Chapter 1

“Alright, class, let’s all stick together. And no touching the artwork!” Mrs. Walker, the Fine Arts teacher, reminded them firmly.

Lucien Vintera suppressed a chuckle as his twin brother, Romi, rolled his violet-colored eyes at him. Romi was a mirror image of Lucien, with the same colored eyes, long black hair pulled back at the nape, and imposing height of six-foot-five. That was where their similarities ended, though.

Romi was much more outgoing and always seemed to feel easy amongst a crowd, whether it was strangers or friends. He played sports, dressed in the latest fashion, and was determined to become a member of the elite Royal Guard, of which their father was the Captain. Lucien was pretty certain that his twin dreamed of becoming the Captain of the Royal Guard some day, following in their fathers’ footsteps.

Being almost the exact opposite of his identical twin, Lucien preferred black t-shirts and jeans, rarely played sports, and was definitely not interested in becoming a Royal Guard. He hoped to someday be a successful artist, like their mother, and was constantly sketching, drawing, or painting something.

“Does she not realize that when you tell teenagers not to do something, they’re actually more likely to do it?” Mick Forrester, a good friend of theirs, asked quietly.

Grinning, Lucien shook his head in amusement as the group came to a halt inside the first gallery room. Their class was on a field trip to Ansalucia’s National Gallery of Art. Since Lucien’s greatest passion was art and his family used to live in Madria, the capital of Ansalucia and the city where the Gallery was located, he had visited the impressive art collection often in order to admire some of his favorite pieces.

Pulling his gaze away from the Baroque-period paintings, Lucien looked around at his classmates, many of whom were his friends. He and Romi had transferred a couple of months before from Madria to the small village of San Lucia where their father had relocated the family. Mick, who was of average height with a muscular build and thick brown hair with streaks of blond in it, had been the one to show him and Romi around the high school on their first day.

Mick had been really cool about introducing them to a group of his friends that he tended to hang out with a lot. Looking around the room, Lucien saw Dominic and Denise Phillips, siblings that were constantly bickering good-naturedly with each other. He also spotted Peter Lawson, who was as serious about art as Lucien was, explaining a Rembrandt painting to Sylvie Benson.

Realizing he didn’t see his best friend, Leyla Richards, amongst the group of students, Lucien wondered where the petite blond had wandered off to. Leyla, who was Mick’s cousin, was a year younger than the rest of the class, having skipped a grade because of her academic abilities.

Lucien and Leyla hit it off the very first day they’d met, quickly becoming good friends. She was originally from northern England, but had moved with her mother to Ansalucia when she was ten. Whenever she became nervous, annoyed, or excited about something, her British accent became even more distinct. This sometimes caused him to laugh, which would exasperate her, but Leyla could never stay annoyed with him for long because she was too easy-going. What was really cool was that they had worked together recently to solve a mystery, which led them to thwart an assassination attempt on the President of Spain.

A hand on his arm interrupted his wayward musings and he looked to see Monique Farquay standing there, smiling up at him. Suppressing a groan, he asked politely, “What is it, Monique?”

“I was wondering if you could explain one of the art pieces to me,” she whispered coyly and actually batted her eyelashes at him.

Sighing in resignation, he allowed the willowy brunette to drag him over to one of the paintings, wondering why she still persisted on trying to get a date with him. He wasn’t sure how much clearer he had to be for her to understand that he was not interested in her. Monique was rude and obnoxious to his friends and he had no desire to date someone with that kind of character.

After explaining what the artist was trying to portray in the painting (which, incidentally, turned out to be a self-portrait of the artist – not much to explain there), he turned away but was stopped as she caught his arm again and cooed softly, “You are so intelligent, Lucien. I feel like I always come away knowing so much more after you explain something to me.”

Not knowing quite how to respond to Monique’s exaggerated flattery, he was saved from his predicament by someone tugging on his other shirt sleeve. He was very relieved to hear his friend’s familiar British accent softly urging, “Lucien, you’ve got to check this out!”

Looking at Leyla, Lucien saw the excited grin on her face and wondered what she was up to. Wishing Monique would let go of his arm, he lowered his voice so he wouldn’t interrupt Mrs. Walker’s lecture and asked curiously, “Where’ve you been? You’ve missed half the lecture already.”

Rolling her sapphire eyes, she was about to answer when Monique interrupted and stated rudely, “Scram, Leyla! Lucien and I are busy studying art together.”

Frowning at Monique, he stated curtly, “I’ve already explained the painting, Monique. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I want to see what my friend needs.”

Monique’s mouth dropped as he removed his arm from her grip and turned to follow Leyla. Walking behind her, he couldn’t help but notice how much taller he was compared to her, but then he had to remember that he towered over most people. Once they were far enough away that Monique couldn’t hear, Leyla turned to him and asked curiously, “What was that all about?”

“The usual; she wanted a date and I didn’t,” he answered with a shrug. “So, what was so important that you bailed on the beginning of the tour?”

Grinning, she handed him a sleek looking pamphlet and whispered excitedly, “Here, read this!”

Thinking that his friend was a little strange sometimes, he obliged her and opened the pamphlet. Seeing photographs of some art pieces, Lucien peered more closely and uttered, “Wow, this is the Dutch artist I was telling you about last week that did all of those cool seascapes! Where did you get this?”

Leyla smiled mischievously and replied, “Well, while everyone else was making their way into this room, I slipped over to the information desk and asked about any special exhibits that were being presented today. They gave me this pamphlet. Apparently, a private citizen owns several of these pieces and has loaned them to the Gallery. According to the lady behind the information desk, if the artwork receives enough interest from the general public, then the Gallery may put in a bid to buy them. Is that cool, or what? As soon as I saw it was that artist you were telling me about, I just had to show you!”

“Leyla, this is sweet! We need to go check it out. As soon as you see the real paintings, you’ll know exactly what I was trying to explain to you. Especially about how he captured the moonlight on the water and such,” Lucien explained enthusiastically.

“Welll, I was thinking that we could sneak over to the exhibit and look at it now, while the rest of the class is busy being bored. Besides, you’ve seen all of this stuff before and you can just fill me in later. What do you say?” she asked eagerly, her sapphire eyes twinkling.

Looking around to see if anyone had heard her, he leaned closer to her and whispered, “You are actually willing to risk getting in trouble with a teacher in order to look at some dead artists’ paintings?”

Leyla blushed slightly and whispered, “I know that I’m not quite the risk taker that you are, but I’m getting better. Are you interested?”

“How can I refuse when you’re actually chomping at the bit to break some rules?” he teased.

“Very funny, Lucien!” she retorted with a grin. “Come on, let’s get one of the others to cover for us and we’ll go check this out.”

He put his hand on her shoulder and suggested, “I’ve got a better idea. Let me ask Mrs. Walker if I can go to the bathroom and then you leave a couple of minutes later. That way, if she notices us missing, we can say we got lost or something.” Leyla nodded in agreement and he left to go find the teacher.

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