Copyright @ 2019 Shelly Imholt
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Published by Penelope Kein
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Cover art by White Rabbit Creations
Acknowledgements:
As a first time author, I would like to give a shout-out to my amazing alpha/beta readers: Cindy, Sarah, Jess and Vivian. Also to my editor, Marian.
Y’all are awesome, and the book would not be what it is without you!
Chapter 1
I ducked behind a tree, kneeling in the near-freezing mud, as I tried to make myself as small as possible. I peeked around the trunk, trying to see my pursuer. It wasn’t raining anymore, but there was still an eerie fog hanging around, and the bare branches continued to drip. The squelching footsteps came closer. My breathing was labored, and burned in my chest. I needed to run to a better position behind a big evergreen bush. It had more coverage than the bare branches on this tree. I slid, nearly falling on my ass, but I made it behind the bush right before I heard the thump of the gun and projectiles hitting the ground behind me. Bastard was closer than I thought he was.
“Evalia. I saw you.” My pursuer called in a creepy, singsong voice. I winced, but snorted softly. He just gave away his position.
I don’t know why I agreed to play paintball right after a week-long rainstorm. I know, it sounded fun when I agreed last week. Before the rain. Before I realized it was going to be only slightly above freezing and wet, with ankle-deep, sucking mud that kept trying to pull off my boots. Then, it happened. As I tried to lift my foot, there was resistance, and my ankle-high hiking boot slid right off my foot. I wind-milled my arms to keep from falling as I tried to hop on one foot while still hiding. I slung the paintball gun behind me on the strap, and carefully reached into the slushy muck to pull out my boot. I frowned as I peered inside the boot at the small amount of gunk that had made its way inside. Most of it didn’t come out when I tried to dump it. Ugh. This sucks. I smiled at my joke. Man, I am easily amused.
As I put my boot back on, I winced at the cold slop inside that quickly soaked through my sock, and glanced around, looking for my pursuer. Something weird off to the side caught my eye. I turned my head and saw a strange rainbow light that looked almost like a glowing, iridescent soap bubble caught in the branches and extended down to the ground. What in the world was that? I forgot about paintball, and stealth, and started walking slowly toward it. I heard faint, rippling laughter and odd music.
Suddenly, I heard a loud clack, then a thump. Paint goop splattered on my face-mask from the side. A bright green gooey mess was now dripping from a branch right next to my head. I ducked behind a bush a little closer to the ethereal light, still trying to get a better view. On the other side of the rainbow bubble, it didn’t look like the same woods. The colors were all wrong, and everything looked distorted. I peeked around the bush at the other side of the trees. No, it all looked normal there. Looking back through the bubble, which was distorting things like I was looking up through water from the bottom of a pool, I could see people moving like they were dancing. The people were dressed for summer, with shorts on the men, and flowing dresses on the women.
Footsteps drew my attention as they got closer, almost right next to me. I had to ignore the bubble for the moment, or I would get shot, so I readied my paintball gun, and waited for my chance. My target came into sight as he cautiously stepped from behind a tree, and I pulled the trigger a few times. Three shots went out with a series of clacks. The paintballs hit with loud thuds, and drew an exclamation.
“Hey! This close you’re supposed to give me the chance to surrender before you shoot me!” David exclaimed. He rubbed his chest, smearing the bright blue goo. “That hurt!”
I giggled. “You were just as close when you shot at me, so I don’t want to hear it!” With the mask on, my words echoed weirdly. I glanced to the side, but I couldn’t see the bizarre shimmer anymore. A shrill whistle went out from somewhere to our left.
David pushed his mask to the top of his head, pushing his now paint streaked dark blond hair up into a mohawk. Neon paint goo in several different colors was smeared on his angular face and neck, and drew attention to his grey eyes. “Sounds like its dinner time! Let’s go eat!”
“Sounds good to me, I’m starving!” I pushed my mask up to the top of my head, and we turned to head back to the house. He slung his arm around my shoulder, and I shrugged it off. He was always trying to put his arm around me, and I wasn’t comfortable with that. I think it had become a game to him to see how long he can touch me before I stopped him.
It was about a five minute walk through the woods to reach the farmhouse. During the walk, we talked about video games. A new game was coming out that David was very excited about. He gushed about the quality of the graphics and the new play style for most of the walk. I let him, since I enjoyed seeing him so enthusiastic about something.
The house was quaint, with a wrap-around porch and wooden rocking chairs. The door and shutters were painted a vibrant red, which contrasted nicely with the light paint on the siding.
We stacked our paint ball equipment with all the others on the porch. Then, we used the thread-bare towels on the porch to rub the paint goo from our clothes, took off our shoes on the porch and rolled our wet pants up around our ankles.
We opened the door to a brightly lit hallway. “We’re here!” called David in a creepy horror movie voice. A jumble of voices responded from deeper in the house. David seized my hand hard and pulled me after him. “Come on, the kitchen is this way.”
I pulled my hand back and freed it from his grip. Geesh, that hurt. He didn’t have to squeeze so hard. The few rooms we walked by were large, with a country coziness about them. The first room had two big, overstuffed chairs that looked very comfortable sitting in front of a smoldering fireplace. The second room was set up more like a formal sitting room, with floor to ceiling bookshelves in a dark wood. The fireplace held a roaring fire and two small, formal chairs in subdued colors faced it. It looked like something out of a Christmas card, and it made me jealous of whichever friend of David’s that lived here.
When we reached the large, eat-in kitchen at the back of the house, it was full, with about thirty people stuffed inside. The large table that could probably seat eight held a feast, with several slow-cookers and plates piled high with sides. Everyone was talking and trying to fill their plates all at the same time. The chaos quickly started to overwhelm me, so I stopped in the doorway for a second while David continued in, grabbed a plate and started talking to his friends. After taking a deep breath, I slowly made my way to the line, and got a plate as well. I knew a few of the people here, but other than David, I didn’t know them well, and I wasn’t really comfortable around large groups of people. I
nodded at the few people I knew. I had moved here about six months ago, and I met David in my first class at the community college. He started hitting on me, and when I shut him down, he said he decided to start off being my friend and wear me down. He was still asking me out about once a week.
“Hey, Evalia, get over here!” David was waving at me like I was on the other side of a giant stadium. I frowned. He knew how much I disliked big crowds, and meeting new people, and he always went out of his way to try to make me more comfortable while expanding my acquaintance list. The waving was a bit much though. I really wish he didn’t draw so much attention to me. “You need to meet these guys!”
I wandered over with my plate and my mouth full, and my head down. I gave a little wave, and swallowed the food I had crammed in my face. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until I started eating.
David went around the circle introducing his friends. He pointed at a tall, round-faced guy, “That’s Jason, and next to him is Travis.” Travis was shorter, around five foot eight, which still made him a little taller than my five foot six, and had a slight build, an angular face, with bronzed skin and short black hair that showed off his striking blue eyes. Jason smiled and waved, while Travis just smiled. David pointed at the next guy over, a short, brown-haired guy with small, rimless glasses, “That’s Hunter, and this is Brandon.” He nodded at me, and Brandon, who was hiding his eyes behind his long hair, grunted a “hey” at me.
I waved at them all. “It’s nice to meet you. Did one of you set up the paintball war?”
Everyone pointed at Travis as he nodded. “It’s an annual thing, we’ve been doing it since we were about 12.” His deep voice was surprising from someone his height and build. “It’s grown a lot, and there are more people here this year than ever. I’m glad we had enough equipment. I blame the crowd on David’s big mouth.”
David gaped at him, with his mouth hanging open “Wow, really??? Is that how you feel about me?” He asked in mock outrage.
I smiled, even though his words caused a little twinge of fear. I was only here because David had invited me. I squashed the doubt quickly as I turned my attention back to David, who was still playfully kidding with Travis.
You could see from their easy camaraderie with each other that they had been friends for a long time. While I felt like an outsider with them, it was nice being around people who are that comfortable with each other. It wasn’t something I was familiar with. My family was much less relaxed. What little banter we had tended to be more mean-spirited than friendly. My father relished pointing out people’s mistakes, and he would capitalize on any insecurity he saw. It made me learn to hide any self-doubt I had, so I hid my uneasiness behind a smile and did my best to fit in.
We moved off to the giant formal dining room where they had folding tables and chairs set up to find a place to sit while we ate. It seemed the table that belonged in here had been moved to the kitchen to hold the food. Another fireplace held a candelabra with lit candles, with the light bouncing off the yellow walls. David and Travis were still throwing verbal jabs at each other as we sat down, with the rest joining in occasionally. While we ate, they all joked around while I sat quietly and watched. They periodically tried to draw me in on the conversation, but since I really didn’t know them, I was uncomfortable, and I’m afraid they saw right through me. The few times I joined in, my comments were awkward and greeted with brief silence as they tried to figure me out. Eventually, they gave up trying to include me, although David still kept glancing at me.
Once finished, we got up together and threw our trash away. I glanced at my watch. “Well, guys, it’s time for me to leave. I’ve got an early morning class that is just waiting to kick my ass.” I turned to Travis. “Thank you for letting me come to your war, and loaning me the equipment and everything. I really enjoyed it!” He turned red, and nodded. I turned a little to each of the others and said, “It was nice to meet you all. See y’all soon, bye!” A chorus of ‘byes’ followed me out as I started walking toward the door.
“Wait, let me walk you to your car.” David caught up to me. “It can be hard to find the front door in here.”
“Uh, huh.” I smiled at him. I knew what he was up to. “Just walk me to the door, David, I can find my car.”
He laughed. “Okay, you got me. But you did have fun today, right?”
“Yeah, it was great.” I’m sure I sounded a little less enthusiastic than I was, because my mind had drifted to that weird anomaly I had seen in the woods.
“Hey, you alright? You’re sure you had fun? ‘Cause I was going to call this a date, if you did.” He was watching me out of the corner of his eye.
“What? Yes, I had fun, and no, you can’t call it a date! If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times, I am not dating right now!” I turned and smacked him on the arm as he grinned at me. He was cute, but I just couldn’t date anyone right now. “Look. There’s the front door. Bye!” I left, quickly shutting the door in his startled face, and slipped my shoes and socks back on. I laughed to myself as I ran to my car. While it’s true that I wasn’t looking for a boyfriend, it was nice to feel wanted.
I drove home to my lovely, small apartment just outside of the college grounds. It was one of the few that was off campus that would rent to an eighteen-year-old. I had also fallen in love with the location, mostly because I didn’t want to be right in the middle of party central. It overlooked a small park that I would sometimes sit in while I did my homework. In the late summer, when I moved here, the breeze came in off the small retention pond, and brought the scent of the flowers planted near the path.
I took my dirty shoes off outside the door, went into the apartment, and threw them on a rubber mat next to the door. The small apartment was a studio; only the bathroom was a separate room. I had created two rooms with a large Japanese four-panel screen divider that had a picture of a cherry tree on it. I went through the living room, which was painted a soothing grey with a tan loveseat and a very small end table, straight to the bathroom. A hot shower was calling my name. I stripped and took the longest, hottest shower I could. I was chilled to the bone, and it took quite a while before I warmed up. I didn’t turn the water off until it started to go cold. After towel drying my long, dark brown hair that had just the barest hint of red, I braided it in two pig-tails. It always looked better when I blow-dried and straightened it, but I was going to bed soon, which would just ruin any work I put into it.
I glanced at the clock. It was only seven pm, so I had a little over an hour to work on school assignments. I got ready for bed, taking out my contacts, and putting my pajamas on. After stumbling over my discarded clothes on the way to the bed, I reminded myself, again, to put them directly in the hamper, since without my glasses (or contacts) I can’t clearly see my feet.
The area behind the four-panel screen held my bed and was small, just like the rest of the apartment. Most of the time, I did my homework sitting on the bed, with my laptop on my lap. This area was the same grey as the living room. The color had just a hint of blue to it, so it reminded me of storm clouds, and I thought it was very calming. The twin bed was pushed up against the wall, and the comforter was a dark purply-grey and there were yellow shams on the decorative pillows that I used to lean against when I did my school work. The night stand was just a small, square cube that was mounted to the wall. It gave me enough room to store my phone, glasses and whatever book I was reading. The few decorations on the wall were abstract and soothing.
After retrieving my glasses, I started the required reading, which was four chapters of dry, boring material, taking copious notes while I read. I had just finished the first chapter when David called me for our nightly chat. Since about a week after we met, he’s been calling me every evening around 8:30. We joked around and talked about absolutely nothing for about a half hour. Even though we talked every night, and I enjoyed spending time with him, I was deliberately avoiding a serious relationship. He was my only friend, but I
couldn’t bring myself to let him in completely, despite a level of attraction that was almost scary. He was able to get past my emotional defenses more than anyone else I had ever known. However, past experience had taught me that I could only count on myself. My motto was when life gets tough, the tough suck it up and deal with it themselves. It wasn’t catchy, but it was true.
Once we hung up, I finished the rest of the reading and put the finishing touches on the work that was due tomorrow. Trying to stay organized was the bane of my existence, so I made sure to put everything back in my book bag. Then I retrieved my book from where it had fallen the night before, found my place and started to read. I read constantly. It’s not unusual for me to be reading several books at the same time. One for bedtime, and one in my purse for when I have spare time. It was about an hour after I laid down with the book when I jerked awake after it hit my face. Ugh. I had fallen asleep reading again. I closed the book, then rolled over and turned off the light that was mounted next to the bed, and went right back to sleep.
Chapter 2
I was running through the woods again, but this time there was no mud. An ethereal light shone through the trees in front of me, just as it had before. Now, though, it was through all the trees ahead, not just in one spot. I was going to turn, but a growling on my heels made me glance back. A strange blue and green animal that was vaguely canine was snapping at my feet with sharp teeth and fluorescent yellow drool foaming around its mouth and streaking down its sides. My breath was choppy, and my chest hurt from running so long. The weird light was just steps away and I couldn’t stop or the animal would catch me. Suddenly, the light was gone, but everything around me looked different. The sky was lavender and the bark on the trees was dark purple and pink. The grass underneath was a brilliant, shining turquoise.
A Glint of Shadoewynne: Book 1 of the Shadoewynne Series Page 1
