She did notice, however, when Cuiaree lifted her hands, and uttered a curse.

"Cuiaree, what are you doing?" Veheli cried.

It was obvious what Cuiaree was doing, so she didn't bother to answer. She screamed the forbidden words, and a huge, black void appeared at her hands. She flung her arms back behind her head, then with all the collected energy, hurled the curse at the normal.

Everyone who was near the man jumped out of the way, and the only person who was hit with the deadly blast was the insane normal.

"Cuiaree!" screamed Veheli. "We don't kill!"

Cuiaree turned to face Veheli, her eyes burning red. "He killed Calie, Veheli. He deserved to die." Her eyes got darker. "They all deserve to die. They killed our ancestors, drove them away, and now here we are hiding out. We're just hiding!" she yelled, so that others could hear her. "Hiding like cowards! We let them drive us away, like good little sheep, when we should be killing them and forcing them off! They deserve to die!" she half-cried, half-yelled.

"Shh, Cuiaree, you don't know what you're saying, you're upset, please be quiet before you say something you'll spend the rest of your life regretting." Veheli was upset too, devastated, but people were really staring now, would her other friend end up in jail?

"No, I do know what I'm saying, and I mean it too," Cuiaree's eyes were suddenly hard. "They deserve to die, and so they will die, even if I have to kill all of them."

Veheli knew her friend enough to know that she meant that, and would still mean it after she got over the shock. "You can't judge all of them by one person! They're not all the same!"

Cuiaree whirled around and grabbed Veheli's shoulder, shaking her. "Maybe you're blind, but I'm not. Why are we here, cooped up on this island, in the first place? I'll tell you why. We are because five hundred years ago we were killed for what we are. We were blamed for everything that went wrong, because we were different. And that wasn't just one person. That was everybody."

Veheli looked down at Calie's corpse, tears streaming down her face. "That was a long time ago. They changed since then, I know they have."

"No. They didn't. People like that don't change, Veheli, they never did and they never will. We can't sit here, afraid of them, forever. We can't, I'm going to change it."

"Cuiaree ... Calie wouldn't have wanted it. She wouldn't have wanted you to kill in her name."

"Then I won't...in her name." Before Veheli could stop her, Cuiaree slipped off into the shadows.

"No!" screamed Veheli. She wanted to go after Cuiaree, talk to her, make her see reason...but all Veheli could do was stand in place, frozen, staring at Calie's corpse. Suddenly the sobs came; her entire body fell into spasms as she fell to the ground over her best friend's corpse, sobbing. Someone put a hand on her shoulder, but she just pulled away. "Leave me alone!" she sobbed.

"Just leave me alone!" she hugged Calie's corpse. "Come back, Calie, come back!"

"Come back...come back...come back..." the last phrase echoed, over and over, the sound wandering around like a lost soul.

"Come back!" Already far away, Cuiaree heard the call, and spared one tear; the last tear she would ever shed. From now on, she couldn't care for anyone or anything, except for her goal: to rid the world of the normals.

Cuiaree planned.

******

"I TOLD you already!" Veheli exploded for what felt like the millionth time. "She left the island."

"Nonsense," scoffed Tines, who was watching. "She has no information for you, she was obviously delusional with grief for her friend."

"That's not true," Veheli glared at her stepfather coldly. "I know what I heard, and she said that she wanted to kill the normals."

The girl's teeth chattered, and she rubbed her arms, trying to keep warm. Tears were still running down her face, and the water made her even colder. Her lips were blue, but everyone was too shaken from the events earlier that day to offer her a coat. Veheli kept looking into the distance, past everything, her mind numb. Her eyes were unfocused, and only two thoughts kept going through her head. The first was "Calie can't be dead, she can't be." However, even in her state of grief, Veheli knew what was even more important than that. "We have to stop Cuiaree," she said quietly. "We have to."

"If what you said was true, Veheli, steps would, obviously, be taken," said the official, her face disbelieving. This child was the daughter of Tines Borais, the high-class snob. Why, she'd heard that this girl even considered herself above the upper-class culture. She doubted that such a girl would ever be acquaintances, let alone close friends, with two girls who were so poor; all this crying, the muttering, the acting upset must all be for attention, not caused by real grief. "But Cuiaree doesn't seem like such a hotheaded, unreasonable child, and--"

"She's not," Veheli interrupted quietly. "She's not, you're right. But when she has evidence, and she's convinced of something...in some ways, she was right. Her logic made sense, that's the scary thing. It wasn't the ranting of a madwoman; she knew what she was saying, and she knew what she was talking about." The silent tears that streamed down Veheli's face dripped down to the ground, making a soft 'splash' each time. What can I do? she asked herself. They won't believe me; what if nobody does? What if they never find her, until it's too late? Veheli shuddered, knowing what her friend could do.

She is still a friend, Veheli realized. A misguided one, yes, but that isn't her fault. However, once they believed Veheli--if they ever did-- it would be too late, the damage would be done, innocent people would have been killed. She had to get them to understand now.

"She knew what she was talking about; so you also believe that they should be killed?" Of course, the official got the completely wrong message from Veheli's statement.

"NO!" exclaimed Veheli, aghast. "Of course not, never. My point is, she thinks that she's right, and she won't stop, she won't change her mind. We have to stop her." She wrung her hands together, looking around in panic.

"Oh, come now, Veheli," Tines sighed in a bored tone that made Veheli want to slap him, "She's probably just sulking somewhere, in a cave or something, over your little friend's death, like you are here."

Veheli realized all over exactly why she hated Tines. "SULKING?" she screamed. "I lose my best friend and it's SULKING? She didn't deserve to die; I did, maybe, but she was so good ... so good ... I can't imagine life without her. Oh, if you think that, I can't explain to you. But I can't stay here!" she ran out of the room, the tears coming anew after they had just began to slow. Veheli never knew before that she had so many tears.

Back in the room, the official shook her head. Veheli was a great actress, but of course she wasn't really upset. In fact, the official was surprised that the girl had acted out crying; after all, it must be smearing Veheli's makeup and making her look horrible. Such snobbish people, the official thought to herself. And there's the girl, trying to cause a panic by spreading unsubstantiated rumors.

Of course, many people could hear the noise that Veheli was making, running down the hall in tears. Most of them, afraid to upset her more, or just not wanting to get upset themselves, stayed in their rooms and left her alone.

She went into her room and collapsed into her bed. It was only about 7 o'clock in the evening, but she couldn't stand to be up any longer. Calie … was dead. She couldn't escape that thought, no matter how hard she tried. She'd never see her friend, her best friend, ever again.

Veheli rolled over in her bed, and fell into an uneasy sleep.

*********

She woke up in cold sweat, screaming. Veheli sat up in her bed, shaking uncontrollably; another nightmare. The girl fell back down on her back, lying in her bed, but she couldn't stop shivering from the nightmare. All that she remembered from it was a feeling of dread, but that was enough.

Thoughts were running through her head. She kept remembering the scene that morning; it played in her mind, over and over. Calie falling over dead, the blank look in her eyes that had still been open. The thing that Veheli remembered most, though, was the cold iciness of the corpse.

Veheli sat up. She didn't know what she could do, but she had to do something, or else these feelings of dread would cone true. Cuiaree was capable of anything when she was this upset.

The girl got out of bed, not quite sure what she could do, but not able to stay there. She pulled on some comfortable trousers and a top, and padded across the soft floor, feeling much heavier than she normally did, as if her legs were made of lead.

Either Veheli was a light stepper or everyone was sleeping soundly, though, because nobody woke up from her walking around the house. However, one person was still up. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and stopped, turning slowly. Pedon was standing there.

"Your friend?" he asked softly. His eyes looked into hers with pity.

Veheli nodded, holding back the tears that were threatening to spill out again. "I don't know what to do, I'm so scared, they need to stop Cuiaree!"

"What do you mean?" asked Pedon quietly, guiding her to his room, and sitting her down in a chair. He sat across from her.

"Well," Veheli took a deep breath. "Nobody will believe me ... but Cuiaree kind of snapped when Calie died. Not the way I did, but ... she wants to, to kill all of the--kill the normals. All of them."

Pedon's face was grave. "Do you think she meant it?"

"I know that she meant it. The look on her face, her cold eyes, her sure words; she's already out there, on the Outside. She's going to kill them, as many of them as she can. And nobody will believe me, nobody will be there to stop her. Oh, Pedon, what can I DO?" Pedon recognized the feelings in her voice. Besides being scared, upset, grieving for her friend, Veheli was also terrified. She was stressed, she was at the edge and could probably snap from such pressure at any time. He knew that in this state, she'd try to do anything to relieve her anxiety, her guilt, and he had to try and stop her from making any rash moves.

Pedon took a deep breath. "The only think that you can safely do is wait, and try to talk to someone who believes us."

Veheli looked at Pedon, for the first time looking him in the eyes. "You believe me?" she whispered.

He nodded. "From what you've said, and what I understand of Cuiaree, it sounds believable." That was true; plus, he also had to reassure her, make her feel better, so that she didn't risk herself.

She appeared to be thinking. What he'd just said… "Anything I can do safely ... no, no. I don't have to stay safe. My life isn't worth all those innocent people's." She stood up. "Yes, I know what I have to do."

"NO, Veheli!" exclaimed Pedon, leaping out of the chair and holding her shoulders. "No, you're not going to." This was exactly what he was trying to prevent, her making some sort of decision like this that could end up killing her.

"How can anyone justify staying at home, safe, when he or she can save lives? Cuiaree has lots of Sorceress magic, she could end up killing millions if nobody does anything, and if I don't then nobody will. I have to go."

"No, you don't! I won't let you!"

"You can't stop me." Veheli's voice was louder than normal. She raised her head and uttered a charm; suddenly, his hands fell through her shoulders, and he couldn't get a hold on her.

"I'm going, I'll stop her, I'll save them. Tell my parents where I went. If I live, I'll be back...if not, tell Mom that I love her." Veheli turned away. In her ghost-like form she was almost transparent, the only thing still solid on her were the tears glistening on her face. The very fact that she used that charm proved that she wasn't thinking clearly; after she used it, and it wore off, she'd be so exhausted that she would need a period of rest for at least a day.

"Don't do this!" cried Pedon. He knew that she wouldn't stop because of what he said, but he had to try to do something. Veheli just smiled; the smile was haunted, and empty, and held absolutely no happiness whatsoever. Pedon shivered when he saw it; it was the smile of somebody who had nothing inside, who was empty; the smile of a lost soul.

The girl walked over to the wall, and stuck a hand through it. She nodded to herself, and slowly walked through the wall and emerged two stories above the ground. She fell, but landed so lightly that she didn't feel anything at all. Hopefully the charm worked so that she could walk on water. She walked over to the water, and carefully put a foot on it. Well, it felt solid to her. She put both feet on, and stood there, on the water.

If charm lasted long enough, she could simply run to land like this; if it didn't, she'd drown. She wouldn't have the energy to swim after such a tiring charm, so simply doing this would risk her life. Hopefully, later her worry and grief would be diminished enough for her to think things through more clearly.

She turned towards the direction of the nearest city on the Outside, hoping that Cuiaree would go there. She ran out about a hundred yards, then paused, turning around a moment and taking one look back at her home. She saw Pedon coming out of the house, and running out to the water. He stopped when he saw how far out Veheli was, and just looked out. From this far, Veheli couldn't make out what his expression was.

Goodbye, home, she thought to herself. I hope I'll be back, but if not, goodbye.

She turned towards the land of Outside, and didn't look back again.

Cuiaree surveyed the ocean around her. Obviously, the Normal-- and Cuiaree's mind felt sick just thinking of the dirty thing-- had gotten to the island somehow; Cuiaree had found the boat.

Veheli would tell what happened, Cuiaree knew, but she also knew that nobody would believe the poor girl. Oh, well, thought Cuiaree, all the better for me.

Cuiaree consulted the map that she was looking at. The city with the largest population, she knew where that was. However, everyone would expect her to go there. However, another large city was there; Philadelphia. They wouldn't look for her there, and she could still do what she needed to get done.

Measuring the distance it was, she came to the conclusion that, with a bit of magickal boost, she could get there in less than seven hours. That was good; she'd be there before it got dark. She could probably control them easily; normals were so weak-minded. At least, that's what she'd learned from her mother back when she was still alive.

The ocean breeze blew the girl's hair back, and Cuiaree suddenly got a very bad feeling. She shook it off; she was off doing what she should be doing, nothing bad was going to happen.

She turned around to face the door, and went underneath. It was a nice setup; obviously this boat was made for long-term trips. Cuiaree looked at the different odds and ends, the slips of plastic and the little gadgets. If only there were some way for me to know what all of this was … she thought to herself.

**********

Veheli woke with a pounding headache. She looked around, and instantly regretted picking up her head. She was so dizzy that she put it right back down again. Everything was double; she couldn't focus her eyes. She closed her eyes for a few more minutes, then opened them again.

She blinked, wondering where she was. Then, with a sinking feeling, she remembered the events that had happened-- when had they happened?

Veheli shook her head; whenever someone ever used that charm, they ended up weak afterwards with an unclear memory of what had happened. She was in a fairly normal bed, though it wasn't as comfortable as she was used to. She probably had sneaked in through the walls, though she wasn't quite sure what this place was. She tried to sit up again.

"Careful, there," said somebody. Veheli tried to sit up and twist around, but instantly sank back down in the bed again.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Well, someone found you unconscious on the beach, so they brought you here…"

"Where is 'here'?" asked Veheli cautiously. She looked around more carefully; it was very sterile, with not much color or style at all. There were some odd machines around.

"Lie down, dear. You're at the hospital. What's your phone number, and name? We need to contact your parents."

"Phone number?" questioned Veheli, confused. "My name is Veheli…"

"Last name, please, and yes, your phone number."

"My surname is--" she suddenly stopped, realizing that that would be a bad idea; they wouldn't have heard of her anyway. "I don't know," she said slowly. "I don't know my phone number either…"

The woman looked up. "Hmm, can you remember anything else besides your name?"

Getting an idea, Veheli shook her head no.

"Hmmm, amnesia," muttered the nurse, writing something down. "Did you hit your head?"

"I don't remember," said Veheli slowly, not believing the stupidity of this person. Were all normals this stupid? Not, she reminded herself, that all the Eneni are very smart.

Or maybe it wasn't fair to think this person stupid. They might think that I have selective amnesia, after all, she thought to herself. Don't be sure to scorn these people, maybe their culture is just different, doesn't mean that they're inferior. Thinking that they were inferior would be the kind of thinking that Cuiaree would do, not Veheli.

"Well, we'll have to keep you here, we'll try to find your parents, and we'll have to hold you here for a while, to watch you. Do you want something to eat?"

Veheli nodded, realizing that her plan may be backfiring. She couldn't stay here if she also needed to go after Cuiaree.

Cuiaree! Veheli suddenly sat up. She'd forgotten completely about Cuiaree. There was no dawdling if she had to stop her friend; she was sure that the other girl wouldn't be wasting her time, she was there to kill normals, and to stop her Veheli had to find her and had to do it quickly.

Veheli jumped up, then sat back down again as the world once more spun. She sat there for a few minutes, than slowly stood up, holding onto something so that she could stay up. After about a minute, the world was clear again.

She heard someone coming, and ducked into a closet quickly, muttering a quick charm that would make it appear to a normal that she was asleep in the bed. She wasn't quite sure how effective it would be; it wouldn't work on another Eneni, but as long as the person didn't look too closely, it should be fine. It wasn't an image projected, but rather a suggestion in the person's mind, so Veheli couldn't see how convincing it was.

However, it seemed to work. The nurse didn't seem to notice anything at all, though, and just put the food down on the table next to the bed and walked back out again.

"Well, I certainly can't recommend their recovery system," muttered Veheli. Seriously, she'd think that they'd at least check to see how she was when they brought the food in. When someone was in bad condition back home, they would constantly be monitored, and checked up on personally every hour. Veheli shrugged, and slipped out of the closet. She concentrated, putting a suggestion in everyone's mind that she wasn't there. To Veheli's surprise, it worked perfectly.

It's pretty easy to work all this stuff on normals, Veheli thought to herself. She thought of the power that her kind could have over them, and shuddered. Nobody should have that sort of power, she thought as she walked out of the building onto the street.

********

Cuiaree stepped off onto the dock, looking around. The smell was disgusting; she knew that it was from those machines that they used; the ones that were really filthy. Disgusting, she thought to herself.

She walked towards the street, waving a hand in front of her face. She suddenly wished that she'd learned how to clear air. Saying the charm, of course, wasn't what made the things happen; Cuiaree knew that. But apparently, the words stimulated the right part of the brain, so that you were in the right frame of thinking in order to get the spell done.

However, Cuiaree knew plenty about how to control others; she was always in the right frame of thinking for that. "Hey!" she yelled. Someone stopped. "How do I get to somewhere to stay?" She smiled at the young woman, giving her mind a little push.

"Well, there's a nice hotel right down there," the woman pointed.

"Thanks … Miss…"

"My name's Jenny," the woman smiled.

"Thank you, Jenny," said Cuiaree sweetly, holding out her hand. Jenny shook it, a slightly puzzled look on her face. Cuiaree concentrated a moment, then released the grasp, walking towards the direction that the woman had pointed.

Now, I test my true power here, Cuiaree thought to herself, taking one look back at Jenny.

*********

Later that night, Jenny Orren was sitting down, watching TV. Her boyfriend was away this week, and she was off of work, so all there really was to do was read and watch. Vacation wasn't quite as fun-filled as she had thought it would be.

Stand up, a little voice said in her head. Jenny ignored it, but it came back, more persistently, and almost against her own will, Jenny stood up.

Go to the window, it whispered. Jenny did so. No, Jenny didn't walk over there; she was watching herself act, not acting herself. She had no power over her own body.

Jump out. The voice almost sounded smug. Jump.

Jenny Orren looked out of the window, nine stories up, above a busy street.

She jumped, right into the middle of the road. Her head hit the road with a crack, and she was dead a few seconds later, with cars screeching to a stop when they saw her fall from the apartment.

Cuiaree was there, of course. She was watching. She always had to survey her handiwork, see how well it had worked. It was so easy, here, to control people. It barely required any effort at all. She thought of all the power that her kind could have over these people, and smiled. I have all the power here, she thought as she walked away quietly from the scene of the death.

********

Veheli woke up suddenly, having taken a nap after she found a place to stay. She felt bad about making him that she gave him money, but this was to save lives, it meant more than fooling one person.

Right now, Veheli felt more acutely that she was doing the right thing. Maybe it was clairvoyance, maybe it was instinct, but she knew one thing:

The massacre had begun.