The Descendants and the Missing Guardian

Chapter One

Today...

When Seth Reid looked out his bedroom window that morning, he saw three things that ruined his day before it had even begun. First, dark grey clouds brewed in the skies, threatening his winter break; second, the snow he had piled up to the roof of their little shed had melted overnight, ruining any chance of pulling off a jump on his snowboard; and third, their strange neighbor, Mrs. Ogle, had already started her peculiar pacing, back and forth across the front walk, waiting to check up on them as she did every morning.

He closed his curtains to block the dismal skies. Why did life always have to be against him? Every time he tried to make plans something always got in his way.

Turning, he remembered his mother had washed his favorite shirt. It had a logo of a thunderbolt across the front and used to belong to his dad. It and an old pocket watch were the only things left he had to remind him of his father.

He turned to grab the shirt from his dresser, but it wasn't there. It was crumpled up on the floor, covered in long, white cat hair.

"Colonel Whiskers!" he yelled, running out of his bedroom, waving the shirt in the air. He nearly knocked over his older sister, Marin, as she came out of the bathroom.

"Watch it!"

Ignoring her, he ran down the stairs into the kitchen.

"Mom! Look what Colonel Whiskers did!"

"Lower your voice, please," his mother said, sipping her coffee.

"But look at my shirt," he grumbled. "I hate that stupid cat."

"Hate is an awful word," Marin said, from behind him. "He likes you, you know."

"I don't care! Keep your cat out of my room." Seth dropped his shirt on the floor and ran back upstairs.

Why do we still have that cat? All it did was shed hair and make his older brother, Jared, sneeze all the time. Marin begged their mother to bring it back with them from the farm last year, and to Seth's surprise, she agreed. He'd always wanted a dog, but no one listened when he pleaded.

He settled on a plain white shirt, this time from his dresser drawer, then slammed his bedroom door shut and went to the bathroom door. It was locked. He banged on it with his fist.

"Jared!" he yelled. "Hurry up. I need to get ready for school."

A slow shuffling came from the other side of the door, followed by the click of the lock. Seth pushed it open and came face-to-face with his older brother. Jared and Marin were twins, but sometimes it was hard to see, because Jared had their dad's features, while Marin looked like their mother. The perfect balance, his dad used to say.

"If you got up a little earlier you wouldn't be so rushed in the morning," Jared said, looking unimpressed.

Seth ignored the jab and pushed past his brother, shutting the door between them. The bathroom window was open and from this side of the house the clouds looked like they were getting darker.

When he finished getting ready, Seth went back downstairs and found everyone sitting at the kitchen table eating. On the back of his chair was his favorite shirt, neatly folded and void of all cat hair.

He sat at the kitchen table, watching his family eat. Why can't I be like them? Jared is always so calm, Marin so confident, and Mom loves us all no matter what we do. He sighed to himself and took a bite of his toast.

Seth's mother spoke up, "I've decided we're going to spend winter break at the farm."

"I already have plans," Seth argued. "I'm going snowboarding."

"I hardly call that snowboarding," Marin piped up from the opposite side of the breakfast table. "Plus all the snow you piled up melted last night."

He shot his sister a dirty look. At fifteen, she was only three years older than him but acted like she knew everything.

"This is not up for discussion," his mother said standing up and putting on her coat. "We are going to the farm. End of story."

Seth shoved the rest of his toast in his mouth and grabbed his coat. It wasn't fair! But what did he expect—they weren't going to listen to what he had to say. On the way out to the car, he punched the 'for sale' sign at the end of their lawn. It spun around on its rusty hinges. He was like this house—just a hassle no one wanted to deal with anymore.

Mrs. Ogle waved at them as she crossed the street to their car. She wore a long trench coat and kept the hood up over her head all the time. Seth could only see her wrinkled cheeks hanging from her jaw, jiggling as she spoke. "Those skies are looking nastier by the minute," she said.

"They sure are," his mother agreed. "Better stay inside today."

"I can't say whether that would be best or worse?" Mrs. Ogle said. "Sometimes the inside of a house is as tumultuous as a brewing storm. Just the other day I had a tornado in my bathroom."

"You did?" Seth asked, perking up, despite himself.

"My house was like that just moments ago," Seth's mother said.

"I wonder if it will be a good one," Mrs. Ogle said looking up. "Oh, I do love a good storm. It refreshes the skin. Everyone could use a good watering, now and then."

She waddled back to the other side of the street, mumbling to herself. She never said goodbye.

At school Seth doodled in his binder, ignoring the same winter movie they played every year on the last day before the break. He liked drawing pictures of characters in Jared's stories. He'd show them to his older brother at night, in an attempt to get him to look up from his books and hang out for a bit. But right now, Seth couldn't get the faces to look right, and in his frustration ended up scribbling X's through all of them. When the bell finally rang he tossed his entire binder in the garbage. When he got to his locker, he did the same thing with the rest of his books.

"Where's your things?" his mom asked, when he climbed into the back of the car.

Seth shrugged.

"I saw him," Marin said. "I didn't want to make a scene, but he threw out all his books!"

"You did what?" his mother said, turning around. She looked tired, more tired than he'd ever seen her look before. Instantly he wished he hadn't done it.

"Are you going to go get them?"

Seth shook his head. He was still too mad.

"I can't deal with this right now. Marin, go get his books. Seth, you're grounded."

"Who cares," Seth exploded. "I didn't want to go to the stupid farm in the first place! It's like I'm already grounded."

He threw open the car door and jumped out.

"Seth!" His mother cried out.

But no one chased after him.

*** END OF CHAPTER ONE *********

1. Do you like how this chapter ends? Is it too abrupt, or is it just right to make you turn to Chapter 2?

2. What have you learned about Seth? Is he protagonist material?

3. Make predictions about what will happen next - and hey, where did Belvedere go?

4. Who do you like more, Marin or Seth? Why?