A Treasure

Subject: A Treasure Mon Dec 28, 2009 8:38 pm

It was just starting to get dark when my five friends and I slid through the fence. The evening was overcast, making the shadows of the trees look like monsters in the coming night. We made a pact in blood over a small fire only minutes before, none of us would back out and all of us would stick together. We made our way through the overgrown lawn carefully and quietly. The house was huge and old. The windows were boarded and a thick layer of dust covered the front porch. I couldn't help but think this wasn't the greatest idea we had ever had, there were lots of stories about this old house and what was in it. Maybe it was a foolish thing to think, but I'll be the first to admit...I was scared walking up towards the creepy house. I pulled my cell out of the back pocket in my jeans and used the light from the screen to check the ground around me, that's when I saw...

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Subject: Re: A Treasure Thu Dec 31, 2009 12:43 am

a shiny silver coin. I plucked it out of the soft dirt and grabbed Katrina's arm.
"Gods!" she whispered at me.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted you to see this coin I found. It's got this weird writing on it."
"Forget it right now," she whispered angrily at me. "Trevor and Chris are just about to go on the porch."
I looked up towards the porch of the old house and sure enough they were just about to step on the first step of the small set of stairs leading to the entrance.
"Aren't you scared about this? I mean, should we really be sneaking into this house? We've all heard the stories." I whispered to Rina.
"Why are you so scared? Really we are with three of the hottest guys in the school, not to mention the strongest. I am sure that we'll be fine and just think, we'll be the only ones to have actually gone into this house that I know of." she whispered back at me. I could see the sly grin on her face even in the dusk light. I always admired her and thought she was a bit crazy, she was a part of me that I could never have...just like I was the sensible side for her. That's probably why we had hit it off right away and been best friends for the ten years we've known each other. Rina had curly red hair and soft pale skin marked with freckles. She was about five feet and petite. I thought she had beautiful eyes, they were auburn. Her eyes made me jealous. I slipped the coin into my jean pocket and wrapped my arm through her's, "let's do this!" I whispered back at her. I wouldn't think of breaking our blood pact.

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Subject: Re: A Treasure Sun Jan 17, 2010 3:47 am

We tip-toe rushed up to the porch steps, almost bumping into Trevor and Chris. Chris looked back at us and put his finger to his lips. "Shhh...and not so close okay?" Omg! He was nervous about this too, I could see it in his dark brown eyes. We stopped at the edge of the stairs just as Trevor stepped onto the porch, the old boards creaking under his weight. Not that he was heavy, he just had great muscles and I knew for a fact Rina thought he was hot. She should have asked him out a long time ago, he couldn't seem to get up the nerve to ask her. I wouldn't touch their relationship with a 10-foot pole, the last time I tried to help Rina with a guy it almost broke up our friendship. I had never seen her so mad. We talked it out and she made it clear that she wanted to leave those things to fate, I wasn't so sure I believed in fate; but she's my best friend. I wouldn't want to hurt her. Chris caught up to Trevor and quietly exclaimed "wow, look at all the dirt and cobwebs!" He kicked up some dust with the toe of his converse sneaker.
"Yeah, it's kind of a cool old place...I bet those stories are just dumb stories."
I shined my cell phone on the ground and saw their footstep prints in the layers of dirt on the old stairs. Rina and I stepped in the tracks and followed them slowly up the stairs. Sean followed us silently, he almost never spoke...that was just him. When we got to the top of the stairs, Chris had his hat off and was batting at a bunch of nasty looking cobwebs. Trevor had walked over to one of the boarded up windows on the left side of the porch and was trying to see inside the house. The porch was mostly empty. There was a turned over clay pot with some dead flower still in the dirt beside the door. Two rocking chairs were over to our right, one of them was broken and on its side, the other just sat there looking old and dirty. An old black mail box was on the wall beside the door with the house numbers '166' mounted above it (you could see the place where another number 6 should have been on the end, but it was missing). Rina let go of my arm and walked over to the mailbox, she pushed open the flap and was trying to look inside. I walked over to the window on the right and saw the scariest thing I had ever seen!

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Subject: Re: A Treasure Sun Jan 17, 2010 6:20 pm

I let out a blood curling scream and jumped back, my heart was hurting it pounded so hard. Solid arms wrapped around me and spun me around, "are you okay?" I couldn't respond to Sean, I couldn't catch my breath. My vision was spinning, my friends crowded around me. It felt like their faces were circling me, I couldn't seem to focus on just one of them. Rina, Sean, Trevor, Rina, Chris, Trevor, Chris...that's when blackness took me.

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Subject: Re: A Treasure Fri Jan 22, 2010 10:44 pm

- Chapter 2 -
I woke up wondering where I was with a terrible headache. I put my hand on my head and blinked as my vision cleared, I was in a sleeping bag. "Hey, are you okay?" Rina's soft voice whispered.

"Rina, what happened? Where are we?"

"Shhh..one thing at a time Sis!" she patted me softly on the shoulder "... and first thing's first, are you okay now?"

"I think so..." I paused and took in my surroundings. I was in a sleeping bag on the hard, cold ground in what looked like a navy colored tent. Oh that's right, we were camping with the guys and this was our tent. "...the last thing I remember, we were at the scary old house on the hill and I saw...OMG! Did you see it? Who was that?"

"Tell me! What did you see? We didn't see anything at all! After you blacked out Sean held you and Trevor and Chris both ran over to look in the window. They said there was nothing in the room. Just more dirt and dust on what looked like a bunch of covered furniture. Trevor even ran down the stairs and looked beside the house, he said he didn't see anything at all."

"Rina, I swear..." I paused, giving my head a minute to stop pounding. "I saw eyes! Human eyes looking at me through that boarded up window."

"Maybe you saw a ghost?" Rina whispered excitely.

"No, I don't think so." I told her. "I think it was a real person."

"It couldn't have been. I was there the whole time, I even peeked in the window, and I didn't see anything at all." I could hear disappointment in her voice.

"Maybe it was a ghost." I said, almost second guessing what I saw. I had been so nervous about being at that stupid house anyway, maybe she was right. "Maybe it wasn't even a ghost maybe my eyes just played a trick on me."

Rina laughed softly, "well you sure did give the guys a scare." She gave me a hug. "Chris and Trevor are calm now but if some person had been there messing with you, they would've given them a good booty whoopin."

I laughed with her, she knew just how to cheer me up. "Catch ya at the campfire in a few minutes? The boys are waiting." She grinned back at me and walked out of the tent, leaving the flap half open so I could see the fire and the guys all sitting around it.

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Subject: Re: A Treasure Sat Jan 23, 2010 11:27 pm

Rina walked over to the log that Trevor and Chris shared. She sat between them and they handed her a thin stick with a marshmallow already stabbed on the end. I could see them smiling, Chris was making gestures with his hands as he told some story. Almost hidden behind the fire, I could see Sean's face illuminated by the flames. He was gazing fixedly into the orange glow, twirling the end of his marshmallow stick in the dirt. I wanted more then anything to snuggle close to 'Floppy Ears,' my favorite stuffed brown bunny and pull the sleeping bag up over my head. Anything, just to forget those eyes staring out at me through the boarded up windows. I had a feeling though that closing my eyes would only make me see them more clearly. So I sighed and I rolled over on my side to get up. Then I felt a sharp stab in my pocket.

Ow! I shifted my weight back over to my back and slid my hand into my jean pocket. It was that coin I found on the way up to the creepy, old house. I sat up and murmured out loud to Flop, 'where do you think this coin is from?' It had to be from another country or something because I couldn't make anything out of the symbols. I rubbed at the dirt caked on it and as more and more of it was revealed it looked less and less like a coin. It looked like a silver pendant with strange markings on it that swirled over the face of the strange coin. Hmm, I held it up trying to see it better from the light of the fire.

"What's that?" Sean's soft voice almost made me jump out of my skin!

"Sean!" I whispered angrily at him, "don't scare me like that! Jeese, I didn't even see you walk up." I let out a loud breath and relaxed my hand that had reflexively curled around the coin.

"Can I come in?" he asked without looking up to meet my gaze.

"Actually, why don't you stay right there?" I suggested, the heat of embarrassment hadn't left my voice yet.

"Sorry," Sean said and raised his eyes to mine. "I really didn't mean to startle you like that, I thought you saw me coming."

"Well, I didn't!" I retorted, realizing after the words slipped out of my mouth that I had no reason to be angry with Sean. I could tell by his hunched shoulders that he hadn't meant to scare me. "No, I'm sorry..." I told him, sitting up in the sleeping bag. "I know you didn't mean to scare me, it's just that after today..." I let my voice trail off.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about." Sean crouched down, making his eyes level with mine. He had one hand on the flap of the tent and the other on the dirt in front of the tent to keep his balance.

"Didn't you see what happened?" I asked him.

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Subject: Re: A Treasure Sun Jan 24, 2010 12:53 am

"No." His reply was simple and to the point.

"Why not?" I asked him. "You were right there with me, if anyone had seen it should have been you."

Even in the poor light from the fire, I could see his blush as he replied, "I was too busy catching you." His voice caught on the last word and he lowered his eyes again. I wasn't sure what to make of that so I sighed and gave him a quick version of what I saw, making sure to point out that my eyes probably just played a stupid trick on me. After I finished, he didn't reply right away. Did that mean that he didn't believe me either or was he actually considering the possibility that I did see those chilling eyes? He seemed to be lost in thought, when his gaze finally met mine he said:

"Let's go back. Tomorrow, early..." he paused. "We can check it out together."

I gasped. "I don't think I'm ready to go back there right away."

"It will be morning, we can make sense of what you saw in the daylight."

He had a good point. I found myself actually considering his crazy idea. Part of me very much wanted to go back and see whatever was there to be seen. Another part of me felt dread at the very thought of actually seeing those eyes again. I sat there with my eyes closed on the sleeping bag forcing myself to breathe deeply and decided Sean was right. I should go back, otherwise I would harbor this stupid fear of that creepy house. I opened my eyes.

"I'll do it." The minute I said the words, I felt doubts.

"We can sneak out of camp at 7 am, meet me by the iron fence?" Sean's eyes held my gaze. I could tell he wanted to do this for me, he didn't want me to have the fear either. I kicked my feet out of the sleeping bag, slid the coin back into my pocket and crawled over to the tent flap.

"Thank you for this..." I gave him a quick hug and leaned back on my heels, turning my head to hide my blush. If he blushed I didn't see it, when I looked back his eyes sparkled and he extended his hand to me. I took his hand and went out to the fire to hang with the rest of our friends.

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Subject: Re: A Treasure Mon Jan 25, 2010 1:49 am

We sat around the campfire sharing spooky stories, some about the creepy old house and others just ghost tales we either made up or read in books. Rina was telling a story that went like this...

One night several kids, just like us, went into the spooky house. They had decided to actually camp out in the house to prove how brave they are to everyone.

Rina lowered her voice and continued:

At first nothing at all was happening, it was as quiet as a mouse. They all settled into their sleeping bags in that front room and just about fell asleep when they heard a scary voice say, "It's a coming, it's a coming..."

Her voice shook as she mimicked the sound of the scary voice.

The girls jumped up and ran out of the house they didn't want to die tonight! But the guys being SO brave decided to go check it out. They decided to spit up so they could check the different rooms out faster. One of the guys headed up the stairs, another headed towards the kitchen and the last, the most brave of all, decided to check the basement. Going up the stairs the first guy came to a bedroom door...

Here she paused and looked at each of us. I shivered already feeling creeped out from earlier today.

He cracked open the door and said "Hello! Anyone in here!" The scary voice replied again "It's a coming, it's a coming...it's a coming..." The first brave guy freaked out, ran down the stairs and away from the scary house. The second guy didn't even see his friend run out, but he did hear the voice. He pulled his pocket knife out and decided to look in the kitchen pantry. Flicking his lighter, he saw an empty pantry filled only with cobwebs. He turned around and heard what sounded like footsteps in the hallway. The scary voice started again "...it's a coming, it's a coming, it's a coming...IT'S A COMING!" 'Screw this' the second guy thought and ran out of the house dropping his lighter on the floor.

"BOO!" Chris shouted and tickled Rina's side.

"Gods!" Rina screeched, "Chris, wtf are you thinking! You scared me!"

Chris started laughing and Trevor gave him a friendly punch. "Go on with your story Rina, Chris is just being his dumb self." Trevor smiled at her, leaning closer. I could see her cheeks turn pink with blush.

"Okay, but don't do that again Chris! Next time I'll kick you!" she warned. "Let's see where was I, oh yeah..."

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Subject: Re: A Treasure Mon Jan 25, 2010 2:42 am

The third guy heard the voice and heard his friend run from the kitchen. 'I'm going to find out who's playing this stupid trick on us', he thought to himself. He had heard the voice get louder as he came close to the first door in the basement. The scary voice was practically screaming now..."IT'S A COMING, IT'S A COMING, IT'S A COMING!"

Rina screamed out the words of the scary voice and I jumped. Chris giggled and Sean shot him a dirty look. Rina continued...

The third guy was getting freaked out too now, but he wasn't going to give up! He ran towards the door he heard the screams coming from and as he put his hand on the door he heard the sound of rushing water coming from the room. He pushed open the door and saw a skeleton sitting on the toilet. The skeleton looked right at him with his empty eye sockets and said: "AH! IT CAME!"

Trevor busted out laughing. I let out a giggle but really started laughing as Chris, laughing so hard and holding his stomach, ran awkwardly towards the trees. He came back a few minutes later, still laughing and told Rina, "you almost made me pee my pants!"

Rina started cracking up and I couldn't help but laugh with her.

For several hours more, we shared stories in front of the fire. Chris was telling a story about Casper the ghost and we ended up talking about ghost farts. Don't ask how we got there, I really couldn't tell you. I found myself yawning and Rina looked sleepy too, yawning as she saw me yawn. I walked over to her and whispered, "I'm sleepy, gonna go lay down. Are you coming too?"

"Yeah," she said. "Right behind ya."

I gave her a sleepy smile as I started towards our tent and said "Goodnight guys!" to Chris, Trevor and Sean. On the way over, I set an alarm on my cell to wake me in the morning so I could meet Sean. I put my phone on vibrate. All I had to do was put it in my pillow and the buzz would wake me up. I crawled in the tent flap, pulled off my shoes and snuggled into my sleeping bag with Flop in my arms. Inside the sleeping bag, I pulled off my jeans and grabbed my cute sleeping pants from my duffle. I pulled on the pants and folded my jeans, remembering to take the unique coin-shaped pendant I found earlier tonight out of my pocket. I really wanted to check it out better but was just too tired, so I untied the red silk ribbon I had in my hair and pulled out my hair thing. After brushing my thick, dark hair I took the red ribbon, thread it through the loop on the coin and tied it around my neck. The next thing I know I was sound asleep, if I hadn't been so tired I probably would have noticed the slight heat and energy radiating from the coin.

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Subject: Re: A Treasure Thu Jan 28, 2010 1:27 am

- Chapter 3 - Another Visit, Another Outcome.

My cell buzzed like a gnat in my ear, I grumbled incoherently and hit the snooze button on it. Rubbing my eyes, I rolled over to my side almost squishing Flop. Rina was snoring softly in her pink sleeping bag that was laying right beside mine. On the second buzz, I reached out for my duffle and shivered as the crisp morning air hit my arm. I grabbed my jeans and switched out of my PJ pants. Then pulled a gray hoodie over my head and ran a brush through my hair. I braided it, but only halfway and secured it with my hair thing. I stared at the glaring screen on my phone, it was 6:55am. Only five minutes before I was sposed to meet Sean at the fence. I popped a couple of mint flavored tic-tacs in my mouth, pulled on my shoes and quietly crawled to the flap of the tent. Unzipping the flap, as silent as I could, I stepped out of the tent and shuffled over to one of the logs. The fire this morning was completely gone and only the subtle scent of smoke hung in the air. I sat on the log and tied my shoe laces, mentally preparing myself to face the house again. As I tied my shoes, I kept glancing towards the camo tent the guys shared but I could see no movement inside, Sean was probably already there and waiting on me.

Tucking my laces in, I took off down the small trail through the woods at a jog. I wanted to get the visit to the house over with as soon as possible and besides jogging was helping to warm me up a bit, not to mention wake me up. I had to slow to a walk as I neared the place where the iron fence was damaged, where we managed to sneak through just the other day. Pushing aside a tree branch, I saw Sean leaning against the fence waiting on me. He had one foot casually propped up against the iron and was blowing his breath into the morning air. I stopped, he hadn't seen me yet, he looked really great this morning. He was wearing black boots, cargo pants and a black hoodie, I could see he hadn't bothered to do anything with his hair; it was ruffled and messy. A gust of wind blew his hair and he pulled his hood up, I gazed past him to the old house. Even in the light of morning, it seemed to loom above me. I sighed and stepped out of the trees.

Sean noticed me right away and said, "Wow, you look really pretty!"

I blushed, "Thanks. What made you say that?"

"I don't know..." Sean seemed somehow a little off beat, "it's just what I was thinking at that moment."

"Oh well, thanks." I replied, thinking to myself that I haven't heard Sean ever just bust out and say his thoughts. Hmm, a little odd.

"Your welcome."

"Are you ready to do this?" I asked him, wanting to get this out of the way. I really didn't like the idea of going back there, even if it was the morning.

"Yes." He replied and stepped through the broken part of the iron fence. I followed him and asked him "Are you nervous about this?"

"Not at all." He told me and looked back at me. I thought he looked like he was telling the truth.

"Sean?"

"Yeah..." he waited, as I chose my words carefully.

"Why are you going back to the house with me?" I asked him, not sure if that was really the question I wanted answered.

"Because, I care about you and I don't want you to be afraid. Also, I think there is a logical explanation for what you saw..." he was blushing and he seemed like he didn't really want to answer my question so completely, but he continued "I don't think you lied, but I did not see what you did. All I could think about when you screamed was making sure you were okay, so I just want you to not be scared anymore." When he finished, he covered his mouth with his hand. His face was more red from blush then I'd ever seen him, I think he really likes me! Wow, I would have never guessed.

"Why didn't you say anything before now? Do you like me?" I asked him. I would totally say 'yes' if he asked me out. He seemed to be trying to bite his tongue but replied, "because I'm not sure I want to have a girlfriend. Yes, I like you."

I stopped shocked, "is that really what you think?" I was feeling a mix of frustration and shock. Frustration because I felt like he was telling me the whole truth and shock because he was talking period; this was so unlike Sean. He didn't normally voice his feelings. What's up with him?

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Subject: Re: A Treasure Sun Jan 31, 2010 5:41 pm

"Yes." He replied, hiding his gray eyes from me with his hand. We walked on in silence for a few more paces and then I said, "what if we do see the eyes?"

"We'll deal with that when it happens, I don't think they will be there." He looked over at me, his face had toned down in color. "Where did you get that necklace?"

"Oh, I found it." I touched it with my fingers as I answered him, and sucked in a breath of air. Ow! The coin was hot! I checked my finger for a burn but didn't see anything and it didn't feel hot against my throat. I reached up to touch it again, much more carefully this time. Before my finger even touched the coin, I could feel heat radiating from it. Odd.

Sean noticed my actions and stopped, "You okay?"

"Yeah, it's just..." I paused. "the necklace feels hot. Like burn your finger on the stove, hot."

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Subject: Re: A Treasure Mon Feb 01, 2010 8:27 pm

Sean gave me a puzzled look, "Can I touch it?"

"Sure, it doesn't feel even warm on my neck." I blushed as Sean slowly reached towards the coin.

"Sh..." he bit off his words, "its HOT!"

"Sean?" He was looking at this fingers, too.

"You should take that necklace off! It could be dangerous!" He told me. Sean was clearly unnerved by the fact that the coin felt hot to the touch.

"It's fine, don't worry about it." I tried to shrug it off. I couldn't explain it, but the pendant made me feel safe some how. "Come on," I said grabbing his hand and pulling him with me. "Let's get this over with now!"

We made our way up towards the ancient house through the overgrown front lawn and stopped at the porch steps. I really wanted to face this fear, especially now that I had the necklace. Why was it making me feel so reckless?

"You go first!" I told Sean. "This was your idea anyways!"

"Okay." He answered me much more like his normal self.

He walked up the old, dirty stairs and I followed close behind, almost stepping on his heels. When he stepped up onto the porch, I grabbed the back of his hoodie and held tight. He paused when he felt me latch onto his top and turned his head back to look at me. I'm sure he could see the fear in my eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked me, then grinned and added "I can't catch you very well if you pass out when you are behind me."

I stuck my tongue out at him and ducked back behind him as he walked over towards the boarded up window. Time seemed to slow as we took those few steps over to the window where I had seen the eyes peer back at me the last time our group was here. Peeking around Sean, I could only see blackness inside the house. It was too light this morning to see into the darkness, Sean stopped. I held my breath, I couldn't even hear Sean breathe either; it was absolute silence.

"I don't think anyone is here." Sean whispered to me.

"You look in that window then!" I told him. Still keeping behind him and still holding on to his hoodie with my nervous hands. He began to lean down towards the window as I heard a faint scratching sound coming from the other side. "Sean!" I hissed and pulled him back. He involuntarily took a step back, shot me a puzzled look and said "What?"

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Subject: Re: A Treasure Mon Feb 01, 2010 8:56 pm

"Listen!" I whispered fiercely at him, "don't you hear that scratching sound?" It sounded like it was coming closer to us. Right at that moment, the nastiest rat with piercing little beady-black eyes squeezed out from between the bottom board and the window ledge.

"Eww! Gross!" I squeaked, "omg, it's so ugly! Keep it away from me!" The rat was probably half the size of my forearm and it's spindly tail was just as long as its nasty body. It hissed in our direction and clinging close to the house, ran along the edge of the porch. It stopped, gave us a look, made a chirping sound and then jumped off the edge of the porch. I shivered and Sean slid his arms around me. He rubbed me gently as if to warm me up and said, "its just a rat."

I must have looked kinda green in the face because Sean gave me an odd look and asked if I needed to sit down on the stairs for a minute. I managed to force a smile and said "no, lets just get this over with...I really want to get out of here!"

"Okay, then why don't you wait over by the stairs?" I couldn't agree more with that idea so I reluctantly stopped clinging to him and walked over to the top stair. Sean pulled his Swiss army knife out one of the pockets in his cargo pants and slowly stepped back to the window. Then he leaned over and just gazed right inside the house. He made no comment to me and continued to stare deep into the house. When I couldn't stand it any longer, I finally whispered with aspiration..."Can you see anything?" He put up a finger, as if to tell me to be quiet. A few seconds, that felt like hours, passed and he turned to me.

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Subject: Re: A Treasure Tue Feb 02, 2010 5:25 am

"There's nothing there," he told me. "It looks really cool and really old. I want a better look." I rolled my eyes and didn't answer him, as he fiddled with his knife and managed to pop off the bottom board on the window quietly leaning it against the house.

"Sean," I said in warning. "What do you think you're doing..."

He didn't let me finish, "I just want to be able to see inside better." I paced in place as the second board dropped from the window, making a loud clink as it landed on the porch. He kicked the board to the side.

"SEAN!" I hissed at him, "you should stop!"

He looked back at me, his gray eyes gleaming, and with a mischievous grin quietly set down the third board. The window was half cleared now, a black void of a hole that was big enough to fit through if someone was crazy enough to do it.

"This house is abandoned, look at the layers of dirt and dust. I don't see any footprints, there is no way someone was looking at you through this window." Sean informed me. I just shook my head and then, Sean stepped inside disappearing in the blackness of the window...

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Subject: Re: A Treasure Wed Feb 03, 2010 4:09 am

Chapter 4 - Crossing Over

I felt the boy enter, his presence so much stronger then the little heartbeats of the many rats that lived here with me. I could hear his footsteps, as he crashed inside the window, and I could hear the girl shout at him. She was smart. Our house is filled with spells, filled with traps, so much so that I think sometimes it has a life of its own. I was not worried that the boy would see me, I was too good to mess up a simple game like hide and seek. Let them come and look inside, I would just sit here above their heads and see what happened.

***

"NO!" I screamed, rushing over to the window. Sticking my head through the empty space, my eyes adjusted just in time to see Sean peeking under a white cloth that was draped over some piece of furniture. He was right about the dust, I could see only his footsteps in the room. The light of the sun that filtered through the now gaping window made the dust sparkle like glitter. The dust cloud was so thick it almost made the rays of sunlight appear like solid bars of a jail cell. "Sean!" I hissed at him, "what the hell do you think you are doing?"

"Hey chill okay?" Sean looked up at me. "Like I said, this house is empty and you should see all the cool stuff in here. It's all very old fashioned, I bet some of it is worth some good money, too."

"You are breaking the law, you are breaking into this house!" I shot back at him. "Have you lost your mind?"

"No, this is how my mind always works," Sean's voice dripped with sarcasm and he pointed to his head as he said, "and I'm sure it's right here!"

"You are being a total jerk." I crossed my arms over my chest and took a step back from the window. I didn't like the feeling I got when he went into the house, it felt so wrong and somehow violating.

"Whatever." He walked over to the other side of the room and continued to examine other covered things in the room. I stepped away from the window. What possessed me to come with him this morning? He's such as jerk, and to think I was thinking about going out with him only a few minutes ago! I shook my head, maybe I was the one losing my mind. I mean, I was the one who thought I saw someone's eyes looking at me through that very window, in that very empty room. I can't believe myself, so who am I to complain at Sean for being so stupid.

"Hey," Sean said softly. He was back at the window.

"I really don't feel like talking to you right now." I said, not turning to face him. I felt him slide his hand down my arm, to take my hand in his. He pulled me back towards him.

"I really don't want to upset you." He whispered in my ear. "I only wanted to prove to you there is nothing here to be scared about..." he paused a second and added, "except for those nasty rats." I looked over my shoulder at him. His gaze was fixed intently on my face. I blushed and looked away, unnerved by his steel gray eyes. "I am not going to take anything, I won't even disturb anything just some dust and rats. You should see this; it really is amazing."

"I don't want too."

"Don't be like this with me." Sean pleaded pulling me closer to him. I could feel his breath on my neck as he said "just let me show you this one thing and we can leave."

"No." I didn't even hesitate.

"I promise, if you come and see this, we will go. I'll even put the boards back up."

I couldn't stand Sean right now, he made me feel terrible. I knew that he wouldn't give in, so I reminded myself this was why I wasn't dating him, this was why I didn't care how cute he could sometimes be, how beautiful those unique gray eyes were or how nice his voice could sound when he wanted it too. I turned to him. Anger flashing in my hazel eyes, "Fine."

He put his arms under mine and I pushed off his shoulders, kicking my feet up on the window ledge. The moment my feet touched that sill, I felt a buzz of electricity. It was like touching your tongue to the end of a nine volt battery, I could taste the energy like salt in my mouth. A strange gritty taste. I started to say something to Sean, but he was already pulling me inside the house. My feet hit the ground.

***

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Subject: Re: A Treasure Sun Feb 07, 2010 1:19 am

I curled into a ball and covered my ears with my hands. It's with her! The sonic boom of magic, like the rumble of thunder but without the sound washed over me when she entered the house. My body shivered with chills, in an instant, faster then the blink of an eye, I was on the banister. I gripped the rail with my arms, balanced with my legs and hung over the edge of the stairs, like Spiderman on the top of a skyscraper. Whispering in ancient tongues, I enhanced my vision. I saw her crystal clear, she herself was pleasing to the eye but around her neck was my freedom. The end of my banishment.

***

I felt a surge of electricity, like waves of air I couldn't see only feel. I turned and started to scramble back out, but Sean held me tight. "Whoa, where are you going?"

I stopped clawing at the window and looked at him, "you didn't feel anything?"

"No," he gave me a look of concern. "Are you okay?"

I took a several deep breaths and noticed I didn't feel anything anymore. I listened. Nothing. Shaking my head, I responded "I'm fine." and remembering that I was still mad at Sean, pushed his hands off of me. "Let me go."

"Okay, okay..." he backed away from me. "I want you to see the figures carved into this table, whoever did this was an artist."

I followed him to the center of the room and he lifted the white cover, scattering dust everywhere. I sneezed, several times and finally was able to see the ancient table. Sean was right, the table was beautiful. Several figures were carved into it, each cluster telling a small story. One looked like a hunt and another looked like a festival. I ran my fingers over the wood and got that salt, spiked taste in my mouth. I looked up and noticed a painting on the wall in front of us. The white cover had come untucked from a corner and exposed one side of a face. A male's face with emerald green eyes.

Keeping my eyes on the painting, I took a step forward and almost bumped into the table. After narrowly avoiding the table, I lost sight of everything and Sean focusing only on the half covered image. As I moved closer, I whispered out loud: "That's him." I could hear Sean following behind me, I stepped up in front of the canvas.

"That old man?" Sean asked me. "You think you saw that old man?"

I pulled the cover off the face and looking at more then just the eyes, noticed the painting was of an older gentleman. He had a pleasant face, with dark hair that was lightened by streaks of gray, but what stood out most was his amazing eyes. The color was the brightest shade of forest green, I was captivated. At the same time, I knew it couldn't be him. The eyes where not quite right, even though I only saw them for a spilt second.

"No, maybe it wasn't him. But the eyes looked very much like this painting's eyes." I told Sean.

"Uh Emmm!" Sean and I turned to see Rina peeking in the window. "Just what do you think you two are doing? Having all the fun without us?"

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Subject: Re: A Treasure Mon Feb 08, 2010 12:22 am

"Rina!" I ran over to her and gave her a huge hug! "I'm so glad you are here!"

"Sis, have you lost your mind?" Rina gave me one of those best-friend-knows-all looks and added, "remember you passed out just looking into this window yesterday and now, here you are with Sean...and you two are like poking around in the haunted house."

I totally agreed with her on that thought and it reminded me just how weird it felt climbing through the window. "Help me out?" I asked her.

"You'll have to let the guys. I think I'd have a tough time getting you out even if a ghost was coming right at us!" She giggled, "but you know I'd yank you out by your hair and we'd run like mad outta here!" She had me laughing with her as she hollered at Trevor and Chris. A second later, the two guys pulled me out the window and Sean followed me.

As we walked out of the woods, I filled Rina in on all the details of our trip back to the house. I told her all about the weird feeling I had going in (and whispered to her about Sean not seeming to notice and me thinking about going out with him again and him being a jerk, reminding me why I shouldn't go out with him), I told her about the neat carved furniture, but mostly, I told her about the painting of the gentleman. I tried to explain to her, how the eyes were the same but different. I don't know that she totally understood, but she told me that she did and recommended that I say away from the house. This was different coming from her because usually she was all for doing crazy stunts. It turns out we both have the same bad feelings about the house.

When we got back to camp, Rina and the guys had already packed everything up. "Thanks guys." I told them and noticed the time on my cell phone. "Rina!" I shouted at her. "Did you see the time? We are going to get busted if we don't get back to our houses! I told my mom I'd be back by lunchtime and it's already 12 o'clock!" Rina gave all the guys a hug (an extra long hug for Trevor) and we grabbed our bags.

"Let's book it!" Rina said, jogging off towards our houses.

I made it back and mom didn't have a clue that Rina and I hadn't had an overnight at her house. She fed me some lunch and made me finish my homework, then I went up to my room. As soon as I could I got online and searched the internet for coins, trying to figure out what my necklace was without any luck. Since tomorrow was a school day, I took an early shower and picked out a cute outfit for the next day. Then I flopped down on my star covered bedspread and read the last chapter of 'Chosen' for the second time, before drifting off to sleep.

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Subject: Re: A Treasure Mon Feb 08, 2010 2:45 am

- Chapter 5 - Sleep Walking.

She is so easy to follow. What with my enhanced vision and sense of smell, I could easily follow right behind her without her or her friends knowing I was even there. I will admit it is harder in the daylight to pull off, but I'm just so good! I grinned to myself and stuck to the shadows, not even alerting the neighborhood dogs. When we got to her house, I was almost disappointed the chase would be over so soon. I was having a blast using tricks that I hadn't had the opportunity to use for quite a while. Even if I couldn't track her with the simple use of senses, I would be able to trace the imprint left behind by her magical artifact so there was no chance of losing the amulet now that I had found it. I didn't like the idea of her screaming at me, attempting to do something stupid like lash out or trying to run away, so I made the decision to wait until she fell asleep. I can simply slip into her window and take it off her, I planned in my head as I walked through the well kept green front lawn. Making my way over to the more private side of her house, I was happy I hadn't bothered to clean myself up before following her. I sat down to wait for the house to quiet and night to fall. It was a long wait and before long I fell into a restless sleep.

I woke to the chill of the night and stretched my stiff muscles. I walked around the house two times listening for any sounds that indicated someone was awake inside, but did not hear anything that told me the family was still up. I found her window quickly and levitated myself to the window. I whispered, "Ανοικτός, άνοδος επάνω με την ενέργεια για με. Πάντα ανοίξτε τώρα." The window started raising faster and faster. "Αργά άνοδος," I added just in time to keep the window from crashing into the sill. I stepped into the chic looking room and my breath caught. She was more beautiful then I remembered. Long dark hair, smelling damp and sweet, was splayed out over her white pillow. She shifted in her sleep and mumbled something in dream I couldn't understand. I have never been in a girl's room, let alone while she slept. It was raking on my nerves. Any hope that I had of her taking the necklace off was banished when I stepped closer to the bed, the amulet still hung on a red ribbon around her neck. She was wearing a black tank top edged in lace, that showed a dangerous amount of her soft skin. How was I sposed to get the amulet?

I sat down in the chair at her desk, she had books piled on top of the desk and more pens, in more different colors, then anyone should ever need. I preferred a simple black fountain pen, myself. "Sean, no. Don't." She said in her sleep, turning to face away from me and bringing my thoughts back to the problem at hand. How to get the amulet? I thought for a minute and decided the safest way would be to weave into her sleep and just make sure she wouldn't wake up until I wanted her to awake. I pulled my wand from the back pocket of my worn jeans and summoned extra energy to me. Stepping up to the edge of her bed, until my toes were actually under it, I put my hands out over her body and softly chanted, "Στα όνειρα θα μείνετε όπου βάζετε έως ότου λέω. Ο γλυκός ύπνος ύπνου, όνειρο ονειρεύεται τώρα. Σε SOMστοiovaIan." Her body was covered in a soft blue glow, as her breathing remained even with sleep. Tucking my wand back in my jeans, I reached for the amulet.

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Subject: Re: A Treasure Mon Feb 08, 2010 5:22 am

"Damn!" I cursed at the amulet and myself. Why didn't I realize it would bind? I should have known, magic of that strength and nature wasn't to be toyed with by anyone. When she put on the amulet, it aligned itself with her and now getting it off wasn't going to just happen. I needed my spell books and they were all at my house. I paced back and forth at the foot of her bed, how could she do this to me?

I stopped pacing and realized, I didn't have any choice but to take her back with me. There had to be some other way, I thought as I pressed my palm to my forehead. I searched my mind for weavings, for a solution, for any idea other then the only thing that came to mind but nothing else came. Sighing, I unclipped my knife from my belt, pulled back her covers and slit my finger. I let the blood pool in her belly button and dipped the tip of my wind into it, drawing a five pointed star with her belly button as the center. I weaved a backwards summoning spell, pressing my hand to her belly and chanting rapidly in a low deep voice I sent us away. The spell transported us back to my room in my house. I went into the bathroom and came back with a soft cloth that was damp with warm water and spiced soap. I gently cleaned the girl's stomach and covered her in my bed. Needing some time to think, I decided to clean myself up. I took a shower and shaved before going back to my room. I begin to search through books and books, until my eyes started to get heavy. With dawn rapidly approaching, I was getting frustrated and having no luck finding a spell to remove the amulet. I read the page about the amulet once more...

Truth Amulet: The amulet will distinguish between true and false, good and bad. Helps the person being questioned to express his or her thoughts in a clear, legible way, be it in writing, painting, speech, poem, play or any other form of expression. Increases the wearer's self expression and creates complete analogy between the thoughts and inner will and their expressions. The amulet is used in practices of law, working as a magical lie detector. It will make the person being questioned compelled to speak only the truth. Very ancient and very powerful, can bind with a law giver for their term but usually does not bind.

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Subject: Re: A Treasure Tue Feb 09, 2010 4:23 am

Looking again out the window, I could tell that I had been up all night trying to find a solution to getting back the amulet and still I had no results. Nothing in any of my books told me a way to unbind something that was bound to someone. I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. I was going to have to wake up the girl. What was she going to do when I woke her up? Scream... maybe? Faint... maybe? Try to run away... maybe? She could be helpful... probably not, but I had exhausted myself and my resources so I needed to try something else. Besides, I couldn't just let her lay in my bed all day and all night, I really wanted some sleep myself. I walked the boundary of my room sprinkling a line of slightly acidic powder. I stopped when I got to the door of my bedroom, before closing off the spell and thought, what if she needed to go to the bathroom? I didn't want her peeing in my room, nasty. So I walked into the hallway and extended the boundary spell to the bathroom as well. When I finished weaving my spell, I was so exhausted that I almost gave up on the idea of waking her. The thought of just scooting her over and crawling into my bed next to her tempted me, but it wouldn't be right to do that to her. So I had to wake her up and deal with whatever challenges she gave me. I walked over to the bed and sat down next to the girl. Drawing even more energy to me, I softly whispered "Αριθ Σε SOMστοiovaIan, Άγρυπνος τώρα." She immediately stirred but didn't wake. She was in a dream, I could see from her face that the dream was not a pleasant one. "Shh," I whispered to her. "It's okay now, wake up and come back to the world." I couldn't resist the urge to put my hand over hers.

The minute my hand touched hers, her eyes shot open and she gasped!

***

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Subject: Re: A Treasure Wed Feb 10, 2010 5:58 am

Sean and I were walking down an alley, it was raining. I was happily kicking water at him from the puddles of mud on the road. He smiled back at me. Just as we rounded the corner, about a block from our school, we heard the noise of a crowd. I stopped in my tracks, water dripping from the purple umbrella I held over my head.

"Come on," Sean said taking my hand. "Let's see what all the fuss is about over there."

I had a terrible feeling about this situation, you know like that feeling you get that warns you of impending doom. He started to pull me towards the crowd, but I yanked my hand out of his, shaking my head.

"Don't be such a baby!" He gave me a twisted smile and grabbed my hand again, dragging me towards the crowd. "We are just gonna have a look!"

"Sean, no. Don't." I gasped trying to pull my hand back, but Sean was too strong for me. He dragged me down the street and over to the edge of a crowd of guys. They were straining on tip toe to see what sounded a lot like a fight. It didn't sound like a fair fight either.

"Oh wow, that nerd looks like he got his face literally punched in!" Sean exclaimed and shook his head, "what a loser." I pushed through the crowd of guys, so mad that I wasn't thinking clearly. When I got to the front of the pack, I saw it wasn't a fight at all, it was a beating. The poor guy on the ground's face was so bloody I couldn't even tell who he was, he had stopped crying out awhile ago. A tear rolled down my cheek and something inside me snapped. I pushed myself in between the monster and his prey, "Stop it! What do you think you are doing?" Hands pulled me back, I looked over my shoulder to see Sean trying to get me away from the massacre.

"What are you doing?" He hollered at me. "This is a gang initiation, you're gonna get yourself killed!" I turned back to the scene and saw the poor guy's hand reach out for me. I would be his savior, I wouldn't let anyone get beat up like my little brother ever again!

"STOP!" I screamed, shrill and loud. "STOP IT NOW!" I started screaming as the group pounced on me, they started ripping at my clothes and kicking me. I screamed as loud as I could and turned my head to see Sean walking away. More tears slid down my cheeks, still screaming, I looked into the eyes of the almost dead boy laying next to me. He looked just like my brother. As the guys kept attacking me, I suddenly thought why am I not waking up? I always had nightmares about not being there to help my brother the day he got beat nearly to death, but I always woke up, until now. I started to panic, kicking and clawing back at the crowd. They shredded up my clothes like a pack of hungry wolves and punched a huge whole into my stomach. Oh God, please! Is this real? I closed my eyes, wake up! Wake up! WAKE UP! When I opened my eyes I was laying on a blue pool float in a pool filled with my own blood. The sun was baking my bones and vultures circled over my almost lifeless body. When I heard the voice of an angel saying, "...wake up and come back to the world."

I felt a warm hand on mine and opened my eyes, gasping for air. Where am I? My eyes rapidly took in my surroundings, while my brain tried to decide if I should fight or flee. I was surrounded in a warm glow of candles. Nothing seemed sinister, but I was clearly not in my own room. There was a soft scent of spice lingering in the air and I was surrounded by deep burgundy silk sheets. I felt the pressure of someone on the bed, like how mom used to sit and read bedtime stories to me when I was little. However, this was not mom sitting next to me. It was a ruggedly sexy guy about my age, with messy dark hair, a strong chin and olive skin. He must have felt my gaze, because he turned to me. His eyes matched the ones in the window, the ones in the painting, and they were amazing! Dark long lashes, masking brilliant light green eyes, he spoke to me. In a soft deep voice he said, "My name is Aeron Dabbraccio. You have something that I need, until its returned, you are a guest in my quarters. Now if you will excuse me, I need sleep."

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Subject: Re: A Treasure Thu Feb 11, 2010 12:54 am

Without giving me a chance to reply, Aeron walked over to the other side of the large bed. He lay down on top of the covers, not bothering to even pull off his shoes and within minutes his breathing slowed. He was asleep! I didn't know what to think about my current situation, this must be another dream. At least it doesn't seem like another nightmare! I carefully slid out of the bed and decided to explore the room. Glancing around the room, I was shocked at how large the space was for a bedroom. First of all, the bed I woke up in was absolutely gorgeous! It was made of solid walnut and covered in intricate wooden patterns without any attention to details spared. Four large poles rose from each of the corners of the massive bed frame. They had matching carved wooden designs and the headboard itself towered halfway up the wall. The bed cover was a regal looking pattern of burgundy and gold. Dark brown fur, that looked like it could have come from a brown bear, was folded at the foot of the bed and pillows of all different sizes and shapes were piled against the large headboard. On each side of the bed were impressive night stands with layers of white, softly glowing candles. The room had walnut panels that went halfway up the walls except in one spot, where rust red brick was exposed and a fireplace was imbedded in the wall. A rustic wooden mantle covered the fire place with an old fashioned clock sitting in the center. The rest of the walls were finished with a softer shade of burgundy wallpaper. Sitting across from the fireplace were two brown masculine leather chairs and on the wall next to the fireplace were built-in bookshelves, with books stacked from ceiling to floor. It was like a miniature library! On the back wall with two large windows, there was a strong wooden desk and two wardrobes for clothing. The room was impossibly neat for what I imagined a male's room to look like and made my room look disorganized and small. I had always thought my room to be an average size room until I ended up here, how did I even get here?

I hadn't moved since sliding out of the warm, spectacular bed. I looked down at myself, in confusion and yes, I was still in the PJs that I put on before I went to bed last night. This was one of the most realistic, good, weird dreams I had in a long time. I was standing barefoot on another soft, deep brown rug that felt delicious on my toes. As I glanced back over at the dark fireplace, I shivered with a chill. I quietly walked over to the first wardrobe and opened it. It was filled with a very nice, very male assortment of shirts, pants and other things except a jacket or something I would fill comfortable borrowing. Feeling even more cold, I walked barefooted across the wooden floor back to the large rug under the bed. Seeing the warm glow of the candles, drew me over to them and I put my hands above the flames. I was surprised to find that the flames produced hardly any heat and barely flickered when I waved my hand over them. Interesting.

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Subject: Re: A Treasure Fri Feb 12, 2010 4:14 am

I noticed that the bedroom door was left open, so giving up on finding anything warm, I decided to look for a bathroom. Walking out the door, I noticed a strange buzzing sound as I neared the door frame. Without touching it, I examined the frame closely and saw a line of white powder on the ground that went off down the hall. The powder looked almost like salt but with an orange tint. I started to reach out and touch the wall when I felt a small jolt. It was like the accidentally brushing an electric fence and I knew right away that I shouldn't touch anywhere near the powdered line. I followed the path down the hall and it lead me to the bathroom. The bathroom was large, with a claw-foot tub and a separate little space for the toilet. I was glad to have privacy because I was afraid to close the main door of the bathroom! The hand soap smelled like the same spice that lingered in the air, it was a very pleasing smell and for some reason, it made me feel comfortable. After rinsing my face with warm water and more of the nice soap, I was feeling even more odd about my situation. This really didn't feel like any kind of dream I had ever had, I pinched myself hard. Ow! It hurt! What did that mean? I couldn't be awake, I just couldn't be awake!

That's it! I thought, I'm going to find out what the heck is going on here! I marched back towards the bedroom, where the extremely sexy guy was still sleeping. I put my hands on my hips glaring at him and said, "Hey you, wake up!" I didn't scream it, but said it with the force of my anger. The guy didn't budge, not even a little twitch. I sighed, some of the wind blowing out of my sails and walked over to his desk. Fine! Let him sleep, I'll see what he is up too! I pushed the power button on his computer and it hummed to life, then started looking through his notebook. Wow, he was so neat! Every page of notes was written in a male's slightly slanted handwriting but, not much of it was in english. The notebook didn't tell me much, so I tried the computer. It got through the start screen and of course, was password protected. This is just the kind of luck I seem to always have, nothing goes how I want it too! I grabbed the first book sitting on the pile on his desk and opened it to a dog-eared page. O-M-G, it was the coin! It was called a 'Truth Amulet,' and I read the page about my new found trinket. I remembered Aeron saying something about me having something he needed, was it this amulet? Why would he need a truth amulet? I couldn't take the suspense anymore I had to wake this mystery man up and I had to either get this dreaming going somewhere or, well the other option was hardly reasonable, find out why I was taken from my room sometime last night! This is absurd, I thought shaking my head, why me?

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Subject: Re: A Treasure Sat Feb 13, 2010 6:27 am

I walked over to the bed and yelled, "Wake up and talk to me, right now!" Mr. sexy grunted and rolled away from me. This just fueled my frustration and anger, "Aeron, wake up! Why am I here?!? WAKE UP!" I stepped up to the bed and poked at his arm. He grabbed my arm, sat up so fast it made my head spin and pulled me within a few inches of his face. He blinked several times, and said, "What are you going on about? I'm trying to get some sleep here, I've been up all..."

I angrily cut him off, "Why am I here? Where am I? What do you want from me? This is stupid!" I stared back at those vivid green eyes and watched him wake up a little more. He realized he had grabbed my arm and let me go, running a hand through his hair. He smelled of spices, I could just breathe him in for hours if I wasn't so upset with him and if he wasn't a complete stranger. He covered a yawn with his hand and said, "if I explain things to you, will you let me get some more rest?"

"Not likely." I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "You owe me an explanation, you are either a dream in my head or you've done the unthinkable. Which is it?"

"Gaw, woman!" He said with a puff of air. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that, but you are asking me so many questions without giving me a chance to answer even one of them."

I didn't respond to his comment, just kept my gaze fixed on him. When he realized I was waiting on answers he replied, "Fine. First, you are here because you have something that I need very much. Second, you are in my bedroom. Third, I just want you to give me back that amulet so I can return it and..." he paused a minute, considering his words. "I guess I have done the unthinkable, because this is no dream of yours."

I couldn't believe he answered every question I asked, even if they were very blunt and to the point answers. "What do I have that you seem to need so badly?"

"You have the truth amulet."

"Why do you need it?" I asked him. "What is so important about you having it back?"

Emotion flashed through his green eyes, "You are going to keep asking me questions until I tell you the whole story, aren't you?" He continued, "I need it because I think it will end my banishment and that same reason is why it is so important that I get it back."

Looking at me, he added, "why don't you sit down on the edge of the bed and I'll tell you my story?"

"I'll stand right here, thank you." I spouted at him, he had no right to be so calm about everything. I was so ticked, how could he get me here? How did he get me out of my house?

"Whatever would please you," he responded. "I was the top weaver in my class. I studied so much and would have graduated with honors, but then I messed up." He closed his vibrant eyes, gathering his thoughts, and I walked over to the end of the bed. I sat cross legged on the bed, with my back against one of the wooden posters. When he felt me sit down, he opened his eyes and looked at me. "Thank you, this is not the easiest thing for me to share, especially with a girl."

I leaned forward and put my face in my hands, "go on." I could see the heat of a blush in his face as he said, "well, I messed up. I got interested in this girl in my class. She was so nice to look at, with a smile that could light up the room, her name is Violet." He lowered his eyes and said, "I told her I thought she was beautiful and that I would like to spend more time with her." He looked back at me, "this is where I messed up, she was so spirited and didn't always like to follow the rules. Somehow, she managed to never be in trouble no matter what she did, like skipping class or turning in late homework. She asked me one day to skip with her, convincing me that nothing was going on in school on this particular day." He stopped and let out a little smirking sigh, "I'll admit, spending the day with her was wonderful. I made us a picnic and we went to this lake, her laugh was infectious. I knew she loved the color yellow, so I weaved a field of dandelions and she turned them into wish flowers. We spent the day, just talking and wishing things. Blowing the little white seeds into the air, Violet said they looked like little fairies to her. When it was time for us to part, she kissed me on the lips." Aeron flushed with a blush, "it was my first kiss from a girl and she had spun me into her web. I was totally caught by her. I went home, called a buddy of mine and he gave me the homework for the day. When I went to school the next day, I was still literally dancing on air."

I watched his fist clinch, he went on "When I got to school, things were not so pleasant. The school had three visitors from our High Court, the vibe of everyone was suspicious and nervous, that they were visiting classes. I tried to catch Cole before our classes, but we never met up. When I walked in my first class, our professor explained to everyone that the visitors were conducting an investigation. He said "that sometime yesterday evening or last night a very valuable artifact, that is used in our justice system, was stolen." The visitors were at the school to question people and they asked the professor who was absent yesterday. Those people were pulled into the administrative room, to be interrogated. Five of the students from my class got pulled into the room, we sat at a large round table and they asked us questions like: Where were you last night? Why did you miss school? Who were you with yesterday? and What did you do that evening? Violet was next and I was last, the others being excused because they had doctor's notes..."

Aeron paused, looking at me with what looked like shame in his eyes. "When they asked Violet who she was with she said 'No one, I was at home.' She told them this story about where she was and what she did, she had an excuse from her mom for being out of school yesterday. She had alergies, her note said she was sneezing like crazy from all the spring flowers in bloom. When it was my turn, I told them what I did with Violet and she denied ever seeing me yesterday. She acted like it never happened, I was so hurt and shocked." Aeron looked at me, shaking his head, he said, "I was tongue tied, I had no proof what we did and they ate me up. I got banished for the missing amulet because I was smart enough to sposedly steal it, because I had no aliby for where I was when it was taken and because I cared about a stupid girl, who didn't care enough about me to stick up for me. She saved herself and left me to the sharks. For me, banishment was being expelled from school and sent home, to the above ground world. I've been here depressed and lost for 2 months."

When he looked up at me, his eyes were watery and his fist was still clinched, "there now you know, I screwd up big time and only that amulet can help me make my life right again."

"How is it that the amulet was so close to you and you didn't find it?" I asked him.

"I don't understand," he looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"I found this in the mud, on the front lawn of the creepy house." I explained to him. "I just happened to see a shine and picked it up. It looked like a coin, like a quarter and I had no idea what it really was until this morning." Which reminded me, oh crap! "YOU!" I pointed at him, "why did you take me out of my room?" As soon as I said it, I realized that came out wrong and asked, "well I mean why and how did you take me out of my room?!?"

"I brought you here to try and get the amulet back. I had planned to simply take it off your dresser but you still had it around your neck and then, when I tried to take it, I couldn't because it was bound to you!" Aeron sighed, "I should have just left and researched some more, then come to get it. Again, I messed up." He was looking at his hands and shaking his head as he added, "I got you here with a spell and I'm sorry." When I didn't say anything, he asked "what's this creepy house you are talking about?"

"The house at the end of our neighborhood, it's number 1666. The road turns to dirt and it's out in the middle of the woods, all by itself. There are stories about the house being haunted and no one goes out there, except for a few brave kids from my school. My friends and I decided to brave it, we made a pact." Aeron gave me a strange look, like he had no idea what I was talking about or maybe he didn't know about the creepy house. "Whatever, maybe that's where whoever stole it is hiding out. You can tell no one lives there, it's impossible with all the untouched dust."

"That house is my family's house and you are in it right now." Aeron told me, as my mouth fell open with shock.

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Subject: Re: A Treasure Wed Feb 17, 2010 6:23 pm

"You're kidding right?" I said, taking a step back from him. It was him, my brain screamed at me, he's the eyes and the eyes are him! "I saw you." I continued backing away from him, "you saw me." My back bummed up against one of the wardrobes as he placed his hands on either side of me, his face inches from mine.

"Don't be afraid, please." He spoke softly, "I would have messed with you and your friends but you passed out. I honestly didn't mean to cause you to do that," he stammered. "It was supposed to just be a little fun, a little spooky spells."

Chills ran up and down my spine, "Don't touch me!" Aeron stepped back as if I slapped him and I could feel his gaze on me as I looked out the window. I cursed under my breath, as I stared down at the front lawn of the haunted house. "You need to take me home." I slowly turned to him, "right now."

"Then just give me the amulet." His eyes were pleading.

"Did you even think this through? My family is going to be waking me up soon and I was supposed to do something with Rina! I have a project due tomorrow for school, and I am not going to fail my classes because of your issues! Have you lost your mind?"

"I don't know," Aeron responded. "I thought I did, I told you, I was just going to find a solution in a book..." His voice trailed off and he added very quietly, "no, I haven't lost my mind. I thought that this would be so simple, so maybe I didn't think things through?" He ran his hand through his hair, and with a defeated look, dropped heavily into the chair at his desk.

"Look, I'm not trying to be a bad person here, but you did kidnap me from my room and you don't seem to have any clue how to fix your problem. So, it seems like you need some help and I'd be willing to do that, but on my terms." I looked at him, but he didn't raise his head. "I'm going to give you a second chance. I can understand trying to play little pranks but kidnapping me doesn't sound like who you are, am I right?"

"Yes," he looked up at me and his eyes were a softer green. "I shouldn't have done that, like I said, ' Again, I messed up.' I'm really sorry, can I give you a ride home?"

I immediately felt relieved! "Yes, that would be the best idea you've had since bringing me here."

Aeron just shook his head and walked to the big wardrobe that I hadn't peeked in earlier. He took out a brown hoodie that zipped up the front and slid it on over his white button up shirt, which was untucked and slightly wrinkled from his sleeping in it. He pulled a black leather jacket out next and walked over to me. "Here," he said handing me the jacket, "you should wear this, you're still in PJs."

I took the jacket and told him, "Thanks."

"I'll be right back." He said and came back from with a dust pan and brush in his hands. I watched as he softly chanted in a language I didn't recognize, brushing the strange dust away from the window and throwing it away in a trash can by his desk. He went back over to the ledge and sat on the sill of the window. "Come on," he told me and reached out his hand to me.

"Um, what are you doing?" I asked him, not moving.

"I'm going to take you home." I didn't move, no way was I going to over to him. He looked at me a few heartbeats more and then walked over to me.

"Let's try this again." He started with a little half smile. "I'm Aeron Dabbraccio, spell weaver 7th level, and you are?" He took my hand in his and gave me a firm handshake. I couldn't help but smile.

"I'm Sybil." I told him and added, "a sophomore in high school."

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