The white-haired figure dropped in through the upper-story window, a long, gleaming dagger in hand. Andrea lay on the bed next to the window, sleeping quietly. The blade, raised above her, began to descend. But something must have alerted Andrea, perhaps a presence in the room, or some minuscule sound. She saw the white hair and screamed. The person was bigger than her, perhaps by a foot. But she didn't have any more time to think about it as her brother came dashing into the room.
Omniski saw the figure with the white braid standing over his sister with a gleaming dagger, and saw the eyes, which were bluer than the sea, turn towards him. Omniski yelled for Andrea to run. She fled. But as she made her way to the door, the white-haired figure pointed the knife down, and with a flick of the wrist, sent the dagger flying across the room. Omniski saw it and made a split-second decision. He threw himself at Andrea, knocking her flat to the ground. Andrea never saw what happened. She simply got to her feet and ran.

She ran through the hall and through another. Into rooms, and out of them, frantic to lose the white-haired figure. She ran into the bedroom, looking for her mother and father, but they weren't there.

"Looking for your parents?" came a sinister voice. Just the voice made Andrea cringe.

"They're long gone. You'll be next."

Andrea gasped but continued to run. In the dark, she couldn't navigate very well, and before she knew it, she was cornered. The dagger came up. "Omniski!" Andrea screamed. "Omniski!!" But then she saw the face in front of her twist into a grin. "He won't be coming. Join me or you will suffer the same fate!" Andrea's eyebrows lowered. She looked around and spotted a window directly behind her.

"Give up." The figure said.

Andrea raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really?" she asked. The answer had caught the person off guard. The figure hesitated, and did not throw the dagger, which gave Andrea time to spin on her heel and propel herself out the window.

The window shattered as she jumped through it and as she was about to hit the ground, she twisted into a forward roll. "I never thought practicing that would come in handy. Everyone always said it was too dangerous and I would never need to use it." She smiled grimly. She looked behind her and saw a white-haired head emerging from the window.

Andrea ran faster; as fast as she could, and rounded a corner. She continued to go around corners, hoping to lose the figure in the darkness and the maze of the neighborhood. Soon, she became tired. But she didn't stop. She ran until her legs could carry her no more.

Andrea woke with a start. She looked around the room, for a moment not remembering where she was. Then she remembered. She was still in the orphanage in Iliene, where she had first been brought five years ago after her brother and parents had died. She shuddered as she remembered her ten year old self, running through dark alleyways, away from the murderer with the white hair.

"Same dream again, Andrea?" Monet asked.

"Yeah." Andrea's thoughts snapped back to the present. "Same dream." Then she gave a humorless laugh. "More like a nightmare, but yeah, the same dream. How did you know?"

"Well, first of all, you fell off your bed about ten seconds ago, which you only do when you've had a bad dream, and second of all, it's always the same dream."

"Yeah, I guess so. It happens so often. It makes me not ever want to sleep again, even though I know I have to."

"Yeah. I would say I know what you mean, but I really don't."

"It's fine. Well, I don't think I'm going back to sleep."

"We've got a test tomorrow."

Andrea gasped and chewed one of her braids nervously. "I don't think I'm ready."

"Sure you are! But I'm sure that white-haired girl over there is ready for the test. She aces all of them."

The ends of Andrea's two braids flickered with flame.

"Calm down!" Monet said in a harsh whisper.

"I'm calm." The fire on Andrea's braid grew bigger.

"Your braid is on fire. You're not calm."

Andrea reached up with her hands and closed them around the ends of her braids to smother the fire. But when she took her hands away the fire had simply gotten bigger. She tried to pat it but it continued to spread. Then she was getting desperate. The last time that the teachers or another kid had seen her with fire, other than Monet, of course, she had been sent to detention for a week. They thought she was a pyromaniac. But now nothing was working. She kept getting angrier and more anxious and the fire kept getting bigger and bigger.

Suddenly, two balls of water flew gracefully to the ends of her braids. They engulfed the ends in water, then moved up the braid. As the water touched the braid, the fire went out. As soon as all the fire had gone away, the water balls withdrew and slipped into a little pouch that was hung on the side of a light brown belt. The belt held a short blue dress, not quite reaching her knees. The girl had shockingly blue eyes, and her hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail. But only one thing mattered to Andrea. Her hair was white. And her eyes were bluer than the sea.

The hair was streaked with a little bit of silver. The eyes had a look that made it seem as if there were waves inside them crashing on the shore. But she looked exactly the same as the killer from her dream, or rather, memory, except her family's murderer had worn black, not blue. But to Andrea it was the same.

The girl smiled at Andrea. "I thought you might need some help. Usually when that happens you get in trouble for it. But I think it's cool."

Andrea simply glared at her.

"Well, I was glad to help!" The girl smiled at Andrea and shrugged.

How could you be so cheery when you're facing the girl you tried to kill?

Andrea had ignored the fact that this girl was her age, whereas the girl from the dream - assuming it had been a girl - had been older.

The girl tiptoed towards her and Andrea leaned backwards, to stay as far away from her as possible.

"Tell me if you need any help studying for the test tomorrow. I'd be glad to help you." The white-haired girl leapt gracefully over the other beds to arrive at her own. She waved goodnight then settled down.

Andrea's braid was on fire again. Monet looked at her in exasperation. The two water balls came again. Andrea backed away, but hit her bed behind her. The waterballs engulfed her braids, then went back to the pouch on the other girl's belt.

Andrea glared at the girl, but her braids didn't light on fire again. She sat on the edge of the bed for the rest of the night, watching the other girl in silence.

"You should take her offer on the studying." Monet whispered.

"There is no way you are going to get me to study with her."

Monet sighed. I tried.

"You should have taken her up on the offer." Monet shook his head.

Andrea groaned and looked up at him. "What am I doing wrong? How did I get such a low score?"

Monet shrugged.

"I bet that white-haired girl sabotaged my test." Andrea said thoughtfully. Monet, wisely, did not reply.

"And, for the student with the highest score and best explanations, I present to you..." The teacher paused dramatically.

Andrea rolled her eyes. "I wonder who it is."

"Cascade!" The teacher exclaimed happily. Andrea gave a long sigh and put her head on her desk. The white haired girl walked up in front of the students and everyone cheered. That is, everyone except Andrea. She put her hands on her desk and glared at Cascade. As soon as Cascade left the stage, Andrea's desk erupted in flame. Everyone immediately looked at her. She continued glaring at Cascade.

Monet whispered in Andrea's ear. "Look scared!"

Andrea suddenly looked at her desk, gave a shrill scream, and backed away. "I feel ridiculous." She muttered. But she knew that she would have to look scared if the act was going to pass. She ran to the sink but knew she couldn't turn it on without burning it. So she continued to scream hysterically while somebody turned on the water and she plunged her hands into it.

I feel soooo ridiculous.

Everyone was trying to help her. Even Cascade.

But while everyone else was doing it in haste, Cascade was slowly shaking her head at Andrea, one eyebrow raised. The message was clear. "Why would you do it in the middle of class? And why after a test?"

Andrea simply glared at her.

"It's Cascade's sixteenth birthday tomorrow. " Monet told Andrea after class. "Everyone's signing the poster in the hall for her birthday. It's a surprise." Monet said.

Andrea scoffed. "Why would I ever want to sign that?" She asked in disgust.

"Can't you be nice to her sometimes, at least?" Monet asked. "After all, she's done nothing but be nice to you." As soon as he said it, he realized he had phrased it badly.

"Nothing? NOTHING?!" Andrea said.

"Well, no, I just meant-"

"What did you 'just mean'? Of course you 'meant'! You just don't understand!" But before Monet could answer, she stalked off down the hall, leaving Monet in the dust.

Monet considered running after her full tilt and trying to convince her. But he decided against it. He simply shrugged and walked down the hall in pursuit of Andrea.

Unknown to Monet and Andrea, a tall boy, three years older than Andrea, was sitting, sprawled out, in the arms of a large statue in the middle of the orphanage. Nobody had seen Sephtis because he hadn't wanted them to see him. They simply saw the statue. It was something he had always been able to do. Mess with gravity, and create hallucinations and illusions.

As he saw Andrea's outburst, he nodded slowly and smiled. If you could call it that. It was more similar to a snake's expression right before it strikes.

His eyes were black voids and he had jet black, thin, straight hair that went down to his waist. His skin was deathly pale. He had been watching Andrea and Cascade for the past few weeks. He had been watching a boy for the few weeks before then. He couldn't quite grasp the name.

Then it came to him. Omar. That was the name of the boy who he had been watching before he had watched Andrea and Cascade. He would have to get rid of Omar next because Omar could very well ruin his plans.

And nobody messes with me.

He knew that he needed to get rid of all the other demi-gods before he went for his plan. Omar is being bullied, so it should be a simple task to get rid of him. Enter some of your helpers as the bullies and tell them what to do.

However, Sephtis also knew about Andrea and Cascade. And he knew about their powers. He knew that he had to get them out of the way if he were to succeed. When the alien creatures had invaded Zenaria, they had been defeated by the goddesses Anetta, Minerva, and their teamwork.

Andrea and Cascade were the people chosen to hold Anetta and Minerva's powers and personalities. They would have the same relationship as well.

He decided that the best way to get them out of the way would be to make them hate each other. Andrea was easy. Cascade was harder.

Cascade hadn't done anything to Andrea other than offer help for tests and other activities. She was in the clear. She didn't even know why Andrea hated her so much.

But Sephtis did.