CHAPTER 3: DISCOVERIES; BETRAYED

"What were you guys talking about?" Jane asked.

Sam looked at John. John looked back at Sam who made an expression that said.

"It wouldn't hurt if she knew".

John raised an eyebrow.

"Okay" said Jane.

"It seems like you guys are using coded language and I want to know what you are talking about" Jane said.

"Serious Anderson business" Sam said.

"Sam, you don't keep secrets from me" Jane said in such a way that Sam's heart began to break.

"Okay, meet me at our secret place this afternoon right after school" Sam said.

She smiled and went to class.

Sam's body began to behave quite strangely that afternoon. He felt hot and cold, sick and yet strangely strong. His heart was beating faster than usual but not because of Jane. It was because of the constellation from his dream. Sam was already at their secret place waiting. Jane soon arrived. Sam gave her a rose which she smelled and smiled at.

"What did you want to tell me?" Jane asked eagerly.

"Jane, it's really difficult. I-I don't know where to start. I don't even know if you will believe me" Sam said looking at the ground.

Jane raised his head so that they were eye to eye.

"Tell me Sam, please" she said.

Sam looked into her eyes for quite some time before saying

"Two years ago, an evil witch was resurrected. I dreamt of her resurrection and so did my cousins and sister. You see, my ancestors burnt her at the stake for witchcraft and she cursed us saying she would destroy the last of the Andersons which is us. She kidnapped my sister" Sam said but was interrupted by Jane.

"I'm sorry" she said.

"Actually, it helped. We tracked her down and ended up in a horrible world where we battled a lot of demons and rescued my sister and cousin. She caught all of us but couldn't touch me. I was thrown into a cage and hanged over a never ending abyss but I managed to escape, saved my family, defeated her and together with my cousins, we saved the world" Sam concluded. "That experience began with a dream. It so happens that yesterday night, I had another nightmare of the constellation. It reawakened the Ancient Dinosaurs which began to destroy the world" Sam said. "But that's not all, we the Andersons, had the same dream" Sam concluded.

Sam waited for Jane's reaction but whatever it was he most certainly didn't expect it. Jane slapped him.

"Ow!" he exclaimed in shock.

"What did I say wrong?" he asked.

"Everything" she said flatly. "You must think I am the most stupid, dumb girl in the whole world" she said.

"No, no, no" Sam said.

"How could you make up such a tale?" Jane asked angrily. "You know, you're really confusing me. Sometimes you are this caring boy who is willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of others but at other times, you're just a pathetic liar" Jane said.

"No Jane, everything I've told you is true" Sam said heartbroken.

"Ask John" Sam said.

"He will lie to save your skin" Jane said as she quickly began to walk away from Sam.

"Ask my cousins" Sam said.

"Family of liars" Jane replied angrily.

"Girls" Sam sighed deeply, hurt.

Sam would have given anything to think of that experience as a bad dream but he was reminded every time that it was real. Sam thought of the day as he tucked himself in bed. Soon, he drifted into sleep. He had the same Nightmare but this time, the voice added.

"Release the constellation, make right the wrong" and then Sam woke up that morning.

Down the stairs he climbed and straight to the telephone. He dialed George's number.

"Hello George, you've got to come back to York. I'm calling an Anderson Emergency Meeting!"

At school, things were really bad. Jane was even nastier to Sam than she had ever been. She seldom talked to him and when she did, it was like they had hated each other for a very long time but it wasn't easy seeing Jane and Dave together!

Sam walked to Jane.

"Jane, we need to talk" he said.

"No, we don't" she replied coldly.

"Jane please" Sam said.

"Leave me alone!" she shouted.

Jane walked away leaving Sam looking very stupid indeed. Sam walked back to John.

"You're right" he said. "I should forget her" Sam said.

"It's no use revealing your secret life to someone like that" John said.

"You wouldn't believe it but I actually did" Sam said.

"What?" John said in shock.

"I told her everything except the part about us being the Guardians of this world" Sam said.

"Phew" breathed John in relief.

"And that's why she's angry with me, because she thinks I'm a liar and because she didn't believe me" Sam said.

"You can't expect her to understand your complex secret life" John said.

"Hey Sam, do you know what Superheroes get as payment for all their hard work?" John joked.

"Lemme guess, heartache right?" said Sam with a raised eyebrow.

"How did you know?" John asked in disappointment.

"You can't be the only one looking out for movie jokes when I'm the one experiencing them at a personal level" said Sam.

Then Sam suddenly changed the subject.

"George and Nancy are coming back this weekend" he said. "We've got to get together to discuss the constellation" Sam said. "Meanwhile, let's check out the library, we may find something".

In the library, they checked all the history books, books about fossils, ancient dinosaurs but they found nothing until Sam saw something, something he had seen before two years ago at the corner of the library. At the corner of the library sat a shelf and on the shelf sat a book, a big red book. Sam was magnetically drawn to it. He walked to the shelf and picked up the book. On it was a picture of Tarantella tied to the stake. He turned to the next page and what he saw made him call out to John.

Sam and John peered into the page.

Meanwhile, Jane had just walked into the library with Kristy. They saw Sam and John at the corner. John who was gifted with the sharp eye saw them.

"The bombshell has arrived" he whispered to Sam.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of that" Sam said.

"Hey shrimp" Jane called rudely.

"Ignore her for the time being" John said. "Check out this cool inscription.

"When Day turns to Night,

When the Constellation fills the Sky,

A Tyrannic Army shall arise

And Conquer the World

After being bound

For three thousand years".

"Hey shrimp!" Jane called again.

"Ignore her" Sam said to himself and checked out the inscription describing the constellation.

To make a long story short, the next page said,

"Out of the ashes of the Meteor Rock

A Dragon shall arise

Only with the help of the chosen one

Shall the Second Constellation fill the Skies

The evil bound and Earth released".

"That's it" Sam said.

"Hey shrimp!" Jane called.

"Time to go" Sam said and began to walk out with John.

"The shrimp freak" teased Jane and that was all Sam could take.

He stopped walking, turned and faced her.

"I did nothing wrong to deserve this kind of treatment. What I told you was the truth. If you don't believe me that's your cup of tea" Sam said almost getting emotional.

"You're nothing but a liar. You always were" Jane said.

"Maybe I was, maybe I wasn't but that is for you to find out" Sam said. "You never gave me a chance to explain…" Sam was saying when Jane cut him off.

"You didn't deserve a chance" Jane said.

"Okay but…when day turns to night, when the constellation fills the sky. You will see the truth for yourself but it will be too late for Samuel Anderson will probably die, you never know Jane and that is why it is better not to do anything that you will regret later" said Sam. "Goodbye" and with that Sam walked away.

"Wow that was spooky, cool but very spooky" John said.

Jane looked at Sam worriedly. She just knew that something was wrong. This wasn't Sam.

"Sam doesn't act that weird" she thought.

Somehow she just had to find out what was wrong with Sam. Sam looked pale as though under stress. Sam was quieter at school and strange, very strange. He never said anything, answered no questions and played no games. This was one side of Sam that Jane had never seen before.

"Hi Sam" Mr Anderson greeted when Sam arrived home.

"Hi Dad, what's up?" Sam asked.

"Someone is looking for you" his father said.

"Who could it be?" Sam asked.

"Let me give you a hint, there are two of them, a boy and a girl" Mr Anderson said giving him a clue.

"Could it be Jane and Dave?" Sam wondered.

"Who are they?" Sam asked.

"It's us" a male voice answered from behind him.

The pair were cloaked by the shadows but Sam could clearly make out the outline of a boy and girl. Slowly, the pair stepped out from under the shadows.

"George?! Nancy?!" Sam exclaimed in excitement.

"Bet you didn't expect us so soon" George said.

"Where are Lucy and John? I thought I told them to meet me here this afternoon" Sam said.

"Very funny" said a feminine voice as Lucy came down the stairs. "I live here in case you've forgotten Sam" she said,

"Now it's just left with John" Sam said.

"Didn't think I'd miss an important meeting such as this did you?" John said and walked in through the door.

"Wow! The whole team is here" George said, very excited.

"Bet you didn't think we'd all be together again so soon did you?" Sam said.

"Back together again, the Anderson team" John said excitedly.

"Now all that's left is for the action to begin" said John.

"Yeah, speaking of the action, does anyone know what it's about?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah, John and I have been doing some research on that and we suspect it's going to come on tomorrow" Sam said.

"So why don't we go to the beach and have some fun, you know refresh ourselves, talk Anderson business before this adventure comes on" Sam said.

"Since when did you develop a sense of fun?" Nancy asked.

"Even before Tarantella" Sam said with a nervous laugh and everyone burst out laughing.