A/N: Hey guys! I haven't done a fanfic for the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew before, so I hope I do okay. Review! I do not the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew. All other characters I made up and are mine.
I know the title stinks, but anyways.
Summary: The Hardy's have a new case, but not all goes according to plan when one of them goes missing. Nancy just happens to be close by and they combine forces. But solving this case may be making things worse. Will this be the first case they have to forfeit? Or will they be able to stop this criminal before one of them dies?
Illinois Sweet Illinois
Chapter 1: Frank
My impulsive 16-year-old brother, Joe, a year younger than me, with blonde hair and blue eyes, and I bounded up the stairs. We had just finished cleaning up the table and doing the dishes. My mother was finishing the other chores she had to do before going to bed. We were both going to ask our father about any new cases or mysteries. Finally, we made it to his office. We knocked and he let us in. Just then his phone rang, and, shooting us an apologetic look, he picked it up. I watched his face go from annoyance, to worry, to surprise, then to confusion, and then go slack, tiredness coming across his face.
"Yes, John, I'll come as soon as I can….. No, not right now, I'm busy and I have to get ready… I know, I know… Probably tomorrow night, or the morning after that at most…. No, sorry….. Yes, you will…. No problem, John…. Ok, bye." he closed his phone and sighed.
"If you boys are here for what I think you're here for, you must have the magic charm, because we've got another case," my father said. He smiled at us.
"Yes!" Joe cried, pumping his fist and jumping up. I couldn't help but smile. Sweet! Another case. This was going to be awesome. It was two weeks after school had let out, but we hadn't had a mystery for a whole month. It had driven both my brother and I mad. Who knows, we might even get to hang out with Nancy, I thought to myself.
Only a few minutes before, Nancy had called, which was another reason we came to our father. Nancy had called to tell us that she, her father, Bess, and George were going to Illinois as their first trip this summer. They were staying at a hotel in Spring Bay, and she wanted to know if we wanted to come. She said her father could convince her friend to give them one more room for us. I really wanted to go; to see Nancy and the fact that we would probably find a mystery to solve.
"Where are we going?" I asked anxiously.
"Illinois," my father replied. Slowly, a grin spreading across my face and my eyes going wide, I turned toward my younger brother. He looked so excited, he could have spontaneously combusted right then and there.
"Sweeeeet!" my brother shouted. He punched me in the arm, probably just to get some of the excitement out before he did something dumb.
"A mystery and we get to hang out with the girls! That's something you call luck," he said. My father frowned.
"What?" he asked confused. I quickly relayed Nancy's phone call to my father.
"Oh," my father said. "I hate to break it to you though, we'll be at least two hours from there, and no, we are not going to stay there," he added, anticipating the question he knew would have been coming. Joe's jaw dropped, eyes nearly coming out of their sockets, stopping mid-celebration-dance. My shoulders slumped slightly.
"Sorry, boys, but maybe Nancy can find a place closer to us," he said, probably feeling a little guilty at dampening our spirits. I shrugged.
"Well, if she finds out we've got a mystery on our hands, she'll probably convince her father to let her come with us, and even if she doesn't, we can see her afterwards, and you can tease her all you want, Joe," I said, smiling. My brother smiled, straightened up.
"You're right, Frank. I can rub it in her face," he snorted. I rolled my eyes. My father smiled and offered us a seat. He then proceeded to tell us about our new case.
"I have an old friend, John Dipson, who now lives in Iroquois, Illinois, with his wife and he owns a café called the Iroquois Café. Recently, he has had some problems; stale foods, food poisoning, broken appliances, money being withdrawn from his bank account and some. He claims he's being sabotaged and decided to ask for my help. I told him we'd leave as soon as possible. I will have to tell your mother though, and I cannot promise she will let you boys go."
"Don't worry dad, eventually she'll let us," Joe said. "Even if it means making her life a mess until she does." Joe winked, my father sighed, and I shook my head.
"Well, knowing no one can stop you, you boys should probably get to bed, get some sleep and we can talk more about this tomorrow," my father said, standing up and stretching his legs. My brother and I nodded, anxious to start our new case. We both brushed our teeth, got in our pajamas, and went to sleep.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz z
My alarm started ringing at 7:00 a.m. I sat up almost immediately. I swung my legs over the side of the bed. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, yawning and turned my alarm off. I put together an outfit of jeans and a T-shirt and took a shower.
Ten minutes later, I walked out of the shower, feeling refreshed after yesterday and clean. I brushed my teeth, combed my hair, and walked into Joe's room. His clock read 7:27 a.m. He was tangled in his sheets, one of his arms dangling off the bed, the other holding a pillow over his head. I decided to let him sleep for 20 more minutes, and then I would come up and get him.
I went downstairs and got pulled over by my mom to help fold laundry. She also made me put the dishes away. By then, it was time to go get Joe up. Time goes by fast, but I smiled to myself; this is going to be fun.
I went upstairs, over to his window, and opened the blinds, letting the light shine through. I looked over at Joe. He groaned and shifted so his face was facing away from the light. Sighing, I walked over to him, but as if anticipating my move, Joe tightly clutched the sheets to his chest. Still, I tried to yank the covers from his grasp. Geez, this kid was strong in his sleep! Time to try another tactic.
I snatched the pillow from him and leaned into his ear, whispering, "Get up or I'll get ice cubes." That woke him up fast. He sat up and tried to stand up, but still being tangled in the sheets, he tripped. His eyes widened as he started falling. He barely got his hands underneath him in time. I started cracking up.
"Boys! What is all that ruckus up there?" Aunt Trudy shouted from downstairs.
"Nothing!" I shouted back. My brother glared at me, which made him look really evil because his hair was a mess and he had circles under his eyes. I smiled at him, ceasing the last of my laughter. He fumbled to undo himself from his sheets, and then punched me in the arm.
"What's up?! It's only 7:45!" Joe exclaimed angrily, glancing at his clock.
"Do you want to start this new case as soon as possible?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. The anger dissipated from his eyes, and hesitantly he nodded.
"So do I. The sooner we wake up, the earlier we pack, and the sooner we leave." My brother sighed.
"Okay, I'll meet you downstairs, just get out so I can change," Joe said.
"Ok," I left his room, encouraged by a playful shove from him, and headed downstairs. I walked into the kitchen, saw Mom and Dad sitting at the table and assumed he was telling her about our little trip to Illinois. They both looked up when I walked in.
"Uh, sorry, I'll-" I started, but my father cut me off.
"No, it's okay, Frank. I just told your mother about our trip. She said it was okay if you two went," he said.
"Really?" I asked, smiling. "Thanks, Mom." I hurried over and hugged her. She hugged me back.
"No problem, honey. Just be careful, watch out for your brother, and listen to your father," she warned.
"I will," I promised. I went over to the cabinets and grabbed a bowl and a spoon from the drawer beneath it. As I was getting the milk for my cereal, Joe came down the stairs. He was wearing a black T-shirt advertising his favorite band, jeans, and sneakers. His hair was brushed, but not very thoroughly. We both ate our breakfasts and went upstairs to pack.
After an hour, we both came into our father's office. He looked up when we entered.
"We're all packed," Joe said. The excitement was evident in his voice. My father smiled.
"Good, because I already talked to Jack," my father said. Jack Wayne was the pilot of our private plane. He was also a really good friend of our father's and would fly half way around the world at 3 in the morning if it were to save us.
"He'll be ready by noon. You boys can put your bags in the car if you want. We can leave in…," he glanced at his watch, and then continued, "an hour and a half." We both nodded and headed over to my room.
"This is awesome! Even though, now that I think about it, we haven't called Nancy yet," Joe said, looking at me. My eyes widened as I realized he was right. I quickly pulled out my phone and pressed the speed dial for Nancy. I held the phone by my ear and waited for her to answer.
"Hello?" Nancy's voice drifted through the phone.
"Hey, Nance," I said.
"Frank! What did your dad say? Can you come?" she bombarded me with questions without taking a single breath.
"Hey. My dad said no, but," I emphasized the word when I heard her sigh. "We do have a new case that we got last night. Luckily it's in Illinois, just two hours from Spring Bay. If you want to, you can come over. It's a city called Iroquois."
"Wow, Frank. Thanks for inviting me. Let me ask. Just a sec," she said. I could hear the excitement in her voice. There was silence on the other side of the phone for so long, I began to wonder if she had hung up. Actually, I had been expecting her to call me back.
"Frank Hardy! Why would you ask Nancy to join you for a mystery?! We were supposed to be going on vacation! Vacation, Frank!" I heard Bess cry. I chuckled. Joe walked in.
"Sorry, Bess, she asked us to join her first, and then we got a case so close to where you guys were going, I couldn't resist," I replied. I saw Joe's eyes light up when he heard Bess's name. He snatched the phone from me.
"Hey, Bess. Nancy, George. George is there right? I don't want to be talking to nobody," he said. I could hear someone's voice on the other end, and they didn't sound happy. Joe smiled.
"Oh, hey, George. Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. Wait, let me put this on speaker phone," he said. He pulled it away and pressed a button, laying it down on my desk. I moved closer.
"Speaker phone, check. Ready to talk, check," my brother said cheekily.
"Okay, so we all know what's going on here, right?" I asked.
"Yes," three voices chorused.
"Good. So who's up for a mystery?" I asked cheerfully.
"Me," I heard Nancy say. Someone sighed, probably Bess.
"Well, since Nancy's dad probably won't deny her the opportunity to solve a mystery and we can't let Nancy go by herself, more or less with you guys, I'm in," Bess joked.
"Well, I don't want to be stuck here by myself and let you guys have all the fun, so me too," George said happily.
"Good. We're leaving today and will probably be there around 6-ish, I guess," I said.
"We could leave today too, but we probably won't see you guys until tomorrow," Nancy said.
"That's fine. Just call when you get there."
"Okay. Will do. I think we should go now since I need to tell my dad and probably pack a little differently."
"Yeah," I chuckled. "Sorry the notice is a bit late in the game."
"It's okay, but we should go now. Bye, Frank, Joe. See you later," Nancy said.
"Bye," George and Bess said, slightly out of synch.
"Bye," Joe and I replied. I hung up. I high-fived Joe. This was going to be awesome.
We went through the day, both of us working on high levels of adrenaline. Before we knew it, we were on the road in the car, then leaving the car and lugging our bags toward Jack Wayne's plane.
"Hello Fenton. Frank, Joe," Jack greeted us with a smile.
"Hello, Jack. Thanks for flying us," my father said.
"No problem. Anything for you, my friend," he replied, leading us to the plane. We climbed aboard and put our luggage in the luggage compartment. Soon, we were taking off, and soaring into the air. I glanced at my brother. He was watching everything flash by, his eyes darting from side to side trying to take it all in. After a while, he leaning back, smiling. I joined him in smiling, looking out the window at the light blue sky and angel white clouds.
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It took us four hours and twenty-five minutes to get to our destination. Joe had slept for an hour and a half, but I wasn't tired at all. My ears popped five times during the descent. It took a while, but finally, we landed. I stood and stretched my arms and legs. My brother and father did the same. We each grabbed our own bag, and then headed toward the exit. When my feet touched the ground, I smiled. I wasn't a huge fan of flying, but I wasn't afraid of heights or planes.
"Ah, ground sweet ground," my brother commented. I rolled my eyes.
"What? Aren't you happy to be able to stretch instead of being in a cramped space? If not, you can go back in," my brother mock huffed. I smiled.
"No thanks. I'm plenty happy the way I am now," I shot back. Jack came around the front of the plane, smiling.
"You guys enjoy the ride?" he asked.
"Yep. Just a bit cramped," Joe said, stretching his arms to emphasize it. Dad and I shot him a look. He blushed and put his arms down immediately.
"Geez, I was just kidding," I heard him mumble under his breath. Jack laughed.
"It's okay, Fenton. I agree that it gets cramped in there. I was actually thinking of getting a bigger plane sometime," he said.
"Yeah, well, it could be more cramped," my father said, glancing at Joe.
"Really, Fenton. It's okay. Him saying it's cramped is not as messed up as me saying it's cramped." He laughed good naturedly.
My father smiled and gave in saying, "True."
We said our good byes and then Jack went to the store to get some more gas. Dad hailed a taxi. The driver got out and put our luggage in the trunk while my dad climbed in the front, and Joe and I climbed in the back. The driver got back in and Dad gave the man the address and we took off. Twenty minutes later, my dad paid the taxi driver and we stopped in front of our hotel. We checked in, and then dumped our suitcases by the beds. Lucky for us, we each got our own bed. Joe offered to take the couch, so my dad and I got the beds.
"I'm going to get us something to eat," my father said. "Watch each other's backs and stay safe."
"Don't worry dad, we'll be fine," I said with a smile.
"Plus, no criminal or burglar are just going to randomly pop in, bop one of us and take the other," Joe said, rolling his eyes. Our father stood facing us for a while, and then he turned and left. Joe turned and flopped down on the couch, turning the TV on and flipping through the channels.
"None of these channels are good," Joe complained.
"You've only checked out five," I retorted, sitting next to him. The next channel he flipped to was wrestling. He smiled. I sighed. We watched it for a while, and then he turned it up really loud. The sounds of fists hitting face/bones and grunts of pain blasted through the room. I snatched the remote from him and turned it down. But not before the door opened. Neither of us heard it, but out of my peripheral vision, I saw a figure, but I thought it was my dad.
Joe looked at me to say something, then his eyes widened and he leapt off the couch.
"Frank!" he cried. I whirled around, but not fast enough. I turned around just in time to see something come smashing into my face. I saw dark brown, and then blackness, as it folded in all around me. The last thing I saw was Joe angrily leaping at someone I couldn't see before blackness wholly engulfed me.
How'd I do? Eh, eh? Please R&R!