Chapter One: Storm Warning

It was wintertime on Alnilam. Slate-gray clouds covered the normally lavender sky. Pure white snow was falling, covering the multicolored vegetation. An icy wind was whipping up, and the unicorns were huddled together for warmth.

Inside the house in the small meadow, there was a cheery roaring fire in the hearth. A black and white shorthair cat was on the recliner and a gray and white dragon-like critter known as a Kinsellan flit was perched on the back of the couch, lazily preening its scales.

A young woman stood at the window, arms tightly folded against the cold, staring at the snowflakes twirling around in the wind. Her yellow-golden wings twitched as she pulled her red jacket closer around her body.

“Something’s not right,” she said. She wasn’t speaking to anyone in particular. The cat could care less and the flit just watched her with some concern.

“I dunno,” she continued. “Something’s telling me that something’s wrong. But, I can’t think what.”

Storms usually are signs of bad omens, said the flit, speaking telepathically, as was his way.

“It’s not just the storm,” she said. “I have this gut feeling that something is just wrong.” She shivered and stepped away from the window, sitting beside the fire. The flit hopped down to stand beside her.

She stroked his crest, thinking. “I don’t know,” she said finally. “It’s like the feeling I get when someone I know is in danger, but there’s no one here connected to me like that anymore.”

Lisa hadn’t been linked to anyone since Ben, and it couldn’t be Jareth, for she had just spoken to him not too long ago.

Are you certain about that?

“Yes, Jamie,” she answered. His real name was Rising Fog; only Lisa was allowed to call him Jamie.

It’s late, Jamie said. Perhaps you should retire for the night. Things could change by morning.

“I guess,” she said, still troubled. Somehow, she knew a simple night’s sleep wouldn’t solve everything.

End chapter one.

Back *~*~* Chapter Two