| The Light |
| Her eyes shining with glee, Lilly dragged her new friend back to meet her parents. The girl hadn't said no, so she must want to meet them. "Mom! Dad! Guess what?" Lilly led her "friend" into an office that was decorated cheerfully with light pink wallpaper and very yellow furniture. "This girl knows magic too!" "Really dear? That's wonderful! And how did you meet her?" A sweet faced blonde woman said. Her face bore no distinguishing marks except for a few smile wrinkles around her eyes. "She's got no money. She came to get some food!" "Did she? She must be poor. That's all right though. We can afford to help her out," Lilly's father said. His deep wavy hair was as white as a cloud, but his face didn't feel old. Perhaps because he smiled as much as his wife. "I thought so. Daddy, can we keep her here forever?" "NO!" Sarai said speaking up. Lilly's father ignored her. "She can stay as long as she wants, but she'll have to do something to earn her keep. Do play the piano my dear?" "Yes," Sarai said with an exasperated sigh. "Terrific! You start immediately! Now what kind of room would you like to stay in. A twin-bed, a full, a king, or maybe a suite?" "Nnone of the above." "Nonsense. You can't sleep in the kitchen. So which will it be?" Sarai paused for a moment, before deciding that she would need a place to stay for the night anyways. "Can I have a room with two beds?" "Two? Sure, sure. Lilly darling, will you put her in room 247 please? You know where the keys are. Give her some dinner and let her get some rest. She starts tomorrow," the father said. Sarai rolled her eyes as Lilly took her hand and took off running. She couldn't help but let a slight "whoa," escape as they took off down the halls and around the corners and up the stairs and down more halls. "Here we are 247! I'll be back later with some food," Lilly said, sliding a small card key into the programmer and setting it up for the room. She handed it to Sarai and left. Sarai watched her head down the hall before following her down the stairs. Her goal was to find Avana and Emma before the food was ready. Her endeavor was successful. Emma had just finished eating her food when Sarai found her, and Avana was down the street examining the contents of the dumpster behind a machine factory. She had a pile of scrap metal already and was reluctant to leave all of it behind. She did settle on one or two pieces before following Sarai back to the room. Lilly found the trio lounging on the beds half-asleep. Sarai grabbed the food from her immediately and sat down to eat everything on the tray, which consisted of a hamgburger, fries, a bottle of ketchup, pickle slices, a bowl of chicken noodle soup, two slices of toast, and a large glass of strawberry lemonade with a lemon slice. Sarai had no problem consuming all of it, including most of the bottle of ketchup which she used on her fries and burger. "Who are they? Can they use magic too? Are you guys on a quest? That's so cool! Can I come? Please, please, please? My parents won't mind. They don't care what I do. They'll even fund us! I bet we could get them as like our sponsors! This is so cool! I'll be right back!" And then she was gone. "Wow, she's more annoying than you," Avana said to Emma, who didn't know if she should be hurt or feel better. She decided to be slightly hurt, but not too much. "Are we really going to let her come?" Emma asked Sarai. "Well why not? What's one more to our ridiculous circus?" And so with her food gone she fell back and fell asleep. She slept right through Lilly's return and announcement that her parents had given her permission and her own credit card to fund their expedition. She then took a few minutes or thirty to explain how her parents had gotten to be the owner's of a world famous hotel chain and how that meant they had money to give to those who needed it. Avana wished she could sleep through Lilly's jabber as well as Sarai and Emma was just glad there would be someone going with them who wasn't rude or sarcastic every time they talked. Lilly seemed very, very cheerful. "Well my name is Lilly and you are?" Avana just stared at the ceiling so Emma answered for her. "My name is Emma, that's Avana and Sarai you already met right?" "Wow...who is our leader? If we don't have a leader, then I am a great leader. I can memorize names really fast!" "There's only four of us. That isn't too hard to do," Avana said, not turning to look at her. Lilly didn't let that stop her. "We could vote on it. Who wants me for a leader?" Lilly's hand was the only one in the air. "I don't mean to be rude, but you seem really stupid to me. If we did have a leader, I'd want someone with enough brains to form plans or whatever. I mean we are facing mutated insects here," Avana said, managing to look down at Lilly despite being sprawled out on the bed. Her wings were propped up in the corner, lifeless. "They aren't mutated insects. Sarai says they are nightmares." "Nightmares? Then maybe blondie could have her imaginary friend lead us." "Why don't you do it then?" Lilly said, not in the least offended. "Because I'm leaving as soon as I pay back Sarai for saving my life," was the reply. "Emma?" "Oh no! Not me! I might get us killed. Or worse!" "Well then it's settled. Sarai will be our leader!" Lilly said, as if the matter really was settled. "Sarai?" "Sure. She's perfect!" "How do you know that? You can't have spent that much time with her. And I highly doubt you let her get a word in in the time you did spend together," Avana said. "But that aside, you are right. She is the best choice. Heaven help us." "I don't mind if Sarai leads," Emma said, as if someone had asked her. She really would have followed whoever they decided on. "Goody! Now shall we name our group?" "No. Now we shall go to sleep," Avana said mockingly, closing her eyes and drifting off. Emma shrugged and curled up next to Sarai on the bed, leaving Lilly to brainstorm what to name a band that fought nightmares and had no real goals yet... |
| Hint: I had to do this in white to keep up the consistency, but to read this you could try select all (Ctrl A) or something similar. You'll see why... |