The black car came to a stop in front of the gray bleak house. It was raining hard and the sound of rain hitting a metal door rang through the night as the door to the rusty car opened. A foot appeared and made a quiet splash as it hit the pavement. An overly large parka covered the girl, the noise of the rain bouncing off it was echoing in the girl's ears as she took off her hood revealing her fiery red hair. It was like a huge bonfire in the midst of a herd of rhinos. Patience walked slowly up to the big stone steps, dragging her dark green suitcase behind her. She raised her stormy gray eyes to the tall walls that lacked all happiness. There was nothing there, so there was nothing to run away from. The car drove away, disappearing into big splashes of water, leaving her, as so many cars have done in the past. There was no going back. Not that there was anything to go back to. She slowly moved up the last few steps and rang the dusty doorbell.
The rain poured heavily still when the weighted door opened. Patience looked around to find a creature resembling one from a book holding the heavy door open. It was about two and a half feet tall, and was working its wings to the brink of exhaustion to keep itself airborne. Managing a weak smile, Patience stepped inside. Instantly the creature slammed the door behind her and bolted the many locks. As the last of them clicked into place, the door melted into the wall, leaving a bare stretch of space in its place. Still not speaking, the creature started down the twisting corridors, the ends of its fingers alight.
"Excuse me, but where am I?" Patience was glad to see that she sounded confident, in contrast to fear she really felt.
"The headquarters of the Midnight Order."
"What is the Midnight Order? The letter didn't explain a thing."
"I am not supposed to talk to any of the guests," said the creature defiantly.
Patience kept silent for the while it took them to reach a spiraling staircase at the cease of the hallway. By the narrow beam of light that came from the creature, Patience could see multiple tunnels branching out in every direction, though none were as wide as theirs. A glistening sapphire stone hung from the dark ceiling overhead a massive cavernous chamber to the right of a steel gargoyle which sat on top a moss covered boulder. A doorway framed with regal flames materialized against the far wall.
The creature let out an impatient noise, and by so doing forced Patience to move on, not seeing the two silhouettes slip out of the door and dart into a shadowy corner.
"Come, the others are waiting for you."
Patience proceeded up the worn stairs up to the small landing from where the many floors could be seen as if looking into a child's' dollhouse.
The ancient oak door slid open, and the Phoenix and Dragon carved surrounding the moon shimmered in the flickering glow of the many fire orbs. A number of strange figures were carved near the top.
"Shosh Poorah feh Selusuh, tamar reyam feh komochette berahch mer reeono."
"Pardon?" Before the creature could answer, the door opened, revealing what it was hiding.
"Welcome Patience. Welcome to the Midnight Order."
* * *
Hallie looked around her. James's golden brown hair shimmered for a moment as it reflected the practically nonexistent ray of light from the orb overhead. A small figure up ahead caught her eye, but before she could make out what it was, it slipped out of sight and she was pulled to the side by James.
"What are you doing?" said James angrily.
"What do you mean? There hasn't been enough time for me to mess up…yet."
"Someone could have seen you." James retorted.
"What's the point in being here if no one knows that we are? I thought that we came to talk to people, not hide from them here. Where is 'here' anyway?" James let out an exasperated sigh.
"It's the headquarters of the Midnight Order. But that should've been obvious." he motioned to the doorway. "In case you can't read, that says 'Welcome to the Midnight Order'" He smirked.
"I can too read!" Hallie looked up, and, to her annoyance, she could not read what the sign said. It was covered in runes that she'd never seen. But Hallie was not about to admit that.
"To answer your other question, anyone can walk into here. So one of the spies for Utazenla could be here as well. The real entrance is much more hidden than this."
"I do hope that you know your way around here."
"Uh…of course I do! Why wouldn't I?" James sounded a bit nervous.
"Then lead the way."
The two friends-to-be slowly walked into the hallway, James in the lead. There were no windows, or, for that matter, anything at all on the colorless cement walls; the only source of light being a few orbs like the one in the previous chamber. Left. Left. Right. A u-turn. Slight left followed by a sharp right. The castle, as Hallie came to think of it, was a huge maze. Thrice, they have hid dead ends, or doors that would not open. All of the stairs that they ran across went downward, and James insisted that he went up while being here with the professors. After about twenty minutes of mindless wandering, Hallie decided to take control.
Being only familiar with two elements, Hallie used both fire and water to speed in opposite directions to search the place. About a quarter of an hour of just sitting there, waiting, a wall of fire sprung up for a second, and then died down, leaving a trail of ashes to follow.
'Why did she not do that in the first place?' a very disgruntled James thought as he followed Hallie with an immense amount of pain searing through his foot from twisting it, "Why let us wander like idiots when it would've saved so much time and would've been so much less painful for me to just do that?" he mumbled, this time aloud.
"Because I didn't think of it!" Hallie snapped. "Listen there's someone coming."
"Dean, Patience, I think that you two will be quite conferrable in the rooms we have prepared for you. If you have any Ideas about what to do and Hallie and James, please let me, or someone else know." The sound of two doors closing rung through the corridor, and the footsteps continued on, toward the corner where James and Hallie stood frozen.
"Hallie, it's Summise, we wanted to talk to him, didn't we?" James hissed.
"Yes, but now?"
"No, next Christmas. Let's go."
They stepped out (or, in James's case, stumbled) into the dim light. The footsteps haltered, and Summise's face appeared around the corner. When he saw who was standing before him, his face broke out into a warm smile.
"So, changed your minds, have you? I must say James, I am impressed with your eavesdropping skills."
"I'm afraid that I do not see where you may have gotten such a ridiculous idea, Professor," said James testily.
"How else would you have known where the portal was?" James did not seem to have an answer to that accusation.
"The point is that we're here." Hallie interrupted. "We're willing to follow you, and be part of your star of light, but we won't take orders."
"Very well. Kindly follow Arma to my office, and wait there while I gather up the others.
* * *
Dean stepped into his new room. It was quite large, but plain black and completely empty, except for a blue handprint on the floor. He hesitated and then placed a hand on the floor. Nothing happened. He sighed and hoped he wasn't stuck with the kind of room he had at home, with the bright yellow walls, and red ceiling that his mother had said it would 'fit' him perfectly. Needless to say, he hadn't been flattered. Unconsciously, he pictured his room in his head. Suddenly he saw the room changing, the black wall faded to yellow, then bright yellow. The same went for the ceiling, except it was red. The room shrunk, and a light blue colored bed appeared in front of him. He froze, horrified. He realized that it had changed because he had pictured it in his mind. He swallowed and imagined his idea of a great room. The Yellow walls changed to a moss green, and both the floor and the ceiling became an off white; there was a large bed in one corner, with white and green pillows and covers; it was then followed by a desk, bookshelf (which had instantly filled up with his favorite books), a bed side table, and an armchair, colored in the same style. He looked around, and smiled. The handprint disappeared, confirming that Dean will like this room. He collapsed on the bed, and thought back to what happened since morning.
He received a letter just as Hallie and patience had, but he, for some odd reason or other, had trusted the adults as soon as he had met them. After Hallie left, they led him to this mansion, and there he met Patience. Niveus had left too many blank spots of information, but that didn't bother him. As far as Dean was concerned, he would know what he needed to, not any less, nor any more.
*Hallie?* There was no answer. Hallie had changed. Dean wondered whether they could still be friends.
* * *
Patience Quiet also came into her room to find it pitch black. She had an idea in mind as she bent down and placed her hand over the handprint. She imagined white walls and ceiling that were pictures of clouds. The light was coming from the corners of the room as rays of light. What was impressive was that the light was purple-white and had snowflakes falling in the rays of light. She put the furniture in it and overlooked her new room. She grinned and wondered what Dean had done before lowering herself into a chair.
She thought about the Star of Light, her powers, and everything she was told in the past hour. Perhaps this house will be the one she stays in. Maybe finally, she was wanted.