When I woke up that morning, the first thing I saw was Angie laying in her bed asleep. I blinked a couple times as sun streamed in through the crack in the window curtains. I sat up, yawning and stretching. I'd slept okay. I kept waking up feeling strange, like I was being watched by someone. But every time I woke up and looked around, I saw nothing.

I quickly got dressed in a navy blue t-shirt, jeans, and a black hoodie. I started to open the door when a glint caught my eye. I turned and saw the necklace I'd received last night. It was shining in the sunlight. I wondered if Angie had seen it, but that was replaced by another thought; it wasn't a dream?

I stared at the necklace, wondering what I should do. I was startled out of my thoughts when Angie turned over and mumbled something in her sleep. The gleaming center on the neckalce landed right on her eye. I tensed up. I quickly ran over, grabbed it, and ran out of the room. It then hit me then that I had grabbed the necklace and now I had no clue what to do with it. I went through the possibilities of what to do with it, and finally settled on putting it on and seeing what happened. I peered around the corner into the living room and didn't see my mother. There was multiple more bottles on the floor, varying from full to half-empty to completely empty. I crept into the living room slightly. When the TV came into view, so did my mother. She was rolled into a ball in front of the TV snoring slightly. She was cuddling an empty beer bottle.

I walked into the kitchen and made myself of bowl of Lucky Charms. When I finished eating I brushed my teeth and hair in the bathroom. My black eye didn't look much better. I walked into the living room and slipped on my shoes. I grabbed my orchid colored backpack, my phone, and my key to the apartment and left quietly.

When I left the building, I grabbed my earbuds out of my backpack and plugged them into my phone. I turned on my music playlist and stuck the phone in my pocket. 'Let's Get It Started' by the Black-Eyed Peas started playing, and my head bounced along to the beat. I walked past the ice cream parlor, heading toward the park when I bumped into someone. I looked up to see shaggy blonde hair, pale skin dotted with freckles, and dark brown eyes. I took out my earbuds and stared into his eyes.

"I've seen you before," I said. "I bumped into you yesterday." The boy raised his hands with a nervous expression, as if it was a crime that he bumped into me. I was about to laugh it off with him when I noticed that he was staring in shock at my necklace. I looked down and saw his face reflected in the blue and green center. I looked back up at him, only to see him staring at me with realization dawning onto him. I eyed him strangely, about to ask what was wrong when he suddenly grabbed my arm and dragged me off into the woods behind the ice cream parlor. "Hey! What are you-" My words were cut off when he slapped a hand over my mouth and shushed me, nervousness swimming in his brown eyes.

We came at a stop to a strangely large tree, a couple blocks away from the sidewalk we were just at. He took his hand off my arm and my mouth. "I'm sorry I had to do that, but I need you to come with me. It's not really a choice, because what is happening to us is a life or death situation." he said immediately. I eyed him suspiciously as he ran his hand around the trunk of the tree muttering something.

I was about to speak when a hole appeared in the tree trunk. But it wasn't just a normal black hole; this was a lavender with white spirals leading into the middle, which was really cliche. I let out a terrified squeal as it appeared. The boy turned around, grabbed my hand, and dragged me toward him. He turned me to face him and held my shoulders tightly. I locked eyes with him. "We all are depending on you, Lyra." he spoke softly and tenderly. I gasped. 'How did he know my name?' I thought. It was cut off abruptly when he turned me to face the lavender hole and shoved me inside. I screamed as I was sucked into the strange hole, my vision becoming only lavender and white lines.