She was a smart girl. Even if she was only six years old. Well six and one fourth. Already she was in the first grade! First grade. She had skipped right over kindergarten. But that made her the youngest kid in her class. She didn't mind. Even if the boys made fun of her.

Caidance pressed her face up against the window, looking outside. It was dark and a glance at the clock told her it was eleven in the evening. She pushed the window up and the cool air hit her hard. She moved away from the window and climbed off her bed, moving towards her closet. Opening it as quietly as she could, she pulled her jacket out and put it on over her pajamas. It was a big, pink thing and her mommy always said she looked cute in it. Both her mommies...

Adding a black scarf to the mix, she pulled her long black locks from where they were trapped under her jacket and let them fall down around her. She couldn't put it up by herself.

She looked in the mirror and nodded in approval. Everyday she thought she looked more and more like her real mommy, Aspen Raen.

Then, after putting her shoes on, she climbed back on her bed and went to sit at her window once again. The cool air made her tiny cheeks turn pink. After deciding she was awake enough, she grabbed the little tabs at the bottom of the inside screen and pulled them up then pushed the screen out. It made a little clattering noise on the ground outside, but not enough to bother anyone. She had done this plenty of times.

Carefully, she climbed out the window and dropped down on the ground which was only a foot or so away. Then she closed the window and set the screen off to the side. And she began her walk.

She didn't sleep well anymore. She didn't know why. There was something urgent about her need to explore the world around her. And she never got to go out after dark. So when mommy and daddy put her to bed at night, she slept until she awoke and knowing they were also asleep she went out. No one ever saw her. Not over here. But tonight she wanted to go farther. She wanted to go to her favorite place. Caidance wanted to go to the library.

Jenny let out a sigh. She was in the library and books had piled up around her ranging from biology to computer science. Midterms were right around the corner and she was cramming before all hell broke loose. It was funny how she was a college student and yet she managed to get herself grounded for two weeks. It was alright studying at home, but she was better off in the library. True she could've asked Angel to drop her off, but she didn't want to be a burden for him, not anymore after that night at the Sinister Puppet. Definitely up there in the top five worst nights of her life. She was thankful that the friend she went to the Puppet with drove her car back the following morning.

Dressed in a pair of semi-tight blue denim jeans, a black Avenged Sevenfold t-shirt and a pair of black leather boots she was pretty comfortable except for the fact that she was running off of three hours of sleep. She'd been in the library for a good seven hours studying. Sure it wasn't the best way to study for other students, but it was the best for her.

With a sigh she looked at the clock near the front of the library and shook her head. It was eleven o'clock already, and her first test was ten the following morning. At least she was finished with studying for that test, but her next two were right in a row after the ten. Jenny was never in a good mood when she had to study after having very little sleep.

It took her fifteen minutes to walk there, considering it was just around the corner. Caidance happened to know that it closed at midnight and that she still had time to pick out a book or two.

She opened the door, grateful for the warm air that greated her. And next to the librarians desk, she set her coat and continued towards the isles and isles of books. She was lucky the systems were updated because she didn't have to talk to anyone to get a book. She just put her card on the machine and it read it and then she put the book on there and it checked it out. She didn't know how it worked, but it worked and it kept her from speaking with adults who would ask her where her mommy and daddy were in the voice- as if she were a dog and couldn't understand the question. But she forgave them. Grown ups didn't know better.

Caidance headed down her favorite isle in the kids section. The fiction chapter books. She was going in alphabetical order now and was now in the b section. She chose the next two books in order and made her way to the tables where she could sit and read for a few minutes. Reading always made her sleepy. Maybe when she got home she could curl up in bed and finally go to sleep.

[in a hurry- so I hope it makes sense]

((It does. ^_^))

Jenny sighed as she put yet another subject off to the side. It didn't take her long at all to finish this one. It was pretty easy, and didn't require that much attention. Three down two more to go. It was a pain in the ass, especially since the library closed at 12. She'd finish the rest at home.

Yawning she stretched and looked around at the near empty tables. Jenny spotted a girl no older than five walking to sit at one. She looked in the direction the girl came from and saw no sign of parents or anything resembling an adult other than the librarian putting books away.

Standing up and stretching hearing her back crack from staying in one position for too long Jenny walked over to the girl. It was dangerous for anyone to walk alone at night. She was one of the few that actually knew about the vampires. Her father Angel was one.

Sitting across from the girl she smiled. "Hey where're your parents?" She asked in a casual tone. A glance at the books that the girl had told her that the girl was pretty intelligent. At her age Jenny was still reading picture books. After a month or so she graduated up to X-Men and Spider Man. "It's dangerous for us to be alone at night." The girl could take it any way she wanted. If the girl was going to be a pain then she'd return to her studying.

Caidance looked up from the book she was reading as an older girl approached her. Wide green eyes watched her curiously, trying to read her, but for a while she said nothing in answer to the girl's question. She wasn't sure if she should be wary of this stranger or not yet. Instinct told her no, but her mother always told her to be careful of strangers. Yet, this one seemed to be trying to protect her.

"At home," she finally answered the question, "I only live around the corner."

She closed her book, glancing at the page number as she did so, so that she would know where she left off.

"I know it's dangerous. But I'm so little usually no one ever sees me," she stopped for a moment and then added, "But I'm the tallest in my class!"

A pretty grin lit up her face as she said this, seemingly very proud of the fact.

"All the boys like to make fun of me," she shrugged, "But I don't care because I'm gonna grow up and look just like my real mommy."

She nodded at this firmly and then said, rather abruptly, "Well there is one boy who likes me. His name is William. He thinks my mommy is pretty too."

Then she fell silent once more, a look coming over her face that often did- as if she was brooding over something though it was just a natural look for her. After another few moments of silence on her part she came back to the beginning of their conversation.

"If it's so dangerous, why are you here? Shouldn't you be with someone?"

The question was so obvious to her that she couldn't help but ask it.

Jenny waited patiently as the girl watched her. She then smiled at the girl as she spoke. "At least you don't live that far away." The girl seemed really sweet. She smiled as the girl closed her book and spoke.

"Some people will notice even if you are really short. You need to be careful walking by yourself. There're all sorts of people out there." Well she could list them, but she'd rather not scar the kid. Among the list were vampires. There were good vampires, but there were also violent ones like the Tarepha and Ishak. Angel had told her about them a long time ago.

"That's really cool! I bet all the boys are jealous that you're taller than them." She said returning the grin. Jenny didn't remember what her mother looked like. Every time she tried all she could remember was the disfigured corpse in the morgue. It had changed her memory of her mother forever. Sometimes she'd even have nightmares about the night of the car crash. "That's really cool. I don't know my mom that well, but my dad said I look like her. I think I look more like my dad." She said with a soft smile.

"Ooooh, sounds like you have a boyfriend already!" Jenny chuckled and leaned on the table. "Is he handsome?" She asked slightly curious. Most kids that age weren't interested in stuff like that. Jenny definitely wasn't, she was more of a tomboy at that time, and usually played with the boys.

Then the girl fell silent and Jenny rested her head on her arms. Jenny raised an eyebrow and grinned. "It's because I can take care of myself." She sat up and made a fake muscle. She definitely wasn't built, but Angel had taught her to defend herself. "My dad taught me to defend myself. My dad's an ex-soldier so he wanted me to know some of the stuff he does."

Caidance made a face as she said the word 'boyfriend.'

"No, he's just a friend," she told her shrugging, "I'm too young for a boyfriend."

She didn't state that boys had cooties or anything silly like that, for she knew better. Cooties weren't real. And she didn't think of him in terms of "handsome." The only person she thought about that way was Cole, her real mommy's fiance. He was mighty handsome.

Caidance wasn't one to play with many boys. But she was rough like them. Always running around, skinning her knees. She didn't like dresses, unless it was a special occasion, and days like this were rare- days where her hair was so perfectly in place. It was the reason her mommy had cut it so often before. But Caidance was told she could keep it long if she took care of it. Most days she wore it up in a hair tie which her other mother helped her put up. Aspen preferred it down.

"Did your Daddy go to war?" she asked, "My Daddy went to war a long time ago. But he's back now. I don't even remember when he went. And I never met Jamie so I don't know if he ever went to war or not. Aspen won't tell me."

Jamie was her real father. If he could be called that. He was the one that had Caidance taken away from Aspen all those years ago. She didn't like him. If she ever met him she'd tell him a thing or two.

Jenny nodded and chuckled as the girl said she was too young for a boyfriend. "Yeah you're right. You're definitely too young for a boyfriend." Smiling she noted how the girl didn't say anything about cooties or other things like that. Definitely more mature than she looked.

The only time that Jenny played with dolls was way before the car accident. After that she'd play with the boys and get all roughed up. She definitely wasn't a fan of dresses, only for certain occassions like her high school prom. Even then she didn't really want to wear a dress but Angel pushed her to.

"Yeah my Daddy went to war a very long time ago. He went before I was even born." She said knowing that Angel had been a warrior, and that he had most likely gone to war. She wasn't one to ask questions like what wars he'd been in.

Listening to the young girl she nodded. "A lot of people don't like to talk about war." She said with a sigh. "There is a lot of violence, and people get hurt really badly." Yup that was her PG version of war.

Caidance nodded, "I know. War is messy. Once I saw Michael playing this game about the Greeks on his computer. It was a war, but he shut it off when I got there. He said I was too young to be exposed to such violence."

She shrugged, "I don't like violence either so it's okay. But sometimes Michael treats me like I'm too young. Though I like it when he takes me to get ice cream."

Like a kid, talking about people she probably had no idea about. But Caidance didn't care. She figured it didn't really matter. The girl probably didn't care anyway. Lots of people didn't care about what she had to say, always talking about how little she was. Sometimes it made her angry. She knew more than they gave her credit for.

"My name is Caidance. What's yours?"

Jenny listened to the girl and nodded. "It is very messy." She understood what this 'Michael' did it for. "Most kids your age aren't old enough to handle violence." She was exposed to it at a pretty early age, but she was still older than the girl.

"I was exposed to something like it at a very young age. I lost my real mom and dad in a car accident, and my aunt..." Yup bad memories that she didn't want to get into more than that. Letting her words die she shrugged. "Sometimes I think violence is as much a part of our lives as love and friendship." She said with a soft smile. "Though I would have to agree with you on the ice cream." She said with a chuckle.

"I'm Jenny. It's very nice to meet you." She said offering her hand to the girl. "What were you reading?" She asked looking at the books she had.

"My real mother's parents died in an accident when she was around my age, a little younger, too. She was adopted like me."

Caidance ran her fingers through her hair, trying to push it out of her face and then shook the Jenny's hand.

"Nice to meet you too."


She looked down at the book she was reading and then looked back up at Jenny.

"It's called Tae's Sonata. It's about a girl living in a Korean American family and the struggles in her life."

Caidance had read the back of the book when she grabbed it, "I'm reading all the books in alphabetical order. I'm in the B authors now. Do you like to read?"

Not many people did like to read but Caidance couldn't imagine life without books. She learned something new everyday from every book she read and maybe sometimes some of the ideas went over her head, but for the most part she could grasp them fairly well for her age. She didn't like thing sugar coated. She liked the saying "tell it like it is" because that's what she wanted people to do for her and she'd never lie to anyone... unless absolutely neccesary.

Jenny listened as Caidance told her about the girl's real mother. "What a coincidence I was adopted too." She said with a nod. "It must've been tough for her losing her parents." It was tough for her, but she didn't say anything. Sometimes when she was younger she thought she was cursed and sometimes tried to kill herself, but stuff like that doesn't matter. If it wasn't for Angel she didn't think she would be alive. She saw herself falling into deep depression and killing herself, but she had Angel. He was the reason she lived now.

Jenny looked at the book that Caidance was reading and nodded. "Sounds like a hard book to read. I wouldn't be able to read it at your age." She admitted with a chuckle.

She was quite surprised by the girl. Having read through the A authors is a feat in itself. "Oh I like to read too." She had a pretty good list of books that she's read actually. "I read a lot of mystery and supernatural stuff." She said honestly. Reading was kind of a hobby for her, but of course she had to put it off to the side for midterms. "Though right now I need to study for some major tests." She said with a sigh. "It's really tiring."

Jenny read a lot of books, and most of the concepts she understood. Recently she picked up a light novel that was supposed to be pretty good. It was called Deathnote Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases. It was pretty good for a light read, though she'd probably understand it better if she read the manga that it was based on. Though for a crime novel it was pretty simplified compared to some of the other books she read. It was easy to solve the case halfway through it, but then again it was always easier when it didn't involve you. Hindsight was always twenty-twenty, and the author basically took you through the strides. She liked more challenging novels, but it was a nice distraction.

"I'm a fan of mysteries. It's really good to read, but most of them are a little mature." She said with a sigh. Yup detailed descriptions of the crime scene, blood, violence. She didn't really like violence, but the detecting was really the best part of it for her.

Caidance nodded when Jenny mentioned how hard it must have been for Aspen. Caidance didn't remember her mother much until she actually met her. They said she was too young to remember but because she had been traumatized maybe seeing her mother had brought those memories back.

As for the difficulty of the book, "There are some things I don't understand. Mommy says I don't think as logically as older people and so sometimes she doesn't let me read certain books. She says when I do I ask too many questions."

She shrugged, "But I can understand what's going on."

Maybe not all the concepts but Caidance was a smart girl. She had a very logical way of thinking for someone her age, but she also had the ability to read into things- to see feelings in a way that adults no longer could.

"I don't like tests."

She didn't have much else to say on the subject. She didn't like them. She didn't think anyone did. No matter how smart or knowing they were.

"I like mysteries. But I don't think I read ones like you. But I like to be able to figure them out before the end of the book. You go to school like I do? Are you in college? I want to go to college one day. I want to grow up and be a pediatric doctor."

[I sorta want to get a plot going with her. Any ideas?]

((I wanna get a plot going too, but I can't really think of anything right now...hmmmm...I'll try brainstorming when I have the time..))

Jenny knew the pain of losing loved ones, and she even came close to losing Angel. If she did...she didn't know what she'd do. Maybe she'd fall into depression again, maybe she'd go on living.

"Many older people like to say they think logically." She chuckled a little bit. "Some of them really don't." She was one of them. Well at least that was her opinion. She was in love with her own father, and she even went into the Tarepha's lair. Definitely not the smartest or even logical. "Adults really have times when they don't think logically, and do things they regret later." Just like her. "She's complaining about you asking too many questions? That's the way I learned when I was your age!" She smiled at the girl. "That's good. As long as you understand what's going on the stuff that you don't understand will fall into place." She nodded.

"Yeah tests are a pain in my butt." She was going to say 'ass', but a quick change in thinking came up with that. "Plus they're really major tests for me. If I don't do well on them I'll have to work even harder during the rest." It was really pain, but she had a good handle on it.

"The ones that I read aren't in this section. They can be a little violent, but I agree it's much better when you can figure them out before the end." Jenny crossed her arms on the table and rested her head on top of them looking at Caidance. "It's a really good way to learn and see how smart you are." Then she smiled as Caidance asked about school. "Yeah I go to school. I'm going to Demaitre University. It's a lot of work, but I love it. I'm studying law, and I eventually want to become a police officer, so reading mysteries, especially realistic ones really help me out." She grinned and nodded. "If you keep with it you'll definitely go to college!"

"I think she worries when I ask questions- that I'll find out things I'm not supposed to know yet or things she doesn't think I'm ready to know. That's how I found out about my birth mother."

Caidance decided she liked Jenny. She didn't talk to her like she was a child. She hated when grownups did that. She was actually talking to her, like she mattered. And talking to her like she knew Caidance would understand.

"Have you ever seen that movie Matilda? I don't know if you have the same movies I do in this country. But my mom says I'm like Matilda. And that it sometimes shocks her how much I know. But I think it's a good thing- even if it's scary for her. The more I learn the more I understand why things happen. But I think she wants to keep me as I am. A child forever. Even Aspen seems to feel that way sometimes. They always want to protect me. But they can't do it forever. Even I know I have to grow up some day. And I learn a lot through reading and asking questions. I mostly learn a lot about people. I love to learn about people and try to see if I can guess what they are thinking. Maybe I can be a psycho- aoleigosts or whatever that is when I go to college."

She thought for a moment about what Jenny said about being a police officer.

"I think being a police officer would be scary. You have to see all that stuff that I see on the news first hand," she shivered, "Gross."