Tours.

The tour was magnificent. Alejandro showed us the entire mansion. Every single little detail, all the history behind everything. It was truly amazing. We met lots of different people throughout the mansion. The girl I was to be taking my lessons with seemed exceptionally nice. She just gave off this vibe of . . . pure kindness.


"This is Miss Alice. She will be your partner in your learning, Miss Emma," Alejandro explained. "Miss Alice, this is Miss Emma. She has just arrived here today with Miss Luna." Alice must have been about 15. She was only a few inches taller than me and had dark brown hair and brown eyes.

"It's very nice to meet you, Emma, and you as well, Luna," Alice said sincerely. Luna half-smiled at Alice, but otherwise ignored her.

"Great to meet you too, Alice," I replied cheerfully.

"Sorry to cut this short, but I need to get back to my room so I can write my dad a letter. I'll see you tomorrow though, Emma. Bye!" Alice waved goodbye and then danced her way out of the room.

Later on, we met Mr. Hank, who was also very nice. He oversaw the students I was going to be learning with. He seemed a bit gruff, but still nice, nonetheless. We also me Eric, one of the students who would be in Luna's lessons; Jessie and Tim, twins; Mrs. Notting, Luna's teacher; and Frank, who looked to be around 8 years old.

Then, all too soon, the tour was over, and Alejandro led us back to our room. We said our goodbyes, and then Luna quickly shut the door.

"Wow. This place is amazing, isn't it, Luna?" I said, grinning. Luna didn't seem as enthusiastic and flung herself on the bed. Well, I'd have to change that. I sneaked up to her. "Hey, Luna?" I whispered.

"What?" She grumbled, keeping her face buried in pillows.

"POUNCE!" I leapt onto her back, quickly throwing her off guard. Success!

"Ow! Ah! What the hell, Emma?" She shoved me off of her and sat up, glaring at me.

"I'm a ninja!" I announced cheerfully.

"Uh, I don't think real ninjas tell other people they're ninjas." She was clearly trying not to be cheered up. My logic, however, was superiour.

"Exactly! See, now you don't believe I'm a ninja just because I told you! So that means I AM a ninja!" No matter how hard she tried to be grumpy, she couldn't help laughing. "Hey! Don't laugh at me!"

"Rawr!" Luna blurted suddenly, pinning me and using her awesome tickle-attack skills. "Take that, you ninja!"

"Aaaahhh! Nooooooo! Not the tickling! It's my weakness!" I laughed. Luna's laughing faded slowly, as if she were getting lost in thought.

"Superninja catches the Tickle Monster off guard!" I pushed her off of me and pinned her down, regaining the upper hand. A moment later, she made a weird look, so I stopped and sat next to her. She seemed to be trying to say something, but couldn't get the words out. Finally, she sat up. I could feel the tension in the air, and decided looking at a painting on the wall would be smarter than staring. Instinctively, I wanted to hug Luna or something, because she seemed so upset, but I changed my mind a split-second later, making my hand twitch instead of moving to hug her. She grabbed my hand, reminding me of how a cat pounces on any small movement near it.

"Sorry," she muttered, letting go of my hand. Luna wouldn't look at me after that. She kept staring at the painting on the wall. I took her hand back awkwardly, but said nothing. She needed space, I decided, so I squeezed her hand once before letting go and walking a few feet away.

My head started to throb painfully. My vision blurred and then cleared suddenly. I was standing on a playground, much shorter than I remembered being. There were children all around, laughing and playing games, children who I once knew. A boy, Jeremy was his name, had a dodgeball in his hands, and he was looking straight at me, a smirk on his face. He threw the ball straight at me, as hard as he could. Stop! Stop! Stop! I thought over and over again.

Then it did. The ball just stopped, mid-air, right in front of me. A moment later, it dropped to the ground without hitting me. Jeremy ran away, screaming, "WITCH!" and all the other kids followed. I could feel the desire to run away, to escape this world and life forever consuming me. I was plotting my escape, when I felt someone put their arm around me. I looked over, and looked straight into my own 8-year-old eyes. My heart started racing and then everything went completely black.