Leyla's Locket

Rainbow - Chapter One

Leyla's Locket
Chapter One
Paige Jackson


Seraphinus Ulric lay in bed staring moodily at the ceiling. Last week her father had informed the family they would be moving yet again. Her father worked for the BlueBay Jean Company. His job was to travel the country, moving from one small town to another, paving the way for new factories to be built. Once the factory was under construction, they were off to the next town. Seraphinus had yet to finish one year at the same school she started at. This move was the worst. Her twelfth birthday was a few weeks away and this would have been her first chance to have a party with people she'd known for more than 5 months.

She was furious with her family - her father for making her move so much, and her mother for not being able to make her father understand how hard this life was on her. Tossing and turning did not seem to be helping her release any tension, if anything she was getting more frustrated by the second. She was lying on top of her mattress in a sleeping bag because everything had been packed in preparation for the move tomorrow. As a result of her restlessness, she was now hopelessly entangled. Wriggling like an eel she managed to loosen an arm enough to unzip the bag, breathing a sigh of relief as her limbs regained feeling.

"Bother," she muttered as she sat up in bed, "Why can't I have a normal family like everyone else? I swear, when I'm old enough, I'm going to buy a house and never move again!"

The pizza she'd eaten earlier was a hard lump in her stomach and lying down was giving her an acidic taste in the back of her throat. She groaned and got out of bed, stomping over and sitting at her vanity. Despondently she stared at the reflection of the window in the mirror wishing she could crawl through into another world. Trying to calm herself she grabbed her camel-back hairbrush and ran it through her long red curls.

"The biggest problem with small towns is that everybody knows everyone else," she snapped at her reflection, "and has since birth. I'm an outsider from the start. It takes more work to be accepted into a small town and I know I won't be there for very long, so why bother?" Seraphinus was now incensed, the hairbrush flying along at inhuman speed.

"Honestly, I get so tired of leaving," she finished wearily, the hairbrush frozen in place. "From now on I'm not going to even attempt to make friends. That way it won't hurt when I have to move again. When Maria and Lacie come to see me off in the morning, I'll make a pact with them to keep in touch. For once I'm going to keep the friends I've made."

Feeling a bit better now that she had decided to take control of the situation in the only way she could, Seraphinus put the hairbrush down and walked over to the bed. She lay back down and zipped herself into the sleeping bag. Snuggling into the pillow she closed her eyes, and was asleep within seconds.

***

Thick, black smoke was spreading through the room. Cressida rolled out of bed, flinching as she hit the floor, expecting it to be cold on her bare feet. It was not cold and looking down she saw she was fully dressed, right down to some dark work boots. The room was black as tar without even a glimmer of light to aid her. The air was growing warm and she crawled across the floor, staying just under the sooty cloud.

Disoriented, but trusting to instinct, she crawled in the direction she thought her door would be. Though it felt like an hour had passed, she had still not found the door, or a wall, or any piece of furniture. The room had grown so hot that she was beginning to have trouble breathing, each breath tasted like ashes and burned in her lungs. She crawled faster now, desperately searching for a way out. Sucking harder, she kept trying to breathe in, not getting enough oxygen. Frantically she inhaled, her body rebelling at the molten air that seared her throat. She saw movement to her left, whirled in that direction, and screamed.

Cressida woke with a start, tears streaming down her face and gasping for breath. Rolling out of bed, she flinched as her feet landed on the cold hardwood floor. She threw on her robe and padded downstairs to the kitchen. Still breathing heavily, she made herself a cup of hot tea with honey and then went back upstairs to the library. Entering the room brought an instant calm to Cressida. This was, by far, her favorite room of the house. Built-in bookshelves that stretched to the ceiling, filled to bursting with every sort of book imaginable, lined three walls of the oversized room. The fourth wall was split down the middle by a huge fireplace with enormous bay windows on either side lined with cushioned benches.

She made her way over to one of the benches and curled up with her tea. The room was a little chilly, and with a flick of her finger Cressida lit the fireplace. As the warmth spread towards her she leaned against the window, staring out into the darkness, lost in her thoughts.

It had been almost 15 years since the night of the attack. Her parents had left her enough money to clear the remains of the old house, and build this new one. Her Uncle Weldon, while not actually a blood relative, had lived up to his title by caring for her as if she were his own. He still remained her closest friend and advisor, and she turned to him often for insight.

Once this house had stood at the very edge of town, but the little town of Santa Angela had grown so much that she was now in the middle of a suburb. Over the years she had sold most of her family's land until all that remained were the acre of land her house was on, and the 25 acres directly behind it. The house rested on a hilltop that was the end of a cul-de-sac, with paved streets, streetlights, and twice-a-week trash pickup. Houses had sprung up all down the road until finally they had reached her land. She sighed in annoyance as she looked down at the house that had just been built next door. At one time she had looked out across miles of land, where now she could see city lights everywhere. She also had a bird's eye view of the barren backyard next door that had just been fenced in today.

Since the attack Cressida had devoted every waking moment to researching the Rainbow Quest and to identifying her family's killer. She had traveled the world, reading every book and scroll she could find, and was still no closer to an answer. The murderer of her family had never been caught, and no clue had been left as to his identity. For this reason Cressida was afraid to specifically ask some people about the quest because she didn't know who to trust. This meant she had to do all her research alone, and in person. The only other people she spoke to about the quest were Weldon and a few others of her parent's very close friends. Weldon knew it was something her father had been working on, but not any of the details.

Finally, last week, she had stumbled on a scroll at an Indian reservation in Oklahoma on a tip from an old friend, Doris Dalhopper. The scroll had been maddeningly vague, with obscure references to the "Test of Good". It had stated that for every generation that a force of good didn't complete the Rainbow Quest, the forces of darkness would grow stronger. It also warned that if there was ever a time Good failed to complete the quest four generations in a row, the scales of balance would fail and Evil would inherit the earth. As for the quest itself, all there had been was a poem:

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green and Blue
There’s Indigo and Violet too
Each color has a power’s part
Mastering seven is but a start
The key is power number eight
Obtaining it is up to fate
In order to acquire this last
A final test you must pass
Pure of soul and brave of heart
Love’s the key to the final part
Solve this riddle, pass this test
And you’ll complete the Rainbow Quest


She had copied the poem into her notes and had read it so often she could recite it from memory. After all that she was no closer to its meaning than before. She drained the last of the tea, set the cup aside, and drug herself off the bench. She stepped in front of the fireplace, basking in the glow as she released her negative energy into the flames. It took longer than usual because she was now to the point of considering the lack of available information as a personal failure. She closed her eyes and thought the fire out. On her way back to her room she couldn't help but wish once more that her father had left her some kind of information or clues about this quest.

***

The next morning dawned cloudy and gray which, despite her resolution of the night before, matched Seraphinus' mood perfectly. Gwen Ulric was pacing around the house nervously, adding boxes to the pile the Ulric's would be personally carrying to their new destination. Galen Ulric was standing in the front drive, alternating between staring down the road and consulting his watch. The moving truck was late. Seraphinus was sitting at the kitchen table, poking aimlessly at the soggy cereal floating in the make-shift bowl the box folded out into.

Galen poked his head in the kitchen, smiled at his wife and daughter, pointed at his watch and shook his head. "I hope they get here soon, it looks like the sky is about to open up and drop the bottom out. I'd really like to get our stuff loaded before the rain hits."

"I'm sure they'll be here soon, Dear. Sera, why don't you help your father start loading the van? At least we can get ours loaded and get it out of the way of the movers."

Sera scraped her chair back and walked over to pick up one of the boxes. Her shoulders slumped, her head hung low as she shuffled dejectedly out of the room without saying a word. Walking out front with the box, Sera looked around the neighborhood. She was hoping her friends were coming to see her off, but the street was deserted. Sorrow turned to anger as Sera loaded the box into the van.

“They didn’t even come to see me off. I can’t believe it. I’m moving and I might not ever see them again, and they don’t have time for me? Maybe it’s a good thing we’re moving. In fact, I know it is.”

She paced up and down the drive, muttering furiously. Her steps slowed as her rage burned out, leaving her feeling emotionally exhausted and somewhat numb. “Someday I’ll finally find a place I belong, where I’m comfortable and settled. I just have to believe that.” With one last look down the street Sera walked back in the house, determined to get this move over as quickly as possible.

As she entered the hall she heard her parents talking in the kitchen. Without thinking she slowed as she approached the door and saw how serious her mom looked. She sensed her parents had been talking about her and she edged closer to the door, shamelessly eavesdropping. Her mom was speaking again, and what Sera heard weakened her knees and sent a flush of excitement roaring through her body.

Gwen faced her husband, worry-lines creasing her forehead and hands nervously wringing a dish towel. "This one has been really hard on her Galen. I've never seen her stay this upset for so long. Couldn't we go ahead and tell her you're going to try and make Santa Angela a permanent post?"

"We've already discussed this. I don't want to tell her until I know for sure. There's no sense getting her hopes up. If it doesn't work out it would break her heart. I know how hard this is on both of you, but hang in there for just a little while longer, Love. You two are really going to like West Texas, I promise."

Sera slipped away from the door, backtracking to the front of the house. She slammed the door on purpose and raced up the hallway, making as much noise as possible. Determined to keep up the appearance of being in a bad mood so her parents wouldn’t become suspicious, she sulked as she entered the kitchen, grabbing another box and leaving quickly. Sera was having a hard time hiding her feelings about what she had overheard. She felt like she was about to explode from the torrential emotions surging through her. Excited beyond compare at the thought of finally living in one place permanently, her father’s warning repeated in her mind – if it doesn’t work out it will break her heart.

The next hour passed quickly as the three Ulric's loaded their van to bursting, barely leaving enough room for them to sit. They had just settled back at the kitchen table with glasses of water when they heard a low rumble in the distance. Much to their relief, the rumble was the moving truck arriving and not rain. By 2 o'clock their house was empty. They made one last sweep of the interior as the moving truck pulled away.

By the time they packed themselves into their van, Sera felt it was okay to pretend that her natural good humor had returned. Her relieved parents decided a treat was in order and stopped for ice cream on the way out of town. As their van turned onto the highway, the first drops of rain pelted the windshield.







What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
- unknown