The Cost of Power

Chapter 1

I was so tired, my eyelids were comparable to 50 pound weights. I just couldn't lift them. I had stayed up until 4:00 last night on Pintrest, and I had to wake up at 7:00. That's 3 hours of sleep in case you were wondering.
3 hours.
After 15 minutes of straight up war with myself, I was finally able to open my eyes and stand up. When the dizzy strike of getting up too fast ended, I changed, brushed my teeth, and combed my hair. I was so late. It was cold. But hey, I suppose it WAS Iceland. I took the stairs 2 at the time and entered my mom's bedroom. Perfectly clean. As always.
I nudged her until she stirred and her eyelids fluttered opened.
"Eden? Is that you?"
"Yep. I'm ready for school."
"What time is it?"
I had been dreading that question. "7:45"
Mom sat bolt upright. "What?!"
Figuring that was a rhetorical question, I didn't respond.
"We have to go! Get in the car!" Mom tossed me the keys from her nightstand. "I'll be right there."
I left her room and sped out the door, through the yard and to the driveway. I was about to open the Toyota's old, gray door when I felt someone grab me from behind and stick an article of fabric in my mouth. A sock? I didn't know. The person dragged me out of my yard and into the woods next to my house. I tried to scream, but the sock blocked any sound I made. I kicked and thrashed, but the person was too strong. The person had a firm hold on me until they let me down on the ground and stood up next to me so I could see their face. Wow. For a kidnapper, he was extremely attractive. And young.
He had wavy blonde hair that curled around his ears, and brown eyes the color of dark chocolate. His skin was a shade of light peach, which just made his brown eyes pop even more. His pale golden hair slightly blew from side to side in the light breeze.
"Hi there."
Anger bubbled up inside of me. " 'Hi there'? Seriously? Who even are you anyway?"
He grinned. "Well I can tell you're gonna be pleasant company." His voice dripped with sarcasm. "Well anyway, I'm Caleb. I'm 15 and going on a quest to save the world 'cause everyone else is either too lazy to do it themselves or doesn't wanna get their pretty little hands dirty." He made a face of disgust. This Caleb was just legitimately crazy. "A couple days after departing for the quest, I was at an extreme road block in my journey. Then I sensed you."
I couldn't take hearing this anymore. " 'Sensed me'? You're crazy. Get away from me or I'm calling 911."
That stupid grin didn't leave his face. "1: Yes. I sensed you. Powerful Lenatai can sense one another when they are within a mile radius of one another. 2: I'm not crazy, that's rude. 3: I don't think so." With a flick of his wrist my phone came flying out of the pocket of my skinny jeans. I watched in reluctant amazement as my phone burst into flames right when he snapped his fingers.
"HEY! That was a new phone!"
"Sorry buttercup, but you won't be needing it anytime soon."
I glared at the back of his head so hard my eyes started to hurt. Since I didn't say anything, a few moments later he turned around to face me again.
"Soooo, are you coming with me?" His curious eyes fastened on my own.
"Do I really have a choice?"
He pondered that for a few moments. "No, I suppose not."
I sighed. "Where are you bringing me now? Crazy town?"
"I literally just set your phone on fire by snapping my fingers, and you still think I'm crazy? Now I don't know about mortals, but Lenatai refer to what you're in as 'denial'." He was silent for a moment or 2, then seemed to get an idea. "Here. I'll further prove to you that I, and you, have magical powers." Caleb paused as he attempted to get something out of his pocket. When he finally got a hold of it, he showed it to me. "This is an Unseen Orb." He placed it on the ground and then, out of nowhere, he took a dagger and drove it into the Orb. The orb shattered on impact. As Caleb placed his dagger back into his pocket, the ground that the remaining shards of Unseen Orb lay on began to swirl and disappear, being replaced with a gooey and brightly ty-dye colored mysterious substance. It grew at alarming rates until a large, spinning circle lay where the Orb used to be, except it was 10 times larger than the small orb had been. "THIS IS A PORTAL TO THE LAND OF THE UNSEEN!" Caleb yelled over the loud sounds of swirling liquid and wind admitting from the portal. And without any sign of warning, Caleb grabbed my arm and jumped into the portal, taking me along with him.