by Nan Sweet
Fierce Winds and Fiery Dragons
Dusky Hollows: Book 1
Copyright April 25, 2014,
Revision: Copyright Sept 1, 2014
Nan Sweet, Jeanette Raleigh
All rights reserved. Written permission from the author must be secured to use or reproduce any part of this book except for brief excerpts to provide critical review or articles.
The characters and settings in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons or locations is coincidental.
Certain images and/or photos on this page are the copyrighted property of 123RF Limited, their Contributors or Licensed Partners and are being used with permission under license. These images and/or photos may not be copied or downloaded without permission from 123RF Limited.
Image credit: marigold88 / 123RF Stock Photo)
Little Dragon Image credit: molchunya / 123RF Stock Photo
Image credit: milkal / 123RF Stock Photo
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Also Available by Nan Sweet
Dusky Hollows Book 2: The Curse of the Invisibles
Dusky Hollows Book 3: Too Much School
Dusky Hollows Book 4: Adrift
Dusky Hollows Book 5: An Unexpected Adventure
Dusky Hollows Book 6: The Haunted House
Dusky Hollows Book 7: The Unicorn’s Quest
Dusky Hollows Book 8: Cry of the Banshee
Chapter 1
Ivy sat in the third row at the edge of the classroom beside Carrie, which was fortunate as they were the best of friends and had been since first grade. She had (of course) been whispering when Mrs. Huffity called her name.
Swallowing, Ivy felt her face warm when David snickered. “Bucktooth lost her place. If she lost her teeth maybe she'd read better.”
Glaring at David, she forgot to be embarrassed. She hated him. Fiercely.
“I'm sorry, Mrs. Huffity. Where should I start?” If only Mrs. Huffity asked the kids to read around the class the way Miss Fromm did. Then Ivy would never lose her place.
Mrs. Huffity had been wandering the classroom with the book in one large hand. For Mrs. Huffity was an extremely tall woman with bulk. Not that she was fat, not really. She just had a large frame and a large head with dark hair, tight curls, and round glasses that made her eyes look buggy. And now she was standing over Ivy's desk.
Ivy glanced up to see her teacher staring at her with those huge eyes as if she had a bird on her nose or something. And then Mrs. Huffity did a very strange thing. She tapped Ivy on the forehead and in a deep voice said, “It's time for you to open your eyes.”
The class giggled while Ivy rubbed her forehead. Teachers never did stuff like that. Ivy was sure it was against some kind of rule. But here she was being tapped on the forehead. Her life could not get any worse. She wouldn't cry. Not in front of the class.
Ivy sighed and quietly asked, her voice getting a little high and squeaky, “Please, where should I start to read?”
With a finger that looked a bit like a talon, Mrs. Huffity pointed to a section about halfway down the page. Fascinated by the metallic brown and gold nail polish on Mrs. Huffity's finger, Ivy was distracted for a moment. But once Mrs. Huffity removed her finger, Ivy read quietly and clearly, trying to ignore the hurt she felt and wishing she could be anywhere but seated in this classroom.
She finished with a heart-felt sigh. Smiling, Mrs. Huffity turned to Carrie. It was strange the way her voice went from a light trilling to deep baritone. She said the strangest thing. “You will see a great change of fortune. Beware. Beware.”
David mimicked in a whispering taunt, “Beware Carrie.”
Her voice back to normal, Mrs. Huffity lifted an eyebrow to Carrie, “Have you lost your place as well?”
“No, Ma'am.” Carrie was the only one in the class to use the word, Ma'am. But it seemed to make Mrs. Huffity happy for she smiled broadly revealing thick white teeth.
“Ah, then please continue.”
It wasn't until recess when Ivy and Carrie ran out to the swings that they had time to think about what Mrs. Huffity said.
“You have to admit it's strange.” Ivy said, pushing off the ground a little. Ivy was a cute girl, although she had been teased so much for her teeth, she didn't know it.
She did have longish teeth and wore glasses, both of which made her feel rather ugly, as if they made up the whole of her personhood. Her hair was honey gold, which is a fancy word for brown with sunbleached blonde streaks and large green eyes flecked with gold. Her mother told her time and again how pretty she was, but Ivy didn't believe her. Not really. She figured a mother had to say nice things to her daughter. Still Ivy was pretty even if she didn't see it herself. Mothers are usually right about such things.
“Maybe it's because she's new.” Carrie bit her lip and pulled the edges of the swing in.
“Why do you think she said it?”
“She didn't mean anything by it. Change of fortune. What could possibly change?” Carrie laughed. They lived in a tiny town with only a few thousand people in it. She had twenty-three classmates. It wasn't as if there were any real options. Not the way Mrs. H. made it sound with her deep voice and scary words.
Ivy wasn't going to let it go. “I don't know. It sounded funny with the tone of voice she used. And she was serious.” Then she rubbed her forehead. “Ever since she tapped me on the head, it feels tingly.”
The bell rang then and the girls ran for the brick wall where everyone lined up. David was at the front with Joe bragging about his new laptop. Change of fortune. Carrie knew she wasn't getting a new laptop. Or phone. Or bicycle. Not any time soon anyway. Her parents had been arguing for weeks because her mom took her shopping for school clothes, and her dad thought they spent too much.
Ivy grabbed her hand and leaned in. “Look at our classroom. She's watching us.”
The fifth grade classroom was on the second floor of the elementary school overlooking the playground. Carrie glanced up. The blinds were split apart where her teacher's fingers were holding them open, and Mrs. Huffity was looking down. It did seem that she was looking directly at them.
“Why do you suppose she's there?” Ivy pushed her glasses back against her nose, something she did often when she decided to take a closer look at something. She peered up at the blinds.
Mrs. Huffity suddenly dropped her hand and the blinds fell closed. As they filed into the school Carrie whispered, “We scared her away.”
Ivy said, “I don't think anything scares Mrs. Huffity.”
The recess teacher called for silence. Both Ivy and Carrie pressed their lips together as if they had never said a word. But they were both thinking about their strange new teacher and wondering what she meant by her words of caution to Carrie.
