“If I had a million dollars I wouldn’t give any to you!” Jane shouted to her best friend as she stomped up the stairs. Lissa was sitting in the bubble chair, her arms encasing a half empty bag of Cheetos. As Jane slammed her room’s door Lissa continued working on the plan, she was used to Jane’s short temper by now. A knock resonated through the house and Lissa jumped and began to shove the evidence in any hiding spot she could find while yelling, “Coming!” in a cheery voice. Within a minute she was at the door, casually leaning against the doorframe, her short, brown hair tickling her cheekbones. Lissa stared at the man at the door; scanning for weapons that could be hidden in the clothes, when she found none she finally let her emerald green eyes meet his ice blue ones. “Hey! Lissa! Is Jane there?” the man asked.
He raked his fingers through his long hair and casually leaned in the door, peeking into the house in a useless search for Jane. “Actually she just went upstairs. But, if you want I could call her down,” Lissa muttered in a bored tone. Jane flew down the steps and jumped into the man’s arms. He stumbled back a step and hugged his little sister. “Hey Jane, haven’t seen you in a while,” he chuckled. Jane let go and glared at her brother, her cold blue eyes stared into his. After a moment of silence she stuck her pointer finger out, pointing it at Mark’s pale face. “Why did you come back? I told you I was going to be busy this month and I wouldn’t be able to make time for you.”
“Oh come on little ‘sis. I was getting lonely and was curious about what you were up to. I thought I could cheer you up,” her brother responded with a huge, dorky smile.
Jane and Mark are identical twins who were born from missionary parents that travel the world, leaving their two, poor children alone for years at a time. As they grew up they developed special powers. The twins could mutually feel the other twin’s emotions and, if strong enough, their thoughts as well. But they can block each other out for short periods of time and their minds are most vulnerable when they are scared, deep-in-thought, happy, and surprised.
Jane scrunched her face into the frown Mark thought to be so cute and stomped off into the house. “Hey can I-,” Lissa opened the door a bit wider, “Thanks Lissa!” Mark winked as he passed by and Lissa just rolled her emerald eyes. Mark flopped down into one of the two bubble chairs; he chose the one closest to the couch and farthest from the door. His arms casually held the Cheetos bag Lissa discarded earlier. Jane sat on the ground in front of the couch, her face formed into a pout as she tried to conceal her emotions to hide them from her brother. Mark ogled Lissa as she closed the front door, as she walked towards the bedroom, and even when she obviously hid a paper in the desk. Lissa suddenly looked up and glared lasers at Mark and his nosey, prying eyes. Mark turned down his gaze and a reddish cloud covered his cheeks. Lissa walked over to the twins laughing on the inside at how alike they looked. Jane had long, black hair to her thin waist, pale skin with bright blue eyes under wispy bangs, and long slender legs. Mark is almost exactly the same; he had long, black hair with wispy bangs tickling the top of his eyes. A thin waist, ice blue eyes, long, slender legs, and even the same height as his sister.
Jane was staring at Mark, she looks victorious, and pleased at her assumed victory. “Mark, you should go Lissa and I have some things we need to finish. You can visit later,” she said with a too perfect little sister voice. Mark was zoning out but snapped out of it when he heard what she said. He jumped up and scurried out the door, waving as he left. “Ready to get back to work?” Lissa asked while she gathered the papers she had hidden earlier.
“I was wondering if tomorrow would work since that is the day they have the bribable security guards on duty.” Jane studied the papers in front of her that gave her a detailed description of each employee.
“If we are going to rob the bank we have to keep you brother away, he would get in the way of our million dollars. Mark has a 78- no 77% chance of wrecking our plan; I suggest you get him out of the way nicely before I have to do it.”
“Don’t be mean! I can keep him away. After all, I know his weakness…” Jane wiggled her eyebrows and smiled dramatically.
“Great, what is it?”
“Hey! Get rid of that monotonous tone. Geez, why did my brother have to fall in love with you, he must be crazy to like some unemotional-,”
“Me? So, what? I have to seduce him or something?” Lissa scoffed, “like that will happen.”
Jane stared at Lissa expectantly, and Lissa tried to ignore the blue eyes that had black specks. Dark claws tickled on Lissa’s neck and the stench of death blew on her ears. Lissa spun around and stared into the empty space that is darkness. What in the world was that-oh. I forgot about that. No, I cannot let this get in the way of me getting what I want. I am the important one in this mission… yet, I have to keep them safe. What a bother, Lissa thought. “What was that? My goodness,” Jane said while clutching her heart. She looked innocent yet had a devious air about her. “It was like something was reaching me from the shadows but nothing was there when I turned around… strange, right?” Lissa asked Jane in a bordering sarcastic tone. Jane immediately dropped her hand and started to work paying no mind to the comment Lissa spoke out.
After polishing the plan for a few more hours Lissa and Jane stretched simultaneously then collapsed into a fit of giggles. “Time to rest for our big day tomorrow, we wouldn’t want to sleep through two months of hard work,” Lissa advised Jane as she jumped up, carefully putting away the papers in a secret drawer. Jane hopped up and started up the stairs, her hair swinging as she bounced up each step. Her long hair was tied with a ribbon, a blue ribbon to be exact. Lissa followed Jane up the stairs and walked into the bathroom. Jane walked into the bedroom they shared, flipped on the light, and started to change into her nightgown. Lissa washed her face and brushed her teeth before, gracefully, walking into the bedroom to join Jane. Lissa snuggled under the covers and grabbed at the stuffed rabbit on the pillow. Jane snickered at Lissa and crawled into the bed as well, “Still stared of the dark Liss?” Lissa turned over, putting her back to Jane and her chin on the rabbit’s back. Jane snuggled up next to her while her slender fingers lifted the covers to her shoulders. Both of them fell into a deep sleep within minutes.
The front door slammed and brisk footsteps echoed up the stairs. Jane and Lissa were still sound asleep until they heard their bedroom door shake with the harsh pounding inflicted upon it. Jane tried to jump up but she, instead, tangled herself in the sheets and fell on top of Lissa. The bedroom door sprung open, the lock broken, and Mark walked in. He took one look at the girls and immediately turned scarlet. “E-e-excuse me for interrupting,” Mark said while trying to escape the room. “Misunderstanding,” Jane and Lissa said, simultaneously with their hands on Mark’s shoulders. Mark still looked a bit uncomfortable so he ran his fingers through his jet black hair; this seemed to calm him a bit. Jane looked at Mark, expecting someone to have died or another form of tragedy worth their, quite rude, awakening this bleak morn.
“I had a…um… dream that you girls were in a bank and one of you got hurt for some reason. I think you should stay away from all banks today just to be safe,” Mark explained. Lissa scowled and put a finger in Mark’s frowning face. “Don’t ever burst into this house to wake me up at five in the morning because you had a dream that someone was going to get hurt,” Lissa said this, not in a vicious way but in a quiet anger sort of way. Lissa’s face changed for a moment as if remembering something before she spoke again, “But, um, thanks for caring about us we…” Lissa mumbled, her usually pale face showing a slight rosy color. Mark brought his hand to his face to cover his pink cheeks as Jane stared between the two. “No problem, you’re important to me. Ah! I mean y’all are important to me. I mean…” Mark got even a darker shade of red and just gave up on explaining any further.
“But, we are going to the bank today. I have urgent business with my safety deposit box. The bank seems convinced I never put anything in there but it seems they can’t admit they lost my book,” Jane explained to her brother, making sure to add emphasis on the word book. Mark’s eyes opened wide, “Not the book we got from Italy, right?” Mark demanded. Jane nodded with a solemn face, Lissa stood there wondering what made this book so important. The thing that makes this book so important is the fact that it holds the secrets about special powers of almost every kind. If someone with a power unknown to the book touches it, the book automatically learns about that power.
“Crap. Crap. Crap! How could you let this happen? We have to get that book back,” Mark said as he paced on the hardwood floor. Lissa stared at the two siblings and wondered, What in the world is this book? It can’t be the Power Encyclopedia could it? Jane flicked her eyes to Lissa and Mark stopped pacing. Lissa yawned, “I don’t think standing here saying how much we need to get the book will help us. Why don’t we, and by we I mean Jane and I, go to the bank today, like we planned, and see if we can get the book back. Jane and I were planning to go there anyway so-,”
“No. I’ll go with you. I don’t want you guys to get hurt so please let me protect you,” Mark interrupted. Jane became annoyed; Mark could feel it through their link. “Mark, don’t even think about coming with us. Don’t do anything having to do with us today or I will make sure you never see us again,” Jane said with, surprisingly, a large amount of menace. Mark looked sad for a moment then angry. He briskly walked out of the room and trotted down the stairs, leaving the house with a bang of the front door. Silence hung in the air and the shadows seemed to be shaking with excitement. “I can’t wait to get to the bank! We will pull of our plan with no trouble, it seems like Mark finally gave up,” Jane said while jumping with excitement. Lissa only mumbled a response before leaving the room to change.
Jane walked out from the room in her outfit. A white blouse with lacy edges on top of a short black skirt, she topped off her outfit with black and white striped thigh highs and a red bow around her neck. “Gorgeous,” Lissa complemented as she entered the living room. Lissa was wearing a red tank top with a few lines of black sequins, a short faux leather jacket, cute ankle boots, a pair of dark skinny jeans, and carried a yellow wristlet. “Not too bad yourself,” Jane responded while flipping her braided, black hair over her thin shoulder. “Let’s get going, it’s almost 6:30.”
“Right ‘o’ commando,” Jane responded with a salute. Both the girls took the bus; the bus they made sure would be full with people so they would not be remembered easily. Once they got off the bus they traveled three blocks to the entrance of the bank. “Remember the plan and don’t get sidetracked,” Lissa advised Jane.
“Okay, let’s go.” Lissa followed her plan exactly, walking through the bank doors, twenty steps to the line. Seven steps to the banker, she looked at the teller and smiled at her. The old woman had frown lines on her face as if she never once smiled. Her long, silver hair was bundled into a bun and held at the back of her head. The low hum of murmuring voices filled the bank, about thirty-two people stood in line or at a teller.
Lissa told the teller she had something in her safety deposit box and quickly gave her the information she needed. The teller walked over to the vault and invited Lissa in to retrieve her items. Lissa walked over slowly, counting the seconds until Jane came in. Five more seconds until she was supposed to come in.
Four. Three. Two. One. Lissa sneezed and the front door of the bank burst open. “Everybody on the ground! If anybody moves I’ll shoot!” a husky voice said. It was obviously a man and Lissa was a bit stunned by this outcome. All the people in the bank collapsed and didn’t dare to move a muscle. The man had two guns but was by himself. He was about the same height as Lissa but a tiny bit taller, he had ice blue eyes looking through his black ski mask, and black hair flowing from the bottom of the mask, reaching his waist. He was quite thin but didn’t look weak.
The people in the bank did not scream they were far too scared to make a noise. The man neared the vault that was now open and walked inside, no sooner had he done this did all the windows and doors get covered with a metal sheets. Another person seemed to appear out of thin air and looked completely black, from their skin and shoes to the clothes they were wearing. Not once did that person talk they just stood there menacingly with a gun pointed at the people. The man in the vault took only one thing, a book. This book was a burgundy red with gold pages and gold lining on the covers. Lissa knew this was the book she needed to get, it was calling her. Forgetting all common sense she lunged for the book. He fingers brushed a golden page and she felt a spark go through her body, seeming to empower her. The man spun to face Lissa and growled. Yes, he growled.
All the eyes in the bank turned towards Lissa and the man, both of them standing in offensive positions. The man was holding one of the guns now, in his left hand, and the book in his right. Lissa stared at the man and felt a familiar anger in the eyes. “Something about those eyes is familiar…but whom? No way! It’s-,”Lissa snapped out of her thoughts and prepared to fight for the book, her arm coming up to block a round kick aimed at her head. She launched her own spinning round kick then switched legs in mid-air to kick the man in the stomach. Air rushed out of his lungs and he froze for a moment before aiming his gun at her head. She flipped and landed on his arm, a satisfying crack echoing the building. The man screamed in pain and dropped the gun, pulling his arm to his chest. The book was forgotten by the man and just as Lissa grabbed the book the man fled back into the vault, closing the door behind him. The automatic lock
“Why didn’t the other man help?” Lissa though glancing over to see the man had disappeared. Finally the police came; the silent alarm was scrambled until the man was attacked by Lissa. They said it wasn’t just a scrambler but more like a cloak put over it, hiding it from the police. When they finally opened the vault they saw nobody there, just a huge person-shaped hole in the five foot steel wall. With the prized book forgotten Lissa quickly left with the book tucked in the nook of her arm. The book stopped giving her shocks after about three minutes of touching it but seemed like a part of her now. It seemed like she was one with it, never to separate.
Lissa unzipped her yellow wristlet and pulled out her phone, flipping it open and pressed her speed dial two. “Hello?”
“What happened?”
“A man pushed me aside and walked in; I tripped over the curb and got hit by a car. I broke my arm and sprained my ankle,” Jane sighed.
“You are hopeless, we were so close now we can’t go to this bank because I’m famous as the one who stood up to that big man. Oh! I did get to see the book you were talking about but somewhere in the fight it was forgotten and lost, sorry.” Lissa said, not the least bit sorry for lying to her best friend. She walked home and snuck into the attic. This particular attic had a secret door in the floor tile to the far right. She walked down the twisting staircase to a room beneath the floor of the house. Lissa actually built this room so nobody else knew about it. She sat at the desk in the exact center of the room. And put the book in the middle of the desk, pushing her paper aside. The book opened with a metallic clink, though there was no metal in the book besides gold. The first page had names of many people; at least five hundred names were signed and crossed out. Each name was familiar to Lissa, movie stars, writers, magicians, and other famous people had their names in the book.
Another page was turned and more names littered the page. This one was not as full and the last two names on the page were Jane and Mark Dunlop. What kind of book is this? Lissa wrote her name in print, “Elissa Watterson” under the twins’ names. She then flipped the page and started reading. In the introduction the book explained what it does and how it works. Lissa flipped through the powers in the books and each name under the power(s) they had. She came across Jane’s name and everything clicked into place. Jane’s name was under three different power types. She could manipulate shadows and darkness and shape shift. The last power she had was her mutual connection with Mark. She looked for Mark’s name but heard footsteps in the room above her so she quickly hid the book in a brick on the wall that pops out and silently ran upstairs. Before she closed the book she saw her name and made a note of the page number in her head, Page 107.
