by M.C. Moore
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From the author:
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my work. I know that there are hundreds of thousands of books available for you and appreaciate that you have chosen to read mine. I would like to take this opportunity to share with you the unedited first and second chapters of the second book in the Trefoil Trilogy, 'Aquanis'. Please enjoy and I look forward to sharing more with you in the future.
(UNEDITED) Aquanis
by: M C Moore
Copyright: 2011 M C Moore
Aquanis Chapter 1
Meckenzie
“Kellan!” Meckenzie screamed as she awoke to the sun peeking into her bedroom window. For three nights, Meckenzie had been plagued with the same dream. Blood flowing from her nose and mouth, Kellan lie unconscious on a stone floor. It was hard for Meckenzie to tell if it was a dream or a vision. A few weeks ago, Meckenzie had started having visions. The visions were one of her new found gifts that came along with her newly discovered ancestry. Meckenzie was a fairy, not just any fairy, she was a fairy princess. Even more than that, she along with her brother and sister, are the legendary Trefoil.
The sleep had been elusive since Kellan had been kidnapped the night of their eighteenth birthday party. Taken by Ty Rabe and his brother through a portal created by a rifter. Rifters, fairies who had the gift of opening a portal between worlds, were rare, and the fire fairies had one. They could have taken Kellan anywhere.
Meckenzie had tried, with one of her fairy powers, to reach out to Kellan telepathically for some sign that she was still alive. It had not worked. Isabel, Meckenzie’s great aunt and her nanny for most of her life, was currently working on a potion that might enhance Meckenzie’s powers to allow her to reach out across a great distance telepathically. They all felt like they were grasping at air trying to find Kellan.
Meckenzie was a triplet. Besides her sister Kellan, she had a brother, Taggart. After Kellan’s kidnapping, they had been brought from their home in New York City to the castle in Aquanis. Aquanis was the home of the water fairies, and just a month earlier, they had been told that their mother, who had left when they were ten, was the Queen of Aquanis. She had not wanted to leave them, but for their protection, she had returned to rule when her brother was assassinated by the Clan of Tine, the fire fairies.
So now they were here with her, in a castle, being addressed as Princess and Prince. The strangeness was just not with their new titles, there were so many things that were different about this world. Some of the modern conveniences were missing. Meckenzie iPhone did not work here, but she was given a communication device that had similar principles to cell phone. She need only speak the person’s name she wished to talk to and it automatically called them for her. Every one’s IPC, inter-personal communication device, was on a network and only one IPC was registered to one fairy. There was no internet, but they had computers that held all the histories, books, and biographies of anyone or anything you could think of. All the cars were electric and smaller, they ran on solar power that was stored in cells the size of a water bottle. The fairies still wrote letters long hand, and it had shocked Meckenzie that within the first twenty-four hours of being in Aquanis, she had received fourteen welcome letters.
Her mother, in one of their daily meetings, had told her that she would need to write a thank you letter to everyone that had written her. Meckenzie had spent four hours composing those thank you letters, only to be handed twenty more the next day.
Their mother had been another strange thing for them to deal with. She insisted that they have breakfast together every morning. She said that she wanted to make up for all the time she had lost with them, and it reassured her to have them with her first thing in the morning so she was sure it wasn’t a dream. So for the last three mornings, Meckenzie, Taggart and their mother had met in her sitting room of her living quarters and had breakfast. The first one had been kind of awkward, no one really knew what to say. The small talk was a mask for the hurt they were all feeling with Kellan’s absence.
So this morning, Meckenzie climbed out of bed and headed for the shower to prepare for another family breakfast. The face in the mirror had aged five years in those three days. Dark circles surrounded her normally sparkling blue eyes. Her hair seemed to feel the sadness as well; its blond luster was limp and dull. She ignored the pain stricken girl in the mirror and climbed into a hot shower. Letting the water wash away the pain and hurt that filled her with every breath she took, Meckenzie stepped out determined to reach Kellan today.
Taggart was coming out of his room as Meckenzie headed down the hall to her mother’s quarters. He looked as if he had not slept well either, but he managed to smile.
“Good morning darling sister. I don’t think I need to ask how you slept, it is written all over your face.”
“Do you have to be so chipper?”
“I am trying to make the best out of situation that I have little to no control over. My chipperness, as fake as it is, is an attempt to balance your sullenness. If you are not careful, mom is going to have Isabel mix up a sleeping potion for you. Bowen told me that she could make those and that they would knock you out for three days. So you might want to at least try to act like you slept.”
“I will put on my best happy face when we get to her room, but until then, can you just let me be me?”
“Sure, though at this point you are acting more like Kellan.” As soon as the words came out of Taggart’s mouth, he tried to take them back. Kellan had always been the pouty one of the three of them. She had the temper and was temperamental, so it was as true a statement as could be made. It didn’t make it hurt any less though.
“I know Tag. I know we both miss her. I know we are both worried about her. Maybe I’ll be able to reach her today.”
They had reached their mother’s rooms. Taggart knocked on the door to let their mother know they had arrived.
“Come in.” Their mother’s voice from behind the door sounded as tired as Meckenzie felt. As they entered the room, she turned and quickly added a smile to her wardrobe.
“How are my darling children this morning?”
“I am starving.” Taggart said as he made a b-line for the breakfast table that Diedra had set up in her room.
Diedra came over to Meckenzie and gave her a quick hug. She took along look into Meckenzie’s eyes, what she was searching for Meckenzie wasn’t sure, but it was reassuring to feel her mom’s touch on her shoulder and cheek.
“How did you sleep Meckenzie?”
“Same dream. Same amount of sleep.” Meckenzie didn’t gloss over the truth of how her nights had been going. It was going to do no one any good for her to pretend that she didn’t dream of Kellan every night.
“Maybe we should go and speak to the Morrigan today.” Diedra suggested.
“Oh, can I come?” Taggart said from behind a mouth full of pastry.
The Morrigan were the spiritual leaders of Aquanis. Every generation there were a set of triplets born that were thought to be the fairy incarnation of the Goddess Morrigan. Three girls, all with uniquely different hair colors, were taken from their families at birth and raised by the previous Morrigan. They would take their vows on their sixteenth birthday and live the rest of their lives in the temple. Meckenzie had communicated with Morgan, one of the three, when she was back in New York City. It had been in a dream state that the two had stumbled across an open path of communication between the two worlds. So for Meckenzie this was an exciting prospect to meet her telepathic fairy pen pal.
They discussed the details of the visit to the Morrigan over breakfast. It was an ordeal for them to leave the castle due to the fact that there had been many assassinations over the years in Aquanis. It was necessary to move them with as few people as possible knowing about their movements. They would travel through secret tunnels beneath the city that were protected by powerful spells and charms.
Taggart had asked many questions about the tunnels and had asked if there was a map. His interest made his mother proud, she was happy at least one of her children was excited about being here. Meckenzie’s lack of excitement had a lot to do with Kellan’s absence. She felt responsible for the kidnapping.
There had been an opportunity in New York for them to kill Ty and his siblings. Meckenzie had chosen instead to make a deal with them. The deal was that there would be no fairy actions in the human world until the triplets had graduated from high school and journeyed to Aquanis. Ty had agreed to the terms so that Meckenzie would return his brother and sister which they had caught during a fight in Central Park. Kellan would not be missing if Meckenzie had listened to Bowen, one of their teachers and body guards, and had them killed. Somewhere deep inside of her, Meckenzie didn’t want to be a killer, but she knew that this war was going to force her to be.
After breakfast, Meckenzie went on a search to find Isabel. She needed to know if she had completed the potion that would enhance her telepathic powers. Since they had arrived in Aquanis, Isabel had been Meckenzie’s constant advisor. She had been there for her throughout her life, but now, she was literally her advisor. It had been determined that all three of the triplets would need Fairy advisors to instruct them on everything that they needed to know about Fairy customs, politics, religion, spells, and history. Taggart had been assigned Bowen, which worked out wonderfully because they had grown very close over the last month they had spent training in New York.
In those weeks after receiving their gifts and that fateful night, they had been training in their New York City home with Isabel, Bowen, and Ardan. Ardan had been sent out on assignment as soon as they had returned to Aquanis. He hadn’t even said goodbye to Meckenzie. They were both told that their romance, which was basically non-existent, would not be allowed to move forward at this time. Meckenzie knew that her mother had sent Ardan away to protect her. Her heart on the other hand did not understand. Though nothing had happened between the two of them, they had been together every day for a month. His absence left sadness in her heart that was only overshadowed by Kellan’s absence.
In her heart there three holes left by absence. On the morning of their journey to Aquanis, Meckenzie and Taggart had to say goodbye to their father as well. For ten years he had raised them on his own. He had been there every night for dinner, been to every awards banquet, every doctor’s appointment. They had all cried that morning, not knowing if they would ever see each other again. He did not tell them where he was going, just that they could contact him through his lawyers. The consensus had been made that for his safety he should hide out in the human world. So he liquidated most of his assets, promoted a partner at his investment firm, set up a series of monetary trusts, and he would slip off into the great big world. Meckenzie had promised as soon as they brought peace to the land, they would come find him. She was determined that if she had to give her own life for him to come out of hiding and be reunited with his children, then that is what she would do. She would give her life right now for all of those she loved to be safe. She really hoped it didn’t come to that.
Aquanis Chapter 2
Kellan
There was no telling how many days she had been trapped in this dungeon. Her powers were bound, so she was unable to break herself out. She knew she had been awake for three days, because the passing of the sun shone through the bars of a window that was at least twenty feet above the ground where she sat.
Kellan remembered the night she had been taken. Her mother had returned during their eighteenth birthday party. She had stood there in the back of the room crowded with people smiling at her three children. Kellan had been angered at the audacity of the woman who was her mother. She had waltzed into their home, the home she had run away from ten years ago, and expected everyone to rejoice at her returning. The anger was intensified by Taggart and Meckenzie’s reaction. They seemed happy that she was there interrupting their big night.
The plan was already in place; Kellan had been making arrangements for the month leading up to their party. She had contacted a friend she had met at a basketball camp that she would be able to stay with for a week. Then she would work on getting an apartment close to the University of Connecticut where she was planning to try and walk the basketball team. She had been stashing away money since her twelfth birthday for the eventuality of someday buying a car. There had been $28,465.22 in her saving account. Birthday, Christmas, and other various odd jobs had paid off over the last six years. She had transferred the money into a new checking account, looked for a job, and stashed some odds and ends in a storage locker at Grand Central Station.
So when her mother showed up, she decided that there was no time like the present to make a break for it. She had never wanted to come to Aquanis. She didn’t want to fight a battle that other people started over eight hundred years ago. Then she pushed the elevator button not wanting to lug her bags up the stairs to the roof. There standing so smugly was that insufferable Ty Rabe. He had cast a spell on her and that was the last thing she remembered until waking up in her dungeon cell.
They must fear her, because they had only let her have contact with one guy. He had come in to bring her food and water. Communication wasn’t his strong point, he would only shrug and grumble when she asked questions. It was about time for him to bring her breakfast. She had tried to locate some object in her cell to knock him out with. The cell had been cleaned of any debris that might have existed, there was only a dingy matt in the corner and a toilet in the corner where she was expected to go to the restroom. There wasn’t even a sink for her to wash her hands and face.
The smell of food wafted into her cell from outside. The jingle of the keys in the lock confirmed the arrival of breakfast. As the door swung open a new guy stood there holding her tray of food. She felt like she had seen him before. The tray he was carrying had been carefully prepared this time. It wasn’t the normal tray of day old bread, ham and water. There was orange juice, eggs, toast, some breakfast meat of some kind and a flask of water.
“Breakfast time.” He said to Kellan.
“Where am I?” Kellan had to hope that she would get answers from this guy since he was the first person to speak to her in at least three days.
“You are in the dungeon of the Castle Tine. Now would you like your breakfast or should I just take it and leave.”
Kellan got up and took the tray from him, sitting back down her mat. He had answered one question for her; she definitely wasn’t in New York City anymore. He seemed to be looking around the room for something, she couldn’t figure out what as there was nothing in the room of any importance.
“This won’t do.” He said to whoever was listening. “I will have someone bring you a real bed and a table so you are not eating on the floor. Would you like that?”
“I’d like to go home.” Kellan said with attitude.
“I know. I am sorry my brother has treated you so poorly. He is really mad at your sister and I’m afraid he might take it out on you. So until he decides what to do with you, I will try to make this more pleasant.”
“So Ty is your brother? That is where I know you from. The fight in Central Park. Why aren’t you mad at us?” Kellan was confused he had pretty much tried to kill Meckenzie in Central Park.
“Yes Ty is my brother and yes there was the scuffle in the park. I have probably said too much. Enjoy your breakfast and I’ll try to get you some more appropriate accommodations.” Just like that he left the cell and locked the door behind him.
Kellan was confused by his actions. She knew that she didn’t have any information that they could possibly want, so this good cop bad cop routine wasn’t really going to work for much. At this point she really just wanted to get out of here. The problems lie in the fact that she knew absolutely nothing about where she was, how to get out, or who she would go to once sh
e did get out.
Sitting around would get her nowhere fast. So she decided that it was very important that she keep up her strength. She needed to be able to fight if she did get her chance, which meant practicing the moves that she had been taught in New York before the kidnapping. Eating everything that had been brought to her was a good start as well. Food equaled energy. Energy equaled opportunity. That was what she was looking for, an opportunity.
A realization hit her with such suddenness it took her breath away. Her father. It was completely possible that she was not the only one that they had taken from the house that night. What if they had Meckenzie, Taggart, or her father? If she ran, then they might hurt them. There had to be a way to determine if they were here. The new guy that brought her food was talkative. Maybe she could get him to give up some information. It would take planning, the right question being asked. It was imperative that she determine if anyone else was here, because she could not sit here any longer.
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