Lenny's eyes reluctantly fluttered open to an all-black room bearing plush red - levitating - furnature. Immedeately remembering where he was, he squeezed his eyes shut, held back anxoius tears, and tried extremly hard to control his breathing. That's when he heard two voices conversing quietly.

"Garkly did well, considering he was our first experiment," the first person said. It sounded like a woman, and Lenny could sense a tinge of fear in her voice.

"Yes, but that is besides the point. We finally have the ring in our reach, and so now all we have to do is find that girl." A gruff, evil voice growled, sending a shudder through Lenny's body.

'Is he talking about Gigi? Well, he must be. But I thought she didn't escape from that austrialian guy!' Lenny thought.

He heard the lady take two steps back, probably in fear. "And then what? After we have the ring?" she asked with an unsteady tone.

"We kill them all, of course. We have no choice, not that I care, though."

The woman took in a sharp breath and stuttered, "B-but Zeke--"

"Do not speak of my name!" Zeke roared. "I sense a listening presence in this room. The boy is awake."

Lenny twitched as a fearful tear escaped from his eye and meandered down his pale cheek. 'I must be brave,' he said to himself, 'I have to be brave.'

"Natanda, take him to the B.L. room for questioning. He probably knows where that other girl went. And if he doesn't...well, you know what you have to do."

Lenny tensed his sore muscles to resist trying to run away as Natanda strode toward where he was bound in the corner of the room. She clapped once, and the uncomfortable thing that was keeping him attached to the chair immediately seemed to disintegrate into mid-air. "Come on now," the woman said in a calm Australian accent, "Open your eyes." Lenny then felt his shaking body moving forward, yet he hadn't even gotten out of the chair. He opened his fearful hazel eyes to a petite, slender woman wearing a black-and-red dress that reached her knees. A slick black bob framed her pale, slender face and she wore bright, poppy red lipstick that cast a faint glow on her whole outfit. He stared dreamily at her for what seemed like a long time. Suddenly as his chair came to a stop, he snapped out of his trance and sucked in all of the new details of the new room they had just arrived in. Instead of it being dark, the room's round and elephantine walls were a bright, glowing, white that almost blinded Lenny. Once he got used to the light, he found himself sitting in the exact center of the room, at a round black desk. Natanda was staring at him with a melancholy expression. In a smooth, practiced voice, she soothed, "Now Lenny, I need you to tell me where that girl you were with went, and where you found The Ring." Staring into her endless black eyes once again, he spilled everything he knew, as if he were under a spell.

"Wha...WHAT THE HELL?" were the first words that came out of Gigi's mouth when she realized that what had just happened was not a nightmare at all. When she gained consciousness, she found herself in the strangest building. The walls and floor were all completely see-through, and the small bed that Gigi was attached to was the only piece of furniture in the whole room. Looking through the floor, she caught a glimpse of a huge looking figure in black trying to walk up the set of moving stairs to the room she was in. Gigi struggled to break the sort of glowing transparent tube ropes assuming the dark figure was the kidnapper.

"Gigi!" Lenny yelled breathlessly after climbing the stairs with all his strength.

"Lenny...how...where..." Gigi felt such an impact of fear and relief that she couldn't say another word for sometime-- even after Lenny unbounded her from the rock-hard bed silently, also sucking in the odd surroundings of the 31st century.

Finally, when Lenny helped Gigi up to look around, she was now able to say everything she had been thinking about during their spell of silence. "Where are we? How did you get here? Why are we here? Are you okay? Who brought me here? How long was I knocked out?" Gigi spit it all out so fast that it sounded merely like a slur of complete gibberish.

Luckily, Lenny, being her best friend for just about forever, knew exactly what Gigi had said and he murmured in a barely audible low voice, "Well, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know and I don't know... but I do know that we need to get out of here, and that there is no time right now for questions." He flashed his most brave sympathetic smile noticing Gigi's furrowed eyebrows and confused frown.

"Yeah, you're probably right." she sighed thoughtfully.

"Then let's get--" Lenny's reply was interrupted by the loud sinister footsteps of another human. Lenny grabbed Gigi's hand and ran to the only exit-- the exit that the dark tall figure was entering.

"Hey! STOP RIGHT NOW!! I am armed, and I will hurt you if you do not FREEZE!" yelled a familiar Australian accent. Without replying, the two kids sprinted past the kidnapper-- bumping into him, causing a strange food that looked like glowing sushi and a blue liquid he was bringing up to Gigi to clatter loudly on the strange moving stairs.

"Five second rule!" yelled the wild-eyed Lenny, and with one swift movement, he picked up a few bits of the glowing sushi and gave the man a weak shove into the see-through wall. But the crazed person was too fast for Lenny.
"Let--GO!" Lenny wheezed as the man grabbed him by his neck and practically threw him into the opposite glass wall. The boy colapsed and looked up at Gigi with pain seeping out of every bit of his body.

"Lenny!" her quivering and quiet voice had fear etched into it. But suddenly, that fear turned into pure madness. Madness toward the man who had hurt Lenny. Madness toward the glass walls that were taunting her with their transparent illusion of freedom. Madness toward the stupid tunnel of light and dark that had taken Lenny and her here. She began to shake with madness in fact... Meanwhile, the kidnapper was glaring at her with his emotionless gold eyes, like a cheetah waiting for the right moment to pounce on its pray.

With two steps, the man was standing right in front of her. He lunged for Gigi's neck, hands in front of his body.

"No!" she screamed, madness overflowing. She turned away from Lenny and grabbed for the big hands and dug her nails into the hard skin of the man. Wincing with pain, the dark suited man stepped on both of her feet and janked her toward him then grabbed her pajama collar and lifted her 12 inches into the air. He smiled the most cold and heartless smile in what seemed like the universe. Getting ready to knock Gigi out again, he teasingly shook her. But Gigi wasn't about to be pushed around again. Gasping for breath, she kicked and punched and bit and lunged, letting the feeling of mad urge her on.

But, it was too late.

The man swiftly and forcefully punched Gigi, and she flickered out like a light. Again.

The temporary dining room was very beautiful and cheerful and clean. The way Gigi liked things to be. The table was set with a white tablecloth; clear crystal cups (crystal wine glasses for the Mr. and Mrs.) white napkins, sparkling silverware, and clear crystal plates. The eight large chickens that Gigi had bought were perfectly cooked and lay on the table stuffed with fresh cilantro, onions, olives, and green pepper. And Broccoli.

"This is positively superb, Menni and Laura! You are excellent cooks!" Pop said, his mouth full of chicken.

"Yeah!" When everyone said it at the same time, (27 people not counting Pop, Menni or Laura) well, that makes a big sound. They all started laughing together at the raised eyebrows and ear-to-ear grins spread on Laura and Menni’s red-with-embarrassment faces.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gigi walked back into her room that she shared with 13-year-old Chelsea after cleaning and watching the sunset. She made her bed. She brushed her teeth and hair. She washed her face. She got on her pajamas. Then she got in bed to read.

“Oh,” Gigi said out loud. She’d remembered the ring that she hadn’t yet taken off.

Gigi took it off and looked at it. That was when she noticed the almost-but-not-quite microscopic black dot right in the middle of the diamond.

‘Hmmm,’ she thought, ‘was that there before? No. It’s probably just some mud or something. I’ll wipe it off.’ Gigi took the sleeve of her duck patterned pajama top and wiped the face of the natural shaped gem.

"Huh." the dot wouldn't come off-- not even one bit of it. Gigi examined the ring, tried to rub off the dot again without success, and sighed. 'I'll look at it in the morning,' she was thinking, but sadly, she did not know that her time would be out hours before the break of dawn.

In her nightmare (which she had not very often) a man in a dark suit and black sunglasses shook her violently awake and and shoved her towards a menacing burning light spiral that opened in the middle of the wall. And behind her, she heard the startled and petrifying screams of Chelsea: "HELP! HELP! SOMETHING TERRIBLE IS HAPPENING TO GIGI-- SHE'S GETTING KIDNAPPED OR SOMETHINGGGGG! HELPPPPP!"

Gigi remembered that the man was holding a ring that looked just like hers except the gem was the most intense, menacing, and sinister looking black. "Put this on," the strange man demanded in a strong attractive Australian accent, pushing a thick uncomfortable looking copper wrist-band with a tiny green bleeping LED light on it in her face. Once the strange piece of technology was tied awkwardly tight around her wrist, she was shoved into the whirling and never-ending depths of the blinding light of the spiral. But Gigi heard another voice, trying to sound couragous, yell "CHARGE!" and jump into the pit of light.

It all felt so real when a wind ripped the breath out of Gigi's lungs and she pummeled unpeacefully down a suddenly black tornado-like tunnel of air. She felt like a rag doll being fought over by two grumpy lion cubs. And Gigi didn't dare open her eyes any longer, fearing they would dry out so fast and so forcefully that she would go temporarily blind.So slowly, slowly, she began to get a throbbing headache and her limbs began to relax... and she passed out.

Back in the large but cozy third floor of her home, Gigi was sitting by the fireplace with Lenny who had come over to the orphanage as soon as he’d been told what had happened to Gigi.

“I hate them,” he said to her, “I would give them each a nice black eye if I weren’t such a wimp.”

Gigi pressed a tissue to her bloody nose that a two-year-old named Zillie had given her as a present and sighed, then reached down to pet the Irish setter named Liz who was lying at her feet.

“I think Edmund likes you,” pretty 14-year-old black-haired Menni said as she came to sit with them briefly.

“You’re kidding me, right? You don’t try to beat up someone who you’re sweet on!”

“Well,” Menedani replied smoothly, “Boys do have the strangest way of expressing things, Gigi,” then stood up and walked away to feed Mandy, their peacock.

“She doesn’t mean you, Lenny,” Gigi said, seeing the offended expression appear on his face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Oh sweetie! Are you feeling any better? Those boys! I ought to tell each of their parents what they’ve done to a dainty young woman like you!” It was Mom, who had just rushed into the room with a box of Extra-Extra-Ultra-soft tissues from the Marvelous Market. The fire seemed to immediately brighten when her elegant slim face with bright green eyes and pink cheeks appeared from behind the precisely carved door made from one of the oak’s branches that fell during a storm. Mom and Pop believed in using everything that they have access to for something that is useful, like a door.

“Oh, hi Mom,” Gigi said, happy to have her company along with Lenny’s. “I’m doing good. But Lenny just discovered a bruise on my knee.”

“Yeah, it’s a pretty decent sized one, too,” Lenny said, “Why are they so nasty? The boys, I mean. I’m not like that, along with all the other boys in Cecklehandbe Town and all around! I just don’t understand it.”

“That makes two of us,” Gigi sighed.

“Well, on the bright side, you found that beeeeauuutiful ring!” Mom put the tissue box down on the polished Mahogany table next to the big cozy chair that Lenny and Gigi were sharing.

“True, but still, I could’ve done without the beating.”

Mom bent over to examine the ring that was sitting on Gigi’s finger, sighed, smiled, and hugged both Lenny and her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Menni came back with Zinnie hanging off her leg and Mandy The White Peacock perched on her arm.

“GIGI!” Zinnie screeched, then let go of Menni’s leg to give Gigi the biggest two-year-old bear hug that exists. “Did you like my pwesent, Gigi? Gigi better now? No more blood, Gigi?”

“Yes sweetie, I love your little present! I’m better now, no more blood. You’re so adorable!” Gigi swept Zinnie up in her arms and combed her fingers through her curly brown hair.

“Time for dinner!” Pop’s voice said loud and clear through the speaker in the wall. “We’re having dinner on the seventh floor for the next month or two because our usual dining space is under construction! Oh, and don’t forget to wash your hands!”

“Yess!” Menni, Gigi, Lenny, and Zinnie said in unison.

(Lenny usually stayed for dinner: his parents worked all the way until 10:00 pm and it was only 6:30 in the evening.)

All the children loved going to the top floor for dinner because all the walls were windows; you could see the whole town, island, and the beautiful ocean all around it. The sun set at around 7:00, and you could imagine how breath taking that scene would be. The younger children always went there to be read stories by Mom after dinner while the older ones and Mr.LucridMclacral did the dishes and other things.

It was Wednesday, the day Gigi was supposed to go out to Mr. Muffin’s Marvelous Merchandise Market to fetch some milk, chicken, and vanilla ice cream to go along with the peach cobbler that Mrs.LucridMclacral was making-- the usual Wednesday dinner and dessert. She looked forward to it.

On the short cut that she had never taken before to go to Mr. Muffin’s Marvelous Merchandise Market, she saw Edmund, the rich brat of Acorn Street (Mr. Muffin’s boy).

“Hello orphan girl.” He sneered.

“Good day Edmund,” Gigi said, looking down.

“Are you heading to my father’s Marvelous Market?” he said, taking a step forward, onto the narrow dirt path.

“Yes, I am,” she said, perking up a bit.

“Bet you can’t afford a nickel’s worth of candy.” Edmund was getting aggressive.

Gigi made a face. “Well, I happen to be getting five pound’s worth of gumdrops for my family to have and pack in their lunches for the rest of the week,” she lied.

“Oh, is that so?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll be waiting right here for you on your way back so I can see it for myself, and, maybe have a bit myself,” he then grinned rather stupidly and wrinkled his brow, as if he was trying to think.

“Okay then, that sounds good.” She mumbled, realizing their conversation was over.

‘Drat,’ she thought, ‘what have I done?’

On her way back, Gigi had forgotten all about her arranged meeting with Edmund The Bratty One. She was just looking forward to getting out of the cold, misty evening weather.

“Ha!” she exclaimed triumphantly as she accidentally stepped into a mud puddle in her yellow rain boots with turquoise polka dots. She’d remembered to wear them that time.

A few 10 paces later, Gigi bumped into something big while admiring her boots that Lenny, her best friend, had gotten her.

‘What did I just bump?’ she thought.

Then suddenly, Gigi remembered Edmund. She looked up, and to her horror, she saw not just him, but all his other short, over-stuffed rich friends. They surrounded her.

“What’s going on?” She said quietly, in her most civilized and calm voice.

“You tell me,” said Edmund, his breath white and visible even though it wasn’t that cold out, “Now, where are the gum drops, Gigi? Or did you lie to me?”

‘Oh no. I knew it! What goes around comes around. I shouldn’t have lied!’ she thought, backing away, only to bump into the other one of the heavy-set boys.

Edmund! That un-trustworthy rat had set her up. She felt very stupid, now recalling when Thomas, another orphan she lived with, once came back with a black eye from the rich acorn boys. Thereafter, Mom and Pop (Mr. And Mrs. LucridMclacril) told us all to stay away from Edmund and his gang and not to say a word to any one of the brats.

“’Ave you got the pound’s worth of gumdrops?” said Edmund in a horrible mock of a woman’s voice again. No answer. “Huh??” Again, Gigi said nothing. “Awwww,” He laughed, “looks like she’s too stunned by my awesomeness to say a thing more.” The gang snickered along with him like slippery snakes that were trying to laugh but it came out sounding like a pig that got mixed with a bear that was burping.

“Please, leave me alone!” she cried as they circled in. Her grocery bags were dropped on the ground. There was kicking, and that was Gigi, defending herself from the fiends trying to hurt her for no apparent reason.

A sheriff riding a horse almost caught the boys in their act, so they scattered, leaving Gigi upset and surprised in mid-kick position.

“That’s the last time I’m taking the short cut,” she said out loud to herself.

As she was picking up the bags, she noticed a ring made of sterling silver with a little clear white gem in the center sticking half way out of the ground. She picked it up, brushed off the dirt, and put it on her pointing finger. It fit perfectly. Satisfied with her finding, she smiled and skipped, heavy bags in hand, all the way home. ‘Everything happens for a reason,’ she thought.

But what she didn’t notice was that in the very center of that clear, white diamond, there was the smallest black dot imaginable. It was no stain.

Prepare yourselves to embrace what’s coming to you. You are about to read something slightly out of the ordinary...

As sixteen-year-old Gigi Dreams woke up on a cold and misty morning, there was absolutely nothing to suggest that something very peculiar was about to be found that day.

Gigi lived in an orphanage on the island of Shetland. The kind-hearted couple and owners, Mr. and Mrs.LucridMclacral, had chosen the most odd house for the children and themselves: the biggest tree-house/ground-house there was. You see, it was a house that was seven stories tall, and the first floor was the only one that wasn’t enveloped in the tall and trusty oak tree that was 200 years old. The tree grew around the house, (which took about 70 years) and so people just decided to make the house part tree house as well.

A total of 26 children, 2 grown-ups, and 20 pets that were all not afraid of heights (luckily) resided in that building. (7 cats, 9 dogs, 2 turtles, 1 wild white peacock, and 1 fat old goldfish named sally)

Gigi’s weekly job was to go down to Mr. Muffin’s Marvelous Merchandise Market and buy all the food needed. Such as cat chow, dog food, bird food, pet toys, litter-box pellets, new leashes and cages, milk, cheese, vanilla ice cream, (for an after-dinner treat for her and the others) bread, water, and whatnot. She had to walk quite a long way to get there. So one day, she decided to take a shortcut.