The Puzzlepiecer Quartet

Puzzling Developments (Diamond’s Story):

Di is finally out on her own and on her way to college! Now she can dedicate her time to her studies. But, even as she tries to retreat into her work, she suddenly finds herself with a whole shipload of…friends? And then there’s the mysterious (and cute!) Edric! But now a killer runs loose on campus and no one can stop him. But Di is determined to try…

Prologue: Four, Special Babies Are Born

A/N: More in the Puzzler Series! I hope you enjoy this!

It was a spring morning when Jasmine Love Devarro went into labor with her first child. She woke her husband, Jason Devarro, and he rushed her to the hospital.

At this hospital, her daughter was born. Jasmine looked down into the young, beautiful face of her baby girl and smiled warmly. A mother’s smile.

“Her name is Diamond Princess Devarro.”

And so, that was how Diamond came into this world, a healthy, eight-pound three-ounces, with her mother’s blonde hair, blue eyes, and sweetly rounded face. The only thing of her father’s that was apparent was the mischievous glint in her eyes.

As she grew, everyone said she looked exactly like her mother. And she did. But she hated being told it all the time. Her mother was a very pretty woman. But Di didn’t want to be pretty. She just wanted to read her books and to be left alone.

And, for the most part, after her little brother was born, she was.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. She wasn’t ignored, not in the least. She was very loved. But she didn’t get as much attention as she might have if she had wanted it. But she didn’t. So her parents left her be. When her father wanted to bug her, Jasmine stopped him. She had been something of a loner herself, and understood Di more than Di ever knew. So, Jason left her alone, for the most part.

Jasmine Love Devarro went into labor a second time on a winter afternoon, with snow falling and ice covering roads. Jason was panicked as he drove on the dangerous roads to reach the hospital. He managed to make it without crashing, but had many near things.

When her son was born she looked down at his shiningly precious face, so like his father’s, molten gold eyes and soft brown hair, well, at least as much hair as he had at birth. She smiled reminiscently.

“You’ll be a heartbreaker, just like your father. I think I’ll name you Orion. Orion Faron Devarro.”

She looked up at her husband’s proud face and he smiled at her. She almost laughed. Jason almost always let her get her way.

Orion was different than his sister. He wanted as much attention as he could get. And so, from a very young age, he strove for it. He flourished in the limelight, loving anything active he could do. His father placed him in sports quite young, as a way to shine and a way to work off emotion. Everyone loved to watch Rion at his games. So young, they said, and so talented. And he was. He loved the way everyone watched him, the attention he got. He never understood why his sister didn’t like having this kind of attention.

He loved his life. He loved sports. Rion was a boisterous, active, and popular kid from a very young age. And so, Rion’s arrogant nature was born and cultivated quite well through the years. His mother didn’t appreciate his arrogance, but smiled at times, because he was so like his father.

Jason, however, noticed the look of fire in his son’s eyes, just like his mother’s.

Jason and Jasmine were happy parents. Good ones, too. They made mistakes, perhaps, and they had a lot of work for them, but it was worth it. It was always worth it.

Sam and Angel, although they never said it, were very jealous of the two for a while, until, finally, they themselves got lucky. Angel was pregnant, and she, it seemed, was going to have twins.

And so, on a summer afternoon, Angel went into labor, and Sam, terrified, rushed her to the hospital.

A short while later, Angel held her daughter, while Sam held his son and they looked down happily on their babies.

“So, my little queen, what shall we name you? Something befitting I think. How about Cleopatra? Cleopatra Unique Halloway, my baby girl.”

She smile up at her husband and he smiled back. He had never felt so joyful in his entire life, except maybe when he had been saying his vows.

“What about our big, strong boy here. We need a name befitting such a hero as he will certainly be, having you for a mother.”

Angel smiled happily.

“I think we’ll call him Hercules. Because he’s my hero, just like his father. Yes, Hercules, it is. Hercules Blade Halloway, it’s a perfect name!”

And so, Herc and Cleo were brought into the world with two loving parents, and two playmates living right next door. The four children were together often, and loved their lives.

Herc was blonde and strong, just like his name-sake, a thrill seeker at a young age. Often times, he escaped his crib to find something fun to do. Something dangerous, more often than not. He loved getting into trouble, and was really quite good at it. He learned how to write, and found his talent in it, from his Aunt Jasmine. And, once she discovered his talent, she cultivated his dreams of one day becoming a best-selling novelist. His brown eyes could always be found with sparks of mischief inside.

Cleo was a girly-girl, but she always felt so normal. She read her fairy tales and heard about special people a lot, but never could count herself as one of them. She was just so…normal. She was pretty, with her curly brown ringlets, and her icy blue eyes. Those eyes were startlingly wide in her perfectly angelic face. But she never thought she was anything special. Not like her Aunt Jasmine, or her mommy, or her daddy, or Uncle Jason, or Herc, or Di, or even Rion. No, she found herself plain and boring. And no one had ever corrected this notion, because no one could ever see why such a girl would ever think she was plain.

And that was how four extraordinary people, with four extraordinary lives, were born and raised. They had no idea of the legacy that came before them, nor the legacy that was to come.