Chapter 2

Chicago, Illinois

Chicago was huge, modern- a place where buildings were tall, streets were busy, and industrial areas were plenty. But Prime Courts, being a stately residential area, was located quite beyond the noise and racket of the city. Inside the Prime Courts residential grounds, each uniquely and professionally designed, and situated in beautiful gardens with shady trees, well-trimmed hedges and beautiful blossoms, were huge and majestic mansions, all undoubtedly the properties of rich and important people.

One of these buildings was owned by the founder of the Hunter & Hunter Group, Paul Hunter. The corporation was a massive and powerful conglomerate, owning many properties such as raw land, shops and factories, even investing in various fields such as tourism, gambling, entertainment, and even fashion, thus, it would be no surprise at all for the founder to own at least one of the units in Prime Courts.

The Hunter mansion was a whitewashed building with a simple but sleek modern feel –fine, majestic and impressive. Inside, its main hall sparkled with grandeur. Beautiful portraits and expensive tapestry hung on walls, its classy Italian marbled floors and huge glass windows spotlessly clean. And sitting on one of those fashionable black leather sofas in the living hall, typing away on an expensive-looking laptop, was a young boy about fourteen.

Golden blonde hair framed a chiseled, heart-shaped face, and navy blue eyes with long eyelashes blinked to moisten the transparent contact lenses within. His mouth pursed tightly into an unsmiling straight line, this adolescent was none other than the young master of this mansion, Paul Hunter's only son, Matthew Edward Hunter.

Huge as the place was, the house was curiously silent and empty– the only ones appearing around the place were a few maids and servants, bustling around and minding their own business, and in this spacious area, the ring of a phone sounded almost like a screeching siren.

Moments later, a tall solemn-looking butler came over with a cordless receiver and handed it to the boy. "It's from the Master's secretary, young sir. I think the Master has something important to inform you," he said with a strong Russian accent.

The boy glanced up from his work, a slight knit forming on his eyebrow. If it was that important, why wasn't his father the one calling? Reaching over, he took the phone from the butler and studied the caller ID blinking on the phone screen.

His father's office.

What did he want? Somehow, Matt already had a dull feeling that he wasn't going to like what was coming.

Nodding to the butler beside him, signifying that he might leave, he pressed the "Receive Call" button, and waited for someone to speak. Soon, the young and slightly hesitant voice of his father's secretary sounded over the receiver.

"Um… hello, is this Master Edward?" asked the feminine voice, using the name everyone around Matt used –his middle name, the name his father gave and preferred.

"What is it," came the short answer.

"Uh… it's like this, sir," the girl began hesitantly, as if knowing that he wasn't going to like this. Matt rolled his eyes. Why his father recruited such pretty, but slow and unproductive employees he would never know. He was going to give her three minutes on this phone call tops, and if she hadn't finished by then, he was going to hang up anyway.

"Mr. Hunter wanted me to inform you that he would be bringing someone home for dinner today, and he expects you to be there to dine with them tonight."

"Client?" he asked guardedly after a pause.

"No, sir," replied the secretary. "I believe it's Miss Veronica Jane, sir."

"Then I'm not free." Came the immediate and firm reply.

But it turned out that his father had known that Matt would refuse in some way, for his secretary had went on to say that his father had requested that Matt chose any time and any day next week that he would be available to dine with them.

"Any day at all, Master Edward," she said. "Your father said to leave me the date and time so I can note it down in his schedule."

Again, Matt made no immediate reply. His lips were pursed into an angry frown. He knew this Veronica Jane of course. She was this favorite niece of one of his dad's recent business partners, and has lately been paying their house very frequent visits –yet another one of his father's new fancies no doubt; this one had been going on for a few months now.

Being a charming and wealthy businessman, it was probably natural that females flocked around Paul Hunter like bees around honey. Knowing his dad was a bit of a Casanova himself, Matt believed his father has had more women than the stars in the sky. He bit his bottom lip.

They were the same, all of them, all flirtatious, greedy, two-faced creatures after either money, status, fame or all of the above. Some even had had the nerve to slink up to Matt, ignoring his disgusted look and putting their heavily scented arms around his shoulders and implored that he put in a few words of compliment for them in front of his father so that they'd be promoted into fashion supermodels or something else. Over the years, Matt had gradually developed a growing dislike towards women, especially those his father frequently associated with. He scorned them and their cheap behavior. And this sometimes even made him doubt whether his deceased mother had been just like all the others… just that, she was lucky enough to become pregnant with him, which then earned her the title of Mrs. Hunter.

Matt shook away the thought. It was at times like these that he felt kind of thankful that his mother had died when he was only two. In a way, she had left him no impression of her whatsoever –specifically no bad impressions. He hardly spoke to his father, and never asked about his mother. Perhaps he was afraid to know the truth. But he didn't care, he was free to form his own picture of his mother, and was satisfied with that and only that. But now, his father was leaving him with no excuses to worm his way out of meeting this new fancy of his.

Matt gritted his teeth and unknowingly tightened his grip on the cordless receiver. During each of Veronica's visits to their home, he had always made sure he wasn't home. Matt's principle had always been: "Do what you want with my dad, but don't come near me." And before he could stop himself, Matt found himself almost shouting into the receiver.

"For your information, I have over time soccer practice each and every single day for the coming week! So you can tell your boss that I have no time for one of his father-son-and-lover meetings."

"But, but Master Edward! If you do that, it's going to be very difficult for me to–" was all the secretary was able to get out before Matt hit the "End Call" button on the receiver. He leaned back on the sofa and sighed heavily. There was no over-time soccer practice at all next week, only the usual twice weekly.

Feeling as if he was about to explode in frustration, Matt got up briskly, grabbed his keys and wallet and strode out of the front door. As the automatic gates closed behind him, Matt knew he'd be back late again tonight, but perhaps not late enough to miss the midnight soccer match on TV.

Matt Hunter returned home at about half an hour to midnight. Dinner was definitely over and the house was quiet. His father and the rest of the household had probably gone to bed.

Tired out himself, Matt dragged his feet up to his room and shut the door behind him. He had had a workout at the gym in his school with some friends, then a late dinner. Still feeling the stickiness of dried sweat on his skin, Matt pulled off his shirt and draped a towel on his shoulders. He poured himself a cup of hot tea from the kitchenette in his room and settled down on the chaise lounge. As the aroma of the jasmine tea soothed him, he found himself in a better mood and looking forward to watching the soccer match later. He glanced at the digital clock on his bedside desk.

11.50pm.

He had ten minutes to take a shower before the program comes on TV.

Exactly five minutes later, a topless but very distraught Matt could be seen in front of the flat screen TV in his room, which was refusing to show any pictures at all. Groaning and still half towel-drying his hair, Matt circled to the back of the TV to try and see what was wrong. Very soon, he found the culprit –a burnt wire. He sighed as he picked it up. It looked like they were going to have to call in the repairman tomorrow, which meant no soccer tonight.

Clicking in frustration, and forgetting that the power was still connected, his thumb brushed the tip of the wire. Suddenly, for just an instant, the TV sprang back to life, making the boy jump.

What the – did he get electrocuted? And did… did the TV come back on just now? For just a split second? Matt could hardly believe what his sense of logic was getting at, but with the wire in hand, he scurried back to the front of the TV. Taking a deep breath and thinking, "here goes nothing", he quickly brushed past the burnt part of the wire again. Sure enough, the TV came back to life for another instant!

Completely dumbstruck, Matt couldn't concentrate on the program at all that night –staring dumbly alternatively at the wire in his hand, then at the TV, unable to figure out how this actually worked.

New York, New York

Morning in Manhattan was beautiful. The rays of the early sun crept through the blinds of a bedroom in one of the apartments facing Central Park and fell onto a queen-sized bed. Entangled in its blue sheets were the legs of someone sound asleep. Jet black hair protruded from under the covers, and the features of an Asian boy were distinguishable amongst the folds of the blanket.

Presently, a younger boy came into the room, walked over and prodded the older one. "Dude, it's time to get up."

The older boy gave an indistinct murmur and disappeared deeper into the cozy folds of his blanket. The younger boy frowned, and looked around. He found what he was looking for on the bedside table.

An alarm clock.

He picked it up turned its hands. Then, when the clock began to ring shrilly, he shoved it underneath his brother's pillow right below his head. The older boy awoke with a yell and a violent jump, rolled off his bed in confusion and found his backside on the cold, hard floor. The last vestiges of sleep leaving him, he yelled, "What's the big idea, you miserable little twerp!"

The younger boy leaned back against the door with a triumphant smile. "Mom's orders."

The first boy got up reluctantly, massaging his backside.

Fifteen minutes later, the entire family could be seen sitting at the dining table. Delia Ketchum was pouring out tea for her husband, who had his head buried behind the morning paper with a French toast in his mouth. She turned to her two sons, who were busy inhaling their breakfast like half a dozen pack of wolves.

"I told you boys to be up earlier so you don't have to gobble down your breakfast," she said reproachfully. Her younger son looked up from his plate.

"It wasn't my fault, mom," he said in between mouthfuls of bacon. "Ash was the pig who didn't want to get up."

"Brock, don't call your brother names," Gordon Ketchum replied automatically from behind his paper.

"Yeah, shut up and eat your food," Ash put in.

"Mom!"

"Now that's enough," said Delia firmly. "One more word from either of you and you're having leftovers for dinner."

Her sons choked slightly on their food, and began to eat their breakfast like good children. Awhile later, Ash and Brock could be seen skateboarding along the sidewalks of Belmont Street, heading towards their school –a private co-ed school called the St. George's Academy.

Their father works in finance on the famous Wall Street. In his late twenties, Gordon Ketchum had met Delia Tajiri, a transfer student from Japan at a university just a few blocks from the bank in which he worked as a bank executive. They married a year after Delia's graduation, and had two sons. Now, their elder son was already in his teens. Ash was turning fourteen this year, and his vocal cords were just beginning to break. A few signs of youth dotted his otherwise charming face, and expressive dark brown eyes squinted to see the traffic lights ahead. It was flashing green, signaling that it would be turning red in just a matter of seconds.

Turning to his eleven-year-old sibling behind him, Ash yelled. "C'mon Brock, we're gonna make it!" At that, his right foot dug the ground and increased his speed, knees bent beneath his baggy Levis jeans to gain more balance. A crooked grin formed on his face as his velocity increased even more. The green light was flashing rapidly, as if daring him to beat it. When they reached the crossroad, the light finally flashed its last, and the moment the cars started moving, both of them just managed to reach the other side of the road. Ash swerved sharply left and stopped right in front of the school gates, smoothing his spiky windswept hair backwards. Brock sped past and managed to stop himself several feet down the road before he ran headlong into a lamppost.

"Need more practice with the brakes, twerp," Ash called out as Brock walked over, skateboard in his arms.

"Hey I only got this last week, okay," muttered Brock defensively. Ash draped his left arm over the younger boy's shoulders and laughed as he steered his brother's smaller figure towards the school gates.

Ash rummaged about in Brock's room, searching for his NBA tournaments DVD. There was a basketball practice tomorrow to get the team geared up for their next upcoming tournament –the Convent Jacks versus a team from their sister school in Florida. This year's basketball team had some of the best players St. George's has ever had in years, which was why their team captain and their coach trained them extra hard. Ash and his teammates had to frequently watch basketball matches to study and learn new skills and teamwork tactics.

Just then, something caught his eye when he pulled out one of the drawers beside Brock's desk –something that shouldn't be here, in his brother's room. Ash picked up a stack of photographs bound together with a rubber band. They were pictures of Ash's childhood, and they were… embarrassing, to say the least. One of the pictures showed him sucking his thumb, with a stupidly contented look on his face, another showed him in his soiled diapers, one showed him playing in filthy mud, and some even showed him buck-naked!

Ash experienced a growing sense of dread as he continued leafing through those pictures. Then, he spied a loose piece of paper beneath the stack. It was a–

"Customers list?" Ash read aloud, and his stomach did an involuntary flip. He hated to think what his brother had done. But…

But nothing! Brock was going to pay, and dearly.

"BRAD!" Ash burst into the kitchen, where he spotted his brother stealing buttered muffins off the kitchen shelf. Brock nearly choked on his treat, but managed to swallow his muffin. He turned around and instantly spied the list in Ash's hand.

Uh-oh… I'm dead meat. The way Ash looked really put the "a-n-g-e-r" in "danger", Brock could practically smell it. Ash's eyes looked ready to spit fire, and Brock thought he could literally "feel" the heat radiating from Ash's glare and suddenly had this crazy thought that his brother might start spitting jets of flame at him like a mad dragon.

"Fess up. How many trades have you done?" Ash growled in a low, dangerous voice, clutching the piece of paper in his hand.

"N… Not much really," Brock began cautiously. "Only about twenty."

Silence. Then, "You, are going to be sooo… sorry."

"Hey… hey c'mon bro," Brock gulped, and tried to make one last attempt to sooth his brother's smoldering anger. "It isn't such a bad idea when you come to think of it, you know. The pictures were really popular, especially with the girls. You should've seen the amount of profit I made! Uh… tell you what, we'll split the money between us, deal?"

His little speech did not seem to have smothered his brother's temper, if anything, it seemed to have tripled it. And then, to Brock's horror, as his brother stalked up to him, he spotted the tiniest hints of a smile tugging at the edges of Ash's mouth.

Brock swallowed again. When Ash was so mad he smiled, it usually meant that he would have to pay BIG time… Suddenly, for a fleeting second, Brock thought he saw a peculiar smoky green tint in Ash's usually deep dark eyes, and the next thing he knew, he was feeling more relaxed than he had ever felt in his entire life…

"I'm not gonna pulverize you, pipsqueak, but you now have two choices," growled Ash through gritted teeth. "Either you give me all those pictures and money, apologize, and do what I tell you to for the rest of the day, or I tell mom what you have been doing and you get grounded for the rest of the week."

There was a short pause. Then Brock spoke up slowly.

"Yes… I will do as you say. I'm really, really sorry for what I have done, Ash. I was wrong and I ask for your forgiveness."

Ash raised his eyebrows, and hesitated. To be honest, if it were any normal day, he was sure that Brock wouldn'tve given in so easily… But he decided not to bother with minor details and promptly issued his first order of the day. "Get lunch. Mom's not coming home this afternoon," he said, and strolled into the living room, landed on the sofa and switched on the TV. Very soon, as he sat surfing channels, he could hear and smell chicken schnitzel frying in the kitchen.

Strange… Brock was so obedient.

And that was how Brock came to be Ash's "slave" for the rest of the afternoon. In the end, Ash had concluded that his brother's compliance was probably due to fear of being grounded.

Much later in the evening, Brock sat unseeingly in front of the TV, stoning and puzzling over what had taken place the entire day, and also what in the world had possessed him to give up all those pictures and his hard-earned money?

Delia Tajiri Lee sensed that her elder son was in a particularly good mood today when he came home from school. She had been busy with lunch, kneading some dough in the kitchen when she heard the front door slam and her son whistling as he strode in. A moment later, his head popped in at the kitchen door, and he took a bold sniff.

"Mm… whatever it is smells great Mom, love you," and he'd sent her a flying kiss and disappeared upstairs. Delia smiled at her son's amusing antiques, then suddenly remembering something she'd forgotten to mention to Ash, she'd called out to him, but got no answer. Ash was already too far down the hallway to hear.

"Oh well," she said, shrugging to herself. It'd be a nice surprise for him anyway.

Ash came up the stairs making more noise than usual. Semester break had begun, and today had been the last day of school. He grinned as he thought about all the things he could do during the holidays –movies, games, lots of basketball… And maybe if his parents would let him, he could even go down to Washington to visit Tai and spend some quality time with his favorite cousin.

Ash was just thinking about that as he opened his bedroom door when something from within the room hurled itself right at him, knocking him right off his feet and squashing all the wind out of him.

"Jeez, what the–"Ash cursed, sitting up, half-dazed. But the moment he fixed his eyes on the moron who'd mauled him over, his jaw dropped.

"Tai!"

Tai Ryans laughed loudly at the look on his cousin's face. "Surprised you huh?" His hazel brown eyes winked at Ash cheekily, and a deeply tanned hand reached out and pulled Ash back onto his feet.

"That's because I had no idea you were here. How long have you been here?"

"Only since this morning, our semester break started two days ago," Tai smiled and headed back into the room. Ash followed in, and having noticed no one else in the house when he had arrived home, he asked. "Where's your sister, Aunt Ami and Uncle Josh?"

"Mom brought Kari and Jen out shopping, our dads are in the garage I think," Tai said as he sat down at Ash's computer desk. "I stayed back so we could hang out when you get home." He made a gesture toward the flat-screen computer, showing a paused game of 'Silent Hill VII'. "You have loads of new games in here since I last came."

Ash's eyebrows knitted at his cousin's mention of a name. "Wait, Jen? You mean Jennifer Andrews? She's here too?"

Tai made a face. "Yeah."

Ash sighed as he sat down on the edge of his bed and began taking off his shoes. Jennifer was Tai's neighbor, and an only child, who was naturally rather spoilt by her parents. She had always come across as the talkative and extremely bossy type of girl –the kind that Ash found rather… unlikable, to put it nicely.

At this age, he had little tolerance for such girls, which was why sometimes, he felt sorry for his cousin that he had to live next door and even go to the same school as her. But perhaps worst of all was the crush Jennifer had had on Tai since forever. Her parents and Tai's were really close friends, which was another reason their families always travelled together.

I feel for you, Tai old boy. I really do.

His cousin however, seemed to have read his mind. "Hey, it's okay, it won't spoil our time here." And a big smile appeared on Tai's face. Even at the age of thirteen, Ash supposed it was due to good genes, Tai's face was still absolutely devoid of any bumps, spots or freckles of any sort.

Ash found himself smiling back, shaking his head. Tai has always had an easygoing nature, and was a very nice and tolerant person. His mild personality was a big contrast to his appearance though. Extremely into sports and athletics, Tai had broad shoulders, a strapping torso, and was even slightly taller than Ash, who was a year older and a basketball player! Dark russet hair, styled untidily, gave him a messy sort of charm.

Like a bad boy, thought Ash, but caught himself grinning as he knew how far that term was from Tai Ryans.

Just then, they heard the sound of a door opening and closing downstairs, and then loud footsteps pattering up the staircase.

Both boys turned around just in time to see a little girl about five bursting into the room. "We've got presents!" squealed Hikari, and when she saw Ash, she ran up and hurled herself at her cousin, just like how her elder brother had only moments ago. "Ash! We missed you," she cried.

Ruffling her hair affectionately, Ash laughed, noticing just how much the little girl acted like Tai.

"What have you got for us?" Tai asked.

"Toys, clothes, and lots of candy!"

"Those sound more like your stuff," her brother pointed out bluntly.

"No they aren't," Hikari retorted indignantly, and pulled at their hands. "Come and see! I helped mom pick out a nice top for you~"

Both boys glanced at each other, shrugged and let themselves be dragged downstairs.

The first week passed with fun outings, parties and lots of good food. Tai's father, Joshua Ryans, was a professional magician and travelled a lot, which was why his wife, Amiko Tajiri Ryans, who was also Delia's sister, relished the time of year when she and Delia's families were able to gather and spend some quality time with each other. And then, after Jennifer's family had gone back to Washington a week later, the two families had lapsed into a more comfortable and laid-back schedule.

One Friday afternoon, while sipping on her orange cordial in front of the TV with the boys, Hikari decided to remind her cousins of their promise to bring her to the Central Park. And they had cycled there that very afternoon, Hikari sitting on the little seat behind her brother's bicycle, clinging onto his waist.

"They hold a lot of events here during the summer," Ash explained as they arrived. "I was planning to bring you here then."

"It doesn't matter, we could always come again, it's beautiful," said Hikari, jumping off her seat.

They visited the conservatory garden, the Central Park Zoo, and then the wildlife sanctuary, where Hikari, like any other ordinary five-year-old, squealed with delight at seeing all the little animals up close.

"Anyone seeing her would think she lives in a hole or something," said Tai.

It was when they were taking a rest in an area with a children's playground surrounded by natural woods that it started to rain. Brock had gone for a cycle around the park and Ash and Tai had been chatting with a couple of friends they had met while Hikari was playing on the swings.

It suddenly began to pour, and the crowd scurried and disappeared like ants into their nests. It was when Tai turned around to call for his sister that he realized, to his horror, that she wasn't there.

"Kari?! Kari!" he yelled over the thunder and the pouring rain, already half-soaked in mere seconds. The two boys began a frantic search for the lost girl, their fear doubling with each passing moment. And then, at a deafening crack of a thunder, there came an accompanying scream. Tai whirled around and glanced towards the woods nearby, and there was his sister, a frail figure in white, floundering through the bushes, fallen branches and dead leaves, calling out his name, fear etched in her voice. Somehow, it seemed, she had wandered into the woods when they weren't looking.

"Kari!" Tai yelled, almost crying with relief, and the boys ran towards her. But before they could reach her, a giant streak of lightning split the sky and struck amongst the trees, followed by another ear-splitting crack of thunder. And then, everything started to move in slow motion – the huge tree falling – the second tree falling – Hikari screaming, squatting down with her hands over her head – the trees crashing down on top of one another, right where she was.

"Noooooo!"

Almost numb with shock, Tai sprinted over to the trees with all his strength. "Kari, NO!" he beat against the huge trunk of the redwood, tears streaming uncontrollably down his face, mingling with the rain that had already soaked him from head to toe. This couldn't be happening. It couldn't be true!

Then, there came a sob, which at first he had thought was Ash's beside him.

"Tai… Tai, help me!"

"It's Kari!" Ash cried, relief tearing painfully through his chest. "KARI! Are you alright?!"

"I… I'm okay, but I can't get out! The trees are on top of me, I'm scared… Tai, save me!" the little girl sobbed in fright.

"I think she's just trapped underneath, we gotta get help now!" Ash said urgently, his voice raised in the storm. "They'll come and lift the trees away."

But Tai didn't seem to be listening to him. All he could hear was his sister's terrified sobs and cries for help. He had his hands beneath the huge trunk, and was attempting to lift it off. "Hang on, Kari!" he yelled as he held his breath and heaved.

"Man, are you NUTS?!" Ash exclaimed over the roars of thunder. "There's no way you can lift these off! Let's go get help now!"

But when Tai still did not seem as if he was about to change his mind or budge from his spot, Ash cursed underneath his breath and started off in a run. But before he could reach the edge of the woods, he turned back and saw a scene that struck him dumb for the next few minutes.

With a deep unearthly groan, the tree that Tai had been trying to move was lifting, inch by painful inch. It was impossible, but it was happening, right before his very eyes –the gigantic tree was being lifted off the other, and finally fell heavily aside with a pounding thud that vaguely shook the ground.

Tai was now lifting the second tree, and finally coming to his senses, Ash rushed forwards. There was a very shallow crater underneath the gigantic trunk, and Hikari was crouching on her stomach underneath the tree behind a stone, her hands still over her head. She looked up and saw Ash reaching a hand over to pull her out, and with a scramble, she fell into her cousin's arms, sobbing piteously.

"Tai, she's safe now!" Ash turned to see his cousin let loose the huge tree trunk he had been supporting and fell back into the dirt, breathing heavily. He dropped down by his side, Hikari still in his arms.

"Man, that was…" before he could find the words to describe what he had just seen, Tai interrupted him.

"Let's get out of here," he muttered hastily, and that was when Ash knew that this was not the time to question. The boys promptly got onto their bikes and cycled home in haste.

Hikari came down with a fever that night. But other than a few scratches, she did not seem to have suffered much harm, so their parents did not question further after the boys had explained briefly about what had happened.

"Kari wouldn't tell," said Tai that night with much certainty, sipping hot chocolate as he sat on his mattress next to Ash's bed. "To her, it probably made sense. I was saving her. And our parents will probably think she was exaggerating if she did try to describe the incident anyway."

Ash nodded somberly. "But bro… what exactly happened back there? That was freaking next to impossible, the trees were over twenty feet long. Sure as hell didn't look like one of your dad's magic tricks."

Tai set his mug aside, and bit his lip, running his hand through his hair in a frustrated motion. "I don't know, man… I really don't know."

~~ Magidestined ~~