Chapter 1
Powers
Once in the active town of Boston, two brothers - Zack and Cody Martin - were born. They were born on the 29th of December in a cold night. They were twins and twins that could not be more different than they were.
Both twins had sky-blue eyes and some any freckles on the bridge of their noses. They were dark-haired and they didn't like to cut their hair short so it reached down to the bottom of their neck. The twins were slender and tall and each time one of them grew taller the other will grow at the same height the other had grown. They had small ears and demonstrated different traits from each other. There was one thing other than their dissimilar traits that differenced the twins and that was that Cody owned a small mole just behind the ear and that was the twins' teachers and parents only clue to see who each of the twin was who.
As the years passed by the children demonstrated to be really different, not physically due to they were twins, but mentally.
One of them, Cody Martin, grew bookish, brilliant and was a great leader. While the other, Zack Martin, he grew playful, athletic, and was an incredibly good actor.
But they both had some things in common other than looking the same and been born in the same day; they could think what the other's thoughts were, they could also observe what the other saw, they could feel what the other felt, and they could listen towhat the other heard.
The parents of the twins were anxious that if someone discovered that the boys could be in touch with each other, the government might take the twins away to do tests on them, so the Martin family decided in not telling about the twins. Also, the parents kept a secret from the twins, telling anyone the truth would be a colossal mistake. It could change the life of the twins in a second.
Neither the twins nor their parents knew that the twins had abilities to contact to each other until certain age and it took them a great deal of time to figure of their abilities but each time something unusual happened the twins became more and more suspicious.
When they were six, Cody slept alone in his bedroom while Zack played with a boy named Harry Roosevelt in the Martin house backyard with Kurt watching closely. Harry Roosevelt was petite and a little chubby. He liked to tease girls and get into trouble and that was what Zack should've known before playing with him. The ground in the backyard was rocky and damp with puddles of water scattered across, it had been raining lately and a few strong winds had brought the small pebbles and rocks. The matter got worse when Harry pushed Zack. Zack collapsed to the ground and smacked his head. Immediately Zack began to weep and Cody awoke to release an extended piercing wail.
When they were eight, the twins were doing a complicated third-grade arithmetic test and Zack hadn't revised his notes when Cody had. While Zack neither saw Cody's answers beside himself, not in the back, nor in front but with the Cody's own eyes, he could obtain the answers which lead him to gain a hundred percent in the test. Zack got taken care of like a king for acquiring his first hundred percent and Cody began to be suspicious to what had come to pass. Then he had gotten his and Zack's answer sheet and revised the answers and they turned out to be exactly the same answers and when Cody thought about that he should tell his parents that he may have cheated, he realized, how could Zack had obtained the same answers that Cody had when they were not in the same classroom?
A few months after that, Cody studied at the library and Zack remained at home playing video games, when Zack suddenly caught the chickenpox. He coughed and coughed and unexpectedly there was a louder cough that wasn't Zack's. It was Cody with the chickenpox, he appeared on the doorway with red bumps on his face and arms just as Zack had. Even though Cody and Zack were too weak to solve a mystery, they conversed with each other about how Zack had transferred the chickenpox to Cody when he was on the other side of town.
When the twins were fourteen, they found out of their extraordinary abilities. While Cody studied for his eventual test, Zack flirted in a date with Jessica Murphy, whom he had been dated for the past year-and-a-half.
It was a chilly winter day; there was a small quantity of snow outside the homes of the people who lived in Boston. Cody researched on World War Two, when suddenly he listened to thoughts that weren't his own. Jessica's eyes are like an immense pool in which I could swim all day. Another thought was, her voice is as sweet as honey, Last but not least, her lips, are like two pinkish candy canes and I could taste them all day.
Cody immediately identified these thoughts were Zack's by recalling with who Zack was and where. Cody dropped from his seat and started rolling with hilarious laughter as tears of hilarity rolled down his cheeks.
Too bad Cody isn't enjoying Jessica's twin sister, Janice. The poor fool must be melting in his seat studying his brain out. How pathetic, Cody heard Zack think.
Cody had stopped laughing and listened to Zack's thoughts with awareness. He will probably beg me to show him my date and if I do he will say, Oh, Jessica do you have a sister, or a cousin or an identical friend? Then Zack started laughing silently.
"Nice, I'm able to hear and think what Zack is thinking and hearing." Cody whispered to himself. Suddenly Cody perceived the sound of a burp. Then, Cody heard a sweet high voice.
"Aren't you going to say sorry," the sweet voice had demanded.
"Oh-uh- sorry," this was Zack's embarrassed voice.
"Now I can hear what he hears and what he says, cool!" Cody exclaimed. Then, a picture came into Cody's mind. The vision was a girl; she was beautiful, with large green eyes and a white with sky-blue shirt. Her hair was reddish-blond and her lips medium-sized and the color ruby-red.
"Uh- Zack," the girl called, "I heard that you have a twin brother, is he the same as you are?" Then, the girl sipped from her cup that was beside her and the liquid seemed like cappuccino.
Cody began to feel embarrassed; each time somebody asked for him, Zack always made an insulting introduction of him.You better say something good about me, Cody warned.
Apparently, Zack heard that and said, "Jessica, did you just said, you better say something good about me? " Zack's face became red with embarrassment and he tried to hide it with the collar of his shirt.
Jessica looked stunned. "What?" she exclaimed. Her eyes became large with slight anger at what Zack had said and a frown spread across her forehead.
"Forget it," Zack ordered. Cody saw everything and heard everything and now his stomach ached from all the laughter. He held his belly tightly with both arms and from downstairs of the Martin home Zack's and Cody's mother told Cody to quiet down, that she was trying to concentrate on her book.
"So how is your twin, his name was Charlie, right," Jessica said taking a small sip from her cappuccino and then looking at Zack who was nibbling his bread.
"Cody," Zack corrected as he placed the bread in his hands on the table that was decorated with white plates and cups.
"Oh sorry, so is he very much like you?" Jessica asked.
Zack grinned. "No, actually he is the type of dumb kid that likes to be in the library all the time. He doesn't stop reading and sometimes he won't stop until his eyes and head hurt. While me, I like to exercise, I'm not saying that Cody is fat nor he is overweight, actually he is as thin as I am." Zack introduced and snickered.
Well, it could've been worse, thought Cody and sighed in his seat.
Jessica was quiet. "So, he is just like my sister, Janice." Jessica informed. She took out her wallet and was about to pay the bill but Zack offered to him to pay it.
I have to hear this, thought Cody. He sat firmly in his chair trying to stay calm and not to laugh which was easy to Cody because he had nothing to laugh about now that Zack was not telling humorous things.
"What did you say?" Zack asked.
"I did not say anything," Jessica said.
"Oh, nothing," Zack said looking over his shoulder where he found nothing only the waiters taking the orders of other customers and little kids running restlessly across the restaurant with their mothers trying to grab them.
"Zack, are you okay, you've been acting weird lately." Jessica affirmed and grabbed Zack's hand and Zack paid his to Jessica who was still grabbing his hand.
"No, it's nothing I'm probably nervous. So your sister, you say that she is very much like my brother. " Zack began speaking. When hearing this, Cody heard the conversation even more closely.
"Yeah, when you described your brother I remembered my sister," Jessica continued. "She loves to spend her time at the library reading her irritating books. She is also the same weight as I am, and she neither stops reading until mom tells her to or until her head hurts, sometimes even both," Jessica compared.
A girl with my interests good, thought Cody.
"Then we should get them to meet each other, when tomorrow?" Zack suggested making a gesture with his hand.
"Say yes! say yes!" Cody pleaded to himself placing his hands in a position that seemed like he was praying.
"Tomorrow is cool, yes I think tomorrow is a great day, at three o'clock?" Jessica asked for Zack's opinion.
"Yes, at three o'clock its fine, I just hope Cody's book club doesn't have a meeting," Zack expected.
"I don't have a meeting, I don't!" Cody exclaimed jumping up and down on his bed.
"Whoa!" Zack shouted rubbing his head and shaking it constantly. He rubbed his eyes and blinked a great amount of times. Then he looked all over himself.
"What," Jessica inquired more nervous than before. She looked at Zack as if he were some kind of freak.
"I just had the weird sensation that Cody didn't have a book club meeting tomorrow, and that he was also screaming it," Zack said and rubbing his head again.
"Okay then, at three o'clock we will meet at Liberty Park and make sure to bring Cody and I'll make sure to bring Janice. Until then," Jessica agreed standing from the table and heading for the restaurant's door.
"Jessica, wait!" Zack called after her yelling louder than he had expected and all the people inside the restaurant stare at him and whisper things about him which embarrassed Zack as well as Jessica.
Blushing, Jessica stopped and turned back, "Yes," she said as she placed her hood neatly over her head and put her gloves on.
"I was wondering if you wanted to be my… girlfriend?" proposed Zack with a shaky, nervous voice.
Cody's eyes widened in surprise and began to think of answers Jessica could say as, "I just want you as a friend" or "I don't want to know about you again" but there could be, "You're too weird for me." Jessica simply smiled. "Tomorrow you'll find out," Jessica giggled as she walked through the restaurant's door. She closed the door neatly behind her and placed her pink oink purse over her shoulder and then buttoned her coat.
"Is that a yes or a no?" Zack asked, but Jessica had already dashed down the sidewalk. Zack placed the money to pay the bill, left a good amount of a tip and walked slowly home.
"C'mon, Cody come to the park, I need you to be there," Zack persuaded. It was the day after the date and Zack was telling Cody to go to the park. They were at their bedroom, Cody placing his medium-sized jacket on and Zack pleading to Cody behind him.
"No, I won't go until you tell me what's so important that you want to be there a three o'clock," Cody bribed knowing he had got Zack this time.
"I- I can't tell you because- I can not tell you because- it's a surprise." Zack lied as he did his way of showing he was laying by eye twitching.
"Liar, liar, pants on fire, don't worry, I know let's go now, it's almost three o'clock." Cody said sauntering out the door with his best clothes on.
"What? He knows, he even knows at what time we have to be at the park, but he didn't tell me what he thinks, so he probably doesn't know what's in the park, then I don't have nothing to worry about," Zack said to himself and ran after Cody.
Liberty Park was stunning, as it always was since the twins first visited it at the age of three. It was two blocks wide and three long. Lofty threes dominated the area. Golden colored benches were scattered here and there for people to sit down and relax. The park was a habitat to many species of birds and small mammals such as squirrels and chipmunks. The twins adored spending their spare time there and even they could tell that they spent at least 60 percent of their time at Liberty Park. Even if their friends attempted to locate them at their home and they were not there, they immediately traveled to the park to find them lying there, staring at the clouds or wrestling for fun.
At Liberty Park, the twins could barely walk through because there were so much people here and there. Two to three dogs strolled in the twin's way making them both stagger. "I wonder what the commotion is all about," Zack told Cody, ignoring the signs saying Happy four of July parade.
At last, they spotted two identical girls sitting in a bench drinking lemonade. "Somebody should call heaven because I just found an angel." Zack said to one of the girls, who one of them was Jessica. She stood up and whispered something in Zack's ear that made Zack grin.
Before Jessica could say something to Zack, Cody tried to hear. "What you said last night, I'm saying yes." Cody heard Jessica whisper to Zack. It had answered the question that Zack had asked Jessica if she could be his girlfriend and that had calmed Cody's curiosity to what was her answer.
Cody rolled his eyes. "Good morning ladies, how are you this lovely morning?" Cody said in a stylish voice as he stood on tiptoe to see the other girl that was sitting on the bench facing the opposite side that Cody was looking at.
The other girl who was sitting beside Jessica stood up and extended her hand without saying anything not even grinning. Cody felt confused. Oh great, thought Cody, did she extended her hand so I can shake it or so I can kiss it.
Confused, Cody half-shook and half-kissed the girl's small hand. The girl jerked her hand away and said, "Hi, I'm Janice, who are you?" Janice said as she dried her hand and shoved it into a pocket of her jeans that were so long that she almost stepped on them.
Well, it's not as embarrassing as Zack's date, Cody thought. Then, Cody felt a piercing look and he turned around to see that it came from Zack, who in fact, heard his thoughts.
"I said who are you? Janice repeated hands on her hips and gently stomping her foot on the floor to catch Cody's attention.
Oooops,thought Cody. "Oh, sorry, I'm Cody." Cody said rubbing his elbow.
"Do you always daydream when talking to someone?" Janice asked staring at Cody directly in the eye. Cody knew Janice identified he was embarrassed by the way she stared at him. Cody was nervous. He did daydream a lot except in class but when talking to someone when he was anxious.
"Uh-no," Cody assured. Janice raised an eyebrow telling Cody to say the truth. Cody began to feel anxious and he found himself sweating without control. "Okay I do daydream a lot and if you don't like that I can-" but Cody never finished the sentence because Janice had already pulled him forward by the collar of his shirt and started kissing him tenderly on the lips.
Zack and Jessica sat staring on a nearby bench. Jessica made a wonder sound that to Zack meant that she was surprised and moved by the scene. Zack thought, look at that, two nerds kissing. Even though Cody heard the thought he didn't care about this but he kept on kissing and Janice wrapped her arms around his neck. Seconds ticked passed and then minutes and suddenly it had been almost four minutes when they stopped kissing. "Whoa, what was that for?" Cody exclaimed as tried to keep himself from falling down.
Janice blushed. "I don't know, I just think you're cute," Janice confessed, "so I think are your eyes."
When Cody stopped talking, Janice made a "Well, I also I think you are attractive," Cody said passing his hand through Janice's long, reddish blond hair. Janice grabbed handful of her hair and made it into a twirl. Then, a slow music began playing from Jessica's boom box that she secretly brought under her fine mink coat. Cody and Janice began to dance; again Janice wrapped her arms around Cody's neck.
"So, have you read the book 'Romeo and Juliet', you know the one made by William Shakespeare?" Cody asked.
"Yes, and I think it's really romantic," Janice confessed dancing slower, "especially when Romeo and Juliet get married in secret."
She's very attractive, should I ask her if she wants to be my girlfriend. But Zack is present, he'll tease me till death, but I don't care, thought Cody.
Unfortunately, Zack heard and thought the following, I should to get find new ways to frustrate Cody.
Cody heard and rolled his eyes. "Janice," Cody said.
"Yes?" Janice answered looking up to Cody who seemed to desire to stop dancing to the slow music that Jessica was playing.
Cody felt bashful and afraid, he did not know how to ask the girl dancing in front of him the question he was about to ask but he gained his courage but still had some shyness within himself. "Do, you-uh-want-to be my-girlfriend?" Cody asked shyly and then looking straight into Janice's deep green eyes.
Janice smiled like her sister had done when Zack asked her the same question and looked down to the ground and she could swear that she could feel that they-she and Cody-were up in the air like two hummingbirds. She felt no ground before her feet and there was a calm current of air that carried the scent of roses and wild daisies.
Janice pondered about Cody proposal for almost half-an-hour and Cody ached from so much dancing. Finally, she answered, "Yes, of course," She said jumping to Cody arms. Cody almost fell but he caught his balance.
At least, Jessica didn't dance this to Zack, thought Cody looking at Zack who frowned and turned his hand into a fist.
"Yes," Janice repeated, interrupting Cody's thoughts to what was she going to say, "I do want to be your girlfriend.'' Cody smirked and danced a bit longer even though it seemed an eternity. Janice leaned on Cody's chest and Jessica who was a few yards away, pulled Zack to his feet and began to dance with him like if there was no tomorrow.
Later that day, Zack and Cody talked about what they could do and if their abilities were from some use. "So you think we are some kind of freaks that can communicate with each other?" Zack asked Cody as he sat on the bed beside the window on the twins' bedroom. The bedroom was decorated with a light red paint on the walls. On the far corner, there was a bunk bed with each mattress covered with a dark blue pillows and covers. Half of the room was crowded with books of all kinds and subjects, and some medals and trophies for the best student of the year and for the first place in the vocabulary and spelling bees which obviously belonged to Cody. While the other half, was filled with comics and sports trophies and pictures that belonged to Zack. In the middle of the room were two desks, one filled with diplomas and the other had a computer on it.
"Freak is not the word but what we can do is called telepathic," Cody said reading from an encyclopedia which was covered with brown leather and had the letters s-t printed on the spine.
"And what does that mean?" Zack asked scratching his head.
"It means the ability to contact someone else by the mind." Cody explained as he put the book away inside one of the shelves. "But, telepathic is not proven yet so we shouldn't tell nobody," Cody warned.
"Except mom and dad," Zack pointed out.
"Yeah, we should tell them, now." Cody ordered. The twins stood up and ran down the stairs to the living room where Mr. and Carrie were at.
Carrie or Helen Martin was plump because she was pregnant and like the boys, she had sky-blue eyes and was dark-haired. Most like Cody, she liked to read and study. Before the pregnancy, Carrie had a wonderful figure and her husband always told her that she should become a model.
In the other hand, Kurt or Jeff Martin was tall and healthy and had freckles on the bridge of his nose like the twins. He was very much like Zack, athletic and artistic. His hair of a light blond and his eyes were of a bluish-green tone. He adored the arts of any kind just like his wife and that trait led them to their marriage.
"Mom and dad, we have something to tell you," Cody first said.
Mr. and Carrie looked up. "Yes." Carrie said moving her book aside.
"It's difficult to explain, but-no you tell them Cody, you know more than this than I do," Zack began.
"What Cody was saying-well you'll never believe me guys, but Zack and I are telepathic, I know it sounds strange, but it's true," Cody said his hand in the air as if he was saying a promise.
Mr. and Carrie frowned. "Zack, Cody, we already have too much work to do, without you saying a lie, so can we go back to our work, thank you," Kurt scolded and he went back to trying to solve a puzzle that Cody loved named Rubik's Cube.
"Dad, I'm serious, when have I told you a lie, huh, answer that." Cody demanded.
Kurt eyes turned large with anger, "How dare you to speak to me like that, young man," he said harshly and throwing the cube in his hands to the floor causing it to break in to a lot of tiny pieces.
"If you give me a chance, I could prove to you that Zack and I can think, see, feel, and hear what the other is doing." Cody pleaded kneeling down before his father.
Kurt yanked Cody to his feet. "Okay, one chance." he said showing Cody his finger.
"Thank you, thank you dad," Cody thanked as he grinned from ear to ear.
"But Cody, we can't feel what each other are feeling." Zack busted out in a whisper when their parents were placing everything neatly on the table ready for dinner.
"Oh yes we can, remember when we were six, you were playing with Harry Roosevelt?" Cody asked as Zack nodded. "Well, mom told me that he pushed you and you hurt yourself, you cried and that at that same moment I began to cry."
Zack grinned as he took the message. "Okay, dad we're ready." Cody told Kurt.
"First, we're going to do the thinking test. Zack, come here." Kurt beckoned. Zack walked toward Kurt and Kurt whispered, "Think that, Cody is a bookworm, if what you say it's true he will get mad, now think."
Cody you're are such a bookworm not even a nerd will get close to you, thought Zack. Cody heard the thought and frowned both at his father and twin.
"That proves something," Kurt laughed, "now Cody this time you come here. Zack, I will whisper something to Cody and you will be upstairs, again, if you are telling the truth you will hear what I say to him, now go and leave to your bedroom." Zack ran the stairs and waited there.
"Zack, come here." Kurt whispered in Cody's ear. Zack came running down the stairs and said, "You called me?"
Kurt seemed surprised. "Now, Helen, it's your turn to prove the other things." Kurt said helping Carrie standing up.
"Now, the feeling test," Carrie announced. "I will do something to one of you and if the other feels it you are saying the truth."
As quick as lightning, Carrie pinched Cody on the left arm. "Ooow, what was that for?!" Both twins demanded rubbing their left arm.
"That proves it; you can feel what the other is feeling." Carrie proclaimed. "Last but not least, the seeing test."
Zack and Cody groaned. "Cody, cover your eyes with this," commanded Carrie handing him over a small towel.
Cody covered his eyes and said, "Now what?"
"Now Zack, go to different place from the house and see something if Cody describes or says what you are seeing you are telling the truth. But, Jeff, go with Zack to prove Cody doesn't make something up." Carrie said. Zack and Kurt left the room and headed for the backyard.
"Ready!" Zack screamed from outside.
"Okay, Cody, describe." Carrie ordered.
Cody could not see anything at first and then a moving image of a very familiar dog came into view. Cody examined his viewings very carefully. "What I see-I mean what Zack sees is a cocker spaniel. It is a male dog and I can see from here. He is wagging his tail wildly at the sight of Zack. Its hair is brownish with a tone of gold. He is almost as tall as my knee. And he is barking wildly with excitement and with a collar that says 'Max'. It's Max!" Cody described the family dog named Max.
Max has been the family dog since two years after the twins were born. He had long golden fur and was always unfriendly to strangers. As a sign that he was agitated he always growled and barked wildly in the direction the stranger or the person or thing that made him uneasy.
"Zack and Jeff, you can come back now!" Carrie yelled. Then, Zack and Kurt walked through the door. Cody removed the towel covering his eyes.
"Jeff, what was Zack seeing?" Carrie inquired.
"Max," Kurt responded.
Carrie hesitated. "Cody said that Zack was seeing Max. So, I have to say it, the twins are telepathic," She said.
Zack and Cody clapped their high-fives. "We told you so," Cody said.
"Yes, it's true. But, you can't tell anybody about this, understand? But Zack and Cody remember if you tell this to someone or somebody knows of this, which I hope not, officials from the Government might take you away to test on you."
"We already knew that," Zack pointed out rolling his eyes.
"Then you know, promise me you won't tell anybody." Carrie said.
The Martin twins promised, not being to imagine the secret their parents hid from them or the grand adventure they'll soon have.
"Time for dinner, boys!" Carrie announced from the kitchen table.
