It had been an hour or two since I had my unusual experience at the hospital and after we came home in silence, Mom and Dad insisted I go to my room and get my homework done, and wouldn’t let me do anything else. Instead I was trying to distract myself with this sappy book I found about some wealthy teenage girl who meets this poor teenage boy and mushy stuff and some mushy stuff, and more mushy stuff. I gave up and started to take off my shoes. I wasn’t even sure why I picked the stupid thing up, I guess because it kinda interested me. The storyline sucked, but I liked the concept of a fantasy world. I’ve always wanted to travel to someplace like the ones I read about, the ones that don’t exist. I guess I’d have to settle for the real world.

I found myself thinking about that evening and how everyone was acting odd. Dad wouldn’t make eye contact with me, Mom seemed upset, and all those doctors and nurses at the hospital who kept staring at me, and no one would tell me what was going on. Everyone wants to keep me in the dark. They were always doing this to me, like I’m just some stupid kid who doesn’t understand or need to know.

“Figures no one would wanna tell me anything.” I mumbled, tossing my shoe across the room and dropping back down on my bed. That’s when I heard muffled arguing. I tip-toed out my room to my parent’s room, where they had the door shut. No problem, I snuck down to the kitchen for a cup then went back and  pressed it up to their door to hear better. They seemed to be in the middle of an argument.

“—can’t just not tell her.”

“Why not?”

“Because she has a right to know she needs to know.”

“And that’s supposed to make it all okay? NO I don’t want her going. And what about what you told me I don’t like that news at all!”

“I never said it was okay or that I liked it but we took part in that ceremony we know our obligations—”

“OBLIGATIONS!” roared Dad and I jerked back from the door for a second, “WHAT OBLIGATIONS!”

Mom mumbled something I couldn’t under-stand.

“We’re not obligated to give up our daughter just because someone else said she was a ‘chosen one’ or whatever they’re calling her!”

‘Chosen one?’ This got me interested.“George, we don’t have a choice, we made the promise. They need her, everyone needs her.

“And besides,” Mom went on, “they’re coming for her tonight anyway.”A chill rattled up my spine. Who was coming for me what did they want, and why hadn’t anyone told me sooner? They sat in silence awhile so I switched ears.

“We’ll never see her again…” Dad whispered sadly.

“We will.” Mom replied unconvincingly.

More silence…then. “I was sure I could get through this but when I saw what happened tonight…she was dead Alice dead.” I put my hand to my mouth in horror, dead? I reached up to feel the bandage on my head and listened some more. “Seeing that made me realize that I didn’t want her to go. What happens if she gets killed out there?”

“I don’t know, I don’t even know how she was supposed to survive.”

They couldn’t be serious this had to be a joke.‘They know I’m here.’ I thought. I was about to open the door and say “very funny, joke’s up,” when Mom started talking again.

“Don’t you think we should at least tell her?" She asked. He didn’t say anything and she started crying, I guess she couldn’t hold it in anymore. Mom’s outbursts were always the sign that the conversation was over, I learned that after listening in on their arguments, most of them being over me, you get used to it after awhile though.

I crept back to my room, where I laid down on my bed and removed the bandage as I waited, waited for them to say something, anything to me. I waited for about twenty minutes and then I fell asleep. It was sometime around 9:00 p.m. and I’d had a very exhausting day.

I woke around 3:00 a.m. For some strange reason I’d had bad dreams about shadow-monsters kidnapping me while my parents looked on. In some dreams, they cried while in others, they didn’t seem to care. Feeling like I’d had enough nightmares to last me a lifetime I got up to get something to eat.

I made the journey downstairs to the kitchen, made a sandwich, and went into the living room. I sat in front of the TV and ate, watching cartoons and pretty much anything that was worth watching. Somehow, stuffing my face and watching stupid old shows made me feel a little better.

I grinned a little to myself. ‘If Mom caught me up at this hour, eating and watching TV she’d kill me.’ But they weren’t home; I had checked their room and all the rooms in the house before settling down in the living room. The car was gone too. Where they could have possibly needed to go at three in the morning is a mystery to me.

I sat, laughing at old cartoons when I heard a knock at the door. Panic began to set in after I finished choking on my ham sandwich and I turned off the TV and sat there in the dark, unsure of whether to look, or go call the police. Curiosity got the best of me and I found myself sneaking up to the eyehole and peeking out. A man was standing there, I couldn’t tell what he looked like since it was so dark so I pulled away and waited.

It’s not like I’m crazy or stupid like those idiot teenage girls you see in horror movies, and I know what to do in emergency situations, but something inside me was telling me it was okay, and to open the door…while the sensible part of me was telling that part it was crazy.

The man knocked again while I was standing there, clearly getting impatient. “Okay, Kara, enough already, open the door.” That did it for me. I turned and ran to the couch to call 9-1-1.

“…And don’t go for the phone if you’re thinking about it. Calling the police is a huge mistake.”Now I was beyond scared. I didn’t know this guy, how did he know me? It definitely wasn’t a joke; everyone who knows me knows you don’t pull scary pranks on me. The last time someone did, they had to go to the hospital for stitches.

“Great, I know she’s not dumb, so obviously someone didn’t do their part.” The man mumbled to himself.

“Obviously—” I blurted out then covered my mouth. I didn’t mean to say anything.

“So you are there, you just weren’t answering me huh?” The jig was up so I decided to talk. Besides, we were separated by a locked door AND I knew Karate, so…“Open the door please.”

“No.”

“Please.”

“No.”

“Please.”

“No.”

“Come on!” He cried exasperated.

“Not ‘til I get some answers.” I could feel my courage building, this guy didn’t sound like too much of a threat. “Who are you and what do you want with me?”

He sighed.

“Well?”

“…My name is Kalin, and I’ve been sent to come and get you.”

“Why? For who?” I asked.

He mumbled something.

“Well?”

“I’d rather not talk about it here, like this.” He sounded upset and nervous. I didn’t say anything, I hardly knew him, why should I let him in to kill me?

“Kara, please open the door and we can talk, I’m not going to hurt you,” I kept quiet, that’s such a used line. “I give you my word as one of your Guardians.” Even though I had no idea what he was talking about, he did sound sincere. “…Please…”I gave in to him and the voice in my head and opened the door.

‘You’d just better be right.’ I thought to myself as I unlocked and opened the door.The man was dressed in all black, complete with a fedora. It was a little chilly outside, but not enough for the heavy overcoat he was wearing. He looked a little suspicious, but mostly just stupid.

He smiled, one of those million-dollar smiles that make girls go crazy. To be honest, he actually wasn’t that bad-looking…well, for an adult.“Finally,” he said relieved, “thought I’d have to go back and get help – No wait!” He said quickly as I moved to close and lock the door.

I reopened it and stared at him awhile before saying, “I want answers…where are you taking me and what’s going on?”

He glanced down at his watch, and then looked up. “We’re running out of time, let’s get in the car and I’ll tell you on the way.”

“Ha, yeah right, I hardly know you.” I replied.

He rolled his eyes. “If I was going to kill you, I’d have busted in and done it while you were watching cartoons.” How he knew what I was doing bothered me a little, and I think it showed on my face. “Oh calm down. You shouldn’t listen to the TV so loud by the way.”

I scoffed. ‘I can’t believe a complete stranger is telling me what to do.’

He shot a nervous glance to the left. “Look, I’ll tell you everything, but we need to get out of here, before your nosy neighbors call the cops. I have to get you to safety.”

I bit my lower lip, trying to make a decision. ‘I could just stay here, lock the door, let him get arrested and act like it never happened…or I could go with him and see where this adventure would take me…I’m responsible enough to be able to get out of any problems if they come up.’ Something inside me wanted to go, to learn more…to finally do something different, so I went with the feeling.

“Okay, but you’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”

“Great, hurry and go get ready, and put on some good walking shoes.” He added the last part after looking down at my fuzzy slippers and chuckling.

“Whatever…” I replied and went up to my room.

Twenty minutes or so later, I found myself in the passenger’s seat of a new luxury coupe, heading who-knows-where with some guy I’d just met…that’s gotta be some kind of record for stupid.

Kalin was focused on driving, but every now and then he glanced at me. I guess he was waiting for me to start asking questions. But as stupid as it sounds, I felt like I didn’t need the answers anymore…as if somewhere in my mind, I already knew the answers or they were going to be made clear once we got there…wherever we were going. Or maybe it was just the adventurous side of me, now happy to be getting away.

“We’re going to a gate.” Kalin said.I just looked at him; he pretty much answered my question before I could ask it, though it still didn’t make any sense to me.

“Huh…?”

“From there we can get to Naranda and meet up with the others.”

“Others? What others?” I asked.

“The other kids – Wizards, like you.”My first thought was that I hadn’t heard him right.

 “What?”

“You’re a Wizard, born and destined to save the world.” He stopped there, thinking that was enough for me, but continued after he saw the disbelieving look on my face. “You’ll understand when we get there,” he said. “Maybe Leen can explain it better. I thought your parents explained everything to you already.”

I grunted in reply. Kalin quickly glanced at me in surprise. “You mean they never told you?”

I shook my head. “I overheard them say a few things but nothin’ was ever said to me…they never even said goodbye.” Once I realized what I was saying, I began to feel a little sad, and angry.

“Listen, Kara, it—” He reached out and put his hand on my knee.

“Hey!” I cried pushing it away really fast. “Watch it!”

“Wha…?” He exclaimed in surprise and then he scoffed. “Geez someone’s a little stuck on themselves, I was just trying to console you, kid.”

“Yeah well you can console someone without touching them.” I grunted, scooting closer to my door. “Don’t forget you’re still some strange creepy guy I just met.”

“Oh I’m sorry, I got confused, what with you agreeing to hop in a car and drive somewhere with me.” Kalin replied sarcastically.

“Hey I’m just young and naïve, you tricked me with empty promises.”

Kalin laughed, his eyes tearing up a little. “…You, young and naïve…you’re killing me…”

“Whatever, you don’t even know me.” I grumbled.

“I know enough.”

“How could you, we just met.”

“Just because we’re just meeting doesn’t mean I don’t know you. How do you think I knew your name and where to find you?”

I shuddered nervously. He was starting to sound like a stalker, but that couldn’t have been it. ‘I gotta stop freakin’ out…I must just be tired or something.’

Kalin glanced down at me. “I didn’t expect you to be so grumpy and paranoid…or maybe its just shock.” I turned to look out the window so he went on. “Listen, don’t worry about it, your parent’s probably didn’t know how to tell you. It’s not exactly casual conversation.”

“Yeah well…” I grumbled. “…You should tell people big things like that before they happen.”

“Like I said, not small talk,” he replied.

We sat in silence for awhile longer. I stared out the window at the trees and the houses that blurred past as the morning tried to come up and the sky slowly got lighter.

“They said that I died and came back to life, but even after that they didn’t seem to care enough to tell me anything.” I blurted out.

“Oh right, that,” Kalin said thinking. “That was just a mental lapse. Your body stopped working for a while. It’s like having an out-of-body experience,” he explained, “kind of a side-effect of your power growth-spurt.”I looked up at him, waiting for an answer when the car slowed down and stopped. After opening the car door Kalin turned to me. “Okay Kara you ready?” he asked as he climbed out of the car.

“For what?” I asked. He grinned at me and walked away. I sighed, annoyed, and climbed out my door following him through the bushes. We stopped in front of a large tree next to a picnic table, an old grill with burned charcoal and a trashcan surrounded by trash of course. I didn’t see signs of a ‘gate’ any-where.

“For your destiny,” he replied in a mystical voice. He pulled a purple gem out of his pocket and held it in the air. I stood confused, staring from him to the gem in hopes of an explanation.

As I was about to ask him “what now,”a purple light shot from the gem in the air in front of us. A tear appeared growing enough for us to walk in. Inside was dark as if it led to Outer Space but there was a breeze blowing around the it and the opening that got stronger the closer we got to it.

“Time to go home,” Kalin mumbled disappearing the second he walked inside.“Here goes nothing.” I said