Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original Forbidden Game characters nor the original book's story.

Julie's POV

It's such a pain going through the woods every weekend. At least my mother's eyes never leave me when I'm here. Winter is the only cover from the cypress. Now don't take this the wrong way. Mom isn't dead or anything like that. In fact she's in perfect health. Papa is to. I just don't see Mom often because when I get home from school she has to leave for work, at a hospital. One day I asked her why she works at a hospital. She told me it was because someone she knew had died before her own eyes and she couldn't save him, regretting it for so many years.

Aside from Mom, Papa works part-time at a restaurant. Well McDonald's to be exact. He works the day shift. One because he wants to be home before me so he can both have alone time with Mom and keep me from being by myself. The other being because he thinks that it's dangerous to be away from home at night. Apparently he wanted to join a sports team, but he had broken his foot in football in his collage years. He was on the police force after that, but was fired because he got paranoid in a case and ended up letting the real culprit get away and making the false one face charges.

My Mom is pretty cool in my opinion, but I can't stand my Papa's over protectiveness. He almost kept me from coming here every weekend! Mom had to convince him that it was safe. She also said that something was over? I don't know what she was talking about when she said that, but it peeked my interest a little.

The place that I'm going to is my Great Grandfather's old place. Mom and Papa used to live in California with other people, but they moved here. To Pennsylvania. I'm glad we did too. It's not as hot here, and cuter boys. Just kidding! They're all the same. Besides, whats the fun in romance? Just walking in these woods is more exciting! Nothing is a thrill anymore...

I came to the back door. The neighbors who had owned this place sold it to us. Something about it being run down? Oh well. The older the better. Just like with wine. Not that I would know anything about that!*Cough*Cough* Remember, 15. Never tried wine in my life!...okay, maybe there was that one time, but that was Papa's fault for leaving it out like that! How was I supposed to know it was wine! There was no lable for God's sake! Then Papa just had to take me to the doctor. Excuse me, the HOSPITAL! I had to pee in a cup...it's HORRIBLE! I feel so violated...

I grabbed the key to unlock the lock that was just recently put on there. Mom has the spare.

Entering the dusty home I took a deep breath. "Sweet, sweet aloneness..."

Shadow man's POV

I raised my hand to begin the meeting. I and several other ancestors were present.

"To begin I think we should capture within the next few hours. Objections?"I asked in my cat-o'-nine-tails tone. The room was silent.

"Since nobody's against it, whomever watches the witch needs to come here. Now!" I ordered. The witches observer appeared. A young girl. Shadow men have gained new power. If we choose we can make a male or female shadow 'man' just by thinking about it while we write the name. This girl was written in by one of the ancestors. He thought we needed more variety in our society.

She has short ice blue hair and bright, exotic, yellow eyes. She seems so human it's disgusting."You called?" She spook cheerily. Even more despicable.

"Where's the witch?"I began."Yes, the witch."Said another with eyes of a crocodile. "The witch is where indeed?" said an ancestor's thick and muddied voice.

"She is where she usually is. Right around where the old prison is."We all knew what this meant. She was at that wretched wizard's old home. The one that sealed us in that accursed space for so long. That one that carried that insatiable hunger for power.

"Now's the time."I continued. "We must get that witch now. Before she becomes a powerful witch like her great grandfather, the wizard, was. We must use her powers to make her one of us!" Other shadow men cheered in agreement. We will get you, I thought. We will capture the last magic user in existence...Julie.

Julie's POV

I sat in the large chair with yet another spider web covered book. There was a ton of them. Choosing takes a while. Most talk about magic and relics. I noticed many talismans throughout this room. Great Grandfather had one strange place, I thought to myself. The covers of this book caught my eye. I was somewhat into things that sounded dark or almost creepy in a way to some. This one must be related to another I read about a week ago. It was called 'Shadow Realm.' I found interesting. How it is covered in darkness. All light being excluded. Interesting read. This one was called 'Shadow Men.' I have no idea how old these are. Must be really old. The language these are written in is so ancient that I have to look on other papers around the room just so I can understand what I'm reading. I do get them though. My memory being very keen.

This first sentence is odd though. Not like anything I read in any of these books though. "Mystery, danger, seduction, fear. They reveal secrets unknown even to the holder, their desires left in the hands of the shadow men. The overwhelming temptations..." My eyes played back on the next line twice."They watch over you in the shadows. Whether you notice or not. They are always there." I teasingly glanced at the shadow. My black silhouette. I was perfectly outlined. My breath was emanating from the shadow at the same pace it was from myself. One thing caught me off guard though.

...I could hear my shadow breathing...

Next thing I knew I was backing away.

I ran as fast as I could in the woods. What a thrill! This is the most excitement I've had in a while! I always new I was strange. Ever since that day that I tried a spell in one of Great Gramp's books and it worked! That's when I found out I had special powers. Of course I didn't tell Mom or Papa because they wouldn't believe me. Who believes in witches and wizards anyways! I bet Great Gramp was a wizard, and that's how I have these powers. No wonder he has all of those books! The thought never occurred to me. I can be such an IDIOT!

I jumped over the stream that I almost was dropped into. This slowed me down some, but I kept going.

The sun was shining brightly out today. The trees weren't much shade from this. My shadow trailing behind. MY SHADOW! Well that's just PERFECT! How do you get rid of a shadow when it follows you everywhere! Not even the god can save me me now...That's it! The sun! Now where was that splotch of sunlight I saw earlier?

I ran even quicker than before to reach the bright clearing. The sun was a hot as can be today. Maybe they hate heat. That would be a laugh. I was still clutching the book in my hand, for dear life. My mind wasn't focus on anything else but one, getting away, and two, how much fun this was.

Embracing the book against my chest I stepped up on a stump that had no 'tree' from it being cut down.

Realizing that I could be in danger from both my shadow, predators, and wild animals here, I decided it safer to be at Great Grandfather's old home rather than here. My house was too far away so it would only take longer to get there. The windows at my house also all have curtains, so that would make more of a shadow. Great Grandpa's house has both broken windows and some holes in the roof that let the sun shine in. Standing in one of those spots should make me safe.

Annie's POV

Will this girl stop running already! Does she realize that I'm her shadow? I'm not going away! Humans can be so stupid. I shrugged. Well she's not going to leave anytime soon obviously, so I might as well take a second to rest. I stopped 'chasing' her and just sat. Technically I was still chasing her but I wasn't really 'chasing' her if that makes any sense. Just kind of following behind.

"Annie! Annie. Annie?" The last call of my name being a question as to why I'm dangling from the air."What are you doing?" I was moving quickly since the girl was running still. The older shadow man was trailing behind. Running really. Though he's not really old. Actually only a couple of years older than me. Older just makes him sound so old. How about...yearier? Now that sounds coolio!

"Just following that one girl. She really needs to quit running from her own shadow..."From his momentary silence I guessed he was giving a sort of scowl. He always does follow me when I'm watching her. Her mother is who his 'big brother' was in love with. He considers Julian his older brother. He understands him? Something like that.

"Look, the ancestors are getting mad and really irritated that you haven't brought her back need to hurry or else they might erase your name from the rune stave." I was silent.

"Fine. I'll get her. Are you happy now, Xavier?" I could her the smirk come across his lips."Perfect."

Julie's POV

I ran from the front door to the basement. I flipped the lights on and raced to the spot where a hole in the wall shines light on the ground.

Almost making it to the spot, I felt a soft and cold hand grab my ankle. That's when a voice ringed in my head. A elemental voice that yelled at my conscious, "Run!" I scratched at the hand cloaked in shadows and jumped away. My back hit a book case against one of the walls. I fell dragging it with me. Behind this bookcase was a door. Was that being hidden?

Lifting myself from the mountain of books I placed a hand on the door. What's behind this? There was some sort of writing on it. Almost like a rune. I've seen what they look like in some of these books.

Curiosity getting the best of me I gently opened the door. Curiosity killed the cat, and I'm the cat. Though I doubt that curiosity is the only thing that's going to get to me.

Slowly but surely I was pulled in. My book still held tight against my chest.

Author's note: Well that's the first chapter. I didn't think she would be captured so quickly but she was. Anyways! The next chapter will give you a view on her parents some what. So see you then!