Chapter 1: Prologue

As the bell rang for the end of school, the students all started running out, excited. One particular student, Zack Martin, was standing beside the front door. He had been one of the first to leave, and was looking forward to the upcoming weekend. As he stood, his turquoise eyes looked around for his younger twin. He always expected to be waiting for Cody at the end of every school day, for his baby brother was the one who loved learning and usually stayed behind for a while to exercise his mind a bit.

"Hey Zack!" Cody called out as he walked over to his brother, his golden blond hair flowing in the wind.

"Hey buddy! About time you showed up. Don't want to miss a single bit of our free time, you know,"

"It's only free for me after I do my assignments from 6 classes…"

"Ah, chill out bro, it's almost Saturday! And besides, mom has this entire business thing with Moseby and the other staff, so we get to do whatever we want!" Zack, said, his voice filled with glee. As he looked to the ground, he saw a lavender stone, and picked it up. Making sure no one was watching him, he slipped it into his pocket.

As the two boys walked home, they passed a shrub. It appeared to be moving as a result of the wind, but suddenly it snapped a branch, startling Cody. As he turned, he noticed something white behind the bush, and what appeared to be black fiber strands. He also felt a sense of extreme coldness, something that never happened in October…

"Cody?" Zack said, snapping Cody out of his trance. "You all right there?"

"Uh…yeah. Let's keep walking."

They continued along the path. On the way, Cody never stopped thinking about what had happened a few minutes before.