Chapter 1

10 Years

         “Nyooooom!” A young girl shouted, arms outstretched into the cool evening air as she dashed around the trees, dodging the branches that were clutching and snagging at her long auburn hair. “Mayday! Mayday! I’ve been hit master commander! I’m going down, I’m going down!” She crowed, bumping into a low lying branch and snagging her blue and white plaid shirt on a sharp branch and tearing it a little on the sleeve. The young girl twirled about in the chilly autumn air, her small bare feet tangling in the fallen leaves and vines on the forest floor.

She flopped down to the ground on her belly; the breath in her lungs exiting with a whoosh and army crawled under a nearby fallen tree. Hazel eyes darting quickly from left to right, she lifted her small dirt covered fist up to her mouth, miming a walkie-talkie. “Sir, I’ve landed in enemy territory. I don’t know what will happen to me but I just want you to let my wife and kids know…” Suddenly, she cut herself off and perked her head up from the foliage.

“Avery! Honey it’s time for dinner!” A wide smile parted the young girl, Avery’s, lips as she heard her mother calling for her. It sounded like her mother had been calling for her for a while, a roughness starting to color the edges of the normally honey sweet voice. 

            Avery crawled from her hiding place and brushed the leaves and dirt from the knees of her faded coveralls. Avery looked to her left, the direction from which her mother’s voice was coming from and shouted “Coming Momma!”

The young girl darted through the forest, her bare feet slapping lightly against the stones and fallen trees that littered the ground. The trees whizzed by, blurring in her peripherals as her lungs worked to inject oxygen into her blood stream and power her spritely flight home. Out of breath, Avery leapt from the tree line into her yard and ran to her mother’s outstretched arms.

“There you are honey! Where have you been? It’s been hours!” Her mother rasped quietly against the crown of Avery’s head.

Avery pulled back slightly and gazed up at her mother, eyes sparkling with untamed excitement. “I was battling the guy from the history book in Papa’s office! I think his name is…the Red Baron? Anyway, he took out one of my wings and I spiraled down into the wooded area below but that’s okay cause I survived because of my parachute! But I was trapped in the woods and surrounded by enemy forces and…”

Her mother placed the soft palm of her hand against Avery’s chattering lips. “Okay dear, I think that this story is pretty long and would be much better told over supper. I think that after all of your aerial antics you must be starving. I can feel your tummy grumbling from here.”

Her mother smoothed back Avery’s auburn hair and picked her up, plopping her down onto her out thrust hip. The older woman padded across the soft springy grass, her heels sinking slightly into the damp ground. Avery gazed up at her mother and gripped tightly at her soft purple sweater.  Her mother was beautiful, her mousy brown hair caught up into a black clip, button nose just a jot too large, hazel eyes just like hers and deep pink lips perpetually plucked up into a small smile.

Avery nuzzled into her mother’s warm neck and sighed contentedly and the woman stepped up the worn steps and thumped her way across the wooden deck and into the house. Stepping through the threshold of her home, Avery’s mother gently set her down onto the cool linoleum of their entry way.

Glancing down, her mother’s face twisted into a wry look and she scolded Avery gently, “Go and wash off your feet, they’re filthy and I don’t want you tracking mud all through the house, you hear?” Avery’s mother wrapped her hand around the back of her neck and pressed a kiss to the crown of Avery’s head, nudging her toward the bathroom. After a moment of watching her daughter go, the older woman nodded to herself and entered the kitchen where her husband was setting the table.

            Avery loped into the bathroom and ran warm water from the tap of the bathroom onto her feet. Scrubbing furiously at her toes until the water ran clean, she became distracted for a moment by the light reflecting on the water. Reaching down to the shallow pool of water in the tub, Avery tried to capture the bending reflection of the light. She imagined it was an ocean, the water glistening off of the glittering blue water. Small fish nibbled at her fingers as she leaned over the side of the boat on her belly and she dunked her head below the water to get a better look at the reef below.

Small colorful fish darted around her fish and lipped futilely at the hair that was swirling about her face. Suddenly, a large shadow was cast upon the reef. Her eyes darting about, trying to find the source of the shadow, Avery’s eyes alighted upon a giant shark. The sharp white teeth of the giant overlapping its lip as it surveyed the reef with cool obsidian eyes.

Avery gasped, sucking water into her lungs for a moment and she pulled her head up from the ocean and into…her bathroom? Frantically coughing and gasping, trying to recapture her breath, she blinked her eyes to clear them of water. She was at home, in her bathroom, and her hair was soaking wet and hanging in clumps about her face. What was happening to her? Sure she had always liked to imagine the possibilities but this…this was different. She didn’t know how, but it was. 

Quickly toweling her hair off with a nearby hand towel and scraping it into a ponytail Avery then made her way into the kitchen, the heat from the room warming her cheeks instantly. Glancing around the well lit room, Avery’s eyes landed on her father, a heavy set man with short auburn hair, the same that graced her own head and smile lines deeply imbedded around his mouth and eyes. “Oh, there’s my girl!” His rough, bearlike voice reverberating in the heavy barrel that was his chest as he picked up Avery and held her to him. He sealed his lips against the peachy flesh of her neck and blew hard, causing a vulgar farting noise to follow. Laughing hysterically, Avery pushed futilely against his scruffy chin, “Poppa! Noooo!” He laughed as he pulled back and glanced over at his wife, whom was covering her mouth to muffle her giggles.

“Jenna, how did we get so lucky to have a girl this lovely and wonderful?” Jenna walked over, wrapping her slender arms around her husband and resting her chin on his shoulder.

“Oh, I don’t know Dean. I think we just got lucky.” Her lips quirking into a soft smile, Jenna herded her husband over to the kitchen table, their supper already laid out on the oaken wood. Dean plopped his daughter into a nearby chair, tickling her neck and making her squirm before seating himself.

Supper began as they served themselves potatoes and green beans with cornbread, the serving spoons and cutlery clinking against their plates. Dean’s teeth sunk into the springy texture of the cornbread and chewed thoughtfully, looking to his wife. “So Jen, what did you get up to today?”

Dinner went off without a hitch, Avery consuming her food with reckless abandon, the incident in the bathroom leaving her mind completely. Her mother giggled and her father chucked her on the chin and stated, “That’s my girl! Lookit that healthy appetite!”

After cleaning up from supper, Jenna led her daughter to the bathroom and started getting her ready for bed. Avery brushed her teeth with the watermelon-flavored toothpaste she had begun to favor as her mother brushed out and braided her hair.

That nightly ritual finished, Avery pulled her favorite green nightdress on and crawled into her bed. The family cat, Mr. Whiskers leapt up from the soft floor and curled into a ball at her feet, purring.

Jenna pressed her lips to her daughter’s forehead, “Goodnight Avery, I love you.”

Dean stepped forward from his place just behind his wife’s shoulder and pressed his large open palm against Avery’s eyes. “Sleep well love.”

            As her parents left, Avery’s eyes began to droop and lose focus, the world beginning to blur. Avery’s world melted from beneath her and her tummy leaped into her throat, she was falling. Avery’s eyes snapped open gazed frantically into the darkness that enveloped her, zigzags of light flashing before her eyes. Eyes straining to see into and through the darkness, there was nothing but floating motes of light. It was like when you pressed the heels of your hands reeeeaaallly hard against your eyes.

Sploosh! Avery landed in a pool of water, the freezing liquid enveloping her and her stealing her breathe, locking her muscles. Avery struggled to make her way up to the surface, using sheer force of will against her unrelenting muscles until her head breached the surface with a gasp. Her muscles loosened as she acclimated to the cold water, and Avery dashed the water from her eyes with clenched fists, swiping the loosened tendrils of her hair back from her face. Breathing heavily, Avery frantically swung her head from right to left, trying to gather her wits enough to figure out where she was.

The night sky glittered with thousands of stars and an enormous moon seemed to laugh at her from its cozy place in outer space. Wind rustled through the tall grasses and cattails that surrounded the small pond that she had landed in, the croaking of the frogs so loud it was nearly deafening.

“Whuh, what happened?” Avery murmured, paddling her way to the edge of the pond and flopping onto the dry edge, her panting breath fogging slightly around her face.

“Wow, I’ve never seen someone crash through the veil quite like that!” The mid toned burr of a young boy’s voice thundered in her eardrums. Startled, Avery turned to look in the direction that the voice came from, her eyes alighting on…nothing. There was nothing there! What?!

“Wake up, wake up! It’s a dream! It has to be a dream, that’s what Momma says. Momma! Wake me up!!” Avery shouted, tears gathering at the corner of her eyes and her fists pounding at her head.

 “Hey now, you stop that! HEY!” The voice continued, and as Avery continued to panic, a small weight thumped onto her forehead. Opening her eyes, the young girl came face to, uh, body? With a tiny frog. Shocked of course, Avery paused in her hysterics, her eyes widening and blinked.

“Did…did you say something?” Her voice shook. The frog rolled its eyes. The FROG rolled its eyes!

“Well duh, do you see anyone else lookin’ you in the face and using their voice box to make sound at you? No? Well my dear, I think you answered your own question.”

‘Well, that was new.’ Avery thought, pursing her lips. “What?” The frog leapt down onto her crossed knee, shifting and settling down on its little frog behind, making himself comfortable. “You never seen a talking frog before?” Avery shook her head furiously; the sopping wet tendrils of her ponytail slapping her in the face. “Well, I guess I can’t say you’re the first one to not. Hey, why is it all you fleshies have such boring worlds?”

Avery was stuck, her eyes wide and her mouth trembling at the edges as she gazed at the frog. The frog seeing this sighed, “Well I guess there is nothing for it. My name is Thomas… ” the little frog paused, giving her a meaningful look.

Startling, Avery parted her lips “ Oh, well. My name is Avery.” Avery’s sopping wet clothes were sticking to her skin uncomfortably and she shifted, pulling at the tightness around her neck.

Thomas nodded his head and crossed his long green arms over his puffed out chest, looking her up and down. His face twisted in a way that made Avery feel as if she were measured up and found to be rather…lacking. “Well, well, well! It would seem that we have a hopper on our hands!”

Avery’s nose crinkled in confusion, “A…a hopper?”

Thomas tilted his head and said very slowly, as if speaking to a toddler, “Yes. A hopper. Do you not even know what you are girl?”

Affronted by how rude the frog was being, Avery stiffened her spine and tilted her chin up. “I have no idea what you are talking about, in fact? You’re dumb and I want you to go away!”

“Hmm, well that escalated quickly. Listen sweetheart, you have no idea what you’re getting yourself into do you? Well when things get too crazy, just come and find me. Look for the silver flowers.” Thomas’ forehead shifted in a way that made it seem that if he had eyebrows, one of them would be raised in condescension. With a sniff, the frog leapt from Avery’s knee and dove back into the pond.

‘Jeeze, I still feel like he’s watching me. What a jerk!’ Avery thought, standing from her prostrate position and wringing out the edges of her shirt. Stepping away from the pond, Avery took in her surroundings.

All around Avery was a sea of tall grasses and various plant life, a few enormous trees leaping from the ground and trying with all their might to touch the sky. A gusty sigh left Avery and she began to explore her surroundings, the ground a mucky mess that slithered between her toes with a disgusting sucking noise.

“Eeeeeww!” Avery grimaced, shivering and moving on. The reeds brushed against her shoulders and she shouldered her way through, trying to reach one of the tall reaching trees.

“You probably don’t want to go that way girlie.” Ugh, that stupid frog again.

“I thought you said you were going away.” Avery huffed, continuing to fight against the reeds to get to her destination.

Thomas jumped onto a large tree stump that was just in front of Avery, one of which was originally obscured by reeds and would have caused Avery to experience a terrible fall.

“Yeah, I would have left you to adventure and go about like an idiot and laughed at you till I was brown in the face, but you’re lumbering toward the trees like an idiot. That’s a good way to get yourself killed.” Thomas’ eyes narrowed and his lips pulled down into a froggy frown.

Avery tossed her head and scoffed, “Killed? You’re kidding right?”

Thomas shook his head and lifted a pebble from the base of the stump and casually tossed it over his shoulder in the direction of the tree. The reeds parted violently as an enormous...something rocketed from beneath the surface of the previously placid water.

‘Oh god what is that!?!’ Avery’s mind screamed at her legs to move, but for the life if her she couldn’t move a muscle. Tears started to trickle from the edges of her eyes.

“That would be what would have killed you. You really don’t know anything do you?”

Avery shook her head and thumped down on her bottom, clutching her knees to her chest. Avery buried her head into her knees and sobbed.

“Hey now, don’t cry! Ugh, it’s just like a girl to cry!” Thomas huffed and rolled his eyes.

“Shut up! Ugh, why do you have to be so mean!?” Avery shouted, her voice muffled from behind the barrier of her knees.

“Hey, I’m just here to help…” Avery cut him off, her face snapping up from her knees. Her hazel eyes sparked with anger and her lips were pulled into a vicious little scowl.

“Well I just don’t want to be here! I want to go home!!” She shouted.

As the words left exited her lips in a puff of condensation, the sky that was once dapple with thousands of stars clouded over with dark, angry looking clouds. Lightning flashed and the winds picked up, the surrounding reeds bucking violently and lashing Avery across the face and arms. Wide, fearful eyes darted to Thomas as he looked up to the sky, visibly shaken.

“Avery, what are you…!” He was cut off as the ground beneath them shifted violently, tossing he and Avery back into a nearby pool of water. The water had turned from a simple swampy brown and green to an angry black, foam forming at the surface as waves thrashed violently, trying to escape the confines it its shores.  A whirlpool began to form in the center.

Clinging to a chunk of wood that had been tossed into the water with the sudden shifting, Avery cried out. Leaping onto the piece of wood from where the he had been clinging to her collar, the frog shouted over the whipping of the wind. “You! Girl!! What are you doing?!?”

Avery cried out over the wind, “I don’t know! I’m not doing anything!! I just wanna go home!!!” She clung tighter to the wood as she began to near the swirling vortex at the center of the pond. The wind drowned everything out and water gushed into Avery’s ears as she lost her grip on the debris and sunk into the thrashing water.

Lips parted in a fierce gasp, Avery shot up into an upright position. Eyes darting around her room, she was met with the easy darkness of her room and a slight heat to her cheeks. Avery’s heart thundered in her chest when she felt movement down by her feet, but looking down realized that it was just Mr. Whiskers. He had been disturbed by her thrashing feet but instead of leaving, crawled up to her lap and nudged his head against her chin. Breathing deeply against his soft fur, Avery ran her hands up his sides and leaned back.

Her eyes slowly closed and she calmed down, lulled to sleep by the deep, reverberating purr from the cat. ‘It was just a dream.’ Avery nuzzled the cat in her sleep and tangled her fingers into his long fur, unaware of the deep, masculine voice that echoed in her room. “If only.”

Chapter 2

“Avery! Avery baby you need to wake up!” Her mother, her mother was yelling at her. Avery’s eyes opened slowly, scrunching her nose at the bright light that penetrated her dilated pupils. Jenna was gripping her upper arms tightly, and shaking her.

Slowly, as if surfacing from a dream, Avery looked down at her hands, which were clinging to the pitcher that was once filled with ice water that had been sitting on the kitchen table. The contents of the pitcher was now soaking both her and slicking the floor of the kitchen. Looking up at her mother, Avery blinked, her eyes refocusing.

 Her mother’s brows were pulled to the center of her face and her mouth was tight with worry. “Momma?” Her throat was sore, as if she had swallowed broken glass.

Jenna clutched her daughter to her chest and breathed deeply. Pulling away, she composed herself, “Sweetheart, what happened? Can you tell me? All of a sudden, you leapt onto the table and dumped water on yourself, it was like you were sleep walking!” Avery blinked, her eyes shifting focus to her father, whom had stood from his seat and walked over, kneeling next to her.

His large, calloused hand smoothed against her cheek. “Darling, you know you can tell us anything, right?” Avery shrugged.

It was the same reaction that they had gotten from their daughter since the first episode six months ago when she dumped a bowl of punch on their great aunt Lisa and shouted, “No, you won’t poison the princess! I won’t let you!!”

A gusty sigh exited her parent’s lips simultaneously. Smoothing the sopping tendrils of her daughter’s hair back, Jenna reached around behind her and grabbed a towel from the rung on their oven. Pressing it against Avery’s face, she soaked up the droplets of water that clung to Avery’s temples.

Jenna murmured sweetly, but her voice was shaded with worry “That’s okay sweetheart, you can tell us what happens to you when you’re ready. Just remember that we love you no matter what. Now go and change into some dry clothes and we will wait for you to come back down so we can continue to color?” Avery nodded and left her mother’s arms, running up the stairs to her room.

            Jenna sighed, standing up and walking over to the sink, clutching the edge and hanging her head in defeat. Dean padded over to his wife and settled his hands on her hips, pressing his lips to the back of her neck. “Dean, what are we going to do? It’s getting worse.”
Jenna pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes, rubbing deeply. Dean rested his chin against her shoulder, his lips hovering just shy of the shell of Jenna’s ear, “The doctor said that there is nothing wrong for her dear, that she just has a very active imagination. All we can do at this point is wait and pray for her to grow out of it. If it continues to get worse, we’re going to try and get her on some sort of medication. That’s all we can do.”

Turning to face Dean, Jenna wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her face into the curve of his neck, breathing deeply. “I know. I just wish she would talk to us.” Her muffled voice floated up form Dean’s shoulder.

Dean rubbed the heels of his hands against her back and herded her back to the table and sat down. Holding hands, drawing strength from each other, the parent’s waited for their daughter to come back down. No matter what, they would protect their daughter, whether it be from herself, or from the world of which would refuse to understand her.

            Avery clutched her knees at the top of the stairs, staring at her parents through the slots of the railing. She knew that her… “Episodes” as her doctor called them, hurt her parents. She couldn’t do anything about it though! No matter how hard she tried to control it, she was fighting a losing battle with herself. Avery turned and scampered into her room to put on a set of new clothes.

Off went the soaking t-shirt and jeans, Avery balled up her clothing and wound up for the free throw. Bam, nothing but net, just like the time she went to the high school basketball game with her dad.

Avery slid her thin, pale legs into a soft, worn pair of her jeans and tucked her slender arms into the knit blue sweater that her great aunt Lisa got her before she passed away. She still felt bad for dumping that bowl of punch on her.

Avery pulled her heavy hair back into a ponytail and fastened it with a hair binder. Her feet sunk into the heavily padded carpet of her bedroom, her parents had put in the padding after she tried to jump off of the top of her armoire, thinking she could fly. Avery pressed her fingers against the indent at the back of her skull; it was where she had slammed her head into the floor during that particular episode.

“Why can’t I just be normal?” Avery murmured, stepping over the toys that littered the floor and walking toward the stairs.

“Why would you want to be normal of all things? Then you’d be boring, just like everybody else.” A masculine voice answered from somewhere behind her. Abruptly stopping just within the threshold of her room, Avery turned to look around frantically for the source of the voice. She found it.

Sitting on her desk was a white fox, mischievous golden eyes peering at her through the darkness. A muscle twitched in the lower lid of Avery’s right eye and her hand gripped the frame of her doorway tightly, her knuckles turning white.

An irritated pout pursed her lips and she scowled, “Go away Thomas! You shouldn’t be here.”

If it could be said that foxes could smirk, it would be Thomas who would pull it off. Thomas had become a relative constant in Avery’s life for months. He started out favoring the look of various frogs, and then he started to wear the form of more furred animals like cats and foxes.

“Avery, Avery, Avery. Tut tut. You know I can’t do that! You’d be lonely without me.” Thomas purred, his back leg stretching up to itch at the scruff at his neck.

A smirk crossed Avery’s lips and she released her grip on the doorframe. Walking over to Thomas with a sly look, Avery reached up lightning quick and scratched him behind the ears. Thomas’ eyes widened and he shoved his head deeper into her hands with a low woof.

“Now Thomas, I need you to do something for me.” Avery said in a low voice.

His back leg thumping furiously against the desk, Thomas groaned, “Oh anything, anything!”

Avery leaned down to the edge of Thomas’ ear, “Go. Away.” Her voice hardened to tightly controlled anger. She knew that the moment that she got Thomas to agree to do anything for her, he would follow through. He had to for some reason. She stopped the petting and stepped back, his golden eyes wide as he watched her. A scoff left his muzzle and he narrowed his eyes at her.

“Clever. You’re getting very clever Avery. Well done.” He burred softly. A loud pop thundered in the room and he disappeared.

After quickly taking a look around her room to make sure that he actually left, she made her way down the stairs and sat down at the table with her parents. Dean and Jenna looked at their daughter with sympathetic faces as she tucked in to the drawing that was sitting in front of her. They knew the drill.

Jenna turned to her husband and asked, “So honey, how was work? I know you had that engine rebuilding to do for that crazy old man restoring that car.”

Dean quirked his lips as he turned to his wife, “It went, I don’t know why he want’s that engine fixed so badly when it would be more cost effective to buy a new one. But to each his own I guess.” Avery continued to draw her pictures, the doctor said that the more she exercised her creativity, the less likely she was to be swept away to the other world. For which she was grateful.

Avery knew that the doctor thought that she was the one that was causing problems, but the more that this happened to Avery began to think that it wasn’t her that was causing the problem.

11 Years Old

“Avery! NO! WAKE UP!!!” Her mother’s voice. That was her mother’s voice. Why was she yelling? Did she do something wrong? Where was she? Avery began to surface, her eyes sliding open slowly. It was bright, why was it so bright?

A deep breath in through the nose, and exhaled out of the mouth, just like her doctor taught her. Her parent’s had decided that she needed a new doctor after the last one decided that she should be coming in every day of the week. Bastard was trying to milk her parents for everything they were worth.

My name is Avery Davenport, I am thirteen years old and this is the real world. Finally surfacing, Avery looked around and gasped. She was on the top of their house, a bed sheet flying back from where it was tied to her shoulders like a cape and she was poised to leap from the edge.

Avery felt her hair brush her cheeks as she leaned forward slightly to catch a glimpse of her mother. Jenna had her palm pressed against her mouth, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes and her shoulders shaking as she stared in abject horror as her daughter stood, poised to leap from their two story farm house. Realizing where she was, her brain clattered back to life.

The cogs finally turning after clearing the fog of her delusions from her mind, Avery began to step back away from the ledge. She would have made it, if it weren’t for the fact that it rained that day, the water slicking the reddish brown tiles that covered the roof of their house. Avery slipped and tumbled head over teakettle down the roof, off of the edge and down the twenty-five feet of dead air that separated the roof of their house from the carefully maintained front yard of their house and landed with a dull thud.

“Oh my god! AVERY!” her mother’s normally soft and sweet voice swamped in parental panic as Avery both felt and heard the bones in her right leg bend and snap on impact.

Jesus, seeing people break bones on TV or in movies is nothing compared to the actual pain of having your bones snap. Avery’s head met the ground with a dull thud and her vision blurred for a moment, her ears ringing and her wrist throbbing and…oh God everything hurt. Avery felt her mother’s hands press against the pulse point at her neck, ‘She’s checking for a heartbeat isn’t she? She’s checking if I’m dead.’ Avery thought dully, the ringing in her ears making her mother sound like she was talking to her while underwater.

As Avery began to recover from her head making serious acquaintances with the ground, she began to really feel the pain in her leg. Liquid fire raced up the nerve endings in her leg, swam up the column of her spine and detonated in the center of her skull.

Ow. Avery groaned and tried to shift herself into a more comfortable position, but that just made it worse, turning the bomb in her brain from a hunk of C4 to a nuclear warhead. The ringing calming, Avery began to understand what her mother was saying. “Goddamnit Avery, stop moving! You could have a spinal injury!” Jenna had not removed her hands from where they were pressed against Avery’s neck, bracing it slightly.

Avery always forgot that her mother had taken all of those first aide classes after the first time she jumped from the top of her armoire. “Avery, the ambulance will be here in a few minutes okay? You must not move! If you can hear and understand me, lift your pointer finger.” Avery lifted it, giving a wiggle for good measure.

Jenna released a sobbing gust of air, her tears finally overflowing from he corners of her eyes and trickling down the bridge of her nose to land with a plunk onto Avery’s forehead. ‘It’s odd,’ Avery thought as she gazed up at her mother, ‘she looks rather beautiful like this.’

Her mother’s mousy brown hair was falling in frazzled pieces about her face, her clip having given up long ago trying to cling to the shorter tendrils. Eyes glistening with tears and cheeks flushed a bright pink. Avery wished that she could say that this was the first time that she had seen her mother in such a state, but that would be a lie. It’s been this way for a long time, and what she wouldn’t give for the worry lines that creased her mother’s face to not be caused by her.

            The past three years have aged her mother deeply. The smile lines that crinkled at the edges of her mouth and eyes have become accompanied by deep crevices between her brows and on her forehead. Her lips were no longer quirked up at the sides in a perpetual smile, but more flat. The muscles in her face stretched by the stress of dealing with a daughter who couldn’t even fold the sheets from the drier without doing something. She no longer glowed with happiness at every turn, the light in her eyes dimmed. ‘Stupid, god I’m stupid.’ Avery mourned the loss of her mother’s youth.

            The angry whine of the county ambulance siren shattered Avery’s eardrums and pulled her from her thoughts, the sound exacerbating an already developing headache. Avery clenched her eyes closed and hoped that the ambulance would get here soon, although she knew that the sound would just get worse when she was loaded into the back on that stupidly uncomfortable cot thing.

The rumble of the ambulance speeding down their gravel road shook the ground, it skidded to a stop in front of their house, two paramedics grabbing the gurney and running over. The drill was still the same, test, test, test, neck brace, gurney, drive to the hospital. ‘All of this repetition is killing me’. After all the x-rays and cat scans she was allowed to go home with a cast on her leg, a brace on her wrist and a pat on the head.

Driving home in the silence, Jenna kept her eyes faced forward, the light from the dash casting shadows that made her look older than she was. “Mom, I’m sorry.” Avery whispered, her good knee clutched to her chest and her thumbnail firmly wedged in the slight gap between her two front teeth. Jenna reached over and patted her on the knee.

“It’s okay sweetie, it’s not your fault. You just gave me a terrible fright is all.  I think that we need to make a trip to Dr. Wilkenson. Maybe he can get you on some medication.” Avery rolled her eyes, grumbling. Dr. Wilkenson liked to dig into the meaty parts of every area that Avery didn’t want him, but apparently he is the best doctor in the Midwest. Her mom swore by him.

“But Mom, I thought we’d talked about this and decided that we weren’t going to do the whole drugging me up thing.” Maybe it was the medication that the paramedics had given her for the pain, maybe it was the traditional teenage rebellion Avery heard about all the time, but tonight she wasn’t pulling punches.

The car slammed to a halt on the dark country road, the tires spitting up chunks of gravel. Slamming the car into park, Jenna whipped around and gripped her daughter by the shoulders. Wild eyed, Jenna spoke with tightly controlled anger,

“Avery, you nearly died today. For God’s sake you jumped off of the roof because of one of your silly games. This has to stop.” Jenna breathed heavily, “I can’t lose you.” Avery nodded her head and placed her hands over her mother’s. After a moment, Jenna squeezed gently, mindful of Avery’s injury and pulled away. Setting her hands upon the wheel of their car, Jenna pulled the car out of park and drove them home.

            A few days later, Avery and her father pulled into the parking lot of Dr. Wilkenson’s office in the city. Avery was sitting in the front seat of the car, a pout firmly in place behind the shield of her bony knee. Dean put the car in park and pulled the keys from the ignition.

“I know this sucks Avery, but we need to figure this out.” Avery grumbled and thumped her booted foot onto the floor of the truck. Her other leg still firmly in the neon green cast that she had chosen in her painkiller induced haze.

 Her father’s rusty dodge was a dilapidated thing, full of problems but he loved it too much to get rid of it. He kept in limping along with duct tape and prayers to be honest. “Yeah, yeah, I know. Can’t have me jumping off of roofs anymore.”

Dean rubbed the back of Avery’s head, mussing the nape length locks. “No time like the present. Let’s go.” Avery nodded and followed her father into the office of doom, her crutches thumping on the pavement as she limped her way up and through the door.

The well-lit but terribly impersonal waiting room of Dr. Wilkenson was a boring beige, with boring brown chairs and a boring middle aged women seated behind the boring desk. Boooorrrinnng, ugh.

Avery wrinkled her nose and pressed on, if only for her father’s benefit. The receptionist looked up from where she was reading her tacky colored magazine and blinked her far to heavily lashed eyes at them. Obviously falsies. “Well now, what do we have here? If it isn’t little Avery Davenport! It’s so nice to see you again, but oh my stars you look like you got hit by a mac truck! What on earth happened?”

Ugh, Avery hated her. “Let’s go with the truck.” Avery muttered, clomping her way over to one of the softer looking chairs and slowly lowering herself slowly onto it. Dean nodded his head in the receptionist’s direction as he settled himself down next to Avery, “Ma’am.”

The receptionist gazed at Avery’s father appreciatively, her dark colored eyes taking far too long to move past her father’s chest and to meet his eyes. “Well now, the doctor will be with you in just a minute sweetie. Make yourself at home!”

She did this shtick every time Avery came in, greeted her quickly and moved on to making goo goo eyes at her father. Poppa, bless his soul, only had eyes for my mother. He was completely oblivious to the receptionist’s advances, to which I was eternally grateful. Not that it wouldn’t have been funny to see my bear of a father all flustered and tongue tied trying to rebuff the advances, but I just couldn’t stand that woman.

 As the receptionist began to wax poetical about the wonders of Cosmo, Dean nodding his head and pretending to be interested, the dull thump thump of a cane hitting the hollow sounding floor signaled the arrival of the illustrious Dr. Wilkenson. Glancing up, Avery made eye contact with the elderly man.

A man of slightly above average height, Dr. Wilkenson stood tall, his white hair and glittering blue eyes hidden behind horn-rimmed glasses gave him the air of someone much younger. The only thing that gave off the impression of age would be the cane that Dr. Wilkenson needed because of his bad hip. The Doctor smiled, showing off pearly white and perfectly straight teeth. “Well hello Avery! It’s so good to see you again. Why don’t you come on back so we can have a chat.”

Avery gave a pinched smile to her father as she stood and hobbled her way to the Doctor as he turned to lead her back to the therapy room. Glancing down at her casted leg Dr. Wilkenson have a wry smile and tapped his cane gently against his calf, “I guess we’re in the same boat right now, you and I.” Avery didn’t respond as they walked into the therapy room and she made her way to sit on the cliché lounge couch that took up the majority of the room.

The therapy room was made up of mahogany and soft carpet, it gave off a much more personable air than the waiting room. The other half of the room was dominated by the Doctor’s enormous mahogany desk and flanked by bookshelves crammed to the eaves with various books on psychology and pictures of the Doctor’s family. The Doctor smiled, aged dimples appearing along the edges of his mouth as he seated himself on the heavily cushioned chair that sat along side the couch.

Setting his cane down to the left of the chair, the Doctor took up his notebook and opened it to a place somewhere in the middle. Clearing his throat, Dr. Wilkenson began, “ So Avery, I heard you had another episode. One that incidentally caused you to slip and fall off of your roof?” Avery shifted uncomfortably, the bruises along her side aching even through all of the painkillers that she was on.

Looking at a point just beyond the shoulder of Dr. Wilenson, Avery sighed, “Yeah, it was an accident and I don’t want to be medicated. But I guess if it will let my mother sleep at night and help my father not worry about…well you know, then that’s fine with me. I’ll do it.” Dr. Wilkenson’s brows rose and he shifted so he was facing Avery more properly.

“Avery, why do you think you need medication?” He asked, quickly writing down notes in his pad. Sometimes Avery wondered if he was actually just doodling in that pad to pass the time rather than listen to the crap that his patients tended to unload onto him.

Irritated, Avery spoke, “Frankly, because your tactics worked for a little while, but now my episodes are just getting worse! They’re happening more frequently and it’s going on for longer. I’m…” Avery’s lip wobbled. “I’m afraid of what I’m going to do next. I hate that they’re getting worse since I started to come to you but I guess I have no choice.”

Dr. Wilkenson breathed evenly through his nose and plucked his glasses from the bridge of his nose. “If the conventional behavioral therapy is not working and you want to start on a medication, then that is your prerogative. I am more than willing to do whatever it is you need Avery.”

 His face set into a serious look, Dr. Wilkenson handed Avery a box of tissues from the table to the side of him. Taking the box, Avery dabbed at the corners of her eyes. Dr. Wilkenson wrote out Avery a prescription for an anti psychotic and sent her on the way with the promise that they would work together to get to a place of which she was comfortable. Avery nodded and followed her father out.

Arriving back at the truck, Dean nodded at the slip of paper that was clutched in Avery’s hand. “So, he gave you a scrip for meds huh? Well, we’ll have to see how they work.” He fired up the Dodge, the truck back firing terribly as it roared to life.

Pulling out, Dean and Avery drove to the local pharmacy to get per prescription. Pulling up to the window of the Walgreens, Dean nodded to the cashier and handed her the small, white slip of paper. Nodding her head, she stepped into the back and returned after a moment with the yellow-orange pill bottle that would change Avery’s life forever.

“Here you go dear. Have a nice day!” She said, handing them the pill bottle. As they pulled away, Avery opened the top of the bottle and gazed in, the little blue pills seeming to wink up at her. Pulling one out, Avery popped the pill into her mouth and lifted a bottle of water up to her lips.

“No stop! You mustn’t do that!!” A small, high-pitched voice seemed to echo into her ears.

Her resolve firm, Avery muttered under her breath, “Oh yes I can, and you can go to Hell.”

Pouring the water into her mouth, Avery washed the pill down her throat. After a few moments, Avery’s world went hazy and a bit dim…muted somehow. But the voices, they were blessedly silent.

Chapter Two: The beginning

            Rain splattered heavily against the window of the bus terminal that Avery was sitting in, a dull thunk, thunk against the swatch of window that she had her forehead pressed against. ‘What the hell am I doing?’ she wondered to herself, pulling back slightly and letting her head fall back down to the window with a dull thud. The rolling suitcase that her parents had bought her was a comforting weight against her knees, and her garishly colored red backpack was settled in the empty seat next to her.

Pulling away from the window, Avery pressed her chin into the cradle of her palm and sighed. The steady sound of the rain against the window was lulling her into a hypnotized state, her eyes closing and her lips parting to cloud the chilled glass with her breath.

She reached up to her nape length auburn hair and scratched the back of her neck, the light blue fingernail polish glinting slightly in the light. Turning to look into the terminal, the knit of her navy cardigan caught on the sharp edges of the uncomfortable metal chair, snagging the threads. Reaching down and freeing the fabric, Avery stood and hefted her backpack around her shoulders and pulled up the handle of her rolling suitcase. Avery’s bus had arrived and it was time for her to go and meet the driver.

The heels of her black boots clomping on the linoleum, Avery made her way out into the pouring rain, lifting her most prized possession up to protect her from the water. It was an umbrella that had Van Gogh’s Starry Night over the Rhoan printed on the fabric, a gift from her father when she graduated from high school a few months ago.

Stepping into the pouring rain, Avery reached into the pocket of her short black jacket and pulled out her bus ticket. Wheeling her luggage over to the hulking behemoth painted in white and grey, the bus driver motioned her over. As she approached, he plucked the ticket from her fingers and nodded to himself, grabbing her large suitcase and tossing it into the baggage area in the side of the bus.

“Hello miss, feel free to enter the bus and find yourself a seat.” He the worn and crumpled ticket in half and handed the rest of the rumpled piece of paper back to her. Nodding, Avery clomped her way into the bus and took a seat in the back right. Setting down her backpack, Avery took her MP3 player and popped in her ear buds. Music thrumming through her brain, she rested her head back against the seat and gazed out of the windows.

            ‘I can’t believe that it’s already been five years.’ Avery tapped her fingers against the starched denim covering her knee. It had already been five years since her last “episode”. Avery’s world had flipped so much that day, the first time that she had started her medication. ‘What was it like, what was the world like before I started my meds?’ It seemed to Avery as if her world had dimmed, everything becoming just a little bit…off. It was as if she were looking at the world through the tinted windows of a prison cell, praying that one-day the color would return and the chill would warm to summer instead of the icy bleakness of winter.

When she left her parents house this morning, it was a happy for them. Her mother Jenna hugged her tightly and kissed her cheek, the sweet smell of her skin leaving an imprint both on Avery’s clothing, and her senses. And her father, well, he had hugged her with bone crushing intensity and pressed a kiss to her temple. They wished her well and sent her on her way; their relationship had changed from the day that she started taking her medication. They seemed to be calmer and more at ease, even while her world dimmed and frayed at the edges.

            Thoughts swirling in her head, the bus roared to life form beneath her, the vibrations traveled through her legs and up into her chest as it began to thunder down the road and onto the freeway. The freeway was flanked with miles upon miles of cornfields that slowly transitioned into hills and valleys of trees. It was early, but the leaves on the trees were turning to the golden, orange and red of fall.

            Avery did not know what she wanted to do with her life; she had no goals other than to keep living day by day as she had for what felt like forever. This was the moment that her parents had prepared her for since she was 13 years old. They wanted her to have a normal life, with normal wants and needs and most of all, normal dreams. Avery knew how her imagination had affected her parents, she had been nearly impossible to handle.

But what Avery would give for just a moment of complete clarity, where her world was not dimmed by the cloud of medication flooding through her veins. Oh, please don’t get her wrong. Avery doesn’t hate her parents for putting her onto medication, there was no way that she would have made it through school without them. Up until she was put onto her medications, Avery was homeschooled by her mother. The kids at school would never have understood her desire to play children’s imaginary games.

Closing her eyes, the curtains of her consciousness closed and Avery drifted off. Behind her eyes and deep in her subconscious, Avery started to dream. It was of the day that she started to take her medication; it was a common theme for her to dream about for years. The scene was playing out in black and white; she was floating just outside of the cab of the truck. It was the moment that she popped the pill into her mouth and began to lift the bottle of water to her lips.

Suddenly, her lips parted and she shouted at herself “ No, stop! You mustn’t do that!” What! Why would she say such a thing?!? Avery clamped her hands over her mouth to muffle any more sound that would try to escape. She watched irritation bloom across her younger face, a face that shouldn’t know how to twist into such an ugly look. “Oh yes I can, and you can go to Hell.” Her doppelganger mouthed, taking a swig of the water.

‘Why do I feel so sad?’ Avery wondered silently, reaching up and brushing the tears that were trickling down her face away. From where she was floating, she followed her younger self as the dodge rocketed down the freeway. She was gasping as if she were running a marathon, tears still running down her face and dripping down to land on the landscape. Each tear rippled the pavement and rocked the car, though the inhabitants seemed to be oblivious to each violent toss.

The world shattered around her, each of the shining black and white pieces of her world tinkling as it fell through space. The shards bit into her skin and drew blood. Spiraling down, the only thing that was echoing in her head was a plethora of voices shouting at her, “Stop the medicine.” A lower pitched voice rose to the forefront. “You don’t know what you are! If you don’t stop it will be too late! You’ll be lost forever!”

Avery shook her head violently, “Shut the fuck up! SHUT UP! I don’t need you!” Her hands batted futile against the shards of glass that were rushing at her head, avoiding the worst of the damage. Her stomach hurt as she rocketed even faster to her destination, wherever it was that the darkness was taking her.

As Avery swung with one final hand to dodge a large piece of debris, she slammed into a solid form in the darkness. She could feel her neck bend with the force of the landing and her eyes popped open. Sun was glaring her directly in the face and a hand was shaking her shoulder hard.

“Hey, hey! Wake up! You’re having a nightmare!” Her eyes squinting, Avery turned to face her attacker…savior? As her eyes adjusted, she came face to face with a lovely set of deep brown eyes lined by a thick layer of dark lashed and olive skin. Thin lips were parted in worry and a large, calloused hand reached up and raked overly long hair back from an oval face. Avery blinked hard.

“You alright?” His tenor burr rippled from his chest. Avery’s heart stopped for a moment. He…he was pretty attractive. She nodded her head, not trusting her tongue to be able to untangle itself quick enough to respond in an intelligent fashion. She tried to twist her mouth into some semblance of a smile after her disastrous nightmare.

He nodded his head toward the seat next to her, and asked, “May I sit?” Nodding her head once more and motioning toward the seat. She pulled her last remaining headphone from her ear, the other one twisted into her jacket from the thrashing that she was doing in her sleep.

He plopped down next to her and sat half turned, his knee brushing against her. A wide, genuine smile graced his lips, his slightly bucked teeth giving him a boyish appearance. “So, what were you dreaming about? From how you looked, it must have been a nightmare.”

Shifting in her seat, Avery shrugged. “It was just a nightmare. Nothing special, just scared me a bit.” He looked sympathetic.

“If you want to talk about it I’d be more that willing, my momma back home had a lot of nightmares. Mostly about giant cactuses taking over the world and stuff…I think there must have been some underlying issues there. But sometimes the best thing to do is to talk to strangers about it. Who am I to judge? You’ll never see me again.”

He extended his hand out toward her, “My name is Max.” She reached up and he grasped her hand in a firm grip, shaking it gently.

“It’s nice to meet you Max. My name is Avery. So where are you headed to Max?”

Avery and Max chatted for the entirety of the trip, finding that they were both going to Mankato State University as freshman. Max was nervous that he wouldn’t meet anyone that would like him, and he was grateful to meet her. At least he would have someone that he knew on campus.

The ride seemed to take minutes, their conversation was so encompassing. Trees whizzed past in a blur, each bump in the road seemingly meaningless until they pulled into the depot.

“Whoa! We’re here already?” Max exclaimed, standing and stretching his hands up to touch the top of the bus. Avery stood shakily, her legs completely numb and tingling pins and needles from sitting still for so long.

“I guess we are, let’s go.” The sun was shining brightly as they stepped out of the bus and gathered their luggage. It was hot, probably topping out at around 70 degrees and the sun was beating down onto their shoulders, causing sweat to dapple across their brows. Avery shed her jacket and draped it over her suitcase, rolling up the sleeves of her sweater.

“Jeeze, I thought that Minnesota was supposed to be cold!” She grumbled, swiping at the sweat beading her forehead and causing her bangs to stick to her face.

“I used to think that the whole, dry versus wet heat was bull. Jesus was I wrong.” Max wheezed, balling up his jacket and tucking it into his case. His white undershirt stretched across his large chest, showing off the rippling muscles beneath. Continuing their walk to the college, they walked through down town Mankato.

Flanked by storefronts on either side, the two companions explored their surroundings. A tattoo shop to their left, a Hyvee on their right, they saw a green directory sign on a nearby stoplight that said Mankato State University with a large white arrow pointing the way.

Turning to the right, the two came face to face with an insanely steep hill. Avery blew her bangs out of her eyes and glared at the hill, “Damn! What is up with all these hills?” Glancing to her right where Max was keeping pace with her, she saw a flash of amusement cross his face. “What!?” She groused, starting to climb the hill.

“We’re in the Minnesota River valley, and Mankato is known to have to areas. One is at the top of the hill, and the other at the bottom. We just happen to be at the bottom currently.” He laughed good naturedly, hauling his suitcase over a rut in the pathway.

“Well that’s just stupid, why would they build a city half on a hill, you’d think that the buildings would start sliding down!” Max just laughed and continued their ascent.

Their walk was slow going, Max eventually having to take Avery’s rolling case before she dropped it. Panting to the point that conversation was difficult, they finally crested the hill. Avery collapsed onto the nearby green lawn, struggling to catch her breath as Max simply gave a stretch and shook his arms and legs out.

Lifting her head up and giving him an astonished look, Avery gasped “How the hell are you not out of breath!?!”

Max just smirked and motioned for her to get up, pulling their luggage toward the back of the nearby building and entering the back. Avery staggered to her feet and followed quickly after, not wanting to be left behind.

They entered the dorm building from the back and made their way to their rooms, because they were going to be late, they had already been assigned rooms so they didn’t have to deal with the craziness of freshman orientation or move in day. They’d heard all of the stories about that and frankly didn’t want any part of it. They had been put into the same dorm, but in different wings. Avery was placed into Crawford D wing, and Max into Crawford A wing. Bidding each other adieu, they used their newly minted keys and entered their rooms.

Avery tugged open her door and was met by the blaring of rock n roll, loud enough to cause them to get a noise violation. Covering her ears, her eyes adjusted to the muted light in the room and landed on a girl lying on one of the beds. Eyes closed and playing a pretty sick air guitar was a tiny girl clothed in only a black t-shirt of some band or another and a pair of black bikini style underwear.

“Hey, you mind turning that down!” Avery shouted, praying that she could be heard over the thumping bass. Eyes popping open, revealing light green eyes, the girl on the bed startled and nodded her head quickly. Running over to the state of the art sound system, the girl turned the music off. Turning back to Avery, she gave a sheepish look and brushed her short brown hair back behind her pierced ear.

“Gosh, I’m so sorry dude!” She exclaimed, extending her hand out. “Hi! I’m your roommate Marie, you must be Avery.” Avery looked down at the extended hand, bedecked in chipped black nail polish and a black skull surrounding her ring finger.

Setting her rolling case upright, Avery grasped the warm, dry hand and shook it. “Nice to meet you Marie.” Releasing the hand, Avery picked her suitcase up again and rolled it over to her side of the room, sitting down on the unmade bed on the bare side of the room, Avery reached down and pulled her boots off of her feet, tossing them to the corner of the room by the door.

Marie’s side of the room was covered with dozens of rock posters and black and silver bedding and accessories. In the middle, between their beds was a plush black shag rug, it was covered with books and crafting supplies at the moment, but as Avery sunk her bare toes into the fabric she found that she didn’t mind its presence.

“I’m sorry that my rug is on your side of the room, I just hated the feel of the cold floor on my feet and thought that you might too! So I put it down…is that okay?” Marie’s hands clenched in the hem of her too large shirt and pulled the torn collar down and over her collarbone, baring her thin shoulder.

“Yeah, it’s fine Marie.” Avery stated, standing from her bed, she moved to where her desk was at the end of her bed. She hung her coat on the back of the rolling chair and opened her suitcase. Marie plopped down on her own bead and watched as Avery systematically put everything into its proper place. Office supplies were loaded into the desk, everything perfectly straight and aligned.

Avery moved to her closet and began to do the same, the strict divisions of her closet obvious. The items divided by length of sleeves, season and color. Marie was only able to gaze on, awestruck at the machine-like efficiency that told of years of repetition.

Rubbing tensely at the back of her neck, Marie’s voiced seemed to echo in the silent room. “So…uh, you like to have things pretty…orderly?” she asked, the toes of her fine boned feet clenching and relaxing under her crossed legs.

Avery nodded, “To be honest, I don’t really care how you have your side of the room as long as it doesn’t interfere with mine.” She straightened one of the notebooks on her desk before she moved to her closet and pulled out a pair of soft cloth shorts and a t-shirt. Marie’s shoulders relaxed under her oversized tee and a bright smile took over her face.

“Whew! That’s good! I mean, if you want me to clean my side of the room just say so…but yeah! Awesome!” Marie hopped from her bed and padded over to the front of the room where her small futon was facing a smaller TV.

“So, do you maybe wanna watch a movie? Get to know each other a little more??” She tilted her head, motioning toward the deep brown uncomfortableness that was the cheap futon. Her lips quirking, Avery nodded and walked over to the futon and flopped down onto it.

Marie joined her with a bag of kale chips and hummus and they dug in, watching some crappy made for TV movie and learning more about each other. After a few hours, Marie’s head was drooping into her chest and her body was beginning to loosen and prepare for sleep. Herding her new roommate over to bed, Avery pushed Marie onto the bed, where Marie burrowed into the soft blankets with a sigh.

Avery settled herself into her bed and clicked off the light. Reaching into the drawer of her bedside table, she plucked out the familiar orange pill bottle and dry swallowed her sedatives for the night. Replacing the bottle, she slid deeper under her covers and rolled onto her side. Eyes drooping down and breath evening, Avery fell into a restless sleep.

It was 3am; the moon was high in the sky, its bright face shining down into the window and illuminating the dorm room. Avery was tossing and turning, her hair and blankets sticking to her sweat slicked skin, and her eyes were rolling furiously under her closed lids. Breathing heavily, Avery cried out, vocally reacting to the unrest of her subconscious.

The broken and disjointed parts of her dream from earlier today bombarded her along with new pieces. She saw Thomas screaming out for her as he was dragged away by enormous creatures that reminded her of the first time they were in the swamp together. Fighting, clawing and biting at the hands that held him, his form morphed from fox to large bear to lion and back again. It was futile. Avery cried out, her hands reaching into the darkness, trying to grasp at the paws that were digging into the earth.

A flash of light, a new scene was bubbling forth. The ocean she remembered was polluted and the fish were floating belly up, the white flesh glinting ominously in the light. Her swamp had been burned to a cinder, the once rich and fertile mud now dry and cracking and lifeless.

Clutching at the darkness, Avery struggled to run, to get away or to go after she couldn’t understand. Fury at the destruction of her worlds burned inside of her, the desire to rend and tear and destroy singeing at her insides. She didn’t feel human. She wasn’t human. Hands fisting and lips parting into a snarl, a shift in the shadow caught her attention. She couldn’t see anything, but she could feel…something. Something staring out at her from the darkness, the hairs on the back of her neck rising and her blood thirst grew. “Come out here you coward! FACE ME!” She shouted into the darkness.

“Don’t you know Avery?” A whisper of breath and a deep base tone rippled through the back of her neck. “I am facing you, you’re just too blind to see it.” Whipping around, Avery swung with all her might at the voice, but her fists passed through nothing.

“AVERY!” Her eyes burst open and she gasped, her shoulders being shaken wildly. Flailing at her unseen attacker, her hand smashed against a hard little cheekbone.

“OW!” Marie released a high-pitched wail as her hands uncle