Author's Notes: This story takes place along side A Shadowlander's Dream: Book One - A Tale of Shadows and before Book Two - A Tale of Sorrows (coming soon) It is a side tale that does not really effect the enjoyment of either tale however some may want to read the first 4 chapters of this tale before reading Book Two of ASD. Enjoy! Chapter One The sun had descended to its place of slumber leaving trails for purple and golds on the clouds that drifted like balls of cotton candy in the sky. A wind rustled through a field of tall grass causing it to look like a sea of green against the prismatic sunset. For the most part it was a beautiful end to a nice spring day. However, for one young girl it was just the sign of the beginning of another bleak cold night. As the last remnants of light began to fade away the child crept out from the small set of bushes in which she had been hiding. The girl looked about in search of something. Almost afraid to move from her hiding place. Then the sound of footsteps could be heard. She was prepared for this. Staying low, awaiting with eyes prepared for any sign of movement. She peered out across the field in search of anything that would betray it to the thing the child feared. Off to the right the grass parted for a moment. The child watched carefully, there had to be no mistake that the movement was not caused by the wind. Eyesight strained in the moonlight she watched the grass ever so carefully. A shadowy form slid through the grass causing it to part on occasion. Fear filled the girl's eyes. Although she had been prepared for this, it didn't remove the fear that seeing such a creature caused on her heart. She burst into a run through the field, not wanting the creature to come into full sight, away from the shadow that slithered towards the sound of movement. The girl was not sure that she would be able to escape this time, however she would not stop to see how close the shadow was. All that mattered was getting out of the field and finding a new place to hide before she was caught. She zigzagged through the grass in search of some means of escape when she suddenly burst out of the field to find herself standing on a broad flat surface. The child stopped for a moment baffled by the sudden change in her surroundings when she was flooded by white light. Something hit the girl with such force that she was were tossed off of her feet and she tumbled across hard pavement. The girl lay still on the road staring up at the sky. She tried to move only to feel pain shoot through her entire body. As the child drifted off, she heard the sound of voices calling out for help and a door of some kind opening. The cold touch of death brushed against the child's cheeks and she drifted into an endless slumber. ***** Kai awoke with a start. The nightmare of that night still hung heavy in her head. She rubbed her head as she tried to shake the feelings out of her mind. It has been over a year since she had awoken to find herself resting in a hospital, bandages covering one of her arms and her head. She could barely remember her own name, never mind how she got there. The doctors were baffled as to how she lived after being hit so hard by a speeding car. All she wanted to know was who she was. When no one came to claim her as their own she was sent to a foster home where she now stayed. Slowly, Kai looked around her tiny room. The walls of the room were all made of a reddish brick and cement was squeezed out between them as if the building was made in haste. A small dresser and tiny bunk bed were the only things provided for her. The few clothes she gained where hand-me-downs from former residents of the small room she now called home. She used to share her room with another lonely girl, however that child was luckier then she for they found a loving home rather quickly. Kai wasn't sure if it was her looks, which were shabby at best, or her general personality that made her unwanted, but she really didn't care. Carefully Kai pulled back the thin blankets and stepped out onto the cold wooden floors. She crossed the room to see herself for a brief moment in a small cracked mirror that sat upon the dresser. She was pale and had a rather petite figure. She stood not quite five feet tall and if it wasn't hard enough being an orphan child, being so tiny just added to the things kids at school could tease her about. She guessed her age to be about fifteen or sixteen, she was not positive for her memories were still on the hazy side. Her face was round and had a boyish quality to it. If she didn't know better she would have thought she was a boy. Her hair was a mass of short dark scruffiness that looked like a lion's mane. She fought with her bangs for a moment to find they were a pain as ever to manage. With a depressed sigh she gave up on her hair and continued across the room to a little window in a slanted wall, that only made the room seem all the more cramped. She pulled the window open and flung out the shutters, then stuck her head out to get a breath of fresh air. Kai looked up at the summer sun happily dancing between clouds over the small town causing light to twinkle. Summer was almost over, however there was little sign of it leaving in place of autumn anytime soon. The air was filled with the smell of leaves and the sound of the many chirping birds of the morning hour. Kai curled up her arms on the windowsill and scanned the many houses that formed the town of Darken. For the most part the town looked like any other. Small wooden houses scattered here and there with a few stone buildings added into the mix. A corner bakery down the road. The steeple of a church in the distance, where Kai bet that families would gather on Sundays. She wondered which one could possibly be the home she was born in. Were her parents still waiting for her to come home? Or were they even alive anymore? Kai pondered this almost every morning as she gazed across the sleepy town. The unusual thing about the town was the large school atop a hill that the town was centred around. It stood taller then any other building and to Kai looked as if it was watching over the people. Almost making sure that no one was out of line. The idea sent a shudder through her spine and she wrapped her arms around herself. "Kai, you awake?" A soft quiet voice mumbled through the door to her room. Kai quickly pulled her head out of the window, "Yes." She answered looking over at the door, "You can come in Cindy." She beaconed the girl to enter. The door opened and an even younger girl of about eleven-years-old entered the room part way. The girl had straight brown hair cut cleanly at the shoulders and was dressed in a grey T-shirt and blue jeans that were a tad too big. Her large dark eyes, which had no whites, held an almost dead expression to them. Also, there was a pair of unusual black curved markings above her right eyebrow, "Mrs. Mathews said to come down for breakfast." She mentioned in a hushed voice, when she spoke she sounded as dead as her eyes seemed. Cindy had been with the Mathews only a few weeks before Kai came to live there. The moment Kai set eyes on the girl she knew that this child had a rough past. More then once did Kai try to make friends with the girl, however each time Mrs. Mathews would enter the room the girl would close up or simply disappear entirely. "I'll be down in a moment." Kai said with a stretch, "I need to get dressed first." Cindy hesitated at the door for a moment. Kai looked at Cindy curiously. Unsure if the girl was going to say something more or not. Cindy let out a tired breath and closed the door. Kai waited for a moment to see if the child would return and only when she was certain that she would not be disturbed did she open the old wooden dresser and pulled out a pair of worn black jeans that were too long and an oversized black T-shirt. Gloomily she stripped off her nightgown and began to dress. She first pulled on the jeans and rolled up the bottom of the pants up so they didn't drag upon the floor, then stood and played with the waist. They were a smidgen too large in the waist and merely sat upon Kai's nearly non-existing hips, showing off the top band of her white panties. She grabbed a thin brown belt from atop the dresser and buckled it tight around her waist. Satisfied her pants would not wander down to her ankles she pulled on the shirt and exited her room. She ventured down a flight of rickety stairs to the livingroom. There was a stone fireplace along the wall closest to the stairs. Opposite that stood a sofa which had been pushed up against a large paned window. Thin white curtains only failed to block out the suns strong mornings rays. A large oval rugged carpet lay in the middle of the room with a wooden coffee table, that seemed to be hand carved, centred squarely. An old wooden chair was placed off to her right and a large rocking chair to her left. Here and there were several black and white photos of people that Kai assumed were family and other orphans that had lived here from time to time. The room held a warming, yet antique, quality to it. "Where is that girl?" Mrs. Mathews grumbled as she removed a hot pot of oatmeal from the large cast iron stove. Mrs. Mathews was a rather large woman who liked to dress in old fashioned attire, which at that moment consisted of a long brown dress, that one was more likely to have seen in a pioneer village, and a white apron. She turned to look upon Cindy, whom had seated herself at the table in front of a small bowl of steaming oats, "Cindy, you did tell her to come down, didn't you?" She irately interrogated the girl. Cindy nodded not letting her eyes leave her bowl. A teenaged girl with long golden hair stared at Cindy from across the table, "She's probably lying. She was probably to scared to talk to that girl and I don't blame her." The teen dipped a piece of toast in to the yolk of her eggs, "She is creepy. I wish she would go away." "I wish you would shut up, Emily." Kai snarled from the kitchen's swinging doorway. "Don't talk to my daughter like that." Mrs. Mathews snapped, "Sit down and eat or you'll be late for school. "Why do I have to go to that stupid school anyway?" Kai demanded angrily as she sat in the chair beside Cindy. "Cresthill is not a ‘stupid' school and I don't want to hear that you have been skipping again is that clear, Kai!" Mrs. Mathews ordered, slamming a bowl of oatmeal onto the table in front of Kai. "I don't want any of that slop." Kai pushed the bowl away in disgust and got up from her chair. "Where do you think you are going?" Mrs. Mathews prayed, as Kai pushed through the kitchen door, "You get back here and eat like you are told." She commanded. "You aren't my Mother so stop acting like it." Kai snarled furiously, she put her shoes on, grabbed her backpack and opened the front door. "Listen to me when I'm talking to you." Mrs. Mathews stormed out of the kitchen after Kai, "Don't you give me that lip." Kai quickly slammed the door behind her with enough force to scare off a group of sparrows, "Will you just shut up for once?" She muttered as she crossed the lawn. Kai ran across the road and didn't stop until she was a good distance away. When she was sure that Mrs. Mathews did not follow, she slowed her pace and stuffed her hands in her pockets. She walked down the street in a huff, kicked at a small stone and watched it tumble down the road, ‘The nerve of that woman.' She reflected to herself, ‘Why can't she understand that I just want to be left alone. I don't belong here.' She ruffled her hair in frustration. "She's just trying to help." A voice called out from somewhere above Kai. Kai looked up to see there was a girl perched high in a tree. She had short light brown hair that curled upwards at the back and wore a blue skirt and white short sleeved dress shirt. A pair of large glasses were poised upon her tiny nose, "Oh, it is just you Anita." Kai let out a sigh of relief, "How many times have I told you not to look into my mind?" She half snarled at the girl. Anita jumped out of the tree and softly drifted down, her feet not quite touching the ground as she floated along beside the girl, "I couldn't help it." She protested while fixing her glasses, "Your inner voice was so loud that I think that I could have heard it on the other side of town." She explained. Kai continued to walk with her head down, "and stop showing off in front of me while you are at it." She said coldly. "Huh?" Anita blinked and looked down to see she was still drifting inches above the road, her legs partially transparent to the rest of her body, "Oh, Sorry, it is second nature to me. I keep forgetting that you are a ‘Normal'" Anita's hand cover her mouth to cut off her own words, but it is already to late. Kai stops in her tracks and clenched her fists at her side. As if being short and having no family wasn't enough she had to find herself going to a school filled with strange people. Kai didn't find the strangeness as unnatural. She didn't even seem to be phased when she first learned that her friend was ‘half dead' as Anita liked to call it. Even the fact that Anita drifted above the ground didn't bother Kai in the slightest. What did was the way everyone treated her for not being like the rest of them. She let out a deep sigh as she trudged along the sidewalk towards school. "I'm sorry, Kai." Anita apologised profusely, "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean it that way. I just..." She stumbled over her words trying to figure out how to right the wrong she just caused on her friend. "I know..." Kai shoved her hands deeper in her pockets, "Just forget it and let's go to school." "Kai..." Anita could not think of what to say. She let herself drift to the ground, her legs solidified as they touched the sidewalk and ran after her friend. Cresthill High school looked just like any other school. It was a large building several floors high surrounded by lush green grass and trees. A stark contrast to the schools grey brick and steel framed windows that gave the building a bleak feel to it. The school might have looked normal, but the students were far from it. They ranged from ghosts who have lost their way to strange children with a darker purpose. Kai was still unsure why she was sent to such a school. It was not like she was unique in anyways. So she survived a head on collision with a car and left a dint in the hood with her head. That doesn't make her worth of Cresthill's unusualness now did it? Kai stood at the school gates staring up at the building pondering these things and more when someone pushed her causing her to stumble into the stone walls that surrounded the school grounds. Laughter filled the air, however when Kai turned around her assault was nowhere in sight. "Kai, are you alright?" Anita asked concerned for her friend. Kai leaned against the wall and looked up at the blue sky, "What am I doing here?" She pondered aloud. Anita frowned and looked at the other students as they stared at the two of them. She turned back to Kai and shook her head, "I don't know but I know one thing." She commented softly. "And what would that be?" Kai asked grumpily, closing her eyes and crossing her arms. "That I'm glad you are here." Arai stated with a small smile. Kai opened her eyes to look upon the face of her only friend, "Thanks." She said with a half smile. The two girls passed through the school gates and Kai suddenly stopped cold in her tracks. Anita looked at her friend stunned by her abruptly action, "Kai, is something wrong?" She inquired concerned about the way her friend's eyes kept darting around the schoolyard, "You are acting kind of strangely and for you that is odd." Kai looked around, hastily in search of something. Finally she stopped when her eyes came across a small pale child, maybe a year or so younger then them. The girl's skin was as white as the purest of ivory along with her long flowing hair that was tucked around a pair of small pointed ears. She wore a long powder blue dress that gave the girl even more of a spectral quality then Kai's half-dead friend. Kai pointed the girl out to her friend, "Anita, who is that?" She asked inquisitively watching the girl drift across the school lawn. Anita looks over to where Kai was pointing and adjusted her glasses, "Hmm? Oh her... I think her name was Ash... Ashley... Something." She thought to herself before continuing to speak, "She just arrived here yesterday, but of course you would know that if you hadn't skipped class again. The word is she came from the Western Wood just like yourself." She stated with a grin that disappeared the moment she received a warning glare from her friend, "Anyway, don't bother trying to talk to her. From what I've heard you should stay far away from that one. Something about her eyes..." "Why is that?" Kai couldn't keep her own eyes off the pale girl, "She looks like a cute little girl. What about her eyes?" She probed even more curious. She could not understand it but something about the child struck her funny. Where usually the oddness of the students didn't make a difference to Kai, something about this girl peeked her interests. "She doesn't have any." Anita declared in an eerie voice. Kai turned to see if Anita was pulling her leg. Anita ignored her friend's stares as she continued, "I mean everyone here is strange in some way or another, but she is plain creepy if you ask me. Supposably if you look into her eyes it is like looking through a window to hell... or something much worse." Anita finished with a creepy laugh. Kai began to turn back and look at the child. "no eyes... That is a new one, isn't it." She mused more to herself, "Hard to believe any of that is true. I mean they are just rumours right?" She queried. "Hard to say." Anita shrugged, "And I'm not the curious type to find out if it is true or not." She gazed at her friend who was still mesmerized by Ashley, "Is something wrong?" Anita inquired even more concerned, "You have not been acting like yourself today." "I don't know..." Kai stated in a bit of a daze. There was something about the new girl that she needed to know more about. She was about to approach the girl when one of the senior students stepped up to the child. "Say isn't that, that rich brat Marie talking with the new kid?" Kai asked inquisitively. "Yeah," Anita stepped back at the sight of the Amazon girl. To say that Marie was tall would be an understatement. To both Anita and Kai she was a monster and known to be quite the bully too. Not what you would expect from girl who was brought up around the finer things in life and was known to show up in school dressed in frilly pink dresses and showing off her newest earrings, "What could she want with such an odd girl. It is not like Ashley has any friends or is popular or anything." Anita stated aloud what Kai was feeling deep inside. Marie suddenly grabbed the little girl by the front of her dress, picks her up off the ground with one arm and stared at the girl maliciously. "Why that self righteous little..." Kai hissed under her breath, "Who the hell does she think she is?" Kai ran towards the fray with her friend close on her heels, "Let her go Marie!" Kai demanded. Marie looked up to see Kai running in her direction, "Hmmm..." Marie turned her attention to her new adversary while still holding the little girl in one hand, "Oh, The normal. Is there something I can do for you?" She asked casually, as if holding a little girl by the neck was an everyday event. "Stop playing games!" Kai balled her hand into a fist at her side, "You heard me. Let her go... NOW!" She commanded this time. Marie looked between Kai and Anita, Then back at Ashley, "Have it your way." She remarked with a shrug, "If you want her you can have her." She dropped Ashley to the ground causing the girl to land in a heap then turned on her heels and walked away. "WOW!" Anita glomped Kai, "Kai, you are so cool!!! My heart was pounding so hard. I can't believe you stood up to Marie like that, I mean she could have killed you and still!! WOW!!" She rattled in a excited blur that Kai almost didn't catch all of. "It was nothing." Kai crossed her arms behind her head and lightly blushed in embarrassment of the fuss her friend was making, "Marie is just a big bully. She never really scared me." The truth of the matter, Kai was terrified and her heart was still pounding to that very moment. Anita glanced over to where Marie disappeared behind the school, "She is still scary if you ask me." She admitted with a shudder. Kai kneeled down to Ashley's side, "Hey, You don't have to worry anymore. Marie won't be hurting you anymor-" At that moment the little girl opened her eyes. She did have eyes, contrary to what Anita believed, however they too were as white as her skin. The iris were even white and there was no sign of pupils, like some kind of strange ivory marbles. Kai found it hard not to stare into those eyes. Then her head suddenly filled with images of fire and darkness. The flames began to spiral and an image formed. A black silhouette of a strange bird created out of curved triangle markings. She could hear her name being called out over and over again. "KAI!!!" Anita screamed into Kai's ear startling her out of her thoughts. "Huh?!? Wha???" Kai looked around alarmed to find herself standing at the school again. The image still fresh in her mind. Anita watched her friend carefully, "Are you alright?" She asked more worried then ever about Kai's behaviour, "Should I get the nurse?" She started to move towards the school. Kai grabs Anita's hand, "No.. No nurse..." She rubbed her head, "I just saw something in her eyes is all." She explained. Anita leaned close to Kai, "See I told you so..." She whispered into the girl's ear. Kai looked at Ashley who is now curiously staring at her with those blank eyes. Her mouth slowly opens and closes, however no sound emitted from her lips. "What is she trying to say?" Anita asked curiously watching the girl. "Th.. Thank you..." Kai repeated the girls mouth movements, "I think..." She puzzled. Ashley got to her feet and ran towards the school leaving the two girls alone. They simply stared at the girl as she disappeared into the school, suddenly the air filled with the sound of the school's bells ringing. "Ahhhh!!!" Anita jumped in place, alarmed by the sound, "We are going to be late! Come on Kai." She started to run across the lawn and turned back to see Kai still standing in a daze, "Are you coming?" She asked more urgently this time. "No, you go ahead." Kai waved her hand for the girl to continue on her way. "You are not planning on skipping again are you?" Anita said placing a hand on her hip. Kai rubbed her temple, "I... I just need some time to myself." She stated grimly. "Oh..." Anita stepped towards the school and stopped again. She was torn between her duty to be a good student and her need to help her friend, "If you need me I'll be in class alright?" She asked, she really wanted Kai to tell her to stay, but felt like she would be more of a burden to the girl by imposing upon her request to be alone. "Yeah...." Kai watched as a few strangling kids rushed for the school. She took a glance up at the building. She didn't feel like she belonged in such a place and at that moment really didn't want to be amongst so many strangers, "I'll talk to you later." "See you during lunch alright?" Anita hesitated still fighting with her urge to rush over to Kai's side, but she had no idea how to support her friend. . "Sure sure..." Kai said, she gave a silent plea that Anita would not leave her alone but could not find her voice to tell her that, "Get going or you will be really late." She nodded towards the school and gave the girl a weak smile. "Later" Anita quickly turned around and ran through the doors of the school, leaving Kai standing alone with only the winds to keep her company. Kai looked up at the sky and let out a tired sigh. **** To Be Continued **** Note: The world of the shadowlands, Its stories, Characters and ideas are a copyright of Kathryn K Williams. This story is based upon my manga of the same name. If you wish visit my site and see some of the art based on this series. Also if you spot any typos or other errors please contact me.
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