"Through our great good fortune, in our youth our hearts were touched with fire. It was given to us to learn at the outset that life is a profound and passionate thing." – Oliver Wendell Holmes

"…and these children that you spit on as they try to change their worlds are immune to your consultations. They're quite aware of what they're going through…" – David Bowie

Hexside Academy, July 14th, 1986

"Hold it steady, Spanglar!" Standz shouted as he and the other Ghost Blasters used their proton staffs to blast the hideous spectral monstrosity that was now reaching through the massive portal in the middle of the girl's locker room. Other ghosts flew from the same portal and darted back and forth between each locker, thus forcing two of the other Ghost Blasters to try and focus on them and keep them contained back into the portal. The problem was that if their wand blasts missed the ghosts, they then maimed the lockers and benches around them.

On the opposite end of the room, Eda and Lilith had miraculously been able to get dressed amidst the chaos.

"Seriously," Lilith grumbled, "What is your problem, Eda? You can't go one day without causing some mass chaos?" A ghost then flew over her head and wailed something about a specter's favorite dessert being ice-scream.

"At least I keep life interesting!" Eda shrugged, giving a smirk, "But yeah, I get it. It stopped being funny when Bump called these bozos who conveniently showed up with their light show."

"At least that Spanglar guy is cute," Lilith responded, looking towards the nerdiest-looking Ghost Blaster in the group and blushing, "But I think there's another girl in here as well, and I think I heard her crying in the showers. You created this mess; why don't you help them clean it up?"

"Fiiiiine," Eda groaned, "Let me brew something up; I think I can throw a potion that can close rips in space."

Lilith ducked and dodged the ghosts and stray neon proton streams as she made her way over to the showers. She then darted around the corner and into the large shower room where she found the lone girl, still wrapped up in a towel and cowering in the corner, who looked to be about 17 or possibly 18. She knelt over to comfort the whimpering girl and possibly convince her to try and get out of there.

"I know you're probably really scared right now," Lilith patted the weeping girl's shoulder, "but we gotta get out of here! It's not safe!"

"I can't…" the redheaded girl looked at her with her three blue eyes, all of them showing a genuine sense of dread, "I think one of these things might be my grandma…" She then pointed to the darkened far corner of the shower room, and Lilith could barely make out some visage of a likewise three-eyed specter of an old woman who unsurprisingly bore some resemblance to the girl on the floor. The only thing throwing it off were her wrinkles and the fact that patches of her skull looked decayed and falling off her face.

"I can tell you when you'll join us in the spirit realm," she thought she heard the entity whisper, "Would you like to know, Lilith Clawthorne? You need not fear…it's quite peaceful here…"

"Listen," Lilith said, turning back to the frightened girl, "Don't focus on anything else. Just look forward and listen to the sound of my voice. Also, give me a moment to concentrate." Lilith then closed her eyes and made a slow circular motion with her hand. In another moment, she and the poor girl were then surrounded by a glowing blue orb. "Huh, it worked! This should protect us from any proton blasts or minor spirts before we get back out into the main hall."

"But i'm not dressed…" the girl muttered.

"No time!" Lilith chirped, "Just listen, okay?" She brought the girl to her feet and began walking with her while the two held each other, the girl looking down at her feet. "What's your name?"

"Eden," the girl whimpered, continuing to walk with Lilith as they finally exited the shower room with two spirits and a bright neon proton stream flying inches over their shield bubble.

"Nice to meet you, Eden," Lilith still tried to sound cheerful in spite of the chaos around them, "Kinda sounds similar to my sister's name. What track are you following?"

"Potions," Eden muttered, and Lilith could feel her shaking in her arms, "Just like my mom…and my grandmother, who I think you met back there…"

"Hey, my sister's in potions," Lilith deflected the girl's fear of the previous room, "You probably know Eda."

"I actually do," Eden managed to laugh in spite of how frightened she was, "She's actually really funny." Still another ghost and proton stream flew over them, this time singeing the top of the bubble in which they were incased.

"Yeah," Lilith chuckled back nervously, "She's a stinker all right." The two made their way back out to the hall, and in the same instant, Lilith waved her hand and caused the bubble around them to disappear.

"I'm really embarrassed like this," Eden continued to try to hold her towel in place, "But I guess my boyfriend wouldn't mind seeing me like this."

"And now," Lilith sighed, looking back through the door and hearing the sounds of various proton blasts and ghostly wailing, "we wait."

Meanwhile, back in the locker room, Eda was trying her best in scrambling to find ingredients for a potion she could use to help these Ghost Blasters close the portal. She scrambled through her school bag to find what she needed while trying to remember the formula she needed for closing dimensional rips. Just then, one of the ghosts flew near her.

"Hey," it grunted playfully, "Wanna know our favorite fruit? Boo-berry!"

"Just shut up," Eda rolled her eyes, "I'm drowning you guys out. You're not even there."

"Oh, lighten up, girly girl," another spirit to her opposite side bellowed, "Your life is soooo short."

"We even know when you're going to join us," yet another echoed from behind her, "Would you like to know when?"

"No!" Eda snapped while still rummaging through her bag, "Shut up already!"

"Okay, we won't tell you when," another spirit rasped behind her, "But we will say you will die in the form of a gargantuan owl-like beast, magnificent and horrific in equal measure. All who gaze upon you will will exalt you and despair in your horrifying appearance before their own deaths!"

"And the owls are not what they seem," said another spirit above her head.

"Fire walk with me!" screeched another spirit opposite it.

"All of you!" Eda shouted, "Shut UUUUUPPP!"

Just then, several proton streams flew around her and blasted each each of the obnoxious ghostly presences away. Eda looked over to see two of the other Ghost Blasters standing there with now smoking proton staffs. One dark brown hair and a goofy smile with the name Vankmann on his uniform, while the other had a darker complexion, a thick mustache, and shorter hair with the name Zeddmoore on his.

"Nice shootin', Tex!" Vankmann exclaimed to Zeddmoore, "…heard that's an expression in the Human Realm."

"Thanks," Eda muttered at the shock of what just happened.

"Don't mention it," Zeddmoore answered with a smile.

"But ya know," Vankmann continued, "if we don't close this dimensional tear up soon, I think everyone on the Boiling Isles is going to be spending their summer in the Ghost Realm."

"I'm not going to let that happen," Eda smirked with determination, "I'm going to build a potion that will seal up the rip. This is my mess that I took a little too far this time, and I'll clean it up. You guys just keep these things off me, and I'll get a potion prepared and toss it into the glowy hole thingy."

Vankmann and Zeddmoore looked at each other. Zeddmoore gave a thumbs up, as if giving his approval for it.

"I love this plan!" Vankmann laughed, turning his attention back to Eda, "I'm excited to be a part of it! Let's do it!"

So Eda continued to rummage through her pack, finding the ingredients she desperately needed, as well as her pestle and mortar set, all the while the Ghost Blasters continued to keep the spirits contained as much as they could. Finally, Eda had mashed up the required elements and poured them into a small, empty flask she had available. She then ducked and dodged each of the specters as she hopped from bench to bench, finally doing a dodge roll on the tile floor before tossing the potion directly into the glowing aperture. With a quick flash, the portal burst and then was no more.

There were still a few small spirits that darted into whatever narrow hiding spots they could like scurrying cockroaches, while the rest of the Ghost Blasters were able to eliminate.

Outside, the other girls were waiting with Principal Bump for the professionals and Eda to reemerge from the room. Finally, the five of them including Eda strutted proudly out into the hallway, Standz having a large magic sack full of rustling ghosts and ectoplasm.

"We came, we saw, we kicked their butts!" Vankmann shouted, arms outspread, and the crowd of students clapped and cheered. The Ghost Blasters, a group composed of both beast-keepers and oracle mages, had somewhat of an awesome reputation, and in seeing their carefree attitudes towards the situation, she could see the point in Lilith's comment earlier in that they were kinda cute (at least in Vankmann's case). As he talked to Bump about the cost in gold for this, of which he was definitely perturbed, he looked back over at Eda and gave her a thumbs up and a nod, and she returned it with a wink.

"Well," Lilith said to her sister behind her back, "I hope you're proud of yourself. You nearly opened a portal to the Death Plane."

"Okay, okay, I get it already," Eda groaned, "I'm so-rry, okay? The prank backfired and nearly destroyed the school. What do you want from me?"

"Ugh," Lilith groaned, rolling her eyes and shrugging in frustration before turning around and walking down the hallway, "Some accountability for your shenanigans would be nice!"

"Oh, come on," Eda began following her, "Don't be like that. You know I just can't help myself, right?"

"But that's the thing," Lilith growled, "Why can't you? I've been putting up with your nonsense for nearly 18 years. You may be the younger sister, but I still feel like we should be holding ourselves to a higher standard if we are ever to make it in this world."

"But that's the thing," Eda pleaded, "I gotta shake things up a bit in order to stay sane. It's too dull and too demanding here. Plus, I'm stuck in this summer program because I have to be. And of course you're here because you're the nerd in the family."

"If you keep this up," Lilith snapped before lowering her voice again and trying to calm down, "you won't graduate on time."

The two girls were now outside, the afternoon sun still high in the sky above the red-leafed tree line.

"I'm not even worried about graduation anymore," Eda sighed, "I've had it with the school, with the regulations, and with this whole system of having to choose a permanent coven to join. Why can't I just learn all types of magic on my own?"

"But you can," Lilith pleaded, darting in front of her sister and taking both of her hands, "You can join the Emperor's Coven! It's not too late, and I know you're smart enough and talented enough that you'd pass the preliminaries with flying colors!" Lilith looked straight into Eda's eyes, and Eda could see the desperation in them, "Please, dear sister, please join me in this endeavor so the two of us can stay together. We could be a team in shaping the Boiling Isles and bringing a sense of order to all of it. We could make our own regulations and help reshape the dysfunctional system you hate so much, provided the Emperor approves. Please…"

"Are you kidding?" Eda pulled her hands away, "The Emperor's Coven is the very representation of everything that's wrong with this system in the first place! Don't you hear yourself? 'PrOvIdEd ThE EmPeRoR aPpRoVeS.' Who's he to say how we're supposed to live our lives, the choices we make, and how we choose to shape our natural gifts of magical powers? I'm sorry, but I'm breaking away from that system as soon as I can."

There was a silence in the air as the two stared at each other. The tension was so thick, not even an adamantine claymore could cut it. A light breeze moved through the trees, causing the branches and foliage to rustle against each other. Lilith looked away for a moment, fighting a cry, only to sigh and look back up at Eda, this time back to her typical stoic expression she carried when she was trying to be serious.

"Then you're on your own, Eda," Lilith broke the silence with a calm but curt demeanor, "Wherever you go with your life, that's on you. I'm going home to see how mom and dad are doing, as classes are over, and I don't think I can focus to study anymore with my state of mind."

"Say hi to them for me," Eda replied,"I'm going to think for a bit before I head back. And, hey…I'm…I'm sorry if I upset you. You're still my sister, and I do care about your goals. I may not agree with them, but I'll support you and do my best not to stand in your way." Lilith turned around to face Eda again.

"Well, thank you," she answered with a stoic tone followed by a sigh, "I just wish we were in this together…"

"Hey, you know what?" Eda asked, "Why don't we go to the human world again this weekend? There's a new moving picture that those humans like coming out this weekend called 'Aliens.' It's a sequel to that other show we snuck into a few years ago on our last trip to the human world, you remember, 'Alien.' But apparently it's got more monsters in it this time."

"Thanks, but no thanks," Lilith shook her head in frustration, "One, the first show scared me, but granted that was when we were younger, and two, I really don't see why you're so focused on the Earth Realm. Those humans are still so primitive with volatile sensibilities, paired with their innate xenophobia. It's a wonder how they have been able to survive for so long without magic!"

"See," Eda followed, "that's what makes them so fascinating! Without magic, they have to rely on their own ingenuity, manual labor, and innovation based on their understanding of how their world functions. I guess that's what they call science. It's just amazing the things they come up with."

"I suppose that's one way of looking at it," Lilith looked towards the sky in speculation, "Well, I'm heading home. I'll let mom and dad know you're on your way."

With that, Lilith turned to go, gracefully walking down the forest path back to their home. Eda, on the the other hand, traveled off in a different direction. She eventually found the large cliffside overlooking the vast sea; she would sometimes come here to gather her thoughts and feelings. She watched the small waves rolling in and out of the narrow beach below the cliff, the bright afternoon sun causing small twinkling lights to glisten on each small ripple as the tide ebbed and crashed against the rocks below.

Eda rummaged throuigh her backpack again to find the device the humans called a "walkman," along with a cassette tape in which the case had various musical bands written on it, including "Bauhaus," "Siouxsie and the Banshees," "Joy Division," and "Skinny Puppy." She put on the earmuffs attached to the player that supposedly emitted sound and pressed the play button. She then sat there, looking out over the sea, listening to someone sing about how some guy name Bela Lugosi was dead. Based on the lyrics, she was guessing he was possibly some kind of vampire or bat lord, but it was pretty vague and abstract, like most of the poetry she heard.

Eventually, the cassette came to a strange song with a lyric that stood out to her: "She tries not to shatter\Kaleidoscope style\Personality changes behind her red smile\Every new problem brings a stranger inside\Helplessly forcing one more new disguise." It made her think of how she felt like everyone was asking her to disguise who she was, just so that she could fit neatly into their world and their way of life, be it Lilith, her parents, Principal Bump, or to go a step further, the Emperor. She knew she couldn't though, which made dealing with them day in and day out all the more frustrating. Her mindset, world view, and desire for individualism clashed so much with everyone else. She then curled into a ball and buried her head in her arms.

This was only for a moment, however, when she glanced up and saw something across the sea, floating in mid air. It was some sort of abstract shape, almost like some living shade. She couldn't tell if it had eyes or not, but she felt like it was staring at her. The more she looked at it, the more a feeling of dread and anxiety began to wash over her. For a moment, images of some gargantuan, monstrous owl flying out of the darkness flashed before her eyes.

She quickly snapped back to reality, hearing the distant sound of thunder. She looked out over the sea again to see dark clouds rolling in from the south, which of course seemed very odd. She heard someone shouting down below her, along the cliffside near the small shore. She looked over to see two men wearing construction uniforms, clearly part of the Construction Coven. One was further up the cliffside than the other, the lower one shouting something muffled towards him.

"What's he saying!?" Eda shouted down to them.

"He says there's a storm coming!" the higher construction worker shouted a reply.

"I know," Eda said to herself. She then turned to go towards her house, not knowing what her future would bring but certainly refusing to fit into anyone's box. But she never thought of herself as the type to scare easy, but whatever vision she received on the cliffside, it shook her to her core.