I knew that I had to get out of there before I was pulled apart, molecule-by-molecule, by the intense gravity of the anomaly of darkness. I stood there motionless though, racking my brain to think of some other thing I could try – some Priestess trick up my sleeve that could save my world.
But then, suddenly, a huge explosion! It was like all the TNT from every Fourth of July fireworks display ever showed up here, now.
Safely inside my protective bubble of positive energy, I saw fire whiz by me followed by flying metal and other shrapnel. And at the very heart of it, what was once a core of utter blackness – the complete opposite of light – there was a tremendous sphere of light glowing.
At first it was the size of a football field, but it quickly began to dwindle. Soon it was no smaller than a car. A small star, birthed right before my eyes! What less than a few minutes before had been a swirling vortex of utter darkness had become a ball of intense light, no larger than a softball. Perfect light from perfect dark.
But then, before my eyes, second by second, it grew smaller and smaller until finally, in a blink, it disappeared. My small star gone forever. Where there had once been a black hole, and then an infant star, there was now only rubble, debris and the remnants of the most expensive machine ever built by man.
There was a faint glimmer amongst the rubble – something shining there. I hovered myself in my protective bubble closer to see what it was.
There, buried under debris was the dagger Hindergog had given me. It was tarnished and covered in black soot, but it was intact. You’d never know it had been a container full of anti-matter that just collided with a black hole! I commanded the dagger to come to me and then I put it back in its sheath.
Left in the wake of the explosion was a total disaster. The LHC, all the work of so many people, so many billions of Euros – gone. Totally gone.
There was a gigantic hole a mile underground full of rubble and ruin, but up top, you would never know. Anyone who wasn’t there to see it would never believe it. Hell, the vast majority of people would probably never know any of this had happened.
CERN would make up a plausible story about overheating or some other mechanical failure explanation for the complete and total destruction of the most expensive and grand machine ever built by humans. But Jake, Fanny, my Dad and I – we know the truth.
62. Click Your Heels Three Times
“You won’t find faith or hope down a telescope,
You won’t find heart and soul in the stars,
You can break everything down to chemicals,
But you can’t explain a love like ours.
It’s the way we feel, yeah, this is real.”
From “Science & Faith,” The Script (Daniel O’Donoghue and Mark Sheehan) ©2010
The sun was shining through a few puffy clouds as I walked up the sidewalk to a house I had known my whole life. No, that’s not quite true. I had lived in this place my whole life, but it wasn’t always the same house.
Once it was filled with colorful paintings of flowers and my mom’s voice singing and humming. Then for a while it was a building overflowing with a dull, grey dread.
Now it is once again a house filled with color and life. But it’s not the same house as when my mom was alive. That house is gone, but I now know how to find it if I want. Thing is, these days I don’t want to go looking for it anymore.
It would be great to report that after we got back from Europe they stopped calling me ‘Freak Girl’ and that I became popular and adored. That didn’t happen. But I stopped caring about what Greta and her cronies thought. I’d lived through tutelage with Madame Wong and faced down a black hole! Somehow Greta’s nasty comments didn’t seem to matter after that.
Greta’s still here but Muriel is gone. By the time we got back she had packed up her stuff and left. I guess it was okay to be the bully, but when push came to shove, she wasn’t willing to hang around if it meant she’d have someone shoving back.
As I walked across the porch today, I didn’t care that the boards squeaked. There wasn’t any dread or fear at all as I put my hand on the doorknob and turned it.
I walked down the familiar hallway and toward the smell of pancakes, coffee and bacon. I could hear their voices bantering.
“More chocolate chip pancakes?” my dad asked as he flipped another batch.
“I’ll take more,” said Fanny.
“Figures piggy. You’re going to be fat as a house,” teased Jake.
“Shut it nub before I take you down!”
“Come on guys, give it a rest will you? Can’t we enjoy a pleasant Sunday morning together without your bickering?” asked Dad.
“We are enjoying,” said Jake.
“Yeah, this is us enjoying,” added Fanny as she shoved about three normal forkfuls into her mouth at once.
Dad was smiling wide as he worked the pancakes on the griddle. His smile widened as he looked up and saw me standing in the doorway to the kitchen.
“Oh hey, Emily’s back with the juice. Thanks Em,” he said with a wink.
“No prob Dad,” I said and handed him the juice. I threw a copy of the Weekly World News down on the counter of the breakfast bar in front of Jake and Fanny.
“What’s this?” asked Jake.
“I thought you’d all get a kick out of the cover story. Check out the photo on the front. Look like anyone we know?”
Jake and Fanny both stared at the front page, and I soon saw their eyes about to bug out of their heads as they recognized the woman on the cover.
“Holy chiz!” said Fanny.
“I can’t believe it,” said Jake.
“What?” my dad said as he reached for the paper.
His turn for eyes buggin’. There on the front cover of the Weekly World News was a wild-eyed photo of our beloved Aunt Muriel. The headline above the picture read, ‘Woman Attacked by Niece Possessed by an Alien’.
My dad threw the paper across the counter, laughed and went back to flipping pancakes. “Oops, these are a bit burnt.”
“That’s okay, I’ll eat them anyway,” said Fanny as she held out her plate for more.
“Dad, that’s all you’re going to say? ‘Oops, these are a bit burnt.’”
“What should I say Emily? My sister is crazy. I just wish I had been here – really here – to see it sooner. I’m so sorry,” he said as he hugged me.
“I know Dad. You don’t need to keep apologizing,” I said as I hugged back. “Okay, who needs more coffee?” I asked as I hovered the coffee pot over to where Jake and Fanny sat.
“Come on, use your hands,” said Jake. “You know it freaks me out when you hover things.”
“It only freaks you out because you can’t do it,” I quipped as I ordered the pot to give Jake more coffee.
“I’ll take some more,” said Fanny as she held out her cup.
“Oh no, no more for you,” I said and set the pot back down. None of us wanted to see Fanny on mega-caffeine.
A new typical Sunday with family. Click your heels three times.
Tomorrow is Monday, and I’ll leave this house again. I’ll walk out the door and try to find a way to be me and yet fit in; be Emily but a part of everything else too. And at the end of the day I’ll come home.
Pronunciation Guide
Characters:
Bian Sídhe BAN shee
Brighid BREE id
Cathaír KA heer
Cian KEE in
Cormac KUR a mac
Dectire deck TIR ra
Dughall DU gal
Lianhan Sídhe LAN an shee
Macha MASH a
Ruaidrí RU a ree
Saorla SAYR la
Sídhe Shay
Sorcha SOR kha
Places:
Loughcrew LOCK crew
Slieve na Caillaigh sl-EE-ve na CAL-i
Umbra Nihili UM bra NEE Lee
Other:
Anam Cara uh -nam kar-uh
About The Author
Natalie Wright grew up on
a farm in Ohio. She lived in a creaky, old farmhouse and enjoyed playing with her dolls in the woods. It was a fertile environment for a curious child who dreamed of being a writer someday.
Natalie is, however, a city girl at heart. She now finds inspiration in the desert environment surrounding her home in the high desert of Arizona where she lives with her husband, young daughter, and her dog Molly. When Natalie isn’t writing, she enjoys traveling, reading, meeting new people on social media, and searching for the best iced coffee in town.
You can connect with Natalie here:
Twitter: @NatalieWright_
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/NatalieWright.Author
Blog: http://www.NatalieWrightsYA.blogspot.com
Website: www.NatalieWright.net
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/WritesKidsBooks
Google +: https://plus.google.com/u/0/101662949356723296903/posts
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/468945.Natalie_Wright
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/natwrites/
Wattpad: http://www.wattpad.com/user/NatalieWright_
Also by Natalie Wright
Emily’s Trial: Book 2 of the Akasha Chronicles
Available in print
Table of Contents
Emily’s House
Acknowledgments
PART ONE
Prologue
1. A Run-In With Muriel The Mean
2. Emily’s Visitor
3. Saorla
4. The Wedding
5. Cathaír’s Bad News
6. Sorcha
7. The Order Of Brighid
8. The Dark One Comes
9. March To The Sacred Grove
10. Lianhan Sídhe
11. Battle For The Sacred Grove
12. Saorla At The Well
13. The End Of The Order Of Brighid
14. Search For The Torc
15. Puzzles
16. Escape From Muriel The Mean
PART TWO
17. To Fair Tara
18. The Inn
19. Things Go Bump in the Night
20. Monasterboice
21. On the Run
22. Zombie Man Wakes
23. Liam Searches for Clues
24. Emily’s Search for the Sacred Well
25. Emily and the Netherworld
26. And Liam Makes Three - Again
27. Emily’s First Master
28. Madame Wong
29. Breathe
30. Riding the Waves
31. Why I Hate Bamboo
32. Slicing and Dicing
33. Sword of the Order
34. The Three Little Ninjas
35. The Killing Time
36. The Darkest Woods
37. Akasha
PART THREE
38. Umbra Nihili
39. Macha’s Promise
40. Dughall Wakes
41. The Face in the Bucket
42. The Machine
43. Dughall’s Story
44. A Promise
45. Dughall’s Revenge
46. Piecing it Together in Dublin
47. A Present for Miss Emily
48. Emily’s Second Master
49. The Dughall Enigma
50. Put Your Boat In
51. The Slippery Slopes of Time
52. Dughall at the LHC
53. Hospitality, CERN Style
54. Dughall at CERN
55. Stuck Inside a Tin Can
56. Dughall’s Plan in Action
57. Escape from a Tin Can
58. Dughall and the Portal
59. His Deepest Desire
60. Afternoon at the Horror Movies
61. Emily Meets a Black Hole
62. Click Your Heels Three Times
Pronunciation Guide
About The Author
Also by Natalie Wright
Emily's House (The Akasha Chronicles) Page 27
