'Do you understand now Jamie?" mum asked intently as I put the pages down.
"You think vampires murdered dad?" I croaked as visions of those vampiric creatures in the turret of our house invaded my mind.
"I don't want to think about it! Vampires? It's all too much! I just want to know if you understand."
Bewildered I sat there not knowing how to answer.
"Understand what?"
"Think again about what your father implied about his twin sister! Jamie, read closer those pages where he mentions her."
I did as I was told.
"Did dad believe that you are his sister?" I asked incredulously.
"Yes... please Jamie, I can't talk about it now!"
"Mum...its okay."
"No Jamie its not okay, nothing will ever be the same again! I'm sorry Jamie but tomorrow you can't go to Liam and Katie's birthday party there could be kids there that have been bred by the Crines and are out to harm you."
"Mum, no matter what you think nothing is going to happen to me tomorrow,"
"What on earth do you mean Jamie? Didn't you just read what I did? Are you telling me that there is nothing strange about the people in this town? And this house, there's something evil living in it. I feel it everyday, we can't live here anymore Jamie I'm afraid it may harm you."
"I'm just saying that we need to know a lot more before we jump to any conclusions."
"Okay then Jamie! For one, let's start with that old man. We know he exists; yet the curio shop where I saw him doesn't. How do you explain that? And there's so much more I know you're not telling me."
"Mum...."
"No don't pretend any longer, something's changed you, you've become secretive. You must tell me if that old man attempts to contact you in any way. And whatever you do, you must not go with him anywhere...do you understand? He could be this person Asa and have a secret agenda for telling your father what he has. He might be one of those Greybeards your father wrote about or even a member of this 'Secret Society of Crines' who murdered your father. We can't just trust him Jamie as your father had!"
I was getting worried about mum; she looked as though she was going to burst a blood vessel. I did my best to calm her, but she was like a dog with a bone...no way would she let the subject of the old man go.
Was it possible that he was Asa? I wondered. If so why did he tell dad that tomorrow I would go to the old Braden estate to seek him out? And what was it that I was supposed to see?
Deep in thought I jumped as the phone beside mum's bed rang. Puzzled I watched the transformation in mum as she answered it. She became calm and in control and I wondered who'd been able to bring about this sudden change in her.
Anxiously I looked at my watch. It was 11pm already. Hours had gone by and I worried how I was going to meet my friends as planned.
His friends? According to dad, Katie and Liam are my cousins! And Mum and Dad....brother and sister?
My mind was racing it was all too bizarre. I just couldn't get my head around it. I had to see that birth certificate.
I picked up the pages of dad's diary again. I had to read it one more time. However the first page I inadvertently turned to was about the Greybeards. It gave me the creeps to think that deep below Braden lived another race of beings.
I looked down at the floor trying to visualize what lay underneath the manor. Did their world exist there? Was Braden really the hub of Aliens?
I was going crazy with all these unanswered questions and I put the pages down.
I looked around mum's bedroom conscious of the fact that one of the thirteen Crines had slept in this bed that I now sat on. I shuddered, which one had slept in my bed?
I looked across at mum still talking on the phone. Her back was turned and I grabbed dad's letter hoping her birth certificate was inside. As I pulled it out of the envelope the photo mum had been talking about fell to the floor.
Quickly I picked it up. Stunned I stared at the young girl in the photo...she could have been Jade! I looked closer; there was an old stone warehouse in the background. I could hardly believe my eyes, the sign painted above its door said, 'Apogee Mountain Orphanage'.
Damn it, mum was saying her goodbyes on the phone. I slid the photo into my jeans pocket and returned dad's letter to where mum had left it. Phew, just in time, mum had sat back down beside me.
"That was Charlie, Liam's Dad Jamie. He says he has some documents of your fathers and wants to discuss them with me tomorrow. So I guess we both will be going to the birthday party."
"Wow, do you think they're the documents Dad wrote about?"
"I don't know Jamie, you ask too many questions. Just be happy you're going! I'm going to bed and I suggest you do the same; I can't talk anymore about all of this it's just too much! Now hand me those pages."
I did what I was told and watched mum put them with dad's letter containing the birth certificate back inside the box she kept his diary in. I knew there was no way tonight that I'd be able to check that birth certificate. At least, I consoled myself as mum shooed me out of her room, she hadn't realized that I had the photo.
Confused by her attitude I walked down the hall to my bedroom wondering what Liam's Dad had said that had suddenly made her change her mind about me going to the party.
I looked at my watch. I had to get going or Liam and the girls would leave without me. Taking a deep breath I tried to calm down. I was desperate to see if somehow Katie and Liam looked different.
I searched for signs of my alien ancestry in my dressing table mirror; however the same freckled faced redheaded kid stared back at me. I didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed.
Turning away I wondered how I could tell Liam and Katie. It all seemed nuts... yet how could I not believe my dad? I guess the final proof I needed was seeing whether the Crines really did exist.
However what if the Crines don't reveal their alien form and just looked like normal human beings? Katie and Liam then wouldn't believe anything I said, especially about us being the 'Power of Three'.
My mind was in turmoil; dad had also written that Swasie and his cousin Hunk were the sons of two of the immortal 'Ancients' who were now High Priests in the 'Secret Society of Crines'.
If this were true then it made sense why Swasie had been after us. He must suspect that Liam and I were two of the 'Power of Three'.
Crikey... was that why Hunk had told Liam about the 'Bone Crushers' meeting up with the Crines tonight? Maybe Katie is right; maybe it was just a ploy to get us there so they could destroy us.
Nervous sweat ran down my face, Jade had encouraged us to go...could she be part of the plot?
Instinctively I took the photo of the young girl out of my pocket and stared at her image. She was so like Jade. Was that why mum said that she was familiar to her? It couldn't be, I was sure that mum had never met Jade.
I turned the photo over and shocked read its inscription. Jade had always been a puzzle to me and now, even more.
Troubled I thought about Jade's reaction to the book I'd shown them and her defense of Hunk this afternoon. Would she betray us?
Desperately I tried to put it all in perspective as I anxiously watched the time. Minutes seemed like hours and I could no longer wait for mum to fall asleep... I had to go!