1. Everything is Not What it Seems

"Do you understand me?"

The hooded figure nodded.

"Excellent. You have twenty-four hours to acquire what I need. I don't care what you have to do to get it. Just get it, or else I will personally see to your execution. And I will be sure to make it as slow and painful as possible."

The hooded figure removed their hood, letting their long, blonde hair fall down, "Don't underestimate me." They smirked and stared at them head on. "I'll have it in an hour."

"Anna, I've had this book for five years now! How can you not understand that it is mine?"

"Because, Joe, I have just as much right to use it as you do!"

"No, you don't! Uncle Joe gave it to me! Not you!"

"So? I bet if he was here he would tell you to share it! You're just jealous because I'm better at using it than you are!"

"You are not!" But Joe knew she was right. Joe had made very little improvement with The Book while Anna seemed to get everything immediately. She was a natural at it, even though she was only thirteen. "Look, just stay out of my stuff! Just stay out of my way period!" Joe stomped back to his room.

Anna had tried to steal The Book ten times this month alone. They'd been on winter break for a while now, and they were stuck in the house with nothing to do. Friends had gone away for Christmas vacations, but would be returning soon seeing as how Christmas was last week and they had to go back to school in just a few days. The only thing the two of them had to do was fight, a lot.

"Stupid, Anna. Why does she always have to steal my stuff and get in my way. Doesn't she have a life of her own?" Joe mumbled to himself and turned on his TV, glad to see that the Christmas commercials and TV specials had finally stopped airing.

A few minutes into some sit-com about three lonely bachelors in LA, Joe's cell rang. Checking the caller ID, he saw it was Fred.

"Hey. How was Hawaii?"

"Boring. All I did was burn and sleep."

Joe chuckled, "Sounds like fun to me."

"Shut up. Listen, my parents are having some lame friends of theirs over and I'm bored out of my mind. Wanna come over and hang?"

Joe looked outside his window and thought about how he would have to brace the cold New York winter weather to get to his friend's house. He sighed, "Alright, I'll be over in fifteen minutes." He hung up and slipped on a dark green jacket.

He jogged down the stairs to the front door. He tightened his jacket around himself preparing for the icy winds. He opened the door.

He froze.

In front of him was a girl with long, blonde hair and sky blue eyes with a strange green ring around her iris, her hand in a closed fist, as if getting ready to knock on a door.

"Um, hi." Sydney opened her fist and gave Joe a slight wave.

"Whoa. It's been forever." Joe stared at Sydney.

"Yes it has, and I didn't exactly come all this way to stand in the freezing cold."

Joe jumped. "Oh, sorry. Come in." He stepped aside and Sydney quickly hurried inside.

"Thanks." She smiled at him.

"What are you doing here?"

Sydney's smiled faltered. "What? I can't just visit because I missed my friend who I haven't seen in five years?"

Joe blushed. "Sorry. So, how are you?"

"Oh, you know, I'm surviving, barely. You?"

"I've been okay."

"Good."

"Yeah."

They fell into an awkward silence.

"So..."

"So..."

Sydney rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet. "There, um, actually is a reason I came." She looked away.

"So I'm not a good enough friend that I deserve a visit from you?" Joe smirked.

Sydney gave him a sad, pitying, half-smile. "I need The Book."

AN: So I decided to start posting this even though I'm only about 75% done with it. Hopefully, I'll finish it all soon. I really wanted to rewrite this because I just didn't like the original anymore. I like this one way better. There are some similarities between the two, but a lot of differences as well. So, review!