Shadowsblade a Whateley Tale: Written by Shadowsblade

Created for war and forged in pain, dealing with demons within and without.

I have a love/hate relationship with my yearbook.
On page forty eight of the Sentinel High School yearbook, in big bold letters, beneath my senior picture, it says: Monica Preston: Most likely to Succeed.

The Big Day

Saturday morning everyone was buzzing with excitement as they returned from their morning run. On Saturday the run was not required but most of the girls continued with their normal daily routine anyway. To say that everyone was highly motivated to keep their bodies healthy would have been an understatement. Having grown older and much too heavy the first time around Kelli had no desire to repeat the experience. With all of the high calorie foods that would be easily available today she wanted to be able to sample them without feeling guilty.

“BOOM!” Goes the snub nose revolver I test fired making my ears ring. The smell of gunpowder permutated from the gun. I never shot a revolver before, but this is the first and last day I fire one. My body was jittering as I pull back the hammer of the revolver.

I walk into my garage. I was dark and warm. A nice place to end it all. I sit down in a chair and put the revolver in my mouth. I slide my thumb in the trigger guard. I close my eyes and slowly squeeze the trigger.

First things first: Lacey owed Maddie an apology. When she arose on the chilly morning of Thanksgiving, she immediately sought out her cousin. Not finding her downstairs, she instead opened her bedroom door. Maddie was doing squats.

“So this is the secret behind the cutest butt in Pennsylvania?” Lacey quipped. Maddie chuckled, and the girls hugged.

“Sorry I made you clean up last night,” Lacey said. “Lily’s right - I really am turning into a bitch.”

“That’s the cheerleader in you,” Maddie joked. “Now let’s go watch the parade!”

Long, long ago, when humans were just beginning to form into tribes and learning to hunt and live together, there was a land far, soooo far to the west across the Unending Sea, where there lived a people who espoused peace and the well-being of all peoples.

Their land was called Leroqand and the Leroqandi people were known for their mediation during disputes of all kinds.

Death

I changed my books from locker to backpack. Put the textbooks I didn’t need into the little metal space, put the books I wanted into my pack. Grabbed the earbuds that would be confiscated if seen in class. School policy.

'Hopeluiah’ – there can be hope

In this third segment, I was aiming at something better than the spreading of hate and nastiness. Maybe I am naïve but I do believe that people can be kind and generous. Well, some people, if not actually many,

Wouldn’t it be fantastic if some good came like Hope out of Pandora’s box. If out of the spew of unkindness that is so often and so willingly sent our way – that now and again there was unexpected decency and support - even niceness.

This is the story of Tommy, who, when we first meet him, is a very curious twelve-year-old. He has to know about everything, how it works, why does it feel like this, what happens if I do this, and so on. One day he asks his mother, what’s it like to dress in pretty things? And, as happens, once he starts dressing in pretty things there is no going back. But what’s behind this? Is he a cross-dresser, or is there something more behind it. Why does he want to do it more? Why does the girl next door like it when he dresses in pretty clothes? Why does he feel he is the girl that he’s dressed as? Why do all of his friends and family accept this part of him? Will a trip to New Mexico answer some of these questions, or will he have more questions than answers when he returns home? Will there be another girl, another spirit? Will he or she find himself or herself? Will he like what he finds?

Taran get's a warning from a fortune teller.
She sees death in his future.
He has to flee as nefarious mages are eager to hunt him down.
Soon he has to face his fate. Had the warning come too late?

Second of a four-part series

The first one up was Lacey - or so she thought. “LACEY!” was the exuberant yell from Rhonda, who bearhugged her cousin. Both fell to the ground in fits of laughter.

“How you been, cuz?”

“Good, good! You?”

“I’m living the dream, and oh my God.” Rhonda stopped and looked over her cousin. “You look absolutely incredible!”

“Stop.” Lacey was modest but secretly relished Rhonda’s compliment.

Kelli walked into their tiny common room on just shorts and a sport bra and flopped onto the comfy chair.

"It looks like you got all of the mud washed off. That was a really long shower," Leanne said.

"My hair felt so gritty," she gave an exaggerated shiver. "It was disgusting."

Leanne laughed. "It could have been way worse. Dead fish or dear guts or something like that."

"I know. I just wish we had caught one of the jerks. I feel like everyone hates us and we haven't done anything to anyone that they didn't have coming to them."

I was enjoying my new situation. The food at my Aunt’s house was a lot better than at home, and under my Aunt’s supervision I was becoming a quite good cook. The parties my Aunt threw, about one every two months, were spectacular. Aunt Beth hired kitchen staff and maids for the occasion, but still there was a lot for me to do, not that I minded it, since a side benefit was that Aunt Beth wanted me to have a new party dresses or cocktail dresses for each occasion.

My Aunt was a supporter of the arts, and there were concerts and plays to attend, along with art gallery showings. Some times I was even able to get an invitation to bring Steve along. While invitations were extended to Emma she mostly declined, because she had no interest in serious drama or classical music. Even with the social events, my Aunt made sure that I had time to study, so I kept up my grade point average. This meant that there was talk of academic scholarships, which would be necessary if I even hoped to go to college.

Finally my seventeenth birthday was just around the corner. Unfortunately for me, I share a birthday with Adolf Hitler. This caused great merriment among my classmates, who began calling me ‘Adolf’ and ‘der Fuhrer’ much to my chagrin.

The sleepover and weekend are coming to an end.
Now that Mercy and Victoria had wild passionate sex one question remains:
What will this mean for their friendship moving forward?

Somewhere a branch cracked, the sound of tearing wood reverberating through Karl's brain. He rolled onto his back, groping the furs for Solacia, but found them empty. He cracked open one eyelid, to search further.

The meadow was bright, the grass rimmed with frost so thick, that the blades of grass looked like fingers. The black coals of the fire likewise rimmed in white. The pool where he had first seen his wife, was as still as silvered glass, reflecting a sapphire sky.