Everything in one: 2012

Hidden in San Francisco

(Temporary Title)

This book is dedicated to

Larissa Trueblood,

For inspiring me to

Write a book,

And

My class for being

Such good inspirations,

And friends

Chapter 1

Recruits

I was nine years old when it happened. My brothers and I were sitting on the dock out back staring across Lake Champlain. We were staring out into New York, and the main land of Vermont, and Canada. We were sitting there peacefully thinking about how school was going to start in a week when we heard two loud shouts yells from inside. I remember my brothers jumping up and pulling me behind them. I remember going into the house and finding our parents lying on the living room floor dead. Someone had shot them each in the head multiple times.

There was a note on the wall written in black paint. It said “I’LL BE BACK”. I remember my brothers pulling me upstairs and packing our backpacks. I remember not knowing what was going on. My older brothers, Simon and Kyle pulled me away from the scene before I could even start to understand it. But I knew one thing. My parents were dead, and their murderer was going to come back. For us.

Now I’m 15. Simon is 19, and Kyle is 17. We’ve been living on our own for 6 years. They’ve pretty much raised me. We’ve lived all over. Right now our home is an old warehouse along the San Fransico Bay. From the roof you get a great view of SF and the Golden Gate Bridge. We live here with some people who are in the same kind of situation. Parentless, homeless, and hungry. Here, the guy who is like our leader, Bryan, gets us food, and let’s us stay here. It’s mostly all guys who live here. They’ve formed a gang. Simon won’t allow me to join.

“It’s to dangerous.” He said once when I asked him why. I don’t think Kyle cares if I join or not.

Now, sitting on the roof watching the sun set over SF I can understand why they don’t want me to join. Even though I understand it doesn’t change that I’m pissed off at them. I know there trying to protect me and that they care about me but still.

I’m thinking this all over when my phone suddenly buzzes. I pull it out and flip it open. It’s a text from Kyle.

KYLE: DINNERS READY. GET DOWN HERE! BRYANS GOT SOME NEW RECRUTES. ONE LOOKS YOUR AGE.

I sighed and got up. I might as well go.

When I got down there everyone had already started. I went to my place between Simon and Kyle and sat down.

“Hey.” I said, “What did I miss?” I looked at Simon.

“Well, the two new recruits are Joy,” he pointed to a small girl who looked no older than 14. “and Jason.” He turned and pointed to a guy sitting next to Bryan. He looked about Bryans age, maybe a little younger. Bryan was 19, so he was probably about 17 or 18.

“Hi.” I said to the girl. She looked up at me with big, wide chocolate brown eyes. I was immediately reminded of a small puppy. “I’m Kim. Are you Joy?” she nodded. Evan, who was sitting next to her grinned and put his arm around her.

“Hey Kim. I see you’ve met my little cousin. Bryan found her in a foster home. From what I’ve been told her dad left and her mom went on drugs. She was removed from he home so she wouldn’t get hurt. She can’t be adopted because her dad is still alive but won’t take responsibility for her. She’s nearly 15, so about your age. Can you mentor her. She won’t be joining the gang, so you two can hang out together.” Evan grinned and then pulled away to talk to Caitlin, who was one of the two girls in the gang. She was about 17 and scared me a little.

Joy turned and stared at me again. “What is this place?” she asked. I sighed and explained to her about how this was a place for people who had lost there homes and parents. I told her my brothers and I had come from Vermont. All the way across the country. Joy listened and didn’t interrupt. Just as I was getting to the part about how here, everyone was a thief, a pavement artist, a spy, a robber loud laughing erupted from the end of the table where Bryan and the new guy were sitting. Everyone looked up from there meals and conversations.

The new guy, Jason was leaning back grinning. Bryan was grinning too.

“Sorry guys if we interrupted anything.” He said. “Jason here was just telling me about how he once stole a bottle of pepper spray from a police man.” He laughed again as he said that. I rolled my eyes, Bryan loved it when someone made a police man look like a fool. Bryan hated the police. His dad had been part of a organization that was planning on stealing the Mona Lisa right out of the Louve in France. They had almost succeeded getting in when one of the guys turned on them. Turned out he was a cop. He ended up ambushing them with tons of other cops. Bryans dad and the others tried to fight there way out and most of them were killed. Bryans mom had died from cancer when he was 4 so his dad had pretty much raised him for the life of a thief. When his dad didn’t return home that night Bryan guessed what had happened and left the country as soon as he could. Bryan had been 15. I pitied him in some ways. Bryan was a great guy. He was just raised…in a different way than most people. I am glad I wasn’t raised that way.

“Hurry up guys!” Bryan called out. I rolled my eyes again. Tonight was Friday. The gang went to Jeremy’s on Fridays. It was a club. Simon and Kyle never let me come because they said I was to young and all they had to drink was alcohol. I had told them I didn’t care but they ignored me.

I started to grin now. Tonight I was going. Weather they liked it or not. I would sneak in.

“Hey Kim,” Kyle said next to me. I realized everyone was getting up to go.

“Yeah.” I said looking up at him. He grinned at me and ran his hands through his shaggy, light brown hair.

“Watch Joy tonight. We don’t care how long you stay up but turn off all the main lights at nine, and lock all the doors. Bryan has a spare key. Make sure you left nothing on the roof. Actually, don’t go up to the roof tonight. They may be doing a helicopter search for Jason and Joy. Don’t go outside, don’t answer the phone or the door. Got it? This is Julio’s first night going to the club so he won’t be here to help.” I nodded when he was done. He grinned and ruffled my hair.

“Stay out of trouble.” He said. I nodded. He was just turning away when I said

“What happens if I leave? What if I go somewhere tonight?” he sighed.

“If you do then stay out of Simon and Bryan’s sight. Otherwise you’ll get in trouble. And don’t bring Joy. Leave her with Cade. He knows what to do.” I nodded. Kyle was always the more relaxed of my brothers. He really didn’t care if I broke the rules as long as I didn’t get hurt.

****

An hour after they left I left too. I left Joy with Cade. They knew where I was going, but they didn’t care. Joy was to scared to go anywhere, and Cade didn’t like all the noise at the club.

I left out the back door. When I reached the club I could hear the loud music from inside. I walked toward the main entrance. Before I reached it I stopped and pulled on a black hoodie I had stolen from Jason’s bag. I was wearing black skinny jeans and a black tank top with the words “QUESTION AUTHORITY”. I zipped up the hoodie and pulled up the hood. Then I went inside.

“Wow” I whispered to myself as soon as I walked in. the room was huge. There was a whole upstairs, and there was a disco ball, and a stage and a DJ’s booth. Jeremy’s had everything. I spotted Bryan, Simon and Jason standing next to the DJ. I could see Kyle, Evan, and Emmett all leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the room. I grinned and headed farther into the club.

I was watching some dance off when I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. I swung around to find Jason standing there.

“Hello.” He said smiling slightly. “Any reason why you are here and wearing my hoodie?”

Chapter 2

Jason

I stared up at Jason, shocked that he recognized me. I had even tucked my short blonde hair under a NY Yankees cap, I was wearing gloves, the hood was up on the hoodie and my boots added about 3 inches to my height.

“Hey Jason.” I said nervously. I wondered if he had told Bryan or Simon I was here. “How did you know it was me?” I asked.

“Well, your wearing my favorite hoodie, which looks great on you, but still, I would recognize it anywhere. And I saw your hat and guessed that it was you because that’s Simons hat.” I blushed. Sure I had taken things from other people, but when you live in a old warehouse and have barely any money you have to learn to share.

“I didn’t know that this was your favorite hoodie.” I said. He shrugged. “I just grabbed it from the top of one of the bags. On my way here I saw that it was yours. You wrote your name on the tag. Its very nice.” I said. I looked up at him and was about to ask if he was going to tell anyone that he’d seen me here when someone called out his name.

“Hey Jason! Get over here! Bryan says we have to leave!” I turned to see who was calling him and saw it was Simon. I frowned. They never left Jeremy’s before 10:30. something must e wrong if Bryan was having them leave early.

Simon came over and joined us. When he saw me he scowled.

“What the hell are you doing here? You should be at home. With Joy and Cade. It’s not safe for you here. And why do you have my hat?” he reached out and grabbed his hat off my head and put it on. I reached up and smoothed my hair before anyone could see if I had hat hair or not. I sighed.

“Sorry Simon. I just was…tired of being holed up there. We’ve been here for a year and a half and the only place you guys let me go outside is on the damn roof. I’m bored. I’m 15 now. Nearly 16. You have to let me go out places. Let me join the gang. Please” I looked up at him with my bright blue eyes.

Simon sighed and looked away, avoiding my pleading stare. “Fine. I already know you can keep up with the gang, and you hang out with us anyway. But no coming to any fights, no alcohol, no sneaking away and trying your own plan alone. And you can’t come with us when we leave this part of the city.” Simon sighed again and looked down at me. Then he smiled faintly.

“I like the look kiddo. It goes with your hair.” He pushed back my side bangs out of my eyes. I grinned. I had had my hair cut to this style about a year ago when we were traveling through Denver. It was a short pixie cut. My hair used to be dark brown but as I grew older it had turned to a pale blonde.

“Hey guys, hurry up!” Bryans voice called out from the mob of people in the room. Simon and Jason both grabbed me and pulled me toward everyone else.

“Bryan.” Simon said. Bryan turned toward us. His eyes locked on me. “we have a new member.”

“Hey Kim. I didn’t expect to see you here.” He turned to Simon. “We have to leave NOW.” Simon grabbed my arm and started pulling me toward the exit.

We reached the exit and rushed out onto the street. Bryan turned into a side ally next to the club. I saw the rest of the gang waiting there.

“Hey Kim.” Caitlin said smiling at me. The was a soft whimper next to her. I peered around her to see Haley, the other girl in the gang sitting there holding her right arm gingerly.

It took me a minute to realize it was bloody, and that it was twisted in an odd way.

“What happened?” I asked without looking away.

“Some drunk guy was hitting on her, and she was trying to shake him off and accidentally ran into the refreshments table. She fell, and some glass cut her arm. We decided to leave before a fight broke out with the drunk guy.” Bryan said. He glanced around the ally.

“Hey, has anyone seen Emmett and Collin? They were supposed to meet us out here.” Everyone looked around.

I was still staring at Haley. She was sitting there in a curled up ball, her arm was on top of her knees. Her left hand was in a tight fist at her side.

“Hey Bryan?” Evan’s voice rang through my ears, pulling me out of my thoughts on Haley’s arm.

“Yup.”

“We should probably take off. It’s nearly ten and the cops are probably going to do there night search for Jason and Joy soon. We should head back before they start so they don’t catch us going in.”

“K. common everyone!” he called. “Lets go Elliot! Julio!”

When we reached the warehouse it was nearly 10:30. Bryan pulled out the key and we went inside. It was dark.

“Hello!” he called out. Silence.

“Joy! Cade!” Evan yelled. I looked at Kyle and Simon, a cold feeling setting over me.

“Joy!” Evan called again. You could hear a slight panic in his voice now.

“Bryan!” we all turned to see Cade, Collin, and Emmett rushing toward us.

“What happened?” Bryan yelled as they approached.

“The cops got in. checked the whole place. We hid.” Cade said slightly breathless. “I texted Collin and told him to come immediately and to bring back up. He brought Emmett.”

“Where’s Joy?” Bryan asked sharply.

“She’s fine.” Emmett said quickly. “She’s hiding now. With what we could grab. The cops are going to close this place.”

We stood there for a moment trying to register what he was saying. Then it hit me. We were going to have to relocate.

“What are we going to do? Haley’s hurt and Jason and Joy are being searched for so they can’t show there faces for a while. I mean, there going to forget all about them soon.” Kyle said.

At those words Jason turned away. I narrowed my eyes and followed him. He headed up to the roof.

I stood behind him for a couple minutes then I said

“What’s wrong?” he didn’t respond so I went and sat down next to him.

“What’s wrong Jason? I repeated. He sighed.

“Kyle is wrong.” He said. I stared at him, confused. He sighed again and looked away.

“Kyle is wrong. There not going to stop looking for me.”

“What do you mean?” I asked slightly surprised.

“I mean there not going to stop looking for me because…” his voice trailed off.

“Because,” I prompted.

When Jason replied his response startled and shocked me.

“Because my dad’s running for president.”

Chapter 3

Memory’s

“What!” I cried, shocked. Jason nodded miserably.

“Wha-does Bryan know?” I asked, still shocked that his dad was a candidate.

“Yeah. Same with Simon. We agreed not to tell anyone until it was absolutely necessary.”

“But…” I frowned in confusion. Why would he run away from home? What was he doing out here? How did Bryan and Simon find him?

“I hate being the center of things.” Jason said as if he was reading my mind. His voice was flat. “I didn’t like having to go to nice meals, and have camera crews, and TV reporters everywhere. I don’t like how your like, never alone. There’s always a security guard or something watching you.” Jason paused giving me a chance to think over everything.

He was a candidates son. He hated publicity. He hated his life pretty much.

“But-“ I said, trying to keep the accusation, and jealously out of my voice. “isn’t nice to be taken care of? And to have your parents around? To have a nice home, and to be able to get things that you want? To have a family?” I asked. I suddenly envied Jason. He could have anything. Probably. He had a nice home, parents, and was cared for. And he just ditched it.

“Ha. My parents are rarely home. My dad works until like eleven, goes on business trips 24/7, and my mom helps him out with all of it. They’re rarely home. I take care of my little sister, Ellie all the time. She’s 13. We live in a giant house in redbank NJ, and its lonely. And boring. I hate it.” Jason sounded very bitter there. Still, I envied him.

“Well at least you have a family.” I said bitterly. “My parents were murdered and my brothers and I don’t even know why! But you don’t see us giving up. We’re living. We’ve learned to live everyday as if it was our last. We may not have money, but if we got some, we wouldn’t give it up. Our parents were killed and we didn’t give up. We kept fighting! But you, it seems like you gave up.” I got up and glared at Jason, full of fury that he gave up a chance of a life time. He gave up practically everything I’d ever wanted. I turned around and headed down stairs.

“Kim!” I could hear Jason calling from behind me. I ignored him and slammed the door behind me.

“Kim! Wait! Let me explain!” his voice was still ringing through the empty halls. It grew fainter as I headed deeper into the warehouse.

*****

It had been three days since Jason had told me who he was. Right now I was at pier 49, sitting inside of the Hard Rock Café. I was wearing my Hard Rock Café T-shirt from Chicago. I collected them.

I was sitting at the table looking through a scrapbook that my old best friend Lia and I had made.

“Hey,” I looked up to see Simon sliding into the bench opposite of me.

“Hey,” I said turning back to the book.

“What’s that?” he asked. I shrugged.

“Just a scrapbook that Lia and I made when we were little.” I said, then I looked up at him “do you remember that poem that mom used to read to us? Annabel Lee?”

“Sure. You memorized it in second grade. It was your favorite poem. Along with Tyger.”

“Yeah.” I said. Then I smiled and started to recite Annabel Lee:

it was many and

many a year ago in a

kingdom by

the sea

where a

maiden there lived

whom you may know

by the name of

Annabel Lee

I was a child and she was

A child in this

Kingdom by the sea…

When I finished I glanced at Simon. He was smiling.

“I remember that.” He grinned then it slowly faded.

“I heard that you found out about Jason.”

I shrugged.

“You can’t tell anyone. Not even Kyle.”

“I wasn’t going to. I’m not stupid.” I said now scowling. He nodded but I could tell he wasn’t finished.

“But” I said promptly.

“But you can’t go yelling at him about his past. He’s had just as hard a time as the rest of us.” I snorted. Yeah right.

“Kim.” His voice had a slight warning in them. I sighed.

“Fine. But I’m not talking to him.”

“Actually you are. When we get back I want you to hear his story. Okay.”

“Okay.” I said sourly.

He smiled. “Good, now show me more of this scrapbook.” I sighed again and turned the book so we could both see the pages.

“This,” I pointed to the page “is from when we went to Disney World. And this,” I turned the page and froze. It was a thanksgiving meal. Our whole family was there plus…wait a second. I looked closely at the picture. There, standing next to our Uncle Andy, was a guy and his young son. The guy looked exactly like…Bryan!

“Hey Simon, do you know who those people are?” I pointed to the guy and his young son. Simon leaned over the picture.

“Yeah. He was a friend of Uncle Andy’s. Some world traveling friends. The guy’s name is,” he paused for a moment and stared intently at the picture, then his eyes widened in shock.

“That’s Bryans dad, so that means that kid is…Bryan!” we stared at the kid. He had to be at least 8.

“I don’t remember that years thanksgiving.” I said frowning. Simon shrugged.

“You were 4. It’s harder to remember things from when your little. Like, I don’t remember throwing at baseball at Kyle when I was 3. I apparently gave him a concussion.” I laughed.

“Yeah I guess. But doesn’t that mean that we’ve known Bryan for more that a year? Maybe mom and dad’s murder’s had something to do with Bryan’s dad’s murder and Uncle Andy’s disappearance.”

Simon shook his head. “Uncle Andy was arrested before that. And Bryan was 15. I was only 13. that happened two years after mom and dad’s murder. But you maybe on to something. Lets go ask Bryan.” I nodded.

We got up and paid for our meal. We headed back to the ally that we were staying in for now.

“Hey Bryan!” Simon called. Bryan was sitting alone a little ways away from the ally. He was sitting on a dock looking over the bay. His back was turned to us.

“Yeah?” he called over his shoulder.

“Kim found an old thanksgiving photo, and we want to ask you about it.” Bryan turned around frowning. He got up. I held out the photo.

Bryan took it and looked at it. He frowned, then his eyes widened slightly.

“That’s you isn’t it.” Simon said. Bryan nodded still staring at the picture.

“Can you tell us more?” I asked. Bryan finally tore his eyes away from the picture and looked at us.

“What do want to know?” he asked.

“Do you know what happened to our Uncle? Our parents?” I asked in a slightly desperate voice. Bryan sighed.

“Your uncle was sent to prison for theft. As for your parents..” he paused then said “Do you really want to know?”

“Yes!” I practically yelled. Simon elbowed me in the ribs. I scowled.

“Well….your parents murder….wasn’t an accident.”

Chapter 4

The Truth

“What do you mean by that exactly?” Simon said sharply.

Bryan sighed. “I knew about your parents and my dad had told me that something was going to happen to them.”

“Like?” I said skeptically.

“Like how they might be killed.”

“You knew?” I said sharply.

“Not exactly. I knew it might be your parents, but I didn’t know when.” Bryan sounded tiered.

“But…why? How did your dad know?” I asked.

“I don’t know why they were killed, and my dad didn’t tell me how he found out. Possibly from your uncle, or someone who was working for your uncle. I don’t know.”

I sighed. He didn’t know. I was dying to know who killed my parents and why. I was hoping that Bryan might know but he didn’t.

“Ok.” I said reluctantly. Simon nodded slightly and turned and left. I stared at Bryan for a few more seconds. He had turned away and was now looking out onto the bay again. I turned away and left.

****

The next few days brought us good luck. Bryan found us a new place to stay. It was another old warehouse along the bay. The only differences were that people were storing there boats in there, there were a few stray dogs which we decided to keep, and a hobo named Fred.

I was hanging out in the girls area, where Caitlin, Haley, Joy and I slept. I was reading when I head some foot steps coming up the stairs. I looked up and saw Jason coming up them.

“Hey,” he said smiling weakly. I glared at him, then I saw Simon standing behind him. He gave me a warning look and I remembered that he wanted me to hear out Jason’s story, and to give him a chance.

“Hi.” I said coolly.

“Can I…talk to you?” he sounded exhausted.

I sighed. “Sure.”

He nodded and gestured toward the door. I got up and pushed past them toward the door.

“Hey Kim,” Simon called from behind me.

“I turned to look at him.

“Kyle wants to know if you want lasagna for dinner. It’s his night to cook.”

“Lasagna’s cool.” I said and headed out the door. Jason caught up with me and we walked down the street, heading for Pier 49.

“What do you want.” I said once Simon was out of earshot.

“I just want to explain everything to you. Please give me a chance.” Jason said, there was a slight plead to it.

I nodded, “Fine.”

He nodded. “Well, I guess my story really started when my dad got a promotion, and he started to work later. I was 12. at first it was all right. He still had time for me and Ellie and we still got time with him on the weekends. My mom worked at a flower shop. She was happy there and she got paid well. Then, one night my dad said he needed a secretary, and he asked my mom to be his secretary. It paid better than her current job so she took it. After that they didn’t have time for us on the weekends. It was okay, for the first year and a half. Then the voting started, and my dad decided to run for president. He started going to all these different states. At first he took us with him. It was boring. I think he could tell that Ellie and I didn’t have a good time, so he had us stay home. I was 14 and I could take care of Ellie on my own. “

“So they just left you at home alone?” I asked, slightly horrified.

“Pretty much. My parents were only gone for a week at a time and they would be home for a few days. But they didn’t have time to do fun stuff with us anymore, like take us to the fair, or go skiing, or stuff like that. It was lonely. It went on for a couple years. He lost at first, but he got another chance 4 years later. So…this year. And he took his chances, and now he might win. Maybe, anyway my sister reached 9^th grade, so my parents sent her to boarding school here in California. San Dominico-“

“I thought you said she was 13.” I said, some accusation returning to my voice.

“She is. She skipped a grade, sorry, I forgot to mention that. Anyway, I was really pissed off when they sent her away, so I packed my bags and headed out here to look for her. My sister and I were really close. I was in Berkley when Bryan found me.”

“Oh. So that’s the reason you’re out here?” I asked.

“Pretty much. When I find her I think I’ll stay here, with the gang. Ellie can stay with Joy.”

“Ahhh.” Now I understood what Simon had meant by how Jason had suffered just as badly as the rest of us. He had lost his sister. Kind of.

We reached Pier 49. Jason stopped and looked around.

“I e-mailed her the other day and asked her to meet me here. She said she would. I haven’t actually seen her in a year. 10 months technically.”

“Is that why you wanted me to come with you? Because our nervous?” I asked.

Jason blushed slightly and nodded. “Yeah, pretty much.” We looked around the pier. I didn’t see a lot of girls who looked like they were 13. I saw some high school girls walking by on there phones texting, and some little girls blowing bubbles, and an old lady getting into a taxi, but no 13 year old girls. We stood there looking around for a few more minutes. Just as I was about to say that she wasn’t going to show up we heard a voice cry out:

“Jason!” we both turned to see a young girl racing over to us. She looked vaguely like Jason. They had the same noses, the same smiles, and the same golden, wolf-like eyes. She was smiling, her dark brown hair, and hot-pink highlights whipped around her face. She was small like Joy, but she looked a lot bolder than Joy. She came over, and stopped in front of us. I looked at her, seriously liking her sense of style. She was wearing blue jeans, boots, and a really cute black top that said: You Can’t Tell Me What To Do!

“Hey Ellie!” Jason said giving her a big hug.

She laughed and said “Its good to see you Jason!” she pulled away smiling, then she looked over at me. “Hi, I’m Ellie. You must be Kim, Jason told me he was going to bring you.” She held her hand out. I smiled and shook it. Her fingers were icy cold.

“So, shall we get something to eat?” she said, gesturing to the restaurants.

“Actually my brothers making me dinner,” I said “but you two should definitely. I’m glad you guys have found each other.”

Jason laughed. “Thanks Kim!” he ruffled my hair the way Simon and Kyle sometimes did. I grinned and turned away, heading back to the new warehouse.

When I stepped inside I smelled lasagna. I walked over to our makeshift kitchen and looked around. I saw Kyle and Simon sitting at the table eating.

“Hey, you guys were supposed to wait for me.” I said, pretending to sound hurt.

“and you’re supposed to be on time to meals.” Kyle said grinning.

“Don’t worry,” Simon added, “We saved you a tiny bit. But it may be cold.”

“Gee thanks.” I said rolling my eyes. I got my plate and put the tiny piece of lasagna on it. One of the dogs, the one we named Sierra, ran up to me and looked at me with her large pleading eyes. I sighed and gave her a tiny bit on my food. It was to hard to resist her. She was a golden retriever puppy! She was to cute!

****

About an hour later I was sitting out back, looking out over the bay as the sunset. I thought about all the good times we’d had here with Bryan. I thought about the time when Bryan, Collin, and Elliott all went cliff diving, and Elliott returned with a broken arm, I thought about how on April fools day Haley, Caitlin and I put whip cream in Simon’s hand, and then put a feather under his nose. I smiled slightly. Now, thinking about it, those days seemed like a lifetime ago.

I sighed. I loved it here. I loved everybody in the gang. I loved my brothers, but I was board of staying here. Sure, they were my new family, but I had to see more of the world. Or at least more of the city. I got up and ran inside. I picked up my backpack and started putting some of my stuff inside. As I packed some of my clothes I looked over at my books. I grabbed the last twilight book, the last Harry potter book, and the last mortal instruments book. I put on Simons NY Yankees cap, and looked my self in the mirror. I had on black jeans, black boots that only had 1 1/2 inch heels, a black t-shirt that read “Hug me and you die!” and a black hoodie that was mine this time. I went over to the little mini desk that all of the girls shared and quickly scribbled a note to Simon, Kyle and Bryan:

Simon, Kyle, and Bryan,

I know that you guys are going to kick me out of the gang, but I need to see more of the city, and the state. I promise I will return soon, but I’m going to explore a little. I promise that I will be back in a few weeks!

•K

I pulled the hood up and turned around, putting my backpack on as I did so. I was just heading down stairs when someone said “Where are you going?” I swung around to see Joy standing there. She looked at me suspiciously.

“Out.” I said calmly.

Joy raised an eyebrow. “With your backpack? That is completely full?”

I took a deep breath. “Yes. I’m going out. I have a blanket and some books in here. I’m going to go read on the pier near the old warehouse. I’ll be back later.”

Joy was still looking at me suspiciously when Evan called out “Joy! Come here! I need to show you something!”

Joy looked at me for a few more seconds then turned around and headed toward the sound of Evans voice calling out “Coming!”

I sighed in relief and headed out the door. The street was dark. The air smelled like fish, and salt. I wrinkled my nose in disgust. I took a deep breath, and smiled slightly, happy to suddenly be free.

“Kim!” I suddenly heard Simon yell. Uh oh, he must have found my note. I heard him thundering down the stairs. Toward me. I took another deep breath and ran. I ran, and the darkness swallowed me. There was no going back now.

Chapter 5

The Amazon’s

I ran. After what seemed like hours I stopped. It was dark. I wasn’t sure where I was, but I knew I was by the bay. I could hear the waves crashing down on the rocks, and could still smell the salty breeze. I took a deep breath and sat down on a bench. I opened my backpack and pulled out a blanket and a mini pillow. It was a red pillow in the shape of a heart. I had bought it when we had been traveling through Sacramento, at some girl scout store. It said on the pillow “Girl Scouts, Heart of Central California”. I had chosen it because I had done girl scouts.

I looked around, trying to find a good hiding place.

“Pssst!”

I jammed the pillow and blanket back into my bag and

jumped up.

“Psssssst!”

“Hello?” I asked, looking around into the inky darkness.

“Over here!” a voice called in a loud whisper.

I slowly walked toward the voice. A face suddenly appeared in front of me. It was a girl. She grabbed my arm and pulled me into the nearest building, a small, old theatre.

“What’s your name?” she said, stopping just inside the door.

“Kim.” I said.

“Gang?”

“I was part of the Pirates. Run by Bryan and my older brother. I left because they weren’t letting me out places and I wanted to see the city, the state, the world!”

She nodded. “The names Emilia, but you can call me Em. Or Ema. Either one works for me.”

I nodded. “Um…Ema, where am I?”

“Your in Fisherman’s Warf Theatre, the oldest theatre in Fisherman’s Warf! It’s where I live. Well, I live here with a gang. My older brother helps run it too!” she smiled now. Ema led me upstairs and into the place where the actors probably stored their costumes. It was a large room, with a high ceiling, and dark blue walls.

“Who is this?” I jumped slightly and looked around. I saw a girl, probably around 18 or 19 sitting behind a large desk. About 7 guys and 3 girls stood behind him.

“Hey Natalia! This is Kim. She used to be in the pirates, but… well... you know how it is.” Ema said.

The girl behind the desk nodded and stood. “Hi Kim. I am Natalia, the head of the Amazons. Pleased to meet you. Do you wish to join us?”

“Umm..” I felt suddenly lost.

“You don’t have to decide right now, it’s late. You can stay with Ema until you decide.”

Ema beamed and pulled me out of the room before I could say thank you.

“Come on!” she pulled me down a dark hallway, and then up a set of rickety stairs. When we reached what appeared to be the attic she stopped and opened the door. “This is my room! I share it with Earliys!”

A second later another girl entered the room. She smiled. “Sorry if my sister is to energetic.” She said apologetically.

I smiled. “It’s fine. I understand.”

She nodded and pulled out a mattress. She put it on an extra cot, by a window. There were 3 windows in the attic. There was a cot by each window. I looked over at Earliys and Ema. Both girls had long black hair, and pale skin. The differences between the girls were that Earliys had crystal blue eyes, while Ema had stormy grey ones. Earliys was thin and looked like a model, while Ema looked like someone who did a lot of sports.

“How old are you?” Ema asked suddenly.

“Umm…15. I’m almost 16.”

Ema grinned. “I’m 14 and Earliys is 16!” she said.

Earliys groaned. “Go to sleep Ema!” she called from her window in the corner. I could suddenly see why she had chosen the bed farthest from her sisters. I pulled my pillow and blanket out again and lay down, pulling the blanket over me. Within minutes I was asleep.

I must have slept later than usual, because the next thing I remember was Ema yelling out “GOOD MORNING PEOPLE! BREAKFAST!” at the top of her lungs.

I groaned and pulled out my pocket watch. 8:00. I had slept in an hour and a half. Bryan liked to get us up early at first, then, when Joy had joined he changed it so we could sleep in a little. But not much.

I rolled off the cot, landing with a thump on the floor. I’d forgotten that these cots were a foot and a half off the ground and not a few inches. Groaning again I stood. I looked around and saw an old vanity in the corner. I walked over and looked at my self in the mirror. The reflection I saw surprised me. In the mirror I saw a small, 15 year old girl with dark circles under her eyes. She had big, wide ice blue eyes, flawless pale skin, and her ribs showed through the clinging tank top she was wearing. I stared at her, thinking that is not me! To myself. The girl was to skinny, and to boney. Her pale blonde hair, and dark brown roots had lost their style. Now they looked limp, and very unfashionable.

“Kim are you coming? You look a bit pale and Marla makes a mean fruit salad!” Earliys said. She smiled at me. I smiled back weakly.

****

After breakfast I wondered around the theatre a bit. Ema and Earliys were out at the farmers market, and some of the guys had gone surfing. There was only a few people left so I wondered aimlessly around. After a while I stopped in front of a door. It was the door opposite of ours in the attic. I hesitantly knocked. When there was no reply I entered. The room was a little bit bigger than ours, half of the room’s walls were giant windows. When you looked at the theatre from the outside you saw a tower, and a room in the tower.

I glanced up and saw a spiral stair case leading up to the mysterious room. I headed up there. At the top there was no door, just a black curtain. I pushed past it and gasped. I was in one of the most beautiful rooms I had ever seen! The walls were covered with photos, there was a Juliet balcony looking over the bay, there was a canopy bed, a mahogany desk. It was gorgeous.

I looked at the photos. Most of them had Natalia in them. I guessed that it was her room. I frowned slightly when I saw that a majority of them had Bryan in them. That was odd. I didn’t think that she knew Bryan.

I thought back to what Bryan looked like. Tall, strawberry blonde hair that was always spiked up, bright blue eyes, a great smile. Then I thought about what Natalia looked like. Tall, thin, dark red hair, bright blue eyes, a great smile (probably, I hadn’t actually seen her smile). Both of them were smart, and cunning. I knew that, even if I didn’t know Natalia yet.

“Ahem. Sorry to bother you but what are you doing in my room?” I swung around to see Natalia.

“Umm…just exploring.” I said nervously.

“yeah right. Just tell me what you want.”

“Why is Bryan, the leader of the Pirates in so may of these?”

she sighed and sat down on the bed. Her eyes turned all distant as she said “Bryan and I are siblings.”

Chapter 6

Natalia

I stared at Natalia in shock. I didn’t know that Bryan had a sibling. I had always thought that maybe he and his dad had had another person living with them, but I never thought it would be his sister.

“Your Br-Bryans sister!” I said.

Natalia nodded sadly. “When I was 8 my dad decided that I should go live with some of his old friends. So he sent me off to LA where I lived until I was 15, then I left. They were nice people, I mean, they were his friends from high school, and one of the people was my mom’s closest friend. They had been like sisters.”

“Why SF?” I asked, confused.

“Because I remember Bryan and I always talking about going there, so coming here. But we never got to. Dad was too busy stealing stuff.”

“Oh. Have you seen Bryan since you left them?”

“Yeah. When dad died he came and found me. We started the pirates together, but then we got in this huge fight. After that I went for a walk and ran into the police. They arrested me because I was driving, and I didn’t have a license. I snuck out of the police station, but I never went back to Bryans gang.. I’ve thought about going to visit him, but we kinda left on a sour note, and our gang is rivals with their only ally. We have no ally’s. So I’ve never tried to contact him.”

“You should. I’ll bet he misses you.”

“Naw. He’s got a new family, the pirates. And he’s got new friends and a new life. I know that he’s happy. It wouldn’t be right for me to suddenly barge right into his new life.”

I sat down in the desk chair thinking. Bryan had always seemed slightly sad. When he talked about his old life sometimes he would slip into an almost depressed state. He wouldn’t eat, he stayed holed up in his room. It would only last a day, but still, it confused me. Now it made me wonder, what if that happened because he missed his sister.

“You should try. Meet him somewhere public. For lunch or something.” I said.

She shrugged. “Can’t. I have the amazons to take care of. Besides, Bryan probably doesn’t even remember me.”

I sighed. Bryan was a great guy. I could tell Natalia was too. I listened to Natalia talk about Bryan without actually listening. The seemed so alike. Both talked with the same British English accent, which made me think that they both have spent some time in the UK. Both had the same the same bright blue eyes that sparkled when they got an idea. Both had the same feeling of protective ness over their gangs. And both were obviously hiding in the past.

“Just try to talk to him.” I said, trying to sound upbeat. “I’ll bet he’s forgotten all about whatever you guys argued about.”

Natalia shook her head. “No. he can’t have.”

“What was your feud about?”

“Well, I suppose it’s rather silly. I was 15, so it happened about a year ago. I was dying to leave the warehouse, but Bryan said it was to dangerous. So I snuck out, but I ran into some creepy weirdo’s while walking down an ally. I think they were hookers, anyway, I ran, and they chased me. They caught me and beat me up for running. Bryan found me then and beat up the guys. He took me back to the warehouse. A couple weeks later I asked to be allowed to leave. He snapped and started yelling at me about how dangerous it was out there. I yelled back. Finally he left and I left too. I was walking down an ally when the police found me.”

I stared at her, shocked again. “That’s terrible!” I said.

She shrugged. “yeah well, my story is similar to yours I guess.”

I nodded. “I guess. But Bryan let me join the gang. I guess he learned his lesson, and decided not to take the risk of letting the same thing happen to me.”

She nodded. “yeah well, I still think he’s mad at me.”

I sighed. “whatever.” I turned to look at one more picture on the wall, a picture of what appeared to be a happy family. It was the gang, I saw Julio, Collin, Jack, Galen, and Bryan all leaning against a stone wall. Natalia was leaning against Bryan. They were all grinning. Galen was wearing his hood up, Collin was wearing his Celtics hat, Julio’s hair was spiked in a Mohawk, and the ends were died purple, Jack was wearing a beanie, and Bryan was wearing a button up shirt, and a nice jacket. His hair was spiked, and he looked as stylish as ever. I smiled at the photo, remembering the old days. I had always loved how everyone in the Pirates expressed their feelings in so may different ways.

I got up and left the room.

****

I had been staying with the Amazons for a few weeks now. Nothing terribly exiting had happened yet. No fights, no fire’s no storms. I was getting slightly bored. I had reread all my books multiple times, and Earliys was letting me borrow some of her books, but I had almost finished them all to. Most of them I had read so I was just rereading. I reread Master Harper’s of Pern, I reread Polgara, I reread the Inheritance Cycle, and I reread Swallows and Amazons.

I was looking out my window in the attic when I suddenly saw some people walking toward the theatre. A few of the people looked oddly familiar. I grabbed the binoculars and peered out again. I saw Bryan, Simon, Kyle, Collin and Jason all heading our way. Behind them was another gang. I frowned, that must be the rival gang that Natalia had been talking about. It was obvious who their leader was. It was a tall, muscular looking guy. I’ll bet he could have been a quarter back on his high school football team or something.

“Earliys! Natalia! We have a few of the pirates and then the whole Panther’s heading toward us!” I yelled out. Below me I heard hurried scuffling.

Earliys burst into the room and peered out the window. “Damn it!” she cussed. “they’ve been trying to get us out of here for months! Looks like they brought back up! This is going to be a messy fight.”

“Fight? Those back up people are from the Pirates! Two of them are my brothers!”

“Sorry. We’re going to try to hide first, but they’re going to find us.” We both rushed down stairs. There was a knock on the door.

“Into the cellar!” Natalia said in a loud whisper. We rushed into the cellar. Mark, Earliys and Ema’s older brother, led us all out the back door. We heard the door up ahead burst open. I heard their footsteps thumping on the floorboards above.

We burst out the back door. We ran down toward an empty boat.

Just before any of us could get on we heard a loud “AMAZONS! IT’S NO USE RUNNING! WE JUST WANT TO TALK TO YOU IN A WHITE FLAG OF TRUCE!”

We all slowly turned. I hid in the back as we stood there, watching them all approach. The guy, the leader of the Panthers sent Bryan, Simon, and Jason ahead to talk to us first. We stood there, frozen.

Natalia watched them, her eyes narrowed. “Tell Drew Miles our answer is still no.” she said coldly. They reached us. I saw Bryans eyes widen slightly, I guess he probably recognized her. I waited to see Natalia’s reaction to seeing Bryan. her expression remained cool, and calm. Even though her voice was not.

“Natie?” Bryan said in shock.

He eyes snapped to his face. Shock immediately showed on her face.

“Br-Bryan. I didn’t expect to see you here with those scoundrels.”

“I didn’t expect to see you here helping out the Amazons.” He countered.

“She’s not just helping out, she’s the founder.” Ema said proudly.

“hush Ema.” Natalia said.

Simon scanned the group. Please don’t see me, please don’t see me. I begged silently.

“What!” sputtered Bryan, once again shocked.

“Yes Bryan. you kept me holed up there to mush. I was bored! I wanted to see the city! The state! The world! I tried telling you but you wouldn’t listen. Now I’m here.”

“It was dangerous for you! You were only 15!” he said desperately.

“I deserved some freedom! So I left!” she yelled.

I saw Simon’s face grow pained at those words. He’s thinking of me. I realized.

I pushed past everyone and stood next to Natalia. I saw Bryan, Jason, and Simon’s faces grow shocked.

“Its true.” I said staring at Bryan. “You guys keep us hidden, and you say that your trying to protect us, but are you really? Your just making it more dangerous. You guys have to know that we’re going to sneak out eventually. If you guys had just given us some freedom in the first place none of this would have happened!”

Bryan glanced back at the big guy, Drew, and said “We have much to discuss. Perhaps tonight?”

I looked over at Natalia. She pursed her lips for a moment then said stiffly “Fine. Meet us here at 7. Bring no more than 7 people.”

Bryan nodded and he and Jason turned away. Simon stayed though. His gaze never left my face. Natalia noticed his gaze and said “Perhaps you two should talk. Take 15.” She led the group back inside.

I nodded and gestured towards the boat. Kyle came running up.

“Mind if I join you?” he asked breathlessly.

I shrugged. We boarded the boat. They sat down on a bench in the front. I went over and started the boat. We pulled out of the dock. We sailed away from the small harbor.

Nobody spoke as the wind whistled around us. We passed Alcatraz, and Angel Island, and all the other little islands.

I looked up as we passed under the Golden Gate Bridge. Wow. I thought, awestruck.

Finally, after about an hour we started to near a small beach. I stopped the boat about 20 yards off of the shore.

Throwing down the anchor I walked over to them. “We have to swim to the beach.” I said stiffly. They nodded. I jumped out of the boat.

We swam to the shore. As soon as my feet hit the sand I felt calm. I’d been coming here since I had joined the Amazons. It was the perfect place to read, write, or think. You got a great view of San Francisco from here.

We went over and sat down on the sand. Nobody spoke for a moment, then Simon said “How could you leave?” there was hurt, and betrayal in his voice.

I sighed. “I was bored. And Natalia understands. The Amazons understand.” I say.

Kyle turns to look at me now. “You could have at least tried to talk to us.”

“I know, and I’m sorry.”

“So your coming back?” Kyle’s voice was hopeful.

I smiled faintly and wrapped my arms around him. “I can’t. the Amazons are my family now. And they need me. I have a place there too.”

“You had a place with us.” Simon said harshly.

“Yeah, but you guys kept me locked up. With the Amazons anyone can go anywhere. No curfew. And I have an okay ranking. Natalia makes everyone feel important.” I say defensively.

“and Bryan doesn’t?” Simon said, once again, harshly.

Okay. So I could see why he was mad. And he had every right to be mad, but still. “Bryan kept me hidden and holed up. You guys did to. Natalia doesn’t care how old you are. She won’t keep you locked up. And she respects everyone’s needs and wishes. You guys didn’t. You wouldn’t let me go out, you wouldn’t listen to me. I was sick of it! So I left.”

We sat in silence for a few minutes. Finally Kyle and Simon both said “Kim–“ they both broke off. Simon spoke first “Kim, I’m sorry. You’re right, we did keep you cooped up.”

I nodded. Then Kyle added “We really want you to come home Kim. We miss you.”

I smiled. “I missed you guys to.”

“But,” Simon said.

“But I can’t. I’m sorry. I hope we can all stay in touch, but I’m going to stay with the Amazons.” I sighed sadly.

Kyle looked disappointed, but Simon merely nodded. “Fine. But we needed you.”

We all stood, and swam back to the boat. The ride back was quiet. Nobody spoke, and when we got back to the docks Simon left quickly. Kyle turned to me and gave me a big hug. “See you little sis.” He whispered in my ear, before he took off after Simon.

****

The weeks to follow our sad departure were quiet, and uneventful.

It was a cold November morning when I woke. I looked around sleepily. Earliys was fast asleep under her thick covers. Ema was nowhere to be seen though. I got up and put on some fur boots. I grabbed my bath robe and trudged down stairs, looking at the little picture on the front of the robe. It was a Marriott hotel bath robe. That probably meant that someone had taken it from the laundry. I shrugged off the thought that the robe was dirty and went into the kitchen.

“Happy Birthday Kim!” Ema screamed as soon as I entered the room. I covered my ears quickly.

“Ahhh! You’re going to make me go deaf!” I cried.

Ema giggled. “Sorry, but I wanted to wish you happy birthday!”

“So I heard.” I muttered. I looked around the shabby kitchen. Natalia, Max, Mark, and Sky were all sitting at the large dining table.

“Happy birthday Kim.” Natalia said laughing. I grinned and looked over at Mark. His head was in a book.

“Good book?” I asked. He nodded. “What’s it called?”

“it’s a Star Wars book.” He said without looking up. I rolled my eyes. Mark was obsessed with Star Wars. There was nothing wrong with Star Wars, but I found it funny how obsessed he was with it. I looked over at Max. Max was an interesting guy. He was very athletic, and artistic. He was tall, and had strawberry blonde hair. His eyes were an icy blue. Max was sitting at the table staring off into space.

“Good morning Max.” I said.

He looked up and grinned. “Hey Kim! Happy Birthday! You’re what– 16?”

“Yeah.” I said as I went and sat down next to Natalia.

She was sitting there, staring at her coffee. There was a worrying look on her face, and in her eyes.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing.” She said, then forced a smile onto her pale face. “Not anything you need to be worrying about.”

I nodded, but couldn’t help but stare at her for the rest of the morning.

Around 2:15 Natalia pulled me up to her room.

“I’m worried.” She said.

“I figured.”

“Drew Miles, the guy you saw with our brothers, found a way to destroy the Gang.”

“What!” I was shocked, “How?”

“Apparently he figured out that a lot of the people in our gang are runaways, and that we’re running low on money.”

“Bu–but I thought that he gave up!”

“No. Bryan just managed to delay him. We need help. And money.”

“How? We can’t ask the Pirates, they’re allied with the Panthers, and I don’t know how we’re going to find the money.”

“I know. But I actually thought of a way to get the Pirates to help us, you can go ask them.”

“I couldn’t do that! I already told them that I’m not coming back.”

“I know. But you’re not going back, you’re just asking for a small–huge favor.”

I nodded reluctantly. “Fine.”

“Great!” she smiled weakly. Then “Any ideas for getting the money?”

“Umm…” I thought for a moment, then an idea struck me, though I hated the thought. “I have a friend, in the Pirates, who has tons! Like, a lot. Trust me.”

“Excellent! Thank you so much Kim! I’m sorry I had to ask you to do this on your birthday.”

“It’s fine. Shall I go now?”

“Yes. Take the boat.”

“K.”

I headed down to the docks. The air was cold, and it was windy. I had put on the black hoodie that I had came with, a sweater, a second long sleeved shirt and I was wearing the fur boots, but even though I had on a lot of lairs I was still freezing.

The wind whipped by me as I made my way to the warehouses and piers.

When I finally pulled up to the small dock buy the warehouse I was frozen stiff. I climbed out of the boat and went around to the front door. I gave the door a hard knock. I stood there for nearly a minute before someone answered the door.

I felt the gust of warm air surround me, but then the person closed the door. I looked up and saw they had stepped out to join me. Looking closer at the person who was wrapped in a large, thick parka, under the parka I could see Collin.

He grinned when he saw me. “Hey Kim! Come to join us again?”

I smiled and shook my head. “Sorry Collin, I’m only here so I can talk to Bryan. Can I come in?”

“Come on.” He gestured for me to follow him. We went inside. It was warm, and I could smell someone’s hot coco, wafting from the upstairs. Collin led me to the back of the warehouse. Back there was Bryans study.

“Hey Bryan, someone here wants to talk to you.” He gave me a small push. I entered the study. Bryan was sitting behind an old wooden desk, Simon and Julio were standing on either side of him. There were 3 mugs of hot coco on the desk, all empty.

They all looked up as I entered. I stood near the door awkwardly, waiting for them to say something. Finally Bryan asked me “Why are you here? Tired of Natalia?” the guys all laughed.

I scowled at them. “No. I need to talk to you.”

Bryan nodded “Julio, can you take the mugs back to the kitchen, and then go tell Evan that I’m going to have to miss out little pool tournament.”

Julio nodded. “Sure, actually, since I’m runner up can I take your place?”

Bryan laughed and rolled his eyes. “Sure thing.”

Julio nodded and left. Even without looking I could tell that Simons eyes were on me.

“So what do you need?” Bryan asked, the laughter was gone from his voice.

“Actually it’s Natalia who wants to ask you a favor, but she sent me to deliver the message, and ask you.” I said.

“Go on.” Bryan said.

“Well, you know your dear friend Drew Miles?”

“Yeah.” Bryan said there was a bite of impatience in his tone.

“Well, he figured out how to destroy the Amazons, so Natalia wanted me to ask you for help because she said that you could help.” I tried to keep the panic in my head, out of my tone.

Bryan seemed to ponder my request, then he answered “what makes you think I can change Drew’s mind?”

“We don’t. We just think you guys can help us. Please!” this time you could hear the panic in my voice. I stared over at him desperately. “Please.” I whispered again.

“Maybe. It depends.” Bryan replied.

I nodded. “Thank you for your consideration. Please try to get back to us as soon as possible.” I said, the words felt robotic, and automatic.

Bryan and Simon both nodded. Simon was still staring at me. I stood there for another moment, and then turned and started to leave. Just as I was about to turn left, into the main hall area, Simon called out “Happy 16^th Sis! We’ll give your our answer soon! And our present! When we make up our minds.”

I smiled, and turned to look at him. “Thanks Simon!” I smiled sadly at him, before turning and leaving.

As I walked away I saw Jason sitting in the makeshift lounge. I paused, then headed over to him.

“Hey Jason.” I said smiling.

He looked up and grinned. “Hey Kim! Happy Birthday!”

Chapter 8

Saved for now

I grinned back. “Thanks!”

“So what brings you here?”

“Well, I came to ask Bryan a favor, courtesy of Natalia.”

“Cool.”

“Hmm…” I nodded, thinking about the gangs shortage of money. Should I ask him? Or just leave it, and find some other way to get money? Hmm… Jason was still smiling at me. “Hey Jason, can I ask you something?”

“Course.”

“Well, I hate to ask, but…the Amazons need money, and if we don’t get some soon we’re going t be destroyed by Drew Miles! And you know I would never ask you this if it wasn’t urgent, but we need money, and you’re the only one we know with money!”

Jason froze, his smile faded. I stood there for what felt like ages before he finally said “that would mean going to my father.”

“Well, is there a way to avoid him, and still get the money?” I asked desperately.

“Well…I could go to New York and talk to my uncle. He hates politics.”

“Ok. But…” I frowned “If he hates politics why didn’t you just go to him in the first place?”

“I needed to find Eloise.”

“Oh yeah.”

“Kim…I’m not so sure. I haven’t talked to him in years! And I really don’t know about this…” I could hear the doubt in his voice.

“Please! I’ll do anything! Please!”

H e laughed weakly. “Fine. But you have to come with me.”

“Yes! Thank you! Now I just need to find out if Bryan will help us, and will try to change Drew’s mind!” I rushed forward and gave him a hug.

He laughed again, stronger. “No problem Kim! When shall we go?”

“Give me at least a week.”

“Of course.” He nodded.

I grinned at him now, and gave him another hug, then I left to go tell Natalia the good news.

****

Everyone was thrilled that Jason was willing to help out. it was about a week later when Simon showed up to tell me that Bryan was willing to help us.

The happiness lasted for weeks as we planned how to stop Drew Miles, and the rest of the Panthers.

One morning when I woke up I felt a chill run down my spine, and I could a hear a sharp beating on the roof and windows. Looking around I realized that it was hailing. A small hail stone had broken through my window. I shivered, it was freezing out side, and in hear. Getting up I pulled on my warmest clothes, and headed down stairs.

When I reached the kitchen I found Earliys, and Ema huddled around a small camping stove. Natalia was sitting behind them with Mark. They were all wrapped in thick blankets.

“H-hey.” I said, my teeth were chattering.

Natalia smiled “Good morning. Sorry about the cold, the power went out.”

Later that day we were planning a trip to the farmers market when Natalia pulled me aside.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her.

“I went for a walk this morning and none of our power lines are down, which means someone sabotaged our power, and turned it off.”

“Drew?” I asked suspiciously.

“Probably, the only problem is that the power has to be turned off from inside the building, and we lock the doors tightly.”

A feeling of icy coldness swept over me. “So someone turned it off?”

“That’s my suspicion.”

I nodded. Who? I wondered.

Natalia and I didn’t speak of the betrayal for the rest of the week. At the end of the week Jason came to me and told me that he had found a plane heading to New York on Saturday. That gave me two days to pack.

“Here.” Earliys said handing me a small, frayed duffel. I packed my hoodie, and everything else I owned, and even a few things I didn’t own into the duffel. Natalia lent me a black parka.

“You’ll need it where your going.” She said.

I nodded. “Thank you so much! I promise that I’ll get the money, and get it to you.”

“Thank you! You are a true Amazon.” She said smiling at me.

Her praise made me feel good.

Chapter 9

Leaving

I woke up on Saturday feeling exited. I got up, ate a quick breakfast, and said goodbye to those who had gotten up to see me off.

“Bye Kim! I’m going to miss you!” Ema cried flinging her self into my arms. I hugged her tightly.

“See you Kim!” Earliys said giving me a quick hug, and smiling.

Mark shook my hand. “Have a good flight, and a safe trip.” He said.

“Have a good trip!” Natalia said hugging me tightly. “Be careful, and make us proud!”

Damian, Marks best friend had also come to see me off which was odd because, I really didn’t know Damian.

He gave me a hug and whispered in my ear “Don’t trust anyone. They can betray, or deceive you”

I frowned and pulled away, eyeing him suspiciously. Everybody was smiling and waving to me as Jason pulled up in a taxi and grinned.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Yup. Where did you get the taxi?” I asked getting into the passengers seat, and waving goodbye to my friends, and fellow comrades.

“I…borrowed it.” He gave me a lopsided grin which I returned.

“Borrowed?” I asked laughing.

“Yep. Borrowed.” We both laughed again.

The drive to the airport was quick. We got thought security quickly too.

As we boarded the plane I felt a slight sense of loss. The last time I had ridden a plane was when I was 9, shortly before my parents murder. We had been coming back from a summer vacation in Chicago.

Once we found our seats I pulled out my laptop. It was an old thing that I’d had since I was 8. it used to be Simons, but he got a new one for his 13^th birthday.

Now that I thought about it Simon and Kyle’s birthdays were coming up. Simons birthday was on the 23^rd December, so…in a week. And Kyle’s was on the 18^th of February. I’d have to find them something while I was in New York.

After about 20 minutes of playing solitaire on the computer a flight attendant told me to turn it off for take off.

****

After about 3 hours I asked Jason “Where in New York does your uncle live?”

“Out in the country. About 45 minutes away from Plattsburgh.”

“I know where that is! It’s right across the lake from where I lived!” I said excitedly. I had never been to Plattsburgh, but some girls from school had been there and said it was nice.

“Does he live along the lake?”

“Yeah. Big mansion along the lake. Large backyard, 3 stories, blue.”

“I’ve seen that house! I know just where your uncle lives!” I felt exited, his uncle lived near my old home!

When the plane landed Jason led me toward one of the rental car company’s.

“Here you are Mr. Swift.” The car guy said handing Jason a set of car keys. I stared at Jason. I had never heard his last name. Some how hearing it took away some of the air of mystery around him. His last name was different from his fathers, I knew that, but still, it was odd hearing it.

I stared at the car. “You ordered a new, shiny black BMW!” I said.

Jason shrugged. “So?”

“BMW’s are expensive! My parents couldn’t even afforded one, and they had a bit of money!” I said shocked.

Jason shrugged again. “I know my dads credit card number so I just used that, and I got the car.”

“If you know his credit card number why don’t we just use it?” I asked confused.

“Because we need it in cash, or on a check, and it has to be written, or given to me by an adult.”

“Aren’t you an adult?” I thought Jason was 18.

“I’m not an adult yet. Give me another month.” We got into the car. I looked around, and ran my hands over the dark leather seats. I stared at all the buttons, and admired the fancy stereo.

Jason started the car. Within the next hour we were speeding down highway 87.

I must have dosed off because the next thing I remember was Jason telling me “Kim, look! There’s a sign for Plattsburgh. 20 miles.”

I nodded groggily. We didn’t stop in Plattsburgh though. Jason drove right by it. I stared out the window. I could see Lake Champlain in the distance. I sighed and remembered the days when I lived on the lake. Kyle, Simon and I had gone to the local Waldorf school there. I remembered riding a boat back home every day after school. I remembered swimming in the lake over the summer, and my dad taking us out in the boat. Once he took us to Canada. I remembered getting a T-shirt from there.

“Do you want to stop?” Jason asked quietly, bringing me back from memory lane.

“No, its alright. Lets just go to your uncles house.” I turned away from the window and stared strait at the road.

After about 45 minutes Jason turned off the main road onto a gravel road. It was gravel for about a mile. I looked around. There were trees that surrounded us. There was a large sign that said “Keep out” and a barbwire fence.

I shifted nervously in my seat. “Hey Jason, are you sure your uncle won’t mind us stopping by?”

“No. and I can’t promise that he’ll help us either.”

Jason kept driving. Suddenly a large mansion rose up out of the trees. It was huge! There were nice plants surrounding the house, and a fancy stone walkway.

The house didn’t look like the house of someone that wanted to keep people out.

“Is this the house?” I asked nervously.

“Yup.” Jason said flatly. He stopped the car, and we got out. Jason led the way up the walkway, and rang the doorbell.

We stood there for a minute as the bell rung. When nobody answered Jason rung it again.

Just as I was about to suggest that he wasn’t home the door opened. A tall guy opened the door. He was wearing a t-shirt, and a pair of worn jeans. His hair was dark, like Jason’s. He looked a lot like Jason except for the eyes. His eyes were dark brown, where is Jason’s were a dark gold.

“What do you want.” He asked gruffly.

“Hey uncle George! Remember me, Jason? Look we really need your help.” Jason said.

The guy stared at him for a minute, then said again “what do you want.”

“Hi! I’m Kim.” I said quickly. He turned and stared at me blankly. “Look, we’re really sorry to barge in on you like this, but we need money, in a check, or cash, and Jason said you can help us get that. From his father I mean.”

He kept staring at me for another moment, then he held the door open for us “I guess you’d better come in, and explain everything.”

We nodded and went inside. I looked around. The entrance hall was huge! Fancy chandeliers, fur rugs, and marble floors!

A guy came running down the stairs yelling “Hey dad! I need–“ his voice cut off when he saw us. Then he grinned at me. “Hi. I’m Zach. And you are?”

“Kim.” I said holding out my hand. He grinned and shook it.

“Pleasure to meet you Kim.” He said. Then he turned to look at Jason. “And you are?”

“Jason. Your…cousin.” Jason said stiffly.

He nodded. “You’re the presidents son. Well, I know our house isn’t what your usually expecting, and I can’t promise you room cleaning, but that’s to bad for you.”

Jason glared at him, and I quickly intervened. “Jason and I used to be in the same gang back in California, but then I left the gang for another gang. Jason’s just helping me get money to help my gang out, and to keep us from being destroyed.”

Jason and Zach glared at each other for another moment, then Jason turned to look at his uncle and said “can you help us get the cash? Or a check?”

His uncle stood there for a moment then said “No.”

“Please!” I said, then quickly shrunk against Jason’s side, afraid that I might had angered him.

“No.” he said again and left.

I looked over at Zach pleadingly. He sighed. “I can try to change his mind.” And he too, left.

Jason sighed too, and then led me upstairs to some bedrooms. We stopped in front of a door at the end of the hall way. On the door there was a neatly carved wooden sign. The sign read “Jason and Eloise. Please knock”

Jason pulled a small silver key out of his pocket and put in the lock. Then he carefully turned it. I heard a small click and the door swung open. We entered the room. Jason closed the door behind us.

I looked around the room. There was two twin beds in front of two small windows. The bed closest to me had a black bed spread. There were some flowers embroidered into it. At the end of the bed there was a small wooden trunk. The farther bed had a dark blue bed spread. There was a rocket ship on it. The room was very neat. Both beds were made, both beds had the same trunks at the ends, both beds had purple curtains over the windows, both beds had a different rug underneath it.

“Everything’s so…identical.” I commented.

Jason nodded. We used to come here every summer. Aunt Camille likes things to be neat and…identical.”

I nodded and went over to the trunk at the end of his bed. I opened it. Inside there were pictures of a happy looking family. I saw that they had a dog to. There were pictures of Jason and his friends, and pictures of Jason and his sister. I dug farther into the trunk and found some books, and a few journals. I looked at the books. Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, Harry Potter. And a few others. I examined the journals. Leather, and worn. I looked up to see Jason staring at the stuff sadly.

“Sorry.” I said quickly, realizing that the stuff was probably personal stuff. I put everything back into the trunk hastily.

“Its fine.” I murmured, not really paying much attention to what I said. I looked over to see what he was staring at. I had forgotten to put back the picture of his family together. I looked at it closely. Jason looked like he was about 7. He was smiling widely, as if it was Christmas. I smiled at the photo.

Jason turned away from the picture sadly. We sat there, on the floor for a couple minutes, in silence. I could tell that Jason was regretting coming. What if he wants to leave? I thought worriedly.

Chapter 10

The Note

After about 10 minutes Jason said “Do you want to go out onto the lake?”

“Sure. Does your uncle have a boat?”

“Yeah. Common.” We went down stairs, Jason stopped at the table in the front hall and opened the drawer. He pulled out a set of keys, and led me out side. It had grown warm, and as he led me down a small path I began to see the lake. Jason led me over to a small dock where a medium sized white boat was.

“Hop in.” he said grinning. I got in. Jason went to the wheel, and we took off.

Jason was a pro at driving the boat. He took me all around. Finally, after an hour we passed a small island, with some houses on it. There was nothing unusual about the island having houses on it, but as Jason took a sharp turn, we passed a brown house that I would recognize anywhere.

“Jason, go back.” I said, my throat was suddenly tight. Jason turned the boat around, and went back.

“Stop here.” I instructed as we neared the brown house again. He stopped, and looked at the house. I stared at it. Some one had turned it into a vacation house, but there was a warning that it was haunted. I rolled my eyes at the warning. It wasn’t haunted. Just because some people were murdered in it doesn’t mean that it was haunted. It wasn’t ghost’s that killed them, their murderers were real people.

“Is that your old house?” Jason asked after a moment.

I nodded, then turned to him and asked “Can you pull up to the dock? I want to get out and look around.”

Jason nodded, and pulled up to the dock. He tied the boat to the dock and we got out.

I walked up to the back door and tried to open it. “Locked.” I muttered. I pulled out my hair pin and put it in the lock, and quickly unlocked it. I pushed the door open and went inside.

Jason hovered behind me nervously. “Um Kim, I’m not sure we should go inside. Some one might hear us.”

“Relax.” I said dismissively. “No one’s home.” I walked in farther. Everything was the same, including the furniture. The kitchen still had stainless steel appliances, and granite counters. The hallway still had the ugly red rug, and the old china cabinet. The living room still had the large leather sofas and the hanging over the fireplace was still the weird metal palm tree decoration dad had found at a yard sale.

I slowly went up stairs. When I reached the top of the stairs I turned left, and went into Simon’s room. Some things had changed. All of his trophies, pictures, posters and stuff was gone. The walls were still dark blue though, and the bed was the same old wooden bed that he broke by jumping on it. Dad had made him fix it, and he had lost 8 weeks worth of allowance.

I left Simon’s room and turned into Kyle’s room. All of his stuff was gone to, but some of his movie posters were still there, in frames now. I looked at them. There was a total of 6 posters in his room. Batman, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Eragon, and a few other super hero movies. His bed spread was still had planets on it, and his walls were still black with the solar system painted on it with glow in the dark paint.

I left his room and walked across the hallway toward a closed door. Jason was still hovering behind me. I went up to the door. There was a sign on the door that said “Mystery Room Do Not Enter”

I pushed open the door and went inside. It was my room after all. I immediately froze as soon as I entered. Everything was the same. The walls were still ice black. My bed still had a white bed spread on it with tiger stripes. The furniture was still black, the rug was still white. All my books were on there shelves, all of my stuffed animals, and stuff was were I had left it. I hade my favorite stuffed white tiger sitting on my pillow, my pipe cleaner dolls were still in there box.

“Kim, is this your room?” Jason asked quietly.

I turned and gave him a look that pretty much said Well it’s not Simons. I walked in farther and picked up the tiger. “I’ve missed you Ren!” I whispered as I hugged the tiger.

“Ren?” Jason asked raising an eyebrow.

“I got it out of a book.” I said defensively. He nodded, and didn’t say anything else.

I turned away from him, and walked over to my treasure chest. Simon, Kyle, and my dad had built it for me for my 8^th birthday. I pulled a small brass key out of my pocket, and put it in the lock. Jason opened it and we both looked inside. Kaya, my American Girl doll was lying on top. I pulled her out and we dug deeper into the chest. While Jason sifted through the stuff I went over to my closet and grabbed one of my backpacks. It was turquoise. I went back over to Jason.

Reaching into the chest I pulled out some pictures. I put them in the front pocket of the backpack. We both slowly filled it with stuff from my room. Jewelry, books, journals, pictures, and trophies. I backtracked to Simon and Kyle’s rooms and opened up the closets. Both closets had a few articles of their clothing. I chose 3 sweatshirts with our old schools logo on it, and found a few of their pictures with friends.

When I finished I found Jason in my parents room. I felt my throat tighten again as I entered their room. So many memories of them, and then whoosh, their gone. I went through their closet’s and found some of their clothing. I chose some of my moms favorite tops that I could probably fit into now, some of my dads old sweatshirts that Simon and Kyle would probably like.

I was sitting in my room about half an hour later when Jason told me that it was nearly 6.

“We should probably head back to my uncles.” He said. I nodded and cast on more look around my room. We were just turning away when something caught my eye. It was my moms jewelry box. What it was doing in my room I had no clue. There was a piece of paper sticking out of it. I went over and pulled it out.

“What is it?” Jason asked.

I shrugged and opened it up. “It’s a note.” I said breathlessly after a moment. Jason came over and we read it.

I’ll be back for you little girl. You and your worthless brothers. Watch out for who you hang with!

•DM, DM, and DM

“What does that mean ‘Watch out for who you hang with?’” Jason asked.

I shrugged “Dunno.” I stared at the note.

“Who do you reckon DM, DM, and DM are?” Jason asked.

I shrugged again. “Dunno.” I said again.

We headed back to the boat. Jason was silent on the ride back giving me time to think. I’ll be back is what it had said on the wall the day my parents were murdered. You and your worthless brothers. That meant that they wanted her and her brothers too. Not just her parents. I wonder why they want us? What do we know? What did we do? I thought about how Bryan said he knew that my parents were going to be murdered. Hmmm…I’ll have to ask him more when we get back. I thought.

****

That night at dinner was kinda boring. I sat between Jason and Zach. It was a little nerve racking because Jason and Zach obviously didn’t get along, and kept throwing each other killer looks.

“So Uncle, have you decided if your going to help us yet?” Jason asked.

“Nope.” Was his reply.

“Well, Kim and I need an answer soon. Preferably by tomorrow night cause we’re leaving in 2 days.” Jason said.

He nodded “I’ll let you know when I decide.” His tone made it clear that that was the end of the conversation.

The next day his Uncle left for work, and Zach left for school, pretty much leaving the house to me and Jason.

“What do you want to do today?” I asked.

Jason shrugged. “Dunno.” We sat in the living room reading for the morning. Finally, around lunch Jason suggested that we go do some street art.

“Sure. Kyle and I used to do that when we stayed in Chicago for 3 months. A little before we joined the Pirates.” I said nodding. “And we also did a little when we passed through the Sacramento area.”

Jason nodded and found some spray paint. “I know that Zach likes to do street art.” He said.

I nodded. We got in the car, and Jason took me out to where some old warehouses were.

“How did you know where these were?” I asked curiously.

“There’s a map in Zach’s room, and, back when Zach and I were friends we used to come here with some of his friends to play paintball.” Jason said grinning.

We found a large blank wall. I framed the wall with my hands. “Well, what should we do?”

Jason was quiet for a moment then he grinned. “How about we do an outline of California, then put the Amazon symbol, and the Pirates symbol in it, and we could make it look like there’s a light from behind it, making it stand out.”

“Cool.” I nodded, and we got to work. About 2 hours later I was sitting on the ground, in front of the wall, hot, and tired.

Jason grinned and stepped away from the wall. “What do you think?” he asked.

I looked up at our masterpiece. “Perfect.” I said grinning. We cleaned up, and headed back to his Uncles. He was waiting there when we returned.

“I’ve made my decision.” He said. we looked at him hopefully. “And I’ve decided to say NO.”

“What!” Jason practically yelled. “Why! All you need to do is write up a stupid check! That’s all!”

His uncle shrugged. “I’ve made my decision, and the answers no.” and with that he left.

That night at dinner Jason didn’t come down.

“Where’s my worthless cousin?” Zach asked lightly.

“He’s still mad your dad said he wouldn’t help us.” I said.

“Why is this gang, this Amazons, so important to you? And him?” Zach frowned.

I sighed. “Because, the Amazons are like my family. And even though Jason is in a different gang he’s willing to help me because he’s good friends with my older brother who would do anything for me.” I said.

“Ahhh.” Zach sat there for a minute, thinking over what I had just said, finally he said “I can forge you a check.”

“But if people come to investigate…”

“I’ll talk my dad into the idea of helping you by then.” Zach shrugged.

I thought it over for a minute, then said “Okay.” He grinned/ I smiled back at him tentatively.

We sat there eating for a few more minutes, then I decided to ask the question that had been nagging me all afternoon.

“What happened between you and Jason?”

Zach leaned back in his chair, there was a sad expression on his face, and his eyes grew distant.

“It happened about 6 months ago. Right at the time when Jason ran away from home. He came to me first. We were best friends, and when we were younger we would tell people we were brothers. We still called each other brothers when we grew older. We liked to play paintball together, and fix boats, and then race them. Jason and Eloise came up here almost every time there was a break or holiday. Eloise was as much of a little sister to me as she is to Jason.” Zach paused, thinking.

“When Jason ran away from home, and came here, he asked to stay here for a night. My dad didn’t know that he came here because he was away on a business trip in Texas, and wouldn’t get back until the next day. Anyway, Jason told me about how Eloise had been sent away. He told me that he was going after her, and …” Zach paused again; he closed his eyes, reliving the day.

“He asked me to come with him. I was having a bad day when Jason showed up. My 2 year girl friend had just admitted to have been cheating on me for over 6 months, I got kicked off the volleyball team for ‘purposely a player’, not true by the way, and I had just failed my math test that had been worth half of my grade! Anyway, I was in a bad mood, so when Jason asked me I was at first tempted to do so, but then my jealously got in my way. I had always been jealous that Jason had a nice family, and a sibling. He was a strait A student, and girls always liked him.” Zach’s voice grew bitter at those words.

“later that night we started arguing about something, I don’t remember what, and I told him that he was being an idiot for wanting to run away. He accused me then for not caring about Eloise, and he reminded me that we wouldn’t see her anymore. I knew that, but I was to angry and pissed to care. I told him that he could find another place to stay, and that he could find his sister on his own.” Zach opened his eyes and leaned forward now.

“He left. The next day in the papers it said that a gang came and beat up someone, but they didn’t know who the victim was, and the victim was assumed dead. All they had as evidence was an old sweat shirt. There was a picture of it in the papers, and I recognized it as Jason’s.”

“So all this time you thought he was…” my voice trailed off.

“I thought he was dead. And I was so ashamed about how I acted that I nearly killed myself. But before I could I thought about what Jason would say if he found out I killed myself to escape my misery. He would call me a coward. And he would be disappointed in me. So over the next few months I worked on getting my grades up, and making money.”

“But if you were sorry for what you said, and did to him why do you still act like you guys hate each other?” I asked quizzically.

“Well, he doesn’t know I’m sorry, and I don’t know if he is.” Zach said.

“So. That doesn’t explain why you guys are treating each other like shit.” I said.

“Yeah, I know. But when I saw him I just felt that anger again. I wish I could tell him I’m sorry though.” Zach looked away.

“You don’t need to.” We both swung around to see Jason leaning against the door frame. He looked strait at Zach as he said “I forgive you brother.”

Zach nodded. “Same. And I’m sorry for acting like an idiot.”

“No biggie. Everybody acts like an idiot from time to time.” Jason said calmly.

Zach nodded. They stood there for a moment that both of them moved forward and shook hands.

“Brothers?” Zach asked.

“Brothers.” Jason confirmed.

“Hey, I can forge you guys a check.” Zach said.

Jason grinned. “That would be great buddy.”

The next morning over breakfast Zach slipped us a check for $5,000.

“Wow.” I said quietly to Zach, so his dad couldn’t hear, “That’s a lot of money.”

Zach shrugged. “I guess.” After our hearty breakfast Jason and I loaded the car.

“Well, I hope we get to see you again soon.” I said to Zach giving him a hug.

Zach grinned. “Definitely. Thank you fro bringing Jason and me back together again.” He whispered in my ear.

While he and Jason said good bye I turned to his dad. “I’m sorry that you couldn’t help us.” I said.

He shrugged. “Sorry kid. But it was nice meeting you.”

I laughed. “Nice meeting you to sir.” We shook hands, then Jason and I got into the car. I waved good bye to Zach and his father as we drove away.

Chapter 11

Problems and Setbacks

The flight back was uneventful, and quiet. When we reached the San Fransico airport Jason hailed a taxi and we headed back to the warehouse.

“Hey!” he called as we came in.

Julio, Evan, and Kyle came thundering down the stairs to greet us, Joy, and Caitlin came in from the back door, and Fred the Hobo waved at us from his spot in the corner.

“How was your trip? Successful?” Kyle asked.

I nodded happily. He grinned and gave me a hug.

“I’m glad your back.” He whispered softly. I closed my eyes, blocking out the sudden rush of tears that came to my eyes. The hug was warm, and I felt safe. In that hug I didn’t feel like the homeless girl in a gang. I felt like a girl with a nice home, and a loving, and safe family.

Bryan came out of his office and beckoned me and Jason over. Kyle came with us. Bryan closed the door to his office. Simon was leaning against the wall, staring off into space.

“Simon, they’re back!” Kyle said grinning. Simon raised a hand in greeting, but other wise showed no emotion.

Rude I thought, but I didn’t let that get to me.

“So, I take it your trip was successful?” Bryan asked calmly.

“Yes.” We said in unison. We both laughed.

“good. Kim, what is in that backpack?” Bryan nodded to my stuffed full backpack.

“Just some souvenirs I found, and brought back for my brothers.” I unzipped the backpack and pulled out Ren. Simon immediately looked over, and his eyes narrowed.

“Where did you get that?” he asked sharply.

“Home.” I replied nervously, wondering if he would notice that I was wearing one of his old tops. One that said “Just Do It”. “It’s been turned into some mystery vacation house. It looks mostly the same, but all of your guy’s stuff has been removed. There are some old clothes and stuff there, but not much. Apparently my room is ‘the mystery room’, and people aren’t allowed to go in there.”

I reached farther into the backpack and pulled out dads old sweatshirts. I handed dads plain purple sweatshirt to Kyle, and his dark blue, and white one to Simon. I pulled out Simons old black sweatshirt that had our school logo on it and put it on.

“It finally fits me.” I said smiling. Simon smiled back sadly. He and Kyle pulled on the sweatshirts.

Next I handed them each the pictures of them and their friends. I could tell that they were both surprised that I had been able to find it.

I took out CD’s from Simons old band and handed to him next, and handed Kyle one of his soccer metals. Lastly, out of my backpack I took out moms jewelry box. I showed Simon and Kyle the note first though.

Simon looked worried, and asked to keep the note. Kyle just looked pissed at being called worthless. “I am not worthless!” he raged.

I handed them each a necklace that mom had made for us. The necklaces were labeled for us.

The one I handed to Simon had a leather cord, and there was a carefully designed sword, with tiny engravings on the handle, and little diamonds on the hilt.

Kyle’s necklace had a leather cord too, in fact, all of them had leather cords. Kyle’s was a carefully designed, and beautifully crafted eye, with an emerald as the pupil.

Mine was made of ivory. It was a tiger. It was very detailed, and the tigers eyes were made out of turquoise.

“Wow.” I breathed.

“Yeah. How did you–“ Kyle started, then he saw the jewelry box. “Ahh.” He said.

I nodded, then got up, and turned to Jason. “I should probably head back to the Amazons and tell Natalia the good news. She’ll be thrilled!”

Jason nodded. I bent down, and gathered the stuff back into the backpack. On the way out I told Jason I wanted to check something. Running upstairs to Jason’s room I pulled out a small bag with some photos of him and his family, and some of his old stuff. Journals, CD’s, books. some of the stuff from his box.

Jason hailed a taxi for me, and gave me money to pay. “Thanks for coming with me, and bringing me and my cousin back together.” Jason said smiling.

I nodded. “No prob. Thanks for helping me out.”

“No prob.” He repeated grinning now.

“Bye!” I called as the taxi pulled away from the curb. The ride to the theatre was short, and I was soon knocking on the front door.

Ionatán answered the door. He grinned when he saw me. “Hey Kim! Successful mission?”

I grinned back at him. “Yup!”

He grinned and opened the door wider for me. Ionatán was such a gentleman. I knew that because Earliys had told me. I think that she has a huge crush on him. As Ionatán led me down the cold halls to where Natalia was I walked behind him, examining him. He hadn’t changed much within the past 4 days. He still had the same light brown hair, and athletic features. I suppose the real difference that I was noticing was the dark circles under his eyes. How he looked tired and exhausted. That was odd, Ionatán never took an extra night shift, and he never showed any tiredness. Ionatán was always ready for a challenge. I wondered what had happened in the past 4 days that made him look so exhausted.

When we reached the study I saw Natalia sitting by the fireplace. Mark, Enrique, Sky and Marla were playing spoons in the corner of the room. I saw Sasha, and Maya hovering by the fireplace also.

“Kim! Your back!” I swung around only to find my face buried in a small mass of wild curls.

“Hey Ema!” I said pulling away slightly. The girl grinned up at me, and I teared up a little. It seemed that the little ball of energy had grown on me.

“Hey Kim.” Earliys came over to us smiling shyly. I looked behind me to see Ionatán still standing there. He was looking the other direction, and he was talking to Max and Matt.

“Matt got a hair cut.” I commented.

Earliys glanced over at him. Matt’s hair was normally kind of longish, and shaggy, but now he had all short, and normal looking. Max, his twin brother was standing beside him looking completely different. He was going for the whole popular guy in high school, and in the most popular band look. It fitted him.

“Did you get the money?” Earliys asked curiously.

I grinned and nodded, Ema shrieked excitedly. “Yay! You have to tell Natalia, you have to tell Natalia!” she pulled me over to Natalia.

“I’m back!” I said as we reached her.

Natalia looked up at me and smiled weakly. “So I head. Good job!” she said.

“What’s wrong?” I asked seeing the dark circles under here eyes too.

“Well…while you were gone Drew Miles striked again. The cops came, and found some of our members who are runaways. They arrested them, and gave us a $4,000 dollar fine!” Natalia slumped down in the chair upsetly.

“What! Who?” I asked franticly.

“Maya, Blake, Matt, and Josh.” She said tiredly.

“Who else in the group are runaways?” I asked curiously.

“Ionatán, Max, and Harriett.” She said.

“Ionatán’s a runaway?” I turned to him. “You’re a runaway?”

“Yeah. I ran away from home when I was 14. My home was all messed up. My older brother was in juvie for drunk driving, my dad walked out on my mom, and my mom went on drugs.” Ionatán said.

I stared at him. I didn’t know that. I thought he had runaway from a foster home or was an orphan or something. I didn’t know that he ran away though. I knew that Max was a runaway and that Harriett was a runaway. Max had run away from home when he was 8 with his older brother Timo. They joined some gang. Max lived a messed up life, and he and his brother stayed with the gang for about 5 years. When he was 13 Timo was in a fight, and got shot. Max ran away from the gang then, and lived on his own fro a year, then he met up with Enrique and Carlos, and after a few months they joined the Amazons.

I thought about Harriett’s less horrible past. She had run away from home when she was 15 because her mom had become a drug addict, and her dad had left them when Harriett was 3. Harriett’s older sister was in collage, and didn’t ever call, or visit.

I turned back to Natalia and handed her the check. “Here.” I said, then left the room, and raced up to the attic.

Around 11:00 Ema came up, and crashed without saying anything. About 5 minutes Earliys came up and got in bed and started reading.

The next day I woke up late, and shuffled down to the kitchen just as Harriett and Marla were eating lunch.

“Hey,” I yawned sitting down.

“Hey,” they said.

That afternoon Natalia pulled me aside, and brought me up to speed. Drew Miles had a way of stopping us from paying our power bills, and was doing something to the cell phone towers, because nobody was getting any cell service anymore.

“Sceaming fool.” Natalia cursed. “I really hate him”

“How does he know you?” I asked.

Natalia froze now. “What makes you think that we know each other?” she asked quickly.

“Nothing really, but you act like you know him.” I replied.

She sighed. “I thought I knew him.” She said.

Chapter 12

Drew Miles

“Tell me about how you know him.” I said quietly.

Natalia sighed. “I thought I knew Drew. We went out for a while last year. we were really close. I told him everything about me. he can be very charming, and seem nice. I didn’t know I was just part of a plan to take out Bryans gang. I thought I knew him, but I was so happy to have someone to talk to that wasn’t in the gang that I didn’t realize that he was deceiving me until it was to late.”

“How did you see him if Bryan didn’t let you out?” I asked, slightly confused.

“he and Bryan were good friends. He helped Bryan start the Pirates at first, but then he left. He told Bryan that the gang was getting a little crowded for his taste. I started dating him on the days when he came to visit Bryan, and sometimes, no, most of the time Bryan was busy when he came to visit. So that’s when we hung out.” Natalia’s eyes grew distant, as if she was reliving those days.

“what happened when you found out that he was deceiving you?” I asked.

“When I found out that he was using me to get to Bryan I was furious, and ashamed.”

“Ashamed?”

“I was ashamed that I let him use me, and I fell for his tricks, and charms.”

“Its not your fault, any girl would have” I said. I thought about the tall, muscular looking guy I had seen last week at the docks trying to get rid of us. His cold blue eyes, his dark brown hair that was perfectly gelled, and his cold, cruel smile that didn’t meet his eyes, but still, there was something about it that made you want to like him.

“I know, it’s just.. Bryan’s my brother, and I felt like I should have watched out for him more carefully.”

“How is it that they became ally’s?” I asked, once again confused.

“Well, Bryan believes in second chances, and he and Drew were so close that Bryan forgave him easily. That’s one of the things we fought over, he chose to believe that rotten piece of shit over me, his loyal sister.”

I nodded “That’s terrible. I don’t think Kyle would ever do that to me, I’m not sure about Simon though.”

“What do you mean?”

“Simon’s my older brother, and I love him like hell, but sometimes he just makes me want to strangle him! I mean, sure I know it’s his job to annoy me, but some of the choices me makes are just down right awful!”

“How so?”

“Well, when we stayed in Chicago with one of the gangs, and I wanted to go explore the city a little, and visit some of the museums he wouldn’t let me because he told me that the leader of that gang didn’t want us to be there, and then return to the gang. Simon took that dudes advice, and locked me up in a room for a day, alone.”

“Harsh.”

“I know! And the time we were in Denver, I wanted a tattoo and I was telling him this while we were walking down some street, and this random guy who is passing us says that I shouldn’t get one because they are bad for you! I mean, come on! He took that guys advice also!”

“wow.”

“I know!”

I went on ranting for a couple more minutes before Natalia finally said in a quiet tone “Try to see it from his point of view, he loves you and wants to protect you. I’ll bet your brother would throw himself in front of a bullet to save you. Even though he’s made some stupid decisions you should try to work things out with him.”

“Why are you siding with him!” I complained in a slightly whiny tone.

“I’m not–okay fine,” she said sighing at my raised eyebrow, “I am a little, but still, I don’t want you and your brother to grow apart like Bryan and I did.”

I glared at her, then let out a reluctant sigh “Fine. But he’s even madder at me for switching gangs.”

“Just try to talk to him!” she said giving me a small push towards the door.

“Now?”

“Yes now! Now go!” she said, almost laughing.

Chapter 13

Promises

I left, and started heading toward the docks, planning on taking the boat over to the Pirates place.

I got into the boat, and headed out, loving the sound of the waves crashing against the sides of the boat. I wrinkled my nose when the salty smell of fish hit my nose.

I took a deep breath and thought about what I should talk to him about. After about fifteen minutes I rounded a corner, and saw the old warehouse. I’ll just have to wing it, and just do a lot of quick thinking when I talk to him. I thought in a panic.

I pulled up to the side of their dock, and parked the boat. Hopping out I saw Julio leaning against the door frame of the warehouse.

“Hey Julio.” I greeted.

He raised a hand in greeting, I saw he was smoking.

I wrinkled my nose as the awful smell hit my nose. “Jeeze Julio, do you have to smoke?” I asked giving a small cough.

“it helps me think.” He said shrugging.

“Your lungs.” I muttered under my breath as I walked into the warehouse.

I found Simon on the roof. He was sitting on the edge of the roof, looking off into the city.

“Hey, mind if I talk to you?” I asked quietly as I approached him.

“How did you get in here? I thought Julio was guarding the door.” Was his response.

“he let me in.” I said. I sat down next to him and glanced over at him. He avoided my gaze.

“k, so, what do you want?” he asked harshly.

“I want to talk to you. I’m worried about you.”

“Why? What am I doing that worries you?”

“You’re shutting me out. You’re shutting everybody out. Even Kyle’s worried about you.”

“Yeah well, I’m fine.” He sounded bitter.

“What’s wrong Simon? What are you hiding?” I asked. I could see the tension in his jaw. He looked ill. He was paler than usual, and his cheek bones stuck out of his face a little.

“Nothing.” He said a little to quickly.

“yeah right. I’m your sister, you can tell me anything.” I said to him softly.

We sat there for a few minutes, and I started to think that he might not reply to me when he said “I messed up.”

I frowned “what do you mean?”

“you and Kyle…I was supposed to protect you guys. I was supposed to keep all of us together, and keep us all safe.” He said.

“but you did.” I said confused at why he was so upset.

“no. You left the gang, and now Kyle is getting mixed up with the wrong people.”

“What did he do?”

“he Galen, Jack, and Emmett all went to Jeremy’s last night. They got drunk, and Kyle got into a fight. The police came, and they left before the police could actually catch them”

I gasped. “Why? Did someone get hurt?”

“he hit a guy, and the guy had a gun, and shot him. In the arm,” he added quickly, probably because he heard my loud gasp.

“He got shot?”

“he’s fine, but he can’t go to the hospital.”

“Why?”

“Because then they’ll ask questions, and Kyle’s under 21. he wasn’t supposed to be drinking.”

“What about Galen, Jack and Emmett?”

“They’re fine. Galen is a little bruised cause he got punched in the eye, but he’ll live, and Emmett is a little beat up, but he’s tough.”

“and Jack?”

“Perfectly fine. Not a scratch on him.”

“Good.”

We sat there in silence for a few more minutes then I said “You know, you don’t have to worry about me and Kyle so much.”

He shrugged. “Mom and Dad got killed. It left me in charge. I don’t want to risk losing you guys too.” His voice broke at the end of his sentence.

I wrapped my arms around him warmly. “You’re not going to. I’m not gonna get hurt, and Kyle will be fine.”

He sighed. “I know, but it’s kinda my fault for him getting hurt.”

“How so?”

“I should have been there to prevent the fight.”

“It’s not your fault. You have to lat us go, and stop worrying.” I looked up at my brother worriedly. He looked so upset about Kyle.

“I know, I know.” He sighed again and wrapped his arms around me, giving me a tight hug. “promise me that you’ll be careful.” He whispered, and I suddenly saw what was wrong, he was afraid to lose me and Kyle. He was afraid to lose those who were close to him. “I can’t lose another family member.”

“I closed my eyes, letting myself relax in his tight embrace. “I’ll try.” I whispered softly.

I felt him nod. Finally he pulled away and stared at me. “So, how is it at the Amazons?”

“Good. I sleep in the attic with these two sisters. One’s named Emilia, but everyone calls her Ema, and her older sister, she’s my age, her name is Earliys. She’s really nice, and has some great books!”

“Cool. And what about Natalia?”

“she’s great! She’s really nice, and I’m her second in charge. That means if she needs anything, or needs to share some vital info she tells me. me or Earliys.”

“That’s great! Do you know what happened between her and Bryan?”

“umm…well, I think you should ask Bryan yourself.”

“Ask me what?” we swung around to find Bryan standing behind us.

“Hey Bryan! how are you?” I asked.

“good thank you, now, what do you want to ask me?” he looked strait at Simon when he said this.

“Umm…”Simon shifted uncomfortably. “Well, I was just… umm… wondering what happened between you and Natalia.”

Bryans face hardened, and I could see the pain in his eyes. “it doesn’t matter.”

He started to turn away when I suddenly cried “Natalia told me what happened, but we want to hear your side of the story.”

Bryan turned back to us, and sat down miserably. “she and Drew used to go out, and Drew and I were friends, but then it turned out that Drew wanted to take over the Pirates, and he was just using my sister to get to me. I believed in second chances back then, and I changed Drew’s mind, but my sister was heartbroken that she was being used, and that I didn’t side with her, and hate Drew. I didn’t think that she actually liked Drew that much, so I just thought that she was just acting heartbroken to get attention.”

He paused for a breath, “I was angry at her for saying that Drew was untrustworthy, and bad. I told her that she was being stupid, and was acting like a diva.”

I gasped, knowing that Natalia was the total opposite of a diva.

“she got angry, and ran away. When I found out that she ran away I just figured that she was going to come back, and that it was just part of her act for attention. When she didn’t return I felt really bad, and I told Drew that we could be ally’s, and that he should leave. He did, and started his own gang. When I found out that he had an enemy gang called the Amazons never suspected that Natalia was running it. I just knew that their leader was female.”

Bryan hung his head in despair. “not a day goes by that I don’t regret what I said to her. I love my sister like hell, and I will do anything to get her back, but… she shuts everybody out. she doesn’t trust anybody anymore. Especially people who aren’t in he gang.”

“So what does she trust me?” I asked.

“yeah, why does she trust Kim?” Simon asked.

Bryan thought about it for a moment, then said “Because you two both have the same background. We kept you locked up, and you guys got tired, and left. You guys are both angry at us, and since you share that, she trust’s you.”

Bryan looked over at me, “I’m sorry for keeping you locked up.”

I nodded. “It’s okay, I guess. I can’t really stay angry at the two of you because A, you guys are like brothers to me, in fact one of you guys really is my brother, and B, Natalia made me realize that being angry at you two, and holding a grudge against you guys will just pull us apart.”

“What do you mean?” Simon asked.

“the reason I came today was because Natalia told me that she didn’t want us, “I looked at Simon when I said “us”, “to grow apart. She didn’t want us to end up like how she and Bryan are.”

“So you think that she’s forgiven me?” Bryan asked hopefully.

I shrugged, “dunno. She’s really upset that you chose someone that you had only known for a few months over her, the girl you’d known almost your whole bloody life.”

Bryan hung his head again. “Yeah, that was stupid of me.”

We all sat there in silence for a while, finally Simon said “You should go talk to her like how Kim came to talk to me.”

Bryan shrugged. “maybe, but she’s not going to trust me anytime soon.”

I shrugged now. “So, you guys will be on the mend. If you try to talk to her, and tell her your sorry, and prove that your trustworthy eventually she’ll trust you.”

“Yeah, I guess.” He said.

I got up. “Well, I’m glad I talked to Simon. I may not trust you guys very much anymore, but I think we’re on the mend.” I gave them each a hug, then left.

When I reached the exit Julio was still standing there smoking. “that’s still really bad for you.” I told him.

He shrugged. “I know, but as I said before, it helps me think.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever.”

I turned and saw Collin, and Evan leaning on the other side of the door. Collin was wearing his usual Celtics hat, and his purple hoodie. He wasn’t smoking, thank god, but Evan was. I walked up to him, and yanked the cigarette out of his mouth, and shoved into the ash tray. he pulled out a lighter, and another cigarette. I grabbed the lighter from his hands, and left.

“Hey!” he called after me. “Kim!”

“You guys are going to die so young!” I called over my shoulder.

“Give me back my lighter!” he yelled.

“No!” I got into the boat, and left. Even as I pulled away from the dock I could hear him yelling at me.

As I was heading back Simons words echoed in my mind “Promise me you’ll be careful” and my reply of “I promise” deep down I knew that I couldn’t really keep that promise, but I sure would try.

Chapter 14

The Traitor

Over the next few days we worked on paying our dues, and keeping Drew Miles away. Natalia had staff meetings every night, late, and we planned our comeback, and how to take him down.

One night at the staff meeting we were discussing the traitor.

“it has to be someone close to Drew.” Mark said. “Other wise Drew wouldn’t be able to trust the person because he wouldn’t know if they turned on him or not.”

“Yeah, but we have to figure out who this person is soon, they keep turning off the power!” Earliys said.

Ionatán nodded in agreement. “Yeah, and I think they may be stealing some of the money.”

“What! We have to get a safe!” Josh practically yelled.

“Shhh! You’ll wake up the others!” Harriett chided from the corner.

“They keep hiding food items, and someone keeps spilling my food when I’m not looking!” Marla said angrily from her place in front of the fireplace.

“Yeah!” more angry cries started up.

“Quiet! Let me think!” Natalia yelled over the racket. Everyone settled down, I shifted uncomfortably in my chair.

“we all knew that this person would try to stop us.” She started calmly.

“We need–“ Sasha started, but Natalia held up her hand in silence.

“what we need to do is be patient. We should set up some cameras, but not tell the rest of the gang. Everybody here should set up a camera on there own time, a hidden camera, and then nobody knows where the cameras are, so nobody knows how to get around them. That way it’s fair. Even if the traitor is this room, which I sincerely hope is not true, then they won’t know where to avoid cameras.”

We sat there in silence thinking over her idea, finally I nodded “That’s a brilliant idea.”

Ionatán stood up then and said “I think we should also put some money out in an easyish place, and put some cameras and some other stuff around it, and see who the culprit is. We could have shifts to watch the cameras, and we could hide some cameras, and put some out in the open.”

“But we should have some back up cameras just incase they find the cameras, and cover them up or something.” I said quickly.

Ionatán nodded in agreement. “yes, and we should also make sure we can get sound on them.”

“But what if the person disguises themselves?” Matt asked, he was the best with electronics, and was taking notes.

Ionatán thought about it for a moment, then said “We could put tracker's on everybody.”

“How?” Sasha asked.

“Well…” his voice trailed off now as he thought.

“I know!” I said suddenly, “We could get everybody to wear necklaces that represent the gang, and we could make it so everybody has to wear it at all times in order to enter in and out of the theatre, and eat meals and all.”

“Hey that’s not such a bad idea Kim.” Ionatán said nodding at me in approval. “but we should also make it so they have, not only trackers, but a recording device! Matt, how quickly can you get something like that?” We all turned to look at Matt.

He shrugged. “A day, I dunno. I can talk to Michel, he can make them for us.”

“For free?” I asked.

Matt shrugged again. “dunno. I mean, yeah he’s my uncle, but he stopped making illegal stuff for gangs years ago, but… I may be able to get him to help!”

“Yes!” we shouted happily.

****

A few days after we had gotten all the cameras installed, and the necklaces I was sitting in front of the monitor, looking at the screen when suddenly I saw a hint of movement.

“Hey Max,” I called over my shoulder to where Max was sitting, reading Star Wars. “Can you come here for a sec?”

He came over and leaned over me, looking at the screen. His brow furrowed as he saw the movement.

“Hey Kim, can you pull up the tracker screen on Nat’s I-pad?” he said.

I nodded, and pulled the tracker up. I looked over it quickly. Natalia was in the study with Harriett, Matt, and Mark. Josh, and Ionatán were in main theatre, Earliys was at the farmers market with Marla, and Maya. Ema and Blake were out on the docks talking. Enrique, Benji, Carlos and Sky were all out down town, and Jessica and Sasha were in kitchen.

“Where is… Damian?” Max asked.

“Damian.” I murmured softly, my finger skimmed down the list. I found him, “in the room with the… in room with the…” my voice grew faint. “in the room with the money.” I whispered softly.

“Exactly. It’s not his shift to check the money, in fact, he doesn’t have any shifts. He, Ema, Jessica, Blake, and Benji don’t have any shifts, and don’t know about the cameras.”

“So that means–“

“That means we’ve found our Traitor.” Max grabbed the wakie talkie and held it up.

“Natalia, we’ve found the Traitor, repeat, we’ve found the traitor.”

We waited a moment, the Natalia said “Who?” through the walkie talkie.

“Damian. Repeat Damian.” Max said, then her set down the walkie talkie.

“What do we do now?” I asked nervously.

“Umm… we should let Natalia deal with Damian, and we should go tell Ionatán that your guys’s plan worked.”

I nodded, and left Max in charge of watching the monitor. I ran down stairs, and took a side entrance into the theatre. I ended up on one side balcony’s.

“Ionatán! It worked!” I called down into the main seating area.

“What?” he called.

“Our plan worked! We caught the traitor!” I nearly screamed.

“Who?” Josh called.

“Damian! Let Nat deal with him!” I yelled.

They both emerged on the stage, and looked up at me. “Brilliant!” Ionatán called over to me.

I grinned and nodded.

I was heading back upstairs to tell Earliys, and Ema when I heard some loud voices from one of the small dressing rooms.

“You traitor! How could you! You need to leave, now.” I heard Natalia say loudly.

Then I heard Damian’s voice “fine. I’ve gotten all the info I needed anyway. My brother will be pleased with me.”

“Your brother?” I went inside to find Natalia and Damian practically nose to nose. Natalia was fuming mad, and Damian looked pissed.

“Yes. My last name is Miles. Drew is my older brother. Back when we were young we were known as DM, and DM. Drew Miles, and Damian Miles. Man we were close. We still are.” Damian said grinning evilly.

DM, and DM rang a ball. Hmmm, I thought frowning. Where have I heard those initials?

“Get out now.” Natalia said in a deadly voice. Damian shrugged, and left without another word. Natalia sighed, and leaned back against the wall looking exhausted.

“You okay?” I asked her.

She shrugged. “Just tired. I’m glad that we found the traitor though. Make’s things easier.”

“how so?”

“don’t have to worry about as much. But we still need to figure out how to save the gang, and stop the Panthers.”

I nodded. There was an awkward silence, finally I left without another word.

Chapter 15

Piecing Clues Together

I decided to head over to the Pirates so I could talk to someone. I suppose I could’ve talked to Ionatán, or Mark, or Earliys, but I really wanted to talk to someone who was family.

I found Kyle hanging out on the dock outside of the Pirates place. I shivered, how could he be sitting outside on a day like this? It was freezing!

I carefully approached him. When he made no move showing that he knew I was there I sat down.

“Hey,” I said as casually as possible.

He looked over at me and grinned. “Hey, what brings you here?”

“just wanted to talk to you.” I shifted my position uncomfortably. “how are you?”

“ok. I’m guessing you heard about my little… accident.”

I shrugged.

“ya gonna lecture me on how stupid I was?”

“no.”

“no?”

“I’m figuring that you’ve had enough lecturing from Simon.”

“yeah. He is annoying the hell out of me!”

I laughed. Typical Simon. “it’s his job.”

Kyle grinned. “yeah…” we sat there in silence for a while, finally Kyle said in a much more serious tone “if your not here to lecture me then it has to be something serious.”

I sighed. “yeah.” I thought for a minute, then said “we found the traitor.”

“who?”

“Damian. Apparently he’s Drew’s younger brother.”

“hmmm. How’d you figure that out? Did you search everybody or something?”

“no, Ionatán and I had some similar, and brilliant ideas. We just merged them together, and we caught the traitor.”

“cool. Good job sis, though I’m guessing that I have to take some credit.”

“Why?” I asked smiling slightly now.

“because you wouldn’t be so smart if it weren’t for me and my teaching!” he said grinning smugly.

“right.” I said laughing. I sighed, it felt so good to be sitting here laughing with my brother. I missed that.

When I stopped laughing I grew serious again. “Hey Kyle,”

“yeah.”

“you know that note, the one I found in Vermont. About mom, and dad’s murder.”

“go on.”

“well, you know how it was signed DM, DM, and DM?”

“uh… I suppose so. What are you getting at?”

“well, today when Damian admitted to being that traitor he said something about he and Drew being known as DM, and DM.”

Kyle was silent for a moment, then he said softly “so you’ve figured out the truth.”

“what does that mean?” I asked sharply.

“well… Simon… Drew… ummm…” Kyle seemed to be having trouble getting the words out.

“What do you know? Spit it out.” I said to him harshly.

“Well, it’s just that…” his voice trailed off. I glared at him.

“Hey, did Simon tell you that when I got hurt I was swearing up a hurricane?” Kyle said, trying to change the subject.

“Don’t try to change the subject Kyle!” I yelled, “and the words are swearing up a storm! You idiot! You sure that bullet didn’t travel through your brain?”

“hahaha.”

I realized that his trying to distract me was working. That just made me angrier, and it made it easier to focus. “Shut the hell up.” I spit through my teeth. “Now, what do you know about Simon, and Damian?”

“Umm… well… Simon already has an idea about who killed mom and dad, and I’m pretty sure he’s correct.” Kyle said quickly.

I frowned. “Who?”

“Ummm… Simon says that I can’t tell you. You’ll have to ask him yourself.”

“Fine, I will.” I got up.

“Wait! I didn’t mean that! Don’t ask him! He’ll know it was me who told you that he knew!” Kyle said jumping up after me, and grabbing my arm.

“Go away.” I said shaking his hand off. I marched into the warehouse, past Julio and Galen who were smoking, past Aidan and Caitlin who were playing war, past Elloitt, Collin, and Emmett who were passed out drunk on the couches, right up into Simons’ room.

Simon shared a room, aka a large utility closet with Kyle. I went barged inside and then froze. It was different looking since I had last seen it. The walls were dark blue, and had old movie posters on them, just like how Kyle’s room had looked back in Vermont. The cots were made out of metal, and on the right bed, there was a Star Wars blanket that Kyle had brought from home, and on the left bed there was a Lord of the Rings blanket. That was Simons.

“Hey, did you knock?” I looked up to see Simon sitting at a small wooden desk. I could tell that he had gotten it off the street because it was chipped, and stained.

“no.” I said coldly.

He looked up at me, obviously surprised at my coldness. “What’s wrong?” he asked lightly.

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong! I’ll tell you what’s wrong, not telling me that you found out who killed mom and dad is what’s wrong!” I said loudly, my eyes blazed with fury.

Simon looked shocked. “how did you find out?”

“Easy, we caught the traitor, he told us that he and Drew were brothers, and that they used to be known as DM, and DM. I go, talk to Kyle about it because I’m upset, and I’m trying to piece together what’s happening, then he mentions something about you, knowing the frickin truth!”

Simon stared at me, then said “Kim– I’m so–“

“Sorry?” I laughed harshly. “well, it’s a little late for that. Come to me when you want to tell me the truth, not some frickin lie.” And with that I walked out the door. I passed Kyle on my way out. He didn’t say anything, or maybe it was just my expression that made him realize that I was totally crushed on not being told the truth from the beginning. Whatever it was, I was glad he didn’t speak. I probably would have yelled at him if he had anyway.

****

The next few days were rough. I was so upset, and heartbroken that my own brother didn’t trust me with the truth I was so desperately dying for. I didn’t eat, or answer my phone. I was to upset.

Finally, after maybe a week or so, I was up on the roof of the theatre, looking out over the bay, when I heard a someone behind me. I looked over, and was surprised to find Bryan standing there.

“Hey Kim.” He said smiling at me.

“Hey.” I croaked.

He sat down next to me. I leaned against him, resting my head on his shoulder.

“You okay? I heard about what happened between you and Simon.” He said putting his arm around me, and pulling me close.

I shrugged “I dunno. I guess I’m just disappointed that he kept the truth from me. I mean, I still don’t know who my parents murderer is, but at least I know now that Simon knows.”

“how does that help?” Bryan asked.

“Well, I guess I feel like I don’t have to worry as much, I suppose I feel a tad bit safer.”

Bryan pondered over this for a moment, then said “I guess I understand what you mean, you’re upset that he kept the truth from you, but you’re also relived that he knows the truth.”

“Kinda, yeah.”

We sat there in silence for a while, finally Bryan asked “What do you want to do?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, if you had a decent amount of money what would you want to do with your life?”

“oh, umm…” I had never really thought about it. Now I thought about it, finally saying “I think I would want to be a writer, what about you?”

“a photographer.”

“A photographer?” I asked stunned.

“yeah. I’ve always wanted to go to school and study photography, I mean, I’m good at taking pictures, and then turning it into something, but I want to be paid.”

“Well why don’t you?”

“I don’t have the money.”

“Then try for a scholarship. You might get in.”

“even if I did, and that’s a big if, they would need to know my background, and I can’t tell them I’m a thief. That I really don’t have a background.”

“oh.” I sat there thinking. “well, I still think you should go for it.”

“And what about you? Do you want to go o school as a writer?”

I shrugged. “Maybe, though my art is pretty good.”

“yeah, hey, you could go to an art school.”

“maybe.”

We sat there for a while then in silence, taking in the view, finally Bryan asked “do you know what your brothers would do if they had money?”

“no, and even if we did Simon would insist on staying home to watch me.”

“true, but if they didn’t have to take care of you?”

“umm… I don’t know.”

“Well, I think Kyle wants to be an engineer, and Simon… I dunno what he wants to be.”

I shrugged. “when I was 13 I remember hearing him say to Kyle that his goal was to keep us safe, me in particular.”

“hmmm, well, I think I know what he means.”

“same. I think he means that he wants to keep the person who killed our parents away from me.”

“basically.”

I checked my watch, 6:30. “Umm Bryan, I think you’d better go. It’s getting late.” I stood, and helped him up.

“yeah, hey, thanks for letting me talk to you.” Bryan grinned at me.

“thanks for helping me feel better.” I said grinning back.

We stood there, face to face for a couple seconds, then Bryan leaned down toward me, our lips almost met when I pulled away.

“I can’t, sorry.” I blushed, and looked away.

We stood there in an awkward silence, finally Bryan said “sorry.”, and quickly left. I stared after him sadly.

Chapter 16

Family at Last

A few days after Bryan had tried to kiss me I was up in my room when Earliys came in.

She smiled at me warmly with her kind, crystal blue eyes. “You alright? Something seems to have been bothering you ever since Bryan visited.”

How could she have known? “Yeah.”

“Want to share?”

Earliys sat down on the bed, and stared at me, waiting for my response.

“He– he– he tried to kiss me.” I bit out.

Earliys nodded. “I see, and how do you feel about that?”

“I dunno, confused I guess.”

“why?”

“Because Bryan is like a brother to me. It just feels weird, and wrong to kiss him.”

“that’s understandable.” Earliys said nodding. Then “that’s like how I would feel if Josh, of Max tried to kiss me. it would feel wrong, and awkward.”

“Exactly!”

We sat there for a while, finally I asked “How long have you known Natalia?”

“A while. We met when Natalia was just starting the Amazons. It was a year ago. Mark, Ema and I were all wandering around the streets of Berkley when a tall guy with brown hair, and half crazed brown eyes comes up to us.”

“Josh?”

“Yeah. He comes up to us, and asks us if we’re interested in joining a gang. Mark said yes, so we followed Josh back here and Josh introduces us to Natalia. Max and Sky are twins, and they had already joined the gang. Harriett, and Jessica, and Blake were in the gang too. Natalia put us all in groups, and we were to go out and find more recruits. I was put with Max, and Josh. We did this for months, and I got to know them pretty well. There’re now like brothers to me.”

“Ahh, and when did the others join?”

“Well, Enrique, Carlos, Marla, and Ionatán all joined together. They grew up together, and were all really close. Marla is Carlos’s cousin, and Enrique and Ionatán were best friends. They all had bad backgrounds, and I think Ionatán and Carlos were mixed up with drugs. Whatever the case, they were all glad to join, and I’m glad they joined because they are useful in a fight.”

“Really?”

“yup, Ionatán is the best fighter. He’s been in a lot of fights, and he’s been beaten to. Carlos took wrestling in high school before he dropped out, and Enrique had 2 older brothers who were in gangs.”

“Wow, I didn’t know they came from other gangs.” I said surprised.

“yeah, anyway, after them came Damian. He just pretty much came out of know where. No background, no nothing, but Natalia took him in. Then came Maya and Sasha. Those two came from rich families who had lost all there money, and had been thrown out onto the streets. Maya ran away from home immediately, but Sasha got put into a foster home. Maya helped bust her out of there. Mark and Ionatán found them. I think Mark looks at Maya like she’s another one of his little sisters, and Sasha and Carlos really clicked. There’re best friends now.”

“Wow, I didn’t know that. I thought maybe they were dating or something.”

“No no. they’ve said repeatedly that there’re not dating, and I don’t think they are. Matt joined shortly after them, boy he was in bad shape. He’s been tormented his whole life by his parents. He ran away from home when he was 14, and joined us when he was 16. Benji joined shortly after he joined.”

“And after Benji?”

“You.”

“Oh. Wow, thanks for sharing all this cool info about the Amazons to me, and thanks for helping me work out my boy troubles.”

“No prob, thanks for trusting me, and telling me.”

I grinned, and in that moment I suddenly felt like I belonged, like I had finally found a family that wouldn’t let me down. Talking to Earliys made me feel like I was talking to an old friend who I’d known for ages.

After Earliys left I sighed. Finally, a family.”

Everything in one

Sunday, October 28, 2012

My Class

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Hidden in San Francisco

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