• I drop my hands to my side in disbelief. I was not just about to strip for this guy.
    He must have gotten inside my head.
    I stare down at my hands.
    Weird.
    I hear another loud thud and I jerk my head in his direction. He’s sliding down the wall with his back, still shaking his head.

    “Well, this has been fun…but I’m gonna go before you turn psycho again. Bye.” With that, I run frantically out of the room.

    I continue running through the intricate halls and random open spaces. I turn a corner. Then SMACK, I crash into another person with tremendous force. The impact sends me tumbling backwards and I fall on my butt. As soon as my butt makes contact with the floor, soft, familiar hands pick me up.

    “Damien!” I exclaim happily.
    He looks at me with a weird smile and wraps me in his arms.
    “I thought I lost you,” he whispers while awkwardly petting my head.
    “If I remember right,” I look up at him, “you were the one laying on the ground the whole time.”
    “Gosh you’re such a brat.” Quickly he pulls me back in close to him, squeezing the breath out of me.
    “Are you gonna tell me what happened?” I say to his arm that’s wrapped around my face.
    “Of course. Just not right now. I need to speak to someone first.”
    I breathe in his unusual but normal scent, finally feeling safe.
    “Will you explain to me who Mr. Schizophrenic Psycho is then?” I press, referring to the guy that attacked me in the room earlier.
    “What?!,” He pushes me back, holding me by the shoulders, “you saw Michael?”
    With wide, scared eyes he looks over me, searching for something.
    “Are you okay?” He almost yells.

    Wow. This Michael guy must be scarier than I thought. Maybe I should refrain from entering random dark rooms. I don’t know. He didn’t seem that bad. Just scatter brained and aggressive. He tried to kill me though. Oh yeah, that’s got safe written all over it. I don’t think I should mention his little grabbing me by the throat stunt to my brother, he’ll probably freak out even more.

    “I’m fine. He was just….weird.” I lie.
    “Alright. We should get downstairs. There are a lot of things that need to be sorted out.” Damien says, sounding more bold and nervous with each word.
    “Eh. I don’t think those guys like me very much.”
    “You’re ridiculous.” He flashes me a smile.

    As we get closer to the room I saw the men in, their yells get louder. Damien’s face grows wrinkles of worry with every step. My heart beat races. There must be something wrong.

    “Hey.” Damien states casually as he walks through the doorway to the room.
    “What did she do?” The pale blond one says in a cold voice.
    “What?” Damien asks.
    “You know exactly what I’m talking about. She had black, misty eyes when we picked you two up last night. Donovan was gone. The whole place was covered in ash. Explain.” Blond guy demands.
    “My eyes were what?” I blurt out. Damn, I really need to stop doing that.
    “Fine,” Damien starts coolly, “I’ll explain as best as I can.”
    Explain what? How these guys are on crack?! Yeah, my eyes were black. Ok, and Damien is the Queen of Scotland.

    “Desiree fought Donovan off. Now that he’s found her, now that he’s seen her, he’s not going to stop.”

    For the second time now, what? I think I’m dreaming. I must be dreaming. What does it mean that he won’t stop? I don’t remember kicking his butt either. The way I remember it, I got my butt handed to me and passed out.
    Unless…is this the reason Damien cringes every time a guy comes near me? Could this be why his eyes were filled with pain when I started public school? Is this the reason he cries at night? Something inside me whispers yes.

    “You just brought the apocalypse into my house.” Dean states flatly.

    Then they all start yelling at each other. Dean, Joey, Damien, and the man whose name I have yet to hear are just furiously yakking away at each other. This isn’t going to solve anything. What are they, kindergarteners? No, not even children in kindergarten yell this aimlessly, or with this amount of volume.

    “STOP IT!” I yell louder than all of them.
    Hm, that was better than I thought it would be.
    Their necks whip around in my direction. Once again, a group of angry, older men are glaring at me. Someone curses under their breath. Then they stay quiet.

    “Stop bickering. Talk one at a time to state your concerns and questions.” I announce.

    “And why,” the large mocha-skinned man begins with a deep, bellowing voice, “should we listen to you?”
    He has a good point. I don’t know why they should listen to me. I don’t know a lot of things right now. This place, this house, this air, makes me so forgetful. I freak out, then I act like nothing was ever wrong. I don’t like this anymore. I want answers, not more questions.

    “Why shouldn’t you?” A calm, soothing voice replies from behind me.

    I turn around to see Michael, standing on the third step from the floor on the staircase. His dark blue T-shirt and tattered jeans look unnatural on such a beautiful person. He glides down the rest of the stairs, walking in my direction.

    “It’s not polite to stare,” he whispers to me while he moves past.
    I shy my eyes away from him, embarrassed.

    Walking with silent grace, he makes his way over to a blue sofa adjacent to me.

    “Now,” he sits down, “I think we all know what’s going on. Desiree is Donovan’s prophesized Flame. The only thing we should be arguing about is how we’re going to keep them apart.”

    I raise my hand with enthusiasm, as if I’m in a classroom.
    Michael chuckles, then acknowledges me with a nod.

    “Ok, what is Donovan? What’s the fire-person prophecy? And how does this involve me?” I ask in one breath.

    They all break into laughter. Loud, knee-slapping laughter. This is not funny. I am thoroughly confused. Now I’m confused and pissed off.

    “What’s so damn funny?!” I exclaim.

    In one short second, the room falls quiet.

    Michael looks at me with a serious stare. I think. It’s like when people are wearing sun glasses and you can never really tell where they’re looking.
    “Donovan is a shape shifting demon. He currently rules most of the Possessed Lands as a prince. He cannot have his kingship of unlimited power until he masters all four elements. The one he has yet to acquire is that of Fire. According to the Prophecy of Ubseur, he will not attain command of Fire until he meets his queen. You are his queen. Are you up to date now?”

    “Not quite.”
    Not at all. Prophecies? Princes? The Elements? This sounds like some Dungeons and Dragons crap.
    This can’t be real.
    “Why is it bad if this Donovan guy becomes king? And how exactly do you know I’m his….queen?”

    The large, chocolate skinned man slowly stands up.
    “Donovan seeks to combine the Human World and the Immortal World. The humans would all die if this were to happen. But he can only do this if he is king.”

    I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.
    Ha-ha. No, more like, I have a feeling there are no more sane people around, Toto.

    Wow, this is a lot to take in. I mean of course the amount of crazy people, or the possibility of this Donovan dude. There has to be some logical explanation for all of this. Maybe I just need some sleep, because right now, things are looking extremely cloudy and confusing.

    “Thank you for explaining…uh… I didn’t catch your name,” awkwardly, I speak to the large man.

    “That’s because I did not say my name. I am Ezekiel. You’re welcome child.” He responds in a low, profound voice. A voice of someone ancient, who has seen a lot of unpleasant things but has kept faith. He reminds me of an old wise man, except for the fact that he’s extremely buff and young looking.

    “I’m not sure how to handle all of this so I think I’m going to sleep on it. Uh, thanks everyone. Goodnight.” I finally announce with a sigh of relief.

    I hug Damien before I walk out of the room.
    “I’ll be up soon,” he whispers so light that I’d almost missed it.

    Mid-step on the stairs I feel eyes burning into my back. I turn around to see Michael, with his gorgeous blue-green cosmic eyes, intensely looking at me. I think. Feeling a bit spooked as it is, I shudder and return to my journey up the stairs.