• Chapter One:
    “Is she ok?”
    “Dunno. She doesn’t look hurt.”
    “Hmm. Hey, Elliot! Come here!!”
    She woke up to the sound of voices and the shifting of sand. Her eyes opened and she winced, not expecting either of the sights presented to her. Not only was it just before sunrise but three people were sitting on the ground in front of her.
    “Yay!! She’s awake!!!”
    “Awesome. Elliot!!! Get your a** over here!!”
    She looked around in both wonder and fear. They looked to be around her age and relatively harmless, but there was something odd. The three appeared to be different than ordinary humans. One had bright orange hair and wide purple eyes. Another looked as if he was a hardcore metal fan; long hair, black eyeliner, multiple piercings. The only abnormal thing was where his ears were: on top of his head-- cat ears. The third had disappeared momentarily but came back dragging a pale drag-clad boy by his silvery hair.
    “Now why did you do that?”
    “You wanted to see if she was ok, right? Well, she’s awake now. Ask her yourself.”
    The boy turned around while dusting off his skirt. He slowly approached and reached out. Uh-oh! He will hurt me!! I know i--!! She looked up to find the drag queen patting her on the head; or at least he WAS until the long-haired boy hit him on the head, causing tears, and make-up, to burst forth from the drag queen’s eyes.
    “Why? Why, why, oh why?? Why must you do that? Oh no! My make-up is smeared!”
    “Oh grow up. AND DON’T JUST GO AND PAT PEOPLE ON THE HEAD LIKE THAT!! YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN THEY’LL KICK YOUR a** FOR IT!!”
    “I DID NOTHING WRONG!! YOU’RE JUST BEING DIFFICULT!”
    The drag-queen and the punk proceeded to enter a heated argument over seemingly nothing, or at least the cause disappeared after a few minutes. She turned her head away from them and saw the orange-haired boy extend his hand.
    “Anyway…..I’m Luke. It’s nice to meet you!”
    She took his hand gingerly which he then shook with an overenthusiastic grin.
    Should I tell him? Maybe. He does not appear to be a harmful figure in life. But, no, I probably should not. What if he is in league with those people? It could not be bad. Besides, he seems nice.
    “I-I-I am….Kim.”
    The boy called Luke continued smiling brightly at her. He turned his head and whispered something to the third person, who she realized was a girl. The girl glanced at her before introducing herself as Liz; an introduction which was followed with a threat:
    “I swear, if you EVER call me ‘Elizabeth’ I will personally---”
    “Ok then! No need to scare her Liz!”
    Liz simply groaned and walked over to the still-fighting boy and drag queen. As she wrestled to pull them apart, the sun rose above the clouds. The drag queen ran into the shade, wide eyed and shaking. Part of his skin was red and blistering. That was not there before, was it? Kim turned her head to see Luke laughing.
    “IT’S NOT FUNNY!! THAT WAS TOO CLOSE FOR MY COMFORT!”
    Luke tried to stop laughing, but did not entirely succeed. He walked over and produced a pink cape from a bag. He shivered and threw it at the drag queen. Luke turned and walked back over to Kim, who was still hiding in the same spot she had been in since that night.
    “By the way,” he said, pointing to the drag queen, “that’s Elliot. And then the punk is Lee.”
    Kim’s ears twitched. Just as Luke said his name, Lee looked over at them. His ears were perked up, almost as if expecting danger. Luke took her hand and stood her up. Once she got her balance back, Kim was led over to where Elliot was crouching for shade.
    “Ok guys. We got what we came for,” Luke said in a surprisingly serious voice. “Now we need to go before girly-boy here burns to a crisp.” His voice was back to normal.