Karma Windale watched the little hand on the clock as it ticked around the white and black surface. Time could not go any slower. Ten minutes until two o'clock and time can't go faster. Science was her last class of the day and she hated it. She didn't need to pay attention in this class, because technically she didn't need the credits to move to college with. So, what she did in this class was stare at the never moving clock, waiting for class to finally be over with. Karma looked down and continued to sketch in her book. It was the only thing she could think of that could pass the time.

Brrriiiinnnng!

The sound of the school bell made Karma jump. "And remember class," her teacher, Mrs. Yurling, says. "This will be on your final exam, so you better study. Miss Windale a word please." Karma paused in her seat at the sound of her name. Once the class was empty, she walked up to the teacher's desk and stared straight at Mrs. Yurling's beady black eyes. "I know you don't need the class credits to graduate, Ms. Windale, but when I see a student failing my class, it highly concerns me." Her beady eyes went to Karma's book that she held in her hand. "May I see what has distracted you from not paying attention in my class, mm?"

Karma gave the book to Mrs. Yurling's outstretched hand. Snatching it away, Mrs. Yurling flipped through the pages of Karma's book. She looked up from the book with raised eyebrows. Handing it back, she cleared her throat. "Well," she said. "Those might be good drawings, but that does not give you the right to doddle in it whenever you decide to lose interest in my class. Next time I'll take that away from you if I catch you doodling. Understood?" Karma nodded and ushered out the door.

The hallways were flooded with students as they tried to get their belongings and rush toward the buses. Karma on the other hand, liked to take her time, but she had a mission to get to, so there no taking time here. Rushing to her locker, she accidently bumped into the one of many of the school's bully. Marge Holler. "Hey look!" Marge said as she grabbed Karma's arm. "It's Karma. Let's see if anything bad happens to us." When Marge laugh so did her wannabes. Marge was tall with blonde hair that was often in a ponytail and had brown eyes. No one ever told Marge what to do, or how to do it. She was the queen of the school and everyone knew it. "Oh! What's this?" Marge snatched Karma's book from her and flip through its pages.

"Give it back, Marge." Karma growled. Marge look up from the book with a sneer.

"You want it?" She asked. "Go get it." With a suddenly swift move, Marge tossed the book into the trashcan. Karma gasped and ran to the trashcan, trying to get her book out. "Hey look, a raccoon is digging through the trash." She laughed along with her wannabes and walked away. At this moment, Karma didn't care about all the stares that other students were giving her, she needed her book back. Finally, she retrieved it. It was a little moist and it had an awful smell to it. Karma flipped through the book to make sure that nothing was ruined, thankfully it wasn't.

The buses had already left when Karma came out of the building, but she didn't care, she liked walking, it beats the bus any day. Karma lived in a small town in Georgia called Lake Side. And like all small towns, everyone knew you. But in Karma's case, few people did know her. Karma was always the quiet one, she stays in the shadows where no one can find her, and she liked it that way. Her parents always worry that she was never going to find someone or will never do anything successful. Though Karma had told her parents a thousand times that she would be fine and that her life will go smoothly. In reality though, she already planned to make herself completely disappear once high school was over. School was over within three weeks! And she's a senior, the situation happening in the other world couldn't make this anymore perfect.

Karma turned a left toward the bridge that went across Lake Side's famous lake, Lake Jerome. During fishing season, this place would be booming with fisherman. And during the nice hot summers the lake was good if you wanted to take a dip. Crossing the bridge, she took a right after a mile or so and went down the street that led into the suburbs. Karma's house was little way from the entrance on the right. Her house, like many of the others, was built in front of the woods. It was the one place in this town that Karma loved to visit.

The sound of a dog barking made Karma smile as she walked up to her front door and opened it. A German Shephard came running toward her at full speed, it jumped up at Karma and licked her face. "Buster!" She laughed. "Yes, hi, it's good to see you too, boy." The dog, Buster, barked and jumped around. "Home, Mom!" She yelled. Karma walked into the kitchen where she could hear her mother putting away the dishes. "Mom? Home." Karma said again.

"Oh, hi dear," her mother said. "I didn't hear you come in." Karma was a splitting image of her mother. Tall, red haired and the same pale skin. The only difference between the two was their eyes. Her mother had brownish-hazel colored eyes, while Karma had green eyes like her father who is on a business trip to Virginia and wouldn't be home for another couple of days or so. Upstairs, Karma could hear her older sister, Alice, playing her country music as loud as possible. Alice is a college student who is on their second year of school studying for a nursing decree. Her sister looked like their mother, red hair with brownish hazel eyes. The only thing that was different about the two was that Alice got their father's short height. "Hey, Karma?" Her mother asked. "Can you go get your brother off the bus? At the moment, I'm stuck cleaning this mess up." Her mother motioned to the huge mess that surrounded the kitchen. Karma nodded and headed out the door.

Soon the bus came and her younger brother, Dennis came off the bus. Dennis was nine years old and was full of energy. Instead of red hair, his hair was dirty blonde, like their father's and he had their mother's eyes, leaving Karma the only child in her family with green eyes. "Karma!" Dennis cried out happily.

"Dennis!" Karma shouted back and they both embraced each other in a giant hug. They walked hand in hand back home, Dennis raptly replaying his day. Two hours later her mother made dinner and the four of them sat around the dinner table. Karma suffer through most of it as she had to listen to her sister babbling about what happened at college that day. Even Dennis was bored. So, the two looked at each other and began to mock what Alice was saying.

"Hey, you two!" Alice yelled. "If I have to listen to your lame stories without making noises or faces, then you can too!"

"Okay, okay," their mother said. "I think that's enough. Both of you." She eyed Karma and Dennis, who were muffling a laugh.

Karma headed upstairs after helping her mother clean the dinner mess. She sat on her bed fidgeting with the necklace around her neck, a key with a dragon curled up on the top of it. Glancing outside her window, she knew her time here was almost up. Sighing, Karma reached under her bed and pulled out her satchel. Packing whatever was necessary, she finally grabbed her book. It was a hard cover book that was dark red with black outlining the edge. On the cover was a simple carving of a dragon. The dragon was curled in a circle with its mouth open, fangs showing. Karma reached for her key necklace again and rubbed the dragon that sat on top of the key, it was the same design as the dragon on her book.

Lifting the chain over her head, Karma locked the latched on her book and slipped the book in the satchel and swung it on her shoulders. Heading out the back door, she called out, "I'm going to be outside for a while!"

Her mother glanced back at her from the living room where she was watching one of her crime stopping shows. "Okay, please be safe and don't be out too long. You got school tomorrow, remember?"

"I know, I know. I'll only be out for an hour. Be back before it gets too dark." Karma said while she headed out the door and into the woods. The woods is a great place for her think, and to get away from all the chaos. Karma went deeper into the woods, she jumped over fallen trees and crossed a small wooden bridge that went over a little creek. The woods got denser and darker as Karma continued onward.

Karma finally stopped when she came to old abandon treehouse. She wasn't sure who built it or how long it's been here, but she found it one lazy summer afternoon and declared the place as her own. Walking over to a tree, she picked up a stick that hooked at the end it. She then went below the treehouse and lifted the long stick up until it hooked on a small latch and pulled. The latch fell open and a rope ladder tumbled out. Karma put the long stick back and its spot then she began to climb up the ladder. Once inside, Karma pulled up the ladder and shut the latch tightly.

The treehouse wasn't big, but it also wasn't small. It had a small wooden table with two small wooden chairs in one of the corners, a long counter with cabinets outlined the back of the treehouse and rugged green rug was laid out on the floor. On one of the walls was map of Arula, marking every village and territory. Papers of random sketches and notes was scattered throughout the treehouse.

Karma went over to the small table and felt around under it until she felt the similar metal. Digging her fingers under the metal object, she waited until it popped out and landed in her hand. When Karma felt the cold metal in her palm, she pulled her hand out and looked down at a key. She went over to one of the cabinets and stuck the key in the lock. The cabinet lock clicked and swung open. Karma took out a metal box with a number code on the front of it. Once Karma put in the code, the box popped open. Inside the box were six glowing orbs, they each glowed different colors.

Mm, I'm running low, she thought. But that won't matter as much anymore. I hope no one finds this place. Taking out two of the six orbs, Karma put one in her satchel and put the other one gently on the counter. She locked up the box, slid it back in its place, then closed and locked the cabinet. Placing the key back in its original spot under the table, Karma picked up the orb and whispered, "Orina Field," throwing it on the floor, it burst into many colors until it formed an oval floating a couple of inches off the floor. Taking a deep breath, Karma stepped through.