Chapter 4: Breaking Ground

Canary Yellow stood before the full-length mirror in her office with a worried expression. She knew what she was seeing and it was stirring up a minor panic within her chest. Her growing chest. It was hard to deny. In the few weeks since her encounter in the production hall with the Fire and the Shadow People, her body had been changing.

She was growing up.

Canary had gotten a little taller, her legs slightly longer, her waist had become more narrow and her hips...By the Colors her ass and hips had been the worst of it. She always had a little more "back there" and had endured her fair share of good natured teasing from her friends, but now this was getting absurd. She turned to the side again and caught the curve of her behind out of the corner of her eye. The round swell of it filled the fabric of her work pants a little too well. Part of her was disgusted, another part was strangely pleased with her new appearance. She was growing up. After thousands of years in a child-like body it seemed like this next phase of development was a bit overdue.

But was she the only one? And why now?

She still had a job to do though. Canary pulled her lab coat off the hook and slipped it on then fastened the snaps. She turned to grab her hard hat and saw the way her rear seemed to be outlined a little too cleanly through her coat. No that would not do. She was feeling self-conscious enough about her job and didn't want to take it any further than that. She took off that lab coat and grabbed another larger one from the closet. It hung off her shoulders like a bed sheet, but it hid her growing shape. Canary grabbed her clipboard and other equipment, then headed out to the Production Floor to begin her day.

Red Butler, Shy Violet, and Rainbow Brite stood next to each other in the meeting room with their backs to the massive table looking out of the huge windows to the field beside the Rainbow Factory. Starlite and Sunriser were out there lazily grazing on the grasses under stick-like black trees. Crows sat in the branches, seemingly watching both the horses and Rainbow Brite herself through the windows. Behind the trio on the table, blue prints had been rolled out and held open with various prism paper weights. Rainbow folded her arms and sighed. She had traded in her usual outfit this morning for something a bit more fitting for work in the Rainbow Factory; blue slacks, a button-up blouse and a matching blue blazer. For the moment the blazer was unbuttoned as she shifted her gaze between the blueprints and the field. Her old dress had felt a little too snug, the shoes a bit too tight.

"Its a shame those trees will have to go," Rainbow said finally.

"Unfortunate but necessary," Shy Violet echoed. "This field was always destined to be used for expansion of the Factory."

"A whole new production area, a whole new building...This would also be the best time to do updates on this building. What do you want to do with this building Rainbow?"

"Update, modify where we can. Probably look into putting some cladding or new frontage to cover the brickwork and make it look cohesive with the rest of the Factory, Keep the office areas. The larger areas where the Production Hall and the Fire are kept will have to be modified, the ceiling re-done," Rainbow Brite sighed and looked over her shoulder at the blueprints again. Two sets of them lay side by side. One was on older paper, she suspected actual vellum, and had the layout of the Factory as it currently stood. The second set was her Factory. With all new Star Sprinkle Foundries, and production areas for the rainbows. She was both excited and frightened that this venture might not go the way she wanted. But she had to try.

Rainbow Brite had a very important job to do. And the era of running all over hell and creation on a daily basis tending to everyone's individual color needs was going to be a thing of the past. Her beloved Starlite would have a chance to rest, as would all of the Color Kids.

Red Butler spoke up. "I hate to be the voice of reason here, but I need to make a few proposals."

Rainbow nodded. "Go on."

"The Color Crystal Sorting Station that we are constructing along with the new foundry, are going to have the capacity to put out thousands of tons of refined Color Crystals and Star Sprinkles per day. And that's great. However the Color Crystal mines are not going to be able to keep up with that kind of demand. One Sprite working all day on a good day with a good seam of crystals is able to bring out at the absolute best, three tons of unrefined crystals. And that isn't even taking into consideration all the sorting refining and general muck that needs to be gone through to get usable crystals. Usually this process is done in the mine itself and carts of refined Color Crystals are sent to the mini factory at the back of the Color Castle. But this process...its going to take a lot more."

"How many Sprites are working the mines right now?" Violet asked.

"I'm pushing it at one hundred and fifty, with about twenty Wuzzels," Red sighed. "Romeo and Twink have been keeping an eye on the mines while I've been here."

Rainbow nodded taking in this information. Red had always been one of the first to get involved in the mining work, and he made a decent foreman on that front. But the production was growing and times were changing.

"One hundred and seventy bodies in the mines right now, each at most capable of three tons per day give or take….Five hundred ten tons...Rainbow that is not going to be enough to even keep this new Factory busy for an hour," Violet said with some alarm.

Rainbow fixed her gaze on Red and for the first time the Color Kid noticed her eyes. They were no longer the kind blue he had come to associate with her. Instead they were a passionate rich red. Anyone else would find this alarming, however Red Butler did not. He felt in a strange way that Rainbow Brite finally understood him, a sense of comradery almost. "I'm assuming you have a possible solution for this Red?" she asked, her tone had also changed. She was still Rainbow, but there was a harder edge to her words now, not of anger but of determination. Rainbow Brite always had a purpose in her life and the Color Kids helped her to fill that purpose. But now she had a passion and a mark to make. Red understood that on a primal level. He smirked, finally the gloves were coming off.

"Oh yeah, I do, and its something I've been looking at for years but was never able to bring up because it would completely overwhelm the processing facility in Rainbow Land. The Color Crystal mines are old. They're more old fashioned than this whole Factory and that's saying something. We send Sprites in there on the daily with nothing but pick-axes, shovels and the most minimal in safety gear. They get injured, a lot. Quite a few of them die every year. Its a terrible situation and practice. And since each one can only move about three tons of rock a day, its a lot effort to try to maintain or create new rooms. We pass up a lot of small seams in favor of larger ones when I know that if we were able to combine our efforts to the smaller seams they would yield more than the bigger one, but its getting to them without killing off the workforce that is the problem."

"And hiring more Sprites isn't the answer is it?" Rainbow asked.

"Nope. More people means more problems. Longer evacuation times when something goes wrong, more conflicting personalities, more labor costs. My solution is this. We currently practice what is called 'Room and Pillar' mining. It makes sense for smaller scale mining, especially since the Color Crystal mines started off as exploring a cave system before we started carving holes in the rocks. I propose purchasing machinery for what is called Longwall mining. One Sprite, three tons a day with our current system, Longwall machinery will give us one thousand to two thousand tons per hour."

Violet gasped, the excitement in her voice evident. "So in one hour this mining method will give us what we normally would mine in a week?"

"Yeah," Red nodded with a grin. "Longwall is used in conjunction with Room and Pillar as a form of retreat mining. Meaning that the mines are subjected to controlled collapse as we pull back. This shouldn't affect the cave systems near the top of the mines, but if we want to go deeper and get at the really good stuff, this is the way to go."

Rainbow Brite nodded in thought. "Are there other options?"

"Not unless you want to subject Rainbow Land to open pit mining. That's basically digging a big hole and hauling everything out of it. With Longwall and Retreat mining, all the trash gets buried, all the wastewater, all the rip-rap, the slag from the Color Crystal refining. It doesn't affect the appeal of the surface."

Rainbow again nodded, taking all of this in. "This sounds like the better idea. Red, I'm going to need an estimate on the equipment and getting this system set up. But I'm concerned that if if we start mining then we wont have anywhere to put the refined Color Crystals before the foundry is done."

"That won't be a problem. We can construct silos to store the crystals in until they need to be used. That will also give the CCPP a place to store finished crystals so the foundry will never run out."

Rainbow looked to Violet. "Any input?"

Violet slowly shook her head. "No. This all sounds practical. Red's on top of his game today."

"Naturally. Thank you Violet," Red said smugly.

"Alright then. Get the numbers so I can get Tycoon to start securing some loans for the project," Rainbow turned and looked back out the window and at the trees. The Umbrella Mans trees. He would understand. Red gathered up his blue prints and headed out of the meeting room. Violet stayed behind for a moment.

"Rainbow?"

"Yeah?"

"Can...I show you something I've been working on?"

"Of course." Rainbow smiled warmly, then followed Shy Violet as she led the way out of the meeting room and toward her Research and Development lab.

Violet held the door to her lap open and gave Rainbow a lab coat. "Here, put this on please."

Rainbow slipped on a Curie-style labcoat and followed Violet to a room in the back where small furnaces designed for smelting had been built. "I've been testing out the properties of Star Sprinkles to see if I can get a better yield from them. Right now the Rainbow Factory only creates rainbows from the Fire, but I think the Fire could be useful in another way."

"I'm listening," Rainbow Brite found a stool and sat down.

"Right," Violet pulled over a couple of smaller beakers and test tubes filled with a gel-like substance of various colors. "Right now we take energy from the Fire and divide it into its component colors and call that Spectrum. The Spectrum then gets treated, compressed and then bottled up. We have to treat it to make sure the rainbows don't mix in the bottles during transport. So I tried a little experiment, I infused Color Crystals with light from the Fire and got a little surprise," she set out a dish with several raw color crystals on it that were the most brilliant Rainbow had ever seen.

"Oh wow…"

"The crystals absorb the full range of their native spectrum color and hold it stable. I then put the crystals through their usual process to create Star Sprinkles using these furnaces back here. I then took the molten crystals and poured them into the crucible here to study their potency before going further into the Star Sprinkle manufacturing process. What I discovered is the molten crystals separate into two substances: liquid state Spectrum and the material we use for Star Sprinkles. The Spectrum goes from a gaseous state to a liquid then solid state with introduction of the Color Crystals, I call this new substance Spectra. This makes it more stable for long term storage and has the added effect of creating better rainbows. For example…" Violet went to an autoclave and pulled out a small petry dish with small grains of the solid state Spectra in it. "You have to keep it dry because as soon as it hydrates the chemical conversion process begins," she added two drops of water to the dish and a rainbow immediately exploded out and slammed into the ceiling knocking a few tiles loose. "What this means for us, is that instead of the rainbows exploding out of champagne bottles, they will be more like solid-state rocket fuel. Smaller containers, bigger longer lasting rainbows, more shelf-stable product with no risk for breakage."

Rainbow Brite watched the Spectra-created rainbow practically burn a hole through the tiles on the ceiling. "This is fabulous Violet! I'm so glad we work as a team to make all of this happen together! This is the best thing I've seen all week! But what about the molten Star Sprinkles?"

Violet nodded, sliding the petry dish still erupting a rainbow aside and knocking out a few more ceiling tiles. "After putting them through the normal manufacture process, they come out like this," she placed another tray before Rainbow Brite. In it were several Star Sprinkles, they glittered gem-like with their own inner light and luster on the tray. "Go on and try them out."

Rainbow pressed them to the Color Belt and felt a heat begin to ripple through her. She could always feel the magic before, but now...now it was almost exploding from her. She had to try it out. Rainbow made her way outside and Violet followed her. She stood at the side of the building looking out over those black stick-like trees with their immature buds, trees had been forever trapped in early Spring, never to flower and bloom, and never to go into full-leaf. The Color Belt was her tool, a primary focal point for her heart to guide the colors at her disposal. Rainbow Brite barely even needed to touch the Belt for the rainbow within to come forth. The rainbow was very bright, neon almost, Rainbow herself could feel the power begin to surge through her as her heart guided the rainbow through the trees at the speed of thought. Instantly the trees exploded in full bloom of pinks, reds and purples. The grounds of the Rainbow Factory were covered in a steady snow-like fall of petals and beauty.

These Star Sprinkles were the most powerful ones she had ever used. Rainbow smiled and felt that her ambition had paid off. With Star Sprinkles this powerful, she could bring brighter colors everywhere and not have to constantly go back to Rainbow Land for more. The colors would last longer too. These Sprinkles combined with the newer more potent rainbows would certainly cement her legacy as one of the most powerful and influential Managers the Rainbow Factory had ever known. She turned to Shy Violet to thank her and only just then noticed something different about her friend.

Violet was no longer wearing her usual dress either. She had traded it in for a pencil skirt and blouse that was normally hidden by the lab coat she had started wearing. But now her lab coat was open as she watched the colorful petals fall from the trees. Rainbow could see that Shy Violet's body had changed and would probably continue to change, she was no longer a Color Kid, she was becoming a woman. Somewhere, somehow, Violet had traded in her innocence for knowledge, and she wasn't the only one. Rainbow herself felt the changes, and Canary...poor Canary was going through it too.

The Rainbow Factory was taking their youth and making the Color Kids grow up.

Rainbow Brite smiled despite herself. It was about time.

Canary finished up her rounds in the bottle cleaning department, then headed for the production hall. She had to admit that she had been avoiding Patty since the night of the ghost hunt. For the most she had been able to get by with sending one of her Sprites to perform the checks and inspections in there, but today Canary was out of options and there was still work to be done. She held her clipboard close, almost like it was a shield. Why had her anxiety gotten so high? Was it because of the changes or something else?

Canary entered into the Production Hall and took a moment to look around and get a feel for how things were running. The tubes around her glowed their respective colors, small needles inside the steam gauges twitched at the just the low end of the warning zone. She had warned Patty about that, but Rainbow had said to back off for now, Patty ran the Production Hall, not Canary. Instead she documented the readings, put down a notation that she would speak to Patty about it, then moved on to her other monitoring checks.

"Hey Canary! Don't think I can't see you sulking back there!" Patty called out.

Canary sighed heavily. "I'm not sulking, I'm doing my inspections."

"Whats been with you lately? You've been in a bad mood and have an attitude all of a sudden. What happened to the bright and happy Canary we all know? Oh don't tell me you are still mad about the ghost hunt."

Canary could feel the scowl come over her features. Yes, she was still a bit upset about the ghost hunt, it felt like an especially cruel joke aimed solely at her. Yet Patty had also brought up a valid point. Canary did have an attitude of late, her happiness and bubbly personality were no where to be found and frankly it seemed like too much effort to try to fake it. She looked Patty over and noted that her fellow Color Kid had gotten taller, she also wore an over-sized lab coat. Were they all feeling these effects? Later. She was ask Rainbow to look into it later.

"Patty, please be mindful of the pressure readings on the gauges."

"Oh those things are broken, its fine."

Canary was half-tempted to believe it. It was an old factory, instead she felt something like a ripple of rage flicker across her mind that she struggled to suppress, but only barely. "So...you are telling me that you are knowingly using faulty equipment? That now I need to shut this whole area down and recall back all the rainbows we have made for a more in-depth quality check? Do you really want me to get Red and his team in here just because you are trying to cover up your careless processes by lieing to me?"

Pattys good cheer faded. "Man Canary, you can't even take a joke anymore."

"Because my job is not a joke Patty. My job is to keep this place and its workers safe while also putting out the best product we can. I have high standards and keep to them. And I expect those in leadership roles to understand that."

Patty frowned. "You've changed. This is just a part to play. You don't have to take it so seriously."

"I would think that you of all the Color Kids would understand….No, I guess you wouldn't. Because while all the green spaces have been disappearing, your workload has gotten lighter. Less trees, less fields, the most you have to do now is make sure suburban lawns look nice. But the rest of us have to step up and for that we need this Factory to run as smoothly as possible."

Now it was Pattys turn to scowl. Canary was right, she usually was. Forests had become shopping malls, meadows turned into parking lots, grasslands into freeways. Her once mighty claim to all the green color in the world was fading away. "I think you should go for now Canary. I think we need to go to Rainbow's office and talk this out," she said coldly.

Canary returned her scowl. "Yeah, we do need to take this to Rainbow," she turned sharply on her heel and walked off the Production floor. Patty hung back for a moment to give Lucky, her assistant Sprite, a few instructions while she was gone. Canary passed by a large bank of pressure gauges and caught one out of the corner of her eye. Its needle had been resting at a normal place, but then it suddenly jumped and stuck to the danger area just as Patty joined her. "Patty you need to-"

"I told you already its fine!" Patty snapped.

On the Production Floor there was a sudden loud bang and the sound of exploding glass. A chorus of Sprites shouted in alarm and began running off the floor. Patty suddenly rushed in. "Everyone out in an orderly fashion, just drop what you are doing, be careful, if anyone is injured then go to the nurses office!"

Canary stayed back as Patty got her department evacuated, and called for Red over the radio. "Red Butler, come back."

"Go for Red."

"I need maintenance crews to the main Production Hall, we've had a bit of an accident."

Patty then snapped at Canary. "You don't say that over the radio!"

"10-4, on my way."

Canary stepped into the Production Hall and saw that one of the tubes carrying the steam-like energy from the Fire had exploded, sending glass shards all over the room and spilling the contents to the floor. Thankfully the safety check valves were still functioning properly and only so much of the colored mist hung in the air. She looked down to see the extent of the damage and noted drops of blood on the floor. "Hey did one of your Sprites get cut?"

"Huh? I didn't see anyone-" Patty saw the blood and started looking around frantically. "Wait, wheres Lucky?" she followed the blood trail. "Lucky? Are you okay? Where are—oh no…"

Canary waded through the colored mist and found Patty kneeling on the floor next to Lucky who had gotten the worst of the blast. Glass was embedded in its fur and they were bleeding badly. She took off her lab coat and laid it on the floor next to Lucky. The colored mist created a strange spray of many colors on her clothes and coat. "Come on, help me get them on the coat and then we will carry him to the nurses office okay?"

"Are we supposed to move him?"

"He can't stay here breathing in the mist. For once just listen to me okay Patty?" Canary snapped.

Patty helped get Lucky onto Canary's coat, then grabbed one end while Canary grabbed the other. They picked up the Sprite and began carrying him out of the Production Hall just as Red and his team arrived. Red took one look at Lucky, then winced. "Damn...Alright everyone! Watch out for broken glass and blood! Use protection as needed!"

Patty hesitated for a moment. "Red, you will need to shut down the Fire before you start working, do you need help?"

"I've got it, but thanks."

Canary and Patty carried Lucky to the nurses office were a few of the other Sprites had already gathered with their own minor cuts and scrapes. Ferafly, the nurse, took a look at Canary and Patty covered in fine rainbow tinted droplets, then at Lucky, and pointed to a bed in the back to take him to. After making sure Lucky was settled, Canary turned to head back to the Production Floor to help out Red. Patty stayed behind with her team to both conduct a head count and to be there for those that had gotten hurt. "Hey Canary?"

"Hmm?" Canary turned around, and now without her lab coat, Patty could see the changes that her fellow Color Kid had undergone.

"I'm sorry...thank you for helping me and Lucky. I'll be more careful in the future."

"Safety codes and regulations are written in blood. Don't let Lucky's go to waste. We can talk more later," Canary left the nurses office and went back to the Production Floor.

The entire Factory was now at a stand still, with the possible exception of Shipping. The bottling room was silent, the Production Hall was alive with shouts and the clang of tools, and the Housekeeping/Sanitation team was already hard at work getting everything cleaned up. Rainbow Brite herself was standing on the Production Floor supervising the work. Canary stood at her side, and remained quiet for a moment, then used her sleeve to try to wipe the droplets from her skin and only succeeded in smearing them. The colored mist had been cleared from the room, but the machines and even floor were stained in places. "What happened?" Rainbow asked softly.

"Too much pressure build up in a transport tube. I wasn't there when it happened. Me and Patty were standing around the corner there near the gauges and we heard it. I want to get Red to test the gauges or the valves or…"

"We are going to lose so much time and production if he does that."

Canary held her comment. She wanted to be absolutely sure that something like this wouldn't happen again, but Rainbow was right about losing out on production too. They had Rainbows to make. "Look, one of the gauges did something weird. It was fine until I walked past it and then it jumped."

"A surge in the system?"

"I don't know. Maybe an obstruction was cleared or-"

"It was a fluke. Tell Patty that as soon as this mess gets cleaned up that the Sprites that aren't injured are to return to work. And then I want to talk to her in my office."

"Rainbow?"

Rainbow turned to Canary, her expression just a little hard at having been questioned. "Yes?"

Canary felt a shiver go down her spine. "Nothing, I'll go let her know."

"Thanks, and I'll see you in my office later too."

"I don't know what is going on between the two of you but it needs to stop now." Rainbow snapped. " Both of you already know that I'm not one to get angry easily, but this has gone on long enough. Now Lucky has been badly injured along with a few other Sprites. We lost several hours of production and would have lost more if Scorch Heart didn't already have a replacement piece in the shop. I brought you two on to help make this business work, and it is working. But only if all of us pull together."

Canary Yellow and Patty O'Green stood side by side in the Rainbow Brites office, each of them still covered head to toe with dried rainbow mist. They looked as if they had been down wind of colorful spray-paint and both looked fairly guilty and itching to tell their side. Patty opened her mouth and before a word could be spoken, Rainbow cut her off.

"I don't want to hear it right now. Whatever is going on, figure it out. Patty, listen to Canary when she brings up safety and quality concerns. Canary, stop harassing Patty. The two of you are supposed to be friends remember? I need the two of you at your best, we are about to start breaking ground on the additions to the Factory and that means a lot more responsibilities for each of you. I need you two to work together to ensure everything runs smoothly. Patty, you are good in Production, you are used to dealing with high volumes because of your color, and you perform well. A little too well. Take it easy on the old machines. Canary, you are very detail oriented very good at what you do as well. You want to make sure everyone is happy and satisfied. Yet you are a bit hard on some of the others. We are all in this together. Am I clear?"

"Yes Rainbow," Patty and Canary said in unison.

"Now please head home and get cleaned up. Tomorrow is a brand new day."

"Yes Rainbow," they repeated.

Rainbow Brite dismissed them, then went back to her computer work. Patty turned around and stepped into the hall, Canary hung back for a moment. "Are you coming home too Rainbow?"

"In a little bit. I've got some paperwork to finish up and a few budget plans to review."

Canary looked at her friend worriedly. "Okay, I'll keep your dinner warm," she then joined Patty in the hall and shut the door behind her. "I'm worried about Rainbow. This isn't like her."

"She's not coming back tonight," Patty said. "I don't think she's been back to the Color Castle all week. Just sits here and works."

"Maybe after the addition gets built she will come back more often," Canary said softly. Come to think of it, when was the last time she had gone home herself? She hadn't felt tired, or hungry for that matter. Although getting home and getting a bath did sound like a lovely idea.

"Wow Canary, I didn't know you were hiding all that back there!"

Canary groaned. "Why were you looking at my butt?"

"I mean, its like there. Its hard to miss," Patty giggled.

Canary turned and sneered. "Well what about you? What are you hiding under that lab coat Patty? What changes have you been undergoing?" she reached out and grabbed the collar of Pattys lab coat and pulled, the snaps gave and Patty grabbed at the coat trying to pull it shut.

"Hey!"

Canary let go of the coat, but not before she got a peek at Patty. Like the rest of them, she had left her usual dress behind and changed into something a bit more fitting for her new frame. She had put on weight, a lot of of it. Her butt and chest had gotten bigger, but so had her stomach and thighs for whatever reason. That didn't make sense, Patty always ate well and was one of the more active of the Color Kids. It didn't seem fair.

Patty snapped her coat back up. "Happy?" she spat.

"I...Patty look, its not a big deal. All of us are-" Canary suddenly stopped and looked past Patty into the dark hallway. Patty looked over her shoulder then turned around fully to confront anyone who had walked up on them. Her eyes widened and Canary clapped a hand over her mouth before she could scream.

Further up the hall, in the darkness, they could see a dark shape begin to pull itself from the floor. At first it seemed like a black bubble, but as it rose from the grout in the floor tiles they could make out the curve of a skull. Long finger bones spread on the green tile, followed by the bones of a long skeletal arm. It seemed as if it were climbing out of some unseen hole, grasping whatever it could to pull itself further into the hallway. Before long the upper torso of a black skeleton began to crawl across the floor, searching for something unknown.

Canary held Patty tightly, unsure if the creature could sense them. Patty was almost frozen in fear, her eyes wide and voice muffled by Canary's hand. They watched as the skeleton pulled itself across the floor, its black bones scraping the tiles. Both of them watched with wide eyes and held breath as the black skeleton dragged itself around the corner and up the hall. They then heard a sound much like a pile of wooden sticks hitting the floor. When they were sure it was gone for the moment, Canary lowered her hand.

"Should we tell Rainbow?" Patty breathed.

"After all the trouble we have caused today, I don't think she would believe us," Canary whispered. "Where did it go?"

"It was heading toward the Production Hall...my department…"

"Lets follow it. If we catch it she has to believe us," Canary stepped from behind Patty and began to creep quietly up the hall. Patty began to follow, her steps equally light.

They carefully rounded the corner and could see no sign of the black skeleton, but they could hear the clatter of bones further ahead in the darkness. Up ahead was the balcony that overlooked the production hall. Canary took point and moved silently, her boots finding firm grip on the tiles. Patty was right behind her. They peeked over the railing of the balcony and into the darkened department. Moonlight came through the windows above and cast the area in stark shadows. Pattys green and Canary's amber eyes scanned the darkness, looking for any sign of the skeleton.

"Do you think it left?" Patty whispered.

"I don't know," Canary strained her eyes to study the shadows, then she saw one move. "Wait," she pointed toward the corner of a system of valves. There, crawling on the floor was the skeleton.

"Lets go tell Rainbow."

"I want to see why its here," Canary almost hissed. "I was attacked by Shadow People in this same room. We haven't seen them since and I want to know why they are here."

Patty relented and watched the skeleton drag itself across the floor toward the gyroscope and the box containing the Fire. When it reached the gyroscope, it extended one of its long bony arms and began to turn the machine until the rings of the gyroscope lined up into a smooth circle. The rings clicked into place and along the outside edge, the phases of the moon were revealed in glowing purple light. The bottom of the black box containing the Fire then appeared to sweat and large black drops of some thick oil-like substance began to drip from the box. The skeleton opened its jaw and began to drink this substance from the floor. As it it did so, its body became more solid, more mass was added to the bones, legs began to form until the fully realized form of a Shadow Person sat kneeling before the black box, hands cupped and catching the black fluid, and then drinking from its palms.

The pair of Color Kids watched as the Shadow Person had their fill, then stood up in the moonlight. It reached out and touched the gyroscope, sending it spinning again. The glowing icons faded along with the Shadow Person. The air instantly became less heavy and Canary and Patty breathed a sigh of relief, then sat down in the dark, leaning against a wall.

"So...it was hungry?" Patty asked.

"I guess," Canary looked out the windows at the full moon. "Come to think of it, it was a full moon the night I was attacked too. But why a full moon? You would think they would be more active during a new moon."

"Maybe they are. Maybe this one just couldn't wait." Patty held herself as if cold. "I don't want to go back to work if those things are there."

"Good luck explaining that one to Rainbow," Canary stood up. "I'm going to do some investigating, my job takes me all over the place so its easy for me to look around. In the meantime, you keep an eye on the Fire and see if you notice anything unusual about it."

"The whole thing is unusual Canary. Its a magical device that churns out bottomless energy that we use to make rainbows. Whats to say it can't put up endless darkness too?"

Canary didn't really like that thought even though it made perfect sense. "Let me look around and see what I can find out."