When she was done, she packed them away, deciding that the family needed those pictures much less than she did. From that time on, she intended to hold on to them with every ounce of life she had—they would become her family of sorts, her way of escaping and pretending there were people who cared for her.

  Later that day, after the usual turmoil of life on the street, Rayna excitedly found a secluded spot and called on her new family once again. She made herself comfortable, whipped the photos out of her tattered bag, and began her visit.

  What she saw then, in those abandoned photographs, set her life on a new course.

  The boy, falling off his bike, a look of terror on his face.

  The boy, graduating from high school.

  The boy, eating in a restaurant, driving a car, watching TV.

  His parents, his friends, his siblings, all doing an assortment of things, none of them important, but changing her life nonetheless. The pictures kept changing, some even as she looked directly at them. Some even ended up showing means of death. They altered enough as she flipped through them that she knew right away that not everything she saw could possibly come true.

  Rayna was homeless, Rayna was ugly, Rayna was unhappy, but Rayna was not stupid. She knew that the world was different now, that she had discovered a special gift that changed everything. She did not need to find the Alliance, they found her, and she joined without hesitation.

  Tanaka, Geezer, many others. There was one precious meeting with the Givers. Her life found meaning. She now had purpose. With no hesitation, Rayna devoted her life to the future of the world, and engaged herself in the battle against the Stompers.

  Every member of the Alliance had one goal to make their calling official—a visit to the Blackness. Rayna's came fourteen years after her initial experience with the photographs.

  The Givers had given them a time and a place, and Rayna waited anxiously for the Random Ripping. It was a quiet spot near a river, a journey of some days from where she was living. Eventually, the sound of ripping paper and static electricity filled the air around her, and she jumped through. Rayna was in the Blackness.

  The black marble path stretched out before her, surrounded by the mercurial waters, gently ebbing against the slightly raised path. Mist and cloud filled the air and sky, silent and wet. She began to walk.

  On and on she went, passing the round, stone landings holding the stack of iron rings that served as gateways to other worlds. Rayna passed by them, not yet knowing at the time what their purpose was. Later, she would wonder why the Givers had not given her more instruction before sending her in. It would prove to be a reason that she did not want. Rayna was there to have a specific experience, one that would help the cause of the Alliance, one that would give them invaluable knowledge.

  An experience that would haunt her dreams from that time forward.

  She had been walking for hours, tired and hungry, wishing miserably to go home. The Blackness was not turning out the way she expected. There was no glamour, nothing bizarre or fascinating. It was just black marble, a sea of inky water, and fog.

  The piercing sound of the Shadow Ka hit her ears before the sight of it hit her eyes. Dread dropped over her, and she quickly hunkered down to the path, crouching, hoping against hope that it would not see her. Knowing it would be impossible not to look, her eyes flickered through the sky, timorous and weak. She was petrified.

  A slight disturbance in the fog, shooting eddies of mist in all directions, announced the arrival of the Ka. Its massive, black shadowed wings thumped the moist air, and when it spotted Rayna, the Shadow Ka let out another painful cry.

  Rayna did the only thing that human instinct teaches someone when a big bad shadow monster is coming at you. She got up and ran.

  The Ka swooped down and grabbed her with its dark claws, grasping the back of her shirt, not letting go. With a yelp, Rayna felt herself lifted into the air, the ground quickly being swallowed up in the thick fog. Her stomach lurched from the speed and height and terror.

  The Shadow Ka flew and flew, until finally, it reached its home.

  Then, it got scary.

  As they flew, Rayna settled a bit, realizing that for the moment the Ka was not going to hurt her, and its grip on her was not painful, although uncomfortable. Feeling very absurd, she just hung there, looking in the direction of their flight, anxious about what awaited them.

  In the distance, a great darkness loomed. Soon, it took on definition—massive, humongous, and unbelievable to her eyes.

  Her mind could not interpret what she was seeing. It kept computing that what she saw was impossible. But there it was. It was so large, it filled her whole vision as they flew closer, a black, writhing mass of shiny, gooey something. Although she had no idea what it was made of, the form and shape of the structure was absolutely unmistakable. It was a face, its identity certain.

  As they approached it, it became more and more difficult to see all of the features on the face. The eyes were suddenly miles above her, the mouth miles below, and the nose directly in front, coming closer and closer. Its surface moved and shook, like tar in an earthquake.

  With a scream, the Shadow Ka suddenly swooped upward. Now they were flying toward the eyes of the massive black carving. Then, toward one eye. Before long, it was obvious that the Ka was not going to slow down, that it meant to fly into the eye. Soon the orb was upon them.

  Rayna screamed as they plunged into the black goo of the eye.

  The eye of the face that looked very familiar.

  It was hers.

  Rayna felt the Shadow Ka let go. Suddenly, she was floating in emptiness, nothingness. All around her, images shifted in and out, appearing here, appearing there, some flickering for a second, then gone, some staying for several seconds. They were all images of her life, of her dreams, of her nightmares. They were memories of both the real world and her sleeping world. They were all bad, all terrifying. Everything in her mind that was worth forgetting, that needed forgetting, flew past her, reminding her, haunting her.

  She felt so exhausted. She wanted to sleep. She wanted to give up, give in to this madness and be done with it.

  Then, there was a face in front of her, yelling at her.

  The person slapped Rayna, jolting her awake.

  It was a lady, a beautiful lady, all dressed in shiny green. She was yelling something.

  “I will die for you! Use this chance that I have given you!”

  She then put her hands over Rayna's eyes, and the world exploded around her, with no sound, but violent all the same.

  She opened her eyes, and she was standing once again on the marble path, in the middle of the silvery sea. Soon after, a Ripping opened, and she stepped through. The dreary world of the Blackness was replaced with the familiar streets of Japan.

  The nightmare was over, Rayna was home.

  All I could think about was Joseph. He was still in that horrible place.

  Talk about your downer stories. I decided right then that I was going to take a break from asking people about their pasts. If people wanted me to know something, they could offer it up without telling me the whole depressing story. Yikes.

  “From that day on,” Rayna concluded, “I have always worn green, in honor of that lady who saved me. I don't know what she meant by saying she would die for me, but whatever she did, it helped me escape a terror that I could never describe to you adequately. Please, let's forget it, and not speak of it again. There is much to do.”

  More than happy to grant her request, we all took a deep breath and continued on toward the horses.

  They were right where we left them, although nearly out of food. There didn't seem to be a blade of grass or a single leaf in sight. They had taken pretty good care of themselves. Running behind schedule, we got them ready in a hurry, and took off down the mountain. Luckily for us, our destination lay in the opposite direction of the way we had come. Otherwise, we would've had a dandy of a time getting around the disaster of the mudslide.

  We picked our way down trails, through crevices and gullies, traipsing our way through bush and jagged stone. Eventually, finally, we burst out of a ravine upon a wide valley that stretched for miles until it hit another mountain range in the distance. There, in the middle of the valley before us, wound a long ribbon of black. The freeway that Rayna had spoken of. We had made it to the place in the picture—even I could see that.

  To our right, way in the distance, we could see a pack of something slowly moving down the freeway toward the road directly below us.

  “There they are.” Rayna said simply, no need to clarify.

  “Jimmy,” Miyoko said in a somber voice. I turned my attention toward her.

  “You are now a member of the Alliance. No, you are now the leader of the Alliance. We will join with you and we will defeat the Stompers. We will go where you lead, we will do what you say, we will fight who you fight. With you, we will gather the others of our alliance, we will help you obtain the Third and Fourth Gifts, and we will save the world.”

  I stared at her, at all of them. I now knew that I was indeed a pretty important person, but this seemed a bit much. I was embarrassed.

  “Okay, Miyoko. Thanks, I guess. We're all in this together, and somehow we'll make it through. But right now, all I can think of is my family, and according to Rayna, they're down there, with those scary people on motorcycles. It's time to go get them.”

  “Well, what is our plan of action?” asked Rayna. “If we come at them from different—”

  “No,” I cut her off, looking down at the approaching army of Shadow Ka. “I can't afford to spend half my time trying to protect you guys with my Gifts. Stay here and rest.”

  I looked back at them, and surprised myself with my next words.

  “I'll be much more powerful if I'm alone.”

  With that, I turned my horse toward the valley below, looking once again at the gathered mass of motorcycles. I gave Baka a gentle kick.

  I headed straight for the freeway, about a mile ahead of where the Bosu Zoku were packed together, slowly moving down the road toward me, weaving in and out of each other, revving their engines, loud even from the distance. Miyoko had told me about these guys, and how they often disrupted traffic, acting like they ruled the world. I could see cars behind them turning around, and others simply pulling off to the side and getting out to watch whatever was planned. It all seemed so strange.

  I rode hard down the long path, wondering when they would see me and what they would do then. Finally, I reached the wide road, slowed Baka down, and trotted to the middle of the paved freeway, turning toward the Bosu Zoku.

  I stared at them, my heart racing, trying to sort out what in the world I thought I was going to do, reminding myself that they had my family somewhere, and that this was the only way to save them.

  Ever so slowly, the riders came closer. As they approached, I could see that we had far underestimated their numbers. There had to be at least fifty of them. Fifty motorcycles, with Shadow Ka as their riders.

  Two things kept me strong. The sure knowledge that the Sounding Rod was destroyed, and the incredible new gift I had received. No matter what these people attempted, they would not hurt me. I had a newfound courage that far surpassed anything I'd felt before. I was ready for them.

  A sudden surge in the sounds of their engines ripped through the air.

  They had seen me, and they knew who I was.

  A new focus came over the group, the random weavings and the errant shouts coming to a halt. As one, they lined up in rows covering the entire four-lane road. There appeared to be a larger shape in the middle of the pack, but it was too far away to tell for sure. With a roar they brought their bikes up to full speed, and charged.

  Adrenaline filled me.

  With a yell I kicked Baka into action. He let loose, galloping with all of his strength, bursting forward in his own charge, heading straight for the Bosu Zoku.

  It seemed impossible to go so fast on a horse. Wind ripped at my hair and clothes. An assortment of sounds filled my ears, almost deafening. The clacking of the hooves on the road, the roar of the wind, the piercing scream of the bike engines.

  We charged on, as did they, the gap between us narrowing by the second. Their motorcycles tore down the road, coming and coming, their awful sounds getting louder and louder. I urged Baka on, trying to breathe, to stay calm.

  From above it must have been quite a sight. A massive body of motorcycles charging toward a lone horse and rider, galloping with matched determination, both groups on a certain collision course.

  One biker broke off from the group, revving his engine with a quick wheelie and then bursting ahead of the others. The speed was incredible. They were now only a couple of football fields away.

  Then, I had an idea, and went with it.

  My family once went to a place where you sat in a huge arena, and watched men dressed like medieval knights pretend to fight while you ate dinner. It was a blast, and my favorite part had been the jousting tournament, where armored knights charged each other on horses, trying to knock the other off with a long, thick, spear-like thing called a lance.

  Right then, approaching the biker, it was all I could think of.

  I called upon The Ice. It was still an effort, difficult on a galloping horse, and I was glad for those hours of practice. I felt invincible.

  I put forth my right hand, pointing toward the lone biker. That soft crackling sound fluttered through the air, followed by the tingling sensation of The Ice. It enveloped my entire arm, still pointed straight ahead, and I then pushed it forward. Molecules of water swarmed out of the air in a misty cloud, quickly forming a long javelin of ice extending out from my arm, five inches thick, seven feet long, and tapering down to a pointed end. I charged forth like an ancient knight of England, right arm extended, the cold shaft of my frozen lance ready for combat.

  As strange as the whole thing seemed, it got stranger.

  The biker was now in plain sight, maybe fifty yards away. His bandanna flapped in the wind, as did his hair. Sunglasses hid eyes that I knew to be pitch black. A wicked grin filled his face. And then he revealed himself to be a monster.

  He held out his right hand, and it exploded into a swirling tornado of black ash, spinning and spinning until it was a formless beam of dark shadow. It extended toward me, until he too appeared to be holding a lance. His was black, mine was the color of wet crystal.

  With no time to ponder the surreal craziness of it all, I charged full speed ahead.

  Twenty yards.

  The scream of his engine drowned out the pounding of Baka's hooves.

  Fifteen yards.

  I leaned forward, tightening every muscle in my right arm. He did the same, the grin never leaving his face.

  Ten yards.

  With a gasp of surprise, coming too late, I realized his lance was longer than mine.

  It crashed into The Shield, dissolving into swimming specks of shadow. It didn't rebound like most objects do. It just disintegrated two feet in front of me, his dark lance disappearing bit by bit as it hit The Shield.

  My lance of ice reached him. The tip of it tore into his leather-jacketed shoulder, ripping him off the bike and throwing him into the air. He let out a scream that belied his macho image and landed with a horrible thump, his bike skittering to a halt behind us.

  I released The Ice, and it exploded with a swirl of mist back into the air.

  I jumped off of Baka, and gave him a quick push, urging him to get away as fast as possible. His job done, he galloped away, off toward the mountain above us.

  I turned around and faced the rest of the oncoming mob.

  It was time for battle.

  I needed to stop them if I was going to figure out where my family was being held. Having seen what I did to their lead man, surely they realized there was nothing they could do to hurt me. Rayna had foreseen a sense of urgency in the photo, that they were on their way somewhere important, so after what I did to the first biker, they probably formed a new strategy of just going right by and leaving me behind. I couldn't let that happen.

  Of course, these thoughts went through my head in an instant.

  The first row of Bosu Zoku was twenty yards away. Their deadly stares bore down on me, and I could feel their hatred. I called upon The Ice.

  I brought both arms up from my sides, holding them straight out, pointing away from me in both directions, as if I were ready to give a welcoming hug to my friends on the bikes.

  The crackling sound of ice forming filled the air, misty swirls of moisture shooting out from my hands. The Ice covered my arms completely, and I was able to push it with less effort than ever before, blasting from my hands in a straight line, forty inches thick, forming a barrier chesthigh across the entire freeway. Without any specific thought from me, The Ice obeyed my wishes and floated there, again defying gravity. Once the ends of the thick rods of ice reached the edges of the freeway, I planned to expand them into a solid wall. But they had just reached those points when my eyes caught something that made my stomach turn over.

  As I stood there, the first bikers just feet away from the deadly line of ice, I realized that among them was a red car, a sporty sedan, with a certain passenger in the back seat.

  Mom.

  It all happened so fast, the Bosu Zoku didn't have time to swerve or hit their brakes. They set themselves on breaking through or dying in the attempt.

  In horror, in that split instant, I realized that crashing into the ice at that speed would be certain disaster for my mom in the car.

  Inches away now, some of the surrounding bikers were chickening out and dropping to the ground in an attempt to play limbo with the ice. I caught a quick glimpse of my mother's face staring ahead, her eyes filled with terror.