Sader VanLorin walked
briskly down a dark hallway. His jet-black hair whipped about his
head, and his face, dark and brooding, was contorted with teenage
determination. His stride put forth a sense of purpose as he lifted
up his right arm in a sort of salute, heading straight towards a
solid brick wall. He should have crashed into the wall painfully at
the speed he was walking, but he passed harmlessly through it, as if
he was smoke, and appeared in a dark room on the other side.

The room had nothing in
it but a black video console that had tons screens, each of them
flickering black every once in a while. Most of them showed teenagers
in rooms that looked extremely bored, but one was fuzzy, like it was
broken. Sader stared intently at the broken screen.

“Have you found
them yet?” a hissing voice asked from the darkness. It echoed
around the room, giving forth a sense of dark power.

“No.” said Sader,
getting down on one knee and bowing his head. “They camouflage
themselves well, but I will find them soon, I prom-”

“You have failed me
one too many times.” the voice hissed, sounding angry. Sader
cowered. “The girl's parents are the only ones who are still
guardians, so only they must know how to transfer their power. If we
don't find them soon, one of the guardians could escape before we put
them to good use. I will look for Destiny and her husband myself.
You-”

“Let me have
another chance!” Sader said, looking up at nothing. “I promise if
you let me-”

“You have used up
your chances.” the voice said, getting dangerously quiet. “You
are only adequate to look after the young guardians-” Sader's
eyes flitted over to the teenagers on the console. “-to watch
them, and make sure they don't escape. Please me and you will suffer
less pain.”

The dark power in
the room seemed to dissipate, leaving Sader watching the video
console. His eyes lingered thoughtfully on a tall girl with black
hair that was shorter in the back and longer in the front, and pale
skin with a splash of freckles across her nose, who was sleeping
peacefully in a pink bed. She unconsciously put her hand underneath
her pillow and smiled in her sleep. A small smile formed on Sader's
face, his eyes glinting evilly.

“You want me to watch
her?” said Sader, “Fine, I'll watch her.”

Lina figured that she
ought to be old enough to leave her room now. I mean, she hadn't left
her bedroom since she was two, and now she was thirteen, almost
fourteen. Barbra had been skittish after her parents' deaths, but it
should have worn off by now. Shouldn't she at least be able to go
outside for just an hour?

But alas, that could
never happen.

You see, when Lina was
two years old, her parents died in a car crash. Barbra, who was a
good friend of her parents', took Lina in and raised her as if she
was her own. But she had been so scared for Lina that she moved away
into the outskirts of a very small town where nothing ever happened.
But just to make sure that Lina stayed safe, she locked her away in a
tall building surrounded by tall cliffs so that no one could ever get
to her. There Lina had stayed for the last twelve years, only hoping
that Barbra would someday let her go.

Lina started bouncing a
red, rubber ball on the floor. It landed with a thud, then jumped
back up into her hand. She threw it down again, and it came back up.
Over and over and over, the ball bounced from the floor into Lina's
hand then back again. Lina sighed as she watched it.

Storm, a cat that was a
gift from Barbra, hissed when the ball bounced too close to him. He
bounded off to his cat bed on the other side of the room, as far away
from the ball as possible. Lina sighed and neglected to catch the
oncoming ball out of boredom. It bounced away from her towards Storm,
who hissed again and sped off to the bathroom, his silky black fur
glinting blue in the sunlight.

Ignoring Storm, Lina
stood up and walked to the open window on the other side of the room.
She leaned against it and looked up at the drifting clouds above her,
wishing that she could be outside chasing them without a care in the
world. But, reluctantly, she turned away and sat down on her bed
instead. She grabbed a necklace with nothing on it but a small purple
amethyst; her mom's old necklace. The only thing in her life that
proved she once had a family. She held it tightly to her chest.

Lina jumped when she
heard the lock click on her door. Barbra was coming. Lina quickly
smoothed down her fluffy pink dress, flipped her curled hair to make
it look nicer and put on the best smile she could muster, just in the
nick of time. She slipped the necklace under her pillow as Barbra
opened the door.

As usual, Barbra had
curled her dark brown, and graying, hair, making her look like a
grandma. She wore ugly, old-fashioned clothes and pointy high heels
that didn't match them. She wasn't wearing any makeup (except for
some vivid pink lipstick), so all of her wrinkles were showing. She
had a gushy smile on her face and was holding out her arms, ready to
give Lina a hug.

“Hello my pretty
Lina!” Barbra said as she walked over to her with surprising ease.
Lina hugged her, not showing her reluctance to do so. Barbra took a
basket she had hung on her arm and set it on a nearby table
unconcernedly, then began to chat about the real world and everything
wrong with it, just like always.

Lina pretended to
listen, nodding occasionally and saying “Yes, I agree with you.”.
But her mind was wandering far from Barbra's talking. Well, maybe
not so far, as she was thinking about the real world herself, in the
way she imagined it would be. Barbra had told her only abut the bad
things, but she figured something good could somehow be made out of
it. So when Barbra told her about a war fifty years ago, Lina tried
to imagine having people to be with. What were they called? Friends?
When Barbra switched to the sad deaths of her parents, Lina tried to
picture them, alive and holding her in their arms.

When Barbra finally
left, Lina was about to have an emotional breakdown, she missed her
family so much. She flopped down onto her bed and began to cry
silently into her pillow. She clutched the necklace that was still
hiding underneath it. If only she could find a way to get out of
here, then she might actually be able to find the rest of her family,
if she had any. Soon however, Lina's eyes began to droop as she cried
herself to sleep.

As she was sleeping,
Lina had a dream. She was standing in the pouring rain, just out side
a big city. The city was gray and lifeless, as if no one had lived
there for ages. Somehow, she wasn't cold or wet. Maybe it was just
because this was a dream. Suddenly, two people, a man and a woman,
appeared out of the gloom, sopping wet. They began walking towards
Lina, but not knowing she was there. They seemed to be looking for
something valuable, something important. Both the man and the woman
looked weary from lack of sleep, but they kept walking. Lina watched
them in interest.

All of a sudden, the
woman threw herself into the man's arms and started to cry. The man
held her and said “I sense she is close. Hold on a little bit
longer.” The woman didn't seem convinced.

“But we've been
searching and searching for almost twelve years!” the woman
complained. “How will we ever find her?”She continued to sob in
the man's arms. He rubbed her back and she seemed to calm down a
little, but she still sobbed.

“Don't worry.” the
man told her though the pouring rain. “She's almost of age. She's
bound to be easier to find once she turns fourteen.”

“But what if we don't
recognize her?” the woman asked.

“That we don't need to
worry about.” the man said. The woman broke away from him and began
to look around anxiously. “We'll know her when we see her.” the
man added, taking her hand gently. The woman looked at him for a
moment, as if she was trying to see if he was lying. Her stormy eyes
seemed to x-ray him. Then she nodded and the two continued searching.

Lina woke up in a cold
sweat and breathing heavily. She knew who those people were.
She also knew what they were looking for. But why were they still
looking for her? Shouldn't they have given up hope? Okay, calm
down. It was just a dream. She had only hoped that they were looking
for her. It must have been Barbra, talking about her parents, that
made her have that dream. She knew they couldn't be looking for her.
They were dead.

Thunder sounded from
outside. Lina looked out the window and saw that it was pouring rain.
Just like in her dream. No, just a coincidence. Lina walked to the
window and leaned out. There was nothing there except for the
plant-covered cliffs and that boulder that didn't seem to belong
there. She looked up at the storm and saw a rainbow gleaming against
the gray sky. Somehow, it didn't make her feel better.

Lina sighed, and was
about to turn her back on the window when a pure white dove flew out
from a window above her. Lina stopped to look at it. But as she
looked up, she saw a pair of hands closing the window on the level
above her. They were pale like Barbra's, but there wasn't a crease on
them. Lina was overcome with curiosity. “Hey!” she shouted, but a
thunderclap sounded and whoever owned those hands apparently couldn't
hear her. They closed the window.

Who was up there? Why
were they up there? And did this have anything to do with Barbra?
These questions flew around Lina's mind as she started pacing back
and forth across the room. Maybe Barbra had put other people here.
But why would she do that? And if she had put people here, wouldn't
that mean that Barbra had put Lina here too? And in that case, are
her parents still alive? What if the dream was real?

Puurrr. Puurrr.
Puurrr.

Storm climbed
onto Lina's bed and sneaked past Lina's sleeping body to her face. He
started to lick Lina's nose, waking her up. Lina laughed as she
playfully swatted him away. Storm jumped off the bed, still purring.

Lina got out of bed and
dressed herself, stretching. She brushed her silky black hair and
pinned the front behind her neck, adding a sparkly hairband at the
last second. She retched when she saw herself in the mirror. She
looked like an abnormally tall six year old with her flouncy pink
dress and sparkly headband, but anything to hide herself from Barbra.

Speaking of Barbra, Lina
heard a lock click and Barbra opened the door. “Hello my pretty
princess Lina!” said Barbra in a sing-song voice. Lina tried to
smile as she gave her a hug. “So, how have you been darling?”

“Oh wonderfully!”
Lina said with false enthusiasm. “I've been playing with Storm a
bit this morning and I started a new book; Pride and Prejudice.”
Barbra smiled and nodded like she agreed with what Lina was doing
with her life.

As usual, Barbra started
to talk about the world outside Lina's bedroom; and Lina wasn't doing
anything to stay with the conversation. She was thinking about her
dream and the pair of hands that closed the window above her. But it
was pointless wondering. It was time to pluck up the courage and ask.

“Uh, Barbra?” Lina
asked.

Barbra looked at Lina
concernedly. “Yes?”

Lina took a deep breath.
No more hiding. “Who else is in here? Is their anyone else being
kept here? Are they orphans too? I know you say that the world is
cruel and dangerous, but I'm almost fourteen. Don't you think I'm old
enough to go outside for once?”

“Darling, why would
you even suggest such a thing?” Barbra asked, surprised. “Trust
me when I say that you will never survive out there on your own.”

“Then why can't you
take me out? Just for a day, an hour even?”

“Anything could
happen, just like with your parents. I don't want the same thing
happening to you.”

“What if I don't care
if something happened to me? What if nothing did happen? What if the
outside world isn't as bad as it seems?”

Barbra drew herself up
to her fullest height (which wasn't much) and said “I am your legal
guardian. I choose what happens with you, and I say that you are not
leaving this room for a very long time.”

“But-”

“And that is final.”
Barbra said.

Lina looked down at her
feet. “Yes ma'am.” she said solemnly. Barbra nodded and walked
out of the room, locking the door behind her.

In the weeks that
followed, Lina kept her head down and didn't ask to go out again.
Barbra stopped talking so much about the world and, instead, started
talking about Lina's life. As much wasn't going on with her, Barbra's
conversations ended quickly and Lina was left alone more often. Not
that Lina minded. It was nicer without Barbra.

Lina drew a target on
her wall and began throwing things at it whenever she became bored or
angry. As a result, she soon became a very good aim with practically
anything at practically anything. Lina's reflexes became extremely
fast, but she was sure that she would never use these skills in her
life, if she ever got out.

Lina was drawing a
target behind her mirror when the lock clicked. Uh-oh. If Barbra
found out that Lina was drawing on her wall, she would kill her. Lina
dropped the permanent marker as she quickly slid the mirror back into
place. The door opened and Barbra stepped over the threshold. Lina
kicked the marker under her desk as Barbra gave her a hug.

“How are you my
darling Lina?” asked Barbra.

“I am doing splendid.”
Lina answered with fake enthusiasm.

“Yes, why would you
ever want to go outside?” Barbra asked her, beginning to unpack her
basket.

Lina shrugged,
supposedly with no concern. Barbra nodded and smiled a gushy smile.
She started going on and on and on about the world and it's problems.
Barbra was back again.

Lina was glad when
Barbra finally left her alone again. She had been talking for a long
time, so long that Lina became sleepy. She hopped onto her bed and
curled up into her pink blankets as the sun set. Storm slipped
underneath them with her as Lina fell asleep.

Lina was standing in the
vivid green grass, outside her room, but inside the cliffs. She moved
the out-of-place boulder aside and walked through a dark tunnel,
coming out in a big city; the city she had dreamed her parents were
in. Barbra was waiting at the end, trying to grab her. Lina dodged
and ran through the streets as fast as she could. She could hear
Barbra shouting behind her, so she looked back. Barbra was running to
her and beginning to gain momentum. Weird. Barbra was too old to run.
But it was just a dream. Lina kept running.

Lina ran into something
as she was looking back; a helicopter, like the ones she had seen
flying over her room. A faceless man stepped out and, before Lina
could run, grabbed her arm. Lina struggled, but the man threw her
inside the helicopter. The blades on top of the helicopter began
moving and it took off, leaving Barbra shouting up at Lina from
beneath.

The helicopter flew high
into the air, making the city look very small. The faceless man
opened a side door and began to push Lina out. Lina shouted in fear
as she tried to push back at him. But the faceless man was too
strong. Lina fell, screaming, from the helicopter.

She grabbed on to a bar
beneath the helicopter, hanging on with one hand. Lina grunted,
trying to hold on. The faceless man looked over the side of the
helicopter, into Lina's eyes. “We cannot have you ruining our
society.” he said in a robot-like voice that Lina had heard in
movies. The man lifted up his foot, preparing to kick Lina's hand.

All of a sudden, the
dream changed. Lina was in a dirty brick room, with no light source
within it. As Lina's eyes adjusted, Lina saw a man and a woman
looking worriedly around the room; her parents. They were sitting in
chairs with their backs facing her, tied up in black ropes. No, not
ropes. Shadows.

“Tell me how to
transfer her power.” a hissing
voice said. It sounded like a thousand knives scraping against a
blackboard as it echoed, making it seem like it came from everywhere.
Lina covered her ears, but it seemed to shake her entire body.

“We'd
rather die than tell you!” her father said, his blue eyes alive
with malice. The voice growled, like it was annoyed.

“Let
me make you a deal.” the voice
said, trying to keep itself under control. “You give me
the key to transferring her powers and I'll give her back to you.”

“She's
alive?” her mother asked, shock forming on her face. A strand of
dark hair hung loosely from her ponytail, but she didn't seem to
notice.

“Yes.”
the voice confirmed. “I've
kept her safe all these years, along with . . . the others.”

“You've
kept the other guardians too?” her father asked, growling with
rage.

“They
know nothing about their past lives.” the
voice told her parents. “They would think you're crazy if
you tried to let them go. They have been brainwashed, including your
daughter, to think that where they are is the only safe place in the
world for them. You can't get them without my help. So, do we have a
deal?”

Lina
wanted to shout at her parents to stop, not to agree, but her voice
wouldn't work. She couldn't move. She had no idea what was going on,
but she knew it was important. Her parents were in danger.

Dark
energy seemed to wash over her when she had the thought. “What's
this?” the voice asked. “An
intruder?” Lina felt full of
dread, just by feeling the power, like there would never be light
again. Her chest tightened as it became harder and harder to breathe.

The
voice became agitated as it spoke again. “You are growing
to strong.” it said, almost to
itself. “It is time for you to leave.”

All
of a sudden, Lina was hanging from under the helicopter again. The
faceless man's foot was still in the air. Lina was too confused to
register what was happening. And then she was falling to the earth,
spiraling uncontrollably as the ground flew closer . . .

Lina screamed and sat
upright, shaking uncontrollably in her bed. Why were her parents
trapped? What was that. . . voice? What had the voice meant when it
said “transfer her powers”? What powers did she have? And her and
the others being brainwashed. . . what others? Was the dream even
real?

One thing was for sure
though; if she wanted to find out anything, it was time to act. She
needed to escape this prison, show her true colors. No more
goody-two-shoes.

The war was on.