Hatter’s House:
Hatter was glad the day was over. The afternoon meeting she attended with some of the directors of the homeless shelters her company sponsored wasn’t encouraging. There had been an increase in shelter incidents, and she wanted to know the cause. Some knew some of the people the shelter took in had mental and emotional problems. However, she had staff trained to help them.

A few shelters had to hire extra security because some had a large veteran population suffering from PTSD and other problems. She ensured the security people were properly trained to subdue and not injure the veterans. Sometimes things could get out of hand, but she felt sorry for the veterans and wanted to do everything she could for them.

She enters the code to the front door and walks inside. She could hear music coming from the den and walked towards the den. She stands in the entryway and watches as Hollace and Julie dance. A smile forms on her face as she watches her two young girls have fun. She adopted Julie after a child-servant friend called her and asked if she could take her in. The poor girl had been abandoned at a park by her mother. Julie was only a year older than Hollace, and they were inseparable.

She saw Bear and Cody watching the girls. Cody was a stray Jamie rescued from a frozen pond. Someone had thrown him into the pond, trying to drown him. She jumped into the pond and saved him. She nursed him back to health but couldn’t keep him. She and Taskhtali had rescued a
family of cats that didn’t get along with the puppy.

So, instead of taking him to the pound. She adopted him and gave him to Julie. Once he gets older, she’ll take him to the same trainer that trained Bear.

“Mom, we’re home,” Bree yells for her mother.

Sakura shakes her head as she closes the front door behind her. She was still hurting and recovering from her beating two weeks ago. She was also trying to recover from Bree’s driving as well. Since she was a licensed driver and twenty-one years old, she let Bree drive since she had her learner’s permit.

She knew little Mark was over at Jamie’s house with his siblings. Also, Justice was in town and volunteered to watch Hollace and Julie while she was picking up Bree from school. They noticed Aylin was home from her car parked in the driveway.

Bree looks around for her mother. She was excited that Sakura had allowed her to drive home from school and wanted to tell her mother. She spots Justice in the kitchen cooking dinner.

“Aunt Justice, do you know where my mother is?” Bree looks at her aunt.

Bree knew her aunt was studying to become a US Marshal, like the guy that saved her. She noticed that her aunt was wearing a comfy dress.

“Have you checked the den?” Justice figures her older sister might be in there checking on Hollace and Julie.

“Nope, guess what I did today, Auntie?”

“What did you do today?” Justice could tell her niece was excited.

“I drove home today.” A big smile forms on Bree’s face.

“Sakura was brave enough to let you drive?” Justice couldn’t believe Sakura had let her niece drive home.

It took Anika several months after she got her learner’s permit before she would allow her behind the wheel. Even then, it was just on the farm before she was allowed to leave the property. Ron took her out and let her drive his old pickup truck.

“Sakura said I did pretty good.” Bree liked Sakura.

“She did, Justice.” Sakura had walked into the kitchen to grab something to drink.

The pain pills she was taking made her sluggish, but it was helping her recover. She was supposed to be invaluable, but there had been a person who could neutralize a person’s ability with just a touch. Not only had that person negated her ability, but they beat her so severely. When she woke up days later, she was in a private hospital hooked up to a life support unit.

Justice looks at Sakura as she drinks from the bottled water she grabbed from the refrigerator. She knew Sakura had a soft spot for Bree as a cousin.

“Maybe next time I drop in, I’ll take you out for a driving lesson.” Justice wanted to see how good Bree was.

“That would be great.” Bree liked her aunt.

Bree turns to find her mother and spots her standing at the door to the den. She steps up behind her mother and hugs her.

Aylin felt someone hug her from behind. She was about to react when she smelled the perfume Bree likes wearing. She relaxes. “What are you up to, munchkin?”

“I got to drive today, Mom.” Bree lets go of her mother.

A playful smile appears on Aylin’s face. “Who was brave enough to let you drive?”

“Sakura. She said I did well.” Bree moves to stand next to her mother.

Aylin looks at her daughter’s face and still can’t get over the fact that it has been six years since she and Mark adopted Bree. Bree was her first daughter, and she taught her a lot about being a mother. Something she never thought she would be.

“We’ll have to see when I take you out this weekend.” Aylin hugs her oldest.

Ravenstonedale, England;
Archie was curious about his older sister and did some research online. He knew she had gone by the name Mad Hatter. He does a Google search on her and finds that she has appeared several times in news articles in New York and elsewhere. However, most news articles have her as being in New York mostly.

A few people had posted videos of her. He clicks on them and watches as she kicks some serious ass. It shows her taking down men twice her size and build. Other people were fighting with her, wearing weird outfits.

Someone caught her running with a bunch of kids her age jumping buildings and sliding down guardrails. She wore an outfit similar in design to the one she killed their father in. He still didn’t know the reason behind that. He wanted to know why she killed their father. He pauses the video, picks up his cell phone, and calls his best friend.

Theo was out relaxing by the pool when his cell phone rang. He picks it up, looks at the caller Id, and notices that it is his best friend, Archie. He presses accept, “Hey dude, I thought you were coming over?”

“Not today, Theo. Hey, do you think your parents would permit you to go to the United States with me?”

“I don’t see why not. They think of you like a second son. Why are we going to the United States?”

“Why not? We have been to Spain, France, and Germany. Why not the states?” Archie knew Theo had some fake IDs they could use.

“True. You want me to call Leo and Freddie and see if they also want to go?”

“Sure, we can go clubbing and bar hopping together. Call me back when you get their answers.” Archie hopes they say yes as well.

“Okay.”

Archie hears Theo’s phone go dead. He puts his cell phone down and does some more searching. While searching, he stumbles across an
article about a chef in St. Ives, Cornwall, England. He clicks on the article, and when it appears, he is surprised to see a woman who looks like his sister without makeup.

He brings up the MMA fight he saw his sister fighting in and freezes the image. He enlarges it and compares them.

“I will be a monkey’s uncle.” He couldn’t believe the similarities between the two.

They were identical in every way. Same face, eyes, eye color, hairstyle, and build. There was no way the second woman he was looking at was
his sister in New York. He plugs his portable hard drive in, searches through the files he copied to it, and finds the second birth certificate.

He couldn’t believe it. He had another half-sister that was a twin to the other one. Why did his father only keep one girl? He knew his father could be mean at times and had a temper, but why would he not support both of his daughters? Also, why did his half-sister kill him? He needed answers to these questions, but first, he needed to check this other woman out to verify that she looked like she did.