Crook A Jeff the Killer story.

The Art of Penguining.

The next day it snowed. Yes, it was in the middle of the fall and it SNOWED! There was a snow day (of course) and we all stayed home. A word to the wise, NEVER let Toby have skittles. Ever.

"TASTE THE RAINBOW!!!" Toby shouted as he proceded to pelt us with skittles. I had been a smart person and hid under the table. Everybody else was on their own! It seemed that Toby would never run out of the darn things but a few minutes later he did. The floor was littered with skittles. Once that had ended we needed something else to do. I was filling up the pool but that would take forever and it would need to be heated.

"How about we sled down the driveway?" Ben asked.

"Do you have sleds?" Jeff asked me.

"Yes I have sleds. I have like four of them. And with the snow on the driveway we could sled down it. Once I even almost hit the mailbox!" I walked over to the garage to find the sleds. There were three round ones and one long one. I claimed the long one. I made up this thing called 'penguining' that I do. It's where you get a running start then slide on the long sled on your stomach like a penguin. It's especially fun if you hit the curb with all the snow.

While Masky and Hoodie stayed on the top of the driveway filming, the rest of us got sledding. Ben slid down on a round one first. Apprently he didn't know the darn thing spun around as it went down a hill. It was hilarius. He clung to the sides as he went down like he was going to die if he let go. When he got to the bottem of the driveway it fell over. Ben was covered in snow. The next person to go was Toby. He liked the spinning around, and even made it spin faster by pushing on the ground. When Toby got to the bottom he jumped into a snowdrift. Next was Jeff. He decided it would be a great idea to try to stand and sled down the driveway at the same time. Well I'm going to tell you this now, he failed miserably. About halfway down the sled veered off into the snow an he had to bail. I nearly died laughing. I was the last to go. Now when I watched Jeff I had an idea. I backed up to the garage door then ran full speed. As I was about to run into the sled I jumped on it. Instead of going on my stomach I stayed on my feet and steered. I went across the street and crashed into a snowdrift.

"That was awesome!" Ben jumped around.

"How'd you do that?" Jeff asked.

"I don't know. I just went for it." I replied with a shrug. As I was walking back up the hill I noticed that the snow that was on my hands was steaming off, "That's odd." I whispered. I didn't mention it to anyone.

So after a few hours of sledding, completely failing at snowboarding on sleds, and a series of epic wipeouts, we finally retired back to the house.

"Hey, looks like the suns coming out!" Jeff pointed up as the clouds parted. Sunshine replaced the grayness. It was pretty. I went up to my room to change into dry clothes. When I got up there I looked down at my hands again. They were steaming again.

I shook my head, clearing my head of these thoughts. After getting into dry clothes I went back downstairs. The next thing to do was figure out what to do next. Just as they were going to finalize the plans I remembered something in my parent's room. There was a secret room that I had found once. If my premonition was correct, I had to get into that room.

"I have to get something. Don't wait for me." Without waiting for an answer I walked into my parent's room. On the far side of the room a painting hung. It was a young woman with fair skin and red hair. She wore a beautiful yellow dress that people would have worn in the 19th century. On the bodice was a red rose. This woman was pretty, this woman was my mother. At birth a psychic paints a picture of what we will look like at age 18, in Victorian era clothing. I gripped the right edge of the painting and pulled. It swung open easily. I stepped inside the small room. The painting swung shut behind me. The room was lit only by small lamps. Paintings lined the wall. I saw my great grandmother at 18. My grandmother, my mother again, then me. Unlike the others mine had a plaque.

Jennifer Daniels, The Girl of the Flame.

"What does that mean?" I wondered aloud.

"It means you are the change." A voice said. I whirled around to see no one.

"Who said that? Where are you?" I scanned the room for anyone.

"I'm in your head, dearie. I'm the power deep within you. You are the change that the oracle foretold. Take another look at your painting." The voice explained. I looked at the painting, "Your mother was afraid of you because of the prophecy the oracle gave her about her unborn child." The painting showed, well, me. My black hair was long and in a braid. My skin was white, my eyes red, and my dress white. I wore a black cloak around me. Around me were four symbols.

The first one was a circle with an X through it. The second one was an eye with three lines under it. The third one was a circle with one sliver white and the rest black topped with a cross. The fourth one was two eyes, one turned to the side and put on top of the other one.

"What are those symbols?" I asked.

"Look on the dagger." The voice whispered. I took out the dagger. On one side it had the symbols, on the other it said THE SYMBOLS OF THE FLAME, "The first flame born in a family of light. Your mother saw the painting and knew you would be a flame."

"Wait what? A family of light? Flame? What is going on here?" I knit my eyebrows together.

"You have fire within you. But nows not the time. Your friends are waiting."

----------------------------------------------

Text from M to HM

Target seen outside today. Need to act soon.