A/N: Hi, it's me. :)

I don't know where this story came from, and I don't know where it's going... Read to find out, I guess. xD

Disclaimer: I definitely do not own the 39 Clues, nope. :DD

"Hey, Jonah?"

"'Sup, big boy?"

"Don't call me big boy!"

"...Okay, H-dawg."

"Yeah, that's better."

"So?"

"Oh, nothing much... I was wondering why you always wear those chains around your neck. I mean, I know it's part of your image and all, but you wear them EVERYWHERE. Around the house... You remember when Dan put that spider in your bed and you woke us all up in the middle of the night screaming? You had them chains around your neck then, too."

"It's kinda a personal thing, H-dawg, if you don't mind."

"Personal as in your-life personal, or Cahill-business personal?"

"...Kind of both. Why're you so nosy today?"

"...I'm just bored. Fine. I'll go find Dan. See ya."

"Wait... Yo, Hammer! You know I didn't mean it that way. I thought you'd dig."

"I do dig. I'm not wanted. Bye."

Hamilton turned and marched away.

Jonah sighed and looked down at his chains. He lifted the smallest one, a thin silver band, up a little and flipped it.

A small, raised wolf head carving snarled up at him. Under it was written, "Love, Mom."

Jonah remembered the day he had gotten this chain very clearly.

It had been his fifth birthday. He wasn't a star yet, but they were rolling in dough anyway from his mom's hot-shot job at Hollywood.

He was eating his way through his second pancake when his mom bounded down the stairs energetically. "Happy birthday, Jonah!"

"Thanks, Mom." Jonah grinned, happy that she had remembered. She had forgotten Dad's birthday last year.

At the time, it had been a matter of course. His mom was a busy woman. She didn't have time for trivial things like birthdays. Looking back now, though, he wondered.

What kind of woman forgets her own husband's birthday and doesn't think twice about it? What kind of son is happy just because his mom didn't forget his birthday?

"Here." Cora handed him a small box, wrapped in green paper. The color green seemed to be a reocurring thing in their house, but Jonah didn't know why, and didn't really care.

He unwrapped the present carefully and opened the plastic box inside.

"Didn't you always say you're going to be a gangsta when you grow up, honey? Here- wear it around your neck like this." Cora slipped the little silver chain around his neck. "It adds to your image, baby."

Jonah nodded happily. "Thanks, Mom!"

He fingered the chain, and felt something behind it. He turned it over and stared for a moment at a raised wolf head carving behind one of the links.

"That's very important, Jonah." Cora sat down beside him with a plate of her own. "There's a lot of... family significance behind that carving. It's also a key to an important place."

Five-year-old Jonah stared at her, his eyes wide. He'd been taught not to question anything his mom said, but this seemed like a special case.

"What important place, Mom? Somewhere in Hollywood?"

"No, honey. Somewhere far more dangerous. I'll tell you more as you grow, okay?"

As the years had passed, Jonah had fully understood what the wolf head signified- his branch, the Janus. The carving was a key to an old, forgotten Janus stronghold in Greece- a place populated by the Ekats. It had been up to Jonah to safeguard the key, ever since he was five. He'd taken to wearing his other chains on top of it, hiding it from view, everywhere he went.

Jonah stared at the wolf head once more. He knew it represented his branch as elegant, clever, and ready to strike at any moment. Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, had been raised by a wolf- Lupa. Hence the mascot for the Janus. Cora Wizard, Jonah reflected, had all of those things- elegance, wit, and readiness to kill. Which was why she was the head of the Janus branch.

A mother who had once trusted and watched out for him enough to give him the key to one of the most important places in their family. Now thousands of miles away, barely caring what happened to her son anymore, as long as it didn't affect the branch or herself.

But he still had to safeguard the key. It was the first object his mother had ever charged him with protecting, and he had to keep it safe, no matter.

He realized he was standing in a kind of trance, and shook himself to snap out of it. With a sigh, he hid the little silver chain among the other large ones again and went to find Hamilton.

Oh boy, I need better endings. :/

Anyway, that was a completely pointless story you just read... it started off as a Stream of Consciousness drabble, then somehow turned into the story of his life. O.e I don't even know with my stories anymore... xD

Review. I really want to know what y'all think of this. :D

~Sri