A girl named Raven has extraordinary powers: she can turn into a wolf, and she has magic inside of her. She is soon kidnapped, and is put in a maze. There, she must find pieces of a key to unlock a lock hat holds The Hourglass of Endless Time, and the world is at stake! Will Raven complete her task with four other girls? Or will the world dissolve into nothingness?
RAVEN DI ANGIOLETTO stared at the dull cloudy sky, listening to the cheeping birds. Her frown deepened as every grey cloud went by, praying for it to be Winter soon. She suddenly heard a snap behind her, and she whirled around. It was just her cat, Gatto. Just Gatto. Her black eyes returned to the blank sky, and they lingered for a moment or two before she heard another snap.
Thinking it was just Gatto again, she didn't turn around. But then there was a splash from her koi pond. Gatto never went to her koi pond. Raven stood up from her wooden chair, and it clumsily clunked to the stone patio. Five tiny men emerged from behind her evergreen trees. And Raven tried not to snort. The men where smaller than her!
One man notched an arrow in his ebony bow, it's silver tip gleaming in the escaping strands of sunlight. Raven was hoping for a fight like this all Autumn. She put her left foot behind her and raised her fists into a fighting position. "Fight me, shorties." She growled in her Italian accent. The man with the bow let the arrow go, and it came flying at her. She flipped forwards, landing on her feet, the arrow missing her completely while it drove itself into the trunk of a tree.
Raven knew her power. She knew what she could do. Wolf ears and a tail blossomed onto her body, matching her sleek black hair that was pulled into a ponytail. The men gasped, and whispered to each other in worried, frantic tones. All except one. He abruptly grabbed the bow and a green tipped arrow, and let it fly.
The arrow came at an alarming speed, too fast for Raven to avoid. It grazed the hem of her leather jacket, puncturing her skin, making her fall to her knees. She screaming in pain, blood dripping down her side as she crumpled to the dry, brown grass. Raven's only sliver of vision swivelled to the tiny men, and they were now bolting towards her.
"N-No . . ." She mumbled under her breath, trying to swat her away. He sight flickered to black once, twice, thrice, and then it stayed that way for a long time.
***
"What did you do know, my little beast?"
Raven was in a dream. Joy to the world. She was at home, sitting at the table she always had her meals at, with her long gone mom sitting at the other end. Her long, midnight blue checkered dress remained the same, and her silver hooped earring shone in the now gleaming sunlight. Gatto had walked over and started butting up against her legs.
"What? All I did was try to fight a few small guys." Raven snarled. Her mom made a tsk, tsk sound. "You shouldn't talk to your mother like that. So," Her mom scolded, immediately trying to change the subject. "How is the real Gatto doing?" Raven shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. I got kidnapped, didn't I?" Now it was her mom's turn to frown.
"Honey, you're in terrible danger." She said after a while. Raven's right eyebrow shot up and over her hairline. "What. On Earth do you mean?" Raven demanded. Her mom stood up. "The people who captured you are going to train you to be a soldier. They're going to train you to break bones. I should know because I was there myself."
"But I don't want to work for some random dudes who want me to work for them!" Raven complained. Her mom walked over, Gatto strangely marching behind her. "Exactly. So that's why I want you to do something for me." She kneeled down next to her daughter. Her breath was on Raven's neck now, sticky and hot and uncomfortable.
"First find the map, the find the key." She whispered in her ear. The vines reached up from the ground, splintering the wooden floor, and dragged Raven underneath the Earth as her mom burst into laughter.
***
Raven awoke in a blinding white room. She closed her eyes to the brightness, and when she opened them again, it was dark. It was floating blue orbs that was lighting up the room. Three other girls were asleep on the floor, and her neck ached with it being in an uncomfortable position for too long. She tried to stand up, but when she put her hand on the wall, it felt like a shark had bitten her.
She jerked her hand away, concluding her ending up on the floor again. She sighed, and put her hand on the wall. It felt . . . fine. But she had sworn-! A faint mew interrupted her thoughts, and her only thought was Gatto. Raven followed her dear cat's meows, and she came to stop in front of a door that said:
SECRET TESTS IN PROGRESS. ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Raven scoffed. Nothing told her what to do! She barded through the door, and what she found broke her heart. Gatto was in a huge cage, surrounded by sharp needles with a bowl of nasty water in a rusting water bowl. "Oh my God. Gatto, what happened?" Raven cried as she ran over towards Gatto. She got him out of the cage and lifted him into her arms while something . . . something caught her eye.
A big piece of folded paper sat on a metal table, and Raven put Gatto down as she picked up the paper. It was an amp of the whole entire building. They were in the secret test room. "Well, duh." Raven snorted. "It obviously says that on the sign." But then something clicked in her mind.
"First find the map, then find the key." Her mother's voice echoed in her brain. She had found the map. The game was afoot.
