Hey readers. This is the second chapter of 'Lost Chronicles.' I'm also sad because I didn't get a single review last chapter. :( Maybe the last chapter wasn't good. :( :( :(

January 5, 2003

Cuzco, Peru

Fourteen-year-old Zade Kabalui was worried. He was worried because a week ago, his mother had suddenly packed their bags, and rushed them off to the airport. And is if that wasn't weird enough, she hadn't had a set destination in mind.

"We'll take any flight with three seats that's open withing the next hour," she'd told the woman working at the counter. First, they'd flown to Lihu'e, The second-largest town in Kauai. From there, they'd flown to Los Angeles. Then Miami. After that, it was Cuzco. Now they were in a decent apartment near the heart of the city. He'd suspected the reason they took such a winding route to avoid being followed. Something was scaring his mother, and he took it upon himself to find out what it is. The only obstacle was...

"Hey Zade, can you take Zai and me downtown?"

"Hey Zade, Mom said you have to teach Zana me how to play the Siku. We are in Peru, after all."

"Zaaade! Teeeaaach meeeee!"

...the twins.

Hey, Zai and Zana were great. They were creative, artistic, strong willed, independent, and sensible, although Zai could be a little too stubborn at times, and Zana didn't always think of the consequences before acting, like the time she tried to rappel down the side of their house back in Kauai. But Zade knew that he was lucky to have siblings like Zai and Zana. He also knew that to do his investigation, he would have to get rid of them.

Just then, his mother came out of her room. She was wearing a long sleeve shirt. She always wore long sleeves. Zade only saw his mother's arms a handful of times. He knew the reason she hid her arms was because she had a long scar on her right arm that she didn't like to talk about. He knew she got it when she was trying to run from the Vespers, but if anyone saw her scar it could give her away.

She looked kind of tired. Her hip-length black hair was out, and she was carrying her backpack. Zade thought how remarkably similar Zana looked to her mother, although Zai and Zana had darker darker olive skin than him. Zai and Zana had also inherited their father's deep brown eyes, while Zade has his father's amber eyes, the color of dark honey. But they all had the same thick, silky, straight black hair.

"Zade, could watch Zai and Zana?" She said. "I have to run some errands." Zai and Zana came running up.

"Where are you going?" asked Zade casually.

"To meet my friend Enrique in Barrio de San Blas." she answered. She didn't like keeping secrets from her children. In their world, information was power.

"Mom, can't we come too?" whined Zana.

"Yeah!" added Zai, " I read all about Barrio de San Blas on the flights! A lot of it is pedestrian-only, with some of the best artists in all of Cusco! I even found this store that sells swords! Please can I go! I need a sword from Peru to add to my collection!"

Their mother smiled. "No, Zai. You stay here with Zana and Zade, " she told her son. "And, Zana, NO rappelling. I'll be back in about 2 hours." With that, she slung her backpack over shoulder and walked out the door.

Zai pouted and went back into his room. Zana wandered into the kitchen.

Now's my chance! Thought Zade. He put on his own backpack, put on a blond wig, and slipped out the door. I'll catch a ride to Barrio de San Blas, find out where mother is, then be back. I'll be gone for 20 minutes! Zai and Zana probably won't even notice I'm gone!

He went to the other side of the block so that if Zana or Zai looked out the window, they wouldn't see him standing in front of the building. After waiting for a few minutes, a taxi pulled up. He hopped in.

"Barrio de San Blas, por favor." he said in his best Spanish. Zana could've done much better. Learning languages was like second nature for the twins. Zana spoke fluent Spanish as well as Portugese, while Zai was pretty good in Mandarin and Arabic. Now they were racing to see who could learn the most Hindi in two months.

"Here." the driver grunted. Zade peered out the window. Yep, just like in the picture. He handed the taxi driver a wad of small bills and jumped out.

Zade wandered down a street.

"If I were Mother, where would I be?" he mumbled quietly.

"How about over in that cafe?" said Zai.

"Thanks Za-ZAI?" Zade whirled around. Sure enough, there were Zade and Zana standing two feet behind him.

"Hey Zade!" they said simultaneously.

"I thought I told you stay at the apartment!" he yelled.

"You didn't." Zai pointed out.

"GHGHGG! How did you even find me? He demanded.

"Tch." Zana flipped her long hair over shoulder. "You're so predictable. Why else would you ask Mother where she was going? And FYI, the wig was a dead giveaway."

"GG-GG-GGAAA!" Zade exploded. He took a deep breath. "Alright, you can come with me. Just stay quiet, and don't attract attention to yourselves."

"Look who's talking." muttered Zai.

Zade summoned every ounce of self-control not to blow up.

They walked throught Barrio de San Blas for 45 minutes, keeping their eyes peeled for their mother.

Zade turned around.

"Guys, we should probably be getting back. Mom might not even-"

"SHHH!" interrupted Zana, "look!" There, in a seedy-looking cafe, their mother was talking with two men.

"Something's not right." muttered Zade. Their mother was backed against a wall, and the two men were taking to her with rough hand gestures. Zade and the twins couldn't hear what she was saying, but it seemed as though the men were threatening her.

Alright, thought Zade. The twins might excel in languages, fighting, and art, but Zade was the one that came up with the strategies. Here are our options. One: We rush up and start a fight. Two: We hang back until out mother is in real trouble. Three: We call for help. He decided to go with option two for now, with one and three for a backup. Quickly, he whispered his plan to the twins. They nodded and tensed, ready for action.

The men in the cafe were still talking to their mother. She looked like she was pleading, and the men were drawing closer. Suddenly, one of them whipped out a knife. Their mother, Yasmine, drew her own knife. But it was two against one. Zade nodded to the twins. Their faces were taught with fear and anticipation. This wasn't practice. This was the real thing. Zade leaped up, and from his pack, drew his weapon of choice: A dagger. Zai and Zana had also jumped up with their weapons: A tanto and a butterfly knife, respectively. They charged across the square in formation, just like they practiced. Just as one of the men was about to attack, Zade lashed forward with his dagger. The man managed to avoid a full impact, but the dagger skimmed his shoulder.

"AAUUGH!" The man screamed in pain. Now that they were closer, Zade could tell that they were quite ugly. The first man had a broken nose that had set badly, and the second man had a long scar running down his face. The man with the scar was the one Zade had slashed. He jabbed forward with his own knife, but Zade leaped backward. His mother was handling the other guy, so Zade and the twins had to handle this one. The man lashed out with his foot toward Zade's stomach. Zade didn't have time to duck, so he raised his arm in a block. Although his arm took the impact of the blow, the sheer strength of the man was enough to knock the wind out of him. He fell to the ground gasping.

The twins rushed in, side by side, weapons drawn. Zana leaped and kicked the man in the face, who recoiled. He was about to punch back when Zai launched himself into the air and jumped onto the man's back, giving Zana time to kick him in the stomach. But years of training had made the man's stomach as tough as steel, even though Zana's kick was solid, the man merely took a step backwards and lurched forward again. Zai jumped off the man's back and grabbed on to an awning hanging over the cafe, swinging onto it. He pulled out his rope dart.

"Zana! Catch!" He tossed her the dart. She caught it and tossed it Zade, who was just getting up, who tossed it back to Zai, who tossed it back to Zana.

"Pull!" He shouted. They all pulled simultaneously. The rope tightened around the man, and he couldn't move his arms or legs. Zade kicked him in the head, knocking him out cold. Their mother had just defeated her opponent and walked over to them.

"Mom, I can explain." began Zade. "You seemed so scared, so I was worried, so I followed you, and Zai and Zana-"

"You don't have to explain anything." their mother said softly, tousling his hair.

"I...don't?' asked Zade.

"No." replied their mother. "I expected you to find your way here. And you did a magnificent job."

"Now what?" asked Zana. Their mother looked around nervously.

"Now, we get out of here. I'm sure those guys had friends around here." With that, she grabbed the twins' arms and ran off, with Zade running behind them.

The mother spotted to motorcyclists standing by their bikes, drinking Coke. The mother ran up to them, shoving them aside. She jumped on one with Zana, while Zade grabbed Zai and jumped onto the other one.

"Zade!" she called. "You and Zai follow me!"

But I've only ridden a motorcycle twice in my life! Thought Zade frantically.

"Uh, Zade? You start it by turning the key." Zai pointed out.

Zade smiled as he raced down the road, with Zai gripping him tightly around the stomach. He had a feeling that he and his family would be seeing a lot more action in the years to come.

Hope that chapter was good enough to get at least one review. Also hoped you liked it! Also, I'm thinking about adding a couple more characters into my fic after these flashbacks are over. Any suggestions?