Chapter 1

Kira walked through the hallway of her house. Well, actually, it was her uncle's house. She was pretty much forced to live with him. When she was very young, her parents had died in their Dream-Life. She only knew the one home her uncle lived in. She never really saw him, anyway. He was always talking to clients on the phone or locked in his room, working on his job. He was a big techie-always buying expensive equipment and never went broke. She looked at her fingers. The tips had little remotes inserted so that she could drag the screen of her phone, TV, computer, or whatever else, and expand it so she could see details.

Just then, her fingers twitched. This was always what happened when her best friend, Xenia, called her. She dug her phone out of her pocked and expanded the screen, stuffing the phone back in her pocket. The face of her best friend appeared on the screen. Kira could see a little corner of the screen with her own face showing. Her orange braided hair was laying on her back as usual. She NEVER put her hair down. It was always in a braid or in a pony-tail. One time, she let her uncle cut her hair, and he accidentally cut it too short. She had stayed home for weeks, until her hair was long enough to pull back into a few small pony-tails.

"Heeey gurl!" Xenia called, pulling Kira out of her thoughts. "I saw you sleeping again at school. Good thing I kept our teacher from figuring it out! I stuck a book in your face, making it look like you're reading. It was hilarious!"

Kira wished she could be as care-free as Xenia. "Yea, I didn't sleep well last night," she lied. Well, it wasn't a complete lie. Her uncle was on the phone with a client, and she'd carefully stuck her ear against the door, trying to listen. She always felt like there was something he was hiding from her.

"....Did you get your Dreams yet?" Xenia whispered. "I know that some lucky people get them early. They always get the coolest items and-"

"No, not yet." Kira cut her off. "If only, though. I got a few more months, at least."

"Well, that sucks." A muffled voice called in the background. "Crud, I got to go. See you later!" Xenia called before logging off. Kira sighed, sort of relieved. She didn't like lying to her best friend. Or keeping secrets. Early Dreams. Ha. She thought. She grabbed something to sleep in and took a shower. The steam made her even more tired and Kira jerked awake just before slipping a few times. When she was finished she went to bed, her orange hair in a braid again.

That night, her sleep was weird. She opened her eyes and the thoughts from the whole day went through her mind. It wasn't like a normal sleep where she could only think about the story line of her dream. Her call from Xenia was clear in her mind, and the whole day flashed in her mind again. What the...?

Soon, she saw a few people wearing uniforms in from of her. She blinked a few times, confused. "Welcome Kira." they said in unison.

"How...?" she stammered. She looked around. It was a classroom Kira was in. but not like a school kind. There were mats and books and no windows. One uniformed man walked forward to her. She flinched, scared.

"Show no fear. You are a destined child, contrary to your beliefs." He replied to her. In his hand, a pen materialized. "Use this in your dreams, but keep it hidden in the real world." Kira took the pen and took a look at the uniformed people again. One of them had wings....

"No...way!" Kira thought, gasping. "I'm not.....DREAMING, am I?"

The winged being came forward. "The pen can do anything you wish for it to." It seemed oblivious to the questions that were forming in her head. Kira looked down at the pen again, nervous.

"Fly." she whispered to the pen. Immediately, she was crashing into the padding on the ceiling, breathless. "Down!" Kira gasped, being thrown to the ground. The uniformed people left her, except for the winged one.

"And yes, you are Dreaming." it whispered to her. Kira jerked awake after that, alone in her room. "What a dream!" she exclaimed. "The Dream-Life. At my age." Kira finished, shaking her head to herself. She chucked to herself, but then stopped. A glint caught her eye. A pen sat in her hand. A SILVER pen sat in her hand, identical to the one that was in her dream.