Anarchy's Mystery

Chapter 1

Natalie hurried through the streets, pushing her way through the throngs of people. A nail caught on one of the large shopping bags she was holding and cans of food spilled out. She cursed and tried to grab as many as possible before they all rolled away. A hand tapped her shoulder and she spun around to see a young boy with dark skin and thin glasses holding out one of her cans in his hand.

"Uh, thanks." Natalie said awkwardly as she took the can from the boy. She turned away to put the cans away when the boy spoke.

"Do you need a bag for them? I can draw you one if you want?" He asked, smiling.

"Um, okay." Natalie replied, his contagious smiling placing a small smile on her face too. He grabbed a marker from his pocket and drew a large bag onto the wooden wall behind her. A small frown formed on her face. The kid might only be about 7 but the owner of the people probably would be very annoyed with a drawing of a bag on his wall. He placed a hand onto the drawing and closed his eyes as if he were focusing hard on something. To Natalie's surprise, the picture started to come to life, soon a large canvas bag was sitting at her feet, the boy smiling at her.

"Thanks!" She said, grinning. She grabbed the loose cans and threw them all in the bag, standing up straight. "I might see you around sometime. Thanks for the bag - and the can!" She turned around and started running home. She got to the front door and pulled out her keys, twisting the door and closing it quietly behind her.

"Mom, I'm home?" She called quietly into the house, but there was no reply. "Mom?" She placed the bags down in the small kitchen and walked into one of the bedrooms to see her mom and younger sister, Samantha sleeping. She sighed in relief and moved back to the kitchen to prepare something for dinner. By the time her sister woke up she was nearly finished cooking a meal just large enough to feed them all. The family was quite poor, vastly different from when their father had been around but they still made do with what they had, Natalie having a job to pay for the families necessities. Natalie and Samantha's mother was constantly ill and couldn't work a job so Natalie worked as much as possible so her sister could grow up healthy and hopefully she could buy some medication for her mother every once in a while.

"Hey Sam." She greeted, her younger sister grabbing a glass and filling it with water from the tub which was filled daily.

"Is food ready?" She asked, her bright green eyes shining with hope. Hope for something more than the cold canned meals they had almost every night.

"Yeah, do you want to go wake up mom? Nicely." Sam nodded and ran off to the bedroom. At age 14 Natalie understood a lot more than Samantha about their situation, even though her sister understood the necessity to be nice to their mom and that there was a lack of food. She didn't understand why though and she knew that their father was dead, but not who he was, something neither Natalier nor her mother was willing to tell Samantha. Samantha had only been 4 and Natalie 10 when their dad had died, and that's when her mom started getting sick. The constant fevers and colds almost condemned her to being permanently in bed, only leaving for meals. Dishing out for meals was always difficult. Who needs most, who can take having the least food for the longest were all factors in Natalie's decision for meals. They never had enough money or food and usually Natalie almost went without at dinners. Samantha got the largest bowl, which was never very big, closely followed by their mother and then Natalie got whatever was leftover. Her sister was growing, and her mom needed her strength.

"Natalie, I need to speak with you girls about something." Her mother's weak but stern voice said, closely followed by her mother and Samantha entering the room.

"Sure mom. You can talk to us about anything." Natalie said whilst carrying two of the bowls to the table, the third staying on the bench. Because they only had a small dining room, they could only have two people sitting at the table at once. The other person would always have to stand at the bench, and that person was always either Natalie or Samantha. She went back to her bowl and started eating the pasta, the others slurping theirs up, grateful to not have canned food for once.

"This is really nice, Natalie! Nice job." Her mom told her, looking at her proudly.

"Thanks, I tried." She replied, looking sadly at the others empty bowls. "Sorry there's no more, I saved half for another time."

"It's all right." Her mom said. "Now, what I wanted to talk to you about. Before your father... passed on, he left something for each of you. I don't know how he did this, so don't ask me." She pulled out two boxes, one with a large S on the top and the other with a large N on top. She handed them out to the respective girls. They each opened it to see a ring shining up at them.

"They will alter themselves to fit your finger should your finger size change. And they both contain some of your father's power inside."

"Sooo... when we wear them, will we be able to use dad's power? As well as our own?" Natalie asked in awe. She hadn't seen something this expensive since her father was alive.

"Yes. He wanted you girls to have these. Natalie yours is in reference to your power but Samantha, yours is not because at the time your father didn't know what your power was. You were too young. I hope you use them well. She stood up abruptly and hurried back to her room. Natalie pulled the ring out of the box and examined it. David Artino's work, although it had been made so that it was black. It had cat ears shaped at the top of it and bright green eyes shining beneath them. She slid the ring onto her right middle finger and felt a burst of power shoot through her. She stepped back in shock before regaining her posture. So now she had some of her father's power. Sweet.

"Is everything alright Sam?" Her sister was just staring in the box, the rose gold ring inside embedded with a small S and crystals.

"Who was dad? Why does mom never talk about him?" She asked, looking sad. Natalie cringed, wishing the conversation hadn't gone in this direction.

"You know I don't like to talk about this, Sam. It's a rather difficult conversation to have." She explained awkwardly.

"Why!?" She yelled. "You and mom know, why can't I!?" It was a fair argument. Why was she hiding this from her, Natalie wondered. To protect her, a small voice argued.

"Sam, it's for your own protection. Trust me when I say you don't want to know. Dad... people don't think dad was a good person. He had his reasons for doing what he did, but people didn't see things like he did. He was killed. And that's all I'm saying. Don't ask mom about him. You know it stresses her out. And do me favor, don't tell her I'm going out again tonight. Even though she was a bit better tonight, I want to see if I can get her some medication." She nodded, even though Natalie knew she wasn't satisfied by her answer. "Promise you won't tell?"

"Yes Natalie!" She said, scooping the ring out of her box and putting it on her finger.

"Do you want to practice the power with me tomorrow? We can go to the park so we don't break anything in here." Samantha nodded and padded back down the hallway to the room she shared with their mom. Natalie turned the small stove back on a made a cup of coffee from their small provisions. By the time she finished drinking it, her mom would be asleep and maybe Samantha would be too.

"Natalie?" Her mother called from the bedroom and she set down her coffee, heading to see what her mom wanted.

"Yeah, mom?" She walked into the room to see both Samantha and her mother curled up together on the bed. She couldn't help smiling at the sight until her mom coughed and she sobered from her mood. This house wasn't happy. It rarely was, with Natalie's mom, Sara Walter always sick. She had never taken her husbands name, in fear of being persecuted from it.

"Could you sing please? I can't sleep." She looked worried. She always slept easily - and for a long time.

"Of course." Natalie sat at the end of the bed, careful to not sit on anyone's toes. And she sang. One of Natalie's favorite pastimes was singing - and she was good at it. The perfectly tuned melody drifted through the room and soon both Samantha and Sara were asleep. Natalie sighed and went back to the kitchen, quickly finishing her almost cold coffee. She quickly changed into her black leggings and dark grey t-shirt along with a black zip up jacket. She slipped on her boots and shoved her keys into her pocket. After pulling her long, black hair into a braid, she pulled up her hood and left the house, locking it behind her to protect the sleeping occupants. She slipped into a dark alleyway and felt her power rush through her. Soon, her limbs had morphed into those of a black alley cat. Her green eyes were the only part of her that stood out from the darkness. She began to run through the streets, hoping the night would be a successful one.