About The Author   
            Anika Saavi Tapadia is a well known author around her school and neighborhood. She has never published a book before, but hopes to become a famous author one day. Anika Tapadia loves to read and can often be found reading under her desk at school (don't tell my teacher!) She also enjoys writing free verse poems and fictional or fantasy stories. Anika's favorite thing to do is climb a tree in her front yard and read or write. Anika will spend up to three or four hours in her tree. If she goes up her tree, she may not come out-unless you give her sushi. Yup, you guessed it. Anika's favorite food is sushi. She LOVES fish.some of her other favorite foods include cioppino, ramen, her mother's fried rice, and her dad's pizza. Likewise, Anika is UPSSESED with Japan and hopes to live there so she can eat as much sushi as she wants. Currently, Anika Tapadia lives in San Mateo. She has a mom, a dad, and a twin who she is very grateful for because her twin always encourages her to keep writing and to BE HERSELF!

             Chapter 1:Don't Be Late!

  "Mom,"Fidelity hollered from the bottom of the stairs. "We're gonna be late!"She waited for her mothers reply. "I know, but I need to get dressed!" Fidelity groaned out loud, she HATED it when her mother "lost her phone,"or was "grabbing a snack." Ever since her dad died, her mom had been acting so, she struggled to find the right word, so careless. It was like when her dad died, she just stopped caring! Basically, her mom didn't care about HER cheer tryouts, or HER videogames- or in this case, HER school. She knew it wasn't fair to blame her mom, since it wasn't her fault, but she had to blame someone or she would completely fall apart. "I just wish I could bring him back,"Fidelity whispered, extending her hand out as if that would somehow bring him back. The sound of her mothers loud, clumsy footsteps jerked her to reality and she whirled around. "Nine minutes until school starts, "Fidelity called. Fidelity flounced away, grabbed her hot pink backpack that lay on the marble floors, and practically flew out the door. She threw herself into her mothers hot pink convertible, and slammed the door. It seemed like a CENTURY had passed when her mother finally got into the stupid car. Her mom SLOWLY turned on the engine, and of course the stupid car (she had gotten accustomed to calling it that) decided to wait a couple precious minutes, before starting with a low rumble. They were off!

                              

                                        INTRODUCTION

          KAPOW, the bullet hit her straight in her heart. It seemed to happen in slow motion. Karina felt rooted to the spot, as if she was a tree who's roots were buried deep into the Earth's core. She screamed in agony as the only person she had ever loved or knew fell lifelessly to the dirt floor. This wasn't right. She felt a shiver run through her spine. The whole world seemed to be laughing at her. Blaming her for something that wasn't her fault but felt like it had to be. She tried to tell herself that it would be okay, but she couldn't get over the way those intensely kind blue eyes had gazed into her soul: a mixture of sadness, desperation, love, and something else she couldn't quite put her finger on. Then BOOM, the ground in front of her exploded, sending her sailing backwards. All she saw was fire. The last thing she thought was how greedy and cruel the world was. Then the world went black.