Do You Have A Qlue?

Prologue

A Note to Reader: Sorry for the long prologue...but the story will make alot more since if you do read it. I'll tried to make it as less boring as possible. If you have any suggestions, please comment =).

The masterpiece clock goes tick-tock-ding. It signals the new day, a reminder to everybody to get to their positions. Guards, who were just dismissed from their night shifts, shout to their partners irritatingly, trying to quicken the switch. It didn't, as always, work as fast as they intended. But that didn't matter. They were getting sleep, finally, after a wasted day (or night) without anything or anyone intruding.

The so called palace belonged to the Qlue family: Master Soren Qlue, Miss Amy Qlue, and Mr. Aaron Qlue. There used to be another member, but she disappeared in a mysterious incident that barely anybody knows about. That person was Mistress Tara Qlue. Even fewer knew that it was this accident that changed their lives forever. Despite the 10 year search by the, not National, but International Police Committee (IPC), nobody had a clue of who the suspects were.

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A girl with raven black hair and smooth tanned skin had just awakened at the sounds of the grandfather clock. She opened one of her eye lids and squinted at the brightness of the sunlight coming through the windows. How unusual, she thought. Tick-tock-ding, chimed the clock outside. Shouting began just a millisecond afterward. She heard footsteps coming and going away near her door. But there was one particular rhythm she is trying to pin-point.

A knock came from the other side of the door. The girl wasn't surprised. She already knew it was her personal maids about the grounds, on their regular routine. And since she does have a little naughty side, she would rather make her routine very enjoyable in her measures. As a response, she flipped back her blanket and stuffed some pillows under it, tip-toed to the night stand and, as quiet as possible, climbed into it and closed the drawer. It was dark in there, but soon light progressed through as her private servants were yanking back the curtains and rushing in with their supplies and an assortment of tools.

The head maid scanned the silent room. Her eyes landed on the bed. "Hmmm", she mused. "I wonder where a girl at the age of 8 would be after, if I do say so myself, quite a sleepy night?"

When the devious girl wouldn't answer she continued. "Oh, well I suppose she wouldn't be..." said the same maid as she yanked the blankets off the bed. "...under...the bed?!" Shocked, the maid dropped the blanket on the floor while staring open-mouth at the pillows the girl had put underneath.

"Jumping jelly jam!" exclaimed the maid. "Oh great heavens! Lord, please leave that child be..." The others heard the head maid's prayers and started desperately searching for the lost child.

The mischievous girl studied the scene she had caused from behind the wooden board that was between her and the action. Smiling to herself, she made a mental note that next time she would leave something more exciting underneath the comforter, like, maybe, cockroaches? She returned her focus back to her bed chamber, stiffling a giggle.

When the maids saw that it was hopeless, they put out a table and began bringing in flowers and bouquets, her favorite belongings, and even a funeral cake. Each of the maids said some emotional things about the girl, some even started crying. Since Master is doing his daily, early business in his office, the maids thought it would be best if they tell him afterwards. One loss was already enough. Two losses would certainly leave the family dangling.

The head maid was the first one to tell her speech. "I remember the time when I first laid eyes on the girl. She was just a baby!" Tears were streaming down her face. "I'll ne-ever forget-t the t-time when sh-she su-ggessst-ed th-th-at...we play hide and....ohhhh." Suddenly, the relation hit her as her face turned from having blurry eyes to a dramatic sigh of relief. The other maids, also noticing what was going on, sagged their shoulders. The girl, seeing the audience's reactions, knew that her show had finally ended and decided it was time to reveal herself.

The women stared as the night stand door opened to reveal the tiny girl in her flowy, white night gown. She smiled awkwardly at them, only to get silent glares in return. And from that day on, she knew she had nowhere to hide from her personal servants.

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Knock-knock. The boy laying on his bed was still snoring. Knock-knock. The boy grimaced, then rolled his body to the farthest side of the bed, away from the door. Bang-Bang! The boy groaned loudly and threw a pillow at the door just as it opened.

"Oomph!" exclaimed the servant that got hit. He grabbed the pillow from his face and threw it on the ground, which was covered with many more pillows (and other stuff) that formed something like a barrier to the grand bed near the center of the room. The servant struggled to get though the sea of garbage while the boy snuggled in what was again the dreamy, dark silence.

"Okay buddy, sleepy time is over." The man was almost to the bed when suddently, the boy flung another pillow at his face. "Oomph!" He batted the pillow away and saw another patch of white coming his way. But this time, he caught it. He pointed the pillow accusingly at the young face that was smiling up at him, now fully awake. The servant couldn't resist to grin back. "Now up with you lad. Come on."

But the boy wasn't done playing yet. Let's see how long it will take him to catch me, he thought.

"Come on," said the servant again. "We made---hey! What are you doing?" As he watched, the boy disappeared under the covers, snickering as he went. Sighing, the servant walked to the bed. "Hey quit it. This isn't funny," he said in an irritating voice as he lifted the comforter up, expecting to see a little 10 year old boy underneath, but stared in puzzlement at the white cover without a hint of somebody sleeping there before.

The sneaky boy, emerging from a pile of his dirty clothes on the floor, observed the servant as he tried patting the mattress, as if to get some clues to where he has gone. Pity, thought the kid as he started snaking his way to the door. I almost thought he was different. He shook his head and was almost to the exit when he felt hands lifting him up.

"Finally decided it wasn't as fun as you thought, huh?" The boy looked at the servant, who was now leading him the rest of the way to the hallway. When they stepped out into the light, the man gave him a firm, but encouraging shove that pushed him toward the grand stairway. The boy turned back to the man, and now that there was enough light to see, he thought he saw an odd glint in the young, blue eyes that gave a hint of cleverness in them. Did he behave like this on purpose?

As if reading his mind, the boy broke the silence. "You are good." He smiled, and his white teeth flashed. "Welcome aboard, Minion #3---no, your 2 since the previous guy went missing. Hope you don't fall to soon, like him." He started to make his way down the corridor, talking behind his back. "Oh, and you might want to turn on the lights in my room the next time you go there. Cause that's the last place he was seen."

The boy was still smiling as he descended the stairs, enjoying the smell of breakfast in the air, leaving behind the gawking servant, too surprised by the sudden change in the boy's personality to move. When he finally did, he was haunted by the thoughts of himself buried under the piles of garbage...and Minion?

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Everybody was shocked at the difference of the characteristics between the members of the family. While Master set a grand example of what a leader should be, his son was every angle of improper. Although that changed (thankfully and finally) when he grew up to be an almost proper gentleman who is optimistic, responsible, organized, and charming (shockingly). Some say that his father's traits finally lead him the right way. But others took it as a mental change...meaning puberty. His daughter on the other hand is not exactly like her father, but not as terrible a trouble maker as her brother was. She was a very clever girl who grew up to be one of the smartest people known to mankind. Like her sibling, she is also tidy and liable, but serious most of the time.

Before the incident, the Qlues were a "normal", happy family that had more wealth than they needed. The day that Mistress disappeared, rumors said that Master got so emotional that he refused to work with the other officials for the whole day. Just because of that, his team had to delay and lose so much profit. After that day, the probability of getting some sunlight in the city was equivalent to how often people saw a lunar eclipse.