Breaking Order: Book 1 (Breaking Order Series)

by Catherine Kopf

  “Was The Commander mad? I mean you’re alive…”

  “Actually no. My father was madder.”

  “Mr. Knight…” Mai’s lip quivered and she curled into a ball. “He tried to kill me.”

  Ambert wrapped his arm around her. “It’s okay, Mai. He can’t hurt you now.”

  I cleared my throat. “Glad you’re awake.”

  “Cal, why are you up?” Ambert asked.

  “I had another one of those… dreams,” I hesitated just saying it.

  “Dreams?” Mai asked.

  “Calista’s an oracle.” Ambert smiled.

  There it was. Just the reason I hesitated for. They couldn’t prove I was an oracle, could they? When would they quit?

  Ambert tried to sit up but winced in pain from his thigh.

  “Don’t move! I can put more medicine if you’d like...” Mai offered.

  “That would be nice…” Ambert winced while staring at his wound.

  That twelve-year-old just wouldn’t leave, would she?

  “Do you have an… uh... oracle mark?” Mai asked.

  “How do you know about that?” I couldn’t bring myself to look into her black eyes.

  Mai giggled. “Well… um... do you?”

  I shook my head. “Not that I know of.”

  Mai took out an ointment from her bag. Unlike Zeke’s clear saline from before, this liquid was a reddish color. Mai’s olive hands touched the container and grasped onto it like her life depended on it.

  “What is that?” I asked.

  “It’s a little ointment her family made. They’re inventors. Their culture’s good with herbs too. I’ve had this stuff since Zeke left,” Ambert explained.

  “Really? I’ve never seen anything like it…” I glanced at the container and curiosity filled my eyes.

  “I trust her, Cal.” Ambert gave me a stern glare.

  Mai removed Ambert’s leg brace with care, and put some of the ointment on her hand. She smiled a crooked grin to the left side before rubbing the ointment into the stitched area.

  “Are you sure you know what you’re…” I began.

  Mai interrupted. “Just because you’re older doesn’t mean you know what’s best. Got it?”

  Ouch… I swallowed a lump in my throat. Mai could be really defensive if she wanted to. I had to remember that for the next time.

  “Cal, if you want to sleep in here, feel free,” Ambert yawned, “I was about to get some sleep.”

  I nodded. “Okay.”

  It was the last night we would be brother and sister. Our worlds had forever changed. There was no way to change that we were just friends, not even family anymore.

  Using my bag as a pillow, I leaned against the cave wall. With Fortress’ cold climate, most caves didn’t have unexpected critters. As I closed my eyes, I took one last glance at Mai— seeing her container glow— before blacking out.

  Thirty-Two:

  Sunlight peeked into the opening of the cave. We survived through the night, much to my relief. My eyes squinted open to the new day and I smiled to greet the light.

  “Alright, everyone! Up and at-em!” Zeke shouted into the cave.

  I moaned. If only I could lay in the cave for a few more hours. Even if the cold could consume me, the peace in the cave was undeniable. I could sit in there for ages.

  “Come on, Calista. We’re losing daylight.” Wes’ voice echoed from outside.

  I got up and took Ambert’s hand to help his stand.

  “How are you feeling?” Mai asked Ambert.

  “A lot better. Your family makes a pretty good painkiller,” Ambert answered.

  “Glad to hear. You can’t do anything with a bad leg, now can you?” I asked.

  Mai brushed the snow off of her black lolita dress and headed out of the cave.

  “Need any help getting out?” I asked.

  “Yeah, thanks, Cal.” Ambert smiled.

  Wes, Enya, Ambert, Zeke, Mai, and I began our journey to the secret cave Wes told us about. My hope was that The Regime knew as much about it as I did.

  We approached a stone wall. Enya rolled her eyes and swayed back and forth. “Great. You don’t know where you’re going, do you, Wes?”

  “It’s right here. We just have to solve the riddle first,” Wes explained.

  “What kind of riddle?” I questioned.

  Wes knocked onto the stone. Three knocks left. Four knocks up. Two knocks down. One knock right. He placed his hand in the crevice of the stone and chanted a word.

  “Open,” Wes commanded.

  The stone wall opened in front of us, revealing a cave inside. A draft whisked around us. It was cold in there. I just knew it. Wes pointed into the cave. I gulped.

  “Come on, Cal. Let’s go in.” Ambert pointed to the mouth of the cave and hobbled to Wes.

  Mai stood there for a second, her mouth gaping in awe, before following. Enya shrugged her shoulders at me and did the same. I took a deep breath in and headed towards Wes.

  Enya lit a fire in her hand, exposing drawings on the cave walls. Pictures of marks and different forms of art filled every inch. Music notes, paintings, lines of literature, and even more littered the walls of the cave. My jaw dropped. If this didn’t scream Dreamer, nothing did.

  Enya’s fire extinguished without warning. “Crap… just when I thought I was getting the hang of this…”

  Despite expecting pure darkness in the sealed cave, there was a dim light. We drew closer to the end of the cave. Aren’t caves one sided?

  “What’s that ahead?” Zeke pointed into the distance.

  “It’s so bright…” Mai mumbled.

  We embraced the light ahead of us to reveal a small grotto. Plantlife like flowers, trees, and grass covered the area. Warmth covered my body with a natural glow. As I took a deep breath in, I smiled and released a gentle sigh.

  “Welcome to Safe Haven.” Wes smiled and presented the grotto to us like one of his artistic masterpieces.

  I couldn’t believe what I saw. Inside the cave, there was electricity, a garden, a VCR player, a piano, and some light. I walked towards it to find the cave opened up to a little valley of grass where some covered canvases were located.

  Fabrics covered the ground and foot pedal sewing machines were gathered in an area of the cave. Glancing to my right, I saw a kitchen nook with a sink and stoves that ran on wood supply. To my left was a locked closet with a rusty old lock and rotting wood door.

  ‘What’s in there?’

  Besides that, there were two outhouses, a storage closet with three dozen sleeping bags and pillows, and one area complete with a vanity and makeup kits. Who knew how old those were!

  Precious gems ranged from rubies, emeralds, and diamonds. Each weaved into the cracks of the cave’s wall and kitchen nook. All of the colors glimmered in the light and offered a rainbow of colors glinting off of them.

  Also in the cave was a source of freshwater in the form of a spring. It was all unbelievable; magical even.

  As soon as we arrived, Zeke and Mai separated from us, leaving Ambert, Enya, Wes, and I in a state of awe. All of the people Wes and I rescued from The Science Department were in there, and there were even a couple others we didn’t know.

  “Where are we?” I asked, a dazed look of confusion covering my face.

  Wes smiled. “Some Dreamers used to gather here before creativity was outlawed. It’s meant to be a protection center for Dreamers when they’re in trouble. Thus the name Safe Haven.”

  Enya looked around and made a face. “Who the heck told you about this place?”

  She must've thought it was an awful location. To me, it was just like Dreamers: magical, unique, and creative with a touch of flair.

  Wes sighed. “Henry used to take me all the time. He said if I wanted to go somewhere to get away from things, I should come here. Henry mentioned that my parents used to visit this place all the time before their murders. Not like Safe Haven is a normal place either.”

  “Defin
e normal for a Dreamer.” Enya raised an eyebrow.

  I remained awestruck by my surroundings. My jaw wanted to drop to the grass below my toes.

  Wes laughed. “This place is filled with magic crystals. It strengthens magic usage so your powers will work better here, Enya. Other than that, this place is the height of inspiration.”

  “The temperature’s warmer here!” Ambert wiped the sweat off of his forehead and removed his coat, careful not to disturb his brace.

  “And the plants here grow without supervision.” Enya glanced into the garden to find many types of plants growing there. She took a sniff in and smiled.

  “I’ll say...” My eyes widened at the sight of fresh tomatoes. “Those look great!”

  Enya cleared her throat. “And how is this possible with snow still on the ground outside?”

  “I already told you: magic.” Wes smiled.

  “Magic?” I tilted my head. School textbooks never mentioned magic and it kept on coming up.

  “Is everything magical now? Magic can’t answer for this.” Enya crossed her arms.

  Ambert chuckled. “Well, higher powers are out there. Strange things no one can explain? That’s magic.”

  “Henry said Enchantresses protected this kingdom from disappearing. No one knows what happened to them, but they did make places like this cave.” Wes lowered his head.

  “No one knows what happened?” My eyes widened.

  Wes shook his head. “Not a soul.”

  “What are we going to do now?” Ambert asked.

  Everyone in the room looked at Wes for advice.

  There were less than twenty of us, but we were prepared to rebel. There was fight left in our eyes, and we were determined not to give up. All we needed was a proper plan.

  “We need to dream,” I proposed.

  Did I just say that? The words left my throat like they weren’t my own.

  Everyone turned to look at me, and I felt my knees get weak and my head get dizzy.

  “What do you mean?” the little blonde girl asked.

  “Go on, Calista. You don’t have to be afraid,” Wes encouraged.

  “Say what you want to tell them,” Ambert said.

  I gulped. “We need to discover more about our powers and train so we can put up a decent fight. We need to dream.”

  One of the older girl's eyes widened. “But we’re heavily outnumbered!”

  “We’ll gain forces. Grow stronger. We’re more than Dreamers. We’re Fantasists!” I shouted.

  Everyone cheered. Ambert smiled at me and Wes and Enya applauded. I finally had a voice. The mission revealed one thing: I was a Dreamer. I could do the impossible.

  Now we bonded together as The Fantasists, and we’d do anything to see our ideas realized, even if The Regime had to be annihilated. Our eyes burned with a desire for independence.

  In the midst of all the cheering, I had a thought.

  ‘Where is Aurelia? Where is Base Darkguard located and why is she there?’

  There was time to think about that later. I had done too much the last few days to think about her. I not only broke order, but I shaped a new version of myself.

  I rebelled against my father, ran away from home, and joined a resistance on the same day. My friends and I tackled The Regime’s Core, and we barely escaped with a single phrase to figure out where Aurelia was. More importantly, I was a caterpillar that morphed into a butterfly. I wasn’t about to close my wings and submit to a regime that wanted to kill me.

  We were now fugitives. I gulped. That was something I didn’t know if I could handle, especially with several pairs of eyes lurking to hunt me down.

  We had more enemies than friends… less conformity than individuality. We couldn’t fit in. We’d have nowhere to hide.

  Together, I knew we could accomplish the impossible. Our belief would let us soar far from The Regime.

  Deep down, dreaming was all we needed to break order.

  Thirty-Three:

  In my dream that night, Aurelia appeared in a cage, bars enclosed around her. Her face was frightened, and her dress was in tatters. Blood spilled from her mouth. She curled into a ball and tears streamed down her face. Blood covered her wrists and ankles from the shackles’ firm grip.

  The scene blurred. Colors blended into each other like one of Wes’ pictures. Aurelia’s light features mixed with the blood and darkness of her surroundings, almost like she was an illusion. But, Aurelia was Wes’ sister. There was no way she couldn’t have been there in my dreams.

  I had so many questions to ask her, like where she was, how we could find her, what she knew about The Regime… so many questions. I guess I got ahead of myself.

  “Aurelia… can you hear me?” I asked.

  As the scenes flashed before my eyes, a voice spoke. The tone was gruff, raspy like Gran’s, and filled with precision. A highly educated precision. Yet, it was surprisingly around my age. I swore I had heard it before, but I couldn’t place where. Was it from one of my other dreams?

  He cleared his throat. “Every life you save in your rebellion comes with a cost. You’ll have to choose."

  “Choose between what?”

  “Two lives."

  A figure appeared in front of me. Their face remained clouded, though they carried a stringed vio-something in their hands.

  “What kind of choice?” I cocked my head.

  “One choice will change everything. It’ll determine whether you find Aurelia. She desperately needs your help. You’ll choose who lives, and who faces a fate worse than death."

  “How will I know when?”

  “The images of death will burn brighter the closer it gets.”

  “You’re the boy from my other dream. The one with the vio… vio…”

  He chuckled. “The violin. I’ve waited a while to talk to you. Everyone’s counting on us, especially you.”

  “Who are you? Why is it up to me?”

  Aurelia looked up, her violet eyes gazing into mine.

  “Because you’re…” Aurelia started.

  I woke with a jolt under the night stars. Sweat poured down my face as my lungs took in heavy breaths. Hair clung to my dampened skin. I shivered in silence and clutched my sleeping bag. As I looked around, I couldn’t spot any signs of danger.

  ‘What does this all mean?’

  A burning sensation sent pain to my side. I itched the area to the right of my stomach. The sensation grew more painful as I itched, almost like tearing away dead skin.

  ‘What is causing this?’

  As I shivered from an unusual feeling lurking my bones, I lifted my shirt to look at my stomach. Splotches of pink, silver, purple, and white etched into my bare skin. What was it?

  As I leaned over, I tilted my head to get an even better look.

  I traced a lilac circular shape with another dark purple circle inside of it on my stomach. Inside the smaller circle, two silver diamonds etched out a shine. Around both circles was an oval shape, though not completely closed.

  The almost tattooed design felt smoothed like my laptop’s interior, but it remained raised from the rest of my skin. Closer inspection saw it was red, irritated from recently arriving on my normally freckled skin.

  The eye-shaped tattoo meant something.

  My dreams were more than dreams. They were something not even my friends could see or have. The vivid scenes I saw had meaning and depth.

  The future was in my vision. Prophecy flowed through my veins, and fate hung on my shoulders— lives hung on my shoulders.

  Worst of all, I was the only one with keys to finding Wes’ sister.

  I wasn’t looking at some battle wound or a blister.

  I bore an Oracle’s Brand.

  About the Author:

  Catherine Kopf is a student residing in The United States. In her free time, she enjoys writing, reading YA fantasy novels, and attending her church. She hopes to create adventures the public doesn’t only enjoy for their plots, but stories that tweens and te
ens feel they can relate to and grow with.