Hi. It's me again. I bet you all got tired of reading my stories a long time ago, but I still persevere! I will most likely not be adding chapters on a regular basis, so I would appreciate it if you would nag at me until I do. Unless it's November. In November I will be writing a 40,000 word novel in a month, so I will most likely be putting this story on hold. I hope you don't mind. Thanks for understanding. After working a ton, here's chapter one! The sun was shining, the birds were singing, it was the perfect day to hunt, Alyx thought as she walked through the woods. She could see small animals bustling through the underbrush, but she didn't shoot anything just yet. Alyx was on her way to a little clearing she liked to call hunter's paradise. The game practical waltzed up to you on a silver platter when you hunted there, so there was no need to waste arrows, Alyx reasoned. She was almost to her clearing when she heard voices. "The sun is shining, the birds are singing..." Wow. Déjà vu much? Alyx thought snickering. "It's the perfect day for a revolution." That wasn't on my agenda, thought Alyx, suddenly anxious to see who was speaking. She slowly walked forward as if stalking her prey. Pulling up the bottom of her simple dress, she stepped over a log. She looked into the clearing leaning on a branch and was surprised by what she saw. Sam, also know as Patch for the patch of blond hair he had, was speaking to three girls from my village. Sam was facing Alyx and the three girls were facing him, so Alyx didn't know who they were. "Are you sure we should go today?" A girl named Trinity asked. Now that Alyx could hear her voice she knew who she was. Although Alyx didn't know her very well, her mother and Trinity's mother were friends. "Why not? It's not like staying here is getting any safer," Patch said. "With our shadows and all of the practice we've been doing, we'll be fine." Then, of course, Alyx had to lean too heavily on the branchand it snapped. She fell into the clearing landing on her face. Cursing, Alyx got up and dusted herself off, only to find a sword at her neck. "Don't move," Patch warned her, pressing his alarmingly dull blade to her throat. Alyx didn't struggle. She did not want to die by that blade. "You aren't going to kill her, right?" Trinity asked, worriedly twirling a strand of her blond hair around her finger. Now that the other two girls had turned around, Alyx could see that they were Zoey Price and Alaina Whitney. They were quiet girls, Alaina especially. Alyx would never have guessed they were plotting to overthrow the king in their spare time. "That depends on how much she heard." Patch threw Alyx to the ground. "How much did you hear?" he demanded to know. For good measure he thrust his sword under her chin. "I heard that you were shadows and-" Before she could finish Patch brought his sword back intending to strike a fatal blow. "And I'm a shadow too!" Alyx screeched as the sword came flying towards her head. She covered her face expecting the worst. When nothing happened Alyx peeked between her fingers to see four sets of bewildered eyes watching her. "Alyx?" Zoey asked, concerned. Her green eyes were wide. "Are you okay?" "I would use the word 'okay', but I'm alive," Alyx said, standing up on shaky legs. "So, what is it?" Trinity asked Alyx. "What's what?" Alyx asked. "What's your power... Er, shadow?" Trinity amended. Shadows were people who had powers. Their powers were calked shadows because it was said that the people with the powers had no souls. All that remained was a shadow. Shadows had two choices; they could go to the king and use their powers for his evil will, or confess that they had a shadow to someone who did not, and get themselves killed. Everyone was too afraid of the evil that shadows could do to worry about killing an innocent person. It seemed to Alyx that these four still had their souls, so the rumors were just that- rumors. "We're waiting," Patch growled, still unconvinced of Alyx's innocence. "Archery," Alyx said quickly mentally kicking herself. While her life was on the line she had decided to take a trip to la-la land and give herself a history lesson. "Pardon?" Alaina said, looking surprised by Alyx's sudden outburst. "Archery, that's my shadow." They all continued to stare at Alyx like she was a lunatic. "What I mean is that I can shoot anything you tell me to and never miss," She clarified. I wish, Alyx mentally snorted. I may have no shadow, but I sure have a knack for lying to save my neck, Alyx thought. "Prove it," Patch said, watching Alyx closely. Alyx stood up and strung her bow. She pulled the string back and looked for something to shoot at. Alyx saw a brown leave falling from a maple tree. She released her string and the arrow went flying, nailing the leave to the tree. After that everyone was only too thrilled to welcome Alyx into their group. "You heard that we're planning to take the king down, right? We have a plan." Zoey told Alyx. "You see, that's the problem. You can't plan for things like these. I suggest you replace your plan with something else. Something better." Alyx said, a slight smile on her face. "Really." Patch said skeptically. "What would you suggest?" Alyx took a deep breath before replying. "Me."