Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Yeah, I would like that." Penelope smiled, more than she had in a while. "Be careful on your way home." Penelope noticed the psionics book Cait had left on top of her bookcase. "Don't forget that book you liked. You can get it back to me whenever we hang out again."

"Uh... Bye?" Penelope hadn't thought she could get any redder, but there it was. As Cait walked down the street, Penelope stepped back into the house feeling more than slightly bewildered. "That was... new..."

"You'd think you'd never been hugged before." Penelope's mom tried to laugh, but failed. Penelope gave her a look and she shook her head. "It's okay, dear, I understand. I'm taking Elizabeth's friends home, but I'll be back soon."

Afterwards>>

One week rarely made a difference at 13 Grizzly End. The vines grew a little more on the walls, the grass claimed a little more of the porch, and maybe the foundation leaned another centimeter to the right. Inside, the changes were even less. The chairs in the den might get a little more slumped and the carpet a little more bare. A plate might crack or a bit of food fall to the floor. An average week left the Greenhill home all but untouched.

This past week had been anything but average. So far, the changes included no few than five broken glasses, six broken plates, and one large scorch mark in the den that was barely concealed by a crooked love seat. And these were only the changes that her mother had seen. Penelope's own room had three more scorch marks, a window that was determinedly coated in a film of frost, and a mirror that constantly reflected storm clouds.

Penelope sat in the middle of this madness, her eyes flitting between the pages of a book she shouldn't have and the strange but beautiful dress she had managed to keep hidden from her mother. After a few minutes, she stood and pointed two fingers at her desk lamp.

"Yort-Ed" She exclaimed.

The house suddenly shook, breaking two more glasses, a vase, and knocking open the hatch to the attic.