It was pitch black, so dark that she couldn’t see two inches in front of her face, except for a tiny light that seemed light-years away.  She walked towards it, being careful not to trip over herself.  Sooner than she thought, the light was right up on her, but it wasn’t coming from a door, the light was something in itself.  All around her, the blackness still stood an impenetrable wall.  Only when you got right up on it, did the light give any relief to the dark. 

Ryan stood on the other side of the orb of light.  He watched Penelope as she looked at it in wonder.  “What is it?”  She asked, as Logan stumbled out of the darkness.  Even though she never took her eyes off the light, she could hear the proud look on Ryan’s face, in his voice.

“It’s the Nursery.”  And then, without another word, he stepped into the light and disappeared.  Logan waited and when Penelope didn’t follow, he spoke.

“What’s wrong?”  He took her hand.  Penelope let a tear slip down her cheek.

“It’s so beautiful… But what is it?  How could Ryan take that needle out of an empty jar?  How can something so bright, not give off enough glow to shatter the dark?  How is any of this happening?”  She never looked at him, only at the orb.  “My whole world is going to change… isn’t it?”  Logan gave her a sad little smile.

“Absolutely.”  He wiped the tear from her cheek.  “We’ll go together.  Ready?”  She nodded.  “Okay, on three.  One… Two… Three!”  They jumped into the beautiful light that defied reason.

Ryan had been right.  Penelope was more impressed by the inside.  After a second of walking through what felt like the strongest essence of home, her foot hit the floor.  She gasped quietly as the feeling left her.  “What took you so long?”  Ryan asked, already in the middle of the room, and then Penelope took in the room, the amazing room.  It looked like something from a syfy movie.  It was filled with huge machines that Penelope didn’t even recognize!  And it was all so shiny!  The room looked like an arena, with all edges of the room having stairs and platforms that all sloped into the lowest point of the room, a circle about twenty feet across.  People were scattered across the room, beautiful, scary looking people.

Penelope didn’t notice her mouth hanging open until Logan tapped her jaw.  “Hey!”  Ryan called loudly into the room.  Everyone stopped what they were doing, and looked up.  They’re eyes only rested on him for a second, then, all eyes were on her.  “We need to circle up!”  Ryan said, quietly this time.  All of the people, around five, migrated towards the circle, dragging chairs with them.  Ryan and Logan went to join them, while dragging her behind.  As we walked down the stairs, Logan grabbed two chairs from a table and handed one to me.  Once every one was circled up Ryan went to stand in the center.    “I need reports.”

“We got a signal from downtown, and we chased one almost out of the state, but then it joined its group.  We couldn’t get it.”  Frowned a girl with blood red hair that framed her face.  Ryan’s jaw clenched.

“Did anyone get injured?”

“No…”  The girl didn’t meet his gaze.

“Then… it’ll be okay.  Next.”  Ryan called.  The girl looked at him with fondness.  Next, a man with black hair that fell barely over his eyes spoke up.  He was, for lack of a better word, HOT! 

“Donna found a cluster, she’s going on visual.  She should be back in an hour or so, they were only about ten miles away.”  He said not taking his yellow amber eyes off Penelope.  A frown creased Ryan’s forehead.

“They’re getting closer.  It’s okay when it’s just one or two scouts, but if it’s a cluster, then they might be levitating towards us for a reason.  What did Donna take with her?”

“A splicer and a couple of shells, why?”

“They could be expecting her.   It seems like something that they would do.”

“She’s just doing a visual.  She’ll be careful, and this isn’t the first time that she’s done this, don’t forget.”  A different girl said.  She had long black hair that was bleached honey blond around her face, soft pink skin, and a noise ring coming off her button nose.

“We should still send backup Diana, or would you rather just let her get taken if anything goes wrong?”  Diana rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him.  He sighed.  “Okay, Day and Lil, you’ll go out and back up Donna.”  The amber eyed boy and a blond short haired girl with way too many piercings nodded.  “The rest of us will keep up surveillance here.  Dismissed!”  He started to walk away.

“Hold up!”  Damian growled at him.  He looked back at me.  “What about her?”  Ryan smiled at him.

               “Can’t you tell a new recruit when you see one?  Diana, show her the ropes.”  And with that, he walked out of the circle and entered a door at the other side of the room.