The mists of the dream had barely faded when Jade bolted upright in bed. Her mind still swimming with images of lush green jungle and the cool fingers of rain as they pelted her face. She shook her head as if to physically clear her mind of the images as she slipped out of bed. It seemed as if that was all she ever dreamed of was the jungle. It wasn't just any jungle though, and to be honest she didn't know what jungle it was. She had been all over the world twice in search of the meaning of her dream, only to find that every jungle she went to looked the same to her. The only place she seemed to find any peace was in the lush green jungles of India, amid the towering temples to strong willed gods.

"Another dream?"

The soft voice broke Jade of anymore thoughts, and she suddenly realized she was halfway to the kitchen.

"Is it that obvious?" She sighed, slowly turning to face the voice. Her eyebrow slowly raised. "What are you doing up?"

"Same reason you are." Will smiled stepping out of the shadows. "Dreams."

"Ah I see." Jade nodded and linked her arm through her brother's. "Let me guess, the jungle.or perhaps it was a T-Rex.. no I know it was that cute little blond that's in your biology lecture."

Will glared at his twin. "You shouldn't take these dreams lightly Jade."

"I'm not." Jade grumbled and disentangled herself from her brother. She flipped the light on in the kitchen and walked over to the icebox. Will took a seat at the small table as Jade set the left overs of dinner on the table.

"Will?"

"Hmm?"

"You ever think Daddy isn't telling us every thing?" Jade asked quietly, slowly picking at the roast.

Will sighed heavily and slowly met Jade's gray eyes. "Yes, I do. Sometimes, especially when we have these dreams. They almost seem too real at times."

"Like the raptors and T-Rex." Jade stated.

She had talked about this before with her twin, one night after a particular disturbing dream involving her mother and a nasty looking raptor. When she had told her father about the dream he went deathly pale and told her that she had been listening to her Uncle George talk about raptors too much. That was another thing. Her father refused to talk about their mother. When they would ask about her, he would get very still and quiet and ask them to leave him alone. One night she had found him standing in front of the large bay windows looking out at the clear night sky, with tears silently streaming down his face. But that had been years ago.

"Hey." Will reached over grabbing Jade's hand. "You ok? You spaced out for a minuet there."

"Mhmm, I'm ok." She sighed and tried to smile. "I'm guess I'm more tired than I thought." Jade slowly stood and stretched. "I'm going back to bed."

Will nodded and told her good night. He knew there was something bothering his sister. He could read it clearly in her eyes; probably the only one who could read his sister, other than their father. Of course she was the only one who could clearly read him. He sighed and looked at the wall clock. Four in the morning. He placed the rest of the roast in the icebox and headed toward his room, he could at least get another two hours of sleep before classes.



George Challenger closed his eyes tightly and prayed that everything was over quickly. This had to be worse than anything he had faced in his lifetime, and that had been a lot. His eyes flew open the minuet he heard the loud crash.

"Sorry Professor." The young man apologized as he picked the fallen box back up.

"That's ok," Challenger sighed and moved slowly across the room, away from most of the commotion. "Probably wasn't anything of true importance anyway."

Challenger limped slightly over to the corner desk and picked up the book, flipping through it trying to ignore the mess around him as they tried to move him into his new office at the University.

"Jesus, Challenger."

Challenger smiled as he turned around at the sound of the voice, just in time to see William Roxton come into his office. He watched the young man dodge the numerous boxes and crates and made his way over to him.

"I thought your sister was coming with you?" Challenger asked going back to his book.

"She'll be here in a few minutes." He sighed. "She got stopped." Will was interrupted by his sister's heated voice, quickly followed by an angry male's voice. "By Kinston."

Challenger winced. Jade Roxton was her father made over in everything except temper, and when she was mad she made some of her mother's tantrums look tame. Challenger did find it a bit ironic that the thing that could set her off faster than anything else would be Alexander Kinston.

"You are a vindictive, self-centered, son of a." Jade's rant was cut off by her brother clamping a hand over her mouth.

"Alex, it's good to see you again." Will smiled at the tall man infront of him.

"Will." Alex nodded. His thick Australian accent giving his words a bit of an exotic ring to them, more so than the normal English accent. He was still glaring at Jade with piercing dark blue eyes that would have made a normal person shudder with fear, they only seemed to get to her more.

Jade pulled away from her twin brother and moved closer to Challenger. She gave the older man a soft kiss on the cheek and smiled at him.

"You're looking well Uncle George." She told him.

"You flatter an old man, Jade." Challenger returned the smile.

"So why is it you wanted to see us, Challenger?" Alex spoke up, crossing his arms across his chest.

Challenger sighed. "I need you three to retrieve something for me."

That definitely piqued their interest. All three were eyeing Challenger curiously. It wasn't unheard of for the Roxton twins to run off to some far off land for Challenger, when he needed something. But this was going to be different they could tell.

"Where too?" Will asked.

"Oh somewhere in South America." Challenger answered walking around the desk. "I have a map that I'll give you later."

Jade raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms under her breasts. "Why do I have a feeling there's something you're not telling us Challenger."

Challenger looked up in surprise at Jade. For a moment he thought that Marguerite was sitting there instead of Jade. "Don't worry, you'll know everything you need to know before you leave. There's still a few details I need to go over with Roxton." There was a sudden crash at the back of the room, causing Challenger to curse loudly and go to the back of the room where one of the helpers were trying to clean up shards of glass.

"Something's up." Jade told the two males quietly. "Something big."

Alex nodded. "For once I agree with you."

"We need to talk to dad. I've got a feeling he knows what's going on." Will replied.

"And have him tell us even less, I don't think so." Jade growled, placing her hands on her slender hips.

"Why do you have to be so difficult?" Alex asked.

"I'm not being difficult! I'm being reasonable." Jade huffed getting inches away from Alex's face, which was much easier since he was sitting down.

Alex felt his entire body became consumed with rage. Jade pushed every one of his buttons. She was the most infuriating, annoying, beautiful creatures he had ever met. It took every fiber in his being not to silence her with a searing kiss at times. The stance was broken as Challenger wondered back over, rubbing a hand over his face.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave so I can get some order to this mess." He sighed.

Jade nodded and kissed him gently on the cheek. "Will see you tonight for dinner?"

"Of course. Wouldn't miss it for the world."