House of Secrets

Chapter 1

Casper Brendan Walters knew the house was going to be terrible.

The first tip-off was the overly cheerful voice of the real estate agent, Diana Collins, used on his mother.

"It's truly the most amazing house, Mrs. Walters," Diana chirped on speaker, "The perfect place for a sophisticated family like yours. And it's just gone through a major price reduction."

"Where is this house?" Casper asked. Age twelve, he sat next to his younger sister, Alyssa Eleanor Cordelia, playing Assassins on his much-loved PSP.  He sported his favorite black and red jersey, torn jeans and weathered high-tops.

"I'm sorry, who is that?" Diana asked from the dashboard of the car, where an iPhone sat in the holster.

"Our son, Casper Brendan," Dr. Walters answered, "You're on speaker."

"I'm talking with the whole Wlters family? What a treat! Well, Brendan,"--Diana sounded as if she expected to be commended for remembering his name--"the house is located at Four twenty-two Sea Cliff Avenue, among a stately collection of homes owned by prominent Americans.

"Like drunk people and addicts?" asked Casper.

"Like CEO's and bankers," Diana corrected.

"Shoot me."

"Cap!" Mrs. Walters scolded, using the nickname his younger brother gave him.

"You won't feel that way once you've seen the place," Diana said, "It's a charming, rustic woodsy jewel--"

"Whoah! Hold on,"Alyssa interrupted. "Say that again?"

"With whom am I speaking with now?" Diana asked.

With whom? Seriously? Alyssa thought--but the truth was she also used "whom" in her most intellectual moments.

"That's our daughter Alyssa Eleanor Cordelia," Mrs. Walters said, "Our youngest."

"Oh, what a pretty name...Cordelia!"

Don't "pretty name" me, Alyssa wanted to say, but even as the youngest, she was better than Casper at being tactful. She was a petite, little girl with delicate features which she hid behind long black bangs. "Miss Diana, my family has been looking for a house for the past months, and in that time, i have learned that real estate agents speak in what I call 'coded language'."

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean."

"Excuse me, but what does that mean, 'I'm sure, I don't know'?" Charles Jonathan Daniel, age eight and the older twin of Alyssa, cockily piped up. He had sharp eyes, a precise nose, and long, straight hair, the same color as his twin's, that sometimes had gone or leaves in it if he'd been adventurous that day. He tended to be noisy in moments he wasn't supposed to be, and that's what Casper loved most about him. "How can you be sure, if you don't know?"

Alyssa gave her twin an appreciative nod and continued: "I mean that when real estate agents say 'charming', they really mean 'small'. When they say 'rustic', they really mean 'near a habitat for bears'. 'Woodsy' means 'termite infested'...'Jewel', I don't even know...I'm assuming 'squat'.

"Al, stop being a tool," Casper grumbled, glued to his screen, irritated he hadn't thought of that line of reasoning himsef.

"Miss Diana," Alyssa still went on, "are you about to show a family a small, termite infested house near a bear habitat?"

Diana sighed over the speaker. "How old is she?"

"Eight," Dr. and Mrs. Walters said in unison.

"She sounds thirty-five."

"Why?" Alyssa asked, "Because I asked a pertinent question?"

Casper reached over from the backseat and ended the call.

"Cap!" Mrs. Walters yelled.

"I'm just saving our family some embarrassment."

"But Miss Diana was just about to tell us the house!"

"We already know what the house is going to be like. Like every other house we can afford: BAD!"

"I have to agree," Alyssa said. "And you know how much it hurts me to agree with Cap."

"You love agreeing with me," Casper mumbled, "because that's when you know you're right."

Alyssa laughed which made Casper smile despite himself.

"Good one, Cap," Johnny said, giving his brother's uncombed hair a quick rub.

"Kids, let's try to be positive about the house," Dr. Walters said, "Sea Cliff is Sea Cliff. We're talking about unobstructed views of the Golden Gate. I want to see it and I want to know about that reduced price. What was the adress again?"

"Four twenty-two," Johnny said, without looking up from his Super Mario game on his DS. He had an eerie ability to memorize things (just as his twin has a super high IQ); it comes from having to memorize sports plays, game cheats and computer codes. His parents joked that he would end up a lawyer because of it (and because he was so good at arguing), but Johnny didn't want to end up as a lawyer, he wanted to be something else. A person who works with electronic gadgets would be cool. Or a soccer player.

"Plug it into my phone will you?" Dr. Walters said, waving the phone in front of Johnny while he drove.

"In the middle of a boss fight, dad."

"So?"

"So i can't just pause."

"Isn't there a pause button?" Alyssa asked.

"Nobody's talking to you, Eleanor Cordelia," Jonthan shot back, "Could you guys just leave me alone, please?"

"You're already practically alone, " Alyssa seethed, "You always have your head buried in your stupid games--"

"How about Casper then?"

("Don't drag me into this," Casper mumbled.)

"--Cap knows when to stop. You don't! And you always find an excuse to skip dinner, you're never around because of your stupid soccer practices, and you refuse to go on trips with us...it's like you don't even want to be a part of thiss family!"

"You are a genius," Johnny said, "You've figured out my secret!"

Casper swooped in, grabbed the phone and plugged in the address--but she did it backward, putting the street in first, then the number. Alyssa wanted to give Johnny a nasty retort, but then she stopped. She was secretly hurt by what her brother said. Saying she was a genius wasn't really an insult, but the way he said it reminded Alyssa of the bullies at school, teasing her, pushing her around and calling her a nerd.

It was the house that was the real problem. Even Johnny (who never really cared) was suspicious of it now. It was going to be old enough for people to have died in. It was going to be falling apart, have crooked shutters, and have a layer of dirt an inch thick and an old, overgrown tree out in front, and abunch of snoopy neighbors who are going to look at the Walters and whisper, "Here are the suckers that are finally going to buy this thing."

But what could they do? At eight and fifteen, Alyssa, Jonathan, and Casper were each sure that they were at the worst possible age, the most powerless and unfair.

So Jonathan gamed and Alysa read and Casper fiddled with the GPS until they pulled up to 422 Sea Cliff Avenue. They looked out the window and their jaws dropped.

They had never seen anything quite like it.