For Nevermore Season 1

behind him — a sharp, sudden agony screaming in his ribs as the dagger split his flesh.
    Dante reached back and managed to grab the bandit’s hand, squeezing tightly, as he retreated with the dagger. The bandit was wearing gloves, so Dante was unable to surge his deadly current into his body, but he was able to squeeze the man’s hand tightly enough that the bandit splayed his fingers and released the knife.
    Dante’s vision returned enough to make out a few fuzzy shapes, and he found the dagger on the ground. He brought it up swiftly, then stabbed the man straight through his good eye.
    The bandit fell to the ground dead or dying, and Dante reached up to feel the depth of his wound. The blade went in, maybe an inch and a half. The pain was intense, but nothing Dante wouldn’t heal from quickly enough.
    Dante glared down at the dead man, angry at the corpse for driving him to kill him. He hoped Finn was able to catch the other bandit alive. Hairs raised on the back of Dante’s neck, but it wasn’t until his vision fully returned that he realized he wasn’t alone.
    Dante saw the archer in all black, barely outlined against the ink of nighttime, before the arrow found his leg. He screamed, hands ready to murder his attacker. But he only made it a single step before his leg went numb.
    The rest of his body followed, paralyzed by the poison.
    He fell to the ground, his entire body immobilized, except for his two twitching eyes, staring up at the millions of diamonds scattered across the black velvet sky.
    The last thing he saw before falling full into darkness was two men, shrouded in black – the Queen’s Guard coming to take him.

    * * * *

CHAPTER TWO

    Noella had been waiting all day to get Tori alone. And as she settled herself on the couch, with Tori by her side, it seemed like the girl’s mother would never leave.
    Jen kept going on and on about how much she loved the firm she was working for, and how it was so much better than the last firm since this one was so professional and the people were not only much nicer, but far more relaxed. She also mentioned this cute guy, Kyle, a lawyer at the firm, but quickly changed the subject when Tori started shifting uncomfortably on the couch.
    “OK, I need to get back. I’ll be home around 7:30-ish; does that work for you?”
    “Yeah, that’s cool,” Noella said. “I have light homework tonight; maybe I’ll have Tori help me.”
    “Ooh, can I?” Tori asked, excited.
    Noella winked.
    “See you all later,” Jen said.
    They stood from the couch, then Tori hugged her mom goodbye and walked her to the door with Noella. Once the door was shut and locked, Tori turned and said, “Wow, I hate school.”
    Noella followed her back to the couch as the TV played one of the several Phineas and Ferb episodes Tori had recorded. “Why? What’s wrong?”
    “Kids here look at me weird,” Tori said, “even weirder than they did at my last school. These two girls in my class named April and Lucy were laughing at me all day. Every time I turned around or looked at them, they stopped.”
    “Ignore them,” Noella said. “They’ll stop.”
    “I dunno. People have always looked at me like I’m weird, and I’ve never really had many friends. But at least I used to have a couple.”
    “I know how you feel,” Noella said. “But it gets better.”
    “It does? When?”
    Noella wanted to lie and give Tori an answer other than, “Not for another decade or so,” but had none. “I dunno, but that’s what I hear adults say all the time.”
    “So I’ve gotta wait till I’m an old lady to have friends?”
    Noella laughed at Tori’s scrunched nose and hopeless expression, even if the girl wasn’t trying to make her laugh. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t laugh. I don’t know when things get better, but I will tell you something I wish I’d known years ago.”
    “What’s that?” Tori said, hands folded, eyes wide.
    “Stop caring.”
    “Huh?”
    “Stop caring what people think. April and Lucy are stupid. Once you stop caring what they, or anyone else, thinks, they can’t make you feel bad anymore. Well, not as bad .”
    “Didn’t you say that you’re always sad? That you still have trouble making friends even though you’re so old?”
    “I’m not that old! And yeah, things are tough sometimes, but they used to be a lot worse. I stopped trying to be something I wasn’t. I stopped trying to make friends with people I had nothing in common