Born of Shadow - Book 1 (complete)

Chapter 1

Click the YouTube video above for a song that fits this chapter so well.

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La Mesa, Southern California
Two Years Later

"That's strange," Kami's mother said as she brought in the mail and handed her a brown package bound with what must be an entire roll of packing tape and tied with twine.

"What are you talking about?" Kami asked, then she looked at the return address and she knew. Her hands trembled as she traced the names. Ahmed and Layla Hassri, her grandparents.

To be honest, she hadn't been sure they knew she existed. They had never tried to contact her, not with a phone call or email, or even a letter. She wondered why, after all these years, they had sent a package.

To make matters more mysterious, the package had been postmarked 23 days before. It had arrived today, on her seventeenth birthday. What were the odds?

She knew of her grandparents, of course. Her father had told her many stories of his childhood in Egypt, but he rarely mentioned his parents. They were just vague ghosts hovering in the background. She'd loved curling up in bed begging for just one more story, until he became too weak and emaciated to tell them anymore. Cancer. The ugly disease stole away her best friend. If she'd known the story her gentle and kind Baba was telling her would be his last, she would never have let him stop.

When her Baba, a handsome Egyptian attending school at the American University in Cairo, had fallen in love with her mother, a pretty American studying abroad, her grandparents had rejected the match. Kami didn't know the whole story, only that some bad feelings had developed, and, as a result, her father and her grandparents had cut off ties completely when he'd moved to America with his bride. Kami had been born a few years later. They'd named her Kamilah, after one of her father's favorite cousins.

She turned the package over in her hands. What could be inside? She almost felt guilty receiving it. She wasn't sure she wanted anything to do with the people who'd rejected her father. They weren't family. They were strangers. They hadn't even come to her father's funeral.

"Aren't you going to open it?" her mother asked. She looked into her mother's curious eyes.

"Maybe later," she said. Her mother opened her mouth, but then shut it, as if she'd changed her mind about whatever she was going to say. Kami felt relieved since she didn't feel like explaining her complicated feelings. She wondered if her father would have wanted her to open the package. It was a foreign thought. He had been dead so many years that she rarely wondered any more what he would want. She wished she could ask him what had happened all those years ago.

She had always been caught between two worlds, at least in looks. Her American and Egyptian blood had formed almond shaped brown eyes framed by sooty long lashes, prominent cheekbones, full lips, skin dark enough to indicate she wasn't white, but light enough to confuse people. Back in her awkward years, she'd been teased because she looked different.

She opened the bulky wardrobe that served as her closet. She'd picked it up for cheap at a yard sale, sanded off the putrid yellow paint and repainted it a gorgeous spring green. Inside were her precious clothes that she had earned by making countless beds, washing countless windows, and vacuuming countless floors, back during a good period when her mother took her house cleaning with her. Back before her mother got fired, again.

The clothes gave Kami normalcy, or the appearance of it anyway. Most of the kids she went to school with came from families with money, and the last thing she wanted was to play another round of kick Kami around. She knew race wasn't the only difference kids fixated on. Poverty was another, and she was striking out two for two. Nothing screamed poor like threadbare clothes. She could already imagine the "imaginative" names they'd stick her with-trailer trash or something.

Kami pulled on a white t-shirt and a pair of shorts, then slid on her running shoes and tied them. Maybe a good run would clear her mind.

Moving to southern California had been a welcome change. There was a large enough Hispanic and Arab population that she didn't seem like a novelty, like she had in Mariposa. They'd moved to La Mesa the summer she'd turned 14 so her mother could get another "fresh start" cleaning houses for the sister of her previous employer who owned a rental company. By then, Kami had figured out the high school social structure. She had spent all her summer job money on a new wardrobe and makeup and learned how to use them. She had received plenty of positive attention at the new school. Instead of strange, her foreign looks were now exotic. It had been work, of course. Taming her hair into long sleek locks had been a pain. Learning to use makeup hadn't come easy either. She blushed to think about the eye shadow she'd caked on at first. And mascara? What a joke!

By now she had her look down. She thought it had been worth it to be validated by the other kids. At the time it had hurt to not feel accepted. How funny to look back and remember how much it had mattered to her. After everything she'd been through lately, she couldn't seem to muster enough energy to care.

Kami opened the door and skipped down the sagging steps that led to their rundown trailer. The gravel crunched beneath her feet as she crossed the lawn, though it would be kind of a stretch to call the rocky patch with the occasional scraggly cactus a "lawn."

She stretched her arms, shoulders, and legs. Her reluctant muscles relaxed, and she could feel her body loosening up. This was her favorite time of the day.

She set off on her familiar running path, past Rosa's house and Mr. Delancy's place, past Mrs. Freeman's trailer, who was out leaning on her walker and gathering her mail. Kami waved and left the trailer park. Her feet thudded against the ground.

The birds chirped, and the trees gently swayed. She didn't live far from the orange orchards, and her feet automatically moved in that direction. It was her favorite run during the spring bloom with the light, citrusy perfume wafting from the white blossoms. Now, with the baby oranges maturing on the trees it didn't smell quite as heavenly, but it was still a beautiful route.

The sun warmed her body. She could feel a sweat break out on her forehead. It was going to be a hot day. In the distance, Kami could see craggy views of Mt. Helix and the stirring neighborhoods of La Mesa.

She felt unusually restless. Generally running helped her relax, but today it seemed to have the opposite effect. Her traitorous mind kept turning the package over and over, teasing her with a desire to rip it open and examine its contents.

Kami tried to turn her thoughts. School had been out for a week and she still hadn't heard back from Pet Palace if she got the job she applied for. She hoped so. It would be a long boring summer otherwise, if the past week was any indication.

She thought of the package again and sighed. Her mind was like a moth drawn to a flame. She couldn't shake the thought. It was as if the package was whispering to her to open it.

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Dedicated to BeautifulGoddes because she loves Egypt and she was the first to comment on my story. Thanks girl!

Hmm, curious about the package? :) I hope you had fun reading this chapter. Let me know what you thought. I love getting feedback. If you enjoyed it, please vote by clicking on the star. Until next time...