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Sample Sunday: Fire in the Blood

Good Sunday Morning! We are sitting here waiting for Irene to come on shore...category one for the shore here in Connecticut...but I'm inland so am only expecting a tropical storm. However, there's always the chance of losing power like thousands in the sate already have, so here is my sample!

Last week, Haley overheard Tuggin receive orders to do her in, but she's alone on Eyidora and history has proven that Tuggin is pretty hard to escape from. So she decides to play along, leave with him from Given Hall, try to get him to trust her, and then jet at the first opportunity.

Enjoy!

CHAPTER ELEVEN


I squealed and tumbled out of bed like I’d been caught doing something naughty when there was a knock on the door. I rubbed my eyes and blinked at the morning light invading my room.

“Yeah?” I croaked.

Adrana’s voice came from the other side. “It is time to depart, yes?”

“Yup. Just a sec, I’ll be right out.”

I threw my clothes on, packed my stuff, and scooted into the hallway. I’d have to act normal around Tuggin, pretend that I was a team player, pretend that I liked him. Enja said I could be distracting. I wrinkled my nose. Somehow I didn’t think flirting would work on Snarky Boy. It would take an emotional earthquake to crack that stony exterior.

Adrana chattered like an excited squirrel; I responded like a robot, saying “uh huh” or “hmm” whenever she paused. It seemed to work. When we passed the Great Room doors, the guards glowered at me.

“Aren’t we going out the front door?”

“Non.”

I pursed my lips. It had never occurred to me to find another way out of here. At the end of the Great Room, Adrana plucked a torch from the wall, and I tread down a winding staircase behind her, the air getting colder and damper. I’d lost count of the number of stairs by the time we’d reached the bottom.

I gasped. “Oh!”

We were in an underground cave. A lake rippled in the torchlight, and row boats bobbed in a line along the rocky beach. It was too dark to see the other side, but water crashed in the distance and echoed off the walls.

“What’s that noise?”

“The falls. They enter Given Hall, filling our water cistern.”

A hunchbacked man limped up to us. “Greetings, Adrana.”

“Greetings. We may have a boat, yes? My mother waits at the orchards.”

“Ah, Enja and that man, Tuggin, they passed this way earlier. That Tuggin, he has a sour look about him, does he not?”

I silently agreed, but Adrana laughed. “Tuggin is not sour! Surely you tease me, boat-keeper.”

A sinking feeling wrenched my gut. Adrana and Tuggin could fall in love, get married, and fly to any one of the ridiculous moons on this globe. I could care less.

The old man chuckled, stepped into the water, and pulled a boat closer to shore. “Step in, ladies, yes? I will give you a proper shove.”
He held the boat steady when I stumbled over a rope and fell onto a narrow bench. I straightened myself out, and Adrana sat on the bench across from me. She picked up the oars and the boat-keeper pushed us off.

“I am grateful, boat-keeper,” Adrana called as we drifted away from the shore.

“Should I help?” I asked, rubbing my bruised knee.

Adrana didn’t pause in her rowing. “Non.”

A metal lantern hung from a pole. It wasn’t very bright, and it was impossible to see anything beyond the little circle of light. The water looked dark and cold. The air was, too. It sounded as though the waterfalls crashed all around us.

We hit the opposite shore with a little bump, the bottom of the boat scraping the ground. Two other boats were parked along the beach. A torch bobbed through the dark, and a guy about my age waded into the water and pulled our boat to the shore.

“Greetings, Adrana,” he said, giving her the torch and taking her free hand.

He held his hand out to me, so I took it and let him lead me to solid ground. When I tried to twist my fingers away from his, he held me tight.
“This is the strange one, Adrana, yes?”

Adrana clucked. “Mind your tongue! Haley is a guest of Given Hall, is she not?”

“Please my forgiveness,” the guy mumbled. Then he couldn’t seem to help himself as he said to me, “It is true, yes? You can change your eye color? Do it now.”

“No!” I jerked my hand away.

“Silence!” Adrana ordered.

“Please my forgiveness,” he repeated, but I didn’t think he sounded sorry at all while he checked me over with bright eyes. “Your mother awaits you.”
“I am grateful.”

Adrana strode away from the lake, and I hurried to catch up with her. I looked over my shoulder to find the guy staring after us, so I stuck my tongue out at him before turning a corner. Adrana’s torch light danced on a staircase.

“Follow me.”

I didn’t know how long we’d been climbing before my legs went numb. “Give me a minute.” I plopped down on a cold step. “How much further?”

Adrana waited on the step above me. She dipped her head and drew her hair over her face. “We are almost to the top, are we not?” After a moment she asked, “You are ready to continue?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

I grabbed the wooden handrail, using it to haul myself up when my legs quivered. I had no clue what Adrana was talking about…we were nowhere near the top. I had to make her stop three more times before finally getting there.

Adrana pushed open a door and we were outside near the orchard. Farther ahead, the rolling hills turned empty and dirt-colored. Behind us was a lake, and a forest on the other side stretched to a mountain. Even from this far away I could see the river’s dirt bottom as it leapt the edge into the lake below.

“Is this lake the same as the underground one?” I asked.

“Non. This is Lake Anala. The water cistern below catches the run-off from the waters above, yes?”

“I see.” I turned and looked back over the hills.

“You see the Du Kesan, or the Dry Hills, yes?” Adrana swept her arm. “The hills run from the east, turning here to continue south, marking the territory of the Fire Eyid. It is very flat and dry on the other side, yes? With much sand.”

“Like a desert?”

“Yes.”

“We don’t have to go through there, do we?”

“You will travel the Du Kesan for a short while, but you will then go north, yes?”

“How long will it take?”

Adrana shrugged. “I believe you should arrive at your home on the seventh day.”

A week. Excitement tickled my nerve ending at the thought of being alone with Tuggin for a whole week. I clenched my teeth. Bad Haley. I was escaping Snarky Boy the first chance I got.

I had no idea I’d been frowning until Adrana said, “Do not concern. Tuggin will find you safe passage through the Fire Eyid’s territory.”
I smiled, but I really had to work at it. Adrana apparently wasn’t in on the whole let’s-neutralize-Haley deal.

Tuggin and Enja led two curly-haired horses our way. I blinked and counted again. One, two, three, four, five…eight legs? First mutant talking birds, now mutant eight-legged horses.

Tuggin adjusted a strap on a gray horse. “You are able to ride?” he asked without looking at me.

“I’ve ridden horses.”

Tuggin didn’t respond.

The dark brown one gazed at me with pale blue eyes. I decided that it looked tame enough, especially when Adrana slipped the animal what looked like a lump of sugar and it gave a happy little snort.
“His name is Sorrel. He is one of my favorites.”

“What are they?” I stroked Sorrel’s neck, and he nudged me with his nose. He acted just like a horse, except with a few extra legs. I thought I could deal.

“They are sleipnir, do you see? They travel great distances by sea, land, or air.”

“Oh, please. Horses can't fly.”

Adrana tickled the sleipnir’s shoulder. Feathery wings fluttered for a moment before settling back on its sides.

My mouth made a small “O” of surprise. “Cool!”

“It is quite warm for the cooling season, is it not?” Adrana asked. “Do not worry. You ride a sleipnir as you would a horse, only sometimes not across the ground.” She lifted her chin toward the sky.

“Oh.” I looked up.

“I trust you to care for him, yes?”

“Sorrel shall be safe within my care, Adrana,” Tuggin said.

I scowled. She was talking to me, not him. And had he said Adrana’s name with a note of tenderness?

“I shall return the sleipnir,” he said.

It felt like my bladder was going to give out. Did this mean he thought I wouldn’t be around to bring Sorrel back? “We both will,” I added.
Adrana smiled and gave me a hug. “Safe journey.”

I nodded. “Thanks.”

Adrana went to stand next to her mom. The wind tugged Enja’s hair away from her face; she had a beaded earring, just like Tuggin, including that little black bead. Maybe it was a symbol of that Eny thing. Maybe the Eny was their club, but what kind of club? A club that sounded like it didn’t want Haley around, that was for damn sure.

Enja dipped her head. “Safe journey.”

I grabbed Sorrel’s reins and we mounted our sleipnir.

Tuggin held his right fist to his left shoulder. “Unity to the Eny.”

I nudged Sorrel with my heels, waved to Adrana, and set off after Tuggin. It took me two seconds to discover that sleipnir were not comfortable to ride. Sorrel’s choppy stride made it feel like my eyes were jiggling in my head. I tried to relax enough to flow with the rhythm, which was impossible because there was no rhythm. I pressed my lips together and hoped I wouldn’t bite my tongue.

We walked through orchards of apples, pears, and strange banana-shaped purple things. People climbed ladders with bags slung across their shoulders, picking fruit. After a while, we left the fruit trees behind and hit fields of corn and wheat. Birds raced the clouds across the blue sky, calling to each other, diving and wheeling while they did their bird things. I kept an eye on them, hoping none of them planned on giving me another present from Nomer.

After leaving the fields behind, the land dipped steeply. It was rocky, so we had to let the sleipnir take their time, picking their way. When we stopped for a break, Tuggin tied rope between the sleipnirs’ front legs. They hobbled around, sticking their noses in the brown grass. Holding his personal Haley hobble, Tuggin glanced sharply around him before resting his gaze on me.

“I’m not going to run,” I said, trying not to use a snarky tone. “Trust me.”
“It would be wise not to attempt so.” Tuggin rested his hand on his knife as if to seal the threat.

“I won’t. I promise.”

I sat cross-legged on the ground with the cheese and bread Tuggin gave me. I didn’t talk while we ate, figuring it was best not to annoy him.
He stretched out on the grass, using one of the packs as a pillow. I leaned back on my elbows and studied him. He really was beautiful, especially when he was relaxed and not scowling. I hated using that word—beautiful—for a guy, but it fit in this case. Uncomfortable with the direction of my thoughts, I checked out the landscape.

I pointed to a mountain range ahead of us. “What’s that?”

Tuggin opened one eye. “The Aerie Mountains,” he said, closing his eye again. “Our destination lies in its northern peaks.”

Encouraged by Tuggin’s good mood and needing to score some points, I asked, “That’s in the air region, a laka something, right?”

“Yes. Lak ‘Nurr.”

Drawing my legs to my chest, I rested my chin on my knees and gazed at the northern point of the distant mountains. The highest peaks were covered in snow, which stretched so high they seemed to poke the bottom of the sky. It looked cold.

Sabina was in those mountains. Home. They seemed remote to me, distant. Should I feel something? I squinted, holding my breath as I focused on the mountain. Nothing happened; I didn’t feel a thing.

I looked back the way we’d come. “What’s that mountain?”

Tuggin sighed and sat up. “Mount Xenia.”

I flinched. “Did you say Xenia?”

Tuggin watched me. “Yes. What means this to you?”

“Nothing.” I bit my lip. It was easier to lie when I wasn’t looking at him. “If I’m from the Aerie Mountains, how come the gateway I came through isn’t there?”

“Mount Xenia. Home of the gateway.”

“There’s only one?”

Tuggin shrugged.

“What were you doing there, if you’re from Sabina?”

“Mentas go there to meditate.”

“The dudes who can brain wash people?”

Tuggin’s gaze sharpened. “Where have you come by this knowledge?”

I wasn’t about to admit Nala had mentioned Mentas and their mind tricks. “Can’t remember. Adrana maybe?”

Tuggin’s gaze didn’t weaken.

I hurdled on. “What exactly do these Mentas do? Go around bewitching people?”

Tuggin’s lip curled. “You are ignorant, tenya. Mentas have a task of great importance.”

“And what’s that?”

“They protect and enforce.”

I plucked a blade of grass and chewed on it. “Are you a Menta?”

Without answering, Tuggin picked up the pack he’d been using for a pillow and strapped it onto his sleipnir.

I sighed. My plan to get on his good side wasn’t off to a good start. Tearing my gaze away from him, I shaded my eyes and looked at the Aerie Mountains. I wondered what my home was like…and if I would ever live to see it.
********************
We didn’t stop again until the sun was about to set. I slid off Sorrell with a groan. I took off his saddle then limped with my packs toward the stack Tuggin had piled up.

“Your feet have pain again?” he asked.

“Not this time.” I rubbed my butt and picked up my saddle. “Ooh!”

“I must say,” Tuggin said, lips pressed together as though he were trying not to laugh, “you do not surrender. Perhaps Eyidoran blood runs through your veins after all.”

A glow warmed me from the inside and spread to my cheeks. Tuggin winced, and rubbing his temple, turned to unsaddle his sleipnir without another word.
********************
After dinner, I stretched on my blanket. Stars twinkled around the two strange moons, one white, and the other red. Tuggin hadn’t tried hobbling me yet, though he watched me like a highly trained guard dog. I shivered when he moved toward his pack.

“Please, don’t tie me.” I sat up and waved toward the dark horizon. “I promise I won’t try to run.”

Tuggin paused before squatting beside me. He held my gaze for a very long moment, and I couldn’t look anywhere but the depths of his blue eyes, as though my gaze had been welded to his. His sultry scent pulled me toward him.

His gaze flicked very briefly to my lips before tracking back to my eyes. “Do not let me regret trusting you. I do not forgive easily.”
I swallowed, nodded, and lay back down. Clamping my eyelids closed, I squeezed the image of Tuggin from sight and let Ian’s face fill my thoughts, same as they did almost every night. I slipped into my usual daydream, the one where Ian held my hand as we walked through the halls, stopping at my locker to give me a spine-tingling kiss before I skipped off to class…

Ian’s hotty green eyes were replaced by a pair of cool blue ones. Yikes! How’d Tuggin get into my daydream? I shot a glance at him, and our gazes met across the campfire. I rolled over and sent my thoughts into safer territory.

Thinking about Mom was safer, but depressing. I hoped she was all right. If she’d forgotten me, as Tuggin said, then she wasn’t feeling what I was feeling. What really sucked was that I didn’t have a picture of her. What if I forgot what she looked like?

I shuddered, intending to focus on my escape plan. I had to admit, Tuggin had his nice moments, and I thought that, given the chance, he might not be such a tool. The thought that I could be happy on Eyidora slipped into my mind. As my eyelids drifted closed I reminded myself to be careful. I almost found myself liking Tuggin, for crying out loud.

Dangerous, beautiful Tuggin.

Book Review: Angel, by Nicole "Coco" Marrow and Laura Hayden

Angel
by Nicole "Coco" Marrow and Laura Hayden

I'm usually wary about reading books written by celebrities because many times the talent doesn't extend beyond the name. This book was different.

Angel begins with a woman waking up on a plane right before it crashes. The twist is she has no idea who she is. No clue. Nada. Nothing. Then the plane crashes, she's rescued, and is hoping that something--anything--will spark her memories. She is dubbed "Angel" because not only did she survive the crash, but she saves the only other survivor...a baby. While nothing about her past surfaces, she learns something about herself. She can read mens' minds, she can ferret out their deepest desires, and she can transform herself in order to meet those desires and become the object of a man's dream. But the question still remains...who is she and *what* is she?

The opening to the book is riveting. You get Angel's confusion, and fear, when the plane is crashing. You discover her "talents" as she does, and the reader is as befuddled and alarmed as Angel is over her seemingly slutty nature as she tunes into men's thoughts and reacts to their inner desires. She seems to want what they want, and is horrified. This is all the more scary to Angel because she can't remember any detail of her life...is this something that has occurred because of the plane crash? Has she always been like this? Who--and what--the heck is she?? The answers to these questions slowly unravel in a gripping read, and the mystery of her life and what she is becomes clear. It kept me turning the pages to see how it all ended.

There are some elements of the story that didn't quite work for me. Saving the baby seemed an instrument to giving Angel her nickname..."Angel" and was a tad contrived. There is no other angle for the baby, and I expected there to be more significance given the high profile of the baby in the beginning of the book and even on the book jacket. The story escalates about 3/4 of the way through as Angel and her friend, Dante, work together to settle a score...but then dips for quite a while as they work to help Angel channel her "talents". For me it takes too long to get to the end where the tension works its way up again to a climax.

Except for this minor flaw in pacing toward the end, this book was an overall good read, and the put-downability factor was a solid 2!

Book Review: The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games
by Suzanne Collins

Let me start by saying that it's been a long while since I've picked up a book that I couldn't put down...and that includes my own! That being said, I started reading The Hunger Games yesterday morning while my husband was having hernia surgery, and I was annoyed every time I had to put it down. When we got home from the hospital, I sat down and read it straight through.

The Hunger Games take place in a future world where the US is divided into 12 districts that are ruled by the Capitol. Food is scarce, people are poor, and most are hungry. As a punishment for rebellion ages before, every year the Capitol forces each district to select 2 kids between the ages of 12 and 18 (one boy and one girl) to participate in the Hunger Games. This is not an olympic style event...this is a game to the death...winner take all. In The Hunger Games, 16 year-old Katniss is the 12th district's female tribute to the games. Peeta is the male tribute, and while they share a somewhat distant but life-changing past together, only one of them can leave the games alive.

This story tightens its fist from the first page and never loosens its grip. The world is so realistically pathetic in its poverty, yet you find goodness beneath the grit and grime. Katniss presents a tough exterior to the world, though inwardly she's still a 16 year-old girl who misses her mom, loves her sister, and fears for her future, yet she yearns for more than she can ever have. The depth of the characters is so well drawn, you can easily picture them. This author knows how to draw vivid scenery and characterization. I'm not usually an emotional reader, but I can count two scenes that had me wiping my eyes.

I'm eagerly looking forward to reading the next book from Suzanne!

Sample Sunday: Fire in the Blood

Good morning! It's Sunday, and that means sample time! Last week, Haley overheard Tuggin getting an order to kill her. Now, Haley has to come up with a plan to save herself.

Enjoy!

CHAPTER TEN

I paced my room, hurling every swear I knew at Tuggin and Enja. They’d put those guards at the doors to keep me from escaping, I just knew it. I groaned, remembering how I’d tried to breeze past them and scoot out the front door. Apparently, they had orders to stop anyone trying to leave without Enja’s specific permission and had escorted me back to my room like I was an escaped monkey from the nearest zoo. 

Adrana knocked and poked her head in. “It is time for raha. You will come with me, will you not?” She held up a dress, this one a pretty coral color.

I really wanted to wear that dress. “I’m going to skip raha tonight, okay?”

“If you wish. I shall have food brought to you, will I not?"

“Yeah, that would be okay.”

Adrana nodded, and then shut the door. I picked up my pacing. And the guards weren’t the only issue I had with Tuggin, I mean, other than the death threat and the tying up stuff. He’d lied about my brother. The thought that I wasn’t completely alone made my stomach twist with happiness and then twist with anger at Tuggin for lying to me.

I dropped to the bed. What was that Eyids’ force deal? Maybe my brother knew how to use those stones to stop the war. Maybe that’s why Tuggin had been happy that my brother wasn’t around. Maybe he didn’t want the war to be stopped.

It wasn’t like I could log on to the nearest computer and Google my brother’s name—I didn’t even know it. It would be cool if I could find him and we could find the stones together then go back for Mom. I would find those damn stones and bounce from this world as soon as possible; Tuggin could kiss my Earth-kin ass good-bye. A knock at the door interrupted my venomous thoughts.

“Come in,” I said.

When Tuggin strolled into the room, my heartbeat accelerated, but whether from fear or excitement, I didn’t know. I escaped onto the balcony. Through the filmy spray, I could see a lake far below.

“What is wrong?” His voice sounded colder, as if he hated me more than ever.

I edged to the other end of the balcony. “Nothing.”

“What are you concealing?” When I didn’t answer he snapped, “Look at me!”

I glared at him.

“What do you conceal from me?”

Swaying, I grabbed the railing to keep from keeling over. Tuggin’s words seeped into my brain while his lips moved in slow motion. His silky smooth voice brushed my thoughts, prodding, searching for the answer. What do you conceal from me?

I stepped toward him. “I like your voice,” I whispered, one minute wanting to fight the dizziness, the next longing to ride the wave.

A breeze threw a spray of mist on our faces; he jerked his gaze away and I shook my head. Had I actually said that…out loud? I glanced at Tuggin, forehead creased while he studied me. Shit, I did.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“I would protect you.”

I’d meant to ask what he was doing to me, but his answer made me laugh, unless he was trying to protect from someone else who wanted to kill me. “From what?”

“Death.”

“No one wants to kill me.” Except him. The fact that he’d tried to convince Enja that I wasn’t worth giving the time of day was no comfort, because he still agreed to follow orders in the end. I pressed my lips together, just in case they decided to betray me and tremble.

Tuggin white-knuckled the railing. “Tell me everything from your dream.”

“Why don’t you tell me everything that’s going on with you first?”

Tuggin ran his hand through his hair. “Jahme.”

“What’s that word mean anyway?”

“There is no Earth-kin translation. You would not understand.”

“Try me.”

“It expresses irritation. Or rage.”

Oh nice, all this time the jerk had been swearing at me. Kidnapping, swearing, plotting, keeping secrets. Fine. Two could play that game. “There’s nothing to tell.”

Tuggin clenched his jaw. “We depart after sunrise on the morrow.”

“Where?”

“Sabina.”

“Fine.”

He left without another word. While I watched the door close behind him, it occurred to me that, despite his golden hall god looks and sweet voice, Tuggin was a very dangerous guy.

I wasn’t sure if I could believe that Tuggin was really going to take me home. He said he wanted to protect me, but he’d been ordered to “neutralize” me. Which was the lie?

I yanked my necklace from under my shirt and stroked the milky surface. The necklace had to be why Tuggin and Enja had kidnapped me. They had to suspect what I had, and they wanted it. Would they go so far as to kill me for it?

            Were they trying to kill my brother, too? Had they already gotten Mom? I pinched my bottom lip. Tuggin was impossible to run from, so I had to be sneaky about planning my escape. I would pretend I was on board with this whole going to Sabina thing, play along so that Tuggin trusted me. Then the second he let his guard down, I’d make like an egg and scramble.

Book Review: Imperial Hostage, by Phil Cantrill

Imperial Hostage
by Phil Cantrill

This is an epic fantasy, spanning the life of Prince Erech from age 12 through 25 while he serves as a hostage to Poseida. In the world that the author has created, Poseida is the capital of the Empire. The vasal states of the empire are required to send hostages to Poseida in order to teach them their ways and their religion. Poseida has competing temples, each struggling for power. When 12 year-old Erech reaches the Temple of Bel, he is identified by an old crone, a seer, as the doom of the high priest of Bel, Al-Jinn. The priests of Bel spend the next week torturing and degrading Erech and then try to sacrifice Erech on the alter. He is saved by the high priest of the Temple of One, where he is taken in and cared for. Thus starts a series of events over the next 13 years of numerous failed assissination attempts on Erech's life, instigated by Al-Jinn.

The author has done an incredible job of building a fantasy world with a complex society, differing religions, and deep depth in detail. The story immediately sucks you in with tension without being graphic as to the treatment of 12 year-old Erech...the author gives you just enough information for your imagination to fill in the blanks. The characters are well-developed and three dimensional. The author spends a great deal of time showing Erech's growth throughout the years through trials, tribulation, love, and death until, finally, Erech reaches age 25.

My only complaint about this story is that there is no true story arc. While there are many scenes that show conflict and resolution, the story as a whole is a series of scenes without a true "critical choice" for the main character to make and therefore no "resolution" to the story. There are numerous references to Erech's ability to be a great leader, and hints of a cataclysmic event that is never achieved in this story. I believe that the author is setting up for a sequel, however, it leaves the ending to this story a little flat for me and leaves it no ability to stand on its own.

Overall, a nice read and the story rates a 4 out of 5 in its wonderfully graphic writing and attention to detail in its world-building. On a scale of 1 - 5, however, the 'put-down-ability' factor for me is a 3.

Sample Sunday: Fire in the Blood

Good Sunday Morning! It's time for the next installment of Fire in the Blood. Last week, Haley learned that her dreams are really messages from the nature gods. Today, she overhears some devastating news about Tuggin...his secrets are starting to come out.

Enjoy!

CHAPTER NINE

The next morning, a tray of fruit and nuts sat on my nightstand untouched. Dinner the night before had sucked, with everyone staring at me and whispering. And then I’d had to apologize to Adrana for ripping her dress. I groaned and shoved my head under my pillow.

I couldn’t breathe, so I lifted a corner to get a little air—not only for my lungs but for my head, too. I felt bad for the people here, but did I care enough to get involved in a war that had nothing to do with me? And those stones of power…I couldn’t stop thinking about them. Couldn’t stop thinking what it would feel like to have power. Couldn’t stop thinking about finding them and using them to go home.

A knock at the door interrupted my thoughts. I peeked from my pillow when Adrana poked her head into the room.

Adrana said, “I shall show you our city, would you like?”

“Sure. Is it far?”

Adrana chuckled. “Non.”

“And ‘non’ means…”

“Please my forgiveness. This means ‘no.’”

“Tuggin says ‘net’.”

“Ah, that is true, is it not? All tribes speak their own tongue, but we all use the shared tongue. To understand? As do you.”

“I see.”

Adrana took me along the balcony above the room where Tuggin and I had first come in. She pointed down. “That is the Great Room.”

Instead of heading for the stairs leading up from the Great Room, we turned right. While we walked, Adrana pointed to wall hangings of rivers, lakes, oceans, and waterfalls.

“These hangings represent Lak ‘Neynu, yes?”

“What’s that?”

“Lak ‘Neynu means Region of Water. Given Hall is a border city between two laks, yes? Neynu and Nurr.”

“What region is Nurr?”

“Air. Lak ‘Nurr is your home, yes? Sabina rests in the mountains of Lak ‘Nurr.”

My step faltered at the mention of my home. I hadn’t considered where I might have lived if I’d stayed on Eyidora. “I was born in Sabina?”

“Yes, as was Tuggin.”

“Seriously? We come from the same town?”

“Yes.” Adrana pushed open a thick, wooden door. “There are four laks to represent the Eyids. There is also Heika, meaning land, and Toom, meaning fire, yes?”

Adrana led me down tunnels where we passed rooms with people arguing, women making baskets, and even classrooms. It seemed half the people wore tacky purple robes.

We trudged up a staircase that twisted high into the rock. At the top, I followed Adrana through a narrow passage toward the muffled sound of a crowd. As we neared the end of the hall, it grew wider and the noise got louder. We spilled out onto a balcony, and I gasped. The room below was so big it made the Great Room look dinky.

“Here is the market,” Adrana said.

“This is awesome. Who’d ever know that a whole city was inside this mountain?”

“It is a great stronghold, is it not? I fear that even this sanctuary will not withhold the coming storm.”

I frowned while I checked out the shoppers. Stony faces peered out from stalls of baskets, pottery, clothes, and food. The food baskets were half empty: dried fish, breads, nuts, and wrinkled fruit and vegetables. I watched two old ladies argue over a skinny fish. The fish lady, a leather-faced woman with sunken cheeks, picked at her teeth.

“No one seems very happy,” I said.

“There is drought. Finding food is difficult.”

“It was pouring rain yesterday, and there was a ton of food at dinner.”

“That is so, but we need many moon cycles of rain to fill our water cisterns. The lakes and rivers, they do not rise, yes?” She dipped her head toward me. “Our pantries do not willingly give of their fare.”

I studied the people with their tattered clothes, slumped shoulders, and who looked as skinny as that fish. I murmured, “The Fire Eyid’s descendant really is killing this globe.”

Adrana gasped. “What have the Eyids told you?”

Whoopsy. My conversations with the Eyids were going to be my secret for now. I sucked my lips between my teeth.

Adrana shook her head. “The great ones always know when to stay silent, yes? I understand why you are paired with Tuggin.”

I halted, unable to stop a snort exploding from the back of my throat. “I’m not paired with Tuggin.” I felt a funny twist in my stomach, and part of me—a sick part—wished it was true. I squashed that part down because it was just a random, temporarily insane thought. “He forced me to come here, there was no pairing involved. Why would you even think that?”

“Tuggin is not a typical Eyidoran as well.”

I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t help asking, “What’s so special about him?”

Adrana stopped at a fruit stall. She picked some wrinkled apples, and then turned to me while the vendor put them in a bag. “Tuggin has a sister-mate.”

I searched through the apples, trying to find one that wasn’t so wrinkled. Adrana took her bag from the vendor and handed him some dull, yellow coins.

I’d forgotten about the paying part. I set the apple back down. “What are those?”

Adrana handed me a coin. “Eyidoran currency. These yellow coins are heken.”

The coin had a funny marking on it—four little circles in a weird comma-shaped formation. “How much is it worth?” I handed it back.

Adrana held up a blue coin. “Five nenu equal one heken. Five heken equal one toma,” holding up an amber coin, “and five toman equal one nura, yes?” She waved a silver coin and dropped it back in her pouch.

I said, “I see,” and then bounced back to the subject of Tuggin. “What’s a sister-mate?”

Adrana continued to stroll through the market. “Tuggin and his sister were born together, do you understand?”

“Twins?”

“Yes. Tuggin’s sister-mate is called Elana. It is very rare, is it not?”

“I knew someone named Elana on Earth. Elana Sorba. Isn’t that weird?”

“Elana is Tuggin Sorba’s sister-mate.”

I grabbed Adrana’s arm. “No way. She can’t be Tuggin’s sister.”

“Why not?”

Tuggin told me his family was dead. As in not living dead. As in not breathing dead. As in I’m-going-to-kill-him-for-lying dead. “We can’t be talking about the same girl.”

“Tuggin’s sister-mate on Earth. Elana Sorba.”

“What’s she doing there? Does she know she’s Eyidoran?”

“I do not know much. Tuggin does not impart information freely, yes?”

“Tell me about it.”

Adrana giggled. “I only know these things from listening to Tuggin and my o’ma speaking, yes? Through a door.”

I checked out a basket, brushing my fingers over the rough surface. “It doesn’t matter, because Tuggin hates me.”

“Hmm,” Adrana said.

That sick part of me wanted to hear Adrana say that Tuggin liked me. “We’re not together.”

“Hmm.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. What was wrong with me? Tuggin was an ass, I didn’t care whether he liked me or not. I’d wasted enough time following Snarky Boy around. I had to escape so I could get my butt home and find Mom. Adrana was small; I could probably take her out and make a run for it. No, I’d tried running before and failed. I had to be sneaky, check out the place and plan an escape.

“I think I’ll go to my room for a while,” I said. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

“You need me to show you the way, do you not?”

Was she supposed to spy on me? “That’s okay. I think I can find it.”

Adrana gave a wave then disappeared into the crowd. I headed up the stairs. At the top, I couldn’t remember if we’d come from the left or right. Most people seemed to be going left, so I picked out a safe-looking person to follow, a woman in a purple robe carrying books.

I followed her until we were the only ones in the hall. She disappeared through a door, and I peeked inside. A library.

I breathed in the smell of dust, books, and leather. This wasn’t like the library at home. The ceiling was at least two stories high, with shelves crammed with books. Intersecting aisles of more books blocked my view of the room. Long, skinny ladders climbed to the highest shelves.

I wandered between the rows, gazing at the titles, but they were written in a language I couldn’t read. I pulled one off a shelf. It had a red leather cover with gold lettering. I ran my fingers over the markings on the top, the same markings that were on the coins: four circles in a comma formation.

“You have permission papers, yes?” croaked someone behind me.

I whirled to face a man with a raisin-shriveled face. He was mostly bald, but that didn’t seem to stop the gray hair in his nose and ears from growing, and it didn’t hide the black bead earring he had in each ear. His arms seemed to be lost inside his purple robe.

I shifted from one foot to the other. “I need to ask before coming in?”

“Yes. This is the Records Room. Permission is required.”

I bit my lip. “Sorry. I’ll go.”

“Wait.” He studied me while he rubbed his chin then grinned. “You are the strange one, yes? The visitor.”

I stiffened. Then I crossed my arms. He glanced at the book in my hand.

“Honest, I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to be in here, and I wasn’t trying to steal it.”

“Permission granted.”

The tension in my shoulders melted.

He took the book from me and stroked the cover. “You know the Tamoorian tongue?”

“No.”

“Ah, Eyidora’s Histories and Legends. Interesting choice. You know of the Legend of Truhaan, yes?”

“No.”

“Old Piel will help, yes? This book speaks of the legendary savior who will bring harmony back to Eyidora.” He flipped through the pages then read out loud:

“Gathering strangers of two globes born,

come together with the truhaan dawn.

Who sees through the dark with many eyes,

To amass Eyids’ force, on truhaan’s rise?”

Piel studied me. I studied him. He raised his eyebrows.

“Wait,” I said, and I instinctively touched my necklace through my shirt. “You don’t think…that I…”

Piel shrugged. “What does old Piel know?”

“Apparently not much, if you think I’m the stuff legends are made of.”

Piel laughed and put the book back on the shelf before shuffling off. “Take care you do not lose what is precious to you, Haley,” he called over his shoulder before vanishing around a corner.

The people on this world were insane. Shaking my head, I made tracks out of the library. I rambled up and down halls, looking for something familiar.

Gathering a massive sigh, I leaned against the wall. Muffled voices echoed from the other end of the hall. Then someone spit out my name like a piece gum that had lost its taste. I crept down the hall and stopped outside a slightly open door. Enja’s voice came from inside.

“The Legend of Truhaan tells us of the one.”

“What would the Eny have me do?” Tuggin asked.

I felt a tickle in my nose. I pushed my tongue against the roof of my mouth.

“You know of our plans, yes? Legend speaks of Quadralune. Quadralune befalls us in two more phases. We must neutralize her.”

Tuggin’s voice drifted back and forth, as if he were pacing. “Who do you mean?”

The tickle grew stronger. I pinched my nose closed and held my breath.

“You are not focused,” Enja snapped.

Silence, and then, “Tenya?”

Hey. I was tenya. He’d better stop calling me that or I’d smack him.

“Yes, Tuggin. She is a Seer.”

Tuggin muttered, “Jahme!” Then let loose a string of words I couldn’t understand, though by his tone it sounded like a lot of swearing.

Enja scolded him like a little kid. “Lanu! Think this through.”

“She is weak. She is Earth-kin.”

I clenched my jaw. What an ass.

“She is Eyidoran.”

Tuggin said, “The Eny should focus on her missing brother. Perhaps he is already dead, which would bode well for the Eny.”

I clapped my hand over my mouth, leaning my cheek against the cold wall. Freaking shit! I had a brother? A brother?! Enja started talking again. I pushed the thought out of the way so I could focus on what they were saying, vowing to kick Tuggin’s lying ass.

“Non, we must focus on her. Your task is well laid. If she is the one, she must be neutralized. You have your assignment. Do not fail.”

“Haley is not the one. The Eny should not waste effort on her.”

There was a drawn out silence, and I wondered what was going on in there.

Enja said, “Do you have emotions for this girl?”

Tuggin laughed, but the sound was dead. “I have no emotion. I have been trained well.”

“Drop your shield.”

I’d never seen Tuggin carry a shield. Were they about to fight?

“The girl is a distraction. It is imperative you meet with the Mavens, today, yes?” said Enja after a very long silence.

“As you wish.” Tuggin sounded as if he were speaking through clenched teeth.

“Very good. You will do as ordered, yes?”

“As always.” Then he murmured so low I had to strain to hear, “Haley is alone, and there is none to mourn her when she does not survive.”

I had to stifle the gag bursting from my throat. I tiptoed down the hall then bolted. I skidded around a corner, falling and scraping my knee. I ignored the pain and jumped down the steps two at a time. When I reached the Great Room I collapsed on the stairs.

I sucked in large amounts of air through my teeth, willing myself not to puke. Yeah, Tuggin could be a tool, and he’d kidnapped me and lied to me and tied me up, but he’d also saved my life…twice. Had he just been ordered to kill me? Why?

            I was jetting this place. Now. I was halfway down the stairs when I stumbled to a halt. The doors to the Great Room were guarded by two guys that were totally jacked, their muscles desperately trying to pop the seams in their purple vests, which were sharply bright against black leggings. The guards’ clothes may have brought on a chuckle; their sharp swords didn’t.