Almost a month later I left the sanctuary. I could feel my skin itching to move again - not to mention my feet were numb. What can I say, I've got a gypsy soul and was born for leaving. I said bye to Selie and Del - Korri was still AWOL, packed a bag and took off, literally. My first stop was Niles. It was September now, which meant Caeden was bound to have started school... but I was bored. I haven't felt homesick since the day I left. Which I found weird, because I always thought I would be. I always thought I would miss my family, if not the town... Turns out becoming immortal is the best way to evaporate homesickness. I did, however, miss Caeden. I'd missed him in the past six and a half years, and now that he could see me, I planned on visiting way more often.

When I'd left last time, I'd told him I'd be back in a month or so. A few hours after taking off, about three actually, I finally passed the Indiana/Kentucky border. I flew right over Louisville... and dropped to sight-see. I walked the streets, a few of which I actually recognized. I'd come here three or four times when I'd been mortal, always at the same time of year. My family had come for Thunder Over Louisville, the largest firework show in the United States - and it's not for the Fourth of July. It's for the opening of the Kentucky Derby. The fireworks last over an hour, are set to music, and are only rivaled by Chinese New Year in China. I'd never gotten to come any other time of year. I resolved to go and see the show the coming year, as it was held in early spring.

As I was walking down the street I noticed someone familiar on the other side of the road, on the other sidewalk. I danced across the road, dodging cars as I went. Once I reached the other side, I looked for the familiar face. Who is it? I found them and ran over, 'til I was close enough to discern their face better. I jumped back in recognition. It was my aunt - well step aunt. It was my step-grandma's sister, who lived here. I hadn't seen any of my relatives, aside from Caeden, in the past six years. I hadn't let myself see my mom... I'm not sure I ever will. But here I was, face to face with an aunt I'd only seen two or three times ever.

For one of the first times since dying, I felt invisible. I was staring at a relative, to whom I didn't exist. Yes, I'd traversed the globe, and been seen by no mortal eyes, but I didn't know any of them, I didn't expect to. It was surreal to see her and have her not see me. She walked past me, without a glance. Distracted by her, I didn't notice a pedestrian 'til they walked through me. I immediately, instinctively, jumped off of the sidewalk and up onto an awning. My breath came deep and fast. I really hated being walked through. It was like having ice-cold water poured down my back, and having my breath knocked out of me. Aside from the physical sensations, I also felt like someone had stabbed my heart. When someone walks through you, you feel their absence of belief. It's not a pleasant feeling to say the least.

I had my arms wrapped around my abdomen, and, had anyone been there to see, the look of fear could have been perceived on my face. Once I calmed myself enough, I jumped down, being careful to not walk through anyone else. I'd dropped my bag in my mad dash up to the awning and had to locate it. There... It was almost laying in the street. I swerved around people and snatched it up, slinging it over my shoulder. I took one last look around downtown Louisville and called my wings back. I was ready to leave.

Half an hour later I dropped onto my old street. I was a few blocks from my old house, but I didn't mind walking. Unlike the street in Louisville, there were no other pedestrians on the road, there weren't even sidewalks in this neighborhood. I had my hands in my pockets as I strode down the street. A dog barked at me as I walked passed it. That was something I'd noticed. Animals always saw me, or at least sensed me. I found it hilarious when a dog on a leash was barking at me and their owner was oblivious as to why their dog was barking at thin air. "Oh, shut up." I said it good-naturedly. Being walked through had thrown me off my game, but I was good now. I was gonna see my brother again, how could I be in a bad mood?

I came up to my house and hopped over the fence into the backyard. It still stunned me to see our completed, not to mention good looking, backyard. Before, my mom hadn't had a chance to make it what she'd wanted. In the past six years she'd obviously found time. I remember the last time I saw it with mortal eyes. The pool hadn't been drained yet, so the water was a brownish-green color. The concrete was dirty and stained like it'd always been. The bushes were basically sticks, as the leave's had yet to come back. All in all, not very pretty. Now, the water was a slightly brownish blue, dirt must have washed in. The concrete had been stained another color, on purpose, but was still a bit dirty. The bushes were starting to loose their leaves. There was pompas grass all over, the seating had finally shown itself after years of nothing, there was a fire-pit - that worked - and, all in all, what my mom had always wanted the yard to look like.

I shook my head in faint wonder. It was weird being back... but, then again, I wasn't really back, was I? I climbed up to my old window. Sure enough, Caeden had left it unlocked. I slithered in, dropping my bag on the floor. It was only about 3:00pm, so I knew he'd probably just got home from school, if not he'd be home in a little bit. I went into his room and left a note, paper airplane style, on his bed. He'd see it when he got home. I went back upstairs to my old room and flipped on the T.V.

At about 4:15, I heard the front door open and close. It's about time. Caeden always got dropped off at our grandma's house, which was on State Line Rd. He went to school in Michigan, we lived in Indiana. Technically. Our grandma's was the closest the school could get him to home. He'd told me that last year he'd started walking home from her house once he'd been dropped off by the bus. I hadn't realized he walked at a snail's pace.

I didn't bother to get up, he'd find my note and come to me. I was feeling lazy. I heard him walking past the door to my old room and into his. I heard him drop his bag on the floor and turn on his T.V. Then I heard him find the note. A smile crept over my face. He thundered up the stairs, flying around the landing and almost falling flat on his face. I tried to hide my chuckle and almost succeeded. He didn't seem to notice though.

"Tori!" He jumped at me and buried me with a hug, which I accepted, though I was knocked over in the process.

"Did you stop to sight-see or something? I've been here since 3:00!"

"What about you? You said you'd be back in a month!"

"I said about a month." He sat back. "How's school goin'?"

"So far? Good." He glanced at the T.V. which I still had on. "What'cha watching?"

"Supernatural. Haven't seen it in a few years."

"Sweet."

The next day, which happened to be Wednesday, I went with Caeden to school. I even rode the bus. That was weird. I had rode the bus for half of my senior year, it saved on gas. Hey, I'm cheap, what can I say? That was almost eight years ago. I sat in the seat across from Caeden for most of the ride, but ended up standing for the last few stops as my seat was needed. I'd stood on top od the seats a few times to avoid being passed through, though I think Caeden just thought I was seat surfing. I kinda was. I'd always wanted to, but had never been willing to piss off the driver, whom I'd always befriended. Riding the bus was almost like home for the fact that my bro definitely took after me. He sat up near the front.

I'd never sat in back on my bus. Ever. When I was younger I'd wanted to because it meant you were cool. Once I got older I realized I hated everyone back there and it was far less noisy and annoying near the front. People got stuff thrown at them in back, but, near the driver, no one dared. I'd always tried to find a seat to myself as well, I usually had so much stuff with me, I needed it. In any case, after the last stop I perched on the back of Caeden's seat until we got to Brandywine High School. I knew he wanted to say something to me, but didn't want to look like a crazy person by talking to thin air.

Once the bus pulled up I waited 'til everyone was gone before walking off. I didn't want a repeat of Louisville. Caeden had waited for me, walking as slowly as would seem normal towards the school. I caught up to him. "You didn't have to wait for me. Remember, this was my school long before it was yours. I know my way around."

"Why'd you sit on my seat for the ride? And why'd you wait 'til everyone was off before you did?"

"Do you want an older sister answer, or a serious one?"

"I don't care."

"I felt like seat surfing." He accepted that. I felt a little bad about lying to him, but I didn't want to freak him out. He knew people could pass through Jack when they didn't believe, but I hadn't yet told him I'd had the experience. I didn't plan on telling him either. Until he asked me outright, I wouldn't telling him anything serious.

We walked through the doors and into the cafeteria. I got bored almost instantly, as soon as the realization that I could wander the halls in peace occurred. "What's your first class?"

"Biology."

"Next?"

"Math, then Spanish, then lunch, art, CAD, English, and world history last."

"Alright, I'll see you." I waved as I walked out of the cafeteria and down the hall. My first stop was the art room. Mr. M had the door open, so I could walk in without arousing suspicion. Many memories lined the walls of this room. Some of my happiest ones from my time at the school. M was sitting at his desk, oblivious to my presence. I felt a pang. He'd been one of my favorite teachers. He looked older now. It was to be expected. The last time I saw him, he'd been in his early thirties, with his hair spiked up and his glasses on. He was wearing his usual attire of borderline hipster clothing, while still managing to look like a teacher. He'd always play music in class, Bob Marley and The Beatles being his favorites. Now his hair was a bit shorter and not spiked anymore. He still wore similar clothes, and still had his glasses, the stubble and almost goatee he'd sported were still there as well. But, yes, he was definitely older.

I went over to the back corner and sat down on the counter that ran all along the walls. Beneath the counter were the cabinets that held all the art supplies, on the other side of the wall were the pull out drawers that students could put artwork in. M already had his music on, and I smiled. "Yellow Submarine" came blaring out of the speakers. Same old M. His real name was Mr. McLaughlin but none of us ever wanted to spell it wrong, so we all called him either Mr. M or just M. I'd always opted for M. I remember that one student called him Sunset, and he called her Moonbeam. She'd given him a hippie name as a joke about his taste in music and clothing, he'd done the same in return. A few other students called him Sunset after that, but most of us called him M or Mr. M.

The bell rang and students poured into the room almost immediately, as it was right next to the cafeteria. They immediately dove into their projects, most of them pulling out iPods and MP3 players. Sitting in the corner I pulled a notebook out of my bag and drew on my own. Just little doodles, but it felt wrong to be in here without drawing. I was out of the way enough that no one would notice if my pen and book became visible, which had happened a handful of times before.

As I sat, I felt the pieces they were working on. Intrigued, I followed the strongest sense of story immersion to the far side of the room. There was a girl who looked like a junior, she had her ear-buds in and was oblivious to the world around her. I watched her paint a scene that seemed to be a landscape. It was surrealistic, the colors all wrong, and trippy. It was awesome. I could faintly hear the song she was listening to, which I soon realized was on repeat. It was Imaginary by Evanescence. I knew the song. I realized she was painting what the song described, a field of paper flowers with a purple sky. She'd added a few more touches, giving it an even more ethereal feel. Glowing green trees, and a river reflecting a normal sky among them. I reached out my hand and placed it on her shoulder. I felt her heart sped up as my Muse type effect kicked in.

This girl was exactly how I'd been when I was mortal. I was so enthralled by her working that I didn't realize that M had decided to take a stroll around the classroom. Until he leaned down next to her to see how her painting was coming along. Incidentally, he went right through me as he did. I pulled in a sharp breath and jumped up on the counter behind them. The girl blinked as if she'd just woken up, just realized that the world around her existed. She started talking to M about her piece. Meanwhile, tears had leaked out of my eyes, unbidden and unexpected.

I hung out in the library for a while after that. It was most often empty and I'd have ample time to move should anyone choose to sit where I was. I had to fight to keep myself off the books though. I'd had two walk-throughs in as many days. I was trembling slightly. Thought much of my mind was caught in that thought, a lot of the rest was still stuck on the girl. She'd been so into the story... I think she'd felt me, for a moment. I don't know, my mind might have been playing tricks on me. When I realized that Caeden would be having lunch I took a stroll to the cafeteria. I found him at the same table my friends and I used to sit. The one right next to the end of the lunch line.

He didn't see me walk over, he had his back to me. I walked around to the other side of the table and stood behind the person across from him. It took him a moment to realize that it was me standing there. He looked up and jumped. His friend turned around and looked right at me - or through me if you choose to look at it that way. He turned back to Caeden, confused. "Dude, why'd you jump?"

"Nothing, I just thought I saw something." I'd doubled over in laughter by now.

"That was priceless! Did you see his face? Did you see yours! Priceless!" Caeden was the only one who heard me. He fought to keep his friends from noticing his reactions to words they themselves couldn't hear. Which made it even funnier to me. I finally got up off the floor, finally over my bout of laughter. "Sorry, bud. I couldn't resist."

Under his breath, he mumbled, "You and Jack both."

One of his friends noticed him mumbling. "You say something?"

"No, just talking to myself." I was laughing again. I now realized how much fun Jack had with Jamie. But hey, that's how us older siblings are. Jack hadn't told me, but I'd figured out that he felt like Jamie was his second chance of being a brother. He'd missed his sister growing up, and Jamie had been the same age as she'd been when he first saw Jack. I hoped it worked out, but... I knew Jack shouldn't get too attached... after all. We'd stay long after they died. I kept that in mind while I was with Caeden. I had to. I knew I wouldn't be able to take it when the time came if I let myself stay as close.

Caeden noticed my brooding vibes as got up, telling his friends he was going to the bathroom, when in reality he subtly gestured to me. I followed. We went out the side of the cafeteria near the bathrooms, but we went the opposite way after that. We went all the way to the end, right before the doors. He turned to me. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing, I just thought of something, that's all." Not even my brother got to hear my weak side. No one did. I never tell anyone, never have either. The one time I told these types of things to one of my best friends, I'd started crying. I don't do it any more. Not even to Jack.

"Tori, I know you. I may have been blind when I was little, but I'm not now. I can see that something's wrong."

"It's nothing, bud. I'm fine. Go back and have lunch with your friends, I'll find you later." I walked off, back to the library.

I'm not a weak person. In general, I'm strong. Not physically, I've always hated sports, no. But emotionally. I have to thank my original characters, in part, for that. I created strong people, who made me want to live up to the example I created. I figured that, if I could think It up, I could achieve it. I rarely cry, I seldom whine about how the world isn't fair. I don't bemoan my fate about how others have it better than me, or have things I don't. Not because I'm a good person who realizes that I have more than an entire third-world country's population, but because I deal with it. I've always dealt with it. I accept, I move on, and I turn my mind to what makes me happy. Yeah I want more, yeah I want better, but I don't gripe and groan about it.

Sometimes I just have to hide away and get rid of all my "deal with it's" though. I used to hide up in my room, listen to a song that brought out all those feels, cried a little, and talked to either my ocs or some other character who'd know what I was dealing with. I'd talk to whoever would listen. It was usually at the end of these times where I'd promise that thing where I'd live normal if I could just get magic one, just fly once, just get a chance to create a story of my own, to leave the country. To do anything really. I'd give up the closest thing I could ever "realistically" get for what I wanted.

Now, I still hide, I still listen to music, but I don't talk to people. I talk to myself, in my head. I think through all the deal with it's. I was sitting in one of the bathroom stalls in the girl's room doing that now. I'd locked the door so no one would come in and sit on me. I was dealing with the thought of knowing my brother would stop believing in me, that he'd die. That everyone I cared about would die. That I was invisible. I was dealing with the feeling of the two walk-throughs. I was dealing with feeling like, even though I'd finally gotten what I wanted, even though I finally felt like I was doing what I was meant to, even though I felt complete for the first time in my life since I'd become Story Tale... even though I had friends and a family... I felt alone.

I'd always distanced myself from people. I used to describe myself as a social hermit. I love talking, hanging out, living. But I hide in my room. I stuff my face in a book. I immerse myself in my stories. I was social, but I was a hermit. I hadn't changed in that aspect. There was a reason I'd never had a real boyfriend, never fallen in love. I sighed. A few more tears slid out of my eyes and I wiped them on my sleeve. I took a breath and let out the remnants of those negative emotions. I stood up and walked out of the stall. As I left the bathroom, I glanced out the window, into the courtyard. The second lunch was in session and a few kids were sitting outside, savoring the warm weather while it lasted. Winter came fast once it got here. We took what we could.

I saw the girl from earlier, the one who'd been painting Imaginary. I went outside, through one of the propped open doors and stood near her. She was reading a book. I craned my neck to see the title. "What?" It was Swan Sister a compilation of re-told fairy tales. I loved that book. I had a copy back at the Sanctuary, worn and read hundreds of times by myself only. Well, Sel and Jack had each read it once, Sel a few more than once, but still. This girl was drawing my notice more and more, first she listens to my kinds of music, then she reads one of my favorite books - and one of my favorite stories from it for that matter! She was reading Chambers of the Heart which re-told the Bluebeard story. I ruffled the pages a little, and realized that all my favorites in the books were the ones she'd marked. Who is this girl?

I followed her around for the rest of the day, and, sure enough, she was like a copy of me when I'd been mortal. She listened to the same music I did, she read the same books as me, she was even friends with the librarian! I was getting seriously freaked out. An idea had started growing, though. An idea I was hoping to bright to light.

The next day I rode on top of the bus, Caeden having left the window open so we could more or less talk. I hadn't told him about the girl yet, so he didn't know why I was eager when just the day before I'd been brooding. He should have learned by now, I can swing from a negative emotion to a positive one in seconds, always have. Until I designate a time for the deal with it's that is.

The wind was whipping past, blowing my hair around. I had my eyes closed, and just felt it for a moment. People were wrong, this was nothing like flying. I laughed once. Zip lines were closer, I'd been on those a handful of times. They were still nothing compared to real flight. I could have flown to the school, but I'd have gotten there way before the bus and I didn't feel like waiting around for my bro to show up. For the time being I was content to feel the wind on my face in the half light of morning.

"What's funny?" Caeden's voice wafted out of the window, quiet enough that I only just heard it.

"Nothing, bud," I said with a smile. I leaned down over the side of the buss and looked in through the window. "I just thought of a joke, that's all. It's an inside joke, you wouldn't get it."

He rolled his eyes at me, used to these kinds of answers from his older sister.

We pulled up to the school a few minutes later, this time I jumped down and met him at the door. Not having to wait for the kids to get off was much better, if I do say so myself. I leaned my arm on his shoulder as we walked. "I'll see you in art, I got a few people I want to see. Catch ya later, bud." I started to walk off.

"You know, you're the only one who still calls me bud."

I turned to him, surprised. Everyone had called him bud. In fact that's what people called his grandpa too, and when we'd first started calling him that, my mom had mused that she now knew where grandpa had gotten the nickname. "Really?"

"Everyone stopped after you... left." I felt a pang of guilt. I don't waste my thoughts on "I wishes" that pertain to the past, I don't dwell on regrets. I don't believe in regret. But I do feel bad about leaving. But I'd had too. I could have come back sooner though. I didn't have to wait six years.

It gave me time to loosen the bonds I had with him though. That's why I'd waited so long. If I'd stayed right off the bat, I wouldn't have ever been able to leave. I wouldn't have ever been able to let go. I'd always been selfish in the sense that I thought of what I needed before others, I don't deny that. I had to leave. I wouldn't tell him that though.

"Hey... when I said bye to you that night, did you remember, or did you think it was a dream?"

He was quiet for a minute before answering. "For a long time I thought it was a dream, but I found the note you left for mom... and I remembered hearing Jack's voice in the hallway. I knew it was real. And when you came back all doubts were gone."

I smiled. "Good." I turned and went inside, heading straight for the art room.

The girl was one of the first kids in the room. I could have called that. I sat on the counter behind her as she got to work immediately on her painting, putting Imaginary on repeat as she did. After only a few minutes she was so totally in her story that she was oblivious to the world, and I was drawn into hers. I could hear the song now and feel the emotions she put into the piece. She was a true lover of stories. The thought crossed my mind that she should get that scholarship that my classmates had created. From what I could see, she fit the criteria.

I still didn't know her name yet, but I'd find out. She had dark brown hair that had a strip of purple on the right side of her face. Behind her glasses were green hazel eyes. I looked closer and saw the faintest ring of blue in there as well. Not that she noticed me right up next to her face. Personal boundaries aren't really a problem when people can't see you breaking them. It was kind of fun.

I was entranced by her trance like state, but not as much as I'd been yesterday, I was adamant about not being walked through again. Not for a long while anyway. She had some skills. I hadn't been able to master clouds until after I'd become immortal, and even now I struggled sometimes. I was impressed. This girl was, what, nine years younger than me? I went around to the other side of the table to get a better look at the painting and braced myself on the table. One of my hands was right on her MP3 player so I moved it over a fraction. "You're doing a great job." I mused aloud.

The girl looked up, almost right at me. I jumped back. Did she just hear me? She looked down at her MP3 player in confusion. Curious, I walked back to the table. I touched her player again. "Your painting looks great." Her eyes widened. She can hear me through the music player! A wicked grin spread over my face. I was going to have some fun.

I followed her around until Caeden's lunch when I went to see him again. Then I went to his art class and hung out with him while he drew horribly. My little brother is not exactly an artist. Give him a pile of Legos though and you'll get some awesome stuff. However, the school did not recognize Legos as art supplies. It's a shame because there'd be a lot more boys interested in art.

"You wanna really impress M?" He looked at me as subtly as he could.

"How." He had to whisper because not everyone had headphones on.

"Go to a new page of paper, and hold the pencil very lightly." I jumped over to the other side of the table and grabbed the pencil. Caeden's left handed so it was less awkward than you'd think it'd be. I started drawing something with the skill I'd had when I was mortal, I didn't plan on giving him that much extra credit. I was drawing Jack. I'd seen him enough over the years that his face had been burned into my mind. Caeden instantly saw who it was, which was my point, it was no use drawing something Caeden wouldn't be able to explain. I gave accurate proportions, made his hoodie realistic, etc. But I kept it as low key as I could, Like I said, my brother is not an artist, but I love him and wanted to help him out. When I was done, anyone who'd seen even the most basic fanart of the movie would have recognized Jack. I used nothing but blue pencils for the hoodie and kept the rest monochromatic. Mainly because the only colors that my brother can see correctly are Blue and Yellow. It killed me to not add other colors, but hey.

The bell rang and Caeden turned in his "extra credit" assignment. I was giggling so much that I couldn't bring myself to leave the room for a good few minutes after that.

When I stopped laughing I followed down the hall to the CAD room, but the door was closed. I caught Caeden's attention and yelled that I was gonna hang out in the library. I'd meet up with him in his English class. For right now, though, I was gonna find that girl. I knew she had English right now. I'd found that out yesterday. She had my other favorite teacher, even. Mr. Breneman usually left his door open, which made me happy. I was also ecstatic that he was still here. He always did tell us he wanted to teach 'til the day he died. He wasn't joking.

I sat down near his desk, on top of one of the tables he had all over the room. "Hey, Breneman. Miss me?" I could see his podium fro where I sat. On it were close to a thousand signatures, if not more. His graduating seniors had been signing it longer than I'd been alive. I'd signed it too. I'd also tagged Beer Ghost on it. Seeing the little blob guy made me smile. Caeden hadn't been lying when he said that Beer Ghost made appearances, I'd seen him on a handful of boards already. Breneman's was one of those boards. "I see you're still letting kids tag your board."

There's something about seeing without being seen. On one hand it's awesome, you're like the ultimate spy. On the other, it sucks. You can talk all you want and no one even knows what you're saying, let alone that you're there. Right now was one of those times it sucked. I loved talking to Breneman... but I couldn't do that any more, could I? I sighed. "I wish you could hear me right now. It'd be fun to catch up." I chuckled a nostalgically. "You know, I still had that picture of you with your hair down until the day I died." Breneman had long, thin hair that he always wore in a ponytail. On our last day of school ever, my best friend and I had convinced him to let his hair down and half of us took pictures. I laughed again at the memory.

I looked around at the classroom. They were reading Beowulf. I hadn't been able to get into it when we'd read it, too many god-tangents for my liking, but everything else I was fairly okay with. The girl was really into it though. Or, at least, she had been. Now she was looking confusedly around the room. The same way she had earlier when I'd spoken through the player. Did she hear me talking just then? After looking for a minute or two she kind of shook her head and went back to the book.

I went over to her and sure enough, she was a couple chapters ahead of the rest of the class. "Damn girl, you are just like me." Her head snapped up and she looked to her left, where I was standing.

Breneman noticed. "Is something wrong, Tanya?"

She answered, sounding distracted. "No... I just... I thought I heard something."

"Okay."

I smiled and snuck out into the hallway where I jumped and whooped like an idiot. Even worse than Jack when Jamie first saw him. I was singing, "She can hear me, she can hear me! She can hear me, she can hear me!" I proceeded to act like the biggest dork on the planet until the bell rang and I jumped on top of the lockers to avoid the clogged stream of students.

I went to Caeden's English class after that. His teacher was one who'd come after I'd left, so I had no real opinion on her, but they were reading The Outsiders. I had fond memories of reading that in school. One time in particular where I was reading chapter seven, which was one chapter ahead of everyone else, and I suddenly saw "Chapter 9". I hadn't even realized I'd read through chapter eight too. I stopped in the middle of class, saying softly to myself "Well, that's enough for the day!" I was two chapters ahead of my class, that allotted me goof-off time.

Caeden was struggling to see the words, the school not having any large print copies. "Read along with the tape, bud. Listen and flip the pages when everyone else does. That's what half of these guys are doing anyway." He scrawled the words, I'm trying to read on my own, into his notebook. "Yeah, well, you're not reading half of what's happening, I can tell that from watching you." Not to mention that I could feel him struggling at the edge of in-story bliss. If he just listened he'd be there. To me and the tape. "You're not gonna know half of the questions on the tests at this rate."

With his nose still in the book he glanced up, glaring at me. "Fine!" He breathed/hissed so low that no one would notice. He sighed in defeat and put the book down on his desk, and succumbed to listening. I saw on his face that he was already more into the story. I felt him click into in-story bliss. I smiled. Success!

At the end of his class I walked to the door after all the other kids had filed out. "I'm gonna head back on my own, I'll meet you at grandma's house. Okay?"

"Okay." I let him walk off to history as I went to the library which was two rooms down. Like I said, the place was deserted most days, I was worry free when it came to walk-throughs. I'd found out that Tanya went to the library for the last ten minutes the past two days. I was hoping she'd follow suit and do the same today. In any case, I walked into the library and hopped up onto one of the shelves in the fiction section grabbing a book and laying it down on the top so no one would see me reading. I laid down on my stomach and proceeded to read the book, flipping the pages as quietly as I could. I'd picked one of the most boring ones here. How did I know it was boring? I'd read it before. Why was I reading it now? Because I needed to stay aware.

Sure enough, she walked in about ten or so minutes before the bell. Dang, you're more punctual than Sandy. She signed into the library, something the school did, so they knew kids weren't ditching class and were actually going where they said they would. She walked into the fiction section and I watched as she wandered through the shelves, unaware of my presence. I hopped down off of the shelf as she walked into the aisle it created. I grabbed the book and put it back. Her head snapped in my direction.

I chuckled to myself. She'd seen the book out of the corner of her eye. I wiggled the nearest good book on the shelf, less than an inch. She walked closer. I have to admit, I admired this girl a bit. She didn't show any fear or trepidation at all, and neither would I have were it me in her position. I pulled it out a little, just enough so she knew which one I'd been messing with.

She leaned in close to see which one it was, squinting a bit behind her glasses. Under her breath she read, "'Stranger With my Face'? I've read that already..." She pushed the book back in. So she'd already read that one. Fine. I moved to another book I'd read that was also good. She noticed as this one was pulled out, more than the previous one. She went over to it and read out again. "'The Two Princesses of Bamarre'... Hmm..." She pulled out the book all the way. I smiled.

Good, about time you haven't read a book I like... My thought trailed off. This girl really was just like me. People had told me similar things all my life, one from my friend that went, "Oh my God... there's a book you haven't read!?", in a half mocking way. I shook my head and followed Tanya to the checkout counter. A small smile covered my face when I saw that it was the same librarian we'd had my last year there.

"Find something new?"

Tanya nodded. "It was weird, it was like the books were jumping out at me. Like they wanted me to read them."

Ms. Mitchel laughed and said, "It sometimes seems that way. I remember this one student we had about eight years ago. She was in here more often than you. She would even get books off the new rack, just to read one she hadn't yet." She tapped the book Tanya had grabbed. "She checked this book out a few times, if I remember right."

"Yeah, I know, I read a lot." Tanya said, smiling and looking towards the floor. They finished the transaction and Tanya went and stood by the doors, waiting for the bell to ring. I was standing by Ms. Mitchel. She'd been talking about me.

"Don't worry, I still read. I still love stories. Hey - I am stories." I tapped one of the books she'd yet to enter into the system, one of the new ones. "That's a good one, the dragon reminds me of a friend of mine." The bell rang and I followed Tanya out to her bus. I jumped up on top and I noticed Caeden notice me. I waved and called out that I'd meet him at home. The bus lurched forward and we were on our way.

I watched as student after student walked out the doors and down the street. Finally, Tanya waked off. I had to laugh when I saw where we'd stopped. One of my friends lived right down the road, or at least she used to. On the next block actually. I followed Tanya to her house and watched through her window for a good while, waiting for her to pick up the dang book. By the time 8:00 rolled around she'd finally gone up to her room for good. She pulled out the book. I smiled. It was time for my plan to kick into over-drive.

She read the entirety of the poem in the beginning first, something I'd done only once I'd read the book a few times. Then she dove into the story. It wasn't long 'til I felt it click. I hate to interrupt a story, especially one I know so well, but, sometimes, you gotta push your feelings for part of something aside when your feelings for the rest matter more. She was already a chapter in before I knocked on the window.

Her head snapped up. Her eyes locked on mine. Her jaw dropped. I smiled... and started laughing when I realized she could actually see me.