by Andy Nadir
Tripartite
A special thank you to: YWS (www.youngwriterssociety.com)
Without whom writing this book would not have been possible.
(Hey, Teen writers. If you are ever looking for a site where you can share your poems and stories with others like you, look no further. YWS is probably the best out there, and they will also help you write your books. If you decide to join, my username is ANADIR. See you around!)
And my Father, who helped draw my cover, and provided encouragement for me.
One last thing. If you want to contact me about upcoming books, or just to talk, my email is [email protected]
Chapter One
My truck rumbled across the road, kicking up gravel. I was going a whopping 20 miles an hour, below the speed limit by almost five miles. I turned up my rock music to drone out the sound of the gravel crunching under my car. As I listened to music, a pair of headlights lit up the road in front of me. “What the…” I muttered.
A little Prius launched into the road, directly in front of my car. I slammed the brakes, but my car slammed into the little Prius, and it completely totaled it, and on top of that, my car ran right over it! I backed up, off of his car, and ran to check to see if the driver was ok. I looked through the hole that used to be his window, and saw a kid, no older than 15. The idiot must have taken his parents car for a joyride. I poked him without thinking, to see if he was alive. He didn't move. He was dead. And now, my fingerprint was on him. I cursed. "Oh man... I am so screwed." I thought to myself.
Without thinking that fleeing the site would put me off even worse, I panicked and sped off. It took a whole three minutes for the police find out what happened, and another two for them to be after me. Since I was on a mountainside path, nobody was even driving so I could drive my car as fast as I could. In fact, I might have gotten away, accept I was driving an old truck, and when I say old, I’m talking about older than me. The thing was barely drivable, and the only reason I drove it is because I’m way too broke to be able to buy myself another car.
Now that I think back to it, the thing was moving so slowly, I might have been better off running.
I slammed my foot on the acceleration. “Blast! Stupid old car”
I slammed my foot on the acceleration again. I heard the sirens growing louder. It was a matter of time before they caught me. Street Lights disappeared in blurs. I looked into my rear window. It looked like I was losing them. I was wrong.
As I turned my head back to the road in front of me, a large police car pulled up next to me. “Pull over! This is your only warning!”
I cursed. There was no way I could outrun them now. Resigning to my fate, I pulled over
The Policeman rapped on my window. I rolled it open. “Get out of your car” He said.
I sighed. I slid out of the trashy truck. He didn’t say any more. He just waved his hand at the back door of his car. I sighed, and got into his car.
After a long drive, we arrived at the Court. “Hey, doesn't it take years for trial?” I asked.
“Usually, Yes.” The policeman answered.
“But, there is an exception when you run over the Judges son.” The policeman laughed.
“You’re screwed son”
I sat down on a bench to wait. It didn’t take much time for two guards arrive. They took me into the court room. There was nothing special about it, just a square chamber with a table for the accused, judge table, and the seats for witnesses. The trial started. The Judge began droning on and on. “I wonder what my mom and dad will think” I thought to myself.
“I said, what do you say to this!” The Judge roared.
I snapped awake. “Darn! I must have dozed off!” I thought.
The Judge smirked. “Since it appears that you are too...intoxicated...to answer me, I will pronounce your sentence for you. You will be in Jail for the rest of your life for murder, and driving drunk!”
I sputtered. “Wait! I wasn’t...” There was a stab of pain, and everything flashed red. I swayed, and fell to the floor.
I opened my eyes. “Ugh” I groaned.
“Where am I?” I thought
My head was throbbing horribly. “Humph. I must have gotten drunk last night.” I decided.
I rolled over, and smacked my face on a gray wall. “Wait...Gray?” I thought to myself.
“My walls are white...”
Suddenly, I remembered. The crash, the trial, and the sentence. I froze. “This can't be happening! Why me?” Thoughts flashed through my head like a wildfire.
I just plopped down. “I'm going to be here for the rest of my life! I’ll never see my family again!”
My life, my future, gone, like the wind. I rolled over, crying softly. With the final thought, “I wish I was anywhere but here!” I went to sleep.
I sat up. Light was streaming into my cell through a glass window, about 14 feet in the air. I looked at it. “I wonder if I can fit through there and escape” I thought to myself.
I laughed to myself, despite the situation. The window was only 3x3. I would never be able to squeeze through it. I sighed, and sat down on the hard bed.
I sat there, thinking on what I could have done differently. “Maybe I could have just stayed home. What would have happened then? Or what if...”
My thoughts were broken abruptly, as the sound of screaming, and clashing metal made its way into my ears. I shuddered. “Must be a prison brawl” I decided.
I just sat back down on the bed, and tuned out the noises. Suddenly, I heard an awful scream. The scream could be compared to the sound of a massive truck rolling down a hill of sharp metal, or the sound of nails on a chalkboard, just amplified by a million.
There was the sound of metal screeching again, and then, suddenly, the screams stopped. I sighed. “Looks like it’s finally over.” I thought to myself.
If only I had known how wrong I was.
Seconds after the screaming stopped, it began again. Then, suddenly, loudspeakers blared to life outside in the hallway. “All personal, there is an unauthorized intruder on floor 3! I repeat there is an unauthorized intruder on floor 3!” the metallic voice screeched again, and continued repeating its message.
After a while, the voice stopped, but the screams did not. Suddenly, there was the sound of a gunshot. Immediately after, a scream of horror followed, one that you can only get from seeing something so awful, and horrid, that it scarred you for life. For example, my mom’s Chicken.
Slowly, screams got louder, if possible. Then, I realized what was happening. “Those screams aren’t getting louder! They are getting closer!” I realized.
I hid under my bed, and waited as the screams slowly got closer. Soon, I heard the sound of footsteps. They were brisk, like someone was in a hurry. They stopped every few seconds, it seemed like they stopped at every cell. And every time they stopped, the screaming started again. After what seemed like hours, a man appeared in front of my cell. Since I was hiding behind my bed, I was sure that the person couldn't see me. But, he just walked into the cell. Right through the bars.
It took me a moment to understand what had just happened. A man had just walked straight through the cell bars, without damaging them. My mouth dropped open. “Oh my gosh!”
“What the hell are you?” I screamed.
The man jumped at me and put his hand over my mouth. “Keep quiet, and I won’t kill you. Understand?”
“Yes” I replied in a small voice.
“Perfect. You appear to be the only one left alive in this horrid place. I must assume you are the one with potential I am looking for. What is your name?”
"Why should I tell you anything?" I asked.
"Because I'll kill you if you don't." He said in a matter of fact tone
I paled. "You don't take anything do you?" I whispered.
His grip on me tightened.
"My name is Lance." I said.
“All right Lance, I am going to tell you something beyond your wildest dreams. You may not believe me because it seems so far-fetched, but here it is. You’re a mage, Lance.”
I burst into laughter, despite the situation. “Me? A mage? I think you have the wrong guy. I’m just a normal guy in prison for a hit and run".
"Besides, mages aren’t real. They are just stories made up by book writers to make their books more interesting…Is this some type of sick joke? It’s starting to sound like harry potter.”
The man looked at me. He chuckled. “Just stories? No, Mages are as real as you are. If they are not real, then tell me; how did I walk through those bars?”
I frowned. That was a good point. There was no way that was possible. I thought for a moment. "I have it!" I yelled.
"You must be from the FBI, or something. You must have some new technology that uses holograms or something like that, and you are testing it out on the prisoners!"
He smirked. "The FBI, huh? Then tell me, can the FBI do this?"
He raised his hand, and a flames burst from it. The flames slowly formed into a curved shape. "A sword." I thought.
He reached out with the sword, and cut my bed clean in half.
"That's impossible! There is no way for that to happen!" I muttered, and tried to back away
The man smirked. "Afraid there is kiddo. This is reality now. Face it like a man"
Then, the truth hit me, and the world started swimming. Magic is real; Magic is real; magic is real. The thoughts swirled through my mind like a tornado. "This is unbelievable! All those childhood stories were real!" With those final thoughts, my mind overloaded, and I toppled to the floor, out cold.