Chapter 10: Night Meeting-Hemuri

Sari lay in bed, smoothing her hair out against her pillow. It had felt good to take a real shower after so long. Sari smiled, she liked the way her hair felt against her fingers. So fine and smooth, long and silky. She stared up at the bed above her, thinking about Charismi, who lay on top of a pillow next to her. Charismi opened one eye to check on Sari, then closed it and went back to snoring peacefully. Sari sighed, trying to roll over and close her eyes. The door creaked open and a head poked in.

“Still awake?” a voice fluttered in. It was one of the twins. His blue eyes pierced the darkness, bright and curious.

“Yeah.” Sari whispered back, turning to look at the boy more closely.

The boy walked over and sat on the edge of Sari’s bed, next to Charismi; who opened both eyes and snorted, tongue flickering.

“Hey! He’s just here to talk!” Sari said, scolding Charismi. Charismi looked at Sari, then the boy, then closed both eyes again and went back to sleep.

“Nice dragon you got there.” The boy whispered, staring at Charismi, “Sure a feisty one.”

“Yeah, I found Charismi in the woods not far from here. She has been with me ever since.”

“A girl, huh? Wow, must be cool.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Oh, sorry for not introducing myself earlier, I’m Hemu; my brother’s name is Muri. Together we’re Hemuri. You’re not the only ones with superpowers, when me and brother are together, we can morph into anything and anybody we have seen. Also, we know everything and anything our object might know. All their knowledge, tactics, crime fighting skills, everything. So you better watch out, I’ve seen you know. You can’t hide.”

And with that, Hemu got up and walked out the doorway, closing the door softly behind him. Sari thought hard about what Hemu had said: morphing powers? Knowledge stealing? And what had he meant by “you can’t hide”? It was too much to think about. Sari sighed and muttered to herself quietly.

“Are you okay?” A tiny voice floated down to her ear. It was Ayumu.

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

“Don’t listen to him. He’s joking.”

“About the morphing part?”

“No, about the last sentence. He doesn’t really mean it.”

“Mean what?” Sari asked, her voice rising with concern.

“Nothing, go back to sleep.” Ayumu whispered, and Sari heard her lie down and roll over. She put her head back on the pillow just as Charismi opened her eyes again, this time with questioning.

Sari looked deep into Charismi eyes, knowing she was thinking the same thing as her: “What?” Sari shook her head, sighing deeply. “I don’t know Charismi, I don’t know.” Then Sari curled up, and went to sleep.

Chapter 9:Sisters-Future & Past

“Hello child, what is your name?” The woman asked her kindly, her face tilted towards her with bright blue eyes.

“Sa-“ Sari opened her mouth to speak, but the girl interrupted her.

“Her name is Sari,” The girl said, turning around, “She’s my sister.”

Sari looked into the girl’s bright purple eyes, and saw her own horrified self staring back at her. How could this girl be her sister? How could she even know her name?!? Sari felt herself freeze, a statue before the girl’s gaze. Then something clicked, and the girl’s eyes dimmed to a light lavender. Sari felt that she could move again, but she stayed still, staring at the girl. What had just happened? The girl looked at her with knowing eyes, then jumped out of her chair, grabbed Sari’s hand, and together they went into the courtyard. The girl lead Sari over to a bench beneath tree with red flowers and together they sat down.

“I’m so happy!” the girl cried, hugging Sari; who flinched away. “I have a sister! A real sister!”

Sari stared at her, mystified, “How on Earth can you be my sister?”

The girl pulled back, alarmed, then relief crossed her face. “Oh, I almost forgot, you don’t remember.” She pulled a stand of Sari’s hair forward, “First, I’ll give you some proof that we’re sisters. We both have the same hair color, see?” She whispered, rubbing the hair strand between her fingers. “Second, we both had the same mother, remember her? Her name was Semuri.” The girl whispered, letting go of Sari’s hair. Her eyes dropped down. “They named me Ayumu after the dreams and visions that I have….” Her voice dropped down to a whisper, “Before they died.”

Sari’s heart sank. Even though they abandoned her, she still cared for them. “Why?!?” She asked herself, sobbing.

“They loved you, Sari.” Ayumu whispered looking down, “They never stopped thinking about you. I always heard them cry about you at night and murmur about you through-out the day. Momma never stopped blaming herself for never having enough money…” Ayumu looked up, her eyes filling with tears, “But at least we have each other, right?”

Sari hugged Ayumu, squeezing her tight, “Yes, we do. Thank you.”

“Sari?” Ayumu asked, stuck in her binding hug, “There’s something I need to tell you. It’s about me.”

Sari quickly let go, dropping her hands to her sides. “What is it?”

“Ummm, okay; so you know how you saw my eyes turn bright purple earlier?”

“Uh-huh, that was freaky, I felt like a statue.”

“Well, the truth is, when my eyes go bright like that, I’m actually seeing the future.”

“What?!?”

“It’s true, Sari; I’ve never told anyone but I get scenes that happen, and they’ve never been wrong. Also, don’t stare into my eyes because they say if you look into a future-seer’s eyes while they’re seeing something; you could get sucked into the future.”

Sari stared in awe at her sister, “Wow!”

“I know; it’s cool. By the way, I heard from Benny earlier that you had a dragon. Where is it?”

“Oh, it’s somewhere around here…” Sari said standing up. “Charismi! Come out! I want you to meet my sister!”

Charismi came swooping out of the sky and landed on Sari’s head. Charismi flicked her tongue, little flames shooting out.

“Wow! She’s soooo pretty!” Ayumu said, gasping in awe “Isn’t that one of the ancient dragons said to rule the earth 1000 years ago? Amazing!”

Sari shook her head. “I don’t know… I’ve never been to dragon school or anything.”

“Well, anyway; that’s a cool dragon. Come inside for supper, it’s getting late. We have a big day tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Sari said, following Ayumu back inside the house.

Chapter 8: First Immpressions

The birds twittered cheerfully as Sari entered the peaceful courtyard. She walked slowly towards a Dojo, in the center of the courtyard as she looked around. She turned around to see Benny casually enter the door of the dojo as if it was his own. Sari took one last glance around the gorgeous courtyard before stepping up to the door of the courtyard. She held her breath as she put her hand up to the doorknob. She lightly grasped the doorknob, and held her hand there. She let her breath out in a whoosh, and turned the doorknob, letting herself in without another thought.

Inside the dojo was a great living room. Full with a couch and fireplace. A doorway to the right revealed voices whispering in a different language. Spanish, it sounded like. Sari walked slowly over to the door way, and peered around it. The talking stopped abruptly as soon as the people saw Sari's face. Sari felt herself blushed and immediately wished that she could disappear. She wished she could melt into the ground, turn invisible; anything to escape from the torturing stares of the people. But it was too late.

Sari stared back. There were four people in the room: Benny, two boys, a girl, and a woman. She studied their intent faces. The two boys looked similar, they both had the same dark brown wavy hair and intense hazel eyes. The woman could be their mother, she thought, smiling. Benny was just; well, Benny. The girl glanced her way, but as soon as Sari met her eyes; she looked away. Sari immediately felt a feeling of dislike radiate towards her from the girl. Sari stared at the girl's head, her turned back. The girl had black hair, like her, she looked about 10 years old judging from her height. Both had black hair, and both were long, but the girl's hair was put up neatly in a braid, which flowed down her back. Sari felt herself reach up to touch her own hair; which had grown out too, but was dry, and caked with dirt and mud.

Envy felt its way up into Sari's face, making her blush uncontrollably. She tried to keep her envy in control, but it got the best of her. She furiously tried to comb all the dirt and mud away from her tangled hair. Everyone stared at her except for the girl, whose back was still turned.

Sari suddenly realized how silly she looked and her hands dropped to her sides. Sari steadied her gaze on the bare feet. She saw the clumps of mud and dirt she had scrubbed off on the ground. Sari felt guilty, she felt like an intruder to have come in this woman's beautiful house, with dirty clothes and no shoes. She had forgotten her manners. Please, thank you, excuse me; all the words of politeness came flowing back to her. But it was too late. The damage was done.

Sari peered at the mother, hoping that she would see "sorry" written all over her face. But when Sari looked up, the mother was smiling at her. It was a kind smile. Real, not fake. That's when Sari put her chin up, and smiled back.

Chapter 7:The Dark Tunnel

Sari was dreaming. In her dream she was running, Charismi by her side. They were running from Midori, the green flame dragon. Midori was enraged. Green, flickering flames spewed out of her mouth. Sari kept running. She could feel weight on her hands as she ran. She could feel that she was holding something, but what? Sari just couldn't see it. It was too dark. All she could see were the dancing flames. Flickering closer, and closer.

~|*-*|~

Sari sat upright, panting.

"Oh, you're awake," Benny said. "Come quickly, there's someone I want you to meet," Sari stood up. Calling Charismi to her side, she threw on her coat and walked out the door after Benny. He walked swiftly down the street. Sari walked after him, struggling to keep up as she look around town. Benny abruptly stopped, and Sari bumped into him, startled.

"Quietly now," Benny whispered, looking around suspiciously, then starting off into an alleyway. Sari followed closely behind, careful not to lose him in all the twists and turns of the alleyways. Benny muttered to himself quietly, "Hmmm... left... left....... right..... left, no right; yes, I suppose that's correct," Cats lurked about watching them run to and fro, left and right.

Then Benny stopped, at a brick wall. It was a dead end.

"Oh yes, here we are, said Benny, still keeping to himself.

But Sari had heard his whispers, and she questioned him, "Wha-" But before she could finish her question, he rapped his knuckle five times on the seventh brick from the bottom; and the whole brick wall came down, disappearing into ash. Benny stepped calmly over the ash and into what looked like a dark tunnel.

As Sari stepped into the tunnel after Benny and looked back, she saw the ashes come up and form bricks, covering the gaping hole they had stepped through.

"Like Magic," was Sari's last thought as she held disappeared into a world of darkness.