Sweet Sleep (The Children of Ankh Book 1)

by Kim Cormack

  Blinding light exploded around her and when she opened her eyes the field had turned into a forest. The bees had disappeared and their humming song had been silenced. She could hear the tune of crickets and frogs in their place. Kayn looked at her hand again sensing that something had changed. She was no longer a child. Kayn jumped as a snake slithered across the trail in front of her. Kayn was not afraid of snakes. She was deathly afraid of spiders. She was barefoot but as always the roots, stones and pine cones gave her feet no pain.

  She stopped at the tree that was surrounded with flowers, a memorial for her family. A picture of her still hung on the tree even though she had survived. She took the picture off and sat down to look at it for a second. It felt like a dream. She could see a little dark haired boy playing in the distance. His hair was scruffy and a little too long. He disappeared into the trees. She ran to catch up with him, sure that it was Kevin, but no matter how fast she ran, the little boy was out of her reach. Kayn began to run after him, faster now. Kayn had somehow come full circle and ended up back at her family’s shrine in the forest.

  She picked up a note with a bumblebee sticker on it that she hadn’t noticed before. It was from Kevin. It was a journal entry that he had written in grade two. It was written in green crayon.

  I saw a bumblebee today

  I love bees

  I love them more after they fly away.

  Kayn felt her heart tighten because that journal entry would have meant nothing to most people, but to Kevin, Chloe, and Kayn it would have been a magical poem of their unspoken love for the simple things. Kayn had understood its meaning when she was only in second grade. Kayn was so touched that Kevin had placed it here on her memorial that her eyes began to cloud with tears. It had foretold the future.

  Kayn gazed up to the sky and spoke in a whisper, “Please, you have taken everything from me. Please allow me to say goodbye.”

  Kayn could hear Kevin’s voice shouting to her repeatedly as if he had heard her plea. She began to move in the direction of his voice. She froze in place as giant transparent intricately interlaced webs blanketed in spiders the size of her hand appeared on either side and across the path above her head. Her heart began to palpitate uncontrollably with a kind of sensory incapacitating panic uniquely reserved for the most terrifying moments in life. She couldn’t swallow. She was soul encompassing terrified. She couldn’t will herself to take a breath out of fear.

  In her mind, there were images of the spiders above her descending rapidly from their laceworks above her and binding her whole body in silk. She would have to walk through the tunnel of webbing to get to his voice. She endeavored to turn around, and it was all webs and spiders behind her now. They kept building the webs quickly behind her. It was all legs and enormous furry bodies. Had she spun around without thought and bolted backwards in terror, she would have become caught in it. She took a careful step forward and then another.

  They were building at a furious pace behind her, and she was so panicked that her brain didn’t want to operate. She felt something stroke her head and was hesitant to look up. She felt the stretched out spider’s leg stroke her hair again as if to taunt her. She opened her lips in a soundless shriek. Kayn started to run. She dipped under the webs as they scurried around in swarms in their endeavor to seal off the pathway in front of her. The web closed up ahead of her, and she squealed as she broke straight through the freshly built web of sticky silk and writhing furry body’s.

  She ripped the webbing from her body and screeched as she launched the spiders off of her bare skin. She kept shrieking for about thirty seconds more as she peeled the hideous arachnids from her flesh. When she was finished hysterically screeching, the spiders, and their webs instantly vanished. They were gone. She bounced around with the full body Heebie Jeebies. A few more shivers rippled through her body, and she managed to persuade herself to inhale.

  She was starting to understand. She was not supposed to be able to find him. He was Triad, and she was Ankh. It was as though the In-Between itself was working to stop her. Stay centered, you need to find him. Kevin’s call echoed in the horizon. She began to move in the direction of his voice again, and she circled around in the forest to arrive back at her family’s memorial. She didn’t allow this to fluster her, and she kept running in the direction that his call seemed to be coming from. Kayn pictured his face and the sensation of being wrapped in his arms. The scenery altered around her. She was now standing alone in an open meadow. She felt like cheering but kept it on the inside. She had changed the scenery, perhaps this was the first step to finding him. She heard him call out to her repeatedly. She ran in the direction of his voice, and the landscape changed once again. It became the place where they would lie and watch the clouds after class. It was beginning to feel like some kind of game.

  Kayn trudged through the high grass, and it came alive and wrapped around her ankles. She tumbled flat on her face onto the ground with a thud. The grass felt like human arms that brutally dragged her backwards. She ventured to stop herself by gripping at the grass in front of her. She held on tightly and managed to stop herself from moving, but then the field bound her hands. She attempted to wriggle free, but it stretched her in either direction. Kayn became worried for a second that it was going to tear her in two. The grass slackened, and she surmised the in-between was attempting to frighten her.

  It was trying to distract her from her mission to find Kevin. She managed to tug her hands free and the long wild grass wrapped tightly around her throat. She struggled as it squeezed so tightly that it began to slice right through her flesh. She felt a warm thin stream of blood begin to trickle down her throat. She pulled at the thick braids of grass that constricted around her neck. She writhed around for a bit and then remembered how she had thought about the giant rock and it had appeared in her arms. She thought about a knife. One appeared on the ground before her. She was forced to let go of the grass and allow it to constrict around her throat in order to grab the blade, but the grass wrapped around it, and pulled it into the soil.

  Are you trying to stop me from finding him? Is that what you are trying to do? Kayn screamed enough inside of her own mind and the grass loosened. Kayn yanked the grass by hand from around her throat. She had expected it to continue to fight back. That healer had done something to connect the two of them. It was obviously against the rules. The clans were not supposed to be able to meet up in the in-between. Kayn could read between the lines. Her mind kept whispering Keep trying … you can find him Kayn.

  She could still hear him calling her, so Kayn began to call back with everything that she had inside of her. Kayn ran toward the sound of his voice again. The scenery flashed with brilliant blinding light once again, and she skidded out onto a frozen lake. You are not supposed to find him. Her breath rose in front of her eyes, and her bare feet began to ache. Goosebumps rippled across her skin, and she shivered. The temperature had dropped drastically. It seemed to be getting colder by the second. She was standing barefoot upon the giant sheet of ice, and her feet were wracked with pain. She had been staring at her feet afraid to move.

  A flash of skin tone in the midst of green caught her eye. Kevin was standing across the lake. He disappeared into the brush. He obviously couldn’t see her. She called to him, but all that came out of her mouth was air. Her voice wasn’t working. She was so frozen, her feet were now wracked with pain. She began to walk as fast as she could manage across the surface of the lake towards the other shore where she had seen him last. Kayn was about half way across the frozen water when the ice began to crack in a thin line in front of her. She should turn around and go back towards dry land.

  Go back, the cracking ice whispered. Her heart screamed No … you have to go forward. You can find him. This is your last chance. Keep going. It seemed insane to keep walking in the direction of the rupture. She followed her instincts across the surface of the water, and was almost at the other side when it crumbled around her. She fell through the ice into
the agonizing sensation of being submerged in glacial water. Time slowed down to the ticking of a clock and her mind whispered: it’s all in your head. This is not real. She floated in the frozen wasteland of the icy beneath. She watched as a few bubbles left her lips and travelled towards the surface where they were blocked by the ceiling of ice.

  She didn't struggle, nor did she try to swim back towards the surface. Not even to escape the excruciating pain of being submerged in the frozen lake. Her heart said release the need for salvation. Fight past the pain. Do not allow it in. See where you want to go. Believe Kayn. Let go and believe that it is possible to find him. She allowed her body to float. She saw herself safe and warm. She saw Kevin in her arms.

  Kayn was standing on the shore. She was completely dry, and the temperature was back to normal. It was though it had never happened. She had never been afraid. She had never been frozen. Kayn ran her hands through her hair and touched her dress. Her dress was gone. She was in her barely there clan attire, and it was dry. Kayn faintly heard a Rascal Flatts’ song that her mother had loved to play. Kayn began to run again towards the music. The scenery she ran through flashed rapidly to various moments from her life. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes as moments of her childhood flashed through her line of vision. It had begun to confuse her purpose with the allure of the moment. She stopped moving and began to watch the exquisitely beautiful accounts from her past with wonder.

  Kayn snapped out of it as she heard Kevin call to her again. That was sneaky she thought. The in-between was supposed to take her where she wanted to go, and her desired destination was Kevin. She had to concentrate on what she wanted without distraction. She dropped to her knees, closed her eyes and began to concentrate on the feeling of his lips as they met hers. Their first kiss, the breathless wild and uncontrollable one. The second kiss where he had known for sure that it was her. The third kiss where it had been comfortable and beautiful and submerged her in warmth.

  She whispered, “I love him. Just let me say goodbye.”

  As the dull ache in her heart became unbearable, she stifled a sob. She became blinded by radiant light. The glare caused her to shut her eyes for another second. She could feel the silkiness of the sand beneath her fingertips. Kayn knew where she was before she attempted to open them. She was on her knees in the desert of diamonds. The sun was beginning to descend in the distance. The skyline swirled with brilliant hues of pastel. She looked away from the sky, and she saw him. Kevin was standing amidst the backdrop of the setting sun. It felt as though someone had just allowed her oxygen to breathe, and her heart overflowed with a rush of joy.

  Across the wide span of open silken sand, they ran towards each other. The music in the air between them grew louder. Like magnets, they drew closer and closer until Kayn jumped into her best friend’s arms. They spun barefoot in the warmth of the sand. He pulled her towards him and their lips melted together in a breathtaking dance of lust, love, and everything in between. They were bound together in the agonizing knowledge that these would be their last moments together. Kevin ran his hands through the back of Kayn’s hair. He tenderly kissed her closed eyes and then her forehead. He held her against his heart and kissed her forehead again. She touched either side of his face. Kevin squeezed his eyes shut for a second. He shuddered in an attempt to stop himself from crying. They had no time to cry. He kissed her again and wiped the salty tears from her eyes gently with his thumb. She looked into his eyes once more as her vision clouded with tears. Kevin touched Kayn’s cheek gently.

  He whispered, “I’m so stupid. What have I done?”

  She whispered, “Don’t forget me. We will find a way to fix this.”

  He ran his finger across the birthmark behind her ear. He touched the freckles on her face, and the one on her ear and she began to sob aloud because she knew what he was attempting to do. He was trying to make sure he would remember her. The agony of loss had verbally incapacitated them both. She had so much left to say to him but forming the words seemed impossible in this moment. There was nothing to say that would make any difference. A chain of events had been started that would change everything between them. Kevin’s chest and Kayn’s hand began to glow and then their bodies began to glow. They felt their last moment together coming to an end.

  Kevin pulled out of the embrace and spoke quickly wanting nothing to be left unsaid, “I will remember you, I promise.”

  She attempted to tell him she loved him, but he silenced her when his lips met hers in a last desperate attempt to claim a final kiss. A kiss snatched away by destiny. Their separate clans had come to claim them. They both began to glow so brightly they were compelled to back away from each other and cover their eyes with their hands. They both shut their eyes and thought the same words of love as they dissolved into dust and blew away on the light gentle breeze that flowed through the desert of the in-between. Kevin went back to Triad where he would have his memory erased, and Kayn to Ankh where she would never be able to forget.

  Kayn awoke inside her tomb. Her eyes were clouded with tears. She inhaled her first breath in the land of flesh and blood. She had never had to face a moment as long as she could remember, without knowing that Kevin would be right by her side. The notion of a tomorrow without him was utterly terrifying. He was the needle on her inner compass, constantly influencing her in the right direction. They would find each other again. She pledged her heart this one thing.

  The sound of the grinding of stone on stone made Kayn flinch as her tomb began to open. Rays of glorious sunlight blinded her momentarily. She shut her eyes once again and when she closed them this time she felt the tears stream down her cheeks. She wondered if holding them shut forever was an option. She would buy her heart one more second before she faced her new life. She willed her eyes to open and then focus through her tears. She looked at the faces of her new family—the Ankh.

  Kayn Brighton knew that her story was nowhere near its end. She had to remember who she was, and what she was meant to become. This was only the first chapter of her story. The next chapter had yet to be written.

  The Beginning

  Acknowledgments

  To my wonderful children, Jenna and Cameron, thank you for giving me strength in the moments when I felt like I had none left. You are the reason I get up every morning and push myself forward. May you always believe in magic, and never stop fighting life’s dragons. Always believe in the impossible.

  To Mom, Dad, and Nana Scott: You are my support system, and you have all of my love, always. To Carol for your endless hours of help, support and friendship.

  To my best friends, for always giving me a reason to laugh, and for always providing me with a well spring of awesome comic material, I thank you. I would imagine all of you were probably sick and tired of hearing blow by blows of what I wrote each day many years ago. Still you listen to the inner workings of my mind and not one of you has asked me to stop talking about this series...yet. I love you all more than a few typed words at the beginning of a book can say.

  Last but not least to Mary Louise, and Wendy. To Mona, for the incredible cover art. Mary Louise, you saw something in this story. Thank you for taking the time and having the patience to help me develop my craft. Thank you for standing by me through my illness and for believing that my foggy M.S. brain can still create something beautiful. Thank you for having faith in my imagination.

  To the person who is reading this right now. Every mountain you climb makes you stronger. Every struggle gives you wisdom. You have the strength to deal with anything life throws at you. We are strong. We are durable. We are all immortal. I hope to keep you happy with these characters and this series for many years to come.

  Kim Cormack XO

  Also from Corvallis Press

  www.corvallispress.com

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  Winged

  Sofia Vargas

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  About the Author

  Here is a
little bit about my life up till now: I worked for 16 years as an Early Childhood educator in preschool, daycare, and as an aid. I've been blessed to live most of my life on Vancouver Island in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. I currently live in the gorgeous little town of Port Alberni with my crazy little family. I am a single mom with two awesome kids, Cameron and Jenna. Cameron is nine years old and Jenna is on her way to College. She wants to specialize in Archeology and Ancient languages.

  I am a lover of shenanigans and pranks and often pull off one or two a week, just because I can. I adore all that is wild and hilarious. My home is full of laughter, and, if each day I can find a way to make just one person laugh so hard they have an accident, it was a day well spent. So I spend most of my time parenting, creating hijinks, or disappearing into my own mind and journeying through other realms. I hope when you read my books you laugh, you cry and then you step out of your box for a minute and notice the magic that is absolutely everywhere.

  I started out writing children’s books, but as my dreams changed and so did my genre.

  One night I had another dream, only this time it was a nightmare. From that nightmare came an entire book series, a series that I have been eating, sleeping, and breathing since that very first sleepless night. When I awoke from the nightmare, I had a creepy song continuously playing in my head. I had to immediately write down all of the details of the dream to make the song go away. Yet the song continues to play.

  The result of this nightmare is my first YA book, Sweet Sleep, the first in my YA Paranormal Fantasy series, The Children of Ankh.

  Contact Information

  Website:

  http://www.kimcormack.com