Here's a teaser from Guardian of Atlantis. Check out the Kindle edition at Amazon if want to read the more.
I
remember asking my mom why we had to move again. But she never gave me a
reason.
“This
is the last time we’ll move,” was all she told me as she wrapped the dishes and
put them into a cardboard box.
That
was five years, four houses, two apartments and six schools ago. But hey, who’s
counting?
--Raven Weir’s journal
Raven chewed on her bottom lip. She
hated the first day of school, even more so when it fell in the middle of the
school year like so many of her past first days had. But today was worse. Today
was her sixteenth birthday. In all the books and movies, sixteenth birthdays
were magical. Girls discovered they were princesses of lost countries, or
fairies with wings, or they had powers that no one else did. They didn’t start
new schools in the middle of the school year on their sixteenth birthdays.
“How about we go back home and I help
you unpack?” Raven asked her mom. She tried the birthday strategy last night,
but her mom shot that down really quick, telling her she’d already missed too
many days because of the move.
“There’s not that much to do. Besides,
you might as well get this over with,” said Suzanne Weir. “Do you want me to go
in with you?”
Raven shook her head. It looked like she
wasn’t getting out of going to school today, but she didn’t need her mom
walking her in like she was a little kid. She stared at the students walking
toward the huge two story brick building and sighed.
“Are you okay?” asked her mom.
“Unicorns? For a mascot? Mom, are they
serious?”
“And what’s wrong with unicorns? They’re
cute.”
“That’s the problem. School mascots
shouldn’t be cute. They need to be tough and mean looking. Really! Pinewood
High, Home of the Fighting Unicorns. My new mascot is a unicorn? How pathetic
is that!”
“Does it really matter that much, or are
you just looking for something to stall the inevitable?” asked her mom. “What’s
really wrong?”
“Are you sure I can’t stay home? Just for
a couple more days. It is my birthday. My sixteenth birthday.” Raven crossed
her fingers, hoping maybe the birthday strategy would work this time. “I just
don’t think I should go to school today. My stomach feels funny,” she added.
“You’re just having first day jitters.
Go have a great day. You’ll be fine. And Raven, happy birthday.”
“You’re no help,” mumbled Raven as she
got out of the car and slammed the door shut. “Just what I wanted, to be stared
at on my birthday.”
Suzanne waved, but Raven just stuck out
her tongue, even though it was a childish thing to do, but she was playing the
new kid on her birthday. So much for a date for the prom or anything else. At
least she had a chance for a date at her other school, but here? Not likely.
She was the new oddity, but more so because her dad taught here before he died.
Raven adjusted her book bag and stepped into the flow of students heading
toward the building.
At least she already had her schedule
and didn’t have to sit in the office waiting for it. One embarrassment off the
list of embarrassing first day stuff she’d have to endure. Raven glanced at
three girls standing just outside the glass doors. They were laughing and
hugging each other.
“Maybe…” but Raven shoved the thought to
the back of her mind as quick as she could. No use wishing for things like that
even if it was her birthday. It wasn’t going to happen. She pulled the schedule
out of her back pocket as she entered the building. Biology in Room 212 was the
first class listed. Raven glanced at one of the doors on her right. Its number
started with a one. “So I’ve just got to find the stairs,” she told herself.
“Great, the new morning workout routine.”
