A Selection from "Kelise's Beginning" by Kelsey

(Kelise)

I was doing my homework one afternoon. I was attempting to find the surface area of a square pyramid that had a length of fifteen feet, a width of ten feet, and a height of seventeen feet, but my brother Skyler would not leave me alone. 

“Touch! Touch!” Skyler said, as he poked me in the leg. 

“Skyler, leave me alone!” 

“Touch! Touch!” 

“Skyler, I’m warning you!” 

He then dumped out my pencil box. 

“Skyler!” I punched him in the arm. 

“Ow, you broke it! You broke it!” he whined. 

“I didn’t hit you that hard, you wimp.” I said. 

“Dad, Kelise hit me!” 

“He was asking for it! He won’t let me do my homework!”

“Skyler leave your sister alone.” 

Skyler stuck his tongue out at me. 

That night, we listened to Dad read to us; he was reading us a book called Skulduggery Pleasant (I had already read it, but my brother wasn’t good with long books). I always enjoyed the way he read. When he finished, we went to bed. Usually I read some fantasy book that I had gotten from the library, but I didn’t tonight. I turned on my Genesis Favs list on my ipod and fell asleep. 

☼ ☼ ☼

(It was one o’clock in the morning when he appeared. He appeared out of thin air above the tree covered area of Reed Kepler Park. The dragon, Hornagal, examined his surroundings. Seeing that there were no people around, he raised his magnificent head to the sky. The tugging sensation is his chest was stronger here; but the scent was weak and golden light that only he could see was only a faint glow over the trees. 

She was close; he could feel it. He had seen her only once, when she was young and not ready. Now, she was ready. 

He remembered her well. It had been a dreary day eleven years ago when he had first seen her. Following the same instinct he was following now, though it was weaker then, he had come to the one story human dwelling. He had looked in the front window. He was rewarded by the sight of a human baby boy who crawled out of the interior hallway. The baby had a shock of brown hair, wore a blue onesie, and sucked on a pacifier. Hornagal was confused; surely this infant wasn’t who he was looking to find? He had none of the golden light he had been told to expect.

Just then, another human child ran from the interior hallway; this one was a four-year-old girl. The girl had a mop of messy, shoulder-length brown hair and bright blue eyes. Hornagal rejoiced at the sight of her, for surrounding the girl was a faint, golden light. This was the one! This girl, little more than a toddler, wasn’t ready for her destiny just yet; but when the time was right, he would return for her. 

Just then, the children’s father came into the room. The man picked up the little girl. 

“Upside-down, Daddy; put me upside-down!” the little girl said. 

He turned the little girl upside-down, and she shrieked with laughter. 

“Come on, K, it’s time for a snack.” the man said. 

He ushered the little girl into the next room, picked up the baby boy, and left.

Now, Hornagal knew the little girl, whom her father had called K, was ready to face her destiny. The problem was how to find her. Six years ago, Hornagal felt the instinct call him more strongly; she was ready. He had returned to the human dwelling to find that a different family lived there now. The girl called K and her family had moved!

For these six years, he had been searching on and off. He knew tonight had to be the night. He spread his enormous wings (each the size of flattened carnival tents) and took to the air again. He landed in the main street of West Chicago, Illinois. He was careful not to step on any cars or buildings. A policeman working the graveyard shift stood on the corner, but he didn’t seem to notice the twenty foot, golden dragon that had landed in the main street. 

The buildings indicated to Hornagal that humans probably lived here, but the golden glow, now slightly stronger, was still tantalizingly out of reach. He jumped and glided to the top of a bridge. The tugging was almost painful now. He jumped, light as a cat, down the other side. 

He peered around the corner onto the next street. Golden light was shining from a house with a red front. Hornagal peered in the large front window; the shades turned transparent to his eyes. He looked upon an empty living room. Hornagal peered into the window above the living room; he found the bedroom of two adults. These were doubtlessly the girl’s mother and father. He went on to the next window on the north side. The sight of a modest kitchen greeted him. He slithered into the back yard to peer through the larger of two windows there. Hornagal felt a thrill of excitement when he saw a child’s bedroom. The walls were blue, and the back wall had the golden glow showing through. LEGOs and posters of things that Hornagal didn’t understand were scattered about the room. He looked hopefully into the loft bed, but he was disappointed when he sighted the human boy aged about eleven. He had shaggy brown hair, freckles, and an overbite. This was the babe he had seen, now grown. 

He crawled carefully over a fence to the south side of the house. There was one window there. Hornagal peered inside, and his heart leapt with joy. The room was flooded with the magnificent golden glow. The walls of the room were pink, so it must belong to a girl or a very strange boy. Dragon figurines stood on a shelf above the bed, and a large poster with dragons on it hung over the sleeping figure. 

The source of the glow lay upon the bed. A mostly-grown human girl aged about fifteen; her sheet of wavy brown hair spread across the pillow. This was the girl called K; ready for her destiny. The window opened at a word from Hornagal; he reached inside.

I woke when I was taken out of bed by a gigantic claw. I didn’t even have time to scream before I was speeding over West Chicago. 

We flew up into a strange, swirling tunnel and emerged… I didn’t know where. Even in my terror, I had to appreciate the view. A sandy landscape spread out below me. Mountains pierced the clouds in the distance. Green trees looked like little bushes far below. Then I saw something that made the beautiful landscape around it look drab. A magnificent white city spread out below us. The city seemed to be on a hill, which gave it the impression of being on an ocean swell frozen in time. At the center of the city, at the highest point, stood a glorious castle. The castle was made of white stone, like the city surrounding it, but it had copper plated roofs that glinted in the moonlight. The moon was surprisingly bright here.

The thing that had kidnapped me angled down toward the castle and landed on a balcony. I was released, and I tumbled head over heels to the ground. I got up and frantically looked at my surroundings. 

I was looking into a stone hallway. Marble tiles lay under my cold, bare feet. It was freezing! I shivered in my completely inadequate pajama pants and cami. 

A short, fierce-looking woman, a few years older than I was, appeared in the doorway. She had caramel colored hair and skin slightly lighter. She appeared to be wearing an aquamarine tunic and brown leggings.

“Oh, you found her again! I thought she was a lost cause.” she said. 

“Uh, who are you…Where am I?” 

The woman smiled gently and pointed to something behind me. “I think he can explain.” I turned and my eyes bugged out. 

Behind me was a colossal, golden dragon. Long, black horns protruded from its head, and intelligent purple eyes gleamed back at me. 

“Greetings,” it said in a deep, booming voice. It cocked its head, considering me. “If you feel the need to faint, you may want to sit down. 

“Yeah.” I said weakly. 

With that, I fainted.