The Candy Shop on 5th Street was the kind of place that parents were constantly telling their children to avoid. The Candy Shop had a bad reputation that preceded it. There had been many children who had gone in simply to get a chocolate bar and had never returned. It was speculated that – because of the Candy Shop owner's suspicious release schedule – that the missing children's bodies were actually cooked into the candy. Police, of course, had investigated these rumors, just like always in a small town, but had found nothing. They decided that the kids – even five year old Jenny Jeffers, whose name was quite unfortunate – had skipped town. Which led to even more speculation as to what the Candy Shop owner was paying the police. Everyone in town had at least one close relative or friend who had disappeared on 5th street. 5th street, in fact, became the most inactive, unused street in the town. It was like a ghost town over there. But, still, children continued to enter the Candy Shop, whether against their will or not, and disappear. It wasn't until a twelve-year-old girl named Marley had lost her best friend – Carolina Jones – to the Candy Shop owner's fiendish clutches that someone decided to do something about it.

Well, sort of.

"Marley," Jonathan said softly as he patted his little sister on the shoulder.

They were sitting in their favorite booth at the creatively named Diner with Jonathan's childhood friend, Emma, who was also creatively named.

"You don't understand. There's really nothing we can do," Jonathan continued as soothingly as possible.

Marley scowled and tossed her Wonder Woman comic down onto the table top. If it had been one of the hardback books she normally carried around it would've caught everyone's attention. Luckily, it was just a comic book.

"No, you don't understand, Jonathan!"

Jonathan frowned but continued patting her calmly on the shoulder. By this point it appeared as if he was soothing a hyper dog. Marley glanced down at his hand and began wildly swatting it until he stopped. Marley looked over at Emma and then back at Jonathan.

"If he took Emma you would care," Marley stated in a sad, slow voice.

Emma reached across the table to take Marley's slightly smaller hand in her own. Marley looked over at her, hoping for an answer. Emma smiled softly as she used her free hand to push her black hair back out of her face.

"We'll figure something out, Marley," Emma looked at Jonathan before continuing, "we have to."

Jonathan sighed. He ran a hand through his red hair.

"This should go well," he replied sarcastically.

Marley and Emma both frowned at him. He gave in and threw his hands in the air in the global sign of surrender.

"Alright, alright."

Marley and Emma grinned and Marley picked up her comic book again. She flipped through the pages again before turning back to Jonathan.

"We can be like Wonder Woman," she said simply.

"Yes, and Jonathan can wear a leotard," Emma agreed as she took their food from a very confused looking waitress.

"I'm not wearing a leotard."

The sternness of the seventeen-year-old's voice was marred by the fact that he had his mouth stuffed full of cheese omelet. Emma chuckled and leaned across the table to steal some of his bacon. Jonathan scowled at her.

"I told you to order some of your own," he said, gesturing at her bacon-less plate with his fork.

Emma shrugged.

"Yours is always better."

"It's because the flirty waitress likes him," Marley informed loudly.

The waitress they were talking about, a girl a year older than Jonathan who went to school with them, blushed bright red and began to study the floor as though it were the most interesting thing in the world. Jonathan resorted to slapping his sister on the shoulder. His sister responded by, in a very mature manner, sticking her tongue out at him and tossing a blueberry, which came from her pancake, at him. Jonathan's lack of coordination and interest in sports meant that he got smacked in the eye by the flying blueberry. Emma laughed, possibly a bit too forcefully, in a fruitless attempt to ignore the aching feeling in her stomach. For some reason, that has been happening a lot here lately.

"Anyways, off of the subject of the flirty waitress, how are we going to find Carolina?"

Marley sighed and flipped through her comic book.

"What are you doing?"

Marley looked at Jonathan as though that was the dumbest question he had ever asked.

"I'm looking for ideas, duh," she growled.

"Right, because we're gonna march into the Candy Shop and use that rope of hers to force him to tell us where the kids are," Jonathan responded dryly.

Marley snorted and rolled her eyes.

"That 'rope of hers'," she began as she placed her hands on her hips, despite the fact that she was sitting down, "happens to be the Golden Lasso. Thank you very much."

"We're still not using it. No matter what it's called."

Marley huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. She grabbed another blueberry off of her pancake and Jonathan, expecting to be smacked in the face again, ducked quickly. Marley smirked proudly and popped it in her mouth. Emma responded to their antics by rolling her eyes and wondering why these two siblings had been created in the first place.

"Emma, do you have any ideas?" Jonathan asked from across the table.

Emma made a hand gesture that meant 'kind of'. Jonathan leaned forward across the booth table, grinning. His Emma always had an idea of some sort.

"Alright, Em. Shoot."

Emma chuckled softly before answering.

"Well, I was thinking that we could possibly scope out the area for a little bit. See if we see anything before we act rashly."

"Or we could just attack him, tie him to a chair, and violently interrogate him," Marley said with a small, maniacal, smile.

Emma stared at her for a moment.

"You've been watching Dateline again, haven't you?" Emma asked.

Marley sighed, "I haven't slept in two nights."

Emma, once again, rolled her eyes. She didn't think she would ever stop rolling them for as long as Jonathan and Marley existed.

"Okay," Jonathan said slowly, "so we're not gonna do... that."

He couldn't seem to come up with a word that described Marley's plan and simply settled for a worried and disgusted tone. Jonathan leaned back against the booth's bench, which he was sharing with Marley (Emma absolutely refused to share a seat with either one of them because, in her own words, they were 'hooligans'), and crossed his arms over his chest again. He sighed again and made direct eye contact with Emma.

"Alright, so I guess we'll just follow Emma's plan. It seems like it's the best," he glanced at Marley, "don't you think so?"

Marley shrugged.

"I guess," she said, "I just want to get Carolina back."

Marley had recently lost two friends. Carolina had recently gone missing. The entire town suspected that she was the Candy Shop Owner's newest victim. Her other friend, Atlas, had moved away only a few months ago. Jonathan gave her a quick, one armed hug before saying:

"I know you do. It must be hard for you to find someone who's willing to put up with you."

Marley responded by punching him in the gut. Jonathan groaned and bent over slightly, clutching his stomach. Marley grinned and took this as an opportunity to swipe the rest of his cheese omelet while tossing his bacon onto Emma's plate. Emma accepted it gratefully. It was bacon, after all. Jonathan glared at Emma as he tried to get his breath back.

"Traitor," he managed to choke out.

"It's bacon," she said with a shrug, as though this pardoned her of her crimes.

He covered Marley's eyes with one hand and made a rude hand gesture with the other. Emma took a page from Marley's book and answered by sticking her tongue out at him. He rolled his eyes, which was basically Emma's signature move at this point, and uncovered Marley's eyes.

"Anyways, so we're all in agreement?" Emma asked.

Jonathan and Marley nodded.

"Alright, so when will we start investigating?"

Marley glanced at the nonexistent watch on her wrist, then she looked at Jonathan. They stared at each other for a moment before answering simultaneously.

"In about five minutes."