I began to walk down the stairs, Kate's footsteps shortly behind me. What's happening? I thought. Did I hallucinate that entire scene? I couldn't wrap my mind around it. How does a carriage disappear with the blink of an eye? More importantly, what was up with the vortex? I couldn't stop thinking about it even if I tried. When we eventually reached the bottom, we were just fast enough to see the first person enter the house. He was a man, incredibly short for his age. He had a long blonde beard, it was a mixture between well-groomed and unkept, and wore a tuxedo. He had a bald spot right in the center of his head, but he didn't seem to mind it. Unfortunately, I was the first to come down, so I was the first person in his line of sight.

He approached me. "Ah, you must be Marco!" Before I could say anything, he took my hand and began to shake it. "Last time I saw you, you were just a wee little boy!" He examined my body. "You've gotten much paler since then."

I slowly stopped the handshake. "I'm actually... not... Marco..." I said semi quietly.

The man raised an eyebrow. Before he could say anything, the sound of Marco's voice came to my rescue. "I'm right here," I heard him say from the couch. I almost forgot he was there.

The man looked at Marco before looking back at me. "Then who are you?" he said

I cringed as I thought of the best way to say it. "I'm... uh..."

"Oh! You must be one of their foreign exchange students," he said before I could finish. "I almost forgot how much they love taking care of those kids."

"What?! No!" I sighed before rubbing my face. After a while of thinking, I decided to just spell it out to him. I took a deep breath. "I am their adopted son."

He blinked at me a few times. "They adopted a kid?!"

I heard Kate's footsteps stop behind me. "Two, actually," she added.

The man stared at Kate before his eye became wide. "Oh, how foolish am I? I remember now." He began to rub his beard. "If I recall correctly," he pointed at me, "You're Landin," then he pointed at Kate, "And you're Kate."

I never remembered meeting him, so I was a bit curious about how he knew our names. Before our conversation could continue, an older lady's voice boomed from outside. "Honey!" she shouted. "You said you'd help unload!"

"I will in a moment, Moon Pie!" the man shouted back. "I wanted to tell Rafael and Angie that we've arrived!"

Almost like he knew we were talking about him, Dad popped his head in from around the corner. He stared at the man for a seconds before rubbing his eyes. "River?!" he said.

The man, who I assumed was River, turned his head to Dad. He stretched his arms out and began to approach him. "Speak of the Devil!" he said in the way Santa Clause would say "Ho Ho Ho."

Dad, almost immediately, returned the hug. He did have to crouch down a bit though. "Long time no see, old friend!"

Kate stepped down from the stairs and next to me. I leaned over to her ear. "Have you ever met this guy?" I whispered.

Kate shook her head. "Nope. Never even seen him before."

The sudden crunching of nachos from my side made me jump back. "I've met him," Marco said, his mouth still full of food. He was holding the bowl of nachos with one hand.

My eyes were wide; how did I not notice him approach? "...how the hell did you get-"

"I walked over here," Marco interrupted, shoving another nacho in his mouth as he did. He turned to River. "He visited our house a few times before you guys came. I think they're good friends of our parents," he finished his sentence from before.

I straightened my posture; I decided I wouldn't ask him about how he just appeared from nowhere. The hug between Dad and River just ended. "Yeah, I think I could tell that," I said.

Dad stood up and looked around the room. "Where's Moon?" he asked.

"Oh, she's just helping Star unload."

Dad raised an eyebrow. "And it's taking this long?"

"You remember how Star is. She always overpacks!" River said, causing me to listen intently. She overpacks? What are they packed for? I thought. "Not only is our car full of her stuff, but there are about four suitcases stacked on top of it!"

Dad looked out the window, a shocked expression washing over his face as he did. He turned back to River, "Do you want me to help?"

River's eyes became a bit wide. "That's actually what I'm supposed to be doing." He began to rush out the door. "See you in a jiffy!" he shouted back at us before disappearing outside.

I looked at the door for a few more seconds before looking at Dad. "Who is he?" I asked.

Dad gave me a blank stare at first, but then he got that face you get when you realize something. "I almost forgot you and Kate never met him," he said, more to himself than us. "His name is River. He is a good friend of me and your mother."

Hit the nail on the head, Marco, I thought. Marco shoved another nacho in his mouth. "Why are they here?" he eventually asked.

Dad smiled. "You'll see soon enough." He turned to the kitchen. "Honey! River and Moon are here!" He shouted at what I assumed was Mom.

The echoing sound of something shattering came from the kitchen. "Really?!" Mom's voice followed shortly after. Dad nodded, his smile becoming wider. Rushing footsteps echoed from the kitchen before Mom popped out from around the corner. "They're early!" she said as she looked out the window.

"Early?" I said. I looked up at the clock on the wall. "It's ten 'o'clock at night. What part about that is early?"

Mom continued to look out the window. "I knew that silly. They were just supposed to come next week is all." Mom started to get closer to the window. She got so close that she almost pressed her face up against it. "My goodness, that's a lot of luggage."

I looked over at Kate and Marco; judging by their faces, they were just as confused as me. I decided to get a look at this luggage since I didn't remember seeing that much from my room. I went outside... boy was Mom right. River wasn't overexaggerating when he said the car was full of stuff, in fact, he may have been underexaggerating. Half of the stuff was things you'd find useful. Clothing, blankets, you know, stuff like that. The other half though... I couldn't see any use for it. I didn't even know what half the stuff was. He was spot on about the suitcases though. Well, that's if you don't count the one that had fallen off.

Now that I was closer, I could see that the car resembled the carriage that was originally there, much more than I had originally thought. I could also see the older lady that had screamed for River to help. Her hair, while long, wasn't anything too weird. Although, it was blue which I found... odd. She wore a formal dress and had a decent amount of makeup on. At the moment, her and River were shoving as much stuff as they could into the already brimming suitcases.

There was one other person. They were a girl, around the same age as me, maybe a little younger. She had long, blonde hair (longer than the lady's) and was wearing something no one would consider formal. It was a sea green, short-sleeved dress with a small, pink octopus on the chest. She also wore a star-shaped bag around her shoulder, it had a small smiley face on it. She wore boots. They were... strange. She was currently bent down, picking up the spilled contents from the fallen over suitcase.

Feeling like I should make myself useful and not just stand there, I walked over to the girl. I stepped next to her, she continued to gather the fallen stuff. I assumed she knew I was there. "What happened?" I eventually asked after a while of staring.

Somehow, I caused her to jump. "Ahh!" she shouted as she fell in the grass, the stuff she had in her hands landed not too far from her.

"Whoah!" I got on one knee. "You okay?"

"You scared the shit out of me!" She sat up. "But yeah, I'm okay."

"Here..." I reached my hand down. "Let me help." She took my hand before I pulled her up. She had an average height.

"Thanks," she said as she let go of my hand and brushed her knees off.

Once she finished, I continued our conversation. "So, who are you guys?"

She put her hand on her chest, "I'm Star Butterfly," then she pointed at River, "That's my dad..." and then she pointed at the lady. "And that's my mom."

"Star, huh?" I thought back to all the names I knew, "Never heard anyone with that name before." After a few brief moments, I lightly shook my head. "Anyways. I'm Landin."

"Hey, that name's not common either," Star said.

"It actually kinda is. Just a unique way to spell it."

"Well, it's not common from where I'm from." After a few seconds, Star bent down and began to pick up the stuff once more. "Anyways, I gotta do this."

I bent down by her side and began to help. She looked at me with wide eyes for a moment before continuing what she was doing before. "So..." I said after a while. "What brings you to Echo Creek, Star Butterfly?"

"It's a bit... complicated," she said without looking at me. "My mom would be able to explain it best."

"Alright." I shoved the things in my hands into the fallen suitcase. "I'll ask her in a bit." Then... there was silence. Just the shuffling of clothes as we picked things up. A feeling started to build up in me. It was something like awkwardness, but lacked the "on-the-nose" feeling. It's that feeling you get when meeting a new person. I didn't like it, never had. I thought of conversation starters... thankfully, I found one. "Where exactly are you from?" I asked.

Star stopped picking up things and kinda just stared off in the distance. She did eventually respond, though. "We're from a small town. You probably never heard of it before."

I leaned in a little closer to her. "Try me."

She looked over at me before staring back off in the distance. "Bewni," she eventually said.

"Bewni?" I looked away from her as I rubbed my chin. "You're right," I looked back over at her. "Never heard of it before."

I could have misheard something, but I swear she said "...thank god..." under her breath. She turned to me. "Yeah, it's a really small and boring town." She looked around at the surroundings. "Not nearly as interesting as here."

I held back a laugh. "Echo Creak? Interesting? You must have never been here." I regained my composer. "Some of the people here get a bit cuckoo about their politics, but that's about it."

Star smiled. "That's a thousand times better than my town."

"Well then, you're life must have been really boring." Without even realizing I had anything in my hands, I shoved a bunch of clothes into the suitcase. I looked around to find more but was only met with grass. "Welp..." I stood up. "Looks like my jobs done."

Star looked around, her eyes becoming wide as she did. "Wow, I guess it is." She looked up at me. "Thanks for the help!"

I smiled. "No problem," I said before walking away and back inside.

I don't know how I didn't notice, but the lady and River had already brought in all the suitcases. They were sitting in the living room. Beats me how they did it, but they were able to fit all the stuff from the car into the suitcases. I could hear chatter coming from the kitchen, so that's where I headed. I was greeted with Mom, Dad, River, and the lady all having cups in their hands. A glass of wine was on the kitchen counter, so I could assume what they were drinking. What they were talking about wasn't worth getting into detail about, it sounded like a bunch of gibberish about life. Also, Marco and Kate were nowhere in sight.

"So..." I said. "What's going on?"

Mom took a sip of her glass before putting it on the table. "Have we not told you yet?" she asked. I shook my head. "Oh my goodness, you must be so confused." You got that right, Mom, I thought. She pointed at both River and the lady. "This is Mr. and Mrs. Butterfly." Then, she pointed behind me. "And that's their daughter." I turned around, Star was dragging in the last suitcase. She waved at me, I slowly waved back. "Mr. and Mrs. Butterfly have some business they have to do in... Europe... and we'll be watching their daughter in the meantime."

"Okay..." I turned back to them. "Where's she staying?"

Mom sighed, "We really should have told you this but, she'll be staying with you."

I was a bit shocked but knew complaining wouldn't do anything. It didn't mean I didn't have any more questions though. "Where's she going to sleep? I don't have another bed lying around."

Mrs. Butterfly spoke up. "We have a moving crew coming in a few days, but until then, she'll be sleeping on the air mattress she packed."

Moving crew?! "How long is she staying?" I asked.

Dad cringed. "We're not entirely sure, so, just in case, we're having her move in."

River took a sip of his wine. "Better safe than sorry!"

I had a few arguments against their logic but, since I wasn't the adult, there was no point in pointing them out. I sighed. "I guess I'll have to help with the luggage then?"

Mom shrugged. "I mean, you don't have to, but it'd make things much easier for me and your father."

And there she goes guilting me! Don't let Mom's seeming innocence full you, she knew exactly what she was doing. She had done it since I was little. I sighed even louder. "I guess I'll help then," I said, trying to make my annoyed tone obvious.

Mom picked up her glass. "Works like a charm," she said before taking a sip.

I rolled my eyes, then walked into the living room. Star had made her way to the couch by then and almost jumped when she saw me walk in. "Okay..." I said while grabbing the two suitcases closest to me. Star seemed to get the message and grabbed two suitcases as well. "Follow me," I said as I started to go up the stairs.

"..."

"..."

Nothing...

"..."

"...BEEP... BEEP... BEEP."

I reached over and slammed down on my alarm clock. It sounded almost like it whimpered as it slowly shut off. I opened my eyes and looked at it. "That's what you get!" I stood up and stretched. "Piece of garbage." I looked over at the air mattress Star had been sleeping on. She was nowhere to be seen. "Probably in the bathroom," I said under my breath. "I guess I get to experience what Kate and Marco do every day."

A few days had passed since Star came around. It was... weird sharing a room with someone, especially someone you barely know anything about. I still hadn't fully adjusted to her being there. Sometimes, I'd be talking to James and she just waltz on in. James acts weird around her, she's the only person James deliberately disappears around. I tried asking him why a few times but he never gave me an answer. Although, Star is a bit weird herself. She does things normal people just don't do. In a way though, I liked it. Adds some spice to my boring life.

One thing I didn't like though was sharing a bathroom. I grabbed my change of clothes and waited outside the door. A few minutes passed... no sign of her. Another few minutes... still no sign. I eventually gave up and knocked on the door. "Star! I know girls need time to put their makeup on and all, but could I at least change first?" I waited for a response... none came. "Star?" Still no response. "Fine then, I'm coming in!" Please don't be naked, I thought as I twisted the doorknob. I fully opened the door. "Star-" ...There was no one there.

I looked around and blinked a few times. "Huh. I guess she's downstairs then." I stood there before quickly shutting the door, making sure to lock it. I wasn't losing the one chance I had to change.

After throwing on my jacket and locket, I popped on my contacts, brushed my teeth, and headed out of the bathroom. Out of curiosity, I looked over at the alarm clock for the time. It read "6:30 A.M." I nodded my head a few times. "Six o'clock," I looked away from. "Okay." I was about to leave my room when it hit me. I never wake up at six. "Wait, six?!" I walked over to the alarm clock to make sure I wasn't seeing things. "Why the hell did I set my alarm clock for six?!" I slapped it a few times to make sure it wasn't broken. Looking back on it, that probably wasn't going to fix anything. "Maybe in some different universe I'd wake up at six, but that certainly isn't this one!"

I was still in the middle of beating up my alarm clock when a noise came from my window. It was Star's voice. I couldn't quite make out the words though. Her voice was followed by the same sound that was made before the carriage disappeared the other day. I rushed up to my window and almost broke it because of how hard I put my face against it. Star was standing in front of a bunch of incredibly muscular dudes; for some reason, they all wore tank tops. A moving truck sat behind them. Star was saying something to them, but I couldn't make out the words because of, you know, the glass.

Feeling curious, I decided I'd go check it out. I went out of my room and tried to go quietly down the stairs since no one was usually awake by then. I made it to the bottom with mild creaking from the stairs and went outside. It was cooler than most summer mornings, but still pretty hot. Star had not seemed to notice that I had come out, the men on the other hand did. "And remember, we don't want to wake up anyone!" she said to the absolute units of men that were in front of her.

The men looked at each other with wide eyes before one of them pointed at me. "Um... princess?" he said. His voice matched his body perfectly.

Did they just call her princess? I'm definitely giving this place bad reviews. Star slowly turned around, her eyes becoming even wider than the men's after she made eye contact with me. "Landin?!" she basically shouted. There was an object in her hands, but she moved it behind her back so quickly that I couldn't get a good glimpse at it. She gave me quite possibly the fakest smile I had ever seen. "What are you doing awake?" she said through her teeth.

"It's really strange actually, my alarm clock decided to wake me up," I said. I shook my head a few times. "Anyways, what are you doing awake?"

She tried to stealthy put the object she had in her "star bag", as I've come to call it, but failed miserably. While I didn't get a good look at it because of her hands, it was pretty obvious she was hiding something. "Just helping out the moving crew! I wanted to make sure they got everything right!" she said with the same fake smile. Did she really think she was fooling me?

"Right, okay. Definitely." I looked over at the moving truck. It was pretty big, not huge, but big. I looked back at Star. "Welp, I'm going back to our room," I said as I turned around and headed back inside.

The strong tug on my sleeve made me stop. "Wait!" she shouted even though she was right next to me. She brought me back outside and let go of my sleeve. "Don't go back inside."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

She stayed silent for a few moments but then her eyes lit up. "I just don't want you to get in the moving crew's way," she said. Man, she sucked at lying.

I gave her a blank stare before sighing. "Okay, I guess."

"Great!" she walked up to the moving crew. "Just stay out of there way."

I gave her a thumbs-up before leaning against the nearest wall. Why did I agree to this? After a few minutes, the crew began to slowly move stuff in. One item after another, one box after the next. It seemed to be going on forever. There was no way my room was going to fit all of that shit. Everything seemed normal when one of the men walked by me. He was staring out of the corner of his eyes at me, his hands wrapped around some sort of book. It caught my eye, to say the least. After that, though, nothing interesting happened.

Eventually, the moving crew finished. They were standing at the end of the driveway; Star seemed to be talking to them once more. They were just out of earshot, so I couldn't hear a thing they were saying. My mind started to think about that book again. It wouldn't leave my mind. Eventually, almost like it always does, curiosity got the better of me and I went inside. Star was too busy talking to the moving crew to notice my absence. It was 7:00, Mom and Dad would wake up soon so I had no issue being loud.

I made my way into the room and was blown away with how much shit had been added. Even weirder, it somehow all fit! Well, minus the clothes, my closet just wasn't designed for as many clothes as there was in there. All of Star's stuff had a girly feel to it, not anything like Kate's stuff. I mean, I really wasn't expecting how much pink I saw. It didn't take me long to find the book, it was right on Star's new bed. It was like no other book I had ever seen. A symbol resembling an eight sat on the front, two blue and purple gems sat on either hole of said eight. It looked centuries old, much older than the house it was in. Paper stuck out of it like it was a middle schooler's notebook.

I walked up to the bed and put my hand on it, it felt like leather. There was a lock on it, but it was already open. "...what the fuck are you..." I said under my breath. I jumped up when the book began to... shake? It popped open as a blue light began to fill the room. Something began to flip through all the pages with record speed. Whatever it was went so fast that my hair began to be blown back. I shielded my face as the blue light got brighter and... nothing. I lowered my arms, the last page was being slowly flipped over. The blue light had disappeared entirely. Finally, the last page had been flipped. I peered inside the book and my mind was scared with the image of a tiny, naked, blue man.

A/N

Boy, I'm late. Sorry. My excuse is that I changed this chapter up a bit. Mainly, the last scene. I like it much better like this. This time, I'm going to be wise and not make any promises for the next chapter. Expect a two-to-four-day range, but it could be different. I don't have much to say so thanks for reading, have a nice rest of your day!