Chapter 1 The Music Box:
It was a sunny day in Los Angeles, California as everyone was getting ready for either work or school. On the second floor of a middle class house, in a room, an alarm went off. A hand shot out from under a pile of covers and knocked the alarm clock to the ground with a crash. Upon hearing the crash, a 13 year old Salvic- American boy rose from under the covers. He had light skin with freckles running over the bridge of his nose, shaggy dirty blonde hair and steel blue eyes. This was Soren Waybright. The boy stretched his arms above his head and yawned as he got out of bed. Rubbing his eyes, Soren walked to his closet and pulled out a white tank top, a red hoodie with a school emblem on the right shoulder, blue jeans and some white sneakers. Soren slipped the clothes on, grabbed his school bag and walked down the stairs to the kitchen. He noticed that no one was in the kitchen for breakfast.
'Where is everyone?' he said in his head.
Looking around, Soren saw a note on the fridge. He moved to grab it and silently read the note.
'Had to leave early for work and might get home late. Find yourself some breakfast, let the dog out in the backyard, don't be late for school and DO NOT go to Jason's house.
Signed, Father'
Soren huffed. Why isn't he surprised? The blonde boy grabbed a slice of bread and placed it in the toaster. As the bread was cooking, Soren opened the fridge and grabbed an energy drink and an apple. The toaster dinged and Soren grabbed the toast before moving towards the front door. Placing the toast in his mouth, Soren grabbed his bike and rode down the sidewalk. Soren bit into his apple as he arrived at Saint James Middle School where a lot of the other kids were on the campus chattering. After eating the last of his apple, Soren threw the core away.
"Seriously Maggie, cut it out!" a voice shouted.
Soren turned to see a redheaded girl messing with a Thai girl his age. The girl who was getting picked on had light brown skin, curly, fluffy brown hair and dark brown eyes. She was wearing a white shirt with a purple collar with the school's emblem on the front, a purple skirt and yellow and white converse. This was Anne Boonchuy, Soren's best friend. Soren shook his head and walked over to them.
"Leave her alone, Maggie," he said.
The girl named Maggie, snorted and turned to him, holding Anne's snack.
"And what are you going to do about it?" she asked.
Soren sighed.
"It's too early for this. Just give her back her stuff," he said.
He grunted as Maggie grabbed him by his collar and picked him up off the ground.
"Leave him alone!" Anne said, trying to get Maggie to let go of her friend.
Soren tries to get out her grip. Maggie smirked.
"Not so tough now, are you?" she taunted.
"Hey Margo!" a voice called.
They all turned to see another girl Anne and Soren's age. She had fair skin, blonde hair tied into a ponytail with a pink hair scrunchie, a beauty under her right eye and baby blue eyes. She was wearing the same uniform as Anne but hers had a pink collar and she wore a dark blue jean jacket over it , she wore a pink skirt and black mary janes. This was Sasha Waybright, Soren's twin sister.
"Put. Him. Down." she said.
Maggie snorted.
"Oh yeah? Or else what?" she asked.
Sasha walked towards them, folding her arms.
"Or else you can forget coming to my awesome house party next week. It'll be really sad when the whole class is enjoying the pool without you," She said, smirking.
"Ah, jeez, Sash. I was just playing," Maggie said, laughing nervously.
She dropped Soren on the ground. The blonde boy grunted as he fell on his backside. Sasha held a hand out to him. Soren grabbed it and the older girl pulled him to his feet.
"Thanks dude," Anne said.
Sasha smiled.
"Don't mention it. You just gotta speak their language. But nevermind that, Happy Birthday Girl!" Sasha cheered.
Soren covered his ears as the two girls squealed though he couldn't help but to chuckle at their excitement. Unfortunately, the school bell rang ruining the moment.
"Ugh, buzzkill," Sasha grumbled.
They walked into the school. Anne took a bite of the breakfast her mom made for her.
"So, why did Maggie want to steal your food?" Soren asked.
"Because she's a jerk," Anne mumbled.
Sasha smirked and wrapped her arm around Soren, pulling him into a headlock and messing up his hair.
"It was a good thing Ren was there to try and be a hero, right, baby brother?" Sasha teased.
Soren blushed and pushed Sasha away.
"You're only older than me by six minutes," he grumbled.
Sasha chuckled.
"But you're still the baby of the family," she said.
Anne nudged her.
"Stop teasing him, Sash," Anne said, though she was giggling as well.
Soren rolled his eyes as they walked into science class.
"Alright class, today's your lucky day because it's frog dissection day!" the science teacher cheered.
The students groaned. Anne used a pencil to flip the dead frog over and gagged.
"Ugh! Frogs are the worst," she groaned.
Sasha scooted towards her.
"Yeah, no kidding. Wanna ditch this place?" she asked.
Anne was about to answer when a snore caught her attention. Leaning forward to look past Sasha, Anne saw that Soren had fallen asleep. The two girls giggled as Sasha took her phone out and snapped a picture.
"Should we wake him up?" Anne asked.
Sasha shook her head.
"Nah. Let him sleep. He had a long night," she said.
Anne nodded. Sasha raised her hand.
"Hey, teach! I need to go to the bathroom. It's an emergency," she said.
The science teacher nodded.
"Okay, you may go. Anne, how about you go with her? In case she needs help going to the nurse," she said.
Anne and Sasha exchanged grins and they ran out of the room.
Later after school:
Soren was in his room doing his homework when a voice called to him.
"Get down here, brat!" a voice shouted.
Soren sighed and stood up from his desk. He walked down the steps where a lady in her mid thirties stood. She had olive skin, long brown hair, and green eyes. This was Elaina, Soren's stepmother. She was wearing a light pink dress and sandals.
"Yes?" Soren asked.
"Didn't I tell you to clean the attic?" she asked in a sickly sweet voice.
Soren raised an eyebrow.
"Um, no? You said to clean the garage and feed the dogs," he said.
*SMACK!*
Soren fell to the ground, holding his stinging face where Elaina had slapped him. The older woman glared down at him.
"Don't talk back to me! Wait till I tell your father," she said.
Soren snorted as he stood up.
"Like he'd give two shits," he mumbled.
A stinging pain ran through his jaw as Elaina backhanded him in his face and he landed on the ground.
"Watch your tone, young man!" his stepmother shouted.
She huffed before walking away. Soren stood up and walked up the steps to his room. Soren looked in the mirror and saw a bruise already forming on his cheek. He sighed as he grabbed his phone. Opening his messages, Soren shot a text to his older brother.
Messages:
Speedy: Hey, you home?
Big Bro: Yeah, why?
Speedy: I wanna talk.
Big Bro:...Okay. Just knock on the window. Are you okay?
Speedy: Everything's fine. Thanks
End of messages:
Soren placed his phone in his pocket. He grabbed his school bag, stuffed his homework inside and pulled his hood over his head. Soren opened his room window and climbed down a tree. Landing on the ground, Soren grabbed his bike and rode down the street. He pedaled through the city before stopping in the alley of an apartment complex. Soren climbed off his back and climbed up the ladder to the third floor. He sat on the railing and knocked on the window. A few minutes later, the window opened revealing a boy who looked to be 5 to 6 years older than Soren. He had light skin, spiky brownish blonde hair and green blue eyes. He was wearing a black tank top, blue jeans and some brown working boots. This was Jason Waybright, Soren's older brother.
"Hey," Jason said.
Soren nodded and he climbed inside. He saw a guy Jason's age sitting on the couch playing a game.
"Hey, Blake," Soren said.
Blake waved at him. Jason walked to the fridge and pulled a water bottle out. He closed the fridge door and leaned against it.
"So, what brings my kid brother here on this fine afternoon?" he asked.
Soren shrugged.
"Just wanted to talk to my big bro," he lied.
Jason gave him a blank look.
"Wanna try that again?" he asked.
Soren huffed as he sat down on the counter.
"Another argument with Elaina," he mumbled.
Jason looked at him with a sad look.
"Have you talked to Dad about it?" he asked.
"He doesn't care as long as I'm not doing anything that could ruin the Waybright name," Soren mumbled.
Jason leaned against the counter.
"You're not ruining the family name. I mean you're the MVP of your basketball team. You didn't get that nickname for nothing," he said.
Soren snorted.
"Yeah, that's the only thing he'll talk to me about aside from my grades. Outside of that, Dad and I barely talk and we can't because he's too focused on work ," he mumbled.
Jason sighed as he didn't know how to respond to that. Soren's phone vibrated and he pulled it out to see a message from Sasha.
"What's that?" Jason asked.
"Sasha wants me to meet her, Anne and Marcy at a thrift store," he said.
Soren stood up and walked to the window.
"Tell Sasha I said what's up and Anne that I said Happy Birthday," Jason said.
Pulling his hood up, Soren gave him a thumbs up and climbed out the window. He grabbed his bike and rode to the thrift store. Soren leaned his bike against the wall and took his helmet off.
"Soren!" a voice called.
The blonde boy turned to see Sasha waving at him. He walked towards the three girls.
"What took you so long to get here?" a Taiwanese girl asked.
She had olive skin, short, shiny black hair and light brown eyes. She was wearing the school's hoodie, a green skirt, brown shoes and a green hair pin that held her hair back. This was Marcy Wu, Soren's other best friend. Soren rubbed his neck.
"I was at Jason's place. He said Happy Birthday, Anne" he said.
Anne nodded and Soren noticed something in her bag.
"Hey, what's in your bag?" he asked.
Anne blinked and looked around.
"Um, I'll show you when we get to the park," she said.
Soren raised an eyebrow but decided not to question it. They walked to the park. As they walked, Sasha noticed that Soren was more quiet than usual.
"Hey Anne, Mar-Mar, you guys go ahead, Ren and I will catch up," she said.
The two girls nodded and they went ahead. Soren blinked as Sasha stepped in front of him.
"What happened?" she asked.
Soren shook his head.
"Nothing. I'm fine," he said.
Sasha didn't look convinced and pulled Soren's hood . Her eyebrows lowered at the bruise on Soren's face. She gently touched it, making Soren wince.
"She hit you again, didn't she?" she asked.
Soren pushed her hand away.
"I'm fine. I'm used to it at this point," he mumbled.
Sasha opened her mouth to say something but Soren stopped her.
"Sash, drop it, please," he said.
The older twin sighed and nodded. The twins walked into the park.
"So, what did you want to show me?" Soren asked.
Anne reached into her bag and pulled out a strange music box. It was small and can easily fit in Anne's hand. It had frogs on it with gold etchings and four gems, blue, pink, green and red on the lid. Soren blinked.
"Pretty cool right? Marcy found it and it looked like a good birthday present for Anne," Sasha said.
Soren looked at the three girls.
"Wait, how were you able to afford this? This thing has to be like a hunder dollars," he said.
"Who said we paid?" Sasha asked.
Soren froze as his eyes widened.
"You stole it?!" he whispered shouted.
He ran a hand through his hair.
"Why? Would you do that?!" he asked his sister.
Sasha shrugged.
"We're just borrowing it. We'll return it later," she said.
Soren had a nervous look on his face. Sasha sighed and wrapped an arm around her kid brother.
"Hey, you trust me, right?" she asked.
Soren nodded.
"Then trust me when I say this, everything's going to be fine," she said, giving him a smile.
Soren sighed and nodded. Sasha ruffled his hair and turned to the other two girls.
"Okay, let's see what's inside this thing," Sasha said.
Anne sat on a bench. Soren sat beside her while Sasha and Marcy stayed standing up. Soren couldn't help but be nervous as Anne opened the box. At first nothing happened, then a light shines brightly from inside the box.
"What did you do?" Soren asked.
"I don't know," Anne said.
A white light shined out of the box, nearly blinding the four teens as everything went white.