"What're you doing here?" She coldly asks me. I had told her I was going on a date; she knows I lied to her now...

"Uh... well I... um..." I begin to stumble over my words, looking for a way to ask for forgiveness.

"We were about to teach her a lesson, we should teach you one too: to not interrupt us," Jessica sneers coldly.

"Tch. I think the ones who need to be taught a lesson are you guys," Raven says callously. I see Courtney begin to try to pull her fist away from Raven's grasp with no avail. Raven violently throws her fist away, Courtney shaking out her hand, which is now beet red.

"It's ok Rae, I've got this," I say, putting a hand on her shoulder and smiling at her. I don't want her to be caught up in this mess I've created. I want to fix this without her getting involved.

"Tch. You obviously don't got this, seeing as how you were about to get beat up," Raven says, shaking my hand off her shoulder. She walks over to Jessica and Tiffany, holding out her hand. "Well, now's as good a time as any to get my notebook back, so give it."

"Why should I," Tiffany hisses, "it's ours now, so give it up." She clutches tighter to the notebook, she must've picked it up again after I kicked her.

"I could really get it back at any time I want, but I want it now."

"Well you're not getting it," Jessica says, folding her arms.

"Fine. I'll just take it with force then," Raven says before she jumps into action, kicking both of them in the stomach, and picking up the notebook in one smooth motion. "Tch. It would have been less painful for you if you had just given it to me," she mutters as she turns around and walks towards me.

"I didn't want it to go this far, but now you're just being an intolerable student," Tiffany says while standing and clutching her stomach.

She leans on the wall of the alley for support, darkened by the shadow the wall casts. I look up to the sky and notice that it has gotten dark, the only light coming from nearby street lamps.

I look back down to Tiffany and see her silhouette reach into her pocket and pull out a small object. As she slowly stumbles into the light of the alley again, I can finally see what that object is.

A pocket knife.

My body freezes as I stare at it, it's silver blade shining in the light of the streetlights. "Tiff..." I hear Jessica say. Through the look of surprise on her face, I think Jessica didn't know about the knife. "Tiff, don't you think that's going a little too far?" I hear her say, she puts her hands up in surrender and backs away to the opposite side of the alley. Now I can definitely say she didn't know about it.

"They insulted and disrespected me, and I can't have people think that's ok," Tiffany says, staring Raven down. "We need to show people not to mess with us, don't you agree? Plus she already hurt me, so I'm just returning the favor," She says in a psychotic way.

"Yes... but... I don't think this is the right way to do that..."

"Fine, if you're too scared to do this, then just go home you baby," she says, turning away from her. Jessica opens her mouth to say something, but then quickly closes it, looking to the ground. Tiffany turns back to Rae and waves the knife in the air, "alright with that figured out, just do as I say and maybe I won't have to use this."

"Tch. All that is, is a hunk of metal. It doesn't scare me in the slightest," Raven says, folding her arms.

"You imbecile," Tiffany grunts before running at Raven, the knife pointed at her. Raven dodges her quickly, making her stumble a little. "Bitch," she says before finding balance again and going at Raven. Again she dodges quickly, Tiffany turning around and going at her again.

This happens a few more times before Raven finally kicks Tiffany in the stomach, sending her into the wall of the alley, the knife falling with a soft clang onto the concrete. "Stop now, and I may be willing to forget this."

Tiffany grunts and throws the knife, Raven dodging it swiftly, but I see the trajectory and I jump. I won't let the knife hit Courtney! I jump in front of Courtney and bring my arms close to my chest and close my eyes tight, ready for the sting of the knife to enter my flesh, but it never comes.

I stumble but find my balance quickly, and at the same time I hear a sort of loud crackle, as if a light bulb was exploding. I slowly open my eyes to see all the nearby street lamps are out. I lower my arms and notice that the knife is stuck in a strange, almost transparent, black substance... almost as if it's a shadow. "What the..." I mumble as I look around. I see Raven's hand is raised and when she drops it the knife falls to the ground with a clatter, and the substance disappears. "Rae... what was that?" I ask, afraid to move.

"Shit," Raven grumbles through gritted teeth. "Come on, we've gotta go. Now!" She runs toward me, grabbing my hand firmly.

She then pulls me straight towards the wall and scoops me up bridal style just before she begins running up the wall. I look down at her feet, the same strange substance from before surrounding them and holding them to the wall as she runs. "Rae what's going on?!" I ask as we reach the top of the building. She gently sets me down and scans the area around her.

"I'll explain later, but for now, just do as I say."

"Fine..." I breathe, feeling the urgency and fright in her voice.

She picks me up again as if I am weightless, "hold on," she commands, and I do as she says, holding tight. She begins to run to the edge of the building and jumps; I scream and close my eyes, holding tighter. When I feel the jolt of her landing I look again and see that we're now on the next building over. She jumps between buildings, not losing any momentum as she continues to run. My heart beating faster with every jump she makes.

After a minute of doing this, we arrive at my apartment. She jumps from the top of the building, landing as if it was just a jump from a foot up. Raven finally sets me down at the base of the stairs.

"Alright, I need to grab a few things and then we need to leave. Immediately. But I need you to go into your apartment and search for a small oak box that has a symbol that kind of looks like a sun on it, got it?"

"Wha... why?" I ask, staring at her, wanting an answer badly.

"Don't ask questions just do as I say!"

"Bu-"

"Just do as I say!" She yells with intensity.

I gulp, "alright..."

She runs off into the alley next to the building, and I go up the stairs, rushing to my door. I fumble through my bag for my keys, and when I find them, I drop them onto the ground. As I pick them up, I notice that my hands are shaking a lot. There's no time for that right now! I need to find that box!

I pick up my keys and quickly unlock my front door, leaving the keys in the lock. I run into the living room, not sure where to start. I close my eyes, trying to think if I've ever seen the box.
In an instant, my body takes over and I rip up a couch cushion and lift a flap to find the small oak box. I pick it up and examine it. It has the sun symbol as she says and what looks to be a lock but without a keyhole. How is someone supposed to open it? Or lock it? I'll have to ask Raven later, but for now, I need to do as she says.

I run to the front door, the door still open. I stand in the doorway, looking back at my silent and still apartment. I sigh and close the door, locking it as I always have.

I run down the stairs with quick steps, looking around once I reach the bottom. I look into the alley next to my apartment, to see if Raven was still there, and I see a moving figure. I grab my keys and turn on the small keychain flashlight to find Raven bathed in its light. "Where is it where is it!" I hear her angrily grunt. I turn off the flashlight and put the keys back into my pocket.

I run up to her and see that next to her is a rumpled sleeping bag and two boxes full of things. "What is this place? And what are you looking for?" I ask.

"Shut up! Shut up!" She says frantically. She shuffles through some things a little bit more and then seems to find what she's looking for. She takes a small drawstring bag, about the size of both my hands, and opens it, taking out a weird device that I can't see clearly. She puts the device back and closes the bag again and pockets it, finally looking toward me.

"What is that?"

"I'll explain later. Give me," she says, reaching out her arm.

"Huh?" I ask, confused for a second, quickly realizing she wants the box. I hand her the box and she examines it before taking out the small drawstring bag once again. She pulls open the opening and squeezes the box in, pulling the strings to close it. It's as if the box was eaten by the bag and gone now, the bag seemingly not filled with it now. How is that possible?

"Good, now let's go!" Rae says, standing quickly, grabbing my hand, and pulling me out of the alley.

"Wait. Go where?" I ask, stopping and yanking my hand from her grip.

She opens her mouth slowly, and in a quick breath says, "home."

The word home rings inside my head, making images of some far-away place appear along with the now all too familiar strange sting, but both disappear as quickly as they came. "What do you mean by that? Isn't our home here..." I say, confused, the feeling of missing something or someone or maybe even somewhere overtaking me.

"I'll explain later, but for now let's go!" She yells at me, forcibly grabbing my hand and dragging me along. I stop resisting and run along with her through the dark streets, going down roads I haven't been down before.

After ten minutes of us jogging and me having to take short breathers, Raven suddenly stops and looks back into the city. "They're here..." she mutters almost angrily.

She let's go of my hand and opens the bag that was in her pocket, reaching in and pulling out two large pieces of cloth. She then proceeds to close the bag and shake out the cloth, revealing them to be black cloaks. "Put this on," she commands me.

"Wait... how did these fit in that small bag? What is that thing?"

"I'll explain later! Just put on the cloak," she grunts through gritted teeth.

"But why?" I ask.

"Just do it, ok. Stop asking why, I've already told you I'll explain later but for right now do as I say, because if you don't, then we're both dead! You hear me?"

I nod silently and take the cloak, wrap it around me, and fasten it around my neck. She reaches up and tries to pull my hood up, but due to her small size, she can't fully pull it up. I finish what she was doing and pull my hood up completely. "We're almost there, just a little further," she says as she turns around. "Come on," she grabs my hand, pulling me once again into a run.

I wonder where we're going. She said we were almost there, but I wonder where. There aren't many places to go beyond the city. There's only a large forest and some grasslands. We'd have to walk for forever to get to the next town. So where...?

We continue to run, Raven squeezing my hand tighter than before. "Rae... I know you told me to stop asking questions... but... when will we get there?" I ask while we run.

"All we need to do is get into the forest a little, it'll just be one or two more minutes," she says, pointing to the edge of the forest that's growing nearer to us every second. I open my mouth to ask another question, but I decide that I can ask it later.

As she said, we reach the forest after another minute of running, and we continue to run into the forest a small bit, the view of the city getting eaten by the trees. "Ok here's good," she says, suddenly stopping.

I stop too, but I slip on the loose dirt beneath me and fall. "Come on get up!" I hear her say with a small hint of fear in her voice. I stand quickly, wiping the dirt off the cloak. I see that she now has the strange device in her hands, but due to the darkness, I can only see that it is octagonal, made of wood and has some strange writing on it that I can't read. She then closes the drawstring bag and shoves it into me, turning away quickly.

She places the device on the ground and begins to chant something that I can't understand. I hear a branch break behind me and I turn sharply, scared of what it is. "Rae... something's there," I say, slowly backing away from it.

I turn around again to face her, still afraid of the sound I had heard, or more of what could have made the sound. "...O deus huius mundi suscipe me quo me decet esse..." I hear her hum before I hear another branch break.

"Rae..." I say, looking around, trying to find where the noise was coming from.

"Done!" I hear her say. She then grabs my hand and pulls me down and she makes me touch the device. "Lacus," she says commandingly before we are swallowed by a blinding light. I close my eyes tightly, bracing for something, although I don't know what.

I feel a light tap on my shoulder, then a shake. "Addie, come on we have to go!" I hear her say. I uncover my head and slowly open my eyes. We are still in a forest, but it's a different forest, it's more... welcoming and familiar. "Come on," she says coldly, grabbing my hand and pulling me up.

We begin to run again, continuing the same way we were before, but after not long we exit the forest and come upon a small town. I then finally notice that the sun is high in the sky and it is no longer night. "Huh? But wasn't it just..." I mutter, "and where did this town come from...?"

"I'll explain soon," Raven says, continuing to drag me somewhere. We run down a path surrounded by wheat and crops until she suddenly pulls us into the crops. She crouches and puts a finger to her lips as I open my mouth to say something. Then I hear it, a distant conversation of two people walking by, but I can't understand what they're saying due to the loud beating of my heart. After their voices fade, she pulls me back up and we are running once again.

We enter the town through some back streets and we travel through the alleys. We do this until Raven suddenly stops and pushes me against a wall. Two men then walk past us down the alley and we wait until they turn the corner to take off again.

We stop again soon after, Raven pointing to the bag she gave me. "Huh, whaddya want?" I mumble.

"Take out the box from the bag, stupid," she angrily whispers.

"Uh... ok..." I say as I open the bag and begin to reach in. When I reach in, though, I feel nothing but the bag's fabric. "Huh?!"

"Give it here," she sighs before she takes the bag from me and immediately reaches in and pulls out the box. She hands me back the bag and then presses the box against my chest and over my heart.

I flinch backward "huh, whatcha doing that for?!"

"Just come here," she says before she pulls on my shirt and once again the box is over my heart. "Ok, now say patentibus" she orders me.

"Alright... pa-tent-tea-boos...?" I try to mimic how she said the word, but by the look of disappointment on her face, I must've said it wrong. "Paw-ten-tea-bus...?" I try again.

"No you idiot, patentibus," she says, letting the word drip slowly from her mouth.

"Patentibus," I say, the box making a soft clicking sound. Huh? Why did saying that word make it open? And why couldn't she have just done it herself...?

"Good," she says with a slight smile as she opens the box.

"What's in there?" I ask as she delicately removes what was contained in the box.

She smirks, "the first step to reclaiming our home."

A/N:
'Sup my beautiful readers!! Hope you're having a nice day

Well, this chapter was a doozy huh? You probably have a lot of questions, but a lot of answers will come from a friend you'll soon meet!

Anyway, please comment, vote, and keep reading! 💚