Keeya threw her backpack on the bed in her new dorm room. It was a large room, about the size of one of the hotel rooms her family stayed at when they went to the beach when she was little. Two king-size beds, a couple dressers and two closets. Her, roommate, who was no where to be found, had plastered her walls with musicians’ posters and travel posters for what looked like parts of France, but Keeya wasn’t sure. The names sounded French.

Keeya smiled. The twins from Italy and now an international roommate, Keeya was starting to feel worldly through her connections. Once she was back, she would show them all of Chicago’s greatest places, and not the tourist spots either.

In her new closet was a royal blue, green and gold track suit with the Dawn Light Inc. Logo stamped everywhere.

“Okay, that’s some weird merch. But it should help me blend in and sneak outta here,” Keeya said with a wicked grin. She reached for her phone and scanned all her usual socials, this time checking for patrols in her area.

A bright light beamed in her eye, and she looked toward the window. It was on her roommate’s side and had been blocked with a curtain, but a gentle breeze rustled it open and revealed a magnificent view of her home city.

She had seen how the city looked before in her history books and her parents’ photos. It looked crowded, smoggy, and so… vibrant. So alive. The old skyline stood as sentinels to the memory of what the city once was. With her new team she knew they could do the work no other Zookeepers could. And that was wiping out all the snakes. All of them, for good. Maybe even figure out where they came from in the first place. There were so many theories, not to mention a few cults that claimed they knew. But it would be easier for people to figure out if there were fewer of them. And that’s where Keeya came in.

Memories of Team Garden expertly handling a horde of snakes fueled her determination. She didn’t want to hold back her new team or keep them base-bound while she trained at Marcella’s boot camp.  

Keeya quickly put on the suit and zipped it up noting how perfectly it fit her.

“Crazy colors but great fit, okay then,” Keeya summoned her staff and then just as quickly unsummoned it like a warmup stretch.

She left her room, making sure no one was in the hallway, and briskly walked to the elevator. Her plan was simple, take an elevator to the training rooms and hope some people saw her and then take the stairs down and out of the building.

The training hallway was just as busy the first time she had come up but with new occupants. There was a tap dancer clattering away in a fancy pant suit creating ripples of Dawns Light like a downpour on a pond while their upper body remained stiff as a robot. In the next room was a martial artist in a starch white gi, their long brown hair tied back in a sweaty ponytail. Keeya took a closer look and noticed their hands and feet looked slightly larger and sparkier than normal. Then she realized that Dawns Light covered their fist and feet in a layer of golden light.

She trotted on, her imagination racing at the endless possibilities of Dawns Light.

Keeya paused at one room where someone was playing a piano. It was one of those grand pianos she saw in movies, and it was made completely of Dawns Light. She stared in amazement at the perfect construct of the instrument; there was even a stool made of light for her to sit on as she played. With each press of the key a small, delicate wave of Dawns Light rippled out till it dissipated into shimmering stardust that filled the room.

The music crashed into Keeya like a wave, and she felt the Dawns Light filling her till she got that sickly stuffed feeling again, and it shook her from the revere. She jogged toward the stairway she had noticed when Marco brought her up here. The door creaked loudly and she was grateful for the music to cover the sound. But once the door slammed shut, she couldn’t help but wince at the echo it made down the many, many floors below.

“Okay, just like at the school, feel the Dawns Light in my legs, let it be my power and my healing.”

With a leap of faith, she jumped the entire flight of stairs and landed with a loud thud on the landing below but remained perfectly unharmed.

“Yooooo! Okay!” she said triumphantly and with a grit of determination she felt the power again.

When she made it to the exit and out of the building she looked back up at the now sunset illuminated skyscraper. Gabrielle had given her the rundown on the place while Keeya had been changing.

“Sorry Marcella, but I think I would learn faster from a trial run rather than training.”

*

The Dawns Light Inc Headquarters was huge and comprised of four skyscrapers in the center and a samll neighborhood surrounded by high gray walls with gates on the north and south side that were guarded 24/7. If it weren’t for the imposing skyscrapers Keeya would have thought it was a military base like the ones her mom worked at before she went on maternity leave.

Her plan was simple, get to the last patrol area before the Zookeepers on duty arrived and get some practice in. If things went south then she wouldn’t be far from help and the security of the base.

Using her power, she made quick work of a wall behind some hedges and was soon out. The buildings were completely different from the compound, old and made of bricks with bars over their windows. She summoned her staff.

Not even a few paces away from the wall she heard a hissing noise and stopped. She had always been hyperaware of snakes ever since she was a kid, always looking for the signs and sounds of their presence.

It came from an alley full of garbage and debris and in the distance where shadows were starting to deepen was a weird multihued glow, like old neon lights. Satisfied there were no snakes she turned to keep going. Then she heard someone call out,

“Is anyone there? I need help Please!” It sounded like a woman and she sounded scared.

Keeya’s heart quickened. What was an adult doing out in an unpatrolled area this close to sunset? Keeya went through the rules of patrolling she had read from the tablet Marco had given her with her new position as “Magical Kid in Training”. If any Zookeeper was separated from their team they were to set off a flare and alert other teams in the nearby area via the phone app. Keeya had neither. But she did have power, lots of it and she was fully charged as far as she knew. After experiencing the nausea of being filled with Dawns Light twice now she was beginning to think that the nausea came from being too full.

She summoned the glow, knowing it might attract any nearby snakes. She was about to race both the sunset and any nearby snakes. But a persons life was in the balance, and she couldn’t afford to wait till they arrived.

The power shot up like a firework and exploded high in the air.

“Not bad for my first try,” Keeya said shielding her eyes from the flash. It cast haunting shadows from the mishappened black bags and rusted out drums nearby.

She kept her eyes on those shadows, facing them down like a matador and her staff the red cloth. But nothing happened, no attacks and no hissing. Had she imagined it? Was she so desperate to prove herself she was hallucinating hero scenarios?

“Ma’am my name is Keeya and I’m a magical kid, I’m coming to help you,” she called out but all that replied was eerie silence.

Keeya’s heart thundered in her throat. Had she been too late?  She launched herself in the alley, her sneakers splashing in puddles and stamping down broken glass. The power in her feet kept her pace quick but also rippled out like the tap-dancers ensuring no small snakes could get the jump on her.

Alone like this Keeya wasn’t going to take any chances, but she also wasn’t going to wait for backup.

Rounding the corner, brandishing her staff like a sword. But there was no snake and no woman just a huge neon light that looked otherworldly.

“Stand here please?” Keeya read confused. It was written in English, but the green, pink, and yellow bulbs looked odd, it was almost like someone who didn’t speak English had written the words on the building itself.

Something wasn’t right.

She spun around and came face to face with the rearing head and open cotton mouth of a giant snake. It dove for her and she dodged, it’s head smashing into the ground with a thud. Cut off from the exit the snakes huge body coiled around the bend and disappeared.

Keeya struggled to breath. Her heart was about to explode with fear. She couldn’t think of a snake this large ever being sighted. Are there more? How many people saw her flare and how far away were they?

Keeya gripped her staff in two hands, backing up till she felt her back hit a dumpster. She glanced back and noticed it was mostly empty, which gave her an idea.

Shoving her fear down she quickly filled her limbs with power. The snake noticed and hissed with what sounded like pleasure. It pinned Keeya with its red gaze. She slowly bent her knees, her whole body aglow with power. Too tasty to resist anymore the massive snake lunged for its next meal. Keeya jumped into the air, the massive head slamming into the dumpster, its body seized up and coiled around itself. She flipped and grabbed the old, warped plastic lid and slammed it down with all her might, bending it even further around the shape of the snake as it continued to fight through the muck. Just when she was about to pump it with as much Dawns Light as she could she heard someone cry,

“Look out!”

She whipped her head up, just in time to see the body of the snake almost fold into her. It stopped and struggled against something and in the warm light she could see dozens of thorny vines holding it in place.

She jumped from the lid and he snake hissed furiously as it continued to struggle its way out of the dumpster. For a minute Keeya’s whirling thoughts remembered a video of a squirrel that got its head stuck in a can and its furious panicked struggles to get out.

“Keeya, get over here!” Marcella yelled as she struggled to hold the snake back.

Keeya did, running over as she ducked and weaved through vines and the snake’s body.

Marcella breathed deeply and gathered an enormous about of Dawns Light. She too shined and her eyes glowed with the power that was equal her fierce determined look. Thousands of thorns erupted from the vines and punctured its skin. Golden blood dripped out and Keeya could have sworn she saw the snake shrink in size ever so slightly. What in the world was going on?

“Is that thing bleeding right now?” Keeya asked, wondering if Marcella had any idea this was going to happen.

“Apparently,” was all she said through gritted teeth.

“New kid, you going to help me out after getting us in this mess?” she added, glaring at Keeya so hard Keeya flinched.

“Right! On it!” Keeya said focusing back on the snake. It had stopped struggling and was now calmly investigating a way out, which Keeya found even more terrifying. A flash of the other large snake that she had seen in the warehouse crossed her mind’s eye. While in the cage it didn’t writhe or hiss like its trapped brethren but stared at her with some semblance of intelligence.

Do they get smarter the bigger they get?

Keeya shook her head trying to focus. This is literally life and death, and her mind was going everywhere. Focus!

She hadn’t really lost all the Dawns Light she had gathered just before Marcella arrived, but it was like redrawing a bow you had put over your back. Pointing the staff at the creature she kept envisioning the Dawn Light as an arrow.

“We need to fill it at the same time, or it could just grow on one of our attacks then one of us is drained and the other can’t hope to defeat it,” Marcella said slowly and quietly, almost as if she saw how quickly the snake was adapting to its bonds.

“Ready? On my mark.”

Keeya gathered even more power, not sure how much it would take for a snake this size and just decided to go all out.

“NOW!” Marcella said and Dawns Light raced down all the vines and thorns like lightning. Keeya for her part, did indeed summon a tremendous amount of Dawns Light and she even managed to keep it concentrated in a pillar aimed right for the creature that had just gotten it’s head free.

It screamed and clenched its body in pain as it filled with Dawns Light turning from black to gray before bursting into white ashes.  

Marcella doubled over as she struggled to breath.

“Are you okay?” Keeya cried out, looking for signs of being bitten or petrification.

“Marcella?” Keeya said hesitantly.

Marcella straightened and gave Keeya a quick once over, probably also checking for petrification.

“You stupid…” she said, then followed up with some Italian that sounded suspiciously like swears.

“Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? Going alone like that! What were you thinking?”

Keeya remembered the voice and looked around in a panic.

“There was a woman, she called out to me, and there wasn’t time to get anyone, but I did summon a flare… of sorts.” Keeya started pacing around the alleyway.

“Ma’am, where are you? It’s safe to come out!” Keeya called.

Marcella looked confused and even though the sunlight was being blocked by the surrounding buildings, it was clear to see that there wasn’t anyone there.

Keeya turned back to explain but found Marcella was staring at the weird neon light.

“What the hell?”

Keeya nodded.

“Weird, isn’t it.”

“More like super creepy. Let’s go, the patrol team will be here soon. If you are going to do something like this again then make sure I go with you so I can watch you get your ass kicked.”

Keeya was about to laugh, the relief of surviving that crazy ordeal and the amount of power she pumped out making her feel lightheaded. Then she saw Marcella’s hands tremble and her shoulders shook. She had been terrified, but she still came to Keeya’s rescue.

“Thanks for helping me, Marcella, I’ll try to bring you out for my evening strolls form now on.”