by L. C. Miller
Abby and the Mystic Dancers
Book One
By L.C. Miller
Copyright © 2018 L.C. Miller
Edited by Hollie Westring of Hollie the Editor
Melissa Ringsted of There For You Editing
Formatted by EK Formatting
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Dedicated to my parents for always believing in me.
Chapter One
Moving things was never one of my strengths, fourteen-year-old Abby thought as she stuffed her white wand back into the pocket of her hooded T-shirt. Sighing, she picked up the bedspread she’d been trying to move and stretched it across the bed.
“Aren’t you done yet, girl?” Abby looked up to see her foster mother, Ms. Eleanor Rable, rushing into the guest room. Ms. Rable stood several inches taller than Abby’s four-foot-nine frame and was as tall as she was wide. Smoothing down the front of her too-tight dress, she continued. “Stop your daydreaming, and hurry up! They’ll be here soon. Oh, don’t forget to smooth those linens. I got those blankets while on safari in Africa, and I want them to look perfect.”
Abby rolled her eyes as she finished with the bed. Turning, she saw Ms. Rable studying her with beady brown eyes.
“Put on some decent clothing and brush your hair. You look a mess,” she snapped, taking in Abby’s ripped jeans, dirty blue T-shirt, and the tangled mass of short dark hair.
“Yes, ma’am,” Abby mumbled, making her way to her attic bedroom. Sore from constant housecleaning for the last two weeks, Abby wasn’t looking forward to meeting her foster mother’s cousins.
Having lived with the woman for the last two years, she had not heard of any family until the eventful evening two weeks before when Ms. Rable received a surprising phone call. Abby had never seen anyone’s face turn that particular shade of red. It reminded her of the red tomatoes the fruit vendor in town sold.
It was funny until Ms. Rable had hung up the phone and immediately started barking out orders. She wanted her house spotless when her cousin’s family arrived. From then on out, Abby had scrubbed every inch of the three-story, five-bedroom house, weeded out the flower beds, and listened to Ms. Rable’s constant complaining about a pair of boys named Carter and Brannon, two of the three sons Mrs. Herrin, her cousin, had brought to Ms. Rable’s house years before.
Pushing her bedroom door open, Abby came to an abrupt stop. “Aw, man! How did you do it? I even put books on top,” she whispered, rushing to the fallen cage, sidestepping around the many shards of broken glass. “Bombers,” she called softly so Ms. Rable wouldn’t hear. Crawling under the bed, Abby shoved dusty boxes out of her way and called his name again.
Getting to her feet, she caught sight of the bubble floating through her open window. It popped before it reached her; the note it was carrying falling to the floor. Crouching, Abby began to read, grinning at the curvy handwriting.
Good news, Abby!
The Madam will be back today from the Elders’ council meeting. She took Mistress Mia with her to help plead her case. With any luck, you could be living with us by tomorrow morning! You’d finally be a real part of the Mystic Dancers! How great would that be? You would have a home, and not just a place to live. AND you wouldn’t have to hide your magic with us. Well, except the Wielder magic, but everything else would be fine. :-)
I might not make it to the cave tonight because I got in trouble with Marcella again. I think it’s written down somewhere that stepdaughters don’t get along with stepmothers. Oh well. Hope to see you soon!
~ Rainy
Abby read the note twice, her smile fading. While she wanted to live with Rainy and the Mystic Dancers, she wasn’t expecting the council members to change their minds, as this was the fourth time the Madam, their leader, had tried.
She groaned when Ms. Rable yelled, “Abby! Get down here, girl.”
Abby was about to leave when she remembered the missing Bombers. “If you can hear me, please stay out of sight,” she said, shutting her door. As she made her way down, she peered into empty corners, hoping to see her missing pet.
Ms. Rable was combing back her short, dyed-from-a-bottle black hair when Abby met her at the base of the steps. “What are you waiting for? Get the door!”
They stepped outside, the line of trees blocking the brightness of the sun, and watched a vehicle come down the long, winding driveway. Abby glanced into the surrounding woods and wished, not for the first time today, she could be in them.
Abby’s first impression of the Herrins was they seemed like a happy lot. For one, they were smiling as they got out of their black SUV. Abby looked up in surprise when Ms. Rable started muttering as she moved down the porch steps.
“Hello, Cousin Sarah,” Ms. Rable called as she embraced the younger woman.
Sarah Herrin wasn’t much taller than Ms. Rable, with shoulder-length, wavy brown hair and a rather large nose. “How are you, Eleanor? Long time, no see. And who is this?”
Abby stepped forward as Ms. Rable gestured at her. “Oh, this is Abby. I adopted her a couple years ago. I needed some help around the house.”
Sarah Herrin smiled down at Abby and shook her hand.
“Hello, ma’am,” Abby said, causing Mrs. Herrin to grimace.
“Oh, don’t call me ma’am. It makes me feel old. Please, call me Sarah.” She smiled at Abby again and gestured behind her. “Let me introduce my youngest son at fourteen, Ethan.” A tall boy stepped forward and shook her hand. He had dark brown hair and when he smiled, Abby noticed a chipped front tooth. “And this is his friend, Aaron,” she continued. A boy stepped next to Ethan and nodded to her, his shaggy blond hair falling in his eyes. “My husband, Jackson, and our middle son, Brannon, will be here next week,” Sarah explained as she started inside the house.
Abby turned to follow them in when an arm across her chest stopped her. “Make yourself useful and grab their bags,” barked Ms. Rable.
“Yes, ma’am,” she said.
“So when will Jake get here?” Abby heard Ms. Rable ask as she gestured the rest of them inside.
“Jackson will be here next week,” Mrs. Herrin explained again. “He had some work to finish up.” Abby grinned at her tone.
Mocking Ms. Rable, Abby jerked open the back end of the SUV and grabbed the first bag she saw.
> When she gave it a hard tug, two suitcases and a duffel bag flew down. The duffel hit her in the chest and she went sprawling to the ground.
“Are you all right?” asked a concerned male voice from the doorway.
Abby looked up and saw Ethan coming back down the steps. She got to her feet as he reached her. “I’m sorry. They all fell out.”
Ethan shook his head and grinned, showing off his chipped tooth. “Not surprising with the way Dad threw them in there.” He grabbed one of the fallen suitcases; it was green with many patches of yellow. Abby tried to pick up a gray duffle when another voice stopped her.
“I’ll get that.” Abby saw Aaron come down the steps. He flipped his head back, swinging his shaggy hair out of his eyes. It surprised Abby to see he had pretty green eyes. He glanced at her before quickly looking away.
“Abby!” barked Ms. Rable. “What are you doing, girl? Get inside and make them some tea.” Startled, Abby almost dropped the smaller blue bag she had grabbed. Ms. Rable turned to go back inside.
“Yes, Ms. Fable,” Abby muttered.
“What did you say?” demanded Ms. Rable, turning to glare at her.
“Oh, um … I said, yes, Ms. Rable.” Abby smiled what she hoped was an angelic smile. Ms. Rable shook her head and went back inside.
“Fable?” asked Ethan, looking at her quizzically. The trio headed back toward the house.
Feeling her face blush, Abby said, “Oh, you know, like fibs. She tells a lot of stories about African safaris and exotic places she and her husband visited. But everyone in town knows she hasn’t gone farther than the city in several years, so they can’t possibly be true. We came up with the nickname Fable.”
“We?” asked Aaron.
The threesome had just stepped inside when the screaming started. “Ssssnake! Snake in the house,” they heard Ms. Rable yell.
“Oh no! Bombers!” exclaimed Abby, dropping the small blue bag and rushing past the two boys. She saw the snake in the corner as soon as she came into the room. What she hadn’t seen was the old wooden broom in Ms. Rable’s hands.
Abby dove for the snake right when Ms. Rable swung the broom up. “No!” Abby heard someone cry. She looked up with the snake curled on her left arm. Bringing up her other arm, she tried to protect her face as the broom flew down. Ms. Rable nearly fell over when the broom disappeared from her hands.
No one in the room moved. Abby peered over her arm to see a stunned-looking Ms. Rable with her hands stretched out, holding on to nothing. Mrs. Herrin had an arm around her, trying to pull her back. Bombers, the snake, hissed angrily at the older woman.
Ms. Rable started screaming again. “Get it out! Get it out!”
Abby slipped past the two stunned boys and ran into the hallway. “Okay, okay. I’ll take it outside.”
“Take it to the woods and kill it,” screeched Ms. Rable as Mrs. Herrin tried to calm her down.
“Yes, ma’am,” Abby replied. She took off out the door, toward the surrounding woods.
Abby ran down the trail, noticing it had started to rain. Passing through the fork and into the woods, she reached a small lake. Slowing down to a walk, she continued until she came across the huge rock wall. Having put Bombers around her neck, she took out her wand from her pocket.
She pointed it at the largest rock and said, “Operia.” She stood back as the rocks started to move. Faint light glistened from the opening. As the rocks came to a stop, Abby began her journey down the darkened tunnel.
Flipping her wand around, she took off the ribbon, allowing the glowing green stone embedded in her wand to light her path.
When she saw the flickering light of candles ahead of her, she slowed. Taking Bombers from around her neck, she laid him down on his favorite rock. “I told you if you wanted to stay with me you had to stay in my room!”
The snake looked at her before slithering off. “Okay, fine. Don’t apologize,” she grumbled. Abby went over to the shallow pool near the back of the cave and stared at her reflection. “You really do look like a mess.” She dipped her hands in the cool water and cleaned her face. Drying off with her dirty shirt, Abby closed her eyes and concentrated.
When she opened them, her dark hair was gone. She ran her fingers through fine, dark red hair, and studied her reflection with her almond-shaped brown eyes. She wondered briefly if she got the small nose or wide cheekbones from her father’s side of the family. It still surprised her how her reflection differed as her hair color changed and that her Asian characteristics nearly disappeared. The short hairstyle she wore framed her slightly oval-shaped face well. She looked around the small cave.
The cracked cauldron Rainy had found for her sat on the picnic table. She went over to it and stirred the black bubbling mass. Grabbing a small brown bottle and sitting next to the cauldron, she poured in some of the mixture. “It’s almost done, Bombers. It just needs one more thing.”
She picked up a book which read: Magic Spells: A Basic Book for the Wielder. This was the third edition, since Abby had already studied the first two. She flipped through its pages, trying to find the spell she remembered reading about during her homework earlier in the week.
“Ah, there it is,” she said as she found the page. Still holding the book, Abby went to a line of bookshelves that held various bottles in different sizes. She grabbed a tiny blue bottle that read Real hair and dumped its contents into the cauldron. It turned a golden brown color.
Hearing a noise behind her, Abby quickly turned around. She relaxed when she saw Bombers making his way across the cave ground, a big, fat rat in his mouth. He deposited it at her feet. She looked down at it and let out a chuckle.
“I thought only cats gave their masters gifts.” Bombers slithered past her, up to where his rock was. He stopped and looked up at it and then back at her. She picked him up and placed him on his rock. “Which should I go for tonight? Red or green?” she asked the snake as her hair darkened to a deep green color.
“I say green,” said a voice in the doorway.
Chapter Two
A dark-skinned girl stepped into the room, swinging a red cloth bag.
“Rainy! What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t going to be able to get away today,” Abby asked.
Rainy grinned. “Marcella thinks I’m out collecting firewood, so I don’t have much time.” She joined Abby at the table and opened the red bag. Handing Abby a brown scroll case, she said, “Here’s the routine to the next dance. Practice should start in a couple of weeks.”
Abby unrolled the case and looked over the steps listed. “I guess I don’t have to say it?” Rainy asked after a moment.
Rolling the scroll back up, Abby slid it into its case and shrugged. “It’s always the same result. Regardless of how many times the Madam has tried or will try, the council won’t let me live with you.”
“It’s not fair!” growled Rainy. “Just because your father wasn’t a Mystic doesn’t mean you can’t be allowed to live with us.”
“It’s not about what he wasn’t Rainy, but what he was.” Abby held up her wand. “He was a Wielder and so am I. My mother being a Mystic isn’t going to matter because I can wield this.”
Rainy glared at the wand. “So? Your Mystic abilities with trees and plants should count for something! The council is crazy not to let you live with us. Magic is magic, regardless how it’s used!”
“Magic is magic, yes, but it does matter how it’s used. You have the Elemental magic with the Mystics on one hand, and the wand magic with the Wielders on the other. You know how the council feels about the magic Wielders perform. It’s the whole reason we stay separate! To the council, the Wielders are dabbling in uncharted magics they don’t understand. It’s unnatural to them, so they don’t want anything to do with Wielders. They’ll never let me stay at the camp.”
“Would you go live with Wielders if you could?” Rainy asked.
“Probably, but you know that would never happen,” Abby sighed. “But I’d like to give it a
try. I mean, why not? My dad was one, and it would be nice to see how he lived before he met Mom. I wonder if they treat people who can morph the same way the Mystics do.”
Rainy sighed. “I’d hope not. I bet they’re more understanding about it than Mystics. I know if the council found out about your morphing abilities, they’d never let you come into the camp at all. I don’t see why they can’t just get over whatever issue they have with each other.”
Abby nodded. “They would completely freak out if they knew I could morph; which is why the Madam asked me to keep it hidden. Only four people know about it, including you.”
“You’d think because the Dancers are an Air tribe, they’d be a little more understanding and easygoing …” Rainy grumbled.
“Well, besides,” Abby said, turning to a lighter note, “I’m there a lot during the day. I dance with the group, and I learn the same things you do. I’m just not there at night, and I have to live with a Normal. And I have double the amount of homework! I have it from the Mystics and the rogue Wielder, Mr. Spinner.” Abby waved a stack of papers in the air.
Rainy laughed. “After the last outburst with that one Normal, I don’t think they had a choice. Speaking of Normals, how is what’s-her-name treating ya?”
Abby shrugged. “The same, I guess. She lectured me on how to properly prepare a bed this morning.”
Rainy snorted. “Has her family arrived yet?”
Abby nodded. “Yeah, they just got here. I was carrying their bags into the living room when Ms. Rable started screaming. She was about to hit Bombers with a broom, but Mrs. Herrin stopped her. She was really freaking quick too. I mean, that broom was there one minute and gone the next.”
“Are you going to ask them about the hidden tunnels throughout the house?” Rainy asked.
Abby shook her head. “I don’t think so. They seem pretty Normal to me. Whoever put them there must’ve lived there a long time ago.” She closed her book and stacked some papers together.
