The 2nd Chapter of Paradox Parade - Chicago

Author's Note:

Finding the first chapter shouldn't be much trouble since I changed the subject title of it. This used to be called January.

(And I probably should mention that Panquin is spelled right... it's a long story that will be fully explained later, it's pronounced how it's spelled: pan-quin)

Anyways, I don't have anything really to say, so enjoy & be harsh! =D

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Chapter Two - Chicago

My normal day in Chicago were predictable enough, but on my birthday I never truly knew what to expect. I arrived at Union Station to be greeted by a small party of people; my cousin Zac, his parents Liam and Mooney and there daughter Pax. They had all decided to surprise me by showing up and bring me to Navy Pier. We went on the Ferris Wheel and played games before finally settling down to lunch at Bubba Gumps. They asked me how life, Nana and Uncle Jeri were, tried to get Oliver to talk, and overall we just joked around. After a long lunch, Liam and Mooney left to get home for Pax's nap. Which left me, Oliver and Zac at the table.

"Have you talked to Benji lately?" I asked him, not seconds after they left, it was a bit weird for him not to be around on my birthday. Normally he would show up or send a card with Zac or Liam. In fact, it was weird that I haven't heard from him since the end of the summer.

"No," he replied. All day he had been trying to avoid this conversation, I could see it in his eyes. I looked at him.

"Where has he been, Zac?" I asked bluntly.

"I can't say." He replied adverting his eyes.

"Man, if I had a nickle for every time someone said that to me I'd be richer then King Solomon!" I retorted. I turned to undo the buckles on Oliver's high-chair, then stood up to lift him out and put his coat on.

"Where are you going?" Zac asked me as I balanced Oliver on one hip and slug my bag over my other shoulder.

"Library." I replied, "I'll be back in time for fireworks." With that I left Navy Pier.

* * *

I love Libraries, there's just something about the smell of paper, mixed with the serenity of the library and the sense of possible adventure, that keeps me coming back for more. I walked up and down the rows of books with Oliver, looking for a book to read. As I was walking out of the last isle someone collided with me, being caught off guard as I was, I fell onto the floor.

"Damian?!" I exclaimed, in shock. The person who had collided with me was one of my brother's companions, and my favorite since he was a pretty ironic person. For having a name that most people associate with demons and things that go bump in the night, he looked awfully like an angel. His hair was a striking white color and cut to stick out at odd angels, his clothes were normally made up of a skinny black and white scarf, various dark gem colors of button up shirts, black jeans and long coat. He reminded me quite a bit of what I imagined the Little Prince to look like.

"There you are," he said in a slightly grim but pleased tone. His personality, however, did match his name, though he was still generally a good person, his personality was more of a doom and gloom look on life then a happy one or everyone should die view. He stood up and reached out his hand to help me up. "Benji's looking for you."

"He's here?" I asked, getting up myself.

"He's in the city," he replied. He put his hand back into his pocket. "We've got to be quick though, there's not much time."

"Then, what are we waiting for?" I asked smiling. I took Oliver's hand and we all walked out of the Library then to an alley, where there was a dark car waiting.

"Where are we going?" I asked him.

"Don't worry about it," he replied simply, opening the door. I picked up Oliver and pushed him in then slid in my self. The backseat was pretty much empty except for my brother.

"Benji!" I exclaimed giving him a huge hug.

"Hey Ev," he replied. "We've got a lot to talk about."

With that Damian shut the door and got into the passenger's seat. Seconds later we were on the road.

"You bet we do," I responded. "Where have you been? And who's he?" I asked pointing at the driver, who turned and looked at me. He looked almost exactly like Damian, except for he had fire red hair and light brown eyes.

"I'm Prosper, Damian's older brother," he said before turning back to the road.

"I can only tell you some of it, but basically I've been trying to find Scarlett." I just looked at him, speechless. Scarlett is my twin sister, when we were little we had both disappeared. For years they didn't know where we were, and when they finally announced that we were probably dead, I returned. Alone. I don't remember anything that had happened during that time, but I'm positive my sister is still alive.

"That's what I've been doing all these years," he continued. I sat there for a moment, completely frozen, trying to organize the thoughts my mind was coming up with. I finally came up with one good question.

"If you're just looking for Scarlett, why all the secrets?" I asked.

"The people who have Scarlett are extremely dangerous. They won't give her up for just anything. We've tried to lay low so we could surprise attack them."

"Okay... but why are you telling me all of this now?"

"A few weeks ago we had intercepted a message saying they were planning on coming after you," Benji replied. "It's unsafe for you to stay in the Chicago Area anymore."

"That explains the letter," I responded. Benji looked at me, confused.

"What letter?" I scrimmaged though my bag until I found it then handed it to my brother. He looked at it really carefully, read it over several times, then looked over at Damian. Who reached over the seat and took it from him. Benji sat quietly, staring out the window, for such a long time that I began to wonder if he was actually a statue, then he suddenly moved lighting fast holding my shoulders tightly.

"Where did you get that letter?" he asked me. I stared at him, if it had been anyone else, I would have been scared for my life. But I knew Benji well enough to see the fear behind his eyes.

"In Mom's Journal," I replied. He sat back, confused.

"Where did you get Mom's Journal?"

"From Uncle Jeri," I replied.

"Benji, we're here." Damian said. I looked out the windows to see that the car was parked. Benji looked at him in reply, then got out. He picked up Oliver and held the door for me to get out.

"Where are we going Benji?" I asked, but he didn't respond as he led us into a shop. He apparently knew the owners since as we passed, they didn't say a word, and we were an odd bunch of kids. Benji led us down to the basement. He handed Oliver over to Prosper and pulled the rug back to reveal an old trap door with a rusty silver ring, something a person would suspect to find in an old Irish castle, not a modern day store.

"Okay, Damian, your going to go in first - give us a signal if it's safe. Evelyn your going to follow him. Prosper is going to bring Oliver down and I'll go down last to make sure no one is following." He waited for all of us to show some sort of response before pulling open the trap door, to reveal a round brick tunnel and metal rungs leading down into darkness. Damian lowered himself into the tunnel and began to descend.

"Benji? Are you going to tell me where we're going?" I asked.

"We're going to the Beach."

"Then why don't we just drive to the Beach?"

"Because they were watching the car." He replied solemnly, still looking at the tunnel. "Okay Ev, your turn."

I turned to the tunnel and looked over, I lowered myself in until my feet were on a rung and continued to climb down until the entrance was nothing more then a dot of light.

"Are you sure about this?" I heard Prosper say to Benji.

"Yes." he replied, and they continued arguing in hushed voices. The tunnel's light was obscured for a moment and the next time I looked up I saw Prosper and Oliver climbing down.

"There we go, Ev." A voice said from below, I looked down to see Damian watching me. I continued climbing down, "You're almost here, just a few more rungs. There's a bit of a gap from the last rung to the floor, so you're going to have to jump." When I looked down I noticed that my feet were on the last rung, I lowered myself down carefully as far as I could manage with keeping my feet on that last rung. I took my feet off the rung and let myself drop. I lost my footing and Damian caught me before I hit the ground. I stood up straight before looking at the height, it was about a six foot drop.

"Some gap," I said. We waited for Prosper to come down, he handed Oliver off to Damian before jumping down. Last to come was of coarse was my brother, he motioned for Damian to lead the way. That's when we heard it - a long, angry growl echoed throughout the tunnel, it was followed by complete silence. Damian passed Oliver over to Prosper, and pushed me behind him, ready to run if necessary. Then there was a shadow of an unidentifiable thing.

"RUN!" Benji yelled. Damian ran behind me, pushing me to go faster. Prosper was in front of us holding Oliver and Benji was behind us. It seemed like we had been running for hours when Prosper disappeared from in front of me, I was just about to pass where he had vanished when I was both pulled and pushed into a staircase. Before I could even blink and I found myself in a very dark basement.

Damian took my hand and lead me safely through the basement to a door and outside. But we didn't stop running. I didn't have a chance to look behind me, I don't think I would have seen anything any ways, it was dark out. We didn't stop running until we were on a dock. I sat down trying to catch my breath, and that's when I noticed something was missing.

"Where's Benji?" I asked. Damian didn't answer. "He's back there, isn't he?"

I stood up as if to run back, but my legs wouldn't move.

"Ev, sit. Benji will be fine, calm down." Damian said, putting his hand on my shoulder. I felt instantly calmer. I looked at him and then back the way we came, Benji was walking onto the beach. "What did I tell you?"

When he reached the dock I ran up to him, giving him a big hug. When I stepped back I noticed he had a number of bruises and cuts all over him. He was bleeding above his right eye and was walking with a limp. But before I could say anything he continued walking.

"Come on, I've got to get you and Oliver to safety," he said. We all walked to the end of the dock, and Benji let out a loud whistle.

"I have provided you some safe transport," he explained.

"What was that thing in the tunnel?" I asked him, ignoring his last statement.

"Don't worry about it," he replied. Then he turned to watch Lake Michigan, "look"

Through the darkness covering Lake Michigan, Evelyn could see brilliant white sails. They were followed closely by a ship, but not just any ship, a pirate ship.

"How-?" I asked in awe, pointing at the ship and looking at Benji. He stayed silent as the ship's side came level with the dock and a board was lowered onto it.

A man dressed from head to toe in a Pirate Captain's clothes stepped onto the board.

"Hello Miss Evelyn Dare, Welcome to the pirate ship Panquin!"

Minutes later we were aboard the ship, I was wrapped in a warm wool blanket, drinking hot chocolate and staring at the fire in the Captain's Office. While Benji was being treated and Oliver was sleeping. It was nearly midnight, and I almost sixteen. Damian and Prosper were sitting on a small couch across from me having a conversation in such quiet voices I couldn't understand how they were hearing themselves clearly.

Suddenly the ship shook with such force as to make me fall out of my chair.

"Oi! What was that?" Prosper yelled standing up. Him and Damian stood up quickly and walked over to the door, I followed them but before I could leave Damian stopped me.

"Evelyn stay in here," he said sternly as the ship shook again. I looked behind him to see the crew shouting and running all over the place.

"I want to see what's going on."

"This is no time to argue, stay in the cabin!" and with that he shut the door in my face. Angry I turned around and checked on Oliver. He had woken up I picked him up and walked to the window. The fireworks had started.

"Come on Oliver, let's see what's going on outside." I told him stubbornly. I walked out of the cabin and onto the deck. I looked on the beach were there were a group of oddly shaped people and a large cannon. It was too dark to see any details but as I watched them, one lit a match and put it to the cannon. Seconds later the ship shook again. I looked over the side, it seemed there were no damages to the actual ship. What in the world was going on?

"Crew! Bring the Ship up!" the Captain yelled from the Quarter Deck. Suddenly there seemed to be a sort of glow among the sails and the front of the ship lifted out of the water, I looked over the edge of the ship to see the whole front of the ship was out of the water and the back of the ship was joining it. Someone grabbed my collar and pulled me away from the railing.

"Miss, you better stay away from there, less you want to be left behind." said a man who looked like he had just stepped out 1001 Arabian Nights. "Hurry on back to the Captain's Cabin before you get in trouble."

"Okay," I said in a sort of daze. I ran back to the Cabin and to the back window in time to see the water fall off the boat. We were among the fireworks now and were navigating around them. To any onlooker the shots from the cannon on shore would have looked just like the rest of the fireworks. As I looked out at the fireworks, I whispered the last words I would ever say on earth for a long time:

"Happy Birthday, Scarlett."