, Justine!" Aislinn shouted. "We're going to be late!" Aislinn went to Justine's room and banged on the door.
"Shut up already! I'm coming!" Justine yelled. She yanked open the door and stood glaring at Aislinn, who glared right back. They could have stood that way forever if Ellen hadn't come up and stood between them.
"We're really going to be late if you don't stop your bickering," Ellen said. Aislinn and Justine glared one last time, then raced toward the door. Aislinn was the first to the door, and she looked to see if her sisters were coming. She sighed wearily as she saw that Justine had disappeared, probably to get something she had forgotten. For triplets, Aislinn thought, we aren't very much alike. Justine, for example, had their father's dark brown hair and eyes. She was always forgetting something, and she made them late all the time. Justine had more tardys than anyone else did in all of Fairhope High. Justine was normally quiet and refined. She was the tallest of the three, and she normally had her nose in a book.
Aislinn looked down at herself and giggled. She was the exact opposite from Justine in most things. She had blonde hair and blue eyes, just like their mother. She almost never stopped talking, and she was almost always happy. The only way Justine and Aislinn were the same was that they both read constantly and they loved the same books. Justine had a gorgeous voice, and she sang almost as much as she read.
Aislinn looked at Ellen. Ellen was in the middle for everything except her height. Ellen was the shortest of the three girls, and they never let her forget it. Ellen wasn't silent, but she didn't talk as much as Aislinn. She also had light brown hair and eyes. She also didn't love the same books as Justine and Aislinn. She was obsessed with The Lord of the Rings, and she had what you could call the healing touch. People responded automatically to her.
Aislinn yelled at the others to hurry up, and raced out the door to unlock the car. She slid into the driver's seat and honked the horn.
"Why do you get to drive?" Ellen complained, looking kind of scared.
"Because I got here first. Now get in the car or I'm leaving you all behind." "I would rather stay home," Justine muttered.
Aislinn glared and said, "If you don't want to come, then don't." Justine sighed and got in the backseat, making a great show of putting on her seatbelt. Ellen laughed and sat down as well. Aislinn started the car, and they headed down the driveway.
* * *
"Hey, watch what you're doing!" Ellen yelped as Justine's arm flew forward and hit her in the head. She looked back to see what Justine was doing. Ellen sighed in disgust as she saw Justine rooting around in her backpack, most likely looking for a book. Aislinn giggled as she risked taking a quick look into the backseat to see what he sister was doing. She quickly looked back on the road, not wanting to get into an accident. Aislinn gasped in surprise as a pickup in front of her car swerved around wildly. "Looks like someone's had to much to drink this morning," Ellen commented. Aislinn glared as she tried to keep track of where the pickup was.
"Well, duh, Ellen. I just hope that he doesn't hit anyone," Aislinn replied.
"Don't be such a worrywart, Aislinn," Justine said, looking up from her backpack. Aislinn sighed, knowing that she could never stop worrying. Worrying about everything was her biggest weakness. Aislinn started to sigh, but the sigh quickly turned to a gasp as the pickup swerved again, this time coming to the lane right next to them.
"You guys, I think we should get off the road while this guy is next to us," Aislinn said nervously. Ellen nodded beside her, anxious to get away from the pickup. Aislinn started to pull over when the pickup started changing lanes again, this time coming right for them!
"Speed up, get away!" Ellen screamed in panic as the pickup mowed them down.
"I'm trying!" Aislinn yelled, hurriedly pushing down on the gas. Aislinn's mind went blank as she realized that they couldn't get out of the way in time. That was her last thought before the impact, and after that there was nothing but darkness and flame.
* * *
Aislinn opened her eyes, wondering where her ceiling had gone. She lay for a few seconds, pondering the disappearance of the roof, when she suddenly remembered the car wreck. Aislinn sat up with a gasp, looking around in a panic for her sisters. She heaved a sigh of relief when she saw them. They were unconcious, but otherwise fine. Aislinn looked around, trying to figure out where she was. She hadn't looked before, as she was to worried about her sister, and what she saw made her gasp. It was the most beautiful place she had ever seen. She was in a forest, surrounded by huge, gorgeous trees. Aislinn stared as if in a trance for a few minutes, until a groan made her spin around. Aislinn saw Justine struggling to stand up, and raced over to help her up. Justine waved her off and stood up, leaning heavily on the nearest tree.
"What's wrong with me, I feel like I just got hit by a bus?" Justine groaned. Aislinn was about to reply, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She shrieked loudly, and whirled around. Aislinn relaxed when she saw that the hand belonged to her sister Ellen.
Ellen's face was a pale white, and she looked like she was on the verge of hysterics.
"Did we really just die?" Ellen asked. Aislinn nodded sadly, and Justine hung her head. Ellen looked like she was about to start crying, with Justine and Aislinn not far behind, when they were started by a gorgeous voice behind them.
"Please, don't cry," the voice said. The triplets turned slowly around, and gasped in surprise. There was a man standing before them. Aislinn figures that someone that beautiful could not be real, and that she was hallucinating, but when she looked at her sisters she saw that they were looking at her hallucination as well. If they can she him, then he can't be a hallucination, can he? She turned back to the stranger, and looked him over. He had the most gorgeous black hair she had ever seen. It looked like the feathers on a raven, and Aislinn couldn't help but think that a raven would stand up and take flight off his head. That thought made her giggle, but her laughter quickly died when he looked at her with his lovely green eyes. She found herself being lost in the emerald pools, and she knew in that moment that whatever came out of his mouth would be the truth. She wasn't sure how she knew that, she just did.
"There is no need to cry. Yes, you did die, but it was decided that you would be given another chance. If you live, you can do this world great good," the man told them.
"How do you know this?" Justine asked. He looked at her, then Ellen, and then Aislinn. He smiled, and answered,
"I am the Shadow-Lover." With those words, Justine and Aislinn gasped, with Ellen staring at them as if they had gone mad.
"What's wrong with you? Ellen asked. Justine shook her head, unable to answer as she stared at Death, so Aislinn answered.
"The Shadow-Lover is Death," Aislinn said. Ellen paled, and backed away from the strange man who they now knew was Death.
"But how," Justine asked, finally regaining her voice. "The Shadow-Lover is only in Mercedes Lackey's books." Death looked at her and smiled in amusement.
"The world that houses Valdemar is parallel to your own Earth. You died an untimely death, and because you'll be of great use to Valdemar, you are being permitted to return to life."
"We will remember everything, will we not?" Aislinn asked. Death nodded.
"Well, then, what are we waiting for?" Aislinn asked her sisters. "It's not like we have a better chance anywhere else. If we don't go, we'll be just as dead, and Death over there said we'll be of great use to Valdemar, so let's go." Justine agreed immediately, but Ellen looked a bit uncertain.
"Come on, Ellen, what do we have to lose?" Aislinn asked.
"Well, alright, let's go." Ellen said. Death smiled in what looked like relief. Suddenly, there was a bright flash, and the sisters found themselves standing in the middle of what Aislinn recognized as Companion's Field.
****Well, I hope that you like what I've written so far. This is my first Mercedes Lackey fic, so be nice. Please review. (In case you don't know, that means click the grayish button below ^_^) If I get enough reviews, I'll probably continue the story. Of course, I'll probably continue it anyway, but still, review.
