Copyright © 2015
Angela K. Crandall
All rights reserved. This book contains material
protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws
and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission
from the author / publisher
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any
resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,
or actual events is purely coincidental.
Kindle Edition
ASIN-B016P42VXI
Arcadia Publishing
First Edition
Cover design by Toni Kerr
Special thanks to:
Toni Kerr for designing my book cover. Jaime Goodrich for her expert editing advice. My husband for his helpful idea’s and the Robot Review Club for encouraging me to continue working on this project. Last, but not least thank you to my friends, and family for your continued support.
Chapter 1
(Sunday night, Starla)
I walked by the houses, staring up at the round moon that lit up the night’s sky. College and the night shifts at work had been continuously dragging me down. Stepping up to the apartment door, I began digging for my keys in my purse as I glanced up to see an elderly couple heading towards me. I smiled.
“Um, miss? My wife and I hate to bother you, but we locked ourselves out of our apartment. Can we use your mobile to call someone to open it?”
He had graying hair, an adorable smile, along with mismatched socks. She looked a bit younger, a little more stylish. They were cute. I tried not to laugh. Mobile, who called cells that these days? Yeah, most likely he wasn’t dangerous, but you never could tell. Little old men can be sneaky. I tried to hide the chuckle under my breath at this thought.
“Thanks, gal,” he said graciously, taking the phone from me.
“Glad to be of help. I’m Starla. My family and I just moved in,” I said, shaking his hand.
“You look a little young to have a family,” he replied, examining the phone.
“I’m in school. I work part time over at the diner down the street.”
“Earl, you know Denny’s. He cracks me up... always forgetting things,” said the old woman.
“You’ll forget things too when you’re ninety!” he exclaimed, holding the phone to his ear.
“Yes, yes, Fern and I locked ourselves out again. Can you meet us upstairs at apartment 201? Yeah, thanks,” he answered, handing me back my cell phone.
“Earl, why is it you cannot ever remember our keys? I asked you to do one thing,” nagged the old women.
They started to bicker back and forth. I turned away towards my apartment, shaking my head.
I opened the door and dropped my purse and backpack on the floor beside me. I clicked the lock to its secure position, not sure if anyone was home. Our dog Fritz came trotting up to me as he barked. He licked my hand a few times before heading into the kitchen, probably to find his food dish. Gosh, I needed a quick shower. Grease from Denny’s kitchen coated my hair. I leaned against the wall, looking at our stairwell. I could use a drink. I’d better get cleaned up since Molly said she would go out with me tonight. Slowly I climbed the staircase. Suddenly, out of the wall, small round metal spigots spring out, spraying me with water. Instinctively, I jumped back.
I took my glasses off and wiped them on my shirt, placing them back on my face. “Hey, Mom. Are you home? Megan? Did someone set off the sprinklers smoking again, or something?” If so, I’d not seen a system resembling this before. No one answered. The unrelenting water sprayed onto the staircase and began forming a puddle in the entry way.
There was no fire, no need for this. There was nothing in sight to force the gadgets back into the wall. I searched the sides of the spigots for any buttons or devices that might shut them off. I clicked on what appeared to be a star. A whirring sound started up, blowing warm air out from where the water had emerged. No explanations, no reasons.
Ahh, nothing to be alarmed about, I guess. Maybe I’d overreacted. I opened the door to my room, and my cell rang.
“Starla, are you there?”
“It’s me,” I said. “Who’s this?”
“Jenson, I tried to call you earlier but...”
“Oh, yeah, I worked tonight at the diner. I’m home now. A minute ago someone set off the sprinkler system. Strange spigots shot out of the wall, and now there’s water everywhere! I’m not sure what I would have done if I hadn’t figured out how to shut it off.”
“Hmm, that does sound wacky. I was just trying to contact you, ah, never mind, it’s not vital.”
“It’s OK, what’s up?”
“Just be careful. I got a feeling earlier today I was being followed.”
“I will, but you know you’ve had these gut feelings before, and zilch happenings,” I said.
“Make sure to call me if you need anything.”
I assured him I would, and hung up flopping down on my bed. My clock said 7:15 p.m. Just a little nap. It had been a long day. Curling up, I laid my head down on the pillow and drifted off.
Shuffling my covers off my feet, I pushed them to the end of the bed. I stretched out my limbs and noticed the open window. A faint light shone throughout the red flowing curtains. I jerked back, startled. It was only the wind outside. Scooting up against the headboard, I allowed myself to relax. What time is it? I reached over to turn on the light near my bookshelf. I froze. A dark figure stood inches from me.
My instincts kicked in, adrenaline, fear, then dread, leading to confusion. A chase, so you want to hunt me? The figure moved a bit closer. I slowly inched nearer to the open window merely a few feet away. My heart was about to fly out of my skin. I leaped toward the ceiling a few feet from the ground near the windowpane. Putting my hands underneath it, I pushed up. It was stuck! Grabbing hold of the encasement, I searched for an object to break the pane. Nothing, I smashed my fist into the glass over and over again, unbreakable!
I stopped, trapped. A quick tug on my dress pants, nobody visible before me, no one who could have...
I fell, no, was forced, or pressed down. I splashed hitting water. I couldn’t breathe. I felt claustrophobic, a small space, a basin? No, a cast iron tub. Was I dying? Who would have wanted to kill me? Minutes passed, and I opened my eyes to the ceiling above me. I must have been in shock. I couldn’t move. What had happened? Was I already deceased? Pushing my mind to compel my limbs to function, I pulled myself out of the water and shook myself off. I gasped for breath and placed my hand where the side of the tub would be. Blanket! I’m sitting on a blanket. My bed covers still at my feet.
It was a dream, a very lucid nightmare. “Get up, find your glasses, and get that shower,” I ordered myself. The clock on my bed stand read 10:15 p.m. That drink with Molly would have to wait. Hearing my stomach growl, I realized I hadn’t eaten since my break at work. Now my eyeglasses, I didn’t remember taking them off, nor putting them on. I moved around the room inspecting shelves and other areas where I might have set them. Glancing towards the doorway, this time not one, but two figures stood there. Their red eyes glowed in the darkness.
“Suppose you weren’t hallucinating. You don’t need eye glasses. That’s why you don’t wear them. Have you tried out that special power we gifted you with, my dear?” said the strange creature.
“I need my glasses. I’m not sure who you are, or how you got into my home!�
��
“Have you chosen?” he asked.
What was he talking about? Chosen what? The other figure stood silent, not moving, just scanning me with those beady eyes. It reminded me of a rat I used to have. Mother had to give it away. It freaked me out.
“We’ve been monitoring you for a while now. You weren’t aware of this?” said a female as she stepped out of the dimness, visible, attractive. I shook it off. Where was my phone? I needed to get help, and call Jenson.
“No need to call anyone. You have to make the choice,” he said.
Are they vampires or werewolves, I thought.
“Mixed breed,” said the lady before me.
I could fight or run. I didn’t have any holy water, stakes or silver bullets on me. I wasn’t Buffy, well not exactly. I’d seen the show like a zillion times! Now, I was stuck in this position. Did I have a super power? What about that dream? Had it meant anything? Perhaps it had been a premonition. I’d had them before we moved.
“Come on now, we haven’t got all night!” he said.
All around me, I suddenly heard laughter. Did I choose? I gave them my best squinty face. Heck, I wasn’t sure what else to do. It had worked for Samantha in Bewitched. I almost started laughing. Then my face began to twitch! Subsequently, a jolt of pain hit my abdomen, then spread throughout my body. I felt it against my cheeks as if something was pushing against them, emerging out of my face. Whiskers, I felt whiskers! My arms jutted out in front of me, no longer hands, but paws! I grew furry back legs that replaced my human ones! I opened my mouth to speak. The noise that had escaped my lips resembled nothing I’d ever heard before. It was similar to a scream or a shriek if you could even describe it. I looked up at the strange vampire wolves who’d harassed me. They held their ears with their paws, aggravated expressions displayed on their faces.
This was my chance to escape, I thought. I couldn’t focus on what, or who, I was until I did.
The door to the downstairs remained a jar. Arching my back, I jumped, leaping over the two jerks and raced down the stairs. At the bottom, I gazed up at the front door. I have paws, paws? No, I don’t have time to fathom this. I’d once watched a cat open a door. I stood on my hind legs and then stumbled. I listened, nothing yet. I stood back up holding the doorknob with both paws. I moved it from side to side. Damn! I’d locked the door. Jenson, where the hell are you? Do you know about this?
My ears perked up, listening I could hear them upstairs moving about. Were they looking for something, or did they want me? Choose. What had that meant? I scanned the landing for something to help me escape and caught a glimpse of myself in a nearby mirror.
I was a fox. What could foxes do? I had jumped up to the window casing; maybe I could hop onto the table against the wall? Was it just a dream? I heard them running. They must be heading downstairs. There was no time to get that key, or even try. I didn’t look back, but headed left towards the kitchen. Thank goodness we were on the ground floor! Going into the kitchen, I trotted near the dining table. I remembered the doggie door, we’d put in just as Fritz bolted out of the laundry room. He stood his ground with angry barks. Gah! Fritz! I hope they leave you alone, I thought, staring back at the tiny Shih Tzu. I quickly exited the room via the doggie door as my pursuers entered.
Chapter 2
(Tri)
“Starla, Starla are you here?” I cried. I pushed open the front door, flinging my keys on the hall table. “Go check upstairs and find out where your sister is at. I’m going to start our dinner. See you in the kitchen, sweetie.”
“Mom, she said she was going out with Molly tonight after work, remember?” said Megan. She leaned against the railing to the upstairs hall.
“Oh, that’s right, dear. Well, go clean up, then come down and help me set the table. It will just be the two of us.” I sauntered into the kitchen and switched on the light. Fritz sat shaking in the corner near the laundry entrance. “Oh, Fritz, what’s the matter? It’s only me, you silly dog,” I said, bending down to pet him on the head. A low growl started up in the dog’s throat; he tensed up, glaring at the entryway behind me, ready to attack. I twisted round to face whatever he’d been barking at, finding nothing behind me. “Fritz, what is it? Did you see a ghost or something?”
Megan bounced into the room, sliding in her white socks towards the dining table. “Hey there, Mom!”
“Megan Lindsey Lee! What is going on?”
“Sorry, Mom just having a bit of fun,” she smiled, grabbing a cup off of the counter. She filled it with water from the tap, proceeding to drink.
“Fritz almost gave me a heart attack. He was cowering near the laundry room when I came in, then he started growling, but there was nothing here.”
Megan shrugged. “I thought I heard noises upstairs. It could just have been my imagination again. I wasn’t going to worry you about it. Remember the old house? How we use to hear things all the time?”
“I do, let’s not talk about that now.” I opened the cupboard above the sink and began putting away the groceries I’d purchased. “Megan, please start the oven for the frozen pizza. Then go turn all the lights on, look around, and see if anything is missing. After that, we’re going to call your sister. This isn’t sitting well with me right now.”
(Starla)
As I ran along the sidewalk far away from the complex, snow gleamed on the ground like the stars above me, before me lay a city. It wasn’t as bad as L.A., but it still held cars, traffic lights, and busy streets. I hoped that mom and Megan would be OK. I shook my head standing there. What would they think of our new tenants, or would they have left after my exit? Searching up and down the road I tried to figure out which way to go. Everything was new to me. I’d just lived here a few weeks! Even if I could change back to my human form, I had no cell phone, and no clothes! My worst nightmare! The college was behind me. Jenson lived a few streets down.
“Hmmm?” I looked again left and right trying to get my bearings, using landmarks having never in truth paid attention to street signs. Swiftly I trotted towards homes, which appeared most familiar to me. A wing and a prayer is what my mom always said when I followed my gut instincts and went with it. Glancing up into a nearby window a girl studied, in the other people watched TV, and here I was. I had not yet tried to speak, so I did. “Jenson, are you here?” I could still talk, well what do you know, “Hot Diggity dog!”
“No, you’re a fox!” A small five-year-old boy looked straight at me.
“Shhh, do you know Jenson?”
He gave me a wide grin and then patted my head. I was a bit annoyed.
“I do, he lives in that blue house.” He points to it. In the driveway was Jenson’s old red beat up car.
“Why thank you, squirt. Please do not tell anyone you spoke with me. Hmm, please?” I gave him pleading eyes.
He shrugged as he walked away. I heard him exclaim to himself, “Who would believe me anyway?”
(Tri)
“I don’t know where your crazy sister is, Megan, I called Molly’s. She never got ahold of her after work. When she gets home, she’s not going to be happy. I’m at wits end with her. I know she can be adventurous. This is why we moved! No more mysterious, no more strange events. She was just going to be a normal college girl.”
Megan sat at the dinner table and stared at her cold pizza. “Mom, don’t worry. She’s probably just off with Jenson somewhere. All those puddles down the steps lead me to believe she hopped in the shower and washed her hair only to head out to Shimmer’s. You know she usually leaves a note. Did you look?”
I moved to the table to sit with Megan, fumbling with a few napkins. I picked up a piece of the cold pie and began eating.
“Mom, maybe we should call her.”
I set down the pizza to look at my youngest daughter. “Your sister can take care of herself, but why would she forget her keys, cell phone, and purse? She never leaves without them. What worries me is Mr. Fritz was growling when I got home. It didn’t look like we had an i
ntruder. No forced entry that I could see. Springville is a mid-size town pretty safe now that. Well, never mind.”
Megan took my hand and squeezed it. “If she’s not home in 24 hours we can call the police. After we finish eating and clean things up, you should give Jenson a call. OK?”
I got up and hugged my daughter.
“Thank you,” I said.
“It’ll be OK, mom.”
(Starla)
I sprinted to the house, checking for any signs of Jenson or his folks. A large oak tree stood in the yard. I’d rest there until I figured out what to do next. I needed a moment, then maybe I could plan my next move. What had I been thinking about when shape shifting into a fox? Was it possible this was a permanent transformation? The vampires said to make a choice, was this my choice? I shook myself all over. Afterwards, I stood on my hind legs and stretched out my long fox arms against the tree. The full moon hung low tonight. I looked up at it longingly. How could I make myself panic? That’s the last emotion that had occurred before...
My whiskers started to pull inward; my body began to shake all over. “Ouch, help someone, please!” I rolled onto the ground. My fur vanished within me, revealing my human skin and hands. Laying there I checked out my body, everything seemed intact. I was exposed as I feared. Naked! Great, here I was at Jenson’s in my birthday suit. The last thing I wanted him to think was...
“Hey! What are you doing out here! Starla, why don’t you have any clothes on?” said Jenson’s sister.
“Bring me your bathrobe, then Jenson, and I’ll explain, but only to you and your brother. No one else should be involved in this. We can’t talk out here-someone might be listening.”
“OK, paranoid much?”
“As of this evening, yes, very paranoid,” I said to Sage, as I used my hands to cover myself.
Myth (Book 1) Page 1
