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The story of a girl who travels to another world using a magical knife
(work in progress) |
Knife Cara pressed her nose against the bus window, leaving a wet smudge on the glass. She sighed, remembering her last camping trip. It had been with her grandfather, known to most as simply Uncle Tom. Uncle Tom tended to have fainting spells, although he always laughed them off. Except one day, he never woke up again. Cara sighed again and wiped her eyes, struggling not to cry. The din of the other campers was loud in her ears. This would be a long ride. A few hours later, the bus braked with a loud hiss and the doors opened. Cara brushed a wisp of her auburn hair out of her bright green eyes and clomped down the steps. She felt there was something strange about this place, but she decided it was just her imagination. Cara patted her backpack to make sure her precious package was still there, and then went to collect her bag. As she trudged down the path, Cara looked around at the camp. At the end of the main track was the meeting lodge. Branching off to the left was a path leading to the cabins. Beyond the cabins was the lake, and beyond the lake was the forest. Cara turned and headed to her assigned cabin, Birchwood. A few other girls had already arrived. “Hi,” Cara said nervously. “I’m Cara.” An awkward silence followed. Soon the silence was broken by a girl with long brown hair and brown eyes. “Come on!” she said. “You don’t have to be so shy. Have you been here before? Grab a bunk and get unpacked. I’m so excited about the trek on Friday! Won’t it be fun? We get to stay out in the woods all night and-.” “Slow down, Kris!” Kristin’s gush of words was interrupted by another girl in the cabin. “Hi Cara, I’m Emma. You can just kind of ignore Kristin here…” “HEY!” Cara and Emma laughed. “Anyway.” she continued. “We should probably be getting to the lodge by now.” Kristin plopped her suitcase on the top bunk, right by the window. Kristin, Emma, and Cara all headed off the lodge, laughing and talking like old buddies. Cara sat in the lodge, bored by the long introductory speech. She stared blankly at the log walls. Suddenly, Cara’s vision shifted. She was no longer watching the counselors saying their speeches in the dim light of the lodge. Instead, she saw a female warrior, standing on a stone podium. The sun blazed behind her. Around the podium was a horde of soldiers, fully armed and ready for battle. The warrior seemed desperate, but Cara could not hear anything she was saying. Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the waking dream vanished. Cara was back in the lodge, staring at the blank log walls. “Cara, come on,” Emma was shaking her awake. “The meeting is over. Bored you to sleep, huh?” She laughed. Cara laughed too, but she was secretly worried. This was just like Uncle Tom! He had always told fantastic tales of warriors and magic. Everyone knew he just made them up to entertain the kids, but what is they were actually true? And that fainting spells. “Soon,” Cara murmured. “It will happen to me.” She shuddered at the thought of dying. One minute, she would be perfectly fine. The next, sunk deep in unconsciousness. And the one after that? Dead. Death always scared Cara more than anything. Death was nothing, the unknown. No scientists knew what would come after. No one had ever been to the land of the dead and come back. Death. The black unknown of eternity. Kristin was bursting with curiosity. “What happened?!? You just suddenly slumped over. I was so worried! At first I thought you were asleep. You know how boring these speeches are!” She winked at Emma. “Not to you, though…” “HEY!” “Come on, Emma. We all know how much you like Zach.” “No, we don’t.” Cara interrupted. “Who is he?” “Doesn’t matter, I don’t like him.” “Anyway, I looked over at you, Cara--oh, it was awful!--your eyes were rolled back into your head with just the white showing!” “This is just like Uncle Tom!” Cara gasped. “On the camping trip before…before…he died. “That’s terrible!” Emma cried. Even Kristin was speechless. The friends walked back to their cabin in mournful silence. Luckily, there was some good news back at the cabin. More campers had arrived. “Corey!” Cara shouted. “Cara! Isn’t this so exciting? I’ve never been on a trip like this before.” “I know, I can’t wait until the camping trip!” “That will be awesome.” Emma agreed. Kristin flopped on her bunk. “Do you know if anyone else is coming?” “Well, I know a few of the boys are, although, yeah, I think maybe one more girl. You know, T--.” Corey’s voice was abruptly cut off as the door slammed. “Heeeey peeps…” “Oh great,” Cara muttered. “Tiara!” “Yeeees, you know me. The royal crown, Tiara Antoinette!” Everyone groaned. “What is she doing on a camping trip?” Emma whispered to Cara. She looked at Tiara with an obvious expression of disgust. “Isn’t it obvious?” Cara replied. “Being annoying, like usual.” She and Emma snickered. “What did you say?” Tiara hissed. “I am a direct descendant of the Queen of England. How dare you disrespect me?!?” “Hey, Marie Antoinette wasn’t the Queen of England!” Cara argued. “Yeah,” Corey agreed. “She was the Queen of France! Plus she was executed.” “Beheaded!” Kristin cackled. “Hopefully the same will happen to Tiara.” “You little… You little…” Tiara raged. “Keep in mind I’m taller than you.” Corey added, shaking back her smooth black hair. “Oh, we should probably be going. Looks like it’s almost time for dinner.” She slid off her bunk and landed with a thump. Cara, Kristin, and Emma followed. They left the cabin, and as they walked down the path heard a muffled shout. “Hey! Royalty should get to be higher up! Why am I the only one on a bottom bunk?” Emma chuckled. It was getting dark as the four friends walked back from dinner. “Did you here that?” Emma whispered. “That sounded like a wolf, far away.” Cara grinned slyly at Corey. Corey grinned back, her face glowing green in the light of the flashlight. Suddenly, a “wolf” howl rang through the camp. “My last name isn’t ‘Okami’ for nothing.” Corey said. “I hope that scared some of the ‘royalty’ around here.” They heard a satisfying shriek coming from their cabin. “OH MY GOSH!” Tiara screeched as they came in. “DID YOU HEAR THAT?” “Oh yes, we certainly did.” Corey winked at the others. They all laughed. “It’s getting late,” Emma said. “The counselors will be inspecting soon, so we should get ready. Not that we will be actually going to bed. Obviously” “I love staying up late. We can talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk…” “We get the point, Kristin,” Corey interrupted. There was a loud knock on the door. “WOLVES!” Tiara shrieked. Corey couldn’t resist another howl. There was a yelp from outside. Counselor Roseanne rushed in with a panicked look on her face. Everyone laughed, even Roseanne, after she got over her initial shock. “Very good, girls,” the counselor said. “Now you should go to bed. Tomorrow is sports day. You have to be well rested to beat all those boys at fencing and archery,” Roseanne joked. “Oh yes, we’ll do that,” Corey whispered. “Just wait.” “So, what do we talk about?” Cara asked cheerfully. “SHHH!” “Oops, sorry. Is Tiara asleep yet?” she whispered. “What did you say about me?!?” “I take that as a no.” “I think she’s asleep.” Emma whispered a few minutes later. “Now we can talk.” “Let’s play Truth or Dare!” Kristin suggested. “No! I hate that game!” Corey exclaimed. “I don’t mind it,” Cara said. “As long as I don’t have to answer. I love getting secrets out of people.” “Hey, that’s not fair! You can’t hear our secrets if you don’t tell us yours,” Emma argued. “Yay, we aren’t playing,” Corey said. “Who says?” Kristin challenged. “Me.” “Whatever.” Cara sighed. “Stop arguing. The adults might hear us.” “Fine.” Emma replied. “What do we do now?” “Oh!” Cara exclaimed. “I forgot to show you!” “What? What?” Kristin leaned closer. “Tell us! Tell us! Tell us!” “Okay.” Cara pulled out the package. She ripped off the paper and lifted up the gift. She pulled it out of its leather sheath. The knife shimmered blue and green in the moonlight as Cara slowly turned it back and forth. This was Uncle Tom’s knife! The same ornately jeweled handle and the initials TLH carved into the sheath. “Corey, look!” she exclaimed, but there was no reply. Cara felt strangely distant from the room around her, and she blearily noticed a circle of light floating in the air. Cara reached out a hand to touch it, but could not feel anything. She looked at the circle more closely and saw shadows etched into it. Cara felt the circle again and her hand…disappeared! The circle wasn’t really a circle; it was a hole! Cara pulled at the edges to enlarge it and wriggled through, not knowing what lay on the other side. Kiralei The light almost blinded Cara as she looked around. She seemed to be in some kind of camp. She blinked and realized that this was just like the camp from her vision. Cara quietly walked along the edge of the path, alert for danger. She knew this was a camp of warriors, and her only weapon was the knife. It would be no match for swords and bows. Also, Cara was hesitant to use it after the strange “hole” it had created. She didn’t really understand its power and wanted to know more before she risked doing something dangerous. “Not that this is so safe,” she muttered quietly to herself. “Sneaking through a camp of warriors, wearing pajamas and armed with a freaky little knife. Which could cut through the universe at any moment. I don’t even know if these people are friends or enemies.” Cara walked past the stone podium she had seen in her vision. Most of the buildings were silent, except for the big lodge at the end of the path. There were obviously people in there. Not knowing what else to do, Cara decided to head to the lodge. She noticed a strange clump of black flowers along the side of the path. Cara breathed deeply and carefully opened the tall wooden doors of the lodge. She stepped inside tried to ease the door shut. Unfortunately, it slammed loud enough to be easily heard over the din of the soldiers, eating their…Breakfast? Lunch? Dinner? What time was it here, anyway? Cara started to ask, but before she could speak, she was surrounded by obviously hostile soldiers. They were bristling with weapons, that were aimed at…her. “Who are you?” one soldier growled. “Cara.” Cara’s voice quivered. “Cara Thomasina Hibbing.” “Take her away!” Cara had the vague thought that this seemed just like a book. She had been magically transported to some other world. Now she was going to be locked up. In a book someone would shout, “Wait! You must spare the fair maiden!” or something. Cara almost laughed. Not quite though. This was not a book. “Wait!” a strong voice called out. “What did you say your name was?” A tall woman strode toward Cara. “Did you say you were Cara…Hibbing?” “Yes,” Cara said nervously “Release her!” the woman ordered. She obviously had some authority, because Cara’s captors stopped and grudgingly untied her wrists. “Come with me.” Cara followed the woman down the path and into one of the cabins. It seemed to be one of the larger ones. Apparently this woman was a sort of leader for the group. “Cara, you must leave now! While there is still time!” she demanded after closing the door. “I won’t let it happen to you, too.” “Let what happen to me? Who are you, anyway? Where is this place? What happened to normal stuff?” “Calm down. You don’t need to worry. I just hope you aren’t…never mind.” “You hope I’m not what?” “Nothing. Just leave. Hurry!” “Cara, wake up!” Emma shouted. She tried to shake Cara awake but she was unresponsive. It was almost time for breakfast and everyone was getting worried. Cara was usually an early riser. “Maybe we should go get a counselor,” Corey suggested nervously. “This is so scary! Is she still breathing?” “Yes. Phew!” “What if she is in a coma?” “No! She can’t be! She will probably just wake up any minute.” “Yeah, right.” “Hey, I’m trying to be optimistic. The friends decided to wait a few more minutes before going for help. “I really hope she’s okay.” Cara hid behind a tree to cut a hole back to Earth. The dark hole appeared in the air and she widened it to step through. It was a strange feeling. Cara was seeing the camp, but she could not feel anything and didn’t really seem a part of it. She felt vague and distant as she floated down the path and into the cabin. Cara climbed up into her bunk and shrieked. Her body was lying there, with her friends clustered around. “What happened?” she asked them, but there was not response. “I must be dead!” she realized. She leaned closer to her body, wanting to savor her last moments on Earth. Cara put a hand on her body, and felt herself being sucked in. Time The light from the cabins was almost unbearably bright as Cara opened her eyes. She was back in her own body after her night in Kiralei. “Kai?” she asked, looking up at Corey. “What are you doing here?” “What are you talking about? Kai? Who’s that?” “Oh nothing.” Cara replied. She wasn’t sure if she should tell the others about Kiralei yet. “It must have just been a dream, I guess.” Corey was not convinced, but she didn’t say anything. She knew what had happened to Cara last night. Corey knew about Kai and Kiralei. “Well anyway, we should go have breakfast.” “Breakfast? Already?” Cara exclaimed. “Yeah, it’s like 10 o’clock. Breakfast ends at 10:30.” The friends headed off to breakfast in silence, deep in their own thoughts. Corey was thinking about Kai and how Cara had discovered Kiralei. She wondered how long she would be safe. Emma was just relieved that Cara wasn’t in a coma. Cara was thinking about Kiralei and how much Kai looked like Corey. Kristin was not enjoying the silence and wanted to talk, except she didn’t want to make everyone mad at her for interrupting their thoughts. After breakfast was the beginning of Activity Day, the counselors gave their usual lecture. “Activity Day is just a game. It doesn’t matter if you win or lose as long as you have fun and enjoy trying some new activities.” “Yeah right,” Corey muttered. “That’s what they always say.” “QUIET!” the Counselor Tim shouted. “Thank you. Now, everyone please chose two activities for the day. Slowly walk over here to sign up.” “I want to do archery!” Cara decided. “Fine. As long as we go canoeing too,” Kristin said. Cara didn’t say anything. Usually she hated canoeing, but she decided to just go along with it. “Sure. Doesn’t anyone else like fencing?” Corey asked “I don’t think I have ever fenced before. Oh well. I’ll try,” Cara replied. “So we will be doing archery, canoeing and fencing? Okay, let’s sign up.” The friends wrote their names on the signup sheet. “I can’t believe anyone would choose ‘Natural Cooking’. Come on, this is a summer camp!” Corey said as she looked at the other activity choices. “Maybe we should try that,” Cara suggested. “Are you INSANE?” Corey shouted. “Just kidding,” Cara giggled. “I certainly hope so.” The loudspeaker screeched and there was a burst of static. Several campers covered their ears. “Sorry about the microphone,” Counselor Tom said. “Has everyone signed up? Okay, you can head back to your cabins—” There was another screech. “Sorry. You can head back to your cabins to get a water bottle and then go to your activities. Thank—” There was another burst of static and the group dispersed. “That microphone has issues,” Kristin muttered as they walked out of the lodge. The four friends walked down the tree-lined path to the archery range. “Don’t you think we should be there by now?” Emma asked. “Yeah. It doesn’t usually take this long. We must have taken the wrong path. I hope we won’t be late,” Cara answered. They turned and headed back the way they came from. Cara noticed a strange clump of black flowers by the side of the path. They walked for a few minutes until they got back to the main path. “Oh yeah, the path for archery is the next one.” The actual path was marked with a sign that said ARCHERY. Or was it? Cara was sure that the other path had been the right one. Oh well. It obviously was not. Cara glanced around at the trees. They formed a completely unbroken line along the path. Cara admired the beauty of the lush summer foliage. Just trees, trees, and trees… “WAIT!” Cara shouted. She hurried back to the other path. “What are you talking about?” Corey asked. She followed Cara back. “See!” Cara pointed to the trees. “The path is gone!” “What path?” Emma asked. “THE path. The one we were just on.” “We were just heading to the lodge. We weren’t on any other path,” Emma said. Cara looked at her friends in despair. “You mean I just imagined that? That’s impossible!” Emma and Kristin shook their heads. “I don’t know, Cara. This morning you wouldn’t wake up and yesterday was that fainting spell. You were probably just hallucinating,” Emma sighed. Cara studied their faces, searching for a hint that they were lying. Emma and Kristin were obviously sincere. Corey. She knew more than she was saying. Knowing Corey, she would probably never say. Cara gave her one last look to show that she knew, and then turned away. “We’d better hurry. Don’t want to be late to the meeting,” she said with false cheer. She purposely avoided Corey. Archery Cara, Emma, Kristin, and Corey headed off the archery range. Cara continually looked over at the trees by the side of the path. Emma rolled her eyes and sighed. “Oh, Cara. Are you okay? Sorry, but there is obviously no path!” Cara rolled her eyes and continued searching for the path. Emma sighed again. Corey didn’t want Cara to think too much about the path. She was already dangerously close to discovering her secret. “I love archery!” she said cheerily. “Um… Yeah. Okay,” Cara replied distractedly. “What’s wrong?” Corey asked. Cara raised her eyebrows. “I’m not dumb, you know,” she argued. “I know what you’re thinking. You aren’t tricking me.” “Oh, now we have a psychic on our hands, do we?” “Yes, we do,” Cara retorted. She didn’t want to be in a fight with her friends, but she wasn’t about to back down, either. “An awesome psychic. With my psychic powers, I see…me beating you at archery!” “Just wait.” Corey grinned. Luckily their argument seemed to be temporarily forgotten, or at least insignificant. Cara grinned back. “Yes, we will.” After a few more minutes of walking they arrived at the archery range. “Hi, kids!” the instructor said. “My name is Jolene and I will be teaching you archery today! So, who has done archery before?” Most of the group raised their hands. “Very good! Now I’ll just do a quick little review, okay kids?” Her voice was the annoyingly cheerful kind that Cara hated. “So, kids, let’s get started!” She explained how to hold the bow and shoot. “Okay, kids, now you can try!” “Let’s see if my psychic vision will come true,” Cara laughed. Corey grabbed a bow and nocked an arrow. “Let’s see.” She pulled back the string and aimed. Meanwhile, Brian was sauntering up to the archery range. He was busy bragging to his friend about how good he was at archery. Cara despised him. She stuck out her leg to trip him as he went past. “Oh yeah,” Brian bragged. “I can, like, always shoot a bulls-AAAAAA!” He tripped on Cara’s foot and crashed to the ground. His elbow knocked into Corey so her arrow skewed off to the side. “Ha-ha. Stupid girl,” Brian snickered. Corey’s eyes blazed. “Let’s see you try,” she snarled. “Okay. Prepare to be beaten!” “Yeah right.” Brian grabbed a bow and stuck an arrow on the string. “You’re holding the bow wr—” Cara started to say “No! Just let him shoot,” Corey interrupted. “Oh sorry.” “I’m ready,” Brian said. “Okay.” “I said, I’m ready.” “I know. Hurry up.” “What do I do?” “JUST SHOOT!” “Okay.” Brian weakly pulled back the string and the arrow flopped off. It hit the target off to the side. “See. Mine went farther. It hit the target” “YOU CRASHED INTO ME THE FIRST TIME!” Corey shouted. “Give me the bow!” “Hey. My turn first,” Cara interrupted. “Fine.” Cara took the bow from Brian. She aimed her arrow and pulled back the string. It flew straight to land…right in the bullseye! “Yes!” Cara slapped a high five with Corey. “Oooo, burn!” She smiled smugly at Brian. “You crashed into me,” he argued. “No I didn’t.” “Too bad. I’ll just say you did.” “I DID NOT CRASH INTO YOU!” “Fine.” “Anyway. It’s my turn now,” Corey said. “Time to beat Brian.” “Who says you’ll beat me?” “ME!” Corey and Cara chorused. “I mean US!” Corey nocked an arrow. She pulled back the string. The arrow flew straight to land...off to the side of the target. Corey growled angrily. She snatched up another arrow and yanked back the string. The arrow flew straight into the target and imbedded itself in it up to the feathers. “Whoa.” “I think we tied,” Corey said. “Good job.” “Thanks.” “Ha, Brian.” Tent The clock said 12:18. As Cara stared at it, it slowly turned to 12:19. She could hardly keep her eyes open, but how could she sleep? She couldn’t risk it. The knife…without even looking, she knew it was glowing that eerie turquoise. “How can a stupid knife be so…alive?” she muttered. “It’s mutant!” Emma sat up. “What are you talking about she asked groggily. Kristin just groaned and rolled over. Luckily, Tiara was fast asleep. “Nothing,” Cara said angrily. Idiot knife, she thought, and stalked off to the bathroom. Under the flickering, yellowish glow of the bathroom light, Cara examined the knife again. How could this happen?, she thought. Experimentally, she drew a little circle in the air. A little window sparkled through the dim light. She knew she shouldn’t go in there, but it was so tempting…a whole new world, just like in a book. Cara stuck her hand into the hole. She took a deep breath, then spread apart the edges and squeezed through. Poring over maps in her tent, Kai was confidant that this would be a victory. The kreyks were trapped in Leona Valley, surrounded by mountains. Their only escape would make them an easy target for the Kiraleians. After the last battle, many of the kreyks were injured and they were low on supplies. Trying to survive in the harsh valley, their forces would be very weakened. Yes, this would— Kai whirled around as some thing thumped behind her. Her hand flew to her knife. Then she realized who it was. “Cara! What are you doing here?” Kai said angrily. She led Cara outside and marched through the camp to another tent. “Stay here.” Out of Cara’s earshot, Kai spoke to her lieutenant. “There’s a new Traveler.” “A Traveler? Ah, we are saved! The kreyks will not stand a chance!” He beamed. “No. We’ve got to get her out of here.” “WHAT? “Lieutenant, she’s just a child,” Kai said impatiently. “It’s too dangerous.” “Yes, sir…” he muttered. “Fine, I’ll go get Naga.” Cara sat, fidgeting, on a cot inside the tent. When Kai came in, she burst out, “What’s happening?” Kai sighed. “I really can’t tell you. We’re fighting a war—everything is confidential. The travelers have always helped us in times of need, but-- No, I can’t say any more. I’ll have Naga return you to Earth, that’s all.” Cara glared. “You can trust me,” she said. Kai sighed again. “You just don’t have the experience,” she said “It’s too dangerous. End of discussion.” The tent flap flew open as a boy burst inside. “General, they’re attacking!” Kai’s eyes hardened. Buckling on her sword and slipping into chainmail and helmet, she said quietly, “Stay here.” “But I—“ “I need you to watch Cara.” Cara glared. “I can take care of myself!” “I said stay here!” Kai stalked outside. “God, I hate that woman,” the boy muttered. “I’m a man, I can fight. But she sticks me here with a little girl!” “Go then,” Cara said, challenging him. She raised her head high. “I can take care of myself.” “Yeah right. What’ll you do if the kreyks come here?” “I can fight.” He smirked. “Yeah, whatever,” then sauntered outside. I can too fight! Cara thought. I’ll show them! Cara peered out of the tent flap. Soldiers hurried through the camp. To avoid being seen, she ducked back inside and sat down on the bed, grinning. This is so exciting! she thought. Fidgeting, eyes bright, Cara waited impatiently. She leapt up and looked out the door again. Still a few stragglers. but the camp was almost empty—and how could she wait? The first exciting thing to happen in her entire life, and she might miss the whole thing! Cara walked quickly through the camp, shivering with excitement. She looked into each of the tents, but all of them were just full of bunks. Frowning, Cara started to walk faster. Where are the weapons? she thought, biting her lip. Finally, she found a tent at the end of a row that was bigger than the others. She zipped inside and looked around. The room was filled with racks for weapons, but most of them were empty now. Along the wall were pegs for hanging bows and quivers. Cara grabbed a bow and stuffed a quiver with arrows, thinking, No one beats ME with a bow and arrows! More Archery Cara crept through the camp, heading towards the valley where the soldiers had gone. |