Prologue
The young
Native American knelt down and grabbed a fist full of dirt looking up at the
white man standing before her, and she slowly released the dirt from the palm
of her hand.
“Just
as the dirt from my palm drifts away in the air, so will the things that
torment this earth. But before that must
happen, one with a strong heart must pick these things up, and then let them
go.” As the dirt reduced to nothing the
man looked into her palm and noticed that only a golden chain was left. She opened her hand and inside attached to
the chain was a blue gem that glowed brilliantly when the sun hit its
translucent glossy surface. She reached
for his hand, grabbed it, opened it, and placed it in his palm. As soon as the gem hit his hand it gave one
last strong glow, and then dimmed to a small dark shimmer.
The
Indian woman looked him in the eye, a sad glint to hers.
“Never
let this leave your blood. For the
warrior I speak of, will descend from your line of people.” She turned around and walked off, never to be
seen again. The man placed the necklace around his neck and turned around. That week he died of mysterious causes, no
one knew what he would jump at, what he would scream about, why he looked so
restless. He was crazy, the town’s
people said, and that was that. No one
would have known any better. The
necklace was given to his eldest son, and from that day, each eldest child was
given that same necklace, and the same terrible sickness.
Chapter
1
A loud screeching noise met my ear and I
flipped over in bed, flinging my hand to my side table desperately trying to
mute the horrible noise.
“Where
is it? Where the heck is it?” I thought to myself. I opened one eye, and realized that my alarm
clock had been moved… was being moved.
“What?”
I rubbed my eyes confused as my alarm clock floated away from me. As it made its way to my door I realized
just what it was.
“Latte!
Wha- why do you have my- aaahhhhh!” I
jumped out of bed and rushed over to where my Golden Retriever mix was begging
to be let out with the alarm clock in her mouth. I pressed the snooze button
and pried open her jaws, retrieving the time telling machine which warned me I
only had an hour to get ready for school.
I
walked over to my window and opened my blinds letting the sunlight shine into
my room. It hit my bare arms and legs
and I felt the warmth spread over me. I
took a deep breath in, watched as the birds flew and sung, and smiled. Today
was going to be an amazing day.
“Hey
mom!” I said walking out into the kitchen of my one story house. She was
dressed in exercise clothes, and had the just-got-out-of-bed look.
“Hey
sweetie. Wash your face, I’ll be back to take you to school soon.” She was just leaning down to click the leash
on our excited dog, more than ready to go for a jog. This was Lattes highlight of the day. I rolled my eyes at my mom’s twice a day
comment and watched her leave the house quiet and happy. I grabbed a bowl from the cupboard, poured a
just-right mound of cereal and milk and began to munch on some Captain Crunch.
My
parent’s door slowly creaked open and I looked over. My dad came shuffling out. He and I exchanged not much more than a smile
and a hug and I was off to my room to figure out what I was going to wear for
the day.
As
I closed my door I looked at myself in the mirror. I wore a long hoodie that said “Topeka
Kansas” on it and went down a little above mid-thigh. My reddish-brown hair was
messy but had grown down past my shoulder blades, and last I
examined my face. Acne spotted my cheeks
and I sighed. It seemed like forever
since I had smooth cheeks, and I wanted nothing more than to see flawless skin
yet again. But until that happened, I
tried my best to cover up these marks on my face with make-up, one thing I
wished I didn't need. My greenish-blue
eye’s stared back at me, they were soft, but as soon as sunlight hit them they
popped and became intense.
I
walked over to my closet and glanced inside.
“Hm…”
I thought, grabbing a turquoise crop top, long sleeve shirt with glow in the
dark monster eyes wearing nerd glasses on the front. I took off my hoodie and slipped on a black
tank top and the shirt over my head walking over to my dresser and taking out a
black pair of shorts. I put them on and
brushed out my hair, straightening it quickly and putting on make-up.
My
back pack sat packed and ready by my door and I picked it up, flung it over my
shoulder and was ready to go.
As
I walked through the hallways of the school, I melted into the side of the
walls and tried my best to hide from anyone and everyone. And with the exception of my two best
friends who seemed to find me no matter how invisible I pretended to be… and one
boy who seemed to slip in and out of the shadows, avoiding me when I saw him
and watching me when I didn’t, I did pretty good! I was new to the school this year. Silver Creek High was not the average high
school, I figured that much out the first day that I stepped foot on the
ceramic tile flooring. But I wasn’t sure
if everyone here had their own personal stalker or whether I just seemed to
attract this young man’s attention.
Either way I kept my mouth shut.
I told myself I was just seeing things like the rest of my family had
been for generations, and willed to keep my mouth shut until I was really in
danger.
Grasping
the necklace around my neck I pressed on through the crowds of chattering kids
and walked to my first period class unnoticed.
