The Lost Queen

Prologue

When she walked onto the bus she saw an old man staring at her. He had black eyes, that looked like endless pits. She couldn't tear her eyes from him. It was as if he was sucking her in. She tried to rip her eyes away and keep walking, but she couldn't move her feet. She tried to wiggle her toes and fingers, but she had lost control of everything. She knew what was happening, but she was not prepared. She knew she had to get away, and fast.

She very slowly tried to tear her mind away from his glare. Think, she thought, think of anything but him. She thought of her daughter, who would be at home waiting to be tucked into bed.

She thought of her father, who would soon be needing help getting ready for bed. She thought of Zeek, who wouldn't enjoy her being late to their study date. She had already missed the last one. She tried to think of anything but the man in front of her, but it all centered around him.

The guy behind her was becoming annoyed at her stillness. "Hey, are you going to find a seat or not!" He was practically yelling at her, everyone on the bus had their eyes on her now. Some were confused, some looked annoyed, while others had little grins on their faces. She saw this all out of the corners of her eyes, and that's when she broke away from his hold and fell backward into the man that had just yelled at her.

A small squeak came out of his mouth and he hurried and caught her. Her fist came back and hit him square in the jaw. He yelled this time and shoved her away from him, but she didn't care. She was free, and she had to get off this bus. She pushed pass the people who were all craning their necks to see what was taking so long. She jumped off the bus and started running towards her home.

She didn't dare look back, but in case the black-eyed man was following her she took a few detours that involved some jumping and climbing. She knew this wouldn't stop them forever, but it would confuse them.

When she finally got to her apartment she ran up the stairs and burst through the door. She quickly, and quietly ran to her daughter's room and peeked in. She was curled up under the blankets sound asleep. She breathed a sigh of relief then quietly backed up out of the room and closed the door. Then she ran into the living room and found her father sitting in his wheel chair intently watching a game show she couldn't recall the name of.

He slowly turned his head to look at her and she saw that he was mad at her. "I'm sorry papa I got caught up in work, and I had to go see if Zeek was still waiting for me. I forgot my phone here, so I couldn't call him, I'm sorry. I know I usually help you into bed by 9, but I have my own life. The schedule will have to change sometimes." She looked at him pleadingly, trying to tell him she was sorry. Her father hated when a schedule was changed, and it frustrated her. "I ran into trouble and got here as fast as I could. I need to check on something and then I will help you into bed. Okay?" She knew he wouldn't answer, he had lost his speech a few months after he was diagnosed with cancer. He couldn't even move his own wheelchair anymore.

She hurried into her room and shuffled under her bed looking for the brief case. She felt the slick handle and pulled it out. She put in the code, and opened the first container. Then she used her fingerprint to open the second container inside the briefcase. She hurried and pulled out the little slip of paper that could end millions of lives. It read,

Her name is the key, the key to the bomb, the bomb is the death of millions, midnight.