CHAPTER 1

It had been a month since the day my life changed. The day my sister died and my, now ex, boyfriend betrayed me. I still have nightmares of what Sarah must have gone through, up until the moment her heart stopped. I'd wake up screaming sometimes.

The alarm clock blared. It didn't matter cause I was already awake putting the tea kettle on the stove. I always had herbal tea in the morning and throughout the day. I was never a coffee person because it was bitter and unlike herbal tea, it only got you hyper. Herbal tea wakes me up in the morning, but also soothes me.

"Looks like another day of nothing…" I said to myself turning off the alarm clock.

I sat down on the bed and looked around the hotel room. My mind drifted back to a month ago…

I had been flying for what seemed forever. My eyes wet with tears and my throat still burning. I knew why the feared Sarah. I knew exactly why the feared her. I thought of the horrific scene…My little sisters body sprawled out, her hair wet with the blood pooling around her. One of her arm was outreached towards her sobbing mother as if her last act before she died was a plea of help towards her mom.

I kept my wings outstretched and still. I was gliding towards the mountain that surrounded our town. My plan was to run away. Run far away. I was running so far away, I'll be in another realm.

There are four realms, The Humans' realm, the Angel's realm (which would be my realm), Heaven and Hell. Although there have been many arguments that Heaven and Hell did not count as realms. I could not run to Heaven because only the higher power decides that. And I could not run to Hell because my father, the supreme Dark Angel, would hunt me down and perform the ceremony in which half of me is destroyed. That half of me is the White Angel half, my good pure half. If that half is destroyed, I will only have my Dark Angel half, my dark evil side. So I was forced to runaway into the Humans' realm.

I am a Grey Angel, like my sister Sarah. My mother is a White Angel who was tricked into marrying my father, a Dark Angel. I was born first, half evil and half good. Of course my father was the only one who knew it. Then my Sarah was born, twenty-five percent evil. And that is why the killed her, out of fear that she might grow to be like her father, the Supreme Dark Angel. And that is also why they want to kill me, even darker that my sister ever was going to be.

Sarah and I also had a mix of white magic and black magic. We could heal, move and destroy things with my mind. I have to meditate to keep this power in check.

I darted through the trees. I could see the cave in the side of the mountain. This cave held the four doorways into the four realms.

The six men weren't following me so they probably went to go warn the Emperor.

RRRREEEEEEE!

The cry of the tea kettle brought me back to reality. I stood up and walked to the stove. I turned the knob until it read off and poured the hot water into my mug, plopping a tea bag into it. Obviously, I made it to the Humans' realm or I wouldn't be here waiting for my tea to be ready.

Thankfully my realm is pretty much like the Humans' realm dew to the White Angels who get assigned to be a guardian Angel's assistant (Only Gold Angels, from Heaven, can be a true Guardian Angels. So you can imagine that being their assistant is a great honor.) and go to the Humans' realm and see how the humans function and their inventions. Then the White Angel brings back their findings and we adopt them. We have the same money system, educational system, and technology system. The only thing that is different is that we have Empires, realms, Emperors, and Empresses.

I checked the mug. It was ready so I picked it up and brought it to the table. I tilted the mug towards my lips taking a sip of the calming liquid.

Since I know no one and have no place to stay, I now live in this hotel room.

"Oh crap. I have to get a job." I moaned rolling my eyes.

I did have my eye on one café down the road. I wasn't sure what it was called but I read an ad in the newspaper declaring they where hiring. It seemed that the café had a dark atmosphere, which was fine with me, more than fine really. I have always been a writer of dark poetry ever since I was little. I mostly liked it because you can say that you were a dark angel but it didn't have to mean it literally. I never shared it with anyone but Sarah because it freaked any White Angel out. I never had any friends except my sister and mom. Sarah did more art then writing so she would illustrate my poetry sometimes.

I sat there reminiscing about the earlier times when Sarah was alive. I took a sip of my tea. I looked down at floor remembering the time hen Sarah got in a fist fight with another girl at the school because she was being bitchy to her. I had to break it up. I smiled at the picture of the girl all scratched up with a bloody nose, and then there was Sarah with only but a bruised arm.

I swallowed the last of the warm liquid. I stood and placed the mug in the sink. I'd wash it later. But for now I was going to wait for the phone call that meant there was an opening in the Jump City High. Yep, that's right. I was going to school here. I figured, what does a normal teen do most of the day? Go to school and have a job. I admit that I'm not a normal teen here, but I had to blend in. So I at least had to act like it.

'I'll just wait fifteen minutes. And if the High school didn't phone, then I'd go and do my school shopping.' I picked up the copy of Edgar Allen Poe's Book of Poetry that I bought at the bookstore around the corner and sat down on the living room chair both my knees up and the book resting on them. I opened the book to were I left off and began to read.

A few minutes later, the phone rang. I reached over to the coffee table and picked it up.

"Hello?" I asked in my monotone voice.

"Hello. Is this Ms. Roth's room?" A man's voice asked.

"Yeah…"

"I have a Principle Warsh from Jump City High on hold for you."

"Put her on." I said with a sigh.

There was silence then a click and then…

"Hello? Is this Ms. Rachelle Roth?" A high pitch women's voice came.

"Yep." I rolled my eyes at the formal name.

"I am the Principle of Jump City High and there is an opening for you."

"Great." I bluntly replied twisting the phone's cord around my finger.

"You can even start tomorrow. But it is a field trip to the like for a science thing and the class might be able to swim. So bring your swim suite."

"Got it..." I wasn't actually going to though.

"And you have the supply list of the uniform, laptop, pens, pencils, rulers…"

"Yeah. Okay then…bye." I said. I hung up the phone.

'I am so not swimming.' I hated the bikini thing and the 'guys checking you out' thing. Not to mention the pointless thought of splashing and frolicking in the water when you can do that in the bathtub or shower.

'Well, now it's time to go uniform shopping.' I had pretty much down everything. I have pens and pencils, a ruler, a pair of scissors, a binder, and last but not least, a laptop. The only thing I need is my uniform: khaki pleated skirt, white collared shirt, and navy tie. The school also had their own hooded sweatshirt which was navy and said across the chest 'Jump City High'. So yeah, Jump High is a public school with uniforms.

I grabbed the room keys and money and left the hotel. There was a department store down the street that I saw the other day, so I figured I would go there.

When I made it to the store I realized they were having a 50 off sale.

"Just my luck. Crowds." I moaned pushing open the door.

To get to the Junior's section I had to go up an escalator. But as soon as I reached the top, I wish I hadn't. There were teenagers everywhere. Girls were talking on their cell phones and chatting it up while ransacking the clothes' racks. And the guys were being…well, guys.

I slowly made my way to the closest clothing rack. I pushed hangers aside, looking for anything that appealed to me. 'Ugh. I hate shopping. It so stupid and boring.' Just then a girl came over with one of her friends looking through the same clothes' rack as me. Then another came and another. I moved to a different clothing rack. There was a girl just standing there. She looked tired and somewhat depressed. I started looking through the rack. 'Oh crap! I forgot to check if the café gave me a call!' I mentally kicked myself. I looked for a phone. That was no feat because half the insane shopping girls were talking on them. I decided to ask the tired depressed girl next to me.

"Excuse me." I said in my raspy voice.

The girl looked at me with deep brown eyes.

"Do you have a phone I could barrow?"

She silently nodded and took out a phone from her purse and handed it to me. I dialed the hotel's number.

"Hello, this is Good Nights Hotel, may I help you?"

"Yeah, are there any messages from the Dark Days Cafe for Rachelle Roth?" I asked.

"No. Sorry ma'am."

I thanked him and hung up. I turned back to the girl.

"You want to work at Dark Days Café?" She asked me taking the phone. She had what seemed like a sparkle in her eye.

"Yeah." So?" I looked at her.

"I work there! I can get you a job there, too!" She had an innocent smile on her face, but her eyes kept saying 'I am tired and lonely'.

"You'd do that for a stranger?" I asked skeptical.

"Sure." She said quietly, and then looked down. "Follow me." She headed for the escalator. I ran after her.

"I don't even know your name." I said.

"Oh, sorry…I'm Karin Fin."

"Rachelle Roth."
We silently exited the store and started to walk down the street. We crossed 10th street, and then rounded the corner. We had reached the café in less than 15 minutes. Karin led me into the café. It was dimly lit and had tables with a single candle lit on them scattered everywhere. At the far corner there was a half circle stage with a microphone stand and a tall stool in the middle. A spot light shown down on the two objects. Then on the other side of the room was a counter where the costumers where supposed to order. Next to the counter was an area with couches and chairs and bean bags that you could hang out on and read. And even if you didn't bring a book, there were a couple of book shelves that were filled with books. Ironic, I know. Bookshelves filled with books.

Karin wound through the tables and ended up at a back door. She knocked on it.

"Come in." A muffled voice said.

Karin opened the door letting me in. There was a man sitting at a desk with his back facing us. He stood turning on his heels.

"Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Dante, but Rachelle Roth wants to apply to work here.

He looked at her then stared at me. So, I stared back. He then turned back to his desk then picked up a paper and handed it to me.

"When you have this filled out, give it back to me." Mr. Dante ordered.

We left his office and sat at a vacant table. Karin fetched a pen and gave it to me. I began to fill out the application.

A while later, I was finished with the form and knocked on Mr. Dante's door. I stepped inside and waited for him to take the form. He sat there for a while, reading the paper then looked up at me.

Welcome on board Ms. Roth. Ms. Fin will show you to the employees' room so you can get a name tag and apron. You will also be shadowing Ms. Fin for a week starting tomorrow." He paused and waited for my response. When I didn't respond, he said, "You're dismissed."

I walked out and gave a faint smile at Karin.

"I got it." I said. "And I am supposed to shadow you for a week starting tomorrow."

"Yay!" She said rather happy. "Let me show you the Employees' room." She grabbed my hand, which made me feel a little uncomfortable, and dragged me behind the counter and through the kitchen and into a back room. There was a table with chairs in the middle and on one wall hooks that bore black aprons.

"Ok. I'll have your name tag for you by tomorrow when you start work." Karin said heading towards the hooks on the wall. "This is part of our uniform so you have to wear one."

"What about the other part of the uniform?" I asked.

"Girls wear any black shirt with either black jeans, or a black skirt."

Karin turned towards the table. "And this is where we eat lunch."

"Ok. But now I have to go shopping for my uniform." I started for the door.

"Ok then. Bye!" Karin called after me.

'That's right I have to go shopping for a uniform. Oh God, High school…anything can happen in high school…'