Disclaimer: I do not own the Young Wizard Series.

Sorry it took so long to update! I'll try to get the next chapter up ASAP (maybe even later tonight!) I'm also sorry this one was so sort!!

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I dreamed someone was suffocating me. Something heavy covered my face, blocking off all air to my lungs. A fiery pain blossomed in my chest, worsening with each minute. I woke up and I was really be suffocated. By a fuzzy purple pain in the ass. Apparently during the night, the little alien kitty had decided my face would make a good cushion and then proceeded to smother me.

I hauled it off my face, and it blinked sleepily at me, as I looked on it suspiciously. Had it grown during the night? I set it down beside me and it gave a regal stretch.

"What's your name?" I asked suddenly. It gave me a look. "Well I can't just call you 'kitten' or 'hey you' now can I?"

It settled down on its haunches again and stared at me as if waiting. So I started listing names.

They started out disgustingly cat like, things like Fluffy, and Mr. Whiskers, and soon progressed to weird names no one would ever dream of naming their cat (Sewage, Post-it, and Clockwork were a select few in this category.) The whole time, the kitten just stared at me, rejection for each name clear in its eyes. I went through every person in my class, famous celebrities, all the colors I could think of, birth stones, horoscope signs, the months, then animals, countries, even condiments (who wouldn't want to be named Relish? Or Horseradish?)

Finally I glared at this little cat like creature. "I'm out of names. You're going to have to think up something yourself."

The kitten snorted and jumped off my bed. It trotted over to a book on the floor and nosed it open. With one claw, it deliberately speared at letters on the page. I read them out loud. "A….M, no wait, sorry T….I….M?..oops, N. A-t-i-n. Atin? What kind of name is that?" I asked. The kitten glared up at me. "Ok, ok. Atin it is."

I got up from my bed and stretched. Atin mirrored me. Then I went downstairs to get some food, followed by a purple furry shadow. The downstairs was strangely empty, and then I found a note on the fridge. It read 'Gone to get some more groceries. Don't burn down the house.'

I looked down at Atin who had jumped onto the table. "What do you eat?" Of course, it didn't answer me. I wondered why I even tried. I tempted it with my cornflakes, ham, some leftover casserole, hamburger, bread, pasta, even some tomato slices. The whole time Atin just stared at me. "Fine, starve." I told him as I dug into my cereal.

When I was done, I rinsed out my bowl and slouched into the living room. Making myself comfy on the couch, I turned on the TV. It would keep me busy and as I knew well, a busy mind wasn't prone to wander into painful subjects. Atin stayed beside me for a few minutes then stalked off with great dignity.

"Hey, your going to miss what happens next!" I called out. Atin didn't even slow down. "Fine, but don't come crying to me when you want to know what happened next episode." I called after him. Yep, definitely loosing my marbles.

After an hour or so of mind numbing reality TV, I got up off the couch and went to find Atin. "Atin!" I called. "Come kitty kitty!" Who am I kidding. He wasn't about to come to that call. After ten minutes or so of calling and looking around I was getting a little frantic. If Atin had actually come out of the stone, which I was so convinced was connected to Nita, then Atin had to be connected to Nita too.

Finally I found him; asleep behind my Popi's favorite chair. "Hey, lazy bones. Get up," I said, about to nudge him with my foot. That's when I noticed he was glowing. Atin was apparently asleep and also emitting a soft light. Small tendrils curled up off of him in intricate swirls. "Atin?" I reached out and lightly touched his glowing fur.

Suddenly I wasn't in the living room. I was back in that pale, gray world. I looked around in surprise at the gray bushes and sky. Then a scream pierced the silence. I thought for a moment that I recognized it, before I started towards the place where I thought it had come from. It looked like I was going back into a park again and as I parted the leaves on the bushes before me, I spotted her.

There was a girl sitting on a rock, her back towards me. From this distance, I couldn't really make out her features, but I could see her shoulders shaking and realized she was crying. I took a step forward, but was stopped suddenly by a yowl. Atin was suddenly there, even bigger this time. He pressed against my leg and I was alarmed to see the world start to melt again.

The girl had apparently heard Atin yowl too, because she turned around. And right before I was yanked out of this world, I caught a glimpse of a familiar pair of gray eyes.

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Another cliffie! Also stopping at a pair of eyes….huh. Anyway, please review and tell me what you think! And if you have picked up some…observations in this chapter, please do not blurt them out in reviews. I don't want to spoil things for people. Thanks! -Ivy