I wanted to kick him. That little creep Dominic was bullying my sister again. He had just transferred to our school, Umana Barnes Middle School, last month and already he was terrorizing half of the students. He went to the principal's office at least once every day, but detentions and numerous scoldings from teachers didn't seem to dissuade him from making the school days of many underclassmen miserable.

I guess I should back up. I'm Daniel Ramirez, but you can just call me Danny. I'm fourteen years old and I'm a freshman. My sister, Lisa Ramirez, is twelve years old and in seventh grade. We lived with our mom in an apartment just off of Lexington Street in East Boston, Massachusetts. We look somewhat the same with our brown hair, but that's where the similarity stops. She takes after our mom with her blue eyes and fair skin, but me, well, I take after our dad with my green eyes and tanned skin.

Our personalities couldn't be more different as well. I love sports and try out for every athletic team that our school offers. Apparently, according to my sister, I'm also a rebel. I don't see it. Lisa is completely different. She hates sports and would rather spend the day reading a book. She's such a nerd.

Anyway, I was getting sick of Dominic bullying my sister. I wanted to give him a piece of my mind, but that was easier said that done as he was twice as big as me. The truth was, I didn't really care. He was beating up my sis, and no one, I mean no one does that to my sister.

I walked over to where he was shoving Lisa's face in the dirt and called out to distract him.

"Hey, you big bozo, lay off my sister!" I yelled. He looked up and then chuckled.

"Come to her rescue, eh? Good, now I can give you both a dirt wash," said Dominic, grinning malevolently.

"Leave her alone!" I shouted, sounding braver than I felt.

"Fine. I can take you instead," he laughed. By now the students who were outside for break had gathered around us and were shouting "Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Dominic lunged at me and I side-stepped him easily. He sneered at me.

"You think you're so great, don't you? Now tell me, what do you know of the prophecy?" he asked. The tone of his voice told me that if he didn't like my answer, something bad would happen.

And then I said the stupidest thing that someone could say to a person that was twice their size.

"The only thing I know is that you need a nice, white jacket to wear and a nice, padded room to live in."

With a snarl, he launched himself at me and this time I didn't have time to react. I did, however, have time to realize a little too late the stupidity of my comment before one hundred eighty pounds came crashing down on me and crushed the breath right out of me. I struggled underneath him, trying to get out any way I could, before hitting him with a good, hard punch to the jaw. He groaned and let go of me, rubbing his jaw and scowling.

"Dude, seriously, what's your problem?" I asked him, quite serious. He started laughing and I had no idea why.

"What's my problem? What's my  problem? My problem is that a puny human will not give me the information I seek. Perhaps a greater form of persuasion is in order..."

My mind was registering his strange usage of the words "puny" and "human" when suddenly his whole form began to change. His skin turned red and withered and- well, let's just say that you wouldn't see him in any Dove commercials. Horns peeked out of a mass of tangled, greasy black hair, and his eyes gleamed the color of blood. He snapped at Lisa and me, revealing pointed teeth.

I pushed the creature off of me and kicked him in the stomach for good measure, stumbling back. He doubled over and held his stomach, grunting in pain. I raised my arm, ready to punch him so he would make sure to leave my sister and I alone, but then something strange happened. He vanished completely, leaving only a few traces of dust behind.

Looking around, I realized that all the other students were staring at me and, with a jolt, I realized that I had just beaten up some sort of demon creature while these guys were watching.

"Uh... nothing happened," I said lamely. To my surprise, a glazed sort of look appeared on their faces and then, one by one, they all turned around and walked away, splitting up into the different groups that they had been in before and continuing their previous activities.

I walked over to where Lisa was still sitting on the ground, a bewildered expression on her face as she glanced warily at the students around her. I held my hand out to her, feeling just as confused as she was. I knew thousands of questions were racing through her head just as they were racing through mine. She grasped my hand and I pulled her to her feet gently. I shoved my hands in my pockets, something I always did when I was in thought, and watched as she brushed herself off, making a face.

"What was that thing?" she asked me breathlessly.

"I have no clue," I answered, shaking my head.

The bell gave a sharp trill, signaling the end of another school day.

Saved by the bell,  I thought.

"Come on," I said, turning towards the school and beginning to walk back. "Dad promised to take us to the Japanese History Museum after school." Lisa nodded in agreement and together we made our way back to Umana Barnes Middle School, but of us silent as we thought about what had just happened. We stopped at our lockers, which were conveniently right next to each other, and grabbed our backpacks before heading out into the parking lot where we had chained our bikes. I spun the combination, hearing the familiar click as it was unlocked, but my mind was elsewhere.

There seemed to be an unspoken agreement between Lisa and me not to speak of what had just happened. I didn't know what to make of it. Surely the demon creature couldn't have been real, but the fact that Lisa had also seen it told me that I wasn't going crazy, which I was both glad and disappointed about. I was glad because, well, I wasn't ready to wear a nice, white jacket and live in a small, padded room with no windows, but I was also disappointed because if I had been crazy, at least there would have been a simple explanation. But no, I suspected that the truth about the demon creature was definitely not simple.

My thoughts shifted to our plans for this evening. Last fall, Boston had announced that the construction of a Japanese History Museum was underway. Tonight was the grand opening of said museum and they were putting on a special display of Japanese pottery and weapons. Our father, having business connections with many of Boston's museum curators, was given three free admissions to the grand opening. Lucky for Lisa and I. 

My thoughts shifted again, but this time to our parents. Our mother, Sally Ramirez, was without a doubt the most caring and hardworking person I had ever met. Being a single mother with hardly any time off of work was exhausting for her, but she made up for it by spending what little down time she had with us. Our father, Antonio Ramirez, was extremely dedicated to his work as a mechanic and often worked extra shifts. Lisa and I hardly ever saw him lately, so tonight was special.

About three months ago, our parents had separated. I knew that the separation had been hard on both of them. However much they tried to act strong for us, I could see past the walls they had put up. When she thought I wasn't looking, Mom would get a distant, sad look in her eyes and stare into space as she did the household chores, and though I didn't see Dad that often, I knew that he was busying himself with work so that he didn't have time to think about it.

As we pedaled away from Umana Barnes Middle School, my mind couldn't help but wonder back to the demon creature from earlier and the same question pounded through my head: what was going on?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N: Thank you all so much for reading! A little background on this story: I wrote it when I was around sixteen or so and this is the revised edition. However, the one that I wrote all those years ago received a First Place Award in a local contest. The sequel, which I will also be posting here, received a Grand Champion Award. These little novellas are my babies and they have helped me grow so much as a writer. They were inspired by Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series (which if you haven't read, what are you doing right now?)

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