**In a Fog**

The band had to pack up early in order to get Toby home before curfew so they were unable to stay and watch Element, which was perfectly fine with Sarah. She helped them load their equipment up in the van—one of those large white delivery vans without windows in the back—not creepy at all. She had attempted to get Toby alone a few more times before they left, but they were always interrupted by one of the other bandmates. It was obviously not a coincidence, but Sarah couldn't figure out what they were trying to hide.

The ride back to her apartment was tense. In an attempt to be "gentlemanly", the band members forced Sarah to sit up front with Marcus, cutting off her remaining opportunity to have a semblance of alone time with her brother. She wasn't about to let that stop her. She tried a new tactic.

While Nathaniel, Gabriel and Toby joked around in the back of the van, Sarah angled herself in the uncomfortable, worn-out leather seat so that she could face the driver. He had pulled his long, black hair into a sleek ponytail at the nape of his neck and several tendrils were blowing about his face as the cool night wind gusted through the driver's-side window. Putting on her best, 'I'm an actress, I can pretend to flirt' smile, Sarah asked "So, Marcus…as the oldest, do you write most of the songs? The lyrics are phenomenal."

Marcus smiled back, still facing the road, eager to talk about his talents. "We work on them together. Usually I take the lyrics and set the rhythm and the others just fill in from there. Often the words just come to us as we're messin' around."

"Well, you're definitely talented!" He grinned, obviously enjoying the stroking of his ego. Sensing that the tension between them had ebbed a bit, Sarah went ahead and asked what she really wanted to know. "How did you guys come up with the song about the world falling down?" If Toby wasn't supposed to tell her for some reason, perhaps she could get Marcus to speak.

Sarah watched his jaw clench in frustration at the question. Coming to a stop sign only a couple of miles from her home, Marcus pulled his gaze from the road to search out Sarah's face. His obsidian eyes glinted in the moonlight as he responded. "You don't want to know."

What was that supposed to mean?

Marcus faced forward once more as the van picked up speed and Sarah's smile faded. "Yes, I do want to know." She'd spoken a little louder than she'd intended and suddenly all eyes were on her. Immediately her internal warning bells went off: 'Stay cool, Sarah…stay cool!' She cleared her throat. "I mean, it is such a unique song."

The van went silent—even Toby seemed afraid to say anything. What was this? Did they make a deal with the devil or something? Why did they refuse to answer her question? Throwing up her hands in frustration, Sarah practically yelled, "What's the big deal? Why won't you just tell me?" Her voice rang out in the silence, shocking her more than anyone. It had been years since she had felt passionate enough about anything to fight for it.

They slowly drove down her street, Sarah pointing to her house when they got close. Marcus pulled into the driveway and turned the engine off. He shifted so he could see his bandmates behind him. Whatever he saw in their faces gave him courage to go forward. "As you have guessed, we did not write the words. However, the person who gave us the song insisted that we not reveal their identity—specifically that we would not reveal it to you."

Sarah blanched. There would be only one person who would specifically want to keep that from Sarah. She swallowed, trying to force the lump of fear back down her throat so she could speak. "Did…this person…say why you shouldn't tell me?" This time she turned around to look directly at Toby. What she saw in his face encouraged her—he didn't look angry at her, only worried that she would be angry at him. Maybe he didn't know what she'd done.

Toby glanced at Marcus before speaking. "No. H…the person just showed up during practice a few days ago and handed us the lyrics. Marcus immediately determined the rhythm and the rest magically fell into place. We had no idea at the time that we'd be singing at the concert, but it was a good thing we got it when we did since two original songs sound better than a bunch of cover songs." He was trying to lighten the mood; to force the conversation back to their music and off of the Goblin King. Sarah wasn't biting.

"So how did he happen to mention that you shouldn't tell me in particular—the sister you rarely see—that you shouldn't say where you got the lyrics?"

Marcus adeptly leaned over and unbuckled her seatbelt. "Sarah, it has been fun, but Toby must get home. Good night." It was a clear dismissal.

Sarah bristled. "Fine. Don't tell me. But I am not finished with this. Toby, I will see you soon." And with that, she exited the scary kidnapper van and slammed the door. Marcus didn't wait for her to get to her door before starting the vehicle back up. They pulled out of her driveway the moment she stepped inside.

Her newfound passion fled with them.

Once she'd gotten in her house, Sarah began to brainstorm ways to get Toby to talk. She wanted to know exactly what the Goblin King had said to her brother and why he wanted to keep his visit a secret from her. He had to know that Sarah would hear the song eventually. So the question was, did he give the song to Toby for her to hear it or was Toby the intended victim of one of his schemes and he didn't want Sarah getting in the way? Logically it seemed the second reason was the most valid—if he'd given Toby the song with Sarah in mind, then why the secrecy? She started making plans to visit her family for dinner over the weekend, but a half hour later she was curled up in her bed sound asleep.

)))(((

She awoke the following day to Julie pounding on her bedroom door. "Sarah! Wake up! It's after noon! You're going to be late for rehearsal! Wake up!"

Sarah only had a brief moment of surprise that she's slept for almost 14 hours before dragging herself out of bed and to the shower. Her mind was in a fog, her body going through the motions without any thought. When she got out, she pulled on whatever was closest to wear, not even bothering to see if it was turned the correct side out or not. She ran a brush through her long, almost-black hair and headed to the kitchen without looking in a mirror.

Julie was waiting. "Sarah, what happened to you last night? Why'd you take off like that?"

Sarah shrugged and grabbed a cup of coffee to clear her head.

"That's it? That's all the explanation you're going to give me?" Julie sounded almost betrayed. Sarah wouldn't have thought it was in her.

"Look, Julie. Something Toby sang upset me and I needed to talk to him about it. His band gave me a ride home and I fell asleep shortly after. Not much to say."

Julie gaped, her mouth opening and closing a few times in indignation before she could finally force some sound out. "Not much to say? You left me, Sarah! I thought you were my friend! You can't give me more of an explanation than that?"

Sarah shrugged again and stared down into her coffee. Did she brush her teeth? She couldn't remember.

"Are you all right?" Julie searched her face with concern, the anger from moments before melting away. "You don't look like yourself. Are you sick or something? Did something happen to you that you want to talk about? What's going on?"

The barrage of questions drifted away the moment Julie spoke them. Sarah did not have the concentration to truly absorb them, nor the energy to try. "I better get going to rehearsal. I'll see you later." And with that she left a stunned Julie behind.

)))(((

"Sarah! What's with you today? We're halfway down on page 54. Start with, 'It's time to pay up.'"

Sarah heard George speaking, but it was difficult to focus on what exactly her director was saying. She took a deep breath and looked down at her book. She was on page 43. She quickly flipped over to the correct page, but couldn't remember where they were starting.

Leaning over to her co-star, Jonathon, Sarah whispered, "What line are we on again?"

"That's it!" George cried out from where he sat in the auditorium. "Sarah, I don't know what's come over you, but you have exactly two days to fix it or Michelle is taking your place! Got it?" Sarah nodded and promptly left the stage without saying a word. George didn't like excuses and she didn't have one anyway. It was a mark of how much he liked her that he gave her two days. He would never have given Julie even a day to get her act together. George had been her director for several productions and she hated letting him down. She would figure this out. Somehow.

As she made her way out the stage door, she could hear the other cast members begin practicing the scenes that "Shyann" wasn't in. It made her sick that she couldn't concentrate enough to even pretend to be normal. Acting was what kept her sane. What was she going to do now?

She couldn't find it within herself to care.

)))(((

A bright light shone through Sarah's eyelids and she hid her face under her covers.

"Sarah?" Julie's voice was very worried. "Sarah? Are you okay? I made dinner for us. Are you hungry?"

Sarah moaned and buried herself deeper under her pillows.

Her roommate was not accepting defeat that easily. Unveiling Sarah's face, Julie asked, "Hey! Are you sick or something? You've been in bed all day!"

Sarah blinked away the onslaught of stimulation. "I don't know. I just want to sleep. Leave me alone." She grabbed the blankets and pulled them back over her. She could sense Julie standing there, but it didn't really matter. Nothing mattered anymore.

Eventually Julie turned out the light. As she closed the door, she whispered, "What's happening to you?"

Sarah rolled over, covered her eyes and in a weak voice, spoke her answer to the door, "I wish I knew what was happening to me."

.

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A/N: Hmmm….did Sarah just make a wish? She did! She did! I can't wait to see what happens next! (Really…I haven't written the next chapter at all yet!)

I hope you liked this. Angsty writing is not really my thing, but it was important to the plot. Thanks for sticking through the chapter with me!

LadyCavalier you are now my new favorite person with your "original" remark :-D. Thank you for your kind review! And startraveller776, once again thank you for being the first to review the chapter. You're fantastic! Oh and look! I just found out this story got added to the "All those stories I love" community. Now everyone go check that community out because of course she has great taste! :-D

Now…to everyone else out there who is reading this—I know you're there, I see your hits! :-D—I have a request for you. I thought it might be fun if you gave me a bit of a challenge. If you want, throw out a suggestion of something to put in my story—a word or a sentence—and I will do my best to put it in somewhere in the next two chapters (and make it make sense!). If I manage it, you owe me a review on that chapter…if not, I will review a chapter of anything you want. Now granted, if I get a lot of challenges, I might need to make this story longer :-D—but that's okay! Randomness is fine!

(To be clear, this is not a "choose your own adventure"…I know where I'm going with this…I just wanted to make things more interesting for you all…if you want it)

And for those who aren't up for challenges, but have read along this far…stop in and say, "hi!"…I love a good old fashioned hello :-D.