III

Weird things began to happen over the next few weeks. Toby and Lia’na disappeared and Gishan wouldn’t talk about it. He walked around like he was a dead man and barely even talked to anyone. One day at lunch, Tom was sitting with Greggor and Jayme when Gishan came in.

Tom was talking to Jayme, “Did you hear about what happened in Holland at the Elven reservation?”

“I know,” Jayme replied, “I understand while people don’t like elves, but a full on terrorist attack?”

“Heh, serves them right.” Greggor replied. “I could tell you stories of how they treated my people.”

Tom didn’t respond, fully aware that he had his own predjudices against elves and didn’t feel like getting into a fight. That’s when he saw Gishan walk into the room.

“Hey Gishan!” Tom called out. “What’s going on?”

Gishan came over, “Hey guys…”

Jayme looked up at him and smiled warmly, “Hey man, how are you?”

Gishan sat down next to them, but didn’t say anything. He looked like he was on the verge of crying. Tom was completely unnerved as he’d never seen Gishan like this before, “Gishan, what’s going on, man?”

Gishan sucked down a few quivering breaths as he struggled to speak. He was only able to get out two words before a tear fell down his cheek, “Lia’na’s dead…”

Tom’s eyes widened, “What?”

Jayme looked over at Tom, “Toby’s elf?”

Tom nodded as he put his arm around Gishan, “Buddy, I don’t know what to say… how’s Toby handling it?”

Gishan shook his head, “Toby’s walking around like a zombie.”

Tom put his hand on his forehead and closed his eyes, “As if she hadn’t been through enough already.”

Greggor sat back and sipped his drink, “What happened?”

“I don’t really have all the details.” Gishan replied. “All I know is that one of her own kind killed her. They haven’t told me anything else yet. Even my girl knows more than I do about this.”

Jayme kept her eyes locked on Gishan, “It sucks man.”

Tom sucked down a deep breath before speaking, “Is Toby back at his condo yet? Do you want me to stop in and check on him?”

Gishan shook his head, “No. He’s supposed to be back tonight. I’m going to go see him and Giselle is meeting us there. I don’t think he really wants to see anyone.”

“That’s understandable.” Tom replied. “I doubt he’d want to see me anyway.”

Gishan stood up and looked back at the chef’s stations. A grimace appeared on his face before he spoke, “Sorry guys… I don’t think I’m up for eating. I’m going head up to Saugus and try to intercept Toby. Fuck only knows what I’m going to see when I get there.”

Jayme nodded, “All right Gishan, keep us posted.”

“Will do.” Gishan replied before walking away.

Greggor watched him leave the hall and sighed, “What was so special about this elf girl anyway? First Toby and now Gishan isn’t in the mood to eat?”

Tom frowned, “From what I understand, she brought out the best in Toby. I really can’t believe that this happened. It’s…”

Tom couldn’t wrap his fingers around it and stood up, “Sorry guys, I’ve gotta go.”

“Not you too?” Greggor asked in an annoyed tone.

Tom shook his head, “No, I just have to do something.”

“Like what?” Jayme asked.

Tom didn’t answer. He just turned around quickly and walked out. Jayme stood up with a confused look on her face as she called after Tom, “Hey, what’s going on, Tom?”

When he didn’t reply, Jayme tossed her leftovers in the trash and ran after Tom. She ran down the steps and outside into the cool afternoon air. The breeze caressed her skin as she looked around.

Tom was standing off to the side of the building, looking out on the rest of the campus. He looked like he was deep in thought. Ordinarily, Jayme would have just left him alone, but she was concerned and wanted an answer, “Tom!”

Tom flinched as he turned and looked at her. She marched up next to him with an annoyed look, “What is it? Don’t just run off on me. What’s going on?”

“I just can’t believe it.” Tom replied. “I didn’t know this girl and really didn’t have anything to do with her. Why is this bothering me?”

Jayme smiled, “Because someone you care about is hurting right now… and you probably feel a little guilty.”

Tom nodded, “Guilty… for making her short life more difficult.”

Jayme shook her head, “She’d all but forgiven you, why can’t you forgive yourself?”

“It’s not that easy.” Tom replied. “I was part of something awful. I don’t care if she has forgiven me, that doesn’t absolve me of what I did.”

Jayme shrugged, “Well I don’t know what you want to do, man. You need to find some way of getting over it.”

As though someone called to her, Jayme looked out on the horizon, “And something tells me that you may soon find a way.”

Tom’s narrowed as he looked at her, “What are you talking about?”

Jayme turned away with a dismissive smile, “Don’t worry about it.”

“No.” Tom shot back. “You don’t get off that easily. You always give these cryptic responses to people. What do you know that I don’t.”

Jayme chuckled, “That would be the longest book ever written and I simply don’t have time to read it to you.”

“Oh ha ha…” Tom replied sarcastically. “Come on, spit it out.”

“I honestly don’t know.” Jayme said in a convincing tone. “All I know is that something big is going to happen, and soon. It’s just a feeling that I have.”

“Whatever.” Tom said as he looked back at the dorm.

“You done for the day?” Jayme asked.

“Yeah.” Tom replied. “I think I need to lay down. I’m worn out.”

Jayme smiled, “All right, well I’ll see you later. Catch me on my cell if you decide you want to do something later.”

“Will do.” Tom replied.

The two went their separate ways. Tom headed back to his room and Jayme to hers. The moment that Tom got inside and was safe from prying eyes, he collapsed. Tears flowed down his cheeks. He felt so bad about what had happened. It had eaten away at him for a very long time, and now to find out that Lia’na was gone, made him feel even worse.

Part of Tom wanted to call Jayme, as she was one of the few people that still spoke to him, but he didn’t want the same tired lecture that he’d been getting since February. It was not what he needed at that point. No one else would be any help either.

Having little other choice, Tom turned in for the night, knowing full well that he probably wouldn’t be able to sleep. He lay back on his mattress, unable and unwilling to let his mind rest. As far as he was concerned, this was his only method of penance at this point.

 

---

---

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

 

II

The next day, Tom got up for class, though he wasn’t really up for it. It was late in the afternoon and he had been lazing around most of the day. Despite the fact that he had no desire to take a history class, he knew that he needed one to graduate and the only one available was with Professor Arias. He knew Arias’ reputation and it didn’t make things any easier, but he got up, got dressed, and headed out the door.

Tom made his way toward’s the main building where liberal arts classes were held. Other students were heading in various directions either heading to or from class. Everything seemed normal until he entered Professor Arias’ lecture hall.

To Tom’s surprise, the room was completely empty. Tom looked around, surprised. Had he gone to the wrong room? No, this was clearly the right place as much of the art work that Arias favored was hanging on the walls.

Tom noticed a piece of paper hanging on the chalkboard at the front of the room and walked over to it. The paper has a single sentence written on it, “Professor Arias is out sick today, all classes cancelled.”

Tom couldn’t believe it. He knew Professor Arias’s reputation. The man took his work way too seriously and never took a day off. If he was out, it had to be something serious.

After a moment of thinking about it, Tom realized that he was being given a merciful day off. He didn’t want to be there anyway and decided not to question it. With nary another thought to what was going on, he quickly turned and exited the room.

As he made his way out of the building, Tom accidentally bumped into Toby, who was headed the other way. He wasn’t sure that he wanted to talk to him, but decided it was better to try and break the ice a little, “Hey, did you hear?”

Toby looked at Tom hesitantly for a minute before responding, “What’s up?”

Tom pointed back to the lecture hall that Professor Arias normally used, “Can you believe it?”

“Yeah I don’t have class with him today.” Toby replied.

“You haven’t heard?” Tom replied, shaking his head. “Arias took a sick day!”

“What?” Toby exclaimed. “From what I read in the newsletter, he hasn’t been absent once in almost forty years of teaching!”

Tom frowned, “You actually read that thing…?”

“I get bored sometimes.” Toby admitted.

Tom shrugged, “Whatever… What do you think happened?”

“Who knows?” Toby replied. “Maybe the shock of having me in class was too much for him.”

Tom laughed as he thought about it. A moment later, his face turned back to a frown as he remembered what happened the previous day, “Look Toby… I get that we’re not friends anymore. Lia’na is your girl and I’d probably do the same thing in your shoes…”

“Before you say anything else,” Toby interrupted, “I am willing to believe that you didn’t know what Michael was planning that night, but you still helped him after he hit her twice. ‘I didn’t know’ is not an acceptable excuse at that point. Lia’na said she’s not going to ignore you anymore, so I’ll give you the same courtesy, no more, no less.”

Tom sighed, “Fair enough, I guess I shouldn’t expect more.”

“Nope.” Toby replied.

Tom nodded, “So what you up to the rest of the day?”

Toby shrugged, “I’ve got one more class, and then I’m outta here.”

“One more class?” Tom asked in shock. “But it’s already five o’clock!”

“I know…” Toby said in a defeated tone, “but it was the only way to get Friday off.”

“Makes sense then.” Tom replied as he looked at the crowd walking towards the café, “Well I’m out. Talk to you later, Toby.”

“Yeah.” Toby said as he headed in the other direction.

Tom headed to the dining hall to get some food. Jayme met him at the door to the café, “Hey stranger, what’s going on?”

Tom sighed, “I wish I knew.”

“I heard about what you did yesterday.” Jayme replied.

“Oh yeah?” Tom asked. “What did you hear?”

Jayme smiled warmly, “Nothing much just that you stood up to Michael and it sounds like you’re back on speaking terms with Toby and Gishan.”

Tom shrugged, “Yeah I guess, which is great, but it’ll never be what it was.”

“Nothing you can do about it, Tom.” Jayme replied before beckoning him towards the café, “Come on, let’s get some food, I’m starving.”

Tom followed Jayme up the stairs. She moved quick, so he had to hustle to keep up. He stayed close behind her, but far enough back that she was up enough stairs that he would have a good view of her ass without being pervy.

This wasn’t the first time that Tom had noticed her, far from it. She was tall and slender, and very feminine. Her body was very shapely, and she made no effort to hide it.

Jayme was no fool. She knew what Tom was doing without even having to look back. He favored her above any other girl on campus, which she delighted in. She intentionally swayed her hips as she walked, just to torture him a little more.

Certain that she had tortured him enough, Jayme turned back, “So what do you think?”

Tom’s eyes jolted up to her face, “What?”

Jayme smiled, “What are you getting to eat?”

Tom shrugged, “The dwarven chef always has something good going, though the portions are way too much for a human.”

“Still, it’s good food.” Jayme replied. “I think I’m going that way.”

“Whatever.” Tom replied.

Tom grabbed a chicken sandwich while Jayme grabbed the slab of steak that the dwarven chef had been cutting. They sat down and began eating when they were joined by a stout dwarf, “Hey Tom, Jayme, how goes it?”

Jayme smiled as she turned to the dwarf, “Hey there, Reggor, what’s up?”

Reggor scratched his black beard as he sat down, “Nothing much, just grabbing some food before my next class.”

Tom looked at him oddly, “You have another class?”

Reggor nodded, “Yeah, at 6:30. It sucks, but it’s once a week, so I get it out of the way.”

“They’re not so bad.” Jayme replied. “I’m doing a few of those. I’ve only got two classes a week that I have to go to more than once.”

“It is the way to do it.” Tom agreed.

Greggor turned to Tom with a devious smile, “You know, I heard you saved that sharpy friend of Toby’s.”

Tom rolled his eyes, ready to get hell for what he’d done. He knew since the day he’d gotten involved in the first place that no matter what he did, he would be condemned for it, “Yeah…”

“Nice.” Greggor replied. “I never got why you went along with Michael in the first place. I’m no sharpy-lover, but Michael is about as bad an egg as they come.”

“I know that now.” Tom said in an irritated tone.

Greggor shrugged, “Well I’m just glad you finally got that.”

Tom sighed as he sat back, “So what do you think is going on with Professor Arias?”

Greggor shrugged, “No idea. It’s weird that he took some time off.”

“Yeah, but the man’s got tenure.” Jayme replied. “I can’t even imagine how much vacation time the man must have saved up.”

Greggor finished eating quickly and got up, “Well I’ve got to go, guys. Have fun.”

“Yeah right.” Tom shouted as Greggor walked away.

Jayme shook her head as she focused on her remaining company, “So Tom, what are you up to tonight?”

Tom shrugged, “Nothing really. I was going to head back to my room and relax.”

Jayme tapped her fingers on the table, not directly at Tom as she spoke, “Well, I have a bottle of Sam Adam’s Dwarven Ale that I haven’t opened yet and my roommate’s gone for the night…”

Tom suddenly felt something rubbing his ankle and working its way up his leg. He could instantly tell that it was Jayme’s foot. He looked at her oddly, “Cold?”

Jayme nodded, “Of course.”

Tom immediately stood up and grabbed both of their trash, “Let’s go.”

Tom wasn’t a huge fan of the dwarven ale. There were other brews he liked more, still he had a feeling that the bottle would remain capped. Jayme had made her intentions perfectly clear.

The moment Tom had disposed of their plates, Jayme beckoned him to the door, “Come on.”

Jayme and Tom headed back across the campus to her dorm. Tom pulled the door open and followed Jayme into her room. When the door closed behind them, Tom didn’t even have a chance to speak. Jayme jumped on him and bit into his neck.

Tom ran his nails down her back. She breathed heavily as his fingers moved, “The summer was too long, Tom…”

*

The next morning, Tom woke up in Jayme’s bed with red marks all over him. Jayme was lying next to him, still asleep. It looked as though he had successfully worn her out.

Tom shook his head as he got up and looked over the scratch marks on his skin. He grabbed his boxers and slid them on as a voice appeared behind him, “Well good morning. You hoping to sneak out before I woke up?”

Tom turned back and smiled, “Nah, just inspecting the damage. You did a real number on me!”

Jayme smiled as she wrapped herself in her blanket, “You liked it, and it’s not like you didn’t give as good as you got.”

Jayme lowered the blanket to show him the deep scratches on her back. Tom shook his head, “Yeah I know… sorry.”

“For what?” Jayme asked. “It’s not like I didn’t want you to. I enjoyed it as much as you did.”

Jayme stretched out as she stood up and headed for the shower, “See you in class today?”

Tom looked at her surprised, “What, you’re just going to kick me out?”

Jayme shrugged, “Oh, I’m sorry. Let’s shower together, get dressed, go get breakfast, hang all over each other, and then skip off to class together hand in hand. How does that sound?”

A look of annoyance appeared on Tom’s face, “Are you done?”

“I could go on,” Jayme replied, “but I think you get the point. Look, you knew what this was. You got what you wanted and so did I. Why complicate things? You know I’m not looking for a relationship.”

Tom sighed, “Yeah I know. All right, well I’ll catch you later then.”

Jayme watched as Tom got dressed and headed for the door. Before he disappeared, she called out to him, “Hey Tom.”

He poked his head back in to see her, “Yes?”

Jayme looked at him for a moment before speaking, “As awesome as it was, don’t count on getting back in my bed if you plan on being all disappointed like this.”

Tom nodded, “Got it, no more disappointment. See you in class.”

Jayme smiled, “Good, see you then.”

 

 

---

---

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

 

Hi All,

I hope you enjoyed Taryn. Next up is another… expansion of the Magnifica series. This one revolves around one of the early bad guys in The Last Enchanter, Thomas. It basically deals with his road to redemption.

I abandoned this story after deciding that what Thomas did… or rather didn’t do to help Lia’na when she was in distress, was something that I’d have a difficult time helping him find redemption from. I also didn’t find his character likable, so I abandoned the story rather quickly.

So here we go, enjoy:

I

 

I‘ve never been able to get passed what happened. It still seems like something out of a nightmare, but it wasn’t. It happened, I did it. I know I did. I helped him hurt her, and in doing so, I’ve damned myself… More than anything… I want to be forgiven, or at least find a way to redeem myself…

“Tom, snap out of it!” A voice yelled from behind. “What are you doing man?”

Tom turned around to see his friend Jayme standing behind him, “What’s up?”

Jayme brushed her thick brown hair back behind her ear, “I just asked if you were going to lunch. You didn’t answer and had a look on your face like you were a million miles away.”

Tom nodded, “I’m sorry, I was just thinking to myself.”

“About what happened?” Jayme asked in an accusing tone.

“Yeah.” Tom replied. “I still can’t get the look on her face or the anger in his eyes out of my head.”

“You let Michael do a number on that poor elf, and Toby made sure that you paid for it.” Jayme replied. “Look, it’s like I told you before, it happened, you can’t go back in time and change that, all you can do now is learn from it and try to live better. I’d also try to see if you can earn her forgiveness.”

Tom sighed as he spoke, “I know… you’ve said it before. I just don’t know what I can do.”

Jayme shrugged, “You never know.”

Jayme stood near Tom for a few minutes while he compiled his thoughts. After a few moments of boredom, she spoke up, “Are you doing lunch?”

Tom shook his head, “Nah, not today. I think I’ll just head back to my room.”

“Suit yourself.” Jayme replied. “I’m starving, so I’m heading that way. See you later!”

Tom really wasn’t in the mood to eat and needed time to compile his thoughts, “All right, have a good time.”

Jayme nodded and walked away. It was a cool September day. Autumn had just barely begun taking over as classes were once again starting at Arcanus. The trees were still green, but it was a light green that would soon give way to brighter colors.

Tom had been dreading the fall. He didn’t want to see Toby, Lia’na, or Michael. To him, they were nothing more than reminders of an awful mistake he’d made. He knew that what he’d done was wrong, he was suffering on his own for it, and didn’t need to be reminded of what happened.

Tom made his past the main campus center when he heard a n angry voice, “You’ll pay for that sharpy!”

Oh no… Tom thought to himself, recognizing the voice. It was Michael, no mistake about it, and by the sound of things, he’d come across Lia’na. What’s worse, it sounded like Toby wasn’t anywhere nearby.

Tom picked up his pace and began running. He made his way around to the lounge area where he saw Lia’na and Michael. The scene was exactly what Tom had feared.

Michael stood in front of Lia’na as his two friends held her by the arms. Michael balled his fist and was about to strike when his world suddenly blurred. There was intense pressure on his side and chest as he fell to the side.

It took him less than a second to figure out what was going on. Michael had been tackled. Toby was on top of him with his fists clenched. The first blow impacted on Michael’s stomach while the second on his chin.

Tom continued running as the other two guys released Lia’na and tried to help, but the first one got a left hook to the stomach from Gishan. Tom knew that while they both knew how to defend themselves, but Michael’s dwarven friend was still free and closing in on Gishan.

Tom quickly moved in, tackled the third companion, and pinned him to the ground. The dwarf looked up with an angry look, “What the hell man?”

Tom smiled as he held the dwarf down, “Easy there, Griz, don’t do anything stupid.”

After a few seconds, Toby let up on Michael and backed away. The look on his face made Michael’s blood run cold. His face was red with black eyes. Michael struggled to his feet as he was joined by his friend who was released from Gishan’s grip. Michael sneered as he looked at Toby, “Very nice Toby, fucking jump me from behind! I still can’t believe you’re dating that… sharpy!”

Toby clenched his jaw and spoke in an inhuman voice, “Animal… you’ve lead a sheltered life with parents who hate for no reason other than to hate. You know nothing about the world outside of your bubble and you never will!”

Tom released Griz and backed away slowly when he heard Toby’s voice. What the…?

Michael scoffed, “I’m the animal? That sharpy and her people are the ones responsible for us being where we are today. They deserved the disease they got and they should stay on the reservations!”

Gishan shook his head, “That shit is ancient history from long before you or she was even born! She’s as responsible for the collapse of the Alliance as you or I would be.”

Michael wasn’t sure he wanted to say anymore. Toby looked like a ticking time bomb and that demonic voice he spoke with made things even worse, “Oh please Gishan, why should I listen to you? What are you going to do about anything? You want to try to take me on?”

Tom stood up and took a step forward. Michael had been his friend since he first attended Arcanus, but he’d known Gishan for many years before that and was not about to let him get beaten. He stepped out in front of his old friend, “If he doesn’t, I will.”

Lia’na saw Tom and nervously stepped closer to Toby. Michael looked at him in shock, “Tom, since when are you a sharpy lover?”

Tom looked at Lia’na for a second before turning back to Michael, “I’m not, but I’m also not so small that I would resort to assault or rape! Had I known that’s what you were planning, I never would have gone along with it. I’m not much better than you, but I am better. If you try to go after Toby or Gishan, you’ll have to deal with me.”

Gishan looked over at him, “Tom, what are you doing?”

“What I should have done months ago.” Tom replied without looking over.

Michael nodded and turned back to Lia’na, “Someday sharpy…”

Toby‘s hand began to glow black as he bolted forward and grabbed Michael by the throat. He spoke in the same dark voice, “Listen to me very carefully… if you ever… ever try to lay a finger on her… I will make sure you are never found!”

Tom backed away slowly as Michael choked under his grasp, but could not fight away. Toby’s concentration was broken when he heard Lia’na cry out, “Toby, stop!”

Toby released Michael, giving him an opening to get away. Michael ran off, followed closely by his remaining friend. He didn’t bother looking back and just continued running.

Toby was breathing heavily and his skin was still red. Lia’na felt the energy flowing from him. She put her arms around him and whispered gently, “Toby calm down… it’s over. I wasn’t hurt…. Shh…”

Finally the red disappeared from his face and his eyes returned to normal. Tears fell down his cheeks as Lia’na hid his face, “Lia’na… what happened?”

Lia’na shook her head, “We’ll talk later… for now, calm down. It’s over, I’m not hurt. Everything is okay.”

Toby took a few deep breaths as he calmed down. He knew he still had to deal with Tom. When he was ready, he turned to Tom and looked him in the eye.

Tom didn’t move. He stood his ground as the two stared at each other for a few moments. Am I next?

After what seemed like an eternity, Toby faintly smiled, “Thanks for your help.”

Tom nodded, “It was the least I could do.”

He then turned to Lia’na, “I don’t expect you to forgive me for what happened, but please know that I am sorry. Michael won’t bother you again, I promise.”

Lia’na took a deep breath, but couldn’t find it in her to even crack a smile, “I can’t forgive you for what happened… or what almost happened, but I can try to forget… at the very least, I’ll stop pretending you don’t exist.”

Tom smiled, “Good enough.”

Lia’na didn’t respond as she turned to Toby, “We should probably get you home.”

Gishan nodded, “All right… I’ll get you home. Let’s go.”

He quickly looked back at Tom before they parted ways, “Thanks for the backup man.”

“Any time.” He replied as Gishan turned away and guided Toby and Lia’na back to his car.

Tom made his way back to his room, completely shaken by what he’d seen. His head was filled with questions; what was that, why were Toby’s eyes glowing, what did it all mean?

Tom eventually shrugged, there was nothing he could do about it, so there was no point in worrying about it. Whatever happened with Toby, no doubt his friends were taking care of it.

Toby had been acting weird ever since he’d met Lia’na. The glowing eyes, the hands, the unexplainable powers, it all didn’t add up, but again, there was nothing that he could do about it.  He would have liked to have gone and seen Toby at his new place, but he had a feeling that he would most likely not be welcomed there. There was nothing for Tom to do but ignore it and go about his day.

 

---

---

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

 

VII

The dark figure held onto Taryn tightly as he ran through the woods. Using impressive speed, he had gotten as far as Saugus before he had to rest. He found a small clearing in the middle of the Breakheart Reservation and set Taryn down.

Upon touching the soft ground, Taryn began to rouse. There was a small crackling noise and an orange hue in front of her. Someone had built a fire.  Her eyes blinked a few times, “Ugh… Sentinel… where am I? What time is it.”

She got no response.

“Sentinel, respond.”

Still nothing.

She looked down at her wrist to see that her armband was gone. Then she remembered what had happened. Her eyes shot open and she quickly sat up. Sitting next to her, was the man with dark hair and yellow eyes that she’d seen earlier, “Oh good, you’re awake.”

Taryn pushed herself back, away from the flame, but was still to groggy to stand, “You… who are you? What do you want?”

The dark figure looked at her calmly, “I have what I want, though I didn’t think that the last descendant of the only enchanter in modern memory would have been so easy to take down. I have to admit, I’m disappointed.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m part elf. I couldn’t use magic, even if it still existed!”

“Still existed?” The man asked.

Taryn nodded, “You have no clue what I’m talking about, do you? A terrorist group retrieved the shattered Lux Mundi and attempted to restore it. My great grandfather stopped them.”

“How?”

“He used his echantments to launch the thing into the sun, destroying it once and for all.”

The man sat back, “That explains so much…”

Taryn’s eyes narrowed as she looked at him, “Are you…?”

“Yes.”

“Pure blood?”

“Completely.”

A look of intrigue came over Taryn’s face, “Are their many of you?”

“Over a hundred thousand living in an old dwarven city.”

“Is that where you’re taking me?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

The man sighed, “We need your help. Whatever your ancestor did, is destroying our city.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, but what can I do?”

The man smiled, “You don’t know that value of the blood that courses through your veins do you?”

“No…” Taryn replied suspiciously.

The man stood up, “Just a few drops could save my people. Just a few drops could put a hex on the pillars of our world and keep it safe. “

Taryn turned over and got to her knees, “Why didn’t you just ask me for help?”

“Too great a risk that you would have said no.”

Taryn shook her head, “What’s your name?”

“Irian.”

“Irain… well I’m…”

“I know who you are.”

Taryn’s lips twisted into a scowl, “Well excuse me!”

As they sat by the fire, Taryn’s lips twisted into a satasfied smile. Irian looked at her oddly as though he’d never seen one before, “Why do you look so happy?”

“Elves are supposed to be extinct. The thought that some still exist… it’s nice to know that my people will live on.”

“They are not your people.” Irian said in an almost accusing tone. “You are less than half elf. Your people are the round-ears who live up here on the surface.”

“Humans.”

“Whatever…”

A cold expression came over Taryn’s face, “I really don’t care what you think, and I don’t care for your tone. At this point, there aren’t any elves left that are known about. Even half-elves are dwindling in number. Most people are a quarter or less. That I’m about 40% is about as close to a full elf as anyone.”

Irian remained completely still and didn’t say anything.

“Fine, well then I guess you don’t want my help. You obviously view me as some sub-standard creature, given your tone, so I don’t see why I should stick around.”

Taryn began to move her legs to get up. At that moment, Irian sprang to life, “Wait… okay, you’re right, I’m sorry. It’s bad enough I kidnapped you. Please forgive my attitude, it’s just hard to hear that my species has been almost completely wiped out.”

“Apology accepted.”

Taryn sat back down and stared at the flame as Irian moved around uncomfortably, “So you’ll help us?”

“I guess, but why do you want to continue living there? Why not come back to the surface?”

Irian shook his head, “We’ve seen how our bretheren were treated, we recieved reports of how they were abused by both human and dwarven people.”

“How?”

“We came to the surface now and then through ancient tunnels that were left to us by the dwarves. We had thought about coming back to the surface, but changed our minds pretty quickly.”

Irian looked up at the stars as the small fire died, “Come, we have a long way to go.”

 

**

The pungeant smell of the Aquarium Station on the Blue line subway hit Lisa in the face as the doors slip open. She didn’t like travelling via subway, it was beneath a person of her status, but at this moment, she had no other choice. She needed to get to Long Warf quickly if there was any hope for Taryn.

Merrin followed closely behind her as they disembarked. He beamed as he admired the handy work, “Incredible, isn’t it?”

“What’s that?”

Merrin pointed, “The humans built this whole system without dwarven help. It’s amazing how a species that largely prefers surface life would be prompted to build such structures.”

“Well when you run out of space on the surface…”

“Why not build a large monorail then, or something that elevates the city? Why burrow into the ground?”

Lisa shrugged, “I guess it was more cost-effective and safe?”

“Exactly.” Merrin replied. “This system would long outlast any surface transportation.”

Lisa’s eyes narrowed, “Wait, I thought dwarves did assist with building the Boston’s transit system.”

“We helped modernize the stations and add to them, but most were built before most humans even knew that we existed.”

He pointed to the curvature of the ceiling, “See? We helped reinforce the infrastructure so that it was even stronger than before. In theory, it should be able to survive a nuclear blast. Look at the…”

“As stimulating as I find this lesson in historical engineering, I really just want to get out of here. This station wreaks and is filthy.”

Merrin sighed, “All right, all right.”

Lisa moved through the turnstyle and ran up the stairs to the glass enclosure which exited onto the street. Merrin had to run in order to keep up. Wow… she can really move fast if she doesn’t like something!

The pair exited the station onto State Street and proceeded down the old brick road. To their left was the massive Marriott Long Warf Hotel. Merrin had wanted to stay there and wondered what it was like. Lisa had spent many a night there going to parties on the upper floors.

During the day, the area would have been crowded, especially during the summer. Boston pedal cabs would have been running through the streets, people would have been in line to either charter cruises or go to one of the many exhibits at the New England Aquarium.

Even in the dark, Lisa could see the blue and white emblem that represented the Aquarium to her right. She loved it out there, but this was no time for a trip down memory lane. One of their friends was in trouble and they had to hurry.

The sound of the water and large hydrofoils bumping against the dock became louder in their ears as Lisa and Merrin picked up their pace. They made their way past the old Chart House and out into the open. Brick turned to stone and benches appeared in front of them surrounding a small man-made park.

The park was completely surrounded by large black chains connected by bollards of the same color that would have been too heavy for any one person to move. The park was illuminated with street lamps and the lights of the city. The occasional evening cruise hydrofoil would pass by, but the place was otherwise deserted.

Merrin’s eyes darted around nervously, “Lisa, what the heck are we doing out here? This ain’t the time for a sight seeing tour. I’ll be happy to come back here with you another time, but right now our friend is missing!”

“Shh”

“Don’t shush me!”

“Fine, shut up.”

Merrin crossed his arms and closed his mouth. If anything happened to Taryn, he was going to tear Lisa a new one. It was an uncomfortable silence as Lisa leaned on one of the bollards. It was clear that she was waiting for something –or someone –and Merrin wasn’t certain he wanted to know who.

A few more moments passed and Merrin was getting irritate, “Lisa, what are you waiting for? We neeed to get back and help Bobby find Taryn, this is ridiculous!”

“You sent for me?”

Merrrin was spooked. He whirled around to see a man dressed in a dark black cloak behind him. The cloak looked as though it were a part of some sort of ceremonial robe from long ago. The man had dark brown hair and looked as though he were in his mid to late 50s. He seemed very familiar, but Merrin could quite pinpoint who it was.

Lisa nodded, “Yes, forgive abruptness, but I needed to talk to you.”

“I thought you told your parents that you didn’t want anything to do with us. You said our organization had a bad history.”

“You do.” Lisa replied. “I don’t know how you managed to survive or why you would want to rebuild an order that was founded by evil people, but that’s not my problem.”

“Then what is?” The man asked intently.

“My friend Taryn… she’s been abducted.”

Merrin watched as the man’s facial features turned to a look of interest, “Taryn… as in Taryn Arrigan, the only descendant of the last enchanter?”

Lisa nodded as Merrin’s eyes narrowed. He’d listened to Taryn tell stories of her ancestors, but never believed them, “The last enchanter? That’s just a fairy tale that Taryn’s parents told her. It’s not true…”

The man looked at him oddly, “Who is this?”

Lisa smiled, “A mutual friend of mine and Taryn’s. He’s blunt, but his heart is in the right place, and he’s here to help.”

Lisa then turned to the dwarf, “Merrin, meet Michael O’Neil, Senator Michael O’Neil.”

Merrin’s eyes widened as he looked at the senator, “Oh wow… Lisa has some pretty high friends.”

Senator O’Neil nodded, “A pleasure, Merrin.”

“Likewise, Senator…”

With the pleasantries out of the way, the senator turned back to Lisa, “So she was kidnapped, any idea by whom?”

“That’s why I called you… I thought you’d be interested.”

“Oh?”

Lisa sighed as she spoke, “Taryn’s said that she’s been having nightmares about a man… an elf with glowing eyes and long flowing hair. Now she mysteriously disappears from her room and the last person to see her claims that she was alone and the door was locked. Sound odd?”

“Very odd indeed.” Senator O’Neil replied thoughtfully. “So you think I know who this… elf is?”

“Elves are supposed to be extinct. Their reservations have been long-since deserted, memorials to what the world lost.”

The senator thought quietly for a moment before speaking, “And you’re certain that this isn’t some half-elf punk?”

“Taryn was sure.”

“How do you know.”

Merrin frowned, “She told us that she was certain. She may be less than half an elf, but she somehow always seems to know things. If she said that he was a full elf, you can believe that he was.”

The senator nodded, “No doubt… and you believe that this person is her stalker?”

“It seems quite the coincidence that she starts having these dreams, senses someone following her, and then ends up being abducted.” Lisa replied.

“Very true… I don’t believe in coincidences…”

The senator looked at Lisa and then at Merrin. It looked like he was deep in thought about something. He was hiding something, Lisa was certain of it. If he even tried to deny it, she would let him have an earful.

After another long silence, the senator spoke again, “There may be a possibility…”

“Oh?” Lisa asked.

“Some of our old contacts in the elven clans of old told us of rumors about elves hiding in underground cities in the New World. If the rumors are true, then they’ve been kept hidden for hundreds of years.”

Merrin rolled his eyes, “I’ve heard these stories before. Underground cities here in America have never been located. They don’t exist.”

“Don’t exist,” Lisa repeated, “or perhaps hidden from human eyes… I seem to recall from history that the elves were very particular as to where their reservations were. The one up in New Hampshire was of particular interest as the elves fought tooth and nail for that specific site and wouldn’t settle for anything else.”

She looked at Senator O’Neil inquisitively, “Could that be why they wanted that particular piece of land so badly?”

“I don’t know. I suppose it would explain a lot. The elves never provided the U.S. Government a reason as to why they wanted that land so badly.”

“Too bad that won’t help us.” Merrin replied. “The reservation has been all but deserted since the elves died out. A few half breeds still hang out there when they need a place to stay, but last I heard the land has been all but abandoned.”

“So it looks like we’re off to the reservation in Milan, New Hampshire.”

The senator nodded, “That would be a good place to start.”

Lisa turned to Merrin, “Come on, let’s get back to the station and get my car out of the garage. We’ve got a long ride head of us.”

Merrin rolled his eyes as he turned back toward the city. As the two began walking, Senator O’Neil called after Lisa, “You know…”

Lisa closed her eyes and turned back, “What?”

“We did you a favor.”

“Yes, so?”

“So… remember that. As a rule, we don’t do people favors. We may need you to return it at some point.”

“Fine.”

Lisa turned away without saying another word and walked away. Merring followed closely behind her, “What was that about?”

“Don’t worry about it,” was all Lisa would say.

**

Glide carried Bobby up Route 16 to the Mount Washington Auto Road. Bobby held on for dear life as the wheels began to glow and the bike shot into the air, “What the hell?”

“Nexus, are you seeing this?”

The band lit up and Nexus’ face appeared in front of him, “Yes, but if you’re looking for an explanation, I have none to give you. There is an energy source at work here like nothing I have ever seen before.”

“Can you record it?”

“Query; what for?”

“I get the feeling that this won’t be the last time we come across it.”

“Acknowledged, scanning energy source and recording the readings.”

Bobby nodded, “Alert me if you detect them in the future.”

“Understood.”

Bobby watched Glide carry him over the trees until they reached a small clearing that appeared to never have been touched by man. The bike set down on the smoothest area it could. The landing was rocky, but niether Bobby nor Glide took any damage.

Bobby hopped off and back away a few feet. He looked at the bike oddly as it revved its engine. It flicked on its headlight, which illuminated a cave directly in its path.

Vroom!

Bobby looked carefully at the cave, “Is that where Taryn was taken?”

Vroom!

“How could this old bike possibly know that?”

Bobby’s armband came alive in response and Nexus appeared in front of him once again, “Theory; perhaps this bike was enchanted by Taryn’s ancestor. Perhaps now that bike can sense where its family members are.”

“That’s a tad far fetched, don’t you think?”

“Query; after riding on a bike that has the ability to drive on its own, communicate with people, and fly, the idea that it could have the ability to track its owner is too much for you to believe?”

Bobby sighed, “All right… good point…”

The bike revved its engine again, causing Bobby to turn his attention back to it, “Is that where they are?”

The bike reared up on its back wheel and then lowered itself back down. Nexus’s Avatar smiled, “I believe that was a yes.”

“I agree.”

Bobby turned and looked at the cave. It was a narrow opening, not big enough for the bike, but Bobby thought he could squeeze through. He sighed and turned back to the bike, “All right, I’ll take it from here. Come get us if you sense that she’s on the move above the ground…”

Vroom!

As the bike turned and disappeared into the trees, Bobby shook his head, “I hope it understood.”

Nexus also watched the bike leave, “It seems likely that it did.”

Bobby squeezed into the hole, feet first. He didn’t know what to expect. Would he have to crawl through this cave or would it open up. To his releif, after getting through the entrance, not only did it open up, the inside appeared to have been man-made. The walls were smoothed out and the floor resembled cobblestones. Odd symbols and murals had been carved into the walls.

In front of Bobby was a pitch black maw. The moment he stepped away from the narrow entrance into the hallway, he was engulfed in almost total darkness, “Nexus, light.”

A light as bright as the one on Glide shot out of the armband undernieth Nexus’s Avatar. Bobby studied the odd carvings on the wall, “What are these? Nexus, do you recognize this language?”

Nexus appeared to be deep in thought, “Processing… comparing these symbols to the linguistics database. Identifying…”

Bobby waited patiently for Nexus to respond. He thankfully didn’t have to wait long, “These writings are similar to the ancient texts believed to be from the language of the Alliance. These symbols have yet to be translated. No further information is available.”

“Nexus, do you think that this cave was built by dwarves?”

“The rock carving patterns are consistent with other ancient dwarven designs.”

“How old are these?”

“The exact date is difficult to identify without a more sophisticated analysis, however the carvings appear to predate known history. They are several thousand years old.”

“Could these dwarves have come to the New World with the American Natives that came over the Siberian-Alaskan landbridge?”

“There is sufficient evidence to corroborate that hypothesis. However, there is no historical data.”

“Which just means that they were good at covering their tracks.”

“Affirmative.”

Bobby began walking as he talked to Nexus, “Scan the cave, how far does it go.”

“Scanning… it is difficult to get an exact reading, however it does appear to go on for at least ten miles.”

Bobby sighed, “Great… better get walking.”

**

Hours went by as Bobby walked through the dark cave. Nexus’s light was barely giving him any direction, but he had to make do. He had gone too far to try to turn back now. His legs ached and felt like they had been overstretched. They wouldn’t let him go on much further without rest.

Bobby sighed as his legs collapsed out from under him and he sat against one of the cave’s walls. Nexus appeared in front of him, “Are you injured, Robert?”

“No, just tired out… and haven’t I asked you to call me Bob or Bobby?”

“Affirmative, you have.”

“Oh okay, just checking.”

Bobby looked further down the corridor, but darkness was all he saw, “Nexus, how much further?”

Nexus processed the request and attempted to scan the corridor again, “Judging by your pace, the length of your stride, and the time it normally takes you to walk a mile, you should have covered almost nine miles by now.”

Bobby rolled his eyes, “You told me that this was ten miles! Shouldn’t the end be in sight?”

“Correction: I said at least ten miles and that was an educated guess based on what information we have on dwarves tunnels and the composition of the areas ahead.”

“Great… so this could be another ten miles.”

“Unlikely, but possible.”

“How long is the longest recorded tunnel in one of these underground cities?”

Nexus shook her head, “I’m sorry, but I have lost my connection to my datalink. We must be fairly deep beneath the ground now. I can’t access that information.”

At that moment, a dark figure appeared out of the wall next to Bobby. It appeared that the figure was wearing a dark gray cloak that blended into the wall making him hard to see in the dark, “What are you doing here?”

Nexus went wild, “Proximity alert!”

Bobby shot to his feet, “No shit – I’m here looking for my friend. One of your people took her!”

The figure looked him over from under its hood. All Bobby could see was a pair of burning orange eyes. The hood completely blocked out all other features, “You will come with me, or you will die.”

“Where is she?”

The figure drew a blade and held it to his throat, “Now!”

“Suggestion: I think it would be best to do as he says, Bobby.”

“Thank you Nexus, I would agree with that…”

Bobby nodded to the figure, signaling that he would come along quietly, “Okay, let’s go…”

---

This is as far as I got into Taryn before abandoning it. Hope you enjoyed. Please let me know what you think and if you’d like me to continue working on this or one of the others.

 

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Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

 

VI

Days earlier, Irius had an annoyed expression on his face as he looked out on the ancient, underground city of Maris Duengar. The city had stood for uncountable ages, but over the last sixty five years, engineers had taken note of several small cracks in the supports all around the cavern.

A sense of dread came over them as rumors of what had transpired, entered their realm, but none could be substantiated. What little history that could be found of their city was that it was constructed both by dwarves and enchanters.

It was the enchanters who cast powerful spells to hold the city up long enough for the dwarves to build supports in the cavern to prevent collapse under the enormous pressure. Now, those very supports were begining to buckle.

The city historians and scholars considered their situation. The pillars that had protected the city had been there for thousands of years and were carved out of solid rock. There was no reason for them to be buckling now. Not unless they’d had help. Most likely, there was an enchantment on the pillars that kept them strong. An enchantment, that was no longer there.

Irius sighed as he watched his people. Like most dwarven cities, every building was carved out of solid rock. There was no wood, no cloth, and no decor. What the city lacked in ornament, it made up for with the intricacy of the carvings. The dwarven artisans that had inhabited the city long before Irius and his refugees took over had gone to greath lengths to make it impressive. It was not the most ideal home for elves, but it had provided them protection for a world of chaos.

Thousands of years of history could be lost if the city collapsed, but this was not their only concern. Time was against them in a different way as well. These elves had been there for hundreds of years. They

The vapors that were created by burning sanguine managed to keep them alive, but had an undesirable effect… they were plagued with an extreme sensativity to light, it was something which they had learned to live with, but the sanguine was running out. Their underground groves had gone barren and they could no longer produce the potion which had kept them alive.

“You’re certain of this then?” Irius asked as he turned to his cheif advisor.

The advisor had seen more of time than most of the other elves living in the city. He was much older and wiser. His eyes were nested in deep sockets with wrinkles that indicated he’d seen more than his share of strife, “There can be no doubt, she is the one.”

Irian, the son of Irius and one of the younger citizens of Maris Duengar stood off to the side in a dark spot where no torches burned. The only reason anyone knew he was there was because of his eyes, “But she’s a child, she has barely reached maturity.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Irius replied. “She holds the key to our salvation.”

Irian didn’t appear convinced. Though his father couldn’t see the expression on his face, Irius knew that he had doubts, “Speak your mind, my son.”

Irian stepped out of the shadows. His gaze alternated between the elderly advisor and his father. Despite him himself being of advanced age, he still looked to be only twenty five years old himself. His skin was pale and his dark hair flowed almost to his shoulders, “Father, even if a transfusion of her blood could help us cure the ailment that has long since been held back by the sanguine, we’d still be forced out of the city.”

“Which is why it cannot be anyone else, my son. In addition to having more elven traits than anyone else we’ve seen from the surface, we’ve also discovered that she is the descendant of an enchanter.”

The advisor joined Irian in a look of doubt, “My lord, that’s impossible, the Lux Mundi was destroyed long ago. There were no enchanters left.”

Irius shook his head, “Are you quite certain of that? Think, my friend. Enchanters may have lost their powers, but the enchantments they casted remained, and not just the animation enchantments either. Much stronger ones that still needed their source to work, remained. Did our bretheren really destroy it, or did they simply weaken it and send it deep into the ground?”

“Father… You’re planning on using her blood for more than a transfusion… you wish to place a blood hex on the pillars to keep them standing.”

Irius nodded, “We elves can’t create enchantments on our own, we need the blood of an enchanter to fuel our machinations.”

“This is barbarism!” The advisor yelled.

“We don’t have another option.”

Irian shook his head, “This is wrong, and it won’t work anyway. She may be the descendant of an enchanter, but that blood has mixed with elven blood.”

Irius smiled, “I’ve spoken to our apothecary. He believes that he can separate the elven from the human. If he can do that, her blood can be purified.”

“I won’t be part of this, father. It’s wrong.”

Irius glared at his son, “Our people are dying. According to our scouts, there are no elves left on the surface. Our race has gone extinct there. Would you have us die out completely?”

“There must be another way.”

“We’ve looked.” His father replied. “For thousands of years, we’ve looked. There is no other way. One girl, to save the lives of over a hundred thousand, it’s plain to see what the correct answer is.”

Irian still didn’t look convinced.

“My son, your family is out there. Your sister, and your friends, would you see them all die for your morality?”

Irian closed his eyes. He was still conflicted, but he knew that his father was right, “No, of course not.”

“Good. Then it’s probably time you returned to the surface. It’s a long long trek back to that city… what did you call it again?”

“Boston, father.”

“Right, Bostun…” Irisu replied. “Such unusual names these people have now.”

“I know, Father.”

Without another word, Irian left the main hall. He had a long walk ahead of him out of the mountainous wilderness of… New Hempsheer. Or was it Hempshire, or Hampshire? Bah! Irian thought to himself. These names will be the end of me!

His concentation was broken when a girl whom appeared no more than 18 appeared in his path. Unlike Irian, her eyes were closer to an orange color. She also had brown hair, which she had clearly gotten from her mother. A look of worry spread across her youthful features, “They’re sending you back to the surface, aren’t they?”

Irian nodded, “Yes, Irie, I have to find that girl.”

“But why you? Why can’t they send someone else?”

“It’s my responsibility, as the High Lord’s son.”

Irie frowned, “That doesn’t make it right. I’ve heard that these people are savages! They refused to help our people on the surface!”

Irian shook his head, “I doubt that’s true. I’ve heard that story too, but I’ve also heard rumors that these people did in fact help our surface bretheren not pass the disease to their children.”

“Maybe… but it’s still not worth the risk.”

“Irie…”

“I know, I know…” The young elf replied. “It’s your responsability. That doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“As long as you understand it.”

Irie looked away, “Just hurry back.”

“I will, fairwell Irie.”

“Farewell, brother.”

 

**

 

Taryn didn’t care for the movie. She had an annoyed look on her face as Bobby escorted her out, “That sucked! Totally disrepectful to the original!”

Bobby nodded, “Yeah I know… you would think that with a hundren years of technological advancement, we’d be able to make a good movie, but the creatures look totally fake by comparison to the original.”

At that moment, Taryn looked behind her. The hair on the back of her neck stood up and a look of worry appeared on her face. She was certain that something was nearby.

“Are you okay?” Bobby asked, concerned. “You’ve been looking over your shoulder a lot tonight. Is something wrong?”

Taryn sighed, “I’m sorry Bobby. I’ve been distracted. It’s nothing against you… I just can’t shake the feeling that I’m being followed.”

“Have you seen anyone?”

“Earlier today… outside the classrooms.”

“Who was it?”

“A man dressed in black. He had a hood up so I couldn’t see his face.”

As they got back to Bobby’s car she looked behind her one last time before sliding in. Bobby got in the driver’s seat and watched her as she rubbed her shoulders, clearly uncomfortable.

The trip back to Arcanus was silent. Taryn’s elven ears scanned the road around them for the possibility of anyone following them, but she didn’t detect anything out of the ordinary as they pulled into the campus parking lot. It just seemed to be a normal night. Am I just being paranoid? Do my dreams have me on edge? I feel like I’m coming apart here.

Her thoughts were interupted by the sound of the car powering down. The fuel cell turned off and the car was idle. Bobby turned and looked at Taryn, “Well I had fun.”

“Yeah me too.”

“Walk you to your room?”

“You don’t have to.”

“Are you sure?”

Taryn’s eyes quickly scanned the darkness leading to her building, “… Maybe you should, just to be safe.”

Bobby looked in the other direction, towards the main campus, “Look, maybe we should take you to campus security. They should probably know what’s going on.”

Taryn shook her head, “I don’t even know if what I’m feeling is real. What am I going to tell them, that my dreams have me on edge? They’ll tell me to go see the oncall therapist. No thanks.”

Bobby sighed and got out of the car. As he opened her door, he smiled, “You know you’re incredibly stubborn.”

“So I’ve been told… Apparently it runs in my family.”

“I’m sure it does.”

Taryn got out of the car and let Bobby lead her back to her room. The night air was cool and a slight breeze caused Taryn to break out in goose bumps. Chills travelled down her spine and she wasn’t sure if they were due to the cold or because she still felt like she was being followed.

She waited for Bobby to look away before glancing behind her again. She didn’t want him to worry, but she was beginning to. She bit her lip as they reached the door. It was locked with a retina scanner, so she would need to get them in. She pushed on the lock, which prompted a red circle to open and scan her eyes.

A robotic voice responded, “Welcome back, Taryn Arrigan.”

Once they were inside, Bobby escorted her to her room. As the door opened, Taryn stepped inside and turned the light on. She looked around slowly and nodded, “Okay, well… thank you…”

Despite her cool exterior, Bobby could tell that she was nervous, “Are you okay? Do you want me to hang out for a while?”

Taryn sucked in a deep breath. She didn’t want to inconvenience Bobby and God only knew what he was thinking of her. She sighed, “Something isn’t right… I don’t feel comfortable at all. I continuously feel like someone is watching me. This isn’t normal. I must be going insane.”

“Unless someone is watching you…” Bobby replied, trying to be supportive without sounding ominous. “Tell you what, I’ll go back to my room and grab a pillow and a blanket. I’ll stay with you until you feel comfortable enough to be alone. How does that sound?”

“You’re going to sleep on the floor?”

“Why not, done worse.”

Taryn sighed, what choice did she have? Most of her friends would have been asleep by now. She knew Bobby for a while, but having him sleep over was at least a second date thing, if not further down. Still, this had nothing to do with their relationship, and she knew that it would make her feel safer.

Feeling backed into a corner, Taryn agreed, “All right… if you’re sure.”

“All right. Stay here, keep the door locked and don’t open it for anyone other than me.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll be right back, I promise.”

Taryn sat down as Bobby turned and disappeared back through the doorway. As the door closed, he poked his head back through, “Remember, only me. I’ll buzz you downstairs.”

“Only you.”

Bobby nodded and closed the door. Taryn immediately locked it and sat down on her bed. Being behind a locked door did not make her feel any better. She was on the second floor and the door was solid steel, but the ominous feeling never left her.

Taryn sucked down a deep breath and released it. She was extremely uneasy, “Maybe I should’ve gone with him.”

“Yes you should have!”

Taryn jumped up as a young man appeared from behind a cloak, “You… how…?”

The man smiled, “This cloak is weived from the furr of cave rats. It takes on the color and texture of whatever it touches, in this case, your wall.”

Taryn stepped backwards, looking for anything she could use as a weapon. At that moment, sentinel came to life, “Proximity alert! Taryn, you are in danger!”

“You think?” She shouted at the AI.

The appearance of Sentinel startled the young man, causing the hood of his cloak to fall, “What manner of creature is that?”

“Creature?” Taryn asked. “It’s not a creature, it’s just my AI. It’s my computer link.”

“Computer link?” The man said with a confused expression. “Well whatever it is, if it is not living, remove it immediately!”

Taryn gave Sentinel a fearfull look as she spoke, “Send this information to Bobby, tell him exactly what happened and…”

Before she could finish, the intruder ripped the band off her arm and threw it across the room. The screen impacted on the wall and shattered. Taryn cried out, “Sentinel!”

An obscured, staticy, image appeared on the ground, “Trasmission complete.”

The young man brushed some hair out of his face, “I take it that means someone is coming for you.”

Taryn nodded, “You can still get away.”

That’s when she noticed his ears, “Wait… are you… you’re part elf?”

“Part?” The man scoffed.

Realizing that he did not have much time, looked deep into Taryn’s eyes, “You’re coming with me, whether you consent to or not.”

One look in the man’s eyes was all it took. Taryn felt her head spin and immediately fell limp. Her world turned completely black.

 

**

 

One building over, Bobby was looking for his key. The main dormitory didn’t have a retina scanner, so he still needed to resort to old fashioned manual entry. It took him a moment, but he finally found his key and was about to unlock the door when his armband beeped.

A yellow holographic figure appeared in front of him. This one, unlike Sentinel, was female. Her eyes glowed and a look of concern came over her face, “Priority alert, Robert, we have an incoming signal. “

Bobby looked at the device oddly. He’d never been able to get his AI to call him Bobby, but at this moment, it wasn’t important, “Source?”

The AI processed the request for less than a second before responding, “Sentinel reports that Taryn has been attacked. Someone is in her room. It would appear that Sentinel has been damaged… all further information is… distorted.”

Bobby felt his heart freeze in his chest, “I never should have left her alone!”

He turned and began to run back to Leslie House, “Nexus, can you get a fix on her? Is she still in her room?”

Nexus processed the request as quickly as she could before responding, “Affirmative, it would appear that Sentinel is in close proximity to the floor.”

“She must have been knocked down… I hope she’s all right…”

“She doesn’t appear to be moving based on my telemetry data.”

Chills began to run down Bobby’s spine, “Can you request any health information from Sentinel… is she still alive?”

Again, Nexus fell silent as she processed the request, “I no longer have a link to Sentinel. It would appear that he is too heavily damaged, but I was able to tap into his memory log… it appears that he was no longer reading vitals at the moment he took damage.”

Bobby felt his face heat up. He was now sick, thinking that she might have been killed, “Nexus, send what information you have to campus security! Get them over here!”

“Acknowledge… campus security has been notified. They are on their way.”

As Bobby arrived at Leslie House, another girl had just scanned her retinas and was about to enter when Bobby blew past her, through the open doors. The girl had to jump to avoid getting knocked over, “Hey!”

Bobby didn’t have time to apologize and barely noticed the alarm go off, “Unauthorized entry! Intruder on the premisis! Security has been notified.”

As Bobby made his way up the stairs, Nexus spoke up, “I’ve notified the security system of what has happened, but it doesn’t appear to be advanced enough to process the information. I’ve updated security of the situation.”

Bobby nodded as he reached her door. The door was shut and locked. He frantically knocked and tried to get her attention, “Taryn, it’s Bobby, are you okay? Answer me!”

No response came.

“Taryn, are you in there?”

Still no response. Bobby knew that he had to get in quickly. If there was a chance that she was still alive, he had to get to her. Without a second thought, Bobby stepped back, raised his leg with his foot bent at the knee, and gave the door a hard kick.

Tremors shot through his lower leg as his foot impacted. The door had a large dent, but had not opened. There impact woke up half the dorm.

 

**

 

Lisa was asleep in her room two doors down. She was relaxed in white and yellow blankets that she had brought from home. Despite the warm weather, she still preferred those thick blankets to the thinner ones she had in her closet.

Boom!

Lisa’s eyes shot open wide. At first she couldn’t see anything. Her eyes were too blurry. What the hell was that?

Boom!

Something wasn’t right. It sounded like someone was trying to come through the wall. She quickly jumped out of bed, wrapped herself in a robe and opened her drawer. Before reaching in, she grabbed the cross she wore around her neck and kissed it, “God forgive me for this…”

Inside the drawer was a sonic stunner. The device could render someone unconscious at medium range using high powered sonic waves that would interfere with a persons hearing. She knew that she’d have to be careful, but she felt better about having that with her than waiting for security.

She grabbed it and with an annoyed look, slowly opened the door to peak outside. Her eyes widened when she caught sight of Bobby trying to kick Taryn’s door in. She immediately threw open her own door and marched out, “Bobby, what the hell are you doing? You’re going to get…”

“Taryn’s in trouble!” Bobby replied. “Her AI sent me a message saying that she had been attacked and now it’s not reading vital signs!”

A look of terror appeared in Lisa’s eyes, “My God… hurry!”

One more kick was all it took. Lisa raised the sonic stunner and followed Bobby into the room, ready to back up her friend. Bobby quickly made his way into her room which immediately lit up the moment it sensed movement.

Nothing.

Bobby couldn’t believe it. She was nowhere to be seen. The window was open, but Taryn wasn’t in the room. Before he had a chance to look around, a man dressed all in blue, wearing a gold badge, appeared with a gun in his hand, “Police, freeze!”

Bobby raised his hands as Lisa dropped her sonic stunner. The officer looked them both over, “All right, someone start talking, what’s going on?”

Bobby gave the officer a look of despiration, “Officer, Taryn is gone! We think she’s been kidnapped.”

“We got a report that someone had broken into her room and that she was in trouble.”

Bobby nodded, “Yes sir, my AI sent you that message. Nexus, please confirm.”

Nexus appeared once more from his armband, “Confirmed. The message should have come from IP address 529.12.395.22 codename: Nexus.”

The officer lowered his gun and pressed on his own armband, “Headquarters, this is Officer Lenn. Initiate a level one alert. It looks like we may have a 231. Authorization 23413.”

A robotic voice responded, “Identify victim.”

“Taryn Arrigan.”

“Acknowledged. Level one alert initiated.”

The officer pressed another button on the band, “Initiate recording.”

The armband beeped in response. Then the officer looked up at Lisa and Bobby, “All right, every officer within a hundred mile radius has been alerted. They’ll be out looking for her. So start talking, what happened?”

“Officer, Taryn and I went out on a date a few hours ago. The entire time she said that she felt like someone was watching her. I kept her close, but after the date I suggested that she come with me to campus security so we can have you guys look into this.”

“What did she say?”

“She said that she didn’t have any proof and was most likely just paranoid.”

“Did you think she was just being paranoid?”

Bobby shook his head, “She’s part elf. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about them, it’s that when they say that somethings wrong, something is definitely wrong.”

“Yes, I’ve heard the same.” The officer agreed. “So what happened next?”

“That I don’t know…  I dropped her off in her room, but she still looked uneasy. So I had her lock the door while I ran over to my room to get a pillow and a blanket. I was going to come back and camp out here just until she felt better. I had just gotten to my door when Nexus issued a priority alert. I ran back here and kicked in her door. This is how we found everything. Apparently her AI had taken some damage and was no longer reading her.”

“Confirmed.” Nexus replied. “However, I’m reading that her AI is still in the room.”

“I am…” A statiticy voice cut in from behind.

Bobby immediately turned around to see Taryn’s damaged armband lying next to her closet. Officer Lenn knelt down and picked up the band, “AI, identify yourself.”

“AI Sentinel, IP address 465.33.969.29.”

“Can you tell me what happened?”

Sentinel’s holographic project did it’s best to project his figure, “It’s as Bobby said. Almost immediately after he left, an elf appeared in this room from behind some kind of cloak that concealed him even from my sight.”

“An elf?” Lisa asked.

“Affirmative. Its body type registered as an elf. It is unlikely that the man was a half breed… though his body temperature did read shockingly low.”

Bobby looked at it oddly, “But weren’t elven body temperatures naturally lower than humans?”

“Not this low.”

Bobby shook his head, “I never should have left her alone…”

Sentinel flickered as he spoke, “It is unlikely that you could have overpowered him. Judging by his muscle mass, you would have been outclassed.”

Bobby shook his head, “Still…”

The officer looked at them both, “All right, this is officially a crime scene. We’re going to have to ask you both to vacate while we wait for the city forensics department to get here. We have your AI, we’ll call if we need any more info.”

Bobby nodded, “All right.”

He headed for the front door, intent on going back to his room to figure out the next move. Nexus remained in holographic form and watched Bobby.

Lisa ran back to her room and quickly stripped off her PJs. She grabbed a pair of jean shorts and a tshirt and ran back out. She managed to catch Bobby at the bottom steps before he made his way back, “You’re going after Taryn, aren’t you?”

“This is my fault.”

“You know that’s not true.”

“She could be in trouble or worse… dead.”

Lisa shook his head, “I know Taryn, better than you. She’s stronger than you give her credit.”

“I hate to interupt,” Nexus cut in, “but you have no idea where to start looking. You don’t know where that elf took her.”

Bobby sighed, “That’s true… I don’t know what to do.”

Lisa raised her own armband, “Mac, respond.”

The screen came on and a pink little girl appeared, “Mac standing by.”

“Have you been monitoring our conversation?”

“I have.”

“Put me through to Merrin’s AI. I need to speak to him.”

“Acknowledged.”

A few moments went by. Mac continued to process the request. Finally a small square screen with Merrin’s face appeared on it, “What the hell, Lisa, what do you want?”

Lisa sighed, “Taryn’s been kidnapped.”

Merrin’s eyes widened, “What?”

“Meet me out in front of Leslie House. I fill you in.”

Merrin nodded, “All right. I’m on my way.

As Lisa finished up the call, the roar of an engine behind them made Bobby jump. The doors to the shed next to Leslie House burst open. To both of their surprises, Glide came rolling out on its own.

The bike rolled up to Bobby and revved its engine. Bobby looked nervously at Lisa, “What the hell is going on?”

Lisa shrugged, “It looks like Taryn’s bike is alive somehow?”

“That’s impossible.”

“Maybe,” Lisa replied, “maybe not. Her great grandfather owned this bike, and she did say that he was the last enchanter. Is it possible that this was his doing?”

“Maybe…” Bobby said.

Glide gently pushed itself against Bobby’s legs before turning to its side. It revved its engine in insistance. Bobby looked at Lisa in confusion. Lisa smiled nervously, “I think it wants you to get on?”

Bobby looked back at the bike, “Flash your headlight if you know where Taryn is.”

The headlight immediately blinked in response and the bike revved its engine again.

“Did you see them go?”

Again, the light blinked. Bobby nodded, “Okay, I’m convinced.”

Lisa watched as he quickly mounted the bike, “I’ll fill Merrin in on what’s going on. I also have a few other contacts that may be of assistance. Keep your AI on, we’ll come find you.”

Bobby nodded, “You got it, see you in a bit.”

“Good luck!”

Bobby cautiously sat down and put his hands on the handle bars. He then looked down at the bike, “So… take me to her…”

Glide revved its engine and took off down the road at top speeds with Bobby holding on for dear life.

The moment they were gone, Lisa tapped her armband, “Mac, code 5412.”

“Acknowledged channel open.”

Lisa waited a moment before speaking, “I think you’ll want to hear this sir.”

 

 

---

---

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

 

V

After dinner, Taryn went back to her room to change. She looked through her wardrobe to try and decide what to wear. Elven semi-formal or human…

Her closet was made up of both human and elven attire. While most of the rest of her family had assimilated into human culture and thus never really bothered with traditional, or even modern, elven clothes, Taryn liked how they looked.

After sifting through her clothes, she settled on a tan button-down with jungle green vines stitched into it. She then also grabbed a matching, hip-hugging skirt. Upon looking at herself in the mirror, she smiled. Both!

Once again, Taryn opted to stay away from the makeup, letting Bobby take her as she was. As she adjusted the final touches and fixed her hair, her arm band lit up, and a Sentinel appeared, “Taryn, it’s 7pm, Bobby will be here any minute.”

“I’m almost ready.”

“Now I understand why women are often stereotyped as being late for everything.”

“Well your disturbing me is not helping!”

Sentinel shrugged as he watched her fiddle with a braid. She finally had everything done up the way she wanted it. Her pointed ears tucked the hair back away from her face and the braids held everything else.

Taryn once again turned to the mirror to inspect herself. As her eyes made contact with the reflective glass, a dark figure in black robes appeared behind her in the reflection. She gasped and immediately turned around. There was no one there.

Spooked, Taryn turned back and looked at the mirror. A frightened girl looked back at her, but the figure was gone. Goosebumps ran down her spine as her eyes darted around the room, “Sentinel, did you just see that?”

“Is something the matter? Your heart rate just spiked and you are moving around erratically.”

She looked down at the AI suspiciously, “That man in the mirror, who or what was he?”

“Man in the mirror?” Sentinel asked. “Query; what man in the mirror?”

Taryn was becoming annoyed, “The man in the mirror in a dark robe! Who was he? How did he get in my room? Didn’t you see him?”

Sentinel’s projection shook its head, “I didn’t see anyone else in the mirror except you and a particularly well-assembled artificial intelligence unit.”

“This isn’t the time for jokes. Someone was in my room! Scan the area.”

“Processing.” Sentinel replied. “I’m detecting 14 people in the building, 6 humans, three dwarves, three people possessing both human and dwarven traits, and three people possessing human and elven traits. None of them have been in your room in the past few minutes.”

Taryn couldn’t believe what she was hearing, “Is there any sign that there has been anyone else in my room in the last few minutes?”

Sentinel looked like it was in deep thought, “Processing… I’m not picking up any indentations in the floor that would not have belonged to your feet and nothing about the room’s internal atmosphere indicates any sort of change that another living creature would have caused.”

Taryn put a hand to her head, “What’s going on…”

Sentinel took a moment to run a diagnostic. Upon finding no trace of any malfunctions, the figure turned back to Taryn, “All of my internal systems check out fine, there is no sign of malfunction, so my readings must be accurate. Hallucinations can be a sympton of stress and lack of sleep. Between your upcoming next week, your situation with Bobby, and your night terrors, you do fit the criteria.”

“Great,” Taryn replied, “you’re saying that I’m seeing things now.”

“I’m suggesting that your personal health maintanance has been somewhat lacking over the last few weeks. You need to take better care of yourself.”

Taryn nodded, “Fair enough… okay if I survive this week, you can set me up a health plan, deal?”

“Your proposal is acceptible.”

“Great…” Taryn replied, knowing full well that she had just signed on for weeks of torment from her computer.

A knock on the door startled Taryn, who was already on edge. She turned and looked up as Sentinel disappeared, “Who is it?”

“Bobby, are you ready?”

A grin appeared on Taryn’s face as she quickly turned around for one final look in the mirror, “Yes, I’m coming.”

She opened the door to see Bobby standing on the other side in a white button-down shirt and black pants. His eyes lit up when he saw her, “You look awesome.”

“Thanks.”

“I’ve never seen you braid your hair.”

“I usually don’t.”

Bobby looked at her oddly, “So what made you do it now?”

Taryn frowned, “You don’t like it?”

“I didn’t say that, you’re just usually a lot more devil-may-care when it comes to your looks.”

“Oh thanks! So I look like I don’t take care of myself?”

Bobby raised a hand defensively, “What, I didn’t say that there was anything wrong with that. You’re one of the few people who can pull off looking good with little to no prep work.”

“Fair enough.”

Bobby reached out his right hand to Taryn. She looked at it and smiled as she gave him her left and the two exited her room, “So, any idea where to go for dinner?”

Bobby nodded, “Yeah, I’ve got a few ideas and we’ve got a late movie, so we’ve got plenty of time.”

“Awesome.”

Bobby led Taryn outside to his car. To Taryn’s dismay, Bobby drove a ’74 Boeing Streamline hovercar. It was a nice car in its own right, but she wasn’t a fan. Part of her wanted to offer to take them on her bike, but that would mess up her hair and probably insult her date. There was no way around it, she’d have to bite the bullet on this one.

Bobby opened the passenger door for her and waited as she got in. He then ran over to the other side, got in and pulled out of the parking lot, heading for the small movie theater.

 

---

---

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

 

IV

Taryn arrived back at her dorm at 1pm and went to lie down for a little while. She hadn’t slept well in a few nights and needed to relax. She got off of Glide, who proceeded to park itself in the shed.

Taryn walked up the stairs and headed inside, back to her room. She curled up on her bed and went to sleep. Her breathing slowed as her eyes closed.

At first, she slept fine, but then the images entered her mind again. A pale figure with long, dark, hair entered her dreams and caused her to shake violently. She saw his burning red eyes in her mind and fought to wake up.

Sentinel picked up on her abnormal heart rate and her tremors and immediately came to life, “Taryn, you need to wake up!”

No response.

“Taryn, I repeat… wake up!”

Still nothing. Whatever was going on, she wasn’t going to come out of it with someone just talking to her. Sentnel entered its settings and reprogrammed its notification system. It began to buzz and it’s volume increased by 110%.

This time, in a voice that was loud enough to alert the whole dorm, Sentinel called out, “Taryn, wake up, now!”

The thundering voice pierced through Taryn’s ears, causing her to sit straight up in with record speed. She was breathing heavily as she looked at Sentinel. Her face was red and it looked as though she had just over done it during a work out, “Sentinel… report… what happened?”

Sentinel nodded, “Report, you were experiencing siezure-like symptions, I simply took the necessary steps to bring you out of it.”

Taryn took a moment to calm down. When her breathing returned to normal, she nodded at Sentinel, “Thank you…”

“Happy to be of service.” Sentinel replied. “Although their may be a silver lining this time.”

“And what would that be?”

Sentinel knew that what he was about to say would cheer her up, “This may be proof enough that Bobby has nothing to do with you night terrors. My readings indicate that he is still in class and thus nowhere near you.”

Taryn rubbed the tip of her left ear, “You’re right… that is good news.”

She looked out the window at the trees. The newly grown leaves blew in the wind as she sat in a pile of her crumpled sheet. Her mind was a void. She didn’t want to think about what these dreams meant at all and so she trid not to think, period.

Finally, she turned back to Sentinel, “Time?”

“The current time is 1:45pm.”

Taryn nodded, “I should probably get up if I want to go meet up with Bobby.”

Sentinel nodded, “That would be advisable.”

“Thanks Sentinel.” Taryn said in an appreciative tone. “Maybe I won’t be tweaking your program after all.”

Sentinel disappeared into her wristband without another word. Taryn got up and straightened herself out. Her blouse had become wrinkled, so she traded it for a V-neck tshirt. Her hair wasn’t too bad, so she let it stay as it was.

Confident that she didn’t look like a hot mess, she left her room and headed for the main hall. It was nearing 2pm so she didn’t have much time if she wanted to catch him. Bobby had a way of disappearing. For a guy over six feet, he was pretty stealthy.

It appeared that luck was with her when she arrived at the main hall. Bobby was standing right outside the glass doors talking to Merrin and another girl. It seemed as though they were locked in a debate about something, but with all the other noise around them, even Taryn’s sophicsticated ears couldn’t make them out.

Merrin saw her coming and waved to her, “Taryn, I didn’t think ye had any more classes today.”

“I don’t.” Taryn replied. “I just got bored and came to see what everyone was doing.”

Merrin nodded, “Gotcha… well we just talking about a party that’s going to be happenin’ tomorrow o’er at Morrow Hall.”

“That hall is nothing but a ton of under classmen and underage drinking.” The other girl said. “I will not be attending. That’s trouble we don’t need.”

Taryn smiled, “Weren’t you dating an under classmen, Lisa?”

“Was,” Lisa replied as she brushed a few loose strands of her short black hair back, “and if I never see his ugly face again it’ll be too soon.”

Lisa McConnell was the founding member of one of the Christian groups on campus. She was considered an unnofficial spiritual leader by many students throughout the campus. Taryn could never understand why as she seemed like a very stoic, Old Testament style preacher.

Lisa didn’t suffer fools easily and often spent her time outside of campus ministry alone. She kept up a wall between herself and most people and, while friendly, kept everyone at arm’s length. The only person she ever really let in was Tom, her boyfriend, but that eventually fizzled and though no one knew specifically why, most assumed she was the cause.

Taryn looked over at Bobby and smiled, “Can I borrow you for a moment?”

Bobby nodded, “Uh, sure.”

He turned back to Merrin and Lisa, “I’ll be right back.”

Merrin smiled, “Take ya time, ye kids have fun.”

Taryn rolled her eyes, “Yeah, thanks Merrin, thanls a lot, buddy…”

“No problem.”

She pulled Bobby around the corner until the two of them were out of sight. Bobby noticed that Taryn’s eyes were darting around nervously, as though she didn’t want anyone to see them, “So… what’s going on?”

Taryn returned her attention to the boy waiting patiently in front of her, “I don’t usually do this… but…”

Without another word, she grabbed him by the back of his neck and chin, and planted her lips on his. Her eyes closed as she sucked in a deep breath through her nose and elevated her body on to her toes. Your move…

Bobby’s eyes went wide for a few seconds, but he eventually closed them and put his arms around her. What was this about? She’d kept a safe distance from him for weeks, why was she now letting down that barrier?

Taryn released her grip on Bobby and pulled back. She’d made her feelings aparent and was now vulnerable. She felt exposed as though she were standing in naked in front of him. It was a feeling that she hated, but would have to endure until Bobby made the next move.

Bobby looked at her in shock, “What was that about?”

Taryn bit her lower lip, “Like you don’t know. You’ve been really sweet to me and we have a good repor. I think you know how I feel.”

“Well yeah, but I thought you weren’t looking for a relationship.”

“I wasn’t, not at first.” Taryn responded.

“So what changed?”

“My attitude.”

“I don’t get it.”

Taryn shrugged, “Bobby, I don’t have a whole ton of time to myself, so what time I do have, I’m very choosy about whom to spend it on. That’s just how I am. I guess I wasn’t sure about you at first. I wanted to take some time and get to know you better before making a move.”

“So now you’re ready?”

“I think so. You’ve already proved that I can trust you. I just wasn’t sure I was ready to tell you about… well my family legacy for one.”

“Your family legacy?”

Taryn’s eyes narrowed, “You mean, you don’t know? How could you not have heard the stories going around?”

“Know what, what stories?”

“What’s my last name.”

“Arrigan… so?”

Taryn chuckled, “You really are oblivious, aren’t you?”

Bobby frowned, hinting that he had been insulted. Taryn touched his cheek, “Oh stop, it’s cute.”

“So what does this have to do with anything?”

Taryn sighed, “Tobias Arrigan is my great grandfather.”

“The Last Enchanter?” Bobby asked. “You’re related to the guy that saved Boston?”

“Saved the world.” Taryn said, correcting him. “I don’t care what the government says. I know what really happened during the undead incident. My family is responsible for driving them out.”

“I believe you.”

“I’m glad.”

“So can you… uh…”

“No.”

Bobby looked at her oddly, “No?”

“I can’t cast spells, I can’t perform tricks, or anything of that nature. No one in my family can. It’s an ability that has long since been lost.”

“Oh okay.” Bobby replied. “So where do we go from here?”

“I’ll leave that up to you. Consider that kiss an offer. It  can stay here and remain a secret… or we can start hanging out more and see where things go. I’m not going to hold you to anything.”

“I see.” Bobby said thoughtfully. “Well, I think I’d like that. Since it seems you made the first move, it’s only fair that I make the second. The new remake of Star Wars, A New Hope is out in theaters. It got great reviews… you want to go?”

“Merrin has been complaining about them destroying a classic for months now. I can just imagine how pissed he’ll be if he finds out our first date was to see it.”

A wide smile appeared on Taryn’s face, “It’s not really my type of movie, but I’d love to go.”

“Great, pick you up at 7?”

“I’ll be ready.”

Bobby nodded, “Awesome.”

“All right. We should probably get back to Merrin and Lisa, God only knows what they’re going on about now.”

“Not a bad idea.” Bobby agreed.

Bobby led Taryn back to the front of the building where Lisa and Merrin were still talking. Merrin turned when he saw them coming, “You two good?”

Taryn nodded, “Yes, I’d say we’re very good.”

The group continued chatting for a while, but Taryn barely participated. She was more concerned with how things were going to go tonight with Bobby. What if she’d let him in for nothing?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a shadow that caught the corner of her eye. Behind the next building over, just for a moment, it looked like a dark figure had been watching her, though she couldn’t be certain. It disappeared the moment that she turned to look.

Though not as powerful as they could be, her hearing was still far better than any human. If someone had been there, she should have been able to detect them. She watched for a few more moments, but it appeared that whoever it was, wasn’t there anymore.

Merrin looked at Taryn oddly, “Hey, ye wit us o’er there?”

“Huh?”

“Lisa n’ I were just talkin’ bout grabbin’ some food. Bobby got another class, but ye want to come?”

“I…”

At that moment, her ear caught the sound of light breathing. She turned back and saw the figure for a moment before it disappeared again. Her eyes narrowed, but once again, it was gone. Chills ran down her spine as she scanned the area.

She quickly turned back to the group, having decided that it was probably best to stay around people for a while, “Yeah I’m in.”

Bobby looked worried, “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, I think I’m just seeing things. Don’t worry about me.”

Lisa looked over at the cafeteria building, “We should probably get going then, before the crowd moves in.”

Taryn looked like she was only partially there as she turned back to the group, “Yeah, not a bad idea.”

Bobby turned and headed back into the main building, “I’ll catch up with you later.”

Taryn smiled, “Bye Bobby.”

---

---

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim