A/N: I'm so sorry for the late update....again. Please don't hate me!!

On another note, thank you so much for reading and those of you who review. You might be tired of hearing it, but you guys rock my world! I'm so thankful that you guys let me know how much you like the story. Also, I realize I never said it, but I welcome all suggestions, if you guys want something to happen let me know and I'll try to incorporate it in the story!

Reviews are like ice cream and cookies for me, so come on people, make me plump! =D

Disclaimer: Still don't own WOWP. Blast...

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Morning streamed through their tiny window. Justin had already picked up their breakfast and shoved Max in the bathroom to take a shower. He strode over to Alex's tri-fold and peeked around it. Alex's hair was strewn every which way; her face was barely visible. Justin stifled a snort as he went to retrieve something from his purchases he bought at the nearest convenience store. Jerry had left Justin their credit card and all their bank information. Apparently, his mother and father sold their sub station weeks ago. They deposited all the money from the sale in a new bank account they had set up here in Kearny. But Justin knew that the money, thought a fairly large amount, would not last them forever.

Justin pulled out an air horn from within the bag. Grinning to himself he thought No more sucker punches to the gut for me. Seriously though, trying to wake up Alex in the morning was bad for his health. So he slinked over to her sleeping form and stopped about a foot away from her dainty toes. Covering his ears with his remaining hand and partially his shoulder, Justin pushed the tiny little button to blast the horn. He cringed as the shriek of it echoed around the room.

The image of Alex jumping up, hair flying, eyes ablaze, screaming nonsense words and the tripping over blankets to get her feet alone was worth the punch she sunk into Justin's chest once she had finally caught him. And there he was doubled over against the sink, one arm wrapped around his torso. Coughing and sputtering he thought, So much for my health.

Alex smirked at him from her plate of pancakes she had already helped herself to. Max emerged from the bathroom already dressed and looked at the scene before him. He was about to ask about what happened when he spotted the pancakes. Eyes hungry, Max nearly tripped over Justin rushing to get a plate. Alex giggled and Justin glared.

Finally regaining his breath and poise, Justin sat down and sulked. He didn't join in the conversation with his brother and sister. They giggled and joked for ten minutes before Alex's hand flew to her throat and she started to wheeze uncontrollably. Justin's eyes snapped up and he leapt from his seat. He asked frantically, "Alex, what's wrong?"

She gasped between breaths, "All…The. Fun… sucked… from the.. room!" Her wheezes dissolved and her panicked eyes turned to mischievous. She grinned at her older brother who could only give her a dumbfounded look in return.

Max guffawed and slapped Alex a high five. She turned back to Justin and asked, "Okay really though, what's eating you?"

Justin was about to explode. He wanted to strangle her. But of course, he didn't. Instead he inhaled a long breath and turned to his younger siblings.

"Okay, I don't want to freak you guys out but I've been thinking about Mom and Dad." Both Alex and Max stiffened at the mention of their parents and they gave their full attention to Justin, a feat that was frankly, quite amazing for Alex.

"I think… if by the end of today we haven't even heard from them… I'm going to go back to Waverly Place in the morning to look around. Maybe they left something behind for us. A- a clue or something as to where they might be." Justin's voice was drenched with hope and desperation.

Alex stared down at her plate and finally said in a small voice, "They could still come to us. They could be on their way." Her tiny voice trailed off and she shrugged. She scraped her fork around her plate and refused to meet her brothers' gaze.

"Alex." She winced at the sadness in Justin's voice. Still staring at the remainders of her pancakes, Alex just sighed and nodded in agreement.

"Also, Dad left me all of our school information. We start in two days at Ray High School. He even got us fake names and everything."

"Whoa, awesome! Please tell me my name is Bartholomew," Max chimed in excitedly.

Justin laughed and shook his head. He went to go get the information sheet while Max's smile faded from his face. "Aw man…" he whined softly.

"Alright, Max, you are now Carter Nelson. Alex is Amber. And I'm Patrick."

Alex interjected, "Ooh, so that means I can call you Patty, right?" Justin spared his sister a glare before he continued reading, "Our parents, Mary and Daniel, own their own flower shop. Wait, that won't work. Okay our parents work from home. They're…authors. Got it?" Justin stared inquisitively between his younger siblings.

Alex waved him off and Max nodded enthusiastically. Justin was about to continue when he interjected, "So what kind of stories do they write?"

Justin humored him, "Mystery thrillers. Now about ho-"

"What? But that's silly! We're wizards, they should be writing fantasy adventure or something." Max stared intently at his older brother.

"…anyways. About how we're going to get to school…" Justin continued, ignoring his growing frustration and headache.

"Well we'll just transport ourselves. With magic," Alex said from her seat. "Well that was easy! And you're supposed to be the smart one," she smirked at Justin.

Justin stuck out his tongue to Alex before pressing on, "We can't transport ourselves. We have to use our magic as little as possible. This is such a little town. People look at you closer here, someone could spot us. No, we can't risk it." Justin slashed his hand in the air, declaring that was final.

"I spotted a truck for sale when I was in town, and with the money that Dad left us we could buy it," Justin said to himself more than anyone, scratching his chin in thought.

Alex rolled her eyes and sighed, "Fine. Then go get it. Me and Max will wait here."

"Max and I," Justin corrected automatically. Alex flipped her hair and glowered at him. That was his cue to leave.

"Alright, I'll only be gone for an hour at the most. Keep your cells on and call me if you need anything," Justin said as Alex was shoving him out of the door.

"And stay out of trouble, please!" Justin called as she slammed the door in his face.

Alex turned to face the open warehouse with her arms crossed and a mischievous grin plastered on her face. Max strode over to his sister and echoed her stance. She glanced down at him and asked him impishly, "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Oh yeah," Max replied with a chuckle, "Totally going to build the best fort ever…"

Alex slapped a palm to her face and got to work.

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Town was lonely. Lonely and dusty. Justin had only met the grocer and gas station attendant, Billy and Paul, but they both seemed friendly enough. They had asked where he was doing in town and where he was from. Both times Justin had left the warehouse were when he let the full weight of his parents' absences set in. He must have looked like a kid in trouble (seeing as that's what he was), because both Billy and Paul never asked his name, though they gave theirs right as they shook hands.

Now Justin set off to find that truck's owner. He knew that Alex would hate riding in the filthy seat, hearing the squeak of the rust and age. He knew she would complain everyday and list about a thousand reasons why it would "just be easier to use magic". Max wouldn't mind so much. Justin smiled at thinking of his brother's go-with-the-flow attitude. That's why he knew Max would stick with him no matter what. What scared him late at night, when he thought about the future, was if Alex would too.

Justin set up the narrow stone path a mile from town. He always transported himself behind this huge pile of junk. Broken phones, watches, sinks, tractors, everything was in the pile. The first time he discovered it he thought about scavenging. But Justin didn't want to be that desperate. Not yet.

The sun was high in the sky and tiny beads of sweat were clinging to the back of Justin's neck. When the wooden structures and buildings came into view, Justin wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and scuffled over to where the rusty vehicle marked: Truck, runs great. $1,500 was parked. It was placed next to a tiny house that looked like little more than a shed. He assumed that the owner lived there so he approached the front step and tentatively knocked on the green door with peeling paint. A clattering could be heard from inside, followed by a husky "Coming!"

The door swung open and Justin retreated a step. The elderly woman before him was wiping her what look liked oil-covered hands with a tiny rag. Her hair was the whitest Justin had ever seen on a person, and was fluffy like a cotton ball. The woman's glasses were lopsided and lime green. The rest of her outfit was loud as well. Darker navy sweats that hung loose from the woman's tiny limbs were complimented with a bright turquoise top, decorated with stitching of little red hearts. The icing on the cake was her neon yellow Crocs. Justin had to subtly subdue his chuckle at the sight.

"May I help you?" she asked politely, eyeing Justin from head to toe. Justin cleared his throat and his manners kicked in. "Yes, hello ma'am. I was just wondering if you were the owner of that "for-sale" truck right there." Justin twisted to point to the truck.

The woman smiled warmly and offered her hand, "Why yes, that's me. Annabelle Williams. How do you do?"

"Nice to meet you, ma'am. Patrick Nelson," Justin replied, taking her handshake. He thought, Well, it's a teeny tiny town. Everyone will know my "name" eventually.

Justin thought he did very well for his first official lie in the town of Kearny. He would never admit it to Alex, but he had practiced in front of the mirror about a hundred times. That one of the things she had over him, Alex could lie about anything anytime and make anyone believe it was true. He remembered when back to when they were kids; Alex was 12 and wanted the last double chocolate chip cookie. Justin was 13 and already had dibs on it. So Alex launched into this elaborate story about how he was allergic to chocolate because of the placement of his birthmark. Apparently a birthmark on your right shoulder meant you couldn't eat chocolate, according to Alex. And he had believed her, even though they had just had their mom's chocolate cake for dessert the previous night.

"It's a '78. The low price is because of the mileage. It's upwards of 135,000, I'd say. Also there's a few scratches and dents, but that never hurt anybody," Annabelle explained to Justin. He merely nodded and asked, "Will you take a check?"

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Alex and Max appraised their work. The warehouse before was cold, concrete, and bland. Now it was colorful, carpeted, and just better in every way. Alex was thinking of the spell all night, tossing and turning on her little slab of foam. She couldn't handle it anymore, the tiny dribble of water that was the shower, the tri-folding screens that you could pretty much see through, the uncomfortable chairs they had to sit in for meals, and their so-called beds. It was ridiculous. Alex could not be expected to put up with these conditions for more than a week.

So she said a little spell that might have went along the lines of "This place is really starting to smell, now let's make it a five-star hotel". She couldn't really remember.

Before Alex and Max was a cream plush carpet, so soft Alex could sleep on it and be completely comfortable. They actually had walls separating the rooms. The kitchen had a marble countertop and actual appliances. The stainless steel refrigerator was even stocked. They all had their own bedrooms, complete with full beds and dressers. And the bathroom was… well, Alex approved. A Jacuzzi bathtub and a vanity sink took up most of the room but she felt it would be worth it. There was even a small family room off of the kitchen that had a decent sized TV with a cabinet full of DVDs and video games. Alex and Max were so ecstatic they didn't even really care about Justin's sure-to-be explosive reaction.

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Justin pulled up to the warehouse in the rickety truck. Annabelle wasn't lying to him; the once-blue truck did run great. It was just really noisy and a little rough on the ride. Justin had never driven manual before, but he had read about it in his driver's education manual. After a couple of grinding of the gears, he had the hang of it. The truck went surprisingly fast, and Justin managed to navigate his way home in a short fifteen minutes.

When he hopped out of the drivers seat, Justin brushed off his pants and took the informational brochure from his back pocket, re-reading through it a couple more times. Looking down at the various pictures and little bullet point facts, Justin entered the door and strode in. "Hello, I'm home," Justin called out, removing his dirty sneakers at the front. He walked his way over to the bathroom to wash his hands.

Alex and Max sat at their roomy dining table, with cushioned chairs, each sipping on some milkshakes. They just followed Justin with their eyes as he stripped his shoes off and walked over to the bathroom, brochure in hand. They waited five seconds before hearing Justin's yelp of surprise. He came sprinting in to the kitchen, eyes darting wildly all around him. He pointed at the various amenities (including, Alex found, a washer and dryer hidden behind the pantry).

Justin sputtered, "But-this-he-you-ALEX!" in an incredible likeness of his father.

Alex snorted in her milkshake and said with fake enthusiasm, "Surprise!"

Justin's face went through a series of colors: from red, to white, to blue, and then rested back on red. "Alex, what did you do? We can't keep all this!" he said with a hiss.

Max piped up, "Well actually, if you really think about it? We can…" He nodded seriously despite Alex's giggle.

"You guys, this isn't right. What if someone were to see this?" Justin said frantically, running a hand through his hair and staring around.

Alex scoffed, "Oh please, Justin. No one even knows we're here. It's not like this stuff is stolen…" She ate another spoonful of shake as raised her eyebrows in a "I don't see what the big deal is" expression.

Justin knew he was outnumbered, and if he tried to put it back to normal, Alex would just redo the spell. He chuckled at his naïve belief that she would tough it out the hard way like he was prepared to do. After a couple of minutes of internal debate, Justin ran another hand through his hair and sighed.

"Fine, it'll be good to have a decent shower, I guess." Alex grinned at her triumph. "Man, we'll be in so much trouble if someone finds out…" Justin whined again for emphasis of his dislike for the situation.

"Oh calm down, Patty," Alex replied with a smirk.

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