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Evelyn and Slater were quiet for a minute.

“You see? Her powers are getting stronger. You felt that a moment ago, didn’t you? But it’s too soon, much too soon. Her moods are even escalating. I don’t understand why her powers would be reacting now. The seal is supposed to last until she’s eighteen.” Evelyn bit her lip.

“Yeah I felt it. You can’t blame her for being mad, though. Even if it is the wrong idea anything else we say will sound like a lie. In any other situation she’d be dead on.” Evelyn shrugged, still deep in thought.
He gave her a long meaningful look. “You could just tell her the truth, about everything. The situation has changed from eleven years ago, it’s justified. She’s not a little girl anymore.”

Evelyn looked away, wrapping her arms around herself. “I don’t know Slater. I just don’t know.”

He slammed his fist on the counter. She whipped her head back to him startled. “She deserves to know where she comes from! She needs to know about you, about Dawn, about Nathaniel. I’ve never known you to be so indecisive. You don’t have to go through this, neither of you do. Wouldn’t it be better if she knew the truth? Wouldn’t it be less painful?” He pleaded.

“I want to protect her for as long as I can. From the past, our world, herself,” her hands gripped tightly on her arms, “everything. I made a promise to myself eleven years ago that I would do that. I have to.”
“That’s you decision after everything that’s happened! Wouldn’t that just-” She threw up her hand to silence him. He stopped cold at her sudden formality. Even her posture changed.

“Yes. I have made my decision. That is why I brought you here and you will do the task I have assigned you. We will not have this discussion again. Is that clear?” Her voice rang with finality and power.
Slater clenched and unclenched his jaw.

“Yes, my lady.” Slowly, he turned back to the stove and flipped an omelet. This time there was no music to cook to. Just silence. He closed his eyes wishing that things hadn’t turned out like this. He missed his king and his heir. The halls of Dawn used to be full of light and laughter. Now everything was dark and abysmal. He cracked open more eggs. There’s hope yet for Dawn. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for him to live off of, what let him keep searching. There’s hope.


Amber hopped out of her car and gazed up at the retro diner, the chrome building glinting in the sunlight. In rainbow lights it said Mick’s but the M slightly flickered. This place always stayed exactly the same, even from when she was little. It was like walking into a different time. But it was consistent, comfortable. She could depend on Mick’s. She opened the door to the florescent lit diner and sat at one of the red vinyl covered booths waiting for the server to bring her a menu. She twisted the little song chart that twirled inside a mini jukebox that rested on her table like all the other’s.

The door to the diner creaked open, opening up to a chorus of laughter and loud shouts from some guys. She thoughtlessly kept twirling through the list of songs without really reading them. Mick’s was a popular place to hang out, so when a new crowd entered she didn’t mind the noise.

“Hey, Amber! What are you doing here? You weren’t at school today. What’d you do, just skip out on us?” Erin slid into the seat beside her.

“I don’t know man. She doesn’t seem like the skipping type,” said a cool humored voice. Haden’s voice. She stopped fiddling with the mini jukebox. She looked up and stared at him. It was time to put the nightmares behind her. She smiled brightly. He seemed a little surprised at her change in attitude.

“Oh and you’ve known her for what? A day?” Erin laughed draping an arm casually over Amber’s shoulder. Amber leaned into his side a little, used to the casual and friendly gestures between them.

“More like five minutes, actually.” She laughed.

“Well, they say first impressions are everything.” Haden countered.

Amber shrugged. “Doesn’t mean it’s true.”

He smiled.

A waitress rolled up to their table wearing old fashioned roller skates, popping bright pink bubble gum. That was one thing she always loved about this place. They all got to wear roller skates, and they never dropped a plate.

“Howdy guys! My name’s Tracy and I’ll be your server today. What do y’all want to drink?” She passed out the menus.

“I’ll just have a coke,” Erin said.

“Alright, Hun. What about you two?”

“Water.” Both she and Haden answered at the same time. They looked at each other a little surprised, then laughed. When their eyes met she was surprised and entrapped by their intensity, their depth. Why were they always like that, she wondered. It made her want to keep staring and, for some reason, he let her. She felt Erynn fidget at her side a little.

The waitress laughed a little too. “Alright guys, that’ll be just a minute.”
As she walked away Haden still held her gaze. Then her vision switched out, fading her into her dream with his eyes above hers…crying as he burned her. She blinked hard, banishing the nightmare. When she opened them he wasn’t smiling anymore and there was a slight crease between his brows.

“Are you alright?” He asked. See? He’s concerned. This is reality.

“Yea, I’m fine.” His smiled returned and she became entranced with its brilliance as well. She couldn’t help it. Why was she being like this? Yesterday he made her feel so uneasy and uncomfortable, but toady she felt…light, almost. It sounded weird, but it was the only way to describe it. The waitress returned, snapping her back to attention as she realized she was staring too much. She passed out their drinks and took their orders. Amber being a regular didn’t need to look at the menu. She already knew what she wanted; a large, fantastic order of cheese fries.

Erin, of course, ordered the thickest burger on the menu with a bucket load of fries and a shake. Amber never understood how he could stomach so much. It’d be ok if he didn’t down it faster than she ate half her meal. Jeez.

“Um,” Haden glanced around the menu, “Nothing for me thanks.”

“You sure, Hun? You just want water?”

“Yes, please.” He smiled genially. Tracy stared at him a second…then another…and then another. Haden’s smile turned into an expressionless line. Amber slammed back into her dream at the familiar expression. The lightness she felt was overcome by the darkness she saw beneath the surface. She saw his face as an expressionless mask, no burning in his eyes. Now she understood why the blazing emotion in his eyes entranced her so much. All she had seen in them before was nothing. The expression was cold and seemed just as natural for him as the smile…maybe more so…Stop it!!! Amber clenched her hands into fists and ground her teeth together. This is nonsense! You have enough nightmares at home! Don’t bring them here too! She came here to get away from them, now she needed to let herself do just that. Amber relaxed her hands and took a deep breath. Tracy shook her head slightly and cleared her throat, coming back to her senses.

“Well, alright then. Your food will be out in a minute.” She answered a little strained. As Tracy walked back she glanced over her shoulder. As he casually looked back at the table, he looked down into his drink as if it held the secrets of the universe and stirred it slowly with his straw. She remembered the first time she saw him…well the first time he saw her meet him. She was just staring at him even though they were on the floor in the middle of the hallway...he must get that reaction a lot.

Erin shook his head. “Man, it’s just like school all over again. You must get a ton of girls.”

Amber raised her eyebrows.

Erin laughed. “You should have seen it! It was wild; all the girls just stared at him, trying to subtly follow him around. I’ve never seen anything like it. Even the fags were all over him.” Erin laughed at Haden’s grimace.

“That’s weird. We get new kids all the time.”

“It had nothing to do with being new. Haden is what would be now referred to as a “hot commodity” by most of the girls at school. They’d be dying to have him, but Haden’s too damn nice to tell them to back off.” Their conversation faded as she thought. Nice? Polite she could see and maybe respectful but…nice? She didn’t exactly see that. Why couldn’t she?

“Hopefully the uproar will have died down by tomorrow. I don’t know if I can walk safely through the halls everyday if this keeps up.” Haden laughed.

“Maybe tie yourself down to one girl and the rest will back off. I’ve seen it before, but it might work differently for you.” Haden smiled, and looked at Amber. She stared into his eyes wondering how he saw other people when they glorify so much based on appearances. She did admit he was amazingly hot, but not enough to become a mindless little stalker. That seemed way overboard. She just kept looking at his face, wondering…

Erin slid his hand passed her shoulder and let it rest around her waist, over her stomach. Amber frowned, surprised. She used her elbow to nudge his hand away from her body. They were just friends; she didn’t want him to get the wrong idea by letting him think it was okay to put his hands wherever he wanted. Haden’s eyes slid down at the subtle action and then just as smoothly slid them back up as he sipped his water. Erin completely removed his arm from around her and moved over imperceptibly. The waitress came back to the table and gave everybody their food.

Amber picked up a fry and chewed on it slowly, staring at her plate. Erin did the same, but was wolfing down his food like…a wolf. She glanced up at Haden and found he was giving her an almost penetrating stare. She quickly looked back down. Nobody said anything for a few long and a bit awkward minutes. She knew how Erin felt and she already made it clear to him that she wasn’t interested in him in that way, and he said he’d be ok with that. She felt bad for him, but he should have known better. She ate another fry aggressively.
It wasn’t her fault he misinterpreted the staring. She saw a hand fly into her field of vision then quickly disappear. She whipped her head up and saw Haden eating one of her french fries.

Her mouth dropped open. “Hey!”

He licked his finger. “Huh. These are pretty good.”

“You could have gotten your own! I can’t believe you. Jeez, you got it so fast you sneaky b*****d.” She smiled and popped fry into her mouth.

He smiled gallantly. “It’s my specialty.”

Bam. Amber jumped. Erin practically slammed his glass on the table.
He hopped up and grabbed his jacket.

“You ready? I’m done.” He asked Haden. Erin flung his jacket over his shoulder. Amber could see his shoulders were tight with tension. Haden didn’t say anything right away.

“I’m your ride home, right? I’m done, let’s go.” He jerked his head to the door.

“I’ll give him a ride.” Amber offered without thinking. Erin looked at her a little surprised. Erin was a good guy, but he could be dangerous and she didn’t feel like it was the best idea for those two to be alone together right now. Not that Haden didn’t look like he could hold his own and two more in a fight, she just didn’t want them to get into trouble.

Erin ground his teeth together. “Fine.” He said between his teeth. He turned sharply, paid for his food at the front of the restaurant, and then he was gone.

“Sorry.” Amber apologized.

Haden stole another fry. “You’re forgiven, but for what?”

Amber sighed. “Erin and I have been really close since sixth grade and last year he asked me out and I said I didn’t see him that way. He said he was okay with that and that he would move on, but I guess that was easier said than done.” She frowned.

“Hmm” was all Haden said.

“Hm? What does that mean?”

“Nothing, I was just thinking. It’s not your fault, though it must be hard for him being friends with you, knowing you don’t feel the same way.”
Amber sighed and looked out the window. “I know. I think he might hope something will change.”

“Will it?”

She turned her head back to him. “No. I don’t think so.” She frowned.
“Then he’ll have to handle it on his own then. It’s not your fault. You gave him no reason to hope, but he does anyway. It’s his choice, his life. Let him choose how to live it as miserably as he wants.”

Huh. That last part didn’t seem to make her feel any better, but he was right. She never thought about it like that.

“Well you’re very insightful.” She said.

He laughed. “Another one of my many amazing traits.”

“And modesty is a given.” Amber smiled.

“Of course.” He smiled back, and then he looked out the window, up at the sky. The sun lit his face and she spotted a shimmering line on his cheek. Her eyebrows furrowed.

“What’s that?”

His head snapped back. “What?” He asked confused.

“That.” She pointed to the scar. He seemed surprised and lifted a hand to his face. When he felt the scar, he stared blankly at her for a few long moments. Then he bit back a laugh, but it was too much to contain. He covered his face with his hand as he laughed as if he heard the funniest thing in his life. She would think he was crazy if his laugh wasn’t so…beautiful…gorgeous…she didn’t know. They all seemed like simple words. She thought it was the most amazing sound she had ever heard in her life. She truly loved it. She jumped a little, surprised at herself. She glanced around the room and saw every woman was staring at him in complete disbelief and amazement. At least she wasn’t the only one. She looked back at him and he was looking at her with one eye through his hand, finally calmed down.

He lowered it and sighed.

“So…what was so funny?”

He looked up and smiled broadly. “A story for another day.”

Tracy came by and took up Erin’s plate.

“Can I take that for ya, girl?” Tracy asked, gesturing to Amber’s plate.

“Oh, yes please.”

“So y’all got room for dessert?”

“No, we’re good thanks.” Amber replied.

“Ok, pay at the front when you’re ready.”

“Thanks.” Amber started to grab her purse and get up from the table, but Haden held up a hand.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it.”

She looked at him in shock. “You didn’t even get anything. You can’t do that!”

“You’re giving me a ride home, it’s the least I can do with gas prices as they are.”

She couldn’t argue with that. “Well, ok then, if you’re sure.”

“I’m sure.” He got to his feet and went to the register and she walked over to the door, a little flushed. Now that wasn’t something she was used to.

They both walked out to her car. And as they both settled in, she was a little too aware of how alone they were. She cleared her throat.
“So, where do you live?”

“Uh… well….if you don’t mind, I’m actually supposed to be picking up my ride down at the auto shop. It’s actually closer than my house if that’s any help.”

“No, I don’t mind.” They drove down the road in silence for a minute.

“So why weren’t you at school today?” Haden asked.

“Uh,” You…In a weird way, “I forgot to set my alarm.” She laughed a little nervously.

“Oh.”

“Yeah it’s kind of dumb.” She blushed slightly.

He shrugged. “It happens.”

Another moment of silence, but it wasn’t awkward or tight. It was just….silence, both of them absorbed in their own thoughts. Notes drifted through Amber’s head as they so often do.

“You mind if I turn on some music?”

“It’s your car. You can do what you want.”

“It’s classical.” She warned.

He laughed lightly. “It’s fine.”