Kingdom Keepers: Next Generation

Chapter 2: The Mysterious Phone Call

Sofia Whitman

Whoever invented mornings should rot in the underworld.

I don't understand why someone would see the sun rising and think "Oh, yes, this seems like the perfect time to have children wake up for their 8 hours of unnecessary studies!" And I certainly don't understand why someone would agree.

My brother, Lucas, once told me that teenagers need more sleep than children and adults. Yet, the people in charge of educating our imperative part of society expect us to not only function, but be our best, most productive, and most happy selves at the crack of dawn. What's so bad about 10? Or even 9?

Deciding today was not the day to abide by these ridiculous expectations, I hit snooze. I was able to get a maximum of 5 more minutes of sleep when my mother's voice echoed up from the kitchen. I groaned, burrowing further into my cocoon of blankets and pressing my pillow over my head in an attempt to muffle the noise of my siblings getting up. It was effective too, as I didn't hear my twin come in until my previously comfortably warm bed became a sauna.

"Okay, okay," I mumbled, escaping the suffocating heat my brother was inflicting on me and sitting up, "I'm awake."

Lucas was already dressed, looking as if he had gotten up before the sun rose, though I wasn't sure how anyone could.

"Isn't it a little early for unnecessary exertions of energy?" I asked.

Lucas smirked, a ball of orange flames appearing in his palm. "It's only unnecessary when you don't get up." he retorted, tossing the ball from hand to hand.

I responded by simply rolling off of my bed and onto my floor.

I suppose I should explain my lack of surprise at this method of waking up. When Lucas and I were little, he had accidently set his bedsheets on fire and I managed to put it out with the cup of water on his nightstand. The thing is, I'd never touched the cup, nor did Lucas have any means of setting the sheets on fire in the first place. It was as if the water had just responded to my panic without me ever having to move. Since then, we've experienced some very close calls: water fountains exploding or small fires starting without explanation. It sounds truly crazy, but it just... happens. There was no real explanation for our "superpowers", and, trust me, Lucas had found a few theories.

Lucas' eyebrows scrunched together in concern and pain as he put out the flame in his hand. "Must you always flop onto the floor in the mornings like a fish? I'm going to bruise."

"You bruise too easily, then." I said, "And it is a very useful way to ensure I do not fall asleep again."

"If you say so." Lucas said, turning to leave the room.

I scowled at his back. I will never understand morning people, especially when that person shares my genes. You see, while I concede that Lucas and I are a lot alike, we're also total opposites at the same time. I mean, fire and water? They're as contradictory as I can imagine.

Anyway, the whole "bruising" thing. Another odd thing about my brother and I: we can feel when the other gets hurt. I don't mean we get, like, a brain notification when the other bumps into a chair. I mean we literally feel the impact, develop the bruises and scrapes. Every little twinge of pain or unwanted pressure is felt as if you were the one who banged into the chair in the first place.

I stood up, not bothering to make my bed and put on a pair of leggings and a tee shirt, never really being one to care about my appearance. I slunk my backpack over my shoulder and fumbled down the stairs to the only thing keeping me going: food.