Chapter 7 The Twin Brothers

It was a lovely spring morning, there was a chilly drizzle of rain, the sky appeared a heavy shade of mottled gray, the sparrows chirp and chorus, and the air was muggy and oppressive. Joy was waking up in her soft single-bed; she turned off the alarm and sprang out bed. As she walked through the hall, she saw her father was making breakfast for her in the kitchen.

She was suddenly awakening from her sweet dream with a start when Baby was playing with her right feet with his hind paw. It took her a few minutes to recover consciousness. She saw Sunshine was lying near her feet with Happy in her arms. She sneaked up so that she wouldn’t wake up Sunshine.

It was a medial size cave, the scenery was so fantastic that Joy felt she was in an Alice-in-Wonderland world. Outside the cave month the blackness of night was like a curtain, but inside the cave was bright as daylight, the light was coming from everywhere or nowhere.

A sound of water dropping broke in, she tried to spot where the water was coming from and saw that there were splendid stalactites, stalagmites, tone curtains filled up the roof, glowing as colorful pictures. But the cave walls were pretty clear without any decorated images, except a totem of the White Tiger. There was a small green field in the middle of the cave with a fixed boulder shaped like a galloping horse.

Joy came close to examine the Totem, which was carved deeply into the stone wall. The tiger was white as snow; she could not glance directly at it because it looked like a real tiger was raring at her. She shivered violently and shaded her eyes with her hands.

"Where are we?" Sunshine woke up.

"West, look at the totem over here." Joy pointed to the totem.

Sunshine struggled to sit up and turned her head to look at the Totem. Then she looked down to check the injury on Happy’s foot, it was healing fast. The forest was really a magic place where the animals could self-recovery with wound.

Joy only met Sunshine since she entered the forest, while she was wondering where the others would be, she heard voices spreading from the entrance. As they were getting closer, it was twin brothers. On their shoulders, there were two small orioles standing on each of them. They were alike in appearance, easy on the eye, fifteen or sixteen, and now both of them were waving at her.

"Hello, there." One of them was diplomatic.

They were several inches taller than Joy, lanky and erect, healthy skin, with impeccable manners. They had a squared forehead, slightly raised eyebrows, big-size dark black eyes with double-fold eyelids, a sharp nose, a moderate red lip and weak chin.

Joy thought about that they must be very popular in high school if they were playing any sports.

"You guys must be here for the grains too."His eyes darted around the cave, looking for something.

"I am Benson Guan and she is Star, it’s good to see you."

The brave one introduced himself and the oriole on his side. His hair was dark brown short cut; he was smiling with his eyebrows stretch happily like an exclamation point. The white shirt on his upper body was slightly wet, his flushed face perfectly matched his faded jeans.

"Dylan Guan, she is Moon."

Benson was going to introduce his brother while his brother next to him forestalled him. Dylan’s ears were turning to red as speaking, and his deep black hair was cut close on the sides and curled on the top. He wore a red T-shirt and frosted jeans, highlighting his slender. His eyebrows wrinkled tightly from time to time, forming like a question mark.

After they performed the introduction to each other, the two brothers were staring at Sunshine with a sparkle of excitement in their eyes. To a Sharman teenager, Sunshine was the beautiful superstar among them and nobody could resist the opportunity to meet a real live celebrity. Sunshine looked a bit embarrassed under their steady gaze; she blushed with shame and dropped her head.

"Guys, stop it, you are making Sunshine feel uncomfortable."

"Sorry." Both of them exclaimed simultaneously.

"You are legendary. Can I ask a question?" Benson was begging as the older brother.

"What?" Sunshine was nodding her head.

"Have you ever wanted to practice your power?"

"A few times, but I refrained myself, I know how humans are capable of, and they will be unstoppable if they find out the Habitat exists."

"Cool."

"Wait a minute, are you two the guys got punished because of practicing power in front of a bunch of citizens." Joy made no attempt to disguise her surprise.

"How would you know?" Benson was embarrassed.

"It is a small world, animals talk, rumors travel fast…"Joy was curious."What is the story?" 

"It is a long story, maybe another time. How long have you been here? Have you found the clue yet?" Dylan was breaking in.

"We just got here two minutes earlier than you guys, I haven’t started searching yet."Joy answered.

"How is that possible? We did not see you in the entrance." Asked Dylan.

"I have no idea, one second we are at the Eastern Mansion getting the rice, but next second we are here."

"You have been to the Eastern Mansion already?" Benson questioned anxiously.

Joy and sunshine nodded their head lightly in agreement, Benson waited for them to say something, but they didn't. He sighed in relief and asked.

"Do you mean if you obtained one kind of the grains, you can go directly to the next location?"

"Maybe."

"Enough chit-chat, we need to find the grains now."

When they were immersing in the conversation, Happy and Baby were playing chasing and catching game with the orioles. Baby was almost having the poor little thing until Joy stopped him.

The Four scattered around to search for the clues, although the cave was a masterpieces created by mother nature, but the totem was the only item which worth digging in according to their searching mission.

"How did you find the grain when you were in the East?"Benson first spoke.

"Thanks to Baby, he accidentally bumped into the opening key."

"Baby, would you like to try again, I think it will impress Happy, your success will speak for itself."

Baby was still mad at her, but he was quivering his wings and rushing dissatisfied to the totem, as the four of them waited, breathless for the result.

Sadly, there was nothing there.

"Unfortunately, it never, ever woks out this neatly, we all know this." Said Dylan, seemingly from out of nowhere.

It was hard to distinguish the twin brothers, but they differed greatly in disposition. Dylan was the younger brother, a little quiet and steady, but Benson was chatter. If you did not know better, you may thought that Dylan was the older one.

Dylan was starting to practice power against the totem, which was also futile. After several attempt they decided to take a break. Sunshine ranged far and winded in search of inspiration, Benson went down on his knees of a moment's inattention, and he prayed for guidance in a comically exaggerated way out of the blue.

"God, please help us."

Unexpectedly, the totem flashed out of image, It was appeared by the most unlikely way imaginable.

"Oh my God, Dylan, look!" Benson was yelling happily.

They all were watching at the image, and the other three burst out laughing. They laughed their heads off bend forward, and Joy even laugh tears started to flow down.

The image happened when Benson didn’t intend. He touched his head and laughed with embarrassment. He was about to get up, Dylan stopped him.

"Benson, don't get up just yet, we’ll finish reading it right away. Thank you."

"Okay, very well, would you please hurry up? I look ridiculous."

"Benson, you look smart and sharp."Joy tried to comfort him while Sunshine was reading the words.