Katie stared at the ceiling in the dark of her bedroom. She could hear the snoring of Diago through the wall and a slight light of one of the electric lights on the pathways came through the gap in her curtains. The red letters of the clock glowed 3:01am at her. She sighed and sat up, knowing she wouldn’t sleep tonight, especially after what happened today. Kicking the covers off the bed, she padded silently into the living room and flipped on the living room lamp. Orange light filled the room, sending shadows of the kitchen against the ceiling. Flopping onto the sofa, she stared at the blank TV and grabbed the remote, clicking it on. The usually static came up on the screen and Katie sighed, going to turn it off again. A strange flicker stopped her mid-point. She blinked, looking at the screen closely. She could of sworn she saw a human shape on the screen, briefly in the static snow. Its flickered on screen again, more clearly now, this time staying on screen, the snow reducing slightly around it. A sound floated into the room, sounding like talking. Katie frowned, wondering if it was just the normal programs coming through, finally, after a few days of just static. The more she watched, the more the snow disappeared and the more the picture became sharper. It was a woman, with a soft rounded face, beautiful, with golden blonde hair tumbling down her shoulders in waves, disappearing off screen. Her eyes were brilliant blue and they seemed to stare straight at Katie, her mouth moving silently. Katie clicked up the volume on the remote, trying to hear what was being said. A voice suddenly boomed into the room, sending Katie jumping over the back of the sofa. Diago burst into the room, sleepy eyed slightly, but awake and staring at the TV.

“Katie Jones. Diago Jones. Can you hear me? Katie Jones. Diago Jones. Can you hear me?” the voice repeated over and over again. Katie and Diago looked at each other, then back at the TV. They stayed where they were, to shocked to move. Diago cleared his throat.

“Erm, yes, we can, who is it?” Katie smiled slightly as it sounded like he was just answering the door or phone. The voice changed and sounded like it was coming from far away, different to the first sentence.

“Oh thank the gods, we have been trying to contact you for weeks. The Katarids told us of the experience you had Katie and there were reports of you Diago in one of our cities. Along with others, who we are trying to contact as well. The one called Ghost has been less than helpful, he seems not to want you to come back here yet. But I am afraid we have no choice to call you, I do apologise,” Katie, who had been crouching behind the sofa, now stood and leaned over the back of it.

“What do you mean call us? Are you in Valkania?” The woman nodded.

“Yes I am, I am part of the council, I must now bring you hear please do not be surprised, I am sure you have experienced this before,” Katie blanched slightly at those words then gasped as a familiar rushing began in her ears and orbs of light began to swirl around her. She looked through their light at Diago, who had the same white lights orbiting him as well.

“Dammit I don’t want to go!” she yelled at the TV as the disk of light appeared both beneath her and Diago, both of them dropping instantly at the same time. Katie subconsciously held her breath as they dropped through nothing and braced herself as solid ground appeared underneath her feet. She wobbled slight, but managed to stay standing.

“Ow,” she opened her eyes and grinned slightly at the sigh of Diago sprawled on the ground, “I never get used to that, how did you manage to stay standing?” Katie shrugged and helped him up, looking about. Instead of her Pjs she was wearing the same white dress last time she was in Valkania. Diago’s outfit had changed, from his slobby track suit bottoms to a pair of white cotton light pants and a matching tunic top. Both their feet were bare, but the ground beneath them was warm, despite being white marble flecked with gold. Katie gasped in wonderment as she looked around the place where they were.

“Now THIS is awesome,” stated Diago, also looking about. They were in a massive hall, everything made up of the white marble, the gold flakes sparkling in it like stars in the sky. Huge arched windows let in bright sunshine, and giant pillars rose from the ground, joining on the ceiling in great arches, carved with various people and animals. Many of the human shaped figures were winged, gently looking after the animals in the carvings. Gold leaves wound their way down the pillars and spilled onto the floor, stretching out a few meters in either direction before stopping. What made it different from any other palace was the beautiful trees, flowers and bushes sprouting up around the edges, upon a line of lawn that ran all the way round the hallway and out a door at the back, which looked like it led into a garden. The air was filled with the scents of a thousand flowers, sweet and fragrant. Katie took several breaths of the air, feeling better with each inhalation. Diago tugged at her and pointed as he just noticed the wildlife that appeared to live in the room. A noise Katie had previously ignored now drew her attention. It was the sound of running water, and a stream ran through the grass, joining up in a pool midway one wall, a small waterfall keeping the water flowing. Around this pool, strange looking animals were gathered. One was a large deer like animal, except it had six legs and a tail like a fox. Great horns erupted out of its head, four branches of them and its blue coat shimmered in the light. A group of small furry animals were looking sleepy as a few of them drank. They were like rabbits, but the size of guinea pigs, with long ears, longer than their bodies, that drooped on the floor. Their front paws were hand shaped, picking at the grass in front of them lazily. Their eyes were more human like than rabbits, but still on the sides of their heads, and their tails were long and thin.

“Welcome to one of our Inner Gardens Angel’s Katie and Diago,”