Domino One

And that goes for everyone: THANK YOU and ENJOY!

PROLOGUE: DOMINO ONE

Omri Anblick glided through the hallway of his cottage, a small smirk playing against his dazzling blue eyes. He already knew what was waiting for him at the end of the hallway, and although it was his parental duty to be upset, he just couldn’t resist a smile. She was probably his only weakness.

"You’re supposed to be asleep," he chimed in a very serious mock warning, even before he reached her bedroom door.

"I am asleep!" insisted a small voice. Omri walked to the doorway and poked his head in. A small lump was protruding from under a Snoopy bedspread, and a tangle of dark hair veiled two eyes, closed very, very tightly. "See??" She was trying not to move her lips.

"Ahhhhhh…Oh, I see," chuckled Omri, quite amused. "Well, if you’re asleep, then I guess I’ll keep my bedtime story until another night…"

Two large brown eyes popped open instantly.

"Well, I’m awake now…." replied the little girl, with a long, drawn-out, dramatic sigh.

Omri looked at her carefully. "No… no.. I’m pretty sure you’re still talking in your sleep.. yes, that must be it. Oh well, some other time, I guess…."

"DAAAAAAADDY!"

"Hmmmmmm??"

"Tell me story… PPPPPPPLLLLLLLEEEEEEAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSEEEEEE????"

"Well, I don’t-"

The girl sat up, and stuck out her fist insistently. "Rock, Paper, Scissors!"

Omri’s eyes flashed bluer in a further amused manner. "If you win?"

"Then I get a story. And if you win, I’ll go to sleep."

Raising his eyebrows, he couldn’t help but grin. "Okay then." He sat down on the bed, and looked like he was straining to concentrate. It didn’t take much to beat his daughter. She didn’t quite get that yet.

"One……..Two……….. THREE!"

The little girl looked disparaged at her father’s scissors, snipping her well thought out paper. "Daddy," she pouted, "You ALWAYS win……."

"Yes, I do," he smiled, his blue eyes twinkling. He leaned in close to his daughter, dropping his voice to a whisper. "And you want to know a secret?" She nodded eagerly. "It’s magic!"

The child’s eyes lit up. "’Cause you’re a Garden, right daddy?"

Omri’s smile faultered slightly as he corrected her with large, laughing eyes. "It’s Guardian, love, not garden. I’m a Guardian.-"

"And you work in a BIG castle!!"

"Yep, but not anymore, remember?"

"- And there was a King, and Queen, and a Princess…"

Omri smiled. "Not exactly sweetie,"

"No King? Queen? Not even a PRINCESS?????" she squeaked, utterly appalled.

"Nope. Not at all. Sad to say, but it’s true…."

"Why not!?!"

"Well, because it’s not that kind of castle…" he answered, monitoring his daughter’s curious face. "BUT that’s getting into a bedtime story that you lost, remember?"

The girl’s face contorted into a well-executed puppy dog face, with huge, weepy brown eyes.

"OH, sweetie…" grumbled her father, wincing slightly, trying to look away. But it was no use. After a few moments of relentless exposure to the dreaded puppy dog look, Omri crumbled. Omri was by no means weak. His daughter was simply that strong. Part of her knew it too, even though she was only four years old.

"All right. Scoot over," he sighed, as his daughter shuffled to the side eagerly. Once he got comfortable hanging half off the bed with his arm around his daughter and his back smothering his little girl’s pillow, he began. "Now, let’s see… which story…"

"The Castle one!"

"No.. that’s one for when you’re older…"

"The Frog Prince, then!"

Omri groaned silently to himself. That had been a bedtime rerun for the past month. Something about kissing frogs and other strange beasts… Omri sincerely hoped that this fascination died before puberty. He glanced out the window at the shimmering moon and the glittering stars and studied them thoughtfully. "No Frog Prince tonight. I think I got something better…"

And so he began.

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star,-"

"Aww, daddy, I know this one.."

"Not the way I tell it. Just listen."

And so he began again in his rhythmic speaking, and this time, he was uninterrupted.

"Twinkle, Twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are:
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky!
Twinkle, Twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are…"

* * * * *

Ana Anblick, of number 141 County Line Road, was proud to say that she was perfectly normal, thank you very much. She was a normal teenager, doing and experiencing and feeling everything expected of a 15-year-old. She was a textbook teenager in everything she did and was, and no one ever thought to think otherwise.

Or maybe that’s just bull. Let’s try this again.

Ana Anblick of number 141 County Line Road was proud to say that she was perfectly normal, thank you very much. Despite growing up and living with her mother in the far northeast and rural corner of Maine, she was completely and absolutely normal. Not a singe of un-normalness in Ana Anblick… no sir. Not an ounce.

Well, I suppose that’s more accurate, but it’s still not quite there. Let’s do this one more time.

Ana Anblick of number 141 County Line Road was proud to say that she was perfectly normal, thank you very much. Despite growing up in a cool, rainy, yet immensely beautiful deserted hillside in northern Maine with her mother and the haunting memories of her long deceased father, Ana was completely normal.

And oh, by the way, she saw visions.

Not just any old daydreams, mind you. But the heart-stopping, mind-boggling, head-turning visions that made you think every piece of reality a dream, and every dream, reality. They came at morning, in the evening, in her sleep… during school, during dinner… Ana could not control her visions in any way, shape or form.

Sometimes the visions were easy to understand. For example, once, when Ana was around eight years old, she was eating dinner with her mother. Suddenly, a birthday cake appeared in the middle table, with a black rain cloud hovering above it. And so it would apparently rain on her birthday. And it did (much to her dismay).

Other visions were more difficult to understand. Once, not too long before the beginning of our story, she was playing piano. Claire de Lune- it was her favorite song, and from what she understood, her father’s as well. Quietly, she played, becoming lost in the sweet melody, when all of a sudden, notes began jumping around on the page. Ana watched with fascination as they formed the image of a man holding what looked to be some sort of conductor’s stick… or a wand or some sort- Ana didn’t really know. But much like the vision of the birthday cake and rain cloud, the vision disappeared after seconds.

Of course, Ana never really told anyone. The visions started suddenly, when Ana was barely six years old, occurring perhaps every few days or so. But this was around the time when Ana’s father passed away. To say the least, Ana’s mother was devastated. Ana had never seen her cry until the day when men in strange, almost dress-like clothing came to their door. And when she did start crying, she didn’t stop for a long, long time. –That’s no six-year-old’s exaggeration either. It frightened Ana to death, and she didn’t dare tell her mother that she was going insane.

And that is exactly what Ana had figured was happening. She came to the conclusion at the wise age of eight that what she saw, other people couldn’t. And seeing things that other people couldn’t was never a good sign, not even in the deserted hillsides of Maine. So she kept the secrets to herself, and that suited her just fine. Better to deal with one’s own sanity alone than to have a worrying mother.

So Ana went to school, and although she made a few distant friends, she decidedly laid low, and kept a quiet profile. And no one saw her as anything except shy, although sometimes Ana thought she saw her mother giving her a very searching glance, even when she had hiding and ignoring the hallucinations (as she called them) down to an art. And as for going insane, Ana decided that it was inevitable. If she couldn’t fix it herself, it was pretty damn unfixable. That was her philosophy. That, and "try to blend in, and just do what everyone else does."

After all, Ana Anblick of number 141 County Line Road was proud to say that she was perfectly normal, thank you very much.

Or at least she said that. But she didn’t really believe it one bit. And with the visions growing longer, stronger and more numerous with age, hiding her secret was becoming an ‘easier said than done’ situation. The visions started becoming disturbing, dark, and gruesome, and the mighty strength of the fifteen year was beginning to see its limits. And it all came down to one seemingly random vision, on one seemingly random evening, during one seemingly random dream, that the first domino fell, causing a chain reaction that would eventually turn the world upside down.

* * * * *

Ana Anblick’s piercing scream bolted through the dead of night.

Hilde Anblick flew out of her bed instantly, flying blindly yet accurately and swiftly through the pitch black hallways, frantically wondering what could possibly be the source of such an outburst. She knew her daughter inside and out. She rarely freaked out about anything, especially since she was little - or at least never let on that she did. Well, except for spiders. But this was no spider.

After what seemed like an eternity, she reached her daughter’s room, and threw on the lights. It took her a minute for her eyes to adjust, but she finally saw Ana, paler than her white bedroom walls, her thick, long brown hair plastered to her head and face with sweat. Hilde approached her daughter slowly and wide eyed- surveying her rock back and forth, sobbing uncontrollably into her pillow. Hilde almost stopped breathing at the sight of her happy, strong daughter being thrashed to this level, and when she finally did speak, her voice came out in a horse whisper. "Ana… what’s wrong? What happened?" She gaped in horror, sitting down on the bed.

Ana froze. She wiped her face on her pillow thoroughly before raising her lost brown eyes to her mother’s. With forced composure she sat up, until her eyes were level with her mother’s, and she just stared into her eyes with such an inexpressible need for peace that Hilde recoiled slightly. "Ana?" She reached out, and put her arms around her daughter, holding her close to her. And as Ana began to shake with heavy, silent sobs, Hilde found herself crying. "Please, little Liebe," she pleaded. "Just let me help you!"

"You can’t…"

"Sweetie, you don’t know that! Let me try-"

‘Take them away?’ The words echoed through Hilde’s mind as she felt a sickening feeling growing in her stomach. ‘Please… not this,’ she pleaded silently in her mind, observing the maniacal desperation and frustration in her daughter’s eyes.

"Ana, sweetie- my little Liebe- tell me." There was a certain odd tone that made her German-accented voice seem heavier.

"No.. mom… no…"

Hilde suddenly became very blunt. "Ana, do you see visions? Do you see things that other people can’t see?" She felt her daughter stiffen in her arms, and she pushed her away and held her at arms length. "Tell me the truth…"

Ana stared at her mother with wide, glistening brown eyes. "Hallucinations…how….-how did you know?"

Hilde closed her eyes, forcing a few stray tears down her face. She helped her daughter to lay down in bed, and covered her with her new and updated Snoopy bedspread. Brushing some of Ana’s hair back out of her face, Hilde looked off into the starry night sky distantly. "Magic."

* * * * *

Meanwhile, in a dusty, odd-colored room of a London, Aaron Mandam sat in the control room, doodling on his yellow notepad with disinterest as dozens of cauldrons bubbled around him. "Sure…give the intern the night shift. That’s what interns are for, after all…doing all the stupid crap that no one else wants to do!" he grumbled, stabbing at the pad with his quill.

"Oh, can it!" snapped Ashely as she busied herself with transfiguring darts out of straws she stole from the compound’s mess hall. "You grumbling won’t help anything!"

"Ashely, listen. I’ve wanted to be part of the Resistance since I was EIGHT. I have every registered seer memorized, every known location embedded into my mind, and I even have my own theories about where LeBab is located! And here I am, in the place and organization I spent years getting into, and I’m stuck with the lousy night shift? This is not what I imagined!"

"Oh, well, Mr. Wizard, then tell me what complaining will accomplish!"

"More than playing darts will!"

"ERRRRRRRRRR! Oh, I’m sorry, that answer is incorrect," she grinned, holding up a picture of their boss. He looked at the two of them nervously. She hung it on the far wall of control room, and resumed her place next to Aaron, who was grudgingly dividing up the darts. Taking careful aim, Ashley threw the first dart in a graceful motion. The business-robed man shrieked and dove off the side of the picture frame to another picture of dogs playing poker. "This is a physical activity in which you can relieve stress and anger. Let the anger go! Feel the love!" she chuckled.

"Oh, go on, then!"

"Do you need a hug, love?" grinned Ashely. "I think you do!!"

"ARRRGH! Stop!" he grumbled, dodging her and tossing a dart at the same time. The dart embedded itself in the bulletin board about five feet from the nearest portrait.

"You aim like a girl!" taunted Ashely sassily.

"Only when I’m being attacked by Miss Congeniality over here! I could hit Mr. Crouch and his enormous

bum wearing a blindfold!"

Ashley looked at him oddly as she stood, went to the door, and closed it. A smile played on her lips as she snapped the bolt shut and approached Aaron slowly. Something about the way she was looking at him made him back up, and fall into a chair behind him. "Is that so?" she smiled at him alluringly as she walked up to him, wearing an extremely sexy smile.

"Um…. Yeah…" squeaked Aaron nervous at her proximity. Her botton-down uniform began to be closed very low on her chest- an aspect that Aaron had just become aware of when she came and sat on his lap, and started playing seductively with his navy blue Caucus Resistance uniform’s tie.

"Well then, Mr. Mandam," she cooed into his ear softly, her hot breath dancing across his ear and neck softly, "PROVE IT." She yanked on his tie firmly, wearing a wide smile as she untied it, and wrapped it over his eyes.

Aaron frowned, as he was pulled blindly to his feet. Spinning slightly in an attempt to locate Ashley, he grumbled. "I could sue your ass off for that little bit of sexual harassment!"

"Yeah," he could tell she was smiling, "But you won’t. You know it’s the only action you ever get!"

Aaron opened his mouth to respond, but closed it again. It was true. "Where’s the dart!" he grumbled. Grabbing his wand, he muttered a summoning charm, and the wand fell precisely into his hand. "All right," he concentrated heavily.

"Oh, look at Mr. Seer over here," Ashley laughed with more taunting. "Thinks he can envision where Mr. Crouch is…."

"Taunt all you want, Ash, cause I got him!" He brought back his arm, and threw the dart quickly. From behind his blindfold, he couldn’t see exactly where it went, but by the bubbling and hissing sound, followed by a tiny ‘PING’ sound (and Ashely’s gasp), he could tell it wasn’t good.

"YOU IDIOT! You threw it into one of the cauldrons!"

"Which one!?" he asked, ripping off the blindfold. He watched as Ashley rounded a few cauldrons and made her way to a particularly dusty one in the corner.

"This one here!" she exclaimed. The potion inside was flashing a bright red color and fizzing furiously as opposed to the rest of them. "You BROKE it!"

Aaron paled significantly. "Oh, Crouch will have my head for this one…….."

Ashely bit her lip nervously. "I dunno, Aaron, this cauldron has been dorment for years. It’s almost as if no one has used this fireplace for… lets see…" she muttered, taking of the chart from the rim and paging through it… "for almost nine years! Maybe it’s abandoned, or something…" she muttered, recoiling at the popping bubbles that were emerging from the cauldron.

"Nine years? What location is it monitoring?"

"Uh… let me check.. US-234?"

Aaron paled even further. "Oh no…"

"What?"

"That’s supposed to be Omri Anblick and his family were hiding…" he drifted off, as he joined her at the cauldron. He stared into it, wide-eyed.

"THE Omri Anblick?"

"SHH!" he hissed as he leaned toward the bubbling concoction in concentration. Ashley looked at him like he was crazy before following his lead. She listened, and watched carefully. And then it happened. Very, very faintly, a bearded man with shiny white hair fogged the view, and she could hear his British accent. She was pretty sure it said something along the lines of, "…she’s seeing visions?" or maybe it was "he’s being Higgans…" she wasn’t sure. And then a german-accented female, perhaps middle thirties appeared- dark, dark, brown hair and equally dark brown eyes. Her voice was even fainter, but it sounded like, "just like Omri…"

But that was all they got. Suddenly, a ball of fire seemed to start in the middle of the potion. Aaron grabbed Ashley and they both retreated to under a table just in the nick of time- the Anblick cauldron exploded, covering the room in a mysterious red goo.

And as Aaron and Ashely sat there, stunned, all that could manage to be said was "Call Mr. Crouch…."

* * * * *

At the same time, deep in the heart and height of the Himalayas, another faction was up in arms. Within a mysterious white castle of marble, ice and crystal, six people were being served Cabaret in six jeweled wine glasses by a flourish of light eyed centaurs. Only one seemed remotely excited.

"To the Seventh Guardian!" toasted a beaming middle-aged Aussie with stunning hazel eyes. The rest just glared at him.

"Michael," muttered an exhaustedly pale young woman with flashing violet eyes, "tell me you didn't call me out here at 7 in the morning to drink with you…"

"You, my dear, were lucky," snapped a black and silver haired woman as she glowered at her with pitch black eyes. It is 5 AM in Morocco."

The two women exchanged nasty looks before a black man with deep brown eyes stood up from the white marble table. "Please, Michael, just continue."

Michael blinked at them blankly. " 'Right then. The Seventh Guardian. We've found her."

A man with bright green eyes stood. "Good Heavens. Are you sure?"

"Well, I can only speculate," grumbled he replied, grinning broadly, "but here's what I know. A message was intercepted between Albus Dumbledore and a German discussing how the child of the German was showing signs of divinitive talent!" He beamed at the crowd.

There was a moments pause Michael waited for a reaction from the group, but the rest just stared blankly.

"..Well? Aren't you going to guess who it was?"

"NO," the black-eyed woman, standing defiantly, "but you're going to tell us before I smash you face into-"

"Vespera!" snapped a quiet silver-eyed Russian, who leaned against one of the distant pillars, listening. "That is enough!"

"I don't know what time it was by you, Kasek, but in Rabat, as I've already said, it was 5 AM!"

Kasek looked at her disinterestedly and nodded to Michael. "Okay, Michael, I will humor you. Who was it?"

"Omri's daughter! She's got the gift!"

"You're jumping to conclusions, Michael. We don't know anything for sure."

"She could just be a seer," nodded the purpled eyed woman.

"Or a fluke," snorted Vespera off to the side.

Michael looked at the dubious group undauntedly. "Oh, open your inner eyes people! You're all True Seers- work with me here! She's an ANBLICK! She's complaining of visions! Don't tell me that's not enough for hope! Do you know how many Anblicks have been Guardians?"

"Many," replied the brown-eyed African. "But not all."

"Tomas, just think of the possibilities!" insisted Michael. "The prophecies! We know that the Seventh Seer will be found during our lifetimes! She fits everything we've seen so far!"

"Michael," sighed the purple-eyed girl, "All we know is that the Seventh Seer will be found during our lifetimes. That's ALL we know! I'm 24. There are many more years to me."

"So there ya go, Kezzie! We're already 1 for 1! And only a True Seer with blue eyes will complete our circle! She's Omri's daughter! Surely she inherited his blue eyes!"

"Blue eyes are recessive," pointed out the green-eyed man as he sank into his white marble chair.

"What? No they're not!"

"He's right, Michael" sighed Kezia, almost guilty to 'bring down his parade.'

"Well she's still an Anblick," he grinned, raising his wineglass high in a toast before drinking what was left. A centaur immediately approached, carrying a tray with another glass of wine, which Michael accepted genially. The centaur retreated to the outer rim of the circular room by the other centaurs, who were deep in a discussion of their own.

Kezia sighed, and Vespera glared at him darkly. Tomas, sensing this, turned back to Michael, who was sipping his wine contently. "Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to investigate a little bit… you say she is German?"

"Well, that's the thing. When Omri.. well.. dismissed himself from the circle," he recalled uncomfortably, "he married a German woman- I believe her name was Hilde Diercksmeier… yes… that was it… And they moved to the United States when they… er… went into hiding…"

"And they're still there now?"

"Yes, the wife and daughter remain in the northeast corner."

Tomas turned to the green eyed man. "David, perhaps this should be your responsibility…"

"You're kidding, right?" he smirked in disbelief.

"Well, you're Canadian, and live the closest to her by far."

"Yes, he is," replied Michael, interrupting gently. "But he's also pushing 50 years old."

"He's been pushing 50 for ten years," added Vespera slyly.

"Yes, thank you Vespera," grinned Michael cordially. "But I was thinking Kezia might be the best choice."

"Why me!?"

"Cause you're in her age range, and you have ties to Albus Dumbledore."

"I'm ten years older than her."

"Only nine, love, and the next one up is Verspera, and she's twenty five years older than her. …Not to mention she probably

wouldn't make the best recruitment specialist…"

Kasek spoke up suddenly from his pillar. "I want to make this absolutely clear. We are not recruiting this girl by any means. We are simply investigating if she has the gift. It is too early to do anything else. Do I make myself perfectly clear?" His silver gaze passed by each pair of eyes, each one nodding in respect and commitment.

Michael, coughing uneasily, broke the silence that followed. "Kezia, can we count on you?"

She looked around meekly before nodding. "If there's anything to see, I will see it."

And with a nod and a series of farewells, the six left LeBab Tower.

* * * * *

"'scuse me, my lord, I am terribly sorry to interrupt."

Across the candle lit room stood an imperial canopied bed, on which a beautiful woman with wavy black hair and olive skin sat, glowering at the servant’s approach. A man stepped out of the adjacent room dressed in an elegant black robe, which rippled with his every step. His black hair and cruel eyes glimmered in the dim light, and there was something of a cruel smile playing on his lips.

"Oh, do tell Gregory," he cooed, extending his hand toward the woman on the bed, who smiled seductively, stood, and joined him at his side. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she began to kiss neck in a very hungry manner. He smiled, half interested in the woman, and half humoring the servant that dared interrupt his quarters. "What could be so important, that you dare intrude at this hour?"

The servant paled slightly. "Begging your pardon, my lord! But we've just received word that there is a possibility that Seventh Seer has been located."

The Dark Lord raised his eyes with more interest as the woman started playing with his robes. "Enough!" he barked at her as he shoved her to the side roughly. He turned his attention back to the servant. "Who?"

"The daughter of Omri Anblick."

A vein protruded from his forehead but he smirked at his servant darkly. "A girl? Does the circle have her already?"

"No sir, this just happened within the hour. She had some sort of frightening vision. Her mother contacted Dumbledore."

The Dark Lord's face darkened. "Dumbledore…" he sighed with such a loathing that even the woman shrunk out of the room, leaving the servant trembling in fear. But much to his relief, Voldemort's face lightened after a moment, and he walked up to the servant. "You have done well," he assured his servant, slapping him on the shoulder with comradely. The servant stifled a small, nervous smile.

"You are too kind, my lord… I am just the messenger…."

"Nonsense! You have brought me some very intriguing information. Thank you. You are dismissed."

Almost giddy, the servant bowed, and turned toward the door. But before he made it out of the room, the Dark lord called out again. "Oh, and by the way…" The servant turned back to see a rigid arm and a wand pointed in his direction. A mad gleam glittered in his eyes dangerously, "Never, EVER disturb me when I have… company." He grinned with such malice that the servant back up against the wall as he heard his last two words. "Avada Kedavra."

Voldemort smirked over the dead body as he shouted for his servants- two vampires which walked in silkily. "Feed him to the werewolves." The two grabbed him, one on each side and began to drag him away when he added, grinning wickedly, "Oh, and send in the banshee… we were in the middle of something…"

* * * * *

So fell the first domino. And as the young girl slept in the pre-dawn hours in her secure cabin, little did she know that she was being watched with covetous eyes from all over the world. She wouldn't have even thought for a moment that the world was being turned upside down for some of the most powerful people on the planet. And she couldn't have known that the next morning, her own world would not only be turned upside down, but inside out as well.