When I got back my house that afternoon my father didn't seem to be downstairs. Finally, as I wandered from room to room calling, my grandmother appeared on the staircase. The look on her face made my stomach lurch.

"What's wrong? Where's Dad?"

"Madelyn. Sweetheart-" My grandmother started.

I sighed. "He's not coming is he?"

"His conference got extended so he won't be back until next week. He sent this for you." My grandmother gave me a small black box. I took it and went to my room. I was the definition of a rich spoiled girl. I had all the latest and top-notch things in my room. I opened the box and saw inside were diamond earrings. I closed the box and placed it in a drawer with the rest of the gifts my father gave me when he missed an event of mine.

That night, I couldn't sleep. My dreams were plagued with images of a dark shadowy figure which seemed all too familiar.


It was Friday morning when things became interesting. I watched Cassie stop in front of her locker. She didn't want to open it, scared because of all the pranks we pulled on her so far that week. She dialled the combination slowly. The locker door opened.

This time she couldn't even scream. The smell... Her locker was full of hamburger. Raw and red like flesh with the skin torn off, darkening to purple where it was going bad from lack of refrigeration. Pounds and pounds of it. It smelled like...

Like meat. Dead meat.

Cassie slammed the locker shut, but it bounced off some of the hamburger that was oozing out the bottom. She whirled and stumbled away, her vision hazing over.

A hand grabbed her and soon her backpack was being pulled off her shoulder.

She turned to see a pretty, sullen face. Malicious dark eyes. A motorcycle jacket. Deborah tossed the backpack past Cassie, and automatically Cassie whirled, following it.

On the other side she saw shoulder-length blond hair. Slanted, slightly mad blue-green eyes. A laughing mouth. It was one of the guys she'd seen roller blading around the school- the Henderson brothers.

"Welcome to the jungle," he sang. He threw the backpack to me and I caught it singing another line. I threw it to back to Deborah. Cassie couldn't help turning around and around between us, like a cat chasing a fur mouse on a string. Tears flooded her eyes. The laughter and singing rang in her ears, louder and louder.

Suddenly an arm thrust out and caught the backpack in mid-air. The laughter died. I turned to see Nick. He was wearing a T-shirt with rolled-up sleeves and the same worn-in black jeans.

"Aw, Nick," Doug complained. "You're wrecking our game."

"Get out of here," Nick said.

"You get out," I snarled from behind Cassie. "We were just - "

"Yeah, we were only - "Deborah added

"Shut up." Nick glanced at Cassie's locker, with globs of meat still seeping out of it. Then he thrust the backpack at her. "You get out," he said.

"Thank you," she said, blinking back the tears.

"It's not much to thank me for," he said. His voice was like a cold wind. Clutching the backpack to her, she fled.

I rolled my eyes and walked away to my own locker to grab my books and went to Physics. I sat next to Suzan who whispered to me "After school, old science building."

After Physics I had Algebra and I sat down at the back. Somebody sat next to me and I groaned. "I swear Melanie if you are going to give me the same speech Diana did I'm going to do something that I may regret later!"

"We just want to talk to you." Melanie's grey eyes shined. "Why won't you talk to us anymore? Now you're hanging out with Faye? It doesn't make sense."

I ignored Melanie's attempts at conversation for the rest of the lesson and went to the old science building after school.

The old science building didn't look as if it had been used for a while; there was a padlock on the door, but that had been sprung. I pushed on the door and it swung away from me.

Inside, it was dim. I couldn't make out any details but I could see a stairway. I climbed it, one hand on the wall to guide myself.

It was when I reached the top of the stairway that I saw Faye, Suzan and Deborah already here. Suzan shushed me and led me next to her. A few moments later I heard someone's footsteps as they entered the room.

"Hello, Cassie," said Faye. "I'm afraid Sally couldn't make it. But maybe you and I can help each other instead."

"You sent the note," Cassie said flatly.

Faye smiled her slow, terrible smile. "Somehow I didn't think you'd come if I used my own name," she said. "How do you like the little presents you've been finding?"

Tears came to Cassie's eyes. "Haven't you been sleeping well?" Faye continued her throaty voice innocent. "You look awful. Or maybe your dreams have been keeping you awake."

Cassie turned to cast a quick look behind her. There was an exit there, but Suzan and I were in front of it.

"Oh, you can't go yet," Faye said. "I wouldn't dream of letting you."

Cassie stared at her. "Faye, just leave me alone..."

"Dream on," said Deborah, and she laughed nastily.

Faye was holding a piece of paper in her hand, a poem. Cassie lunged at Faye crying, "That's mine!"

It took Faye by surprise. She reeled back, dodging, holding the poem high out of Cassie's reach. Then something caught Cassie's arms from behind, pinning them.

"Thank you, Deborah," Faye said, slightly breathless. She looked at Cassie. "I suppose even a little white mouse will turn. We'll have to remember that. But just now," she continued, "we're going to have an impromptu poetry reading. I'm sorry the atmosphere isn't more - appropriate - but what can you do? This used to be the science building, but nobody comes here much anymore. Not since Doug and Chris Henderson made a little mistake in a chemistry experiment. You've probably seen the Henderson brothers - they're hard to miss. Nice guys, but a little irresponsible. They accidentally made a bomb."

"Of course, some people think it's unsafe here," Faye continued, "so they keep it locked. But we've never let a little thing like that stop us. It is private, though. We can make all the noise we want and nobody will hear us."

Deborah's grip on Cassie's arms looked painful. But Cassie started to struggle again as Faye cleared her throat and held up the paper.

I walked over to Faye and she handed the paper to me. "Let me see... 'My Dreams,' by Cassie Blake. Imaginative title, by the way."

"You don't have any right-" Cassie began, but I ignored her I could feel Faye's smirk on the back of my neck. I began reading in a theatrical, melodramatic voice:

"Each night I lie and dream about the one - "

"It's private!" Cassie cried.

"Who kissed me and awakened my desire - "

"Let me go!"

"I spent a single hour with him alone - "

"It isn't fair - "

"And since that hour, my days are laced with fire." I looked up. "That's it. What do you think, Deborah?"

"It stinks," Deborah said, and then gave a little wrench to Cassie's arms as Cassie tried to tear away. "It's stupid."

"Oh, I don't know. I liked some of the imagery. About fire, for instance. Do you like fire, Cassie?" Faye asked

Cassie went still.

"Do you think about fire, Cassie? Do you dream about it?"

Dry-mouthed, Cassie stared at Faye.

Faye smiled her eyes filed with excitement. "Would you like to see a fire trick?"

Cassie shook her head.

I handed the piece of paper to Faye. Faye snapped the piece of paper in her hand, forming it into a loose cone. Flame burst out of one corner at the top.

"Why don't you tell us who the poem is about, Cassie? This boy who awakened you - who is he?"

Cassie leaned away, trying to escape the blazing paper in front of her face.

"Careful," Deborah said mockingly from behind her. "Don't get too close to her hair."

"What, you mean this close?" said Faye. "Or this close?"

Cassie had to twist her neck to evade the flame. Little glowing bits of paper were flying off in every direction. The brightness left an afterimage.

"Oops, that was close. I think her eyelashes are too long anyway, Deborah, don't you?"

Cassie was fighting now, but Deborah was astonishingly strong "Let go of me –" she gasped out.

"But I thought you liked fire, Cassie. Look into the fire. What do you see?"

Cassie looked like she didn't want to obey, but she couldn't help it. Surely the paper should have burned up by now. But it was still blazing. Tears flooded her eyes and fell down her cheeks.

"Oh, she's just a baby after all," I said, and there was savage disgust in my voice. Disgust and something like disappointment. "Come on, baby, can't you cry any harder than that? If you cry hard enough, maybe you can put it out." A part of me felt bad but just as soon as the feeling appeared it, it disappeared.

Still sobbing, Cassie tossed her head back and forth as the blazing paper stabbed closer. So close that tears fell on it and sizzled.

"What are you doing? Let go of her - now!" The voice came out of nowhere.