4: Morning

Holly

Holly lived in a small grey wooden bungalow with a thatched roof on the east side of Heatherfield. Inside were only 4 rooms: a living room, dining room and kitchen all in 1, 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. Holly's room was at the back right side of the house. Her room was small and dark green with plain walls, apart from her bed which she sleeps curled up in she had a small oak desk with a large matching wardrobe that filled in the rest of the space on the opposite side of the room. In-between them was a small window that was blurring out vision between inside and outside, on the ceiling was a small light orb that was off. On the desk was a few small black holo pates while a large black bar was along the back of it. There was a couple of draws on the side of the underside of the desk and a black solid metal and plastic stool was underneath.

On the desk a small holo display appeared from the black bar at the back of the desk. It read:

07:30

Monday 18 September 2513

Here was then a loud beeping in the room that slowly caused Holly to wake up. As she did the glowing pink mark on her disappeared. She rolled around a bit as she rubbed her eyes. She then uncurled and slowly got out of her bed and stretched. She was just wearing grey underwear. She walked over to the desk and waved her left hand over the holo turning the alarm off. She then opened her wardrobe and looked through it. In there was all sorts of cloths in different styles and colours held on shelves and from hangers. She grabbed some bits to wear and went out her room. She exited into a small corridor that opposite her door was the other bedroom, right was the main living area and left was the bathroom. She went in, washed and dressed. She then came out wearing dark blue tight jeans and a black tank top with a lightning pattern on it. She quickly went back into her room and grabbed one of the small holo tiles before leaving the room again.

She went into the main living area which took up the front area of the house. In the middle of it was the front door. To the left of the door was a long black bar mounted on the wall with a 3 person sofa facing it. Also on that side was some wooden shelves with little hand painted animal figures on it. Right of the front door the walled were lined with cupboards that had a work surface area, and some more cupboards above them. There was also a sink, large fridge freezer, an oven with hob and a extraction unit above it. In the middle of that side was a large cupboard with a pale white table top on it. Around that was 4 black framed with white top metal and plastic stools. Working in the kitchen area was an older looking version of Holly. She had long thick dark green hair that came halfway down her back and matching eyes. Her horned and spikes were thicker and longer. She wore a knee length sleeveless sky blue dress that her tail came out of from a special hole that clung tight to her tail. She was also taller, about 5 foot 10. She was preparing a verity of fruit and vegetables onto a couple of plates.

Holly walked in and grabbed one of the stools and pulled herself up onto it and stat down, her tail swayed a bit around behind her to keep her level. She rested on the surface of the table placing the holo tiles down and waved her right hand over it opening a menu in the air above it, she went through several options and eventually a small image was displayed. It showed a similar person to the one in the room with her tho with shirt hair. She was with a human male that had pale skin, stubbly black hair and hazel eyes. The pair were holding a white blanket wrapped around what looks to be a baby. This baby had no hair or horns visible and was asleep, but the pale brown scales could be seen. She stared at the image as to the side she pressed against the table with her left hand and next to it part of the surface raised up and a little plastic bowel holding 2 orange tablets rose up under that. The other person turned around and placed a plate of food on the table before her and a glass of water.

"You ok?" She asked as she got herself the other plate and sat opposite. "You look a bit rough."

"Just a bad night's sleep aunty Sophie" Holly replied, having had got a ford come out of the table and eating, still looking at the image.

"How many times do I have to tell you, don't call me aunty, makes me feel really old" She replied giggling a little before spotting the image. She sighed and softly said. "They would be proud of you, should they still be here."

"Still I don't remember them" Holly sadly said finishing a mouthful.

"You had only been born a short time before you lost your dad and then only 3 when the crash happened that meant losing your mum, my sister." Sophie softly mentioned to her as they ate. After they both finished in silence she started clearing up as Holly was about to go to her room she spoke again. "Remember I did promise my sister to look after you as if you were my own and I do hope I am living up to that."

"You are Sophie" Holly smiled to her as she returned to her room and grabbed a pair of black ankle boots and put them on, she then opened a draw on the desk and grabbed out a strange thin white band and she slapped it against her left wrist, it flexed round and became a armband. She then waved her right hand over it and a small holo display opened, it displayed a green message 'Normal'. She then waved her hand over it again and the display disappeared. She then grabbed a dark blue jacket and carefully out it on, allowing her back spiked to come through some special holes on it before doing the zip on the front up about half way. She then grabbed a holo tile from her desk and ran out back into the living area, closed the one she placed on the table and placed both in the right pocket of the jacket, closing a zip on that pocket. "See you after school then" She called out as she got to the front door.

"Enjoy your day sweetie" Spoke called out as she was washing up, glancing over to allow both of them to wave at each other before Holly went out the door.

Terri

The north side of the bay was where all the aquatic species lived that lived under the water. The area was covered in white metal domes with no windows but a door at the base of them. Inside the lower level had a tunnel that had 3 rooms on it, 2 bedrooms to each side and a spare bedroom. The tunnel went up to access a single large living area like Holly's home had, just larger. While the lower level was underwater the upper was air. Terri's bedroom was like a cave, with a seaweed basket she curled up in. There was a verity of alcoves that stored her holo tiles and some spare swimming cloths. Light in the room came from a dull glowing moss on the ceiling. As a result of her restless sleep Terri awoke causing the mark on her to disappear. She uncurled and swam up out of her bed, looking around as if she thought something was there. She was in a 2-piece black swimming outfit. She glanced at a holo image in a alcove and saw the clock said 7:45AM, she was late up and needed to get ready to leave for school. She didn't change before leaving the room and swimming up to the higher level. She pulled herself out of the water in the middle of the room. The access was slightly lower than the level of the room to prevent water going into the room, around the pool was flat floor then a step up to the main level. On 3 sided of this lowered area was railings to prevent falling down from the upper level. This level was also like a cave, the walls had alcove where everything was stored. Around in the open parts were rocky tables and coral-like seats. The ceiling had more of that glowing moss on it.

Sitting on a large one was a taller version of Terri. She had dark teal scales covering her tail, lower legs, lower arms and around her gills on her neck. She also had black hair that came down to the neck and green eyes. If she was standing, she would only have been 5 foot 6. She was just wearing a cyan loose dress that came just below her hips and had no sleeves. Around her neck was a gold necklace with half a small shell on it. She was curled up with a male about 5 foot 8 tall with short brown hair and dark blue eyes. His lower arms, lower legs, gills on the neck and tail all had dark yellow scales like Terri. He wore a dull grey t-shirt and denim shorts as well as a necklace like the female, just it had the other half of the shell on it. Both also had the sapphire fin on their tails. Bother were watching the news on a holo screen.

The male looked around haring Terri exit the water before speaking at her "You will be late for school, you slept in"

Terri ran up to some alcoves grabbing a waterproof bag and shoving some clothing in it as she called back "I realise that dad, so I will take food with me."

"Thought so, your mother has a box ready with food for you" He called back to her before turning to who he was with and whispered to her "So my sweet May, you think we should tell her yet?"

"No Jack, leave it to Friday after she is back from school" She replied quietly.

Terri grabbed a clear plastic box filled with shrimp and prawns. She shoved it in her bag and she went back to the pool. "See you after you get back from work mum and dad" She called not giving time for them to reply before she dived into the pool, stopping back in her room to grab a holo tile, placing it in a netted part on the outside of the bag.

She swam outside quickly and turned to head for the shore, there were a few others, young like her and grown up heading for the shore, she hoped if she got there quickly she wouldn't miss the bus.

She got to the surface in not much time, she was a natural strong swimmer like any aquatic species, but for a Human-Aqualan she was stronger than most others. She ran up the beach to the end where there were small red metal huts lining it. Each hut had a number on it that related to a house in the bay, she went up to number 118 took a key out of the netted part of the bag where she had put her holo tile. The key looked like a credit card with a barcode on 1 side and was just white on the other. She pressed the barcode side to the door and a second later the opened outwards a little, she took the card away and then pulled it open. Inside was just a little room with pegs on the wall, a light orb on top and a little seat and towels under it with a drier for them. She went in and closed the door so she could get changed into clothing for being on land.

A couple of minutes later she emerged, changed into a black t-shirt and navy blue knee-length shorts and white trainers, she put the bag on her back and rand from the beach towards a road nearby. This whole time she wasn't able to shake the feeling of a dream she had.

Emma

Inside the her home she slept on the ground floor due to her dislike of heights. Her giant cushion for a bed served her well as did a red blanket she had. She slept on her front, tho hear head tossed and turned, until she was awoken.

"Sweetie, wake up" Her father was gently rocking her from her back. She slowly stirred causing the mark to fade which her dad hadn't seen because the fact she was lying on her front.

She looked round and up at her dad before sleepily speaking "Dad...what's wrong?"

"I need to take Kim to the hospital" he quickly told her. She climbed out of her bead, she wore a pale yellow night dress that came down to her ankles and hit her tail. She followed her dad up a couple of ramps while her flew up.

The inside of the house was a open area scattered on 3 floors to allow flight inside and was set inside the mountain as well as a little on outside. The top level had her parent's bedroom and the lounge. The middle had the kitchen while the bottom had her room and the bathroom, which was the only actual room in the place. She reached the top floor and went over to the part her parents had their bed. IT was double the size of hers. On it her mother was being helped up by her father. She had on a green version of the dress from yesterday and some trainers, while he was wearing the same as yesterday (well a fresh version, he had the same items a few times). Her mum looked to her as she walked over clearly in some pain now, her left arm was wrapped around her bump while she hugged her daughter and tried to sound cheerful in her speaking "Soon you will have a little one to play with dear."

"I know mum, I am exited" She replied back, trying to keep her excitement under control as she gave a hug back.

"Come on dear, we better get outside the ambulance will be here in moments" Rob commended as he gave them both a hug before he lead Kim off towards a little tunnel at the other side of the level, a siren could faintly be herd. Just as he got to the tunnel he called back "There is some yogurts in the fridge, sorry I can't cook you anything today, see you later."

"It's ok. See you later mum, dad" She called back as they left. When they were out of sight she ran down a floor to the kitchen which was mostly made up of cupboards in the walls and some work surfaces that come out from the wall, she walked through it and opened the fridge, she decided on some strawberry yogurts, taking 4 of them and then went to a draw and got a spoon. She returned to her bedroom part of the lower floor, deciding just encase her parents came back in having forgotten something she pulled a curtain out from a panel that opened in the wall that acted as a privacy screen for her to open a different wall panel that contained her cloths and get dressed as she ate.

She dressed in a dark blue tight short sleeved dress, which was a little difficult getting her wings through but she managed, she adjusted the slit in the back so her tail feathers managed to come through before doing a zip up on the back. She then placed on a black version of the leg warmers she had on yesterday. She opened her curtain having finished her food as well. Seeing the time it had been 20 minutes since her parents left. She grabbed a small black backpack and placed it on. The straps had clips on them so she didn't have to fight getting it on over her wings.

She went back up a floor, opened a panel in the kitchen for a dishwasher and placed the spoon inside, while another panel had a bin in which she put the yogurt pots in. As she then wondered up to the top floor she thought she heard something from the bottom, a very feint run of heavy breathing and a growl. She looked down and then slowly crept back down as she nervously called out "Hello?...Who...who is there?"

With no reply she crept back onto the bottom floor, she felt her heart pounding away, she looked around and saw nothing, it was then the sounds stopped. She slowly crept back up, constantly looking around. She eventually got to the tunnel and made her way through it, it was a genital curve upwards to the roof she was on yesterday.

As she got near the top the sounds started again, but this time they seemed to be coming from outside. She took a deep breath and ran to the door. She then opened it charging outside, she looked around, apart from the various flying species high in the sky above her, there was nothing to be seen that was making any noise.

"It is in your head Emma" she muttered to herself as she rubbed her forehead with both hands and walked off towards the path that lead down the mountain. Which she ran down, seeing the bus was down there and would leave soon. All the time she could hear the same sound.

Amy

"Wake up!" Was screamed at Amy by Janet.

Amy and Janet shared a reasonably sized room at their home. It had a large black metal bunk bed that they used, Janet hat the bottom, Amy had the top. There was 2 large wardrobes that acted as a blockade from the rest of the house as in a similar way to Emma's, it was all really just 1 room, not counting the bathroom. Janet's bedding was red while Amy used light green. Amy was facing away from the edge of the bed for getting on and off, instead she was facing the wall, but she was moving around in a restless pattern, she was also moaning in a unsettled way in her sleep.

"Sis, WAKE UP!" Janet screamed out again this time using her right hand to shake her as she used her left to hold onto the ladder to get up and down.

Amy's eyes suddenly snapped open and the green mark disappeared and she quickly rolled onto her back and sat up, she was breathing deeply and clearly in shock.

"You feeling all right sis?" Janet calmly and slowly asked as she got down from the ladder as Amy looked around, clearly checking where she was.

"I...I think so" She replied a little uncertain. She moved on her bed to climb down. Both girls wore the same violet night dress's.

"You screamed in your sleep" Janet slowly told Amy as she opened up one of the wardrobes and changed into a orange tank top and dark blue jeans before placing a different pair of the same sort of hiking boots on. "Just as well as you were screaming after mum and dad went to work, they probably would have thought you were having a heart attack."

Amy slowly went and changed into a dull grey halter top and beige combat trousers before placing her hiking boots on. "I don't know why" She sadly said, tho she was lying, she remembered what she dreamt of, but didn't want to say.

"Well, just don't dwell on something you can't remember then" was Janet's reply as they both went and got some food from the kitchen. Both of them got a large bottle of water mixed in with various nutrients, being that there Zambalen side was effectively plant they needed water and the nutrients added into it more than solid foods that a human would have eaten.

They spent some time watching morning cartoons on the holo before they needed to go to leave for school. Both had the same satchels but in different colours silver for Janet and a bronze for Amy. They both quickly checked everything in them before they left out the door and made their way to the bus stop. The whole time Amy was certain Janet knew she was lying about not remembering her dream, just she chose not to try to get her to tell what really happened.

Rachel

In the orphanage Rachel had fallen off her bead onto the floor because of the restless sleep taking the quilt with her. Her alarm went off as the time reached 7:30. She slowly woke, she was lying on the floor on her front , with the quilt tossed loosely over her. She pushed herself up into a seated position, as the red marking on her disappeared.

"What was that?" She muttered to herself as she rubbed her head with her right hand. She stood up and threw her quilt back on her bed and pressed a wall panel next to it, opening up a sink and mirror in it. She looked at herself in the mirror, checking for any injuries, seeing she didn't she ran the hot tap and splashed herself in the face with the water, which to a normal human would have been hot, but to her it was hardly warm. She turned the tap off and opened a panel under the sink for a white towel and dried herself off and then closed them once she was done.

"Rachel, breakfast won't be available for much longer" A adult male voice called from the door, she turned around and saw it was already 7:55.

'Where did 25 minutes go' she thought to herself in a panic. She then quickly reached under her bed and got out a pair of grey slippers that matched her pyjama's and opened the door. Standing outside was a 6 foot tall male, he at 1st glance was human but had a pale green skin, was bald and looked like he had some rocks on his head along with pale brown eyes. He wore a red and blue chequered shirt and black trousers before his white trainers.

"You feeling all right?" He softly asked, looking down at her and seeing she was in a bit of a panic.

"Yea, just bad night sleep" She replied as she passed him before then ran off down a few corridors to get to a large room. In there was some long benches with red plastic chairs throughout the place. At the far end was a serving hatch that spanned the width of that end. The room was filled with a whole verity of species, all of them young like her. There was a couple of adult's around as well to make sure everyone was all right, in here now must have been 30 others, and the place held over 100. She went up to the other end and grabbed a tray. She was at the end of a queue of 3 others. As she went her way along the serving area there was food available for all needs. But for her she just went for some toast with butter, having got that she went off and found a end of bench seat that no-one else was sitting at. Despite having spent the life she knew of here or at school, she never liked being around others more then she needed.

She quickly ate her food, unable to shake the feeling something was off, it felt like there was something she needed to remember, but she couldn't, and then there was that voice she herd while she was doing her homework the previous night, she never really caught what was said but something about it made her feel like something was not right. She observed the room seeing people messing around, chatting, even a couple having to have a food fight broken up. Once she was done she took her tray and placed it in a collection rack and then returned to her room.

"Who was that" she muttered to herself as she closed her room door and changed. She still was dwelling on the voice so much she didn't see that she had placed her dark blue jumper on her legs as trousers. She quickly fixed that putting it on where it should be worn and then got a slightly lighter blue knee length skirt on before getting some black socks and putting them on, tho she thought that was silly as they were almost as dark as she skin, but still she wore them, finally she placed on some dull white trainers.

"Be strong child" played in her mind again. That was the only bit of what Will had whispered into her mind that she had pieced together, but she knew there was more, and then there was a strange dream, what was going on, she had originally thought she was going crazy with it all just in her head, but the more she tried to recall, the more it felt like it actually happened.

She decided to leave dwelling more on it till she was back from school, it wasn't like she had any plans, she never did. She grabbed a couple of holo tiles and a dark green bun bag and placed it on around her waist. She left her room and walked through the building. At the entrance there was some hand scanners on the wall next to the entrance door, this was just to log who was in the building encase there was a incident and they needed to know who was there and who wasn't. She waited behind a few others to go to the scanner.

She placed her right hand on it and a green line passed down it, on a holo screen above it red 'Rachel: Signed Out'. She took her hand off and the screen disappeared. She went outside where a bus stop was and waited for the school bus.

The girls now were on 3 different bus's. Holly and Terri sat about halfway down the right side of the one they were on, Amy was on a different one at the back, while both Emma and Rachel were on the 3rd tho they sat in different parts of the bus. All 3 ended up at the same place: A large pale yellow stone building with a metal fence around it. It was well maintained considering it was one of the oldest buildings in Heatherfield, over 600 years old. It stood 2 stories high with a tall clock tower in the middle. Large windows lined the walls and a large double wooden door in the middle too. The bus's arrived a few minutes apart, all stopping before a pair of open gates with the words 'Sheffield Institute' written in a metal arch over the gateway. The way in was full of different people of different species, everyone was aged between 11 and 16.

At 8:45am a bell from the tower rang and everyone made their way inside, to begin the day.

Across the road was a 14 floor high tower, Will stood on it, looking down at the school. She still kept herself covered in the cloak as she watched the 5 girls make their way inside.

"Well, reminiscing on old times are you?" A familiar voice was heard from behind her that made her panic a little.

"And me doing that concerns you how?" She turned her head to the right and then round enough to glance at who spoke to her in the corner of her eye. It was then she gasped as to who she saw. "You!"

Standing before her was the same person as the image she saw back in Kandrakar, but with the hood down, it was the same face from 2010 in the caves, only looking maybe a few years older, but is defiantly the same person, even the voice was the same.

He smiled as he stood at the opposite end of the building from Will. "So you do remember me, I am touched, so what has it been 300 years?"

"Try 503" Will said as she turned to face him properly and she lowered her hood, but kept the heart hidden in her cloak. "Looks like time treated you well."

"503 years, wow, you look good yourself Wilhelmina Vandom, tho I did hear you married and become Olson, sorry I couldn't be there and I had such a good congratulations speech too" He teased her before changing to a serious voice "I presume you know why I am here then, suppressed Oracle let you leave considering the fact the heart would have left a message for you lot."

"I know what you want, but harming those who had nothing to do with what happened won't help you" She calmly replied, not wanting to let him to get to her.

He walked right up to Will, standing right before her, He stood only a couple of inches taller than her. He smiled at her in a creepy way. "You can't stand up to me without guardian powers, and I know you don't have them, but I also can't do anything to you. Your binding to Kandrakar means you can't be killed while you have the bond." With that his right hand quickly shot out from under his cloak, holding a little knife and quickly struck Will's left cheek with it, leaving a small but noticeable cut.

Will didn't react to the attack, she only stared back at him as the cut healed itself after a couple of seconds and disappeared as if it never happened. "You really needed to prove that to the person who has the bond?" she sarcastically asked.

He turned around and started walking away of her, looking at his knife blade, a bit of her blood was on it, he smiled and placed it in a container he had under his cloak without her seeing. "You know back then was only the beginning, I will get what I want." He stopped having got to the other end of the building again. He turned to face Will and then pulled his hood up. "Maybe if you didn't stand against me, you could have been at my side."

"That would never have, could or will happen" Will replied clearly annoyed by what he was saying.

"Well, know this." He spoke clearly in a deep voice "This is only just the start of my return, whoever Oracle sends after me, I will destroy." He then teleported himself away.

Will stood there on the rooftop. She raised her hood again and under the cloak she grabbed the heart in both hands, closed her eyes and spoke "Oracle, I may be compromised on my mission."

Next Time: The day progresses and lunch will be one to remember.