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Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE TH MicrosoftInternetExplorer4   Prologue

 

  As Dominica washed the dishes, she intently watched her helper.

     Her younger brother, Nodar, slowly took a glass and dried it. He seemed to be deep in thought, so she waited quietly for him to speak.

      “Dominica,” he said at last, “have you ever had the feeling that something bad was going to happen?”

      Dominica was not surprised, since he was always asking random, but thoughtful, questions. “Not really. Why?”

      “Something bad’s going to happen tonight.”

      Dominica took the shoulders of the twelve-year-old boy, making him face her. “Nodar, all you alright?”

      Nodar’s deep brown eyes stared into her concerned face. “I feel fine.”

      Dominica dried her hands and went into the family room, where her father was doing paperwork, and her mother was reading to the family baby, Joey, who was two. She sank into the deep cushions of the soft couch and sighed.

      “Mom, Nodar said that something bad is going to happen tonight.”

      Mrs. Lamar raised an eyebrow as she looked at her only daughter. “Dominica, he does not know what is going to happen in the future. Calm down.”

      Mr. Lamar looked up from his messy desk. “Really, you can’t always take him seriously.”

      “Besides,” added Dominica’s mother, “nothing really bad has happened in this town since Campbell City University was attacked six years.”

      “There’s always a time for something.” Dominica folded her legs and leaned back, then grabbing the book that she had been reading of late, Midnight’s Terror, a biography of the most cruel man of the line of her extended family’s mortal enemy.

      After a while, Mrs. Lamar called into the kitchen, “Nodar, you need to finish up so you can do your homework.”

     There was no reply.

      “I’ll go check on him,” Dominica offered, throwing her book aside and bouncing up from her seat.

      She cast a quick glance at the sin as she entered the kitchen. Nodar appeared to have finished his task, but he was not in the room.

     Dominica went to the stairs and called up, “Nodar!”

     No one answered the call.

     She took the stairs two at a time, and peered into his room, which appeared to be empty. She checked under his bed and desk and in his closet, looking to see if he was playing one of his occasional jokes. He was not there.

     Dominica opened his window and stuck her head out. After a brief look around the yard, she spotted him lying on the ground, his hands tucked under his head, and his legs stretched out in front of him.

     “Nodar,” she called, are you okay?”

     “I’m fine,” came the answer. “I’m just looking for constellations.”

     Dominica liked stargazing, and she did it almost every night. “Alright. Can I join you?”

      “Sure.”

     Dominica hurried downstairs and peeked into the living room. “He’s stargazing in the backyard, Mom. would it be alright if I joined him?”

    “Yes, but don’t take too long,” her mother said as she shooed Joey off the couch so that she could relax. “You still have homework to do.”

   Dominica slid across the kitchen in her socks, then peeled them off and threw them into the laundry room as she passed it.

   She took a deep breath of fresh air after she opened the glass door and the screen door. “Ahh....nothing like fresh, cool air to relax you.”

   Dominica stepped onto the porch as her eyes settled on the exact spot where she had last seen Nodar.

   He was not there.

   Not very worried at all, Dominica checked all over the yard, in bushes and up in trees and calling his name, all the while wondering what on earth he was up to.

   She stood thinking under a magnolia tree, freezing when she heard a hiss.

   “It issss ussselesssss to look for your brother. He issss gone, and sssso are you!”

   Dominica ran out from under the tree as a long, slim shape slid out from its leaves. It reared up, and in the moonlight, she saw the huge hood of a snake-a thirty foot long king cobra!

   Dominica stood petrified for one moment, seeing the huge, read, glowing eyes. Then she ran for the house.

   Inside the door, she came face o face with another snake. Instantly, she shut herself between the glass door and the screen door.

   Dominica opened her mouth, but it seemed to produce no noise-not to her, at least, but to someone else.

   The snake outside suddenly hissed strangely, and wriggled as it flopped to the ground. It lay still.

   Dominica’s mouth closed as her vision slowly took in the form of an average-sized young man walking toward her.

   “Mademoiselle, it appears as if you are stuck and need help, oui?” he said in a French accent that was easily detected by Dominica.

   “What is going on? Snakes, traps, now some strange man who walks into my yard at this random moment!?” Dominica burst out. “What the hey is going on!!??”

   One side of his mouth lifted, as did his eyebrow on the opposite side of his face, his head tipping slightly. “You expect me to know...?”

    “Don’t get started,” Dominica stated firmly, as she opened the screen door and stepped out. “Who are you?”

    “Kyle Raymond, only child of a French woman and an American man, raised in France, and having just moved to the United States of America, at your service.” He bowed.

    “How’d you get to this town?” Dominica inquired.

    “Work,” Kyle answered. “Secret work.”

    “And rescuing girls is not your job. “Dominica folded her arms.

    “Only part of it,” he replied, smiling his crooked smile.

    Dominica eyed him cautiously. “How do I know if I can trust you?”

     Kyle walked over to the doors and opened them.

     The snake inside the house reared up, hissing.

    Kyle bent himself to the ground, watching the snake as he did so.Then, unexpectedly, he pushed himself off the ground, going at the reptile’s head. He wrapped his arms around the scaly head, flipping a knife out and stabbing the snake, again and again. Then he dragged it out into the yard.

    Dominica clapped weakly. “So brave. You’re my hero,” she said sarcastically.

    Kyle played along. “Thank you, mademoiselle.”

   Dominica rolled her eyes. “Will you be going soon, Kyle?”

   “Maybe...maybe not, “he said, smiling again.

  “Goodbye, and...thank you.” Dominica edged toward the door. When she got to it, she looked back.

  Kyle Raymond had disappeared.

  Dominica slipped into her house, locking the back door beind her. She turned on a light and instantly felt that something was wrong.

  "Dad?" She called. "Mom? Nodar? Joey?"

 Her voice echoed around the house, but there was no reply.

 Dominica searched  the whole house, desperately wanting to find her family, and thoughts of homework far from her mind.

 Her family had disappeared.

 They had been kidnapped.

 

 Chapter 1

 

Dominica spent a sleepless night alone in her house. The next morning, she ate breakfast and packed two bags with things that she knew she knew she would need. She grabbed the house key off the hook near the front door and went out, locking the door behind her. She stood on the front porch.

  Taking a deep breath, she said, "Well, it needs to happen."

  The problem was, where would she start?

  Dominica left the house behind and hurried to the nearby police station.

  When she came in, the officer on duty looked up. It was her favorite officer, police chief Gregor Jimenitz. He stood up.

  "Ahh, Dominica," he said, greeting the sixteen year old girl. "Do you need something?"

  "Yes, Chief," Dominica answered. "My parents and brother were kidnapped a last night  , and I need to find them. I just don't know where to start."

  Jimenitz waited silently for a younger officer to leave the room. Then he said, "Well, Miss Lamar, it could have been anyone." He looked at her. "Could it be the result of bad relations in your family's past?"

  "I don't know," Dominica replied thoughtfully. "I don't know my family's history too well."

  "How about I look for it," Jimenitz suggested, "and since it seems that you are not safe in your own house, I suggest that you stay somewhere else for the time being. A hotel, or a friend's house, for example."

  Dominica thanked him and left.

  On the street, she walked and thought. Staying at the nearby Starview Hotel was a good choice, she at last decided.

  She went to the bank and got her savings, which was enough to stay at the hotel for several days. Then she went to the hotel, got a room, unpacked, and ate lunch, afterwards busying herself in her secure room.  She checked in on Chief Jimenitz, who was busy looking for her family history, and got some books and movies from her house.

  On her way back to the hotel, Dominica felt a tingling in her spine, as if someone was following her. She whirled around.

  A woman on her way to do some shopping was walking by surrounded by a small cluster of children. A few businessmen going out for lunch were busily discussing something. Several girls out on a walk were chattering and laughing. Other than that, there did not seem to be many people out and about.

  Then Dominica saw a teenage boy dressed in jeans and a t-shirt strolling along, whistling.

  She ducked into a store, and peeked out the window, ignoring the clerks who were staring at her curiously.

  When the boy appeared to be gone, she ran back to the hotel. She ate dinner and read a book. Then she decided to take a walk along the hallway. It was then that she spotted the boy again. He was fishing around in his pocket as he followed her.

  Dominica went back to her room and locked herself in.

  The teenage boy memorized her room number. "Boss'll be pleased," he said to himself, grinning widely as he hurried off.

  Dominica prepared for and went to bed, opening the window to let in fresh air.

  The teenage boy's cellphoe started ringing. 'Life is a highway, I wanna ride on it all night long....' He flipped it open. "Hi, Boss." He paused. "Yeah, the Starview Hotel." He paused again. " Room 526, fifth floor up." Another pause. " 'Kay, Boss." He got off and went down to the hotel lobby.

  Pedestrians stared at the black limousine that passed them. The driver and the person beside him were wearing sunglasses and conversing in low tones.

 "Movie stars!" gasped one girl as the vehicle went by. "Oh, I hope one of them's Orlando Albany. He's soooo cool!"

  The limousine headed for the Starview Hotel. Five men dressed in black climbed out and headed around the back.

  The teenage boy was near Dominica's room again, talking into his cellphone. "Fifth floor up, fourth window to the right, the open one. Yeah I'm near the door. Bye!" He closed the phone and pocketed it, then performing a victory dance.

  A wealthy lady dressed in expensive clothes and jewelry stared at him, murmured, "How immature," and walked off primly.

  He didn't care. "Derek, you, like, totally rock, dude!"

 

Dominica awoke when a hand clapped over her mouth. Someone quickly gagged her.

  "Don't scream," warned a deep, whispered voice. "Get up, and get everything you have. Hurry, and don't try to escape!"

  Dominica immediately obeyed. Then he pushed her out the window into the waiting arms of another man, who bundled her to the ground to three other men, then scurried back up to get her things. Then they hustled her to the limousine, shoving her into the trunk. The last one to leave turned to her.

  "I'm sorry, but this is essential," he said, balling a hand and landing a solid block on the back of her head, immediately knocking her cold.

 

Derek dove into the limousine. "Push over, Diego," he said to a boy his age. "We need to get out of here fast, before the police find out they're needed."

   The faint wail of sirens sped them up. The leader jumped into the driver's seat, buckled hastily, and started the vehicle. He jammed down on the accelerator and they sped away.

  The jostling and bumping soon awoke Dominica, and she heard the wail of sirens get louder. Then the limousine stopped.

  "Your license please," came a commanding voice.

  Light suddenly flooded the trunk. A secret passage between the trunk and the front of the limousine was revealed. "Come out," said a voice.

  Dominica crawled through the passage into the front. A man hustled her through the passenger door opposite to the side where the police chief was talking to the leader.

  "Open the trunk," the chief ordered the leader.

  The leader slowly obeyed.

  The chief ordered his officers to search the limousine thoroughly. While he was doing that, the lead kidnapper dashed away into the woods.

  "After him!" shouted the police chief.

  The leader was chuckling to himself as he ran off. "What idiots, to fall for such a simple trick!" he snickered. "Boss'll be delighted! RBK rocks!" He ran on, so fast that no one could catch him.

 

Dominica was blindfolded and brought to a huge, underground chamber, where her blindfold was removed. She looked around and took in her surroundings.

  A large council table took up the middle of the room, surrounded by hard benches. Picture frames hung on the wall in a neat row, with photos of men and women alike. At one end of the room were many bunk beds and chests. The opposite side of the room had several couches and a huge flat-screen TV. Several men were lounging there, watching a hockey game. One of them, a tall, clean shaven man with long black hair tied back in a ponytail, stood up.

  "You have succeeded," he said in a calm voice. He turned to Dominica, who was scowling deeply. "Young friend, we have just saved your life. Are you not thankful?"

  "Liar!" Dominica spat out.

  "Come here," he said firmly, beckoning to her. She came over, and he showed her the pictures on the wall. "See this couple? They lived so long ago we barely remember their era. We are their descendants."

  "So?" said Dominica.

  He turned to her. "You are one of their descendants."

  "Yeah right!" Dominica rolled her eyes.

  He showed her a picture. "That is your father."

  Dominica looked and was shocked immediately. "That is my father!" She turned to him. "Did you kidnap my father?" she demanded.

  "No, our mortal enemies did," he said.

  "Who are they?"

  "Mortal enemies of our ancestors," he replied. "Descendants of Midnight Storm."

  Dominica's eyes widened, but she said nothing.

  "Yes," he said. "That is what we do. We save our fellow descendants before they are kidnapped. They don't do it often, but when we know their plans to, we get on top of it right away."

  "Then how come my family was kidnapped?" Dominica inquired.

  "We only managed to save you," he replied. "Your brother we tried to rescue, but failed. He was the main part of our partly successful mission."

  "Why?"

  "Nodar...he is the youngest male of our known fellow descendants. They want to kill him in hopes of  discouraging us from striking back at them," he replied. "You see, one of us killed Storm's youngest male descendant, and now they want to kill the youngest male descendant of my line. The couple I showed you, Nadezda and Jaremiah Lamar, are my great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents. I am Taylor Lamar."

  "Taylor, are we going to rescue my brother?" Dominica asked impatiently.

  "Yes," Taylor answered. "First, we need to prepare."

  Derek rested on his bunk. Diego, who slept below him, tried to make conversation.

  "That girl, she looks a lot like you," he commented.

  “So what?” Derek said. “We belong in the same, big family. Of course she would look like me. As a matter of fact, she probably looks like you, too. Now, do you think you could let me rest, or do you think that it’s absolutely necessary to talk my ears off, like you normally do?”

 

Police chief Jimenitz looked at a piece of paper that had been found in the limousine and sighed, with a scowl on his face. "Slippery criminals. They always escape!"

  "Chief!" one of his officers called. "The girl we are looking for is not in her hotel room, yet she is not reported to have checked out."

  Jimenitz sighed again, this time in frustration. "She must have been the one that group got away with, crazy kidnappers. Komardo!" he called to another officer. "Take Jamaal, Alan, Marianna, and Maraline, and investigate the woods. See if you can come up with anythnig that could help us find this girl."

  A recently appointed officer, Matt Devin, came up to Jimenitz. "Chief, I found a passage between the front of the limousine and the trunk."

  Jimenitz considered this. "Yes, a simple trick. They got her out of the trunk through the passage, and forced her to get out  from the side door of the limousine facing the woods." He turned to Devin. "Matt, you and Rob patrol this place. I'll send some more men out to you when the rest of us get back to the station." Jimenitz beckoned to the rest of the officers. "Come, we'll go back to the station." He turned to matt Devin and Rob Milan. "Be careful; these men could be dangerous."

  Back at the station, Jimenitz went to his underground office to further dig into Dominica's family history. He went further and further back until he reached Jaremiah and Nadezda Lamar. Then he went on to check out their enemies. He read several names, most of them unfamiliar to him. Then he read:

  'The most known descendant of these people is Spear Storm. He is most notorious for his cruelty, mostly in the form of impaling.'

  Jimenitz thought this over. “Hmm..interesting,” he murmured.

  His thoughts were interrupted by a loud knock on the door.

  Dale Irving, one of Jimenitz's most trusted aides, burst in. "Devin and Milan have been attacked, Chief. Milan we think is about to die, and Devin appears to have gone insane! They have been brought in, and Milan is currently under care."

  The office door suddenly crashed open, and they saw a wild-eyed Devin with his gun in hand. "You murderer!" he yelled. "You knew there was danger. You wanted us killed!" He aimed at Jimenitz.

  Quickly, Dale tackled the 25 year old officer and knocked him out. Jimenitz helped him take Devin upstairs.

  "Call in Dr. Dunlap," he ordered Dale. "We need to find out what's wrong with Devin."

 

Jason Dunlap performed a series of tests on Devin.

  "He has not gone insane," he reported to Jimenitz. "It seems as if his attacker riled him up to the point where he wanted to kill you."

  "But who attacked him?"Jimenitz wondered.

  Did anyone know? Yes, but only one.

The next day dawned cool and cloudy. Taylor took Dominica on a walk to show her the woods. He pointed out certain plants and landmarks that he had become familiar with in his many years of living there.

   "Oh, I forgot to tell you," he said. "You need to be careful when you're out in the woods alone, because someone mysterious roams here. One of us, Diego, was out foraging one day, when he heard quiet footsteps coming toward him. He ducked behind a tree, and a shadow went past. He saw no person. He was only eleven or twelve at the time, so he was pretty scared. He ran all the way back to our hideout. He saw it more after that, and he's even followed it, but it somehow always vanishes."

  "A shadow and no person? Interesting," Dominica mused. "Is he sure it's not just his imagination?"

  "Diego is a very trustworthy, honest young man," Taylor answered, ducking a tree branch. "I'd trust him any day with my life."

   Diego and Derek were grabbing a snack in the kitchen when Taylor and Dominica returned. The four sat at a table and talked over juice and cake.

   "Remember the day you saw the shadow, Diego?" Taylor inquired.

  "Sure, I do." Diego nodded. "I remember it as plain as day."

  "Are you sure it wasn't just your imagination?" Dominica asked.

  Diego nodded again, this time more vigorously. "I'm positive."

  "It's still a possibility," Derek put in. He grinned. "It's a definite possibiblity of a firm maybe."

  Taylor chewed thoughtfully on a forkful of cake and looked at Diego. "Er..did this shadow look like a walking shadow?"

  "I didn't look." Diego shrugged. "Why does it matter anyways?" He looked at Derek. "What do you think, Derek?"

  Derek shrugged. "I don't really see a difference." He pushed his chair back from the table, looking up and catching Dominica's eye. He grinned.

  Dominica stood up, embarrased. "I'm gonna go to the TV room and hang out. Bye." She quickly left the room.

  In the TV room, Dominica sank into a couch and thought about Derek. Why was he looking at me like that? she wondered to herself.

  A girl came over. "What's up?"

  "A boy was looking at me funny," Dominica replied briefly.

   The girl eyed her. "You're that old? I know how older brothers can be, but no one really looks at me like he loves me. I have an older brother myself, and three younger brothers, but no admirers. My older brother, Zadok, drives me crazy all the time, probably as much as my younger brothers, Zerah, Jeconiah, and Mehujael." She looked inquiringly at Dominica. "What is your name?"

  "Dominica. And he wasn't looking at me like he loved me. He looked at me as if he recognized me," Dominica answered.

  "I'm Solana. I'm the third oldest child in my family. I have a twin who is older than me. Do you have any younger siblings?" Solana asked quickly to change the subject.

  "I have two younger brothers," Dominica said. "I wish I had a sister or two, though."

  "Oh," Solana answered. "How old are you?"

  "I'm 16. How old are you?"

  "Just turned 13.  On our birthday, my twin, Thera, acted like it was a completely normal day, though it wasn't. She spent most of the time in our newspaper office. When she's actually around and being more social than usual-which isn't very often-she is crazy! When she is quiet, she could sit in the corner of a crowded room and no one would notice her. We are so different."

  "What kinds of things do you do?" Dominica asked.

 "Why don't I show you our newspaper office, and I'll tell you while we're going there," Solana suggested, standing. As they walked along, she said, "I do lots of chores. Mostly laundry and dish washing. In my free time, I collect news for our weekly newspaper. It's a whole lot more interesting than your usual paper. I'm one of the editors, too. I also enjoy writing short stories every now and then."

  It was then that they arrived at a huge room filled with computers. Solana gestured to it and said:

  "This is our computer room. This way..." She led Dominica to a small room crammed with desks, computers, and garbage cans, "is our editors' office. Taylor, Thera, Zadok, Dylan-one of my cousins-and I work here. Being the SOCIAL nut she is, Thera does upcoming events, Zadok does jokes and riddles, I does what's been going on lately, Taylor does sports, and Dylan, being a very technological kind of guy, does movie and CD stuff." Turning toward the computer room, she pointed to a desk with various computer parts scattered around on it. "That’s him. His hobbies drive his parents up a wall."

  Dylan was an average-sized, slim boy about Solana's age. He had spiky red hair and blue eyes. Looking up, he saw the pair and waved. "Hi, Solana!"

  Solana waved back. "Hey, Dylan. What're you doing?"

  "Fixing my dad's computer," he answered, "so that I can have a big slice of cake!"

  "He really likes cake,and it's really annoying," Solana said. "Um..do you want to meet my family?" she asked, steering Dominica out of the room. "We'll start with my little brothers."

  They went to a huge playroom, where Solana's younger brothers were playing war with plastic toys.

  "Ka-boom! Got your snipers with my all powerful nuclear bombs, Jeconiah!"

  "No fair! I only have cannons!" wailed a six year old boy, directing his anger on the army of his three year old brother, Mehujael, who in turn started blasting at the army of nine year old Zerah, yelling,

  "I got your riflemen with my cannons, Zerah! They went SQUISH! Ka-BLOOEY!  There went your snipers!"

  Dominica and Solana stood by, watching and grinning.

  "Here I come, Mehujael!" Zerah yelled. "Ka-BLAM! I wiped your army off the face of the earth!"

  "Did not!" Mehujael returned, dumping out the contents of a plastic box that he had been hiding. "I saved some!" He set them up and the battle resumed.

  Mehujael and Jeconiah teamed up to beat Zerah's army, then turned on each other. Mehujael beat his older brother. Then they turned to their audience.

  "Hi, Solana," Mehujael greeted his sister. "Who's your friend?"

  "Guys, say hi to my new friend Dominica," Solana told them.

  The three boys looked at each other, grinned, and said at the same time:

  "Hi, Dominica."

  "Hi," Dominica answered. "Could you tell me your names?"

  The boys looked at each other again, grinned again, and said at the same time,each saying their own name:

  "Zerah!"

  "Jeconiah!"

   Mehujael!"

   Rolling her eyes, Solana sent them back to keep playing and then told Dominica each one's name. Then they went off to find Solana's mother.