Protectors of Emperia

by Giovanni Uzokwe

  PROTECTORS

  OF

  EMPERIA

  GIOVANNI UZOKWE

  PROTECTORS OF EMPERIA

  Copyright © 2021 Giovanni Uzokwe.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means,

  graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by

  any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author

  except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue

  in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  iUniverse

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  Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

  and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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  ISBN: 978-1-6632-1426-3 (sc)

  ISBN: 978-1-6632-1427-0 (e)

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2020923919

  iUniverse rev. date: 12/21/2020

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1: Detention

  Chapter 2: Emperia

  Chapter 3: Work, work, work!

  Chapter 4: Concentrate

  Chapter 5: Something Goes Wrong

  Chapter 6: Run For Your Lives!

  Chapter 7: Escape

  Chapter 8: Reunion

  Chapter 9: Survival (A Very Short Chapter)

  Chapter 10: Popular

  CHAPTER ONE

  DETENTION

  Sabrina slumped in her chair, not wanting to listen to the schedule Mrs. Crane was reading out to the class. She was a senior student at Denver High, and she had gone to this school for about a week. Her family had just moved from Ohio, where they had rented a house on the outskirts of a river called Shenango. She had two friends. They had known her since she was a baby, and they usually hung out at her house.

  “Sabrina!” Mrs. Cane yelled, “sit up! I will not tolerate any funny business here in this classroom. I will tell your mom that you will be staying in for detention today. On your first day of school! You will have detention with Miles and Simon. You need to start paying more attention.”

  “Oh yeah? Then how about you start first by shutting that big mouth of yours?” Sabrina mumbled.

  “What did you say to me, young girl?”

  Sabrina didn’t answer.

  “Exactly what I thought. Detention.” snapped Mrs. Cane

  A dark-haired girl snickered. From what Sabrina had heard, the dark-haired girl’s name was Selna. Her family was wealthy and spoiled. Her father was the Principal of Denver High. Sabrina knew she would not be friends with her at all.

  Sabrina pulled out the diary that she had gotten on her tenth birthday. It had a white stallion with black spots on its body. Its mane slashed through the air, glinting in the sunlight. People had teased her about it, but she didn’t care. She unlocked the diary with her key on her silver charm bracelet. She flipped to a new page and started to write the schedule. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t notice Mrs. Crane had stopped talking and was now glaring at her, her beady blue eyes seeming like they could stare straight through her. Only when she had finished her last note, she noticed the eerie silence. She looked up. Mrs. Crane and Selna were glaring at her as if they had just witnessed the culprit of a crime.

  She swiftly locked the diary and slipped it into her desk as Mrs. Crane sashayed toward Sabrina in a way that made Sabrina want to slap her.

  “And what do we have here?” Mrs. Crane asked as she slapped her annoyingly-perfect hands on Sabrina’s desk. “Hand over that diary,” Mrs. Crane said, curling her pointer finger at her.

  “What diary?” Sabrina asked, wishing her voice wasn’t as shaky as it sounded.

  Mrs. Crane pulled Sabrina’s chair back and rummaged through her desk. She snatched the diary from the bottom of the desk. “Just as I thought! I will add thirty more minutes to your detention.” She sashayed away, leaving nothing but a faint smell of her lavender-honey perfume.

  Just then, the bell rang. Sabrina bounded out of the classroom before Mrs. Crane could make everything worse.

  The rest of the day passed by slowly. The only exciting session was math. It turned out that the math teacher was lovely. His name was Mr. Gilson, and he always found exciting ways to do math. At the end of the day, Sabrina slowly trudged to her homeroom. She couldn’t imagine what detention was like. She had never had detention in her life before. Part of her mind thought that Mrs. Crane would make her clip her dirty toenails. She shuddered at the thought. When she arrived, she expected to see a joyful Mrs. Crane sitting in her lime-green chair, but instead saw Miles and Simon slouching in their hard wooden chairs. She sat next to Miles.

  “Where’s Mrs. Crane?” she asked.

  “We don’t know,” Miles said, “she’s been gone for twenty minutes.”

  That wasn’t a surprise. People had told her that she was always late for school. She was surprised that Selna’s dad (whatever his name was) hadn’t fired her already. Before she had time to say something else, Mrs. Crane stumbled into the room. She had scars, one on her face, and her dress was, for some reason, half-burnt. She glared at us with piercing blue eyes that seemed that it could see straight through you. “You’re dismissed!” she said, pointing her finger at the door. When Sabrina walked to the doorway, she looked back. In Mrs. Crane’s hand was a wrinkled paper with a girl on the front. At first, she didn’t notice who it was. But when her mental gears finally clicked, she saw herself smiling when she was about thirteen. On the top of the paper was the word: WANTED

  Wanted. Wanted. Wanted. The word stabbed Sabrina like a knife going through her chest. Could someone want her? Was she in danger? Instead of taking the bus home, Sabrina took a long way and walked home. Sabrina lived in a suburban city that was usually noisy and active. but as Sabrina walked she didn’t even notice a thing. Well that was until she saw her neighbor Mr. Carey taking his dog, Terrie, on a walk around the block.

  “Hello,’’ he said, waving at her and grinning. Sabrina forced a small smile and waved back. That made her feel a little bit better. She then pulled her hoodie over her head and started picking up her speed.

  “You okay?” her mom asked as she entered the house.

  “Fine.”

  She went up to her bedroom to do her homework. When she was done, she headed downstairs to the dining room.

  Her little brother, Rowan, was eating mashed-up bananas. She set up the silverware and the plates.

  “What are we having for dinner?” she said.

  “Pizza,” her mom said, “but you have to wait for your dad to get home.”

  “I know,” she grumbled, wishing her dad didn’t have a job.

  Her dad didn’t come back until 7:00 pm. His shirt was dirty. It looked like he had spent hours crawling through underground tunnels.

  “What took you so long?” she asked

&n
bsp; “Top secret,” he said.

  Ugh! Couldn’t he just give her a full answer?

  “Anyway,” he said, “let’s eat!”

  Sabrina had a glass of water, sausage pizza (her favorite), and three-cheese pizzas. Yum! By the time she had finished, it was 8:30 pm. “Time for bed!” her mom said.

  Sabrina went upstairs to her bedroom and tried to sleep. Unfortunately, she couldn’t. At 11:30 pm, She crept downstairs and decided to go to her garden to look at the stars. She sat on the soft grass and looked at the black-and-white sky. She found the Big Cup, Little Dipper, Hercules, Great Dog, Orion, and others that she had learned in science. She was about to stand up and go back in when a hand grabbed her.

  Simon and Miles were there, their faces eager to tell her something.

  “What are you guys doing here?” she asked.

  “We think we know what burnt Mrs. Crane’s dress,” Simon said.

  “Okay, then go on, what is it?”

  “Fire!” Miles and Simon exclaimed.

  Sabrina smacked her head. Of course, it was fire! What else could have burnt Mrs. Crane’s dress other than fire! She had a few other suggestions, but the fire was the most obvious one.

  “Is that why you came here?” she asked.

  “No,” Simon said, “we have another thing to say. We have bad news and good news. Which one do you want to hear first?”

  “The bad news,” she said. Sabrina was the type of person that would want to get over with the bad news and on with the good news.

  “The bad news is that our parents got a text message from Mrs. Crane saying that she would give us a one-hour detention tomorrow at 7 am. That’s the bad news. The good news is that we could use that time to find more clues!” Simon said, pumping his fist into the air.

  Sabrina decided to tell them about what she had seen in Mrs. Crane’s hand before they had left detention. She told them every single detail, making sure to emphasize on the specifics.

  “Why would someone want you?” Miles asked, who had been quiet for a while.

  “I don’t know; that’s what I’m trying to solve. Is she bad, or is she good? Is she trying to protect me or hurt me?” She said, rubbing her temples furiously.

  “Did you see her put it in anything when she was done looking at it?” Simon asked.

  “I saw a glimpse of red. She might have pulled it out of her desk,” she said, thinking about it more than she had ever thought before.

  “The thing is that I don’t think she’ll let us rummage through her desk,” said Miles.

  “True,” said Sabrina and Simon at the same time.

  “Well, I guess we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out,” Sabrina said, sighing.

  When Miles and Simon had gone, Sabrina crept back into the house and up the stairs to her bedroom, this time, with newly found courage. Sabrina woke up the next day to her alarm ringing. She had set it yesterday night to wake up at the right time so she wouldn’t miss detention. It was 6:00. She jumped out of bed, changed into a new set of clothes, and ran to brush her teeth. Sabrina’s hair was the usual, her long blond hair reaching down to her waist. She was very attractive, her pink lipstick covering her cracked lips. She wore pink earnings, a birthday present. She ran down the stairs and ate a big bowl of cereal. She quickly rinsed off her teeth, grabbed her lunchbox and backpack, and ran outside. She ran so fast that her legs started to hurt. Finally, her school came into view. She quickly looked for cars and crossed the street. She pushed open the door and ran in. She made it to detention just in time. She stepped her foot into the classroom just as the bell rang. Simon and Miles were there. When they saw her, they waved.

  “Hi,” she said, waving back.

  “No talking in detention!” Mrs. Crane yelled.

  She wore high heels and a purple dress with frills curling around it.

  “Sorry,” Sabrina said, “I won’t do that anymore,”

  “Don’t talk back to me!” she screamed, her eyes bulging out of her head

  Sabrina stayed quiet and sat down on a chair desk in between Miles and Simon.

  “Well, what do you have to say?” Mrs. Crane asked.

  “Sorry, Mrs. Crane.”

  “That’s better. And don’t talk back to me again. Do you hear me?”

  Sabrina nodded.

  “Good,” said Mrs. Crane.

  Sabrina looked at Simon. He shrugged and whispered, “She’s been like this since we got here,” he added, “looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today.” Sabrina winked at him.

  “Today’s assignment,” started Mrs. Crane, “will be to arrange my lipgloss collection in alphabetical order. I’ll be off to get my morning cappuccino. Oh, and don’t touch anything else. She glared at us for a moment and sashayed out of the room.

  “I can’t believe she let us rearrange her lip gloss collection on her desk. This must be my lucky day,” Simon said, winking at Sabrina.

  Sabrina winked back.

  “Well, what are you waiting for?” she asked, “let’s do this!”

  They jumped up from their desks and ran over to Mrs. Crane’s desk. Working together, they quickly arranged the lip glosses in alphabetical order. When they were done, their fingers were tired, and their brains were about to bust open with stress.

  “She sure has a long collection,” said Miles, “I could barely even touch the last two rows. I do not ever want to see lipgloss again.”

  Sabrina ignored him and peeked farther into the desk. She spotted a stack of folders. In the middle of them was a red folder.

  “Jackpot!” shouted Sabrina.

  “You found it?” said Simon and Miles

  “Yup,” she said, pulling out the folder.

  It was red (You probably already know that, but I’ll ram it into your head for you. You’re welcome!) On the front of the folder were the words:

  Moonbeam Files

  “Moonbeam,” Sabrina muttered under her breath.

  “That sounds dark. I’m beginning to think she’s on the Dark Side.”

  Sabrina didn’t waste any time. Quickly, she opened the file and peeked inside. The wanted poster was there, with her smiling picture.

  “I wonder where they got this picture from,” Sabrina said, “I don’t remember taking this picture at all.”

  She moved on to the next file in the folder. There was a picture of the Moonbeams in the file. On the right-hand corner at the bottom was Mrs. Crane.

  Her hair was in a bun, and she wore a dark suit with high heeled platform boots.

  “I knew it! Mrs. Crane is a part of the Moonbeams!” Sabrina yelled.

  “I think we’ve already solved that out,” Simon said, “Look here,” he said, pointing to a short paragraph, “it’s a summary about her.” It read:

  Mrs. Crane is the leader of the Moonbeams and the fiercest. She has the power to yield fire and control time. There’s a legend that says, “Every witch or wizard she’s encountered (Mainly her enemies), have lost their wands and inner powers.” Her worst enemies are the Sunbursts, for they try to destroy her wicked schemes to take over Emperia all the time. Once, she was very close to getting her wish, and the Sunbursts appeared, defeating her and her allies. She appears in the mortal world and tries to capture her worst enemies, Sabrina, Miles, and Simon.

  They gasped. Mrs. Crane did want them. But for what?

  Sabrina quickly closed the folder and turned to an orange folder. She pulled it out and read the front of it:

  Emperia

  Emperia. That sounded much more soothing. Sabrina relaxed and slowly opened the file. (Hey, you never know!) In the first file, she saw a glowing castle with a wolf on the front. In front of it was a beryl fountain with different shades of colors pouring out into a large basin at the bottom.

  “It’s so beautiful,” Sabrina said, ad
miring it like it was a painting.

  There was another paragraph at the bottom.

  The Three Protectors of Emperia

  When these three children arrive in Emperia, their powers will activate. They shall receive a spell that will make them more reliable and work together in hard and impossible times to defeat the Moonbeams. They will grow up to be the strongest protectors Emperia has ever seen. They will destroy the Moonbeams schemes.

  CHAPTER TWO

  EMPERIA

  “Is it us?” Miles whispered.

  Before anyone could answer, they heard footsteps in the hallway. They quickly shoved the files back into the desk, making sure not to hit the lipgloss, and jumped into their seats. Mrs. Crane came a second later. She pulled open the top desk drawer and peeked inside. Then she nodded approvingly and dismissed them.

  At the end of the day, Sabrina, Miles, and Simon decided to go to Sabrina’s to put the alarming pieces they had just learned together.

  They ran for ten long minutes until they arrived at her house. By the time they got to her house, they were beaded with sweat.

  “Next time, let’s go to my house,” Simon said, wiping sweat off his face with his hand.

  “Luckily, there’s air conditioning in my house,” said Sabrina, opening the door.

  Her mom was running around in hiking boots, grabbing supplies and backpacks. Her hair was in a bun, and she wore a black suit with a choker of the sun clasped around her neck.

  When she saw us, she handed us walking sticks, backpacks full of snacks, and canteens.

  “Hurry up, and put these on,” she said, “we’re going to take a little hike today.”

  Without hesitation, they pulled them on. Sabrina and her friends loved hiking. They had started hiking with each other since they were two.

  “Where are we going to, mom?” Sabrina asked, pulling on hiking boots her mom had just handed them. Her mom gave her a stern look that said: Shut up, please. Sabrina shut up immediately. She knew her mom. She could be very nice sometimes, but you do not want to get on her bad side. Right now, neither did Sabrina. Her mom attached their canteen to their backpacks and told us to follow her. She let us outside of the house and into the woods in our backyard.