by Willa Alders
The Amulet Trials
Author: Willa Alders
The Amulet Trials
Author: Willa Alders
Cover Design: Pixabay
Independently Published
Copyright © 2019 Willa Alders, Alders Publications
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author or publisher.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living, or dead, is coincidental, and not intended by the author.
This book is dedicated to my little Boogie man! May you always escape into the world of fiction and find magic in a story!
Preface
It all came down to this as I knew it would. The fight of my life would happen tonight, and the outcome would change everyone’s lives that I cared about. At least one person’s life came to mind in particular. It was his. His life would depend on me winning. If I lost…..that wouldn’t be good for him. I shook that thought. Losing wasn’t an option.
Part of me wanted to turn around and run away, and the other part of me was screaming and wanting to stop her already. I stood there facing the brick building frozen in place. As the sky darkened, and the thunder rampaged around me I walked slowly to the door to enter the old factory. I took all of the creaky wooden stairs all the way up to the third floor worried that the elevator would be shut down.
As I reached the third floor the doors to the main room flew open with a gust of wind that whipped past me. Then there she was, opposite sides of the room, already waiting for me. I walked into the room my gaze never leaving hers.
Before she had a chance to chant anything I stopped and stared into her cold black eyes. In that second I knew one of us would die here tonight, but I did not know which one of us that would yet be. I shuddered at the thought for it could be me. I was going to do everything in my power to make sure it wasn’t. Before I had any more time to dwell my trance was broken. She looked like a villain straight out the movie with the flames flooding around her. It was literally a movie scene, but these were not actors who were paid, it was my life and the scenes were real.
“Are you ready Aralynn?” She hissed in a wicked laugh.
“Yes let’s do it Kilyn. Hope you are prepared to die.” I swallowed with fake confidence. My eyes flashed black.
“I’m not dying here.” She screamed in a majestic hiss as she hurled a chair at me while she flew towards me.
CHAPTER 1 ARALYNN
Tick… tick… tick…. The clock on the wall taunted me as the minutes seemed to drag by. Only thirty more minutes in this class left I thought to myself. Usually I loved history class, just not today, today it felt like I was awaiting a life sentence on death row. I was having issues wrapping my head around today’s lesson let alone dealing with it. Ms. Jenson’s lesson today was the Salem Witch Trials, and I particularly did not like any of it-the persecution if you were caught being a witch or if you were caught practicing witchcraft. It hit too close to home for me. After a few minutes of it I made up my mind; I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to get out of the class no matter what. I blinked causing my face to turn pale and clammy. I raised my hand slowly and waited patiently for her to notice me.
“Yes, Aralynn?” Ms. Jenson asked through her thick rimmed glasses from the 1970’s.
“I’m feeling kind of sick, may I go to the nurse’s office?” I choked making the sick face even more believable to her.
“Yes, Yes dear. Here’s a pass.” She replied.
Once the pass was in my hand I shuffled as quickly as I could down the hall. The nurse handed me the note to go home, except little did they know I had no intentions to go home. Instead I got into my 2017 white corvette; started the engine, and laughed to myself because everyone thought that I had rich parents. They had thought my parents had bought it for me for my birthday, but oh boy could they be ever so wrong. If they only knew that I had bought it for myself. Not many 16 year old girls could say that. But if they only knew I wasn’t just 16 but more like 116 they would be shocked. Enough of that as my thoughts drifted back to my corvette. It was most definitely my favorite out of all my cars probably for its speed and power.
I sped at the speed of light to the twisted gravel paths to Salem Woods Park. I was meeting them there. The others that shared the same bond with me, they were older and wiser at this stuff than I was. They were my family even if we weren’t bound by blood. I pulled up and parked my car and two of them were there already.
She was standing there, and he was there with her as well. He had his arms wrapped around her. The two of them together were inseparable and their love was quite sickening. Their bond was unbreakable. The way they loved each other was hard to find. They had been that way for I don’t know how long. I don’t really even know how long Caleb and Carmina had actually been on this earth. No one really knows except them, but I am glad that they were here when I came to them to learn my abilities.
I got out of my car looking at Carmina. She was very pretty standing there, she looked like a model. Today Carmina could pass as my sister if she really wanted too, an older sister mainly. She typically looked identical to me most days so we could keep up appearances and that way would no one would start asking questions. Then other days she did not she changed her appearance so she could be a stranger. Today she looked like my twin. She was my height 5 foot 6 inches. She had long blonde hair today as well that came way down past her back. She had it pulled back into two French braids. Her eyes were the shattering light ice blue like mine but hers were almost so light they looked grey. Her pale skin evenly proportioned to fit her look.
Other days though when Carmina decided not to look like me she was still quite seemingly gorgeous. She would have short curly brown hair that was centered around her cheekbones. She was taller than about five foot 8 inches. Her eyes were then this emerald green that could dazzle anyone. She looked like an angelic child. Either way it was hard to ignore her just one small glimpse was it all took from her to get someone roped in.
Her personality however, was quite a bit different than her looks. She was quite timid and shy if she did not know you. Many would perceive her as a stuck up snob or a too good attitude, which was all because she was simply quiet. She wouldn’t go out of her way to talk to strangers that she did not know, but if they approached her she would talk. However, once you got to know her; her attitude was way different. She went from timid, shy, and quiet to happy and talkative. No matter what though, she was in her shy mood or her talkative mood she was constantly eyeing people. Of course that came with one of her many abilities that she was blessed with.
Carmina could glare quickly at someone and see what they were thinking. She would do it for fun sometimes, or just because. Typically she would for serious purposes only though. She could look into anyone that she wanted; whenever she wanted. Sometimes no one’s thoughts were safe. That would explain why we looked alike on most days, if not identical. She could also swoop an ability that she was quite good at it. I could swoop too but not very well yet.
Her favorite ability was swooping, she would dream someone or want to go somewhere, and poof she would swirl and be there automatically. She was very good at it. She had been doing it for at least 75 years of that I know of. I hated that because the ability of swooping for me had only been granted for about a year. I was still a newbie, and still had a lot of work to do to get as good as Carmina.
“Hey Car, I see we’re identical today. Nice choice.” I smiled at her.
“Well, I can change hun if you want m
e too.” She said twirling around.
“Nah, no problem you’re ok. No worries.” I replied.
I watched Caleb smile at me thanking me for that with his eyes. He was watching Carmina in admiration. He was totally in love with her every inch of her. He had been for forever and always would be. However, Caleb was kind of opposite of Carmina at least personality wise. He was outgoing and could get along with anyone, and could have any girl he wanted. Girls were pouring themselves all over him left and right. Yet he chose Carmina, someone who hated him for a long while at first. She could not stand the sight of him. She thought he was arrogant. But I guess somewhere along the line that hate turned into love. I personally do not see why she could hate him at all; he was simply radiant and just as mesmerizing as her.
Caleb had jet black hair that he slicked back with gel usually. His eyes were green, a forest green. He looked like he was from Italy or was some sort of an Italian descent because he had dark olive toned skin, unlike his lover. He was tall, six feet five inches, with muscles that any guy would die for, and most girls longed for their boyfriends to have. He was handsome, needless to say, movie star qualities.
Besides his good looks Caleb was rambunctious and outgoing. He was always cracking jokes and would make friends with anyone and everyone he came into contact with. Everyone was instantly friends with Caleb. His personality was just that way. Caleb could also be a bit fatherly at times, mainly when he felt he needed to be protective but that wasn’t very often.
As for his abilities he only had one that any of us knew of. Caleb’s ability was the power of becoming invisible whenever he wanted too. Which in his book was all the time, he loved scaring people. He hardly ever used it seriously and lord forbid if he did he hated it, he’d rather it be for fun.
Carmina and Caleb were both outstanding and good looking. I loved both of them. They were good to me and took me in when I needed I needed it. I admired them for that. They were my family even if we didn’t look like one.
Now as for me, I was different than them. I had long blonde hair that came to the middle of my back. My eyes were the blue that Carmina had today the light ice blue that were almost gray although mine were a bit bluer than hers. I stood five foot 6. I was pale and it seemed to fit me the only difference was I was this way all the time. I could not change my appearance whenever I wanted too like Carmina could.
My abilities were also different from any of theirs. I could not see what people were thinking, or become invisible. I could freeze things as well as blow them up usually with my mind. I could make myself look sick with a blink and I could also swoop but not very well yet. My abilities were still growing, and a bit untamed. So needless to say I was still in training, a rigorous training on how to learn to control them better.
Caleb broke my train of thought then. “So there’s been buzz from Avery that a verge of menacing bears is coming our way. They are probably only a threat to me but not for you two. Probably because they sense my invisibility, and when I use it so I guess I have to watch using it until the threat is taken care of.”
“Ha, poor thing it is just going to kill you isn’t it?” I smirked at the thought of him sulking because he had to be careful of when he used his ability.
“No but it will indeed be hard.” He replied in non-serious tone.
However we knew he was serious though because he started chanting, and he hardly ever did that unless he had too or was nervous about something. For some reason this was bothering him.Before Carmina could even look into his thoughts, she stared out in the field toward the path, and Avery was there on his yellow Ducati crotch rocket.
He flung himself off of it and came over. Avery too was an enchanting person on the outside. He was a tad shorter than Caleb but he was still tall. He stood an even six foot. He was built like a gymnast. He had brown hair that was wavy which came down to his shoulders. Today he had it pulled back in a ponytail. He had light hazel colored eyes. He was tan and had several tattoos on his arms, his back and his legs. He was getting a new one every week. He would soon be covered from head to toe. He always wore jeans with holes in them and a band tee shirt. That was his persona. Typical bad boy want to be.
He was always sarcastic. Typically everything that came out of his mouth was full of crap but that was Avery. However if it came down to someone hurting his family or me; he would become rather serious and protective rather quickly. He was very over protective of his family especially over me. Other than that he and Caleb were always pulling practical jokes on people. Avery was also older than me.
Avery’s abilities were nice. His first one was to go back into time which was a cool ability. Second he was able to lift things that were impossible to lift, such as semis, or trains. His last talent was duplication, he could duplicate himself. Seriously one Avery was enough but two Avery’s were really rather annoying especially at home.
“So old lady, grumpy old man, and shrimp how late am I?” Did I miss anything? Aren’t you supposed to be at school?” He smirked a sarcastic glare my way.
“You are not late. You are just on time, and you know why, I cannot stand the Salem Witch Trials in history. You know that it creeps me out; I don’t want that to happen to me. Why are you not in college by the way?” I smirked back with him.
“Oh I see wouldn’t want to burn at the stake now would we?” He said batting his eyelashes. “Aralynn don’t you know we’re technically not witches were immortals. Same thing almost but not, there’s a difference in that we don’t die if we get burned at the stake. So no worries.” He said then quickly smiled at me. “Oh Ara college who cares if I ditch class here and there, I don’t think it’s going to hurt. Besides I’m 120 and we all know that I have taken this class a thousand times over. Hey Carmina maybe you should ground her for skipping.” He laughed.
“Shush up you two, down to business. We need to go over her lessons for today, and plans on what to do with these bears.” Carmina said in a motherly tone to all of us.
For someone whose appearance was younger in her mid-twenties she would take the motherly role a bit too serious at times which was quite funny. She would sound like she was in her fifties. But before we could do anything on the agenda, or make jokes about her seriousness. Carmina, glared at us and then at the woods path. She closed her eyes and reopened them, which to us was weird. She must have been acquiring a new talent.
“Guys we will pick her lesson up later. A human is coming. We got to go.” She murmured hesitantly.
I watched as she and Caleb got into her Mercedes and pulled alongside of us.
“Ara come on, we do not need them to become suspicious of us now. I do not want to uproot again. Go Avery.” Caleb replied in his fatherly tone.
“Caleb I will be home in a bit. I promise I won’t do anything stupid.” I reassured him.
He smiled, but Carmina gave me a stern look which meant you’ll hear about it later but oh well I thought. There I was standing alone in Salem Woods as a familiar shadow came out of nowhere. It was Carter; he was guy in my English class and history class. I had known him all of my life. He had a girl with him which was Kilyn. I had only known her for about a year. She was ok, she was a friend and I was kind of skeptical of her still though.
“Hey aren’t you supposed to be sick?” Carter asked lighting up a cigarette.
“Yeah, I know. I know. I am supposed to be but I really just wanted out of class. Besides you know how gullible Ms. Jenson is. She will believe anything. Like you two did not do the same thing.” I smile punching him in the arm taking a hit off his cigarette.
“Babe she has a point. Hey you are coming to Sam’s party tonight right?” Kilyn asked.
I nodded to them and offered them a ride. We got to Sam’s in no time. Especially since I knew every shortcut and knew how to speed and get away with it. Once we were there, Kilyn, and Carter took off leaving me alone at Sam’s. I used the bathroom which was the size of my bedroom, and then I went outside to find him.
Sam wa
s where he was always on the balcony. He was Avery’s best friend, and he knew our secret. Just even knowing our secret was a risk but he kept it and offered his house anytime we needed it. For that he was granted Immortal youth. A gift from Caleb for the favor he provided I had always thought. I didn’t know any different. I smiled and hugged him and headed down to the show where everyone was gathering around. I knew that Avery was at it again as he always was. He was such a show off in front of crowds.
Avery was tossing a fireball and catching it barehanded. People were standing around him gawking probably wondering how it didn’t burn his hands. If they only knew, he would not be a big show off. But the truth is we all craved attention at times like every young person. I liked it and usually cared less about showing off but with the group of menacing bears roaming around we had to watch using our abilities just to be on the safe side. Mainly just for Caleb and I at least. The bears love invisibility and since I was new that more than likely meant I was a target too.
“Hey Avery, I see you’re charging admission again.” I laughed pushing my way through the crowd. He had a hat down there filled with money.
“Sure am kid, want to do your part? So we can end this charade?” He smiled.
“No, well.” Before I could finish the sentence he tossed the fireball my way and I blinked freezing it in midair.
People shrieked and awed that someone could do that. Then I blinked again and it unfroze. I swirled around and opened my mouth and swallowed it. Avery lit another ball up while no one was watching he and I smiled, and then everyone saw him. They applauded, and I blew it up into fireworks with a twist of my hand.
“Thank you everyone, my sister Aralynn she’s a talent isn’t she?” Avery smiled as I bowed. He wrapped his arm around me and we walked off toward Sam.
“Hey beautiful.” Sam said hugging me after the show and I smiled back at him as I hugged him back.