Chapter 1

They say that high school is the next stage in our lives, when we learn how to stop being children and start becoming adults. I feel like I am the poster child for this idea. Three months ago I was a loner, with a family that regretted adopting me, no friends, and little idea of where I was going. I was totally lost.

In three short months everything changed. I learned I have a purpose in life. Not just a purpose, but a destiny. A reason for being. Sure it is totally overwhelming and I still think there is no way I am going to live up to what is expected of me, but what teenager doesn’t think that. I will admit most teenagers don’t have to worry about being the next stage of human evolution, but that’s just details.

Thankfully I don’t have to go it alone. I’m not that quiet kid without any friends anymore. I have three girlfriends, all of whom love me unconditionally. I have a woman who treats me like I am one of her own kids. I have some great friends that completely support me.

Sadly, I also had a schedule that seemed to want to crush me. There was a company meeting on Wednesday to get the last of the details of Marcus’s drone project worked out so we could get moving on it. I had another football game on the weekend that I hadn’t prepared nearly enough for. But first I had a meeting with the financial guy Jonathan had set up for after school on today to figure out what to do with all the money I was now sitting on, at least until I had to hand it over to Ted and Marcus.

As soon as morning exercises were over I met with Mrs. Runkle, and introduced her to the girls so they could take the aptitude test; but I couldn’t stay to find out how they did. Mrs. Bell was already waiting to take me to the meeting with the financial guy. Since she was now officially in charge of the trust, she had to be there, too.

We met Jonathan outside the office building in the town’s business district. I always laughed when I heard it called that. While not a map dot, Allentown was not that big, and our ‘business district’ consisted of about a one block area with a couple of office buildings.

I had talked to Jonathan about him the night before, and I brought Mrs. Bell up to speed as we walked into the building and rode the elevator up to the third floor.

Jonathan said he hadn’t worked with Mr. Stoner before, but that he came highly recommended. He suggested we get this guy’s thoughts on how he would manage the money, but we shouldn’t commit today.

Mrs. Bell smiled at me, “Cas, you know I am just a figurehead. Business has never been my thing. You seem to know what you want to do, plus it’s your money.”

“Yeah, but you know how much I value your opinion.”

She gave me a one handed hug, and then winced.

“Is it your head again?”

“Yeah, it still hurts. Maybe it’s the florescent lights.”

I knew she was blowing me off. I let her get away with it, but I was worried about her. These headaches had been going on for weeks.

“Have you talked to anyone? Doctor Chang or your regular doctor?”

“No, not yet. It’s just a headache.”

I made an uncertain grumbling sound at her, but we had arrived at the guy’s office so I dropped it. There was a woman that I guessed was in her mid-twenties at a desk by the door.

“Hi. Caspian Grey and Angela Bell to see Mr. Stoner. We have a four o’clock appointment.”

“Please have a seat and I will let him know you are here.”

We sat and waited. I figured it would be several minutes until he got to us, since we got there a little early. I looked around what I could see of the offices while I waited. I hadn’t seen this setup before. There were a lot of office doors and an open area where the receptionist was waiting. Each had an office number and a name on the door.

“Excuse me, but is this all Mr. Stoner’s office?”

“No, Mr. Stoner rents just one of the offices. There are several small offices run by different people that share the space and split the administrative costs. There are two financial advisors, including Mr. Stoner, a CPA, and a guy who does something with computers I don’t really understand.”

“Ahh, okay. Thanks.”

Four o’clock came and went and no sign of Mr. Stoner. Eventually it rolled around to 4:15 and he came out of his office and greeted us, or rather, he greeted Mrs. Bell. Me, he seemed to ignore, but we all went back into his office. Introductions were made and then he jumped right into it.

“What can I do for you?”

He was looking at Mrs. Bell but I answered.

“I received a decent amount of money recently, and I need to see about investing it. I need four hundred thousand in a fairly risk free investment. I need it to be accessible in the next six months, as it has already been committed to a business partnership. The remaining three hundred thousand does not have to be as liquid, but I still want to avoid any high risk investments. I know it isn’t a lot, as far as investments go, but I wanted to try and keep that second amount of money split among several smaller investments if possible.”

“Okay, seems someone did his homework. On the first part I guess what you are thinking of is a CD, but that isn’t going to do you a lot of favors.”

He said the first part very patronizingly to me and then returned his attention back to Mrs. Bell.

“I would suggest putting the entire amount into an annuity. I actually have one in mind that is returning good rates.”

I cleared my throat to get his attention back on me.

“Correct me if I am wrong; but getting my money out of an annuity early, would be a little costly for me, right?”

“Well, there would be some fees, but if you could keep it in there long enough, I am sure you will earn enough interest to offset that. It really is your best option.”

“Aside from the four hundred thousand, which I really do not think should go into an annuity; wouldn’t it be a better idea to keep the remaining money a bit more diversified?”

“Some people might say that, but I say strike when the iron is hot. Now this product I am suggesting is the best performing investment I have seen in years. You would be crazy to look elsewhere.”

This guy was setting off all kinds of alarm bells in my head. It wasn’t just what he was saying, which already seemed sketchy, but his attitude was rubbing me the wrong way. Plus, although I was doing all the talking, he kept addressing Mrs. Bell.

“Thank you for your time, Mr. Stoner. We will think about this.”

As I stood up to leave, he leapt up and moved over to Mrs. Bell.

“Ma’am, I think it’s great to have your son in here learning about finances, but this should be taken seriously. This isn’t something you want to wait on.”

Mrs. Bell was frowning, and stepped around him.

“As Caspian said, we will think about it and get back to you.”

As we walked away from him, I shared a look with Mrs. Bell. She was clearly having similar concerns about this guy. There was a guy leaning against the door frame of the office closest to the receptionist as we were walking out, drinking a cup of coffee and watching us.

We stopped as he addressed us in passing.

“Stoner up to his old tricks, again?”

“What old tricks?”

I looked back and Mr. Stoner was glaring at us for a minute, or more likely, he was glaring at this guy, before he went back into his office and closed the door.

“Let me guess, he had this one thing that was the best investment he had seen in years, and thought you should put all your money into it, right?”

“Yeah, that is about how that went.”

“Man, will he ever learn? I swear half my Rolodex is people he made that pitch to, who later got burned.”

“If it is so bad, why does he keep doing it?”

“‘Cause it’s only bad for the client. He always suggests whatever he gets the biggest commission off of. He makes his money up front.”

“So what would you recommend that is different.”

“I couldn’t say. Investing your money isn’t one size fits all. Anyone that suggests the same product to all of their clients is doing them a disservice. It depends on how much capital you have, how diverse you want to be, and how adverse to risk you are.”

I looked over to Mrs. Bell and she gave me a head nod.

“Do you have a few minutes to sit down with us?”

He looked at his watch.

“Yeah. My next meeting isn’t for an hour. Come on in.”

We walked into the small office and sat down in front of his desk.

“I guess I should say my name is Charles Green. Give me a little background on what you guys are looking for.”

“Sure. I’m Caspian Grey and this is Angela Bell. I recently came into some money as part of a legal settlement ... a million dollars, in fact. All of it is sealed up in a trust, with Mrs. Bell here as the trustee. Seven hundred thousand of that is already earmarked for an investment, with the first three hundred thousand already paid. The remaining four hundred thousand isn’t due right away, but I need it available in six months at the latest. I know that really limits the options available on that portion of the money. The remaining three hundred thousand I would like to keep diversified. I am hoping the company we are starting will be able to add more money into my portfolio, enough for the trust to start paying out a stipend to help cover home expenses.”

Mrs. Bell turned to me, “Caspian, you should keep your money invested. You shouldn’t have to help...”

“No, I want to. With me, you have an extra mouth to feed, plus we regularly have the other two girls visiting us, which adds to the cost. I want to do my part. Now, with the company, I am no longer working for Ted ... at least, I’m not getting a paycheck.”

Mr. Green was watching the back conversation.

“Girls huh, that sounds interesting. As for a stipend out of the trust, you need to get it larger to be able to do that. With so much of your money already tagged for a hard investment ... and, I am guessing, not one with a dividend payout or disbursement in the near future ... you need to leave the rest of your money in the trust. Three hundred thousand sounds like a lot, but unless you leave it to build on itself, you will eat your principal up quickly if you start pulling money out.”

“For the first chunk, the only real option is a short term CD. The interest will be better than just sticking it in a bank account, but not by much. But, it would be available in a set amount of time, and it’s fairly safe. The other option is to try and do a bunch of short buys and sells, or maybe short a few stocks. That would increase your return on the investment, but it is also more risky. It is possible that, even if you make the best decisions possible, you would lose some of your principal. The stock market works great on the long term, but for short term investments like yours it is more of a high risk, high reward sort of thing.”

“Yeah, I don’t think that would be the smart play.”

“For the remainder, I would put some into the market, maybe a mutual fund, and the rest into smaller investments. Perhaps an energy company, or some form of real estate investment. I do agree that being diversified is a good idea, but you don’t have enough capital to really spread it around. Still, I think if we played with the money right, you could get close to a ten-percent return on the principal every year. Thirty grand isn’t ‘get rich’ money, but if you leave it in the trust and allow compound interest to do its thing, you should grow your cash nicely. Of course if this initial investment works out and you have more money to play with, we can start getting really interesting.”

“Mr. Green, I’m sold. I will get you my attorney’s information. Please work with him and Mrs. Bell to get it all arranged.”

We got up and both shook hands with him. We were just walking out the door when Mrs. Bell grabbed her head, let out a cry and dropped to the ground. Her whole body was convulsing as I dropped to the ground next to her and tried to hold her still. I noticed her eyes had rolled up into her head.

I could vaguely hear Mr. Green on the phone talking to someone; my guess was he had called 911. I kept calling Mrs. Bell’s name and holding her still, but panic was starting to set in. I looked up at Mr. Green.

“Emergency services are on their way. They said not to move her.”

I absently nodded at him and clung to her with all my might. Tears were streaming down my face. I have no idea how long it took, but eventually I felt someone pushing me out of the way. I looked up and saw two paramedics and a rolling gurney.

“She is having some sort of seizure. Give me the Lorazepam.”

The other EMT reached into her bag, pulled out a syringe of some kind, and passed it over to the guy kneeling next to Mrs. Bell. The guy gave her a shot and the shaking started to subside.

“I think we are good, for the moment. Let’s get her on the gurney and into the bus.”

They maneuvered some kind of stiff board under her and lifted her onto the lowered gurney. Once that was done, they started to walk her out. I followed closely behind them. At the ambulance, the guy turned around to look at me.

“You’re going with her?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, get in.”

I sat on a bench and held her hand once they had her in the ambulance. The sirens started and we were headed to the hospital. The guy started to attach stuff to her, checked her blood pressure and started making notes on some kind of pad.

“What’s her name?”

“Angela Bell.”

“Are you related to her?”

“I’m her son.”

I was still on the verge of panicking just looking at her with her eyes closed, and didn’t think before I answered. I have no idea why I said that, though.

“Does she have a history of seizures?”

“No, but she has been complaining about a headache for weeks.”

He made some more notes.

“I need to call the family doctor and her daughter.”

“You can do that at the hospital ... and you mean your sister, right?”