My heart skipped a beat and my body felt numb. I fell to the ground, and the world faded into darkness...

I awoke to a very fretful Ebony and a very worried Drake. They both sighed once I sat up. "What happened?" I groggily asked.

"Well, you fainted," Drake mumbled.

I nodded and said with a halfhearted smile, "No, silly, I mean what happened after that?"

Ebony spoke up and added, "After you fainted, Nilo told me that since I lost my partner halfway through the Games, I have to join teams permanently with you. Oh, and they still don't know who the murderer is, but on her dead body there lay a note..."

"Now, now, the Inquisitor will tell her the rest," Drake interrupted, "and speaking of the Inquisitor, we've got to go or we'll be late." Ebony frowned, and followed Drake out of the door. It was then that I realized that underneath the layers of blankets, I was completely naked. I glanced feverishly around the room and spotted a very elegant maroon dress peeking out of the slightly open, yet empty, closet.

I leapt down from the bed, and proceeded to dress. After I was clothed, I glanced at the mirror and saw that the maroon dress was indeed very beautiful. My pale complexion contrasted to the maroon dress in the best way, and the dress rippled and flowed, almost as if it was alive. I realized that I looked very drab, with my messy hair and blotchy face. I walked to the dresser and added a touch of makeup. Then, I tied my hair into a ponytail. I was never one to worry about my appearance, but I wanted to try something new. I opened the door. Ebony and Drake had already changed into black suits, and were waiting outside for me.

When they first saw me, both their expressions were priceless. Ebony had his mouth hanging open, and his eyes whizzed in all directions, taking me in. Drake, unfortunately, had been walking towards the door when I had emerged. He had smacked face-first into a column, and was rubbing his head absentmindedly. His eyes were dazed and his mouth had formed the letter "O".

I sighed and asked, annoyed, "Are we going...?"

Both boys snapped out of it, and both turned a light pink. They both stuck out their arms expectantly, but I waved them away and walked down the marble staircase. Drake led the way, with a peeved Ebony following close behind.

Finally, we reached a beautiful ballroom, lit with a massive glass chandelier. The room was full with elegantly dressed people, standing and chatting away. As if a murder didn't just happen.

We weaved through the crowd, occasionally bumping into someone. As Drake and Ebony plowed through, a certain door caught my attention. I slowly walked towards the door. This door was made of shadow, and no one even gave it a passing glance. My instincts took over and I whispered, "Creul ki Locke." The door swung open, its hinges silent as a mouse.

I crept into the room, and saw a massive hourglass in the center of the room. Instead of sand particles, the hourglass was filled with what looked like pearls. I stretched out my hand, about to touch it...

But then Ebony's voice drifted to me through the crowd. I let my hands fall to my sides and turned around to exit. I walked past the door, and once I was out, the door closed firmly. I wandered through the crowd, trying to make my way to Ebony.

A hand caught me on my shoulder, and I yelped as the nails dug into me. The hand dragged me all the way across the ballroom and into a dark room. He didn't stop, dragging me all the way up some stairs and into another room. Red light filtered through the vents, making the man look drenched in blood. He released me, and I noticed the man was wearing a skull mask.

Thirty men shuffled forward, and the lights flicked on. These thirty men looked familiar...I gasped as I realized that they were all competitors of the Games. I squinted, trying to find Ebony and Drake. Finally, I had found them, but they were facing the Bones, standing behind a very strict man. The man was also very tall, and his face was completely white with two strips of red running down his cheeks. He was bald, and he had a very strong physique. His face was mushed into a frown as he stood surveying the Bones. Behind him sat different kinds of people. I realized that these were the Bones' teammates.

I jumped as the man shouted, "OK, Bones, there's been a murder here. A young woman by the name of Melody." One of the Bones gasped at this. The painted man turned to him and asked suspiciously, "You don't know anything about that, do you?" When the Bones didn't answer, the man yelled, "DO YOU?!!"

The Bones managed to stammer out, "N-No, I-I-Inquisitor. S-She w-was m-my sister." The Inquisitor didn't look so happy.

He barked, "How do we know that you speak the truth?!!"

This was getting ridiculous. I had had enough. "Leave him be! He's going through enough already! The real question is: why have you called us here?"

Everyone looked terrified. The Inquisitor smiled viciously, and answered, "Well, well. Look what we have here. An actual person who's not afraid of getting straight to the point. What your name, darlin'?"

"Name's Harley. Not darlin'," I replied roughly.

"Well, Harley, the woman had been murdered, correct? Well, we did an autopsy and she was perfectly healthy. No bullets in her, no incisions, no drugs, no nothin'. So we were scratchin' our heads because we found her bleedin' all over the floor. But what really surprised us was the note left on her body." He paused, then turned toward Ebony and Drake.

They were sweating hard as they passed a note to the Inquisitor. The Inquisitor ripped it from their hands, and shoved it in my face. I grasped the note. The note read:

You are forever lost in the dark corners of time.
                                                            -1977

I gave the note back to the Inquisitor and he cleared his throat.

"We don't know what this means, but we can connect it to the One's Prophecy. We believe--"

"What's the One's Prophecy?" I asked.

The entire room turned to me.

The Inquisitor continued as if nothing had happened. "As I was saying, we haven't been able to decode the Prophecy, but we can equate the writing to the type of writing in the note."

"Wait, you can't read the note?"

He paused. "Y-You can?" I glanced at Ebony. He shook his head.

"Of course not, but I thought that with all this technology, you could have decoded it by now."

"Well, sorry to disappoint you. That's the end of the meeting. Meeting dismissed."

I ran up to Ebony. He nodded his understanding, and tapped Drake on the shoulder. Drake also understood, and we three walked out of the door. I walked through the crowd, and stopped at the girl's bathroom. Drake gulped, "Can't we talk somewhere else?"

"No," I firmly said.

I opened the door, and screamed as loud as I could, "Janitor's coming! Clear the bathroom!" Toilets flushed and everyone rushed out of the bathroom. I checked under the stalls. OK, no stragglers.

I opened the door. "All clear guys." They nodded and went inside.

"First things first, anyone got a piece of paper and a pen?"

"I've got one!" Ebony answered. He took out a small, folded piece of paper and a black pen.

"OK, anyone have tape?" I asked.

"I have a roll of tape." Drake answered. He took out a roll of duck tape.

I took the pen and wrote "Out of Order" on the paper. Then, I took a piece of tape, and taped the sign on the outside of the door.

"OK, now that's done, on to what the note said. 'You are forever lost in the dark corners of time. -1977.' What does that mean?"

"Obviously, it has something to do with Time. But what? Hmm..." Drake trailed off, lost in thought.

"I believe that I have the answer. We are to time travel to solve this mystery. 1977 is the year we must go to. And what day was Melody murdered? It was June 17. So we must go back to June 17, 1977," Ebony added. I nodded.

"But how?" Drake contradicted, "we can't do any of those without a Mythoclast."

"What's a Mythoclast?" I asked, curious.

"A Mythoclast looks like what you mortals call a pearl. But they have been lost since the Quanairi Lords fell."

"Wait, I believe I know where one is," I said.

They didn't question me, and followed me out the door. I weaved through the crowd, ducking and diving when necessary. Finally, I reached the shadow door, and whispered, "Creul ki Locke." Drake stumbled around looking for the door, and I pushed him through it. Ebony and I followed him.

Ebony gasped at once. "Mythoclasts."

"So, how do we travel back in time?" I asked.

"We just swallow one. But, here's some advice: pick the one that feels right to you," Drake answered.

I nodded, and walked towards the hourglass. Amongst the pearls, an old, withered pearl that was pressed against the glass seemed to call out to me. I stretched out my hand, urging the pearl to emerge from the sea of Mythoclasts. The pearl vanished, appearing in my outstretched hand.

Ebony also had obtained one. The pearl had a slightly bluish tinge to it, and it was shiny.

Drake, however, was having difficulty taking a pearl. "Concentrate. Do not make the Mythoclast come to you, rather, allow the Mythoclast to wander to you," I advised.

Drake nodded, and squinted in concentration. Finally, he held out his hand, in which a golden pearl lay. We all nodded, and I held the Pearl up to my mouth.

"Think of your destination clearly," Ebony warned.

I nodded, and opened my mouth. The pearl dropped into my mouth and I swallowed.

June 17, 1977...that was all I could think about as I closed my eyes tight. June 17, 1977.

Finally, light filled my eyes, and I squinted against the sunlight.

We had arrived.