Yea! Another chapter! I suppose that's good…

Chapter 17- The Message

"For the last time, out!"

Jamie grimaced and quickly backed out of his sister's room. Sam glared at after him and turned back to the computer. "He'll never learn", she muttered, "Why can't he just mind his own business, huh? Does it seriously matter who I'm talking to or whatever? Talk about noisy"

"I'm going out!" Jamie called from the front, "See ya later!"
"Good riddance", Sam muttered, "Be home before mom thinks I kicked you out"

"Haha", Jamie snapped, slamming the door.

"And don't slam the door", Sam muttered. She killed the power on her computer and snuck into her mom's room to snag her laptop, "Might as well enjoy being home alone while I can"

She hit the power button the laptop and flopped on the couch. She grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. "Nothing on", she muttered, "Oh well, leave it for background noise"
She logged into her account on the laptop and sifted through the music folder. She still had a blank CD in the drive, no harm in burning some more music…"Hey!"

She pushed the laptop aside and jumped up as the TV and lights went out. "Great", she muttered, "Maybe Mom forgot to pay the light bill"
She hit the power button on the remote to try and get the TV back on, but of course, it didn't work. "Why not", she muttered. She flicked the light switch on and off but again, no go. She sighed wearily and grabbed a flashlight from the kitchen drawer. It was a dreary sort of day, cloudy and a very good chance it would rain. Not the best time to loose power.

"That's weird", she said, looking out the window, "No one else has lost power. What'd I do wrong? Maybe a circuit blew, I hope the landlord doesn't mind me checking…"

She walked slowly out of the apartment and made her way wearily down to the basement. This was not the way she'd wanted to plan on spending her afternoon home alone. She dragged herself wearily into the basement and made her way over to the circuit breaker.

"That's weird", she said, shining the flashlight into the box, "Everything looks fine, what's going on here? Mom wouldn't really forget to pay the light bill, would she? Maybe the TV and the light bulbs all just burnt out. Hey, it's possible, I suppose"

She made her way back to her apartment, sighing, "Too weird", she said as she went to open her door. "Hey", she said, pushing on the door knob, "Come on, don't tell me I locked myself out! Just perfect, this day couldn't get any worse if the ceiling came down on me!" her eyes shifted up at the ceiling above her, "Okay, just making sure. Anyways, if the door won't open, looks like I'll have to wait for my mom to get home, this stinks, definitely not how I wanted to spend my day home alone. Come on, I don't remember locking the stupid door, why won't it--ah!"

She screamed as the door flew open and she flew forward. "Ow!" she muttered as she hit the floor, "This day couldn't get any worse"
"Hope you don't have a bet on that Keeper"

"What?" Sam straightened up and looked for the source of the voice, "Who's there, if someone broke in, I swear, I'll hit you!"
"I didn't break in", the voice scoffed, "I teleported in. Big difference"

"Who are you?" Sam snapped, stumbling up, "I warn you, come out now, or I'll call the cops!" she quickly felt to make sure her cell phone was in her pocket.

"No need", the voice said, "I'm right here"

A figure stepped out of the shadows, glaring at her. "Huh?" Sam's eyebrows arched way up, "Who in the world are you?"
"I'm a message", the person said. Sam glared to try and get a better look at whoever it was, but between the fact the lights were out and it was dark outside, all she could see was a shadow.

"A message huh?" Sam repeated, "Fine, messenger, I'm listening. Unless the message is for Jamie or my mother. And I'm really hoping it is"

"Too bad", the person said. The voice sounded so familiar, where had she heard it before?

"Deliver your message and get on with your life"

"As you wish", the voice scoffed, "I carry a message from Prince Phobos. Hand over the Heart of Candracar, and no one has to get hurt"
"Huh?" Sam laughed, "Is that all? Jesus, I thought it was something important, you had me going for a second"
"So I guess that means you're not going to cooperate", the voice said, "Your choice"
"Who are you?" Sam snapped, "Oh, and if you're done torturing me, get out of my apartment!"

"Such big demands for such a little girl", the voice teased, "You've been warned Keeper, take it to heed, and in time, you'll realize the mistake you're making"

The lights flickered on, and Sam was alone in the apartment once more.

"That sure is weird", Haley said, "Are you sure you're okay over there Sam?"
""Oh I'm swell", Sam said wearily, "I'll be fine, I'm just letting you know what's going on, I dunno who it was, but this is big, something's going on, I know it. What do you think?"
"Another attempt to get the crystal?" Haley guessed, "I dunno, maybe the others will have an opinion, call them"
"I already called Allie and Torie, they're out", Sam sighed, "I'll try Kapree. Thanks for listening to me be scared"
"You have every right to be worried", Haley assured her, "Talk to you later"
"See ya", Sam hung up with a sigh. She grabbed the phone again and dialed Kapree.

"Hey!" Justin's voice came over the line.

"Hey Justin, is Kapree there?"

"She has homework, she can't talk", Justin said with a shrug, "Sorry"
"Fine", Sam sighed, "Tell her to call Sam when she gets a chance, bye"

She hung up before Justin could say another word. That was no help, Sam sighed, Well, one good thing came out of it; I remembered my homework. Wait, that's bad

"Sounds fishy to me", Allie said, "Are you sure Sam wasn't hearing things?"

"She sounded pretty sure herself", Haley said with a shrug, "I dunno, maybe she was just hearing things, I dunno, it could be anything"
"She said the lights went out right?" Allie asked, "Maybe she was just seeing shadows, if the voice sounded so familiar she was probably just thinking too hard"
"How can someone's mind think up something that would threaten her?" Haley asked.

"I don't know", Allie said, "But I'm sure it's possible"

"Maybe", Haley said, "I've got to go, bye"

She hung up with a sigh. Allie had no opinion on it, and she couldn't get Kapree or Torie on the line. At least they would've had an actual opinion, instead of saying they thought Sam was crazy. Not that Haley was completely sure of Sam's story herself. It did sound sort of farfetched. But why would she make something like that up? It didn't make any sense. Not that anything made sense anymore, really.

Done! So is that good or bad? Oh well, review