Prologue

The sun had barely risen when Jason jumped out of bed and dressed himself into his favourite shirt for school. He had prepared everything for today. The table was set with matching cutlery, his bed was made and the garbage had been taken out. As the he stared back at the kitchen he felt a small gleam of pride dwell within him. Then with a sudden jump back into reality he raced up the stairs, and opened the second door on his right.

“Wake up!” he shouted into the room. The huge lump in the middle of the bed simply groaned back. “Come on Grandpa. You promised we’d get up early today!”

“But it’s five thirty… is this really necessary?” the voice whined back.

In a burst of frustration Jason grabbed the feet sticking out from the end of the bed and yanked them out. With a big thud Warren fell to the timber floor.

“I got up early on your birthday,” Jason nagged.

“That wasn’t because I asked you though…” Warren responded, rubbing his back as he wobbled out of the room.

Jason followed, but as Warren moved slowly down the stairs Jason lost patience and jumped from the second story.

“You shouldn’t do that. It’s bad for the timber… and your knees…”

“I’m fine,” Jason insisted.

“That’s what they all say. Then you wake up one day and find you’re an old man. When your young you think you’re immortal…”

Jason ignored him, as usual. “Look!” he proclaimed, “I made breakfast!” Jason showed Warren his attempts at pancakes, which turned out as charcoal frisbees.

“Very good for your first try,” Warren commented, hoping that Jason wasn’t expecting him to actually eat one.

After Warren had made a new batch of pancakes and they had both eaten breakfast, Jason was about to head to school. He was halfway out the door when Warren yelled to him.

“Where are you going?”

“School!” Jason stated, thinking it was obvious.

“Not yet okay. I have your present here.” Jason hesitated at the door.

“I thought you were going to give it to me tonight.”

“Change of plans…” Jason placed his bag down on the floor and walked back inside. Warren walked over to the cabinet in the lounge room and retrieved a rusted old key from his pocket and struggled to push it into the lock on the draw. Jason stepped closer into the lounge room, curious about the contents of the cabinet draw.

“I was going to give you this later, but…” Warren said, trailing off, “I thought it might be better if I gave it to you now.”

Warren pulled open the draw and took out a small purple box. He blew the large amount of dust that had collected on it off, and then placed it into the dining room table. He opened it, and slowly pulled out a long silver chain which had a gold oval amulet attached.

“A necklace?” Jason asked.

“It used to belong to your father.”

Jason took the amulet into his hand and admired it. From the look of it the amulet was very old and had a large violet coloured jewel in the centre. Carved around its rim were the ancient writings of Trinity. To say it was rare would be an understatement.

“Its aleatz crystal,” Warren explained, “ I want you to take good care of it, understand?”

Jason nodded and re-examed the crystal. “Why haven’t you shown it to me before?” he asked, fingering the crystal as he said it.

“I just never thought it was the right time, that’s all…” Warren said idly. Jason thanked him with a hug. He took another look at the amulet before placing it back in its box. Warren told him to put it in a safe place, but preferably not in the draw again. So Jason took the box up to his room and pulled the carpet up in the middle of the room so the floorboards could be seen. He began to count them from the side of the room until he reached the ninth, which he pulled up and it came easily out of the floor. Underneath laid an assortment of items. Some old photographs of his parents and a few old books, but nothing that was worth any money. But to him, everything was priceless.

Jason picked up the small box and placed it in there, right next to the photographs and pushed the loose floorboard back into place.

---

“See you on Monday!” Tim yelled to Jason as he walked pass the school gates in the opposite direction. Jason waved back before he broke into a run. He couldn’t wait to get home, mostly because the day at school had been terrible.

Bruce Almaky. The name said it all. Jason and his friends despised Bruce. Today he had managed to clobber Jason’s friend Peter in the face, breaking his nose in the process. Because Bruce was an aleatz he easily won any fight that took place in the playground. His father was a famous fighter and ranked third in the world. That was the sort of thing Bruce always bragged about, and today Peter was fed up.

Of course, if Peter had thought about it rationally, he never would have kicked Bruce in the leg. It was a pointless act really, since he didn’t make a dent in Bruce’s skin.

Jason almost slipped as he ran up the stairs to the front door. Trying to catch his breath, he paused at the front of the house. He opened the door, but before he moved he noticed something. All the lights were out, and the window in the kitchen had been broken. He was about to call out before he heard loud noises from the study, almost as if someone was talking.

Fighting the urge to call to his grandpa, Jason quickly ran into the kitchen. He opened the pantry door and climbed inside. There he lay quietly, trying hard not to even breathe. It was so quiet he could hear every small sound that was in the house. But then the voices started again.

“Well that was easier that I thought,” said a female voice from inside the study.

“What do you mean easy? I did all the work!” said the voice of a young man.

“All I meant was he didn’t put up much of a fight, that’s all,” replied the woman.

Jason could hear the study door slowly opening. He closed his eyes and he’s chest tensed. He was paralysed with fear. He didn’t know who these people were, but he had a feeling that they weren’t here for any means of good. Suddenly he heard a smash.

“Ivory! You said it would be here!”

“I never made any promises,” Ivory replied before there was a loud crash of the bookcase, “Besides, we killed him. That was what Macmillian ordered.”

Jason suddenly realised what had happened. He closed his eyes even tighter, hoping that they would leave and whatever they were looking for they would find quickly.

“Hey Ivory, come and look at this.”

Jason hoped they had finally found what they were looking for. But the long silence told him they had found something else. The footsteps were muted by carpet. That told him that they had to be in the dining room.

“You don’t think he is-“

“Of course he isn’t you buffoon!” Ivory snapped.

“Well then you tell me who he is.”

“Fine Aryan. He’s just a kid that’s been adopted, that’s all.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Aryan replied, “But that still doesn’t help us find the crystal.”

Jason winced. He realised that they must be looking for the aleatz crystal his grandpa had given him earlier. He heard a smash of china from the kitchen.

“Oh come on Aryan, of course it isn’t there.”

“You never know. Humans put their valuables in the most stupid places.”

Jason felt a cold shiver running up his spine as he heard Aryan’s footsteps passing the pantry. He immediately thought of the loose floorboard in his room, and he hoped that they wouldn’t consider looking there. He felt like crying, but he knew any sound would draw Aryan closer to the pantry. There was a silence for only a few seconds, and then Jason heard Aryan’s footsteps coming closer.

He’s seen the pantry.

He held his breath as the footsteps became louder, almost a ringing in his ears. He could hear the handle moving slowly.

“Crying out loud Aryan! It’s obviously not in here!” Ivory shouted. Aryan’s footsteps moved slowly away from the pantry, and as they did Jason began to breathe again.

“With all this racket I’m sure that someone will be coming soon,” Ivory muttered, “and the last thing I need is to be on a new set of wanted posters.”

Both of the footsteps began to disappear leaving an awkward silence in the house. The slam of the front door broke it for an instant, and then they were gone.