16

CHAPTER ONE

"MAPLE SYRUP"

"DDDDDDDDDDDDDDRAAAAAAAAAAKKKKKKE!" screamed a voice in a slightly comical shriek, as you heard the sounds of running on the stairs: "DRAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Drake Parker, who was sitting in his bedroom upstairs practicing on his polished electric guitar, hit a sour note when he heard his step-brother screaming his name to the top of his lungs. Rolling his eyes, he set down the instrument and turned around, looking over the couch at the doorway.

"Drake, Drake, Drake, Drake, DRRRAKKKE!" Josh screeched, sliding into the room, breathless.

"…Yes?" his brother asked, shrugging and staring at the harried teenager with a raised eyebrow.

"DRAKE!"

"I said 'Yes?' already! Why are you screaming like crazy? Did Meghan stuff fire crackers in your back-pockets again, when you weren't looking?" he asked in reference to their more-than-mischievous little sister, cocking his head to the side with a little nod, as his brown eyes sparkled with confusion.

"No!" Josh said, throwing up his hands.

"Then what is it?"

"IT'S—IT'S," he stuttered.

"It's what?!" Drake said, impatiently motioning with his hands.

"IT'S… umm…"

"Yeees?!" came the eager reply.

"…Um… man, I forgot." Josh sighed, at last staring hard into space.

"Josh! Think of it! You can't just rush up here screaming and then not tell me why!" Drake moaned, grabbing his guitar and standing up, climbing the steel-tubing ladder to his bed.

"I can't think of it!" he whined, sorrowfully.

"...Oh! Hold on. I'm pretty sure I know what it was!" the brunette suddenly exclaimed.

"What? You do?"

"Maybe... Come here!" Drake said, looking from side to side as if he knew a secret.

The light eyed brother frowned out of curiosity and walked slowly over to the ladder of the bed.

Without any warning, Drake grabbed up a pillow from his bed and smacked Josh in the head.

"OUCH!" the wounded of the two gasped, backing away.

"There," Drake said, with a pleasant smile as he put down the pillow and smoothed it neatly: "That should clear up any blockage."

"Blockage?" his brother asked, with a twinge of offended anger.

He only answered by pointing to his head: "In… there."

Josh glared and rubbed his "offending" head for a minute as the slim boy went back to messing with a few chords on his guitar.

Other than that, the room was silent for a long time.

"Hey!" Josh suddenly cried out, grabbing the neck of Drake guitar, making a chime of wrong notes.

"Gah!! What?!" Drake said, plugging his ear with one hand and plucking Josh's hand off of his guitar with the other.

"I remember what it was!!!"

Drake said nothing but motioned with his hand for the answer and raised his eyebrows.

"Listen, Meredith Benton is giving this party on Saturday and she wants us to come! It's supposed to be HUGE! And this is the thing: after the party everybody's going to the Katherine McGin concert!!!" Josh exclaimed.

Drake's mouth hung open as he jumped down from his perch to face the boy: "Kathy McGin?! The Kathy McGin – best rock singer of all time?!"

"That's what I saaaid!" Josh grinned, crossing his arms.

"Woah! That is beyond cool. And Meredith Benton?! Wait! You did say Meredith Benton is giving this party?!"

"Sure did!"

"Oh, dude, she is like one of the absolutely coolest, smartest, cutest girls in the whole high-school!" Drake sighed, shaking his head happily.

Josh's mouth fell open: "GIRLS! Are they all you think about—Girls?!"

"Weeeeeeeell," Drake thought about it: "…Yep."

"Well what about ME! I am your brother, ya' know! I mean, what happened to the good, old fashioned 'have fun with your brother' thing?" he said.

"Well, let's see… I would hang out with you more, if you weren't so weird. But anyway, you don't wear skirts and you don't giggle and you don't think I'm cute." Drake answered.

"THANKFULLY!" Josh said, wrinkling his brows and staring at Drake.

"Boys!" their Mother's voice cut in to the arguement, calling from downstairs: "Come down here! There's a package for you!"

Drake & Josh looked at each other as they headed into the hall and down the stairs. "Package?" Josh mused, almost to himself. "Paaaackage!" Drake nodded quickly, racing down the stairs ahead of his brother.

They both ran into the living room and met their Mom standing behind an extremely large, plywood box.

"What... Is it?!" Drake asked, raising an eyebrow confusedly.

"I dunno, the UPS man just delivered it. It doesn't have a return address." their pretty, middle aged mother replied.

"Like you would want to bother trying to return something that huge..." Josh remarked, still in shock about the size of the 'package'.

"Maybe it's from your Great Aunt Nina. She always send something interesting. But--" Audrey was interrupted by the phone: "Oh! That's your dad. He was talking to me and he was supposed to call me back. Why don't you two open the box and see what it is!" she finished, walking into the kitchen.

Josh slowly approached the box, knocked on it and put an ear to it. "... No cats this time."

Drake shook his head with a chuckle: "Yeah, remember when she sent us that gigantic ant farm and you accidentally knocked it over?" He started laughing hard. "Yes." Josh said, somberly, crossing his arms.

"And-- and--" Drake spoke through his laughter: "Then they crawled up your shirt and you started dancing all over the dining room!"

"I do not find that little story very humorous, you... you... CACKLE-R!" Josh retorted.

Drake shrugged and looked back at the box. "...Should we open it or not?" "...I don't know. If it's from Great Aunt Nina... Eheeeeeeeh." he shuddered back.

While they were still in deliberation, the kitchen door swung open on its swiveling hinges.

"Boys, I have to go meet your Dad at Meghan's school. I should be back in an hour or something." Drake's Mom said, coming through the door and across the space to put on her coat.

"Oooo, did she eh-- do something?" Josh chuckled haughtily.

"I'm not sure, but I don't think so--Meghan is always such an angel."

The boys cast doubtful looks to each other, as she went on:

"But I'll be back soon. Be good, now. Bye!" she smiled, locking the open front door and closing it behind her, as she went out.

"Well... do the honors, Drakie?" Josh asked, waving toward the box, a long moment later.

"...Sure, but-- don't call me that." he smirked slightly, walking to the huge wood square. He spotted a note attached to the crate and ripped and pulled off the envelope to read it.

"Woah, wait a minute!" Drake said, grabbing Josh's arm: "Josh, look at this!" Josh looked over his brother's shoulder at the plain white paper.

Walter--

This is what you sent for.

Hope you have a good place to hide it--

police have been searching for it ever

since I heard you wanted it.

Keep the front up.

-- Landis

"What the--?!" Josh asked, taking the paper from Drake and reading it aloud.

"It must be for Dad." Drake said, frowning and biting his lip.

"What does this mean about the police?" Josh asked, setting the paper on the box.

"I don't know. But it doesn't sound so good." all the jest and cheerful teasing was gone from his tone. "...I wonder what's in it."

"I dunno, but we can't open Dad's box! It would be so bad if he found out!" Josh said.

"Exactly why I plan to do it carefully." the boy replied, as a faint (and even slightly evil) smile crossed his face.

"…Carefullyyy…" Josh nodded, raising his brows.

"Yeah, okay-- now, help me turn this thing over." Drake said, at last. Josh agreed and tried to lift his side but he couldn't get it far at all.

"Gah, what is IN THIS THING?" Drake exclaimed, sitting it back down.

Josh gasped and stepped away from it suddenly: "What if… what if there's a… dead guy in there?"

"Yeah, Josh. A dead guy just shipped to our house… in a plywood box." he crossed his arms and looked up critically at his brother.

"No but seriously, what if we open it up and this dead guy rolls out with his eyes like this:" Josh rolled his eyes back in his head and walked a little toward his counterpart.

"O-okay, that's just weird…" Drake said hastily, taking a step back and shaking his head at him.

They both where silent for a minute and then suddenly Drake exclaimed: "Wait a second, Josh! What about when Dad comes home? What will he do?"

"Weeeell, I'm sure he'll put on the parking brake, get out of his car, come to the front door, unlock it, and come inside." Josh said, practically.

Drake sighed and narrowed his eyes: "That's not what I mean. He can't find out that this box is here if it has something to do with the police! We gott'a get it out of here."

"But how? We couldn't even budge it an inch a few minutes ago!" Josh argued, frowning deeply.

"I know. But… but we just have to put all our strength into it and AT LEAST be able to push it out to the garage. Now come on and help me with it--there's no way I can move this at all with out your help."

Josh smiled at his brother's last kind sentence and sighed an "okay", before they both put their backs in to it.

Ten minutes went by and Drake & Josh had barely gotten it to the hall. "Drake, we'll NEVER get this thing to the garage! Mom and Dad will be home soon and they'll catch us!"

"Shut up & push, Josh."

"But, Drake, I--"

"PUSH!"

"I'm pushin'!" Josh yelped in a shrill whine, giving up fighting with him.

Finally after five more minutes, they got it in to the far corner of the garage. "Whew. That was tough." Drake panted, wiping his brow and straightening his shirt.

Suddenly they heard the hum of the family car's motor as it pulled up the long driveway, just outside the closed garage door.

"Uh oh! Dad & Mom!" he gasped.

"I have a feeling this is gonn'a be tougher!" exclaimed Josh, grabbing Drake & yanking him inside the house.

They ran down the hall with all their energy left, and jumped over the couch, landing on it. Drake jerked up the remote and quickly turned on the tv, just as the doorknob began to jiggle: "Act natural!"

"Hi, boys! We're home." Audrey said, walking in along with Walter & Meghan.

"H-hi Mom!" Drake grinned, looking over at her.

"Hey. …Okay, I know this might be a strange thing to ask," she slowly spoke, after turning and surveying them: "But Drake, Josh-- why are you two sweating so much?"

"Yeah-- you guys look like you've been running under the sprinkler with your clothes on." Walter chuckled, setting down the car keys on the dining table.

"Oh, well, " Josh began to stutter, shooting a desperate glance at his brother (he knew Drake was always a more creative liar than he was).

He got the message and it took him only a moment to spit out his own falsehood, taking over.

"Well uh, the… the show we where watching was just so… suspenseful! We started sweating! Didn't we, Josh?" he nudged him and spoke his name through gritted teeth.

"Ye--yeah! It was really, really… suspenseful!" Josh agreed, quickly.

Audrey looked skeptically at the tv: "…Home and Garden Television was suspenseful?"

"Ahh-- it was just..." now it was Drake's turn to give a desperate look.

"...The flowers! Yeah, Umm…" he began to nod seriously and make it up as he went: "They were so beautiful that when the bugs where trying to eat them… it was uh--"

Audrey interrupted Drake: "Suspenseful."

"Uh, yeah mom! You should'a seen this one huuuge bug! It was so suspen--oow!"

Drake's elbow interrupted Josh, poking him with great force.

"So-- so what was wrong at your school, Meghan?" Josh knew it would be better to change the subject and he and his brother got up from the couch.

"Yeah, what was up?" Drake replied, with a simple nod, trying to control his jitteriness.

Meghan narrowed her eyes and came up close to Drake, shaking a finger at his face: "You'll pay for that comment."

She slunk off, out of the room, glaring back at him, and he returned with a confused look on his face: "Okay. So, Mom & Dad, what did happen? Why did you two have to go up there?"

"Seems Meghan has been getting bad grades and not telling us because she hasn't done her homework or studying lately." Walter said.

"Mmm. I see." Josh said, nodding thoughtfully: "The infantile minds of our youth, these days…"

Drake raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms.

"Perhaps we'll tell you all about it later, boys, but I think it's time to make dinner. Walter, come help me out." Audrey said smiling, and turning to drag him into the kitchen.

A moment after the two grown people disappeared, Drake began to laugh: "…Whooooah, is Meghan in trouble!"

"Trou-ble!" Josh nodded, with a little chuckle of his own.

"I wonder what they'll do to her at school."

"I dunno but it cain't be good, brother!" Josh said with a snort.

The boys discussed Meghan's trouble a minute or two more, but something made them stop.

"Hey, Boys, have you seen my wrench? Your mother's blender is broken again." Walter said, walking back in.

"Umm, I don't think so dad." Josh said.

"Oh, you know what? I think I left it in the garage! Let me just go get it." their father said, remembering and turning at once to complete his job.

"AHH! NO!" Drake shouted, running in front of the door. "I—I mean, um… we'll get it for you, Dad. Heheh!" he added a forced chuckle and grabbed Josh, pulling him through the door: "Be right back."

Behind the closed garage door, Drake put a hand to his heart: "Gosh. That was way, way too close. Now, quick, you look for Dad's wrench and I'll find something to cover up the crate with just incase he tries to come in here."

"Drake! Hello? Dad always has to look for his wrench for like three hours! We'll never find it!"

"…And that's why I'm entrusting the "special mission" to you." Drake said, reaching down and spreading a tarp over the crate, carefully.

"Uh! I always get the dirty jobs, don't I?" Josh remarked, shaking his head tiredly.

"Hey, as long as he didn't put it in the garbage like he did last time, there's nothing "dirty" about it, bro." his brother teased.

"Boys, have you found it yet?" Walter said, peeking his head in the door and making them both jerk in surprise.

"Uh, yeah Dad! Here!" Drake exclaimed, quickly giving him something and pushing him out of the room, closing the door on him.

Drake shook his head and blew out a breath: "We gott'a keep him out of here ...and make sure to tell Mom that the box was just another present from 'Auntie, at dinner. That way she won't ask us where it is."

Suddenly the door opened again, almost bumping in to the thin brunette.

"Umm, Drake, this is a hammer!" Walter explained, handing him the tool.

"Uhh--so?! It's still a tool! Here, take it-- it's my present for you!" Drake said, giving him back the hammer and shoving him out of the garage, slamming the door.

"I found it!" Josh exclaimed, pulling it out of a bucket on the self.

"Good! Just in time!" Drake sighed, grabbing it from his brother and opening the door, trying to walk casually into the kitchen, with Josh close in tow.

"Here, Dad." he said with an un-natural grin, as he handed it to him.

"Umm… is anything wrong? 'Cause you guys are acting pretty peculiar." came the slow question from their Father's lips.

"Uh--"

Josh cut off Drake: "No, no, no, Dad! Everything is A-ooo-kay! …Umm… Drake, we need to do something upstairs. Don't we?"

"Huh?--"

"Up-stairs!" Josh replied forcefully, pushing his step-brother toward the hall and turning around to look at his parents just long enough to let out a nervous little laugh before shoving Drake further.

Once in their room, he collapsed on the couch and closed his eyes.

"Dude, what's your deal? Interrupting me, dragging me all the way up here … putting your filthy 'Josh' germs all over my couch!" Drake exclaimed with a tiny shudder.

"Drake! You where like way too obvious, man. You almost gave us away down there!" he returned in reply.

"What? I was not!" Drake argued, indignantly.

"Oh, yeah? --Look at me! I'm Drake! What Mom, Dad? Wrong? NOOOOOOO, NO, NO. Nothing is wrong here! There are no mysterious, police-associated boxes in the garage!" Josh imitated loudly.

Drake shrugged: "Okay, whatever. Let's just not fight about this, 'cause we can't afford to. We just have to remain calm, cool & concentrated."

"…We have to act like juice drinks?"

Drake grabbed the couch pillow and repeated his earlier action of smacking Josh in the head, quickly.

"Ouch!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Meeeghan," Drake said in a sing-song voice, as he, Meghan and Josh sat downstairs in the family room: "Oooo! Sooomebody didn't do their homework!"

"Yeah, Meghan. Did they say what they were going to do to you at school or did they save it as a surprise?" Josh teased.

"Okay, are you just asking to find yourself tied up in the back of the mail truck tomorrow morning?" she said, looking at them in a glaring way.

"No, but were you just asking to be grounded when you didn't do you're homework?" Drake mocked.

"Hey, if you don't be quiet, boob, I'm gonn'a actually get mad." she hissed.

"Don't call me names. It's not nice. Oops, but I forgot-- getting low grades on purpose isn't very nice either, is it?" the brown eyed boy laughed.

"Whoo, good one, brotha." Josh said, giving Drake a high-five, over her head.

"Listen to me and learn well." she roared: "The next one who says anything to me at ALL is going to deeply regret it. And 'deeply' to the point of trying to scratch his way out of a potato sack headed down the nearest river."

Drake & Josh stood up and backed away, up the stairs. They went out on to the tiny balcony on the back of the house and sat in some lawn chairs.

"Man… Meghan is really mad." Josh said: "M-ad!"

"Yeah, I know. I bet she'll do something to us tonight." Drake shuddered, shaking his head.

"Hey, that's right! We'd better be extra careful." Josh said, leaning over the rail and adding: "Because I'm claustrophobic, and a potato sack would definitely give me some breathing difficulties."

"Yeah uh, I would start being careful by not leaning over that rail like that." Drake responded slowly, raising an eyebrow and looking on at him.

Josh backed away from it and nodded: "…Good idea."

Suddenly the two could hear their phone ringing not far away, up in their room, and they exchanged looks.

"Beat ya' upstairs!" Drake exclaimed, jumping out of his chair and running into the hall.

"Waiiiiit!" the other shouted, running out toward him.

Drake rush nimbly in to his room and picked up the phone with a breathless: "Hello?"

"Hey, Dwake, this is Wyn." A girl's voice spoke over the line.

"Oh. …Hi." he said in a slightly dismayed voice.

Suddenly Drake heard a sliding sound and a slightly muffled shriek, as something bump-bump-bumped down the stairs at top speed.

"What was that?" Lyn asked.

"Just my brother. He has some… problems."

"I'm okay!" Josh shouted from the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh. Umm, wook, we weawwy have to do that school pwoject. I weawwy don't want to annoy you or anything, it's just that I wondewed when we were going to get togethew and do it. It is due in two weeks." Lyn said, in a whiney voice.

"Look, uh Lyn, I've got a lot on my mind right now. I'll have to give you a call later." the reply came, and with a grimace, he hung up.

Josh burst in the door and shook himself off.

"Josh… what where you doing? I was on the phone and there you are, down there screaming, and--and clunking and whatnot!" Drake exclaimed.

"I fell! But who where you on the phone with anyway? One of your 'giiiirl-friends'?" his friend mocked with a mischievous sneer.

"No! It—it was just that 'Lyn' girl." Drake said, rolling his eyes and laying down on the sill-type edge of his bed.

"Oh. Who is she-- one of your newest conquests?" Josh asked.

"No. She's just this girl at school. I never really talked to her—she's all ditzy and everything. So, anyway, our teacher picked us to do this project together and I'm so not thrilled." Drake said, sitting up and crossing his arms.

"She sounds nice! Tell me," Josh said, with a taunting smile as he sat beside his brother: "Is she pretty?"

"…Well, gee I don't know, Josh, I haven't noticed anything else but the way she talks!" Drake said, shrugging.

"Drake, I don't want to sound… 'annoying-my-step-brother…ish' but, maybe do you like her a little bit?"

At this, he burst out: "WHAT? LIKE HER? JOSH! Are you kidding? Yeah, let me see-- can you imagine trying to be romantic with a girl that looks deeply in your eyes, and says" Drake clasped his hands together over his chest and batted his eyelashes like a girl: "'Oh, Dwake, I wove you!'"

Josh broke in to laughter and turned, jumping off of the bed: "Dude, you look like you're in for some annoyance with

that girl. ...Annoyance!"

"I know." his brother sighed, laying down on the bed.

All of the sudden, a hollow tapping sound was heard, coming from the inside of their closet.

Drake instantly sat up, looking in that direction, as did Josh. It was certainly coming straight from behind of the closed door.

Drake frowned with large eyes and looked at his brother, in confusion.

"…IT'S… THE DEAD GUY IN THE BOX HAUNTING US!" Josh gasped, hiding behind his brother as he jumped to the ground, and exclaiming in a squeak: "DEAD guy!!!"

"Look, I don't know what it is, but it's not a dead guy. Let's see what it is." he said thoughtfully, rolling his eyes.

He paused for a second and then began walking toward the closet.

"You're not going to--open it, are you?!" Josh gasped, as the tapping resumed.

"…Yes, hence my reply: 'Let's see what it is', Josh." Drake nodded, reaching his hand toward the door knob.

Josh quickly ran across the room and stood behind his step-brother with a frightened grimace: "…Let's do it!"

Drake took a deep breath and he felt his heart skip when he heard the banging smash once more.

"I--I--YOU do it!" Drake said, closing his eyes and getting behind Josh.

"Hey! Waiiiiit! You said--!" Josh said, pushing his brother forward.

Drake shook his head: "Wait, okay, it can't be anything. It's probably just... just... the air conditioner or something. Let's just both do it together. Ready?"

Josh stood beside him and put his hand over Drake's on the knob.

"One, two… THREE!"

They ripped open the door and the two where faced with pitch black darkness. "Josh, you reach in and turn on the light!" Drake hissed, in a slightly cowering voice.

"Okay…" he whined.

After a fraction of a second, he reached in and flicked on the light, jerking his arm out of the closet.

Nothing was there.

The brothers frowned, confusedly and began to laugh amongst themselves, remembering the gruesome scenes they had imagined they would meet.

"That was funny." Drake giggled: "Why were we scared? Yeah, like something would be in our closet!"

"Yeah, I know! But look," Josh laughed, grabbing Drake's hand and walking into the closet with him: "Soo scary, ri--"

Smack.

"Ahh!" Drake's voice was heard from inside the tiny room.

"MEEEEHGAAAAAN!!!" both boys screamed simultaneously.

A struggle was heard for a moment, before both of them tumbled out of the closet, covered in maple syrup from head to toe.

"MEGHAN!" they both screamed again.

"This. Is the start. Of a WAR." Josh exclaimed, in a very deep, agitated voice.

"Look!" Drake said, pulling a tape recorder out of the closet & playing it back.

The knocking sound played back from the recorder.

"She recorded this and must have put it and the buckets of syrup and trip wire in here while we were on the porch!" Drake growled.

They wiped the horrible sticky stuff from their faces and paused in quiet thought.

"I guess if we told Mom and Dad, they'd make us get psychological examinations..." Drake's murmur was heard.

"Dude, I dibs the shower!" Josh randomly exclaimed.

"NO WAY!" his brother gasped.

Josh stared at him for a minute, and then jerked in to a sprint toward their bathroom.

Drake took a running leap, jumped over the couch and tackled Josh to the floor, grabbing a pile of clothing from the bureau and rushing in the bathroom, locking the door behind him.

As Josh heard the shower start, he closed his eyes and wiped maple syrup from his forehead: "…Ouch."

About fifteen minutes later, Drake emerged from the room, completely fresh, in un-sticky clothes.

Josh stood up from the floor and glared at him with a down-turned mouth.

Drake looked him up and down, pointing to the syrup dripping from his hair.

"You're… dirty."

"I KNOW." he hollered into Drake face, ducking into the bathroom and slamming the door.

Drake shrugged and avoided the puddle of brown sugary goop on the floor as he made his way to the couch.

He sat there for a second and then deciding to watch TV, he reached for the remote which had been on the couch beside him that morning.

It wasn't there. He sighed in an annoyed tone, getting up and walking to the bathroom door.

"Josh!" he screamed through the door.

"Huh?!" his brother exclaimed over the noise of the shower.

"Did you loose the remote again?" Drake yelled, crossing his arms.

"No! I haven't seen it all day." Josh replied, loudly.

"Ugh," Drake replied, walking to the couch.

"...I SAID I HAVEN'T SEEN IT ALL---"

Drake rolled his eyes and shouted: "I heard ya' already, wacko!" as he threw aside a pillow, looking for the gadget.

He turned the whole room upside down looking for it until Josh came out in clean clothes, spick and span.

"Josh, I seriously can not find the remote! It's like it disappeared into thin air! Like it's possessed!" Drake explained, rooting through a stack of papers to look for it.

Suddenly the two looked at each other: "Possessed?"

"...Meghan!" Josh exclaimed, snapping his fingers and glaring, with bent brows, into space.

"You think she'd bother with such a minor object?"

"Hmm. It would seem weird for her to take such a non-consequential little item." Josh said, scratching him head: "Did'ya look in the desk drawer?"

"Nope! You do that." Drake replied, lazily.

Josh laughed at his brother and walked to the drawer, yanking it open.

Before he could realize what was going on, a steady stream of toothpaste squirted erratically from the drawer into his face and shoulders.

As he wiped it from his eyes, Drake giggled & tried to keep from laughing in the corner: "She sure got you, didn't she?"

"…This makes me very, very… ENRAGED!" he shouted: "Man! Now I'm gonn'a have to wash my face and put on some more clothes!"

"Yeah. Um, so is the remote in the drawer or not?" his brother said, uninterested in Josh's ramblings.

"…No." Josh fumed.

After standing there for a minute, he said: "Seriously, if I have to wash my face anymore, it's going to shrivel up like a huge prune!"

Drake grimaced and said: "Yeah, thank you for that disgusting mind-image."

He shook off his grossed-out look and stared in to space for a moment, as if an idea had just hit him. He snapped out of his gaze and finally jumped across the room, opening their door.

"Where ya' going, Drake?" Josh asked.

"To free the remote from the evils." he answered plainly, saluting Josh and ducking out of the room.

"Meghan," Drake began as he opened her door and raced into her room, "What have you done with our remote?"

"Why would I have your remote?" she asked, shrugging.

"Okay fine, maybe you don't have it, maybe you might have lost it in one of the buckets of syrup you rigged in our closet!" he replied, in an extremely agitated voice.

An evil smile slithered across Meghan's face: "I knew you'd fall for that." she rolled her eyes and mumbled: "Morons."

"Hey, and we didn't appreciate the toothpaste, either! You can just go off and 'toothpaste and 'syrup people! It's... bad!"

"…And?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"Look, just give me the remote, okay?" he said.

"No you look, Drake Parker. And you GET OUT of my room! Now. Don't forget that I have alott'a power." she exclaimed, in a low voice and with a smirk written in to her features.

"You mean your powers of darkness?!" Drake said back, in a very saucy tone.

Without another second going by, Meghan grabbed his arm and flipped him on to the bed in the middle of her room.

Josh had just finished cleaning up and changing his shirt when he heard the sounds of struggling coming from Meghan's room.

"GIVE--ME--THE--REMOTE--" Drake's voice roared in a muffled tone.

"NO--I--WON'T!"

Josh's eyes grew large and he murmured an: "Ahh, man!" as he hurried from their room into the hall and through his sister's door.

The sight that beheld him made him gasp in unbelief.

Drake had Meghan in a head-lock, leaning up against him while he sat on his knees on the floor.

"How--are you doing that?!" Josh called, uncertain how his brother had over-powered Meghan.

"I... dunno!" he shrugged, apparently breathless.

"You've head-locked the head-locker!" the darker haired teen exclaimed, beginning to laugh: "Where's a camera?-!"

"Let me go!" Meghan cried out in an innocent voice: "MOMMY! DADDY!"

Audrey & Walter came running up the stairs, and gasped deeply upon entering Meghan's room.

"Drake! LET GO of her!" his father said in a shrill shout.

Drake's mouth fell open in an unbelieving gape and he let go of his sister, standing up slowly.

"Mommy!" Meghan sniffled, running to her mother.

"You poor, poor little girl! Drake, what is WRONG WITH YOU? You know better than to EVER--"

"I--She--she took me and Josh's remote!" he mustered at last, interrupting his mother.

"And so then you two decided to attack her?!" Walter asked.

"What? I didn't--" Josh began.

"Um--no! …Yes! I mean--" Drake was cut off by his father: "You're too old to do these thing! Look, you are both grounded, boys. For a week!"

Josh gasped: "I didn't do anything!"

"Uh-huh, grounded." Walter shook his head: "Now come on, out of her room!"

Drake and Josh (who were still under shock that they could be grounded because Meghan stole their remote) passed their sister slowly and she grinned malevolently at them.

In reply, they slumped their shoulders and walked on.