On the plane to France, I sulked. I liked my home in America, thank you very much. And then, right before high school, Mom and Dad decide it would be a good idea to send me to France. "You'll love Kadic Academy," Mom assured me, after a particularly difficult French lesson. "And didn't you always say, you would want to see where Grandma and Grandpa live?"

"Yeah, when I was, like five," I had snorted.

"Well, now's your chance," Dad had said firmly. "And if its any consolation, I don't like going to see your mom's parents either. They always did creep me out."

"Quiet, Ulrich. Besides, we're not even staying there, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. Well, good."

They weren't staying with Grandma and Grandpa. They were staying with some old friends of theirs on-campus. The worst part was that I could stay with them. I was to have a dorm. With a roommate.

"You can't get any more nostalgic than a dorm," Dad told me. "And you can't possibly have a worse roommate than I did. I'll ask Jeremy if he can get you to share a room with his girl, Maya. She's very nice."

"Isn't her hair pink?" I said, determined not to like this Maya. "I hate pink."

But Mom and Dad wouldn't let me stay behind. They told me that they had to come over to France anyway, and they weren't leaving me. I agreed, under the promise that it would only be a year.

That they hoped it would only be a year.

My only consolation was that I would be a freshman in a place I couldn't care less about.

"Ulrich, buddy!" I heard the obnoxious voice before I saw its owner: a guy with blond hair glued straight up with a purple blotch in the center, in a sick plum-colored Armani tux. Good old Uncle Odd. "Yumi, you Japanese freak! How you doing?" he rushed over to give my parents a rib-cracking hug.

"We were doing good until you broke our spines," Dad said, giving Uncle Odd one of his rare smiles. "How are you?"

"Doing well, doing well!" he boomed, beaming at his old friends. "Richie is just psyched to be going to our old school. And Milly is glad to be back as well. She's taken up a temporary job as the director of the journalism program at old Kadic."

"Really?" Mom asked. "That's great!"

"What isn't great is the news she brought back from the interview," Odd said, suddenly serious. "Old Jimbo is principal, and the Sissy and William's kid is going to the school too."

"Jim is principal?" Dad exclaimed.

"Sissy and William had a kid?" Mom cried.

"Can we just go already?" I whined. "By the time you old folks are done catching up, I'll have already graduated!" The "old folks" looked at me, and Uncle Odd boomed out laughter.

"She's right, you know. Let's grab your bags, kiddo," he grinned, bouncing off to the baggage pickup.

"He never stops," Mom said, shaking her head slowly. "And who are you calling old?"

The Hermitage was old. I knew as soon as I saw it that I was better off in a dorm. At least there, I could get a cell phone reception. And hot water. I walked into the sounds of a piano playing "Twinkle Twinkle." Yay, another jump back in time. And I don't even get a cool Delorean to go with it.

"Hey, Jeremy? Aelita? Is anyone home?" Odd called out to the house. "It's Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi! Oh, and they're kid!" The music stopped, and a girl rushed out into the hallway. She had pink hair. Her eyes widened when she saw us, and ran to give Uncle Odd a hug. "Hey kiddo!" he exclaimed, picking her up and swinging her around with a grunt. "Man, I am old. How you doing?"

"Great!" she grinned up at him. "I was just working on my piano lessons. Mom and Dad went away for awhile. They told me to tell you that they're visiting my grandpa's grave. They said you would know what that meant." The three old friends exchanged glances.

"Yes, we do know what that means," Odd said seriously. "So tell me Maya, is there a panel outside that leads to some tunnels?" When Maya nodded, wide-eyed, Odd thanked her. "I'm going to go see them and find out if they need me to do anything. Or go anywhere," he added. "I think we left our old gear down there, so I should be back soon." He hugged Maya, and waved goodbye to me, and went out the door.

Immediately, I pelted my parents with questions. "What's at her grandpa's grave? What's in those tunnels? What old gear? Where is Odd going? Can I go too?"

"I thought you didn't care," Mom said carefully.

"I care when I'm being left out of something. And I care when I feel like you're avoiding my questions, which you are. Out with it!" I demanded, knowing I sounded like a spoiled brat.

"All you need to know," Dad said, obviously picking and choosing his words "is that you should never go down into those tunnels unless it's an emergency, and if anything strange happens, you need to let your mother or I know."

"Or Jeremy or Aelita or Odd, but no one else," my mom added.

"Strange how?" Maya asked timidly.

"Electric shortages, machines acting on their own, swarms of animals, monsters, or people acting unusual," Dad listed, counting off on his fingers. "Did I miss anything?" he asked Mom.

"Only the giant teddy bear," Mom laughed, and I knew from the look in her eyes that she was joking. She had to be.

"If any of these happen, head straight for the tunnels and go where they lead you. We've placed markers so you can see. Call one of us immediately and don't take risks. Don't play the hero," Dad told me. "Leave that to the experts."

"You can't mean you two," I teased, but looking in their eyes, I knew they were serious.

"This isn't a game or a movie," Mom said seriously "no matter how much it may act like one. I want to be sure that you'll look after yourself, You, too, for that matter, Maya," she added to Maya. "We only want you to be safe."

"Why wouldn't we be?" I asked, but three bleak faces wouldn't answer.

"Just be careful, Yuri," Dad said quietly, and walked away, leaving me with the pink-haired girl, alone and afraid.