by Ayla Hashway
Olivia woke up at 5:00 a.m. to research Amanda Brooks on her phone. She'd been trying for two weeks to find information on her mother's secret sister. Since Mom was trying so hard to keep Amanda a secret, Olivia knew she wouldn't get anywhere by asking who she was. Mom's maiden name was Brooks, so Olivia had been searching Amanda and Sara Brooks, hoping to find anything about them.
So far, she hadn't found much on Amanda other than her first name being mentioned in Olivia's grandmother's obituary from when she died thirteen years ago before Olivia was born.
"Why is there nothing on Amanda?"
"What are you doing up this early?" Max asked, rubbing his sleepy eyes.
"I'm in the middle of researching Amanda and Sara Brooks."
"Still? You've been at it for three weeks!"
"Correction, two weeks."
"Just go back to bed. I'm tired," Max groaned.
"I won't until I find at least one more thing." Olivia continued to scroll through her search screen.
"Then you're going to be up for a while," Max said, covering his ears with his pillow.
Olivia got out of bed and removed the pillow from Max's head. "Listen. We need to sneak back into Amanda's yard and see what she's up to.
"Okay, wake me up at eight." Max rolled over to face the wall.
Five minutes later, Olivia heard snoring. "Max," she called from her bed.
"Is it eight o'clock already?"
"No. You're just snoring really loud. I can't concentrate," Olivia said.
When Max went back to sleep, Olivia found a picture of her mother, but the picture had been torn in half like someone else had been standing next to her.
"Who would post this?" Olivia whispered. "Someone must have the other half of the photo."
Olivia looked over at her brother sound asleep again. She got out of bed and changed both the clocks in the room so they read 8:00.
"Max," she said, standing over his bed. "It's eight o'clock."
"Ah! The rat's back!" Max yelled as his arms flailed in the air.
"Be quiet." Olivia covered Max's mouth with her hand. "Mom must be sleeping in today. I'll leave her a note saying we're going for a bike ride before breakfast."
Olivia hoped they would find a clue at Amanda's house so she could figure out what she and her mother were up to.
Chapter Nine
Back to Amanda's
Olivia and Max got dressed and rushed downstairs. Olivia wrote the note while Max got their bikes out from under the deck. They set off on the path behind their house.
"Do you think Amanda is up to something?" Max asked.
"I found a picture of Mom online and it was cut in half. Do you think Mom and Amanda each have half?"
"Don't know, but if Amanda does have half of the picture, hopefully we'll find it and can sneak it in our room," Max said.
Olivia thought maybe Max was getting smarter as life went on. The only thing was Olivia didn't think Max could handle being told that.
"Look. There's the opening to her hut," Olivia said, peddling as hard and fast as she could.
Max and Olivia stashed their bikes behind the dumpster again and peeked through the window on the front door, but Amanda was gone. All the furniture was gone too.
"Where is she?" Olivia asked, looking around the room.
"I don't know. Do I look like Amanda?" Max asked as Olivia handed him a mirror from her bag.
"Come on!" Max yelled.
"What, you look like her too?" Olivia asked.
"Yes," Max grumbled. "Why do I look like so many girls in the family?" Max asked as he handed the mirror back to Olivia.
"Come on. Let's go inside to see if we can find anything," Olivia said. She reached for the doorknob, and surprisingly it was unlocked.
"Maybe she moved," Max suggested. "Hey, do you think Mom made her leave town so we wouldn't find out about her?"
"Maybe. Or Amanda could have just been in town visiting, but then why would she take the furniture when she left?" There were still too many questions.
Olivia and Max walked into the living room. In the middle of the floor was a piece of paper. Olivia bent down to pick it up. "What is this? It has some kind of symbol on it."
"What kind of symbol?" Max asked, trying to see the paper.
The symbol was a triangle with a circle inside. In the middle was the letter A.
"It almost reminds me of the Deathly Hallows from Harry Potter," Olivia said.
"The D-deathly Hallows?" Max asked, biting his fingernails. "Do you think Aunt Amanda is working for Voldemort?"
"Yeah, she's working for Voldemort," Olivia said sarcastically. "She and Mom are both Death Eaters."
"Really-? Oh, you're kidding," Max said.
Olivia rolled her eyes as she looked up the symbol on her phone. "It says here that the symbol stands for an invention company called Original Artistry run by Amanda Walters."
"What? I thought Amanda's last name was Brooks," Max said.
"So did I, but that explains why when I tried to look her up, Mom was the only one who showed up," Olivia said.
"But then how are they sisters?" Max asked.
"Easy, they must be half sisters!" Olivia exclaimed. "I read Grandma's obituary online, and I found out she was originally married to someone named Alex Walters."
"Look him up on your phone," Max suggested.
Olivia looked up Alex Walters. While she was looking, she found a picture of Alex and her grandmother together at what looked like a fancy restaurant called All-Star. "It says he owns the restaurant too. It's only about five miles away."
"How can we sneak out again without Mom noticing?" Max asked.
"I don't know, but we'll have to figure out some way. We need to talk to Mr. Walters."
Chapter Ten
Mr. Walters
After lunch, Olivia and Max went into their mom's room and asked if she needed help packing their things for Abura.
"As a matter of fact there is something you can do for me. I need you guys to go to the store and get four luggage tags for our suitcases," their mom said. "Olivia, you're in charge."
As they walked out of the bedroom, Max said, "Why do you always get to be in charge. I'm ten, only two years younger. What's the difference?"
"The difference is I'm more responsible than you. If you really want to be in charge, then we'll race downstairs and see who wins. The winner is in charge." Olivia turned and pointed her finger at Max. "Also, no pulling rugs or pushing."
"Ready, set, go!" Max said.
They both charged down the stairs like a herd of elephants. Olivia beat Max by one foot.
"Ha! Still in charge," Olivia cheered while doing her victory dance.
"I let you win," Max said, but Olivia could see he was disappointed. He was lying to her, just like Mom had lied to them.
They walked through the kitchen and yelled good-bye to their mom. Olivia already had the directions to All-Star displayed on her phone when they walked out the door. Olivia and Max grabbed their bikes and started up the road.
"Just keep in mind we still have to run to the store to get those luggage tags for Mom," Olivia said.
"Can I just ask why we are going to that restaurant? What is Mr. Walters going to help us with?"
"He might know something about Amanda or Mom that we don't know and help us find more clues about what's going on."
"Okay, fine. I just hope my feet don't get tired from pedaling that long."
"Quit whining, you big baby," Olivia said.
After that, Max didn't even dare to say another word to Olivia.
Finally, they stopped at a gigantic building with sparkling lights around the name of the restaurant written in all caps. There were trees on both sides of the door and a blue and red awning above the door.
"Can we eat?" Max asked as he sniffed the air.
"Didn't we just eat lunch? And plus, we aren't here for that anyway," Olivia said, laying her bike on the ground.
"So? I smell
a delicious steak."
"Max, we literally ate steak yesterday for dinner."
As they walked in, a bell rang and the hostess greeted them.
"Do you know where Alex Walters is?" Olivia asked. "We need to talk to him about something."
"Is Mr. Walters expecting you?" the hostess asked.
"No, but we are his grandchildren," Olivia told the woman. Max opened his mouth to speak, but before he could ruin Olivia's story, she said, "I'm Olivia, and this is my brother, Max."
"Okay, why didn't you say so earlier?" the hostess asked. "Come right this way!"
On the way to Mr. Walters's office, they walked slowly down the hall to admire all the chandeliers, paintings, and the red velvet carpet beneath them.
When they reached his open office door, the hostess knocked and said, "Mr. Walters, you have visitors." She took a step back and motioned for them to go in. Then she speed walked back to the hostess station.
"Who are you?" Mr. Walters asked, standing up to greet them.
"Um, our grandmother is Lucy Brooks," Olivia said.
"Lucy?" he said with wide eyes.
"Yes, she is our grandmother. I'm Olivia and this is my little brother, Max. We just found out our mom has a sister named Amanda Walters. Is she your daughter?"
Mr. Walters looked down. "Amanda, yes. Those two sisters...let's just say they were friends when they were little."
"What happened?" Olivia asked.
"Amanda got into her teens and then-"
"What's this thing?" Max asked, holding up a glass swan from Mr. Walters's desk.
"Don't play with that!" Mr. Walters said.
"Max, get over here," Olivia said, stomping her foot and pointing to the spot next to her.
Max started walking over, still holding the swan. As he walked by, Mr. Walters snatched the swan out of Max's hands. "Hey!" Max yelled.
"Stop yelling, Max. People in the restaurant might hear you," Olivia said.
"Yes. I'd appreciate it if you would keep your voice down." He put the swan down on the glass table next to him.
"What happened to Amanda?" Olivia asked.
"She started stealing things. Robbing banks was most likely going to be next, but I was wrong. She went to an engineering club and started making inventions," Mr. Walters said. "Your mom was so disappointed in her sister and mad at her she wouldn't ever talk to her no matter what, so no one even talks about Amanda being in the family. A little while later, Amanda was smart enough to open her own company called Original Artistry."
"What did she steal?" Max said, swinging from a chandelier.
"Get down from there, young man!" Mr. Walters yelled, pointing his finger at Max.
Mr. Walters walked over to get Max down from the chandelier. "What Amanda stole is none of my business or yours."
"Thank you, Mr. Walters," Olivia said. "Max, come on. Let's go." Olivia pushed Max through the door.
"Why are we leaving already?" Max asked.
"We're leaving because we're obviously not going to get any information out of Mr. Walters. He must be trying to protect Amanda."
"Well, what are we going to do now?" Max asked.
"I don't know, but we'll have to figure it out one way or another," Olivia said. She didn't know how though, since they were leaving for Abura the very next day.
Chapter Eleven
To the Airport
Cuckoo cuckoo!
"Ahhhhh!" Olivia screamed at the sound of the cuckoo clock above the couch she was sleeping on at her grandmother's house over night.
Crash, bang!
Olivia fell face-first off the couch, onto the floor, and rolled on top of Max who was sound asleep.
"Come on! I wanted to sleep in!" Max yelled at Olivia.
Their mom came rushing in the room. "Who wants to go to...Abura?" she said noticing what had happened.
"Me?" Olivia said with a shrug and a slightly worried look.
Their mom looked at Olivia and then Max with a stern look on her face.
"She did it!" Max yelled before Olivia could say anything.
"The clock scared me. Plus Max was going to sleep in, and when he says sleep in, he means one more hour!" Olivia blurted out, getting Max back under the bus.
"Max, it might be 3:30 in the morning, but if you sleep in, you will miss the taxi and not be dressed or ready at all. You will even miss out on Abura! Now get dressed, and I will meet you in the living room," she said just so Max would not sleep in.
"But Dad is sleeping in!" Max complained.
"How can you tell?" Mom asked, looking around.
"I don't know. Maybe because I can still hear him snoring!" Max said, talking back.
"That's only because your grandfather kept talking and telling your dad about Abura all night. Well, at least it felt like it was all night," Mom said with a sigh.
"Tell me about it. I barely slept!" Olivia said, stepping into the fight.
"He is your father!" Max argued again.
"Max, stop it. We've been waiting over three hundred days to go on vacation. Let's not ruin it already!" she said in an annoyed voice.
Olivia quickly got up, grabbed her clothes, and went into the room across the hall to change.
"Dad?" she said startled. "I thought you were brushing your teeth by now!"
"No, I never left this room. By the way, keep it down. I don't want your mom to know I'm in here sleeping in," their Dad said.
"Okay, first of all Mom knows you are sleeping in, and second of all I need to get changed. You are holding everyone up here!" Olivia said, handing him his toothbrush.
He finally got out of bed, took the toothbrush from Olivia, and went into the bathroom.
Olivia slammed the door shut behind him and sighed.
When she came out, she went back into the playroom and found Max sound asleep again. She went over and picked up the messy pile of clothes he was going to wear and threw them directly on his head.
"What the...?" Max said, surprised to find his clothes on his head.
"Go get dressed. The taxi is almost here!" Olivia called, starting to walk into the bathroom to brush her teeth so she could meet up with the others in the living room.
When Max was ready three minutes later, the taxi was there. Olivia stayed and waited for her grandmother to grab her carry-on upstairs in her room.
Olivia started to hear footsteps coming down the stairs. When her grandma was ready and downstairs, they went out the door together and caught up to the others.
"Come on. Hurry up!" called Max.
As Olivia stepped into the black van, Max pulled her into the seat next to him.
"Grandma, do you want to sit with us?" Olivia asked politely.
"I would love to dear," said their grandma.
Olivia's grandfather and father sat next to each other while her mom sat alone.
Their grandfather talked to the driver about Abura the whole hour it took to get to the airport.
Olivia felt like she had heard the stories all one hundred times by then.
Chapter Twelve
An Exciting Ride
"Group three may now board the plane," said the voice over the loud speaker in the airport.
Olivia and Max waved to their grandparents since they were group five.
Their grandma blew them a kiss. "See you in a few minutes!" she said joyfully.
Their grandparents had been wanting them to go to Abura for a while so it was a big deal for them, Olivia, and her family.
As they boarded, they realized that someone was in Max's seat.
"Um, excuse me. My son is supposed to sit there with my father," said their mom, gesturing to Max.
"Sorry, but this is our seat. You see my husband booked it for the four of us, so I think you are wrong here," the lady said.
Olivia's mother took out the boarding pass for Max and showed the lady that the seat was his.
"Oh honey, can you recheck what seat we are in?" the nice lady said to her husband.
"Oh, it's the one in front of this row. Sorry," the husband apologized.
"Thank you!" Mrs. Lockhart said.
Once they sat down, Olivia peeked her head out from behind the seat and saw her grandparents coming. She waved, hoping one of them would see her.
Her grandfather saw her and waved back.
Olivia smiled and patted the seat next to her for her grandma to sit down.
When they were all seated, they looked at each other with smiles that went from cheek to cheek. Olivia felt like she was going to burst with excitement and joy!
Then the plane started on the runway and took off in flight.
Olivia and Max took out their gummy bears and started to chew as fast as they could so their ears didn't react to the plane starting and taking off.
Olivia saw the woman and her baby sitting next to someone and was disturbed by how the mother had to ask the guy to get up so she could change the baby's diaper.
"Whoa," Max complained while fanning his nose, which told Olivia that he wished he hadn't sat there and he wanted to be with dad on the other side in front of Olivia.
Olivia giggled, and then an announcement came on over the loud speaker.
"We are coming close to a storm. We will have to taxi for a while," the voice said.
Then Olivia got an idea. She should invent a plane that was strong enough to go through storms so they would not have to taxi around in the air and be delayed like this. Then she realized that she didn't have her invention bag with her. It was in a different suitcase of hers.
"Here. You look tired," her mom said, handing her a neck pillow.
Olivia took it and fell asleep.
Chapter Thirteen
Welcome to Abura
As Olivia stepped out of the airport, she saw how amazing Abura was. The beautiful green and brown palm trees swayed in the warm breeze.
"Max, look," Olivia said. "It looks like the picture on the brochure that the nice lady handed me at the mall."
"Olivia, no matter what you say, I still think that flyer is boring," Max said with out hesitating.
All of a sudden, their dad pointed to a woman who had red, curly hair, big sunglasses, and a floppy hat, holding a sign that read "Lockhart." "Sara, did you schedule for a taxi to pick us up?" Dad asked.
Mom shook her head. "No. Maybe the hotel did it for us."
As they all walked over to the woman, Olivia felt like she recognized her from somewhere. She was wearing a necklace, but whatever charm was at the end was covered by her sundress.
"Hi. Are you the Lockharts?" the woman said in a kind voice.
"Yes," Olivia's mother said.
"Step right in," the woman said as she opened the door of the taxi for them.
