Prologue By Emily Webb Elaina Green sat on her front porch in New Orleans, Louisiana.

She sat there, staring off into the bayou. If you looked at her, you would think that she was extremely bored. But, if you knew her like I knew her, she was thinking about what it would be like to have a sister. Elaina lived with her dad and had no idea where her mom lived. When Elaina was born, her parents had already signed divorce papers. Her father refused to live in New York with Elainas mom, so he whisked her down to New Orleans, where he had grown up as a child. Elaina had light brown hair and sparkling, ocean blue eyes. Since Elaina was 3, she had been a tomboy. She normally tied her hair up in a messy bun, wore jean shorts and a faded t-shirt, and wore flip-flops or no shoes at all. Over in Austin, Texas, Hayden Gray was sitting in the sturdy branches of her apple tree in her yard. She was reading Little Women for the fifth time. Every time she read it, she envied how many sisters Beth had. She was an only child like Elaina, but instead of living with her dad, she lived with her mom. Hayden had shoulder length brown hair and ocean blue eyes like Elaina. Hayden was also very tomboyish and athletic. Most of the time, she wore soccer shorts and an old t-shirt. Like Elaina, she either went barefoot or wore flip flops. Her hair was always either down or in a ponytail or bun. Whenever Hayden mentioned her and her mothers past, her mom clammed up. Because of this, Hayden didnt know if she had a father or even where she was born. But, the item that both girls were about to receive would change their lives forever. Youre probably wondering why Hayden and Elaina are so alike. Well get to that later. Elaina was sitting on her porch gloomily when she saw something strange bobbing up the bayou current. She darted off the porch into her wooden rowboat she had gotten for her seventh birthday, and rowed with all her might to catch up with the object. When she finally did, she reached over and grabbed the object out of the water. It was a green tinted bottle with a cork wedged into the top of the

bottle. She popped the cork off, and it flew out of the boat and bobbed in the water. She shook the bottle upside down , and out slid a damp, yellowed piece of paper. She unrolled it and surprisingly enough it was for her. It read Meet me at the willow tree on the corner where Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas connect at exactly 3:45a.m. on Tuesday, July 14th. Puzzled, Elaina pondered upon whether she should go or not. Since Elaina was a risk-taker and all, she decided she should start packing her backpack. In the meantime, Hayden had decided to take a break from reading and go to Lake Austin. As she was walking down a grassy hill toward the lake, off in the distance, she saw something in the green-blue water. She dropped her drawstring bag on the sand and took a running start and took a clean dive into the cool water. She swam towards the object and found out it was a creamy ivory bottle with a cork stuffed in the mouth of the bottle. She swam back to the shore grasping the bottle, and sat on the grass and opened the bottle. A damp piece of paper slid out, and she carefully unrolled it and read it. I dont need to tell you what it said, but I will tell you that she ran home and got out her old backpack from third grade. At 11:55 p.m., Elaina set out for the corner where Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas intersected. Five minutes later, Hayden did the same. Elaina decided to take a train, and then hop in a taxi. So, she caught a bullet train and hopped in a taxi at exactly 2:17a.m. She got to the corner at 3:15a.m. and started looking around. When she finally found the willow, she saw a woman crocheting under it. She slowly walked over to the woman under the willow and set her bag down on the big roots. The woman looked up and said to her, Hello, you must be Elaina. Meanwhile, Hayden, who had been in a taxi for hours, was finally pulling up to the corner. She thanked and paid the driver and set out to find the willow. Suddenly, she heard laughter. She found it and saw a woman sitting under the tree and a young girl laughing, hanging by her knees from the willow branches. When the girl saw Hayden, she froze and stared at her. She flipped off the branches and slowly walked over to her. Elaina said, Why do we look so alike? in a dazed tone.

Hayden replied, I have no idea. The strange woman broke the silence. She said, That is because you are twins. While the girls stood there, speechless, the woman told them the story. When they heard that their parents were divorced, they said goodbye to each other and the woman, and spent a year trying to get them back together. Youre probably wondering how I know all this. That is because I was the strange woman under the tree, the one who sent them the bottles, and also their long-lost grandmother.