Kerry sat straight up in bed. “I must be dreaming!” she said to herself. “It’s missing?”

  She peered under her bed, which was mostly clean, but did not see the missing bandana.

  Kerry got up and prepared for the day, puzzling over the missing object as she did so.

  When she had eaten breakfast and helped clean the kitchen, Kerry was immediately pushed into work, and therefore could not look any further for the bandana.

  Kerry flipped out the sharpest knife in her pocketknife and sliced through the tape holding the box together. She jumped when she heard a knock on the door.

  “Kerry, get the door, please,” her mother called from the kitchen. “It’s some of the neighbors, come to help out.”

  Kerry put the pocketknife down and hurried to the door. She opened it and peered out.

  A woman about her mother’s age stood at the door. She smiled and held out a hand. “Hello, I’m Kaynia Brewster. I’m here with my children to help out.”

  Serena appeared behind Kerry, a broad smile on her face. “Hello, Kaynia. How are you doing?”

  “I’m doing just fine,” Kaynia answered.

  “Please come in,” Serena invited.

  Kaynia hurried in, and her children followed, one by one.

  Kerry stared, openmouthed, as she counted twelve children come streaming in behind their mother.

  “I’m sorry that Chris couldn’t make it,” Kaynia said. “His company is so busy this year. He might be along later, though.”

  “That’s quite alright,” Serena said.

  “This is Daria,” Kaynia said, pointing to the tallest girl. “And this is Luke, Emily, Elly, Elijah, Triste, Andrew, Leah, Owen, Robby, John, and Erica. With another on the way.” She gestured to Kerry. “And how old is this one?”

  Serena glanced at Kerry, who blushed as everyone looked at her.

  “I’m Kerry, and I’m 14,” she said.

  Triste smiled at her and gave a little wave.

  “Now,” Kaynia said to Serena, “what needs to be done?”

  All the older children were given various jobs, and the younger ones sent out to play. Elijah and Triste were supposed to help Kerry break down boxes.
  Their first few minutes were spent in awkward silence. Then Triste ventured to start a conversation.

  “So, Kerry, what kind of things do you like?”

  Kerry visibly brightened. “I was wondering if we would ever talk to each other!”

  Elijah and Triste looked at each other for one brief moment, then burst out laughing.

  “We were, too!” Triste exclaimed.

  “Well, I like crime and detection stuff,” Kerry began.

  “You know, our oldest brother, Luke, is studying criminology in school,” Elijah said. “He’s been into that since he could read detective stories.”

  “I also like noveling,” Kerry added. “And listening to music.”

  “Triste has a good ear for music, though she won’t admit it,” Elijah informed her.

  Triste shrugged lightly. I enjoy making and critiquing it, but it’s only a hobby.”

  “What kind of stories do you write?” Elijah asked curiously.

  “When I was younger, I wrote about animals traveling around the world,” Kerry said. “Now, I write mostly literary fiction, with a little fantasy on the side. I created my own fantasy planet, Aora, when I was eleven.”

  “Wow.” Triste shook her head. “I’m not brave enough to write a story, much less create my own world!”

 “I do noveling too,” Elijah put in. “Entwyn is my world, but I do Earth stories too.”

 “He’s written three novels!” Triste told Kerry. “They’re all one series!”

 Kerry looked at him, amazed. “A whole series? Wow!”

 “It’s possible,” Elijah answered modestly.

  The three continued to chatter about their hobbies and then their families.

 

  She trained her binoculars through the window, focusing on the three teenagers going cheerfully about their work. She turned to her male companion.

  “They won’t be like this for long.”

  He smiled evilly. “No, they won’t. We’re good at breaking down care free, happy people.”

  “Where’s Brenton?”

  “He’s on it.”

  “Good.” Now the woman smiled evilly.

 

  Kerry, Triste, and Elijah were all startled when they heard the doorbell ring. Kerry ran and opened the door.

  A man who looked to be in his mid-thirties stood there. He had black curly hair and blue eyes.

  “Hi,” he said, sticking out a hand. “I’m Kurt Evans, and I live right down the street. I saw the moving truck and came to see if you needed help.”

  “Hi,” Kerry answered, shaking his hand. “Why don’t you come inside, and I’ll go get my mom.”

  “Alright,” he said as he stepped inside.

  “Mom, it’s another neighbor come to see if we need help,” Kerry said as she entered the kitchen.

  “Go get your father, Ker,” Serena said. “I’ll go introduce myself.”

  Kerry hurried away, found her father, and told him about their visitor. He paused his work and went to the living room to meet Kurt Evans.

  As Kerry stood watching them, a thought popped into her head. Where have I seen him before?

  She whipped out her small pocket notebook and wrote a detailed description of Kurt Evans. Then she ran to her room and retrieved her small digital camera. She turned off the flash and snapped a quick picture of the visitor and her parents.

  Kurt Evans glanced at her curiously as she examined the picture. Kerry smiled sweetly at him, and he turned away.

  She hurried over to Elijah and Triste.

  “Have you ever seen him before?” she asked Elijah and Triste.

  The twins looked at each other and shook their heads.

  “He’s probably new,” Elijah offered.

  Kerry shrugged, and they went back to work.

  After a while, Kerry glanced back at Kurt and her parents. She saw Kurt take off his light jacket and hang it in a closet, and then leave the room with her father.

 Kerry went quietly over to the closet and dug into her pocket, removing tiny bug that she always had handy. She pinned it right under the collar to the back of the coat and hurried back to work.

  The morning went by quickly. The workers had pizza for lunch and then everyone went back to work.

  Around midafternoon, Kurt Evans left, saying that he had an important meeting to attend.

  Kerry watched him leave, a half-smile on her face.

 

  By the time the day was over, Kerry, Elijah, and Triste had become fast friends, and they had gotten much work done together.

  After eating dinner with the Nicholas family, the Brewsters took their leave. Kerry went upstairs to relax and unwind with her laptop. She edited and wrote more of her story, read and sent emails, and google chatted with some friends. She also checked her favorite blogs and posted on her blog.

  She was startled when the bug receiver crackled in her pocket. She took it out and listened carefully.

  A male voice said, “Were you successful, Brenton?”

  “Was I successful? They took the bait as easily as a frog croaks!”

  Kerry started. The man who had just spoke was Kurt Evans! She opened a fresh file on Microsoft Word and tapped out the conversation.

  Then a female spoke. “No suspicion? At all?”

  Brenton spoke again. “One girl was a little too suspicious. She has too much of her father’s detective gene in her, so we should post  a watch on her.”

  The first man spoke again. “I’ll put Weston on the job immediately.”

  Brenton said, “Good, good!”

 Then there was silence.

  “Should I tell Dad?” Kerry asked herself. “No, he’d kill me for spying on our neighbor like that.”

  The receiver automatically recorded any messages it got, so Kerry replayed the conversation and listened very intently.

  “Kurt Evans, my foot!” she muttered angrily to herself. “What a trickster!”

  Kerry closed her laptop and put it away. She asked her father if she could go on a hike, and with his permission, she set off, going the same way that she had before, and sitting on the same rock.

  After awhile, a young man who looked to be in his late twenties came jogging by. He was dressed in exercise clothes, and his shoulder length dark brown hair was in a short ponytail, waved quite comically. Kerry did all she could to stifle her laughter as he turned his head and his deep brown eyes looked at her curiously. Then he was gone.

  Kerry got up, went into the woods, and wandered some more before heading home. She quickly prepared for bed, and then got back on her laptop to watch a movie on the internet.

  When she was finished, Kerry once again put her laptop away. It was then that she realized how quiet the house was.

  She looked out  the window and saw an unfamiliar car in the driveway.

  Kerry leapt off the bed and shot out the bedroom door, down the stairs to the living room. She saw Justin, Macie, and Jana sitting on the couch and reading books.

  “Where are Mom and Dad?” she asked.

  Justin looked up. “Where could you have been and not know that Mom was having her baby?”

  Kerry opened her mouth, and then shut it. “She’s having her baby? Where?”

  “In her room.” Justin turned back to his book.

  In seconds, Kerry was up two sets of stairs and at her parents’ door, where she hesitated.

   She heard a soft wail, and then she knocked.

   A young woman opened the door. “Yes?”

   “Can I...uh...come in?” Kerry asked awkwardly.

   The lady turned away from the door. “We have a visitor,” she called.

   There was a moment of silence, then the lady turned back. “You can come in.”

   Kerry quietly entered the room.

   Her mother was asleep on the bed. Her father as sitting next to her, holding a bundle. He beckoned Kerry closer.

   “Is it a boy or a girl?” she asked.

   Andrew Micaiah,” he answered, grinning. “Guess.”

  “A boy?” Kerry sat beside him and peered into the bundle.

  “No, a girl.” Her father grinned teasingly.

  Kerry looked closer. “He has our dark blue eyes, Dad. Now it’s just the three of us.”

  Andrew blinked and yawned and enormous yawn. A small fist came out of the blanket and grabbed Kerry’s finger. And he smiled.

  “You get his first smile, Kerr,” her father said.

  “I’m so special.” Kerry stood up. “Should I tell the others?”

  “No,” Dan answered. “We’ll surprise them later. Knowing you, you can keep it a secret for as long as you need to.”

  The young woman showed Kerry out the door and hung a DO NOT DISTURB  sign on the door.

   When Kerry got back to her bedroom, Macie and Jana were waiting for her.

  “Well?” Macie asked impatiently as Kerry stretched, lay down, and pulled up the covers.

  “What?” Kerry asked.

  “Is it a girl or a boy?”

  “Is what a girl or a boy?”

  “The baby!”

  Kerry laughed inwardly. “Baby?” she said out loud.

  Macie threw her a menacing look.

  “Oh, you must mean the weasel that the stork threw through the window.” Kerry turned over.

  A pillow whacked her on the head. Kerry threw her covers off, grabbed one pillow for each hand, and threw one at Macie and one at Jana.

  Jana grabbed her biggest pillow. “You asked for it!”

  The quiet room suddenly turned into a battlefield. Pillows flew all over the place, and the sisters were laughing so hard that their sides ached.

  Kerry finally dropped onto her bed. “Truce! I call a truce!”

  Her sisters collected their pillows and waited.

  “I guess I’ll have to tell you what it is,” Kerry said, sounding rather reluctant.

  They looked at her expectantly.

  “I never said when!” Kerry called as she dove under her covers.

  Jana and Macie bombarded her with pillows, then calmed down and returned to their beds. They were soon fast asleep.