FIERY ILLUSIONS (Keeper of the Emerald Book 2)

by B. C. Harris

  FIERY

  ILLUSIONS

  Keeper of the Emerald

  Book 2

  B.C. Harris

  All characters in this book are fictitious.

  Any resemblance to actual persons,

  living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  This book is a work of fiction.

  © 2015 by B.C. Harris

  All Rights Reserved.

  No part of this work may be

  reproduced or transmitted in

  any form or by any means,

  electronic or mechanical,

  including photocopying and

  recording or by any information

  storage or retrieval system,

  without permission in

  writing from the publisher.

  CGS Communications Inc.

  FIERY

  ILLUSIONS

  - 1 -

  ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY

  It was exactly one year ago today that my friends and I completed our mission on Tamor. Tonight we are getting together at my house for a one year anniversary party.

  Jamie and Michael are already downstairs. I expect that Drew and Jasmin will arrive shortly.

  Jamie and Michael are laughing in the basement as I peek at some chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven. The sweet aroma fills the air.

  My mother is working late tonight. I’m sure she’s well aware that it was exactly one year ago when my life changed forever. Although she has never let me tell her the details of what happened, she has likely picked up enough from my occasional nightmares to understand some of the horrors that I faced.

  Opening the oven door, it’s hard for me to believe that so much time has passed since returning home from Tamor. Although the days sometimes seemed to go by slowly, overall as I look back, the twelve months have passed fairly quickly.

  During the past year my life has pretty much been that of a normal teenager, except of course for the emerald necklace that I wear. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of the incredible power I could harness, although the mighty emerald’s magic has remained idle during this time.

  It was a year ago tonight that I decided to wait for a year before using my emerald again.

  For the past three-hundred and sixty-five days, I have methodically crossed each day off my calendar until today finally arrived.

  Now, I’m ready. It’s time for my next adventure.

  I can’t wait to visit the planet Tamor to see Squirt and Radwin again. Perhaps I will even see Frank and her band of daring kabingas. And most exciting of all, I can’t wait to visit Capurni. It was one year ago that Capurni told me that he had another mission for me. For the past year, I have wondered what it might be.

  During the past twelve months my friends and I rarely talked about our expedition on Tamor. I think we all felt that what happened there was part of a strange dream, an experience that if we told anyone else about it, they might think we were crazy. We walked around our school as though nothing had ever happened, although every once in awhile I would catch one of my four friends staring at me in class. Sometimes when our eyes met, there was a look that suggested we shared a secret, a secret that no one else could ever know. I think we all instinctively realized that no one would ever believe our story, so why bother telling it.

  The closest I came to talking to anyone about our mission to Tamor was with my mother. One evening, a few days after returning home from Tamor, I tried to tell her what happened, but she kept changing the topic. Finally she came right out and said there were some things that she didn’t want to know.

  My mother has treated me differently since I took possession of her emerald necklace. There are times when I see fear in her eyes as she looks at me. At these moments I feel like she wants me to protect her, but I don’t know what I’m protecting her from. At other times I see what appears to be hope in her eyes. Overall, my relationship with my mother continues to be confusing.

  Throughout the year, Jasmin and I have remained best friends. Every once in awhile she tells me she suffers horrible dreams related to our mission on Tamor, but I assure her that I sometimes experienced the same problem. For the most part we simply talk about boys or school.

  Michael no longer follows us around at school. He’s also less of a class clown. Something about our experience changed him, but then again whether we realize it or not, what happened on Tamor has changed all of us.

  There are times when I catch Drew looking at me, but there are also times when I see him looking at Jasmin. It’s almost as if he can’t decide between us, a feeling that I remember having sometimes during our expedition to the Land of Shade.

  Throughout the past year, I probably spent more time talking to Jamie than anyone else although this rarely happened at school. In the evening we often chatted online with each other. There was never anything specific that we talked about. It was mostly about our daily lives and sometimes our observations of others. Jamie is easy to talk to, in many ways easier than Jasmin.

  Jamie got contact lenses a few weeks ago. I’m not quite used to seeing him without his heavy glasses, but he seems to be pleased with his new look. Without his dark glasses, it’s easier to see his intriguing light blue eyes. In addition, he’s grown taller over the last year. Out of all of us, his appearance has changed the most. My appearance has changed the least. I’m still tall and thin. I started to grow my dirty-blonde hair longer but it was too much of a bother so I had it cut back to shoulder length.

  The doorbell rings.

  It must be Jasmin or Drew.

  Opening the door, Jasmin and Drew greet me.

  Jasmin looks as beautiful as always. Her long silky black hair sways as she smiles at me. Her large brown eyes are wide with happiness. She’s wearing a gorgeous winter coat with fur trimming the collar.

  Drew, on the other hand, has no coat even though we’re well into December. He’s wearing skin-tight blue jeans and a white T-shirt that is a size or two too small for him. His muscles ripple through the tight T-shirt. His black hair and icy blue eyes complete his rebel look.

  Drew blushes as though he has been up to something he shouldn’t have been doing. Jasmin smirks as though she has been doing something that she always dreamed about doing.

  “Come in,” I say.

  I hug Jasmin first, and then Drew.

  This is the first time I have touched Drew since our journey to Tamor.

  I thought I was over Drew. I guess I was wrong. I’m sure I’m blushing when the hug with him ends.

  “Anyone else here?” Jasmin casually asks as she takes off her coat and throws it over a chair. She’s wearing a thin long-sleeved red sweater that looks fabulous on her.

  “Jamie and Michael,” I reply, attempting to compose myself.

  Turning away from Drew so that he can’t see me looking flushed, I lead Jasmin and him to the stairs.

  “They’re in the basement,” I say, avoiding eye contact with either of them.

  As Drew and Jasmin descend the stairs, I return back to the kitchen, beating myself up for getting so emotional over a simple hug.

  He’s just a friend, I say to myself. I can’t start thinking about him in any other way. Tonight I have more important things to be considering than whether Drew likes me or not. I can’t let some teenage romance get in the way of being the Keeper of the Emerald.

  Opening the oven door, a blast of delicious warm air greets me. The cookies are done; at least they’re done the way I like them: soft and gooey.

  The aroma of the cookies immediately takes my thoughts away from Drew.

  I take the cookies from the oven and place them on a large
tray.

  Next, I grab some plates from the cupboard. As I do this, an unexpected flash bursts through my mind.

  I recall the terrifying experience in a cave a year ago with the Cyclops-looking creature who promised us some food, but then turned on us. I shudder at the thought of the horrible creature chasing us.

  There are times when things that happened on our mission to the Land of Shade unexpectedly flood my brain making it hard for me to concentrate on anything else. Although I try hard to stop any memories from frightening me, sometimes it’s as though I have no control over them.

  My knees are shaking as I carry a tray of cookies to the basement.

  Am I ready to use the emerald again? Wouldn’t life be easier if I continued being a normal fifteen year-old girl and forgot about going on any more dangerous missions?

  Descending the stairs, I notice that one of my friends has turned on my new basement TV to some reality show. Probably Jasmin or Drew, I think. I can’t imagine Jamie or Michael being interested in this program.

  During the past year, my basement has changed. All the books are now organized on shelves. In addition, there are several chairs, two couches, a new carpet, and a new large TV.

  Although I want to talk to my friends about returning back to Tamor, that discussion is going to have to wait until the cookies are gone and there is a break in the show.

  Michael is the first person to snatch a cookie. He devours it before anyone else reaches them. His mischievous hazel eyes twinkle as he reaches for a second cookie. Although Michael is a tiny bit pudgy, he’s not overweight in spite of his love for cookies. His curly brown hair begs to be brushed.

  Jamie, being the polite kind of person that he is, picks up the tray of cookies and walks around offering one to each person. Jamie is definitely taller, almost as tall as Drew. His wavy blonde hair is creeping over his ears and forehead.

  Any attempts at conversation quickly die as we munch on the warm cookies and watch the TV.

  Suddenly, a bulletin in bold red letters scrolls across the bottom of the screen.

  For the third straight day, a mysterious man performed miracles in Rome. More details later.

  “What’s that about?” Jasmin asks.

  “It’s the Miracle Man,” Michael says. “At least that’s what they call him. Looks like he’s done it again.”

  “Miracle Man? Done what again?” Jasmin asks.

  “A few days ago,” Jamie begins, “a man in Rome healed a blind person. After this, he healed a number of other people who suffered from a variety of diseases and disabilities.”

  I’m somewhat familiar with the story about the Miracle Man, although this isn’t something that has captivated my complete attention.

  I enjoy a warm cookie.

  “Yesterday,” Michael continues, “he healed an old woman who had lived her whole life in a wheelchair. This was a woman who had never walked. The mysterious man touched her and she was instantly cured. After this, he healed more than a dozen other people from crippling diseases.”

  “How can that be?” Jasmin says. “This must be a trick. It must be a promotional gimmick for an entertainer or for some new reality TV show.”

  “That may be,” Jamie says, “but as of yesterday no one even knows who the man is. It’s as though a complete stranger, with the powers to perform miracles, has appeared out of nowhere.”

  “It must be a hoax,” Jasmin says as she runs her fingers through her long black hair.

  “Actually,” Michael says, “there are thousands of sick people from around the world already flying to Rome, hoping to be healed by this man.”

  A pause in the show results in a newswoman appearing on the screen. She has shoulder-length blonde hair that frames her tanned face. Her perfect smile is captivating as she speaks.

  “This is Samantha Stewart live in Rome. Today, a seventy-five year-old man who has been blind since birth was healed by the so-called Miracle Man. Who is this mysterious man who has now healed more than twenty-five people in the past three days? Where did he come from? What is his name?”

  A picture of a man appears on the TV screen. He has thick lips and high cheek bones that seem to swallow his eyes. He has short brown hair.

  The TV announcer continues, “This is a picture of the mystery man who has been healing the sick and disabled. If anyone has any information on who he is, I’d love to hear from you.”

  I gasp as I look closer.

  I know him.

  - 2 -

  JULIUS CAESAR

  History is not exactly my most favorite subject, especially ancient history.

  Here I am listening to Mr. Kraviak, my history teacher, drone on about the beginning of the Roman empire.

  Mr. Kraviak is probably in his late twenties or early thirties. He’s not too short and not too tall. He’s thin. His hair is fine and because it’s light, there are times when he appears to be bald. His thin wire-framed glasses don’t help his rosy face that always looks like he just walked in from a cold winter’s day.

  After more than three months of the Egyptians and the Greeks, I’m not sure that the Romans are going to be any more interesting. Shouldn’t the history of ancient civilizations be fascinating? Didn’t the legend of Atlantis come out of Greece?” Weren’t some fabulous treasures discovered in Egypt?

  Why does all this have to be so boring? Is it my teacher’s fault, or do I need to improve my attitude? I know what my mother would say. How many times has she told me that I look for excuses to daydream?

  But really, shouldn’t a teacher find a way to make this more appealing? Wasn’t Mr. Kraviak ever taught that it’s important for kids to actually be involved in learning? How are we ever going to participate if he doesn’t stop talking? For a long time I have suspected that some people became teachers because they liked to talk. Perhaps they had reached a point in their lives where no one else wanted to listen to them anymore, so what better audience could they find than a class of captive students?

  Three weeks have passed since the one year anniversary party with my friends and I still haven’t returned to Tamor. It’s one year and three weeks since we saved the fabulous underwater world of Lattisan. We’re now into the month of December. There are only two weeks until Christmas.

  Is this how people go through life? Do people measure the present in terms of a significant event that happened to them in the past, or something they are looking forward to in the future? Is this what people do?

  The other day I heard another student say that it has been nine years and sixty-three days since her parents divorced. Is this how she will record everything in her life? Will she always consider the current time in relationship to when her parents got divorced? Instead of BC, which referred to the time before Christ, or AD which referred to the Medieval Latin phrase of Anno Domini which meant in the year of the Lord, perhaps this student should say it is 9 PD – nine years after her parent’s divorce.

  Such thinking could usher in a whole new way of recording time. The couple that celebrates twenty-five years of marriage could state that it’s currently 25 AM – AM for after marriage. Or the person whose team won a championship three years ago could say that it’s 3 LC – LC for becoming league champions. Most people could simply set the present by the number of years that have passed since they were born, so for me it would now be 15 AB – fifteen years after my birth.

  Of course, on the other hand there are some people who consider the present in light of the future. For example, I often hear other students saying things like it’s only 15 days until their birthday, or it’s 45 days until a concert they have been dying to go to.

  How do I evaluate the present? Am I one of those people who sets time by a significant event that happened in the past, or am I the kind of person who tends to live each day counting down the days until some significant event in the future?

  Although I don’t want to categorize myself with either group, the reality is that I spend more time trying to analyze things that
have happened to me in the past than I do thinking about the future. Things like the disappearance of my father. Or becoming the Keeper of the Emerald. I guess for me it would be appropriate to say that my present is very much connected to my past, although I really wish I could say I simply live in the present. Live for today, plan for tomorrow, and learn from the past. Shouldn’t something like this be everyone’s guiding motto?

  “AD. Anno Domini. This comes from a Medieval Latin phrase that means in the year of the Lord,” Mr. Kraviak announces as though he’s sharing some great new learning with us.

  Are you kidding me? I think. Did he just read my mind from a few minutes ago?

  I learned about BC and AD back in grade 5. Maybe even before that. Do high school teachers ever talk to elementary school teachers to find out what we have already learned? Do teachers realize how many times we keep being taught the same useless facts over and over? Do they realize that the kids who never learned it the first time are not likely going to learn it the second, or even the third or fourth times? As for the rest of us, after the first time, we simply shut off when we hear the same things over and over.

  “The life of Julius Caesar and his death in 44 BC set the stage for what happened next in the Roman Empire,” states Mr. Kraviak.

  Really? Does Mr. Kraviak know that we studied Julius Caesar in last year’s English class?

  “Perhaps you have heard of William Shakespeare. He wrote a play about Julius Caesar,” Mr. Kraviak continues. “From reading this play you can learn much about Julius Caesar.”

  Oh God. I think I’m going to be sick. Perhaps we have heard of William Shakespeare? Did Mr. Kraviak ever go to school? Did he sleep through years and years of English classes?

  Mr. Kraviak, I want to shout out. The play Julius Caesar is more about Marcus Brutus than it is about Julius Caesar. Just the same, we did learn bout Caesar and his place in history.

  “Julius Caesar was a Roman general, statesman, Consul, and notable author of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire,” Mr. Kraviak reads from the screen at the front of the class, which is his normal method of teaching.