Almendrem's Stone

Chapter 1: Liam and Michelle

Three Years Later.

    "Come on, Morgan! We have to keep moving!" I yelled back to Morgan, who was running behind me.
    It's been three years since our parents were killed. Morgan was now five years old, and I was seven. The WITTS had found us and were chasing us through a parking lot of an abandoned flower shop. There was a helicopter overhead and about 5 men chasing us on foot. I've always been noticeably faster than kids my age but Morgan, not so much.
    "I can't run faster! I'm not a good runner!" Morgan screamed from behind me.
    Just then, another pack of WITTS men came from the forest to the side of the flower shop. Soon enough, we were surrounded. I stopped short and signaled for Morgan to stop running too. The men were advancing but we had nowhere to go. This is it. It all ends here. I thought to myself. I grabbed Morgan's hand. When we thought all hope was lost, one of the men just instantly fell to the floor. Then another. Then another. Everywhere WITTS men were just dropping like flies. Soon enough the leader of the crew called for a retreat and all the men boarded the helicopters. As the last helicopter flew off and the smoke cleared, two figures walked towards us. A boy and a girl.
    "You need to come with us," The girl said. She looked much older then me. Maybe around 11, and the boy around 10. She had light brown hair and frightening green eyes. The pale skin on her face had a few freckles and in her hand was a tazer gun.
    "Who are you, and why should we trust you?" I asked, protectively stepping in front of Morgan.
    "I'm Liam and she's my older sister Michelle. We're Protector's too," Liam said. His sandy blonde hair was glimmering in the sunlight. His icy blue eyes reminded me of the color of my parent's room. It made me sad.
    "Yeah, we were the ones who saved you two. That answer your question?" Michelle added.
    "Yeah, but where are you taking us?" I asked.
    "You'll see," Michelle winked. "Now, come on."
    ***

    The flower shop was bigger than I had thought. There was a desk at the back of the room, and shelves of flower pots lined the walls. There was a refrigerator near the desk and a huge map on the wall behind it. The whole room smelled like so many flowers. There was daffodils, roses, tulips, lilac, iris, daisies, lilies, peonies, sunflowers, and so many exotic plants that I haven't even heard of. There was a high tech computer on the desk and a diagram of what was probably the complete Almendrem's Stone.
    "Pretty cool huh? This is our base," Liam smiles.
    "Wow," I said in awe. "This is awesome."
    "Are you the only ones here?" Morgan asked.
    "Yup, this place is all to ourselves. Now it's us and you guys," Michele said.
    "So, you're helping us?" I asked.
    "Yeah, there's only a few Protectors out there and yet there are thousands of WITTS men trying to kill us and get the stone. As Protectors, it's our job to find other protectors and reunite the Stone to defeat Albert Wishmorger and the WITTS," Liam explained.
    "So what do we do now?" Morgan questioned. She was looking at the map on the wall.
    "We were going to stay here for maybe another day or two, but then we'd have to move and start all over again. Now that the WITTS know where we are there's no doubt they're gonna come back again. Maybe sooner than we think," Michelle answered, walking towards Morgan and the map.
     While Liam and Michelle told Morgan about the possible places we can relocate to, I walked over to the diagram of Almendrem's Stone.  I noticed there was a blank outline of the diagram next to the filled in one. It has a bunch of lines, representing all of the missing pieces. There was already a piece taped on to it and I figured it was Liam and Michelle's piece. I held our piece up to the diagram and figured out that it was the piece next to the Liam and Michelle's piece. When I held them close they started to glow and vibrate. I was scared I would break it so I quickly pulled my hand away.
    "It's ok, you can put it there. This way those pieces are united and we only have..." Liam paused to count the empty shape outlines on the diagram           
    "8 more pieces to go. Also this way we don't lose any pieces."
    "Ok," I replied as I slowly reached up and held the piece near the other. They started to glow and vibrate while I held it. I let go thinking it would surely drop but instead the pieces joined together like magnets. "Cool!"
    "Hey guys! Morgan just thought of a good idea!" Michelle yelled from the other side of the room. Liam and I ran over to the map where they were standing.
     "What is it?" I asked.
    "I was thinking that maybe we head out to Pennsylvania. I don't know why, but, I sense something there. L-like it's calling me," Morgan explained.
    "Umm, what does she mean by, 'Its calling me'?" I asked confused.
    "Well some Protectors are born with the ability to sense where other Protectors are and sometimes when WITTS are near. Morgan happens to be one of them," Liam explains.
    "Oh, cool!" I said "Well maybe we should start heading there now cause look."
    I pointed towards the window. Heading towards us was a huge WITTS helicopter. It was only minutes away. If we had any chance of living, we had to leave. Now.
    "Oh my, thats a huge Helicopter. There has to me at least 300 WITTS on there. Grab your stuff guys, we gotta move," Liam said. We all grabbed our stuff and ran out the back door.
    "Come on! We know a shortcut to a hideout!" Michelle said from in front of me. We ran into the woods, straight through bushes and all. Finally we came to a very tall tree with a rope hanging down from it. As soon as I looked up my jaw dropped.
    "This is it. My tree lookout," Michelle boasted. The thing was huge. It had a huge deck with binoculars and everything. I couldn't wait
    "Wait. So you're telling me, you had an awesome Treehouse and you didn't tell me about it!" Liam said.
    "Come on guys what are you waiting for?" Yelled Morgan who had already climbed halfway up the rope.