Katie wasn't on the bus on the ride home. Maybe she had to stay after for something. But by three thirty two she hadn't shown up either. Sarkas left on his own and walked across the street to her house. Nobody answered the door when he rang the bell so he headed off to training on his own.

Sarkas walked up to the big gym and when he opened the door he almost got blasted away by the music blaring. He walked in and looked around. It didn't seem to be coming from anywhere in particular, but he could just feel it bouncing off the walls and floor. He looked up and saw Katie moving around on the flat pipes that ran up about six feet from the ceiling. Her mouth was moving with the words of the song and her hips were swaying back and forth to the beat. Sarkas smiled and sat down with his back to the wall then just watched her for a bit.

"It is so nice to see Ms. Walker smiling again." Sarkas looked over to see Mr. Yami standing right next to him, "After she started school I never saw her smile and she never talked. I was starting to fear for her health. But then you came and she started to smile again. She looks so lovely when she is laughing no?" he looked down at Sarkas.

Sarkas shifted his gaze from the ceiling to the old guy, "A lot better than when she's yelling." he admitted.

That's when Katie noticed them and waved, "HEEEY!" she called down.

"Heey!" Sarkas smiled and waved back.

She sat down on the edge of the pipe, "Come on up!!"

"Naaw, I'm good thanks!"

"Come oonnn, dance with me! We're gonna start having fun, remember?!"

"I don't dance!" Sarkas told her.

Katie jumped down and landed in front of them, "Why not? Get up, come on!" she grabbed his hands and tried to pull him up on his feet, but he dragged along.

"Noooo, I'll just sit and watch you."

"That's not fun!" she let go and fell backwards, but they both grinned. A silent agreement passed between the two. All was forgiven and forgotten. Everything that had happened that afternoon was in the past. Things were back to the way they should be.

"No more dancing for now." Mr. Yami ordered, "Time for business. I want to go over some things from last night." the music suddenly softened so that they could hardly hear it.

"The demons are getting smarter." Katie blurted out, "Not to mention faster and stronger."

"I know." Mr. Yami raised a hand to silence her, "That is to be expected. As you grow in your power and skill, so do they. As time goes on they will get smarter and stronger and you will have to work harder to kill them. They are learning too. The other thing is the little performance of Mr. Carson's power last night. I think we have discovered your ideal situation. You thrive under presser and desperation."

Sarkas was confused until he thought back to the night before. How the demon was reaching for him and suddenly his hands became engulfed in the darkness and the demon split in two.

"I have yet to discover where Ms. Walker's power resides in her. Anyway instead of our normal rehearsal today I must teach you to control this power. It may not appear, but you need to know the basic technique so it does not run wild and destroy everything when it is let out. So on your feet both of you. Chop, chop."

The two scrambled to their feet and stood at attention.

"Now this power in you is the key that sets you apart from all other humans," Mr. Yami lectured, "It is the reason you can see, touch and kill the demons, made of the same matter. It is the reason you can jump higher, hit harder and move faster than anyone else in the world. And now we are going to bring that power out into a physical state. Are you following me so far?"

Sarkas gave a slow nod. Katie paused then nodded as well.

"Good. Now, feet apart and hands out in front of you like you are holding a basketball. This is to prevent anything from going the wrong direction and destroying my gym. Now focus on all your energy. Pull it from your feet, your head, your back, take everything you have and focus it on your left hand." he gave them a few minutes to concentrate, "When you think you have it all there, condense it even farther to the center of your palm. Then when you are ready, let it all go and push it out of your hand!"

Sarkas tried to let the power go out of his hand, but as soon as his mind let go of it he felt it seep back into his body. Katie didn't have any better luck.

"Try again." Mr. Yami told them, "This will not be like all the other tricks you have been learning. This will take real time and practice. Just getting it out and controlling it is the hard part, but when you master your own power you can do the unimaginable with it."

"Will we be able to fly?" Katie asked as they focused on their hands again.

"You will not be able to go quite that far, but those wounds on Mr. Carson's leg could have been gone before you went to bed last night."

"Sweeeeet." Sarkas put more energy in his palm. That proposition fueled him more than anything else at the moment. But when he released his power it snapped right back into his body again, "Dang."

"Patience Mr. Carson. This will take time." he paused, "Actually...try that until you know what to do then I will throw something at you and see how you do, how does that sound?"

"Sounds a lot better than just standing here for the next three hours." Sarkas agreed.

"All right then. Ms. Walker would you like to try that too?"

"Sure, why not." Katie nodded.

"Twenty minutes then, until then, try switching, concentrating on your right hand as well." Mr. Yami walked off to his secret little door on the side and the music turned up again.

Sarkas lost track of time after that. He stood there forever, focusing then trying to push it out, but it always sprung right back into his body. An hour it seemed went by, maybe it was five hours.
Suddenly all the lights in the gym went off. The music stopped and the two were blind as their eyes tried to adjust to the dark. They heard a creaking from above and looked up to just barely make out two objects, just off black coming flying right towards them. Sarkas jumped and put out his arm as a natural reaction.
"FOCUS!"
Almost subconsciously Sarkas focused his energy to his hand.
"RELEASE!"
The thing wasn't a foot away from his hand when Sarkas felt more than saw a substance burst out of his hand, creating a thick cylinder about a foot long then cut it off. The thing ahead of him stopped.
"AAHH! HYA!" Katie cried and Sarkas heard a loud bang like a rock hitting a metal can, then another crash like something fell on the floor.
Instantly the lights came back on. Katie still had her leg in the air like she was afraid to take it down. Ten feet away was a ghost, demon looking thing with a small indentation in the side. Sarkas looked back and saw another one a yard ahead of him, hanging on a string. There was a hole as big as his hand going through the center of it.
"Perfect!! Exactly the results I wanted to see Mr. Carson!"
They both looked up to see Mr. Yami standing on the track with two stings going down. What he used to send the decoys down with. Now that he was calming down from the shock, Sarkas stepped forward to look at the thing that attacked him.
"Styrofoam?" he mumbled looking through the hole he had supposedly created.
"Yes! And it worked!" The old guy hobbled over to the teen, "Now can you remember how you did that? Could you do it again?"
Sarkas tried to remember what had happened, "I don't...maybe...." he put his arm out again and tried to do it again. He focused on his hand but when he let it go, it did that same thing it had done before, spring right back into his body, "Aawww...."
"It is okay!" Mr. Yami assured him, "You will get it soon. If we can do that a few more times you will be able to get it on your own in no time. Ms. Walker!"
Katie jumped, "Yeah?"
"You will need to work harder. Presser obviously does not work on you so you will have to get it on your own."
"Yes sir."
"Enough of that for now, work on it at home. Get your swords I want to see a real battle today!" the music came back on as the two grinned and hurried off to the side to get their weapons.

As they walked home that afternoon Sarkas bugged Katie, "Hey, uh, maybe some weekend you could hook me and your buddy Briana up and she could show me around town?" he smiled.
Katie just smirked, "Whatever Carkas."
"Heeeey."

Four weeks went by. Sarkas was finally starting to get the whole darkness power thing down. With a lot of concentration he could make it come out of his hand with whatever thickness he wanted for whatever length he wanted. It was like having a built in gun that never ran out of ammo. He had to sympathize with Katie who still wasn't getting it though. On a good day she could shoot a short transparent rod. Mr. Yami said she needed to find the source of her power. He told her once she found it, she would be able to manipulate it any way she wanted.
When he could get it to come out when and how he wanted, Mr. Yami started teaching him how to use it in close combat.
"Let it out." the old man instructed. Sarkas shot out a beam of black light.
"Grab it!" he snapped quickly, "Hold it! Keep it moving! Hold it!"
Sarkas quickly closed his hand over the rod as he was about to let it go. He had to focus hard on putting more energy into it to keep it solid and stable. When he felt like he had good enough control over it he started swinging it around experimentally like a sword.
"Luke, I am your father." he said in a deep voice as his arm moved back and forth. Katie was still having trouble with it so he had to practice swinging and blocking on his own. It was lighter and easier to move it than the other sword they practiced with. "Why can't Katie just attack me with the regular sword?" Sarkas asked shortly after he had started.
"That power is like acid to anything but yourself." Mr. Yami explained, "If you hit a regular wooden sword with that it would cut through the wood like a hot knife through butter. If you tried to strike the walls of this gym you make a cut through it to the outside world with no effort. That is the kind of power you hold in your hand Mr. Carson."
Sarkas gave a low whistle.
"Ms. Walker! I am not hearing any cans being crushed over there!" Mr. Yami turned to face the girl with a long black whip in her hand.
"Workin’ on it!" she flung it out towards a table with pop cans lined up on it. The end of the whip wrapped around one of the cans several times then Katie whipped it back and caught the can in her hand. She crushed the can with her hand and cracked the whip for the heck of it. She was irritated she couldn't get the power thing down. Things had always come easy to her and that just...didn't.
Second quarter started and Sarkas was sad to see gym class go along with the pretty brunet. He started art instead and was happy to be starting fresh so he wasn't the only one clueless. He still had Biology and World History. He was happy about that. He was really starting to get to know his two lab partners. They were kind of freaky at times but interesting. The first week of December they started a new section in Biology. It was finally cooling down too. Average temperatures ranged in the low sixties. Sarkas actually had to wear jeans and long shirt. Oooo.
"Today we're going to be starting our section on evolution." Mr. Stenbeck announced, "There are many different theories surrounding the subject....Yes, Andrea?"
The girl in the second row put her hand down, "I don't believe in evolution, can I skip the section?"
"No, I'm sorry you have to learn it for the course."
"But it makes me uncomfortable and we shouldn't be uncomfortable in school." she argued.
"I have a stomach ache can I skip it today too?!" another girl spoke up. There were a few giggles around the class.
"No no." the science teacher calmed them down, "We have to go along with the district requirements. Now I have some things set up on the tables in the back, I want you each to take a work sheet and go around each table then categorize each of the things." he handed out the work sheets then everyone got up and migrated to the back with all the lab tables.
"Did ya hear, the first basketball game is tomorrow night." Mike said while they were walking around.
"We should go there early and wax the floors." the other Mike chuckled.
"We should." the first Mike agreed.
"I don't have any wax."
"My cousin has a collection of ear wax."
"I'm not touching anyone's ear wax."
"He wouldn't give it up anyway."
"I think they sell it at the wood store over by the grocery store."
"I don't have any money."
"Me either."
"We should hide under the bleachers and throw banana peals out during the game!"
"I have some bananas!"
"They sell real cheep too."
"We can get our potassium in!"
"Awesome!"
Sarkas had no desire to eat a dozen bananas in one night, "Wanna go to the basketball game?" he asked Katie. He knew she had been really frustrated lately and maybe the game would take her mind off things.
"Naw. Is that a baby pig?!" she quickly set the glass jar down and shuddered, "It's not even a real game. It's just like the team playing against each other and the losers have to do clean up for a week or whatever."
"Okay." Sarkas picked up another jar and looked at it then passed it to her, "There's a rat for ya too."
"EW!"

"So then he made us go around and look at stuff in jars and there was mini alligator skull and a baby pig!" Sarkas stuffed another bite of spaghetti.
"A baby pig?" Lili raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah!“ Sarkas nodded and swallowed, "How's your new job going?"
"Good! They let me do things by myself today instead of having some manager half my age standing over my shoulder making sure I was doing it right." the woman rolled her eyes, "But I heard from Beth, she's this kid right out of college real nice girl, but she said that there's a town not far out to the west that has a dance studio that holds contests every other weekend! I'm going to take your father out there this Friday night so we can check it out." Lili seemed really excited.
"That's great!" Sarkas said with a mouth full.
They heard the door open and looked over to see Chris Walker walk into the kitchen, "Sorry I'm late again." he sighed and gave Lili a kiss.
"It's all right. As long as you're making us lots of money you can stay out as long as you want." the woman joked.
"I feel so loved." Chris got out a plate and loaded it high with spaghetti.

Around nine that night Sarkas sat on his parents bed, watching the upstairs TV since they had taken over the downstairs one. Suddenly he heard a faint ringing. He could barely hear it at first and thought he was going nuts. Then he remembered he had left his cell phone in his room. He quick snapped off the TV and dashed into his room. He snatched up the phone that was sitting right next to his bed.
"H-hello?"
"Carcass, the old guys says we got demons poppin’ up. Time to go kick some butt."
"It's been a while. You outside?"
"Yeah, hurry up."
"Gotcha. Over and out." Sarkas hung up and jumped downstairs. He put on his shoes and opened the door, "Hey mom! Dad! I'm...going to a basketball game at school! See ya later!" they would kill him later for going so suddenly and not saying when he was going to be back and all that but he just needed to get out of the house. He had actually been looking forward to the next attack so he could try out his new trick.
"Are you gonna call me that all the time from now on?" he greeted the girl standing on the sidewalk and they started jogging towards the gym.
"Would you hurt me?" she grinned.
"Probably eventually!"
She giggled, "Okay okay I'll lay off it if ya want."
They had only been going for a minute or so when they heard the ringing again. They stopped and both their phones where going off so they hit the talk button.
"Four demons have turned up by the middle school on France. Do you both have your glasses?"
"Yeah." they answered the old guy.
"Good. Just head there. There will be people around and the outfits would probably make you just stand out more. Be careful. Stay in the shadows. Good luck." the line went dead.
"Four of them? Dang." Sarkas put the cell back in his pocket, "The middle school? That's right next to the high school right?"
"Yeah." Katie didn't seem too enthused as they changed direction. They turned a corner and there was the black car waiting for them.
"One of us needs to get our drivers license." Katie mumbled as they crawled in the back.
"No kidding. Hey Daemon, how's it going?" Sarkas asked. The guy behind the wheel didn't reply and started driving off. He was used to that now.
They arrived at a back road that went between the two schools. The car stopped at the fork where it went off to the high school.
"That way." the driver said in a low monotone voice, pointing down the road.
"Thanks for the ride!" they said as they stepped out and put on their glasses then headed off towards the parking lot.
"Holy shiz." eyes widened as they ran into the small parking lot that led to the gym. Every light pole in the lot was down on at least one or more cars. There were at least four alarms going off with another dozen cars and trucks smashed. Good thing this was supposed to be the small game. They picked up the pace and stormed through the doors right after the lights flashed off. They ran down the hall to the gym where everyone was still sitting in the pull out bleachers. The plays were on the court and everyone was looking around trying to figure out what was going on.
"Who turned out the lights?!" someone yelled.
Katie and Sarkas could see everything perfectly but they were sure everyone else couldn't see more than a few feet. The stands were clear of demons, the court was clear, the ceiling was clear. Sarkas was just about to relax when Katie grabbed his arm and pointed to the corner of the floor. two demons glided in silently. They weaved between the confused players on the court until they stood in a line before the stands. Then their black cloudy hands reached inside themselves and pulled out basketballs! Almost on cue they hurled the balls at the people in the stands.
Cries broke out. People started screaming then began to scramble up the stands to get to the doors. The two fighters quickly got out of the way and looked down the hall towards the doors. Standing in front of them was another demon holding them shut! The first person reached the door and put out a hand to push it open but screamed and pulled their hand back, shaking it like it had touched fire. They couldn't see the demons but they could feel them, Sarkas concluded. Shouts from the other side of the gym said they were having the same problem. Four of them all together.
"All right, I'll take the two on the court you take down the ones holding the door." Katie took charge. Another thing Sarkas was learning. This girl kept a cool head in hot situations. Unlike him who resorted to panic when it became too steamy.

"Got it." He nodded and watched Katie as she took off down the empty stands. He could understand why she would want to avoid the main crowd in this situation.
"Open the door!" Someone shouted.
"Let us out!" people were yelling.
He had to get them away from the doors somehow. If they could feel the demons, they might be able to feel his dark power too if he tried to throw it. And if his power could cut through steal it would be able to cut off a few heads no problem. Sarkas looked at the demon who towered over the people. He pointed to it. The thing didn't move. It had no eyes but he knew it saw him. It was using the people as a shield.
Sarkas had an idea but he would have to aim carefully. He looked back and to the side the make sure no one was watching him then put out a hand and aimed at the corner where the door met the ceiling. He focused all his energy into his hand, into his palm...a little bit more and....There! He let it go and a small black bullet shot out of his hand and blasted through the top of the door, making a baseball size hole and the sound of a cannon being shot.
There was a momentary silence then screaming and panic again. This time people started running away from the door and away from the demon. Sarkas ran forward towards his target. He shot another, bigger round at the dark cloud and hit it square in the chest! The demon stopped and shuddered then disappeared.
"Woo!" Sarkas cried and jumped around a little in a small victory dance. But he still had one more to take down. He followed the crowd around the hall above the court to the other door.
The demons on the floor were throwing countless balls at the players now. Katie couldn't figure out where they had gotten them all as she ran down the bleachers towards the two black clouds. She jumped over the rail and landed next to one. She spun around and gave it a sharp kick to the head. It dropped the ball and stumbled. She was about to hit it again but caught a ball coming at her out of the corner of her eye. She jumped up high to avoid it and quickly looked around to make sure no one was watching her jump ten feet in the air. Thankfully they were all too occupied with finding an exit to notice her. She heard what sounded like a gun shot and looked over to see Sarkas rush forward while everyone else rushed back.
She landed and went for the demon, but it was already up and running across the court with the other one. They were running away? That didn't make sense. Katie hesitated, they had always been eager to fight and if they were running away it was possible they were trying to lead her into a trap. They floated up the first seats of the bleachers. Above them was the whole audience for the game, a good thirty people or so all yelling for someone to open the door open.
That's when the demons reached inside themselves again and took out more basketballs. They hurled them up at the people, harder than before. A girl screamed and clutched her arm. One guy cried out and fell down, reaching for his leg and causing the few behind him to jump back. Another girl yelled as she got hit in the back. Then Katie watched as someone got hit in the head and fell down unconscious.
It hit her. They didn't care about her or Sarkas or fighting tonight. All they cared about was hurting and causing people pain. Sarkas was running towards the crowd now, yelling for everyone to get out of the way, but Katie had suddenly entered a world of her own. It was one thing to pick a fight with her, it was a whole different story when they went after innocent people who couldn't defend themselves if they wanted.
"Stop it!" she took off again, running as fast as she could towards the demons. She stretched out her arm and hardly knew what she was doing as she focused her power to her hand. All she knew was that she wanted to cause those black clouds pain. A lot of pain. To pay them back for all of it that they were causing the innocent people. She released the energy and a long streak of darkness flew down the court and went directly through one of the demons who disappeared instantly. It's partner stopped and started running off again.
"Oh no you don't!" Again Katie stored her power and when she let it out it snaked through the air, just the like the whip she had been working with the last week. The end wrapped around the leg of the demon several times and tripped it. Katie jerked it back towards her and shot one last black ball through the demon. It blinked and disappeared.
She let the whip go and started running up towards the crowd again. She heard two more gun shots and suddenly the people shifted, going back the other way and some even ran down past her to the floor. She reached the hall and saw two holes through the top of the doors. Right below those where Sarkas and the demon locked in a battle. She rushed forward, quickly meeting eyes with Sarkas. He ducked as she came forward, swinging a foot at the demon's legs. It jumped and that’s when Katie leaped and caught it right on the back of its head. It went down and the two made sure it went away.
They were still for a moment, catching their breath and just taking it all in. They looked back and saw people still running around frantically.
"We gotta get out of here." Katie said. Sarkas nodded and the two took off again back towards the doors. People were discovering the doors were unguarded now and were running out after them. Neither of them liked the idea of being seen again. They rushed out the doors. Sarkas kept going, but Katie grabbed his arm and forced him to stop suddenly.
"Up there!" she pointed to the roof. They both jumped up high and landed on the roof. They were safe now.
Sarkas sat down and took off the glasses. His world became dark again, "Are all your basketball games this eventful?" he asked.
"I would kill myself if they were." Katie collapsed beside him. They listened to the shouts of complaints as people found their cars and trucks smashed.
"Good fight black Kat." he said after a few minutes, "How'd you do that bendy thing with the power?"
Katie gave a proud smile, "I'm not really sure."
"Man, every time they show up I get more questions." Sarkas muttered.
"Like what?"
"Like where do they come from? Who sent them? What is their purpose here? Did you notice they didn't come after us today? It was like they were the ones making us chase them down."
Katie nodded, "Yeah, I noticed that too. I thought it was a trap at first. I've wondered all those things too but I always forget to ask them."
"Tomorrow we'll drill the old guy, deal?"
"Deal."

The basketball game was the only thing Sarkas heard about the next day at school. Everyone would have given an arm and a leg to figure out who turned out the power and threw all the basketballs at people. They even had the police coming out to try and find out who pulled down all the light poles and ruined all the cars. No matter what time of day there was always a small crowd staring up at the door and walls where there were the baseball size holes going in. Sarkas hadn't realized the day before when he had thrown his power ball, they had blown right through the doors and went on to make deep holes in the walls. He kept his mouth shut that day. He and Katie had agreed they had both been home watching TV. That day was another wake up call for him. It reminded him how real everything was. Those demons were not just scary bed time stories.
"If everyone knew all that was caused by us trying to save their butts we'd be famous!" Sarkas grinned as they walked into the gym that afternoon.
"Except they'd probably throw us in the nut house before we even got a chance to say it twice." Katie assured him.
Today there were two big targets set up at the end of the gym.
"Congratulations Ms. Walker!" Mr. Yami greeted them as the door closed behind them, "You found the source of your power!"
"I did?" everything had happened so fast she wasn't even sure if she could do it again.
"Yes, your power comes from your will and desire to protect people and your loved ones. It can be very powerful but it can also be very dangerous. You will have to be careful." the old man looked into her eyes until she nodded. Then he straightened up and clapped his hands, "Alright, get your swords and do twenty thrusts to warm up your arms. We are going to work on aim and accuracy today. I do not want any more holes in walls Mr. Carson. It attracts too much attention."
"How'd you know it was me?!" Sarkas blurted out while Katie walked off to the side to get the wooden swords.
"I know everything!" was the simple reply with a smug look on his face.
"Well then you know who keeps sending them after us?" it was more of a statement than a question.
"Heads up." Katie tossed the sword over to him.
Sarkas caught the sword and swung it around a few times while he waited for Mr. Yami's reply.
"Yes, I do know." he said after a moment, "And I will tell you once you start working."
"Working!" the two eagerly brought the sword up then swung it down, creating a decent gust of wind that rippled through the gym.
"The one creating the demons and sending them after you is a creature called Korosu. He is a creature of the dark with powers beyond your comprehension. Do not worry, you will not have to fight with him. Even with your advanced powers you could not make a scratch in that thing."
"You sound so confident in us." Sarkas joked as they brought the swords down again.
"It is not that I do not have confidence in two, I am just stating the facts." the old guy shrugged.
"So you're positive we won't have to fight this guy?" Katie asked.
"Very positive. He would not bother with something as small as Earth. The demons are like an amusement to him. Something to entertain himself with on a rainy day."
"Oh that makes me feel better. Our lives are on the line because some cosmic power can't get a TV?!" Sarkas swung the sword down and the wind came up, blowing his hair around.
"That is about right." Mr. Yami confirmed.
"Great, so we're gonna have to fight all those demons until the Korosu guy gets bored or finds something else to entertain himself with?" Katie asked.
"Not necessarily." that caught them both off guard, "Korosu made another demon like creature. It controls the demon's actions and details. If you destroy that, then it will stop the demons. Korosu is too lazy to make another."
"Sweet, so where is this control center?" Sarkas said.
"I do not know."
"You just said you knew everything!"
"Everything I can see. I can not see where he hid that creature." Mr. Yami told them. Sarkas just shook his head.
"At least we know there's hope to end this fight." Katie told him.
"Yeah, that's true."
"All right, that is enough of that. Put the swords down and come here." Mr. Yami waited for them to do what he said then gave them a bag of darts, "Now stand at the white line and try to hit the center of the target."
"Dude that's like half way down the gym." Sarkas made a show by squinting so he could see the middle of the target.
"I debated whether to put you that close to start with."
Sarkas stopped the faces.
"The object is simple, go ahead and try it."
They both picked up a dart. Neither of them even got close. He made them try it a few more times before he started coaching.
"Use the power in your arm. Aim with your eyes! Imagine a line going from your eyes to the target. When you let go of the dart make it connect with that line and it will go where you want it too. Do not just let it go Mr. Carson! Tell it where to go! Control it with your hand, guide it with your eyes!"
"HA!" Katie cried out. Sarkas looked at her target to see a bright yellow dart stuck in the middle.
"Good Ms. Walker! Do it again!"
It didn't take long before Sarkas got it too. Then Mr. Yami made them run around while trying to hit the target. After that he had them jumping up and down and doing tricks while shooting at it too.
"You have to get used to aiming at a still object in any situation, not just standing still." he told them, "You will be using your power instead of these little darts. I want you to be confident enough so you can hit the demon, not the door! Now come in, that is enough for today."
Sarkas and Katie jumped down from the ceiling and sat down the catch their breath.
"All right, time for power usage lesson two!" Mr. Yami announced, "It is not just for fighting. It can be used for healing, guarding, and protecting. Does anyone have a bruise or cut we can demonstrate on?"
"I've got this huge bruise on the back of my leg from two days ago." Katie said.
"Good, let me see."
She twisted and pulled back her shorts, there was a big blue and black spot on her thigh.
"Now put your hand on it."
She covered it with her hand.
"Focus your power into your hand. Not too much! Just a little. Concentrate on healing your leg."
A good minute went by before Katie removed her hand, but when she did the spot was gone. Her leg looked like it had never seen a scratch in its life.
"Cool!" Katie smiled.
"Oo! Does it work on scars?" Sarkas asked. He had some permanent scars from the battle with the demon a month before.
"It works on anything." Mr. Yami nodded.
Sarkas quickly took off his shoes and socks and put his hand over the long scars going around his ankle. He focused his power into his hand like he had said. Then he could actually feel the skin stretching and moving back to normal.
"Freaky." he said when he finally pulled his hand away to see no sign of there ever being any cuts, "How does it do that?"
"Your power is part of your body. When you use it you are using the energy and being of your body. When you manipulate it in another way, you can use it to actually change and heal your body."
"So can we like change it enough to turn into another person?!" Sarkas asked.
Mr. Yami raised an eyebrow, "Do not get your hopes up."
"Darn."
"The next trick is guarding, you can use it to make a temporary shield around you, but the concept is hard and the time you can use it is very limited. I will teach you how to do that another day. The last thing is protecting. As I told you before, one of the most powerful gifts is the will to protect your loved ones. Your power also holds that desire. If you give some of your power to another, it will hold that thought and protect them should they ever come in contact with a demon. More specifically it will make a thin invisible shield that covers their skin to protect from the black fire of a demon."
"My power blew a hole through a steal door yesterday. How are we supposed to get it to go into someone else without killing them?" Sarkas spoke up.
"Let me finish Mr. Carson, I was getting to that." Mr. Yami held out a hand for them to be quiet, "One way is to use the same technique as you just used to heal yourself. Focus the power going into the person and it will go. Another is to put it in some food or beverage and have them eat or drink it. But you would have to have them eat it in a limited amount of time. The last is blood to blood contact. Your power is in your blood, it touches someone else's blood and the power is taken into them. Try to avoid getting any cuts from now on. That is the one way you cannot control."
"But that's a rare thing." Katie said, "It's like getting Aids or something. I doubt either of us use a needle, unless you've been holding out on us Sarkas?" she grinned.
"Oh yeah, every day after practice man." Sarkas shook his head.
"I thought so!" she giggled.
"I have one thing I would like to caution you about it though," Mr. Yami interrupted them, "Should you ever let your power enter the wrong person and they could take that small amount and use it against you. Give you head, neck and back pains, make you feel like you were on fire, in short make your life a living hell."
"Like a voodoo doll?" Katie asked.
"Exactly. Though it would take someone of your skills to be able to do that. You may give it to your parents and your friends, they would have no idea they even had anything extra inside of them. But if the one you gave it too fell into the hands of evil they could take that and use it against you. So I advise, be very careful who you give it too, if you give it to anyone at all. Certainly do not give it to each other. You two are at the greatest risk of being manipulated. It would be like giving the enemy two birds from one stone. Do you understand what I am saying?"
"Yes...." the two nodded, taking in what he had said.
"Good, you are dismissed." he turned away.
"Wait! One last question." Sarkas raised his hand.
Mr. Yami turned back around, "Yes?"
"Do you have a first name?"
Katie cracked up.
The old guy paused, "Yes. It is Seisakusha. But as long as I am your teacher it is Mr. Yami to you. Good day."
They took that as, get out now. Sarkas and Katie picked themselves up and headed out the door.
"Hey Kat?"
"Yeah?"
"That last whole line was basically just him saying don't give our power to anyone right?" Sarkas said looking up at the sky.
"Yeah. Why?"
"Then why even tell us that we can give it to anyone at all?"
"You come up with a lot of questions don't you?"
"You said yourself I'm sharp." Sarkas grinned, "My mind doesn't just sit on a rock all day!"
Katie chuckled, "Maybe it should once in a while or someday you're gonna come up with the wrong question!"
"There is no such thing as a wrong question." he said in a deep voice.
"Yeah yeah." she smiled and shoved his arm lightly.

"Finally!" Sarkas hit the "Print" button on his computer, "That stupid essay took me all week." he leaned back over the chair and stretched his shoulders, tilting his head back. It had been two weeks since the basketball game and things had calmed down a bit, but not much.
"Hey Sarkas?" Lili knocked on the door and opened it a little.
"Yeah?" he watched upside down as his mom and dad walked into his bedroom.
Lili smiled, "How would you like to go back and visit the old neighborhood for a few days during your Christmas Vacation?"
Sarkas sat up and turned around so they were right side up, "YEAH! That'd be awesome!"
"Good! I already talked to Patty Spahn on the phone. I told her we would stay at a hotel but she insisted we take the spare bedroom in the basement for a few days, and you can bunk with Brad in his room." Lili told him.
"Great! When are we going?!" This was the best news he had gotten in weeks.
"Well it's kind of short notice and the airlines are all booked up so we'll have to drive." Chris spoke up.
"That's okay!" Sarkas agreed eagerly.
"Christmas is the Tuesday after you get off so we were thinking we'd leave Wednesday morning, get up there that night then stay until New Years?"
"Sure! Sounds good!"
"Good! I'll call Patty back and tell her it's set!" Lili smiled and walked out with her husband right behind her.
"Woohoo!" Sarkas grinned as he put his paper away. There was one week left until Christmas Vacation and the teachers had been piling on last minute projects and tests. A few minutes later Lili called him down to talk to his old best friend.
"Hey!" Sarkas greeted him happily.
"Yo! I hear you're comin’ back to invade my turf!" Brad joked.
"You know it! Gotta make sure it all hasn't gone to the dogs while I've been gone!" Sarkas took the phone and sat down at the kitchen table.
"Hehe it's been hard to hold the best lunch table with you gone."
"Oh yeah you only miss me because I get you the seats by the window." Sarkas smiled.
"You know it. I bet that girl Katie could fend off a few of the thugs too! If what you say is true and all."
"All that and more."
"You should invite her to come!!"
"What?!" Sarkas nearly fell out of his chair.
"Yeah! That'd be awesome! Then we could see this legendary princess warrior! I mean, I've known you all my life and I've never seen you even sweat against the biggest bully in school, then you tell me all about this girl that can give you a run for your money. Dude, we gotta meet her!"
"Who's we?!"
"Everyone! Even Coach Meidhardt was like, 'I don't care if she is a girl, if she can beat Carson there is a spot on the football team for her'!"
"Coach Meindhardt knows about her?!"
"Hey, when there's a girl as good as Sarkas Carson word is gonna get out!"
"Okay okay," Sarkas rubbed the back of his neck.
"Seriously dude, ask if she can come!"
"Uh I'll see what I can do."
"Cool! See ya soon kay?"
"Yeah!" Sarkas hung up and just held the phone for minute, thinking over what his friend had asked. Then put the phone away and headed into the living room before he lost his nerve. The salsa music was going full blast and Sarkas leaned on the side of the wall as he watched his parents go back and forth. The song ended shortly after he walked in and they finished with a pose. Sarkas clapped and they turned to noticed he was standing there.
Chris walked over to the boom box and turned off the music while Lili skipped over and gave Sarkas a quick hug and kiss on the head.
"Hey mom?" he spoke up while she still had an arm around his shoulders, "Is it okay if we invite Katie to come along too?"
"What?! I don't think so Sarkas." she shook her head and let go of him, "For one thing we don't know her very well and Patty doesn't have room for another guest."
"Okay." he shrugged is off, not too disappointed, "I'm going to bed, see ya in the morning." and made his way out of the room. The idea didn't really appeal to him either. At least now when Brad asked he could blame it on his parents. Katie was like part of another new world for him. It would just be too weird mixing his old, nice normal life with his new, exciting, dangerous one. He was looking forward to this vacation for more reasons than one.

"Keep your feet moving! Remember clean strokes....Watch your back Mr. Carson!" Mr. Yami walked around the two teenagers as they dueled in the middle of the gym with swords of black fire.
The two hit down, then up then down again. Katie spun around and aimed for his feet. Sarkas jumped up and brought his arm down while she blocked up and the two locked. One wrong step and they could cut a hand off easily. It was a deadly dance but over the past few months the two had tuned into each other. They could read each others movements and signs. Could almost even predict what the other was going to do next. Which is why both could smile at the rush from the fight, even though they stood inches from something that could slice off their head like a doll.
"All right that is enough for today!" Mr. Yami said.
The black fire disappeared from the scene and the two fell onto the floor, exhausted.
Mr. Yami cleared his throat, "Tomorrow starts your Winter vacation. I will be nice and let you have Christmas day and New Years off but the other days I want you here like any other day off."
"Two whole days off, he really is being generous." Katie said, leaning back on her hands.
"Oh yeah, I forgot, I'm going on vacation for a week in between!" Sarkas announced happily. There was a pause.
"Ah yes, your father mentioned that." Mr. Yami mumbled to himself.
"Where are you going?" Katie asked, her voice dripping with envy.
"Up north to my old home to visit everyone and stuff." he smiled.
"Fun!"
"Yeah! They all want to meet you too."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, I told them you kicked my butt and now you're as much of a legend as I was in that town!" Sarkas grinned.
"Sweet! Can we move there?" Katie looked at Mr. Yami, "I get more attention not being there than I ever did being here!"
The old guy shook his head, "But I do agree it would be a good idea for you to accompany Mr. Carson on his trip up there."
"WHAT?!" they choked together. It was one of those things that would be cool, but no one ever expected to even consider it.
Mr. Yami nodded, "The demons are getting smarter, I do not like the idea of you two being so far apart for that amount of time. The chance of one of you being ambushed is too great. No, the risk is too much. Ms. Walker you will go with Mr. Carson up North."
The two looked at each other, "My parents would lock me in a box before they would let me go on a trip with a boy." Katie said, "They're waaaay too over protective."
"Yeah and mine already said no..." he realized how weird that would sound to someone who didn't know the situation, "Guests." he added on quickly.
"I will talk to them both." Mr. Yami said calmly, "This is for your safety after all." he seemed way too confident as he walked towards the exit. He was almost at the door before he turned around, "Well hurry up! We do not have all day you know!"
The two scrambled off the floor and ran over to the old guy. They all went out the doors and there in the oval drive way that came in was the black car waiting for them. Mr. Yami walked over to the passenger seat and the two shared another glance before crawling in the back. That was only the first freaky thing to happen that night.
Katie seemed more nervous walking up to her door than Sarkas had ever seen her before any kind of fight. She opened the door slowly and stepped inside.
"Hey Mom?! Dad?!" she called out into the house.
"Hi honey!" a friendly voice came from somewhere in front of them, "Come in and wash up for dinner!"
"Uh, can you guys come out here quick? Mr. Yami is here and wants to talk to you for a minute." she looked back at Sarkas and Mr. Yami. The old guy stepped inside the door with her as her parents came walking into sight. Sarkas followed slowly.
They looked like the American cute couple of the year. The mother had some years on her but she still looked beautiful with long thin blond hair. The dad was the average everything. Height, build, looks, with the common brown hair to top it all off.
"Mr. Yami, nice to see you again." Mr. Walker said politely, shaking the old man's hand.
"Nice to see you again too Mr. Walker." he nodded his head to the woman, "Mrs. Walker."
Sarkas did a double take on that. Mr. Yami had actually sounded...nice when he said that. He looked at him and saw the same thing he had seen the first time he had set eyes on the old guy. A permanent half smile, and a slight hunch to give off the timid, weak little man. Talk about the spilt personality.
"Ah this is another student of mine, Sarkas Carson." Mr. Yami gestured to Sarkas.
"Nice to meet you." Sarkas nodded politely, "I moved in across the street a few months ago."
"Yes, I've talk to your Dad a few times." Mr. Walker smiled.
"If it is not too much trouble might we take a seat in the living room for a moment?" Mr. Yami asked quietly.
"Not at all!" Mrs. Walker led the way to the living room. The three family members took a seat on the couch while Sarkas and Mr. Yami took the chairs on the side.
"So what was it you wanted to discuss with us?" Mr. Walker asked.
"Ah yes," Mr. Yami shifted slightly, "I understand that the children's winter vacation is just around the corner and I would like to request that your daughter accompany young Sarkas here on a short trip up north."
"That's pretty short notice." Mr. Walker mumbled.
"Yeah." Mrs. Walker agreed, but Sarkas could all ready see her eyes were totally against the idea.
"I am very sorry for the short notice." Mr. Yami said, "But let me give you a few of the details, maybe you will change your mind," his voice shifted ever so slightly to the hard, commanding tone Sarkas was used to him using. He made a show of getting to the end of his chair and leaning forward so he was staring into Katie's parents eyes, "Your daughter will be in very good hands. She can take care of herself. Young Sarkas is a good, respectable boy. They will behave. It will not be long. There is no reason dramatic enough to keep her back here." his voice was steady and monotone. No one had moved while he spoke and everyone was motionless for a moment after. Both Katie and Sarkas looked back and forth from Mr. Yami to the couple wondering if they had all suddenly become statues.
Mr. Yami moved first, blinking once and sitting back up straight in his chair, "So what do you think?" he asked in his disturbingly friendly tone again.
Mr. and Mrs. Walker blinked and shook their heads as if coming out of a trance, "What?" Mrs. Walker paused, "Oh yes, I...guess I don't see much of a problem."
"Yeah." Mr. Walker nodded, "It won't be for long....We can trust our girl to behave." he smiled at Katie.
Katie for one looked like she was in shock. She just sat there with her mouth open then threw her arms around her mom, "Thank you!"
"Uh, no problem." Mrs. Walker returned the hug.
"Wonderful." Mr. Yami smiled and stood up, "I feel we have intruded for long enough. We will get you the details by tomorrow. Good evening, Mr. Walker, Mrs. Walker. Katie I will see you tomorrow same time as always." he started walking towards the door.
Sarkas quickly stood up and followed him, "Uh, nice to meet you!" he rattled off again quickly and went after Mr. Yami. They walked out the door and headed across the street to Sarkas's house, "What'd you do, like hypnotize them?" Sarkas asked.
"Merely used a unique method to persuade them." Mr. Yami gave a sly smile. Sarkas didn't have time to ask what kind of method because they reached his house.
He did the same thing to Lili and Chris. They all seemed to go into a trance and when Mr. Yami moved them both readily agreed to take Katie with them on their trip.
"But we'll have to stay at a hotel. Patty doesn't have another room for Katie." Lili said.
"I am sure it will work out fine." Mr. Yami assured her.
The next day when Lili called Mrs. Spahn to tell her the change of plans, the woman insisted that Katie sleep with Brad's little sister since she had bunk beds in her room. She wouldn't take no for an answer and Lili was forced to agree. Everything was set. And it all had gone too smoothly for comfort.

The ride up north took all day. The conversation was sparse. The first hour or so was devoted to Lili and Chris drilling Katie on her life. All the standard stuff to talk about when meeting a new person. Once they had marked her as a good responsible little girl the conversation died off and they all retired to their own little worlds. Katie put on some head phones and towards the afternoon she took out a notebook.
I still can't believe we're getting a whole week of sitting around and doing nothing! she wrote and passed it to Sarkas.
He took the pencil, Yeah, I'm still in shock it all worked out. he scribbled back.
She looked at it for a while then looked at him, "I don't know what’s scarier. Your hand writing or the fact that I can actually read it." she laughed quietly.
Sarkas smiled and shook his head and stole the notebook back, Mr. Yami is a miracle worker. he tried to write a little better.
Katie's eyes grew wide when she read that, He's not human! she underlined it three times.
Sarkas gave her a look, "Are you sure?" he mouthed.
"Think about it!" she whispered. He did, and it only took about two seconds before he realized she was right. Everything about him just wasn't right. From the first time Sarkas had entered the gym he had seen that Mr. Yami was something bigger than he could imagine. He wasn't just some little old Japanese man. He had power, real power. He was something beyond this Earth the only question was what.
They arrived at the Spahn house around dinner time. The whole family came out and greeted them. There was a lot of hugging and loud greetings, then everyone quickly ran inside before the cold got to them. There was a good foot of snow on the ground all around. Katie was fascinated. She had only seen snow one other time in her life when her family had taken a trip up to Colorado. When they stepped inside the house Sarkas was attacked by a little fuzzy dog. He bent down the greet the fur ball while Brad sidestepped over to Katie.
"And you must be the famous Katie! I admit I was expecting more of the buff warrior girl look."
Katie raised an eyebrow, "And I was expecting more of the hot best friend look."
"Ouch." Brad grinned and Sarkas cracked up.
"Katie?" Mrs. Spahn walked over with a young girl about eleven, "This is Maddie, you'll be staying with her unless you prefer the couch."
"Oh it's no problem." Katie smiled and put her hand out to Maddie, "Nice too meet you, I'm Katie."
The girl just looked at her hand, "Pleasure to make your acquaintance." she said in a monotone voice.
Mrs. Spahn walked off to help Lili and Chris to take their bags to the spare bed room in the basement.
"I'll show you to my room." Maddie said to Katie, "You will be provided with a sleeping bag and pillow. Blankets cost extra and if you want a bunk you will have to set up an appointment with me so we can negotiate the price."
"Pardon me?" Katie picked up her bag and glanced back at the boys, "Your sister is quite the little con artist."
Brad rolled his eyes, "Just put her in a head lock until she gives in."
"Gotchya." Katie turned and dashed up the stairs after the young girl.
Sarkas smiled and picked up his own bag, "Man it feels good to be back here."
"Yeah, we missed ya buddy." Brad nodded and led the way up to his own room.
They spent most of the evening getting unpacked and settled in. The kids went for ice cream around eight. Brad had recently gotten his license and drove them all around. They rented movies and went back and watched them until midnight. Then they finally agreed to go up and get some sleep, but Sarkas and Brad were up another good hour talking. Swapping stories and info. Brad did most of the talking this time since he didn't know anyone from Sarkas's new city. But Sarkas was starting to remember why he had missed his home so much.
"So what is the biggest difference between your old and new home?" Brad asked close to one thirty in the morning.
"In this town I don't have to worry about being ambushed by demons every night." Sarkas said almost without thinking.
"Wow, do you have the living dead as classmates too?"
That's when he realized what he had said and kicked himself, "N-no. I was just kidding." his brain was too tired to think up any other excuse.
"Darn, that'd be cool to see a zombie or something walking down the halls."
"No it wouldn't." Sarkas mumbled. He had had enough of his share of the undead for one lifetime.
"Dude, what’s wrong?" despite not seeing each other for three months Brad could still tell when his best friend wasn't quite right.
"Nothing." Sarkas said simply and yawned, "This town is so peaceful and simple. Feels like I haven't been here for years."
"What have you been up too down there? It hasn't been that long."
"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me."
"Sarkas you know you can trust me."
"I know. So trust me when I say you're better off not knowing. I'll tell you someday. When its all over."
"You swear on that?"
"I swear."
"Okay....Goodnight."
"Night."

Three days later they were half way through their vacation and still loving every minute. The kids were on their own for the most part. Mr. and Mrs. Spahn took a few days off work and went with Lili and Chris while they drove around and visited old friends. Sarkas stumbled down the stairs on the third morning to find the other three all ready sitting at the table for breakfast.
"Hey squirt, pass the sugar." Brad said to Maddie.
Maddie reached over and grabbed it but snapped it back right before Brad took it from her.
"Hey-!"
"It'll cost you fifty cents for the labor." the preteen told him.
"What labor? Give it to me-!" Brad gave a small lunge and grabbed her hand. They struggled for a few seconds then Maddie grabbed his wrist with her free hand and pushed back with the sugar so his hand was bent back.
"Ahh! Okay okay!" Brad twisted his hand free, then dug around for some change, "Dang, where'd you learn that?!"
"I didn't teach it to her." Sarkas said as he sat down and grabbed a bowl.
They knew the only other option then. Katie was grinning, trying hard not to laugh as she gave Maddie a small low high five, "Nice one."
"Isn't there some kind of rule you can't teach jujitsu to minors?" Sarkas joked as he poured the cereal.
"From what I have seen the last few days, this girl is no minor." Katie said back to him.
"More like a little monster." Brad mumbled and purposely added extra sugar to his cereal. After breakfast they took the little dog Cider for a walk around the block.
"I still don't know how you people can stand this cold." Katie said shivering even with her heavy coat on.
"Cold? This is warm! It's twenty seven degrees today, time to break out the swim gear!" Brad said unzipping his own coat.
"I donno, I think I'm gonna have to side with Kat on this one." Sarkas said blowing on his hands.
"Shame Carson. You're only gone a few months and you're already a wimp!"
Maddie was trailing along getting out a notebook and pen. She got organized and caught up to the group, "So tell me again who you're inviting to the party?" she asked Brad.
"Party?" Sarkas repeated.
"Aaww I wanted it to be a surprise!" Brad whined, "Yeah I invited some people over tomorrow to give you the farewell party you never got before!"
"Really? Thanks!" there was a pause then Sarkas said in a low voice, "Did you invite...." Brad had known about Sarkas's crush on Shannon since the seventh grade.
"Yep."
"And?"
Brad gave him the thumbs up.
"Yeeesss." Sarkas grinned and hopped around a little.
"Who'd you invite?" Katie looked back and forth between the two.
Brad opened his mouth but Sarkas beat him to it, "No one!"
Katie was about to protest but Maddie tapped her coat and whispered, "I'll tell ya tonight."
"Okay." Katie nodded.
"And to totally spoil the evening I asked a select few to stay after to chill in the hot tub." Brad told them.
"Like?" Sarkas was all ready on clouds.
"The usual. Mark, Matt, Kenny, Megan-"
"Are they still going out?"
"Oh yeah! They won't let go of each other!"
"Mark....Matt....Kenny...." Maddie mumbled as she scribbled down each name on the paper.
"What are you doing anyway?!" Brad snatched the notebook out of her hand.
"Hey! I'm making a guest list!" she jumped around, trying to get it back.
"A guest list? Whatever." He dropped it in the snow.
"HEY!!" she quickly retrieved it and brushed the snow off before it melted and got the paper all wet.
"Hot tub?" Katie muttered to herself, "I don't even remember if I packed my swimsuit...."
"I don't know if I'd want to see you in a swim suit!" Sarkas said, "Who knows what kind of scary muscley body you've got under there!" he was joking, he still remembered seeing her when he had first moved, tanning outside of her house in a suit. He never admitted it but she looked good.
"Oh that deserves a good kick!" Katie jumped over the dog and swung an arm at him. Sarkas blocked so she swung her other arm. He grabbed that one too so she shifted her weight to the left. Sarkas instinctively shifted his weight too to block the on coming foot, but she shifted back quicker than he could notice and tripped him head first into the snow.
"Ah jeeze!" he quickly straightened himself up.
Brad was laughing hysterically and clapping, "Ladies and gentlemen we have a new champ!"
"That was nothing." Katie bragged as Sarkas picked himself up.
Brad had to wipe a tear away, "Oh man, I didn't believe it until now, that was the best thing I've ever seen in my life!"
Sarkas just shook his head and pointed a finger at Katie, "I'll get you back for that later."
"I'll be looking forward to it." she grinned.
"People! I need a quest list!" Maddie spoke up.
"Forget it squirt!" Brad started walking away again.
Maddie sighed, "Fine, more money for me." she whispered so no one else could hear.

Maddie stood outside the front door. The loud music inside could barely be heard as a car pulled up to the driveway. The two sets of parents had gone out to dinner and show for the night so the house was free for the party. Two girls got out of the car and it pulled away. They waved to Maddie as they walked up to the door but she stood in their way.
"Names." she demanded.
They looked at each other, "Shannon." one of them said.
"Maya." the other told her.
Maddie made a show of looking down her concealed list of four names, "I'm sorry, you're not on my list. If you want to get in the fee is four dollars each."
"What? He never said anything about a list." they muttered, "Hey let us in, we're here to see Sarkas." they tried to reach past and grab the door handle but Maddie sidestepped.
"If you don't pay I'll be forced to send the dog on you." she threatened.
"Dog?"
Maddie knocked twice on the door. Katie opened the door from the other side and set Cider down outside where he instantly ran to the two girls and tried to jump on them.
"How cute!!" they bent down and started petting and cuddling the small dog.
"Ahem." Maddie coughed.
"Whatever just give her the money." Shannon said and the two gave up eight bucks.
Maddie took the money and stepped aside so they could go into the house. Katie dashed out quick and picked up Cider again.
"I told ya the dog thing makes 'em all soft as cotton." she grinned as Maddie handed her half the money and the two took their posts again. Katie figured Sarkas would be all tied up with his old friends so she came up with the scheme with Maddie to hit people as they walked in. The two agreed to split the money from the profit. An hour after the initial arriving time Maddie was too cold to stand outside any longer so the two decided to go to phase two. Just by manning the doors they had made about twenty five dollars each. The next part required a lot less effort.
"I'll load up the pop and hand it out." Katie told Maddie as they walked down the hall to the living room where the party was going on, "How much should we charge them for the bathroom?"
"Two dollars?" Maddie suggested.
"You can try it."
"Might have to bring it down to one. People get testy when they have to use the bathroom." she added as an after thought.
"Exactly what I was thinking, but yeah try two first and if they complain too much haggle with them, make it sound like they're getting a good deal by just paying one." Katie grinned and fanned herself, "Man its hot in here."
"Thanks. I turned up the heat about an hour and a half ago. They should be boiling in another half hour. Won't be able to resist a nice cold drink." Maddie gave an evil grin.
"That is pure genius right there." Katie shook her head.
"You're not so bad yourself." the two gave each other a small high five and went their own ways.
Katie went to the kitchen and poured a variety of drinks into cups piled with ice. Then she adjusted her shirt, took a deep breath and stepped out into the noisy, crowded room of people. She spotted Sarkas in the middle of a group near the couch and turned to start working her way around the edges of the room. The key was to stay away from Sarkas or Brad in case they caught on and busted the two girls.
"Pop? Anyone want a coke? Mountain Dew?" she walked around the room and handed out the cups. They went faster than she thought. It was getting really hot in there. She wondered how high Maddie had turned it. When everyone had gotten their first round of drinks Katie reloaded her tray and waited for them to finish. She leaned against the wall and watched everyone talking and laughing. She thought about all the parties she had been too. And how many she had missed this year. But she was beyond feeling sorry for herself at this point. They were so busy with training she wouldn't have been able to go to any of them anyway. She saw some guy with his arm around a girl. She wondered if Sarkas still had that crush on Briana....
"Are you infamous Katie?"
"Huh? Yeah!" she jerked up, silently kicking herself for not even seeing the two girls coming.
"Hi, I'm Shannon, this is Maya." the blond introduced herself and her friend.
"Nice to meet you." Katie nodded to them.
"We hear you're a master at the martial arts." Maya told her.
"I'm not bad." she admitted.
"So how do you like it here?" Shannon asked.
"It's nice! It's a little too cold for my taste but the snow is beautiful." Katie smiled.
"Yeah sadly you can't have one without the other." Maya shrugged.
"So we were wondering what the deal was with you and Sarkas?" Shannon said suddenly.
"Deal?" Katie knew what they were asking, "There's no deal, we're just in the same class is all. We're not going out or anything." she answered the real question.
"Really? We thought there was something more. I mean you came all the way up here with his family, you seem a little closer than just a classmate." Shannon pressed her.
"It was actually our instructor's idea that I come up here with him. It's nothing personal, really." she said a little bit stronger.
"Wow, so he's still single?" Shannon asked.
"Yes. He is still single." Katie said slowly.
"All right, thank you!" the girl quickly turned and walked back to the main group around the man of honor, while her friend lagged a little.
"Can I have another drink?" Maya asked politely.
"Yeah! Of course!" Katie smiled and gave one to her.
"She's really happy to hear you say that." Maya said quietly taking a drink, "Her and Sarkas have been playing cat and mouse since seventh grade."
"Really?" Katie listened closely.
The girl nodded, "She planned this big Halloween party where she was finally going to ask him out, and he moved right before. She was convinced it was a curse on her. But now that he's back for a while she won't miss her chance again."
"I see...."
"I was always kind of bummed she got first dibs on him, but things happen like that ya know." the two leaned against the wall and sipped their drinks as if silently connected.
"Sarkas I was so mad when you didn't say goodbye!" Shannon jumped between the crowd and grabbed his arm.
"Whoa! Don't say that like I didn't try!" Sarkas grinned and scratched the back of his head with his free hand.
"You shoulda’ tried harder!" she weaved her arms around his and leaned in close.
"I know I know." he couldn't even lift his hand, "Who are you trying to make jealous here anyway?" he joked.
"No one! I just don't want you to go away again!" she pouted, "What would give you that ideeaaa?"
"The only other times you've ever hung on me like this, you ignore me the next week and then I hear it was all to make so and so jealous!" Sarkas accused.
"Heeey. You're not even gonna be here next week. I wanna hang on you just for the sake of being able to hang on you!" she smiled and jumped a little.
"Okay okay whatever!"
"He wanted me to hook him up with my best friend back home." Katie admitted to the girl.
"Ouch. What'd you do?" Maya asked.
"Ignored it. He never said anything more so neither did I....I think I'm going to set it up when we get back though."
"Sucks being the good guy."
"Amen."
"Sarkas have you seen the new Flint Connell movie?" Mark asked.
"Not yet. Is it any good?"
"Yeah! Everyone goes crazy at the end!"
"Does anyone die?"
"Nope."
"Aww its not a good movie unless someone dies!" Sarkas grinned.
"Yeah they gotta have all the mecha robots and the flaming buildings and the people running through the streets screaming for no reason then a mecha turtle comes flying down from the sky and blows up the Earth!" everyone just stared at Matt.
"Hey, if you go to the bathroom, tell the girl at the door Katie will pay for you." Katie told her.
Maya smiled, "Is that why you're pushing the drinks?"
Katie just smiled and nodded.
"I'll do that, thanks. It was nice to meet you. Maybe later you can show me some of the cool stuff I've heard you can do?" Maya said.
"Yeah, sounds good." Katie gave a small wave as she walked off to join her friends.
Later that night after most of the people had gone home, the seven teenagers left over changed into their swimsuits and piled into the hot tub outside the living room. The outside wind felt really nice for a nano second after being in the ninety degree house for hours. Brad had finally caught Maddie when he had tried to go to the bathroom and sent her to bed. But the two had still made a better haul than either of them thought they would make.
Katie was getting to know the people a little better now and was starting to enjoy herself more. She talked with Maya most of the time, the two really seemed to connect, but for the most part she just listened to Sarkas and the others. She didn't want to butt into their happy reunion.
"So Mark if you're so tough I dare you to bury yourself in the snow!" Matt challenged which set off a game of truth or dare.
"All right then I will!" the guy jumped out of the warm water and rolled in the snow. He had hardly got above his knees before he came running back in, "Dude my butt is frozen!" he complained while everyone laughed.
"So Brad, truth or dare?"
"Dare me!" he grinned.
"Hmmm....Run around the yard!"
"Dude that's pathetic!" he took off and ran around the big yard then jumped back in, "Aahh my feet are all tingly now." he paused while he looked around on who to get, "Sarkas...I want to do a double dare for you and Katie." he said slowly.
"Like what?"
"I want to see you two fight again." he grinned.
"Yeah lets see it!" Mark agreed. There were nods and cheers around the hot tub.
The two locked eyes. Sarkas wouldn't dare back down in front of his friends and Katie wanted to impress them before she left. He grinned, she nodded and without another word the two climbed out, followed by shouts and clapping. They took their places in knee high snow. Katie shivered. The cold was her weakness. Sarkas had grown up in this, he knew his limits better.
"Let's make them all jealous they can't do this." Sarkas joked.
"That won't be hard." Katie said.
"You're going down this time." he threatened.
"You wish." she jumped at him.
They were mainly limited to hands and arms. Feet were too hard to move in and out of the snow and when they did it was slow and sluggish. It was a weak fight to them but to the spectators a few yards away it was amazing. Hands and feet moved like blurs across the snow.
"I've never seen anyone move so fast." Mark mumbled.
"They could probably chop a tree down with their bare hands." Maya agreed.
"Or even stop the Enterprise in the middle of a mock five!" Matt exclaimed. Everyone just looked at him.
For the two in battle though it was a dull fight. It didn't take long for Katie's movements to start to slow down. The snow was numbing her feet. That’s when Sarkas really came at her but she managed to hold up. Suddenly her hands came back at full force and she started advancing on him again. Sarkas couldn't figure it out until he managed to glance down and noticed the snow around her feet giving off a black glow and melting around her.
"Cheater!" he muttered and aimed a kick at her knees.
She jumped and laughed and came down on him. He blocked with his arms and tried to restrain her but she ducked and came around. The kids in the water were just in awe now. Mouths were open, eyes refused the blink, it was like Monday night wrestling except a hundred times better and bigger than the square screen.
"The movements are all so perfect." Maya shook her head.
"They look like they practically planned the fight out!" Brad said.
"Like they're made to move together." Shannon mumbled to herself.
Not much later Katie was still getting cold despite her energy boost. She quickly locked arms with Sarkas and struggled with him a moment.
"Hey Carkass." she whispered, "You don't look half bad without a shirt on."
"What?"
His guard only went down for a second but that was all she needed. She hit his legs and he went down into the cold snow. She ran as quick as she could back into the hot water and sank down up to her neck. She shivered as her whole body got all tingly.
"Cheater!!" Sarkas cried again as he followed after her. But no one cared they were too busy all talking at once about how awesome the fight was.
"That was awesome!"
"How do you move so fast?!"
"That was the best fight ever in history!"
"That was better than the fight between Yoda and Maul!" everyone just stared at Matt.
"Man Sarkas I knew you were good but that was unbelievable." Mark said.
"I have been training a lot lately." Sarkas looked at Katie. They were both thinking they had over done it somehow without thinking.
"How'd you do that move with the arm and the wrist thing?" Maya asked Katie.
"Ahh you just snap it. Like this." Katie showed her and Maya tried to copy it. They worked on that while the other boys pressed Sarkas for details on other fights. Shannon kept her mouth shut for the first time that night. Her thoughts seemed to be focused on the water.
Suddenly the house and deck lights went off.
"Parents are probably home." Brad said quickly, "They did that once when we were young, remember that Sarkas?"
Sarkas cracked up, "Oh yeah! They were mad we watched the movie It so they turned off all the lights and locked the doors-"
"Then Dad came out in a clown outfit!"
"Didn't sleep for a week." Sarkas grinned and shook his head while everyone laughed at them.
"I would have peed my pants if that had been me!" Mark laughed.
"I hate clowns, they're so freaky!" Maya said.
"They'd be better if they had light sabers!" Matt swung his arms around.

“I’ll actually agree with you on that one!” Sarkas told him.

“Hey, what was that?” Shannon had been looking out into the yard.

“What was what?” everyone turned their attention to where her head was turned.

“Did you see a raccoon?” Brad asked.

“It looked too big to be a raccoon.” Shannon said softly.

Sarkas looked at Katie. The lights had gone out, the demons where coming. Katie stood up, ready to get out when-

“RAWR!!” a ghost popped up from the side of the hot tub! Shannon and Maya screamed and the sudden appearance caused Katie to jump back, slipping on the bottom and falling into Sarkas’s lap.

“OW!”

The little ghost erupted into a fit of laugher so hard she fell onto the deck, holding her side.

“MADDIE!” Brad jumped out and pinned his sister to the deck, “You are so dead!”

“Dang you’ve got a bony butt!” Sarkas complained.

“I do not have a bony butt!” Katie shot back appalled.

“Don’t ever do that again! Get back to bed and stay in there or Mom will find out where the money really came from to buy that Easy Bake Oven!” Brad yelled over.

“Yes you do, now get off!” Sarkas had to hold back laughing has he pushed her off.
“I’m going! I’m going!” Maddie finally choked out and crawled away, wiping a tear from her eye.

“She works out all the time, it’s not bony it’s muscley!” Maya said.

Brad got back in muttering death to all siblings.

“Can we talk about something besides my butt?!” Katie cut in before the conversation got too deep.

“Who’s got a butt?” Brad looked around confused while everyone cracked up.

They hung out in there for a while longer then it started getting late and everyone was getting pruny so they headed out and headed home. As Shannon was getting on her shoes Maya nudged her lightly.

“Aren’t you going to…?” she looked over at Sarkas.

Shannon looked at him, then over to Katie and back. She shook her head, “I missed it. That’s okay though.” she walked over to Katie and spoke softly, “You’re lucky you know. I just hope you can realize it faster than I did.” then everyone was gone before Katie figured out what she meant.