"If my daddy left that necklace at your house it was by accident. He obviously meant to give it to me!" Sophia argued as the bus came to a stop in front of the school. Francis looked at her with smiles in her eyes and opened the locket.

"If he wanted to give it to you then why did he put a picture of my brother inside?" Francis happily hopped off the bus.

"You could have put that picture in." Sophia caught up to Francis who was hesitating at the front door of the school. She was worried that the locket would set off the metal detectors inside and it would get taken away from her.

"Why would I do that?" Francis turned to the other girl, rubbing the locket between her fingers.

"'Cuz that's how your family is! Your mama thought she could make my daddy stay by givin' you the same name as him but she wrong. And you think that you can get him to come back by wearin' a locket with a fake picture. But you're wrong too!"

"You're a really mean person." Francis said as she held on to the locket tightly.

"That's somethin' that people who are about to lose a fight say." Sophia took a few bold steps toward Francis and stared her straight in the eye. Sophia's hazel eyes looked like they were on fire as they locked in on Francis's darker brown ones. Out of fear, Francis took a step back. Sophia was very confident in that moment. It worried her that she would go home and tell her dad. Then he would come to take the locket away.

Lightning flashed in the sky and thunder sounded soon after. The lightning strike was too close for comfort and the thunder shook the ground underneath the girls.

"Girls head inside. It's about to storm." The vice principal of the school, Mrs. Valentine, said.

Francis rushed through the doors, holding her breath as she passed the metal detector. It didn't go off. Of course it didn't. The locket wasn't made of some cheap metal. It was made of pure supernatural force.

"You can't run from me!" Sophia said as the two girls turned onto the hall that housed Francis's locker. Eugene was there, leaning against Francis's locker. Across the hall stood Adam, hoping Eugene would leave soon. He really didn't want to talk to anyone today...or ever.

"Francis we need to talk! You can't just say the stuff you said to me yesterday and get away with it." Eugene said as he grabbed Francis's wrist.

"U-U back off. We're in the middle of somethin'." Sophia replied with a large dose of attitude. "I want it!" Sophia grabbed the chain around Francis's neck and tried to yank it off.

"Stop it!" Francis resisted. The first bell rang and the hall emptied pretty quick. This school wasn't in the best part of town but Principal Damon was strict and students followed the rules.

"Chill out girls." Eugene said gripping Francis's wrist tighter.

"Ow!" Francis exclaimed.

"Butt out!" Sophia said to Eugene.

"Leave me alone!" This scream from Francis was meant for everyone.

"Help me out here dude!" Eugene screamed to Adam. Adam just stood there wide eyed. He wanted to go to class like everyone else but his books were in his locker and he didn't want to get closer to the mess going on in front of it.

"Let go U-U!" Sophia yelled.

"You let go, Sophia!" Francis yelled, pushing against her sister's face with her free hand.

"Dude get off the wall and help! Grab Sophia!" Eugene yelled. Adam figured this situation wouldn't end any time soon so he finally decided to help. He walked up behind Sophia and placed a hand on her shoulder.

As soon as Adam touched Sophia, the chain between the four children was formed and the chain around Francis's neck snapped. An explosion sounded in the hall as the locket dissipated in a ball of light.

The classroom doors around the four cracked open and students began to peek their heads out. Principal Damon threw open his office door and bounded down the hallway toward our heroes.

"Everyone back to class!" Damon screamed. He reached the four who were still physically connected; Eugene holding Francis's wrist, Francis with her hand on Sophia's face, and Adam's hand lightly resting on Sophia's shoulder.

Principal Damon grabbed Francis and Sophia by the back of their shirt collars. His touch broke the four of them out of their trance. Francis breathed in a large gasp while Eugene let out a shrill shriek. Adam pulled back his hand, blowing on it as if he had been burned. Sophia crouched down and curled into a ball on the floor. This was what I needed to happen between our heroes. I had set these events into motion and I hoped they would fulfill their destiny.

"The four of you in my office NOW!" Principal Damon yelled sternly.

"Aw come on Mr. Damon you know I didn't do nothin'. I'm in the wrong place at the wrong time. Don't you feel bad for me?" Eugene said, putting on a pouty face and backing away from the other kids.

"Get to class Eugene. The rest of you come with me." Said Principal Damon.

"Seriously!? Why ain't U in trouble?" Sophia asked angrily.

"Be quiet Ms. Brown before you get into even more trouble." The principal replied. He rubbed his head with a confused look on his face and led the three children to his office.

Sitting on a tattered chair across from Principal Damon's desk, Francis's head was spinning. She was angry, angry that she was sitting here getting punished when Eugene got off Scott free. Then she wasn't. She was disappointed in herself for getting into this situation when she should have stayed away. But that didn't really feel like her at all. Next she felt confused at why only three children were in this office. These weren't her emotions. They were those of the people around her. Francis shook her head trying to figure out what was going on.

"Mr. Damon did you find the source of the explosion?" Vice Principal Valentine barged in asking.

"Just some students playing with firecrackers no doubt." Mr. Damon said with a glare at the kids.

"Should I call their parents?" Ms. Valentine asked. Francis and Adam sat up straight in their seats and looked panicked.

"No need. I know their parents work hard and they trust us to take care of their children during the day. They won't be doing anything like this again, right?" Mr. Damon asked.

"Right!" Francis and Adam both replied eagerly. Sophia sat slumped in her chair with her arms crossed. Francis jabbed Sophia in the side with her elbow.

"Right." Sophia grumbled.

"You will still be punished of course. The three of you will stay after school and clean the bathrooms." Mr. Damon said sternly.

"What! That's gross!" Sophia finally sat up in her chair and said. Francis wasn't listening. She was too busy worrying about having to stay late at school. Her mom worked late on Tuesdays. Sometimes she came back even after Francis was asleep. If she didn't catch the bus home at the regular time, she wouldn't have a ride.

"You should have thought about that before you caused trouble, Ms. Brown." Mr. Damon said to Sophia. "You can all get rides home after staying late, correct?"

"My mama will come get me." Sophia said with a slight attitude.

"I have a ride." Adam stated. Francis nodded her head meekly. She didn't consider it a lie because she didn't say anything.

"OK, but make sure. I or Ms. Valentine can give a ride to anyone who needs one." Mr. Damon added. Francis didn't speak up.

"Get to class now." Mr. Damon said. Sophia didn't have to be told twice. She snatched up her backpack and stomped out of the office. Adam and Francis got up slower and with more reverence for for Principal Damon's authority. Homeroom was over. Francis and Adam had the same first period, English, so they kept walking together in silence.

Francis was worried. How would she get home? If she walked and something bad happened, her mom would get upset. It was ironic because that's the same reason she didn't ask for a ride home from Mr. Damon or Ms. Valentine. She was afraid her mom would find out and get upset. Danny was always getting in trouble at school. Teachers were always calling home or Danny was always late due to being in detention. Then he left.

Since the day Danny left, Francis had been getting lectures from her mother about not becoming like him. Any time Francis's grades dropped even a little or she got an attitude, her mother would angrily say she was turning into Danny. She even heard her mother crying about it once, asking God what she had done wrong in raising her children.

Francis really did try. She got mostly A's in school and never got in trouble, until now. She wanted to be a good child. She wanted to be good enough for two children. That way her mom might forget the bad things Danny did and welcome him with open arms when he eventually came back.

The two reached their English class after walking in complete silence. Adam didn't want to start a conversation and Francis was too involved in her own stuff to notice anyone else.

In the classroom Francis tried her best to pay attention but something was off. Two rows down from her sat Adam who had just snapped his pencil in half, for the fourth time. He was running out of writing utensils. Their English teacher, Mrs. Mann had already reprimanded him once for making noise and clowning around. Francis knew he wasn't doing it on purpose. He was confused and scared. She could tell. She could..... feel it. She could also feel that Mrs. Mann was on her last nerve.

Adam moved on to a pen. Luckily this pen was made of a type of plastic that could bend before it broke. The pen was bent at a forty-five degree angle as Adam wrote notes.

When the bell rung for class to end Adam raced out. Francis chased after him, barely managing to catch up.

"Are you OK?" Francis asked.

"Yes." Adam replied.

"I know that's not true."

"Then why even ask?"

"You broke all those pencils."

"I didn't do it on purpose."

"I know."

"You know everythin', huh?" Adam spun around and stared straight at her.

"I know you're scared. I'm scared too."

"Your necklace exploded!" Adam yelled. Some other students in the hall turned to look at him but soon lost interest.

"I don't know why that happened." Francis put her head down guiltily.

"Finally somethin' you don't know."

"Look, weird stuff is happenin'. I feel stuff, feelin's that ain't mine. I think weird stuff is happenin' to you too." Francis reached out to offer a reassuring touch to Adam. He recoiled from her touch and Francis didn't try again.

"It was your necklace! For all I know you caused all this! We ain't friends! I barely spoke to you before today! Just leave me alone!" Adam backed away from Francis and ducked into a classroom just as the late bell rang. Francis sighed heavily and ran to her next class.

In history class Francis felt weird, different from how she felt in English.  She didn't feel any emotions out of the ordinary but she felt uncomfortable. It was a feeling like her ears were stopped up or her nose was stuffed. Except it was happening over her entire body. Her surroundings felt dull. She felt like she wasn't really in the room. The class went by in a flash and Francis didn't learn a thing.

The rest of the day was bad for Francis. At lunch her food tasted bland. In Biology she almost fell asleep. During P.E. she had to do a fitness test and ran out of breath after running fifty feet. I felt bad for her, but the kind of power she now had, they now had, required a connection.

Once school ended Francis dragged herself to the girl's bathroom on the main hall. As she got closer she felt better. Her head cleared up and a smile crept across her face. She saw Sophia standing outside of the bathroom with a trash bag in her hand and her smile faded.

"You're late." Sophia said with her usual dose of attitude.