Bionicle is not mine! You should know that by NOW!

Kate stormed into her room and threw her backpack down before throwing herself on her bed heavily. Her foster father had been furious that she had come home one minute late than was normal. He didn't even wait to hear her out! Even saying that as far as he was concerned, she didn't have to be his problem! Said she was lucky he was even looking out for her. Her foster mother had of course agreed. This was just great. She was lucky that she'd been able to hold her horrible temper.

She screamed into her pillow, until she had no more breath and had to come up for air. What a life! Why was it she always ended up with the crazies! And why did she have to be so weird! It frustrated her beyond belief. She couldn't even make a proper friend without having to tell them about her, uh, condition. She turned over and threw her arm across her face, covering her eyes. She hated it here. She wanted to go somewhere….. Somewhere where she could be herself, strangeness and all, and be accepted. Not yelled at or harassed by idiots like Jonathan Hills.

But what did this family know about being different? They fit in perfectly! The only reason that they kept her around was because it was good for their 'image'. And they made it perfectly clear that she wasn't truly welcomed. Even so, she had to deal with it for now. So she may as well make the best of it. She would calm down for a while. After that, no matter how much she didn't mean it, she would apologize. After all, she didn't have anywhere else to go. She took a calming breath and exhaled loudly, feeling her thoughts realign themselves.

Finally, after half an hour of this exercise, she pushed herself off the bed and made her way to the door. She turned the handle and got the door open a crack when she heard voices arguing down the hall. Her foster parents were fighting. How odd. They kept up the guise of a happy couple, even in front of Kate, although she could see through it perfectly. She paused and crouched behind her door, listening.

"The neighbors are talking Abigail!" Her Foster Father was saying. "They know something's up with the child! She's just so … abnormal!"

"You think I'm not aware of that Richard!" Abigail answered. "I have to hear Martha talk about it everyday." The woman's voice became shrill and mocking as she imitated their next door neighbor. "Are you sure she'd getting enough sleep? What about the food you're feeding her? She's a teenager, so make sure that you keep her away from most boys! She doesn't seem too happy! Blah, blah, blah! I'm getting sick of it Richard! But I still say we can't send her back yet! That'll raise more questions!"

"Mark my words Abigail! If I get one more screw up from that…..that…SCREW UP! She's gone! I don't want her here and never did!"

Abigail seemed to mutter an agreement.

Screw Up! SHE was a SCREW UP! All she did was come home one minute late! Her eyes filled with tears and she closed her door. Then she dumped her backpack out on the floor and began stuffing it with clothes and snacks she had stashed away in her room. On top of that, she threw her MP3 from her REAL mother and the book she'd bought that day. She paused to wipe the tears from her eyes before staring at the book sitting at the top of the stuffed denim bag. Why had she thrown that in there? She didn't need it. It was just some blank book…. She reached for it, meaning to pull it out, but her hand only fell weakly to her side. Without another thought for the book, she turned around and quietly slipped on the worn out, clunky black vans she'd had for a few years now and her white knit hoodie sweater.

If they were sick of her, she was tree times sick of them! So she was doing them all a favor. Leaving for good. The last thing she stuffed in her bag was her brush and a few full batteries. Who knew when she'd be able to get more? Then, she zipped it up and slung it over her shoulders before going to her window and popping the screen out of place. From there it was two feet to the ground since she was in the smallest room in a one story house. She put it back in place before leaving and marching away from the house into the backwoods of Minnesota. The sun was setting and there was only a little light left to see by so she'd have to make the most of it.

In the one month that she'd lived with the Thurmans, she'd spent most of her time in the woods behind their house. So she had a pretty good idea on where she could go for the night. A good five or six miles inward was a small cave that you had to crawl to get into. The sixteen year old sighed. Better get marching then.

Kate pushed through the last of the bramble bushes, pulling her pants free of the tine thorns. Her legs burned slightly where the prickly plant had poked through her jeans, but other than that, she was only tired. Tired and hungry seeing that she had skipped dinner. She braced her hands on her knees and took a breather before looking up and seeing exactly what she'd wanted to. The cliff face was several hundred feet high and had creeping ivy growing up its side. Perfect for the cave it was hiding just behind it.

Kate went forward one last time and pushed the ivy up to see the small slit in the cliff face. She grinned and stuffed her backpack in before her and got on her stomach to crawl in after it. Soon she was in total blackness and wished she'd thought of a flashlight. Too late for that now. Instead, she felt with one hand along the small roof until it opened up into a much larger room where small slits in the roof allowed moonlight to creep through. She sat up gratefully, the front of her sweater lightly coated with damp soil as well as her jeans. Kate merely brushed herself off and stood. Her legs burned with their workout, but she forced herself to walk the couple of feet to sit under a lit patch of the floor. She unzipped her backpack and looked inside for a granola bar.

Her eyes fell on the book instead and almost immediately, her hunger was forgotten. "I thought I left you behind." She muttered. Yes, she remembered reaching in to take out the book, but nothing for a brief second after that. Did she pull the book out? She could've sworn she did. Weird. She reached for it and pulled it out. "Strange that I can't stop thinking about you." She said to nobody, running her fingers along the strange symbol on the book's cover.

She flipped it open and wasn't surprised to see the blank pages staring her back in the face. She suddenly felt frustrated. "Some help you are!" she growled wanting to slam it shut but feeling her temper rise instead. Suddenly a dark purple current began to pulse along the surface of her hands. That was new. Then the book began glowing and she had to slam her eyes shut to keep from going blind.

That was when the pain erupted inside of her. It was hot! Everything was so HOT! It hurt! Oh lord above! She opened her mouth and screamed.

Thank yous for reading! Hope you likes it so far! Please review... be gentle, my ego bruised easily T_T (lol)