Vidia was certain she was going crazy. Her head spun, her legs wobbled, and she was scared out of her mind. Was she having hallucinations? She couldn't be, she was never diagnosed with any mental illnesses.

     Beside her, Lili didn't react. She saw the shocked expression on Vidia's face and asked her if she was feeling okay. Vidia replied, but her mind was still on the mysterious voice she had heard.

     "The white stone-- did you see--? It was-- Oh my gosh." Vidia said, taking deep breaths in between words. She thought she was hyperventilating, because it was suddenly very hard to breathe, despite her strong lungs. She had very strong lungs; she was able to hold her breath for 2 minutes under the water.

     Percival walked up to Vidia's desk.

     "Is everything okay?" He asked, his voice full of concern. He looked at her with his startling gray eyes, and put his hands on Vidia's desk.

     "I'm okay, I'm okay," Vidia managed to sputter out. Percival's eyes seemed to bore into her, trying to figure out what was troubling her. Vidia looked away nervously; his eyes made her uncomfortable. Many people thought that Vidia had a crush on him, though she would often tell them that she didn't. She just liked to hang around with him sometimes. Percival took his hands off of her desk and turned around. 

"Well, okay." He said, walking away.  "Later, Vid." 

Lili stifled a snicker. "He calls you Vid?" She said, pointing her finger at Percival.

"Yeah. Oh, shut up." Vidia replied as Lili doubled over in laughter.

There rest of he day flew by, until Vidia was on her path home. Oh, she could remember her walk home very clearly.

     Later that evening, Vidia was trudging down her favorite path. She pulled out her colored stones and placed them on the bridge.

    "Hello?" She whispered. "Hello? Are you there? Did you want to tell me something?"

     The stones didn't answer.

     "I have a chocolate bar in my backpack," Vidia said tauntingly to the white stone. She vaguely wondered what she was doing; bribing an inanimate object had been the strangest thing she'd ever done.

     "Dark chocolate! Yum!" She said to the stone, pulling the chocolate out of her backpack and waving it around.

     She sighed, exasperated. She picked up the white stone and turned it over in her fingers. She considered chucking it over the bridge.

    "Seriously, come on." She said. "You're being difficult." She waited for a few seconds and put her ear to the stone. Her face fell when she didn't hear an answer. She decided to leave the stone on the ground and come back to it tomorrow.

     "Okay, bye, stone. I hope you won't be as difficult tomorrow." She said as she solemnly walked away from the bridge. Her footsteps made muffled "creak" sounds as they hit the wood, and she hitched up her backpack as she walked away.

     "Oh, so I'm the one being difficult?" Said a voice.

     Vidia whipped around, astonished. She couldn't believe it. The stone had talked!

     She ran back to the pebble and cupped it in her hands. "What are you? She asked.

     The pebble sighed. "Oh please, Vidia." It said. "I thought you'd be smarter than that."

     "Uh.." Vidia responded. She wasn't used to being told off by a rock.

     "Come on, girl." The stone continued. "What did you learn about in school? For goodness' sakes, your teacher outlined it for you!"

     "Um, well, we learned about the twelve signs of the Zodiac." She whispered uncertainly.

     "Yes, and there are twelve stones. Is your tiny mortal brain putting two and two together? Could I be any more blatant?" Said the stone.

     Vidia looked puzzled. She couldn't mean that the stones were what Vidia was thinking- could she? But then again, stones can talk, so she guessed that anything was possible.

     Vidia clutched her head, groaning. "What have I done to deserve this?" She whispered.

     "Honestly, you don't deserve this, but you were chosen by the council. You should be groveling at my feet, actually." The stone said. The voice had come from much higher place than a pebble on the ground.

     Vidia looked up to be greeted by a woman in a dress. The pebble had cracked open and was lying at her feet.

     Vidia sighed and frowned at the lady. "If you think I'm going to get down on my knees and shout: "I'm not worthy!" At you, then you're crazy." She finished.

     "Well, I may be crazy, but I'm also immortal, girl. Also, you belong to me." She declared pompously.

     "I don't belong to anyone!" Said Vidia defiantly.

     "Oh, you still don't get it, do you?" Said the woman, exasperated. "Okay, I'll make it simpler. You are a Virgo. I AM Virgo. I am the big mama Virgo." She finished.

     Vidia didn't make a sound. She was too shocked to move. Her brain couldn't comprehend , just couldn't wrap around the fact that she was speaking to one of the Zodiac signs.

     The other colored stones split and with a terrifying crack and the other Zodiac signs sprang out, mumbling about how uncomfortable it was in there.

     Vidia groaned, her hands caressing her forehead. She closed her eyes and wondered if she really was having sensory and auditory hallucinations.

     "Big Mama" Virgo had lost interest in Vidia and was talking to Aries, who was yelling at the top of his lungs.

     "MORTALS AREN'T USED TO THIS SORT OF THING! YOU HAVE TO EXPLAIN TO THEM WHAT YOU'RE DOING OR ELSE THEY WON'T UNDERSTAND!" He yelled. The outburst was accompanied by lots of gesturing from the hands. Vidia absentmindedly wondered if that was his indoor voice.

     A woman clothed in a modest brown dress was trying to break up the fight, and also trying to convince Pisces (Who was a guy dressed in a sky-blue T-shirt and jeans) to help break up the fight.

     Vidia started to feel dizzy. Her vision became dark around the edges. she started to sway and wobble on the spot, overwhelmed by the information that she was receiving. She could feel her consciousness slipping away, and she fell towards the ground.

     The Zodiac signs crowded around her, probably thinking:

    "Aw crap, the mortal's dying, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap."

     "Is she dead?" Libra asked, picking at her sleeve and staring worriedly. "If she is, can I have the chocolate bar?"

     "Nah, she isn't." Replied Aries. "Humans only die if you run stakes through them. Or is that vampires..?" He finished. He shrugged his shoulders and snapped his fingers a few times in front of Vidia's face.

     The Zodiac signs started to chat among themselves, not worried about Vidia's health or safety, when Aquarius whipped around.

    "What's that noise?" He asked, glancing from side to side.

     "I don't hear anything..." Replied Taurus, putting a cupped hand to his ear.

     "Hello? Hello? Is anyone there?"  A voice asked. The signs froze in position, petrified. 

     "We aren't supposed to let mortals see us!" Virgo hissed.

     "I hear voices!" Replied the voice. Footsteps echoed in the forest, reverberating off the trees.

     The signs snapped their fingers and their ghostly figures, now distorted, zipped into their stones.