Chapter 1 - Welcome to Seaside

Leo's POV

My bare feet pad against the warm sidewalk as I relish the feel of the sun on my back. I love summer. It's always so warm. And this summer, we have new neighbors.
I walk casually up to their house, but stop under the porch upon hearing a conversation drifting from the upstairs window.
"How many times must we go over this?!"
"It's hard to hold it in!" screams a high pitched, female voice.
"You can't do it! Not yet!"
"How the heck am I supposed to not do it?"
"Just try, okay?"
"You're not helping."
My new neighbors are officially weird. I know I should probably knock on their door already and quit eavesdropping, but I can't help continuing to listen.
"You just need to change your attitude."
"I said you're not HELPING!"
"Sorry, sorry!"
The girl mutters something, and she speaks in low voices with the guy for a bit. I pick up snatches of conversation.
"...not your fault..."
"...ruined his..."
"...we won't let..."
"...of course, of course..."
"...just wait..."
"...no..."
The voices pick up again.
"It will be okay! You said so!"
"But how many lives must be sacrificed? How many hearts broken? How many battles-"
"Shh! It will work out. It must work out."
"For us."
"You're being too sentimental. His life must be forfeit. We can't allow feelings to mess this up."
"It's my prophecy! I made it! Don't tell me what to do!"
"Lower your voi-"
"No! Don't tell me what to do! Just because you're my older brother doesn't mean you can boss me around! In 10 days it will be fulfilled, and then we will go our separate ways. In the meantime you obey me, not the other way around! Are we clear!?"
"C-crystal clear!"
"Good. And now we wait."
"And now we wait."
I lose by courage to knock and bolt, down the sidewalk and back to my house. This is too weird to comprehend.
________________________________________________________________

"So, did you meet our new neighbors?" Mom asks over the dishes of potatoes, chicken, and watermelon.
I swallow my mouthful of white meat and say, "Yeah." Lie.
"How are they?"
"Weird." Truth.
"Oh, come on! They must be feeling uncomfortable, with all these strangers around. Maybe you and Leanne can take down some homebaked cookies tomorrow!" Mom claps her hands together, smiling at us eagerly. Leanne and I give her "the look".
Leanne and I are twins, me being 26 seconds older. Mom has always expected us to do "cute twin things", or at least be the good kids on the block. We failed her expectations. Leanne and I would rather be out doing our own things - we know each other too well, so we're hardly able to stand one another. In any case, both of us realize that most of Mom's ideas are well-meaning but over the top. Cookies? Really? We aren't Girl Scouts here. Leanne doesn't even want to meet our new neighbors anyways. She's pretty antisocial.
Mom gives us a disapproving look. "Take Leanne down after dinner, at least," she says, ending the conversation.
After dinner, we reluctantly walk down, uneager to get there. I notice that the window is still open, but this time there is no conversation. Before we get to the door, I realize that my lie is about to come out, so I turn around to confess it ahead of time to Leanne.
"I know you lied, so shut up and let's get this over with," she says, practically reading my mind. I hate it when she does things like this. Like I said, we know each other too well.
Frowning, I turn around and slowly walk up to the door. The porch looks normal enough, if not a bit shabby. The green paint is peeling, and the doorbell is the old kind with little lights inside. I have a thing for doorbells. Leanne gives me a small poke, and I quickly press it, the ringing echoing throughout the house.
The woman who comes to the door looks somewhat wild, her short mousey brown hair in complete disarray. Her large eyes flit from me to Leanne rapidly over and over again.
"Uh, hi, I'm Leo, and this is Leanne. We're you new neighbors," I say, gesturing to Leanne and myself as I say our names.
"Are you twins?" she asks, her voice identical to the female one I heard earlier.
"Uh, yeah," I say, taken aback. Leanne and I aren't identical twins; we're fraternal. Most people can hardly tell we're related.
"How old are you?" she asks, tipping her head to one side.
"15 in 10 days," Leanne answers shortly, crossing her arms. Oh boy, I hope she doesn't have one of her outbursts. They are so embarrassing.
"They fit..." the woman half gasps, her eyes somehow getting even wider. I can clearly see her vivid blue irises and round, black pupils, looking out into some other mental world of hers.
"Uh..." Leanne and I say simultaneously, giving her the look we usually reserve for our mom.
"Oh, sorry!" she says, and smiles at us cheerfully, suddenly back in the real world. "My name's Telsa, and I'm living here with my brother Rob. It's great to know we have such nice neighbors! Please, come on in!" We step inside, giving each other the "huh?" look. This Telsa is very confusing.
She leads us into a small, cozy living room, and has us sit down on the couch together. "You stay there, and I'll go get Rob and some snacks. Do you like cheese and crackers?" she asks, still reminding us of Mom.
"We just ate," Leanne says coolly.
"But thanks," I add quickly, not wanting to get on Telsa's bad side. If I'm right and she was the girl I'd heard from the window, she could have quite the temper.
"Of course! Well, I'll be right back then!" she beams, unfazed as she half skips from the room. I have never seen an adult do that in my life.
"How did you know they were so weird?" Leanne mutters. I simply shrug, and she gives me a disbelieving look that says, "Liar".
"I'm innocent," I eye-communicate back.
"Yeah right."
Telsa walks in then, interrupting our mental conversation. A tall man walks in behind her, creating a very noticeable size difference between them. For the first time I realize that Telsa is short. "This is Rob," she says, gesturing to the tall man. "Rob, these are Leo and Leanne. They're twins." He nods politely to us, and we nod back.
Telsa beams, and seats Rob and herself down across from us.
"Now, onto the important stuff."

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