Chapter 1

One dark and stormy night a girl named Crystal could be found in her best friend's room pacing about wildly. Her best friend Lilia was trying to calm her down.

"It's only a storm and it will blow over. There is no need to worry about it." Lilia said soothingly.

"Oh," moaned Crystal, "but why does it have to be so rainy and lighting at the same time? It's like a murder waiting to happen."

Getting tired of Crystal's whining, Lilia said sternly, "The chances of being hit in an electrical storm is about one in a million. I am positive that you would fly before you would be hit by lighting."

Swishing her tail around in a disturbed fashion, she said stiffly, "That is not funny. What will we do tomorrow when it's time to leave and it's still raining outside? Answer that one!"

Smiling slightly, Lilia answered, "We'll walk in the rain. It's not killed anyone yet. Has it Crys?"

Ears and tail drooping slightly she replied with a meager, "No."

Nodding her head Lilia said, "Now let's get some rest. We have a long next couple of days ahead of us. Let's get up early so we have time to pack supplies."

With that the friends parted and got ready for bed. While she was changing, Lilia thought about her best friend.

She was half cat half human, and although Lilia had never found it strange, she was sure that others most likely did.

She was only fifty, extremely young for her kind, which generally lived to be about three hundred. Lilia had know her most all her life and would probably know her until the day she died, Crystal would out live her, no doubt about it. She had a long furry tail and pointed cat ears. Crystal also had extra sharp fingernails and teeth, she had to watch out how she picked things up or she might puncture them by accident.

I hope she doesn't get hurt when we arrive at the town in the next few days. She doesn't really fit in well with humans. Lilia thought.

With that Lilia climbed into her bed and got out the maps. There were two of them, one was a copy she made of the only map that directed them to the waterfront village where they were going to catch the ship. The ship would then take them to one of the larger island's cities where they would begin their search.

She made a few changes and drew a path. It led to the shore and then up and around to the village. When she was done she rolled the original map up and set it on her nightstand. She put the one she had copied into a leather sac that was next to her bed.

Then she packed all her other belongings, which were not very many to brag about.

Then she set her green-and-gold robe next to the back along with her black, high-heeled boots that went to about her ankle.

Finally, she blew out her candle and rolled over. She was asleep before you could say "bed," letting the darkness overcome her.

AN: Yeah, if anyone's read my other story, they'll know what I mean when I say when I say that this story is going to be a lot shorter than my other one. I just ment this one to be kind of short and sweet.^-^