Jack Prologue Part 2

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I was 7 years old when my grandmother died and left me alone in that cold, quiet house. I was 7 when I first decided to run away. The gardener’s shed at the edge of our property was as far as my short weak legs could carry me. I wanted to hide there overnight but the door was locked so I climbed in through the small, side window.

When my feet hit the ground I knew I wasn’t in the shed.

It was big and empty. What should have been wood was concrete and dirt and tall iron bars…

“Where did you come from?” A small, meek voice asked. “Who are you?”

I turned to the voice, to the  corner of the room farthest from the light that shone beyond the bars, the darkest corner.

I straightened my posture, clasped my hands behind my back and beamed my brightest smile, the way Grandmother told my was best for making friends. “I’m Adela Montaigne! I came from my parents yard through a window on the gardener’s shed.” I pointed up to where the window should have been, but there was nothing but a wall.

The source of the voice, a small grubby looking boy, crawled out of the shadows towards me. “Your eyes are Dull.”

I remember feeling insulted but I don’t remember how I responded or much of what was said afterwards. I know at some point I learned that his name is Keiran, that he was being kept there for reasons he didn’t know, and that he was from a world called Faekrin, full of magic and danger.

I don’t know how but I eventually got convinced to go home. I found a spot in the wall that my hand disappeared into, the way home. I wanted to bring Keiran with me but he couldn’t go through the “window”.

But I came back for him.

Almost every day for 9 years.

He told me about Faekrin.

I told him about Earth.

He taught me magic I taught him anything I could to pay him back.

Almost every day for 9 years.

My best friend from another world.

Nine years until one day that I went through the portal and he wasn’t there…