The sky above her head was a deep velvety blue, so dark it was almost black. No stars shone through the crushing darkness and no sound disturbed the silence that hung heavy on the air. Dairine forged on, through the vast expanse of nothingness. She shivered; there was a lingering sent on the air, foreign but familiar, like a favorite movie in a different language. The sky was growing darker now, the blue changing, little by little, to black, and suddenly...
It wasn't sky at all, but a ceiling. Dairine was in a dark room with the walls all painted black. It was so dark that she could barely see her hands held up right in front of her face. Quite suddenly, there was a human form in the room with her. The room grew almost imperceptibly lighter. In fact, the light seemed to be emanating from the person, who had raised both his arms into the air. The light grew and grew, until it was almost blinding in its brilliance, painful to look at, burning Dairine's eyes. She tried to turn away, to cover her eyes, but the light was filling every particle of her. She fell to the floor, writhing, and although it was too dark for anyone to see it, the figure smiled.
Nita looked oddly at Kit. Dairine's not here, she repeated. She's on a sleepover at a friends house.
Kit furrowed his brow. Listen, Neets, the manual says she's missing. I don't know what that's supposed to mean, but we better see Tom and Carl about this.
He started to stand but Nita rolled her eyes and pulled him back. Kit, do you have any idea what time it is? she said exasperatedly. Deep inside, Nita felt a pang. Dairine might be angsty and annoying as hell, but she was, after all, Nita's sister. With a small shake of her head, Nita pushed her feelings to the back of her mind; she would deal with those later. She had to concentrate now.
Nita and Kit spent an hour or so talking over the various things that the manual could mean by Nita had written up a list of what they had agreed upon that they were both pouring over when the phone rang. Nita jumped up to get it before it could wake up her father, still asleep in his room. Nita, it's Carl, said the voice on the other line. Listen, in the manual... there's something you should know... Nita cut him off. Dairine's missing, Kit told me. said Carl, obviously uncomfortable, then you won't mind me asking where you saw her last.
Nita's lips pursed for a moment, then she said, Last night she said she was going for a sleepover with a friend.
Carl thought for a moment, and then said, Did she seem at all odd. Ticked off, maybe, or distant? Nita thought about this for a moment. A few days ago, she was ticked off at Kit because I told her he said I was the wizard robbing the stores. She said he was a jerk and went to cal him and yell at him, but I stopped her, and she got angry at me. Then, the next night, she was supposed to set up a power feed for Kit, but it failed, or something. I haven't heard from her since. I came home and my dad said she had gone for a sleepover.By the way, Neets, sorry about thinking you were the rogue. It was.... said Nita slowly, quite forgetting about Carl, who could be heard over the phone paging through one of the telephone book-sized volumes of his Senior's manual, why did you think it was me? Kit shifted uncomfortably. There was an article in the manual... a power signature... a Callahan... well, um, never mind. I guess the Area Seniors read the signature wrong.
Nita raised her eyebrows. Er... I kinda' doubt that. But a Callahan signature... Dairine!
Kit shook his head. I thought it was you, and not Dairine, he admitted, because the power levels were different. Dairine is still more powerful than you, and the levels were about yours.
There was a crackle on the phone. Hello, hello? came Carl's voice.
said Nita hurriedly, what can you tell us about the power signatures on those wizard robberies?
Carl took a moment to answer. Well... actually a Callahan signature... five-ish power levels... and that's all I can say. Sorry.
Nita's brain seemed to be on fire. More calmly than she felt, she said, Thanks Carl. I gotta run. Bye. She slammed down the phone and turned to Kit. she said slowly, you were losing your power a little while ago... what if it was contagious, some virus or something?
Kit thought hard. His power had been leaving him slowly, as if being leached by some mysterious power, and had returned as soon as Dairine had disappeared. So maybe... nah.
he said with a groan, I think we have to get to work on a tracer spell for her.
Nita groaned as well and pulled a pad of paper toward her.A/N: I have no idea where I got the power signature idea from, but it seemed to fit with the plot. It probably doesn't make sense to you people (it doesn't make perfect sense to me), so please bear with me. Again, please please please don't flog me.