Taylor Davis and the Clash of Kingdoms
Lesson #1
When a Good Man Goes Ape, Start Journaling
“Davis! You are so dead!”
That isn’t my favorite greeting, especially in the murky moments before dawn which some twisted board member of the Zander National Academy thought would be a fine time to begin the school day. I’d trained myself to function on autopilot well into second hour. At the moment, my head still felt stuffed with hazy dreams. I seriously needed a Mountain Dew.
“Davis, I’m talking to you.”
I faced my pursuer and was disheartened to find a ticked off, 6’4” Titan warrior looming over me. He jabbed a sausage finger into my chest. “You didn’t pay your taxes.”
My benumbed brain tried to take in the accusation. During my ten months in the Dominican Republic, Damian Martinez had never spoken a word to me. As he was captain of every sports team the school offered, and as I had less coordination than a medicated squid, we didn’t move in the same circles.
I blinked in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
Damian pressed his face close to mine. Most of the girls fawned over his classic Latino features, but today they were anything but pretty. “I mean, chico, this is my door. And the sidewalk leading to it is my sidewalk. If you want to use them, you have to pay my tax.”
“Are you kidding me?” Up to that point, the whole exchange had taken place in Spanish, which over the course of the year had slowly become less complex than binary code. But this I blurted in my native English. “Aren’t you a little old to be stealing milk money?”
The giant’s face darkened, and he lifted me off the ground by my neck. “Habla español, idiota.”
I switched back to Spanish. “Why do I have to pay a tax? No one else is forking out dough, you big baboon.”
I wouldn’t recommend repeating those words to anyone dangling you a foot off the ground. My face suddenly felt like it collided with a cement wall at forty miles per hour. I found myself sliding across the tile floor and coming to rest in the corner of the hallway.
“You hit me!” I rubbed my jaw in disbelief. Damian had always seemed a level-headed sort of guy. He was even dating my friend, Elena, who couldn’t seem to shut off the infatuation spigot when she talked about him. “I can’t believe you hit me!”
“I’ll do a lot worse than that!” A handful of spectators scrambled out of the way as he lunged for me. I dove behind a bench outside the high school office. The secretary never even looked up. I hoped the ease of my death in front of the wide, newly installed security window didn’t leak out to the city’s more violent, gun-toting criminal element.
Two of Damian’s buddies pulled him off me before he smeared any more of my blood across the hallway tiles. “What’s wrong with you today, Rodrigues?” they asked, exchanging a look of befuddlement. “You did even pull this kind of stunt in primary school.”
Damian savagely fought to free himself. “You are pond scum, Davis! You’re the fungus that feeds on pond scum. When I get ahold of you, you are going to wish you’d never been born.”
“What did you do to him, man?” one of his friends asked me.
I shrugged, as clueless as they were.
The hall was beginning to fill with bystanders. One or two began calling for a fight. “Come on, Mendoza, let him go! Let’s see some action!” But the two boys—I recognized them as Damian’s basketball teammates—held his arms securely. “We’re going to be late to PE, amigo. It’s not worth getting expelled over five bucks.”
The Titan continued to scream out threats and obscenities as they dragged him away. Soon after, the hallway emptied as my classmates drifted away with the air of those cheated out of the season’s best rock concert. I slumped onto the bench.
It wasn’t as though I was afraid of Damian. He was nothing compared to the enemies I’d defeated last spring. I could have easily sent him into eternity with one stroke of the flaming sword I carried hidden on my person at all times, but there were strict rules about who I could use it against. If my opponent wouldn’t turn to green goo with one slice of the blade, chances were pretty good they weren’t on the go-ahead list.
The bell rang, and the secretary popped her head out the door. “Why are you still sitting there, young man? Get to class. Too many tardies is a very serious offense. It could land you in detention, or worse.”
With a heavy sigh, I retrieved my bag from the corner in which it landed and headed for my first hour under the woman’s watchful eye…
Clash of Kingdoms is now available on Smashwords.
Michelle Isenhoff writes for tweens and teens. Her titles include works of historical fiction, fantasy, and one humorous action/adventure series. When she’s not writing imaginary adventures, she’s probably off on one. She loves roller coasters and swimming in big waves. She’s an enthusiastic runner and cycler. She likes big dogs, high school football games, old graveyards, and wearing flip-flops all winter. Her dream vacation would include lots of castle ruins, but so far she’s had to settle for pictures on Pinterest. Once an elementary teacher, Michelle now homeschools two of her three kids and looks forward to summer adventures as much as they do.
Michelle is also a firm believer in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. As such, she will never include profanity or objectionable content in books meant for children. Works intended for older readers are written with conscionable restraint. Michelle writes in the religious genre under her nickname, Shell Isenhoff, and shares thoughts of a more personal nature on her blog, The Book and the Author.
Visit MichelleIsenhoff.com for additional titles as well as free downloadable lesson plans to accompany them.
Michelle Isenhoff is a proud member of Emblazon:
A wise man once said, “Write your name on the heart of a child.”
We hope to emblazon our stories there.
Twenty authors
Dozens of tween books
Creating thousands of lifelong readers
Titles by Michelle Isenhoff:
Song of the Mountain – now FREE!
Semi-finalist in the Kindle Book Review 2013 Book Awards
Nominated for the 2013 Cybils Award
Song has grown up listening to his grandfather recite legends of the distant past. But it is his own history he seeks to uncover, particularly the events surrounding his parents’ deaths. That, however, is a secret closely guarded by his grandfather. Then Song discovers an heirloom that links him to an ancient prophecy. His destiny lies within the old tales he has scorned. Song must follow the path that killed his father.
Fantasy, ages 10+
The Quill Pen
If you owned a pen that wrote the future, would you use it? What if the consequences spread like ripples in a pond? What if they raged out of control? What if the pen demanded tribute...in blood? Micah Randall has found such a pen. One that’s ensnared him in a curse dating back generations. One that’s devastated two families and now threatens his whole New England village. But how can Micah destroy the pen when it offers him his only chance at the future he dreams of?
Fantasy, ages 10+
Watch the trailer.
The Candle Star – now FREE!
Divided Decade Trilogy, Book One
Detroit, 1858
After a tantrum, Emily Preston is shipped from her plantation home to her inn-keeping Uncle in Detroit. There Emily meets Malachi who challenges many ideas she grew up believing. But when she stumbles upon two run-aways hidden in her uncle’s barn, Emily faces a decision more difficult than she would ever imagine.
Historical fiction, Ages 10+
Watch the trailer.
The Color of Freedom
Nominated for the 2012 Maine Student Book Award
Massachusetts, 1774
Meadow Wynn McKenzie hates the British. Turned off her Irish farm and forced to book passage to America as an indentured servant, Meadow understands why the rebels wish to throw off th
e yoke of King George’s rule. But is freedom worth the cost? And in Puritan Boston, will liberty be extended to Irish Catholics?
Historical fiction, ages 12+
Watch the trailer.
Taylor Davis and the Flame of Findul (Taylor Davis, 1) Page 21