Lost in Averell Read online

  Lost in Averell

  Copyright © 2019 by Tara Grayce

  Taragrayce.com

  Published by Sword & Cross Publishing

  Grand Rapids, MI

  Sword & Cross Publishing and the Sword & Cross Publishing logo are trademarks. Absence of ™ in connection with Sword & Cross Publishing does not indicate an absence of trademark protection of those marks.

  Cover by Savannah Jezowski of Dragonpenpress.com

  All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in written reviews, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and settings are the product of the author's over active imagination. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, events, or settings is purely coincidental or used fictitiously.

  To God, my King and Father. Soli Deo Gloria

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Books by Tara Grayce

  Chapter 1 | My Parents Negotiate with Unicorns and Dragons

  Chapter 2 | We Decide to Build a Trebuchet

  Chapter 3 | My Crush Causes Realm-Shattering Trouble

  Chapter 4 | I Run Off with a Unicorn

  Chapter 5 | We Pacify a Naiad

  Chapter 6 | Always be Polite, Especially to Trees

  Chapter 7 | My Crush Becomes Lunch

  Chapter 8 | Non-Magically Modified Meat, Please

  Chapter 9 | I Escape My Biggest Fan

  Chapter 10 | Gravity Takes the Day Off

  Chapter 11 | We Find a Dragon Princess

  Chapter 12 | We Face Minor Problems, Such As Death

  Chapter 13 | We Antagonize a Monster and Her Evil Rabbit Minions

  Chapter 14 | I Use Water to Make a Phone Call

  Chapter 15 | We Ask a Puddle to Save Our Lives

  Chapter 16 | A Monster’s Morning Breath Nearly Kills Me

  Chapter 17 | Apparently, You Can Learn Anything on the Internet

  Chapter 18 | We Charge Into a War

  Chapter 19 | We Return to Reality, Sort Of

  Chapter 20 | We Stage a Kidnapping and Finish Our Homework

  Also Available from Tara Grayce | FIERCE HEART

  Free Book!

  Books by Tara Grayce

  Elven Alliance

  Fierce Heart

  War Bound

  Princess by Night

  Lost in Averell

  Chapter 1

  My Parents Negotiate with Unicorns and Dragons

  I wake to the thunder of dragon wings outside my window. I groan and roll over. Why do dragons always have to be such early risers? I toss the covers back and pad to the window. Outside on the far hill, a herd of unicorns race the shadows of the squad of dragons above them, neither one willing to lose. Dad will have a busy day today.

  Or just another average day in the life of the king of Averell. Busy isn’t anything to worry about. Hectic is somewhat concerning. None of us really worry until Dad starts using the word chaotic. That means either the dragons are about to go to war with someone or the naiads are threatening to cut off water rights. Basically, chaotic means someone may die if Dad doesn’t calm everyone down pronto.

  I lean over, but I can’t see the dragons land in front of the castle gate. A squad of dragons is a sight to behold when they land. If they are in a good mood, they will change into their human forms before they enter the castle. If not, they will stay as scary dragons until right before the diplomatic meeting with my father and the unicorns starts.

  A knock sounds on my door. My mom’s voice comes through the wood. “Ami? It’s time for school.” She pronounces my Averellian nickname as Ah-mee, with the emphasis on the second syllable.

  “Okay. I’m up.” I leave the window and head for my wardrobe. When I open it, I reach past the myriad of fancy gowns and pick out a pair of black slacks and a comfortable, striped shirt. It’s loungewear, and not something I’d wear if I had to attend the official diplomatic meeting. I just need something to wear until I change again into school clothes in my other home.

  But that’s how life goes when your mom is a human from Michigan, USA and your dad is the king of the fantasy-like kingdom of Averell. My family has two homes, two names, two lives. Here in Averell, I am Princess Amarani Coriantha. I have tutors and maids and duties I have to fit into the after school hours.

  But I am also high school freshman Amy Corin with all the stresses and homework of a normal teenager, just with the craziest after school extracurricular activity that I can’t talk about with anyone on the Michigan side of the portal.

  I take one more glance around my room, from my canopy bed—I’m a princess, I couldn’t help it—to the dried twig toy that somewhat resembles a unicorn. A gift from my best friend Trygg as a joke years ago. I don’t see anything out of place in case the maids come in to clean. Nothing here from the other side of the portal to give us away. My backpack and stacks of homework all wait in the farmhouse in Michigan.

  English homework. I shudder. At least the diplomatic negotiations may involve the Flame of the dragons trying to crisp the Stallion of the unicorns while the Stallion or one of his herdmates makes sarcastic comments about the Flame’s eating habits. English class has nothing more exciting than Mr. Vandersmit droning on about English sonnets.

  Okay, he’s probably a really good English teacher, if you’re into learning grammar and poetry and how to write a research paper. But I’m not. Worse, I have to take literature classes in two different realms. Think a Shakespearean sonnet is bad? Try learning an old Gnomish quartet ballad in the original language. Um, yeah. They have letters to signify different grunts. And they rhyme the grunts.

  So I guess English isn’t the worst class to study.

  I hurry across the plush, green rugs in my bedroom. In the connected sitting room, a plush, backless sofa fills most of the space. I step into the hallway just as my brother Ryan—pronounced Ry-ahn with an emphasis on the second syllable on this side of the portal—skids to a halt outside my door, nearly running into me.

  Ryan’s too long, light brown hair sticks out in all directions. He has his red shirt only partway on and it clashes with the green-brown slacks he’s chosen. “Ami! How much time do we have?”

  Suppressing the urge to poke him, I dodge out of his way and head down the hallway. “Relax. We still have over an hour to get to school today.”

  He rocks back on his heels and finishes pushing his arm through his shirt sleeve. “Oh, good. What would we do without your internal clock?”

  “I don’t know.” I shrug. “And it’s more like internal clocks. Plural.”

  It is weird, having two internal clocks clicking inside my head at all times. But that’s the story of my life. Two internal clocks. Two homes. Two realms churning through my blood.

  Ryan and I make our way into the breakfast room. The early morning sunlight pours through the broad picture windows facing the far hills. A countertop stretches along one wall while a large table takes up the center of the room.

  Mom already sits by the table, devouring her toast spread with wildenberry jelly, a bright sky-blue fruit spread, and reading the morning paper. She already wears a flowing, deep purple dress that drapes from one shoulder. Hardly her normal breakfast attire, but she and Dad have to rush to greet the dragons and unicorns right after breakfast. She looks up from the paper long enough to smile at each of us. “Good morning.”

  “Morning, Mom.” I elbow Ryan as we both grab a piece of bread from the plate set on the table, then madly rush for the spelled heating rock.

  Ryan gets t
here first and smirks as he sets his toast across the flat rock. He taps a rhythm on the edge of the rock to tell it how long to toast his bread.

  Since I have to wait for my turn with the heating rock, I head for the beverage dispenser, a device of magically powered steel tubes. I set a mug in place, tap the rhythm on the base for the particular brew I want, and wait while the dispenser hisses, gurgles, and squirts various ingredients from the tubes. “Anything interesting in the news this morning?”

  “The gnomes are complaining about the naiad monopoly on the water system again. And a group of the naiads are staging a protest of the new gnome building site that they claim is interfering with an underground river.” Mom’s light brown hair is already pinned up in a high bun on her head, perfect for keeping her crown in place once she puts it on after breakfast.

  Ryan turns his piece of toast over on the hot rock. “Another problem for Dad to solve.”

  Even though Dad technically only rules over the silvarans in Averell, thanks to his reputation for justice and wisdom, the other rulers have been turning to him more and more often to help mediate disputes.

  The dispenser chirps that my brew is ready. I cradle the mug of frothing, orange cassasi, the warmth seeping into my fingers. Coffee and cappuccino on the Michigan side of the portal are good, but cassasi is life. It comes in everything from sweet to sour to bitter, depending on which color bean you use and other ingredients you toss in. “Don’t forget the school science fair is coming up.”

  “Ah, yes. We’ll do our best to make sure the naiads and gnomes don’t schedule their mediation meeting on that day, however the days line up. And we’ll have to see if Gary can spare an evening away from his studies.” Mom sets her newspaper aside, her eyes swiveling to the ceiling briefly as she mentally makes a note. “Anything else on the schedule?”

  “Not this week.” Ryan takes his toast from the hot rock and spreads wildenberry jelly on it. He must be feeling generous to me this morning because he puts my piece of bread on the rock without me asking.

  “Good.” Mom pauses to rub at her temple. With the preparations for this meeting between the dragons and unicorns, she hasn’t spent as much time on the Michigan side of the portal as she should. “I won’t have time for grocery shopping this week. I don’t think we need much, but could you stop after school for a few essentials?”

  “Yeah. No problem.” I flip my toast and take another sip of my cassasi. When my toast is done, I slather on the wildenberry jelly.

  As I take my first bite, Dad hurries into the room, buttoning the cuffs on his dress shirt. His light blond hair is sticking out in several directions. One guess where Ryan got his habit of always running late.

  Dad’s skin has a slight blue-silver tone to it that is common for silvarans, the Averellian version of humans. I’m thankful I only inherited a silver sparkle to my freckles that I can easily cover with a layer of make-up. Dad and Gary, my oldest sibling currently studying at a university in Averell, have to slather on the make-up whenever they need to look normal over in Michigan.

  Here in Averell, everyone thinks Mom is from some far-off island on the other side of the world, and that is pretty much our excuse for everything from our skin tone to Mom’s Midwest accent.

  The truth is much more complicated. Mom is a human Guardian, descended from those chosen time out of mind to guard the portals between Earth and other lands. It’s Mom’s job to make sure Earth and Averell don’t mix in bad ways, such as people who don’t know what they are doing stumbling into either realm and causing issues. The royal family of Averell has always acted as the Guardians on this side, thus the reason Largone Castle is built over the portal. Well, one of the portals that we know about, anyway.

  It can be dangerous to let the realms mix too much. Not to mention, the havoc it would cause if, for example, a dragon stumbled into Michigan or if hordes of people from Michigan poured into Averell.

  The two realms still influence each other. After all, where do you think the idea for the electric light bulb and video chat came from? And where do you think Averell got the idea for indoor plumbing?

  Ideas can pass between realms, but the people, animals, and creatures can’t. Bad things happen. Really bad things. Universe ending things.

  Technically, Mom and Dad never should have married. Mom wasn’t supposed to go through the portal in the basement that first time. We’re breaking the rules of the Guardians, living in both realms as we do. But we are careful. To be a family, we have to be.

  Dad kisses Mom on the temple and glances from her to Ryan and then me. “Morning.” He reaches for a piece of bread. He doesn’t wait for it to toast but stuffs half of it into his mouth.

  Mom huffs and picks up the newspaper again. “Good thing the Flame and Stallion can’t see you now. What would they think?”

  Dad swallows, a few crumbs still stuck at the corners of his mouth. “The Flame eats whole animals in one bite. I don’t think she’d mind. And the Stallion doesn’t care for formality. Have you seen my crown?”

  “You left it in the office, dear.” Mom flips to the next page of the paper.

  “Ah, of course.” Dad finishes his slice of bread. “I’d better retrieve my crown and head for the hall to greet the Flame and Stallion.”

  “I’ll meet you there.” Mom sets down the paper, stands, and smiles at Ryan and me. “Have a good day at school. Remember to be back in time for the formal banquet tonight.”

  “We will.” Finishing the last of my toast and cassasi, I push from the table, and both Ryan and I fall into step with Dad as he heads for the study. “Think you’ll get them to compromise?”

  Dad snorts without breaking his stride. “Not likely. The unicorns’ heads are harder than their horns, and the dragons’ tempers are only slightly milder than their flames.”

  The bad feeling between the dragons and unicorns had lasted for a thousand years. At least it has simmered down right now, not the outright war it was twenty years ago.

  “Sounds like you need to whack their heads’ together.”

  “Don’t tempt me.” Dad pushes open the door to his study and holds it for me while I step inside.

  My feet sink into the dark blue rugs. Tall windows overlook the Ellian Forest while mountains break through the haze in the far distance. To one side of the room, a massive fireplace dominates while bookshelves fill the other walls.

  While Dad reaches for his crown where it rests on the large, dark wood desktop, I head for the bookshelves. My fingers find the hidden switch as Ryan dashes across the room to join me.

  I roll my eyes. Even when we have plenty of time, Ryan rushes around like he’s late. It’s a good thing Gary is the oldest, not Ryan. Gary is cool and level headed. Once he graduates, he will live mostly at the castle in Averell learning under Dad.

  In a way, Gary is the luckiest of the three of us. He’s the only one not torn between two realms. He’s Dad’s heir. His duty and heart will always lie in Averell.

  But Ryan and me? We don’t have a clear duty. We belong to both. Someday, we’ll have to choose where we belong. The existence of the other realm is a secret only a handful of us know. That isn’t something we can share, not even with someone we’re dating. That means, someday, Ryan and I will have to make a choice to either build a life in Averell or a life in the United States or wherever in that world we decide to make our home. We can’t keep breaking the rules laid down by generations of Guardians forever.

  One of us has to become the next Guardian on the Michigan side. As the next oldest, that duty will probably fall to Ryan.

  Leaving me caught between both of my homes. I don’t have a clear duty or place in either one.

  Can I make that choice? Both realms have a place in my heart, my being. How can I choose?

  I shake the thoughts from my head as the bookshelf swings forward, revealing a dark opening and a set of stairs. I rub the first glowstone set into the wall.

  The glowstones flare all along the stairwell, filling it
with a soft, white light not unlike a string of LED light bulbs. With a final wave at Dad, Ryan and I set off down the stairs.

  The stairs wind down in a sharp curve, and I set a fast pace. These hidden stairs go all the way from the second floor to a secret room deep in the dungeons of the castle. A distance made even longer because the first floor has to be extra tall to accommodate dragons as guests in their dragon form. Not that I blame them. If I was a huge, fire-breathing, terrifying dragon, I’d use that form for making diplomatic calls.

  The air cools as we near the bottom. The stairs end in a small room. Three sides are built from stone blocks, though one of the walls looks a hint newer than the other two. At one point, one of my ancestors added this stairway in the castle and walled off the dungeon entrance into the room.

  The last side is formed from natural stone. Well, most of it is. In the center, an oval-shaped shimmer moves along the stone’s surface, rippling and shining like a mirror held underwater. Half of the shimmer reflects a blurry image of vibrant green hills while the other half shows an old, white farmhouse.

  It’s this side—the farmhouse—that I reach for. I stick my hand into the shimmer. A cold tingle sweeps through my body, and I’m yanked off my feet and jerked into the portal.

  The sensation of hurtling forward through the portal is hard to explain, especially since it lasts only a heartbeat. It’s all tingles and squeezing and pressure, yet insubstantial all the same.

  A breathless moment later, I stumble out the other side. I quickly jump out of the way, getting to the door seconds before Ryan crashes inside, barely staying on his feet.

  I fling the door open and step onto the light gray carpet of the basement hallway in our second home. A modest, two-story farmhouse in a small town in west Michigan. As in, planet Earth. North America. The United States.

  Here, I am simply Amy Corin. I take a moment to adjust my mind from Averell to Earth. Averellian to English.

  I let out a breath, feeling my muscles relax. While in Michigan, I can shove aside worries about the dragons and unicorns and gnomes and naiads and simply be a fifteen-year-old high school freshman. Granted, a freshman with a packed schedule. Somehow, I have to get good grades, have something of a social life in two different realms, and spend half my time in a fantasy realm with all the duties and responsibilities and tutoring sessions of a princess.