Demon Hunt

Chapter 1 Part 1

Auren Trask laughed as her friend fell back into the sofa, arms open wide, as if sinking blissfully into a billowy cloud. Jade Tobin wasn't usually overly dramatic, but she seemed to be making an exception in this case.

"We're free for the summer," she said, then promptly spat out the long golden strands of her hair that had worked their way into her mouth.

"You're free," Auren corrected, waving a piece of paper in her friend's face. "I have to pack for my camping trip with Kado."

Jade took the note and read aloud:

Auren,

As soon as you get home pack your things and leave them by the door. I want to have the hydrocar packed by this evening. We are leaving first thing in the morning.

Kado

P.S. Jade, go home.

She groaned. "How does he know?"

"Probably because you're always here at the start of every weekend and holiday." Auren plucked the note out of Jade's hand, and not for the first time, noticed the stark difference between her dark olive tone and her friend's paleness. Most Appolians had light hair and skin, not to mention the blue eyes, but she wasn't from Appolia. She didn't know where she was from. Whenever she asked, her foster father, Kado, would tell her she'd been born in a distant land, but he would never say where. Worse, she noticed any time she pressed him for answers, she would realize later she'd walked away from the conversation, forgetting what she had been talking about. She had even mentioned the fact to him once, and the only response she received was a shrug and a list of chores that needed doing.

"I wish we could spend our summers together," Jade said, sighing wistfully.

Just as Auren was about to start her cheer up speech, her friend shifted to the edge of the sofa, her face brightening. Auren grew wary. That look often meant trouble.

"Maybe if you begged Kado, he'd let you come skiing with me and my family."

Not that Auren would have minded spending her summer with Jade, but going from cold weather to colder weather wasn't her idea of fun. Appolia was an island set in the far north. It was freezing most of the year, and the rest of the year it was only less cold than in the winter. They didn't have warm summers like some of the islands to the south. It was common for people in the warmer climates to take summer ski holidays in the snowy Appolian Mountains to escape the heat. There was always snow here.

Besides, she didn't mind her camping trips with Kado. It was the only time she ever had fun with him. Normally he kept her busy with lessons after school. He insisted she learn land and sea navigation, self-defense and other crazy things a girl her age had no use for. During the summer, they always had amazing adventures. It was the one thing she looked forward to every year.

"As fun as that sounds," Auren said, making a face that suggested she didn't find it fun at all. "There's just something wrong with the idea of skiing in the summer. I want to go somewhere warm."

"You have no sense of adventure." Jade folded her arms over her chest, sticking out her bottom lip.

"What's so thrilling about sliding down a mountain on skis when you can climb one instead?"

She tapped her chin, pretending to consider it. "Sounds like too much work."

Auren rolled her eyes. "Kado will be home from work soon, and he'll be annoyed if I'm not packed. Want to help?"

"Sure."

Jade followed Auren to her room on the second floor. It was a small room compared to Jade's. Her family was wealthy, and she had a room as large as the entire upper floor of Kado's house. Auren liked her bedroom though. It was her space. She could do whatever she wanted with it, and she did. During her last break from school she had painted the walls in sea green and lavender stripes, her two favorite colors. Pictures of her friends and her personal drawings covered them. Most of her drawings depicted dreams she had as a child. Kado frowned whenever he saw them, but he never said anything. A dresser with a mirror took up the space across from her bed, and the adjacent wall held shelves loaded with fantasy novels. It was the only place she could be herself and just be free.