"What is this invention?" Olivia asked, getting caught up in everything around her. She tried to snap herself out of thinking Amanda was actually a good person, but the invention in front of her was an office tower with a chair and desk in each little bubble. She had never seen anything as magnificent as it before.
"All offices in the United States of America will have this invention. It will save them lots of room and lots of time."
"Wow, that is amazing. Do you think I can have just one portion for when I work on my inventions?" Olivia asked kindly, still trying to play along with her cover.
Part of Olivia wasn't lying when she said she wanted one portion of the office tower for working on her inventions. Somewhere inside, Olivia felt like Aunt Amanda wasn't bad after all, like Mr. Walters had said before. Even if Aunt Amanda was evil, Olivia felt like she could still change over time, no matter what she had done in the past. She even started to think her mom should forgive Aunt Amanda for what she had done in their childhood.
"Olivia? Olivia?" Aunt Amanda called, waving her perfectly manicured hand in front of Olivia's face to get her attention.
"Oh, sorry about that. I guess I got a little too amazed by all of your inventions," Olivia said, shaking her head to get out of the trance she was in.
"Thank you!" Amanda said. "And sure, we can make one extra portion of the office tower for you to take home and work on inventions with."
Amanda was finally winning over Olivia.
Chapter Eighteen
A Shocking Discovery
Olivia and Aunt Amanda were working on the invention. They had already accomplished four office bubbles stacked on top of each other and even the one for Olivia.
"Olivia, can you get me the pliers with the red handles over there on the right corner of my desk please?" Aunt Amanda asked Olivia nicely, pointing to the wooden desk across the room.
"Sure, I guess so," Olivia answered, starting to walk over toward the desk.
When Olivia got to the desk, she saw a silver necklace sparkling in the light of a lantern. The necklace was a star that was broken in half and had the word "Sisters" carved into it. Olivia took a step away from the necklace, and she had a flashback to when the nice lady at the mall handed her the flyer to Abura and how she mentioned the waterfall. All of a sudden, the flashback stopped.
Olivia gasped and then whispered to herself, "That lady at the mall was Aunt Amanda! She was luring me here this whole time? Does she have my parents and Max?"
Olivia quickly grabbed the pliers and rushed over to Aunt Amanda, hoping she didn't suspect anything suspicious.
"What took so long? Are you feeling all right?" Aunt Amanda asked with fake sweetness.
"I just got dizzy and my stomach is starting to hurt. Can I use your bathroom?" Olivia said, trying to buy herself time to look for her parents.
"Sure thing. Just go straight down the hall and make a right at the end of it," Aunt Amanda answered.
"Thank you," Olivia said, putting her hands over her stomach and rushing toward the hallway.
As Olivia was leaving the room, she saw Aunt Amanda shake her head and stick out her tongue in disgust. "Sounds like that toilet is going to need some serious cleaning," she said.
Olivia still knew that she couldn't take too long to find her parents before Aunt Amanda started to suspect something. And that wasn't going to be easy since Olivia didn't know her way around her aunt's laboratory.
Chapter Nineteen
A Close Call
Olivia got to the end of the hall and saw a banner with Aunt Amanda's company logo on it. The logo was written in red, black, and green coloring. The banner began at the gray shag flooring and reached to what seemed like door height.
Then Olivia stretched out her arm and pulled the silky smooth banner out of the way. She couldn't believe her eyes.
"Wow," Olivia whispered to herself, her eyes widening in disbelief.
Behind the banner was a passageway. At least it seemed like a passageway, but the only thing was there was a pass code to get in.
"What is the pass code? It could be anything," Olivia said, tapping her foot on the carpet gently while biting her fingernail and trying not to make much noise.
All of a sudden, she heard footsteps coming her way. Olivia quickly put the banner back in place and headed across the hall for the bathroom. She gently closed the door, not even making a peep. Olivia ducked down and looked underneath the bathroom door through the little crack.
Aunt Amanda came to the end of the hallway and bent down to inspect something. Olivia realized it was her footprint dented in the plush carpet. Aunt Amanda scowled. Olivia covered her mouth and crawled back away from the door as Aunt Amanda came closer. Olivia started to feel scared. Then she heard a triple knock on the bathroom door.
"Olivia, is everything all right in there? If you want, I can call your mom," Aunt Amanda said calmly in a concerned voice, but Olivia could tell she was faking the whole thing and it was all a trick.
"No, I'm good. Thanks anyway. Plus, your friend said only people my age are allowed here," Olivia said, playing along in hope of finding her parents.
Olivia knew she was trapped, but no matter what, she had to find her family.
Chapter Twenty
The Hidden Password
Olivia went into the seating area and sat in the chair while Aunt Amanda worked on decorating the inventions in the other room.
Olivia sighed, wishing her family could be normal for once. Olivia started to spin on the chair with a bored look on her face. Then she began to neaten up Aunt Amanda's desk.
In one pile she saw a paper that looked like it was torn and a photo too. The photo was ripped down the middle and had her mom's image on it. Olivia remembered when she found the same picture online when she was back home with her parents and Max.
"It is all my fault," Olivia said as a tear ran down the side of her cheek.
She looked back toward the hallway wishing she was with her family again.
Then she saw a sign above the doorway that said "2halves" on it.
Could that really be her password? Olivia thought.
"Aunt Amanda can I use the bathroom? I think I feel something coming on again," she said, pretending to not feel well.
"Sure, use it when you need to. You don't have to ask me," Aunt Amanda said sweetly.
"Thanks," Olivia said, rushing down the hall.
Olivia let out a sigh in relief that Aunt Amanda might have bought her excuse.
When Olivia got to the end of the hall she ran her hand down the banner gently, feeling proud she had come this far.
Olivia pulled the banner back and typed in "2halves" for the pass code to open the door. The door slid open to the left. Olivia quickly ran through the passageway before the door could close on her.
Chapter Twenty-One
Behind the Door
Olivia tried to walk forward, but she couldn't. She turned around and saw that her T-shirt was caught in the door. Olivia tried tugging, but it was useless. The shirt wouldn't budge. She saw tools hanging on the wall. All of a sudden, her eyes caught hold of the scissors.
Olivia paused for a second to think. Then she pulled forward to try to reach the scissors, but only her fingertips touched them. She tried again, and this time, she grabbed the scissors off of the rack. Olivia took the scissors and cut her shirt so she could get free. Olivia walked up the stairs and saw what looked like jail cells.
Olivia stopped and gasped. "Mom, Dad, Max!"
"Olivia!" they all cried in unison.
Olivia quickly ran over and tried to free her mom, but it was no use. The cells were locked, and the bars were too strong for her to get her mom out.
"The lock. I just need to find the key to get you guys out!" Olivia said, looking around.
"Look over there behind the paper on the wall," Max said, pointing at the paper.
Olivia rushed over, lifted the paper, and saw a safe.
"How did you know something wa
s there?" Olivia said, surprised that Max knew something for once.
"I saw her in there after she locked us up," Max said, still trying to get out on his own. "But I never got to see what the pass code was."
"It's a scanner though," Olivia said confused.
"Olivia, come here. I just might know what she would scan in for the pass code," their mom said.
Olivia rushed over to her mother, who was taking off her necklace. She handed it to Olivia through the bars of the cell.
Olivia looked at it closely and realized it was the other half to the necklace Aunt Amanda had, except it had the word "forever" carved into it.
Olivia rushed over to the safe and scanned the necklace.
She stepped back as the safe opened, and inside was the key.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The Confrontation
Olivia ran as fast as her legs could possibly go.
"Olivia!" Max said, holding his hand out in her way so she couldn't go any further.
Olivia stopped as soon as she could so she didn't run into his arm. "What, Max? I can't take all day, otherwise Aunt Amanda will suspect something," she said.
"Can you free me first please?" Max asked.
"What? Why should I free you first if you came here without me knowing and had no clue what you were doing?" Olivia said, obviously annoyed at Max.
"Well, the card fell out of your pocket," Max said.
"You should have given it back or told me!" Olivia said. "You know what? I don't have time for this!"
Olivia walked past Max's cell and over to her mom's. Without another word, she unlocked it.
Once she had freed everyone, they started heading down the stairs.
"Wait. We have to split up, so Max will go over there, and Mom over that way near me, and Dad behind Aunt Amanda," Olivia whispered to the others.
They all nodded in agreement before closing the door quietly behind them.
Then Olivia walked down the hall toward Aunt Amanda, who was working on an invention. Before Olivia said anything, she saw Aunt Amanda had a belt with a pouch on it and sticking out of it was Olivia's pink invention notebook.
Olivia's face turned red with anger when she saw behind her was her invention bag she had lost at the airport that very day.
"That's it!" Olivia screamed out loud.
Aunt Amanda turned around and saw Olivia filled with anger.
"What is wrong?" Aunt Amanda said kindly, pretending to be concerned.
"You know what's wrong! You took my invention bag, my notebook that was in it, stole my ideas, and worst of all you took my parents and Max, all because you wanted to lore me here to help you get more ideas!" Olivia yelled.
"Don't talk about it or your parents will get it, you little brat!" Aunt Amanda threatened.
"How are you going to do that when they are surrounding you?" Olivia said with a smirk.
"What?" Aunt Amanda said confused. "They are locked up!" Aunt Amanda chuckled, thinking Olivia was joking.
"Olivia freed us," their mother said, stepping out from behind the desk. "You don't have to do this. I see good inside you." She held up her half of the star necklace.
"Sara, that was the past. This is the present. We are free to do what we want. We aren't children like them anymore," Aunt Amanda said, gesturing to Olivia and Max. "Tell me if you change your mind about being evil and you want to join forces. We could rule this world together."
"I think I'll pass on that offer," Sara said, feeling good about herself.
"Very well then," Aunt Amanda said with a smirk while escaping down the other hall.
Olivia and the others ran after her.
At the other end of the hall, a door led to the outside. They reached it just in time to see Amanda disappear inside a helicopter.
As Olivia watched it fly away, she knew Aunt Amanda would be back for revenge and to steal Olivia's invention notebook once again.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my mom for all of her help with this book. She inspired me to write a book of my own and kept pushing me to get over my writer's block that I had many times.
I would also like to thank my third grade class. They helped me get some of the characters' personalities.
- Ayla Hashway
About the Author
Ayla Hashway is nine years old. She loves reading and writing. The Secret Sister is her first book, although she's been writing for years. She believes if you keep trying, you can make your dreams come true.
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