Jordan opened the book to her favorite picture, that of a sorceress with flowing hair and a dragon behind her. She felt something when she looked at the dragon, something she felt deep inside her. And the woman…she felt a kinship with this mysterious sorceress, although Jordan’s life was a far from mysterious as you could get.

“Jordan, get your brother.”
Sighing, Jordan carefully closed the heavy book and replaced it on the table beside her bed, then rose and went to look for her brother.
Jimmy was her twin, but unlike most twins that she’d read about, she and her brother weren’t close. In fact, sometimes she thought maybe he didn’t even like her, that it could be hatred in the brown eyes so similar to hers.
Still, Jordan loved him, or at least tried to, because that was what you did. Family was important. Or it should have been, she admitted, passing through the kitchen without speaking to her aunt. Jordan felt her chin lift at the thought. The woman wasn’t even her aunt, just a friend of her mother’s from a long time ago, before Jimmy and Jordan were even born.

Outside the apartment Jordan scanned the street, searching for her brother’s familiar camouflage jacket, which he wore no matter the weather. There was a group of guys around the fence surrounding the playground, and she headed in that direction, biting her lip nervously. She never knew what to expect from Jimmy. Sometimes he’d be happy to see her, or at least not angry that she was interrupting his business, and other times (most of the time) he acted like she was a complete stranger that he didn’t want to know.
There were about four guys gathered around her brother, and none of them looked up when she called his name.
Clearing her throat, she tried again.
“Jimmy! Auntie wants you to come inside now.”
One of the guys, a broad-shouldered blonde with squinty eyes, gave her a look, those disturbing eyes travelling up and down her body. Not impressed, he elbowed the guy next to him, who barely gave her a glance.
Jordan was thankful for her skinniness at times like this.
“Jimmy,” the blonde said. “Your sister’s here.”
Jimmy glared at Jordan. “Get lost.”
Without another word Jordan turned and hurried back across the street, feeling their eyes on her, hating that those guys scared her, hating how cowardly she felt.
If she had a dragon behind her, like that beautiful sorceress, those jerks wouldn’t ignore her, no one would even dare. Not even Jimmy.