Clay rubbed some dirt out of his hair. "Hang on. How come we weren't like this when we went back home?"

Kimiko shrugged. "Got me."

Omi started shivering again. Kimiko started drying him off with the sleeves of her robes. "How come Clay's element didn't mix with mine this time?" Omi asked.

"We weren't touching then, I guess." Clay answered.

Omi wrung out the water out of parts of his robe. "Why didn't we end up in the nymphs' forest again? It was warmer there." Omi muttered.

Kimiko replied. "Remember what the girl said about knowing how to use Merkabahs? She probably knows how to make a Merkabah take her anywhere she wants."

Clay started looking around. "Where is the girl anyhow?"

Kimiko and Omi started looking around too. "That's weird." Kimiko murmured. "I know we didn't black out. So she's got to be close by."

Clay glanced toward a large body of trees. He took eight steps in its direction, then stepped on something that felt like a rock, but was too perfectly rounded. He looked down and lifted his foot. Underneath was what looked like a filthy red jawbreaker. Clay picked it up and turned back to Omi and Kimiko. "Hey, look." He showed it to them. "The girl had tons of these stored in her pockets. I'm bettin' she's hiding out over there."

Clay pointed to the trees. Omi nodded, remembering the trench. "Yes, they seem to enjoy dark habitats."

They started in the direction of the trees. They were only a yard away from them, when eerie violin music began playing from them. It made the hair on the back of the apprentices' necks stand on end. "Okay, this seems somehow to be a bad omen." Omi commented.

"More like something out of a horror movie." Kimiko said.

"Either way, it doesn't look like anything good's gonna happen." Clay said.

Kimiko drew the Star of Hanabi. "Well come on, it's not like we can't handle anything dished out at us." And she stepped in onto the trees.

Omi took out the Orb of Tsunami and followed. Clay stayed were he was. "Clay, if this were like a horror movie, it would be happening at night." Kimiko said.

Clay's eyes strayed to the sky. "It's getting' a little dark, Kimiko."

"Hopefully we'll be outta here before nightfall. Now come on."

Clay went in. They walked as quietly as they could, following the violin music. Kimiko was wrong. It was only a couple minutes before night had fallen. Kimiko quietly activated the Star of Hanabi, causing it to give off a gentle glow.

Suddenly the music stopped. The warriors froze. It was way too quiet. No crickets, birds, frogs, nothing. It was so quiet Omi held his breath for fear of someone hearing him. Kimiko and Clay could hear the difference and followed his example. Time seemed to have stopped completely. It almost felt like something was waiting.

Thankfully, the violin music started up again, but this time it was more upbeat. The warriors all breathed out in relief and began walking again. Omi smiled. This music was wholly different from the previous music. It seemed like a good omen. And it was a throwy tune.

Catchy.

Alright.

Kimiko liked the music too. It sounded familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it. However, Clay could. "Hey Kimiko, have you ever seen 'Fiddler on the Roof'?

It took Kimiko a minute to remember. "Yeah! So that's what this is from."

"I believe you mean 'a' fiddler on the roof, Clay." Omi said.

"No. 'Fiddler on the Roof' is the name of a movie, Omi. We'll show it to ya sometime."

"Okay." Omi tried to hide his disappointment. He thought that for once he could finally correct the others on their language. They were getting closer. Kimiko put out the Star so no one saw them. Soon they came to four trees that were close together, making the ways between them thick with branches. The source of the music and a light were right behind them. Kimiko pushed one branch down a little and peeked over it. Her eyes got wide. She franticly motioned for Omi and Clay to do the same. They quietly went to different spaces and copied her.

They were looking at the right side of a horseless caravan with a campfire near it. Balanced on the roof was the kid in the black hoodie, playing the violin. The kid in the brown sweatshirt was sitting on the right back wheel with his arms folded across his chest, glaring at the ground. He freed one of his arms to remove a cigarette from between his lips and blew a perfect smoke ring before putting it back. Raimundo was leaning against a tree with his hands stuffed in his pockets. It took all Kimiko's willpower to restrain herself from attacking him.

All of them had their hoods down. Omi was relieved to see that the boy wearing the brown sweatshirt had sort of brownish-red hair and brown eyes. If not for those differences, he could have easily passed for Raimundo's twin. He wanted to ask Kimiko what that white stick with the flaming end was, but he feared it may be possible that Raimundo or one of the boys may hear their footsteps or whispers over the music.

Right then the piece ended. The white-haired boy took a bow as though he was in front of an audience. The redhead took a drag on his cigarette and took it out of his mouth to speak. "Face it, Silvertongue. She couldn't make it."

Kimiko couldn't help but feel she had heard that voice before. And that hair. It looked so familiar . . . .

"Oh very supportive." The boy on the roof said sarcastically. "C'mon. Daggereyes has never let us down before and she's sure as hell not going to start now."

Kimiko stared at the albino. She'd heard about them, but seeing one in real life was weird.

"You sure you've got that watch set right?" The redhead asked him.

The albino took an old fashioned watch out of his pocket. Instead of just having one knob at the top, the watch had one on each side of it. The kid looked at the watch and said "Yep. Thirty minutes there for twenty-four hours here." Then shoved it back in his pocket.

Clay scowled. What did that mean? It couldn't mean that for every fifteen minutes in their world was a day here. Kimiko said she was here for a day and a half when it was just a minute where he and Omi were. Unless . . . . maybe time moved at different rates. That watch must tell them what kind. These guys had pretty useful stuff. Clay thought about how the girl had said that the Merkabah made work more convenient for them. What if they had other stuff like it that also made their work more convenient? Come to think of it, what did they work on?

The albino began to play another tune. Unlike the last one, it was sad. He was only thirty seconds into it when the redhead interrupted him again. "Do you have to play that kind of crap at night? Geez, it's like a scene from a horror movie or something."

"Hey, you wanna come up here and play something different, be my guest." The boy retorted.

"Why are you complaining, Rustfoot?" Raimundo said. "If this were a horror movie, you'd be the monster."

The kid now known as Rustfoot grinned. "Yeah." And he took another drag.

The albino continued playing. It lasted six minutes. When it was over, Raimundo spoke. "What's taking her so long?"

Rustfoot smirked. "Knowing her, she's probably sitting in the middle of the field waiting for morning."

A pizza box emerged from the trees on the right, sailed through the air, and squarely hit him in the side of the head, causing him to bite down on his cigarette. The girl appeared, in her blue jacket, from its source. "I thought I'd give that to you first since you have so much faith in me."

Rustfoot rubbed the side of his head. "About time, you freak. We've been waiting all day for you."

The albino jumped off the roof and strolled over to the girl. "Daggereyes! Good to see you back!"

The girl smiled. "Thanks, Moonskin. I'm sorry I missed the concert. But I heard your last piece. It was beautiful."

The boy that was apparently called Moonskin beamed. "Thank you. Compliments are always appreciated."

"So's your music."

"I'm not certain everyone agrees with you." Moonskin glanced back at Rustfoot, who rolled his eyes and snatched up the pizza box.

"Don't worry. Everyone with taste does."

Rustfoot placed his cigarette next to him and pretended to gag. Then he opened the box. "Pizza time."

Moonskin walked to the left end of the caravan and though the door into it. As Rustfoot divided the pizza, Raimundo walked over to the girl now known as Daggereyes. She looked apologetically at him. He put his hands on his hips. "You're late."

"I know, I'm real sorry. I bumped into the xiaolin dragons on the way. I had a little trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" There was a hint of fear in Raimundo's voice.

"Nothing you need to worry about."

Raimundo looked at her doubtfully. "You sure?"

"Yes."

Raimundo relaxed and let one of his arms drop. "Did you remember to pick up the new office supplies I asked you to get next time you went?"

"Oww!"

Everyone looked over at Rustfoot, who was covering his mouth and holding a slice of pepperoni pizza in front of him. "What'd you order, half and half with rocks stuffed in the crust?"

Daggereyes sighed, went over to him, and took the slice. She reached between the layers of cheese and crust and pulled out the Eye of Dashi. Then she reached into the rest of the pizza and unearthed the Phoenix Tear and the Heart of Jong.