Hi, sorry I haven't been blogging for a while, but I've been well and truly steeped in writing book two and I'm afraid Blogs and pages have been thoroughly neglected.
You will be pleased to hear, however, that book two is well and truly on the way with nearly 47,000 words under my belt and only three chapters to go. So fingers-crossed that all goes to plan, and book two is published within the month.
But just to make it up to you guys, though, I thought I would give you a snippet from book two: Crystal Waters And on to North America. Here's the first chapter, hope you enjoy :)
- Chapter One -
The Untold Truth
Emma
and Grace stared blankly between Mum, who was now looking guiltily out of the
lounge window, and Gran, who had a worried look upon her face. Emma’s eyes
welled up with hot tears, and she felt angry and utterly betrayed. She stood up
to say something, but the words got lost somewhere deep within. Instead she ran
from the room in a flood of tears and sprinted up the carved wooden staircase
to the first floor, with Grace in hot pursuit.
Gran’s house, Fowesby Hall, where they
stayed for the summer holidays was rather large and it took a few minutes to
reach the bedroom where she and Grace slept. She threw herself upon her huge
four-poster bed, burying her face deep into the feather pillows, where she
quietly sobbed. Grace came over and sat down beside her. Emma turned over and
looked at her little sister through her puffed-up, wet eyes.
‘I . . . just can’t . . . believe it . . .
can you?’ she sniffed loudly.
Grace, who looked just as upset but wasn’t
crying, tried to cheer up her sister with a weak smile. ‘I know it’s a real shock, but it’s still kind of cool isn’t
it?’ she said quietly.
‘Cool . . . how is it cool that we find out our family and friends have been lying to us
all along? And how is it cool we thought
we were just a normal family but now
we know we’re not and we’re totally
different from anyone else?’ said Emma, now sitting up.
‘But I already knew about my gift, my photographic memory, and I
think your gift is so wonderful. Think of what you can really do with it. It’s really a blessing that we are different, because it means we are also special.’
Emma didn’t answer at first. She flopped
back down on her pillow, stared at her thumb nail, and then proceeded to scrape
off the black nail varnish from it. She took a sharp intake of breath, as if
something had just come to mind.
‘I know you’re right, it is cool we have these gifts, it’s just
the fact that they have kept it from us all these years. Like they didn’t trust us or something,’ said Emma, now
looking back at Grace.
‘Why couldn’t they just tell us?’
‘Well, Mum for years was against the whole
idea of travelling to these ancient worlds and wanted nothing to do with them,
remember? But I guess seeing Gran so ill last summer made her realise that life
was too short to hold grudges and maybe it really was a bad thing to keep it all from us. She was just trying to protect us I guess,’
said Grace.
‘I suppose so,’ said Emma sulkily.
‘Shall we go down and talk to them? I want
to hear the whole story, don’t you?’ said Grace eagerly.
Emma
swung her legs over the side of the bed rather lazily, as if she couldn’t be
bothered, and sighed deeply. ‘Anyway, I’m five years older than you are. How did you get so grown up all
of a sudden?’
‘I guess it’s my photographic memory,
seeing things in a more logical manner. Plus I’m so much more
brainier than you,’ she said chuckling.
‘Ha ha, I suppose you think you’re funny do you?’ Emma said, giving Grace a
playful swipe on her arm.
They slowly made their way back to the
lounge where Mum, Dad, Gran and Bill were. Grace paused just outside. ‘An
animal whisperer eh? I just think it’s brilliant.’ She then opened the door and
they both went in.
Inside, the adults were all chatting
quietly to each other but stopped as soon as they saw the girls. Dad and Bill
let the girls sit down in their places. It was Emma who spoke first:
‘Gran, I’d like you to tell us more if you
can, and this time don’t leave anything out please,’ she said firmly,
but with more warmth in her eyes.
‘Of course my dear, I want to tell you
everything,’ Gran said kindly. ‘As I said earlier; it is well overdue for you
to hear the truth. Your Mum thought she was doing the right thing by keeping it
from you girls and we all went along with her wishes, but believe me when I say
there have been many debates and disagreements over the years to say the
least.’ Gran sighed deeply. ‘But please don’t blame
Mum for her decision, she thought it was the right thing to do.
‘But if I’m an animal whisperer like you say, how come I haven’t heard animals talk to me before?’ asked Emma.
‘It was certainly very hard to try and
keep animals away from you. It was one thing making you believe Mum was
allergic to them so you couldn’t have any pets, but it was far trickier outside
of the home. It was much easier when your Dad was around of course,’ said Gran.
‘Easier, in what way?’ asked Emma.
‘Well, your Dad also has a gift. In fact
we all have. But I will tell you more
about that later. Your Dad’s
gift is; he can protect people around him. He can divert things away and that’s
what he’s been doing
for years, not only for you girls but all of us,’ Gran paused for a moment.
‘The only time in your lives
he hasn’t been able to protect you was when he was lost in the other world for four years.’
‘But how did you stop the animals talking
to me?’ Emma asked Dad.
‘I’m not sure really, I just picture in my
mind’s eye what I would like to happen, like an animal change
direction away from you, and then it just happens,’ said Dad. ‘Mind you, when I
wasn’t there, I believe there were a few close calls. I’m not sure if you will
remember though.’
Emma thought for a few moments. Her memory
reverted back to a scene where she, Grace and Mum were in the park. She was
only six years old and Grace was a baby in her stroller. There they were,
sitting on the park bench, eating their lunch when all of a sudden she heard a
voice coming from behind her:
‘Grr I will get you,’ said the gruff
voice. Emma had turned around to see a woman holding back her dog and trying to
stop it going after a little grey squirrel, who was now panicking and darting
all over the place.
Suddenly, the squirrel squeaked; ‘leave me alone’ and jumped up, biting
the lady’s finger by mistake instead of the dog, before darting off into the trees.
‘Mummy, that squirrel has just shouted at
the dog and bitten that lady’s finger,’ Emma had said. She
remembered the horrified look on Mum’s face before she quickly blurted out that
it was probably the lady that shouted and not the squirrel. Mum insisted that
squirrels don’t talk to people. They
had soon packed up their picnic and rushed off, leaving the lady nursing her
sore finger and the dog still barking up the tree the squirrel had disappeared
into: ‘Come back you, come back.’ They
never did return to the park after that. Emma turned towards her Dad.
‘But if I can hear animals talk why didn’t
Ceber talk to me all of the time?’ said Emma. Ceber, was the strange, purple coloured
dog who belonged to Herman the gardener and Olga the housekeeper.
‘Ceber is what we call, of the magic world,
and he is much more tuned into things
than most animals. He was asked not
to speak to you, as it was against your Mum’s wishes. But like I said, over
this last year she has softened to the whole idea of the crystal waters and travelling
to the other worlds, so now it’s her choice to tell you everything,’ said Gran.
‘I said to your Mum last year when you both discovered about the magic crystals
and the ancient lands, and taken it
all so well, it was time to tell you all the rest. I guess she was just trying
to find the courage to tell you properly.’
‘So that’s why you’ve been on edge most of
this year,’ said Grace to Mum. ‘You’ve been building up to tell us, haven’t
you?’
‘Yes,’ said Mum sheepishly. ‘I knew I had
to make that decision. But even now, when I wanted to tell you myself I couldn’t find the right words
to say. Gran here is obviously a braver woman than I am and, in the end, has
now told you the untold truth that I never could.’ Mum hung her head in shame
and looked down at her fluffy white slippers. Dad, who stood behind her, put
his hand on her shoulder.
‘I admit, when Gran told us, I was shocked
and really quite hurt, but Grace seems to have taken it in her stride, better
than I have, and maybe I should take a leaf from her book and be a bit more
mature about things. Besides, Grace said being different makes us special,’
said Emma as she reached out and put her hand over Mum’s and gave it a little
squeeze.
Mum looked up, put her arms around her daughter
and kissed her on her cheek. ‘Thank you,’ she said gently in Emma’s ear.
‘So tell us Gran, you said earlier that
you had given us all our gifts. How on earth did you do that?’ asked Grace. Gran took a sip of her now lukewarm tea
and looked at them all.
‘I suppose I should start at the very
beginning,’ she began. ‘As you know the crystals and the secret doorway to the
ancient worlds has been used by my family for centuries. The story goes, that
long ago these magic crystals were given to my family by a wizard who lived in
a nearby village. The wizard chose my great, great, great grandmother and singled
her out because she was very special you
see, and he felt before he went into the hills, never to be seen again, he
would pass on to her his bag of magic crystals. ’
‘Why was she so special Gran?’ asked Emma.
‘Well, my great, great, great grandmother’s
mother was a Faerie. She fell in love with a mortal man and against her
family’s wishes she had turned herself into a fully-sized human and the couple
were married and had a baby within the year. Of course because of this the
magic, that lies deep within us, is still there, and I am capable of small
magic tasks, with the aid of the magic crystals. As you now know, Grace has a
photographic memory, Emma is an animal whisperer and Dad was given the gift of
the protector,’ said Gran.
‘But what about everyone else?’ asked
Grace quickly.
Gran smiled at her. ‘Your Mum can jump up
very high and extremely far, a very good trick to get
away from danger.’ Gran looked over to Mum. ‘But I don’t think that it’s been
used much really. I do remember telling
you to tone it down quite a bit though when you were winning loads of gold
medals at school for the long and high jump,’ chuckled Gran and was relieved to
see even Mum had a smile on her face now.
‘So what can you do Gran?’ joined in Emma.
‘I thought you’d never ask,’ smiled Gran.
And with that, she started to rise slowly off the floor. She then whooshed off
above their heads and circled around the large crystal chandelier before
landing back near her armchair beside the fireplace.
‘Wow! You can fly,’ both the girls gasped at once.
Suddenly, Robert, the cook’s son, came
bursting through the lounge door. ‘Have you told them yet?’ he said
breathlessly.
‘Yes
Robert, I’ve told them and I was just
coming to you,’ said Gran with a smile.
‘So can I show them what I can do,’ he
said excitedly.
‘I don’t think I’d be able to stop you
even if I wanted to,’ chuckled Gran.
The girls, both intrigued turned towards
him, but he was gone.
‘Does he turn invisible?’ whispered Emma.
‘No I don’t,’ said a small voice from the
side of them. They span around to see a small monkey launching himself from the
armrest and cheekily landing on Emma’s lap. He quickly snatched her black
hairband from her head, put it between his teeth and leapt swiftly over to the
mantelpiece.
‘Give it back Robert,’ giggled Gran.
‘Is . . . that . . . Robert?’ stammered Emma, looking quite flabbergasted. She then
started to laugh.
‘Well that would explain why you smell
like a baboon’s bottom all the time
if you turn into a monkey,’ she laughed loudly and looked at Grace who was now
sniggering too.
Robert leapt from the mantelpiece, still
with Emma’s hairband between his teeth and in mid-jump he transformed into a
huge tiger. ‘It’s not the only animal I can change into,’ his voice grumbled loudly,
as he dropped the hairband gently into the lap of the now wide-eyed and stunned
Emma.
Before anyone could blink, Sheila the cook
appeared at Robert’s side as if she had popped out of the air itself, and she
had hold of his furry tiger ear tightly.
‘What have I told you about scaring people
hmmm? Change back now and you can say sorry to everyone for showing off,’ said
Sheila firmly. Robert
soon morphed back to his normal self and mumbled a quick ‘Sorry’ before he
trudged out of the room.
Sheila, in a flash whizzed over to Gran’s
now cold tea, picked up the cup and saucer and dashed from the room. She moved
so fast that the girls only saw a brief glimpse of her as the lounge door shut
behind her. Emma looked at Grace and smiled. ‘Sheila
has the gift of speed,’ she said and Grace nodded back in agreement.
A voice behind them made the girls jump
slightly as they had totally forgotten their Grandad was there, he had not
spoken the whole time.
‘I think we should let the girls know
about our guests upstairs now, don’t you think,’ he said in a rich
deep voice. ‘Strike while the iron’s hot, so to speak,’ he chortled.
‘Yes, you’re right, come on girls I want
you to meet a few people upstairs,’ said Gran holding out her
hand to them.
Both Gran and Mum led the girls to the
main staircase and the men followed behind. The girls were intrigued who they
might find up there but it didn’t stop them asking on the way what Herman, Olga
and Ceber’s gifts were.
‘Well, said Gran as she slowly climbed the
stairs. ‘Last year I think you saw Herman had superhuman-like strength, which
of course is his gift. Ceber, I granted the wish of an extra-long life as dogs
don’t usually live as long as humans. And Olga, I gave to her the gift of
song.’
‘Do you mean she can sing beautifully then
Gran?’ asked Grace.
‘Yes, but not only that, when she sings it
can have an effect on whoever she sings to. She can either entice or repel
someone, depending on which song she chooses, or she can send you off to
sleep,’ said Gran with a smile. ‘You never
had trouble when you were young children going off to sleep when Olga took you
to bed. She would always sing to you as she tucked you in at night.’
Emma looked behind her and saw Dad and
Grandad coming up the stairs behind, both deep in conversation.
It was strange seeing her Grandad in the flesh, so to speak, and not in a photo
as she had always known; grandad had disappeared a year before she was born,
fifteen years ago. She guessed it would take some time before she and Grace
knew him better.
She remembered last summer when she had
first met him; he came tumbling through the magic doorway down in the cellar,
from the ancient world of Canada. She took another sneaky look back at him. His
appearance had most certainly changed since then; the once straggly hair was
now cut into a neat style, and the scruffy beard was now a cleanly shaven chin.
His dirty dishevelled clothing, back then, was now clean and rather smart and
the most noticeable of all in his new appearance was that he now had teeth.
On the second floor, they came to a
hallway of doors. They went down past Mum and Dad’s bedroom and stopped outside
the guest room door.
‘I’ll go in first,’ said Bill. ‘Wait here
a minute.’ And with that, he went in and closed the door behind him.
While they waited Emma’s thoughts returned
to last summer; she remembered that Grandad had not been the only one that had
fallen through the open doorway that day. There had been another man who looked
like a Native American Indian and he had been attacking Grandad with his
dagger. If Emma hadn’t thought quickly and smashed the Indian man over the head
with a nearby wine bottle, Grandad would have truly been killed.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Grandad
opening the door to tell them to come in. Both girls gasped loudly and nearly fell
over with fright, when they saw what was inside the room. For over on the far
side, standing beside the large sashed window, was the very same Native American Indian that had
tried to kill Grandad last summer.
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