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by Suzi17 Author IconMail Icon
Rated: E · Book · Action/Adventure · #2114878
A boy and his twin sister come home to find their home burnt and their parents gone.
Prologue: Fire!

Down the one-lane country road, a boy and girl sped in an old ford truck. The boy is fair faced with cornflower colored eyes and light blond hair. He has a round shaped face with intelligent eyebrows and a small, Scandinavian nose. The girl is a small, and thin with a greek shaped nose. She has dark curly hair and bottle green eyes. The boy is me and the girl is my sister. We are twins and I’m the older twin. And we are both 23 years.

“What I want more than anything right now is a cool glass of lemonade before I go to bed.” I said as we drove home after a lovely night with some friends. I sighed, leaning back in my seat. What can be better than a night with good friends, I thought. I had no idea how bad something could really be. But this was just the beginning.

I gasped as we turned a bend in the road and came into view of our house. We had just had a lovely evening at a party with some friends. I was struck with horror at the sight of our house. It was in bright red, lapping flames! I sped down the road hoping I could still save something...someone.

Scanning the flames and the billowing smoke plumes, my eyes shot to the only area that seemed out of place. Both Ame's and my room amazingly were not ablaze. I parked the truck and jumped out. I ran over to the house and gazed at the place that had been home to me and my sister Ame for over twenty years. As I got closer to the house the heat from the fire flushed my face. I tried to open the window in the kitchen which like the rooms above it was as yet un-burnt. The window was locked. I grabbed up a stone from the edge of the flower bed and broke the pane of glass closest to the lock. I stuck my hand in and unlocked the window. I opened it and glanced inside.

Tears blurred my sight as I thought of all the memories in just that one room. I could do nothing to save it. All I could do was look on in horror.
“Ame, come!” I said. “I’m going upstairs. I’ll call you if it’s safe.”

I ran for the long ladder that we stored in the barn. I climbed up the ladder to the balcony in front of my window. As I climbed to the balcony and went over to the window, I remembered I had left it open that day because it was unseasonably pleasant outside. I stepped inside. First I opened my door and went into the hall. As I did so a stream of smoke flowed into my room. The other side of the house was crawling with flames. I went over to see Ame’s room. I was still quite far from the flames and safe to go in. I went back into my room and slammed the door behind me. I wanted to keep as much smoke out of my room as possible. I called to Ame to come up and get her belongings.

Ame came up and went into her room to collect her things. As I rushed about my room getting my things, I thought of how the flames were lapping at the walls, like someone had put oil on the wall and then set it on fire. Just as I finished packing, Ame came running into my room with her belongings. “Erl, It’s getting closer! We need to leave. Now!”,she shouted over the roar of the fire.
“Yes, I’m ready! You go down the ladder first and then I’ll hand you down the bags.” I yelled into her ear, as I could barely hear myself over the fire.

We got all our stuff into the truck. “Well, we should see if there is anything in the kitchen to get,” I said. I walked over to the window and twisted myself around to get through it. As I lowered myself down to the ground I heard a low prolonged howl that I knew was coming from our dog, Akakios. I whistled to him but all the response I got was another low howl followed by a higher one. At last I saw where he was. He was tied up in the corner almost like a mummy. I ran over to him and started to untie the strips of fabric that were tightly wrapped around him. It reminded me of what I had overheard my parents talking about the day before. The conversation replayed in my mind.



“Agrippa, have you heard anything about Nagmir lately? After being nearly caught, I think he might be more careful.” Mother said.
“ Yes. But I will never forget what he wrote in that note when he left on Guralf’s wedding day. I will be cautious and careful not to let anything happen to either of us. I have kept all of us safe so far, and I don’t intend to let his oath to kill us come to pass.” Father said.
“ I know, Agrippa. but he has a whole organization set up, a large network of spies and criminals. They must know where we are by now.” Mother replied in a tone that displayed a bit of worry.
“ I wonder who...” Mother said.
“Alexis! it is not as bad as you make it seem.”, Father said comfortingly.




As I thought about the conversation I heard Ame come to the window. I hurriedly pulled the strips off. She stooped down and looked in. I stood up quickly and, grabbing the pieces of fabric, rolled them up into a ball, and threw them into the fire. I shut the door behind me. The flames were still several yards away. Ame put her head into the room and said, “ Erling, I think we should leave. The fire is getting very close.”
I went back over to Akakios, and stroked his back as I led him to the window and picked him up. He was heavy, and it was hard to control where he was going. I finally got him up to the window and fed him through to Ame. When he was safe, I grabbed the window sill, pulled myself up and crawled out. When I had gotten up, I said, “Let's go. We will go to uncle Guralf’s place.”
“ Uncle Guralf’s?” Ame said. “We don’t know where it is.”
“ Not exactly. Not the address. But we can figure it out. The address would be in Mother’s desk.”
As we drove out of the lane, I looked back, not to wonder what had become of my father and mother, but to fear what else would happen to us possibly, for I was sure that Nagmir was the one who had put the house on fire and carried mom and dad away. We stayed at a friends house over night and left the next morning to go Uncle Guralf’s. His house was the closest to ours, even though it was hours away.
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