No sooner were we on the road and driving away from the house. Mrs. Sanders was in the driver's seat. She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel as she drove. Nigel was sitting in the passenger seat. He kept to himself and played with the zipper on his jacket. My sister and I sat in the back. We could not sit next to each other because somebody wanted to sit in the middle.

"I am Karla. It is nice to meet you two," the girl named Karla said. "I have not seen people in the flesh for quite awhile."

I raised an eyebrow as she said that. What did she mean by that? That she had not seen people in the flesh?

I was hoping that Gretel would catch on about that, but she just introduced us.

"My name is Gretel. The boy who is to your right is my twin. His name is Hansel."

"Ah. So your parents named you after fairytale characters or something?" Karla asked.

"Yeah. But that was when they actually cared about us."

"I am sorry to hear that." Karla brushed back a strand of her hair that escaped from her long ponytail. "I used to have parents. They loved me and put my needs first before theirs."

"Used to have?" I repeated. "What happened to your parents?" I noticed Gretel giving me an angry look. We obviously knew what happened.

She sniffed and tried holding back tears. "They...were killed. They were killed by a shadow. The king of the evil shadows."

Gretel and I looked at each other. We were confused. Did she mean a shadowy figure of a human?

"Okay!" Mrs. Sanders cut in. "That is enough talk. We are almost to our destination."

Karla let out a small gasp and said, "But it is all behind me now. The person who killed my parents got what he deserved, and I am happy that Laura - I mean, Mom - adopted me as soon as she found out about me." She leaned forward in her seat. "Nigel is so glad that I am his sister."

I glared at her. I had a sneaky suspicion that she was hiding something. And Mrs. Sanders also knew and wanted to keep whatever it was a secret.

How did I suspect?

I carefully listened to their voices. Karla's voice sounded nerve wrecking, and Laura's voice cracked. That is how I knew.

"Of course," Nigel finally spoke. "You are an awesome girl, and I pray that our fans will not ship you and me now. We are brother and sister."

"Hey." I too leaned forward. "If any of you are hiding a secret from me and my sister, there is no need to. We have secrets of our own."

"No. There are no secrets," Mrs. Sanders quickly replied. "And please keep your secrets to yourself. I am not in the mood, and I bet that my son and daughter are not in the mood either."

"Really. You guys will be shocked by this secret."

"Hansel..." Gretel moaned.

Mrs. Sanders roughly stopped the car, causing all five of us to leap out of our seats. Gretel and I cried out.

She turned off the engine. "We are here!" She opened her car door and got out.

"Where are we?" my twin questioned.

"I have no idea," Nigel confessed as he opened his door and hurried out of the car.

Karla shrugged. "I do see a house. It is pretty big."

Karla, Gretel, and I scrambled from the car. Everybody shut their doors.

"Mom, where the crub are we?" Nigel asked.

Mrs. Sanders slightly smiled and patted his head. "You will see, honey."

We followed Mrs. Sanders up a path and saw a house. The outside of it looked dark. Black. There were no bright colors.

We soon came up to the front door. Mrs. Sanders knocked on the door. We waited for a couple of seconds, and then the door opened.

A young-looking man stood in the doorway. He had on a black jacket and black pants. He wore a black top on his head.

"Hello," the man greeted. "I am Mr. Hawk. How may I help you?" He glanced over at Mrs. Sanders, and his eyes widened. "Laura?"

"Mitchell!" Mrs. Sanders wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

Mr. Hawk hugged her back. His cheeks turned red. "My goodness. I am surprised that you showed up. How long has it been?"

"Years." She pulled away from the hug. "I am sorry that I did not call you. I am sort of in a bad mood."

"Oh?"

"My...husband and I had a fight."

"Oh, no."

"I was wondering...if my children and I could stay here? For a bit?"

We then heard someone else.

"Mr. Hawk?"

The person stepped outside. She looked familiar.

That was because she was familiar. To me and Gretel anyway.

"Margie?" Gretel said. "It is you."

Margie was shocked to see us once again. "Hansel? Gretel?"