•Raine•

I yawned with great sleepiness. Because I still am. Very sleepy. It's only 12 in the noon, but I'm already at our dining table.

*Maybe if I doze off for a while . . . . . *

". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "

"RAINE!"

I opened my eyes, and nearly fell from my chair.

"Hnugh!" I yelped.

*Gods, damn it.*

"Eat your food, Raine. Or am I going to have to shove it down your throat?" Shynn, my older sister, said.

"Yeah, yeah alright. Just shut up already." I said, while yawning.

I picked up my spoon and fork and ate began to eat my fill of bacon. Let me tell you this. Bacon is great with a capital G. It's my favorite food. Except for ice cream.

"Raine stayed up late last night talking to a boy!" Skynn, my younger brother beside me, sneered.

"Oh shut up! I was not!" I shouted at him.

"Yes, you did!"

I smacked Skynn on his forehead. He smacked me back on the back of my head. That led to a series of smacking-one-up-on-the-heads.

"Both of you, stop! Can't you behave like Vaine over here?!" our sister shouted.

I looked over at Vaine, our youngest brother. He was just stting there, silently eating his share of food. Me and Skynn, however, are still smacking each other.

"She started it!" Skynn shouted.

"You shouldn't have smacked me back!" I snapped.

Before we went into a much more chaotic smacking spree, Shynn stood up and pulled both of our ears. It hurt a lot.

"OOOWWWWWWW!!!!!!" we both shouted in pain.

"Well, I'm ending this. You either sit down and eat your food, or no allowances the whole week." she threatened.

"Oh gods, yes, we'll stop. Just let go!" I said.

She let go of our ears and we sat back down.

"I may have to reduce your allowances to teach you a lesson." she calmly said with a sigh.

"What?! No! This is your fault, Raine!" Skynn shouted.

"What do you mean 'my fault'?! You're the one who smacked back when you shouldn't!"

We continued to bicker on for minutes. Vaine is still silently eating bacon, and I felt Shynn gave up on trying to calm us down. It was always like this at our household. Albeit chaotic, it was still my home.

After we were done eating/fighting, I washed the plates as Shynn leaves for work. Skynn went to our living room to watch tv with Vaine. After I washed our plates, I went out to our backyard through the back door of our dining room. This was my usual spot. Not because of sentiment, but because behind our yard is a huge hedge, and our house is very close to our neighbors'. So when I go out to the yard, nobody sees what I do. Just how I like it.

*Time for practice.*

I set up my wooden dummy that Chase gave me a while back. It was just for the hell of it, but I found a use for it. I started to pick up a bunch of pebbles from the ground.

*Okay. Focus.*

I concentrated my Essence into the pebbles. They quickly turned into small knives in a second.

My Essence is Bladestorm. I named it myself. I can morph any solid object into a knife, as long as I have the power and energy to do so. I do, though. Most of the time. So, not a problem. The knives take the properties of whatever material it's morphed out of. If I turn a pebble into a knife, it becomes a knife that's made out of stone.

As I felt the pebbles turn, I took one and threw it to the dummy. It hit it square in the stomach. I took another one, threw it, and it landed on the dummy's chest. I took two, threw it at the same time, and hit both of the dummy's shoulders. Lastly, I picked up a rock that's about the size of my palm, and I turned it into a knife. I threw it up into the air, caught it, and started to aim. With a swift throw, the knife hit the dummy, right in the face.

*Damn. I'm still a bit off. I was aiming for the neck."

I sighed with disappointment.

*That's it for now. I'll kick the ass out of this dummy again next time.*

I turned away fron the dummy and headed for the door. I felt the knives that were stuck on it turned back into pebbles and fell to the ground.

I went back to the living room, and there was Skynn and Vaine, quietly staring at the television, watching some sort of kids show. I went on inside of my bedroom to get some more sleep.

--------------------

"Hrrrnngghhhh" I groaned.

I woke up to the sound of my alarm. I looked at my phone and saw that it was already 4:30 at the afternoon.

"I slept . . . . . through lunch?" I whispered.

I scratched my head and sat up on my bed. My pillows were on the floor already. The bedsheets, however, are still intact, although, only half my bed has it covered and the other half is messed up. I looked at my phone again and realized that Chase has sent me a message.

"Gods, I want ice cream right now. Wanna hang out?" it said.

"Nah. I have to talk to my sister about the Program. Can't spend more money than I'm alloted for." I replied back.

I put the phone on my bedside table and went out of my room. As I approached the living room, I heard my sister talking to someone on the phone.

"Yes, sir. Right away." she said.

I don't know what's happening but it seems to be serious.

"I understand, Mr. Alfer. Thank you." she said.

The call ended as she sighed deeply.

*Is something wrong?*

She glanced my way, and noticed my presence.

"You're already up." she said.

"Yeah . . . . . " I said.

She sat down on the sofa and urged me to sit beside her, so I did.

"I just got a call from my boss over at work." she said.

"Okay. What's it about?" I asked.

"Well, I got a promotion."

I was happy when she said that. We needed that. We're a little low on financial. Chase's family often lends us some money, but we made sure to pay it back. Ms. Amari says we shouldn't but it's only right that we should. When Shynn told me she's promoted, it gave me a little smile.

"That's great! I thought that phone call was something very serious." I said.

"Well, it is." she replied.

"What do you mean?"

Shynn leaned back on our sofa. That phone call really was serious.

"The job I got promoted to requires me to go to a different branch of the company." she said.

"Really? If it's the one in Elenha, that's just a train ride away. Aside from the additional fare, nothing would really change, right?" I said.

"That's the thing. It's not in Elenha City."

I was confused.

*Are there any more branches of BioSteel in Newden?*

"Then where?" I asked.

She let out a deep sigh.

"It's in Mandel."