Adam sat up with a start. Unfortunately for him, the creature that had been sitting on his chest did not take kindly to this action, and made its presence known to Adam in the form of several small, sharp, and claw-like knives. Alright, fine: the cat simply scratched him. But at six o'clock in the morning after a night of nightmares, the boy was unable to accept the fact that small cats were not, in fact, small demons waiting to rip out his soul with talons and fined-tuned machines. Needless to say, Adam and the cat relationship did not get off to a very good start. On the other hand, it must be noted that cats, though generally very agile, are not very skilled at escaping from the clutches of heavy quilts which are spontaneously thrown on top of them by cranky teenagers. What a pity.

Bleary-eyed Adam looked at the struggling lump buried under his quilt and smirked. However, at this point his mind reminded him that it was six o'clock in the morning, and he was not supposed to be awake, much less smirking, at this hour. Adam couldn't deny the logic of this fact, and prepared to jump back in his bed. Luckily for both him and the cat, Adam's short-term memory started to kick in and he looked at the lump on his bed, this time with frustration that it was under the covers and not him. Now, around this time his logic centers started up and Adam realized that this was not his bed, that he did not own a cat, and therefore what the heck was going on here?

After processing this thought for a bid Adam's brain reiterated to itself that it was still six o'clock in the morning and Adam was still not in his bed asleep. Unfortunately for Adam's brain, his body had decided to pump out some adrenaline during the brief scuffle with the cat and did not want to go back to sleep. The brain knew that it had only a few milliseconds left before the adrenaline reached it and wiped away all thoughts of naps and sleep and – too late. Stupid adrenal gland, thought the brain as Adam's body decided that the brain would now be awake. The brain, however, disagreed. Wonder where they keep the tea in this place, it thought (as if it could do anything else but think). If this stupid body of Adam's is going to insist on being active, I might as well get enough caffeine in it to keep me conscious. The brain decided to take a short nap while Adam and his body strolled to the bathroom for a quick session of early-morning grooming.

"Mmmm, that felt good," said Adam as he reentered his room after a rather refreshing shower. Now he felt sufficiently awake to return to that earlier dilemma: What the heck is going on?

He wandered around the room, pawing at his still-wet silver hair while memories from yesterday filtered into his conscious thought. Leaving his parents behind at the airport, the long flight to the states, meeting his aunt and uncle, talking with his uncle in the hall, falling off his broomstick after confronting a figure in a black cloak, the cat, the…

Wait a second. What was that? I've never fallen off a – oh right, my dream. Rather strange one now that I think about it. No idea where it came from, I've never even been on a broomstick. I wonder if – OWWW.

This last little expletive was a result of Adam's toe coming into contact with a box. He stumbled, and fell onto the floor. On his way down he grabbed the quilt off his bed in an attempt to slow his fall, but failing miserably. In a curious series of unfortunate events, the cat happened to be in the quilt as Adam pulled it off the bed, and fell along with him, landing claws first on Adam's leg after a spectacular mid-air twist. Unfortunately for the cat, Adam did not appreciate this display of agility, and chased the cat out of the room, down the stair, through the hall and out the front door.

He would have pursued the feline fiend further, but a rather large and solid cardboard box jumped in his way and maliciously maligned his footing, causing him to prostrate himself rather forcefully on the pavement, causing further pain and giving him just one more thing to add to his list of "Why I Truly and Thoroughly Hate Mornings."

So preoccupied with this train of thought was he that at first he didn't hear the muffled laughter behind him. Adam raised himself to his knees and brushed off his hands before looking around. There, on the front steps sat a girl, a young woman really, making a valiant effort to keep from bursting out into full-fledged laughter. Adam shook his head and turned around, rising to his feet in the process. He inspected his hands for damage while he waited or the girl to control herself.

Finally, after about two minutes she had taken sufficient deep breaths that she was capable of coherent speech, and she lifted her finger to point at Adam as she said,

"Should I ask, or do I content myself with the privilege of seeing a shirtless stranger first thing in the morning? Not that I mind, I'm just curious as to why you ran out of my house chasing my cousin's cat only to trip over a very noticeable package addressed to me at six-fifteen in the morning while wearing only a pair of shorts."

Adam looked down and realized for the first time that, indeed, he had run out of the house wearing only his running shorts. This thought marched around his brain for a second or two before it also occurred to Adam that he was now standing in front of a young woman, presumably his cousin, who was about five inches taller than he was, while wearing only his running shorts at six-fifteen in the morning. His brain had only started to wake up, and refused to do any complex thinking before there were at least six hundred milligrams of caffeine in its body. Therefore it took another couple of seconds before Adam's brain worked its way through these thoughts and concluded that Adam should be embarrassed. Finally after a grand total of three or four seconds Adam felt his cheeks redden as he looked up and addressed the girl.

"Hello there. Um, lovely weather we're having. I was just…"

He faltered when he saw the girl smothering another round of laughter.

"Yeah, you might say so," she replied, covering her grinning mouth with her hand. "You know, it's a lot nicer inside. And you might want to get some clothes on before my mom or even worse our guests see you like that."

She smiled at Adam; the first genuine smile he could remember receiving since the accident. He felt his defenses give way and he smiled back as the girl continued.

"I'm Sherrie, by the way. Jessie and Arthur are my mom and day, but they're out shopping right now. Hey, are you hungry? I'm not a bad cook, so if you come inside I can make you some breakfast while you get dressed. Oh, and do you think you could grab that box for me? I just can't seem to lift it. Thanks a bundle. My cousin and her friends are over right now so they will probably join you for breakfast if you don't mind. They're pretty cool, although I don't know the two boys that well yet. They're here from England, did you know. Something about an exchange program, but they wouldn't tell me from which school. What did you say your name was again? Well, anyway, that cat actually belongs to my cousin. And if you see any owls around they belong to her friends. Oh, and by the way – did you say something?"

Now it was Adam's turn to hide a grin. Sherrie was had just turned to go inside, and now she looked back at him. Adam was just standing there trying to hold back his elation. He didn't think that she had taken more than two breaths during her entire monologue: no one was like that back home, and her personality was such a change that Adam couldn't help but laugh. Finally he broke down, though he tried his hardest to be polite.

"Adam," he got out between laughs. "My name's Adam. I guess I am a little peckish. Breakfast sounds great." He easily lifted the heavy package and followed his cousin inside. "Say, do you know how to make tea?"