Chapter 7

Jenn woke slightly confused. "I'm in a rainbow colored jail cell," she thought."This must be some dream No, wait a minute. This isn't a dream, I'm in jail on a weird planet that my friends and I got transported to, walking through this mysterious gate we found in our backyard. Wait, that can't be true. I must dreaming. I don't know. It doesn't really matter.""

"Hi," said the guy sitting on the bunk across from her.
"Who are you?" asked Jenn. "This guy's pretty cocky," she thought.
"I'm CEWL," he said. "But more importantly you are the greatest. I can't believe they put you in here with me."
"Cool?" asked Jenn.
"Of course I am. If you need proof.."
"No, that's ok."
"You're so amazing. I can't believe you've been able to stand up to them for so long.".
"What do you mean?"
"Well you're one of the yellows. It takes quite a few years to become one of those. And without registering you'd have to stand up to them an awful lot in order to avoid getting arrested."
"What are you talking about?"
"You're yellow. And you're one of us, so obviously..."
"I still have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."
"Quit playing games. You can't be from around here and have just innocently stumbled upon this. Nobody just wanders into Rome. Most travelers avoid this place, no matter how inconvenient."
"Well, I did.
"What?"
"I just wandered in here. So you better tell me what'sgoing on."
"Oh boy," he sighed and looked around the room. Then he took a good look at Jenn again. "It's kinda complicated."
"I need to know."
"In Rome everybody has a ranking."
"That explains why I thought there was a caste system,"she interrupted.
"A what?"
"Never mind."
"Anyway, you earn points based on favors you do for people. You store these points on a credit card. Then when you have enough points you can use them to get other people to do favors to you."
"Like money," interrupted Jenn.
"No! Anyway you're rank is based on how many points you have. Orange is the upper 4th, yellow the second 4th, then blue, then green. In order to keep and use thesepoints you have to register with the town office. It's almost impossible to live here without any points or rank and it's even harder to gain them without registering."
“So, basically this is a place where people's value is based on how much money they have? Some paradise."
"No! It's about earning goods and services by helping others."
"Whatever," she paused and let this sink in. "So if not registering is suçh a hassle why do you think so highly of it ?"
"Because when we register, they can keep tabs on everything we do. Who our friends are, what our beliefs are, where we work, pray, go for a cup of coffee, what we eat for dinner, etc.
"So?"
"If they decided they don't like us or they find something we did they don't like, they have all the power and we have none."
"Maybe. I don't know. This is all kinda new to me. Who is this "They" anyway?"
"The Roman Senate, of course," he looked at her, puzzled.
"Where did you say you were from, anyway?"
"I didn't," she leaned back against her bunk and lookedat her cellmate. He was about average height- 5'9" or 5'10"- with long shimmering hair. Like all the people she had seen so far he had rainbow colored skin. His shirt (which clashed with his body) was a yellow, orange, blue, and green striped shirt with a big black question mark on it. He was also wearing faded khaki shorts. Now she understood his weird shirt.
"What kind of name is cool, anyway?" she asked.
He laughed. "CEWL is not my name. It's the name of the organization I'm a member of. It stands for Community of Elitists Without Licenses. My name's Matt.”
"I'm Jenn."

Chapter 6

Starr woke up feeling refreshed. Morning Starr came into the tent as she was waking. “Friend,” she said. “Take and eat these berries I picked on my morning walk.”
Starr took the berries and ate them. They tasted good. “What time is it?” she asked, thinking of her friends.
“It’s time to be peaceful and happy and to join in our search for what is good.”
Starr decided to walk out of the tent. It was still early, checking her watch to see that it was about 9 o’clock. She still had plenty of time to meet her friends.
“Ah,” said Wise Lover. “Our sleepy-headed friend is awake. There is a party gathering to help our friend Joe Biblioski gather in the harvest from his cherry trees that we all enjoy.”
“But I am so tired,” replied Starr.
“You do not have to help if you do not want to. But, you should always repay the kindness of others when you are able to,” said Tara.
“Well can I at least take a shower first?”
“Shower?” Tara and Wise Lover looked at one another knowingly and smiled.
“No, I am afraid not, weary one,” replied Wise Lover. “But if you wish you can join us when we all bathe in the stream later.”
“I am afraid we don’t have all the modern conveniences you are used to at home,” laughed Full Moon. “Let’s get going.
The four of them walked over to a wooden tool shed. Tara took two baskets and handed them to Full Moon. Wise Lover and Tara each picked up a rope, carabineers, and a strange shaped basket. Starr looked slightly puzzled.
“What are you going to do?” she asked Wise Lover.
“We will be picking cherries off the trees,” he replied without answering.
The four of them walked out of the shed and into the woods. They followed a long winding path. As they walked Wise Lover talked all about the plants and animals they saw along their walk. It took them a very long time to go a relatively short distance, because he knew so much about the native fauna and flora. By the time they reached their destination it was about 10 a.m. by Starr’s reckoning.
Eventually they came to what was obviously a small cherry orchard that had about a dozen trees and twice that many bushes encircling the trees. It was very beautiful, especially for such a small orchard. The trees were such brilliant and vibrant colors that it looked more like a giant’s flower garden.
Starr noticed people already in the trees picking cherries. The odd looking baskets were hanging off the lower branches of the trees. She could not see how the cherry pickers had climbed up the trees, but they were using the ropes to swing from branch to branch like monkeys. She watched them obviously amazed.
"You've never seen tree climbers before, have you? asked Full Moon.
"Uh, uh." replied Starr.
"They are so ordinary to me I forget that some people haven't ever even heard of them."
"I haven't."
"We'll we better get going. Joe needs us."
While they were talking Wise Lover and Tara were preparing to climb up the trees. They hitched the rope to another rope attached to the tree to form a pulley system. They then attached this to themselves using what appeared
to be an intricate series of knots to form a kind of harness and to pull them selves using this obviously intricate system.
“You and I will use these baskets to collect the cherries from the bushes.” Full Moon handed Starr one of the baskets that she had been holding. Starr joined the others and began to pick cherries. It was relatively easy work, but it was hot, and her back was not used to all the bending and squatting. When the sun was at its highest point, a little before noon, they took a break.
“Come,” said Full Moon. “Have some of these cherries that we picked.
“I thought they were for the pies?”
“Not all of them. Not even Joe could bake that many pies.” Full Moon chuckled. Starr joined her, glad for the break. While they were eating a healthy stout old man walked by.
Full Moon called out to him “Joe, come meet our new friend Starr. She is a traveler like one of us, looking for that which she does not know, and is full of many questions.”
Joe walked over to them, “So you are a great traveler as well.” He chuckled. He had a big belly that jiggled when he laughed. “Perhaps you can teach us something, unlike our wise friends.”
“So you’re the one responsible for all of this?” Starr was eager to learn something.
Joe laughed. “I tend the orchard and bake pies, but you are forgetting our friend Darien Malloy.” “Who is he?” asked Starr. “A great businessman who owns these orchards?”
“No,” this time it was Full Moon’s turn to laugh. Her laugh was quiet and respectfully condescending in contrast to Joe’s booming laugh.
“Darien is a great teacher and leader, and our friend.” She got up and motioned for Starr to continue picking cherries.
Starr remembered her friends and realized she must go soon. “I need to go. I told my friends I would meet them after lunchtime.”
“Alright. If you must go. May our paths meet again.” She paused in reflection. “I will tell Wise Lover and Tara that you have left. It is a weary path that we must travel, often lonely, but frequently in the company of friends. You should ask Joe’s grandson to show you the path back to the place from where we have come.” Full Moon pointed to the boy Starr had met the previous evening.

Chapter 5

Josh woke up next to Stacie. He looked around confused.
Who was this beautiful girl and what did he do last night.
He didn't have a headache or feel funny so he must not have
been drunk, but he bad this strange dream and wow!
Stacie turned to look at him "Don't worry nothing
happened. You fell asleep as soon as we got here. There was
no room upstairs so I put you to bed and then fell asleep
myself. Nothing happened."
"Why do you keep saying that?' he asked.
"Never mind."
Josh breathed a sigh of relief, and then paused because
he realized it was all true. He was in a strange world with
strange customs. His friends, how would he meet them?
Stacie seemed to sense his apprehension. "Don't worry*
about your friends. We'll find them soon enough."
It was that "soon enough" that worried Josh. "What time
is it?' he yawned, stretching.
“About 10 o'clock. A.M."
“That's earlier than I usually get up." he commented.
"I must have slept really well."
“Come on, let's get some breakfast," she said, jumping
up. "I've been waiting
"Oh, good, a morning person," he teased. "I love
morning people."
"I'm just excited. Excuse me,' she led him upstairs to a
big table filled with food. It wasn't the usual breakfast
fare but it was right up Josh's alley. Pizza, burritos.
grilled cheese sandwiches and a bunch of stuff he didn't
recognize. But no meat. "That's strange," thought Josh." Oh,
well. Free thinkers probably would be vegetarians."
She pulled him over to a table with a young mother
holding a baby on her lap. "Come on. Dig in!"
"Who's he?" the mother asked. "Your boyfriend?"
"No," Stacie blushed.
"Better not be. I don't think you want one of your
own.' she scolded as she indicated the boy on her lap.
"Heavy advice from someone who doesn't even know my
name." Stacie dared.
"Sorry. I had a rough, uh, year." she explained. "My
name is Amber."
"Stacie.'
"Josh."
"His father left me as soon as he found out I was
pregnant and it's been a lot harder than I expected.
Especially this morning, he's sick and I can't find a doctor
anywhere."
"Josh and I are going back to Atlantis this afternoon
to meet his friends. I know a great doctor there. We can take you with us.
“Sure. That would be great.”
Josh and Stacie finished eating their meal while Amber fed her son. Josh was a little uncomfortable about it, but Stacie and the other people in the room didn’t seem to notice. He decided not to say anything. After all babies had to eat too.
They all left together. Stacie let Amber and Josh back into town. Josh noticed there were fewer trees where they were going. “I thought you said you were taking us back to town,” Josh protested.
“Relax. This way is shorter. Yesterday we went the long way because we were going to play jump.” As she said this they could see the purplish walls of Club Nuevo.
“Come on I’ll introduce you to Dr. Lamont.”
Stacie led them to a small white house with a stone walled porch. She hopped up the steps and knocked on the door. A small stout little old woman with fading hair opened the door. “Hello Stacie, may I help you?”
“Is Dr. Lamont in?”
“No, but he’ll be back shortly. He got called to deliver a set of twins. You can sit here and wait a spell if you like. I’ve got some tea and cookies.”
They decided to stay and take her up on the offer of cookies. Josh and Stacie sat on the couch while Amber sat on one of Dr. and Mrs. Lamont’s overstuffed chairs and held her baby. Mrs. Lamont brought the cookies and tea in and sat with them.
“I love sugar cookies and hot tea,” Josh said. “It reminds me of my grandmother.
“Mine too, “ Stacie smiled knowingly at Mrs. Lamont.
“Are you passing through or are you planning to stay?” asked Mrs. Lamont.
“I don’t know,” said Josh. “I just got here.”“I’m looking for a place to stay with my baby,” said Amber. “I think I wouldn’t mind settling here. It seems nice, especially compared to the place I came from.”
Stacie didn’t say anything and just stared out the window.
“Stacie, what are your plans?” asked Mrs. Lamont.
“Yeah, what about you?” echoed Josh.
“This place will always be home for me,” she said. “But I’m going to keep traveling on. I’ll be back soon enough though. That’s for sure. Josh thought Mrs. Lamont seemed slightly upset at Stacie’s answer, but he couldn’t be sure.

Chapter 4

Jenn wandered off. She walked a long way past rolling hills, and valleys. Jenn noticed the unusual trees and flowers. Jenn walked until she was almost exhausted. Soon she came to what looked like a farm. There was a short little path. At the end of the path a man was sitting on a stump whittling a stick.
Jenn walked up to him. "Where's the nearest town?" she asked.
"Well," he said stroking his imaginary beard. "Rome is a few miles ahead in the same direction you were going. But if I were you I wouldn't stay there."
"Why, is there something wrong with it?'
"No, not really. But you can get into all kinds of
trouble if you don't know the rules. They're not hard to
follow, but sometimes they can be pretty ridiculous.
Besides, the folks there aren't as friendly as they are in the
rest of these parts."
“Well, I've got to stop at some town, and as long as I
can stay a night and move on, it can't be too bad."
"Just as long as you do that. But personally it's not
my favorite place.”
Jenn thanked the man and continued walking. Pretty soon
she came to what was obviously a large city. Jenn saw tall
buildings and wide streets and cement sidewalks. People were
running around like they had everywhere to go and no time to
get there. It was like every other cement jungle she had
ever seen. But there were no cars. Jenn hadn’t seen a single
car since she got here, so she shrugged it off and didn't pay much attention to it.
Jenn ran into a woman who looked like she knew where she was going . " Excuse me, do you know of a place I could stay?"
"Well, since you don't have any reservations, the only place I can think of would be the slop house downtown.."
"How do you get there?”
"Do you have any tokens?" Jenn shook her head. "Well you'll have to walk. It's about 20 blocks ahead. You'll have to look for it because it's easy to miss."
Jenn thanked her and continued walking. As she was walking she noticed several orange and yellow vehicles that looked like electric trolleys. She also noticed that the buildings were very colorful. Jenn continued to walk. It seemed like she would never get there. Each block seemed to be longer than the last. Jenn began to notice that people on the trolleys were wearing yellow or orange shirts and the people walking frantically on the sidewalks were wearing either blue, green, yellow, or orange shirts. Reflecting back she realized that the woman who had given her directions wearing orange and she herself was wearing a yellow tye-dye shirt. She thought about this for a while and decided it must have something to do with the transportation they took. Maybe it referred to social status or a caste system.
Finally, Jenn got to the slop houses. Unlike the rest of the city the buildings here were a drab gray. They were unkempt, shoddy buildings. People hurried even faster past this part of the city. Jenn walked up one of the slop houses. The place was ominous. The door was old and unkempt and many of the windows were broken. Jenn could hear people screaming and arguing.
As she walked to the door Jenn shuddered. She sighed accepting that she didn't have much choice. A man beckoned her to his desk.
"May I see your card, please?" he asked politely
"What card?" she replied, startled.
"Visa or American Express. Your credit card, miss.
With a second glance Jenn realized he looked rather kind, and although the place was old, it was still warm, clean, and hospitable. She took out her Visa, which she had in her wallet, and placed it on the counter.
The man took it and ran it through his register."Excuse me, but this doesn't seem right. My system doesn't recognize your name." Jenn discovered that she had been naive and dumb trying to pay by credit card as usual. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to call the police."
Jenn sat down to think it over. She didn't have much time because he came quickly. "You're under arrest. Come with me," said the officer, who was wearing a yellow uniform. He had an unusual uniform. It was more like a chef’s uniform than the typical police officer's.
"On what charge?" she asked holding her arm out to be handcuffed.
"Not registering, of course. " he replied. Just walk this way." She put her arms down when she realized he wasn't
going to handcuff her.
Jenn was escorted down the street into a large rainbow
colored building. As they walked in and down the hail, she noticed that all the rooms were painted a single color. The
officer, whose name was Rob, led her to the front desk which
was brown.
"What is the charge?" asked the secretary at the desk. She was dressed in orange.
"Not registering," the officer replied.
"How unusual." The secretary looked up from her computer in order to scrutinize Jenn more carefully. "That
would be a 1017 A. All the way back, last room on your right."
He led her back to another desk with another secretary. This time the room was assigned. "What number?" asked the secretary.
"1017 A."
"Ah, yes," he said. "That would be failure to register. Put her in 1739. Let her stay with one of her own kind."
This time the officer led her to a cell. It was a
typical looking cell with bars and two bunks, except that it
was rainbow colored. There was already a guy on one of the
bunks. So, exhausted from walking all day, she took the
second bunk and fell right asleep.

Chapter 3

Starr walked on through the trees and couldn't help noticing how tall and brilliantly colored they were. They were like no trees she had ever seen. Starr walked onward and came to a valley. There were far fewer trees here and many people were running, dancing, playing, and working. They were all behaving rather bizarrely, however. Starr wasn't quite sure what was so unusual about them.
"Greetings, newcomer. Where are you from? Why have you
come?" asked a spacey girl. She was wearing a very colorful free flowing dress. "Come, join us."
Starr was very startled by this strange girl. "I am
Starr. I do not know where I am from or why I am here. Where are we?"
"Of course. We are all wandering travelers. Are we not? As for this place, it has no name that we know of. It is
here. We are travelers borrowing from those that come before
us. It is not ours to name. We cannot name it." The girl,
who still had not explained much, motioned for Starr to follow her. She led Starr further into the clearing.
"We will gladly share with you. Come, you must be
hungry. Eat with us and learn from us as we learn from you,"
the girl continued.
"Thank you. What is your name?" asked Starr.
"My apologies. My name is Full Moon." She had brought Starr to a large blanket covered with many different kinds of food. Some people were already laughing and eating. There
were many cheeses, fruits, beans, vegetables, and lots of
other dishes, some of which Starr had never seen before.
Starr and Full Moon sat down next to a couple that looked very much like Full Moon. "This is my father Wise
Lover and my mother Tara. Mother, father, this is Starr who is looking for that which she does not know."
Wise Lover was also dressed in a colorful robe like
Full Moon's. Tara however, like her name, was more
contemporary. She was wearing a bell bottomed blue jeans and
light brown spaghetti strap shirt. Starr looked around and
noticed that people were wearing all manners of clothing.
Some were very fancy and some were more practical. They
spanned every fashion Starr could think of and some she
never had. Some were not wearing any clothing at all. It was
because of these people that Starr noticed something rather unusual about them. All of these people had rainbow colored
skin that spiraled outward from their hearts.
"Eat with us," commanded Wise Lover. "There is enough
for all." Starr did as she was told, she decided on the most
familiar thing to her and took an apple and a roll. Tara
poured out what seemed to be lentil soup. Starr ate her meal
as she conversed with these people.
They sat Indian style on a small section of the
blanket. "Who are you? I have never seen people like you."
asked Starr.
"We are who we are. We are simply wandering travelers
like yourself. We live as we do because it is the best for
our world and us." replied Full Moon.
"What is this place? What is it for?" Starr tried
again.
"This is where we are. Here is here. We are here and that is all that matters. We have simply gathered here for
the moment," answered Tara.
Starr finished eating in silence as she pondered the strangeness of her new friends. She did not ask any more
questions, realizing the futility of it. Starr simply
observed as the others ate. She did not see any arguments,
just people enjoying a communal meal.
The silence was not long. "You may stay with us,"
offered Wise Lover. "This place is free for all."
"If you do not have bedding we will provide," echoed Tara. “All are welcome, fine friend."
Starr decided to take them up on their offer. "Yes, I will stay here and meet my friends tomorrow."
"Good. It is settled then," replied Wise Lover. "Full
Moon, Show her where we sleep."
Full Moon led Starr to a large tent. Inside the tent were a few sleeping bags, some cooking pots, and backpacks.
In the corner was what looked like a wooden flute. Full Moon
pointed to one of the sleeping bags. "You may sleep here.
This is for our guests."
"Thank you," replied Starr.
"I would gladly help a fellow traveler." As she spoke
Starr and Full Moon heard music coming from where they had
just eaten. They left the tent and went back out to the
valley. Starr saw people dancing (if that is what you would
call it) to the strangest music. Full Moon took her by the
hand and led her to the people. "Come dance with us."
Starr danced for a while, but soon she grew tired.
Dancing was not really her style. She enjoyed watching
though. The people danced freedom and community. Their music
inspired a kind of magic.
"Mysterious, aren't they?"
"Who?" asked Starr.
"The travelers. At least that's what everyone else
calls them.
"They kept talking about that. Who are they really?“
“I don't even know and I've lived with them for months. They wander about from place to place, and share everything they have. It's rather bizarre. I really don't
know much else about them."
"So, are you living with them?"
"Yeah, that's kinda stupid," though Starr. "he seems interesting, but I have no idea what to say now."
"Maybe I'll see you in the morning?" he asked.
"Sure, that would be nice.
The dude walked away. "I'm kinda tired. I have to go now.”
"Wait! What's your name?" but he had already walked away. At that moment Starr decided to stay with these "Travelers" as they were called. Starr sat, thinking about this. Skeptical as usual, however hopeful, she found it hard
to believe that new world she had suddenly brought herself
into was as good as it seemed. For all she knew their food
might even poison her. Or what if a day was long as a year
and so was night? Eventually she decided not to worry about
this, because there really was nothing she could do about
it. At least they were friendly. Well, they seemed friendly anyway.
Starr looked up from her thoughts and saw Full Moon
beckoning her to follow her. As she got up she realized that
the music had stopped and most of the people had left.
"Come, its time to rest." said Full Moon. "The night will not be long enough." Starr followed her once again. This time as she crept into the tent Wise Lover was playing the strange wooden flute. It was a haunting melody, yet
peaceful.

Chapter 2

Josh walked down the stone path toward the purplish
building. He could hear strange, haunting, loud, and
exciting music coming from it. As he went inside he saw some
people dancing, some people talking and a group of people
surrounding what seemed to be a guru or a hypnotist with
long hair, dressed in long flowing robes.
He spotted a girl who seemed remotely interested in him and walked over to her. " What's going on here?" he asked.
"You're not from around here, are you?" she asked.
"This is only the coolest place in town. It's Club Nuevo.
Everybody comes here."
"But who's that?" he asked as he pointed to the
long haired hippie-like person.
"Whoa, you're really not from around here, are you?
That's only the greatest man who ever lived. I can't believe you've never heard of Darien Mallory. He's the one who's
responsible for all this.
"What- this club?"
"Have you been in a coma or something, dude?"
"Something like that."
"No, Darien is responsible for the revolution. Don't
tell me you haven't heard of that- oh yeah. Well, about ten
years ago when I was 8 or 9, this guy got this big idea
that we should just abolish all government and live how we
wanted to. What he was saying seemed really good and for some reason people listened to him. I really don't
understand all of it, but it seems to me that for the most
part, it's a lot better than it used to be."
"And so what do you do now?"
"Well, some of us do what we always did. There are still some people who insist in living in red taped bureaucratic societies. But for the most part, there are so
many people who don't that it's pretty much voluntary."
"But what about you?"
"I hang out here, there, explore. I pretty much live
off the land and what people share with me. I really enjoy
this kind of freedom and I'm taking the opportunity to
explore and learn as much as I can."
"Cool. Wanna go get a drink? Or don't people drink
here?"
"Of course. Why not? But there's a group of people I know who are going to play jump. Come with me."
The girl led Josh into the woods. They traveled down a
long path, talking as they went. They laughed and joked as they went along just generally enjoying the day. As they
talked, they both felt as if they had met a kindred spirit.
He learned that her name was Stacie and she had been living
like this for a year.
The woods were like none Josh had ever seen. And he was
almost as impressed with them as he was with Stacie. There
were all kinds of bright beautiful flowers. The trees looked
like they were miles high and might never end.
Before long they came to a fenced in clearing. Inside
the clearing was a courtyard with two poles on either end.
Each pole had round metal rings attached to it. The ground was made up of what looked like green, orange, and purple
sand all swirled together. No one else was there yet.
"Where is everyone?" Josh asked.
"They'll be here soon enough," said Stacie. "Why don't we practice?"
"I don't know how to play."
"It's easy. I'll teach you. There are two teams of
people. Each team is trying to throw the ball into one of
those two nets while bouncing the ball to move it," she
explained as she dribbled the ball.
Josh immediately caught on. "Like basketball."
"What?"
"Never mind." Josh took the ball and slam-dunked it.
She just stood there shocked and impressed."I've never seen anyone do that before. It's not against the rules, but wow! What do you call that?" she babbled.
"A slam dunk," he answered. "Now let's just play." So they did. It was a pretty even game, with some fast
moves from both of them, but it was just a game after all. Soon Stacie's friend's showed up. Mark had a Mohawk,
and was wearing baggy camouflage shorts. Paul had spiked hair and the same camo shorts. In fact the entire group, Drew, Dan, Gordo, Penney, and Skye all had on camo shorts. The two girls had on shirts with PRO Chice written on them. "What are those strange symbols on your shirt?" he
asked, puzzled.
"Where did you say you are from?" Stacie demanded yet
again.
"I didn't. It doesn't really matter. I'm not sure I
could explain it to you as I'm not sure where I'm from
anymore," he tried to explain. "So what does it mean?"
"That's our band Pro Choice" answered Penney. Mark
plays the zyther. I play fender. Dan sings and plays back-up
zyther, and Paul just plays xylophone and looks good. Skye,
Drew, and Gordo are just part of our road crew, our
entourage." Penney pointed out everyone as she spoke.
"So, why Pro-Choice? Do you believe in abortion or
something?" asked the always curious Josh.
"Abortion?" Drew looked puzzled." Nah, we just kinda believe that everyone has the right to make their own
decisions about what to believe, and for the most part, what
to do," he paused before adding, "by the way, I'm Drew, he's
Dan. Penney likes to make things confusing."
Drew, Dan, and Penney seemed to be aggressive players.
Gordo rounded out their team. Five against four wasn't
really fair (Stacie, Josh, Mark, Paul, and Skye) but it
didn't seem to matter. The four beat the five in game after
game until it began to get dark
Afterwards, Dan invited Stacie and Josh to spend the
night at their house. " I don't know. I just met you. I feel
like I would be imposing," Josh said reluctantly as he
realized he wouldn't mind getting to know his new friends (especially Stacie) better.
"Come on," Stacie begged. "Where else are you going to stay. They have a really big house."
"I guess so, I wasn't planning on meeting my friends
until tomorrow, anyway." Josh went off with them to their beautiful house that they seemed to share with every nature of vagabond and drifter. Josh looked forward to his stay here. He was eager to learn as much about this new world as he could and was sure these colorful people could tell him much about it.

Chapter 1

     It had been raining all day. It was one of those monotonous rains that isn't quite stormy

enough to be exciting, and isn't quite warm or sunny enough to be fun. It was just hour
after hour of bleak dreary rainfall. And the dreariness of the rain and of the chilly spring
weather didn't help anyone's mood much. It had been a long hard year. Classes had ended
last week so all they had left was exams. Those were pretty much over too. They were so
weak and weary that by their last exam they weren't thinking, they just wrote and filled
in bubbles, like every other student in each class of the uniform building.
    After meeting they subconsciously decided to go home together. But they were lethargic
and exhausted. They all decided, without expending the effort to discuss it, to ride the
humdrum drab gray bus home. When they got off the bus they still weren't talking. They
didn't even stop to say hello to their landlord, Paul. They were tired and exhausted and
took the droll boring elevator up to the second floor.
    Once in their small flat featureless apartment they were so drained they decided (without any effort) to order a pizza. But when the lifeless pizza arrived they neglected to
remember to tip the delivery boy or eat the pizza, despite how famished they were.
Exhausted, bored, and vacuous they decided it was too late. There was nothing left to
do. They just crawled into bed and fell asleep. It had been a long year and they had an
awesome summer ahead of them.
    It was a big surprise the next day when they decided to explore. The sun had finally come out and it was beginning to get warm. It was one of those days where you just look for
adventure. But for some reason, instead of exploring
the city, they decided to explore the apartment grounds. They had lived there about 6
months and were just beginning to get settled in. It was actually Jenn who came up with
the idea.
    "We should do something exciting. I love days like this; when I was little I used to go
exploring in the woods after a dreary spring rain"
    "There's nothing open this early," replied Starr "Besides, I just want to sleep."
    "It's too early to get up," echoed Josh, rolling over in his sleep. "Do we have any pizza?"
    Starr handed Josh one of the slices leftover from last night."Go back to sleep, you stupid lug," teased Starr, hitting him with a pillow.
    "I heard there's a haunted garden in the back," continued Jenn.
    "Whoever heard of a haunted garden? Gardens are enchanted, graveyards are haunted."
    "Haunted, enchanted. What's the difference?"
    "Hey! Jenn what did you do with my black T-shirt?" Josh loudly interrupted, jumping
onto the couch and knocking the two girls off.
    "Hey yourself! What'd you do that for?" asked Jenn hitting him. "Besides all your T-shirts are black."
    "Ouch! That hurt!" cried Josh. "I mean, the one you borrowed."
    "I'm still wearing it."
    "Oh. Well then, can I borrow your Superman tee?'
    "If you can fit in it.
    Starr looked over at Jenn. ”You’ve got pizza all over that shirt.”
    “Damn. I guess I’d better go change.”
    Jenn walked into her room and changed her shirt. She came out wearing a bright yellow tye-dye shirt. Starr and Josh stared at her. “I haven’t done any laundry in a while. It was the only thing left.”
    “Isn’t it a little bright?”
    “Yeah, well.. It's about time things changed a little around here.”
    Now that they were all dressed, fed, and busy wondering why these three good friends had ever decided to share an apartment, they began looking for the garden. The apartment Starr, Jenn, and Josh lived in was less of an apartment and more of a house. In fact it was a
mansion. Paul had inherited an antebellum home from his grandmother. It was too large
for one person to live alone in, so he rented its many rooms out to students from the local
university.
    Along with the house Paul had inherited 90 acres of land. It was this land the trio had set out to explore. Jenn led everyone out to the vast expanse of woods
surrounding the place. The three found a path and followed it, excited with the possibility
of an adventure, yet still tired from the last few weeks.
    "I'm hungry," Josh complained.
    "You’re always hungry, but you never bring any food," Jenn teased him as she tossed him a granola bar.
    "I'm hungry too. How long have we been out here?" Starr complained as she looked at
her watch. "It's one p.m. We've been out here almost 3 hours. Maybe we should go back,"
she pleaded.
    "I brought lunch and we don't have to be anywhere anytime soon," Jenn countered.
    "Look!" Josh said, pointing ahead. "There's a stone wall with ivy growing in it just ahead. Do you think that's the wall to the garden?"
    "I don't know," said Jenn. " Let's try and see over the wall." They ran over to it, but none of them were tall enough to look over the wall. Josh found a crack that they could all look through, however. Inside the walls they could see what they thought looked like flowers
or trees, but the crack was too small to really see anything.
    "Where's the gate?" asked Starr.
    "It has to be here somewhere," said Jenn. "If we keep following this wall we'll find it.”
    After about another hour of searching they finally found it. The gate was huge and white. It was made of wood without any cracks or spaces in it. It was so large you couldn't see
through it, around it, or under it. It was so overgrown with ivy that if they had not been
searching for it, they probably would not have found it; they would have passed it by.
    When they entered the garden the cool spring breeze suddenly became much warmer.
The sun was much higher in the sky and had a pinkish-reddish glow. "What happened?"
asked Josh. "Where are we? As they looked around, they saw how much more colorful
everything was. The trees were not green and brown, but many had trunks of red, gold,
and blue. The leaves were iridescence. They looked at each other and realized that not
only were their surroundings different colors, so were they.
    Josh's normally black hair had turned to hues of reds and brilliant gold's. The dozens
of spikes on his head were each a different color. Their skin was also different colors.
It was no longer one solid color. Different hues centered from the heart and changed as
they moved outwards spiraling in a rainbow of bright colors- of course they could not see
this yet, but would eventually come to realize it. Only the color of their clothing had not
changed.
    They agreed to split up and explore, and  to meet the following day where they had come in, at the gates. Josh went towards a purplish building with strange
haunting music coming from it. Starr decided to explore a wooded area she had seen off
in the distance. Jenn wasn't quite sure where she was going to look, but she was going to
find out as much as she could.