Chapter 1: The Journal, the Notebooks, and the Map

I dash out of the rain, and into the welcome dryness of my apartment building's lobby. This weather is starting to get on my nerves. It's been cloudy all week (which is no surprise; this is New York after all), and has been raining on and off. I pull my hood down and shake out my hair. I wave to our doorman, Bill, and take off, up the stairs. I'm huffing by the time I reach my floor. I ran out into the gloomy day, because I wanted to get another book from the library. My mom has been insisting that that I try to find other books to enjoy besides the ones that exist in my own private library. I live in the same apartment my mom grew up in. Ever since my grandparents moved out to when I was 9 to live in a retirement home, I've been enjoying reading every book that they left behind. My grandparents had each graduated college 5 times each, thanks to a schooling fund that one of my ancestors who had been rich set up, and had gotten a hefty collection of books. They had left all of their precious collection, except their personal favorites, to my mom in their apartment. We had moved in, since the apartment was better suited to our needs than the one we used to live in. My mom had worked hard to expand the collection her parents had started, and by the year I turned 13, she had done a good job of adding more fiction and children's books, and teen books to the collection. I had read the entire Maximum Ride and Harry Potter series in my eleventh year, before clean reading out the entire children's books sections, and moving on to young adult, and even college level books that caught my interest. My mom even added to our video library as well. I could recieve a top-notch education by just staying home, and I could learn enough to earn myself a college degree by just staying home by the time I was 20. But my mom said it would be disrespectful and ungrateful to use at least a little bit of the schooling fund my great times a million grandfather had set up. So I spent my early schooling years attending the Atlanta School For Girls. It was, by coincedance, the same school, and hallways that my mother had once graced. Almost everything about my life was the same thing my mother had when she was a girl. I even called the room that was hers when she was a kid my own. I got to attend what my mother called 'the ritziest school in Manhattan' thanks to my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, who had been rich himself, but wanted his ancestors to get a good education, so he set up a fund to allow the rest of his descendants to get a top-notch education. That's how my grandparents had graduated college 5 times each. They were a little bit overenthusiastic about using their share of the fund. I run over to my apartment, unlock the door, and hang my coat on the hook. I give my mom a hug, and dash to my room to start reading my new book. I kick off my shoes and toss my soaked socks into the dirty clothes hamper in the corner. They miss, so I run over to set them straight. I toss my book down next to my hamper and lean over it. I hear a soft thud and look over at my book. It landed on top of a loose floorboard, which poped up a bit. Ordinarily, I wouldn't bother with it, or think it that unusual, but it looks like there's some kind of book in it, and it's one that I don't remember finding, and I've found almost every loose floorboard in my apartment, in almost every place possible. I run over and grab my notebook that I use for recording odd discoveries in my apartment. I scroll through every page, even under descriptions like Mouseholes, and Strange Places For Books, looking for a description that matches this one. After searching the entire notebook twice, I give up. There's no record of me ever finding a loose floorboard, under neither the Loose Floorboards section, or Secret Compartments section (which was completely empty except for one, which was a hidden cabinet I'd found years ago, which was what inspired me to make this book), or anywhere else in the notebook, with a strange book in it. My heart gives a leap of excitement. A loose floorboard\secret compartment I haven't found yet, and a book I haven't read! It's been a year or two since I last found something like this, and even longer since I found a book in my apartment that I haven't read that interests me. I pry up the floorboard, and pull out the book. It's called Glimpses of Gotham: A Guide to the Darker Side of New York. Ooh...sounds interesting! I notice that there's an entire collection of books down. I wonder if this is some kind of private geo-cache, or something, one of those little hidden compartments that contains items you can trade out. Of course, someone would have to have been really stupid to hide a cache in an apartment, plus it doesn't have anything that looks like a log, to record you finding it, and every geo-cache has to have one, otherwise it doesn't qualify as a geo-cache. The books look like some kind of romance stories. I pick up one, pushing Glimpses of Gotham aside. As I do, a piece of paper falls out. I put down the book I'm holding and pick up the piece of paper and unfold it. It's a map of something. I recognize the streets that are marked on it, but not the layout of the buildings. I decide not to bother with it, since it obviously isn't accurate, since I've seen the buildings on those streets, and they look nothing like this map says they should, lay it down, and pick up the first book. There's a weird covering with the title of the books on it, I pull it off and toss it aside. I've never had much patience for those, they always get in the way when I'm reading. Underneath, the book looks surprisingly like a journal, or notebook! And it's not just anyone's notebook, either! It's my mom's! I know because there, on the front of it, in gold lettering, is the name Ananka Fishbein! I happen to know that that's my mom's name!
"What the hell? Why is- mom's name? This is hers? Why was it disguised as some romance book?" I open it up. There are sorts of notes and ideas about what to do in any kind of situation, along with tips in fields like disguising yourself, and what to do if your friend gets hurt, which lists all kinds of likely, and some unlikely, situations and what to do in each of them! It goes on in all of them, except one, which appears to be a journal of some kind. I flip it open and turn to a random page, and start reading. The page is headed April 8, 2011. 2011? That's roughly, oh, a lot of years ago. I've never had much patience for math, but I do know that my mom was, like, 13 back then! This journal is old! I begin again, my mind swimming.
April 8, 2011
Today, Kiki called another meeting, and told everybody to meet at my place, WITHOUT EVEN ASKING ME! I'm glad that I'm in the Irregulars, but STILL! We all tried on our new uniforms, that Betty designed. She's a GENIUS! Everything fits perfectly! I especially like the logo she thought up. It's an i, but it has little details on it that make it look like a girl in motion. It's so fitting since we're all girls, and sice it matches our name, and since we're in action to explore the Shadow City. Kiki decided that we were prepared enough to start exploring, so she told us all to meet at the Marble Cemetary tonight, and that we'd start exploring, and map-making immediately. The exploring and map-making went great! I never thought the Shadow City was so huge! We went all the way to Pearl Street, and found an exit up to the surface: it was right below a mink fur coat storage facility. My original estimate was off by a few blocks, but still, it proves that the Shadoow City is vast, and has many rooms and corridors! I hid the map in my copy of Glimpes of Gotham, and hid it in the loose floorboard in the corner of my room. I also hid this journal in it, and disguised it as an old Harlequin romance, so no one will give it a second thought, and to make it easier to protect the Shadow City, and the secrecy of what we're doing. I just hope my mom doesn't find it and try to put it in one of the bookshelfs, or other places where she puts books. But for now it's safe, and that's all that matters. I just hope it stays that way...
-Ananka
I blink and shut the journal, my eyes and mind swimming. So many thoughts are bouncing around in my head: Who's Kiki? Is the Betty she talked about the same Betty that she says she's been friends with for years? What's the Shadow City? Where's the Marble Cemetary? Is that why all the things marked on that map seem mixed up? Overall, I manage to sum it up in one, intellegent thought:
"What the hell?" After that, my brain starts going into overdrive. "Is that map the map of the Shadow City that mom was talking about in her journal? It was hidden in the Glimpes of Gotham book, like she said it would be! But still, what, and where, is the Shadow City? When did she find it, and why did she decide to keep it a secret? What the frickin' hell is going on here?" I say, thinking out loud, so as to get all the thoughts out of my head. Unfortunately, my mom hears. Fortunately, I think that she might be able to clear some of it up, since it was her journal that I found. Unfortunately, she heard almost all of it. Including the cussing.
"Katrina? What's wrong?" she calls. Crap. My mom has super-sensitive ears, and I had been talking a bit louder than I meant to, so it was a tad too loud. It's not the cussing that I'm worried about. My mom has always been forgiving about me cussing, so long as I don't go overboard, and don't cuss directly at people. It's the fact that I'll have to explain everything to her that worries me. How will she take it? Will she deny everything? Oh shit! What will she think about me prying up a loose floorboard and reading that journal, whether it was hers or not. Since it wasn't mine, will she scold me, telling me that it's rude to read journals that don't belong to me, and then refuse to listen to what I have to say? Again, oh shit! I trudge into the kitchen.
"Nothing's wrong, just found something weird." I said.
"Hm." she replied. I could tell that she hadn't really paid attention, since I told her nothing was wrong. I take a deep breath, and take the plunge.
"Mom, what's the Shadow City?" I ask. She nearly cuts her finger off with the knife she's using to cut a tomato. She puts it down, and turns to stare at me.
"I haven't a clue what you're talking about, Katrina. Where did you find something that mentioned a 'Shadow City' and what is it?" she replies, but I can tell by the look on her face that she's lying and I decide to push her further.
"Oh, I just found this map, in a book called Glimpses of Gotham," I begin, holding up the map, that is titled 'Shadow City' and I can tell that she recognizes that name, "and found the mention of the Shadow City in this journal, that I found," I hold up the journal, and I can tell she recognizes it instantly, "and since it has your name on it, at least, I think thats your name," I continue, gesturing at the gold lettering, "I figured you would know." I finish. She looks at me, as if debating whether or not to tell me something, and sighs.
"Go in the living room." she says. I obey, and she soon joins me. She takes the map from my hand, and the journal.
"This journal was, in fact mine, as is this book that you tak about, and this map is the same one that is mentioned in the journal, and everything in both Glimpses of Gotham and this journal, are true," she says. "Where on earth did you find them?" she asks. I look at her funny, and say
"Under a loose floorboard in my bedroom, in the corner. It's one I've never found, and I've found a lot, There's a whole collection of books down there, and every one of them except that one and Glimpses of Gotham are about how to do stuff, like catch a ghost, and make a good disguise and stuff." I told her. She nods.
"Those all are mine, too. They're exactly where I hid them when Kiki left." she replied. I recognize the name and realize that she was one of the girls mentioned in her journal.
"Is this Kiki the one mentioned in your journal?" i asked. My mom nodded.
"Kiki was the leader of the group of girls that I was friends with, the Irregulars. It was kind of an exploring club, and a crime fighting club. Pretty out of the ordinary huh? The members were Kiki Strike, the leader, Luz Lopez, the mechanic genius, DeeDee, the chemist, Oona Wong, a lock-picking and forgery master, and Betty Bent, the master of disguise. Yes, Betty is the same one I'm friends with now. I'm afraid that if you want to learn more you should read my journal, because I really need to finish dinner. And with that she walked into the kitchen and continued cooking. I stared at her, then at the map, then at the journal. I walk to my room in a trance. I let my thoughts bounce around wildly in my head for awhile before opening up mom's journal. Time to find out what the Irregulars really did.

Sorry it took so long to get the second chapter out. I couldn't figure out what to do with the story. I may be a bit slow with this one. Sorry again!