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First book in a series about 8 teens who find stones allowing them to control nature. |
| Chapter 1 The Stones Bobby shot up in his bed as the thunder roared outside his second story bedroom window. He pulled his sheets away from his body and walked over to his bedroom windows and pulled them up. He turned and faced his windows after pulling them up and found himself staring straight into the eyes of a woman covered in dark clothes standing on a tree branch. Bobby slowly took a few steps back from the window. He began to turn to run to get the phone when the woman, almost fifteen feet away jumped through his window and into his room. Bobby fell to the floor to grab the bat he hid under his bed but as he lifted the sheets, he saw a pair of dark gleaming eyes staring back at him. Bobby heard a snarl and he immediately jumped back from his bed. Immediately after, a large black panther walked out from underneath the bed and stood beside the woman that leaped through the window. Bobby turned to look at them both and noticed that the woman was wearing a cloak made of animal fur and underneath it rags of fur looking noticeably like a bikini. As he looked past her chest, he saw a necklace with a stone being held at the bottom of a seemingly clear grey color. She lowered her hood revealing her tan skin and her grey eyes stared piercingly at Bobby. “Who are you?” Bobby demanded of the strange woman. She gave him a look of sorrow and said, “That is no matter. Now, come. We must make haste. The new moon will only last a little bit longer. We must go.” She turned her body and leapt out of the window onto the tree and began to climb down it. The black panther continued to stare at Bobby and then leaped from the window onto the tree as well. Bobby walked over to his window and looked down. He walked onto the room of his house outside his room. He walked over to the edge and climbed down some vines landing safely on the ground. Bobby slowly walked over in his pajamas to the woman. As he approached her, she said looking up at the house next door. “I just need one more person to come with me. If I am correct, she lives in that room,” said the woman pointing at the room closest to Bobby’s house on the first floor next door. “Wait,” said Bobby, “You want Stephanie to come too?” The woman ignored him and walked straight over to Stephanie’s room. Bobby started to walk over to her in order to stop her from getting Stephanie involved, but as he did, the panther jumped in his way and bared its teeth causing Bobby to stop dead in his path. The woman lifted her hand when she reached Stephanie’s window and it suddenly shattered after the stone around her neck glowed. She simply walked into the room and in about two minutes, Stephanie was following her outside. Stephanie turned her head and immediately caught sight of Bobby. She ran over to him and Bobby ran towards her. “She didn’t hurt you did she?” asked Bobby pulling Stephanie tightly towards him. Stephanie took a step back and brushing her black hair aside from her tan face said, “No, I just had a strange feeling telling me to follow her and that she is trustworthy.” “Well, I don’t want to take any chances, stay close to me,” instructed Bobby. “Come now,” said the woman pulling her hood back over her head and turning her back to them, “We must go deep into the forest.” The woman began to walk into the forest behind their houses and the panther began to follow. “Do you really think she is trustworthy?” asked Bobby to Stephanie staring at her with his light blue eyes. She looked back with her beautiful brown eyes and said, “My heart tells me to follow her.” Bobby nodded and led Stephanie after the woman and her panther. As they entered the forest, it suddenly began to pour rain. The woman began to quicken her pace as she stepped barefooted through the forest with relative ease. Bobby and Stephanie began to run in order to keep up and after about two minutes, the woman stopped. They quickly ran to her side and caught a glimpse of what they were looking at. They had reached a lake in the middle of the forest and in the middle of the lake, they saw shining from the bottom two stones. One was clear amber sending gold reflections everywhere and the other was completely clear sending the reflections of the lightning bolts outside around the lake. Without moving her face from the stones, Stephanie asked the woman, “What are they?” The lady turned her head and looked at Stephanie. She said, “We have little time left. The new moon is almost finished and I must leave. All I can tell you is that those two stones belong to you. Go into the water and retrieve them. After that, you must return home otherwise things will quickly take turn for the worse.” Bobby turned to look at her as if she was crazy, but the woman turned her body away from them and leaped into the trees of the forest. She began to leap from tree to tree in the forest, until she was out of sight. The panther immediately took off after her and quickly disappeared in the darkness of the forest. “I guess we have to swim to get them,” said Bobby stepping slowly into the lake. Stephanie followed after him and together they slowly swam towards the two shining stones. As they approached the center of the lake, the water began to become shallower and they eventually were able to walk directly to the stones. Bobby bent over to pick up the clear stone and Stephanie grabbed the amber one. After the stones were picked up, they both emitted a bright light of their color causing Bobby and Stephanie to shield their eyes. When the lights faded, they looked down and saw shining in the water, two necklaces with clasps of some sort on them. The lifted them up and inspected them. “Maybe the stones go inside of them. I looked at that woman and she had a grey stone inside a clasp like these,” stated Bobby. Stephanie put the necklace she grabbed around her neck. She lifted the clasp and placed the amber stone within it. The clasp immediately closed around the stone holding it in place. Stephanie let go of it and it hung limp around her neck. Bobby watched what she was doing and did the same. Bobby placed the clear stone within the clasp, and it shut immediately. He moved his fingers out of the way and one of the pieces of the clasp cut his index finger causing him to start bleeding. “Oh this sucks,” said Bobby looking at his cut, “Well, I think we are supposed to head back now.” “That is what the lady said,” agreed Stephanie. They began to head back into the deep part of the lake to reach the shore. They swam slowly without saying a word. Bobby suddenly looked to his left and saw a small splash of water causing the water to ripple towards him. “Whoa, I think there is something in the water,” said Bobby to Stephanie, “Let’s get out of here.” They tried to swim as fast as they could, but suddenly an alligator floated up in front of them and opened its mouth as if about to attack Bobby. The alligator lunged towards Bobby and as it did, Stephanie shouted, “No! Don’t touch him! Leave us alone!” Immediately, the color of the water began to change into an amber color. Stephanie glimpsed at her stone and noticed that is where the light was coming from. The alligator suddenly closed its mouth and dropped into the water missing Bobby’s face by inches. The gator swam to the surface of the water and began to swim to the opposite side of the lake. Stephanie’s stone stopped glowing after the alligator fell into the water. Bobby wasted no time and started swimming for the water’s edge. Stephanie was close behind him, and stepped out of the water after him. “That was strange,” said Stephanie pondering something. “Yea, I almost got killed by an alligator! That definitely counts as strange!” shouted Bobby still in shock. Stephanie grabbed her stone and started inspecting it. “No, that is not what I meant. When the alligator was going to attack you, I told it to leave us alone. Then my stone glowed and it swam away without even touching us,” explained Stephanie. Bobby turned his head over towards her and said, “Wait, what are you trying to say? Are you telling me that the alligator listened to you and swam away because of the stone?” “I don’t know what to say, but that is the only thing that seems to make sense. It is just that with all the weird stuff that has been happening tonight, it could actually be true. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t know there was a lake here,” explained Stephanie. “Well, let’s just head back anyway. You never know if that alligator is going to change its mind,” said Bobby beginning to walk with Stephanie close by, “Your stone might be able to control animals, but what does mine do? And above all, how do I know that this isn’t all a dream. Let’s just head back home and go to bed. Then we will talk tomorrow and see if it is all real.” Stephanie looked over at him and said, “It sure feels real to me.” Bobby didn’t look back at her or respond to what she said. He just continued to walk back to his house. The rest of the walk back, they were silent until they reached the edge of the forest. “Well, I think I’ll call it a night. I will see you tomorrow,” said Bobby to Stephanie. Stephanie brushed her hair away from her face and said, “Good night. We will talk tomorrow morning before school. Remember, we start tomorrow in a completely new school.” They both walked to their rooms and crawled in through their windows and fell asleep in their beds. The next morning, Bobby woke up and immediately walked over to his windows. He was really surprised because the windows were fine. They were perfectly intact. “Wow, I can’t believe that was a dream. It felt so real,” said Bobby to himself. He quickly went downstairs, ate breakfast, and got dressed for school. Bobby left his house and immediately walked to Stephanie’s house, that way, they could walk to the bus stop together. When Bobby arrived, Stephanie was already waiting in front of her house. Bobby looked at her and instantly noticed the necklace she had on around her neck. It was the one from the dream he had, or so he thought it was a dream. He stopped and checked to see if he was wearing the necklace he got too. Under his shirt, he noticed that he was wearing his necklace with its clear stone. Stephanie began to run to Bobby. “It wasn’t a dream! It wasn’t a dream!” she shouted. Bobby looked at her completely dumfounded. He must’ve not noticed the necklace as he was getting dressed because he was so tired, but he was shocked nonetheless. “So have you checked to see if your stone controls animals like you thought?” asked Bobby curiously. “I hadn’t thought about trying it out, but if it controls animals then I guess that the red-tailed hawk up on top of the telephone pole will come down if I call it,” said Stephanie. She held out her arm and said to the hawk, “Red-tailed hawk, swoop down and land on my arm.” As Stephanie said this, Bobby looked down at her stone and it began to glow an amber color again. Bobby then twisted his neck over towards the telephone pole and watched as the red-tailed hawk swooped down onto Stephanie’s tan arm. When the hawk landed, it squeezed tightly around Stephanie’s arm with its talons causing blood to be drawn. Stephanie cringed, but smiled at Bobby with her gentle brown eyes and said, “It worked.” She turned and began to admire the hawk. “Steph, I think we got to get to the bus soon,” said Bobby staring at Stephanie with his intense light blue eyes. “OK, let’s go,” said Stephanie. Then looking at the hawk she said, “You can leave me now, but try and stay close to my house.” She walked over to Bobby and together they walked over to the bus stop and got on the bus on the way to school. After a ten minute drive, the bus finally reached the school. Above the main entrance, there was a sign that read, “Greenwood Senior High School”. Stephanie looked over at Bobby with a bit of worry in her eyes. Bobby looked back at her and grabbed her hand saying, “Don’t worry Stephanie, we’ll be fine. I am sure there are plenty of other sophomores just like us. We shouldn’t stick out too easily. We’re supposed to get our schedules in homeroom, so I will see you in the hallways and we can see which classes we have together.” Bobby headed off in the direction of his homeroom. He finally reached his homeroom in C21 and sat down next to a random guy with curly brown hair and tan skin. The guy turned around to face Bobby and said, “Hey. You weren’t in my homeroom freshmen year. You must be new. I’m Nick.” Bobby extended his hand and introduced himself. Morning announcements started and soon the bell rang. Bobby headed off for his first class, Life Management, in which he met an avid baseball fan, Jonathan. They talked for most of the class and quickly became friends. After that class ended, Bobby headed to his Chemistry class in the D building. Sitting behind him was a guy named Andrew whom Bobby was sure to become the class clown. The teacher quickly introduced herself and told them what they needed for her class. The bell rang again and Bobby headed for his Spanish class. There he met up with an Irish dancer named Patty. Patty was also captain of the cheerleading squad. Bobby couldn’t help but feel attracted to her beautiful green eyes and her light orange hair. The teacher, Ms Pereira, soon dismissed the class and Bobby headed for his English class where he finally met up with Stephanie. “How’s your day been?” asked Bobby to Stephanie sitting down in the seat next to her. She looked at him with a big smile and said, “Awesome! This stone really works; I was able to get some ants in my history class to walk in circles around the teacher’s feet. It was really funny!” Bobby had completely forgotten about his stone. “That’s right, but I was asking how you were doing in your classes and meeting people.” “Oh that’s right! The day’s been pretty good. Met some interesting people in my classes; they were all pretty cool. I’ve made a few friends already. How about you? Have you found out what your stone does?” asked Stephanie. “OK class. If you would now take your seats, I would really appreciate it,” said the teacher walking over to his desk. Bobby and Stephanie sat down and tried to stay quiet during the class, but couldn’t help talking to each other. After that class ended, they headed over to lunch and surprisingly, all the people they had been meeting throughout the day sat together at lunch. “Well this is good news,” said Bobby to Stephanie, “Everyone I met is sitting right here.” Stephanie looked over at him in awe and said, “Really? I am getting some major déjà vu here. Those are the same people I have been meeting too.” “Bobby! Stephanie! Come sit over here!” called Patty waving her arm. Bobby led Stephanie to the table Patty was sitting at and sat next to Nick. “Bobby, have you met everyone here at the table?” asked Patty with an unusually big grin on her face. “Yea, I’ve pretty much met everyone except for those two girls over there,” said Bobby pointing to a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes similar to his and to another girl with charcoal black hair and brown eyes. “Oh,” said Patty in an excited manner, “Jessica, Kemelly! I want you to meet my new friend Bobby. He’s in my Spanish class.” The two girls stood up and walked over to Bobby and introduced themselves. The girl with the blonde hair and blue eyes gave him a kiss hello and said, “Hi, I’m Jessica.” She looked over at Stephanie and asked, “Stephanie, is this the guy you were talking about. The one you moved here with?” Stephanie nodded. The other girl interrupted and said, “Well anyway, I’m Kemelly, nice to meet you Bobby. We still have two more class periods left so who knows, I might have you in a class. I already met Stephanie though, we have three classes together.” After having a little bit of small talk, Kemelly walked back to her seat next to Andrew and began to cuddle up with him. Jessica walked back over to her seat in between Patty and Jonathan. They all ate their lunch and got to know each other a little better. The lunch bell rang and Bobby headed off to his geometry class. While waiting outside for his teacher to arrive, he noticed that Jessica was also taking the class and decided to sit next to her. The class passed rather slowly with Bobby and Jessica barely being able to talk. The bell rang again and Bobby left Jessica for his final class of the day, and the hardest. When he walked into the classroom, he noted the heavy scent of vanilla and saw Kemelly sitting smack in the front of the class. He immediately caught her eye and she said, “Oh, I didn’t know you were going to be taking AP European History.” Bobby looked over at her and laughed, “I have no idea why I am here. I hate history.” “Well isn’t that just too bad!” called a voice from the back of the classroom. Bobby and Kemelly both looked over and saw a teacher typing away at her computer wearing hippie clothes. Bobby whispered to Kemelly, “This class is going to suck…” and he sat down behind her. Much like Bobby thought, he hated the class. The teacher gave them half a chapter for homework and the vocabulary due the next day. After the bell rang, Bobby headed over for the bus. Stephanie was already there waiting for him. “How was your day?” asked Bobby. Stephanie nodded, “It was pretty good, but I cannot wait to get back home. We need to find out what your stone does. If mine controls animals, what could yours control?” The thought had completely slipped Bobby’s mind, “That is right. I completely forgot about it. Yea, let’s get home, change and then let’s meet in the backyard. Deal?” Stephanie nodded and agreed. They quickly got off the bus and changed clothes. They met up in front of the forest. “You ready?” asked Bobby. Stephanie smiled showing her beautiful white teeth and said, “Never been more ready in my life.” She immediately looked around and saw two squirrels running around on a tree. She took the opportunity and said, “Hey! You two squirrels, stop fighting and climb up on my shoulders.” Her stone glowed an amber color and the squirrels immediately stopped fighting and climbed down the tree and climbed up Stephanie’s shoulders. “OK, I seriously think that mine controls animals now without a doubt. Now, what does yours control?” thought Stephanie. Bobby began to think as well but the heat of the day did nothing but frustrate him. “It’s so hot!” he said to Stephanie. Then to no one he shouted, “Can we get a breeze over here?!?” Stephanie turned over to look at him and saw that his stone had begun glowing a white color. The wind suddenly picked up relaxing them both. “There we go, that is better,” said Bobby. Stephanie walked over towards him with her two squirrels still on her shoulders and said, “Yea it is. I think I know what your stone now controls.” Bobby looked at her puzzled as she began to explain, “You see, when you started complaining about the heat and asked for a breeze, I looked over at your stone. I don’t know why, but I did and it was glowing a white color like mine glows amber when I command an animal to do something. The wind started to pick up after that.” “So, it looks like I control wind. Let’s give it a try,” said Bobby. He looked over at the tree the squirrels were climbing on and commanded, “Wind, knock this tree over and only this tree.” His stone immediately glowed and the wind began to pick up. The tree started to shake and it eventually began to bend to one side. Stephanie’s brown hair was now flying in all directions. The tree kept bending. It looked like it was about to snap when the roots suddenly gave way and it toppled over. Stephanie looked over at Bobby moving her hair from in front of her eyes and said, “I don’t think we need any more proof than that. Your stone controls wind.” Bobby looked over at her and began to laugh at how unkempt her hair suddenly was. “Shut up Bobby,” ordered Stephanie beginning to laugh, “It’s not funny! Listen, what do you think? Do you think we should show Kemelly and all them what we can do with our stones?” The question caught Bobby’s attention. He began to think and finally decided, “Why don’t we get to know them a little bit better. We can show them after midterms or something. No need to rush anything.” “Sounds good to me,” agreed Stephanie. They waited until the last day before winter break to show what their stones could do. They invited Patty, Nick, Jessica, Andrew, Kemelly, and Jonathan over to celebrate. It was getting late. Everyone was talking outside when a hawk landed on a branch of a tree close to the patio behind Stephanie’s house. “Hey! You guys wanna see something cool?” asked Stephanie to everyone. She continued saying, “You see that hawk up there in the tree branch? Well I’m gonna get him to land on my arm.” “And pigs can fly!” shouted Andrew jokingly. Stephanie ignored it and looked over at the hawk, “You, hawk in the tree, fly down here and land on my arm without hurting me.” Stephanie’s stone glowed and the hawk swooped down and landed on Stephanie’s arm without any damage to her skin. Stephanie turned around and sat down next to Patty with the hawk still on her arm. “WHOA! How did you do that?” asked Patty in complete awe. Bobby answered, “Have you guys noticed how Stephanie and I both have necklaces with stones in them? Well they allow us to control different things. Stephanie’s lets her control animals and mine lets me control the wind. Just watch. Wind, lift the bush on the edge of the forest up from the ground and into the air.” As Bobby said this, his stone glowed and the wind began to pick up. The leaves on the bush began to fly up in the stream of air and eventually the whole bush was sucked up by the wind straight into the air. “Wow, you’ve got to be kidding me,” said Nick in awe. “How did you do that?” asked Kemelly curiously. Bobby looked over at Stephanie and she let the hawk fly off. “Well, you see, our stones must have some type of power that lets us control these parts of nature. We found them out back in the forest and they gave us these powers,” said Bobby. Jonathan’s cell phone suddenly rang. “Oh sorry you guys, I got to go and I am taking Andrew home with me. We’ll see you guys when we get back,” said Jonathan. “Yea, it’s getting late. I think we’re all gonna go home. We’ll talk to you when we get back from break,” said Nick standing up. They all said their good-byes and in about ten minutes, they had all left. Patty was the last one to leave and as she got in the car Stephanie yelled out, “Hope you have an exciting vacation!” |
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