Prologue

The classroom was thick with tension as every student sat on the edge of their seats, eyes glued to the slow clicking clock. The math lesson was ignored as the teacher prattled on about unneeded formulas and equations. The only thing that mattered was the bell, which was due to ring in mere seconds.

Noelle was one of the children waiting. Her new pink coveralls tugged uncomfortably at her shoulders in the seat, and she wanted the release of recess. Her greatest desire was to finally get a swing today; she had been pushing her cousin all week, and wanted her turn.

As the bell rang, she was the first out of the room, leading the stampede of elementary school children down the halls and into the inviting sun. Noelle let out a shriek of delight as she alighted at the swing set, the first of the usual mass of girls that always claimed them.

It didn't take very long for more girls to come and claim the swings; it was the only area safe from the boys plays of football or tag, set away from the rest of the playground. Noelle noticed her cousin was late today. Monica was always one of the first girls here, and always got her favorite swing. She didn't spend a long time wondering about it though, she just began to pump her legs and fly.

After a few minutes another, much smaller group of kids came out of the doors. They immediately joined the throng of screaming playground go-ers. One of the girls made a beeline for the swing set, her long black hair flowing behind her and she ran.

"Our teacher is really mean! Lucas made a spitball so he made everyone stay in for five extra minutes!" Monica whined as she arrived at the swing set. Noelle made a face in the opposing teachers direction in response. The other girls made exclamations against him as well, and everyone kept swinging. There were no vacancies. Monica stood, tapping her feet for a few minutes, expecting one of them to get off and surrender her the swing. Nobody made the move to give her a turn.

As Monica's foot tapping turned slowly to a glare and stomp, Noelle sighed. She was used to her cousin always getting her way, and causing a fuss if she didn't. However, Monica rarely had to cause a fuss. She was almost like a god to everyone younger than her, and even the older kids respected her. Noelle had never really understood this. Granted, Monica was already the prettiest girl in their grade, and probably more lovely then most of the older girls, but Noelle hadn't thought that mattered much. Monica had every teacher complimenting her, she won any award without effort. Even the boys were nice to her, and they harassed every girl they could. Noelle couldn't wrap her mind around why everyone treated Monica like a princess; she thought Monica was a brat.

"Well, is anyone going to give me a swing or not?" Monica demanded in a shrill voice. Every girl kept swinging, but their chattering had ceased. No one would look Monica in the eyes. Monica swerved and stared hard at Anna. Poor Ann, she was the most timid of all the girls. She was usually the one without a swing, because she was always the one kicked off. It didn't take long before she started to skid to a stop under Monica's harsh glare. Wrinkling her nose, Noelle leaped from her swing. For a few seconds, she was flying with the wind blowing in her hair. Noelle loved this feeling more then anything else. She loved the wind whipping all around her. It ended far too quickly, as Noelle landed with a light thump on the gravel.

"Here Monica, you can have my swing. I just wanted to get high enough for a jump," Noelle muttered, slightly irritated. She hated letting Monica always have her way, but she hated poor Anna getting bullied a whole lot more.

Anna sent her a big smile, while Monica smirked and walked to the swing and sat, looking far more regal then any fourth grader should. Noelle walked to the corner and sat, staring out to the sky, sometimes joining in the conversation.

The chattering of the girls had turned to Nancy's mothers new car, when Noelle noticed the sky darken dramatically. The light blue turned to a dark purple, and the sun became hidden behind a barrage of dark circular clouds. Noelle thought she saw a burst of lightning in the distance. The air grew colder, and all of the girls shivered. Monica skidded to a stop and stared at the sky.

"I think it's going to rain." The girls all nodded in unison and began to walk towards the door, not wanting to get wet. Noelle lagged behind, her eyes transfixed on the clouds.

"Noelle, come on. We should go inside, it's gonna rain!" snapped Monica. She stomped her foot at Noelle, and the teachers voices started to call the children inside. Noelle paid them no mind.

"The clouds look weird. The look like they're opening up," muttered Noelle as she kept staring upwards. The other girls looked to the clouds. Indeed, they did look like they were opening up. In fact, they didn't even look like clouds anymore...

A teacher came and grabbed Noelle's hand, winning her attention. Noelle blinked and looked around. The other teachers were beckoning them wildly, and everyone else was already in line to go inside. There was a deep rumbling coming from the sky, but it sounded nothing like thunder. The other children looked frightened, and the teacher holding Noelle's hand began to drag her towards the school building. The rumbling got louder, and began to resemble the sound of a fleet of planes, or big ships out to sea. The wind grew from a slight breeze to a powerful gale in seconds, and a few of the smaller kids had difficulty standing. The teachers began to hustle the children inside, screaming for them to cover their heads.

The teacher dragging Noelle was screaming instructions to her, but Noelle couldn't understand her garbled words underneath the chaos of the screaming students and the loud rumble. Noelle stooped to cover her ears, but the teacher kept hauling her towards the entrance to the school. Noelle tripped from the strain, and the teacher lost grip of her arm. With her eyes shut tight to keep the dust and wind out of them, Noelle curled into a little ball, scared from the all the noise. In a matter of moments, the teacher had grabbed her hand and began to drag her once more.

After what seemed like hours of struggle, the teacher had herself and Noelle inside the building, and was slamming the door. Noelle sat up, rubbing the dirt from her eyes. The rumbling was still deafening, but not to the extent it had been outside. She could hear the frantic cries from her schoolmates and teachers coming from downstairs. The teacher that had dragged her in pulled her to her feet, muttering something, and began to lead her downstairs. Tears began to sting Noelle's eyes as she stumbled after the teacher, completely terrified.

A loud boom erupted outside, shaking the school. Noelle and the teacher fell to the ground. Noelle rolled under a nearby table and covered her ears, crying. All she could hear was the horrible rumble now. Opening her eyes to look for the teacher, she saw a crumpled heap near the stairs. There was shattered glass everywhere, and it was freezing. The heap did not move. Noelle's cry caught in her throat as she looked out of the broken window, eyes widening at the awesome sight before her.

Where the swings and playground had been stood huge black ships, almost as big as the school. They had wings jutting from the sides, and were shaped like a big sailing ship. The blacktop surrounding the school was cracked and destroyed, full of craters and jagged holes. Men were getting off the ships, draped in long gray clothes. Noelle sat under the table, frozen with terror. They began to walk toward the school, looking as if they were looking for something. Noelle glanced at the sky once more. It was a dark purple with black vortexes dotting the surface. Long spidery veins of dark light arched from the vortexes, twitching and dancing on the horizon. Noelle felt her jaw drop. Noelle shook with confusion, not knowing what was happening.

Again, Noelle was ripped from her reverie when a man draped in gray appeared inches before her face. The cry that had been caught in her throat earlier came through full force as she screamed. The man panicked, and made a grab for her. Suddenly unfrozen, Noelle bolted for the door. She was plucked up from her charge, held in the air by someone in gray. Noelle began to thrash and scream, doing her best to escape the person in grays grasp. They held her close, and began to mutter something in a strange language, but it sounded comforting. It was soft and kind, but urgent, and the person in gray was holding her close, cradling her. She felt female. Noelle quieted her screams to tears and hiccups, and the person began to take her outside. Panic began to arise in her again, until she saw more people in gray gently leading the other students and teachers towards their ships, speaking swiftly in their odd language.

The woman in gray carried her onto the ship, where many other people waited. The woman placed her on the ground before running back off the ship to bring others onboard. Noelle stood, shivering with chill and fear, looking for people she knew. She saw Monica and Anna, huddled together near one of the masts. She ran towards them, and nearly collided into them when she reached them.

"W-what's going on?" Anna sputtered as Noelle reached them. Noelle shook her head dumbly, and Monica glared at the people in gray.

"I'll tell you what's going on," growled Monica "..They're kidnapping all of us! They're gonna make us all slaves!" She shrieked in rage. Before Noelle could respond, the ship lurched, and they were sent sprawling. Noelle could feel the ship rising. Frantic screams in the strange peoples language arose over the ship. Crawling to the edge and looking over the side, Noelle saw the people in gray shouting and gesturing to leave. Looking at the sky once more, Noelle saw more ships coming from the vortexes, only these were far more massive and ominous. Another shiver racked her body and she wriggled from the wall and clung to the mast, eyes glued to the offending ships. They seemed to scare the gray draped people, and they scared Noelle too.

The ship lurched again, and rose quickly into the air. Noelle felt her ears pop as they gained altitude. They were headed towards one of those vortexes, and they were going very fast, avoiding the bigger ships. Noelle heard Monica's rage filled shriek to her left.

"Bring us back! Bring us back! I will not be a slave!" The ship had steadied, and Monica was standing, screaming with all her might at the people in gray. They paid her no mind, scurrying around the ship to keep it in the air. Noelle stumbled over to her, and grabbed her hand.

"Monica! I think they're trying to help! Those big ships don't seem friendly at all, maybe they're trying to rescue us!" Monica ripped her hand out of Noelle's grasp and pushed her, hard. Noelle landed with a thump on her butt, close to the railing of the ship.

"You don't know what you're talking about! I know I'm right!" Monica was shrieking now, her face was red and her hair was frazzled. She began to swipe at Noelle, trying to punch her. Noelle got onto her knees and shoved Monica back, trying to avoid her cousins flailing fists. Monica's rage only increased. She tackled Noelle and continued punching and kicking.

"You're so stupid Noelle! They're kidnapping us, and they're gonna make us work forever!" Monica shrieked again. Noelle managed to push Monica off and scooted back, dangerously close to the railing.

"I think you're wrong!" Noelle screamed back. The ship lurched again, tilting slightly to the side. Noelle began to slide and was caught with her back to the railing. She grasped at it wildly, trying to stand and get back to the safety of the mast. Monica crawled over to her, anger apparent on her face.

"I am never," Monica grabbed Noelle's arms," WRONG!" She pushed.

It took her a few moments to realize what had happened. Immediately Noelle felt the same sensation she felt when she jumped off of the swings. She felt the wind pushing all around her, whistling in her ears. She flailed in the air, screaming at the top of her lungs. The whistling of the wind got louder, and the rumbling from all of the ships was blasting from all directions. All the noise was ripping through her body, making her curl and writhe in the air, trying to cover her ears and block out the deafening sound.

Suddenly, the noise stopped. The air stopped moving. Noelle opened her eyes and saw dark light all around her. As suddenly as the noise stopped, the pain began. She felt as if she was being stretched and twisted and pulled in many directions. The pressure all around her pushed into her and out from her at the same time. She tried to scream in pain, but no sound came from her throat. She felt as if she was suspended in air, not moving. The pressure got worse, and her head felt it was going to burst from all the pain. Tears streamed down her face as she blacked out.