I giggled as Orney finished her imitation of the idiotic humans. She grinned mischievously and held my hand.

“Come on, I wanna show you somethin’ wicked awesome!” I laughed again at her use of the hilarious human vocabulary. Because her brother, Monin, worked in the Human Study Team, she knew almost everything you could know about them.

“No. Really.” Orney said sounding hurt. “Monin said that I can take you to the place where the Human Study Team spies on the humans, you know, to find potential faeries that develop powers among the humans.” I knew very well what she was talking about. “Do you mean we can spy on the humans or at least watch?” I asked.

“Yes!!!” Orney shouted, jumping up and down. “Aren't you excited?” I was curious, but suddenly chills went up my spine. I had a bad feeling about what we were about to do. Orney was jumping up and down excitedly, oblivious to the tension on my face.

“Um…okay,” I whispered hesitantly. Orney grabbed my arm and pulled me down the street. Her bright green eyes sparkled with excitement. Her long dark hair waved around in the wind. I just looked down at the dark brown street, not meeting anyone’s eye. I stared at the brightly colored buildings.

Many people noticed the two of us, and as they recognized me, they glared angrily. Most of them hated me for things I couldn’t control. Like the fact that Herend was my grandmother and that she often haunted my dreams, making me wake up screaming in the middle of the night. Monin, Orney and Astroide were the only ones who didn’t shun me.

As we reached the tall brown building, Orney said, “I still don't understand why everyone hates you so much. It’s not like you can control who your family is.”

“She is not part of my family. I hate her as much as everyone else. No, I hate her more. She killed my daddy,” I said, grief-stricken once more.

As we entered the building, a tall handsome boy with light brown hair and dark, yet warm brown eyes stood still by the entrance. “Hey Astroide,” I said to him. He smiled and motioned to his ear. He was communicating with another member of the rescue team.

A few minutes later, he looked at me and said, “Hey Aleena. Should I be arresting you for trespassing?” he asked with a grin.

“Sure, but Monin won’t be too happy with you if you detain us. He wants us to actually be on time…for the first time,” I replied.

“My brother will kill you if he finds out that we were delayed because of you, Astroide,” Orney added.

Orney looked at me with a mischievous grin and before he knew it, Orney knocked Astroide to the ground. “What was that for?” he asked her irritably. She just grinned even wider.

“I actually can arrest you for that,” he said seriously.

“Please don't,” Orney begged, struggling to look nervous.

I was exasperated. “Orney, stop flirting with Astroide; Astroide, just let us in.”

He opened his arms wide and bowed, “For you, Aleena.”

“Oh, shut up,” I answered and stepped into the brightly lit corridor, Orney at my side.

The hallway was long, with all sides having strangely realistic drawings of the stars. It felt like we were wandering through outer space. I walked unsteadily but Orney couldn’t even do that. She tripped and grabbed the end of my short blue dress.

That knocked me down and we sat there giggling for a few seconds. “Come on. We’ll be late if we don't hurry,” Orney gasped and then collapsed into another fit of laughter. As she lost herself, I gazed at the beauty of the uncannily realistic sky. I kept staring, looking for the familiar constellations like The Wing or The Cauldron. I couldn’t find any of them. Instead I saw random clusters of stars.

Finally, Orney managed to look up and admire the sky. “Oh look,” she said, “I think I see a good handle for the cauldron.” She pointed to a cluster of stars shaped like a ladle.

I stepped closer to the wall, trying to see what she was pointing to. “Oh, I see it!” I exclaimed.

“Hello, Aleena.”

I turned to see who called me and saw a boy with midnight black hair and tan skin. His light blue eyes were always shocking to look at, as they were completely unexpected on his dark features.

“Hey, Monin,” I smiled. He grinned in return, his white teeth shining in the starlight. His dark hair almost looked blue. I gazed at the way his firm muscles looked so natural, and the way his sky blue eyes were fixed on me.

“Aleena?” Orney interrupted. “Do you want to see the humans or would you rather stare at my brother?”

“Oh, stop it!” I said irritably. My face burned and I hoped it was dark enough that no one would see me blushing. “Come on, let’s spy on the humans.”

Monin let us down several corridors until we walked into a large room. He strode confidently to a blonde boy wearing a loose brown tunic with strange blue pants.

“They're with me,” Monin simply said to the boy.

He nodded and looked at me. Suddenly, recognition covered his face. “You’re Herend's…”

“I don't pick my family,” I retorted and stalked off to join Monin.

Orney moved to follow me but the blonde boy stopped her. “You're Monin's little sister aren't you?”

“Yes,” she said. “Now if you'll excuse me.” She pushed him aside and stood beside me.

“Thanks,” I whispered, “you didn’t have to do that for me.”

“Yes, I did.” She continued, “Like you said, you don't pick your family, and I am not going to let you suffer because you had the bad luck of having a bad family. Your father sacrificed his life for this city but no one mentions that. It’s all about your grandmother. It’s not fair to you, so yes I did have to do it for you. Besides, you're the best friend any faery could have.”

“Thanks,” I repeated.

“Hey, what are friends for?”

“Okay, enough of the corny talk; let me show you some humans,” Monin said, “but let me explain that the humans we are watching are humans that we think are lost faeries. Once we are sure that they are, and then we send a team to take them here. And you know the rest, like how we pick a young experienced faery to train them. Maybe you will get to train one soon.”

“Why would I want to train one of them?” I said, venomously.

But deep down inside, I knew I didn’t have a choice.