Prologue and Chapter1

 

 

 

In her own eyes, 15-year-old Sarah Preston was average in almost every single way. She was a sophomore at Parker High School. She was in the top 5% of her class, but to her, it wasn’t anything special. It wasn’t a challenge for her to earn high grades, as most subjects came quite naturally to her. She played the piano fairly well, but not well enough to earn any recognition.
 

Sarah was of average height and fair-skinned; with long, thick dirty blonde hair. Her face was long and her eyes were a pretty shade of pale green. She had a lean physique, a result of her many years of soccer. Most of her old muscle had faded away since she quit in 8^th grade, but she was still skinny and fast enough. And being quick was a good thing a shady city like Oscua.

 

Sarah was born and raised in the city and had grown up being warned of the dangers. Her father, Nick Preston, had been born into money and a respectable name, and her parents were part of a higher society than most. They had managed to keep her fairly sheltered from the unpleasant reality of Oscua.

 

It was a dangerous place to grow up in. The desperation of hard living caused many to turn to crime. Luckily, the Oscua Police Department was elite and efficient, and kept some semblance of order. As the geography went, the closer to the center of the city, the safer it was. In the very heart was Cardinal Park, right in front of Police Headquarters. Around the park were the higher-class apartments and businesses. Beyond that, the middle class areas, and beyond that the Backtowns: the slums that separated the city from the surrounding forest. The Gom Forest. It was a place for those with no other place to go: the homeless, the socially outcast, and a few criminals who needed a place to lay low.

 

In all reality, Sarah was anything but average. But like all teenagers, she had a way of viewing her life as worse than it really was. She saw herself as only a speck in the masses. And because of her limited vision, she dreamed of more. Of being special. It was why she had read comic books about superheroes since she was old enough to read. It was why she daydreamed in class when she should have been paying attention. She thought she didn’t stand out.

 

All of that was about to change.

CHAPTER 1   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      Sarah Preston glared at the clock on the gym wall, silently willing it to move faster. Only two more minutes of boredom, and she would be free to go home. No more gym class, thank God. Plus, she had finished all of her homework in class. She had a free night ahead of her.

     The gym teacher hadn’t made them dress out or do anything, because it was a holiday, Halloween. While Sarah appreciated not having to play another obligatory game of basketball, just sitting on the court staring at the clock all day was not her idea of a break. It was fine for the other girls. They had friends to talk to. Sarah had no one. “Friends” in high school were merely an illusion, she knew. The endless drama of fights and reconciliation appealed little to her, and she chose not to involve herself in such relations. Instead, she was left to stare at the clock on the wall. One minute left. She stood up and put on her backpack, starting for the door. The sooner she was out of there, the better. Sarah remembered the chilly weather outside and jammed her hands into her coat pockets.

The coat was a precious thing to her. Sarah was on a never-ending quest to escape the average. As Parker High was a public school and had no official school uniform, Sarah had chosen to follow her giggly peers and devised her own dress code. Every day she wore a pair of jeans and a collared white shirt underneath her long tan trench coat. Only on special occasions did she wear anything else. Usually fancy parties and such; basically whenever her father told her to. Sarah had multiple pairs of jeans and shirts, but only one coat. It was dear to Sarah in the way on old friend might have been, and she never grew tired of its comforting warmth.

     The bell rang obnoxiously and Sarah immediately pushed open the door to face the bitter autumn wind characteristic of Oscua. She roughly pushed her way through the crowd of chattering students. The atmosphere of a Friday afternoon and the promise of a weekend was almost tangible in the air, and Sarah hated her fellow student’s hopelessly cheery attitudes. To her right, a basketball jock ran howling into a crowd of cheerleaders, wearing a grotesque Halloween mask. They shrieked and giggled and slapped him flirtatiously. Sarah rolled her eyes, disgusted, and made a point of barging right through their little group, shoving them aside and stepping on feet as she went. She didn’t apologize.

     Ignoring the insulting whispers behind her, Sarah continued on her way to the bus stop. It was a pity she didn’t like Halloween anymore, otherwise she might have been in a better mood. But Halloween was a social holiday, and therefore not very Sarah-appropriate. She just wanted to go home and retreat once more into the seclusion of a stack of comic books, maybe a video game or two.

She stepped onto the bus and sat down heavily in the seat right behind the driver. No one sat in the front of the bus except her, and she liked it that way. In any case hers was the first stop, and it made more sense to sit closer to the front. She pulled out her book, The Great Gatsby, and lost herself in it. Sarah was unreachable when she was reading, and didn’t come out of her reverie until the bus came to her stop. She walked off and started quickly home.

     The bus stop was about three blocks from her family’s apartment. Sarah suspected that if it were any further away her parents probably wouldn’t let her ride the bus. They’d make her stay after school and stay at some lame after school club until one of them was free to come get her. Her parents were smart. They harbored no illusions about the safety of their child, but that didn’t stop them from sending her to a public school even though they had the money for a private academy. Her mother had gone to a public school, and firmly insisted that Sarah would learn better social skills there than in a private school.

The wind whipped around her ankles. Sarah always a little nervous walking home from the bus, even when she was surrounded by crowds of people. Which was not the case today, she noted uncomfortably. The last dying rays of the sun shone as she shivered and walked a little faster. In March, though, Sarah would be sixteen and she would be able to drive herself home from school. It would be a welcome relief.

There was a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. An uncomfortable knot seemed to be festering in there. And she couldn’t shake it. She took a quick glance over her shoulder. There was no one there. She turned her gaze forward. There was no one in sight, and she started mumbling to herself.

     “Stop being such a paranoid little wimp…”

     Nevertheless, her pace quickened and the feeling in her stomach didn’t go away. It was creepy, but there was still no on to be seen anywhere.

Sarah stopped, unzipped her backpack, but away her reading book and took out her algebra textbook. She zipped it up and kept walking, hugging the heavy thing to her chest. Let’s see anyone mess with this heavy sucker. She forced a small smile.

     Suddenly, she heard the sound of footsteps some ways behind her. She whirled around.

     No one was there.

     Sarah shook her head. I’m imagining it. I’m letting my paranoia control me. She took two steps before she heard it again. This time she kept walking, all the while convincing herself that she was imagining it. But the noise continued. And Sarah finally had to admit that it wasn’t in her head. She glanced over her shoulder again.

     No one.

     She started to walk faster again, becoming increasingly sure that the footsteps were going faster too. Panicking now, Sarah broke into a jog. She didn’t know if it was her imagination or not, but the footsteps were getting closer and faster. Sarah’s heart beat faster and she couldn’t stand it anymore.

     She spun around, swinging her math book at her pursuer with a strangled little yell.

There was still no one there. But...was…didn’t I see some kind of…shadow? Looking around now, though, there wasn’t a soul in sight. Breathing heavily and feeling rather foolish, Sarah smacked her forehead with her palm and scolded herself.

     “Sarah Preston. You…are acting stupid. Get yourself in gear and go home. Now.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Exhaling and opening her eyes, she turned to face forward.

     A Pair of shocking blue eyes filled her vision before everything went black.

 

     She was running down Main Street, fighting her way through the crowd, trying to catch up with her father.

     “Dad! Wait…!”

     He turned; arms crossed, and looked at her sternly. No matter how fast she ran, he just kept getting farther away. She stopped and wiped her eyes, staring dumbly at the glistening tears on her fingers. She was crying. Someone grabbed her hand, leading her into the street. It was some feminine shape, but Sarah didn’t pay attention to her. Something weird and serpent-like was threading around her lags like a scaly cat, and panicking, Sarah tried to kick it off. Her companion gave her a hug and Sarah stopped kicking.

     Then a giant white letter “O” came rolling down the street and squished her flat.

 

Sarah opened her eyes slowly. She was completely disoriented. Gradually her world came into focus, and she sat up with a start.

     She was sitting on a clean, white tile floor in the middle of a rectangular room. There was nothing else in the room that she could see, just white. The walls were white, the floor was white, the ceiling, even the door.

     There was a door!

     She scrambled to her feet, only to fall right back to the ground, her head pounding mercilessly. Forcing herself up again, she stumbled to the door.

     It was locked.

     Sarah struggled to hold back the wave of hysterical panic that was threatening to overcome her. She took deep breaths and crawled into the corner opposite the door. She tucked her knees into her body, huddling into the corner. She looked around for another means of escape. There was nothing useful, but Sarah saw something else that made her sick inside. There was a tiny camera above her head on the ceiling.

She wanted to cry, but was so frightened inside that the tears wouldn’t come. Her heart was thudding loudly in her chest; her breathing quick and short.

     Stop.

      Sarah needed to think clearly if she wanted to get out of there. It took some doing, but she managed to calm herself down enough to do some rational thinking.

      I don’t know where I am. I can’t get out. What do I do? There’s a camera. Someone’s watching me. Will they come for me? Oh, God…

     Her thoughts did nothing except raise more fearful questions, so she stopped. She wondered what time it was. Ah, there we are. There was something to concentrate on. She didn’t have a watch. She looked at for her cell phone for the time. Great. Cell phone. That was in her backpack. Which was…

     Not here.

     Okay.

     Her thinking became detached and methodical. Sarah found herself wishing she was taller. She wanted to tear that camera right off the ceiling. It would make her feel she was doing something. Yes. Destroy the camera.

     She moved to the center of the room. Deliberately, she set herself down and unlaced her right running shoe. Taking careful aim, she threw it at the camera with all of the strength she could muster.

     There was a satisfying cracking noise. The camera was bent sideways, but still on the ceiling. Standing up slowly and holding her aching head, she walked over and picked up her makeshift projectile. She walked carefully back to the center of the room and took aim again.

     Suddenly, the door opened.

     Sarah dropped her shoe and sprinted to the door, her shoe-less right foot slipping a little on the smooth floor. She crashed into someone in the doorway. The person grabbed her around the middle as Sarah tried to fight her way past. He grabbed her around the middle as she struggled fantastically, kicking and flailing the whole way. Whoever it was hefted her middle on one arm and tried to grab her arms with the other, and Sarah snapped her teeth at the offending hand. She missed. She lunged her head again. This time her teeth sunk right into his palm.

     “Yowch!”

      She was dropped on the floor, knocking the wind out of her while her assailant nursed the bite. Despite being breathless, Sarah leaped towards the door. The door was a heavy one; she saw it click closed by itself. Yanking the handle, her heart sank horribly.

     It was locked again.

     “No!” she mouthed, but there was no air in her lungs to make a sound. She pounded her fist on the door helplessly and sank to the floor.

     “Look at that, I’m bleeding,” her captor mused.

     Her lungs finally opened and filled with air. She gratefully took great gasps of it before she turned herself around to face her attacker.

For a moment she forgot her situation, so surprised was she at his appearance. She didn’t know what she had been expecting, but this wasn’t it.

     It was a teenage boy. He was only a little taller than she was, perhaps by two inches or so. He was wearing looses black pants and worn-looking black shoes, with a knee-length black coat over what looked like a grungy long-sleeved shirt. His messy jet-black hair hung in his eyes. It looked like it hadn’t been combed for days. His face was outrageously pale and contrasted sharply with his dark clothing. All of the black and white made him look like a character in an old black and white movie. Surprisingly, his stance wasn’t menacing or threatening at all.

     Most striking of all though, were his eyes. They were a shocking light blue, shining brilliantly past the hair that hung in front of them. They were electrifying. Sarah couldn’t decide what to make of them. They were a paradox, beautiful and sinister at the same time. Something clicked in the back of her brain. I’ve seen those eyes before.

     He stood there, sucking on the back of his palm, staring at her. The mesmerizing eyes regarded her with obvious amusement.

     “Well, you’re a scrappy little thing, aren’t you? Hope you don’t have rabies or anything…” He glanced at the broken camera. “Broke the camera, too, huh? Bob’s gonna be mad.”

     Sarah stared at him blankly.

     “Ah well, though.” He peered at his hand. It had stopped bleeding. “He’ll just have to buy another one. He doesn’t mind the buying part. Just the breaking part. Nothing’s been going right this week, you know. One thing after another breaks, or it doesn’t work or whatever. And now you broke the camera. I’ll tell you. Have you ever had a week like that? Where nothing seems to go right?”

     Sarah stared.

     “No? Don’t wanna talk. I see. That’s okay, don’t you worry about it.” He stooped down and picked up her shoe. “Yours?”

     She nodded dumbly.

     “Here.” He tossed it to her. She didn’t catch it. It bounced off her forehead and into her lap. She blinked.

     “Oops,” he said.

     She blinked again.

     “Sorry.”

     Blink.

     Sarah shook her head a little and put on her shoe, finally finding her voice. “Who…I mean, h-…what is going on here?”

     He opened his mouth to speak, when a voice came from out of no where.  

    “Jack, get a move on already.” 

 

 

 “Yeah.” He glared at a spot on the ceiling and Sarah saw a speaker there. The voice came from an intercom. Sarah wondered why she hadn’t seen it before. 

     “We don’t have all night, you know. Remember, a sudden significant emotional reaction is what we need.”

     “I remember, I’m not stupid,” he mumbled. He sighed. “Okay, okay…” He stroked his chin reflectively and his brow furrowed in thought. Sarah was about to say something when it happened.

     Seemingly from out of nowhere he pulled out two swords and charged right at her with a blood-curdling yell. Sarah’s mouth went totally dry and she could do nothing except close her eyes tight. In that split second, a burst of fear and adrenaline swept through her whole body and oddly, all she wanted to do was fight back. In that small moment she felt the need to fight back even though there was no way.     I don’t want to die.

     But the expected blow didn’t come. She wondered if perhaps is had come and she simply hadn’t felt it, and now she was dead.

     “Perfect,” she heard him mutter, “Wonderful. Hey, you can open your eyes now.”

     “…”

     “Helloooooooo? Can you hear me? Hello? …Bob, I think she fainted or something.” He gave a little laugh. “Nice.”

     Sarah opened her eyes cautiously and looked up. He stood nonchalantly with one sword resting over his shoulder and the tip of the other resting lightly on the floor. He peered at her curiously.

     “Oh, still conscious, are we? Good, good, good. Sorry about that, Scrappy, but as you might’ve heard, I needed a very big emotional reaction out of you. And that was the best way I could think of. Sorry.”

     She felt odd. Like something wasn’t quite right with her body. It felt…easier. Stronger, even. Like her muscles had been replaced with some kind of amazing fluid, and now she could move with grace, speed, and power. And something was itching by her shoulder blades.

     It was her body feeling relieved after a near-death experience, she realized. She opened her mouth to demand what was going on, when she took a closer look at the young man’s face.

     He was looking at her in an odd way, almost as though sizing her up. Those icy eyes were sweeping up and down and across her body, and it was this more than anything so far that made her most nervous. Finally, she managed to find her voice.

     “WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM, MAN?!!!” she bellowed, “What are you trying to do, kill me?! And stop looking at me like that. Right now. What, are you gonna eat me or something, ya crazy psycho?”

     “You couldn’t be further from the truth on both counts.” He started to twirl one of the swords nonchalantly, watching the white light reflect off the blade. “I am definitely not going to eat you. I wouldn’t try to kill you in a million years. In fact, I was sort of doing the opposite of killing you. You know what they say, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

     Sarah frowned.

     “You’re going to want a mirror to see this for yourself.” He placed both weapons in sheaths under his coat that Sarah hadn’t seen. So that’s where they came from.

He walked over, kneeled down, and placed it in her hand. “Take a look…and remember not to be mad at me.” He backed away, and for the first time, he seemed a little...nervous.

Sarah gave him an odd look. He was acting so strangely. Of course, he’d not exactly been acting normally from what she’d seen in the last five minutes or so. Maybe he has a split-personality disorder or something. She shook her head at him before she took a quick glance in the mirror.

     She gasped and dropped the mirror abruptly, horrified.

Her heart beat quickly as she pulled strands of her hair in front of her eyes. It was purple. Her hair was purple and white. Her shaking hands moved frantically from her, to her back, near the shoulder blades, where she had felt the itching before.

      It hadn’t been an illusion. They were there. She had seen them in the mirror and regarded them as a trick of the light or something. But…

      Wings. Huge, purple, bat-like wings.

     She sat dumbfounded for a moment before she turned her gaze on the young man standing only a few feet from her. She tried to sort out her emotions and realized that there was only one emotion overpowering the rest.

     She was angry. Very, very angry.

     “YOU!” she screeched, and jumped at him, not entirely sure what she intended to do.

      “Hey, I said not to be mad at me!” he yelped, and grabbed her in self-defense. In a few skillful movements, he had twisted her right arm behind her back and secured her head in a headlock. She struggled and squirmed without any thought to what she was doing, kicking her legs out in all directions in a blind rage. With a burst of energy, she tried to pull her arm from his grasp. He was surprisingly weak. Weaker than he had seemed a few minutes ago, anyway. Her wrist started to slide from his hand when something came over him, and he grabbed it tighter. In fact, his whole body stiffened and seemed to become stronger in a split second. She wiggled some more, but he didn’t budge.

      “Promise to be good…!” he whispered in her ear, a little teasingly.

     She threw her leg back to try and kick him between the legs. She missed. Somewhat amused, he lifted her higher off the ground until her face started turning a nasty shade of purple from lack of oxygen.

     “Come on…” he hissed.

     Sarah wiggled one more time before making a little gurgling noise in her throat. He seemed to take that as a “yes”, and promptly dropped her on the floor. She gasped for breath and looked up at him with defiance in her eyes.

      Defiance quickly changed to shock. Somehow, he had changed.

     “Huh.” He smiled and pretended to dues himself off. “You really are scrappy, aren’t you?” He shot her a grin, obviously pleased with her apparent shock.

     He too now had wings. They were positively massive in size, and the darkest ebony in color. His hair, though still black, had white streaks running through it. And he had a tail. It was a demonic-looking black thing; she had barely noticed it since it hung next to his leg and almost blended in with his clothing.

      “What the-” Strangely, Sarah found herself more curious than anything else, her anger melting away. On an impulse she checked around her feet for something of the same nature. She found it, all right. There was a purple tail hanging by her legs that she had somehow missed before. Sarah closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing.

     “Okay! You’re taking this well, considering...” he said brightly, clapping his hands together. “Down to business, shall we? I’ll bet that you’d love an explanation. I would. OK. All I ask is that you not panic and keep quiet while I talk. This is going to be a little hard to swallow, but bear with me, OK?”

     (RRRR…I HATE THIS PART. I’m not gonna write it at the moment until I figure out a way to make it seem un-lame. SUMMARY: She’s a weapon, Bob made her, magic exists, she works for him now, she goes into denial, then accepts it, blah blah blah.)

     “C’mon.” He motioned for her to follow him. “I’ll take you home”

     She followed him out the door.

In the little part of her mind that was still thinking rationally, she wondered why it was so easy for her to trust Jack. He was friendly, sure, but he had abducted her, for Christ’s sake. Yet, somehow she felt like it was ok. Her gut told her she could trust him. But, hey, it’s not so strange when you compare it to all of the other stuff that’s happened today.

She followed him in a daze through endless white corridors, everything going by in a blur. After 2 flights of stairs, they stopped at steel door. Jack pressed a yellow button on the wall and the door opened. They walked through into a beautifully plush room with hardwood floors and expensive-looking rugs. Sarah glanced behind her as the door closed behind them, disguised into the wall.

      “Yeah, I know.” Jack smiled. “A secret passage to a secret lab in an eccentric millionaire’s mansion. Great, isn’t it?”

     “I’m not going to give him any points for originality.” She surprised herself by smiling back.

     They reached the front door after countless other well-furnished rooms. A thin, well-dressed balding man of about 40 was waiting for them. He wore glasses that made his eyes look far bigger than they really were.

     Sarah blinked, surprised. “You’re Bob?” she blurted out.

     He scoffed. “Who did you expect? It is my house.”

     “I don’t know, I thought, maybe…a chauffeur?”

     He chuckled. “Oh, please. I’m not that spoiled.”

     Jack coughed.

      “Well, maybe. The only thing that’s kept me from getting a chauffeur is my love for driving.” He jingled the keys in his pocket.

As they stepped outside, Sarah looked behind her at the building she had just exited and blinked in surprise. She had seen this building before. It was just west of Cardinal Park, not far from her own home.

     “Bob? Bob Lacy? That’s who you are?

     “Of course.”

     The Lacys were probably the richest family in the whole city. They frequently hosted ballroom parties at their elegant mansion; Sarah had been to a few. She wondered why she hadn’t recognized any of it while she was inside. Now she could recall a few she’d been in. The entrance hall, the east corridor…Sarah shook her head. I’m really out of it.

     She followed Jack and Bobto a beautiful sports car parked right in front. Sarah didn’t know cars, but she could see that is was a nice car. She stared at it apprehensively.

     “Get in, stupid little girl, it won’t bite you.” Bob made an impatient noise in his throat.

     “Hey, back off, Baldy,” she barked back aggressively, jumping in the back seat, muttering. “I hope I’m getting mud all over your damn upholstery.”

     Bob blinked, speechless.

     “She’s…sensitive.” Jack chuckled. “I never thought I’d meet someone as impatient and bad-tempered as you, but…” he shrugged. “Well, there you are.”

     “It’s just on the other side of the park.” Sarah directed as they pulled past the security guard at the front gate.

     “We know,” Bob said from behind the wheel.

     “You…know?”

     “Yeah, I said we’d been watching you, didn’t I? I’d have to count myself as a pretty poor shadow if I couldn’t even find out where you live,” Jack said. “Oh, by the way, your stuff should be in the other seat.”

     Sarah glanced over and saw her backpack in the other passenger seat. Frowning, she hefted it onto her lap and rummaged through the front packet until she found her cell phone. She peered at the time.

     “7:45?! How long was I out?!” She glared sourly at the back of Jack’s head. “Did you have to hit me so hard?”

     “Sorry.” He glanced back at her over his shoulder. “I’d keep this whole thing a secret from your parents, okay? Especially your dad.”

     “Oh?”

      “No parent would ever hear a story like that and say, ‘Well, gee whiz hun, that sounds great, I support your decision.’ No, they’re gonna call the police on us first thing.”

     “I wasn’t going to, anyway,” Sarah muttered, even though she’d been thinking about it.

     “All right,” Bob said as he stopped in front of the building that housed Sarah’s family. “Meet Jack outside the old monument in the park tomorrow morning around 9:00, you guys take a walk over, and I’ll tell you more. Get a good night’s sleep; you’ve got some training to do tomorrow.” He cast a critical eye over her. “You’re mean enough, but you have no physical skill to back it up.”

     “Gee, thanks.” She kicked open her door and stepped onto the sidewalk.

     “See you later!” Jack called as she slammed the door.

     As Bob drove away, Jack watched her disappear through the double doors. He chuckled to himself. “Purple, huh?”

     Nick Preston glanced up from his after-dinner cup of coffee at the sound of a key scrabbling in the lock. He raised his eyebrows as his only daughter entered.

     “You’re a little late.”

     “Oh…” She hesitated for a moment. “Yeah, actually, I had to help some kids with a group history project. Sorry I didn’t call.”

     “It’s okay.”

     “Where’s Mom?”

      “Oh, I don’t know.” He took a sip from his mug. “Picking up your brother by now, I guess.”

      Her father was tall and in fairly good shape for a man of his age, with the same blonde hair that he shared with his two children. He had a short mustache that she always playfully teased him about shaving off.

      “I’m, uh…I’m pretty tired, so, I’m going to go to bed, alright?”

     “This early?”

     “I’m tired.”

     He shrugged. “Okay.”

      She let her backpack fall on the floor of her room and flopped on the bed, not bothering to change into pajamas. Strangely, she wasn’t tired. She blinked and stared at the ceiling fan. Countless emotions stirred in the pit of her stomach like a melting pot.

     It was a long time before she fell asleep. 

     She was fighting. There was no end to the shadows around her, so she kept fighting. There was no time to stop. She kept swinging a sword and killed shadow after shadow until someone tried to stop her and she killed him too. As she attacked, she realized that she was laughing and crying at the same time. 

Reviews

[Jason Young]

I thought it was extremely written, and it had so much potential- and bam! Suddenly, we've got purple hair and bat wings. I can't speak for others, but this is a little too fantastic to be faintly realistic- a letdown after you so carefully developed the realistic beginning. Maybe your plot device will work a lot better once you get that explanation finished- right now, I'm not feeling this whole "magic creation" thing.

But as for your actual writing style, I'd say that it's absolutely superb! You have such a knack of creating images in the reader's mind, and bringing to life (well, most of it) the realism and authenticity of these characters and situations.

[Jenny Ge]

I love it! You have a talent for writing details without getting boring.