Prologue
"Merle, come on!" calls a nine-year-old boy. It is late, but he has something important he wants to show his friend.
"I'm coming!" the little girl says impatiently as she catches up to him. "What is it you want to show me now, Dillon?"
His green eyes, so like hers, sparkles with excitement. "Just wait!" It is her eighth birthday and he is determined to give her something. His parents—or father, rather—have neither ever cared nor noticed his own birthdays, so he had no reason to believe they would remember his friend's. He has contented himself with showing her the biggest and most important thing in his life.
Merle follows him into the woods, where they wander for ten or so minutes. "Dillon?" she asks nervously. "Are we lost?"
"No!" Suddenly, he breaks into a run. "Come on, Merle, we're almost there!"
"Wait up!" She starts running, too, quickly catching up with him. "What are you—?" She stops dead. Standing in the clearing in the woods, right in front of her, is the most beautiful woman Merle has ever seen. She is tall, with long, bloodred hair that frames her pale face, flawless skin, and purple lips. The woman smiles gently at Merle's shock.
"Hello, Merle," she says in a lovely, textured voice. "It's nice to finally meet you. Bastian—you know him as Dillon—has told me so much about you."
Merle gulps, her throat suddenly dry. "Has…he?"
"Yes. Do you know, he and I know about a secret world. Would you like to hear about it?"
Merle nods slowly. If Dillon knows about it, then it can't be bad, right? "What's your name?" she asks innocently.
The woman laughs. "How silly of me to forget! I am called Lathenia."
Ooh...so this fic, not counting the Prologue, is partially simultaneous with, but mostly post- The Key. I started off wondering what would go on in the minds of people dedicated to the Order, and, well,this fic was born. Get ready to see the dark half of the time-traveling teens...