Chapter One – Ten Miles from London, England
1803
Ball gowns twirled across the dance floor while flirtatious laughter filled the many rooms. William straightened his jacket and gloves; making sure that everything was properly in place. He never was fond of balls although 'hated' was not the word for his feelings towards them. Boring would be more suitable for his thoughts on parties. Sure there were many beautiful young women out there but beauty never seemed to make up for their terrible personalities or dancing skills. None of the Duchesses matches for her youngest son were suitable and never made it past on night of dancing. Perhaps that was because the Duchess and her son had two completely different choices in women. The Duchess wanted her son to have a quiet young woman who could sit politely and be a perfect little housewife. William on the other hand wanted someone with life, spunk and wit; he was wanted a friend not a maid for a wife.
But whatever their feelings towards young women William was to go down and spend the evening with the next match the Duchess would present him with.
The rooms were crowded with people, yet William managed to make his way to the main room where his mother was waiting. The Duchess was a tall woman who had a commanding appearance and wore many feathers and much lace. She greeted her even taller son with a formal nod. William returned her formal greeting and noticed that there was no girl standing by her waiting for him as there usually was. Could this be his lucky night? Was there a possibility that he could actually enjoy the party for what it was. Caught up in his hopes William asked, "Mother, do you have another match for me tonight?"
The Duchess just smiled and stifled a laugh at her son's hopeful manner.
"William you act as if it is a burden to escort beautiful, rich young women. Look at your brothers, all of the ones who listened to my matches are now happily married. It is only you and your twin that are bachelors; the ones who never heed their mother's advice and council."
He knew he should have seen that one coming. "So where is this young woman that I am escorting?"
Just then a servant came to them and said, "Duchess, Miss Peters is here."
"Here she comes now." The Duchess whispered to William. She then spoke to the servant. "Thank you, you are dismissed." the servant nodded and began to leave.
Behind him came a simply dressed woman. He dress held little form and she had her hair up in a style of which a nanny would wear, certainly nothing befitting of a young woman in the bud of her youth. She had nothing to show when it came to a chest, her only appeal were her dark brown eyes; they were also the only hint of her youth. This woman didn't seem like someone that William could love at all.
The Duchess paid no attention to the unhappy look on his face and got right on to the introductions. "Miss Peters may I introduce you to my son Mr. William Colins. Mr. Colins, Miss Peters."
Although displeased with his mothers choice in women William remained a polite gentleman. He took her hand and gave it a light kiss. "It is a pleasure to meet you Miss Peters."
"Oh, no the pleasure is all mine."
"May I have the next dance Miss Peters?"
"You may Mr. Colins."
Present Day, South Lake Tahoe
Alex's hand was so close to reaching the next hand hold on the rock climbing wall. Her fingers barely scraped the handhold before she lost her grip and fell. She dangled from the rope and threw her head back. Her brother Jeremy was holding the other end of her rope down on the bottom.
"Hey, are you okay sis?" He yelled.
Alex wiped her hand on her shorts. "Yeah I'm good. I just need to a break, take me down will you?"
With her command the rope began to lower her down. When her feet hit the floor Alex began to until herself from the rope. "You know I can never make that wall! I always get five rock from the top and then I fall. How on earth do you do it Jeremy?!"
Jeremy laughed and looked down at his older sister. Although they were only one year apart Jeremy toward over Alex, standing around 6'2. He was by far the tallest 15 year old Alex had ever seen. "Well for one things this is actually a sport for me. You just happen to get in here because that Max is sweet on you." Alex laughed. It was true Max had been crushing on her since their freshman year. Since he worked here now she was always able to get in for a meager five dollars.
"Any ways why don't we get a bite to eat? We have been climbing for about three hours now so you must be hungry." Jeremy continued. That sounded fine to me, since I was in fact very hungry. We unstrapped our harness. Max came up and said with a flirty grin. "Do you want help with that?" His hand reached to where the straps were around my waist. Alex quickly swatted his hands away and glared at him. "I can unstrap myself thank you." She said, "Will you spot being a freak?"
"If you go out with me than maybe I could show you a more romantic side of me." Max said slyly.
Jeremy came up on to the side of Max and towered over him; although Max was fairly tall himself. "Back off dude, do I have to hurt you?"
Alex giggled. Jeremy was very protective of her but she couldn't say that she minded, well at least in this instance. With Jeremy there Max backed away from Alex.
When they got to the parking lot Jeremy had to duck to get into Alex's small baby blue bug. They headed out to their favorite burger place, Bob's Burgers, and sat down at a table. The place was not crowded but there were quite a few people. After being handed their menus and ordering they began to talk.
"I wish that guy would just lay off of you." Jeremy said, "He has been trying to make to many moves on you lately." He was truly paranoid.
"Don't worry about it. He can't do anything to me." Alex said.
"Well I do worry about you."
She smiled and shook her head, appreciating her brothers concern. She thought that she would switch him to a different topic. "So I heard this Friday the football team is playing the panthers?"
Jeremy nodded, "Yeah, it should be exciting. I hope we will win since we blew it last year. They were the only ones who stood between us and going to state."
"I am sure you guys will do better this time. After all you are first string now. That has to feel good."
He smiled at his sisters comment. He was happy to be playing in every game this year. "Are you coming to the game?"
Alex nodded, "Well volleyball practice ends in time so I was planning on it. I was going to head home and shower first then Jessie and I were going to go together. I wouldn't want to miss an opportunity to. cheer you on."
He was happy that Alex could come more often this year. Last year he had been on the freshman team and their schedules over lapped. Alex had only made it to one game. With his parents both working they had no time for their kids activities so Jeremy never had anyone to cheer for him.
When the burgers arrived Jeremy had scarfed down one of his two burgers before Alex was even halfway finished with hers. The two siblings always enjoyed their time together. They were always happy to be able to get out of the house together and be away from their strange family. Their other two siblings were far from normal; and not in a good way.
Alex and Jeremy had no desire to go home when they had finished their burgers but they both knew that if they didn't their parents would not be happy. The road to their house was a windy one since they lived tucked into the mountains.
"Didn't you hear about Dad?" Alex asked.
Jeremy nodded, "I did. I can't believe that he decided to go all the way to England for that freak convention of his."
"I know me to. What do you think he will be searching for now?"
"I'm not sure. I heard him talking to Mom about some stone. Personally I think he is a complete idiot. I mean what kind of grown man collects magical items? I thought kids grew out of that phase around eight or so."
Alex shrugged her shoulders. Their father was a man who was an archeologist. After a trip to Greece he became obsessed with legends of magical items. After a while he forgot that they were simply legends and began to collect the fabled items. Alex wondered if he knew that he was just being ripped off countless times. Oh well, it was his problem not hers.