CHAPTER 1

A Burgeoning Light

THE FIRST RAYS OF light spilled through the glass doors,splashed across the pristine fluffy white carpet, and reachedacross the white comforter that covered the small wood-framebed, barely missing the pastel face of a small fifteen-year-old girl whoslept there. As the old birch door of the room opened, a young womansashayed through importantly, her bright red hair swaying in a tightponytail as her white, silver-trimmed apron swished madly about.She stopped at the foot of the bed with a slight look of irritation onher freckled pale face. She strode over to the curtains and pulledthem open with one quick motion, filling the room with the brightrays of morning sun. The sleeping figure on the bed grunted indisapproval.

"Now, now, it's time to get up, Princess Lily," the servant statedmatter-of-factly in a slightly Irish accent, her jade-green eyes focusedon the lump in the bed as she sat down next to it.

Lily peeked from underneath the covers with unfocused lightbrown eyes tinged with green and gold. "Just a minute more? Please,Hannah?" she asked. Her tiny voice was garbled and thick with sleep.She was still very tired after staying up so late the night before.

"Wish I could oblige, Princess, but Karyn wishes to see you inthe garden for breakfast. How did you sleep?" Her Irish accent gotthicker as she spoke. She had told Lily stories of Earth many times bythe fire and had explained how people from Earth have accents fromtheir regions of it. However this had always confused Lily; geographyshould matter very little in language, but she had learned over timeto simply accept it.

"I had a nightmare last night about Star," said Lily, rubbing thesleep out of her eyes and sitting up in bed as the images that hadplagued her all night came back to her. It had begun with the daythat Star took her to the amusement park. They were laughing andriding rides, eating cotton candy, and playing games. She was holdingStar's hand as they walked through the crowd, happily talking aboutwhat to do next, when suddenly her hand slipped out of Star's. Shegrabbed for her companion's hand, feeling anxious as Star was pushedaway from her by the crowd. As her heart beat loudly in her ears, Lilypushed her way through the throng of people searching desperately forStar. She caught a glimpse of Star passing through the wacky mirrorhouse door and ran toward it, terrified. As she passed through thedoor, she found herself standing in between two tall brick buildings.Disoriented and confused, she looked around. Star lay on a strangesection of flat gray stone, all of the sections snug together in a lineuntil the path ended in a wall. Two dead bodies lay close by, makinglarge puddles of blood. Lily saw a man with long sun-kissed hair anda large bloody sword in his hand bend down to talk with Star, and shechoked out her last words in his ear. Lily didn't hear what Star said,but she knew it was important. Blood rushed out of Star's mouth asher lips parted, and she gripped the man's shoulder tightly. As theblood stopped, Star fell back letting go of the man beside her and thelight disappeared from her eyes. Tears streamed down Lily's face; shewas unable to stem the flow as she screamed in her own mind.

Hannah interrupted Lily's silent replaying of the dream. "Whatwas it about?" she asked, sounding slightly interested.

"At first, it was a happy dream, but then I ... watched Star die ... Ifelt helpless to save her," said Lily, beginning to cry as she again sawStar's last moments replaying in her mind.

Hannah pulled her over and hugged her as she said softly, "It'snot your fault that Star died. We talked about this last night."

"I know, but ..." Lily paused as she sniffled pathetically, gettinga whiff of the strange mix of lavender from Hannah's hair and thesmell of strawberry perfume she always wore. "I felt like I should havedone something, but I just couldn't no matter how hard I tried!" shecried, sniffling loudly. Hannah stood up and walked over the plainset of white dressers, picked up a box of tissues, and gave one to Lilyas she sat back down next to her on the bed. Lily took it gratefullyand gave a loud blow.

"Feel better?" asked Hannah hopefully.

"Not really." Lily sighed then sniffed, feeling her nose beginningto get stuffy again.

"I know you and Star were close, but she is gone now. She wouldwant you to keep your head up and smile." Hannah lightly rubbedher back.

"I'm sure you're right Hannah; you usually are." Lily looked atHannah sincerely, smiling with gratitude, grateful to have such agood friend.

Hannah gave her a reassuring grin. "We must get you dressedfor breakfast with Elder Karyn. The gossip in the servants' quartersis that she has something to tell you! This might be it!" she saidexcitedly.

Lily instantly brightened, hoping against hope that her motherhad finally agreed to allow her to go to Earth for study. They hadbeen arguing about it for years, and Lily had tried everything toconvince her mother of the importance of going. "Well, what are wewaiting for?" she said happily and jumped out of bed with a spring inher step. In the back of her mind, she knew that she was not goingto talk to her mother today about leaving to study. They were to talkabout Star and perhaps about funeral arrangements. She pushed thethought far from her mind as she tried to keep the happy feeling alivewithin her, when all that she wished to do was lie on her bed and cryuntil she couldn't any longer.

They walked to the closet at the opposite end of the room andstepped in. It was a strangely spacious closet despite the smallnessof the actual room outside, with a step stool in the center and tworacks of clothes on either side with shoes underneath in neat...