Gatebreaker
Book One
Michelle Wilson
Gatebreaker is copyright © 2019 by Tulip Poplar Publications. Published 2019 by Tulip Poplar Publications. Cover design is copyright © 2019 by sleepy fox studio.
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, folklore, mythology, people, or places are used fictitiously. All other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any similarities to actual events, locations, or persons, living or dead, are entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Created with Vellum
For my husband who loves me, encourages me, and supports me on my writing journeys. For my parents who always believe in me. For my son who brightens my days and my world and inspires me to be better.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Connect with Michelle
Leave a Review
Also by Michelle Wilson
About the Author
Acknowledgments
1
The summer sun beat down on me as I lay on a towel with my feet dangling in the cool water of the pool. I was half-heartedly holding a book in my hand, but my eyes were closed. I could hear the click of typing next to me as Erin texted on her phone.
“You know if the coaches catch him with his phone he will get in trouble, right? Practice will be over in an hour. Can’t you wait that long?” I asked.
“Now, Lydia, how do you know who I’m texting?”
“Oh, come on, I’m here. Who else would you be texting?” I asked her with a grin.
Erin kicked her legs under the water, spraying it all over me before I got out of the way.
“Hey, I was almost dry!” I told her.
With that, I gave up on my book. I closed it with a thump and tossed it across the patio so it landed away from the water. It had been spared Erin’s soaking. Giving up on getting dry, I lowered the rest of my body into the water and swam up and down the pool for a couple of laps. Then I floated on my back, eyes closed to the glare of the sun, as I drifted over the top of the water.
Summer was my favorite time of the year. Erin and I spent most of our days in her grandma’s pool when we could get away from our horseback riding lessons and my cross-country practice. Now that Erin could drive, we would also take trips to eat fast food or go to the convenience store just because we could. School was set to start back in two weeks and, even though I was looking forward to starting my junior year, I would miss these lazy days of summer.
I could tell by the feel of the sun on my skin it was time to go inside. I pulled my legs down and stood on the bottom of the pool, the water still up to my waist.
“Come on, let’s go in. I’m getting sunburnt,” I told Erin.
“You and your pale skin,” Erin mocked, standing up and picking up her towel. “Are all redheads as pale as you?”
I shrugged as I walked towards the stairs of the pool. “I don’t know. I’m the only one with red hair in my family.” I ran a hand through my wet and wavy red hair. Then I sighed with mock longing, “We can’t all be blonde and beautiful like you.” Unable to keep up the facade, I giggled.
Erin grinned and threw a towel over to me as I emerged from the pool.
“How about we get dressed and go shopping? I’ll help you pick out a new first day outfit,” Erin said.
“Why do I need a new first day outfit?” I asked. The droplets of water on my skin made rivulets down my leg and stained the concrete patio a dark gray color.
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe you have someone to impress?” Erin teased.
“Hush,” I told Erin. I could feel my face turning red.
Erin just laughed and continued drying off. After we were mostly dry we made our way through the screened-in porch and into the living room where we’d left all our stuff. I quickly changed from my wet suit into a pair of linen shorts and a floral navy tank top. I looked into the mirror that hung above the massive fireplace. My green eyes stared back at me. I could see a new splattering of freckles across my nose and on my forehead. My shoulders also sported new freckles as well as the rosy glow of a fresh sunburn.
“I don’t even know why I bother trying to lay out. My skin never gets tan, it only gets more freckly,” I said. I ran a brush through my hair, made a face at myself in the mirror, and decided to pile my hair on top of my head in a bun. Erin finished applying mascara to her eyelashes as I waited. Her blonde hair looked like she’d just come from a salon. I sighed despite myself. I turned back to look at my reflection in the mirror again. Erin made being beautiful look easy, but I knew how much work she put into her appearance. I didn’t have the energy to put that much effort into it. I was fine with settling for low maintenance and cute. I made another face at myself before turning around and looking at my friend.
“Are you ever going to be ready?” I asked. Erin ignored me and continued to lace up her sandals. Once the straps were securely tied all the way up her calves she stood and said, “Okay, now I’m ready.”
“You know we are just going shopping, right?” I asked her.
“Well, you never know who you’re going to run into. I just like to look my best.”
I made a noise of agreement, grabbed my bag, and followed Erin out the door.
After a drive through our Tennessee town with the windows rolled all the way down, Erin and I spent a nice afternoon at the outlet stores. She helped me pick out a sundress that would easily pass the dress code and still managed to look nice. Secretly, I hoped it would impress a certain senior boy. I twirled in the mirror one last time in the dressing room and decided there were not enough opportunities in life to twirl.
“I still think it’s weird you have a crush on my brother,” Erin said as she came out of her own dressing room with a pile of clothes hung over her arm.
Well, maybe my crush on Murphy wasn’t much of a secret. The crush on my childhood friend had developed over the last year. I guess I wasn’t as good at hiding it as I thought. In response, I just sighed and twirled one last time before resigning myself to taking the dress off and throwing it over my arm to take to the register.
We checked out and
headed to the pretzel place to grab a snack before we left for the day. As we were waiting for our pretzels, I could hear the sound of Erin’s phone vibrating violently in her purse. I went to get our food as she fished her phone out of her massive bag and flipped through her messages. As she was reading, she looked up and smirked at me.
“What?” I asked. The sound was muffled from the huge bite of pretzel and cheese dip I was busy stuffing in my mouth.
“Well,” she said, drawing her words out. I knew she thought she had something on me. “After we finish, I think we should go look for another outfit for you.”
“What for? Sorry, Erin, but I’m just about shopped out.”
“Oh, that’s fine. I just thought maybe you’d want one since John just told me he and Murphy want to do a sunrise hike tomorrow and they would like us to go with them.”
I perked up a little, “Us?”
“Yep, Murphy asked specifically if you could come.”
“You didn’t tell him I like him, did you?”
Erin threw her hands up in a show of innocence. “I promise I haven’t said a word.”
I smiled. “Well, okay. I guess it wouldn’t take us too long to find another outfit.”
“Besides,” Erin said. “What better way to celebrate your birthday than with a sunrise hike with your crush? It’s not every day a girl turns sixteen.”
I brushed her off as we made our way toward the sporting goods store Erin liked. “You know I don’t like to make a big deal about my birthday,” I said.
Erin slung her arm around my shoulders. “That’s what you have me for,” she said.
2
The next morning dawned sticky and warm. I had spent the night at Erin’s to make it easier to get ready for the hike, but when the alarm went off at four a.m. nothing felt easy. I lay still for a moment, staring at the ceiling. Sixteen didn’t really feel any different. With no small amount of grumbling, I convinced Erin to get up. Miraculously, we were ready when Murphy and John came upstairs to Erin’s room to tell us they were ready to go.
We all four loaded into the bench seat of Murphy’s truck, with Erin and I sandwiched in the middle. All our gear was piled on the floor next to Erin’s feet. As we pulled out of the driveway, I couldn’t help but notice my leg pressed against Murphy’s. The hiking shorts and the tank top Erin had convinced me to buy yesterday were tighter than the ones I typically wore, but she had insisted they looked cute. I agreed with her. Now that I was sitting so close to Murphy, however, I decided the tank top was too tight around my ribs because I was finding it hard to breathe. I tried to look out the window past the back of Murphy’s head to distract myself. I noticed Murphy’s dark hair was getting long and shaggy now that we were out of school for the summer. I liked the look.
The traffic was heavy even this early in the morning so we listened to music with the windows rolled down for the hour it took us to get across town. Slowly but surely the traffic faded as Murphy took roads known only to locals and drove us to his favorite hiking spot. It was just a short trail, but it was hidden back at the end of a subdivision. Most tourists didn’t even know it existed, which was how Murphy liked it, he told us. A crowded hiking trail was no fun at all.
“Lead the way,” Erin said to Murphy and John after we parked and unloaded. John just smiled at his girlfriend, nodded his head in the direction we were going, and started up the trail with his flashlight beam leading the way. Erin went next, followed by me, and Murphy brought up the end of our little group. I blushed thinking about him walking behind me the whole way up the mountain.
It only took a few moments for us all to be completely drenched in sweat. The air was unusually heavy even for eastern Tennessee.
“There must be a storm moving in soon,” Murphy remarked.
“I sure hope so,” I said. “If it would come and go already maybe the air would lighten up some.”
We continued to walk in amicable silence, watching the trees and scouting the trail for any signs of wildlife. Erin pointed out a woodpecker once but other than that we didn’t see anything very interesting.
“All the animals must be napping,” said Erin. “I don’t blame them; I wish I was napping.”
We were all walking side-by-side as we walked along a wide and even part of the trail.
“Oh, come on, this is fun!” Murphy said, moving in between Erin and I and linking arms with us both. I could feel my skin heat up where he was touching me as he pulled us along.
“Where else can you find this kind of entertainment with two such good looking ladies?”
I knew I was blushing furiously now.
After an hour or so we reached the top of the mountain. I pulled a blanket from my backpack and spread it out so we could all sit down. We arrived just in time. The eastern horizon was just beginning to turn pink. We all sat down and watched the sun as it began its ascent over the Great Smoky Mountains. The early morning we experienced was totally worth it as I watched the horizon turn pink, red, and yellow as the orb of the sun climbed to peek over the horizon. We all watched in silence until the sun was completely over the horizon and the sky was turning its typical blue.
I glanced over to see Erin and John making out instead of watching the sunrise. I rolled my eyes at them. Murphy walked over to where I was sitting. I scooted over on the blanket to give him room and he sat down next to me.
“This the most beautiful place in the world,” I whispered.
“You’ve got that right,” Murphy said. He shifted, so he was a little closer to me and our hands were touching on the blanket. I could feel my face begin to heat up again, but not because it was so hot outside. I was careful not to move. I figured after a moment he would realize his mistake and pull his hand away, but he left it there lying gently on top of mine as we watched the end of the sunrise.
Erin, Murphy, John, and I had been friends as long as I could remember. Erin and John had started dating their freshman year of high school and never looked back. Murphy was a year older than us and it had only been in the last year I had started developing feelings for him that were more than friendly.
After the sun was completely over the horizon Erin stood up. The sudden movement made me jump and Murphy moved his hand away from mine.
“Alright. That was fun. Now we’ve got some exploring to do. You didn’t drag me all the way out here just to watch a sunrise.”
Murphy and John stood up as I folded the blanket and put it back in my bag.
“What did you have in mind?” John asked. “This is as far as Murphy and I have come on this trail, so lead the way, ladies.”
From where we were standing the trail split in two directions. Instead of pointing to one of the hiking trails Erin pointed west. Barely discernible through the undergrowth was what looked to be a gently used game trail.
“I want to go that way,” she said with what I decided was an evil grin.
“Erin, seriously? There’s two perfectly good trails ahead of us,” I said.
“Exactly. Those are boring. Plenty of people go that way. What? Are you afraid of getting lost?” she asked.
Yes. That’s exactly what I was afraid of. But I was never going to admit that in front of Murphy, and Erin knew it.
“Of course not,” I said instead.
“Besides,” Erin said. “We are right above that subdivision. Even if we did get lost, we’d just have to hike down the mountain and we’ll probably end up in someone’s backyard.”
I shrugged, conceding the fact that Erin was right.
“Alright, single file then. I’ll hold up the end of the line,” Murphy said.
Erin struck ahead first, followed by John, then me, and then Murphy. The game trail led almost straight to the west along the side of the mountain. It took us into denser forest.
After we had been walking for a few minutes Murphy leaned up and said, “A little birdie reminded me it’s your birthday today.”
“Oh yeah?” I asked. “Would that little birdie’s name be
Erin, by chance?”
Murphy laughed. “Maybe,” he said. “Sixteen, that’s exciting. You’ll be able to drive soon.”
I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. I don’t know, I’ve just never been interested in making a big deal about my birthday. It’s just another day. Life moves on,” I said.
“That’s a very interesting philosophy,” Murphy said. “Not to make a big deal out of it or anything, but I was wondering if you’d like to go get birthday milkshakes once we get back from the hike. Just you and me.”
It took me a minute to find my voice. “Yeah,” I managed to squeak out. “That sounds nice,” I said in an attempt to sound nonchalant. Turning my head to look over my shoulder at him, I saw he was smiling at me. I smiled back and turned back to the trail with a big grin plastered across my face.
The trees overhead provided welcome shade from the sun, but the air underneath the canopy was stifling and unmoving. I could feel a headache coming on. It was creeping up from my temples to my forehead. I closed my eyes for a moment against the pain. My toe caught a root sticking out from the forest floor. I opened my eyes as I pitched forward, heading straight for the ground. Murphy reached out quick as lightning and grabbed my elbow and pulled me back. To keep from falling further I stretched my arms out and accidentally elbowed Murphy right in the ribs.
Gatebreaker: Book One Page 1
