Chapter 3

The journey was the longest drive of my life and I hoped to never experience it ever again. Grimsby gave all three of us brand new cell phones and tablets. We asked what the reason was for and he said they were gifts from Queen Isabella. Apparently, everyone that attends this shindig get them, like a welcome gift. But I looked at the boys and felt like that wasn't the reason and they mirrored my same thought. The cell phones had each other's numbers as well as important numbers programmed into them if ever we needed to get a hold of someone in case of an emergency.

There was this screen that came down from the ceiling of the car that showed movies and had all the streaming apps downloaded on it. I guess the vehicle has Wi-Fi built into the system as well as Bluetooth. It had some great speakers built into the vehicle, like we were sitting in a movie theater with surround sound.

Yes, we know about Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Netflix, etc. We weren't raised under a rock or anything. When we were with our parents, we were comfortable with our living lifestyle. My brother and I never asked for more than what we needed, and Mikey was only just a baby. Plus, my parents bought my first guide dog for me, and I thought that was enough of a luxury for me as it was. We did not need cell phones because we were still a little young and who would we need to call. Tablets, we never really thought about owning them, and besides my brother and I loved being outside or reading. Hanging out with our friends, each other or our family.

When the accident happened, taking our parents away from us forever. That was when we had to pinch our pennies and never think of getting more than we what we needed. Our parents of course had a will for us when they passed away. Never in their life thinking that they would pass away so early in life than later in life. But who in their right minds would let two 9 years old and a baby be able to own a house and a car all on their own? And we knew then and there that we had to run away because we knew they would put us in the system and probably separate us. My brothers would surely get adopted right away, but as for me. Who would want a basket case of a mess of a little girl, let alone a deaf one on top of that.

So, we returned to our home, grabbing anything of value to us in order for us to survive. We ran away from the one place that we would have called home to us. We lived on the streets for months, until we were able to find the apartments. We were in one of the soup kitchens eating our meals when a stranger just randomly comes up to us telling us about these apartments. We thought it was strange that a complete stranger was even talking to us, let alone being helpful towards us. We didn't really question it at the time, we were just grateful to have a roof over our heads again. The owner of the apartments not caring what was happening there. As long as you paid your rent on time, kept the noise down, and stuck your nose out of other people's business.

We could not go to school within the time we were living on the streets. For fear that someone would tun us in of how we were living. As well as we couldn't leave Mikey by himself. When we established ourselves back in school, we would lie to people, telling them where we have been for the past couple of months. Saying that we were moving from relatives to relatives of who wanted to take us in. We told them that we were finally able to settle with one of our cousins that did not live too far away from the school district. Our relatives felt that it was necessary that we tried to establish a semblance of a normal life again. We also told them that we were not allowed to have any friends over and we couldn't hang out with them after school because we had a lot of chores to do.

Some of the lie was partially true. We did not want anyone to know about our living situation and then call Child Protective Service on us. We were busy after school most days, not doing chores but doing odd jobs around our community in order for us to earn money. They were small things at first, JJ would get a paper route as well as mow or shovel peoples places. I would pet sit their animals while they were away on vacation. No one ever questioned what two 9-year olds were doing, assuming it's pretty normal for us to earn money for spending it for fun.

Mikey was a big help for us, while we were away doing our jobs. He was 2 going on 3, but he proved to be very independent and he was knowledgeable of our current situation. Like I said, he taught himself sign language, and then he taught himself how to do chores around the house. He would keep the apartment clean and he even cooked for us, having a nice warm meal to come home to every night. He was a like a mini version of the girl Matilda in the movie. But, of course the only difference between them was that Mikey didn't do magic. As well JJ and I never ignored Mikey, unlike how they treated Matilda in the movie. Mikey understood the predicament of the situation we were in and he did anything he could to help us out without making trouble for us. I know, it's wrong for us to leave an almost 3-year-old own their own for long periods of time, but we had no other choice.

Like I said before, we never had anything luxurious or anything that was expensive. We had a tv that had satellite channels and an outdated computer for us to do our homework on. We would be in the school library or public library to print our papers off or just enjoy reading a nice book. The librarians started to take a liking to us since we spent so much of our off times there. They would even give us a nice casserole or some kind of baked good for us to take home. I think they somehow knew what kind of living situation we were in. The first time they did this kind act for us, we tried to decline but they were very persistent for us to take them and would not take no for an answer.

I felt really bad when my brothers insisted that we get a new guide dog. I told them that I did not need another one and we could use that money towards something else. Guide Dogs were really expensive, and we didn't have proper insurance to cover most of the cost. As well as taking care of the dog, feeding him and taking him to the vet for his shots or anything else that happens with him.

My brothers surprised me with Oliver, saying that I wouldn't be getting any Christmas or Birthday presents for as long as I live. Seeing as they insisted, I needed the dog in case of an emergency ever happens and they weren't there to help me to get to safety. And so, I finally caved in to having Oliver, of course falling in love with him the first time I saw him. I was questioning how they could afford him and when I asked them this, they just said that they have been doing over time at their jobs in order to afford him. But later that month I noticed that some of the valuables that we took from our parents place were gone and I realized that they pawned off the valuables. And after that point on I did not question them about it anymore realizing the sacrifice that they made in order for me to get Oliver. Those valuables were things that were passed down through the generations of the years of our family history. Holding a lot of meaning within them and we said we would never sell them, under any circumstances.

We would stop and take breaks from the vehicle. Stretching our legs, letting Oliver run around and do his business. I noticed that we never stopped for long periods of time, always back on the road when we were done with our business. I noticed as well that some of the people that were in the other vehicles would come out and set up sort of a perimeter around us whenever we stopped. Sometimes a couple of them would leave the vehicles, not all of them got out. There was this one instance that everyone came out and they made a very tight circle around us. Making it hard for us to really stretch our legs.

At one point of the leg of our journey JJ askes Grimsby, 'What is with all the security.'

Grimsby responds, 'For your protection, you never know who is watching.'

'Who are you protecting us from?' JJ asks.

'Queen Isabella will answer all your questions once we see her.' He says with a short curt response and turning away from JJ, ending the discussion just like that, not letting us bring it up ever again. *I'll be sure to ask Queen Isabella about this as well. Who is she to make everything so secretive? Taking so much interest in my brothers and me? Why so much protection just for us to get to this event, when no one else has needed this much protection before going to one of these events. *

We would stop for the nights at some run-down Motels for a few hours, in order to freshen up and eat something. We never stayed long enough to sleep there. And even if we were able to get a few hours of sleep, I never felt comfortable in doing it. Because there was always some big scary security guy in the same room as us for our protection as well as probably making sure we were not planning on anything too crazy. We couldn't even get even a few minutes for just the three us in order to breath, let alone be able to talk to each other. We were certain that they were monitoring what we were typing on our phones if we ever sent each other messages. It was really suffocating of them, basically babysitting us until we got to the place of where we were going to meet Queen Isabella.

You are probably thinking why we do not communicate within our minds, seeing as we are werewolves. Well that is not how it works. First, you must turn 18 in order to mind link with anyone because that is when you transform into your werewolf form. Next you must be a part of a pack in order for the mind link to happen. I am not entirely sure of the gist's of why we have to be a part of a pack in order to communicate with each other through our minds. Apparently, there is an exception to the rule to the mind link and it is that parents are aloud to communicate to their children through it. That is how come JJ and I could never get away from getting into trouble.

We learned a lot about our heritage and werewolves through the years we had our parents. So, JJ and I weren't in total darkness about this whole thing. We of course then taught Mikey everything we knew from our parents and research that we read through books.

And no, there is no twin telepathy that we know about that people say that twins can do. If you are wondering about that twin power that twins supposedly have, we really don't have any. The most twin power that I can say we have is when either one of us gets hurt, the other feels their pain. For instance, a car came crashing down onto JJ's hand when he was fixing it for his job. He and I were 15 at the time when it happened. I was at the pet store at my job when it happened. I was feeding one of the snakes when suddenly I feel this sheering pain run through my left hand. Looking down thinking one of the snakes accidentally bit me, but I don't see any bite marks, just my hand starting to get red. I realized in my mind and gut that something terrible must have happened to JJ. I try explaining this to my manager, telling her that I need to get to JJ right away. And she is over here saying that I am overreacting and that I need to get back to work. And then all of a sudden, the store phone rings and she goes to answer it. All the while looking at me with surprised eyes while she is listening to the other line on the phone. She hangs up the phone and tells me to go to the hospital right away all the while looking at me strangely.

The pain that we can share between us was not the first time we experienced it. The very first time we experienced it was when I fell out of a tree when we were 5 years old and I broke my arm. JJ comes running out of the house holding his right arm just as I was holding my broken right arm. Our parents told us that they expected something like this to happen, saying that they were not surprised to see JJ feeling the pain that I was feeling. They told us that while we were babies and were trying to get healthy in the hospital. The ear infections I would get, JJ's ears would start to get red and he would cry, but the doctors could not find any explanation of what was causing this. Then our parents put two and two together seeing about my ear infections and JJ's phantom pains. Realizing that there is a sort of a twin power, that one of us could feel the others pain while we are hurt.

JJ gently shakes me awake from sleeping in the car, because I couldn't really get comfortable sleeping in those Motels. It just creeped me out having those scary men just watching you while we rested. The boys of course had no issues of falling asleep right away. So, whenever we started back on the road after staying at the Motels, the lull of the drive would put me to sleep instantly. Telling me that we have finally arrived at our destination. And what a sight that was sitting right in front of us.