Author's Note

This is my first attempt at this kind of thing, so please keep that in mind. if you find any mistakes, have ideas for the story, or whatever comes to mind, let me know.

bla bla bla enjoy

The day my life went down hill (prologue)

Okay, how am I going to explain that my life took a turn for the insane asylum? Probably should start with the why. This whole mess started over a book. Yea, some stupid book ruined my life. Best part... it's blank.

I'm not making much sense here, so let me turn back the clock and start with how I even got this book to begin with.

I wake up to the sound of light rain splatting against my window. Today was supposed to be a fun day for my family. We always have this giant picnic in the back yard with all my relatives. Parents, siblings, cousins, grandparents, great grandparents, that over affectionate aunt and annoying jerk of an uncle, even friends of the family. Point is every year, we all get together and have fun. At the end we dig up, and rebury a time capsule.

This year, yeah not happening.

Everyone has something that just popped up out of nowhere. Some adults have work to catch up on. Kids either are sick or have school. There was a lot of snow days this year, so there making up for it now. Then there are those idiots that graduate and think they can start drinking. Some might have gotten away with it if they didn't decide to drive home, or have some drunk girl lean out the window and scream at the police. I only know this because I saw my cousins car get pulled over by said cop. My cousin and his friends had to spend about a week in jail. The girl, I have no idea who she was, got longer cause she tried to bribe the officer into letter her go.

So no one is really coming this year, but that's not going to stop me from digging up the time capsule. It's an old tradition started by my great grandfather, bless his soul. I don't know why he started it, but he did have some weird habits and stories. He was a strange one. For the record, those are his words.

Grumble.

Now my stomach is yelling at me. Now I have to get up, but I'm comfortable right where I am.

GRUMBLE.

"I'm up, alright. give me a minute to grab something to eat." I make my way into the kitchen an make myself some food. Nothing fancy, just a bowl of cereal. I don't have enough energy or patience to cook anything, not even fry some eggs. After I finish, I proceed with getting dressed in every fashion designers worst nightmare. I grab the first thing out of my draws and put it on. I have never understood fashion, nor will I even try to pretend like I do.

After I'm fully clothed, I get on with the rest of my day. Doing chores, checking my email for anything that isn't junk mail. Today's my day off and my parents and sister out doing something that doesn't concern me. So I got the whole house to myself, yeah.

"let's see what I'm deleting today. Random dating sites, gone. Cheap insurance plans I don't need, no thank you. Threatening email from the people that kidnapped my family... damn it sis." For those of you wondering what that last one was, my sister likes to mess with me. It might have worked if not for her email address being right next to the subject title. I check her little (fake) panic attack and, surprise, she says she love to have seen my face when opened this. One day she's going to get in so much trouble for this. Moving on, they're going to be a couple days late getting home thanks to traffic.

"Guess that means I'm going to dig that thing out by myself." I don't care if there if a hundred family members here or just myself. It's coming out of the ground today one way or another. I'm just glad it doesn't weigh more than me. still going to be a pain to dig out though.

"Let's see, fed the birds, did the dishes, took out the trash, planted stink bomb under that parasites bed. Am I forgetting anything that isn't defacing the back yard?"

And right on Que, the bell hanging on the front door rings. Right, gotta take the dog out so she can deface the lawn. I go and take the family pet out. She's a rough collie with enough fur to make you look like big foot. We call her curtains, because when we went out to get her, dad didn't want a pet, so we told him we were going to pick up curtains. We brought her and dad said he thought we were getting curtains. Our response went something like this: "We did."

I take her out and let her run around. With the way she runs, you would think she was part rabbit, cause she looks like she hopes from her hind legs to her front ones. That and she likes to jump on people to get attention. The backyard is like having three right next to each other. On the left side is the garden, and the holds the old barn that is starting to come apart. Some boards bending outward, a hole or two in each side. It's more for storage space than actual use. There are also some trees here and there. I don't know the names of them, but there aren't any fruit trees. After the yard is nothing more than some woodlands. Nothing dangerous about it

Anyway the rain was no just a light sprinkle and the ground was a little damp. No big deal, like my mom would tell me, rain makes you beautiful. Which is why I would lock my sister out in the middle of a down pour. Now if only it made her less of a pain. I go down to the shed on the far side of the garden and bring out a shovel, a metal pole with a pointed end to help loosen the dirt, and a post hole digger. I make my way over to this large tree stump that's in between the center of the yard and the barn. On the way over I notice this black van that's parked on the road. This van belongs to the neighbor, so there has never been anything to worry about. Heck, I've seen take the thing and cover with all kinds of holiday junk. Still doesn't stop the feeling like someone is watching me in it, but that's more my mental illness. If you think that's bad, thanks to my disorder, I thought I could do the Jedi mind trick when I was in middle school.

Curtains is chasing after a jogger that's going by, she knows to stay in the ward so no problem there. Pulling out my I-pod I see the time is 10:27. Turning on some music, I get to work on digging up the capsule. This is going to take awhile.

After putting the dog back inside, getting some lunch, I finally uncovering the dang thing. It looks more like an old wooden trunk, with leather straps and a metal key hole. It's about half way up my thigh, somewhere between four and five feet long. At some point during my digging, it had stopped raining. Now I'm sitting here, in a hole, cold and wet, with an old trunk, at 3:48 pm.

"Okay let's get this thing inside and do... something with it? I really should have thought this through more." With my own stupidity acknowledged. I proceed to take the trunk out, cover the hole with a large piece of wood so nothing falls in, and finally take the trunk inside.

"Let's see what 'treasures' everyone left last year, and how many little kids just grabbed some rock off the ground."

Couple of medals from sports, a few toys, messages some people wrote, and the old album with a group picture of everyone present at each picnic. Also, 47 rocks of various shape, color, and size. Still better than finding a bunch of moldy food from the previous year. So glad we added that rule. Packing everything back in and tossing the rocks back into the yard, I take the trunk back to the hole place it in a start to bury it for another year long dirt nap. While shoveling dirt back where it belongs, my shovel hits something that isn't dirt or a rock.

"What the heck? Oh, please tell me this isn't anything illegal?" What? I said before there is something wrong with me. This is just the same paranoia from before. Stick the shovel into the dirt, I reach over and find a leather cover book with this weird symbol on it.

(Just think of this without the sticky notes or book mark.)

"Well, it's nothing I have to report, so whatever." Tossing the book off to the the side, I proceed to finish drowning the time capsule in freshly removed soil, and returning the tools to there ~~resting place (try again)~~ place of residence (better). After that, I grab the book and make my way inside. At this point the sun has set, and I'm getting the creeped out feeling again. Damn this paranoia of mine. I'm getting better, but it's still annoying.

"Let's see, what's for dinner?" I think there might be some leftovers in the fridge. Walked over to the redneck Air Conditioner, I pop it open and take a look at my options.

No. No. Never did like that stuff. No. N- Did That one just move? Oh God, I Think it sees me... FUCK IT, I'M OUT!

With that I slam the door shut on... whatever that thing was, and make sure it can't get out. I decide to just make a peanut butter sandwich. Normally, I would add jelly, but...

Yeah, not worth the risk.

After finishing of my sandwich, I decide to take crack open the book. I grab the thing from where I left it, take a seat, and crack the thing open. Inside is blank page after blank page, but there was something inside the front cover.

"What the heck is Huntik? Eh, I'll deal with it when mom and dad get back." With that out of the way, I decide to waste time watching TV, then go to bed.

During the middle of the night, my greatest enemy chooses to strike. In other words, curtains came running into my room like the scared three year old she is. Before you ask, she a scaredy cat, not an attack dog. Anyways she comes in, hides under bed and starts whimpering. I wake up to this and am cursing this dog to hell and back for what she has done. She only does this to me. My door can be closed and my sisters can be non-existent , but she'll just sit there scratching at the door to get it opened.

Looking under at my currently shacking dog, and in the half conscious tone, I ask. "What could have scarred you into running into my room this time." But she just looks at me like a kid who saw a monster in there closet. She looks at the door, then back to me, as if asking me to go chase off the boogeyman... or would it be boogeydog?

"You really expected me to get up to chase off somethi-"

Smash. Okay, the dog is under the bed, the birds are in the cage, and we don't own a cat. This can't be good.

"You idiot, I told you to be careful." That sounded like a guy.

"Well sorry if I can't see where I'm going." That one sounded female. What the heck are these two doing in my house?

"Oh shut up and find that damn book before the kid wakes up." The only book I could thing of was the journal, but would they want with that blank thing.

Since I'm a (semi-)normal person, I start freaking out. Oh, don't acted like you wouldn't if someone broke into your house in the middle of the night. I calm down after a couple of minutes, grab my bat and start sneaking out to see who's in my house. If you think I should call the cops first, then you're right. Only problem is that my cell is in the kitchen and the house phone is in the living room. As make my way around, I see one of the thief's searching through the couch cushions. Is he looking for that book or the remote? The weird part is that this guy isn't wearing a ski or any of the typical 'I'm going to rob a bank' attire. No this guy is just wearing a black suit and sunglasses. It's original, I'll give them that. With some way to identify them, I return to my quest to retrieve my salvation.

I'm almost to the phone when lights start shining through the window. Looking outside I see my family pulling into the driveway.

"Shit they're back. Come on moron, let's go before they find us."

"Man, the boss isn't going to like this. And with that, they leave through a broken window. How did I not hear that brake? With them gone I rush over to the phone and start calling the cops. Family walks in, sees me on the phone, ask questions, wadda wadda, bla bla bla. At this point I'm to tired to care. Long story short they didn't expect this kind of thing to happen, but were relieved that they didn't take anything. The cops showed up about half an hour later, and I tell them everything I know about what happened. Well, everything except the book, but something told me that they already knew about it. I'm probably just being paranoid, but it makes me feel better. After they leave, I finally go back to bed.

The next day, I pull out the book to see if I can find some kind of secret flap, or hidden message, or something. A bit of lemon juice and a little heat later, I find something written inside the front cover.

The Seekers Guide to Titans, Amulets, Powers, and Huntik.

"What the heck does all that mean?"

"What does what mean?"

"Holy!" And with that I end up being pulled backwards onto the floor. "Owww..." Looking up I see my sister starring at me, grinning like the demon she is. Being the pain she is, she loves watching me, and everyone else, suffer. "What do want Madea?"

"I want to know what you're doing."

"I'm doing none'ya."Do you ever learn? I've pulled this trick on her a couple of times before. I get back up reset my chair and drop back into it.

"None'ya?"Guess not. Close the book, look her straight in the eyes with the most serious face I can. And...

"None'ya business." Her left eye starts twitching as she glares at me, probably wishing she could turn me to stone with her eyes. Of course being the ~~jerk~~ older brother that I am, I have to start taunting her. "I forget sis, was this the forty seventh you've fallen for that, or the forty eighth?" With that she turns, stomps out of my room, and starts calling for the mother. Once she's out of the room I return to examining the book. "Now, what other secrets are you hiding?"

"None that you need to know." The second I hear that, I plant my feet on the floor and lean forward. Why, because fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, and I'm the idiot. That my not be how it goes, but in the end, you still look stupid.

I look back and find my mom with that same knowing smirk all women seem to have, only inches from my face. In response, I give the only glare a child can give there parents and get away with it. In other words I lower my eye brows at her. "Hi mom."

"Hi sweetie. Now what did you do to anger the spawn of unholy darkness?" She asked with a smile.

"Worse, I mocked my sister." Returning the smile with my own.

"Well if you wake up withe some missing parts, go cry to your father. Now what do you have here?" She looks over to the book and closes it to see the name. She seems confused for a second, then goes wide eyed at the symbol on the front. I guess she's seen something like this before. Let's see what she knows abo-

"Where did you find this." I might be hearing things, but she sounded shocked almost... scarred.

Find, not get? Does she know what this is, or what huntik is? This might be my chance to get some answers. "I found it while I was reburying the chest yesterday. Why? Do you know what it is?" Once I finish, I see hear tense for a second, but snaps out of it to answer me.

She puts on her 'perfect mother' act, which she only does when she wants to hide something, then answers. "I just think your great grandfather had a journal like that. He would take it everywhere. Maybe you found it, though I don't remember that symbol being on it."

I don't remember grandpa having any journal, but that still didn't answer my question. What are you hiding mom.

"I'm not hiding anything, honey." She say with a smirk. What the, ARE YOU PSYCHIC?!

"No, it's a mothers intuition." More like a women's one way telepathy. That is why they expect a guy to know what they actually mean when they talk. They forget that guy's can't hear there thoughts. It may not be real, but I'm a guy so I'm going to guess that it does. Easier than trying to understand there 'logic.'

"Ignoring the fact that you keep using your 'intuition' to read my mind, is there anything you can tell me that might explain why this thing was in buried with the chest in the first place?" At this she puts on her 'thinking face.' She looks up, puckers her lips, and taps her chin with a finger. After a couple of seconds, she walks out of my room. I'm expecting her to say something, but my patients are in vain.

"...Well thanks for the help mom." And another distraction has left. I, once again, return to trying to figure out this book. In the end I can't reveal any more invisible ink on the book. Maybe this is just some poor joke or something.

The rest of the day goes by with nothing of any importance happening. At dinner Madea was trying to get under my skin, dad was talking about work, and mom was... well she kept looking at me like she wanted to say something, but couldn't bring herself to. I was just in my own little world, so that irritated Madea to no end. Now back to back to my room to waste time doing whatever.

On the way mom stops me and hand me a rock on a string. She tells me that it belonged to my great grandfather, as well as that he wanted me to have it. It doesn't have any fancy design, shape, or color. It's just a rock on a string.Well it must have been important to him if he wanted me to have it.

Later that night Madea comes in my room and wakes me up. I know something is going on since she didn't dump a bucket of ice water on my head. Apparently the guy's in suits came back, and they brought some friends. They seem to have brought a small army with them this time, as well as the same cops that we called before. That book is starting to cause more trouble than it's worth.

I grab my bag, throw the book, along with some other stuff that might be useful, in and meet my parents and sister in the basement. This may not seem like the smartest idea, but we have this little tunnel that lead to a cellar door at the edge of the forest. Once we are outside, we start making a break for it.

"Hey you, stop." I turn back for a second and see it's the same guy from before, I think. It's hard to tell when there it's the middle of the night. I guess this guy forgot that, in a chase, the word 'stop' translates into 'your phone is on 1%.' A few of his buddies start chasing after us, but we have a good head start on them.

"Augerfrost!"Auger-What now? from behind me comes this weird little blue light thing.

BOOM The second the laser hits the ground, it explodes, knocking a bit of dirt into the air. THEY HAVE LASERS NOW?! After that little light show, I can see my family starting to panic. Since my father is the type to plan for anything, seeing him freak out is never a good thing.

Come on, think. There has to- BOOM -be a way to get-BOOM BOOM-rid of these guys. BOOM! Getting really annoyed with that. What is so important about this book in the first- THE BOOK! Now having a plan, somewhat, I proceed to put into action. Running into the forest, I take out the book and start shouting. "I never thought the library would go this far over an overdue book!" That got their attention on me. You might consider that a stupid move, but maybe now my family will have a better chance at getting out of here and getting some help.

Running Through the forest is no problem for me, since it's one of those things I do to clear my head. I don't have the place memorized, but I still have the home field advantage. With all the roots, rocks, trees, and everything else to prevent a straight path, there is no way they can hit me with... whatever it is they're using.

"MINDRONE!" Thinking they are using another weapon I turn back to see what it will do. When I do I see this giant bug thing with one huge, red eye starring right at me.

Next thing I know, it's jumping from tree trunk to tree trunk, and closing the distance between us, fast. Turning back to the front, I see a low hanging branch a bit away from me. Let's see if cartoons really are full of it. Step by step: Duck under branch, grab branch, pull back, wait for giant monster bug to realize what is about to happen and...

SMACK

Right in the eyeball. With beetle boy trying to stop seeing splinters, I turn back and make my escape. I loose the suits and the bug thing a little later. Only problem now is that I have gone deeper then ever before.

It's the middle of the night, I've been runners from goons, and add in running from monster insects just for fun. Okay, you know what?Skip it. I'm to tired to care anymore. With that I clime up a tree, tie myself to a branch so I won't fall off, and finally get some sleep.

That's basically how my life went from average to insane. All because of a book. If you think this is bad, wait till you hear hat happens next.