I don't really have time to go into great detail about this, so I'll just post it.


"This way," Aidan shouted, leading me in another direction. She had been here before, a few months ago, and knew a damn good bit about Mobius already.

Then I began to see small rivers, flowing with sapphire blue water. I sprinted to one and, cupping my hands, soothed my burning throat and filled my mouth with the water. Aidan did the same next to me, but finished faster than I was willing to. She sat back, breathing heavily and watching me slurp it up. "Go easy on the river, Nata," she cautioned, using her old nickname for me. "This is special water, and it fills us up faster than normal water would."

I did notice that my stomach was starting to hurt, and I forced myself away from the river, settling alongside Aidan. Then I felt the questions pour from my mouth. "Who were those hedgehogs up on the mountain? Why didn't they stop the fire? What's going on back there?"

She massaged her temples with the tips of her fingers and groaned. "I can't believe this is happening. Why am I seeing this?"

"What is it?" I asked; I was frightened, confused. What WAS Aidan seeing?

She shook her head. "You know how I was sort of a future predictor back on Earth... apparently when I officially got on Mobius it enhanced, because I can actually see what's going to happen soon."

"You can see the future?!"

"Shh! Don't yell." Aidan stood, her eyes sort of glazed over. "We need to leave here. It's not safe. The Doctor could be spying on us right now."

I was confused, once again. What doctor? The WITCH doctor?! But I followed her, because even if she had gone a bit crazy, she was still my friend, and I wasn't going to give up my loyalty to her.

We soon reached a little stone house with vines growing on the walls. The place was surrounded by thick pine trees, and I could hear a crow in the air, squawking. It looked cold and lonely, but Aidan, being the girl she is, ran through the door like it was nothing. I honestly was a little afraid of the eerie house. After a few minutes, I saw her rummaging through the place through the muck-stained window, and I figured that if there were anyone in there that they would have caught her already, so I went in after her.

It was dark, and smelled of decaying wood. I couldn't see the floor in this light, but under my bare feet I felt cold stone. I shivered in fear and of chill. I reached out to the wall to keep my balance, but jerked it back with a cry of disgust. The wall had a thick blanket of cobweb stretched across it.

"Shh!" Aidan hissed with an annoying tone. "Just stand there, Renata, don't move." I looked up to where her voice was and saw her standing there, her expression pissed off.

"Sorry," I whispered.

She stared at me for a few seconds in her usual way, then turned and ripped open a cardboard box. She started pulling stuff out of it - pistols, cameras, CDs, tape recorders, a memo book - and shoving them in a large bag. She threw the bag over her shoulder and ran out of the house. I followed her, glad to be out of there. It gave me the heebie-jeebies.

We sprinted through the trees nearby, and I wondered how the hell this bag of stuff was going to come in handy. Aidan usually could figure out a way to make stuff work for her, though.

She skidded to a halt in the middle of the forest and looked around her, her head flying around so fast that I wondered how it didn't fall off her neck. I started to speak, but her hand flew back and smacked against my mouth. She turned her head to me and mouthed, "Not a sound." She pulled one of the pistols from her bag and checked the barrel for bullets. I saw it was fully loaded. To my horror, she held it up to the sky and fired.

Birds flew from their nests above us, their wings flapping so hard they caused ripples of motion to swish through the air. I cringed away from Aidan and wondered if she was going to turn into a psycho before the day was out. If anything I hoped she wouldn't point the gun at me.

She shoved it into her jacket pocket and took off running again. I was struggling to keep up and cursed myself for skipping so many gym classes.

She finally slowed down and began to relax a bit when we burst through the last row of trees and saw a white mansion in the distance. It looked inviting enough, and I jogged alongside Aidan towards it.

When we reached the huge house, Aidan pulled on a chain hanging down by the door, ringing a bell that could be heard softly. We waited a few seconds, then the door opened and a pink hedgehog stuck her curly-quilled head out. She grinned, showing beautiful white teeth. She looked to be twelve, but she gave off an air of someone who was older than that, and definitely more important. "Aidan! I love your fox look! It's so nice to see you again."

"And to you too, Amy," Aidan said with a smile. Then she gestured to me. "I brought a friend this time. This is Renata. Renata, this is Amy Rose."

I was amazed by the formality Aidan was using, since on Earth she had been the kind to trash talk. I looked Amy in the eye. She seemed very nice, and when she held out her hand to shake I took it. "It's good to meet you Renata," she said. "I've heard many great things about you from Aidan."

"Well most of them probably aren't true," I laughed.

Amy laughed with me. "Ah, modesty. I wish that was something I could practice. But do come in, you two must need some freshening up." She stepped back away from the door and Aidan and I entered her beautiful mansion.

It wasn't like most mansions I had seen back on Earth. There were no grand light fixtures hanging from the ceiling, and I didn't see any framed paintings on the walls. I saw many CDs and DVDs lining the wall, and a stereo longer than I am on one side of the room. Hard rock was playing, and I smiled to myself. Amy and I had something in common already - we listen to that kind of music.

Amy brought out a platter of food and drinks, with small slices of pizza, Coke over ice, and some cookies on it. She watched us eat for a few minutes, then started questioning us. When had I arrived here? Why were we animals? What was going on outside her home? As we explained what had happened with the Flood, she sat leaned forward on the pink faux fur sofa, her hands clasped in front of her and her jade green eyes bright and alert. I liked her already.

We had just reached the part where we had gotten to the enchanted river, the doorbell rang again and Amy leapt from the couch, practically flying to the door with a grin on her face. When she opened it, she pounced whoever was there and screamed, "SONIC!"

"A-AMY!" a guy's voice replied with a tight tone. I heard him cough a few times. "You're choking me to death, ease up a bit!"

I was sure my face said What The Hell in capital letters. Aidan saw my confused look and explained, "Sonic is Amy's boyfriend."

"Hey guys, come over here for a sec," Amy called from down the hall. Aidan and I stood and followed her voice. We found her standing by the door, clinging to the same electric blue hedgehog that I had seen on the mountain. Seeing him up close, I could definitely tell he was 15 years old. He was lean, without being masculine, and he was somewhat tall - about 3 and a half feet in height. "Sonic," Amy continued, "this is Renata and Aidan. You knew Aidan already, but not since she joined our country, and Renata is her best friend."

"Oh hey Aidan," Sonic said with a grin. "You still look the same as you used to, just a bit shorter than you were as a human." He laughed a bit, then to my surprise they gave each other a quick hug. He turned to me and held out his hand for a shake. "And Renata, I'm glad to meet you." His smile was sweet and small, and very friendly. I shook his hand and smiled, making his grow wider. He felt Amy's arms slip around his waist. "I'm hungry."

Amy laughed. "You're always hungry, you silly goose. Come on, I'll make you some food." She took his hand and sprinted through the house. At the end of the hall, she turned to us and said, "You can go back to the den if you want."

Aidan gave her a thumbs up and we went back to the room we had entered when we got there. A few minutes later, I caught a whiff of delicious goodness, and Amy and Sonic came in with a huge plate of...

"Oh my God you made chilidogs, Amy!" Aidan yelled in excitement. She began bouncing up and down in her seat with a bright glimmer in her eyes. "Share them Sonic, PLEASE?!"

"Okay, okay!" Sonic replied, laughing. "I swear, you love these more than I do, and that's saying something." He took the dog on the top and ate half of it in one bite. Aidan dove into the pile and grabbed two at the same time. "You can have some too, Renata," Sonic added after swallowing, seeing me sit there and watch them chow down. Aidan looked up at me and smiled, the chili spreading across her lips.

"Thank you," I said softly and was reaching out for one when I heard Amy scream.

"What's wrong, honey?!" Sonic asked her; she had shrunk into his side, staring out of her window with wide and terrified eyes. Apparently, judging by his expression, this didn't happen too often.

Her voice was barely above a hoarse whisper. "Mephiles is outside."


I hope you likey : )

~ GABL