by Andi Feron
www.Loctorianchronicles.com
© 2017 Andi J. Feron
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permissions contact:
[email protected]
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-951802-00-4
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-951802-01-1
Contents
Chapter One
John-September 22, 2012
Chapter Two
Althea-October 21, 2012
Chapter Three
John-October 23, 2012
Chapter Four
Althea-October 24, 2012
Chapter Five
John-October 24, 2012
Chapter Six
Althea-October 24, 2012
Chapter Seven
Althea-January 13, 2013
Chapter Eight
Gabriel-January 17, 2013
Chapter Nine
John-January 18, 2013
Chapter Ten
Althea-May 14, 2013
Chapter Eleven
John-May 14, 2013
Chapter Twelve
Talon-May 25, 2013
Chapter Thirteen
Althea- May 30, 2013
Chapter Fourteen
Kais-October 3, 2013
Chapter Fifteen
John-October 5, 2013
Chapter Sixteen
Althea-October 10, 2013
Chapter Seventeen
Gabriel-March 20, 2014
Chapter Eighteen
Althea-April 22, 2014
Chapter Nineteen
Talon-August 24, 2014
Chapter Twenty
Talon-September 8, 2014
Chapter Twenty-One
Althea-October 15, 2014
Chapter Twenty-Two
Morgan-September 12, 2014
Chapter Twenty-Three
Seraphine-November 3, 2014
Chapter Twenty-Four
John-November 14, 2014
Chapter Twenty-Five
Althea-November 24, 2014
Chapter Twenty-Six
Seraphine-December 7, 2014
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Seraphine-December 15, 2014
Chapter Twenty-Eight
John-December 16, 2014
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Seraphine-January 15, 2015
Chapter Thirty
Talon-January 17, 2015
Chapter Thirty-One
John-January 18, 2015
Chapter One
John-September 22, 2012
Allie sniffed the air and scrunched her nose. “The air is on fire.”
“Probably a campfire.” I shrugged and went back to focusing on rock samples.
I wanted three more, but we were losing daylight quickly. We were at the edge of the forest and in front of us spanned a meadow; about a hundred meters across lay the start of another forest.
“No, it’s differ…” Allie stopped mid-sentence, and I glanced up to see her gaze focused on the sky above the meadow.
Bright lights streaked above us randomly, and I couldn’t make out the source. Red met green, causing collisions that created flames of yellows and oranges as though the sky was exploding in targeted locations. A red beam struck the trunk of a tree that sat at the edge of the other forest. Smoke bellowed, filling the air with the scent of ash and there appeared to be something resting at the base of the tree. The air was definitely on fire now.
“What the…” I zipped up my bag, considering a run back to campus.
“I think something might have crashed into that tree. We should take a closer look.” Allie moved away from the protection of the trees and into the open meadow.
“I’m going to be pretty pissed if a laser evaporates you.”
“Maybe then you’ll be forced to make other friends.” Allie paused as the laser hit the middle of the field, setting it into a massive blaze. It was far enough away we weren’t in immediate danger, but I didn’t want Allie any closer to it.
I rolled my eyes and pulled her back. “I have other friends.”
“Like who?”
“Gabriel.”
Allie kept her eyes pinned on the field as the fire spread. “Your lab partner?”
“Yeah, we play pool now.”
Allie raised her phone in the sky, looking for a signal. “Can’t call the fire department. That sucks. At least the wind is blowing it away from us.” As if nature heard her, heavy rain began attacking the fire.
I ducked farther under a tree. “That is strangely lucky.”
The rain seemed to signal the end to the light show as well. I was relieved that I wouldn’t have to tackle Allie to the ground. I was all for my best friend being herself, but not if being herself got her fried. We should have been running and taking cover, not watching our surroundings disintegrate. I would have done that immediately but leaving Allie wasn’t an option, and she wasn’t as quick to run as I was—she was more about pulverizing obstacles and thinking about the damage later. Nonetheless, I would always have her back, no matter how reckless she got. Allie joined me under the tree and shivered.
I took off my hoodie and placed it over her head. “Who said you should bring a jacket?”
Her teeth chattered. “The app said it’d be warm with clear skies.”
“We can see how well listening to an app over me worked out.”
She huddled up to me, and I wrapped my arms around her to keep her as warm as possible. We waited out the storm and Allie fell asleep with her head against my chest. Fifteen minutes later when the storm ended, I gently shook her awake. I pulled out flashlights from my bag and handed her one. Allie followed behind me, trusting in my ability to navigate us in the dark.
We were twenty minutes into hiking back, and I didn’t want to mention that we were actually lost. We should have found the trails by now, but we were so deep in the forest we weren’t having any luck.
“Your curiosity is going to get you killed one of these days,” I said.
“At least I’ll die doing what I love.”
“Being stupid?”
“Ha. Ha. No, living my life. Not all of us are content with movie night being a daily thing.”
“At least movie night won’t get my best friend killed.”
Allie laughed. “You never know. I could get electrocuted putting the DVD in.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, ’cause that’s so likely.”
“We’re lost, aren’t we?”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
Allie stopped walking and pointed her flashlight straight ahead. “You see something moving over there? I must be seeing things because I could have sworn I saw Seraphine.”
“I don’t see anyone. Why would she be all the way out here?”
“I don’t think she would be.”
Seraphine was a college friend Allie had recently made. She didn’t seem the type to go hiking alone in the woods.
“How could you even see her?”
“I saw movement and my flashlight caught what looked like red hair.”
I snickered. “She’s not the only person to have read hair.”
Allie shrugged and began walking again.
We wandered around for another hour before finally finding the path. I walked Allie back to her dorm, watching her safely disappear inside before heading to my building. I couldn’t stop thinking about the battle in the sky. Nothing we saw made any sense, and I needed to settle that in my mind. The extended hike left me exhausted, but I hopped on the computer anyway. No news reports even hinted at a strange event in the sky.
My roommate Lance walked in. �
��You’re up late, roomie.” He grabbed a beer from his mini fridge. He held one out for me. “Want one?”
“I’m good. Thanks though.”
He plopped on his bed and guzzled his beer. “What nerdy research you doing this time?”
“Something weird I saw on my hike tonight.”
“Weird how?”
“Light show, like there was a battle or something.”
“You should check out the astronomy club.”
His words made me pause, and for the first time, I felt Lance was right about something. I would check out the astronomy club after I got some sleep. I sent Allie a quick text, and she agreed that it was a good idea.
*
The morning we planned on going to the astronomy meeting arrived. It had been three days since the light show, and I was no closer to answers. My phone illuminated. Allie wanted to know if I was still going to the meeting and if I had thought more about it being the right move to understanding what we saw. I had no idea if it was the right move.
Allie was different than me when it came to decisiveness. She would usually devise a plan for something and see it through no matter the hurdle. Her stubbornness drove me crazy and made me love her all at the same time. She was beautiful, with chestnut hair and rare purple eyes.
She had been my best friend since we were three, when our mothers were intent on organizing play dates. We were always close, but within the last few years, I had fallen hard for her. I avoided any girl who pestered me for a date to coffee or the movies. Allie wasn’t the least bit aware that I wanted to be more than her best friend. I was too unsure to ever attempt a change in our status, and keeping her in some capacity was preferable to losing her.
Allie leaned against the tree in front of my dorm. “Did you have to dig a well to shower?”
I shrugged, and we began walking. Fall was settling in, and nature was painting the leaves a plethora of colors. Allie talked about several activities that we should be a part of. She always thought we should be involved in something, but I would have been happy with watching a movie. Allie, however, seemed to want to immerse herself in everything college life had to offer. Therefore, if being with Allie was my goal, campus activity was mandatory.
The astronomy club was more of a necessity. We needed an explanation for the weird light show that appeared to be a battlefield filling the sky. At first, I thought it was a mutated form of the Northern Lights until I realized the seemingly random beams formed patterns and hit concentrated targets. Internet searches still provided no answers for what we had seen. I always believed that amongst the stars, there was something more palatable than an empty vastness.
As we walked across campus, Allie told me about a homecoming party tonight and how it would be good to meet people. I saw no need to expand our circle. I had made a few friends on campus that I hung out with.
Allie’s brother Talon would occasionally join us, but I had a feeling that was more to keep an eye on her. He was insanely protective, and he really struggled with Allie starting college. The semester started six weeks earlier, and he had already been to campus three weekends to check on his sister. His paranoia stemmed from the death of their other brother and mother when Allie was five.
All four of them were in a car accident. Allie and Talon were the only survivors, and their survival left everyone baffled. The car looked like it had been torn to pieces by a giant cheese grater, yet somehow the two of them were found walking five miles from the crash scene in perfect condition. How they were found breathing was one of our town’s biggest mysteries.
Talon, being nine at the time, was more impacted than Allie. Their dad was devastated at the loss of his wife and oldest son. He turned an already present drinking habit into a more profuse one. The lack of stability that he provided from that point on was compensated for by Talon. Talon made sure that Allie was safe and never dealt with their drunk father.
Allie dreamed too big to be held back by an overprotective brother. She was going to help economic growth for women in small businesses throughout the world. She was going to build wells to improve water conditions in the remote villages of Africa. The world would feel the footsteps of Althea Cooper.
I signed up for the chemical engineering program. It was a job I could take anywhere, and I would be able to incorporate my love for mathematics and science into a lifelong career. Having a versatile degree would help me if I decided to go globetrotting with Allie.
“So you’re going, right? You have to!” As Allie spoke, I popped back to dreading tomorrow night’s party.
“Yes, I feel very inclined to stand against a wall while you live it up on the dance floor.”
“You know perfectly well I’d rather live it up with you if you would get your ass to the dance floor.”
“Sorry, I have a slight issue of magnetic feet. They seem to stick to other people’s in a very gravitational manner,” I said.
“You’re such a nerd. Exactly what we need to convince the astronomy club we are serious about entry.”
“You act like this club is some sort of elite force that requires a resume, ten references, and five years’ experience for admittance.”
“Actually just a blood sample and firstborn son.”
A large grey building stood before us, four stories with a planetarium and retractable roofing for optimal viewing. The university put a lot of expense into space education for not having an astronomy program.
The doors were exceptionally tall and heavy. I pulled one open and held it for Allie, who walked in without hesitation. A large mural of stars and planets painted the walls. A sign in front of the auditorium directed visitors to the third floor for astronomy club.
“Let’s hurry, we have two minutes until it starts. Next time dig that well faster,” Allie said.
She decided taking the stairs three flights up would be more productive than waiting for a notoriously sluggish campus elevator. We rounded the corner of the final flight and entered a darkened room with a dimly lit domed ceiling. A man sat with his back to us, viewing the movement of the stars on the dome.
“You here for astronomy club?” he asked without turning around. His voice was almost monotonous in nature.
“We are!” Allie stepped forward. “Do we sit and watch or…”
He interrupted, “Yes, Justin will bring snacks shortly.”
For the next half an hour, we watched the universe dance across the dome in silence. I found it peaceful enough that I began to drift off to sleep. The slight recline of the seats made it so I didn’t strain my neck and made sleeping easier than I would have anticipated. I woke up to the lights being turned up. The man and Allie walked toward a table filled with cookies, a cheese ball for dipping the accompanying crackers, and some sparkling water.
I joined them at the table. “So is it just you and the snack guy?”
“No, we have a couple members out sick. Professor Roberts is the faculty sponsor, and he is usually here but had to go out of town. More than a dozen members graduated last semester, dwindling our numbers down quite a bit,” the man said.
I glanced at my watch and realized I was going to be late to my chemistry lab. I excused myself and left Allie chatting with our new friend. I made it to lab five minutes late, the smell of burning bleach wafted across my nose. My lab partner Gabriel was already setting up our experiment. Gabriel pushed his thick black hair away from his face, and put his goggles on to protect his brown eyes. He browsed the contents of his textbook and added a powder to a blue liquid.
He placed the concoction on low heat, and I looked over the experiment, examining the contents already laid on the table. My phone vibrated. Allie wanted to be sure I was coming to the party because our new acquaintance was going to be there. Maybe I could ask around to see if anyone else saw the bizarre lights show. I hurriedly completed my part of the experiment and cleaned up our mess.
*
Inevitably the time for the party arrived. I wore black dress pants, a dark red co
llared shirt, and a black tie. I quickly realized I was overdressed, and awkwardly decided that I should keep to the wall. Dance music flowed from the DJ station and the dance lighting electrified the otherwise dimmed room.
Allie’s dancing was a sight that stopped anyone passing by her. Her movement was fluid as she shifted in perfect synchronization with whatever music floated past her ears. I would have looked like an elephant trying very hard not to step on hot lava.
I spotted our astronomy guy. Long before he reached Allie, my radar flew up and pinpointed his intended location. He approached her and began to dance. The smoothness of his moves seemed as though he was sliding against glass with perfect control. He twisted and moved in unimaginable positions in front of her. Allie stopped for a second and smiled slightly then began to dance with him, matching his moves with grace.
I was ready to leave, and watching Allie enjoy the presence of another guy magnified that. I wanted to punch myself for a good ten minutes for not being livelier with her. Why would the alluring Althea Cooper even notice me if we hadn’t grown up together as friends? She would never even know I existed if we hadn’t had a past.
I found out later that his name was Lucius. He was all Allie could talk about in the days that followed. He was well-formed in every aspect with his perfectly incised abs and arms. His platinum hair was neatly cut and sleek, almost blinding. His face could have easily seized a living in modeling. His perfection was mysteriously unattainable from any angle I could reach it from.
My own light brown hair, hazel eyes, and thin form were not even worth the nomination. Even my name—John—reeked of mediocrity. My heart had been puréed the day Allie told me he had asked her to dinner, and before I could recover, she was seeing him. I saw her less and retreated to my studies.
I only had myself to blame. I couldn’t expect Allie to choose me when everything about her was beyond expectation, and I couldn’t expect her to choose me when all I ever indicated was a desire for friendship.
Chapter Two
Althea-October 21, 2012
Campus life and all the social interactions it included filled me with energy. Parties, clubs, and classes comprised my agenda. John Trammel was my best friend, but he was content with only going to his classes and more low-key activities. Our divergence in interests was more problematic than it used to be. I desired to soak up as much of the college experience as I possibly could.