by Karen DuBose
Copyright
Black Ruins Forest is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
BLACK RUINS FOREST: A NOVEL
Copyright © 2018 by Karen DuBose
All rights reserved.
Editing by KP Editing
Cover design by Lindsey Jayne
Published by Kingston Publishing Company
The uploading, scanning, and distribution of this book in any form or by any means—including but not limited to electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the permission of the copyright holder is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized editions of this work, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
Table of Contents
Copyright
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Note from the Author
Prologue
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
About the Author
Let’s Connect
Acknowledgements
I want to thank my husband and family for supporting me. They have given me the courage to write. Without them, I would have never been brave enough to write this book or the ones I am planning to write in the future.
I want to thank Jennifer Clayton for being a great friend and directing me to the right people. I cannot thank you enough for that.
I want to thank everyone at Zombie Cupcake Publishing for taking on my book. You have given me chance that I probably never would have had. I also want to thank everyone for putting up with the million questions I had.
I also wanted to thank my editor, Emily McCulloch Cargile, for getting me to open up and let loose the words I was holding back and for answering all of my questions.
Most of all I want to thank my readers for giving me a chance. I do this for you guys. I hope you enjoy this book and the others in this series that will be coming soon.
Note from the Author
This is a fantasy world. The culture is different and should be seen as such.
Prologue
The last cycle of school is finally here. The young, like me, have been waiting for this cycle to come. You see, we are human until we turn nineteen. Once most of us turn nineteen, we turn into our shifter animal. There are also non-shifters, like the elves, fae, witches, and occasionally Seers, they are born that way. The rest of us become shifters. We can shift between our human and animal form at will. I’m one of the lucky ones who gets to shift. I just wish I knew what I’m turning into. Yeah, there is a catch to all of this. We don’t know what our shifter animal will be until we change. Surprise! It doesn’t matter who your parents are. The Source is the one who gives us our animal. We don’t have to stick to our own kind, either. We can mate with anyone we want. We just follow our hearts. Take my mom and dad for instance: My mom is a bear, and my dad was a lion. I might be any of the four animals, or I could have been one of the non-shifters.
If you are wondering what shifters we have in our little world of Zilo, I will tell you. There are bears, lions, owls, and⸻the most awesome of all⸻dragons. We all have a part to play in running our world.
Our shifter will tell us where we will go after school ends. Dragons are the protectors, Bears are best with communications, Lions are best hunting, Owls are the messengers, Elves build things from houses to weapons, Witches keep us all healthy with their herbs and spells, and the Fae make this world beautiful with their nature ways.
The most scary and important are the Elders. Asher Coy, Nico Eber, Arlo Hollis, Eucca Kale, Jair Loy, and Mateo Percival. They are our judges, jurors, and executioners. They are known for their ruthlessness and cold-heartedness. You definitely do not want to come across them or be in their presence if you can’t help it. If you do, you’ll never come back.
The best part about our species is we get to live very long lives. I think the eldest of us is over four hundred cycles old. Our world is very different, and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.
I have heard about other worlds. The dragons even visit them and bring stuff back, like technology, movies, clothes, or anything they think will help us advance. I think it’s pretty cool. Maybe one day I will be able to visit other worlds, but right now I’m happy where I am.
Chapter One
“Dariya, you are going to be late again!”
“Mom, I’m coming!”
Dang it, I’m always daydreaming. I’m going to be late for my first day of school. That’s just what I need right now. How can I protect people when I’m always daydreaming? Maybe I’m not going to be a dragon, and my daydreaming and being distracted is a sign that I won’t become a one. No, don’t think like that, Dariya!
Throwing on the first thing that I see, I run a brush through my long, wavy sapphire-black hair to make sure I look good before heading out the door. I look at my mismatched eyes. One is purple, and it looks like purple in the sky when the sun is setting, and the other is green, it almost looks like an emerald. My skin is sun-kissed and always maintains its natural color.
I take one last look in the mirror. This is as good as it’s going to get today. I run down the stairs to grab a fruit tart before running to school.
“Love you, sweetheart! Have a wonderful day at school,” Mom yells from the kitchen.
I blow her a kiss while running out the door. Good thing Smoky Bay Institution is only a few blocks from my house. If we lived any farther away, I would always be late.
Rushing into the building, I see my best friend Kira. We’ve been friends since we could crawl. She’s the only one I can count on to keep me out of trouble.
“Hey, Kira!”
She turns around and rolls her eyes at me while giving me a smirk.
Kira whips her long, light curly brown hair over her shoulders. “Daydreaming again, I see. You’re going to get yourself into trouble again.” I glance into her jade green eyes and shrug my shoulder. I’m still trying to figure out how the guys are not all over her. She has skin so dark that you would think she spends all of her days in a tanning bed to go with those eyes and hair.
The trouble she is referring to is Nessa hitting me when we were younger. I had been daydreaming that day on the playground, and I hadn’t seen it coming.
“You know me too well,” I say, giving her an innocent smile.
“One of these days, your daydreaming is going to get you into real trouble. We don’t want another incident. I’m afraid the next time I won’t be around to stop.”
>
“We can’t all be like you, Miss Perfect, but I still love you.”
“I am not perfect. No one is, and I love you too.”
I look the other way to see who is around. “I can’t help my daydreams. I’ve been trying to control them for years. Everything I’ve tried hasn’t worked. Give me some credit. How many classes do we have together? I know you’ve already hacked into the school mainframe.”
Kira snorts before answering me. “Ah, you know me too well. We have all but the last two classes together.”
As we walk to our first class, we turn the corner and we see them standing there. The Gossip Girls. Gossip Girl number one is Nessa Mateo, A.K.A ‘Queen Bitch.’ She stands there, with her long blonde hair and hazel eyes, her face is so round one might think she was a doll. She’s skinny everywhere else, but she’s still beautiful.
Gossip Girl number two is Adeen Zoie. She has light brown hair in a pixie cut, dark blue eyes, and caramel-colored skin most people would die for.
Gossip Girl number three is Landry Decker. She has wavy black hair; so black that it looks purple. It hangs loosely down her back. Her eyes are also black which makes them look fake, and her skin is so white that she looks dead. I don’t know how she pulls it off, but she does. They love to gossip. That’s how they became popular.
“My, my, who is the hottie with the Gossip Girls?” Kira asks.
She stares unabashedly at the new hottie.
I look up to see and… wow! He is simply drool worthy. He’s tall and made of all muscle, with light brown hair and piercing aqua blue eyes. He has a smile that would make most females weak in the knees, and he has a cute dimple on his left cheek. His legs look like they could kill a person if he squeezed too hard.
I can honestly say that he’s not as drool-worthy as Kiernan Marcelo, the boy I have been crushing on since I was twelve. Kiernan is tall and lean. He has muscles, but they don’t overpower the rest of his features. He has black tussled hair that always seems like he never has time to brush it, but it looks good on him. His eyes are the most beautiful piercing green color. You could get lost in his eyes and never return. His face is lean and sports a nice five o’clock shadow. His lips are plump, making you want to kiss him. His smile will melt your heart. Yes, I have it hard for him, alright. What’s not to love?
I finally come to my senses and start walking to class. I have better things to do than gawk at a guy that won’t even see me. Besides my heart belongs to someone already, even if he doesn’t know it. I walk up to the Gossip Girls and try to get past them into class.
“Excuse me. You’re blocking the way. We don’t want to be late for class,” I say.
“Is that any way to talk to your future protector?” Nessa says.
“When I see one I will be more respectful. Besides only dragons can be protectors and last I checked you are an elf.”
I push my way into class, and I can hear the hottie laughing. I look to see what he’s laughing at, and I notice Nessa giving me a death stare. Kira and I keep walking to our desk in the back of the room.
“I really wish I knew what her deal is with me. I can’t remember doing anything to her. I practically avoid her at all costs,” I say to Kira.
Kira rolls her eyes like I should know the answer already. “You could blink wrong and be on her shit list. You’ve done nothing to her to make her hate you. Maybe she’s jealous that you’re prettier than her. Who knows?”
I place my bag on my desk and take a seat. I start to get my things out, and I hear Kira tell someone, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
I hear Kira getting out of her seat. I look up just in time to see Nessa’s fist come toward my face. I brace myself for the impact, because there’s no way I can be quick enough to block or duck. Her blow never lands though. I look up over her head and see the hottie holding her arm back. I look back to Nessa, and she looks like she was just smacked across the face by him. She turns around and storms off to her desk. What the actual hell is wrong with her.
“Hi, my name’s Kelso. Sorry about blocking your way into class. It won’t happen again.”
I look back up to him. It takes me a few seconds to wrap my head around what just happened. “It’s ok. I’m used to Nessa pulling stupid crap. She’s had it out for me for as long as I can remember, and I haven’t figured out why… nor do I care.”
I raise my hand to shake Kelso’s hand. “I’m Dariya, by the way. It’s nice to meet you. You better take a seat before Mr. Elske comes in. He’s very strict about punctuality from what we’ve heard. By the way, this is Kira,” I point over to Kira
Kira gives him a wave. “It’s nice to meet you. Hope you like it here.”
Mr. Elske walks in and tells everyone to take their seat. “I know this is the first day and all, but here are the ground rules for my class. You break them, you get sent to the office. There are absolutely no powered on digital communicators allowed. You must turn them off when you walk in. If not, I will be taking them from you, and you will not get them back until a parent has signed it out for you.
You may use your Personal data corresponders to take notes, but if I find out you are writing to each other using the Pdats, the same goes as the digital communicators. There will be no talking unless you are asked a direct question from myself. Are there any questions on the rules? I think they’re pretty self-explanatory.”
I have never felt like I was a youngling until this moment. I feel like I’m in jail or something-- one wrong move and I’ll get into trouble. I sure hope I can keep my daydreams at bay while in this class. There is no way I can explain why I have them or why I can’t control them.
I look around and see Nessa on her Pdat and she is writing to one of the other Gossip Girls.
This class is so lame. I need to spice it up.
You know he’ll have you on a stick if he finds out you’re writing me. Her friend’s reply flashes across the screen.
So? What is Mr. Elske going to do besides send me to the office? You know Dariya has it coming to her. She embarrassed me in front of Kelso. She will pay for that. Nessa types.
Don’t we have better things to do then get back at her? she responds.
No, we don’t. No one messes with me and gets away with it. Got to go. Kisses. Nessa types hastily. Then she looks around to make sure no one saw her.
And here I thought this year was going to be different. I figured her ass would have matured during our break but looks like I’m wrong yet again. I’m so over this crap.
“What are you doing?” Kira whispers to me.
I just shake my head. She knows I’ll tell her later. Unlike Nessa, with my luck, I’ll get caught. I have bad luck in every way possible.
I turn on my Pdat to take notes. Then I hear a knock on the door.
“Enter,” Mr. Elske says.
“I have a message for Kelso, Mr. Elske,” the guy says.
I can’t see who it is, but I know that voice belongs to Kiernan. My heart beats a little faster than normal.
“Very well, come in,” Mr. Elske says.
When he enters the room, it seems like the world around me stops. I couldn’t keep my eyes off him.
I watch him walk up to Kelso and hands him a piece of paper. When he turns to leave, he catches my eye and winks at me. I stare at him dumbfounded. Did he really just wink at me, or am I daydreaming again?
When he leaves the room, I turn to Kira.
“You saw that, right?” I whisper.
“You know I did. I told you before I have never seen him date anyone. This year might just be your lucky year.”
“Yeah right! Why would he even consider me? There are a lot of prettier girls here. He is way out of my league.”
“Girl, I think you’re losing it. He would be dumb if he didn’t notice you. You’re hot!”
I stop talking before we get in trouble. Shaking my head, I turn back to my Pdat. This is going to be a long class. I’m not a fast typist, and it will show in my notes. They need to
build a recorder or something into these things.
“Since our time is almost up, class, I need you to take these notes and make sure you write them down correctly. This information will appear on the midterms,” Mr. Elske says.
Yeah, I am so dead. I sure hope Kira gets everything. There is no way I can type and listen at the same time. I’m not great at multitasking. Please, please let her get everything, I think to myself.
I try my best to get everything down, but I fail miserably. I don’t even get the first sentence right. I am so screwed. I really do need to see if they have a recording attachment or application for this thing, especially if I want to graduate with everyone else.
Just as I’m about to give up completely, the bell rings. Saved by the bell. I shut down my Pdat and put it in my bag. I get up to leave class, but guess who’s blocking my way again? Yep, you guessed it, Nessa.
“Can I help you, Nessa?”
“You sure can, pumpkin. How about you drop dead? It will make me so happy.”
I stare at her with my mouth wide open. No, she did not say that to me!
“What is your deal with me? Are you that juvenile you need to have the center of attention everywhere you go?”
She flips her hair over her shoulder. “When you figure it out, I might actually tell you if you’re correct.”
She turns around and walks out the door. The whole time, Mr. Elske is watching us.
“May I have a word with you, Miss Kalida?” he asks.
Great, I’m going to get into trouble because of Nessa. That’s just my luck.
“Sure, Mr. Elske.”
I make my way to the front of the class where he is standing in front of his desk.
“Miss Ritter, you may leave,” he says pointing to the door.
I watch Kira walk out the door. She mouths that she’ll wait for me. I just shake my head. I didn’t want her to get into trouble for being late.
“Is there a problem with you and Nessa? I feel like there’s some tension between the two of you.”
