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William Worm Bell Sizemore, Robert Shakers Allen, Jr., Ricky Chief Lightfoot and Farah Royal Smolinksi are eighth grade friends; with Farah the lone girl. They call themselves the Four Musketeers and have a one for all and all for one bond. According to Will's grandfather, a crusty old Navy veteran: "You four are thicker than a band of thieves."

It was Will's grandfather and an early spring thunder storm complete with tornado warnings that changed the four lives forever. Will's grandfather had presented his grandson with four miniature scimitars. The ancient Middle Eastern swords resembled gold cocktail toothpicks. They were more than that. The scimitars were said to be magical, each possessing one wish for the person who held it.

Robert Allen, Jr. was called Shakers by his other Musketeers because his birth was the product of an inter-racial marriage. His mother Puerto Rican and his father of Scandinavian heritage. Both were college professors. Both were killed in a drive-by shooting; mistaken targets.

Ricky Lightfoot, the most cantankerous and opinionated of the four, was an Ojibwa Indian, a Lake Superior Chippewa of the Lac du Flambeau band. He was called Chief because, according to him: "You palefaces speak with forked tongue and I don't trust a one of you." Then, before his three friends could verbally attack him, he would come up with his hasty declaimer stating: "Shakers, you and Royal ain't ever gonna be pale. As for you, Worm, you ain't ever gonna be red, black or brown from sitting under a reading lamp all day and night. I can trust you."

Farah Royal Smolinksi's mother was from the Middle East; presumably, Iran where it was rumored that a late female relative of hers had been married to the Shah of Iran. Therefore, according to her three male friends, she had descended from a Queen or some type of royalty. It stood to reason in the minds of Worm, Shakers and Chief that she should have a name that connotated regal status. Queenie didn't work, but Royal did. Besides, she was the smartest of the group sporting an A+ average and a phenomenal athlete; at five feet nine, a basketball player. Brains and basketball prowess weren't her only assets. She was beautiful and each of her three friends had a silent crush on her. She had a silent crush on Worm.