Chapter 1
The girl runs down the narrow, winding alleyway, trying to listen for the footsteps of the approaching men, but all she can hear is her own heartbeat. Dark shadows bear down on her, choking her.  She turns around another corner, and stops. It is a dead end. She hears voices behind her, coming ever closer. She knows she is trapped. The wall is too steep for her to climb, and there is no other way out, apart from the way she just came in, but the men are too close for her to be able to escape them. She sinks to the ground, gasping for breath. The only thing she can do now is hope that the men kill her quickly. Suddenly, the floor under her feet disappears. All the colors melt away as she falls down the seemingly endless chasm. She screams...
Willow's eyes flew open. She checked the clock: 2 a.m.  She knew she would not be able to go back to sleep: she never could. She'd been having the same nightmare every few night for months. She was fleeing from a group of men, for a reason unknown to her, and she always ended up taking a wrong turn and coming to a dead end. Usually, she woke up at that point, but sometimes, like this time, something else would happen, and she would always end up, one way or another, falling eternally in darkness, and then waking up. She sighed, and got out of bed. Usually, she would just grab a book and read until dawn, but she was too jumpy and nervous to read right now. She opened her door and walked out into the darkness of the corridor. She lived in an old mansion, out in the country. She had to wake up early every morning, so that she had time to walk all the way to the edge of the town, were she could take the bus that brought her to school. Her twin brother, Wolfram, slept in the room right beside hers, on the third floor, and their little sister, Emmalynne, on the fourth floor of the five-story house. Their parents, who were rarely home before 4 a.m., had their room on the second floor. There were at least 50 rooms in the house, most of which they used as guest rooms, or storage rooms. They had no living room, because each of the children had a TV, a computer, at least one couch, and a fireplace in their rooms. They also had a bunch of pets. They had seven cats: Skysong, Neko, Keiko, Daemion, Lilyanne, Sapphyre and Roselynne; five dogs: Takumi, Mizuki, Shinji, Yuki and Akiya; and a white rabbit, Neige. The reason that they had all these pets was unknown to the children. Sometimes, their parents would just come home with a puppy or a kitten and give it to their children to name it, and take care of it. Willow decided to go up to the top floor, which was her favourite place in the giant house. The whole floor had not been part of the original house, it was more modern. It was one big room, and the walls and the ceiling were made of glass, so there was an amazing view of the sky and the surrounding forest. She was about to enter the room, which was crowded with couches, bean-bags, and mattresses, when she noticed someone lying on one of the mattresses. It was Emmalynne. Willow was about to go ask her what she was doing up so early, when she heard her sister saying something. She strained her ear to hear:
"As the silver flake fall by my window/ Blanketing the sleeping willow/ The tears stream down my frosty cheeks/ Never-ending, for weeks and weeks/ The crystal flame of the golden fire/ Burns and blazes for all to admire/ But outside, the icy blanket of winter falls in/ Eternally trapping me within"
"Wow... That was beautiful! Did you write it?" Willow asked her sister, as she stepped into the room.
Emmalynne jumped. "Y-yes... " She stammered. "You like it?"
"Yeah! It's amazing! But it's so sad... Is something wrong?"  
"I don't know... I just feel sad..."
Willow frowned. Emmalynne was one of the most cheerful people she knew, and she could always count on her to cheer her up. It saddened her to see that she could be so down. She walked over to her little sister, sat down beside her, and gave her a giant bear hug.  Emmalynne giggled.
"That's my girl!" Willow laughed.
Suddenly they heard a sound at the door, and looked over, expecting to see Wolfram, their parents or one of their various pets. Instead they saw a tall man, cloaked in a black robe. Emmalynne screamed. Willow jumped up, terrified, but ready to protect herself and her sister.
"Hello there Willow, it's nice to finally meet you!" the man laughed. It was a horrible sound, like nails on a blackboard.
"H-how do you know my name?" Willow managed to say.
The man laughed again, Willow shuddered. "I know a lot more about you than your name"
They heard another sound. It was the front door opening. Willow gulped, expecting it to be more scary men, come to attack her and her siblings. She heard voice. It was her parents. Willow sighed in relief. But there was still the current threat of the man in black.
"Ah! That's my cue. I'll see you again, Willow!" with that promise, and a parting wink, he left.  
Willow grabbed her sister's hand and ran out, but the man was gone. They ran all the way down the four staircases to the main floor, where their parents were still taking off their winter coats and boots.
"Mom! Dad!" Willow and Emmalynne cried in union, jumping into their parents arms.
"Why hello, Willow! Why hello, Emmalynne!" their mother laughed. "You two are up early!"
Willow was about to tell her parents about the strange man, when she realized that it might be a good idea to keep quite. She met her sister's eyes, and Emmalynne gave a quick nod, knowing what her sister was thinking. They heard a giant yawn behind them, and turned around to see Wolfram coming down the stairs, rubbing his piercing blue eyes.
"Dude... What's the big commotion all about? Some people actually enjoy sleeping, you know" he grumbled.
Emmalynne giggled and gave him a big hug. Wolfram laughed. Emmalynne could cheer anybody up.
"You three should go back to bed, it's only three o'clock!" their father said.
"Sure thing!" Wolfram said, and walked away.
"I don't think that I'd be able to go back to sleep..." Willow said.
"Same here." Her sister agreed.
Their father gave a giant yawn. "I, on the other hand, am just about ready to hibernate for the rest of the winter!"
"Why don't you two go for a nice walk in the forest with the dogs and cats? They'd love that!"
Emmalynne nodded. "That sounds like fun!"
Willow quickly agreed and they put on their coats and boots. Willow gave a quick whistle, and the sound of 12 clawed paws running down the wooden staircase could be heard around the house.  
About an hour later, they were still out walking, Emmalynne said nervously:
"Willow... I've been having strange dreams..."
Willow perked up at that. "What kind of dreams?"
"Nightmares. I'll be running in the forest, with these men wearing black chasing after me. And then I'll reach a cliff, ad have nowhere else to run to.  And sometimes, I'll fall off the cliff, or something, and be falling in blackness."
Willow gulped. "I've been having almost the same dreams!" she cried. "Except that I'll be in an alleyway, and I reach a dead-end."
"W-what do you think it means?" Emmalynne stammered nervously.
"I don't know, Emmalynne... I don't know"
They went back home, and Emmalynne decided to come into Willow's room with her, so that they could talk more. When they arrived at the third room, they saw that their bother was awake.
"Hey Wolf" Willow said.
"Hey Will, hey Em. You guys gonna talk in Will's room?" he asked.
"Yep!" Em said cheerfully.
"Can... I join you?"
"Guess" Willow said sarcastically.
"Uhm... No?" he answered with a wink.
Willow wacked the back of his head. "Come on"
They entered the room. Emmalynne screamed. Willow gasped. Lying on the floor in front of them... was a dead cat. It was Sapphyre. Her dark gray fur was stained red with blood. One of her eyes was missing. Wolfram saw a black shadow, and spun around in time to see the end of a black cloak disappear around the corner. He ran after it, Willow hot on his heels, while Emmalynne stayed to mourn for the poor cat. They turned around the corner, to see... a cloaked man, holding a bloody knife in his left hand.