Circle of Lies chapter 1 Ana WE FILED OUT OF THE dorms and made our way to the auditorium for school assembly at eight thirty that morning, grumbling about having to get up so early. The sky was its usual shade of cloudless blue. All around us I could see the distant red mountains overlooking Temple Academy like stone guardians. Nothing had changed--except that the day before, my whole world had fallen apart. Thankfully, I had three friends who were doing their best to help me put it back together: Doli Hoskie, Lin Yang, and Shani Massri. When I''d first arrived at this school, I hadn''t been sure I''d ever fit in. Then I met them, and everything changed. We''re all so different from one another, but thanks to Ms.
Benitez, we found out that we have one huge thing in common: We are the direct descendants of ancient shape-shifting warriors--Wildcats--who were destined to fight the forces of evil. I know, that sounds crazy. If I hadn''t seen Doli turn into a puma, Lin become a tiger, and Shani transform into a lion--and if I hadn''t turned into a jaguar myself--I might not believe it. But after we battled the ancient Egyptian god Anubis and the Chaos Spirits he released, there was no denying the truth. Anyway, I''m getting ahead of myself. Last night I''d gotten a superweird call from Aunt Teppy. I was starting to suspect that something terrible had happened to her and Uncle Mec, and all I wanted was my family back. "Tell me one more time what your aunt said," Doli whispered now, pulling us to the side of the entrance to the auditorium.
She was looking at me with wide, serious brown eyes, and I realized that I must have looked totally shaken. I took a deep breath. "She said that they had taken care of me for a decade and they were entitled to some alone time. That I should grow up and look after myself." My voice broke. The words were so upsetting, so unlike my loving aunt, it was still hard to repeat them without crying. "Harsh," Shani said sympathetically, touching my shoulder. "And then she said that they were in Cancún and not to come looking for them?" I nodded, feeling a lump forming in my throat.
Aunt Teppy and Uncle Mec had always assured me that adopting me after my parents had died had been the best decision they''d ever made. Thinking--for even a moment--that I''d been nothing but a burden to them broke my heart. My only hope was that someone, or something, had forced her to say it--though the thought of my family in danger scared me even more. "Anubis is behind this; I know it. Aunt Teppy was lying because she had to, or was made to," I said, then added softly, "She had to be." Anubis, the ancient Egyptian god of the afterlife, was the head of the Brotherhood of Chaos. A collaboration between different ancient civilizations, the Brotherhood had one goal: to cause chaos, both in the ancient world and, now that Anubis was reviving the Brotherhood, in our world. Our role as Wildcats was to defeat him.
Unfortunately, he was a very powerful enemy. Shani pulled out her phone and started typing and clicking. "Well," she said after a moment, "maybe she was lying about the whole alone-time thing, but they really were on a flight to Cancún two days ago." She held up her phone and showed me what looked like an airline passenger list. About a third of the way down were two very familiar names: Mecatl and Tepin Navarro. I gasped and reached for the phone, as if just holding something with their names on it would bring them closer to me. "There they are!" I shouted. But too soon my excitement faded and gave way to a cold fear that seemed to coat my skin like frost.
Yes, they had definitely been on the plane, but why? I didn''t care what my aunt had said on that call. I knew they would never get on a flight without telling me. Which meant they hadn''t had a choice. "How did you get that list?" Doli asked Shani. "How do you think?" Shani said, giving her a sly look. Doli groaned. "You hacked into the airline''s server?" Shani looked around with wide eyes at the students and teachers still streaming into the auditorium. "Gosh, Doli.
Say it a little louder, why don''t you?" "Sorry. But, Shani, you know you can''t afford to get in trouble for hacking again. Were you careful?" Shani lifted her arm and combed her hand through the patch of blue hair over her left eye. "Look, boss lady, I can either be careful or I can be fast. This time I chose fast, which I''m guessing Ana doesn''t have a problem with." "You''re right," I said, hugging her. "Thank you for doing that. You''re a good friend.
" Shani had been kicked out of some other schools--according to the rumor mill it was something like eight or nine--for hacking, among other minor cyber crimes. Principal Ferris had already warned her that if she made one more misstep, she''d be out of Temple Academy, too. It touched me that Shani, who always tried to play it cool when it came to emotional stuff, cared enough about me to take such a huge risk. Shani hugged me back for a moment and then shook me off. "All right, all right. No need to get mushy. I want to help you find your aunt and uncle, but that''s not the only reason I''m doing this. If their disappearance has anything to do with the Brotherhood of Chaos, then that affects all of us.
" Lin and Doli fell silent at the mere mention of the Brotherhood. I knew it was on their minds too. "You''re right again," I said. "Wow, twice in one day. You''re on a roll." Shani began to laugh, but when her eyes caught something behind me, her expression darkened. I turned around to see Coach Lawson approaching, staring down at the smartphone she was holding. Just as she was about to pass us, she glanced up and made eye contact with Shani.
"Miss Massri, how are you this morning?" Shani stretched her lips into a tight smile. "I''m fantastic, Coach Lawson. And yourself?" "Wonderful, actually," she said. "My sister had a baby last night, and she just posted some pictures on Facebook. Would you like to see?" Shani''s eyes lit up, and she clapped her hands together. "Would I?" As Shani took the phone from Coach Lawson and cooed over the pictures of the new baby, Lin, Doli, and I exchanged puzzled looks. I didn''t need our Wildcat telepathic powers to know we were all thinking the same thing: What the heck is going on here? Shani wasn''t exactly the warm and fuzzy type who went all gooey over pictures of puppies and babies. After a few minutes Shani handed the phone back to Coach Lawson and said, "Congratulations.
She''s adorable." Beaming, Coach Lawson took her phone back. "Thank you." Then after a brief pause, she said, "You know, Miss Massri, I''m sorry you didn''t make the tennis team this time. But with a little practice--" "Yeah, thanks," Shani said, bobbing her head up and down. "You''re so right. I''ll keep that in mind." "I hope so," she answered.
"The team could use someone with your . fire." She turned to all of us. "You''d better get to your seats, ladies. The assembly will be starting soon." The second she turned to go inside, Lin swung her incredulous gaze to Shani and said, "What in the world--" "Hold that thought," Shani interrupted, pulling out her own cell phone and pressing a series of buttons. A few seconds later Coach Lawson cried out. "Oh no! My phone just went black.
" "Weird," Shani called. "Must be some sort of power surge. That''s been happening a lot lately, since the earthquake. Try turning it off and on again!" "All right," Coach mumbled, her brows furrowed in concern. "I''ll try that." She walked away, shaking her phone as if attempting to wake it from a deep sleep. When she had gone, Doli crossed her arms and raised one eyebrow at Shani. "What?" Shani said, her smirk fading as she noticed Doli''s glare.
"You did something weird to her phone, didn''t you?" "Who, me?" Shani pointed a finger at her chest, the picture of innocence. But we all knew her too well for that now. "All right, fine. Yes, but she deserved it." "Why?" I asked. "Because she wouldn''t let you on the tennis team? Since when do you even play tennis?" "I don''t. I just figured it would be an easy PE credit. But she blew that for me, so now I have no choice but to take weight training with Coach Hyung, and I''m pretty sure he used to be some sort of drill sergeant in the marines.
For that, Coach Lawson must pay." She drummed the tips of her fingers against one another and let out an exaggerated supervillain laugh. "Mwah-ha-ha-haaa." "You know there''s another option, right?" Doli cut in, her voice sharp. "You could try to be mature and show a little good sportsmanship instead of killing the poor woman''s phone." "Yeah," Lin added, raising an eyebrow. "Or just try out again next time, like the woman said." Shani scowled.
"I could. But where''s the fun in that? Besides, I didn''t kill her phone. I simply installed a virus that''ll prevent her from using Facebook''s mobile app. Annoying, but not exactly techno-cide. Plus, she''s the one who committed an act of attempted murder first. She tried to bore me to death with pictures of that baby." Shani closed her eyes, hung her head to the side, and let her tongue.