Ch. 1
Well, it all started out in the kitchen. Hard to believe this kind thing had actually began there. Not the ideal place for when crazy baddies plan to take over the world or when random characters start popping out of your TV. But if they wanted food…
To start off, I'm not some kind of person who has all these crazy powers or connections to these powerful people around, y'know, shit like that. I am just your average teenage girl trying to find her place in life. Find a job, get into a decent college, and get a hold of a guy who genuinely cares about me. Just something.
I never once thought that I would add "save the world from crazy-assed video game baddies" to the list too.
Hopefully, I'll get everything else done before I conquer that one…
So, we were already on Christmas break: my parents were out on a prolonged business trip and my eldest brother and sister were in Seattle, "studying abroad". My parents totally bought that crap even though I tried to explain to them that they just wanted go to our cousin's amazing house up in Seattle and drive down to Port Angeles where, according to my sister, "there are extremely hot guys and this kick ass party and everybody's going… Well except you, sis, you'll be left home alone." When she had said that, dear god! I wanted to punch the crap out of her but I did not want to give my parents the excuse to send me to Mom's sister's house (that place is a death trap, sucks the life right out of you).
I tried to tell my parents that my brother and sister weren't going to keep up with their studies; they were just going to party for the month that they were off up there. My sister gave me the shut-the-hell-up look and my brother made up some lame assed excuse and the next thing I know, I'm in an empty house with my parents gone and my siblings wandering around in another state, doing god knows what.
Now, here's where I would have had the opportunity of a lifetime to throw a big house party. Hah, already had a bad experience with that one. Ended up with some drunk guy hitting on me and the cops called. Not planning on doing that again.
It was already the second day of break and I was bored out of my mind.
All of my friends were on vacation in Europe or helping out kids in Africa while I was stuck at home, doing nothing. I had already completed more than half the games that my brother and I shared prior to the three weeks off and the house was spotless, therefore there was no point in even cleaning it. So that day, I decided to put a new game into my Xbox 360. My dad picked up it for me the day before he left.
It was the most recent game Ubisoft had released: Revelations! God, I couldn't wait to play it. Especially after watching the trailer. I had just managed to play for a few hours when an enormous thunderclap smacked the house. The windows shook and the lights flickered off and on for awhile before they were stable.
"Damn," I muttered and walked over to my window. I looked out and saw that it was pissing rain. I stood there for a moment, with my game paused in the background, when something clicked in my head. "Oh, shit! The turtles!"
We have a pair of tortoises that a friend of ours gave to us a few years back. We kept them in the backyard. And I had to get them inside the house before their little den flooded from all the rain. I raced down the stairs, slipped on one, and shoved on my sandals.
When I reached the back door, I didn't bother with an umbrella. I would need both of my hands free to carry these guys. I shoved open the slider and ran out into the rain. Our backyard wasn't enormous (we were lucky that we didn't live in a condo where all the backyards had to be the same size; we liked big backyards) but it wasn't tiny either. We had a pool with a net covering it to keep out the debris, two pomegranate trees growing on opposite sides of the house, and a bonfire pit that was currently overflowing with water.
Half of the yard was concrete, like around the pool, and the side of the house was filled with neatly trimmed grass.
I leapt out and covered my head with my arm, looking for the turtles. Finally, I found them hiding underneath one of the palm trees. I picked them up gently and hunched over, carrying them both close to my chest to keep them out of the rain. I headed inside and placed a couple of towels in the bathroom floor. Then, I set them down carefully and put in food and water.
I turned off the lights and walked over to the slider to close it when suddenly, a lightning bolt flashed overhead. I jumped back and landed on the floor. "What the hell! What kind of storm is this?" I asked the empty house. The only response I got was the pitter-patter of rain on the roof and the rumble of thunder in the distance.
I got up and walked over to the front door and looked outside: one of the transformers on the telephone poles was sparking like it was the fourth of July. "That can't be good," I muttered and closed the door just as the wind began to pick up. I flipped out my cell phone and made a quick call to the electric company just to let them know that we had a "sparky" situation. I didn't say those exact words because I knew I would sound like a complete moron. The woman on the other line told me that she would send someone out to fix it then the line disconnected.
I heaved a bored sigh, walked back up the stairs to charge my phone, and came back down.
The game upstairs was all but forgotten as I went into the kitchen to wash the dishes I had left over from last night's dinner and today's lunch. I had Itunes on while I cleaned up. Believe by The Bravery was playing and I was humming along with it just as something thumped! upstairs. I ignored it thinking it was just someone next door closing a cabinet or something.
"Something's always coming. You can hear it in the ground.
It swells into the air with a rising, rising sound.
It never comes but shakes the boards and rattles all the doors."
I sang at the top of my lungs, kind of screwing water from the faucet grew hot and as I went rinse one of the plates, I jerked my hand back and shook it off but was still singing.
"What're we waiting for? What're we waiting…"
My voice faltered. That's when I became aware of someone watching me.
I turned to look out the doorway to the kitchen, my heart pounding like hell. He stood in the entryway, just staring at me. Holy mother-fucking god! I thought as I stood there frozen in place. The faucet was still running. Steam beginning to rise up from the bottom making me conscious that time hadn't stopped.
My hands were still frozen from when I was shaking them off. I couldn't move because the man right in front could not exist. It just was not possible.
He was the Master Assassin. The main protagonist in the last three games: Ezio Auditore.
And he was standing in my house. What the crap?!
We both stood there, staring at each other. He watched me with a resigned expression, his eyes hidden under his cloak. I eyed him warily when Cobrastyle started. Well, talk about perfect timing, I thought because I was trying to hatch an escape plan.
There were two doorways to the kitchen. If I made a run for the one closest to me and then suddenly switch to the other one, I would be able to slip out and run like hell from this phantom. I just hoped it worked.
I turned slowly to face him, gathering up my courage… And bolted. He reacted, just as I thought he would. Buuuut he didn't go around to the other entrance to block me off. He ran straight at me. "Oh, fuck!" I cursed under my breath and ran for the slider.
I threw it open, the assassin right on me. I slipped on the grass but managed to regain my footing and headed towards the pool. I sprinted across the netting, water seeping into the edges that I managed to give to the pool below.
It was still raining, making things a little slippery, but that was no problem to the assassin. He glided over the slick yard with the ease and grace of a dancer. I couldn't pause to admire that as I ran over to the wall that was about twenty feet from the pool and ran up it. He paused when he reached the pool, just as I was scrambling over the brick wall that separated our yard from the one next to it. As I got over to the top, I swung my legs over and looked behind me to see him jump over the pool and land neatly on the other side.
I cursed again and tried to lower myself onto the ground below. Damn, I should've worn something! I scolded myself for my feet were struggling to find purchase on the smooth wall and it was maybe about eight feet down to the ground. It would hurt. I really, really should have thought this thing out, I thought again.
I looked over my shoulder and heard growling: it was my neighbor's Rottweiler, Suzie. She's not as harmless as her name makes her out to be because she's an absolute bitch of a dog. No pun intended.
She got up from her mat by the back door and was growling louder, almost like she was possessed, hair rising up on the back of her neck, teeth bared at me.
"Shit," I muttered, "Ok, despite having a damned video game character on the other side of this wall, I have a crazy possessed dog right here who looks like she wants to have me for dinner. Doggie you can't reason with… a fif-sixteenth century- I don't care!- assassin on the other hand, you can. My choices are limited," I muttered sarcastically.
Groaning, I watched the dog slowly advance on me.
Then, she charged. "Holy crap!" I shrieked and tried to pull myself up.
Suddenly, my arms were taken hold of and I was swung over onto the other side and landed in heap on the grass-
With our friend hovering right over me with his blade grazing my neck. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Take it easy there pal," I said nervously, my hands up in surrender.
"Why did you run?" he ordered.
I looked at him as though he had asked me what my favorite color was (it's blue, by the way) and laughed uneasily.
"Wh-why did I run? Well that's obvious-" I began but stopped when he pressed the blade closer to my neck.
"I r-ran because y-you scared m-me," I stuttered out.
"Damned good reason too," he muttered.
"Wh-wh-what?" I asked him confused. That's when he gestured to my shirt. I looked down.
It bore the Templar symbol, a bold red cross on the front. I had gotten it from a comic con last year.
It clicked in my head: he thought I was a Templar.
"W-wait a second. I'm not a templar!"
"Then why do you bear their symbol?"
"This?" I asked and tugged at the edges of my now wet shirt. The assassin glared at me and I withered under his gaze. "I b-bought it at a, uh, store," I said. He looked at me, like he didn't comprehend what I was saying. Couldn't really blame the guy. Here he was in a foreign land with a girl who wore templar gear for fun.
"Please don't kill me," I whimpered.
He hesitated for a moment and looked away from me. I watched him warily. As I turned my neck to glance at something nearby, the movement shifted his blade on my neck and his gaze immediately fixed on me. I stopped.
He held me with the one golden eye that I could see and said, "I will not kill you. You may know more about this land but do NOT try to run away again for it will end badly."
An argument perched on the tip of my tongue but I squashed it. I didn't want to piss him off again. He got up and held out a hand to me. I hesitated before I took it. I looked up at him. The old assassin wore a look the let years of experience play across it.
I tentatively held out my hand and he took it, hoisting me to my feet. The rain was still falling, but old Ezzy here did not really notice. He was too busy looking around my yard.
"Dove sono?" he asked. I looked at him.
"'Scuse me?" I replied. Auditore turned to look at me and I saw a slight smile on his weathered face.
"Mi dispiace. I'm sorry. I forgot you do not speak Italiano here," he apologized.
"It's alright," I replied, "I've been meaning to take lessons. What was it that you asked?"
"Where I am?"
"Oh, um…" I paused for a moment. "Well, you're in the Americas…" I had no idea on how to continue. Ezio cocked his head to the side and nodded. Almost as if he was acting like he understood but did not want me to think him an idiot.
A raindrop fell into my eye. I blinked. "Um, signore? I'm pronouncing that right?" I asked. He nodded. "Would you like to head inside? It's getting a little cold out here."
"Si, please."
"Now that one I understood," I replied and laughed. He chuckled a little and I led him to my house.
"By the way, I never got your name," Auditore asked.
I looked up at him. "My name's Andrea. Call me 'Andi' for short," I replied, "And you are…?"
"Ezio Auditore."
I reached the slider and opened it to allow him inside and shut it closed behind me.
I didn't hit the locking mechanism though. I was afraid that he would think it a trap and attack me again.
I looked up and watched him wander the house. He took off his hood, revealing gray-tinged hair underneath. Its original brown nearly sucked dry of its youthful luster. Then, I became aware of a constant drip drip drip sound and looked down. There was a puddle forming at my feet and my clothes were soaked.
I bit the bottom of my lip. I knew I had to take a quick shower before I caught a cold but I really didn't like the idea of leaving Signore assassino unsupervised in my house but…
"U-umm…" I started. The noise was loud enough for him to turn around. He looked at me as if waiting for me to continue. I cleared my throat.
"Do you mind if I take a shower right now? I'm kind of cold and I don't want to catch a bug or something."
"A bug?"
"A, uh, cold. A sickness," I explained.
He nodded his head and I walked calmly over to the stairs, both of us watching each other. I gave him a sheepish smile before vaulting up the stairs.
When I reached to the top floor, I heaved a huge sigh and shook my head. That's when I heard what sounded like sinister laughter nearby and looked up.
A man with a bald head, really bad teeth, and a scar down one side of his face stood in the doorway to my bedroom. I stopped. He wore templar armor. The symbol on his chest was a dead giveaway.
"Oh, fuck me," I muttered.
This was Leandros. And I did NOT like the way he was looking at me.
This three week vacation was going to be very interesting.
