Chapter One

She couldn’t remember ever leaving her room, especially not after dark. But there she was, standing in the middle of an open field with no idea as to how she had actually gotten there.

Glancing up at the sky, she found herself instantly transfixed by the bright silver moon hanging proudly in a sea of black. Playful stars danced around it, and a few flew away with long ribbons of light attached. She wondered if it was possible to reach out and catch one in her frozen palm, especially since it seemed like they could come toward her themselves.

A loud roar rang out, startling some of the stars, who vanished instantly. She turned around, searching for the source. A slight breeze stirred, playing with her hair for a moment before swirling around her body and darting away with a gleeful cheer. “Who’s there?” She whispered. The grass seemed to dance at the sound of her voice, and the stars that had vanished returned, shining brighter than before.

It was almost like everything was excited to see her.

A second roar, slightly quieter than the first, rattled her eardrums just enough to make her wince in discomfort. Looking back up into the sky, she stared as a purple being flew above her. Squinting, she tried to see what it was, but gave up when she realized that it was too high. “I’ve seen you before.” She whispered as it cast an eerie shadow on the moon. “In my dreams.”

“Princess.” Spinning toward the voice, she instinctively took a cautious step back. A boy, not much older than she was, stood just a few feet away. The wind picked up speed quickly, almost like it was threatening him, but the only part of the boy that moved was his black hair. “The time is coming.” His piercing golden eyes never once left her face. “A great evil is upon us…” He started to fade, half of his body disappearing before her eyes. “Your destiny awaits…”

She awoke with a start, yelping in surprise as her knee smacked into he desk. The chair toppled backwards, scattering lose pages everywhere as she crashed into the carpeted floor. Disoriented, she growled in frustration, rubbed her aching head, and sat up. After giving her senses some time to fully awaken, she crawled toward her bed and angrily slapped the alarm clock into instant silence. Rain drizzled against a nearby window, and newly started cars hummed their quiet tune as they speed along the web of streets below the building. It was one of those times she was glad that her mother had decided to move them into the top floor of the TechnaRisers. As long as your alarm clock wasn’t set to early, it was impossible to be awakened by the loud noises of the city 200 feet below your window.

Once her brain had awakened, she looked at the time and groaned in annoyance. 6:00am- a dangerous hour for her to be awake, especially on a Saturday. She was a Zombie until at least eight, and even then she wasn’t in a good mood.

Collecting all of her papers, she stood and dropped them onto her bed. Her room was clean now, with its blue carpet and boring white walls. The sun shone brightly on her dark blue bedspread, and she couldn’t help but wonder why her room always felt so empty. The dresser was tucked away in her closet to provide more space, while her laptop rested on a tiny, wooden desk that was barely big enough for her.

“Does mom buy anything for me anymore?” She muttered brushing through her ratty hair with her fingers.

There was a knock on the door. “Coming!” Slouching her shoulders, she crept tiredly across her room. When she opened the door, however, she jumped back in surprise and stood as straight as she possibly could without breaking her spine.

“Good Morning Trinity.” Her mother looked like a monster. Pink curlers were wound into her dark brown hair, making her head look roughly the size of a basketball. The white cleansing lotion she always put on in the morning seemed to be glued to her face, and the white robe she had on was tied so tightly around her waist that Trinity thought she resembled a malnourish stick figure. Her eyes, normally a bright green, had been covered with blue contacts. For reasons nobody knew, she hated the color green enough to attempt to change her own eyes. “Guess what today is!” Knowing her mother wouldn’t give her any time to answer, Trinity remained silent.

Sure enough, she answered herself seconds later. “The TechnaCity Grand Ball!”

It took all of her strength to smile, when all she wanted to do was cringe in absolute horror. The TechnaCity Grand Ball was an annual party that all of the rich upper class, including the leader himself, attended. Some parents even used it as a way to find matches for their children.

Her mom was particularly excited this year. Trinity would be sixteen in two weeks- the age when most girls were engaged, or sometimes married depending on the family. “That’s when I had met your father!” She had told her once when Trinity had tried to protest.

It was always difficult not to mention the fact that Trinity’s father left just two weeks after she had been born. According to her mother, he hadn’t even said goodbye; just got up and left sometime during the night. Obviously the relationship didn’t last long.

“You need a dress.” Her mother’s voice brought her back to reality, and Trinity winced as if she had been slapped. She despised shopping with her mother. They would stay in one store for hours on end, but her mother was never satisfied with one look. Eventually they would leave and go somewhere else. By the end of the day, her mother would be so frustrated that she would through the money at Trinity and tell her to buy whatever she wanted, before storming off to get her hair done.

“I have one.” Trinity muttered, when in reality she had twelve; one for every year she had gone to the ball. Besides, only last year’s fit her, and that was the one dress her mom had decided on. Trinity hated that with a passion. It was yellow, but an ugly shade of it that made it look like it had been dumped in a sewer. “I’m almost 16!” She said louder. “Why don’t you let me take care of myself this year?”

“But you’ll never get your make up right.” The resemblance between her mother and a whiny teenager was rather scary. “And your hair is atrocious.”

Trinity’s hand instantly flew to her head at the insult. Her mother hated her hair, but Trinity had only recently learned that it had gotten its abnormal color from her father. It was dark blue with lighter tints of that same color spread throughout in the form of highlights. It was so strange, in fact, that some of her mother’s scientist friends had attempted to figure out where the blue hair had come from.

They never got any answers. Strangely enough, they got more questions. There wasn’t any record of Trinity’s father actually existing, much less ancestors. Eventually, they gave up and but the puzzling problem into storage.

Trinity’s mother had tried numerous times to dye her hair, but the blue always showed through the colors, and she eventually gave up. To be honest, Trinity liked her hair color, and not just because it was different, but because that and her even stranger eye color were the only things that she seemed to have in common with her father- especially from the way her mother described him.

“There isn’t a law saying that you have to stand by me all night.” Trinity snapped obviously not in the mood to take her mother’s insults this morning. “If you talk with other people your own age you won’t even have to see my hair.”

Her mom’s right eye lid twitched since their seemed to be no other way to express her annoyance without messing up her hair and makeup preparations. A few dried flakes of the cleansing substance fluttered to the ground, and Trinity couldn’t help but wonder if it was possible to have it on for too long. “Fine.” She grunted finally, glaring at Trinity as if she had just threatened to destroy the house. “Take care of yourself today, but don’t come crying to me if you look like a disgrace at the most important party of the year!” She practically screamed the least word as she stormed furiously from the room. Trinity rolled her eyes, sighting heavily. Her mom was notorious for over reacting, even among her high classed friends. She was one of those people who would panic for hours when her hair dryer wouldn’t work; only to find out later that she hadn’t even plugged it in.

But Trinity got a day without her mother constantly breathing down her neck, so she decided that now wasn’t the time to complain.

Grinning from ear to ear, she plopped down on her bed and snatched her cell phone off the bedside table. Punching in the number before she could think about them, she pushed “send” and fell onto her back as it rang.

Moments later, someone answered. “Hello?”

“Good Morning Jaden.” She said cheerfully. Jaden was always up much earlier than Trinity ever wanted to be, so it was no surprise that he answered so quickly.

“Trinity… Why are you so happy this early in the morning?” He sounded amused, and she knew that he was holding back some sort of quiet laugh.

“Well, I was wondering if you could take me to the mall this morning since mom’s already left with our car.”

“But it doesn’t open until 8:00” He was obviously teasing her, yet Trinity didn’t seem to notice.

“So I should expect you around 7:30?”

He laughed. “I suppose if that’s what you really want.”

“As long as you don’t mind watching me shop for dresses.” She made a face. “I promise to be quick. Then we can go somewhere for lunch.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“See you then?”

“See you then.” He agreed. Both of them hung up at the same time, and Trinity quickly rushed into the bathroom for a shower.

OOOOOOOO

“Master Benjamin.” The man turned his head just enough to see Berkley enter his office. The shorter man stopped the moment they made eye contact and bowed as low as possible. “All of the plans for tonight have been made.” He stood up, brushing through his silver hair.

“And Joshua?”

Berkley sighed. “He’s been sighted, along with her cousin…”

“Her cousin has always been there.” Benjamin snapped as he stared down at TechnaCity. A black crow flew in from the hallway, landed on his shoulder, and cawed softly. “What about the Traitor?”

“He hasn’t left the Junkyard.” Berkley said. The crow shifted its weight as Benjamin turned around, fluttering its wings in annoyance. “Scar is taking good care of that.”

“And the…”

“Yes that is working perfectly.” Berkley cut him quickly almost as if he expected a spy to be lurking nearby.

“Send my men after her, Berkley. Watch her every move. I don’t want anything to mess up my plans. And if they can find an opening to finish her off the tell them to do it.”

“Yes Sir.” Berkley bowed and left the room.

“I thought you wanted to kill her yourself sir.” The crow’s voice was scratchy, and anyone who wasn’t used to it would have stared in disbelief. He shifted his weight as Benjamin sat down, but he eventually hopped off his shoulder and onto the desk. “That was your plan all along.”

“Of course Naeco.” Benjamin muttered. “But weather I finish it or not she’s still be dead.”

“True.” He stared at Benjamin as he pulled the dead rat out of his drawer. “But still…”

“Don’t worry.” Benjamin tossed the carcass, which Naeco happily gulped it down as if he hadn’t eaten in years. “But I do need you to do me a favor.”

After a couple moments, Naeco looked up, kicking the bones off into the garbage. “Yes Master?”

“Follow her around. It’s much easier for you to hide then them.”

“Of course sir.” Naeco flapped his wings and darted toward the window, slamming into the glass.

“I have to open the window first.” Benjamin snapped. Naeco backed away with one of his wings on his beak. Benjamin rolled his eyes as he opened the window. Naeco flapped his wings again and slowly flew out into the sky.