Inked (The Ink Keepers Book 1)

by N. I. Rojas

  This huge animal was beautiful, just as she had imagined it to be during her whole life. From the cannon bone to the hoof it was full of hair, a cascade of silky black ink, just as the mane. Kyra looked up. In her imaginary games she hadn’t had to look that way up to see her pet friend from ears to hoofs. Straightening her body, she discovered how far from reality her little friend was. Standing beside the animal Kyra was just as tall as the horse’s elbow. Extending her hand, standing on the tip toes, Kyra touched the animal’s mouth.

  Sliding her hand up to the horse’s nose, Kyra touched a hard and cold bone, imposing proudly between the animal’s eyes. In this world, the unicorn of her dreams and childish adventures was as real as she was.

  Like under a spell of tiredness, she fell asleep again, this time shielded by the animal. Its deep breathing calmed Kyra until she closed her eyes, feeling safe. Shortly after, she woke up, but the unicorn wasn’t with her. Kyra thought it was a nice dream after all. No giant elves, magical portals, or more fantasy than what she was willing to allow in her life. The problem was it wasn’t a dream. She wasn’t on home and wasn’t alone either.

  Mackenzie was close to her, lying glued to her back, his breathing a funny purr, making him sound like a small kitten. His right arm was hugging her tight by the waist while his left arm served as pillow to her head. Rolling aside, she detached from him, surprised that the warmth of his body didn’t scared her earlier.

  Mackenzie woke up at his stomach growling merciless. Soon he remembered. They were lost. He had followed Kyra the night before while she escaped almost crying from her birthday party. After their night dancing, he was sure the right thing to do was break his deal with the Wizard, hold her into his arms, cry together and maybe even beg her to teach him how to grow.

  Giant elves and ink creatures came that night. Then, Kyra had a word exchange with her father. He gave her some presents- heirlooms from her mother- and opened a magic portal, pushing Kyra inside. Kyra’s father told her she must escape that very moment, but everything had gotten out of control. What were those gifts and why he had a diamond of portals? Maybe Kyra could answer.

  A sizzling noise accompanied of a delicious smell bought Mackenzie back to the wilderness where they were. Mackenzie tried to keep going, to put behind what had happened the previous day, but it was impossible. He remembered how and why he ended up following Kyra. It wasn’t because he had wanted, well, maybe yes! he had wanted to be with her. But the Wizard had reminded him the deal they had. This Wizard had made Mackenzie see Kyra in a different way. Now he wasn’t sure that the Wizard had the right girl. Kyra was many things, but she didn’t look like a witch or sorceress.

  What he should do next… that remained a mystery. Was he supposed to protect her… hurt her…? He was so confused.

  “Breakfast?” -Kyra asked from an improvised bonfire nearby. Mackenzie looked at her, her voice was the sweet treat he needed to tangle his thoughts.

  At dawn, while he still slept, Kyra had built a camp all by herself. A skinless wild rabbit was roasting on a fat stick over the fire. Kyra was making it turn and turn while some mushrooms sautéed on a warm flat rock over the fire. The meat was juicy to Mackenzie’s eyes and to his stomach it was a blessing, as none of them had eaten anything since early the previous day.

  “How you did all this? I think I slept all night long.” -Mackenzie asked confused, while chewing the food Kyra gave him. He had assumed Kyra was delicate and fragile and… kind of useless in the outdoors. Just a few hours away from home and she had proven the contrary. She was a scout with high probabilities to survive.

  “My father taught me survival techniques. Camping. Hunting. How to purify water. You name it… I know it. That’s the real reason I love indoors so much. We were scouts during most of my life. He said he was preparing me for something, but I never knew what for. Now I see. I always thought about apocalypse, world war III, maybe nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, my books kept me connected to the real world and far away from the fantasy my father was always talking about.” -They ate the rest of the food, but Kyra made sure to pack some to eat later. She had collected berries and nuts from the surroundings, enough to snack a few days. Drop by drop she had gathered the evening dew hidden in the Tulips and Mountain Laurel flowers growing in the riverbank. The last one was of good help as it was shaped as an inverted umbrella and it was full of sweet dew mixed with the own nectar of the delicate petals. A fruity tea.

  Kyra had worked with fear. It was her first-time doing fieldwork alone, but she recited in her mind every step her father had shown her. Kyra also recognized the Rafflesia Arnoldii, but she chose not to take its water- despite she would have taken a full gallon from a single flower- as it’s always full of stink, and maybe bad taste as well.

  “Now what?” -Mackenzie asked, tired of looking at Kyra pacing up and down as a… witch. Yes, she acted just like a witch, Mackenzie reminded him. He had seen a witch doing exactly this before. Walking and thinking… thinking and walking. A book of spells opened in one hand, a stick as a wand in the other, dancing it between the fingers as a circus juggler. Kyra was acting just that way, a small notebook in one hand, a rectangular cardboard box in the other. - “You make me nervous. Haven’t I told you how weird you look when pace like that?”

  “I’m thinking!” -Kyra said without looking at him. She continued her crazy pace up and down. - “I don’t know what to do with this box my father gave me.”

  “Duh! Open it. Isn’t it obvious? To be a library mouse you aren’t too smart, Fairy Girl.” -Mackenzie mocked her. Kyra, on the contrary, preferred to ignore his comment, as she did many other times. Much to Kyra’s regret, Mackenzie was right. She had to open the gift to know what was inside, to discover if it was just a useless heirloom inherited from her mother, because Kyra was sure her father had mentioned her mother. She just couldn’t remember what he had said because it happened in a moment of desperation and hallucination. Maybe she made it all up.

  Sitting in the floor, Kyra closed her notebook and studied the box. The small envelope was still glued to it. Kyra tore it without considering it for a second. A small note in her father’s handwriting was all she found in the small envelope.

  “ Ky, your mother gave me this long ago when you were just an idea in our minds. She said I could conjure a whole new world with it, but I simply thought it was a metaphor. She was always talking about other worlds, Alter Land in specific, and I found it amused first, but soon after giving it to me she disappeared. Yes, she came back when you were just days old, but she was different then and said she couldn’t stay. I know nothing of her since that day. She said I must give this to you when the time was right. It’s something special as you’ll find out, but beware, because is a treacherous thing. It’s enchanted with an evil spell and you are the one to break it. How...? Why…? I have no answers for you. This was something I couldn’t avoid happening even if I stepped in the way. I hope you discover what to do. My heart is forever with you, my beloved daughter. I’ll be waiting for you! Dad. ”

  This must be, seriously, the worst nightmare Kyra had had in her whole life. She understood nothing of her father’s words.

  “That was really something. You have a mission to achieve.” -Mackenzie said, taking Kyra out of her pity thoughts.

  “What that means, Mackenzie?” -Kyra asked, wanting to know what he had understood by those words she read aloud.

  “Well, it talks about Alter Land, that’s obviously where we are. Then, says that the thing inside the box is enchanted and you must break the evil spell.” -He recited the ideas he thought to be so evident.

  “And that means what, again?” -Kyra asked looking at him. She felt this way right after her father told her the story about the enchanted castle.

  Mackenzie paced up and down, thinking as hard as he could. Now he was the one acting like a crazy bad witch, and that made his thinking difficult.

  “That you are the Keeper… The Book Whisperer, I think.” -Mackenzie was confu
sed. He always thought he was the faithful Keeper as the ink, one of the magic artifacts, was still hidden inside his tree trunk. But this changed it all. He had heard from the Merm people that the bearer of the Graphylux was in fact the true Keeper. And this Keeper was the Book Whisperer. The one and only. The heir of all worlds. The heiress, if Kyra turned to be what the message implied.

  Mackenzie hadn’t seen the Graphylux, just heard stories of it. He never had the chance to fully prove if he was the one and only Keeper, but even so, he had always acted like if he truly was. This will turn interesting , Mackenzie thought. When Kyra opens the box, the Enchanted Graphylux will cast a spell on her and that certainly will be fun .

  He was so sure of what was going to happen that he sat on the floor, leaving a considerable distance between them, insisting Kyra to open the cardboard box without delay. Kyra wasn’t that impatient after all.

  “What’s the Keeper? The Book Whisperer? Is it some kind of Alter Land’s private joke?” -She asked, sitting in front of Mackenzie and settling the box right in front of her.

  “Is just a myth from a fantasy tale for kids. Open it. You’re taking one life away from me with this waiting!” -He urged Kyra.

  “And what happens to this person in that story?” -Kyra asked with fear of hearing about unfavorable endings and misfortunes. She didn't want to hear about unhappy conclusions this time. Maybe true story was written with blood, but she wanted this story to be written with orchid petals and honey.

  “Just dies!” -Mackenzie said entertained.

  “What? Dies? What a silly story!” -Kyra protested unhappily. Now she was considering burning it in the bonfire.

  “Nah. I’m just kidding.” -Mackenzie said laughing hard. It was great for him to be making jokes. Just to see Kyra’s face retorted with that disgusted expression made him feel proud of torturing her.

  “You never grow?” -Kyra asked without regret. Mackenzie froze up. Suddenly he felt irritated. He looked at Kyra seriously embittered. He wanted to argue back but he didn’t find words that could be powerful enough to hurt Kyra’s ruthless heart.

  Angry, Mackenzie grabbed the cardboard box from the floor and tore the non-festive wrapping. He ignored the turquoise velvet covering the pen and just shook the box until the pen felt to the ground, right in between him and Kyra.

  “What are you doing?” -Kyra berated. Mackenzie laughed like an insane and preferred to say nothing as he thought he could prove how wrong they all were. Jumping over the Graphylux, confident he could prove he was the true Keeper, Mackenzie tried to grab the pen between his fingers. A strong energy field broke in front of him and around him and all over the open place, blinding, burning, making his hair look like an electrified fence. - “Mackenzie? Are you alright?”

  Mackenzie heard Kyra calling after him, but he had landed far away, between tall grass and weird flowers.

  “Mackenzie? Where are you? Can you hear me?” -Kyra kept yelling. She heard a grunting coming from the woods and soon saw Mackenzie tottering like a drunk. He tried to laugh, but in its place, just smoke came out of his mouth. - “Why you did that?”

  “I think is your turn.” -Mackenzie managed to say, enraged and humiliated. - “Why don’t you try?”

  Kyra looked at him as if a thunder had fallen in the center of his head. The explosion for sure affected some of Mackenzie’s vital brain neurons. For nothing in the world she was going to touch that evil artifact.

  “Are you crazy? I don’t want to be looking like fried chicken just like you.” -She dared to say, but truth was she was nervous.

  “Bla, bla, bla…” -He mocked Kyra. - “You talk too much when you fear. You’re a chicken! The Wizard had the wrong girl after all. You are no witch, just a silly bookworm mistaken by a powerful weapon.” -Soon he discovered he had talked too much.

  “What Wizard you say? Why I’m the wrong girl?” -Suddenly, Kyra wanted to know all the answers. Now Mackenzie had opened a Pandora Book- everything chaos related- and she won’t give up until knowing the answers.

  “Take the pen and I’ll tell you everything.” -He challenged Kyra.

  “Are you telling me you were looking for me since the first day… sent by a mysterious Wizard thinking I’m a powerful witch?” -Kyra summarized.

  “Not exactly… Not the powerful part.” -Mackenzie said. - “But if the Enchanted Graphylux truly belongs to you, then you can write it all back.”

  Kyra didn’t doubt those words but didn’t believe in them either. Maybe she did believe, but it didn’t matter. She just wanted to prove she was no coward. She needed to prove she could return home right after grabbing that pen. Write it all back to the day before Mackenzie came to school.

  She kneeled in front of the pen, almost reverent, and extended her thin hand until just caressing the Graphylux with the tip of her fingers. She closed her eyes after feeling a cold sensation coming from the pen, but she didn’t pull her hand away. She endured there, resisting the fear, fighting against it, wishing it to be just a dream from which she would wake up at any time.

  “That won’t happen, my dear!” -A voice told her. Perhaps it was her conscience? - “You won’t wake up, as this is no dream. But soon you’ll fall under a spell in which you’ll sleep a gloomy death.”

  “I’m not afraid.” -Kyra snapped back. Although she knew she lied, -she was shaking of fear- she prayed to have a different consequence than Mackenzie’.

  “Then you can take me with you… as I’m not afraid either.” Kyra took the Graphylux in her hand, with fear of hurting it, or afraid to be hurt by it, but even so, she raised her hand high and a glowing beam brightened all the surroundings. Her body hurt as if a truck had run over her, but she didn’t falter. Didn’t even move.

  Mackenzie was stunned; his ego annihilated by the sudden discovery that this girl- the Fairy Girl, the bookworm as he called her just seconds ago- was the true Keeper. He had discovered the Book Whisperer, the Keeper of all Keepers, and a weapon he could use to his advantage. As weak as she is right now , he thought, she’ll be easy to manipulate .

  “Now tell me about this Wizard and why he’s looking for me.” -Pointing the Graphylux at Mackenzie, Kyra ordered with new bravery. Mackenzie wasn’t happy being talked that way. He was used to boss around everyone and to be obeyed. He wasn’t going to fall into Kyra’s new trick just because that silly pen had casted a spell on him and liked the girl better. In fact, he was ready to try again.

  “Are you trying to cast a spell on me? Cause this is no magic wand for you, Witch. You won’t shake it and see the tongues of magic coming. It’s a simple pen.” -Mackenzie said defiantly, but inside he feared Kyra was powerful enough to make magic without using written words to command the Graphylux’s magic.

  “So, I can write a whole new world with this pen?” -Kyra wondered.

  Mackenzie didn’t answer Kyra’s questions and she was getting mad at him. She had always been the kind of girl who does the guesswork on her own and was very proud to never fail when doing it. A hunch in the guts, she liked to say. An overqualified girl’s sixth sense. Kyra opened her notebook, ready to take this matter into her own hands. She needed answers that nobody wanted to give. She needed to see results and maybe a little pressure was needed.

  “Be careful what you write there… You could scare yourself with those words.” -The Enchanted Graphylux warned.

  “Don’t tempt me, pen. I need to show this boy a lesson.” -Kyra snapped back, ignoring the pen’s warnings.

  “Then be my guest, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. Your thoughts are just the harbinger of what you’ll write. Careful…” -The Graphylux said wisely. Kyra held the pen firmly over her notebook’s white paper, thinking carefully what she should write.

  A harbinger? An omen? She just wanted to scare Mackenzie! Was it too much to ask? To earn some respect?

  “Careful...” -The Graphylux kept whispering, a soft echo only Kyra could hear.

  A strong noise reverberated in the woods after Kyra r
aised the pen from the paper. A noise as strong and deep as if coming from the depths of the earth. At the remoteness, trees started to fall. The noises of the frightened animals were coming closer, their howls stronger to the hearing. Birds shrieked wildly while they flew fast over Kyra’s head. Now she wasn’t sure of what she had done.

  “What you did?” -Trying to read her mind, Mackenzie asked. His jaw tightened while he started to run in contrary direction from where the rumble came.

  “I wrote something to chase you!” -Kyra yelled proudly, standing insolently in the middle of the place. - “I found out too soon how to use this pen!”

  “Oh, no!” -Mackenzie yelled, while Kyra cheered at the distance. - “Run, Kyra, run!”

  The trees surrounding them started to fall almost over them. Now Kyra was afraid of what she had done. But it shouldn’t hurt her, right? After all, she was its creator. She was the responsible to bring it to life.