He grabbed Mason and me and lifted us both onto his back. Then he spread his enormous wings, and with a soft swooshing sound, we rose into the sky and soared high above Sirethiel, where the air was thin and the sea below was only a dark lilac halo encircling the land.
As Kheiron tilted to the right, ascending on an updraft, I gripped him tightly with my knees and saw that the kingdom was an enchanted island—each territory astonishing, and yet so different from the other.
There was a mountainside obscured by a dense, mysterious forest. Millions of dark screeching birds hovered like a shroud above the trees, appearing to be undercover agents of malice. In the middle of the forest, at the top of a bluff, was a stone castle looming and bleak, …show more content…
But you must continue the quest. Kheiron’s voice clambered inside me like pebbles cast into a well. Aiden, save the kingdom.
More images and sensations rushed into my head: fear, scenes of death, sorrow, pain, the route to a cave in the Forbidden Forest that I was to hide in, and the feeling that something far more dangerous lay ahead. There were other visions, visions shrouded in secrecy and shadows, visions I couldn’t understand.
You’ll know the meaning of these prophecies soon enough.
Kheiron landed in the meadow where the other centaurs were waiting for us. As Mason and I slid off his back, I heard a different voice—possibly the broad-shouldered centaur dressed for war. Tonight Aiden, you will sleep. For by and by an epic battle will rage, and magic and warfare will return to our kingdom.
“But—”
“Go now,” he ordered.
The ground spit and I was free-falling through a muck-filled tube like Santa Claus sliding down the chimney. I would love to lie and say that I had some profound epiphany on my way down. That I laughed in the face of danger while singing “Que Sera-Sera.” But my only thought was Eeeekkkkk as a landslide of beetles, gnarled roots, monstrous purple earthworms, and red dirt tumbled in and out of view. Then dread knowing that I was about to end up lost …show more content…
More like a feather on the breeze than a sledgehammer, I slowly drifted down through my bedroom ceiling, roof shingles and plaster trickling through my fingertips like rain until I settled on the bed, soft as August peaches.
A few seconds later, my cell phone rang.
“Hey,” Mason said. “Where are you?”
“Sitting on my bed.”
“Me too. That was sick, dude. I rocketed through the shoot, saying, ‘Wheeeee . . .’ all the way down. Did you fall through the ceiling?”
“Yep.”
“Look up.”
I did and the hole was gone.
“Dude, is the horse-man going to wake Gramps?”
“Yeah.”
“Cool. Hey, my mom’s coming,” he said, “so I gotta go.”
It was dark now, and the screeches of barn owls stalking their prey and the scent of primrose drifted through my bedroom window. I pulled the blanket up to my chin, closed my eyes, and the shrieks melded into the whisper of leaves and the centaur’s voice as I drifted into dreams.
Then my dream strayed. I heard a loud stomp-stomp-stomp, as if a boatload of orangutans in a scuffling match were right outside my room. My stomach roiled, tossed, and tied in knots. The door flew open and a ghostly goblin in a cloak charged toward me.
“You should have died in the diner, boy.” His red eyes stared me down. “But don’t worry, I’ll set things right
As Kheiron tilted to the right, ascending on an updraft, I gripped him tightly with my knees and saw that the kingdom was an enchanted island—each territory astonishing, and yet so different from the other.
There was a mountainside obscured by a dense, mysterious forest. Millions of dark screeching birds hovered like a shroud above the trees, appearing to be undercover agents of malice. In the middle of the forest, at the top of a bluff, was a stone castle looming and bleak, …show more content…
But you must continue the quest. Kheiron’s voice clambered inside me like pebbles cast into a well. Aiden, save the kingdom.
More images and sensations rushed into my head: fear, scenes of death, sorrow, pain, the route to a cave in the Forbidden Forest that I was to hide in, and the feeling that something far more dangerous lay ahead. There were other visions, visions shrouded in secrecy and shadows, visions I couldn’t understand.
You’ll know the meaning of these prophecies soon enough.
Kheiron landed in the meadow where the other centaurs were waiting for us. As Mason and I slid off his back, I heard a different voice—possibly the broad-shouldered centaur dressed for war. Tonight Aiden, you will sleep. For by and by an epic battle will rage, and magic and warfare will return to our kingdom.
“But—”
“Go now,” he ordered.
The ground spit and I was free-falling through a muck-filled tube like Santa Claus sliding down the chimney. I would love to lie and say that I had some profound epiphany on my way down. That I laughed in the face of danger while singing “Que Sera-Sera.” But my only thought was Eeeekkkkk as a landslide of beetles, gnarled roots, monstrous purple earthworms, and red dirt tumbled in and out of view. Then dread knowing that I was about to end up lost …show more content…
More like a feather on the breeze than a sledgehammer, I slowly drifted down through my bedroom ceiling, roof shingles and plaster trickling through my fingertips like rain until I settled on the bed, soft as August peaches.
A few seconds later, my cell phone rang.
“Hey,” Mason said. “Where are you?”
“Sitting on my bed.”
“Me too. That was sick, dude. I rocketed through the shoot, saying, ‘Wheeeee . . .’ all the way down. Did you fall through the ceiling?”
“Yep.”
“Look up.”
I did and the hole was gone.
“Dude, is the horse-man going to wake Gramps?”
“Yeah.”
“Cool. Hey, my mom’s coming,” he said, “so I gotta go.”
It was dark now, and the screeches of barn owls stalking their prey and the scent of primrose drifted through my bedroom window. I pulled the blanket up to my chin, closed my eyes, and the shrieks melded into the whisper of leaves and the centaur’s voice as I drifted into dreams.
Then my dream strayed. I heard a loud stomp-stomp-stomp, as if a boatload of orangutans in a scuffling match were right outside my room. My stomach roiled, tossed, and tied in knots. The door flew open and a ghostly goblin in a cloak charged toward me.
“You should have died in the diner, boy.” His red eyes stared me down. “But don’t worry, I’ll set things right