Prologue

“Sydney, it’s been over three months!  If you take any longer to find another Spirit Walker the console will dismiss you from your training!”  Sydney glared at her sister, “I know Grace, I'm trying!  Do you think I want to give up my powers and be kicked out of school?”  She stood up from where she was sitting on her bed and started pacing around her cramped dorm room.  Grace plopped down on the floor and looked up at Sydney, waiting for her to speak.  Sydney stopped pacing and turned to face her, “Why are you here?  You know it’s against school rules to spirit walk outside of classes, especially at night.”  Grace shrugged, “I need to know what your plan is.  If you don’t do this, I’ll never see you again…”  

Sydney sighed and flopped back down on her bed.  “I don’t know, okay?  The Hunters have already made it to most schools and killed the nearly all of the younger Spirit Walkers.  I searched nearly every the school in the state, and once I finally find one, there's an article in the newspaper a few days later saying that the kid was killed for no apparent reason.  There’s no one left Grace!”  Grace pulled herself up and held out a paper, “Well, you’re wrong,” she said, sitting down next to Sydney. “His name is Ben, he’s in the seventh grade, he lives in southern Ohio, and has reported having weird dreams of out of body experiences.”  Tears welled in Sydney’s eyes, “I think you just saved me, Grace.”  

The a warm breeze fluttered through the tree branchs as Sydney walked up the front steps of the school. Two weeks, she thought, two weeks to find Ben and bring him back to the Academy... She pushed the front door open and entered the school. It was unusually quiet, and she was suprised to find the long, narrow halls empty. Then, the bell let out long and shrill shiek, and kids poured out of the doors. Suddenly, the long, dark halls, seemed rather bright and almost alive. She smiled to herself, thinking about her hometown, and the friends she had there, but her good mood was quickly vanquished as her thoughts went back to the academy.

She shook herself, trying to shake off her thoughts of loneliness and misery. Stop that, Sydney, she scolded herself, no time for self pity. You have to find Ben before they do. And if you don't, an innocent kid dies and you will be forced to leave the only place that will ever lead you to opportunity.

She looked around once more, hoping that Ben would make this easy and spot her spirit walking. But to her dismay, she realized that he wasn't the only one who could see her. Three Hunters walked from student to student, likely looking for the same person she was. When they saw her, they froze and stared. They were dark, ghost like creatures that craved Spirit Walker blood. Since the adult Spirit Walkers were highly trained and could easily out match one of them, they targeted the younglings. Unluckily for Sydney, she wasn't quite threatening enough to scare them off.

Shoot, she thought, I should have brought Grace. The hunters screamed and lept at her. One of them tackled her from behind, sinking it's teeth into her shoulder. She screamed and swung it off. She retreated back a few steps and pulled out her bow staff. She ran forward, expertly swinging the bow and knocking one of the Hunters to the ground. She pivoted, blocking the other one as it tried to pounce on her from behind. She kicked it's knee, knocking it off balance, then hit it in the head with the staff, knocking it unconscious. She turned to find the third, but was surprised to see that it wasn't there. She looked around the now empty hall, but only the two hunters were visible. She then heard a screech from above, and looked up in time to see the third Hunter jump down on her. Profound pain rushed through her as it landed on her with enough force to knock here down. She hit the floor, struggling to stay conscious. Her vision was blurred, but she could make out the first and third Hunters standing above her. They seemed to be arguing. As her vision cleared, a wave of panic shot through her as she realized that if she failed now, it was all over. She searched for for her staff, and caught sight of it on the other side of the hall, where it had fallen when the Hunter had fallen on her. It was to far for her to get with out them noticing, so she took a deep breath and closed her eyes, preparing herself for what she was about to do.

Her eyes snapped open and she swung her leg around, tripping the Hunters and righting herself. She then lept in a somersault for her staff. She picked it up and stood, stopping a moment to celebrate her victory. But as she turned around, one of the Hunters swung at her, and she fell back, banging her head on the brick wall behind her. The last thing she saw was the Hunter, standing over her victoriously.