Mishap & Mayhem (The Legacy Trilogy) Read online

  Chapter One - The year 2045

  Grasiella had plans for her summer break; she had asked her parents if she could spend it with Monica who was her best friend. Monica’s family would be taking a trip out of town and Grasiella was invited to go with them. The moment Grasiella’s twin sister, Tatiana, found out about her summer plans, Tatiana decided that she too wanted to go. It wasn’t because she was particularity close to either Grasiella or her friend Monica; it was because she didn’t mind getting out of the house and out of her parent’s eyesight.

  They were all in the kitchen when Grasiella shared her summer plans. The house was a very unusual one, but it was a style that was growing in popularity. One side of the wall was made out of a special type of material, as it gave the illusion that there was no wall at all. Giving a lovely unobstructed view into the rose garden outside, the garden had been planted with the roses that they had selected and it was designed in a circular pattern. One circle worked as the outer rim while two more, each one smaller than the next were enclosed inside. A stone memorial had been placed in the center of the middle circle, it read in Loving Memory of Rose M. Najera. The twins paternal grandmother.

  If Grasiella had happened to look outside the window, at just that moment she would have caught sight of a gnome. A gnome who had decided to take a break on a mushroom outside near the garden after it had delivered a letter to Grasiella’s mother.

  Gnomes were the letter carriers. They ran messages between magical people who kept their identities and abilities secret. It had been about a thousand years since the gnomes had begun to deliver the messages. In 1045, society had began to once again become aware of magic on some level, whether it be out of the corner of their eyes or subconsciously.

  In order to be careful and to conceal magic from outsiders a savvy entrepreneur started marketing garden gnomes and other statues featuring magical characters as a way for them to hide in plain sight while at the same time communicate. The practice took off and now there are magical messengers living in plain sight everywhere in the world.

  Tatiana’s cat June Bug jumped up and sat on Grasiella’s lap, deciding that it was a good place to sleep. She was Siamese, a gift from one of her aunts who did a lot of traveling. Grasiella had recently heard from her aunt who was exploring an ice cavern somewhere in Alaska.

  “I know how much you wanted to go on that trip with Monica, but my mother has asked that you and your sister spend the summer break with her instead,” Grasiella’s mother said as she made her way over to sit at the kitchen table. Grasiella was in the middle of having her breakfast, Grasiella hadn’t touched much of it. She was too upset with her mother to even eat.

  “You haven’t really spent a lot of time with her,” her mother wasn’t letting the issue go. “This will be a good way to get to know her, besides there will be other trips you can take with your friends.”

  Grasiella was speechless. She sat at the table staring at her mother not believing what she had just heard. Her mother was never one to argue with her, whenever Grasiella or Tatiana had wanted to do something her mother was always the first to relent without hesitation.

  Tatiana, who sat across from Grasiella, could have cared less about what her mother had just shared with them. It didn’t matter to her, she would have been happy either way. As long as she ended up with what she wanted which was to get out of her parents house for the summer.

  The twins were sixteen years old and their birthday was a few weeks away. Grasiella yearned for some space of her own, away from her sister. She cast her eyes over at her sister, Tatiana who didn’t look at all bothered with what their mother said. Everything she did she always had to do with her twin and there were times when that got to her. She looked down into her cereal trying to find a way to persuade her mother into changing her mind. The last thing Grasiella wanted was to spend the summer break with Tatiana who would undoubtedly find a way to ruin her trip with her constant need for attention.

  Her father walked in to the kitchen and Grasiella looked up. She was sure that she could make her father side with her and convince her mother that this wasn’t the best time to spend with her grandmother.

  As he opened up the fridge, Grasiella asked him, “Dad can’t we see G over the next break?” Her big brown eyes pleaded with him. “I already told Monica that I was going to spend the summer break with her. We already started to make plans.”

  He pulled out a carton of orange juice. Closing the fridge door, he answered, “There is no getting out of this, Grasiella. It’s already been decided between your mother and me.”

  That wasn’t what she had hoped to hear her father say. She wanted him to help her out of this as he always had before. Grasiella was finished with her cereal. She lost her appetite.

  “You leave in three days so you need to decide what you’re going to take with you because you’re going to your grandmother’s and this is not debatable.” Her said mother and she was adamant.

  At that point the twin’s younger brother Xavier, who was ten years old, ran into the room and he shouted as he skidded to a stop. June Bug leaped off of Grasiella’s lap heading straight out of the kitchen. Xavier started laughing until he caught his father’s eye.

  “None of that,” Taking his son by the shoulders, they exited the kitchen. Hoping to sway her father, Grasiella followed them out.

  Staying seated Tatiana said, “I don’t remember ever meeting G.”

  “You haven’t seen her since you were a toddler. It’s hard for her to get around. You should use this time to get to know her, you might be surprised.”

  “Whatever,” with that said Tatiana left the kitchen heading to her room to choose what she would need for her trip.

  Their mother stood. Making sure no one was around; she walked over to the family crest that was mounted against the wall near the hallway. Slowly she slid a small portion of the crest open, revealing a round peg like hole. She removed a piece of parchment and she reread the note from her mother. Her mother, the twins grandmother, was not comfortable with email. This was the only way she sent mail which was hand delivered by gnomes. She was lucky neither of the girls noticed the gnome outside in the rose garden.

  She shouldn’t have worried. The girls had never asked about their grandmother, which might be odd to some, for they did not know of the spell their grandmother had placed on each child when they were born. Now it was time for their grandmother to become a fixture in the girls’ lives. She re-read the parchment:

  The fae are growing stronger. We can’t hold them back on our own much longer. The girls will need to be prepared and they need to be tested. It won’t be long before the spell I placed on them run’s its course and they will be vulnerable.

  There was a war going on in the Magical realm, one that the Fae were winning, and if they do than the existence of magic would be exposed.

  She walked over to the fireplace and with a snap of her fingers the fireplace lit. She dropped the parchment into the fire, sadness rested in her heart. She could no longer protect her family from the truth. That there was a darkness in her family, one that would have them as outcast should the Fae win the war and exposed them to the rest of the magical community.