Whatever We Love Most

Apricity

"Rowan."

I covered my ears with my pillow.

"Rowan."

I groaned and pulled my blanket over my head.

"Rowan!" 

"What?" I mumbled.

My mother pulled the pillow off my head. "I was just talking to the owner of the new barn you'll be working at."

Immediately, I perked up. "What did she say?"

"She says you can come for a visit next weekend-"

"Okay." I let my head fall back down.

"And you can volunteer whenever you want this summer."

"Good." No brothers... this sounded nice.

"And she's ordering you a t-shirt."

I laughed. "A t-shirt?"

"Yes, I guess it's so the campers know who the counsellors are."

"Great."

My mom stood up and left.

I picked up the small pile of sticky notes I had left on my dresser the night before. 

I had written down a few ideas for my books. I grinned as I read the first one. 'I think I killed someone. Why? Because I was mad and threw a knife and heard a scream and saw in the news that a guy was killed by a flying knife.'

I am still quite proud of that one.

And then I read a book for a couple hours.

—

Apricity lay curled up beside her sisters, waiting for their mother. Ariasha, her sister the fire dragon, stood watch. Campanula yawned, dropping one of her flowers. Eveline snored, of course. The little shadow dragon always did.

The first flakes of snow had fallen that morning. Most kingdoms stayed in one season all year, but Syncuary always cycled through them. Apricity had been very excited. She loved the snow. 

A frigid wind blew into the cave and Campanula hopped up, flapping her tiny wings and running over to Ariasha's warmth. Apricity tried not to take offence when Eveline joined her.

The sun was beginning to sink behind the mountains when a shadow fell over the cave. Ariasha screeched a warning, and Apricity hopped up, working up a blast of freezing snow, which she fired at the invader.

The enormous wind dragon easily dodged the blast and landed by the cave, shaking the ground. Apricity and Ariasha stood in front of their younger sisters, guarding them. "Mother!" Apricity cried, hoping the dragonlings' adoptive mother would hear them and come to their rescue.

The invader laughed, a low, menacing sound. "Oh, little dragons. You can't possibly think your mother will come."

"She will!" Apricity shouted defiantly, flapping her wings to make herself look bigger. "She will come and she will fight you and defeat you!"

"Yeah!" Eveline squeaked behind her. "And we'll eat you for dinner!"

"Your mother is dead," the wind dragon hissed. "I killed her and threw her body over the Cliffs of Eranthag. And you four will come with me."

"No!" Apricity screamed. 

"Apri," Ariasha whispered. "Maybe we should go..."

"She killed our mother!" Apricity yelled.

The wind dragon rolled her eyes and flapped her wings, knocking the sisters down with a blast of wind. 

She picked Eveline and Campanula up, nestling them between her shoulder blades. The little plant and shadow dragons looked even smaller compared to her. Apricity flapped her wings again, this time trying to fly, but in vain, for the wind dragon lifted into the air.

"I'll be back for you two," she roared as she disappeared into the sky.

Ariasha looked at Apricity, and the two of them fled.

Apricity went the opposite way, knowing the wind dragon would only be able to get one of them at a time, selfishly hoping it wasn't her. Her right back leg ached. She had injured it months ago, but fear and running had brought back the pain, as well as the old injury in her left wing. She wouldn't be able to fly now.

And that was certainly too bad, for at the moment she thought that, she went tumbling down a waterfall.

My iPad pings. I close my computer and flip the cover off my iPad. A message from Ally. Have you watched it yet?

I'm vaguely aware of the fact that she means a Marvel movie. Which one, I'm not sure. I reply with a no. She's silent. 

I bite another chip in half, thinking. If I'm going to publish this book, I'll need an agent, and that costs money... it's not likely it'll even publish... but I need the money. I just can't afford an agent, not quite. I'll have to figure something out, though. I suppose my parents could lend me money, but I'd have to pay them back, and my dad will probably charge interest or something.

It'll be worth it, though, seeing Apricity's story in stores everywhere.

That is, if it's even good enough. 

I doubt I can actually publish it. Most first books suck. But I guess I've already written my first book, because back when I was seven or eight, I wrote a short story for Mother's Day. Well, actually, I wrote it for fun, but I decided to give it to Mom. I could probably still find it somewhere. I'm sure it's not as terrible as I remember... oh, wait, I think one of the main characters was named Oceania.

Yes, I'm quite sure it's as terrible as I remember.

I try to return to my writing, but I can't find the motivation. I sigh and eat another chip.