The Guardian Children (book 1) [SAMPLE]

Chapter 1

Next update: Friday, July 18th 

~!@#$%^&*()_+

It occurred to me when I heard the third knock on my bedroom door that maybe I wasn’t going to make it to the ending in time. But Petra was this close to discovering the Cave of Wonders; I couldn’t miss that.

“Hey longhair,” Katherine’s indulgent voice called from the other side of that door. “You’ve been holed up in there since morning. Time to get out and at least make it in time to watch the sunset.”

The nickname was responsible for almost breaking my concentration, because I hated it so much. I wasn’t an intellectual person by any means; my grades were average, and that was without much trying on my part. But for Katherine, whom I barely ever saw pick up a book, reading as frequently and for as long as I regularly did qualified me for the nickname. I didn’t like it; I only saw it as another word for “hippie”. Not that I had anything against hippies, I just didn’t have any desire to be one.

I was almost at the best part of the story anyway, so I decided to keep going just a bit longer. I huffed and sprawled my legs out beneath the leopard printed covers. I laid on my side and held the book down on the mattress, since my wrists were protesting from the weight.

My bed had been my favorite reading spot since we moved, although I could have sat down anywhere in my bedroom. It hadn’t taken me long to get used to it; the bed was actually bigger than any I’ve ever slept in, definitely bigger than the one at the orphanage at least, which is where I’ve slept most of my nights. The walls were a neutral cream color but I’d taken the liberty to stick as many posters of book covers up there as I could find, and there was barely any space of naked wall.

The room itself was kind of small, to be honest, but I preferred it that way. If felt safe with everything pushed together. The second most important furniture in my room was the overflowing bookshelves on my study desk. Storing books is about the only thing I ever used that for. I hadn’t exactly had the chance to use it to study yet, since it’s still summer. Not that I’m going to, at least not as much as I should; just enough to satisfy Katherine and not feel guilty that she bought it for me.

But the single most important thing for me in this room was my bed, the spot I used the most in the entire house, even more than the living room couch or the kitchen table. My favorite part about it was that it had a headrest parallel to the ground, which I used as yet another shelf, but this one for my music stuff. Underneath it was where I stored my skateboard with all its safety stuff that I hadn’t used since I got them.

“Cody,” Katherine called again for the fourth time. “We have to get going now if we want to make it in time for the fireworks show.”

I sighed grumpily. “I don’t even like fireworks.” I hated it when someone interrupted my reading time. It makes me defensive.

“Well too bad,” she replied. “You promised you would make an effort to get out more, or else I’d have to take all your books away and not buy you new ones for a month.”

Reluctantly, I left the warmth of my bed with a groan. “But I really don’t want to go to some stupid carnival. Can’t we go see a movie or something?”

Opening the door, I found my 22 year old foster mother standing there with her arms crossed and one hip cocked to the side, an amused grin on her face.

“No, we can’t, because that doesn’t require any effort and is no different than watching television at home.”

“But technically, it counts as going out.”