The Red Pendant

Chapter 3

"Hey, Aaron," Maryanne called out as they were walking down the dusty path on The Hill. "Why don't we take the long way home, through the forest? We don't have anything to do today."

"Ok," Aaron replied with a shrug. "Why not."

As they were walking, they turned down the crossover path that headed towards the forest. An old, ragged sign with indescribable words was hanging on a post there at the turn. When they entered the forest, with the beautiful trees and brush surrounding them, Maryanne perked up; she absolutely loved to be around nature and plants, especially when it's just her and Aaron.

"Hey, Maryanne," Aaron suddenly said, looking at his sister with a small smile.

"What?" Maryanne asked, looking back at him.

"Would you like to stay out here until sunset?" Aaron asked, preparing for a huge outburst of excitement.

"Yes! I would!" Maryanne exclaimed, an immense smile bursting on her face. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she smiled as she jumped on him with a large embrace.

"Sisters," Aaron whispered as he smiled to himself. "I am sure that I am never going to understand them."

He looked over to Maryanne, who had run off and was then sitting on a lovely bed of flowers, humming a tuneless melody as the flowers changed into enchanting multicolored patterns all around her. Small butterflies fluttered all around, aroused by the change of nature all around them. Aaron then saw a small, hairy caterpillar crawling up his sister's back, and he stifled a laugh.

"Maryanne, you have a mudland caterpillar on your back," he remarked, laughing to himself.

"No, I don't believe you," Maryanne chided bluntly, turning around to play with a small monarch perching on a flower in front of her, oblivious to the small, spiked creature crawling its way up.

"I'm serious," Aaron responded, cracking up. "Look, now it is on your shoulder."

Maryanne looked at her shoulder and not a moment passed before she shrieked, "GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!"

"Ok, ok calm down," Aaron laughed as he plucked the small creature from its spot upon her shoulder. "You're afraid of this little guy?" he asked, holding up the caterpillar. "It's absolutely harmless. It's just a bug."

"It's not just a bug!" Maryanne cried out, shock and disgust evident on her face. "It's a hideous hairy bug-worm that totally freaks me out!"

"Ok, ok, got it," Aaron smirked as he tossed it away.

Maryanne sat back down on the flower bed, her mood just about ruined. Then she started absentmindedly twisting her fingers about her pendant, thinking to herself. "Hey, Aaron, what kind of pendant do you think this is?" Maryanne asked, pointing at the very subject of her thoughts. "I have asked around, but no one knows where it comes from or who could have made it."

"I don't know," Aaron replied honestly. "Our mother could have made it, or maybe bought it, or even got it as a present. We really don't know, because we know nothing about her."

"Yeah, well, I wish I knew where she got it. It's very pretty, and I kind of feel like it's special in a way. Well, I guess we may never know. Mom could have even found it, and not have known where it came from herself," Maryanne pondered softly, wishing that she knew more, but not wanting to ask herself.

"Maryanne, Marcus did say that when we were ready he would tell us about our parents," Aaron stated, a serious tone showing through his voice.

"Yeah, what about it?" Maryanne asked, looking up at him.