Excerpt #2
An excerpt from a book I have written. Please read it and tell me what you think:
From where Ophelia hid, beads of cold sweat began to form on her temple. She had no idea she would be in such grave danger and was grateful to her instincts for instructing her to hide.
The people in the same room with her were none other than the arsonists who had caused the fire that had destroyed her family. As she struggled to remain perfectly still, various emotions swelled within her, fear, hatred, despair, and now, most unexpectedly, hope. Was she to believe that her younger brother was alive? Her mind whirred from the possibility of seeing her brother again but she checked herself, he was also a key player in their evil scheme. She had no idea what he was like now.
‘Benjamin, I see you’re in your right mind today’ the female voice greeted cheerily.
Ophelia nearly gasped at the name. She knew a Benjamin but surely it couldn’t be the same one. With everything that’s been happening around the library, surely it couldn’t be.
‘Suzanne, I don’t know what you stand to gain from your silly games’ He answered, not bothering to conceal his irritation.
‘I’m sorry I scared your girlfriend, but I did it for you. A major psychological shock was necessary to unblock your mind, making the process of memory reactivation easy. If you remember, it was your idea for her to tag along in the first place’ She spoke with a suppressed snicker, like she was having the time of her life.
‘And the poor man you killed in the process, George?’ He asked in annoyance.
‘Collateral damage’ came her slurred reply.
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‘Benjamin, you see, these… unique ethical concerns of yours are the very reason I had to do what I did to your mind. Now, where are your manners? You’re talking to the princess of the blue Portal’s rebellion. Don’t overstep just because you were put in charge of this assignment’ His father sternly rebuked him.
‘Of course, how could I be so rude?’ he remarked with little remorse.
‘If you’re both done with the pleasantries, we can get started on the reason we all came here.’ Benjamin managed to say through his boiling anger.
‘Alright,’ the lady agreed. Ophelia wasn’t sure what happened next but after many moments of utter silence, the lady suddenly spoke up.
‘Let’s go. Everything checks out. Benjamin obtains the portal lord’s ability today’ There was a collective sigh of relief then the shuffle of footsteps. Ophelia listened intently until they were out of earshot then waited for a while in fear. After several minutes had passed she got out of her hiding place slowly.
Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest when she saw a young faerie woman squatting, watching her emerge from her hiding spot. She fled, but the woman — Ophelia was sure she was Suzanne — didn’t pursue her. Instead, she counted down from ten. Ophelia ran frantically, her heart beating erratically while she tried to identify the path back home in her panic.
‘Zero’ Suzanne was done counting, and Ophelia heard the sound of fluttering wings.
‘No, no, no’ She panicked, she had never learnt to fly, Pearl stopped giving her lessons and focused more on the journals. Ophelia, on her part, never asked for any more flying lessons because she nearly got a heart attack from the first one.
It is amazing what one can do when one has to. Ophelia felt herself fluttering wings she didn’t even realize were there, she fluttered and flapped until she was hovering clumsily in the air, she had to learn as she went. Ophelia flew as fast as she could through the woods that surrounded what was once her home. Her only advantage was that she was more familiar with the terrain. She reached the river first and began trying to enter the portal there. She streamlined her body and dived into it only to find herself completely soaked and still outside the portal.
‘Not now’ fear rose in her as she rightly suspected that Suzanne was not too far off. Her mind worked as fast as it could and she speedingly hid herself.
When Suzanne arrived at the stream, all indicators showed that Ophelia had entered the portal so Suzanne, knowing she could not follow, left to rejoin the others. Once again, Ophelia emerged from hiding and went home as fast as possible to ask for help. Something big was about to happen.
You can get the book here.
