Chapter One

"The Letter"

"I don't believe you…"

"That's because you're an idiot," Thirteen year old Cody Martin sighed in exasperation, rolling his eyes at his twin brother's refusal to believe in what he was telling him.

"I've punched people for less than that you know," Zack said in a mildly threatening tone.

"Yeah, and that's why you were grounded last month," Cody replied, un-phased by Zack's idle threat, "Look I'm telling you that Mom got all worked up after reading that letter she got yesterday."

"I don't see how a letter could do that…"

"Just because you have the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all do." Zack gave Cody a hurt look before looking over to the counter where the offending letter in question was tucked inside the non-descript envelope it had come in. Cody could almost hear the gears turning in his brother's head and cut him off before he could say anything.

"No."

"Oh come on Codes, a little peek never hurt anyone," Zack replied, making his way over to the counter. Despite the fact that Cody was also extremely interested in learning the contents of the letter, he knew that it was wrong to go reading other people's mail without their permission. If their mother didn't tell them what was troubling her soon however, Cody intended to ask her what was going on.

Zack picked up the envelope, pulled the letter out of it and then discarded the envelope back onto the counter. He now held a sheet of paper folded into thirds in his hand and Zack glanced up to find Cody standing beside him looking over his shoulder in spite of the protest that he had made. Without further delay Zack unfolded the letter and turned it over to read what it said.

"Wow…" Cody remarked.

"I don't get it," Zack said as he frowned at the paper in his hands.

"It's clearly a blank sheet of paper..." Cody began to explain sarcastically. Zack glared daggers at him and he stopped.

"Why would a blank piece of paper make Mom cry?"

"Maybe it's written in invisible ink!" Cody exclaimed, already thinking about how he could use lemon juice to reveal the contents of the letter.

"First you didn't want to open it, now you want to put lemon juice on it?" Zack wondered, raising an eyebrow at Cody before returning his attention to the paper. He held it close to his nose for a moment and then set it back down on the counter and ran his fingertips across its surface, "I don't smell anything, don't feel anything either."

"I didn't know you knew about lemon juice."

"Occasionally there is something worth remembering at school," Zack explained, shrugging his shoulders. He returned the paper to its envelope, but paused as he examined the front of it. Cody already could sense what Zack was thinking and beat him to the punch.

"The return address?"

"Yeah, 'The Madison Academy'," Zack read off the sticker in the top right corner of the envelope before setting it back where he'd picked it up. Cody mouthed the words silently to himself, unable to recall ever hearing of a place like that. "Maybe Mom was trying to get into this school or something and didn't make it?"

"I don't think so," Cody said, shaking his head, "She would have said something about going back to college."

"Well, there's only one place to find the answer."

"Yeah," Cody agreed, walking over to get his hoodie off the couch, Zack staring at him the whole way, "What?"

"Where are you going?"

"The Library…" Cody answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I meant the Internet."

"Oh…yeah, that works too."

"And you said I was the idiot…" Zack quipped, rolling his eyes.

"So…?" Zack asked ten minutes later when Cody made a disgusted sigh and shut his laptop.

"Nothing… That place doesn't exist."

"Huh…" Cody yawned and then stretched his arms above his head. He was tired from having stayed up late studying for his History test. He happened to look across the shared bedroom at Zack and smiled in amusement when he saw the look of extreme concentration on his brother's face.

"Don't hurt yourself," Cody joked, unable to resist the impulse. Seconds later Cody blocked the pillow that Zack hurled at him and returned fire with his own. Before he knew what was happening, Cody found himself being tackled off of his bed and landed on his back with Zack on top of him, quickly placing Cody into his guard. Initially Cody believed that Zack intended to wrestle with him over the insult, but it soon became clear that Zack merely wanted to torture his twin.

"Ahh…Zack!" Cody started laughing between words as Zack attacked his ticklish spots, "Stop…it…!"

"Let's hear your ideas then smarty pants!" Zack exclaimed, tickling Cody for a further thirty seconds despite the younger twin's best efforts to wriggle free before letting him sit up.

"I don't know," Cody replied after a short pause to catch his breath. His face was flushed with color and he felt a dull ache in his sides from the laughter and tickling combined. "According to the return address it's somewhere in New York state."

"Maybe Mom doesn't want to move there?" Then Zack's logic center started working, "Erm, never mind, that doesn't make sense. If she applied there then she would have known where it was."

"It could be some kind of private school for us," Cody added, wondering if his mother had finally taken Moseby up on his suggestion that the boys attend a military school and learn some discipline. Zack seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Cody and a look of horror washed over his features.

"You don't think Mom would really do that to us?"

"I don't know what to think, but Mom doesn't have the money to send us to a private school."

"How do you know that?" Zack wondered even though he didn't doubt the fact.

"I help balance her bank account," Cody said with a shrug. Their Mom was terrible when it came to managing money in addition to cooking a half-way decent meal for them.

"What…?" Zack's question died in his mouth as the door to the suite opened and Carey Martin walked in carrying several grocery bags.

"Hi guys," She greeted the boys as they came out of their room. She was looking much better today than she had last night when she was alternating between anger, silence and loads of crying where she did nothing else except repeatedly hug her sons. It had been a very disconcerting night for the twins to say the least.

"Hey Mom."

"Whatcha get us?" Zack asked, his eyes drawn to the bulging bags hoping that there would be something that contained large quantities of chocolate in them. Carey beckoned her sons over to her and they dutifully came close enough for her to wrap her arms around both of them in a loving embrace before she pulled back slightly and kissed each one of them on the forehead.

"My little men are going to eat like Kings tonight," She replied, straightening up and looking around the kitchen as if she sensed that something was out of place. Her eyes settled onto the counter and Cody groaned inwardly. How did she always know?

"What's the occasion?" Zack asked, oblivious to his mother's gaze as he was more interested in trying to peek at the contents of the grocery bags.

"I see you tried reading the letter."

Busted…

A/N: This story is a side project I'm working on in tandem with The Chaos Demons to keep me motivated and writing. I'm attempting to be as true to the characters as I can and make the interactions between the twins as believable as possible with the idle threats, insults, joking and the tickling scene. I hope you all enjoy this one, it could go far if done right. After all, In This Memory came out of the Original Chaos Demons.

Stay tuned for Chapter Two: Busted to find out what secrets the invisible letter holds and why it has Carey so upset.