A Part of My World

In honor of the books completion, below I have posted the first page of chapter one. I hope it intrigues you and makes you want to read more. I mean, that is the point of the beginning, right? Draw you in so you have to keep reading. 😛 Anyway, welcome....to the Iltex Forest.

Picture from: http://www.wallpaperup.com/271161/271161.html

Chapter One: Introductions 

Thump. Bang! I winced, pain splitting the back of my head where it had connected with the wooden wagon seat.

“Sorry about that! Pot hole!”

I grimaced, running my hands through my long hair and glanced at Alex. He was a young man with darker skin than me and blackish red hair.

He cast me a grin, “You okay, Elena?”

I muttered and shook my head, “I’m fine.”

I turned away, watching the scenery around us. The dark sky was speckled with clouds and stars. Enchanted lanterns floated alongside the road, doubling as a source of light as well as a barrier against the forest.

Wind blew through the leaves of the trees, shaking the shrubs growing beneath them, and I watched the darkness closely. The Iltex Forest was not known as the friendliest of places.

Alex whistled beside me as he edged the horses onward, “Sure is beautiful tonight, isn’t it?”

I leaned back against the wooden seat, crossing my arms and legs, not answering him. As I felt the breeze against my cheek though, I admitted to myself that he was right. It was beautiful.

He looked at me with soft hazel eyes, “Come now, don’t be like that.”

I glanced at him but then turned back to the forest, my voice flat, my eyes revealing nothing, “You’re not the one being sent to a boarding school.”

He didn’t respond and internally I sighed in relief. His cheerful nature and continuous grin exhausted me and I cherished being left alone with my own thoughts.

“So, is it true what they say about your memory?”

I closed my eyes, holding back the anger that surfaced at him bringing up such a topic. I refused to answer him. If he was put off by my silence, he didn’t show it and continued to talk.

“I was shocked when the judge told me your story. I mean, who in their right mind would suppress their own child’s memory? And it’s not like you’re too young to know the truth. How old are you? 17 right?”

Once again, silence was his only reply. But inside, I was wondering the same thing. My thoughts turned back to the last few weeks and to my parents’ death. So much didn’t make sense. Who killed my parents? Why? But even more importantly, before she died, why did my mother suppress my memories?

According to the witnesses, they found me in the rubbles of my home, my parents dead, so disfigured from the attack that they were cremated instantly and buried. And to add to it, my memories from the past year were gone. I couldn’t even tell them the date, what I had eaten for breakfast, or what or who killed my parents. For a while I was a suspect but after days of testing, it was revealed that a spell was suppressing my memories and the signature of the spell was none other than my mother’s.

Questions haunted me and I clutched my hands. I didn’t want to go to this boarding school. I wanted answers. I may not remember much from the past year, but that didn’t mean I didn’t remember anything.

My mother’s words swept through my mind.

“Be prepared, for everything is changing.”

These were the only words I could remember from the accident.

Pushing back the words, I opened my eyes, scanning the night sky. She was right. Everything changed in an instant. And all I had left from the past year was a few key memories. I remembered that my parents had been researching an ancient prophecy. The investigators asked me over and over what they were researching but I told them I didn’t remember. That was a lie.

I had one memory and from it, I knew that my parents had been researching the Five Evils. Why? I couldn’t remember. What did they learn? Still remembered nothing. And why would they have been killed for it? All I could reason was that they were getting too close to something. And whatever it was, I was going to find out.