I really don’t know why I’m doing this. I mean, it’s stupid. Totally stupid. Why am I writing this?

She looked up from her pad of paper, her tear-stained face looking up at the sun that shone down on her. She had lost everything, and yet she was writing an account of her history on this paper—hoping against hope that maybe it would help. But it didn’t.

I’ve lost everything. Everything, everyone I’ve ever loved. And worst of all, it’s my fault. I’m not going to start here, though. I’m going to start at the beginning, which is where everything must begin. . .

My name is Amber Johnson. It used to be Amber McLain, but it changed. Anyway, my mom married my dad, who was Scottish, and loved Scotland with all his heart. My mom was Native American, but we just say ‘Indian’, because that’s what we are. She and my dad had my older sister, Liz, first. She is 17, and thinks she’s all that just because she has a driver’s license and a boyfriend. Yeah, right. Get over it already. Okay, yeah, so she’s pretty—no, that’s an understatement. She’s gorgeous. Straight black hair, just like Mom, sparkling black eyes, and she knows exactly how to get guys to look at her. Well, that and she has a great chest.

After Liz, Mom and Dad decided to try again, and they got us. Me, and my twin brother, Kaolin. Now, here’s where things get really weird. My mom named Kaolin a really weird name (well, duh, how ordinary is Kaolin, really?), and was gonna name me ‘Halona’, an Indian name meaning ‘fortunate’, but Dad wanted to call me ‘Hadley’, and they came to a compromise: Amber. So, here I am with the name of Amber.

And then, Mom and Dad made the biggest mistake of their lives: they decided to try again to make an even number of four kids. As if we weren’t enough. We would disappear in the woods behind our house for hours, playing ‘Let’s Pretend’. The sheriff of our town got used to them calling him, and around the End Times, would drop by every day around 4 P.M. to have coffee and doughnuts with Mom and Dad, and then as he left, he fished us out of the woods and got us home in time for dinner. When you think about that, why would you wanna try for four, if that kid would turn out like us? Well, instead of one, they got three. Yup, that’s right—triplets. Three adorable, darling little girls. Or so said the neighbors. But they never knew the real sides of the girls.

Well, Mom and Dad made another compromise—uh-oh—and so Mom named the oldest and the youngest, and Dad named the middle. The oldest was Xia, a name which means ‘glow of the sunrise’ (yeah right. If you knew Xia, you’d quickly realize that was so wrong). Dad named the middle Yvonne-a nice, sensible name. But Mom just had to be wild again, and so she named the youngest a ‘Z’ name. Big surprise, huh? Well, get this: her name is Zoe. What kind of a name is that?? Mom said it’s actually quite common, but I’ve never met another girl named Zoe before. Her name means ‘life’, and boy did they get it right that time!! Zoe’s worse than we ever were.

Kaolin and I look pretty much alike, except I have long hair and green eyes, and he has short hair and black eyes. The triplets all have brown hair and Zoe and Xia have blue eyes while Yvonne has brown eyes. Okay, let’s get going.

Her eyes darted up as a helicopter flew over the park. She leaped into some bushes, hiding fearfully until it disappeared from view, and slowly came out of her hiding place, still wary, and gripping her pencil tightly.

Mom and Dad were gonna inherit billions from an uncle or somebody when he died. But until then, we were living in a small house, stretching to make ends meet. We were happy. We were really happy. Just the eight of us. Every day, either me and Kaolin or Liz would get stuck taking the girls to school. We hated that job, and so we always tried to get out of it. Never did, though. Mom and Dad always made sure that we did our job in protecting our little sisters. Too bad they didn’t think about protecting themselves.

One warm spring day, I was walking home from school. Kaolin was staying after for basketball practice, and Liz had already picked up the girls, so I could take my time and avoid having to face Mom and Dad with my C in bio. I sighed happily. Everything was working out perfectly—spring was here, I was going to the movies with Lisa and Annie tomorrow afternoon, and I had been accepted on the volleyball team.

“Hey, girl! Wait up!” I turned around as Lisa and Annie sprinted up to me. “Hey, girls!” I high-fived them, and they began to walk with me. “You wanna go to the arcade?” Annie asked. “I have a whole lot of quarters and I’ll share.” “Nah.” I shook my head. “I’m gonna head to the gym with Kaolin to run once he’s done at basketball.” “You mean the run-down old gym?” Lisa laughed. “Run by that Mrs. Johnson? Man, she is weird! All those trampolines and exercise equipment. . . and almost nobody comes by. And have you seen that ring she’s wearing? Gorgeous gold and silver, with a sapphire right in the middle. If she really wanted money, she should totally sell it.” I bristled. “Hey, Mrs. Johnson is a great person, okay? Just because she’s down on her luck and acts a little spacey sometimes doesn’t mean you have the right to diss her, Ms. Ditz.”

Lisa flipped her blonde hair. “I’m just sayin’, she’s weird. Fine. We’ll see ya later, Amber.” “Bye.” I shook my head in amusement as they walked away, and continued on home.

“Hey, Lizzie, I’m home!” I yelled, slamming the door and dropping my backpack with a loud thump. “Amber, come here!” Xia yelled. Something in her voice made me hasten towards the kitchen, where all four were grouped together around a TV set. Liz looked up at me, and a chill froze my spine as I saw her eyes.

“What?” I asked. “Amber,” Liz cleared her throat. “Mom and Dad were going to Ingles to pick up some groceries. . . “ “Oh no. You can’t mean that—“ “Their car was hit straight on by what they think is a drunk driver. Only problem is, the drunk driver ran away real fast. And he had a tattoo on his arm.” “So what?” I yelled, frozen with fear for our parents. “WHAT ABOUT MOM AND DAD?” Liz hesitated, and grabbed my arm, taking me into the other room, away from the girls.

“Dad’s in critical condition,” she said, gulping down tears and forcing herself to remain calm for the sake of the girls. “Mom might make it, if the operation is successful.” My eyes flooded and I started to sob. “Go upstairs!” Liz hissed. “Don’t upset the triplets. Get going, before they hear you!” I stumbled up the stairs, my hand clasped over my mouth to stifle my screams, and I slammed the door of my room, and ran to my bed.

She angrily wiped fresh tears away from her eyes, trying to keep the blood on her hand off her forehead and off the paper. But despite all her good efforts, a drop of dark red blood landed on the page, right on the word of “tattoo”. She looked at the word, and started to crying again, but forced herself to remain calm, intent on not being heard or found by the wrong people, and continued to write.

I don’t know how long I remained there, but eventually, Liz came into my room and sat down on the bed, placing a cool hand against my head. I pushed it away. “I’m not a baby,” I growled through my tears. “I’m 15. Stop.” Liz withdrew her hand, and sat in silence. “Kaolin’s downstairs,” she said in a low voice. “Watching the TV and on the phone with the hospital, trying to find out information. About what I said earlier. . . about the tattoo. . .”

“I don’t care what the hell you said about a tattoo,” I snapped, sniffing. “I care about Mom and Dad.” “Amber, it’s more than that. We’re in danger.” I rolled over and laughed without any humor in it at all. “Funny, Liz.”

“Amber, Mom and Dad warned me about this when I turned 16. They said, watch out for your brother and sisters. We’re in danger.” “Lizzie, SHUT UP!” I yelled, shoving myself up. “It isn’t funny!” “It isn’t supposed to be!” Liz yelled back. “Mom and Dad weren’t in an accident—they were almost murdered!”

That stopped me cold. I fought to maintain even breath, but with all the shock, it was difficult. “What—what do you mean, murdered?” I whispered. “Mom and Dad were gonna inherit billions of dollars from Uncle Fredrick, right?” Liz said. “Yeah,” I said slowly. “Well, Uncle Fredrick got involved with some wrong people,” Liz said. “They wanted his money. He said no way. They said he’d pay up some way or other, and to compromise, he put them on the end of his ‘waiting list’. If Mom and Dad died, then we would inherit the money. After us, they would.”

“What’s your point, Lizzie?” I asked, still reeling from the realization that Mom and Dad were in a murder attempt. “If they die. . . or even are critically injured. . . then we’re next.”

I whirled around, my eyes wide and my heart nearly giving out from all the stress. “Oh my God,” I whispered, “who did Uncle Fredrick get involved with?” Liz heaved a heavy sigh. “Some governmental group. I think it isn’t just the money, either. Mom said something about a family heirloom that must never get into the hands of the enemy. I just can’t remember which one.” “Where is it?” I asked slowly, my heart nearly stopping. Liz froze and looked up, eyes wide with terror. “Here,” she whispered.

“LIZ! AMBER!” came Kaolin’s anguished voice. We tore out of my bedroom and down the stairs, where Kaolin stood looking up, eyes pleading and helpless. “What?” Liz asked. We answered together in a monotonous tone, “Dad’s dead.” Liz’s eyes flicked to me. “How did you know that?” Tears flooded my swollen eyes, irritating them further, and I sunk to the steps, putting my head in my hands and sobbing. “What about Mom?” Liz swallowed hard, but tears leaked out anyway.

“She’s undergoing operation,” Kaolin said. “We won’t know for hours.” “It isn’t fair!” I screamed. Xia, Yvonne, and Zoe peered down from where they stood at the top of the stairs. “Amber, what’s wrong?” Yvonne asked timidly. Liz looked up, and gasped. “Girls, it’s late! What are you doing out of bed? Back, back, back!” They ran back to their room as Liz chased them.

Kaolin sat down next to me, putting his arm around me. “It isn’t fair,” I moaned. “He didn’t do anything.”

“He didn’t do anything,” she moaned, weeping. “He was just in a stupid will.”

Liz came back down the stairs, wiping tears away furiously. “We can’t think about Dad or Mom right now, we have to focus on those guys who did it. They all have a tattoo of a triple 7 on their left arm. We have to get out of the house, in case they come here looking for the heirloom.” “But we need to find it,” I protested. “We don’t know which one it is.”

“Hello?” Someone knocked on the door. We all froze. It was a male’s voice. And it wasn’t the sheriff, either. “Kids? Open up. We’re here to bring you to the hospital.” Liz started down the stairs, but Kaolin and I gripped her arm tightly. Something was wrong.

“Go get all the jewelry and anything that would pass as an heirloom,” Kaolin hissed at me. “Liz, you get the kids and sneak out the back window. Trust us.” Liz nodded, and silently flew up the stairs to the girls’ room. I grabbed my backpack and started shoving jewelry and statues into it as Kaolin barred the front door.

“All right, burst it open,” came the voice. As Kaolin and I disappeared from sight and to the girls’ room where they were waiting, the door burst open. I caught sight of one man with a triple 7 tattooed on his bicep before Kaolin quietly and quickly shut the door.