The sirens of the city wailed as bright colors from advertisements blinded off guard animals. The contrast between the North and South side of Topeka was impeccable. Miles of quiet church houses and neighborhoods planted on bare, red sand on the Northern side. But as you went downtown farther, huge skyscrapers and warehouses slashed the night. One half of the sky was extremely clean, while the other was grimier than an oil spill. The city was awake 24/7, while the desert was asleep by 8 'o clock. The city had everything to do and everywhere to shop, and the desert's tranquility was pleasing to all homeowners.

It would seem strange to design a city this way, but the dogs found it quite useful. They could live in quiet neighborhoods to raise their children in, and the city was only a ten minute hover ride away.

Conner and Priscilla zoomed over the city-desert border line, and instantly there were skyscrapers parallel the main road. You could jump from the platform sidewalks suspended in the air to a slow-moving hover.

"Wait, which way's Packia? I can never read any of these signs." Conner yelled over the wind.

"Umm, I think it's somewhere down Hunts. Hunts is on the right after this one." Priscilla responded, her fluffy ears smacking her head in the wind. "But you can't fly over some of the older streets because they don't have MaGen fields."

MaGen fields was the quick way to say magnetic force generated fields. The hovers were able to stay aloft because of magnetic plates placed under the road. Magnets of the opposite pole were put into hovers, so they could fly. The magnet could be turned off so you could land. But to put the plates under the roads was an expensive task that took a lot of time. Sometimes older, unimportant roads didn't get special treatment.

"Okay, I'll land before we get on it. Do you know how long we have to walk?" Conner asked.

Priscilla shrugged. "I don't know, twenty minutes maybe? What time is it?"

"Nine. We'll make it."

They got lost for a bit, but they were able to find a shortcut, so it actually took them less time. As they veered towards Packia street, Conner switched off the MaGen. They landed slowly, Conner trying desperately not to chip the paint or dent anything. When he turned it off, the humming sound was gone. It was eerily quiet; the only noise came from old rustling garbage, a flickering street light, and the wails of the city behind them.

These parts of the city were not just ghetto, but said to be haunted. It used to be a part of the human town, but once they evacuated, the dogs thought the memories of their best friends was too traumatizing. Old streets weren't repairs or cleaned up much, and only a few shops were used. The streets were always dark, and the possibility of a gang or a serial killer lurking between the alleyways was constant, People only came here when they had to, or they were dared.

Does this qualify as either? Priscilla asked herself. I suppose we don't need to, but it would definitely be nice to know more about Victoria and Joe and the FRR . . .

Without the bright lights, this part of the city felt colder at night. And when the few street lights gave up their attempt to pierce the black, it was eerier than an abandoned cemetery. It seemed foolish to believe ghost lived there when you heard of it, but as soon as you heard the wind and saw the old, broken buildings, you began to doubt yourself.

Priscilla had always been interested in what she was terrified of, and she was terrified of ghosts. The concept of a spirit living on Earth until they gained redemption made her sick. Why weren't they able to leave? If they could, why didn't they?

If ghosts were real, they would be at least upset or angered in one way or another.

They walked down the street in silence. Their claws clicked on old, chipped concrete, echoing through broken windows and rattling through deserted shops.

Priscilla tried to be brave and show no signs of fear, even though she felt sick to her stomach. She chattered her teeth, her blonde fur pricked up, and her tail hung under her body. Conner detected these signs and walked closer to her. He didn't say anything; he only gave a minute smile of courage.

Priscilla would have seen this as romantic a few weeks ago, but after all they had been through together, Conner felt more like a brother or a father rather than a boyfriend.

Feeling more courageous, she was able to walk a little faster; her book bag hitting her side and clinking with crotchet needles inside. In no time, they would be there.

As they walked on, a few shops were still being used. The windows weren't broken, and the space around then looked a little cleaner. One shop had it's lights still on; an old corgi managed a little bookshop.

Books were a thing of the past. Everything was read from the Internet and mobile devices. Since there was an enormous lack of trees, there were no physical books being made. Homework was done online. Only legal documents were made of paper. The only books around were old ones from before the humans left. They were usually pretty expensive.

The last customer left the book store, saying goodbye as she went. It was Luna, the wild dog. "Hey! Priscilla!" She called, running across the street. "What 'cha doing here this late at night?"

Luna's enormous ears perked up like satellite dishes. They made her whole head look bigger.

"Umm . . ." Priscilla started, unsure of what to say.

"We decided to go get some frice cream." Conner said.

Luna cocked her head. "But there isn't a frice cream place here. At least not an active one."

"At the roller rink." Priscilla said. "They serve good frice cream at the roller rink."

"Oh, really? You guys aren't scared of the ghost? I don't believe there's a ghost, but some animals that don't go here often get spooked away before they even get close to the roller rink."

"No! We're not scared!" Priscilla said bravely, standing up straighter.

"And the frice cream is so good that it's worth it." Conner commented.

"Oh, can I come with you guys? I don't have to be home till ten, and it's only nine ten. I haven't tried the frice cream there."

"Actually, now that I think about it, it gave Conner the squirts one time." Priscilla said.

Conner glared at her. The squirts? Really? But he played along anyway. "Uh, yeah. It was really bad."

A confused look spread in Luna's face. "Wait . . . Then why are you going again? You said it was really good one minute then it gave you indigestion the next."

"Exactly." Priscilla said. "It's great till the bathroom is calling to you."

"Priscilla, you're lying to me! I know that the roller rink doesn't serve frice cream, and I know it isn't open this late. I've been to it; I'm not dumb. You're not dumb either, and I assume you know it's closed now. So why are you going?" Luna barked. Her bark was more yippy and growls intertwined with howling sounds, even when she was calm and happy. The sounds tinged even clearer when she was upset.

"Luna- I- I don't know what to say right now . . . " Priscilla whimpered, pointing  her nose to the ground. What could she say? She had already lied to her parents and Luna. Oh, the whole hero thing was a lot more complicated than she thought!

"Luna, we've got some secret business, and we'd like to keep it secret. We're not in danger, we'd just like to keep it secret." Conner said sternly.

"Then why won't you tell me? Why am I worried when you specifically say I shouldn't be? I go with my gut, and my gut says you aren't okay." Luna barked. Her ears laid close to her head.

There was quiet for a while. Conner and Priscilla searched for an excuse silently, but nothing came.

"Excuse us." Priscilla said, and she dragged Conner away by his ear.

"Ow," he muttered.

"She's onto us. What are we gonna say? If we say anything but the truth, she'll know we're lying." Priscilla hissed.

"I don't know, but it looks really suspicious when we whisper." Conner said, looking over his shoulder. Luna had her ears perked towards them.

"We could just tell her." Priscilla said, knowing it was a dumb idea before it escaped her mouth.

"What?! No way! We haven't even told our parents!"

"If we told our parents, they would freak out or send us to a mental hospital or wouldn't believe us. Luna is one of my closest friends, and I've never heard her gossip or spill a secret. She's locked up like a bunker. And you know how curious she is; she'll learn sooner or later." Priscilla said.

It was very risky, but she had a point. There was little they could do about the situation, and Luna would bug them till the secret spilled.

"Fine." Conner said reluctantly. "But if she says a peep to anyone, she's got two fire-breathing dogs down her neck to make sure she gets what's comin'."

They turned around and faced Luna. She looked like a ghost had smacked her.

"You guys aren't like . . . I don't know, I was gonna guess something kind of inappropriate till you said fire-breathing dogs . . . "

Conner looked confused, but Priscilla gave a small smile to relieve her building anxiety.

"You're going to say I'm crazy. But you asked for the truth." Priscilla said. "Me and Conner have . . . powers. Like, fire-element powers. Stuff that should only be in books. We can breathe fire and heat up and stuff."

Luna looked aghast. She blinked slowly. "What crack are you smoking?"

"I told you it was crazy!" Priscilla said.

"But they're real." Conner said prudently. He stared right into the depths of Luna's soul.

"You know when we were in the hospital and we looked like grilled hot dogs? We got to close to the Feline Rights Republic building when it blew up, but we didn't die. Our bones should have melted, but in the end we turned out okay. And then we get these weird powers and we can make our fur red. It's super crazy, all of it, but there's little we can do about it. We can't get information from doctors or other animals because they'd send us to a mental hospital." Priscilla said.

"We found two cats who also have powers and they know more about the FRR. They've agreed to meet us at the roller rink in a few minutes. We have to go like right now or they'll leave. So we're leaving now. Sorry we had to be so curt, but we gotta go." Conner said, running off towards the roller rink. Priscilla closely followed.

"Wait!" Luna called. "I'm coming with you!"

She ran up to them, leaving her books by a gutter. Conner and Priscilla stopped for a split second to wait for her.

"I want to hear more about these powers!"

"So you believe us?" Conner asked.

She nodded.

"It was that easy?" Priscilla said.

"It's a weakness of mine to believe paranormal activities and stuff like that. I've actually searched for big foot up on Jank's mountain." Luna said between strides.

"Cool." Conner replied.

"But what else can you do? Can you fly or turn invisible?" Luna asked.

"No, not that we now of. We pretty much have the same powers, except Conner can get much hotter than me." Priscilla said. Conner grinned smugly.

"We can catch our paws on fire, withstand a lot of heat, breath fire, heat up, change fur color and change eye color."

"Can you like turn rainbow or camouflage?" Luna asked.

"No, just red with our fur and red, orange and gold with our eyes." Priscilla said.

"Cool." Luna said. "But camouflage would be handy. Anyways, who 'ya meetin'?"

"I probably shouldn't say. They get offended and embarrassed easily. But I will say that they're cats." Conner said.

"So more than one?"

"Two. They're brother and sister." Conner replied.

When they arrived at the roller rink, it was 9:32. Five minutes late and they wouldn't have made it. The building was rather small, about the size of a shopping mart, but the walls were higher than normal. Humans liked taller ceilings. Old, faded paint that was once bright and fun had been chipped away, and a bullet hole was poking through the wall. The sign read closed, but the door's windows were broken so someone could easily slip through. A tepidly hung sign across the top of the building read Rollin' Fun!

The whole building looked like a place that was once fun and exciting, but only a husk of a memory remained. The wind whispered of destruction, and the creaking told of death.

It wasn't hard to believe a human spirit dwelt here.

"Let's go in." Luna said.

"Luna, I don't think you should come with us. The cats get scared easily, and I doubt they want more dogs than they planned for." Priscilla said. She expected her friend's response to be upsetting.

"But-" Luna started, but her face sank. "Okay. I'll go home. But don't forget to tell me what they said, or I'll pester you about it forever."

"Okay." Conner said.

Priscilla knew that the cats would want to keep this secret, but Luna would never leave if they told her that.

"Bye!" Luna called out, jogging back. Priscilla waved.

"Come on; they won't wait forever." Conner said.

Priscilla nodded, then hopped through the broken window. It was now or never.