Chapter 1

No one spoke. No one moved. All eyes were on the pair sat at the table. The two fifteen-year-old teenagers had been engaged in this battle of cards for a fair number of hours now. It had been a close battle between the two but it had only come down to this either the teenager would make his move, or he would not. Whilst the one teenager sat there staring intently at his cards the other sat there looking the definition of confident. He smirked at the boys watching the game who responded by giggling slightly. There was a sudden sigh of exasperation the first boy lay down his cards.

"You win Jacob. There is no way I can top a move like that."

Jacob Frye punched the air, "See I told you Robert. Nobody can beat me at cards for I am simply the best."

Robert rolled his eyes, "Yeah yeah, come on Jacob nobody likes a sore winner."

"Well go buy that round of drinks you promised and I'll consider stopping my gloating."

Robert obliged and moved over to the bar not before he'd rolled his eyes. He simply lied to the man behind the bar about his age, he done it so many times before. Leaning against the bar he looked back over to where Jacob sat laughing with the other lads. What more to life could there be then beer, cards and good friends. As the unmistakable sounds of beer being poured into a glass reached his ears Robert had to think that out of all the pubs he, Jacob and the lads went to this was probably the easiest one for them to get served at. All the others seemed to somehow not believe them when they said they were adults, they somehow seemed to know they were lying. Although Robert with his short brown hair and green eyes was rather tall for his age and could mostly get away with ordering beer from anywhere. Jacob could too if he really tried, sometimes he came in already so drunk that he tended to proclaim his age which ended up with him getting kicked out rather quickly. But this proved rather amusing for Robert and the rest of the lads as they enjoyed a pint while Jacob was stuck outside.

The bartender had returned with the drinks, handing the man money Robert returned to Jacob armed with drinks. Handing one to Jacob the pair clinked their pint glasses before downing them in one. The evening past with a lot of drunken antics until they were eventually kicked out of the pub for being too drunk. Jacob staggered over to a nearby lamppost and held on to it.

"I am really drunk right now." He slurred.

Robert, who was staggering as well, rolled his eyes; "You just noticed?"

"As much fun as this night has been. I should really head back, Father is going to murder me so I'd rather go and get that over with."

Robert did not answer for a moment, Jacob never spoke of his family life. Despite being asked about his family Jacob refused to answer. The Frye's were an odd family, everyone in Crawley knew that. There was always talk and speculation about them as no one could say for sure what the family actually did. Where they involved in industry? Did they invest and run businesses? No one knew, but what they did know was that whatever they did they earned themselves a good living. The people of Crawley also knew of the tragedy in the family, with the death of Cecily Frye. They knew how she had died in childbirth and then how Ethan Frye had abandoned his children for six years. The Frye children were odd children who did not quite seem right somehow, although the people of Crawley only had Jacob to gawp at nowadays. They knew of Jacob's older twin sister but she was rarely seen. When the children had first arrived back in Crawley the pair were quite often seen down by the stream with a small handful of friends. But as the pair had got older the elder Frye twin seemed to have retreated to the house meaning that any rare sighting of her was the topic of the town for days to follow. In fact her appearance had become so rare that no one was actually sure what her name was. Jacob referred to her as 'sister' whether that was to protect her or because the siblings did not get along no one knew.

"Shall I walk back with you?" Robert slurred, "We're both in such a state that perhaps walking home alone would be a bad idea."

Jacob shook his head, "I don't need a babysitter. Go on, go home. We should sober up before we do the same tomorrow."

Robert nodded, knowing it was pointless to press Jacob on the subject. He knew had people come to the house, always meeting away from it. The two boys bid each other a goodnight before heading in their respective ways home.

Jacob stumbled up the slight hill and towards the house. As he approached the house, he could see the some of the lights were still lit inside. This was not what he wanted, he had been hoping that his father would have gone to bed by now making sneaking in much easier. The gate creaked slightly as he pushed it open and headed up the gravel path leading to the front door. Maybe if he was lucky he'd be able to somehow get up to his room without bumping into his father. But in all likelihood, that would not happen after all, Ethan Frye knew everything. Jacob stumbled up the front steps where he pushed the front door, which was thankfully not locked. Closing the door as quietly as he could he had only taken a step towards the stairs when there was a cough from behind him. If he'd been sober then the swear would that came to mind would not have slipped from his lips but unfortunately his current drunken state meant that it did. Turning around Jacob looked up into the face of his father and his father's disapproval was written all over his face.

"And what have you been doing that would kept you out this late?" Ethan asked, folding his arms and frowning at his son.

"Jogging father." Jacob lied, whilst desperately trying not to let his words slur, "I like to have an evening jog before I turn in for the night."

"Oh so you went for a jog which kept you out until past midnight."

Jacob nodded whilst Ethan's frown deepened.

"Don't test me Jacob Frye. You know how I feel about you staying out late at night. As Assassin, we work in the dark and the night is not to be feared. But you are barely into your training and anything can happen at night. If you were set upon by the Templar's then I can almost guarantee you would not be able to fight them off."

Jacob rolled his eyes, "I've got into plenty of fights before Father so I think I can handle myself. Thanks for your concern though."

Jacob regretted saying this as the words left his mouth but being drunk he had not filter to stop him speaking his mind. He could see anger crossing his father's face.

"You reckless fool, I should have known. One of these days Jacob your reckless behavior is going get yourself killed. Mark my words child you need to stop this, you risk exposing our order to the world."

"Yeah yeah Father, I've heard this all before. All you ever say to me is how I could potentially do this or that. You never give me the benefit of the doubt. If I was Evie you would not be saying this! If I were her then you'd be congratulating me on not getting caught."

"Don't you dare bring your sister in to this." Ethan's voice was rising, "We are not talking about her, we are talking about you and your selfish behaviour."

"No let's talk about you and how you always reprimand me. Do you think for once you could act like my Father and not this person who is always lecturing me? Do you think for once you could treat me like a human being?"

Ethan had obviously had enough but his face was one of fury.

"Go to bed right now and stay there. We have a busy day of training tomorrow and do not even think about sneaking out of the house tomorrow night. It's time you learnt the meaning of responsibility."

Jacob turned away without a word and stomped up the stairs. He could feel his father's eyes on him as he stomped across the upstairs corridor. As if he would listen to his father and not go out tomorrow. When did he ever listen to his father, the answer to that was barely ever. Entering his bedroom he immediately flopped down on his bed. He did not like fighting with his father but all Ethan Frye seemed to do nowadays was have an argument with him over something. He would not take his father's lectures lying down, he did not deserve it and he wasn't going to let Ethan get away with it. Even if that meant that their relationship had become quite strained. Behind him he heard the door to his room open and close with a quiet click. He was about to roll over to confirm his suspicions of who'd entered his room but what followed confirmed it for him.

"Seriously Jacob you reek of alcohol, I can smell it from here."

Jacob rolled over to see his twin sister moving to the window, wafting her hand in front of her face in an attempt to stop the smell assaulting her nose. As Evie open the window, Jacob sat up.

"I don't think Father noticed though." He said, grinning at his twin.

Evie gave him one of her famous looks before speaking; "Oh course he would have noticed Jacob you quite literally stink."

Jacob shook his head, "No he was too busy yelling at me to notice. How much of it were you awake for?"

He did not need to ask whether Evie had simply still been awake or been woken. It was clear from her appearance that she'd been woken by the argument. Her clothes were slightly twisted in places from sleep and that once neat bun she'd pulled her hair back into was running the risk of collapsing.

"Since you dragged my name into the argument."

Jacob hung his head slightly, he'd been hoping she'd missed that.

"Sorry. You know it was not personal against you right?"

Evie's face softened and she smiled at her brother, "I know. I just wish you wouldn't fight as much with Father. He's only trying to protect you."

"Well he's doing a lousy job at showing it."

As Jacob laid back down on the bed, Evie crawled on to the bed and lay down next to him. She wrinkled her nose as the smell once again assaulted her nose but she was determined to try to ignore it.

"I know but do you think you could at least try to get along with him."

Jacob looked into those very familiar blue eyes. Evie was the most important person in his life, she was his twin and he could never imagine life without her. Although he could be a right pain in the backside sometimes there was no one more important to him then her. Jacob knew that Evie felt the same about him. They were twins and no one could take that away from them. Jacob sighed, for her maybe he could try to get along with his Father but that still didn't mean he'd listen to him.

"I can try." He said, eventually, "But I can't promise I'll do a very good job at it."

Evie smiled at him before curling in close to him. Jacob smiled back and wrapped his arm around her. The pair would often fall asleep together it was just what they did despite them having separate rooms. They'd take comfort from the presence of the other and they would drift into a very refreshing sleep. Jacob closed his eyes, welcoming sleep. He knew that when he woke Evie would be gone, she was the early riser of the pair. But right now that did not matter, she was here now and it was time to sleep. Slowly, the twins drifted off into a deep, peaceful sleep.