"Hey, Jonah, that creepy dude over there's been staring at us for a while now."

I glanced over at the man Nick had gestured at and tried not to stare. He was buff. Ripped, actually. I could count the muscles in his chest from where I stood. He lay there on the beach on a towel, shirtless, head propped up by a second towel. I was about to brush Nick off as paranoid when the man lowered his shades and made eye contact with me. Yeah. He was definitely watching us.

"Probably just another talent scout," I said dismissively as I picked up my board. "Let's go to a different beach. He'll leave us alone." I turned and headed back to the van. Nick and Josh followed behind me. Unfortunately, so did the mystery man. I sighed and handed my surfboard to Nick. "Take this to the car. I'm going to take a quick swim. I'll meet you at the usual place, alright?"

"Sure, dude." Nick said hesitantly before I ran toward the waves. I glanced behind me and noticed that Mr. Muscles was right behind me, keeping pace. Just like the rest of them, he was persistent. There was no way in hell I was going to enter in whatever competition he wanted me to sign up for. I knew I was different from the other surfers and didn't want the wrong people to find out about me. My "Uncle Merle" had told me to try to avoid standing out. Other than continuing to surf, which he had told me was a bad idea, I was doing exactly what he wanted.

The hot Hawaiian sand burned the soles of my feet, but I ignored it. I looked behind me again. My friends' van was gone. Good. The man was gaining on me. Bad. How was that even possible? I was faster than all my friends. Well, he wouldn't keep up for much longer.

I ran into the high waves and ducked under the surface. The man was right on my heels. I swam out further, popping my head out above the waves for air. The man was still hot on my trail. I had to give him credit: he really wanted to talk. Well, I wasn't interested. I dove under and didn't come up again. I dove deeper and deeper, all the while opening up a set of gills on my neck. Heh. Catch me now.

After I felt the water pressure building in my ears, I glanced behind me once again. The man was gone. Good. I changed my course and started toward the beach where my friends would be. It was only a few miles away, so it wasn't impossible for a normal human to swim there. Not that I was exactly normal…

I got rid of my gills as I neared land again. Nick and Josh were already out surfing, so I waited for them. I didn't feel much like surfing anymore. Scouts usually took it out of me.

I watched them ride waves for a bit longer and then left. However, I first left a note on Nick's windshield, letting him know I was heading home for a nap and to keep my surfboard until we next hung out. I then went back to my hotel room. My home. My dad owned this whole hotel, so he let me have my own personal room. It was nice. The staff all knew me and no one complained that I always walked around barefoot. I got onto the elevator and went up to floor 35. I stepped out onto the rough carpet and headed towards my room. It was then that I saw him, leaning against the door to my room: Mr. Muscles, now covered with a plain-looking red polo. How had he found my address? This went beyond persistence and was quickly entering the realm of creepy.

I steeled myself and continued forward as I pulled out my card key. I would just shove him out of my way and walk on in. He may have more muscles than I did, but that didn't mean he was stronger. I could probably pick him up and toss him over my shoulder if I wanted.

"Excuse me, but you're in my way." I said as I walked over to him.

"Are you Jonah?" He asked me. I guessed that this guy wasn't too bright.

"I'm not interested," I said as I grabbed his shoulder and shoved to the side. The man held like a brick wall. I tried again with the same results. Somehow, this man was stronger than me!

Mr. Muscles grabbed my hand that was on his shoulder. "My name is Bernard. I'm here to take you to Amber."

"Well, whoever she is, she can wait until I'm done with my nap, at least." I replied, trying to pull my hand free. Bernard held on tight.

"Amber isn't a person," Bernard said with a slight chuckle. "It's a place."

I snorted, trying to pretend I hadn't just remembered that I knew what he said was true. Amber was indeed a place. My "uncle," if he even was really related to me like he claimed, had mentioned it while he had helped me practice. I hadn't listened to him much back then, but I was more likely to believe him now that this new guy was blabbing about it. Then again, maybe Bernard and Merle were in the same cult or on the same drugs. I'd checked tons of books and even searched around online. No such place existed.

"So… it's a place," I said coolly, still trying to get my hand back. "I still want to get a nap in."

Bernard shook his head and took out a pack of playing cards. With one hand, he shuffled out a card that looked like a very decorative Jack. A man stood alone, leaning on a flower-covered pole. In the background stood a horse. Bernard returned the rest of the cards to their case and then, still holding my hand, started to stare at the card.

"Hey… um… what are you doing?" I asked. I redoubled my escape attempts. Bernard didn't answer. Well, he did say something, but it was obviously not to me.

When he did next talk to me, it was a command. "Hold out your free hand. My hands are full."

"That wouldn't be a problem if you'd just let me go," I shot back.

"Just do it," he said with a sigh. "I'll let go of you if you just put out your hand like I told you to."

"If you say so." I stuck out my free hand and was startled when I felt someone grab it and tug. The next thing I knew, I was standing right in front of the same man I'd seen on the card and I definitely wasn't in my dad's hotel anymore.

"I found Jonah, Father," Bernard said. I frantically turned to face my abductor. He now wore a tight, red, medieval-style shirt with a v neck and a pair of light brown pants. On his left bicep was a leather belt, kind of like some cheesy cartooned hero. However, that wasn't as bad as the massive blade that he wore across his back. It was only a few steps down from something from a JRPG!

My eyes continued to dart between these two strange men. "Father?" It had only struck me just then. They really did look similar. The two of them both had long, slender faces and brown hair, though Bernard's was cropped much shorter. I guess what threw me off was the fact that Bernard looked like he abused steroids while this other man was more than a bit on the scrawny side.

"My name is Benedict," the new man said to me before turning his attention to Bernard again. "Random will want to see you. He's in the library."

"Alright. Let's go, Jonah." Bernard put a hand on my arm. I brushed it off, and he looked hurt. I didn't really care. I didn't know where on Earth I was or what he had done to me. I couldn't care less right now if I hurt his feelings. However, I still followed him. I didn't want to offend him so much that he decided to use that massive blade of his on me.

"So, where are we?" I asked as I looked around.

"Castle Amber," Bernard replied.

"So it's real, then?" I asked and then put one hand over my mouth in shock. I had finally noticed that we were no longer speaking English, but some other language I had never heard before. "What is this?" I asked.

"What?"

"This language!"

"Oh, that's Thari," Bernard said. "I was a little shocked you knew it, too. It's the native language here. I guess you know it because it's in your blood."

"That makes about as much sense as assuming an Asian person speaks Chinese," I muttered in this strange new language. I was pretty positive now that Bernard had at some point drugged me. "What do you mean, 'in my blood,' anyway? That doesn't make any sense… oof!" I stumbled backward a pace as I ran right into someone coming the other direction. He was short, a good head-and-a-half shorter than me, and slender with wavy light brown hair going down to his shoulders. His outfit was bolder than his personality seemed. He wore a mud-brown shirt under a forest-green vest with large, decorative buttons. But what stood out most about him were his bright blue eyes.

"Ah…um… pardon me," the boy squeaked before hurrying off.

"Who was that?" I asked, catching up to Bernard, who hadn't bothered to stop and wait for me.

"Oliver," Bernard replied. "He usually blends into the woodwork, so you probably won't see much of him."

"Ah…" I glanced behind me again, but Oliver was out of sight. Oh well. I turned back to face Bernard. "Oh, hey! You never answered my question about-"

"We're here." Bernard threw open a pair of ornate doors. Great. More people dressed up for a ren faire.

Four people sat near the entrance to the room, playing what appeared to be a casual game of poker. At the head of the table sat a man who seemed to be dressed like a jester. He wore a two-colored one-piece outfit where the limbs diagonal from each other were the same color. On his chest rested a ruby the size of my fist. To his right sat a large man who rivaled Bernard in mass. He was dressed in furs and looked like the type of man who laughed much too loudly. Across the table from the caveman sat an elegant young girl with long, wavy brown hair. The top layer was tied up in a high ponytail with a piece of ribbon, but the bottom layer hung down freely. I could tell from her features that this young woman was somehow related to the boy I had run into in the hallway. They even had the same eyes.

The last man had his back to me as I walked in. As he turned, I realized that he fit in about as well as I did. No… Maybe he fit in a little better, because all I was wearing were my swim trunks.

This guy was wearing blue jeans and a brown t-shirt with an image of a ribcage roughly over where his own ribs should be. Slung over the back of his chair was a light jacket. He didn't look thrilled to be there. I didn't blame him. Not only was he probably here against his will like I was, but his poker hand was crap.

"This is Jonah," Bernard said to introduce me. I heard a snort and realized that there were two men I hadn't noticed before. One, dressed in silvery scale mail, sat in a plush chair off to the side. He looked even less thrilled to be there than I did. Standing behind him, leaning against the wall, was a younger man with a similar build wearing plate mail. More relatives?

Bernard continued with introductions. "That is Random, King of Amber." The jester with the bling gave me a slight nod. "That's Gerard, his brother, and that in the corner is Julian, another of his brothers." The big man in the furs shot me a grin, but the man in the armor didn't even glance my way. "Over there is Diego, Julian's son." The man in plate seemed similarly uninterested with my presence.

The young woman folded her cards and placed them face down on the table. "My name is Shandrin. I'm Random's daughter. This is Sebastian, who is also from Earth." The man in normal clothes muttered something under his breath.

Random folded his cards as well and held out his hands. "Well, don't be shy! Come here and play a few rounds while we wait for Dante's return!"

I wanted to ask who Dante was, but honestly didn't care enough. I was having enough trouble remembering all these names. I decided it was best to focus on remembering "Random" and "Sebastian." I didn't want to insult this…"king" by forgetting his name. And then Sebastian seemed like someone I could get along with. He at least looked normal.

I took a seat between him and Shandrin. Bernard put a hand on my shoulder as he passed and sat between Shandrin and Random. Random collected all of the cards and shuffled them skillfully.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to look at Sebastian. "Hey," he whispered. "Keep your eye on the chick. I think she cheats." I glanced at Shandrin and then returned my attention back to him. I must have looked puzzled because he continued. "That Random guy's won about half of the games and she's won the rest."

"Well, they are related," I whispered back. "Maybe card skills run in the family?"

"Yeah, well, you don't understand," Sebastian replied. "See, she told me she's blind."

I barely had time to digest this information when the library doors were thrown open again.