(Playing clarinet)

Char- Will you please stop?

Why? I need to practice.

Char- you'll wake up-

Geode- (stretching) So, Rae- Rae's calling the chickens home, huh?

What's that supposed to mean?

Geode- Nothing... So what's been happening to Sasha and the others?

Char- N. O. Y. B.

Geode-What? Come on, Char! Rae- Rae, help me out, what happened?

Nope. You slept through two whole chapters- two really good chapters. Maybe now you'll learn not to sleep during a story! For once, Char is right.

Char- Yep- hey!

Two Venus Adepts and The Lemurian

They had been gone for three days, now. And they were training hard. Kevin had finally learned Quake Sphere.

Sasha leaned against a boulder looking up at the stars. Then her eyes wandered to the sights she had noticed and looked at every night since they had left. Fist, her eyes wandered to the yellow glow to the South- Venus Lighthouse. She looked to her west at Jupiter's beacon. The to the northwest and northeast at Mars and Mercury.

"It's cool, isn't it?" Kevin sat down beside her. Sasha nodded.

"Can you believe our parents did all this?" she asked. Taryn and Alanna joined them.

"Why aren't you guys asleep?" She asked them all.

"Just...thinking," Taryn sighed. "Why didn't Alex destroy Vale? A few days ago."

Alanna leaned back. "If what Alex wanted back then was Alchemy's true power, why didn't he go after you guys' dad? The Wise One gave him a portion of that power. And Alex is evil. Didn't he try to summon storms on Vale and wanted to take over the world?"

Kevin looked worried. "What if he goes back? He might destroy the Village and kill our parents." Sasha still remembered the sad looks of them all before they left.

"Come here, Kevin." She put her arm around his shoulder and he leaned on her. Kevin had been awfully quiet and worried since they'd left. He hadn't even smiled. She cleared her throat and began to sing her favorite song that her mom sang to her as a child.

"Silent Night."

It was hard to resist Sasha's singing- she just had one of those- voices.

"All is calm. All is bright."

Taryn and Alanna's eyes drooped. Alanna rested her head on Taryn's shoulder.

"Sleep in heavenly peace... Sleep in heavenly peace." Sasha looked around her. Kevin was asleep under her arm. Alanna was asleep beside a sleeping Taryn. She yawned and closed her eyes, thinking the same things they were thinking...

Kali was laying back, waving her scythe. "Sasha's singing is working."

Lena flipped some of her hair behind her head. The silky white mane seemed to glow in the moonlight, and this showed of her tan complexion even more. "Why don't you ever smile, Kali?"

This question startled Kali - Lena had never asked her this before,not in a serious tone anyway. "Why do you ask?"

"Because, the closest you've ever come to a real smile is a smirk or a sneer. You need to smile."

Kali shook her head. "There's never been a reason for me to smile. I'm not really a smiling person."

"Smile just this once."

Kali shook her head and put the scythe away.

"Please? Do it for me."

"Nuh-uh."

"Come on, Kal!"

"No. Good night, Lena." Kali closed her eyes. Lena sighed and laid down.

"Are we near a village, yet?" Alanna asked.

Kevin checked the map. "Um... yea. We should see one in a matter of minutes."

"Quake Sphere!" They looked around for the source of the cry. A little ways away, Kevin, Alanna, Taryn, and Sasha saw a girl fighting a wolf. She chopped its head off immediately. Then, the girl stretched.

"Who is that?" Taryn asked. They noticed a pack of wolves coming up behind her.

"Hey, girl- watch out!" But it was too late. The wolves jumped on her.

"We have to save her!" Sasha and Kevin said in unison. They ran over and Kevin started out with quake sphere. Most of the wolves were thrown into the air. Taryn went after some of the rest of them with whirl wind and Alanna blasted the remaining wolves with beam. The wolves got back to their feet and attacked. One went for Sasha. She evaded, but not without getting her shoulder grazed. Alanna and Taryn issued waves of beam and ray, killing off most of them. Kevin destroyed a wolf when his weapon unleashed crucible fire and then cast quake sphere on others. Sasha finished the rest by casting frost, tundra, and her latest, glacier.

"Is she alright?" Kevin asked. Sasha glowed and cast ply to heal most of the girl's wounds. "Yes," she said. The girl stirred. She opened her eyes.

"Who are you?" she asked Sasha. Then she winced in pain as she sat up, and noticed the other three.

"I am Sasha."

"My name is Kevin."

"I'm Alanna, and this is Taryn." Taryn elbowed Alanna lightly.

"I could've introduced myself."

"Not as properly as I can, Taryn."

The girl laughed at the pair. "My name is Candace." She cast cure and jumped up. "You look like you're traveling. Let me take you back to my Village." Candace took them to her home.

"Welcome to Alcrest," she said. "C'mon, you have to meet two people." She rushed them through the village and went to one of the houses on the hill. Sasha was about to knock, but Candace just opened the door and ushered them in. "Sit down." she pointed to the couch. "Felix! Picard! There's some people you should meet."

Two men came downstairs. One man had a dark brown ponytail and the other had a blue ponytail with gold eyes. The blue- haired man held his hand out. "Nice to meet you," he said.

"Who are these people?" the brown- haired man asked Candace. She grinned.

"Why don't you ask them?" she laughed.

Everyone introduced themselves. Felix's eyes rested on Alanna for a moment. "You're traveling at such a young age?" he asked her. "Why?"

"Uh-" she started, not sure if she should tell. Sasha interrupted.

"We're going to see my grandma. She's sick."

"Oh," Felix eyed them all suspiciously.

"Do you need a place to stay?" Picard asked them. They nodded vigorously.

"Wanna stay with us for a night?" Felix asked.

"Sure," Sasha replied. "I like this village. It's almost like home."

Felix and Picard went upstairs to make her a room. Candace sat on the floor beside them since there was no room on that couch. "They're the greatest," she said. "Wanna know why?"

"Why?" Taryn asked.

"Well," She started," see how they're letting you stay here for the night? They took me in two years ago, when I was twelve. I didn't have any other place to stay."

"Didn't you have your parents?" Kevin asked.

"No..." she said. "They were killed. And when they were alive, they didn't really care for me anyway..."

"Why not?" Alanna asked.

"I don't know. They said... I wasn't normal. I was- different- in a bad way. No one really liked me where I came from. They said I was ominous. I was evil."

"But why would they think that?" Sasha asked.

"Because I know psynergy. They didn't understand it. See, my old home was... well they knew about these powers, but they had been tought that they were evil. And any child born as an 'demon' as they called it, should be immediately killed or thrown out. But some of the villagers got them to wait before killing me, so the short wait turned out to be a ten- year wait. When the mayor came to my house to get me, he asked my parents, "Do you want that demon killed or thrown out of the village?' My parents were embarrassed by me and said I'd brought disgrace to their good name. They didn't want a demon that they had walking around anywhere. They said, 'Kill her.' So I had to stay in the cold punishment cupboard in a thin night robe. After the whole village went to bed, I snuck out.

"Where did you go for two years?" Kevin asked.

"No where, really. Most of the people I'd met abused me like my old home did- some boys ambushed me. I had no money, so I couldn't stay in an inn. Then a little later, I met Felix and Picard. I was afraid at first, because I thought they were like so many others and didn't accept me and my powers. But it turned out that they had them, too. And Felix had the same powers as me. I later learned that they were called psynergy and I was a Venus adept. They took me in and cared for me ever since."

"Whoa," Alanna said. "That's really nice of them."

"We're done!" came Picard's voice from upstairs.

"Come up and look!" Felix called to them.

The five children went upstairs.

"Girls, this way," Felix instructed. He then swooped Candace up and got her on his back. "Welcome to Candace's room," he told Sasha and Alanna.

"Thank you," Sasha said. She looked at Alanna, who looked like a statue. She didn't move or speak- she was focused on something else. Candace hopped off of Felix's back and waved a hand in her face.

"Whatcha looking at?" she asked her. Alanna walked over to the lampost and picked up the picture frame that was on it. She gazed at the picture inside. It was clearly when Felix was younger. He was smiling with one eye closed, shielding himself from someone who was on his back- Alanna's mom.

"Where'd you get this picture?" she asked Candace and Felix. Candace came and looked over her shoulder.

"That's when he was seventeen."

Alanna shook her head. "How do you know the girl in the picture?" She turned around and looked at Felix.

"Do you know her?" Felix asked.

Alanna nodded. "She's my mom."

Everyone was quiet. Alanna and Felix still stared at each other. Sasha glanced at Candace, who was looking at both of them.

That's why she looks so familiar, Felix thought. He looked at Sasha. "So, you must be..." he started. "Are you Mia's child?" Sasha nodded.

"You helped them light the lighthouses, didn't you?" she said. He nodded. Picard, Kevin, and Taryn came into the room.

"Sasha, look at this." Kevin showed her a picture. It had ten people in it. First, there was the late Kraden. Then Felix and Picard. And Taryn, Sasha, Kevin, and Alanna's parents. And a woman with purple hair who Ivan stood beside. They were all outside of a house. "They know our parents," Kevin told her. Then he looked at Picard. "Are you from Vale?" he asked. Picard shook his head.

"I am from Lemuria, " he replied. "I was banned from there, though."

"Who's the woman with my dad?" Taryn asked.

"That's Master Hama, your auntie," Picard told him.

Felix laughed. "I can't believe my sister had a child! I didn't think Sheba and Ivan would return to Vale, either," He looked at Taryn who was a fitting image of Ivan and Sheba.

"My mom told me my uncle had left before she had me," Alanna told Felix. "Why won't you go back to Vale?"

He thought about this a moment. "Ah, well," he started. "I had heard that lost civilizations returned when we lit the beacons. I basically wanted to see them. Picard did too. So, is Kraden still annoying?"

The four children looked sorrow then. "Well," Sasha didn't said this the best way she could. "He... uh, he passed away when I was four."

Felix and Picard lowered their heads.

"We're really sorry," Alanna said. She slowly walked over to her uncle.

He put a hand on her shoulder. "That's alright," he said. "I'm pretty sure he's making new discoveries where he is now."

"Kraden was quite the scholar," Picard smiled.

Candace decided it was too glum in the room. "Time for dinner," she headed downstairs. "I'm cooking spaghetti!"

Felix smiled. "You haven't lived until you've tried Candace's cooking."

There's another chappie!

Char- (dully) whoo-py.

Guess what? My mom's nice again! I don't have to go to school the last day!

Geode-(dully) yoo-hoo

Geez, what's wrong with you two?

Char- when you're not at home, we get to get on the computer. But you're here, so now you're gonna hock it up!

To bad for you. Not! Don't forget to review. And the main thing of this story, just so you know, is the forming of eight friends, like TLA.