Prologue

Cassandra Stratton slunk out of bed and groaned softly. It was 2:30 in the morning, and her stomach still hadn't let her fall asleep. That's the way it always was at birthdays, you see. She ate far too much cake and then didn't sleep. You'd think she'd learn, but she never did. Cake was like that, especially if it was chocolate.

Cassandra headed down the kitchen stairs, all the while thinking about the previous evening. It had been Alex's 16th birthday, and he had loved it, though he hadn't shown it as plainly as he might have. He had loved his gifts, loved the food (which wasn't entirely unusual), and most of all, he had loved the company: all the people in the class and more had been invited. But through all the merriment, she could tell something was different about him. Not just different, but changed. The party had started right after he'd gotten there, so she hadn't gotten a chance to ask him about it, but that didn't stop her from noticing it in the small things. Like the amount of weight he'd lost compared to how tall he'd gotten, the bags under his eyes, and most of all, how much quieter he seemed to be. He didn't laugh as much, didn't joke as much, didn't smile his crooked smile nearly as often. She wondered if it had anything to do with the month he'd been gone at the Williams'. Normally he came back only complaining about how his uncle had taken even less notice of him than the last time, but this time was different. He had barely spoken, let alone any whining.

Creak! She reached the landing to the second floor, as the bottom stair had just announced. She started down the next flight, ignoring the sitting room to the left of her, when someone spoke.

"Cass? Is that you?" came the soft voice of Alex himself.

Cassandra took her foot from the stair. "Yeah, it's me Alex. Why aren't you asleep? You look unhealthy enough as it is," she said, only partly joking.

"I couldn't sleep. Not that that's unusual anymore," he added quietly, his voice bitter. "Why are you awake?"

"I was going downstairs to get something for my stomachache. I couldn't sleep either."

"Ah, yes; the Birthday Cake Syndrome. I should have known," he said, naming his term for her long time habit and giving her a ghost of a grin. "Come here, I want to show you something."

She hesitated, not really sure whether she wanted to see whatever it was. Why she couldn't say, but she had a feeling of foreboding she couldn't place.

"Best friends since kindergarten and you still don't trust me? C'mon Cass, you know me better than that," he said, trying to sound hurt and failing miserably. She walked toward him and he caught her hand, leading her in front of him, where the window was wide open.

Outside it was storming. Overhead, dark clouds swirled, not yet yielding rain. Every once in a while, lightening would flash across the sky, revealing the trees below that swayed in the wind. Then she noticed something: what looked like golden mist was falling, very subtly. It looked as if very fine glitter was being sprinkled from the heavens, very lightly. Cass felt her breath catch in her chest.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Alex asked her, laying his chin on her head. She didn't reply, as she felt there was no real need to. They stayed that way for a while, just two friends watching the night sky, though for how long, neither could say.

"Alex?" she asked after a while.

"Hmm?"

"What happened at your uncle's house? You can tell me, you know. Best friends since kindergarten, remember?"

Alex sighed. "Nothing, Cass. Nothing at all," he said, though she knew he wasn't being honest.

She didn't reply, just stood there a while more, looking out into ever darkening skies. Finally, "Alex, do you know what that glittery golden stuff is? I've never seen anything like it..." she trailed off.

"No, I don't know what is...it is strange though..."

Cass shivered. It was strange, and now she knew why she'd had the feeling of foreboding. Something about the mist wasn't quite right... "I'm getting a weird vibe off it. Does it seem...do you think it means something?"

"I don't know," he said again, "But it was almost as if it… called me out to look at it."

Cass nodded, biting her lip.

They fell silent once more, and they stayed together at the open bay window for a long time, their shadows melded together to form one misshapen figure. The golden mist, which had been falling very softly before, slowly intensified in it's falling rate, until the air was thick with it. It rested in the clouds and the trees, making them look strangely surreal. The clouds no longer looked intimidating, but almost dreamlike, and the trees swayed in the wind even harder, making the strange glitter shower the grass below. Even through her unease about the mysterious golden mist, Cass found herself unbelievably content and relaxed.

"Good night, Cass," Alex said after a while, taking his chin off her head and tearing his eyes away from the storm, breaking the spell that had seemed to envelope them.

With that, he left, silent as a ghost, never once looking back to see her still standing by the window. Behind her, the rain began to fall.