I opened my eyes and saw the ceiling of my room at Samara's house. I looked to the side and out of the window, seeing that it was sunrise now. I groaned out and smashed the pillow into my face. Waking up before your alarm is annoying.

I decided to sit up, which hurt a little because my neck was stiff, and got out of bed. It was cold, and I immediately wanted to get back into bed, but I needed a word with the worst sister in the world.

I quietly tiptoed across the hallway, and softly knocked on her door. I heard grumble, some clattering noises, and the familiar footsteps of early morning Jade. She opened the door, her hair a mess, one of the legs of her trousers crumpled up, and wiping drool off of her chin.

"What could you possibly want this early in the morning?" She whined.

"It's half past five," I deadpanned.

"Exactly," she said, stepping aside to let me in.

I looked around and noticed she kept her curtains closed like the vampire she is. Her room was messy, and roughly the same size as mine. It was a mirror image of mine as well, just with clothes and books all over the place. Samara would have a fit if she had to stand in this room for more than a few moments.

"What is it?" Jade asked.

"How many are there?" I asked. "Like me, I mean. How many people are like me and have these dreams?"

"It's impossible to tell," Jade said. "There are different amounts throughout time, and there are a lot that have the dreams. If you mean people like you specifically, I can give you a smaller number."

"Well," I said, gesturing for her to elaborate.

"Flora," Jade started, "what happened during your first dream?"

"I walked into a white light and got a migraine," I said, "you know this."

"No, I mean more specifically," Jade replied. "Like, what happened immediately after you walked into the white light?"

"I awoke from my trance?" I said in a questioning tone.

"After that."

"It collapsed into me?"

"After that."

"I fell to the ground?"

"While that was going on!"

"Okay, calm down, you said immediately!" I raised my hands in defence. "There were these lights. They were the colours of the rainbow..."

"There you go," Jade snapped her fingers. "Only took a few minutes."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "So, there are seven people, including me?"

Jade made a motion with her hand to say sort of. "Esthem hasn't been here in centuries," Jade explained. "If you include her son, then yeah I guess."

"So, what do the different colours mean?" I asked.

"Flora," Jade said in a scolding tone of voice, "if Kassandra doesn't want you to know—"

"Kassandra is dead!" I exclaimed.

"Who told you that?" Jade asked.

"Mr Gladiare," I said. "Kheiron, I don't know what to call him. He killed a bunch of Archaeopteryx's to save me and then I had questions."

"You were attacked by an Archaeopteryx?" Jade asked. "Dang girl, those things are dangerous."

"I hadn't noticed while it was trying to feed me to it's young," I said sarcastically.

Jade rolled her eyes. "Well, you should be happy to know there aren't many in Australia," she said. "That breed is native to China, but monsters got moved around as humans migrated from country to country. Still, their homeland is China. You'll probably find a lot of Chinese, British, Polynesian, and American monsters because of our trade relationships."

"This is why the only class you're good at is Hass," I said.

"Well, if it's any constellation," Jade continued, "the main legends you need to be concerned about are Aboriginal. Being that this—"

"—this is their homeland," I finished. "I got it. Already encountered one."

"Which one?" Jade asked, looking genuinely concerned, which surprised me.

"The Malingee," I replied. "Stone limbs, flaming eyes, stone dagger and all."

"You offended it didn't you?" Jade crossed her arms.

"Hey, you don't know that," I said in a defensive tone. "It could have been the girl I was with, Flare."

Jade gave me the; it-was-you-though look and I sighed.

"Okay yes, it was me," I admitted. "How did you know?"

"Flora, I'm going to say this in the nicest way possible," Jade replied. "You're a bit of a bitch."

I shrugged. "Yeah, I should probably work on that."

"You really should," Jade replied. "There are much more dangerous creatures there."

"More dangerous than the zombies?" I asked.

"Do you mean Wraiths?" Jade asked.

"What's a Wraith?"

Jade sighed. "It's a dangerous and angry spirit that looks like a rotting corpse and will attack anyone they think is a threat."

"Oh," I replied. "Yeah, I met a few of those."

"Well, if it helps, yes," Jade crossed her arms, "there are spirits more dangerous than Wraiths."

"Oh yay," I shrugged. "They sound like loads of fun."

"Yeah."

I thought back to the Dreamscape and started thinking about the kinds of people I met there. Nimue, the Knights of the Round Table, the Malingee, and Lancelot. Nimue, Lancelot, and Bedivere hadn't harmed me. They seemed friendly, and Bedivere had changed from a Wraith to Casper the friendly Ghost. It was all so confusing.

And then there was the fact that Flare and I could die there. Immortals being able to die, ghosts, buildings to haunt people, it seemed like it should all be connected, but I couldn't figure out how. And I doubted anyone would explain it to me.

"What about the friendly kind?" I enquired. "The ones who help you out?"

"They're called Shades," Jade shrugged. "Humans like to think they're unbothered by the presence of the living, but humans tend to get everything wrong."

"So, they can attack?" I swallowed.

"Sort of," Jade started looking for her uniform. "They attack when provoked, like most ghosts, but to provoke them you have to mention their death. So, just don't talk too much about death around them and you should be fine."

I nodded. "What are some of the other types?" I asked.

"How much time do you have?" Jade joked. "Look, there are seven personalities, and three spirits of each. Sometimes they switch, but it's pretty rare for a spirit to switch types."

I furrowed my brows and tried to wrap my head around this. I'd supposedly been in the Dreamscape for too long, which was what caused the spirits to stir, and there were roughly... What's seven times three again? Twenty-one! Figured it out. There were twenty-one types of spirits.

"Oh, and Flora," Jade started, getting my attention. "Get out."

My morning routine was much the same as usual. Get dressed, make breakfast, brush my teeth, pack my bag, and get on the bus to school. Only, there were a few road bumps along the way. Jade had explained that monsters were much like spirits in the sense that the longer you were around, the angrier they got. But as we all know, the Clark Corporation also wants to kidnap me for experiments.

So, I guess the morning was eventful by human standards, but I figured I'd have to get used to it. But I'm getting ahead of myself, I'll start with breakfast.

I had decided to make eggs on toast because I wanted eggs on toast. I don't think I really need to justify my choice of breakfast. But anyway, as I put the egg on the toast, Samara walked out. Samara didn't look like her usual self. Her usually tight bun was haphazardly done up, her makeup didn't seem to require as much effort, her clothes were thrown on, and she looked tired.

I frowned at the sight of my once neat and tidy aunt, now reduced to what was a complete wreck by Samara standards. I could convince myself that Mums immortality protected her and Dad – it was much less sad, and I'd be less likely to fall apart – but Samara didn't have something like that to fall back on. And now she was taking care of her nieces with no help because her husband was in jail.

I'd started making more breakfast for everyone, so that I could take some of the load off Samara. She seemed to appreciate it, but she was constantly telling me that I didn't have to make breakfast for everyone, and that she was fully capable of cooking whatever we wanted. Within reason of course.

I wished there were more I could do, but it wasn't like I could tell her everything. I'd already put Zak at risk, and I wasn't about to let Samara get hurt. It would only hurt her more if her brother, my Dad, really was gone... But he wasn't. Whatever happened, Mum was protecting him. She had to be.

I pushed the thought aside and gave Samara her plate. She smiled, her sadness not very well hidden in her eyes. I decided to hug her because she looked like she needed it. What am I saying, I don't need to give you a reason as to why I hugged my grieving aunt.

"What's this for?" Samara asked, squeezing me back.

"Just a thank you," I replied, struggling to swallow the lump in my throat, "for everything."

Samara rubbed my arm and we pulled away. "Your welcome," she smiled a little brighter, "but we're family."

She walked past and sat down at the table to eat. For the first time since I'd arrived, I allowed myself to think of Samara's house as more than just her house, but a second home.

After breakfast I brushed my teeth and did my makeup (honestly, why has everyone started to think that makes you a bad person?). I then made sure everything was ready for school. Lunch? Check. Homework? Check. Studied for today's Maths test? Check, but probably still not gonna pass. Switchblade? Check. I was ready to take on the world.

Samara had driven off to work as normal, and so we left for the bus. One thing I hadn't accounted for was the pride of some Clark Corporation workers. Like, I knew some of them thought they could take me down in large groups, but if I can come out of a fight with fifty odd workers alive, how on Earth do they think they can get me as one person? I know I sound arrogant, but I'm not wrong. I may not be able to kill an archaeopteryx, a Malingee, or defeat ten Wraiths alone, but humans were small fries in comparison.

I'm pretty sure even Zak's a little confused as to why they think they can take me down on their own. Jade, well, Jade knows what I can do when I'm pissed off. She's been both a witness and a victim to that.

So, yeah, we hadn't accounted for the idea that one person might be watching us and would appear as soon as we left the house. But I can assure you of this, that was their own poor judgement.

"Fickle's," they greeted, gun pointed at us, "you're coming with me."

"Or not," I shrugged, "you haven't really been able to hold me for more than a day."

"Flora," Jade said in a stern voice, "some of us aren't immortal."

"Yeah," Zak nodded. "Some of us are very mortal. Like, not all of us will come back from the dead a couple of hours later. Some of will be done, kaput, out of commission—"

"Zak!" Jade and I interrupted.

"Jesus, you talk a lot," I shook my head.

"Why aren't you scared, blondie?" They narrowed their eyes and continued to point the gun.

I looked at it, and then back at them. After taking a few bullets and managing to escape them multiple times over, guns were a lot less scary. I still had no idea how they worked, but they weren't as scary. Somehow, I felt like hand-to-hand combat was much more terrifying. Probably because it actually required skill.

I shrugged in reply to their remark. "Not really," I said. "It's not like you can actually kill me anyway. I'll just came back and kick your asses."

"Flora, is now really the time to be pissing people off?" Zak asked. "Because, I'm just saying, they have a gun. Like, an actual gun. And it's pointed at us, and—"

"Zak, just shut up already," Jade said.

"That's the thing," Zak started, "I can't. See cause I'm nervous, and when I'm nervous I talk a lot. I talk so much in fact, that I physically can't stop myself. I literally can't. Like, I'm trying right now but—"

"We get it," I interrupted. "Jeez Louise. So, where were we?"

The Clark Corporation worker glared and continued to point the gun.

"I could shoot you, and then your family," they said, looking more than a little nervous.

"You could, but you won't," I said. "You can't justify killing them, meanwhile you know full well that I will only come back. And, come back angry at that. So, it appears we're at a stalemate. Only, I do have a few moves to play."

I pulled the switchblade from my shoe and held it to their neck. Zak gasped and Jade groaned in exasperation. The worker pressed the gun to my temple, and I raised my eyebrows at them.

"Shoot me and my sister kills you," I said.

"Um—"

"She has had the same amount of experience as me," I said through gritted teeth, trying to discreetly tell her that she's going to have to bluff it.

"Yeah," Jade nodded, "yeah I'll kill you."

"So, why did you try and handle me alone," I asked, "I'm curious?"

They gulped. "Thought maybe I'd get a promotion if I handed you in."

"Awe, that's sweet," I said. "Unfortunately, I am no one's prisoner."

I grabbed their hair and threw them to the ground, hearing a loud thud and watching them lose consciousness. I turned to see Zak looking more than a little uncomfortable, and Jade shaking her head in disapproval.

"Did you really have to do it like that?" She asked.

"Well, we can't have them following us," I said.

"You're scary," Zak commented. "I hope I never find myself on the other end of your fists."

"I'll choose to take that as a compliment," I said, stuffing the switchblade back into my shoe.

We walked a couple of metres, and eventually Zak stopped next to us. I gave him a weird look, but then I noticed he had knelt down to pet a ginger cat. The cat was pawing at the ground as though ready to snatch up its prey. In the corner of my eye, I saw it. The black rose. Death.

I looked back at the cat, it's fur going orange, it's stripes getting darker, it's size increasing, and it's face morphing. The steely grey particles rained down from the sky and I was able to see the ultraviolet in the centre of flowers and radiating from the sun. This was no cat.

I looked at Jade to notice she glanced at it warily, but being a human, she couldn't see what I could. I had no idea what it was, so I did not want to upset it to find out it was more dangerous than the Archaeopteryx. It had the large body of a tiger, and the face of a human, baring small fangs. Definitely not a cat.

"Zak," I whispered, "step away very slowly, and go around very quietly."

Zak gave me a weird look, and Jade started to slowly pull him back, glancing at me in question.

"I don't get it?" Zak frowned. "It's just a harmless cat."

Turns out the human headed tiger didn't like the word harmless.