"YOU WHAT!?!?!?!?" It was 1 minute after Noreen had gotten back from goodness knows where, and I was exploding. "You got fired, you disrespectful girl! Do you now how much we needed the money? Apparently not, since you just smarted off and was dismissed! You're going to go bad, just like Clo! Sure, she has a job or is in a secret society or something that she's SO tight lipped about, but does she bring ANY money home? No! You'll beg on the streets! A disgrace to our name! Why, if you weren't my sister, I'd......." Terra began to scream. "Oh, here! Take this!" I concentrated hard on the size, shape, color, and taste of the apple. There it appeared in my hand. I looked at Terra and took a bite. The juicy taste appeared in my mouth. I would have smiled if not for my anger. " See, safe!" She took the apple and began to eat. Satisfied, I turned around, ready to explode all over again, when I looked at my sibling's astonished faces and realized what I had done.

(Apparently I have an issue with POV while writing this story!  I shall try to keep it in 1st Person from now on.  Apologies!) 

//Thresh//

Even Terra stopped to stare at Melayna when she noticed the silence, the apple forgotten in her tiny hands and a bit of it hanging from her mouth. 

"Do it again," Dreg ordered.  He'd been leaning against the wall, arms crossed as Melayna berated Noreen, but now he was standing straight, stiff as a board.  Melayna looked around and her eyes met mine.  I nodded hopefully.  A second later there was another apple in her hand and she handed it wordlessly to me. 

It felt real and when I squeezed it, it didn't pop.  Everyone's eyes were on me as I raised it to my mouth--and took a big, juicy bite.  It was the best thing I'd ever tasted... and I didn't particularly like apples.  I let out a whoop and tossed the apple at Dreg, rushing forward and picking Melayna up in a huge bear hug and spinning her around.  There was a moment of celebration as Dreg and Noreen danced around, sharing the apple, while Terra giggled delightedly and bounced around on her bottom. 

When I finally put Melayna down, she was crying and laughing at the same time.  "See?  I told you this isn't the end of the world?  If you can keep doing that--though it might be nice if you tried other things than apples--my job with Baron Gareth should help us make it through while Noreen finds a new job!" 

Noreen nodded enthusiastically.  "Yes, Mel, and I'll find a new job, I promise!  Oh, this apple tastes wonderful!" 

"Yum yummy food!" Terra added squeakily, not wanting to be left out. 

Melayna looked around at us, her eyes finally settling on Dreg.  He sighed.  "Alright, I'll find a job too.  The butcher's boy got his hand run over by a cart yesterday, I'm sure he's looking for a replacement." 

Melayna smiled and ran over, jumping onto Dreg and giving him a hug.  He looked pleasantly surprised and returned it.  I glanced at Noreen while Melayna was distracted.  I had felt bad taking her home and having her tell her news, but at least now it didn't seem to be as bad as I'd thought.  I gave her a wink, which she nervously avoided, though she smiled anyway.  Noreen had never quite adjusted to my eyes and I knew that she preferred me not to look at her, but still... I wanted her to know everything was going to be okay. 

A knocking on the door made us all turn.  I walked over and opened it. 

"I have a message for a Thresh Stonegate from the Baron of--ahhhargh!"  The courier recoiled as he saw my eyes, but he recovered quickly.  "F-from the Baron of Gareth," he declared, now carefully looking at a point on my chin. 

I suppressed a sigh.  "I am Thresh Stonegate," I told him, noticing his grimace.  He adjusted his blue messenger's tunic and took a deep breath, as though bracing himself to withstand another few moments of my presence. 

"The Baron requests your immediate presence at his manor and wishes you to know he means immediate." 

I frowned and glanced over my shoulder to see a trio of worried faces looking back at me.  Terra was too busy gnawing on her apple core to bother with me, it seemed.  "Did the Baron say why?" I inquired, trying to keep a note of nervousness out of my voice. 

"No." 

"Can I bathe first?"  I was still grimy after my muddy adventures this afternoon. 

"He wants you there immediately, Stonegate." 

I took a deep breath.  My appearance wasn't going to be welcome at Gareth Manor, but I couldn't keep the Baron waiting, even for a quick bath.  I made my decision. 

"Very well.  I'll go right now.  You do not have to accompany me, Courier," I said, noticing the youth's relief at the words.  The courier nodded once, turned on his heel, and sprinted away.  I turned back and shrugged.  "Guess I'll see you later," I said, trying to sound jovial.  "Don't wait up." 

"Thresh, wait--" came Melayna's worried voice, but I was already out the door.  I closed it firmly after me and set off for the Baron's, my brain racing wildly, trying to figure out the cause for this unusual summons. 

What to do, what to do, what to do?? The Draug loomed over me. I wondered where my pal Sar was. Was it possible the stranger had killed her or someone else who'd been to slow in fleeing? Then the Draug lunged. I mean, really. The Draug reared back and sent a leg at me. I ducked, but just barely, and the Draug bashed a gargantuan hole in the tunnel wall. It struck again. One minute, the Draug's foot was coming straight at me! I nearly keeled over from the stench. Then the world went dark for what only seemed a few minutes.

I awoke, still in the tunnels. This was different, though. The area was just as revolting as the Draug itself! Feathers and grime covered the ground. Blood, but only where I was, and I realized I was the source of that. Chartreuse slime lined the walls, dripping wet. I put two and two together as the Draug looked at me like dinner... But I was ready that time. Though wounded, I plunged a knife from my belt into the Draug's leg and ran. The Draug pursued with horrifying determination.

@ Sasha and Tempest- those were REALLY good!!!

_____________________

I was trying to keep myself from worrying about Thresh. I concentrated on the table in front of me that I had just created. Dreg had told me to "spruce up the place" But the table was worn, and its new tablecloth thin and holey. Melayna was afraid that any inspector or visitor would be suspiscious. Then, a voice "Melayna, I'm hungry!" Terra hadn't had any food since the apple. "Oh, alright Terra, but you musn't be greedy." I the gave her one of the bananas that had just appeared in my hand. Then, Dreg burst through the door, his eye's wild.  

Hey, I think I'm on at the same time as Clair!  Hi Clair!  (That's my middle name, actually!  And you spell it RIGHT!)

//Clo, FYI//

Horrifying echoes bounced from the general direction of the Draug. My feet pounded against the dirt. I was trying to reach the hut from underground, with the Draug (to my great dismay) at my heels. The tunnel thinned out, becoming small enough I had to bend over, petite as I was. Perfect! I realized, The Draug won't be able to follow in here! Soon, I could no longer here anything but myself. Then noise from above ground, then, as light flooded the tunnel. I hurriedly pushed open a rickety trapdoor full of holes and burst into the center of an unusual scene.

My sibling stood, looking bewildered, along with someone else, a man dressed in blue garb of a messenger. "Do you see now?" I asked. "Only a Stonegate child would know the way. That I am."

I'm sorry.  I've been really busy and haven't had time to keep up.  Sorry!  Right now I'm too tired to be creative.  I shouldn't make excuses!  Anyway, tomorrow I promise I will catch Noreen up on events!  Sorry again.

//Thresh//

It took me only twenty minutes to reach Gareth Manor since I was lucky enough to jump on the back of a haycart without the driver noticing.  The sun was going down and I hoped I would be allowed to sleep there instead of having to walk home in the middle of the night.  I now smelled like hay, but truth be told... it was probably an improvement.  I did my best to look semi-presentable and went around back to enter through the servants' quarters.  Harpeth the cook raised his bushy eyebrows at me when I entered. 

"Well, at least you came quickly," he said, eyeing my appearance.  "The Baroness hasn't seen you yet, has she?" 

I shook my head.  "What's so important?  I would have reported her in the morning anyway.  This couldn't wait til then?  Or until I had a bath?" 

"It seems not," shrugged the beefy man.  He hefted a curved knife and began peeling a pile of potatoes.  "The Baron is pretty... excited.  He's in the brandyroom and you're to go straight there.  Between you and me though... I would have let you take the bath." 

I rolled my eyes and left, making my way carefully through the manor's gilded halls.  The ceilings were all domed and covered with glistening sheets of mother-of-pearl.  Columns, alternately painted gold and purple, ran down every hall.  Up ahead, I heard the sharp, biting voice of the Baroness de Gareth and froze.  If she saw me looking like this in her pristine house, she'd have me whipped to within an inch of my life--regardless of the fact that her husband had sent for me.  She already hated me for my eyes.  Mercifully, however, I heard her clacking heels on the marble floors fade away from me.  I let out a silent sigh of relief. 

The brandyroom was the Baron's private sanctuary from his wife--the one place she was not permitted to go and probably had no desire to see.  It was his study, library, and office all in one and the place he brought his male dinner guests after a meal for cigars and brandy.  Hence the name.  I knocked and announced myself and heard the Baron's simple "Enter." 

Baron de Gareth was pacing by a roaring fire studying a parchment in his hands.  He had an unusal amount of papers on his black ash desk, but otherwise everything was as it normally was.  A circle of armchairs and ashtrays on the left side of the large room, his desk and a few chairs on the right, and shelves of books going around the walls of the entire chamber.  I closed the door behind me.  "You sent for me, my lord?" 

"Yes, Stonegate," he said, his eyes still fixede upon the parchment.  "Would it be possible for me to have your exclusive employ this next fortnight?  I can pay you double wages for each day.  Something important has just come up and I--blazing crowns, boy!  What on earth happened to you?"  He'd finally looked up and noticed my appearance.

I did my best not to look too embarrassed.  "I was told you needed me immediately, my lord, and did not have time to bathe.  I obeyed." 

"Ah."  The Baron looked at him half-impressed, half-exasperated.  "You didn't let my wife see you like that I hope?" 

"No, my lord." 

"I guess not, since I haven't heard any shrieks or curses."  He sighed.  "You're not still muddy though?  Good.  Come sit down, my fire-eyed friend, and let me tell you how we're going to become gods." 

The look on the Baron's face was indeed one of excitement and it was contagious.  I returned his smile and sat down with anticipation.  Noreen, my own sister, couldn't look me in the eye when talking to me.  Melayna and Terra could, but they still saw the odd color.  Dreg didn't see the color.  But Baron de Gareth was the only person I knew who looked me in the eye, noticed the color, and admired it. 

I felt my grin widening as he told me of his plans for the next week.  The Baron was a clever man.

Noreen//

(Is it all right if she's Clo's twin?)

There was silence in the kitchen now, except for little Terra determinedly munching her banana.  Melayna and Dreg were exchanging looks.  Noreen wanted to get out of the kitchen.  Even though it was only April, it was incredibly humid and hot.

Suddenly she remembered someone, who wasn't often remembered.

"Clo!"  she cried.  "Where's Clo?"

Clo was her twin, and the complete opposite of Noreen.  She never spoke, never looked you in the eyes, never stayed in one place.  She often was out of the house for days on end, with scarcely an explanation, but always came back safe and sound, if a bit muddy.  Often she would silently hand Melayna a handful of gold coins, then melt out of the house.  She was unpredictable and seemed to always look at her family with shame and anger.  That was because of the Draug, the dreaded Draug...

Don't think about that, Noreen sternly reminded herself.  It was bad enough that Thresh was summoned to the Baron.  The root of the trouble...

"Clo will come back,"  said Dreg, though he frowned.  "She always does." 

Melayna looked a little surprised for some reason.  Then Noreen realized why.

Her cheeks burned with shame and anger.  Noreen was like Clo in some ways, in that she often, unconsciously and consciously, separated herself from the rest of her family.  Oddly enough, Thresh didn't, and Noreen still had trouble dealing with accepting the demoned-eyed boy like the rest of the family.  Melayna seemed to think the least of Noreen and on a number of occasions called her 'judgemental' and 'bigmouthed'. She was surprised because she didn't think Noreen would care about a missing member of the family.  But Clo was different...

"I'll be back soon," she murmered and left the kitchen without looking at anybody.  She ran down the rickety stairs, dodged around Marm Crossby and her full laundry basket, and started running full tilt into the muddy street.

Tears stung her face, and she stopped to wipe them off.  Then suddenly she stood straighter and blinked in surprise.  Her mouth hung open, and realizing this she quickly shut it.  She crossed the street, nearly bumping into several people clumsily.

Across the street was a store, or what was left of it.  There was glass all over and it was smashed in pieces.  It looked like a giant hand had picked it up and then thrown it down again on the edge of the street.  People were skirting it without even stopping to gawk at the wreck.  In fact, they acted as if they couldn't even see it.

As Noreen approached she saw the air around it was green and hazy.  Then she saw the most surprising sight of all.  Right in front of the wreck were two gigantic prints of a clawed foot.  Worst of all, Noreen recognized them. 

Her parents were running, trying to take the children's hands.  Grab your stuff!  The neighbors shouted.  Run!  Smoke filled the air and sounds of groaning timbers reached their ears.  Noreen heard then a piercing scream.  It was Melayna.  The Draug is coming!  The shout was taken up by a chorus.  Children wailed and parents shouted in panic.  As Dreg grabbed Noreen and pulled her away from their own house, collapsing, she saw a face in the window.  Clo...

It wasn't a dream.  The Draug was back.  And so was the magyke, in her sister.  They could fight it.  The Draug was back...smoke seemed to still float in Noreen's eyes.