The Hunt for Aquatenite

Chapter - 1 Liza

Look, I'm just doing this because of my sister. She insists that we should record our memories and blah, blah, blah. I wasn't really listening to her. When she is explaining, she speaks in the tone of some middle-aged professor. Now, if I write one more word, then she will make me study which I definitely don't wanna do so let me start our story.

I am Liza and I live with my twin sister, Lucy. Lucy is kind of a nerd. She loves to learn random facts about the world. So, if you find a 12-year-old girl scrolling through facts, completely engrossed in her phone, it might be her. And me? I'm a decent middle-grader who likes to play basketball in her free time.

"Lucy, wake up!" I yelled, hovering over her. "We are late for school."

Lucy opened her silver-blue eyes, startled. She looked into my amber eyes. Yes, we have different eye colors even though we're twins. It's always been a little weird for us.

Lucy shot out of bed, almost knocking me down. Her chocolate brown hair was disheveled and sticking out in weird places.

"Why didn't you wake me early?" Lucy asked. "Mrs. Brown's gonna kill us." She ran her hand through her hair.

"Oh, so it's all my fault?" I said, annoyed. "First look at your hair and–"

"No time. Let's just get going!"

We quickly packed our bags and were just going out when the bus driver drove off.

"Great. Now we are going to miss the class." Lucy sighed.

"You are talking about class? I had basketball practice." I also joined the sighing club with Lucy.

After a moment, Lucy said, "We can at least try to catch the bus. The next stop is near Mrs. Brown's. Let's go!"

We took a shortcut and reached the stop. The bus was meters away. Lining the road with traffic cones, we quickly stood at the bus stop like we were there the whole time. As the bus stopped, we climbed up.

Amelia, Olivia, and Mia, the school's witches for every play, were waiting for us. They are the best people to ruin an amazing day. Well, our day wasn't going amazing anyways.

The witches crossed their hands. "Where's our money?"

"You know better than us," I answered.

The witches stood up now. "You were the last one in the classroom yesterday when the whole class went out for the P.E. period. Only you could have stolen our money."

"That's ridiculous." I stepped towards them. "Don't ever blame us if something is missing and is yours. Anyone would want to steal it to annoy you."

I marched to the end of the bus away from the trio and sat with my hands crossed. Lucy came over to console me. "You know shouting will not work. We can't do anything without returning their pocket money."

"Except we didn't steal it."

Lucy thought about it and immediately fell silent.

* * *

In the first period, History class, I found a dollar in my bag. I was pretty sure it wasn't mine. The witches'?

In the second period, Geography class, Lucy found 2 dollars in her bag.

The break was when we discussed it.

"I have something important to tell," I said.

Lucy stared into space and muttered, "So do I."

"I have the witches' money in my bag."

"So do I."

"We are gonna die."

"So do I."

I paused, "Okay, I want to eat the spiciest chili in the world."

"So do I...What? Sorry, I was thinking about the money."

"Finally, I have got the witches' money in my bag."

"So do I."

Okay, now I'd had it. "Are you kidding me?"

"This time I meant what I said."

"Oh"

Lucy was looking very uncomfortable. She was biting her lips, shivering, and wasn't making eye contact.

We had always known everything by each other's behavior. Like when I had forgotten to do my homework or wanted to help her because I had torn down her notes or had a sleepover party right behind her back or... well, the point is we understood each other, living together alone for so long.

"Tell me. What's going on with you." I inquired. I didn't take my eyes off of her until she didn't reply.

She shrugged. "I don't want you to be worried but I got a letter today. It read..." She took out a piece of paper from her bag and unwrapped it. I leaned closer to look into it while Lucy read it out loud.

Dear Lucy and Liza, our loving daughters,

We love you, our darlings. We are your parents. Before ignoring this letter please understand that you are havens and are supposed to learn at Aresten. If you are going to ignore this letter, show it to Liza. Then again think about it.

I gestured for her to stop. From what I could see, there was some random junk written on the paper. "This is all gibberish, Lucy. What're you playing at?"

"What are you talking about? I can understand it." We stared at each other for a moment when Lucy's eyebrows shot up. "'If you are going to ignore this letter, show it to your sister'. You can't read it but I can! I think this is what they are talking about. Is this magical or what?"

If you have decided to come here, place this paper at a place very close to your heart.

Sincerely,

Your mom and dad

I sighed. "If this really is from our parents..." My voice failed me but I continued. "Then we should at least try it.

Lucy nodded, a grim expression on her face.

We stood up and made our way out of the school, making sure no one saw us.

We reached our home. We lived in a large house. Our mai and abba (mom and dad, the ones who adopted us) were very rich. When we were born and had opened our eyes for the first time, our biological parents were gone. We'd never seen them.

After mai and abba also died in an accident, they left us their money.

We climbed up the stairs into our room in a hurry. I looked towards Lucy as we went to the nightstand at the side of our bed. One last look and Lucy placed the letter over mai and abba's photo. A blinding light emerged from the letter, filling the room. And we disappeared.