by Glenn, L. M.
THE CASCADERS
BY L. M. GLENN
© 2016 Lisa Glenn
This is a work of fiction. All characters and events are from the Author’s imagination. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead is purely coincidence.
The moral right of the author has been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
Edited by Kelly Hartigan
Book cover by Missy Covers
Dedication:
I would like to dedicate this book to two new and very special members of my family. To my daughter-in-law, Desiree and grandson, Jayden. Thank you for making my son a very happy man, and welcome to the family. Also for giving me a beautiful granddaughter. This book is for you.
The Cascaders
Chapter 1
Paltos bent down and stroked the fur at the neck of his companion. “I smell it too,” he whispered. There was a certain scent permeating the air. Straightening, he entered the tunnel cautiously on the lookout for Morgs, the creatures who enjoyed gnawing on the flesh of their kind.
Paltos glanced down at the black panther at his side. “Do you feel the vibrations?” he asked. At the panther’s nod, he glanced back toward the dark in front of them. The tunnels hummed with a soft vibration. His face took on a worried look.
They steadily traveled silently through the tunnel, the only sound the soft padding of the panther’s paws. When they came to a fork, they turned left and continued. Paltos usually turned right toward the magma pools, which was their usual destination, but something told him to go left this time.
He carried his bow and arrows on his back and his spear in a hand that shook. He slowed sniffing the air. A hole appeared above their heads, and a human man fell and landed on his feet right in front of them with a forked weapon in his hand. When the human’s terror-filled eyes saw them, he stabbed Paltos in the shoulder with the forked weapon, and before he could blink, Paltos was dragged up and out through the hole.
The black panther roared and swiped his large paw with the razor sharp claws at the human man, but he was too fast. Within minutes, his best friend and the human man both disappeared along with the hole that had suddenly appeared above them.
The black panther let out a blood-chilling screech that echoed off the cement walls of the tunnel. All that was left of his child hood friend were the bow and arrows, and spear. The panther lay on its belly and rested his head on his front paws. His tail no longer wagged but lay listless behind him.
****
Even if he were able to move, Paltos was too frightened to fight back. The human was breathing hard, and his eyes widened in fear, but from what Paltos wasn’t sure as he was the one impaled on the end of the human’s forked spear. Blood seeped out running down his chest. He tried to dislodge the forks of the spear from his shoulder but was weakened from the blood loss. He lay on the ground, frightened and in shock. A gust of wind had carried them both through that hole. He shook his head. It had to have been about twenty-two or twenty-four feet above them. What kind of power could have sucked them upward?
The man bent over him, then grabbed the handle of the forked spear, and began dragging him across the ground. Paltos growled. Bright shards of light flashed before his eyes, and then the strange man shoved him inside a metal box.
He whimpered as the pain shot through him. Once the human man shut the door, Paltos could hear and see him speaking into his hand. He could see the human behind a clear wall, but fear along with the pain soon caused him to lose consciousness.
When next he woke, he was lying in a metal cage. A light too bright for his sensitive eyes lit up the room. He sat up and groaned. A bandage had been placed over his shoulder. He stood weakly and glanced around. His eyes widened in shock and something else. Raw terror coursed through his veins. Cages as far as the eye could see were filled with creatures, none like he had ever seen. His hands gripped the bars. A lone tear ran down his cheek. A loud roar ripped out of his throat and the other creatures screamed.
Chapter 2
Desiree pulled into the driveway behind her mom’s car. She jumped out, went to the back, and opened the trunk. She was just reaching in to pull out her book bag when she heard music booming out of a passing vehicle. She turned around to look and caught a glimpse of a car full of kids roaring past. A second later, a scream lit the air. “Freak!”
Desiree cringed. After so many years, she should be used to the kids calling her names, but she wasn’t and probably never would be. She was a perfectly normal seventeen-year-old except for one small problem. She stuttered.
Even after years of therapy and a waste of money, her dad’s words, she was still stuttering. Some of the younger kids still picked on her. It took a lot out of her to ignore their snide remarks. Even when she tried to hide the hurt, she felt the pain of it deep down. She took in a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. Grabbing her heavy laden bag, she entered her house.
“Get. O-ou-out. Of. MyR-Roo-Room!” Desiree swept past her brother into the bedroom. With pursed lips, she stomped her foot, grabbed Jayden by his collar, and shoved him toward the exit. With a swift kick, the door slammed shut, surprisingly without splintering the frame. The little brat was always sneaking into her room and snooping through her belongings. “And stay out, b-brat!” she screamed through the wood now separating them.
Ever since he had learned to walk, privacy had been a thing of the past. In one more week, she would be turning eighteen, and after graduation, she’d be off to college where she wouldn’t have a little brother to torment her. Only one more month, and then she’d be far away from him. Desiree slung her bag onto her unmade bed and plopped down on the corner of the mattress, blowing a stray piece of hair away from her face. Why couldn’t she have had a sister instead? She looked around to see if anything was missing or out of place. Knowing her brother, he probably swiped something.
“Desiree, open this door!”
She groaned as she re-opened it to her mother.
“How many times have I told you not to slam this door?” Her five-foot-two-inch tall mother stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips and her red hair in a tight bun.
“But, M-M-Mom…”
“No buts, young lady. If you slam this door one more time, you’ll be grounded!”
“But, Mom, Jayden w-won’t stay out! And he never g-g-gets in trouble,” Desiree whined.
“You heard me, Desiree!” She started to walk away, stopped, and turned back. In a softer tone, she continued, “I will have a talk with him.”
“Yeah, r-r-right, like you always d-d-do. He won’t listen.” she turned her back toward her mom and stomped over to her dresser. She heard the door close softly behind her. Desiree clenched her fist and kicked at the pile of clothes taking up floor space.
Jayden had turned nine-years-old last month. He was one of those midlife crisis children, a last-ditch effort for a son her father wanted. Ever since he was born, Desiree had been invisible.
It wasn’t fair. He was such a brat and never got into any trouble for the terrible things he did. He was the favorite, the baby. Closing her eyes, she exhaled. Only one more month.
Sandy, their mother, cleaned houses three days a week, cleaned their house the other two days, and disappeared on most Saturdays. Desiree never thought to ask where she ran off to because she herself was too busy with her own friends.
Desiree shed her cheerleading outfit and donned her grey lounge pants and black T-s
hirt. She pulled her blonde hair out of the ponytail and wrapped it into a bun instead. She sat at her desk and started working on her Science homework. It wasn’t long before she was lost in rare lichens and Prickly Featherworts and her brother’s intolerable ways were forgotten.
An hour later, she heard her dad’s truck pull into the driveway. It was time for dinner.
Desiree’s father was a geneticist. He worked every day except Sundays and usually arrived home around dusk. Most days he was held up at his office until way past their bedtime. The other days he was home, he only came out for food and hardly ever acknowledged her. Last year on her birthday, he had worked late and missed the dinner, but on Jayden’s birthdays, he always seemed to find the time to make an appearance. She and her dad were always at odds. He didn’t understand her and vice versa.
Desiree needed a new dress for prom, which was in two weeks, and she needed to ask him tonight for the money so she could go shopping with her friends on Saturday.
Descending the stairs, she almost fell when Jayden rushed past knocking her to the side.
“Slow down, brat!” She glared.
“Shut up, Bug face,” Jayden threw back.
“One of these days, I’m going to slap those freckles right off that smug face.”
He turned back toward her, stuck out his tongue, and then hopped like a rabbit the rest of the way down the stairs.
They all sat down to dinner per usual during the week when her father was home. On the weekends, everyone fended for themselves. The week days were the only time they were all together. They still didn’t hold a conversation. It was as if her parents were just checking to see if their children still existed.
“Spaghetti? Mmm, great, Mom, I’m starved.” Desiree stretched her arm out reaching for the salt when her father asked what she wanted for graduation.
Her eyes bugged out. “I haven’t really thought about it.” Liar. She shook the salt shaker over her sauce and set it back down. She needed a new car. Her car was a hand-me-down when she had turned sixteen. Her mom had bought a new one and given her the old VW
“Well, your mother and I were thinking of putting some money down for a ten-year CD for your future.”
“Oh.” Her face fell. Seriously, a CD? Who does that anymore? A car would be a better investment. Desiree squirmed in her seat as she noticed the disappointment on her parents faces by her lack of enthusiasm. “Um yeah s-s-sure, sounds great.” There went her new car. Her life sucked.
She was almost finished with dinner when she got up the courage to ask for the money. She crossed her fingers underneath the table. “Hey Dad … umm, p-p-prom is in two weeks, and I was wondering if I could get some money for the d-d-dress. The girls and I were all going to g-g-go this Saturday, umm, to buy the dresses together.”
“How much do you need?” He frowned shoving his wire-framed glasses back up his nose.
“Um, well, about 150 dollars for a decent one.”
His eyes widened. “150 dollars! Are you nuts? Do you think money grows on trees?” He raised his brow. “That’s a lot of money. Enough to feed us for a week.” He shook his head. “No, Desiree, that’s too much to spend on one dress.”
“But, D-D-Dad, dresses aren’t cheap.” He didn’t understand how important this was to her. It was her last year in high school. Why couldn’t he understand?
He arched an eyebrow. “What about the dress you wore to that other dance?”
“The homecoming?” Her eyes widened, “Dad, I can’t wear the same dress! I would be the l-l-laughingstock of the high school.”
“This is my l-last year and … well, I can wear the other d-d-dress for graduation. Please, Dad?” she begged fighting back tears.
“No, I’ll give you fifty dollars but no more.”
“Fifty dollars? But that’s n-n-not enough for a dress!”
“Fifty dollars and that’s final.” Leaning back in his chair, he crossed his arms. “What happened to your babysitting job?”
“If you payed any attention to m-m-me, you would know that I q-q-quit that job over a month ago.” Desiree threw her napkin on to the table, and with tears in her eyes, she pushed her chair back with a screech.
“Desiree Dawn Hawkin!” her mother’s voice boomed.
Without a thought except for the anger boiling inside, she stood, and ran up to her room, and threw herself on her bed. This isn’t fair. What was she going to do? She knew he had the money. If Jayden had asked for 150 dollars, he would get it. There had to be another way. There was no way she was going to wear the same dress she had worn to homecoming. Biting her nail, she sat up, just think, Desiree. Staring intently at a dirty sock, she racked her brain. Then it came to her. Of course, Kat.
She would call Kat, her best friend. Maybe together they could come up with a solution.
Lunging for her cell phone, she punched in her number.
On the third ring, her friend answered, “Dodgers Stadium, left field.”
Desiree grinned on hearing the wit. “Hey, Kat. We have a p-p-problem.” Kat and Desiree had been best friends since the seventh grade when Kat moved here from Africa. Her father was a zoologist and had taken a job with the world life animal reserve here in Wyoming. Kat was actually short for Katrina.
“Hey, Dez, what’s up? Are you alright?”
Desiree sighed deeply on hearing her friend’s voice. Kat, just like everyone else, knew when she was upset or flustered because of the stutter “My d-d-dad will only give me fifty d-d-dollars for my dress, what am I g-g-going to do?”
“Do you have any money saved up?’ She could hear Kat’s stereo in the background playing “Meet Virginia” by Train. She was silent for a minute listening to the tune.
She glanced at her almost empty jar that sat on the corner of her dresser. The few coins that lay at the bottom weren’t what she would call a fortune.
“No, I have been so b-b-busy with school and cheerleading I haven’t had time to do anything else.
“What about Craig?” Kat suggested.
“No way am I going to a-a-ask him!” Craig was her on-again, off-again boyfriend. They argued more than anything else. He was always trying to get into her pants even though she had told him on numerous occasions she was not going to until she was married, which was sort of a lie. She just didn’t want to do it with him. She was waiting for love and she just didn’t love him. He was cute and all, but the only reason she went out with him was because he was the star quarterback and popular.
She twirled a piece of her hair around her finger, held the phone to her ear with her shoulder, and kicked off her shoes.
“Don’t worry, Dez, we’ll figure something out. Calm down. Let’s sleep on it and maybe we can come up with something tomorrow.” Kat was the positive one. Nothing seemed to bother her. She was more laid back while Desiree was the negative one, a pessimist. She had worked hard to become popular, and she wanted the title of prom queen. She needed to show up all those kids who had ridiculed her, and if it was ruined all because of her dad, she would never forgive him.
Desiree tiptoed down the stairs in search of a drink. It was late and she thought everyone had gone to bed until she passed her dad’s study door. She could hear her mom and dad arguing. She stopped and quietly pressed her ear to the door.
“When is it going to end, Steven?” Her mother’s voice was filled with scorn.
“Until I don’t need him anymore,” her father answered on a deep sigh.
“It’s been years already. If you haven’t found it by now you never will.”
“I’m on a verge of a breakthrough, Sandy.”
She laughed hysterically. “Like you haven’t said that before.”
Desiree turned and went back upstairs, her drink forgotten, and she wondered what they had been arguing about. What breakthrough? Had her father found something? And what was her mother talking about, what will end? She jumped back into bed wondering who he had been talking about when her father had said he wouldn’t need him anymore
? Need who?
Chapter 3
“Desiree. Desiree!”
Desiree opened one eye and then jolted her head up off the pillow. “What are you doing in my room?” She glanced at the clock, 3:00 AM. “And in the middle of the night?”
“The storm. I’m scared. Can I sleep with you?” Jayden whispered.
“Go wake Mom,” she said and turned on to her side. She wanted to get back to her delicious dream.
“She said no. Please, Desiree?” he begged.
A flash of light lit the sky outside her window followed by a distant boom confirming his story.
Grrrr … “Okay, fine … get in, but no noise! I’m tired and have a big test tomorrow. Now get to sleep.” She felt him slide under the covers right before she drifted back to her dream.
The next morning Desiree tiptoed out of her room so she wouldn’t wake Jayden. She wanted to get into the shower before the brat. She wasn’t sure what a nine-year-old did in the bathroom for an hour, but it was obviously something she didn’t want to know about.
Her mom and dad were talking about the storm when she entered the kitchen forty-five minutes later.
Her mom was leaning her back against the counter drinking her morning cup of coffee. “It was a strong one, I guess. Mrs. Leavens across the street has a tree down. She called asking if Mr. Leavens could borrow our chainsaw.”
Desiree turned on the small TV above the kitchen counter to the weather channel. They were broadcasting the news about the storm and apparently a small earthquake had followed
“I didn’t feel anything,” her dad said, between bites. “Nope, I slept right through it all”
“Did you kids hear anything?” Mom asked them just as Jayden came shuffling into the kitchen
Desiree shook her head and looked at Jayden raising her brow. She waited to hear if he was going to confess to sneaking into her room, but instead he shook his tousled red-haired head without looking up.
