THE TERRIBLE NEWS

Marty and Grace O'Hara were twins, but you wouldn't know if you saw them together. Marty had brown hair, eyes the color rain clouds and was foot taller than his sister. Grace had black hair, startling blue eyes the colour of robins' eggs, and she was foot smarter than her brother.

The O'Hara twins at the Omega Opportunity Preparatory School in Switzerland. when they received the worst news of their lives.

Marty was illustrating a comic book with his best friend and room mate, Luther Smyth, when his art instructor, Mr Umber, tapped him on the shoulder and said, "You are wanted in the headmaster's office. Again"

Marty shrugged He was sent to Dr Bartholomew Beasel's office at least once a week (sometimes of three times for various infractions of the rules of which there were many). The only thing that surprised him was that this time Luther wasn't being summoned

as well. (They were usually punished together, which saved the headmaster a great deal of time and effort.)

"Give my regards to Dr Weasel," Luther said. "I will," Marty assured him.

As always, Marty took his time getting to the office. He chatted with friends, went to the bathroom to muss his hair and pull his shirt tail out (this drove the headmaster wild), and stopped in the kitchen to tell the chef he would be by later to help her roll out the dough for the cheese biscuits. When he finally arrived at the office, he was shocked to find his sister, Grace, sitting on one of the uncomfortable chairs out side the headmaster's door.

"What are you doing here?" Little Grace never broke the rules.

Grace stared at him mutely with an expression he hadn't seen on her face in a very long time. It worried him. "When we get inside," he said, "you'd better let me do the talking."

Grace started to respond, but was interrupted by the massive door swinging open, and the tall, skeletal Dr Bartholomew Beasel beckoning them into his inner sanctum. Seated around his long conference table were the school's nurse, counsellor, chaplain, their two dormitory supervisors, and three teachers who had known the twins since they began attending the school seven years before.