Katalina looked at Kade and paused. "I'm okay... better go get her before something terrible happens." She said and then sighed a bit. She was worried about the new girl, but at the same time, she went to head to her room, and heard Hannah yelling at Astrid. "Oye... c'mon hon..." She sighed as she looked at her and frowned a bit. "The girl has met some gods in her world... don't taunt her like that." She sighed a bit at that.



Astrid tore off for the outside, and slammed the doors open and looked up at they sky. The rain pelted her face and she looked up at the sky and held her hands out. "Please, sweet Thor! I am ready!" She yelled and then turned back to the door when she heard Alexander and Kade. She frowned as the rain matted down her hair, and the droplets rolled down her face, masking her tears. She turned back to them both and whimpered.

"It's not the Lord of Thunder? It's just... regular lightning?" She spoke softly, her voice a little broken at that point. It seemed that she had hoped, but maybe it was too soon.

She walked up the porch and stood there, dripping wet and sighed. "I... guess... I should go change." She didn't look at either Kade or Alexander as she stood there on the porch.

Alexander didn't say anything further. What on earth could he say? That he could sympathize? That he knew what Astrid was going through? That he did almost the exact same thing the first time he heard the sound of a bird larger than a pigeon outside? Such things wouldn't help right now. No, he reasoned with himself, he had nothing that could be said about that. So, when she walked past shivering in the rain, he almost absentmindedly shed his jacket and placed it around her shoulders.

"I'd like it back, when you think of it," he said to her, "No rush." And with that he was walking back inside. All of today's events had him in various degrees of unsettlement; he needed to spend a little time holding onto his knife.

Kade nodded to Alexander, acknowledging his jacket being given to Astrid. "Astrid, let's go talk okay," Kade said. "Come back with me to the classroom, after you change." He added. "Thank you for trying Alexander." He started off up the stairs mumbling about Hannah getting in trouble.

Elenore stepped out of her office. "Before the lightning, there was a crash. Does anyone know what it was?" As she asked another strike of lightning hit, and thunder rolled through the house seconds later. "Alexander, grab some help and gather candles for me. The backup generator is still unreliable. Make sure every room has at least two candles and some matches. You'll find a collection of both in Christopher's room in the basement under the stairs. He might even be willing to help you distribute them. Any leftover candles place in the dining hall. Katalina would you be so kind as to go the linen closets and collect the extra blankets and bring them to the dining hall. If there is an outage I want all students to gather there. Please pass that onto everyone you run into. I'll do rounds outside to make sure no one is out there."

Katalina had been mostly stunned when Astrid had torn out of the old house and headed outside, and sighed. She was distracted by Eleanore soon talking to her and then blinked a bit at that. "Ah... yes, I'll get the blankets and pillows. I'll make sure that the word is passed around... also... sorry Eleanore. Didn't mean to... y'know." Katalina was suddenly the fifteen year old her body and hormones trapped her in, and she was running along to the linen closets, and passing on the message to the others there. She took the bundle of blankets with her down to the dining hall, and put them on one of the tables and started pushing them aside. If they were to spend the night there... she knew they would need the space.

---

Astrid looked at Alexander when he draped his coat over her shoulders and muttered a soft thank you. She thought that she must look pathetic in that moment, crying and wet, having demanded to go home to an blank and empty sky. She looked at Kade and wasn't sure that she wanted to really talk, but she knew that they had to. "I'll make sure it gets back later..." She said softly as she looked at Alexander and then headed to her room.

Once there, she moved to undress, taking care to put the jacket off to the side and hung it up. The other clothing she tossed off to the side before pulling on a clean skirt, and t-shirt and sighed. She headed for the classroom and sighed a bit as she waited. She knew that she was in trouble, on her first day. But all she had wanted was to go home. She curled up in one of the chairs, listening to the thunder and seeing the lightning and sniffled. Silent tears rolled down her cheeks as she looked out at the rain, and then she put her hand to the cold window pane.

"I'll get right on that," Alexander said, glad of having something to do. It would take his mind off things, even if he wasn't all that fond of going down to the basement. Being underground wasn't his thing. In fact it was the opposite of his thing, in all technicality. But, the house was in need. And when the people he lived with were in need, there wasn't any time for waffling about things he didn't like; he sucked it up and took care of what he needed to. So, with a nod of his head to Eleanor, he turned around a couple of times to orient himself, and then started walking toward Christopher's room.

Alexander rarely spoke to Christopher, unless Hannah and Sumi dragged them both to the same table. And even then there wasn't much interaction. There also wasn't any animosity, at least not that Alexander knew of, so that was nice at least. It mostly just came down to being from different Doors and having little common ground. Like it usually was for Eleanor's wayward children, or so it seemed to the lost sky pirate.

Also, the candy skull thing was a little bizarre. Odd thing to think for someone who knew the skull and crossbones well, but it was still truthful.

"Hey Christopher," Alexander called as he knocked on the door, "You down here mate?"

"Yeah, one moment," Christopher yelled up the stairs from the basement. He was confused why there was anyone at his door, and he was certain that was Alexander. Not that they didn't hate each other or anything. He took the steps two at a time and then opened the door a crack. "Yes?"



Hannah lay on the floor of her room, tears poured down her face. Sumi stood over her glaring at her. They probably would not have been good to put together in a room, but it was too late to change that now. Hannah and Sumi were a pair to be reckoned with, or more importantly, Sumi was someone to not be messed with. She had Hope, her favorite four letter word. Hannah however didn't. Hannah was exiled and unlike Sumi didn't know her future.

"Look you need to pull yourself together." Sumi kicked Hannah lightly. Hannah just shook her head and sobbed more. There was a knock at the door and Sumi left Hannah on the floor.

Katalina looked at Sumi and then paused a bit and sighed as she heard sobbing in the background. "Hey Sumi... Eleanor wants us all in the dining hall if a power outage, since there is a storm. I'm collecting up the blankets and the like. If you can pass on the message about gathering in the dining hall just in case, I'd appreciate it. As... for Hannah, tell her I apologize... but we all hope still. And things are..." She sighed a bit. "I'm sorry. I best put these in the hall before we... just in case." She turned to head back to the dining hall, with all the blankets still in her arms.

---

Astrid was waiting in the classroom when Kade walked in. He had a cup of cocoa in one hand, and extra blanket and two candles. "For your room. Eleanor wants everyone to have two and I think that while Alexander and Christopher are getting some, here." He then sat down and looked at Astrid.

"Look, Astrid... I'm not going to make promises. Those never help. But doors... usually don't reopen, but sometimes they do. You may find yours in time, but you can not chase after every thunder storm, okay? I promise you, that's not your door." Kade's southern twang reassured Astrid, as did the cocoa. There was almost a hint of honey in it, like the sweet mead from Valhalla. It made her long for home, and she started tearing up again.

"I just... Lord Thor always arrived in a smash of thunder... and well... I had hoped... Lord Odin and Lady Freya told me I would know." Astrid sniffled at that and sipped her cocoa more and more. "This is good. I'll just... stay away from storms."

"Power's on the fritz," Alexander said through the crack in the door, "Eleanor sent me down here to grab some candles and put 'em in the rooms, seeing as the backup generator's not the most reliable sort."

Almost on cue a bolt of lightning with its accompanying thunder blast rang through the walls. Hopefully it served as reinforcement that he was telling the truth, if nothing else. "She also said to see if you'd give me a hand with it. You mind?"

"Jack's favorite type of weather." Christopher nodded and led Alexander down and opened a closet door under the stairs. There were shelves of candles, and a box labeled 'Wolcott'. Christopher pulled out the boxes of various candles, handing two boxes to Alexander, a pack of strike anywhere matches, and plastic propane lighter. "I'll take the even floors you take the odd. Meet back in the dining room?"


Sumi nodded. "Yeah I just, I'll get her to put it together enough. The Giselle's would tear her apart in this state." Sumi rolled her eyes. It wasn't the first time Sumi had used the term "Giselle" before so most of the students would know it was her way to make fun of the super happy girls from rainbow worlds. Angela is the main antagonist in that group (since she literally had run on rainbows in her world). "Elenore is nuts trying to get all of us together for a sleepover." She shook her head and stepped back into the room.

Hannah's sobbing had reduced from hysterical to mild. "Chill." Sumi said throwing a stuffed toy at Hannah's head. Hannah glared at Sumi.

"You know you're going home." Hannah spat at her roommate.

"So?" Sumi shrugged. "I don't know when I'm going home."

"Yeah and I know I never can go home. Stupid girl has the chance to go home and she's being dumb about it." This time Sumi kicked her in the side.

"Stop moping. We are all meeting in the dining room, wash your face and let's go down." Sumi told her. It seemed like she was not caring what Hannah was going through, but she knew the extrovert girl needed to be around people to get over her pity party.


Elenore found the source of the crash. A statue, mostly there for families coming to visit, was shattered on the ground. She searched the debris and couldn't find the top half of the bust. From there Elenore went out to the pond to collect Cora.

Katalina sighed. "You know Eleanore hates it when you call them that. But yeah, get her together. Thankfully, we only need to gather in the dining room if the power goes out. Though... I get the feeling everyone's gonna end up there anyways." She balanced the pile of blankets in her arms, and then stepped away. She reached the dining room and saw that she was still alone there. She sighed as set set them down and finished pushing the tables aside.

She wanted to go outside, to feel the water on her face. Rain was nothing like the vast oceans of home, but it was a substitute at times. The pond was okay, as was the rain, but she missed the saltiness of the ocean. Of course, she was hyped up a bit since she had watched Astrid run out, begging to be taken home. She remembered those days. Hell, she still had those days.



Astrid could tell that Kade had more he wanted to say, but he swallowed his words for the moment. "That is all I can ask you to do for now. That and once you finish your cocoa, head to the dining room. I believe that the generator might go tonight. Replacing it has been on my list of things to do. But that's not your worry right now. Finish your drink and head to the dining room."

Astrid paused for a moment. "Can I grab my spear?"

"If you can please leave that in your room." Kade's look told Astrid this was not the first time he had been asked such a question.

"Alright." Astrid finished her cup of cocoa, got up and headed for the dining room.

"Works for me," Alexander said as he accepted the items, "See you there!"

And with that he was bounding back upstairs. Based on the request he'd been given he presumed Kade and Eleanor would see to any immediate lighting needs on the ground floor, so he continued to the grand staircase and kept going up to the 3rd floor. He actually stuffed the lighter into his pocket, preferring to rely on the matches to light the small candles in the halls. He went up to each door, knocked briefly, and if nobody answer stepped in and quietly placed some candles on the nightstand between the two beds, let them, and left. Sometimes there was an answer, in which case he handed the occupants the candles and a match, told them to light them, and then meet in the dining hall. Sometimes he got some odd looks or lip service from the occupants, but he shrugged it off in turn. They were all a little mad here, even if the Logic kids didn't want to admit it.

It took him some time to do all of the 3rd floor, but from there he headed back downstairs and kept right on going.

"She said we were if the power went out," Hannah said, still laying on the floor. There was a thunder crash and the lights flickered and then went out. Hannah let out a huge groan, stood up and went into the small bathroom they shared with the girls in the next room. She washed her face and looked at Sumi. "There am I presentable?" Sumi nodded, took the candle that had been given to them, lit it, and went to the dining area with Hannah.


She had just stepped back into the house from the lake and telling Cora to come back inside, seriously why did that girl think it was a good idea to swim during a lightning storm. Elenore shook her head, as the lights went out. Cora, soaking wet apologized and dashed upstairs to change. "Meet back at the dining room Cora." She smiled at the girl and went to the dining room to check on how preparations were going.

Astrid let out a squeak as there was a crash of thunder, a flash of lightning, and then the lights went out. Kade put his hand gently on Astrid's shoulder. "It's alright. We already agreed to go to the dining room and you were going to head that way. I should check on the others, but I'll lead you there." His southern twang came out harder in that moment, as he removed his hand. "Sorry, hope that was okay."

"That was fine. That's acceptable. I don't mind touches." Astrid said softly and sighed a bit as she moved to the dining room. She could see that the tables had been pushed aside, and there were piles of blankets and pillows there. Astrid saw that Katalina was helping with the tables and moved over to help her. Eventually, the whole dining room was cleared out for a big space. Of course as the other students filed in, it was clear to Astrid that not many boys were there as there were girls.

As she finished clearing the table her cell phone beeped with a weather alert. Her parents had insisted on her having a cell phone, just in case. She pulled the thin piece of technology out of her back pocked and looked at the screen. They were alerting them to the storm. It was getting bigger and...

"Hey um..." Astrid spotted Eleanore and walked over to her. "Miss West... Eleanore... this is saying the story is localized. To just the house and the area around it." She pointed it out on the screen and frowned a bit. "Is that normal?" She asked softly, as she was trying not to alert anyone else to what was going on.

There wasn't much that needed to be lit up on the ground floor. Nobody would be in the classrooms, although he stuck his head in each one to check anyway, and Eleanor's room wasn't something he would need to worry about. So, with the third floor taken care of, Alexander took one trip up to his own room on the second floor to make sure everything was okay- thankfully it was. Something nagged at him a bit, however, and he carefully slipped his dagger through his belt on his back and pulled his shirt down over it. Then made his way to the Dining Hall.

A lot of the students had already filed in by then, and there was already a large cleared space in the middle. So, with the handful of candles he had left, he placed and lit a couple around the various tables along the edge of the cleared space, then went over to find Kade.

"Candles are placed and lit," he said, "Brought the spares down here, they're about. What's wrong?" he asked, noticing Astrid looking in a very concerned manner at her phone.

A frown flashed across Eleanore's face, but she quickly turned it into a smile. "Those happen, they are called micro-storms, which explains why this one is so intense. Astrid why don't you and Alexander get the younger kids settled." She gently placed her hand on the girl's shoulder. There was a group of five kids that were probably 10 years old up to the oldest of 13 who seemed like she didn't want to be with the group. The younger ones of the group were messing around, one was crying and her tears got more violent as the storm intensified.

Sumi marched up to Eleanore and loudly demanded an explanation. Eleanore surprisingly smiled at Sumi, glanced at Kade and cleared her throat. "I have reason to believe the index line has been misaligned." Sumi's eyes narrowed slightly and then realization crossed her face.

"What can we do?"

"We can hope it fixes itself." Sumi frowned at Eleanore.

"No wonder you can't go home." She turned around and faced the group. "Who wants to go on a quest?" A dozen hands shot up.

"No quests," Eleanore said.

"And what was bringing me back to life?" Sumi asked over her shoulder. She was facing the group so she failed to see Eleanore's smile that beamed proudly down on Sumi and then vanished.

Astrid looked up at Alexander and paused. As Eleanore explained that it was a micro-storm, she raised her eyebrow at that. "A localized micro-storm over this house?" She then looked to Alexander as Eleanore asked them both to check on the younger ones. "Alright, Miss Eleanor." She sighed a bit as she looked over at the little ones and headed over that way.

As she went to check on the oldest of them, she looked at Alexander. "Do you buy that? It's just coincidence that this storm is brewing now?" She asked softly as she looked over at him. "Also, uh, hi again. Sorry we did not get to speak more earlier. Thank you for the hoodie." She smiled softly as she looked at the youngest of them.

She was about to say something when Eleanor said a word that caused Astrid's hand to shoot up. "I volunteer! I volunteer for this quest!" She shot up eagerly, and paused for a moment, blushing as she realized she had just made a fool of herself in front of a cute boy, and everyone else there.

It didn't take long for Alexander to turn around after hearing Sumi offer a quest. He'd heard about them once, when he'd asked Kade why it said that over the door, but he'd never understood the aversion. Going on adventures was how you got things done, after all. And now here Sumi was, asking if anybody wanted to join one with her. Naturally, a dozen of the younger kids immediately volunteered- nothing was more attractive than things you'd been told to never do, after all. Also, he noted out of the corner of his eye, was that Astrid was set on going.

What took him most by surprise, however, was Eleanor. He'd glanced at her for the briefest of moments, to see how she was reacting to Sumi's forwardness... and the school matron was smiling at the back of her head. It was only for maybe a second, and then the smile was gone, perhaps because she'd seen him looking. But it had been there. Alexander sighed briefly, then calmly raised his right arm. Elbow bent and with only index and middle fingers extended, the raising had the tone of 'What the hell, might as well' rather than any kind of excitement.

"What?" he asked as a few of the younglings looked at him quizzically, "Someone has to help keep you fledglings out of trouble."

"Perfect." Sumi had a huge grin on her face. "Now the perfect quest team." She said tapping her chin. She glanced over the couple of Giselle's with their hands raised and ignored them. It was like a sports event. "All right Astrid, Alexander, Katalina, Hannah, Christopher and Kade." Kade raised an eyebrow his hand wasn't even raised. "What we need 'adult' supervision?" Sumi shrugged. There was a collective groan from every other kid Sumi didn't pick.

Eleanore seemed to be able to sooth all the roughed feathers with a simple wave of her hand. "Very well Sumi. This will be nothing like the trip to save you though. You'll be passing through serious dangerous areas. And the group will be lacking the sugar transport beads you required last time."

"That is true," Sumi said turning around to face Eleanore. "But does the index line even have sugar?"

Kade sighed. "No. We need to go into the in-between to get there." Kade seemed unhappy about the prospect of going to the 'in-between'.

Before she knew what she was doing, Katalina had her hand up in the air, and then Sumi was announcing that she'd be going on a quest with Alexander, Astrid, Hannah, Christopher and Kade. "So... what is even going on and what is the Index Line?" She asked softly as she looked over to Kade, but she was soon interrupted by another voice before anyone else could answer.



As Kade brought up the in-betweens she gasped and bounced a bit. "The Tree! I could find it!!" She shouted excitedly and looked over at Kade.

The boy Astrid had been told was Christopher cocked his head to the side, and paused a bit. "The Tree?"

"Yggdrasil! The world tree! It connects the nine realms, including this one. Midgard. It also connects to all the worlds around... besides the nine realms. Is that one of the in-betweens you mean?" Astrid seemed to sparkle as she talked about the Tree. Of course, one of the branches lead to her home. Valhalla. She wouldn't intrude without AllFather's permission, but it would be so close to home. She was already going to be on this quest, so why not offer up a solution for where they could go. It was an in-between, and what's what they needed, yes?

"Sorry, just we uh... it could be a good starting point. I think I know where the Door is. If I remember right, Boston."

And then there was seven of them. Well, Alexander thought, smaller crews often did better. It seemed they were headed for a place called the In-Between. Astrid suggested heading to Boston to get there, apparently she knew of the place by a different name, but Kade... Kade seemed entirely unenthused about the prospect. "Kade?" Alexander asked, "Everything alright? Or is the In Between something we should all be worried about heading into?"