Is it kind of weird that I want to be the first to write a Magnus-has-a-twin story? Yeah, it is, but I hope you enjoy this anyway!

P.S: The story's gonna resemble the book for a few chapters—sorry! Gotta set up the story first, but I promise there'll be major changes later on.

P.P.S.: I only own my OC and the stuff she does. Everything else belongs to the awesome and amazing Rick Riordan! But now, on with the story...

Hi. My name is Alyssandra Chase, and my brother is an idiot.

I know, what a way to start the story. You must all be thinking, But your brother is Magnus Chase! What an adventure! Surely you must feel so proud!

No, I don't. Seriously, I love him, but Magnus is more trouble than he's worth. He's always breaking things, or breaking into things, or running away from angry Norse nasties out for his blood. Which means his beloved little sister, a.k.a me, has to run after him and make sure he doesn't die all the time. Since my name apparently means 'defender of mankind', I guess it's fitting…but sorry, I'm getting sidetracked. I'm here to tell you the story, right? So let's get on with it.

X

It was cold on the morning we died.

There was a wind whipping my dirty blonde hair into my face, and I pulled my jacket tighter around me as I watched cars trickle by. Even at this ungodly hour, there were people out, but that was almost normal, considering that this was Boston.

I was sitting under the low overhang of some abandoned building, Magnus fast asleep beside me. I envied him for how deeply he could sleep; we were street kids, so we should know how to snatch forty winks when we could, but I had never been good at that. Sometimes I still saw Mom's face in my dreams, and it wasn't uncommon for me to find myself awake at three a.m. I had no idea what time it was now, but I guessed it was about five in the morning. Yippee.

That was when I saw a familiar figure across the street, and I sat up straighter, rubbing the tiredness out of my eyes. "Blitz," I murmured under my breath. He saw me looking and waved; I waved back.

When he was within earshot, I asked, "What's wrong?" (When you're a homeless kid on the streets, there's usually something wrong.)

"They're after you," Blitz said without preamble. "Get your brother up."

"Who's after us?" I demanded. Magnus stirred, but when I glanced down at him he was still asleep.

"Not sure," he answered, rubbing his chin. "Seriously, wake your brother up."

I sighed, but did as I was told. "Magnus," I said, shaking his shoulder lightly, and instantly he was awake. Years of quick escapes had taught him that.

"What is it, Ally?" Mags muttered groggily—awake, sure, but not quite coherent. "What time is it?"

"No-thank-you-o'clock," I grumbled. "Blitz says someone's after us. I say he's dreaming."

"A middle-aged white guy and his daughter," Blitz confirmed, ignoring my jab. "They're handing out flyers with your names and pictures on them."

Magnus and I swore in harmony, and I briefly imagined us in choir robes singing curse words in harmony. But returning to the topic at hand. If the people looking for us, whoever they were, had information like our names and our pictures, that wasn't great news, especially since it was so early still. What kind of people wandered around at this time of day, looking for two homeless kids? Nobody had cared about us for two years, not even our Uncle Randolph. Gosh, just thinking his name sent a flicker of something like hatred through me.

I pulled out of my thoughts long enough to realize that Magnus and Blitz were talking about the people who were following us, and made an attempt to pay attention. "You should go see Hearth. He's hanging out in Copley Square," Blitz was saying.

I grinned at the thought of meeting up with our other street 'parent', but Magnus caught my eye, and I knew immediately that he would rather go check out whoever was hunting us than hang out with Hearthstone. I always knew what he wanted, could always read him like an open book—call it a twin thing.

"I'll wait for you at the Square," I suggested. I knew he knew what I was thinking.

Magnus nodded. "Sure."

I turned to say something to Blitz, but he had disappeared. The sun was rising; that was probably why. Mags and I were 99% sure he was the shortest, stinkiest vampire ever.

Then Magnus slipped away, presumably to look for the people who were looking for us. I hesitated for only a moment before packing up my stuff—I'd almost forgotten about it—and following suit.

I had a date with a deaf person. Hooray.