Publisher's Synopsis
The legend of the Cole children is so astonishing that anyone knowing the tale must say Karolyn and Michael Cole are the greatest heroes who ever breathed air or swam in the sea. But, who knows of their legend? Do you? No one would have thought the Cole children capable of great deeds in the beginning. The kids at their schools thought they were rather strange, if they thought of them, and most ignored them or didn't even notice. They were just a couple of regular kids from the city. They lived in Berkeley, California, a small city across the bay from San Francisco. Michael went to a public high school, Karolyn to a catholic school. They lived in an ordinary two-story brown house on Third Avenue, and weren't really noticed by anybody when they walked down the street. At that time, Michael was small for his age and rather thin with dark hair and jade green eyes. He liked to play video games, particularly combat video games and he was rather good at them. Karolyn had red hair, the same green eyes, and was an inch taller than Michael. She liked to read and was good at Girl's Track, especially the hurdles. No one would have guessed they were twins, or brother and sister for that matter, yet they were fraternal twins, born on the same day and of the same mother. There were some remarkable doings when they were born, extraordinary most would say, but I will leave that out for now and perhaps tell you later. Now of course, after all they have done, having become famous, and well---- legendary, it is easy to see the clues that led to their greatness. Even before the Cole children were born, there were clues: The mysterious appearance of their mother was the first. Her name was Harmony, a name that she said fit the occasion, and indeed, it did. Yet that wasn't her real name; she chose the name at the very moment that she first saw Sam, the Cole children's father, when he was plowing a field of his father's farm near Mount Shasta. But don't let me get ahead of the story without first introducing myself: Of course, you know my name from the title page or book jacket, but if not, if you skipped over that part in a hurry to find out what this book is about, then go back and look again. I want you to make a habit of careful reading. What I'm going to tell you in this book is not a made up tale, make-believe, or a fantasy. Though you probably found it in the fantasy section of a bookstore or library, this is a true story and it requires careful reading. You see, I am not really an author, a writer, or a fabricator of tales. I'm a translator. The story of the Cole children was copied and compiled from a number of sources, including their own journals and those of their father. I assure you it is real. It did happen. As you read on you will come to know this and it will make sense to you because it explains everything you have always known in your heart to be true.