Chapter 1

Aeron stood at the dining room windows, watching her father’s limo pull away. It was the first time all summer he had left the manor, and given her a chance to escape.

“Are you ready?” her twin brother, Decius, asked.

“Yeah. Did you tell Mom?”

“I think she has some idea, but—”

“Better if she doesn’t know,” Aeron finished. The two teens headed toward the back garden, which opened into a cemetery—the quickest way out of the estate and to the lake. They picked up speed, hurtling headstones and vaulting from benches. Aeron sprinted ahead, reaching the wall first. She cupped her hands to give Decius a boost up. He ran full speed, launching off her hands and landing on top of the eight foot wall. He grinned down at her.

“What if I left you here?” he asked, gray eyes lit with mischief.

“I’d set fire to your rooms,” she replied, grinning back at him.

“You would,” he agreed, and reached down a hand, pulling her up with him. They jumped into the woods surrounding the estate, continuing their race to Lake Gaillard, the lake which their estate, and sub-town of Gaillard Falls, overlooked in North Branford, Connecticut. It was a tiny town, and hadn’t grown much over the past hundred years. The townspeople still averted their eyes when they passed; they were always polite—but their family’s roots in the town were not pleasant ones. Gaillard Falls was uncharted on any map—the blood money from Aeron’s ancestors kept it that way. And although the townspeople lived wealthy lives, Aeron knew they would love nothing more than to see her family gone—or at least dead. She let the thoughts fizzle past her as they raced to the water.

Aeron reached it first, stopping at the edge to glance back at Decius. Instead, she felt the impact of his body hitting hers. She screeched as they both tumbled into the lake.

“Decius!” she gasped, when she broke the surface. He was several feet from her, and laughing, his shirt and shoes strewn down the hill. “I. Can’t. Believe. You!” she said, splashing water at him with each word. Decius laughed and ducked below the surface.

“What’s wrong? Did I ruin your Armani sundress?” he asked, feigning innocence, but she could see the humor in his identical gray eyes.

“Shut it.” He had ruined her sundress, but it wasn’t like she didn’t have an unlimited supply.

Decius followed her to the tall boulders along the shore, and they climbed out. They had a lake at the manor. They had an Olympic sized pool and a diving well with multiple platforms at the manor, but they didn’t have the natural surrounding boulders with small landings jutting out, or the trees with ropes to swing on. One could always be made, but where would they have to escape to?

Decius scaled the boulders first, heading straight for the top—a fifty foot drop. Not many of the town’s kids went that high. The drop brought you precariously close to hitting the forty foot drop just below. Aeron followed a bit slower, enjoying the feeling of freedom.

“Hey, Aeron!” Decius called from above. He grinned wickedly and back flipped off the edge. She heard a shriek from the ground—a group of girls about their age pointing up. They flinched as he barely missed smashing his skull on the forty-foot ledge, only to go into a series of flips and twists. Aeron wasn’t worried about his head—she was irritated he had called her to grab the attention of some town girls.

“Jerk,” Aeron mumbled, and climbed her way to the top. Decius swam over to the group of girls who were ooh-ing and aah-ing over him—flirting with danger. She laughed. She had been the one to teach him that dive. Aeron stripped off her sundress and shoes. She took a deep breath, setting herself up to do a gainer—a back flip from a facing forward position.

She waited while a freckled-faced boy to set up on the twenty foot ledge. He was fidgety and obviously uncomfortable. A small group of boys sat along the opposite shore of Decius, yelling up to the boy. Aeron held her breath, straining her ears.

“Jump!”

“C’mon! Just do it!”

“If he can do it from all the way up there, you can do it from that one!”

Aeron looked back at the boy below her. He was tall and lanky and she knew he wasn’t a strong swimmer—he was terrified. “Don’t do it,” she said softly to herself, and as he stepped to the edge she found herself yelling, “No! Don’t do it!” But he didn’t hear her. He took two steps back for momentum and jumped.

“Fool!” Aeron spat, and she launched herself from the top ledge, diving straight for him—her long platinum hair trailing like a cape. His arms flailed and his screams penetrated her ears. She squeezed her muscles to move more quickly through the air. The boy hit the water with a crack. Aeron had time to see him surface, gulp for air, and flail one arm above his head before she breached the water ten feet from him.

Breaking her dive when she hit the water, Aeron’s heart pounded as she surfaced, looking wildly around. He had been right there. She scanned the area where he had been, and saw a slight stir of the water—his finger tips scratching the surface. She swam over to his hand and went under.

Opening her eyes against the burning lake she was relieved to find herself face to face with him. Aeron wrapped her arms around him and kicked up hard, dragging the boy with her.

She resurfaced and gulped the fresh air, making sure his head was above water too. He spluttered and choked; he was breathing but barely conscious. She switched her grip to under his arms and began swimming toward the shore; Decius met her halfway.

“Thanks,” she said as he took half the weight.

“Fool,” Decius said, glaring at the now unconscious boy. “Why would you jump if you can’t swim?” Aeron would have smiled, but they were reaching the shore. The two siblings dragged the limp, lanky boy up the shore and laid him down.

“Is he breathing?” a small girl’s voice asked. Aeron looked up to see—what felt like—half the town gawking down at them. Aeron ignored the crowd and moved around the limp boy checking his vitals; he was breathing and had a pulse, but his body was trembling, and his lips had a blue tinge.

“Would somebody call an ambulance and get me a blanket!” she yelled into the crowd.

People scattered and began asking her questions, all which she ignored. “What is his name?” She barked to the boys who had been egging him on. They stared at her. “His name,” she said again, slowly this time because they were still staring at her.

“Peter.” It was the voice of the small girl, with tears running down her face. “His name is Peter.” The girl could only be his little sister; they had the same freckled skin and sandy-brown hair. Aeron refocused her attention to Peter. His arm was obviously broken, twisted at a strange angle from his impact of the water.

“Did someone call an ambulance?” she asked, to no one in particular.

“Yeah,” Decius’ voice came from beside her. “But we should set his arm. It might even bring him to.”

“Sure,” Aeron agreed. “Get me something to splint it with.” She felt him leave, and braced herself for the shriek of pain which was to follow. She moved Peter’s arm and Decius was right there with the brace. Peter sprang to consciousness in a yell of pain, and Decius held him down as Aeron set his broken arm. She could hear the sirens in the background.

“Peter,” she said calmly, her gray eyes gazing into his blue ones, willing him to relax.

“Peter it’s okay. You are okay.” His eyes slid into focus and he nodded before falling back—unconscious once again.

The EMTs arrived and took Peter away on a stretcher. “He’ll be all right,” they assured the crowd, and gave a nod of approval at the make shift splint. The crowd was captivated by the ambulance speeding away, so Aeron and Decius took the opportunity to slip away as well. They were going to be in so much trouble.

Leaving their clothes behind, Aeron and Decius silently slipped into the woods surrounding the lake. They ran full speed through the dense trees, leaping over fallen logs and dodging low branches. Aeron’s bare feet ached from pounding on protruding rocks and she climbed the nearest tree, running across limbs and jumping from tree to tree. The wall was ten feet away, Aeron vaulted—reaching out hands first and allowing her leg’s momentum to continue under her, she dropped to the ground, rolling out of her landing. She glanced up to see Decius swing himself over the wall and drop down next to her.

They were in the back of the manor now, and had to run through the stables to reach the house.

Aeron hesitated for a moment as they reached the large red building, but Decius pulled her through.

“C’mon,” he said, dragging her by the arm. “It’s the fastest way. Close your eyes if you have to.”

And she did. Aeron squeezed her eyes shut and let Decius lead her through the stables. She didn’t open them again until she felt the cool cement of the basement under her feet. She pulled her arm free as they moved through the maze of the dungeon-like-basement, with its

twisting passages and small barren rooms. They took the stairs two at a time and came up short when the trap door to the mudroom swung open. Aeron grasped onto Decius to keep them from tumbling back down the steep stairwell. Their mother stood in the opening, her eyes wide and her face serious.

“Hurry,” she whispered, and stepped aside to allow them past her. “Your father is in his study. His meeting was cancelled and he returned home just moments ago.” Aeron and Decius filed past her and she closed the trap door; it dissolved into the wall. “The phone has been ringing off the hook. You tried to drown a boy?”

Aeron snapped her gaze to her mother, and saw her roll her eyes—it was the rumors that were spreading like wildfire around the town.

“We would have stayed,” Aeron said, “but I’m afraid it would have been worse.”

“It would have,” her mother agreed. “But there is a mix of opinion on what really happened. I have gotten a few calls thanking you for your surprisingly good deed. You saved Peter Smith—the mayor’s son. This can be very good for us.” They had reached the foyer.

“Decius, you should go to your rooms. Aeron,” her mother looked sadly at her. “He wishes to see you in the study.”

“But,” Aeron began. She looked down at herself. She was still wearing the bikini she had saved Peter in. Her mother pressed a bundle into her hands as she brushed by her.

“Also, you didn’t lock Jazz up. I’m afraid your father came across him when he got home. He’s not happy,” her mother said, and left them in the foyer.

Aeron looked down at the bundle in her hands—a sundress. She smiled and pulled it on. “Go,” Aeron said to Decius, heading up the grand staircase. He followed her to the first landing and hesitated.

“Just keep quiet, will ya,” he vainly pleaded.

She smirked and pushed him toward the west wing. “Go,” she said again, and headed toward the study. Aeron slowly made her way down the portrait-covered hallway. It had every deceased member of the Seward family, except one; about five spots from the end hung an empty frame, which looked as if the portrait and plaque had been ripped down. She paused at the last portrait—her paternal grandmother who had died just a month ago, Aeron missed her terribly.

She took a deep breath, knocked on the double doors, and entered. Her father sat behind a huge mahogany desk with his back to the fireplace. Bookcases lined the walls, and The Learn to Live Institute’s emblem—a honey badger—was plastered in nearly every nook and cranny. Two leather couches faced each other in the middle of the room, as if inviting people to sit for a comfortable conversation. Two straight-back chairs sat in front of his desk and Aeron sat in the one on the right. He was hastily closing a book, and storing it beneath his desk.

“Good afternoon father,” she said, averting her eyes to the pile of papers on his desk. He took a sip from the whiskey she knew was in his glass, and settled himself back in his chair. He took another sip.

“Aeron, news of your…escapades in the village have reached my ears,” her father said. “Now whether you were killing him or saving him doesn’t matter—although I’m sure it was the latter,” he spat in disgust. “I thought I had made it clear you were not to leave this manor.” His voice was casual, but dangerous.

“I believe your exact words were ‘as long as I am in this manor, you will not be leaving it’. You were not in the manor when I left so I did not break any of your rules,” Aeron said softly, daring a glance at his face. It was turning a deep shade of red, and the vein in his head was pulsing. He slammed his drink down and she jumped back in her chair as whiskey splattered her.

She wiped the liquid from her face, and could see he was glowering. They sat in silence for a few minutes, Aeron trying hard not to fidget.

Finally, he broke the silence. “Inform your brother that it was clever of him to find you a loophole, but you are still under house arrest and his efforts are best placed toward school work.”

Now Aeron was glowering. She had figured out the loophole, not Decius.

“Now there is another matter to be discussed here,” he said, breaking into her thoughts. She looked up at him again. He was standing now, fiddling with his decorative cane. “I had asked you to dispose of your cat by this morning. I was even kind enough to do it on a day I would be leaving to give you ample time in case you didn’t have the gall to do it.”

Aeron burst from her chair. “No!” she yelled. “I won’t do it,” she said, in a softer voice.

“I can’t.”

“Can’t?” Her father sneered. He advanced on her, and she took a step back, bumping into her chair. “Kill,” he said softly. “That is the first thing they teach you at school isn’t it? Oh, but not you, you missed that lesson didn’t you. All I asked was for the damn thing to be dead by this morning!” He was yelling again.

Aeron knew she must have lost her mind when she screamed back at him. “I’m not going to kill him! He’s a good cat and doesn’t even scratch! Make Decius kill that stupid ferret of his. It’s always running loose in the house and ruining the furniture!”

It had been a big mistake; she tried to duck her head, but he was much quicker. The decorative cane caught the top of her head and she stumbled to her knees.

“It will be dead by tomorrow morning.” He didn’t even glance at her as he stalked out of the room. When the footsteps had vanished she checked her head. The nasty bump throbbed painfully, but it was the puddle of blood on the floor which allowed her to gauge how badly she was bleeding.