Chapter 1

The moon glowed eerily outside the large estate and cast long beams of light through the window as it painted the floor in a silvery light. Flashes of darkness intermingled with the light briefly like shadows of a tree dancing in the wind.

A soft, startled cry ushered forth from the lips of a blanketed silhouette. The huddle of bedsheets trembled and rocked, and soon the sound of humming emerged in a soothing tone to settle the frightened mound.

“Go to sleep, Mia,” the figure in the other bed pleaded.

A squeak replied in answer.

“What?” the young girl said groggily as she rolled over and sat up in the bed. She stretched her arms and pushed her long blonde hair back from her face as she watched the pile of sheets that covered her sister rock faster.

From beneath the sheets a long pale narrow arm emerged and pointed down at the floor between the two beds at the moonlight.

Bree looked down at the floor. “It’s the moon, Mia. It’s just the moon.” She fell back into the pillow on the bed. “Get some sleep! It’s our first day of high school tomorrow. I don’t need to go to school with dark circles under my eyes.” Out of the corner of her eye she caught a flash of dark and light that swept across the ceiling like a winged serpent. She instinctively reached up and grasped at the pendant around her neck and rubbed the raised engraving of her name, “Bridget.” The necklace, her mother stated, was her protection. A gift she and her twin sister, Mia, had received this year at their fourteenth birthday party.

As she rubbed the necklace, she drifted off to sleep, but her sleep was one of strange dragons and shifting shadows.

The next morning, she climbed out of bed and glanced over at her twin sister Mia’s bed. Paper littered the bed, and the sketchbook and pencil sat ready for the next round on the pillow next to her sleeping sister. Bree reached over and picked up one of the drawings. Typical Mia, Bree thought as she examined the drawing.

Bree shivered as she looked down at the paper. It was a sketch of their bedroom with the moonlight streaming through the window, but on the outside of the window, a dragon streaked across the sky, and the shadows it cast on the floor was snakelike. “Mia,” Bree whispered. “Mom is not going to be happy to see these.” Bree scooped up the drawings and shoved them all in a nearby wastebasket. She then walked over and shook Mia slightly. “Wake up, Mia. Time for breakfast and school.”

Mia stirred, but she did not wake up.

“Mia, wake up. We can’t be late. I know you hear me.”

Mia rolled over and pulled the cover up over her head and placed her hands over her ears.

“Okay. You leave me no choice,” Bree said, and with a swoop of her hand, the cover slid down the foot of the bed. “It’s time to get up.”

Mia rolled over and looked up at her sister with a frown.

“I know you don’t want to go to school, but you have to go.”

Mia pushed her long, mousy-brown locks back and secured it with an elastic band that she had around her narrow wrist. She then held out her arms at her sister.

Bree looked her over and said, “No. Not on our first day of high school. You just want to be picked on, don’t you?”

Mia fell back on the bed.

“Don’t worry. I’ll help you.” Bree walked over to the closet and started pulling out clothing. “You really have to make more of an effort.” She stood and admired a pale blue top and a pair of jeans. “You have a lot against you, so you have to try harder.” She turned and held out the items in her hands.

Mia sat up, looked at the clothing choices, and rolled her eyes.

“I don’t care,” Bree said. “You’re wearing them. Tomorrow, you can wear your slouchy old sweatshirt and jeans if you want to, but today, you’re going to make a good impression.”

Mia stood up and walked over to Bree and snatched the clothes out of her hands. As she headed into the bathroom, she glared at her sister once more before she slammed the bathroom door behind her.

I swear, thought Bree. Why must I be my sister’s keeper?

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