Chapter One

Are certain people predisposed to insanity? I never thought I could be capable of doing something stupid much less crazy. Yet here I am, strolling through Hadley Park at four thirty-four in the morning doing my best to appear inconspicuous. There really was no point considering there was no one in sight. Of course all the sane, clever and sensible people, all lacking homicidal tendencies were usually at home asleep at this hour. With that in mind I stuck to the heavily lit areas of the walkway. My dear brother was never going to hear the end of this. Jason and I have always been close, but this was taking sibling generosity too far. Three days ago I was a sales clerk at Mallard’s Jewelry for goodness sake.

After one phone call I’ve traveled from West Virginia all the way to sunny Oklahoma. At twenty-three, I realized that my life was uneventful and dull. My idea of a good time was reading a romance novel before bed and to be asleep by eleven. Adventure was something I always foolishly fantasized about but was never courageous enough to go out and find. However when I imagined adventure in my life it was more along the lines of meeting a guy and going out a date, a real date. Yeah, twenty-three and I have never even been properly kissed. Being kissed in kindergarten doesn’t really count, or so I’ve been told.

I readjusted my brother’s travel bag on my shoulder and glanced at my watch again. Four thirty-six. Wheee! Under normal circumstances I would be more concerned as to why my brother would call me and ask me to travel all the way from my new home state, stopping at some old house in Mississippi to grab an old travel bag he insisted I not look into. Pfft, yeah right! Two dirty magazines (gag), a toiletry bag, two shirts, a change of underwear and some shorts. The only interesting thing, (besides the magazines I must confess...) was the book. Considering the fact that it was our father’s, and that we hadn’t seen him since he abandoned our family when I was barely out of the womb, I hadn’t understood why he would keep it. Jason had always talked about finding our father, politely introducing himself and then kneeing him. I always thought it was healthy for him to deal with his issues head on.

The book was old, and heavy. It was bound in a very hard, almost cloth-like textured binding, colored a deep red. When you opened it there was two sentences written in a neat cursive. I leave you, my children, with my legacy. Create your own. Oh yeah, there’s a load of inspiration. He didn’t even sign it. You would think that he would at least leave us money or hey, maybe a contact number, but no, we get a book written in some ancient language that we have idea how to read.

I glanced down at my watch again and let out a breath of impatience. Four forty-seven. Shifting from foot to foot, I scanned the park again. Where was he? He was nearly an hour late, and I was seriously starting to freak out about this James Bond crap. I remember telling my brother about how my life lacked unpredictability, but if this was how he was trying to add to my life, I would prefer it if he introduced me to some of his more good looking friends in whatever law enforcement branch he was “not” working for.

Being hush hush about his work was one thing, asking me to get involved was another. I could’ve said no, but he is my brother and I’ve never had to say “no” to him before. Since we were kids we only had each other. Our mother was too focused on getting back into the dating scene to worry too much about her children. The advantage of being born only ten and a half months apart from each other is being extremely close. I guess being asked to bring him his travel gear isn’t that much of a covert operation, but I was still feeling a little uneasy about it.

I jumped nearly six feet in the air as I felt a hand on my shoulder.

“Ahh! I know karate!” I yelled, only to hiss in indignation as a familiar booming laugh filled the air.

“Hey Short Stuff,” my brother chuckled.

I gave him my most terrifying death glare and whacked him on the arm with his bag. I grinned in satisfaction as he howled in pain and clutched his shoulder. “Hey! That hurts!”

I sniffed innocently, staring intently at my nails. “Well you need to learn better manners. It’s rude to sneak up on a person like that. And don’t call me Short Stuff!”

Jason laughed. “But you are my short little Princess.”

Thwack.

“OW!”

We exchanged glares, and I snickered in amusement as my brother snatched the travel bag from my hands, and stepped back to a safer distance.

“What the hell took you so long? And why did I have to travel all this way to give you a lousy change of clothes and that ratty book?” I asked, more than just a little curious.

Jason’s eyes widened in disbelief. “I told you not to look inside the bag!”

I rolled my eyes. “Do you honestly think that any sane person would agree to lug a big bag across the country without knowing what’s inside of it? How gullible do you think I am?”

My brother frowned down at me from his impressive height. “Do you honestly believe that I would do something like that to you?”

I shrugged. “No, but that doesn’t mean I am going to let myself walk into any situation blind. Hello!” I stepped forward and slapped him on the forehead, which I am unhappy to note I had to stand on the tips of my toes to reach. That’s the problem with being five foot two with a brother that is nearly six foot six, not to mention a figure of solid muscle. I’m just glad my brother is a softy when it comes to me otherwise we would have had a large number of problems when we were growing up. Not that we didn’t of course. Being a teenager with an overprotective brother is a pain. Yeah, the whole not being kissed properly thing...his fault. Not a lot of guys want to take on someone like my brother when he gives them the intimidating stare down. I, of course, would only laugh at him and pinch his cheeks if he gave me the “death stare,” as my ninth grade boyfriend for all of two hours called it. Luckily for me, having your little sister pinch your cheeks and call you “Chubba Bubba” in the middle of the entire school during passing period is a sucker punch to the ego, not to mention humiliating. We had a very cooperative and equal kind of family relationship. Good times.

Jason grumbled crossly as he flipped through the pages of our father’s book, studiously avoiding my eyes. For several minutes I let the silence build, tapping my foot impatiently on the cement pavement. Finally I couldn’t take it anymore, and I snatched the book out of my brother’s hands, and snapped my fingers in front of his face.

“Hello?” I sniped at him, rolling my eyes as he gave me an innocent, puzzled frown.

“What?”

“Why did you call me all mysterious, and beg me to bring you your stupid luggage? For that matter, you made it sound all Double Oh Seven on the phone, like whatever you were doing counted on it? How does your toothbrush help you bring down the bad guys? You don’t want to make them gag when you get up in their face to read them their Miranda Rights?” I asked him, my voice dripping with sarcasm. “Or do you think your black and red heart underwear will strike fear into the hearts of criminals everywhere?”

“Hey,” Jason, hissed in a low tone, ”how about we not mention my underwear right now?!”

I frowned at him, confused. “Where do you want to talk about this? In the middle of a crowded room? There is nobody her–“ I began, turning in circle to emphasize the empty park, only to turn nearly headfirst into a very ample-chest. Considering this chest was at eye level, you can imagine my first impression of the Amazon Woman standing in front of me, scowling at me in disapproval. “Holy sea monkeys Batman!” I cried, staring up at this warrior-princess-goddess as she raised a very perfectly shaped black eyebrow at me, then looked over at my brother and said in a very quiet, but very firm voice, “We have been found.”

A/N: Please tell me what you think. Next chapter coming soon...