Journey for the Gem

Journey for the Gem- Prologue

*~* JADE'S THOUGHTS

Jade was drowning. She kept pawing the air, trying to breathe and get out of this... she didn't know what it was. It was some kind of water trap that didn't have mud... or even water. Jade frowned and exaimed the reflective surface, barely an arm's length away. She traced her finger down the side of it and gasped. Her fingerprints left a squiggly mark, then the prisim-like print faded before her very eyes. It was definitely glass, but whenever Jade banged her hand against the side of it as hard as she could, the glass wouldn't crack normally. Well, it was a dream, anyway.... She suddenly noticed that she was holding her breath and tried to let it out, but she caught herself. Jade didn't know what would happen if she wasn't able to draw another. She kept it in. After just a few seconds, her lungs were fit to bursting with held-in air, causing Jade to want to scream. Finally she couldn't take it anymore. She blew the breath she had been holding out, and everything lapsed into darkness.

No, not complete darkness, as in Jade had lost consciousness, but instead black like the lights had gone out, leaving her feeling like a blind mouse in a maze.

Jade stood motionless, in the strange tank, in the eerie darkness. Talk about awkward. She held her hand in front of her face and couldn't see it an inch away. Suddenly in the empty, cold blackness there was a penetrating light. It was green and glowing, piercing deep into Jade's eyes and making her blink.

A pretty woman stepped out of this strange light and her green eyes searched Jade's face, making Jade feel like her soul was being scanned with a barcode scanner that they use at superstores.

Every wrong thing Jade had done jumped into her head as if it had been slung from a slingshot into her mind.

Every single thing was illuminated by the pretty woman's stare.

When she moved toward Jade, the glowing light followed her.

The challenge is near. You will be the one. Accept me into your soul... I will guide you. Come, Jade. You are meant to be with me now. I will help you on this difficult path.

It seemed like the very air around Jade was breathing this. The woman's questioning eyes lit up at the slight bob of Jade's head. Thank you. I shall become one with you now, the voice said.

Jade felt a strange expanding sense as the woman started to float toward her, faster than she had before.

She then felt uncomprehending and dizzy, as if somebody was cutting open her head. It was all numb for a second, until that numbness turned into pain.

Her head was breaking apart...her very soul was being ripped in two pieces.

Then the pain stopped, and the woman was gone.

Jade woke up with a sweaty, clammy feeling in bed. Or rather, out of bed; Jade had fallen out of bed and was wrapped in a professional-looking but unintentional toga. The sheets seemed very cold, making her sweating body start to have chills.

Jade groaned and rolled over to check the time. It was five thirty.

Not late enough to catch a ride, but early enough to go start making breakfast for her and her sister.

Jade sat up quickly, forgetting that she was under her bedside table, groaned as the hard wood gave her skull a wake-up call, went to go shower, and then threw on some clean comfortable clothes.

She then galloped downstairs and started to make breakfast for her older sister and herself.

Chelsea, her sister, tromped down the stairs, looking impeccable as usual in a jean skirt and a skin-tight black V neck shirt. "Are you ready to get to school, dweeb? Ooh, pancakes, my favorite!" Chelsea said excitedly. She was the only girl who could get really happy over mushy pancakes.