[i]Midnight, October 15 - Anderson University, East Wellsburg Washington[/i]

Pale moonlight blanketed the dark college campus. The air was cold, clear, and quiet. On any other night, the place would be buzzing with life. People walking, cars rolling by, lights on. But this was not just any night, this was the night of the Emergence. Thousands of students stood outside, huddled together for warmth, staring up at the sky. The stars were returning.

It began exactly at the stroke of midnight. In the black canvas of a sky, just to the right of the moon, a bright dot winked into existence. Somehow the silence grew even quieter at that moment, as if every living thing was holding their breath at once. There was a pause between the appearance of the first star and the second, but eventually another spot broke through the darkness. As each new star appeared, the pause between each appearance grew shorter. Soon two would appear at the same time, then three, then four.

They filled the sky, brilliant white sparks, countless in number. For a long time, everyone stayed silent. They took in their new, temporary sky. It was more beautiful than any of those young enough to not have seen them before had imagined and more splendid than any of those old enough to have seen them before had remembered.
Eventually, the silence broke and the parties began. College kids will party for anything, and this wasn't just anything.

---

Graham, like everyone else, stared up at the sky with the wonder of a child. His eyes were wide as the Emergence put on its show. He was three years old the last time this happened, and he didn't remember it at all. It was nothing like what he had dreamed of, what he had imagined his entire life. It was so much more. The sky was an endless sea of stars, each one seemingly brighter than the last. Graham watched in awe for what felt like hours.
"Get inside. It's time."

The cold voice of his older brother broke the enchantment the stars seemed to place on him. He looked down from the new sky and then turned to his brother. Tyler stood in the doorway of the small apartment Graham had been living in while at school. He wore a black leather jacket and dark jeans, as well as a look of disdain on his face. Graham mirrored that look as he walked up the small steps to the porch. The tension between the two was clear as Graham pushed his way past him into the building.

The feeling of wonder that had filled him a few moments ago was replaced with anger and apprehension. His heart was beating quickly and his stomach was full of butterflies as he walked into the living room. The average sized room was full of people Graham thought he would never see together again. His mother, his younger sister Jenna, his uncle and his grandfather who was the current leader of the Bishop family. Along with his brother and himself, there was no one in the room who wasn't on bad terms with at least one other. His uncle was on bad terms with everyone. But they were all here for two things, Graham and his sister's emergence and the peace conference, so they decided to put their differences aside for just a few days.

Also in the room were two strangers. They sat on the couch, their faces blank and their eyes empty. They would be the sacrifices. They would be Graham and Jenna's offerings to the stars. Both were people who needed something, something only magic could achieve, and they were willing to die for it. Graham doesn't know how his mother had found these people, and he didn't want to know. The less he knew about the one he was about to kill, the better.

The entire process was a lot less ritualistic than he imagined it would be. He simply had the man he was going to kill move onto a plastic tarp, made him kneel, asked if he had any last words, and then slid the moderately sized knife across the man's throat. And like that it was over. And like that it began.

His sister had a much more difficult time, as she was much younger and a very sweet girl at heart. But she eventually did it too. Their innate magic presented itself almost instantly, as if the stars were letting them know they accepted their offerings. Graham fell through the floor and landed with a thud in the basement, while the glass of water Jenna had been drinking froze solid in her grip. It was official now, they were witches.

The next thing they did was practice their family's magic. They had been learning stuff like this most of their lives, but now it all seemed different. It would actually do something now. They were to practice by giving their sacrifices what they had wanted. The one Graham had killed wanted the man who had killed his wife and gotten away with it, a corrupt cop, to die. Apparently his hatred was strong enough to make him give up his own life, or maybe he just nothing left to live for. This spell wouldn't work on a witch, as they'd have protections against such a thing in place, but the cop wasn't a witch.

Graham set up his spell with care. He took the same knife he used earlier to kill a snake, first removing the head and then running the blade down the length of the body. He spoke the words and drew the circle on the ground using the snake's blood, and then placed three candles around the circle. Then he took the blade to his hand, slitting his palm open and then holding his clenched fist over the circle, allowing the blood to drip down into it. He chanted and imagined the police officer's face in his mind. The wicks of the candles lit as he finished, signifying it was done.

And just like that he killed two people that night, yet he had never felt more alive.