Hi, thanks for reading my story. Due to publication this story is now a sample size only. If you would like a digital copy you can find one at Amazon, Smashwords, iBooks, Kobo and Barnes and Noble
Copyright © 2015 by Sandra Corton
ISBN: 978-0-6480239-2-0
All rights reserved.
Published by Sandra Corton
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any forms or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cover Design by Marianne Nowicki
Chapter 1
Kale's POV
It happened at a normal dinner one night. I went from being completely fine with being different to hating it. Nothing unusual started it, I had just been laughing at Xander and Matilda's antics when it struck me. I was different, I didn't fit in here and I never had.
I knew that of course but it wasn't until that moment that I felt so profoundly affected by it. I wondered what had changed but glancing around to my family it seemed that nothing had, only me. Dad set me an odd look as though he sensed the change but I just shrugged.
"Kale come in here for a minute." Dad called to me as I went to walk past his office after the fateful dinner. I tried to act casual as I walked through the door but my Dad knew me too well for that.
"Hey Dad what's wrong?" I asked as I plastered a fake grin on my face.
"Don't try that Kale." Dad sent me one of those looks that I swear he learnt off Mum. It mesmerised you into telling him everything, yet it didn't even require a spell. "Tell me what happened."
"I haven't got a clue. One second everything was fine and then it wasn't." I told him, the confusion evident in my voice.
"That's all it was?" Dad asked in surprise.
"Pretty much." I said with another shrug.
"Is everything okay in here my boys?" Mum poked her head in with a smile.
"I'm not sure Leena." Dad answered as he gestured for her to enter.
"Tell me what's going on?" She said as she sat next to Dad and looked at me with eyes identical to mine.
"Something changed in me at dinner. I get the feeling that I'm not supposed to be here anymore." I replied while still trying to pinpoint what had actually occurred.
"Not supposed to be where?" Dad asked with a frown.
"Here." I waved my hand at Dads obliviousness. "In Argonia." I told him which made him pinch his brow.
"Kale you can't live on earth permanently, you never spent enough time there when you were younger." Mum said softly and a bit sadly.
"Do you think I don't know that already?" I replied in exasperation.
"Back up for just one moment and explain how you know you're not supposed to be here anymore?" Dad asked his face serious.
"I don't know but I never fit here that well anyway." I looked around the room as I admitted it, not daring to look at either of their faces.
"What do you mean Kale?" Mum asked with concern etched in her voice.
"Surely you can see it. I'm different, I've always been different. I'm not like Tilda or Xander. I don't belong here." I finished on a whisper, afraid to hear what my parents would say.
"You truly believe that don't you Kale?" Dad asked his voice low and a bit intimidating. I forced myself to look at him, not looking forward to the disappointment on his face.
"Yes I do." I told him truthfully. He let out a sigh, pinched his brow and looked at me again.
"Then come to work for me on earth. You will have to make your timings perfect so you don't get earth sickness." Dad offered me.
I felt my heart almost burst out of my chest. This was what I needed. I had to escape the confines that Argonia held me in so tightly. I would be free.
"Yes I will work out the timings. That would be great Dad thanks." I stood up excitedly and almost ran from the room.
"Do you really think that's a good idea Hayden?" I heard my Mum ask from as far as my bedroom.
"I don't know love. He's been struggling for a while now and I have watched him gradually get worse. Perhaps this will be exactly what he needs." Dad answered and I let out a sigh of relief that he wasn't changing his mind.
Sometimes super hearing was such an awesome talent! That was until I heard my sister and Xander going at it all the way from across the Ambassador complex. Then I groaned and tried to drown the pair of them out.
I was jealous I know. I had wanted what they had my whole life. They have had each other from the day they were born and then there was me. I always tagged along and tried to be included but the bond those two had always left me on the outside.
I made the executive decision to step back and try not to be so in their faces. That was of course the moment I knew I wasn't like any other Argonians. I can't even explain the how or why of it. I just knew it was the truth.
Mum and Dad don't understand everything. I've never told them about knowing I was different until today. The truth is I've never understood it either.
I remember when Tilda came back to life; it feels like so long ago now. She said some things to me, while she was still a growing child that baffled me at the time but felt so right. She told me the Goddess was not the reason I existed. Which I have always questioned with why the hell am I here then? Surely if the Goddess thought I wasn't supposed to be here then I shouldn't be. The question that followed of course was if I didn't belong here then where was I supposed to be?
I was determined to let go of these impossible thoughts of mine. Instead I tried to focus on what tomorrow might bring. Tomorrow was my chance to let Argonia go and embrace a whole new world. To me that was an exciting prospect.
Crossing through the Gate that day and into the old cottage in Dundoon seemed to take forever. I was impatient for my new life to begin. When we finally arrived I was almost bouncing with excitement.
I saw Mary as soon as we walked through. I waved at her and smiled. I was surprised when all she did was frown. She was normally the friendliest and definitely the oldest person known to exist on Argonia. When a strange gong went off Dad and I looked around while Mary sighed looking impossibly sad. She directed her gaze at me and I felt apprehensive.
"I should have guessed it would be a Johnson." She said on another sigh.
"Is something wrong Mary?" Dad asked as the woman continued to stare at me.
"It depends. It could be right or it could be wrong. Who knows?" She muttered to herself. "Right you two stay here I have to go and retrieve something."
She disappeared then making Dad and I look at each other curiously. When we had waited five minutes, I wondered what was taking so long. Once it reached a good half hour I pondered if it was really that important. Roger tottered in then with a tray of tea and some rather scrumptious looking biscuits.
"Mary sends her apologies. She seems to have misplaced what she was after." Roger said as he gestured for them to be seated which they did.
"I hope she won't be too much longer. I did have meetings planned today." Dad said into the quiet.
"Hayden this may not seem like a big deal yet but I can tell you that this is far more important than any meeting you have planned." Roger said and Dads eyes popped open in surprise.
"Well in that case I am happy to wait." Dad answered.
I pondered over Roger's words as they continued to talk. What could be more important than Dads meeting? So a gong went off that was different to the one that normally sounded, what could that possibly mean? The look that Mary gave me though still made me want to shiver. She knew something about me that I had no clue of, I was sure of that.
"Right well I finally found it my lovelies! Sorry it took so long." Mary walked back into the room triumphantly with water dripping from every inch of her.
"See I told you it was in the sea dragon's pool." Roger said smugly while Mary sent him a look of loving disdain.
"Yes of course it was." Mary told Roger dryly before she turned to me. "I hate to put this burden on you lad. As it was foretold....so I must obey." Mary told me astutely.
"I don't understand." I murmured.
"You will all in good time and then you may regret this turn of events." Mary told me mysteriously as she handed me a chain with a round, incredibly ugly jewel hanging from it.
"So what do I do with this?" I asked.
As I touched the jewel a gong once again echoed around the room. This one was loud enough as to be almost deafening, especially to my sensitive ears. Mary and Roger both looked at me sadly, their grim expressions not boding well for me at all.
"It is definitely you lad." Mary said letting out a long breath.
"What about me? I don't think I understand." I muttered in confusion.
"I had hoped never to have to pass this on but it seems I cannot change the events." Mary said as she clasped her rather bony hands around my cheeks. "Calm lad." She told me but that didn't help at all. In fact all of this had me wanting to panic.
"What is going on?" I muttered looking up into her warm but resolute eyes.
"Look into my eyes and see the truth." She told me honestly.
I did as she asked and felt the world tip me upside down. Nausea engulfed me as I heard her say words that I couldn't understand in ancient Argonian. Colours flared around me as I seemed to flow from side to side before becoming upright again.
"Ow crud what in the hel just happened?" I groaned as I clamped my hands over my ringing ears.
"The truth is now instilled in you." Mary patted me awkwardly on the back before standing upright.
"I still don't get it." I told her as she looked even sadder.
"That jewel I gave you is important."
I looked down expecting to see an ugly jewel and a disgusting old chain. I gasped at the beauty of the jewellery in my hands. It was exquisite. The chain was now bright gold while the hanging pendant was pure white which seemed to glow internally.
"How?" I murmured.
"Kale focus." Mary demanded so I turned to her. "You must wear the jewel at all times. When that jewel turns pink you must come and see me straight away. You must bring whoever is in the room with you as well. Do you understand?"
"Not really?" I mumbled still puzzled by everything going on.
"Kale repeat what I just said." Mary snapped her fingers in front of my face.
"Must wear jewel. Jewel goes pink must see you and bring whoever is with me." My voice came out in a hypnotic daze as I dropped the chain around my neck.
"Good it worked, you won't forget." She stayed firmly.
"That is all you may continue on with your day." She swished us away but I had so many questions that I didn't move.
"No I need some answers." I told her and she sighed.
"You will get them with time Kale, I can promise you that. You will find out things you wish you never knew." Mary replied as she once again pointed us out of the room.
I let her this time. My mind was full of everything that had just occurred and I needed to process it. Dad shook my arm snapping me from the daze I was in. He looked rather worried over everything as he stared between the jewel around my neck and my eyes.
"Do you want for talk about that?" He asked me when we entered the Ambassador complex on earth.
"Not yet, I'm not sure what to say." I told him as I fingered the jewel around my neck. "I know I'm supposed to come here to help you work but would you mind if I just go for a walk?" I asked needing some fresh air in my lungs.
"No Kale I understand. Actually would you go and get a coffee for me? There's a place near here." He handed me a picture of a park with a big city at its back.
"Do you want me to blink and zap there?" I asked him with a frown and he nodded.
"Walk through the park and clear your head then find the coffee shop and bring me back an espresso. Here is what earth people exchange for goods and services." He handed me some strange looking discs and pieces of paper.
"Okay and you want an expressooo?" I asked my moth jumbling up the strange word. Dad just smiled at me.
"Espresso Kale and put that money in your pocket or you'll get yourself mugged."
"Dad what the hell is espresso, money or mugged? That made no sense to me at all." I asked in exasperation.
It seemed these humans were a lot more complicated than I had previously thought. I know I should have paid more attention in my earth studies class but it was so damn boring that I could barely stay awake. Plus I thought I'd never need it. Argonia was my home and I was happy there, well at least until last night. Dad grinned at me but outlined the words he had meant. I frowned still not really understanding. But so far my morning had been full of that.
"And for the Goddess's sake Kale don't use your magic unless you are in a heap of trouble." Was Dads last warning and I nodded as though I knew what he meant.
I guess I really hadn't spent enough time on earth. I'd forgotten they had very little magic. A lot like Teturia used to be before Matilda died and made their magic reappear with her rebirth. So no magic, weird things to use for purchasing an espresso and see the park. That doesn't sound too hard right?
I zapped to the park and made my first mistake, I had zapped into the open. A few people noticed me, their mouths gaping open as they stared at me. Awkward moment number two came when I realised they were then staring at my eyes. Yep a guy with violet eyes isn't seen too often on earth, I guessed. I walked straight past the people as I muttered a quick spell to adjust my eyes to be the same as my Dads brown.
These people were odd I realised. I saw people running because they seemingly wanted to. Some were walking these fluffy looking creatures that smelled bad and panted a lot. Give me a Corn any day; at least you could get a conversation out of them.
The buildings though, they had me incredibly shocked with their strange, rectangular shapes. Then there was a tiny building that someone was pushing around that smelt like food but looked like nothing I had ever seen before.
I stared around me in amazement as someone walked by with music coming from their ears. Then another talked into what looked like a flat piece of metal. Who in Goddesses name were they talking too? I was completely baffled by what was going on in this place. It didn't help that my super hearing was making every noise deafening.
Then amongst all that other human stuff going on I heard it, I heard her. The voice was sweet, melodious and beautiful. It had my heart racing and my nerves thrumming. I just knew I had to find out who this person was.
At the last minute I found out that cars, which are huge rumbling machines, drive on those black strips of what they call road. The man in the car abused me but I had much bigger things that needed my attention. I had to find her. Trying to focus on her voice became harder so I figured I was walking in the wrong direction. I turned automatically and bumped into a lady with some children.
"Crap I'm so sorry." I said as I quickly retrieved the parcels I had made her drop.
"Not from around here?" The woman smiled at me and I nodded politely. "May I ask what you're looking for?"
"Um the coffee shop?" I asked hesitantly.
"Oh go and see Ellie dear, she makes the best coffee." The woman gushed while I was left with a strange feeling in my chest at the name she mentioned.
"May I ask where that is?" I asked and she happily gave me directions.
As I followed what she had told me, the voice became clearer again. The voice laughed and it was light, wonderful and making me feel giddy. I rounded another corner to find a quaint little cake store. It looked so welcoming that I wanted to walk right in.
I stopped though because there she was. The world stopped spinning around me and all I saw was her. Chestnut curls bounced against a delicate face that made my heart stutter. Her slim but curvy figure was wrapped in a rather Argonian type dress with a frilly apron on top. What had me mesmersied was the intense blue of those eyes.
I knew then that I was in deep trouble. Deeper than magic could ever get me out of. I had finally found my life bond. She stood on the other side of the window seemingly a world away. Smiling and laughing joyfully at something someone had said. My heart clenched, my body warmed and responded to her presence. I was severely screwed; my life bond was a human.
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So Argonia has returned!!! I hope you enjoy Kale's story so far. Have an awesome day :)