Ruby was running. Past the house she and the others were in now, past the woods concealing it from the town, past the town, and into the sea. She stood, panting, in the surf, waves beating against her thighs.

"Use your fire now, little gem girl," the cold voice from her mind sneered. "Just try!"

"I-I-" The words stuck in her throat. She coughed and tried again to speak. "I-"

A bawling coming from the boy's room interrupted her dream. Ruby sat upright in her bed and swung her legs over the side, sliding down past Lapis Lazuli on the bottom bunk. She smiled faintly down at the younger girl before walking across the hall to where the boys slept.

Opal again. The toddler was sitting up in bed, wailing. Topaz was trying to calm him down, but to no avail. The blond boy kept crying.

"Ruby!" Emerald said, relieved. "Opal woke up a few minutes ago. It's good, but it's also sort of bad. I was having the worst dream, but I don't like it when he cries. No one likes it when he crys."

The seven-year-old kept up a mindless chatter as Ruby reached out for Opal. Topaz handed him over without hesitation. 

"Ow!" Ruby murmured as the small shock that came with touching Opal fizzed on her skin. She shook out her hand - he was getting stronger - and bumped the boy up and down.

He continued crying. Ruby grimaced. "Sapphire, will you get Amethyst? She's much better at this."

Silence. Ruby rolled her eyes and shuffled over to the boy's bed. "Sapphire!" she said, louder and this time punctuated by a kick. 

"I'm awake!" came the muffled cry from the boy, who sat up and glared at the girl. "You didn't have to."

Ruby smirked, as much as you can smirk while trying to calm a screaming child. "I know. Now get Am!"

Sapphire got up as slowly as possible, only moving quickly when Ruby aimed another kick at him.

The girl began rubbing Opal's head - a bad idea. A static shock traveled up her arm, making it tingle and go numb.

With one arm half-useless and the other holding a wailing three-year-old, there was nothing for Ruby to shut the window with when Topaz opened it and started calling to the birds outside. She had to settle for scolding him. "Paz!" she hissed above Opal's head. "Shut the window! Do you want everyone to hear Opal's screams?"

Topaz rolled his eyes, but slammed the rickety window shut. "It's so boring here though," he complained. "Isn't there something I could do?"

"You can start breakfast," Ruby offered. "It's almost dawn anyways. And wake up Amethyst if Sapphire hasn't."

Sapphire had, apparently, woken the older girl, because she came inside, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Amethyst!" Ruby sighed. "Take the small one."

Amethyst laughed and held her hands out for the boy, whose wails quieted as soon as he was set in her arms. She smiled down at him, then rocked him until he fell asleep, with Ruby watching in amazement. 

"Why does he sleep for you?" she asked. "I can never get him to sleep. He doesn't like me."

Amethyst raised an eyebrow. "He's three. Give him some slack. He only falls asleep with me because of my gem." Amethyst held up the purple stone, hanging on a delicate chain from her neck, to prove her point.

Ruby lifted up her own gem, held on a leather strip, and considered it. "You're right. Let's help Topaz with breakfast."

She led the way down the stairs and grabbed the last of the milk, mixing it with flour to make simple biscuits. Topaz was frying eggs and Amethyst started setting out plates, glasses, and a small bowl of berries.

Sapphire came downstairs and grabbed the milk bottle, swallowing the last of it then immediately spitting it out. "Ew! Sour!"

"Oh, dear. Has it gone bad?" Amethyst asked redundantly.

"That's pretty obvious," Topaz murmured.

"We're lucky it lasted as long as it did," Ruby remarked. "We're also lucky it was Sapphire who had to taste it. He deserves it."

"Shut it, Scarlet! Or, should I call you, Lady Scarlet Amalia?"

"You know I hate that, Sapphire! Or should I call you Daniel?"

Amethyst gave them both a whack with her hand. "Stop bickering, you two. We can't argue among  ourselves. We have to be agreeable and peaceful."

"Like that's going to happen," Topaz scoffed under his breath.

The smell of food began wafting out, and it woke Lapis Lazuli, or Lap, who appeared at the top of the stairs rubbing sleep from her eyes. The five-year-old blinked and started down, yawning.

"Morning, Lap," Ruby cooed. "Is Diamond up yet?"

Lapis nodded. "She was gettin' dressed. Can I have some food?"

"Lapis, you know we all eat together. Once Diamond comes down we'll start."

"What about Opal?" Emerald pointed out belligerently.

Amethyst glared at him. "He's three. He doesn't eat much anyways, plus he's asleep."

"Yeah, don't wake him up. It's the first time he's slept in days," Sapphire joked.

"First time who's done what?" Diamond asked, racing down the stairs. She did a ta-da move at the end and started helping in the kitchen.

"Opal's asleep."

"Finally! I thought that kid never would." Diamond yawned and grabbed a biscuit. She sniffed it and asked, "Are these okay?"

Ruby glanced at them. "Probably not. I made them with the sour milk."

"That's a shame. We all know your biscuits are just wonderful, Rubes." Diamond tossed it in the bin without a second glance and helped herself to some berries.

Sapphire gleefully dumped the rest of them out the window, earning a glare from Amethyst and an elbow jab from Ruby. He returned it harder and she winced. "Sapphire!"

"You did it first!"

"No bickering!" Amethyst scolded. "It's time for breakfast. Sit. Now!" she added when she saw their defiant looks. 

Ruby sat and grabbed the platter of eggs, scooping herself some. Amethyst was doling out the berries, and Topaz had gotten water for everyone.

When the eggs reached Diamond, she frowned at the small portion left. "Don't we have any more?"

"No, sorry. We're out of everything."

"I suppose that means we're going into town today?" Emerald asked eagerly.

"Yes."

Everyone cheered. Their usual twice-weekly trips into town were always fun, and a chance to go outside, albeit under the close supervision of Amethyst. 

"But," Amethyst yelled over their celebratory hoots, "that also means fake names."

Sapphire groaned. "OK, what's the theme this time? Please don't tell me it's something girly. No matter how you use it, Petal is NOT a boy's name."

When they went on their trips, Amethyst insisted that they use fake names for protection. The subject last time was flowers, something the boys weren't too keen on. 

"I promise, no more 'girly' names. I was thinking things that started with the same letter as our gems. So, Anna for me."

"Opal can be Oliver," Ruby offered, "and Lapis can be Luna."

"I wanna be Lily," Lapis whined. "Can I please be Lily?"

"Yes. Oliver is fine for Opal. How about Ethan for you, Emerald, and Thomas for Topaz?"

"Fine by me," Topaz shrugged.

"Me too," Emerald piped. "How about Simon, Sapphire?"

"That'll work," Sapphire agreed. "Rosie for Ruby."

"Ew, no. Too girly. I will be Rebecca."

"Di," Diamond announced. "Short for Dianna."

"So. Anna, Di, Thomas, Rebecca, Simon, Ethan, Lily, and Oliver. Sounds good. We can leave right after we're done cleaning."

They all jumped into it, except for Sapphire who sat at the table ordering the others around until Amethyst threatened to make him stay and watch Opal. Then, even he started to help. 

The kitchen was clean in no time, and Amethyst went upstairs to wake Opal. Everyone else was ready quickly and was already waiting at the door when Amethyst came down, leading a tired Opal by the hand. 

"Took you long enough," Topaz mumbled. Amethyst gave him a light hit on the arm and ushered all of them out the door.

The path that led to town was flanked by trees and had lots of vines covering the path. The little ones made it a game, jumping over them and ducking underneath some of the more ferocious ones, while the older children simply stepped over them tiredly.

Lapis was hurdling over a particularly large one when her foot caught it and she fell. She started to wail instantly and Amethyst let go of Opal's hand to hurry over. "Oh, dear. Poor darling. Are you okay?" she cooed. 

Ruby knelt next to her. "What hurts, Lap?" she asked gently. 

The girl pointed to her foot, which was scraped and bleeding gently. Ruby touched it softly and Lapis started crying again.

"Sapphire, get over here and wash this out," Ruby called.

Amethyst held out a hand to stop the boy. "Ruby, you know we can't use our gems outside of Magi's supervision," she argued.

"But Lap could be really hurt, and besides, it's just a little bit," Ruby pointed out.

Amethyst sighed and gave Sapphire room. The boy lifted the chain around his neck, pulling a gleaming blue gem out from beneath his shirt. Touching it with one hand and Lapis's injured foot with the other, he inhaled and then let it out slowly. As he exhaled, a stream of water came from his palm, washing away the grit and blood on Lap's foot. He closed his palm and grinned.

"Thanks," Ruby said grudgingly.

"No problem," he replied, tucking his gem back underneath his shirt.

"That's the first civil words you two have said to each other all day. I'm impressed," Topaz commented.

Ruby rolled her eyes and examined Lapis's foot. "You look okay. Do you want me to bandage it?"

Lapis nodded tearfully and Ruby held out a hand. Amethyst pulled a roll of white bandages from her pack and dropped them in her palm. Ruby wrapped the wound tightly, taking care not to hurt the little girl. 

"All done," Ruby announced, tying it. "Let's keep walking, all right?"

"We'd better," Amethyst said nervously. "Any of the Tenebrae could have sensed that. Quickly. We need to get into town."

Amethyst hurried the group along, only stopping once so Lapis could climb onto Diamond's back. They made the rest of the walk to town without any incidents and found themselves in the brightly colored marketplace.

Ruby glanced around, happily letting her senses be assaulted by the vibrance of it all. The chatter of customers and shop owners, the smells of food and flowers and exotic wares, the colors and shapes bursting from the stalls, the sharp taste of spices on the wind, everyone bumping against one another and touching wares gently, haggling over prices and quality.

"Rebecca!" Amethyst called. "Come on!"

Ruby hadn't realized that she had stopped to drink it all in and hurried to catch up with the others, but stopped again at the town board, with leaflets and fliers pinned up over it. She scanned them for any familiar faces and stopped when she saw a small notice pinned to the center.

Eight criminal children are running free, causing havoc throughout the country. If you notice anything suspicious, please contact Master Lightwood at the Blackthorn Inn in Avnery.

Descriptions of them were below, and they were unfortunately accurate. "Ame-Anna!" Ruby called, almost forgetting herself. "Di! Come here."

Amethyst walked over, a month's worth of vegetables already in her basket. "Rebecca, don't yell so. It's not ladylike. What is it?"

Diamond came over also, holding Lapis and Emerald's hands. "Rebecca? What's wrong?"

She pointed at the notice. "They've been here. And they're looking for us. And now everyone else will be too."

Amethyst's face grew more worried as she read the notice and the descriptions after it. She sighed and turned to Diamond. "What do you think?"

Diamond bit her lip and replied, "We should split up. A group of two or three children is less likely to attract attention than a group of eight. Me, Amethyst, and Ruby will all lead one group."

"Um, Di?" Sapphire raised a hand. "I'm older than Rebecca and more responsible."

"That's debatable," Topaz coughed. 

"Fine. Sap- Simon, you go with Thomas and Oliver. I'll take Rebecca with me and Ethan and Lily can go with Anna."

"I wanna be with Di!" Lapis whined and clutched the older girl's legs. Diamond laughed.

"All right, Rebecca will go with Anna and Ethan."

"If she gets to go with Di then I wanna go with Sapphire!" Emerald pouted.

"Simon," Ruby corrected him.

Amethyst held up a hand for silence. "All right, how about Thomas and Oliver come with me and Rebecca goes with Ethan and Simon?"

Both twelve-year-old started to protest this but Amethyst glared at them. "You two will get in less trouble if you have each other and Ethan to look after. I don't trust you alone but together you'll be watching each other."

"And then Ethan will be free to run around like the little demon child he is, I suppose?" Topaz snarked.

Ruby and Sapphire exchanged glares and the girl sighed. "All right, I suppose. Let's get to this."