Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 123779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 619(@200wpm)___ 495(@250wpm)___ 413(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 619(@200wpm)___ 495(@250wpm)___ 413(@300wpm)
I remember her. Aster. She’s the head priestess.
It feels as if the words drift to me from afar. “Aster?” Clearing my dry throat, I try again. “Aster? Janak?”
“Welcome back, child. How do you feel?” she asks as they hurry closer to me. “Do you remember us?”
“Yes.” I still feel out of it as I glance between them. “What happened?”
Janak takes my hand and squeezes it softly. “You’ll feel better soon. The effects of the spell are still wearing off.”
Spell?
Aster gives me a serious look. “Don’t fight the memories. Let them in.”
Already feeling tired again, I close my eyes, and then one memory after the other trickles into my mind.
I remember being brought to Aster on my sixteenth birthday. She gave me something to drink.
I gasp as my mind is suddenly flooded with muddled flashes of my past.
My family! Mom. Dad.
I remember my older sisters. Brenna and Thana. And my brother, Roark.
An overwhelming emotion makes tears sting my eyes.
I miss them so much.
I remember a younger and happier me. Because my brother and sisters are so much older, I used to be adored by everyone.
I was loved.
The day of my sixteenth birthday fills my mind, and remembering how I was brought to Janak and Aster makes me feel sad.
They cast a spell over me, and before I lost consciousness, I saw a man.
He held me as if I was the most precious thing to him.
When I woke up, I was alone at Fish Creek Falls.
They left me all alone in a foreign place.
For five years!
Oh my God.
My breathing speeds up, and my heart beats faster and faster as an intense feeling of abandonment forms a crack right down the middle of my soul.
Then Ryan came and pretended to be my friend, and I was once again ripped away from everything I held dear.
“Ryan,” I whimper. It hurts to think of him and how he played me for a fool.
“Ryan’s name is Raighne,” Janak informs me. “He’s your guardian.”
I open my eyes and look at the two elders who played a part in deceiving me.
“Well, you’re home now,” Aster says. “Do you remember anything from before we sent you to Earth?”
“Not much,” I whisper as anger and heartache bubble in my chest. “Why was I sent to Earth?”
Before they can answer me, my chest fills with every emotion I felt on Earth.
The fear of being a vulnerable child, alone with no memory.
The intense loneliness of not belonging anywhere.
The hatred I felt for Robert.
The rejection when I didn’t fit in at school.
“We had to do it, child. You needed to live as a human in order to understand them,” Janak answers my question. “It was spoken so by Awo.”
“You sent me to a foreign world,” I bite the words out, my anger growing by the second. “I was left alone for five years!”
Aster smiles gently at me. “You have every right to be upset, but we did what was best for you.”
I shake my head at her. “Wow, that makes it all better.” Then I remember my family again, and ask, “Where are my parents? My brother and sisters?”
I desperately want to see them and be with my own people.
“Your family is well. They’ve been waiting for the news of your return with great excitement.” Janak’s face falls as he looks to Aster for help.
My muscles tighten, and I worry they’re going to give me bad news.
Aster looks at me with sympathy. “You can only see your parents after you’ve completed your destiny. It’s too dangerous for them to meet with you right now as they might lead Adeth to you.”
What the hell?
“What destiny? Who’s Adeth?”
My anger doubles, curling around me like a thick cloud while I try to deal with the disappointment of not being able to see my parents.
“You have to learn how to be a warrior, Alchera. You need to be able to protect yourself and the chosen ten when you go to retrieve them from Earth. There’s barely enough time for you to train.”
The vague reply to my questions confuses me. Then it sinks in what Aster just said.
“Hold your horses,” I pull myself up into a sitting position. “I have to learn how to be a warrior?”
“Yes,” Janak answers. “Now that you’re home, you’ll regain your strength, and soon your talents will appear.”
“What talents?”
“You’ll have visions of the chosen ten and the future.”
I almost mention the dreams but decide to keep the information to myself.
“You’re no ordinary, fragile human anymore,” Aster says. “You need to practice your strengths and talents so you can master them.”
Just fucking perfect.
When I scowl at them, Aster clears her throat. “We have to leave you now. Thana is anxious to see you, and Raighne and his brother are also here. There are so many others waiting to welcome you home. Your life will soon be full.”