(creeps in quietly) Hi there! Right, I know what you're thinking (if you are one of my treasured followers, or anyone really, I'm easily satisfied): You're alive!? You have access to the Internet!? Well, okay, I know I really kinda suck. It's been what, two years since I updated? So, so, so sorry about that. Other writing projects have taken over this one, as has, you know, my actual life. Anyway, I'm trying to continue writing this story, but the inspiration comes and goes, so... sorry. I have an entire (still short, working on it) chapter written for you! And I know a lot of the plot- just enough is missing to keep me interested in writing it- so the chapters should come a bit easier now. If you have any questions, comments, advice, corrections, etc. just let me know. Love you all, hope you enjoy!

The wails pierce through the night, finding my ears just as easily though they were my own. My eyes fly open and I'm out of bed slinking through the darkness, winding my way through the sleeping house and out the back door. I walk softly towards the edge of the woods and plop down, take a deep breath, and close my eyes.

Let's back up a second- for normal people, upon hearing wails or screams or strange noises of any kind in the middle of the night, the opposite thing to do would be to head towards the woods. And for any sane person, closing your eyes would not be a good decision either.

Thankfully for the echoes, I am neither sane nor normal.

The wails aren't from this world, and neither are the visions I encounter after I hear them. They come from the Realm, a world that I've been a part of for almost as long as I can remember. A place where the dead spirits of my ancestors and other people with special abilities similar to mine go when they fade from this world and into the next. Whenever I hear an otherworldly wail in the earliest hours of the morning, I know it's time to do my duty as a Shadow Walker and use my ability to visit the Realm for some good.

Sometimes visions of the future strike, sometimes a trail leading to a missing person appears, and sometimes a troubled soul can use me to find peace. The forest is where I feel closest with the Realm, and using the forest as my base eases my journey and protects my body from danger while my spirit travels away from it. As I lift my shadow out of my body, the scent of the pines and the feel of the night-time breeze is the last thing I'm aware of before-

I am stumbling blindly along the hazy path, passing throughout swirls of shimmering fog as fast as I dare. Clutched in my hands, so tightly that my knuckles turn white and seem to pop out of my fists, is an amulet. The amulet.

As big around as my palm, it is crafted so delicately that the silver it's made of seems to flow like water, with a large opaque and shimmering stone resting in the center. I risk a glance over my shoulder, even though it won't be of any use. The predator pursuing me is almost invisible to my mortal eyes, even as enhanced by the Realm as they are. Finally, I push my way through the seemingly unconquerable bank of fog. Purple mist still swirls at my feet, but with my torso free of the low hanging clouds, I feel less like a trapped animal. Which is ridiculous, of course. The echoes can always see me, are always waiting.

I run for the green forest just ahead of me. It would seem that it would be smarter to stay in the open, where there are less obstacles for my clumsy feet to trip over; still, the towering trees seem to offer protection, the safety and comfort and warmth of home.

Reaching the edge of the woods, I all but throw myself into its waiting arms. Stumbling over roots sticking out and the kind of underbrush that only a very ancient forest can have, I rocket through the branches.

I hear no sound of my pursuers, and allow myself to relax. I take a deep breath, relieved this particular moment's danger is over. Wrong. A person drops from the tree right in front of me, landing smoothly on his feet. I freeze, and the feeling of being electrified hits me when I look at his face. All I can see is-

Bright green eyes.

My eyes force through the post-vision haze and my body snaps awake with a start. The wind chills my frame, drenched in cold sweat, as it wraps its way around me. I curl into a ball and let it cocoon me. The echoes stir dimly in the back of my mind, turning my shadow over like a worn stone to comfort me. I've had this dream on and off for weeks- running from an unforeseen enemy with the amulet from the legends clutched in my fists only to be caught from unawares at the last moment. The green eyes are new with tonight's chase, as are the startling feelings they bring with them. I've never felt so alive in the Realm and yet so terrified at the same time.

At least with most visions that symbolize the future I can guess what might be coming. Before my mother went missing, I dreamed over and over again of myself chasing her through the ancient forests of the Realm, finally catching her only for her to disappear into thin air. Three weeks later, on a (too common) night when Charlie was working late at the station and I was camping with some friends, she went missing. Charlie came home to find their room ransacked, a panicked message that trailed off into nothing scribbled on a notepad, and my mother gone.

They searched for her for days, combing the woods and roads all throughout the surrounding states, but never found a trace.I refused to enter the Realm, sure that if I stopped visiting my mother would come back. After a week staying exclusively in this world, I missed Shadow Walking terribly. But I clung to the sliver of hope that I had left, desperately hoping that if I stayed away long enough, then she'd have to come back. It wasn't until Aro sought me out and explained to me, as gently as was possible for him, that what I had seen was a prediction of what was to come, and that my mother was most likely gone for good.

On some level I suppose I accept that she's gone now, but the hopeful part of me, the part with the little girl on her first day of kindergarten that was innocent to the mystic world soon to be uncovered, knows that Renee's out there, somewhere. Until the time that we're reunited - the time that has to come, must come- I turned to the echoes of the Realm for anything that mothers were supposed to do. Instead of facing the humiliation of talking to Charlie about my growing maturity, I turned to a maternal echo named Esme to help me stumble my way through it. She was often there in the back of my head when I got home from school, asking about my day and cheering me up when I did something to turn myself into the class freak again.

The echoes that have been there since the beginning, when I first started experimenting with my powers all those years ago, are like a sort of second-hand family to me now. Aro's the one who helped me learn to interpret the visions and control them, back when I was unable to shut out any echoes that came my way or overtake the pleas for help or visions of the future that commandeered me. Gradually I learned how to use them to find people lost- literally or spiritually- and communicate with spirits without them attempting to steal any last glimpse of life through me, even to wield the lavender mists of the Realm as a weapon against dangerous visions.

This vision is different from the countless others, though. I've never felt so terrified and powerless in a visit to the Realm before, never been unable to interpret a vision's significance. There's a sinking familiarity with those green, green eyes that is totally foreign to me, and even stranger is that feeling of vitality that strikes me when I see them.

The forest around me begins to stir, like its trees are stretching out their limbs for the morning and their inhabitants are yawning their way awake, and I know my early morning excursion into the dream world is over- for now. I sigh and tiptoe my way back into the house. As usual, the sky is covered in a blanket of grey. At least it hasn't started raining yet, I tell myself consolingly. An awareness creeps into my mind, and then I hear a voice...

"'Yet' is the key word in this sentence." Aro murmurs.

I sigh my agreement and wait for him to add on; Aro rarely utters a wasted word. In his whispery voice he continues, "I know you have something to ask of me, little one. You're thinking so loudly I would have heard you across three realms."

I snort my amusement as I move around the kitchen, fishing food out of the sparse cupboards for breakfast.

"You can complain all you want, I know you've been waiting for an excuse to visit me." I don't bother to whisper; Charlie sleeps so soundly this early he wouldn't notice if bears rammed their way into the house. Aro harrumphs in insulted agreement.

I chuckle and then quiet to share my latest excursion, "I keep having this vision, and it's completely different from anything I've encountered before- I'm not in control, I have no idea what it means, and there's this pair of eyes that paralyze me like I've just stuck my finger in an electrical socket. What's happening, Aro?"

He's quiet for a moment as he sorts through memories I pull up for him. When he finally speaks, his voice has a faint quiver, his chipper tone more somber than usual. "Isabella, when I told you the history of the amulet, you will recall what I told you of the three apprentices, yes?"

I nodded, frowning. "The power of the amulet corrupted two of them, so the ancient ones taught the last apprentice a rune to destroy the amulet so the corrupt apprentices would never be able to use its power, but they ambushed the last true apprentice. During their battle, the true apprentice was wounded before she finished chanting the rune, melding her blood with the amulet and changing her, which allowed her to escape."

Aro hummed his approval and continued on, "Very good. But there was one facet of the story you have never heard- the fate of the fallen apprentices. You see, after your ancestor escaped them, they spent their entire lives trying to track her down and capture her so that they could finally take what was left of the amulet's powers for their own. She always managed to allude them, right up to the day they died, and ever since then their descendents have hunted hers. Just as your power was passed on to you by your ancestors, this quest for power has been passed through the generations. They have hunted your people for hundreds of years, and find more of them than not."

He paused to give me a moment to let this new bit of my heritage sink in. I clutched at the counter to steady myself. Aro hesitated, then said gently, "I have always suspected they were the ones that took your mother."

The world went sideways. I inhaled deeply, squeezed my eyes shut, then blinked them open hard.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I meant to make my voice come out forceful and assertive, but it broke on the last word. I wrapped my arms around my sides tightly. "You know how much I ache for her, you know how badly I want to know what happened! Why?"

His voice is remorseful but passionate as he answers, "I knew that the moment I told you you'd want to go running off to find her, and you have no idea the repercussions! Isabella, you are one of the most powerful Shadow Walker the Realm has ever known- you may not have even realized the full extent of your powers yet. I am, however, truly sorry, and it is my deepest regret that your mother was taken from you and you cannot go after her."

I could feel my blood flying through my veins and I nearly shouted, "Watch me! I can make my own decisions, I can find her, I know it!"

"I know you can find her, Isabella. That was never what this is about."

At this I stopped mid-rant and waited, expectant and seething.

"The ones that stole your mother knew there was a Shadow Walker with extremely high potential in this area of the world, and they hunted that scent of power. Isabella…"

He paused yet again, as if searching to see if I could handle another revelation. I raised my chin and put all the resolve I had into a single thought. "Your mother knew they were coming for you. Your mother knew about every ounce of power you had and exactly when they would arrive to take you because she herself was a powerful Shadow Walker."

My grip on myself slackened and I slid down against the counter. Of course she was. It was glaring obvious now, the truth so bluntly clear that I was a fool for not realizing. Her worried looks, like she was always waiting for an oncoming storm, her protective nature; Shadow Walking abilities are hereditary, for god's sake!

"Little one, are you alright?" I felt Aro's concern and understanding around my shoulders like a blanket and nodded, rising shakily to my feet.

"So the visions mean they found me again, don't they? That they're hunting for me as we speak, could be on their way to take me this very second?" Aro's voice was protective now. "We don't know that for sure. But yes, as much as I despise the idea, it is probably true."

"What are we going to do?" I whispered. "I won't let them take me." The simple truth of the statement sparked a burning certainty within me. I felt an alien sense of surety in my own abilities, my own power. "They will not lay a hand on me. And if they do, I will destroy them." A dangerous smile unfurled its way across my face. "Now, Aro, I believe we have some planning to do."