Oh my, Noelle is BACK!
After a long break due to a slight out-of-control incident on the internet (no comments necessary) I am BACK! I'm sorry I took so long, my mistake! I'm keeping all my wonderful readers from reading!
What did you guys get for Christmas? I got a new Nerf gun (yay), a furbie (I will remind those who want one: they have no off button) and I got a real, compound bow and a quiver with five bronze colored arrows! AWESOME!!! (sorry, I couldn't track down the photos!)
I have been steadily creating my own language, because I am ABOVE english (actually, I just wanted to. Inspired by Frindle). I really like making dialogs in Kalik, and decided to give you one. In here. Boom.
1: Onna frada!
2: Ina!
1: Iya notre yinsin, a Iya ben buen huning da anyos. Pao dine pan'ya gult freit zein.
2: Yün.
Actually it was longer, but I shortened it for you poor people. It was twenty lines or so.
Translation:
1: Hello [formal] friend!
2: Hello! [informal*]
1: I like you, but I (am) very busy haying (the) animals. Please with your permission [formal**], move out (of the) way.
2: Yes.
*This is really rude. Onna is the formal word for hello, and Ina is the informal. If you met some one who said onna as a sign of respect, you are expected to say onna back.
**Usually some one would just say with your permission or please, but combining the two makes it a little more humble in person 1's side. Especially since she continued to order person two to move.
Iya notre yinsin! Tona Separus Iya muu yinsin. (I just said to you "I like you! That (the) gods (that) I met you" All those other people think I'm talking about them, but you know better.) :)
I'm also writing a book and one of my readers asked for a sneak peak. I'm giving you a heck of a sneak peak: both the prolog AND the first chapter.
the Power
Written By Noelle Matherne
Prolog
A man ran through the dark. Although he was quite early for his meeting, the idea of the rewards and riches he would be given for this information was too spectacular to wait out in the cold for. Plus, the Princess would be pleased about his early appearance. That would definitely mean a bonus in his prize.
He skidded to a halt by the fourth gate he saw on the dirt road. Gazing up at the dark, twisted mansion in front of him, he began to have doubts; this was where she wanted he to meet her, right? Taking no chances, he carefully slipped through the creaky gate and hurried up the overgrown path, past a lawn that hadn’t been clipped in years. Taking no notice of the fade rose bushes clinging to his cloak, he pulled out of the thorns to the cracked, mossy steps. He walked up them, feeling sudden waves of dread and excitement wash over him time after time. Reaching up, his fingers groped for and found a cold rusty knocker, which he swung back and dropped. A resounding thud echoed across the landscape.
The huge oak doors opened by a crack. Two dimly glowing eyes peered out at him. A disembodied female voice spoke from the direction of the eyes. The voice made his hair stand on end.
“You are the one to meet us here tonight?”
The man said in a voice a little higher and squeakier than usual, “Er, yes. I am here to tell you the information you said you would pay me for.” Seeing the distrust in the eyes, he quickly added, “It happened tonight.”
“I see. Come in.”
The eyes vanished and the door swung wide to allow him entrance. He nervously stepped in. The door seemed to swing shut by itself. He heard the soft click of the door being locked.
The voice said, “This way.”
A dark figure led him down a dimly lit hallway. A hand loomed from the darkness, it pointed towards a door on the man’s left.
“In there; no questions necessary.”
Now the man felt even more nervous as he stepped into a dark room. He was told to sit by the voice, and feeling that it would be best not to do otherwise did so. Now a different voice spoke, cold in its nature, but smoother. The last voice was choppy and rough.
“My friend has told me that you have the information we need.
“Ah, yes. You will pay me for it as we agreed on, yes?” Squeaked the man, wondering how she knew if the butler had not entered the room with him.
“Payment? Ah...yes, all in good time. Now, the information, please.”
The man didn’t like the sound of that.
“Er...the girl has made contact with it, and they have found the key and how to use it. Now, the payment?”
Ignoring the question, the smooth, sweet voice said, “Do they seem to know what the key is?”
“No. At least, I think so.”
“And do they know that they where watched the entire time?”
“No, mam. It was most easy to watch them; a child could have-”
“You have done well. Now, for your payment.”
The man felt a leap of joy pierce his nervousness.
“How much?”
“Did you think, “ said the voice, now stern, “that I would pay you with worthless cash? Or gold?”
“Ah-”
“No, no. I am going to give you something greater. Have a drink.”
Resisting the urge to say ‘say WHAT?!’, the man nodded and accepted the drink, or better to concoction, that appeared at his side in a champagne glass. Lifting the sickly lime green slush to his lips, he drank. The man keeled over instantly, falling on the ground sluggishly. The glass slipped from his hand and shattered: lime green goo splattered everywhere. A tall figure stood up and stared coldly down at the figure, unperturbed. A short woman hurried in; she was carrying a jeweled box and was the first to talk.
“Is his life over, or is he sleeping?”
“He is sleeping, but not for long. The knife, please.”
A knife appeared from the box and was handed to the tall woman. The knife slashed the man deeply. His heart beat stopped with a jolt.
Both figures left the room, the taller wearing a cloak just now visible. The walked out the door and down the mangled path. Behind them, the house burst into flames. Both walked on.
Chapter 1
The New World
Cassie Dixon had always been a nice, normal kid. She was 10, and in 5th grade. She went to school in a big, red brick building, Watson City North School. Since Watson City was so small, they only had two schools, the North School, and the South School. The South school taught Pre-K through 3th. The North School taught 4th through . . . Cassie didn’t know.
She did know is that seventeen-year-olds went to school with her. And she knew that one group of 9th graders treated all younger children (especially the 5th graders) like dirt. Cleopatra Detroit, the self-declared, snotty, mean queen of Watson City North School. Her posse, who followed her everywhere, called her the Princess. Cassie didn’t know what happened to the jerks who stood up to her, but she had heard rumors that Katie Darlson, a fifth grader who Cassie always thought didn’t have a lot of brains, had stood up to Cleopatra, and woken up the next day to find all her underwear were in the freezer - in the middle of winter.
Cleopatra did look like a princess, but an evil one. She had nearly two feet of flowing, pitch black hair, which moved as a single group, like it had invisible cords holding it together. A single sweep of her ice cold eyes, or a whispered tip to one of her posse members could silence a crowd in seconds or shock the school in minutes. There was something about her eyes that made her impassable, and too powerful to stop. Those two inches of blue-white color and tiny almost slit like pupils boring into the back of you head could be like a punch, even from the opposite side of the school yard. Her voice was something that sounds like the Arctic, with drops of pure smooth honey, or dew coating it. If Cleo says something, it tugs at your ear, till only the strongest can possibly, possibly, ignore it. Still then her voice has not reached it’s full impact. It was the kind that echoed in your mind, hour after hour, day after day. It could take weeks to shake it off.
Cassie was walking through the playground and looking for her best friend Lydia Tankton, when the ominous icily silk voice came from behind her. “Good morning Ms. Dixon”, as if to make sure that Cassie knew what her last name was. Cassie froze. How could she have forgotten? If you pass too close (which is quite far away) to Cleopatra’s bench, you’re in for it. Cleopatra said, this time a little louder, “I said, good morning Ms. Dixon.”
Whipping around, with terror in her eyes, Cassie whimpered, “WhatdidIdo?!” Several girls that surrounded Cleopatra giggled. But her three favorites, the ones that never left her side, stood grinning in silent loyalty around Cleopatra’s bench, where before school began, you could always see Cleopatra and her posse giggling as they swapped nasty secrets and rumors. Jessica, Chrissa, and Nyela acted like Cleo’s silent bodyguard, although there only true defense was Cleopatra. The copied her every fashion and example, but the fashions were always one or two behind. Too close to hers and they were told with a warning look from Cleo that they are NOT doing that again, and she meant ever. If Cleopatra laughs, they would laugh, but Cleopatra looked annoyed by Cassie’s statement.
Cleopatra raised one, high arched eyebrow, from which Cassie would have given a good deal to shrink and disappear from. “You were not asked to speak.” Cleopatra said,”Do I need to teach you some manners?” Cleopatra thought of herself as the greatest person in the world, and that she should rule it, and that little children like Cassie shouldn’t talk when not asked. Her eyes widened with fear, Cassie franticly shook her head. “Very well, sissy.” This last word puzzled Cassie so much she didn’t move. One of the lower members of the posse, Elizabeth, said in a voice so sweet it made Cassie sick,”Hey sissy, the Princess told you to go.” Cleopatra’s friends erupted into a flood of girly giggles, and Cleopatra and her boyfriend resumed flirting with each other again. Christie, Fergie, Nyela, Lexy, Lee, Jessica, Chissa, Elizabeth, Maurice, Sarah, Charlotte, and the other members of Cleopatra’s gang returned to bad-mouthing other students and swapping rumors and stories.
In the mean time, Cassie had begun walking around the playground in a confused daze, barely noticing that the witnesses had clumped with their friends and begun muttering. They gave not at all concealed looks at Cassie, as if she was going to sprout fangs or something. But this time was unusual. Normally Cleopatra’s dislikes only stayed with her and her posse. It was like everyone had turned to Cleopatra, except for Cassie.
It was like watching an island off the coast of Florida turn as cold as Antarctica. The rest of Florida abandons it. When Cassie found Lydia Tankton near the entrance of the school, she was deep in conversation with another girl. She ignored Cassie. Cassie decided to leave the playground and go inside. When a teacher found her and denounced her for wandering around inside before hours, Cassie announced she had to go to the bathroom. “Well, why are you on the East side? The bathrooms are in the West wing.” Said the suspicious teacher.
“I got lost.” It was more of a growl than a sentence. Cassie didn’t feel like much of a conversation with the 7th grade science teacher, or a chat with a principle either.
Cassie didn’t think the teacher believed her, but he let her go without to much questioning. Also unusual. Kids were perfectly allowed to come inside and wander about the school before hours as long as they were in their first class on time. Then they were off to the principle.
Cassie pondered these two new things, and her new nickname, Sissy. It wasn’t similar to her name, and Cassie was not Cleopatra’s sister or friend for that matter. Cassie hadn’t done anything to be called ‘sissy’. So why the nickname? Did Cleopatra know something Cassie didn’t?
As Cassie went through her classes, Lydia didn’t talk to Cassie. She didn’t pass Cassie secret notes, or giggle when Mr. Tander, the math teacher, made jokes about being obtuse. She didn’t even laugh when Mr. Bukentoshlofurns (the hated science teacher, who for VERY obvious reasons wanted to be called Mr. B) dropped his last pen out of his four story window. When Lydia wasn’t in their usual spot at lunch, Cassie looked around for her. When Cassie finally sat down next to her she promptly said she was finished and left. Cassie guessed she went to sit somewhere else when she returned from trowing away the rest of her lunch, because she didn’t come back to her table.
Something was wrong, very wrong. For some peculiar reason Cassie felt like this was all some very bad scheme of Cleopatra. It could be so exclusive that even her three trusted ‘body guard‘ didn’t know. Because if it was, that was bad. That meant serious trouble for Cassie...didn’t it? Or was Cassie a guinea pig of some sort, getting Cleo warmed up for a big person, some one tough to defeat? But who was strong enough that Cleopatra, the (un)devoted mean queen of Watson City North School, leader of the lethal pack of powerful, wolf-like ninth-graders, be scared of enough to get her to exercise?! Or did Cleo consider Cassie an enemy and some one to be scared of? Was that it? If it was, that was a compliment. But ever compliment comes with reason, and she didn’t want to find out this one. Cassie wanted answers...where to get them though? Getting answers to her would definitely be a question with no particular answer in itself. A national un-solvable puzzle, created by the girl that was not to be trusted. Amazing. She was like a missing Russia in a world puzzle. Sissy was in the middle of this mess. And Sissy didn’t even know where she got her name from.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
“It just isn’t normal, mom. Usually every one downright ignores the Princess. This is downright...irregular.”
Cassie couldn’t go on because right then mom interrupted her (as she always told Cassie not to do). “You said the phrase ‘downright’ twice. You know that grammar’s wrong. Grow up Cassie; you’re ten now. Any way it isn’t irregular for some one to have more than one friend. Lydia Tankton is a very nice girl. You probably just imagined it. And as for bullying, don’t ask for attention. And Cassie - her name is Cleopatra. Now did you take the garbage out? Go do it right this instant.”
Cassie groaned. They lived in a large neighborhood and they used what the town hall called a ‘garbage/recycling compound’. It was several large bins of trash, paper, plastic, and cans and glass. The bins where as tall as Cassie and the entire compound (it was walled) stank! Oh, it stank to high heaven in that compound, but there was no other way to get rid of trash. Sometimes boys hid behind the bins and waited, pressed against the 12 ft concrete wall that surrounded it. They were waiting for small children to come, loaded with trash. When Cassie was little a gang like this had scared her out of her wits and then proclaimed her cowardliness to the outside world the next day.
After several groans, and a slow putting on of coats and shoes, Cassie hauled the bag over her shoulder and headed out into the evening sunlight. Butterflies fluttered lazily from flower to flower. Slowly the sun sank into the distant pitch black of the endless fields surrounding Watson City. Then, suddenly, as if some one had flipped some switch, it was night. The stench started to reach, unwelcome, into Cassie nostrils.
Some one downtown flipped yet another switch and street lights turned on everywhere. Cassie paused, waiting for her eyes to adjust. That’s when she noticed. A very strange sound was coming from the compound. It was echo-y like it was being made across a lake. The sound was an un-earthly, erie sound, but Cassie decided it sounded like a series of growls and short barks. She had never heard anything like it.
Cassie kept on listening. There would be sounds like “grrrrrr” and “prrr-a!”, but there was an occasional “mew?”. Something long, waist high hight, and black slipped out of the compound. Cassie didn’t dare even breath, but it looked around, then took off running in the other direction. Cassie peaked into the compound. Nothing. After taking a deep breath, she walked in. Nothing pounced on her, nothing jump out of the darkness.
Cassie was just about to get out of there when she heard it again. “Mew?” Where was it coming from? Cassie spotted a box it the corner. Despite the dim light, she could make out the words: Endangered Co. Get your exotic creatures today! “Mew!” The sound was more persistent. It was definitely coming from the box. After looking around she knelt down and opened it.
It looked like just any old black kitten. But it wasn’t. Cassie made out, even in the dim light, on its silky black fur there where spots. No! It couldn’t be. A clouded leopard here in Nevada?! “Mew?” The tiny thing was trying to crawl over to Cassie. “No, no, no, no! I can’t keep you!” said Cassie in a frantic whisper. “Mee-eew?” Cassie groaned.
“O.K. let’s at least find you some food”. Cassie motioned for it to stay. To her surprise, it plopped itself down and began watching her with unfailing eyes, seemingly sharped by the night. Cassie hurried over to the plastic recycling, then looked around inside until she found a plastic bag, and a couple of those bags that hold raw meat. There wasn’t any really good stuff in them, just the stuff that some guy didn’t want to grill. Perfect.
Hurrying over to the leopard again, she picked it up. She looked at it’s eyes for the first time. The blue-ish white color looked like Cleopatra’s. They started to glow. First faint, like a spark, but then brighter and brighter, until it lighted the entire recycling unit as well as day. Her hand seemed to receive an electric shock, the went completely numb, and shown with a golden light. The light, along with the numbness, stopped almost as soon as it started. It kept a faint, un-earthly glow, and yet it wasn’t glowing. She was so surprised, shocked, and scared that she dropped the bag, and meat, and the cat. It plopped harmlessly down into the box. The bag fluttered about 30 ft in the wind, but was stopped by the wall. The cat crawled calmly out of the box and took up a chunk of meat, then returned to staring persistently at her.
“What in the....” was the only thing Cassie could say for a long time. She glanced up. The leopard was still watching her. They looked at each for along time. Finally Cassie said decidedly,”You really shouldn’t stare. Mom says it’s rude....” Then, as if it was perfectly normal, it said in a girly purr,”Why are you doing it then?”
Alarmed, Cassie stumbled back. “I’m either going mad, or I’m dreaming. Either way, this isn’t real. It can’t be! If all leopards could talk, they would have found out years ago.”
The leopard said,”You can’t be dreaming about dreaming. And I am real. Anyway, I am a very special leopard.”
Cassie felt her forehead faintly. It said, “Cassie.” Now it not only was talking, but it knew her name! “Cassie.” “Stop that right now!!! It is getting so annoying!” Cassie thought. “Cassie.” “Now really,” Cassie said,”is that all you can say now?” “Yes.” Cassie groaned a fifth time.
“We really need to get out of here. See if the mark helps.” Cassie looked at the gently glowing mark that had appeared on her right hand. It seemed to get brighter the more she looked at it till she decided what it looked like. It looked like a triangle, with a single wavy line that went from the middle of the bottom to the point on the top. The line had twisted and shortened till it pointed towards the ally that was in between the two most deserted houses on the block, like a compass pointing in the wrong direction.
“What is it doing cat?! Since you seem to know everything?” Cassie was now slightly annoyed. She had noticed that whenever the cat spoke to her, or she spoke to the cat, neither of their lips moved. The voices had also obtained a sort of echo that was freaky, and occasionally a feeling that wasn’t hers slipped into her brain, like the idea of tasty, raw, meat.
“I am totally not going that way, no matter what. Those to houses are haunted! Every one knows that!” Cassie remembered a memory from a year ago. Cleopatra had triple dog dared Cassie to go in one of them for five minutes. It was her first year trick or treating alone and she didn’t want every one to think she was a coward, so she accepted. The rest of the memory was pushed out as the fresh fear sank in.
“Look again...are they still pointing the same way? F.W.I I don’t know everything, just what you know. The minute you touched me we were bonded in are minds and physically (the mark is the symbol of that). That’s why we a currently talking mentally. What does the mark show?” The cat seemed to chatter on and on.
If it had been mom or Mr. B talking, Cassie would have been dead asleep from boredom, but now Cassie was attentive and heard every word. Now understanding the queer situation a bit better, she opened her mind more to the cat. She was still utterly confused though. How had the cat gotten here? Why had they bonded? Was this a dream? Glancing at the glow on her palm, she saw the other side of the line pointed to a much more friendly spot: the meadow. She was thinking so intently about all her questions that she forgot altogether about the mental bond.
“Hello? We can’t stay here forever. One more thing, as soon as you touched me every last one off your enemies decided to kill you. Because of me. We have to get out of here.”
Pondering this, Cassie decided the cat was joking. “Why would some one want to kill me?” She thought. However, she had realized that the public waste disposal center was not the best place have a conversation with a mentally talking leopard cub who said that all your enemies wanted to kill you because of it. The meadow would be a better place for the thing to explain itself.
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Cassie had never felt special. She was the kid who did as she was told, always turned in her homework on time, and went home right after school. The only thing that had ever been led by her was the lunch line. After Lydia ignoring her at school, she felt lonely. No one was around.
As Cassie walked to the meadow, carrying the little leopard in the bag which she had retrieved after their conversation, she realized that if she wasn’t dreaming or going mad, then she was awake, alive, and sane, and this was happening. Which meant the cat, no matter how strange it was, could be a friend. But then, on the other hand, if she thought that, she was going mad. Very confusing. This made Cassie think of those stamps, the one that said ‘confidential’ in big letters on it. She imagined a paper, with her thoughts typed up on it, and a big man in a little chair with an over-sized desk and a desktop to the side in a empty office, reading her paper. She would be sitting nervously in an uncomfortable chair, waiting and feeling very little. He’d take out his big stamp and banged it down on the paper. She would take it, and the stamp mark would have said ‘very confusing’ in big red letters.
Cassie shook her head, getting those thoughts out. At this rate, her thoughts would be very confusing indeed. Sigh. She was getting very mixed up. The cat didn’t help.
The cat itself startled her. “You know I hear everything I say, right?”
Annoyed that the cub had interrupted her thoughts, she said, “Well if you can hear me, stop listening. I highly doubt that you can make any sense out of it. Could you see the man with the ‘very confusing’ stamp? That was VERY personal. So stop. Completely.”
“I didn’t mean it that way.”
“Then how DID you mean it. Go on. Tell me. … I’m listening.”
She reached out into the cat’s mind, but only found images of plastic bags. Figures. Could the cat really see her thoughts? She guessed they were connected some how. Like at their sanity.
“Very funny,” said the little devil, “I don’t remember being crazy.”
“Ha ha ha!” Cassie remarked. “If you were crazy you wouldn’t remember. So there. Black spotted devil cat outsmarted by average 5th grader. Oh! Even better! Small black spotted kitten for sale! Ha ha! No...I don’t want money. I’d just like my sanity and privacy back. No telling what you’ve done with them. I just GIVE you away.”
There was a long silence. They walk along, one carrying the other till the reached the meadow. Neither spoke.
Then the cat said, “I would like to know what you would do with the bond. In the mean time, we need to be by here.” A image of a opening in the hedges entered Cassie’s mind and faded. She walked that way.
Picky cat. There was no other way to say that. Why there? It was just an opening in the bushes! What’s so special about that?! But then again, this cat seemed smart and dangerous. She should probably do as it says.
When Cassie and the cat got to the spot that the cat wanted to go, the cat said, “Put me down. I need to stretch my legs.” Cassie put the cat down. It began wandering around the area, not for any particular reason. Despite the fact that Cassie strained her eyes to see the little cat, the black fur soon melted into the darkness. When it returned, it was carrying something in it’s mouth. It dropped it at her feet and said, “Look at your mark, then look at this. The triangle and crack sign don’t usually happen to be somewhere as an incident.”
Doing as the cat told, Cassie found that her mark and the metal object looked identical. Examining it closer, she found it was a intricately made metal key. She picked it up and pocketed it. Then looking at the cat she said, “What does this go to? You can’t of just found it in the ‘mythical land of rainbow ponies and itsy-bitsy big eyed kids’...so where did you get it?”
“I don’t know the answer to the first question. As for the second question...over there in the grass. Since it was here it probably goes to something around here and some one dropped it. Where I don’t know.”
Cassie looked around. Nothing that she saw belonged to it.... A glow appeared next to her, just like the color that her mark had glowed when it had appeared. Scared and shocked by the odd appearance, she backed up. The light grew brighter and larger till she couldn’t look at it directly. It took the shape of a small arch and shone brighter that ever. Then just like her sign, the gold light vanished suddenly. The clearing was absolutely silent. Even the cat stood silent as stone, because there, before them, stood a small oak door, just big enough for Cassie to duck though. It had to iron bands on it and old hinges. And there on the right stood a lock. Acting on instinct, Cassie took out the key and slid it into the old copper lock. It fit and turned perfectly.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Cassie froze. What should she do? Should she go in? Why was there a door there, right next to Cassie, and did this have to do with her or the cat? Or was this just a really weird dream? She looked at the cub.
“OK, cat, do your magic. Where the heck does this door lead to? And should we go in?”
“I’m not magic.”
“Fine. You get my point. Can you just tell me what that ... thing is.”
“Hmmm....” said the cat in mock thoughtfulness. “It looks like...maybe...a door?”
“Cat! A straight answer would be nice!” “Fine. It’s a door. The key to it has your mark. That doesn’t happen a lot. We should go in.”
“Very uniform talking.”
“Just go in!”
So Cassie picked up the cat, the meat wrapper, and the bag; using her three free fingers to carefully open the door, grab the key and close the door behind her. She then placed all three objects down on a carpeted ground. Wait...carpet. That meant they were indoors, didn’t it? But that couldn’t be! They were supposed to be standing on the other side of the bushes, weren’t they? She plucked up the courage to look around.
Cassie’s first impression of their surroundings was light, lots of it. Warm yellow light, not like the light of her mark but different. More like a night light kind of light, but much brighter. Her second impression was that this was made by some one who was rich. With plush carpets, vaulted ceilings, and Michael Angelo paintings, the entire hall oozed the essence of millionaire status. A squishy couch stood on the left, apparently with velvet coverings. A door that Cassie could have laid in twice with growing room stood on the left wall too. A large, old looking knocker was on the right of the door. The hinge was shaped like a lion’s head, and the ring hung from it’s mouth. To the right, and palm-like potted plant stood over a tiny table which appeared to be built directly into the wall.
Cassie forgot the cat and walked over. A small note book, the approximate size and thickness of a pocket bible, sat on the table staring up at her. Names of all kinds where written on the lines. She reached for the slick, black quill sitting in a glassy blue ink well.
“Just what are you doing over there!?”
Cassie jumped.
“There’s a sign over here; it says that this ...er... book is a sign-in sheet and asked you to write your name on it.”
“Hmpf. I say you don’t do it.”
“Fine.”
Cassie changed her attention to the huge double staircases at the end of the hall. Identical and symmetrical, the blush carpet went strait up it and vanished on the landing. A single second flight protruded from this and went to the second floor. Interesting....
“Psst! Get over here now!” The cat sounded urgent, but Cassie barely heard it as she continued her inspection of the building absently.
“NOW! Now or I’ll bite your leg!”
The threat snapped the shell around Cassie’s head like it was a 24 carat gold wire. She at least responded this time.
“What?! What’s going on.”
“I’ll explain in a sec. Just get over here NOW!”
Whirling around she saw the leopard staring at her from a niche behind where the potted plant stood. She rushed over and squeezed into it. Listening, she heard footsteps; they where coming closer. Cassie couldn’t see the person, but it sounded like that the person was wearing high heels. That meant that it was a woman. The footsteps paused. Cassie held her breath; had the woman seen or heard them? Then she heard a thud. Of course! The lady was standing with her back to them, and had just knocked on the giant door with the lion’s mouth knocker. That made sense. Cassie heard a creak of an un-oiled door, voices, more footsteps, and then a heavy slam of a door. She breathed again.
“I guess you kind of figured out what was so important. Nice reasoning. Didn’t realize you recognized that many sounds.”
“Cat, I’ve told you once, and I’ll tell you again! Would you stop snooping through my brain files?!” Cassie wasn’t really mad at the cat; it might have just saved their lives. She was so relived that they hadn’t been caught she had forgotten to hold her tongue.
Cassie was too curious. “Cat,” she said, “I’m going to sign in. Ya know, in the sign in sheet. Don’t know why, but I think we should.”
“Cassie, are you sure? I have a bad feeling about it. When ever we get close to it I kinda get all tingly on the inside.”
“Really?”
The cat was surprised that Cassie didn’t feel the same way about the book, Cassie could feel it. “I think we should.” Repeated Cassie.
And so she did it. She signed Cassie D. Dixon in the quill’s magenta ink. Smiling, she turned to the cat triumphantly.
Still grinning from ear to ear, she slyly commented, “Nothing went wrong. Like you thought it would.”
The only response was a dark , “We’ll see about that.”
Suddenly the soft murmurs that were leaking out of room beyond the giant door burst into shouts. Brisk footsteps could be heard rushing in the direction of the doors; the shouts grew louder.
“Time to get behind the plant again. Come on. ... Cassie, come here NOW! CASSIE: MOVE NOW!”
But Cassie stood rigid and frozen, exactly in the spot where she had been. She tried with all brain power that she possessed to move. She thought of nothing else. The voices where understandable now, much louder, much closer. She was close to blacking out with the tireless fight in her head. Move, she thought, move!
A voice from inside the room yelled, “Cassandra Deanna Dixon! Nonsense! This better not be another school trick!”
“I think it is!” Said another voice, “Deanna isn’t fetching her daughter for another two weeks!”
The first voice bellowed, “My god! Who ever’s out there is fighting it! Fighting the body bind! A full fledged teacher’s power!”
Cassie pushed harder in her mind. Almost there! She had punctured it! She stabbed at the other’s mind, then stopped. She had no energy left to keep up the attack. To weak to go on with defense or attack, she sank to the floor and fainted.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
“Urggggh....”
Cassie felt hazy and exhausted. What had happened last night? And that weird dream...something about a leopard, and ... a key? Was that it?
Using what senses she could, Cassie began to explore her surroundings. She wasn’t at home: the bedding was too rough to be her own. A giant bee seemed to be wandering around above her - at least, that’s what it sounded like. Without her eyes open, she couldn’t tell. Time open her eyes.
Summoning what little energy she had, she cracked open an eye lid. What she first saw was what appeared to be two light bulbs looking down at her. She managed to slowly blink. What was going on? The light bulbs vanished. Cassie felt a bit stronger now; she opened her other eye. The buzzing stopped instantaneously.
The light bulbs appeared again. Wait, no, they weren’t light bulbs! They were eyes from the looks of it. The thought of the fact that eyes still existed in her limited world made her stronger. She sat up.
A voice from somewhere to her right said, “She’s awake!”
Another, deeper voice in the same direction, “I heard from Elylia that she threw off a full fledged teacher’s body bind. And she hasn’t been trained yet, not at all! Amazing!”
A completely different voice, stern and motherly, came from her left. “Come see the girl some other time; she just woke up and I don’t want to rush her. Oh - some one contact Deanna: tell her that Cassandra obviously doesn’t need fetching and that she made it here safely.”
Cassie thought hard for a moment, then it all came flooding back to her. The cat, the bond, the hall, everything! Deanna...her middle name. If they wanted to contact her, she was right here, sitting on Cassie’s cot. Some one called her Cassandra, no, that made no sense because Cassie was her full first name. That would have to wait for late: her sight had cleared, she could see around her and Cassie was more interested in exploring than mulling over problems she couldn’t solve.
She was sitting on a cot, with her back to the wall. The motherly voice and eyes belonged to a short woman who was bustling around, muttering to herself. Looking to her right, she just caught a glimpse of two cloaks sweeping out of a door: a giant door. She must be in the room beyond the lion’s mouth knocker! The cot looked like it had been carried in for her. Did this always happen when come one fainted?
Feeling more curious and much stronger, she spook to the woman. “Where am I?”
The woman looked at her, shocked. “PSG.” she said shortly.
Cassie remarked, “I don’t know where that is, but I’ll take your word for it.”
The woman blinked.
Feeling uncomfortable, Cassie asked, “Where’s my cat? I need to ... er ... see it.” She thought it would be weird if she said “I need to speak with it”.
The woman began bustling about some more, and almost when Cassie was about to ask again, she called, “William!”
A young man shot through the door, fast enough to respond to the call that Cassie was sure he had been waiting outside the door. He was wearing magenta robes that matched the sign-in ink exactly.
The woman said, “Will, I need you to get the girl’s leopard. Do be careful, I don’t want to have to take care of more bites. Get Jeffrey to send word to Deanna, I know none of the people we asked have done it yet. Fastest communication: tell her about what the girl did in the main hall: detail for detail.”
Cassie thought about this. “I don’t want to have to take care of more bites”. So the cat had put up a good fight from the sound of it. Deanna seemed to be more than just her middle name: it sounded like it was some one else’s first name too. Were they related? The people here knew that Cassie didn’t have just a kitten, they knew what it was. They didn’t seem to mind very much. “I am a very special leopard.” This was a very special place. Was there more here? If so, then it wouldn’t be shocking for another to arrive. “Tell her about what the girl did in the main hall: detail for detail.” What had she done in the hall that was so special? Oh ya.... That time when she threw off that frozen feeling. That’s why she was here of course.” That was special?
“I see your mind is very fast at connecting snippets of information.”
Cassie jumped.
“Cat, you are going to drive me nuts if you keep doing that. What happened after I fainted?”
“Well first thing that happened was the big door banged open and they just stood there looking at you. And I -”
“They? Who? I was asleep, remember?”
“Oh ya. Um...They where both women. One was tall and was wearing these big evergreen colored robes. The other was that woman over there. (The cat gestured at the small woman who was mulling over to different bottles on a desk and still muttering). I didn’t want them to take you so I ran over and wouldn’t let them near you. The tall woman tried to pick me up and I bit her fingers. So she called those guys named Jeffrey and William to come take care of me (exact words).”
“And then what happened.”
“Well the short one kind of looked at your face strangely and then said ‘Oh my heavenly days...it is Cassandra.’ and then nearly fainted, so she went inside this room to sit down. The other one.... Well this is going to sound strange. Promise not to laugh?”
“Promise.”
“She started walking real slowly towards the doors and then...you kind of got up and walked after her.”
“WHAT?!!”
“You were asleep, but you just got up and walked after her like it was normal to do that.”
“I’m starting to think nothing is impossible. First you, then this place, and now I walking around in my sleep like a zombie.”
“I’m starting to think that too. Well anyway, these guys picked me up (I made sure that their fingers got bit too) and carried me up those giant stairs. We started down this big hallway and all of the sudden I felt really sleepy and I can’t remember much for I while. When I woke up I was in a big, comfortable cage and There was lots of other cages around me. All of them had leopards in them. Like me. I could feel them communicating with their partners just like we can. I tried to do so to but all I felt was sleepiness. I at some of the meat, played with a live mouse that I had, drank some water, and took a nap. I had fun, but I was worried about you.”
“So there are more leopards like you. How old did they look?”
“Full grown.”
“Hmmmm....”
Cassie thought about what she had just learned, and then acting on instinct, she asked the little woman, “What time was it when I was found?”
Not even looking at them, the lady said, “1:00 AM.”
Cassie glanced at the clock. She had obviously done more than just fainted, considering the time was 3:00 PM. She had spent 14 hours sleeping through time. What had happened in the hall? And who was Deanna?
Cassie’s new found strength started to ebb. She was growing tired again; the thinking was eating her strength up like a lion after a gazelle. Soon her eye lids were fluttering and Cassie’s thinking was dizzying. She sank back onto her pillow and soon was claimed by sleep’s grip.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Some one was shaking her awake. Cassie’s eye lids fluttered, who was disturbing her? She yawned and sat up. Looking around, she saw three women whom she had never seen the likes of before. The first was tall, thin and strict looking. She was wearing cloaks of evergreen and a silver necklace with a giant green stone in it. Grey hair, each like a wire, was perched in a bun on the woman’s head. Each of her fingers where freshly bandaged and looked as thought they had been bit. Cassie realized that she must be the one who had found her, along with her nurse. The second looked in charge; she wore a pure white silk cape and cloak. The cape was lined in what looked like either Arctic fox or Polar bear fur. Diamonds glittered from every corner of her body, her hand and wrists, her neck and her ears, even her white leather flats! Wavy black hair, similar to Cleopatra’s, flowed down her strait back like molten lava down a volcano. And her eyes...her eyes were too much like Cleo’s. Strong, and impassive. But these eyes were warm and welcoming, not cold like Cleopatra. She looked just like Cleo. Scary.
The third was different. Very different. Instead of the robes that swept behind you when you moved, she had on a simple forget-me-not blue dress. It was silk from the looks of it, but it floated about her in a airy way. A thick leather belt strapped it to her stomach. The top of the dress was like a tank top, sleeveless. Chestnut hair flowed like water from her head, stopping at her shoulders. It looked like it was caught in a breeze, but the air was perfectly still in here. Simple leather sandals clung to her feet. A sapphire, hanging around her neck on a black string, was the only sign of any wealth. A scabbard hung on her left hip, and here also hung the most interesting thing on her: the scabbard was not empty. Indeed, far from it. A jeweled handle of a sword curved gracefully from the scabbard.
The third woman was the first to speak. “Cassandra, this woman is your mother. We are all astonished about what you did in the hall. Has anyone ever trained you?”
Cassie took her time to respond, “I think you have the wrong person, mam. My name is Cassie and my mother is back in my apartment.”
The three women exchanged looks. The third woman came closer and opened her mouth to speak, but the woman in white cut her off. “Ladies,” she said in a smooth, imperial voice, “I want you to leave now. I can explain to her myself. Wait outside the door, I’ll make sure that you are not listening in.”
The other two left. The woman in white sat on the end of Cassie’s cot. The leopard climbed into Cassie’s lap. She sat up.
“Cassandra - or Cassie, which ever you prefer - I am your mother. I am Deanna Dixon Detroit. Let me explain. Years ago, eleven to be exact, you were born. That was before I became queen and while enemies were still running after me as I fled from Britain. I knew that if they found out that I had you, they would kill you on the spot. The only other person with me was Alice Young, my maid and best friend. I told her to take you and run. She ran to your apartment in Watson City, Nevada, where she raised you with her husband, Mr. Jeffrey Dixon, my cousin. You grew up under the false name of Cassie Deanna Dixon. It was close to my name, but my enemies never knew you to be my child. In fact, they didn’t know you existed. I wanted to bring you back after I became queen, but that wasn’t the time, because that was when you were 5. So I decided to take you back when you were eleven.”
“Here’s where your sister comes in. When you started going to Watson City North School, I started her there in eighth grade to keep an eye on you. But she tortured you. You ran. You weren’t supposed to find your leopard for another three weeks, the night you turned 11. One of the older cats was supposed to be teaching the cat tonight. But you stumbled across them tonight. You bonded with the cat early, which meant you had to find this school tonight. As soon as you bonded with the cat, my enemies knew who you were, where you were, and that you were alone. The leopard knew what to do though, and so did your mark. They both led you to the right spot to find this school. The cat retrieved this key.”
She held up Cassie’s key.
“As soon as you had the key, the door opened. You explored the place. For some strange reason, you didn’t set off the alarms and no one knew where you were. In fact, you were undetectable. You hid from the teacher and she didn’t realize you were there. You decided to sign in because of a powerful pull coming from the book.”
“This powerful pull is like magic. All of us can do it. That’s what we teach here. We teach those who have the Power to use it, control it.”
Cassie finally couldn’t hold it any more. “Let me get this strait. I have murderers on my trail, Cleopatra is my sister, and this is a school for magic. Am I right?”
“This isn’t a school for magic. It is a school for the Power. I am a full fledged power. I can change how I look, although this is my true form. In truth, I am turning 345 in a month.”
Cassie had had enough. “Prove that you can do this.” She demanded.
The woman in white, or Deanna, what ever, promptly A) set the bed on fire with out even touching it, B) turned into a dog, C) turned back into her former self and doused the bed with a stream of water flowing out of the palm of her hand. She then caused several globes of light to pop into existence, float around in a circle, form into doves, land on some gold perches that definitely weren’t there before, and the all of it was gone.
Cassie, shocked, nodded mutely to show that this was enough.
“You are going to be taught the Power here.”
“OK. One last thing.”
“Yes?”
“What’s PSG?”
“The Power School for Girls.”
“Thanks.”
“Cassandra?”
“Yes?”
“Welcome to the new world.”
“Thanks Ms. Detroit, I mean, Mom.”
I'm sorry. I know it's long. And there are a couple more chapter that I could show you, but that would be cruel to your eyes. Totally. I'm on chapter four by the by.
Well, the dinner bell has rung. Gotta go. If you haven't already, hit the subscribe button, up by my profile. :) That way, you don't have to load this up to check it. Instead, you get my emails. Only i don't directly write them. And, I can answer your comments the same way. Cool! Anyway, be back soon.
2 comments:
So sorry about that super long post. I got carried away!
FWI the name is no long the Power but Deception.
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