Young Writers Society

Jakira walked home that day feeling happy but puzzled.

She was glad she'd made a friend in her class, one she could see every day, but she had the strangest feeling she'd met him before. The entire time he'd seemed to know exactly what was on her mind, and she'd accidentally read his thoughts four times.

When have I talked to him? I know I have sometime before!

Those thoughts were still ringing in her head as she walked through the front door and waved to her mother, Synthia, who was sitting on the couch reading. "Hey, Mom."

"Hey, sweetheart!" she called back, closing her book and rising to give her daughter a hug. When they pulled away, she studied Jakira's face. "How was school?"

"Good," Jakira answered. She smiled. "I made a new friend."

"Oh, you did? That's great! What's her name?"

"His," she corrected. "He's a boy. His name's Alex. We were chosen to be partners for a history project."

Synthia paused. "What's his last name?"

"Sameron. Why?"

"Oh, nothing, just wondering." She turned and walked back into the kitchen, but Jakira didn't miss the little smile that flashed across her face.

She dropped her backpack. "Mom!" she exclaimed indignantly. "You can't just go matchmaking me with a guy I just met today! And besides, I already—"

"I know, I know," her mother interrupted, laughing. "You already have a thing for Night. I was just kidding."

Jakira rolled her eyes, smiling, and bent down to pick up her school stuff. She couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed that her mom knew who she'd been crushing on for quite some time now. There were pretty much no secrets between them; Synthia also knew she was Sunray, because she'd once been the light heroine herself. When Jakira had gotten old enough, she'd received the light gem and was taught by her mother how to use and control her new powers. She was told that the light gem had been passed down through their family for decades, always to the oldest daughter. If ever no daughters were born to their family, it would be given to a younger, trusted friend. If even that wasn't possible, the identity would watch and test a young girl seen in the public for several months at least. If she proved herself humble, considerate, and loyal, she would be chosen.

After she tossed her stuff in her room, Jakira entered the kitchen again and asked, "Mom, what was the last dark superhero's name again?" She'd heard it before, but not very often, and it was a rather unusual name.

"Oscuro," she replied, turning to the sink to wash her hands. "Spanish for 'dark.' He wasn't really from Spain or Mexico; he was just obsessed with that language."

"Did you ever find out who he was?" she continued curiously.

Synthia stopped, gazing sadly out the window of the sink. "No," she said quietly. "I don't know what happened to him. Ten years ago, one Monday, he was acting strange: nervous, anxious, jumpy. I asked him why, and he said he'd explain later. But then after the fight with Preciser he forgot. On Friday he never showed up. Preciser told me . . . told me that I would never see him again." She stopped, swallowing, then finished, "I assumed he was dead."

"Oh." Jakira fell silent as her mother stared at the wall miserably, lost in bittersweet memories. She'd heard other times that the former dark hero had been her mother's closest friend when she was younger.

Now, she took a deep breath and looked back at her daughter, smiling briefly. Obviously she was trying to think of happier subjects. "So . . . do you know that this romance going on between you and Night is the first ever with the light and dark heroes?"

She blinked. "Seriously?"

Her mother nodded. "All the other ones, including me and Oscuro, were just very close friends. They always seemed to have someone else on their minds."

"Well, as far as I know, it's only me who likes him," Jakira pointed out. "I don't know if he likes me back or not."

She laughed. "Well, from all the things you've told me about him, it certainly sounds like he does."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Her mother dried her hands and looked at her with a "You've got to be kidding me" look. "You've told me that he told you he would never let anything hurt you, isn't that right?"

Jakira hesitated, beginning to smile as she remembered him saying that. "Yeah . . . ?"

"And he's risked his own life to keep that promise countless times, hasn't he?" she went on.

"Um . . . yes."

"And he's been a gentleman ever since the day you first met him, even before he opened up to you and you two became friends?"

"Yeah." Jakira managed a bittersweet smile as she recalled that memory. From what he'd told her, he'd been overwhelmed by a questioning crowd of people and had shadow-transferred himself on accident by wanting to get away. He'd ended up materializing right in front of her, scaring them both half to death. Looking back on it, he'd unintentionally saved her from walking straight into the barrier. Her smile began to fade as she remembered that was also the day they'd discovered they couldn't touch.

"He's given you nicknames and likes to tease you?" Her mother's voice startled her back to the present.

"Yes," Jakira answered instantly, smiling wider.

"So he's done all this to and for you, calls you 'Sunshine,' purposely makes you laugh, pokes you because he feels like it and plays with your hair whenever the barrier's gone, has told you all the time how cool he thinks you are . . . and you still can't tell if he likes you or not?!"

She sighed, although she was still grinning away. "It's just that I don't want to assume anything when he hasn't outright told me that he likes me romantically. I've thought about it, but I've also kept in mind the fact that we are best friends. I dunno."

Synthia rolled her eyes playfully. "You keep thinking that," she said with a shrug, then turned back to the counter and continued preparing dinner.

-

For the next two days, Jakira couldn't stop smiling. Sure, she still didn't want to assume anything, but the interrogation from Synthia had made her appreciate everything about her partner all over again. In the middle of their work on the project, Alex would smile in puzzlement and repeatedly ask her why she was grinning so much, but she'd just laugh and shake her head.

On Thursday they ran out of time to finish up a major part of their project.

"Are your parents expecting you home at a certain time?" she asked him as they walked down their high school's front steps. "I can't wait till tomorrow to finish this. I will seriously forget everything we just figured out."

He laughed. "Yeah, probably the same for me." He stopped for a second and checked his watch. "Uh . . . my mom usually wants me home at 2:45 or sooner." He hesitated. "If you don't want to have to worry about time, and if your mom's okay with it, you can come over and we can work it out there."

She nodded. "She'll probably say yes, but I'll just quickly call her to let her know where I am."

"Gotcha." He put down his pack and sat down on the steps. "In the meantime, I think something stole my pen . . ." He began looking through it.

Stifling a giggle, Jakira pulled out her phone, dialed her mother, and put it at her ear. After a couple rings, Synthia's voice sounded. "Hey, Jak! Are you on your way home?"

"Sort of," she replied, beginning to pace up and down the stairs. "Alex and I were about to finish this huge part in our history project, but the bell rang. His parents want him home by 2:45, and that's pretty soon, so he was wondering if I could come over so we can finish it there. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine," came the reply. "Just be home by dinnertime, at the latest."

"I will. Thanks, Mom. Bye." She hung up, dropped her phone in her pack, and turned to Alex. "She says it's fine."

"Cool." He closed his pack and stood up. "I usually just walk to school, 'cause I live pretty close by. Are you . . . do you have a bike or something?"

"No," she answered, swinging her bag over her shoulder and starting to walk down the steps again with him. "I walk to school, too," she added with a little laugh.

"Okay, then. That makes it—" He broke off as she suddenly tripped over a step and lurched forward, gasping. But right before she hit the cement ground, she felt his arms wrap around her waist in a flash, keeping her from falling down the hard steps.

Her breath coming in gasps, she looked back at him. His dark blue eyes, inches from hers, were wide but also with a faint look in them that she somehow realized was an instinct: protectiveness. It seemed strangely familiar, like she'd seen him like that before . . . but she hadn't. They'd only known each other for three days. And yet he was already protective of her?

Slowly, he pulled her back with gentle hands to the flat section before the last set of stairs, then let her sit down on the bottom step to catch her breath. "You alright?" he asked quietly.

She nodded breathlessly, slowly beginning to calm down. "Thanks, Alex."

Instead of answering, he merely smiled.

With an inward jolt she suddenly realized their position. He was sitting right next to her, his left arm around her neck and resting on her shoulder, almost like a half-hug. He jumped, apparently realizing what he was doing right then, and awkwardly slipped his hand away. "Sorry."

"It's okay," she said quietly, flashing a quick smile. He looked down at the steps, fidgeting with his fingers, obviously feeling as uncomfortable as she did.

Tensely slipping a strand of loose hair behind her ear, Jakira reached out and pulled her pack closer, then swung it quickly over her shoulder. She glanced at Alex again. "Do we . . . should we keep going?"

He nodded and rose hastily, brushing himself off before mirroring her movement with his own backpack. As she stood up beside him, he flashed the briefest look at her but almost immediately dropped his eyes again when their gaze met. A wall of nerves seemed to have risen between them.

Strangely flustered, she felt as stiff as a wooden soldier practically the entire walk. Alex just looked awkward, keeping his sky-toned eyes locked on the pavement with his lips tight. Jakira was pretty sure this was the most embarrassed she'd ever felt in her entire life. The single word-slash-question that had been pestering her all week now seemed to scream repeatedly in her ears: Why?

Why did Alex seem as familiar to her as her mother?

Why did she feel suddenly tongue-tied with Alex if she already loved Night?

Why did her life seem to be so confusing lately?

Why did her friendship with Alex seem more like a puzzle than a pleasure?

WHY?

They turned onto a stone walk that led to a small, one-story house. As they slowly ascended the three stairs to the front door, Jakira hung back a little when Alex slipped a small key from his pocket, unlocked it, then walked in with her.

Inside, everything was dark. There was a moment of silence before she heard a click and saw her friend standing by a light switch, smiling faintly in confusion. "Weird," he commented at last. "No one's home." He turned his smile into a cheesy grin at Jakira. "So much for the big introduction. My parents and sisters have been wanting to meet you."

Jakira felt relieved to hear him talk again. His agonizing silence earlier had kept her far from ease. She also couldn't help blushing at the realization he'd already told his family about her. Then again, she'd told her mother about him the day they'd met.

Three days ago.

Impossible—

But that was only what it seemed to be . . .

Which only raised that question yet again, the one that bothered her constantly but she couldn't answer.

Why?

-

Her time spent there seemed to whisk by in an instant. She found herself thinking of the phrase "Time flies when you're having fun" as she and Alex walked out the door so he could take her home.

It had been fun. Jakira had finally gotten to get a crystal clear look at his true personality, which had been hidden from the world in both their freshman and sophomore years previously. Before they'd met.

This side of him stunned her in a pleasant way. At times he'd been sweet and caring, asking her every ten minutes if she was thirsty, hungry, or if she needed something.

And he had a sense of humor, too—another hidden trait revealed. Before, when she had no friends in school, a laugh or even merely a smile would be rare for her. Now, six or seven times she found herself unable to breathe from laughing at his jokes and puns about the history topic.

He was a good friend, despite the fact that boy and girl friendships weren't very common unless it ended up as a romantic relationship.

They walked across the lawn to a small gray car parked alone in the driveway. Its dark color matched the sky; a storm was coming any minute.

A built-in reaction of joy at the sight of the clouds flared up inside Jakira. Cloudy days were the equivalent of the setting sun when it came to her boundaries with darkness as Sunray. The sun being blocked but not completely muffled made no direct places of sunlight . . . and therefore no direct shadows.

"You have your driver's license?" she asked in surprise as he stopped on the left side and opened the door to the driver's seat.

Pulling another cheesy smile, he shook his head. "Not quite. I'm stuck with my permit for a few more months until I get it. But if you live . . ." He trailed off momentarily. "Where do you live?"

"The only house on Via Girasole."

His jaw dropped, and he closed the door again. "That's two blocks away!"

"Oh!" She felt as surprised as he did, realizing how close her home was. "Well, if it's right there, I could just walk . . . I mean, I don't want you to get in trouble if a cop catches us."

She'd barely finished speaking before a drop of rain landed on her shoulder, then another was felt on her head. She saw Alex look up, then jump and begin rubbing his eye when a raindrop landed right there. Dark spots quickly began to appear all over the driveway, and within a minute it was pouring.

Both of them immediately ducked in the car and slammed the door behind them. After a moment of sitting in silence, she said briefly, "Okay. I guess we're driving."

"Yup." He buckled and started up the car.

"But I'm paying if we get a speeding ticket," she added hastily.

Without taking his eyes off the rearview mirror, he laughed. "Not gonna happen. One, you're not driving. Two, we're in a neighborhood! I'm not gonna speed." Briefly he stopped the car and glanced over at her. "Three, did you even bring your wallet?"

She blinked. Oops. Blonde moment.

He cracked up again, but it was teasing and friendly. Continuing to back the car out, he went on, "But, if it'll make you feel better, I'll go forty kilometers under the speed limit so we definitely won't be caught."

She pointed to the speed limit sign across the street. "But then you won't be moving at all!" she giggled. The sign read: 40 km/h.

"Also true," he admitted with yet another laugh. "Okay, ten under. Anyway, it's not like any cop will be around here at this time of—"

He cut himself off and they both froze when a blue and white police car turned onto their road.

Jakira blinked in confusion as Alex quickly reached over, yanked open the glove compartment, and pulled out two pairs of shades. "Quick," he whispered, grinning as he slid on one pair and tossed the other to her. If the window was open, they would've flown right out. "Disguises!"

She could've burst into another death-by-suffocation-ending laughter at the fact they were actually doing this, but she managed to hold it back and obey in time as the police car passed. The cop inside gave them a look that said What on Earth . . . but he just rolled his eyes, shrugged and kept driving.

Keeping his eyes on the road and never dropping his smile, Alex leaned over to her and whispered, "He probably thought we were immature newlyweds."

She giggled. "Should we take them off now?"

"You can if you want," he replied. "I think I have to; I can hardly see through these things." He pulled them off and dropped them in his lap as they continued to ride down the road with rain streaming down the windshield, laughing the whole way.

-

Dusk approached; Friday was drawing nearer and nearer. Strangely, Jakira felt only apprehension about it. On a normal basis, she had mixed feelings for this day and Monday. On one side she was bubbling with excitement at the thought of seeing Night. On another side was worry about what would happen in this fight. After all, what happened in last time's struggle she had never seen coming.

Even when she and Alex further worked on their project a few hours before Preciser would attack, she couldn't stop twisting her hair around her fingers in nerve and glancing down at her watch. Only once did Alex ask her if everything was okay, but Jakira noticed he seemed to be acting a little worked-up, too.

As 2:00 came closer by the minute, Jakira's heart raced faster, and her hands felt shaky whenever she wrote down notes. Hurry, HURRY . . .

Finally, she couldn't bear it anymore. She said quickly to Alex, "I'm sorry, I've gotta go," and felt a jolt of surprise when he shot to his feet and replied, "I do, too!"

They both shoved their textbooks, pens, and worksheets into their desks and speed-walked to the teacher's desk.

"Ma'am?" she asked quickly, and Ms. Elena looked up inquiringly. "We have to leave early today. There's only five minutes left, so can we?"

The teacher glanced at the clock on the wall, paused for a moment, then nodded. "The bell is going to ring any minute, anyway."

"Thanks! Bye!" Jakira spun and tore through the classroom, Alex close behind her, until she entered the halls and he vanished down another hallway.

After about a minute of running, an alarm on her watch went off. She turned it off in a rush and ducked into a dark, empty classroom, shutting and locking the door behind her. She dropped her backpack by a window, promising herself to pick it up again afterwards, and hastily began to chant her rhyme. About halfway through, she felt the light gem in her pocket heat up with power. Just like on Monday, its power spread over her and filled her with energy. On the last line, just as she finished transforming, she raced to the window and leapt out.

Right before she landed, she grabbed her weapon from the light, then came down on the next building's roof and continued running, steering clear of the shadows.

Finally, she slowed to a stop, then held up her bow and swept a hand over the space between the string and the handle. This was her and Night's only way of keeping contact with each other when separate. It was sort of like a magic version of Skype. If he had his weapon materialized, he would be able to see her in the reflection of his blade, in the same way she could see him in the space of her bow.

The light weapon flashed briefly, but nothing else happened. This meant either he hadn't transformed yet, or he didn't have his weapon out.

She waited for a few moments longer, then tried again. This time it worked; a second later she saw Night smiling at her. He raised a hand and waved. "Hey, Sunshine."

She grinned at his favorite nickname for her. "Hey, Night Hawk." Pausing briefly, she added, "Where are you?"

Abruptly the bow stopped glowing, and she couldn't see him anymore.

What the—

Frowning, she was about to try contacting him again, when suddenly she heard a soft, whispery sound from right beside her in a shadow. Her smile quickly returned as she dropped her bow into a sunbeam and turned to look at her partner. With a playful grin on his face, he answered, "Here."

"Nice one." She slipped a strand of loose hair behind her ear, then continued, "Did you happen to see Preciser before you came here?"

"Or hear him?" Night shrugged. "Nope. Maybe he's still blind."

"I wish," she sighed, glancing over her shoulder for a moment, then returning her gaze to his. "But the effects of lightsweep don't last that long."

They began walking along the roof, him disappearing and re-solidifying every time a shadow ended. After a minute or two of silence, he said, "Wow. Either my watch is fast, or Preciser's lost his punctuality."

Right then, an explosion from up ahead shook the ground. With a quick look exchange, they said together, "Straight ahead," and broke into a sprint. Sunray switched on her inhuman speed, and Night vanished again. The light heroine seemed to fly over the buildings. She loved that sensation, but she didn't focus on it; they couldn't get distracted. She jumped off the brick structure and landed in front of the explosion's source, at the moment finding only a large mass of smoke.

Night appeared almost beside her, just a little in front within the dark and slightly to her right. They could both hear hoarse and terrified cries from people trapped in the smoke. The sound twisted Sunray's heart; apparently feeling the same way, Night started rushing towards them but quickly drew back again, coughing and waving his hand in the air.

Hoping to guide them to safety, Sunray called, "Over here!" and raised her arms above her head, summoning a ball of light and letting the sharply-outlined rays pierce through to the unseen people. The response was quick; families began to emerge into the clear air again. Night glanced over at her, his relief clear on his face.

When the people stopped coming, she lowered her arms again and let the ball of light fade.

The smoke cleared in shocking speed after that. The two heroes strained to see through the remains, but when normal vision was possible again, Sunray's heart nearly stopped at the scene she and her partner took in.

Their opponent was waiting in a large space that was completely bathed in darkness.

And the creature standing there was not Preciser.