4 MONTHS LATER

Will Stanton had come to London to shop for Christmas presents for the 11 other members of his family. Ah, yes.

Christmas.

Will couldn't help but smile at this. Old One or not, he loved Christmas, and he loved being with his family.

But three years from now, him being 15, by law he would have to go at it alone. Eighteen was the time he would come to full power, and it was best that he went abroad, as suggested by Merriman.

To to focus on that which is less dreary, Will turned his attention to the small café that he intended to enter.

After he had ordered his food, from his bag, he pulled out the small, leather-bound book

that he had been carrying with him all this time.

"It is meant to be passed on…" The ominous words echoed in his memory.

He shook the words off with a slight shudder. He hadn't told a soul about the night he

had received this… gift. It was near impossible for one Old One to keep a secret from the others.

But he had. He was. He once tried to tell the Lady….

FLASHBACK – 3 MONTHS PREVIOUS

Will walked through the tall wood doors and into the Hall. He had gone there many times

before, but not like this. Never before… frightened? Was he afraid? That wasn't right. He

wasn't supposed to fear. Fear was a weapon of the Dark, and he was a creature of the

Light. (Never fear,) he thought to himself. As he shifted the bag that was slung over his

shoulder, he quietly walked over to the massive fireplace, feeling comfort in its warmth

and brightness.

He remembered the day he had first used his powers on this very same fireplace.

He also remembered how he had weakened the Lady when he, in his foolishness, had

broken the Circle during an attack by the Dark.

He quickly brushed off that memory as well. No unpleasant memories. Not for

this process. It wasn't allowed. Before all the immortales had left this mortal earth

forever, Merriman (his beloved mentor) had told him of a new method of silent speech.

This Speech could span across the world, across the very span of time. Using this speech,

he could still speak to the Old Ones. He would never truly be alone. Not really, anyways. (Stop

that,) he shushed himself. (Good thoughts. Like in that one bedtime tale your mum would

tell you… Yes.. Peter Pan… Mum.. Dad.. Stephen, Max, Gwen, Robin, Paul, Barbara,

Mary, James, Merriman, the Lady, the Lady, the Lady, theLadytheLadythe-) "LADY!!!"

The fire roared, its flames reaching higher and higher, soon reaching out of its place of

origin, reaching out towards Will, the flames like giant fingers… reaching.

This was wrong.

Will snapped to attention, coming out of his thoughts. "Aicatha, threyrai

meruetheymerai, ara-" FWOOOOMM!!!!!! The flames drowned out his words, the ones

the Book of Gramarye had taught him, but he still shouted them at the top of his lungs. And when an

Old One wants to be heard, they are heard. The flames fought hard, as though they were

not themselves. And they were not. Will could feel the presence of the Dark fueling the

fire's strength and anger. "AIATHEA THREAEMEREAYCIA!!," was Will's final yell.

In reply, the flames gave another try, another attempt at a grab, to no avail.

Trapped by the ancient words, the fire gave a burning, crackling scream.

If you've never heard fire scream, then I pray to any and all divinity that you never do. It

is a horrible, heart-wrenching sound. It is the sound of death, and the coming of ice. If

you should ever hear it, it will be the last sound you hear. You will not die. Why would

you, it's just a scream. But you will be haunted by that scream for the rest of your days,

never hearing anything else. But enough of the tales of shadows.

As the fire screamed, it curled upwards, then out, starting to swirl on its side like a

crazed ferris wheel, blackness spreading from it, snuffing out the flaming torches in the Hall.

Without meaning to, Will shouted another word, a word he had never heard before: "ENTHRU-UELEAEN!!" The fires' screams grew even louder, but this time, other voices were accompanying its' scream. Through the swirling flame, a black figure on horseback could be seen, his horse rearing and whinnying in pain, the figure letting loose a shocking shriek.

Was this the Rider? Impossible! The Dark had been banished! And yet..

"Begone!" Will commanded. " You ARE NOT WELCOME HERE!" Even as he cried in pain, the rider in black's face was one of sick pain, and infathomable triumph.

"BEGONE!!" Will yelled, still nearly drowned out by the sounds of the fire.

Nearly falling out of his saddle, the rider shrieked a curse, then, with great difficulty, wrenched his horse's reins around and disappeared from the fires' light, the tendrils of darkness disappearing with him.

"I WILL have the book, Will Stanton, Sign-Seeker, Watcher. I will. Just wait." The voice echoed in his mind and throughout the Hall, then faded as the light returned, the fire's screams gone abruptly.

With the horse and rider gone, the fire slowly returned to the fireplace, as though it was reluctant to give up its freedom beyond burning wood.

"Return, and all will be well," he assured the flames. A sound like a content sigh came from the bright mass, and it eased back into the fireplace, burning wood once more.

Only after the light from the torches was at full blast did Will rest. Old Ones didn't become tired in the same sense as humans did, but they did sometimes grow

weary, as he was now. As he sat on the stone floor, many confused thoughts ran through his mind.

What had that word been? He had never heard it before, never learned it.

What language was it? Will hadn't understood it, he wasn't even sure if it was

one word, a phrase, a blessing, a curse… All he knew, was that it was powerful.

That one word had turned back the Rider, had him cower in fear, in pain.

What?...Wait.. the Lady! He had come here for her council, yes.

Quietly, Will got on his feet, holding out one hand towards the fire. He murmured a few words under his breath towards the fire, the fire

fading slightly, then softly becoming brighter. After a few moments of rising in intensity, the fire went out entirely.

Will waited patiently in the shadows, keeping his mind filled with images of his family, and things that had happened to him that had made him happy…

The fire was back. It was different, the light gone from deep crimson and rust to cobalt and lavender. The way it moved had changed entirely, from being like wheat in the wind to a gentle, slow moving ocean, wave after slow wave of heated energy.

It was now, he could call on the Lady. Will, his hand still stretched out, fingers pressed together awaited the signal to begin. At the

sound of a slight sigh, he spread his fingers out wide. The fire responded accordingly,

a thick smoke coming off of the fire and enveloping him. Will could see nothing beyond the smoke, his senses officially cloyed. But he was used to it by now.

This was life for him, no matter how bizarre it got.

"I call upon the Old One who is known in time, known among all and known by none. I call upon the Old One who has been known as Ms. Greythorne, as Jana, and as the Lady. I call her so that we may speak. I call by the power of the Light!"

At that final word, the smoke in the very front of him cleared, revealing a green country with rolling hills and

long grass, and far beyond that a great dark forest, and beyond that the tallest mountains that

Will had ever seen, and beyond that… A great, blue sky, capping off the mountains with the great golden light of the sun.

It was breathtaking.

A figure was on horseback in the distance. For a moment, Will feared (I DO NOT fear) that it may have been the Rider...

But as this rider came closer, he saw that the horse was pure white, and the rider was wearing a long gray dress. The Lady..

Will let out a large breath of relief. He also recognized the horse as the one he had met shortly after he had met the Black Rider for the first time…

"Do not think of such shadowed things, Will Stanton." Will looked suddenly, and there she was, looking like she did at the

Christmas party in the past.

"It is not appropriate for this place." Will nodded in respect to her.

"Lady, I have-"

"Why have you requested my presence as so?" She interrupted. "

You know that I am unable to assist you in any way besides to offer knowledge." The Lady awaited his

answer, her face a place of peace. Will nodded, this time to show that he agreed.

"I have come here for your counsel." He said, finishing his sentence from before with a

different answer. He reached into the bag that was slung on his shoulder as he spoke.

"The matter I have come for your counsel is –" SHEEEEEEEEEEENN!!! Will's connection was suddenly distorted, a deep crimson blocking his view.

Without his meaning to, his emotion-seeing ability kicked in, and he felt the full feeling of dislike, mistrust,

hatred, an unknown wrong that no kind word could ever right.

Will gasped as he was jerked out of the torrent of emotion, just almost falling flat on his back from the shock. Will realized his

hand was on the book. There was no way that that amount of emotion could have come

from this book? Was it like the Book of Gramarye? It was almost as though this book was... ALIVE?

"Will? What is it?" The Lady asked him.

Will's mundane human teenaged side spoke instead of him, the Old One.

"I- I just remembered.. I… I have something to do. I have to go!" The Lady started to speak, to ask

what had just happened, but Will broke the connection before she could say anything.

Will basically ran from the Hall, just about like a bat out of Hell, his hand clenched around the small leather-bound book.

When he was back in his own time, he found himself back in his room, on the floor, face-first.

"Will! Are you alright?" One of Will's older brothers, James, had poked his head up into

Will's attic room, a worried look on his face. Will slowly stood up, nodding briskly.

"Yes. YES." He said again firmly when James looked unconvinced.

"I'm fine. I just… tripped." James had a skeptic look on his face.

"Really? On what? There is virtually nothing for you to trip on.." James smiled conspiritally…

"Unless you tripped over your own feet?" Will just shrugged, happy for the given excuse.

"I guess I'm just clumsy." Will concluded. James laughed.

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me. Anyways, I came up here to say that you have a phone call from a Barney Drew? He said that he…."

END FLASHBACK

Barney had called just to say "Hello", and the two spoke for a good 2 hours, talking about everything that had had happened in the past 7 months…

"Hello? Do you still want your food" Will came out of his thoughts to see a young,

perturbed waitress standing over him.

"Oh! Yes, thankyou…" Will hastily took his food.

"Uh, thanks?" The waitress, who looked desperately bored, simply nodded,

and turned on heel. Will gave out a deep sigh, his hand slipping to the book which now

in the large pocket of his fleece coat. The book was giving off the feeling of amused

smugness, like it thought that Will making a fool of himself in front of a girl was

humorous. Will simply scowled at the book, like it was a sentient being who had annoyed him.

Will suddenly jumped in his seat.

Someone was watching him. All of time froze as Will stood up in his seat and looked

around the café. There, in the far corner, was a girl. She was small, couldn't have been

more than 5'' 4, had long brown hair, light brown (almost gold) eyes, and she looked about his age,

Yes, he could see all that from 15 feet away. Will walked up to her. She was currently

frozen in an "I'm looking away" expression.

When he was near enough, Will went in close to her face, (as he had to when time was frozen, him being young) so he could sense whether or not she was for the Dark.

There was… nothing. This puzzled Will. Surely, she obviously a part of the real world, would HAVE to have some sort of signature, even if it wasn't for the Light or Dark...

Will drew back in surprise. He could have sworn he felt a breath against his face.

He had! The girl was looking directly at him! He looked around the rest of the café, but everyone else was still frozen in time.

Will looked back to the girl, who was now standing.

"Who-" The girl just giggled and winked at him. She held a finger up to her lips like she had just told him a secret.

Then she was gone. No trace of her. What was more, time had started moving again.

The book gave off a pleasured feeling...

A/N: Yeah, I know. Mainly the flashback….

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