At first the voice seemed faint and far away, but it quickly grew closer and more insistent.

"Lili! Are you sure she's home?"

"I saw her coming down the street."

"Well where is she then? Lili!"

"I think I have to go," Lili said to the Orange Faeries who were trying diligently to copy the steps to the sword dance. "I have to go home now," she said to the Triceratops and the other faeries.

Lili began to feel disoriented again and she felt herself falling. She blinked -- she was sure only for a second -- but when she opened her eyes again, the Triceratops and the faeries and the Rainbow Dragon and all of Raindancer World was gone, and Lili found herself lying face down on the grass beside her porch. It was raining here too, and the grey cat had slunk off someplace in search of shelter. Lili rolled over onto her back just in time to see her mother lean out over the porch railing and spot her.

"Lilith Marissa! What are you doing?! You'll be late for dance class. Your father's waiting to take you."

When Lili stood up, her mother noticed just how dishevelled she was and continued her rant with, "Lili! You're wet and filthy and you need to be ready to leave in five minutes! What have I told you about dawdling and messing around on Tuesdays?"

Lili was about to protest; to explain that it hadn't really been her fault and that... -- but she thought better of it. As Lili walked around her porch and began to ascend the steps, sheepishly inching her way past her furious mother and into the house, she shoved her hands deep into her pockets --

-- and felt something small and round and hard with sharp, pointy ends. Lili removed from her pocket one shiny golden acorn with a perfect pentacle inscribed into its side -- and smiled.