Chapter 1

The Strangest Day

Before time began, there was the Cube…

We know not where it comes from, only that it holds the power to create worlds and fill them with life. That is how our race was born. For a time, we lived in harmony, but like all great power, some wanted it for good, others for evil; and so, the war began, a war that raved our planet until it was consumed by death, and the Cube was lost to the far reaches of space…

We scattered across the galaxy, hoping to find it and rebuild our home, searching every star, every world. And just when all hope was lost, the message of a new discovery drew us to an unknown planet called Earth…

But we were already too late…

Audrey's eyes shot open and quickly sat up, gasping for air. She soon found herself in a cold sweat. She desperately looked around with panic on her. She was in her room. Her standard room. She took deep breaths and sank as she finally felt semi-safe. Another dream… the same vision. She sighed as she looked at her Sailor Moon alarm clock. It was 4:00 a.m. She ran her hand through her messy light brown hair. She let her blue eyes adjusted to the darkness. Why? Why?

She quickly grabbed her flashlight from her nightstand turned it on. She then promptly dug in her backpack and grabbed her journal. She immediately skimmed some pages till she reached a page with some words scribbled and a picture of a cube beside it. Audrey shined her flashlight on the nightstand and grabbed a pencil on there. She then wrote a few new words in it. At least these dreams might get her an A on her writing assignment. She turned on her lamplight on her nightstand, to see her writing more clearly. For a long time, at least for the last 3 months, she would have this dream with the same image... the same voice... the same ending. She had no idea why the happened or why they keep coming. And because of her curiosity and stubbornness, she wanted to know why? Why she left so strange with each time? Why? Just why? Why was this happening to her?

"Audrey Witwicky! You turn out that light right now!" yelled her mom snapping Audrey out of her trance.

Audrey groaned, and she grabbed the string of her lamp to turn off her light. Suddenly her light bulb started to spark. The small electrical explosion happened. Audrey jumped back as the light bulb quickly went out. Again... seriously. "Great," she sighed, annoyed as she laid back down to go back to sleep, but it wasn't easy. All her she could picture was that Cube. And why was it in her dream? The more she thought about it, the more her mind soon slipped into darkness, but her sleep was not comfortable.

Audrey struggled as she put on her red Lucky Star T-shirt and her blue jeans on. "Come on, Audrey hurry up!" yelled a voice. Audrey struggled as she put on her black/white tennis shoes.

Audrey groaned as she grabbed her journal from her nightstand. To those who say she was a morning person or person who likes to be on time, is a complete falsehood. If anything, she was more laid back than most of her family, she considered herself… somewhat sane. And sane in the loosest term possible. Her temper matched more her moms, and that is no small feat… at least in her family.

"I'm coming, mom," she yelled as she ran out her bedroom door. Audrey rushed down the stairs as she adjusted her backpack on her back.

"Audrey!"

"I'm coming, mom!"

Audrey skidded into the kitchen, almost falling to the ground. Her mother, Judy, turned to her as Audrey rushed to the door. "Your father's in the car and probably planning to leave you," she said to Audrey in scolding tone.

"I know," Audrey responded as she ran out the door, holding the urge to be sarcastic. She quickly ran down the path, nearly falling once more. She almost opened the back door of the car. Her dad, Ron, looking impatient in the driver's seat. Her older, Sam, in the passenger seat, seeming pretty neutral about the situation.

"It's about time," said her father as he started the car. "You know I was going to leave you."

Audrey rolled her eyes. "Of course, you were," she said sarcastically as slammed the door shut. And the car started to drive off the driveway and was on the road.

Audrey was part of the Witwicky family, for better or for worst. Her family had a history of strangeness and courage, at that's what her father said. A prime example was our great-grandfather Archibald Witwicky. He was the first man to explore the Arctic Circle. However, he fell through the ice and came out speaking about "a giant under the ice." He was put into an insane asylum and died there with his exploration, almost like a footnote. Audrey felt defined her family like to a tee. Her father, Ronald "Ron" Witwicky, honored his family name and history. Audrey found overprotective and too frugal for his own good, but a good dad. Her mother, Judy Witwicky, may have married into the family, but she was like the Witwicky family. She was very nice, but she had a temper as raging like a bull, it was no wonder while her dad fell in love with her. And then there was her brother, Same Witwicky. Sam was average as people go, but he was decent. He was able to take a hit and was a hard worker at times. Audrey found him a good big brother loving her more than anything and just as protective. Her family was strange, but she wouldn't change much about them. However, that made Audrey's quirk a little too familiar to her liking.

Audrey, in the backseat, leaned forward over close to Sam. "So, Sam, how's that "guaranteed A+ project?" she asked.

Sam turned back to her and smirked. "It's going to get me an A+ and a new car," he said in an all-knowing tone.

Audrey smirked back with her own all-knowing smile. Her brother's project meant more than anything. With Sam struggling to earn money for a new car, he and his dad made an agreement: if Sam got all A in his class, he would for the rest of Sam's car. He just had one more class to get an A in, and that was history. Audrey helped him as she had to admit she was better at the creativity and history better than her brother.

"Are you sure?" Audrey asked a smugly.

Sam's smirk slowly fell to a less confident on, just making Audrey's smirk to get larger. "Yeah," he said, almost quiet but looking at his sister with examining look.

Audrey laid back into her seat and placed her hands behind her head. "I thought you might want these," she said as she held up a pair of odd glasses.

Sam glared at her. "Where did you get those?" He tried to grab them, but Audrey held them away. She just kept that smirk on her face.

"You left them in my room, wise guy."

"Only to fix your lamp."

Audrey frowned as she glared at Sam. Of course, he would be the one to open his mouth about the lamp.

Ron didn't even turn around, but Audrey knew he did not have a happy looked on his face. "You broke it again?!"

Audrey only groaned loudly, and that was her answer. It was not that she feared she would be in trouble. If anything, she was daddy's little girl. It was… she didn't want to hear her father scold her over it… again.

"This is the third one this month. What did you do to it?"

Audrey shrugged. "I really don't know. I just touched it, and it exploded."

Sam turned to his dad, almost forgetting about the glasses' incident. "I keep telling you she's cursed."

Audrey rolled her eyes at the comment. Ever since she was 7 years old, she had a problem with electronics. Light bulbs exploding, batteries wholly drained after a week, and iPod exploding from being overcharged. As she got older, it has happened more often hence the poor light bulbs blowing up more often. Sam would always joke and call it a curse. Honestly, she never believed him. At 7, sure, she did believe him. He was her older brother. As she got older, she had stopped and written it off as 'brothers say something to scare or tease their little sister.' But lately and from time to time, she would found herself admitting it to be somewhat accurate.

Audrey sighed, annoyed. "I'm not cursed." She couldn't muster enough confidence to say that with enough effect. She soon put on the glasses over her eyes. Audrey's eyes widened. On the glasses, were tiny but strange letters appeared. "Sam," she said in a worried voice. "There are words on here."

Sam quickly snatched them off her face. "Those aren't words. They're called smudges."

Audrey rolled her eyes. She knew what she saw… did she?

Thoughts got cut off as her father stopped in front of her school. "Remember to come out on time. So, you can help pick the car," Ron said.

Audrey pumped her fist as Sam groaned. "Come on, dad."

"Hey, look," said his dad as he started to explain. "If you want the car, you have to let your sister help you pick it out. I'm not having your 14-year-old sister ride in whatever car you get just for girls."

Sam sighed as Audrey chuckled and gave her brother a wicked smile. "Alright."

Audrey quickly got out of the car. She waved to her dad and brother as they drove off.

Being in 8th grade, was like being in preparation for what social group you'll be in, in high school. From past experience, Audrey was "most likely to unintentionally and intentionally cause trouble." The reason wasn't even because of her curse. Though she never inherited her family's 'anxiety,' she did inherit the stubbornness and temper. At school, other students considered Audrey as the lone fighter. Honestly, Audrey held that title with pride. She wouldn't have gotten her best friend if she didn't act the way she did.

Audrey sat at her desk as other kids started to chat and talk about all sorts of things, she honestly wasn't really paying attention. She just looked at her journal and read her poem over and over again. "Aude," said a voice. Audrey looked up and smiled to see it was her best friend, June Morris.

June Morris had been Audrey's friend since 3rd grade. June always had a way of making her feel better. In school, June was the "most likely to be a mother." Jokily, Audrey would add "working on the dark side." Despite that, Audrey would tell June almost everything. She had long, jet-black hair that she had in a bun. She had shining forest green eyes. She wore a Les Miserable t-shirt, and some wore out jeans and some white tennis shoes covered in black marker, that she did herself.

"Hey, June," Audrey responded as she went back to her journal.

June sat beside sat at her own desk on the side of Audrey's. "Is that the writing assignment for Mr. Sandome?" Audrey nodded, not looking at her friend. June smiled at her. "You wanna know what I wrote?"

Audrey looked up from her journal slightly. "Not really, but I have a feeling you're gonna tell me."

"It's about the great Phantom of the Opera and his never-dying love for one, who could never love him," she said dramatically as she flopped over her own desk.

Audrey rolled her eyes and went back to her journal. June was overdramatic and was a massive fan of musicals, it actually fit quite well. Honestly, she would fit right into her family with the dramatic part. Audrey was more of an anime fan, but she understood her interest in the art style.

June leaned over and looked over at Audrey's shoulder into her journal. "So, what did you write about? Anime?" She asked.

"Just the dreams I've been having," Audrey quietly answered.

"What dreams?"

Before she could respond, Mr. Sandome came in. Mr. Sandome was a pretty cool teacher and not bad looking one either. In fact, almost every girl had a crush on him including Audrey. But Audrey saw him more like an anime doll she wanted in her room than a guy she wanted to date. June was the only one not attracted to him, but the only reason was that he hated musicals. He had smooth brown hair and hazel eyes and some glasses. He wore a white oxford shirt with a red vest over it, a black suit like pants, and some black shoes.

"Alright, class, settle down," he ordered the class. They quickly obeyed and sat in their seats. June immediately faced forward as did Audrey, Mr. Sandome looked to students and clapped his hands together. "Now, you've all been working hard on your assignments," he turned to the side. "He said hopefully." The class giggled. "Okay, up first is June Morris."

June slightly leaned over to Audrey. "Watch and learn," she whispered. Audrey just chuckled as June got up. June walked down the rows and smiled when she reached the front of the class. "My poem is based on the musical Phantom of the Opera. It is titled 'Still my Angle,' she took a deep breath and began to read.

Audrey closed her eyes, as June talked, to pay attention to her friend's poem. At first, all she saw was darkness. She soon saw the strange letters again flashing before her eyes. They looked like none of the letters she ever saw. She then heard a voice that echoed in her head.

"Great Power."

She listened to no one else but that voice. She wanted to ask who, but she couldn't. It was like her mouth was glued shut.

"Is what you hold... The danger comes with this power. Be strong."

Suddenly a flash of light appeared breaking the darkness. Audrey shot opened her eyes and silently gasped as if she had no air like when she woke up from her past dreams. She looked around frantically while everybody was clapping as June walked back to her seat. June folded her arms as she sat down. "How was that?" June said in more of a statement. Audrey didn't answer her as she was still taking deep breathes. June looked at Audrey with worry. "Aude, are you okay?" Audrey nodded but a bit uncertain. What could she even say?

"Ms. Witwicky," said Mr. Sandome. Audrey looked up to Mr. Sandome, trying best to look normal. "You're up to bat." Audrey nodded as she got up slowly and walked to the front.

Audrey gave a weak smile, feeling like the energy was just drained right out of her. "My poem is based on the dreams I've been having. It's called 'The Struggle for Power.'" She took a deep breath and began to read:

"Once I created a world. No one knew me or where I came, but only the power that held good or bad. There was no struggle, only peace. No battle, only life. But I should have known. I should have known. That power has a price. And it was life. The struggle for dominance was good over bad. The fight for life would have no winner at hand. The struggle for power was what killed the world I made. I wander through the world; all hope dead. All hope is gone. I go to another, but will this struggle of power continue on? Will power finally die? Or will it kill another world? If so, this power of conflict… must fall into another hand. "

The class was silent to see if she was done, and then they started to clap. Mr. Sandome smiled and clapped along with them. "Excellent, Ms. Witwicky."

Audrey smiled, but the smile quickly turned into a frown. She started to see strange letters in front of her eyes again and felt a sudden pain in her eyes. She promptly closed her eyes and grabbed at her eyelids as she groaned in pain. Mr. Sandome looked at Audrey with great concern, slowly coming near her. "Audrey, are you okay?" Audrey shook her head as she continued to groan. There was no point in hiding it, it was now undeniable. Mr. Sandome looked to June. "Ms. Morris," he called. June quickly got up and ran to the front of the classroom. "Take Audrey to the nurse's office." June nodded and led Audrey out of the classroom.

Two girls walked down the hall; Audrey was more limping than walking. Audrey continued to grab her eyes and groan as June was dragged along. "Aude, how are you feeling?" Jun asked.

"I see nothing but weird letters," Audrey answered honestly through her groans.

June rolled her eyes, thinking her friend was joking to embrace the pain she had. "Yeah, and I see dead people."

"Be strong," repeated the voice. Audrey fell to the ground, landing on her knees despite June's hold on her.

"Audrey, what's wrong?" June asked in begging and panicked tone.

"Be strong," repeated the voice. Audrey screamed as she felt tears come from her eyes, and the tears made her eyes feel worse.

"For this power, you must protect!"

Audrey felt her eyes burned even harder as if they were being touched with a hot poker. Audrey felt like she wanted to tear her eyes out.

Suddenly the lights above the hallway started to explode. June screamed as she covered Audrey, forcing them both to lay flat on the ground. Soon all the lights were blowing up, and students began to scream. Soon all the lights were out, and the only source of light was the sunlight from the windows. Audrey felt the pain finally leave her eyes, and all the strange letters disappeared. But her energy was lower than ever. June looked around to see the damage while still laid slightly flat on the ground. "What the heck just happened?" she asked, panicked.

Audrey wanted to answer, but she couldn't. She felt as if everything was pulled out of her. Audrey fainted. That was the last thing she heard was June telling her to wake up.

The school was closed for a week until they fixed the lights and figured out how the accident happened. Rumor spread, they said: Audrey rigged it. She might, from time to time, think she had a curse, but she wasn't that bad, she wasn't that smart, and she was too laid back to even do that stuff. She was taken to the hospital by her father to talk to the doctor. Audrey told the doctor everything except about the voice and the letters she saw. She didn't want to be labeled as crazy. The doctor said nothing was seriously wrong and said it might be due to stress. She thought and said the doctor was crazy and was quickly reprimanded for saying so. They told her to wear unique sunglasses at least all day, and they should be fine and the time off school would help her relax. Though Audrey knew something wasn't right, and no pair of glasses were going to help.

Audrey sat in the backseat of her father's car as her father sat in the driver's seat in front of Sam's school, waiting for the verdict. Audrey looked up to see Sam running happily to the car. "Yes! Yes, yes!" he shouted as he ran to the car. Sam looked at Audrey, who wore sunglasses that made her look blind. "What happened to you?"

Audrey shook her head. She really didn't want to talk about it. Hell, she couldn't explain if she wanted to. "I just have an eye problem, that's all. So, what did you get?"

Sam smiled and turned to his dad. "A-minus. It's an A, though," said Sam as he showed him the paper.

Ron struggled to see it. "Wait. Wait. I can't see," turned to Audrey. "Audrey, is it an A?"

Sam turned and showed it to Audrey. Audrey quickly snatched it from Sam as he was waving it so much that it made it hard to see and her headache. Audrey looked careful and smiled. She wanted so badly to tease him, but she had no real energy to do so. "Yeah, it's an A."

Sam looked back at his dad. "So, I'm good?"

"You're good," said Ron as he turned to the front and started the car.

Sam's smile widened as he buckled his seat belt as Audrey did the same. They were going to the car dealership.

Her father drove for about ten minutes till he turned to Sam. "I got a little surprise for you," he said with a smile.

Sam looked at his dad, confused. "What kind of—" Sam turned to the side to two rows of Porsche. Sam's face filled up with excitement. "No, no, no, dad!" he yelled.

Audrey rolled her eyes. She knew one thing about her dad, almost everyone knew. Her father was cheap, and Audrey knew that he would never get Sam, primarily as his first car. However, she was all too happy to have her dad take her place in teasing her older brother.

Her dad smiled as he turned to Sam. "Yeah, I'm not getting you a Porsche." He started to laugh, and so did Audrey.

Sam turned to Audrey with a glare of annoyance and disappointment. "You think this is funny?!" he asked disappointedly.

"And you didn't?! Come on, Sam," Audrey started. "You really think dad would get you a Porsche for your first car." Sam hated to admit it, but she was right, and the place he was taking them was worse than the joke.

Their father parked the car in front of the worst car dealership ever. In Audrey's opinion, she had it was the worst in the world ever seen. Audrey reluctantly got out of the car as her dad and brother got out before her. The best way Audrey could describe it is: if a car dealership and a zoo had a baby and immediately regretted it. "Dad, I hope that this place is torn down before I get my car."

Sam groaned as he got out of the car too. "Dad, you said a car, not a half a piece crap."

"At your age, I'd be happy with four wheels and an engine," their father countered.

Audrey sighed, annoyed as she followed her father and brother. She didn't love this place; in fact, she hated it. It smelled awful, and they had a Hispanic clown guy Audrey saw in the back, and it was creeping her out. She honestly wished she stayed in the car. "Dad, if he gets a car in this place. He will probably be the forty-year-old virgin."

Sam gestured to his sister. "See? She gets it."

"No sacrifice, no victory," Ron simply stated.

Sam waved it off. "Yeah, the old Witwicky motto, we get it."

Audrey loved her great grandfather's motto. She sometimes thought of it, but she hated it when his dad used it for everything. Everything. She wanted to mention that he was crazy, but it would do no good and get her scolded.

Audrey rolled her eyes as she walked off, seeing the owner from what she overheard, about an "Uncle Bobby b." She did have to say in the car, so she might as well look around. Though she wasn't a car person, she did know bad ones when she saw it, and the lot was filled with run down looking cars. So, she tried to look for a nice car, but honestly, her mind wasn't on cars.

Weird things were happening to her. She knew she wasn't normal, no one was normal, but this was strange. She never had weird dreams till now and never saw letters in front of her face till now. So, the big question was: why now?

Suddenly she bumped into something, stopping her thoughts. She looked in front to see she hit into a yellow Camaro. Audrey walked around the car and started to examine it, and surprisingly didn't look too bad. "You look pretty good," she whispered with a smile. "Beat up, but not too bad, but… how did you get here?"

"Hey, Aude," called Sam. She turned to see Sam walking over to her form the two adults. "You see anything?"

Audrey nodded. "Yeah," she pointed to the yellow Camaro. "Look at this."

Sam looked at it as Ron, and the owner followed. "It has racing stripes."

Bobby nodded. "Yeah, it's got racing—" he stopped and looked at it more clearly. "What the heck is this?! I don't know anything about this car?" He turned to the garage in the distance. "Hey, Manny!" The mechanic came out to see what his boss wanted, and he looked pretty annoyed. "What about this car? Check it out!"

The mechanic glanced at it and then back at his boss and shrugged. "I've never seen it, boss. That's loco!"

"Don't go, Ricky Ricardo on me, Manny! Find out!" he shouted.

As the owner and the mechanic argued, Sam and Audrey started to get into the car. Audrey sat in the front passenger seat while Sam sat in the driver's seat. "Feels good," Sam murmured.

"It's not too bad, either. It feels… safe." It looked a pretty nice car from what Audrey could tell. She looked at then at the steering wheel and saw a strange symbol. "Sam, what is that?" she asked as she looked at it.

Sam looked at it and shrugged it off. "I don't know. How should I know?"

Audrey waved it off as she continued to look at the car's insides but found herself looking at the symbol again. She found herself stroking her fingers over it. It was pretty cool… and familiar. But she knew she had never seen that symbol in her life.

Ron turned to Bobby, seeing as son and daughter were interested. "How much?"

"Well, considering the semi-classic nature of the vehicle, with the slick wheels and the custom paint job," the owner said as he inspected the car.

Sam looked at the owner with a confused look. "But, the paint's faded."

Bobby kneeled down to the level of the window. "Yeah, but its custom," he countered.

Audrey glared at him with a raised eyebrow. "Let me get this straight; its custom faded?"

"It's your first car wouldn't expect you two to understand," Bobby turned to face Ron again. "Five grand."

Ron shook his head. "Sorry, not paying over four."

Bobby looked back at Sam and Audrey. "Alright, kids out of the car," Bobby ordered.

"No, no, no, you said cars pick their drivers!" Sam argued as Audrey nodded in agreement, though she had no idea what Sam meant. She just wanted the car.

"Well, sometimes they pick a driver with a cheap-ass father. Out of the car." Sam sighed, defeated as he got out of the car. Audrey didn't move as the owner started showing them other vehicles. "This for four g's is a beauty."

Ron kneeled down to see Audrey still in the car, looking at her with gentle eyes as she pouted. "There's a Fiesta with racing stripes," he suggested.

Sam didn't ultimately get out of the car yet stopped and look at his dad's uninterested look. "I don't want a Fiesta with racing stripes."

Audrey turned to her father with the same uninterested look. "Dad, I don't know anything about cars, but that's pretty lame."

Ron sighed semi-defeated by his kids' attitude. "Yeah, but you gotta get out of the car."

Audrey whined and pouted as Sam slammed the door. Suddenly the door on Audrey's side opened and hit the other car, hard. Audrey covered her mouth in shock. She then quickly raised her hand above her head. "I swear I didn't touch it," shouted Audrey as Ron gasped, and Sam looked shocked.

"No worries. I can get a sledgehammer and knock this right out," Bobby assured her. Audrey sighed with relief as she lowered her hands. "Hey, Manny! Get your clown cousin and some hammers and bang this stuff out, baby."

Audrey rolled her eyes as he laughed nervously. She sighed as she patted the car's steering wheel. "Sorry, buddy, it wasn't in the cards."

Suddenly, the radio started to come alive. "Greater than the man."

Audrey looked at it, shocked and confused. "I didn't touch the radio," she whispered. "And you shouldn't be on."

"That one's my favorite. Drove all the way from Alabamy," Bobby spoke as he walked away with Sam and her father.

Suddenly door slammed shut. Before they could even react, a loud noise started to come from the Camaro. Audrey screamed as she covered her ears as she sank into down in her seat. Soon windows of the other cars shattered as she saw Sam, Ron, and Bobby diving to the ground to avoid the glass. "Stop it! Please!" she yelled, terrified. "It hurts!" The noise stopped. Audrey slowly and shakily uncovered her ears, and the door opened itself once again. Audrey still shaking a bit looked from the door and back at the radio. "Did the car hear her and respond?"

"Audrey!" she heard a voice yell. She slowly sat, looked up to see Ron and Sam running to the car.

Ron quickly ran to the opened the door, and he promptly helped his daughter out of the car despite her still shaking. "Audrey, are you okay?"

Audrey nodded as she found herself gripping her father's arm. "I'm fine, dad," she said, still shaking a little bit and even tightening her grip a bit.

Bobby looked at all to see all his cars destroyed windows. They all shattered but one…he turned to them and raised four fingers. "Four thousand!"

Sam smiled as he realized he got the car to seem to forget the situation. Audrey only looked at the car with a raised eyebrow. She found herself making a list. First, all the power in her school exploded, strange letters appeared in her eye, the pain she felt in her eyes, that voice she heard in her head and now car responding to her words and causing the other cars' windows to shatter. It was officially: This was considered the strangest day of her life. She hoped it didn't get worse or stranger.