From the day they dragged me—kicking and screaming—and my two baby brothers into the orphanage, I had been best friends with Brooker. I was the new seven year old girl in the corner, blubbering, and he was the only one to talk to me, to comfort me. As we grew closer and closer we began to avoid being adopted in fear that we might not ever see each other—or my twin brothers, Kent and Bryce, for that matter—ever again. So when adoption day came around every week we pretended as though we were a package deal. So in other words, we put on the image that if one was adopted, the other had to come along. Of course to the head lady, Mrs. Lawland, this was rubbish. But we began to purposely do everything together and never be apart, laughing and playing together. A plus was that I was seven and he was eight, a little too old to want both. And as the boys grew we taught them how to be the most adopt repellent as they could. So every week Bryce, the blond haired blue eyed one, would poke Kent, the brown haired green eyed one, until he would pretend to have enough and tackle him to the ground, yelling at the top of his lungs. Not a pair that you would want in your house for the rest of your life.
By the time they were ten and I seventeen, it was habitual. And every day as I grew older I became more and more aware of Brooker's extremely dark and curly brown hair. His square jaw yet boyish round face. His kind smile. And most of all, his amazing and unexplainable golden eyes. They were soft yet brilliant and fierce. They were intelligent yet innocent. They were full of something I had never seen before.
But my dreams of love were hopeless. As far as I knew, he thought nothing more of me than a friend. Besides, I didn't deserve anything as beautiful as him. I had longish black hair with a tad bit of natural dark brown streaks. Sure I was tall like him, and clever like him, but I was no match for him. His eyes were gold. Mine dark brown. His face was gorgeous. Mine was narrow and girly. Not even my long eyelashes compared to his! With any luck I'd become his house maid when he's the star of Maisia! But enough rambling. I have to get on with my "biography" type thing. Don't start running now, because ahead lay good and evil lurking in every page.....
~ ~ ~
"KENNA! BROOKER!" cried Mrs. Lawland as she marched up the stairs.
"Quick! She's coming!" I whispered urgently as we stuffed the sweets under the bed. Just as the last cake was shoved under, Mrs. Lawland appeared at the door. "You two haven't been stealing from the kitchen again, have you?" she inquired, eyeing us accusingly.
"Oh no miss," Brooker said innocently. "We would never." Mrs. Lawland was a strict mistress with blonde hair always up in a tight bun. She might have been pretty if she didn't have her nostril flaring and her lips pursed. I could tell she wanted desperately to catch us red handed.
"If I so much as catch a whiff of trouble from you two I won't hesitate to give the punishment you deserve," she growled. After one last penetrating glare, she whipped around and out of sight. We suppressed our laughter until she was out of ear shot and divided the sweets among us and the boys—who had been hiding under the bed with the grub.
"Wow! I don't think I've ever seen her so angry!" I snickered.
"I have," Kent said through a mouth full of sweets. We all laughed. If anything made us laugh the most, it was making Mrs. Lawland angry.
"What's the next plan?" Brooker asked curiously.
"I'm going to sneak out tonight." I replied halfheartedly, but inside I was practically bouncing with excitement.
"You have fun with that, because I'm going to get a decent night's sleep for once," He answered. I can't help but admit that I wish he would come. Our 'conversation' was interrupted by a loud yawn from Bryce. "I think you boys had better go to bed," I said, trying to sound firm.
"But I'm not tired," he sighed sleepily.
"Yeah, right. Go to bed or you'll be sleeping in a water logged bed tonight," I threatened. Bryce and Kent knew from experience that I wasn't joking. "All right, all right," they said simultaneously as they got up and wandered out of the room.
There was a silence as Brooker and I thought of what to do next. He seemed to be lingering on something. I caught myself twiddling the symbol on my necklace, a gift from my mother. And he seemed to have caught me too. "May I ask you something?" He said suddenly.
"Anything." I replied, wondering what could possibly be on his mind.
"How..." He paused, looking nervous. "How does it feel to have murdered parents?" he said finally. I frowned. This wasn't what I had had in mind.
"How does it feel to have been left on a door step as a baby?" I tested, trying to hide my resentment.
"Pretty normal, with a touch of curiosity, of course. But you haven't answered my question." He smiled his irresistible smile. I was caught in his lure.
"Well, it's not the most normal thing on the block," I said grudgingly. "It's a bit depressing at times and sort of... odd? Over all it's kind of normal, I guess." With any other person he might have looked sympathetic. But he knew better than that, I hated to be pitied. He furrowed his brow instead. "Mind I ask, do you remember who killed them?" He bit his lip as he waited for my answer, he wasn't sure if he had gone too far.
"They tell me they were the Black Guard," I whispered. He looked thoroughly shocked, his golden eyes wide.
"The Black Guard! What would they want with your parents?" He pressed.
"I wish I knew." I sighed, meaning it.
The Black Guard were a secret group of rebels whom everybody feared and hated. Rumors told that even now they were plotting to overthrow the royal family, which I didn't understand. As far as I knew, the royal family was said to be perfectly good, one of the best. They must have been really power hungry and very evil to take the lives of so many, including my mom and dad, to get to power. The Black Guard wore all black, hence the name, and most often covered their right hands in order to hide the mark tattooed on their palm. Disgusting. A burning hatred swelled within me until I had to clench my fists in order to control myself. If it were up to me, I would have started hunting for them ages ago.
~ ~ ~
The door creaked slowly open and Mrs. Lawland's face appeared in the crack to check if I was asleep. Closing my eyes and faking the steady breathing of sleep, she had no idea that I was awake and planning to sneak out the moment she shut the door. Fake sleeping was a breeze compared to the wind storm of mischief I got myself into. I rarely snuck out, but tonight I felt a yearning to get out of the stuffy orphanage and taste the midnight air, free to do whatever I wanted to do.
Quickly but silently I jumped out of bed and retrieved the rope I kept in my closet, then tied it to the bed post. Silently I slipped out the window and out of sight.
The full moon stood out in the starry sky, illuminating the dark clouds that swirled around it. I heard a wolf howl somewhere in the forest outside of the little town, EagleScreech. Maybe it was a werewolf! I thought to myself excitedly. Rare were the times when I didn't think about the wonders beyond EagleScreech. Even the prospect of other towns was an adventure yet to be explored! From what I had heard there was GriffinsMane: the big city, RavenFeather: the town by the castle, PhoenixFire: the metal workers, and more. But most of all, beyond anybody's wildest dreams, was Alegreah Ak Myera, Home of the Dragons. Nobody had ever made it to Alegreah, or survived to tell the tale. It was said to be infested with dragons! We have always stayed west of Maisia, and they east. This way we stayed out of each other's territory and reduced trouble. But all the wonders that lay beyond the forest!
The small wooden houses cast shadows down the empty dirt street. Occasionally a shadowed figure would hurry across the road into the shelter of the shadows. An eerie silence crept through the air and I shivered in spite of myself. Feeling exposed, I checked a shadowed space between two houses and scurried inside. For a brief moment I couldn't remember why I had come out here in the first place. Suddenly, two shadows swept around the corner into the space I was standing in. At first I thought they had come to get me, but then I realized they didn't even know I was there. By the shape of them I could tell they were men, one holding what looked like a bag. Holding my breath, I backed up farther into the shadows until I hit the wall a little louder than safe. The bigger one, who had been whispering urgently to his partner, whipped his head around and stared straight at me. Just as I thought I was doomed, he moved his eyes to the side of me as if scanning the wall. He gave one last piercing glare, then turned back to the second man.
I realized I wasn't breathing.
"We must get the egg to the Master before he loses patience. And you know what happens when he loses patience," he said in an undertone. The egg? Who would want an egg? Who was this Master? The smaller one shuffled almost nervously and said, "Can I see the egg? Uh, just to see if it's okay?" As my eyes adjusted I could see that the other looked disapproving, but he must have wanted to see it too. He picked up the bag and gently lifted a large, black, oval object out of the bag as if it were a baby. He placed the object carefully down on a garbage can very close to where I was hiding. This must be the egg.
As I stared into the glossy black surface, and the longer I looked at it, the more it looked like a universe in the depths of the blackness. They stared into it with a kind of lust, and the faintest hint of malice. They began to converse again. "If we get this egg back to camp then we'll be the heroes of the Black Guard!" the smaller man fantasized with a greedy gleam in his eyes. The Black Guard! "Imagine the glory! The only surviving men to steal a dragon egg from Alegreah its self!" I had to stop myself from gasping. The Black Guard stole a dragon egg! For a brief moment I wondered what they could possibly want with a dragon egg, but then I remembered: to wreak havoc in Maisia. Curious, I averted my eyes to their right hands. Sure enough, there was a black mark on them, but I couldn't quite tell what it was. I stared harder until I could just make out what looked like a sideways eight, the symbol of eternity! And weirder yet was that it was the same symbol on my mother's necklace!
Utterly confused and befuddled, I wished Brooker had come with me. Why did my mother have the same symbol on her necklace as the Black Guard tattooed on their hands? Hoping it was just a coincidence, I comforted myself by telling myself that they wouldn't have killed them if they were on the same side. But the question still lingered in my head.
Suddenly, I remembered the egg. I couldn't let them have it! As silently as possible, I seized the opportunity to grab it while they weren't looking. But as I leaned over it, practically dying with excitement, my necklace clinked on the glossy surface of the egg. The bigger man's head swiveled around and froze, clearly shocked at the sight; I was bent over, both hands on the egg, and staring up at him with utmost terror. Before he could say anything, I seized the egg and jumped up on the trash can. "Hey!" He called angrily, diving for the me. Thinking quick, I jumped onto a low roof, causing the trash can to tip over, garbage flying in all directions. After that I ran as fast as I could with the egg under my arm to the orphanage. I only hoped I had lost them.
As I tried to catch my breath I realized I was headed towards Brooker's room and stopped. If we were heard talking at night—not to mention with a dragon egg stolen from the Black Guard!—we would be seriously in trouble. I imagined Mrs. Lawland skinning us alive.....I decided to tell him in the morning.
I woke that morning very drowsy indeed, and it wasn't until I fell out of my bed that I actually got up. Half asleep, I reached under my bed to snack on something, but instead my hand hit something big and hard. The memory of last night came rushing back into my head, and suddenly I was wide awake. Snatching it out, I examined the entrancing universe beyond the shell before fumbling with the door knob to get to Brooker's room. As soon as I managed to get the door open I was sprinting down the hall. I slammed on his door enthusiastically until I heard him groan something sounded like, "go away." Unable to maintain my excitement, I burst through the door and sprang onto his bed, pulled off his covers, and jumped, shouting, "Wake up sleepy head!" In a lower voice I added, "I have to show you something."
"Okay, okay. Just let me get dressed," he grumbled, sliding out of bed. I waited as he dragged himself to his closet. "Uh, I kind of need to get dressed," he repeated, looking at me half sleepily, half amused.
"Oh, yeah," I mumbled, blushing furiously. How embarrassing, I thought to myself as I left him to get dressed. I had fallen asleep in my clothes. After a little bit he opened the door and smiled mischievously. "What were you going to show me?"
"Before I reveal to you the super exciting, beyond your wildest dreams, totally awesome thingy that I found, you must solemnly swear that you will tell nobody what I am about to show you," I said testily.
"Ooh, that's a hard one," he joked. There was hardly anyone he would know to tell. I raised an eyebrow. "I solemnly swear," he said at last.
I showed him the egg.
"Fascinating, but what is it?" he asked, golden eyes inspecting it interestedly.
