Chapter One

She sighed, absent-mindedly dragging one card to another on the computer. Solitaire was starting to get boring on the PC. She would much rather be writing, but no inspiration had come to her so far. Things like that happened.

She grinned and turned up the music as XM changed to one of her favorite songs, an Emo. She had no idea why, but she liked the hard rock Emo songs. She always thought herself odd for how quickly she had gone from light rock to hard.

She glanced out the window in sheer boredom after the song ended and raised an eyebrow. There were two teenage boys, about her age, walking along the road. She was in a small neighborhood, a wooded one on the side of a mountain in South Carolina, and knew pretty much everyone because of that. But she had never seen these two before.

"Hm…," she muttered. Her eyebrows rose incredulously as the two turned up her driveway. She lost sight of them for a moment as they went behind some trees between the window and driveway, but saw them again as they walked up to her porch.

Before they rang the doorbell, she got a good look at them. One was a couple of inches shorter than the other, with dark brown hair and eyes that had seen lots of things they shouldn't have. But he had a slight smile on his face as he talked with the other, who had a pale complexion, black hair that went to his shoulders, and almond-shaped eyes. The second one's eyes glittered with laughter in the sunlight. But, just like the other's, there was a hidden responsibility behind that mask.

She hesitated, intimidated by the way they held themselves. They were there for a purpose, but she had no idea what it was. Finally she gave in to her curiosity and opened the door just as the first was about to ring it a second time.

The dog, a black Labrador named Lady, came zooming in from down the hall, barking. She nearly knocked Dacia over, but her master held firm, keeping her back, in the house and away from the two strangers. She closed the door behind her firmly and turned back to the two.

"Yeah?" she asked, one eyebrow slightly raised. The first was about to speak, but the one with black hair jumped in first.

"Um…Dacia?" he asked, with s shocked expression. He had an Australian accent. She frowned. How did they know her name. But she confirmed it anyway.

"Good," the first one said before the second could embarrass himself. "This is Spader. Call me Pendragon, or Bobby, whichever. Look, there's something we need to, err, explain, and it'll take a while. Come with us and we'll tell you all of it."

Her frown grew deeper. Did they think she was a dimwit? Not with post-college reading grades on her SAT when she was in second grade, she wasn't. She was also confident that she could fight these two if necessary, but she didn't want it to come to that. She had a Black Belt, but she didn't enjoy beating people with her skills.

"You're kidding," she said simply, though her curiosity was yet again spiked. Typically she would have gone past the barking dog back inside and slammed the door in their faces, but something was keeping them there. She reached into her pocket and grasped her amulet, rubbing the cool steel with her thumb. She always did that; it was a habit.

But Pendragon just shook his head, a sheepish look on his boyish features. He felt odd talking to her, and he knew it was because she looked twenty-two. But he also knew from research that she had always looked older than she really was. Truthfully she was fifteen, one year younger than he nd Spader. He tapped his Traveler ring against his other palm in well-concealed nervousness.

"No," was her simple answer. She was about to fight back her absurd curiosity and walk inside when the taller gripped her shoulder. His grip was firm, but she was sure she could break free with one of her Shotokan Karate moves if necessary.

"Please," he asked. "Just hear us out, mate! This is really important. Follow us and we'll explain later." Something about his tone, maybe the slightest bit of desperation, made her stop and think for a moment. What did she have to lose? She could satisfy her curiosity and she wouldn't be in much danger unless one of them pulled a gun, but she could she in their eyes that she could trust them. It was straight from Kansas—corny—but she sighed and turned back to them.

"Alright, alright. Where are we going?"

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After having walked a little ways down the windy road and into the nearest part of town, a twenty-minute jog, they stopped at a bus bench.

"Really, where are we going?" she persisted in between deep breaths, keeping her body fueled with oxygen before and, now, after it. The two looked at each other hesitantly and finally Pendragon answered.

"Right now to a friend of mine's house. We'll explain this all there." She sighed but accepted it, knowing just how dumb it was to trust them. Just who was this friend of his and what was all this secrecy for? And why choose her of all people to drag into this?

A cab came up and they climbed in, Dacia wary. Why was she even doing this? Despite her confusion, she didn't turn back and get out. But when she heard their destination as Pendragon told the cab driver, she jumped in surprise.

The man turned around, one eyebrow raised. "Careful, shorty. Don't damage the car." He was an elderly man, with dark brown skin and dark, glittering eyes. He had an aura of confidence and wisdom, but he seemed like a harmless man at the same time. She didn't notice that Spader, Pendragon, and the cab driver all had the same sort of ring on their finger.

"Conneticut?" she exclaimed, looking incredulously at the brown-haired boy. "Just what is this all about!" The driver chuckled and pulled into the road, going through the traffic easily. He started up a story of the old days, heedless of her shock and annoyance, until his soothing voice calmed her down a bit.

They went without another word for two hours. The traffic was bad in the highways due to multiple collisions, but the girl didn't seem to notice for a while. She was staring out into space, out the window. Pendragon weighed the option of asking what she was thinking about, but decided to let her be. He used to have acquaintances who would space out like that, and he supposed she was just another.
She stayed like that for a while, though what was going through her head was a mixture of the evanescent memory of a hard rock song, which she had never gotten out of her head that day, as she thought about everything happening. She tried to figure out what she thought so trustworthy of these two—make that three, including the driver—but came up empty.
Finally she shook her head, after returning to the real world from her reverie, and glanced down at her Surge digital watch, which was set on Military time. 13:23pm. They had left at near ten o' clock in the morning. How the time flew when she retreated back to her little corner in the back of her mind.

"She's alive!" the driver joked, looking back with the rearview mirror. She grimaced in embarrassment and settled down in the seat, feet tapping the floor lightly. She was uncomfortable in the car with three people she barely knew, but hey, that's life.

Finally they stopped to get some gas. "Why don't you three go in and get some refreshments while I'm filling her up?" her suggested. Pendragon shrugged and nodded, grabbing a few dollar bills out of his pocket. Spader got some Cherry Lime Powerade, one that Dacia herself had thought she'd never meet someone else who liked that particular flavor. But she only got a Fruit-2-0, one of her favorite drinks, and the last member of their group got a Coke.

When they left, the driver was leaning on the car, waiting for them. He beckoned for them to get back in, and they were off yet again.

In that traffic, the six hours it took to get to their destination was pretty good. But when they finally got out, her legs were asleep, completely numb. She just about tripped, but caught herself just in time. The cab driver gave a mock salute and drove off. She wondered vaguely why he hadn't asked for his pay.

She gathered her surroundings. They were in front of a school. It was 16:11 according to her watch, which meant it was 4:11pm. The school was just getting out, students streaming out. Two of them, a nerdy-looking boy and a tall, athletic girl, caught sight of them automatically. Their eyes grew wide and a grin spread over their faces.

"Bobby!" the girl exclaimed, running up and flinging her arms around Pendragon. He grunted in return, fighting to keep from toppling under the pressure. She gave an embarrassed apology and her eyes lit up when she saw Spader. They exchanged a quick embrace. After that, the boy, still grinning, shook hands with the two in Dacia's group.

"So, this is…?" he asked, offering his hand to her. She shrugged slightly and accepted his handshake, looking at the two she had been with for the past six hours for their answer.
"Yeah, sorry. Dacia, this is Courtney and Mark. They're the friends I was talking about. Guys, this is Dacia. We have a little thing Spader and I need help with explaining to her." The two automatically lost their grins. Courtney pursed her lips in slight annoyance and Mark nodded as if in understanding.
"Okay. Come on, we'll go to my house and get this over with." Dacia was ultimately perplexed, but she sighed, knowing she had come too far to turn back, and followed them all to a minivan in the parking lot.

Mark got in the driver's seat, with Pendragon right next to him in front. Then Courtney took the window eat in the middle row, with Spader next to her. Dacia decided being crowded yet again after that long, cramped ride in the taxi wouldn't be such a great idea and so got in back, with a row all to herself.

The music came on. She grinned. Scary Kids Scaring Kids. Courtney yelped and bonked the back of Mark's head. "Shut that dang thing off! You know I hate that!" Dacia's eyebrows rose as she chuckled.

"Hate? Gosh, I love Emo!" Courntye turned around with a shocked look on her face and Dacia shut up to keep from bursting out laughing. But Mark called back that he didn't want a war and that he'd put on some of his rock instead. Courtney harrumphed, not much caring for that, either, but didn't say anything.

Dacia leaned back and listened to the music, looked out the window as shadows just began to lengthen. They stopped once for gas but it only took about ten minutes to reach Courtney's house, which was in a nice, quiet neighborhood. They went inside and down to the basement.

"So what now?" Dacia asked. "What the heck have you all been saying you need to tell me for the past six hours?" Pendragon took a deep breath and opened his mouth to speak.

"It kind of goes like this…."

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NOTE

This is redone, though it was not on here last time. It was on the main Pendragon website, actually, before I was taken off by my parents. Truthfully, it was my very first story, fanfiction or otherwise, so I had no real plot. But I got a good ways into the story, and it all got better as it went, so this, I hope, will be good, too. Some things will be changed to cope with Rivers of Zadaa, but everyone, the end does not apply to this fanfiction. Pretend we don't know anything of Quillan or its Traveler for now. Please?

Please review!